Anyone who witnessed John “Doomsday” Howard’s total demolition of Daniel “Ninja” Roberts last weekend on UFC Live on Versus may have been rendered speechless, now only able to utter one magic word.
Wow.
In the very first round of their Saturday night contest, with two fists of legal dynamite, and in what seemed a mere millisecond, “Doomsday” completely annihilated his foe with an explosive “brick-thrower”-style knockout, which earned him a cool $50,000 for KO of the night.
The “impending doom” for the “Ninja” came swiftly, and some may not agree with Howard’s “coup de gras,” or what some may feel were unnecessary extra punches after the fact.
To those detractors I suggest the much calmer sport of lawn bowling, checkers, or maybe darts; just remember those things have nasty points, so take care not to poke out your eyes.
This, my good friend’s, is “cagefighting.” Yes, it is a bloodsport, and, whether we admit it or not, most of us love the thought and adrenaline-filled excitement that accompany this well-governed yet primitive form of violence.
Mixed martial arts, as we know it, is as close to a sanctioned street fight as is humanly possible, so let’s be honest here—shall we?
To witness first-hand the raw power, aggression, and unrestrained barbarity of two UFC gladiators who have agreed to face each other “mano-a-mano” is undoubtedly the primary reason we slap down our hard-earned bucks each weekend.
And when “Doomsday” Howard kept punching his unconscious opponent for good measure, it was a wise choice; it’s not his job to be merciful.
After all, why trust the final decision to the ofttimes distorted viewing of the corrupt boxing officials seated at cageside?
Howard left no doubt in anyone’s mind last weekend as to who the victor was, and, quite honestly, that’s the type of fight I enjoy seeing, and it’s also why I love to write about this fastest-growing sport.
I respect your opinion, and if this isn’t your personal cup of tea, that’s entirely your prerogative.
The UFC’s 170-pound division now has some great new challenges in store for the winner of this weekend’s UFC 111 title bout.
If the general MMA fan consensus is correct, and the elite UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre retains his coveted title, it may be wise for him to look closely to the horizon for the fast-approaching and inevitable arrival of “doomsday.”
Liddell is the former 205lb lightheavyweight champion of the elite promotion known as the Ultimate Fighting Championships; yet that statement says very little regarding the importance of this once-great, now legendary, kick-boxing style Cage-fighter.
The Iceman Liddell’s name has become synonymous with the UFC, and all good things associated with the ever growing and continuously popular sport of mixed martial arts.
His famous epic-fight-trilogy with Randy Couture made him a house-hold name, a man’s man, and I am extremely proud to admit that—at one point, this writer was one of his biggest fans.
A wide punching pressure fighter, with knockout power in either hand, the Iceman rarely took a backward step, and very rarely ever lost.
Still, father-time catches up with every one of us, he takes no hostages, and even though he may not wish to hear it, there comes a time in every mans life when he must face the music.
It happens to the best of us, and Liddell—even though he was once a great fighter and an extremely top conditioned athlete—is certainly not exempt from this well wriitten rule.
This light heavyweight brick throwing knockout artist, once arguably the best cage-fighter in the sport, started looking, and acting like a past-prime fighter.
Throwing one punch at a time, without a jab or kick to set it up, and leaving himself wide open for counter punches, which were signs as real as two flashing-amber warning-lights.
Worst of all, The Iceman was making amateurish mistakes which led to repetitive, and extremely concussive knockouts.
To his high profile boss, UFC president Dana White, it was worse, a red-light of sorts, because as much as he wanted to ignore it,..he also knew that his friends great fighting career needed to come to an abrupt end, and soon.
So for once, most of us agreed with White, Liddell’s razor sharp reflexes had diminished and dulled considerably, sadly, father-time had caught up to him.
Yet, he was given one last chance against a former Pride FC star, who for whatever reason, was also having back to back dreadful performances in the UFC.
Liddell faced off against a man who he could have-beaten easily five years previous, Mauricio Shogun Rua. A fighter who had been choked out by Forrest “Gump” Griffin, and who struggled against the virtual cage fighting antique, and MMA pioneer Mark Coleman.
