MMA Fighting: All Posts by Michael David Smith

MMA Top 10 Heavyweights: The Final Four at UFC 146

2012-04-01T15:00:12Z

UFC 146, which has been formally announced for May 26 in Las Vegas, will be something like the Final Four of the UFC's heavyweight division: A rare opportunity to see the four best fighters in one weight class paired off against each other in the Octagon on the same night.

Junior Dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem in the UFC 146 main event will determine the UFC heavyweight title, and Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir in the co-main event is a 3 vs. 4 matchup that will likely determine the next contender for the heavyweight belt.

So the top four heavyweights in the sport will sort themselves out soon. Find out how I rank the rest of the heavyweight division below.

Top 10 Heavyweights in Mixed Martial Arts

1. Junior Dos Santos: The heavy hands of Dos Santos are enough to make him the favorite to retain his title when he takes on Overeem, although if there's anyone who can test Dos Santos's chin, Overeem is the man who can do it.

2. Alistair Overeem: Trading punches with Dos Santos wouldn't be a wise idea for Overeem, but Overeem will have a size and strength advantage over Dos Santos, and the best way for Overeem to beat Dos Santos is to use that strength advantage to grab hold of Dos Santos and control him in the clinch.

3. Cain Velasquez: It's hard to believe Velasquez hasn't won a fight since defeating Brock Lesnar a year and a half ago. I think he'll get back on track against Mir, however, and I believe Velasquez will be fighting for the UFC belt again by the end of the year.

4. Frank Mir: Now on a three-fight winning streak with victories over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Roy Nelson and Mirko Cro Cop, Mir will earn a title shot if he beats Velasquez.

5. Fabricio Werdum: Werdum returned to the UFC with a victory over Roy Nelson, and he'll be a heavy favorite to make it two in a row over Mike Russow, who's a fine fighter but not in Werdum's class.

6. Daniel Cormier: The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is finally coming to a close when Cormier takes on Josh Barnett in May. Cormier can make a major statement that he deserves to be considered one of the elite heavyweights in all of MMA.

7. Josh Barnett: For Barnett, the Cormier fight is one last chance to gain back some of the respect he lost when multiple failed drug tests nearly derailed his career. Barnett can fight, and if he wins against Cormier he'll have a lot of big fights ahead of him, in Strikeforce and the UFC.

8. Antonio Silva: Silva is coming off a loss to Cormier, but he's got a big heavyweight fight of his own at UFC 146, when he takes on Roy Nelson in his UFC debut.

9. Shane Carwin: Carwin has fallen far since the knockout of Mir that improved his record to 12-0: That fight was two years ago, and all he's done since then is lose to Brock Lesnar, lose to Junior Dos Santos and undergo back surgery. If he can come back at something close to full strength he can be one of the best in the world again, but that's a big "if."

10. Fedor Emelianenko: The best heavyweight ever is a long way from his prime, but back-to-back wins over Jeff Monson and Satoshi Ishii, and the general lack of depth in the heavyweight division, are enough to get him back into the bottom of the Top 10.

Al Iaquinta Upsets Myles Jury on The Ultimate Fighter

2012-03-31T03:17:29Z

A close, back-and-forth fight between Al Iaquinta and Myles Jury ended with Iaquinta winning and advancing on Friday night's live episode of The Ultimate Fighter.

The fight was an entertaining one that went a full 15 minutes before the judges could pick a winner, and even in the end Iaquinta won a split decision that easily could have gone either way. Iaquinta hinted that he's expecting to win the cash bonus that goes to the participants in the Fight of the Year, and he explained how he'd spend that money if he gets it.

"If that fight wins Fight of the Year, Mom, I'm going to go finish college like grandma always wanted," Iaquinta said afterward.

Jury entered the fight a heavy favorites at the sports books that were taking bets on the live Ultimate Fighter fights, and that was no surprise: He entered The Ultimate Fighter with a 9-0 record, having won all nine fights by first-round stoppage, and he was one of the favorites to win on his previous stint on The Ultimate Fighter, when he had to withdraw from the show because of an injury. But Jury didn't seem too upset after he had been beaten.

