The date is set, Kimbo vs Shamrock live in prime-time on CBS on Saturday October 4th for the next edition of Saturday Night Fights.
Following Kimbo's last fight in May against James Thompson many thought that his next opponent would be Brett Rogers, a big heavyweight at 6'5 265lbs. Rogers impressed scoring a win by TKO. In the post-fight press conference Rogers called Kimbo out. Saying he was unimpressed with him and wanted to fight him. Kimbo responded and it seemed like they may fight then and there. The stage was set for some perfect pre-fight buildup and a fight that could be marketed to feature two fresh faces in MMA in prime-time. Instead of giving us the obvious fight the Elite XC brass decided to go a different route and employ a man that at one time was feared around the world. A man who is a UFC hall of famer but over the course of the last 5 or so years he has looked more and more like a journeyman fighter than anything else. That man is Ken Shamrock.
When I first heard about this I thought for sure it was a joke. Shamrock is 45, a loser of 7 of 8 fights. His only win came against another over the hill fighter in Kimo Leopoldo. The only fighter Shamrock was able to survive against in that span was a split decision loss to Don Frye. In the other 6 losses he was stopped due to strikes or knocked completely out. This is the same Ken Shamrock that got knocked out cold against 185lb fighter Kazushi Sakuraba at Pride 30. Shamrock has seeming lost his ability to take a punch.
Elite XC has done the right thing for their marketing in giving their cash cow Kimbo a fight he should win in highlight reel fashion. But sooner or later they are going to have to give Kimbo a real fight before fans stop thinking of Elite XC as a joke. Should Kimbo escape Shamrock and a fight with Brett Rogers doesn't follow and instead he sees another fighter with a suspect chin; Elite XC may start to feel some backlash from the fans who are starting to see the organization as a joke.
Today I leave you with the suggested viewing of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Tim Sylvia from UFC 81, a heavyweight title bout. http://www.mmalinker.com/xSearch.php?name=Sylvia&btnG=Search&vidid=7106&vidt=i
Friday, August 29, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
UFC 87: Seek and Destroy
UFC 87 Seek and Destroy originated from The Target Center in Minneapolis Minnesota. The card featured fights in most weight classes with co-main events featuring Brock Lesnar vs Heath Herring and Jon Fitch vs Georges St. Pierre.
The night started out in the middle weight division featuring Brazilian jiujitsu whiz Demian Maia against tough Canadian Jason Macdonald. Maia enters with a 7-0 record (2-0 UFC) and no fight even entering the 3rd round as he finished every opponent by submission. Macdonald enters with an experience edge at 20-9 (4-2 UFC). Macdonald has been fairly inconsistent in his UFC fights, he has wins over some decent competition but losses to the top dogs (Franklin and Okami). This was a good way to start the night. A lot of action and a lot of technical fighting going on on the ground. Macdonald showed some good resiliency avoiding a very nice triangle choke in the first round and he kept pressing forward. However, the Maia showed why he hasn't had a fight go to a decision yet as he consistently pounded and improved position on his over matched foe before finally securing a rear naked choke. Maia continues to impress and is one maybe two wins away from facing Anderson Silva provided Silva continues to decimate his competition. Up next for Maia should be Okami who is currently healing from a broken hand while Jason Macdonald should get a break from the stiffest of competition and face off against a fighter like Kendall Grove.
The second fight of the evening showcased the 155 lb lightweight division with two of its brightest stars. Kenny Florian squares off against Roger Heurta. Fight had a lot of action with Heurta pressing most of the fight. Florian was content to counter and score takedowns. Heurta was able to avoid a damaging Florian elbow and a submission but at the end of the night found himself on the short end of a decision loss. Florian impressed with improved footwork, seemingly effortless transitions, and the patience to not force things. Florian easily countered Heurta at times landing big shots including a couple of big knees towards the end of the fight. Florian is ready for the step up to one of the top 2 fighters in the division (Sherk or Penn), given Penn's desire to rematch St. Pierre, Florian will probably end up facing the winner of Sherk/Griffin early next year for the right to face Penn. Roger meanwhile will have to go back to Minneapolis and continue to work on his game, he needs to expand to more than just a guy who keeps moving forward. His aggression cost him a lot of points by giving Florian easy takedowns and advances on position, while he did lose to Florian, Roger has nothing to be ashamed of. Next step for Heurta has to be the loser of Sherk/Griffin, no point in going back to lower competition, he needs to get right back into the thick of things and fight top talent.
Next was the first of the co-main events. A heavyweight battle between Brock Lesnar and Heath Herring. Lesnar is a highly decorated collegiate wrestler as well as former WWE superstar. Heath Herring is a well traveled fighter having fought top competition most of his career and having fought all over the world. From the opening bell it was all Lesnar, he knocked down AND cut Herring with one punch. Brock was able to take Heath down at will, control him, advance position, and land some good ground and pound strikes. Herring had no answer while Brock showed immense improvement over his last fight a Mir (pun intended) six months ago vs Frank Mir. Next up for Brock I suggest going against Kongo, Kongo decided to declare himself the #1 contender, let him fight Brock and see if that tone changes. Herring should be used to help build up another HW, that man is Cain Velasquez. Cain is another wrestler based fighter in the HW division who boosts a perfect 4-0 MMA record with all four fights being stopped by TKO.
