April Big Month for UFC

With three nights of fights scheduled over the span of just 17 days, April is looking to be the most exciting month the UFC has seen in a very long time. The first fight, UFC Fight Night Live, takes place on Thursday, April 5 and is free on Spike TV. Just two days later, UFC 69: Shootout is live on Pay Per View from the Toyota Center in Texas. Just two weeks later, we go live again from a new location—but this time free on Spike TV—from the M.E.N. Arena in England for UFC 70: Nations Collide.

With 28 fights scheduled, you’d think we’d see three or four title bouts. Unfortunately, you’d think wrong, because we only get one title shot, for which the outcome was pretty much decided the minute Season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter came to a close. The winner of TUF4, Matt Serra, “earned” a title shot with his split decision victory over Chris Lytle, and now—barring major catastrophe—is due to step into the Octagon just long enough to get his ass handed to him by the Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre. Let’s hope Dana White and the UFC don’t make the mistake of granting TUF winners title shots again anytime soon.

That said there are some bright spots in the three fight cards coming up, along with one or two fights that we here at SteelSkins are still scratching our heads about. And here they are:

UFC Fight Night Live – Thursday, April 5

LW: Joe “Daddy” Stevenson (31-7) vs. Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard (39-6-3)
The winner of this fight should be launched into the Top 5 of the Lightweight Division, along with #1 Contender Hermes Franca, B.J. Penn, Spencer Fisher and, arguably, Din Thomas (we say “arguably” because we don’t think most people agree with us in saying that Din Thomas is Top 5 material, but that’s a conversation for another time). Regardless, the headlining fight of UFC Fight Night Live will surely be a great fight between two fighters whose combined IQ just nudges out their combined wins. Ouch.

LW: Dokonjonosuke Mishima (17-5-2) vs. Kenny “KenFlo” Florian (7-3)
Another Lightweight fight that SteelSkins is looking forward to for two reasons: 1. The highly touted Mishima was given a rude welcome to the UFC via submission by Joe Stevenson back in November. He’s got something to prove, namely, that he belongs in this league. And 2. Coming off a loss of his own to Lightweight Champ Sean Sherk, Florian has, potentially, even more to lose, because a loss would kick his UFC record down to 3-3 and make doubters out of the few UFC faithfuls who have defended the league’s decision to give him a title shot in the first place. We think they both belong here, but let’s wait until after the fight before we carve that into stone.

WW: Keita “K-Taro” Nakamura (13-1-2) vs. Drew “The Master” Fickett (30-5)
Very similar to the Mishima/Florian fight, both these fighters desperately need a win. In his UFC debut, Nakamura was handed a unanimous decision loss to Brock Larson back in December, while if Fickett—who has Octagon wins over Josh Koscheck, Josh Neer and Kurt Pellegrino—loses this one, it will be his third loss in four fights. Time to reconsider your UFC future at that point.

Other fights scheduled for this night include:
HW: Justin “The Insane 1” McCully (7-3-2) vs. Antoni Hardonk (5-2)
LW: Wander “The Quiet Warrior” Braga (16-0) vs. Kurt “Batman” Pellegrino (15-2)
WW: Forrest “The Meat Cleaver” Petz (18-3) vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka (10-3)
LHW: Seth “The Silverback” Petruzelli (10-4) vs. Wilson Gouveia (7-4)
WW: Roan “Jucao” Carneiro (10-5) vs. Rich “No Love” Clementi (34-11-1)
LW: Naoyuki Kotani (17-5-5) vs. Thiago Tavares (14-0)

UFC 69 – Saturday, April 7

As expected, the first of two UFC major events for the month of April boasts a stronger overall fight card than the Fight Night warm-up. But two fights in particular have the full attention of SteelSkins:

WW: Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez (19-0) vs. Josh “Kos” Koscheck (10-1)
This is an unbelievable match-up. With rumors of MySpace insults flying and a history between these two fighters (Sanchez barely beat Koscheck on his way to winning Season One of The Ultimate Fighter—NOTE: because that fight was considered preliminary, it does not count on either fighter’s record), there is no love lost between these two premier Welterweights. This fight more than makes up for the less-than-stellar title bout between St. Pierre and Serra, and has more UFC enthusiasts talking than any fight in the month of April. In addition to being undefeated, if Sanchez wins, he’ll be the only fighter in the UFC to boast a 20-fight win streak. But Koscheck is no pushover and could just as easily submit Sanchez.

MW: Mike “Quick” Swick (10-1) vs. Yushin Okami (20-3)
This is one of the best match-ups we’ve seen slated for a long time. Okami is 3-0 in the UFC with increasingly difficult competition, including Rory Singer and Kalib Starnes. He has a lot of weapons and can end the fight via submission or via ground and pound. On the other side of the ring, Swick is one of the smartest fighters in the UFC, with “Quick” first round victories over Joe Riggs, Steve Vigneault, Gideon Ray and Alex Schoenauer, along with a unanimous decision win over former #1 Contender David Loiseau. Swick might have even more weapons than Okami and can win via submission or knock out at any time during the fight. If Swick wins, there is just no question that he deserves a title shot—something that SteelSkins has argued he’s already earned by now. If the fight goes Okami’s way, he is a true force to be reckoned with and deserves top 5 consideration.

