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The Hammer MMA Radio

The Hammer MMA Radio - Episode 21

Duration:: 32m
Broadcast on:: 29 Dec 2010
Audio Format:: other

UFC 125: Edgar vs. Maynard is happening on New Years Day, and we give our thoughts on what to expect from the first MMA show of 2011.

We also hit up some news including what's up with Chuck Liddell, Dominick Cruz, Mirko Cro Cop, and Alistair Overeem, and then just for fun we discuss just what the hell went wrong with Strikeforce in 2010.

Check out our website at http://www.thehammermma.com and subscribe to our show in the Itunes store.

[ Music ] >> Hello and how are you doing today? My name is David and welcome to The Hammer. I am your host and I'm joined by my co-host. >> Steve, hey. >> And of course, our regular slacker Greg is slacking as always. It is Wednesday, December 29th. We've got a good show for you as we always try to do. You're listening to us live at 93.3 C F M U. And you can also find us at thehammermma.com. You can find us on iTunes, on Zoom. And also, apparently we are back on cable television. >> Oh, that's awesome. So, if you ever want to watch this without watch TV without actually seeing anything, that would be the show to watch. So, we're going to talk about UFC 125 for a bit. We also have some news and some developments. Maybe we'll branch on strike force a little bit if we get a chance. >> So, it looks like UFC is trying to get New Year's Day tradition going on. So, Joe, like January 1st, they're doing a show. What do you think? Do you think that's a good day to do an MMA show? >> Well, I mean, everyone goes on parties on New Year's Eve, on New Year's Day itself. What do you really do? >> You sit around with a hangover and wait for UFC? >> Yeah, so, I mean, for that evening, I don't think, particularly because this, this will be a Saturday. >> That's right. >> This one. >> Why not? >> Cool. The Cubs are on Super Bowl, except this card. I like it, but this is in a huge card. >> Okay. So, we're going to start with the main event, which will be lightweight championship, but Frankie Edgar, taking on his rival, Gray Maynard. Now, Frank Edgar has an almost perfect record. He's only ever been defeated once. By Gray Maynard, Gray Maynard does have a perfect record. He's never been defeated. He's had a couple of close matches with one of the DS brothers, Neat. And that's about it. >> Yeah, this is, I'm interested in this fight. I'm not feeling a whole lot of love for, for this as a main event, from like, I guess most people, but I'm a huge Frankie Edgar fan. I think he's great. And the fact that he is facing the only guy that's ever beat him, that's a good storyline. And Gray Maynard is a tough, tough dude. This should actually be a really good fight, probably a decision fight, but a really good fight. >> Well, the first one was a decision fight. >> Well, it's Gray Maynard. >> Gray Maynard did point them. Now, Gray Maynard is going to be coming in here with a couple of advantages. He's a wrestler, and he's going to be coming in fairly happy. He'll probably be weighing about 175 to 180 pounds. >> He comes in as a big dude. He pushes you around. He uses his muscle. The Gray Maynard that they call him the bully for a reason. >> Now, Frank Edgar is much smaller, much faster. He's going to be coming in probably at about 163, 164 times. That might even be high, yeah. And he's light. He doesn't cut a lot of weight, if any, is for some fights. And he's the quick, you know, sting like a butterfly guy, you know. >> Now, that doesn't always work against a guy who's got a good clinch game and a good takedown game. That's how Gray Maynard managed to oppress him the first time. He managed to keep him held down. Now, Frank Edgar has come out and said he's a much more complete fighter since then. He was able to stand up almost throughout the entire fight with Gray Maynard the first time with just the exception of he just kept giving up more than more takedowns. But since then, Frank Edgar has apparently been working extensively on his brutal zooming jiu-jitsu. So he thinks he's got a much better sweet game. He thinks he can get off the mat when he needs to. He thinks he can threaten with submissions. >> Now, I've been following Frank Edgar for quite a while, at least his entire UFC career. And he just keeps getting better and better. Even as two fights against BJ Penn, he's shown improvement. And he's becoming more and more well-rounded. >> Sure, he seems to win his fights by the speed and dodging it in and out. But his ground game is