From WWE to UFC - Lesnar Makes His Debut

The clock is ticking away for the biggest fighter debut in UFC history. WWE superstar Brock Lesnar will make his UFC debut this saturday in Las Vegas when he squares off against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir at UFC 81.

Lesnar was made famous during his three years in the WWE, where he became the WWE Undisputed champion. During his reign in the WWE, Lesnar - who was known as "The Next Big Thing" - had feuds with Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and The Undertaker.

Although Lesnar is the first WWE superstar to make the transition to MMA, he's not the first to have toyed with the idea; Kurt Angle has also made it quite clear that he would like to give mixed martial arts a try. Angle talked a lot of smack about the fighters in MMA, and the UFC in particular, saying that the only fighter that he'd have trouble with is 'current UFC Heavyweight champion' Randy Couture. Apparently Angle had spoken with Dana White about making the move, but Dana discarded any idea of Angle coming to the UFC saying Angle would get smashed.

Professional wrestling and mixed martial arts are two very different sports. But don't let Lesnar's stint with the WWE fool you; Lesnar is a legit wrestler with some very real and very big accomplishments in amateur wrestling.

Lesnar won the 2000 NCAA wrestling championship as a heavyweight after placing second in 1999. Lesnar finished his amateur career as a two-time NJCAA All-American, two-time NCAA All-American, two-time Big Ten Champion, and the 2000 NCAA heavyweight champion with a record of 106-5 overall in four years of college.

That's one track record that is hard to match by anyone. Let's not forget about the shear size of the man; Lesnar is 6' 3" and will have to cut weight to make the UFC Heavyweight division's 265 pound weight limit! He is enormous and frighteningly powerful! So, if there's any professional wrestler that can make the transition to MMA, it's Brock Lesnar.

Now that being said, Lesnar has only one MMA fight under his belt. His lone fight was last April at K-1 Dynamite! in Los Angeles where he blitzed his opponent, Min Soo Kim, in just over a minute. Lesnar immediately shot in for a takedown, gained full mount and from there, he pounded Min Soo Kim into submission.

The lack of experience creates big question marks for Lesnar. The UFC may be taking a huge risk with Lesnar. His fame alone is what got him a multi-fight deal with the UFC and with only about a minute of fight time, no one really knows what to expect from the former WWE superstar.

The UFC isn't giving Lesnar any gimme fights first either. They're throwing him right into the heavyweight mix for his first fight. His opponenent, Frank Mir, is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and is a very big man in his own right, standing 6'1" and weighing 240 pounds.

Mir won the UFC heavyweight title in 2004 by breaking Tim Silvia's arm via armbar in the first round.

This will be a very big test for Lesnar. Although, Mir has looked shaky in his first few fights back after a serious motorcycle accident put him on the sidelines for nearly two years, he looked in top form in his last fight submitting Antoni Hardonk in the first round.

It will be interesting to see how this fight plays out. It's fairly obvious that Lesnar won't try to stand and box with Mir, he'll look for the takedown from the opening bell. I'm not saying that Mir has great boxing skills, it's just that he has more experience with it than Lesnar. This is only Lesnar's second MMA fight and I don't expect him to stray too far from what he does best. Lesnar will look to make this a wrestling match where he will easily have the upper hand. There are very few fighters, if any, that have wrestling pedigree that Lesnar has.

Mir also doesn't have the greatest takedown defense, so I would assume that this fight will almost definitely go to the ground with Mir on his back. The thing here is that this is where Mir is most dangerous. Mir is very good at sinking in various submissions from his back. Lesnar is still very new to the Jiu Jitsu aspect of fighting and I think he may find himself in a bit of trouble in this position. He will no doubt be able to pin Mir on his back for as long as he likes, but will have to be very aware of Mir's submission attempts and look to avoid those at all costs.

This fight will end one of two ways: Mir by submission or Lesnar by decision. Mir by submission is pretty self explanatory; Lesnar takes Mir down, puts him on his back, and gets caught in a submission. Lesnar by decision because again, Lesnar takes Mir down, puts him on his back, keeps him there, and pounds out the decision win. I don't think Lesnar will be able to put Mir away while Mir's on his back because of the fact that Mir isn't just a BJJ Black Belt, he's an MMA BJJ Black Belt. Where alot of Jiu Jitsu black belts have a hard time implementing their game plan when getting punched in the face, Mir trains for that type of fighting/BJJ all the time. He his comfortable on his back while taking punches and can block very well from there.

