#2: Gracie camp. What's the deal?

As we all know, Royce revolutionized the MMA scene when he dominated a little known organization known as the UFC in their first few events.  No one knew the power of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu when Royce burst on the scene putting both BJJ and the Gracie name forever into MMA history.

Throughout the years, many other Gracies would come and go in the MMA scene.  Most recently, Ralek and Roger.  But the Gracie camp in the San Francisco Bay Area would also produce a cadre of notable fighters without the Gracie last name.  These fighters would single handedly dominate 3 of the 5 weight classes in the Strikeforce organization.  Gilbert Melendez, Nick Diaz, and Jake Shields cornered the Lightweight, Welterweight, and Middleweight divisions in Strikeforce.  That is.... until the UFC bought out Strikeforce.

In 2010, after almost getting absolutely knocked out cold in the first round, Jake Shields rallied back and took Dan Henderson to a decision win in one of the most important victories of his career to retain his Middleweight title.  He would then vacate the title for a move down to Welterweight and a title eliminator shot against UFC top contender Martin Kampmann. 

We all know what happened.  Shields won against Kampmann and then looked like a fish out of water against Georges St. Pierre.  Whatever, it happens.  St. Pierre is one of the ultimate "Game Planners" in the sport.  Don't believe me?  Just ask Josh Koscheck how good he looked against St. Pierre.  Certainly no one can blame Shields for putting on a lackluster display against one of the pound for pound greats like St. Pierre.

But Nick Diaz would change all that, right?.  Like Shields, he too would vacate his Strikeforce Welterweight belt for a chance at Georges St. Pierre after submitting the BJJ blackbelt Evangelista Santos and following that by doing the unthinkable in TKO'ing dangerous striker Paul Daley.  Of all the fighters GSP has faced and defended his belt against, Nick Diaz was the one guy I gave the best chance to snapping GSP's streak.  In fact, I believe Diaz's BJJ is better than GSP's, I think his striking is on par or better than GSP's, and I felt GSP's best chance to beat Diaz would be to wrestle him down, get up, rinse and repeat.

But... Diaz blew it.  Why?  Who knows.  Diaz/GSP was to be one of maybe 3 super fights I'd hoped I'd get to see in my lifetime but Diaz chose to fuck it up.  Diaz is still one of my favorite fighters, but I'm seriously less than thrilled for Diaz/Penn and even less excited for GSP/Condit.  Not that Condit isn't a great fighter or doesn't have a puncher's chance, or Penn having a chance to beat Diaz, but I digress.  Even though I know this isn't the case, not showing up to a couple of press conferences made it look as though Diaz was scared to fight GSP.

Finally, we have Jake Shields's last outing against Jake Ellenberger.  I realize Shields had just lost his Dad, and I certainly wish his family the best during this difficult time of grieving, but getting the second TKO of his career to Ellenberger makes me believe that 170 may not be his division.  I think he needs to stay at 185.  Maybe it was the weight cut, maybe it was his Dad weighing on his mind, but losing in 53 seconds to Ellenberger whose best win at that time had been John Howard was rather embarassing for a former and dominant MW champ like Shields.

So what's the deal, Cesar?  Is Shields in the wrong weight class?  Why can't anyone find Diaz for some press conferences?  There are so many questions that I would love to ask.  Cesar himself blasted Diaz publicly for his no-shows and even went so far as to say Diaz disrespected the sport, and the Cesar Gracie camp for his actions.

It seems as though we're beginning to see an unraveling of the Gracie camp.  I hope I'm wrong, but these things have happened before.  There was a time when Greg Jackson's camp seemed to dominate the UFC while the Gracie camp dominated Strikeforce.... Now we're seeing AKA step it up. (Cain, Luke Rockhold)  It makes me wonder what's going on over there at Gracie Jiu-jitsu.  I hope it's just a bump in the road.

Oh, and Gilbert?  You rock bro.

--Andy

UFC 135 Predictions

I know I said I would blog once a week, and I'm going to continue to stick with that when it comes to blogging my opinions and feelings about things, but I've decided I may also add new blogs during the week when it comes to fight predictions.  Seeing as how I've just brought this blog online this week, we'll begin fight predictions for UFC 135 along with my thoughts as to how I see the fight playing out or why I believe fighter "A" will beat fighter "B", etc.

