Bleacher Report - Articles by Jared Leatzow

Rizzo Not Deceased: Python vs. The Rock at Bitteti Combat 5

Jared Leatzow — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:48:37 -0500

The sledgehammer called Roman Zentsov may have cracked the career of Pedro Rizzo into a million pieces, forcing the Rock to retire from the big leagues and into a purgatory of small shows and small paychecks.

But if there is any fighter who has retired into the unknown more than Rizzo, it would have to be Valentijn Overeem.

Overeem has been eclipsed by the career of his brother, Alistair, and was once a well-respected heavyweight submission specialist.

Overeem, has had his fair shares of problems, in fact compared to Rizzo's even more so. Overeem after his career in PRIDE came to an end in 2002 would go on to lose multiple fights.

This December, the two fighters will be squaring off at Bitteti Combat 5 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. An event overshadowed by its lack of name recognition but could prove to be better than expected.

Filled with former MMA superstars the and some unknowns the event should intrigue the most hardcore of fans.

According to Tatame.com, not only is Overeem and Rizzo both on the card but also cult hero Jeff Monson vs the heavy handed Glover Teixeira.

Former Strikeforce fighter Murilo "Ninja" Rua also will be fighting against Golden Glory fighter Jason Jones and journey man Travis Wiuff will be fighting against a Brazillian unknown.

The show may not be well known but it could be very interesting and for the MMA enthusiast could be something to watch if you're tired of the glitz and glam of the UFC.

Call For Concern: UFC Suffers Due to Poor Judging and Refereeing

Jared Leatzow — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:48:14 -0500

There are some people out there who call themselves MMA fans, I for one am not one of them. I say I am not a fan because my love of the sport borders as some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

So obviously if I'm not a fan, and certainly not a hater of the sport, that can only mean one thing: I'm a fanatic.

So, certainly if I am a fanati,c then I rarely ever miss a UFC or free Strikeforce, and I always check the results for DREAM and Sengoku.

However, I have to say the last two UFC events I most definitely missed. I missed 105 simply out a lack of interest and 106 because I was spending time with a friend who is getting married next week.

Fortunately though, I have heard all the juicy details of last night's fights, and it seems to me like there was some underhanded refereeing and judging.

It came to my attention that Josh Koscheck fought a very dirty and underhanded fight against Anthony Johnson.

As a fan of Johnson and was slowly growing to become a fan of Koscheck's, I have to say I am quite disappointed in the way he fought last night.

Friends told me that Koscheck lied about being hit by a knee to the face and being blinded, then went on to use kryptonite against Johnson.

If I am correct the fight ended with a submission victory by Koscheck as a result of poking Johnson in the eye twice and blinding him.

Now, I really want to know what is going on here in the UFC.

Johnson has lost two fights this way. The first one was against Kevin Burns who just wrecked his eyeball, and now Koscheck.

Why aren't these fights being ruled a no contest? These sort of things shouldn't be tarnishing a talented fighter like Johnson's career.

The second eye poke by Koscheck should be an indication that this guy is fighting dirty and the match should be ended or the guy should be losing part of his purse, not being rewarded a submission of the night bonus.

Now, on the Ortiz vs Griffin II fight, it came to my attention that this fight was once again a poorly judged main event in the UFC. It was just last month that there was all this judging controversy and once again the UFC is embroiled in all this crap again.

I don't know if Griffin truly won this fight, but looking at the score cards and then reading about Dana White's post-fight reactions, it seems to me like there needs to be finely established guidelines for judging.

White seemed very content that Griffin did not deserve a unanimous decision and the fight was much closer than what the cards said.

Whatever guidelines there are, they simply are not working. Is MMA in the United States still using boxing as its example for judging these fights?

These judges don't seem to understand takedowns, submission attempts, and well-placed elbows. The only thing they seem to understand are punches to the head and kicks to the body.

Perhaps it's time to step away from a three-judge scoring model and instead adapt a new system for this sport.

Here is my suggestion: Have a small panel of score keepers. These score keepers' only job is to watch the fight and count strikes, submissions, and takedowns.

These score keepers should be comprised of people who truly understand the sport, like MMA journalists and retired fighters.

There would still be three judges and it would also be their job to keep their own tally for each match.

The judges would take the score keepers' scores into consideration when they are deciding the winner of the fight. It would work similar to the U.S. election process.

UFC 109: Battle for the Best Senior Citizen

Jared Leatzow — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:54:17 -0500

UFC fighters, Randy Couture and Mark Coleman have both recently verbally agreed to fight one another at UFC 109.

This event marks in my opinion something I have been wishing would happen for a long time two of the oldest saltiest dogs in the sport doing battle. Randy Couture a UFC fan favorite will no longer have the mma pundits questioning how long he can outrun time when he faces Coleman, because both men are in their forties.

It would be incredible if the UFC announced a creation of a senior citizen belt, but of course this is simply a wish that will never be fullfilled.

So lets break down this fight down, both men are top wrestlers who have competed in the highest level possible in the sport, and both men posses a not-so-technical striking game that is usually utilized mostly to put people away while they are on the ground.

Also both men have been UFC champions, but here is where the similarities stop.

Mark Coleman was a UFC tournament champion, meaning he had to fight multiple opponents in one night. Also Coleman was the first Pride champion as well, and one the PRIDE GP in 2000 meaning that he had to fight a semi-final and final match all on the same night.

Couture made a good run as well in the UFC, where he won UFC 13 heavyweight tournament and would eventually claim the heavyweight title from Maurice Smith at UFC Japan. Maurice Smith was at the time the current heavyweight champion and had just won the belt from Coleman himself.

Couture achievements continued as well when he beat Chuck Liddell for the light-heavyweight belt and then eventually later in his career won back his heavyweight title from Tim Sylvia.

So on paper it may appear that Couture has had a better run as a competitor but I would not count out Coleman in this one. First it is important to look at the the quality of fighters each person has fought in their career.

First thing is first Coleman fought and lost too Fedor Emilianenko twice, and has also lost to Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera. Couture has never fought Fedor but has lost to Noguira.

Coleman has beaten Don Frye, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Gary Goodridge, Igor Volvchachyen, Kazuyuki Fujita, Dan Severen, and Alan Goes. All names that may not seem important now but where big back in the day.

However, Coleman has lost too Pete Williams, Maurice Smith, Mirko Filopvic,Pedro Rizzo and his most embaressing loss came to the hands of Nobuhiko Takada. All quality opponents at the time excluding the loss to Takada.

Couture has beaten Maurice Smith, Vitor Belfort as well as lost to him, Pedro Rizzo, Chuck Liddell,Kevin Randleman, Tsyushi Khosaka and Jeremy Horn to name a few. All very notable fighters all very dominant at the time they were fighting.

Couture has also lost to Enson Inoue,Valentijn Overeem, Chuck Liddell, Josh Barnett, Ricco Rodriguez, and Brock Lesnar.

So overall it would appear that Couture has had much more impressive victories but the guys that he lost too where essentially about the same when considering the times he fought them.

So on paper it would appear that Couture would have the advantage based on experience and quality of opponents. However, I love Coleman and can't see the guy losing this one he has hearts, guts, and a willingness to win.

Sure Coleman told a reporter that he was a little scared to fight a guy like Brock Lesnar and Couture actually did fight Lesnar, but the guy fought Fedor twice, and he has some real character and fights for his family.

It would nice to have a new old man in the sport who can beat up the young guys.

The guys got heart and I'm rooting for Coleman.

Rogers Looks to Go Around Fedor For Heavyweight Belt

Jared Leatzow — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:05:54 -0500

According the website mmaweekly.com Brett Rogers trainer wants a shot at Alistair Overeem.

Without actually saying it what this would mean for Rogers is an instant title shot for the Strikeforce heavyweight belt.

Overeem who is the current holder of the belt has never defended it despite being crowned the heavyweight champion two years ago.

Having just lost to Fedor Emelienanko, the number one heavyweight in the world, is Rogers really deserving enough to challenge Overeem?

Rogers trainer has said that he is interested in fighting in Japan but even if he were to fight Overeem on foreign soil and if he were to win this would mark Rogers as a sort unofficial Strikeforce heavyweight champion in my opinion.

This is something that simply should not happen, the next in line for that belt should be the one to have just beat him. Then after that should Fedor lose it should be Werdum because he just beat Antonio Silva.

In fact despite Rogers stock as a heavyweight fighter rising after his fight with Fedor he should be about third person to stake any claim at a shot at challenging Overeem.

The question is can anyone actually lure Overeem back into the sport of MMA? He currently seems happy enough to simply fight in K-1 as a kick boxer. My answer of course is yes, I think right now Overeem is confident enough and cocky to except a challenge in Fedor.

Could Overeem win this fight? Well whether or not he can win the fight I think right now he holds the best chance of defeating Fedor. He seems to have grown substantially in size and has managed to get his cardio under control. Overeem seemed to suffer as a light heavyweight with bad cardio which he now seems to have under control.

Could Overeem pass a drug test? Now that is the million dollar question isn't it, rumor is that Overeem's new bulk is from steroids despite what he says. However, Overeem has not fought in the U.S. for two years and has instead opted for a career in Japan.

Not wishing to start any arguments about either Pride or UFC being better, Japan is known by fans to have very relaxed rules against steroids something the U.S. frowns very much on.

A TKO Victory: Fedor Still The King

Jared Leatzow — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:39:14 -0500

Fingers crossed, knuckles squeezed to white, all while grinding my teeth; I was teetering on the brink of blacking out.

I was holding my breath through most of the Fedor fight hoping and praying the Last Emperor would finish this fight. I was scared that this might finally be it, the fight that ended Fedor's legacy.

Like any mixed martial art fan who follows the sport religiously I know Fedor's reputation.

Fedor ranks as my favorite fighter, and I know that eventually his legacy must and will come to an end. However, as he steps before each new opponent I feel none are truly worthy of taking his title away.

So, anyone reading this can imagine my nervousness when he fought Brett Rogers. While I knew Fedor should win, I was scared of the new surrounding called the cage.

Early into the fight Rogers busted Fedor's nose, unfazed Fedor landed solid shots and threw Rogers to the mat. I believed this was the end of the match, but was soon proved wrong.

Rogers scrambled to his feet and managed to nullify Fedor's ground skills. But Rogers retaliated and pushed Fedor against the fence and began to knee his legs.

You see, this is where I began to get nervous for Fedor. He had never fought inside a cage and now, to be trapped against it, suggested Roger's battleground experience would highlight his advantage in this fight.

