Weekly MMA News Report- 5/29/09

The last seven days have been a very busy period in mixed martial arts, with all kinds of news and rumors accompanying events from the UFC and Japan’s Dream promotion.  With UFC 98 and Dream 9 in the books, what were the top stories of the last week?  Read on to find out and get some of my opinions and insight into the week’s biggest stories.

–You may have already read that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is to coach the next season of “The Ultimate Fighter”.  However, many people (myself included) assumed that the winner of UFC 98’s light heavyweight title bout would be the other coach, which doesn’t seem to be true.  Instead, it is being said that former champion Rashad Evans (I won’t call him “Sugar”, sorry) will be the other coach.  In the meantime, there is also word that Lyoto Machida’s first title defense will be against the former top light heavyweight in the world, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

My Take: Anyone who reads my columns knows how I feel about tying up a championship belt for half a year so that the champion can coach “The Ultimate Fighter”, so I’m obviously relieved that we will be seeing a championship fight before December.  In the meanwhile, Rampage-Evans makes a more interesting fight, anyway, and the lead up should be entertaining.

As far as Shogun taking on Machida, I think that would be a great fight if we do indeed see Shogun at the top of his game once again.  From his last fight against Chuck Liddell, it seemed as if Shogun was much sharper, quicker and all-around better than in his other UFC fights, but only time will tell if that’s the case, since that fight was a very short one.  Hopefully, Shogun is back to his old form and will make this a great fight.

–Across the pond, Dream 9 took place in Japan, and what a show it was.  The highlights include “Kid” Yamamoto dropping his first fight since 2002 against the relatively unknown Joe Warren, Tatsuya Kawajiri defeating Gesias Cavalcante by decision, and Gegard Mousasi and Remeau Thierry Sokoudjou defeating Mark Hunt and Jan Nortje, respectively.  Lowlights included the Ronaldo Jacare-Jason Miller title fight ending in a disappointing “no contest” after Miller kicked Jacare’s head while Jacare was down, and more Japanese freak show matchmaking as Jose Canseco (yes, him) was overwhelmed easily by regular MMA trivia answer Hong Man Choi.

My Take: Kid’s loss may not be that huge of a surprise, as he was out of action for almost two years before this fight.  Okay, it’s still a pretty huge surprise, but don’t count Kid out to bounce back.  The Jacare-Miller fight was a disappointment, but a third installment has already been confirmed, though no date has been announced.  Miller appeared to just get caught up in the moment, unleashing what was actually a really nice kick to the head of Jacare, which opened up quite a cut on top of the ground specialist’s head.  As for Jose Canseco, he got his check and made an ass of himself, now he can go back to whatever it is that he does.  It’s sad that his fight was the only mention of Dream thus far on ESPN SportsCenter.

–A fight between the world’s best heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, and Josh Barnett has finally been confirmed for Affliction’s show on August 1.  Emelianenko comes in as the consensus #1 heavyweight in the world, while Barnett is also usually found in the top two or three, depending on whom you ask.

My Take: This is great news.  There were some worries about whether Fedor and Barnett, who are friends, would fight one another, or whether there would even be another Affliction show, but all those concerns are put to rest now.  While the UFC is promoting a heavyweight championship bout between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, the real best heavyweight in the world will defend his title against his toughest opponent since when he fought Cro Cop in Pride.  If he wins, this will not only be another victory over another top 5 heavyweight, but also another victory over a former UFC champion.

–Matt Hughes is apparently not done after all.  After beating Matt Serra at UFC 98 by unanimous decision, Hughes showed respect towards his long-time rival’s ability and said that he will continue to fight professionally for the time being.  However, he denies that he made comments that he expects to face the winner of Thiago Alves and welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre, as it was rumored early in the week.

My Take: I don’t think Hughes needs to retire, anyway.  Even if I don’t think he will ever be able to beat GSP (and I don’t think he will), that doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t be able to ply his trade in the octagon any longer.  If Alves wins against GSP, maybe the UFC would choose to promote an Alves-Hughes rematch…who knows?  If GSP wins, Hughes should have a longer road to a possible title shot, because no one is in a hurry to see GSP-Hughes for a fourth time.

–Speaking of Hughes, his old rival Frank Trigg has signed a four-fight deal with the UFC, although it is not known yet whether he will fight as a welterweight (as he did in his last UFC stint) or as a middleweight (which he has fought at more recently).

My Take: It’s good to see Trigg back, though a little surprising.  Trigg had actually retired a while back, before coming back to fight in Hawaii a few times, and even in the last U.S. Pride show.  Trigg has done well at middleweight, winning six of his last seven fights (with the one loss being to Robbie Lawler), but it’s hard to say that he’ll be a title contender in the middleweight division, especially with grapplers the likes of Thales Leites and Demian Maia in the division.  If Hughes could tap out Trigg twice, what would Maia do to him?

–Referee Yves “Judgment Call” Lavigne was at the center of controversy yet again last weekend, as he stopped the Kyle Bradley- Phillipe Nover fight too soon in the eyes of many.  He also appeared to be indecisive when he stepped in, even stepping back for a second before finally coming back in to end the fight for good.  Lavigne, who has admitted to mistakes in the past, says that he stands behind this judgment, as he couldn’t see Nover’s face well and reacted to his body language.  He also says that he stepped back to avoid being struck on accident by the fighters, not due to hesitation on his part.

My Take: This is not the first time Lavigne has had problems with his decision making in the cage.  He was roasted by the MMA world for allowing Pete Sell to take a vicious beating before finally waving off the fight and saving “Drago” from the victorious Matt Brown.  Now, he’s in the spotlight for what appeared to be an early stoppage.  In both cases, what bothered me the most was what appeared to be indecision on the part of Lavigne.  In any case, the real loser in the situation is Nover, as the athletic commission won’t overturn a fight due to these kinds of circumstances, even if the stoppage was unwarranted.  Anthony Johnson couldn’t even get a “no contest” after the eye poke from Kevin Burns!

by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com

Tags: Brock Lesnar, Chuck Liddell, Demian Maia, DREAM, Fedor Emelianenko, Frank Mir, Gegard Mousasi, Georges St. Pierre, Josh Barnett, Lyoto Machida, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Rashad Evans, Robbie Lawler, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Thiago Alves, UFC