Issue 163

January 2018

A wishlist for 2019

THE 'Os' THAT ARE YET TO GO

  • Darren Till isn’t the only undefeated talent on the UFC’s books. There are tons of fighters we’d like to see get similar attention for perfect records, which are rare and noteworthy at that level. Alberto Mina (13-0), Paulo ‘Borrachinha’ Costa (11-0), Shane Burgos (10-0) and Gregor Gillespie (10-0) are among the names that could use a little more shine going forward.

CHUCK LIDDELL TO STAY RETIRED

  • ‘The Iceman’ was the reason many fans first got interested in MMA. He earned his place in the UFC Hall of Fame, but his career ended more than seven years ago after he kept getting knocked out. The last thing we want to see is a 47-year-old legend putting his health on the line just to bank one last payday. Enjoy life on the couch instead.

HOMETOWN SHOWS

  • Stipe Miocic in Cleveland, GSP in Montreal, José Aldo in Rio, Phil Davis at Penn State, Chris Weidman in Long Island. Putting an MMA icon in their own backyard is a no-brainer. Even if it’s not a big-time title fight, you get a big fight feel as an arena full of fans go mad for their hero. It’s great to experience live, it’s great to see on TV and it can be a star-making move.

RIZIN KEEPS BEING RIZIN

  • The Japanese organization knows it’ll never match the UFC in terms of talent, but it can become the world leader in over-the- top excitement. Year-long tournaments and barely- believable freak-show fights are fine by us as an alternative to the regular diet of MMA fare – as long as the matchmaking doesn’t become unsafe. Long may they continue!



STICK TO WHAT YOU KNOW

  • We’ve had enough of mixed martial artists calling out boxers. Guess what? You’d eat them alive in the cage, and they’re too skilled at the sweet science for you to have much more than a puncher’s chance. Sure, Michael Page looked great in his squared- circle debut, but no one had heard of opponent Jonathan Castano (who had a 2-11-1 record). We’d rather see ‘Venom’ in Bellator fighting Paul Daley instead of embarrassing made-to- order journeymen in 10oz gloves.

KEEP CONOR IN HIS SEAT

  • If his interactions with referee Marc Goddard in Poland and Ireland towards the end of 2017 have told us anything, it’s that ‘The Notorious’ should stay in his seat when he’s attending an event. Whether he’s patrolling the outskirts of the cage to shout advice or jumping into it before a fight has officially been stopped, he always seems to be causing some kind of infraction. Someone best strap him to his seat the next time he’s cageside.

WEEKLY RUSSIAN MAYHEM

  • M-1, ACB and Fight Nights Global put together more than 60 shows between them in 2017, presenting a parade of tough-as-nails, battle hardened athletes who all seem to have been training sambo since they were barely out of diapers. Each organization is also loaded with cash, thanks to backing from billionaire benefactors, so they’re adding more and more talent to test their home- grown killers. We wouldn’t change a thing about what they’re doing.

KAYLA HARRISON ENTERS MMA

  • Ronda Rousey didn’t come close to the Professional Fighters League’s marquee acquisition when it comes to accomplishments in judo. Harrison, who used to train with the former UFC champ, is an ex-world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. However, she competed at at 78kg (about 172lb), which is a non-existent weight class in women’s MMA. Hopefully, she can find enough quality opponents in her new sport to show off her world-class skills.

BELLATOR HEAVYWEIGHT GP

  • Not what we expected, not what we wanted, but what the hell, let’s see how this thing turns out, eh? Bellator is not exactly blessed with the deepest heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions, so why not throw the best of them together and just see what happens? Who else is backing Roy Nelson to throw a spanner in the works and win the whole thing, though?

ANOTHER GREAT GRACIE

  • For too long, members of MMA’s most famous family have been missing from the conversation about the very best fighters in the world. While there’s no doubt their name is still preeminent in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, there has not been a Gracie among the top-ranked fighters in the world this century.
  • However, there is a new hope for die-hard defenders of BJJ. Kron Gracie has already shown his quality, capping a 4-0 record in Rizin with an eye-opening victory over UFC and Pride veteran, Tatsuya Kawajiri. But the son of Rickson doesn’t seem to have his full focus on mixed martial arts.
  • Neiman Gracie, however, is fighting regularly in Bellator. The 29-year-old improved to 7-0 in October with a submission finish – his sixth in MMA – against 27-fight veteran Zak Bucia. He competes at 170lb, which is Bellator’s strongest division, but if the man from the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York stays active and continues to impress, he could prove himself against one of the best fighters in the world.



