Mailbag: Sell should mind own business
As one of the few reporters who actively covers both mixed martial arts and boxing regularly, I'm frequently asked about the similarities and differences between the sports.
One of the greatest differences is the respect the fighters generally show each other in MMA. You could have two guys who are fighting each other ride from the hotel to the arena in the same van and not have a problem, which would definitely not be the case with most boxers.
Having said that, I was shocked when I read an interview that Bryan Levick at Fight Ticker did with UFC middleweight Pete Sell.
You should know that Sell is a close friend of UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra, who defends his belt on Saturday at UFC 83 in Montreal against former champion Georges St. Pierre.
In the interview, Sell called St. Pierre "a mental midget" and questioned his heart.
"GSP is an awesome athlete," Sell was quoted as saying. "He has all the tools to dominate but he is a mental midget – his mentality is very weak. He is a very nice guy and I have hung out with him, but I don't like the way he flip-flopped after the first fight with Serra. GSP was cool right after the fight but about five weeks afterwards he started making excuses saying he didn't train properly, then GSP retracted and said Serra was the better man that night. Well, what was it? I don't like how his story changed. I believe that all the pressure is on GSP, especially considering he is fighting in front of his countrymen. Serra thrives on the pressure and likes the underdog role. Matt Serra is all heart and GSP is the type of guy that if they were in a bar GSP would back down from a fight while Serra is down for whatever."
Now, Sell was undoubtedly sticking up for his friend, and he deserves credit for that. But his comments were, at best, ill-advised. And he shouldn't be attacking someone like St. Pierre, who is one of the sport's elite athletes and No. 2 in the most recent Yahoo! Sports rankings, without something approaching a similar resume himself.
Sell is 7-4, but he's lost three in a row and four of his last five. Before he talks smack about anyone else, he ought to make sure he's solved all of his own problems.
With that, it's on to the weekly reader mailbag. My answers are in italics below the questions.
GSP AT MIDDLEWEIGHT
I've been hearing things about how Georges St. Pierre should be fighting Anderson Silvaat middleweight. Why do people think this? GSP got knocked out by Serra. Serra punches like a pre-schooler compared to Silva, sowhat will happen if GSP steps up against Silva? As a friend told me, B.J. Penn would make a far more worthy opponent. Inthe words of my friend, "B.J. hits as hard as (Takanori) Gomi, has Mark Hunt'schin and has better Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu than Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, whom Silva has his belt under."Also, B.J. has the experience of fighting at a higher weight class.Your opinion, good sire?
Hayden Fitzgerald
Sydney, Australia
Before St. Pierre thinks about fighting anyone else, he needs to worry about getting past Serra on Saturday. But assuming he does, it's still premature to talk about a middleweight match between Silva and St. Pierre. There are still a number of fights at welterweight that would be interesting for St. Pierre, and, of course, a fight with Penn moving up would be huge. As for your scenario about Penn having a better shot against Silva than St. Pierre, I have massive respect for Penn's all-around game, so I don't discount that out of hand. I think the size would be too much for either St. Pierre or Penn, but if anyone could move up and beat Silva from a lower weight class, these are the two who could do it.
SILVA AT LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Do you think anybody in the light heavyweight stands a chanceagainst the ultimate Anderson Silva?
Lance Curry
Fords, N.J.
That's a 20-pound leap from middleweight to light heavyweight, so I think it would be a tough division for Silva. The guys will be able to handle his strikes better than the smaller men can. I'd say guys like Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Shogun Rua, Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell, among others, would "stand a chance" against Silva at light heavyweight.
YAMMA A FARCE
YAMMA Pit tried to revolutionize MMA on Friday in Atlantic City, N.J., by introducing a new ring.It turned out to be a farce instead. How come people like Bob Meyrowitz can put up a show like that and still ask people to watch it at ringside for $350?
Noel Domingo
Manila, Philippines
One of the beauties of the free market is that Meyrowitz can ask whatever he wants for his tickets. No one is forced to buy them, however. And judging from the overwhelmingly negative reaction I've heard to the first YAMMA Pit show, I'm guessing it might have also been the last.
KANG OVERRATED
Why is Denis Kang continually ranked No. 4 at middleweight? He lost his last fight, and he continually fights nobodies.
Savat Fenricke
Tel Aviv, Israel
Kang is a decent fighter, but I'm not sure he's the fourth-best middleweight in the world. You're referring, I'm assuming, to MMA Weekly's divisional rankings. I'd say the top five middleweights in the world are, in order, Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin, Paulo Filho and Nate Marquardt.
REFEREE CAM
With all the referee controversy in the UFC with early stoppages, why don't they just go to the third man camera like they had in Pride? That way, the audience can see what the ref sees and can appreciate why the fight was stopped. Fighters can be knocked out with oneblow and then awakened by another, but that's hard to catch if you're not right over him like the ref is.
Clive
White Plains, Md.
It's not a bad idea, Clive, but I think the UFC's production values for its broadcasts are excellent and you get a very good view of a fighter's condition as it is now.
INCOMPARABLE SILVA
I'm curious how Travis Lutter, Yushin Okami and DanHenderson can say that even after they all were destroyed by Anderson Silva that he is not the best fighter in the world. All of them claimed that they were the best before their less than 10minutes of fame put an end to that notion. I also don't see the reason for Anderson needing to go to alternate weight classes to prove himself. Other fighters should have to challenge him.
Michael Leone
Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany
A fighter who isn't confident he's going to win shouldn't be in the cage fighting, so I have no complaints with anyone feeling they'll be the one who will defeat Silva. I only think a fighter should move up in weight if he can't safely make the weight he's competing at, or if there are no more challenges left in his division. Right now, I think Silva belongs at middleweight, but that may not be the case for that much longer.
FIGHT SOMEONE, WILL YOU?
I don't mean any disrespect to Fedor Emelianenko, but how long can he be ranked No. 1? He last fought a top 10 heavyweight in 2005. Since, the only ranked fighter he's faced was a middleweight. If Anderson Silva spent the next three years fighting overweight and freakishly tall fighters with only one MMA fight under their belts and then fought a bloated Joe Lauzon, he'd be laughed at. But Fedor is being ranked based on accomplishments from three years ago. Place Nog in the top spot, since he actually fights opponents with MMA experience.
Jason
Sulphur, La.
Fedor isn't ranked No. 1 in the Yahoo! Sports poll. He was ranked fourth in the last poll. He's the most talented heavyweight in the world, but he doesn't deserve to be No. 1 for the reasons you cite. If the proposed fight with Tim Sylvia comes off in the summer and Emelianenko wins, then perhaps he regains that spot.
SPORT OR BUSINESS
Why MMA is a sport, but the UFC a business? Clearly, it is a promotion, but so are all the other three-letterorganizations such as the NFL and NBA. MMA is an individual sport, thus comparable standings and stats are out. Even you and your fellow writers acknowledge that belts don't mean very much. But clearly the fighters are athletes. They train virgorously for competition; and they win and lose. So clearly, there is sport involved here. Can you give some insight as to the future of UFC becoming synonymous with MMA, much as NBA is tobasketball and NFL is to football?
Matt Mroch
Sioux Falls, S.D.
The UFC is a company that puts on MMA fights. Thus, it is in the sports business. If there were no way to make money, no promoter would ever put on fights. They do it because they know people like to watch it and they'll make money off of it. The UFC has done a terrific job building its brand, such that some people mistakenly refer to the sport as ultimate fighting instead of, properly, MMA.
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