Thursday, March 05, 2009
by Jordan Breen (jbreen@sherdog.com)
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With his 117-second spanking of Leonard Garcia, divisional ruler Mike Thomas Brown not only retained his WEC featherweight title and 145-pound mantle, but he kicked off the month in style. Not just any old month, either.
The featherweight division has roared to prominence over the last two years. With that rise to combative consciousness, it seems everything is called the “biggest something-or-other in featherweight history.”
However, make no mistake, March ‘09 is more than certainly the biggest month ever for MMA’s most unnecessarily neglected division.
Brown set the tempo for the weeks to come, which will feature the starts of two splendid 16-man featherweight tournaments across the Pacific. Dream’s featherweight (which for unfortunate reasons, parent company Fighting and Entertainment Group believes is 139 pounds instead of 145 pounds) grand prix is the first of the two, with a bracket that opens Sunday at the Saitama Super Arena.
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Daniel Herbertson/Sherdog.com
Expect hot competition.
If you want raw, uncut, unbridled action on this card, here is your most likely bet.
Both “Wicky Akiyo” and Abel Cullum have aggressive offensive games but with particular liabilities that should make for 15 minutes of high-paced action in all positions. Nishiura relies on his striking, which is colorful, explosive and unorthodox, not terribly unlike his artwork that is displayed in his tattoos and his fight shorts, both of which he designs himself. The 21-year-old Cullum, while by no means a shoddy striker, is at his best on the ground, where he’s lithe and dynamic, great in the transition game and scrambles, and a great submission finisher.
The bout isn’t short on relevance, either, as both are in need of a breakout win into the spotlight. Nishiura was denied his moment in the limelight in December, when Yuji Hoshino edged him out in the Cage Force featherweight tournament final. Cullum fell short against hot prospect Wilson Reis in his first major, marquee moment, fighting for EliteXC’s featherweight crown last September. In what should be a crackling contest, both now have the opportunity to get that nagging, attention-grabbing victory.
Though it may be true in a basic way, it would be a simplification of matters to say that Wicky would prefer to stand and Cullum would prefer the bout on the ground. Cullum is longer, rangier and will be able to land kicks at distance, while Nishiura will have no qualms about getting on top and dishing out some ground-and-pound, where he can be rather effective.
The fight may hinge on the takedown department. Cullum is extremely slick and versatile on the floor but struggles to get it there on his own. He is more of a sweep-and-submit sort than a real top gamer. The weakest part of Nishiura’s game is his straight takedown defense, so he is obviously insulated in that Cullum offers no major threat to his own shortcomings. What’s more, Cullum’s aggressive submission offense will have to be constant to stay in control against Nishiura, as it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to simply catch him and submit him. As poor as his defensive wrestling may be, Nishiura’s ability to escape submissions and get back to his feet is truly fantastic. More than that, Nishiura actually has decent takedowns of his own, despite not exactly having figured out the intricacies of the sprawl quite yet.
This may be one of the few bouts where FEG’s non-conformity to more universal MMA rules may have influence. One of Nishiura’s biggest problems in most bouts under the 10-point must system is that as a flimsy wrestler, he’s liable to lose five-minute segments in which he gets stuck to the canvas. However, judging bouts on the whole, as is done in Dream, is beneficial to Nishiura. He nearly always lands the larger, more damaging blows on his opponents and seldom takes any real punishment on the ground once he’s taken down.
For Cullum to win, he would have to work expertly from range, landing jabs and kicks while dodging the wild, winging punches of Wicky Akiyo. If and when the bout hits the floor, Cullum will likely be the man on the bottom. He’ll have to do what Akitoshi Tamura did to Nishiura, constantly threatening with submissions, controlling the bout from his back and not allowing him any ability to ground-and-pound or step out of his guard and get back to his feet. While he’s a brilliant young talent, it’s hard for me to imagine Cullum being so perfect in both respects. Expect hot competition, up-and-down offense and a close Wicky Akiyo win on the scorecards.
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Stephen Martinez/Sherdog.com
Never bet for or
against Yoshiro Maeda.
