Been a busy week at work and life in general sorry for not posting as much.

With the final major mma event of the month of August was UFC 118 and regardless of the detractors it was one of the better events of the year in my opinion. Granted there wasn’t a knockout on the prelims or main card, the event still had high level fighters and a title match. There was also a freakshow with an over the hill boxer making his mma debut only to get submitted in the first round, more on that NEVER.

The card did have its low points with Kenny Florian, despite his lauded improved wrestling getting completely tooled by the undefeated Gray Maynard. Nate Diaz kept things interesting by volume punching Marcus Davis’s face into a living impressionist sculpture. Demian Maia put on a bjj clinic on Mario Miranda and in the main event the man from Tom’s River, New Jersey erased any doubt that he was the better fighter than previous champ BJ Penn by completely dominating him for 5 rounds.

From pillar to post, Frankie Edgar dissected Penn, putting in a way more convincing mixed martial arts performance. Be it out striking Penn on the feet to taking him down, landing shots and defending against one of the most dangerous and prodigious bjj practitioners in the sport, Edgar left as little doubt as you can without finishing.

And that is where things get tricky in regards to the public perception of Edgars first title defense. It wasn’t enough to beat a future hall of famer like Penn twice, Frankie had to finish him. A feat that requires way more effort, skill and athleticism than it does to merely mention it. We are still talking about BJ Penn here a guy who was so talented he could fight at higher weight classes and lost a decision to a 220 pound Lyoto Machida and has ONLY been finished by welterweight champions Matt Hughes and George St. Pierre. While Penn is obviously far from invincible them man isn’t the type of fighter who gets finished even by high level opponents from higher weight classes. And we are still talking about the same Frankie Edgar that some people still believe is a insanely talented featherweight who just refuses to cut weight.

Hopefully fans of the sport will grow accustomed to the notion that these high level fighters that we like seeing fight, got to where they are by not only winning but defending themselves and being easy fighters to finish.

WEC 50

Cruz does best Tiger Knee impressin on Benavidez's face

Went 5-0 on the main card, that being said this card did hold some surprises for me. Namely the improved takedown defense of Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis not to mention his flashy kicks that validate his nickname.

Behold the Au Batido

Scott Jorgenson and Brad Pickett put on the fight of the night as expected, but was still contradictory due to the highly competitive yet one sided end way it was contested. In the main even Dominic Cruz defended his title and gave Joeseph Benavidez another loss in what looked like a replay of their first match up with a bit more feeling. Cruz once again used his hit and run style to frustrate Benavidez who was hoping to stay planted on both feet and hope for a counter and while he was able to land none of the strikes seemed to visibly effect Cruz nor did it change the momentum of the fight. Joeseph had his best round in the fourth where he was able to do serious damage in the clinch where he opened up the champs face with a knee.

In the end it wasn’t enough and Benavidez lost a tough split decision. With Jorgensen coming off his 5th win in a row its safe to assume he will be the next threat to Cruz’s throne and Benavidez will remain a top contender at 135 but will have a better chance at championship gold at 125 whenever the WEC gets the Flyweight division in gear.

Bellator XXV

Had another event with perfect picks on the main card. With that said it wasn’t the most electrifying of events, all fights went to decision. Dan Hornbuckle got a hard fought win after his loss in last seasons welterweight tournament as did everyone else. At the end of the day one can’t complain after the previous Bellator card had all finishes.

Strikeforce: Houston

Muhammad "King Mo' Lawal on his way to losing his title to Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante

Now onto the most notorious card of last week for all the wrong reasons. Spirited middleweight title fight aside between Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, a back and forth battle that went the distance like all other middleweight championship fights since Cung Le relinquished the title. It was an okay fight that was easily forgettable due to the bizarre goings on the rest of the card. From KJ Noons brutal round (and some would say fight) ending combination on Jorge Gurgel.

Ouch

Finishing the round strong or intentional late shot?

And then in the second round, Noons went for the kill yet again throwing what seemed to be an illegal kick/knee to a downed opponent.

It doesn't land flush but that could have been nasty.

