MMA Roundup: Lesnar, Mir, Evans, Shamrock, Other Shamrock, Diaz and more

Man oh man, what a week it has been in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Any week in which we have both Shamrock brothers in the news is a week I consider good…ish.

Let’s start with the news from the reigning champions of MMA, the UFC.

UFC 100 would be a huge event no matter what was on the card. The number 100 is a milestone many tried to keep MMA from reaching. Just think back to the late 90’s, when John McCain was petitioning to get MMA banned in the US, the UFC was just getting out of it’s “No Holds Barred” era, and many people viewed the sport as “human cock fighting”. Say what you will about the Feritta brothers, Dana White, and the TapouT Crew (one of whom passed away this week), but without them MMA would have never made it this far.

Just over a month ago it seemed White and company planned on relying on the number “100″ itself to sell the event. They shot down rumors of all titles being on the line that night, they made clear the superfight of our generation between Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre wouldn’t happen, and they had planned to have Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir have their rematch to unify the Heavyweight title at UFC 98. Well what a difference a month makes.

None of this is “official” yet, but the current plans for UFC 100 have Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping facing off in the traditional battle of Ultimate Fighter coaches, GSP is supposed to defend his title against Thiago Alves, and of course the much delayed rematch between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar for the unification of the UFC Heavyweight Title.

While the UFC is trying to make UFC 100 something special, they still had a UFC 98 that was missing a main event. It was initially announced that if Quintin “Rampage” Jackson defeated Keith Jardine at UFC 96 he would face off with “Sugar” Rashad Evans for the UFC’s Light Heavyweight Title. Rampage defeated Jardine, had a face off with Evans immediately following the fight, and promptly had to pull out of the fight.

It appears Rampage will be undergoing surgery on his jaw to fix an injury suffered during training for his bout against Wanerlei Silva last December. Now Evans is set to face off against Lyoto Machida. While it is much to early to make predictions, I can tell you that the champion is the early underdog in this fight. Not that I would ever gamble online, but if I did, I may have already taken Evans at +160 in this one.

In order to move away from UFC news, I would like to mention that I will be attending Wrestlemania 25 on April 5th in Houston, Texas. What does this have to do with MMA you ask? Let me tell you, part of this week’s big news involved two former WWF/E champions.

Former UFC Heavyweight and WWF Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock was supposed to face the former WWE US and ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley at the upcoming Roy Jones Jr.-promoted Boxing/MMA March Badness event. Well, Ken Shamrock has since been suspended for a year from fighting within the US due to testing positive for steroids. Lashley is now scheduled to face off against Clay Guidas’ bigger, not-as-talented brother Jason. Lashley has come out in the last few days saying he wouldn’t mind taking the Shamrock fight to Japan where they don’t uphold US suspensions.

My last little bit of news involves two of the most entertaining fighters in MMA.

Frank Shamrock (adoptive and estranged brother of Ken) will be facing off against perpetual menace to society Nick Diaz. For the record, I am a Frank Shamrock fan. I want to see him fight and I enjoy his spirited verbal sparring most of the time. Nick Diaz I see as a person who has no respect for the sport and the prototype of all that is wrong with meat head fans/fighters. That being said, I am super excited that Strikeforce is making this match-up happen. It could turn into the most entertaining build up to a match since Ali Foreman. As we get closer to the April 11th Showtime fight I will preview more, but for now I will just leave you with quotes from both men. These come courtesy of Cagepotato.com:

“Someone asked me the other day how my comeback was going so I guess I’ve come back. I love fighting. I love this art. I want to thank Nick Diaz for the opportunity and just warn him that when I punch his head and he lands in the second row he’ll need someone to catch him.” — Frank Shamrock

“Frank can talk all he wants, but I’m going to beat him up. Let’s see how much he fights back.’’ — Nick Diaz

Money Lines for UFC 92 – Money Well Spent?

Before I start this article I want to make clear I don’t endorse gambling. Not because I don’t like it, but because I am very bad at it. Sure i go to Vegas twice a year but that is beside my point. In these rough economic times one should be saving money under their bed cushions, in the sock drawer, or in a Rocky 5 DVD case (No one would ever dare open a copy of Rocky 5). All that being said, Vegas and odds makers are pretty good at knowing who is going to win, so with that in mind I am going to take you through the money lines for UFC 92.

