Think UFC 111 is just another pay-per-view? Think harder. The show takes place in Newark, N.J., in the shadow of New York City, Zuffa's nirvana once MMA is finally sanctioned in the state of New York.
The efforts to hype and market UFC 111 are a message to the suits in Albany that says, "Think MMA is irrelevant? Too violent? A menace to society? Here morons, have this."
UFC's second Primetime special beginning March 10 on Spike is centered around Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy. The co-main event is Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin in a battle to decide Brock Lesnar's next challenger. The card as a whole is loaded including Thiago Alves vs. Jon Fitch and a few Jersey boys representing their home state: Jim Miller, Ricardo Almeida and Kurt Pellegrino. Also count on No. 1 lightweight contender, and Tom's River's own, Frankie Edgar, being inside the Prudential Center on March 27. I'm mapping out my next feature for FightMagazine.com on the Jersey fighters competing on this show, and what UFC 111 means to them and for Zuffa, New Jersey and New York.
Speaking of Miller, while he and Dan Miller are recognized by MMA fans, there are a few brother combination who haven't reached mainstream status (though Little Nog is close) and those who never will. My breakdown is on Fight's site and you can check it out here.
If you can't make it to Newark, you can't miss the show if you have a burning desire to see it. There's pay-per-view, of course and your local sports bar. If the crowded, rambunctious bar scene isn't your thing, check this out: Beginning with UFC 111, movie theaters around the country will be showing live events.
The operative words: "Beginning with UFC 111." Coincidence? I think not.
Showing posts with label Frankie Edgar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frankie Edgar. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
RIP Bob Shamrock, '10's top contenders, Almeida feeling great
Another week nearly in the books and it's actually been (kind of) light in the MMA world. There's actually a break between shows that started after Monday's UFC Fight Night and will end January 30 with Strikeforce Miami. Nick Diaz vs. Marius Zaromskis for the vacant welterweight title, and Cris Cyborg vs. Marloes Coenen in Cyborg's first defense of the women's crown headline a show that also features the Strikeforce debut of Bobby Lashley and the MMA premiere of Herschel Walker. Appearing on the preliminary card is fellow Long Islander Jay Hieron (Freeport) against veteran Joe Riggs.
Sad news hit the MMA world late yesterday with the passing of Bob Shamrock, the adopted father of MMA legends Frank and Ken Shamrock, at the age of 68 due following a long-term battle with various health complications due to diabetes. Bob's impact on the brothers was amazing. He kept the boys out of trouble by turning them to sports and resort to fist fight - provided he supervised it - to settle their differences. Frank & Ken grew up to be fighting champions, and are forever legendary and among the best we'll ever see.
I penned a piece for FightMagazine.com that went up today, which looks ahead at the top contenders in each of the UFC's weight classes in 2010. Lots changed since I filed the original draft earlier in the week. Frankie Edgar is next for B.J. Penn, while Nate Marquardt will secure his middleweight title shot against the winner of champion Anderson Silva vs. Victor Belfort - if Nate the Great gets past Chael Sonnen at UFC 109 in a few weeks.
That night I'm looking forward to also watching two of my favorite fighters and people in the game, Matt Serra and Frank Trigg, oppose one another. Then there's the main even featuring two active legends, Randy Couture and Mark Coleman. The Natural struggled in defeating Brandon Vera, but put together a classic with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira back in August. When two old, great warriors collide, you usually see something special, and that's what I'm expecting from Couture and Coleman. Heck if Couture wins he may get one last shot becoming a two-time UFC light-heavyweight champion.
Get psyched, Jersey. The UFC's return to the Garden State (UFC 111 in Newark on March 27) is loaded. The top three bouts are Georges St. Pierre-Dan Hardy, Shane Carwin-Frank Mir and Thiago Alves-Jon Fitch. It's also loaded with Jersey boys Ricardo Almeida, Jim Miller and Kurt Pellegrino. I spoke with one of Almeida's coaches this week. He told me Big Dog, 3-1 since returning to the UFC (and that defeat was to Patrick Cote via split decision), is "feeling great" and in awesome shape having worked his way back from a knee injury that prevented him from competing at UFC 106. MMA becoming legalized in New York State is looking inevitable with Gov. David Patterson publicly endorsing the sport. This card is a hell of a way to seal the deal, or if it's done by then allow lawmakers with open minds to tell themselves, "I made the right decision."