improving, his BJJ, as you said, is improving. >> This isn't-- >> He says it's improving. >> Yeah, he says it's improving, but I believe it. And this isn't the same guy that Maynard fought the first time. I don't know if it's enough to beat him. He may be his crypt tonight, but this isn't the same Frank Edgar. Frank Edgar has shown great improvements in the last few years. >> Well, so Frank is going to come in. He's going to have a significant edge of speed. He's definitely going to have advantage in the striking department. Graham Maynard throws heavy wild swings, but that's exactly what Frank Edgar is best at dodging and countering. So I think that his counterpunching game and his diving in and out strikes is going to work well for him here. >> On their feet, I really do think it's satisfied. >> And Edgar is also going to have the championship advantage. He's got the belt, which means that the judges and the fans tend to favor you, which will give him a bit of a boost. >> And we know if this goes to a decision and if it's close. >> And we know he can go five rounds as both of those BJ Penn fights win. We even with BJ like gas in that first fight, blame the climate or not. >> Heger look fresh. He can go five rounds for sure. >> Under very bad conditions, which is something that Maynard in the DS fight by the third round, he was looking very, very worn out. And in the foreign fight, he was starting to look a little bit worn in the third round. So he might have a good advantage in the first two rounds, but. >> If this goes to the fourth and fifth. >> Now, if this goes to the ground at any point though, Maynard can do a lot of damage. >> Absolutely. >> Do you think he can keep down, Edgar? >> I think he can take down Edgar, absolutely. Now, the thing is he wasn't able to keep Edgar down in his first fight. And also, although Maynard does have a good ground and pound game, Frank Eager has shown that he's got a very, very good defensive game. He's good at getting guard. He's good at keeping you close and not letting you posture up. >> I haven't, I haven't seen anyone really pummel Frank Eager, because he's very defensively slick, and I don't think Maynard is able to either. So I think that the way that this fight will go is the great Maynard will have the advantage in the first couple rounds as he's able to score takedowns. Frank Eager, he'll be able to get back up, but he'll be taken back down, which will actually cost against him for points. Then I think that. >> Oh, because if I like this, which you'll likely go to the decision, those takedowns are going to count for a lot in the judge's eyes. >> So definitely one of them surrounds. Then to me, the decisive round will be three, four, and five. I think in three, Maynard is going to be starting to guess. He's going to be starting to feel the light kicks, the jabs, and the body shots that Eager is going to be hitting them with. I think that if Eager manages to win that round, they manage to counter even one of the shots. If he manages to just counter one of them so that Maynard gets stuffed or gets hit coming in. So he starts shooting from farther out and missing some of them. Four and five, Eager can pick him up and maybe get the decision. >> I think that sounds pretty good. And so what's your call for this fight? >> I'm going, Edgar. >> You're going, Edgar? >> I mean, this thing, not only my fan of the guy, but he beat B.J. Penn twice. Maynard is good competition and it could be his weakness, his weakness, at least in their first fight. But I think Eager has improved enough. And I think he can do this. >> So with that being said, I got to go for the smart money, which is great. >> I think the odds are actually on Maynard. Now, the thing with Maynard is he's got a tough chin. He's going to have a fairly good size advantage. And although Frank Baker says he can stand up and he can sweep and get up, that just means you can get taken down more. I definitely think that the takedowns are going to count. We've shown that this is a very wrestling heavy time in the UFC. And I have to figure that all the Maynard has to do is pick up a takedown in each round, which is well within his abilities and knock it knocked out. And I agree with that, even if Eager is fighting great from the bottom, better on his feet is fighting a better all-around fight. If Maynard takes him down once around, the judges are going to possibly incorrectly give him the decision. It's a style that's very heavily favored towards decisions right now. I still think Eager can do it. >> I definitely think