MBL
03-18-2007, 11:15 PM
March 13, 2007 by Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com)
"Mustering up all his congested wisdom, geriatric prize fighter Larry Holmes once stated, "The thought of being broke scares me." The sentiment could help explain why Holmes stepped into the ring right into his mid-50s, and why having the spotlight shine on someone else seemed anathema to him.
Fighters know fighting. So few fighters know anything but fighting that even a lopsided career is better than none at all. And like boxing, MMA has seen its share of ill-qualified contenders continue to step in the ring, even when declining skills, advanced age, or lack of common sense should be enough to dissuade them.
These are nine athletes who no longer seem prepared to match the price of admission. Astute readers may note the lack of Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures); because I've railed against his morbid participation for years, suffice it to say that any further mention would be redundant. Call him the tenth, absentee entry.
In random order:
"Tank" Abbott
Hard to believe, but the ample-bellied Abbott was once as foreboding a figure as any you'd find in a sport full of very stern-looking individuals. His eyes are positively reptilian in their apathy for other living things. And though they say power is the last thing to go, Abbott's physical deterioration since a return bid in 2003 has forced a 1-5 record. Get him on the floor and he's absolutely helpless -- vs. Kimo, Frank Mir (Pictures); stand with him and you're likely to plow right through his molasses-glazed striking -- vs. Correira, Buentello. A penchant for nightlife has rendered his athleticism, once effective even in spite of its bulbous overcoat, stagnant.
Were it not for Wesley Correira (Pictures) willingly standing still and allowing himself to be clocked, Abbott's last victory would have been nearly a decade old. "Tank" is undoubtedly not the sort of someone you'd shove in a bar, but the sport's current criteria is -- thankfully -- a bit more strict than that.
Dan Severn
Nearing age 53, Severn is truly the iron man of the game. He was there virtually at its inception in the States, and he continues to toil in smaller programs, a marquee name for a bargain rate. His performances are uninspiring affairs, largely wars of attrition against shark bait with two left feet. His constitution seems indestructible.
But if you were to wager on what demographic might be most likely to receive life-threatening injuries in the ring, chances are good you'd take the social security contingent. Despite his pedigree, Severn's reaction time, reflexes, and bone structure make him a risk factor for a still-fledging sport. Against a poorly chosen opponent, he's a walking time bomb of serious injury waiting to happen.
Elvis Sinosic
To borrow from Sara Lee: Nobody doesn't like Elvis. He's a genial, polite gentleman with the demeanor of a priest. Unfortunately, he hits like one, too.
Sporting an 8-9-2 record, the affable Sinosic is a plodding 1-5 in UFC competition, with his only victory coming over Jeremy Horn (Pictures) in 2001. There have been scattered wins in other promotions: a KO over Roberto Traven, submissions over the unheralded Mark Epstein (Pictures) and Shamoji Fujii (Pictures). But Sinosic's anemic winning percentage against the UFC's formidable opposition is evidence that he's unable to seal the deal against upper-echelon talent.
Against mid-tier fighter Alessio Sakara (Pictures) at UFC 57, Sinosic was brutalized so badly that judges registered rare 10-8 rounds on the cards. Now he's fodder for UK poster-boy Michael Bisping (Pictures) in the UFC's upcoming trek to England. What does the fight do for Bisping? More importantly, what does it do for the fans?
Mark Coleman
One can imagine Mark Coleman (Pictures) viewing Randy Couture (Pictures)'s performance at last weekend's UFC and stoking the fires of his own competitive furnace. Here was a man, Coleman's slight senior, who just manhandled a dominant champion.
He should get an extinguisher. Mark Coleman (Pictures) is not Randy Couture (Pictures), and vice versa. The things that made Couture a multi-belt champ -- stand-up prowess, cardio conditioning, strategy -- have largely been absent in Coleman's own career. He looked shell-shocked against Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, folding in a corner after the kickboxer unleashed a combination. Against Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), he was positively decimated.
You'd have to rewind to the 2000 PRIDE Grand Prix -- when he kneed Igor Vovchanchyn (Pictures) into oblivion -- to find a relevant Coleman victory. At age 42, it seems likely that the decorated wrestler won't discover a better night than that one.
Kevin Randleman
Randleman, who made my list of "The Disappointments" last year, has more fast-twitch muscle fibers in his left leg than the entire New York Jets put together. He was an early, dominant champion of the UFC, with ferocious wrestling ability. And when that stopped being enough, he didn't seem to care.
Save for a miraculous knockout of Mirko "Cro Cop," Randleman's tenure in PRIDE has been a rather amazing series of catastrophic losses. Since 2002 the Ohio State wrestler mustered a 2-8 record in PRIDE, and notched a lone victory against anonymous Fatih Kocamis (Pictures) in Rotterdam.
He's gone through serious health problems, a car accident, numerous surgeries, and a steroid scandal. When he seems on the verge of winning a bout -- against Fedor, for example -- he finds a way to drop it.