Former pro wrestler and army vet Bobby Lashley fought and lost after the end of the 2nd round when he was visibly exhausted and dazed in his fight against Chad Griggs. Oddly enough this wasn’t the biggest story of this fight, that dubious honor will go to one of the most vilified referees in combat sports Jon Schorle and his decision to stand up a mounted Chad Griggs so that Lashley could get a cut checked and not giving Lashley his position back. Not only did this result in an already fatigued having to try to get the position back the hard way it led to him expending the little bit of energy he had left which caused him to lose the fight. Utterly unacceptable at any level.

The main event and 2nd title fight of the evening had newly minted light heavyweight champ King Mo make his first title defense against Anderson Silva training partner and resident muy thai wrecking machine Rafael Feijao. Mo was able to put up 2 good rounds, willing to trade strikes after his wrestling seemed to falter here and there. While he was getting takedowns they were proving difficult to get and it was even harder keeping Feijao on the ground.

This led to Lawal taking chances with his good but still improving stand up, unfortunately the low crouching ‘Cuban’ stance fed right into Calvancantes knees and thai clinch strikes. Despite being up at least 1-1, the 3rd round held a nasty surprise for Lawal as Feijao just pounced on Lawal after tagging him. Mo while stunned tried to get a single leg takedown to shake out the cobwebs but was met with downward elbow after downward elbow, forcing the ref to stop the fight and yet another light heavyweight champ lost his belt in his first title defense in the Strikeforce organization.

All in all a good week of fights and since I will be off work for both the Bellator and UFC cards this week expect fight picks and some twitter action from us here at theclinch.net

Unfortunately I will be at work this evening and will not be able to watch this live, which sucks but its my fault for assuming this was going to be a Sunday card. Bellyaching aside lets get to the picks, main card only.

Shane Roller vs. Anthony Pettis – This is a #1 contender bout for the next shot at the WEC lightweight title. Roller may be the safe bet due to his wrestling, but Pettis has the ability to finish the fight standing or off his back. Going with Pettis on this one.

Showtime via Sub

Cub Swanson vs. Chad Mendes – Swanson is a somewhat one dimensional bjj player who usually lets his reckless style of fighting gets him into trouble. Chad ‘Money’ Mendes is Urijah Fabers protege and a formidable wrestler. Mendes should take this.

Chad via UD or Sub

Scott Jorgensen vs. Brad Pickett – This is a #1 contender bout for the next bantamweight title shot. As a fan of both fighters this is a hard one to pick, Scott is a super aggressive wrestler with solid stand up and the strength of a fully matured farm animal. Brad Pickett is a crafty fighter with a deceptively good ground game for a Englishman. Both are top 10 fighters and I give Scott the edge via coin toss they are so (presumably) evenly matched.

Young Guns Jorgensen via Split Decision

Bart Palaszewski vs. Zack Micklewright – Don’t know too much about Micklewright and am expecting another standard Bartimus performance where he takes a beating and pulls out a miracle sub.

Palaszewski via sub

Main Event – Bantamweight Championship

(Champ) Dominick Cruz vs. Joseph Benavidez – On paper this rematch is a fight of the year candidate. Since the last time they fought Cruz has improved his frenetic hit and run fighting style and won the title, while Joey B has finished his last two opponents, Rani Yahya via brutal tko and then slashing former champ Miguel Torres’s face open then strangling him.

Offensive and defensive abilities aside this fight comes down to one thing, the skill set that defines the lighter weight figters and why the WEC is so exciting: Speed. More specifically who has it and who doesn’t. Dominic Cruz’s style is predicated on his ability to move in and out of striking range, frustrating his opponents and making them swing wildly so he can strike and more specifically counter his opponent at will. He also has the defensive wrestling to keep the fight on his terms. That being said if Benavidez is able to make adjustments and attack appropriately we should be in for a good, competitive fight.

I still see Cruz frustrating the Alpha Male fighter and making his first successful title defense.

Cruz via UD.

