MMA Musings- Fedor, Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, UFC 101

This summer has definitely held up to its promise as a newsworthy season of MMA events and happenings.  Unfortunately, not all of that news has been good news, as we saw in the last week with the rapid demise of Affliction’s MMA promotion.  Here are some random thoughts on mixed martial arts topics, including Fedor’s plans, Strikeforce’s upcoming event being overshadowed, and more.

The Fedor Sweepstakes Heat Up

So now, Fedor Emelianenko has decided to discuss his future plans on Wednesday, with a press conference that was announced by his head weasel, er, manager Vadim Finkelstein.  Finkelstein mentioned in his announcement that there “has been a great deal of speculation regarding Fedor and M-1”.  Well, he was half right.  There is always plenty of speculation about Fedor, but I don’t know any MMA fan who gives a rat’s ass about Finkelstein’s pathetic, piggy-backing organization.

Meanwhile, bravo to Fedor’s brother Aleksander, who called a spade a spade when he told Sports.ru that all of the “strict contract terms…come ONLY from Vadim Finkelstein, who wants to push his own business projects through Fedor’s fights”.  Couldn’t have said it any better myself!

To make matters much, much more interesting, the Los Angeles Times is now reporting that Fedor and the UFC are finalizing a deal, which will be announced this Friday.  Interestingly enough, Dana White has scheduled a conference call on Friday.  One thing’s for sure, this week is looking to be almost as juicy as last week for MMA news and changes in the landscape of the sport.

Where’s the Love for Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg?

It seems that one of the overlooked victims of the entire Affliction, Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko saga has been Strikeforce, whose August 15th event is now just a couple of weeks away, yet seemingly devoid of any real hype.

Not only is the Strikeforce card notable for being the first major MMA card to feature a headlining bout between two female fighters, but it also will feature the debut of five-minute rounds for the ladies.  Furthermore, Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos will be going five rounds, as their fight will be for the women’s 145 pound title, another first for a major MMA promotion.

Besides that, you have Josh Thomson vs. Gil Melendez for Thomson’s lightweight title, and a newly-added bout between Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Gegard Mousasi for Sobral’s light heavyweight title, which was initially planned for the cancelled Affliction card.  Even without the highly-anticipated (by me, anyway) Nick Diaz vs. Joe Riggs welterweight title fight (as well as the Alistair Overeem-Fabricio Werdum heavyweight title bout), that’s a great card. 

Keep in mind that rumors still persist that Jay Hieron, who was ready to go for the August 1st “Trilogy” show, will step in and face Nick Diaz for the newly-created Strikeforce welterweight title, so the show may get even better.

Of course, I haven’t heard nearly as much of a buzz over UFC 101 and what is a very interesting bout between BJ Penn and Kenny Florian since all of this went down over the last week or so, so I guess that none of the fighters on the Strikeforce card should feel too slighted.

UFC 101: Announcements a-Plenty?

Speaking of UFC 101, it looks as if “Declaration” could be as much about announcementsas it is about great fights.  Let’s take a look at this, for a second.  Sure, Fedor Emelianenko, if the Los Angeles Times report ends up being correct, will probably already have been announced as a UFC fighter, but that doesn’t mean they won’t have some kind of official introduction of Fedor to the company as part of the show.

Then you have a situation that would be one of the biggest stories right now if this was a normal week, which is Tito Ortiz and Dana White kissing and making up (again).  With the UFC having pulled all acknowledgement of the previously-announced Rich Franklin-Dan Henderson bout from their website, don’t be surprised at all to see Tito Ortiz make an appearance at UFC 101, along with an announcement that the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” will be taking on Franklin at UFC 103.

Of course, neither of these things may happen, but I definitely would not bet against either one, at this point.  I will likely remain skeptical about Fedor signing with the UFC until the moment it is officially announced (or even the moment that he steps in the cage to fight), but the Ortiz signing would make sense.  I simply have no idea why Ortiz and White would make up unless one side or both wanted to work out a new contract.  With Affliction no longer an option for Ortiz, who has never shown any serious interest of fighting overseas, it would appear that his only options are Strikeforce and the UFC.  There’s no question which of those two will make him more money in the long run.

Let’s See Special Features That Matter on MMA DVDs

When I saw the “Countdown” special for UFC 100, one thing stood out for me.  Sure, the entire thing was well done and produced brilliantly, as usual for those specials, but I really enjoyed the part where Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar sat down to watch their fight and break down what they saw.

While we sometimes get a taste of that in post-fight interviews, where Joe Rogan asks the fighters to let us know what they were thinking or trying to do as highlights play on the screen from the just-finished bout, the version with Mir and Lesnar watching their fight later on was much better.  In post-fight interviews, the fighters are always either too busy thanking people, too excited to really focus on any real analysis, too tired to care, or a combination of the three.

Why can’t we get features like this on UFC DVDs (and MMA DVDs in general)?  It could come in a version such as what we saw in the “Countdown” special, or even as a commentary track.  Either way, hearing fighters explain not only the intricacies of what they were doing (Mir did an outstanding job of this), or even just what they were thinking during the fight or what they should have done differently is really interesting stuff.  Here’s hoping that features like this start making it into these discs.  Sure, it’s great watching fighters warm up and celebrate their victories afterward, but for those of us who love to get into the strategy of the sport and get inside the fighters’ heads, some kind of fighter commentaries would be great.

by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com

Tags: Alistair Overeem, Brock Lesnar, Dan Henderson, Dana White, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko, Frank Mir, Gegard Mousasi, Josh Barnett, Kenny Florian, Nick Diaz, Rich Franklin, Strikeforce, Tito Ortiz, UFC