MMAmania Interview with Kurt Pellegrino

MMAmania.com just published my recent interview with UFC Lightweight contender Kurt "Batman" Pellegrino. You can find it here.

Kurt was mighty cool to talk with. He shed some light on his upcoming fight with Nate Diaz, his "Batman" nickname and his skillz in Brazilian Jui-Jitsu.

Pellegrino/Diaz takes place this Wednesday at UFC Fight Night 13 and is free on Spike TV. It is also the lead in for the debut of The Ultimate Fighter 7 with coaches Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin.

Should be a great match-up for fans of BJJ. Both guys are incredible in the submission game.

SteelSkins UFC Power Rankings - 10th Edition

Wow, I’ve been gone for a while, spending more and more of my time over at MMAmania.com, but wouldn’t you know it’s time to update those SteelSkins UFC Power Rankings! While it seems like forever ago since we last updated the Top 15, there has actually only been one UFC event in that time—UFC 82, which I was fortunate enough to attend live in Columbus, OH.

SteelSkins picks for UFC 82 were a good 6 – 3, but it was an easy card to score. This moves our overall record to 24 – 10. Not too shabby.

Now let’s see those Power Rankings.

Heavyweights

Heath Herring upset Cheick Kongo to win via split decision. Herring looked great and has significantly improved his conditioning, losing a few extra pounds along the way. While we didn’t pick it, we’re happy with the upset and felt Kongo was a bit overrated due to his win over a fading Cro Cop.

In the night’s only other HW bout, Andrei Arlovski fulfilled the last fight on his contract, earning a 2^nd round victory (TKO due to strikes) over the young Jake O’Brien. This was the most disappointing fight of the night. Without a contract, Arlovski had every incentive to pummel O’Brien, thereby making the case he was worth every dollar to keep. But Arlovski looked conservative in the first round and earned the occasional boo from the Columbus crowd.

I saw Jake O’Brien the night before the fight at the bar in the lobby of the hotel he was staying in. At first I thought he was drinking the night before a fight with the former HW Champion. I was shocked as he kept coming up and ordering more and more drinks for him and his entourage. Then I realized it was Jake’s twin brother ordering the drinks, and while Jake was present, he wasn’t drinking. Still, I was amazed at how young this kid is. His wrestling is very good, but his critics are right: he’s a one-trick pony who lays and prays. He’ll need to develop better striking and submissions if he ever wants to contend in the UFC.

Unfortunately, there’s really no one who deserves the #1 Contender spot in this division, and the occasionally boring Arlovski will have to do.

Only Frank Mir, Eddie Sanchez and Christian Wellisch have back-to-back wins inside the Octagon; while Arlovski has bettered that by one and is on a 3-fight win streak. He’s beaten Werdum and, more importantly, he hasn’t lost to a fighter who wasn’t named Tim Sylvia since March 2002.

Here’s to hoping the UFC resigns Arlovski, especially since Cro Cop has moved on to greener pastures in Japan, leaving the HW division thin to say the least.

In the meantime, the return of newly inducted Hall of Famer Mark “The Hammer” Coleman will have to do. We’ll see how the 43 year old does against the beast, Brock Lesnar, at UFC 87 in Minneapolis this August.

SteelSkins’ picks for Heavyweights this last month were 1-1, brining our HW total to 2-4:

• Heath Herring def. Cheick Kongo (split decision) at UFC 82 – Our pick: Kongo (TKO – strikes, Rnd3)
• Andrei Arlovski def. Jake O’Brien (TKO – strikes, Rnd 2) at UFC 82 – Our pick: Arlovski (TKO – strikes, Rnd1)

Upcoming Heavyweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• The double Octagon debut of #17 Brad Morris vs. #18 Cain Velasquez at UFC 83 (April 19) – Although he’s just 2-0, Velasquez has been lauded by his teammates as a future contender. That’s good enough for us. We’ll take Velasquez via TKO (strikes) in Rnd2
• Christian Wellisch vs. Shane Carwin at UFC 84 (May 24) – Carwin’s debut is going to be a good one, as the 3-time NCAA Division II All-American and national wrestling champ is going to cruise to a 1^st Round TKO (strikes).
• Fabricio Werdum vs. Brandon Vera at UFC 85 (June 7) – I’d love to see Vera take this, but Werdum is for real. Werdum by decision.
• Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Coleman at UFC 87 (August 9) – I like both these guys, and if Coleman can weather the initial storm, this could prove to be a battle. That said, we have to pick Lesnar (TKO – strikes) Rnd1

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Light Heavyweights

There were no LHW fights since our last update, but there’s a shit ton coming up in the months ahead. We’re still 2-0 in picking fights in the division, for now.

The biggest news is Shogun Rua pulled out of his UFC 85 headliner with Chuck Liddell due to injury, and has been replaced by Rashad Evans (which temporarily left Thiago Silva without an opponent). Similarly, Stephan Bonner withdrew from his fight with Matt Hamill, and the explosive newcomer Tim Boetsch has stepped in. Oh yeah, and Wanderlei Silva is set to fight Keith Jardine. Holy shit, this is a great division!

Upcoming Light Heavyweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Houston Alexander vs. #17 James Irvin at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – We’ll take Alexander (TKO – strikes) Rnd1
• Matt Hamill vs. #18 Tim Boetsch at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Hamill (submission) Rnd2
• Keith Jardine vs. Wanderlei Silva at UFC 84 (May 24) – We’ll take Silva (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
• Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 – We’ll take Machida (decision)
• Thiago Silva vs. #19 Antonio Mendes at UFC 84 – We’ll take Silva (submission) Rnd1
• Wilson Gouveia vs. #25 Goran Reljic at UFC 84 – We’ll take Reljic (submission) Rnd2
• Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. #16 Kazuhiro Nakamura at UFC 84 – We’ll take Sokoudjou (TKO – strikes) Rnd1
• Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans at UFC 85 (June 7) – We’ll take Liddell (decision)
• Jason Lambert vs. #20 Luis Arthur Cane at UFC 85 – We’ll take Lambert (KO) Rnd2
• Champion Rampage Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin at UFC 86 (July 5) – We’ll take Griffin (decision)

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Middleweights

Middleweight Champion (and pound-for-pound greatest fighter in the world) Anderson Silva defeated a game Dan Henderson in the UFC 82 main event. While we expected this to happen, we didn’t expect it to end in the second round. Hendo seemed to have won the first round with a solid game plan, but either stamina or Silva’s aggressive stand-up was too much for Hendo to take in the second, leading to his eventual submission via rear naked choke.

UFC 82 also saw the return of former MW Champ Evan Tanner to action against the always tough Yushin Okami. While we picked Tanner to win this fight, we admit it was just wishful thinking. Okami is too strong an opponent to try to shake two years worth of cage rush off against, but we’re glad to see Tanner back in the cage regardless.

Rounding out UFC 82’s MW card, Chris “The Crippler” Leben slugged it out with Alessio Sakara and came out the victory. Hate to say we told ya so, but…

Martin Kampmann was rescued from being dropped from the SteelSkins Top 15 (is there a worse fate?) and is slated to return at UFC 85 vs. Jorge Rivera. His prolonged knee injury is apparently on the up-and-up, which is a good thing because he hasn’t fought since March 2007. He now gets to shake the cage rust off against Rivera, who’s coming off an explosive 1^st Round TKO victory over TUF3 Champion Kendall Grove.

Our record for picking Middleweight fights this past month was 2-1, moving our MW total to 4-3. Here are the recent fights, along with our picks:

• Champ Anderson Silva def. Dan Henderson (submission, Rnd2) at UFC 82 to unify the UFC and PRIDE MW titles – Our pick: Silva (TKO – strikes) Rnd4
• Yushin Okami def. Evan Tanner via KO in Rnd2 at UFC 82 – Our pick: Tanner (submission) Rnd3
• Chris Leben def. #23 Alessio Sakara via TKO (strikes) in Rnd1 at UFC 82 – Our pick: Leben (TKO – strikes) Rnd2

Upcoming Middleweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Former Champ Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter at UFC 83 (Apr. 19) – We’ll take Franklin (decision)
• Jason MacDonald vs. #28 Joe Doerksen at UFC 83 – This is a rematch from 2005 when MacDonald won via rear naked choke. We’ll take MacDonald (submission) Rnd2
• Michael Bisping vs. #31 Charles McCarthy at UFC 83 – We’ll take Bisping (KO) Rnd2
• Nate Quarry vs. #30 Kalib Starnes at UFC 83 – We’ll take Quarry (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
• Ed Herman vs. #18 Demian Maia at UFC 83 – We’ll take Herman (submission) Rnd1
• #22 Alan Belcher vs. #35 Jason Day at UFC 83 – We’ll take Belcher (submission) Rnd2
• #24 UFC newcomer Rousimar Palhares vs. #27 Ivan Salaverry at UFC 84 (May 24) – We’ll take Salaverry (submission) Rnd2
• Nate Marquardt vs. #16 Thales Leites at UFC 85 (June 7) – We’ll take Marquardt (submission) Rnd2
• Martin Kampmann vs. #23 Jorge Rivera at UFC 85 – We’ll take Kampmann (KO) Rnd2
• TUF 7 Finale, featuring Middleweights (June 21)
• Ricardo Almeida vs. Patrick Cote at UFC 86 (July 5) – We’ll take Cote (decision)

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Welterweights

UFC 82 saw four Welterweight battles, including Jon Fitch welcoming Chris Wilson to the Octagon with a unanimous decision victory for the future title contender (big surprise); Diego Sanchez welcoming David Bielkheden to the Octagon with a first round submission (big surprise); Josh Koscheck bettering the young gun Dustin Hazelett is a fantastic slugfest; and Luigi Fioravanti out-pointing Luke Cummo (this last one surprised us).

