Does Yushin deserve a shot?

Eric and I went back and forth a little over this at MMARatings, but for some reason the comment button stopped working for me there. Eric seems to put a lot of importance on Yushin "deserving" a shot. I think he's the most deserving. I'm not sure those are different criteria.
Yushin Okami is widely perceived as a boring fighter. He's got 10 decision wins and 12 stoppages, as well as one win via DQ, notably over Anderson Silva. The two fighters Eric asked me about, presumably as being more deserving than Yushin, are Michael Bisping and Demian Maia. Also, wins over Mike Swick and Jason MacDonald don't mean much. I'd presume that goes for all three fighters.
Now Bisping has less than a handful of fights at 185lbs. He beat Chris Leben, Jason Day, and Charles McCarthy at 185. He's basically fought a long string of gatekeepers in my estimation since rising out of the regional MMA circuit. I've recently upgraded my estimation of Bisping, but in my book he's still a level below Yushin. If you look at his recent record it's good, 7-1 in the UFC if you count the horrific decision win over Matt Hamill and the nearly as horrific loss to Rashad Evans. As I was told that Yushin would have to beat someone of a Rich Franklin or Dan Henderson level, and neither of them is a middleweight anymore, it's a wonder who he's supposed to fight. I pointed out that he could fight Marquardt for a #1 contender spot, which Thales Leites didn't have to get through. Anyhow, it's irrelevant, as the Leites fight is merely a rumor at the moment.
Maia has very little record to base any estimation on. He's 4-0 in the UFC with wins over Nate Quarry, Ed Herman, and Ryan Jensen, as long as Jason MacDonald doesn't seem to count, so 3 and 0, I guess.
Yushin Okami is 7-1 with a decision loss to Rich Franklin in the ME at 72. He's beaten everyone in front of him other than Ace, which is something a lot of guys can say.
Leites, by the way, is 6-1 in the UFC with a loss in his debut to Martin Kampmann, and wins over Drew McFedries, Pete Sell, Floyd Sword, and an absolute fucking abortion of a penalty decision "win" over Nate Marquardt. Yes, the rules are the rules blah blah blah it still sucked. But a win is a win, that's why Yushin has a win over who?
While looking closer at Leites for this entry, I lost some of my doubt about him. Outside of the pool of guys who already had a shot at the Spider (Dan Henderson and Nate the Great are two guys I'd like to see get rematches), Leites and Yushin are the two most deserving. As a fan I'd say Yushin, but honestly I can't say I'd be pissed for Leites. This isn't boxing, where you have champs who only take title shots against the biggest money draw. Otherwise Gabe Gonzaga would never have been in there with Randy. This is MMA, where we should get to see the best fighters fight. If that's the case, then we get Yushin-Silva, or Leites-Silva, with the guy on the out getting a #1 contender fight. So how about, if the Leites-Silva fight actually happens, the Yushin fights Bisping for a contender's spot? Or vice versa. Seems fair. Worry about Maia next summer.

Here's the records, by the way:

Okami

Win Dean Lister
Win Evan Tanner
Win Jason MacDonald
Loss Rich Franklin
Win Mike Swick
Win Rory Singer
Win Kalib Starnes
Win Alan Belcher
Win Izuru Takeuchi
Win Pang Ji Won
Loss Jake Shields
Win Anderson Silva
Win Myun Joo Lee
Win Damien Riccio
Win Nick Thompson
Win Brian Foster
Win Eiji Ishikawa
Loss Falaniko Vitale
Win Ryuta Sakurai
Win Kousei Kubota
Loss Amar Suloev
Win Kazuhiro Hanada
Win Hidehiko Hasegawa
Win Hikaru Sato
Win Sen Nakadai
Win Steve White
Win Kyosuke Sasaki

Maia

Win Nate Quarry
Win Jason MacDonald
Win Ed Herman
Win Ryan Jensen
Win Ryan Stout
Win Fabio Nascimento
Win Gustavo Machado
Win Vitelmo Kubis Bandeira
Win Lukas Chlewicki

