UFC 98

[gracie bjj]

sherk and deigo would be interesting imo, id love to see that fight. id give the edge to deigo in subs and the wrestling to sherk, striking i give the edge to sherk also

[gracie bjj]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 13, 2009
UFC NEWS: DAN MILLER

With Okami Out, Miller Focused on Sonnen
By Kelsey Mowatt

Two weeks ago FCF caught up with Dan Miller to get his thoughts on his upcoming bout with middleweight contender Yushin Okami. At the time, the up-and-coming fighter shared his excitement about the fight, stating that he was hoping that a win over the highly regarded Japanese fighter, would help entrench Miller’s presence in the upper rankings of the 185lb. division. Shortly after, news surfaced that Okami had dropped out of the bout due to injury, leaving Miller in doubt as to who he would face on May 23rd at UFC 98.

“Yeah, I was definitely disappointed,” Miller said when FCF spoke with him today. “I was definitely looking forward to fighting Yushin. He’s a great fighter and I’d like to go in there and test myself. I definitely think he would have done that.”

Now Miller (11-1-1 NC) will take on the veteran Chael Sonnen (21-10-1), who although he has yet to work his way into a middleweight contender position like Okami has in the UFC, the Team Quest fighter has competed against some of the division’s more notable fighters, in addition to holding a recent win over former WEC champion, Paulo Filho.

“I think Chael is a great fighter,” Miller noted. “He has great hands and he’s a great wrestler. I think it’s still a pretty good fight for me. When I beat Chael it will be a great win.”

Sonnen, like so many other accomplished wrestlers, has indeed developed his striking skills to compliment the 32 year-old-fighter’s dangerous ground-and-pound game.

“No, I have no idea,” Miller said, when asked about what he believes Sonnen’s game-plan might be, come May 23rd. “It really doesn’t matter to me. I’ve been training everything, training a lot on my hands, and I’m very confident in my ground game. It really doesn’t matter to me where the fight goes.”

 

Miller is coming off a quick submission win over Jake Rosholt, as he caught the renowned collegiate wrestler with a first round guillotine at Fight Night 17 in February. In fact, of Miller’s 11 career victories, 7 have come way of submission. Although both of Sonnen’s recent losses came via tap-out, they came against world class jiu-jitsu practitioners in Demian Maia and Paulo Filho, and as a result, Miller is somewhat unsure as to how his own submission skills will play out.

“It is a positive for me because I’m pretty good at submissions, but I’m sure he’s training, getting better,” Miller said. “I don’t think he’s going to be the same fighter. I mean Demian Maia is nasty, so you really can’t go by what happened in that fight.”

It will be interesting to see whether or not conditioning plays into the bout, as Miller has been preparing for a fight for quite sometime, while Sonnen is stepping up on short notice. That said, Sonnen has been fighting professionally since 2002, and is more than well aware, that staying in shape is a pre-requisite for competing at the upper levels of the sport.

“I go into every fight very confident in my cardio,” Miller furthered. “Every fight I go in and try to test the guy and wear him out. I’m going to do the same thing in this fight. I’m going to go in and push the pace and make him fight my fight. If it goes into the later rounds then hopefully he’ll be tired and I’ll be fresh.”

[SinCitysmallGUY]

Brian Oswald over at MMAMania.com has a solid interview with the UFC's current Light Heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida in which he asks some specific questions about Machida's gameplan coming in and talks briefly about some of the martial arts that Machida implements in the Octagon:

Brian Oswald (MMAmania.com): You began training in karate at the age of three and earned a black belt at the age of 13. You began training in sumo at 12 and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at 15. Can you tell us about those three different art forms and how each one helps you as a mixed martial artist?

Lyoto Machida: Karate is my main martial art; that is what I train in every day. It has always been in my life. Sumo is another Japanese martial art that I got into at an early age. It is something that has helped and added to my overall stance and is a good base. It is not something I necessarily use in all my fights though.

I have been practicing Jiu-Jitsu ever since I started watching the UFC. I knew it was something I had to learn to be a full rounded fighter. I wanted to be prepared for when BJJ guys would come to my karate gym and challenge us to a fight.

...

Brian Oswald (MMAmania.com): Your unorthodox southpaw stance is what really frustrates your opponents. Do you consider that your greatest advantage in the cage?

Lyoto Machida: The way I stand and my posture really complicates my opponents; they don’t understand it and don’t know what to do about. The way I stand there in front of them really throws them off. Karate is certainly my greatest advantage; being able to adapt it to MMA makes me stand out.

...

