Faber nearing the end of the road? The nine-year rule

Competitive mixed martial arts hasn't been around long enough to come up with any definitive theories on length of career, but David Williams at Fight Opinion did a nice job recently of chronicling the career of the some of the biggest stars in the history of the sport. He points out that with few exceptions, no matter when you start your career, the nine-year mark is about when you see a downturn.

Check out these fighters:

CHUCK LIDDELL: MMA debut ? 5/18/98, 9-year mark ? 5/18/07

Liddell's first fight after reaching the 9-year mark was his sudden first-round KO loss to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. After that, Liddell's only win was against an "older" (by MMA years) fighter in Wanderlei Silva, and he was knocked out in brutal fashion by Rashad Evans, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, and Rich Franklin.

FEDOR EMELIANENKO: MMA debut ? 5/21/00, 9-year mark ? 5/21/09

Emelianenko's first fight after nine years was the Strikeforce match against Brett Rogers, in which Emelianenko was put in more danger than usual. After that, Emelianenko, whose only previous loss was a doctor stoppage due to a cut against Tsuyoshi Kosaka, shockingly lost two fights in a row, to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva.

TAKANORI GOMI: MMA debut ? 11/27/98, 9-year mark ? 11/27/07

For Gomi, the fight previous to reaching the 9-year mark was the now infamous war against Nick Diaz that the Nevada State Athletic Commission ruled a No Contest. Since then, Gomi is 5-4 ...

JENS PULVER: MMA debut ? 4/24/99, 9-year mark ? 4/24/08

This is arguably the hardest collapse to watch. Pulver reached the 9-year point of his career prior to his first WEC fight against Urijah Faber. Beginning with that fight, Pulver is 2-7 ...

WANDERLEI SILVA: MMA debut ? 11/1/96, 9-year mark ? 11/1/05

Silva's first two fights after the nine-year mark were wins: a split decision win against Ricardo Arona and a stoppage of Kazuyuki Fujita. After that, Silva is 2-5 ...

Williams also points out Tito Ortiz (debuted May of 1997, 2-4-1 since), Andrei Arlovski (Apr. of 1999, 2-4), Ken Shamrock (Sept. of 1993, 2-8), Mike Brown (Apr. of 2001, 1-3) and Rich Franklin (June of 1999, 3-3) all wilted once their ninth year of fighting started.

He also argues that it's also costly to begin a career before you're 21. Joe Stevenson and Karo Parisyan are two fighters having a tough time surviving and they're both not even 30 yet. Stevenson and Parisyan took their first pro fights at 16. Stevenson, 3-4 since his ninth year began, faces Javier Vasquez this weekend down at featherweight at UFC on Versus 4.

Randy Couture began his career at 34 and was competitive until 47. Can Urijah Faber buck this trend as he gets ready to challenge Dominick Cruz at UFC 132?

Faber, 32, is seven years and 10 months into his career. With advances in nutrition and training, it looks like he can do it. We'll see if the nine-year rule comes up and bites him some time in 2012.

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UFC 131 openers: Beltran wins brawl over Rosa, Elkins takes shaky decision from Omigawa

Joey Beltran and Aaron Rosa won't be modeling for a calendar anytime soon, but those big dudes can dish out some damage. They can also take a beating. The heavyweights, who clocked in at a combined 598 pounds, slugged it out until Rosa got drilled by a knee early in the third. Beltran turned up the heat and pounded out Rosa on the ground for a win at the 1:26 mark of the third at UFC 131 in Vancouver.

Beltran, a 237 pounder fighting out of San Diego, wins for the third time in the UFC. His killer instinct was impressive.

"To be blunt, I knew he was going to be tough as hell. I was able to land some big shots and I am really happy with this performance," Beltran said. "Putting away a tough guy like him is just a testament to how hard of a camp I went through to get ready for tonight."

Just 40 seconds into the third, Beltran (13-5, 3-2 UFC) worked head control and pushed Rosa down into a nasty knee. That seemed to change everything as Beltran scored an easy takedown.

With Rosa (16-4, 0-1 UFC) on his knees and covering up, Beltran landed some body punches and got off 11 shots to the head. Rosa rose to his feet, but was stunned. Beltran dumped him a few seconds later, and as he settled into half guard he came down with the full force of a right elbow to Rosa's face. Rosa was shot. The bigger man ate a flurry of punches. Two left hands through his arms ended things.

"I got tired, but I think I got hit in the back of the head after he took me down and that dazed me. When I got up, he hit me with more hard shots and I never recovered. He's tough and proved that tonight," said Rosa.

Beltran came to Alliance Training Center in San Diego weighing 300-plus pounds. He's slimmed down and looks better each time out.

"I think I'm barely starting to show the type of fighter I am. To succeed in the UFC, it takes a full team effort and my team did a great job preparing me for this fight," said Beltran.

After seeing both fighters sporting some extra beef around the middle, it looked like stamina might be an issue, but it wasn't. Rosa, who's fought in the past at light heavyweight, entered the fight at 261 pounds. He absorbed some huge right hands, body shots and a few good standing elbows through the first round and a half. Rosa came back towards the end of the second, but that big knee from Beltran in the third took away his chances to get a win in his UFC debut.

During the prefight, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva added the note that this was the first time two fighters of Mexican descent went head-to-head in the Octagon.

