In Defense of Starnes, Kind Of…

There was one mistake made on the UFC 83 card in Montréal.  Though he’s taking the heat, it wasn’t made by Kalib Starnes (8-3-1).

Starnes’s match-up versus “Rock” Nathan Quarry (10-2) should’ve never been broadcast to begin with.

At the risk of sounding like a Monday morning QB, I was confused why it was on the televised portion of the card before the event.  (Easy to say now, huh?)

Though Quarry looked much-improved in his February KO of “Drago” Pete Sell (7-4), Starnes got picked apart last October by “The Talent” Alan Belcher (12-5).

In an e-mail sent by Starnes to Fighters.com this morning, he contends, “I was then injured in the bout [with Belcher] and received a huge gash on my forehead, which caused the doctor to halt the bout prematurely.”

Starnes is wrong.  The doctor stoppage in October was entirely warranted because Starnes didn’t do enough in the one round with Belcher to convince anyone further punishment may result in a Starnes victory.  Why let a fighter bleed out in the Octagon when there’s no evidence he’s in there to win?

Why then match the same fighter versus a man who proved he’s on a mission in his previous fight?

At least three other 83 match-ups should’ve made the broadcast over Quarry v Starnes even before the fights were fought.

The all-Canada rematch between “The Athlete” Jason MacDonald (20-9) and “El Dirte” Joe Doerksen (39-12) was bound to be a war.

“No Love” Rich Clementi (31-12-1) and “Hands of Stone” Sam Stout (13-4-1) were on surges totaling six straight wins between them before Saturday when Clementi preserved his streak with a unanimous decision.

Both “Road Warrior” Jonathan Goulet (22-9) and Kuniyoshi Hironaka (11-5) are tough bastards.  Goulet hadn’t won or lost in the judges hands in nine straight.

The results Saturday night prove my admittedly late assertion.

All three “…of the Night” bonuses were awarded to fighters on the untelevised undercard, Goulet and Hironaka winning “Fight of the Night” and MacDonald pocketing 75 grand for “Knockout of the Night”.

Starnes claims, “Dana White…made comments after the fight insinuating that I would have been better served allowing myself to be knocked out.”

You’ve got to wonder if slumping Starnes was matched versus better-than-ever Quarry to serve a highlight reel KO to the broadcast audience?

Starnes called Quarry, “…a real monster in the ring, I think that they should keep him in a cave somewhere and feed him raw meat!”

Even if that’s true, Starnes’s performance was embarrassing.  If you don’t want to be in the Octagon, don’t take the fight.

To be fair, I know fighters like Starnes have slim bank accounts and it’s not easy to turn down a guaranteed purse.  And, Starnes maintains he had broken his right foot early in the match and was doing all he could to work his jab.

All in all, the whole incident is a non-event.  A B-level fighter asks to be released from his contract after a pitiful performance.  Big deal.

However, even if I don’t particularly care to see Starnes fight again anywhere, it’s hard for me to blame anyone who steps in the Octagon.

Blame the UFC for a poor match-up that should’ve never been seen by anyone paying $44.95 for the PPV.

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Martin Still with UFC

Despite reports, UFC middleweight Terry Martin (16-4) is still signed to a contract with the UFC.

“I am still under contract with the UFC,” Martin told Fighters.com.  “The UFC has allowed me to do boxing to work on my hands.”

Martin made his professional boxing debut 11 April with a first round KO of Ricardo Upchurch, who is 0-2 in boxing matches.

“While boxing is my first love, I am not leaving MMA.  I will be back in the Octagon soon,” Martin promised.

In February, Martin dropped his second fight in the Octagon in a row after winning four straight.  He lost a unanimous decision to “The Beastman” Marvin Eastman (15-7-1).

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TUF 7: Experience, Respect

 This week started with a recap of Jesse Taylor’s (6-0) choke-out of Mike Dolce (3-4).  The fighters all said Jesse’s superior wrestling allowed him to control the fight and grind out the victory.  He won $10,000 for himself and the right for his team to pick the next fight.  That night, he rewarded himself with some beers while “Chipper” Matthew Riddle (0-0) and Dante Rivera (10-2) traded some trash talk.

