Two days late, no dollars short.
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. My day consisted of being around family, eating turkey, and watching football. The family stuff is fine except I feel 30 years younger than everyone (and in fact, am 30 years younger than everyone except my cousin, who smartly ducked out most of the day) and I’d rather just relax and watch football than socialize. Unfortunately the football games were about as entertaining as having a conversation with a 80 year old lady. Detriot lost, again. I think every sports fan in America, including Lions fans, should root for this team to go 0-16. They’re going to get the first overall pick anyway, they might as well do it in style. I remember when everyone rejoiced because Matt Millen finally got fired, not realizing that this years team was already screwed and the firing of one guy wasn’t going to fix the years of mistakes. The was examplified when the Lions turned to Dantue Culpepper instead of sticking with Dan Orlovsky and Drew Henson. You’re already going to lose, you might as well lose with young guys and get them experience rather than lose with a retired guy. And after seeing Culpepper for a couple of weeks now, it’s easy to see why he was retired and gained no interest from the league until the Lions came calling.
Anyway, on to Fact or Fiction.
1. UFC’s quick decision to release Jon Fitch proves that they view no company as a threat?
FACT. There’s really no other way to explain it. Sure they wanted to make an example of Fitch and prove that, “if you’re not with us, you’re gone” but they wouldn’t have done that if they didn’t feel like there was no where for him to go, they wouldn’t have been so quick to release him. The fact is, all the top Welterweights are in the UFC. Fitch could have gone to Strikeforce or Affliction and maybe have gotten more money but the exposure would have been significantly less and the competition would have been far worse. UFC knows Affliction is on their last legs and that Strikeforce isn’t a big company, although they have found a niche audience in San Jose.
2. Fedor will place third or better in the ADCC in 2009?
FICTION. Fedor has good MMA jiu-jitsu but I don’t know how good his grappling is. He uses a lot of armbars and rear naked chokes but he’s also getting punched and using punches to set those up. Having a sambo background, we know he knows a thing or two about leg locks. I think he’ll do well, because he’s Fedor and he’s just a beast like that but not having the proper grappling game for ADCC will lead to his downfall against guys who are just monsters at grappling and that’s their bread and butter.
3. Strikeforce should be ashamed that their four champions have not defended their titles in a combined 2 years?
FACT. I’m willing to give Thomson and Sobral a pass because Thomson was scheduled to defend at their most recent even but pulled out with an injury and Sobral just won the title but Cung Le and Alistair Overeem are a bit indefensible. Cung Le won his title in March of this year and hasn’t even had a fight scheduled while Overeem won his belt a year ago and has only fought in Japan since. If Overeem and Cung Le aren’t going to defend their titles for whatever reason, they shouldn’t be champions. I feel UFC should have stripped Couture when he wasn’t defending the belt (although they didn’t because of legal leverage) and they should have stripped Ortiz back in 03 when he wouldn’t defend his belt. If you’re not going to defend and you’re not doing it because of any reason other than an injury or a comapny vehichle (UFC icing their champions for TUF) then you shouldn’t be champion.
4. UFC is doing a better job promoting UFC 94 than they did promoting UFC 91?
FACT. Outside of ESPN promotion the day the fight was announced and the usual week before push, UFC 91 just felt like another show. They’re going above and beyond for St. Pierre vs. Penn, holding a press conference on UFC 91 weekend and going to Hawaii and Canada to promote the fight. It seems like they’re really spending time on this fight and have even given it some nickname that no one will remember unless the fight is amazing. I hope they get ample time on ESPN because Penn always has interesting things to say and GSP is one of the most marketable UFC fighters.
5. This season of The Ultimate Fighter has been far more entertaining than Season 7?
FACT. Having recapped TUF7 and currently recapping TUF8, I’ve found this season much more entertaining. The in house antics have been good, the pranks are original and not too over the top (until bodily fluids became involved), the fighters seem to stick out more on this season, and the fights have been good. The coaches also seem a lot more involved this season than they were last season and that always helps.
6. Brock Lesnar would make it out of the first round with Fedor?
FACT. There’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t. Since his fight with Frank Mir, Lesnar has learned to pace himself better and not blow himself out within the first 30 seconds. His chin looks to be impressive so I’m not sure if Fedor’s wide punches would be enough to knock Lesnar down and out early. Fedor’s two favorite submissions are almost null against the upper body of Lesnar. Unless Lesnar makes another mistake that sees him end up in another knee bar, I’m confident that Lesnar could make it a round with Fedor.