While our evening features two “WEC veteran versus debuting grappling sport standout” bouts, thankfully, FEG saw fit to take at least two other WEC veterans and put them against each other in a legitimately interesting bout.
Maeda did much for his stature and image in his WEC bantamweight title challenge and “Fight of the Year” contender against Miguel Torres last June. His turnaround submission loss to Rani Yahya five months later, however, while much less viewed, showed his worst warts. We seldom think of MMA in terms of offensive and defensive separation the way we do in stick-and-ball sports, but Maeda provides an interesting case as to why we perhaps should. A brilliant offensive fighter, Maeda not only has an underrated offensive submission game but a high-flying, varied striking attack with considerable KO power.
However, his entire career has been marked by defensive instability, between walking into knockouts against Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett and Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata, to falling head first into submissions against Joe Pearson and Rani Yahya. It’s an unfortunate pairing of traits, which much like high-powered offensive teams in the NFL and NBA, will never offer championship-level stability but will always ensure that Maeda is a legitimate threat.
Miller is certainly not the high-octane threat Maeda is on the feet, but he has steadily improved his stand-up over the last two years, notwithstanding getting clipped by Josh Grispi and being a victim of a weak stoppage from Herb Dean. A slick and spindly submission stud, Miller’s real forte is still on the ground, where he’s adroit in all positions, with serious finishing skills. While his December bout against Jason Palacios may just seem like an average tune-up to the casual eye, Miller ripping off an impressive submission is indeed worthy of praise. Palacios is not only a very tough-but-unheralded fighter, he is also a fighter grapplers like Takuya Wada and Satoru Kitaoka couldn’t finish in bouts contested at welterweight. It would be wrong to size this bout up as striker-versus-grappler, but certainly Maeda will want to stand and bang. Though Miller can hold his own on the feet, his better chances are on the ground. It is always a tricky proposition to pick Maeda, or against him, given his flakiness and defensive liabilities. However, given Miller’s improved stand-up and reach advantage — two qualities that Maeda has struggled mightily with against lanky foes like Torres and Taiki — and the fact that Miller has the sort of slick, snap-second submissions that Maeda often finds himself getting trapped in, my figurative money rests with a Miller submission, although my literal money will never go anywhere near a Yoshiro Maeda bout.
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Jim Page/Sherdog.com
Imanari will make
his opponent limp.
It’s hardly the Yamamoto the world would wish for, but it’ll have to do until May, when Atsushi’s mentor, Norifumi Yamamoto, is back in the saddle and takes his place in this tournament.
While a considerable underdog against MMA’s foremost foot fetishist, the lesser known of the Krazy Bee Yamamotos is not terribly out of his depth here. While he is much better suited to the bantamweight division, Yamamoto began his career as a featherweight and is coming off a victory as a featherweight over Hideo Tokoro in September, where the former standout collegiate wrestler showed much improved striking and an overall tightening of his MMA game. In fact, one could certainly make the argument that being a better striker and a better technical wrestler than Imanari, Yamamoto should enjoy some advantages in this bout. Of course, this is why MMA is much more than a simple addition and aggregation of “advantages.”
Imanari will never be a fantastic striker or a dominating wrestler. As far as the stand-up goes, he’s content to just throw lunging kicks to the midsection of his opponents. In the wrestling department, he’s more than happy to fling himself at the legs of his foes. He is perhaps MMA’s quintessential wildcard in that he has a chance against any opponent in a reasonable weight range, based on the aggression, precision and mastery of his leglock arsenal. In an era where many fighters have been taught to pay no mind to leglocks because they “never work” and other similar foolishness, Imanari has made routine out of wrecking the feet, ankles, shins and knees of high-level grapplers. In fact, he’s the last man to knock off the featherweight division’s current ruler, Mike Thomas Brown, with a handy-dandy, nigh-indescribable kneelock in December 2005.
Anyone has a chance against Imanari. They’re almost certain to outstrike him, and when the bout hits the ground, they’ll likely be in top position, where they can rain down strikes. It is essentially MMA’s version of “The Running Man,” in which victory is yours if you can evade capture for 15 minutes. Yamamoto will land shots standing and will end up on top in this bout. If he can make it until the final horn, he probably wins.
