Are You Not Entertained?
When the critics come for Anderson Silva next, and they will come, the UFC middleweight champion should invoke Maximus Decimus Meridius. What more does a man have to do to silence his naysayers?
Saturday night, Silva collected his 13th consecutive victory inside the Octagon and successfully defended his middleweight title for the eighth time. He finished Vitor Belfort with a beautiful and never-before-seen front kick to the face, courtesy of Steven Seagal no less.
The victory solidifies Silva as the best fighter on the planet, at least in my eyes, and further cements his place as one of the all-time greats in this sport. It also locks him in for what could be the biggest fight in MMA history, a meeting with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, provided the reigning 170-pound king defeats Jake Shields in April.
Belfort was once again supposed to be the man to stop Silva. Once again, Silva proved unstoppable.
Life Sucks for Yushin Okami
We kind of new this already, but the fact was confirmed by UFC President Dana White when he announced that a fight with St. Pierre is next on the list for the middleweight champion.
After defeating Nate Marquardt at UFC 122 in Germany this past fall, Okami was declared the #1 contender for the 185-pound title, but even then people warned not to get too invested in seeing the Japanese fighter square off with Silva.
In focusing in on a megafight (superfight doesn’t quite cut it) between Silva and St. Pierre, Okami once again gets bumped, with no end to his endless repositioning in sight. Despite a 10-2 record inside the Octagon and laying claim to being the last man to defeat Silva (by disqualification, mind you), the 29-year-old judoka continually loses out in the middleweight division.
What’s worse is that it’s only going to keep happening until Okami shows that he can dominate elite opposition and generate interest in a fight with Silva amongst the fans. Is it fair? Of course not, but life sucks, especially for Okami.
Jones vs. Rua at UFC 128
Shortly after Jon Jones handed Ryan Bader the first loss of his career, Dana White and UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua entered the cage. Six weeks from now, Jones and Rua will once again stand opposite each other in the Octagon.
With teammate and mentor Rashad Evans sidelined with a strained knee ligament, the UFC quickly shifted gears and offered the impressive 23-year-old the opportunity to face Rua for the 205-pound title in the main event of next month’s card in New Jersey. The surprised and jubilant Jones dropped to his knees and gave praise to the heavens, accepting the challenge and setting up an extremely interesting pairing in the process.
The 23-year-old phenom has ascended to the heights of stardom in a little over two years, and now has the chance to earn championship gold. While some will say the opportunity is undeserved and that the experienced Rua will be too great a challenge for Jones at this point, the Brazilian champion was the same age as Jones when he tore through the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix in 2005 and sported fewer fights on his resume.
More importantly, there are really no other options at this point. Rua has already been sidelined since taking the title from Lyoto Machida at UFC 113, and keeping the belt on the shelf any longer doesn’t make sense, not to mention the fact that no other fighter has the kind of momentum and hype Jones has going for him right now.
You strike while the iron is hot, and hammering out this bout at the side of the Octagon on Saturday night was a tremendous surprise and the right decision.
Limitless Potential
Jon Jones doesn’t just clear each obstacle that is put in his way, he shatters it and throws the pieces aside.
Coming into his fight with Bader, the TUF 8 winner was viewed as a powerful wrestler with heavy hands, a combination that could cause Jones more trouble than he’d encountered from the collection of good-but-not-great veterans he had previously demolished. Yeah, not so much.
Jones’ wrestling abilities are often lost amidst the spinning back elbows and belly-to-back suplexes, but he showed Saturday night that it is very much a major weapon in his arsenal. Bader was unable to take Jones down and couldn’t prevent the 23-year-old from putting him on the canvas, a realization that surely shook the previously unbeaten prospect.
From there, Jones unveiled an improving submission game, nearly finishing the fight in the opening round with a variant of Jeff Monson’s patented north-south choke before forcing Bader to tap to a guillotine in the second.
The display showed that there is no ceiling when it comes to Jones’ potential. A diligent student in the gym and a tireless studier of video, combining those traits with his natural athleticism, the guidance and support he receives from the team at Jackson’s and his unwavering belief in himself could result in the New York native becoming one of the very best to ever compete in mixed martial arts.
Rematch with “Rampage” Makes Sense for Griffin
Forrest Griffin returned after a 15 month layoff to take a unanimous decision over former middleweight champion Rich Franklin on Saturday night. The victory reinserts the former 205-pound champion into the title picture, and a date with an old friend makes the most sense moving forward.
Provided that Quinton Jackson gets by Thiago Silva at UFC 130 in May, a rematch between the TUF 7 coaches is both a possibility and probably the best potential matchup for both moving forward. A meeting with Lyoto Machida could be put together if Machida defeats Randy Couture in Toronto as many believe he will, but we’ve seen Griffin against an elusive counter-striker before and it was not pretty.
In Jackson you have an opponent who presents a good stylistic partner for the charismatic fan favorite, but also an adversary with whom he shares a history. Their five-round battle for the 205-pound strap at UFC 86 was highly-entertaining and the result was debated; some still feel that Jackson should have retained the title and this would be a chance to resolve some of those lingering doubts.
Franklin’s Future in Doubt
Where does the former middleweight champion go from here?
He was contemplating retirement following his UFC 103 loss to Vitor Belfort, and while dropping a unanimous decision to Griffin may not be as demoralizing or physically damaging, but it still leaves Franklin in a precarious position. Unless the UFC is planning on debuting a legends division, Franklin might have to accept a place lower on the totem pole than he may like.
