UFC 107: 10 Things We Learned Last Night

1. Best. Lightweight. Ever.

If there was ever any doubt (and there shouldn't have been in all honesty), BJ Penn made it abundantly clear within the first 45 seconds of his fight with Diego Sanchez that he is simply on another level than everyone else at 155 pounds.

In each of his last two title defenses, we've heard the build up of the challenger being a great test for the champion, and each time, said challenger was thoroughly dismantled by Penn. There isn't a lightweight in the world who can hang with Penn, and there hasn't been one better in the history of the sport.

Not Aoki, not Pulver, not Gomi, not anybody. BJ Penn is the best lightweight ever and one of the greatest fighters of all-time.

2. Now What?

Each of his last two opponents were supposed to have the skills to be a challenge and potentially end the reign of the kid from Hilo. Both those men were sent home with their tails between their legs.

After dominating Diego Sanchez last night, there isn't a sole lightweight who could honestly challenge BJ Penn remaining in the UFC. Not because there aren't some talented fighters in the division, but because Penn is a transcendent talent.

Where things go from here is anybody's guess.

Personally, I have no interest in seeing BJ Penn move up to welterweight, as Dana White recently said the lightweight champion would have to start at the bottom and work his way to another title shot.

Joe Rogan tossed out Shinya Aoki's name last night, but that isn't going to happen. In addition to being contracted to DREAM, if "The Tobikan Judan" is fighting in the United States, it will be with Strikeforce. And let's be honest: Penn would smash Aoki.

Keep dominating and defending the belt; a year from now, Kenny Florian will be due for another title shot and then we'll see if the third time is the charm.

3. Even in a Bloody Defeat, Diego Sanchez Impresses

For all the jokes and ribbing aside - from the YES! routine to the greatest mean face in the history of mean faces - Diego Sanchez is one tough kid.

Less than a minute into the biggest fight of his life, he was rocked and made painfully aware of what a long and painful night it was going to be. But he just kept coming and coming and coming and coming.

His unbreakable spirit looked broken at the start of each of the championship rounds, yet Sanchez kept walking out to the center of the Octagon. We've seen fighters, including Penn himself, call it quits and give up, but that just isn't a part of Diego Sanchez' makeup.

While he was completely dominated and left beaten and bloody, Diego Sanchez showed the heart of a champion and deserves some recognition today.

4. "Water is Wet"

Yes, Frank Mir quickly disposed of Cheick Kongo, connecting with a big punch before putting the French kickboxer to sleep with a guillotine inside of 90 seconds.

But going into that fight, who didn't know that Frank Mir was going to submit Cheick Kongo pretty damn quickly? Mir is a great submission fighter and Kongo has a pretty horrible ground game, so Mir earning a win by submission is about as shocking as learning that water is wet.

Now, what was impressive and a new development stemming from this bout was the recreated Frank Mir. Holy weight training, Batman!

While I would still pick a 100% healthy Brock Lesnar in their eventual trilogy fight, Mir looks to be a bigger, stronger version of the guy who submitted the current champ in his UFC debut and that could prove problematic, not only for Lesnar, but for everyone else in the division as well.

5. Jon Fitch Needs to Evolve

While partial credit certainly goes to Mike Pierce for putting up a great effort and nearly ending things in the final minute of the third round, Fitch came away with another Jon Fitch victory, earning two-of-three rounds on all three scorecards to move his record to 11-1 in the UFC and 21-3 (1 No Contest) overall.

That said, I don't know if there is a more frustrating 21-3 fighter in all of Mixed Martial Arts. Though his blue collar, Purdue Boilermaker, grind-it-out style makes him an easy-to-appreciate every man, Jon Fitch needs to evolve.

The guy who won last night wouldn't get passed Thiago Alves and his original opponent, Ricardo Almeida, would surely have been a stiff test as well. His boxing needs improvement, from both an offensive and defensive standpoint, as does his overall strength and power.

Interestingly enough, the blueprint has been laid by his teammate, Josh Koscheck. An equally gifted wrestler, though a better overall athlete than Fitch, Koscheck has developed a solid striking game and more power under the watchful eyes of Bob Cook and Dave Camarillo, and Fitch needs to do the same.

6. Lovable? Yes. A Legitimate Contender? No.

Such is life for Clay Guida.