"Embrace the war. It is what it is. I'm a fighter," Jury said.

Jury was expected to roll right through Iaquinta, but it became clear from the first round that it would be close, with Iaquinta holding his own against the man who was favored to beat him. The mere fact that Iaquinta got into the second round with Jury was something of a surprise.

In the second round Jury appeared to have Iaquinta hurt with a backhanded punch, but when Jury charged forward, Iaquinta surprised him with a quick punch that had Jury reeling. It was a raucous round with both men swinging for the fences, and when they got up to end the second they weren't sure if the judges would call it even and tell them to fight a third, or declare a winner. After a lengthy delay including two commercial breaks, UFC President Dana White announced that the judges had scored it a draw, and they would go to a third sudden-victory round.

The third round was close and even, too, and in the end both men raised their hands and celebrated with their teammates, believing they had won. Two judges scored the third round 10-9 for Iaquinta, while one scored it 10-9 for Jury, and Iaquinta had won the split decision.

Amoussou, Baker, Rickels, Saunders Advance in Bellator Welterweight Tournament

2012-03-31T02:01:15Z

Karl Amoussou, Bryan Baker, David Rickels and Ben Saunders won their quarterfinal fights to advance in Bellator's season six welterweight tournament on Friday night at Bellator 63.

In the main event, Amoussou exploded on Chris Lozano early in the first round and was relentless, first battering Lozano with ground and pound and then taking his back, sinking in a rear-naked choke and forcing him to tap. Amoussou is inconsistent, but when he's on his game he's a brutal finisher, and he was at his best on Friday night, needing just 2 minutes, 5 seconds to win the fight.

"I'm not here to play," Amoussou said afterward. "I'm not here to beat the guys, I'm here to destroy them."

Bryan Baker beat Carlos Alexandre Pereira, 29-28 on two scorecards for Baker and 29-28 on one scorecard for Pereira. Both fighters looked tentative in their striking, and the crowd loudly booed them. Baker apologized to the fans and said he'll get better once he gets more comfortable making weight at 170 pounds, after moving down from middleweight.

Rickels needed just 22 seconds to knock out Jordan Smith, battering him against the cage with hard punches. "That was amazing," Rickels said afterward. Smith claimed the stoppage was too fast, but he was wrong -- Smith went limp for a moment, and referee Dan Miragliotta rightly stepped in to stop the fight.

In the first fight of the MTV2 televised card, Saunders, a UFC veteran, cruised to an easy unanimous decision victory over Raul Amaya. The fight was scored 30-26 by one judge and 30-27 by the others. Saunders was relentless with submission attempts, and while Amaya showed impressive heart in refusing to tap, Saunders was easily the better fighter in the cage. He may just be the best fighter in this tournament.

Bellator 63 Predictions

2012-03-30T16:00:13Z

Bellator kicks off its Season 6 welterweight tournament on Friday night with four quarterfinal fights that feature a mix of established fighters who have been in the Bellator cage before and some newcomers to the promotion. The Bellator welterweight title will be contested in a week when Ben Askren takes on Douglas Lima, and the welterweight tournament will determinewho gets the next crack at the Askren-Lima winner.

What: Bellator 63

When: Friday, the MTV2-televised card begins at 8 p.m. Eastern on Friday.

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut

Predictions on the four welterweight tournament fights below.

Karl Amoussou vs. Chris Lozano

Amoussou is capable of exciting finishes, but he's also capable of disappointing losses, and I think that's what he's going to suffer against Lozano, who has power in his hands and can knock Amoussou out.

Pick: Lozano

Raul Amaya vs. Ben Saunders

Saunders, the UFC veteran who advanced to last season's Bellator welterweight tournament final, shouldn't have any trouble dispatching Amaya, who's 9-0 but has never fought anyone on anywhere near the same level as Saunders.