However, it’s unlikely that he’s going to evade all of Imanari’s patented leg attacks. Even if he’s able to, he’s hardly out of the clear, as Imanari has shown recently in bouts such as against Robbie Olivier that he’s more than just a one-trick pony and instead a versatile submission threat. Two upsets in a row for Yamamoto isn’t beyond the pale, but it’s far more likely he spends the next week with a limp courtesy of the sport’s premier podomaniac.
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Jim Page/Sherdog.com
There’s little shame in
losing to Fernandes.
The evening’s most bittersweet bout is a pairing of two fighters who are criminally underrated and overlooked, making it all the more unfortunate that one of them must lose.
The 22-year-old Otsuka was an unheralded unknown with a sub-.500 record when he started showing up in Brazilian promotion Fury FC. Then, over the course of two years, he showed marked improvement through a seven-bout unbeaten streak that saw him challenge Rafael dos Anjos for the promotion’s lightweight crown. Otsuka, who should be campaigning as a bantamweight, arguably defeated the UFC employee. Not too shabby at all.
Much more was expected from Fernandes, who boasts five BJJ world titles and was one of the grappling world’s great talents, and despite racking up a 1-2 record (like Otsuka) in his first three bouts, he showed it. Of course, bouts two and three came against Urijah Faber, whom he was besting until he was stopped on a cut, and tournament favorite Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, whom he went nip-and-tuck with for 15 minutes. You won’t fight a more sensational 3-2 fighter on the planet, believe me.
While Otsuka continues to show fight-to-fight improvement, he still lacks any great skills beyond toughness and physicality, or anything resembling a conscientious game plan. Worse yet, while Fernandes isn’t a hulking featherweight, he’ll still likely be the stronger of the two fighters. Unless Otsuka has miraculously matured into a diligent sprawl-and-brawl stylist in the last three months, he’s going to spend the bout glued to the bottom of the mat against Fernandes, and it will be a simple case of whether he can avoid a submission and make it to the final bell. That said, there’s little shame in losing to Fernandes, who will emerge as this tournament’s breakout talent.
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Stephen Martinez/Sherdog.com
This is MMA and
anything can happen.
Debuting judoka versus quality, experienced MMA fighter. To be sure, this is MMA and anything can happen. On the other hand, it won’t.
However, for his own sake, here’s hoping Kim’s first bout of fisticuffs is less futile than his mentor Dong Sik Yoon’s.
Debuting wrestler versus quality, experienced MMA fighter. To be sure, this is MMA and anything can happen. On the other hand, it won’t.
Despite Warren’s Greco-Roman world title and despite Beebe’s recent injury-slash-flakiness that nixed a slated bout with Mike Easton and now may land him in litigation with the UWC, the honest MMA fighter should win yet again, with little hope for a Mo Lawal replay. Hopefully, Warren, whose Olympic wrestling hopes were dashed after a second positive pot test, has realized why the star of this very tournament isn’t fighting until May, and the thrill of his MMA debut will be a suitable high for his Japanese vacation.
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Daniel Herbertson/Sherdog.com
Aoki gets a quick
and easy payday.
After a staggering seven bouts in ‘08, sassy submission stalwart Shinya Aoki is looking for another prodigious year. Next month, he returns to the welterweight division for the start of Dream’s 168-pound grand prix, but first, he gets a quick and easy payday against journeyman American wrassler David Gardner as a peace offering from FEG for bullying him into their welterweight tournament bracket.
If you rearrange the letters in “Dave Gardner,” you can spell “ravaged nerd.” Meanwhile, “Shinya Aoki,” plus added punctuation, provides us with the illuminating anagram, “Kayo? Sin, hai!” which divines a stealthy tapout for the “Tobikan Judan.”
I’m in no position to tell Aoki what to do with his fight purse. However, with the move back up to welterweight, he has some room to binge, so I feel compelled to point out that “first-round sub” rearranged is “burritos funds.”
Further proof that statistics can be either illuminating or idiotic: Tatsuya Kawajiri lasted 7:35 in his bout with Eddie Alvarez, while Ross Ebanez stuck around for 7:32. Numbers like that could make you believe that some sort of parity existed here. Of course, those numbers would be lying bastards.
