MMA Live stacks the deck with recaps of UFC 105 and WEC 44, as well as a preview of UFC 106: Ortiz vs. Griffin II. Also, MMA legend Dan Henderson is in Bristol with an update on his fighting future.Tags: Mixed Martial Arts, Ufc
When the UFC's hype engine fails to deliver any real, palpable anticipation for a fight -- as in the case of Saturday's Tito Ortiz-Forrest Griffin rematch, which is fine but far from the Epic Super Rematch of Mega-Titans some clever editing and music are presenting it as -- you can make up your own narrative.
In this instance, UFC 106's four light heavyweights might potentially be participating in a four-man tournament for a chance at the title without knowing it. In addition to Ortiz-Griffin, a debuting Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will face Luis Cane; the respective winners would have time to meet before May 1's Lyoto Machida-Mauricio Rua rematch. It may be all that you need to sit a little closer to the television.
Fewer excuses need to be made for the undercard, a talent-rich program with some genuinely compelling fights and fighters. Any program forced to restrict Caol Uno to preliminary status has things going for it.
What: UFC 106: Ortiz versus Griffin, an 11-bout card from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas
When: Saturday, Nov. 21, 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view, with a live undercard special on Spike at 9 p.m. ET
Why you should care: Because Ortiz, while not for all tastes, usually brings a contagious energy into his bouts; because we'll get to see what kind of answers Anthony Johnson has for someone like Josh Koscheck, who can take his legs out from under him; because the Amir Sadollah-Phil Baroni bout looks deceptively like a boy-versus-man matchup, which might amuse your friends; and because it's a pleasure to watch any Nogueira compete.
Fight of the night: Karo Parisyan versus the UFC (previously Parisyan versus Dustin Hazelett). Parisyan has grappled more with anxiety issues than opponents in recent months; he pulled out of the event Thursday for suspect reasons. Now Dana White swears he's done.
Sleeper fight of the night: Paulo Thiago versus Jacob Volkmann, two
finishing submission artists who will benefit from Parisyan's absence -- they've been moved up to the main card.
Hype quote of the show: "I've sparred with Anthony before. He was afraid to get punched and he got really aggressive and came back swinging whenever I got in his face and put any pressure on him. A win will put me one step closer to my goal of becoming the UFC welterweight champion. When I whip this kid's ass, I'm calling out Georges St. Pierre next." -- Koscheck, objectively calculating his chances, to UFC.com.
Five questions: UFC 106
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
Another showing like this, and Forrest Griffin can kiss his career goodbye.
Q: Is Tito Ortiz ready for an encore?
A: Ortiz's recent performances displayed a fighter far removed from the kind of dominating, aggressive cage-wrestling he used to great success early on; he blamed back issues, corrected by a new and less invasive surgery. But even if Ortiz reverts to his old form, he'll be a 2002 fighter in 2009: up against athletes who can stuff his takedown, shut him down on the ground and pester him standing. Aggressive wrestlers will always have a chance -- even fresh off the college mat -- but it's not as good a guarantee as it used to be.
Q: Can Forrest Griffin handle another loss?
A: Batterings against Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva put Griffin on track to suffer a third consecutive defeat. While his popularity and "Ultimate Fighter 1" finale cred probably guarantee him permanent employment in the UFC, he does not strike as the type who will take a run of misfortune with grace. Whether that statistic influences his performance against Ortiz, forcing him to fight more conservatively, is one for the wrap-up.
Q: Can Phil Baroni pull it together?
A: Despite being difficult to take down, heavy-handed and sporting the ring temperament of a rabies victim, Baroni's record reads as 13-11. Depending on which fights of his you've seen, he appears either tougher than you expect or weaker than advertised. His fighting a capable Amir Sadollah will help determine whether being "at home" in the UFC's 170-pound division is going to make a difference -- or whether Baroni and Frank Trigg are on course to give each other an exit interview.
