We Can Only Pray: Fedor In The Octagon

When I say that he is the greatest fighter in the world, people think that's my opinion, but Fedor Emelianenko is the most feared and most dominant heavyweight in the sport of mixed martial arts.

I was reading an article on sherdog.com on Fedor's recent trip to the United States and his negotiations with the UFC, as well as a handful of other organizations.

Fedor's agent was mentioned (I don't know how reliably) as saying that their best offer so far was from the UFC.

To see Fedor in the octagon would be almost completing a phenomenal year for the heavyweight division. The resurrection of Randy Couture, Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira making their UFC debuts. All that remains is for the UFC to deal with Josh Barnett and Mark Hunt.

As a fan, seeing Fedor in the cage would be incredible, and it would be an opportunity to test the real abilities of the UFC heavyweight division that gets more hype than it deserves.

For those who don't know, Fedor holds a career record of 26-1-0, with his only loss coming by a cut delivered through an illegal strike. The loss would have been declared a no-contest under modern rules, but back in the dark ages of MMA, that wasn't how they ran things. He later avenged that loss by beating "TK" Kohsaka into a bloody mess.

I don't have any insider information on the dealings with Fedor, but I am hoping that he does end up in the UFC. It would be a huge step (the biggest so far) in the UFC's step to create the "Ultimate" heavyweight division and crown the greatest heavyweight in the world with the UFC heavyweight title.

Brock Lesnar: I'm Biased

I have avoided talking about Brock Lesnar for a while, but it's been coming up so much lately that I figure it's finally time.

Dana White recently announced that the UFC will work on signing Brock Lesnar, saying that Lesnar probably should have started with the UFC instead of K-1. Given his wrestling backround and classic American smack talk, that makes sense, but I'm not happy about it.

I don't like Brock Lesnar. It's not a secret.

It's not that he's homophobic.

It's not that he used to work for the WWE.

Those are things that just bother me. I don't Lesnar because he has the biggest mouth in the sport, and he's only had one professional fight.

As far as athleticism and caliber of wrestling, Lesnar is great. He's a phenomenal athlete and he had a great career as a college wrestler, but he seems to think that he's some sort of mixed martial arts savant.

Apart from working with Royce Gracie (who has long since fallen off of his pedestal and was suspended after testing positive for steroids) and building up his ridiculous, creatined-out muscles, Lesnar passes his time by announcing that he should be fighting for the UFC heavyweight title.

In theory, every fighter should strive to be the best and believe that they deserve that belt, but Lesnar's smack talk is ridiculous for someone who holds 1 career win, especially when it's over a no name like Min Soo Kim (2-6-0).

Maybe if Lesnar beat a former world champion or a legend like Pedro "the Rock" Rizzo or a top contender like Mark Hunt in the first round I would be able to say "Okay, you should definitely be considered in the mix." Let's be real though, and look at the numbers behind Lesnar.

Brock Lesnar

Pro MMA Record: 1-0-0 (1 Submission)
Height: 6'2
Weight: 285 lbs

Firstly, when your professional career is a little over a minute long you should not be considering a title shot. Brandon Vera is 8-0 and has fought some legit opponents (most of them with winning records). Lesnar has beaten a 2-6 opponent. Why does Lesnar think he deserves a title shot?

Maybe it's because he has the biggest pecs. Maybe it's because he is a personality. Maybe it's because he played for the Minnesota Vikings.

From a technical standpoint, Lesnar has no standup. He's going to try and take down everyone he fights. That works against Min "Mr. Shark" Soo Kim, but if Mirko CroCop or Randy Couture is trying to take your head off then it's a little bit of a different game.

As far as I'm concerned, Lesnar has yet to make an MMA debut against a serious opponent, but if he intends to do that in the UFC, he better start losing some weight, because if he's really 285 solid then he's going to have to sweat a little bit to cut down to the UFC 265 pound cap.

World Extreme Cagefighting: The Minors, Except Not

Dana White will tell you that organizations like World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and Elite XC (EXC) are the minor leagues of the mixed martial arts monster that is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and that's true, to a certain extent.

While the UFC has more money and more talent than the "secondary shows", the smaller organizations are coming into their own. The WEC has done that by moving faster than the UFC to establish lower weight classes, like a 135 pound class (even more fast paced than the UFC's 155 pound division).

The WEC will be holding an event on September 5th (yes, it's a Wednesday) at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas. It's a major event for the WEC because, though it's being held in the middle of the week and will not have the major pay-per-view sales that the marketing leviathen known as the UFC has been posting, it's being held in a major venue.

I'll keep my picks for the WEC event short and just give the names, but I will say that some of my favorite lighter weight fighters (like 135 pounder Miguel Torres and submission fighter Donald Cerrone) are on this card, which is dominated by the smaller, lighter, quicker and more skilled divisions that the WEC loves to showcase.

"Razor" Rob McCullough (14-3-0) vs Rich "Cleat" Crunkilton (14-1-0) : McCullough by 1st Round TKO

Chase Beebe (10-1-0) vs Rani Yahya (11-2-0) : Yahya by Unanimous Decision

Ian McCall (4-0-0) vs Coty "Ox" Wheeler (6-0-0) : Wheeler by Unanimous Decision

Bryan Baker (4-0-0) vs Jesse Forbes (4-1-0, fought on The Ultimate Fighter season 3) : Baker by 2nd Round TKO

Miguel Torres (18-1-0) vs Jeff "Little Popeye" Bedard (9-0-0) : Torres by 2nd Round submission

John "The Natural" Alessio (19-10-0) vs Marcelo "The Jungle Boy" Brito (6-1-0) : Alessio by Unanimous Decision

Marcus "The Wrecking Ball" Hicks (5-0-0) vs Scott McAfee (5-0-0) : Hicks by 2nd Round TKO.

Brian Stann (4-0-0) vs Jeremiah Billington (9-1-0) : Stann by 1st Round TKO.

The abundance of undefeated and unknown fighters should make this a very entertaining event. The presence of some lesser known fighters like Rob McCullough (well known to WEC fans and a former UFC fighter), John Alessio (also a former UFC fighter), Miguel Torres (a legend for performing very well against larger opponents) and Marcus Hicks (just getting started, but already establishing himself as one of the most exciting 155 pounders out there) will make this event interesting, as will the presence of alot of unknown fighters who I haven't had the opportunity to scout.

It should be a great event and though it's not a major, primetime, weekend show it will be exciting to watch and interesting to see the impact it has on the career of the up-and-comers that heavily populate the card.