I can't wait to see this fight. Sure, it has the potential to be a very boring fight, but there's too many questions that I need to have answered for me to miss this one.

From the Squared Circle to the Octagon, in just a few days, the fight world will find out whether or not Brock Lesnar really is "The Next Big Thing".

Great Card Likely for UFC's First Trip North of the Border

Finally! It appears as though the UFC will really make the trip to Canada as rumours are swirling about a possible pay-per-view event to be held at the Bell Centre in Montreal on April 19th.

Normally I wouldn't get too excited about rumours of UFC heading to Canada since there have been numerous rumours over the last year and a half that never became reality. Yet, this rumour seems to be holding some truth to it.

Not only has Dana White announced a Canadian event in April (which he has done in the past), but there are several fights already in the works for the card, and also more importantly, April 19th at the Bell Centre is available.

So let's take a look at how the card is shaping up so far.

Main Event - Welterweight Championship Unification
Matt Serra vs Georges St. Pierre

Serra mentioned in a recent interview that he'd be healed and ready to go by April 19th. He also stated that he would have no problem fighting Georges St. Pierre in his hometown. This would be a big main event even if it weren't being held in Canada. The fact that this fight will be the main event of UFC's Canadian debut makes it extraordinary!

Georges St. Pierre looks like a completely different person than the one we saw in April of last year. After his knockout loss to Serra last April, St. Pierre switched training camps and hired a sports psychologist to help get his head on straight. The changes seem to have worked to perfection as GSP has gone on to win his last two fights in spectacular fashion. Georges is focused. A focused Georges St. Pierre is a fearsome Georges St. Pierre. He looks unstoppable.

In response to St. Pierre's dominant win over Matt Hughes at UFC 79, Marcus Davis pretty much spoke for all welterweights when he said "watching that was terrifying!"

He's right. There isn't a single welterweight who watched that performance and didn't think to himself "Oh crap!" St. Pierre made a huge statement and I expect that he will put on the same type of performance when he takes on Serra for the welterweight championship in front of his home crowd.

Serra has three ways to win this fight and all seem very unlikely; knockout, ground and pound, or submission. St. Pierre has demonstrated against all of the top wrestlers in the division that taking him down is a very difficult task for anyone. Serra's not the wrestler that Hughes, Koscheck, Trigg, and Sherk are so a takedown for Serra is very unlikely and that eliminates the ground and pound gameplan. Submission is a little more likely given that Serra is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and St. Pierre will more than likely put Serra on his back. The thing here is that St. Pierre is no pushover on the ground either; St. Pierre holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Brown belt is one level lower than black belt. So St. Pierre will be well aware of the submission attempts and I don't see him getting caught in anything. The other unlikely scenario is he gets caught on the receiving end of a knockout punch for the second time. This is something that I see as very unlikely. St. Pierre's striking is so crisp and clean that I don't see him making a mistake. I attended one of his seminars just weeks after his loss to Serra and he mentioned that, aside from his personal issues, he injured himself in training and was only able to get back to full training two weeks out. He said he trained too hard and that by the time fight night came, he was too stiff and sore. He was only able to throw punches and kicks in ones and couldn't muster the strength to throw combinations. His inability to throw combinations is what caused him to get caught with that punch. Don't count on this being the case next time around. St. Pierre looks loose and I don't see this happening again.

If St. Pierre beats Serra to win the UFC welterweight championship in his hometown of Montreal, the fans will erupt!! It will be one of the most spectacular moments in recent UFC memory.

Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter

These two were supposed to meet at UFC 82 in Columbus Ohio, but Franklin suffered an injury and had to pull out of the fight. Instead of giving Lutter another opponent, the fight was postponed until the April 19th date.