Bisping

Win Chris Leben
Win Jason Day
Win Charles McCarthy
Loss Rashad Evans
Win Matt Hamill
Win Elvis Sinosic
Win Eric Schafer
Win Josh Haynes
Win Ross Pointon
Win Jakob Lovstad
Win Miika Mehmet
Win Alex Cook
Win Dave Radford
Win Mark Epstein
Win Andy Bridges
Win Mark Epstein
Win John Weir
Win Steve Mathews

Thales Leites

Win Drew McFedries
Win Nate Marquardt
Win Ryan Jensen
Win Floyd Sword
Win Pete Sell
Loss Martin Kampmann
Win Jose Landi-Jons
Win Osami Shibuya
Win Jason Guida
Win Ronald Jhun
Win Gustavo Machado
Win Adam Roland
Win Lucio Linhares
Win Flavio Luiz Moura
Win Felipe Arinelli

Insert Cliche Here

I was pondering the three top fights on last night's card, and trying to come up with an appropriate cliche. I thought of longshots, David v. Goliath, sniping womp rats, and those adorable south Pacific penguins leaping from frothy seas up to seemingly unreachable rocky shores. They're all stupid. Rampage, Rashad and Mir simply won last night, and won when most people thought they couldn't.
Rampage beat his demons and troubles, and the apparition of loss standing in front of him, with a measure of serenity alongside his ferocious hand. The extra blows while being held by the ref were beyond the pale, in my book. His win is undeniable. While he should be censured for his extracirricular activity, it's nothing more than we've seen in the past. On the flip side, is Wanderlei done? I think he deserves a chance to prove he can still fight. For god's sake give him someone with short arms next time, though. What about Rousimar Palhares?
Rashad Evans did what I thought he would do, but many thought he couldn't. He looked tiny against Griffin, and was clearly losing a close fight til the third round. Rashad's ground and pound was impressive and powerful, and he avoided Forrest's dangerous sub game with seeming ease. Congratulations to Evans, winner of the 2nd TUF season, and new light heavyweight UFC Champion.
Frank Mir did something simply amazing last night, finishing the unfinishable, climbing the unclimbable peak. Stopping Big Nog, in the way he did, blew my mind. I picked Nog to win because I couldn't come up with a reason he would lose. I should have seen his coach. "Striking Unlimited" has been in the media as much as Mir leading up to the fight. For some reason that made no impact on me. I'd like to say two things about this fight: Lesnar-Mir 2 is now officially exciting, and Couture-Nogueira looks like it must happen. Congratulations to Frank Mir on evolving, growing, and most of all overcoming his travails. You are the man.
Overall the card was outstanding. The three main fights were inspiring. The undercards they featured were interesting, except for Hammill-Andy. As MMA Journalist put it: "Reese Andy vs. Matt Hamill is the reason why watching wrestlers box makes me nauseous." There were only two decisions on the card (UFC loves finishes). Yushin won a unanimous D over Dean Lister, and predictably the MMA world is yelling "Yushin is a boring fighter!" Of course Lister falling on his ass trying to get it to the ground the whole fight meant nothing to them. Yushin and Machida are basically in the same boat...they keep winning, and their odds of getting a title shot get no closer. Maybe an "exciting" win over Thiago Silva will get Lyoto his shot, but there's little that Yushin can do.
Pics at NBC Sports

Kevin Burns

So Burns was getting ready to leave for the fight, running late. Grabbed his bag, and his keys, and quickly patted down his pockets while scanning the room to see if he'd forgotten anything. Satisfied, or more likely out of time, he runs to the door. As he grabs the handle, his phone rings.
He pauses for a second, and with a "Let the machine get it", shrug, heads out. As the door slams, his answering machine clicks on.
"Hey baby!" says the machine "You've reached the fiiiire! It ain't gonna burn if you leave a message!" The beep sounds, and a voice comes through.
"Hey, Kevin, it's Chuck Liddell. Just wanted to say, don't throw any fucking lazy left hands. It really, really hurts. Okay, that's it, good luck tonight, later."

