Thursday, December 6, 2007

a conundrum


after watching the final regular episode of The Ultimate Fighter last night, I decided that, in the great tradition of santorum, something needed to be named a "hightower" to indicate having a big mouth, acting tough, and then running like hell when you have an opportunity to come through on your words. Since Richie Hightower, one of the cell masses they included on this season to apparently process food, make idiot frat boy jokes, and occupy space til he was whomped on, had a chance to take a fight against a guy he'd been talking shit about the entire season. Instead, he hemmed, hawed, and toe-shuffled til Dana White told him to GTFO. The coaches actually laughed at him. How humiliating.
Anyhow, because of Hightower's monumental act of jackassery, and this doesn't even count all his slumped over sideways hat wearing, we need to assign his name to something unpalatable. At first I thought the obvious: a vagina should be called a "hightower". Of course, that comes with a serious stumbling block: I like vaginas, and I know many courageous vagina-owners, and am frankly a little sick and annoyed with the equation of female genitals to wussiness, despite how hardwired it is in my stupid head. So that's out. I thought and thought, head bowed, brow furrowed, and came up with ... fainting goats.

At least in my personal lexicon, a fainting goat, or anything indeed that seizes up and flails when an opportunity, even a scary one, presents itself, is now called a "hightower".

So far there's only two terms in the aforementioned lexicon, "hightower" and "decision bitch".

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Serra out, GSP in, bullshit reigns

As any MMA fan knows by know, Matt Serra is injured, and GSP is stepping in to fight Hughes for an interim belt. Presumably Serra will fight the winner when her recovers.
How long was Rich Franklin hurt? The UFC just stuck his fucking belt on the shelf and let him recover. Frank Mir, and now Matt Serra, they get the stinky end of the fuckstick.
Frankly I think we oughta let Matt Serra recover, and get on with it. Dana White and the UFC are the ones who put the belt on the shelf to begin with, not Matt Serra. So Serra's belt is compromised because the UFC wanted to feature him on a retarded reality show?
Bullshit.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

i paid for it

worst pay-per-view ever.

Monday, November 12, 2007

in case anyone was wondering


THIS is why the Diaz-Noons fight got stopped. The "Cutz r teh gey" argument rambling around various forums is ridiculous. That's like a guy getting knocked out and saying "Well, unconsciousness is stupid. He woulda won if they didn't allow consciousness to get in the way of fighting".
Dumb argument.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

ShoXC Renegade thoughts: Nick Diaz is a bitch


Image belongs to SHERDOG.COM.
I watched ShoXC Renegade last night with my brother and my roommate. Apparently, the entrance area of the set was put together by a massive interior designer, because it looked like a huge living room. The ring entrances seem to be missing something to me...there's like a blank feel to them sometimes. Perhaps they should let fighters walk out with their crews.
I got most of the fights right on mmaplayground
The first fight they showed was Antonio Silva and Jonathan Wiezorek. Silva has that glandular huge-guy look where his forehead is freaky and his chin's all stretched out, but he's 6'2"...you're used to seeing that on 6' 9" and up guys. Regardless, Silva is a beast, and at super heavyweight he was super-fast and agile, just like Sam Caplan (whose breakdown I based my pick of Silva on) expected, and he choked out a doughy-looking Wiezorek pretty capably. I'd like to see Silva fight someone at 265 or under. He's a powerful-looking fighter.
Next up was Kyle Noke and Seth Kleinbeck. Noke looks like a game fighter, but he seemed nervous. Kleinbeck is defintely capable, but it felt like he was getting dominated slowly but surely (in the second round) until Noke opened up a HUGE (not Marvin Eastman huge, but huge still) cut on his forehead. It was shaped like an eye. Noke to his credit didn't jump around like an idiot, though Greg Jackson was stoked for him.
Jake Shields vs. Mike Pyle seemed like it would be better. Shields took Pyle to the ground after an intial knee, and methodically worked himself to mount, where Pyle spun a couple times before Shields snapped a rear naked choke into place. Pyle apparently had, before the fight, refused to sign a long-term contract, and in so doing denied Shields a chance at a title fight. Shields noted before and after that it pissed him off. Shields is riding a nine-fight streak and has pounded or choked out his last four or five. Top five welterweight.
Kimbo Slice vs Bo Cantrell was a downer. Bo Cantrell either took a dive, broke a rib, or is the world's biggest pussy. Kimbo hit him hard once and he was literally tapping on his way to the mat. It was an air tap. If Cantrell didn't get hurt or have a lot of sand in his vagina he took at dive for a payday. I'd buy it if his rib was broken, that hurts, and the shot Slice delivered to his ribs was vicious, you could see it shake his whole frame. But still...what a fucking jackass. Of course, I guess I could let Kimbo hit me in the ribs and see how I felt. I'm starting to tear up thinking about it.
Nick Diaz vs KJ Noons: Nick Diaz is a crybaby bitch. Diaz stormed out of the ring in a fucking huff like a little primadonna shithead. He got dominated and cut up by a smaller man, and instead of taking it like a man, he ran off crying and giving the finger to the audience. I lost almost all respect for Diaz after that. On the way through the tunnel he smacked the cameraman. What a a fucking dick! You know what Randy Couture did when he lost his belt to an accidental eyepoke? Shook his opponent's hand, gave a post fight interview, and got back to training. Had Diaz kept his cool and done an interview asking for a rematch, EliteXC would have been STOKED. A title rematch, bang, there's one event headliner we don't have to worry about. I'd be surprised if he had another shot in ShoXC, but of course this is the org that hires, and defends, noted felon Krazyhorse Bennett, so on second thought I'd be unsurprised. I just want to go on record saying: Nick Diaz acted like a whiny, stupid bitch last night, and deserves heaps of scorn. I don't know how stoned he's going to have to get to block out the memory of his bitch move, but I reckon it'll be a lot. By the time he's done he'll have invented a new scenario where he comes out looking like some hardcore ghetto hero. Nick, you fucked up.
KJ Noons, on the other hand, came out looking like a star. He's got heavy hands, and he never seemed to be even remotely in trouble. He jacked Diaz's face with that knee, and brought a lot more that sliced up Diaz pretty badly. Diaz's only offense was a slam after the bell. Congratulations to KJ Noons, good luck with the boxing.

