By Joe Ferraro
With UFC 140 in the history books, this weekend brings us Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal, an event which will showcase two title fights, featuring some of the sport’s best fighters. We’ll examine that in a moment, but first, let’s take a look at what’s making headlines this week.
Georges St-Pierre‘s Knee Surgery a success
GSP underwent successful surgery Tuesday in Los Angeles, tweeting, “Dr. ElAttrache says my surgery (ACL patellar tendon autograft) was huge success! Ligament very strong. (Thanks) for support!”
Initial reports were that he would be out for 10 months. Last week, he and close friend, Dr. Sebastian Simard said he could be back within 6-9 months. My co-host last week, Frank Trigg, believes it could take more than a year.
ACL reconstruction is no joke – it often spells the end of a professional athlete’s career. For the sake of GSP’s and the sport of mixed martial arts, let’s hope this is not the case. Let’s hope he can return as soon as possible, but better to return healthy than early. Six months brings us to May 2012. One year brings us to December 2012. I believe it may be 2013, when St-Pierre will return to the Octagon to take on the interim welterweight champion.
The interim strap will be up for grabs at UFC 143, when GSP’s original opponent, Nick Diaz, will take on his other original opponent, Carlos Condit. The winner will likely have to defend that strap at least once and win that fight if he wants to take on GSP. I highly doubt that Diaz or Condit, will want to wait for Georges to return, before they fight again. Heck, they may even have to defend it twice.
It’s safe to say, the top of the welterweight division will be quite the story in 2012. The ride starts on Saturday, Feb. 4.
Greg Jackson in Hot Water?
Am I the only one who understood what Coach Greg Jackson was trying to convey to Jon Jones on Saturday night? “Bones” choked out challenger Lyoto Machida while the two were in a standing position, against the cage. When he released the hold, “The Dragon” fell to the mat, while Jon walked away as the victor. Jackson subsequently asked Jones to go back and check on Machida to gain some fans.
The same fans who bitterly blasted Jones for being over hyped. A lucky fighter who would get his behind handed to him against the Brazilian. The same fans who likely had Jonny in a super focused zone heading into the fight, and who fuelled his motivation going into the second round, after he lost the opening frame. The same fans who Jones was vigilant in proving wrong. The same fans who likely have no clue what it is like to be “in the zone,” like Jones was, where he would do whatever the rules allow him to finish his opponent, while protecting himself from an extremely dangerous opponent.
It’s easy to say that Jon should have immediately checked on Machida the moment he fell to the mat. That was the right thing to do, but at that moment, his mind was elsewhere. Why do people automatically assume he can turn off the alpha-male mode and change to compassionate competitor instantly? Some guys can’t. Others take a few seconds or minutes to do so. Some never do. As a coach, Jackson knew the importance of humility and asked his pupil to do the right thing, whether for the fans or not. To blast him for doing so, is quite frankly, comical.
Overeem licensed, conditionally
The Nevada State Athletic Commission granted Alistair Overeem a conditional license to face Brock Lesnar on Dec. 30, as part of the main event for UFC 141, but they went about it in a rather strange fashion.
I am far from qualified to speak on any of these matters, but I do have some questions regarding the process and how it all went down. The fan in me desperately wants to see this fight go down, but the analyst inside wonders aloud about the process to get there.
To make a long story short, Overeem left the USA to spend time with his ill mother, in and around the date he was asked to take a random drug test. While he was home, he did not take the necessary tests (urine samples) to be granted a license. He took tests (blood samples), he and his doctor assumed were the right ones, days after the commission’s due date. The heavyweight from Holland claims there was some miscommunication from his assistant, who handles all of these matters. The issue was that these tests were unsupervised, by a (legitimate) doctor that was not one the commission was okay with.
To my understanding, blood tests are actually better than urine tests for finding traces of any performance enhancing drugs. Even better is both tests, though. Alistair passed the blood test, but not in “random” fashion. He must now take more tests, this time in the U.K., which will then be transferred to the USA. He also agreed to take two more random tests, within six months of the fight with Lesnar. The majority, including yours truly, are hoping he passes every test and can rumble with Lesnar at the last UFC event of 2011.
The issue here is the testing procedures from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the hearing, their approach, as well as the fighter and his camp. If pre and post fight random testing is going to be done, then ironing out the rules and procedures must be written in stone. Make it random, make it timeline based, make it a surprise. If the fighter cannot comply, and breaks the rules, he does not get a license. To make it easy for the promoter, make one of the two surprise/random tests as soon as the bout is announced. If the fighter is caught cheating, the promoter has enough time to find a replacement. This whole process can work, but it truly needs to be hammered out.