that Eager can do it. And one thing I just want to throw out there. Eager has an insanely good camp this time around, which he has not had before. He's got in Filmer's Ark Dan Waller. Basically, everyone who trains GSP has come in to train Eager for this fight. So, I mean, these guys were able to give GSP the game plan that he needed to win every decision fight. He's one for one, which I mean, if you're saying they're going, OK, I know this is going to be a long one. And I need a great Mai Tai coach to help me in the clinch. And I need a great Jiu Jitsu coach to help me get this guy off me. These are the guys you want. So that's going to make that's going to be an important wild card. >> You're still calling Maynard, though? >> I'm still calling Maynard. I think his physical tools just too much. I'm just saying that this is a really, really close one. It could go anyway. I think it favors Maynard because I think he's going to be inside Frankie's head. And I think he's going to have a size advantage. >> That is a good point. The fact that he beat him before and is the only person ever to beat Edgar. I mean, that gives him some confidence going again. >> And I think that there's going to be, as I said, it's a very decision to have any time in the UFC history. I mean, Frankie's got all the right tools to do it. >> Speaking of being a very, I just don't think. >> Speaking of being a very decision heavy time. Do you think there's any chance of this fight being finished? >> No. >> No, me neither. It's going to be the decision. >> No, well, so, Eager is too good defensively and he's not good enough offensively. So, do we have any potential finishes on the undercard here? >> That was a couple. So, we've got Chris Lieben versus Brian Stan. >> That's probably not that actually very likely to be a finish. >> Brian, this is a middleweight one. Brian Stan is three and two in the UFC. Lieben is looked like a beast in the last couple fights. >> This is like the career renaissance of Chris Lieben. Those two wins in two weeks. People are finally talking about this guy again. >> Yeah. So, and, you know, hopefully he's off the stories this time. >> Yeah, well, Stan's dropping down actually for this fight. He's a fairly big dude and I think this is going to be a brawl. >> This will be a brawl. Now, with that being said, Lieben is a very, very heavy-handed striker and he's got some pre-solid wrestling too. I'm picking him to win this one. I think he's going to do it by knockout. I think he's able to be able to keep Stan off of him and hit him with some good shots. Stan is a good fighter, but he's got a very, very mixed record. He's not particularly great at avoiding strikes. Stan lost to Phil Davis and Christoph and I'm thinking that, you know, Christoph is like that level of guy that if he's beating you, then I think Lieben can do it. >> Even though Lieben is going to have a bit of a size of damage. Keep in mind Lieben's big for the division too. So, I mean, they're both going to be big guys for the division. >> There will be some bombs thrown in this fight. I'm actually looking forward to it. >> So, what's your call? >> Lieben. >> Absolutely. Then this next one will be a light heavyweight belt between Brandon Vera, who's making his return, presumably with both eyes. To take on Taggle Silva, who's also making his return. >> Both of these guys need a win pretty badly. >> Taggle Silva has been on a little bit of a losing streak. Brandon Vera's been ice cold. Now, these are both really, really solid strikers. Neither guy likes to go to the ground. Both of them have really, really good Moitai games. Brandon Vera is a little bit more technical, a little bit more accurate, a little bit more fast. Taggle Silva, a lot more powerful, a lot more knockout potential. >> Yeah. I mean, Silva's losses. I mean, he's lost a couple of his last fights, but I mean, Rashad and Machida are guys that everybody loses, too. Like, there's no shame in losing to those guys, but there's something about him. I just, he didn't even look good in that Rashad loss. He just didn't seem to do that. >> You know, he only cocked Rashad really good in a third round. >> I just thought he looked like his heart wasn't in it, you know? But of course, you know, Vera hasn't looked like himself in three or four years. >> Vera hasn't looked like himself since he's been, you know, Dr. Kristin Ranvera. So, yeah, I don't really know about this fight. I think, I think I want to see Vera do this. >> Well, my prediction for this fight is this one is going to be a really boring