FWP: Sadollah vs. Hendricks

Though nothing is 100% etched in stone, it looks like TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah is actually going to make his return to the Octagon on Saturday.

The last time we saw him in the cage was the night he earned his contract, June 21, 2008. Since then, it's been injury after injury, scraping two fights and leaving Sadollah far enough off the radar that the UFC installed him as the "host" of their Inside the Octagon segment during the last season of TUF.

Barring anything catastrophic, he's finally going to get that second professional fight under his belt and it's not going to be a walk in the park either.

Amir Sadollah (1-0) vs. Johny Hendricks (5-0)

Honestly, this fight has no business being the third fight on a pay-per-view, but it's presence there should signal something to everyone if it hasn't been clear this whole way already.

The UFC has some serious time invested in Amir Sadollah and sees a bright future for him. Sadollah has a lot of the same qualities as his coach on TUF, Forrest Griffin, including the natural charisma to draw people in.

This is why he saw him hosting that little segment every week; he's a sharp guy who is pretty entertaining, but since he's been off the grid for so long, the UFC needed to remind us all how much we liked him.

Now they stick him in there with a tough kid who reminds me a lot of Josh Koscheck.

Johny Hendricks is an outstanding wrestler. A three-time All-American, Hendricks wrestled at Oklahoma State with Jake Rosholt and Shane Roller and earned two National Championships.

Okay, so he's actually a better wrestler collegiately than Kos.

Anyway, what makes me think of Koscheck when I watch Hendricks is his propensity for standing up and striking. Just like the AKA product and TUF alum, Hendricks uses his wrestling when he needs to, but is just as interested in standing and banging with his opponents.

It's very hard to handicap this fight; Sadollah has just one fight to his name and is coming off a long layoff and numerous injuries, while Hendricks is good enough to be 5-0, including two wins in the WEC, but if he was that good, he would have been in the UFC and not the WEC, right?

Bottom line: the UFC needs Sadollah to win this fight and Hendricks should be just enough of an opponent to not make it look easy, but still come out holding the short straw if you know what I mean.

P.S. Keyboard Kimura Post #100...

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K2 Interviews: Catching Up with KenFlo

It's hard not to like Kenny Florian.

Outside the cage, he's an affable guy with a good sense of humor, willing to take time from his training to speak to just about anyone, and treat them like a long-time friend.

Inside the cage, he has transformed into one of the most complete lightweights in the sport today.

I was fortunate enough to sit down with the Massachusetts native ten days ago, where we discussed his evolution as a fighter, Saturday's title fight with B.J. Penn and his desire to fight Osama bin Laden.

This is the K2 Interview with Kenny Florian.

I would place you as one of the top three or four guys in the UFC in terms of your evolution from your first fight to where you are now.

How important is it to you as a fighter and following the lost to Sean Sherk to get back in the gym and keep improving and evolving?

I realized that I'm just in love with the sport. I love training, I love working hard; when I wake up, that's what my job is.

After that Sherk fight, I decided to really start committing myself to that and if I love what I do and I am a professional fighter then I needed to start acting like one and training like one. That's when I really started training year-round and really dedicated myself to learning my craft.

That's been essential. Plus my attitude of wanting to learn and wanting to get better, that's been key. In doing that, you have to be honest with yourself, analyzing your weaknesses and keep improving on those things.

We hear a great deal about certain gyms and certain teams, like Jackson's MMA in Albuquerque for instance, but we don't hear that much about Team Sityodtong.

How much of an influence has your team and guys like Mark DellaGrotte and Peter Welch had in your evolution as a fighter?

Everyone from my brother Keith to Mark Dellagrote to Peter Welch and now my strength and conditioning coach Jonathan Chaimberg, everyone's been huge in helping me for this fight and everything that happened before it.

It's been tremendous having all those different aspects and all those different coaches who are really dedicated to seeing you do well and giving you the right advice, the right technical advice, and being close to those people. It's huge.

