Shorts: Oooops!!!!

Hero to Zero

     In the recently concluded Winter Olympics, Sven Kramer of the Netherlands won a gold in the 5,000 meter long track speedskating event, and he was well on his way to winning his second gold in the 10,000 meter version.  Then, he didn't.  An apparent miscommunication with his coach and an unforgivable mental error cost him, as he forgot to switch lanes at the race's halfway point.  The error effectively disqualified him, leaving him with no medal for this event.  Furthermore, it became apparent that he lost a world record time as well.  Kramer, in the heat of the moment, first blamed is coach for telling him to take the wrong lane, but in the end, he did admit that he had no one to blame but himself.  Ooops.










Foot in Mouth Disease

     Even with an upcoming match against the fearsome Shane Carwin (who has a habit of destroying opponents in the first round), former UFC Champion Frank Mir was preoccupied with arch enemy and current UFC Champion Brock Lesnar.  In a recent radio interview, Mir was all bravado and he had this to say.


"I want to fight Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries. That's what's going through my mind."


     Days later, Mir did apologize (probably, as Lesnar later said, "after his wife apologized."), but the damage has been done.  In a sport that is striving to gain mainstream recognition and acceptance, it needs this wanton and careless act like a hole in the head.  Several states in the U.S. and Canada have not legalized it, and the Australian press even went as far as calling it "bloodsport" when the UFC held a show there.  What the UFC needs are instances where hardwork, dedication and sportsmanship are championed, not threatening lines fit for an action movie.  Mir may be great in the ring, making very few errors, but behind the mic? That was a big ooops.


Bad Time for the Good Times 

     Canada's Women's Hockey Team made millions of Canadians delirious with their gold medal victory in the 2010 Winter Olympics on their home soil, beating the U.S.A., 2-0.  They were pictures of true champions, politely accepting their gold medals and acknowledging the adoring crowd.  Over half an hour later, they buckled down to business, the business of celebrating.  They went back on the ice and partied.  In typical hockey fashion, they were seen guzzling down champagne and beer, and puffing on some stogies for good measure, all with their gold medals hanging around their necks.  While a lot of writers and fans (and even my friends) are quick to point out that this type of celebration is very typical in the hockey world, two things make it not.  Firstly, the celebration was done in British Columbia, where the legal drinking age is nineteen.  That becomes a sticky situation, as one of the team's players, Marie-Philip Poulin, who had a beer can in her hand, is still eighteen. Secondly, they were celebrating during the Olympic Games, where health and clean living is promoted heavily.  Olympic sports are supposed to capture the imagination of the youth and engage them enough to want to join a sport and live healthy.  Downing Duffs a la Homer Simpson is not exactly in the Olympic Charter.  While it doesn't take away the hard-earned victory of the Canadian lasses, the celebration could be considered an ooops moment too.

Too Good For Their Own Good?

     With any sports organization, the champion is the embodiment of the organization's character and spirit.  That's why it's always nice to have a great champion because the organization is only as good as its champion.  The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), then, should be mighty proud of themselves at this point.  After all, each of their champions have dominated their divisions, almost too well.  This led me to think, "Are the UFC Champions too good for the UFC's good?"  

     First, a look at the UFC's Champions' Fraternity.

Lightweight (155 lbs) - B.J "The Prodigy" Penn

Record: 14 wins, 5 losses, 1 draw

Last Fight: Defeated Kenny Florian via submission

     Despite being thoroughly dominated by George St. Pierre in their welterweight bout, Penn reminded everyone that he is human only in

 a division higher than 

lightweight.  With his domination of a game Florian, Penn has defeated all challengers deemed to have a chance against him, save for one.  With Penn's scary knockout power and his underrated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills, even the threat of Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez is not enough to sway the people's confidence that "The Prodigy" will remain atop the lightweight division for quite awhile. 

Welterweight (175 lbs) - George "Rush" St. Pierre

Record: 19 wins, 2 losses

Last Fight: Defeated Thiago Alves via unanimous decision

     Considered by many as one of the world's top pound for pound fighters, GSP had defeated every single challenger to his belt.  Currently on a 6-match win streak, "Rush" has made sure of defeating his legendary rivals (Penn, Matt Hughes) twice for good measure.  While an interesting fight between Martin Kampman and Mike Swick will d

etermine his next probable challenger, no one on this planet believes either would give GSP any trouble whatsoever.  His wrestling skills are bordering on legendary and his striking is not shabby either.  He is simply too skilled, too well rounded and too hard working to be challenged right now.

