The Monday Morning Reverie: The Ultimate Segue
Mike Sloan Aug 21, 2006
If this past Thursday is indicative of times to come in mixed
martial arts, particularly the Ultimate Fighting Championship, then
we as fans and media will have much to look forward to.
Going in I figured that the welterweight eliminator bout between contenders Karo Parisyan (Pictures) and Diego Sanchez (Pictures) would be great — I just didn’t think it would have been that great. And who doesn’t enjoy a live fight event that segues perfectly into TV’s best show?
Save for The Ultimate Fighter season one finale, UFC Fight
Night was clearly the best Spike TV-based UFC event thus far.
Here’s hoping Thursday’s action pours over into UFC 62 this
Saturday night and that the Liddell-Sobral II card isn’t a complete
flop like “Bitter Rivals.”
Welter Skelter
Yes, Sanchez-Parisyan was one of the greatest fights in mixed martial arts history.
But while a dozen words can describe the sensational battle that was Sanchez-Parisyan, more important is the fact that doors of opportunity are now wide open for several people associated with the UFC.
For starters, the triumph Sanchez had over Parisyan could lead to an immediate shot at the welterweight title currently held by champion Matt Hughes (Pictures). Of course, scheduled challenger Georges St. Pierre (Pictures) might have a say about that as he could very well dethrone Hughes in September if he’s healthy.
A Sanchez-Hughes or Sanchez-St. Pierre fight would be one for the ages and a contest that could be won by either man. While I believe that Sanchez is still not quite ready for the ungodly talented Hughes, he’s certainly capable and more interesting than anybody else in the sport. Hell, Sanchez will probably topple St. Pierre whenever they meet, and meet someday they will.
Moreover, if Zuffa opts not to pit Sanchez against the winner of Hughes-St. Pierre next, a viable option could be former champion B.J. Penn (Pictures), with that winner being deemed the No. 1 contender. After all, some believe that Hughes isn’t the true champion since he never was able to snatch the title back from Penn. And since B.J. — the then “true champion” — came back and lost to St. Pierre, his title was unofficially vacant. And since St. Pierre didn’t fight for an official title, he can’t be deemed the true champion … ah, whatever. You get my point.
Even if Zuffa decides not to have Sanchez lock horns with any of the aforementioned warriors, there are so many unbelievable welters in MMA that any of them would be terrific match-ups against “The Nightmare.”
What’s even more compelling is the firm belief I have that aside from Hughes right now, Sanchez will beat every other man put in front of him. I think Dana White knows this and realizes that Sanchez has all the proper tools to become an all-time great, maybe even mightier than the mighty Frank Shamrock (Pictures).
Also, impressive victories over truly quality fighters will do nothing but pad his record with legitimate wins, not a series of tomato cans like some other fighters in the sport.
Just with Sanchez alone, Zuffa is in a win-win-win-win situation. But the other comfortable position on the UFC’s couch is that Parisyan wasn’t slaughtered by Sanchez and that he was not exposed as a fraud.
Parisyan came as close as anybody could come to victory in a fight that wound up being a unanimous decision the other way. His epic encounter with Sanchez will probably be the fight of the year unless Forrest Griffin (Pictures) and Stephan Bonnar (Pictures) somehow replicate their mythical first war.
With that said, Parisyan is in an empyrean position as well. Though he lost on paper, he certainly didn’t lose. Fans will undoubtedly line up in droves to catch him go toe-to-toe again, the only flaw being that a title shot will have to wait. Who wouldn’t want to watch Parisyan against Hughes or St. Pierre (again) or Sanchez (again)?
Sure, as a whole the light heavyweight (205 pound) division is stacked with more stars and many more potential blockbuster type of showdowns, but since the UFC and PRIDE can’t come to terms with seemingly anything, we may never see some of the greatest match-ups in history.
But no organization in the world has a better grouping of fighters who can make any fight as exciting as the UFC’s epochal welterweight division. Argue if you like, but the truth is in the proverbial pudding. Try and assemble a better round robin of four fighters who will guarantee fight-of-the-year-quality wars than Sanchez, Hughes, Parisyan, and St. Pierre … I didn’t think so.
Can Riggs Finally Get His Props?
Yes, that was the fighter I knew was trapped inside the frenzied mind and tattooed body of that Phoenix cat we know named Joe Riggs (Pictures). When his mind is right and he properly trains, that is the sort of stuff I come to expect from Riggs.
You see, Riggs has been dogged for turning in lackluster performances and losing from time to time. But Riggs has finally assembled a perfect training regime and his mind is focused on nothing but his fights.