Franklin last fought for the middleweight title in October, but was stopped in spectacular fashion by Anderson Silva. Lutter hasn't fought since he, himself, lost to Silva last February. That fight was downgraded to a 3 round bout after Lutter failed to make weight. Lutter lost a lot of respect from the fans, the UFC, and Anderson Silva. He will be looking to get back on track with a win over Franklin. Franklin will be looking to do the same as he'll be looking to get back to his winning ways in the middleweight division.

Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves

These are two competitors who are knocking on the welterweight championship doorstep. Parisyan is coming off a win over Ryo Chonan. Although, not exactly an exciting win, but a win nonetheless. Thiago Alves is currently on a 4 fight winning streak with no signs of stopping.

With Thiago's exciting Muay Thai style and Karo's desire to put on an exciting fight to make up for the last one, this fight should make for an exciting matchup.

Jason MacDonald vs. Joe Doerksen

The two Canadian middleweights met before in the TKO organization. MacDonald won via rear naked choke. MacDonald is coming off a loss to Yushin Okami and is hoping to get back into title contention with a win over Doerksen. Doerksen is looking to redeem himself after suffering a knockout loss to Ed Herman. A clash between two Canadians in Canada should make for an interesting opening bout.

The reason I say opening bout is because the card will also consist of the following fighter who, as of yet, has no opponent named.

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. TBA

If Shogun is on the card, he'll most likely fight in the second last fight on the night. Even with his loss to Forrest Griffin, he is still a big name in the sport. There hasn't been an opponent named for Shogun yet, so lets run through the possibilities.

Keith Jardine is the most likely candidate to fight Shogun in Montreal. Both fighters have Forrest Griffin as a common opponent. Jardine beat Griffin by vicious technical knockout while Rua looked sluggish in his submission loss to Griffin.

Jardine is coming off the biggest win of his career against former UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell. The win puts him very close to a title shot. One more win should put him in the number one contender slot. Putting him against someone on a lower level than Chuck Liddell just wouldn't make sense, making Rua the most likely opponent. Rua is still considered one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world and he'd be looking to prove that against someone who beat the man that beat him.

Jardine has also been training with Georges St. Pierre and has made several trips to Montreal to train with him. All of this makes Jardine the prime candidate for an opponent for Rua.

Hector Ramirez in another name that might be tossed into the mix. Again, he and Rua share Griffin as a common opponent. Both fighters suffered a loss to Griffin. The UFC would be looking to put Shogun back into contention so they might not want to risk putting him against someone who could potentially beat him. Ramirez would be the perfect opponent in this sense, since he is not the threat that Griffin and Jardine are.

Don't expect to see Rua face Wanderlei, Machida, or Thiago Silva since they've all come from the same camp.

Also, other potential light heavyweight fighters already have fights near the April date so a fight with Rua won't be possible on the 19th. These fighters include Tito Ortiz (takes on Machida in May), Rashad Evans (fights Thiago Silva in May), and Houston Alexander who takes on James Irvin in March.

So the card so far looks as follows:

GSP vs. Serra (Welterweight Championship)
Shogun vs (Jardine or Ramirez)
Franklin vs Lutter
MacDonald vs Doerksen
----
Goulet vs TBA
Cote vs TBA
Stout vs TBA

I'll be in attendance for this event if it happens. When an official announcement is made about the event, I'll purchase a UFC Fight Club membership in hopes of getting VIP access at the event.

If anyone reading this has any information on the UFC Fight Club membership please fill me in. I've checked out the website and a few forums about it. Do you get to meet the fighters with the membership if you attend an event? Let me know.

Mount Submissions

The mount position and having someone's back are the most dominant positions in Jiu Jitsu and MMA. If a fight stays in one of these positions long enough, eventually the fight will be over.

Sometimes, however, a fighter is able to defend himself very well in either of these positions. In MMA, if a fighter is able to defend himself well enough from the mount position, the ref will allow the fight to continue. If caught in the bottom position, a fighter immediately begins blocking strikes from the top with his hands and arms. Several people have been in the top position raining down punches but have been unable to finish the fight because the fighter on the bottom is defending so well. This only serves to tire the fighter in the top position.

