Crossroads

I'm getting to the point in my MMA career that I'm old enough to have seen many a fighter hang up their gloves.  Usually, when its all said and done, there is one fight you can look back on in that fighter's career that was the beginning of their decline. "Crossroads" fights are sometimes subtle, but more often than not they are exceptionally brutal. As one boxing journalist once said "Once it's beaten out of you…it's gone forever."

There are many reasons for a Crossroads fight. Sometimes a fighter's opponent discovers a strategy that other fighters begin to imitate (Buster Douglas is the all-time trailblazer of this category), other times a single fight destroys a fighter's confidence, or the years simply catch up to an aging legend. The worst, in my opinion, in the "unmasking" fight where we discover that a fighter just wasn't as good as the hype that surrounded them and their veil of protection is lifted by realistic matchmaking.

Whatever the cause, a fighter after their Crossroads moment is never really the same. For better or worse, here are some of the Crossroads fights in MMA that stand out in my mind:


Wanderlei Silva vs. Mirko Cro-Cop
Pride-Final Conflict Absolute, September 10 2006

When most people think about the glory days of Pride they think of a prime Wanderlei Silva and the path of destruction he tore through the middleweight (LHW in modern weight classes) division in his championship reign. To call the guy an animal is a bit inaccurate, most animals won't charge right at you and soccer-kick you to death like you stole something from them.

Silva ripped the title from the seemingly invincible submission ace Kazushi Sakuraba (more on that later) and would go undefeated in his weight class from 2000-2005. On the way he defeated Dan Henderson, Rampage Jackson (twice), and would batter Sakuraba two more times. After avenging the only middleweight loss of his Pride career by defeating Ricardo Arona in December 2005, Silva made the ill-advised jump to heavyweight for the Pride Absolute Grand-Prix in 2006.

The first round went well: Silva handed the iron-headed Kazuyuki Fujita his first real KO loss. Unfortunately for Silva, the Fujita win would be his last of the tournament. In the semis he met Mirko Cro-Cop, the K-1 standout who's high-kick was the most feared weapon in MMA. Cro-Cop was in his prime and the Brazilian wild-man had bitten off more than he could chew.

The wild aggression that had made Silva the most feared middleweight in the world played right into the hands of the polished Croatian southpaw and Silva's punching power paled in comparison to the man who had made his career in the heavyweight division. Cro-Cop battered Silva from the beginning, countering his wild attacks with straight lefts and well-timed kicks. On the ground it was more of the same as Cro-Cop countered Silva's submission attempts and made him pay with vicious ground and pound. When Silva rose to his feat after being smashed into the canvas his face was a bloody mess and his eye was grotesquely swollen, but he probably wishes he had never gotten up. As soon as the stand-up fight resumed, Cro-Cop let loose with his famous left kick to the cranium. The "Axe Murderer" crumpled to the canvas unconscious. It was one of the most thorough beatings I had ever had the displeasure of witnessing at the elite level of MMA.

Wanderlei and Cro-Cop both left the crumbling Pride banner for the UFC when the promotion was bought out by Zuffa. As of 2014 Wanderlei is still active, although embroiled in a PED controversy, and has fans that will still pay money to see him fight, but it isn't the Wanderlei of old. Silva has yet to win back-to-back fights in the UFC and has never been more than a fringe contender, even with a drop to 185. I think the old Silva that terrified some of the greatest in the world at 205 never got up from the canvas on that September night in Japan almost 8 years ago.

Record before: 31-5-2
Record since: 4-7

Chuck Liddell vs Rampage Jackson
UFC 71-May 26, 2007

Everyone who trained MMA in the early 2000's (if that's what we call that decade) spent at least one sparring session getting beaten up trying to imitate Chuck Liddell. He was flat-footed and kept his hands near his nipples, but he was frustratingly difficult to hit and had sledgehammers where his hands should have been. He wrestled D-I at Cal Poly SLO had was known as the ultimate sprawl-and-brawl wrecking machine. He had the wrestling pedigree and the short range power to keep even the most determined wrestlers at bay: Randy Couture, Kevin Randleman, and Tito Ortiz all found this out the hard way. After devastating the iron-chinned Randy Couture (who had slugged it out with heavyweights and had never been KO'd) to claim the LHW belt in 2005, Liddell looked unstoppable.
He defended his title 4 times, all of them by one-sided KO.

Rampage had beaten Liddell by corner stoppage in 2003 in Pride (yeah, it was weird back then, guys could actually move between promotions) but in the eyes of most fans that was a lifetime ago. This new "UFC Champion" Liddell was considered the favorite in most people's eyes when the two met again in 2006.

Liddell's undoing in their 2003 matchup was the takedown and ground-and-pound of Jackson. In the rematch, Jackson's boxing would prove to be the decisive factor. Liddell had gotten away with breaking some of the cardinal rules of striking during his MMA career, but had gotten away with it using a combination of power and aggressiveness. Liddell also made his name, especially in the UFC, by taking on wrestlers with rudimentary striking skills. In Pride both Guy Mezger and Alistair Overeem had Liddell in trouble before he landed the KO shots that put them away. Rampage possessed the fundamental skills and physical power to make Liddell pay for his unorthodox style. Just before the 2-minute mark of the first round Liddell threw a body shot from mid-range without bringing his hands back to his chin. When he did, Rampage unleashed a hook to the jaw that dropped the champ cold. With a howl, the Liddell era was over.

It didn't seem like it at the time, but the fall for Liddell would be far and fast. He would win only one more fight and, more disturbingly, was being KO'd in increasingly brutal fashion before calling it quits in 2010.

Record before: 20-3
Record since: 1-5

Ricco Rodriguez vs Tim Sylvia
UFC 41-Febuary 28,  2003

Whenever you are known as "The MMA fighter on Celebrity Rehab" something has gone REALLY wrong with your life. There was a time when Ricco was poised to be the next big crossover star in MMA. Not only was big, athletic, and technical, he was also young and knew how to talk to a camera. He was part of Team Punishment and trained with Tito Ortiz at the height of his skills and popularity in the UFC. His roots gave him crossover appeal with the emerging Latino market and the guy knew how to win, and win impressively.

Ricco started in 1999 and when he met Randy Couture in 2002 for the UFC Heavyweight Championship he had only one loss on his record. He had made his UFC debut a year earlier and had rattled off four straight TKO victories, Randy would be number five.

In his first title defense, Ricco was the heavy favorite against Tim Sylvia. Sylvia was a virtual unknown at the time. He sported an impressive 14-0 record but only had one UFC fight under his belt and his opponent, Wesley Correira, was the kind of fighter who got offended if you didn't hit him. He was a giant at 6'8" but was seen as slow, plodding, and one-dimensional.

The odds were 5-1 if memory serves me, and some people from Maine made SERIOUS money that night (Sylvia was from Maine, did I mention that?). Ricco started out with the right idea, sticking and moving from the outside as Sylvia pawed with the jab. Ricco ended up in guard, but couldn't find the arm-bar despite a couple of attempts. Just past the 3-minute mark Sylvia countered a Rodriguez kick with a VICIOUS straight right hand that sent Ricco to the canvas. The follow-up GnP left Ricco with eyes wide shut and the Miletich Team celebrated yet another champion.

