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The Specialists
An aMMAzing Week in Review: Machida vs. Rua, Dumbass of the Week, DVR + Twitter = Spoiler, Lesnar Out (at the Vikings game), Kimbo Rumor, Joe Lauzon, Fight of Week...
By Brent Henderson, MMATorch Week-in-Review Specialist
UFC 104: MACHIDA VS. RUA
Nothing too exciting to report about, except something about a decision a couple (million) people disagreed with. Alright, we'll go ahead and get the Machida vs. Rua fight out of the way. Machida was a 4-1 favorite going into the fight with most people not giving Rua much of a chance, but he came to fight.
I'm not going to do a round-by-round breakdown, but I will say that I've watched this fight three times so far (once without sound), and I've yet to see how Machida walked away with his belt. The worst part about the whole decision is how it was unanimous. I've also heard Machida himself say the only reason we think Rua won is because we were influenced by Rogan and Goldie's commentary, but what about the thousands in attendance who instantly booed the decision? What influenced them? My guess is because they were watching the fight and, dare I say, more informed about MMA than the judges themselves?
I'm the first person who'll admit that I'm embarrassed by the casual MMA fan who boos during fights, strikes poses, yells stuff, or makes gestures whenever the camera pans their direction (except for you, "Just Bleed" guy… JUST BLEED GUY - http://gifaday.blogspot.com/2009/07/just-bleed-guy-gif.html), but this time I agree with them. I was embarrassed for the UFC, and also for anyone who invited friends over to their house, who had never watched MMA, so they could see what real fighting was all about.
My friends and I were watching, as usual, and as the fight ended we were talking about how Rampage had been the only champion to defend his belt since Chuck as we were waiting for the decision that would hand the belt over to Shogun. One friend decided to Tweet something about the fight, and said, "Are we not watching this live?" and then he got really quiet. I knew what that meant immediately. I checked the DVR, and sure enough, we were four minutes behind live TV. We started questioning him about what we had seen on Twitter even though deep down we already knew - Shogun had gotten robbed. We started watching again just in time for the judges decision, which ruined the PPV for everyone in attendance.
I was actually pulling for Machida in this fight because I saw it as his toughest test so far, but even he let me down. Not only did he not come out near as aggressive as I would like, but then he started taking the judges' side almost immediately after the fight. He said that all three judges saw the same thing, so he must be the winner. He has since gone on to say that his performance was "superior" to Rua's, and disagrees with Dana that Rua won the fight. Both fighters have agreed to an immediate rematch.
I still don't think this decision was as bad as Hamill vs. Bisping, but this was a main event title fight with a lot on the line for a lot of people. I mentioned before that Machida was a 4-1 favorite coming into the fight, right? How bad would Shogun winning hurt gambling establishments? I'm really not much for conspiracy theories, but those kinds of odds paired up with Shoguns performance makes it seem a little suspect at best.
The rest of the card wasn't bad, and had some really exciting fights. Pat Barry defeated Antoni Hardonk via 2nd round TKO. Anthony Johnson won via TKO against Yoshida just 41 seconds into round #1. Unfortunately for Johnson, since he failed to make weight, he was ineligible for KO of the Night bonus. Joe Stevenson looked very impressive in his fight against Spencer Fisher. Stevenson rained down elbows until Fisher was forced to tapout, with his feet, at 4:03 of the 2nd round.
The most impressive performance of the night came from Cain Velasquez. Cain completely dominated Ben Rothwell from the beginning of the fight until Steve Mazzagatti, who for some reason was already wearing his Johnny Cash Halloween costume, stopped the fight prematurely at :58 of round #2. Mazzagatti had let Rothwell absorb a little too much punishment in round 1, so he stopped the fight a little early in the 2nd even though Rothwell was trying to improve his position. The rest of the fight results are as follows:
Stefan Struve defeats Chase Gormley Submission (Triangle Choke) Round 1 4:04
Kyle Kingsbury defeats Razak Al-Hassan via Split Decision
Chael Sonnen defeats Okami via Unanimous Decision
Ryan Bader defeats Eric Schafer via Unanimous Decision
Gleison Tibau defeats Josh Neer via Unanimous Decision
LESNAR OUT OF UFC 106
It was reported on October 26th that Brock Lesnar had pulled out of his UFC 106 title fight with Shane Carwin due to a "strong case of the flu." Carwin reported via Twitter that he heard about the cancellation through the media, and that the fight would be tentatively rescheduled for UFC 108 on January 2nd. It was reported that Lesnar had been unable to train for 3 ½ weeks, but he appeared to be in great shape at the Ravens vs. Vikings game on October 18th. I'm no doctor, but I have had the flu before, so I'll be the first to tell you if I had the flu, and received an invitation from Julius Peppers to be his guest of honor at a Carolina Panthers football game (yes, even this season) I would decline.