Liddell failed the test in the worst way possible, The Iceman was knocked out cold by a punch which he should have easily slipped, it seemed to be highly telegraphed by Rua, yet Liddell’s failing reflexes wouldn’t allow him to perform the instructions that his brain was sending .
So instead of stepping to the side and slipping it—as he once would have, the punch met his jaw with a sickening thud and Liddell was out of business.
UFC president and good friend White had seen enough, White acted on his own instincts and, almost like a concerned parent, instructed Liddell that his fighting career in the UFC was a done deal.
So now, after being knocked out once again, only this time out of contender-ship for a prize winning TV dance competition, The Iceman once again comes to the crossroads of-his long and successful fighting career.
Lets be honest, no matter what UFC president White would have us believe, the final decision will be up to Liddell, but if it were up to his fans, here is one vote for the Iceman’s continued retirement.
Liddell has lost 4 of his last five fights, so who among us would actually pay to see our UFC fighting hero Liddell continue to get embarrassingly knocked out by the UFC’s sub-par light-heavyweight opposition.
Not I.
Unfortunatly, I dont have the opportunity to speak to The Icemen, but if I did, I would say chill, enjoy your life, relax my man, take that much-deserved vacation, go see the world.
You are rich, and at 40 you are most certainly still young enough enjoy your life without being punched in the head by some wannabe champion, who’s desire is only to make a name for himself by defeating you.
The decision is yours, but please take a good-long-look at your fight record, you are getting hit far too much and too often, the wins just aren’t there anymore, and there are many justifiable reasons for that.
If the choice were mine, I’d toss the 4 ounce gloves in the trash, and go grab the best looking woman around, and keep on dancin.’
Back in March of this year, many fans of the heavyweight division in the mixed martial arts promotion known as the Ultimate Fighting Championships got their first look at a potential future champion.
It was the UFC’s 96th event, and emerging from the sport’s sub-par organizations, came a brand new virtual-human-wrecking-machine.
His name, Shane Bannister Carwin, and the 6′ 3″, 260 lb. bone-crusher had honed his skills by fighting in cage fighting promotions with dubious titles such as the Ultimate Texas Showdown and the Art Of War.
Carwin however, had been “throwing bricks,” and racked up 10 straight victories, three of them being consecutive first round knockouts, and none of them lasting any longer than the first round.
On this night, in the UFC the stage was set for him to prove to the world whether his power was real, or merely a bi product of the competition he had been used to facing.
Carwin was in tough on this night however, staring him down across the cage, was none other than the former number one contender Gabriel Gonzaga, a man who had devastated the combat sports world by knocking out the—always dangerous—Croatian heavyweight Mirko “Crocop” Filipovic with a paralyzing head-kick.
Gonzaga, 10-3 with 4 knockouts wasted no time in getting to the job at hand, showing little regard for defense—and a genuine lack of respect for each others power—the two heavyweight gladiators squared off at center-cage, and immediately began throwing bombs.
Right-away, Carwin received the brunt of two consecutive lead right hands from Gonzaga, which buckled the knees of the UFC newcomer, sending the two fighters reeling backwards, crashing into the cage.
Similar to any of natures predatory beasts, sensing their prey has just been wounded, the Brazilian native Gonzaga—who is also a Black Belt in Jui Jitsu—went straight for the proverbial jugular, attempting to end the fight.
Carwin, undoubtedly stunned and hurt, then recieved more damage from an elbow after being taken to the ground by Gonzaga; amazingly however, like a true soldier, he managed to regain control over his legs.
Showing the stuff champions are made of, Carwin stood up squarely, and threw a left jab into his opponents face, momentarily stopping the onslaught of Gonzaga.
My background is in boxing, and in that sport, there is a parable which—most times, holds true. That is, “the right hand will always find the left,” meaning that wherever the left fist strikes the right will arrive in the same vicinity shortly thereafter.
In this contest between Carwin and Gonzaga the “old adage” held true once again, as Carwin followed his hard left jab with a perfect straight right to Gonzaga’s jaw.
The legs of the big Brazillian MMA fighter then turned to rubber, becoming unhinged from his brain, and he crumpled to the canvas like a discarded dinner napkin.