As far as "falls from grace" are concerned, I don't remember any as fast as Ricco's. He only fought one more time in the UFC and suffered a decision loss to Pedro Rizzo. He fights on to this day, but has never defeated top opposition since his upset loss to Sylvia. Along the way he has had much-publicised substance abuse issues and hopefully he now has them under control.

Record before: 14-1
Record Since: 39-20-1

Wanderlei Silva vs Kazushi Sakuraba
Pride 17-Championship Chaos,  March 25 2001

Before you thought of Wanderlei Silva as the king of Pride, you thought of Kazushi Sakuraba. The man who was known as "The IQ Wrestler" made his name in Japan as the man who handed the Gracie family their first MMA loss when he defeated Royler Gracie by (somewhat controversial) referee stoppage in their November, 1999 Pride showdown. He went on to beat three more Gracies, two by stoppage. His list of victims wasn't limited to the Gracies either, during his superstar run he defeated some of the top names of his era: Carlos Newton, Vitor Belfort, and Guy Mezger to name a few. He was a tricky wrestler with a "go-for-broke" submission style that seemed to be the Kryptonite of some of the best BJJ fighters of the time.

When the Wanderlei fight was announced I was training with Team Punishment in Huntington Beach. When I talked about it with my grappling coach Fabiano Iha, he just shook his head and said "They can't protect him from that guy."I didn't understand what he meant at the time. Sakuraba had beaten the best in the world, and one can hardly look at his record and say it was padded. What I think Fabiano meant is that Sakuraba was the perfect foil for certain BJJ-minded fighters. The Gracies, and their disciples (Belfort, Alan Goes, Carlos Newton), had made out-techniquing and out-grappling Sakuraba a point of pride. They didn't just want to beat him, they wanted to show that he could be undone with jiu-jisu technique.

Wanderlei felt no such restrictions.

To call their 2001 showdown a "fight" is an insult to combat sports, it was a felonious assault that no one got arrested for. Silva charged across the ring in vintage "Axe Murderer" style like a windmill with limbs. Sakuraba answered back as best he could, and even wobbled Silva briefly (a hallmark of Silva's career) but the outcome was never really in question. Wanderlei wasn't pulling guard or rolling for knee-bars, he was savagely attacking, and against that offensive style the "IQ Wrestler" had no answer. The end came with Sakuraba curled up on the canvas with Silva unloading soccer kicks on his bloody head.  In a brutal 1:38 the torch was passed to the new king of Pride.

Despite the one-sidedness of the contest, Sakuraba would fight Silva two more times, losing both by brutal stoppage (anyone remember the broken collarbone in their 2nd fight? NASTY). Sakuraba would fight until 2011, but his days as the consensus #1 were over and he descended into the "win-some-lose-some"journeyman years at the end.

Record before: 12-2-2
Record since: 14-13-1

Dan Hornbuckle vs Ben Askren
Bellator MMA 22-June 17 2010

What a difference a round makes. Dan Hornbuckle entered his welterweight tournament final fight against Ben Askren as the clear favorite. It was a status he had enjoyed since joining the promotion's 170lb tournament in the previous spring. He was know as having a "black belt in intensity" and had made his name with a highlight reel KO over Akihiro Gono in Japan. In his first two Bellator fights he had scored first round submissions over Tyler Stinson and Steve Carl. He was tall, well-rounded, and spoke in sound-bites (the editors loved him), he seemed destined for promotional gold.

Ben Askren was the dark-horse of the tournament. I saw him win his two national titles at Missouri and was blown away by his unorthodox style. The question was whether such a style translated to MMA, where more basic "Matt Hughes-style" takedowns tend to be the norm. Askren got to the tournament final by beating the same guy, Ryan Thomas, twice due to a volcano eruption keeping Jim Wallhead trapped in England. The first ended with a bone-headed referee call, and the 2nd was a clear (if unspectacular) unanimous decision.

Before the fight, Hornbuckle told us he would "stop Ben's takedown for two minutes and that will break his spirit."

He couldn't stop it for two seconds.

Asken took Hornbuckle down with an ease that defied description. He didn't just take him down, he tossed him around like a rag-doll for a solid five minutes. The guard that had spelled the end of Tyler Stinson and Steve Carl wasn't even a road-bump for Askren as he countered submissions, passed to dominate positions, and peppered him with a steady diet of ground-and-pound. The Dan Hornbuckle who sat on his stool in-between rounds one and two was a different man than the one who has refused to shake hands before the fight. Gone was the "black belt in intensity" and warrior swagger that had paralyzed lesser opposition. Dan had his head down and barely nodded as Conan Silvera tried to get him back in the fight. For the next 10 minutes Askren put on a wrestling clinic and thrilled the home-town fans with his utter dominance and coasted to a unanimous decision.    

Ben went on to dominate the rest of his opponents (with the exception of Jay Hieron, that was close) with the same style that had befuddled Hornbuckle. "The Handler" never got back on track in Bellator, despite two more tournament spots. He still fights, but has yet show the dominance he displayed before he fell to the "Funk".

Record before: 21-2
Record since: 3-6

Fabricio Werdum vs Fedor Emelianenko
Strikeforce/M1 Global- June 26 2010

No Emperor reigns forever. I was cage-side for this fight. Having worked for M1 for 2 years I got to spend a lot of time with Fedor and his team. His soft-spoken personality wasn't exactly what an American fight fan would expect from a man who dominated the Pride heavyweight division. From his debut in Rings in 2000, to his epic run in Pride, Fedor demolished the greatest heavyweights of his era. Mark Coleman, Minotauro, Heath Herring, Mirko Cro-Cop, Andre Arlovski, and Tim Sylvia were all defeated, many in spectacular fashion. He had an unorthodox low-hands striking style that generated tremendous power and his movement on the ground was aggressive and smooth, especially for such a big fighter. He ripped the Pride heavyweight belt from around the waist of Minotauro and never looked back.

The big question was where the big man would land after the collapse of Pride. The UFC did it's best, but couldn't reach a deal with "The Last Emperor" and he landed with the upstart Strikeforce in 2009 after two fights with Affliction's short-lived promotion. After a KO win over Brett Rogers, Fedor squared-off with BJJ world champion Fabricio Werdum in 2010 in San Jose.

Werdum was, at the time, a dangerous heavyweight who had somehow flown under the radar of most fans. He had beaten some serious names (Gabriel Gonzaga, Alistair Overeem, and Brandon Vera) but had been unable to win more than two fights in a row against elite talent. He had incredible submission skills and decent hands, but in the minds of most fans Fedor had taken on better talent and had rarely been tested.

The difficulty with Fedor's unorthodox style is that it requires timing, timing requires practice and confidence. The negative side-affect of Fedor's management constantly squabbling on his behalf was that he didn't fight with the regularity with which he had fought in Pride. Leading up to the Werdum fight he hadn't fought more than twice a year since 2005 and only once in 2008.

