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UFC
on Versus 2
by
Carlos Santana
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UFC Live: Jones vs Matyushenko
Sunday August 1st
Live on Versus (9 PM ET / 6 PM PT)
UFC on Versus 2 will take place at San Diego
Sports Arena after originally (and stupidly) being planned in Salt Lake
City, Utah. After low ticket sales and incredibly bad planning by event
organizers that thought a Sunday night event in notoriously religious
Utah would be a good idea, the venue was moved to San Diego. This event
will also mark the return to the Octagon of famed fight mediator Big
John McCarthy as referee. With a very solid undercard that includes Steve
Steinbeiss and Rob Kimmons facing off. I would expect Kimmons’ veteran
experience and well rounded game to edge out Steinbeiss’ striking
attack. Darren Elkins makes another attempt at showcasing his skills
against highly touted prospect Charles Oliveira in his UFC debut, expect
Oliveira to live up to the hype. Real American Hero Brian Stann will
be making his MW debut against a very tough opponent in Mike Massenzio.
I don’t think Stann’s TDD and grappling skills are on par
with where they need to be yet, Massenzio should take advantage of that
for the win. The same goes for the next matchup which pits Muay Thai
fighter James Irvin against Igor Pokrajac. Irvin looked like he was on
death’s doorstep when he tried to fight as a MW, so he will be
returning to LHW and while this could turn into a wild and crazy slugfest,
Igor would be smart to get Irvin to the ground and work for submissions.
DaMarques Johnson and Matt Riddle may be a very exciting sleeper fight
on this card with Riddle’s crazy pace and Johnson’s style
matching up well. In a straight scrap, I’ll give the edge to Riddle
by grinding out the win, Johnson’s technique could sneak up on
Matt, but his control and heart will earn him the win. Rounding out the
undercard will be Lloyd Christmas look-a-like Jacob Volkmann facing off
against Paul Kelly. This also has the potential to be a great scrap with
two non-stop attacking guys with well rounded games fighting their asses
off. At this point, I think Volkmann eeks out the win after some rough
and tough rounds. On to the main card.
Tyson Griffin 14-3 vs Takanori ‘Fireball Kid’ Gomi
31-6-1NC
 Tyson
Griffin steps up to face Gomi after an injury forced Joe Stevenson out
of this fight. Needing a win after an upset loss to Xtreme Couture teammate,
Evan Dunham Griffin looks to hand the Fireball Kid his 2nd Octagon loss.
Joe Rogan’s favorite badonkadonk has taken down some very tough
opponents in his career; Urijah Faber, Jorge Evangelista, Duane Ludwig,
Clay Guida, Thiago Tavares, Gleison Tibau, Marcus Aurelio, Rafael Dos
Anjos, and Hermes Franca. The 5-time Fight of the Night bonus winner
and one-time Submission of the Night winner has also held the Gladiator
Challenge LW belt and has only losses to current LW champ, Frank Edgar,
former champ Sean Sherk, and Dunham. Griffin is quick, durable, and very
cerebral when he fights. He has good boxing and a strong wrestling base,
competing as a standout HS wrestler and shortly competed at Santa Rosa
JuCo. Originally training with the Cesar Gracie’s team in Stockton
and David Terrell, Griffin took his earning’s from his first UFC
fight and moved to Vegas where he joined Xtreme Couture and was criticized
and labeled as a ‘gym-hopper’ by Nick Diaz.
Takanori Gomi came into MMA with a boxing background and a solid foundation
in freestyle and catch wrestling. His pro MMA career started off with
14 straight wins including wins over Rumino Sato for the World WW Shooto
belt, Chris Brennan, and Dokonjonosuke Mishima. Gomi went on to lose
the belt to Joachim Hansen and went to Hawaii’s Rumble on the Rock
promotion to challenge BJ Penn in Penn’s first fight outside the
UFC. In Gomi’s first fight under the unified rules, Gomi lost by
RNC to the LW king. The Fireball Kid next went to PrideFC where he ripped
through 10 straight opponents. During that amazing run, Gomi defeated
Ralph Gracie with the fastest ever KO in PrideFC history (6 seconds),
Krazy Horse Bennett, Jens Pulver, Luiz Azeredo twice, Jean Silva, Tatsuya
Kamajiri, and Hayato Sakurai. His win over Sakurai acquired him the PrideFC
LW Grand Prix and the first PrideFC LW belt. Gomi’s next match
would be a losing effort to grappling guru Marcus Aurelio in a non-title
match. Gomi went on to defeat David Baron, defend his belt in a rematch
with Aurelio, and a non-title win over Mitsuhiro Ishida. In what I saw
as one of the greatest MMA matches ever and in Gomi’s last outing
before PrideFC’s dissolution, Gomi lost a back and forth battle
with Nick Diaz to a gogoplata submission that was later ruled a NC as
Diaz tested 3.5 times the threshold for THC set for athletes. After the
demise of Pride, Gomi would sign with World Victory Road and defeat Duane
Ludwig by TKO and Seung Hwang Bang by a decision before suffering what
was voted by Sherdog as the upset of the year in a split decision loss
to Sergey Golyaev. Gomi rebounded with a win over Takashi Nakakura, the
current Shooto champ, in a non-title bout. In Gomi’s final fight
in Japan before signing with the UFC, he defeated Tony Hervey. Gomi’s
last bout saw him taking on Kenny Florian in an unimpressive performance
in which he was continuously beaten to the punch and out struck by Florian
before succumbing to a RNC in the 3rd.