Thanks to my super hectic and disorganized life I will be posting this as the undercard is underway so I will refrain for making picks for one of the most stacked prelim cards the UFC has put on this year. Now onto the main card picks tonight’s event in Oakland, California.

RAFAEL DOS ANJOS VS. CLAY GUIDA – Taking The Carpenter against my better judgment, Dos Anjos is a slick BJJ player but I’m a sucker for Guidas super aggressive style even if he doesn’t have the actual firepower to back up his pace. Hopefully he was worked on his sub defense and checking leg kicks.

Guida- via Unanimous Decision

JUNIOR DOS SANTOS VS. ROY NELSON – Nelson has the grappling advantage but when I ran across this.

I realized that Nelson may have decent boxing but can be out struck by a faster boxer. JDS is a way faster boxer. Dos Santos is going to make the Arlovski KO look G rated.

Dos Santos – via Ultra Mega Combo

RICARDO ALMEIDA VS. MATT HUGHES – Hughes is a legend and a gamer but he will turn old overnight. Depending on how dominant the finish is welterweights may stop calling out Hughes to make a name for themselves.

Almeida - via sub

Mr. Ferttita is not happy with Alves

THIAGO ALVES VS. JON FITCH – The fight that the Combat Gods did not want to happen is finally upon us. The long awaited rematch between perennial top 5 welterweights Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves is going down tonight despite weigh in shenanigans on Alves’s part. This is a tough one to call since Thiago has been out of action for over a year and Fitch hasn’t shown any signs of improvement since their first fight in which Jon finished Alves with a 2nd round tko.

If anything Fitch has gotten more cautious over time (his last finish was in 2007) and still has to rely mainly on his stifling top game and wrestling to get the W. Alves on the other hand has improved his takedown defense and to complement his slashing stand up game. That being said, I can’t pick a guy whose been out of action for this long competing at the highest levels and unable to make weight.

Fitch – via UD

Middleweight Championship

CHAMP ANDERSON SILVA VS. CHAEL SONNEN – Remarkable fight hype and trash talk aside, Silva should take this. Sonnens media antics have so little to do with how this fight plays out in the cage, but leading up to everything to most people it totally does. With that talking point taken care of this is the brass tacks of the match up.

Sonnen undoubted has the wrestling to manhandle Silva, but thats as far as his bag of tricks will go (well maybe that and conditioning/cardio but you get the idea). With his rudimentary at best stand up and lackluster submission defense, Sonnen will be lucky to make it to the 4th frame. Silva has too many offensive and defensive options along with the ability to finish in both the stand up and off his back.

Silva – via The Dance of Destruction

Sorry for the no show for the past couple of days, had to reattach pieces of my keyboard back together after my son tore a bunch off. Enough about me and my bellyaching how about some mma content.

This sunday will mark the UFC’s second appearance on the Versus network. The card will also feature the same headliner, light heavyweight phenom Jon ‘Bone’ Jones facing the UFC veteran and former IFC light heavyweight champion Vladimir Matyushenko. Tonights event takes place at the San Diego Sports Arena in California, the picks will be main card only.

vs.

Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko – It’s hard not to pick against Bones, the man destroys his opponents even when he loses. Going up against him is a solid journeyman in The Janitor, other than his wrestling stifling Jones en route to a decision I see this fight ending in brutal fashion. Barring Matyushenko revealing a weakness or flaw in Jones’s game or a repeat of Jon’s performance against Hammil earlier this year, expect a stunning finish.

Bones – Via Hellbow TKO

Mark Munoz vs. Yushin Okami – This is a really intriguing fight with possible title implications for the winner. Both fighters are primarily bullying wrestlers, Okami has showcased a new found striking acumen in his last fight earning him a tko victory, in stark contrast to his usual unanimous decision winning ways. Munoz on the other hand is usually gets out struck in the stand up department and is more dependent on his wrestling to get his opponents to the ground where he unleashes his most dangerous offensive tool: his murderous ground and pound.

Even though I think Munoz is a pretty cool person, this is looking like a really rough fight for him. If Okami is able to stuff his takedowns and pick him apart with his upgraded pugilism, he may get his long awaited title shot.