For the second time in a row, our record for picking Welterweight fights was 3 – 1, pushing our record to 6 – 2. Here are the recent fights, along with our picks:

• Jon Fitch def. #27 Chris Wilson (unanimous decision) at UFC 82 (March 1) – Our pick: Fitch (submission) Rnd2
• Josh Koscheck def. Dustin Hazelett (TKO – strikes, Rnd2) at UFC 82 – Our pick: Kos (submission) Rnd3
• Diego Sanchez def. #33 David Bielkheden (submission, Rnd1) at UFC 82 – Our pick: Sanchez (TKO – strikes) Rnd1
• #17 Luigi Fioravanti def. Luke Cummo (unanimous decision) at UFC 82 – Our pick: Cummo (guillotine choke) Rnd2

Upcoming Welterweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – We’ll take Alves (split decision)
• #16 Tommy Spear vs. #40 Anthony Johnson at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Spear (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
• #17 George Sotiropoulos vs. #36 Roman Mitichyan at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Sotiropoulos (submission) Rnd2
• Champ Matt Serra vs. GSP at UFC 83 (April 19) – We’ll take GSP (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
• #22 Jonathan Goulet vs. #34 Kuniyoshi Hironaka at UFC 83 – We’ll take Goulet (submission) Rnd2
• #19 Jon Koppenhaver vs. #23 Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 84 (May 24) – We’ll take Koppenhaver (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
• #38 Dong Hyun Kim makes his UFC debut vs. #41 Jason Tan at UFC 84 – We’ll take Kim (KO) Rnd2
• The extremely dangerous BJJ black belt (but low ranked because of his 5 – 3 record and history of backing out of fights due to training injuries) #43 Jeff Joslin vs. TBD at UFC 84.
• Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick at UFC 85 (June 7) – We’ll take Davis (submission) Rnd2
• #28 Jess Liaudin vs. #29 Paul Taylor at UFC 85 – We’ll take Liaudin (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
• Ryo Chonan vs. Roan Carneiro at UFC 85 – This is a rematch from a 2005 DEEP event, where Chonan won via 3^rd Round TKO due to a cut. We’ll take Chonan (submission) Rnd3
• Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti at TUF7 Finale (June 21) – We’ll take Sanchez (decision)
• Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett at TUF7 Finale – We’ll take Hazelett (submission) Rnd3
• Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle at UFC 86 (July 5) – This one is still in the rumor stage, but we’d love to see it happen. Would Kos risk standing with the former boxer? We’ll take Lytle (KO) Rnd2
• #30 Ben Saunders vs. TBD at UFC 86

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Lightweights

There was one Lightweight fight at UFC 82, which we picked correctly, pushing our overall record for the division to a stellar 11 – 1. Here are the recent fights, along with our picks:

• #23 Jorge Gurgel def. #35 John Halverson (unanimous decision) at UFC 82 (Mar. 1) – Our pick: Gurgel (submission) Rnd3

Upcoming Lightweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – We’ll take Florian (submission) Rnd2
• Frankie Edgar vs. #24 Gray Maynard at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Edgar (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
• Din Thomas vs. #21 Josh Neer at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Thomas (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
• Clay Guida vs. #38 Samy Schiavo at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Guida (submission) Rnd3
• Kurt Pellegrino vs. Nate Diaz at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Diaz (submission) Rnd2
• Marcus Aurelio vs. #35 Ryan Roberts at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Aurelio (submission) Rnd1
• #23 Manny Gamburyan vs. #50 Jeff Cox at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Gamburyan (decision)
• #16 Mac Danzig vs. #34 Mark Bocek at UFC 83 (April 19) – We’ll take Danzig (submission) Rnd2
• #19 Sam Stout vs. #22 Rich Clementi at UFC 83 – We’ll take Clementi (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
• Champion B.J. Penn vs. former Champ Sean Sherk at UFC 84 (May 24) – We’ll take Penn (submission) Rnd3
• #18 Jeremy Stephens vs. #31 Terry Etim at UFC 84 – We’ll take Stephens (decision)
• Thiago Tavares vs. #26 Matt Wiman at UFC 85 (June 7) – We’ll take Tavares (TKO –strikes) Rnd1
• Joe Stevenson vs. #17 Gleison Tibau at UFC 86 (July 5) – We’ll take Stevenson (submission) Rnd2
• #29 Cole Miller vs. TBD at UFC 86
• #36 Corey Hill vs. #41 Justin Buchholz at UFC 86 – We’ll take Hill (decision)
• #52 Steve Bruno vs. TBD at UFC 86

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Interview with Karo "The Heat" Parisyan

Yo yo yo, so yesterday, I talked with Karo Parisyan on the phone. I got a chance to ask him how he's been preparing for his upcoming fight with slugger Thiago Alves (it takes place Wednesday, April 2 at UFC Fight Night 13).

I also asked him how he felt about the title picture, now that top contender Jon Fitch is cramping his style, moving in on that title shot that Karo feels should belong to him.

I also asked him about the Diaz brothers and if there's any bad blood between them and him. Because, let's face it, no Karo interview would be complete without that.

Anyway, check it out at MMAmania.com.

Lots of Good Stuff in the Works

While I've been pretty tied up at work and haven't posted as much stuff to SteelSkins or to MMAmania as I'd like, there is a lot of good stuff making its way in the near future.

Until then, you can check out my interview with UFC Lightweight Clay "The Carpenter" Guida here. Clay was super cool on the phone, and I wish him luck in his upcoming fight against French Top Team's Samy Schiavo at UFC Fight Night 13 on Wednesday, April 2.

Also, check out this post, where the man behind MMAmania himself has officially introduced yours truly to all the Maniacs. SteelSkins gets a plug, as does A Likely Story Film Productions. Speaking of which, check out ALSFP's newest short film, "Laugh Track".

In the next five days or so, I play to post an update to SteelSkins UFC Power Rankings right here. Looking forward to it.

Mark Coleman Interview at MMAmania

So I interviewed Mark Coleman for the second time in as many weeks. It went up on MMAmania.com on Friday afternoon. Here's a link.

It was great talking to Coleman, the UFC Hall of Fame's most recent honoree. Rather than retiring any time soon, though, Coleman just inked a four-fight deal with the UFC and is set to face the dangerous Brock Lesnar in Lesnar's home state of Minnesota at UFC 85 this June. Should be a war between two national collegiate wrestling champions.

The UFC's Middleweight Division

Just posted another article on MMAmania. My thanks go out to Tom, who's been a gracious host of some of SteelSkins thoughts about the UFC and the sport of MMA in general.

This week's article is the third one that has been featured on the site. It's about the UFC's Middleweight Division, its depth and some of the talented 185 pounders not being signed by Dana White and the UFC.

Check it out!

“Right Leg, Hospital. Left Leg, Running Scared”?

Mirko Cro Cop and the UFC’s Dwindling Heavyweight Division

By Adam Wagner

With my first post up on MMAmania, I am now an official contributing writer to one of the best MMA blogs on the Internet. To all of our loyal readers (okay, both of you), please check the site out, and look for more posts by yours truly.

This week's post focuses on the dwindling talent pool of the UFC's Heavyweight Division, now that Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic has officially announced that he is leaving for greener pastures in Japan. It also specifically calls for Dana White and the UFC to re-sign Andrei Arlovski, as well as Tim Sylvia, once their contracts expire (they both have one fight each remaining on their contracts).

5 Good Minutes in the UFC

As we previously noted, the British tabloid newspaper The Sun recently published Dana White’s answers to 12 questions posed by Sun readers on everything from Michael Bisping’s future as a Middleweight to the flaws in the 10-point must system for scoring MMA fights.