A: Parisyan, probably the most macho-strapping fighter in the sport today, blames anxiety issues for flat performances. His last, versus Dong Hyun Kim, was erased when he was pinned for painkiller use. Having a mind congested with these issues when Dustin Hazelett is looking to make your ankle touch your ear is not proper, which may be part of the reason he made an unexpected exit from the event Thursday. Parisyan, only 27 despite his decade of experience, needed a strong performance to mute the negative voices -- both in and out of his head. He won't get that chance.
A: Long a fixture of the Japanese circuit, Nogueira has all the tools necessary to become a legitimate light heavyweight contender -- which would place him directly in the sights of associate Lyoto Machida. MMA is not chess, and a punch to the face is not as subdued a move as taking a rook. Nogueira's success could come with a heavy tax.
Red Ink: Ortiz/Griffin
Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
Tito Ortiz has returned, but has he brought his surgically repaired back with him?
There is likely to be a moment during the Tito Ortiz-Forrest Griffin bout Saturday when both men struggle for position: Griffin pressed against the cage, resisting Ortiz's chances on the ground, Ortiz testing his new back against someone paid to hurt him. There are consequences to how this plays out, but they amount to more than superficial damage: In jockeying for control, both are really fighting to remain relevant.
Ortiz has not competed in more than a year, maintained a nearly annual fight schedule prior to that, and may find that fans have pledged allegiances to more active fighters. In the span Ortiz took time off, fought Lyoto Machida and convalesced, Griffin has fought four top-10 opponents (and beat two of them). Ortiz has not had a hand raised in a meaningful fight since he defeated Griffin in 2006.
If Ortiz cannot beat Griffin, there will be doubts whether a good or bad back has much to do with his recent mediocrity. If Griffin cannot beat Ortiz, he might be doomed to a career as a sardonic special attraction, not a serious contender. This is a fight that the loser leaves feeling lost.
Might look like: Ortiz's fight with Vitor Belfort, a wild back-and-forth that confuses judges who are already struggling with common sense.
Wild card: Absolutely Ortiz's back: If he can continue taking effective shots for three rounds, Griffin will need a sewing kit for his forehead.
Who wins: Griffin is most successful when opponents want to take batting practice with him; it's not a game Ortiz has to play if he doesn't want to. Ortiz by decision.
Flying high: Jose Aldo jump-started his career with a title-winning effort against Mike Brown.
WEC 44, which aired Wednesday on the Versus network and probably pre-empted an important rodeo meet, climaxed with an indirect example of Anderson Silva's greatness.
Silva is entering his fourth year as middleweight champion, which is not unlike being Miss Teen USA for two decades running: It is incredibly difficult to avoid making mistakes or running into someone who can deconstruct you.
Despite this negativity, Mike Thomas Brown, who defeated Urijah Faber for the featherweight title and then successfully defended it twice, was believed to have a fairly solid grip on his division. (Good wrestlers who can punch often do.) But he was not able to bully Jose Aldo, a harrowing striker that seemed bent on breaking Brown's ribs with kicks or knees. Unable to score a takedown, it was Brown who was mounted and tenderized.
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Brown held the belt for one year, 13 days. This is not a sport that lets its fighters stay happy for very long. And yet Silva is always smiling.
Next for Brown: Rethinking his stated desire to compete at 155 lbs; perhaps the loser of Faber/Raphael Assuncao in January.
Next for Aldo: The winner of Faber/Assuncao.
Nickname of the night award: Kamal "Prince of Persia" Shalorus, who put down Will Kerr and looked royally dangerous in his first televised fight.
The this-is-not-pure-wrestling award: Danny Castillo, an NAIA community college wrestler who managed to take down All-American Oklahoma State alum Shane Roller. The threat of punches, kicks, and knees to your dental work changes everything, including your takedown defense.
The baiting-bullies award: Karen Darabedyan, who probably put up with no end of harassment over his first name (pronounced Car-en) but appears capable of ending lives if you push your luck.
The corrective-lenses award: Judge Tony Weeks, for believing Rob McCullough had done enough to win every round against Darabedyan. Weeks apparently had more sympathy for Darabedyan's hands than McCullough's head.
Round 1 to Randy: UFC's Couture outdueled Strikeforce's Fedor in the ratings game.