Brian Oswald (MMAmania.com): You recently said that you have developed a game plan around Rashad Evans style of fighting. What is Rashad’s greatest strength and what is his greatest weakness?

Lyoto Machida: Rashad is definitely a well rounded fighter. He has got really fast hands and really good takedowns. I don’t want to get into his weaknesses here; I will leave that for the fans to see May 23. What I can say; the weakness Rashad has is where I will catch him.

Brian Oswald (MMAmania.com): If Rashad is able to take you to the ground and get in your guard will you be comfortable fighting off your back and work for submissions?

Lyoto Machida: I have trained for that a lot so if Rashad happens to end up in my guard…he will become very bothered because I will not stop attacking from that position.

We've heard about all of these techniques and strategies before, but it's worthy to note that he uses some very untraditional martial arts as a base for his skillset. Karate isn't unknown to the sport, but the way in which Machida manages to utilize it and modify it to work unbelievably well in the sport of MMA is uncanny.

The art of Sumo is also one of the most underappreciated arts that Machida uses in the cage. Sumo uses a plethora of trips and Judo-esque throws within its techniques, and Machida has managed to catch many opponents off guard using those techniques while he is being chased or in the clinch.

Machida doesn't give us a hint of his gameplan, but it's hard to see how Evans plans to defeat Machida's range, surprising counter tactics, and overall well-rounded skillset. As days go by, this matchup will surely be one for the hardcore and casual fans alike.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

first machida better get past rashad before he thinks about fighting a beast like that, i do believe machida has better technique then brock in striking and bjj, but i think the size,strength advantage and brocks awesome ground and octagon control will be to much for the machada in the later rounds

Machida is fucking dreaming.. Brock would crush him. We are talking 80 lbs of solid muscle differance. Plus it's not like Brock has  not continued to get better.. The dragon better be careful with his mouth before he becomes unagi!

[SinCitysmallGUY]

sherk and deigo would be interesting imo, id love to see that fight. id give the edge to deigo in subs and the wrestling to sherk, striking i give the edge to sherk also

I agree with your first part, but the edge in striking goes to Diego in my book. He has been working with Apollo at Fasi in Vegas, and Apollo puts out top caliber strikers!

[SinCitysmallGUY]

[TestDummy]

I amm not a Serra fan in the least. Prolly one of the guys I hate the most. I just cant stand his jersey attitude and for some reason everytime he talks I just clinch my jaw up... Those videos were painful for me....

I hope Hughes KO's him to where he is left twitching! That way Hughes can tell him to SHUT THE FUCK UP! ha-ha.

I couldn't agree more... I can't stand Serra!

[Captain Equipoise]

Lesnar will break him in half, Mir didn't stand a chance against Lesnar first time they fought, what makes Machida think he has a chance !?

[bigmc]

Lesnar will break him in half, Mir didn't stand a chance against Lesnar first time they fought, what makes Machida think he has a chance !?

mir won 

[chaos]

mir won 

If the ref would have warned Lesnar about hitting on the back of the head, like every other ref in the world, instead of stopping the fight and standing them back up, Lesnar would have won.
But it is what it is and now we have Lesnar/Mir II, should be an awesome fight.

[Geo]

Machida dos'nt have the size to keep most of the bigger heavyweights off him for very long..

[Captain Equipoise]

mir won 

no no no, mir survived...

[coltrane]

Sherk's striking is pretty good imo.. and fast.  And, there is a lot of power behind his punches.

[*ChuteBoxe*]

Sherk's got decent head movement and pretty quick hands, he's also got a good left hook counter off his opponents jab, although, he lacks KO power.  Diego's striking is improved, but I can see Sean getting takedowns, avoiding subs, and grinding out a decision.

[MindSpin]

no no no, mir survived...

Mir beat him.  The big bully had to tap like a biatch and have the ref save him before Mir snapped his leg. 

[SinCitysmallGUY]

It's always easy to tell when crowd reactions get to a fighter.  You could see the hurt in Sean Sherk's eyes when he was booed out of the arena at UFC 80 when he confronted BJ Penn in the octagon. 

At UFC 84, instead of trying to break BJ's cardio with his wrestling, Sherk chose to stand and trade.  Some speculated he did this because he figured he couldn't take BJ down, but I don't buy that at all.  He did it because he wanted to make the fight exciting.  I think he's trying to win fans back over to his side, and as a result he's limiting himself.

In a Sherdog interview today Sherk gave me the impression his primary goal at UFC 98 is to have an exciting fight, not to win:


My last fight with Tyson [Griffin] was real exciting. We got "Fight of the Night." I think my fight with Frankie is going to be real exciting. I think -- assuming I do pull the win off in two fast-paced, exciting fights -- that the fans would be excited for Penn and Sherk 2.