Friday, November 9, 2007

EliteXC picks


OK. Time to go on the record. My picks in bold.

Karl James Noons vs. Nick Diaz I'm taking the upset here. I think KJ will bring a boxing match that Diaz hasn't seen, and challenge Nick's iron-hard chin. I'm taking this as a total upset, and if Nick wins, I will be completely unsurprised and enjoy being wrong. Should be a barn-burner.

Kevin Ferguson vs. Bo Cantrell Kimbo Slice...based on Bas Rutten's training and his power. Cantrell has a lot of experience, and could upset based on nerves and adrenalin dump, but I see Kimbo coming through here.

Mike Pyle vs. Jake Shields I think Jake Shields is the best welterweight not fighting in the UFC, and a top three fighter in his weight class. Should dominate.

Antonio Silva vs. Jonathan Wiezorek Wiezorek has a great record, but I think Silva is too quick for hiim.

Seth Kleinbeck vs. Kyle Noke

Yves Edwards vs. Nick Gonzalez
Geoff Bumstead vs. Robert Ruiz

Jon Kirk vs. Matt Lucas

Brett Rogers vs. Ralph Kelly

Jae Suk Lim vs. Daniel Pineda

I made a lot of these picks reading other people's reviews/predictions and going over records in sherdog and other places, so take it as such. Most of the undercard fighters I have no knowledge of outside of that.

I watched the replay of "Uprising" just now, and I gotta say they put together a good show. Villasenor-Fukuda, Shields-Verissimo, Diaz-Aina, and Lawler-Rua were all good fights. The chick fight was okay. In re Diaz-Aina, I had Diaz winning all three rounds, though I can see someone making a strong case either way. Quadros said Aina won, and he knows a couple things about fighting. Lawler is a bad, bad man. Jake Shields is basically why I ordered Showtime yesterday. I'd like to see him fight a LOT more, and it's going to be with EliteXC, so here I am.

I was surprised after watching the TapouT ep with "Charuto" that he came out wearing non-TapouT trunks. Wonder what happened there? Fukuda could be something special if he finds a way to string a lot more punches together at a go.

I'm jacked up for tomorrow night's event, and I'm hoping that Showtime/EliteXC show me something good.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

evan tanner coming back...

Ok...Evan Tanner is announcing he's coming back to the UFC. I like Evan Tanner, I love his style, I hope he does well. But can he compete in the current UFC middleweight division? I think he'll beat the crap out of most of the MW's out there right now, but I also think he'll get utterly destroyed by Anderson Silva. There's a couple fights that sound interesting...Tanner-Marquardt for one...but really, the champ is the one who defines the division, and with The Spider in there, that is the guy Tanner has to measure up to. The real problem comes up when you consider the number two fighter in the division. Rich Franklin beat Evan pretty convincingly. Tanner's going to have to beat Franklin before he can be considered #2...and Franklin is not on the same strata as Silva. So we end up, again, with a man-among-boys situation, where the champ is so much beyond everyone else that it renders every other fight an also-ran situation. So someone runs off 5 wins in middleweight...someone's gotta fight Silva. Do I think Tanner can beat Silva? If he comes in perfect and Silva has an off-day, yes. But outside of that specific situation, no way in hell. Silva's too accurate and hits too hard.
Tanner could make for a few interesting fights in the UFC, but I just don't see him as a legit contender for the belt unless he's changed drastically since his last fights against the cream of the division at the time. I mean, David Louiseau beat the hell out of him.
To turn back on myself one more time, I'd say that with a good solid camp, and a clear head, Tanner could take almost anyone. When he's on, he's dangerous, fast, and knows himself. So who knows? Talk about an X-factor, he's got me runnin' around in circles. I'm looking forward to finding out.

