MMA/Boxing

UFC 82 Fallout/Boxing’s Fight of the Year/This Weekend’s Fights…

I went 3-1 in my UFC 82 picks, losing the Herring/Kongo fight. Anderson Silva looked awesome in his second round submission win over Dan Henderson. It’s clear that Henderson is still a great fighter (he won the first round by controlling Silva on the ground and landing short hammer fists), but Silva is in a class by himself at 185 lbs. Most likely, Silva will defend his title against Yushin Okami, who stopped Evan Tanner in two rounds. Okami won, but nothing he did suggested he could dethrone Silva. Jon Fitch grinded out another UFC win (seven straight, in fact) and is reportedly getting the next shot at the welterweight belt later this year. Fitch is tough fighter, but I don’t see how Karo Parisyan can be denied the next title shot.  The Chris Leben/Alessio Sakara fight was as good as expected, with Leben showing his solid chin and punching power, TKOing Alessio in just over three minutes.

This Saturday features several fights. On HBO, Oleg Maskaev fights Samuel Peter for Maskaev's WBC heavyweight title, while Juan Diaz takes on Nate Campbell for Diaz's IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight titles. I’ll take Peter and Diaz. The same night Showtime features a unique doubleheader, including David Haye vs. Enzo Maccarinelli in a WBC/WBA/WBO cruiserweight unification bout. Haye is the rising star here. The channel also will be showing the U.K.’s Cage Rage card, including Ken Shamrock vs. Robert Berry. I’ll go with legend here for what it’s worth.

NOTES:

Don’t ask me how, but I correctly predicted Israel Vazquez’s decision victory over vs. Rafael Marquez.  This fight is clearly the front runner for Fight of the Year. To the best of my knowledge, this would be only the fifth time that some combination of fight/rematch/rubber match earned Fight of the Year. (Tony Zale vs. Rocky Graziano I and II won Fight of the Year in 1946 and 1947;   Ali vs. Frazier I and III were both awarded Fight of the Year in 1971 and 1975; Marco Antonio Berrera vs. Erik Morales I and III earned the honors in 2000 and 2004; Auturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward I and III were both awarded Fight of the Year in 2002 and 2003. Certainly, the Vazquez vs. Marquez trilogy ranks above the great Manny Pacquiao vs. Eric Morrales trilogy of 2005-2006, and right next to Gatti/Ward and Barrera/Morales as for best trilogy of the decade. When you think about it, this decade has yielded tons of great fights in the lighter weight classes. With the decision disputed, it’s safe to say these two warriors will fight again.  

Elite XC, the MMA promotion on Showtime, has signed a deal to show free fights on CBS. This was big news over the past week, as all the mainstream media has picked up the story. It’s good in the short-term for fight fans, but I’m skeptical on what kind of fights Elite can put together that will help popularize the sport with a larger audience. There is little doubt in my mind that the UFC has the roster to produce solid, entertaining fights for a mass sports audience. With Elite, I’m not so sure. I hope they succeed and draw good enough ratings until the UFC figures out how to stop screwing up negotiations with major TV channels. They should have been on HBO last year and they should have had the CBS deal.

UFC 82 Picks/Vazquez vs. Marquez III /More Big Boxing Fights Scheduled

UFC 82 is Saturday in a super card top to bottom.

UFC Main Card Picks:
Anderson Silva in a late stoppage over Dan Henderson
Cheick Kongo in a decision over Health Herring
Chris Leben in a submission over Alessio Sakara
Yushin Okami in a stoppage over Evan Tanner

Andrei Arlovski, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Luke Commo and Jorge Gurgel are all on the undercard. This maybe the first time for recent UFC fans that they have seen at least one fighter in every fight.  Nearly everyone on the card has fought at least once live on Spike.  I’m sure many fans are hoping the UFC will be able to show 7-8 fights on the PPV.

The Silva/Henderson match will be very interesting, as Henderson may be able to tie up Anderson enough to avoid getting Koed. However, I think Silva is on such a roll, he’ll eventually overwhelm Henderson. He has to be in top shape, though. I see Henderson staying in the fight until the fourth or fifth round before getting Koed by Anderson’s lethal strikes.  