Mark (Dellagrotte) is the kind of guy that gives you the weapons for the fight; he's the guy who really sharpens weapons. My brother's the strategy guy who puts everything together, puts together the game plan, watching video incessantly and then Peter Welch is the guy who kind of integrates the boxing into what I do, the footwork stuff.

It's definitely a group effort and one that's worked out very well now.

We're two weeks away from the fight. How is training camp going, what are you weighing and is cutting weight ever a difficult process for you?

No, it's not really ever an issue. Right now, I'm 167 pounds, so right on schedule, right where I need to be and weight really has never been an issue for me. I'm in the best shape of my life and at the best skill level of my life, so it's time.

I really feel like it's my time now. At this point most of the hard training is over; just a few more days of hard training and then it's tapering for the fight.

Part of that training and one of the things that got a lot of attention leading up to the fight was heading up to Montreal to train with Georges St-Pierre and Firas Zahabi at Tri Star Gym.

Was that something you had always talked about doing or envisioned doing or did GSP's domination of B.J. at UFC 94 heighten that a little more?

I always wanted to go and train with Georges at some point and I think it can only help you. Any time you get a chance to train with one of the best fighters pound-for-pound in the world it's going to help you.

You know, feeling that type of intensity and pressure and skill level is going to raise your level, simple as that. I learned that from my days as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitor and it's the same thing here with Mixed Martial Arts or any type of sport.

The best athletes often times are great watchers and great learners and that's one thing I've always tried to do is be a good watcher, be a good learner and learn from others. And how can you not learn from one of the best in the sport in St-Pierre?

Going up there to Tri Star Gym and training with different people really is very helpful. You can have the best guys in the world with you training at home, but once you train with them every day, you learn to avoid their strengths and not on purpose. You get too comfortable or maybe there is too much respect amongst your peers, so to another gym, it gives you those butterflies.

Never training with someone before, it recreates that kind of fight feeling, especially going in there and sparring. It was great going up there.

I also got a chance to work with Firas Zahabi who is a great trainer in his own right and it’s always good to learn new things, new styles, get input from different people and I was able to hook up with Jonathan Chaimberg who is now my new Strength and Conditioning coach, so really, I gained a lot from going up to Montreal the two times that I did.

Did you get into any trouble in Montreal? I’m a Canadian boy and I’ve been to Montreal a time or two myself. Any misadventures that we won’t really talk about?

(Laughs) I did not. I did not, surprisingly enough, but it was good. I love the city – great city, fun city – and I will definitely be back for future fights, no doubt.

I’m going to believe you that you didn’t get into any trouble, even though I know St. Catharines Street is a very dangerous place.

(Laughs) No jail time.

Talking about being a watcher and learning through watching different fighters and seeing how they do things, I’m sure you’ve spent a lot of time recently and in general studying B.J. What makes him such a difficult opponent at 155 where he hasn’t lost in seven years and in general?

You know, B.J.’s a tough guy to beat because he’s so good at everything. He’s very well-rounded, there’s no glaring weakness. Some of my past opponents you can look at and say, “Well, I need to take the fight here” or “he makes big mistakes when he does this” or “this is the way to beat him.”

With B.J. it’s little things. He’s very, very well-rounded, he’s dangerous everywhere, and that’s why he poses problems for so many fighters. With me it’s going to come down to little details; exposing little things, trying to take advantage of little things and it’s going to be a chess match out there. It’s going to be who did all their work, all their homework and who goes out there and executes the best.

Not to divulge any secrets or anything like that, but what do you bring to the table that can set you apart where others have failed in the past bunch of years?

I think the key is I am well-rounded as well. This is the point where I’ve been building up my arsenal, building up my weapons since the Sherk fight and even before that. It’s been about building up my arsenal of weapons and my skill level to the point where I can compete with anyone in the world.

I feel I’ve done a good job of getting to the upper echelon of fighter's skill. I still have a lot to improve on – that’s never going to stop – but I feel that at this point of my career I can contend with anyone out there in the world and this is a great opportunity for me to prove that.

