the j. botter weblog

I first reported this at The Bleacher Report, but I want to make a quick note of it anyway. Remember the rumor last week that said Brock Lesnar had injured his hamstring and would be pulling out of the Couture fight? The one that was quickly revealed to be a hoax?

It wasn’t a hoax. Lesnar did, in fact, suffer a hamstring injury, but he’s not pulling out of the fight. The other news I picked up today revealed that Randy Couture is also nursing a shoulder injury.

Steve Seivert, former MMA writer for the Houston Chronicle, says that Fedor Emelianenko vs. Kimbo Slice is the biggest potential fight in MMA today.

No, it’s not. It’s not even close to Couture vs. Lesnar, which will happen on November 15th.

Kimbo Slice is a popular fighter. The people who think Kimbo is great, however, are the mainstream fans, and 98% of those mainstream fans have never heard of Fedor Emelianenko. They can hype him up all they want, but a Fedor fight vs Slice wouldn’t even do half the business that Couture/Lesnar is going to do.

This piece about Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was originally written for The Bleacher Report, but I’m publishing it here so that I’ll always have a copy.

The scar on his back serves as a reminder of the things he lost. 

He walks the earth with one less rib than his equals, the result of a horrible accident that happened when he was ten years old. The young boy was run over by a truck, and he lapsed into a coma for four days. He lost one rib and part of his liver, and it felt like the ending of the boy’s story had already been written.

The boy, however, was a fighter. 

Eleven months after the horrible accident that took pieces of his body and nearly succeeded in taking his young life, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira went home. The first chapter in a remarkable story of guts, grit and determination had been written, but this tale wasn’t finished. 

No, it was barely beginning.

Antonio was born in Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil on June 2, 1976. Founded in 1783, the town would eventually become known as a center of the Brazilian coffee-producing industry. 

Though young Antonio began his fighting career by starting judo classes at the age of five, his first significant victory was over death itself. He nearly lost his life to a truck, and many people counted him out.

Antonio began his fighting career at the age of five, but his mixed martial arts education started at fourteen, when he was invited to train in the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the tutelage of Ricardo de la Riva Goded. In 1999, he accomplished a very rare feat, and was awarded a black belt in both jiu-jitsu and judo.

Read the rest of this entry »

Some very minor movement this month, but it’s the calm before the storm as The Natural returns to the heavyweight division for a superfight and a heavyweight title grand prix is booked. Read the rest of this entry »

The official announcement today that Randy Couture is returning to the UFC to defend his heavyweight championship against Brock Lesnar has created quite the stir amongst fans of the sport. Read the rest of this entry »

I was going to publish this yesterday, but decided to wait and see if everything went through. I did leak the news to a guy from the Houston Chronicle and he posted it, but it’s now been confirmed by Dave Meltzer. Randy Couture is in the process of signing a multi-fight deal that will keep him in the UFC long-term. In exchange, the UFC lawsuit against Couture will be dropped and he will likely be stripped of the UFC heavyweight title.

Couture’s first fight back will be November 15th in Portland, and his opponent will be Brock Lesnar.

I’ll have much more to say on this in the coming weeks. Needless to say, this will probably be the biggest drawing fight in US MMA history.

Sunday Update: The latest word on the fight is that it will probably be a five round title fight. Instead of Couture being stripped of the belt, it appears that Brock Lesnar will get an early (and mostly undeserved) shot at the heavyweight title. The winner will likely face the winner of the Noguiera/Mir fight that takes place in December.

Xtreme Couture has already begun making travel plans for several large heavyweight wrestlers to come in and take part in Couture’s training camp. Couture has already begun to train full time in preparation for the fight.

There are reports that Zuffa will go against what seems to be corporate policy and co-promote the long-awaited Randy Couture/Fedor Emelianenko fight. UFC tends to value control over everything else, and after an attempted deal with PRIDE several years ago to put together a Chuck Liddell/Wanderlei Silva ended up with egg on the faces of UFC, it’s always been believed that Dana White would never try to co-promote a show with another company again. The prospects of a huge buyrate for a card featuring Fedor and Couture could likely trump UFC’s control issues in the end. The fight could take place sometime in early 2009.

TUESDAY UPDATE: UFC has scheduled a 3pm ET media conference call today for a major announcement. The announcement will be Couture’s return to the UFC and the Lesnar fight on November 15th. I will post a full report once the call is completed.

