Lei Tong

Yep, fish hooking is still illegal. Also, I'm unsure, but I don't think guys are even allowed to wear wrestling shoes at all anymore, thus negating wether or not it's legal to kick with them.

Actually, fighters in the UFC can knee and kick their opponents while said opponent is on the floor every usual place except the head. Also headbutts & downward elbow strikes are illegal.

Actually, Kondo HAS improved quite a bit since that time. He's no longer simply a striker to be held on the mat, as he's shown vs. Barnett, Sperry and Kikuta, he can regain his feet and bring the pain. Also, he's been much more active, which also gives him the edge.

- Well, unlike most every other HW around, it's been a great while since Josh has lost a fight. He's struggled with lesser opponents as of late, but he still does have a good resume (though many of his opponent's stock have dropped since his wins over them sans Kondo). - Well, Tito hasn't had a really meaningful win since he defeated the Vladimir nearly 3 years ago. The Ken fight doesn't mean much in hindsight, even with Shamrock's recent Ko over Kimo. As far as Sobral, I think he's deserving of his ranking due to his winning of the IFC's Global Domination tournament, which was EXTREMELY stacked, far beyond most 2nd tier promotion tournment standards. Almost every fighter involved was/is a hot commodity, and Sobral was able to defeat Trevor Prangley, Muaricio "Shogun" Rua and Jeremy Horn in a single night. - Well, I suppose part of it is that I've never really been big on Heath. His best win as of late was a close decision over Gan McGee, which waspreceded by a tough fight vs. Norihisa Yamamoto and the joke match with Giant Silva. He jsut hasn't done enough lately.

For even more shits and giggles, my current MMA rankings: HW: 1) Fedor Emlianenko 2) Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera 3) Josh Barnett 4) Andrei Arlovski 5) Frank Mir 6) Mirko Filipovic 7) Tim Sylvia 8) Pedro Rizzo 9) Sergei Kharitonov 10) Ricco Rodiguez LHW: 1) Wanderlei Silva 2) Randy Couture 3) Quinton Jackson 4) Chuck Liddell 5) Ricardo Arona 6) Dan Henderson 7) Renato Sobral 8) Vitor Belfort 9) Yuki Kondo 10) Tito Ortiz Middleweight: 1) Matt Lindland 2) Jeremy Horn 3) Ricardo Almeida 4) Paulo Filho 5) Masanori Suda 6) Evan Tanner 7) Amar Suloev 8) Joe Doerksen 9) Akihiro Gono 10) Kazuo Misaki Welterweight: 1) BJ Penn 2) Matt Hughes 3) Sean Sherk 4) Jason Black 5) Renato Verissimo 6) Frank Trigg 7) John Alessio 8) Georges St. Pierre 9) Nick Diaz 10) Jake Shields LW: 1) Vitor Ribeiro 2) Joachim Hansen 3) Tatsuya Kawajiri 4) Takanori Gomi 5) Marcus Aurello 6) Josh Thompson 7) Yves Edwards 8) Hermes Franca 9) Caol Uno 10) Genki Sudo Featherweight: 1) Alexandre Franca Noguiera 2) Norifumi Yamamoto 3) Joao Roque 4) Hiroyuki Takaya 5) Jens Pulver 6) Hideki Kadowaki 7) Ivan Menjivar 8) Jeff Curran 9) Naoya Uematsu 10) Yoshiro Maeda Not listed due to me not knowing their current weight and/or status: Murilo Bustamante, Rodrigo Gracie, Anderson Silva, Duane Ludwig

Well, given the size difference I don't doubt Shamrock probably could've defeated Hume in a non-worked bout, but Hume's record is deceptive due to the works he lost, and he actually a very good fighter at his own weight, having defeated both Pat Miletich and Erik Paulson.

Hey, I'm with ya on the Silva/Yoshida thing, however unpopular that may be. On the thing of guys being carried in Pancrase, it didn't happen all that as much as total works, IE- both guys being in on it as opposed to one. On a side note, some of the more outright workish things seen in the organization were Ken Shamrock's Northern Lights Suplex/floatover to mount on Matt Hume, Funaki's delayed rear naked choke, Suzuki's win over Shamrock for the KOP title, and the overall ebb-and flow of certain matches, with more guard passes, sweeps and submission exchanges than in the most exciting grappling matches.

