Jul 02, 2010

MMAuro’s UFC 116 Main Card Preview
Posted by Arda Ocal

With Fedor Emelianenko being outed as mere mortal like the rest of us, the mythical title of number one Heavyweight Mixed Martial Artist in the Galaxy will be up for grabs when Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin collide inside the Octagon for the UFC Heavyweight championship this Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Lesnar’s health issues have been well documented. He successfully battled  a career threatening  intestinal disorder known as Diverticulitis that left him on the sidelines for nearly a year. The debilitating disorder may have in fact been a blessing in disguise as it has forced the one man Minnesota Wrecking Crew to eat healthier which in turn will probably make his already formidable speed autobahn worthy. His world class wrestling pedigree and freakish strength have proven to be his tickets to the top but he is cognizant of the ingredients that are necessary to stay in the rarified air space.He brought in none other than the man he beat for the Heavyweight strap, Randy Couture to help him strategize and work on the techniques that have made Couture the “Dean of Dirty Boxing”. Lesnar also worked with fellow Team DeathClutch members and NCAA wrestling stars Chris Tuchsherer and Cole Konrad. Another addition to his camp was boxing  coach Pete Welch and  Lesnar mentioned  earlier this week  that they changed his stance from orthodox to southpaw. It probably wasn’t the wisest move to let his opponent know this in advance but  I don’t see anyone lining up to be the first to tell the former WWE performer he made a tactical error in letting the proverbial cat out of the bag. Just a quick aside, shouldn’t animal lovers be in an uproar over the fact that a feline is in the bag in the first place? Anyway, regardless of changes Lesnar may have made in his stand up techniques, I still think Carwin will be the more proficient puncher. The fighting engineer has collected all 12 of his wins via first round stoppage; 8 of which came courtesy of his sledgehammer strikes. While Lesnar has gone 1-1 against their one common opponent, Frank Mir, Carwin crushed him in less time that it took Roger Bannister to run the mile in 1954. Carwin has reaped the rewards of being associated with one of the best camps in the sport, Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He’s a former NCAA Division 2 wrestling champion but I think wrestling will be a moot point in this much anticipated clash of the titans as my magic 8 ball says someone is going down in the opening round faster than BP stock. With apologies to my fellow Pro Wrestling meazarks, that man’s initials will be B.L. UFC President Dana White has already said that unbeaten AKA phenom Cain Velasquez is waiting in the wings to face the winner of UFC 116’s mammoth main event. Oh,one more thing  while Zuffa is known for cutting unreported check s to its roster of fighters when they feel they deserve it for their Octagon efforts, the reported purses for Saturday’s feature attraction explain why Carwin remains gainfully employed as an engineer. According to the NSAC,he is scheduled to make just 80 grand for the opportunity to become the full champion and that includes a 40 thousand dollar win bonus. Lesnar ,the sport’s biggest draw is reportedly getting a 400 thousand dollar flat fee. Of course, he has pay per view points and with UFC 116 expected to garner around a million buys,one shouldn’t expect Lesnar to be crooning the Great Depression standard “Brother,Can You Spare a Dime?”

The other marquee match up on the card took a major hit when huge fan favorite Wanderlei Silva withdrew from his Middleweight showdown with Judo black belt Yoshihiro Akiyama. The Axe Murderer was going to try and compete with a damaged knee but after breaking a reported three ribs while training he was forced to say “No mas” and opportunity came knocking on the door of Chris Leben,who will be stepping inside the octagon for the second time in just two weeks! Akiyama ‘s UFC debut was a controversial one as he recorded a razor thin split decision win over Alan Belcher last July. Akiyama is a tactical striker with decent footwork but against a power punching southpaw like Leben, conventional wisdom suggests that the judoka should probably try to take the fight to the ground where he will have an edge when it comes to fishin’ for the submission. Leben ‘s gameplan is very similar to the Bill Murray flick “Groundhog Day”. He’s a bonafide leather chucker and I think he’s going to come out and treat Akiyama like he’s on fire with the only extinguisher available coming in the form of the TUF 1 alum’s heavy hands. However, I am fearlessly (go big or go home!) predicting that Akiyama will be the one to “burn” Leben with a well placed counterstrike that will abruptly end the proceedings late in the opening round.

My choice for most entertaining encounter of the evening shouldn’t come as a surprise. Chances are that when Welterweight Chris Lytle is on the bill, his opponent should expect to receive beaucoup bonus bucks for “Fight of the Night”. In fact, the Indianapolis fire fighter has won bonuses in 7 of his last 9 UFC contests. Lytle’s propensity to keep his fights in the vertical position overshadows the fact that he is also a BJJ black belt. He already owns a 2nd round guillotine choke win in 2007 over the man he’ll be opposing at UFC 116,Matt Brown. In MMA terms, that was a lifetime ago and Brown utilized the vast expertise of Matt “The Wizard” Hume in the Pacific Northwest to continue to hone his overall skillset. He’s gone 5-2 since losing to Lytle and while Lytle’s style of fighting doesn’t lend itself to self preservation, I think the battle tested veteran will prevail via unanimous decision,29-28.