I’m sure you’ve been talking enough about the B.J. fight in the last few weeks, so we’ll go off-topic with a few more.

You’ve been busy training lately, so you’ve left your position on MMA Live, which means you’ve missed a few “Buy or Sells” or “Fact or Fictions,” so we’ll turn to Fedor.

Do you see him in the UFC? Do you think Dana and Zuffa make that commitment and bring him into the fold or is this something …

(Interrupting) This is my least favorite part of the show. You’re asking me my least favorite part of the show.

(Laughs) I’m going to have to go with fact. You know, I’m a positive person, I would love to see it happen. I would love to see Fedor fighting in the UFC. I don’t know how realistic it is, but I think it could happen.

When they look at all the other organizations and they try to put together and say, “How can we make the most amount of money?” and “How can we test Fedor the best?” I think the only answer is the UFC at this point.

I think it will be able to be put together; I don’t know how quickly, but I think it can be put together.

(Note: Turns out a lot of us were wrong on this one ...)

How much did Dr. Phil apologize for calling you “Kenny Florini” when you, Forrest and Dana did the show a few months back?

(Laughs) I don’t even know if he realized he called me “Kenny Florini.” It was one of the guys, one of the producers who apologized. Oh well.

If you could fight anyone past or present, who would it be and who would win?

I would love to fight Osama bin Laden and I would kill him, round one.

Elbows? Tapout?

Yeah, elbows, after he was knocked out.

If you could play matchmaker for a day, regardless of organizational ties or money or anything like that, what three fights would you make and why?

I would have Fedor Emelianenko against Brock Lesnar. I think it would generate a tremendous amount of interest and a tremendous amount of pay-per-views.

Kenny Florian against BJ Penn – that’s the fight everyone needs to see - and Anderson Silva against Georges St-Pierre. Those are the three biggest fights you could put out there. Maybe I’m biased though.

Or maybe like a fantasy fight, like the Incredible Hulk against Thor or something like that.

The B.J. fight, would that be a rematch? Would that be BJ getting a return shot at his belt?

(Laughs) Possibly, possibly. A rematch, yeah, exactly.

Very cool. I appreciate you doing this.

Yeah, no problem. Thanks.

A huge thanks to Kenny Florian for taking the time to complete this interview and his manager Ron Weinberg for making it happen. Good luck Saturday ... we'll have to talk again after the fight!




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FWP: Grove vs. Almeida

Back at the finale for The Ultimate Fighter Season 7, a loss would have most likely meant the end of the line for Season 3 winner Kendall "Da Spyder" Grove.

After earning a Split Decision victory that night over Evan Tanner in what would turn out to be the former champion's last fight, Grove is set to take on former King of Pancrase Ricardo Almeida at UFC 101 and looking to stretch his winning streak to three.

Kendall "Da Spyder" Grove (10-5, 1 NC) versus Ricardo "Big Dog" Almeida (10-3)

Almeida is an interesting case.

After leaving the UFC back in 2002, Almeida dominated in Pancrase for four years, earning victories over the likes of Kazuo Misaki and Nathan Marquardt.

Following three years off to focus on running his school in New Jersey, he returned to the UFC and has looked only average in going 2-1. Now he has declared his intentions to drop down to 170 following this fight, something that makes this bout all the more interesting.

Both Grove and Almeida have losses to Patrick Cote on their resumes; Grove in spectacular fashion under a flurry of fists and Almeida via Unanimous Decision. It's their performances since then that are most telling.

While Grove battled the former champion Tanner to a hard-fought victory and sent Jason Day packing with a first round knockout, Almeida was only able to grind out a decision victory over Matt Horwich back in April.

Grind is the key word with Almeida; outside of his return win over complete unknown Rob Yundt, Almeida looks to control fights with his high-level Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and take few risks, wearing out the opposition and grinding out a win.