Babalu vs. Fedor


Interesting.

good Din Thomas post at UFC Daily

Although "scrutinizing" is not an adjective, this article at UFC Daily is a pretty good breakdown on Din Thomas' situation in Florida after his arrest for...something.
And yes, I know picking on vocabulary mistakes in blog posts is a dick move. I don't care, I'm a dick. I still recommend UFC Daily, and blagroll 'em, in addition to checking their fed every single day. So I say Pfah to you, you nit repickers.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

whoa! took my time posting

I know my reader was upset about the lag in posts.
OK, I may still watch 78, because my temper's cooled off about the Randy thing. I may not pay for it though. And I don't mean I'll steal it off the intertubes, Mr. Evil Lawyer with way too much time on his hands if he ends up here.

So now TWO good fighters are twiddling their thumbs because they won't play ball with the UFC. Andrei Arlovski is doing security for Jerry Springer, and Nate Marquardt is basically chillin', with one fight on his deal left. Greg Jackson, Marquardt's trainer, said this:

"This loss was my fault. I based too much on the Lutter fight in trying to get the fight to the ground. We were in too much of a rush, and Nate got caught. But we can work on those things, and we'll be better next time."
It certainly looked like it. I think Arlovski's move to keep somewhat in the media spotlight are smart, and helps him keep his sponsors happy. I don't know what Nate can do, however. This is one thing about MMA, and specifically the UFC, that I hate...one dude pretty much seems to have veto power over everything. Contract negotiations determine fights. That sucks. Fighters should determine fights. Styles and storylines. Marquardt's opponent in his last fight has already fought again, and Arlvoski's prime is being wasted. Let's see some action!

One of my local papers has an article on KJ Noons up, tho it feels pretty trunctuated to me, even though this quote gives me an idea why Brandon Vera split:
“That's the thing that is going to make this kid all his money,” said Dion. “Very rarely do you find someone in this sport this good looking.”
I need an adult!

Local promotion Total Combat just staged an event, and has another one coming up in a month.

UPDATE: Even though it felt like two minutes, a couple hours later it comes out that Marquardt's camp is indeed talking with the UFC, possibly for 81.

Monday, October 15, 2007

What I think's goin down

With Randy's split, and now Dan Henderson coming out and saying "WTF is up with you guys paying us jack" I think some of the major camps may be in a spot where they're willing to try something big and splashy. Couture's departure may have been the first salvo, or perhaps the captain charging over the ramparts to get the others to follow. Between Henderson and Couture, for example, they have a huge number of fighters in their respective camps, Team Quest and Extreme Couture (always sounded more like a fashion designer for snowboarders to me). So a mass move by both could be devastating for whoever they opted to give the finger to. Obviously fighters have to make a living, but how long would UFC last with no decent fighters? What if Forrest Griffin, Karo Parisyan, Dan Henderson, etc, all said "No thanks, we'll put on our own show, Team Quest vs. Extreme Couture"? I'd watch that shit, baby. I'd pay a PPV for it.
Forrest vs. Sokoudjou? Whee!
There's other influential teams out there, and if the UFC's been stepping on feet trying to cover for their fuckups (Ireland, paying shit-tons of cash for a piece of crap Pride organization, overpaying failures Cro Cop, Rua, Werdum, anyone else from Pride, failing to get Fedor, etc) by nickle-and-diming fighters, they could all just walk. You think Ed Fishman wouldn't help? He'd probably do it for free to spit in Dana White's big mug.
Some possible teams that could fuck off:
Xtreme Couture
Team Punishment (Tho Tito may love the opportunity to stay in the UFC with weaker opposition)
Jackson Submission
Team Quest
Miletich Fighting Systems

Those are off the top of my head. What I'm getting at is we could be looking at a major labor upset within MMA. Since the camps are the incubators of talent, not the leagues, they will in effect play the role of a union local in a lot of cases. I'm interested in how this all shakes out, I predict a rapidly shifting landscape for a while as big money interests start asserting themselves. Right now the relative shallow talent pool is going to play into it, making fight camps more influential, along with agents.
Ah, what a crazy world. Don't be surprised if the UFC goes out of business for a while, or Dana White and the Fertittas get ousted/lose control.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Wicked

OK, the whole M-1 buyer thing is friggin awesome. It's like a magic show mixed with a spy thriller, with midgets in monkey suits to boot. One actual real live journalist that I talked to (who shall remain nameless, because it's make more kickass that way), said to my frantic little-girl jumping from foot to foot hands-clasped whimpering:

I can't. I made a serious vow of secrecy. I can tell you it's not Zuffa, ProElite, or anyone in the MMA industry. In fact, chances are you've probably have never heard of the company.

