Boxing vs MMA at it again
Date: 2010-03-14 00:00:00
Source: http://www.411mania.com/MMA/columns/132660/Cardio-...
Submitted By: MMAFightsDump
The MMA vs. boxing argument has come to the forefront again and I'm here to show why it's no contest as to who wins, why Freddie Roach is wrong, why Dana White hates boxing, and why boxing both helped and hurt MMA this past weekend. Plus a preview of UFC on VS. 1 and thoughts on the Liddell/Ortiz/Franklin/Couture square of news that wasn't news. It's more active than Manny Pacquiao, it's Cardio Freak on 411. Headline News Over the past few years there has been a divide between boxing and MMA. How would a boxer do in MMA? How would a MMA fighter do in boxing? It's a highly debate topic but the answer is rather simple. Any top level MMA fighter will beat a boxer in a MMA fight and any top level boxer will beat a MMA fighter in a boxing match. Boxing fans will point to Ray Mercer KO'ing Tim Sylvia as boxing being superior to MMA. That same Ray Mercer was submitted by Kimbo Slice, who was probably on the same level of where Sylvia was when they both fought Mercer. KJ Noons, who was a boxer before becoming a MMA fighter but is much more well known for his MMA accomplishments, has had some success in boxing since taking a break from MMA. So if I were arguing with a boxing fan about fighters making the transition, I'd probably bring up Noons' name. Of course if I were arguing with a boxing fan and it got heated to where blows were going to be exchanged, I'd immediately leg kick and then shoot for the takedown. This topic has sprung back up thanks to UFC signing James Toney. Since being signed there has been a lot of speculation as to who Toney will fight and who he wants to fight. So far he's called out the following fighters: *Chuck Liddell, who says he doesn't know who Toney is. *Randy Couture, who wants to fight Toney so bad he's tweeting about it. *Kimbo Slice, who would probably love to fight Toney because Kimbo just wants that bread. *Tito Ortiz, who would probably love to fight Toney because he's a good wrestler. *Brock Lesnar, who probably thinks Toney is a type of deer. *Fedor, who doesn't know Toney exists because M-1 Global hasn't given him the message. *Anderson Silva, who would probably love to fight Toney so he can test out his boxing skills. I don't know what UFC will do with James Toney. I think it was a dumb move to even sign the guy especially if their biggest motivation to sign him was to prevent Strikeforce from getting him. Personally I'd have him someone like Cain Velasquez because we all know that Cain will take him down immediately and beat the hell out of him for 15 minutes or until he decides to quit. Other than Velasquez I wouldn't have Toney fight a top guy. Famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach claims that UFC signed Toney just to prove MMA is better than boxing. I disagree. First off, Toney wanted to do MMA and practically begged Dana White for the opportunity. If UFC wanted to prove MMA was better than boxing then they would have signed Ray Mercer a long time ago and thrown him in there against someone like Cain Velasquez. Secondly, we don't know what UFC has planned for Toney. If they have him fight a top guy then I look at that more of UFC giving Toney a true chance to prove boxing is better. If James Toney knocks out Eric Schafer that would be one thing because Schafer is a mid-level fighter. But if he knocks out Randy Couture or Chuck Liddell that will prove a whole lot more because even though they're not considered top guys like they once were, they're still legends in the sport. As much as Dana White loves boxing, he doesn't want MMA to turn into boxing. Why else would he want to try and take out Strikeforce before they get further off the ground? Granted the way he's going about it is the wrong way but the intent is there. He doesn't want Strikeforce to exist because that's another promotion the top fighters can flee to. The more promotions that are considered top promotions and house top fighters, the more "well, BJ Penn really needs to beat Shinya Aoki to prove he's the best Lightweight" statements we get. The best major sports are the ones that have one dominant league with all the best players. That's why soccer hasn't caught on in America. Everyone knows the best players aren't in MLS but they're in the Premier League over in Europe. That's why no one watches MLS games but everyone watches the World Cup. If there's one top promotion, the best fighters can't avoid each other. If Golden Boy were the only boxing promotion in the world, chances are boxing wouldn't be in the state it's in right now and I can almost guarantee you that Manny Pacquiao would have fought Floyd Mayweather this past Saturday instead of Joshua Clottey. That's why UFC wants to crush any promotion that they feel is becoming "too legitimate." They don't mind the smaller shows where fighters need to fight in order to build their name up and I don't think they even mind Japan MMA anymore considering it's fallen off the map ever since PRIDE shut down and if they wanted to they could probably sign a good number of Japanese talent. In a weird way, boxing both helped and hurt MMA this past weekend. Had Joshua Clottey upset Manny Pacquiao it would have shown that even the best fighter in the world can lose at his peak against a massive underdog. UFC could have used that selling point right about now considering they need to sell St. Pierre vs. Hardy, Silva vs. Maia, and Penn vs. Edgar. Unfortunately Pacquiao routed Clottey and made it as uncompetitive as it could be making every MMA/boxing fan believe that the three fights I just listed will have the same result. At the same time, Pacquiao vs. Clottey was such a one sided and dominating performance that bordered on boring, all UFC needs is for St. Pierre vs. Hardy to be exciting and for Hardy not to get completely blown out to show that underdogs have more of a chance in MMA. MMA vs. Boxing. We all know who wins in the end. The promoters. Major UFC/WEC News UFC on VS. 1 is this Sunday, March 21. The show airs live on VS. starting at 9pm EST. Here is the main card: *Jon Jones vs. Brandon Vera *Junior dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga *Paul Buentello vs. Cheick Kongo *Alessio Sakara vs. James Irvin Considering Brandon Vera and Gabriel Gonzaga are co-headliners, I'm officially renaming this event "No Heart" because that's the perfect way to describe both men. I like Brandon Vera. Yes. I'm the one. But I recognize that