Riggs was dangerously close to becoming a steppingstone fighter and it seemed as though he was teetering on the brink of becoming one of those reliable wastes of talent cases. Most fans dismissed him as a flash in the pan after his latest loss at the hands of Mike Swick (Pictures). His previous losses to Hughes and Ivan Salaverry (Pictures) enforced those beliefs, but with the way he fought against Jason Von Flue (Pictures), a solid fighter in his own right, it was obvious that Riggs has just now tapped into his potential. And with him being only 23, there is no telling what he’ll become a few years down the road.
Leben is Back
Luckily for Leben he is as stubborn as he his hair is dyed. The Oregonian bounced back from his disastrous first round KO loss to Anderson Silva (Anderson Silva' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures) in spectacular fashion, dropping Jorge Santiago (Pictures) for good with a crippling left hook seconds into the second round.
Most up-and-coming prospects with a ton of hype usually fold once they get knocked onto Queer Street, but not Leben: he demanded to return to action ASAP and came out guns ablaze.
I’m not saying that Leben will become the middleweight champion anytime soon, but it’s encouraging to see “The Crippler” firing away without hesitation. Too many young guns become gun shy after they get pistol-whipped and wind up mutating into disappointing duds.
Not Leben. And that’s great for his legion of fans.
Lister is no Dean of Stamina
It’s a shame for the fans in attendance and those watching around the globe that both Dean Lister (Pictures) and opponent Yuki Sasaki (Pictures) apparently never heard of endurance.
To give them both the benefit of the doubt it literally takes a ton out of a fighter to attempt and eventually lock on several submission attempts, only to wind up missing the sub. It also caves in one’s stamina when he has to defend umpteen submission attempts, many of which that were chokes.
Whenever the tussle saw both men on their feet, it seemed like Sasaki was just a punch or two away from pulling out the dramatic come-from-behind knockout, but his wind failed him. Had Sasaki slightly better stamina, he might have iced Lister. Their first two rounds were stellar, but due to depleted cardio, their third round fell flat on its face.
For anybody who knows very little about Lister, he’s arguably the best submission grappler/jiu-jitsu practitioner in mixed martial arts today and to see Sasaki escape everything, speaks volumes for how good Sasaki really is. Let’s see a rematch and hope their endurance improves.
Lazy Writer
No mailbag of sorts this time around because I am too lazy to sift through my inbox. I’ll supply you with another JMT column on Thursday, one that will be dedicated to UFC 62. Enjoy.
Going in I figured that the welterweight eliminator bout between contenders Karo Parisyan (Pictures) and Diego Sanchez (Pictures) would be great — I just didn’t think it would have been that great. And who doesn’t enjoy a live fight event that segues perfectly into TV’s best show?
Advertisement
Welter Skelter
How many words can describe the action inside the famed Octagon
that transcended the ferocity of virtually every other fight in
2006? I can think of 12 right off the top of my head: awesome;
thrilling; dramatic; fantastic; implausible; unbelievable; intense;
spectacular; marvelous; astounding; stupendous; astonishing. And
that, my readers, is before I broke out the trusty thesaurus.
Yes, Sanchez-Parisyan was one of the greatest fights in mixed martial arts history.
But while a dozen words can describe the sensational battle that was Sanchez-Parisyan, more important is the fact that doors of opportunity are now wide open for several people associated with the UFC.
For starters, the triumph Sanchez had over Parisyan could lead to an immediate shot at the welterweight title currently held by champion Matt Hughes (Pictures). Of course, scheduled challenger Georges St. Pierre (Pictures) might have a say about that as he could very well dethrone Hughes in September if he’s healthy.
A Sanchez-Hughes or Sanchez-St. Pierre fight would be one for the ages and a contest that could be won by either man. While I believe that Sanchez is still not quite ready for the ungodly talented Hughes, he’s certainly capable and more interesting than anybody else in the sport. Hell, Sanchez will probably topple St. Pierre whenever they meet, and meet someday they will.
Moreover, if Zuffa opts not to pit Sanchez against the winner of Hughes-St. Pierre next, a viable option could be former champion B.J. Penn (Pictures), with that winner being deemed the No. 1 contender. After all, some believe that Hughes isn’t the true champion since he never was able to snatch the title back from Penn. And since B.J. — the then “true champion” — came back and lost to St. Pierre, his title was unofficially vacant. And since St. Pierre didn’t fight for an official title, he can’t be deemed the true champion … ah, whatever. You get my point.
Even if Zuffa decides not to have Sanchez lock horns with any of the aforementioned warriors, there are so many unbelievable welters in MMA that any of them would be terrific match-ups against “The Nightmare.”