Winning Europe: The UFC's War To Expand

UK MMA poster boy and TUF 3 winner Michael Bisping.

I would be lying if I told you that Americans are "bringing" mixed martial arts to the UK. It's existed for many years and the community continues to grow.

Alot of people would say that British mixed martial arts are a lower cailber than American organizations are, but the UFC wants the UK market badly.

UK is the gateway to Europe, and fighters like "The Ultimate Fighter 3" lightheavyweight winner Michael Bisping and up-and-comer Terry Etim are their best bet.

The same way Americans love to cheer for their hometown boys, British fans go crazy for Bisping and he's fast becoming the UFC's European posterboy. He and Etim have already been announced as members of the UFC 75: Champion vs Champion card to be held in the UK. It will be the UFC's second event in the UK this year and will be the first time the UFC has attempted to unify a title with one from the recently liquidated (after being bought out by UFC step-parent company Zuffa) Pride Fighting Championships.

Dan Henderson vs Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will prove a high quality fight and will definitely do well in terms of American pay-per-view buys, but the time change may make it harder for American audiences.

Still, the UFC is trying to give the European fans something to be excited about, and with the main card bouts between the Brit Bisping and American archrival Matt Hamill (they are both very respectful, but it's no secret that Bisping doesn't like Hamill) as well as attractions for mainland Europe in the bout between Frenchman Cheick Kongo and Croatian Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic.

For all of the American MMA fans, we may not see the marketing, but the UFC is going global. We are no longer the soul patrons of the greatest fight-show on earth, and it's going to take some getting used to, but, in the end, it'll be a good thing.

After all, a world stage will bring us better fights and raise the level of competition that much higher.

Inside CroCop v Kongo: Underrated and Written Off

Mirko Filipovic vs Cheick Kongo may be the greatest standing matchup ever.

Even Joe Silva and the other UFC brass responsible for putting this matchup together don't seem to realize the magnitude a fight like this can have, the amount of impact this matchup can have.

Cheick Kongo is an up-and-comer. He's 10-3-1 in professional mixed martial arts competition, but the man is a complete monster on his feet. He's been KO'd once in his career by Dutch kickboxer Gilbert Yvel. Since being stopped by Yvel, he has not been stopped and, honestly, has looked unstoppable on his feet. He's stopped 7 of his 10 victories with his incredible striking ability, but it's more than just his precision and power.

Cheick Kongo is a monster. He's 6 feet and 4 inches tall, but he's built like a Ford F150. He's fast, agile and ripped, everything that a striker should be in terms of physique and raw athleticism.

When Kongo steps into the cage at UFC 75 he will be staring down, as Joe Rogan put it, "the scariest man ever to walk out to Duran Duran music."

Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic doesn't beat people, he destroys people. His striking is, beyond a doubt, the most percise and explosive skill in MMA. He holds a professional MMA record of 22-5-2 and has stood across the ring from more top ten fighter than any other heavyweight.

CroCop has a left leg that can really only be described as the most powerful tool in professional sports. It broke the leg of Judo Gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. It made giants like Bob Sapp and Josh Barnett just give up. It has claimed KO's over Wanderlei Silva and Igor Vovchanchyn.

Mirko has, perhaps, the greatest highlight reel in the sport and, while Kongo's career is still in it's beginning stages, he has proven that he is a monster standing up.

This is a fight that will not go to the ground. It'll be a kickboxing match between the giant Frenchman Kongo and the 212 pound Croatian Senator and anti-terrorist officer known as CroCop.

I'm not going to make serious, major predictions about the outcome of the fight, though I have my bet on CroCop, I think that this will be a bout worth TiVoing, but in case you don't, it'll be on youtube the next day.

Highlight reels for both fighters:

Cheick Kongo

Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic

Thank you to whoever did the highlight reels. They're really well done, especially the CroCop one.

Picking Winners

There's something that alot of hardcore MMA fans don't get when it comes to looking at the outcome of fights, it's something that even alot of fighters don't get.

When you are making fight predictions, you have to look at two things: what should happen and what could happen.

For instance: going into Gabriel Gonzaga vs Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic, Gonzaga could have KO'd CroCop, we saw him KO two of his other opponents in the UFC (Jordan and Scherner), but no one expected him to. When I was looking at the possible outcomes for that fighter I thought of it like this:

CroCop SHOULD win the standup.

Gonzaga SHOULD win on the ground.

Gonzaga was capable of finishing the fight in CroCop's arena, he had the power to do that, where as CroCop didn't really have a snowball's chance in hell at submitting Gonzaga or outgrappling him.

So:

Gonzaga COULD win the standup.

CroCop COULD NOT win the grappling.

People will tell you that anything can happen. Yes, anything can happen, but there's a reason why bizarre things tend not to happen. When I say what "could happen" I think of, given a fighters history, what he's capable of.

For those who watched the Couture v Gonzaga fight, you have to understand how hard a fight that is to bet on. Here's why:

Gonzaga SHOULD win the standup.

Couture SHOULD win the grappling.

But:

Couture COULD (and did) win the standup.

Gonzaga COULD (but didn't) win the grappling.

There's so much up in the air as to the dimensions of that kind of a fight. Both fighters can win in both places. My suggestion is to never bet more than play money on those kinds of fights, but always watch those matchups closely. They are the ones that are exciting because no one really has any clue what is going to happen until, finally, it does.

UFC 74: Results and Fallout

It's official, Randy Couture is the greatest champion in UFC history. Not that we didn't know that all ready, but at 44, Randy Couture finished his first opponent since coming out of retirement.

In his first title defense since winning back the title from Tim Sylvia, Couture stopped Gonzaga at 1:37 of the third round. He broke Gonzaga's nose in the first, and continued to dominate the massive Brazilian for the rest of the fight. I may not be one of his greatest believers, but the man knows how to put together a gameplan and execute.

Georges St. Pierre also won, defeating Josh Koscheck by Unanimous Decision. I expected St. Pierre to win in more overwhelming fashion, but Koscheck proved that he is in the 170 pound elite (though I still don't think he's as tough as Jon Fitch) and worth considering as a top fighter.

Joe Stevenson, Roger Huerta and Clay Guida won at 155 pounds. Stevenson by Unanimous Decision. Guida by Split Decision. Huerta by 3rd round TKO.

Renato "Babalu" Sobral returned to form to submit David Heath with a Guillotine Choke at 3:30 in the second. After his recent KO losses to Chuck Liddell and Jason Lambert, I wasn't sure who was going to show up tonight, but Babalu is back.