In a fight, if Plan A doesn't work, you must always have a Plan B that you can resort to. The difference between a good Jiu Jitsu fighter and a great Jiu Jitsu fighter is the ability to transition quickly and smoothly between submissions. When one submission isn't working, switch to another, or another, or another.

So Plan A from the top position would be to finish the fight with strikes. If that doesn't work, here are some options for Plan B.

Americana

You are in mount position.

• Opponent has his arms in tight with his forearms and hands blocking his face.


• If you want to grab his right arm:


• With your right hand (hand that is opposite the arm you are grabbing.)


• Monkey grip his wrist.


• Place your left hand on his elbow.


• Put all of your weight on his wrist and elbow and push down on a 45 degree angle.


• Plant his wrist to the mat.


• Drop your right elbow to the mat beside his head while holding on to his wrist.


• If his face is in the way, drop your elbow into his face and put all of your weight on your elbow so that he has no choice but to move his head.


• With his arm at a 90 degree angle, move your left hand from the elbow and slide it under his arm and monkey grip your right wrist.


• If you can’t fit your hand under his arm, slip it under his wrist. Everyone has a natural gap at their wrist which will allow you to swim your hand under his arm.


• Bring his elbow down to his ribs.


• Lift your left arm so that his elbow is being pushed to the sky.


• Roll both of your wrists, turning your knuckles into the floor, to give you more torque.

Gift Wrap

You are in mount with your opponent blocking his face.

• If one of his arms crosses his centre line (right arm for example.)


• Place your left hand on his right elbow and your right hand on his right wrist.


• Put all of your weight down on his arm, forcing it across his face.


• As soon as his arm is across his face, quickly drop and put all of your weight on the back of his arm, making it very difficult for him to release his arm.


• Take your left hand and slide it under his head and monkey grip his right wrist.


• You now have him in the gift wrap position.


• In one motion:


• Pull on his right wrist and push with your left knee to turn him onto his left side.


• Switch to modified mount position.


• From here his face is exposed to punches and elbows with his left hand unable to do significant blocking.


• From this position you can either roll to your right and take his back or you can keep on pulling on his arm as you did to turn him onto his side, but keep pulling until he is on his stomach and take his back from there.

Finishing a fight before it goes to a decision is always to a fighter's advantage. The more fights you are able to finish, the more the big organizations will take notice. Hopefully these techniques will help when you find yourself unable to finish an opponent from the most dominant position in MMA.

Floyd Sr. Says Son Would Make Huge Mistake Joining MMA

I recently read an interview with Floyd Mayweather Sr. about his son's supposed interest in fighting in MMA. In the interview conducted by Percy Crawford of FightHype.com, Mayweather doesn't hold back on his thoughts about the possibility of his son joining MMA. I couldn't help but post about this interview because I couldn't stop laughing as I read the article.

"He needs to leave that shit alone. He’s going to get the same fucking thing Vince Phillips got; leg broke, arm broke or whatever. Vince Phillips got his arm broke. You can’t mess with that…that’s what they do. You can’t beat nobody at their own game."

"All of this he talking about right now, this martial arts shit, I’m telling you, he about to get broke the fuck up right now. I’m telling you, he could forget all of that stuff being cute and how you supposed to hit somebody with a check hook. Man, them motherfucker’s going to take that check hook motherfucker and squeeze your guts out. I’m just being real with you man."

"If he ever want to take a motherfuckin’ loss, you bout to take one right now motherfucker. Go ahead and try that. One of them motherfuckers grab you and bing, bing…hit the floor twice motherfucker and it’s over with."

"Lil Floyd about to get his ass tore up man. He ain’t about to whoop them motherfuckers. He can forget that shit!"

"Man, let me tell you something, they don’t even need a referee for this shit right here. They ain’t going to need a referee because he’s going to tap his own self out if he’s able."

"They going to break his fucking limbs. One of them motherfuckers hit him upside his fucking head and he may never be the same. I’m just telling the truth."

"He ain’t got to worry about retiring. When they get through with his ass, he will be retired. He will be retired fucking with them motherfuckers. They would love to fight him. This ain’t no fucking boxing; ain’t none of these motherfuckers scared of his ass. I’ll fight one of them motherfuckers if they just want to throw their guards up. I’m old and I’ll beat they ass, but when they start talking about that going to the ground, elbows and knees and all of that, man fuck that shit. I ain’t about to go in there. Them motherfuckers dangerous man. One thing about it, them guys can take a fucking punch man. Those guys will laugh at Lil Floyd when he hit them."