Like mentor Coleman, Randleman seems reluctant to change with the times. The era of the one-dimensional wrestler has gone the way of the 45 record. At this point, only a very recent or very single-celled recruit to the sport would express any suspense over a Randleman outcome.
http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=6975
"Mustering up all his congested wisdom, geriatric prize fighter Larry Holmes once stated, "The thought of being broke scares me." The sentiment could help explain why Holmes stepped into the ring right into his mid-50s, and why having the spotlight shine on someone else seemed anathema to him.
Fighters know fighting. So few fighters know anything but fighting that even a lopsided career is better than none at all. And like boxing, MMA has seen its share of ill-qualified contenders continue to step in the ring, even when declining skills, advanced age, or lack of common sense should be enough to dissuade them.
These are nine athletes who no longer seem prepared to match the price of admission. Astute readers may note the lack of Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures); because I've railed against his morbid participation for years, suffice it to say that any further mention would be redundant. Call him the tenth, absentee entry.
In random order:
"Tank" Abbott
Hard to believe, but the ample-bellied Abbott was once as foreboding a figure as any you'd find in a sport full of very stern-looking individuals. His eyes are positively reptilian in their apathy for other living things. And though they say power is the last thing to go, Abbott's physical deterioration since a return bid in 2003 has forced a 1-5 record. Get him on the floor and he's absolutely helpless -- vs. Kimo, Frank Mir (Pictures); stand with him and you're likely to plow right through his molasses-glazed striking -- vs. Correira, Buentello. A penchant for nightlife has rendered his athleticism, once effective even in spite of its bulbous overcoat, stagnant.
Were it not for Wesley Correira (Pictures) willingly standing still and allowing himself to be clocked, Abbott's last victory would have been nearly a decade old. "Tank" is undoubtedly not the sort of someone you'd shove in a bar, but the sport's current criteria is -- thankfully -- a bit more strict than that.
Dan Severn
Nearing age 53, Severn is truly the iron man of the game. He was there virtually at its inception in the States, and he continues to toil in smaller programs, a marquee name for a bargain rate. His performances are uninspiring affairs, largely wars of attrition against shark bait with two left feet. His constitution seems indestructible.
But if you were to wager on what demographic might be most likely to receive life-threatening injuries in the ring, chances are good you'd take the social security contingent. Despite his pedigree, Severn's reaction time, reflexes, and bone structure make him a risk factor for a still-fledging sport. Against a poorly chosen opponent, he's a walking time bomb of serious injury waiting to happen.
Elvis Sinosic
To borrow from Sara Lee: Nobody doesn't like Elvis. He's a genial, polite gentleman with the demeanor of a priest. Unfortunately, he hits like one, too.
Sporting an 8-9-2 record, the affable Sinosic is a plodding 1-5 in UFC competition, with his only victory coming over Jeremy Horn (Pictures) in 2001. There have been scattered wins in other promotions: a KO over Roberto Traven, submissions over the unheralded Mark Epstein (Pictures) and Shamoji Fujii (Pictures). But Sinosic's anemic winning percentage against the UFC's formidable opposition is evidence that he's unable to seal the deal against upper-echelon talent.
Against mid-tier fighter Alessio Sakara (Pictures) at UFC 57, Sinosic was brutalized so badly that judges registered rare 10-8 rounds on the cards. Now he's fodder for UK poster-boy Michael Bisping (Pictures) in the UFC's upcoming trek to England. What does the fight do for Bisping? More importantly, what does it do for the fans?
Mark Coleman
One can imagine Mark Coleman (Pictures) viewing Randy Couture (Pictures)'s performance at last weekend's UFC and stoking the fires of his own competitive furnace. Here was a man, Coleman's slight senior, who just manhandled a dominant champion.
He should get an extinguisher. Mark Coleman (Pictures) is not Randy Couture (Pictures), and vice versa. The things that made Couture a multi-belt champ -- stand-up prowess, cardio conditioning, strategy -- have largely been absent in Coleman's own career. He looked shell-shocked against Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, folding in a corner after the kickboxer unleashed a combination. Against Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), he was positively decimated.
You'd have to rewind to the 2000 PRIDE Grand Prix -- when he kneed Igor Vovchanchyn (Pictures) into oblivion -- to find a relevant Coleman victory. At age 42, it seems likely that the decorated wrestler won't discover a better night than that one.
Kevin Randleman
Randleman, who made my list of "The Disappointments" last year, has more fast-twitch muscle fibers in his left leg than the entire New York Jets put together. He was an early, dominant champion of the UFC, with ferocious wrestling ability. And when that stopped being enough, he didn't seem to care.
Save for a miraculous knockout of Mirko "Cro Cop," Randleman's tenure in PRIDE has been a rather amazing series of catastrophic losses. Since 2002 the Ohio State wrestler mustered a 2-8 record in PRIDE, and notched a lone victory against anonymous Fatih Kocamis (Pictures) in Rotterdam.
He's gone through serious health problems, a car accident, numerous surgeries, and a steroid scandal. When he seems on the verge of winning a bout -- against Fedor, for example -- he finds a way to drop it.
Like mentor Coleman, Randleman seems reluctant to change with the times. The era of the one-dimensional wrestler has gone the way of the 45 record. At this point, only a very recent or very single-celled recruit to the sport would express any suspense over a Randleman outcome.
http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=6975