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| Updated: Saturday November 7th, 2009 02:22:05 PM PST |
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| Inside MMA TV report with Ken Shamrock, Fedor, Josh Barnett and Dave Meltzer |
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This week our very own Dave Meltzer is on the panel!!! Hear his five most memorable UFC bouts, and what he thinks it will take to get MMA to the next level of popularity. Which top five ranked heavyweight says Frank Mir has only had one impressive fight in his entire career? Which MMA fighter was a victim of a recent shooting? How will boxing and the NFL help unionize MMA? Why did Royce Gracie refuse to release the choke on Gordon Gordeau in UFC 1, and why didn’t Ken Shamrock take Royce seriously in their first fight? Bas Rutten interviews Fedor Emelianenko as he answers who his toughest opponents were and his opinion of fighting Brock Lesnar. Which UFC light heavyweight contender does up and comer Jon Jones consider a “one trick pony” (it’s not Randy the Ram)? All this and much more this week on Inside MMA! Inside MMA report by Steve Te Tai ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) Originally aired July 10 at 9pm EST on HDNET Kenny Rice & Bas Rutten with guest panelists: Josh Barnett (Affliction Heavyweight), Ken Shamrock (UFC Hall of Famer), and Dave Meltzer. “MMA Then and Now” Kenny talks about the growth and expansion of MMA but still fans associate MMA with the “UFC”. Barnett looks forward to an even higher level for the popularity of the sport, and still believes there is more to go. Shamrock clears up that it was he, not Mark Coleman (who was named last week) to be crowned the first UFC Heavyweight champion, by beating Dan Severn, and brings his belts from his dusty closet to prove it. As for being a pioneer and with the sport evolving and expanding so greatly since Shamrock’s early days, Ken says when you’re ‘in the moment’ competing, it’s tough to look past what you’re doing. At the time the only thing on his mind was about achieving personal goals and didn’t think much about where the sport was going, etc. To get revenge against Ken Shamrock for his unavenged losses, Bas Rutten says that in 1993 following his first fight, he did say [MMA] would be the biggest thing ever within four years. He says he was off by about seven years and credits “The Ultimate Fighter” for setting off the explosion. Bas points out that Pankration was huge before Jesus Christ even, and that if something is hugely popular it will always come back at some point, comparing it to certain hairstyles that go away, but if it’s that good, will always come back again at some point. When asked about the state of the sport outside of UFC, Dave Meltzer points out that despite the much greater talent pool from ten years ago, it is still challenging to promote if you’re not the “top guy”. There will always be local groups around, and nationally there be a couple around, with Strikeforce looking solid with their TV deal. But for MMA to grow to the next level, an organization will need to be able to compete on an equal level as the UFC, with talent going back and forth between the two, with their top guys competing in opposite organizations for a couple years or so creating dream matchups for the fans, etc. “Meltzer’s Memories” Dave’s five most memorable bouts: --Frank Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz (UFC 22) --Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar (TUF 1 Finale) --Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia (UFC 68) --George St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra (UFC 83) --Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida (TUF 9 Finale) Meltzer picks Frank/Tito because it was the first big fight to show the value of cardio with Frank being smaller and ineffective with submissions right away, but he was ringwise and eventually wore down Tito to win in one of the most exciting fights. The Diego/Clay fight was incredible for the first minute, and it told a great story as you wonder if Clay could survive that onslaught, and he did for an entire three rounds and was very competitive in doing so. “UFC 100 odds from betonfighting.com” -220 Lesnar vs. Mir +180 -320 GPS vs. Alves +260 -400 Fitch vs. Thiago +300 -235 Henderson vs. Bisping +185 -275 Akiyama vs. Belcher +215 Barnett points out Mir had the best fight of his career against Noguiera, and that was about it. He says he isn’t consistent and his fights either end quickly with a submission win or he gets pummeled to death after blowing up. Josh doesn’t believe this is a “brand new” Frank Mir and won’t be able to overcome Brock’s size and power. Meltzler says the odds on Alves are too long despite not wanting to bet against GSP. Alves appears to be the better stand up fighter with very good takedown defense. Barnett says the “wrestling” will be the key in that fight. He credits GSP’s wrestling for his success, by maintaining control of his fights with his wrestling while attacking. “MMAJunkie.com/Inside MMA Poll” Which UFC 100 fighter is most likely to win their fight? 