CageJunkies Relapse 10.17.11

Posted by J. Yayo Hernandez on Oct 17, 2011 in Bellator, CFA, Editors' Picks, MMA, Strikeforce, UFC

Welcome to this week’s edition of the CageJunkies Relapse, your one stop shop for everything MMA. I am your host, J. Yayo Hernandez, and we have lots to talk about. Let’s begin!

UFC

2012

No not the movie and not the end of the world. Dana White was recently interviewed and made some interesting comments about how next year would be an even bigger year for MMA than this year was.

“This year was a big year for us. But the next year is going to be the real big year for mixed martial arts. Next year is going to be the real big year for MMA. Next year is the one that’s going to change everything and take it to the next level.”

So what could the UFC president be alluding too. Let’s psycho-analyze his next comment for further clues:

“Hold this tape and watch what happens at the end of next year and where we are and what we’re talking about. And believe me, I will [expletive] die before I let this not happen. I don’t give a [expletive] how many cities or countries I have to fly to in the next 10 days or next year. I am focused and excited and ready to do this.”

There are two ways to read the statement in italics: 1)We already know that February will hold the first dual UFC shows in one day with two shows running concurrently (one in Japan and the next in the US). This statement sounds like he is getting ready to do this more than once or 2) What if he is planning to kill the MMA press by running a UFC show bi-weekly, or dare I say… weekly, and putting all the programming on his now multiple platforms (PPV, Fox, FX, Fuel TV, etc.). We’ll have to wait until next year to figure it out.

Silva vs. Sonnen II – SuperBowl Weekend

If you haven’t heard by now, Chael Sonnen, after defeating Brian Stann at UFC 136, delivered a pro-wrestling style promo, challenging Anderson to a loser leaves match SuperBowl weekend. For Chael this is a win-win situation, until Silva accepts. If the rehabilitating Silva says no, Chael can continue to mock Silva for ducking opponents, if Silva says yes, Chael gets the fight that he has wanted since Silva pulled off his miracle win at Silva vs. Sonnen I. The downside is that Chael maybe in danger of finding an extra motivated and completely healthy Silva who will banish him out of the most powerful MMA promotion in the world. Of course then, Chael could always come back and fight in a wrestling mask like Andre the Giant did when he was banned from competing in the then WWF.

Beyond all that though, I can’t imagine that if this fight happens, it will be during SuperBowl weekend. In the last F act or Fiction, I wrote the following:

“I think there are a few reasons this won’t happen. First is why have a fight of this magnitude Super Bowl weekend? Many fight fans are also football fans and no offense to our bread and butter, but the Super Bowl would completely overshadow this event in the states. Also Dana White has mentioned that if it is Super Bowl weekend, he would want it in Las Vegas. A fight with this much interest in it should probably be a stadium show, and Sin City doesn’t fit the bill, unless they plan to fight at Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney. Lastly, Silva’s manager has made it clear that the Spider is still healing his shoulder, and will decide on his own terms when he will fight again.”

Shane Carwin Surgery

If you haven’t read the news, UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin is scheduled to undergo back surgery soon and hopes to return to fighting sometime in 2012. Carwin has not competed since a June loss to Junior Dos Santos at UFC 131.

Strikeforce

Gilbert Melendez

Dana White has recently been quoted as saying that he wants to bring Melendez over from Strikeforce to UFC as soon as possible. This led many to believe that Melendez would not fight Jorge Masvidal under the Strikeforce banner, and that he would likely vacate his title. In some good news for Strikeforce fans, the Melendez/Masvidal title fight is going ahead as scheduled and will take place in December. Of course this is only temporary good news because 1) if Melendez wins he’ll probably vacate the title and get moved to UFC, 2) if Melendez loses he’ll probably be moved to UFC and Strikeforce loses one of it’s most promising fighters.

In other Gilbert Melendez news, Scott Coker thinks he’s the best lightweight! No really, look at this quote from a recent interview:

“People talk about him fighting Frankie. At some point I think that fight will happen, y’know, I think Gilbert will do what he has to do. But I think Gilbert is the greatest lightweight in the division right now.”

