Weekend Reverie
Mike Sloan Sep 4, 2007
Pedro Rizzo (Pictures) used to be one of the most feared
heavyweights in mixed martial arts, but in the weeks and months
following his second loss to the giant squid/sasquatch/Jersey devil
of MMA (see: Randy Couture
(Pictures)), his career began a slow
downward spiral which eventually found "The Rock" labeled a mere
afterthought.
But today, he might be considered a viable contender again.
Rizzo's immense striking prowess probably won't evaporate from his
frame until he's close to 70, but everything about the way he
fought since UFC 34 led many supposed "experts" to believe his best
days were a thing of the past.
He fought like an old fighter: tentative, slow, plodding and, most importantly, losing. Since knocking then future UFC heavyweight champ Josh Barnett (Pictures) into Saturn's orbit, he's sported a pedestrian 5-6 record, having been stopped four of those times. And out of those five wins, two were somewhat controversial. It could be argued that he was lucky to have won a dreadful decision over a bloated Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures) and score a late knockout of Andrei Arlovski (Pictures) after one of the dullest fights in history.
Had Monson fought a little more favorable to his own style, I may be typing up an entirely different column. However "The Snowman" opted to stand and bang with Rizzo right from the start. Most would figure such a decision is not only foolhardy but physically perilous, yet it was the shorter, albeit more heavily muscled Monson who was getting the better of his foe for much of the fight.
Obviously Monson's game plan backfired when Rizzo finally connected with a perfect combo in the third.
I'm not sure what to gauge from Rizzo's win over Monson, one of the toughest hombres to defeat in the sport. Prior to his loss to Tim Sylvia (Pictures), in what was hands down the most hideously boring fight in UFC history since Ken Shamrock (Pictures)-Dan Severn (Pictures) II, Monson had reeled off 16 consecutive wins.
So does this mean that we in the media should claim with affirmation that Rizzo is indeed back? Or should we just say that the result of their clash is more or less the outcome of two solid, sub-elite level fighters squaring off?
Any way I choose to interpret Rizzo's win will boil down to this: I doubt he'll ever become the heavyweight champion of the UFC but I'll never fully count him out of a fight based solely on his crunching punching power.
It's not really a case of Rizzo being back. It's more or less an opinion that maybe Rizzo never changed. Perhaps his performance on Saturday was merely a canvas of how he's always been, very dangerous but never elite.
The IFO Steele Cage event as a whole
On Saturday I had the delight of covering a fledgling MMA organization deliver its second ever show. The IFO's Steele Cage hosted another show in Vegas and the show was a success. I don't have monetary figures as to how well the promoters did at the box office, but the overall feel and delivery of the show was solid.
Naturally it wasn't on the level of a UFC or even a WEC, but the IFO brings a show to the fight fans on a much higher level than most typical run-of-the-mill MMA shows I've covered over the years.
I've seen some absolutely dreadful fight cards both in boxing and mixed martial arts and some of them were so terrible I couldn't help but burst into uncontrollable laughter. I've seen some promoters hire coked-out comedic magicians, greasy "tough guys" covering popular rap songs, plastic women singing Pat Benatar songs, Elvis imposters and basically anything else that is a running cliché with Las Vegas.
One thing I did pick up on was that the IFO hired some goofball wanna-be rappers that "performed" what I'm guessing was the new IFO intro song. What it boiled down to was three buffoons covered in what was probably phony bling shouting and barking into their microphones totally out of sync. It so embarrassing I have to admit I was torn between diving under the media table so no one I know would notice me or walk up to the "performers" and punch them in the liver.
I spoke with one of the owners of the IFO and gave him some pointers that I've picked up over the years and though I'm not in a position to ever run a fight organization, I do know what makes a good show.
I told him to focus on arranging solid, competitive fights that fans will enjoy enough to return. Don't focus on nonsense like pre-show entertainment or performers between fights. Nobody cares and I don't understand why fight promoters continuously squander their money on this sort of garbage.
"Babalu" got what he deserved … sort of
I am all for Renato Sobral (Pictures) being fined and suspended for his unprofessional and distasteful actions against David Heath (Pictures) on the UFC 74 card. I have no problem seeing some of his win bonus taken away and I see no harm in preventing him from fighting in MMA for about six months tops.