THE RETURN OF MEGAN ANDERSON

  • The Aussie emerged as the most exciting women’s featherweight talent when she captured the Invicta title last January. The six- foot striker was promptly called up to the UFC to test Cris Cyborg, but before the world got to see how she’d fare, she mysteriously withdrew, citing personal reasons. Without a true, made- for-145lb alternative, she’s still the one we’re most excited to see enter the title fray in 2018.

CM PUNK FIGHTING AT HIS LEVEL

  • If Phil Brooks is going to fight again, better he face o against someone who’s of a similar ability. Anyone with half a clue knew exactly what was going to happen in September 2016 when he fought Mickey Gall. That fight served little benefit other than to give the young New Jerseyan’s profile a boost.
  • The same will be true ifPunk gets assigned anyone with a minimal amount of mid-level MMA experience. The only thing we’ll learn a second time is that – surprise, surprise – a 39-year-old novice is not suited to competing against professional fighters on the world’s biggest stage. It might make the UFC some money, but it will look like a shameless cash grab If the former WWE superstar must fight again – and the signs coming out of Roufusport in Milwaukee suggest that he wants to – we’d love to see him do what everyone else has to do and tread water in one of the many fine regional promotions across the US against someone else with a similar number of fights and skill level.
  • He’ll never be the best in the world in this game, so it’s ridiculous to put him on a platform with people who could be.



A TRIPLE CHAMPION

  • By moving up to lightweight and knocking out Eduard Folayang in November, Martin Nguyen became ONE Championship’s first dual-weight world champion. Now he wants to defend his belts and try to take Bibiano Fernandes’ bantamweight belt.
  • “I’ll go back and defend my belt against who’s most worthy and my future goal is to go down and fight for Bibiano’s belt,” he said. “I’m here to make history.” He’s going to have a busy year.

A TUNE-UP FIGHT OR TWO

  • We love that the best usually fight the best in MMA, but that doesn’t mean anyone has to continue fighting killers when they’ve hit a rough patch. It seemed crazy to have Chris Weidman fight Gegard Mousasi after he’d just had his head caved in by Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero. Francis Ngannou was not the man for an Andrei Arlovski reeling from three stoppage loses. We’re not saying you have to feed these guys tomato cans, but a less cut-throat assignment might be better to get a marketable fighter back on the winning track and into the mix.

SCORING AND JUDGING CLARITY

  • When changes were introduced to the Unified Rules of MMA at the end of 2016, the head scratching began. It was confusing enough that many regulations were modified, but the fact that not every commission adopted the adjustments makes things brain-meltingly bewildering. Having to work out what guidelines apply depending on the location of a fight card is hard enough from your couch, so goodness knows the stresses if you’re in the heat of battle. It would be handy if everyone could come to some sort of agreement and actually make the rules unified.

THE KOREAN ZOMBIE RISES

  • February 2017: finally, Chan Sung Jung returns to the Octagon after three and a half years away for mandatory military service in South Korea and electrifies everyone with a first-round KO of Dennis Bermudez. June 2017: ‘The Korean Zombie’ sits back on the shelf with a long-term knee injury. The MMA gods can be cruel. Let’s hope the thrilling undead warrior can make a permanent return in the coming months.

MOUSASI AT HIS BEST IN BELLATOR

  • Big things were expected of Gegard Mousasi when he crossed over the great MMA promotional divide, but some saw his Bellator debut as a let-down. However, Alexander Shlemenko is a tough test for anyone, even someone with 23 career KOs. Only a brave man would bet against the former Strikeforce champion rediscovering his best form and adding to that total against other middleweights this year.



ONE CHAMPIONSHIP OPEN-WEIGHT SUPER-BOUTS

  • Here’s how to do a freak show fight with the freak factor turned down a notch. In November, middleweight champion Aung La N Sang fought heavyweight kickboxer Alain Ngalani for a crowd-pleasing main event. It was a skill vs. size clash of styles that made for a competitive matchup, which ‘The Burmese Python’ won. If that’s how ONE wants to keep its belt-holders busy, you’ll find no arguments here.