Fedor looked tentative from the outset. What I remember most clearly was his hesitation to attack Werdum on the ground, this is the same man who DOVE into Minotauro's vaunted guard, haymakers swinging. When he finally did engage his timing was off, and he paid the price. Werdum immediately locked up a TIGHT triangle from his back. Fedor fought valiantly, but had nowhere to go against one of the greatest grapplers in the world. When Werdum transitioned to the arm-bar, it was tap or snap and Fedor chose the former. The "Last Emperor" gave up his crown at 1:09 of the first round. Half the crowd went nuts, the other half sat in stunned silence.

Fedor fought on for another two years, but with his aura of invincibility gone his heart never seemed to be in it. Despite his end, I still think (in 2014) he ranks as the greatest heavyweight in MMA's young history.

Record before: 31-1-1
Record since: 3-3

Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock
UFC 40-Vendetta, Nov 22 2002

For those who remember seeing it on PPV, this was a must-see grudge match of epic proportions.
In the first UFC Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie were the only two fighters who had any business actually being in the cage. Ken looked like a He-Man action figure in life-size and had cut his teeth in Japans Pancrase circuit in the early 90's (yeah there were some works, but thats how it worked in those days). He had decent standup, basic wrestling, and murderous foot-locks. His only UFC losses were to Gracie and Dan Severn (the Severn match is an insomnia cure) and his fan base was rabid and loyal. At the height of his MMA success he transitioned to the WWE for bigger paychecks during the UFC's "dark days" of the late 90's and didn't return to real combat for four years, this time under the Pride banner in Japan.

Taking four years off in the late 90's was like cryogenically freezing Red Grange in 1925, waking him up in 2014 and having him try out for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the game was not the same. Gone were the days when guys would try to elbow their way out of a heel-hook Pat Smith style. Ken had his moments after going back, most notably a great performance against Kazuyuki Fujita. Ken was dominating the ranked Japanese heavyweight until he began having chest pains and had his corner throw in the towel (insert your own PED joke here).

Ken returned to the UFC and immediately got a shot at a PRIME Tito Ortiz. Tito and Ken had been at each other's throats since Tito demolished Guy Mezger and donned an insulting t-shirt in celebration (ok, ok, it said "Gay Mezger is my bitch", there happy now?!?!). I remember John McCarthy literally picking Tito up and carrying him away from a screaming Shamrock to prevent an in-cage brawl (these things happen in MMA). The two almost came to blows at the press conference when Tito burst out laughing at Ken's predictions for the fight.

Animosity makes for great hype, but its a poor substitute for preparation. Ken looked slow and his gigantic muscles made him about as efficient as a Formula 1 car with off-road tires. Tito battered him on the feet and took him down with ease. Ken was out of gas midway through the first round and resembled a walking punching-bag for the rest of the fight, a bag that bled profusely and swelled horribly. By the end of the third round Ken looked like a mutant and his corner mercifully called a halt to the beating and the fight.

If anyone doubts that money is the deciding factor in the matchmaking of any promotion, just remember that Ken faced Tito two more times. The fans ate up both rematches, despite the fact that Ken clearly didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of winning either. Shamrock was doomed by two harsh realities: his body was past the point where he could endure the training necessary for modern MMA, and the era in which his skill-set was competitive had come and gone.

Ken was never again a factor at the elite level. He fought on until 2010, mostly due to the drawing power of his name as opposed to his ability to compete.

Record before: 25-7-2
Record since: 3-7

Roger Huerta vs Eddie Alvarez
Bellator MMA 23- October 21 2010

Yeah, I know: Huerta had lost 3 out of his last 4 fights going INTO the fight with Eddie Alvarez. So why is this a Crossroads fight Jimmy? I'm glad you asked: those losses were competitive decisions while the Alvarez fight was a massacre from which Huerta never recovered.

For a time Roger Huerta was MMA's golden boy. He had Zoolander good looks and had solid skills to go with his all-action style. Everyone remembers his appearance on the Sports Illustrated cover which heralded the "crossover" of MMA into the mainstream. He was poised to become the biggest face in the sport as it began the biggest expansion it had ever known.

Behind that celebrity status there were lingering questions however. Huerta's first five fights in the UFC were against promotional newcomers with little big-fight experience. They were solidly in the game-but-not-dangerous category and allowed to Huerta to keep amassing wins while he avoided the bigger names in a loaded 155 division. Clay Guida was the only name of note on Huerta's record, a solid win, but not one that would erase lingering doubts about his abilities against top-5 fighters.

I spoke to Monte Cox, Huerta's former manager, once about why he left Cox's stable. Cox responded bluntly: "I told him not to fight Florian because he would lose, the kid didn't want to hear it and left."
Cox was right-on with his assessment. Huerta stayed in the fight against Florian, but never had Ken-Flo in any real danger as he lost his first UFC fight by unanimous decision. A split-decision loss to an undefeated Gray Maynard followed a year later.

When I joined Bellator, Huerta's jump to the promotion was HUGE news in the MMA world. Despite back-to-back losses, Huerta still had serious drawing power in the UFC. Bellator (to my limited understanding, I wasn't around for the negotiations) gave a lot to get the young superstar and most people put him as the favorite in his first 155 tournament. Pat Curran really began his rise in Bellator with his upset of Huerta in their semi-final round fight in Boston. Huerta seemed flat, almost as if he expected "lesser" fighters to give up against him. Pat kept pushing and won a close split decision (not a unanimous as is sometimes listed) and derailed "El Matador"'s run in Bellator.

An injury to Pat Curran gave Bellator the chance to put together the "super-fight" they had wanted from the beginning and Huerta took on Eddie Alvarez in a non-title fight in front of Eddie's hometown Philly fans. An early kick from Eddie clearly damaged Huerta's leg, and it was all downhill from there. I don't think the injury had much of an impact on the outcome of the fight personally. Eddie was faster, stronger, and more polished with his striking technique. Huerta's pressing style, combined with his lack of one-punch KO power, gave Eddie all of the opportunities he needed to tee-off on the frustrated Huerta. The crowd went nuts every time an Eddie Alvarez right hand snapped Huerta's head back, and it happened a lot. As the fight dragged into round two, it was clear the Huerta was just out of his league. At the end of the 2nd, Huerta's eye was completely swollen shut and his knee was providing him with zero stability. Huerta didn't protest as the doctor mercifully called an end to the fight before the start of the third.

The gulf in skill between Huerta and the elite of the division was painfully obvious. When we talked after the fight Monte Cox freely admitted that he knew Huerta couldn't take on the best and Eddie was, and is (as of 2014), one of the best at 155. Huerta would only fight two more times, losing both by stoppage.

Record before: 21-3
Record since: 0-3

The art of begging

I might be dating myself with this one but does anyone remember Royler Gracie vs Sakuraba? It was an incredibly significant fight at the time. Royler was the technician of the undefeated Gracie family and Sakuraba was the Japanese icon of Pride. One image that really told the story of that fight was the one of Royler scooting on his butt, literally ASKING Sakuraba to come down to the mat and grapple with him. Sakuraba ummmm... "forcefully declined" by kicking Royler's legs until they were bright red.

