Fiona Muxlow

By Joshua Molina

Australia’s Fiona Muxlow will step inside the cage this Friday to battle the second most famous women’s fighter in the world – Cris Cyborg – at Invicta FC 5, live on InvictaFC.com from Ameristar Casino Hotel in Kansas City.  Like Liz Carmouche against 135-pound UFC champ Ronda Rousey, Muxlow has the potential to rewrite the script of women’s MMA with an upset victory over the powerful Cyborg.

Invicta FC signed Cyborg to an exclusive deal, but most observers believe she is on a crash course with Rousey one day if the two can agree on a weight class.  Muxlow, who was a replacement opponent for injured Ediane Gomes, is coming off a submission loss to Marloes Coenen, and will be looking to shock the world against perhaps the most feared women’s fighter in the world.

Full Contact Fighter’s “The Daily Takedown” columnist Joshua Molina caught up with Muxlow to get her views on Cyborg, how she plans to defeat her, and the state of women’s MMA.

FCF: How do you plan to be successful against Cris Cyborg?

FM: We’ve established a game plan. There are things that I can do really well that will work against here. I’ve been training really hard for this fight, harder than any before hand. I’ve been in Thailand training full time at Tiger Muay Thai and MMA in the lead up to this. This is her first fight back after her suspension so there may be some ring rust, but I’m not training for that.

FCF: What do you think of Cyborg and her suspension for performance enhancement drugs?

FM: I don’t know the lady. We only met briefly once at the IBJJF worlds last year. I, in no way, condone the used of PEDs. It’s cheating, but she has served her suspension, so (she) is free to compete again.

FCF: What are the keys to defeating Cyborg?

FM: Not being overwhelmed by the Cyborg mystique and not getting caught up in the hype. It’s going to be a war. I need to stick to my game plan. I’ve been training hard for this.

FCF: What do you think of the state of women’s MMA in the United States? Does it have a future beyond Ronda Rousey?

FM: It seems to be growing everyday more and more. I see by social media women’s fights added to (different) cards. Ronda Rousey has definitely been an ambassador, not only for women’s MMA, but for MMA in general. She has helped to take it into many mainstream news outlets. Does women’s MMA have a future beyond Ronda Rousey? Hell yes. There are that many good female fighters out there and they are beginning to get the recognition they deserve.  I also feel the the ladies of Invicta FC, both the fighters and the organizers, have done a lot to secure women’s MMA well into the future.

FCF: Can you please talk about your background and how you got into MMA?

FM: I started training martial arts when I was in university although my original system was a little more traditional. It was still a mixed system, with standup, takedowns and ground work. As the sport of MMA evolved so did the club I was at. I then moved interstate at the end of university.  I spent a two year period only doing BJJ. But returned back to my university town and took up MMA again in addition to BJJ and Sub grappling.

In 2007 I qualified for the ADCC world submission fighting championships – and actually fought a transgender grappler there, so Fallon Fox is not the first. The next month I made my MMA debut in New Zealand.

Email Joshua Molina at jmolina@fcfighter.com

UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre

By Joshua Molina

A week after Georges St-Pierre ate him for dinner, self-tortured bad boy Nick Diaz says he could beat GSP in a rematch.

Maybe, maybe not.

But that’s besides the point. Opportunities to fight for the UFC championship come once in a lifetime for most people. Diaz has been around long enough to know that it doesn’t matter what you can do the second time because second chances rarely come.

It matters what you do the first time opportunity knocks. Diaz can dream all he wants about what he would do in a rematch.

The bottom line is when he had his chance, he choked. He ought to fight Carlos Condit again. If he can beat Condit in a rematch, maybe he can think about saying the Georges St-Pierre’s name again.

GSP, by the way, says he had an achilles injury and a fever the night of the fight.

So what does that say for Diaz? GSP certainly looked tired and a bit flat at times against Diaz. GSP didn’t look as good as everybody knows he can look. So if Diaz get’s another chance, it’s probably only going to get worse for him.

If anybody from the Gracie camp deserves a rematch it’s Jake Shields, who came one round away from upsetting GSP in 2011. On some scorecards Shields won two rounds. GSP was so concerned about Shields beating him that he fought the fight entirely in the standup – rather than take Shields to the mat – to avoid Shield’s elite level American Jiu-Jitsu.

