He says that’s his injuries are healed and everything.  Fighters always lie about injuries, but I’m inclined to believe that he should be close to 100% with the amount of time he’s been away from the cage.  I hope he returns to form and will basically replace Wanderlei Silva in the UFC LHW division since he’s moving down to 185 supposedly.

As a new year is upon us, so is the infinite possibilities of key match ups to be made during these 365 days.  There are ultimately, but not limited to, five fights I think would be a travesty if they did not happen in the year 2009.  These fights simply make sense and will hopefully come to fruition some time in the near future.  In no particular order:

1. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett- Whether it’s in Affliction, Dream, K-1, UFC, whoever this fight has to happen.  Much sooner than later.  Both guys are veterans of the sport, but for some odd reason neither had crossed paths although being apart of the same company throughout much of their careers.  In my opinion, This is a fight that has the magnitude of Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva.  We’ve all tried to figure out how it would go, but it’s one of those open-ended fights you just have to watch and see what happens.  If they hold this off for much longer, the luster behind it will fade and they’ll be scraping to make it happen like they did Liddell/Silva.  No silly number one contender fights or special fights, just make it happen.  Affliction needs to just jump the gun on this one as their days could be numbered and they could at least boast having held this monumental battle.
2. Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson vs. Rashad Evans - These two certainly aren’t the biggest fan favorites in the UFC.  However, this fight has fireworks written all over it.  With such similar styles, it’d be intriguing to see what game plan each man would devise to go to war with.  Barring any legal troubles, I think it’s safe to say this one is a lock to happen, though Jackson has been adamant about avenging his July loss to former champion, Forrest Griffin, however with Forrest hurt and a big pay day possible, I think a shot at the new undefeated champ should be much more enticing.  Please make this one happen Joe Silva!
3. Forrest Griffin vs. Chuck Liddell - It seems that whenever the UFC tries to add some validity in it’s ranking system, Chuck always gets the short end of the stick.  While this was Dana White’s wet dream of a main event for UFC 92, Rashad Evans had none of that…and beat up both men in convincing fashion.  With both coming off a loss to King Rashad, it makes sense to make this super fight and make it now.  Chuck’s mega fight stature is fading.  Seeing him get trounced over and over isn’t going to make fans of his tune in in legions.  So with that said, while he still has a solid fan base, it’s best to make the fights the people want to see before Chuck dwindles into under card status or retirement.  Much like they did with Lesnar/Couture, this can be milked and promoted in many different ways and if they don’t do it soon then no one will want to see it.
4. Anderson Silva vs. A Top Level Light Heavyweight - Thales Leites , Patrick Cote, Travis Lutter…and the UFC wonders why Silva isn’t a big draw.  It’s great to provide fans with highlight reel material but how much mroe would fans tune in to see highlight reel material done on guys they actually care about seeing.  This is by no means lessening what guys like Leites, Cote, and Lutter have done, they’ve more than earned their stripes but the UFC is a different beast and we don’t always get the most deserving guy getting the fights with the big dogs (*cough* Yushin Okami *cough*).  If they want Anderson to be toted as the ‘Pound for Pound’ kingpin, he needs to fight guys that are recognized as threats.  It’s the same gripe we’ve had with Fedor for many years, except Silva IS fighting the top guys in his division, he’s just that much better.  It’s time for him to get the mega fights he deserves and the ones that’ll continue to push him and motivate him.  An unmotivated ‘Spider’ could be a bad thing for the UFC, as we saw glimpses during his UFC 90 debacle.  Fights with guys like Wanderlei Silva, Quinton Jackson, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, etc. would have the least hardcore fan salivating.  He needs a big name fighter to get to his big name status that he so rightfully should have.  Other than TUF poster boy Michael Bisping, he unfortunately won’t get that opportunity in the middleweight division, since he’s already ran two of the division’s top stars (Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson) into another one.
5. Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira vs. Randy Couture - Yeah, I’ll draw the comparison to Chuck/Wandy again.  This fight had potential to be huge for the hard cores and the purists and even the common fan.  However, with both guys getting leveled in their last outing, this loses some steam but still offers intrigue, if done right…and done right away.  It’s a battle of two of the most respected and recognized heavyweights in MMA and since we most likely will never see Couture and Fedor, this is the next best thing.  The style clash would really bring some excitement in my opinion and if Big Nog is 100% healthy, he would be a tough and worthy opponent to Couture and would help both guys cement their legendary careers even further.