The fans love him and rightfully so; he puts on an exciting fight 99 times out of 100, has crazy hair and energy, let's out monster burps when they're checking his cuts and sings his walkout song on the way to the cage.

That said, he's a gatekepper and nothing more.

Ten fights into his UFC career, he's 5-5 and never beaten a top ranked guy. He's tested them, challenged them and given them fits, but in the end, he's come out on the losing end.

Entertaining the crowd is one thing, but to be considered a contender, you have to beat other contenders and that's not been the case for Clay Guida thus far.

7. Kenny Florian Should Face Diego Sanchez Again

Now that they're both fighting in the weight class they belong in and have grown as fighters, let's get the rematch from The Ultimate Fighter Season One on a card in 2010.

This just makes sense on so many levels.

Sanchez certainly won't want to drop too far down the ladder in terms of his next opponent, and Florian needs to keep beating top level competition if he hopes to earn a third title shot. Mix in their rivalry from TUF 1, and the improvement both have made since their time on the show and you have everything you need to sell this fight.

Besides, I want to see another Florian fight before I officially gush about the improvements that were already noticeable last night. Better boxing, better gameplan, and better execution.

In my opinion, that was the best Kenny Florian we've seen yet.

8. With Time, Stefan Struve Could Be a Handful

While some will certainly speculate about the outcome (I'm not fussed either way...), last night's win over Paul Buentello showed me that with more development and a little added meat on them bones, Stefan Struve will eventually be a very difficult opponent for his fellow UFC heavyweights.

Just because of his height alone, Struve is already a tough test. For starters, it's not like there are a ton of nearly 7-foot MMA fighters with good kickboxing and submission skills to train with in preparation.

What struck me the most was that it has taken this long for Struve to begin utilizing his kickboxing in the UFC, as his barrage of leg kicks in the third round clearly hurt Buentello and could be a very useful tool in not only weakening his opponents, but keeping distance.

Now, he certainly needs to clean up his striking, as a blind man looking the other way would have seen that flying knee coming and it almost got him knocked out. Though he survived, we've seen him (a) get cut up a couple times, (b) be prone to leaving his chin out there to get belted despite having a ridiculous height advantage on everyone and (c) straying from his strengths to stand-and-trade.

He's got room to add 20 pounds before reaching the 265 pound limit, and given that he's just 21-years-old, he's sure to fill out in the future. If he does, and he cleans up his all-around game, "The Skyscraper" could have a very bright future.

9. Dear Alan Belcher...

White boy's with cornrows barely works on Urijah Faber, and "The California Kid" you are not.

Pink shorts don't work on anybody. Period. End of Sentence.

So what makes you think that combining the two is a good look?

You looked like the scrawny, pasty white kid in Take the Lead who put his red-headed afro into 'rows for the big dance competition.

Yes - I've seen Take the Lead and can remember way too many of the details. Tell me something I don't already know...

"The Talent" looked okay in his win over a clearly out of shape, ten-pounds-over-the-limit Wilson Gouveia, but not good enough to warrant declaring he wants that belt with Joe Rogan post-fight.

He gets punched in the face far too much for my liking right now and isn't that far removed from losses to both Jason Day and Kendall Grove for me to take him seriously as a contender.

Personally, I'd love to see Belcher hook up with Mark DellaGrotte and Team Sityodtong. Belcher has a great deal of potential and is just 25, so there is time and room to grow as a fighter. Sometimes all a guy needs is the help of a great teacher, and DellaGrotte would be the right match in my opinion.

10. 5-0 on the Main Card, 2-4 in the Prelims

Clearly, I need to invest more time and energy into picking the preliminary bouts.

Though some will certainly point out that the pay-per-view portion pretty much ended up going down as many believed it would, I'd like to point out my string of three consecutive "dead-on predictions" in the Florian / Fitch / Mir bouts that would have turned into a four-pack had BJ Penn's shin not tore Diego Sanchez' forehead apart.

Yes, this is my Barry Horowitz moment where I pat myself on the back.

Now that it's over - man did my prelim picks suck!

Wilson Gouveia came in fat and got dropped, Matt Wiman dominated Shane Nelson (who needs to drop to '45 immediately), "Toquinho" submitted Lucio Linhares and DaMarquis Johnson fought off a submission attempt to choke out Edgar Garcia.

