Charles Plemons’ Blog

While typing my previous post on UFC 88, I got the news that MMA great, Evan Tanner, was found dead of unknown causes (http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=14429). My sympathies to his family and friends. I always enjoyed Tanner’s performance in the ring and was hoping he could complete a comeback. MMA has truly lost one of its founding fathers.

It was interesting round of results on the UFC 88 fight card. Sometimes I have picks in my mind about who I would “prefer” win. Some UFC’s are sorely disappointing and others are elating. It was a bit of a mix this weekend.

An early fight was Ultimate Fighter reject Matt Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim. Don’t get the wrong idea, I kind of like Matt Brown, but I still have a lot of resentment toward the idea of taking the losers I didn’t pay to see on Ultimate Fighter and putting them on my Pay-Per-View event. If you want them to build some credibility on Fight Night Live or something, go ahead, but I truly dislike finding them in my line-up I’m paying to watch. Back to the fight. The Brown vs. Kim match-up was good and fairly exciting. It really showcased the lack of a good scoring mechanism for MMA. I understand why the judges gave the nod to Kim, but I could also see a good argument for Brown winning that fight.

I was excited about the Nate Marquardt vs. Martin Kampmann fight. I’m not a big Marquardt fan, but I know he is explosive and often fun to watch. I have really enjoyed Kampmann fighting in the past, so I expected an exciting show. What impressed me most was Marquardt when he staggered Kampmann. He worked both sides of the head and down to the body with hard, but precise, shots. Kampmann didn’t have opportunity to regather his wits or take any counter-offensive. Marquardt commented on this himself following the fight, and I agree, that was a key part of the victory. A tip of my hat to Marquardt’s striking, I may come around to being a fan after all.

Dan Henderson fought Rousimar Palhares in a three-round battle that ended with Henderson by decision. I thought both of these men looked pretty good; I was looking for a little more aggression to press the action, but you couldn’t have asked for some better competitiveness. Henderson won by keeping Palhares out of his game. He started to play his game for a while but quickly learned the better of it. I’d like to see Palhares again, and hopefully Dan Henderson will start showing off some of his legendary abilities from his PRIDE days.

Rich Franklin moved back up to the 205 division and fought up-and-comer Matt Hamil. Now, let me in fairness say that I don’t lump Hamil into the Ultimate Fighter rejects club—he was game to keep going, but the doctors wouldn’t let him fight, for his safety (which was the right call). I continue to be impressed with Matt Hamil. Think back to how terrible his striking was back on Ultimate Fighter. Saturday night, he went toe-to-toe striking with one of the most precise strikers in the business. Sure, he lost, why wouldn’t he? He is not at Rich Franklin’s striking level, but the point is, he is light years improved in his striking. Matt Hamil is a young, strong man. If he can continue to improve at the same rate he has already shown, I’m scared of what this man can accomplish. I just hope this defeat doesn’t set him back in his confidence. Hamil didn’t land near the number of blows as Franklin, but “Ace” looked like he had taken a thrashing by the end of the fight. Congratulations to Rich for a great victory, and cheers to Matt Hamil for the obvious work he is putting into his MMA game.

Now, the fight of the night, Rashad Evans and Chuck Liddell. When Rashad first appeared on the scene back in the early Ultimate Fighter, I was anything but impressed. He was tough but lacked any real talent. He could not finish anybody. It became my around-the-office joke that Rashad could lay on top of anyone for 15 minutes and win. Much like Hamil, discussed earlier, Rashad has put in some time and effort. He has added to his raw athletic ability some real MMA skills. He has had a number of impressive finishes now in his career, and a knockout of Chuck Liddell is icing on the cake. I still hate the showboating Rashad throws into every match and eagerly await the person who beats him to a pulp; however, that day is not today! Great, great showing from Rashad. What can be said of Chuck Liddell? He is a legend. He defined striking in the UFC. When you become the picture of how something is done, it is only a matter of time before everyone else learns to do it just like you do. It’s the evolution of the sport. Liddell has licked the canvas thanks to Jackson, Jardine, and now, Evans. I don’t think it is as much that Liddell is losing his edge, it’s that everyone else has figured out how he does it. Don’t believe me? Replay Evans’ over-the-top right and tell me you haven’t seen Liddell level opponent after opponent with the exact same shot.