When ‘Eye of the Tiger’ starts to play over the loudspeakers,
Tyson Griffin walks out and puts on a great fight. He is a very consistent
competitor with an exciting and fast paced style. Gomi on the other hand
has been very erratic and unpredictable lately. Gomi’s home gym
in Japan, the Rascal Gym never boasted any significant sparring partners
or ways for Gomi to improve dramatically while Griffin has flourished
training with elite trainers and partners at Xtreme Couture. Since 2007,
Griffin has gone 6-3 with his only losses coming to two former champs
and star prospect Dunham, while Gomi has gone 4-4 (I’m counting
that Diaz fight as a loss because he lost) Add to that the fact that
Gomi’s opponents during that period had only a 69% win ratio in
165 fights while Tyson’s opponents won at 83% over 172 fights and
a much higher quality of fighter. In the striking department Gomi will
have the edge in power with Tyson having more weapons to strike with.
Griffin will circle and land strikes and kicks from the outside while
waiting for Gomi to try and close the distance. Gomi’s attempts
to do so will be met with clinches and takedowns and who knows, maybe
even some flying knees. Gomi will need to step up his striking from what
we have seen recently. He has power in his strikes, but has not been
setting up his strikes well and has looked sluggish as well. Tyson should
control the distance and angles while scoring points winning a kickboxing
match much like Florian did and using his cage experience to his advantage
by taking Gomi down and working in top control and strikes to overwhelm
the at times lethargic Gomi for a TKO win.
John ‘Doomsday’ Howard 14-4 vs Jake ‘the Juggernaut’ Ellenberger
22-5
 Doomsday comes in riding a lot of recent success with a
7-fight win streak including big wins over Charlie Brenneman, Chris Wilson,
and Tamdan McCrory. Howard holds losses to Nick Catone, and Dan Miller
and is a submission style fighter with good Muay Thai training out of
WaiKru in Boston. He stands 5’7” is a very compact and explosive
fighter in the 170 division. His last 2 bouts have been exciting KO finishes
as he dispatched of Dennis Hallman with a unbelievable come from behind
win in the final seconds of what was sure to be a decision loss and an
abso-fuckin-lutely brutal win over Daniel Roberts which left Roberts
in an alternate state of reality.
Ellenberger, an IFL veteran is coming into this bout off a win over
Mike Pyle and a cancelled showing at UFC 111 when his opponent, Ben Saunders
was pulled in to fight against Jon Fitch. With wins over Gil Castillo,
Ryan Stout, Zach Light, Pele, and Pat Healy as well as losses to Jay
Hieron, Derrick Noble, Delson Heleno, Rick Story, and Carlos Condit,
Jake has cage experience against some very tough fighters. A former US
Marine and Team Quest fighter, Ellenberger is not going to be a walk
in the park for anybody that steps in the cage with him. Currently associated
with Team Extreme in Omaha and also and assistant wrestling coach with
the U of Nebraska, Ellenberger possesses a good mix of tenacity and durability
on the feet and the ground wrapped up in a very explosive and powerful
mass.
I would expect Ellenberger to use his superior wrestling skills to control
Howard much like Hallman was on his way to doing before getting blown
up. On the feet, both of these guys throw hard
leather and aren’t
afraid to stand in the pocket and test each other’s chin, but the
smartest and likeliest game plan would be for Ellenberger to outmuscle
and out grapple Doomsday while avoiding knees in the clinch using clean,
explosive takedowns.
Yushin ‘Thunder’ Okami 24-5 vs Mark ‘the Filipino
Wrecking Machine’ Munoz 8-1
Yushin Okami is a very solid
veteran fighter that doesn’t seem to get much respect. He has beaten
Hidehiko Hasegawa, Nick Thompson, Izuru Takeuchi, Alan Belcher, Kalib
Starnes, Rory Singer, Mike Swick, Jason MacDonald, Evan Tanner, Dean
Lister, and Lucio Linhares. He is also is the last man to hold a win
over Anderson Silva (by DQ for an illegal upkick). Losses have come to
Amar Suluev, Falaniko Vitale, Jake Shields, Rich Franklin, and Chael
Sonnen. Okami broke his hand in preparing for a title match against Anderson
Silva and was replaced by Patrick Cote and lost his title shot. Okami
is a great grappler with solid wrestling and control working with Wajyutsu
Keisyukai and has also spent time training with Team Quest. He showed
much improved striking in his last match with Linhares, repeatedly battering
Linhares with right handed counters until the fight was stopped due to
bloodbath in the 2nd.
