“Zute” For Thought: MMA Edition
By Anthony “Zute” George
Alexander Gustafsson’s victory over Glover Teixeira proved a few things. One, the light heavyweight division is stacked. Daniel Cormier: the current light heavyweight champion, has his work cut out for him in his next title defense. Whether he faces Gustassson again, who gave DC all he could handle in their first fight, or Jimi Manuwa, an impressive striker who seems to be improving with every fight, DC is sure to be facing a fighter who is more interested in winning, compared to his last title defense. It is clear now that Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson was not willing to give it his all to win the title.
It will be different the next time around in the light heavyweight title fight. Oh, by the way, waiting in the wings is Jon Bones Jones. If Jones can get his act together and rid his life of criminal behavior, a title shot is sure to be waiting in the wings for this very talented mixed martial artist.
Speaking of criminal behavior, Gustafsson vs. Teixeira also proved there is plenty of blatant larceny tactics in the UFC; unfortunately, an element that seems to taint all combat sports in some way. In this case, the officials in Sweden robbed Glover of the time he needed to recover from an eye poke early in the fight. For whatever reason, when Glover suffered from an accidental eye jab, both the referee and doctor seemed more interested in berating Glover that he did not have time to recover, rather than checking to see if he was actually okay. I wonder what the reason could be? Robbing Glover of recovery time is an unfortunate stain on an otherwise great fight where both participates spilled their blood and guts for our entertainment. Why those who do not get in the cage and take the punches, deliver the strikes and attempt the submissions, feel they need to intervene in ways that go beyond their job description? It is very unfortunate.
Speaking of blood and guts, was there ever a fighter worthier of such a moniker than Glover? We can argue that there are plenty of fighters who are just as worthy, but I cannot think of one who can surpass this man. When he was being yelled at after being fouled, Glover did not blink an eye (pun intended) and rebutted to the useless doctor, of course I am going to fight. While it was well within his right to advocate for time to recover, when Glover realized fric and frac where in the bag, he just wanted to get back to business. How can you not love that?
Speaking of useless, I have been hearing for years how useless the regular season of the NBA is. I never subscribed to such beliefs, I also felt many productive things occurred in the NBA from October to May, and I still do. However, now that Cleveland and Golden State are in the finals for the third straight year, and LeBron James is now in his umpteenth straight final, you could pretty much conclude that 95% of the NBA is just playing for pay, no hardware. I know this is an MMA article, but what is the harm is switching things up?
Speaking of switching things up, Bellator MMA will be hosting their Madison Square Garden PPV bonanza in less than a month. It is a grand affair that will feature great talent, well-rounded mixed martial artists. This is not to suggest this card does not come with some baggage. It certainly does. Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva have more baggage than a crooked politician (an oxymoron, I know). These fighters have been linked to failed drug tests, pulling out of fights and believed to be way past their prime. On top of that, they appear to bring out the worst of each other. Now, I enjoy a rivalry as much as the next person, if it is in the cage/ring. With these two, every ounce of bad blood has occurred outside of competition.
Chael seems more interested in insulting Wanderlei’s intelligence, and Wanderlei cannot seem to contain himself, always wanting to attack Sonnen before the fight. Dana White said it best when he scolded these two after an altercation in the gym, Dana said, “If you two assholes want to fight for free…”, as only Dana could say. I always worry about this kind of fight, you know when two fighters seem to hate each other so much? Often, such extreme disdain is not in keeping in what actually happens in the fight. I hope I am wrong, but this fight is the one I am looking forward to the least on June 24th.
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