Joe Lauzon, off a crushing loss to Sam Stout earlier this month, said in a release that he hopes his next fight will be in his backyard when the UFC makes its Boston debut this August. Lauzon had Stout in trouble early, but failed to finish him and was pummeled by the Canadien in dropping a unanimous decision, but that was his first fight in 10 months after having knee surgery to repair his ACL. Lauzon gutting out the best performance of Stout's career to date earned them Fight of the Night honors.
“I’m obviously disappointed in the result,” Lauzon said. “It was an entertaining fight, but that’s not what I want to be known for. I focused on the health of my knee and it held up. I didn’t concentrate on my overall condition and I was a little rusty. I trained like a maniac six days of the week, twice a day, and then I couldn’t do too much for six months.”
Thanks to everyone for reading and following me on Twitter. I'm still penning my takes on the Yankees and Rangers, and have a story on the boxing/MMA relationship out in this month's edition of TapouT magazine (Issue 34). Though we're still months away, I'm gearing up for working UFC 111 on site at the Prudential Center. Expect a lot more stuff happening until then.
Sad news hit the MMA world late yesterday with the passing of Bob Shamrock, the adopted father of MMA legends Frank and Ken Shamrock, at the age of 68 due following a long-term battle with various health complications due to diabetes. Bob's impact on the brothers was amazing. He kept the boys out of trouble by turning them to sports and resort to fist fight - provided he supervised it - to settle their differences. Frank & Ken grew up to be fighting champions, and are forever legendary and among the best we'll ever see.
I penned a piece for FightMagazine.com that went up today, which looks ahead at the top contenders in each of the UFC's weight classes in 2010. Lots changed since I filed the original draft earlier in the week. Frankie Edgar is next for B.J. Penn, while Nate Marquardt will secure his middleweight title shot against the winner of champion Anderson Silva vs. Victor Belfort - if Nate the Great gets past Chael Sonnen at UFC 109 in a few weeks.
That night I'm looking forward to also watching two of my favorite fighters and people in the game, Matt Serra and Frank Trigg, oppose one another. Then there's the main even featuring two active legends, Randy Couture and Mark Coleman. The Natural struggled in defeating Brandon Vera, but put together a classic with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira back in August. When two old, great warriors collide, you usually see something special, and that's what I'm expecting from Couture and Coleman. Heck if Couture wins he may get one last shot becoming a two-time UFC light-heavyweight champion.
Get psyched, Jersey. The UFC's return to the Garden State (UFC 111 in Newark on March 27) is loaded. The top three bouts are Georges St. Pierre-Dan Hardy, Shane Carwin-Frank Mir and Thiago Alves-Jon Fitch. It's also loaded with Jersey boys Ricardo Almeida, Jim Miller and Kurt Pellegrino. I spoke with one of Almeida's coaches this week. He told me Big Dog, 3-1 since returning to the UFC (and that defeat was to Patrick Cote via split decision), is "feeling great" and in awesome shape having worked his way back from a knee injury that prevented him from competing at UFC 106. MMA becoming legalized in New York State is looking inevitable with Gov. David Patterson publicly endorsing the sport. This card is a hell of a way to seal the deal, or if it's done by then allow lawmakers with open minds to tell themselves, "I made the right decision."
Joe Lauzon, off a crushing loss to Sam Stout earlier this month, said in a release that he hopes his next fight will be in his backyard when the UFC makes its Boston debut this August. Lauzon had Stout in trouble early, but failed to finish him and was pummeled by the Canadien in dropping a unanimous decision, but that was his first fight in 10 months after having knee surgery to repair his ACL. Lauzon gutting out the best performance of Stout's career to date earned them Fight of the Night honors.