he's not a top level fighter and he's a product of hype. He clearly has the talent but for some reason he can't win the big fight. Some people just crumble under the pressure, Brandon Vera is one of those people. Jon Jones has never faced pressure like Vera so it's tough to tell what he's made of. He has the talent and he seems to have the right mindset but he's never been truly tested. Although Vera isn't as good as UFC makes him out to be, he's someone who will test Jon Jones. I really think Vera is the better fighter. Jones is a very flashy and creative striker but technically Vera is the much better striker. Jones is a strong and creative wrestler but Vera is no slouch when it comes to wrestling. We don't know what Jones has on the ground but Vera is a brown belt and was more hyped for his ground game than his striking upon entering the UFC. One would think that wherever the fight ends up, Vera would have the advantage. Unfortunately it's Brandon Vera. After he blew the fight against Randy Couture, a fight where I thought he won the decision but really he should have been able to finish Couture but mentally he shattered, I can't pick Brandon Vera. I don't trust that if Jones hits one of his suplexs or just overpowers him in the clinch that Vera can mentally rebound from having something like that happen to him. A lot of people are writing off Vera heading into this fight and they all have reason to do so. After all, the guys biggest wins are against a pre-Lensar Frank Mir and Krzysztof Soszynski. At the same time I think those same people are overrating Jon Jones. Vera is a good enough fighter to where he can stay on the outside, kick at Jones for 15 minutes, and win a decision. Vera is good enough to beat Jones. I don't think he will but it certainly won't shock me and I think if you expect Jon Jones to blow out Brandon Vera then you might be severely disappointed this time next week. Another fighter who is known to be mentally weak is Gabriel Gonzaga. You might remember Gonzaga as the guy who pretty much ended Mirko "Cro Cop's" career and has since gone on to lose every time he's faced good competition. He's facing Junior dos Santos, who I think deserves more recognition than Shane Carwin but for some reason isn't getting it. This fight is a lot like the main event. One fighter has a lot of talent but is a mental flake while the other fighter has a lot of hype behind him. The biggest difference is that dos Santos has proven that he's for real while the jury is still out on Jones. Gonzaga has the power to stand with Santos and even though Rodrigo Nogueira says Santos is a handful on the ground, Gonzaga has proven it. Santos is the better technical striker although he doesn't use a lot of kicks and he has plenty of power in his hands. Gonzaga will likely stand with Santos just because he's Gonzaga and he thinks he's a K-1 striker and not a jiu-jitsu blackbelt. If that's the case, he'll get KO'd. Hopefully. Junior dos Santos must win this fight. Gonzaga is a good fighter who looks really good against decent competition and really bad against good competition. We all know that he's a gatekeeper fighter at best. Santos has a chance to be a legit threat in the division but he needs to beat Gonzaga to do so. His wins against Fabricio Werdum, Stefan Struve, Mirko "Cro Cop", and Gilbert Yvel are better than Carwin's one win against Gonzaga and you could make the case that they're on par with Cain Velasquez' wins over Cheick Kongo, Ben Rothwell, and Rodrigo Nogueira. He must beat Gonzaga though because if he can't do that then obviously it'll prove he's not one of the top Heavyweights. Not only will it prove that but it will put Gonzaga back in the conversation as a top Heavyweight, which won't last and I can't take him screaming into the camera like an ape after he wins. Buentello vs. Kongo should be fun while it lasts, which I don't expect to be very long. Kongo is great against mediocre competition and Buentello is mediocre competition. He's a guy who will stand and trade with Kongo and even though Frank Mir caught Kongo and dropped him, that's not something that's going to happen every fight. 9/10 times Kongo is going to win the striking battle with his opponent. Sakara vs. Irvin is pretty much the same thing as Buentello vs. Kongo. Two strikers that are going nowhere in their division but should have a fun fight until someone gets knocked out. Even though it has the potential to end quickly, it's a shame that this fight got on the main card over Clay Guida. I realize Guida has lost two straight but he lost to very good competition and he's still one of the most popular fighters in the company. Hell, he might be the most popular fighter on this card. Anyway, Sakara will win because Irvin is coming off a Mir Layoff and you never pick someone coming off a Mir Layoff. I expect UFC on VS. 1 to be a solid first event on a new station for the company. Three fights could be huge fireworks and the main event could prove a lot even if it's boring. On March 13, FightersOnly reported that Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell was off and that Liddell vs. Rich Franklin was the new fight. That fight was scheduled for April 17. Later in the day, multiple outlets reported that Liddell vs. Franklin had been pushed back to UFC 115. Even later in the day, Dana White tweeted that Liddell vs. Ortiz is still on and Randy Couture vs. Franklin was the fight they're going to make. What a crazy sequence of events this turned out to be. I'm just happy that I have the greatest source of them all, that being common sense. Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin never had a chance in hell of happening on April 17. Dana White has made some questionable decisions these past few weeks but he's not stupid enough to put Chuck Liddell on free TV and essentially ruin the entire season of TUF. The UFC 115 date made a little bit more sense if the fight were to happen but I still don't buy that date even for Liddell vs. Ortiz simply because it's before the TUF season finishes airing on TV and everyone in their right mind knows Liddell should be fighting in Vegas for possibly the last time. Really the main reason I wasn't 100% sold on Liddell vs. Franklin was because Liddell has been constantly tweeting about beating up Ortiz and no offense to the guy but he doesn't seem like someone who knows how to work the fans. In the end it looks like nothing is going to change. Liddell vs. Ortiz is still on and the rumored Couture vs. Franklin fight is now on as well.
