Wanderlei Silva

TITO ORTIZ vs. WANDERLEI SILVA

(The abridged version of the fight, which Ortiz won by unanimous decision.)

When it happened: 4/14/00, at UFC 25
When it should have happened: Spring 2003
Why: Ortiz vs. Silva was an entertaining scrap between two young contenders for the UFC's vacant "middleweight" belt. If they met three years later, it would have been a superfight. By the end of 2002, Ortiz had defended his title five times — he'd lose it in September 2003 to Randy Couture — while Silva was PRIDE's middleweight ruler, owning a 12-0-1 record in the promotion and two successful title defenses. With Ortiz at the end of his reign and Wandy near the middle of his, it would have been an ideal moment to establish bragging rights for one of MMA's two leading organizations.
Prediction: Depends on where the fight was held. If Ortiz had home-field advantage, he'd probably still be able to grind out a decision win. In Japan, it would be Wanderlei via soccer-kick death.

DIEGO SANCHEZ vs. KENNY FLORIAN

(Click the image to go to the video. Sanchez def. Florian via TKO, 2:49 of round 1.)

When it happened: 4/9/05, at the Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale
When it should have happened: Sometime next year.
Why: Kenny Florian had enough talent and heart to make it to the finals of TUF 1 as a 185-pounder, but it was only a matter of time before he was squashed by another talented fighter who was more experienced and better suited to the weight; Diego Sanchez just happened to be that dude. This year, there was talk — hope, even — that Florian could upset BJ Penn at UFC 101, then have a high-stakes rematch against his old nemesis, who had followed him down to lightweight after an impressive run at 170. Unfortunately, Florian succumbed to Penn's trademark mata leon, and Sanchez was booked to challenge Penn for the title in December. Still, as long as Florian keeps winning, he'll claw his way back to the Nightmare — and this time, they'll face each other as two of the best lightweights in the world.
Prediction: Sanchez outstrikes Florian to a decision in a far more competitive match than their first meeting.

Fighting for a living is a lot like teasing a really mean dog: you can’t do it forever without something bad happening to you.  Even the great ones get to a point where their drive becomes sluggish and their bellies are too full for them to stay hungry, and that’s usually when a particularly bad beating takes what remaining fire they have and douses it with the fury of a God pissing on your dreams.  It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll quit right then, even if they should, but it does mean that they’ll never be the same again.  Here now, in chronological order, are the most notorious breaking points in MMA history.

IGOR ZINOVIEV vs. FRANK SHAMROCK at UFC 16, 3/13/98

It’s hard to say that Igor Zinoviev was really on his way to being a legend of the sport, because he got stopped almost before he really got started.  The former Soviet Army commando was one of the first fighters in the early days of MMA to beat a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt when he TKO’d Mario Sperry, and he took out Enson Inoue the next year.  All this came after years of fighting underground brawls in Brooklyn warehouses following the fall of the Soviet Union, so his toughness was never in question.

When he joined the UFC the future was, as they say, wide open.  Then he came up against Frank Shamrock, who wasted no time in scooping him up and slamming him down so viciously that it shattered his collarbone and knocked him out cold.  It was Zinoviev's first career loss, and he would never fight again after that.  We’re not saying the devastating finish served as the catalyst for Shamrock’s out of control ego over the next 10+ years, but we’re not saying it helped, either.

(Homer and his closest real-life equivalent. Photos courtesy of likecool.com and ESPN.)

As a white skinhead, it's no surprise that Homer Simpson would be into MMA. What's surprising is that The Simpsons will be devoting an entire episode to the sport this Sunday (8/7c). Is it a desperate attempt by the 21-year-old series to generate interest among young males, most of whom moved on to Family Guy a long time ago? Quite possibly! But hey, score another one for the mainstream acceptance of cage-fighting. TV.com has the synopsis of this Sunday's episode, which is titled "The Great Wife Hope":

Believe it or not, that's exactly how Lina Kvokov got booked to fight Kim Couture last year. No word yet if the promoter will be a thinly-veiled Dana White-parody, but FiveOuncesofPain hears that Dancing With the Stars's Chuck Liddell will make a cameo in the episode, hopefully to tell Marge that she's an killjoy idiot who should find something else to protest, before having sex with her in a nightclub bathroom.

So do any of you still watch this show? Is Maggie talking yet? Did Burns and Smithers ever consummate their relationship?

...because without costumes and choreographed dance routines, it's just two guys beating the hell out of each other. Booooooring!

(Future UFC champion/part-time Michael Jackson impersonator Anderson Silva won't stop 'til he gets enough at PRIDE 22.)

("Keaton always said, 'I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him.' Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Diego Sanchez.")

(Belfort vs. Matt Lindland @ Affliction: Day of Reckoning, 1/24/09. Fight starts at the 0:59 mark.)

In honor of Vitor Belfort's return to the UFC this Saturday, here are nine of the Phenom's greatest knockouts. Folks, this is how you throw hands. Keep your chin down, Rich...

(Belfort vs. Terry Martin @ Affliction: Banned, 7/19/08.)