“I’m obviously disappointed in the result,” Lauzon said. “It was an entertaining fight, but that’s not what I want to be known for. I focused on the health of my knee and it held up. I didn’t concentrate on my overall condition and I was a little rusty. I trained like a maniac six days of the week, twice a day, and then I couldn’t do too much for six months.”
Thanks to everyone for reading and following me on Twitter. I'm still penning my takes on the Yankees and Rangers, and have a story on the boxing/MMA relationship out in this month's edition of TapouT magazine (Issue 34). Though we're still months away, I'm gearing up for working UFC 111 on site at the Prudential Center. Expect a lot more stuff happening until then.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Call answered: Edgar gets his shot at Penn
It's not 100 percent official yet, but when Dana White says something's going to happen, prepare for it. As first reported by ESPN.com's Franklin McNeil, Frankie Edgar has been named the No. 1 contender to B.J. Penn's lightweight championship. Penn recently stated on his Web site that he expected to fight at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, whereas it was Edgar's hope that his next bout would be before his hometown fans in Newark at UFC 111 in March.
That's probably not going to happen, UFC 111 already has two title bouts, and I for one am sure Edgar will be more than happy to accept the deal whether it's in Abu Dhabi or the Sahara Desert. Besides enjoying a three-fight winning streak, his latest a second-round submission of Matt Veach at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in December which earned "Fight of the Night" honors, Gray Maynard, presumed to be the next in line for Penn by virtue of him owning a victory over Edgar, looked lackluster in defeating Nate Diaz Monday night, leading to White claiming he wasn't "100 percent ready" for the Prodigy.
Maynard is a good fighter who trains under an outstanding camp led by Randy Couture, so his time will come. Right now there's no doubt it's Edgar's time. He's 11-1 (6-1 in the UFC) with a resume that includes wins over Sean Sherk, Hermes Franca, Spencer Fisher and Tyson Griffin. During an exclusive interview that was published in the last edition of MMA Worldwide magazine, Edgar told me he's never been one to seek publicity and proudly billed himself as “the same dude from Toms River, N.J.,” who hangs with the people he befriended in high school. He’s always quick to counter that through hard work and faith your just rewards will be realized.
“If you win and perform well, all that stuff and recognition is going to catch up to you,” Edgar said. “People are going to notice.” Then when asked for a reaction to White’s praise that came after the Sherk win, he looked at it as a happy boss telling him job well done – until he slipped: “And it was good to finally get some recognition.”
Edgar's in the limelight now, but will be facing heavy odds. During yesterday's "Sirius Fight Club," host Randy Gordon and his crew agreed that Penn is on another level and will walk through Edgar. That will be the popular line of thinking. Penn destroyed Diego Sanchez, who I honestly believed stood the best chance of dethroning him, and nobody in the lightweight division can touch him now, if not ever. I'm interested to hear from Edgar how he plans on dealing with the Rocky-like odds that will be stacked against him.
That's probably not going to happen, UFC 111 already has two title bouts, and I for one am sure Edgar will be more than happy to accept the deal whether it's in Abu Dhabi or the Sahara Desert. Besides enjoying a three-fight winning streak, his latest a second-round submission of Matt Veach at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in December which earned "Fight of the Night" honors, Gray Maynard, presumed to be the next in line for Penn by virtue of him owning a victory over Edgar, looked lackluster in defeating Nate Diaz Monday night, leading to White claiming he wasn't "100 percent ready" for the Prodigy.
Maynard is a good fighter who trains under an outstanding camp led by Randy Couture, so his time will come. Right now there's no doubt it's Edgar's time. He's 11-1 (6-1 in the UFC) with a resume that includes wins over Sean Sherk, Hermes Franca, Spencer Fisher and Tyson Griffin. During an exclusive interview that was published in the last edition of MMA Worldwide magazine, Edgar told me he's never been one to seek publicity and proudly billed himself as “the same dude from Toms River, N.J.,” who hangs with the people he befriended in high school. He’s always quick to counter that through hard work and faith your just rewards will be realized.
