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Jackson: Stevenson Fights Injured Constantly
By: Sherdog.com Staff
Greg Jackson, on “The Savage Dog Show,” discussing Joe Stevenson’s struggles lately:
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“Part of the issue is him fighting injured constantly. He will not pull out of a fight if his head is cut off. He’s one of those guys that is always fighting injured or gets injured and will not step out of the fight. That’s been part of the problem. I think part of the problem too is he’s a big guy, but he’s short for the division and that has its own limitations. And I think yeah, we need to change it up a little bit and see what else we can do at a lighter weight.” -
Picking MMA’s Youth Movement
By: Jason Probst
Don’t bet against MMA athlete 3.0. | Jose Aldo file photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
As part of my regular assignments covering MMA, I do an event preview with fight picks. What I have noticed is how the game seems to be trending toward younger fighters, and how the latest wave threatens to displace the old guard of veterans.
It felt odd picking Danny Castillo over Joe Stevenson on the UFC Live 3 card. As someone intimately familiar with both fighters’ careers, Stevenson seemed a slight favorite. Yet the bout played out exactly as I thought it would. The same was true in choosing Chris Weidman over Alessio Sakara.
In short, the younger guard in MMA -- roughly defined as anyone under 25, or with less than 15 fights -- is quickly displacing the older guard. There are many theories as to why, but in a nutshell, it is easier for a fighter to improve before he or she reaches their peak, and especially tough to improve at the same rate once they reach it.
As MMA moves toward the completion of its second decade, the evolution curve of today’s fighter is markedly different than that of five or six years ago. Fighters are starting younger than ever and, perhaps as importantly, are often aware of MMA in grade school or high school. Read more -
Fighters and Health Insurance
By: Jake Rossen
File photo: Stephen Albanese | Tailstar.com
Not long ago, there was a story floating around that Bruce Willis -- who has made enough money in a career of smirking that he probably uses it as attic insulation -- sometimes holds a raffle for the blue-collar crew members on his film sets. The winning ticket each week gets $10,000.
Generous, yeah? The problem is, it’s also a major letdown to the losers, otherwise known as 99% of the set.
Zuffa does not raffle off financial mercy to fighters, but I’m not sure that discretionary bonuses are that much better. We know that a fighter’s base pay is often a useless marker for their real income: the promotion hands out checks in the locker rooms depending on an athlete’s performance, sometimes for a considerable and life-altering amount of money. It’s a way of corralling strategies that have the potential to be deadly dull. Be exciting, win, and make extra money. Bore the crowd and Dana White will not come bearing gifts.
When that cherry-picking extends to a fighter’s health care, it becomes a stickier issue. Read more -
Joe 'Daddy' Australia V-Blog II
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Joe 'Daddy' Australia V-Blog
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BAM (Back Against the Mat): UFC 104 Edition
By: Jake Rossen
Guys with more to lose than just teeth.
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Lyoto Machida: The 15-0 record is a pressure cooker -- without the “unbeatable” tag, would Lyoto Machida’s eccentric style be as captivating?
Joe Stevenson: A strong UFC start was sidetracked by the B.J. Penn loss: Joe Stevenson is 2-2 since that bout. To flirt with the top of the ladder again, beating Spencer Fisher isn’t optional.
Yushin Okami: On numbers alone, the 7-1 Octagon record should have earned Yushin Okami a title shot against Anderson Silva. Beating Chael Sonnen decisively could make him harder to ignore. (Though both fans and the promotion are doing solid work on that front.)
“Saw VI”: “Saw V” was the “Au Revoir Les Enfants” of movies featuring fake and displaced intestines. Expectations are high. -
Primer: UFC 104
By: Jake Rossen
D. Mandel/Sherdog.com
In 2007, when Pride folded into the origami shape for failure, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua took his 16-2 record to the UFC, where he was expected to beat his chest atop a pile of corpses. Instead, he was thoroughly battered by Forrest Griffin and barely eked out a win against a man fifteen years his senior in Mark Coleman. Knocking out Chuck Liddell, the new statistical norm for that fighter, resulted in confidence that the “old ‘Shogun’” had returned. It also resulted in a title shot. Not exactly a walk through the gates of fire, but okay.