Thales Leites put away Ryan Jensen with a first round submission and definitely earned some attention from the UFC brass.

However, the star of tonights show (and my big underdog pick on the card) was Patrick "The Predator" Cote. I've always considered Cote an underrated fighter and I was upset that Grove was given the Season Three title of "The Ultimate Fighter" after winning a close decision over Ed Herman.

Both veterans of The Ultimate Fighter series (Cote was runner up at 185 pounds on Season 4) were expected to bring the pain tonight. Grove stands 6'6, and so some people had trouble believing that Cote could land a substantial shot on him, but Cote demolished Grove and forced the ref to stop the fight at 4:45 in the first round when Grove could no longer defend himself against Cote's strikes.

Here is the impact of these fights on the divisional ladders:

Heavyweight: The was really no major impact tonight, except that things remained as they are. Couture stayed the champion and will defend against the next opponent. The only real change is that I think alot of people will be concerned about Couture, regardless of who his opponent is. Frank Mir reestablishing his presence and getting a win under his belt after his motorcycle accident is something big, too, and I hope we see him fighting tough competition again soon.

Lightheavyweight: Sobral put himself back in the mix, and I don't think that Heath will have his contract renewed after two consecutive losses considering that neither of them were to titleholders or top contenders. He'll have a fight or two in a smaller show and if he wins, he'll be back soon.

Middleweight: There was alot going on in the bulk of the division tonight. Cote and Leites were not considered top contenders, and I still don't really think they are. It was definitely a big win for Cote, because he believes that he should be fighting towards the top of that division, and I agree with that. I also think that Leites will be getting some bigger fights soon. I don't expect Grove to disappear, and I think that Jensen will have one more loss before the UFC lets him go. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing them fight each other.

Welterweight: Since the only 170 pound bout on the card was St. Pierre v Koscheck, I can't say that the division changed enormously. I think that St. Pierre has established himself as the clear #2 contender, but I also think that, because he won a decision, the UFC will want him to have another warm-up fight before giving him the winner of Matt Serra (current champion) and Matt Hughes (former champion and #1 contender). I think that could be Jon Fitch, if the UFC wants the fight to be really challenging, or it could be Diego Sanchez, Karo Parysian or Joe Riggs, who GSP could beat decisively. Personally, I'd like to see Karo, because that would be a high profile fight and I think he deserves it, but I also think that Jon Fitch deserves a chance to fight a real top contender, so there's alot Dana White and Joe Silva (the UFC's matchmaker) have to think about.

Lightweight: Alot of changes as far as stock tonight. I think that alot of people considered Joe Stevenson a top contender for a fight with champion Sean Sherk, but I also think that Joe needed to finish Pellegrino tonight to establish that. (I didn't pick him to) It was a big night for Clay Guida, who got a lucky decision after losing an unlucky decision to Tyson Griffin. But the biggest night was for Roger Huerta, who is considered a major rising star in the UFC (he was the first MMA fighter to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, while I personally consider him somewhat undeserving of that honor). He finished Alberto Crane and I think that his name has been in the mix as a top contender for a while, but he could be more of an immediate contender since "Joe Daddy" wasn't able to finish his opponent. The third round TKO may have put Huerta in a position for a shot at the champ.

All in all, an exciting night. As always, some wars and some bores. Still, a worthwhile and well put together card. Now it's time to get ready for UFC 75.

My Picks for UFC 74: Respect

Here are my picks for the event tonight. I'll be following it from the west coast and either late tonight or tomorrow morning I'll have some information on what happened, why and the fallout that could be coming.

Randy Couture v Gabriel Gonzaga

My Pick: Gonzaga via submission, round 4.

I'm not a hardcore Randy Couture fan. I'm a Josh Barnett fan. I'm a Pedro Rizzo fan. I'm a Kevin Randleman fan (or at least I was before his loss to Shogun), but I'm not into Randy Couture. He may be the MMA prophet, but I have a hard time seeing him getting out of this fight in one piece.

Lets start with the standup, because every fight starts on the feet. I saw Gonzaga's fight with Fabiano Scherner. While Scherner's standup is complete garbage (him being known for his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills), I was still impressed with Gonzaga's heavy hands and very good technical skills. We are talking about a man who is coming off of a head kick knock out of the greatest kickboxer in MMA's heavyweight division. He has recently done something that only one other fighter in MMA history has done: he knocked out Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic. That said, while Couture outboxed Liddell, I have a hard time seeing him doing damage to a heavy handed, strong chinned fighter with the depth of a striking game that Gonzaga showed he had in the CroCop fight.

I also think this is a bad fight for Couture on the ground. Gonzaga is very good off of his back. He is a world Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion and is comfortable in every position. His submission game is aggressive and strong, the perfect kind of submission game to transition into MMA, much better than a calculated guy like Fabricio Werdum or Fabiano Scherner. Gonzaga's jiu-jitsu reminds me of a submission fighter I watched coming up in the PRIDE organization, the man who we be a short lived king of the heavyweights, but remains in the top 5 in the world to this day: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. A younger Nogueira, but still a very similar style of fighting.

Couture's only out in this fight is a decision. He's a smart enough fighter to do it, but I don't think he can put Gonzaga in a position where he can be finished. I don't think Couture has the submission skills and I don't think that his wrestling and striking are backed by the strength needed to finish a fighter as tough as Gonzaga.

Roger Huerta v Alberto Crane

My Pick: Huerta via KO in round 1.

I don't really care how good a fighter Alberto Crane is. I don't want to say that to sound rude. I'm sure he's an accomplished fighter, but the fact is, he's supposed to be a stepping stone opponent for Huerta, one of the guys that puts Huerta in position for a shot at Sean Sherk and the title.

While this is the year of the underdog, I think that Dana White and Joe Silva have picked this fight as a highlight reel finish for Huerta. I think they picked Crane because they don't just want Roger to win, they want him to destroy Huerta in style.

Huerta is, after all, the only MMA fighter in history to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and while there may be a curse on that spot in other sports, I think that this fight is sufficiently stacked in Huerta's favor.

Josh Koscheck v Georges St. Pierre

My Pick: St. Pierre via TKO in round 2.

I have said in other arenas that this fight is a complete load of crap. Those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I will have a piece coming soon explaining exactly what I mean. To be short: I don't think Koscheck deserves a shot at St. Pierre.