Vows of secrecy! I wonder what journalists would do if it was a vow of celibacy? I bet there'd be a lot fewer journalists. Or a lot more Jimmy Olsens, if you catch my drift.
Anyhoo, I hope this is all sorted soon. Every now and again I think "This is NOT pro wrestling."

Make a statement

Ok. I know everyone wants to see at least the two main fights in next weekend's card. I know everyone is freaked out Randy left the UFC and/or Fedor signed with M-1. I also know the UFC 78 card as it is defined now sucks ten kinds of dirty hooker ass. So here's what we, the fans, do: FUCK 78. Fuck that card. Don't buy it. Call your family, check out an ex-girlfriend, finish a crossword, make a cake, whatever. Don't buy UFC 78. It's a shit card anyways. Let the UFC know that we're pissed off, and we don't want to watch great fighters split because Dana White has to show how long his dick is.
I'm going to make other plans right now for the night of 78. I've already got plans for 77, and fuck it if I look like an asshole, I want to see Silva-Franklin. Sorry. I'm not Gandhi or MLK.
But 78? Mew Jersey? B-level main event? Fuck it. Not buying it. I urge anyone (I know at least two people read this blog a day, I'm looking at both of you) reading this to not buy it either, and to email the UFC and let 'em know why. I'm sure they're already looking at taking a bath on this event, but let's make 'em take a bath and a barbed-wire colonic besides. Let's make it hurt. Let's have a fan strike.
Here's some other stuff to do:
Brew your own beer!
Check out a punk rock show.
Find a new restaurant or cook a kickass meal
Learn how to play poker (worth a damn). Note: Do not go to this link if you're going to play me.

Anything other than buying this shitty card and validating Dana White/the Fertittas as fucking overlords of MMA. Forget this card.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

LOL

What. The. Fuck.

Randy Couture quits the UFC.
What. The. Fuck.

Randy Couture, the face of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and one of mixed martial arts most revered fighters, notified the UFC via fax from South Africa at 11 o'clock Thursday morning that he has chosen to resign from the UFC, "The Natural" confirmed with Sherdog.com.

"I sent the letter of resignation to the UFC today, resigning not only from my position in the company as a commentator and as an ambassador, but also as the heavyweight champion," Couture said over the phone from South Africa, where he is currently filming a movie.

"The motivation for the decision is two-fold," he continued. "I know Fedor (Emelianenko) just signed with another organization and that's the only real fight that makes sense for me at 44 years old as the heavyweight champion of the UFC. That's the fight I wanted and if that can't happen it doesn't make sense for me to compete with all these other guys. And then obviously that's not going to happen now. And, two, I'm tired of being taken advantage of, played as the nice guy and basically swimming against the current with the management of the UFC. I have a lot of other things going on in my life that I'm doing just fine with. I don't need the problems. I don't feel like I get the respect I deserve from the organization, and that's motivation No. 2 for the letter of resignation that was sent today."

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

TUF plus a treat

So I'm watching The Ultimate Fighter and it's a pretty boring episode, basically all hype. Mac Danzig had a couple slow-talking lines, and Dorian wasn't half as crazy as they made him out to be...he actually seemed like a pretty decent guy, the crazy message board posts aside. He made a dumb mistake in a thoroughly dumb situation, ie a reality show. But the stuff he said afterwards was basically sensible. Whatever. The fight was stupid. The taller guy was helpless, pretty much. He looked helpless. Even tho the little dude Hightower seemed like a dudebro jackass he was definitely game compared to Bowman.
Well, as I'm watching, there's a little ad onscreen telling me to tune into channel 95 in North County for a special treat afterwards. Turns out its a fight card from a local gym, Unleashed. It appears to be at "Blanca's Fiesta Hall" in IB, which is way south near the border. So far I've seen two of the fights, and it looks like they could only afford maybe one or two lights for the production, and it's low-quality video, which is too bad, because the fights so far are pretty good. I know there's one other local promotion, Total Combat, in San Diego, but I haven't heard anything from them in a while. I like seeing the lower-level events, because who knows, you may see a Forrest Griffin or a St. Pierre in the making...I'll keep track of these dudes.
A third fight (Wallon Kennel vs. Muniko Enrique) just ended with a slick modified triangle by Kennel. The fight before was an armbar finish, and the first a TKO. Here is the event page from Sherdog, apparently all the fights listed on the fight card at the site didn't go on, but it looks like an action event, as they all ended in the first. No decisions, not bad. It's listed as "Galaxy Productions" on Sherdog.
Well, overall, if they'd get some lights, it would be pretty dang good for what it is. They have Kimo Leopoldo doing commentary, and he's doing pretty good, actually. The main play-by-play guy apparently sat about five feet from his mic as I can barely make out his voice. He also has kind of a tinny little voice. They talk over each other a lot too.
Nice event, though, I'm going to see what they've got and if I can see something live. There's an Unleashed gym here in Escondido, I should definitely go wander around and see if I can make friends with anyone and get some "press" info.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