Shields’ career has tanked since that night – getting KO’d by Jake Ellenberger, shortly after his father suddenly died. Shields beat Yoshihiro Akiyama and then Ed Herman, but saw the latter fight overturned because of a drug test violation.

Shields may be one of the most boring top-level fighters in the UFC, but he’s a hard worker and doesn’t have problem mentally focusing like Diaz.

GSP probably won’t give Diaz or Shields a rematch if he gets past Johny Hendricks. Based on his weakish performances against Condit and Diaz, GSP might want to think about cashing in on the Anderson Silva dream match early next year.

At least if he loses that fight it would be against one of the best in the world in a larger weight division. If GSP keeps fighting safe – and fighting to win, not win impressively, a Silva vs. GSP match will never happen because GSP will lose long before the UFC can sell a ticket to the dream fight.

UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre

By Joshua Molina

If Georges St-Pierre’s recent comments about Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva are an indication of his mental state going in to Saturday’s fight with Nick Diaz, then Diaz is in for a successful night.

St-Pierre predicts that Weidman will not only beat Silva, but FINISH him.

I thought Diaz was the medicinal marijuana smoker.

That’s a flat-out insane prediction for GSP to make. You are talking about a guy who is regarded as pound-for-pound the best in the world against a guy with 9 fights.

Anything can happen when two men step into the cage (ask Alistair Overeem), but GSP must be getting light-headed from his hours of cardio training on the treadmill.

You just don’t make a prediction like that. Rumor has it that GSP is also predicting Chael Sonnen will finish Jon Jones in the first round with a wicked ground-and-pound attack after dropping Jones with a spinning heel kick.

If GSP makes a similar mental lapse Saturday night, Diaz had better be ready to jump on him. Both Diaz brothers are good fighters, but like their Bay Area brothers the San Francisco 49ers, are also master choke artists.

Nick seems to melt or get frustrated under pressure, as was the case in the Carlos Condit fight.

If I could have 5 minutes to talk to Diaz one-on-one, I would tell him this:

Don’t taunt or trash talk in the cage against GSP
Don’t hit yourself in the head during the fight to prove how tough you are
Don’t lower your hands and tell GSP to hit you
Don’t throw up a gratuitous middle finger during the fight to look like a tough guy

If there was ever a time to Man Up and fight like it matters, like it’s a sport, not a backyard brawl, like you are a professional athlete looking to make history, not just a well-conditioned, well-trained tough guy, Saturday night is THE night.

Fight smart. Fight tough. Fight to win. You might never be back again.

This is your chance to prove to the haters, and the soccer moms, that you were right all along.

Does Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (pictured) stand a chance against Alistair Overeem?

By Joshua Molina

Add Alistair Overeem vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva to the list of UFC fights we don’t want to see.

That’s because it’s not going to be a fun night for Bigfoot, or the fans, unless you like to see blood spilled everywhere. The UFC announced the fight for Super Bowl weekend at UFC 156.

This fight makes no sense. Chael Sonnen has a better chance of knocking out Jon Jones than Bigfoot has of making the former champion kickboxer and Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion break a sweat.

Overeem is one of the best heavyweight’s in the world. Bigfoot is coming off a fluke knockout of a statue-like Travis Browne, who blew his knee out minutes before Silva KO’d him. Bigfoot was also destroyed by Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez.

The fight should give Overeem an impressive, KO victory, before getting a title shot against Junior Dos Santos or Velasquez.

Ronda Rousey’s manager Darin Harvey has challenged Cyborg’s contention that it would be unhealthy for her to cut down to 135 pounds to fight Rousey. Cyborg’s doctor alleged that Cyborg should not cut weight because it would hurt her ability to have children and cause other health problems.

Harvey said Cyborg should get another opinion.

The truth is Rousey wants no part of Cyborg at 145 because Cyborg’s power would be too much. Cyborg knows that cutting weight would weaken her on fight night, and give Rousey any chance she has of winning.

Harvey, according to a published report, also said if Cyborg won’t come down that Rousey would consider going up because it’s a “million-plus Pay Per View fight.”

Unless the UFC books Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko on the undercard, there’s no way Rousey vs. Cyborg would spark 1 million buys. It’s just not going to happen.

With a super-strong promotion, it could get 600,000 buys, which in itself, would be remarkable.

The truth is Rousey should avoid Cyborg for as long as she can. There are plenty of other talented fighters out there and Rousey should spend 2013 enjoying her success, rather than force a fight with a wicked woman who could knock her out.