Time can be a wonderful thing or a terrible thing. It all depends on how you look at it.
The biggest controversial storm last year had nothing to do with the weather. Or approaching hurricanes. It was the news that the two top heavyweights in MMA were headed for a clash bigger than the one between an iceberg and the famous ship Titanic.
UFC had just purchased Pride Fighting Championships, and rumors were running rampant that the Pride FC top heavyweight would meet the man whom many predict (including myself) may possess the skills to to take him apart, literally.
Like a small hurricane, most come with sudden fury and seem to diminish to a tropical storm before making landfall. This was also the case with Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko.
UFC president Dana White announced Emelianenko was to sign with UFC in late 2007 or early 2008, after he was to compete in some sort of Mambo Sambo competition that White would not allow him to participate in if he were under a UFC contract.
White also revealed his intent to set up a unification bout with the real heavyweight champion, Couture, as Fedor's first UFC fight. Nevertheless, these negotiations broke down, as Emelianenko committed to a non-exclusive, two-year and six-fight deal with M1-Global in October of 2007.
So enter hurricane Brock Lesnar, who has had three fights and suddenly leaps over the more deserving fighters in the heavyweight division. Meanwhile, like a shock wave after an atomic bomb explodes, Couture signs with his old sparring partners (No, not Dan Henderson)—a three-fight deal with the UFC! Who knew?
So, it looks like we’ve got what amounts to a mini-Grand Prix for the belt. Brock-Couture is for the UFC heavyweight championship, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira-Frank Mir is for the interim heavyweight championship, and the winners face off for the unified title.
Because I'm such a righteous guy, I'm hoping that Mir and Couture meet up and Mir gets the belt back that is already his. (Remember, Mir was stripped after his motorcycle hit a car head-on, and he almost lost his leg.)
And yes, that means that there’s going to be two UFC heavyweight championships being contested. So instead of the perfect storm of Fedor vs. Couture, all we are really left with is dust in the wind.
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3 months ago
Some things in life just aren't meant to be. And even though I'm pretty sure that Fedor would dispatch Randy in short order I'd rather have it proven to me than to speculate the outcome while wondering, "what if?" But at least Randy will expose Brock, Big Nog should get by Mir, and by then? Well, we know there won't be a Fedor. And Who knows?. A tornado might snatch up Dana white and yank him out of Kansas. Or those two Italian brothers (who really run things for the UFC) might be exposed for having ties to organized crime and the RICO laws wind up toss them in the can. (Hey, we all can dream).
I'm glad Fedor didn't sign with the UFC. They don't deserve him. The UFC heavyweight champion will know his title is tainted, but what's even better is that Dana will also know...and the missing Fedor will gnaw away at him for a long time to come.
Joseph Lupoli
3 months ago
THANK YOU!! for your comment my friend..although I respectfully disagree!! The UFC continues to be the highest skilled MMA organization in the world.They continue to thrive when other "copycat" organizations stumble fall and starve to death.Randy has the belt that Frank Mir had before his accident (that he didn't lose in the ring) Mir is the rightful owner.Mir will show Nog how to finish a man when he is hurt(unlike Tim Sylvia who let Nog off the hook for four total rounds.Dana white?? love him or hate him but hear this...we would all be watching HBO Boxing After Dark;or Klitschko vs Sam Peter do thier impression of waltzing matilda on PPV.Dana White,Joe Silva and Zuffa have made MMA the gold rush of decade.UFC has no equal..they are the big fish in the pound that eats all the little fish..and after swallowing pride fc.. got a severe case of indigestion...because the hype and the money that was payed out to crocop,hendo and all the others that failed goes to prove only one thing ..."you cant make chicken soup out of chicken shit"...amen!!
from 3 months ago
Stoker, the more I read the more I like you bro. Chicken soup out of chicken shit, one of my favorite lines, Im in lending and it applies alllll the time. Anyway, great points sir, and a great article. Your spot on about teh UFC being the bully in the schoolyard. No one can hold a candle to them lest it be blown out. Right or wrong like it or leave it that is a fact. I like the fact that you give Mir his props, as he never did lose his title. I think in the Brock fight he looked more fit and more athletic. No more belly fat, and he was bouncy if that makes sense. I loved the way he submitted him, poetic. They said his knee was 100%, which it hasnt been since the accident, and he can finally train to his potential. I think he is a sleeper of sorts that no one is really paying much attention to. I dont know if he will beat Big Nog but none the less he looks great lately and I cant wait to see him fight again. He is going to surprise a lot of people.