However, when the cage really seemed to work to Fedor's disadvantage was when he went for an armbar attempt. Fedor had a hard time getting his hips across Rogers body for an arm bar because he was trapped against the cage. In a ring this arm bar would have been much easier to get because there is not chain link getting in your way.

However, despite the overall newness of the cage Fedor still managed to do what Fedor does best and that is hit hard and hit fast.

Despite what Rogers says about not being hurt, he was down holding his head and was about to have Fedor the master of ground and pound resting on top of him and delivering punches to his temple.

It was not an early stoppage, it was the right stoppage and the defense that Rogers seemed to be mounting after being knocked down to canvas consisted of holding his head in pain and not even attempting to tie Fedor up to prevent his punches from landing.

Mapping Out the World of MMA

Jared Leatzow — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:04:06 -0400

I have an idea that I would like all the MMA Bleacher Report writers to help me out with.

My idea is to create a map on Google that shows where all the schools and promotions of the MMA world are located. I feel like this project is simply too big for me to handle and would ask that the people on this site please help.

I have already started the map and if anyone would like to contribute they can go here.

I think this map would be a helpful tool for all the fans and citizen journalists in the world. Please take part with this project.

Aleksander Emelianenko Is The Tommy Morrison Of MMA

Jared Leatzow — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:41:10 -0500

Aleksander Emelianenko may not be able to find work in the U.S. or Japan, but he still continues to fight in his native Russia.

As shameful as this may be, especially since he probably has hepatitis, one cannot help draw a similar parallel to the career of heavyweight boxer Tommy Morrison.

I am not the first person to make this comparison—heck I read it somewhere else. But I thought that the two fighters have suffered a similar fate; a fate that is unfortunate for the fans and even more unfortunate for the fighters.

Some younger readers may not know who Morrison is, but those readers are sure to recognize him. Morrison, who co-stared in the terrible boxing epic "Rocky V," played a young boxer seeking training from Sylvester Stallone.

Everyone knows how the movie ended, but not everyone knows how Morrison's career did.

Morrison was a boxing star in the '90s. He was a heavyweight champion who rarely lost and showed a talent that many could only wish to have.

However, Morrison's career was cut short when he tested positive for HIV. Morrison was forced to quit fighting something every fighter is afraid to have happen to them.

Morrison would go on to try to make a series of comebacks and went as far as to claim that his results of an HIV test in the '90s was false.

This, of course, did not last long, and Morrison was found to still have HIV and Hepatitis C.

Now, Morrison continues to fight here and there, but he fights in unsanctioned matches in countries that do not test for sexually transmitted diseases. Always on the verge of making a comeback, Morrison is likely to never make it back to the big show.

So, how is this story similar to the big-little brother of Fedor Emelianenko? Well last year, Aleksander tested positive for something that was never fully disclosed to the media.

His test prevented him from fighting Paul Buentello at Affliction: Day of Reckoning, and has even prevented him fighting in Japan. Being unable to fight in the U.S. and Japan has eliminated him from ever having a chance at fighting in the big shows ever again.

So what is that Emelianenko tested for?

Well it is believed he tested positive for some form of Hepatits, however which one still remains a mystery. Yet despite this extreme health risk Emelianenko still continues to fight.

He continues to fight in Russia in the M-1 organization. How is it that this man, once a promising young heavyweight could be reduced to this level? Well, no one knows.

It is unfortunate because Emelianenko continues to fight but at the risk of his own opponents. The potential of his blood contaminating another is quite possibly an even great threat than getting into a boxing match with Morrison.

In a sport like MMA, Emelianenko is more than likely going to make skin to skin and even cut to cut contact. The moment the sport goes to the ground and Emelianenko lands on top could make the end of another young fighters career.

In a sport like boxing a fight going to the ground is almost next to impossible to happen , but a risk of contamination still exists.

Emelianenko and Morrison—two fighters cut down in their prime, yet two fighters still fighting.

Kawajiri Added to DREAM 7

Jared Leatzow — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:26:09 -0500

Japanese lightweight all-star Tatsuya Kawajiri has been hired to compete at DREAM 7 on Mar. 8.

Kawajiri will be fighting against relatively unknown fighter Ross Ebanez. Ebanez who trains at B.J. Penn's Gym is a former opponent of Eddie Alvarez back in January of 2008 in the ShoXC promotion.

It is unkown at the time what weight class the two fighters will compete at.Kawajiri usually fights at 155 lbs where Ebanez usually fights around 170 lbs.

However, Ebanez has fought opponents in the lightweight division so it is more than likely the fight will take place at 155 or a catch weight.

Kawajiri, who last fought on New Years won his kickboxing match against Kozo Takeda at the Fields Dynamite 2009 show. Ebanez is coming off a first round victory over Waachiim Spiritwolf at Rumble on the Rock-Beatdown 9.

Both Kawajiri and Ebanez have fought and loss to Alvarez and share a similar amount time in the ring with him as well. Kawajiri spent a total of seven minutes and 35 seconds and Ebanez spent a total of seven minutes and 32 seconds.

Yoshihiro Akiyama Signs With The UFC

Jared Leatzow — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:14:47 -0500

The UFC recently signed notorious, Korean judoka Yoshihiro "Grease Lighting" Akiyama in a possible attempt to edge its way into the Asian MMA market.

Dana White has expressed interest in moving the UFC in a direction which could include trips to Japan.

Interestingly, this news is coming right around the time George "Grease Lightning II" St.Pierre has been under investigation by NSAC for greasing in his last fight against BJ Penn.

By signing Akiyama, the UFC has now employed the two most famous greasers in MMA.

Akiyama, however may provide some depth to a middleweight division that only has two contenders waiting to face the potent strikes of pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva.

Demian Mai and Yushin Okami remain the two most deserving canindates to square off against The Spider.

However, Akiyama could provide a potential challenge to fighters in the division, with his lethal Judo throws and technical karate.

Beyond all the potential capabilities of this newcomer to the UFC, Akiyama must overcome one challenge he has yet to see in any of his bouts—the cage.

The Octagon could be his greatest weakness in the UFC, the cage provides challenges and strategies that the fighter may not be aware off. Akiyama has fought all his fights within a ring and usually under K-1's MMA rules.

Despite obvious inexperience fighting in a cage, Akiyama could provide a breath of fresh air in a organization largely dominated by wrestlers. Fellow judokas Yoshihiro Yoshida and Dong Hyun Kim showed potential in their first UFC fights, but eventually succumbed to defeat by the hands of UFC veterans.

Akiyama, differs though from Yoshida and Kim. Akiyama is the most accomplished judoka of the three in the sport of MMA. Akiyama has held positions within top-10 rankings and held a title in a major organization.

Akiyama won the K-1 Heroes 7 tournament back in 2006, an event that was held over one night.

So what does this all mean for the MMA scene? Well, for this hopeful fan it would be the resurrection of PRIDE.

However, this is not a likely scenario, but with expansion into Japan it could mean a more diverse UFC. The UFC may start taking an approach similar to PRIDE in its employment process—globalize its stable of fighters.

With MMA becoming popular all over the world, hopefully the UFC will begin to employ more fighters outside the United States, Canada, Brazil, and England.

All Hail The Last Emperor: Fedor Will Shut Up All The Naysayers

Jared Leatzow — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:56:43 -0500

Affliction: Day of Reckoning saw something done by Fedor Emelianenko that very few MMA fans ever get to actually witness; by that I mean Fedor actually knocked out his opponent.

It is a very rare thing to not see Fedor win a fight by TKO or submission; more often than not he beats an opponent down on the ground and turns their face to meatloaf or pulls off what I would describe as a flawless arm bar.

However, when Fedor stepped into the ring he faced an opponent that many people felt could be his greatest test to date—Andrei Arlovski. Many people, especially some of those on this site, thought that Fedor was a mythical unicorn and by that I mean that he had never fought a true legitimate challenge.

There were questions posed by some of the bleacher creatures that Fedor was falling off after his first Sambo loss and that he had finally shown his weakness.

Well as a known Fedor fan I have to say that I was altogether pleased that he proved all these statements to be fiction.

I had my fingers crossed, I was trying to ignore the criticisms by some of the people on this site, and believe that Arlovski training with Freddie Roach would play no part in this fight. I kept telling myself that Arlovski looked weak off his back when he fought Roy Nelson and that Fedor would simply put him there and pound him out for two rounds and win.

Like Tito Ortiz said that night about having his hands sweating and shaking from anticipation of the fight, I was doing just that. When that bell rang I saw an Arlovski that was beating Fedor on punches and damaging his legs with kicks.

Fedor's looping punches were being countered by the tighter boxing of Arlovski and was making Fedor move backwards.

However, whether this was a game of possum or not it simply didn't matter because in the end Fedor knocked Arlovski out on his face.

Arlovski knocked Fedor backwards and tried to follow up with a very athletic flying knee but Fedor countered with a loopy right knocking Arlovski out in mid-air within the first round.

Actions speak louder than words and Fedor's message last night was that he deserves to be No. 1; Josh Barnett, Brock Lesnar, or whoever come on I'm ready to go.

Coming Overseas: A Story Of How U.S. MMA's Long Layoff Returned to Dominance

Jared Leatzow — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:02:32 -0500

Mixed Martial Arts is a sport that is technically hundreds of years old, with its early origins in Greece known as Pankration it was seemingly lost to the world once the Christians reformed the Roman empire.

However, lost to the world the sport was something later picked up centuries later by a family known as the Gracies in the 1920's. The Gracies challenged all comers in all styles to challenge their own unique family style.

These competitions lasted for a long time but was mostly in isolated challenge in Brazil. However, with the advent of Japanese pro-wrestling many skilled grapplers became sick of staging worked matches and decided to create the Pancrase organization in 1993.

Essentially, Pancrase was considered "Hybrid Wrestling" and pitted some of the most skilled martial artists on the planet against one another.

Way across the Pacific Ocean in the U.S.A. the Gracie's returned with a fury only several months after the formation of Pancrase. It was here the world stage of competition between the U.S.A. and Japan was formed.

Both organizations the first of its kind, both battling for no-holds-barred supremacy, both with its unique and interesting rule systems.

Pancrase the less brutal of the two offered a rule system where open handed strikes were only allowed to the face, ring escapes similar to pro-wrestling was allowed, and a muay thai style shin pads had to be worn.

The UFC chose the opposite approach, Rorion Gracie and Art Davie the creators built an organization of where anything goes and death was a very real possibility. With only a few gentleman rules in place: no eye gouging, fish hooking, and hair pulling; besides that there was nothing off limits.

