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CECIL PEOPLES: MMA Judge and P4P Rankings Guru

Everyone knows Cecil Peoples as one of the foremost judges at major MMA events, and a contributor to some of the most talked about decisions in the sport. Well, he arranged his contribution to the Yahoo! P4P MMA rankings but accidentally sent the list to me instead of the powers-that-be at Yahoo. So I figured I would publish them and give you a sneak peek…

20. TANK ABBOTT

Cecil Peoples: He showed great cardio in his last fight and I fully expect him to make some waves in the heavyweight division. If he takes on some serious heavyweight contenders like Fedor, Brock Lesnar or Warpath Villareal, he could skyrocket up this list.

19. MONSTAH LOBSTAH

Cecil Peoples: He is only about 25th on my P4P rankings as a fighter but he is P4P one of the best fight instigators in the sport. I expect big things from him in the future.

18. HERSCHEL WALKER

Cecil Peoples: The man is undefeated in his mixed martial arts career. That’s all there is to say on the matter.

17. KEITH HACKNEY

Cecil Peoples: He would be higher up on my rankings but groin strikes don’t end fights.

16. AFRO PUFF

Cecil Peoples: He did much better against Kimbo than The Bouncer.

15. KIMBO SLICE

Cecil Peoples: He beat Afro Puff.

14. MATT MITRIONE

Cecil Peoples: The man has a strong mental game. I hear voices in my head when I judge fights so I understand how this can work to his advantage in the cage.

13. ANDY WANG

Cecil Peoples: Game planner extraordinaire, plus he can take a punch.

12. JOSE CANSECO

Cecil Peoples: He gave up something like 70 pounds to Hong Man Choi and still won the fight. If you divide 70 pounds by 300 career home runs and multiply that by the number of punches he threw in celebrity boxing, you get 12, which is where I put him on my rankings.

11. KIMO LEOPOLDO

Cecil Peoples: He dropped from 11th to 14th on my rankings when I thought he was dead after that nasty internet rumor, but with confirmation that he is still alive, he retains his original position.

10. SEAN SALMON

Cecil Peoples: If that aerial kick had connected against Rashad Evans, he would be top five. I still gave him the win in that fight.

9. TEILA TULI

Cecil Peoples: It has not yet been proven that Sumo Wrestling is not dominant over all other martial arts in a head-to-head matchup. I expect it to hold up quite well against kickboxing, for example.

8. DMX

Cecil Peoples: Y’all gonna make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here!
CT: DMX? Has he even made his pro debut yet?
Cecil Peoples: 30-26 DMX.
CT: For what fight?
Cecil Peoples: 31-24 DMX.
CT: You can’t score 31 points in a three-round match.
Cecil Peoples: 30-25 DMX.

7. TIM SYLVIA

Cecil Peoples: We need to recognize the reality that both referees and judges often make mistakes in mixed martial arts. The official record shows that Tim Sylvia has performed poorly as of late but I gave him a clear decision victory over both Fedor Emelianenko and Ray Mercer. Tim Sylvia is riding an 11-fight winning streak that began with his victory over Frank Mir.

6. EMMANUEL YARBOROUGH

Cecil Peoples: His victory over Keith Hackney was nothing to sneeze at.
CT: Did Emmanuel win that fight?
Cecil Peoples: 30-29 Joe Son.

5. ZULUZINHO

Cecil Peoples: He knocked out Fedor in what, 30 seconds?

4. GIANT SILVA

Cecil Peoples: He won every fight I saw him in, then retired undefeated, and the inactivity period for the rankings list has not set in yet.

3. JOEY SCAROLA

Cecil Peoples: He can’t be bargained with. He can’t be reasoned with. He doesn’t feel pity or remorse or fear. And he absolutely will not stop – ever – until you are dead.