I was reminded of that fight when I saw Nick Diaz lose to Carlos Condit in their welterweight showdown. Diaz seemed to want to trash-talk Condit into a brawl, where he could use his volume-punching attack to score a TKO. Condit, under direction from his coach Greg Jackson, refused to have any part of it. He kicked and moved, frustrating Diaz and winning a unanimous decision.

The reason it reminded me of the Gracie fight is because both guys seemed at the mercy of their opponents' reluctance to fight THEIR kind of fight, and their inability to make their opponent fight in their realm highlighted certain technical deficiencies in their respective games. Royler had few other tools outside of his BJJ, and Diaz doesn't have great footwork. Diaz had always used his superior height and range to corral opponents. In the style of George Foreman he would use his arms, rather than his feet to keep opponents in the corner and unload. Against the rangy 6'1" Condit, Diaz would have no such advantage. Diaz followed Condit around the cage taking leg kicks and seemed unable to cut off the cage with his feet.

The attitude of Diaz after the fight was to be expected, not because it was fair, but because Diaz is Diaz. Complaining that your opponent didn't fight the way you wanted him to is absurd, you have to MAKE him fight the away you want him to, and he clearly couldn't do it.

One thing you can never count on is a Greg Jackson trained fighter caring about anything but winning. Does anyone remember Emmanuel Steward slapping the chest of Lennox Lewis in-between rounds during his fight with Mike Tyson and SCREAMING at him to quit throwing jabs and finish the fucking fight? That was his ANTI-Greg Jackson impression. That dude doesn't care how far ahead you are or what round it is, hell, even if the crowd is launching water bottles into the ring. His philosophy is that if you are ahead, then keep doing what you are doing. If you want exciting finishes, then play the video-game.

Breaking down Jackson's fight strategy is fairly simple: do whatever is easiest based on your opponent's weaknesses and your strengths. GSP lost a lot of fans with his performance against Dan Hardy. Most people thought the Brit was tough, but not exactly deserving of a title shot after 4 solid performances against less-than-top-10 talent. GSP dominated that fight from bell to bell, but the fact that there WAS a bell at the end was somewhat disappointing. He came close to finishing a few times, but wasn't willing to possibly give up his solid positioning for a finish.

Jackson never slapped GSP in the chest like Emmanuel Steward, he never raised his voice, he didn't even politely suggest that he perhaps do his career, and the viewing public, a little favor by finishing a fighter who was clearly technically outmatched. He doesn't think that way as a coach. MMA pundits often refer to him as Yoda, but if Yoda had trained Luke like Greg Jackson, that showdown with Vader would have taken 40 minutes. Im not knocking the guy as a coach, I think he's one of the best, but the idea that Diaz could "dare" one of his students into brawl is ridiculous, you're more likely to dare a rattlesnake into a blender.

So the showdown will, more than likely, be Condit vs GSP. Ironically, the difference between two Jackson-trained fighters may come down to who takes the risk at the right time.

The welterweight division is shaping up nicely in the UFC and some young, hungry talent is asserting itself. I don't actually hold out much hope for an exciting fight between Carlos Condit and GSP. Unless the time off and injuries have really slowed him down, GSP is simply too technical for Condit and his wrestling is the best in the game. Condit has KO power, but I don't see GSP trading on the feet much. It might actually benefit Condit to do the same thing he did against Diaz and run-and-gun his way to a decision.

GSP is not a fighter, he's a mixed martial artist. He is technically gifted and almost never puts himself in harms way. He is the living embodiment of Jackson's "just win" philosophy. The problem is that he tends to shut down under duress. In the 3rd round of his fight with Jake Shields he scratched his eye and simply stopped fighting. He knew he had 3 in the bag and decided to coast, and this was after he stayed on the feet for 3 rounds against a guy who couldn't break a potato-chip with a punch and failed to KO him.

The guy who beats GSP is the guy who can make a brawl out of it and has the KO power to remind him of his loss to Matt Serra. Diaz has the right mentality, but lacks the takedown defense and one-punch power. Condit may also fall victim to GSP's stellar MMA wrestling.

Of the crop that is out there now, I think Jake Ellenberger and Johny Hendricks might have the most favorable combination of skills. They are both compact, solid wrestlers (Hendricks being world-class) with heavy hands. They might be able to keep it on the feet long enough to remind GSP how much he hates getting hit. Unfortunately, the fights to see who gets to face GSP are often more entertaining than the championship fights themselves.

One loud critic

I read recently that Wanderlei Silva "silenced the critics" with his 2nd round TKO over Cung Le.

To really evaluate that statement, one has to understand exactly what most of the critics were saying about Wanderlei and whether or not his win over Le countered those statements. Personally, I don't think he even came close.

The first thing the critics were saying is that Wanderlei Silva is more than a few fights past his prime. Its often said that the trajectory of a career can change in a single fight. The fight that marked the downward slope of Silva's career was his Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix showdown with Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic.

For the ones that have only seen him in the UFC, Cro-Cop was the baddest of the bad in Pride. Everyone talks about his left high-kick, but he had the whole package when he fought in Japan. He had fast hands, good combinations, as well as great footwork that he used to SET UP his devastating finish. By the time he hit the UFC he relied too much on his one-shot weapon and opponents took advantage of his limited arsenal. When Silva collided with Cro-Cop he was at the top of his game and was coming up from 205 to challenge the best in the division.

Cro-Cop didn't just beat him, he DEMOLISHED him. Cro-Cop gave him the kind of beating that ends careers. He dominated him on the feet, landed some nice ground and pound, then turned out his lights with his signature head kick. Silva's face looked like hamburger at the end of the fight.

He was never the same: since that vicious loss he has gone 3-5, equaling the number of losses he had in his entire CAREER before the Cro-Cop fight. In Pride he was a devastating, brutalizing machine that destroyed the best in the division. Rampage, Ricardo Arona, a PRIME Sakuraba (3 times), Guy Metzger, and Dan Henderson all fell before his whirlwind attack. He didn't just win, he took guys apart.

The fighter that defeated Cung Le was a shadow of the Pride powerhouse. What he showed is that he still has tremendous finishing instincts. He took a bad beating during that fight before finding his way inside and finishing Le. He seemed hesitant and unsure of his timing. The bombs-away style Silva has always employed requires speed and confidence, two things Silva lacked in the Le fight. If you saw Silva in his prime, there is no doubt in your mind that his best days are behind him.

The second things the critics have said, those who really care about Silva as a fighter and as a human being, is that his health is in serious jeopardy. Of his 11 losses 6 have been by KO/TKO, 4 of those have been in the Cro-Cop fight and beyond. Silva never had a great chin, he was rocked in victories over Rampage, Sakuraba, Shungo Oyama, Dan Henderson, and Guy Metzger, and only Rampage and Henderson are known as power punchers. In his KO losses he has been absolutely devastated. All of his KO losses (other than his first, which was via cut) left him stretched out on the mat. Silva is the kind of fighter that goes out on his shield, and its been happening more and more frequently.