WEC? Lyoto-Alexander

OK. What's up with the WEC? They don't have shit scheduled til December. From the end of September til the middle of December, nothin'. I'm watching a replay of the Faber-Farrar event right now, it was decent, but not amazing. I love to watch Faber fight, he's a madman. The other fights on the card seemed a bit like mismatches. Yahya-Hominick was funny in that Yahya just zombie-chased him around til he grabbed something and locked in a choke after some climbing.
All right. We have some fun in the UFC Light Heavyweight division. Forrest Griffin and Keith Jardine basically put themselves on the map with their wins in the last event. Forrest saved us the trouble of PRIDE dicks yammering about bad judging by cinching in the choke at the end of the fight, and Jardine, well, he dominated that fight beginning to end. There's a couple guys waiting for them, unfortunately, at the field-level contender seats. Houston Alexander has torn apart two fools in the UFC, including short-memory Jardine. Lyoto Machida has bored hiw way to victory in every single fight he's been in. So we have four guys on the winning tip, with Jardine being the guy to lose most recently. Forrest has two straight, Machida undefeated, Alexander two in a row via quick knockout.
In my book, we have a problem. Rampage has to defend. Against who? I'd say Rampage-Machida for his next defense. Then the winner of Rashad-Bisping vs. Forrest, and square off Alexander and Jardine. That could be an absolute war. Then one more fight and you have a #1 contender, while still being able to throw a LHW bout in there with Lambert or Ortiz. Why not Lambert vs. Ortiz? Sounds like a battle...
Anyways, I'm dashing this off, so gimme some feedback on it.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Karo is Kursed

Karo Parisyan's opponent for UFC 78 can't get a fucking visa. Sucks to be Karo.
The intertubes are shouting he should get Kos. I'm cool with that, I'd love to see Karo tear that dude to shreds.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Fuckin TUF

I'm watching the new Ultimate Fighter right now...well, it's at commercial...and I can't believe Matt Hughes trying to institute fucking bible study for this competition. What a fucking joke! Frankly, I didn't believe some of the stuff I'd read about what a d-bag Hughes was...you simply can't make your mind up without actually meeting someone, I believe. But man! What kind of shit is that?! These guys are here to show they're game, they've got the shit to stand in the cage and throw. That's a hard fucking thing to do, and Hughes is making them read the book of freaking esther? Fuck that for a game of shitboys. What a total douchebag.
Just in case anyone can't tell: Matt Hughes is a jackass monkeyfucker for his bible study idea. Fuck him.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I am self-referencing dammit!

From this entry at Fightlinker


7 Thomas
They have to do SOMETHING with Big Nog. Randy is need of more heavyweights to pin aganist the cage and hug.

on 26 Sep 2007 at 2:38 am8garth
Thomas: Hug and destroy. Hug and destroy.

that may be the best description of Randy’s style ever. From mockery comes truth, Thomas.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Modnay

Things and things. I got to watch 76 on a bit of a tape-delay, since I had to go to a birthday party. My brother showed up at like midnight and we watched (fast forwarding) to about two am. We're dumb.
Forrest Griffin, to me, was the story of the night. He stepped in against a guy who was supposedly unbeatable and beat him. He took some shots and came back. One thing Forrest hasn't gotten credit for is his growth as a fighter...he's seeing the holes in his game and trying to fix them. Choking out Chute-Boxe's hero is a huge stride for Forrest.
Jon Fitch vs. Diego Sanchez was kind of boring. There was some decent wrestling, but Fitch basically lay'n'prayed Sanchez the whole time. Fightlinker made a good point: Diego seems to have forgotten that his job is to beat the shit out of people.
Machida was a lot more interesting, fighting a very tough opponent in Nakamura ("Hm, I bet I can beat Wanderlei Silva if I take off my gi top in the middle of a round...hey, I'm unconscious!"). Everyone bags on Lyoto Machida for being boring, but I rather liked his fight. He's pressing the action more, and he's very strong and technical.
Tyson Griffin vs Thiago Tavares was a war. I like Griffin's style, and the spinning escapes are crowd-pleasers as far as grappling is concerned. Dynamic level-changing and transitioning grappling gets the crowds on their feet, that's for sure.
Liddell vs Jardine was a little bit of a downer. Jardine brought a solid gameplan and took Chuck apart with kicks. The fact that Chuck couldn't counter his relatively simple leg-kick-to-left-hand attack seems disappointing. I think Chuck may be pissing blood for a week after all the liver shots he took. His side looked like a nice rare steak.
Overall a decent event. Short of what I'd want for my money, but ok. I hope their next few events are better. Otherwise the "goofy Internet websites" will be talking more shit. And I say that through gritted teeth.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Dana White's a Douchebag

What kind of a retard is Dana White? "Internet websites"? Does he even know what he's talking about? He sounds like an old man in the grips of delerium.

