Monday, June 1 8:37 pm PT: It was not long ago that Jean-Claude Van Damme was considered the Olivier of groin shots: He possessed a certain brick-headed appeal -- along with a barely-decipherable Belgian accent -- and plied his trade to modest success in a series of stupid, stupid movies.
(Despite alleged maturity, I will still stop and watch “Bloodsport” if it’s on TBS. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.)
“It is one of the greatest fight movies of all time, appealing to a wide-ranging, new-generation audience and especially to the millions of karate and martial arts fans around the world who are hungry for a new martial arts epic in the tradition of ‘Bloodsport.’”
Understand? Despite not having completed -- or possibly even started -- principal photography, “Karate” is already “one of the greatest fight movies of all time.” The poster copy -- “Can the Master of the Ancient Arts Conquer the Caged Fighters of Las Vegas?” -- suggests some 11th hour rewriting to accommodate the recent surge of Machida as karate’s long-overdue savior.
It is also the umpteenth Van Damme film to feature a damaged protagonist whose “ego spirals out of control,” only to be redeemed with some awesome shin-on-face violence. IMDB.com lists Fedor Emelianenko as a possible co-star. IMDB.com is, more often as not, about as reliable a source of facts as a tobacco company.
Doesn’t matter. I will watch the hell out of this. And so will you.
"It’s something I've always wanted to pursue and if it works out like I'd like for it too [sic], I can switch over,” he told the magazine. “I don't want to be done with MMA, but the money is a lot better in boxing … I would love to fight some of the heavyweight champs, you know? I mean the paydays are ridiculous!"
Yes, they are, providing you have a rabid country supporting you -- or you’re a densely muscled genetic freak who’s been boxing since puberty. Sylvia has a good reach and credible stand-up skills relative to MMA, but in boxing, he’s going to be channeling Randall Cobb-levels of ineffectiveness.
And worse: 33 is an awfully advanced age to be debuting in anything other than the local softball league. Wisely, Sylvia will ease his way into it by taking on animated corpse Ray Mercer in Alabama June 13. Try not to injure anyone while stampeding to the box office.
Monday, June 1 4:29 pm PT: Briefly losing his mind at last week’s Dream 9 card was Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, who ignored referee’s instructions to stop wailing on Super Hulk participant Jan Nortje. Now Sokoudjou has offered an apology, calling his behavior the product of being a “douche bag.”
“I should have stopped,” he told “Inside MMA” this past week. “I’m really sorry for doing it.”
Unfortunately, Dream has yet to issue any kind of public penalization for Sokoudjou’s actions: perhaps a douche bag tax on his purse would be in order. Or better, an outright booting out of the Super Hulk tournament. Actions supposed to have consequences, no?
Another show, another highlight KO: Bellator IX went down in Louisiana on Friday, with Cuban judoka Hector Lombard and Jared Hess advancing to the middleweight finals later this month. Both scored TKO victories, but it was Chad Leondhardt who scored the show-stealing finish.
Leondhardt softened Dan Keenan with a solid overhand right, then turned his lights from dim to burnt with a crushing knee to the face just as Keenan was struggling to his feet. Really, I’d like to go over this just one more time: Who watches golf, and why?
Monday, June 1 10:55 am PT: News out of MMAWeekly: Wrestlers Josh Koscheck and Frank Trigg are expected to square off at a September UFC event, date TBA.
Good fight. I’m still not a fan of Trigg’s welterweight prospects -- there’s more intrigue for him at middleweight -- but it should prove to be an interesting striking challenge for both men if the matchup is made. Trigg had two sensational fights with another wrestler in Matt Hughes, which followed the pattern of wrestler/wrestler matches usually stalemating each fighter’s strongest attribute and forcing them to use other skills to win.
More importantly, I would expect pre-fight jawing from both men to reach epic proportions. In the parlance of pro wrestling, they’re both “heels.” I would expect the referee to be the only one cheered during the introductions.
Monday, June 1 10:40 am PT: Airing from St. Louis this Saturday, Strikeforce’s second Showtime event is playing host to some issues of substance: Regular-duty welterweights Nick Diaz and Jake Shields are scheduled to take on middleweights Scott Smith and Robbie Lawler, respectively. (Not a tag-team bout. The sport is cool, but not that cool.)
Diaz and Shields’ move up the scale recalls earlier examples of MMA athletes who increased their pasta intake to face challenges in a heavier weight class. While this happens regularly in boxing, lighter athletes there at least have the benefit of moving around the ring and avoiding power. In MMA, someone bigger getting the mount or bullying you into the cage can absolutely ruin your night. And face.
Don’t confuse weight ascensions with freak show bouts: Royce Gracie taking on Chad “Akebono” Rowan isn’t an orchestrated leap up the ladder. (There’s no Shamu division.) Athletes must have been paired in the post-David/Goliath era and must have had comparable skills, making the weight a true factor.
