Tuesday, June 2 8:36 pm PT: Cung Le vs. Fedor Emelianenko is a virtual given: In an amazing non-coincidence, video game giant Electronic Arts has followed news that THQ’s “UFC: Undisputed” game sold a half-million copies in its first week of release by announcing development of their own MMA title, due in 2010.
The announcement was made at E3, the annual electronic expo that invites publishers and hardware developers to show off their (buggy) wares to a crowd of industry insiders. One obvious hurdle EA didn’t address is the monopolization of the UFC in the genre: Most recognizable fighters have exclusive deals with their employer, though certain holdouts (Randy Couture) might participate.
Some might argue the EA brand itself rivals the UFC’s, at least in the pixel industry. We’ll soon find out. And relating to nothing else in this space, Microsoft unveiled plans for a controller-free gaming experience at the same convention. Next up: a chip in your brain that gives you “gentle encouragement” at 1500 volts when deciding whether to purchase Microsoft products. Enjoy that future, kids.
“He always shows up in shape, looking shredded and puffed up, but I think he’ll be pharmaceutically enhanced, too,” Riggs said. “Just because he doesn’t test positive for steroids doesn’t mean he’s not on them right now … . I think if he is, and I’m not saying for sure that he is, but the classic sign of a guy like that is he comes out hard and then poops out fast.”
Two things: Any adult male using the phrase “poops out” is just fine by me. But labeling Baroni a squeezer of syringes because he tires quickly is playing fairly fast and loose with circumstantial evidence. Lots of things can make you tired in a fight, including overtraining. And, uh, fighting.
All passed. More importantly, karate’s resurrection as a valid combat solution wasn’t tainted by any allegations Machida won via Winstrol-Fu. It’s also worth nothing that the UFC hasn’t seen a positive test since Chris Leben’s in October 2008, a sample collected -- no doubt with a cringed expression -- by the promotion itself. (England has no athletic commission.)
Superficially, the move is a good one: Not only will Ishii almost certainly receive an outsized salary relative to his record (a perfect 0-0), but he’ll be given allowances in a country that puts performance ahead of victory.
Unfortunately for Ishii, Japan has a rather nasty habit of taking good prospects -- medalist Karam Ibrahim, Joe Warren, Jose Canseco -- and immediately throwing them into a meat grinder against experienced and formidable opposition. Following both that trend and the frantic need for TV ratings, look for Ishii to debut against an agitated Kodiak bear sometime this fall.
Tuesday, June 2 8:57 am PT: First mentioned as a possibility by Sherdog’s Tony Loiseleur last week and picked up by outlets over the weekend, a deal appears to be drying for former middleweight Gegard Mousasi to compete at 205 pounds against Renato “Babalu” Sobral at “Affliction: Trilogy” on Aug. (A lot of exposition for one sentence? A lot of exposition for one sentence.)
Prior to Sobral, Mousasi and Affliction apparently had sights set on Vitor Belfort before Belfort balked at returning to light heavyweight. (Smart: He’s doing just fine as a middleweight.) Mousasi was just seen submitting Mark Hunt at Dream 9 May 26. He’s lost only twice during a six-year career.
If Mousasi wishes to find out how effective he’ll be moving up, Sobral -- an angry, talented veteran of the division -- should provide all the evidence needed. Mousasi is also expected to continue on in Dream’s cartoon-violence Super Hulk tournament in the fall.
Tuesday, June 2 8:31 am PT: Because MMA just isn’t dangerous enough: two more examples of fighters who took on bigger challenges outside of their divisional comfort zone.
Perhaps not quite as feared as in years past, the 2002-era Igor Vovchanchyn still possessed enough power in both of his concrete-block hands to do some finishing work minus a hammer. One of the sport’s biggest and strongest grapplers, Mark Kerr, had twice failed to contain him.