Couple of important points: - A good chunk of his early Pancrase matches were works, like many other matches in the company. Pancrase moved to mostly shoots in 1996, then full MMA in 1999, both long after Shamrock's departure. Also, in terms of grappling ability, very few Pancrase fighters of the era could compete with the best grapplers elsewhere. - Both Pancrase Dojo training and shinguard/boot combinations lead to Pancrase being very leglock happy in it's early days, with normally non-submission oriented guys getting their fare share of heel hook and toehold victories (though many of these can also be traced back to works). - At the time of his two defeats to Shamrock, Bas was still extremely limited in his grappling ability, and even at his grappling was still not much better than roughly BJJ purple belt level in his grappling. As for Frye, he was carrying 30+lbs. than he was at his prime, lowering his overall mobility (not to mention he's not a great submission guy to begin with). Also, in the end, Frye's MMA comeback would be something of a dissapointment with his best competition outside of Shamrock being his DQ win over the limited Gilbert Yvel. - Not even counting overall submission skills, but rather jsut in leglocks, here's just a handful MMA fighters (past and present) with superior leglock skills to Ken's: Naoya Uematsu Ikuhisa Minowa Rumina Sato Mikhail Illoukhine Valentijn Overeem Masakazu Imanari Baret Yoshida

Shamrock and Mir, though both primarily submission fighters, are not similar. Ken's submission game is still horribly limited, resembling many early Pancrase fighters by diving for the legs at any given moment. His stand-up is definitely improved over what is was early in his career, but the Kimo fight doesn't really change my opinion that he's going to get taken to school by the first top 20 HW he faces.

Irony: Moves like that being pulled off in MMA while a fireman's carry is being sold as a legit finisher in WWE (anyone care to inform me how that came about?).

Quick thoughts: - Tanner's still chinny, though he protected it much better this time around. Baroni was simply blah. -Charuto got screwed. At closest, IMO, this fight was a draw. He dominates the first, the 2nd was him atempting submissions and Matt throwing a couple of elbows and punches, and the third Matt finally gets some meaningful G&P going and a decent kimura attempt. How anyone gives the first to Hughes is beyond me. - I'll give Mir all the credit, he got the fight to the groudn (although it was a reactionary takedown from Sylvia, though possibly he also wanted to prove he could ebat Mir there), and that's all it took. I first thought i would've liked to see the fight go a couple seconds more (I was glad the ref didn't stop Semenov/Salaverry from the triangle armbar), but after realizing it was his damned forearm that popped as opposed to his elbow, I guess it makes it that much more serious. Bring on Mir/Arlovski. - I knew St. Pierre had some really good G&P, but his stand up looks really sharp, too. All credit to Heiron for staying conscience longer than he should have, but this was never in doubt. - Shamrock looked suprisingly storng vs. Kimo, though Kimo didn't seem to be going about things to intelligently. Great knee by Ken, and I would mind seeing him get beat by a good HW and giving them the rub on the way out. (Quick note: Was anyone else suprised at how toned down Tito and especially Ken were in their self promotion? I think Tito was way too nervous on the stick to get anything much of value out anyways, but Ken really suprised me with his humbleness). Undercard highlights: Prangley takes longer than expected vs. Stout. Stout got in a few good shots in as well, but he's taken some good ones in the past, so he hangs on to get the second round scarf hold submission. Menjivar seemed to be the aggressor agaisnt Serra, looking like he was even coming close on a Kimura. I imagine this may have been Nog/Ricco-esque, which then wouldn't suprise me with the JD going to Serra.

- I think you're overestimating Arona's grappling. Indeed he's better overall, but 'd say the biggest difference is that he's a smart grappler, as opposed to Quinton's recklessness. Arona doesn't have great submission skills, either, relying more on positioning and control. Can he slap on a submission when given the chance? Of course, but very rarely does he finish whatever hold he has. As far as takedowns goes, Quinton has great takedown defense, and will probably have the best combination of that, strength and striking power that Arona has faced yet. Also, important is that Arona tends to sow during the middle of his matches, coming back with a second wind to win during the final minutes to pull out a JD. With his inactivity, I wouldn't be suprised to see this pattern showing up once again, giving QUinton a chance to unload. - Yeah, Schilt hasn't been submitted much, but that's mostly because of the size difference he's had over most of his opponents. Those with some size and submission skills on their side have suceeded in tapping him out, both of which Sergei has. - Of course Yoshida could get KO'ed, but Hunt seems more interested in picking a new hobby than training seriously for MMA. As far as Silva/Ogawa, I'd say Silva has a better shot at a KO if the rough time it takes for a strike of his to move didn't need to be measured with a sun dial. -It's not simply a matter of size w/ Baroni's cardio: the outburst of power he puts into every blow surely has its hand in crushing his stamina. Also, his wrestling hasn't been anything special thus far in MMA. Still, I think he KO's Tanner. -Hughes jsut isn't really that type of fighter. The closest he's looked (aside from his early bouts, in which his aggressiveness only served to work agaisnt him) was against Castillo, and even then it was due in part to Gil being very timid after the accidental headbutt. True, his G&P is better than Verrisimo's, but standing up Renato has much better technique and power than Hughes, and on the ground Hughes' has been proven to be human in his last few fights.