2. VIACHESLAV DATSIK

Cecil Peoples: (snoring)
CT: Cecil? Cecil?
Cecil Peoples: (snoring)
CT: Mr. Peoples?
Cecil Peoples: (snoring)

1. BUTTERBEAN

Cecil Peoples: He was pound for pound the greatest boxer of all time and is now dominating mixed martial arts. His victory over a much heavier Genki Sudo is a testament to his well-rounded MMA game.

A NOTE ON THE VERACITY OF THIS INTERVIEW

If you think any of this interview or the above mentioned events actually occurred, then you sound like you are qualified to judge an MMA event.

Please address any questions about Mr. Peoples’ rankings to Dana White’s twitter account at @danawhiteufc.

This is just a quick note to let everyone know that I’ve been invited to contribute to an MMA rankings panel over at MMAvalor.com.

I was happy to oblige, given that I periodically give some thought to who is the best in each weight class and who should be challenging for the titles, and what I would be lining up if I had UFC matchmaker Joe Silva’s job.

Anyway, I have decided not to post my contributions to the overall ranking pool until he has posted the final results, combining my input with several other panel members. I don’t want to be stealing anyone’s thunder!

However, upon MMAvalor’s release of the final product, I’ll put up the contribution I personally made, indicating my first-through-fifth (as requested) in every MMA weight class from bantamweight to heavyweight, regardless of organization or affiliation.

With one action, Wes “the Project” Sims immortalized himself and made him a frequently and venomously cited example for hyper-critical MMA fans.

The legend began in 2003 at UFC 43: Meltdown, where Wes Sims was facing future UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. During the match, it was Sims who had the meltdown. Just under three minutes into round one, Sims got Mir to the ground and instead of doing some orthodox ground-and-pound, he opted to grab the fence and begin stomping on Frank Mir’s head.

This earned Sims a quick disqualification and an equally swift induction into the MMA Mental Hall of Fame. A blood feud ensued between the two, culminating in a rematch where Mir knocked Sims out with a combination of knees and punches. The 6′10″ Sims crumbled to the ground and the controversy was over. Sims moved on to smaller MMA organizations.

It only enhances Sims’ legacy that he is known for traveling in a posse with Phil Baroni and Mark Coleman, two men who, while talented fighters, are known for varying forms of tantrums, odd behavior, fits of rage and/or altercations after the final bell. While Sims’ most notable victory is probably over MMA Mental kingpin Kimo Leopoldo, he has faced and lost to some of MMA’s elite heavyweight competition, including Mir, Tim Sylvia and an aged Dan Severn. As of this writing, Sims sports a respectable 21-12-1 record with two no-contests.

Return to the MMA MENTAL HALL OF FAME

Forget mental, this guy gets straight up awesome points for entering the cage in his early fights as “the Cat Smasher.” In an MMA world where we have multiple “Naturals,” multiple “Pit Bulls,” multiple “Spiders” and a hundred different variations of “Assassin,” Leben belongs in the mental hall of fame for taking such an original name and downing the creativity factor by trading it in for “the Crippler.”

Still, Leben doesn’t have to rely on his nickname antics to secure a place among the great MMA Mentals. A frequently changing goji-berry treasure troll hairdo isn’t even one of the notable factors either. Chris Leben secured his place in this Hall when he burst onto the scene for the very first season of The Ultimate Fighter, and became the UFC’s original problem child, paving the way for the War Machines and Jesse Taylors of the future.

Leben attracted the spotlight throughout season one with a frequent and bizarre combination of tantrums, crying, screaming, urinating, property destruction and, occasionally, a vulnerable honesty that endeared him to viewers. However, by the time taping was complete, he had punched through windows, whizzed (”spritzed”) on housemates’ beds and flirted with being kicked out of the house for fighting outside the octagon.

A few years after the show, Leben had become an integral part of the UFC’s middleweight division, having faced such notable opposition as Anderson Silva and season three winner Michael Bisping. The red-headed gremlin had let the dye grow out of his hair and was entering the ring with his actual brown hair, looking like a focused man rather than a teenage punk rocker.