White launched into a tirade against the Pride fan boys and the Internet sites he said who encourage them to denigrate the UFC.
“I want to say something and everybody knows how I’ve felt for years about these goofy Internet websites,” White said through gritted teeth. “I hate them. They’re biased, crooked and there are a lot of other bad things I can say, but I don’t want to waste my time.
“They’ve been biased against us for years. Their reporting was always biased against us. They talk about fights that don’t make any sense. Let me tell you what: We’re the best in the business. Our matchmaker (Joe Silva) is the best. We put on the best and the biggest fights.”

So he means sites like espn.com, cnnsi.com, and cbssportsline.com are "biased" and "crooked"? I agree with him about Fox, but that's mainly their news site, not their sports site. So who's "they"? Sherdog? Forums? Is Dana reading internet forum posts and comment threads and thinking that's the whole internet? I could understand his dopey comments if they were based just on someone saying "Fdeor wud bete randy hes a loosre and has no chanses". Dana sounds like he doesn't have any idea what an "Internet website" even is. White's lambasting of "internet websites" and the youtube jihad is hurting his brand. If he can't see that, he's got a big fat blind spot. I say that through gritted teeth.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Quate night licky

I watched the UFC Fight Night 11 and the premiere episode of The Ultimate Fighter last night with Charles and Eric. Eric ended up sleeping on my floor, then couch, successively, after my ass vacated the couch at around midnight.
FN 11 was a good show. The Quarry-Sell & Leben-Martin fights were great, surprising and thrilling. All four of those fighters showed tremendous guts and courage. They stood in there when it got freaking hard and took the shots till the last one. Well, Pete Sell got an extra last one, but still. Kenny "The Finisher" Florian, and the fans, got a little robbed. It really looked like Din Thomas hurt himself on the way in, and Kenny got to hit him while he turtled approximately eleventy-jillion times before ratcheting on that choke. Still, Ken showed he's got the cold heart to finish the poor bastard.
Nate Diaz-Junior Assuncao was all right. Assuncao looks like he's practicing for "professional opponent" status, like Ross Pointon or Elvis Sinosic.
Thankfully, MMAPlayground, who I pay money to for the privilege of playing fantasty MMA, failed to record my picks. So I got an interesting zero for that event. I'm kind of pissed.
The Ultimate Fighter was all right. I'm thinking this one may irk me more than any other season. The guy talking about Jesus made me want to punch a baby wallaby. Matt Serra's jackass student pissed me off as well. Mac Danzig may not be all that he's made out to be.
Chuck Liddell gets ass.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

MMA Scoring Changes

OK: I've complained long and loud about the crap nature of the ten-point must system currently used in all the MMA orgs I know about. It's archaic, a remnant from boxing. It's inflexible, and extremely subjective...what constitutes a 10-8 round? "You know it when you see it"? To me, it's simply ineffective as a scoring system for a much more varied, dynamic fight game like mixed martial arts. So I'm going to keep this post up for the next few weeks while I cogitate on it (and while I'm waiting for Fight Night to start here on the west coast, and can't go to my normal blogs cuz I don't want the results revealed).
First off, one immediate change that can be made is showing a running score. It's cheap, it's easy, it lets fighters and fans know who's ahead and who needs to do what. You think Matt Hamill would have fought the third round like that if he believed he'd done anything other than win the first two rounds (which in my repeated viewings, he clearly did)? The fans can yell, hoot and holler all they want, what, crowd noise is going to take away from the spectacle? Please. Ask NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB refs. Tough luck, get a quieter job. I absolutely welcome comments, and would dearly love to help start something where we get a real loud fan's voice going in changing the way this sport we love is scored, to make fights better and more fair to fighters.
Second, Olympic boxing has a system that's a bit different, but can offer insights into a possible scoring system that might offer more equity. A panel of five judges score. Each judge has two buttons in front of them, for each fighter. They push the button when a fighter lands a scoring blow. If three of five judges push their buttons at the same time (within a certain time window), the fighter scores a point. I couldn't find out right away but I believe that the score is shown cumulatively throughout a fight. There are a few advantages and disadvantages to this.

Advantages
More judges leaves less to chance, or an inattentive, sleepy, or possibly crooked judge.
The system seems less subjective.
The fans can see a cumulative score.
Fighters can pile up points, and a truly dominant round is not limited to such a paltry swing in scoring.
Following on the above point, fights will become more dynamic, a true fifteen minute bout (or 25) instead of three distinct, separate rounds.

Disadvantages
Relativity...is a slam worth more than a punch? Is a reversal worth points? What about a sub defense? What about a lay'n'pray fighter who does nothing but maintain dominant position? What about a slick Judo throw or scramble?
Fighters can pile up points...have a dominant round and the opponent can do nothing to catch up, making for a boring fight.
Fighters will watch the scoreboard (though I don't know if that's a disadvantage, it seems somewhat like it to me).