“If you win and perform well, all that stuff and recognition is going to catch up to you,” Edgar said. “People are going to notice.” Then when asked for a reaction to White’s praise that came after the Sherk win, he looked at it as a happy boss telling him job well done – until he slipped: “And it was good to finally get some recognition.”
Edgar's in the limelight now, but will be facing heavy odds. During yesterday's "Sirius Fight Club," host Randy Gordon and his crew agreed that Penn is on another level and will walk through Edgar. That will be the popular line of thinking. Penn destroyed Diego Sanchez, who I honestly believed stood the best chance of dethroning him, and nobody in the lightweight division can touch him now, if not ever. I'm interested to hear from Edgar how he plans on dealing with the Rocky-like odds that will be stacked against him.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Final answer for Edgar?
Shameless plug alert: Friends or enemies? Issue No. 34 of TapouT Magazine has a feature I wrote on the working relationship between MMA and boxing, and is available on news stands. Also, for hockey fans, I've returned to penning a Rangers column for SNY.tv. Yesterday I posed a question on whether the Rangers are legit contenders (buyers) or destined to flame out (sellers).
On to a few thoughts on a two-day stretch of MMA shows featuring the WEC and UFC.
Gray Maynard needed a win over Nate Diaz Monday night at UFC Fight Night 20 to secure a likely shot at B.J. Penn in April in Abu Dhabi. He eked out a split decision, but there was much more required to winning the fight. Maynard had to look good, had to put on a show, dazzle the audience and the UFC championship committee, and put a bug in Penn’s head (if that’s even possible). Instead he let Diaz’s trash-talking and mind games get the best of him and take him completely off his game.
“Gray learned a valuable lesson in this fight, and it's that you can't let someone get in your head,” said his trainer, Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture. “He can disrespect you with all the verbal crap that goes on in or outside the cage, but you can't allow that to distract you from your goal, your job, what you trained to do.
“I think Gray verbalized that and realizes that's what happened, and that he got caught up in Diaz's attitude.”
Afterwards a contrite Maynard expressed some doubt that his phone will ring with an offer to fight Penn for the lightweight championship.
“The game plan and technique went out the window,” Maynard said. “I'm sorry about that. You won't see that again.”
The reason why Maynard was ranked ahead of Frankie Edgar was because he’s the only man to have defeated “The Answer.” Diaz lost the fight, but it appears as if he took away something from his opponent more valuable than the win at this stage of his career. Edgar looked awesome in December defeating Matt Veach. His dream is to represent New Jersey in March. It looks like the reality could turn out greater than the dream. Early Tuesday morning a source told ESPN MMA insider Franklin McNeil that the UFC has offered Edgar a title shot.
Admittedly I didn’t see most of UFC Fight Night 20 in its entirety; the King of the Castle, age two, decided to take over. But reading the results I’m able to draw an obvious conclusion: You do everything in your power to prevent the fight from getting beyond your control and into the subjective opinions of the judges. Tom Lawlor put on the finest performance of his career against Aaron Simpson. Alas, Simpson barely survived the first round and escaped with a split decision to the vociferous displeasure of the crowd at the Patriot Center ... Chris Leben held on to his UFC spot with a sorely-needed victory over Jay Silva. The bigger story is the hope that The Crippler finally has his life together for good ... Efrain Escudero tasted defeat for the first time when he tapped to Evan Dunham in Round 3. Fellow fighters and mentors are lining up to tell the TUF Season 8 winner the loss will be the best thing to ever happen to him ... TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah looked even better than his last fight, a gritty, razor-sharp unanimous decision win over veteran Phil Baroni, this time going the distance to defeat Brad Blackburn. It’s amazing that Sadollah entered the TUF house without a professional record. His striking and Muay Thai are excellently executed and it’s now time for him to swim in deeper waters.
