Russian Tweets

Interesting news from twitter last night saw M1 global calling for a match between Fedor and Cain Velasquez in Moscow!

Now I realize that this is pure fantasy for a variety of reasons but indulge me for a minute...that fight would be a great spectacle (especially in Russia) and a match up that lots of fans would love to see. Of course there is a less than 1% chance that it would happen, I don't think the UFC would ever co-promote with any other organisation and lets face it Fedor hardly catapulted himself back to relevance with a decision win over Jeff Monson last weekend. I'm sure that Dana will have some fun at M1's expense over this one.

The only potential positives about this fight from a UFC perspective (and I realize that I'm clutching at straws here) are;

1. Velasquez is no longer the champ, if he were to lose it wouldn't devalue the belt in any way by having the "champion" outside of the UFC

2. I imagine Russia would probably be a difficult market for the UFC to crack. A one off partnership with M1 might actually make sense here and could be great for building the UFC's profile in previously uncharted waters.

UFC 139 Wow

Well a lot has been said and written about UFC 139 already but it was a truly fantastic event. Here are some of my thoughts now I've had a couple of nights to get over the excitement;

1. Shogun v Henderson was in my opinion the best MMA fight ever. I haven't heard anyone come up with a really credible contender.

2. How could the last round not be scored 10/8 to Shogun? He mounted Dan four times! It's getting tiresome but judging in MMA needs an overhaul. Judges across the board favour stand up striking over grappling when scoring. It could also be argued that round three was a 10/8 to Hendo, for what it's worth I had the fight as a draw.

3. Both these guys are true warriors, I hope they got paid a shed load of money.

4 Hendo seems to be at his peak at age 41. He now fights like Chuck Liddel, really just using his wrestling to keep the fight standing and waiting to land that right hand bomb. Having a granite chin also helps. If I had a choice I think I'd like him to fight Silva (providing he can get past Sonnen) rather than Jon Jones. I think Jones would out-wrestle him and be big enough and strong enough to hold him down.

5. Will Shogun ever come to a fight in really great shape? He looked flabbier than usual for this one. He was gassed by the end of the second round but to be fair to him he seemed to stay at the same level for the rest of the fight and actually finished much stronger than Henderson (although being 12 years younger has to help). I can't help but support this guy. I would love to see him fight Rampage in Japan but I think that fight may come too soon for him to recover. He's only 29 and I think he'll put together another run at the title sooner rather than later.

6. Wanderlei Silva still has something left in the tank. It was great to see a typical swarming finish from him, a real blast from the past. I still get nervous whenever he gets tagged and he looked unsteady after eating the spinning back fist in round one but he got the win in impressive fashion at the end. I'm not sure what's next for him, the Cung Lee fight was perfect, a big name but not hugely dangerous. I'm really interested to see who he gets next.

7. Cung Lee would probably lose to the majority of middleweights in the UFC. He's 39, has poor conditioning and has never really focused fully on MMA. It's only down to huge natural ability that he can compete at that level at all. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see him return.

8. Urijah Faber was awesome. I hope the rumour is true that he will be the next coach of the ultimate fighter alongside Dominic Cruz. They despise each other and it would really help build their rivalry to a new level.

The Ageing Fighters Biggest Fight - Staying Relevant

Lets get this straight I'm a huge Pride fan, I lived in Japan when Pride was in its heyday. It was my introduction to MMA and I'll always cheer for the ex-Pride fighters when I watch them fight (although I did lose faith with Cro-Cop, his heart just wasn't in it at the end). These guys are a dying breed, and it got me thinking about the battle to stay relevant and stave off retirement that these ageing fighters are facing. Randy Couture laid down the blueprint, he kept himself in tip top shape, always came to the Octagon with a watertight game plan and showed huge heart and desire. His comeback win against Tim Sylvia is one of my favourite all time fights. This weekend we'll see another fighter in a desperate battle to keep his career alive....Wanderlei Silva. He's probably one of my all time faves. Undoubtedly one of the most intimidating fighters in MMA history, a guy who finished fights. His UFC career though has been less than spectacular, he also looks pretty weird following the surgery he had to remove all the scar tissue from his face. It's almost like he's wearing guy liner...weird. Despite this he's still my boy but he's on borrowed time. His chin is Liddelesque in its fragility and he still seems to approach fights without a solid game plan. The biggest issue for me though is his change of attitude. I hate to hear him talking about "entertaining the fans", he talks about putting on a good fight being more important than winning and his legendary intense stare down has disappeared. I realize that if you are losing fights then it's more difficult to feel like a killer who scares his opponents stiff but if he has any chance of keeping his career alive he has to tap into the animal that he once was. Don't get me wrong I'm not advocating that he starts rushing across the cage recklessly. He just needs to get mean. For what its worth I think he'll beat Cung Lee who is flashy but overrated in my opinion. If we are lucky we may just see Wanderlei in a few more fun fights before the end.

UFC on Fox and other ramblings

It's been a little while since my last blog post but I've been manic with work so it's nice to finally sit down and pen some thoughts.

Last nights fight was dramatic and in my mind predictably short. It was wonderful to see the UFC live on network television surely a huge stride in our fantastic sport becoming truly mainstream. This feeling was dampened slightly by reports that the viewing figures only reached 4.6 million for the hour broadcast. When all the numbers are fully crunched and they release the data for the number of people who actually watched the fight itself I think (hope) the figures will be a lot higher. After all you can't expect the casual/new fan to watch a 60 second fight and then sit through 55 mins of extended punditry. Nearly everyone who I've heard discuss the topic felt that they should've showed the Guida v Henderson fight as part of the hour (including UFC employees like Joe Rogan). This seems blindingly obvious and seems to be a decision taken by Fox rather than the UFC. I'm sure some television executive has a good reason for this that no one else has thought of yet.

The fight itself was short, brutal and dramatic. There were question marks over Velasquez coming into the fight regarding ring rust and injuries picked up in training but I think he just tried to swim in the deep waters of Dos Santos' striking and drowned. He is still the number 2 heavyweight in the world for me, but knockout victories over Zombie Nog and Brock "not the face" Lesnar have perhaps mislead us all as to his ability on the feet. Dos Santos is one of the nicest guys in the game and a real killer to boot. There is still a slight question mark about his ability to stuff the take down of an elite heavyweight wrestler but there aren't many fighters that fall into that bracket anyway. Lesnar might test this theory if he can get past Overeem and both Barnett and Cormier have the credentials to take him down. I actually think his biggest test will be the eventual and inevitable rematch with a super motivated Cain Velasquez who will come back with a tighter game plan next time.