But what really caught my eye was White's announcement that the UFC is in the process of establishing an official ranking system so that fans can see who is in line for a title shot. According to White, "I said we'd never do that because I figured people would say our rankings are biased. But, when you look around at some of these other rankings that are out there, I think we probably will do our own after all."

While I wouldn’t expect a deeper ranking than Top 5 for each weight class, the announcement does add to the debate that any self-respecting UFC fan loves to engage in. Who’s next in line for a title shot? Who deserves one, even if they aren’t getting one? There are a ton of things to consider for each weight class, so let’s get right to it:

1. Despite the rumor that Werdum is next in line for a title shot in the HW division, there remains serious doubt on how deserved that title shot is, given that he’s just 1-1 in the Octagon. Interestingly enough, the timing of Arlovski’s prolonged contract dispute couldn’t have come at a worse time. When you consider that Couture’s likely out; Cro Cop’s out, Sylvia’s out; a ton of top talent who are coming off losses are out (Vera, Gonzaga, etc.); of the top contenders, only three have consecutive wins (Arlovski, Mir and Kongo). Where does Mir’s win over Lesnar put him in the rankings? Or Kongo’s somewhat lackluster win over Cro Cop? Had he re-signed months ago, Arlovski could have found himself as the #1 Contender in line for a title shot. Despite the lackluster fight against Werdum, he still won—moreover, the last time Arlovski lost to a fighter who wasn’t named Tim Sylvia was March 2002. There might not be a better example as to the ramifications of a prolonged contract dispute than the Arlovski situation.
2. On to the Light Heavyweights: with Jackson/Griffin tied up in the filming of TUF7 until their title fight sometime in July, the rest of the division is left jockeying for position. Of the upcoming fights, the winner of Liddell/Rua seems most likely to get a title shot. It seems unlikely that the winner of Thiago Silva/Rashad Evans would position either fighter to be the #1 Contender without at least one more victory. But what of Wanderlei Silva and Keith Jardine? And why not pit them against one another, given that everyone else is tied up in another fight. With Jardine being no slouch, would the UFC risk a fourth consecutive loss to Silva, or would they instead give him an easier opponent, if not a complete can?
3. The Middleweight picture is interesting in that, should Anderson Silva continue his dominant reign by beating Dan Henderson in March, we’ll likely have to wait until May to see any clarity on who the next #1 Contender is going to be. A win over Hendo would mean Silva’s beaten everybody who currently deserves a title shot (Franklin, Marquardt and Lutter). So the results from the April/May events will be key, with the importance of Okami/Tanner growing by the day. However, if Hendo beats Silva, the field is wide open. Suddenly the winner of Franklin/Lutter, as well as Marquardt, is once again a possibility, as is the winner of Okami/Tanner. Furthermore, could a strong performance from Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy in April have an impact on the title picture?
4. In the Welterweight division, GSP and Serra fight to unify the titles in April. No matter who wins, most think Jon Fitch deserves a title shot, assuming he gets past Chris Wilson in March. This is contrary to Karo Parisyan’s claim that he believes he’s been offered a shot, assuming he gets past Thiago Alves in April. If GSP beats Serra, we can expect a Serra/Hughes fight, while GSP will likely take on either Fitch or Karo. But what if Serra retains his title? Who’s next in line for GSP? Don’t be surprised to see GSP/Karo or even GSP/Marcus Davis. And is it time that we finally start talking about Marcus Davis as a Top 5 contender? An 11-fight win streak is tough to argue with.
5. For the Lightweights, Penn/Sherk happens in May. If Penn wins, all he really wants is GSP at WW, but is that really fair to the lot of LW talent climbing the ranks? Kenny Florian has gone 3-0 since losing the vacant title shot to Sherk, and a win over a game Joe Lauzon could, conceivably, secure a title shot. Roger Huerta is 6-0 in the UFC and hasn’t lost since June 2004. A win over Gray Maynard at Fight Night 13 could put Frankie Edgar into title contention. If Sherk beats Penn, it becomes even murkier, since a Florian/Sherk rematch might be too soon. And I hate to say it, but July isn’t that far away, and then comes the return of Hermes Franca, the former #1 Contender, who’s been sitting out on a steroids suspension.

Regardless of White’s announcement, don’t expect to see official UFC rankings for several months, at best. As White said, “…(I) have no idea when we will get to that, though. I wouldn’t look for any rankings anytime real soon.”

12 Questions with Dana White

The British tabloid newspaper The Sun recently published Dana White’s answers to 12 questions posed by Sun readers on everything from Michael Bisping’s future as a Middleweight to the flaws in the 10-point must system for scoring MMA fights.

Dana’s always-interesting perspective was on display once again. A few tidbits:

Dana doesn’t seem crazy about “building a fighter’s brand” (ala Tito Ortiz) and instead respects fighters who are willing to fight whoever is thrown in front of them (he lists Anderson Silva, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, Chuck Liddell, Sean Sherk and Brock Lesnar as such).

He thinks Bisping’s potential as a Middleweight is “huge” and says he told Bisping to drop to 185 “when I first met him.”

He says when Wanderlei Silva arrived in the UFC, Silva told White that the UFC’s Light Heavyweights were a lot bigger than PRIDE’s best Heavyweights.

He says Sherk has done his time and deserves a return to UFC action. “He was stripped of his title, he was suspended, he was fined…He has lost the ability to earn a living for six months already…What else am I supposed to do, drag him into the street and stone him?”

He hates open weight grand prix tournaments because, among other things, “the best fighter never wins these dumb things anyway.”

He thinks Anderson Silva has the best odds of any current title holder to still be holding his title a year from now.

He denounces the notion of cross-promotions. “Why would I cross-promote with these organisations? They suck.”

His all-time favorite fight? Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg II (April 2005)—the one where Hughes comes back from a crotch shot to slam Trigg and win—hands down.

His opinion on Fedor? “Fedor isn’t a real fighter, he’s a complete joke. He’s fighting middleweights and guys who have absolutely no business fighting—and he’s looking like s*** doing it…He can’t live with anyone in the top five in the UFC and that’s why he’s not here.”

His opinion on Randy leaving? “...We give Randy Couture that huge opportunity (a return from retirement to fight Tim Sylvia for the title) and now Randy Couture is refusing to give a fighter like Antonio Nogueira that exact same opportunity he was given. ‘Captain America’ needs to honour his contract and honour fighters like Nogueira. You would expect him to do the honourable thing.”

He talks about a fight card that was discussed by UFC executives but ultimately didn’t happen where “fans play matchmaker and choose the fights on the card.” He said that, in the end, the fans already decide the fights. “If I can’t figure out what fights the fans want then, hey, I am pretty f*****.”

He agrees that the 10-point must scoring system that was developed for boxing is flawed when applied to MMA. The problem with changing it, White says, is that “unlike in the UK, the people who regulate sports over here—guys like the Nevada State Athletic Commission—are the government. These guys are part of the actual government of the state, so doing something as huge as changing the whole system for scoring won’t happen just like that.”

And finally, he announces that the UFC is in the process of establishing an official ranking system so that fans can see who is in line for a title shot. “…I said we’d never do that because I figured people would say our rankings are biased. But, when you look around at some of these other rankings that are out there, I think we probably will do our own after all…(I) have no idea when we will get to that, though. I wouldn’t look for any rankings anytime real soon.”

SteelSkins UFC Power Rankings

Since our last SteelSkins UFC Power Rankings, we’ve seen three UFC events: UFC 80 (Jan. 19), UFC Fight Night 12 (Jan. 23) and UFC 81 (Feb. 2). SteelSkins picks for these fights were a very decent 18-7 with 2 “no shows” (i.e., one of the fighters was replaced at the last minute, thus cancelling our prediction). Our best prognosticating came in the Lightweight division, where we scored a 10-1 record.

We were also surprised to hear that the UFC has announced its intention to release official rankings. While we welcome this development—the absence of official rankings was the motivating factor in creating the SteelSkins Power Rankings in the first place—we’ll be surprised if the UFC lists anything more than the Top 5 in each division, like most sites with rankings do (such as Vegas Insider). Even MMA Weekly, which ranks all MMA fighters, regardless of promotion, only ranks the Top 10. In many ways, it’s all speculative after a certain point, but we still prefer the Top 15 so that we can more easily keep our eyes on up-and-comers.

With that, let’s see how all this movement has shaped our Power Rankings.

Heavyweights

“Minotauro” Nogueira outlasted a game Tim Sylvia to win the Interim Heavyweight Title at UFC 81 last Saturday. The win propels Nogueira to the top of the heap and pushes Sylvia, who’s lost two of his last three fights (albeit, both title shots) down a few pegs.

