Catch All Post: Quick Thoughts On What's Going On In MMA

With most of my posts dealing with the UFC I'm going to be spending most of this post discussing what else is going in the wonderful world of MMA. Here we go...

Bobby Lashley vs. Chad Griggs: It's fights like these that really make me wish I was a betting man. Aside from washed-up fighters like Jason Guida, Bob Sapp and Wes Sims, Lashley hadn't really fought anyone with any significant experience or proven skill-sets. I was a little surprised when the Griggs fight was set up considering his record was 8-1 at the time. I guess Strikeforce thought they could give Lashley a little step up in competition without throwing him to the wolves with someone like Antonio Silva, Brett Rogers, Fedor, etc. Unfortunately for Strikeforce it seems that Lashley is just not that into being a fighter. To just give up like that really makes you question the motives Lashley had when we started training in MMA. With the success of Brock Lesnar in the UFC, I really think Lashley expected his amateur wrestling background and his WWE history would be enough to allow him to have some success in the cage while also collecting a hefty paycheck. Once Lashley finally saw that he wasn't going to be able to take someone down at will and got hit hard enough by Griggs, he wilted and probably started rethinking his career choices right that second.

Feijao vs. King Mo: As soon as this fight was set up, almost everything I read wrote Feijao off and expected an easy win for Mo. This is really just the continuation of a trend that I am seeing with the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight division. The belt has changed hands 3 times in 3 fights, and with each title change MMA sites are quick to call the loser overrated. When Gegard Mousasi beat Babalu in a minute, everyone sang his praises and expected him to hold the belt for awhile, especially considering the slim roster. Mousasi lost the belt in his first defense to King Mo and was then quickly excused of being an overrated fighter who belongs at 185 and had never really fought anyone in the first place (even though he has wins over Jacare, Babalu, Denis Kang, Hector Lombard, etc.). King Mo was then expected to steamroll Feijao in his first defense, but when he lost by TKO in the third, all of a sudden Mo is back to being inexpereinced and overrated. That's the problem I have with a lot of MMA sites, they don't know how to be OK with being wrong. I honestly thought Mo had an excellent chance to win, but I wasn't going to write off Feijao just because of the lost to Mike Kyle. Feijao trains with one of the best camps in the world and is an excellent striker. I think he will continue to get better a Mo will as well, but it's really time that fighters stop being defined by singular performances.

Kazuo Misaki vs. Jorge Santiago II: I don't want to say a whole lot about this fight simply for the reason that I want people to watch it and experience what is certainly going to be a fight of the year candidate. These two already had one amazing fight, and I think the second one was even better. Misaki really brought it to Santiago, and looked like he had the fight won. Santiago is a beast, though, and really came back strong and showed that he is one of, if not the best fighter to come out of ATT. Dropping Misaki with the head kick is just an absolute insane part of the fight, and the transitions on the ground were something that you'd only see with the most talented of grapplers. To see Misaki's corner throw the towel in with just 30 seconds left in the fight (even though he was likely ahead on the cards) just added to the emotion. Misaki may have won more rounds, but Santiago had him beat in the 5th. Just another amazing performance from these two, and I really hope they start getting a little more love state side from the UFC and Strikeforce.

Shine Fights will be holding a one night lightweight tournament just down the road from me at the Patriot Center. The tournament will feature fighters like Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett, Marcus Aurelio, Drew Fickett, Conor Heun, and others. I'm going to buy my ticket as soon as I finish up here and plan on taking pictures as well as posting live updates on my Twitter (@JustinCohee). Feel free to follow me on Twitter too as I mostly post MMA news anyways.

Also, I just read that Bellator will be coming to Philadelphia in October. There are only two fights announced thus far, but they are the "super fight" between ROger Huerta and Eddie Alvarez, and the welterweight title fight between champ Lyman Good, and wreslting stand out Ben Askren. I'm hoping I'll be able to go to that event as well and provide live coverge.