one. >> Okay. >> These are two great strikers who are going to, in my opinion, what great strikers fight, they tend to respect each other too much, and they circle instead of striking. >> Okay. >> So, I think it's going to be a lot of circling, a lot of jabs, a lot of low kicks. I think this one's going to go into a decision. >> Likely. >> And it'll be a close one. Now, with that being said, the thing with Brandon Verra is, he might be able to point out a decision. Here, because he is the more technical striker. And he is going to be able to land better shots, but he's got nothing in him anymore. He's, his career is pretty much at the stop sign. >> Do you think Silva has quite a bit more left in him? >> I think, Tim, I think the thing is, Teago Silva has enough killer instinct. If he gets a knockdown or even a good shot at any point in this, in any point during the fight, he could steal it. And that's my call. I know the smart money's Brandon Verra. >> I don't know. I wouldn't even say that. I almost feel like making almost an underdog pick saying Verra. I would think this one might be on Silva. This, this fight, I don't know, maybe it'll surprise us. That probably won't. >> No, it won't, it definitely will surprise me. But Teago Silva is my call to win this one. I think he's just, he's got the power. He's got a tough chin. You know, cardio is an issue, but it is for Brandon Verra. And both of them are going to be coming off of a significant amount of ring rust. So I think this is going to be a cautious, circling fight. And I think that Teago will win enough damage that he'll get it. >> Well, my thing with Silva is I always found that, I mean, he was considered a top ranked in his division. But I mean, his big wins are over like Jardine, Houston Alexander and James Irvin. Like, these are his wins. I think maybe he's overrated. >> Yeah, but Brandon Verra is over Kristoff. >> Yeah, that's right. >> He's only one of the divisions in Kristoff. >> You know, I'm still going Verra, but I don't think either of these guys are, are even winning from either of these guys isn't going to do too much for them. >> No, so then we go forward to the welterweights. Nate Diaz, the bane of Gray Maynard, will be coming back to take on Jung-Hong Kim, who is a bee in such luminaries as Matt Brown in a mere pillow high in Sedala. Now, Kim, he's, he's well-rounded. >> Good work. Good wrestling. >> Very very well-rounded. >> Good reach, good height. He's, he's, he's pretty, he's pretty tough. Now Diaz, Diaz has got a really good jujitsu game. He's well-known for that. >> Great jujitsu. >> But he also has a really, really good height advantage with a long reach. He likes to stick back and jab him. >> He doesn't really have the height advantage against Kim, though. >> Yeah, that's, that's going to be important factor to me is he's not going to have the wingspan here against Maynard and against a lot of his opponents. He's going to be able to step back and jab and frustrate him. Kim is really, really slick defensively, and he's going to be coming in as big as Diaz. >> And he, he should be able to take down Diaz, but I mean, do you want to take Diaz down? >> I'd say why not? >> Guy's scary on the ground. >> Kim's scary on the ground, too. He's scary from the top position and he's got a really slick defensive mission defense. >> True. >> So, I mean, I'm, my, my pick for this, don't home Kim. He's, he's been on a win streak. Nate Diaz, I don't think he's as good as people think he is. I think that don't home Kim is going to be able to take the fight to the ground and win it either on points or by, you know, pounding his way to a victory. >> I think, I think Diaz and his strange striking game. I think, I think it will continue to baffle his opponents. I think he will go in there. He will, he will out strike Kim. And I, I think on the ground, I think even from the bottom, he's dangerous from the, from the bottom. I think this is, this is Diaz's fight to lose. >> Okay. So we go forward, Clay Guida versus Takanore Gomi. >> This is a good one. >> Fireball kill. >> Now Guida is tough. He is aggressive. He comes at you with a lot of wild punches. Takanore Gomi is also tough. He's got a lot more power. This guy's a knock out machine. >> I think the big question. >> And he's very, very technical. >> Who's more inconsistent with these two guys? >> They're both extremely. >> Exactly. >> So they're both wild fighters I'd like to put on entertaining fights. >> This is a tough call for me. Guida, he loses a lot. >> He does. He's great. I love Guida. He