 The Japanese born Pinoy, Munoz is also a very strong wrestler, while
at Oklahoma State he twice captured the Big 12 title and All-American
status at 197lbs. Munoz also has good Muay Thai training and looked good
in his stint in the WEC, scoring two first round TKOs. Munoz made his
way to the UFC with a 5-0 record with a win over Mike Pierce after the
WEC folded its LHW and MW divisions. In his UFC debut, Munoz was matched
up with Matt Hamill and suffered one of the most unexpected and devastating
head kick KOs to notch his first loss. Munoz dropped down to MW for his
next match and scored a decision win over Nick Catone. In Munoz’s
next match he took on Ryan Jensen and scored a dominant win via submission
to strikes midway through the first round. In his next fight, Munoz earned
himself a Fight of the Night bonus check as he and Kendall Grove put
on a very entertaining fight in which it looked multiple times like Munoz
was in danger of submitting and was even getting rocked standing in the
first before using some ferocious GNP to earn the stoppage win.
A member of the famed Black House, Munoz trains alongside some of the
world’s best in Jose Aldo, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, Junior
Dos Santos, and the Nog Brothers. Mark was awarded his BJJ purple belt
under Big Nog in January.
Munoz has some of the scariest GNP in the division and certainly has
the tools to put just about anybody in the division on their backs. Training
with the Black House has seen him grow leaps and bounds as a fighter.
Okami is still a very dangerous veteran fighter, and has shown improvements
in his game still at this stage of his career. He will have to execute
a perfect sprawl and brawl game plan in order to avoid making the one
mistake that gets him planted on his back and pounded through the mat.
While Okami is always a very solid combatant, Munoz has shown improvements
each time out and should collect a huge win for his career here with
a stoppage of the tough Japanese scrapper.
Jon ‘Bones’ Jones 10-1 vs Vladimir ‘the Janitor’ Matyushenko
24-4
 A
high school state champion and Juco champion with Iowa Central CC, Jones
had aspirations of entering law enforcement but a UFC
contract and some really impressive performances put that on the back
burner. Rattling off a 6-0 record, Jon Jones was invited to fill in for
an injured Tomasz Drwal against Andre Gusmao, a young up and coming fighter
out of the IFL with considerable hype behind him. Fighting on only 3-weeks
notice and with no major camp and his only notable win being over Moyses
Gabin, Jones was a huge underdog but used very creative striking and
impressive wrestling to score the UD win. He further established himself
in the minds of MMA fans with remarkable wins over Stephen Bonnar and
Jake O’Brien and made himself a fan favorite with his unconventional
striking and YouTube surfing for moves. Jones traveled to train with
the Jackson Camp as well as a significant amount of training with GSP
and the Tri-Star Gym prior to his next match with Matt Hamill. In a very
one sided beating, Jones imposed his will and showcased his striking
and wrestling as he dominated Hamill, but was handed a DQ loss for using
12-6 elbows. Working with the Jackson/Winklejohn team in New Mexico has
given Jones a whole new element to his game as he has high caliber sparring
partners and coaching now, a fact that he displayed when taking on his
biggest challenger to date in Brandon Vera. He was able to dominate Vera
and ended the fight with a sinister display of GNP that included an elbow
that destroyed Vera’s face, breaking it in 3 places.
The Janitor is the first and last IFL LHW champion. He has a solid amateur
wrestling background which includes Soviet and Belarussian National Championships,
a European Championship medallist, and two National JuCo Championships.
The veteran fighter has wins over Vernon White, Travis Fulton, Yuki Kondo,
Minotouro Nogueira, Travis Wiuff, Pedro Rizzo, Justin Levens, Aaron Stark,
Tim Boetsch, Alex Schoenauer, Jamal Patterson, Jason Lambert, Igor Pokrajac,
and Eliot Marshall. His only losses are to Vernon White, Tito Ortiz Andrei
Arlovski, and Minotouro Nogueira. After injury threatened to retire him,
he resuscitated his career in a major way, landing him a #10 ranking
in the LHW division. The 39-year-old Belarussian had put together eight
straight wins in a late-career surge, before losing in his rematch with
Minotouro in the Affliction promotion. Currently riding a 3 fight win
streak Matyushenko trains with Antoni Hardonk, Jared Hamman and also
travels to the BodyShop for sparring with guys like Chase Gormley, Antonio
McKee, and Jason High.
Vladdy’s a great fighter and a well respected veteran in the sport,
but he isn’t a headliner and is just lining up to be a big name
for the hype train of Jon Jones. Jones should have no problem standing
with Matyushenko and will need to sprawl and brawl his way to a win as
Vladdy is a pure wrestler that prospers on being able to maintain top
control. Jones has gotten exponentially better each time out and I will
be the first to admit that I thought his hype wagon was gonna end with
Vera. After he hulk smashed Vera’s face to pieces and completely
controlled the pace and range of the fight, he made me a believer. Jon
Jones is a scary young LHW with so much potential and skills that the
division’s top 5 better keep looking over their shoulder. I would
expect Jones to give the Janitor a way out of this fight in the first
round.
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