Weird thing

UFC 108 and UFC 109 were bereft of championship bouts. Yet there's two coming up that have two championship fights each, one in Abu Dhabi.
I'm annoyed.

What was wrong with Rolles Gracie?

I don't fight in a cage for a living, so I'm not going to dump TOO hard on Rolles Gracie, but honestly, that performance was just crap. He seemed to gas out after a minute. Did no one tell him it was three five minute rounds? I'm actually thinking he had a huge adrenaline rush when the fight started and had nothing after it wore off. He's a young dude, I hope he improves his cardio, or gets over the ring butterflies, because he could be a force in the heavyweights.

Stephen Bonnar is a nutjob

So, Stephen Bonnar says he fought a bad fight against Mark Coleman because he was trying to finish with a spinning back kick. He was trying to do this because God told him to do it in a dream.
It's not clear whether he was screwing around with the "it came from God!" shit, or if that's what he literally feels...but either way, he's a wacky dude.

Strikeforce, etc

Jay Hieron and Diesel Riggs have reason to be pissed they've been bumped to the undercard in favor of Lashley-Sims and Walker-Some Cab Driver. They're legit fighters who've contended for belts on main cards. But Hieron at least is sucking it up.

I'm jacked up for Coenen-Cyborg. That should be war. I hope Coenen doesn't try to stand with Cyborg, or pull what I like to call The McLovin. It doesn't end well for grapplers, in general, to stand up and try to box strikers.

Dear every MMA writer in the world: You don't have to say "fellow countrymen". Just "countrymen". The "fellow" part is kind of implied.

MMA Senior Tour

So I'm browsin' my sites, and here's an article about Frank Trigg, talking about his upcoming fight with Matt The Terra Serra. He mentions Matt's "Renzo Gracie black belt", and that gets me thinking about Renzo-Hughes coming up. Then I realize there's a Coleman-Couture fight as well. Is the MMA Senior Tour already here? I made a joke about it the other day. but it seems to actually be happening. Matt Hughes has said before that he's only interested in fights against other old guys. Serra doesn't seem interested in taking on all comers, or frankly fighting all that often at all.
We've had a de facto senior tour in a lot of smaller organizations for years, with dudes like Dan Severn, Tank Abbott, Ken Shamrock, and on and on still going at it. Dream and WVR seem to have no problem with brining old guys in either, setting up Fujita and Sakuraba to get killed by young kickboxers for shits and giggles. But the UFC seemed to be immune from that, til now. Maybe it's just a passing trend due to contract situations...Matt Serra has to be a weird guy to schedule fights for, since he catapaulted himself into the upper echelon by surprising GSP. Same with Frank Trigg...both guys, while tough, skilled fighters, are barely relevant based on their recent records.
I suppose the coming months will tell.

Why would anyone take James Toney seriously?

James Toney, tubby, washed-up boxer, has been going hell-for-leather to get a big contract with the UFC, despite having no skills in MMA and no real indication that he's completely sane. When finally offered a contract with the UFC, for some fuckin reason, Toney scoffed because it wasn't enough money, I guess.

"Dana White's first offer was a joke and that lets me know he really don't want to do this ... his offer was laughable. That's the reason I wanted the camera guy in the room with us when I sat down with Dana, so the fans would know that I was serious and if it didn't happen, it wasn't because of me."

1) Fans don't give a shit. Go fight some small-time promotion, like Ray Mercer did, and show that you're worth jack.
2) You asked for an offer, you got an offer. If you don't like it, go be barely-comprehensible elsewhere, you shambling mound of ego.
3) Fans do not give a shit. I'm pissed off at you that I'm writing this post. Go away.

Pleasant surprise: MMA on CW 6

The local CW affiliate is showing IA:MMA, a small promotion that holds events (event?) at the Starlight Bowl here in San Diego. I saw a promo for it an hour before it came on so I got lucky. Especially since I was basically ready to end it all after the fucking Chargers choked on dick yet again. I hereby renounce the Chargers and all they stand for.
Mat Diablo from 91X is the host, along with Heath Herring doing a little commentary. The broadcast is surprisingly good, considering the ghetto looking ring with no sponsors. Two super heavyweights line up to open, Cody Goodale and Jason Williams. Cody's a really pudgy 282lb 19-year-old. I cannot imagine keeping that kid fed. My 90lb daughter eats as much as I can keep up with. Jason Williams is a big-ass Samoan. Little technique, but some aggression. Neither guy has much standup, but Goodale seems to have a little training. Jason Williams is a lot more experienced that I thought he was, with a decent attempt to get out after a takedown and some good choke defense. Eventually the teenager got ahold of a head-and-arm choke after some good full-mount ground and pound (even if the punches seemed a little pittypat). I gotta say I'm pretty impressed all around with the quality of the fight and the production value, for a small-time local broadcast.
Bobby "The Kid" Sanchez vs. Roberto Vargas. Looks like a decent scrap. Kid Sanchez taps to a standing guillotine after a little action against the cage. So, never mind, not much of a scrap. Sanchez was too cautious, Roberto was very aggressive.
Paul Song vs Bailey Byrne, two 185ers. The Cyborg family is in Song's corner, interesting. Takedown for Song, working from the guard. Byrne grabs a triangle choke...now it's locked in even tho Song is blasting his face. Wow, he pounded out of the triangle, I thought it was done. Song and Bailey staredown in range, but then trade knees and uppercuts from the clinch. Bailey is like a big Kendall Grove...easy comparison since he's got the Hawaii tats and he's a 6'4" middleweight. Big mouse under Bailey's eye. Good first round, quite a scrap! Great job for Paul pounding out of that triangle, I didn't think that was a likely way to get out.
They went to commercial break. I can't stress enough how good this is for a local show like this. Coming from someone who's paid for way, way worse PPV's that's sayin' something. I bought YAMMA.
Heath Herring and Mat Diablo are providing some good commentary. I wonder if they taped that afterwards. Diablo is the ring announcer too.
I didn't realize it but this fight is 3x3 minutes, as it's the debut for both fighters, even tho they listed each at 1-0. Dunno. Second round was pretty solidly for Song, even though Byrne threatened with a triangle again. The news lead-in commercials suck. They keep talking about the Chargers' loss. Fuck you Chargers. I feel like Pedro Cerrano finally giving up on Jobu. Fuck you, Jobu!
Commercial every round. Hmph. Good action in the third, and I kinda wish they'd given these kids 5 minutes rounds. Paul Song takes a split decision win, but it certainly looked like it was all Paul. I had a 30-27 fight. Both could turn into good fighters, I'll look for them in the future.
Well, that's the show. Nice work. I wrote a letter to CW 6 saying I liked it, hopefully they'll show some more soon and I'll somehow get the news so I can watch it. Hey CW 6 and IA:MMA...gimme more MMA!