One horrific KO can cause permanent damage, 5 can leave you a stuttering wreck. No one who loves the sport and recognizes what Wanderlei has done for it wants to see him end up that way. The win over Le won't repair his damaged neurons, or make his chin any stronger.

Winning that fight was probably the worst thing that could have happened to him. He is now scheduled to fight Vitor Belfort after they finish coaching their respective teams on The Ultimate Fighter. I wrote about the Belfort-Silva rematch in my "Top Fights of All Time That Never Happened" blog. What I wrote about was that considering the wars Silva has been through and the inconsistency of Belforts performances, this rematch was unlikely. The only thing that has changed has been the consistency of Belfort. He has looked faster and stronger at 185, going 4-1 and dispatching ALL of his victims by KO.

The problem is that Silva still has name recognition and can put asses in seats. The Belfort/Silva rematch has a certain historical appeal to the older fans who remember their 1st encounter, but this fight should have happened 10 years ago, and those 10 years have been significantly harder on Silva.

Cung Le is not a top-10 middleweight. Chris Leben, who flattened Silva in his previous fight, is not a top-10 middleweight. Vitor Belfort IS a top-10 middleweight with serious KO power. This fight only makes sense to those blinded by a light that has long-since faded. Silva has serious heart and I know he'll put everything into his fight with Belfort. I can only hope that, win or lose, he chooses to make this fight his last and the critics can be unanimous in their praise of one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time...

Requiem for a lightwight

"This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away...to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was."

-Yoda

I have actually opened up an MMA blog with a Yoda quote, I think I deserve some credit for that.

It's my opinion that there is NO WAY BJ Penn stays retired for a significant amount of time, but for the purposes of this blog let's assume his career is finished and can be looked back upon in it's entirety. If that is the case I firmly believe that his end as a mixed martial artist can be traced back to a single date: January 31st, 2004.That was the day he choked out the previously unstoppable Matt Hughes and won the welterweight crown. Thus began his love-affair with the welterweight division, a division in which he would never be physically competitive.

Its difficult to imagine in the modern era of MMA how a fighter, even with BJ Penn's extraordinary Jiu-Jitsu credentials (he was the first non-Brazilian to win a black belt world title), could make their MMA debut in the UFC, but thats exactly what he did against Joey Gilbert on May 4th, 2001. After finishing Gilbert in the 1st round, his level of competition picked up considerably. He would finish both Din Thomas and Caol Uno in devastating fashion before getting a much-hyped title fight against lightweight kingpin Jens Pulver. Penn didn't fight with his usual "bombs away" style and lost a 5 round majority decision. It was the kind of loss that inexperienced fighters need early on, and from there big things were still expected of the young prodigy.

After his first loss, he tore though Paul Creighton before entering a mini-tournament for Pulver's vacated belt. He beat Matt Serra and got a controversial draw with Caol Uno in their rematch for the belt. Unfortunately the UFC basically began ignoring the lightweight division and left the title vacant from 2001-2006. BJ left the UFC to DOMINATE Takanori Gomi at Rumble on the Rock, then returned for his fateful fight against Matt Hughes at 170.

I understand why he did it at the time. The UFC had no title for him to fight for, and Matt Hughes was on an historic run in the division. He had little to lose and a lot to gain, and BOY did he deliver. He took the champ to the mat early and ROCKED him with a vicious right hand before finishing him off with his signature rear-naked. That was the beginning of a BIZARRE trend in BJ Penn's spectacular-yet-inconsistent career.

BJ has a total of 8 losses, only 3 of those are in the lightweight division, and 2 are to the same fighter (Frankie Edgar). BJ had a total of 7 fights in the UFC's welterweight division and went 2-4-1 with BOTH of his wins coming against Matt Hughes.

BJ's unreal talent seemed to come with an almost pathological obsession with testing his competitive limits. The other loss of his career came at the hands of LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT Lyoto Machida. BJ's ambition had almost a freak-show quality to it, it was as if he wanted to prove that his phenomenal talent could overcome every physical limitation but, as his record shows, it couldn't.

One must also remember that he insisted on taking on the cream of the welterweight crop. He had no softballs, no tune-ups, and asked for no mercy. He took on Matt Hughes, GSP, Jon Fitch, and Nick Diaz. Thats a murderer's row of talent and he took it on despite his well-known distain for the rigors of training (in fact, I would say he gave away one fight apiece to GSP and Matt Hughes due to his shallow gas tank).

Changing weight classes has always been the way to attract big paydays in combat sports. Most of the great fights in boxing history outside of the heavyweight division happened because one of the combatants was willing to get out of their comfort zone. The reason that is so difficult in MMA is 2-fold:

#1. There are fewer weight classes and therefore more of a weight difference between them.

#2. The grappling inherent in MMA makes the size difference MUCH more of an issue

Between the limits of 154-175 there are 4 distinct weight-classes in boxing. Between roughly that same span in MMA (155-170)there are 2. Given the wrestling background of many MMA fighters and the weight-cuting techniques they have mastered, there is an ASTRONOMICAL size difference between those 2 weight classes in MMA, a size difference BJ Penn was never able to overcome.

Roy Jones Jr. went from 160 pounds, all the way to heavyweight and defeated John Ruiz. How was he able to accomplish this this? Because in boxing, speed kills and no one was faster in his prime than Roy Jones Jr. The difference in MMA is that nothing negates speed like being picked up and slammed into the mat, and that happened to BJ throughout his welterweight fights.

The frustrating thing is that against the best lightweights in the world he was simply magnificent. Matt Serra was the only lightweight he couldn't finish and his list of victims is a who's who of the division. He didn't just defeat guys like Sean Sherk, Din Thomas, Diego Sanchez, and Kenny Florian, he DESTROYED them. For comparison's sake: current lightweight king Frankie Edgar out-boxed Sean Sherk and earned a clear unanimous decision, BJ Penn OBLITERATED Sherk with a flying knee and waved off the fight. He wasn't just fun to watch at 155, he was awe-inspiring, but he just wasn't content to stay there.

Despite his hall-of-fame credentials, he never defeated more than 3 lightweights in a row. He was always looking to stretch his horizons, despite never quite clearing out an increasingly talented lightweight division. It would be nice to see how he would do against the new, hungry breed at 155, guys like Gray Maynard, Ben Henderson, and Donald Cerrone. But if Penn's last performance was truly the end there is a certain fitting poetry to it: it was against a gigantic welterweight against whom he fought hard, but was physically outmatched. If we see him again, I hope he takes a lesson from that fight and keeps his sights firmly on the lightweight division...

For the love of fighting

You have to love fighting more than you love winning. You will always fight, you won't always win.

That's what I always tell the fighters I teach. Joe Warren might be the perfect example of why I preach that philosophy.