Interestingly enough, this puts Arlovski—in our eyes—right back on top. All of the marketable fighters from Brandon Vera and Heath Herring, to Brock Lesnar (and obviously Tim Sylvia) are coming off losses. Gonzaga’s had back-to-back loses, as has Cro Cop. That leaves these guys:

• Mir has gone 3-2 since his return, with his biggest win being Lesnar, which was about as exciting a debut as we’ve seen since Houston Alexander stomped Keith Jardine. Even though he was submitted, Lesnar is a gorilla, and we’re bumping him up three spots simply because we doubt many fighters have the chin that Mir has and would be able to withstand Lesnar’s punishment. Had Sylvia beaten Nogueira for the title, you might be able to get enough distance on a Mir/Sylvia rematch storyline to grant him a title shot, but that’s stretching it. He’s said himself that he thinks he needs another fight before a title shot should be considered.

• Kongo’s 4-1 in the UFC and on a two-fight win streak including lackluster performances over Cro Cop and Assuerio Silva. He’s one dimensional and at least one fight away. His first opportunity comes next month against Heath Herring at UFC 82 (Mar. 1).

• Werdum—the only one of the three without back-to-back wins—is coming off a win of Gonzaga, after debuting in a lackluster loss to Arlovski. Nogueira already holds a win over Werdum from their PRIDE days. Still, he’s rumored to be getting the title shot. We’ll stick with out gut, which says Werdum is in the 3 spot.

• We know that Arlovski and the UFC have been duking it out in the negotiating room for nearly a year now, and if their decision to put next month’s Arlovski/O’Brien fight on the untelevised undercard is any indication, the UFC isn’t going to budge. The fight is the last on Arlovski’s contract, making him a free agent who, reason would have it, could get a shot at Fedor Emelianenko. Without a contract agreement, the UFC doesn’t want to promote a fighter on his way out of the organization, and their insurance card is that undercard. An Arlovski win would never get airtime no matter how exciting the KO; an Arlovski loss, however, could see airtime. His bad relationship with his employers notwithstanding, with two wins over Werdum and Cruz in his last two fights, A.A. deserves a title shot next, if only because none of the others do.

Looking at the rest of the Top 15, just as we dropped Jake O’Brien from the list due to 12 months of inactivity, we have to put him right back on, with his upcoming fight against Arlovski being finalized. We are dropping Tom Murphy, who can’t seem to catch a break with a scheduled fight, and adding Shane Carwin (8-0), a three-time NCAA Division II All-American who has dominated the Art of War and WEC promotions. All eight of Carwin’s wins are first round stoppages (3 KOs, 5 submissions), with the average length of time at just 72 seconds.

SteelSkins’ record for picking Heavyweight fights this last month was less than stellar, as we went 1-3. Here were the fights, along with our dismal picks:

• Fabricio Werdum def. Gabriel Gonzaga (TKO – strikes) Rnd2 (UFC 80) – Our pick: Gonzaga (decision)
• Antoni Hardonk def. #22 Colin Robinson (TKO – strikes) Rnd1 (UFC 80) – Our pick: Robinson (TKO)
• Minotauro Nogueira def. Tim Sylvia (submission – choke) Rnd3 (UFC 81) – Our pick: Sylvia (decision)
• Frank Mir def. Brock Lesnar (submission – leg lock) Rnd1 (UFC 81) – Our pick: Mir (decision)

Upcoming Heavyweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Cheick Kongo vs. Heath Herring at UFC 82 (Mar. 1) – We’ll take Kongo (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
• Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O’Brien at UFC 82 – We’ll take Arlovski (TKO – strikes) Rnd1
• Minotauro Nogueira vs. Fabricio Werdum for the HW title at a future UFC event, TBD – We’ll take Nogueira (submission) Rnd3

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Light Heavyweights

Tito Ortiz is fed up and leaving the UFC, according to his recent interview on the “Howard Stern Show.” He’ll first have to satisfy the last fight on his contract by taking on undefeated Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 in May. As we’ve previously noted, if Ortiz is unhappy with the amount of money he’s making, he should leave, and the UFC should let him go.

It’s been a bad 11 months for Jason Lambert. After TKOing Babalu Sobral (who himself was fresh off a title shot loss to Chuck Liddell), the future was wide open for “The Punisher.” But what followed was 10 months with nary a word from his camp. During those same 10 months, the UFC signed every LHW stud in the galaxy, including Wanderlei Silva, Shogun Rua, Thiago Silva, Houston Alexander, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Chewbacca. Seriously. Not to mention, Rampage Jackson, who had just made his debut 11 months ago, was about to win and then defend the belt. Wow, what a year. All these acquisitions dropped Lambert’s stock considerably. Once at #4 in the SteelSkins Power Rankings, we doubt Lambert will ever break the Top 10 again, unless he drops to Middleweight. It doesn’t help that when he finally made his return at last month’s UFC 80, he might have gotten a little cocky while beating the tar out of Wilson Gouveia and dropped his hands. Gouveia, known for submissions rather than heavy hands, saw an opening and knocked “The Punisher” out silly. We said it before, and we’ll say it again, so much for missed opportunities.

Our record for picking Light Heavyweight fights would have been a perfect 3-0, so long as you allow us Tim Boetsch as a late replacement for Tomasz Drwal, who was forced out with a last-minute injury. We’ll take 2-0 with 1 no show. Kudos to Tim Boetsch for keeping it real.

As for David Heath, Boetsch’s unfortunate opponent, he failed to capitalize on the one thing he had over Boetsch: he’s a veteran of the big show. Instead Heath allowed Boetsch (who took the fight on 10 days notice) to get comfortable in the Octagon and never pressed the action in the, albeit brief, fight. With three losses in a row, Heath is likely done in the UFC.

Here are the recent fights, along with our picks:

• Wilson Gouveia def. Jason Lambert (KO) Rnd2 (UFC 80) – Our pick: Gouveia (submission) Rnd3
• Alessio Sakara def. James Lee (TKO) Rnd1 (UFC 80) – Our pick: Sakara (decision)
• Tim Boetsch def. David Heath (TKO – strikes) Rnd1 (UFC81) – Our pick was Tomasz Drwal to beat Heath (KO Rnd2), but Boetsch was a last-minute replacement for the injured Drwal.

Upcoming Light Heavyweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Houston Alexander vs. #17 James Irvin at UFC 83 (Mar. 8) – We’ll take Alexander (TKO – strikes) Rnd1
• Matt Hamill vs. Stephen Bonnar at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – We’ll take Hamill (decision)
• Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 (May 3) – We’ll take Machida (decision)
• Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva at UFC 84 – We’ll take Silva (submission) Rnd2
• Wilson Gouveia vs. #24 Goran Reljic at UFC 84 – We’ll take Reljic (submission) Rnd2
• Keith Jardine vs. TBD at UFC 84
• Chuck Liddell vs. Shogun Rua at UFC 85 (June 14) – We’ll take Liddell (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
• Champion Rampage Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin after TUF7 Finale (scheduled for June 21) – Call us crazy, but we’ll take Griffin (decision)

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Middleweights

There were some decent Middleweight fights over the last two months, although the best is yet to come. The two largest upsets were Jorge Rivera over Kendall Grove and Marvin Eastman over Terry Martin. Grove isn’t the first TUF Champion to lose back-to-back fights (TUF1 Champ Diego Sanchez is coming off back-to-back losses to Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch), but the quality of Grove’s competition is no where close to that of Sanchez, which drops Grove out of the Top 15 to a lowly #21 spot.

While the Terry Martin bandwagon seemed to be in full motion, following his back-to-back TKOs of Jorge Rivera and Ivan Salaverry when he dropped to Middleweight, that bandwagon has been hijacked and sent careening over a cliff, thanks to a unanimous decision loss to Marvin Eastman, Martin’s second loss in a row. Martin is now a dismal 2-4 in the UFC (2-2 as a MW), and likely cannot drop anymore weight. He’ll have to climb back up the ranks the old fashioned way, by earning it, although his UFC days might be numbered.

Ricardo Almeida dodged a bullet by having his original opponent, Alan Belcher, pull out at the last minute due to injury. Almeida was making his return after a three-year layoff from the sport, and Belcher was going to be a tough opponent to try to shake off the cage rust. Almeida fought Rob Yundt instead, an Alaska Fighting Championship veteran, and won easily. This makes his claim to the Top 5 a little more plausible.

Finally, the once-promising rise of Martin Kampmann seems to be coming to a close. His prolonged knee injury with no mention of a return has already dropped him from #4. Rather than dropping him anymore, we’re going to wait for his 1-year-with-no-action anniversary to come next month, when he’ll be dropped from the Power Rankings entirely, unless we hear of an upcoming fight.