I think Noguiera does indeed win over Herring again, but my heart says Quinton TKO's Arona. Schilt still seems to have little takedown defense, and I doubt Sergei's handlers will encourage him to try and duke it out a la the Ninja fight against Semmy. The Japanese have been given pretty obvious gifts masquerading as opponents. I HOPE both Ogawa & Yoshida get dropped in a hilarious manner, but my gut tells me that were one of the 3 to lose, it would actualyl be Sak. I agree on the Baroni thing (if only because Tanner doesn't seem to have admitted to the fact that he can't keep his damned hands up), but Verssimo is a different beast than the men Hughes defeated on his title defense streak. He may win, but I doubt he'll destory him.

Personally, I agreed that going into the tournament, Noguiera was the favorite due to 2 people: Mirko Filipovic & Mark Coleman. Two guys who, for different reasons, could give Fedor a lot of trouble, and two already put down by Noguiera. I believed Mirko's combination of KO power standing and scrambling ability on the ground, and Coleman's uparalleled takedown abilities and strong-yet-inconsistent G&P both would cause a lot of problems for Fedor. However, both guys have been disposed of, nd now I believe this tournament in Fedor's to lose. Couple of other thoughts: - Fedor is, IMO, a bit better from the clinch. His takedowns are better, and he can throw knees and uppercuts well from the break. Noguiera may not care if he gets taken down, but against someone like Fedor or possibly Kharitonov, it could make a lot of difference. - I wouldn't use the TK fight as an example of Fedor being a bleeder (though he is something of one, like many Russian/former Soviet country's fighters). TK nailed him with a grazing elbow, which can slice open almost anyone (illegal, but unintentional). -Wouldn't use the Kopylov fight as a positive sign of Nog's stand-up aggresiveness. His strikes were sloppy and inaccurate, due to being gassed (On a quick aside: I'm a huge Kopylov fan. He looks older than Father Time and has the physique of a retired construction worker, but damned if he wasn't tough to beat in a grappling sense). Rather, I think his fight against Horn and the KO against Kikuta are better examples of his standing abilities. - If the Sylvia/Mir fight goes beyond the first, I'd be shocked.

If I had to give it to anybody, it'd be Tito. His G&P was light and did little damage, but Silva couldn't do anything from the bottom, and aside from the 3rd, he didn't do a whole lot standing that wasn't neutralized quickly by a takedown.

More or less. The fight in a nutshell: Tito & Silva circle for a while, Silva throwing a lazy low kick every now and then. Finally out of boredom, Tito shoots in, get the takedown, and massages Silva's visage for a bit as Wanderlei wiggles around. Tito finally tries some G&P, throwing punches and elbows during the last second as Silva avoids most with head movement. The only real notable moments in the fight are in 2nd, when, as Silva backs Tito up and tries to throw some strikes, Tito catches him with a right hand, and Silva goes down, but hangs onto Tito's legs and tucks his heads between Tito's legs to avoid any further damage. And in the 3rd, Silva again backs Tito up, and catches Tito with a winging right hand that nails Tito as he tries to circle out. Tito loses his balance, gets back up and sprints across the cage as Wanderlei gives chase with strikes. Once at the other side, Tito squares up, ducks under some strikes and gets another takedown, and that's pretty much the end of any action.

One of the worst matches on both sides. Historically interesting, but not exactly what they should be wasting their free TV time on.

