Monday, July 6 4:35 pm PT: When his body finally fails him -- and I wouldn’t expect that to happen until he’s well into his 50s -- Randy Couture could secure his pension by betting offshore. His pre-fight analysis is usually spot-on, and for Saturday’s bout between champion Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves, Couture is backing GSP.
Monday, July 6 3:07 pm PT: The emergency surgery that Lavar Johnson underwent on Monday morning “looks like it went well,” said his manager and trainer Bob Cook via a text to Sherdog.com.
The 32-year-old heavyweight prospect was shot once to the back and abdomen area with a semi-automatic weapon by an unidentified assailant in the early hours of July 5 in Bakersfield, Calif.
Cook did not know Johnson’s current condition, but said he’d visited the fighter on Sunday evening in a local hospital, and had been told Johnson was “between serious and critical” condition.
Monday, July 6 1:42 pm PT: Kazunori Yokota will have to wait for a shot at the Sengoku lightweight title, but he won't have to wait for a fight, as the Grabaka standout is set for kickboxing duty.
Yokota will take to the ring for striking promotion Krush at its July 24 card at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. While the card will be built around the opening round of Krush's 16-man lightweight grand prix, Yokota will be in superfight action against J-Network 154-pound champion Yu Hirono.
Monday, July 6 12:55 pm PT: After flirting with a few stateside promotions, Japanese star Takanori Gomi has finally wedded one: He’s set to debut on the Aug. 1 Affliction card opposite Rafaello Oliveira
Monday, July 6 10:28 am PT: While nowhere near the crippled/blind/biased sludge of boxing officiating, judges and referees in mixed martial arts still get regular heat for calls that appear ill-informed. Speaking to MMAJunkie, UFC Vice-President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner is optimistic that 2010 will bring some uniformity to the proceedings.
"That's one of my other charges, is trying to make the officials better -- get better referees, teaching more and doing more seminars," Ratner told the site. "We're going to do more of that, hopefully, next year."
While refereeing will always suffer for being a job based on split-second decisions, judging -- a more relaxed observation -- would benefit greatly from clarification. As it stands, there is no written standard of priority placed on takedowns over submission attempts, striking over submissions, activity over damage, and on and on. What we’re left with is a bunch of guesswork. Considering how much money, time, and energy athletes devote to chasing those decisions, getting them right should be as much a priority as turning the lights on.
Monday, July 6 8:54 am PT: After making vague reference to a possible fight between Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin in order to combat the Floyd Mayweather/Juan Marquez bout on Sept. 19, Dana White will have to look for another headliner: Liddell told Josh Gross of SportsIllustrated.com that he’s taking a one-year layoff from competition.
“Hopefully my brain can heal over time,” he told Gross.” The shot last fight [vs. Mauricio Rua] is something that normally wouldn’t hurt me.”
Monday, July 6 6:37 am PT: After recently announcing his participation in a Brazilian fight promotion, MMAJunkie reports that Ricardo Arona may fight Marvin Eastman in Bitetti Combat on September 12. It would be Arona’s first fight in nearly three years.
Does the choice say anything about Arona’s headspace in 2009? It might: taking a fight with an upper-echelon opponent after an extended hiatus would be a fairly overt move for a payday. If Arona is opting for Eastman -- a tough but journeyman athlete with a tendency to get cracked -- then he’s aware that a deep-end dive isn’t good for his long-term prospects. He’ll get a good fight in Eastman, but he shed more sweat than blood. It’s exactly what he needs.
Monday, July 6 12:00 am PT: All this week: recapping the key UFC bouts that changed perception or behavior in or around the Octagon. (Part one, with the first half of the top 10, can be viewed here.)
If you’re inclined to gauge how much the sport of mixed martial arts evolved during Royce Gracie’s 11-year absence from the UFC, you can either A). Spend hours poring over fight footage or B). Take five minutes to watch his fight with Matt Hughes.