Grove, on the other hand, is the kind of fighter many fans love; a guy who is going to come get you, even if it means getting caught and dropped from time-to-time.

What makes the Hawaiian such an study at middleweight is his length; Grove stands 6'6" tall and has a significant reach advantage over everyone he faces.

While Almeida will surely need to get inside and bring the fight to the ground, Grove has the length and striking skills to pick at Almeida from a distance and keep him on the outside.

In terms of training camps, I personally give the edge to Grove, who trains with close friend and fellow Hawaiian BJ Penn.

I know what you're thinking: how can anyone get the advantage when they train with "The Legend of Lazy" BJ Penn?

Easy: Penn has shifted his camp for the UFC 101 Main Event to California and rededicated himself to coming into this fight in the best shape of his life.

Assuming Grove also made the trip to train under Marv Marinovich, a man who basically bred his son to be a star quarterback and pushed him into oblivion in the process, will have Grove entering the ring in ridiculous condition.

One last thing: four of Grove's five losses come by way of knockout, something Almeida has never done to an opponent in his career.

I'm just sayin' is all.
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Missed Opportunity: Should the UFC Have Gone After Gegard Mousasi?

You probably recognize the man on the right.

At the very least, you've heard of him. He goes by the name of Fedor.

During the week since the fall of Affliction, Dana White and the UFC spent hours on end trying to negotiate a deal that would bring the Russian heavyweight into the fold and set up a pay-per-view bonanza against Brock Lesnar.

But maybe some of that time should have been spent talking to the guy on the left.

His name is Gegard Mousasi.

Although focusing on Fedor was obviously the right move and one the UFC had to make, failure to land the biggest fish in the sea opens the door to speculation and second-guessing, two things I'm reasonably good at.

Fedor is the present; a massive star amongst the die-hard MMA community and a name thrown around enough by White to have stirred up interest within the casual and less-addicted set.

To me, Mousasi is the future; an incredibly talented fighter who just recently celebrated his 24th birthday and is riding a 12-fight winning streak.

While Fedor would certainly have been the best business decision for right now, perhaps his training partner from the Red Devil Sport Club would have been a better long-term addition?

It's hard not to be enamoured with "The Dreamcatcher."

Though he's spent most of his career competing at middleweight, Mousasi took part in the opening round of the DREAM Super Hulk Tournament, earning a submission win over Mark Hunt despite being considerably outweighed.

Also left in his wake en route to a sterling 28-2-1 record have been Bellator tournament winner Hector Lombard, Pride and UFC veteran Denis Kang and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, whom Mousasi defeated to capture the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix last year.

Frustrated by the demise of Affliction and the cancellation of his North American debut, the Dutch star voiced his frustrations on Fight Network Radio, giving the UFC a shout out in the process:

"Well, what can I say. It's ridiculous because one idiot we all have to pay for that. F*ck it. Maybe I ... I don't know. Every time ... Maybe I'll go to the UFC. It's ridiculous that this has to happen. I've been preparing for weeks now."

But in the midst of trying to land Fedor, a glorious opportunity to secure one of the best up-and-coming talents in the sport came and went in the blink of an eye.

Shortly after his frustrated comments, Mousasi's scheduled fight with Renato "Babalu" Sobral was picked up by Strikeforce and will now have Sobral's Light Heavyweight title on the line.

Additionally, MMA Junkie reported Mousasi inked a deal with the San Jose-based fight promotion and will not simply be taking part on loan from M-1 Global, meaning the UFC's chance has come and gone.

As I said off the top, I don't fault the UFC for focusing all their attention on trying to land Fedor. It's what the fans wanted, it's what they wanted and it would have been massive for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.

But you had to know the negotiations where going to be a bitch; after all, this wasn't the first time Zuffa made a push for "The Last Emperor" to no avail.

And while bringing in Vitor Belfort and welcoming Tito Ortiz back into the fold are quality moves, landing a 24-year-old superstar-in-waiting who you could have groomed into the next face of the franchise would have been even better.