Email me your picks at nobradovich@enterto.com.

Showtime features the rubber match between Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez for Vazquez's Ring/WBC junior featherweight title this Saturday. Their fights last year were probably the two best prize fights of 2007, so this promises to be spectacular. It's a hard fight to predict, but I'll go with Vazquez by decision. If you didn't see either of their fights last year, do yourself a favor and order Showtime for this month. With the Frank Shamrock/Cung Le fight at the end of the month, and boxing and MMA being shown throughout the month, you're getting a month's worth of awesome action for like $16. 

Last week, Wladimir Klitschko defeated Sultan Ibragimov in a heavyweight unification bout. Klitschko now claims the IBF and WBO versions of the title. While recognized as the best heavyweight in the world, Klitschko didn’t look aggressive for most of the fight, keeping the much smaller Ibragimov at bay with his long left jab. In terms of action, the fight was a let down.

Kelly Pavlik’s decision over Jermain Taylor was closer to me than the ringside judges scored it. Pavlik proved he could go the distance, something he’s never had to do as a professional boxer, but will still have to improve as time goes on to be considered on of the greats. Taylor looked much better than their first encounter. He’s expected to move up to super-middle weight. Taylor fighting former champs Jeff Lacy or Mikkel Kessler would a treat for fight fans.

NOTES:

The WEC from two week ago was solid (no surprise). My upset pick of Miguel Torres winning the 135lb belt came true, and he made it look easy. Overall, I went 2-1-1 on my picks.

Sugar Shane Mosley will face Zab Judah on May 31 in a clash of former welterweight champions on HBO PPV. This will be entertaining as both men need a win to stay in hunt for big fights.

Super middleweight top 10 contender Allan Green will fight on ESPN2’s “Fight Night Fights” for the second time this year on Feb. 29.

If anyone missed the Joe Lewis special on HBO last Saturday, I strongly encourage you to find when it’s airing again

Pavlik/Taylor and WEC Previews

The world of combat continues to excite fans in this new year.

Last Saturday, Carlos Quintana upset Paul Williams for the WBO welterweight title in an entertaining battle. Williams never looked comfortable with his substantial height advantage. He was unable to find his distance or rhythm for most of the bout. It seems like every time Williams started to pump his jab, he would move one step too close to Quintana and the fighters would inevitably get tied up. Quintana tagged Williams with several left crosses throughout the fight and deserved the win.  

 Andre Berto, a 2004 Olympian and a highly toughted welterweight, stopped Michel Trabant in five rounds, with Trabant calling it quits on his stool after the round.  Berto continued to show good hand speed and a nasty uppercut.  Look for him to fight a big name in his next fight.

This Saturday promises big fireworks as Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor meet in their highly anticipated rematch.  Their middleweight fight last September was, in my mind, the second best fight of 2007. This fight, at the catch weight of 166 pounds, won’t be for at title, but the winner will be sitting pretty in terms of commanding future big paydays. I expect both fighters to start a bit more cautious than last time since both men have a healthy respect for each other’s power.  Ultimately, I see the fight taking a similar flow to their first fight, with both men trading rounds before Pavlik taking control late, winning with a late TKO or decision. Email me your pick at nobradovich@enterto.com.

Notes:  Versus features the WEC live on Wednesday night.  Here are my picks for the televised fights:

-Carlos Condit (Welterweight champion) over Carlo Prater
-Razor Rob McCullough (Lightweight champion) over Jamie Varner
-Miguel Torres over Chase Beebe to win the Bantamweight title
-Manny Tapia over Antonio Banuelos

Just like the past three televised WEC events, this is a solid card. Condit and McCullough are legit starts in their weight classes. Beebe is an excellent 135lber as well, but I’m going with Torres in the upset. Torres has only one pro loss in over thirty pro fights (a loss that he avenged), and he’s long been recognized by hard core fans as one of the most skilled fighters in the world. I’ve had the opportunity to see Torres fight in his native Northwest Indiana a few times and he displayed sensational Muay Thai skills and jiu-jitsu skills. This is his big opportunity to win a world title and I don’t see him blowing his big shot. 

