AMADI: The enigmatic success of Rashad Evans leaves questions into UFC 133 bout with Tito Ortiz

By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

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Mixed martial arts is far from an exact science, and because of that, there are a number of success stories within the sport that can't be easily explained by rigid facts. Among those enigmatic successful runs is the career of former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans. Recently, Evans has come out and made it public that he doesn't feel that he will ever receive the kind of respect that he deserves until he retires, and that's probably true. While Rashad Evans has proven himself time and again against some of the best light heavyweights of his era, it's still far more difficult than it should be to imagine Evans' path to victory against most of his contemporaries.

Rashad Evans squares off against Tito Ortiz this Saturday night at UFC 133 for the second time in his career. Back at UFC 73 in the summer of 2007, Rashad Evans was taking a sizable step up in competition and was the underdog against the former champion Ortiz. Fast forward to the summer of 2011, and it's now Evans who is a huge favorite, despite the fact that his path to victory against Tito Ortiz is no more clear now than it was four years ago.

An objective look at Evans' skill set should reveal that he's incredibly talented, but historically has been unable to utilize those talents to their fullest potential. The man they call "Suga" is an explosive wrestler, but typically fails on his first takedown attempt. When the first attempt comes up short, he bulls his opponent into the fence and exhausts himself attempting takedowns that he eventually gets, but that are usually undone by his opponent wall walking and popping right back up. On the feet and on the ground, Evans has proven that he has the power to put out any light heavyweight in the division, but he doesn't possess the sort of reach, striking output, and top game necessary to make regular use of his power.

Considering how durable Tito Ortiz has proven to be over the years, are fans really expecting Rashad Evans to stop Ortiz in the manner in which he did Sean Salmon and Chuck Liddell? Anyone who watched the first meeting between the two - or really any of Evans' fights afterward - should realize that Evans taking down and holding down Ortiz probably isn?t the most likely outcome, either. Is Rashad Evans going to stuff the takedown and win a kickboxing match against Tito Ortiz? It certainly isn't impossible, and considering his recent training with K-1 standout Tyrone Spong, perhaps it's more possible now than ever, but it isn't something we've ever seen from him in the past.

As a matter of fact, whenever that's been the gameplan in the past, Evans has dropped rounds. While he wound up lamping Chuck Liddell in the second round, he pretty much handed Liddell the first. In the first two rounds of his fight with Forrest Griffin, Evans was soundly outworked by a much slower competitor. Of course against Lyoto Machida, Evans landed virtually nothing, made no real attempts at landing anything and was seriously hurt by Machida in almost every exchange.

If anything gives Tito Ortiz more than just a fighting chance against Evans this Saturday night, it's the knockout loss that Evans suffered against Machida back in 2009. Fighters who suffer brutal knockout losses like the one Evans suffered at UFC 98 typically don't recover well. Fighters like Chuck Liddell, Marcus Davis, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Hardy, and Michael Bisping never found themselves hurt too badly by strikes before they were brutally stopped in MMA bouts. From that point on each of those fighters were seriously hurt, knocked down, or knocked out in almost every bout after their brutal knockout loss.

Given the way that Tito Ortiz was able to dispose of Ryan Bader, one might even argue that Ortiz's path to victory is a bit more clear than that of Evans.


Feel free to follow me on Twitter @JasonAmadi and give apple butter a try.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/amadis_take/article_10060.shtml

Phil Baroni Don Barr Pat Barry  Vitor Belfort 

After contemplating retirement, UFC 133's Mike Brown primed to pursue his passion

5 Reasons To Watch Bellator 47

On January 23, 2011, Bellator will hold its highly-anticipated ?Bellator 47? event, featuring both semi-final fights of their special ?Summer Series? Featherweight Tournament. In addition to four top Featherweights battling it out to get one step closer to a shot at a championship, Bellator 47 will also feature the Bellator debut of noted WEC and [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/07/22/5-reasons-to-watch-bellator-47

Jung Chan Sung Minoru Suzuki Tim Sylvia Javier Torres

Leave Brittney alone! Fans asking if Octagon Girl will re-emerge at UFC 133

There was a lot of big news that came out around UFC 133 this week. Zuffa is done with Golden Glory fighters and even bigger, the great Fedor Emelianenko is done with Strikeforce. But there's still a little unfinished business to tend to with regards to the Octagon Girls. Last month, it appeared fan favorite Brittney Palmer was dropped from the roster, then there was some confusion. Since then everyone's been mum on the topic.