The UFC dominated as the international organization for these mixed fight competitions, taking all the credit for creating mixed martial arts and reaping all the benefits.

The best fighters of the Pancrase organization wanted a piece of the pie and many of them got themselves that nice big piece.

Ken Shamrock was the first to come over from Pancrase he fought well and showed his skill over all the rest, but there was always Royce Gracie. Soon followed many other good Pancrase fighters like Guy Mezger, Bas Rutten, Frank Shamrock, and Semmy Schilt all being extremely successful.

The brutality of the UFC though is not only what made the sport but actually destroyed it as well. The enormous popularity drew immediate attention from politicians and nervous moms stating that it was human cock fighting.

Leading this fight was former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, who had noted ties to boxing sponsors.

Campaign against MMA single handily banned it in 36 states, these were the dark days of the UFC.

The sport fell into a slump having to plan shows in smaller venue states like Indiana, and on various Indian reservations. With a dying franchise the UFC found it more and more difficult to pay their super star fighters.

In enters Japan with a new rising force behind the MMA scene known as RINGS. RINGS had been a Japanese pro-wrestling circuit since 1991 but later switched its focus to MMA. Attracting many good UFC fighters away from its homeland to come and fight where pay was steady and fights were often.

Some of the fighters to make the jump to RINGS where noted UFC stars: Randy Couture, Jeremy Horn, Enson Inoue, and Matt Hughes.

The RINGS popularity waned and a new better, and much improved organization known as Pride FC was born in 1997. Attracting many fighters away from RINGS some of the old UFC vanguard returned but some went overseas to fight in this new organization.

Fighters, Mark Coleman joined the team along with Kevin Randelman and several others. PRIDE was offering bigger pay outs, better recognition amongst the Japanese fans, and competition from all across the globe.

However, the UFC was not out of the fight game and was slowly but steadily creeping back to the forefront of MMA dominance.

With the purchase of the UFC by Zuffa in 2001 a series of reforms began taking place under president Dana White's leadership to move it back into rivalry with boxing in the U.S.

PRIDE continued its success and continued its tradition of high production values, and international brand appeal. In 2000 they held their first Grand Prix and former UFC tournament champion Mark Coleman took the prize.

However, it wasn't until around 2005 that Dana White's efforts finally payed off, with the success of a UFC clip show on SPIKE TV a new deal was inked for 2006 with the television network.

The biggest factor in contributing to major U.S. recognition of MMA in the new millennium came in the form of a reality TV show. The Ultimate Fighter launched several successful careers for future mixed martial artists, and made it an easily accessible avenue for fans to jump into the sport.

With the UFC seeing major U.S. success Japan began to run into some snags. Rumors were abound that PRIDE had ties to Japanese Yakuza- the mob.

PRIDE lost cable deals, and many of their sponsors, this of course was a major blow and PRIDE found itself losing money fast.

Finally in 2007, a now bankrupt PRIDE FC was Acquired by the Fertitta's, the owners of the UFC. Creating the organization PRIDE World Wide, the Fertitta's promised PRIDE-UFC cross promotions but instead buried the once popular organization.

The UFC had successfully eliminated the most popular MMA organization in the world, and forced several jobless fighters to either seek retirement or employment else where.

Many fighters had options to fight for the UFC and many choose to go someplace else. With claims of reduced pay and UFC exclusive contracts only a few choose to make a new home in the U.S.

Some saw success and some did not, fighters like Anderson Silva, Quinton Jackson, Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for a brief period saw some success.

However, some where not so fortunate namely Wanderlei Silva who has tasted defeat twice in the walls of the Octagon. Several other under card fighters made the UFC cut but time ran short for them; guys like Donojonosuske Mishima, and Marcus Aurelio.

With PRIDE fighters spread to the far corners of the world MMA scene, the U.S. became the premier country for MMA competition. Organizations like Elite XC, WEC, Bodog fight,WFA, IFL, and Strikeforce sprung up, and many were disbanded or bought by the UFC after less than a year of business.

International fight talent found themselves forced to come to the U.S.; the call of fame and fortune where becoming to great for they're pride and respect.

The UFC has become powerful enough to control the market of the sport within the U.S. preventing many companies from seeing the light of day.

However, the UFC slowly began to alienate fighters and people where either fired or decided to move to new organizations.

Across the Pacific Japanese businessmen began creating organizations to replace PRIDE and combat the UFC these organizations are: Sengoku and DREAM FC. However, neither one of these organizations have been able to catch the spark of the Japanese public and MMA viewership has been on a decline.

Affliction opened their doors in 2008 to the world of MMA and is looking to be the rivalry the UFC hasn't had in over two years. With its first show being incredibly successful, attracting many top veterans and paying the highest overall U.S. purse to its fighters.

But now instead of a East vs. West rivalry their is only the West vs. the West. UFC has reclaimed its dominance, and shifted the international attention from Japan back to the United States.

Sengoku 7 Crowns New Lightweight King

Jared Leatzow — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 03:23:11 -0500

Takanori Gomi has strayed from the path that once marked his dominance as the No. 1 rated lightweight in MMA, most recently losing the Sengoku 7 title fight to Satoru Kitaoka.

Gomi, once a feared and deadly fighter with efficient wrestling and gruesome knockout power, was expected by some critics to put away the tenacious Kitaoka. Kitaoka, whose potent submission style was being compared to the likes of Mitsuhiro Ishida a fighter Gomi had already beaten.

However, Kitaoka was not to be underestimated and wound up submitting Gomi in the first round of their fight at Sengoku 7.

Kitaoka, a member of the Nippon Top Team had told teammate and WAMMA lightweight champion Shinya Aoki, "I will make it so you won't here anything about Gomi anymore." Kitaoka also said, "Gomi says he wants to show speed and strength. So I’m thinking, ‘Fine, let’s finish it fast.’ If I go as usual, this will be a quick fight.”

Bad blood seemed to be brewing between the two prior to the fight when Kitaoka told the press that "He looks strong, but I think I hate him; I don't know why. After this fight I don't think I'll ever talk to him again, no matter the result."

This was hardly the case though after the fight when a emotional Kitaoka went to check on Gomi looking concerned for his fellow fighters leg. The two talked as Gomi smiled, and the crowd laughed at what appeared to be an overly concerned Kitaoka.

Gomi, who is the former PRIDE lightweight champion has been experiencing some difficult bumps in his career ever since his loss to Nick Diaz back in February of 2007.

With a win over Duane "Bang" Ludwig in March; Gomi then went on to fight Seung Hwan Bang a fighter he was expected to easily defeat but ended up taking to a decision. Next up on Gomi's list of disappointing fights was a decision loss to Sergey Golyaev, another fighter he was expected to beat easily, which questioned whether he should even compete for the newly created Sengoku Lightweight Title.

However, World Victoty Road, the company that runs Sengoku, promised whoever won their lightweight Grand Prix would fight Gomi for the title. WVR held to their promise and matched the exciting Kitaoka to fight with Gomi in January.

Kitaoka, who had been on a tear through the grand prix since he first debut at Sengoku's second show has been dispensing off his competition quite easily. With submission victories within the first round in three of his four fights prior to the title shot against Gomi.

Overeem sets his Sights for the U.S. & Cro Cop Seeks Retirement for 2009

Jared Leatzow — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:26:05 -0500

According to Cage Potato, Alistair Overeem has stated that he wishes to fight in the US, either in the UFC or Affliction, and that he would be attending the UFC 93, Ireland.

Also according to Cage Potato, Mirko Filipovic has said he wishes to retire in 2009 and before doing so, have his farewell fight in the UFC.

After Overeems KO of Badr Hari within the first two minutes of round one it is hard to deny that Overeem is not a man deserving of respect, something he has been hammering very hard since his fight with Filipovic.

Ovreem has been tearing through his opponents since his move to heavyweight—a weight he seems to look more comfortable at.

If Overeem decides where to sign with either the UFC or Affliction it could add to some very interesting match ups for U.S. fight fans to watch.

The UFC would possibly benefit the most if they were to sign Overeem, it would give much more depth to the heavyweight division and would truly test heavyweight contenders.

Overeem could be the perfect test for either UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar or Frank Mir. Having Dutch trained kickboxing skills from the legendary Team Golden Glory in a massive hulking frame and potent jiu jitsu skills.

Overeem the Strikeforce heavyweight champion, and a Abu Dhabi European champ could test Mir's submission skills and his bulk could be a challenge to Lesnar who may not find himself to easy to muscle around.

Nevertheless, if Overeem were to join Affliction he would be joining an already deep stable of heavyweight fighters. With former Pride and World Sambo Champion Fedor Emelianenko holding the newly created WAMMA belt.

In different news Filipovic who is coming off a win against the 7-ft Hong Man Choi on New Years. Dynamite has publicly stated that he may be seeking retirement in 2009. Oddly enough Filipovic wishes to have his farewell match in the UFC, a place where he had little success and was KO'd by Gabriel Gonzaga.

Cro Cop states he will need knee surgery first before he begins fighting in '09 though, surely a result of his long K-1 and mma career.

Filipovic has shown recently that his body is slowing and that he has a tough time fighting with the top fighters of today resulting in him fighting cans and freak show matches.

In his last match against legitimate competition, Filipovic looked weak and slow until having his testicles kneed into his stomach by Overeem.

It should be interesting to see if either fighter signs with the UFC, several interesting fights could happen in the UFC.

Filipovic could possibly fight a farewell match against Overeem finally settling the bitterness between the two; even a match between Filipovic and Cheick Kongo would be interesting to see as well.

Kongo was the last person Filipovic officially lost to which came in the UFC after having his groin repeatedly mauled by Kongo.

Either way these interests show the increasing strength of the mma market in the U.S.; which not even 10 years was being overshadowed by the Japanese scene. It was however the purchase of the UFC by the Fertitas that changed it all around, and now the U.S. is dominating the market in attendance, ppv sales, and world wide popularity.

Alistair Overeem Demands His Respect: MMA Fighter Ko's K-1 Heavyweight Star

Jared Leatzow — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:25:11 -0500

Heavyweight muscle man Alistair Overem demanded respect on New Years Eve when he fought against former K-1 heavyweight champ Badr Hari and knocked him out in the 1st round.

Earlier in 2008 Alistair Overeem accepted the challenge to fight heavyweight kickboxing star and all around bad boy Badr Hari under K-1 rules.

Hari who had made some very disrespectful remarks earlier in the year at DREAM 6 about mma said, "I came here to see great fights but all I have seen is guys hugging each other. If you want to see some real fights , and some real KO's I'l tell you where to go: K-1!"