While Koscheck beat Sanchez (who definitely did deserve a shot at a top contender), he didn't destroy Sanchez. He didn't roll over Sanchez like Jardine did with Griffin, or like Alexander did with Jardine. The fact remains that while Kos won the fight, he didn't do anything exciting, he didn't do anything different.

Koscheck likes to say that he is a dangerous fighter, that he has a fierce groundnpound and newly refined striking and submission skills. He likes to talk about it alot, but how will he display those skills against a guy who not only has good skills, but has great skills? I don't think that Koscheck is going to show up as prepared as he needs to be to beat a fighter as well tooled as St. Pierre will be. GSP came back with a vengeance after losing to Hughes. I see him doing the same after losing to Serra. Honestly, I don't mind Koscheck being his first victim.

Kurt Pellegrino v Joe Stevenson

My Pick: Stevenson via Unanimous Decision

I orginially picked Pellegrino, but after Franca's poor performance against Sherk I can't bring myself to put my money on Batman. Despite the personality and the breakdancing, in combination with the sick leglock in his last fight, I don't think he has the skills to beat Stevenson.

I am always willing to bet against guys coming out of Laimon's Cobra Kai camp, but after watching Stevenson beat Melvin Guillard (who was my favorite fighter in the 155 division) I'm not going to be against him. I'm going to credit Joe Stevenson with the wrestling and submission skills that he has, as well as constantly improving striking, and go ahead and say that I believe he will control Pellegrino on the ground to an unexciting decision win.

Patrick Cote v Kendall Grove

My Pick: Patrick Cote via knockout in round 3.

With the recent offing of TUF fighters by Jason MacDonald, I don't think that Grove's opponent in the finale (Ed Herman) is as tough as I once thought he was. With that said, I thought that Herman got screwed out of his decision against Grove. My opinion of the Hawaiian, though he trains with a great team in Punishment, is diminshing.

I also happen to think that Cote is one of the most underrated fighters in the middleweight division. My belief is that he lost to Lutter as the result of a bad matchup (a matchup I new he was going to lose from the start), but if Kendall Grove comes back strong, the way he did against Tito Ortiz (who beat him via layngay), I think he will beat Grove even earlier than I predicted, possibly mid-round 2.

Ryan Jensen v Thales Leites

My Pick: Silva via Submission in Round 1.

While there's alot that can be said of the up-and-comer Jensen as a belt holder in a smaller organization, the Victory Fighting Championship, there's nothing remarkable about his record. The only really notable fighter that he's stood in with is Brock Larson, who gave him his only loss.

Thales Leites got his first loss in his UFC debut against top 185 pound contender Martin Kampmann and, though he has been brought in late for this fight when Travis Lutter (Jensen's original opponent) could not fight, he's a very talented Brazilian fighter with great muay Thai skills and great submissions.

While Martin Kampmann picked Leites apart standing up, I think that Leites' Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu backround are sufficient for dealing with the power of Jensen, and Jensen's debut jitters will get the best of him.

Renato "Babalu" Sobral v David Heath

My Pick: David Heath via unanimous decision

Both are coming off of losses, but there's a difference. A few big differences.

The first is that Babalu lost to Lambert, who's not really a top flight guy (while I like watching my fellow Californian fight). Heath lost to Lyoto Machida, who some K-1 cultists consider to be the best 205 pounder in the world. I don't think that of Machida, but I think that he's alot better than Lambert.

The second is the way that they lost. Sobral was destroyed. Heath lost a decision. While it wasn't a close decision, there is only a much smaller psychological loss from not being finished. When you get utterly decimated the way that Sobral did, with a highlight reel KO, it's much harder to bounce back.

Sobral has a history of post-loss depression. While he rallied a series of wins after losing to Liddell, it was only after he regrouped during a brief sabatical. I don't know how Heath will bounce back, this being his first loss, but if he shows up with the typical performance he has put on, he should be able to use his wrestling skills to hold down Babalu for the decision. Again, not a fight I think will be particularly exciting.

Frank Mir v Antoni Hardonk

My Pick: Frank Mir via submission round 2

If I'm Antoni Hardonk, I'm praying that my opponent, Frank Mir, comes in the worst shape of any former UFC champion ever. I, as a fight fan, know better. If Mir is really in the kind of improving health that the UFC suggests, he will decimate Hardonk.

As a grappler, I was happy to get a look at Hardonk's jiujitsu and will inform you that, from a technical standpoint, it was mediocre. He was throwing his legs up and praying for a triangle against McCully, and it never came. Against a top jiu-jitsu fighter like the Mir who put a metal plate in former Champion Tim Sylvia's arm with one of the most vicious armbar injuries I have ever seen, I don't think that Hardonk stands a snowballs chance in hell.

That said, Hardonk can hide behind his impressive leg kicks and Dutch kickboxing saavy, but the Mir I am used to is aggressive and, tactically, very smart. He will be willing to put Hardonk in his guard (after seeing the Dutchman's jiu-jitsu) the same way he let Sylvia in. Mir's BJJ purple belt (at least that's what it was the last time I checked) is a deceptive rank because he's creative, he's quick and he's strong and if he get's the opportunity (and I think he'll make sure that he will) he'll destroy Hardonk on the ground.

Clay Guida v Marcus Aurelio

My Pick: Aurelio v Submission in round 3

Marcus Aurelio is a man of many faces. He finished Takanori Gomi (my second favorite lightweight, behind Joachim Hansen), but he isn't really a top tier fighter. Alot of people believe that Guida got screwed out of a decision against Tyson Griffin. I happen to agree, but I don't think a tough, well rounded opponent like Aurelio is going to offer him easy retribution.

I think that Aurelio takes this fight, if he shows up the way he did against Gomi. Guida is a good fighter, but he made some mistakes in the Griffin fight that Tyson's submission game wasn't really good enough to take advantage of. If he does that against Aurelio, he will lose.

Should be a great event tonight and I hope everybody enjoys it.

Tim Sylvia vs Brandon Vera

The UFC recently announced the next matchup for UFC 77, an event that is gaining some recognition, because it already has the rematch between UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and the man he took the belt from, Rich "Ace" Franklin. I have some specific thoughts about that fight, but since we're a few months out from that event, I think I'll wait a little while.

Everyone was worried that Vera (8-0-0) would leave the UFC over contract issues. His ego is already becoming well recognized (overshadowing his actual skill just a little bit). Vera, had he been fighting, might actually be in title contention, as he was probably a more well known fighter than current #1 contender Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga until Gonzaga fought and knocked out Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic at UFC 70. (Gonzaga fights Couture for the heavyweight strap tomorrow)

Alot of people believe that Sylvia (23-3-0) is washed up, that his last few fights have been unimpressive (they have) and that his career, or at least his reign as one of the great heavyweight strikers, is over.