Most people pick Sherk to beat Edgar because he has the advantage in the size, strength, and cardio departments.  If it turns into a wrestling match, it's hard to see how Edgar can pull it off.  However, if Sherk is happy to stand and trade, this fight is a tossup. 

[SinCitysmallGUY]

Jake Rossen looks to the future and wonders if Lyoto Machida is the personification of karate's revenge on MMA:

Machida is not a "karate fighter" in the sense Ichihara was; he’s trained extensively in jiu-jitsu, muay Thai and other styles to help complete his library of martial arts. What makes Machida a story is his footwork and defensive posturing, which is classically old-fashioned. And that’s frustrating, because the sledgehammer-swinging combat hybrid fighter of 2009 doesn’t go into a gym and practice mounting or defending attacks with hands low and chins up. For them, Machida’s style might as well be pluto-fu.

It’s a blend of technique that’s had answers for everyone from Rich Franklin (good striker with Western sensibilities) to Thiago Silva (jiu-jitsu, aggression) to Tito Ortiz (power, power, power). The only question left is the one Evans is more than capable of asking: What happens when an explosive wrestler decides he doesn’t want to keep swinging at air -- he wants to plant you on your ass and pummel until you sneeze bone fragments?

It’s a great question -- Evans/Machida holds more interest for me than any fight so far this year -- and the answer is going to have real influence on how aspiring fighters choose to train. When Royce Gracie proved his style’s efficacy in a real fight, schools began painting "and jiu-jitsu" in their front windows. Ichihara might find considerable irony in MMA franchises forced to add "and karate" to their yellow page ads.

It's a reasonable idea, but we have to be cautious at this stage about karate's application across fighters and fighting styles for a couple of reasons.

There are very different styles of karate and the type practiced by Machida - Shotokan - is far from the most commonly found among fighters in MMA - Kyokushin. As I explained a few months ago:

...for the record the two kinds of karate are actually meaningfully different. Shotokan is much more about precise forms (kata), nimble footwork, cunning, speed, precision, carefully selected shots and not taking damage. Kyokushin, on the other hand, values an athletic bang fest. It’s much more about forcing exchanges, striking first and often, being able to absorb punishment and to push the physical limits of the body.

The reason I don’t think this is a huge hindrance is that GSP likely has the ability to mimic Lyoto’s style to a sufficient degree. But the differences in Shotokan and Kyokushin seemingly speak to the very styles both GSP and Lyoto adopt in the cage.

From what I'm able to tell, most fighters in MMA with karate backgrounds that have reasonably successful careers come from the full contact, aggressive Kyokushin style. Whether it's because they were looking for more full contact and MMA became the natural place to go from their karate vantage point or because Kyokushin is more suitable for the high-paced action of MMA is not totally clear. But what is clear is that while Machida makes excellent use of the Shotokan style, I'm far from convinced others will be able to make use of Shotokan with even remotely similar levels of success.

There aren't many Machida's in MMA and it's not just because he has karate in his game. He has a style of karate that is quite difficult to make effective use of in full contact, damaging, cardio-emphasizing MMA. And even with other fighters with Kyokushin backgrounds, very few are able to make much use of their karate without compromising more requisite aspects of their MMA arsenal. I'm certainly not suggesting other, more traditional forms of martial arts may never find their place in modern MMA as skill sets develop, evolve and adapt, but I'm skeptical of the idea that what Lyoto can do, others can mimic over time.

[chaos]

Mir beat him.  The big bully had to tap like a biatch and have the ref save him before Mir snapped his leg. 

I bet you would have taken his back and made him nap, eh?

[20inch calves]

he def needs to hire someone to train him with the weights his form is crap

[Captain Equipoise]

Mir beat him.  The big bully had to tap like a biatch and have the ref save him before Mir snapped his leg. 

Bweahahahaha, Mir was fighting for his life in there...he even said so after in the post fight interview that he barely made it out alive.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

Sherdog has a very informative interview with Rashad Evans' striking coach Mike Winklejohn that provides several intriguing hints as to their game plan for Lyoto Machida:

“Machida is a tough nut to crack,” Winklejohn said. “He’s a talented guy with good reactions; he steps back, causes a hole and counters real well. [The] plan is to have Rashad not be there when Machida wants to counter. We are going to counter the counter or make Machida come at Rashad.”
...

“I told Rashad if the crowd starts booing, that’s a good thing; we have the right gameplan,” said Winklejohn, echoing the sentiments he imparted before Evans knocked out Liddell in Atlanta.