Still, 7-4 isn't all that bad.

Continue reading...

Brock Lesnar: A Lesson in Revisionist History

Brock Lesnar is the UFC Heavyweight Champion. That fact cannot be disputed.

Apparently, everything else in the Mixed Martial Arts history of the athletic freak of nature is up for reconsideration, depending on what side of the Lesnar Line you land on.

If you're Team Lesnar, than there is no need to reconstruct the events that have taken place thus far; after all, your guy has a shiny gold belt holding up his pants.

The quick UFC history of the organization's top heavyweight looks like this to you:

• Debuted against a former champion with great submission skills and got caught
• Pulverized a veteran gatekeeper
• Defeated one of the most respected fighters in the history of the sport to claim heavyweight title
• Avenged debut loss in dominant fashion to unify titles
• Got sick, pulled out of UFC 106
• Still sick, might not fight at UFC 108
  

Stripped down, that sounds about right.

However, things are quite different if you fall on the other side of the Brock Lesnar Line and quick histories are not enough.

While fans of the impossibly athletic big man like to ignore his professional wrestling past, everyone knows that anyone who came out of the WWE surely abused steroids, HGH, painkillers, booze and small barnyard animals. How people can overlook such things is ridiculous to you.

From there, he made a rookie mistake in his debut, succumbing to a move that a novice in jiu jitsu could escape. You escaped it on your third day of jiu jitsu classes, as well as every other submission attempt sent your way, prompting you to quit and declare yourself the greatest jiu jitsu practitioner in your house.

Then came the Heath Herring fight. Beating Heath Herring means nothing, as he's a "tomato can" if ever there was one. Sure he's closing in on 50 professional fights and has been in the ring with some of the best heavyweights the sport has ever seen, but who has he beaten?

Cheick Kongo? The only time a win over Cheick Kongo counts for anything is when your name is Cain Velasquez...

Next up, Dana White and his fellow Lesnar Lovers put the steroid and small animal abusing lack of talent in a title fight AFTER JUST TWO FIGHT! What makes it even worse is that they all but handed the muscle-bound meathead the title by matching him up against an old and decrepit Randy Couture.

Honestly, the guy is like 904-years-old and hasn't been a good fighter in years. Why not just hand Lesnar the belt?

Then came UFC 100 and a rematch with Mir, where Lesnar simply lay on his opponent in a position that surely merited a stand-up, not that the two should have been fighting each other in the first place, right?

After all, Lesnar has a massive weight advantage over every in the division and that has never happened before. Divisions should be 10-15 pounds apart and just because Lesnar can get within the vast limits of the division before bulking back up overnight - ON STEROIDS - it shouldn't mean he gets to outweight everyone by 30-40 pounds.

What happened next was the worst moment in Mixed Martial Arts history, perhaps the history of the world.

Lesnar shot his mouth off, gave the fans the finger, made a lewd comment about his wife, punched Joe Rogan in the throat and murdered 13 civilians on his way to the locker room. He is an absolute disgrace of a human being and what he did is worse than anything any athlete or common citizen has ever done and he should be barred from the organization and forced to live on a remote island by himself... forever.

Scared to death that Shane Carwin is going to beat him, Lesnar is "sick" and unable to defend his title at UFC 106, so Dana White gave his meal ticket a stay of execution until January. He sure didn't look sick when he showed up at the Minnesota Vikings game though.

Still petrified from knowing without a shadow of a doubt that Carwin is going to punch a hole in his overblown chest, Lesnar might not even be able to fight at UFC 108. While some people are saying it could be mono, the real reason he can't fight is two-fold:

1. He's scared. Carwin is a beast and has beaten everyone he's face with one punch, including a bear he encountered in the Colorado Rockies.
   
   
2. Lesnar needs extra time for his latest cycle of steroids, HGH and radioactive materials to clear his system so he can keep passing drug tests.

Now that he's not going to be able to fight, the UFC should strip him of the belt, give it to Carwin and make Lesnar admit to all his cheating, apologize for senselessly beating Joe Rogan after UFC 100 and create a brand new division where guys like Lesnar have to fight, so smaller heavyweights have a chance to win titles too.