Don’t write Chuck Liddell off just yet. This reminds me of when Royce Gracie came back to the octagon, only to be pummeled by Matt Hughes. When you are the best, everyone tries to become you. Chuck Liddell has got to expand his skillset now and become something else, something more than what we are used to. Too many people now know how to beat the current Chuck Liddell. Me, I’m hoping he goes back to camp and comes back with something new and dangerous. Time will tell.

EliteXC had their second broadcast on CBS last evening, called Unfinished Business. The first time around, I was fairly impressed. This time around, they looked like old pros at doing this kind of thing. The HD camera work was beautiful. The announcers did a fine job. In fact, even Frank Shamrock seemed to have been practicing. One of the greatest things of all, during the fights there was no blathering from UFC’s Mike Goldberg¹ or mind-numbing “he’s rocked!” commentary from Joe Rogan. It was a high quality production.

The evening opened with the female match of the night. Some seem to think women’s MMA is a novelty, but I find it very interesting. Shayna Baszler fought Christiane “Cyborg” Santos in an extremely exciting brawl. In my opinion, Cyborg is what we’ve been waiting to see, the evolution of a female MMA fighter to the same level as the boys. It has been coming, and the women (who have less opportunities in the sport currently) have struggled to get up to the competition we get to see in the men’s division. With Cyborg, it is here. She’s a very fit, skilled fighter with ground skills, submission defense, and deadly accurate striking. Throughout the fight, Cyborg picked Baszler apart with those dead-on punches. At one point, Baszler collapsed into the mat, and Cyborg ran off with her arms raised. It took a minute for her to realize the ref did not stop the fight. No problem, she walked back over to the now standing Baszler and put her face down in the mat again. This time, the match was called. Keep an eye on Cyborg and on female MMA in general. Both are coming into their own.

The next fight was Nick “the Goat” Thompson against Jake Shields for the welterweight title. I had not seen Thompson fight since he was put down by Karo Parisyan in UFC 59. Apparently, he went to fight a lot in Bodog, and after seeing one or two, nobody watched those. Jake Shields is on a big win streak, but his competition has not been at the highest level. When the bell rings, these two charge together, and Shields puts Thompson on the ground. He mounts him in seconds, and they roll around until Thompson is deep in a choke and tapping. Game over at 1:03 round 1. I was impressed with Shields’ ability and am now ready to see his opponents start coming from the A list.

The third fight was Nick Diaz against Thomas Denny. I don’t care who Diaz fights, that is who I root for. Both fighters threw lots of punches and bloodied each other up. For a while, it was well contested, but Denny was just a bit behind on speed and accuracy of punches and finally went down. Diaz wins in 0:30 of round 2.

The most anticipated fight of the night was Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith. Their last fight will go down in history as one of the most exciting fights seen (on par with Griffin vs. Bonner). This fight was good, but not to the same caliber. Both men were more cautious but quickly warmed up to throwing bombs at one another. Smith opened a nasty cut on Lawler and then held him and let him bleed. He spent a lot of time just holding him and not working, which allowed Lawler to work him over with knees until his midsection could take no more. Smith went down at 2:35 in round 2. After the fight, Smith admitted he was waiting on the ref to check the cut on Lawler; he should have kept swinging.

Overall, it was an exciting evening. It was worth every penny that I paid for it. I can’t wait for the next broadcast on October 4.

¹ Here’s a Mike Goldberg example. During the latest UFC, Goldberg described Anderson Silva as having “very precise precision”. Joe Rogan immediately agreed and said precision was the best way to describe it. Wow. Gripping.

