FourOuncesToFreedom.com

New Messageboard

Aloha everyone. I realize I haven't been writing much lately, but that might be changing soon. I'll know more in the next few weeks, but for now, we have a new messageboard to discuss MMA:

http://4otfmma.fleeforum.com

Stop by, register, and talk some MMA. And you'll hear from me (and probably some others) very soon around here.

Tim

Racism in Japanese MMA

That Sengoku tournament was some racist garbage. People bitch about Dream booking sideshow matches? Well, at least they have some credibility when it comes to judging matches and not screwing minority fighters. That tournament was just fucking wrong.

Earlier in the tourney, Jung should have got the W over Kanehara in the quarters...it seemed pretty obvious. But Jung is Korean, so Kanehara gets the decision. Fine, it happens now and again. But this event was over the damn top. Sandro easily controls Omigawa for 3 rounds. Omigawa wins a decision. How? Because he's Japanese, that's how. Hioki beats Kanehara, but can't continue in the tourney due to a concussion. Jung wins his alternate match against Jaggers. But instead of using the alternate, because...you know, that was the WHOLE FUCKING POINT of the alternate match, they let Kanehara fight, even though he just lost.

If it wasn't obvious before that Sengoku doesn't like Koreans, it should be plainly obvious by now. But more than that, Sengoku wanted a Japanese champion, no matter what, and they did what they had to do to get it. I don't normally get on my high horse about BS judging or promotional favoritism, but the Omigawa decision was Hamill/Bisping level BS. And letting Kanehara fight instead of Jung was fucking shameful.

Sengoku took a large step backwards on my credibility scale tonight. They going to book Josh Barnett on their november show, and that's going to send then down another notch. "It's Japan, these things happen". That's the explanation everyone gives.

Well, that doesn't mean it's not some fucking bullshit.

Comment and Discuss

Fedor in the UFC?

Dominus on the board asked me if this Affliction mess means Fedor is going to the UFC. That's a no, for now at least. He has one fight left on his Affliction contract, but he is signed to a long term management deal with M1. I'm pretty sure the Affliction contracts have timelines on them and weren't exclusive anyway, so I'd assume they'd all just expire after some time passes and will be forgotten.

Does this make it more likely that Fedor could get into the UFC? Slightly. But all indications are that his people would rather him go to Strikeforce right now, due to the non-exclusivity and freedom of their contracts. That way he can still go back to Japan and make big money in a New Year's Eve fight. Dana's working on it though, and anything's possible.

The main problem is what it's always been - Fedor pursusing outside interests, and the champion's clause the UFC includes in contracts. Basically, a contract never runs out when you're champion. The only way out is retirement, which Randy tried. That's why Dana kept saying he "quit" or "resigned" and Randy said "retired". It's also going to be a problem when Anderson's current contract runs out.

But for now, Fedor's best bet would be to actually MEET Dana himself. After all this, they've still never met. Dana always meets with Vadim and his people. I have a feeling he'll be in one day, and it will be a joyful day for all of us. But I don't think it's going to be in the next few days or weeks.

Comment and Discuss

Affiction debacle

Well, here's what I know right now.

Josh Barnett's California fighting license expired recently Whether Josh knew about this well ahead of time or not is a matter of dispute right now. Regardless, part of the renewal process involves a drug test, which Josh himself scheduled...and failed. Now, it seems really obvious that Josh Barnett is a retard right now, but jumping to conclusions is not a good thing. We don't know what he failed for yet. He has stated that he's fully aware of the situation and it's "not a conspiracy". There isn't enough time to regain his license by August 1st, but he will attempt to "clear his name" in the near future and regain his California license. Barnett vs Fedor IS NOT DEAD. It could happen down the road some day.

Now, onto what Affliction can do about a replacement. Let's go through the list:

Bobby Lashley - Reportedly offered 500k to take the fight, turned it down.

Vitor Belfort - The most likely choice right now. Shawn Tompkins says he'd come in at around 215 pounds. BUT, he wants similar money to what Fedor's opponents have made in the past - namely 750k or higher.