The disadvantages are thought-provoking. I'm doing this as I go along and will revise and rethink this as comments come in. Relativity seems a problem in that the judges would have to be more experienced or better trained about MMA, and that can be hard. I'm sure the judges wouldn't mind, to be honest. Imagine the boon to smaller orgs...that could actually lead to further growth, good grassroots growth, in MMA. Imagine if every interested fan had an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of judging a match?
Building a big lead doesn't seem a terrible disadvantage to me. It seems that one thing could solve that problem: referree discretion. WCL has a pretty effective system for allowing refs to penalize passivity, and a big lead could dissolve rather quickly if someone spent a round running. Hell, judges could award a point for being the aggressor and taking control of the ring/octagon/dodecahedron. Count Douche spending 99% of his fight running from Hamill would lose points as he sprinted. And having a big lead is a natural result of whupping someone's ass. To me the fact that someone can horribly mutilate his opponent for the first round, and then barely, barely get eked out on two other rounds, and lose, is crap. You can't count on a ten eight because "Well, it wasn't quite enough for a 10-8 round, you know?" More subjectivity.
Scoreboard watching might be annoying, especially with a dominant grappler, though I don't know that it would change their behavior.
I'm at a loss as to how to score between blows, throws, slams and escapes. If someone more knowledgeable than me could comment on perhaps how wrestling handles these situations, I'd appreciate it. Here is a rundown on Olympic freestyle rules, including scoring. I don't have the attention span right now (after writing how many words?) to go through the whole thing. I'd imagine that you could award a point for a takedown and then perhaps for the position the takedown ended in, and something similar for Judo, etc.
I'm not trying to answer all questions in this post, but to start the conversation, and keep track of where people lead it to. I think MMA scoring is badly flawed, and needs to be fixed. We fans can be a serious force in fixing it. What do you think?

Monday, September 17, 2007

Chuck


Somone over on fightlinker (rapidly becoming my favorite MMA blog) called Chuck Liddell a "middle of the road schmuck". Of course, this was while they were saying that a Chuck vs. Fedor matchup might happen in the UFC (counting on Fedor signing, if that ever happens), so the commenter's opinion is pretty retarded. It still made me think. Is Chuck over-rated? Is he "middle of the road"? So I went to his record.

Significant wins:
Jeff Monson
Guy Mezger
Kevin Randleman
Murilo Bustamante
Amar Suloev
Vitor Belfort
Renato Sobral (x2)
Alistair Overeem
Tito Ortiz (x2)
Vernon White
Randy Couture (x2)
Jeremy Horn
Randy Couture

Significant losses:
Quinton Jackson (x2)
Jeremy Horn
Randy Couture


At 20-4, Chuck as a great record. Almost all of his fights for the last 7 years have been against top of the line opponents, on the biggest stages in the world. He's won 65% of his fights via KO or TKO, often in spectacular fashion, again, on the biggest stage and against the best. His losses have also been on the big stage, in spectacularly disappointing fashion, including Randy Couture's legendary knockout win, and two earth-shifting losses to the beast Quinton Jackson. I think that, given the level of competition, the strength of his performance, and the stakes at which he's fought, Chuck Liddell has a legitimate claim to being, rather than a "middle of the road schumck", one of the greatest fighters, pound for pound, of all time. He's up there in the A level with guys like Randy, Wanderlei, Hendo, and QJ, among a select crew (I'm not making a whole list right now).
Stylistic differences are fine. People who think he's one-dimensional are entirely allowed their opinion. People who simply don't like his sliding, counterstriking style are welcome to dislike. Talk about his retarded hairstyle, his painted toenails, his goofy little-kid personality. But anyone who thinks Chuck Liddell is anything other than one of the all-time MMA greats is quite simply an idiot. I'm not Chuck's biggest fan. I like other styles more, other disciplines. But I cannot deny his accomplishments, regardless of who he lost to last. The shortsightedness of statements like that make me despair for the fucking stupidity of the mass of humanity, at least that tiny slice that comments in MMA forums. "LOL chukc is teh scuks! LOLOLOLO! hes cants do not so only hitts!"
Fucking morons.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

mystery solv'd

I was confused following the EliteXC purchase of ICON why Kala Kolohe Hose lost his shot at the belt, in favor of a "unification" fight between Ninja Rua and Robbie Lawler (weird unification, as Lawler's ICON belt was apparently not on the line, the fight seems to have been for Rua's EliteXC belt). This article states (about midway throught) that Lawler will concentrate on opening the new Hughes gym, prepping Matt for his title fight, then returning to defend his belt against Hose. Maybe I'll have Showtime by then.
Probably not. I have the internet, I don't need softcore porn.
Nick Diaz had this to say about his performance:


"I know I could have fought better," Diaz said. "I feel good, but I am really disappointed in the way I performed. I should have started a lot faster because Aina fought me with everything he had."

Fightlinker has a response.