After some slight misdirection in declaring Saturday's broadcast of UFC 105 "live" -- it was actually on a several-hour tape delay from Manchester, England -- Spike and the UFC have decided that the opportune time to acknowledge the stuttered feed is when discussing how it beat Nov. 7's Strikeforce in the 18-49 demo.
"Emanating from a European UFC attendance-record-setting MEN Arena in Manchester, England, the tape delayed presentation of 'UFC 105' outrated the LIVE broadcast 'CBS Saturday Night Fights' and the Strikeforce debut of Fedor Emelianenko on Saturday, Nov. 7 (9 -11:24 p.m. ET) in every key male demographic," bleated the press release.
An average of 2.9 million viewers tuned in, with 3.7 million staring agog at Randy Couture's hold-and-mold offense against Brandon Vera.
How badly did the event trounce Emelianenko's network debut? Not very. It scored a 2.84 rating in 18-49-year-old males to CBS' 2.45, which is not exactly a Globetrotters/Generals drubbing. And while you could make the argument that the victory resonates more because Spike is on cable and CBS is over-air, this isn't 1995: Nearly 90 percent of homes in the US have a coaxial snaking into their set.
Public relations could take turns spinning these numbers for eternity: UFC 105 was competing with Manny Pacquiao/Miguel Cotto, reportedly a huge seller; Strikeforce was up against a college football game on ABC; a thunderstorm may have disrupted signals to Nielsen households; CBS didn't count the prison population tuning in; and on and on.
It's a strange metaphor for Emelianenko's literal win against Brett Rogers: There are always a set of reasons why we shouldn't find him impressive. No wonder the guy doesn't bother listening to English.
With a proper training camp, time to prepare and a healthy athletic base, the heavyweight division is still the sloppiest in mixed martial arts. Absent any of those things, it can produce a prizefight so bad you will begin to believe in the theory of relative time and space.
In pursuit of a formal career in the UFC, Jon Madsen and Brendan Schaub put on this season's latest display of plodding, monotone fighting, which Schaub mercifully ended by landing a straight right early in the second round. (To be fair, Madsen was out-numbered: Schaub teamed with the fence to stifle some takedowns, a bold new interpretation of the rules that prompted Rashad Evans to ask why he didn't get a point deduction.) Schaub joins Roy Nelson in the semifinals. My pulse remains steady.
Though he didn't participate in a fight, much of Wednesday's episode focused on Matt Mitrione staring vacantly into space and trying to explain to coaches that he might have "brain swelling." This condition does not normally allow for the kind of casual conversation Mitrione enjoyed. More often, it demands the attention of a neurosurgeon, a tranquilizer and a quiet room in which to drill into your skull.
Mitrione's peers were equally unconvinced. "He's not brain-damaged," James McSweeney announced. Considering how this cast has performed so far, he's probably right. That kind of trauma is out of their reach.
Dan Hardy doesn't deserve a title shot, huh? We aren't sticking around to hear his rebuttal.
If there is a 12-step program for coping with Dan Hardy's getting a title shot against Georges St. Pierre in 2010, Josh Koscheck is still somewhere around No. 1: denial.
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Speaking to Heavy.com, Koscheck -- who lost to St. Pierre in 2007 and trains with Mike Swick, whom Hardy defeated last Saturday -- discredited the opportunity, alleging that promoters are "just trying to get someone for St. Pierre to beat up."
"He doesn't deserve a title shot," Koscheck said. "It's simple, but I don't make those decisions."
Those who do might see the value in British nationalism: The UFC boasted a huge gate in Manchester, despite never having had the chance to promote a title bid for a challenger from the U.K. This was easily and immediately remedied with a Hardy win over Swick, a respected and durable opponent. St. Pierre has erased virtually everyone else in the division, so Hardy's opportunity doesn't come at the expense of a worthy contender. But it still smacks of a decision to further cement the brand in the land of fish and chips.
Will we see Brock Lesnar in the Octagon again? Almost certainly, but why try speculating?