Our record for picking Middleweight fights these last two months was 2-2, although it would have been 3-2, had we known Yundt was going to be a late replacement for an injured Alan Belcher. We’ll call it a no show. Here are the recent fights, along with our picks:

• #25 Jorge Rivera def. Kendall Grove (TKO – strikes) Rnd1 at UFC 80 – Our pick: Grove (submission) Rnd2
• Nate Marquardt def. Jeremy Horn (submission – choke) Rnd2 at UFC 81 – Our pick: Marquardt (decision)
• Richardo Almeida def. #33 Rob Yundt (a late replacement for Alan Belcher) via submission (choke) Rnd1 at UFC 81 – Our pick: Belcher (submission) Rnd2
• Patrick Cote def. #28 Drew McFedries (TKO – strikes) Rnd1 at UFC 81 – Our pick: Cote (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
• Marvin Eastman def. Terry Martin (unanimous decision) at UFC 81 – Our pick: Martin (decision)

Upcoming Middleweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Champ Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson at UFC 82 to unify the UFC and PRIDE MW titles (Mar. 1) – We’ll take Silva (TKO – strikes) Rnd4
• Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner at UFC 82 – We’ll take Tanner (submission) Rnd3
• Chris Leben vs. #23 Alessio Sakara at UFC 82 – We’ll take Leben (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
• Former Champ Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter at UFC 83 (Mar. 8) – We’ll take Franklin (decision)
• Michael Bisping vs. #32 Charles McCarthy at UFC 83 – We’ll take Bisping (KO) Rnd2
• Nate Quarry vs. #31 Kalib Starnes at UFC 83 – We’ll take Quarry (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
• Ed Herman vs. #18 Demian Maia at UFC 83 – We’ll take Herman (submission) Rnd1
• Patrick Cote vs. #22 Alan Belcher at UFC 83 – We’ll take Herman (submission) Rnd2
• Jason MacDonald vs. #29 Joe Doerksen at UFC 84 (May 3) – This is a rematch from 2005 when MacDonald won via rear naked choke. We’ll take MacDonald (submission) Rnd2
• #25 UFC newcomer Rousimar Palhares vs. #28 Ivan Salaverry at UFC 84 – We’ll take Salaverry (submission) Rnd2

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Welterweights

There’s not much to say about the Welterweights, other than a there’s a lot of action coming up in March and April. And that Swick/Burkman failed to live up to its headliner status. But you can say this: Let’s start talking about Marcus Davis as a Top 5 Contender. An 11-fight win streak doesn’t like to argue.

We know that if GSP beats Serra at UFC 83 (Apr. 19), there’s an extremely strong likelihood that Hughes/Serra and GSP/Fitch will soon follow. But what happens if Serra beats GSP? Fitch still gets a title shot, but what else? Don’t be surprised to see GSP/Karo or GSP/Davis.

Our record for picking Welterweight fights was 3 – 1. Here are the recent fights, along with our picks:

• Marcus Davis def. #25 Jess Liaudin (TKO – strikes) Rnd 1 at UFC 80 – Our pick: Davis (submission) Rnd1
• #34 Paul Kelly def. #24 Paul Taylor (unanimous decision) at UFC 80 – Our pick: Taylor (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
• Mike Swick def. Josh Burkman (split decision) at Fight Night 12 – Our pick: Swick (decision)
• Chris Lytle def. #26 Kyle Bradley (TKO – strikes) Rnd1 at UFC 81 – Our pick: Lytle (KO)

Upcoming Welterweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono at UFC 82 (March 1) – We’ll take Fitch (submission) Rnd2
• Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett at UFC 82 – We’ll take Kos (submission) Rnd3
• Luke Cummo vs. #17 Luigi Fioravanti at UFC 82 – We’ll take Cummo (guillotine choke) Rnd2
• #16 Tommy Spear vs. #40 Anthony Johnson at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – We’ll take Spear (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
• Champ Matt Serra vs. GSP at UFC 84 (April 19) – We’ll take GSP (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
• Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves at UFC 84 – We’ll take Alves (split decision)
• The extremely dangerous BJJ black belt (but low ranked because of his 5-3 record and history of backing out of fights due to training injuries) #46 Jeff Joslin vs. TBD at UFC 84.

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Lightweights

We saw a ton of Lightweight action since our last Power Rankings update. B.J. Penn defeated Joe “Daddy” Stevenson for the vacant LW title on January 19 and now faces Sherk probably at UFC 85 in May. There’s no love lost between these two champions, and it should be an exciting fight, no matter where the action goes.

Most of the Lightweight fights happened the way they were expected. Our record for picking the Lightweights was a stellar 10 – 1, with our only loss being a close split decision (Emerson/Nakamura). Here are the recent fights, along with our picks:

• B.J. Penn def. Joe Stevenson (submission – rear naked choke) Rnd2 at UFC 80 (Jan. 19) – Our pick: Penn (submission) Rnd3
• #20 Sam Stout def. #32 Per Eklund (unanimous decision) at UFC 80 – Our pick: Stout (KO) Rnd3
• #44 Corey Hill def. #55 Joe Veres (TKO – strikes) Rnd2 at Fight Night 12 – Our pick: Hill (submission) Rnd2
• Thiago Tavares def. #53 Michihiro Omigawa (unanimous decision) at Fight Night 12 – Our pick: Tavares (submission) Rnd1
• Kurt Pellegrino def. #31 Alberto Crane (TKO – strikes) Rnd2 at Fight Night 12 – Our pick: Pellegrino (submission) Rnd2
• Nate Diaz def. #21 Alvin Robinson (submission – triangle choke) Rnd1 at Fight Night 12 – Our pick: Diaz (submission) Rnd2
• #22 Jeremy Stephens def. #30 Cole Miller (TKO – strikes) Rnd2 at Fight Night 12 – Our pick: Stephens (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
• #29 Gray Maynard def. #26 Dennis Siver (unanimous decision) at Fight Night 12 – Our pick: Maynard (decision)
• #33 Matt Wiman def #40 Justin Buchholz (submission – read naked choke) Rnd1 at Fight Night 12 – Our pick: Wiman (decision)
• Tyson Griffin def. #16 Gleison Tibau (unanimous decision) at UFC 81 (Feb. 2) – Our pick: Griffin (decision)
• #38 Rob Emerson def. #42 Keita Nakamura (split decision) at UFC 81 – Our pick: Nakamura

Upcoming Welterweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• #23 Jorge Gurgel vs. #35 John Halverson at UFC 82 (Mar. 1) – We’ll take Gurgel (submission) Rnd3
• Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – We’ll take Florian (submission) Rnd2
• Spencer Fisher vs. Marcus Aurelio at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Fisher (decision)
• Champion Penn vs. former Champ Sean Sherk at UFC 85 – We’ll take Penn (submission) Rnd3

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Judo Chop!

Karo Parisyan: I think I already have a title shot if I want to wait
SteelSkins: We don't think you do

After going 4-1 in the UFC from September 2003 thru June 2005, Karo Parisyan was given a title shot. Unfortunately, the Judo expert injured himself during training, and that title shot then went to Joe Riggs, who lost to Matt Hughes on November 19, 2005, the same night that rising talent Georges St. Pierre beat Sean Sherk. After recovering from his injury, Karo was expecting that title shot to still be valid. Only it wasn’t.

It’s a little confusing as to why—perhaps it was the increasing depth in the Welterweight Division—but when Karo eventually did make his return in April 2006, he submitted Nick Thompson, only to lose to Diego Sanchez four months later. Suddenly, Karo found himself even further removed from the title picture.

Karo has since bounced back, only not necessarily in as dominant a fashion as he would like. He’s eeked out decision wins over Drew Fickett, Josh Burkman and Ryo Chonan. His overall UFC record is 8-2 (2 TKOs/Submissions, 6 Decisions; his losses were both unanimous decisions). Now he believes he has earned a title shot—in fact, he believes the UFC has already promised him one, assuming he wants to wait until George St. Pierre fights Matt Serra to unify the titles.

We at SteelSkins admit that we do not know what conversations have gone on between Karo and the UFC, but regardless, we think his title shot is still a ways away. This is because of two factors, really: 1. Karo can’t seem to finish an opponent; and 2. The Welterweight Division of today resembles nothing of what it did in 2005. Consider this:

Before his injury, Karo’s fights included wins over Dave Strasser (via submission), Nick Diaz, Chris Lytle and Matt Serra (all via decision). His only loss during that time was a unanimous decision loss to GSP in Karo’s second UFC fight. These fights, coupled with his record since returning from injury in 2006, paint a picture that’s not exactly dominant. He can’t finish a sub-Top 15 fighter like Ryo Chonan, and he couldn’t get past a game Diego Sanchez, who at the time was ranked by SteelSkins at #4, but has since slid to #7 with back-to-back losses to Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch.