All this week: 10 fights where the small stood tall.
In 2004, Matt Hughes was: steamrolling opposition, riding a 13-fight win streak and a two-year tenure as welterweight champion; believed to have the muscular density and horsepower of an angry baby gorilla; felt Penn was “disrespecting” the class by trying to move up and intended to teach him a lesson.
Ominously, Penn had failed on two occasions to secure the lightweight title. Most felt he was risking his literal neck.
It was yet another fight that didn’t match paper predictions. Uneasy on his feet, Hughes collapsed to the mat, with Penn working him over from the top. He eventually landed a big right hand wound up from the bleachers, choked Hughes into submission, kissed him and then took his belt.
To this day, Hughes may have trouble deciding which of the four bothered him the most.
There was and is little debate that Silva was and is the best 185-pound fighter in the world. Whether those skills retain their effectiveness when opponents are walking around at up to 220 pounds was the story of the night.
Forrest Griffin, Silva’s opponent Aug. 8, may do a better job of asking that question in a more hostile manner than Irvin, a journeyman 205-pound fighter who was chum for Silva in the UFC’s free-TV attempt to smother an Affliction pay-per-view event that same night. After a 60-second feeling-out process, Silva ended the fight with piston precision: catching a kick, delivering a right hand to a rooted Irvin and finishing with strikes. So clean, you could almost smell the Pine-sol.
Marzolla -- who has muay Thai bouts to her credit and was briefly employed by the WWE -- was supported by Gina Carano, who told the Las Vegas Sun that “it takes a certain type of individual to get in there in the first place, but then to have the extra pressure of being a pretty girl is really tough.” Because as we all know, pretty girls are cruelly mistreated by life.
Marzolla expects to compete again in July. Considering her preparation is chaired by Xtreme Couture’s Shawn Tompkins, it would probably be inadvisable to take her lightly, regardless of an ability to act as her own flotation device.
Monday, June 1 3:30 am PT: MMA hardcores: it's never a bad time to talk grown mixed martial arts.
As two-thirds of the Sherdog.com senior ranking committee, Jordan Breen and myself have decided to put our reputations on the line as we roll out these very unofficial Sherblog female pound-for-pound rankings. Associate editor Brian Knapp put his long hours in for the weekend and was unavailable for comment. Also not consulted was the diverse panel that chimes in on such pressing Sherdog.com matters.
Hey, what do you want from us? We said this list is unofficial!
With that said, the current structure of women's MMA makes it extremely difficult to tabulate a list, given the lack of uniformity and depth of its weight classes, so we're shooting from the hip with a non-divisional format.
Ladies and gentleman, in order of appearance, the "Sherblog Unofficial Female Pound-for-Pound Top Five."
Megumi Fujii: Quite simply the finest female mixed martial artist on planet Earth. "Mega Megu" sports a perfect 17-0 record with 14 submissions. With three consecutive first-round finishes, there seems to be no slowing down from the 35-year-old pride of AACC. Unfortunately, her outstanding reputation has made it hard to secure fights at either 115 or 125 pounds.
Yuka Tsuji: The "Vale Tudo Queen from Angura" owns a 22-1 portfolio and has avenged the lone loss on her résumé with a first-round knockout of BJJ black belt Ana Michelle Tavares. Tsuji has stopped nearly 80 percent of her opponents over the course of her soon to be eight-year career, most of which was spent in Smackgirl with no ground-and-pound -- save for special occasions -- and a 30-second time limit on the ground. When speaking of female MMA, Tsuji is as close as it gets to "Mega Megu," her ideal foil for a 115-pound superfight.
Tara Larosa: The American product has won 14 consecutive bouts since her loss to Jennifer Howe in 2003. After taking off 2008, Larosa (17-1) has secured two hard-fought wins in the Midwest. Larosa has beat the vast majority of the top women at 135 pounds, the deepest and best division in women's MMA. Hopefully for fans, bigger fights are on the horizon for the Stetson-wearing ring veteran.
Miku Matsumoto: Could be compared to Georges St. Pierre due to her upside accompanied with the occasional hiccup, but at the same time has cemented her status as one of the sport's brightest with her constant improvement and explosiveness. After several successful fights in Shoot Boxing to work on her striking, "Supernova" Matsumoto (20-4) is starting to show a more well-rounded game in the past 12 months with body-shot knockouts of Nicdali Calanic and Misaki Takimoto. Did we mention she owns the best MMA nickname this side of Ben “Northstar” Rothwell?
Cristiane Santos: With all due respect to “Cyborg,” this list was close to being the top four, plus one. Though not as seasoned as the ladies above her, Santos is without a doubt the most the most violent woman in MMA. The 7-1 brawler is the most athletic of the five, and could climb the list with blockbuster fights possible due to her Strikeforce affiliation.