As of the middle of this week, Brock Lesnar's health remains vaguely defined. We only know that he would prefer we not be discussing it. That's according to UFC president Dana White, who then proceeded to do exactly that in Manchester last Saturday at UFC 105, citing that Lesnar was very ill and may not fight again -- a condition downgraded in severity when Lesnar's trainer, Greg Nelson, said Lesnar would be returning home soon.
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"Major" surgery, in White's vernacular, became "minor" surgery early this week. Aside from a definitive diagnosis of mononucleosis, Lesnar clearly has one (or more) other things ailing him, including a vague bacterial infection in his intestinal tract. He has since returned home to Minnesota to convalesce.
Whatever is attributable for Lesnar's collapse, the time and energy spent speculating whether or not it will end his career is a waste. A car helped crumple Frank Mir's leg; serious staph infections have eaten holes in the flesh of many fighters; Ken Shamrock, as his legend is quick to remind you, once broke his neck. They all came back to fight. Athletes, in particular, have a tendency to resist doctor proclamations that they will never compete again. Chalk it up to either incredible physical constitutions or incredible egos. Lesnar has no shortage of either.
There's something truly bizarre about the roundtable Internet discussion about his symptoms and piecemeal suppositions: Lesnar has diverticulitis; no, it's a bacterial infection; no, a tapeworm; no, he's just gassy. It's like a satellite gathering of a doctoral think tank in which no one has doctorates, medical records or the patient's cooperation. I doubt that anyone -- including Lesnar himself -- has any idea how his career will be affected. So what's the point in dialoguing it to death?
There are reasons fighters have a library of good stories. The profession can take you to odd corners of the world, and early experiences can twist and torque the brain into gravitating toward that sort of career choice. Fighters are not boring people. They all have a book in them.
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This is especially true of Jose Aldo, who told Yahoo! Sports' Steve Cofield this week that he was once tossed into a barbecue pit by his two sisters while horsing around as a toddler in Brazil. Let me run that by you once more: He was tossed into a barbecue pit as a baby.
(Tiger Woods, meanwhile, had a formative experience of his own earlier this month: In Shanghai for the WGC-HSBC event, Woods complained that crowds kept taking pictures of him with their cell phones. Haunting. Perhaps he and Aldo can swap horror stories sometime.)
This is part and parcel to relative thinking -- the idea that nothing you experience in the ring can be as traumatic as what you've already gone through. Mike Thomas Brown will not be packing pyrotechnics Wednesday night, and he can't do anything to Aldo that might require skin grafts.
A lot of people get hung up on how tough fighters are physically. I tend to think it's their mental calluses that make a greater difference.
Is Randy Couture thinking about a title shot? A Mark Coleman fight will be a blast either way.
In relation to other sports, frequency of competition is MMA's biggest deficit. If you're a baseball fan, you can see the Yankees player at least 162 times in a year. If you happen to enjoy the WWE, you'll typically see major stars wrestle at least a couple times a month. But in prizefighting, unless you're working the ladder as a near amateur, you're going to be trotted out for only two or three fights a year.
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It's not necessarily any healthier that way: Athletes spend vacation months gorging, partying, then trying to snap their bodies back into shape -- an up-and-down cycle of bad and worse abuse that can invite assorted problems. Funny thing is, it's not necessarily the athlete's preference to idle so long: Josh Koscheck recently requested to fight 12 times in 2010.
Couture prefers Greco-Roman tie-ups in the clinch, set up by his boxing; Coleman dives for legs. Both have rated among the most successful modified wrestlers in the sport. It's a match that doesn't need to make any allowances for age, size or ring wear. Whether it has title implications probably depends on how good the winner looks, but that's besides the point. Not every fight needs to be about a trophy. Watching two Hall of Fame competitors test themselves on equal footing is a celebration of two impressive careers. That's enough.
Mike Thomas Brown routinely overpowers even the best opponents in his own division.
While being the furthest thing possible from a not-for-profit organization, Zuffa remains fairly generous when it comes to offering high-level, competitive fights for free. If the strategy is to do the exact opposite of the greedy financiers who stifled boxing in the 1990s, then the strategy is working.