Back in 2005, the Welterweight contenders list wasn’t nearly as long as it is today. Fighters like Diego Sanchez, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch and Marcus Davis—all of whom have since flirted with the Top 3 Contender spots or are currently there—were ranked significantly lower than they are today. Fitch, who was 1-0 in the UFC in 2005 and is today 7-0, hasn’t lost since 2002; Davis is on an 11-fight tear; and GSP has posted wins over some of the very best in MMA, including Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, B.J. Penn, Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes twice.

Many of the UFC’s Welterweight contenders back in 2005 aren’t even around anymore, including Nick Diaz, Brock Larson, Joe Riggs, Frank Trigg, Drew Fickett and Jason Miller. They’ve been replaced by—in some cases—even better talent, namely, Fitch, Kos, Davis, Sanchez, Thiago Alves, Josh Burkman, Mike Swick, and of course a rejuvenated Matt Serra, who might have been on his way out back in 2005, but today holds the belt that all these men seem to want.

Karo faces rising talent Thiago Alves next at UFC 84. With a decisive win, he could find himself next in line for a title shot…that is, after GSP and probably Jon Fitch get their chances, as well as after the loser of the GSP/Serra fight in a rubber match (assuming a GSP victory in April). Wow, that’s a long time to wait. But Karo knows what that’s like.

Learn more about Karo’s title shot hopes, his upcoming fight with Thiago Alves, his claim that he is not ducking Jon Fitch, and his opinion of women competing in MMA here:

What You May Have Missed Last Night

If you fast forwarded between UFC fights last night, you missed out on some real treats! More below.

What do you get if you combine the OC, Karate Kid, Rocky, and Fight Club?

Never Back Down. This movie is described thusly on IMDB:

At his new high school, a rebellious teen (Faris) is lured into an underground fight club, where he finds a mentor in a mixed martial arts veteran (Hounsou).

The trailer I saw last night includes an Ed Norton lookalike, a training montage involving a black man and a white man running with an oceanic backdrop, and lots of exotic kicking. How much you want to bet the white man wins the race in the end, while learning invaluable lessons along the way?

Those of us watching the UFC last night were also treated to a "sneak peek" of the new Rambo, which involved Rambo urging his male and female companions to run, setting up a claymore mine and then running like hell. The bad guys (looking very North Vietnamese but actually Burmese) uncover the claymore at the last second before it explodes, destroying half the jungle (apparently one of those nucular claymores.)

Thankfully, Rambo has the necessary footspeed to outrun the explosion, just like Ahnuld way back in Predator. I couldn't quite hear any maniacal, otherworldly laughter echoing through the jungle, because I was singing along to the soundtrack, Rob Zombie's classic "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor".

Anyhoo, upshot is, I'm disappointed that Rambo is stealing from other 80s action movies besides his own. I was kind of hoping the new Rambo movie would just be a bunch of clips from the previous Rambo movies thrown together, almost like Gus Van Sant's shot for shot remake of Psycho, but different.

UFC Should Let Ortiz Go

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz (15-5-1) is set to fight rising contender Lyoto Machida (12-0) at UFC 85 in May, a fight which Ortiz has suggested may be his last in the UFC.

“I’m just looking to get my final fight over with the UFC,” Ortiz told Sirius’ Fight Network Radio on Monday, citing money as the bone of contention with Zuffa, LLC, the company that owns UFC. Ortiz has one fight remaining on his contract, which the bout with Machida will satisfy.

The UFC typically re-signs fighters prior to them fighting the last fight on their contracts. However, months of contract negotiations failing to produce a new deal has left Ortiz out of the Octagon since a July 7, 2007 fight with Rashad Evans (11-0-1), which ended in a disappointing draw. It should be noted that Ortiz would likely have won that fight, had he not been docked points for grabbing the fence during an Evans attempted takedown.

Ortiz was expecting a rematch with Evans to be his final fight. He’ll now look to hit the free-agent market, come May.

“(The UFC) said I wasn’t worth the money,” Ortiz said. “I was worth no more than what I’m getting paid now, and I’m not a commodity to them anymore. I’m not as viable to them anymore. That was a sign of disrespect.”

There is no doubt Ortiz has been a huge commodity to the UFC in the past for myriad reasons:

• Ortiz has headlined 17 of his 20 UFC appearances, as Fight Network Radio pointed out.
• He held the UFC LHW belt for three and a half years, still the longest LHW championship reign in the promotion’s history. He first won the vacant title with a unanimous decision victory over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 25 (April 2000). He then defended his title five times, defeating Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Ken Shamrock. He then lost the title to Randy Couture at UFC 44 (September 2003) via unanimous decision, followed by a second loss (his only back-to-back losses) to Chuck Liddell via a second-round TKO at UFC 47.
• Ortiz remains one of the UFC’s largest draws. His rematch against Liddell at UFC 66 (December 2006) is the largest UFC pay-per-view to date and the largest in paid attendance in North America, with 12,191 fans and $5,397,300 in ticket sales.

But at 33 years old, Ortiz seems to be relatively stagnant while many of his fellow competitors are showing marked signs of improvement.

Since returning to the UFC in April 2006, Ortiz has posted a decent 3-1-1 record, including a split decision win over Forrest Griffin, two TKO beat-downs over aging hall-of-famer Ken Shamrock, a late-third-round TKO loss to the then-Champion Chuck Liddell and a draw to Rashad Evans. Take the 44-year-old has-been out of the equation, and Ortiz’s record is 1-1-1, and even his win is arguable.

Griffin, who is next in line for a title shot against Champion Rampage Jackson, has since bounced back from the close loss to Ortiz, going 3-1, including a third-round submission victory over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who at the time was considered the #1 or #2 LHW in the world.

Even Liddell, who has struggled at 1-2 since stopping Ortiz, has shown that old dogs can in fact learn new tricks in his recent win over Wanderlei Silva. The three-round slugfest, one of the best fights of 2007, showed a hungry Chuck Liddell (at 38) in significantly better shape than his two previous fights, with a solid chin willing to incorporate a spinning high kick and spinning back fist into his bag of tricks.

But what’s the most devastating to Ortiz’s fading hopes of a title shot is the increase in the UFC LHW talent pool. When Ortiz was granted a title shot last, in December 2006, the LHW division was rich in rising talent, but lacked real top contenders. Fighters like Forrest Griffin, Keith Jardine and Rashad Evans were no where near ready for a title shot. Liddell was fearless and largely considered unstoppable. The UFC was forced to sign fighters who Liddell had lost to in his early years so as to avenge his losses and prove once and for all that he was the greatest champion alive. So it was with Jeremy Horn, and so it was supposed to have been with Rampage Jackson…until Liddell lost. But back in December 2006, Ortiz was the only real option for a title shot—and a good option it was.

But those days are long gone now. Since that time, the UFC has signed an enormous stable of LHW talent, including former PRIDE LHW Champion Wanderlei Silva, Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson, former PRIDE LHW and current MW Champion Dan Henderson, Thiago Silva, Lyoto Machida, Houston Alexander and Rameau Sokoudjou. Two of these fighters have already challenged for the belt (one of them won it), and four of the six remaining fighters are capable, talent-wise, of immediately challenging for it. Only Alexander and Sokoudjou have a bit more room to grow before they are ready.

Plus during this same time, several fighters who were seen as “up-and-coming” in December 2006 are now legitimate contenders in their own rights. Forrest Griffin, Keith Jardine and Rashad Evans are all either worthy of a title shot or one fight away, and Matt Hamill and Stephan Bonner are closing in on that goal by showing marked improvement with every fight.

During this same time, the only LHW fighters that the UFC has lost have been Babalu Sobral (due to unsportsmanlike behavior inside the cage) and Ken Shamrock (due to retirement), neither of whom will be missed.

So if Ortiz wants to leave the UFC for more money, it’s safe to say the UFC would not miss him either. In fact, it might actually benefit both parties. Consider:

• Competitor MMA leagues, like M-1 Global, HDNet Fights, EliteXC and Strikeforce, have only a few top contenders in any division who are truly worthy of challenging for the belt. HDNet Fights lists just four 205 lb. fighters on its website, while EliteXC lists only Murilo “Ninja” Rua and Strikeforce lists only Bobby Southworth. M-1 Global lists only one fighter regardless of weight class on its website: its HW posterboy, Fedor Emelianenko. (By comparison, the UFC lists 50 LHWs, although by our count, only about 34 have fought in the Octagon in the past year.) These competitor leagues would be fools not to scoop up Ortiz, should he leave the UFC.
• Should Ortiz leave the UFC and challenge for a belt in a competitor league—and win—not only would Ortiz be happy, but the UFC would be thrilled as well, because it just shows how stuffed to the gills with talent the organization truly is. How better to demonstrate that the UFC is superior when its throw-aways are kicking your ass?