Middleweight (185 lbs) - Anderson "Spider" Silva

Record: 24 wins, 4 losses

Last Fight: Defeated Forrest Griffin via knockout

     The world's top pound for pound fighter as voted in by Yahoo! Sports, Silva has a

stounded everyone not only with his devastating striking but also his current UFC record of 10 straight wins.  What was supposed to be a challenge in a light heavyweight bout against Forrest Griffin turned out to be another piece of evidence supporting "The Spider's" greatness.  In fact, he has become so good that he has never had to resort to fighting a ground game (he is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) in all but one round of his 10 UFC wins.  While another bout with Dan Henderson would make a good main event, UFC President Dana White and Silva himself are contemplating on a move to the light heavyweight division just to find Silva a challenge.

Light Heavy Weight (205 lbs) - Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida

Record: 15 wins, 0 losses

Last Fight: Defeated Rashad Evans via knockout

     Possessing an unorthodox fighting stance and style, Machida has befuddled all of his opponents, even those who are supposedly tough and dangerous.  Big names like Tito Ortiz, Thiago Silva and Rashad Evans have all fallen victim to Machida Karate and they have been utterly dominated.  Machida moves well, is hard to hit and lately, has shown tremendously accurate and sudden knockout power.  His own karate style combined with his study on sumo wrestling has made it tough for opponents to take him to the ground and if the fight remains a stand up one, it can only mean bad things for fighter not named Machida.  His skill has even Quinton J

ackson passing up a title shot, leaving Mauricio Rua the task of trying to solve the mystery of this Japanese Brazilian martial artist.

Heavy Weight (220 lbs) - Brock Lesnar

Record: 4 wins, 1 loss

Last Fight: Defeated Frank Mir via knockout

    

 Love him or hate him, the former WWE Superstar has proven he can fight the real fights.  People consider him largely untested with just 5 fights to his credit, but considering the quality of his last two opponents and the way he dominated them, Lesnar is for real.  A freakishly large but amazingly quick athlete, Lesnar is a difficult match up for most heavyweights.  

He has power in his hands and his wrestling skills in the octagon show why he was an NCAA National Wrestling Champion.  Perhaps his next opponent, Shane Carwin, could give him trouble with his knockout power, but Lesnar has shown he can win on the ground as well and he will have a significant advantage over Carwin there.  Perhaps the only thing Lesnar can't do in the UFC is perform an "F5" on his opponent in the octagon.

     

     With a list of dominating champions like that, it's easy to think that the UFC could get in trouble, pay per view wise.  If the champs continue to dominate their opponents with ease just like what they've been doing, then PPV buys could go down, as promotions become predictable.

     I, however, beg to differ.  Each of these fighters bring excitement to the table, despite being seemingly too good for their opponents.  From Penn's and GSP's overall skills showcase, to Machida's unorthodox movements, to Silva's creative and devastating striking, to Lesnar's quickness and power game, each of their fights promises to be worth watching.  Furthermore, despite their past domination, fights are won in the octagon, not on paper or web blogs.  A slip here, a mistake there, and any one of these champs could be taken down a notch. 

     That's why I plan on continuing to watch the UFC despite the high probability of all their champions retaining their belts.  Who knows? I'd hate to miss a historical fight.  

photos from bjpenn.com and mmajunkie.com

Rise of the "Villains"

     Over the weekend, the public was treated to big and entertaining fights, with the victors suddenly turning from hero to villains, from "babyface" to "heel."  I'm not even talking about the WWE Smackdown and ECW Live in Manila show (where I ahem, ahem, held hands with Melina).  I'm talking about the UFC 100 show.  What turned the UFC into a bigger and more outrageous than the WWE?  It's really just two people.  UFC 100 victors, Dan "Hendo" Henderson and UFC Heavyweight Champ (and former WWE champ) Brock Lesnar turned the already landmark and memorable show into a spectacle to be discussed for weeks to come.  Unfortunately for them, they are now being condemned for their actions.  Well, I've decided that before they hang, we ought to give them a trial first.

Case # 1  People vs Dan Henderson

Plaintiffs (Critics) say: Attacking an already knocked out Michael Bisping with a vicious flying forearm/elbow and later saying, "that (elbow/forearm) was just to shut him up a little."  It was poor sportsmanship on Hendo's part and it was very dangerous.  It was fortunate that Bisping was able to leave on his own power.  

