UFC 81 Gives Lackluster Heavyweight Division a Chance to Shine
 By Matthew DeGonzaque (Jan 29, 2008)
In case you haven't noticed, the UFC division is kind of dull right now. In the past year the division went from stacked with contenders and an endless options of entertaining fights to the weakest division the UFC has to offer. But the stacked division seemingly overnight became baron due to some brutal hits the division took. Andrei Arlovski and Fabricio Werdum spent three rounds circling each other last April. Mirko Cro Cop, one of the most feared heavyweights on the planet, was beaten two times in a row by Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo. Brendon Vera was bear hugged into defeat by Tim Sylvia last
October. Gabriel Gonzaga used up momentum he gained from his destruction of Cro Cop by getting beaten to a bloody pulp by Randy Couture. Fedor Emelianenko decided that fighting in sideshow fights was a better career choice then joining the UFC. Then to make things go from bad to really...really bad, Randy Couture, the UFC Heavyweight Champion of the World, resigned from the UFC and decided to sit on the sidelines until his contract expired.
With Couture gone and the contender pool shallow, the division turns its attention to its last two credible names to restore order to the division; Tim Sylvia (26-3) and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (30-4-1 w/ 1 no contest). With Couture gone, Sylvia and Nog should be fighting for the vacant championship but courtroom politics have resulted in UFC refusing to strip Couture of his title and leaving Sylvia and Nog to fight for an 'interim' title. The term 'interim' basically can mean several different things depending on the situation but it usually means that you are the B champion. Someone who is taking the champ's spot until they fight again. But with Couture vowing to not comeback, the winner of Sylvia/Nog will likely become the eventual legitimate Heavyweight Champion for the UFC.
Despite their top status in the division, the fight between Sylvia and Nogueira is hardly breath taking. Both men are coming off of career set backs and could definitely use an impressive victory to get their careers back on track.
Sylvia is probably the most unpopular fighter in the sport. Over the course of his 12 fights (9-3) with the UFC he has gone from a tall heavy handed banger to an overly cautious fighter who looks to do just enough to win instead of looking to win dominantly. His new style has turned him into the fighter the fans love to hate. Despite the fans contempt for him, Sylvia is a legit threat for anyone in the division and has wins over legit contenders like Andrei Arlovski, Ricco Rodriguez (before he started impersonating Fat Bastard from Austin Powers) and Brendon Vera.
Even with the wins, Sylvia's career is still struggling because of fans lack of entertainment in his performances in his highest profile fights. Add in the fact that he was utterly dominated by Randy Couture last year in a fight that Sylvia was expected to dominate and you have a fighter that needs a dominant win and he needs it badly. Sylvia is a tall and rangy fighter who is known to use his jab to keep his opponents at bay and has a lot of power in his right hand. While he has not fought on the ground much in his career, he has at least proven to be experienced in Jiu Jitsu as he showed against Jeff Monson at UFC 65. He is going to need it because 'Minotauro' is going to be the most important fight of his career, a loss could result in the end of Sylvia's tenure as a serious heavyweight contender.
Speaking of Sylvia's opponent, Nogueira is one of the most experienced heavyweights in the division today. He has fought everyone and beaten most of them. Nogueira has defeated Josh Barnett, Mirko Cro Cop, Heath Herring (3x), Fabricio Werdum, Bob Sapp, Mark Coleman, Dan Henderson and Ricco Rodriguez. It seems as if the only fighter in the world that Nogueira cannot defeat is Fedor Emelianenko. The two men have battled three times with Nog dropping a decision two times, the third fight was a no contest an accidental cut. After the sale of Pride, Nogueira made the jump to the UFC last year and was looking to make a statement that he was the new top dog.
But Nogueira struggled to make that statement in his debut at UFC 73 last summer. His opponent was Heath Herring, who Nog had defeated twice already. The idea behind this fight is that Herring was a legitimate opponent, but Nogueira would again defeat him convincingly and vault himself right into a money making fight, possibly against Randy Couture for the UFC title.