Well, those are just five fights I think that need to happen and happen soon.  Sure there’s a ton more we could think of but that’s why we have open discussions…lol…so let me know if you agree/disagree/or add on.

2008 had it’s fair share of brutal, jaw breaking knockouts and it’s time to look back on some of the best. Here is my comprised top 5 KO’s of the year. Though I wanted to do 10, spanning twelve months is harder than it seems, so I did the five that stood out for me the most. Feel free to chime in with your own opinions or thoughts on the knockouts of ’08:

5 – Jeremy Stephens over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 91 – When you see this knockout, you almost expect Anjos to go flying over the cage and sailing to those fatal spikes in the Pit (all my Mortal Kombat fans will get that one). This was an uppercut of pure beauty and ferocity. It was as if Stephens just said ‘I’m ready to end this’ and threw the most destructive blow he could think of. Although both lightweights, I wouldn’t be shocked if that blow didn’t knock out some of the guys in the heavier weights with how accurate the blow was and how much power was put behind it.

4 – Quinton Jackson over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92 – We all knew that it was highly unlikely that scorecard would be needed when these two archenemies stepped foot in the octagon. From the opening, each man threw wild but threw with very bad intentions. There was very little technical about this bout, minus maybe the defense of Jackson towards the conclusion. And it would be that defense that would lead to ‘The Axe Murderer’ taking a nap. A beautifully placed left hook caught Silva right on the jaw and sent him crashing to the mat unconscious. A possible bitter end to a bitter rival.

3 – Josh Koscheck over Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC ‘Fight for the Troops’ – There’s very few times I really cringe while watching an MMA fight but watching Yoshida’s eyes roll back was cringe worthy. The always improving Koscheck usually throws loopy, power packed hay makers that rarely hit the target but the AKA standout seemed much more refined in his strikes and Yoshida never saw those rights coming. He was easily out after the first brutal shot but an overhand right left him in bad shape and left the troops in a frenzy.

2 – Junior dos Santos over Fabricio Werdum at UFC 90 – This may not have been the prettiest looking knockout of the year or the most brutal but it was the most significant one. The consensus number one contender to the UFC heavyweight title (whomever it would be after the mini-tourney) was given a ‘gimme’ fight to showcase the future contender at UFC 90. However, dos Santos was hearing none of that. Obviously overlooking the power puncher, Werdum came in overweight and overconfident. Unfortunately for him, dos Santos not only handed him a loss but helped hand him a pink slip out of the UFC and now begging for someone to take him in.

1 – Rashad Evans over Chuck Liddell at UFC 88 – Now it may be a little unfair, since I gave this the number one nod mostly because I was there live but you’ve got to understand how shocking and how brutal this knockout really was. Coming into UFC 88, no one expected Rashad to win. While it wasn’t out of the question, it certainly didn’t seem possible with Chuck’s resume against wrestlers and Rashad coming off a coma inducing fight with Michael Bisping at UFC 78. The stage was set for Chuck to recapture his glory after a punishing but satisfying win over Wanderlei Silva. Anytime Rashad’s face was on the screen the entire arena booed him out the building. As the two came out, I could hear screams of ‘knock his head off Chuck’ amongst other things. The rowdy crowd was solely behind Chuck minus a few of us (my wife, my father in law, myself, and Kelvin I’m sure) and when Chuck, looking as if he had been swatted with a baseball bat, went crashing to the mat unconscious you could hear a pin drop. The entire arena went silent as Rashad, in his usual post-fight antics, made sure to let the people know that this was just another day at the office. The sheer brutality of the overhand right, that ironically Chuck made famous, was something to be seen. Looking at Chuck lay motionless for nearly the entire duration of the post-fight just reiterated what had just happened. I think this was a no brainer for knockout of the year and may be the beginning of Rashad’s takeover of the light heavyweight division

I’m sure 2009 will have it’s fair share of surprising and jaw dropping knockouts.  Feel free to comment.