Okami – via TKO

Google Images and comic book nerds with photoshop skills FTW

Jake ‘The Juggernaut’ Ellenberger vs. John ‘Doomsday’ Howard
This fight should take an awards bonus if it plays out as expected. Other than a slight edge in the wrestling department going to Ellenberger, these two brawlers will put on a display of destructive reckless abandon that should please everyone. As a fan of both fighters it will suck to see one of them get clobbered but hey, that’s the fight game. Jakes edge gives him options so I will go with The Juggenaut.

Ellenberger – via KO

Takanori Gomi vs. Tyson Griffin In a battle for lightweight relevancy expect to see Gomi throw everything but the kitchen sink at Griffin. But still getting stifled and stymied and losing a decision. Barring an inexplicable return to Pride era form, Tyson takes this easy. On a side note both fighters would be better off and more competitive at featherweight.

Griffin – via Unanimous Decision

2010: The Year of the Powerbomb

Here are the main card results from Watchkalibrun.com. The gif is from Middle Easy the pic is from MMA Fighting.

Main Event

* Shane Del Rosario def. Lolohea Mahe via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:48

* Sarah Kaufman def. Roxanne Modafferi via knockout (slam) – Round 3, 4:45. Sarah Kaufman retains Strikeforce 135lbs. Women’s title.

* Bobby Voelker def. Cory Devela via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).

* Mike Kyle def. Ron “Abongo” Humphrey via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 3:2.

* Caros Fodor def. Thomas Diagne via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

I could have gone 5-0 if I had the guts to go with my head over my heart in the championship bout. Alas my enjoyment of both fighters made that too difficult to deal with. That being said the bar has been set for female fight of the year with Kaufmans first title defense against Roxy Modaferri. It was a tug of war from the opening frame but as the fight wore on it was Kaufmans athleticism that won her the fight.

Most of the fight was spent jockeying for position in the clinch with Roxy threatening with trips and takedowns, one of which she got in the first round. In the second Sarah go to show of her combo punching in a few stand up skirmishes where she clearly had the upper hand. In the third both fighters spent time on their backs. When the challenger Modaferri was in top position she had a hard time advancing or landing strikes against the champion who did her best to not take damage and kept her at bay.

When the tables were turned Kaufman was wary of the threats inherent in the guard of Modaferri and while defending what looked to be the beginning of an submission (probably an armbar). Sarah Kaufman made good on her word to make a statement for being put on bigger cards by hoisting Modaferri off her back and slamming her unconscious. A finish so dramatic that I would venture it and the Zoila Frausto smashing of Rosi Sexton will both be up for knockout of the year.

The rest of the event was entertaining with only one decision in the Fodor vs Diagne fight at the beginning of the main card. An unexpectedly good night of fights from a sleeper of a card that was a gem for anybody who watched it.

Going to have to rattle this one off quick fast in a hurry. The event starts in less than 10 minutes so this will be main card only

THOMAS DIAGNE VS. CAROS FODOR – Going with the guy whose name is similar to one of the best fighters in the sport. Variable assessment/style match up breakdown be damned.

CORY DEVELA VS. BOBBY VOELKER – Voelker via Clobbering Time

ABONGO HUMPHREY VS. MIKE KYLE – Humphrey is in for a long hard night, he is a good fighter but Kyle is way bigger, more experienced and if he doesn’t gas takes this easy.

Strikeforce Female Welterweight Championship

CHAMP SARAH KAUFMAN VS. ROXANNE MODAFFERI – This is going to be an amazing fight. As a huge fan of both fighters I am seriously conflicted. My head says Kaufmans rock solid boxing fundamentals will keep the fight where she wants it and if it does go to the ground her purple belt bjj will keep her out of trouble. My heart has to go to Roxy’s indomitable fighting spirit and grit, she may not be on Sarah’s level in the striking department but she can hold her own.

This fight as I see it will come down to who is the better athlete and has the better cardio. With that said I CAN’T PICK AGAINST EITHER FIGHTER. I am hoping for a competitive display of mixed martial arts, that is all.

