Lei Tong

The irony is that Sanford has NEVER been in good shape, at least from what I've seen of him. I'm not really sure what they expected from some of these guys they picked for the show, as most people who've seen and/or know these guys could've told you about them (Leben's a loud-mouthed drunkard, Thacker isn't on the level of the others, etc.).

Two for now: Forrest Griffin He has good ground skills (especially in the submission area), decent stand-up and has probably the best resume of the LHW's, with wins over Chael Sonnen (skilled yet boring Team Quest wrestler), Jeff Monson (skilled grappler & UFC vet) and Ebeneezer Fontes Braga (UFC & PRIDE vet). Add in the fact that he's one of the few "bona-fide" LHW's, and I see him as the favorite of division. Diego Sanchez Good overall grappler, though his submission attempts can be a bit overzealous & sloppy at times (yet he makes up for it aggressive G&P). He's also stood and traded a couple of times, but as his competition has been mostly of mediocre variety, he's mostly been able to have his way on the ground. He took a leap up in class taking on ATT member Jorge Santiago, and aside from a few sloppy exchanges that got him in trouble, dominated throughout. Though a former welterweight, he seems to have filled out well at 185lbs. Has it tough in a stacked MW divions on the show, and though very talented, doesn't have the experience against good competition that guys like Leben & Quarry have.

Well, considering these guys have a hard enough time not injuring each other in training, it's probably not feasible for these guys to fight for elimination each time out. It sucks, but even with "immunity" for winning an elimination match, there's always a very good possiblity that the winner will be injured enough to not be able to train and/or fight the next time around. If anyone wants, I could do some quick write-ups of the fighters I know something about.

Well, I tend not bother considering who I BELIEVE won a fight, unless the JD was a total and utter roberry. So Yves' 2 wins over Hermes & Thompson were enough reason for me to rank him over Gomi for the time being.

I figured that Pulver was Top 10, made some bad mistakes underestimating Bang, but still has beaten lots of established guys. Guys off the top of my head better then Gomi are Kawajiri Hansen and Shaolin. But I don't know much about SHOOTO, and Shaolin came off a loss and his stock has dropped considerably. I still think it's nothing to sneeze about though. Pulver IS top ten, but in a lower weight class then Gomi & the rest. He's had some good wins at 143lbs over Palling & Uematsu, but he hasn't been a top dog at 155 for a good while now. And for as understandable as the Ludwig loss may be, Jason Maxwell isn't exactly a world beater. My tope ten LW's: 1) Tatsuya Kawajiri (SHOOTO) 2) Vitor Ribeiro (SHOOTO) 3) Joachim Hansen(SHOOTO) 4) Yves Edwards (UFC) 5) Takanori Gomi (PRIDE) 6) Josh Thompson (UFC) 7) Hermes Franca (SHOOTO) 8) Caol Uno (SHOOTO) 9) Ryan Bow (SHOOTO) 10) Ralph Gracie (PRIDE) Bubbling under: Marcus Aurelio, Dokonjonsuke Mishima, Genki Sudo

Impressive, no doubt, but far from indictive of a Top 5 (or Top 10, even) 155lbs. fighter. In the course of a year, Gomi went from being one of MMA's most underrated fighters to one of its most overrated. I've been a Gomi fan for a while, but he really did little to establish himself as one of the top LW fighters in the world last year (in comparison to what he accomplished before).

Jadson Costa: .500, 143lbs. fighter Ralph Gracie: Formerly retired 155lbs. fighter w/recent win over Top 15 Mishima Fabio Mello: .500, 143lbs. fighter Charles Bennett: nigh .500, 155lbs. fighter submitted in his last 2 KOTC fights Jens Pulver: Top Ten 143lbs. fighter, with 2 crushing losses to the last decent LW's he fought in 2003.

Overall, I'm none too excited about the LW tourney yet. I figure it'll be a bit like 2004, with Gomi beating up FW's & sub Top Ten LW's en route to the title.

To me, sub defense constitutes not only being able to get out of subs, but being able to avoid them as well.

