MMA Roundup: Urijah Faber, Chael Sonnen, Josh Koscheck and More

In the next day or so, we’ll have previews and picks for this weekend’s UFC bouts, but in the meantime, there’s plenty of other miscellany to report from the MMA world. Among the recent stories to discuss are a change in weight class for a top WEC fighter, plenty of trash talk to report on and the plans for the winner of the Liddell-Franklin bout.

Speaking of Reinventions…

Just a bit too late to be featured in my column about fighters reinventing themselves, Urijah Faber has officially decided to change weight classes. The former featherweight champion will compete at bantamweight (135 pounds) in a stacked WEC division that includes Miguel Torres, Brian Bowles and current champ Dominick Cruz, among others. Urijah’s first test at 135 lbs? The always-entertaining Takeya Mizugaki.

I’m not always a big fan of fighters changing weight classes, but this move makes sense. It’s not as if I think Faber would never have a chance of beating current featherweight king Jose Aldo (or for that matter, Mike Brown), but between the recent setbacks and the fact that Faber has always been a bit small for the weight class, this could be a great move for him. In particular, the fight between Faber and Mizugaki should be outstanding, and I look forward to seeing matchups with Torres and Cruz down the line, as well.

What’s Next for Franklin-Liddell Winner?

It looks like Forrest Griffin will await the winner of this Saturday’s showdown between Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin. On the Baltimore-area radio show “Huber and Justin”, White was asked whether Jon Jones could face the winner of the bout, which White wasn’t keen on. Instead, he pointed out that the winner could be headed to a showdown against Griffin. At the same time, he said that another Liddell loss would likely be the end of the Hall of Famer’s UFC career.

I was just saying the other day that a Liddell-Griffin fight would make a lot of sense and be an entertaining fight. Franklin-Griffin would be good as well, and either matchup would help the winner to get back on track and into the title mix. As far as the retirement talk goes, I still don’t understand why White prefers to talk publicly about what Liddell will do regarding his retirement before his fights. He did the same thing before Liddell’s last fight, and didn’t give Liddell a chance to address whether he would retire after his latest loss, instead choosing to decide it all for himself and announce to anyone that would listen that Chuck was retiring.

To discuss what Liddell will do after the fight before the fight even takes place is unnecessary and could be a distraction, too. What if Liddell loses a competitive decision to a quality fighter like Franklin? What if he gets caught in a submission? Does that mean he’s not fit to fight anymore? Furthermore, what about what Liddell thinks? I will never get White’s apparent need to publicly address Liddell’s future in the media as if he is Chuck’s father and is making the decisions for him. There are plenty of times where White would be better off keeping his mouth shut, and this is one of them.

Chael Sonnen Goes from Entertaining to Delusional

I’ve been on board until now when it comes to Chael Sonnen’s trash talking towards the enigmatic Anderson Silva. Silva needs someone to stand up to him and tell him that he needs to get his crap together, just like he needs someone to push the pace and be aggressive towards him when he fights. Of course, before recently, Sonnen’s talk has been pretty humorous, which is much of the reason that Sonnen finds himself as the next challenger for Silva’s middleweight title.

But now? Sonnen has gone too far. Apparently, the guy believes that Silva has been “ducking” him for four years. Never mind that this is the first time that Sonnen has been in a position to legitimately challenge for the title, nor that from mid-2006 to early 2009, Sonnen was not even in the UFC. Was Silva ducking Sonnen when Sonnen was fighting in the now-defunct Bodog Fight organization or in the WEC? How can a champion duck a guy who isn’t even signed to the organization that he competes in? Again, I was on board with the Sonnen trash talk until he started presumably saying things just to say them. Now, Sonnen is making little sense and seems to just want to hear himself talk. Still, if Silva comes prepared to fight rather than dance when the two face off, it will all have been worth it.

Josh Koscheck Slanders Georges St. Pierre

We’re months and months away from the rematch between Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck, but that hasn’t stopped Koscheck from trying to get into his opponent’s head already. How is he going about it? By slinging accusations with no factual basis and implying that St. Pierre has used performance enhancing drugs and substances to get where he is. Regarding GSP supposedly using steroids or HGH, Josh had this to say: “From what I’ve heard from other fighters in other camps, yeah, [St. Pierre] has done steroids and HGH, possibly. I don’t know. This is just on hearsay information I’ve gotten.”

Of course, he went on to say that “We’ve just got to pray to God that he doesn’t grease up, and he gets off that juice,” so he obviously believes that GSP has been putting something besides Gatorade in his body. It’s a tiresome game, and one that will not do much to endear Koscheck to MMA fans. Though GSP has never failed a drug test, the facts apparently can’t get out of the way of a good slandering now and then, as Koscheck has proven.

I like Kos and admire his work ethic, which has been on display while he has worked hard to round out his skill set to include more than just the wrestling background that he brought with him into the sport. However, to call into question a man’s honor and honesty without any kind of proof to back up your allegations is pretty low. Furthermore, I don’t see how doing so will help Koscheck whatsoever when the two actually compete. St. Pierre is not the type of fighter who lets his emotions get the better of him, or who will make sloppy mistakes due to being trash-talked leading up to a fight. If anything, Koscheck is just ensuring that GSP will be even more motivated than he otherwise would have been, which is hard to even imagine. Just a puzzling decision on the part of Koscheck here.

Plus, it’s strange that people are so sure that they can tell (just by looking) who is and isn’t using steroids. This is particularly true when many of the names who have tested positive in the past have not exactly been body builders: Tim Sylvia, Josh Barnett, Royce Gracie and Chris Leben come to mind. Haven’t we learned by now that you can’t just guess who is using and who isn’t by looking at their physique or whether they have a lot of W’s on their record?

E-Mail Jon Hartley

Tags: Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen, Chuck Liddell, Dana White, Dominick Cruz, Forrest Griffin, Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck, Miguel Torres, Rich Franklin, Takeya Mizugaki, UFC, Urijah Faber, WEC