First off, let me make it clear that I do not believe that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will ever join MMA. It's a decision that I don't think makes any sense at all. If it's because he'll be offered $30M to fight, it still doesn't make sense because he'll make somewhere in the neighborhood of $25M to fight Cotto later this year.

Perhaps, Mayweather Jr. wants to fire back at those who say he wouldn't stand a chance against a Mixed Martial Artist. Perhaps he's doing it as a publicity stunt in order to jump start the MMA promotion that he's supposedly interested in creating. Who knows? But either way, this, to me, does not seem like a wise decision and I agree completely with Floyd Sr. about this.

Yet, I don't totally agree with Floyd Sr. in that his son would be completely annihilated inside a cage.

Here's what I think:

If the fight hits the ground, it's over. Floyd will be humiliated.

So if Mayweather is seriously thinking of transitioning into MMA, then he needs to train grappling for a solid year at least. Forget the boxing, he knows boxing. He's great at it. Maybe throw in 2 hours of boxing a week, just to keep him fresh. But the rest of the time he needs to spend 12 solid months of extensive training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and training takedown defense.

Hook him up with one of the Gracie's or with BJ Penn. He needs to have that trainer teach him the ins and outs of Jiu Jitsu. In one year, I believe he can become well enough with the basics of grappling to ensure that, if the fight does hit the ground, he can defend himself well enough that the referee stands the fighters up.

Don't expect Mayweather to be pulling off any submissions, however. Training ground defense will help him avoid being submitted or being the victim of vicious ground and pound.

Mayweather also needs to train hard at takedown defense. He needs to know when to expect the takedown and how to avoid it. He doesn't necessarily need to train for shooting in for takedowns, although, knowing how a takedown is executed might help him in identifying the signs of an attempted takedown and how to fight off a takedown.

Keeping the fight standing is, obviously, the game plan that Mayweather would be looking to execute. If he joins MMA, he instantly becomes the best boxer in the sport. He is very elusive and very accurate with his punches. Now being the best boxer in the sport doesn't exactly translate into the being the best striker.

Striking in MMA not only includes punches, but involves kicks, elbows and knees. I would assume that Mayweather wouldn't concentrate as much on the kickboxing aspect of the game since his number one priority is to avoid being taken down and to defend himself if the fight should end up on the mat. His standup already includes head and footwork that is unmatched by any athlete in MMA, and he also has hands that are second to none. So with his standup already looking sharp without kicks, I would imagine that kicking would be on the backburner in terms of training.

His opponents Plan A would be to take him down. If that doesn't work and Floyd can keep the fight standing, I believe he stands a very good chance of winning a fight in MMA. Now if Plan A doesn't work for his opponent, his opponent might look to Plan B and that would be to use kicks. Floyd wouldn't know how to deal with kicks. His legs haven't been conditions to take such a blow. Leg kicks, although they look harmless when they land on TV, are very very painful. They look harmless because the fighters' legs have been conditioned for such an impact through years of hard training. Being kicked in the quads hurts like hell. One kick, alone, can seize up your leg and prevent you from doing anything else significant. Getting kicked in the shin is another level of pain altogether.

In Muay Thai we are trained to check kicks as they come in. This means blocking the kick with your shin. In checking a kick, you flex your foot upwards so that it isn't pure shin bone that takes the brunt of the kick, but the muscle beside it. The muscle raised up over the shine bone, giving it some protection. Yet, no matter what you do it hurts. It hurts bad. Shin on shin can drop you. It will drop someone who isn't prepared for it. Mayweather would have to be conscious of this. If he faces someone who has decent kicks, he'll be in a world of hurt.

They would have to send Floyd into the fight against a tomato can and that just wouldn't make sense for a payout of $30M. For that kind of money, they would have to pit him against someone fairly well known, and that would spell disaster for Floyd.

This decision just doesn't make sense to me, and I don't think he'll go through with it.