The problem is, you can't always slam out of moves. Tim Sylvia figured "If I could slam out of Ricco's, then I should... "*pop!* There's a number of cons with trying to slam your way out of a traingle, including the energy spent on the slam (added to the effects of the locked traingle) and the opponent taking adavantage of the basing out by either transitioning to a triangle armbar or hooking the opponent's leg and using it as leverage to gain top position. Also, Rampage has been caught in guillotines & kimura's as well, so it's not as though it's jsut armbar and/or triangle's that he doesn't avoid. In regards to Arona: though big & strong, he's never been all that great at applying & finishing submissions (in spite of his blackbelt).

Dan Severn landed two consecutive back suplexes on Anthony Macias at UFC 4 but, though they folded Macias in half and obviously didn't tickle, they didn't knock him out.

Wes Sims' release pwerbomb on some kid at a small event was shown during his UFC 43 promo vid, but I haven't figured out who the victim was or where it took place. It was damn beautiful, though. On another note, those Rampage powerbomb pictures, though some of Rampage's most exciting moments, also point out a big flaw in his game: lack of submission avoidance.

Reminds me of when I used to buy into the Sato hype.

The cage really helps to stifle alot of guys from performing submissions, top or bottom, but one technique that a whole lot of fighters (at least when on the bottom) forget is cage-walking. Guys like Barnett & Babalu have shown that it can be damned effective, but the its lack of useage might be attributed guys not training with the cage specifically in mind.

As shown by the countless PPV commercials.. What I find funny though..is they're practicing and sparring with MMA..and yet say..don't hurt the other guy. I've had a hard enough time in am wrestling..not hurting someone..this is freakin MMA. Actually, most other guys I know who train agree that Forrest & his partner were going at each other too hard. Grappling wise, it's a bit easier to go full force at another guy, but usually guys will avoid striking each other that hard as they can without either larger sparring gloves and/or headgear.

Matsui's in a lot better shape lately. Never thought Id see the day (same goes for Shoji).

Well, why bother moving up and risking not being able to handle bigger opponents? Aside from cases of guys not handling weight cutting that well (and thus feeling more comfortable and heavier weight classes), more likely than not the fighter moving up won't fare as well. I imagine Yves would get beat handily by all the good wrestlers at 169lbs. BJ, on the other hand, is just that good.

- The UFC dropped the 155lbs. class because they don't have enough shows to promote 5 weight divisions properly. They can only have 9-10 fights per division at most, and that's not including the balance issues (ie- certain weight classes getting more fights), with most guys only being able to fight 3 times a year at the most (as UFC won't let most fighters compete elswhere). As was already said, there's other options out there for LW fighters. It sucks that they'll no longer be featured in the event most accessable to American fans, but that's the way it goes. - Rampage (assuming the Silva fights haven't broken him mentally) should tear through Rogerio, who's not much better than he was when Vladimir Matyushenko tooled him in UFO.

PS- My picks are the correct ones.