I did get to watch WEC 46. The great thing about World Extreme Cagefighting is that you’re guaranteed at least one great fight and/or great performance. Mike Brown, Kamal Shalorus, Urijah Faber and Ben Henderson were fabulous, with Smooth wrapping up Jamie Varner like a tarantula to unify the lightweight title. A rematch between Henderson and Donald Cerrone is a given, while WEC president Reed Harris is talking up a showdown with Faber and featherweight champ Jose Aldo to headline the organization’s premiere pay-per-view event. Look for Brown to compete against a top contender with an impressive victory to assure him a chance at regaining the title he dropped to Aldo in November.
On to a few thoughts on a two-day stretch of MMA shows featuring the WEC and UFC.
Gray Maynard needed a win over Nate Diaz Monday night at UFC Fight Night 20 to secure a likely shot at B.J. Penn in April in Abu Dhabi. He eked out a split decision, but there was much more required to winning the fight. Maynard had to look good, had to put on a show, dazzle the audience and the UFC championship committee, and put a bug in Penn’s head (if that’s even possible). Instead he let Diaz’s trash-talking and mind games get the best of him and take him completely off his game.
“Gray learned a valuable lesson in this fight, and it's that you can't let someone get in your head,” said his trainer, Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture. “He can disrespect you with all the verbal crap that goes on in or outside the cage, but you can't allow that to distract you from your goal, your job, what you trained to do.
“I think Gray verbalized that and realizes that's what happened, and that he got caught up in Diaz's attitude.”
Afterwards a contrite Maynard expressed some doubt that his phone will ring with an offer to fight Penn for the lightweight championship.
“The game plan and technique went out the window,” Maynard said. “I'm sorry about that. You won't see that again.”
The reason why Maynard was ranked ahead of Frankie Edgar was because he’s the only man to have defeated “The Answer.” Diaz lost the fight, but it appears as if he took away something from his opponent more valuable than the win at this stage of his career. Edgar looked awesome in December defeating Matt Veach. His dream is to represent New Jersey in March. It looks like the reality could turn out greater than the dream. Early Tuesday morning a source told ESPN MMA insider Franklin McNeil that the UFC has offered Edgar a title shot.
_______________________
Admittedly I didn’t see most of UFC Fight Night 20 in its entirety; the King of the Castle, age two, decided to take over. But reading the results I’m able to draw an obvious conclusion: You do everything in your power to prevent the fight from getting beyond your control and into the subjective opinions of the judges. Tom Lawlor put on the finest performance of his career against Aaron Simpson. Alas, Simpson barely survived the first round and escaped with a split decision to the vociferous displeasure of the crowd at the Patriot Center ... Chris Leben held on to his UFC spot with a sorely-needed victory over Jay Silva. The bigger story is the hope that The Crippler finally has his life together for good ... Efrain Escudero tasted defeat for the first time when he tapped to Evan Dunham in Round 3. Fellow fighters and mentors are lining up to tell the TUF Season 8 winner the loss will be the best thing to ever happen to him ... TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah looked even better than his last fight, a gritty, razor-sharp unanimous decision win over veteran Phil Baroni, this time going the distance to defeat Brad Blackburn. It’s amazing that Sadollah entered the TUF house without a professional record. His striking and Muay Thai are excellently executed and it’s now time for him to swim in deeper waters.
_______________________
I did get to watch WEC 46. The great thing about World Extreme Cagefighting is that you’re guaranteed at least one great fight and/or great performance. Mike Brown, Kamal Shalorus, Urijah Faber and Ben Henderson were fabulous, with Smooth wrapping up Jamie Varner like a tarantula to unify the lightweight title. A rematch between Henderson and Donald Cerrone is a given, while WEC president Reed Harris is talking up a showdown with Faber and featherweight champ Jose Aldo to headline the organization’s premiere pay-per-view event. Look for Brown to compete against a top contender with an impressive victory to assure him a chance at regaining the title he dropped to Aldo in November.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The Master
I'm back from watching UFC 107 from my local Hooters. I was originally at Buffalo Wild Wings until finding out an hour before the telecast that they no longer carried UFC pay-per-views. Luckily I got to Hooters in time to sit at the bar. The place was jam-packed and electric, a great time for a Saturday night during the holiday season.