In the opening video piece they always play for Joe Warren he says a line about why he fights:
"I love belts, I love crowds, and I love winning, so this is right up my alley"

Everyone loves those things Joe. How about MRIs? Hospitals? Cage-side physicians asking you seemingly ridiculous questions like "What is your mother's name?" and "Can you tell me what day it is?" Do you like your cornerman telling you the details of a fight you can't remember? Seeing someone's hand raised at your expense...?

That is the flip-side of the sport. It's a reality "The Baddest Man on the Planet" must now live with. People get involved in sports for the thrill of victory, not the agony of defeat. Fighting carries that agony to a uniquely personal level. This is not a team sport, the blame for defeat or victory rest squarely on the shoulders of the combatant. The same can be said for tennis, but Raphael Nadal can lose a dozen matches without a single concussion check. If you lose you have no one to blame but yourself, and the physical and emotional consequences can be devastating, especially in the case of Joe Warren.

Joe is an emotional fighter, thats been obvious from the beginning. He psyches himself up for every fight and makes the fight as intensely personal as possible. His talks about the horrors he is going to inflict on his opponent, and talks, and talks, until he has convinced himself that victory is already assured. The vulnerability of this approach is that it only works as long as you believe it. The toll of that KO is much harder on a fighter who has blown himself up to superhuman proportions. Not every fighter would have taken that loss with tears streaming down their face, but with Joe Warren it was inevitable.

Joe Warren got to become Bellator champion in part because he believed that what happened against Alexis Vila couldn't happen to him. Now that he has been faced with the stark reality that he can be knocked out, moving forward will not be an easy task.

Fighters with a wide range of skills, guys like GSP, Bernard Hopkins, and Ernesto Hoost, can come back from defeats with a relatively simple formula. They can analyze what they did wrong, tweak their training, eliminate the mistakes, and go to their next fight with a different game-plan. Joe Warren does not have a wide range of skills. Sure, he has outstanding wrestling, but his submission game is rudimentary and his boxing is basic at best. As far as the technical aspects go, he has very little to fall back on.

A large part of Joe Warren's success as a fighter lies in his ability to take a beating and keep on coming forward. The big question is "Will Warren have the ability to take that beating now that he knows he can be knocked out?" Warren never fought to protect himself, he never hesitated to push the pace of a fight, even when he was taking hellish punishment. Having felt the devastation of a brutal KO, that "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" style may go out the window.

The simple biological fact is that chins don't get stronger. Warren had taken two wicked beatings in his last featherweight fights before he faced Vila and they certainly might have contributed to his poor performance in his last two fights. Fighters like Alexander Arlovski, Wanderlei Silva, and Roy Jones Jr. can all attest to the fact that once the ability to take a shot goes, it's gone for good.

Joe Warren would have had a tough road under the BEST of circumstances. Even if he had taken the 135 belt (no easy task in and of itself) he still would have had consecutive title defenses against two of the best featherweights in the world: Patricio Pitbull and Pat Curran. Now, however, he has to face Pitbull (a man who sees Joe Warren's face every time he goes to sleep) after suffering the worst loss of his career.

It will take "The Baddest Man on the Planet" to overcome the obstacles Joe Warren has in front of him. He will have to find out if he really has championship heart?  Can he still walk through an avalanche of punishment to claim victory?

Does he love fighting, or does he just love winning?

Sandro vs. Curran

There is a certain amount of satisfaction when you see the top two fighters in a Bellator tournament reach the finals. While we dont have seedings in Bellator, Marlon Sandro and Pat Curran would have been our #1 and #2 respectively. They are a combined 34-6 and Curran made it all the way to a championship showdown with Eddie Alvarez, while Sandro is the former Sengoku Featherweight champ.

They have both looked very solid in the Bellator tournament. Curran knocked down, then submitted, hard hitting Peruvian Luis Palomino (with a Peruvian Necktie, coincidence?) and then won a methodical decision over Ronnie Mann. Sandro won by decision twice over two VERY tough Brazilians: Genair DaSilva and Nazareno Malegarie.

The key to this fight lies in the stylistic differences between the two fighters.

Before the Mann/Curran fight, a lot of people I talked to were excited about it and expected a war between two outstanding strikers, I was not one of them. One thing about Pat Curran is that the guy doesn't brawl. He is a very tight striker who is VERY averse to taking risks. People always remember his knockout of Mike Ricci and his aforementioned submission over Luis Palomino, but those victories are the exception to the rule. Curran got to where he is by staying safe and winning close (even controversial) decisions. Against Mann, Curran used his considerable size advantage to claim the center of the cage and keep the explosive Mann on the outside looking for a way in, he never found it and lost a clear decision.

Mann is a tight striker as well who throws crisp, accurate combinations. He didn't have the skill set, or the size, to bully his way into the proper range to get his offense going. Marlon Sandro is a completely different kind of fighter.

Against both DaSilva and Malegarie, Sandro was a volume puncher. He, like Curran, prefers tight punches, but tends to let his hands go with less regard for the consequences. He is a Nova Uniao black belt with outstanding submission skills, but against his fellow Brazilians he took the path of least resistance and chose to turn it into boxing match.

One problem with Curran's style in this fight is his decided lack of urgency, even in close fights. In his decision wins over Huerta and Imada the fights were anything but secure in the last rounds, and yet Curran stuck to his "stay tight and see" game-plan, luckily for him the coin landed in his favor both times. Against Eddie Alvarez he never really went into an offensive mode, despite being behind throughout the entire fight.

The advantages of Curran and Sandro cancel each other out to some degree. Curran is the better wrestler, while Sandro has the better Jiu-Jitsu. In keeping with his conservative nature, Curran tends to use his wrestling defensively to keep the fight on the feet. Eddie Alvarez, Roger Huerta, and Tody Imada all had trouble taking Curran down, and when they did, they had little success keeping him there. Sandro isn't known for his wrestling ability and will have a hard time getting Curran to the mat if the stand-up isn't going his way. Curran, however, is equally unlikely to take Sandro down and risk a ground battle with the submission master.

I think this fight will be decided by the action on the feet. The question will be whether or not Sandro can stay busy and outwork Curran without opening himself up to a knockout blow. Sandro moves forward well and tends to throw punches right down the pipe, the kind of punches that don't leave a lot of room to counter. Curran angles well and keeps his hand very high, but is often too comfortable moving backward and giving away valuable rounds.

The first round of this fight is going to be crucial, as this is the kind of fight where you don't want to fall behind. As I stated before, Curran has a tight defense and generally limits his offense to looking for a big shot finish. He is hard to gain ground on if you fall behind to him, but he doesn't necessarily pick it up when HE falls behind. Whoever gets out ahead early is in good shape, as both of these fighters are very difficult to finish. Curran might want to use his take-down offensively at the end of rounds to in order to steal them, without giving the BJJ black belt enough time to get his submission game going, a strategy that worked VERY well for Michael Chandler against a similar opponent: Patricky Freire.

Will Sandro be able to put pressure on without succumbing to the lethal overhand of Curran? Will Curran turn it up when he has to earn himself another shot at a Bellator title?

