If you’re a fan of mixed martial arts, you’re probably sick of that headline. You’re sick of hearing how Lorenzo J. Fertitta and Frank J. Fertitta bought PrideFC from their former owners of Dream Stage Entertainment and fired former CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara. You want to know more about what is possible the most important month in the history of mixed martial arts, April 2007.
There are four shows worth mentioning in April, in addition to “The Ultimate Fighter” season 5. These shows are:
April 5, 2007 – Ultimate Fight Night 9
This show features a fight between Joe Stevenson and Melvin Guillard. These two 155-pound fighters are on the verge of becoming superstars in the UFC’s lightweight division. One win in this fight, then maybe one more and one of these guys could be ready for a title shot. There’s another interesting fight on this card as well, which features the return of Kenny Florian after his loss courtesy of UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk. Kenny Florian takes on Dokonjonosuke Mishima.
April 7, 2007 – UFC 69: Gunfight
Everyone is waiting to see what Georges St Pierre has in store for Matt “The Terror” Serra. St Pierre completely dominated Matt Hughes in his last outing, earning him the UFC welterweight belt. Serra, on the other hand, barely edged out Chris Lytle for the season 4 “Ultimate Fighter” title at 170. This could be an interesting matchup, but most are expecting another punch from St Pierre.
The most interesting match of UFC 69 will put Diego Sánchez’s undefeated record on the line against superfighter Josh Koscheck. These guys knew each other before, but Josh was a pure fighter at the time, now he has a couple of years of experience in MMA, let’s see who is better now. Other big names on that card include Mike Swick, Kendall Grove, Heath Herring, Brad Imes and expect a great matchup between Josh “I never quit” Haynes and Luke Cummo.
April 8, 2007 – Pride 34 Kamikaze
This event is not as interesting as it could be. The main thing that makes it interesting is the 10th anniversary and Sakakibara’s resignation, all in the same show. Long-awaited and emotional show with many clips from “Pride Past”. If you’re not a Pride fan then you soon will be, watching this show would be excellent research into what Pride fighters bring to the table. Unfortunately, it goes live at 3:00 am my time, bring on the coffee! The main fight will be Sokoudjou vs Arona. Sokoudjou’s little Nog KO’d in his and Arona’s last outing is a perennial contender. Perhaps he has more to gain from the pride of ownership of the UFC owners. His solid ground game could be a problem for much of the UFC’s current 205-pound division.
Pride also features a monster fight between Butterbean and Zulu, personally, I’m not interested.
April 21, 2007 UFC 70: Clash of Nations
Finally, the show that will determine the future of the UFC heavyweight division. Mirko Cro Cop vs. Gabriel Gonzaga will determine who will face Randy Couture for the title. Look out for Cro Cop to master this one, but as always in MMA, never count any fighter out of any fight. There are a number of other interesting names on this card. Look out for “Ultimate Fighter” Season 4 winner Michael Bisping taking on Elvis Sinosic in a match ostensibly designed to set Bisping up for a future title shot. Andrei Arlovski will face Fabricio Werdum, which could end up being the fight of the night. Cheick Kongo will try to redeem himself after a decision loss when he faces Assuerio Silva. Let’s hope Cheick comes out banging.
That’s it, a great month of great fights, and I barely mentioned the big purchase of UFC – Pride. For those of you fed up with the UFC – Pride headlines, you’d better get used to it, it’s here to stay and will continue to be the big story in MMA for months to come.
Take it easy and enjoy the fights!