Japanese star Omigawa loses again in the UFC

This was another big night for Japanese MMA. Michihiro Omigawa, one of the top featherweights from Japan, needed a win after getting dominated by Chad Mendes at UFC 126. It looked like he did enough to take a 29-28 decision from Darren Elkins, but the judges disagreed. Even with multiple cuts on his face and a lackluster third round, Elkins took a unanimous decision from Omigawa, 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.

Elkins (12-2, 2-1 UFC) did some nice work in the opening round. Omigawa bounced around the cage and switched stances every few seconds, but it didn't allow him to land anything very solid.

In the second round, Omigawa landed some good shots around Elkins' right eye and opened two cuts. He also scored a takedown and blasted away at Elkins. In what appeared to be a one-sided final round for Omigawa, more cuts were opened on Elkins' face and he finished all bloodied up. It didn't impress the judges.

A former lightweight, Omigawa (12-10-1, 0-4 UFC) dropped to featherweight and went 8-2-1 before re-signing with the UFC. He's now dropped two straight.

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UFC 130 Draws 7,470 Paid Fans, Gate of Almost $2.6 Million

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Rampage Jackson faces Matt Hamill at UFC 130. UFC 130 drew 7,470 paying customers for a $2,577,250 gate, the Nevada state athletic commission divulged today.

While the attendance for the May 28 event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena was announced as 12,816 on the night of the show, NSAC numbers show the official number was actually 12,753, with 7,470 tickets sold, and another 5,283 given away. Over 1,000 available tickets went unused.

The show's attendance was no doubt hurt by the loss of the scheduled main event, as the third meeting between UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard was scrapped after both fighters suffered injuries during training.

Instead, a light-heavyweight bout matching former champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson against Matt Hamill was elevated to main event status, with Jackson winning a unanimous decision.

NSAC also released attendance and gate information for June 4's The Ultimate Fighter 13 finale.

The event, held at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas, drew a total attendance of 2,035, with 1,583 sold tickets and 452 comped. The gate was $440,150.

The TUF 13 Finale was the fourth show the UFC has hosted in its home state so far in 2011. The fifth comes on July 2, when UFC 132 takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena with Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber headlining the card.

 

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After stardom in Japan, Cavalcante looks for career re-birth in U.S.

Gesias Cavalcante is only 27, but his relatively new gig with Zuffa and Strikeforce has to feel like a new life.

A megastar in Japan, inactivity and some tough losses have pushed way down the ladder in the lightweight ranks. He's set to begin the climb back up this weekend at Strikeforce in Dallas against Justin Wilcox.

"JZ" will be part of the televised undercard on HDNet. That's a strange spot for a guy, who a little over four years ago was headlining big cards in Japan with DREAM and K-1.

"The crowd [in Japan] is great. The way they treat fighters is amazing. No matter if you win or lose, if you're a champ or not, people respect you like you're above human beings," Cavalcante told Cagewriter.

Cavalcante recalled a fan encounter at the prefight press conference before DREAM 9.

"I saw a woman freaking out, screaming 'Jz! Jz!' I couldn't  understand her at all because she was speaking Japanese. She grabbed my hand and starts rubbing her belly," Cavalcante said. "I was like 'whoa, what's going on?' A guy translated for me that she was pregnant. 'She likes you so much, she has respect for you, so she wants her son to be like you.' What a compliment!"

The adulation and fame was great, but the inconsistent scheduling stalled his career.

"That's how injuries happen, You're training so hard. I was always pushing. I'm a gym rat, but those are the times bad things happen," said Cavalcante.

He's only fought five times in the last 45 months. Cavalcante (15-4) went just 1-3 with a no contest in those fights against Josh Thomson (Strikeforce), Katusnori Kikuno, Tatusuya Kawajiri, and twice versus Shinya Aoki.

The Brazilian, fighting out of south Florida, saw immediate dividends when Zuffa purchased Strikeforce. Just weeks before that he was in limbo. Within 10 days of the sale, the promotion told him about his fight against Wilcox.

The timing of the Strikeforce ownership switch came at a good time since Cavalcante recently changed training camps and management. Now managed by Authentic Sports Management, Cavalcante and several other prominent fighters (Danillo Villefort, Yuri Villefort, Jorge Santiago, Edson Barboza and Luiz Cane) from American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fl. moved a few miles to the north and joined Imperial Athletics in Boca Raton.

"It's a fresh start for me in every aspect," said Cavalcante, who's working with former UFC fighter Mike Van Arsdale and striking coach Mohamed Ouali. "I feel like I'm the son who grew up and wants to walk on his own."

This Saturday we get our first glimpse of the new Cavalcante. He's excited for the fight because he knows that he'll be able to find Wilcox. There won't be any running or lay and pray from "The Silverback."

"The last two fights, he stayed with the striking. He didn't shoot once. It's a good fight, an exciting fight. He always comes forward. He tries to come and put the pressure on and that's what I love," Cavalcante said. "We'll meet in the center of the ring and bang."

Wilcox (11-3) has improved immensely over the last two years. A former college wrestler at Edinboro, he works out of American Kickboxing Academy on San Jose, Ca. He's won six straight. Wilcox's striking is now a dangerous element in his game and he's a vicious finisher.

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