42% GSP 22% Henderson 17% Lesnar 8% Mir 8% Alves 3% Bisping Kenny talks about Fedor Emelianenko being the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Barnett puts him over as an incredible fighter who has BEEN a great champion. He says after this fight he’ll have plenty of a career to go, just like himself, with them being two “young” guys. He doesn’t care about rankings, or odds, he only cares about how many times he hits [Fedor] in the face. Bas says if Josh is on top or in the guard, that Fedor probably wouldn’t be able to submit him. Josh adds he’s ready for anything and anxious to get into a big fight, to get crazy and get evil. “Bas interviews Fedor Part One” --When asked if he knew from his first MMA fight that he could be World champion, Fedor says there was a moment when he realized he could compete with the best and give a tough fight to any opponent, but there wasn’t a moment where he thought he could be a “champion”. --When asked who his favorite fighter to watch is, Fedor says he doesn’t like to watch fights with a grin. When pressed he says the only fights he likes to watch are Josh Barnett’s. --When asked what his toughest fight was, he says he’s had tough, interesting fights with Nogueira, Cro-Cop, and Arlovksy. --When asked what percentage of MMA is mental, Fedor says 100% and Bas agrees. --When asked if the “Fedor Mystique” helps him in intimidating his opponents, he understands there is a lot of intrigue that has been built up around his personality but he tries not to think about it. --When asked if he will fight in the UFC, Fedor doesn’t think so at the present time. The terms, and the manner in which those terms were offered are not acceptable today. --When asked about fighting Brock Lesnar, Fedor calls Brock a serious guy and a good fighter, and would definitely be interested in testing his skills against him. --When asked about being friends with Josh Barnett, Fedor says it won’t make a difference in the fight. They will compete and at the end of the day will still be friends. --When asked about training for Barnett, Fedor says most of the training will be at home, but might go to Holland for a week to work on some things. --When asked about his legacy, Fedor says he is not doing this to become a “legend” in this sport or anything like that. He only wants to be remembered as a good person, a normal person, and a regular guy. Back at the studio, Josh Barnett talks about the mystique saying most guys are afraid before they step in the ring. They look at Fedor and see that he don’t care if he gets hit or hits back. Josh remembers his own early days for “Super Brawl” how he would get his nose broken, re-set it, and come back to fight and guys didn’t want to face him because of that mentality. Ken Shamrock says the difference between “wannabe” champions and “gonnabe” champions is that there is no line that a champion won’t cross to succeed in training or fighting. When asked about the steroid accusations, Ken says he can’t comment, because they are currently building a case and doesn’t want to ruin that. “Kruck’s Korner” They show a series of older to newer video clips featuring competitors for UFC 100. *Brock Lesnar questions if Mir’s injury was legit, and calls Mir’s belt the “make believe belt”. *Greg Jackson (GSP’s coach), says it will be one of the toughest fights of GSP’s career, and Alves has a lot of ingredients to give problems to GSP. *Ricardo Liborio (Thiago Alves’ coach) says GSP has never faced somebody like Thiago before, a REALLY good striker who can stop takedowns. *GSP says he has fought great strikers before in Pete Spratt and BJ Penn, but not a big guy too, with great takedown defense like Thiago, and this will be his toughest fight yet. *Dan Henderson says Michael Bisping talks all the time and it will nice to beat him up to shut his mouth. *Jon Jones says Jake O’Brien is a tough opponent with great boxing and wrestling, but he is a one trick pony. --HDNET is working on airing the “M-1 Breakthrough” show live on August 28 from Los Angeles, with an exhibition grappling match between Fedor and Gegard Mousasi. Also “King” Mo Lawal and Don Frye. --Strikeforce 8/15 will feature Gina Carano vs. Cyborg Santos, Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez, Overeem vs. Werdum, and Diaz vs. Riggs. --Fighter, LaVar Johnson was shot in the abdomen by unidentified assailants at a family reunion in Bakersfield, CA. He’s listed as in good condition and no arrests have been made at this time. --Chuck Liddell and Charles “Mask” Lewis will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this weekend. “K-1 World Max Preview” The middleweight tournament from the Budokan in Tokyo, is previewed by Michael Schiavello with Drago vs. Yamammoto, Petrosyan vs. Kraus, Kyshenko vs. Souwer, and Pramuk vs. Holtzken. “Fighter Union?” Kenny talks about the idea of a union for fighters. Barnett says it will be very, very difficult for the guys at the top to agree to stick with it, with the threat that the promoters would drop them and put the spotlight on someone else younger or newer. Ken Shamrock amounts it to “slavery” saying promoters have guys under contract and they can use them or not use them but they have control. What will happen in ten years is, we’ll see a “garbage trail” of people with brain damage and on welfare, etc. feeling the after effects of MMA. There will be a backlash, like in football where the older players who paved the way for today’s players to make the big money, who didn’t have a plan, will finally get the benefits. The UFC guys