Our Lunch with Dana

If Dana White were to have lunch with SteelSkins, which is never going to happen in a million years, we’d draw his attention to one fight on this fight card: that of MW Marcus “Bring the Pain” Haynes (9-6) vs. WW Luke “The Silent Assassin” Cummo (7-4)—we’re assuming Haynes will drop to Welterweight. While we are a huge fan of Luke Cummo
for his heart and grit in the ring, we can’t say the same for Haynes. It’s not that we have anything personal against Haynes, it’s just that we really like Nick Diaz, who, we would remind White, was let go from the UFC (according to White in an interview with NBCSports) because Diaz “lost so many times.” Never mind the fact that Diaz had posted back-to-back wins in the Octagon before leaving for PRIDE and was 6-4 overall. No Dana, never mind that. Let’s just apply that same rationale to all your signed fighters, like Haynes here, who is 0-2 in the UFC and 9-6 overall. Not a good enough example? We’ll remind you again in about five paragraphs. Pass the salt.

Other fights scheduled for UFC 69 include:
WW Title Bout: Georges “Rush” St. Pierre (13-1) vs. Matt “The Terror” Serra (15-4)
MW: Alan “The Talent” Belcher (9-2) vs. Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove (9-3)
LW: Roger “El Matador” Huerta (18-1-1) vs. Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia (13-1)
MW: Thales Leites (9-1) vs. Pete “Drago” Sell (7-3)
HW: Heath “The Texas Crazy Horse” Herring (26-12-1) vs. Brad “The Hillbilly Heartthrob” Imes (6-2)
WW: Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis (15-4) vs. Pete “The Secret Weapon” Spratt (16-7)

UFC 70 – Saturday, April 21

Finally a UFC event in England, where men were born to drink and punch each other. Oh wait, that’s Ireland. The English just match their socks and give back-handed compliments. Close enough. Despite no title bout—and despite SteelSkins’ favorite Forrest Griffin pulling out from his fight against Lyoto Machida with a nasty staff infection in his knee—there are some good fights at UFC 70, including:

HW: Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (22-4-2) vs. Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga (7-1)
I just can’t wait to once again watch Cro Cop walk around like Michael Myers (or insert other calm psychopath from classic horror films), patiently dismantling his opponent’s defense until he kills them. Of course Gonzaga’s no pushover, and if this fight goes to the ground, Cro Cop could have his hands full. Or you can go with the safe money and bet Gonzaga’s head lands in the third row after a first round high kick to the head.

HW: Andrei “The Pit Bull” Arlovski (12-5) vs. Fabrico “Vai Cavalo” Werdum (9-2-1)
I’ll be honest. I don’t know much about this Fabrico Werdum, other than the fact that he’s supposed to be tough. But I do know this: before losing back-to-back fights, along with his Heavyweight belt, to Tim Sylvia, no one thought you could stop Arlovski, who had six straight UFC wins, including one over Sylvia. I’d like to see The Pit Bull get back to his winning ways. Specifically, I’d like to see him rip Werdum’s throat out and eat his larynx in front of thousands of screaming Brits. Nothing against you, Fabrico.

LHW: David Heath (9-0) vs. Lyoto Machida (9-0)
It’s no Griffin vs. Machida fight, but it’s still two 9-0ers going head-to-head. It gives us a chance to see which one of these guys is for real.

Our Lunch with Dana Part II
Hey Dana, remember us? We were those guys you ate lunch with who promptly skipped out on the check. We just thought we’d point out two more examples of absolutely pathetic jokers you’ve agreed to let fight (one of which is not by coincidence named “The Joker”). They’re featured in these classic? Match-ups:

LHW: Michael “The Count” Bisping (13-0) vs. Elvis “The King of Rock n Rumble” Sinosic (8-9-2)
The logic White gave for not re-signing Diaz clearly needs no further rebuttal than just pointing to Sinosic and mouthing the words “Him? You signed him?” The man knows losing in the Octagon better than he knows his own mother. At an ultra impressive 8-9-2, you could give him half points for his draws and he’d still only bat .500. He’s 1-5 in the UFC (which includes back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back losses). This man should not be in the UFC, he should be headlining a Tough Man Contest at Hara Arena—as the ref! I feel bad for Bisping, who’s going to have to live with himself after he knocks Sinosic’s head off.

WW: Dennis Siver (10-3) vs. Jess “The Joker” Liaudin (10-8)
We said there is no further rebuttal needed, but just in case you missed it, Jess Liaudin is new to the UFC. That’s right, Dana White went out and signed this guy. Something about being 10-8 was impressive to this man. Thank god White gave his real reason for why he fired Diaz. Now we can actually trust White’s logic in future negotiations. Tell us this—why didn’t he just say, “I don’t like Diaz. He’s an asshole who wanted too much money.” SteelSkins would fully accept that. Clearly “The Joker” was signed so that British fans everywhere can watch Dennis Siver kick a French guy’s ass.

Other fights scheduled for UFC 70 include:
LW: Junior Assuncao (5-2) vs. David Lee (5-2)
HW: Assuerio Silva (32-4) vs. Cheick Kongo (19-3-1)
LW: Matt “The Real One” Grice (9-0) vs. Terry Etim (9-0)
LHW: Victor “The Matrix” Valimaki (8-3) vs. Alessio “Legionarius” Sakara (14-4)
WW: Ediberto Crocota (10-0-1) vs. Paul “Relentless” Taylor (7-1-1)