loses a lot, but he's never KO'd. I'm not saying that Fireball can't do it. Because I mean, look what he did to Griffin. >> Yes, Tyson Griffin. >> To Tyson Griffin. But I don't know. Guida just doesn't get knocked out. I don't see it happening this time. And I see him winning a decision. >> To me, Guida is a little bit small for the division. Gomi's a little bit big for the division. Gomi's very, very powerful and he's a much more technical striker. I think this is going to be a repeat of Guida versus Sanchez, where the more technical strikers can be able to expose Guida's wildness and be able to take advantage of that encounter punch. I'm calling Gomi to win this one. I think that if anything in this is going to end with a knockout, it's going to be going by knockout. >> I think Gomi can knock him out. I think that's probably the only way he's going to win the fight. I don't see it happening. Guida by decision. >> Okay. So we go forward to the preliminary card, which is going to be-- >> Now, here's two random prelim cards. Is that this is going to be one of the shows where there wasn't a prelim card. Well, Dana's been scrambling on his Twitter all week. I'm trying to get deals. I'm trying to get deals for these prelims. So on ION in the States, on ESPN in the UK, and Roger Sportsnet in Canada, we will see three prelim fights. And you think with how important he was scrambling to get these, you think that the future of the company rested on being able to see Phil Brony fight. >> Well, Phil Brony's a really fun fighter. He is one of these fights. So there's actually three prelim fights. Where do you think? >> Okay. So we've got Marcus Davis versus Jeremy Stevens and a lightweight tilt. That one is very, very evenly matched. Then we're going 4-2. >> Oh, I don't think it's evenly matched. I think that's Stevens fight. >> Fair enough. We've go forward to the featherweights. Josh Grispey is going to be taking on Dustin Poie. Now Grispey is very, very good. 14-1 and he was off the pick on it, although. >> Sort of the number one contender for all of this featherweight battle. Dustin Poie is one-in-one. He's not particularly well known. I'm thinking Grispey's almost bound to win this one. >> I think Aldo is injured. They are- >> Then he has something to do with the other race. >> Did they need something for Grispey to do to get him out there? And they're giving him a guy that they're fairly sure he can beat. >> Mm-hmm. So this is his fight to lose. And I don't think he will. And then Phil Brony makes his return in the middleweight division to take on Brad Tavares. Tavares is very, very good. He's 6-0, 1-0 in the UFC. >> Yeah, he was from the Ultimate Fighter. He beat Hammertree and he lost to our boy, Corey McGee. Do you think he has enough to beat Phil Brony? >> Well, as much as I love the New York badass, Phil Brony is a tough guy. He's got a good chin, but he's definitely old for the game. >> Absolutely. >> He's looked like he's slowing down. He takes a lot of big hits. Now this is going to be a brawl. Brony doesn't go easy and he likes to swing wildly. Tavares is definitely a game. So I think this is going to end up in a mess. I do think Tavares will be able to out point him. But I do think this one's going to go on. >> I think this is going to happen. It's going to be a lot like that. So dollify it. >> Mm-hmm. >> Yeah, this is for Tavares. Tavares is winning. >> Absolutely. Then we go forward to the other half, the prelim card, which is not going to be shown. Mike Brown, the former WBC featherweight champion, is going to be making his UFC debut against Diego Nunez. >> Can you believe that Mike Brown can't even make the three prelim fights televised? >> Well, he's already a featherweight. They're pushing. >> Yeah, I guess so. It's unfortunate. But I would like to see him fight. >> I'd love to. I mean, I think that Brown is, he's looked rough, and he's got a couple rough outings. With that being said, Brown's a tough guy. I love to watch him fight. The company definitely loves to watch him fight. I think if he wins this fight in impressive fashion, which I think is entirely likely. >> Yeah. >> Because I think he's using a TKO, Diego Nunez. This is one that's going to get shown. You know, in that hour for the prelim cards, when there's a couple of minutes left, or on the main card after Frank Egger versus Green. >> I hope so, because this is one of the fights I want to see most on the whole card. >> Daniel Roberts, we're taking on Greg Soto. And then Jacob Volkmann is going to make him making his return to take on