I have to appologiz for not having the Matt Hughes book review posted this week. I have finished the book, along with Chuck Liddell’s book, and I should have the reviews posted very soon. Both books are good, but Liddell’s book definitely doesn’t disappoint if you are looking for the Iceman’s critiques on his past UFC fights and party stories. 

Until next week…

UFC 81 Review

About three years ago, Randy Couture said in an interview with Grappling magazine that submissions would become much less prevalent in MMA because all fighters were learning how to defend them. For fans of jiu-jitsu and submissions in the Octagon (like myself), I’m glad that prediction was off the mark. Four fights at UFC 81 (all of which were all on the main card) ended via submission in a crazy night of action.

In what would have to be classified as a surprise finish, Nate Marquardt tapped Jeremy Horn with a nasty guillotine early in the second round. While Marquardt is a BJJ black belt, Horn is the reputation for being one of the truly spectacular submission guys in the business.

In the co-main event—and the fight most fans probably tuned in for—Frank Mir survived a brutal ground and pound onslaught in the opening minute from Brock Lesnar before hooking in a tight knee bar. This was a fun fight to watch. Lesnar, who looked like an absolute physical beast, snagged a quick takedown and pounded Mir with punches and hammer fists before referee Steve Mazzagatti stopped the action to take a point away from Lesnar for hitting behind the head. (Lots of controversy with that call—not only did Mazzagatti take away Brock’s momentum by calling a halt to the action, but he took a point away with no prior warning.) They restarted on their feet, with Brock decking Mir with a right hand. This, to me, was where Lesnar showed is inexperience with ground positioning in MMA. Instead of immediately mounting Mir, he gained a weak side control position and furiously reigned down punches, nearly getting caught in an arm bar before Mir rolled into guard. Lesnar stood up, leaving his leg too exposed. The crafty Mir used both his legs to secure Lesnar’s leg and synched the knee bar.  Lesnar certainly showed his inexperience and nearly won anyway. With a few years of good technical training, there is no reason to believe he won’t be a top contender.  With his win, Mir is as marketable as he has been in four years. I’d love to see a rematch with Silvia, although I saw a report from the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer that that fight won’t happen now.

For the heavyweight title, Antonio Nogueira did what he did many times throughout his career—took a beating from the “Maine-iac” before finally pulling guard and scrambling for a guillotine to tap out Sylvia. Nogueira is the first man to win the heavyweight title for both Pride and UFC.  You have to feel bad for Sylvia, who was winning the fight with solid takedown defense and peppering Nogs with crosses and hooks (particularly in the first round, where he floored the Brazilian with a right cross-left hook combination).  After the fight, Nogueira asked for Randy Couture to come back to the UFC for a heavyweight show down. Not likely, I guess, but it’s the only heavyweight title fight that makes sense. The UFC isn’t going to give Sylvia an immediate rematch. So, who gets the next shot? It won’t be Arlovski. It won’t be Vera.  It shouldn’t be Mir. Perhaps Fabricio Werdum with his recent win over Gabriel Conzaga, but remember, Werdum had lost his previous UFC fight to Arlovski. It’s too bad that Josh Barnett isn’t in the UFC for a rubber match with Nogs.  

Notes:

I went 1-2 in my UFC 81 main card picks, picking Marquardt, but incorrectly picking Lesnar and Sylvia. (I had picked Adam Belcher, but he since he had to pull of the fight, I’m not counting that fight.)

In boxing news, there have been some big bouts signed for the spring, with almost all of them available on HBO. The April 12 card on HBO will feature Miguel Cotto defending his WBA welterweight title. But, the real fight to watch that night will be the rematch between Kermit Cintron (the IBF welterweight champ) vs. Antonio Margarito, the former WBO welterweight champion. In 2005, Cintron was the undefeated prospect when he fought Margarito. Margartio beat Cintron down, TKOing him in the 5^th round. Since then, Cintron has looked extremely impressive, winning five straight fights, all by knock out. Margarito lost his title last July to Paul Williams, so he’ll be looking to re-establish himself as a major player in a stacked welterweight division.  That should be a hell of a fight. A week later on HBO, Bernard Hopkins defends his Ring magazine light heavyweight title against Ring magazine super middleweight champ Joe Calzaghe.  Two weeks after than on HBO, Oscar De La Hoya is scheduled a tune up fight in anticipation for his fall rematch with Floyd Mayweather. It’s always nice to see a legend like Oscar without dropping 50 bucks.