Last night, I watched 2 hours and 40 minutes of mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting on CBS. There were five fights, and each was rendered in beautiful HD. Were they the best fighters and best fights? No, but I knew that going in. I’ve watched the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pride since they started, and I pay $45 for each pay-per-view to see the UFC every month. It’s not in HD from my cable provider. In fact, it looks like crap. Half the fights I see now on UFC pay-per-views are the Ultimate Fighter TV show rejects who, despite losing the show, are still shoved down my throat like they are top-notch fighters. Turns out, sometimes they slip up and become entertaining to watch. That’s what I see in EliteXC.

EliteXC combined the pre-fight hype and fireworks of a Pride event with a string of B-list fighters. For something I didn’t pay for, I loved it. The picture quality was outstanding, the camera angles very good, and the fights were mostly entertaining. Would I tune in again? You better believe it.

The opening fight was Brett Rodgers vs. Jon Murphy. I never heard of either of them. Big deal, I had never heard of Goran Reljic, Antonio Mendes, Rousimar Palhares, or Shane Carwin on UFC 84’s fight card either. Everyone has to debut sometime. The fight was short, with these two heavyweights swinging fast and hard and one going down in a technical knockout. Isn’t that what everyone is always clamoring about? “Give me a knockout!” You got it. Plus, Brett Rodgers was led to the ring by Busta Rhymes. Cheesy? Oh yeah. Ever see a major recording artist part of the “show” at UFC? For the masses (to whom this event was targeted), it was highly entertaining.

This was followed by Joey Villasenor vs. Phil Baroni. Baroni came out with his normal Pride routine, which struck many as a WWE intro. It gave me plenty of time to pop some popcorn and refill my Coke. Every time I see Baroni fight, he loses. So, I was neither surprised nor disappointed when he got blown up in this fight.

In the first prime time female fight ever, Gina “Conviction” Carano (yeah, that’s Crush from American Gladiators) fought Kaitlin Young. I can’t help it, I’m on the Gina Carano bandwagon. I love watching her in Fight Girls, American Gladiators, and now, EliteXC. Because of that, this was a tense and exciting fight. Gina looked a little sloppy, but she used some Muay Thai kicks you don’t often see in MMA. She just out fought Kaitlin and busted her up pretty bad. The fight ended with Kaitlin unable to continue. It happens.

The fight of the night could have been and should have been Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith. Scott is one of these aforementioned Ultimate Fighter rejects that I sometimes get to pay $45 to see. I watched him for free (again, in HD) on EliteXC, and he was entertaining as could be. Lawler and Smith were swinging for the fences and doing their best to make the next Griffin vs. Bonner fight on national television. It was sloppy, it was painful, and I loved every second. One man would get the upper hand for a while, then it would swap. MMA’s version of drama. Then, Robbie accidentally poked Smith in the eye. The fight was declared no contest. It happens. I remember paying lots of money to see something similar happen to Randy Couture when he fought Chuck Liddell. There will be a rematch, and I’ll be tuned in to watch. Really, there was no better way for this fight to end for EliteXC. I’m not alone in my eagerness to see the rematch.

