Author: Drew Ellis (Page 10 of 14)

      Top 5 UFC Rivalries

      May 22, 2010 /

      With the much-anticipated fight between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans taking place next Saturday, I decided to look back and think of other fights that had this much animosity between the two competitors. Here is my list of top five rivalries in the UFC since the Zuffa inception:

      1. Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock – While the fights were pretty lopsided, you could always feel the heat and rage between these two. Tito was a showboat and Ken was mister intensity. They never really had a chance to be friends. The first fight really did a lot to help the UFC land a network television deal and bring more attention to the sport. Then, the two added to their rivalry with their coaching appearance on The Ultimate Fighter Season 3. Too bad for Ken he lost all three fights to Ortiz, but the rivalry was still classic.

      2. Matt Hughes and Matt Serra – This rivalry is about two guys that want to be the Alpha Male. Serra is always playing the disrespect card and Hughes is an honest jerk. Hughes dominated the UFC Welterweight division for years and had no problems talking about how inferior his opponents were while Serra shocked the world a few years ago and Hughes called his title reign a “fluke”. These two also coached opposite one another in The Ultimate Fighter Season Six, which led to a fight at UFC 98 that Hughes narrowly pulled out. Still to this day, Serra has preached for a rematch and still proclaims his dislike for the future Hall of Famer.

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      External Sports, Mixed Martial Arts, UFC

      Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery Picks & Predictions

      May 15, 2010 /

      Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery takes place tonight at 10PM ET on Showtime with some interesting fights. The promotion is looking to erase the memory of the live brawl on CBS during its last show and to do so, they need some solid fights out of their heavyweights tonight. Here is my take on the bouts and who I think will win.

      Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship – Alistair Overeem (32-11) vs. Brett Rogers (10-1) – Overeem hasn’t fought for Strikeforce since 2007, yet somehow is still their heavyweight champion. Despite the long layoff from the promotion, he has fought overseas a number of times, with his last seven fights ending in the first round and all six wins ending in less than two minutes. Rogers is coming off his first MMA loss, to Fedor Emelianenko last November. The key for him in this fight will be what did he learn from that loss. Overeem likes to attack and end the fight early, as does Rogers, but Overeem has the experience to know not to put himself in a bad position. I think experience pays off in this fight as Overeem is able to defeat Rogers by TKO late in the first.

      Heavyweight Bout – Andrei Arlovski (15-7) vs. Antonio Silva (13-2) – Arlovski has fallen on hard times, getting quickly knocked out by Rogers and Fedor in his last two fights. This will be his first bout in nearly a year and he understands the importance of a win, as he has switched up camps and went to Jackson’s MMA and American Kickboxing Academy for training. Silva is a good fighter, but he hasn’t beaten anyone of note in his career. He could land a big punch on Arlovski’s weak chin, but look for the Bela-Russian to work combos and leg kicks to eventually earn a TKO in round three.

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      External Sports, Mixed Martial Arts, UFC

      UFC 113 Picks & Predictions

      May 8, 2010 /

      Tonight brings the rematch of Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua with UFC 113: Machida vs. Shogun 2 from the Bell Centre in Montreal. The card doesn’t have a lot of overwhelming bouts outside of the main event, but each fight should be interesting. Here are my picks for tonight’s main card:

      UFC Light Heavyweight Championship – Lyoto Machida (16-0) vs. Mauricio Rua (18-4) – Shogun exposed weaknesses in Machida’s once-thought unstoppable style in the first meeting at UFC 104. Now, in this rematch, look for Machida to approach the fight from a different style and make the proper adjustments to win this fight decisively. Shogun gave one of his best efforts at UFC 104 and he has the potential to win this fight, but Machida has a better team around him to have him prepared to win this contest. I like Machida to win by TKO in round four.

      UFC Welterweight Bout – Josh Koscheck (16-4) vs. Paul Daley (23-8-2) – This fight will determine who will coach alongside UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges St. Pierre, in the next Ultimate Fighter and also be the new No. 1 contender to St. Pierre’s title. This fight can be won by Koscheck if he checks his ego at the door and takes the fight to the ground as Daley is the better and more powerful striker but struggles on the ground. Look for Koscheck to feel Daley out early, but eventually rely on his wrestling skills to get the fight to the ground where he will sink in a choke in round two.

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      External Sports, Mixed Martial Arts, UFC

      Top 10 Pound for Pound MMA Fighters in the World 4/29/10

      April 29, 2010 /

      It has been some time since I released a top 10 pound-for-pound list, with my last edition coming all the way back in August of last year. There have been some changes and the bottom of the list was tough to determine, but I feel pretty good about this group. I am basing this list over the past few years and using this criteria to make my choices: Quality of wins (i.e. stoppages), Quality of opponents, Amount of damage taken in fights, and Establishment of all-around skills in the cage. Now that the criteria has been addressed, here we go.

      1. Anderson Silva – 26-4 – UFC Middleweight Champion: Silva’s last fight was embarrassing for the UFC, but it again displayed how dominant he is. He literally took two rounds off and still won a unanimous decision and in the three rounds he tried, he landed every shot he threw while dodging every shot Demian Maia threw at him. When he gets challenged, Silva quickly runs through his opponents, like Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin. When guys don’t come at him, like Patrick Cote and Thales Leites, the fights are unwatchable. Bottom line, it is hard to see someone beating this guy and I still think he could step up to heavyweight someday and give Brock Lesnar a run for his money.

      2. Georges St. Pierre – 20-2 – UFC Welterweight Champion: GSP hasn’t been challenged since facing Josh Koscheck at UFC 74. The champion has cruised through his opponents and the only complaint against him has been his inability to finish recent opponents. Still, stopping B.J. Penn and dominating Thiago Alves, Jon Fitch, and Dan Hardy is pretty impressive and a potential fight with Koscheck again or slugger Paul Daley or even Jake Shields keeps things exciting with GSP.

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      External Sports, Mixed Martial Arts, UFC

      Behind the scenes of a live MMA event

      April 27, 2010 /

      My hands were sweaty, my face was red but I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass.

      “Dana, could you tell me where you see Jose (Aldo) on your pound-for-pound list.”

      The question was simple enough. I mean I ran it through my head a million times in a little over two minutes. The wording, the timing, the tone all needed to sound just right. After all, this question was directed at Dana White, President of the UFC and WEC.

      Following Saturday’s WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber pay-per-view event, which was sponsored by AMP Energy, White and select fighters addressed the media. And there I was, covering my first MMA live event thanks to the people at AMP Energy.

      At 27, I have been a dedicated MMA fan for seven years. Having seen the early days of Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock, I was re-introduced to the UFC with Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture at UFC 43 and have been hooked since.

      But I am not just a fan, I am a sports writer, and have been for about 10 years now.

      I knew that the opportunity of covering MMA for Bullz-Eye.com and The Scores Report was one I wanted to be a part of because I knew that I could do it objectively and with the respect and knowledge that MMA fans want from their writers. I’m not just a fan. Still, even having interviewed some of the top athletes in the world, my eyes were locked in with White’s as he awaited my question.

      As any MMA fan knows, if White thinks you asked him a stupid question, he will let you know and he will probably sprinkle in a few expletives to describe his feelings.

      So I asked my question.

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      Mixed Martial Arts, UFC

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