I don't like either of these guys, and so I can't say that I'm rooting for anyone in this fight. Vera has a big mouth, and Sylvia isn't exactly the most respectful guy in the bunch.

However, I think that there's one major difference: Sylvia has fought and beaten top tier competition. He's done it many times. He beat Andrei Arlovski twice, he has a victory over Pedro Rizzo.

I'll give the in depth dimensions of the fight when we are leading up to the card, but I think that Sylvia, as much of an ogre (he has to cut to make the UFC's 265 pound weight limit) as he might be, he is a technical striker worth noting (watch his highlight reel KO's of Arlovski, Tra Telligman and Wesley "Cabbage" Correira if you want to see what I mean) with an enormous size advantage (he's 6'8 and 270+ in the cage to Vera's 6'2, 220), along with his experience will be too much for Vera.

I think Vera will be a great fighter in the future. He's got great Muay Thai skills and a good submission game, but Sylvia is a veteran, a warrior and a great striker and I expect Vera's notable undefeated streak to end at UFC 77.

Cast In Ice

There's been alot of talk about Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell. Alot of people think that his career is going down hill after his recent loss to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson where he was, for lack of a better word, completely demolished.

Alot of the people who are talking are old hardcore fans of the sport, people who have watched the PRIDE Fighting Championships and know about the UFC's new aquisitions of 205 pound fighters like #1 ranked Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, former PRIDE 205 pound champion Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva and Judo master Kazuhiro Nakamura.

While these aqcuisitions are great for the sport and those of us who wanted to see top tier matchups with guys like Shogun and Wanderlei stepping into the cage, I have to admit that I am not sure they are right to say that Liddell is done, so I wanted to put together a profile of Liddell's career to explain exactly why.

Chuck Liddell was one of the few fighters to make his mixed martial arts debut in the UFC after the initial UFC tournaments. He fought at UFC 17 against Noe Hernandez, and won a decision. The UFC wasn't impressed and released Liddell, but they quickly brought him back after he won his next fight (another decision).

Still a rookie in the sport he ended up fighting veteran and master submission fighter Jeremy Horn. People forget that, at this point in his career, Liddell was a wrestler. He had been a Division I wrestler at California Polytechnical University and was starting to develop his striking skills, but he tried to ground and pound Horn with his wrestling backround.

Jeremy Horn sunk in a triangle choke off of his back, but Liddell refused to tap and when the referee ended the round, they found that Liddell was unconscious and unable to continue. Since that fight, Liddell has not been caught in a submission.

Liddell choked out his next opponent in another organization and then was brought back to the UFC. This is where he began to get his monoker "The Iceman" and develop the legendary, powerful and unorthodox striking style for which he would become a fixture in the 205 pound division.

Liddell went 4-0 in his UFC matches, KOing all of his opponents except for legendary submission fighter Jeff "The Snowman" Monson, who outweighed Liddell by 20 pound, but Liddell still managed to defeat with a decision.

"The Iceman" then turned to the PRIDE Fighting Championships to try his luck and knocked out Ken Shamrock's student Guy Mezger in the second round.

Aparently, something about the cage appealed to Liddell and he came back to the Octagon to fight. He proceeded to stretch his winning streak to 10-0, adding former champions Murilo Bustamante, Vitor Belfort to a list that already included former heavyweight champion and wrestling legend Kevin "The Monster" Randleman. Other wins during this time period include his highlight KO of Renato "Babalu" Sobral and a hard fought decision over Russian Amar Suloev.

Liddell was then given the opportunity to fight for the Interim UFC title at 205 pounds, put into place when Tito Ortiz was having disputes with the UFC management. Former heavyweight champion Randy Couture was expected to struggle with the standup Liddell had showcased in his previous fights and the sprawl that had allowed him to be Randleman (who, like Couture, held both the UFC Heavyweight title and the NCAA title as a wrestler).

Couture would shock the world by beating Liddell standing up, and the fight was stopped at 2:39 seconds in the third round.

Then, Liddell would return to PRIDE, where he beat Dutch kickboxer Alistair Overeem before he lost to Rampage Jackson for the first time. Liddell's second loss in three fights put him in a tough position, as Rampage didn't even go on to win the tournament they were fighting in, which made Liddell look even worse.

Some people thought that the loss to Couture had shaken his confidence. The UFC management, though, seemed to disagree. They brought back Liddell to fight the winningest 205 pound champion in the history of the UFC: Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz.

While the rest of Ortiz's career was also questionable, Liddell proved that his wasn't. He put on a highlight reel performance against Ortiz and the fight was stopped at 38 seconds in the second round.

Chuck then destroyed Lion's Den fighter Vernon White who, though game, was completely overwhelmed by Liddell's power and the fight was stopped four minutes into round one.

With that win, Liddell put himself in position for a shot against Randy Couture. No one could be completely sure how Liddell would fair against Couture, because of the way he had been beaten in his own arena in their previous fight, but anyone who thought he had no chance was proved wrong. Liddell KO'd The Natural in 2:06.

Liddell would then go on to be dominant at 205 pounds. He began by avenging his loss against Jeremy Horn with a fourth round TKO. What's really notable about this fight is that while Horn was the UFC's most experienced fighter, he hadn't been KO'd in 94 fights. The Iceman then allowed Couture, Sobral and Ortiz to try their chances with a rematch, he beat all of them with strikes.

While Liddell lost to Rampage, we can't forget that in his rematch with Sobral, Liddell was reportedly paid $200,000, making him the highest paid fighter in the UFC at the time. It's also reported that he was paid more for the Ortiz fight.

All of that beside, before his loss to Jackson, Chuck Liddell was the longest standing and most well known UFC fighter. Questioning his ability and his drive, and possibly his future is something that has been done before.

We did it before the second fight with Couture, before the second fight with Horn. We did it after he initially lost to Horn and left the UFC. He was questioned after his loss to Jackson in PRIDE, before fighting the former champion Ortiz.

Well, I guess we'll never learn.

Human Weapon

I was up late last night watching TV and I ran across a show called Human Weapon. I generally don't think very highly about Martial Arts television shows (the one real exception being BBC's Mind, Body and Kick Ass Moves) because they rarely showcase the real purpose and the real science behind martial arts.