TUF thought

you know, a lot of people have wondered what TUF might need to bring it to a higher level, or reclaim what it has lost, viership-wise, in the wake of Griffin-Bonnar's peak. I'd say: making the finale a 5 round fight for the "TUF belt" would add a lot to the final. Who wouldn't have wanted a couple extras every final? I know it wouldn't have made a difference in say Diaz-Gamburyan, Haynes-Bisping or Speer-Danzig, but Lytle-Serra? Different fight entirely. Rashad Evans? Who knows how his fight against Imes ends in rounds 4 and 5?
While it wouldn't be the solution for the fighters during the season, it makes the finale bigger, and the prize bigger as well.
Just a thought.

yet another post on junie browning

fuck this kid pisses me off. the most annoying part is the guy showed extreme improvement against kaplan. either that or kaplan sucks more than I thought.
during the broadcast of the show i railed against Dana White's hypocrisy in portraying himself as somehow powerless to get browning off the show, but i realize i was snookered. he doesn't care about the Code he seemed to imply in previous "do you want to be a fucking fighter" speeches. He's a character. Dana White is basically The Promoter character now. he doesn't make decisions. Lorenzo Fertittas makes the decisions. look at the Fitch situation. The Fitch Sitch? White blustered and yelled. Fitch, confused, walked out. The Businessman, Lorenzo, stepped in. The Promoter went on a plane, talked shit, and barked for the show.
Who's in charge? Not Dana White. The way Junie was treated on the show proves that.

Frank Mir rambles about TUF, lays down some info

Raw Vegas Video
Always remember: You're watching a finished, edited product.

Fight for many different Troop Night

Either Jim Miller can't strike or Matt Wiman is the toughest SOB I've ever seen. Boy can that kid take some punches. Jim Miller is pretty impressive, too. Boy those guys were exhausted as fuck. I like Miller urging the viewers to donate. If I wasn't broke as a hobo right now I'd totally donate. I already have, last year. That's something I guess.
God damn I hope that Yoshida guy digs deep into his Asian Drew Fickett soul and finds a way to snag a choke on Josh Koskcheck. I really, really would like to see that guy leave the UFC.
Wow Tim Credeur came out looking tough. Disjointed first round, but a nice job by Credeur working his game plan, throwing Francas and Lebens all over the place. I loved the fake right hand to leg kick. Two or three of those in a row and a guy can be knocked out.
Handy!
Man this is some terrible standup. Credeur's standup is effective in this fight, but ugly as shit. On the ground, with Longran or whatever his name is on his back, they were at pretty much a standstill. On the feet, Credeur's the only guy with a clue. Well, half a clue.
That half a clue was enough to stop the fight. David Terrell saw a familiar sight: an ugly-ass guy beating the shit out of a pretty boy in his camp. At least this time it was one of his students, not himself, being beaten to a pulp. RIP Evan Tanner.
They're showing a "sneak peek" of Valkyrie, the movie about the really shitty assassination attempt by a German colonel who is being portrayed by a dirty Scientologist.
Looks like the other guy told Miragliotta he was done in the corner. Wonder if he'll get another shot at the UFC? They don't like guys who quit.
Got bored of blogging. Good event. Fuck Josh Koscheck. Fuck refs who don't understand grappling. Fuck Goulet's wandering eye, wander on outta the UFC.

Leites to fight the Spider for MW belt?

MMAFrenzy reports Dana White is giving Thales Leites a title shot against Anderson Silva. I wasn't able to dig up more than that right off the bat.
Apparently Yushin Okami is either still injured, or on the outs with the UFC. I can understand why the UFC would not want Okami...you go from one non-english speaking champ to another, if Yushin finds some way to win. Also, Okami has a style some people think is boring. I like him myself. I bet we probably see him one or two more times on undercards and then he's out.

Silva off to Japan

Bigfoot is heading to the land of the Rising Sun to do battle in Sengouku. Bloody Elbow opines that:

Its just not fair to Silva to ask that he sit out a year when everyone agrees that the CSAC was screwing up left and right when they suspended him.