This huge knockout win over Gonzaga instantly catapulted Carwin into the top five of the UFC’s heavyweight division.
The win also allowed Carwin to put an exclamation mark on his statement to the rest of the Heavyweight division,..he had arrived!
All roads lead to one man, however, so for an encore, Carwin has now crashed head-on into arguably one of the most controversial and terrifying heavyweight maulers in mixed martial arts history, Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar’s background is in collegiate wrestling, and he’s also a superstar of what could be called “dramatic wrestling,” in the WWE, as a redult he employ’s tactics not usually seen in MMA.
The mammoth sized Lesnar is listed at 6′3″ but standing beside his last opponent Frank Mir he looked to be closer to 6′ 5″, add that factor to his gigantic 300 lb. girth and we can understand why he prefers to to subdue his opponents by simply laying on them.
On paper this match-up looks like a UFC setup with Carwin being “thrown to lions” much too soon in his career. Certainly, if it weren’t for Carwins punching power, we could easily write him off here.
However, with further inspection , we see that Lesnar actually has less MMA experience, and has already been submitted once-in his short, but ongoing 5 fight career.
With the fighters in a vertical position, throwing hay-makers, I’d put my money on Carwin. On the canvas however, we would most likely see a dominant performance from an amazingly athletic and naturally gifted wrestler.
These two behemoths, Carwin, a native of Greeley Colorado, and Lesnar, from St. Paul Minnesota, engage in battle—for the UFC undisputed heavyweight crown—at UFC 106 November 21, 2009.
Stepping into the Strikeforce "Miami" cage last Saturday night—with an extremely impressive record of 13-3, 11 by way of KO, and two recent "back to back" stunning-head-kick-victory's—the former "DREAM" cage-fight promotion Welterweight Champion, Marius Žaromskis came highly touted.
The native Lithuanian was seemingly poised and ready to show off his skills to the north American crowd, and so when the referee signaled for the the two combatants to fight Žaromskis wasted no time in bravely charging across the enclosed battleground to meet his foe head on.
Žaromski's was well prepared, he had readied his excellent arsenal of cage fighting weapons, kept them fully loaded, and he possessed the training and experience to use them to their full advantage.
What the Lithuanian wasn't counting on however, was something that no amount of training could have prepared him for, which was the confidence and fortitude of the enemy of whom he was approaching.
Žaromski's, the former " Dream " welterweight head kicking champion, was about to enter a "nightmare" battle with a 26 year old boxer, and Gracie jui jitsu black belt named Nick Diaz.
A one round war, so to speak.
The Lithuanian fired most of his heavy artillery in the early going, and—at one point— succeeded in forcing the "shell shocked" Diaz to "take a knee" on the mat.
However, the durability, resilience, and sheer " fighting will " of the eldest of the two fighting Diaz brothers has proven to be unmatched anywhere, and so it seemed as if Žaromski's would have to either knock him out or kill him for Diaz to not get back to his feet.
Rising to his feet he did, and with the style and heart of a "true champion" the Stockton Californian quickly made the transition from a defensive position, to a full offensive attack.
The fight, still in the first round, was then all but over for Žaromski's
The hand speed and overwhelming amount of punches—which included uppercuts, straight lefts and hard right hooks—took its toll on the courageous and game Lithuanian fighter, and he crumpled slowly to the canvas, out cold.
So now with his newly found strike force welterweight championship belt, and with many in the business saying he could be one of the pound for pound best in the sport, for Nick Diaz the sky is the limit.
And after doing some careful research on his family's history, I can't think of anyone who is more deserving.
Thank you for the thrills young warrior, and please may we have some more in the near future.
Main Entry: ven·geance; Pronunciation: \?ven-j?n(t)s\; Function: noun; Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from venger to avenge, from Latin vindicare; to lay claim to, avenge.
According to the greatest book ever written, the Bible, in Romans 12:19-21, one should "leave it to the wrath of God, for Vengeance is mine, says the Lord."