Good Awards: Fighter of the Year BJ Penn - Moves up in weight and easily defeats the undisputed #1 WW in the world, followed it up with a quick submission over limited yet dangerous Duane Ludwig, and finishes the year off with a completely dominating performance over previously undefeated Rodrigo Gracie at MW. Runner Up: Fedor Emelianenko Fight of the Year Nick Diaz vs. Karo Parysian - In spite of both guys gassing reltively early, the grappling exchanges in the opening round were reminscent of early era- Pancrase, only real. Runner Up: Jens Pulver vs. Stephen Palling Show of the Year Shooto 2004 Year End Show -I'll admit some bias hear, but you both Kawajiri & Kikuchi upsetting champions, Franca & Sato continuing their impressive ways, a good slugfest & quick yet fun female fight, with the only let down be undefeated featherweight Gilbert Milendez grinding out a very boring decision against the previously smoking Hiroyuki Takaya. Runner Up: UFC 49 Breakout Fighter of the Year Akira Kikuchi - Though a big prospect before the year started, many questioned how he would fair after being dealt with his first career loss to Jake Shields. The answer: A quick, aggressive decimation of tough Sam Morgan, a close win over current DEEP champion Jutaro Nakao, a routine defeat of ho-hum Lithuanian Ramunas Komas, and finally, a redemption victory over Jake Shields, capturing the Shooto MW title in the process. Runner Up: Gilbert Melendez Upset of the Year BJ Penn defeats Matt Hughes - As previously said, Matt Hughes was arguably the most dominant champion in the sport at the time, and BJ Penn was a former LW fighter putting seemingly as much flab as muscle. In the end, Penn submitted the champion within one round, and though tough fights soon after vs. Charuto & St. Pierre showed that Hughes was far from the unstoppable juggernaut he seemd to be before the Penn fight, it proved nonetheless that Penn had defeated the best WW on the planet with ease. Runner Up: Kevin Randleman KO's Mirko Filipovic KO of the Year Yves Edward leaping high kick vs. Josh Thompson - While there have a couple leaping high kick KO's in both MMA and kickboxing, none I'ver ever seen landed this hard and countered an opponent's technique so well. Runner Up:Hiroyuki Takaya's left high kick KO vs. Stephen Palling Sub of the Year Ryo Chonan's Flying Heel Hook vs. Anderon Silva - Though Silva's submission defense is nowhere near top-notch, Chonan's relatively average ground game gave no indication of this beauty. Runner Up: Gerald Strebendt's Twister on Dave Elliot Bad Awards: Worst fighter of the year Dan Wheatley - Winless throughout his young career, he's quickly becoming the Travis Fulton of horrible fighters (whom he coincidentally lost to 3 times this year). Runner Up: Kengo Watanabe Worst fight of the year Gilbert Melendez vs. Hiroyuki Takaya - Though many knew it could happen, Melendez still suprised and left many feeling empty by making this bout between undefeated featherweight prospects a relative snoozefest. Runner-Up: John Marsh vs. Wesley Correira Biggest Disappointment (fight) Mirko Filipovic vs. Josh Barnett - "What sub did Mirko tap Josh out with?" " The guard."(B&G) Runner Up: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera II Worst decision Matt Hughes vs. Renato Verrisimo - Though there may have been bigger robberies, the socring for the bout was simply atrocious. Apparently, complete and utter dominance means nothing if you do most of it from the bottom. One judges giving the first round to Hughes is atrocious. Runner Up: Ryo Chonan vs. Diajiro Matsui "What the fuck?!" Mirko Filipovic subs Josh Barnett & Kevin Randleman back to back. - Mirko Filipovic... submission master? Runner Up: Kevin Randleman Superman's over Ron Waterman's back. WIll do more later, maybe with some of my own.

Well, I'd say Silva has no chance of beating Hunt standing, though he can probably hold his own until the takedown. Plenty of awesome strikers can be thrown off their striking game due to having to worry about the takedown, which is a reason I believe Silva could get Hunt to the ground enough to eventually finish him (assuming his black belt is as legit as some believe).

Have you ever seen Silva's fight with Bob Schrijber? Bob has probably got better taked down defense than Mark, considering Mark only has two MMA fights and Bob has more than 40, but the question is whether Silva would want to stand and trade with Mark or not. But hey, Silva's surprised us on more than one occasion, so maybe he can pull another one out. Dirty Bob has shit takedown defense. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be suprised if Hunt can avoid the takedown better than Bob this early in his career.

I really hope Silva lives up to his word and stands with Hunt, but chances are he realizes he stands no chance in a striking match and instead waits for Hunt to gas, trips him up, and subs him on the ground.

Actually, Kikuta competed in ADCC twice, losing the opening round of 1999's >99kg class to Rigan Michado, then winning the >88kg division in 2001. He competes anywhere from 195-199lbs, but could arguably make 185lbs. I wouldn't flat out call Kikuta one of the best ground fighters in the world, but definitely has awesome ground control. Unfortunately, lately his finshing skills have made him reminiscent of Ricardo Arona without the size, strength or striking power. Conventional wisdom says that if Kondo could survive on the ground with Kikuta and come back to obliterate him standing, Silva will do the same.

"So I am going to an event called PRIDE Man Festival 2: 'SODOMY' to see a bunch of big sweaty guys in their underpants roll around on top of each other. I'm starting to get a bit worried, but I think, 'nah, just a bunch of coincidences. nothing untoward going on here...' Then the reveal the official 'PRIDE Man Festival 2: SODOMY' mascot image art. I kid you fucking not..." -SpacePotato