Bleacher Report - Articles by Paul Delos Santos

Ready for "The Anvil", John Franchi Looking for Win No. 6 at WEC 41

Paul Delos Santos — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:30:42 -0400

Originally posted at MMAMadness.com. View the original article here.

It's never easy to match a fighter with a unique skill set. Just ask Rashad Evans and the other opponents Lyoto Machida faced.

That's why John Franchi is taking no chances, when he trains for his fight with Manny Gamburyan at WEC 41: Brown vs. Faber II. He's brought in numerous guys who can match Gamburyan's judo and other elements of his game.

And so far, Franchi hasn't been disappointed by how his training partners have done.

"I sat down and watched the tapes with them. They did a great job and I feel like I’m completely prepared," Franchi (5-0) said. "I feel like they pushed me. I’ve done actual fights with people imitating his style. We've been breaking it down in different areas and putting my self in bad situations and working out of them.

"I think I’ve done the pre-work and all I have to do is execute it.”

Franchi is still getting used to fighting against a judo fighter, especially when it comes to certain aspects of the clinch, but he remains confident that he will be able to counter any possible throws Gamburyan can execute.

“It’s awkward in the clinch areas,” Franchi said. “I’ve been working on controlling the hips and being careful and I feel confident wherever it takes to the ground.”

Franchi also plans on letting the fight come to him, and react as necessarily. This strategy allows him to be flexible and adjust the game plan to whatever Gamburyan is focusing on.

“I don’t want to expect too many things and go in with a game plan,” Franchi said. “I want to go in, react and have fun with it.”

Franchi wants to control the pace of the fight, even though he will be focusing on reacting to Gamburyan, and Franchi expects conditioning not to be an issue.

“The 145 weight class is one of the fastest, and I’m prepared for that,” he said. “I’ve never had to worry about conditioning for him to outpace me is going to happen.”

All of it is part of Franchi’s development as a fighter. Like many fighters, he brings in fighters who can replicate specific opponent tendencies, allowing Franchi to mentally digest and implement in his game.

“I have a lot of guys back home mimicking [others in the featherweight division] and I’ve been sparring with them,” Franchi said. “I’m really thankful for that.”

The bout will be Franchi’s second in the WEC, following his split decision victory in March over Mike Budnik. This fight against Gamburyan is Franchi’s biggest in his young career.

Franchi understands that he has a lot to gain with a small amount of risk, if he was to defeat a runner-up in “The Ultimate Fighter.”

“I can’t hurt myself by fighting Manny because he’s a big name,” Franchi said. “[A win is] going to make myself higher in the ranks.”

Just as important as winning will be having a good showing and Franchi expects a hard-hitting, great fight and he wants to have fun while doing so.

“I’m going in there to bang,” Franchi said. “It’s going to be explosive and it’s going to be fireworks and I’m excited. I don’t have to be mad at Manny to hit him. It’s a sport and I want to compete and it’s going to be a tough match and I’m hoping to put him in checkmate.”

Paul Delos Santos is an associate editor at MMA Madness. He can be reached at paul@mmamadness.com. Read more articles about MMA at MMAMadness.com.

Lyoto Machida: MMA's Child Prodigy?

Paul Delos Santos — Sun, 24 May 2009 04:58:26 -0400

Lyoto Machida is like Tiger Woods.

I know what you're thinking.

"Paul Delos Santos, you are crazy. Lyoto Machida is nowhere near Tiger Woods' stature."

That is true. He is nowhere near his stature. Machida isn't even to close to the level that Tiger is at, or even, can come close to him, at the moment.

However, that's not where I am making this, dare I say it insane, comparison.

But before you leave this article and make fun of it forever, there are somethings I want you to realize about Lyoto Machida and Tiger Woods—both were groomed for greatness in their respective sports from the moment they could walk and both are dominating the sport in the highest manner.

Machida earned his first black belt in karate at age 12 and won numerous karate tournaments. Look at it like Tiger winning the U.S. Junior Amateur championship at age 15.

When Machida got older, he was groomed and billed as the "Second Inoki." The second coming of Antonio Inoki—the famed Japanese pro wrestler, who fought what were "worked MMA matches."

Like Inoki, Machida grew up in Brazil of Japanese decent. Machida was supposed to be the next big star, and Inoki tried building a brand around him.

He made his debut as part of an abomination of a show known as "Ultimate Crush"—a hybrid pro wrestling and MMA event. He won his first fight, and soon became the corner stone of the Inoki Office.

