Ultimate Fight Night was fun on Thursday, shame about Herring but he really had nothing in terms of a takedown defence and with that fighting stance he was clearly focusing way too much on his injury. Finish was fun as Rashard Evans obliterated Shawn Salmon with a high kick that will be on many a highlight reel in the future.
So we have finally returned to MMA madness after a few weeks off post UFC 66, just look at the great schedule:
The footage of Heath Herring’s now famous pre match confrontation at 2005’s K-1 NYE show is now actually being used by the UFC to promote him! Being first ever site to post the video I do feel slightly responsible for ‘the kiss heard around the world’ :-).
The biggest and best year for MMA yet has just wrapped up and there are no signs the sport is slowing down yet. We have seen the continued dominance of Chuck Liddell, Cro Cop finally winning the big one and the defeat of Matt Hughes.
Best Division: UFC Welterweight
One glance at the MMA Weekly rankings is evidence enough that this division is deep. Some of the best matches have been fought within it and competition is extremely close at the top.
Worst Division: UFC Heavyweight
Tim Sylvia has become a joke. Our only hope now is that Mirko goes in there and high kicks his head off ASAP.
Favourite Fighter: Mirko Cro Cop
In 2006 we saw a renewed Cro Cop who managed to take out Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett on the same night, becoming Pride’s new open weight tournament champion. His signing to the UFC this week capped off an impressive year.
Favourite Match: Matt Hughes vs BJ Penn (UFC 63)
It’s something truly incredible when Matt Hughes comes back from the brink of defeat to win a match so decisively. He did it again here much like he did against Frank Trigg the second time they met. He shows a toughness and stamina that no one else can match, if you give him an inch he will take a mile.
Favourite Moment: GSP Finally Wins the Belt (UFC 65)
After all the hype was over and the injuries had healed GSP got his title shot and defeated Matt Hughes in impressive style. A complete dominance of someone who at the time was considered one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. After all the hard work it finally came through for him.
Worst Moment: Pride Losing Japanese TV
The loss of TV due to the Mafia scandal has done tremendous damage to Pride. The chances of Pride coming out of 2007 intact are not looking promising.
Worst Trend: Champions having non-title fights
I’m looking at you Gomi. You crazy crazy elf.
Best Match that Never Happened: Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva
Dana teased us but Pride didn’t deliver. The dream match of last year still hasn’t taken place and won’t be happening anytime soon. MMA needs this fight in 2007. Make it happen!
“If Tito finds a way to beat Chuck, I’m going to have to come out of retirement and give Tito a whack.”
Asked if he was serious about lacing up the gloves again to fight Ortiz, Couture responded with an emphatic “absolutely.”
Potential matches if Tito wins - tons. Potential matches if Chuck wins - not many. Mmm I kind of see myself routing for Ortiz for the future of the business but also Chuck because he’s CHUCK LIDDELL. Fun fun fun on the 30th.
Someone finally posted the awesome video package FujiTV put together for the Fedor Emelianenko vs Mirko Filipovic (Cro-Cop) fight. I have been waiting to see this for a while as just about everyone who saw it last year raved about it.
It’s nice to finally see this but it also makes me sad to look back at Pride during its peak like this and compare to what we will have this New Year’s Eve.
Press release here. WFA wasn’t a threat, they were going out of business and it seems this was the best way to secure some of the contracts UFC had been seeking. Rampage is a cert and they want Lindland so he can’t be far behind. Herring and a few others are possibilities but right now only Jackson is confirmed.
This is great news for 2007, Tito and Chuck are going to have a few more guys looking for piece of the LHW title pie. More importantly we will have some FRESH MATCHES.
Now they just need to get Cro-Cop and this will be a dream week of UFC purchases.
UFC had a half decent show on Saturday if not up to the standards set by the last three seasons of Ultimate Fighter finales. It’s what we expected going in as they were coming off some of the lowest ratings and worst episodes they have had in a while. The few memorable things on the show were the crazy finish to the Pete Sell vs Scot Smith match and the terrible judges they have in Nevada
The Middleweight final ended in a split decision and some strange scoring. How any of the judges could have had either man winning every round is beyond me. It was not a clean sweep by either guy and to call it 30-27 is just wrong.
This was one of those fights where the current judging criteria isn’t enough and needs to be made more specific. There were barely any take downs, barely any connecting punches but a whole lot of countering and maneuvering. Depending on if they thought Lytle’s defensive success was more important then Serra’s offensive failures could have thrown the fight either way.
Mike Goldberg hinted at a sudden death round (is that really the best term when they are trying to be mainstream) but of course we didn’t get one. It’s debatable if that would have helped or not because usually when a fight is heading for a decision there’s no stopping it.
Anyone realise there was a Pride show on Sunday? No me neither and I have no interest in seeing it. They are really going to have to pull the stops out at the New Years and in February shows to stop the sinking ship.
Last week was a crazy few days for UFC with programs on almost every night. The legend Ken Shamrock retires, a brutal five round war is waged and Rich Franklin defeats himself before even stepping foot in the octagon. Tired? Not me but I feel many soon will be unless action is taken.
This is all great stuff that I am truly wrapped up in at the moment and can’t get enough of. However they do run the risk of burning out very quickly if they maintain this pace into 2007. More mega fights on the horizon include the rematches of Hughes vs. GSP next month and Ortiz vs. Liddell in December, two fights I am salivating over.
But after that where do they go next? Well Mr White said recently they are planning five shows for the UK next year. If you add that to the monthly PPVs and minimum of ten live Spike TV shows I start to wonder if they can really keep this super drawing business at such a high level for much longer.
The roster needed to be enhanced with more top level fighters this year but the UFC have failed to secure guys such as Rampage Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, Matt Lindland, Heath Hearing and more. These are fighters who should have been brought in before now so they could earn their way into title contention in 2007. It’s all very well bringing in Anderson Silva and giving him a title shot after one fight but it won’t draw much money because mainstream fans (or even the bookies in this case) won’t believe in the challenger no matter how much international experience he has.
They have a great product right now and really don’t want to just see it explode and die. They need to invest now to protect their future.
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