March Madness

Fight fans around the world rejoice, as the upcoming month of March involves some of combat sport’s biggest names, along with some of the biggest events. This month, fight fans will witness three stacked UFC events, one explosive WEC event, and a boxing super fight for the ages. Not only will there be star studded cards and a schmorgesborg of KO’s and submissions but fight fans will witness a few firsts as far as the expansion of combat sports. This month, the UFC will be making their debut on the Versus channel holding a free fight night for the fans. Also, Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey will battle it out in the newly built Cowboys Stadium in Dallas Texas, which seats 80,000 fans, also holding the record for the largest high definition television screen in the world.

WEC 47 kicks off this stellar month’s MMA events with an explosive card on Saturday March 6th. Newly crowned bantamweight champion Brian Bowles defends his title for the first time against a freestyle wrestling technician known as Dominick Cruz. Cruz displayed crisp striking mixed in with his takedowns and superior grappling to earn a unanimous decision victory against Joseph Benavidez back at WEC 42. This performance brought him the shot against Brian Bowles who took the crown from Miguel Torres that same night. Brian Bowles shocked the world when he ended Miguel’s night early by a devastating KO in the first round at WEC 42. Bowles has never been defeated in the cage, but fighting Dominick Cruz who’s only loss comes from a guillotine choke from former 145lb champ Urijah Faber is no easy task. The event’s co-main event is a bantamweight contender bout between Miguel Torres on his way back to his title against the relentless Joseph Benavidez. WEC 47 should prove to be an entertaining night of fights, local Vancouverites can catch this event on Saturday March 6th at 7pm PST, the channel broadcasting the event will be The Score (channel 54).

On Saturday March 13th boxing’s pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao returns to action against defensive wizard Joshua Clottey, who originally hails from the African nation, Ghana but currently fights out of the Bronx New York. This twelve round fight will be for Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight title that he took from Miguel Cotto in a brutal beat down back in November of 2009. A fight between Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather was scheduled for this date but negotiations came to a standstill when Mayweather demanded Olympic style drug testing. Pacquiao’s camp had refused to take a blood test close to the fight but agreed to take it one month before and once after the fight, this offer was rejected and the fight fell apart. This fight however will probably be another boxing clinic put on by Pac-Man, hyping up the inevitable fight with Mayweather even more.

It seems as though the UFC has committed to throw it’s a fans a bone or two this month. There will be two free TV fight night events and a card for the ages. The first event for the month is also the UFC’s debut on the Versus channel on Sunday March 21st, local fans will be able to catch it at 7pm PST on Rogers Sportsnet (channel 22). The event is headlined by a light heavyweight contender bout featuring 22 year old Greco-Roman wrestling prodigy Jon “Bones” Jones against Muay Thai wrecking ball Brandon “The Truth Vera”. Jones has managed to build up quite a following for himself during his relatively short stay in the UFC. His arsenal consists of dazzling Greco-Roman throws, unorthodox strikes, and a whole lot of flash. Unfortunately the hype may be coming to a halt. The confident Filipino striker Brandon Vera who is the underdog in this fight has far superior experience compared to Bones. What most people don’t know is that Vera wrestled Greco at a high collegiate level, this may neutralize Jones’s remarkable grappling advantage. I also think that Vera’s Muay Thai may be a little too much for the less experienced Jones. The other bouts on the card are just as, if not more volatile, the co-main event pits heavyweights Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos against the vicious Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga. Gonzaga has been inconsistent in the octagon, nearly kicking Mirko Cro Cop’s head into the crowd at one point but then being dominated by Randy Couture a short while later. Junior Dos Santos however, is a young, hungry, and devastating fighter. He is originally from Brazil and is a training partner of the Nogueira brothers, Lyoto Machida, and Anderson Silva. His boxing is what has impressed me so far, he is riding a four fight winning streak in the UFC, finishing all four opponents with his hands.

Seven days after Vera and Jones face off, UFC 111 will take place in Newark New Jersey. French-Canadian welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre will defend his title against a confident and arrogant Brit by the name of Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy. Georges is one of the best pound for pound fighters on the planet, he has destroyed every opponent put in front of him. His only two losses came at the hands of Matt Hughes in October of 2004 and Matt Serra in April of 2007. He has since avenged both those losses in dominant fashion. GSP is known for his perfectly timed wrestling attacks, supreme athleticism, and picture perfect striking. He is a five to one favorite going into this fight. Dan Hardy is known for pre-fight smack talk, and as far as I am concerned he is one of the best. He is best known for getting into the head of many opponents before the fight and then using their anger to his advantage. He has reeled off four impressive wins in the UFC so far earning him a title shot with GSP. The co-main event of the night is another five round title fight, this time in the heavyweight division. Former champ Frank Mir takes on Shane Carwin for an interim title. The winner is expected to take on Brock Lesnar to unify the title, when he overcomes his current illness and is at 100%. Shane Carwin has never gone past three minutes of the first round in his entire career. He is a perfect 11-0 all by first round stoppage, a menacing opponent for anyone. Frank Mir has recently put on some size and seems very dedicated and motivated to avenge his loss tofrom Brock Lesnar. He even went so far to say that he wishes to break Brock’s neck and to make sure Brock is the first man to die due to octagon related injuries. Motivated? I think so. Two fights on the undercard will be broadcasted on Spike TV for free at 6pm PST. The rest of the card must be either ordered on Pay Per View or seen at the movie theatres for the first time in UFC history.