However, something was still rotten in Denmark and Leben nearly had to miss the Bisping fight due to a probation violation for an old DUI conviction. Leben dealt with the matter and actually seemed to earn credit with the fans for maturity when he entered the ring to fight Bisping. While overmatched, Leben seemed to fight with a lot of heart and impressed the crowds by going the distance with Bisping despite being a heavy underdog and suffering a severely damaged face in the bout. Shortly after the match, Leben tested positive for steroids and was issued a suspension that he is still serving.

Return to the MMA MENTAL HALL OF FAME

Ray Mercer? The world heavyweight boxing champion? What is Ray Mercer the boxing champ doing in the MMA Mental Hall of Fame?

Have no fear. “Merciless” Ray Mercer has earned his spot as one of the great MMA Mentals and is not simply being given the status of Mental Case Greatness based on his history as a legendary boxer. Ray Mercer entered mixed martial arts, apparently having no idea that there was a difference between mixed martial arts and boxing.

And then, when he had his ass handed to him via the use of techniques other than punching, he then continued with his mixed martial arts career, still apparently having no idea that there was a difference between mixed martial arts and boxing.

At UFC 1, the very first North American MMA tournament in 1993, a sumo wrestler named Teila Tuli stepped into the Octagon with kickboxer Gerard Gordeau. Twenty-six seconds into the match, Gordeau kicked Tuli in the face, knocking out some teeth. Tuli seemed to be in disbelief that his opponent had actually used these unfamiliar techniques and became so noncombative that the referee paused the fight to check on him. The fight was called off.

This was 1993 and the North American public really had no idea what to expect at the time. Tuli had never really done anything but sumo wrestle so somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he hadn’t really acknowledged the real possibility of being kicked in the face. He can be forgiven.

Ray Mercer can’t. Mixed martial arts had been around for a good 12 years by the time he stepped into the ring for a kickboxing match with Remy Bonjansky in 2005. Had Mercer even watched UFC 1, he would have been at least prepared with the knowledge that this would not be a straight boxing match.

The result? Opening Bell. Pawing jab by Ray Mercer. Head kick by Bonjansky. Ray Mercer can’t believe he was going to face high kicks in this kickboxing match. Cued by Mercer’s disbelief, the referee steps in and stops the fight. Mercer leaves the ring, still apparently unable to comprehend the possibility of kicks being thrown in a kickboxing match. The fans were thrilled.

Two years later, and apparently none the wiser, Ray Mercer stepped into the cage with Kimbo Slice for a full-fledged MMA exhibition match. The fight went something like this: Opening bell, Kimbo Slice takes Mercer down, Kimbo Slice taps out Mercer with guillotine choke. Elapsed time: Not sure, I didn’t have time to reach for my stopwatch to press ’start.’

Again, all of this said, Ray Mercer was a fantastic boxer. But Royce Gracie is a great practitioner of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I doubt he would step into the ring with Roy Jones Jr. for a straight boxing match without accounting for the possibility that Roy would be throwing actual punches…

And don’t get me wrong, a Remy Bonjansky kick to the head definitely has the capacity to stun, disorient or concuss a man or a small elephant. So I am sure Mr. Mercer was, at least on some level, a little more aware than Teila Tuli of the reality that there would be more than punches thrown in his brief 2005 matchup. But the complete lack of any indication that Mercer had trained in even rudimentary kick defense suggested that the contemplation of this reality was cursory at the very best.

Return to the MMA MENTAL HALL OF FAME

Dan Quinn, Dan Quinn, Dan Quinn. Oh, where to begin…

One could begin with postings on theoretical physics forums that he has completed the work that was only half-done by Albert Einstein and, armed with only his blender and a food sweetener, achieved cold fission in his kitchen. Don’t take my word for it. Dan Quinn will happily film this “chemical process” with his cell phone and put it on YouTube for you.