Maybe I didn't make the stakes high enough. If Peppers invited me as his guest, offered to let me sit on his shoulders as he walked onto the field, and told me I would be the one moisturizing the cheerleaders before the game I would still say no. Okay, maybe I wouldn't say no, but I'm also not a celebrity like Lesnar who could be on the field at a Vikings game anytime he asked. All I'm saying is, if you aren't able to defend your belt in a overly-hyped match, then maybe stay out of the national spotlight for a few weeks until it's possible you're feeling better, and a little less likely to raise eyebrows or start rumors as to why the bout is postponed. Watch the video below to see Brock at the game.
BROCK AT GAME
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBIgvbt2YQo)
DREAM 12
The key points for DREAM 12: Sakuraba is still alive, Alistair defeats Thompson, and am I the only person who has to watch DREAM with the TV muted just so I don't have to listen to Michael Schiavello?
You'll read about the Sakuraba fight later in the column, so I won't repeat myself here. Alistair Overeem submitted James "I Should Pick a Different Career" Thompson with a STANDING GUILLOTINE CHOKE just 33 seconds into the 1st round. Seriously, is there no facet of Thompson's fight game that doesn't suck? Afterwards, Overeem called out Fedor, but then said he'd rather fight him in Dream than in Strikeforce. I wonder why he would rather fight in Japan than the U.S... maybe it has to do with points I brought up in last weeks column. Talk about a step up in competition! Alistair has fought Sylvester and Thompson in his last 2 fights, and now he wants Fedor? It seems like Butterbean would be more up his alley, but as long as he says he wants to fight someone with talent, I'll try not to judge him too badly.
Eddie Alvarez made a successful return to DREAM by defeating Katsunori Kikuno via an arm-triangle choke in round 2. I love getting to watch Eddie fight every chance I get, and I hope the UFC eventually signs him so BJ Penn can have a little competition.
The remaining results for DREAM 12:
Marius Zaromskis def. Myeon Ho Bae via KO (head kick) Rd 1
Katsuyori Shibata def. Tokimitsu Ishizawa by TKO (strikes) Rd 1
Dong Sik Yoon def. Tarec Saffiedine via split decision
Yoshiro Maeda def. Chase Beebe via submission (rear naked choke) Rd 1
Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. Won Sik Park via TKO (corner stoppage) Rd 1
Tomoya Miyashita def. Keisuke Fujiwara via unanimous decision
DUMBASS OF THE WEEK: CECIL PEOPLES
I know what some of you are probably thinking. You're thinking how could I single Peoples out when all three judges said that Machida won the fight. That's very simple. Cecil Peoples has been involved with some of the worst decisions in MMA history, and yet they still allow him judge fights. That in of itself doesn't put the blame squarely on his shoulders, but the fact he hasn't learned from all of his previous mistakes does. Up until Saturday night he was remembered for judging the worst decision in UFC history when he chose Michael Bisping as the winner over Matt Hamill at UFC 75 even though Hamill beat Bisping in every aspect of the fight. I could almost feel bad for ol' Cecil if he didn't try to explain his decision in the Machida vs. Rua bout, and then, in an interview with MMAWeekly, say in response to people unhappy with the decision, "If you don't like it, you can go to hell." That's probably not the best way to quite unhappy fans that already think you're doing a horrible job, but it's ok because nobody likes you anyway.
I know, I know...I'm biased towards any Sakuraba fight, but since I have my own column I get to do what I want. Saku fought again this past weekend, and as much as I like seeing him in the ring, I'd rather see him walk away from fighting than to see him fight another striker.
At the beginning of the fight Saku dove in for a beautiful single leg, and held on for dear life. What happened next was hard to watch. Galesic pounded on Sakuraba's head with brain damaging force from :53 to 1:35 of the 1st round. I don't mean he hit him a few times, I mean he hit him, without ceasing, for 42 straight seconds. That may not sound like a long time, but I dare anyone who reads this to let one of your friends punch you directly in the face as hard as they can for even 10 seconds to see what it might feel like. If anyone takes me up on this dare, and you happen to film it, upload it to YouTube, send me a link, and I'll post it in next week's column. After a beating most NSAC licensed referees would've stopped (with the exception of Miragliotta, Mazzagatti, and Lavigne), Sakuraba applied a beautiful kneebar, which instantly induced an agonizingly painful expression, followed by tapout at 1:40 of the 1st round.