However, I disagree with Zuffa tearing up his contract and tossing him to the curb.
I realize the UFC did the right thing in mainstream eyes by releasing Sobral from his contract because what the Brazilian did to Heath had been labeled the -- gasp -- black eye of MMA. The UFC needs all the positive press it can get and after such a cheap and unprofessional choke by Sobral, the promoter did what it needed to do to save face and keep the brand in a good light.
The purely business move raised some questions, however.
If "Babalu" was released for his transgressions, why has the company decided to keep fighters who have failed drug tests (see: Sylvia, Hermes Franca (Pictures), and potentially Sean Sherk (Pictures))?
Inconsistent? Of course.
It's rather hypocritical to keep some fighters around yet boot out others. "Babalu" deserves to be fined and suspended but I think it's malarkey he was released from his contract.
If the UFC and its president felt so strongly about what Sobral did to Heath, does it strike anyone odd that the UFC is charging $1.99 a pop to watch on its Web site?
"After a heated weigh-in exchange, two fighters are fired up to enter the octagon," the tagline reads.
"Fired" up indeed.
Misc. Debris
I wonder who was more shocked that Jeremy Horn (Pictures) was submitted for the first time in over six years: Horn or the supposed MMA "experts." I figured that Horn would steamroll Jorge Santiago (Pictures) en route to a win, but to say I was surprised at how Horn was submitted is an understatement. …
Hopefully the UFC will come to grips with whatever Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) wants in his contract and signs him. It'd be a shame to see the world's greatest fighter sign to someone of lesser caliber than the UFC. While the other upper tier organizations are nice in their own right, who really wants to see King Fedor waste his time feasting on mediocre opposition? Hey Zuffa: who cares what he wants? Just sign him already. ….
Doesn't The Ultimate Fighter 6 start this week or next? Ugh. Wake me when it's over. Unless there is some sort of new formula to Zuffa and SpikeTV's wildly popular game show, count me out as a viewer. My paychecks from Sherdog don't depend on me watching the show so why should I invest more of my precious free time to watch literally the same exact episodes from seasons 1-5 over and over and over?
Hit me up at www.myspace.com/sherdogsloan
But today, he might be considered a viable contender again.
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He fought like an old fighter: tentative, slow, plodding and, most importantly, losing. Since knocking then future UFC heavyweight champ Josh Barnett (Pictures) into Saturn's orbit, he's sported a pedestrian 5-6 record, having been stopped four of those times. And out of those five wins, two were somewhat controversial. It could be argued that he was lucky to have won a dreadful decision over a bloated Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures) and score a late knockout of Andrei Arlovski (Pictures) after one of the dullest fights in history.
Still, Rizzo scored an impressive third round stoppage over the
always tough and dangerous Monson, a slight favorite heading into
the battle. It was Rizzo's tenacity and striking that paved the way
toward victory.
Had Monson fought a little more favorable to his own style, I may be typing up an entirely different column. However "The Snowman" opted to stand and bang with Rizzo right from the start. Most would figure such a decision is not only foolhardy but physically perilous, yet it was the shorter, albeit more heavily muscled Monson who was getting the better of his foe for much of the fight.
Obviously Monson's game plan backfired when Rizzo finally connected with a perfect combo in the third.
I'm not sure what to gauge from Rizzo's win over Monson, one of the toughest hombres to defeat in the sport. Prior to his loss to Tim Sylvia (Pictures), in what was hands down the most hideously boring fight in UFC history since Ken Shamrock (Pictures)-Dan Severn (Pictures) II, Monson had reeled off 16 consecutive wins.
So does this mean that we in the media should claim with affirmation that Rizzo is indeed back? Or should we just say that the result of their clash is more or less the outcome of two solid, sub-elite level fighters squaring off?
Any way I choose to interpret Rizzo's win will boil down to this: I doubt he'll ever become the heavyweight champion of the UFC but I'll never fully count him out of a fight based solely on his crunching punching power.