Four days after GSP fights Dan Hardy the UFC has another treat for it’s fans. A fight night is scheduled free on Spike TV on Wednesday March 31st. The main event has former number one lightweight contender Kenny “Kenflo” Florian taking on the “Fireball Kid” Takanori Gomi. Kenflo is an excellent tactician and at the very top of the lightweight division, but he always seems to choke when it comes time to take the belt. He was thoroughly dominated against lightweight champion Sean Sherk back in 2006, and most recently lost the title shot against current champ BJ Penn at UFC 101. Japanese sensation Takanori Gomi rose to fame back in the glory days of Pride FC. He was on quite a run until he was stopped by BJ Penn and later Nick Diaz. The Fireball Kid will look to reclaim some of his old brilliance with a win over Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu ace Kenny Florian.

As I stated before, March will be an mind-blowing month for fight fans. I cannot wait to witness history in the making, as these modern day masters of the Martial Arts compete at the very summit of our proud sport. Dazzling technique, heart, and perseverance is the forecast for the month of March.

Arman Farhangdoust



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March 1 2010

MMA Rankings:

Heavyweight:

1. Fedor Emelianenko - Strikeforce
2. Brock Lesnar - UFC
3. Frank Mir - UFC
4. Cain Velasquez - UFC
5. Shane Carwin - UFC
6. Junior Dos Santos - UFC
7. Alistair Overeem - Dream
8. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - UFC
9. Brett Rogers - Strikeforce
10. Todd Duffee - UFC

Light Heavyweight:

1. Lyoto Machida - UFC
2. Mauricio Rua - UFC
3. Gegard Mousasi - Strikeforce
4. Quinton Jackson - UFC
5. Rashad Evans - UFC
6. Randy Couture - UFC
7. Dan Henderson - Strikeforce
8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira - UFC
9. Jon Jones - UFC
10. Thiago Silva - UFC

Middleweight:

1. Anderson Silva - UFC
2. Dan Henderson - Strikeforce
3. Chael Sonnen - UFC
4. Demian Maia - UFC
5. Vitor Belfort - UFC
6. Jake Shields - Strikeforce
7. Wanderlei Silva - UFC
8. Mamed Khalidov - Sengoku
9. Rich Franklin - UFC
10. Denis Kang - W1

Welterweight:

1. Georges St. Pierre - UFC
2. Jon Fitch - UFC
3. Thiago Alves - UFC
4. Josh Koscheck - UFC
5. Paulo Thiago - UFC
6. Dan Hardy - UFC
7. Paul Daley - UFC
8. Nick Diaz - Strikeforce
9. Matt Hughes - UFC
10. Matt Serra - UFC

Lightweight:

1. BJ Penn - UFC
2. Frankie Edgar - UFC
3. Shinya Aoki - Dream
4. Kenny Florian - UFC
5. Gilbert Melendez - Strikeforce
6. Gray Maynard - UFC
7. Tyson Griffin - UFC
8. Eddie Alvarez - Bellator
9. Ben Henderson - WEC
10. Kamal Shalorus - WEC

Featherweight:

1. Jose Aldo - WEC
2. Mike Thomas Brown - WEC
3. Urijah Faber - WEC
4. Bibano Fernandez - Dream
5. Mark Hominick - WEC
6. Manny Gamburyan - WEC
7. Joe Warren - Dream
8. Joachim Hansen - Dream
9. Jens Pulver - WEC
10. Joe Soto - Bellator

Bantamweight:

1. Brian Bowles - WEC
2. Miguel Angel Torres - WEC
3. Dominick Cruz- WEC
4. Joseph Benavidez - WEC
5. Damacio Page - WEC
6. Jeff Curran - WEC
7. Antonio Banuellos - WEC
8. Rani Yahya - WEC
9. Abel Cullum - King of the Cage
10. Manny Tapia - Free Agent

Pound-for-Pound:

1. Fedor Emelianenko - Strikeforce
2. Georges St. Pierre - UFC
3. BJ Penn - UFC
4. Gegard Mousasi - Strikeforce
5. Anderson Silva - UFC
6. Lyoto Machida - UFC
7. Jose Aldo - WEC
8. Urijah Faber - WEC
9. Mauricio Rua - UFC
10. Brian Bowles - WEC