Archive for March, 2010

Pictured: Kenny Florian and Takanori Gomi yawn their way through a “staredown” at yesterday’s weigh-ins

Remember back when UFC seemed to hold a show every six weeks or so? In a given month, a MMA fan’s time was sentenced to one PPV, with something here and there on TV, with the occassional time off for good behavior? Friends, those days are gone. With this, its third live event in less than two weeks; ZUFFA clearly expects you to be committed to your relationship.

Eh… well, there are lots of worse problems to have.

UFC Fight Night 21: Florian vs. Gomi, tonight airing from the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, doesn’t appear to have quite as strong a lineup as the last “free” outing, UFC on Versus: Vera vs. Jones, at least not on paper. But, like they say, the fights don’t happen on paper. The Versus show’s succession of quick knockouts left some fans feeling a little empty anyway, and so maybe this one will exceed expectations. It definitely boasts an interesting main event, with the UFC debut of former PRIDE standout Takanori Gomi against Kenny Florian, who is looking to continue his road back to contention following a one-sided loss to lightweight kingpin BJ Penn last Summer.

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Pictured: Georges St-Pierre and Dan Hardy face off at the weigh-ins for UFC 111

Tomorrow night, ZUFFA continues their manic Spring schedule in New Jersey with UFC 111, with Pound-for-pound entrant Georges “Rush” St-Pierre making his fourth defense of the UFC Welterweight title, this time against a massive underdog in Dan Hardy. Backing that are two top heavyweights fighting for the interim championship, with champion Brock Lesnar still inactive due to health issues.

It’s a show with a lot to offer: first, a chance to watch a pound-for-pound entrant in St-Pierre, and second, an excellent fight in what may be the UFC’s deepest division. On the other hand, the former bout is a mismatch, and the latter is still something of a letdown due to the absence of titlist Lesnar. Also, UFC 111’s undercard isn’t the best — particularly with Thiago Alves forced off the show after failing a pre-fight physical.

It’s an up and down show, but certainly worth a look if you’ve got the PPV loot to spare…

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Pictured: Dan Hardy works the mitts at Team Rough House in Nottingham

As a Brit, I live in a country where MMA feels, pretty much, dead.

Before Cage Rage disappeared off the face of the planet, events were shown live on Sky Sports, the most prestigious satellite TV channel in the country, and available in the best part of 10 million homes. Since said company was bought out, UFC has been airing on a pair of less well known, less widely available networks in Setanta Sports (now defunct) and ESPN (not the name it is in the States). Though it has attracted a cult following, so many of these fans (at least, the ones in my generation) are in it simply for the violence, treating the whole thing like some pro-wrestling freak show. It’s all about ‘Signature Moves’ and ‘Entrance Music’ to them. Ask them what a rubber guard was and they’d ask if you were coming on to them. It also rankles with me slightly that for so long Michael Bisping (who is becoming more likeable recently, to be fair to the guy), has represented the UK in the UFC, with his crass, cocky attitude and taunts of fighters who I respect more than him.

But no longer. Brits in MMA, even those who don’t know jiu-jitsu from judo, have someone new to cheer for, and he is the unmistakeable Dan Hardy.

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UFC kicks off a busy two weeks tomorrow night, with possibly their best-ever live show on “free” US Cable TV. The first ever “UFC on Versus” card eminating from Broomfield, Colorado features a pair of excellent co-main events, with four fighters among or near the top ten in their divisions battling it out to get ahead of their respective packs. Waiting in the wigs is next Saturday’s UFC 111 and Fight Night: Florian vs Gomi on the 31st. Oh yeah, and another one of those reality show things that I got kind of sick of about two years ago…

Anyway, the staff has weighed in, so on to the show!

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Brandon Vera (right) dominant vs. Frank Mir

After Brandon Vera’s first two fights in the UFC, he was touted as the next big thing.  This was a guy who was not only finishing his fights- he was doing it early and viciously.  On top of his in-cage performance he was showing that he had great charisma in his post fight interviews - calling out Chuck Liddell and voicing his prediction that he’d be the first to hold a belt in two UFC divisions at the same time.  Somewhere along the way, something changed.

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Pictured: Joachim Hansen, predicted to again wear DREAM championship gold after this Monday’s bout against current featherweight champion Bibiano Fernandes.

Finally, in mid-March, Japan’s premier MMA promotion has its first show coming up Monday… and it’s a cracker. Despite the frustrations which I described in my rather scathing review of the Japanese MMA scene, DREAM 13 has turned out to be a really solid card. Available live on HDNet for all US fight fans, it’s a nice nightcap following the UFC’s first offering on Versus the night before.

My picks follow:

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March 13 should have been the night that we crowned a true pound-for-pound champion in boxing. We should have seen a joint effort from the sport’s two biggest promoters in Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, finally setting aside their differences to bring the fans the one bout that everyone wanted to see. Top Rank’s Manny Pacquiao vs. Golden Boy Promotion’s Floyd Mayweather Jr. would promise a unification bout at welter for boxing’s biggest ever purse, pay per view audience, and all the glory that comes with it.

But when negotiations broke down, we found ourselves watching Top Rank’s next best welter in Joshua Clottey in what felt like a subpar sparring session against Pacquiao.

So, what went wrong with this show?

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Pictured: Dominick Cruz, who recorded the biggest win of his MMA career over Brian Bowles at WEC 47.

Last weekend’s WEC 47 promised the usual WEC formula, with their typical bouts of hyperactive fast action in the light weight classes.

And, it delivered — a quality event. Unable to watch it live due to living in the UK, over the last week I’ve been able to track down one fine WEC 47 bout after another.

Along the way, we appear to have reached turning points for the WEC: first, in the shakeup of the bantamweight division; second, my issues with the promotion’s coverage; and finally, something I’d call the “talent/charisma” crossroads…

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Sam Sheridan’s first book, A Fighter’s Heart, has become a favorite of MMA enthusiasts since its 2007 release. It chronicled Sheridan’s travels around the world, training and talking with many of the fight games’ biggest names, on a quest for insight on what drives them to win — and to find his own “fighter’s heart.” Along the way were stops with Brazilian Top Team in its heyday, a stint with Fairtex in Thailand, where he fought a Muay Thai bout, and a time in Iowa, including an MMA bout, under the tutelage of Pat Militech.

Last month, Sheridan released his follow-up, A Fighter’s Mind, where he turns his focus on the mental game of the world’s fighters and trainers. He describes it as “a gift back to the fighters who gave me so much in the first book. A book for fighters, and we are all fighting something.”

Sheridan spent a few moments with Total-MMA to talk about the book last week.

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I was originally going to do a story on Cain Velasquez and his rise in the heavyweight division following his latest win but after writing out a few paragraphs I kind of felt like it was a disservice to heap so much praise on Velasquez and not give equal space to the “other” heavyweight prospect, Junior dos Santos.

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