Hari whose blind ignorance towards the DREAM promotion had apparently not been aware that it was owned by K-1 and would be hosting a New Years event with DREAM fighters later that year.

Hari went on to stir even more controversy later last year when he stomped downed opponent Remy Bonjansky in the K-1 World GP final 2008. Hari's actions, which were illegal in K-1 rules, cost him to have to forfeit his belt and any sort of prize money he would have received that night.

Overeem, lately with his quest for respect among the mma community was not able to convince the K-1 promoters to get a re-match with Mirko Filipovic, whose testicles where knocked into his stomach in their last fight, but was instead matched to fight Hari instead.

An interesting turn of events indeed, especially since Overeem had told Hari that he would fight him under K-1 kickboxing rules but would later want a re-match in DREAM under mma rules.

It appears however that Overeem will not be needing to redeem himself when he knocked out the kickboxing bad boy out in the first round.

Overeem walked in looking 30lbs heavier than when he fought Filipovic, and looked almost 50lbs heavier than Hari. Overeem had no problem walking through Hari's attack and knocking him down twice before delivering the dangerous combination that would end the night.

Overeem who looked extremely excited danced about the ring, and ended the night by telling the crowd that he did it for the respect of mma fighters.

I Am Scared of Melvin Manhoef: Middleweight KO Stud To Watch in '09

Jared Leatzow — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:57:44 -0500

Melvin Manhoef may not be on most people's fighters-to-watch list, and he certainly isn't in any sort of top-10 rankings lists, but he is by far the most physically powerful middleweight currently in MMA.

Manhoef is not a technical, well-rounded fighter like Anderson Silva, or even Gegard Mousasi. What Manhoef is instead is 185lbs of pure brawling muscle.

Physically intimidating, Manhoef is built like a 200lb bodybuilder and throws punches and kicks that border on the speed of light.

Possessing knockout power that topples even the mightiest heavyweights, this MMA and K-1 veteran is looking to make a name for himself in 2009.

On New Year's Eve, Manhoef shocked the world with a stunning KO of Mark Hunt, whom many fans around the world had though was un-KO'able.

Reminiscent of the momentous Frank Mir KO of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Manhoef KO'ed someone who held a reputation of having a legendary chin.

However, where the two differ is the fact that Mark Hunt was two weight classes ahead of Manhoef, and Nogueira was the same weight class as Mir.

Manhoef has KO'd 22 people in all of his 23 wins in MMA, this impressive record has led fighters like Gegard Mousasi to label him the "mini Mike Tyson."

People fear Manhoef's power, which is why three of his five losses have come by submission.

With a potential to KO just about anyone, Manhoef could become an interesting fighter to watch in 2009. Should Manhoef tighten up his ground game, Dana White could have a real prospect to look at.

It should be interesting to see if any major U.S. promotions looks to snatch him up, namely the UFC. With Manhoef's killer instinct and unreal power he may be a challenge that Anderson Silva could find worthy to fight.

The End of Wanderlei Silva

Jared Leatzow — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:04:59 -0500

"Good night you princes of Maine, you kings of New England."—Michael Caine, in The Cider House Rules

Well, that was certainly not a good movie, but certainly a quote relevant to the dying career of "The Axe Murder," Wanderlei Silva.

Perhaps the quote should be, "Good night you prince of PRIDE, you kings of the muay thai clinch."

Silva, who was once the most dominating, the most intimidating, the most vicious light heavyweight is now a deflated loser in the ranks of the UFC light heavy elite.

Silva, who destroyed the competition overseas in Japan for five years, has now become what I predict may be the gatekeeper of the UFC.

I will not claim to understand what goes on within Dana White's scheming money-making head, but if I could guess it is that Silva is either out or the guy to beat for new challengers in the UFC.

Silva has shown in his short UFC career that he is not someone capable of hanging with the big boys. To be fair, the guy that first beat him in the UFC, Chuck Liddell, has also shown some serious weaknesses recently.

Perhaps Silva will have to fight to become the ultimate gatekeeper against Liddell.

Silva was aggressive and remains so, and is exciting, win or lose. But it has become apparent that he is suffering the fate of fellow Brazilian Pedro Rizzo.

He has been KO'ed one too many times, and may have developed a glass chin. Silva's amazing recuperative powers have come into question after the three KOs he has suffered in his last five fights.

At one point in his career Silva showed an amazing ability to get rocked and then recover instantly only to fight back and murder the opposition. This ability was displayed in Silva-Dan Henderson I and Silva-Quinton Jackson II.

A few things could have contributed to the more recent KO losses in Silva's career.

PRIDE was notorious for rumors of steroid use among their fighters. Whether Silva was or was not part of this is unknown, but he has appeared much smaller in the UFC than in his glory days at PRIDE, leaving him to be greatly outsized by the opposition.

Silva has suffered the Liddell effect—he has become a predictable fighter, which is easy for fighters to recognize and counter. Silva has an ultra-aggressive style that has him utilizing furious hooking punches and a fearsome muay thai clinch.

Fighters may now be recognizing this and developing specific game plans to counter it. Jackson utilized a perfect counter strategy that allowed him to not only KO Silva but also Liddell.

A long fight career may be contributing to his recent weakness in fighting as well. At 32 years old, Silva is not the oldest guy competing, but he has had more fights than many of the guys in the UFC competing now.

With a record of 42 fights, some of which were under old no rules Vale Tudo, Silva may be feeling the effects of repeated injuries and a tired beaten body.

Finally, he has suffered several brutal KOs against Mark Hunt, Mirko Filipovic, Dan Henderson, and as of recently, Quinton Jackson. I am no medical expert but I can only imagine being knocked out that many times is not good. Something like that may contribute to developing a glass chin.

Something Silva may want to consider is dropping down a weight class. This may help prevent him from gaining gatekeeper status and make him a champion in the remainder of his career.

With no claims he would be middleweight champion, I do believe fighting smaller guys may make him a real title contender. A Wanderlei Silva vs. Anderson Silva fight could be interesting.

They were formerly teammates in Brazil, and were both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belts, though they have completely different striking styles. Anderson is the technical striker while Wanderlei is the reckless train wreck.

Also, it may be the fight to keep Anderson Silva from seeking retirement and keep a main draw for the UFC within the organization.

I predict Anderson would win, but I think Wanderlei would be more of a challenge than Nathan Marquadt or Rich Franklin.

A Voice of Frustration on UFC 92: Poor Refereeing and Lackluster Performances

Jared Leatzow — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:11:55 -0500

"I am Spartacus!"—Kirk Douglas

UFC 92 was a night of light heavyweight and heavyweight titles being changed, a night of quick fights and poor refereeing, and a night of disappointment for one excited fan.

I have to say that I am happy I did not pay for this UFC card. On paper, it looked to be incredible, to quote the Ultimate 2008.

However, I believe this card was a lackluster and disappointing one.

I cannot blame the fighters—well, not all of them at least (Forrest.)

But some of the refereeing was bad—namely the Mir-Noguiera fight.

Maybe it is old daddy Pride shaping my opinion and making me biased, or maybe it is because I have watched literally hundreds of fights and know Noguiera's reputation. Noguiera was not out, he never has been in his career, and has yet to taste true defeat by TKO.

Noguiera's worst enemy in that fight was Herb Dean, the referee who pulled Mir off of Nog before Nog could even tie up his guard. Is it a UFC conspiracy?

No, probably not. But it was simply pathetic refereeing at its best by a referee who happened to not be familiar with Noguiera's Wolverine healing factor.

The entire card was refereed like a boxing card and that to me was a problem. I felt as if fights that immediately went to the ground by a knock down were instantly ended.

Is the UFC being too cautious with its fighters and its refereeing? Maybe, but these men are professional fighters. Let them be beaten on—they train for this sort of thing and should be allowed the opportunity to at least close their guard.

Now, that being said, I was sad to see Wanderlei Silva be ended the way he was. I had hoped for fireworks, dynamite, and a Armageddon size meteor shower. Instead we were treated to a folded corpse on the mat by a quick counter punch by Quinton Jackson.

I am not disappointed with the fact that Jackson won, although I had rooted for Silva. I was disappointed that this was the theme of the entire night, a show of first round and second round knock outs and TKO stoppages.

I won't talk much about Cheick Kongo, because I am not much of a fan and not exactly impressed with the matchmaking. I know very little about the guy Kongo fought, but the research I did on him before the show led me to believe this guy would not have much of a chance either.

Kongo finished the guy fast—and displayed how much of a dirtball he truly is. Mustapha al Turk, who very clearly delivered an accidental knee to the giant Kongo's groin, was then rewarded by a malicious knee to his own.

Although Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg tried to say it was an accident, it looked like no accident from where I was sitting. Kongo walking away not even acting apologetic.

This was not the first time Kongo kneed someone to the groin either. Just look at the way he fought Cro Cop—it was there he delivered a series of conveniently misplaced knees to his testicles as well.

Finally, Forrest Griffin versus Rashad Evans. This fight was a real nail bitter. I was rooting for Griffin, but I was really nervous of Evan's explosive power.

Griffin was winning the stand up, countering with kicks, and staying outside of Evans range. Griffin even looked like he may have stunned Evans for a few seconds, but he looked sloppy and way too relaxed.

I don't know what it was, but watching that fight I could tell Griffin was going to lose. He had a look of uncaring—a look that was not a champion's. This was cemented of course when Griffin was taken down and failed to wrap up Rashad.

Failing to even properly play the ground game led to Griffin's TKO and the belt switching hands. I don't know what was in Griffin's head, but he seemed more alive when the fight was over than when it had even begun.

So, to further reiterate and possibly explain, I did not like this show. It was too short and not refereed very well. All of the main event fights ended before the third—with the exception of Griffin-Rashad, which forced me, the viewer, to watch undercard fights.

I love watching undercard fights and was thankful to see Antonio Hardonk fight, but when all but two of your undercard fights are shown—despite not being intended to be broadcast originally—there is something wrong with the main event.

Fights ended too quickly, and the main event fights ended up being not being very exciting. I know some people will disagree and that is fine—but this is my opinion and I am at least entitled to that.

All and all, the matchmaking was good. The fights were not.

Affliction, UFC, and Dynamite Updates

Jared Leatzow — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:23:34 -0500

Affliction's next show is looking to have some competition with the UFC once again. According to fiveouncesofpain.com UFC is set to re-broadcast UFC 91 to run against Afflictions' second show.

In case anyone has forgotten UFC 91 was the hyper-publicized card that feature Randy Couture fighting against Brock Lesnar.

