Wednesday, October 14 9:31 pm PT: The UFC’s global business model, while surely complex, appears to be taking some of its cues from Wal-Mart and Starbucks: plop your brand down in any far-flung corner of the world and ignore the disgruntlement of the natives. They’ll get used to it.
Latest hostile takeover: Australia, possible site of a February UFC event. Already, the country’s Sydney Morning Herald is delivering a litter of kittens over the idea.
Wednesday, October 14 4:05 pm PT: Radio was solid today as former WEC light-heavyweight champion Doug Marshall and "King Mo" Muhammed Lawal joined "Beatdown" and "The Savage Dog Show" today.
Lawal talked about signing with Strikeforce and what he thought about fighting in the promotion. Mo also touched on fighting at heavyweight and who he thought might be in front of him soon.
On "Beatdown," Lotfi and I were joined by Doug "The Rhino" Marshall. The former WEC 205 pound king is fighting Keith Berry this saturday night in Purecombat. "The Rhino" spoke about moving down to middleweight from heavyweight where his career started. And if he felt he could make 170 pounds and fight in the welterweight division.
Also, I have just taken over podcast duties from our managing editor Mike Fridley. Unfortunately for me the transition process isn't as easy as I was hoping. If you're listening via podcasts you'll notice that "Beatdown" is unavailable. I am working on it. For now please download that show from the radio page.
Wednesday, October 14 2:40 pm PT: If you fight for a living, you’d better believe you can beat anyone: Urijah Faber should like his chances against Hong Man Choi. (No, really -- he should.) So it should come as little surprise that undefeated UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez is confident he could be the man to dethrone consensus bad-ass Fedor Emelianenko.
“Definitely me,” he told Fanhouse when asked about who would win the hypothetical bout. “I’m a proud Mexican fighter…I think he’s an awesome fighter. He’s the best.”
Velasquez was wobbled regularly by Cheick Kongo, a proficient if unexceptional kickboxer who didn’t have much of an answer for Velasquez clinching when he got fuzzy-headed; it’s also easy to forget Velasquez is only 6-0. He’d probably like his chances better two years from now.
Wednesday, October 14 1:05 pm PT: Did you like the sound of Frank Trigg and Matt Serra squaring off at some point? Both are coming off of losses -- Trigg in a one-sided bout against Josh Koscheck, Serra in a competitive bout against Matt Hughes -- and both are near one another in age and career wear. Since we all know how the old lion/new lion matches typically end, why not pair athletes of similar abilities?
If the UFC agrees, they’re not ready to discuss it. Speaking to FightHype, Trigg said that a proposed match with Serra is still vaporware. “I was on some site and that was the first time I had heard about it,” he said. “…Matt didn’t say he was fighting me and to my knowledge, I haven’t heard anything about it at all.”
Whether he meets Serra or not, Trigg’s chances of success improve considerably with a move back to middleweight, where there isn’t nearly the volume of wrestlers who could stuff his shot.
Wednesday, October 14 9:43 am PT: In trumpeting the puzzling charisma of Kimbo Slice on “The Ultimate Fighter,” the UFC has essentially given home to a pet they’ll wind up serving up for dinner. No one gets a free ride in the organization: if you’re friends with promoter Dana White, you’re likely to get treated even more harshly. (Chuck Liddell, fed killer after killer in his twilight years, being exhibit A.)
Slice won’t be getting any dock workers or veterans approaching senility, but he might luck out by getting a man virtually guaranteed to stand with him: light heavyweight Houston Alexander, a potential opponent for Slice at UFC 107 in Memphis on December 12. (Rumor courtesy Fiveouncesofpain.com.) If Alexander has ever shot in for a takedown in his UFC career, I missed it.
This is about as much of a gift-wrapped opponent as you’re likely to get in the UFC, and it’s still not much of one: Alexander is faster on the draw than Slice, who’s used to the relatively slower speeds of the bigger guys. But there aren’t many alternatives: try to imagine him in a fight with a Cain Velasquez or Pat Barry. You’d have to put crime scene tape around the ring.
Wednesday, October 14 5:50 am PT: On a bad day, nothing less than Mothra would appear to get Anderson Silva out of bed in the morning. The UFC’s middleweight champion and manager Ed Soares told MMA Weekly that they take some issue with Vitor Belfort being chosen as Silva’s next contender. (The bout is rumored for January 2.)
“Vitor has not fought in the UFC at 185 pounds,” Soares said. “Now, I know people can say Anderson fought for the belt after one fight, and that’s true, but he fought at 185 pounds. At 195 pounds, he [Belfort] didn’t make weight, at first. So he couldn’t make weight at 195 pounds, but now he’s going to fight for the title at 185 pounds?”
Wednesday, October 14 4:41 am PT: Only a day after judges stared agape at his two-step performance, Chuck Liddell and partner Anna Trebunskaya were excused from any further appearances on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” Tuesday. And not a moment too soon, as constantly spell-checking documents containing the word “Trebunskaya” might actually void my software warranty.
Liddell is clearly not meant for ballroom competition, which was sort of the point, but it doesn’t really matter: that a UFC fighter could get airtime on a massively popular television monolith like “Dancing” is another indication that this sport is getting what it’s wanted all along: to be treated like any other. Meanwhile, maybe not having to DVR this any more means I can try to taper off the T-gel.