IT’S OFFICIAL: Randy Couture has returned to the UFC. He will fight Brock Lesnar on November 15th at the MGM in Las Vegas, not Portland as I originally reported. The fight will be for Couture’s heavyweight championship, and the winner of the fight will face the winner of Noguiera/Mir in 2009. Dana is billing it as a a mini-tournament of sorts, and he’s calling it “the biggest fight in UFC history.” I agree. They are planning a 2-3 part series of hype shows for this fight exclusively that will air on Spike. Dana expects somewhere between 1 and 1.5 million PPV buys for the show.

UPDATE: I’ve written a piece talking about why this fight was signed.

Here are some random bullet-point thoughts about UFC 77 and where they go from here.

• First and foremost, I think Anderson Silva has firmly supplanted Fedor Emelianenko as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. His complete dismantling of Rich Franklin on Saturday night was an unveiling of sorts; we always knew Silva had to be considered one of the best in the world, but his second victory over the former champ cemented it. The fight was slightly more competitive than the first one, mostly because Franklin escaped from the first round, but at no point was Silva in danger. In fact, he looked like he was even having fun, mixing some dance moves in while dodging Franklin’s punches. There’s nobody in the middleweight division who could even have a remote chance of beating Silva, save for perhaps Dan Henderson, and he’s not dropping down from light heavyweight, so I suspect that Silva will be the middleweight champion for as long as he wants to be. Silva’s brutal beating of Franklin has probably ended Ace’s career, as well, because he mentioned retirement after the show. He might as well retire — after all, he’s not going to beat Silva, so what’s the point of sticking around the division?
• Tim Sylvia is the most boring fighter in the world, and that makes him a pretty unpopular guy, but he took care of Brandon Vera from the outset of the fight to the finish. I hate “octagon control” because it’s boring and it’s Tim’s specialty, but even in the few exchanges that happened Sylvia dominated. Vera’s lone good shot was an illegal knee to the temple while Sylvia’s knees were on the ground. While I don’t want to see Tim Sylvia fighting for a title shot, I’ve no doubt that it’s probably going to be him vs. Noguiera for the belt in 2008, unless Couture can iron out his differences with Dana White.
• The announcement of signing of Brock Lesnar took me by surprise, not because I didn’t expect them to sign him, but because there’d be no rumors lately that he’d be announced at the show. Good surprise by UFC, and I’m looking forward to seeing who his first UFC opponent is. I think Lesnar is the future of the heavyweight division and he’s going to be a scary, scary fighter once he’s had a few fights under his belt. Remember, Lesnar’s first fight ended when his opponent tapped out while being PUNCHED — not a submission move, but an actual tap out just because Lesnar was punching him so hard. He has to cut weight to make 265, which nobody else outside of Tim Sylvia has to do. Needless to say, I’d love to see him fight Sylvia because there’s no way Tim will be able to push him up against the cage wall like he does with so many other fighters.
• UFC 78 doesn’t have a ton of stars on the card, but it does have a few up and comers — Michael Bisping takes on Rashad Evans, and Houston Alexander fights in the co-main event of the night. I’m always pumped to see Houston Alexander, and if he wins the fight, you’ve got to think he’s on the short list of guys to fight Rampage. I think Forrest Griffin should get an immediate title shot after defeating Shogun last month, but if Alexander is able to beat Thiago Silva at 78 in dramatic fashion then he should be next in line. I think Houston is for real, and he’s fighting a guy who is undefeated in UFC, so it should make him a contender with a victory.

That’s a harsh intro for a post, right?

I know. But it’s the only words I can come up with right now for the way I feel about the news that Randy Couture resigned from the UFC on Thursday.

When I first heard the news, I was under the impression that Couture simply retired because the UFC failed to secure the one fighter in the entire world he still wanted to fight: Fedor Emelianenko. I was dismayed that Dana White couldn’t get the deal done, not only because I wanted to see the fight, but because I think it would be the biggest fight of all time. We were supposed to get Couture vs. Cro Cop in August, but Gabriel Gonzaga ruined any chance of that happening. Then there was talk about Chuck Liddell moving up to the Heavyweight division and challenging Couture for the belt, and Rampage Jackson ruined that one. There were rumors about Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera getting a shot at the belt, but he had a lackluster debut fight against Heath Herring, so that went out the window.

Who was left? Fedor, the guy that many people (myself included) consider to be the greatest pound for pound fighter in MMA history. With the UFC purchase of PRIDE in 2007, so many dream matches seemed possible: Liddell vs. Silva. Cro Cop vs. Couture. Cro Cop vs. Liddell. Noguiera vs. Couture. All of them had fallen by the wayside, with the exception of Randy vs. Fedor.

Which is why I was initially upset that Dana failed to get Fedor to sign the contract. After all, you’re making roughly 40 million dollars for every PPV you broadcast, so there’s no excuses for lowballing the guy.

