MMA Musings

On July 21^st, in Calgary, Alberta, Urijah ‘The California Kid’ Faber (26-5) takes a shot at the UFC’s 135 pound interim belt, a fight made necessary due to  Champion Dominick Cruz’s injury. Faber and Cruz had been set to fight after their stint on The Ultimate Fighter Season 15, but it wasn’t meant to be. Faber will now meet Brazilian buzzsaw Renan Barao, who is 30-1 all-time and 3-0 in the UFC. His only loss was his first fight, back in 2005.

Faber submitted Cruz in a 145 pound featherweight title fight in the WEC in March, 2007, but  lost to Cruz via 5 round decision at bantamweight in July, 2011. Fans had been waiting for this rubber match with more anticipation than US republicans are awaiting November’s election. But Barao is an enigma Faber may be unable to crack.

The eagerly anticipated fight between UFC middleweight champion Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva and uber trash-talker Chael Sonnen had its auspicious start with the Brazilian’s unequalled walk-in song, DMX’s ‘Ain’t No Sunshine When it’s On’. The crowd went wild and Sonnen, stewing inside the Octagon while Silva hugged his entire team and family around him, paced.

At the introductions and instructions,  Sonnen stared icily but failed to come centre-Octagon when summoned by the referee, so Silva proceeded to bow in all four directions, as is his custom. But the ref brought Sonnen in, and there an amped Silva angled his body toward a coiled Sonnen.

UFC 147 in Brazil was headlined by legends and future hall-of-famers Wanderlei ‘The Axe Murderer’ Silva (34-12-1) and Rich ‘Ace’ Franklin (29-6). Soccer-style cheers rose in waves for local favourite Silva, while Franklin sported a new hairstyle and tight pink fight tights rather than his staple brown and pink fight shorts.

Fans and the UFC had high hopes for this fight, which had Franklin replace an injured Vitor Belfort. Ace and The Axe Murderer didn’t disappoint. Franklin used distance, timing, and his trademark body kicks to stifle Wanderlei’s love of brawling, while Wanderlei used his counter right to send his own message to Franklin.

the UFC on FX

The headliner Friday, June 22^nd, has the Energizer Bunny Clay Guida taking on Gray Maynard, a matchup that could be fight or snoozer of the year. Both men are stupendous wrestlers as it relates to MMA, and  could have Tenacious as their middle name, but both men are only decent strikers. This means if the wrestling cancels out, we’re left with a mediocre if entertaining slugfest.

Gray ‘The Bully’ Maynard, who is 10-1-1, has only lost to former champ Frankie ‘The Answer’ Edgar. He has a win, loss, and draw with The Answer, and eight decisions out of ten wins. Typically he has utilized his wrestling not so much for lay and pray as lay and recite the ten stations of the cross, which irks some fans.  But he is a handful for absolutely anybody who fights or trains with him.