The guys at MMAFix are dying to get an answer and tracked the tweets of Arianny Celeste, Chandella Powell and the lovely Brittney.

So? today the UFC Ring Girls flew out to Philly for UFC 133 as tweeted here by Arianny Celeste:

Great to be back 2 work! Weigh ins tommorow and shooting ultimate insider! Now ordering a movie..anyone seen Sucker Punch?

and by Chandella Powell:

Just landed! Hello Philly!!!!!;)

But when I read Brittney Palmer's tweets, things went a little different:

Had a blast today at th #USopenofsurfing with the fantastic crew from @daily_habit @FuelTV! Check it out @ 8pm tonight.. Pole dancing??

MMAFix says it doesn't sound like Palmer is going to pop up in the City of Brotherly Love.

Might I say first, yes Brittney (to pole dancing) and second? Hmmm? last time I checked, there's no Huntington Beach in Philadelphia. And I'm pretty sure she was definitely at this US Open of Surfing today as evidenced by this patriotic gentleman who posted this picture with Palmer:

Now the question that's weighing heavily on all of us - if the UFC has parted ways with Brittney, will it find a replacement or go with two-woman team for the near future? That's a lot of walking around the cage, smiling and taking photos. The Philly heat is brutal. Let's hope Arianny and Chandella are up to the task.

MMAFix followed up with an update that bright and early this morning Palmer tweeted she's headed to Philadelphia! Woo!

You can watch UFC 133 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Leave-Brittney-alone-Fans-asking-if-Octagon-Gir?urn=mma-wp5402

Clay Guida Jason Guida Melvin Guillard Cody Guinn

Daley says his wrestling deficiency is overplayed

On Saturday night, the last thing Paul Daley wants to be doing is stare at the arena ceiling for much his fight against Tyron Woodley. In the past, he hasn't much say where the fight goes against a former college wrestler like Woodley. Daley and his wrestling Kenny Johnson say his Strikeforce bout this weekend will be different.

Johnson, a former Olympian who wrestled at Iowa, has increased his time spent with the British slugger.

"We started picking up the pace in the last few years and his wrestling has gone through the roof," Johnson said (3:50 mark). "He's really dedicated a lot of time and tried to become a mixed martial artist."

Fight fans' last memory of Daley against an elite former college wrestler was Josh Koscheck at UFC 113. Daley was taken down at will and smothered for 15 minutes. The Brit says forget that fight, Woodley isn't in Koscheck's league.

"He's not as big as Josh Koscheck. He is as athletic, but on the technical side, I don't think he can compete with Josh Koscheck," Daley told USA Today. "People are comparing this to that. People do forget in the Koscheck fight, there are takedowns that I stopped. I think that Josh Koscheck is a higher level than Tyron Woodley, so even if I'm able to stop two of his takedowns or stuff them or stall two of his takedowns back then, I think Tyron Woodley's going to have a very difficult time taking me down when I'm on form, when I'm 100%."

Daley (27-10-2) is fully dedicated to shoring up his weaknesses.

"He (Johnson) lives at my house. He eats with me. So if we're not training, we're talking about wrestling; we're looking at footage. So I think people are going to be very shocked, and I think that's an area where Tyron Woodley is underestimating me, and I think that's going to work in my benefit," said Daley.

The biggest question mark for Woodley (8-0) is his experience. He's never been in the cage with someone so seasoned.

"I'm much bigger. I'm much stronger than he thinks. I'm a lot more experienced than him. I don't think he realizes how that's going to play out in this fight," said Daley.

When talking about future opponents, Daley dropped an interesting nugget during this interview.