Antonio McKee. Volkmann. >> I can't say I'm in any big hurry to see that. >> I'm not in a huge hurry for that. People had a lot of high hopes for Volkmann. Antonio McKee is not as well known in the lightweight division. And this is going to be interesting to see what Volkmann can do down with the lightweights. >> Yeah. >> So now we go forward to the news. What do we have for the news, Steve? >> There was just a press conference a couple hours before we went on the air, and Chuck Ladell has been named the UFC's new executive vice president of business affairs. It is his job to help expand the business overseas, and just in any way he can. >> Well, he's always been an ambassador for the sport. >> Absolutely. >> And as much as the Iceman is known for his knockouts, he did go to university and get his business degree, and he wasn't a accountant before he became a UFC fighter. So probably the right pick, and I think it's also, they don't want him in the ring anymore, and they love the guy. >> No, that's it. He's the sort of guy who should and will have a job for life there. This is somewhere where he can do some good for the company, and he's the right choice. He's a very public face for the company. Everybody knows him. Everybody seems to respect him. Great choice. >> Yeah. Dominic Cruz is injured. I think he heard his hand in that last fight. He's going to be out for a while. They've already signed Uriah Faber versus Eddie Weiland for March. We were hoping for Faber versus Cruz ASAP. Not happening anytime soon. >> Well, the guy's injured. What are you going to do? >> Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, Weiland is a good competition. I'm kind of surprised they didn't do Faber versus his kid, Kitty Yamamoto. >> Yeah. Weiland was a previous champ, and he won his last fight by a huge knock-off. >> Oh, he's on a run. He's on a pretty good run of fights. >> Whereas Kitty Yamamoto, I think, is unknown in the North American market. So, as much as Uriah Faber considers that his boogeyman, Weiland is the more credible opponent for a lot of current fans. >> Yeah. I just think it would have been a good time to do that fight that Faber has always wanted. But, yeah, I think it may never happen now. And on New Year's Eve, Alistair Overeem is fighting Todd Duffy at the K-1 Dream Show. This is kind of a big fight for two Americans in Japan at this time. >> Well, absolutely. Duffy, he had a lot of hype and a lot of push behind him. >> Passes KO when UFC history. >> Alistair Overeem, he's also a crushing fan of his KO by Mike Rizzo, which isn't looking very impressive as well. Overeem, he's a strike force champion, even though he doesn't fight in strike force. But he's been over and making waves in Japan. >> He's rumored to be the strike force champion. >> Yeah, he's got a belt with his strike force on it. But he's over fighting in Dream in K-1. Now, this is going to be a K-1 match. This will be, I believe. >> And this is like on like three days notice. >> This is a very, very short notice match. It's going to be at the Dreamfall New Year's Eve Show. This is Dream's big show for the year. Now, as much as Duffy is an honor, he is actually a really, really good striker. He looked fantastic striking against Duffy up until the point where you gassed out. >> Oh, against Rizzo. >> I'll get Rizzo, sorry. With that being said, I have to maintain. Overeem is one of the best technical strikers in the division. In a battle between two strikers, he's got a lot more tools and is arsenal. I have to figure that Overeem is the strong favorite to win this one, and it's my call to win. I think they just found the biggest guy they could find with three days notice to go in there and get beat up by Overeem. >> But with that being said, Duffy's huge. >> It is not impossible for you. Definitely as big as Overeem. He's got heavy hands. Overeem does not handle pressure well, which Duffy dishes out in ladles. >> It is not impossible for Duffy to knock him out. >> If he manages to knock out Alster Overeem, the strike force heavyweight champion, and the K-1 recent grand pre-champ game. >> He is backing up the money truck for him. Wow Duffy, that's a huge feather in Duffy's count. >> Even though Dana doesn't seem to like him, he'll bring him back. >> Yeah. Now the other fight, which is important on this one, which I want to talk about, Gagarin Mosasi is going to be taking on a Japanese fighter named Keotaro. He is the dream, I'm sorry, he is the K-1 heavyweight champion. Overeem won the grand pre-Chaiotaro's actually got the belt. He's the