Greetings from the world of MMA! I’ll be your host this week as we travel the globe to bring you ,the best (and worst) in the week that was for MMA. Let’s take a look back at the week of 4/30-5/6/2009.
UFC 98 – Cursed?
This has been an amazingly bad week for UFC 98. Three big names have fallen off the card within the past week. First up is James Irvin who had to bow out of his fight with a torn meniscus. He will be replaced by Xavier Foupa-Pokam.
Pokam is taking this fight only a month after his last fight, a loss to Denis Kang at UFC 97. Hopefully he can improve upon his first showing against a more one dimensional fighter in Drew McFedries.
Yushin Okami also had to be scratched due to a torn MCL. This is a major set back for Okami who was once thought to be the number one contender at middleweight. Unfortunately a rash of untimely injuries keeps his title train in the station.
He will be replaced by Chael Sonnen in a bout with Dan Miller. Sonnen will look to bounce back after his disappointing UFC debut against Demian Maia.
And last but not least Houston Alexander had to pull out of his match with Andrew Gusmao due to a broken hand. Alexander has had three bad losses in a row and this was probably his last shot in the UFC. It will be interesting to see if the UFC gives him a second last chance.
Alexander will be replaced by Krzyzstof Soszynski who is rolling into this fight with a two fight win streak in the UFC.
UFC Gumbo
UFC 101 got a huge boost with three interesting fight announcements this week. Amir Sadollah, The Ultimate Fighter 7 middleweight winner, will finally make his anticipated UFC debut. After two unfortunate situations that kept Sadollah out of the cage he finally appears ready to show the MMA world what he’s got at welterweight.
Sadollah will take on Johny Hendricks, a WEC veteran, in his first fight for the UFC outside of the TUF banner.
Kendall Grove v. Ricardo Almeida was also put on the card for UFC 101. Grove, whose stock is in constant flux, is back on the upswing after two good wins. Almeida has had an up and down career in the UFC but is looking to stay on a roll.
Last but not least Josh Neer will take on Kurt Pellegrino in the lightweight division. Neer is coming off an impressive win over Mac Danzig who many had as a true up and comer in the division. Pellegrino, who also owns a win over Danzig, has had an up and down career in the UFC. However, if he can pull off the win against Neer he could earn some much deserved attention with three wins in a row over solid opposition.
In a major fight announcement for UFC 102, the UFC’s first trip to Oregon, there will be a title eliminator match at middleweight. Demian Maia will take on Nate Marquardt to see who will be second behind the winner of Bisping v. Henderson. Or the winner of this fight may fight the winner of Bisping v. Henderson for the number one contender slot.
In either case, both of these fights will hopefully present a much better challenge to Silva’s throne than we’ve seen over the past year.
DREAM 9 Shaping Up
This week it was announced that DREAM 9 would not only feature the second round of their featherweight grand prix, a middleweight title bout, and a super fight at lightweight, but now there will also be the first round of a “Super Hulk” grand prix. In one of the strangest moves in MMA history, as well as one of the most blatant cash grabs, DREAM has amassed some of the best MMA talent in the world to fight some of the biggest jokes in the world in an open weight tournament.
Confirmed to fight are true MMA fighters such as Ikuhisa Minowa, Sokoudjou, Gegard Mousasi, and Mark Hunt. However, also appearing in this tournament will be Bob Sapp (only a month before his clash with Bobby Lashley), Hong Man Choi, and Jose Canseco (yes THAT Jose Canseco).
It’s safe to say that DREAM didn’t think the rest of their card would be able to stand on its own. They had to bring in the requisite freak show (along with cultural icons Sapp and Minowa) in order to make this show sell to the Japanese public. The Japanese have always shown interest in the eccentric over the substantive but in this case it may be pushing the limits of what’s acceptable when it comes to actual competition instead of the dramatic world of professional wrestling.
Important Fight Results:
At Sengoku eight Marlon Sandro, Masanori Kanehara, Michihiro Omigawa, and favorite Hatsu Hioki all advanced to the semi finals of the featherweight grand prix. Omigawa, who still has a losing record even with these two tournament wins, is the sentimental favorite in this tournament. However, it still appears to be Hioki’s to lose.
At Bellator five the finals in their lightweight tournament were decided. Jorge Masvidal, a favorite to make it to the finals, was upset by Toby Imada. And Tournament favorite Eddie Alvarez made his way to the finals by beating Eric Reynolds. Imada and Alvarez will meet at Bellator 12 in June to decide the winner.
That’s it for this week folks. Be back next week for your favorite weekly wrap up! Until then,
Enjoy the fights!