Okay, my thoughts on changed fights: Kharitonov vs. Schilt- I see this one being similar to Fedor/Schilt, but with a few differences: Kharitonov's questionable ( if only because he's yet to need it) cardio, his succeptability to strikes standing (if Rua could catch, imagine what a guy with 11 inches taller than that will do), and superior submissions from the top. While the previous two make this fight a lot closer on paper than Schilt's fight with Fedor was in the ring, I think Kahritonov will be be able to use his G&P from the top until Semmy gives up an arm as usual, and from there Kharitonov gets the sub via armbar, Rd.1 Noguiera vs. Herring- For whatever reason, this match does little for me. I'm pretty sure it'll be exciting with herring's submission defense, but I just don't see anyway Herring can beat Noguiera, even should he land one of his big sloppy high kicks/knees. Noguiera via JD, again.

RRR: Do yourself a favor and pay attention to Prangley.

Early predictions: UFC Ken Shamrock vs. Kimo Leopoldo - THIS is a main event? Ugh. Anyways, I say Kimo msotly because he hasn't looked like a broken-down pardoy of himself. Kimo via TKO, Rd.2 Tim Sylvia vs. Frank Mir - Sylvia via KO rather easily. Mir hasn't shown any significant takedown or stand-up skills, both of which he would need to even last long enough to try and utilize his submission skills. Thrown in a horrible gas tank, and this doesn't look to competitive. Matt Hughes vs. Renato Verissimo - Verrisimo via JD. Though the Carlos Newton he totally handled seemed to totally out of it, Verrissimo showed great all around skills (as he did vs. Gil Castillo in Hawaii). And although Hughes will probably take this fight more seriously than his alst bout vs. Penn, the fact he's facing Penn's instrcutor is probably somewhere in the abck of his mind. Phil Baroni vs. Evan Tanner - As much as I hate to say it, if Tanner hasn't properly learned to close the distance to utilize the thai clicnh and takedowns, Baroni takes his head off with punches for an early KO. Curtis Stout vs. Trevor Prangley - Murray's visa problems are karma for UFC trying to bring in someone like Stout to protect & safely build up the English fighter. Prangley's definitely got the goods though, having already faced and betaen some top competition, and will probably be even more dangerous at 185. Prangley via submission, Rd.2 Dennis Hallman vs. Frank Trigg - Rematch to one of the worst fight outcomes in recent MMA history. I've never really bought the Trigg hype, as I always felt he got credit due more to his mouht and close fight vs. Sakurai. Hallman is a bit incosistent at times, but I think he's got the skills on the ground to submit Trigg late. Matt Serra vs. Ivan Menjivar - Actually haven't seen much of Menjivar (I don't follow Canadian MMA as much as I should), but have heard plenty of good things about him. However, even with Serra still being somewhat limited (though his submission game is nigh without par), he'll have quite the size advantage over Menjivar, much as he did vs. Jeff Curran (Serra fought originally at 169, while Curran & Menjivar are msot effective at 143). Serra via JD. Georges St. Pierre vs. Jay Hieron - I realize he wasn't the first choice (Jason Miller was), but Hieron is one of the least deserving fighters awarded a UFC shot in recent memory. None of his opponents have a win amongst them. Come on. St. Pierre has shown to have some skills, and is a very powerful WW, so I see no reaosn he shouldn't take this. PRIDE: Naoya Ogawa vs. Giant Silva - Geez, you think they want Ogawa in the semi's? But hey, at least this one match they won't need to work for him. Ogawa via sub, RD.2 Sergei Kharitnonov vs. Heath Herring - Herring looked good in last fight, but even the smaller, older, and limited Takahashi gave him some problems. Of course, Sergei looked suceptable to the strikes of the much smaller Murilo Rua, but I still think he has what it takes to get past Herring. Kharitonov via JD. Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera vs. Semmy Schilt - Um, the result this time around is suppsoed to be different how? Schilt still has trouble stopping the takedown, gives positoning up easily, and although his long arms help stop G&P, they'll make inviting targets for Nog's subs. Noguiera via sub, RD.1 Fedor Emelianenko vs. Kevin Randleman - Assuming Fedor doesn't fall into the trap of overconfidence he had vs. Fujita (and Cro Cop did vs. Randleman), I think he takes this one, but not without attrition. Randleman is extremely strong and a good wrestler, yet he lacks the finishing skills even of Coleman, so while he may put Fedor in a bad spot, I think the Russian find his way out and takes over. Fedor via TKO, RD.2 Mark Hunt vs. Hidehiko Yoshida - Ugh. Yoshida wins in another match in spite of looking inept and nothing special. Yoshida via. sub, Rd.1 Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Antonio Schembri - Assuming Sakuraba's can hold up to the awesome fury that is Schmebri's windmill slaps, I think he finishes the job he should've gotten done the first time. Sakuraba via JD. Quinton Jackson vs. Ricardo Arona - Talk about opposites: Jackson is reckless to point of often putting himself in precarious positions to escape from, while Arona has rarely if ever taken a chance in competition. While the combination leads me to believe may actually catch Quinton and *GASP*... finish him, I'm going to go with my heart and say Quinton ctaches him late in the fight for a TKO.