This match promised to be an epic of strategy, pitting two undefeated Light Heavyweights together at the top of their games. But it also threatens to be a slow-moving snoozefest to the uneducated eye.

Personally I'm looking at it like a detective story. Will the fight scientists of Greg Jackson's preeminent camp be able to unravel the enigma of MMA's most elusive striker, Lyoto Machida?

Will Machida, one of the games' craftiest players throw a wrench in the works by using his arsenal of trips and foot sweeps to put Rashad the wrestler on his back?

What mid-bout adjustments will be made? I expect the fight to be decided by footwork. Will Rashad take two rounds to figure out Machida's unconventional dance steps and catch him coming in in the third? Winklejohn is predicting a KO in 3.

Or will Machida adjust his game mid-fight so that when Rashad goes to KO Lyoto based on where he was in the first two rounds, Machida instead is somewhere else?

I really don't have words for how excited this matchup is getting me. You've got two of the best camps in MMA today putting up their top stud horses in a race for the marquee championship belt in the sport.

One thing I would like to know -- who has Machida been training with for this fight? Just his dad? What about his sometimes training partners Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort? I'm particularly interested in knowing what wisdom Silva could impart to his teammate Machida.

One thing I don't expect Machida to catch from Silva is the lack of killer instinct. Unlike Silva who's been defending his belt and legacy against a string of mediocrities, Machida is on the rise and still proving himself to a legion of skeptical fans.

Even at his most notoriously slow-paced, Machida has always fought toward a definitive conclusion, relentlessly accumulating points and heading to a clear victory, even in decision.

I think there is too much on the line for this fight not to come to a satisfying and definitive finish, but like a baseball game featuring two great pitchers, I expect the tension to build over the course of the match. Round by round the fighters will test one another's defenses until someone makes a fatal mistake.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

UFC 87 back in August featured some huge bouts in terms of relevance for MMA fans. Georges St. Pierre took on an able challenger in Jon Fitch to defend the UFC Welterweight crown, and Brock Lesnar defeated the always tough Heath Herring in a battle that not only tested Lesnar's conditioning, but gave fans a sense of what Lesnar can offer in upcoming fights.

One of the dark matches that took place that evening that many fans rarely saw was the absolute war between Jon Jones and Andre Gusmao. It was a 3 round barn burner of activity that mostly showcased Jon Jones' dynamic striking ability and power, but it also had some back and forth action that showed the quick Muay Thai abilities of Gusmao. Jones' power punching vs. Gusmao's Muay Thai clinch game made for some crazy exchanges. In the end, Gusmao lasted through the onslaught of a gassing Jon Jones, but he was defeated via unanimous decision.

Saturday evening will provide a proving ground for Andre Gusmao to sink or swim within the UFC's Light Heavyweight division. Jon Jones was a great surprise for many fans, but Gusmao isn't the type of fighter that fans should want to see cut from the UFC. He'll have a solid opportunity to bring his stock back into the mix with a win over Krzysztof Soszynski.

What makes me believe that Andre Gusmao's time has come to succeed in the big leagues? Although Gusmao is currently 5-1 in his MMA career, he's shown some positively destructive offense in the sport over the course of his career. Most notably, he defeated IFL veteran Mike Ciesnolevicz in only his second bout via a brutalizing knee strike from the clinch. The IFL managed to get Ciesnolevicz the rematch at the IFL 2007 Team Championship, but Gusmao's skill was proven to be legit as he once again defeated Ciesnolevicz via a crushing knee strike.

His Muay Thai is one of his more impressive base skills within his skillset. He has very smooth transitions from the standup game to the clinch, and he easily throws knees from his hips with precision and quickness. He has respectable striking, an impressive chin from what we saw in the Jon Jones fight, and his conditioning was an absolute suprise in that same matchup.

One of the attributes that seperates Gusmao from the pack is that he started his foray into mixed martial arts by studying and practicing Capoeira. Capoeira is a Brazilian art form that mixes martial arts and dance into one, and it is mostly practiced as an entertainment art. The Ginga movement is the base stance for Capoeira fighters, a side by side motion that resembles rocking back and forth.

How does this remotely tie into Gusmao's skillset? Interestingly enough, Gusmao has shown the ability to switch stances by using the Ginga at times in his career, and he showed some movement in the Jon Jones fight. It can be quite distracting to opposing fighters, and he can quickly change stances and throw strikes from that stance. Will we ever see it fully used in the Octagon by Gusmao? Probably not, but its base movements have no doubt given Gusmao some physical gifts.