In terms of cage-fighting, however, I hope God will excuse the former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion Francisco "Frank" Mir. Because if he should get past his next opponent, Cheik Kongo—at UFC 107 on Dec. 12—he speaks sincerely of delivering his own brand of vengeance, a "wrath of Mir," so to speak, upon the current UFC champion Brock Lesnar.
In a recent video from the excellent Web siteMMA30.com, which can be seen here, Mir speaks of sleepless nights and how being the UFC champion would be secondary only to opening up a can of "whoop-ass" on a behemoth named Lesnar—a behemoth who not only beat him up but thoroughly embarrassed him in front of literally millions of UFC fans in the pair's last meeting.
Mir won the first match between the two with one of the greatest knee-bar submissions ever witnessed in the UFC, and what made the Lesnar victory that much sweeter was the fact that it was performed upon a seemingly super-human, 265-pound ex-wrestler.
A man who not only resembles a bruin but also possesses the size, strength, and fury of a 500-pound grizzly bear. Add to that the post-fight admission from Lesnar's losing opponents that he is not only all of the above but also surprisingly fast for his size, and you have a veritable monster.
These aforementioned attributes most certainly add up to a formidable heavyweight challenge to any foe, to say the least. Thus, for Mir, the rematch with Lesnar didn't go as well as planned.
Mir, the BJJ black belt, was smothered, mauled, and thoroughly dominated in an area of expertise where he should have had the advantage—on his back, in the guard position.
Lesnar won the fight, then rubbed Mir's nose in it.
In a mock southern accent, he gloated, bragged, and stammered his way through the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
It was more or less an adrenaline-laced tirade concerning beer, anuses, and horseshoes, and he came off looking like a fighter who had just won an award for the world's most unsportsmanlike athlete instead of a newly crowned UFC champion.
So Mir wants his vengeance in the worst way, but "first thing's first," Mir needs to get past Kongo, who is an amazingly conditioned athlete, but, perhaps luckily for Mir, he is a kick-boxer with very little experience in submissions.
Yet, it's this writer's opinion that he does possess the size, power, and certainly the reach advantage to give Mir trouble should Mir get cocky and try to keep the fight standing.
The outcome of this December matchup may potentially precede a third battle against Lesnar, or there may be a new champion by that time named Shane Carwin.
Mir, in the video, decides to take a test drive in a bright yellow Lamborghini, and he jokingly refers to Kongo as a great "groin striker," saying he plans to wear "family jewel protection" with a spike implanted in the surface, just in case.
Whatever the future may hold for Mir, there's one thing we know for sure: He is a highly disciplined submissions expert with no shortage on heart and courage.
He was able to cheat death from a devastating motorcycle accident, get back on his feet, and achieve his personal goal by regaining part of his past championship, the interim heavyweight title.
Mir is also a very talented cage-side commentator for the World Extreme Combat promotion, and I was thoroughly impressed with the detailed job he did during their latest event.
Mir took the time to explain each submission transition in detail, which is appreciated by laymen such as me who have no formal training in regard to the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu side of MMA.
We sportswriters, most times, try to be as unbiased as possible, but I will admit that I've been a fan of Mir since watching his amazing standing arm-bar submission over Tim Sylvia at UFC 48, a move that visually snapped the large bone in Sylvia's forearm.
Sylvia, another huge fighter at 6'8", 250 pounds, was not unlike Lesnar, also a dominant UFC champion at the time, but had been recently stripped of the title for failing a drug test.
This was the first evidence that Mir was nobody to mess with from the BJJ guard position, and if it weren't for his career being interrupted by a potentially crippling event, he would have undoubtedly been a dominant champion even back then.
To borrow a line from the greatest heavyweight boxer who ever lived, Muhammad Ali, "Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them—a desire, a dream, a vision."
Champions such as Mir possess rare human qualities, such as honor, integrity, courage, and a tremendous amount of pride.
Mir is understandably proud of his accomplishments so far, and, from watching his fights throughout his career, it's evident to this writer that Mir not only believes he is a winner and a survivor, he has also proven it, and lived through it.
And, who knows, if he beats Kongo impressively, he may have a another title shot awaiting him around the bend, a rubber-match of sorts between him and the behemoth Lesnar, or perhaps Mir will face off against the new heavyweight champion Carwin.