SHANE DEL ROSARIO VS. LOLOHEA MAHE – Size disadvantage aside Del Rosario takes this easy, especially if Mahe doesn’t knock his head off and is dragged into the second frame. Expect either a tko or sub from Shane.

Weigh in stare down. Photos by Ester Lin

The only semi-major event going on this weekend will be Strikeforce Challengers 9 that will feature Sarah Kaufman making her first title defense against Roxanne Modaferri (check out here new highlight vid from Fightlinker.

As a fan of both fighters it will be hard to watch and even harder to pick, but I will be glad for an event this weekend. Not to mention having the site back up is pretty nice too.

Been slacking hardcore recently, so I will just cluster bomb some of the more notable news in mma.

From MMA Junkie

Jon "Bones" Jones

Jon Jones: Heavyweight is an option.

Just four fights into his UFC run, many mixed martial arts fans are already calling for a light heavyweight title shot.

But as Jones prepares for a showdown with veteran grinder Vladimir Matyushenko (24-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) at August’s UFC on Versus 2 event, the soon-to-be-23-year-old told the crew of ESPN’s “MMA Live” that he’s not necessarily just focused on a 205-pound title. “Bones” might eventually go up to heavyweight, too.

“This training camp has been really tough for me, actually,” Jones said on the most recent episode of “MMA Live.” “I got up to about 231 (pounds) for the first time, and I’ll be 23 on Monday. I feel as if I’m growing into a more adult body.

“Who knows what the future holds for me. I’m always training hard, and I’m going to start to focus more on weightlifting in my off-time. You heavyweights gotta watch out because you never know what’s going to happen.”

This may come as a shock to some but anybody who saw how young and huge Jones was when he made it into the UFC (6′4 & 21 years old) it wasn’t that much of a stretch to think he would outgrow the weight class he started in. If he continues to grow in skill and experience as well as size a move to heavyweight would be seen as a smart one for one of the most promising prospects to enter the sport in years.

From MMA Fighting,

A World Cup sans South America, for shame FEG 2.0

FEG Announces Partnership with PUJI Captital, Declares War With UFC

DREAM and K-1 promoter FEG announced Friday that it is entering a partnership with Shanghai-based investment bank PUJI Capital that could be worth 20 billion yen ($230 million).

K-1 President Sadaharu Tanikawa stressed that FEG had not been sold and in fact it will now be setting its sights much higher.

“This is a declaration of war against the WWE and UFC. From Asia, we will take the world,” Tanikawa stated.

Tanikawa admitted that expansion to American soil would be futile at this stage and under the watchful eye of K-1 creator Kazuyoshi Ishii, they will set their sights on the rest of the world.

“Mr. Ishii is completely supporting us. We won’t stand a chance in the American market so we will spread to the rest of the world.”

….

A call for a drastic change in Japanese MMA has been needed since the collapse of PRIDE, even Tanikawa admitted himself.

“When K-1 and PRIDE were competing against each other, 80% of the martial arts market was in Japan. It is now the opposite and Japan is only 20%. We were worried that Japan would be left behind if we let this continue, it is unacceptable. We needed to change our business model.”

“We’ve let Dana White get a lead on us. Before (Shinya) Aoki beats (Gilbert) Melendez, we must win as promoters.”

With last weeks Dream event we saw Shinya Aoki defend his belt and unofficial title as the best Japanese fighter currently competing in MMA. This victory could also been seen as a defeat or moot point considering how utterly ineffectual Aoki was in his fight against Strikeforce Lightweight Champ Gilbert Melendez. Dream also seemed to be in a transitional period from its revamped lighter weight clsasses to this weeks announcement, Fight Entertainment Group (FEG) may be making a case for long awaited fanboy fantasy of a vibrant high level mixed martial arts scene reminiscent of the PRIDE glory days.

Alternate Business Model Graphic. From Middleeasy.com

Wishful thinking aside this partnership will have to produce results first before this is taken seriously. Even if the declaration of war against two major organizations (WWE and UFC) was just a figure of speech. The sentiment of wanting to compete at the highest levels promotion wise is very palpable. Until this partnership produces compelling cards it will be seen as another sad story of investors looking to make a quick buck off of the illusory cash cow of mixed martial arts. Both White and McMahon giving a crap about this is unlikely but it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility if they did take this news into consideration.