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Wednesday's WEC event on Versus -- Zuffa's third event in eight days -- will determine the world's top featherweight fighter, a role previously held by both Urijah Faber and Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto. Challenger Jose Aldo has TKO'd every one of his five WEC opponents, dispelling the commonly held thought that sub-155-pound athletes don't have knockout power. Champion Mike Thomas Brown is also undefeated in the promotion, having taken Faber's title in violent fashion.
Like most athletes who excel in the sport, they are not one-dimensional, and it will be interesting to see if Aldo's largely unseen ground game can answer Brown and his ferocious wrestling base. It's going to be difficult not to be entertained.
What: "WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo," a 10-fight card hosted by the Pearl in Las Vegas.
When: Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 9 p.m. ET on Versus.
Why you should care: Because Aldo's striking is impressive enough for pixels, let alone live-action viewing; because Brown is like a mini Brock Lesnar, noticeably stronger than most everyone he fights; because seven-time junior national judo champion Manny Gamburyan and debuting Karen Darabedyan both bring doses of under-represented judo, a beautiful art with ugly consequences; and because Danny Castillo, a slept-on 8-1 performer, is going to be the underdog in a wrestling match against former Division I All-American Shane Roller.
Fight of the night: This space is not proud to point out the obvious, but it's expected that Brown-Aldo will be a rabid 25 minutes.
Hype quote of the show: "The government of Iran says I'm 37, but I'm not. … Maybe I was born in 1978, maybe 1979, maybe 1975. I don't know. I said, 'Mom, what happened?' She said, 'Oh yeah, we had another son before you and he passed away. We could not go to city [to the hospital] because we had no money and it was snowing, so we just gave his birth certificate to you. … It's very common where I come from." -- Kamal Shalorus, who claims to have no idea how old he is, to WEC.tv.
Although a long and lean 145 pounds, Jose Aldo has shown more than his share of power.
At 5-foot-6 and a child-actor-like 145 pounds, Mike Thomas Brown is evidence that tough men come in all shapes and sizes. Most would give him a fair chance against several 155-pound fighters; he probably would pick off a few 170-pound athletes if you got him mad enough. His technique is aggression. Some fighters are gentle finishers, rolling you into a submissive ball and hugging you afterward. Brown hopes you'll need a nurse to assist you in chewing.
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None of this is news to Jose Aldo, a blitzing striker and jiu-jitsu black belt who has lost only once, four years ago, and washed that out by taking victories in his next eight fights. He is everything Brown is not: a little reckless, long, sometimes airborne. Brown can counter by digging a trench in the canvas and stuffing Aldo in there for five rounds.
What it means: Brown has the potential to become the Anderson Silva or Georges St. Pierre of the 145-pound weight class: A man who makes good fighters appear lost.
Third-party investor: Urijah Faber, the WEC's most familiar face, who probably can't beat Brown but might find a more inviting style match in Aldo.
Wild card: Aldo's striking doesn't follow convention: It will either confuse Brown (as it has others), or Brown will exploit it with a more disciplined offense and heavier hands than Aldo is used to seeing.
Who wins: Brown might eat a few coming in, but he's a guy that would get angry, not concussed, if you took a bat over his head. Brown by TKO.
Randy Couture might have lost a step over the years, but his efforts were still too much for Brandon Vera.
In trying to come up with a metaphor for Randy Couture's current physical abilities, you can't do much better than a boat anchor. If he gets a lock on your body, he will either drag you down or exhaust you with your own resistance, swimming against the current he creates. It's an ugly way to go.
Against Brandon Vera on Saturday in Manchester, England, Couture clung to Vera while landing few effective strikes. The biggest moments in the bout came only when Vera had the distance to land body shots, which Couture's creaky reflexes allowed through. Despite Vera's delivering the damage of the fight, including a knockdown, judges figured Couture's lone takedown and pressing Vera into the fence trumped it.
If the fight were scored as a whole, Vera would probably win. As it is, they appeared to split two rounds and stalemate a third. A draw would have made the most sense. Increasingly, we should not expect judges to do the sensible thing.
Couture looked a few frames behind Vera, which is a problem that will continue to plague him in the weight class that probably strikes the best balance between speed and power. But at 46, you take your victories however you can get them.
