March ‘08: Five Fights To See
Posted by RB, 15 Feb 2008
March is quickly approaching, and with it some mouth-watering MMA matchups. Here are five of March's most promising fights:
March 1st: Anderson Silva vs Dan Henderson
Now that the smoke has cleared somewhat and the talent transferred from Pride to the UFC has had time to settle in the UFC ranks, we are beginning to see the fruits of the acquisition that took place nearly a year ago -- dream matchups that fully exploit the depth of talent at the UFC’s command. Recent such examples would be Machida vs Sokodjou, Silva vs Liddell, and Nogueira vs Sylvia. Now we can set our sights on Anderson Silva vs Dan Henderson -- scheduled to headline UFC 82 on March 1st.
Everyone knows how incredible Silva's UFC run has been thus far, and much credit is owed to the UFC for not allowing him to rest on his laurels. Dan Henderson is probably the toughest possible challenge out there for “The Spider”, and as dominant as the Brazilian striker has been recently it is hard to imagine him or anyone else walking through Henderson without coming up against significant adversity.
On the other hand the only opponents to have finished the wrestling standout are the Nogueira brothers -- who Silva has trained with extensively. If Anderson secures an armbar (which both Nogueiras used to defeat Dan) to defend his title a third time we will know that Minotauro has been passing on some kind of secret Henderson-submission trap discovered in their 2002 matchup.
We shouldn’t forget Henderson’s love for his own right hand either -- and how dangerous it can be when it lands. The possibility of seeing the two go balls to the wall and trade shots at some point is very real, perhaps very likely. The fact that this fight unifies the Pride and UFC heavyweight belts only adds to the attraction. No question: this is one of the biggest matches of the last few years.
March 1st: Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner
Former Middleweight Champion Evan Tanner has answered the call of duty and will be returning to the Octagon on the undercard of UFC 82, after more than a year and a half away from the cage. During this time his exploits have been sporadically documented via postings to his web site and MySpace page, which have kept his fan base alive and talking about him.
In fact Tanner is one of the sport’s biggest fan favourites -- whether this is down to his wistful philosophical outlook, his multiple in-ring hairdos, his self-taught credentials or his spirited fight style is anyone’s guess. In any case his return will be much anticipated across the MMA community, and it will be a great relief to see him back in there mixing it up -- there are few in the sport who capture the warrior spirit as well as Tanner.
Perhaps the biggest indication of how well Evan comes across with hardcore fans of the sport is his new sponsorship model, which eschews corporate sponsorship in favour of accepting “Team Tanner” donations from fans: $50 gets you an autographed photo and exclusive access to Tanner’s MySpace page, and progressively larger donations get you all kinds of additional goodies -- culminating in a $4000 donation bagging you three days training with Tanner in Vegas and two tickets to the UFC as Tanner’s special guests.
It is ironic that the man with one of the most dedicated fan bases around will be going up against Yushin Okami, who is up there with Tim Sylvia in managing to be an extremely formidable opponent who is well-ranked in his division, yet would struggle to put a roomful of supporters together if their UFC contracts depended on it (luckily for Okami his didn't). There is no mystery as to why Okami has so few fans -- his fights often go to decisions after an uneventful fifteen minutes.
Nevertheless he is a highly talented fighter who has suffered few losses in his career (at 21-4-0), and Tanner has been given no gifts in being matched up against the Japanese stalwart in his first fight back. The upshot is that if Tanner pulls off the victory it shoots him instantly into title contendorship at 185 lbs. No self-respecting fan of MMA would miss seeing whether or not he pulls it off.
March 5th: Josh Barnett vs Hidehiko Yoshida
While most Pride staple fighters were quick to find a new home following the organisation’s collapse last year, a hardcore band of brand name fighters dug their feet into the ground and waited it out for a suitable Japan-based replacement to come around. Barnett and Yoshida are two such fighters, both of whom were last seen competing at Pride Shockwave 2006, and the time for their return to MMA competition has arrived in the form of World Victory Road and their second card following the impressive Yarrenoka event on New Year’s Eve.