Okay, I went with the upset picked Diego Sanchez to defeat B.J. Penn. Oh well. What's undisputable is that Penn is going down as one of the greatest MMA fighters in the sport's history. The Prodigy had an answer for anything Nightmare attempted is now 7-2 in nine championship fights and a champion in two weight classes. Incredible.
When he dropped Sanchez with a right within the first 30 seconds he set the tone for the rest of the bout. I thought it was over, but Sanchez's heart kept him it. His tools, however, were no match for Penn's systematic destruction that ended with a high kick in Round 5 that opened an ugly cut on Sanchez's forehead.
For Sanchez, expect a mandatory medical suspension that will keep him out of action until around the beginning of summer. For Penn, he's cleaned out the lightweight division and left you wondering who on earth can stop him? Someone will be deemed No. 1 contender and my guess is Gray Maynard if he defeats Nick Diaz next month at UFC Fight Night 20. If I were matchmaker I'd also pair Frankie Edgar against Kenny Florian, who looked awesome in choking out Clay Guida and the winners in a title bout.
I'll have more about Frank Mir's demolition of Cheik Kongo and Alan Belcher's first-round TKO later. It's off to bed and early to rise for a leisure trip to New York City to enjoy the holidays sights.
Okay, I went with the upset picked Diego Sanchez to defeat B.J. Penn. Oh well. What's undisputable is that Penn is going down as one of the greatest MMA fighters in the sport's history. The Prodigy had an answer for anything Nightmare attempted is now 7-2 in nine championship fights and a champion in two weight classes. Incredible.
When he dropped Sanchez with a right within the first 30 seconds he set the tone for the rest of the bout. I thought it was over, but Sanchez's heart kept him it. His tools, however, were no match for Penn's systematic destruction that ended with a high kick in Round 5 that opened an ugly cut on Sanchez's forehead.
For Sanchez, expect a mandatory medical suspension that will keep him out of action until around the beginning of summer. For Penn, he's cleaned out the lightweight division and left you wondering who on earth can stop him? Someone will be deemed No. 1 contender and my guess is Gray Maynard if he defeats Nick Diaz next month at UFC Fight Night 20. If I were matchmaker I'd also pair Frankie Edgar against Kenny Florian, who looked awesome in choking out Clay Guida and the winners in a title bout.
I'll have more about Frank Mir's demolition of Cheik Kongo and Alan Belcher's first-round TKO later. It's off to bed and early to rise for a leisure trip to New York City to enjoy the holidays sights.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Iole: Trouble in Florian camp
Yahoo's MMA/Boxing writer Kevin Iole broke down the weigh-ins as part of his UFC 107 preview. Towards the end he revealed he's heard things haven't been right with Kenny Florian due to turmoil in his camp. For that reason, in large part, Iole is suddenly giving Clay Guida more of a chance.
I already called Ken-Flo by decision and gotta stick with it, but even if there was harmony on Florian's side - and Iole was pretty vague in his report - Guida stands a great chance of winning the fight regardless. From Day 1 his wrestling game has been awesome and work with Greg Jackson just might get him over the top in this, the most important fight of his career. A solid win over Ken-Flo vaults The Carpenter into the lightweight title picture, where Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar also have legit claims.
I'll be at my local Buffalo Wild Wings taking in what I expect to be a great night. Even with Rampage Jackson backing out of his showdown with Rashad Evans you have three main-event caliber bouts plus the underrated and angry Alan Belcher in one of the prelims.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
No Bones about it
It's too bad Jon Jones competes in an ocean-deep light-heavyweight division. In the long run this will contribute to his development as one of the greats MMA has ever seen. Short-term Jones will be waiting awhile for his name to be on the championship committee's table. If he defeats Rashad Evans next month, Thiago Silva, in my view is in line for the next shot at the winner of May's rematch between champ Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua. If Sugar wins he'd love his shot at a second title reign. The wild card in this is the predictable return of Rampage Jackson. A chance at shutting up his hated rival - combined with big money - will probably supersede Evans facing either Machida or Rua.