NO MORE POSITIVE DRUG TESTS

  • We don’t need to explain this anymore. Fighters: you know USADA is going to come calling, so stop taking that bad stuff and fight clean and fair. We don’t want another Jon Jones situation, where a newly-minted champ has to be stripped of his title, or an Anderson Silva scenario where we’re forced to question the accomplishments of one of the greats.

TAKE IT SLOW, AARON PICO

  • Zach Freeman’s defeat of Bellator’s super- prospect was a huge upset, but in hindsight, a victory by an 8-2 veteran from good regional shows was no surprise. The difficulty was lowered for the 21-year-old’s next matchup and he got to show what he’s capable of, showing that should be allowed to develop properly.



GO OUT IN STYLE

  • Michael Bisping has made his retirement plan pretty clear: he wants one last hurrah in his homeland. The question is, who the hell is he going to face? There’s a lot of fight left in the old dog, so the UFC won’t want to make a kind of match where he could spoil a potential title contender’s run towards the belt.
  • You also wouldn’t want to see him fed some cupcake who would have no business fighting him under normal circumstances, either. The opponent has to be well-known, present some kind of challenge and, ideally, bring out the trash-talking best of Bisping one last time.
  • Vitor Belfort is the perfect foil for the UFC’s top English import. He’s still a ranked middleweight (just), his name carries a certain cachet thanks to his illustrious career and, best of all, Bisping still has a chip on his shoulder because of the role testosterone replacement therapy played in ‘The Phenom’ knocking him out in 2013. Let him call ‘The Phenom’ a “f**king d**khead” on stage and try to finally get revenge.

FIGHT AT THE RIGHT WEIGHT

  • Gone are the days where everyone thought it was best to cut down as much as possible for a size and strength advantage. Fighting close to your natural weight is not only safer, it might mean you’re more capable of fighting at your full potential. Robert Whittaker stopped draining to 170lb three years ago and now he’s interim champ at 185. Rafael dos Anjos, too, looks like a new man at welterweight and Dustin Poirier looks far healthier 10lb north of 155. Sometimes, the only way is up.

JORGE MASVIDAL VS. MIKE PERRY

  • Two men committed to standing, banging and hurling more smack talk at their opponents than just about anyone else in MMA. No matter whether either is coming off a win or a loss, Sean Shelby could happily make this matchup at any time during the next 365 days and not a single fan would be unhappy about it.

MORE MUAY THAI GUYS

  • Thailand is waking up to other forms of fighting. One of the most exciting things about that is some of the country’s most experienced and elite strikers are swapping the Muay Thai ring for the ONE Championship cage. The likes of Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke (347 fights) and Sagetdao Petpayathai (224 fights) have spent so long refining their punches, kicks, knees and elbows, their pure striking abilities far outstrip anyone they’re likely to face, so if they’re capable of staying on their feet, they’re sure to show us some cracking knockouts. Hopefully they can inspire more men and women from the ‘Land of Smiles’ to add grappling to their repertoire and give mixed martial arts a try. 



HEAD KICK HAT-TRICK

  • Twice, Sabina Mazo, the young Muay Thai star from Kings MMA, has been given the spotlight by Legacy Fighting Alliance. And twice, their faith in her has been vindicated with sensational head-kick knockouts. If the Colombian can make it a three in a row, it could be enough for a big show to come calling for her signature.

STIPE MIOCIC VS. CAIN VELASQUEZ 

  • If the current UFC heavyweight champion is going to break the record for the most title defenses in a row, he should do it against someone that will really make him earn it. Miocic will face no bigger challenge than a fit, healthy version of Velasquez, who many think would have ruled the division for at least the last five years had his body not been made of papier-mâché. It’s the fight the title deserves, and boy, would it be a hell of a fight. 

GIVE THE BEST FIGHTERS MORE ROUNDS TO WORK

  • Five-round bouts for non-title main events was a gift, but we want more: more main-card contests set for 25 minutes, when the best fight the best or there’s a crazy war to be had. Close three-rounders deserve a full five to determine a clear winner. Two extra rounds in Robbie Lawler vs. Donald Cerrone would have meant Fight of the Year contention.



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