What I didn’t know, and didn’t realize until last night after dinner, is that Randy left the UFC over money. Plain and simple, he left because he wasn’t getting paid what he thought he should be paid; never mind the fact that he signed a contract a mere ten months ago. No, Randy talked to some of his buddies, and they told him that he apparently wasn’t being paid as well as a lot of the fighters in the company. Which is great, because I’ve seen the official pay scales for every single show this year, and the only guy making as much as Randy Couture is Chuck Liddell.

If they were going to pay Fedor 2 million dollars to fight Randy (which I sincerely doubt), then they should have paid Randy 2.1 million. He’s the champ, he’s the most marketable guy they had, and he’s a huge PPV draw, so he deserves a payday. But I’m not sure it ever even got to this point, because Randy got all upset and decided that he was being undervalued and quit by faxing a letter to Dana White from South Africa about 5 minutes before leaking the news to the press. Pretty classy move, huh?

Dana White isn’t innocent here, either. He needs to stop paying guys minimum wage while he’s raking in 40 million dollars in profit for every single PPV that goes on the air. When a fighter on the main card of your PPV is only making 5-10k while you’re pulling in 40 mil for the show, something is wrong. When your heavyweight champ , a guy who is a proven draw, is barely making more than guys you just signed from Pride, then you need to re-evaluate your salary structure. Dana should have upped Randy’s pay after he won the heavyweight title to at least Chuck Liddell levels, and after he beat Gonzaga he should have become the highest paid guy in the company.

The thing that ticks me off about Dana White? He tried for months upon months to sign Fedor, talking about how he was the best fighter on the planet, and supposedly offered him 2 million dollars for a single fight. Now that Fedor has signed with the competition, however, Dana feels the need to run his mouth about Fedor, calling him overrated and saying that Couture would destroy him. Dana, I have a question for you: if you really thought Fedor wasn’t that great of a fighter, then why did you want to sign him badly enough that you would pay him 8 times what Randy Couture was getting paid?

I’m disappointed in both parties, but I think I’m more disgusted with Randy.

He’s gonna be an actor, or something; the last time I checked, Scorpion King 24 wasn’t scheduled for any kind of major theater release. And maybe he’ll try to sign with M-1, the company that Fedor chose over the UFC. In that case, Dana White will sue him into oblivion and he’ll never fight again, which is a shame. You know why it’s a shame? Because Randy Couture is as close to an icon as there will ever be in mixed martial arts. He’s transcended the sport, so much so that he believes he’s now a crossover star. Maybe it’ll happen, and maybe it won’t, but I’ll tell you one thing: my lasting impression of Randy Couture is that he’s now just another crybaby sports star who wants to renegotiate his contract after performing well on the last one.

This is easily the biggest news story of 2007 in MMA, and there have been some huge ones: citing difficulties with management and the fact that they couldn’t get a deal done for him to fight Fedor, Randy Couture has vacated his title and color commentary position and quit the UFC. Kevin Iole, as per usual, has the most inside access to the people involved and has written a great post-announcement piece over at Yahoo Sports that everyone should read.

My thoughts will be coming tomorrow. I’m still too pissed off to talk about it.

It feels like forever since the last time I saw a UFC event. I know it’s only been like, what, a month? But I’m so used to seeing one of these bad boys every 2-3 weeks that having to go a month between them is like walking through a desert with no hope for water in sight.

This will also mark the first time, ever, that I’ve ordered UFC at my house instead of going to Stars to watch it. The bar has gotten so crowded, to the point where it’s not even really enjoyable. Last time I went to Stars (for Jackson/Liddell), I got there at 6pm and all the tables were already taken. Luckily my boy Drew was there and pulled a seat for me; otherwise, I would have been standing outside with everyone else. So this time, I’m taking the plunge: inviting a few of my boys over, grilling some food, drinking some fine handcrafted brews, and opening up the night by watching the Texans take on the frightening Cowboys.

Let’s get on with it.

RANDY COUTURE VS. GABRIEL GONZAGA

Like many UFC fans, I predicted Tim Sylvia to soundly defeat Couture back in March. Going into the fight, I saw no way that a fighter who’d gone into retirement after being defeated twice in a row could have a shot at defeating one of the more dominant (yet boring) Heavyweight champs in UFC history. Tim Sylvia, no matter how he did it, had a knack for holding on to the strap when the odds were against him, so I never dreamed Couture would stand a shot of beating him.

Like so many times before, however, Randy Couture proved me wrong. Not only did he beat Tim Sylvia, but he dominated him so soundly that the fight was never, ever in question. It was one of the most lopsided, stretched-out beatings I can remember seeing. With the defeat of Sylvia, Couture became a true American folk hero; movies were optioned, books were planned, and he became a media darling that helped extend UFC’s grasp on the American public even deeper than it already was.