I know the UFC is way out in front, but mark this one down in the win column for Strikeforce.

Come back in two weeks when Mousasi takes Babalu's belt so that I can say, "I told you so" too.



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FWP: Neer vs. Pellegrino

Yawn ...

Not to take anything away from either fighter, but are you kidding me?

How is this fight taking place on the main card of a UFC Pay-Per-View event? Thales Leites goes from "fighting" Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title to non-televised preliminary card and we get this battle between two middle of the pack lightweights?

Though it could be billed as one of the weirdest children's book titles of all-time (Batman Meets The Dentist), this fight has Ultimate Fight Night written all over it.

"The Dentist" Josh Neer (25-7-1) vs. "Batman" Kurt Pellegrino (13-4)

So Nate Diaz loses two in a row and headlines September's UFN, the last two guys he's beaten get the opening spot on UFC 101's broadcast and Gray Maynard and Roger Huerta get second or third billing on that same September card?

Sounds about right ...

Since it's already been mentioned, these two share defeats at the hands of Nathan Diaz; Pellegrino famously via the "Dual Middle Finger Triangle Choke of Death," while Neer lost a Split Decision that many, myself included, think should have gone the other way.

Make no mistake about it, Josh Neer is a talented kid who could be a contender in the lightweight division. He's earned wins over tough veteran Din Thomas and former TUF winner Mac Danzig to go along with his loss to Diaz and used to train with Miletich Fighting Systems.

Pellegrino is as tenacious as they come and doesn't get beaten easily. He went the distance with Joe Stevenson two years ago and earned a very hard fought decision over Thiago Tavares at UFC 88 that became an instant classic.

Both fighters are coming in off wins at UFN 17 back in February; Neer over Danzig and Pellegrino over Rob Emerson.

One of these guys will earn a victory and take another step up the ladder into the deeper-than-you-think lightweight talent pool, while the other will be left treading water.
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The Best Man Doesn't Always Win: Taking a Look at Tournament Fighting

Ah, tournament fighting.

The system that was the foundation for the original incarnation of the UFC and remains a staple of both World Victory Road's Sengoku events and DREAM's fight cards as well, this morning's results from the Featherweight Grand Prix illustrate why having multiple fights in the same night is challenging for both the fighter and the organization.

In one of the semi-finals of the Featherweight Grand Prix, Hatsu Hioki earned a hard-fought victory over Masanori Kanehara, dominating the first two rounds before tiring in the third.

However, Hioki was unable to continue in the tournament and Kanehara was put through to the finals where he ended up defeating Michihiro Omigawa to be crowned the 2009 Featherweight Champion.

Of course, this is far from the first time something like this has happened.

During last year's DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix, Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen lost his semi-final match to Eddie Alvarez in one of 2008's Fight of Year contenders, only to replace the Philadelphia-based fighter in the finals against Shinya Aoki when Alvarez sustained a cut in his win over Tatsuya Kawajiri.

From there, the Norwegian defeated "The Tobikan Judan" to claim the DREAM Lightweight title. At least Hansen won a fight to earn the right to replace Alvarez. UFC 3 winner Steve Jennum was just in the right place at the right time.

You remember UFC 3, don't you?

Royce Gracie battled Kimo in a tough ground war, leaving himself dehydrated and unable to continue. Harold Howard earned his place in the history books as the first man to "beat" Royce Gracie and advanced to the finals where he was supposed to face Ken Shamrock.

Only problem was, once Gracie was unable to continue, Shamrock had no interest in continuing either. His sole purpose in taking part in UFC 3 was to avenge his loss to Gracie from UFC 1 and when that couldn't happen, Shamrock withdrew as well, leaving the door open for Steve Jennum.

The Nebraska police officer made Howard tap to strikes and claimed the UFC 3 tournament title without having had to fight a sole for the opportunity, which prompted the UFC to change the rules to avoid a similar situation ever happening again.

While I understand the drama and tremendous show of athleticism and conditioning competing in multiple fights on the same evening takes, the possibility of results like these leave me questioning the value of such a practice.