3 months ago
You are correct, Stoker. The UFC has no equil...only a superior. That being Dream Productions. So Dana and his moneyed goons ate up Pride FC. And we all know the UFC (currently) has the best fighters in the world (save for the The best fighter in the world...the guy they couldn't dangle a carrot in front of). How success is obtained and maintained means everything in the long-run. Owning the best slaves in the world certainly doesn't make the UFC the best organization in the world. Dream has class, the UFC has brash. Pride FC had more dignity and treated their fighters with more respect than the UFC owners ever did. The Dana squad couldn't coexist with a superior product, so they squashed them. Any given company who has more money and better toys than their competitors is fine so long as they have enough confidence in their own merit to coexist with other companies. Pride was a threat, so the UFC made them an offer they couldn't refuse. Pride was innovative, particularly with their exciting round-robin tournaments. Plus they were more global than the UFC. Fighters from many more Countries fought in pride FC than in the UFC.
Here's an example of the UFC's dignity: Joe Rogan rushes into the octagon after a fight and demonstrates his annoying, obnoxious behavior by loudly (even though he's already on the loudspeaker), interviewing a victorious fighter...in front of 5,000 screaming rednecks, while the hapless, dejected victim is laid out on the canvas, his cornermen tending to him while he has to listen to Rogan: "OKAY, MAULER! LOOK AT THE SCREEN HERE AND WALK US THROUGH YOUR DEVASTATING 12-PUNCH COMBINATION THAT PUT AWAY JOHN DOE FOR KEEPS!"
John doe: "well, after I gave him that liver kick, I saw him wince and his eyes rolled back, so I took advantage of his weakness and I Just punched the guy silly until he went down."
Classy outfit, huh? I'm sure Fedor's managers think so too.
Joseph Lupoli
3 months ago
Oops... John Doe was the loser. The mauler was being interviewed....sorry.
Joseph Lupoli
3 months ago
ummm...yeah. some of my favorite interviews have come from Joe's exciting play by play..he comes at us like he is one of us ..(a fan)..not a holier than thou commentator who spots out monotonous cliches', and never once seems the least bit concerned or excited!!!Rogan" mike that cut is deep!! it looks like a goats vagina!!....Pride fc was run by the mafia and gave out steroids like Halloween candy to thier fighters.They weren't being competitive at all even in Japan!!..So they moved to the united states and continued to do poorly..there is no such thing my friend as a dejected victim in MMA.Depressed because he lost ..but the word victim doesnt exsist...both men train for months and are well prepared to challenge each other they love the sport they are in , just like a race car driver knows he could be killed in a wreck at any minute ,he would never consider himself a victim. May i suggest to you Joseph that you are a Fedor fan and a Dream fan and not a true redneck(watch any fight)...kinda guy like me..UFC will be around and thriving when FEDOR and DREAM..are nothing but faded memories.
3 months ago
IF Pride FC were giving out steroids like candy, you'd never know it by looking at the the round-mound physique that most of those Japanese and European figters sported. And the Mafia? I think you meant the Yakuza. The Mafia is that little Italian social club of former boy-scouts that hover around American MMA, "lending" small-time organizers start-up money.
And I wouldn't be so sure about the UFC sticking around till Armageddon. Sooner or later a group of knowledgeable entrepreneurs will organize a superior product. The UFC's practice of keeping their fighters under lock-and-key will come back to haunt them. Being first doesn't necessarily mean being best.
And lastly, the practice of in-the-ring interviews (especially by the screechy Joe Rogan) before the loser is even out of the ring is just downright obnoxious. He sure doesn't sound like one of us. Joe Rogan's screaming in to the microphone is more irritating than the average mother-in-law. Of course I'll watch any fight. That doesn't mean I've got to like all the trappings.
Joseph Lupoli
2 months ago
well i guess thats why they say it takes all sorts of diverse people to make up this world.I love ENTHUSIASM!!!..and Joe Rogan has more than enough..and unlike some people he is also a swimmer who has been in the pool..trained under Eddie Bravo ..Rogan is brown in JUI JITSU ..and black in TKD.
(THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND AN HONEST DEBATE) THE AUTHOR
2 months ago
Stoker,
Do you know how the exhibition grappling match between Fedor and Couture that you got your article photo from ended?
:)
Why didn't you use THAT picture for your article?
peace,
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