The next day, “Rampage” Quinton Jackson (29-6) put his team through some circuit training to “see what they are made of.”  The team discussed who they thought Forrest would pick to fight.  They speculated that Forest would put up one of his strongest fighters against one of Rampage’s weakest to maintain control of the matchmaking.  They decided that Rivera versus Patrick Schultz (5-1-1) was the most likely match-up.

Back at the house, Riddle said he wanted to fight next.  At fight selection, he learned he would get his wish versus BJJ black belt Timothy Credeur (9-2).  The memory of Chipper’s violent knockout of Dan Simmler (0-0) was still fresh in everyone’s mind.  Credeur saw Riddle as a challenge and said he went there to fight the toughest guys.

The night before the fight, Riddle was relaxed.  He knew that he was young enough that he could lose and still be successful in the sport.  Credeur knew his clock was ticking and said if he lost he’d have to re-evaluate life as a fighter.  Everyone was anxious to see if the greenhorn, Riddle, could use his knockout power to overcome the fight experience and proven ground game of Credeur.

“Chipper” Matthew Riddle (0-0) VS Timothy Credeur (9-2)

Round 1:

Right off the bat, Riddle shot for a low single and got to Credeur’s back for the takedown.  Tim loosened one of Riddle’s hooks and spun out to get back to his feet.

Credeur landed a jab and a few leg kicks.  Riddle countered with a leg kick of his own and shot for another takedown.  After a brief scramble, “Chipper” slammed Credeur with a hip-toss.  Tim escaped to his butterfly guard and back to his feet.

A few punches were exchanged and Credeur tripped Riddle and got top position against the cage.  After another scramble, Riddle appeared to momentarily have Credeur’s back; but, Credeur rolled and looked to attack Chipper’s leg with a submission.  Riddle defended and got top position in Credeur’s open guard.  “Chipper” tried to pass; but, Tim used the opportunity to pull off a nice butterfly sweep and take the mount on Riddle.  Tim was throwing and landing punches and elbows form the top and bloodied Riddle’s nose.  Looking lost under the mount, Riddle tried to block some of Tim’s shots.  With fifteen seconds left, he gave up his back to stop the punches.

Credeur worked the rear naked choke; but, Riddle was able to fend it off for the remainder of the round.  The atmosphere during the fight was intense.  You could barely hear the coaches over the screaming of the other fighters.

Round 2:

Riddle stormed out and landed a right head kick and took Credeur down.

Credeur looked for a lower body submission; but, Riddle defended and wound up on his back near the cage with Credeur in his guard.  Tim landed some shots.

“Get up!  Get up!” shouted Rampage.  He wanted Riddle to get the fight back to his feet where he had a better chance of beating the ground specialist.

“Chipper” ate some punches and elbows and his nose started bleeding again.  Things looked bad for Matt; but, as Credeur stepped back to throw a bomb, Riddle turned to his knees and pushed Credeur off.

“He’s done!” exclaimed Rampage.

“Chipper”, now back on his feet, started throwing bombs.  Credeur was gassed!  Riddle landed a few punches, got Tim in the clinch, landed a knee to the body, and took him down.

Rampage shouted for Chipper to let him up.

Riddle started connecting with body shots and some elbows to the face.  Credeur attempted a triangle that Riddle quickly slipped out of.  Tim stayed tight to Riddle and used his triangle escape to take the mount and look for the armbar form the top.

“No! No!” shouted Forest.  He wanted Tim to maintain top position and win the decision rather than go for the risky finish.

Credeur’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu took over and he extended the arm, forcing Riddle to tap.

Winner by tap out due to armbar: Timothy Credeur

Rampage and Juanito Ibarra, Team Rampage’s striking coach, were disappointed because Riddle fought hard, but made a huge mistake and didn’t follow the game plan.  He took the fight to the ground against a BJJ black belt at the critical point of the fight.  Team Rampage lost another fight, and a promising fighter.  Team Forrest took a 2-0 lead and retained matchmaking rights for the next round.

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Monson Hustlin’

Either “The Snowman” Jeff Monson (24-7) fights cheap or has the best manager in MMA.

While it seems to take a trained hostage negotiator to get a deal done between “Maine-iac” Tim Sylvia (24-4) and “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (27-1), “The Snowman” has picked up three fights in five weeks.