Light Heavyweights Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski will square off one more time after controversy shrouded their first meeting at UFC 110 in Australia last February. An accidental clash of heads left Bonnar with a cut that the referee thought was the result of a legal strike and awarded the tainted win to the “Polish Experiment”. Bonnar unsuccessfully appealed the decision and he now faces the prospects of losing for the fourth straight time inside the Octagon. While UFC  president Dana White has stated that Bonnar and Forrest Griffin has a “job for life” thanks to their seminal scrap in the TUF 1 finale,one would have to think Bonnar is on the bubble. He’s a BJJ purple belt but his striking isn’t the most technically sound and I think Soszynski is the better wrestler.16 of the his 19 victories have come inside the distance and I think he’s going to pick up his 8th win via form of knockout thanks to some good ol’ fashioned ground and pound in the third round.

The PPV portion of the card begins with a very intriguing Lightweight bout between Kurt Pellegrino and George Sotiropoulos. The 31 year old “Batman” is a BJJ  whiz who trains under Renzo Gracie black belt Ricardo Almeida. He extended his current win  streak to 4 when he sublimely submitted Royler Gracie BJJ blackbelt Fabricio Camoes via second round rear naked choke at UFC 111 in March. Sotiropoulos’ grappling game has proven to be a revelation as he’s honed his razor sharp skills rolling with the likes of mat mavens Matt Serra and rubber guard guru Eddie Bravo. He’s reeled off 6 straight wins including all five of his Octagon appearances. He’s fresh off a unanimous decision win over former UFC Lightweight title  challenger Joe Stevenson, someone who defeated Pellegrino 3 years ago.While Sotiropoulos is a former amateur boxing champion in his native Australia, I hope we will be treated to a grappling clinic and honestly this one is a pick’em but I am going to go with Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision, 29-28.

Jul 01, 2010

Arda Ocal’s MMA Chart of Enjoyment – Jul 1 / 10
Posted by Arda Ocal

Happy Canada Day!

Arda Ocal rates news items of the day as a positive or negative (if a news item is not seen here that means it was deemed to have no point value). The total is tallied up and added/subtracted from the previous day’s total. The chart below is then updated with today’s Index.

Follow Arda on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/arda_ocal

 

TOTAL GOING INTO TODAY’S NEWS: +76

Strikeforce releases Jake Shields: +2
Anyone can see that the fights that await Jake Shields in the UFC are far more appealing that what Strikeforce could offer. GSP, the winner of Sonnen / Silva, both are mega fights that would be a huge draw.

Why did Strikeforce release Shields? They had the option to review the UFC’s offer and match it to retain their champion’s services – my guess is that the UFC’s offer came lower than expected, Strikeforce then said “you’re on your own” and released him, leaving him no option but to head to Zuffa on a lower salary. Of course this is all speculation on my part.

TODAY’S NEWS TOTAL: +2

TOTAL AFTER TODAY’S NEWS: +78

Jun 28, 2010

Arda Ocal’s MMA Chart of Enjoyment – Jun 28 / 10
Posted by Arda Ocal

Arda Ocal rates news items of the day as a positive or negative (if a news item is not seen here that means it was deemed to have no point value). The total is tallied up and added/subtracted from the previous day’s total. The chart below is then updated with today’s Index.

Follow Arda on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/arda_ocal

 

TOTAL GOING INTO TODAY’S NEWS: +57

 Strikeforce - Fedor vs Werdum: +20

For MMA fans, last Saturday night will be one of those “I remember where i was when…” moments. The Last Emperor, the consensus number one fighter on the planet went into the main event in a fight that many thought would be a sort of tune up fight, already looking past his opponent, Fabricio Werdum and a title clash between Fedor and Alistair Overeem. Fedor pressed the action in the beginning, knocking down werdum, but as Fedor pounced on top of Werdum, Fabricio went into BJJ mode, grabbed a hold of Fedor’s arm and jockeyed for position to apply an arm bar or triangle choke. He would secure the latter as fedor tried to squirm free and pull down on the Last Emperor’s head, leaving him no option but to tap… not your regular repeated short taps, but one, long, emphatic tap that caused referee Big John McCarthy to stop the bout at 69 seconds of the first round. Prior to this, 22 of Fedor’s 32 wins have come in the first round. On this night, he himself fell in the first round. This is the first time in ten years that Fedor has suffered a loss. After the fight Fedor, through his translator, said he’s only human and delivered the famous quote “the one who doesn’t fall, doesn’t stand up”.