"There's a mystery guy. There's a mystery guy that's been signed by Strikeforce that Scott Coker's mentioned, and he said that the winner of this fight could possibly be fighting him immediately for the title. There's lots of speculation; I really have no clue, but I want to be back in a position of fighting for a title," said Daley.

Who could it be?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Daley-says-his-wrestling-deficiency-is-overplaye?urn=mma-wp5128

Bob Sapp Rumina Sato Kerry Schall Nino Schembri

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker wants to re-sign Fedor Emelianenko despite third straight loss

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Both Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson competed in their final contracted fight for Strikeforce last Saturday night, and logically it would seem that both are likely done in the organization.

For Henderson, his third straight stoppage win has his stock at a high, and it would be sensible for him to make a return to the UFC now that Zuffa has taken control of Strikeforce. Meanwhile, Fedor has lost three straight fights, and it would make sense for the organization to move on from his services, especially with the baggage that comes with co-promoting with M-1 Global.

However, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker hopes he can keep them both in the Strikeforce cage, and would like to re-sign each fighter after what he felt was one of the organization's top fights ever.

"As far as fighting in Strikeforce, I hope we have them both back," Coker said in an interview with MMAFighting.com. "If you look at that fight, I think it stands right up there. If you look back at the history of Strikeforce, which is relatively a newer company, I think the ones that stand out in my mind are, in our early days, Frank Shamrock fighting Cung Le ? that was an unbelievable matchup. And Nick Diaz fighting Paul Daley this year ? unbelievable fight.

"And tonight, I think this one probably tops those two. So arguably one of the best fights in the history of our company."

Whether either returns to the organization is something that will need to be worked out over the next several months, and there's no guarantee that Fedor will continue fighting. But if Coker gets his wish, he'll see each return to the Strikeforce cage before the end of the year.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: As far as his take on Saturday's fight being better than Diaz-Daley in April, I don't agree with that at all. It was a great back and forth fight with an incredible finishing sequence, but it also had several minutes of stalled action on the cage, whereas Diaz-Daley was nearly five minutes of non-stop back and forth action with both fighters landing strikes, hurting the other and recovering before Diaz finally got the stoppage. When it comes to re-signing both of them, I don't know how likely it is that either of them return to the organization. Henderson is not going to get the type of money from Strikeforce - under Zuffa - as he did when he left the UFC. The money for him is in the UFC, as are the biggest fights for him, and I think that's where he'll end up. M-1 Global's negotiating power is at its lowest since Fedor signed on with the organization, and if he's going to fight again in Strikeforce it's going to be at a greatly reduced price. Still, with Zuffa now in control of Strikeforce, I sincerely doubt that they have much of a desire to renegotiate with M-1 moving forward.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_10053.shtml

Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo 

Longtime Veteran, Former No. 1 Contender Joe Stevenson Cut From UFC

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PHILADELPHIA -- Following four straight losses, longtime UFC veteran Joe Stevenson has been cut from the promotion, MMA Fighting has learned.

The move was expected following the losing streak, but had not yet been confirmed. A high-ranking UFC source confirmed it on Thursday, however.

After debuting in the UFC during season two of The Ultimate Fighter, Stevenson won five of his first six bouts and rose to become the No. 1 contender in the UFC's lightweight division. At UFC 80, he lost to BJ Penn via rear naked choke submission, however.

After that, his career stalled out a bit, as he went 3-6 in his last nine UFC fights before being released. Overall, Stevenson is 31-14 in his career, and he went 8-8 in 16 UFC fights dating back to November 2005.

In his last fight, termed a "must-win" at the time, he dropped to the featherweight division in hopes of reviving his career, but lost in a unanimous decision to Javier Vazquez at the UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry event.

Still just 29 years old, Stevenson holds career wins over big names like Melvin Guillard, Kurt Pellegrino, Nate Diaz and Yves Edwards. His last win came at UFC 104 in October 2009, when he earned a decision over Spencer Fisher.

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/08/04/longtime-veteran-former-no-1-contender-joe-stevenson-cut-from/

Joe Lauzon Mo Lawal Ruthless Robbie Lawler Eric Lawson