Defense (Supporters) says: In a fighting sport, especially MMA, there are plenty of flash knockdowns, where the victim goes down as if they were out but then are capable of standing up and fighting again.  This is why most fighters instinctively keep attacking until the referees stop them.  While Henderson attacked an unconscious Bisping, it was more of an automatic habit rather than a malicious attack.

Judgement (Mine): On the charge of maliciously attacking Bisping, I think Henderson is not guilty.  It's too much of a risk not to keep attacking your opponent in mma as any second of let up could mean your opponent gathering his/her wits, recovering and fighting back.  To his credit, he immediately stepped away when the ref touched him.  Henderson has been known as a classy guy and endangering an opponent by wantonly attacking them while incapacitated doesn't seem to be his style.  I've seen more malicious attacks than this.  "Babalu" Sobral was kicked out of the UFC because he wouldn't let go of his choke hold on an unconscious opponent even after the referee stopped the fight.  "Rampage" Jackson's fight with Wanderlei Silva ended worse that Bisping-Henderson when he landed two or three extra punches on an incapacitated Silva while the referee was pushing Jackson away. 

     What Henderson is guilty of is probably bad taste.  Bisping's brash words all throughout the Ultimate Fighter Season 9 probably wore on Henderson, as he promised to shut him up in behalf of Team USA.  That's probably why he thought it would be funny to joke about having the last elbow/forearm "shut him up."  Henderson has never been an outspoken guy, and maybe he should stay that way.

Case No. 2     People vs Brock Lesnar

Plaintiffs (Critics) Say:  After defeating Frank Mir to become undisputed Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar confronted Mir saying, "Talk all the (expletive) you want now."  Then, responding to the boos of the pro-Mir crowd, Lesnar decided to flip the finger(s) at the mammoth Nevada crowd. As if this display wasn't enough, Lesnar then ragged on Bud Light (UFC sponsor) by claiming he would drink Coors Light since, "Budweiser's not paying me nothing."  The icing on the cake was when Lesnar announced that he would celebrate with friends and then, "get on top of my wife (former WWE diva Sable)."

Defense (Supporters) Says: Frank Mir had the trash talk coming since he kept attacking Lesnar with his own set of trash talk leading up to the fight.  He took great pride in, "poking the bear," comparing Lesnar's ground and pound attack to girl's pulling hair.  Lesnar's giving the finger to the crowd was his response to the unfair public who keeps questioning his skills despite defeating Hall of Famer Randy Couture and then Champion Frank Mir.  Meanwhile, his Bud Light comment and comments about his wife were nothing more than a funny jokes that not all people appreciate.

Judgement (Mine):  After seeing and hearing Frank Mir's trash talking about Brock and even his very entertaining Echo Unlimited ad, I do agree that Mir had it coming.  Mir was hyping up the fight, but attacking your opponents skills and agility is not the classy way to go.  Besides, Lesnar's comments still seem tame compared to other UFC post fight altercations.  Tito Ortiz proceeded to play act digging a grave after defeating a Lion's Den fighter just to piss Ken Shamrock off.  As for his comments about Bud Light, I'm willing to bet that not only do the Bud Light people not care about that comment, they're probably secretly happy about the comments, as they still bring added publicity to their product.  In their minds, those comments actually made their money's worth.

     As for the middle finger response, I think Brock is guilty here.  Fans can get irritating oftentimes, and while they are human, pro athletes have a responsibility to refrain from attacking fans.  Such an obscene gesture is like attacking the fans and Lesnar has to remember that fans are what keeps professional sports alive.  As for his comment about his wife, Brock is guilty a second time.  No matter how hot your wife looked in leather cat suits during her WWE days, it's not classy to make comment like that with any person other than the couple in the room, let alone the thousands in attendance and the millions watching on pay-per-view.  That comment was just boorish and uncalled for. 

     People on the internet are quick to condemn these two victorious fighters, calling for their heads.  I think that's a bit of an overreaction.  What these guys are guilty of is a lack of proper training to deal with high profile public situations with class.  What Hendo and Brock need are PR people helping them speak and act properly in public.  As for the people threatening to ditch the UFC because of the two's boorish behavior?  Please.  When Henderson has his rematch with Anderson SIlva and Brock faces Fedor Emelianenko, these naysayers will be first in line to buy tickets.