There is a job available as the high-end gatekeeper of the light heavyweight division, the post having been vacant since Keith Jardine was sent packing after losing to Matt Hamill. Having already beaten Hamill himself and having a more decorated history, Franklin would be an obvious candidate and the right kind of veteran jack-of-all-trades to have in such a role. But does he want it?
Fighting up-and-comers doesn’t have the same appeal as filling co-main event slots against established stars, and outside of a meeting with Randy Couture, who else is there that ranks as a comparable contemporary for Franklin to face?
He’s already lost to Machida once in his career and adding seven years to the match-up doesn’t help “Ace” at all. Either half of the upcoming Rogerio Nogueira-Tito Ortiz tilt could work as well, with Stephan Bonnar being an option as well, but none of those match-ups screams “Must See TV.”
Personally, I’d say it’s a better direction for Franklin than stepping in with younger, faster, stronger opponents like Phil Davis or Ryan Bader, but only time will tell what “Ace” is going to do next.
Jake Ellenberger: Be Careful What You Wish For
You can understand the letdown to go from fighting the #2 welterweight in the world to facing a relatively unknown newcomer, but Saturday night, Jake Ellenberger showed that he needs to be careful what he wishes for moving forward.
While the Nebraska native came away with a split decision victory over Carlos Eduardo Rocha thanks to Adelaide Byrd’s 30-27 scorecard for his opponent, the 25-year-old Ellenberger failed to deliver the kind of performance that leads me to believe he should be standing in with the elite of the welterweight division just yet.
After escaping the an opening round that saw Rocha dominate on the ground, Ellenberger stayed outside for the most part, landing sporadic solid hands and connecting on a pair of late-in-the-round takedowns to seal the victory. While some will complain that those two takedowns should not earn Ellenberger the nod in the final two frames, the truth is that his stand-up had a greater impact and the takedowns only put him further ahead, at least on my scorecards. You have to remember, successfully putting Rocha on his back counts for something, and is more than his opponent managed over the final 10 minutes.
Still, after fixating on Fitch in the build-up to this fight, his cautious and overall underwhelming performance in victory isn’t going to do Ellenberger any favors. While he may get a slight bump up in stature next time out, say the winner of Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann, a fight with a Top 5 opponent isn’t something he should be looking for quite yet.
Perfect Gameplan Leads Torres to Impressive Victory
Former WEC champion Miguel Torres discussed his change in strategy and style a great deal with us in the weeks leading up to his UFC debut. Saturday night, he stayed true to his word and executed his game plan flawlessly to cruise to a unanimous decision victory over Antonio Banuelos.
There are those who felt that Torres should have gotten his opponent more, taking a few more risks in order to finish the fight, but that isn’t who the former bantamweight title holder is anymore. Torres’ devil-may-care, take two to get one days are done, replaced by a more measure, more cerebral, more cautious fighter focused on collecting wins before earning critical acclaim from the fans.
Some will call it “point fighting” or “boring,” but I call it sound tactical strategy; when you have a ridiculously reach advantage, are landing your jab and cross at will and your opponent is willing to stay at the end of both, why change up the program? More importantly than obtaining my approval, White said after the fight that he was impressed with Torres’ performance and thought he fought a perfect fight, and that is the only real opinion that matters.
Give Credit to Mendes and Johnson
There is further talk about Japanese MMA being dead or dying in the wake of Michihiro Omigawa and “Kid” Yamamoto having unsuccessful outings at UFC 126. While brands like DREAM and SRC may be struggling, Saturday’s performances have far more to do with the men who beat the Japanese superstars than the critical condition of the sport in their homeland.
Chad Mendes and Demetrious Johnson simply out-performed their respective opponents on Saturday night; both utilized tremendous game plans that mixed solid striking with perfectly timed, perfectly executed takedowns to keep Omigawa and Yamamoto guessing. While it’s easy to view these defeats as further proof that Japanese MMA is no longer producing top tier talent, the more accurate assessment is that Mendes and Johnson are both legitimate contenders in their divisions and would be a tough out for anyone, Japanese or otherwise.
In fact, Mendes probably earned a title shot with his win, while Johnson continues to climb the bantamweight ladder, despite probably being more well-suited for the often discussed flyweight division that has yet to materialize.
This wasn’t about the muddled state of affairs that is Japanese MMA; these were a pair of quality performances from a pair of talented fighters, and they deserve to be recognized for their wins instead of being cast aside while people take Omigawa and Yamamoto’s defeats as a sign to start writing the obituary for JMMA.
Good Start for Cerrone
Beating Paul Kelly doesn’t make Donald Cerrone an instant contender in the 155-pound division; the talent pool is far too deep and Kelly was still swimming in the shallow end.
That being said, the polarizing Greg Jackson pupil showed off his slicker jiu jitsu game, baiting Kelly into providing an opening for a body triangle by playing high on his back, and worked quickly and efficiently to sink in a choke when the opportunity present itself. No matter who it was against, earning a victory in your UFC debut is vital, and now Cerrone has something to build on.
With the division currently deeper than it has ever been before, the 27-year-old “Cowboy” doesn’t need to be rushed into the deep waters; there are myriad contenders already established and lined up looking for a shot at the lightweight title, so Cerrone can be brought along incrementally, with televised fights and a chance to continue to show off his personality.
He has a solid blend of skills, a great group of guys surrounding him and the charisma to be someone fans latch onto one way or an other; a lightweight version of Josh Koscheck or Dan Hardy perhaps. While his win over Kelly doesn’t prove the ’55s from the WEC belong or that Cerrone is a champion in the making, it’s a good start and that’s all that matters.
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