The main event was streetfighter Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson. I’ve been watching Thompson get his butt handed to him in Pride several times (I’m recalling Aleksander Emelianenko and Kazuyuki Fujita, specifically). I’ve only heard of Kimbo but never seen him. So, this turns out to be a bit controversial. Kimbo displays that he is a talented striker but unexperienced ground fighter (as everyone already suspected). He showed that he is phenomenally strong, being able to shove massive Thompson around and off of him several times. At the end of the second round, Thompson got Kimbo against the cage and rained glancing blows down on him for over a minute with no defense. Most of the time, you see the referee stop the fight at this point. However, everyone always fusses when a fight is stopped too early, and when Kimbo got up, he was not beaten up and was not much worse for wear. Bad call or not, Thompson failed to put Kimbo away with those strikes. He didn’t get the ref’s call and he didn’t do any applicable damage. Them’s the breaks. In the last round, Kimbo busts the swollen ear on Thompson’s left side, causing it to bleed like crazy. Then, he hits him with a number of punches and Thompson staggers around with his eyes crossed. Having seen Thompson fight a couple times before, I’m familiar with the look. He’s kind of like Glass Joe in the original Punch-Out. Hit him a few times, and he’s done (not saying I could do it, but a big strong nasty dude like Kimbo…). The ref then stepped in and stopped the fight. Early stoppage? Maybe, but again, my experience watching Thompson is that this was all he had. Was I impressed with Kimbo? I was impressed by his presence. He has a charisma to him, and he is a physical specimen. Does that make him a great fighter? He’s got skill, but his ground game is a weak link. Not every fighter who sells tickets is the best fighter in the world.

In the end, I spent my Saturday night watching MMA with no additional investment. Was I on the edge of my seat through all the fights? No, but I was entertained throughout. I’m a fan of MMA, and I saw enough with EliteXC to get me to invest the same amount of money into watching the next event.

It was a bad night to be one of Joe Rogan’s favorite wrestling or jiu-jitsu “experts”. The main event fights made them look pathetic. Number one case in point, the fantastic thrashing given to Alberto Crane by Roger Huerta. All through the introductions, Joe Rogan could say nothing but the overwhelming awesome nature of Crane’s BJJ. That’s great. Really. But an MMA fight is not a BJJ competition. The results: Huerta looks like a superstar fighter, and Crane is embarassingly beaten into a bloody pulp. It’s not often that the camera zooms in on a fighter and you can see “what have I got myself into” clearly in his eyes. Don’t get the wrong idea, there are some awesome BJJ MMA fighters. I’m just saying you have to bring more than just Brazilian jiu-jitsu to a MMA fight or you can expect the utter stomping Huerta delivered to Crane.

How about the reality check for Josh Koscheck? His biggest problem is he has watched some re-runs of UFCs and listened to Joe Rogan say the “Kos” has wrestling skills like superstars such as Matt Hughes. What? Wait a minute, did Joe really compare an Ultimate Fighter loser to a former champion with over 40 wins? Let’s not all jump on the Koscheck boat just yet; he may prove to be good one day, but don’t put the cart before the horse! Before the fight, Koscheck was bragging about how he’s been wrestling since he was 5 and Georges St. Pierre would not be out-wrestling him. (Does your wrestling experience at age 5 really matter, I wonder?) Not only did Georges St. Pierre completely out-wrestle Koscheck, he did it with authority. I’m not really a GSP fan, but I think the fight went the way that is best for everyone involved.

Of course, the big fight was ole’ Captain America Randy Couture against Gabriel Gonzaga. Couture started the fight by wobbling Gonzaga, then drove him to the fence, slammed him down, and fought the younger, faster fighter with brains and brawn instead of just brawn. During one of the takedowns, Gonzaga’s nose was shattered which caused massive bleeding and problems breathing. By the middle of round two, it was obvious Gonzaga had lost the will to fight. Oh sure, he kept swinging, even for the fences, but he was already out of the game mentally. This played even better into Randy’s plan. Eventually in round three, Randy put Gonzaga on the mat, got half guard and rained punches on the behemoth. Most of the blows were not getting through, but Gonzaga put up no attempt to improve his position after several warnings from the ref. Finally, the fight was stopped because Gonzaga continued to lay there, with no heart or will to continue, and try to block punch after punch after punch. At 44 years of age, Randy retains his heavyweight title against the 28 year old monster. Oh, and did I mention that Gonzaga is a BJJ master who was supposed to be able to dominate Randy at all levels? There are a lot of people saying Randy “cheated” by breaking Gonzaga’s nose. That’s an easy move to perfect, you know pick up the bigger man and land just right to break his nose while said man grabs the fence (which actually is cheating). So, I guess that theory is shot. Then, there are those saying the ref stopped the fight too soon. Really. After warning Gonzaga he was going to do it? And after years of fights being stopped when a fighter is caught in a position and can’t seem to defend himself? Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

All-in-all, it was an exciting UFC to watch. The card was really good, and I think a lot of the results were happenstance. On any given night, anyone can somehow find a way to beat a given opponent. If they all fought again, the results may be wildly different. But then, that doesn’t really matter, does it?