Count’em:

24 June versus “The Monster” Kevin Randleman (16-12) at Godz of War in Charlotte.

12 June versus Michael Russow (9-1) at Adrenaline MMA in Chicago.

And, today World Victory Road announced Monson will fight Fighters.com’s fourth-ranked heavyweight “The Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (21-5) 18 May at Sengoku II in Tokyo.

Monson last fought MMA in December, picking up a unanimous decision over Hakim Goram (4-3).

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86 Card Building

The UFC has announced three additional fights on 5 July’s UFC 86 card in Las Vegas.

Fighters.com’s fourth-ranked welterweight “Kos” Josh Koscheck (10-2) is set to face rugged vet “Lights Out” Chris Lytle (25-15-5).

Both fighters come off exciting TKOs in their previous bouts.

In February, Lytle ran roughshod over UFC debuting Kyle Bradley (13-5) in just 33 seconds.

“Kos” and “McLovin” Dustin Hazelett (10-4) traded evenly for a round before Koschek tagged “McLovin” with punches and kicks 1:24 into round two in March.

Hazelett’s trainer, Jorge Gurgel (12-3), will fight 6′1″ “Magrino” Cole Miller (13-3) at 86.

Miller of Georgia comes off his first UFC loss to Jeremy Stephens (13-2), a second-round TKO in January.

Gurgel won a unanimous decision over John Halverson (16-6) in March.

Rising middleweight “Cachorrao” Ricardo Almeida (9-2) will face streaking “The Predator” Patrick Cote (12-4) on the card.

Cote has won four straight, three consecutive by first-round stoppage.  Most recently “The Predator” devoured Andrew McFedries (6-3) in 1:44.

Almeida returned to MMA after a four-year hiatus to submit Rob Yundt(6-1) in a guillotine choke in February. “Cachorrao” boasts wins over Fighters.com’s eighth-ranked middleweight “Grabaka Hitman” Kazuo Misaki (19-8-2) and UFC title contender Nathan Marquardt (26-7-2) in the early ’90s.

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Kimbo is The Real Deal

None of us should fool ourselves into believing there’s a difference between combat sports and an ol’ fashion street punch-up.  True, combat sports are the artistic expression of our most base intuitions, like lobster bisque is to an ol’ fashion lobster boil.

You know what though?  Sometimes, you just want to boil a live lobster, slather it in butter, and make a mess.

“Kimbo Slice” Kevin Ferguson (2-0) hasn’t elevated his MMA to an art form, like “Iceman” Chuck Liddell (22-5) has; but, “Slice” keeps us all honest.

When “Slice” tells Liddell, “We can always take it back to old school.  That’ll work for me,” I believe him.  In fact, I’m not convinced he won’t show-up at “The Pit” if Liddell responds to this video:

“Thousand Oaks, California!  Elite MMA!  I’m right he’ah!”

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April Fighter Of The Month: Cung Le

On 29 March, Cung Le (6-0) forced Frank Shamrock(23-9-2) to quit in his corner with a broken arm from Le’s relentless kicking offense. Le won the Strikeforce middleweight title. Though his two children were sick, Le took time to talk to Fighters.com.

Fighters.com: Your MMA career has always been leading to the battle of San Jose with Shamrock. Now it’s over. Is there relief, a sense of accomplishment? Are you thinking about what’s next?

Cung Le: Relief and accomplishment. I’m just trying to take a break, but no break yet. I’m not thinking about what’s next. There’s a lot of negotiating and setup in an organization to schedule a fight; and, I’m just letting Strikeforce handle that.

Fighters.com: It didn’t look like Shamrock had much of a strategy more than “let’s see what happens”. Did you perceive he was trying to set-up anything or had a notion of a particular weakness?

Cung Le: My coach, who used to coach Frank, said [Shamrock] looked as good as he’s ever seen him. He was looking for openings and I just didn’t give him any.

Fighters.com: Did Shamrock do what you expected?

Cung Le: Yeah. The only problem was that my coach told me he dips when he punches; so, a couple of times I got caught because I thought he was going to take me down.