Unfortunately, that failed and it forced Machida to take his game to the United States. But after wins over Rich Franklin, BJ Penn and Sam Greco—my first question was, "When will Machida make it into the UFC?"

I parallel Machida's pre-UFC career to Tiger's collegiate career—he was good, but nobody knew the level he was going to accomplish.

It didn't long for him to get into the UFC, as after the World Fighting Alliance was bought out by the UFC, there he was. And soon, people got to see what I found to be an interesting style—karate with a diverse talent in other martial arts.

Machida worked his way up the ladder and is now the champion of the deepest division.

But it was after his win against Tito Ortiz, he started getting the recognition he rightfully deserved.

The Tito fight might be the same thing as Tiger's first Master's victory—the coming out party for one of the sport's future and brightest stars.

Now, Tiger and Machida have things in common, but if Machida wants to be considered MMA's Tiger Woods, he will need to dominate the light-heavyweight division.

Can he be beat? I'm sure. Nobody walks out of MMA, undefeated, but his skill set is probably the most complete and potentially the most dominating fighter like Tiger Woods in golf.

Before you call me crazy, just remember one thing—fans who were once booing Machida were calling out his name.

The signs are there. Now Machida will have to deliver, if he wants to become the sport's equivalent to Tiger Woods.

Not so much in the charisma, marketability sense, but in the dominant, child prodigy sense, finally living up to his potential.

Hughes-Serra Ready To Settle Feud

Paul Delos Santos — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:10:07 -0400

Matt Hughes and Matt Serra finally bring an end to their rivalry when the two enter the octagon on Saturday.

Or will they?

The obvious bad blood was seen by all on the "Ultimate Fighter" series, but even after the fight, the likelihood of the two exchanging Christmas cards maybe a long shot.

Even so, this fight has experienced so many delays with injuries and baby girls—the fight was originally was scheduled for February, but Serra requested the fight be pushed back to witness the birth of his daughter.

What is true though is that this might be the final time both fighters get a chance to be a marquee fight on a card.

Hughes has obviously tapered off in his abilities, especially following that brutal technical knockout at the hands of Thiago Alves. And given Hughes' performances against Georges St. Pierre, one thing is clear, the old days when wrestling a guy to the ground and pounding him into submission are long gone, and this might be Hughes' curtain call win or lose.

Serra was always a small welterweight. In fact, there is heavy speculation that he may drop back down to lightweight after the fight. Since winning "The Ultimate Fighter," Serra has only had two fights at welterweight. Both against St. Pierre and holds a 1-1 record. He was so thoroughly beaten by St. Pierre in their title unification bout, that it made people wonder if Serra can hang with the top-level welterweights.

Neither man is at the point of their careers where they can add new quirks. Two things are clear: Serra is still a heavy-handed jiu-jitsu expert and Hughes remains a wrestler, looking to turn his opponent's face into hamburger meat.

Both men are still light years away from fighting for the welterweight title, and the match is more for their rivalry and fans' entertainment than actual rankings in the division.

Matt Hughes

Strengths:

Strong wrestler—No secrets there. Hughes' calling card throughout his career has been wrestling, and why should it change now?
Experience—Hughes has 49 career fights, and has been in countless amounts of main events. This will help him.
Farm strength—Hughes is a strong fighter, and he should overpower Serra in every form if he wants to win this fight and beat his rival senseless.

Weaknesses:

Not as durable—The Hughes of old wouldn't have any trouble with Serra. He'd take him down and pound him until the referee stopped it or Serra tapped out. At this stage in his career, Hughes is likely to get caught by a big left or right that may put him down.
Susceptible to submission—This plays right into Serra's strength. Of Hughes' seven losses, four have come at the hands of a submission. It has been the one area where Hughes has had trouble with throughout his career.

Matt Serra

Strengths:

Heavy, heavy hands—If you need to know how heavy his hands are, ask Georges St. Pierre. KO power is both hands from the New Yorker.
Jiu-jitsu expert—The first American black belt under Renzo Gracie, so there is no question that Serra can submit fighters. Now can he get one on Hughes to put this fight away?
Aggressive—Serra is a go-for-broke type of fighter, and it showed against the first victory over St. Pierre. He changed after GSP, and found a way to TKO him.

Weaknesses:

Small—Serra stands at five-foot-six, and looks disproportionate at 170 pounds. If he doesn't catch Hughes in a submission, you might as well call this night short.
Third fight in three years—Serra has been inactive for a year, and has only had two fights in two years—both against St. Pierre. How is the long layoff going to hurt him?

