Weekly MMA News Review- 5/2/09
Another week, another batch of news! Most of the news this week had to do with upcoming fights being announced, but there were some other interesting nuggets as well.
–In an interview with Setanta Sports, Dana White once again confirmed that we have seen the last of Chuck Liddell in the octagon. White said that Liddell “went out the way that he wanted to go out.”
My Take: It wouldn’t be so hard to swallow Liddell’s retirement if it didn’t seem as if White had made the decision entirely on his own. Before Liddell’s last fight, White had already said that the fight would likely be Chuck’s last (which he denied). Since then, almost all of the retirement talk has come from White, without so much as an official statement from the Iceman himself. I know Chuck’s not much of a PR guy, but can we at least get an announcement from Liddell himself, here?
–In yet another completely sensible matchup between competitors that was in no way absolutely ridiculous and unwarranted, Fedor Emelianenko faced Shinya Aoki in a grappling exhibition that the fans demanded to see. This dream matchup that has been clamored for by hardcore and casual fans alike for years finally happened, as all of the trash talk and bad blood between the two came to an epic finish, as Emelianenko submitted Aoki with a leg lock to end the instant classic.
My Take: All of the above is made up, with the exception of the fact that Fedor did submit Aoki in a grappling match. Why did this even happen? Only The Shadow knows.
–MMA is all about the fights, of course, and the last week or so has seen some great ones being announced, particularly in the UFC. Forrest Griffin and Anderson Silva facing off is the biggest of the bunch, but the one I can’t wait for is Nate Marquardt versus Demian Maia.
My Take: It will be interesting to see what transpires in the middleweight division in the next few months. It would seem that the winner of Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson would get a title shot, with the winner of Marquardt and Maia getting in line right behind them. No matter what, it would seem that Silva would respect any of those four enough to put on a performance that more represents the way that he used to fight.
–It wouldn’t be a week of MMA news without some personal drama, and an upcoming fight card has apparently been affected by this week’s batch. Kim Couture, wife of UFC great Randy Couture, has dropped out of her upcoming Strikeforce bout. Her would-be opponent, Miesha Tate, had said on her Myspace site that the decision was based on marital problems. Though Tate apologized for that statement, the word now is that Randy Couture has filed for divorce.
My Take: There’s not much to say, here. Kim has been married to the multiple-time UFC champion for two years, and since then has become an active MMA fighter. Even in recent interviews, she was confident in her chances against the more experienced (and heavily-favored) Tate because of her training with such greats as Randy himself. Will she continue to fight if the two split? Does it matter? Who knows.
–Injuries have changed some upcoming UFC fights around, and the UFC has also dropped another fighter from their large roster, cutting TUF alum Vinny Magalhaes. James Irvin and Yushin Okami will not be fighting in their upcoming UFC bouts. Instead, Xavier Foupa-Pokam will bravely step in against Drew McFedries on short notice, and Chael Sonnen will face Dan Miller.
My Take: Magalhaes’ ground game is downright scary, but he hasn’t been able to put it all together and has lost to Ryan Bader and Elliot Marshall in his young UFC career. He’ll be back at some point, if he can round out his game some. It’s a bummer to see Irvin and Okami out of their fights. Irvin and McFedries would have had a great slugfest.
by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com
Tags: Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen, Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, Dana White, Demian Maia, DREAM, Fedor Emelianenko, Forrest Griffin, Randy Couture, Shinya Aoki, Strikeforce, UFC