in the future with brain damage and on disability will create awareness with the fans, which will put pressure on those in charge. Fans need to see that the promoters have lived off of the blood of the fighters for too long, and the percentages of what is given to the fighters is not evening out. Kenny brings up the sponsorship issue with UFC, and how Randy Couture fought the UFC and lost. Dave Meltzer says it can never be just one guy, it would need to be all of the top guys at once. Shamrock adds it could be the fans. Dave says the fans aren’t going to, and he’s seen it in other sports like boxing (and wrestling). With boxing the sad end of the story always comes for guys like Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali but the reforms we all hoped for never came. He says any kind of movement like that will require almost universal backing from inside the sport, or someone from the outside who is an exceptional union organizer who can convince all of the top fighters this is the way to go. Dana White won’t cave in, and neither will any of the other promoters. Even the promoters who people think are “nice guys” will fight a union tooth and nail. Shamrock says improvements have been made in boxing with the money they make. Meltzer points out it’s just for the top guys. Shamrock says while it’s not where it should be, there have been movements in the right direction in boxing. “Highlights from Sparks, OK with winners being congratulated by Chuck Liddell” Jesse Forbes over Cleburn Walker Rudy Lindsey over Jeremiah Caves Joey Beltran over Tracy Willis Marcus Aurelio over Joey Gorczynski “Highlights from Albuquerque” Felipe Chavez over Eugene Fliss Mikey Lovato over Jasper Church Richard Villes over Danny Davis Jr. (not the son of evil WWF referee) “Mickey’s Lights Out moment of the week” From K-1 World Max, a high left kick to the head. “Kruck Korner, in Denver, site of UFC 1” Clips from a series of interviews with Art Davie (co-founder), Bob Meyrowitz (co-founder), Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Ken Pishna (reporter), Keith Kizer (NSAC), Rich Goins (former UFC announcer), and John McCarthy. “The Concept” It seemed like the epitomy of a toughman competition, and the first Super Bowl in the sense that no one knew what was being created at the time. Colorado had no commission at all, so there was no law against it. The hardest thing was finding fighters to agree to this type of tournament under these rules. Once they found Rorion Gracie he told them how it should all be done. And what rules there should be. The initial appeal being “no rules” was what made it a target for critics like Senator John McCain. Ken Shamrock was skeptical of it being a true shoot, thinking there would have to be some sort of a spin on it. The big moment was the Telia Tuli vs. Gerard Gordeau fight. It all came together in one magic moment when the Sumo Telia charged like a bull, Gordeau spun around with a kick to the face and his teeth flew into the crowd his orbital socket caved and that’s when people knew this was the real deal. Ken Shamrock said in the locker room, some guys were like “Oh my God, what did I get myself into”, while some actually ran from the building. That moment set the tone for the UFC. Royce Gracie introduced Gracie Jiu-Jitsu to the world and used his first opponent, boxer, Art Jimmerson to show GJJ’s superiority to boxing. Royce said he made the night look easy, but it was a very hard night. Ken admits that he didn’t take Royce seriously because he was wearing a gi and it was his mistake, when Royce choked him with the gi, and he couldn’t escape. Royce reveals that in the finals of UFC 1, Gordon Gordeau bit Royce’s ear. Royce took him down and said you’re cheating and Gordeau didn’t care, so Royce choked him out and didn’t let go even after the stoppage. Of the first UFC event, Royce says he was proud and happy to win, but that was what he trained for, so there was no surprise. Back at the studio, Bas gets another shot at Ken Shamrock and said “Royce, said ‘I’m not going to lose to a guy in speedo’s” which gets a big pop in the studio. “Toe to Toe with El Guapo” --When asked how long a champion should have before defending their title, Bas says two title defenses a year should be enough. --When asked, why he goes by “El Guapo” instead of “El Muchisimo Guapo”, Bas says while he does deserve that title, to say he is “excessively handsome” is pushing it, and no one likes a braggart. To ask Bas a question, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it “Split Decision” --Lesnar or Mir to win? Barnett picks Brock as part of CSW. Ken picks Mir. Dave definitively picks Lesnar after some goading from Ken for a straight answer. --Gegard or Babalu? Shamrock and Meltzer pick Mousasi, and Barnett confidently picks fellow Afflictioner Sobral to take this one. --Most handsome King of Pancrase, King Rutten, King Barnett, or King Shamrock? (they photoshop their faces onto kings bodies, with Bas on Elvis Presley.) They all laugh, Dave won’t vote on that one, and Ken Shamrock picks Bas because we’ve never seen him with hair until this picture. If you don’t get HDNET or missed the show, you can see extended video highlights at http://hd.net/insidemma.html. So like El Guapo always says, Godspeed and party on! |
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