Jackson is not small -- he’s blown up to 250 pounds in his own offseason -- but 205 pounds remains his best weight. In his one and only trek to heavyweight, he wisely chose not to keep his distance with Vovchanchyn, opting for an exchange of knees in the clinch before slamming him to the mat and working from there. At the conclusion of the 10-minute first round, Vovchanchyn’s ribs were damaged beyond his ability to ignore it. He submitted. (And later dropped to 205 lbs. himself.)
To the likely detriment of his health, Yuki Kondo possesses the typical Japanese combat trait of not caring how much he weighs relative to his opponent. For the Pancrase 10th anniversary show, the natural middleweight elected to face large -- large -- heavyweight Josh Barnett, whose right leg is probably equal in mass and dimension to Kondo’s entire body. It was far less embarrassing than anyone would have expected. Kondo held his own for nearly three rounds, bullied but not battered in the clinch and surviving several minutes fully mounted.
In the third, he was defeated by a rear-naked choke; an exhausted Barnett appeared to be as impressed as the crowd.
Tuesday, June 2 12:10 am PT: Parkas for everyone in Hell: Yahoo has delivered word
that Kimbo Slice, star of many an unsanctioned YouTube assault, has agreed to join the cast of “The Ultimate Fighter 10,” which began filming Monday in Las Vegas.
The 34-year-old Florida native was possibly the first combat sports athlete to make a name and reputation for himself almost exclusively online. That notoriety was parlayed into a lucrative deal with CBS and ProElite in 2007, a partnership that imploded when he was knocked unconscious by Seth Petru---blah, blah, blah. He fought a few times,
worked people into a lather for no good reason, and then lost in spectacular fashion.
Slice’s popularity is due in majority part to his ability to coin
catchphrases in mid-fight (“That’s how a [gentleman] eat,” “All day, all day”) and a broadband career as a revisionist Charles Bronson. Actual fighting ability? Still very much in question.
This is Slice definitely making his way through the service entrance of the UFC. Unless the rest of the heavyweights were recruited at a rehabilitation hospital, he seems predestined to be ground to pulp by any semi-competent contestant. This is ultimate pandering.
Tuesday, June 2 12:00 am PT: For years, it's been an occasional occurrence that MMA fighters make a bold statement in Shoot Boxing. Well, here's another two.
Monday night at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Shoot Boxing staged the third installment of its Bushido series with a card designed to showcase their native stars such at Hiroki Shishido, Kenichi Ogata and Kenji Kanai. Instead, a pair of MMA fighters from opposite sides of the Pacific lit it up.
Former two-division Shooto world champion Mamoru Yamaguchi made his third Shoot Boxing appearance in four months, taking a unanimous decision over Naguranchun Masa M16 in an extension fourth round. A majority 30-30 draw (with one 30-29 card for Masa M16) after three rounds, Shooto's afroed ace took over in the fourth frame, threatening from the clinch with knees, elbows and throws. The 32-year-old Yamaguchi took the extension round 10-9, 10-9, and 10-8 on the judges' scorecards to knock off Shoot Boxing's top-ranked 125-pound fighter.
The victory moves the former MMA flyweight ruler's Shoot Boxing record to 2-1.
However, the real shocker of the evening came in the main event, where Coloradoan MMA prospect Tyler Toner brutally iced 2006 S-Cup champion Kenichi Ogata as the first round expired.
Toner, typically a featherweight, stepped up to 156 pounds on short notice to take on Ogata, one of Shoot Boxing's foremost stars. Just as the first three minutes was set to expire, Toner landed a crushing right head kick that separated Ogata from his consciousness. Ogata, who was stretchered out of the ring, checked out medically in the locker room following the bout.
Toner is Ring of Fire's Young Guns featherweight champion, and a training partner of Rocky Mountain staples Nate Marquardt, Duane "Bang" Ludwig and Eliot Marshall. Ironically, the 26-year-old MMA prospect now has the biggest victory of his fighting career outside of mixed martial arts.
