Posts Tagged ‘MMA Gym North York’

Future featherweights: UFC lightweights who should drop down

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

By Matt Larkin
Guest Writer

In light of the UFC/WEC merger, we should eventually see some of the smaller lightweights drop down from 155 pounds to featherweight (145 pounds). Here are some fighters I believe would benefit significantly from a drop-down.

1. Frankie Edgar

Sure, he’s already the lightweight champ, but we’ll see if he still is after January 1. Gray Maynard is the only man to beat him and is significantly bigger. If Frankie lost, it might make a ton of sense for him to drop down and become one of the stronger guys at 145 instead of arguably the tiniest guy at 155.

2. Tyson Griffin

He just can’t catch a break. He’s been on the wrong end of so many ugly decisions and has never gotten a fast track to contention. Maybe if Griffin, a strong guy with a small frame, dropped down, he’d leave fewer fights in the judges’ hands? His wrestling would be more effective at featherweight and his striking would pack more wallop.

3. Clay Guida

Guida’s a guy who relies on being busy and smothering opponents with his grappling to get his wins. But he still gets outclassed by stronger guys with longer reaches at times (like Diego Sanchez). At 145, Guida might actually be a terror for opponents to handle. He’d be among the strongest in the division.

4. Dennis Siver

Looking at Siver’s heavily muscled frame, you may wonder how he could even fight at lightweight, let alone featherweight. But if he decided to just bulk up less at the gym, maybe he could get down to 145. If he did, his aggression and striking would make him a very dangerous opponent. He has good knockout power at lightweight; he could wreak havoc at featherweight.

MMA Gym North York, Toronto, Brampton, Etobicoke, Markham, Mississauga, Oshawa, Peel Region, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Thornhill, Vaughan, Woodbridge, York, York Region Ontario Canada.

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Jon Jones is the Haley’s Comet of MMA

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Mixed martial arts has its own Haley’s Comet — an glorious, awesome force of nature that pops up once in a long while and vanishes just as quickly as it appears.

Jon Jones is Haley’s Comet.

We wait months and months to see “Bones” Jones, who I believe now ranks with Anderson Silva and Fedor as a guy you just can’t wait to see. The moment finally arrives and it’s over in mere seconds. The guy has become so dominant at 205 pounds that we barely even get to glimpse his immense skill set before his fights end.

On Sunday night, in a flash, he used his reach to close the gap quickly on Vladimir Matyushenko, used his strong grappling to score a takedown, showcased vastly improved BJJ to rapidly pass the Janitor’s guard…and the fight was over in a matter of seconds. Jones unleashed a hailstorm of violent elbows and bludgeoned Matyushenko into oblivion, just as he did Brandon Vera and Matt Hamill in his previous two bouts.

It was thrilling to see another virtuoso performance from the unpredictable and well-rounded Jones. At the same time, it was frustrating to see him come and go again so quickly. Enough is enough. This guy has embarrassed the middle-tier of UFC light heavyweight gatekeepers. He needs a top-notch opponent.

Thankfully, Dana White has indicated that Jones will get just that: a “top-eight guy in the world” in his next fight. That would mean one of Shogun Rua, Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin or Ryan Bader, right? The problem is that virtually all those fighters are booked for bouts with each other right now.

The available guys: Griffin and Franklin – are hurt. Franklin’s arm was badly broken in June and Griffin pulled out of his bout with Little Nog. But what about Thiago Silva? The Muay Thai striker ducked Jones earlier this year and pulled out of this weekend’s fight against Tim Boetsch with a back injury.

Silva’s back injury doesn’t seem to be too severe, so maybe he could face Jones next? Maybe whoever is fight-ready first between Silva and Griffin could get the next shot. And I wouldn’t bet against Mr. Jones.

MMA Gym North York, Toronto, Brampton, Etobicoke, Markham, Mississauga, Oshawa, Peel Region, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Thornhill, Vaughan, Woodbridge, York, York Region Ontario Canada.

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MMA Fighters who need to call it quits

Monday, January 25th, 2010

I couldn’t help but chuckle thinking about the upcoming UFC 109 main event, which pits Randy Couture against his veteran wrestling contemporary Mark Coleman. They were slated to clash at UFC 17 but Mark Coleman, then still sporting hair on his head, got hurt. UFC 17!? Something tells me these two need to retire before they suffer permanent brain damage.

We’ve covered the Natural and the Hammer. Who else in mixed martial arts should be put out to pasture?

Chuck Liddell

Easy decision here. Guys like Couture and Coleman had longer primes because they did their damage by grappling opponents, pinning them against cage, taking them down and avoiding dangerous exchanges. But the Iceman’s bread and butter has always been striking and he just doesn’t have the chin to stand and trade anymore.

Wanderlei Silva

Wandy’s in a similar boat to Chuck but, unlike Liddell, he actually had a long prime. The problem is that Silva started fighting as a teenager. He’s just taken too many shots over the years. For anyone who doesn’t agree that MMA “age” is more about number of fights than number of years on Earth, know this: Wanderlei Silva is in the twilight of his career at age 33 and Randy Couture fought his first MMA bout at age 33.

Frank Trigg

Fittingly matched up for UFC 109 against another guy who should consider retiring, Matt Serra, Frank “Twinkle toes” Trigg just doesn’t look like a mixed martial artist anymore. In his “fight” against Josh Koscheck, he was an old man trying to battle a young buck. The result wasn’t pretty. Time for Trigg to take his big mouth to the broadcast booth permanently.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic

Here’s an easy choice. Once the most feared heavyweight striker in the world, Cro Cop is a shadow of his former self. He looked genuinely afraid to fight Junior Dos Santos and has openly wrestled with his desire. Hopefully, he can go out in style against Ben Rothwell at UFC 110.

By Matt Larkin
Guest Writer

MMA Gym North York, Brampton, Etobicoke, Markham, Mississauga, Oshawa, Peel Region, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Thornhill, Toronto, Vaughan, Woodbridge, York, York Region Ontario Canada.

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