Rich Clemente goes by “No Love,” but at UFC 76 the Honda Event Center crowd gave Clementi plenty of love after he defeated his much heavier opponent Anthony Johnson.  Rich deserves tons of respect for not only winning, but for accepting the fight against the highly regarded up-and-comer Johnson who came into the fight with a 4-0 record and weighed in at 177lbs, seven pounds heavier than Clementi.  There are plenty of MMA fighters who would have called off the fight without anyone thinking less of them, but that is not what Clementi is all about.  Even though Rich has shown over the past year that he’s not able to compete with top level welterweights, he has a champion’s heart.

“This is my last fight at 170,” said ‘No Love’. “I am going down to 155. But when the UFC calls, I answer, no matter what the weight.”

Much love, no love. We’re looking forward to seeing you at light weight and wish there were more MMA fighters like you.

On Thursday night’s broadcast of Ultimate Fight Night 11, the UFC production suffered a few technical difficulties during the event.  One of the most noticeable was the lack of commentating during the first round of the Nate Quarry vs. Pete Sell fight.  It took a couple of momets to pick up on it, but once it was noticed, it begged the question “Is hearing only the crowd and the sound of the fighters inside the octagon enough, or does the fight lose something by not having Joe and Goldberg commentating?“  Before you answer, think about the Ultimate Fighter television show, none of those matches have commentary.

Some may enjoy the silence and say that it gives them more of an opportunity to focus on the fight and draw their own conclusions without being influenced by Rogan.  Or, not having UFC mouthpiece Mike Goldberg saying, “and there they go, toe-to-toe!” after a fighter lands a single jab .

On the other hand, having Joe and Mike making the calls does add a certain energy to the fight.  And we know for some of the newer fans to mixed martial arts, the information they provide is crucial. 

So, as a MMA fan, do you feel silence is golden?

Gregg Doyel over at CBS Sports.com has written a really intelligent article (especially for a mainstream media outlet) regarding the current state of the UFC and some of the organization’s possible corruption.  His rants:

For starters, Bisping won the decision over Hamill because (1) the event took place in England, Bisping’s home turf (2) Bisping is more marketable than Hamill.  As the UFC looks to expand their presence to an evergrowing MMA crowd in the UK, having Bisping will only help to serve this agenda.  According to Doyel, when Bisping couldn’t win, the judges did it for him.

And how about the huge discrepancy in pay days for the UFC fighters?  At UFC 74 St. Pierre made $140k while his opponent Josh Koscheck made a measly $10K.  Where’s the equality?  Where is all this PPV, event, and sponsorship money going?  It’s not going to the fighters.

Lastly, how about the double standard for Sobral?  (more…)

Last night heavily favored Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic suffered his second loss in the UFC at the hands of a B level fighter in Cheik Kongo.  His loss begs the question, “what’s next for the Croatian?”  Although Cro Cop is always a dangerous fighter capable of knocking out just about any opponent on a good day, his last two losses in the UFC make it apparent that he not a legitimate threat to reign king in the heavyweight division.  Sure, he might be able to KO Couture (maybe) but he’s not the type of fighter that can sustain a long title run with multiple defenses.  The way we see it, Mirko has two options.

First option is to simply retire.  Cro Cop has a full time job waiting for him on the police force in Croatia and even has a seat on the country’s parliament.  As a K-1 and MMA fighter, he has nothing left to prove.  He ran through the 2006 Pride Grand Prix tournament in impressive fashion to capture the lofty title in Japan.  He’s faced the best and he’s beaten some of the best.  His last few fights however show that the eye of the tiger that made him so feared years ago is waning.  Can he regain that fire and compete with the likes of Gonzaga, Vera, Fedor, and Nogueria?  The old Cro Cop, yes.  The current Cro Cop, no.

Second option is to drop down to the UFC light heavyweight division.  Mirko came into the fight against Kongo at 220lbs.  Yes he doesn’t carry a lot of extra weight, but dropping 15lbs to make the light heavyweight max of 205lb is very doable.  Competing in the lighter division could definitely bring some excitement and help re-fuel his fire.  While he’s shown to not be a serious contender for a heavyweight title, at 205 he’d have one hell of a shot.  Cro Cop vs. Jackson?  Cro Cop vs. Shogun?  Cro Cop vs. Henderson?  Cro Cop vs. Liddell?  These are all fights the fans would love to see.

Of the two options, we would like to see the second scenario.  Are we crazy?  Add a comment.

It’s kind of nice to see a MMA professional actually commit to picking a winner as opposed to just saying, “if it goes to the ground, it benefits fighter A.  If they stay on their feet, then fighter B has a better chance.”  If you are professional in the sport, just call a winner and stand by it.  That’s what Stephen “The Fight Professor” Quadros has done.  For those MMA fans not familiar with Quadros, he’s been in the biz a long long time as a analyst and color commentator for organizations such as Pride, K1, ShoXC, and Cage Rage.  He carries a decent amount of respect in the community. 

He talked with Budo Videos and did some straight talking regarding the UFC Championship fight between Quinton Jackson and Dan Henderson.  Some of his more interesting thoughts include,

“Frankly I’m a little curious as to why they rushed into setting up this particular match (Henderson/Jackson) so quickly. Both were stars in the organization formerly know as Pride, but relatively obscure here in the states (Quinton has since gained some degree of exposure when he destroyed the UFC®’s poster boy Chuck Liddell). One would think that they had so many options to help build the organizational “rivalry” (sigh) up, or at least the champion versus champion angle by possibly making Dan and Quinton coaches on The Ultimate Fighter “reality” TV show, or at minimum have them both fight separate matches on at least one card together and THEN, after they introduced Henderson to those who only know the post-TUF era of the sport, put them in the Octagon® against each other.”

and

“As charismatic as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is, it baffles me as to why he has not been marketed more aggressively by the UFC®. His reactive yet charming personality is tailor made for television and talk show hosts would surely find loads of ways to have fun with him as guest. But instead he’s been shipped to England and taken off pay-per-view (this UFC® will be aired free on Spike TV in the states).”

His thoughts on the Championship fight… (more…)

First off, love this photo of Joe!

UFC’s Joe Rogan had an interesting repsonse to a message what was posted on his forum regarding Wanderlei Silva’s signing with the UFC.  Rogan said,

“He fought against Dan Henderson with a serious case of the flu.
That dude isn’t done yet, not by a long shot.
Remember, he’s the guy that crushed Rampage twice. The second KO was one of the most brutal in MMA history. He’s only 31, and with all this time off since his last fight, I think when we see him in the Octagon it’s going to be like seeing the Wanderlei of old.
I’m fucking pumped!”

You know, Joe does make a pretty damn good point.  For the UFC fans who did not follow Pride, they probably aren’t aware of how dangerous Silva is.  Sure he’s lost his last two fights, but damn, he had the courge to take on Cro Cop. Not too many light heavies would even think about doing that.  And least not forget that he demolished the current UFC heavyweight champion, twice!  Rogan reminds us of the true magnitude of Wanderlei signing with the UFC.  Nicely said Joe, now have another rip my friend.