Of course, there's another angle on this, that Silva's management had knowledge of how screwed up the Commission was, and knew they had little leverage even if the evidence against Silva was strong, given the shitstorm that was about to hit them in re Armando Garcia. I haven't seen any of the testing evidence regarding Silva, and the assertions of innocence are just that, assertions. He DID have a hearing, and he DID agree to be bound by the CSAC's decisions by acquiring a fighter's license in California. However fucked up the commission may be, they're still the governing body.
All that said, I'm still on Silva's side in this. I hope he can get a few fights in Japan, serve out his CA suspension, face the music, and pay a fine like Vitor did. Silva's an excellent fighter, and I'd love to see him fighting a variety of heavyweights, either in the UFC or in Affliction.
Also, what's with his giant-face? Is it some kind of (er) affliction? Most dudes with that face are between 8' to 15' tall. He's big, at 6'3", but not massive like an NBA center.

Tito Ortiz bets on fights?

I was listening to the interview Luke Thomas did with the writer from the Atlantic who did the piece on Rampage. Partway through it the guys says Ortiz is a "guy who bets on fights". It's kind of a throwaway line, but whoa...bets on whose fights? Right at the 21:35 mark of the interview. Long-ass interview by the way.
I know MMA isn't baseball, but is this something that could be an issue?

Manny Tapia talks loss

Here's "the Mangler" talking about his stoppage loss to Miguel Torres tonight.
I admire his attitude, especially his final comment (I didn't quit! They stopped it!). But Torres was definitely the better man tonight, and he never looked in trouble against Tapia.
What's going on with guys not going to their advantage these days? It seems like there's a lot of guys with advantages on the ground not taking it there. Is there some shit going on with promoters wanting to keep it standing? Of course, Fabiano-Tamura tonight was a total ground-fest (I enjoyed it a lot) so that makes the above point retarded.
You know, I'm going to replace the word "retarded" with "junie" from now on. It's not fair to retarded people, who have to struggle and strive, to put them behind that piece of shit. So my above point is totally junie. Sorry retards, I'm on your side, baby.

TUF shit

Junie's gone, and Dana White is so completely full of shit it boggles the mind.
I'm pissed off that A) I had to listen to Junie whine for hours and B) I had to hurt my brain trying to follow Dana's insane "logic" regarding that hillbilly retard. I'm amazed that Efraim gave Junie as much time as he did. The guy is a heartless, no-endurance, zero-talent clown. Enough of that guy. He is now in the TUF Ass-clown Hall of Fame, along with Marlon Sims, Gabe Ruediger, and a glittering cast.
Vinny and Krystof's fight was interesting while it lasted. I think Vinny will tear through Ryan Bader. Bader has little to offer at this point in his career. Nover vs. Efraim should be excellent, and each seems like a worthy addition to the UFC's lightweight division.

FGP RANKINGS: Post-WEC Featherweights

Well shit. My #1 and #3 fighters just went at it for 2.95 rounds, and Tamura succumbed to a head-and-arm choke with 15 seconds or so to go. While it will take smarter men than me to determine if Waggney's just that good or Akitoshi's overrated, i gotta say I loved Waggney's determination in that fight to keep it exactly where he wanted it, and the finish was grueling.
I decided that MTB's win over Urijah Faber earns him my top spot. I did a little more reading on Hioki, the guy who kind of defaulted his way to my #1 spot, and I can't justify putting him at the top. Waggney definitely earned himself a shot in my book.
Next up, bantamweights! Even tinier fists of fury!

1. Mike Thomas Brown


2. Wagnney Fabiano


3. Hatsu Hioki


4. Rafael Assuncao


5. Urijah "The California Kid" Faber


6. Masakazu "Ashikan Judan" Imanari


7. Akitoshi "Ironman" Tamura


8. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto


9. Takeshi "Lion" Inoue


10. Hideki Kadowaki


11. Wilson Reis


12. Rumina "Moon Wolf" Sato


13. Antonio "Pato" Carvalho


14. Leonard Garcia


15. Jens "Lil Evil" Pulver


16. Rani Yahya


17. Bao Quach