Those are the two questions that will decide this title fight. No matter what happens the champ, whoever it is, had better be training.

Top fights of all time that never happened.

Someday if I have a serious biological error/lapse in judgement and have a child, I can imagine us gathered around a synthetic fireplace (global warming will make real ones totally unnecessary) where I will delight them with tales of WWAAAAAYYY back when MMA first started and there were a handful of relevant international promotions.

The UFC's buyout of their largest competitor certainly has its downside for fighters and fans alike, but one positive side-effect is that we will see many matches between outstanding fighters that would have been unthinkable due to cross-promotional barriers that no longer exist (much like finally being able to get Mexican Coke in a glass bottle in So-Cal, but I digress).

Nick Diaz is finally slated to take on GSP, Jacare and Anderson Silva will tangle eventually , and who isnt looking forward to seeing Stikeforce's heavyweight elite take a run at the UFC belt?

I thought now would be a good time to take a look back at time some amazing match-ups that never happened. Fans may have wanted them, the fighters may have wanted them, but they just didnt get done. Often, but not always, there were issues between rival promotions that made these matches impossible, other times the issues were much more complicated. "Fans" who believe MMA started in 2005 with the Ultimate Fighter can just stop reading now, most of these names won't mean anything to you:

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Frank Shamrock

The year was 1999. Frank Shamrock had just defeated a young challenger named Tito Ortiz with a dramatic come-from-behind KO in one of the greatest fights in UFC history up to that time. Frank carried his Middleweight belt out of the ring (yeah thats what it was called at the time) and walked away from the UFC. His destination was Japan, where he had started his career and made name on the Pancrase curcuit (what's Pancrase? ummmm...."slap boxing with padded boots on" is the best description I can think of "the Diet Coke of MMA" also springs to mind).

Kazushi Sakuraba was carving his way through the Gracie family at the same time. Bear in mind that this was back when a Gracie losing was a big deal. Royler, Royce. and Ryan all suffered their first losses to him and Renzo (thought by some to be the best MMA fighter in the family) had his arm mangled by the man who would become known as "The Gracie Hunter". EVERYONE wanted a piece of this guy. He took on the best and beat them with a combination of flare and technique that is rare in any sport.

SEG sports and its UFC brand was losing steam in the U.S. and Pride was paying top dollar, and thats where Shamrock hoped to end up. He had a K1 MMA fight against Elvis Sinosec to re-introduce himself to the Japanese fans, but the bout he wanted never materialized. The key to understanding it is the fact that Shamrock's stateside popularity didnt mean much to Japanese fans. The best ratings for Pride shows featured fights that the US audience wouldnt watch if you paid them between Japanese fighters with questionable skills. Bob Sapp, Giant Silva, and Hidehiko Yoshida were HUGE draws in Japan and freak-show contests that defied logic were mainstays overseas. Against that backdrop, Shamrock didnt draw the star-power necessary to get a shot at the king.

Wanderlei Silva vs Tito Ortiz II

If you ask most fans who Tito Ortiz beat to capture the UFC title they will draw a complete blank, and for good reason. The title was vacant at the time and this was during the "dark ages" of MMA when the UFC was banned from the PPV market (hard to picture now isnt it?). It was won in a match against Wanderlei Silva, who was most well known in the UFC at the time for being BLITZED by Vitor Belfort in 44 seconds (the first time the phrase "thats the old Vitor" was used, 1998 and I still CONSTANTLY hear it....but more on that later). Tito won the match via unanimous decision despite actually turning around and RUNNING from Silva at one point. Still, he worked his ground and pound game and began an historic run at light-heavyweight.

Wanderlei began an historic run of his own after that fight. He made the transition to Pride and cut a swath through the light-heavyweight ranks, capturing the belt and demolishing the aforementioned Sakuraba (a completely unnecessary) 3 times. He went undefeated for 4 years and didnt lose to another light-heavyweight for 5, at one time fighting 17 times without a loss.

Tito held the UFC gold for 3 1/2 years before being upset (yeah, it was an upset, everyone seems to forget that) by a 40 year old Randy Couture. From 2000- 2006 he held an impressive 11-2 record, losing only to Couture and Chuck Liddell. Many fans on both sides of the Pacific wondered who would own a rematch....but it was not to be.

By the time the UFC aquired pride in 2007, Wanderlei had simply been through too many wars and was past his prime. He has dropped down to middleweight and looked solid in beating Michael Bisping, but the "Axe Murderer" of old may be gone forever. Tito is in even worse shape. He has not had a victory since beating Ken Shamrock for the (COMPLETELY unnecesary) 3rd time and is 0-4-1 and has a longer list of injuries than a Evil Knievel. But when both guys were on top of their respective promotions, it would have been a match to see.

Jens Pulver vs Rumina Sato

The year was 2000. Jens Pulver was quickly making a name for himself as the the man to beat in the fledgling 155lb division in the UFC. His record was an impressive 9-2-1 with 7 of those wins coming by KO or TKO. He was a little dude with solid wrestling and a HEAVY left hand. He had just shown how heavy by breaking the jaw of John Lewis in a mere 15 seconds. If there was going to be any competition for this guy it would probably have to come from the land of the rising sun, where the lightweights reigned supreme.

There wasn't any lightweight more feared than Rumina Sato. He didn't just fight for the Shooto organization, he WAS Shooto. The fans loved this guy. He had a combination of technical slickness and near suicidal aggression that was entertaining every single time. The guy actually won an MMA fight via "flying reverse triangle choke" and his flying armbar win over Charles Diaz looks like something out of a Jet Li movie. He was a huge name in MMA and if you knew one name from overseas it was Rumina Sato.

Zuffa had just purchased the struggling UFC from SEG Sports and was looking to put on their first show. Dana White was a huge fan of Sato and wanted to bring the Shooto star over to his promotion. The match was a great fit on many levels: Japanese icon vs. up and coming U.S. superstar in the making, Brawler vs. Submission Specialist, #1 vs #2 for the inaugural lightweight championship.

Too bad no one told Caol Uno.

He had already beaten Sato once, a grueling match that saw Uno come back and win via rear-naked. Most Japanese fans saw it as a fluke and were sure Sato would avenge himself in a rematch. A vicious punch-kick combo proved everyone wrong as Uno KO'd Sato a mere 2 1/2 minutes into their rematch.

Zuffa, to their credit, went with the winner and pitted Uno against Pulver for the lightweight belt, a belt Pulver would hold for less than a year before walking away from the UFC in 2002. It was an outstanding fight and tempers the regret that the Japanese legend never fought in the octagon.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Vitor Belfort II

Is anyone else sick of everyone mentioning or referencing this fight every time Vitor Belfort gets in the ring? It seems like everyone is waiting for a performance like that again and are so sure it is just around the corner.

The year was 1997 and Vitor Belfort was the Mike Tyson of MMA. He was 19 years old looked completely unstoppable. He had dispatched his first 4 opponents in a combined 3:05. He had blinding hand speed and was thought to be one of the greatest BJJ fighters on the planet (anyone remember this quote "[Belfort] and Rickson Gracie are the best in the world on the ground", still hilarious). He trained with the Carlson Gracie Team when it was at the height of it's power and seemed destined for the heavyweight crown.

