Issue 072

February 2011

Reminisce with us on arguably the most eventful 12 months in MMA history...

Old dogs, new tricks

Winning his MMA debut in January’s Strikeforce: Miami show, former NFL running-back Herschel Walker gave hope to the Cocoon generation of aspiring fighters with a spirited display at the grand age of 47. In what was to be an increasing trend in crossovers throughout 2010, five-time Worlds Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski went 3-1, while boxer James Toney’s “months” of MMA training failed to cover the basics; i.e. tapping. Something he would do well to practice ahead of any possible return to the cage.

Aoki: Crazy hose, crazy guy

Another eventful year for Shinya Aoki. He started fast and strong, breaking Mizuto Hirota’s arm on the New Year Dynamite! show then thrusting his midddle finger at the crowd. Aoki was brought down to earth: the incident found him ejected from his gym, then he was dominated on his American debut, in April, by Gilbert Melendez. Two high points: announcing his marriage after another ‘intense’ submission, this time on Tatsuya Kawajiri’s ankle at Dream 15 in July, and joining the crazy Cesar Gracie gang after his defeat by CG stalwart Melendez.

Gracie comebacks

The name ‘Gracie’ made a return to the Octagon in February for only the second time in almost 16 years as Rolles Gracie Jr faced Joey Beltran at UFC 109: Relentless. In a performance Renzo Gracie later described as “embarrassing,” Rolles gassed, turtled and eventually wilted to a (T)KO early in the second. 2010 proved to be an unfruitful year for Gracie comebacks as Renzo himself lost two months later, albeit valiantly, to Matt Hughes at UFC 112.

The Arab connection

Relinquishing a 100% stake in the promotion for the first time in its nine-year ownership, Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, sold a 10% share to Abu Dhabi-based business Flash Entertainment in January. However, obtaining access to one of the world’s most affluent and vivacious MMA consumers is one thing, impressing him on your first date is another altogether (see below)…

Insult of the year: ‘Playboy’

Anderson Silva, so incensed by Demian Maia’s educated background, sought to make a very public mockery of his opponent in their April UFC 112 clash. What began as bemusing ended farcically with Silva denouncing Maia as a ‘playboy’ and seeking to play hide-and-seek behind referee Dan Miragliotta. Incurring the wrath of both his paymasters and the viewing public, the pound-for-pound stalwart did little to endear himself to MMA’s new Arabic audience.

Stockton vs Mayhem

Barely two weeks on from Anderson Silva’s bizarre performance, the world of MMA once again found itself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Where UFC 112 was criticized for Silva’s lack of action, Strikeforce: Nashville went ‘Royal Rumble’ on us. The night had unfolded spectacularly for Cesar Gracie school, as Gilbert Melendez humiliated Shinya Aoki and Jake Shields came from behind to put five rounds of hurt on Dan Henderson. Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller attempted some ill-advised trash talk during Shields’ post-fight interview: cue the combined forces of Cesar Gracie, featuring Nick and Nate Diaz, administering an old-fashioned schoolyard-style shoe-ing. And proved that there is such a thing as bad publicity.

Daley sucker punches Koscheck

UK Muay Thai specialist Paul Daley made his mark on the UFC with first-round KOs of Martin Kampmann and Dustin Hazelett, themselves no pushovers. But Josh Koscheck had no intention of standing with ‘Semtex’ and put on a lay ‘n’ pray master class in May, complemented by some considerably more colorful in-cage trash talk. The Brit crowd-pleaser crossed a line, with Dana White adamant that Daley won’t be back. By comparison, Koscheck next faces Georges St Pierre for the welterweight title in December, and helped promote the cause of male nurses around the world with his ribbing of Team GSP medic Brad Tate as a coach/heel on this season’s Ultimate Fighter.

A good year for the fatties

Giving hope to fellow Peter Griffin look-alikes, Mike Russow proved that serving up a whupping isn’t necessarily about how many abs you can count through the cut of your walk-in T-shirt. Employing the often seen, but hugely entertaining, ‘Cabbage’ Correira approach of allowing your opponent to punch himself out on your face in his May battle with heavyweight specimen Todd Duffee, Russow launched, and landed, the mother of all Hail Mary’s midway in the third to secure a seemingly impossible comeback victory. As Joe Rogan coined it: “If this was a movie you would say, ‘No way, that can’t happen in real life’.” 