In other UFC news, Karo Parisyan is set to fight Korean Judoka Dong Hyun Kim in the upcoming UFC 94.

Also, according to fiveouncesofpain.com Olympic Judo Gold Medalist Satoshi Iishi has received an invitation to attend UFC 92. Iishi who is a much-sought-after MMA prospect that has turned away offers from his native Japan and has expressed interest in fighting for the UFC.

Finally, for the upcoming FIELDS Dynamite card it has been announced that Bob "The Beast" Sapp will be fighting against Japanese wrestling champion Kinniku Mantaro.

Celebrity Fighting Alliance: All Out Celebrities Attack!

Jared Leatzow — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:32:17 -0500

This was an idea I had about three years back on the subfighter forums. I am bringing it to life for you, the readers. So, please enjoy and let me know what you think and what matchups you would like to see

Good evening ladies and gentleman of Bleacher Report. Tonight we have a special show of mixed fighting action with all your favorite celebrity stars.

Fighting for pride, glory, and a six-figured paycheck; these celebrities have laid it all out on the line training tirelessly just to give you, the fans, the best show possible.

On the card tonight we have such sensational celebrities as Matthew Fox from TV's Lost going head to head, in a middleweight bout, against the globe-trotting good Samaritan Brad Pitt.

But the main event is the real pants crapper, we have at heavyweight the nauseating over-publicized Seth Rogen against the talented singer-songwriter turned actor, Jack Black.

Rogen who is looking to boost his popularity as the next superstar comedian has managed to find time tonight in his busy schedule to be a last minute stand in for Anthony Anderson.

But first let's have a special word from our sponsors over at E!.

"Hi, I'm TV's Joel McHale, check my show The Soup, everyday on E!. It is the only one worth watching."

Ok, thanks Joel. That's right ladies and gentleman The Soup is the only show on E! worth watching and now for our fights.

At lightweight tonight we have Steve Buscemi fighting against Dave Chappelle. Chappelle, who has nothing better to do these days expressed interest in fighting last week, and so here he is fighting against movie star eccentric Steve Buscemi.

Light Weight Match

Steve Buscemi vs. Dave Chappelle

The two fighters are asked to step to the center of the ring where celebrity referee Mike Tyson goes over the rules. Tyson is impossible to understand through his child-like lisp—confusing the fighters.

The bell rings.

Chappelle is prancing around the ring cracking jokes for the audience.

"I got jokes, and jokes, and jokes, spaghetti, aha ha ha," says Chappelle.

Buscemi is looking to tap into a character that can fight. He looks scared, the conclusion he has never played such a character.

Buscemi fueled by fear lunges into Chappelle. The two clinch, Chappelle begins throwing knees. Buscemi, begins rehearsing with a few knees of his own.

Tyson breaks the two apart after a moment of inactivity, and the two begin dancing around the ring unwilling to engage. Finally the bell rings, and the two return to their respective corners.

Buscemi who is receiving instructions from coach Michael Madsen and friend Michael Bay is told that he needs to be more explosive, like Armageddon explosive.

Chappelle who is engaging in some sketch comedy with co-star Charlie Murphy, and fellow comedian Norm McDonald are playing the crowd.

"I'm rich bitch!" screams Chappelle.

The bell rings and round two begins. The fighters step out, but it is immediately called a no-contest. Apparently, referee Mike Tyson failed to show up for round two, and had kidnapped both fighters' kids to be prepared in a stew.

Fighters follow the trail of coke left behind by Tyson, to find Tyson putting seasoning on the children. The authorities immediately arrest Tyson, back to prison for him.

Welter Weight Match

Adam Sandler vs. Gary Busey

The show must go on and celebrity, comedian, and future heavyweight contender Kevin James fills in for former referee Mike Tyson.

Adam Sandler and Busey meet in the middle; Busey looks crazed and smells of vodka and strippers.

The two return to their corners and receive some last minute instructions from their coaches.

Sandler comes out trying his best to be nuts, trying to rant and rave like a maniac.

It has been too many years since Billy Madison and it seems forced. Busey remains silent, sweating profusely with a crazed smile and messy hair.

Busey runs across the ring towards Sandler and pounces at him, knocking him down, and landing in full mount. Sandler looks scared and Busey appears out of his mind.

Busey lands some nasty ground and pound, Sandler is bloody, Busey's blood lust kicks in and begins taking bites out of Sandler's skin.

James horrified to see his friend being devoured by Busey decides to KO Busey. Busey is on the ground knocked out hands outstretched. Sandler is rushed to the hospital, and James is stripped his license as a referee.

Middle Weight Match

Matthew Fox vs Brad Pitt

The two fighters step to the middle to meet with new replacement judge David Spade. Brad Pitt asks if Spade can, "Just shoot me." Pitt feels Spade is a bad judge and is acting very outspoken. He begins to go on a rant about starving kids in Africa, and how nobody in Hollywood gives a damn.

Spade, looking very irritated, argues to eject Pitt from the fight before it has even begun. Fox, seems to be looking for an exit off the island called the Octagon because he can't take this prima donna b.s.

Finally the fight begins, the two step out to engage and Fox comes out with a high kick. Pitt blocks the kick and delivers a counter punch to Fox.

Pitt taunting Fox tells him, "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

Fox, looking for a witty line from Lost can't seem to find one and instead answers back with a liver shot to Pitt's midsection.

Fox shakes his hand in pain and finally notices that Pitt is in as good of shape as he was in the blockbuster disaster Troy. Fox is nervous because Pitt's bulletproof midsection makes it impossible for him to deliver body shots.

Pitt laughing begins working Fox like Tyler Durden works Edward Norton: face, liver, liver, face, leg kick, and elbow.

Fox is backpedaling and Pitt is looking for the kill. Pitt tries to chase Fox down but is tossed with a Koshi Guruma. Fox goes for the armbar and sinks it in. Pitt taps at 0:06 in the first.

Main Event: Heavy Weight Match

Seth Rogen vs Jack Black

The lights go down as a made up feud is played across a big screen, scenes from previous movies are shown. Surprisingly though Rogen has significantly more films to take material from despite Black's longer Hollywood career.

After about 37 different trailers are played for movies Rogen will be starring in this year, Rogen comes walking down the ramp with the Wu-Tang Clan being played in the background. Rogen receives instructions from corner man Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith; Smith won't shut up about comic books.

Black comes out to Ronnie James Dio's Holy Diver, Black comes in followed by best friend Kyle Gas.

The two enter and Gas seems to answer anything Black says with an acoustic guitar riff from Wonder Boy.

The two step to the middle and receive the rules from Spade. The two look goofy as hell.

When the bell rings the two touch gloves and start dancing around. This lasts until the end of the round.

Both fighters return to their corners and both look tense. Gas hands Black a joint, in which he soon begins to calm down.

Rogen hungry to get high screams across the ring, "Hey is that crap Pineapple Express?"

"Yeah!" responds Black.

Rogen walks across the ring to hit the joint, the two start laughing and talking. The Bell rings but the two refuse to fight and instead order a pizza.

The pizza finally arrives in round three and they devour it but there remains only one slice. The two begin to fight over who deserves to get it. The crowd cheers because fists start finally flying.

Both fighters are exchanging wild hooks and end up knocking one another out. The show ends and Spade begins to cry because he is out of a job again.

A Claim to Shame: No. 1 UFC Possesses Control Over Only Two Weight Classes

Jared Leatzow — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:28:31 -0500

"A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. "

—Carl Jung

The UFC stakes a claim of being the worlds best this and the worlds best that, but I am hear to say as a fan of MMA that the world of the UFC sold through the mouths Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg is all but a myth.

The UFC is not the greatest organization in the world, it really only can claim that it holds two of the best and deepest weight classes in the world.

The light heavyweight division and the welterweight divisions are the most controlled divisions by the UFC in top 10 rankings. With all but one light heavyweight and welterweight being a non-UFC fighter.

Of course very soon the UFC will have full and complete control of the welterweight division when it fully incorporates the heavier WEC weight classes. Carlos Condit will soon become a UFC fighter and the UFC will have complete dominance of this weight division.

The UFC has seemed to have taken a path of dismantling its competition and picking and choosing the contracts they wish to renew with their company. However, the downfall of this strategy has been the loss of very good top 10 fighters in some of the best divisions.

Lightweight Joachim Hansen was offered a contract with the UFC that would see him making significantly less than his original PRIDE one.

The approach taken by the UFC seems to instead be a grooming system for future champions. Having elected to eject current proven champions and fighters from its organization in place of young and brash up and comers.

Although entertaining- this method has severely retarded certain divisions. One division that comes to mind is the heavyweight division which holds only four heavyweights out of a total of 10. However three of those heavyweights in my opinion do not belong there.

Junior Dos Santos and Brock Lesnar are two unproven fighters who have fought and beaten only one good guy. Dos Santos beating Fabricio Werdum has not fought any other significant fighters in the world scene and Lesnar who has beaten former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture.

Randy Couture is the third person not belonging on the list, not that he lacks talent but rather due to inactivity. He had remained inactive in the UFC and fighting for quite some time and made his return only to lose.

Funny thing about the heavyweight division is that most of the top 10 all were in the UFC but were cut for one reason or another all of which were former champions in the organization: Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett and Tim Sylvia.

The middleweight division can stake a claim of being a pretty stacked UFC division but with an absence of a few of its fighters looking to change weight it remains to be seen how strong the division can remain. Not to mention the looming threat of Japanese promotion DREAM showcasing many up and comers in the division.

With a loss of Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson to the light heavyweight division it gives the UFC only four middleweights in the division: Anderson Silva, Thales Leites, Nathan Marquadt and Yushin Okami.

However, across the ocean there sits a middleweight challenger to Silvas throne by the name of Gegard Mousasi, along with him fresh bunch of middleweights named Ronaldo De Souza, and Zelg Galesic.

Finally in what is developing into one of the more exciting divisions in the UFC is the lightweight division. Although it only holds three legitimate top 10 lightweights it has many interesting prospects with fighters like Tyson Griffin and Frankie Edgar to name a few.

The lightweight division is still dominated by Japanese fight promotions that have under contract guys like JZ Calvan, Joachim Hansen, Eddie Alvarez, and Shinya Aoki. UFC can only stake claim to B.J. Penn, Sean Sherk, and Kenny Florian.

The only other non-Japanese-promoted fighter in the top 10 is Josh Thompson, who beat the former Strikeforce title holder Gilbert Melendez.

Of course despite the overwhelming domination by Japanese promotions in the lightweight division it still has Takanori Gomi at No. 10 despite poor showings in his last few fights.