I remain skeptical, mostly because “old ‘Shogun’” is a nightmare of punctuation and I loathe typing it, but also because he’s looked good for roughly five minutes out of a 35-minute UFC career. Oddsmakers believe he has only a 33% chance of defeating Lyoto Machida, whose base style of karate should have given him only a .005% chance of success in the sport. So maybe odds aren’t everything.
What: UFC 104: Machida vs. ‘Shogun,’ an 11-bout card from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif.
When: Saturday, Oct. 24, at 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view, with a live preliminary show airing on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET.
Why You Should Care: Because Machida is the closest thing we’ve got to a profound, peerless martial artist; because whether “Shogun” has found his old form or not, he will make it exciting; because Ben Rothwell is going to force Cain Velasquez to scramble and work like hell to overcome his size; because judo remains an under-represented style in MMA and Yoshiyuki Yoshida can counter Anthony Johnson’s stand-up with the highly technical ploy of dumping him on his head.
Fight of the Night: Machida’s unblemished record raises stakes for every second he’s in the ring; “Shogun” will stay in his face.
Sleeper Fight of the Night: Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher: three rounds of Fisher getting scooped up and then working overtime on the feet to compensate.
Pre-emptive Complaint: Chael Sonnen vs. Yushin Okami might be a concentrated effort to keep blood pressure among viewers steady; Okami, talented as he is, makes Ricardo Arona look like Jet Li.
Hype Quote of the Show: “I just saw what he wrote about me and I am going to punch him in the face for that, plain and simple.” -- Fisher on Stevenson’s verbal warfare. At least he’s not in Fisher’s head. Read more -
UFC 104 Closer Look: Stevenson-Fisher
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Stevenson vs. Diaz: Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale
By: Jake Rossen
Keep refreshing this page for the latest from tonight's "Ultimate Fighter: Team US vs. Team UK" finale. It's xenophobia brought to you by "Rob Zombie's Halloween II."
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Up Next: Joe Stevenson vs. Nate Diaz
Until Sean Sherk fights Corey Hill, this is likely to be the biggest size disparity you’ll see in the lightweight division: the 5’7” Stevenson takes on the 6’0” Diaz. I’ll spare you the “tall order” hackwork, but Stevenson is just 1-3 since January of 2008, and if he can’t get past the bear trap that is Diaz’ guard, his tenure in the UFC could be ending. Shortly.
Round 1
Buffer approaches each fighter menacingly during introductions. Stevenson employs the curious strategy of sending Diaz where he's most comfortable: fighting off his back. But he does well early on, snagging Diaz in a kind of reverse crucifix control that looks like a page torn from the Kama Sutra. Stevenson had complete control of the round. Nate lifts his hands. If the judges are that easily swayed, there's no hope for anyone.
Round 2
Diaz performs the patented bee-swat striking technique; Stevenson prefers his chances on the ground -- no wonder, with Diaz' 6-7" reach -- and ties him up. This goes on for five minutes. Diaz doesn't have a solution for Stevenson's strong-arming.
Round 3
After a scramble, Diaz scores his first takedown of the night. Unless two of the judges are Nick and Cesar Gracie, it's not going to be enough. This is the Stevenson people were expecting when he debuted. Maybe this Greg Jackson character knows a thing or two after all.
Decision:
Stevenson 29-28 across the board. A stay of execution. -
Stevenson on Lookout for Diaz Triangle
By: Sherdog.com Staff
Joe Stevenson is well aware of Nate Diaz’s strengths.
Joe Stevenson exclusive interview.
“He’s got a good triangle,” Stevenson told Sherdog.com’s Greg Savage. “He shoots it fast, too. Actually the most dangerous thing about Nathan Diaz is the fact that you can never count him out. He’s not the type of person that just surrenders.”
The lightweights will take to the Octagon on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Savage sat down with the contender to discuss his approach to the bout and his mental state following two straight defeats. Read more