Pick: Saunders

Jordan Smith vs. David Rickels

Rickels has a 9-0 record that includes three wins in Bellator, all by submission. He's dangerous on the ground, but Smith is a well-rounded fighter who should be able to out-strike Rickels on the way to a victory.

Pick: Smith

Bryan Baker vs. Carlos Alexandre Pereira

Baker has been with Bellator since its first season, but this is his first fight at welterweight after previously fighting exclusively at middleweight. Pereira has a wealth of experience fighting in Brazil, building up a 33-9-1 record, and he's a good enough striker that he'll be a threat to Baker standing. But I see Baker staying out of trouble and taking a decision.

Pick: Baker

UFC 146 Press Conference Video

2012-03-27T15:00:55Z

At the UFC 146 press conference, the UFC will promote its biggest pay-per-view ever (at least in terms of the size of the participants) on Tuesday with a press conference in Las Vegas, and we'll carry the live video here at MMAFighting.com.

UFC 146, which features a main event of Junior dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem and four more heavyweight fights on the pay-per-view card, will take place on May 26 in Las Vegas, and UFC President Dana White will be joined by dos Santos, Overeem, Frank Mir, Cain Velasquez, Roy Nelson and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva to promote the fight on Tuesday.

The UFC 146 press conference begins at 2 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday and the video is below.

(Editor's note: It starts around 20-minute mark below.)

Bjorn Rebney Defends Bellator's Tournament Format

2012-03-26T18:00:28Z

As Bellator Fighting Championships has slowly but surely positioned itself behind Zuffa as America's No. 2 mixed martial arts company, CEO Bjorn Rebney has steadfastly insisted that his promotion's format of crowning champions and contenders through tournaments is the right way to go. And Rebney says there's no chance that will change as long as he's in charge.

"Not unless they drag me out of here kicking and screaming," Rebney said Monday on The MMA Hour.

With Bellator poised to move off MTV2 and onto the much bigger audiences available on Spike TV in 2013, there could be some pressure to try to generate ratings by positioning bigger names in title fights. But Rebney said that will never be the way Bellator works: You earn your way into bigger fights by winning tournaments, not by having a recognizable name.

Watch live streaming video from mmahour at livestream.com

"It's real sports competition," Rebney said of Bellator's tournament format. "It's football, baseball, basketball, soccer -- every sport we've watched since we were kids is competition. You start with a group and then at the end there's one."

Rebney was a boxing promoter before he was an MMA promoter, and he said he has never liked the way champions are crowned in boxing, with promoters, sanctioning bodies and TV networks having more to do with who gets a title shot than the fighters themselves do.

"Being involved in boxing through the years, the matchmaking in boxing seemed so theatrical -- you know the outcomes of the fights before they occur," Rebney said. "That's what I wanted to do away with."

Rebney acknowledged that some Bellator fighters don't like the tournament format, and that it's been particularly problematic for champions who have had to wait around for a tournament to finish before they could defend their titles.

"Not everybody is going to be in love with the format, nor is everybody going to be in love with the matchmaking format where you have to ask for a world title fight," he said.

But Rebney defended Bellator's seasonal format as like the NFL's.

"Should the Giants just be bestowed the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl again? Or should they have to go through the season of 16 games?," he said. "My answer is, you've got to go through it."

Ultimately, Rebney said, the tournament format puts the focus where it should be: On winning fights.

"All that matters is when that cage door shuts, do you win?" Rebney said. "I think that's the purest form of sports."

MMA Top 10 Middleweights: Anderson Silva's Last Challenge?

2012-03-25T12:00:29Z

UFC President Dana White said last week that the Anderson Silva-Chael Sonnen rematch will take place in a Rio soccer stadium big enough to break the promotion's all-time attendance record, and the UFC is already hyping the fight as the biggest in history.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I do wonder if it's the last challenge at middleweight for the greatest champion in UFC history. Silva has so dominated the middleweight division that Sonnen is just about the only opponent who has even made Silva break a sweat inside the Octagon.

So as I rank the best middleweights in MMA, I'll look at whether any of them could potentially beat Silva down the road, or whether the rematch with Sonnen is the last chance we'll have to see someone who can really threaten the best fighter the UFC has ever seen.

