MM-Eh! News and Notes from Canada

Canadians make UFC debuts Tonight

Tonight on Spike TV the UFC is giving MMA fans an incredible card absolutely free. While there are many fights that I’d like to talk about, this column is targeted to Canadian interests, so I’ll stick to those. As I mentioned in my introduction, there will be two Canadian fighters participating tonight and they are Jeff Joslin (Pictures) and Victor Valimaki.

I’ll start with Valimaki, but only in brief as you can read my full interview with him on Sherdog today. I’ve met Victor two times in the past and he’s a very down to earth guy. As with many fighters who’ve never appeared in the UFC or PRIDE, it’s likely that you’ve never heard his name until now.

Victor has a very solid stand-up game, and he told me that his boxing skills have improved dramatically since enlisting Golden Gloves boxer Kevin Royal into his camp. In the two fights of his that I’ve personally witnessed, his on-the-mat time was negligible, so I don’t really know how his ground skills are. But you can bet that with Jason MacDonald (Pictures) as his primary training partner he should be able to hold his own.

For years the name Jeff Joslin (Pictures) has been like a spirit, in the shadows and whispered quietly by those in the know. Joslin has been described by many, me included, as the best 170-pound fighter not in a major organization. It’s easy for someone not familiar with him to look at his 5-2 record with disdain, wondering how in the world this guy made it into the top MMA organization in North America.

You should know by now that records can sometimes be very deceiving, and with Joslin this is the case. Both of his losses had a degree of controversy to them, with the last one having current UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch (Pictures) acting more like Jesse James in the biggest MMA robbery that I’ve ever witnessed. Many people are curious about what happened, so I’ll enlighten you.

The event was Freedom Fight “Canada vs. USA” in July of 2005. On paper Fitch looked to be the obvious choice to win, but once the bell rang it was Joslin who took his opponent to task, in my opinion clearly winning all three rounds.

The fight was so one-sided that it seemed to me that the two fighters were worlds apart in skill level. The controversy arose initially in the very first round, when Fitch was bobbing and brought his head up and viciously head-butted Joslin, breaking his nose, knocking out several teeth, and knocking him on his back seemingly unconscious.

At the time my patriotic blood was boiling, cursing Fitch for the intentional head-butt. It was only after I had calmed down and with the benefit of instant replay that I realized along with everyone else that it was likely an accident. Regardless of the intent, Joslin fell to the mat on his back, which he later claimed was what jolted him back into reality and helped him weather Fitch’s follow-up attack. With an incredible display of guts and determination Joslin immediately got up to his feet and resumed his attack as if the damage he sustained by the head-butt had never happened.

As if that weren’t enough, that’s not actually the controversial part of this fight that has had people talking for a year and a half. What happened next flabbergasted everyone who saw it. In the beginning of the third round, right in the middle of yet another Joslin attack, Fitch looked to the referee and asked for a timeout. A timeout?

Even more incredibly, the referee actually allowed it, permitting Fitch to go to his corner and get checked out by the doctor. That should have been the end of the fight right there, with the TKO going to Joslin. Regrettably for him, the fight continued with the end result being a split decision victory for Fitch.

Now it’s a year and a half later, and Jeff Joslin (Pictures) is finally going to be seen by the world. In my opinion Joslin is in a similar position to that of Jason MacDonald (Pictures) going into his fight against Ed Herman (Pictures). By that I mean that everybody is confident that The Ultimate Fighter veteran is going to use his Canadian opponent as a steppingstone en route to bigger and better things. Well we know how that turned out for Herman, don’t we? I don’t like to make fight predictions, but I fully expect this to be the same outcome for the Joslin-Koscheck fight.

I don’t think that the UFC could have given Joslin an opponent better suited to showcase his skills. Just because everyone keeps saying that Koscheck has improved his stand-up skills doesn’t make it true. I just haven’t seen that’s it’s improved enough to be comparable to Joslin’s. Sure, he beat Jonathan Goulet (Pictures), but that was as sloppy a display of punching as I’ve seen lately.

On the mat Joslin is again the superior. Joslin a BJJ black belt who many claim is above the ordinary, against Koscheck, who has only his old persona that some have labeled as the “blanket.” Assuming that KOS will be able to take Joslin down, that’s probably a very dangerous place for him to be.

The only way I can see Koscheck taking this contest is in a decision. But Joslin has been burned by bad decisions before, so I don’t think that Jeff will allow it to get to that point. Despite my preference to avoid predictions, this is how I see it going.

Both fighters will come out swinging — Joslin because he’s a badass and Koscheck because he’s eager to prove that his hands have come along. But eventually he’ll get frustrated by eating too much of Joslin’s leather and try to take it to the ground. As with other parts of his game, Joslin’s sprawl is exceptional and the takedown might never materialize. But if it does, Joslin will armbar Koscheck within a minute or two. If he can avoid the takedown, Joslin by TKO.

I know, I know, many of you are thinking that I’m laying it on Joslin a little thick. All I can say is that before you send me an e-mail telling me what an idiot I am, I suggest you wait 24 hours.

That’s it for MM-Eh! As always, I look forward to you e-mailing me your questions, queries, comments and concerns.