For you experienced degenerates who know how to read money lines, skip to the next paragraph, the rest of you read on. A money line has a + or a – in front of it. If there is a + it means that person or team is

supposed to lose. If there is a – then they are the favorite to win. The number following the + or -

indicates what you would win or lose. A typical lines reads like this: Mike Tyson -200 Vs Little Mac +700. That means if you bet on Tyson (the favorite), and he won, you would have to wager $200 in order to win $100. If you bet $100 on Little Mac (the underdog), and he won, you would win $700. Hope that helps.

I gave some predictions at the beginning of the month, if you want to check them out go here. Now I am going to look at the top three lines, give my opinion, pick an upset, then post the lines for the rest of the card.

Quintin “Rampage” Jackson +110 V. Wanderlei “The Ax Murder” Silva -140 I keep seeing this line change. Everything points to Rampage getting his third beating by Wande, but something tells me he is going to win this fight. He feels like his title was stolen from him, he dropped his old manager, went crazy, got himself together, joined a new fight camp in England, and now has what Micky would call “that Eye of the Tiger” again. Wanderlie on the other hand never lost his urge to … well… Ax Murder. He had a highlight reel knockout of Keith Jardine last time he fought, but before that he seemed to be on his way down. Silva does have two, count ‘em, two brutal KO and TKO victories over Jackson back in the Pride F/C years and he hasn’t recently been involved with tabloid scandals.

This line is so close it’s not really worth betting on Rampage unless you feel he is a lock. With Silva having been around the block a few times I wouldn’t feel right putting my money on him either.

My Pick: Rampage wins and makes some people very little money.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Interm Champ) -350 Vs. Frank Mir +275 I’m not supposed to like Frank Mir. He’s cocky, doesn’t train hard, and makes light of serious situations. But damn it, he’s made me laugh a lot. As a result I hate to see him face Nogueria. There is just nothing funny about a man who can be beaten within one breath of death, then pull out a submission victory and do that on a regular basis. Nogueira is a freak of nature, the fact the guy can walk is a testament to how tough his skull is. Tim SIlvia pounded it until I though his hands were broke, and then what happened? Nog made that fat f… guy tap. Keep in mind, the winner of this fight will soon be facing Brock Lesnar to unify the heavyweight title.

The line on this is what it should be, I’d bet on the return of Corey Haim before I’d put money on Mir. Sure it’s tempting to throw a few bucks on him, but that’s money you’ll never see again.

My Pick: Big Nog chokes Mir out in 3.

Forrest Griffin (Champ) -130 Vs. Rashad Evans EVEN MONEY Wow, This is a close line. Ultimate Fighter Season 1 winner Vs. Ultimate Fighter Season 2 winner. This is getting my pick for fight of the night. I think Rashad Evans is turning into a hell of a fighter, and I think Forrest Griffin is a hell of a fighter. There is going to be a lot of take-downs followed by scrambles and stand up. Forrest has proven to be one of the toughest SOB’s in the history of the UFC. Everything from his T.U.F. final fight versus Stephen Bonner and his near upset over Tito Ortiz, to his controversial championship win over Rampage has proven that Forrest is the real deal. Rashad Evans has also proven himself worthy of the UFC and this title fight by taking Tito to a judges Draw and then knocking the hell outta Chuck Liddell.

If you bet on Rashad, and he wins, you double your money. To make any money on Forrest you don’t have to bet much more. This one is close enough you’re probably better served spending your gambling money on beer and just watching.

My Pick: Forrest retains by judges decision.

My Pick for random upset of the night goes to:

Mostapha Al Turk +250 Vs. Cheick Kongo -325 My only real reasoning for this is that Chuck seems overrated to me. Part of that is due to his fight against one of my favorite fighters (Cro Cop) in which he won after hitting Cro Cop in the junk about 8 times a round for three rounds. He has been impressive in one fight since then, but I have read some minor rumblings about Al Turk being an up and commer. So, don’t take my word for it, but I think Chuck “Dick Punch” Kongo goes down in round 1.

Here are the rest of the lines in no paticular order:

Yushin Okami -350 Vs. Dean Lister +275

Matt Hamill -500 Vs. Reese Andy +300

Ryo Chonan -170 Vs. Brad Blackburn+140

Dan Evensen +200 Vs. Pat Barry-250

CB Dollaway -150 Vs. Mike Massenzio +120

Antoni Hardonk -365 Vs. Mike Wessel +285