It’s been a hectic schedule since my return from Vegas. While I enjoyed covering UFC 79 for Sportsnet and The Fan 590, the holiday season definetly had its way with my time. Thankfully, life is returning back to normal and I can go back to the wonderful world that is Mixed Martial Arts.
I noticed a bold prediciton by Dan Henderson where he states he will be more than happy to be in the clinch with Anderson Silva, once they battle on the March UFC 82 card. Sounds great in theory, as Henderson’s clinch game is second to none.
My issue with this potential strategy is that it will be his greco roman and dirty boxing skills vs Silva’s brutal Muay Thai and knee strikes within the clinch. Why fight power vs power when you can just work on taking Silva to the mat, and work the ground and pound game? While Silva has a black belt in BJJ, his fight vs Travis Lutter can be a blueprint if Henderson wants to unify the Pride and UFC middleweight titles. Take him down and work the g’n'p.
Speaking of Silva, I was very impressed with his demeanour while in Vegas as he was there representing the UFC at various functions. I lost count at how many times he was stopped by the thousands of fans walking around the Mandalay Bay, but he always smiled and took as many pictures that were requested of him. He is also a great role model for MMA as is evidenced by his recent donation to Ronald McDonald House.
UFC Offers Tito Ortiz to Lyoto Machida
The UFC has offered former light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz, to the undefeated Lyoto Machida, perhaps putting an end to speculation that Machida was going to fight Chuck Liddell next.
This is a strange offering by the UFC and a risky one for Machida, seeing as a loss to Ortiz would seriously derail his road to a title shot. At this stage in Ortiz’s career, I do not see him posing a serious threat to Machida’s excellent fight strategy, but it’s MMA, and it’s a risky proposition for the undefeated Machida.
Mind you, a win over the popular Ortiz will catapault Machida up the UFC mainstream popularity rankings, which no doubt will help promote him in a potential title fight or vs another big name fighter (i.e. Liddell). It’s all about building stars and with a win over Tito, the star rating for Machida would definetly go up.
This Thursday on The Showdown
Don’t forget to join me this Thursday at 10pm, for The Showdown. If all goes well, I will have one half of the main event at UFC 80, Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson.
Schedule permitting, I am also hoping at bringing in Neil Davidson from the Canadian Press. Davidson’s UFC articles are second to none and he is a plethora of information when it comes to the UFC and MMA in Canada.
Ciao for now,
Showdown Joe
