Fight Hype - ManMMA 318

[~ The Hype Train ~]

FIGHT HYPE - ManMMA 318

Heavyweight Championship

Brock Lesnar (61-30) vs. Frank Mir (13-26)

Brock Lesnar is a force to be reckoned with in ManMMA. His record is a perfect 2-1 in favour of wins – something that is difficult to come by in the most stacked division in the league: The Heavyweights. But Brock exercised fine tuning of his craft since his title shot-lost against Cain Velasquez at ManMMA 300. In that fight, he was blasted with knees until he was KO’d at 1:41 of Round 3. Since then, it’s been an uphill climb for the current champion.

The Lesnar freight train rolled in at the Season 15 Grand Prix, where he put away #2 ranked Alistair Overeem, Bobby Lashley, and #1 ranked Anthony Johnson en route to a 3-0 sweep and tournament MVP honours. Eyes were opened. Fans bought in. Lesnar was finally ready to come out and play.

At 307, Anthony Johnson came knocking, and Lesnar pelted him with excessive ground and pound, forcing the former SuperFight Champion out in just under 5 minutes. Brock Lesnar would enter the Heavyweight Tournament finals to see if he truly was up to snuff. Randy Couture was his primary test at 308. That was his meal ticket, and the Beast from the East ate it up. He forced Couture to endure elbows until he was knocked out 51 seconds into round 2. A total of roughly 10 minutes of fighting is all it took for Lesnar to win the tournament and face Overeem at ManMMA 312.

Overeem wasn’t in the best spirits regarding the match. After all, he had lost to Lesnar during the Grand Prix, but it was a chance for Alistair to get revenge and put the Beast in his place… except that didn’t happen. At 1:11 of Round 1, the fight was called as Lesnar rained down elbows and forced a TKO, earning him the Heavyweight Championship, once and for all. At ManMMA 315, he successfully defended it for the first time against widely regarded wrestler Mark Coleman. And how do you think that fight ended? If you guessed KO by elbows, you’d be correct. It’s Lesnar’s calling card.

But now, there’s a new challenger on the horizon. Frank Mir. And he’s ready to test the early reign of King Lesnar.

Here’s a fun fact for you fun-loving fight fans: Both Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar have been apart of ManMMA since the beginning. How many times do you think they have fought before? The answer: Zero. This will be their first pairing, and it comes at the 318th card. If that mildly surprises you, shame on you. That should be downright shocking.

Frank Mir’s history tells a much different, albeit sort of disastrous story, that ends with what could be the biggest turnaround in ManMMA history. Not one, not two, not even three, but a seven fight losing streak is what it took for Mir to figure out what all this fisticuffs was all about. It wasn’t until ManMMA 297 that he earned a unanimous decision win to break his losing curse against Rampage Jackson. As the legend goes, it was then Mir’s gloves shined a shiny brightness, and he brightly smiled with shiny teeth and said “someday, I’m going to be good at what I’ve been doing for forever.” And that day finally came.

ManMMA 309 set the pace as Mir squared off against King Mo Lawal, and subsequently forced a tapout from a North/South Choke. Mir shrugged and moved on to Bobby Lashley at 313, where he forced another tapout by Americana. At 314, he earned a number one contender match against the often force to be reckoned with, Mirko Cro Cop. At 4:46 of Round 2, the fight was stopped by TKO from Mir’s Ground and Pound. Mir walked away with a title shot. Cro Cop crawled away begging for plastic surgery.

And here we are. The rising Underdog versus the Beast. It will be interesting to see if Mir can overcome the odds and burn down Lesnar’s title run. After all, no one can count him out, but Lesnar has worked his way into the picture a multitude of times, and it would be hard to think he would let it go that easily.

Lesnar’s got a true title fight on his hands, and it’s his to lose.

---

Bantamweight Championship
Sarah Kaufman (55-25) vs. Gina Carano (72-14)

Let’s talk about women, shall we? In fact, let’s talk specifically about the two current most ruthless females in the league: Sarah Kaufman and Gina Carano.

Kaufman comes into the fight with 5 straight successful title defenses. Since ManMMA 296, she’s been on a tear with an 8 fight winning streak. In that time, she’s TKO’d Rin Nakai, KO’d Holly Holm, and used her Ground and Pound to put away submission expert Marloes Coenen for the championship at ManMMA 300.