Back to "Bones," who looked awesome in destroying Matt Hamill only to be handed a disqualification loss for an illegal "12-to-6" elbow that was confirmed by the wise implementation of instant replay. Hamill dislocated his shoulder early in the bout, but never in his career - not even against Rich Franklin - has "The Hammer" been decimated like he was Saturday night.
(For the record, Steve Mazzagatti, yet again in the line of fire for controversial situations, was 100 percent correct in not stopping the fight. Hamill may have been on the brink, but he was still defending himself in survival mode. In this sport it's often damned if you do, damned if you don't. You get heat for stopping a bout "too soon" when it's your job to protect a fighter's health or doing nothing and increasing risk of a serious injury.)
The DQ win combined with the injury will get Hamill a rematch, but considering what Jones displayed the results will be similar. Jones' flair for the creative and the dramatic, and his unorthodox style (think Keith Jardine with finesse), has him on track to be a future champion. He's just 22 years old and that's out-and-out scary.
****
Kimbo Slice will never be UFC Heavyweight Champion, but because he cemented his place in the UFC, he's a winner. Slice refused to buy into his hype for one second and his commitment to MMA is admirable. It'd be great if his next fight is a rematch with Seth Petruzelli ... I doubt seriously you'll see Slice-Houston Alexander on any best of 2009 compilations. Alexander looked awful and you have to wonder if the UFC's door is closed for good ... Stop hating on Roy Nelson. He's a legit heavyweight who'd put a scare into the top-tier fighters ... Brendan Schaub will be back and will be a superstar ... Marcus Jones, 36, has a lot of work to do and little time to do it ... Matt Mitrione knocked out "Darkness" with one punch, but must improve his ground game and endurance to complement his immense power ... What's next for Frankie Edgar? A rematch with Gray Maynard or the winner of Kenny Florian-Clay Guida? "The Answer" is a one more impressive win over a top contender from a title shot ... Am I in the vast minority of picking Diego Sanchez over B.J. Penn? I'll explain some time this week.
Back to "Bones," who looked awesome in destroying Matt Hamill only to be handed a disqualification loss for an illegal "12-to-6" elbow that was confirmed by the wise implementation of instant replay. Hamill dislocated his shoulder early in the bout, but never in his career - not even against Rich Franklin - has "The Hammer" been decimated like he was Saturday night.
(For the record, Steve Mazzagatti, yet again in the line of fire for controversial situations, was 100 percent correct in not stopping the fight. Hamill may have been on the brink, but he was still defending himself in survival mode. In this sport it's often damned if you do, damned if you don't. You get heat for stopping a bout "too soon" when it's your job to protect a fighter's health or doing nothing and increasing risk of a serious injury.)
The DQ win combined with the injury will get Hamill a rematch, but considering what Jones displayed the results will be similar. Jones' flair for the creative and the dramatic, and his unorthodox style (think Keith Jardine with finesse), has him on track to be a future champion. He's just 22 years old and that's out-and-out scary.
****
Kimbo Slice will never be UFC Heavyweight Champion, but because he cemented his place in the UFC, he's a winner. Slice refused to buy into his hype for one second and his commitment to MMA is admirable. It'd be great if his next fight is a rematch with Seth Petruzelli ... I doubt seriously you'll see Slice-Houston Alexander on any best of 2009 compilations. Alexander looked awful and you have to wonder if the UFC's door is closed for good ... Stop hating on Roy Nelson. He's a legit heavyweight who'd put a scare into the top-tier fighters ... Brendan Schaub will be back and will be a superstar ... Marcus Jones, 36, has a lot of work to do and little time to do it ... Matt Mitrione knocked out "Darkness" with one punch, but must improve his ground game and endurance to complement his immense power ... What's next for Frankie Edgar? A rematch with Gray Maynard or the winner of Kenny Florian-Clay Guida? "The Answer" is a one more impressive win over a top contender from a title shot ... Am I in the vast minority of picking Diego Sanchez over B.J. Penn? I'll explain some time this week.
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