* * * * * * * *

Randy Couture is not 904-years-old. He's old, but not that old.

Brock Lesnar has not abused any barnyard animals, killed any ringside civilians and never beat Joe Rogan senseless. He's never failed any drug tests either...

But that doesn't matter to the legion of Lesnar Haters out there.

He HAD to have done steroids and HGH and everything else under the sun.

He's a deplorable human being, unworthy of a place in the UFC and deserves to be slandered, defamed and criticized at every turn, right?

Just make sure that if he ever comes near your glass house, you run as fast as you possibly can...











Continue reading...

The Difference is Acceptability

I'm going to keep today as short and simple as possible because I spent way too much time on this computer yesterday, debating points of contention, wondering how people can just accuse people of things without basis and adding countless comments to various articles across the Internet.

Above is Matt Hughes, arguably the most dominant welterweight the UFC has ever had (thought GSP is coming up quick) and my choice to help present the last post I will write involving Brock Lesnar until he next defends his title.

One of the biggest arguments about Brock's in-ring performance last night and thus far in his career is that he "just lays on his opponent," whether because it makes breathing difficult or because he's just too big.

The too big argument holds no weight with me. Everyone who steps in the ring at heavyweight has to make 265 pounds and those stepping in with Lesnar know in advance that he'll be somewhere in the neighborhood of 280 come fight night.

Stop moaning about a Super Heavyweight division.

And where you say he "lays on his opponents," I say he plays to his greatest strength, just like Matt Hughes used to do.

Before getting into the Hughes side of things, let me also make it clear that if Lesnar did simply lay on his opponents, the ref would stand the two fighters up. But they didn't because the whole time he's "laying on his opponent," he's also driving that cinder block attached to his right arm into Frank Mir's mush.

Now to the Matt Hughes linkage.

Hughes had the best wrestling in the UFC for a long, long time. You could be sure that when the cage door closed, Matt Hughes was going to shoot for a takedown at least 20 times a night and if he got that single or double leg, you were going to the ground.

From there, he used his superior wrestling ability to control his opponents, transitioning to submissions or executing strikes until one way or another, the fight ended. Occassionally, he picked the other guy up and powerbombed him into unconsciousness.

Stripped to the bare bones, Hughes strategy was bring guy to ground, finish him how I know best.

What is Brock Lesnar's strategy again? Oh right - bring guy to ground, finish him how I know best.

It's the same strategy used by every single fighter that participates in Mixed Martial Arts. You play to your strengths and use the best tools available in your toolbox to beat the other man. So why is it that Brock Lesnar doing the same things as Matt Hughes and damn near everyone else in the sport requires new divisions or is less of a victory?

It's all about acceptability.

People don't accept Brock Lesnar.

Whether it's because of his time in the WWE, his bullish demeanor and ridiculous antics or because they feel he lacks "artistry" or an understanding of "Bushido" that they wish still emminated throughout MMA. Maybe a combination of all three?

Whatever the case, it's okay to not like the guy, but here's the thing:

There was no artistry to the way Dan Severn tossed guys around back in the day and there isn't that much artistry in Chuck Liddell loading up that lethal right hand to flatten someone. Besides, no one is proclaiming Brock Lesnar as the greatest incarnation of what it means to be a Mixed Martial Artist. He's a fighter, and GSP fills that other role.

Do I hope Brock Lesnar takes some cues from the thousands of respectful fighters throughout MMA and never has another one of those post-fight displays? Absolutely.

Does he have to? Nope. Being a dick isn't against the rules.

You can choose not to like him. I choose not to like Frank Mir.

But I'll give the guy credit for being a two-time former champion and a pretty solid fighter, at no point trying to diminish his accomplishments.

Why can't you?




Continue reading...

FWP: Lesnar vs. Mir II

I'm jacked up for a lot of fights on this card, but honestly, this is the mother of all fights for me.

Why?

Rematches are almost always awesome and if things go the way that I hope, Frank Mir will be laying in a smashed up heap on the floor when the final bell sounds.

Brock Lesnar (3-1) vs. Frank Mir (12-3)

Let's get this out of the way right up front: Mir beat Lesnar the first time around and I will give him all the credit in the world for making the genetic freak tap. Furthermore, he followed that up by being the first guy to put Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on his ass to earn half of the UFC Heavyweight title.