In terms of MMA, this show was really interesting. The particular episode I was watching was on Judo, but the first thing I realized was that I recognized one of the hosts, Jason Chambers (15-6-1) from his loss to Michihiro Omigawa (Omigawa has sense become one of the foremost Judoka in MMA).

Both of the hosts are smart guys, both in terms of their ability to host the show and their knowledge of martial arts. That's my plug for their show, check it out.

Now, I wanted to head into the central theme of their show, which is this idea that you should look at and learn a little bit of all of the martial arts. While I think it's a good idea to learn as many aspects of the martial arts as you can in order to become a complete fighter, I don't think that the way that they did it was necessarily the best way to learn.

When a professional mixed martial arts fighter visits a camp, he doesn't do it for a week, in fact, it's rare for a guy to do it for as short as two weeks. The generally excepted time frame is 4-8 weeks, that's the time it takes (training 6-8 hours a day, 6 days a week) to learn the basics of a gyms primary fighting style or the specialty of the gym.

A common thing for fighters to do is bounce from gym to gym, and train at a gym for 6 or 8 months at a time. That gives time to take 2 or 3 fights (or perhaps 4 or 5, if it's a prolific fighter like Jeremy Horn) and figure out how they can adapt that style into the skills that they already have.

This is the difference between going to a third world country for 2 weeks on a school trip and joining the peace core and heading out for two months. When you leave for two weeks, you can quickly fall back into habits that (whether positively or negatively) the earlier training had gotten rid of. If you were there for 6 months, 8 months or a year, you are fluent in that style and as long as you excersise the practices regularly, you'll never lose it.

The problem with the TV format is that bouncing around gives you time to make an episode (maybe 2 weeks, 3 at most) and then you have to go to the next one. As intensly as you might be training, you aren't going to learn even the fundamentals in 3 weeks.

So, while I think Bill Duff and Jason Chambers are doing a great job putting together a television show, I think it's unfortunate that they aren't training at the level that they could be.

The Axe Murderer

It's probably the most intimidating nickname in the sport, and it's as unique as it is appropriate for the man who carries it.

Wanderlei Silva is one of the most feared fighters in the world at 205 pounds. He holds a 31-7-1 record in mixed martial arts which, against the level of competition he has faced, is impressive. But it's not as impressive as actually watching Wanderlei fight.

Chute Boxe is considered the best camp in Brazil in terms of Muay Thai, and standup in general, and it has been for years. Wanderlei Silva is the reson why.

To say that Wanderlei is aggressive during his fights would be like saying that Fedor Emelianenko has a good ground and pound. It's a gross understatement. Wanderlei Silva comes to a fight looking to put his opponent's nose through the back of his head. His knees are one of the most devisating weapons at any weight and his raw energy, whether utilizing his legendary knees from the Thai clinch or attacking his opponent with punches and kicks in open space, is what makes him one of the most entertaining fighters (whether winning or losing) in the world.

Wanderlei recently signed a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and it will be his first fight in the organization since he lost a 5 round decision to Tito Ortiz in April of 2000.

When Silva lost to Ortiz he left the UFC and did something incredible: he went 16-0-1 over the next four and a half years. While a fight with Mark Hunt (who is a world class kickboxer, has the greatest chin in the sport and holds a 45 pound weight advantage over Silva) ended that streak with a close decision, it is still one of the great rolls in the history of the sport.

During that run, Silva beat 14 of his opponents without the help of the judges, all by KO or TKO. Notches on his belt during that period include current PRIDE 205 and 185 pound champion Dan Henderson (unanimous decision), current UFC 205 pound champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (TKO), Kazushi "The Gracie Hunter" Sakuraba (TKO, three times), Olympic Gold Medalist Hidehiko Yoshida (Decision) and Japanese legend Yuki Kondo (TKO).

Silva is a legend, but the one matchup that the world has been waiting to see is that of Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva vs former UFC lightheavyweight champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell.

Now that Wanderlei has signed with the UFC, we may finally get to see that fight. We may also be treated to the rubber match between Silva and Dan Henderson (their third fight, Silva won the first by decision and Henderson won the second by KO) as well as a rematch for "Rampage" Jackson (Silva KO'd Jackson in 6:28 seconds of their first meeting).

It's a big deal for the UFC because, though Silva lost his PRIDE belt to Henderson, Silva is a legend and to see that legend in the Octagon again is a big deal for long time MMA fans, and gives new fans a chance to see the history of the sport.

Fights that Make Sense

There are some matchups that are classic. Striker v Grappler is a classic example, it has history that dates back to Royce Gracie and the early UFC's, where the majority of the martial artists competing were standup fighters. I just want to give a look at some classic matchups, some exciting matchups and some ridiculous matchups.

Like I already said, the most classic of all is Striker v Grappler:

In a striker/grappler matchup, everyone knows what they are watching for: the takedown. Some strikers get taken down and pounded on, despite their best efforts to stay standing, some strikers have that touch that can take the grappler out right away, or that uncanny balance that can keep them standing up. Here's a little montage of some of the best striker/grappler matchups in history:

Tito Ortiz vs Wanderlei Silva @ UFC 25: Ultimate Japan 3 - Ortiz puts on a classic display of wrestling against one of the greatest strikers in the history of the 205 pound weight class. Wanderlei got his nickname (The Axe Murderer) because of his aggression and brutal Muay Thai attack, but you'd never know it by the way Ortiz beat on him en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Chuck Liddell vs Kevin Randleman @ UFC 31: Locked and Loaded - The striker prevails as Chuck showcases his incredible takedown defense and savage right hand as he demolishes one of the greatest wrestlers in collegiate wrestling.

Takanori Gomi vs Ralph Gracie @ PRIDE Bushido 3 - Takanori "The Fireball Kid" Gomi posted one of the fastest KO's in PRIDE FC history. It ended Gracie's previous undefeated streak and brought the future lightweight champion into the limelight.

Striker v Chin is one of the great matchups to watch. Sometimes the line between which is which becomes burred, and those are the matchups that are really exciting to watch. It's exciting to watch a fighter get hammered and keep standing, keep fighting back, and some of these matchups are really freakish displays in endurance.

Don Frye vs Yoshihiro Takayama @ PRIDE 21 Demolition - Don Frye is a great fighter, and Yoshihiro Takayama isn't. Their fight proved that it wasn't that simple. Takayama was eventually overwhelmed Frye to continue an MMA career that still doesn't have a win, but it has some of the greatest exchanges in the history of the sport.