First of all, I have no idea how Mark Coleman is going to cut to 205! That dude has always looked beastly huge to me. Anyways, in the interview he admits to basically being thrown to the wolves again. He knows he is the underdog in this fight, and really doesn’t have anything to lose. Sometimes that is a scary fighter to face, but I don’t think an in shape “Shogun” will lose this match up. In fact, I see brutal knees in Coleman’s face when he shoots in for that take down. Trust me, he will be shooting for that take down. I have to admit I’m somewhat intrigued by this fight, more so to see how Shogun will perform. I’d like to see ‘prime’ Shogun return to compete in the stacked LHW division. Even more so, I’d like to see a re-match with Rampage Jackson. What about you?

Torres recently spoke with Tatame on the importance of speaking English:

Are you already studying English?

I am trying, I will have to study. I saw how much this is important to the athlete, I went with Marlon to Japan now and I saw how it is important to speak English. I have to study and I think that it will help me very much to close fight. There is Dedé (André Pederneiras) helping me a lot, but I have to learn to develop with the guys there.

Torres is one of the UFC’s newest editions to its lightweight division.  He’s a highly touted Brazilian most noted for submitting PRIDE veteran Luiz Azeredo.  I can’t stress how important it is for these foreign fighters to learn enough of the English language to heed to instructions from referees, and to relate to the fans.  Wanderlei Silva is a prime example for foreign fighters.  Not only does he come in the octagon to put on an exciting fight, he is also able to conduct post fight interviews to express his humility and thankfulness to the fans.  It may seem petty, but it goes a long way in establishing yourself within a fan base.  The same goes for American fighters going over to Japan.

It’s really just like any other job out there.  In certain areas I work with a large percentage of students that speak Spanish.  So to make my job easier, what did I do?  I learned enough Spanish in which I could at least answer basic questions.  Props to Torres for recognizing this and maybe more fighters will following his example.

Wanderlei spoke with MMAWeekly:

I’m going to study what I need to change, what I need to train different,” Silva explains. “Because now my cardio is the best cardio in my life. I have a very good condition. Now, I need to change a little bit of my technique to come back to win.”

On a possible next fight with Chuck Liddell:

“I think I need to train more stand-up, because he has a longer reach,” says Silva. “I think I need to train more boxing than Muay Thai.”

Basically Silva is echoing my sentiments in which I wrote about last week here and here.  I think a re-match with Liddell would be a welcome fight by many fans, as the first fight was great.  However, if Silva fails to correct his striking technique he could very well be on the receiving end of another loss.  Also, he mentions that he walks around at about 215lbs and doesn’t like to cut more than about ten pounds for his fights.  So again, you can throw out the ’size’ variable as a reason for him possibly moving down to 185 as I mentioned last week.  Silva is scheduled to meet with UFC president Dana White this week to decide on what’s next for the former PRIDE champ.

Would you like to see him re-match Liddell before moving down to MW, or would you like to see him go ahead and make the move to 185?

1. Hidetada Irie defeats Minoru Kato via TKO (punches) at 4:21 in Rd. 2 
2. Maximo Blanco defeats Seigo Inoue via knockout (stomps) at 0:38 in Rd. 1 
3. Mu Bae Choi defeats Dave Herman via TKO (punches) at 2:22 in Rd. 2 
4. Eiji Mitsuoka defeats Sergey Golyaev via submission (armbar) at 4:22 in Rd. 1 
5. Antonio Silva defeats Yoshihiro Nakao via TKO (injury) at 1:42 in Rd. 1 
6. Muhammed Lawal defeats Yukiya Naito via TKO (punches) at 3:54 in Rd. 1
7. Sanae Kikuta defeats Hidehiko Yoshida via split decision
8. Jorge Santiago defeats Kazuo Misaki via technical submission (rear naked choke) at 3:26 in Rd. 5 
9. Satoru Kitaoka defeats Takanori Gomi via submission (Achilles lock) at 1:41 in Rd 1.