Then along came Randy Couture. He didnt just beat Belfort, he ground him into the mat. Not only did he out-grapple Belfort, he out-boxing him as well. It was the performance that really put Randy Couture on the map.

Belfort's next performance was a little bizarre. He beat Joe Charles without throwing a single punch, I think he was trying to make up for the fact that Couture had passed his guard like it wasn't even there. He responded to the post-fight interview question with inaudible one-word answers, it was the first hint that this dude had some confidence issues.

At Ultimate Brazil in 1998, Belfort moved down to 205 to take on the "Axe Murderer". Silva was only 5-1 and completely unknown at the time. This fight was his big break and he made the least of it. Belfort TORCHED Silva in a mere 44 seconds with a flurry of unanswered punches that has been replayed so many times I'm sick of seeing it.

As I went over in the Tito-Wanderlei section, Silva went on to an INCREDIBLE run in Pride. The weird thing is that Belfort fought for the same organization, in the same weight-class, and at the same time, yet they never faced each other again. Considering how badly I'm sure Silva wants payback, its strange that this fight never took place under the Pride banner.

There are basically two factors to keep in mind when analysing when this rematch never took place. Number one: UFC history meant very little to the Japanese fans and number two: Belfort was never really a title contender in Pride. Although he went 4-1 with the organization, he was never really a fan favorite and only finished one opponent. Wanderlei was the proverbial "wildman" from Brazil and decimated his opponents, while Belfort never fought like the man who has devastated Silva in the UFC.

Both guys now find themselves in the octagon at the same weight-class, so this re-match could potentially still happen. But considering the wars Wanderlei has been through and the inconsistent nature of Belfort's performances since that beating by Couture, it may be too late to see the fight all would have hoped for.

Tank Abbot vs. Ken Shamrock

There were basically four names that dominated the early tournament-based UFCs: Royce Gracie, Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock, and David "Tank" Abbott. Of those four, Abbott is the only one who never fought any of the other three.

Abbott was a brawler who was the original "Huntington Beach Bad-Boy". We knew when we saw him make fun of a convulsing John Matua that this guy had a serious attitude problem and KO power. To say he was not particularly technical is a bit of an understatement. This guy had 24 fights and NEVER WENT PAST THE FIRST ROUND!!! He was certainly fun to watch though. He actually knocked Don Frye on his ass with a JAB. In the early days, when MMA was more spectacle than sport, he was a mean brawler with a style that was easy for fans to understand. He looked, talked, and acted like a guy who punched people for money.

Ken Shamrock was the only fighter other than Royce Gracie who had any business being in the first UFC. He was well-rounded, experienced, and could bench-press a small truck. Before leaving MMA in 1997 for a stint in the WWE, Shamrock's only octagon losses were to Gracie and Severn and his overall MMA record was an impressive 23-5-1. He was a MAJOR star for the organization and was a force to be reckoned with in the heavyweight division.

Why these two never met in something of a mystery. They were aggressive, crowd pleasing strikers with big names and they HATED each other. These were two guys with no shortage of ego and their ability to trash-talk was legendary. Abbott would bad-mouth Santa Clause with no hesitation and famously called his nemesis "Glam-rock". Shamrock had a knack for building up fights by making them into "grudge-matches" filled with personal venom. Three not-even-a-little-bit-competitive matches with Tito Ortiz drew HUGE rating for no discernable reason other than the words leading up to them.

They never settled their differences in the cage however. The old SEG Sports UFC was always challenged when it came to making the most of its brand. It seems obvious in hindsight that these two should have squared off, but the powers that ran SEG never put it together.

Rickson Gracie vs. Anyone significant in MMA

Most people would put Kazushi Sakuraba in that "anyone" spot, but the point is that there was more than one option.

Have you heard the story? Rickson Gracie walks into Barra Gracie (or Gracie Humaita in the story I heard) and lines everyone up against the wall and taps them out one at a time. Black belts, world champions, guys who out-weigh him by 100 pounds, they all submit. He beats them EASILY, none of the matches are even close, no one even gets an offensive position on him, and he does it using moves that any blue-belt would know.

In his competitive years he was simply unstoppable, he was the lion of the Gracie family. His brothers were good, but he was light-years better. No one I've spoken to seems to know why, he was just better. He has never lost in BJJ, in fact he never even came particularly close to losing. I've literally heard of black belts bragging about how LONG it took Rickson to submit them, as it that were tantamount to a victory. Too many people I respect in the sport have told me that Rickson is the best Jiu-Jitsu fighter to ever set foot on a mat...period.

My belief that he is makes his career in MMA somewhat disappointing. Aside from his two fights against Rei Zulu in the early 80s, Rickson spent the bulk of his career competing in the mid-late 90s in Japan. He was the "Vale Tudo Japan" champion in 1994 and 1995, he also fought in the inaugural Pride show in 1997 and the promotion's fourth show exactly one year later.

Before taking on Masakatsu Funaki in 2000 Rickson's record was 10-0 with all of his wins coming by submission. The record is impressive, until one realizes that exactly ONE of Rickson's opponents, Yuki Nakai, won more matches than he lost and Nakai himself only beat one opponent with a winning record.

That's not a rarity for a fighter in the mid-1990s. It wasn't unusual for a fighter to make their name against fighters who had never fought before. The sport was just beginning and cards were full of neophytes making their debuts in what were, at the time, major promotions.

By the end of the decade though, the landscape had changed. Professional MMA athletes were taking the sport to a new level, style vs style was giving way to MMA fighter vs MMA fighter. Fighters like Bas Rutten, Frank Shamrock, Igor Vovchanchyn, and Kiyoshi Tamura were paving the way for the MMA fighters of today. How would the lion of the Gracie family have performed against any of these more well-rounded fighters? We will never know. In both of his Pride appearances he fought the pro-wrestler Nobuhiko Takada, submitting him both times. On the same show in which Rickson submitted the ummm..."physical entertainer" for the second time, Kazushi Sakuraba, Igor Vovchanchyn, Akira Shoji, Alan Goes, and Mark Kerr all fought. Any of those men would have been more fitting opponents for the greatest Jiu-Jitsu black belt of all time.

In 2000 Kazushi Sakuraba was carving his way through the Gracie family. At the time it was assumed that the best of the clan would step up and defend the family name. Instead, Rickson took on Masakatsu Funaki in his first full-rules MMA fight at the Colosseum 2000 show. It was a puzzling choice to most MMA fans. Funaki had a solid reputation and was a founder of the Pancrase promotion, but by 2000 he had gone 3-3-1 in his last 7 fights and was near the end of his competitive days. Rickson's submission victory over Funaki would be the last one of his MMA career. Sakuraba would beat 4 Gracies before losing a rematch to Royce in 2007.

Would "The Gracie Hunter" have bagged the biggest lion of them all, or would Rickson have redeemed him family's name in dramatic fashion?

We will never know...