 This leaves lots of questions in the Heavyweight division in Strikeforce, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

 Don’t forget about the other fights on the card – Cyborg’s destruction of Jan Finney, who will get another Strikeforce fight in her brave performance, Josh Thomson with a great back and forth victory, and Cung Le avenging his only loss with a spinning back kick of hell on Scott Smith.

Kendall Grove says remarks on the radio that cost him a Spike TV televised prelim: -1
Watch what you say, MMA fighters. It’s good to promote a fight but don’t bury the network you’ll be appearing on, even if you didn’t mean to.

TODAY’S NEWS TOTAL: +19

TOTAL AFTER TODAY’S NEWS: +76

 

Jun 21, 2010

Arda Ocal’s MMA Chart of Enjoyment – Jun 21 / 10
Posted by Arda Ocal

Arda Ocal rates news items of the day as a positive or negative (if a news item is not seen here that means it was deemed to have no point value). The total is tallied up and added/subtracted from the previous day’s total. The chart below is then updated with today’s Index.

Follow Arda on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/arda_ocal

 

TOTAL GOING INTO TODAY’S NEWS: +52

WEC 49: +3
WEC always continues to provide fantastic action that the casual fan needs to hear about. Hominick vs Jabouin is a fight of the year candidate (If Jung vs Garcia takes fight of the decade and we rule it too good for fight of the year status). Josh Grispi continues to build a name for himself and I look forward to watching him fight, as with Chris Horodecki. Judging hijacked my good feeling about main event and for that matter Varner’s victory – I can’t avoid the fact that I get annoyed with judges decisions, and that is why this event isn’t a +5. 

TUF 11 Finale: +2
Less overall action to me than WEC 49, but still some gutsy performances.. I was shocked that Hamill was able to fight despite an active staff infection, I’m eagerly awaiting an explanation on that one. If Jardine is done with the UFC after this loss I’ll be disappointed, because he still has exciting fights left in him. Court McGee, the guy with the great story, wins the contract and the Middleweight division will be better for it. 

TODAY’S NEWS TOTAL: +5

TOTAL AFTER TODAY’S NEWS: +57

Jun 17, 2010

Arda Ocal’s MMA Chart of Enjoyment – Jun 17 / 10
Posted by Arda Ocal

Arda Ocal rates news items of the day as a positive or negative (if a news item is not seen here that means it was deemed to have no point value). The total is tallied up and added/subtracted from the previous day’s total. The chart below is then updated with today’s Index.

Follow Arda on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/arda_ocal

 

TOTAL GOING INTO TODAY’S NEWS: +50

Strikeforce: Los Angeles: +2
Enjoyed this event, good finishes and the commentary team looked comfortable and seemed like they were having a great time at this event. Liked the “commentator perch” between fights.. did not enjoy the interviews between rounds, that can be polished up. Still felt like a catchweight bout to determine a proposed number one contender in different weight classes seems desperate.

TODAY’S NEWS TOTAL: +2

TOTAL AFTER TODAY’S NEWS: +52

Jun 14, 2010

Arda Ocal’s MMA Chart of Enjoyment – Jun 14 / 10
Posted by Arda Ocal

Arda Ocal rates news items of the day as a positive or negative (if a news item is not seen here that means it was deemed to have no point value). The total is tallied up and added/subtracted from the previous day’s total. The chart below is then updated with today’s Index.

Follow Arda on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/arda_ocal

 

TOTAL GOING INTO TODAY’S NEWS: +47

UFC 115: +5
Enjoyed the event, and the controversy didn’t completely upset my experience. Sad to see Liddell go out the way he did, but you have to respect Franklin’s warrior spirit, fighting with a broken bone in his arm suffered early in the bout. Pat Barry vs CroCop was surreal stuff (and not just because CroCop used a submission to win the bout!), was really cool to see the mid-round hug. Rory MacDonald made a name for himself at this event.

Ken Shamrock admits to using steroids: -2
Never good to hear that one of the pioneers of the sport used performance-enhancing drugs. Not good for MMA’s public profile.

TODAY’S NEWS TOTAL: +3

TOTAL AFTER TODAY’S NEWS: +50

Jun 08, 2010

Arda Ocal’s MMA Chart of Enjoyment – Jun 8 /10
Posted by Arda Ocal

Arda Ocal rates news items of the day as a positive or negative (if a news item is not seen here that means it was deemed to have no point value). The total is tallied up and added/subtracted from the previous day’s total. The chart below is then updated with today’s Index.

Follow Arda on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/arda_ocal

 

TOTAL GOING INTO TODAY’S NEWS: +45

Rampage Jackson’s appearance on Monday Night RAW: EVEN
It sucked, but it didn’t decrease my enjoyment of MMA.. the ending of RAW drastically increased my enjoyment of pro wrestling, but that’s another story.