In her title defenses, she’s defeated Rin Nakai (KO – Elbows) in round 2, Hiroko Yamanaka (KO – GnP) in round 2, punched out Lauren Murphy in Round 1, destroyed Rin Nakai (KO – GnP) in Round 3, and finally TKO’d Sarah D’Alelio with punches in just over 90 seconds. If you haven’t noticed, Kaufman has not seen a championship round during her entire streak – and that’s the way she’d like to keep it.

She’s a three-time champion, and marked her territory atop the division, but there’s still one significant obstacle she’s yet to prove she can overcome – and her name is Gina Carano.

In fact, Kaufman’s last loss came at Carano’s hands (literally) as she suffered a crippling KO-by-punches defeat in just under 2 minutes at ManMMA 292. And the pair have fought each other another 8 times there before. To be specific – this championship matchup with be their tenth fight, and the stakes have never been higher.

In their previous fights, Carano has won 6 and lost 3. Here’s what it looked like:

ManMMA 292: Gina Carano (67-10) vs. Sarah Kaufman (47-24) – Carano KO (Punches) at 1:58 Round 1
ManMMA 268: Gina Carano (57-10) vs. Sarah Kaufman (44-21) – Carano by KO (Punches) at 1:23 Round 1
ManMMA 233: Gina Carano(50-9) vs. Sarah Kaufman(41-15) - by Carano TKO (Elbows) at 2:02 Round 1
ManMMA 154: Sarah Kaufman (27-7) vs. Gina Carano (30-5) – by Kaufman (KO - Punches - 0:32 Round 1)
ManMMA 140: Gina Carano (26-4) vs. Sarah Kaufman (23-7) - by Kaufman (KO - GnP)
ManMMA 94: Gina Carano (18-1) vs. Sarah Kaufman (14-4) - by Kaufman (TKO - Elbow)
ManMMA 56: Gina Carano (10-0) vs. Sarah Kaufman (8-2) III - by Carano (KO - Punches)
ManMMA 34: Gina Carano (5-0) vs. Sarah Kaufman (4-1) II – by Carano (TKO - GnP)
ManMMA 15: Sarah Kaufman vs. Gina Carano – by Carano(Injury - Broken Rib)

But the biggest difference is how each have performance when they held the championship belt in their hands. Carano has been the champ a total of 5 times, and is actively seeking her sixth reign. In that time, she’s defended the title 28 times, which is absolutely absurd. That means that of Carano’s 85 career fights, she’s been in the big show on 33 occasions – nearly 40% of her fights have been putting her career on the line. And if that isn’t the most telling stat about this fighter, then I’m a monkey’s uncle.
But Carano is not without her faults either. She had four straight losses up until she won the Grand Prix Finals in Season 15. It was, coincidentally, Kaufman’s last opponent that got the wheels turning as Carano KO’d Sarah D’Alelio 23 seconds into round 2 to cap off her performance. At ManMMA 309, she defeated Alexis Davis by TKO (GnP) in round 2, before burying Kim Couture with elbows in 111 seconds at ManMMA 313, and finally earning her title shot with a KO in 37 seconds against Marloes Coenen.

And the stage has now been set. The legacy champion versus the rising phenom. Carano versus Kaufman.

And the biggest winner of the day will be the fans.

[The Rocketmen]

Wow I didn't know Kaufman and Carano fought that many times. I'm kind of pulling for Kaufman though. Would be nice for her to get over that hump so we can see just how far she can take it.

[The Sandmen]

Carano and Kaufman have been in some WARS! Look forward to the next chapter.

[The Mighty Ducks]

Holy crap I didn't think they fought that many times before, that's pretty cool. I still think Carano's got this one in the bag though. Kaufman just hasn't proven it to me otherwise.

[The Rocketmen]

She probably does, but I still would like to see someone new (Kaufman still) go on a tear, even though Carano's been without the belt for a little while.

[The Mighty Ducks]

I just like having the best fighters with the belts. It makes the challenge of earning one that much more rewarding.

[The Rocketmen]

I agree, and that's why Robbie Lawler's time at the top is limited

But yeah, I get what you're saying, but I'd still like to see someone else continue to reign for a bit. Actually, in general, I'd like to see more variety in the women's divisions with some excitement around who is coming up and whatnot. This feels more like a legends fight than anything.