Please, please feel free to comment on these "prediction blogs" as I call them and let me know your predictions as well.  In fact, I'd love to know your thoughts on how you see the fights going down or tell me why you think my predictions are wrong.

My main focus and effort will be on the main card fights but I will include my preliminary card picks as well  just without all the banter.  If you want to know why I picked any prelim fighters over another, just comment and I'll reply.

And now, on to the predictions.

Main Card

Main Event

(LHW Championship) Champion Jon "Bones" Jones vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

Athleticism vs. a puncher's chance.  Jon Jones's meteoric rise through the UFC is legendary, and Rampage is the kind of fighter who seems to have lost his hunger from his Pride days.  I think Shogun Rua had a better chance to beat Jones than Rampage does although Rampage still has the KO power to deliver the "upset" and regain his former title, I don't think Jon Jones is the kind of fighter to look passed Rampage and allow Rampage to get that upset.  Jones's superior athleticism and relentless attack style will prove to be too much for Rampage who gets embarassed and stopped in the early-mid first round by Bones by (T)KO.

Andy's pick:

Co-main Event

(WW Bout) Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck

Age or experience plays a factor?  Both fighters have very good wrestling pedigrees.  UFC Hall of Famer, Matt Hughes boasts a very impressive 45-8 record while Josh Koscheck's record is 15-5 with his best (and most talked about) win coming against Paul "sucker puncher" Daley.  Josh(34 this Nov.) is 4 years younger than Hughes(38 this Oct.).  In the fight game, as we all know, age can sometimes play a factor.  Hughes has talked about retirement a number of times before and after recent fights, and Koscheck represents the last fight on his contract with the UFC.  One thing is sure, that unless Hughes is getting knocked the f--- out by B.J. Penn in 21 seconds, you can expect Hughes to never give up and be able to go the distance.  I think Koscheck will want to keep this fight standing and I think Hughes will want to employ a ground and pound technique here.  Even though I hate Koscheck immensely, I can see either fighter winning by split decision.  This is a coin-flip fight for me and seeing as how I hate Koscheck, I'll be picking Hughes for the win.

Andy's pick:  

(HW Bout) Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton

Classic striker vs. grappler match-up.  Undefeated HW prospect Travis Browne takes on English grappler Rob Broughton.  To date, Browne just had his most notable win of his career against Stefan Struve accompanied by a Knockout of the Night bonus.  Broughton's most notable win is against James Thompson.  While you might believe Broughton is simply going to take Browne down and submit him, Browne is also a Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  Broughton's only chance is to use his wrestling to take down Browne, stand up, rinse and repeat as I don't think he's going to want to stand and bang with Browne whose got 9 wins out of 11 by (T)KO.  I see Browne getting taken down but working for submissions constantly off his back.  Should his gas tank hold out, I see Browne winning by submission in the third or by unanimous decision.

Andy's pick: 

(LW Bout) Nate Diaz vs. Takanori "Fireball Kid" Gomi

An inconsistant match-up.  Nate Diaz's best win comes from Melvin Guillard back in 2009 before Guillard had "reinvented himself".  Gomi is the Pride legend whose fought a veritable "who's who" in the sport.  From B.J. Penn, Krazy Horse, Hellboy Hansen, Jens Pulver, to "Mach" Sakurai, Kenny Florian, Tyson Griffin, and Clay Guida.  Gomi has won and lost to some of the best.  Diaz brings a brown belt in one of the most notable BJJ schools in the country, Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  Unfortunately, he brings little else to the table.  Gomi on the other hand brings a boxing and catch wrestling background.  Both fighters have been inconsistant, losing and winning many of their recent fights, but I believe Gomi's opponents to be much better on the whole.  Diaz will be looking to set up take downs with a few strikes, Gomi will be looking to stuff take downs and keep the fight standing.  We all know the Diaz's are known for taking lots of shots, and Nate is no exception to Nick in this regard.  But we also know that Nate is NOT Nick, and I believe the "Fireball Kid" will be able to keep this fight standing and win via decision.