So, despite being the biggest organization they are not the best, they are the most heavily promoted and recognized and the MMA scene is still very much divided amongst the various promotions. There seems to be not just one singular entity that can completely stake claim to the sport as the best.

The world of MMA is right now at an interesting turning point in the sport where there is no longer two entities like PRIDE and the UFC, but rather several splintered organizations.

It seems the biggest organizations or rather the ones that hold the most weight within the traditional weight divisions are the UFC, Affliction, DREAM, and Sengoku.

Chins of Glass: The Weakest Chins in the Sport of MMA

Jared Leatzow — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:57:25 -0500

Getting punched in the head is not very much fun for anyone, but for these 10 fighters it could be lights out and end of the night.

Initially when I had planned on writting this article I thought it would be an endless research assignment through the archives of Sherdog.com. However, to my surprise, and relief, sherdog has a stats section where all this is done for me.

So which fighter gets KO'd the most? I had always thought that it had been Kazuo Takahashi (see pictured), a legendary Pancrase veteran whom I have seen faced down on the mat one two many times, but I later found out that it was instead shared between Paul Jenkins and Brandon Quiqley two guys I had never heard off.

So here is the list enjoy!

1. Paul Jenkins

Jenkins is a funny character with a record of 40 wins and 40 losses, 16 of those losses coming from knock out and 18 from submissions, one has to wonder does he hold the record in most submission losses also? No, instead that record is held by Brian Robbinson who has lost an amazing 48 times to submissions.

Not to take away from the inefficient chin of Paul Jenkins, Jenkins in his fights appears to be somewhat competent in compeitition but should avoid open windows because it appears that even a light breeze can knock this dude out.

Check out Paul Jenkins vs Paul Daley, Jenkins winning the first round towards the end begins getting wobbly after a few glancing punches, in round two he is KO'd by a flurry of glancing punches, and gets wobbly from the impact of blocked knees being absorbed by his arms.

2.Brandon Quiqley

Quigley holds a losing record that is almost even more unimpressive than Jenkins', but the one thing he shares is the record number for losses by KO, and in case you forgot that number is 16.

Jenkins' chin deserves more respect than Quiqleys though because Quiqley looks like he could possibly knock himself out in his own sleep. Don't believe me watch Mike Russo vs Brandon Quigley, where Russo delivers mayne one punch to Quigley on his knees and knocks him out cold.

3.Kazuo Takahashi

Takahashi my hero, not really. Takahashi's name will remain synonmous with my friends and I when reffering to weak chinned mma fighters.

"Did you see Pedro Rizzo get ko'd by Josh Barnett?"

"Yeah, it looked like he got Takahashied."

Takahashi somehow remains a legendary star in the Japanese mma scene, but the only star quality about him is the ones he sees when a SCUD missile of a kick collides into his head.

Having been KO'd a total of 14 times in his career Takahashi also holds an impressive record that shows him only ever going to the third round three times in his career and the second round only nine times, of course almost half of those fights were losses.

In a match of Takahashi vs a punching bag I would vote the punching bag by TKO. Takahashi should watch out for the swing back.

4. Shannon Ritch

I am all sure that the Bleacher Creatures of yester year remeber Ritch. Well if you don't you should because basically if you want to make it in the world of mma than you have to beat Shannon Ritch.

Ritch has lost to some of the most famous, and most notorious fighters in the world. It may just be an urban legend but if you can fight and beat Shannon Ritch early on in your career you are destined to be a star.

Fighters who have fought this easily defeated are Kazushi Sakuraba, Dan Severn, Jason MacDonald, Benji Radac, Diego Sanchez, Jeremy Williams, Chris Brennan, Yuki Kondo, Mark Weir.

Ritch has lost 14 of his fights by KO and is rumored (by me) to have gotten KO'd while getting tatoo's at the tatoo parlor. Save the anesthetic, an oral surgeon's dream patient, give a Ritch a flick on the head and he will be out for hours.

5. Shawn Nolan

As pathetic as Nolans KO loss record is, which is 13, is submission record is also pathetic having lost a total of 30 times by submissions.

Ritch may hold an impressive submission loss record, 48 to be exact, but he has also won more matches. Nolan has a record of six wins and 45 losses, and still continues to fight.

If Nolan is one of the worst fighters on the planet than the rest of those fighters would be the six that have lost too him.

6. Jerry Spiegel

This goofy looking SOB is has a lossing record with a total of 13 KO's. With a record that boasts a loss to Sean "the epileptic" Salmon.

7. Johnthan Ivey

When you look at the sherdog picture of Ivey you can't do anything but hate the man. Shaved head with a superman tat (I've seen one too many of those) and flexing for the camera Ivey looks like that guy in high school who dealt drugs and thought he was hard.

The only thing though is that this guy is not hard and he is not tough, he is a pathetic lump that cannot fight. In his fight against John Brown he proves he is useless off his back when Brown pounds him out for a win while keeping the looses half guard I have ever seen.

8. Demian Decorah

Who is Demian Decorah? Well he is the guy that beat Brandon Quiqley and holds the number eight posistion for highest KO losses.

9. Brian Dunn

Who is Brian Dunn? well he is the guy among many others to have beaten Shannon Ritch and also holds the No. 9 posistion.

He also may or may not be or share the name of a young inline skater whose name appeared in the google video tool bar.

10. Mike Suttles

Finally we have reached the number 10 spot, Suttles the man, the myth, the legend is a man to have lost 27 fights with only one victory. You would think after the first five losses that he would have realized the sport is not for him.

The Real Captain America: Bart Vale

Jared Leatzow — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:01:30 -0500

Who remembers Bart Vale? The answer: nobody does?

I would ask you the reader if you remember, but heck you can't respond and I probably already know the answer. Well I will tell you who Bart Vale is and I why he is the one true Captain America.

Randy Couture may be considered Captain America by newer fans who have just jumped into mma in the last four years, but Vale was the first to rock the patriotic, free wheeling, I am the best sort of attitude.

Vale rocked the mullet, wore the red, white, and blue shorts, and looked like the sort of guy that would drink beer and watch some good old fashioned football. He made Hulk Hogan look like a bum and Randy Couture look like used car salesman.

Vale who supposedly started out as a kickboxer went on to study kenpo karate with Al Tracy. Then he went on to Japan were he became a pro-wrestler and competed in shoot fighting competitions.

The old Black Belt magazine buffs will have you believe that these shootfighters where indeed legitimate fighters. However, it is widely known that the beginning shoot matches ,which were very much reminiscent to mma, were indeed worked.

There is no question that these fake wrestling matches led to the rise of mma's popularity. Shootfighters did indeed create the legendary Pancrase organization which ran legitimate matches.

Pancrase, which came before the UFC, was at the time the greatest organization in the world with fighters like Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Maurice Smith, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and Bas Rutten leading the world in mma. Vale, a master shoot fighter was suppose to be a natural mma fighter, but Vale fell short of his glory and his hype.

Vale only won one of his mma matches in his entire career and that was a win over Mike Bitonio in the World Combat Championships in 1995. His next loss came to Murakami Kazunari, which I have actually watched and own the VHS, and then again to Dan Severn.

When Vale fought Kazunari it was in the Extreme Cage Fighting three event, It was the main fight on the card and it was to be a classic Japan vs the U.S. match.

Kazunari came out wearing a judo gi with a string of boos coming from the crowd, then they showed the intro video for Vale. Vale looked strong, he looked fast and he looked sexy with his hairy chest and "Joe Dirt" mullet.

The lights flashed and the crowd roared; Vale had a real "oh say can you see attitude" because he was the American who was going to defeat the feminine looking Kazunari. The crowd could feel the patriotism, and so could Vale's loins that were being covered by his American flag underwear.

Rich Franklin may be the American Fighter, but Vale certainly was the American Ultimate Warrior.

The bell rang and the match proceeded and then before you know it Kazunari won. The very much hyped Vale was in fact stopped in the first round by strikes, a TKO victory for Murakami.

Vale fought a couple K-1 matches and he lost those too, he was keeping the American spirit alive. He came from the land of the free where a person can strive for a dream, Vale strove for that dream and... well he failed.

note: this is a article of sarcasm and humor please do not think I am criticising America in any way.

Adrenaline MMA: Who Knew It Was Still Around?

Jared Leatzow — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:09:07 -0500

Adrenaline MMA, an organization I had essentially forgot about and thought had no longer existed, will be holding its second show this December.

Adrenaline, which is ran, owned, and managed by Monte Cox, had originally been a business partner of Vadim Finkelstein, owner of M-1 Mix Fight. The two had apparently merged together to make the M-1 Global organization, where the two would co-promote shows together.

Adrenaline was to be their first born as a couple, but the two broke apart with Finkelstein taking the M-1 brand name with him. I had thought Adrenaline was deceased, but, after looking it up on m1mixfight.com, apparently Adrenaline will still be holding its second show.

The first Adrenaline had a so-so looking main card with guys like Bart Palazewski and Mike Russow on it. More confusing, though, was addition to the main card of Daiju Takase, who has lost more fights than he has won, granted though he did beat Anderson Silva.

Nevertheless, I never heard much about how this card went or how exciting it was—I knew about it, but it didn't seem like anything to really care about.

So I had thought that this organization was gone—M-1 is looking to be more successful than it has ever been, so I assumed Adrenaline, no longer being part of M-1, had just faded away like so many others.

Well, guess what? It hasn't, and on this next card it looks to be actually quite improved with guys like Ben Rothwell on the card. But, strangely enough, headlining the show is Pat Miletich vs. Thomas Denny.

I thought Rothwell was a much more relevant fighter nowadays than Miletich? Wasn't Miletich's last fight a senior league match against Renzo Gracie that he lost?

Anyways, crazy world, and it is kind of fun to see an MMA promotion try to compete for viewers in a sport in which, if your name isn't spelled with a U-F-C, you are unlikely to stand a chance.

MMA's Elite Grapplers: Past and Present

Jared Leatzow — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:35:19 -0500

Grappling in the world of mixed martial arts may be the most important skill one could possibly have, whether it be a simple but effective takedown defense, sweet sleek submissions or a dominant top wrestling game you simply have to have it.

It is what seperates the boxers and the kickboxers from becoming an mma superstud, just look at Roman Zentsov, and without you will sink to the bottom of the rankings in quick and furious fashion.

With this article I look to examine some of the best grapplers in mma both past and present-detailing specialities, and backgrounds.

10. Bas Rutten

Looking at this former King of Pancrase early matches you would never know that he would become a submission wizard. Fighting in the early days of mma Rutten was a Durtch kickboxing star that finished most of his opponents with strikes. However, with no takedown defense or knowledge on the ground Bas was forced to learn submissions.