Now, with his first title defense, the odds are stacked against Couture again. This time, he’s not facing a guy who everyone views as a chump. He’s going to be standing across the ring from one of the most brilliant jiu-jitsu practicioners in the entire world: Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga.

Gonzaga’s claim to fame came when he dominated legendary Croatian Mirko Cro Cop on the ground and then knocked him out with a vicious high kick that left the feared Cro Cop splayed on the mat, his legs tangled in gruesome fashion. No matter what Dana White says otherwise, Gonzaga was intended to be a stepping stone for an eventual Cro Cop/Couture championship fight, but Gabriel spoiled the fun by winning the fight and becoming the new #1 contender to Couture’s belt.

Randy Couture has gushed over Gabriel Gonzaga at every available opportunity, even going so far as to say that he wished Cro Cop would have defeated Gonzaga…because he felt like he had a much better shot at beating Cro Cop than he would with Gonzaga. Gonzaga presents an intricate challenge for Couture, in that nearly every single facet of his game is stellar. He’s got great stand-up, and on the ground he’s one of the most feared guys in the sport.

Notice, however, that I said “nearly” every facet of his game is perfect. The one thing Gonzaga lacks that Couture has in spades? Conditioning. In order for Couture to have any shot at beating the Brazilian, he’s going to have to tire him out and outlast him. By taking the fight into later rounds, Couture will have a chance to capitalize on Gonzaga’s poor conditioning and beat him.

I’ve learned not to bet against Randy Couture, and no matter how much my head tells me that Gonzaga will end Couture’s storybook reign as champ, my heart tells me to stick with Randy. Couture rises to the occasion the most when he’s an underdog, and I can’t help but think that will play into the finish of this fight.

PREDICTION: Randy Couture by decision

JOSH KOSCHEK VS. GEORGES ST. PIERRE

As much as I despise Josh Koschek, I still know that he’s a tough fighter to beat. He’s a world-class wrestler, one of the best, and like former heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia, he’ll do just about anything to ensure a victory. His style is boring, his personality is annoying, and he’s an idiot, but he’s also tough to beat.

Georges St. Pierre one of the most well-rounded fighters in the entire world, but his shocking knockout loss to former Ultimate Fighter winner Matt Serra proved one thing if it proved any: that anyone, at any time, can catch someone with a great strike and score a knockout. UFC in 2007 has been one long string of upsets; witness Quinton Jackson knocking out reigning Light Heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell in May, or Gonzaga defeating Cro Cop, or even the aforementioned Serra beating St. Pierre.

The one thing that Georges St. Pierre must do in this fight is strike. Look for opportunities to sneak in a punch, seize those chances when he can, and make the most of them. Koschek will run away if he’s in danger, which I suspect he will be for most of this fight.

St. Pierre is the favorite going into this fight, and I think he wins it. Or at least I hope so. I don’t think I can stand watching Josh Koschek fight Matt Hughes or Matt Serra. Or anyone.

PREDICTION: Georges St. Pierre by knockout

KENDALL GROVE VS. PATRICK COTE

Kendall Grove is 3-0 in the UFC, and Patrick Cote is 1-4. Those fight records shine some light into what we can expect from this fight. Grove is 7 inches taller than Cote and holds a significant reach advantage; he also trains with several different gyms, including Team Punishment and Xtreme Couture.

Cote is severely overmatched in this fight, and I expect it to end in the first round.

PREDICTION: Kendall Grove by submission

JOE STEVENSON VS. KURT PELLEGRINO

Stevenson is the overwhelming favorite in this fight; most oddsmakers have him at roughly a 75% chance to win the fight. I think it’s going to go the other way. Stevenson has great ground-and-pound, but Pellegrino is so skilled on the ground game and in submissions that it almost cancels out any advantage Stevenson may have. Pellegrino has fought in the prestigious Abu Dhabi Combat Club, and 8 of his 10 victories over his career have ended in a submission. That spells bad news for Stevenson, and I’m predicting an upset in this one.

PREDICTION: Kurt Pellegrino by submission

ALBERTO CRANE VS. ROGER HUERTA

Huerta is the golden boy who no one knows; he was the surprise choice for UFC’s first cover story on Sports Illustrated, and he’s supposedly very marketable to an entire cross-section of the Hispanic culture. He’s also very, very good. Crane is a fantastic jiu-jitsu artist, but Huerta is so well-rounded, with very few weak spots in his game, that I think he’s simply going to overwhelm Crane in this fight.

PREDICTION: Roger Huerta by TKO