Prediction

As we saw in the St. Pierre-Penn fight, size does matter. Serra is too small for Hughes, and even though more than 50 percent of his losses have come via submission, Hughes won't get caught by his rival. Hughes should win this fight and get a TKO-victory to send Serra back to lightweight.

UNLV Rebels Rescued By Rutledge

Paul Delos Santos — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:37:41 -0500

Looking at the box score, Mo Rutledge's name won't stand out. But his contribution to UNLV's 75-65 victory over Utah was big.

Rutledge (pictured) played 15 minutes, grabbing a team-high seven rebounds and nailed a pair of 3-pointers, capping off of a 12-3 run in the middle of the second half. He finished with nine points.

"Mo got some big rebounds for us," said UNLV coach Lon Kruger on Versus.

The Runnin' Rebels (16-4, 4-2 Mountain West) were down by eight at the half, but like at Brigham Young, Wink Adams scored three consecutive buckets, giving the Rebels new life.

Adams finished with 14 points with 10 coming in the second half. Sophomore guard Tre'Von Willis finished with a career-high 22 points, carrying the team with Adams.

The Runnin' Utes (12-7, 3-3) were lights out in the first half, shooting 68 percent and were nailing every thing they threw up in the air, which hushed the ruckus Thomas & Mack crowd.

UNLV didn't shoot well, and were lucky to to be down only eight after, poor shooting and even worse free-throw shooting.

Willis nailed a trey as time ran out in the first half, which served as a signal that things might be getting better.

Things did.

UNLV's defensively intensity picked up, and Utah's star center Luke Nevill was hassled, the shooters were no longer hitting the looks they were hitting in the first and the Utes' physical play was matched blow for blow by the Rebels.

When the defense started working, so did the offense led by Adams, Willis, Rutledge. Freshman Oscar Bellfield also go into the mix, driving hard to the basket and finally cracking how to get a shot off against the seven-footer in the middle.

Nevill finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, but it wasn't enough as the Rebels defended their home court.

The win is a big one for UNLV, who now adds another quality victory to its tournament resume. This would be their second double-quality win over a top 20 RPI opponent. Utah, on the other hand, is looking for answers on how to win on opponent's home floors when that opponent is not named Colorado State or Wyoming.

Utah's Keys to the Game Pass/Fail:

Limit the Dribble Drive—Fail

UNLV got to the basket, and while they had trouble early hitting shots, they managed to finish. The Runnin' Rebels only attempted nine 3-pointers, meaning that 48 of the Rebels' scoring opportunities came from inside of the arc. Willis may have hit two treys, but his game is really taking it strong to the basket. The same goes for Adams as well.

Nevill needs to play his size—Inconclusive

Nevill played his size in the first half, but was a non-factor in the second. He didn't pass or fail, it's an inconclusive grade

Get off early—Pass

Once again, the Utes got off early in the first half, and were in the game until UNLV started running away with its big run. They had a lot of fans worried with their sharp shooting and size differential.

UNLV's Keys to the Game Pass/Fail:

Box Out—Pass

UNLV lost a slight battle on the boards 30-27, but when no Ute player grabs double digit rebounds, then they were making sure they had position on the rebounding front.

Attack the Paint—Pass

The Rebels attacked the paint, and sometimes did so too much. They got inside, made the layup, drew the foul or kicked out. It worked for them.

Stop the Others—Inconclusive

Nevill didn't get his average, and neither did the other guys. But there were four players in double digits, so they stopped them, but not enough.

Next Up:

UNLV at Air Force (1/31)

Utah at Brigham Young (1/27)

UNLV Faces Big Test Against Utah

Paul Delos Santos — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:55:33 -0500

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels have their opportunity to re-establish themselves as the team to beat in the Mountain West when they take on Utah today.

The Runnin' Utes come into the game, ranked 19th in RPI, according to RealTimeRPI.com, and have have had plenty of time to prepare for UNLV.

The Rebels, on the other hand, are coming off of an emotional, come-from-behind victory in the Marriott Center against Brigham Young.

The biggest two questions entering this game is — Is Luke Nevill (pictured) tougher than before? and Can UNLV sustain consistency?

Nevill plays to be the biggest factor in all this. He is averaging 17 points per game, and should be able to dominate inside, given his ability.

However, UNLV has defend Nevill well in the past, and has shown this season that they can stop big men when the time calls for it — just ask Jordan Hill and the Louisville frontline.

Rene Rougeau is UNLV's leading rebounder, and basically gave Nevill fits in the last meeting between the two teams. Rougeau outworked Nevill on the glass, paving the way for the Rebel victory.

Nevill, thus far has looked different. He has looked tougher and finally playing to the potential that was bestowed upon him.

If Nevill can dominate and play as well as he has thus far in the year, there is no reason why the Utes can't upset the Rebels on their home floor. It's just a matter of if he can stay out of foul trouble.

As for the Rebels, this game is a good test to see if they can string together back-to-back great performances. The last time UNLV played a game after getting a big win, they almost lost to New Mexico.

If the Rebels play as hard as they did against Brigham Young and contain either Nevill or the other players, then they will win this game.

Utah Keys to the Game

Limit the dribble-drive

Wink Adams, Tre'Von Willis and Oscar Bellfield all like to penetrate and either A) Take it to the hole, B) Kick out to Joe Darger or Kendall Wallace or C) Draw the Foul. Stop dribble penetration, it takes away the guard's biggest strengths.

Nevill needs to play his size

Darris Santee is giving up a couple of inches to Nevill. They need to exploit this match up and get him solid touches. Also, Nevill will need to prevent Rougeau from picking up the garbage off of the glass and hustle plays.

Get off early

The Utes will need to get on an early run to take the crowd out of the game. In its two losses on its home court, UNLV's home crowd didn't become much of a factor because for every UNLV shot, came an answer.

UNLV Keys to the Game

Box Out

UNLV has gotten a lot better on the glass, but it will be put to a heavy test. Height isn't everything, if Santee, Rougeau, Brice Massamba and Darger can get position on the larger player, all the height in the world isn't going to help Nevill.

Attack the Paint

UNLV has a propensity to jack up 3-pointers. Unless they're hitting, I would suggest UNLV find ways to get to the basket and draw fouls or make layups. If Wink and the crew can drive and draw fouls on Nevill...

Stop the Others

If Nevill gets his, keep the others from getting theirs. Give Luke his 17 if they have to, allow him to get his 17 points. Just make sure Lawrence Borha, Shawn Green and Tyler Kepkay don't get their averages.

UNLV GAME DAY

Utah (12-6, 3-1 Mountain West) at UNLV (15-4, 3-2)

WHEN: 1 p.m. PST

WHERE: Tarkanian Court at the Thomas & Mack Center

TV: Versus

KEY MATCH UP: Luke Nevill vs. UNLV's frontline

UNLV Rebels Can't Surprise, Can Only Disappoint

Paul Delos Santos — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:05:12 -0500

It was no secret from the very beginning.

UNLV is supposed to good. The Runnin' Rebels were picked first in the Mountain West Conference.

They have the conference tournament on their home floor.

They have a preseason co-player of the year and two other all conference players.

So why are they in the middle of the pack of the Mountain West?

Expectations were high for UNLV this season. This was supposedly the best Lon Kruger-coached team in the five seasons since Kruger took over the program.

They had Wink Adams (pictured), a senior who was a Rivals five-star recruit out of high school.

They had a Memphis transfer, Tre'Von Willis who was supposed to be the man starting at the point guard.

They had a 7-foot five-star prospect, Beas Hamga, playing in his first season.

They had two other senior starters who had earned conference recognition the season before, and they had depth at every position with youth and experience.

But like what Ben Parker told Peter Parker in Spider-man—"With great power, comes great responsibility."

The Rebels were no longer, the underdogs. The hunters. They were, please excuse the cliche, the hunted and people wanted to beat them to prove a point.

Red flags were raised early on with each game that wasn't decided by double digits. Fans were told not to worry, wins are wins and working out the kinks is part of the early season jitters.

But then January rolled around, and the jitters were still there. There were flashes of how much potential the team had with a big win over Louisville in Freedom Hall, but after back to back losses to Texas Christian and Colorado State, it hit the Rebel fan base—there is a chance for a major let down.

How could a team win in Freedom Hall but lose to the worst team in conference?

A question to this day, that bothers UNLV fans. Add the recent victory over Brigham Young in the Marriott Center, where the Cougars are invincible, it just further adds to the confusion of the team.

The wins over Louisville, Arizona and Brigham Young are not shocking. The Rebels have enough talent to win those games.

Rene Rougeau told the Las Vegas Review Journal, that the team was a complacent. Something just as deadly as speed, talent and conceit, and hopefully for Rebel fans, they've gotten over that level of complacency.

UNLV will not be creeping up on people this year. They're expected to succeed. No more surprises. It's simple for the Rebels—win or disappoint the fans who expected them to make a third straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.