At the end of the day when combat sports and sports entertainment organizations compete: The fans win.

From Bloody Elbow

Jake Shields is Officially signed to the UFC Unofficially…huh!?!?

It’s official. According to Graciefighter.com, the UFC has signed the former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, Jake Shields (25-4-1) to a contract. They also announced that the #3 ranked middleweight will drop back down to join the UFC welterweight shark tank:

Jake Shields will be debuting at the 170lbs weight division in the UFC. After careful consideration and consulting with UFC representatives it was determined Jake would be finally going back to his original fighting weight.

Jake’s opponent is one of the UFC’s top contenders and will be announced shortly.

Seeing as how there was the Aldo vs Faber photo op with Dana White led to Shields contract not being renegotiated and his belt being put up for an fantabulous 8 man middleweight tournamet that got derailed thanks to The Lone Star State not allowing combat sport tournaments. From MMA Fighting

Strikeforce officials would not comment on the proposed tournament last week, telling MMA Fighting only, “We aren’t doing a tournament there.”

But TDLR administrator Greg Alvarez confirmed to MMA Fighting on Saturday that Strikeforce wanted a one-night, bracket-style tournament for the Houston show, which will air live on Showtime. But Alvarez said that request was denied.

“They asked if it was possible and I told them that when Tough Man was outlawed, the state also did away with tournaments back in 2001,” Alvarez said.

Sec. 2052.254 of Texas’ Combative Sports Occupations Code specifically deals with tournaments. The code states: “An elimination tournament may not be conducted in this state.”

Which led to the subsequent title fight between Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza and Tim Kennedy for the Strikeforce middleweight belt and Shields heading to the UFC.

And lastly, how about some Bobby Lashley news, eh?

From Bloody Elbow.

Bobby Lashley’s opponent at the upcoming Strikeforce show in Houston will be IFL and Rage in the Cage veteran Chad Griggs.

Not much to say here other than “Lashley better not pull out of this fight or risk the mma community completely writing him off”.

That should be enough binge blogging for the day. And now to enjoy a weekend without fights, if that is possible.

This can either be taken as me being either super efficient or outrageously lazy. But this site needs an update and there has been a deluge of mma news/fight announcements/fight cancellations and other goings on in the wild and crazy world of mixed martial arts.I was thinking of doing a link post, cuz hey man everyone else is doing it. But I will just stick to my regular weekend picks post along with an in depth look at all silly side incidents around the event.

Dream.15 Weigh in photo from Sherdog.com

Shinya Aoki (70 kg / 154.3 lbs) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (70 kg / 154.3 lbs)
Katsunori Kikuno (70 kg / 154.3 lbs) vs. Gesias Cavalcante (70 kg / 154.3 lbs)
Gegard Mousasi (93 kg / 205 lbs) vs. Jake O’Brien (did not weigh in; reportedly still cutting)
Tatsuya Mizuno (92.5 kg / 203.9 lbs) vs. Melvin Manhoef (90 kg / 198.4 lbs)
Michihiro Omigawa (64.8 kg / 142.9 lbs) vs. Young Sam Jung (64.8 kg / 142.9 lbs)
Mitsuhiro Ishida (65 kg / 143.3 lbs) vs. Daiki Hata (65 kg / 143.3 lbs)
Kazuhiro Nakamura (83.8 kg / 184.7 lbs) vs. Karl Amoussou (83.5 kg / 184 lbs)

Aoki’s comments on his opponents physique has put him on the spot at the moment.

Kawajiri: “I don’t really like to take a look at men’s bodies, so I didn’t really look at him. He said he’ll surprise the fans. I’ll make sure ours will be a shocking fight,”

Aoki: “I like both men and women. His body is a nice body, and if we both fight with men’s spirit, we can have a fight that everyone wants to see.”

