Top 10 Light-Heavyweight Rankings Posted by Drew Ellis (06/09/2011 @ 8:14 pm) The Light Heavyweight Division is currently led by a young phenom with a bunch of hungry sharks ready to take a bite out of him.
Here is a look at how I see the top 10 in the 205-pound division in MMA. (Click here to see other weight class rankings) 1. Jon Jones (13-1): Jones is still the leader of the pack but now seems to finally have his next opponent finalized. It looks to be Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, in what will be a very tough fight. Jones may struggle to move the large Jackson and in punch-for-punch power, he probably doesn’t have the edge against his veteran opponent. 2. Rashad Evans (15-1-1): Rashad Evans is still the No. 1 contender in my eyes as he disposed of Jackson in his last fight and was set to challenge for the title before suffering a minor knee injury. Now set to face rising star, Phil Davis, Evans will have to prove that he can still hang with the best after more than a year away form action. 3. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (32-8): Rampage looked good but not great in his decision win over Matt Hamill. He landed some good punches on Hamill and stuffed each of his takedown attempts. While Hamill has a good wrestling background, he lacked the explosive takedown attempts that Jackson will see against the likes of Evans, Jones, or even a Ryan Bader. Read the rest of this entry » Posted in: Fighters, Rankings, Strikeforce, UFC Tags: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Dan Henderson, Forrest Griffin, Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Phil Davis, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Rashad Evans, Ryan Bader
Five fighters that might survive the Apocalypse Posted by Drew Ellis (05/20/2011 @ 3:41 pm) In case some of you haven’t been paying attention, the Apocalypse is set to take place tomorrow.
If there are any athletes who might survive on the post-apocalyptic planet, it would be mixed-martial artists. Here are the five guys I would like to be around tomorrow, once The Rapture saves those who will be saved. 1. Matt Hughes – As his walk-out song goes “A Country Boy Can Survive”. Hughes is a farm boy that can probably do anything and everything as long as he has a pair of boots and a piece of John Deere equipment that he can break down into parts. He can certainly kill any other living animal and will likely know how to build a fire and refine liquid into water. The question is, will he spend too much time making smart-ass remarks about how much of a girl you are for trying to get your IPhone to work? You also would have to put up with his stories about how boring a fighter Georges St. Pierre is. 2. Lyoto Machida – Machida is almost like an animal more than a human when you consider his cat-like speed and reflexes. I would think no zombies stand a chance against him. Also, the man drinks his own urine, so a lack of water won’t be a big issue for him. Let’s just hope if we can’t find food that he thinks your bodily releases will also make for a good replacement. 3. Forrest Griffin – The man wrote a book about it, so I have a sense he is prepared. He doesn’t seem too concerned with bathing or looking good, so he wouldn’t waste time with that. He also is a scrapper, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him try and take down a cougar or a lion for food. Problem with Forrest is, he might kill you, and not just for necessity. 4. Chael Sonnen – As a man in an apocalyptic world, you are going to need to tap into your survival instincts and really draw on adrenaline and testosterone. Well, Chael has plenty of that. In fact, he has some by the bottle full. So, you may have to put up with a lot of idiotic statements that he will later claim he never said, but at least your motor should always be on high. 5. Roy Nelson – Sure, he doesn’t look like much of an athlete, but the guy can hit hard and he can choke out any zombies or animals that might attack. He has a big appetite, so food will always be a priority in your survival group, which means you should eat well. Also, his belly should make a nice pillow during the down times Best non-finishers in MMA Posted by Drew Ellis (05/03/2011 @ 6:50 pm) Georges St. Pierre is quickly losing favor with MMA fans.
Saturday’s UFC 129 bout with Jake Shields brought St. Pierre brought another decision victory for the welterweight champion, which was his fourth straight decision win. St. Pierre has not won by stoppage since Jan. 31, 2009 when B.J. Penn failed to answer the bell for the fifth round. Fans are growing tired of St. Pierre’s decision wins and his lack of “killer instinct,” and want to see him be more aggressive and finish his opponents like he did on his first run to the UFC title. Now with 22 career wins, St. Pierre has had 9 decision victories and 13 wins by knockout or submission. With that in mind, here are some of the other top fighters in MMA that have a few too many decisions to their credit. Jon Fitch (23-3-1, 13 Decision victories) – Fitch has pretty much become the measuring stick of this category. He is one of the best in the world, but he just can’t seem to finish fights. Fitch is now on a run of 9-straight fights that have went to the judges. His last finish came back in June of 2007. Randy Couture (19-11, 8 Decision victories) – Though a Hall of Famer and a legend, finishing opponents wasn’t necessarily Couture’s forte either. Actually, some of “The Natural’s” biggest wins were decisions including his victories over Tito Ortiz and Tim Sylvia. Read the rest of this entry » Despite poor showing, St. Pierre still one of the best in MMA Posted by Drew Ellis (05/01/2011 @ 11:14 am) Let me start by once again stating that I am a Georges St. Pierre fan (pictured, AP Photo).
I know this article may come off as fandom, but I am merely sticking up for a great fighter. While I will even admit that St. Pierre’s performance at UFC 129 was anything but impressive against Jake Shields, I don’t think that the long-reigning UFC Welterweight Champion deserves to be as criticized as he has been. Finishing fights is a big aspect of MMA and a big part of the reason why fans love fighters like Anderson Silva. However, everyone has their flaws or even their bad fights. I would compare GSP’s performance on Saturday night to the likes of Silva’s performances against Demian Maia or Thales Leites. Clearly St. Pierre was the better fighter on Saturday, but he didn’t go for the kill when it was there. And after his eye was damaged, he balled up into somewhat of a shell. But, I don’t think that his performance at UFC 129 was typical of his other performances. Read the rest of this entry » Posted in: Events, Fighters, UFC Tags: Anderson Silva, B.J. Penn, Dan Hardy, Georges St. Pierre, Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Lyoto Machida, Nick Diaz, Thiago Alves, UFC 129
UFC 129 Recap: St. Pierre underwhelms in victory Posted by Drew Ellis (05/01/2011 @ 1:16 am) Georges St. Pierre (AP Photograph) successfully defended his UFC Welterweight Championship once again on Saturday, beating Jake Shields by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 129.
However, despite the win, St. Pierre was less than impressive in his victory. St. Pierre managed to keep the fighting standing for 25 minutes, even avoiding takedowns while on one leg, but St. Pierre never had Shields in any real danger of finishing the fight. GSP used his jab and overhand right hand to easily control the first two rounds and used a head kick in round three to drop Shields. Late in the third round, Shields bum rushed GSP for a takedown and got a finger in the eye of St. Pierre that caused him to have blurred vision. Shields then followed with a few jabs that made GSP’s vision event worse. The concerns over his eye kept St. Pierre from really attacking over the last 10 minutes and two judges awarded Shields the final two rounds of the fight. Nonetheless, it was a unanimous decision win for St. Pierre, who has defended his title six times successfully and improves to 22-2 in his career. The question now will be whether he will still fight at welterweight, or move up to middleweight. Read the rest of this entry » |