Everything was going according to plan in the fight until mid way through the first round, Herring landed a kick to the face that nearly knocked Nogueira out. Herring probably could've won the fight by stoppage had he stayed on top of 'Minotauro' and continued to pound him. But Herring foolishly let Nogueira get up the ground and strike with him, where Herring was getting beaten up to begin with. Nogueira would slowly regain his wits over the course of the next two rounds and pound Herring to a decision win. While Nogueira convincingly won the fight, he did not look as invincible as he did before the fight. The word was out, he could beat beaten or possibly knocked out. If Herring could stun him, then Sylvia could definitely do so as well. Despite the shaky win, 'Minotauro' is still being given a title fight and the chance to establish himself as #1 in the UFC heavyweight division.
Nogueira is no slouch with his boxing skills, they have definitely developed over the course of his career to the point where he is truly a mixed martial artist but Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is truly his bread and butter. Out of Nogueira's 30 wins, 18 of them have been by submission. He is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, one of the real Black Belt's in the sport. Not a fighter who claims to be a Black Belt, but then is defenseless once he is put on his back during a fight. Nogueira has the potential to submit anyone at any time from any position. The question is can he do it to Tim Sylvia on February 2nd at UFC 81?
Despite the importance of the fight between Nogueira and Sylvia, the 'interim' Heavyweight Championship fight is not the main attraction for this card. That honor belongs to the bout between former Heavyweight champion Frank Mir (10-3) and former WWE wrestling Superstar Brock Lesnar (1-0). That's right, you don't need to reread that. A pro wrestler is going to challenge a former UFC Heavyweight champion in his UFC debut with only one MMA fight, a battering of journeyman Min Soo Kim (4-6), under his belt beforehand.
Are you laughing yet?
When this fight was first announced, the immediate reaction was that Lesnar was being led to the slaughter. Most people are probably thinking who exactly does Lesnar think he is? THIS IS MMA!!! THERE IS NO SCRIPT FOR HIM TO WORK FROM NOW, THIS IS THE REAL DEAL!!! Lesnar should be dead meat.
Things are a lot more complicated than that though.
Despite his career with the WWE, Lesnar is a legitimate wrestling competitor. He spent his high school and college years wrestling as a heavyweight and compiled a 106-5 record after four years of college. At the end of his college wrestling career, Lesnar was a two time NJCAA All American, two time NCAA All American and he was the NCAA Heavyweight Champion in 2000. Lesnar originally considered trying out for the US Olympic team, he instead signed up with WWE after being offered a boatload of money. After four years and becoming a millionaire a few times over, Lesnar decided that he was done with wrestling and pursued a career with the NFL. When that fell flat he turned his sights toward MMA.
After bouncing around MMA camps – Lesnar was briefly linked to both Royce Gracie and Militech Fighting Systems – he settled on Minnesota Martial Arts and after a year of training he made his debut in the main event of a K1 Dynamite show and beat down Kim and immediately started calling out the big names in the UFC. In October it was announced that Lesnar had signed a deal with the UFC.
It appears that UFC is planning on Brock becoming the new Great American Heavyweight in MMA. It is already rumored that UFC wants Brock to headline their next show in London, England. Lesnar has all the tools to become an elite level fighter. He is 6ft 2, relatively short for the UFC Heavyweight division, but he is also very powerful and large for his size. He is one of the few UFC Heavyweights that walks around above the 265lb weight limit. But still, does he have what it takes to beat Frank Mir?
This entire fight depends on the status of Frank Mir.
Mir was originally one of the UFC's up and coming stars. He was a 6ft 3in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu wizard who could seemingly submit anyone once the fight hit the ground. Mir went through everyone the UFC put in front of him in dominant fashion, save for a fluke loss to Ian Freeman in July 2002. After going 5-1 in the UFC, Mir was matched up against Tim Sylvia at UFC 48 for the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship. The fight was stopped just 50 seconds into the first round when Mir quickly broke Sylvia's arm with an armbar. Mir had reached the top of the mountain and was the new UFC Heavyweight Champion.
Unfortunately, Mir never got to prove himself as a fighting champion and on September 17, 2004 Mir was gravely injured in a motorcycle accident. The accident caused a break in Mir's femur and tore all the ligaments in his knee. Unable to compete for the foreseeable future, Mir was eventually stripped of the Heavyweight Championship. Mir spent twenty months on the shelf before making a comeback against Marcio Cruz (who was 1-0 at the time, Like Lesnar). The fight was largely looked at as an easy tuneup for Mir before he was given a title fight. But Mir showed that he wasn't the same after the accident and showed up out of shape and was easily stopped in the first round.