Actually, there's a video or animated GIF out there with a better angle of Coleman's celebration, and he actually flying headbutted the turnbuckle.

Arona has submission skills, but having watched alot of his grappling & MMA matches, I think his blackbelt is not indictive of his submission skills, and that can apply to a lot of blackbelts out there who are more of the takedown & control style guys. No doubt it's impressive Fedor kept from getting choke by both guys, but I think someone along the lines of a Noguiera, Rodriguez, etc. would have an exponentially better chance of find the choke (assuming they et in position to).

Thoughts: Herring/Takahashi: Herring is still in trouble vs. most of the more skilled guys in the tournament, and the Takahashi fight did little to change my mind about that. Herring FINALLY did what he was supposed to when given a slightly less skilled and significantly smaller fighter, yet not before Takahashi gave him some knocks. Kharitonov/Rua: After years of watching Chute Boxe fighters being the bigger men... HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!111177777 But seriously, it wasn't JUST the size that made this for Sergei. He took some really good shots from Ninja, so he obviously has a beard, and his balance(although his size had something to do with it) was insane, as Ninja with all his might couldn't budge him an inch from the bodylock before getting ragdolled with the hipthrow. Giant Silva vs. Sentoryu: Poor Sentoryu. Even after getting Silva, the body size difference wouldn't even allow him to g&P Silva's head. At least he knew to get to sidemount, but apparently his own girth wouldn't allow him to use knees, go to mount, or even MOVE HIS FREAKING ARM. Props to Silva for his tenacity, though. He pulled a sub Kevin Randleman still hasn't gotten after 8 years of MMA training. Semmy Schilt vs. Gan McGee: McGee gets a takedown and mount yet can't do anything with it? Talk about deja vu. Although, with Schilt's long ass arms, he is a tough bastard to finish even once put on his back, but still, proportions, baby. As for Schilt's added girth, it didn't seem to bother him much on th ground, but I didn't see how it affected his striking, so stil lusnure wether it's totally a good thing. Ogawa/Leko: Getting knockdown by a guy who's favorite method of closing the distance is running in with both arms out and his head turned to the side has got to be pretty embarassing. Although, Ogawa does have quite a reach, and the shot he landed only knocked Leko off balance. However, once on the ground, it was a foregone conclusion, although Ogawa's ground game didn't look quite as sharp as I'd hope for from a Judo Silver medalist agaisnt a pure kickboxer. Randleman/Filipovic: As was mentioned on UFC, Mirko should probably stay away from black guys w/blonde hair. First McDonald, then Randleman. Look out for Sisqo next. Randleman finally showed some of that potential hes been sitting on for nigh a decade, but I don't think this'll be a true turnaround for the guy. Noguiera/ Yokoi:Yokoi was good enough at avoiding Nog's submissions, but Nog was smart, and slowly wore him down with his sub attemepts and superior striking, not overexerting himself and waiting for pudgeboy to gas out. I'm glad Takahashi & Yokoi did well for themselves, but a loss for both isn't mcuh of a suprise. Fedor/Coleman: For a second there, I thoguht I was watching Fedor/Arona II. Fedor is a bit lucky in the fact that the two guys who were good enough wrestlers to put him down and get his back, aren't known for their submission skills. However, big props to Fedor for escaping, and the armbar, although a bit loopy, was quite good and obviously enoguh to finish off the discouraged/ tired Coleman. Also, me and a few guys I know actually felt bad for Mark after the fight: having been there myself, a loss is always hard enough (Yokoi let out some tears after lossing to Nog), but to have the best fighter in the world's back and have quite possibly the biggest last hurrah in MMA slip away has GOT to be tough.

I don't bother w/ James Hirth's event previews anymore. Most are copy & paste jobs from old article, and yet he doesn't evn have the smarts to correct information that's been wrong for years now. Also, don't buy the hype of Fedor's submission arsenal. I wouldn't put him in the top 15 of HW submission artists.

Shoji is one thing, but I don't think there's any shame in losing to Tamura. When matched up with someone also near 185-190, he's a very tough guy to beat.