...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Maynard Sweeney, MMATorch Contributor This article is the sixth a series of daily releases counting down the top thirty fights of 2008. We will release a new article each day starting from #30 all the way up until the end of the month.
Top 30 Fights of 2008: #25
Joe "JLau" Lauzon vs. Kenny "KenFlo" Florian
UFC Fight Night 13 - 4/2/2008
"Wanna go upta the heights aftah the fight and drink some Sammies?"
"Wicked pissa, dude."
Laugh all you want, but the glorious state of Massachusetts is and always has been a fight factory. Producing the likes of boxing legend Rocky Marciano, and the sports last great fighter before it's fall to corruption, Marvin Hagler, we know a thing or two about how to throw a punch. The last ten years have been riddled with championships all across the sports spectrum, and with Kenny and Joe from Westwood and Brockton, respectively, the eyes of a few thousand Massholes were averted from the grid iron and into the cage.
Massachusetts, and New England alike, is a strange part of the country. We exist as almost a sub-section of the country, our own demi-America. We say wicked a lot, and put jimmies on our ice cream. A bubbler isn't just a type of bong, and we love to sip a cold frappe or two on a hot summer day. If I've already lost you, my point is that we aren't like you. We do things differently. That is why it's always interesting to see fighters from here do well, because it's almost like they're coming from another country.
Before this battle of kids with horrible nicknames (JLau and KenFlo), the question as to who was the state's best had been tossed up in the ear with each passing month of terrible weather. Joe and Kenny had traded the number one spot on the state rankings for best lightweight for a solid two years, and we all wanted to know: who was the best? Who was the champion of Boston? The creepy computer tech hailing from Reality Self Defense in Bridgewater? Or the creepy soccer player from Boston Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Newton?
This fight was very important; it was more than just two talented lightweight fighters squaring off in the cage. It had been generations since we'd seen a tough kid climb out of the beanpot and make a splash in fighting. Boxing was on the way down, and MMA still on the way up. Combat sports alike lay in a purgatory of sorts, with the passing of the torch from one sport to the next taking it's sweet time.
Further, all mixed martial arts fans were forced to sit through to court proceedings of Sean Sherk, who was adamantly fighting the California Athletic Commission's suspension of the fighter because of a positive test for nandrolone. Of course, when some jock with the word "muscle" in his nick name who had a pension for carrying a holier than thou attitude tested positive for steroids, we all knew it was just irony.
After eight months of the title being tied up, B.J. Penn operated on Joe Stevenson's face, and a new lightweight champion was born. At this same time, the main event fight between Lauzon and Florian was announced. At last, the first lightweight contender fight in nearly a year.
Two and a half hours of being treated to an extended time slot to see more of the fights on this amazing free card, Joe and Kenny met in what was expected to be a battle of everything a mixed martial arts fans expects. Both kids could throw a punch, and both were very accomplished ground fighters hailing from two of the state's best Jiu Jitsu schools.
A great first round showed us an exciting display of stand up, groundwork, and clinch fighting. Florian had a slight edge, but both looked sharp as ever. The second round saw Joe Lauzon fall to Florian's vicious ground and pound though, and with the stoppage, Boston's next fight star was born.
The Fight Night battle wasn't just young talent duking it out though. It was very metaphorical in the sense that not only was it a contendership fight, but a contendership fight with two very young martial artists. The lightweight division was and remains very young, only being reintroduced to fans in 2006. Yet somehow, the young division's contenders were all the dinosaurs who had been hanging around the fight scene for years. Sean Sherk, Hermes Franca, Joe Stevenson and Spencer Fisher amongst other. Even the Japanese scene was still putting up the likes of Takanori Gomi, Hayoto Sakurai, and many of the other older fighters.
In essence, Lauzon vs. Florian was really a changing of the guard. In a time where we're given constant rematches, and already well established fighters are given title shot after title shot, was were treated to a contender fight with two new faces. The sport of mixed martial arts is changing, and with it, like it or not, the older fighters are beginning to disappear. We saw a young Thiago Alves floor Matt Hughes and an undefeated Rashad Evans crush Chuck Liddell. Gabriel Gonzaga kicked Mirko Cro Cop into next week, and Nick Diaz pulled off the craziest submission seen in MMA in a long time against Takanori Gomi. The next generation is knocking on the door, and at long last, the lightweights got their turn.
Florian and Lauzon, like the winners of the fights above, are amongst the first of a stable of a new breed of fighters. Practitioners of the sport no longer practice a mix of martial arts, but rather mixed martial arts as it's own entity. Before the popularity explosion of MMA, we saw fighters become well rounded by endlessly training several martial arts. They would hone their individual skills, and come fight time, step into the cage with a mixed bag of tricks.
Those days are fast passing us though, as MMA has become it's own sport entirely. No more do fighters pursue individual martial arts to piece them together into a well rounded game, but actually practice the sport of mixed martial arts. MMA has become it's own entity together, producing a new hybrid of combat sport. Any aspiring fighter can actually seek out tutelage in MMA.
Now with Kenny again sitting on top of a title shot, and Joe well on his way back to contender status, we are seeing this new hybrid sport take over. The old legends lingering around are falling one by one, as their old timey toolbox of fight styles have fallen victim to the rapid evolution of martial arts. Florian and Lauzon ushered in the new era of MMA with their fight, and with their exciting rise, we will be privileged to see how this new era plays out.
Stay tuned for #24 of the MMATorch Top 30 Fights of 2008, which will be revealed with a full article tomorrow.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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