Soszynski vs. Gusmao is currently lined up to be an even odds matchup, but I think this could be Gusmao's chance to put a solid win under his belt against a guy who has been exposed the casual fanbase via the Ultimate Fighter. It'll be a showdown between IFL veterans, and Gusmao will be seeking relevance in the division with a highlight win at UFC 98.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

A fight nearly three years in the making, it's difficult to imagine two opponents less similar then former UFC champions Matt Hughes (42-7 MMA, 15-5 UFC) and Matt Serra (9-5 MMA, 6-5 UFC).

The well-documented rivalry that began in 2006 with "The Ultimate Fighter 4" – and later reached a boiling point in "TUF 6" – will finally be decided at Saturday night's "UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida" in Las Vegas.

And while the bout may have lost some luster in the eyes of the public, Hughes insists nothing has changed for the participants.

"I don't think it changes a whole lot," Hughes said on a recent media call. "Yes, we've both had injuries, but I mean that happens in our sport when you're as rough on our bodies as we are. But I think the fans still want to see it.

"Obviously, him and I still want this fight to go on. So the bottom line is nothing's really changed."

Originally scheduled to meet in December 2007 at UFC 79, a Serra back injury forced the delay of the contest. Hughes then suffered a knee injury in his most recent fight, a June 2008 loss to current top contender Thiago Alves.

Hughes said he was able to recover fully without the need of surgery.

"In the last fight I tore my MCL and partially tore the PCL, but they grew back together," Hughes said. "I did not go under the knife."

And while Hughes hasn't fought in over 11 months – and hasn't registered a victory in over two years – the once-dominant, guaranteed hall-of-famer insists his time off has been a good thing.

"Well you know, I'm getting older now," Hughes said. "So the time off was actually pretty nice. But I've switched things up a little bit. I went to a lot of training camps. I went out a lot to different places and didn't stay home as much."

Hughes is undoubtedly one of the most dominant fighters in UFC history. The former champion put together two separate six-fight winning streaks in the UFC, won the welterweight title on two different occasions and defended the belt seven times.

And despite those successes, Hughes has suffered recent criticism largely due to the potential character flaws so readily pointed out by Serra. But with his place in UFC lore firmly secured, Hughes insists the positives have far outweighed the hate.

"I think any time you voice your opinion or you're just an outspoken guy or you just wear your heart on your sleeve, you're going to have people that love you and people that hate you," Hughes said. "And I get a fair amount of fan mail. And obviously I get some hate mail, too.

"I don't mind you know. It's all part of the game and I don't sweat it either way."

For all of bravado, all of his promises, all of his glories, Serra has put together just a 2-2 record in hist four years in the UFC.

While a stunning victory over Georges St. Pierre has cemented "The Terror's" own place in the annals of UFC history, it's hardly a record unmatched by his peers.

Meanwhile, the legendary Hughes has put together just a 4-3 mark in that same time frame – though his supporters would undoubtedly point out that the wins included B.J. Penn and Royce Gracie, while the losses came to the two men who will contest the 170-pound belt in July.

It's an emotion-filled battle, that even if a little late is certainly better than never.

They share a first name, they've taken turns wearing the same UFC belt. But in the words of Hughes, the two Matt's are simply "just two different people."

[SinCitysmallGUY]

When it comes to lightweights in the UFC, BJ Penn comes first, Sean Sherk comes second, and everyone else comes in a distant third, fourth, etc. One of the big reasons Sherk finds so much success at 155 is because he cuts like a guy and steps into the cage at 175 pounds. Here’s how he does it:

Sherk: Well, it’s a matter of changing my entire lifestyle for 12 weeks. My diet is very, very strict. I do pre-cuts four weeks before every fight. I mean, I actually practice cutting weight. I did it a couple of weeks ago. I cut down to 158 on a Saturday just to get my weight down. Now I’m walking around at, like, 175 again. It’s all about getting your body acclimated. It’s all about getting that metabolism speed up. I naturally sweat a lot anyway, so the water comes off real good. There are a lot of factors in there. For me to lose 20 pounds, no, it’s not easy. It sucks ass. I’ll be honest. It’s not fun at all, but it’s something I can recover from by the time I fight. Within 30 hours, I’m 100 percent again; I’m 175 pounds again. I feel like I didn’t even cut the weight.

Sherk is in action this weekend against Frankie Edgar, and I expect him to roll over Edgar the same way Gray Maynard did when they fought. Because big surprise! Size matters. And Edgar is in the exact same boat Sherk was in a few years ago: too small to compete with the top talent at a higher weightclass.

[MindSpin]

I bet you would have taken his back and made him nap, eh?

you damned straight.