Not such a good year for the fatties

Longtime messiah of the forums, Fedor Emelianenko was considered unbeaten and unbeatable going into a June encounter with Fabricio Werdum. 1:09 minutes later and Werdum had triangle and armbar-combo’d his way into MMA folklore as the only man to have ever (legitimately) stopped ‘The Last Emperor’. In scenes not seen since Affliction went bust, cyberspace pseudonyms committed mass Hari Kari and Dana White tweeted ‘;D’.

“Jake, meet Dana”

He might not have been the Holy Grail of employee acquisitions that is Fedor, but Dana White’s relentless pursuit of Jake Shields saw the UFC president pull off the year’s biggest transfer coup when Shields swapped Strikeforce for the UFC in July. A few candles and a bottle of rosé short of a full-on bromance, White famously bragged: “He’s mine!” live on the WEC 48 pay-per-view. While Shields failed somewhat to fulfill the hype with a debut decision-victory over Martin Kampmann at UFC 121, the decorated Californian has first dibs on the winner of GSP vs Koscheck in early 2011. Check out our interview with Shields on page 36.

Movie superstardom

Mixed martial arts and movies don’t always mix (Death Warrior *cough cough*), yet 2010 proved to be a profitable year at the box office for a number of familiar faces. Quinton Jackson’s BA Baracus revival in the A-Team grossed over $175,000,000, while Randy Couture’s turn in gun-porn action-flick The Expendables pocketed a tidy $265,000,000. However, for ‘best use of military hardware in a scene involving intergalactic head-hunters’ step forward old-school warrior Oleg Taktarov in July’s Predators... and you thought claymores were just for blowing up noobs on Call Of Duty.

Cyborg gets Cuddles

Jan ‘Cuddles’ Finney got the beat down of her life from Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos in June as female referee Kim Winslow looked on impassively. For some it made ‘uncomfortable’ viewing: but as fightlinker.com blogged: “Is women’s MMA too much for you, girly-man?”

Leben waits all year for a fight, then two come along at once

At a time when many fighters fight just twice in a year (Anderson Silva, GSP, Cain Velasquez), Chris Leben achieved the feat inside just two weeks; first (T)KO’ing Aaron Simpson at The Ultimate Fighter Finale 11 on the June 19, then choking out Yoshihiro Akiyama just 14 days later at UFC 116 in one of the year’s most climatic finishes. However, 2010 wouldn’t be all roses and triangle chokes. At around the same time as his Fighters Only cover hit US newsstands in October, Leben was busted for DUI in Honolulu.

Frankie Edgar rise to the occasion – twice

If some considered Frankie Edgar’s April decision victory over BJ Penn at UFC 112 contentious, then the immediate rematch just four months later at UFC 118 left no margin for complaint. Solidifying his position at the top of the 155lb tree with a peerless performance, Edgar outworked, outmaneuvered and outstruck the former top dog 3-1 on his way to becoming the undisputed lightweight champion. He was strong in the running for the World MMA Awards ‘Fighter of the Year’ until pipped by Jose Aldo.

When MMA stars attack

Hitting girls isn’t tough, nor is it cool (unless of course you’re Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos, in which case who are we to argue?). So when a video surfaced in August of Bellator fighter Roger Huerta defending a woman outside a bar in Texas, few would dispute that Huerta did a noble deed. “In no way do I condone street fighting” said Dana White, “but when a guy puts his hands on a woman he deserves to be knocked the f**k out. Good for Roger.” 

Winners don't do drugs

With only two minutes of his August encounter with Anderson Silva at UFC 117 left, Chael Sonnen was on the verge of making history by ending ‘The Spider’s four-year reign as middleweight champion. While we all know what happened next (spoiler alert: he lost), Sonnen was later found to have excessively high amounts of testosterone in his body, taking the gloss of an otherwise inspired performance. Sonnen was fined $2,500 and suspended until March 2, 2011. Whether he was ‘performance enhancing’ or undergoing a legimate course of therapy reamins a matter of some complication.