Earlier this year, Bellator's tournament format went off without a hitch, as all the winners managed to emerge from their fights without serious injury and able to continue in the next round.

Hypothetically speaking, if Eddie Alvarez had sustained an injury in his first round fight, he would have had four weeks to recuperate, instead of simply being replaced by a fighter he had just defeated or an alternate.

To me, if tournaments are the way you want to go, the Bellator setup is much more favorable to the fighters than the two fights in the same night method used in Japan.

But that's just me.

What do you think?

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Where Does Fedor Go From Here?

During yesterday's conference call, the UFC announced the signing of two prominent names in the Mixed Martial Arts business.

Unfortunately, neither was the named Fedor.

Negotiations with Fedor's management and promotions company M-1 Global hit a major stumbling point in the area of co-promotion, leaving Dana White to all but declare the "Fedor to the UFC" situation done.

As a result, many have been left looking to assign blame. Instead of waxing philosophical about who to blame, my thoughts have wondered to the future and trying to answer the question, "Where does Fedor Go From Here?"

Accept this now, fight fans: A marriage between Fedor and the UFC is never going to happen, and a one night stand was never an option.

But with the collapse of Affliction, the MMA landscape has changed, leaving less options available to the consensus top heavyweight on the planet.

In terms of exposure and strength of competition, a move to Strikeforce certainly looks like the best destination out there, complete with the added bonus of giving Dana White and the UFC a symbolic middle finger by signing with their lone North American competitor.

Though not the deepest heavyweight roster in the business (we all know where that is, right?), Strikeforce would offer champion Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and Brett Rogers, the fighter Emelianenko's camp apparently wanted most prior to the cancellation of Trilogy.

Additionally, I could certainly see Strikeforce adding Affliction refugee Paul Buentello to the mix as well, as it was "The Headhunter" who faced Overeem back in 2007 to decide the inaugural Heavyweight champion.

Furthermore, there are only two possible destinations for Bobby Lashley and I believe Strikeforce is the more likely of the two. Though focused on his fighting career, the former WWE superstar is also concerned with putting money in his pockets, leading to a return to the world of professional wrestling with TNA.

If the UFC isn't willing to co-promote events in order to secure a deal with Fedor, there is no way in hell they are letting Bobby Lashley take steel chair shots from Sting during his downtime.

But who knows what kind of offer Strikeforce is willing to table to the Russian icon? There has been all kinds of speculation about what Scott Coker and company have put forward to Fedor and M-1 Global, but let's not forget that four days ago some were reporting a deal with the UFC was all but wrapped up.

Of course, fighting in North America isn't Emelianenko's only option. After all, his ascension to god-like status in the business came from fighting in Japan during the glory days of Pride and there is no doubt that World Victory Road would be glad to welcome him back to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Interestingly enough, a November Sengoku event is where Zach Arnold of Fight Opinion is reporting we will see Josh Barnett return to action.

Apparently, World Victory Road is where fighters who test positive in North America go to resume their careers, as former EliteXC heavyweight champ Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva is expected to return to the ring at Sengoku 10th Battle in September.

A third possibility is a spot on the M-1 Global Presents Breakthrough card scheduled for the end of August in Los Angeles.

Currently headlined by Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal facing UFC veteran Don Frye, Emelianenko is a shareholder in the organization and would certainly heighten the profile of the event.

Seeing as Jeff Monson won't be leaving the country any time soon, perhaps a call to the man who believes it's his destiny to beat Fedor for a spot opposite "The Last Emperor" in the Main Event would be in order.

For what it's worth, my money is on Fedor fighting on the M-1 card in August before deciding what to do next.

Regardless of the answer to the question at the heart of this piece, another question and one that is far more important arises:

Is Fedor's legacy tarnished by not fighting in the UFC?

That's another article for another day.

For now, I'll wait to see where he ends up.

One last thing: for the record, I blame Fedor in all this.

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