The bottom line: if Ortiz wants to go, the UFC should show him the door. It’s a great way to save about $210,000 per fight, which it can then re-allocate to a fighter(s) who’s truly next in line.

SteelSkins UFC Power Rankings

It’s been two months since our last Power Rankings. Let’s see how things have changed.

Heavyweights

Randy Couture’s out, so we need a new Heavyweight Champion. While we’d love to see Arlovski in the mix somewhere (hopefully vs. Gonzaga one day soon), contract disputes have sidelined him for a while now, making his future outlook a little hazy. We’ve dropped him in the rankings accordingly, and since Gonzaga’s last fight was a loss (to Couture), we can’t expect him to hold the #1 Contender spot, now can we?

It only makes sense to give the #1 and #2 spots to former champ Tim Sylvia and “Minotauro” Nogueira—both of whom are coming off wins to “The Truth” and “The Texas Crazy Horse,” respectively. Sylvia and Nogueira will do battle on Super Bowl weekend, February 2, 2008 for an Interim Heavyweight Title. They deserve their spots, although thanks to a near knockout at the hands of Herring in his UFC debut, Nogueira takes the #2 spot, rather than the #1, contrary to what most of the rest of the world seems to rank him.

If you ask us about Cheick Kongo, we feel the giant Frenchman is still two wins away from a title shot, and he’ll get his chance against Heath Herring at UFC 82, assuming Hearing accepts the rumored bout. Eddie Sanchez is also climbing the ranks with a recent win over Soa Palalei, but he has far to go before he’ll see a title bout.

This month, we unfortunately had to drop Jake O’Brien off the list, due to the 12 months that have passed since his last UFC fight. We know he’s battling back from a potentially career-ending injury, and we wish him the best of luck. While Tom Murphy, who hasn’t fought in 22 months, is still on the list, this is because he was supposed to fight O’Brien, who had to pull out with an injury. If we don’t hear of any rumored bouts for Murphy in the next month or so, he’ll drop off the list once again, making room for Antoni Hardonk. In the meantime, O’Brien’s absence leaves room for Justin “The Insane 1” McCully to make his first appearance into the Top 15.

Upcoming Heavyweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum at UFC 80 (Jan. 19) – We favor Gonzaga by decision.
• #17 Antoni Hardonk vs. #21 Colin Robinson at UFC 80 – We’re going with the underdog via TKO ground and pound.
• Nogueira vs. Sylvia at UFC 81 (Feb. 2) – We’re going with the former champ, hands down, by decision.
• Former champ Frank Mir vs. UFC newcomer and former big-time wrestling star Brock Lesnar at UFC 81 – This is the toughest call of the lot in our eyes, as we don’t know what to expect from Lesnar. We go with Mir by decision.
• Kongo vs. Herring at UFC 82 (Mar. 1) – We’d love to see the Crazy Horse take this one, but chances are Kongo will come in in better shape and avoid the take down. We’re picking Kongo by TKO (strikes) in the 3^rd round.

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Light Heavyweights

Last time we updated the Power Rankings, we moved Dan Henderson to Middleweight to challenge Champion Anderson Silva for the belt. Sticking with SteelSkins’ tradition of ranking a fighter in just one weight class at a time, he was removed from the LHW Power Rankings.

This month sees Michael Bisping do the same thing. His absence from the LHW Top 15 moves everyone below him up one spot (he was ranked #10 last time), and it introduces Wilson Gouveia to the mix, whose 3-1 record inside the Octagon includes back-to-back-to-back wins over Carmelo Marrero, Seth Petruzelli and Wes Combs, with his only UFC loss at the hands of the #1 Contender, Keith Jardine.

At UFC 79 in December, we watched Chuck Liddell defeat Wanderlei Silva in an absolute slugfest. Silva’s stamina and chin deserves consideration here, which is why we’re not dropping him, despite back-to-back-to-back losses to top talent. Plus, Tito Ortiz’s prolonged contract dispute isn’t helping his case for moving up in the rankings. If he wins his next fight, we see a strong case for him moving past Rashad Evans in the rankings, based both on Silva’s excitability and Evans’ inability to finish.

Although once ranked #4 in the SteelSkins Power Rankings, months of inactivity coupled with the introduction of numerous PRIDE veterans has dropped Jason Lambert considerably. Luckily for him, a fight with Wilson Gouveia for UFC 80 this month has been scheduled. A loss could drop him out of the Top 15 entirely. Unfortunately a win won’t do much to push him up, considering the amazing pool of talent ahead of him. So much for missed opportunities.

Lyoto Machida’s win over highly regarded UFC newcomer Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou catapults him past both Shogun and Thiago Silva, who recently halted Houston Alexander’s title hopes. Machida is extremely dangerous and has been calling out Chuck Liddell—a fight we’d hate to see happen, based on both fighters being counter-punchers. Machida should instead be asking for Tito Ortiz or Rashad Evans, in our eyes. Rumor has it, he just might get Ortiz at UFC 84 in May. Otherwise, Ortiz might be pitted up against Shogun Rua.

Upcoming Light Heavyweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Lambert vs. Gouleia at UFC 80 (Jan. 19) – This is a tough fight to call, but we’re going with the underdog by submission in the 3^rd round.
• #24 Alessio Sakara vs. #25 UFC newcomer James Lee at UFC 80, after which Sakara will drop to MW no matter the outcome, which we agree is in his best interests – Our pick is Sakara via decision.
• #19 David Heath vs. #22 Tomasz Drwal at UFC 81 (Feb. 2) – Drwal will hand Heath his third straight loss, via KO in the 2^nd round.
• Houston Alexander vs. #17 James Irvin at UFC 83 (Mar. 8) – Alexander wins the slugfest late in the 1^st round via TKO (strikes).
• Hamill vs. Bonnar at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – A great matchup! Unfortunately for Bonnar, who we like to watch fight, we don’t see him getting past Hamill, who will win by decision.
• Shogun Rua vs. TBD at UFC 84 (April 19)
• Ortiz vs. Machida at UFC 84 (April 19) – If this rumored fight happens, we see Machida eeking out a win via decision.
• Champion Rampage Jackson will fight Forrest Griffin after coaching TUF7 (currently unscheduled) – Call us crazy, but we’re going with the underdog here, by decision in five rounds.

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Middleweights

A lot of action is planned in the Middleweight division in the next few months, which is good because we’ve seen nearly no movement in the Middleweight Top 15 for quite some time.

In the months ahead, we’ll see how a three-year layoff from the sport will affect Ricardo Almeida, who inked a 6-fight deal with the UFC. Almeida is a PRIDE and UFC veteran and MW King of Pancrase, with wins over Nate Marquardt and WW Ryo Chonan.

Over the past two months, we saw #18 Dean Lister defeat #34 Jordan Radev (big surprise) at UFC 79. We also welcome Michael Bisping to the Middleweight Power Rankings, thanks to his drop in weight.

With Martin Kampmann’s prolonged knee injury and no mention of his return any time soon, he’s dropping quickly from his one-time #4 status. We hope he returns soon, because his division needs the depth.

Upcoming Middleweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Kendall Grove vs. #25 Jorge Rivera at UFC 80 (Jan. 19) – Grove is going to wipe the floor with the old timer, winning by submission in the early 2^nd round.
• Nate Marquardt vs. Jeremy Horn, who is filling in for an injured Thales Leites, at UFC 81 (Feb. 2) – This is going to be a great fight, and we hope Horn pulls it off. That said, our money is on Marquardt by decision.
• Richardo Almeida vs. #21 Alan Belcher at UFC 81 – The UFC isn’t doing Almeida any favors by re-introducing him to the UFC with Alan Belcher. We say Belcher submits him in the 2^nd round.
• #24 Patrick Cote vs. #28 Drew McFedries at UFC 81 – McFedries is going to wish his severe staph infection would have sidelined him even longer. Cote wins this slugfest in the 3^rd round via TKO (strikes)
• Terry Martin vs. #23 Marvin Eastman at UFC 81 – Eastman’s welcome to the MW division will be a rude one. Martin by decision.
• Champ Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson at UFC 82 to unify the UFC and PRIDE MW titles (Mar. 1) – Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but we think Hendo has a shot at the upset. Smart money says otherwise. Bet on the champ, but not until the extra innings. Silva by TKO (strikes) in the 4^th.
• Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner at UFC 82 – Man, we like Tanner, but Okami is a beast at 185. That said, we refuse to bet against the old man. Tanner by submission in round 3.
• Former Champ Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter at UFC 83 (Mar. 8) – Another incredibly tough fight to call. If Franklin gets taken down, it could be over. He won’t, winning by decision.
• Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy at UFC 83 – Yawn. McCarthy’s only hope is he’s a submission wizard. Bisping KO’s him in the 2^nd round.
• Jason MacDonald vs. TBD at UFC 84.