Finally – the Flyweights make it to the big show
Do you enjoy when the elite featherweights tangle in the octagon? What about the studs at bantamweight? Feel like you cannot keep up with the high paced action of the 135-pounders? Do the punches, kicks, scrambles and counters move too fast? Then wait until you see the 125-pounders.
The flyweight action all starts on Mar. 3 with a four man tournament. Demetrious Johnson squares off against Ian McCall, with the winner facing off against the victor between Joseph Benavidez and Yasuhiro Urushitani. You’ve likely already seen Johnson and Benavidez compete (if you haven’t yet, you should be ashamed), but if you haven’t seen McCall and Urushitani bang away, I urge you to do some immediate research. I met McCall (aka Uncle Creepy) in March at the TUF 14 tryouts, and briefly interviewed him, believing he would easily make the show as a bantamweight. Unfortunately it wasn’t in the producers’ plans.
As for Urushitani, the 35-year-old is the current Shooto 123-lb champion, is and has made quite the name for himself on the Japanese circuit. His predominantly southpaw style is punctuated with stellar crosses and a matching left high kick. His timing is stellar, but it remains to be seen if he can deal with Benavidez’s wrestling and strength.
The countdown is on. Mar. 3 cannot come soon enough.
Strikeforce: Melendez vs Masvidal
Saturday night, Strikeforce returns to the airwaves with two title fights, a former light-heavyweight champion and an opening bout that will likely be fireworks.
The main event will see lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez put his title on the line against Jorge Masvidal. I’ll go with Melendez, as I believe he is one stop above Jorge in terms of style and experience, but rest assured, “Gamebred” will put “El Nino” in trouble early and often. I just believe Gilbert’s rhythm, pace and stamina will get the better of Jorge.
The co-main event will see Women’s pound for pound queen, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos put her featherweight title on the line against Japan’s Hiroko Yamanaka. The challenger will have the height and reach advantage over her Brazilian foe, but I do not believe she has the speed and power to hurt Cyborg in the stand up realm. Her best bet is to take this fight to the ground, but must land on top. If she’s on the bottom, Santos’ ground-and-pound will nullify Yamanaka’s long limbs. This one will be fun to watch. The other bouts on the card see former 205-lb champ Gegard Mousasi take on Ovince St-Preux, in a bout that should see Mousasi get the better of the prospect. If he loses, perhaps the time has come for Gegard to reevaluate why he is competing. This is a guy who in 2008, when he won the DREAM middleweight championship, was touted by many, as the man to beat Anderson Silva at 185 lbs. Since then, he has gone a respectable 7-1-1, but at light heavyweight or higher, against competition that has baffled many analysts. He is no longer considered the force he once was.
The opening bout of the Strikeforce broadcast will be a donnybrook between K.J. Noons and Billy Evangelista. If this one goes three rounds, I will be surprised. I’ll go with Noons via TKO in the second round.
On a side note, keep an eye on the whole Strikeforce deathwatch story. It appears they’ve received another one of the cat’s nine lives and they will not be folding into the UFC. It looks as though their TV deal south of the border will continue and a new vision for the company has been cemented. I’m personally not buying it, but if it means it will thwart Zuffa’s television competition in 2012 and beyond, then I can see the organization sticking around. UFC president Dana White hinted that the fighters on the roster will not be poached, which means bad news for guys like Melendez and middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. More on this in the coming weeks.
Misc News and Notes:
- After suffering a broken arm in his loss to Frank Mir at UFC 140, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was examined in Los Angeles and opted not to go with surgery. He will undergo an aggressive physiotherapy schedule that will allow the damage to heal naturally.
- Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva have been named coaches for The Ultimate Fighter Brazil, with the two squaring off later this year. One issue is the fact Belfort fights Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in the co-main event at UFC 142 on Jan. 14. Not sure I really need to expand further.
- Rumours are swirling that both Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin may square off in a bout that will see both guys retire afterwards.
- After an accidental head butt helped lay the foundation for Robert Peralta‘s TKO victory over Mackens Semerzier, the California State Athletic Commission did the right thing by declaring the bout a no contest.
- Johnny Bedford will face Eddie Wineland at UFC on Fox 2. Bedford replaces Demetrious Johnson, who has moved down a weight class and will compete in the UFC’s flyweight division.
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