Yes indeed, if you put Stevia and water in a blender and hit “puree” you will witness cold fission. No, that is not water frothing because it is being run through a blender with a dissolving powder. It is cold fission, dammit. He has split the atom in his kitchen and you are all a bunch of idiots if you can’t see the Nobel Prize-worthy scientific breakthrough.

Or we could go directly to his YouTube calling out of Kimbo Slice, where Dan Quinn for some reason finds a college football play he was involved in during the late 17th century relevant to his abilities in the ring today.

Of course, in addition to being an over-the-counter atom splitter, Quinn also advocates that the sugar replacement Stevia is the chalice of everlasting life. As a result, he stands in the mirror with his shirt off, looking a little bit older than his forty-something years but claiming that his fountain of youth has him looking fitter than a man much younger than his actual age.

To his credit, Mr. Quinn does hold a .500 record in mixed martial arts (4-4-1) but his last fight was in 2005 and as overhyped as Kimbo may have been, it would be pretty hard to imagine Kimbo risking his reputation by taking on a grandfatherly opponent with a record inferior to that of James Thompson (and against far less noteworthy competition, though Quinn did manage once to last almost three minutes with Frank Mir).

One thing is for sure. For as long as he is alive, Dan Quinn will make himself the unofficial spokesman for Stevia as both a nuclear power generator and an age-defier. Another thing we can count on is that as long as Dan Quinn has a camera with video capabilities, we will have free entertainment.

Return to the MMA MENTAL HALL OF FAME

Forget for a moment that it is a little odd to change your name from something normal like, say, Jon Koppenhaver to something bizarre and ridiculous like, say, WAR MACHINE. But that aside, we have in “The Fighter Formerly Known as Koppenhaver” one of modern MMA’s most notable mentals.

War Machine first burst onto the scene as a replacement for an injured fighter on the Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes season of The Ultimate Fighter. On day one, coach Matt Serra was enthusiastic about Koppenhaver, impressed by his tattoos and claiming he “looked like a fighter.” It was a matter of days before Serra was banging his head against the wall as he tried to figure out whether he was a coach, babysitter or psychotherapist.

In Koppenhaver’s defense, he appears to have gone through some tough times. But his issues tend to manifest themselves in unusual ways. While on the show, he participated in an “upper decker” toilet prank on the opposing team (do your own research) which led to a near in-house scrap with Jared “J-Roc” Rollins. The two faced each other on the undercard of the season finale, and when Koppenhaver knocked Rollins out, he quickly commenced a Terrell Owens-like breakdown in empathy for his fallen foe.

It all went downhill from here. After Evan Tanner’s unfortunate death, War Machine made some questionable comments in the immediate aftermath suggesting that it was a suicide, earning him a swift boot from his UFC contract. He then went on to write a long series of controversial blog posts, including the statement that someone should “smoke” President Barack Obama. This latter statement got him booted from Bellator Fighting Championship.

War Machine made perhaps the biggest headlines when he was arrested for a fight at a gay nightclub where he was working. This followed an earlier arrest in 2007 for choking out a man in a parking lot.

In the following video, War Machine discusses a few of the issues he has run into with his behavior, but seems to hold out hope for the future. The guy’s still young. There could be either a great MMA career or an MMA Mental Lifetime Achievement Award in the future.

Return to the MMA MENTAL HALL OF FAME

THE MMA MENTAL HALL OF FAME

There is a UFC Hall of Fame, featuring such mixed martial arts luminaries as Randy Couture, Dan Severn and Royce Gracie. The accomplishments of such individuals deserve to be respected and acknowledged. But what about the unequivocal accomplishments of MMA’s greatest mental cases? Where do they go to be recognized for their unparalleled contributions to a legacy of MMA lunacy?

The answer: The MMA Mental Hall of Fame. In this shrine, we will walk through the prestigious history of MMA mentals, dating all the way back to MMA’s infancy in the early 90’s UFC era and continuing through to some of today’s most notable MMA head cases.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

The following cardinal inductees are the archbishops of MMA insanity. These men have consistently conducted themselves at an elite level of lunacy over a long period of time, earning them the unparalleled distinction of a place in the Lifetime Achievement category of the MMA Mental Hall of Fame.