Next week, we have our first book review on Matt Hughes’ new autobiography, Made in America.   In the coming weeks, we’ll also review Chuck Liddell’s Iceman: My Fighting Life, which was published last Tuesday. (I’m about half way through it and it’s fantastic.)

Jones Jr/Fight Night/UFC 81 picks

So Roy Jones, Jr is back. Or, so he says. Jones, 39, defeated Felix Trinidad on Jan. 20 at MSG by unanimous decision.  Jones landed effective shots at times and displayed some nifty defense against Trinidad’s crosses and hooks, although, I must say, I thought Tito landed effective body shots throughout the fight.  I give credit to Jones for determination at this point in his career to g out on top. He came into the fight in great shape and showed his usual great hand speed, but I wasn’t as impressed with his performance as the HBO PPV announcers (or other boxing writers, for that matter.) Jones wants the winner of the Joe Calzaghe/Bernard Hopkins light-heavyweight title fight in April. I don’t think Jones would give either fighter much of a fight, especially Calzaghe. (With Hopkins, you never know, since Bernard is well past 40.)  Honestly, it would be a shame if Jones were given the first shot at the The Ring magazine light-heavyweight belt. There are better, younger fights in that division who should get their opportunity before Jones. Before Trinidad, Jones hadn’t beaten any noteworthy fighters since 2003. And, even this victory came against a guy who hadn’t fought well over 2 years and who was naturally much smaller than Jones.

In UFC news: 

UFC’s Fight Night on Jan. 23 featured several good young fighters. Kurt Pellegrino TKO over Alberto Crane was impressive. Nate Diaz continued to show his outstanding submission skills with a triangle choke win over Alvin Robinson.  Patrick Cote’s 1^st round TKO of Drew McFedries was the performance of the night for me. You have to be happy for a guy like Cote who lost to tough fighters in the UFC to guys like Tito Ortiz, Travis Lutter, Chris Leben, and Joe Doerksen earlier in his UFC career. Cote stuck it out and has won 4 UFC fights in a row, upsetting Kendall Grove last year before stopping the hard-hitting McFedries. The main even saw Mike Swick, making in welterweight debut, taking a majority decision over Josh Burkman. This wasn’t horrible contest, but I was expecting them to trade much more than they did. Neither man was that impressive or as exciting as they ususally are.

What is sure to be exciting, however, is UFC 81 which takes place this Saturday.  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira battles Tim Sylvia for the interim heavyweight championship (and probably the real heavyweight championship as current champ Randy Couture in wrapped up in a lawsuit with Zuffa and shows no signs of coming back to fight in the UFC). My head tells me Noguiera, who is a former Pride heavyweight champion and truly one of sports' all time greats. However, I think all the battle he's fought over the years may be catching up with him. For Sylvia, he seems to rise to the occation in the underdog role. Many experts said he wouldn't beat Brandon Vera last October (but he did), virtually no one thought he'd beat Andrei Arlovski in their second and third fights (he won both), and many didn't feel that he would beat Jeff Monson in their 2006 fight if the contest went to the groud (a good portion of the fight, in fact, was on the ground, with Sylvia look as good as he ever has on the mat).  As tempting as it is to take Nogs, I'm going with the upset.  

Just as interesting in former WWE champion Brock Lesnar’s UFC debut against former UFC heavyweight titleholder Frank Mir. Lesnar, a former NCAA wrestling champion at Minnesota, has only fought 1 MMA fight, so he’s taking a big step up in competition in Mir. Mir isn’t the Mir of 5 years ago due to a motorcycle accident, and for that reason, I’m going with Brock. Something tells me the UFC wouldn’t have made the match if they didn’t think Lesnar was ready for that level of competition. I think Brock will go for a big take down and quickly catch Mir with some brutal ground and pound for the win. If Mir can hold off Brock's early aggresssion, he can win with all his experience. But, again, something tells me Brock will win.