real champion. Now, four fans of UFC who haven't seen Keotaro, a good reference for his striking ability. He's a lot like Shogun Rua. Great leg kicks. He's a customer-card base. He's like Machita as well too, but like great leg kicks, tough boxer, good right hook, good chin, good cardio. Gagarin Mosasi knocked out another guy in the K-1 match called Mosasi, who's also very, very good. And he's taking his fight at 225-1 odds to prove that he is the best striker. And he can take on K-1 level striking. It's a bit of a big-headed move, but if he managed to pick up a win here, this is to me even bigger feathering his cap, then the Duffy win would be for Duffy. Because this proves he really does have K-1 level striking. He could be walking out with a championship belt for K-1. You know, you're having never fought for the company. There's some interesting fights. And also, Shania Oki, he's fighting in like a one-round MMA, one-round K-1 kickboxing rule fight. There's some strange stuff on this card. The thing with the Oki fight is he's taking on a K-1 guy, one-round will be K-1, one-round will be mixed martial art dream. And then if it goes beyond that, they'll just call it a draw. Yeah, it's strange. There's a lot of strange things on this card. Typically, you'd fight a third round. Exactly. I think this is just made for a draw. I don't know, they must be expecting it. And Jamie Varna and Chris were a Dutch guy. They were both cut from the USC, I think, today or yesterday. And Barner has been on a cold streak. And Kordowski's never impressed anyone. That's really one of the first signs of proof that, I mean, if you're not, if you're lightweight in the UFC now, and you're not winning every fight, you're in danger. Absolutely. And I mean, the thing with Varna is he's a light enough guy. He should have said, you know what, I'll cut the feather away. And he's like, he makes some waves there. I know he's lost the place, but he spot the best guys to the BBC had. And the guy's exciting. And I mean, if they're not keeping him, they're not going to keep very many people if they don't deliver. Well, I mean, they've got 60 light heavy. Well, they had 60 light weights and they got 58. But I mean, for a fewer lightweight, you have to seriously think either you've got to win or you've got to cut. And if you can't make the cut, you know, because you're going to be in trouble, that's two-stack division. The story of 2011 is going to be the thinning of the lightweight herd. Absolutely. And yeah, so when do you think should we talk a little bit? Last week, we did a quick little WBC year in review. Should we do strike force? I think we've got a little bit of time to talk about the strike force. I think we've got a few minutes left. So let's talk a little bit about my favorite promotion, the strike force. Now, I'm going to set you back. Late 2009. So did 2009? Late 2009. Everything was looking great for strike force. Strike force. You got the CPS deal. Side to CBS deal. Vador showed. He came, signed a three-fight contract. Gina Chrono, big deal. She was a huge deal at that point. She was one of the biggest drawing fighters in the company. And Josh Thompson and Gilbert Melendez had one of the best fights I saw in all of 2009. This was almost the fight of the year. It was a strong fight of the year contender. Made Melendez look great, and he's looked great ever since. He's now a pound-for-pound contender, and he's one of the best in his own division as well. Oh, I remember our previous radio show before this. We were loving strike force about December 2009. Then 2010 happened. And that's what we have here. In 2010, roughly chronologically, the strike force had a second CBS special, which was a total mass. They had three title fights that went way, way over time. Dan Henderson lost to Jake Shields and then Jake Shields. He picked up and spent as much money to get Henderson as he did to get Vador. Henderson came in to take on the champion of the middleweight division, who was quitting to go to UFC. And the expectation was that Hendo would beat Shields to pick up the belt and send Shields to UFC with a stinging loss. Instead, Shields dominated Henderson to retain his belt. Took his belt to the UFC, left no one as the middleweight champion. And Henderson, as the most valuable guy that they picked up, didn't even draw well. The only good thing about this fight was no one saw Henderson lose, because no one watched it. And then that same night, Mayhem Miller and the entire Cesar Gracie camp got into a huge brawl and CBS pretty much vowed that