Now that that is over with, Lesnar is a human monster that possesses the strength to shatter orbital bones with one punch (see Herring, Heath) and the ability to take punches from one of the best ever (see Couture, Randy) without really flinching.

The battle here is clearly going to be Mir's ability to utilize his jiu jitsu against a bigger, stronger, faster opponent in Lesnar. Yes, he's done it before, but some would say Steve Mazzagatti and Lesnar's inexperience had something to do with it.

Standing and trading with Lesnar isn't really an option, in my opinion, just because he's massive, has shown he can take a punch and the whole shattered Heath Herring's orbital bone thing I mentioned before. Did I mention he's massive?

To me, Lesnar is the next evolution in Mixed Martial Arts, a heavyweight equivalent to Georges St-Pierre in terms of freakish athleticism. Remember when GSP was just the better athlete than everyone and got by on that and improving talents? That is Lesnar right now. Mark my words.

Continue reading...

Carwin vs. Velasquez : A Bad Idea

As we tend to do in the fight game, speculation and rumors are running wild about who will be headlining the yet to be announced Fall fights in the UFC. While we know UFC 103 is going to take place in Dallas, we don't know who will have their names up in lights.

One co-main event fight sounds like it's going to be Mike Swick versus Matt Hughes, which I'll talk about some other time when the violent rage the thought of this fight builds in me subsides.

Another bout that is getting a lot of talk around the Internet is a heavyweight eliminator bout between Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez. For the love of all things holy, Joe Silva - please don't make this fight!


Not that it wouldn't be awesome. Of course it would; both are impressive specimens with unblemished records and would provide a quality heavyweight tilt.

That being said, why would you even consider throwing one of your prized heavyweight prospects under the bus?

Each of these guys have been on the receiving end of the UFC hype machine (with good reason) and stand somewhere in line behind the winner of the Couture - Nogueira fight as the next challenger for the heavyweight title. In my books, Carwin is ahead of Velasquez and by a decent margin at that.

Sticking these two inside the octagon together would automatically bump the loser down the charts and ruin the momentum the UFC has spent the last year and change building with each of them.

Cain already hit a minor speed bump in his uneventful decision win over Cheick Kongo last month in Germany and having his face smashed in by the frying pans Carwin launches would send him back to the preliminary card against newcomers like it has Gabe Gonzaga.

If the opposite were to happen and Velasquez came away with the win - most likely through some serious wrestling / ground and pound combo - Carwin takes the same fall and guys like me would start talking about how he's one dimensional and needs to build on his powerful striking.

Either way, a guy that the UFC has put serious effort into promoting falls a few rungs lower on the ladder and for what? To build up another guy that everyone already expects to see fighting for the heavyweight title within the next year?

The real problem is that there are few true challengers in the UFC heavyweight division. Six guys have cleaned out the division really, leaving matches between themselves as the only meaningful options to fans.

Some combination of Lesnar, Mir, Couture, Nogueria, Carwin and Velasquez have beaten everyone else the UFC could possible throw into the mix, which is why we're set to see the debut of a bunch of new heavyweights like Todd Duffee and Chris Tuchscherer.

Outside of bringing in guys like Jeff Monson, Ben Rothwell or *shudder* Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia, Carwin and Velasquez almost have to fight or else face an extended period of inactivity.

Unfortunately, it means one great prospect moves forward while the other takes a big step backwards.

Funny, I always thought the idea was to have as many ready and worthy challengers as possible, not leave yourself with only one option.


Continue reading...

I'm a Member of Team Lesnar

No, I didn't get invited to Minnesota to train or become a part of the UFC Heavyweight champ's entourage or anything like that.

Just like I am a member of Team Mike Brown, I'm a member of Team Lesnar, fighting against all the doubters, haters and trash-talkers out there who want to make excuses and complain about the former WWE champion being the best of the UFC heavyweight division.

The first criticism people often fire out there when it comes to Lesnar was that he didn't deserve his title shot, he didn't earn it and d'you know what, they're 90% right. The fact that he broke gatekeeper Heath Herring's face (literally) accounts for the other 10%.

But guess what?