Having self taught himself Rutten who has one of the weakest sprawls in mma was the inventor of the pretzel submission that has become a sort of forgotten. With wins over Maurice Smith, Frank Shamrock, Minoru Suzuki and Masakazu Funaki- Rutten maintained one of the best undefeated streaks in the sport today having not lost a fight since 1995 and his last fight that happened in 2006 against Rubin Villareal.

9. Royce Gracie

Nowadays Royce could probably be humbly submitted by the BJJ best but when mma had first started he was the best. Despite lacking in punching Royce was a motivated and talented BJJ star coming out of Brazil and went on to inspire thousands of people to take up BJJ and become fans of mma.

With wins over Kimo Leopoldo and Ken Shamrock-Royce had cemented his reputation as a legend.

8. Tito Ortiz

As funny as this may sound Tito Ortiz did what he did as a grappler very well. Whether Ortiz was a great wrestler or had a physical talent can be questioned but one thing was for sure once he got on top of you he was never getting off.

Ortiz as loud mouthed and over hyped as he was a force when he got on top of you. Relying on old Dan Severn lay and pray tactics Ortiz was the one who did this best with snoozer wins over Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva Ortiz.

With some decent matches in the Abu Dhabi Ortiz proved that he was not all wrestler as well and almost nearly submitted Lyoto Machida in his last fight.

7. Ronaldo Souza

Better known as Jacare- Souza is one of the worlds best BJJ compeitors in mma today. Having transitioned to mma Souza began his career fighting in the Jungle Fight organization ran by former Pride fighter Wallid Ismael. Jacare made a splash though when he transitioned to Japanese promotion Pride where he submitted all of his foes in spectacular fashion.

With wins over Jason Miller and Zelg Galesic- Souza is someone to look out for and may someday take the number one spot.

6. B.J. Penn

Probably deserving a much higher rank on this list B.J. is a legend in the world of American BJJ- being the first American to win the Mundials black belt division. Penn has a good striking game and flexibility that is completely unreal. Penn who has dominated his opponents all his life without really ever training has beaten great fighters like Takanori Gomi and Matt Hughes. Taking competition in higher weight classes Penn may also be one of the craziest fighters on the planet as well.

5. Masakatzu Imanari

This Japanese fighter is one of the craftiest leg lock masters on the planet, having no real submission game besides the ability to break dance right into a leg lock. Although Imanari has failed to beat big league star Joachim Hansen and flamboyant Dokonojousuke Mishima, he has amassed a winning record despite his in-ability to box.

Having wins over Brazilian Jean Silva,Hiroyuki Abe and new WEC featherweight champ Mike Brown, Imanari proves that if you can have only one skill in mma make sure it is grappling.

4. Kazushi Sakuraba

This master submission technician has his background in professional wrestling, but evolved it to become one of the best combat grappling styles of today. Sakuraba was at one point the greatest fighter in the world and was constantly pioneering mma with his tricky fighting style.

Whether it be standing Kimuras, that broke Renzo Gracies arm, or a cartwheel guard pass Sakuraba was a genius and is very deserving of his nickname the IQ wrestler. Having beat guys like Royce Gracie, Quinton Rampage Jackson, Vitor Belfort, and many others it wasn't until his match with Wanderlei Silva when he was forced to retire his status as the worlds greatest.

3. Shinya Aoki

Aoki possesses one of the most techincal games today, with a mixture of judo and Brazillian Jiu-jitsu, Aoki posseses some of the best grappling highlight reels ever. Despite lacking an opposing striking game, and a lack of an intimidating physique, Aoki has shown that he deserves to be called one of the greatest lightweight fighters on the planet.

With standing twisting arm breaks, several finishes with a gogopalata, and flying armbars and triangle chokes some have dubbed him the master of flying locks. With wins of JZ Calvan-Aoki was the favorite to win the DREAM lightweight tournament but was later upset by alternate and eventual winner Joachim Hansen.

2. Volk Han

This Russian Sambo master had probably one of the best submission games ever in mma. Originally starting as a professional wrestler in Japan, Han later transitioned to mma where he fought in the now defunct Japanese RINGS promotion. Having a deadly leg lock game, Han who was a good Judoka had perfected and invented almost any leg lock variation a person could ever think off.

Still very influential today in the Japanese mma community Han was the Sambo teacher of Fedor Emelianenko. Having finally met his match in RINGS Han's only loss in his short career came to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by a split decision.

1. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

One of the best heavyweight in the world Nogueira a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu blackbelt has shown that heavyweights can be just as slick on the ground as the lightweights. With career defining "How did he do that?" moments Nogueira has pioneered the sport by overcoming odds and inventing new submissions.

Nogueira was the inventor of the anaconda choke and possesses one of the best chins in the sport of mma second only to Mark Hunt. Nogueira whose striking defense is often times is lets get hit in the head as many times as it takes for me to get an armbar has worked for him throughout his entire career.

With an incredible win over Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic and Bob 'The Beast' Sapp that saw him being power bombed onto his head shows that with will power you can accomplish anything.

Vitor Belfort Has His Black Belt in Tennis?

Jared Leatzow — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:29:11 -0500

According to globosporte.globo.com, last Saturday Vitor Belfort got to second place in doubles tennis at the Pro-am Master Tour of Tennis in Angra Dos Reis, Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

Belfort and partner Marcel Saliola lost in the finals to Cesar Kist and Omar Ayoub in a very close match up that saw Kist/ Ayoub winning 7-5.

Belfort known as the phenom was a young MMA standout possessing good boxing and submission skills.

He has spent most of his career in the UFC and has notable wins over - Tra Telligman, Scott Ferrozzo, David Abbot, Wanderlei Silva, Bobby Southworth, Heath Herring, Gilbert Yvel, and Marvin Eastman.

Belfort currently holds the Cage Rage light heavyweight title and currently fights with the promotion Affliction where he fought and beat former UFC fighter Terry Martin at Affliction: Banned.

An all-around good athlete Belfort has competed in the sports of boxing and jiu jitsu, receiving his black belt from the late Carlson Gracie.

Eddie Alvarez Set to Fight in January '09

Jared Leatzow — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:53:22 -0500

According to mmafighting.com, Eddie Alvarez is set to fight on Jan. 23, 2009, in Atlantic City, New Jersey at Extreme Challenge.

Alvarez, who was originally set to fight Nick Diaz for the Elite XC lightweight title, now no longer has the option due to the promotion going bankrupt.

Alvarez has made a name for himself this year; he was looking to be a favorite to win the Dream lightweight grand prix after defeating Joachim Hansen and Tatsuya Kawajiri in the same year. However, due to a cut over his right eye, he was replaced by Joachim Hansen in the finals. Hansen later went on to win the whole tournament.

Alvarez was the former welterweight title holder at the now-dead organization bodog fight. He has only lost one fight in his 16-fight professional career, losing his title to Nick Thompson

King Kong Gorilla Monsters and The Creatures Of Monster Island—MMA's Scariest

Jared Leatzow — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:34:27 -0500

MMA is becoming a legitimate sport with legitimate athletes like—wrestling, boxing, BJJ, and kickboxing. However, their are some fighters who simply aren't legitimate in fact they are incredibly scary.

These fighters talented or not are freakish and bizarre looking and deserve special recognition for this. So here you have it the top 10 King Kong Gorilla Monsters and The Creatures From Monster Island.

10. Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennet

Charles Bennet looks like a muscular crack head who just slapped his ho for some blow. Despite my offensive attempt at writing rap lyrics this is quite possibly the best way to describe Bennet. An undersized light weight Bennet possesses good natural strength that he uses as his only means of submission defense.

Bennet who when faces a significant threat by a submission simply slams his opponent. When asked what his submission defense was Bennet said that it was his right bicep. Possesing a crazed demeanor Bennet possesses awkward boxing that is somewhat effective, and acts incredibly foolish in the ring. Possing for the camera to give his best thug look Bennet is truly a weird looking guy,

9. Emmanuel Yaroborough

Quite possibly the heaviest mma fighter to have ever competed, Yaraborough was reported towards the end of his career to have fought at as heavy as 700lbs. At one time a sumo wrestler Yaroborough has strung together two losses in his entire career, of course he has only fought three times. His first loss coming from Keith Hackney in UFC 3, his second coming from Daiju Takase.

Takase who was a lightweight danced around the ring punching at the flubber of Yaraborough and eventually made Yaroborough verbally submit to strikes. Yaroborough- Takase was classic Japanese freak fight, something the Japanese seem to enjoy, Yaroborough was on the verge of a heart attack simply walking down to the ring.

8. Antonio "Junior" Silva

Perhaps the most talented on the list, this Brazilian stand out has at one time fough as a super heavyweight weighing 300lbs. Looking as if he is a Cro Magnon cave man with protruding forehead. Silva has a growth disorder known as acromegaly or more commonly known as giantism, Silva's size is basically a result of non-cancerous tumors in his body that produce extra growth hormones.

Sharing this disorder are fighters Hong Man Choi, wrestler The Big Show, and former wrestler Andre The Giant. Silva who is incredibly athletic has only loss one fight in his entire career. Silva holds the heavyweight title in the now dead Elite XC.

8. Hong Man Choi

Asian kickboxing sensation Hong Man Choi, who like Silva has acromegaly, is over seven ft tall and weighs over 300lbs. Choi whose bleach blonde hair and enormous head are reminiscent to an African war mask. This frightening monster has had some success in K-1, at one point challenging Mike Tyson to a fight, but lost to Fedor Emelianenko in 2007 by first round arm bar.

7. Zuluzinho

Brazilian Monster Zuluzinho is one of the scariest looking fighters in mma. Extremely obese, Zuluzinho looks as if he was pulled out of a racist Merry Melodies cartoon and made into real life.

This Mighty Joe Young family has had a legendary rivalry with the Gracies, in which his father and Helio Gracie had supposedly fought a million years ago. Displaying weak skills, Zuluzinho was pounded into next week by Fedor Emelianenko in 2005.

6. Eric "Butterbean" Esch

This strange, short and fat fighter is a golden gloves champion who has not made a very good transistion to mma or kickboxing. Having a notable loss to Genki Sudo, Esch seems to be a big hit in Japanese freak fights. Having at one time mauling Johnny Knoxville in Jackass: The Movie, Esch looks like a shorter fatter version of Michael Chiklis from the Shield.