More than anything this fight represents a 'cobweb buster' matchup for both fighters, after an equally long layoff, and a chance for them to work off the ring rust that might have accumulated during that period. Saying that, Barnett is not the type to look casually on the possibility of adding a loss to his career record (20-5-0), and he is likely to come into this fight with a full armament to take care of business as quickly as possible.
This is reason alone to make sure and watch this fight -- as Barnett not only has one of the most entertaining shticks in the sport, but he transfers his natural qualities as an entertainer into the ring. The only fight of his in recent memory that was not extremely enjoyable to watch was his second bout with Cro Cop -- which was nevertheless far from boring. His two matchups with Nogueira stand among the best fights in MMA history, and even a seeming mismatch against Pawel Nastula turned into an edge-of-your-seat affair when Barnett was overpowered and bested for the first round and a half before managing to catch the Polish underachiever with a Toe Hold.
Much like Tanner, it will be good just to see Barnett back in the ring competing -- especially given the fact that he is by far the toughest test out there for Fedor who should also be readily available to fight under the M-1 Global banner. If Barnett does win, expect him re-ignite the flames between him and Emelianenko in his post-fight comments.
March 8th: Ryan Shamrock vs. Giorgio Andrews
Debuting last August was Ryan Shamrock, or ‘Ken Shamrock’s first-born son’ as the ring announced referred to him as. The eighteen year-old won the fight against another fighter making his pro MMA debut in what was a very fast paced and exciting two minutes of action, ending in a choke hold victory for Shamrock junior.
What was evident in these two minutes is that Ryan has plenty of confidence in the ring and looks to have good ground skills, going for numerous submission attempts before tapping his opponent out quickly after applying the guillotine. He also showed some formidable ground and pound, dropping bombs on his opponent without hesitation when he briefly got full mount after the fight first hit the ground.
His second pro MMA fight is scheduled to take place on March 8th at Cage Rage 25 in London, England -- where he will be taking on a similarly inexperienced Giorgio Andrews on a card Ken headlines against Robert "Buzz" Berry. With the Shamrocks one of the most famous names in mixed martial arts, it will be very interesting to see if Ryan has the talent required to keep the name alive in competition for another generation.
March 29th: Frank Shamrock vs Cung Le
At the tail end of March we are treated to these two San Jose-based fighters facing off against each other in what has the potential to be an explosive and exciting fight. This will technically mark the fourth fight since Shamrock’s return to MMA competition in 2006: however his first was against Cesar Gracie, who had no prior professional MMA experience, and his second fight against Renzo Gracie was ruled a disqualification loss after Shamrock landed illegal strikes on the ground.
Accordingly this will only be Shamrock’s second notable appearance since returning to competition, his first being an impressive performance against Phil Baroni where he dominated the explosive brawler on the feet before taking him down and choking him out. Shamrock was fighting with a torn ACL & MCL in this fight, which makes his dominating performance over Baroni all the more impressive.
However while Baroni has knockout power and can pose a threat to anyone on the feet, he lacks the technical abilities of a higher calibre striker such as Cung Le. A former Sanshou champion, Le has looked electrifying in all of his performances thus far in MMA -- all of which have ended in stoppages due to strikes. His last fight resulted in a third round stoppage over Sam Morgan, a UFC veteran who holds a notable KO win over Duane Ludwig, and although Le is still fairly new to the MMA game he looks to have masses of potential.
Whether it ends up on the ground or standing, this fight is unlikely to be dull for a moment -- Shamrock has always been great to watch on the ground, and Le is by far the most spectacular striker competing in MMA today. Whether it’s watching Shamrock’s versatile ground skills or Le’s incredible spinning kicks, this will be a treat for the spectator. An excellent end to an excellent month in MMA.