• DAYUM Homie…I mean Gomi!  Gomi losing two in a row cripples his reputation as one of the best LW fighters in the world.  He’ll be sliding down the ranks in a hurry when I do my updates later this week.
• I would love to see King Mo win a couple more fights and come to the UFC.
• Yoshida definitely doesn’t help things as far as this promotion and their ’superstars’ losing.
• With Antonio Silva winning his fight, I wonder if he’ll continue to fight in Japan with his suspension in in North America.  What if this promotion goes under?  What will he do then?
• Dave Herman comes back to reality after suffering the first loss of his career.
• Jorge Santiago has been on a tear lately winning 9 in a row since suffering back to back defeats in the UFC.  Is he ready to return?

I’m sorry for the lack of material today guys.  However, I’ll be returning back to work on tomorrow and a brother has been laying around all afternoon trying to rest up.  The first couple of days will be hectic, but I’ll still be posting things.  So be sure to come by and check us out!  What are your thoughts on the Sengoku show?

The rumors have been swirling constantly about Wanderlei Silva’s possible move to the UFC MW division since being KO’ed by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 92.  First of all, I do agree that Silva needs to move to the middleweight division to prolong his career.  However, I do not attribute his ’size’ as one of the primary reasons as to why he should do so.  The primary reason why Silva should make the move to the middleweight division is his style of ’striking’.

Silva is arguably the most feared fighter in the game, and has been beating guys bigger than himself his whole career.  I mean he knocked out a legitimate HW in Kazuyuki Fujita(who has a granite chin) for Christ’s sake!  However, the reason he has been on the losing side in 4 out of his last 5 fights doesn’t have anything to do with his size.  It’s the very thing I pointed out last week in the evolution of striking piece.  Wanderlei Silva simply has not evolved his striking game over time, as he continues to throw big looping punches just as he did in PRIDE.  The days of him dominating guys with good striking games are over.  Fighters now understand that throwing punches right down the middle will beat the big looping punches to their mark every time.  The UFC LHW division is filled with decent to very good strikers, whereas the middleweight division consists primarily of grapplers.  Silva is tailor made to beat those type of fighters because he’s got good enough take down defense and BJJ to nullify their offenses.

Almost every loss Silva has suffered has been a result of someone exploiting his wild striking style, or taking him down and keeping him there.  There’s no one in the UFC middleweight division that can take him down and keep him there.  There are a couple of fighters that can exploit his wild striking.  However, the UFC will be careful to steer clear of those fighters for the first couple of fights to build him back up at bit.  It’s not clear if Rich Franklin or Dan Henderson will return to the middleweight division at the moment.  So the UFC can fast track him into title contention if they wish to do so.  Silva has a large following and I’m sure the UFC will want to take advantage of that for as long as they can.

I don’t think Silva can become the middleweight champion, not as long as Anderson Silva is the champ anyways.  However, I do think he can stretch his career out just a bit longer by making this move due to the type of fights he’ll be engaged in as a middleweight.

This Tennessee MMA event will take place on January 10th, 2009, at the Appalachian Fairgrounds in Gray, Tennessee.  The doors will open at 6pm with the first fight starting at 7pm.  General admission for the event is $25, and VIP tickets are $45 each(4 per table).  The weigh in’s will be January 9th, starting at 10pm with the fighters on site at 9pm.  You can go here for more information, with ticket information here.  The fight card is as follows: 

• Jay Page vs. Jason Thompson
• Bobby Thompson vs. Alex Taylor
• Abe Petermon vs. TBA
• Tyler Stover vs. Eric Ohene-Bekoe
• Sean Barnette vs. TBA
• Cody Smith vs. TBA
• Brian Mullins vs. TBA
• Chris Dutton vs. TBA
• Daniel Ready vs. TBA
• Sam Agushi vs. Milo Byers
• Mitchell Hatton vs. Matt Klepper
• Stephen Ross vs. TBA
• Casey Crum vs. Pat Driscoll
• Tony Montemarano vs. John Sykes
• Nichols Vecchione vs. TBA
• Brian Peeler vs. Jake Mitchell
• John Messer vs. Jerry Bentley
• Trevor Wilds vs. Josh Clifford