Brett Rogers - Apparently the first choice according to Meltzer, but Scott Coker is in Italy and Brett's Strikeforce contract might make this difficult. According to sources he's also asked for 750k+.

Fabricio Werdum - The most logical candidate to me. His opponent backed out on him yesterday (Overeem), but again, his contract situation is unclear.

Tito Ortiz - Not gonna happen. He was only cleared to start training on July 1st, and cannot possibly be in good enough shape to fight.

Sooo...Affliction apparently has a press conference set up for 12:30pm PST where some of this will be sorted out. Stay tuned.

EDIT - Since someone asked...

All this stuff is sourced on the internet. Some is in members-only sections, some not. Since I'm not a real journalist and I'm lazy, I've neglected to link all this stuff to it's appropriate locations. If you question any of it, just ask and I'll point you in the right direction.

Tim's Highly Official Half-Year Awards

So, you're probably noticed by now. I haven't been writing very much. In fact, this place dried up quicker than Gina Carano when Kit Cope comes around. But, for the time-being at least, I'm feeling like writing. We'll see how it goes in the future. For any of you that might be interested in writing for 4OTF, by all means get a hold of me and let me know. This place could use more regular content than I can provide at the moment, and good writers are always in demand.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's get down what inspired me to write today. UFC.com's spinmaster Thomas Gerbasi posted his picks for the top fights, top subs, and top KO's of the year so far. And his choices are...a little out there. For those of you that don't have the time to read them, I'll simplify for you:

Top Fights:
5. Akiyama/Belcher
4. Kampmann/Condit
3. Velasquez/Kongo
2. Franklin/Wandy
1. Sanchez/Guida

Top Subs:
5t. Cole Miller/Junie
5t. Tim Hague/Pat Barry
4. Lawlor/Dollaway
3. Lauzon/Stephens
2. Maia/ Sonnen
1. Etim /Buchholz

Top KO's:
5t. Carwin/Gonzaga
5t. Shogun/Chuck
4. Hamill/Munoz
3. Thiago/Koscheck
2. Hendo/Bisping
1. Machida/Rashad

I'm just gonna say it - these lists fucking suck. Cain/Kongo? Really Tommy? Lauzon/Stephens? Who what now? It's pretty lame to include 20 "honorable mentions" so no one can call you out on your shitty choices. Except me. I'm making my own damn lists, and they're going to be better than his because I said so. And I won't have any ties, because I...well, I have no real reason for that.

Top 5 fights of 2009
5. Carwin/Gonzaga - Odd choice I know, but more happened in 69 seconds here than usually goes down in 15 minutes.
4. Griffin/dos Anjos - Another non-traditional pick, but this one was action packed. Any fight with a calf slicer makes my list.
3. GSP/BJ. I don't care if it was one-sided. It was a work of art.
2. Sanchez/Guida - Very close to # 1, but these two grind so much that there were lulls. YUS!
1. Condit/Kampmann - Probably biased, but this was one of the best technical fights I've ever seen.

Top 5 subs of 2009
5. Struve/Stojnic - All that blood made it look so much cooler.
4. Belcher/Kang - Not technically the best, but seizing the window of opportunity there was pretty sweet.
3. Etim/Buchholz - Okay, the D'Arce was kinda cool.
2. Miller/Rosholt - Lightning-quick guillotine. Loved it, even though I bet on Rosholt.
1. Maia/Sonnen - That triangle was un-fucking-real.

Top 5 KO's of 2009:

5. Siver/Mohr - That spinning back kick was EPIC.
4. Hardy/Markham - I might toss some shit at The Outlaw sometimes, but this was pretty.
3. Machida/Silva - I liked Rashad getting tooled, but this KO looked so much prettier to me.
2. Marquardt/Gouvela - Remember the video game combinations? Fucking awesome.
1. Hendo/Bisping - There is no way in hell anything topped this. No way.

So there you have it. If I was making a list that includes all of MMA, not many of these measure up. Seriously, remember Toby Imada's inverted triangle? Or Fedor KOing Arlovski? But I'll save the rest of MMA for another day. Hey, that rhymed.

Comment and Discuss