IN THE RING

The following MMA Mental legends have earned their place in this prestigious Hall with their behavior, conduct, or techniques inside the cage (or in the near vicinity of the cage). In some cases, we have men who belong in cuffs. In other cases, we have all-around good guys who simply have a tendency to go a little cuckoo when they hear the words, “Let’s Get it On! Come on!”

Viacheslav Datsik	Joe Son	Charles Bennett
Dan Quinn

BUILDERS’ CATEGORY

It was these men who laid the foundations for all MMA Mentals who would follow in their footsteps. Without the weird behavior of these men in MMA’s infancy, the sport may never have matured and expanded to allow the hordes of MMA Mentals who would later pick up the torch and carry it for a new generation.

Gilbert Yvel	Andy Wang	Junie Browning
James Thompson	War Machine	Ray Mercer
Wes Sims	Chris Leben

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Jeff Monson: Workout for MMA Explosiveness

Filed Under (MMA, Training) by admin on 26-03-2009

Tagged Under : Jeff Monson

Jeff Monson is probably best known for (1) having the physique and build of a professional bodybuilder and (2) his submission game with respect to mixed martial arts. So people might assume that his training is geared primarily toward mass building and sustained strength for forcing his opponents’ limbs in the wrong direction.

However, in the following video, “The Snowman” shares some of the routine he employs to maintain explosive strength and power in the ring and the cage. Given that he is one of the shortest heavyweights in the game, explosiveness will generally be a requirement if he wants to shoot in on his opponents and attempt to negate their always-present reach advantage.

Enjoy, as one of the world’s premier MMA heavyweights lets you into his gym.

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The MMA Mental Hall of Fame: Kimo Leopoldo

Filed Under (MMA) by admin on 25-03-2009

Tagged Under : Kimo Leopoldo, MMA Mental Hall of Fame

For the current induction into the renowned and hallowed MMA Mental Hall of Fame, we have a man who was once considered an undisputable MMA legend and who may even have eventually flirted with the UFC Hall of Fame, had his head been screwed on properly.

The mugshot to the left may unfortunately be the most resounding impression left with MMA fans, however, and we should probably give Kimo some credit for staying off the police radar for as long as he did, given that for the early part of his career his manager and spiritual mentor was none other than alleged gang-rapist-slash-Christian-fanatic Joe Son (see mugshot to the right).

Kimo began his career with a bang, putting in what was considered one of the elite performances of the early UFC era in pushing Royce Gracie to his physical limit and, despite eventually being submitted, leaving Gracie unable to continue in the tournament.

Kimo had already outed himself as an MMA Mental Case prior to the fight, however, when he entered the octagon with an enormous cross strapped to his back. This bizarre entrance was later repeated by Joe Son at future UFC events, when he unsuccessfully attempted a transition from manager to fighter.

Kimo’s valiant loss to Royce Gracie would stand out as one of the high points of his career. It would later be topped by victories over Tank Abbott and the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba, as well as a draw with Dan Severn. He was submitted and knocked out in two fights with Ken Shamrock, and by the end of his career he was losing to the likes of Dave Legeno and Wes Sims.

But Kimo is not a Mental Hall of Famer for his Jesus entrance antics alone. For one, he was twice suspended for positive steroids tests. For two, he followed up these positive tests with a campaign to become the official in charge of anti-doping for the California State Athletic Commission. For three, in the midst of this campaign, he was arrested for impersonating a police officer (in uniform) while in possession of illegal drugs.

Fourth and finally, he produced and released the following MMA instructional video…

And as something of a novelty, we have Kimo in one of his more unusual victories, defeating WWF wrestler Bam Bam Bigelow in his one and only professional MMA fight.

Return to the MMA MENTAL HALL OF FAME

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