Although Melendez may very well be better than Edgar, the competition the two face on a consistent basis is not of equal billing. Until Melendez can show that he is able to hang fight in and fight out with the combatants of UFC, he cannot be called “better” than Edgar.

Survival

In the same interview mentioned above, Coker also spoke about the continued existence of Strikeforce:

“Zuffa is committed to continuing Strikeforce. Really, it’s in Showtime’s hands. There is dialogue and negotiations going back and forth right now. I’m hopeful Strikeforce will be renewed and we’ll put on some great fights for many years.”

This seems to confirm what many already thought. Without the Showtime deal, Strikeforce will close down. Showtime already has another MMA organization under it’s banner, M1, and a very pro-MMA executive of Showtime, Ken Hershman, that left the network to move to rival HBO, so we will have to see how much pull Zuffa has in these negotiations.

Bellator

Bellator 54 Results

MAIN CARD

Alexander Shlemenko def. Brian Rogers TKO by way of strikes – Round 2 at 2:30 – Middleweight tourney semifinals
Vitor Vianna def. Bryan Baker TKO by way of punches – Round 1 at 0:54 – Middleweight tourney semifinals
Champ Zach Makovsky def. Ryan Roberts Submission by way of north-south choke – Round 1 at 4:48 – non-title Bantamweight fight
Jacob Kirwan def. Rene Nazare by way of nanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)

PRELIMINARY CARD

Duane Bastress def. Daniel Gracie by way of TKO – Round 2 at 5:00
Joey Kirwan def. Lewis Rumsey Submission by way of guillotine choke – Round 1 at 1:40
Claudio Ledesma def. Brian Kelleher by way of unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Andria Caplan def. Adrienne Seiber by way of unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Bellator 58 Card

An already stacked Bellator 58 card has been super-stacked with the addition of Vianna vs. Shlemenko tournament finals to the card. Below is the up-to-date card for the November 19^th event being held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Champ Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler (for lightweight title)
Alexander Shlemenko vs. Vitor Vianna (middleweight tournament final)
Champ Hector Lombard vs. Trevor Prangley (non-title, 195-pound contest)
Jessica Aguilar vs. Lisa Ellis-Ward

CFA

CFA 04

With the excitement of CFA 03 barely subsiding, the Miami based organization has announced their next event will be held December 17^th. Already announced for that date are the undefeated lightweight tournament finals featuring Patrick Cenoble against Yoislandy Izquierdo as well as the quarter-finals of the featherweight tournament (Danny Chavez vs. Joey Rodriguez and Jordan Parsons vs. James Cianci). CageJunkies will keep you in the loop as more news develops!

Other News

W1 Reloaded

Here are the results from this past weekends show that you got exclusively covered by CageJunkies:

Michel Quinones defeats Dennis Sejdeivski by unanimous decision 29-28 x 2, 30-27
Anthony Garavito defeats Davaun McKoy by way of submission (Americana) at 2:57 in round 3
Michael Trujillo defeats Eric Raposo by TKO (strikes) at :55 seconds into round 1
Giovanni Brugnoni defeats James Wynn by submission (guillotine choke) at :57 seconds into round 1
Suzie Montero defeats Kim Couture by unanimous decision 29-28 x 3
Frank Carrillo defeats Joseph Watson by KO at :37 seconds into round 1
Kenny Moss defeats Bruno Reis DaMaria by submission (neck crank) at 1:46 in round 2
Nathan Coy defeats Patrick Mikesz by unanimous decision 30-27 x 3
Alan Arzeno defeats Tom Waters by TKO (strikes) at 3:12 in round 2
John Manley defeats Sabah Homasi by unanimous decision 29-28 x 3
Luis Palomino defeats James Edson Berto by unanimous decision 29-28 x 1, 30-27 x 2
Chuck O’Neil defeats Marcus Davis by split decision 29-28 x 2, 28-29