Top 10 Middleweights in MMA

(Editor's note: The individual fighter's ranking the last time we did middleweights are in parentheses.)

1. Anderson Silva (1): The best fighter in the world turns 37 in April and has talked about retiring. If he beats Sonnen in the rematch would he consider doing what so few fighters ever do and retire on top?

2. Chael Sonnen (3): Sonnen wasn't at his best in defeating Michael Bisping in January, but he's now beaten two Top 10 opponents since returning from his suspension and has earned another shot at Silva.

3. Vitor Belfort (2): Belfort hits as hard as anyone at 185 pounds, and I think he'll crush Wanderlei Silva. But I'm not all that interested in seeing the rematch with Anderson Silva that Belfort wants. Silva knocked Belfort out in spectacular fashion last time, and I think he'd do it again.

4. Mark Munoz (5): Munoz is an option as a future opponent for Silva: He has the great wrestling and is currently riding a four-fight winning streak. But realistically, it's hard to see Munoz as much of a challenge to Silva. If you get knocked cold by a Matt Hamill head kick, what's an Anderson Silva head kick going to do to you?

5. Luke Rockhold (NR): The Strikeforce middleweight champion has a good chance of reigning over the division as long as Strikeforce lasts. It would be better to see him take on some of the best in the UFC, although I think the likes of Silva, Sonnen and Belfort would beat him handily.

6. Michael Bisping (10): Bisping put up a good fight in his loss to Sonnen and will try to rebound against Tim Boetsch at UFC 148. Bisping has always seemed to be just on the periphery of title contention without ever getting there.

7. Hector Lombard (NR): The Bellator middleweight champion has even fewer good opponents available to him than Rockhold has in Strikeforce. I'd love to see Lombard, who's an incredible 24-0-1 in his last 25 fights, step into the Octagon, although I think he'd get messed up by Silva.

8. Brian Stann (7): After taking a tough loss from Sonnen, Stann will be back against Alessio Sakara in April. Stann is a fighter the UFC would love to promote as a title contender, but it's not realistic to think he could ever be on Silva's level.

9. Chris Weidman (NR): After beating by far the best opponent of his career in Demian Maia, Weidman is a perfect 8-0. At age 27 he may become a middleweight title contender some day, but that day will likely be after Anderson Silva has hung up the gloves.

10. Tim Boetsch (NR): I loved the heart Boetsch showed in his comeback win over Yushin Okami. He's now 3-0 since dropping down to middleweight.

Justin Lawrence Knocks Out Cristiano Marcello on The Ultimate Fighter

2012-03-24T03:06:05Z

Dominick Cruz made Justin Lawrence the first pick when the coaches selected their teams on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, and when Lawrence stepped into the Octagon with Cristiano Marcello on Friday night, he made Cruz's pick look smart.

Lawrence out-struck Marcello in the stand-up exchanges in the first round, then started landing with more power in the second round and ultimately connected a left hand to Marcello's chin that knocked Marcello flat on his back, ending the fight by second-round knockout.

"It felt amazing," Lawrence said afterward. "We worked that all week during the training camp -- my left hook, my hands, my movement."

It was an impressive performance by Lawrence that has to make him, at the moment at least, the favorite to win this season.

Marcello is one of the most experienced fighters on the show, a 34-year-old Pride veteran and Brazilian jiu jitsu instructor who has coached some of the best fighters in the world at the famed Chute Box Academy. But he was never able to take the fight to the ground against Lawrence, and his striking was not impressive.

As for the "reality" portion of the UFC's reality show, this week's episode wasn't as compelling as last week's, as the fighters resorted to silly pranks like defacing the photos of coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber that hang in the gym. A couple of contrived confrontations between Cruz and Faber felt more like they were going through the motions of promoting their own upcoming fight than exhibiting genuine bad blood.

The fight itself, however, was solid: Lawrence looked good, and he looks like he might just be the best fighter on this season of The Ultimate Fighter.