MMA Roundup- Nogueira, Mir-Carwin, Lawler

Winter is always a busy time for MMA, and right now is certainly no exception.  Big events from Strikeforce, WEC, the UFC and other organizations are on the horizon, and there’s always something to talk about when it comes to our collective favorite sport.  In this edition of MMA Roundup, we’ll discuss everything from the latest injury to hit the UFC’s upcoming cards and a rather dubious footnote from one of the fighters at UFC 110′s career.

Lil Nog Forced to Drop Out of UFC 109

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, also known as the smaller of the Nogueira brothers, is the latest fighter to be hit by the rash of injuries to UFC fighters.  Due to what Sherdog.com reported to be a fractured ankle, Nogueira has been forced to withdraw from what would have been an exciting bout against Brandon Vera in the light heavyweight division.  Apparently, the UFC is working towards finding Vera a replacement opponent.

It’s unfortunate, especially since this would have been one of the main selling points of UFC 109…for me, anyway.  The card looks solid, though underwhelming, as does UFC 108.  It will be interesting to see how the buyrates turn out for both events.  I do suspect that you could essentially throw just about anyone in there, and people will be tuning in to get their monthly UFC pay-per-view fix, anyway.  I hope I’m wrong though, or what’s the UFC’s incentive going to be to give the fans stacked cards from time to time?

Injuries Aren’t UFC-Exclusive, After All

The UFC isn’t the only organization to be bitten by the injury bug, as Strikeforce has once again been put in the position to find an opponent for Robbie Lawler, this time with under a week to go.  On Monday it was announced that Trevor Prangley would have to withdraw from the event due to injury, as Lawler’s original opponent, Benji Radach, also had to do.

At this point, who is going to be crazy enough to step in to face a pissed-off Lawler who is coming off of a massively disappointing submission loss to Jake Shields, all within a few days’ notice?  I was definitely more disappointed to see Radach drop out, as Lawler-Radach would have made for an outstanding fight, but this is still a problem as we’re days away from the event.  We’ll see if Strikeforce can find a brave soul to step in there on short notice, though.

Mir-Carwin to Fight at UFC 111…For Interim Title?

Shane Carwin confirmed on his website that he has been offered a fight against Frank Mir at UFC 111, slated to take place on March 27 of next year.  The word is that the fight will be for the interim heavyweight title, though that hasn’t been officially stated yet, of course.  Nothing has been signed, but all indications are that this fight will happen.

On one hand, I hate interim titles, but on the other hand, this will be a great fight.  I wonder whether this is being set up because Lesnar’s health is not going to have a good chance of improving in the near future?  If this ends up being for the interim title, I would say that we won’t be seeing Lesnar until the fall of 2010, at best.  If he can’t make it back by then, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the UFC strip Lesnar and simply crown the current interim champ as the official title-holder.  Hopefully, none of that will be necessary, of course.

UFC on NBC?  It Could Happen

The sale of NBC to Comcast has apparently opened the door to a possible UFC appearance on network television in the future.  Since Comcast owns Versus, things could work out to where the UFC could finally hold a live event on network television, which previously has only been done by rivals EliteXC and Strikeforce.

While there isn’t much more to say than “you never know,” (which Dana White, in fact, did say), it’s definitely an interesting proposition.  It would be great to see what kind of numbers the UFC could do on network television with its more recognizable brand, in comparison to the impressive numbers that Strikeforce did recently with their CBS card. 

Furthermore, the UFC will hold two events on Versus next year, and White has once again indicated that there are no plans to do any further consolidation of the UFC and WEC.  He still would like to take the WEC to pay-per-view, but mentioned that it is hard to do so with the plethora of live events already taking place on PPV.

Crazy Is As Crazy Does

Let’s end the Roundup with a couple of crazy items.  First of all, not only does James Toney say that he wants to fight in the UFC, but he thinks he could start big- namely, by facing UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell.  Toney claims that he made Liddell “uncomfortable” by sitting behind him at UFC 107, which is hilarious.  Apparently, he’d like to fight Liddell, and has been talking to Dana White about getting the chance.

OK…Toney is crazy.  First of all, he’s 41 years old and a little too old to be taking up wrestling and jiu-jitsu.  Second of all, if he sees Liddell as just a guy with a suspect chin and poor boxing fundamentals, he’s looking at things the wrong way.  There’s no way that Liddell would simply box with him in an MMA fight.  Toney would likely end up getting his legs kicked out from under him or on his back, getting pounded on.

The other crazy item comes from a fight on UFC 110′s card, which features the popular Australian fighter Elvis Sinosic against Chris Haseman.  Haseman, who is also Australian, is notable for fighting some big names, such as Fedor Emelianenko, Matt Hughes, Murilo Bustamante, Evan Tanner, Tsuyoshi Kosaka, Jeremy Horn and Mike Van Arsdale (all whom he lost to).  However, he should be more known for an outstanding detail on his fighting resume.

Not once, but twice, in the same night, he defeated Hiriwa Terangi and Elvis Sinosic (go figure) by submission.  What’s notable about that fact is the “submission” that he used.  He won both fights when his opponents tapped out due to a “chin to the eye”.  That’s right, Haseman won consecutive fights on the same night back in 1997 by plunging his chin into his opponent’s eye sockets until they were forced to tap.  For this, we salute you, Chris Haseman.

On another note, this actually makes me excited for this fight, now.  Before, I was thinking, “okay, toss two popular Australian fighters in there for the home crowd,” but now I’m thinking, “revenge opportunity for Sinosic!  No way he can let that chin to the eye slide!”  If neither Joe Rogan nor Mike Goldberg mentions any of this, I will be astounded.

E-Mail Jon Hartley

Tags: Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, Strikeforce, Strikeforce Evolution, UFC, UFC 107, UFC 110