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Welterweights

The #1 and #2 WW Contenders, GSP and Matt Hughes, fought their rubber match in late December at UFC 79 for the Interim WW title (GSP was filling in for an injured Champion Matt Serra). GSP won in convincing fashion to earn himself a unification bout with the Champ, which should take place this April in GSP’s own backyard, Montreal, Canada. The loss knocks Hughes down several spots, and it’s anyone’s guess where he’ll go from here (although with a GSP win over Serra, Hughes will most likely fight “The Terror” in a grudge match).

UFC 79 also saw #21 Roan Carniero defeating #22 Tony DeSouza via TKO (strikes) in the 2^nd round. We’ve also removed Hayato “Mach” Sakurai from the rankings (apparently that deal fell through).

Additionally, the TUF 6 Finale on December 8 featured a crap ton of WW action, including:

• Finalist Mac Danzig defeated #16 Tommy Speer via rear naked choke in the very 1^st round (Danzig will now drop to his natural weight, 155, where we rank him at #17—we had him at #13 among WWs).
• #20 Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver defeated #35 Jared Rollins via TKO (strikes).
• #18 George Sotiropoulos defeated #44 Billy Miles via rear naked choke.
• #29 Ben Saunders defeated #41 Dan Barrera via unanimous decision.
• #37 Troy “Rude Boy” Mandaloniz TKO’d #39 Richie Hightower (strikes) in a terrific slugfest.
• #30 Matt Arroyo defeated #38 John Kolosci via arm bar.
• #33 Roman Mitichyan defeated #47 Dorian Price via ankle lock.
• UFC veteran #23 Jonathan Goulet defeated newby #42 Paul Georgieff via rear naked choke.

Upcoming Welterweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• Marcus Davis vs. #25 Jess Liaudin at UFC 80 (Jan. 19) – Davis will continue his climb up the WW ranks with a late 1^st round submission.
• #24 Paul Taylor vs. #34 Paul Kelly at UFC 80 – The Battle of the Pauls will end with a Paul Taylor TKO (strikes) in the 2^nd round.
• Mike Swick makes his WW debut vs. Josh Burkman at Fight Night 12 (Jan. 23) – This is going to be a battle, and Burkman could nail it with a submission, but we see Swick taking this fight in a decision.
• Chris Lytle welcomes UFC newcomer #26 Kyle Bradley to the UFC at UFC 81 (Feb. 2) – Lytle KO anybody?
• Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono at UFC 82 (March 1) – We see no way for Gono to win this fight. Fitch via submission in the early 2^nd round.
• Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett at UFC 82 – Another tough fight, but Kos will take him via submission in the early 3^rd round.
• Luke Cummo vs. #17 Luigi Fioravanti at UFC 82 – Cummo is going to sink in a guillotine choke late in the 2^nd round.
• #16 Tommy Spear vs. #40 Anthony Johnson at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – Tommy Spear will ground and pound his way into a TKO (strikes) victory in the early 2^nd round.
• Champ Matt Serra vs. GSP at UFC 84 (April 19) – GSP will regain his title in a great fight. Watch for it in the 3^rd or 4^th round.
• Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves at UFC 84 – So much for trying to dodge tough competition in hopes for a title shot. Karo will have his hands full with the striker. We see an upset here, with Alves winning by decision.
• The extremely dangerous BJJ black belt (but low ranked because of his 5-3 record and history of backing out of fights due to training injuries) #46 Jeff Joslin vs. TBD at UFC 84.

Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Lightweights

Sean Sherk’s steroid appeal fell on deaf ears, which strips him of his title; however, his suspension was cut in half from one year to six months. Because of this reduction in time, he has not been bumped entirely from the UFC Power Rankings, unlike his ‘roid buddy, Hermes Franca.

In the meantime, the #1 and #2 LW Contenders, B.J. Penn and Joe “Daddy” Stevenson, respectively, will fight on January 19 for the Interim LW Belt. The winner will likely fight Sherk, upon his return.

In other LW action, crowd favorite Roger Huerta defeated Clay Guida in one of the best fights of the year at the TUF 6 Finale. Despite Guida’s 2-3 UFC record (which SteelSkins believes should be 3-2, as he may have been robbed in his split decision loss to Tyson Griffin), we hope to see Guida continue to fight in the UFC, and we’re sure he will. In the slugfest with Huerta, Guida was actually winning after two rounds, until Huerta sunk in the rear naked choke.

We also saw #24 Rich Clementi defeat the foul-mouthed pity-party-craving Melvin Guillard via rear naked choke in the very 1^st round at UFC 79. SteelSkins normally doesn’t knock a fighter, but Guillard has no class and needs to seek action elsewhere until he can learn some.

TUF 5 Runner-Up #25 Manny Gamburyan also submitted #47 Nate Mohr via heal hook at UFC 79, and #39 Mark Bocek upset Doug Evans via unanimous decision, dropping Evans to #43.

Upcoming Welterweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:

• B.J. Penn vs. Joe Stevenson at UFC 80 (Jan. 19) – If Penn shows up in shape, this fight is likely his; however, if he takes this fight light, or if this fight goes into the 4^th or 5^th round, we can see Stevenson pulling off the upset. Our money is on Penn to submit Stevenson in the 3^rd round.
• #20 Sam Stout vs. #32 Per Eklund (filling in for Terry Etim) at UFC 80 – We don’t know much about UFC newcomer Per Eklund, but we know Stout’s punching power ain’t nuttin’ to mess with. KO in the 3^rd round, Stout.
• The long-awaited premier of 6’6” lightweight #44 Corey Hill vs. #55 Joe Veres at Fight Night 12 (Jan. 23) – Something tells us Hill won’t disappoint. Submission victory in the 2^nd round.
• Thiago Tavares vs. #53 Michihiro Omigawa at Fight Night 12 – Thiago Tavares will easily submit Omigawa in the 1^st round.
• Kurt Pellegrino vs. #31 Alberto Crane at Fight Night 12 – We like Pellegrino’s chances vs. the relatively unknown Crane. Batman wins by submission in the 2^nd round.
• TUF 5 Winner #18 Nate Diaz vs. #21 Alvin Robinson at Fight Night 12 – Robinson is actually one inch taller than the lanky Diaz, so this should be a good fight. Still though, Diaz will follow his big brother’s advice: “Fuck him up, and don’t be a bitch.” Diaz via submission in the 2^nd round.
• #22 Jeremy Stephens vs. #30 Cole Miller at Fight Night 12 – The even lankier Miller will likely have his hands full vs. the “Little Heathen.” Stephens wins by TKO (strikes) in the early 3^rd round.
• #26 Dennis Siver vs. #29 Gray Maynard at Fight Night 12 – We see Maynard pulling off the upset via decision.
• #33 Matt Wiman vs. #40 Justin Buchholz at Fight Night 12 – While few people will actually care to see this fight, Wiman will win by decision.
• Tyson Griffin vs. #16 Gleison Tibau at UFC 81 (Feb. 2) – This is a great match-up! Tibau is riding a 4-fight win streak with his only UFC loss coming against Nick Diaz. But we see Griffin eeking out another victory with yet another decision.
• #38 Rob Emerson vs. #42 Keita Nakamura at UFC 81 – The hood-rat Emerson deserves to be in jail for his involvement with the rich, pretty-boy SoCal gang, the Lords of South County. We hope to see him lose badly to Nakamura, which is wear our money is. We don’t care how it happens.
• #23 Jorge Gurgel vs. #35 John Halverson at UFC 82 (Mar. 1) – The Ohio native will win in front of his home crowd. Gurgel by submission mid-way through the 3^rd round.
• Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – This is a great match-up for Florian, but we think Lauzon is still a little too green to be challenging such an experienced fighter. Florian will win by submission in the 2^nd round, set up by an intense ground and pound.
• Spencer Fisher vs. Marcus Aurelio at Fight Night 13 – Another great match-up. Fisher will look to keep this fight standing, but Aurelio could surprise him. Safe money says Fisher rebounds from his one-sided loss to Frankie Edgar and survives to win a decision.
• Former Champ Sean Sherk vs. the winner of Penn/Stevenson at UFC 84 or 85.

Your Top 15 Contenders are: