Weekly Review

Torres vs. Bowles is now Torres vs. Mizugaki.  Mizugaki is supposed to be a great prospect, he’s good sized if he’s actually cutting from 155, he’s been impressive in Shooto and Cage Force, and this could be another Maeda like fight of the year with Torres involved.  The only real downer is that the prospect is being thrown in the cage with the greatest living fighter today – Miguel Torres.

Tim Sylvia vs. Ray Mercer in a boxing match.   Sigh.

Hasim Rahman in MMA.  Well, after his inevitable squash setups are completed, a StrikeForce superfight will be setup with Kimbo.  I’m ashamed to even write this.

Big Nog and Randy at UFC 101 should be exciting.  I’m hoping that both still have something left in the tank.

WEC Picks Brown v. Garcia

“Razor” Rob McCullough vs. Marcus Hicks – I’m just going with my gut here.

Jose Aldo vs. Chris Mickle – by submission

Bart Palaszewski vs. Ricardo Lamas – Surely Bart Palaszekicoslewi won’t get caught by step in syndrome.

Mike Brown vs. Leonard Garcia – Brown is no joke, and I’ve not seen anything from Garcia that shows he can survive on the ground.

Marcos Galvao vs. Damacio Page – I’m going with Galvao, but will immediately change my pick if I can hear the TapouT crew screaming Damacio in the background like on their show.

Everything else is up for grabs.

Akiyama to the UFC

Glorious News

This is huge news for the UFC.  Akiyama is capable, has a good look, and is going to be helpful in the UFC’s march to Asia.  He’s a real shot in the arm of the middleweight division (could he cut to welterweight?).   The potential matchups are wonderful, Okami, Marquardt, Hendo, Maia, etc.  Of course when he debuts this summer I believe he’s going to fight someone like an Alan Belcher, Chael Sonnen, or Dan Miller.  I wouldn’t mind a rematch with Denis Kang.

On the flip side of the coin, this is more bad news for Japan.  Combined with the departures of Caol Uno, Kang, etc. to U.S. promotions like StrikeForce and the UFC, damage to Dream and Sengoku could be irreversible.  MMA needs Japan for the  legends and hilarious characters that have come out of the scene there.

BJ Penn not fighting UFC 99?

From Sherdog.

This absolutely totally sucks.  That means the LW belt will go undefended for over 1 year.  I’m one of the biggest BJ Penn fanboys out there, but a champion needs to defend his belt at least once a year.  BJ has said before that he’s aiming to have a longer career by not fighting every weekend, but sheesh.

BJ wants to be with his newborn during this time, and I think he doesn’t want to fight in Germany.  The money in German fight is much less than a fight in the states, with PPV points vs. possible Spike free broadcast.  Kenflo is the guy who ultimately loses here, and all of the haters have another reason to hate on Penn.  Hopefully it’ll be worth the wait.

At least BJ doesn’t want to put it off to pursue modeling or making terrible movies.

On Sponsors

Original article:   MMAPayout (As always, great work)

Spike TV has prohibited the UFC from running Full-Tilt Poker Sponsorships on their broadcasts.  This includes shorts, octagon coverage, etc.  Personally, I’m all for some sponsors being prohibited (Condom Depot) for contextual relation to a combat sporting event, mocking derision that the ads create for the fighters from new and prospective fans, and the general lameness of the whole thing.

From my understanding Full Tilt exists in a legal gray area, and demographically they trend near MMA’s target audience.  Hopefully, these changes won’t cause any hard losses to fighters and their potential revenue streams.  Hopefully, the UFC and Spike can find other advertisers to pick up the slack.

Also, will Spike or the UFC ever prohibit sponsors who they deem tasteless or offensive such as Jesus Didn’t Tap?

Dream Featherweight GP Opening Round Opening Thoughts

News items:

Bloody Elbow

Dream Official

Lineup with a smattering of initial thoughts:

Masakazu Imanari (15-6-1) vs. Atsushi Yamamoto (12-5-1)  – Imanari is taking a leg home with him.

Hiroyuki Takaya (9-6-1) vs. Jong Won Kim (0-0) – Takaya in yawn

Yoshiro Maeda (23-6-2) vs. Micah Miller (10-2) – I so want Maeda to win (thanks to the Torres fight last year), and I like him here.

Chase Beebe (11-3) vs. Joe Warren (0-0) – Chase Beebe should be fine

Bibiano Fernandes (3-2) vs. Takafumi Otsuka (8-3-1) – I’m going with Bibiano Fernandes here.

Abel Cullum (13-2) vs. Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura (9-3-1) – I need to watch more tape to even begin to pick this fight.

As I read, watch, and sleep more, my picks may change.

Manny Gamburyan to WEC Featherweight Class

MMAWeekly reports last night.  I think this the right move for Manny,  who has been battling and struggling with lower level lightweights.   There are a ton of potential matchups for him such as Pulver, Swanson, Faber, Brown, Garcia, Fabiano, and so on.

Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva at UFC 99 and Catchweight at 195

MMAWeekly broke this story yesterday afternoon, and it’s interesting news to say the least.  Here you have a fighter who is moving down to 185 and a fighter wanting to stay at 205.  The fight has good name recognition, but I’m worried about its outcome.

The catchweight is an exciting compromise to say the least, but should Franklin lose the fight, his credibility at 205 is called into question.  Should Silva lose, that’s another loss on his record which would give him 5 losses out of his past 6 fights (win over Jardine, losses to Franklin, Rampage, Liddell, Henderson, and Crocop).    Franklin just lost the close decision to Henderson at 205, and another loss right now does not help him either.

Personally, I see the fight going in Franklin’s favor based on his size advantage, stand-up advantage, and Silva’s currently questionable chin.  Franklin can get overwhelmed and dropped, but let’s look at who has done that: Anderson Silva x 2 and Lyoto Machida; they aren’t exactly known as substandard strikers.  Silva has power, but he drops his defenses to utilize it.

Jake Shields Fighting in Strikeforce

So says Cage Potato.  Jake shouldn’t have any trouble with Joe Riggs, and I think that completing his ProElite contract will be the right thing to do in the long run.  First, it keeps Shields focused on fighting.  Second, it prevents all of the nasty litigation and delays that litigation causes, not to mention saving Shields and co. some serious money on legal representation.

I can be patient while the UFC Welterweight division has it’s title picture certain until this summer.  After GSP/Alves, the next contender will be a gray area if GSP wins, but if Alves wins he could potentially avenge his loss to Jon Fitch.

Notes

Random thoughts:

-I really hope Sonnen v. Maia is not a replay of Hendo and Palhares.  Of course I don’t think Sonnen has the wrestling game that Hendo has, and I’m willing to hear comparisons between Maia (who I’m assuming is better on the ground based on his resume) and Toquinho.

-Kimo arrested for meth…I’m not surprised considering his history.  This should totally rule out his bid with the CSAC.

-Caol Uno returning to the UFC according to pretty much everyone?  Count me in

-According to  http://www.dreamfighters.com

Yes, I will fight again on the next Affliction card. Besides this, me and my management hope to get a chance to talk to Dana White in person in June to discuss a possible fight between me and Brock (Lesnar).

Don’t get your hopes up.