Video sneak peek: Koscheck-Johnson

Thursday November 19, 2009 2:54 PM By Mark La Monica

Josh Koscheck faces Anthony "Rumble" Johnson in the co-main event at UFC 106 on Nov. 21. Let's just hope Johnson makes weight this time.

Here's a quick sneak peek video of both fighters talking about the welterweight bout.

Ultimate Fighter 10, Episode 10: Gut check

Wednesday November 18, 2009 11:44 PM By Mark La Monica

More drama swirled around Team Rashad fighter Matt Mitrione this week on “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Mitrione, the coaches, and even UFC president Dana struggled to determine whether Mitrione’s head injuries from his preliminary round slugfest with Scott Junk would prevent him from fighting in the quarterfinals. Kimbo Slice trained and strategized with Coach Rampage Jackson as if he would be Mitrione’s replacement, but no final decision was made and James McSweeney, who is scheduled to fight Mitrione in the quarterfinals and hasn’t fought since all the way back at the beginning of the prelims, became increasingly agitated about the ambiguity surrounding the identity of his next opponent.

On a lighter note, this week’s episode featured the always amusing once per season Coaches Challenge. For this season, the event chosen by Dana White was two-on-two beach volleyball at The Palms. Each coach was assigned one of his assistants to form his two-man team. The stakes were $10k to the winning coach and $1,500 to each fighter on that coach’s team with no consolation prize for the loser. Rampage won the first game but Evans took the second. In the third and deciding game, Team Evans won by a narrow margin to take home the cash. I must confess that, in contrast to some previous challenges, both teams actually looked pretty decent out there!

The second quarterfinal bout featured Jon Madsen from Team Rashad against his teammate Brendan Schaub. Schaub weighed in at 239 pounds and Madsen came in at 247 pounds, both on the lighter end of the heavyweight spectrum. At 6-foot-4, Schaub enjoyed a four-inch height advantage that he was going to no doubt attempt to exploit in an effort to keep the wrestler Madsen at bay. Back home, Madsen trains with welterweight legend and fellow wrestler Matt Hughes while Schaub trains in the highly respected Greg Jackson camp.

After the fight opened with a minute-long feeling out process, Madsen got things going with a big takedown and slam. Madsen maintained top position for a while without doing much damage until the referee stood the fighters back up. Schaub fought off Madsen’s next takedown attempt and did a little offensive work of his own after pinning Madsen against the fence. It wasn’t long, however, before the wrestler scored another big takedown slam – this time into side control. But again, Madsen was not able to do much damage from the top and the round came to a quiet close. Presumably Madsen won the first round based on the takedowns but neither fighter absorbed much punishment.

Schaub stuffed a takedown to open round two and then scored a lightning fast one punch knockout with a straight right hand less than two minutes into the round. In the post-fight interview, Schaub indicated that his fight plan was to tire Madsen out for a while before looking for the knockout, and that plan certainly worked as Madsen gassed and drop his hands early in round two.

While the decisive blow wasn’t a particularly impressive strike unto itself, the result certainly underscored the fact that these heavyweights are very big dudes and if they connect, damage will be done.
 

UFC 106 predictions

Wednesday November 18, 2009 5:21 PM By Mark La Monica

Don't look now, people, but maybe we need to reconsider taking my advice when at the betting windows for these UFC fights. After going 9-2 at UFC 104, I posted an 8-3 at UFC 105.

Of course, I'm not sure I ever broke .500 before that and probably just whammied myself for this card.

Let's see what happens now with my UFC 106 predictions. Fight night is Nov. 21, but you already knew that.

Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
Ortiz (16-6-1), "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy," makes his triumphant return to the UFC. His back is fully healthy after surgery last year, or so he says. He's the best talker in the game (sorry, Rampage and Rashad). Let's see if the best light heavyweight champ in UFC history can return to glory. Last time we saw Griffin (16-6), he was sprinting out of the Octagon at UFC 101 after getting destroyed by Anderson Silva. Before that, he got knocked out by Evans and lost his title at UFC 92. Which Griffin gets into that Octagon on Saturday? The pick: Ortiz.

Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson
On a card that right now is more remembered for who's not there -- Brock Lesnar -- than who is, this welterweight bout adds a little more hype. Koscheck (15-4) and Johnson (8-2) have one thing in common: They both re-arranged Yoshiyuki Yoshida's face in the first round. Both are rising stars in the division and the winner could find himself in the title hunt late in 2010. The pick: Johnson.

Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni
If this were a WWE bout, Sadollah (2-1) would be the guy everyone cheers for, while Baroni would get booed as the bad guy. Of course, that still might happen. Baroni (6-5) makes his return to the UFC, and no one knows what to expect from either fighter anymore. The pick: Baroni and his Massapequa roots. Let's party at All-American afterward.

Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Nogueira (17-3) makes his UFC debut after beating up people everywhere else in the world. Just think of the practice he got fighting with his brother Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Luiz Cane (11-1-1) has won his last three fights and makes the light heavyweight battle worth watching. The pick: Nogueira.

Karo Parisyan vs. Dustin Hazelett
Anyone else find it difficult to believe, that will all his experience, Parisyan is only 27 years old? Still, Parisyan (26-5) hasn't won a fight in two years. Hazelett (14-4) is an up-and-coming submission artist at welterweight who returns to the Octagon for the first time in a a year. The pick: Parisyan.

Ben Saunders vs. Marcus Davis
We're hoping for a huuuuuge slugfest here at welterweight. Saunders (7-1-2) will likely look to counteract the power of Davis (21-6), aka "The Irish Hand Grenade," by using his jiu-jitsu skills. The pick: The best nickname in MMA.

Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann
Welterweight Volkmann (9-0) makes his UFC debut after making the rounds in smaller promotions. His graduation present: The 11-1 Thiago. The pick: Thiago.

Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt
It will be interesting to see how middleweight Grove (12-6) responds after being taken down often and losing a unanimous decision to Ricardo Almeida at UFC 101. At 6-foot-6, Grove is, um, lanky, so Rosholt (6-1) will need to get inside of those kicks to utilize his wrestling skills. The pick: Grove.

Brock Larson vs. Brian Foster
Larson (27-3) is the far more experienced fighter this level. Both he and Foster (14-4) are coming off losses at welterweight. The pick: Larson.

Caol Uno vs. Fabricio Camoes
Should be an interesting lightweight matchup of good groundwork. That being said, it will probably wind up a stand-up slugfest. Uno (25-12-4) takes his second fight in his return to UFC after losing a decision. Camoes (10-4) makes his UFC debut. The pick: Camoes wins and finally gets a photo on his UFC.com bio page.

George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent
You may remember Dent (19-10) from Team US on "TUF 9." He's a scrappy lightweight. Scrappy enough to handle the lanky Sotiropoulos (10-2), who has been working on his jiu-jitsu with former welterweight champ Matt Serra? Nope. The pick: Sotiropoulos by submission.

Get ready for Mike Brown-Jose Aldo

Monday November 16, 2009 3:13 PM By Mark La Monica

We're caught up in the throes of this fight week, with the second night of fights approaching Wednesday. Mike Brown, WEC featherweight champ, defends the belt against Jose Aldo.

Fightin' Words is all fired up to watch the little guys scrap, and it's only Monday. Here's a little preview video to get you going.

Nogueira out for UFC 108

Sunday November 15, 2009 2:23 AM By Mark La Monica

Earlier this week, we told you that Cain Velasquez would next fight at UFC 108 against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

That's no longer accurate.

UFC president Dana White announced at the UFC 105 post-fight press conference that Nogueira would be forced to pull out of UFC 108 because of a staph infection.

Dagger.

That would have been a good fight. This leaves Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva as the headline for UFC 108 on Jan. 2, 2010, in Las Vegas.

It's also the fourth potential main event that has been scrapped for 108. The others were Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin, Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort and Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Who knows what will happen now? White has a about a week or two to find a solid main event that would also give the fighters a chance to adequately prepare.

Whaddya think, any chance we'll see Kimbo Slice on that card?

Randy Couture out-hugs Brandon Vera at UFC 105

Sunday November 15, 2009 12:18 AM By Mark La Monica

My boss Luda Jon likes to bust chops and dismiss mixed martial arts as "Ultimate Hugging." Most of the time, I scoff at him and tell him to go enjoy hockey, you know, the sport that makes it mathematically possible for a team to lose every game it plays in a season and STILL make the playoffs.

However, for 13 of the 15 minutes of the Brandon Vera-Randy Couture light heavyweight main event at UFC 105 in Manchester, England, I have no leg to stand on in our long-running feud.

This fight was the longest hug between two men since the invention of human arms. Indeed, Vera and Couture hugged it out. To put it bluntly, this fight stunk up the MEN Arena something fierce.

Each fight needs a winner, or at least a result, and we'll present them both to you right now to complete the formality of reporting on professional fighting: Couture won a unanimous decision over Vera, with all three judges scoring the bout, 29-28.

"I controlled a lot of the tempo of the fight," said Couture (17-10). "Probably wasn't the most exciting thing to watch. Brandon's dangerous. He kicked me twice in the body, in the second and third round. That hurt."

Tempo? Tempo? You can't have a tempo when you pin a guy against a fence and then turn into someone who looked Medusa in her eyes. What a sham. Referee Marc Goddard should have broken up the fighters more than he did (at least four times, if I remember correctly), but he most likely fell asleep in the Octagon. Who could blame him? Get that man some No-Doz or Vivarin. Or at least a 2-liter of Mountain Dew.