Mark Hunt vs Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic @ PRIDE Shockwave 2005 - Mark Hunt is the ultimate chin. He worked his way into K-1 kickboxing by going back and forth with anyone, refusing to fall down. CroCop, the greatest striker in MMA, lost a close decision to Hunt in their PRIDE fight, but it was a complete war.

Mark Hunt vs Yosuke Nishijima @ PRIDE 31 Dreamers - Mark Hunt defeated the boxer Nishijima after a long war. Hunt had a superior kickboxing backround and an extreme size advantage, and everyone expected him to destroy the small Japanese boxer, but Nishijima showed great technique. Unfortunately, he couldn't hurt Hunt (he probably couldn't have hurt him with a sledgehammer) and Hunt KO'd him late in the fight.

Single Style matchups like striker/striker or grappler/grappler are all about proving dominance, and it's always exciting because you never know which fighter is going to finish his opponent at any given time.

Jeff Monson vs Branden Lee Hinkle @ UFC 57: Couture vs Liddell - Jeff Monson may be, from a pure grappling standpoint, the most talented grappler in the world. He beat Hammer House fighter Hinkle decisively, demolishing him in one round and finishing him with a submission after Hinkle already seemed unconscious.

Fedor Emelianenko vs Kevin Randleman @ PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004 - The greatest fighter in the world put on one of the greatest displays of table turning when he recovered after being suplexed onto his neck to submit Kevin "The Monster" Randleman in a fast paced grappling display that only lasted 1:33 seconds.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs Chuck Liddell @ PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 - In their first matchup, Rampage put on an incredible display of striking, with the constant overlooming possibility of Liddell landing one of his trademark overhand rights and putting Rampage to sleep. Rampage defeated Liddell late in the first with an incredible display of fearlessness and, some might say, recklessness.

These are just three types of great, classic matchups, but they seem appropriate since we will be seeing them soon. These are the up-coming ones:

Striker/Grappler:

Frank Mir vs Antoni Hardonk @ UFC 74
Matt Hamill vs Michael Bisping @ UFC 75
Kenny Florian vs Din Thomas @ Ultimate Fight Night 11
Kazuhiro Nakamura vs Lyoto Machida @ UFC 76

Striker/Chin:

Terry Martin vs Chris Leven @ Ultimate Fight Night 11
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs Forrest Griffin @ UFC 76

Single Style:

Randy Couture vs Gabriel Gonzaga @ UFC 74
Kurt Pellegrino vs Joe Stevenson @ UFC 74
Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic vs Cheik Kongo @ UFC 75
Houston Alexander vs Alessio Sakara @ UFC 75

Enjoy the upcoming cards, the wait for the return of the UFC is almost over.

MMA on 60 Minutes

My dad and I sit on the couch every once in a while and watch the news. We've been on vacation on and off for a while, so we were clearing through some recordings and we found an episode of 60 minutes we hadn't watched. One of the segments was on MMA.

I have, lately, been struggling with alot of the mainstream media's projections about the sport as a whole. My biggest problem, honestly, is that they still manage to represent the sport as barbaric.

With that said, I have to admit that 60 Minutes put together the best segment on MMA that I have seen so far. They weren't as uninformed as Sports Illustrated (shame on the guys that wrote that article, it was badly put together and parts of it were clearly ignorant of the sport) or as ridiculous and self-righteous as Bill O'Reilly's past work on the sport (I'm not an O'Reilly fan to begin with, but when a friend emailed me that segment, I couldn't finish it).

60 Minutes was honest about the sport, and they didn't talk.

Personally, I think it's great when a reporter asks questions and let's the expert answer.

They also had great selections for subjects of the show. They talked a little bit about Dana White (though it would be an understatement to say they glossed over the Pre-Zuffa history of the UFC) and he had some great comments, but he's a great guy to have speak for the sport.

More impressive was that they interviewed Pat Miletich and Renzo Gracie, real legends of the sport. They mentioned Pat Miletich's legendary coaching backround (though they forget, like everyone seems to, that Pat Miletich held a world title for a while). They discussed Renzo's jiu-jitsu skills, making a point of his intelligence and his articulateness (which is even better when you consider that English isn't his first language) and even talking about the fight with Kazushi Sakuraba.

There are so many intracacies of the sport that I would love for someone to put together an hour special on it to inform people, but that won't happen until we get to the point where covering the sport in an hour is no longer possible.

If anyone out there has money and air-time, it would be worth doing.

Still, 60 Minutes did a great job. Thank you to those responsible for the segment, and to everyone in the media who is smart enough and honest enough to present the truth about the sport in a way that represents the intellectual aspects, as well as the athletic ones, while managing to be historically and politically correct.

It's not an easy thing to do and I appreciate it.

My Updated MMA Rankings

There are alot of different sets of rankings, alot of different sets of criteria. My personal views are based on the numbers, to a certain extent, but I also look at things like who each fighter has fought and the quality of that performance. For me, belts are secondary, what's most important is that the fighter has fought top tier competition with some success and displayed multiple impressive performances in the upper echelon of MMA.

Heavyweight (265 - 206 pounds)

1) Fedor Emelianenko (26-1-0)

2) Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic (22-5-2)

3) Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira (30-4-1)

4) Josh "The Baby-Faced Assassin" Barnett (20-5-0)

5) Mark Hunt (5-3-0)

6) Randy "The Natural" Couture (15-8-0)

7) Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski (11-5-0)

8) Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga (8-1-0)

9) Aleksander Emelianenko (11-3-0)

10) Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia (23-3-0)

Lightheavyweight (205 186 pounds)

1) Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (16-2-0)

2) "Dangerous" Dan Henderson (22-5-0)

3) Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva (31-7-1)

4) Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (27-6-0)

5) Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell (20-4-0)

6) Rameau Thierry "The African Assassin" Sokoudjou (4-1-0)

7) Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira (12-3-0)

8) Ricardo Arona (13-5-0)

9) Kazuhiro Nakamura (11-6-0)

10) Ryoto "Lyoto" Machida (10-0-0)

Middleweight (185 - 171 pounds)

1) Matt "The Law" Lindland (20-5-0)

2) "Dangerous" Dan Henderson (22-5-0)

3) Paulo Filho (15-0-0)

4) Denis Kang (27-8-1)

5) "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler (14-4-0)

6) Kazuo "The Grabaka Hitman" Misaki (18-8-2)

7) Frank "Twinkle Toes" Trigg (15-6-0)

