Thoughts and notes on MMA for June 18, 2013

So I have thoughts on some recent and upcoming MMA events so here it goes.

KSW held KSW XIII on June 8th and featured some familiar names. KSW Middleweight Champion: Michal Materla successfully defended his title against former UFC Ultimate Fighter Winner: Kendall Grove by Unanimous Decision. Former UFC Heavyweight: Sean McCorkle defeated former muscleman and KSW regular: Mariusz Pudzianowski by submission. McCorkle is best known for oddly being only one of two fighters to defeat Mark Hunt in the UFC. By all accounts that white belt jiu-jitsu was on display with McCorkle submitting Pudzian the same basic way he submitted the Super Samoan back in 2010. Finally Mamed Khalidov submitted Melvin Manhoef in the main event. By all accounts the outcomes could be considered good but not perfect. Materla and Khalidov winning were great news for KSW as one of their champions and former champions defeat outside talent. While neither Grove nor Manhoef are elite it does show that their native guys aren't to be taking lightly. The two are also popular so it helps KSW to see they're fighters continuing to win. The Pudzianowski loss is another story as McCorkle is not an elite fighter by any means and Pudzian getting submitted in less than 2 minutes shows he not and may never be ready for primetime. KSW's next event will be on September 28 and will see KSW determine their first heavyweight champion as former Olympic gold medalist and PRIDE veteran: Pawal Nastula will take on 2009 ADCC World Championship grappler: Karol Bedorf. Nice to see Nastula at 42 be giving this chance to become the first Heavyweight Champion of the top promotion of his native country. It would one of the best comebacks of 2013.

ONE FC announced their 10th event which will take place in Jakarta, Indonesia on September 13. The promotion has announced the main event will crown the first ONE FC Flyweight Champion which will be between Japanese veterans: Shinichi Kojima and Yasuhiro Urushitani. Both men ironically earned the shot by defeating URCC fighter: Rey Docyogen. The fight will be the third encounter between the two as they fought twice before in Shooto with both fights ending in a draw. I'm a big fan of Japanese Mixed Martial Arts so it's really been great to see the Japanese fighters doing very well in ONE FC. It definitely shows that the Japanese can hang with fighters outside their country and that JMMA may be down but it's not out. The promotion has also hinted at a Heavyweight Grand Prix and possibly determining a future ONE FC Heavyweight Champion. I'm a fan of more Heavyweight divisions and if ONE FC is truly signing fighters from around the world, this can be very enjoyable. ONE FC definitely has they're work cut out for them in regards to a heavyweight division. They have a good start with Rolles Gracie and Tony Johnson showing potential and Tim Sylvia is a "name" although I use that term loosely in 2013. As for ONE FC's date, I'm disappointed we have to wait all summer for the next show. Don't get me wrong I like that they're not overdoing it but a July show would've been nice.

WSOF 3 was held on Friday and featured a truly bizarre main event with Josh Burkman beating Jon Fitch in 41 seconds via choke. The fight was a rematch from 7 years ago at UFC Ultimate Fight Night 6 which saw Fitch win by submission. I was disappointed that Rolles Gracie had to pull out due to injury but hopefully he'll be back very soon. I missed the event but WSOF 3 looked to be an improvement from 2 a it wasn't in danger of cancellation due to the Athletic Commission not approving of the cage, Paulo Filho being no where near this card, the main eventers having WSOF gloves instead of UFC, and the main event had a memorable ending. All in all, WSOF have to be happy with Burkman who has put on some great fights and and enjoying a career rebirth. Also it was nice to give Fitch a chance but WSOF and everyone have to be happy they don't have to worry about their future Welterweight Champion being a grinder who makes MMA fans skin crawl. Congrats to Burkman as he's making a nice comeback and by accounts deserves it. Not sure where Fitch goes from here. It's now almost impossible to think this guy was the #2 Welterweight in the World with incredible submission defense and yet now is 1-3-1 in his last 5 fights and got choked out in less than a minute. Who'd a thunk it that UFC washout: Josh Burkman would do what Damian Maia, Erick Silva, and even GSP couldn't.

Bellator is returning on June 19th for their Summer Series events. The show will be stacked with the LONG awaited debut of War Machine as well as the semi final rounds of the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight tournaments. Unfortunately UFC aren't the only one suffering from injuries as Bellator lost two big fights this summer due to injuries. The first was Michael Chandler vs. Dave Jansen for the Lightweight Title which was scheduled for June 19th has been delayed due to an injury which results in Bellator Chandler against Dave Rickels on the next Summer Series show on July 31. Speaking of July 31, Bellator saw the finals of Season 8 Welterweight Tournament fall through yet again when Douglas Lima pulled out due to another injury. This is the second time this fight was shelved due to Lima suffering an injury with the first being the March 21st show. My opinion is that the Summer Series should be very fun as I'm a fan of the tournament format. It sucks that Jansen pulled out but hopefully he'll be back in time for a fall title fight. Bellator has also announced they will return to Friday Nights with Season 9 in September. Obviously Friday's not the best day since many MMA fans go out on Friday's. That being said it's not the worst. Being on Thursdays at 10 pm was probably a problem for Bellator since not many people who live in states with eastern and central time will want to go to a show on a work or school night as well as a show that ends at 11 pm/Midnight. The plus for being on Friday will be Bellator being able to hold shows anywhere without the worry of people passing on them because of Bellator being on work and school nights.

Finally we got UFC on Fuel TV: Nogueira vs. Werdum and UFC 161 & neither really delivered. The Fuel show was alright but nobody was on there that interest me. Not to mention that it was the same old, same old with Brazilian beating foreigner. That said, I did think Leonardo Santos vs. William Macario was pretty good and congrats to Santos who won the TUF Brazil 2 tournament was was very emotional afterwards. The main event between Big Nog and Werdum was entertaining and Werdum was able to avenge his 2006 loss. Personally, I say forget Cain/JDS 3 and do Cain/Werdum. UFC 161 is easily a contender for worst show of the year. The prelims were dull especially Shields/Woodley. The main card was no better with Jimmo/Pokrajac being a contender for worst fight of the year. It was great to see Stipe Miocic bounce back from his first loss back in September and look better than ever. I was already a fan of Supersize Cro Cop but he definitely showed he's a champion by not only bouncing back from a loss but looking better. That match will probably go down as one of Dana White's most favorite along with Johny Hendricks vs. Jon Fitch. Evans vs. Henderson was not good. Neither guy looked horrible but both proved they have nothing for the elite of the division.