By happenstance, I stumbled upon one of the semi-finals for the World Combat League. After watching, and enjoying, an episode I began reading about it. The WCL was founded by Chuck Norris, and part of the proceeds go to a charity organization he is involved in.

The WCL is a full contact fighting promotion, but not MMA. There are no throws or takedowns, but this isn’t your regular kickboxing. The “ring” has no ropes; instead it is a 27-foot diameter circle with sloping sides. It is a team sport, with each match earning points for your team. Fighters compete in a 3-minute round and give points to the other team when they get fouls. Fouls can be for things like throws, elbows, stalling (i.e. not fighting), backing up instead of moving forward, and holding your opponent. Because of these rules, there is almost no clinch, which leaves for three minutes of brutal combat; unlike any boxing or kickboxing match I’ve ever seen.

After all members of the team team compete, it starts over and you fight the same opponent again for another 3-minute round. The exception is a KO or TKO, where you are replaced by an alternate for the second fight. For a fight, I prefer MMA because it is more complete (i.e. takedowns, grappling, etc.); however, if you just want to watch some pure excitement for a few minutes, tune in to a WCL match!

I finally saw an episode of WEC WrekCage, one of several smaller-venue MMA organizations now owened by the UFC. I was surpised to see an octagon ring as well as the referees I’m used to, such as Herb Dean and Yves Lavigne. Basically, it was a UFC event without the UFC logo.

The fights were good, and the new weight classes were interesting (WEC has bantamweight and featherweight divisions). Overall, it looked like another good source of quality MMA action!

Nations did indeed collide at UFC 70 in Manchester, England this weekend. There were some truly exciting fights as well as some all-around duds. I now have a list fighters (in order) that I would just assume never have to suffer through watching fight again.

1. Andrei Arlovski
2. Tim Sylvia
3. Josh Koscheck
4. Diego Sanchez

I don’t care who you are, when you put in a 15- to 25-minute fight where you do next to nothing, I do not want to ever waste more of my time on you.

I was greatly amused by Welterweight Champ, Matt Serra. It was announced he and Matt Hughes would be the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 6, and Serra pretty much called Matt Hughes out. Last month, I would have laughed. Now, I’m not counting fighters out any longer. Should be an interesting match!

Gabriel Gonzaga delivered the most devastating knockout kick I’ve ever seen, and he did it to the man known for his knockout kicks! Mirko Cro Cop went down like a ton of bricks when the kick landed and stayed on the ground for quite some time. I can’t wait to see Gonzaga challenge Couture for the title. These athletes are becoming so well-rounded, you just never know who is going to pull a rabbit and win in spectacular fashion.

Let’s hear it for Michael Bisping. He’s quickly becoming one of my favorites. He had a dominating victory over Elvis Sinosic; however, Sinosic almost sneaked a submission in. I really hope the UFC brings Sinosic back. He’s had some bad losses of late, but look at the caliber of fighter he takes on. Keep him coming. As for Bisping, where is he in the division now? Is he on a collision course with Rampage or Liddell?

Overall, an entertaining night. The other fights were okay. As expected, the commercials were plentiful; by 8:50 p.m., we had seen one fight. I understand they had to make their money, but come on.

On Saturday night, several friends and I attended a mixed martial arts event at Diddle Arena put on by Warrior MMA. For me, it was my first live MMA event.