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 10: EPISODE 7
I've got to go on record and say that this has been the worst season in TUF history so far. Every episode has basically been the same. Rashad and Rampage are at each other's throat again, with Rashad telling Rampage that he's not a coach, and Rampage saying that he hasn't quit on his fighters, but that his fighters have quit on him. Don't get me wrong; I love Junie Browning style drama as much as the next guy, but it is growing tiresome this season. The best things that have happened so far through 7 episodes is a fighter being nicknamed "Titties," Marcus Jones talking about his flowers, and the credits rolling at the end of each episode. Luckily for you guys, I suffer through these hour-long hells so you can stay informed. Unfortunately for me, this week wasn't any better. Scott Junk was chosen to face off against the seemingly mentally unstable Matt Mitrione.
Mitrione comes out swinging and knocks down the heavily favored and more experienced Junk 3 times in the 1st round, but both fighters quickly gas, and their punches become so slow that James Thompson would be the only person in danger of getting ko'd by either man. In a scenario that could only be seen as Jesus paying me back for forging my mother's name on a few tests when I was younger, the fight ended up going the distance. Mitrione ended up winning the decision in what was billed as the fight of the year so far for TUF 10. Can they seriously say with a straight face that a bout where both fighters are gassed within 2 minutes is the best they've had to offer after 7 episodes, and expect us to be excited? If the fights don't start getting better, and they tone down the Rashad vs. Rampage trash talking, it's going to get harder and harder to force myself to watch anymore.
FIGHTER OF THE WEEK: PAT BARRY
I'm going to be honest here, I hadn't even heard of Pat Barry until his match with Dan Evenson at UFC 92. Let's just say that when Cecil Peoples said that leg kicks don't end fights means he must not have seen Barry vs. Evenson. I've never seen that level of leg kick brutality before or since.
He came into UFC 104 trying to restart his winning streak after a tough submission loss, and the 1st loss of his MMA career, to Tim Hague at UFC 98. He ended up beating Antoni Hardonk via vicious knockout halfway through the 2nd round, and picked up total bonus money of $120,000 for his efforts.
Barry has the kind of personality to endear himself to all MMA fans. He's not cocky or flashy, and has a sense of humor that may rival my own. Yeah, you're right, he's pretty funny, but probably still a few steps below me. If for some unknown reason you haven't seen any of his fights, you need to do so by any legal means (wink) necessary.
For those of you who haven't been exposed to Barry's shenanigans or tomfoolery before you should check out the links below.
First Lesnar, then Alves, and now Pellegrino. If Joe Silva has ever worked overtime, it would definitely be this past week. If you've read last week's column, you know that I wrote Thiago Alves had accepted a fight with Jon Fitch, but that fight will no longer be taking place as reported. I'm not positive if Thiago pulled out of the fight due to a knee injury, or just to make me look stupid, but either way the fight is off. So far there are no announcements as to who will take Alves' place.
Frankie Edgar was also left looking for an opponent after Kurt "Batman" Pellegrino herniated 3 discs in his back. I normally wouldn't include a fighter's nickname in the column, but "Batman" is such a ridiculously horrible nickname that I felt obliged to include it in this column (a small nod to David Allen Coe). Matt Veach has since stepped up to take on Edgar at The Ultimate Fighter finale.
RUMOR OF THE WEEK: KIMBO VS. HOUSTON ALEXANDER
The most interesting rumor I heard this week is that Kimbo will be fighting Houston Alexander at the TUF finale. The UFC seems to be walking the same road EliteXC did with Kimbo. I know they have some money invested in Slice, but maybe don't make his first real UFC matchup be against someone who has no intentions of taking a fight to the ground, it comes across as hand-picking opponents for him that he can beat. Kimbo recently tweeted, "HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" which tends to lend a little more credibility to the rumors.
JOE LAUZON
It's official; Joe isn't going to kill me. In fact, he thinks I'm the greatest journalist the MMA world has ever known. He was so impressed he has even agreed to take part in my first interview, which you guys can expect to hear sometime around mid-December. Okay, so once again I made up the part about the "greatest MMA journalist" thing. Joe didn't actually say that, but I could feel it in his text message. I'd like to thank Joe for being a good sport and agreeing to do the interview, but I'd also like to openly chastise him for not including my Twitter username when he did the whole #FF doohickey yesterday. Seriously, how am I supposed to get famous without a little help?!
EMAIL OF THE WEEK
Come on guys, was that the best you could do? I got some nice emails, but none were worthy/witty, or clean enough to post in the column. I'm gonna need you guys to pick it up a bit with your creativity if you want me to keep this section alive. If I don't get decent responses this week I'll assume you actually want me to cover MMA in my MMA column, and I'll throw this idea away.
FINAL WORDS
Thanks again for taking the time to read An aMMAzing Week in Review. I look forward to hearing from you guys. See you next Saturday!
[Joe Lauzon photo provided to MMATorch by Spike TV]
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