It's not really a case of Rizzo being back. It's more or less an opinion that maybe Rizzo never changed. Perhaps his performance on Saturday was merely a canvas of how he's always been, very dangerous but never elite.
The IFO Steele Cage event as a whole
On Saturday I had the delight of covering a fledgling MMA organization deliver its second ever show. The IFO's Steele Cage hosted another show in Vegas and the show was a success. I don't have monetary figures as to how well the promoters did at the box office, but the overall feel and delivery of the show was solid.
Naturally it wasn't on the level of a UFC or even a WEC, but the IFO brings a show to the fight fans on a much higher level than most typical run-of-the-mill MMA shows I've covered over the years.
I've seen some absolutely dreadful fight cards both in boxing and mixed martial arts and some of them were so terrible I couldn't help but burst into uncontrollable laughter. I've seen some promoters hire coked-out comedic magicians, greasy "tough guys" covering popular rap songs, plastic women singing Pat Benatar songs, Elvis imposters and basically anything else that is a running cliché with Las Vegas.
One thing I did pick up on was that the IFO hired some goofball wanna-be rappers that "performed" what I'm guessing was the new IFO intro song. What it boiled down to was three buffoons covered in what was probably phony bling shouting and barking into their microphones totally out of sync. It so embarrassing I have to admit I was torn between diving under the media table so no one I know would notice me or walk up to the "performers" and punch them in the liver.
I spoke with one of the owners of the IFO and gave him some pointers that I've picked up over the years and though I'm not in a position to ever run a fight organization, I do know what makes a good show.
I told him to focus on arranging solid, competitive fights that fans will enjoy enough to return. Don't focus on nonsense like pre-show entertainment or performers between fights. Nobody cares and I don't understand why fight promoters continuously squander their money on this sort of garbage.
"Babalu" got what he deserved … sort of
I am all for Renato Sobral (Pictures) being fined and suspended for his unprofessional and distasteful actions against David Heath (Pictures) on the UFC 74 card. I have no problem seeing some of his win bonus taken away and I see no harm in preventing him from fighting in MMA for about six months tops.
However, I disagree with Zuffa tearing up his contract and tossing him to the curb.
I realize the UFC did the right thing in mainstream eyes by releasing Sobral from his contract because what the Brazilian did to Heath had been labeled the -- gasp -- black eye of MMA. The UFC needs all the positive press it can get and after such a cheap and unprofessional choke by Sobral, the promoter did what it needed to do to save face and keep the brand in a good light.
The purely business move raised some questions, however.
If "Babalu" was released for his transgressions, why has the company decided to keep fighters who have failed drug tests (see: Sylvia, Hermes Franca (Pictures), and potentially Sean Sherk (Pictures))?
Inconsistent? Of course.
It's rather hypocritical to keep some fighters around yet boot out others. "Babalu" deserves to be fined and suspended but I think it's malarkey he was released from his contract.
If the UFC and its president felt so strongly about what Sobral did to Heath, does it strike anyone odd that the UFC is charging $1.99 a pop to watch on its Web site?
"After a heated weigh-in exchange, two fighters are fired up to enter the octagon," the tagline reads.
"Fired" up indeed.
Misc. Debris
I wonder who was more shocked that Jeremy Horn (Pictures) was submitted for the first time in over six years: Horn or the supposed MMA "experts." I figured that Horn would steamroll Jorge Santiago (Pictures) en route to a win, but to say I was surprised at how Horn was submitted is an understatement. …
Hopefully the UFC will come to grips with whatever Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) wants in his contract and signs him. It'd be a shame to see the world's greatest fighter sign to someone of lesser caliber than the UFC. While the other upper tier organizations are nice in their own right, who really wants to see King Fedor waste his time feasting on mediocre opposition? Hey Zuffa: who cares what he wants? Just sign him already. ….
Doesn't The Ultimate Fighter 6 start this week or next? Ugh. Wake me when it's over. Unless there is some sort of new formula to Zuffa and SpikeTV's wildly popular game show, count me out as a viewer. My paychecks from Sherdog don't depend on me watching the show so why should I invest more of my precious free time to watch literally the same exact episodes from seasons 1-5 over and over and over?
Hit me up at www.myspace.com/sherdogsloan
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