While it's hard to quibble with a man who can both a) beat me up in under four seconds, and b) counts "Captain America" among his many in-ring introductory nicknames, this fight was horrible.

Let me see how quickly I can sum up all the action for you: Couture moved inside, pinned Vera up against the cage, hugged him and then let the referee break it up and separate the two fighters. There, 24 words. Not bad.

When the fighters were not in the clinch, Vera (11-4) dominated. Midway through the second round, Vera landed a high kick followed by another left leg kick to Couture's side. Another body kick, followed by a big right and a knee to the chest and Couture was on the ground.

Couture opened the third round with good combination punches, causing viewers to think they were watching an episode of "UFC Unleashed" rather than a live event. After more hugging, Vera took down Couture with 45 seconds to go and secured the full mount up against the cage but couldn't muster any offense.

In Couture's defense, he did what he had to do to win the fight. He neutralized Vera's stand-up for most of the bout. But he barely mounted any offense, which is what makes this decision troubling.

I'm not a trained MMA fight judge, but should we award points for hugs? Maybe in relationships, but not in mixed martial arts. 

>> UFC 105 fight photos

UFC 105: Dan Hardy handles Mike Swick

Saturday November 14, 2009 10:30 PM By Mark La Monica

The prevailing thought heading into UFC 105 was the Dan Hardy-Mike Swick winner would get a shot at Georges St-Pierre's welterweight championship in 2010.

Hardy looked quite good inside the Octagon at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England, winning a unanimous decision over Swick in a bout that was hard to score the first two rounds. Two judges scored the bout 30-27, with the third judge scoring it 29-28.

"I did what I could, England, I did what I could" said Hardy (23-6), a Nottingham, England, native. "Sorry I didn't get to finish but we got there."

Hardy caught Swick (14-3) early in the first round with a good punch. That set the tone for the rest of the bout, as Swick controlled the action. He kept up the pressure the entire bout, scoring points with his power shots and overall Octagon control.

"Dan Hardy proved he's deserves a shot at my title," St-Pierre said. "He causes a big, big threat to my title."

Not so fast, GSP. Hardy's performance wasn't enough to lead me to believe he can seriously threaten GSP, who many consider the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world behind Anderson Silva. GSP is a takedown artist with the most well-rounded arsenal of any mixed martial artist.

"I'm excited, people," Hardy said about fighting GSP. "I know you are, too."

>> UFC 105 fight photos

Video: Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy discuss their wins at UFC 105

UFC 105: Nice punch, kid

Saturday November 14, 2009 9:55 PM By Mark La Monica

Here's what I wrote Friday for my UFC 105 predictions about this Alexander Gustafsso-Jared Hamman light heavyweight bout:

Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jared Hamman

A pair of UFC newbies here for a light heavyweight matchup. Not much to analyze. The pick: We'll take the Swedish-born Gustaffson (8-0) with some European fan support.

OK, here's what we know now: Gustafsson (9-0) has a monster right hand, and Hamman doesn't appreciate it.

Gustafsson connected 41 seconds into the fight with a straight right hand that dropped Hamman quicker than anyone else so far at UFC 105 in Manchester, England.

"It was a good punch," Gustafsson said in his Swedish accent.

>> UFC 105 fight photos

UFC 105: Welcome back, Michael Bisping

Saturday November 14, 2009 9:49 PM By Mark La Monica

That's what I'm talking about, Michael Bisping!

After getting flattened by Dan Henderson at UFC 100 in July -- a knockout that will be on everyone's Top 10 knockouts of 2009 list -- Bisping regained the respect of MMA fans everywhere with a solid TKO of Denis Kang at UFC 105 in Manchester, England.

"I am absolutely over the moon," Bisping said. "You have no idea how I felt after the last fight."

The middleweight division is almost interesting now that Bisping can be considered a legitimate fighter again. Is he ready for Anderson Silva anytime soon? Probably not (then again, who is?), but at least MMA fans can project out through 2010 and think about what will happen in a division that is ruled by one man.

In the second round, Bisping (19-2) got the takedown and scored big points and punches with his ground and pound. Kang eventually got back to his feet. Bisping followed the same pattern twice more in the round before referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the bout at the 4:24 mark.

Bisping looked in much better shape for this fight than he did at UFC 100. But for a moment in the first round, there was a UFC 100 flashback. Bisping moved in close at the 3:45 mark, and Kang dropped him with an overhand right. Bisping immediately pulled guard, and the flashbacks ended.

Bisping showed outstanding guard work. He used every hip escape imaginable and avoided taking any significant punishment from Kang (32-12-1). Kang finally got full mount after two minutes but could only keep it for a few seconds, landing few power shots.

"Sorry to all my fans about the last fight," Bisping said. "I promise that was just a setback. I'm going back to the old Michael Bisping."

>> UFC 105 fight photos

Video: Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy discuss their wins at UFC 105