UFC 81 Picks (Main Card)

Tim Sylvia over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Brock Lesnar over Frank Mir

Nathan Marquardt over Jeremy Horn

Adam Belcher over Ricardo Almeida  

Email me your picks at nobradovich@enterto.com.  

NOTES:

Last Saturday, 2004 Super-Heavyweight Olympic Gold Medalist Alexander Povetkin outworked previously unbeaten Eddie Chambers, scoring an unanimous decision last in Germany. Poventkin is now ranked the #1 contender by the IBF. Wladimir Klitschko holds that promotions’ heavyweight crown, so if Klitschko beats WBO champ Sultan Ibragimov, he will face the 15-0 Povetkin. Povetkin looked good, but nothing he did told me he was ready to challenge Klitschko.

Next week, we’ll cover UFC 81 and touch on all the big boxing fights that have been signed over the past two weeks.

Welcome fans of MMA and Boxing

Fans of Mixed Martial Arts, boxing, and combat sports in general , this column is for you. Each Tuesday, I’ll be discussing the big fights from the worlds of MMA and boxing, as well as offering book reviews, and reliving old fights. We’ll also covering other combat events of interest, including this year’s Summer Olympics, which offers combat in the form of boxing, wrestling, Judo, and Tae Known Do.

To give you  brief history of where my enthusiasm for these sports were derived, I watched my first boxing match with my dad in 1983, as then-heavyweight champion Larry Holmes disposed of Scott Frank in five rounds.  The fight that really grabbed my attention, though, had to be Marvelous Marvin Hagler brilliant TKO of Thomas “Hitman” Hearns in 1985 in the most memorable fight of the decade. My introduction into MMA came in 1994 when I ordered UFC II on PPV, where 179lb Royce Gracie dominated every one of his opponents.  What fights got you hooked on MMA and/or boxing? Email me at nobradovich@enterto.com.

We bring in 2008 with my awards from 2007, which was a brilliant year for both MMA and boxing.

MMA Fight of the Year: Nick Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi (Pride 33)

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing this classic, I hope FSN shows the rerun because this was a CRAZY fight. Gomi came out with a surprising takedown and unleashed some solid ground and pound. When the fight returned to its feet, Gomi nailed Diaz with some bombs, almost finishing the California native.  With about two minutes left in the round, Diaz weathered the storm and started finding his range. He unloaded on Gomi. The two slugged it out when Gomi inexplicably decided to drop his hands and encourage Diaz to hit him in the face. Diaz obliged and Gomi was clearly hurt as the exciting round ended. Round two started with more slugging. Diaz was getting the better of the Japanese superstar. Gomi weakly took Diaz down. Nick responded immediately by synching a gogoplata, forcing Gomi to tap out. That has to be considered the submission of the decade so far.

Other outstanding fights: From Frank Shamrock’s dramatic victory over Phil Baroni, to Chuck Liddell’s recent win over Wanderlei Silva—not to mention all of Tyson Griffin’s UFC fights this year, 2007 produced many memorable contests. It’s hard to pick a definitive runner-up fight, but I’d go with Shamrock/Baroni.

MMA Fighter of the Year: Anderson Silva

Silva was the most dominant UFC fighter in 2007, winning three times, including successfully defending his middleweight belt twice. (His first title defense against Travis Lutter was switched to a non-title bout when Lutter didn’t make weight).  Silva fought stiff competition in ’07, yet none of his opponent s made it past the second round. Remember in his two 2006 fights for the UFC against Chris Leban and Rich Franklin, he finishing both fights in the first round.  Silva’s 2007 reminded me of Liddell in 2006. Both fighters were totally locked in and no one had an answer to their powerful striking. Silva is slated to defend his title in March against Dan Henderson.   

