I'm pretty excited for UFC Fight Night tonight. I actually haven't been keeping up with MMA much lately, but I should be able to catch this one.
One of the main reasons I'm looking forward to tonight's card on Spike is because the main event features the debut of The Fireball Kid, Takanori Gomi. I'll wait while you watch some highlights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJzKhhT8ww0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9OX2IUdDTI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a51VjFdm2uw
A veteran of the sport, Gomi was considered one of the best, if not the #1, lightweight fighters in the world in his days fighting with PRIDE, especially since the UFC didn't have a lightweight division for many years. He ran that division for years, and it was even rumored that their lightweight cutoff was 160 lb just so that he could make it (which isn't entirely true since he made the cut to 155 for his UFC debut). Eventually, he won PRIDE's first lightweight tournament to become their first (and only) lightweight champion, defeating a tough slate of fighters to get there.
Strangely, since his victory over Mach Sakurai for the belt, he's been inconsistent with a couple poor showings against Marcus Aurelio and other losses to fighters who really shouldn't be on his level. Maybe he was bored or uninterested or perhaps his skills just fell off. He chalked it up to laziness, so hopefully that was all it was.
He's going to need to be motivated and ready to bring it tonight against Kenny Florian however. Florian is a solid all-around mixed martial artist who is good in all phases. The Gomi of old, the one with dynamic wrestling and explosive striking skills, should be a slight favorite over Florian. But it's hard to know if that guy is going to show up. One thing I know about Kenny Florian, he always, always shows up to fight and is ready to go to war. I don't know if Gomi will be equally prepared, but if he is, this fight should be a fast-paced, exciting bout.
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