5. Ricardo Morais

In the documentary The Smashing MachineMorais had appeared as Renzo's Gracie's personal bodyguard. A tall awkward looking Trauma movie monster Morais, whos ring name is "The Mutant," was an legendary vale tudo fighter in the early nineties in which he won the Absolute Fighting Championships I tournament.

However, with a transistion to the big leagues of Pride Morais was humbly defeated by first round knockout to a young Aleksander Emelianenko.

4. Aleksander "The Grim Reaper" Emelianenko

If there was one man on this list that should be feared more than Atnonio Silva it would have to be Emelianenko. Younger brother to Fedor, Aleksander is a Russian Sambo champion and probably the best boxer in mma. Aleksander who is much taller and heavier than his brother is covered from head to toe in bizarre and freakish tatoos.

Possesing the Russian stars that Vigo Mortisen received in the Russian mafia movie Eastern Promisesone has to wonder if Emelianenko is or was a former Russian mobster? Rumored to have been in prison Emelianenko has a mean no holds barred fighting style. Perhaps the scariest part of this heavyweight is the tattoo on his back that shows the grim reaper holding a baby.

3. Semmy Schilt

Before Schilt was the K-1 super star he is today he was an mma fighter. Over seven feet, Schilt is extremely lean and strong looking with sickly white skin and an enormous flat head with a piranha mouth. Schilt talented as a striker was once a former king of pancrase and a UFC standout. Losing a devastating loss to Sergei Kharitonov which saw Schilt being held down and beaten on until his piranha mout was filled with blood.

2.Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson

Looking like Santa Claus from Hell, Ferguson who was once a pornstar company bodyguard, became an internet sensation by filming his street fights and putting them on Youtube. Slice one of the more popular and well known mma fighters has decent boxing skills but showed his mma weakness earlier this year when he was knocked out by light heavyweight stand in Seth Petruzelli.

Ferguson not wanted by U.S. fight promoters anymore looks to be deported to Japan to fight a couple freak show matches.

1. Paulod Cesar de Silva

de Silva infamously known as Giant Silva is perhaps the most bizarre looking creature to have ever fought in mma. Starting his career Silva at 7ft-400lbs transitioned to pro wrestling and eventually mma. Losing most of his fights Silva who remained determined throughout his career to improve never realized he lacked one major thing in mma- athleticism.

Not appearing athletic at all Silva who looks like a wookie on LSD showed despite his height was a bad striker that was easy to take down.

Prejudice in the UFC?

Jared Leatzow — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:35:53 -0500

Before I begin, I would like to note that I am no MMA insider, and may possibly be misinformed.

The UFC holds the title for No. 1 in the world for MMA, but it also seems to hold the title for the No. 1 in the world for lacking diversity in its organization. This is not a racial war of black vs. white, Chinese vs. Japanese, or Nazis vs. the Jews. What I am talking about is the lack of world wide reputation within its organization.

The UFC seems to move back and forth on this progressive ladder, at times housing diverse fighters from other countries and ethnicity, to where it is now. Housing mostly American and Brazilian fighters, a handful of Japanese, one Korean, and maybe six Canadians, the UFC lacks the vast amount of diversity the MMA world has to offer.

Readers, I warn you, don't confuse this as a racial thing it is merely a citizenship thing, Paul Buentello is of Mexican origins, but he is an American citizen. At times the UFC has had Dutch and Russian fighters—Semmy Schild, Igor Zinoviev and Vladmir Matsuyhenko —but that world is gone now.

I mean no prejudice to the UFC, but the most diverse character they have in the organization is Lyoto Machida, who I believe may hold duel citenzenship in Brazil and Japan, don't quote me on that though.

We are starting to see some talent come out of Korea with Dong Hyun Kim, and a few talented Japanese like Yushiyuki Yoshida, Yushin Okami and Akihiro Gono.

With the elimination of Andrei Arlowski, the UFC has essentially to my knowledge lost all fighter representation for the eastern European countries. The UFC is becoming a very exclusive club in which you either have to be American or Brazilian to get into.

Now people, don't get mad so just to mention a few names that only represent a small population of fighters who happen to not be American, Brazilian, Japanese, and maybe Canadian here they are:

1. Michael Bisping

2. Amir Sandollah

3. Rameau Theirry Sokoudojou

4. Alessio Sakara

It is applaudable that all these fighters actually made it into the UFC though because they represent only a small portion of fighters who call the place home.

Organizations like Pride had great amounts of diverse country representation, and now organizations like DREAM are looking to continue the tradition. Lesser known organizations like Shooto have sunk its teeth into diverse and ecletic world of MMA.

Guys like Melvin Manhoef, Gegard Mousashi, Aleksander Emelianenko, Joachim Hansen, and Zelg Galesic are all fighters talented enough to fight in the UFC. But what does the UFC do?

Well, the few of them that the UFC actually wanted have impossible contracts impose on them for these fighters to accept, like reduced pay or restricting them from doing something they love.

I make no claims that UFC President, Dana White is doing this on purpose, but I simply have noticed it as a trend. With organizations popping all around the world in China, India, Norway, and Korea, you would think it would be worth the investment to scout some of these fighters coming out of these countries.

UFC Heavyweight Division Is a Mixed Bag of Planters Nuts

Jared Leatzow — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:19:20 -0500

The UFC prides itself on being the No. 1 MMA promotion in the world. With Dana White's cutthroat politics and gross underpayment of his fighters, though, he has single-handedly destroyed the heavyweight division.

With the ousting of Anrei Arlowski and more recently the talks of possibly eliminating Fabricio Werdum after his loss to Junior dos Santos, it becomes clear that the heavyweight division is collapsing upon itself. The UFC now only possesses three and now possibly considered four top heavyweights: Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, Gabriel Gonzaga, and Brock Lesnar.

However, the question is should Brock Lesnar be considered a top heavyweight? Defeating Heath Herring was not expected, but nonetheless was not that surprising, along with the defeat of Randy Couture, whom many consider the best but was not on the top heavyweights list do to his recent inactivity.

This point is moot, anyway, since it isn't really about where Lesnar stands in the heavyweight division, but rather who the UFC has and who they don't. With talented and also lackluster heavyweights in the UFC, it is very clear that none of these fighters seem to possess that piece of godliness required to make the top heavyweights list.

There seem to be several fighters that it appears god simply broke the mold, with raw immaculate talent, one such fighter is Fedor Emelianenko. If Emelianenko is god the rest of the top heavyweights are demi-gods, and the rest of us are humble servants giving up offerings to not incur his wrath.

The UFC possesses only three of these demi-gods, and even that can be argued, Noguiera, Mir, and Gonzaga. However, with the passing of father time it is expected that Randy Couture will make the move down a weight class, Mir has had an uneven record, and Gonzaga has been possibly hand fed opponents after his Cro Cop and Couture fight.

This leaves only Noguiera as the most consistent with his record in the league, with the fans still looking forward too see if its new king can fight off battle weary veterans. So what about the rest of the UFC heavyweight division?

There aren't too many worth mentioning but there is talent and potential within the UFC: Anthony Hardonk comes to mind, and some are prone to Cain Velasquez when it comes to up and coming UFC heavyweights. However, these two have yet to prove themselves against top talent. Guys like Eddie Sanchez have proven that they have heart but have seem to miss the train when it comes to beating them, having been knocked out by Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and losing to Hardonk, Sanchez may have to wait his turn for a chance against these guys.

So where are all these talented heavyweights at? Well for one they are mostly signed with Affliction. Affliction possesses the mighty Titan warriors like Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlowski, Josh Barnnett and Tim Sylvia. Not to mention Affliction has many honorable mention fighters: Aleksander Emelianenko, Roy 'Big Country' Nelson and Mike Whitehead.

If the Affliction fighters are demi-gods than Alistair Overeem is a classic greek hero imbued with the powers of the gods like Achilles. Overeem ever since his move to Heavyweight has been very impressive, with what was looking to be an easy win against Cro Cop, Overeem has always possessed one fatal flaw.

Overeem has shown in the past that he and his brother Valentijn get winded early. However, with Alistair no longer having to cut weight to make a light heavyweight division, he very obviously should not be in, may now have overcome his biggest problem.

So if there was a massive tournament featuring the heavyweight fighters of the UFC versus the fighters of Affliction, Affliction would win and at the top of the bodies would stand Emelianenko holding the head of Brock Lesnar.

Emelianenko—Lesnar: The Break Down

Jared Leatzow — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:34:13 -0500

Lets face it, whether or not you like Brock Lesnar, he is here to stay. Having recently beaten Randy Couture, he is now the Heavyweight Champion of the UFC, and will look to unify the belt once the winner of the Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera—Frank Mir fight happens.

Lets also face it: Fedor Emelianenko is still the greatest heavy weight in the world and with him fighting in Affliction, he has more heavyweight talent looking to take the belt away from him than UFC could ever hope to have. With a possible release of Fabricio Werdum on the horizon, the UFC is really watering its heavy weight division down.

With UFC now possessing only three credible challenges in the heavyweight division to fight Lesnar for the belt, it is no wonder that two of those three are going to be fighting one another very soon.

If Noguiera or Mir win their next fight, one of them is going to be left on the back burner for a little while before they can challenge Lesnar for the belt. Of course, this should make way for the talented Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga to make a stand against Lesnar as well.

However, now that the Couture—Lesnar fight is behind the fans of MMA, it is no wonder that Emelianenko is stepping forward to request a fight with the guy. Emelianenko is requesting that a M-1, Affliction and UFC co-promotion take place in order to secure a chance of fighting this guy.

Will the UFC do such a thing? No way! The UFC is going to want to keep secure its franchise and reputation as being the best in the business. Having Lesnar possibly being defeated by Emelianenko means that the heavy weight belt would no longer rest in their organization and completely discredit the UFC as being No.1 in the world.

So if this fight were to happen, who would win? The advantage would have to go to Emelianenko. He possesses greater striking and submission skills, more so than Randy Couture, not to mention much more experience. Of course, the same could be said about Couture. Couture, however, was never of the same caliber as Emelianenko and has never sustained as long a winning streak either.

That is not to say that Lesnar does not pose a threat to Emelianenko. Lesnar poses the same threats as he did to Couture.Lesnar is strong, fast, and a good wrestler. But having seen this Emelianenko, who is a very cerebral fighter, can formalize an even better game plan than Couture.

Emelianenko hits hard, and although Lesnar has knock down power, he cannot finish a fight with a single punch. This is something Emelianenko can and will do. Emelianenko will trade punches in bunches and has a heart of a lion. You must never count Emelianenko out off his back because next thing you know you'll be in an arm bar.

Emelianenko wins this fantasy match up by the end of round one.