Matthew's Take
MATTHEW: Recapping a busy month of June in MMA
Jul 1, 2010 - 10:26:37 PM MATTHEW: Recapping a busy month of June in MMA

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By: Sam Matthew, MMATorch Columnist

It has been a busy month in the world of MMA with a lot of controversy surrounding bad judging decisions, shady athletic commissions and the overthrow of an emperor.

With Fabricio Werdum being Fedor’s toughest test in years, the Brazilian submission ace shocked the world, becoming the first man to beat the Russian legend, and he did it with an impressive combination triangle choke/armbar submission a mere 69 seconds into the bout. Fedor admitted to making a mistake in following his opponent to the ground after rocking him with hooks, and he proved no less humble in defeat than he has shown himself to be in over a decade of victories with a simple explanation, “He who doesn’t fall, doesn’t stand back up.”

While most of the MMA world butts heads over the future of Fedor and the Strikeforce heavyweight division, I would rather speculate on where Werdum might stand had the UFC not cut him after his loss to Junior Dos Santos. Would Werdum be in the top of the mix at all? I highly doubt it as, while he may have no trouble dispatching the likes of Cheick Kongo and Brendan Schaub, I just don’t see him on the same level as Cain Velasquez or even Frank Mir. At this point though, at least Zuffa can say that Fedor got beat by a guy that couldn’t "make the cut" in their heavyweight division.

I personally think Fedor will be retiring following his last contractual fight with Strikeforce, without having ever earned an American championship. Unless of course Scott Coker decides to give Fedor the title shot even after a loss. That wouldn't make any sense, but wait, it has happened before with Brett Rogers getting his chance at Alistair Overeem following his first loss.

And while we’re on the subject I would like to go ahead and quash any hopeful rumors of Fedor’s move to the UFC after he finishes his Strikeforce contract. I can 100% guarantee its not going to happen based solely on how Dana White and the UFC have chosen to deal with M-1 and their most valued asset.

In the days leading up to the Strikeforce event, Zuffa management threatened to ban any company that chose to sponsor Fedor, in particular MMA giant Tapout, from all UFC events if Fedor walked out under that company’s banner. Tapout subsequently gave in to the UFC’s demands and pulled their deal the very day of the competition, resulting in Dan Henderson’s company Clinch Gear, which has already been banned from the UFC for obvious reasons, scrambling to get a deal with Fedor and M-1. Blacklisting not only Fedor but any company that chooses to associate with or sponsor Fedor is not exactly the way to encourage a future relationship.

While the Fedor upset was the month’s big story, I would briefly like to focus on a specific incident at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale that got overshadowed by the plethora of other events. This incident was the only event of any real importance from TUF 11 Finale and involved a blatant lack of moral ethics in allowing a main event fighter, Matt Hamill, to be medically cleared to fight with a staph infection.

Clearly visible at weigh-ins and during the fight, a large hole on Matt Hamill’s back was revealed to be staph infection that even Hamill admitted was untreated as he would be starting antibiotics the following week. In what proved to be a bloody war, the dangers of exposing not just his opponent Keith Jardine, but the referee, officials, announcers, both corners and everyone involved in the following fight to an extremely contagious and potentially lethal blood-borne bacterial infection should not be understated in the slightest.

The decision of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and its doctor (no doubt under pressure from the UFC to preserve a main event fight) to approve Matt Hamill to fight under these conditions is absolutely atrocious and set the world of MMA back a step. This is exactly the kind of fuel for the fire that opponents of MMA can use to further denigrate this sport and, in my opinion, is a much more egregious offense than a post-fight brawl or an after-the-bell sucker punch.

Now onto to some of the month’s more impressive performers, and with so many events to choose from we’re going to have to be picky. At UFC 115 Rich Franklin retired Chuck Liddell for good (hopefully), Mirko Cro Cop proved he’s not done yet with a come from behind choke-out victory over Pat Barry, Carlos Condit earned a shot at former contender Dan Hardy at UFC 120 in the UK by finishing Canadian Rory MacDonald on enemy territory and Martin Kampmann solidified himself as the welterweight to beat by dismantling Paulo Thiago via decision.

At WEC 49 two Canadians went to war and earned fight of the night honors as Mark Hominick and Yves Jabouin traded knockdowns in a stand-up scrap that ultimately ended with Hominick reversing his opponent from his back straight into mount position, where he ended the fight raining down heavy punches.

In the world of Strikeforce, Josh Thomson overcame broken or bruised ribs to beat Pat Healy, Renato “Babalu” Sobral peppered Robbie Lawler with crisp combos and heavy kicks for three rounds, and the married “Cyborg” couple both picked up victories, Evangelista over the DREAM sensation Marius Zaromskis and Cristiane over an abysmal Jan Finney.

This female 145 championship fight simply showed the lack of opponents and weight disparity in women’s MMA, and proved hard to stomach as many fans started booing halfway through the first round as Finney took a multitude of unanswered blows while female ref Kim Winslow let the fight go on, perhaps trying to prove how tough the ladies can be. Really this just showed that it’s very hard for the majority of the public to watch one woman take extreme amounts of punishment, and I wouldn’t expect to see the UFC embrace female competition anytime soon.

As Bellator’s Season 2 finished up and the $100,000 featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight tournament winners were crowned, Alexander Schlemenko’s victory over two top caliber wrestlers Jared Hess and Bryan Baker was the real success story, as Schlemenko won the middleweight tournament in highlight-reel fashion.

This crazy Rusky is every promoters dream as he brings spinning kicks from all angles and looks like a whirling dervish as he dismantles his opponents with injury-inducing knees and brutal backhands.

At Bellator 23, Joe Warren’s decision win over Patricio “Pitbull” Freire again brings up the problem with MMA scoring, in that judges simply don’t ever score rounds 10-8. The first round of that fight was the very definition of a 10-8 round with Pitbull landing strikes at will, including a knockdown that resulted in a rear naked choke being locked in during the last few seconds of the round. If that bell hadn’t rung then Warren would be going to sleep, and the fact that the fight would be over is why it should be a 10-8.

Now I’m not disputing that Warren came back to lay on top of his opponent and grind out a 10-9 2nd and 3rd, but with a 10-8 1st to Pitbull that fight was a legitimate draw. It is a tournament and there needs to be a victor, but a draw could have setup a rematch a couple months down the road, maybe even to kick off Bellator’s third season. Pat Curran proved to be the judges favorite again as he won a decision against Toby Imada despite being stalked by his adversary for most of the fight even he though landed good counters and picked up a controversial decision in similar fashion to his win over Roger Huerta.

Another horrendous decision from this past month saw the split draw ruling of WEC 49’s main event in Kamal Shalorus vs. Jamie Varner, with one judge somehow reaching a 29-27 victory for Shalorus. This score was reached despite having a point taken away from Shalorus in the 2nd for a groin shot and a similar kick landing in the 3rd, which should have been another point deduction at the very least and a disqualification in the eyes of many.

Besides that fact Varner easily won both the first and second rounds, only giving up the 3rd because of an accumulation of injuries and shots to the crotch. The proper score for that fight is easily 29-27 Varner, which only one judge got right. This, along with other bad decisions really calls for judges to be held accountable for their decisions.

And finally I would like to end by stating that Brazilian fight camp Nova Uniao now cleary runs the featherweight division worldwide, with Marlon Sandro stripping Masanori Kanehara of his Sengoku belt with a vicious first round uppercut knockout and Jose Aldo proving to be the very best in America in the WEC.