That title shot was more about a massive PPV buy rate and passing the torch tot he future of the heavyweight division than what Brock Lesnar had earned. Demolition of Heath Herring aside, there was no one else available to put on a good show against Couture and Dana saw the incredible potential - both in the cage and at the cash register - of Brock Lesnar and made the right the match. As we all know, Lesnar crushed Couture and that is where the next section of stupidness usually starts to come up.

"He crushed a 45-year-old man who is 2/3 his size," was one argument denouncing Lesnar I read recently on one of my post over at Yardbarker. I'm sorry, isn't the point to beat the snot out of whoever they put in front of you and how come Randy Couture's age and relatively small stature as a heavyweight count as a slight against Lesnar when it's always spoken to how awesome Couture is in the past?

Of course, you can't talk about size without someone playing the steroids card on Lesnar. From the moment he burst onto the scene in the WWE, I've refered to Lesnar as a "genetic freak" - he's 6'3", walks around close to 300 pounds and has the agility of a man half his size, not to mention the strength of a rhinoceros. Obviously, some detractors want to call him a cheat and credit steroids, not genetics and a freakish workout routine.

Here's the thing: this guy has gone from major collegiate wrestling to the WWE to wrestling in Japan to the NFL to the UFC. All of those stops have drug testing, some better than others, and not once has Brock Lesnar tested positive for anything. He was never suspended under the WWE Health and Wellness Policy, had no problems in camp with the Vikings and hasn't had a stiff of trouble with the UFC. To me, that means any allegations and wink-wink, nudge-nudge comments about his size being enhanced is nothing but hate and jealousy.

Then we come to my personal favorite, the skills and abilities section. It's one thing to hear outsiders and fans like you and me knocking the guy because "Royce Gracie he is not" (another fine YB comment), but to hear Frank Mir say stupid shit makes it all the more fun.

Lesnar is featured in the current issue of Maxim, and the magazine spoke to his UFC 100 opponent as well. Here's the brilliance, courtesy of Bloody Elbow:

If you watched when he wrestled in college," he observes, "his abilities were not very technical. He used his size and his power. He won matches by one and two points, drew the pace down, got real boring." He says Lesnar fundamentally remains that kind of fighter and that Lesnar’s strategy will play directly into his own legendary sub­mission skills.

I'm sorry. Is a win by 10 points not the same as a win by 1 point and are you not allowed to use your strongest attributes to defeat your opponents? I love how no one ever knocks Demian Maia for only using his BJJ instead of trading shots, at the same time questioning the shit out of Jorge Gurgel about why he never plays to his strength...

But Brock Lesnar using his strength and power instead of trying to do things he isn't capable of is a bad things, right? No one is saying the guy is Royce Gracie or a submission specialist or anything more than a human steamroller at this point in his career.

The fact of the matter is that a very raw, still new to the sport human steamroller named Brock Lesnar is still extremely hard to deal with and beat one of the Top 5 fighters in the history of the UFC in only his fourth career fight and that scares a whole lot of people.

Like I've said before about other fighters - dislike Brock Lesnar all you want, but give the guy his due. I personally hate Frank Mir and comments like the one above don't help his case with me, but I can't deny that he's one of the Top 10 Pound for Pound fighters on the planet in my books and has been outstanding over the last two years.

Hate him all you want. Me and Team Lesnar look forward to celebrating after UFC 100 and telling all the haters and doubters where to go...



Continue reading...

June Pound for Pound Rankings

There have been some great fights involving members of the May Pound for Pound rankings since we last put together our list of the best overall fighters on the planet.

No one new has joined the party, people have just switched seats, though the same might not hold true after the above pictured rematch.

While many people have him a step behind two gentlemen from Affliction, we're objective enough to give Frank Mir a much deserved spot in the Top 10. Come July 11th, Brock Lesnar might have something to say about that, but for now, Mir stays.


June Pound for Pound Rankings

10. Frank Mir
He might be the Rodney Dangerfield of MMA right now because Mir traditionally gets no respect. All he did last year was stop Brock Lesnar inside of two minutes and knockout "Minotauro" Nogueira for the first time in his life. Don't forget, Mir was a dominant looking champion before his accident and has looked even better as of late.

9. Urijah Faber
Going five rounds with the champ while having a broken hand is a pretty impressive display, not that anyone should be overly surprised by Faber's tenacity. The guy is legit and we've known that for some time. We wish "The California Kid" a speedy recovery.