What’s even more compelling is the firm belief I have that aside from Hughes right now, Sanchez will beat every other man put in front of him. I think Dana White knows this and realizes that Sanchez has all the proper tools to become an all-time great, maybe even mightier than the mighty Frank Shamrock (Pictures).
Also, impressive victories over truly quality fighters will do nothing but pad his record with legitimate wins, not a series of tomato cans like some other fighters in the sport.
Just with Sanchez alone, Zuffa is in a win-win-win-win situation. But the other comfortable position on the UFC’s couch is that Parisyan wasn’t slaughtered by Sanchez and that he was not exposed as a fraud.
Parisyan came as close as anybody could come to victory in a fight that wound up being a unanimous decision the other way. His epic encounter with Sanchez will probably be the fight of the year unless Forrest Griffin (Pictures) and Stephan Bonnar (Pictures) somehow replicate their mythical first war.
With that said, Parisyan is in an empyrean position as well. Though he lost on paper, he certainly didn’t lose. Fans will undoubtedly line up in droves to catch him go toe-to-toe again, the only flaw being that a title shot will have to wait. Who wouldn’t want to watch Parisyan against Hughes or St. Pierre (again) or Sanchez (again)?
Sure, as a whole the light heavyweight (205 pound) division is stacked with more stars and many more potential blockbuster type of showdowns, but since the UFC and PRIDE can’t come to terms with seemingly anything, we may never see some of the greatest match-ups in history.
But no organization in the world has a better grouping of fighters who can make any fight as exciting as the UFC’s epochal welterweight division. Argue if you like, but the truth is in the proverbial pudding. Try and assemble a better round robin of four fighters who will guarantee fight-of-the-year-quality wars than Sanchez, Hughes, Parisyan, and St. Pierre … I didn’t think so.
Can Riggs Finally Get His Props?
Yes, that was the fighter I knew was trapped inside the frenzied mind and tattooed body of that Phoenix cat we know named Joe Riggs (Pictures). When his mind is right and he properly trains, that is the sort of stuff I come to expect from Riggs.
You see, Riggs has been dogged for turning in lackluster performances and losing from time to time. But Riggs has finally assembled a perfect training regime and his mind is focused on nothing but his fights.
Riggs was dangerously close to becoming a steppingstone fighter and it seemed as though he was teetering on the brink of becoming one of those reliable wastes of talent cases. Most fans dismissed him as a flash in the pan after his latest loss at the hands of Mike Swick (Pictures). His previous losses to Hughes and Ivan Salaverry (Pictures) enforced those beliefs, but with the way he fought against Jason Von Flue (Pictures), a solid fighter in his own right, it was obvious that Riggs has just now tapped into his potential. And with him being only 23, there is no telling what he’ll become a few years down the road.
Leben is Back
Luckily for Leben he is as stubborn as he his hair is dyed. The Oregonian bounced back from his disastrous first round KO loss to Anderson Silva (Anderson Silva' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures) in spectacular fashion, dropping Jorge Santiago (Pictures) for good with a crippling left hook seconds into the second round.
Most up-and-coming prospects with a ton of hype usually fold once they get knocked onto Queer Street, but not Leben: he demanded to return to action ASAP and came out guns ablaze.
I’m not saying that Leben will become the middleweight champion anytime soon, but it’s encouraging to see “The Crippler” firing away without hesitation. Too many young guns become gun shy after they get pistol-whipped and wind up mutating into disappointing duds.
Not Leben. And that’s great for his legion of fans.
Lister is no Dean of Stamina
It’s a shame for the fans in attendance and those watching around the globe that both Dean Lister (Pictures) and opponent Yuki Sasaki (Pictures) apparently never heard of endurance.
To give them both the benefit of the doubt it literally takes a ton out of a fighter to attempt and eventually lock on several submission attempts, only to wind up missing the sub. It also caves in one’s stamina when he has to defend umpteen submission attempts, many of which that were chokes.
Whenever the tussle saw both men on their feet, it seemed like Sasaki was just a punch or two away from pulling out the dramatic come-from-behind knockout, but his wind failed him. Had Sasaki slightly better stamina, he might have iced Lister. Their first two rounds were stellar, but due to depleted cardio, their third round fell flat on its face.
For anybody who knows very little about Lister, he’s arguably the best submission grappler/jiu-jitsu practitioner in mixed martial arts today and to see Sasaki escape everything, speaks volumes for how good Sasaki really is. Let’s see a rematch and hope their endurance improves.
Lazy Writer
No mailbag of sorts this time around because I am too lazy to sift through my inbox. I’ll supply you with another JMT column on Thursday, one that will be dedicated to UFC 62. Enjoy.