Despite the cold weather and rain, we came out to see the show. We did not purchase tickets in advance; instead, we decided to buy them at the door. We brought $5 off coupons from the newspaper. We could not have used the coupons online, but it would have been worth it to avoid dealing with the people selling tickets (I assume they are fellow WKU staff/students). We got in two lines, one for cash and one for credit card. The first of us up to the cash window asked for a 100 level ticket, and the man tore and handed him a 200 level ticket. Then, the man wouldn’t even fix his own mistake. He was like “Sorry, I’ve already put it in, you’ll just have to sit there.” Lousy. With two people in front of me in the credit card line, I proceed to wait 10 minutes to get my tickets because they cannot hear through the plexiglass, and they have put tape over the opening where you speak through. You just watch the person in line and the kid selling tickets saying “What? Huh? 200 level? No. Oh? What?” It was maddening. Finally, I got my chance to go through the “What? Huh? No, not that level. One. I want one ticket. Yes, just one. What? No, the other level. What?” I don’t go to many WKU events, but fifteen minutes into this experience, and I am soured against ever going to any more. Lousy.

Things begin to look up once we finally get through the doors. Renovated Diddle Arena is a very pleasant and clean environment and signage is thorough. We find that not a lot of people showed up and we have free run to sit anywhere we want. So, it turned out to our advantage to have purchased the cheapest seats, even though that wasn’t our intention. The setup was good, with the hexagon cage in the center of the arena, tables all around, and plentiful seating throughout.

The ring announcer did a good job, although his microphone was on way too loud. Eventually, when you got used to it, you could mostly understand what he was saying. Sadly, I couldn’t catch the name of any of the fighters. About all you could get was this guy was going to fight that guy. Fair enough.

The fights themselves ranged in quality from what you’d expect from two dudes brawling in their basement to what you would expect from an Ultimate Fighting Championship event. Some of the fights were really impressive, while others you wondered why this guy or that guy got into the cage! A lot of blood was shed, and the guillotine choke seemed to be the favorite non-effective move of the evening. Many were attempted, few worked. Instead, the punch seemed to be the best weapon of choice, and there were some spectacular hits! In fact, in one match, the fighters knocked each other out at the same time. Never have I seen the likes. About 20 fights went on, with only two fighters chickening out and not showing. Titles changed hands and the crowd cheered with every blow. Overall, the fights were extremely entertaining!

Special guest referee was Jorge Gurgel from the Ultimate Fighter show on Spike TV. He was on the second season, although the announcer said he was from “the last season of Ultimate Fighter.” Since season five is currently on the air, it would be nice for the facts about your special guests to be correct. Oh well. Mr. Gurgel did a fantastic job as referee and worked hard to keep the crowd pumped up and excited. Throughout the evening, he was smiling, posing for pictures, shaking hands and otherwise giving the fans exactly what they could hope for from a celebrity appearance. Seeing his interaction with all of us made me a big fan.

Not so with the UFC lightweight champion, Sean “Muscle Shark” Sherk. Every time I saw him, he was quiet, reserved, and even sitting with his back to the people trying to talk to him. I watched one fan go up and speak to him, and then tap him on the shoulder, and Mr. Sherk simply ignored him. For a guest celebrity, I was not impressed. Maybe he was having an off day, or something happened to make him mad, but from my vantage point, he didn’t look like he knew how to be a celebrity at an event where people have come partly to see and meet you. I had been a fan, but this was very disappointing. Again, hopefully he was just having an off day.

Overall, the Warrior MMA promotion did a great job. The event, which started at 8:30 p.m. was entertaining all the way through to its conclusion around 12:30 a.m. They announced they may be returning to Bowling Green on September 22nd. Personally, I hope they do. I had a great time and hope to see them again soon!

Tonight on SpikeTV, we get to see the boxing grudge match between UFC president, Dana White and former UFC champ, Tito Ortiz. Should be interesting.