(Wins: Travis Lutter at UFC 67; Nathan Marquardt at UFC 73; Rich Franklin at UFC 77)

Other outstanding performers:  Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Randy Couture, Urijah Faber

Jackson arguably was the best fighter in ’07, beating Marvin Eastman in his Octagon debut at UFC 67, before dethroning light-heavy weight king Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 with a vicious knockout. At UFC 75, Jackson showed tremendous focus and conditioning by winning a five-round unanimous decision against Dan Henderson. Henderson controlled the first two rounds, but Jackson turned the fight around, winning the last three rounds.

What an odd year for Randy Couture.  After retiring in 2006 after losing to Liddell in their rubber match, Couture un-retired for a shot at Tim Silvia’s heavyweight title in March 2007 at UFC 68. Couture defied all expectations, dominating Big Tim for 5 rounds to claim yet another UFC world title. The Natural pulled off even a bigger upset by stopping Gabriel Gonzaga in the third round at UFC 74, showing that rare ability of a Muhammad Ali or Sugar Ray Leonard to come out of a retirement with no ring rust and continue to win.  The year ended on a sour note, as Couture walked away from the UFC over a money dispute.  As with Ali and Leonard’s short-lived retirements, I find it difficult to believe that Couture won’t fight again. He loves the competition, and he fought too well in ’07 to just give it up now.       

If you haven’t been watching all the free WEC cards on Versus featuring featherweight champ Urijah Faber, you’re missing one of the most entertaining fighters in the world. Faber won four times, displaying aggressive striking and wicked wrestling and submission skills. His next expected opponent is Jens Pulver—that might be the best live MMA match ever on free television since Diego Sanchez/Karo Parisian from 2006.

On to the sweet science:

Boxing Fight of the Year: Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez I and II (tie)

You don’t have to be a hard-core boxing fan to appreciate the 13 brilliant rounds that these fighters put on last year. Marquez got off the canvas on their March fight and inflicted a brutal beating on Vazquez, who quit after the seventh round due to a nose injury. In their July rematch, Vazquez extracted his revenge, TKOing Marquez in the sixth round in another brutal slugfest.  The rubber match is set for March 1.   

Other outstanding fights:  My favorites include Miguel Cotto’s wins over Zab Judah and Shane Mosley and Kelly Pavlik’s crunching TKOs of Edison Miranda and Jermain Taylor. Both Cotto and Pavlik had to walk through some vicious assaults to claim victories. They both have my respect.  Pavlik’s win over Taylor gets the nod as runner-up.

Boxing Fighter of the Year: Kelly Pavlik

As already mentioned, Pavlik took some hard shots, but walked down the hard-punching Miranda, stopping him in the seventh round, earning a shot at Taylor’s WBC and WBO middleweight tiles.  Taylor knocked Pavlik silly in the second round. Pavlik admitted after the fight that he thought he was in for a long night at the end of that second round, but the Youngstown native slowly got things going before exploding on the champ in the seventh round with a barrage of punches that sent Taylor slumping in the corner unable to continue. The rematch in February is at a catch-weight of 166lbs.  

(Wins:  Eight-round KO of Jose Luis Zertuche in January; Seventh-round TKO of Edison Miranda in May; Seventh-round TKO of Jermain Taylor in September.

Other outstanding performances: Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto

Mayweather has been considered the best pound-for-pound fighter for years, but 2007 made Pretty Boy into a superstar. Featured on HBO’s 24/7 leading up to his superfights with Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton, the brash Mayweather became a legitimate boxing celebrity (pretty rare these days), not to mention beating de la Hoya and stopping the previously undefeated Hatton.  As of now, it looks like Mayweather will give da la Haya a rematch instead of fighting Cotto. That's a shame since they are the two best welterweights in the world right now, and Cotto should at least able to give Mayweather a challenge.

Notes: BJ Penn sounded defeated Joe Stevenson to win the UFC lightweight title last Saturday at UFC 80. Penn is set to defend the belt againt Sean Sherk on May 24 in Las Vegas.

Set your DVR for tomorrow at Spike TV presents UFC Fight Night 12. Mike Swick makes is welterweight debut against Josh Burkman. I'm picking Swick via decision. Email me your picks at nobradovich@enterto.com.