The last fight of the night is the 170lb welterweight title fight between champion Georges St. Pierre and the challenger Jon Fitch. Fitch is riding a fifth teen fight win streak while St. Pierre comes in fresh off his dominating win over Matt Serra for the undisputed title. St. Pierre came out in this fight more focused than ever before. From the opening bell you could tell Fitch was in for a long night. Save for a couple minutes in round two and a minute or so in round three it was all St. Pierre. He out wrestled, struck, and worked Jon Fitch, a man who is known for his pace set in fights along with his conditioning. At the conclusion of the five round war in which St. Pierre claimed a unanimous decision, 155lb champion BJ Penn entered the Octagon and challenged St. Pierre to a rematch which St. Pierre accepted. It would seem that those two will meet again, this time on New Years Eve. Meanwhile Jon Fitch has to go back to the drawing board and take a spot in line behind the rest of the members of AKA, Josh Koshcheck and Mike Swick. Given most of the top contenders at 170lbs are tied up currently ro training partners of Fitch I would like to see him square off against Chris Lytle. Lytle is a tough test for anyone and just recently lost to Fitch's partner Koshcheck.
That does it for UFC 87: Seek & Destroy which was an all around great event though it lacked the second title fight or a 205lb fight it was still well worth the money 8/10. Now I'm going to leave you with a suggested viewing as I hope to with every entry. I suggest going and watching Royce Gracie vs Sakuraba 1 from the 2000 Pride Grand Prix. It was an epic battle that lasted 90 minutes.
The night started out in the middle weight division featuring Brazilian jiujitsu whiz Demian Maia against tough Canadian Jason Macdonald. Maia enters with a 7-0 record (2-0 UFC) and no fight even entering the 3rd round as he finished every opponent by submission. Macdonald enters with an experience edge at 20-9 (4-2 UFC). Macdonald has been fairly inconsistent in his UFC fights, he has wins over some decent competition but losses to the top dogs (Franklin and Okami). This was a good way to start the night. A lot of action and a lot of technical fighting going on on the ground. Macdonald showed some good resiliency avoiding a very nice triangle choke in the first round and he kept pressing forward. However, the Maia showed why he hasn't had a fight go to a decision yet as he consistently pounded and improved position on his over matched foe before finally securing a rear naked choke. Maia continues to impress and is one maybe two wins away from facing Anderson Silva provided Silva continues to decimate his competition. Up next for Maia should be Okami who is currently healing from a broken hand while Jason Macdonald should get a break from the stiffest of competition and face off against a fighter like Kendall Grove.
The second fight of the evening showcased the 155 lb lightweight division with two of its brightest stars. Kenny Florian squares off against Roger Heurta. Fight had a lot of action with Heurta pressing most of the fight. Florian was content to counter and score takedowns. Heurta was able to avoid a damaging Florian elbow and a submission but at the end of the night found himself on the short end of a decision loss. Florian impressed with improved footwork, seemingly effortless transitions, and the patience to not force things. Florian easily countered Heurta at times landing big shots including a couple of big knees towards the end of the fight. Florian is ready for the step up to one of the top 2 fighters in the division (Sherk or Penn), given Penn's desire to rematch St. Pierre, Florian will probably end up facing the winner of Sherk/Griffin early next year for the right to face Penn. Roger meanwhile will have to go back to Minneapolis and continue to work on his game, he needs to expand to more than just a guy who keeps moving forward. His aggression cost him a lot of points by giving Florian easy takedowns and advances on position, while he did lose to Florian, Roger has nothing to be ashamed of. Next step for Heurta has to be the loser of Sherk/Griffin, no point in going back to lower competition, he needs to get right back into the thick of things and fight top talent.
Next was the first of the co-main events. A heavyweight battle between Brock Lesnar and Heath Herring. Lesnar is a highly decorated collegiate wrestler as well as former WWE superstar. Heath Herring is a well traveled fighter having fought top competition most of his career and having fought all over the world. From the opening bell it was all Lesnar, he knocked down AND cut Herring with one punch. Brock was able to take Heath down at will, control him, advance position, and land some good ground and pound strikes. Herring had no answer while Brock showed immense improvement over his last fight a Mir (pun intended) six months ago vs Frank Mir. Next up for Brock I suggest going against Kongo, Kongo decided to declare himself the #1 contender, let him fight Brock and see if that tone changes. Herring should be used to help build up another HW, that man is Cain Velasquez. Cain is another wrestler based fighter in the HW division who boosts a perfect 4-0 MMA record with all four fights being stopped by TKO.
The last fight of the night is the 170lb welterweight title fight between champion Georges St. Pierre and the challenger Jon Fitch. Fitch is riding a fifth teen fight win streak while St. Pierre comes in fresh off his dominating win over Matt Serra for the undisputed title. St. Pierre came out in this fight more focused than ever before. From the opening bell you could tell Fitch was in for a long night. Save for a couple minutes in round two and a minute or so in round three it was all St. Pierre. He out wrestled, struck, and worked Jon Fitch, a man who is known for his pace set in fights along with his conditioning. At the conclusion of the five round war in which St. Pierre claimed a unanimous decision, 155lb champion BJ Penn entered the Octagon and challenged St. Pierre to a rematch which St. Pierre accepted. It would seem that those two will meet again, this time on New Years Eve. Meanwhile Jon Fitch has to go back to the drawing board and take a spot in line behind the rest of the members of AKA, Josh Koshcheck and Mike Swick. Given most of the top contenders at 170lbs are tied up currently ro training partners of Fitch I would like to see him square off against Chris Lytle. Lytle is a tough test for anyone and just recently lost to Fitch's partner Koshcheck.
That does it for UFC 87: Seek & Destroy which was an all around great event though it lacked the second title fight or a 205lb fight it was still well worth the money 8/10. Now I'm going to leave you with a suggested viewing as I hope to with every entry. I suggest going and watching Royce Gracie vs Sakuraba 1 from the 2000 Pride Grand Prix. It was an epic battle that lasted 90 minutes.
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