8. Rashad Evans
Getting knocked out by Lyoto Machida doesn't bump you from the rankings, especially not when it's your first career loss. Evans still has a dynamic all-around skill set and will be heard from again in the LHW division soon. Like everyone else, he's just no match for "The Dragon," but right now, who is?

7. Mike Thomas Brown
I stated my thoughts on Mike Brown last week after his win over Urijah Faber and continued making the argument for a couple days on Yardbarker too. Bottom line, the guy is the best featherweight on the planet and has three solid wins inside of eight months.

6. B.J. Penn
"The Prodigy" slips simply because another man proved to be even more gifted, though he proved it to Penn some years ago. This is perhaps the most polarizing figure on this list, because a dominant win over Kenny Florian could vault him back up the rankings, but a sluggish performance or a loss could have him banished and no one - probably including Baby Jay himself - can tell you which one we'll see in Philly.

5. Miguel Torres
Torres is one of those fighters everyone should watch with regularity. He gives everything he has every time he steps into the cage and doesn't have any glaring deficiencies in his game. Brian Bowles will prove to be a stern test at WEC 42 in Vegas, but make no mistake - Torres will be ready.

4. Lyoto Machida
What can I say that hasn't already been said about "The Dragon?" He's undefeated and barely been touched inside the Octagon. He confuses the hell out of everyone he fights and has shown a new-found propensity for knocking people out. Are we in the Machida Era? Only time will tell.

3. Fedor Emelianenko
I know he's never really been beaten. I know everyone else thinks he is the best fighter on the planet. I know he'll probably beat Josh Barnett and leave himself without a challenger once again. Until that actually happens though, he's staying here at #3. Come fight the big boys, Fedor and then we can talk.

2. Anderson Silva
Call it a hunch, but I'm willing to wager that "The Old Anderson Silva" shows up to face Forrest Griffin and runs through him like a hot knife through butter. Something tells me "The Spider" has just been bored lately, but a fight like this will get him fired up to fight again.

1. Georges St-Pierre
July 11th could potentially knock St-Pierre from his perch atop these rankings, as Thiago Alves is a very formidable opponent. That being said, so too were Jon Fitch and BJ Penn. There are no holes in GSP's game and he's got the backing of a terrific training team. A win over "The Pitbull" leaves him without an immediate contender at 170.

Who'd we leave out? Who should move down? Who should move up?

Let us know your thoughts ...
Continue reading...

Worst Announcer Ever?

The WEC needs to find a new color guy. Frank Mir is horrible.

I know I'm way late on this, what with more than a month having passed since the card in question took place, but I have two defenses for my tardiness.

1. I was in the Dominican getting married
2. I live in Canada and we don't have Versus, so I had to wait for someone else to show the fights.

Anyway...

I finally got a chance to watch WEC 40 last night while I was making dinner and it's quite possible that Frank Mir is officially the worst announcer in the history of professional sports. Take all the things that you hate about individual announcers - homerism, over-excitement, calling guys by the wrong name, general douchey attitude - pour it into a shirt two sizes too small, top with bad hair and chin pubes and you have the Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion.

First, there is an air of superiority to everything he says, as if the guys fighting are lesser individuals because they didn't execute the right move or missed an opportunity.

Second, you can clearly tell which fighter Mir is pulling for, which is bad because he was cheering for the wrong guy in two of the four televised fights. Even though Joseph Benavidez was all over Jeff Curran, all Mir kept talking about was how Curran was great off his back and could land a big right hand. Then the Urijah Faber prodigy won a Unanimous Decision.

That's besides the point, since he should be remaining objective and impartial to begin with.

Third, the names. It's pretty important to get the guy's name right. We all know the Las Vegas native would go bananas (B-AN-AN-AS) if someone called him Frank Muir or Mears or whatever, so how is calling Takeya Mizugaki "Misaki" for the entire fight justified?

I know it's hard and all, what with those extra two syllables, but you're getting paid (presumably) to call this thing, so get it right.

And don't get me started on his ridiculous comments about Brock Lesnar from last week either or we'll be here for days.

Like I said, I know I'm way late on this, but regardless of my timing, Frank Mir is still in the Hall of Fame of Horrible Announcers.
Continue reading...