TapouT BuyouT

If proof were needed of MMA’s continued infiltration into the public psyche, then the acquisition of MMA clothing giants TapouT, Silverstar and Sinister by the Authentic Brands Group proved that MMA is becoming big business. Describing itself as a company dedicated to “acquiring a global portfolio of world-renowned brands to enhance brand equity through partnering with best-in-class brand licensees,” (corporate speak for ‘We intend to make a load of money’), the buy out is testament to just how far the sport has evolved commercially. Just don’t hold your breath waiting on those Dan Severn limited edition trunks anytime soon.

Shine-ing examples

Trash talk plumbed new depths at the April Shine Fights press conference. Boxer Ricardo Mayorga told Din Thomas: “Your family needs to get dressed in black. When I go to make love to my wife, I put on a black towel because it’s time to bury my main man into my wife. I intend to bury your ass. I’m going to be the man and you’re going to be the woman.” Then he blew cigarette smoke into Din’s face and later punched him. Unfortunately, the showdown planned for May never happened. Boxing promoter Don King successfully argued in court that the fight was a breach of an exclusive contract he’d signed with Mayorga. 

War Machine wagon stalls

2010 was the year War Machine eventually went to prison. After years of wrecking porn parties, sidewalk choke outs and spitting on cops it was a felony assault charges that finally secured him a trip to the big house. In separate incidents, War had punched a bouncer and swept bottles off a bar towards a female bartender. He was sentenced in August and is currently serving a 12-month term at the San Diego Central Jail.

Greatest fight… ever?

In August, Jorge Santiago came from behind to best Kazuo Misaki in a magnificent scrap for the Sengoku middleweight belt. There were times when either could have been stopped, but it was the relentless punches the Brazilian landed from top position in the last minute of the fifth round that prompted Misaki’s corner to throw in the towel. Heroic performances from both men in a classic encounter.

Don Frye vs Shark

In September, Don Frye enlivened the Shark Fights 13 commentary with his remarks. On the undercard: “That was like prison sex: hard, sweaty, violent and there was a lot of noise,”; on win/loss records: “I started counting fights when I’d come home drunk and knock my old lady around,”; on world affairs: “I heard Italy just declared war on Spain, and France surrendered,”; and on the show itself: “That was like two hours of rough, hard sex. I need a cigarette and a tequila now.” Some felt that that Frye was providing ammunition for opponents of the sport. As Frye told the viewers: “I’m a wrestler. My balls are so big I wear the excess on my hat.”

Arianny poses naked

They say a picture paints a thousand words, so if you don’t already own a copy of November’s Playboy magazine featuring UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste then go purchase one. Now. Just not from where your mom buys her groceries. And if you really must liberate a copy from your dad’s stash, remember to put it back how you found it.

WEC merges with the UFC

If you’ve been to a UFC Fan Expo recently, you’ll know that after the ritual “Can I get some free tickets?” the most common question Dana White was asked is, “When will WEC combine with its big bro the UFC?” Well that day finally arrived late in October when the merger was officially announced to rapturous applause. With WEC 53: Henderson vs Pettis in December being the last-ever under the WEC banner, 2011 promises to be a fine year for MMA as the mouthwatering prospect of a 155lb unification fight, and the likes of Aldo, Faber, Cruz, Torres et al gracing the famous Octagon, becomes a reality. 

FIRST IN 2010

• 1st UFC event held in both Australia (UFC 110) and Abu Dhabi (UFC 112)
• 1st time Dana White was so incensed as to not present the belt post-fight – Silva vs Maia at UFC 112: Invincible
• 1st TUF coach to be replaced mid-season – Rich Franklin for Tito Ortiz
• 1st career defeats for Lyoto Machida, John Hathaway, Rory McDonald, Todd Duffee, Shane Carwin, Brian Bowles, ‘King’ Mo Lawal and Japanese female fighter Megumi Fujii