In the spectrum of pointless bouts, Kawajiri-Ebanez is among the worst kind of uselessness. It isn’t particularly competitive, but it isn’t so horribly mismatched that it is morbidly comic or novel. Rather, it’s just a good fighter against a great fighter, and, proving that words can be just as deceptive as numbers, that’s not a particularly delicious recipe in this case, unfortunately.
The bout’s one redeeming aspect should offer at least some decent entertainment, as both will be more than willing to trade punches. Kawajiri has worked diligently on his technical striking, and it showed its rewards on New Year’s Eve when he assailed shopworn muay Thai king Kozo Takeda. Against the tough-but-untamed Ebanez, the “Crusher” should have the upper hand on the feet en route to a stoppage victory, unless he wants to dust off his circa 2004 style and speed things up with ground-and-pound.
Of all the evening’s superfights, here is the supernova, a legitimately exquisite lightweight bout that while not a do-or-die fight in the strictest of terms, has considerable stakes for its combatants.
After the biggest win of his career over Gilbert Melendez on New Year’s Eve 2007, Mitsuhiro Ishida had seemed to finally arrive in the consciousness of MMA fans as one of the sport’s top lightweights. However, that was quickly nixed five months later, when he was upset by wily vet Caol Uno, who was able to choke out Ishida, who had made his career in part out of dazzling submission escapes. While his September Strikeforce bout, where he put a highlight-reel armbar on Justin Wilcox, resuscitated his stature somewhat, Ishida has remained somewhat of an afterthought with the recent fervor over Shinya Aoki, the rise of Eddie Alvarez, the rapidly intensifying UFC 155-pound class and the unsung heroes of Sengoku’s lightweight division finally getting to shine.
Daisuke Nakamura hasn’t got his chance to shine yet. He’s been beaten just once in the last three years, and only by the outstanding Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro, who was only able to dislocate Nakamura’s elbow rather than make him tap. That three-year run includes 11 victories, including seven victories in ‘08 alone. To further the statistical angle, his last four bouts include two flying armbars. Nakamura has in all ways matured into a rock solid lightweight, who if not an elite fighter, may be one of the most thoroughly enjoyable fighters to watch in perhaps MMA’s most thoroughly enjoyable-to-watch division.
This delicious bit of matchmaking will ultimately hinge on Nakamura’s offense versus Ishida’s defense. Ishida, while he’s improved his stand-up, typically just uses his punches to segue into his dynamite single- and double-leg takedowns. Though Nakamura is still at his best on the mat, he holds the striking advantage in technique and certainly power. If he can’t keep the bout standing, which is entirely unlikely given the speed and fairly impregnable wrestling of Ishida, he’ll have to be at his most slick and dynamic on the ground. As mentioned, despite the Uno submission, Ishida has a highlight reel within his highlight reel of sensational submission escapes, such as his armbar evasions against Kenichiro Togashi and Cristiano Marcello. His high work rate in top position exposes him against fleet sub grapplers, which will be the fundamental fulcrum of the fight.
The safe bet is an Ishida decision in a high-paced and entertaining display of scrambling in which Ishida will constantly need to reassert his base against the aggressive grappling of Nakamura. However, if Nakamura is able to lock up a submission and knock off Ishida, don’t call it an upset. It would just be the coming-out party for a wildly entertaining and criminally overlooked fighter.
Monday, March 30, 2009
K-1 Event Producer Sadaharu Tanikawa opened the fightsport’s 16th season on Friday by announcing that Semmy Schilt will compete at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Yokohama. A three-time World GP Champ and reigning K-1 Super Heavyweight Champion, Schilt joins defending World GP Champion Remy Bonjasky and veterans Peter Aerts and Jerome LeBanner at this year’s inaugural World GP event.
Breaking News: TapouT Crew Member Mask May Have Died in Early Morning Car Crash
As the calendar draws closer and closer to UFC 96 “Jackson vs. Jardine” this Saturday at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, the time has come for some prognostication on what’s shaping up as another quality effort from Joe Silva and Co.