Mir's career hasn't been the same since the accident and he hasn't looked the same. It hasn't helped his career that he has showed up in terrible shape in make-or-break fights. He showed up bloated for his next fight against Dan Christison at UFC 61 and was very lucky to win a decision. His next fight was against Brendon Vera at UFC 65 and despite showing up in good condition, Mir was stopped in only 69 seconds. It looked like Mir's career was over, but he was given a fourth chance at restoring his career and fought Antoni Hardonk. Mir showed flashes of his old self when he easily submitted 1:17 into the first round. But the question still remains as to how much gas Frank Mir has left in the tank? Will he even show up in shape for this fight? Hardonk is a confidence booster, but Mir is still along way away from getting back to the top. With all the hype Lesnar is getting, a win by Mir would land the former champ another big fight. A loss to the rookie, however, would permanently derail his career.
I told you it was a lot more complicated that it looked on paper.
PREDICTIONS
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira versus Tim Sylvia: Nogueira is overall the more well-rounded fighter and on paper, and in fans hearts, he has this thing won. But Sylvia has continuously defied the critics and pulled out wins when he wasn't supposed to. Nogueira has good boxing, but Sylvia has the bigger hands and can knock any heavyweight out-if he isn't fighting a decision win, that is. In my opinion, Nog's best bet at winning is to stick at what made him famous; Jiu Jitsu. He needs to find a way to take Sylvia to the ground and work him there. Sylvia's ground game has nothing on Nog's. But a factor that a lot of fans ignore when it comes to Heavyweight is size and the reality is that Sylvia is a much bigger man that Nogueira is. Sylvia walks around at 300lbs in between fights and cuts down to 265lbs. After cutting weigh and making weight, Sylvia could easily be above 270lbs and could outweigh Nog by as much as 25-30lbs or maybe more come fight night. Sylvia is also five inches taller and will use both his weight and size advantage against 'Minotauro'.
This fight could be exciting, Nog could take the fight to the ground and submit Sylvia, Sylvia could knock out Nog but I think this fight will be a largely dull affair will Nogueira failing to take the big man down and Sylvia using his ‘clinch and jab’ and ‘press you up against the fence and do nothing’ tactics to frustrate and control Nogueira for the majority of the fight and win a decision and his third UFC Heavyweight title. Regardless of who wins, I hope I'm wrong at least and the fight is entertaining for the fans watching.
Lesnar versus Mir: I predict Lesnar comes charging right out and runs right into Mir and slams him hard looking to make a statement. Less than 10 seconds later though, Mir has caught Lesnar in guard and Brock seemingly doesn't know what to do and starts to wildly throw punches at Mir, who defends well. 20 seconds later, Mir begins to set up a triangle choke. Less than 90 seconds into the fight, Mir has the triangle choke locked on and is choking Lesnar out. Lesnar is fading fast when all of sudden Vince err... Dana White jumps onto the side of the cage and distracts the ref just in time to miss Lesnar tapping to the triangle. While White is distracting the ref, probably Herb Dean, Tim Sylvia – still upset at Mir for breaking his arm – jumps into the cage with a steel chair and knocks Mir out with it and jumps out of the cage. Herb Dean finally punches White off of side of the cage and turns around just in time to see Lesnar trapping Mir in a rear naked choke out and ends the fight. Brock wins by first round ‘submission’.
...that was a joke in case you were wondering. To be honest, I have no idea what is going to happen in this fight. I'm sure the reason the UFC signed this fight was so Lesnar could defeat a former champion, albeit a faded one. Despite this, is Mir really that far gone enough to lose to someone as raw as Lesnar? Or could Mir throw a wrench into UFC's plans and defeat the new heavyweight golden boy? I have no idea and I'm going to wait until the fight starts to find out.
On the undercard: UFC 81 features the return of Ricardo Almeida, who after three years of inactivity faces Alan Belcher. Jeremy Horn also returns to the UFC on short notice to take on Nate Marquardt in a fight that position the winner for a possible title shot in the future. The undercard also features Tyson Griffin versus Gibson Tibau and Terry Martin versus Marvin Eastman.
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