they would never have strike force on their hand. Mayhem Miller came in after this. The only thing he could possibly say was, "Hey, can we have a rematch with a one fight you can possibly have left in your contract?" And instead, Shields's training partners jumped him and beat him down on national TV. Ridiculous. And then Brett Rogers after losing to Vador, he got a title shot at Dallas Rovarim. Which he lost. Yeah, he failed upwards and then still lost. And now, Rovarim, where's he now? He's fighting all over Japan. He won a dream. So he can't get the champion to come back. That was the only time he surfaced in the entire year. It's the first time he's fought in three years. He's fought once. But at least strike force had Vador who fought for Brisha Verdume and lost. Yeah. In under a minute. Yeah. Or sorry, just over a minute. And that was the second of Vador's three fight contracts. Is he going to fight the third? Well, they're in negotiations with him to gamutify the third one. I just want to point out, we set the start of this. Vador signed a three fight contract. They are in negotiations to get him to honor his three fight contract. The third fight of this contract. They have to sweeten the deal before he fights the third fight of his three fight contract. And now maybe contract means something different in Russia. I don't know, but. And they can't get any combination of their heavyweights of overing Vador or Verdume to fight at all. Well, Verdume beat Vador. And instead of saying I've already beaten over him in a different promotion, I want to fight for the belt, he said over him sucks. I want to fight Vador again. Yeah, over him said I don't want to fight Vador because he's been ducking me. I want to fight Verdume because he won the contender match. And Tonya Silva said I'll fight anyone. I don't care. And if the other says I'll fight anyone, I don't care. Except he never actually shows up and they actually want him to fight. So like you've got four guys. You have a number one contender, a champion and two guys who are in contention. It should be a no-brainer. You put the number one contender with a champion. You put the two guys who are left in a fight. And in the winner of that, it gets the next fight. It doesn't seem to be that easy with Strike Force. And then Bobby, and then the Heavyweight Division, Bobby, they brought in Bobby Lashley, who they thought was going to be a huge star. They thought he was going to be their version of Lesnar, and then he lost to a can that they were feeding into. He lost to nobody. Chad Griggs. Sitting on a chair. Chad Griggs, one beat Bobby Lashley. He's still not a name. Bobby Lashley, keep this in mind. He couldn't even make it back to his corner after round two. He was so tired. He quit on the stool. He didn't even fight the third round. And Hersha Walker was injured for pretty much all of the year. One of their biggest draws is a football player, kind of novelty act. All respect to the guy, but you don't build a company around that guy. He's 48 years old. Gina Chrono's gone. Gina Chrono's found him career in movies because he's a very beautiful one. And yeah, and their EA sports video game, bombs so horribly that it's now like a punchline in the video game industry. Is there any positive for Strike Force going into 2011, Dave? Well, the only thing that the Strike Force has really, really got going for them going into the next year. Because if they can put together Fador and if they can put together a heavy weight division, they might be able to pick up some ground there. There's going to be a lot of light weights available. So you can feed some guys to Melinda's, maybe try to get some traction there. They're champions in the middleweight and light heavyweight champions are both Brazilian who don't speak a word English. And they have a no-boarder for a second since they won the belts. Yeah, but realistically, the only thing that they've got solid going for them is their announced team. They've got the more novel factor. I think as long as you've got that charming dude on the mic, he's going to be able to keep you in business. So are you saying that you're just going to continue to watch Strike Force so you can make fun of more over and over and over? I'm going to make keep people off because you can make fun of the entire promotion because they're just complete clowns. I really hope that Strike Force is 2011. It's a lot better than their 2010. It could possibly be worse. And I hope that all of our listeners have a good 2011. See you guys next year. Take it easy.