Next for Couture: A title shot against Lyoto Machida would insult viewers' intelligence: This was the least impressive win of Couture's career. A rematch with Tito Ortiz or a fight with the winner of next week's Antonio Rogerio Nogueira-Luis Cane bout would be a plausible progression toward that goal.
Next for Vera: Motivational speaking (attending, not lecturing).
Next for Dan Hardy: Facilitating the easiest payday of Georges St. Pierre's career: In beating Mike Swick, Hardy has been granted a shot at the welterweight title. The UFC will try like hell to sell this fight, but don't you believe it. Hardy isn't ready.
Next for Michael Bisping: A fight with Wanderlei Silva could spring one of them into immediate title contention -- especially if Dan Henderson has pulled up stakes for Strikeforce.
New questions
Martin McNeil for ESPN.com
Dan Hardy's heavy hands probably wouldn't help him seize the day against the likes of GSP.
Q: Will fans buy Dan Hardy as a worthy title challenger?
A: Hardy hits like a piston and gets better every time he appears in the ring, but he's still miles away from the kind of suffocating, upper-tier attack of a Jon Fitch or Thiago Alves. That's the kind of competition he should have to face and beat in order to earn a shot at Georges St. Pierre's chin. It's hardly sandbagging -- St. Pierre has defeated virtually every big name in the class -- but if this is the beginning of St. Pierre's 2010, he should consider a future at middleweight.
A: He went about it in the most perfunctory way imaginable, but Randy Couture still defeated Brandon Vera. And while he ate some crippling body shots, he proved he wouldn't turn to dust against a highly credible kickboxer. Other elite strikers in the division -- Thiago Silva, Lyoto Machida, Mauricio Rua -- don't have Vera's Greco-Roman skills to work as a Couture anti-venom. He's not done.
A: For most of his career, Bisping has had a habit of squinting into the camera and daring fans to like him. The knockout delivered by Dan Henderson brought some humility with it: Bisping was cordial in victory against Denis Kang, surviving a first-round daze to show off some impressive guard work. Everyone loses. If Bisping continues to acknowledge that, he can continue improving.
Awards
The young-old man of the night award:Aaron Riley, who became a fixture in the 1990s MMA scene and is still somehow only 28 years old.
Admiral apathy of the night award:Andre Winner, for strolling over to the splayed carcass of Roli Delgado to grab a nearby sponsor T-shirt, then scratching his nose as his name was announced. He might've gotten some water, too, if those stupid EMTs weren't in the way.
Glaucoma awareness of the night award: Tito Ortiz, for sporting sunglasses indoors -- that would make him look out of place if he were orbiting the sun.
Street fighter of the night award:Brandon Vera, for pulling off the sport's first and only simultaneous groin shot and eye poke against Couture. If you see this man in a bar, leave him alone.
The Goldberg award: Mike Goldberg, for never letting a fight get in the way of a plug.
Joe Rogan: "Riley needs to do something here …"
Goldberg: "The 'Ultimate Fighter' finale … tickets are still available …"
Rogan: "… even his kicks are tentative …"
Goldberg: "Log on to UFC.tv for more info."
Etc.
Martin McNeil for ESPN.com
Guess who's back: Maybe fans and media alike were too quick to write off Michael Bisping …
• Manchester's M.E.N. Arena hosted 16,693 attendees Saturday, setting a European attendance record for the UFC: For financial reasons, it seems likely Dan Hardy's title shot against Georges St. Pierre would take place in the UK …
• UK's Telegraph believes St. Pierre and Hardy might coach the 11th season of "The Ultimate Fighter." Thirteen weeks of attempted brainwashing …
• White told MMAJunkie.com that the promotion is only "months away" from organizing international versions of "The Ultimate Fighter," with cast members pulled from hosting countries …
• With the win over Vera, Randy Couture, 46, became the oldest winner in the Octagon in the promotion's history …
Jake Rossen's editorials appear weekly on Sherdog.com. Currently acting as editor of Real Fighter magazine, he has been covering the sport of mixed martial arts since 1998. He lives in Binghamton, N.Y.
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