Fighters.com: It seems like your kicks snap more from the knee than the kicks taught to most mixed martial artists, which are more the roundhouse Muay Thai kick. Do you notice that? How do you analyze that?

Cung Le: That’s my secret! I’m not giving that up.

Fighters.com: Let’s be objective. How’s your ground game?

Cung Le: I’m just trying to be the most complete martial artist. No one comes to see me submit people. People want to seek knockouts and kicks. I can submit people. I took Sam Morgan to the ground and had him in a crucifix.

Fighters.com: Shamrock was grinning. Do you think he didn’t take you seriously?

Cung Le: I was having a good time too; but, never was it not a fight.

Fighters.com: Shamrock is going to ask for a rematch, if he hasn’t already. Is there any reason to rematch him immediately?

Cung Le: I will give him one because he gave me this opportunity. I owe him that.

Fighters.com: After the fight you mentioned your helicopter flight out of Vietnam under gun fire. Was that something you thought about immediately or something you planned to say?

Cung Le: Definitely, it’s apart of my training. It helps motivate me.

Fighters.com: Have you been back to Vietnam since leaving? Do you enjoy returning?

Cung Le: I’ve been back twice. My dad lives there. I enjoy it. It’s very emotional for me.

Fighters.com: Under the ProElite umbrella, you have fellow middleweight champions Robbie Lawler and Kala Kolohe Hose. Would you like to call either of them out?

Cung Le: No. I haven’t even thought about fighting them.

Fighters.com: Have you faced anyone in MMA tougher than your toughest San Shou fight?

Cung Le: Frank Shamrockis my toughest opponent. San Shou is different. The referee stops you after each take down. MMA is much harder.

Fighters.com: San Shou is an exhibition sport at this Summer’s Olympics. Any plans to go to Beijing?

Cung Le: No. There’s a lot of politics. They decided they want to play politics and I decided I didn’t want to be involved. Under me we got four bronze and two silver. Under the current coach, no one placed.

Fighters.com: Now that you’ve got some downtime, how do you split up your time between training, your gym, your acting career, and family?

Cung Le: I’m just trying to find some down time! I’ve got two boys that are sick; you can hear in the background. I’m sure everyone knows about my divorce and I got full custody. I’ve got a lot of great people around me. I don’t mind doing interviews. Media and my fans are what got me here.

Congratulations Cung on being Fighters.com featured fighter!

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Werdum Versus Vera to Headline London

Today the UFC announced the match-up between Fighters.com’s seventh-ranked heavyweight “Vai Cavalo” Fabricio Werdum (10-3-1) and “The Truth” Brandon Vera (8-1) will be the main event in London 7 June.

The former co-main event was promoted after “Iceman” Chuck Liddell (21-5) was removed from his match-up versus “Sugar” Rashad Evans (11-0-1) with a pulled hamstring.

Vera, whose father is Filipino, is in the Philippines promoting the fight.

Evans has been removed from the official card and there’s no word whether he’ll be matched against a light heavyweight replacement for Liddell.

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No Rest For ‘No Love’

With barely enough time to sleep through a few six A.M. cardio sessions after grinding out a split decision “W” over “Hands of Stone” Sam Stout (13-4-1) in Montréal Saturday, “No Love” Rich Clementi (31-12-1) has already agree to replace Robert Emerson (7-6) in Las Vegas 24 May.

The UFC did not divulge the injury that has forced Emerson out of his scheduled fight with Terry Etim (10-1).

Clementi rides a five fight win streak into Vegas beginning with a rear naked choke submission of Kyle Gibbons (9-2) in September ‘07.

Etim of Liverpool returns from his first loss, a unanimous decision to Gleison Tibau (15-5) last September.

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Kawamura Faces The Monster

World Victory Road has named Japan’s Ryo Kawamura (8-2-2) as “The Monster” Kevin Randleman’s (16-12) Sengoku II opponent 18 May.

At a press conference last Friday, WVR PR guy Takahiro Kokuho mentioned Randleman was itching to know his foe.

Kawamura won a unanimous decision over Antonio Braga Neto (5-1) at the original Sengoku last March.  He’s a Pancrase vet who has usually fought at middleweight.

Randleman has fought at heavyweight and light heavyweight.

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