Andy's pick: 

(HW Bout) "Big" Ben Rothwell vs. Mark Hunt

Game planning for the win here.  Legendary kickboxer Mark Hunt may be "over the hill" when it comes to the fight scene at 37 years of age, and his 6-7 record in MMA is hardly something to boast about but don't sleep on his power.  Hunt has a record of 30-17 in Kickboxing and he has the power to knock people out as he did against Chris Tucscherer just this passed Feb. earning him a knockout of the night award.  Unfortunately, Hunt also suffers from a poor gas tank and if he can't knock out Rothwell in the first round, it's not going to happen.  Rothwell needs to weather the early storm and look for the take down.  With a wrestling and boxing background, it shouldn't be hard for Rothwell to duck under a punch and get a take down.  From there, it's only a matter of time.  I expect the former IFL fighter to be hesitant until the second round when he's got Hunt's timing down and goes for the take down and submission.  Big Ben wins in the second by submission.  Ben only loses this by poor game planning and looking to get into a brawl with Hunt.

Andy's pick: 

Preliminary Card

(LW Bout) Tony "El Cucuy" Ferguson vs. Aaron Riley


Andy's pick:  "El Cucuy" (What the f--- is a cucuy?)

(MW Bout) Nick Ring vs. Tim Boetsch

Andy's pick: Tim Boetsch

(FW Bout) Junior Assunção vs. Eddie Yagin

Andy's pick: Junior Assunção

(BW Bout) Takeya Mizugaki vs. Cole Escovedo 

Andy's pick: Takeya Mizugaki 

(LHW Bout) James Te Huna vs. Ricardo Romero

Andy's pick:  Ricardo Romero 

#1: Welcome to my blog

This is it!  This is the first of what will hopefully be a weekly blog regarding my thoughts and opinions about Mixed Martial Arts.  I will talk about things in the sport that I enjoy, upcoming matchups, things I don't enjoy so much, as well as a multitude of other MMA related things.

I'm hoping to get a some feedback (read: not trolling) from you, the readers, about what you think of my opinions in addition to ideas you may have which may improve my blog for you to better enjoy it.

That being said, let me introduce myself.  My name is Andy and I'm in my mid-thirties and a yellow belt in a martial art known as Kajukenbo.  I've spent a good majority of my time since 2005 following this sport, nay, immersing myself and obsessing over the sport since I first began watching The Ultimate Fighter season 1 on SpikeTV.  I soon met up with some real good friends and together we've pretty much bought and watched every single UFC pay-per-view event as well as all of The Ultimate Fighter seasons.

Soon after Pride Fighting Championships was bought by Zuffa, I realized that there was another organization in Japan that had apparently been doing huge things over there for MMA.  Being late to the party, I never had a chance to witness or enjoy a PrideFC card until after the parent company for Pride had folded.

I've since spent a lot of time going back through old Pride tapes and watching some of the epic battles that took place that I never got a chance to witness live.  I learned all about the great fighters and their names that fought in the early Millenium in Japan with a bit of a heavy heart that I never got into the sport earlier.

From that point on, I realized that I needed to look into what other organizations were out there to make sure I wasn't missing any other great MMA fights.  I soon ran into World Victory Road's Sengoku, Bellator, King of the Cage, BAMMA, Maximum Fighting Championships, and many other organizations.

A real good buddy of mine also got me into watching FEG's K-1 tournaments and I immediately got into learning the major names of K-1 fighters as well.

So here I am.  Trying to educate myself on epic fights of the past while continuing to enjoy the epic fights of the future.  I've gotten into this sport more than any other sport I've ever watched before.  Not football, basketball, or baseball has been able to capture my attention and unleash my raw fanaticism like MMA has.

Since people might ask, let me list a few of my favorite fighters. 

In no particular order:

Wanderlei Silva
Chuck Liddell
Randy Couture
Rashad Evans
Jon Jones
Buakaw Por.Pramuk
Peter Aerts
Fedor Emelianenko
Alistair Overeem
Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva
Cain Velasquez
Junior dos Santos
George Sotiropoulos
Meisha Tate
Megumi Fujii
Nick Diaz
Georges St. Pierre
Remy Bonjasky
Mike Zambidis
Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos
Mirko Filipovic
Pat Barry
Jason "Mayhem" Miller
Kazushi Sakuraba
Don Frye
Pretty much every Gracie

I like a lot more fighters, but I'm simply not going to list them all.  I also have a few fighters I really hate but you'll get the gist of whom as I write more in this blog.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I hope you guys enjoy what I have to say, be sure to comment and leave feedback as to what you like, don't like, agree, or don't agree with.  I haven't decided on wether or not I'll be taking any topic requests, but for now, I have plenty to write about.  See you next week.

--Andy