A fight that was first seen as a battle that would answer the question of who is Japans best lightweight has turned into an awkward look at a fighters sexual orientation.

If that wasn’t silly enough, poor Ricco Rodriguez who was rumored to fight Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem. What took place resembled a period peice comedy of errors more than matchmaking for a major mma promotion.

“During my training I found out that Andrei Arlovski was not going to be my opponent, and they changed opponents numerous times. I’ve heard names like Tim Sylvia and Minowa. At one point, I received notice that they had found a opponent but that the Dream heavyweight title was not on the line anymore. With all the changes and the title fight no longer a possibility, I simply had to turn down the opportunity.

“The next day, I immediately took a flight to San Jose to hype up my possible fight against the winner of Fedor Emelianenko or Fabricio Werdum. I then heard rumors that Dream had booked me in a fight against Ricco Rodriguez. I want to make it very clear that I never verbally agreed to fight him and I never signed a contract with Dream to fight him. I feel very sorry for Ricco Rodriguez’s camp if they still think the fight is on, and I apologize to my fans that have bought a ticket to see me compete. I hope this statement has shed some light on the unfortunate situation.”

The fun doesn’t end there for Rodriguez, after UFC vet and Dream light heavyweight tournament competitor Jake O’Brian failed to make the 205 pound weight limit. Dream turned to Ricco to take his place against Gegard Mousasi.

Shenanigans squared

And yes, this is the tournament that was actually my first article on theclinch.net evar! The event went from the standard 16 man tournament to 8 and now a paltry 4. Consisting of just Mousasi, Manhoef, O’Brian and some guy named Tatsuya Mizuno. Now that all the known drama has been noted lets get to the picks.

Main Event: Dream Lightweight Title Bout

Shinya Aoki vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri

This will be Aoki’s chance to show if he has improved since his unanimous decision loss to Strikeforce Champ Gilbert Milendez. Granted it was his first fight in a cage and this will be contested in the ring. But Crusher Kawajiri has the same wrestler/boxer style that seemed to give Aoki fits. Since his loss Shinya actually spent some time over at Ceasar Gracies gym to improve his game. It would be awesome to see if he has some new tricks up his sleeve. That being said I still see his static cling grappling game getting nullified by a more athletic fighter and Aoki losing his belt.

Crusher via crushing TKO

Dream Light Heavyweight Tournament: Opening/Semi Final Round

Gegard Mousasi vs. Jake O’Brien

Just like the Aoki/Kawajiri title fight, the main question in this fight is whether Mousasi has learned to avoid or get up from takedowns. Lucky for him O’Brien is a huge step down in actual wrestling talent.

Mousasi – via sub

Tatsuya Mizuno vs. Melvin Manhoef

Manhoefs chin issues aside, he should be able to bully and terrorize Mizuno for an exciting first round stoppage.

Manhoef – via Savagery

Gesias Cavalcante vs. Katsunori Kikuno

JZ is a beast shares many similarities with current UFC Light Heavyweight champ Shogun Rua. His muay thai based stand up is nasty, he also possesses underrated ground game and is injury prone like nobody’s business. Surprisingly enough Kikuno is a contemporary of former UFC lhw champ Lyoto Machida with his modified for mma kyokushin karate striking, namely his liver piercing crescent kick. Ring rust aside Cavalcante has this fight in the bag, unless JZ gets hyptonized by Kikuno’s creepy chesire grin and gets owned like Andre Dida.

JZ – via Sub

Michihiro Omigawa vs. Young Sam Jung

Poor Sam Jung, the man is brought in for a good old fashioned Japanese fighter over Korean can crushing. Seeing as its Michihiro “I hold a BS decision win over Marlon Sandro” Omigawa I will hope it blows up in his face. But I am not completely delusional.

Omigawa – via boring decision

Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata

Kawajiri’s teammate Ishida should be able to take this. Lets hope that Hata at least makes it exciting/gives up his back and gets Ishida-plexed.

Ishida – via UD

Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Karl “Psycho” Amoussou

Nakamura is going to get blitzed by a frenchman.

Amoussou – via living up to his nickname