8) Anderson "The Spider" Silva (19-4-0)

9) Murilo "Ninja" Rua (14-7-1)

10) Frank Shamrock (22-8-1)

Welterweight (170 - 156 pounds)

1) Georges "Rush" St. Pierre (13-2-0)

2) Matt Hughes (41-5-0)

3) B.J. "The Prodigy" Penn (11-4-1)

4) Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk (32-2-1)

5) Matt "The Terra" Serra (9-4-0)

6) Karo "The Heat" Parisyan (17-4-0)

7) Jon Fitch (14-2-0)

8) Josh "Kos" Koscheck (9-1-0)

9) Diego "The Nightmare" Sanchez (17-1-0)

10) Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (30-7-2)

Lightweight (155 pounds and below)

1) B.J. "The Prodigy" Penn (11-4-1)

2) Takanori "The Fireball Kid" Gomi (27-3-0)

3) Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen (15-5-1)

4) Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto (15-1-0)

5) Genki "The Noe-Samurai" Sudo (15-5-1)

6) Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (30-7-2)

7) Shinya "Tobikan Judan" Aoki (11-2-0)

8) Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk (32-2-1)

9) Hermes Franca (18-6-0)

10) Nick Diaz (14-6-0)

A Big Day For Judo

Recently, the UFC announced the signings of two of the greatest judo practitioners in MMA. In fact, they probably run #2 and 4 in the sport.

Both PRIDE fighting star Kazuhiro Nakamura (considered a top ten lightheavyweight in many circles, #2) and lightweight Michihiro Omigawa (sports a decieving 4-3 pro record, with very good judo and two very impressive recent performances in Japan's DEEP organization, #4) were announced as members of the UFC roster a little while ago.

I've been behind on my writing for a little while now, but I found that the UFC has announced both Nakamura and Omigawa are set to appear on the UFC's 76 card.

While I have alot of issues with this card (the fact that Jardine and Griffin are getting way more publicity than they are due and are matched up with two of the most dangerous fighters in the world when they don't deserve to be has been bugging me for a little while now), the UFC's announcement has made this card much more exciting for me.

Judo fighters are fun to watch. Though, for some reason, alot of the new UFC fans have been booing foreign fighters and fighters from the PRIDE organization, I think that guys like Nakamura add a new level of depth in the UFC.

I like to talk about Nakamura much more than Omigawa mostly because Nakamura is a much more well established fighter in mixed martial arts. He has had an impressive performance (though a loss) against former UFC champion Josh Barnett (Barnett is a weight class above Nakamura), he took the worlds #1 lightheavyweight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua 20 minutes to a decision, he's only been stopped by former PRIDE 205 pound champion Wanderlei Silva and current champion "Dangerous" Dan Henderson and he lost a very close decision to Jiu-jitsu legend Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (little brother to former heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo).

Nakamura is a fighter of epic proportions in the UFC. While many think that he is just a judoka, I, personally, resent the term.

People will rank Nakamura #9 or 10 in the world pretty regularly, but when I look at the numbers I have to rank him higher than UFC champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and, as a result, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans and the rest of the pack in the UFC's 205 pound division.

I think that the real top 5, statistically speaking at 205, belongs to Shogun, Henderson, W. Silva, Sokoudjou and Jackson. However, I put Nakamura in the 6 spot.

Getting Nakamura is good news for everybody, especially Zuffa. Now Zuffa has half of the majority of the world's top ten, between Nakamura, Rua, Jackson, Liddell and Evans/Ortiz (whoever you believe should be in the 10 spot).

Personally, I like the arrangement that they have right now, though I'm still hoping for the likes of one Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (aka "The African Assassin") to grace the octagon.

Still, for the time being, this 205 pound weight class looks absolutely stacked.

The Law

It’s a hard knock life for Matt Lindland. He’s coming off a loss against the greatest fighter in the world, in any weight class (Fedor Emelianenko) and Dana White still hasn’t made any effort to put him on the UFC payroll.

As far as I’m concerned, Matt Lindland is the best fighter in the world at 185 pounds. While UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva may dominate the popular rankings and Lindland’s teammate Dan “Hollywood” Henderson may hold the title in the highly competitive PRIDE welterweight division (the Japanese 185 pound crown; I ran Henderson #2 and hang Silva at around the #6 spot), the Law doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.

Lindland holds an Olympic silver medal in wrestling and has one of the best and most aggressive ground-and-pound attacks in the sport, his loss to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt David Terrell ended his stint with the UFC (the closest Terrell would ever get to tasting gold would be his loss in a title match to Evan Tanner).

Since leaving the UFC, Lindland has improved every aspect of his game and, like his training partner Dan Henderson, has stopped letting himself be defined by the boundaries of weight classes. Lindland recently finessed his way to a decision against 205 pound powerhouse and UFC lightheavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. While he lost the decision, it was a split decision (meaning one of the judges scored Lindland as the winner, while the other two scored for Rampage). Personally, I thought Lindland won the fight.

My first encounter with Lindland was watching him smash coaching legend and former UFC welterweight (170 pound) champion Pat Miletich at UFC 36 (to this day, UFC 36 is my favorite card). I’ve been a fan ever since.

Lindland coaches the IFL’s Portland Wolfpack, who have been mildly successful in the short time the IFL has been around.

Personally, people ask me why I think Lindland is better than Henderson (the newer fans ask me why I rank him above Silva). The answer is simple: Lindland will fight anybody, anywhere at any time, and he will give them a fight.

While he lost to Emelianenko in the Bodog Fight organization recently, he took Fedor down. There has been a lot of controversy around Emelianenko holding the ropes to hold off the takedown from the former Olympian. My opinion: Who cares? Fedor finished him from the bottom anyway.

However, Lindland joined the league of fighters like former UFC heavyweight champions Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman, becoming one of the few to put the incredibly talented PRIDE Heavyweight champion on his back. While all three were submitted (Coleman was arm-barred in both of his fights with Fedor and Randleman was finished with a Kimura after suplexing Fedor on his neck), it is still a big feat, particularly for Lindland, because while Randleman weighed 220 pounds and Coleman 250 before their fights with Fedor, Lindland was slightly about the 200 mark, giving up 30 pounds to the Russian champion.

Frankly, to fight an opponent with a 30 pound weight advantage isn’t unheard of in the heavyweight division, but to give up weight to a guy with skills on the level that Emelianenko has them is just incredible.

Lindland has the balls to do what no one else in the 185 pound division can or will, that’s why I rank him #1.