MMAVu

Is this for real?!

Leave it to the Japanese to come up with the bizarro fights.

Their latest showcase is former MLB Jose Canseco, taking on Korean kickboxer Hong Man Choi in the opening round of their, “Super Hulk Tournament”. Canseco has a career MMA record of zero wins, and zero losses…so I guess he’s undefeated. Being undefeated is a good start I suppose. He’s also 45 years of age, and has lived a hard-partying, drug abusing life. That’s not so good.

Hong Man Choi on the other hand, is 7’2″ tall, and is a kickboxer who has fought the likes of Mirko CroCop and Fedor Emlianenko, albeit in losing efforts.

Canseco on the other hand, has NEVER lost to CroCop OR Emelianenko…seriously though, what the hell is Canseco doing?

I’m going to file this one under the, “I’ll believe it when I see it” category. Japanese promoters are the same guys who cooked up the debut of an animated cartoon character not too long ago, so…I’ll believe Canseco fights, when he actually fights.

Some intense dudes.

Poor Thiago Silva.

First he gets his first loss by emphatic knockout at UFC 94, then he gets the rug pulled out from under him in the Forrest Griffin fight, now he gets the 2-dollar-steak-tough, Keith Jardine. Let’s look at the three duds one at a time.

KO loss to Machida: Silva was on an absolute tear. He exemplified the fierce, aggressive Chute Boxe style to a tee, like a young Wanderlei Silva. The Brazilian Buzzsaw ran into an enigma he couldn’t solve though, in the ghost-like Lyoto Machida. Machida danced and hit, and danced some more, eventually connecting on a clean shot, flooring Silva, and adding a second punch when Silva was horizontal on the ground, turning his lights out. Suffering your first loss is bad enough, but to lose in such a fashion…ouch.

For his comeback fight, Silva was offered up Forrest Griffin, the former Light heavyweight Champion. This was to be the highest profile fight of Silva’s career, as the stars don’t get much bigger than Griffin in the UFC. A win would have put him in line for a title shot…until Griffin got pulled out for Anderson Silva.

Finally, he gets an almost-as-tough opponent in Jardine, but with 1/4 the star power of Griffin. A win over Jardine puts Silva up a few notches, but still about 2 wins from a title shot.

You win some, you lose some, huh Thiago?