Poll – 2/3 Ontario residents say that if most of North America accepts MMA, Ontario should as well: +1
Exactly.

King Mo spars with James Toney: EVEN
This is a step in the positive direction for “Lights Out”, but I’m still curious how seriously he’s taking this fight with Randy Couture.

The UFC gives Dan Miller another chance: +1
Very classy move from a classy organization. Sometimes it’s just another chance, as opposed to unexpected fight bonuses and gifts that the UFC is also known to give to its fighters.

TODAY’S NEWS TOTAL: +2

TOTAL AFTER TODAY’S NEWS: +47

Jun 07, 2010

Arda Ocal’s MMA Chart of Enjoyment – Jun 7 / 10
Posted by Arda Ocal

Back after a short hiatus, covering CFC 5 in Winnipeg, MB. Great event, will look stellar as part of “The Score Fighting Series” – look for it in the next two weeks! Don’t forget fights from previous events are available at http://video.thescore.com/channels/mma

 

Arda Ocal rates news items of the day as a positive or negative (if a news item is not seen here that means it was deemed to have no point value). The total is tallied up and added/subtracted from the previous day’s total. The chart below is then updated with today’s Index.

Follow Arda on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/arda_ocal

 

TOTAL GOING INTO TODAY’S NEWS: +44

Bas Rutten nominated in New York City for “Greatest Athlete of Dutch Heritage: +1
Amazing for the profile of MMA. Rutten joins famous Dutch sports names like soccer players Edgar Davids, Johan Cryuff and Dennis Bergkamp, US Open Tennis champ Tom Okker, NBA ballers Rik Smits, Keith Van Horn and Kiki Vandeweghe, and 4 time gold medalist Fanny Blankers-Koen. What a great list to be included on!

Shigeki Uchiyama loses part of his ear in Pancrase event: EVEN
Boxing has Holyfield and Tyson, Pro Wrestling has Mick Foley and Vader as well as Yukon Eric and Killer Kowalski, now MMA has Uchiyama and Makaya Takita. Hard to find anything amusing or depressing about this, just that it should be stated!

TODAY’S NEWS TOTAL: +1

TOTAL AFTER TODAY’S NEWS: +45

Jun 02, 2010

Arda Ocal’s MMA Chart of Enjoyment – Jun 2 / 10
Posted by Arda Ocal

Arda Ocal rates news items of the day as a positive or negative (if a news item is not seen here that means it was deemed to have no point value). The total is tallied up and added/subtracted from the previous day’s total. The chart below is then updated with today’s Index.

Follow Arda on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/arda_ocal

 

TOTAL GOING INTO TODAY’S NEWS: +44

Kim Couture in fact was NOT arrested for Domestic Violence: -1
There are many credible MMA news websites out there – MMA Junkie, MMA Fighting and Sherdog are 3 examples. Unfortunately, some other websites dont fully do their due diligence when it comes to reporting stories, like this one. Many reported she was arrested – she was not. Full details are in today’s Fight Show podcast – http://hardcoresportsradio.com/content/media/podcasts/a19a6c8b-4f73-4961-a050-04da0b157ff8.mp3

Jens Pulver gets cut by the WEC: EVEN
He is a legend and will always be one of the sport’s pioneers, but it makes sense why he was cut by the organization, after going 1-5 in the company, with 4 of those losses coming in the first round. Does he have more to contribute to the sport of MMA however - absolutely!

Ratings jump 33% for UFC 114 Spike TV prelims broadcasts: +1
At 1.6 million viewers, it makes this episode the second highest watched in the series, behind UFC 109’s edition in February. Good news.

 

TODAY’S NEWS TOTAL: EVEN

TOTAL AFTER TODAY’S NEWS: +44

Jun 01, 2010

Arda Ocal’s MMA Chart of Enjoyment – Jun 1 / 10
Posted by Arda Ocal

Be sure to take a second today to remember MMAWeekly founder Ryan Bennett, who died 4 years ago today. He truly was an MMA pioneer and someone we as members of the MMA media aspire to emulate.

Arda Ocal rates news items of the day as a positive or negative (if a news item is not seen here that means it was deemed to have no point value). The total is tallied up and added/subtracted from the previous day’s total. The chart below is then updated with today’s Index.

Follow Arda on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/arda_ocal

 

TOTAL GOING INTO TODAY’S NEWS: +46

Rampage Jackson, Michael Bisping use homophobic comments in the media: -2
It’s not cool for any fighter, especially in the UFC, especially at their elite level, to be making comments like “acting is gay” and “I didn’t want to look like a faggot and not fight” in the media. It’s bad for the sport.

TODAY’S NEWS TOTAL: -2

TOTAL AFTER TODAY’S NEWS: +44