I was delighted to see Strikeforce/EliteXC pull things together and put on a great show Friday night. Tony Fryklund did nothing but facilitate Cung Le’s striking. There were multiple prime opportunities for Fryklund to shoot for the takedown, but it never happened. In the meantime, Cung surgically dismantled The Freak with kicks from every angle hitting every target. So the question is: why didn’t Fryklund go for the takedown?
It could have been just that Cung controlled the fight so well that Fryklund felt as if he had no opportunity to go for a takedown. Pace, distance, everything was dictated by Cung. From the fan perspective, we see one fighter completely dominating the fight. From the fighter perspective it’s even worse. He had an extremely low percentage of connecting shots, and that is completely demoralizing for a striker. And to make things even worse, he gets tagged with these crazy kung fu kicks while the fans are chanting his name. I think he just got beat mentally. So much so that he just didn’t believe his takedown would work.
Shamrock vs. Baroni
Despite the dude being kind of a prick, I’ve always believed in Frank Shamrock. To me, he’s among the very first well-rounded mixed martial artists. His fights in those awkward adolescent years of the UFC were always impressive with smooth transitioning from standing to the ground. For someone like me, who at that time had studied grappling and standup as separate arts, he represented what was the first glimpse of what modern MMA would look like.
Baroni on the other hand is just kind of a brute. Yes he’s good at knocking people out, but that’s only when the opponent is dumb enough to not move their head. Also, his strikes are 100% power and 100% hooks, which is something Gono exposed in a Pride fight a while back. Gono simply leaned back and extended a knee out every time Baroni came in. Anyway, his style is completely one-dimensional and that was quickly made evident by the beating that he took.
Normal levels: 2 ng/Ml
Normally high levels: 6 ng/Ml
Royce’s level: 50 ng/Ml
Wa wa wi wa!
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Royce Gracie’s pre-fight drug test came up positive for an anabolic steroid known as nandrolone. Royce fought a rematch with Gracie nemesis Kazu….. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz…. mm ung…. egh? Sorry, dozed off there.
I haven’t looked at the numbers on this one, but according to the Wikipedia, there are a lot of pretty common ways to come up positive. Nandrolone is a naturally occurring steroid in the human body and levels can rise for a number of reasons.
According to the article, high protein diets supplemented with creatine and heavy cardio can result in a positive pee test. The verdict seems final, but I’d really like to hear Royce’s side of the story before making any judgment. Personally, I hope he didn’t dope. First because it would be a move that to me, undoes everything that he’s done for the sport of MMA. Second, it would give him even less excuses for that weak-ass fight.
It does all seem to fit though. Royce was bulked up, but not ripped during his weigh-in. Nandrolone’s side-effects are mild compared to other steroids, which would probably make it attractive for someone who’s grown up on a diet as strict as the Gracie’s do. In addition, nandrolone has the unique property of improving the body’s ability to create collagen and bone, so it’s essentially good for your joints… hmmmmm…..
The fight that most viewers considered the real headliners for Saturday’s K-1 Dynamite!!!!!!!!!! turned out to be more of a fizzle than a KABOOOM! Admittedly it was cool to see Royce and Sak live, but the fight itself left much to be desired. They should have left it as it was or just set up some cage match at the Gracie family ranch or something.
These guys had 7 years to think about this fight… and how does it go? Exactly like it did the last time, except thank God this time there was a time limit. As a friend of mine commented during the fight: “It’s exactly like the first fight, but somehow lamer.”
We have two submission masters who are pushing or already hit 40 years of age. I guess it would be unreasonable to expect anything more than hugging and hip-blocking. Shame on the crowd for booing. The only time I booed was when the decision was announced. Oh wait, also when All 4 One was announced… but the decision:
“Unanimous decision for Royce Gracie!”
*blink blink*
Um… What?
Were you guys watching this fight even? Royce did absolutely nothing to put Sak in danger. Perhaps the judges were distracted by the DJ talking DURING THE GODDAMN FIGHT. WTF?!?!@? Maybe some of you can tell me if there is ANY sporting event where a DJ tries to get the crowd to “make some noise” during the competition because I’m at a loss.