Also, I got a book for my brother's birthday tomorrow, but I'm going to read it first (I read plumb fast): A Fighter's Heart(Myspace link, horrible template takes for ever to load). So far it's just amazing...the writer goes to Thailand and trains muay Thai, then to Bettendorf and trains MMA with Miletich, and right now I'm on a section where he's in Rio wallflowering Brazillian Top Team. He fought a pro muay That fight in Thailand and an amateur MMA fight in Iowa...it's pretty awesome. Makes me feel very fat and old. Seriously recommended, and I'm only halfway through. I remember seeing the guy on the Daily Show, too. Once I loaded the myspace page, it had a note about his Daily Show interview, and I recalled it. Jon Stewart was a bit agog at the guy.

On an aside, does anyone think the Patriots aren't a bunch of stinking cheaters now? I'm seriously doubting their alleged accomplishments. I know, I know, you can't fake scoring, but what, are they intercepting radio signals too? Are they mounting cameras in the visitors' locker room? Digging through trash?

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Saturday night MMA grab-bag

Tonight I watched "Rites of Passage", an MMA documentary, TapOut episode whatever, the one with "Sunshine" Fiordirosa (on my DVR, I'd seen it already), and followed the EliteXC "Uprising" card on sherdog's play-by-play, since you apparently can't buy Showtime for one night. Customer service my ass!
Rites of Passage (Amazon link) was pretty cool. It was basically set up as three vignettes; "The Inoue Brothers", the 2000 World Vale Tudo championships, and "The Monster and the Wolf" featuring Kevin Randleman and Eugene Jackson at the UFC Ultimate Japan event from 1999. There was supposed to be more interesting stuff, but apparently Netflix doesn't care if you have a two-disc set when you add it to your queue. The piece about Enson and Egan Inoue was cool enough, and did a nice job of highlighting the differences between the two brothers. The second set was my favorite, showing the whole of the 2000 WVC in Recife, Brazil. There was some amazingly cool seeming non-sequitur moments. I'd recommend seeing this DVD if you get a chance. I liked "Smashing Machine" better, but this was good.
The TapOut episode was good too, even though it seemed more of a showcase for the crew themselves instead of the fighter. Jeff "Big Frog" Curran had a lot of issues with the way the crew took Fiordirosa to his fight. The characterisation of Fiordirosa as an amateur fighter was interesting, as a simple Sherdog search shows Fiordirosa having an 11-1 record, with his only loss to IFL standout Waggney Fabiano. He's got wins against names like Chase Beebe and Tristan Yunker, both fighters of note. Beebe is the 135lb champ in the WEC, for chrissake. I'm having trouble understanding why Fiordirosa is saying he's got "four amateur fights" in this episode. I'm sure there's a ton of this on Sherdog's forums, but still.
In the EliteXC play-by-play they show Robbie Lawler TKO'ing Ninja Rua in the third round, and Nick Diaz winning a spllit decision over local fighter Mike Aina, which was booed by the crowd apparently. I didn't see the fight, so I don't know if it's a bad decision. Sherdog's play-by-play announcer had it for Aina. I wonder if judges tend to give more weight to fighters who do their work at the end of a round as opposed to the beginning and middle?
Additionally, Jake Shields beat Renato Verissimo pretty handily. I'd expected more of a battle between the two. Jake Shields continues to impress, don't be surprised if he comes up on some "Best of..." lists soon. Kala Kolohe Hose wins the golden screw. He had a bout lined up with Lawler for the ICON Sport belt, and the EliteXC purchase of ICON shoved his ass down to the undercard. He still TKO'd his opponent in 20 seconds. That's a good way to say "Fuck you" to the fight promoter and still have a shot at the belt. Go Hose.
All in all it looks like a kickass card for EliteXC, I wish I could have paid fucking Showtime $40 for it. Dicks.

Karo vs. Mach

Over at fightlinker there's a discussion about what Karo Parisyan has to do to get a title shot. He got hurt a while back before a shot at Matt Hughes in August 2005, but a quad injury forced him to pull out.

Personally, I'd love to see Sakurai vs. Parisyan. That has the makings of an all-out war, and whoever wins it has a legitimate claim to #1 contender status, hell, number one welterweight status. Sakurai doesn't have a whole lot to prove, and Karo, with a win, puts that last notch on his belt that makes him undeniable. I don't think Karo would get steamrolled by Mach, but I don't think the opposite is true.
As it lies now, Sakurai hasn't fought since February (that sweet KO of Mac Danzig at 33) and Karo since taking apart Josh Burkman in May at 71. Notable wins for Karo: Burkman, Fickett, Thompson, Serra, Lytle, Diaz, Carter, McKee. Losses: Diego, GSP, Sherk twice. Mach has wins over Danzig, Hellboy, Jens, Aoki, Azevedo, and a long list of various level fighters. At 30-7 its hard to keep track of all of 'em.
Sakurai has a great striking game, with deadly kicks and heavy hands. His ground game is above-average, with obviously tons of experience. Mentally he's as good as they get, and preparation-wise he doesn't seem to gas easily. His chin has been called suspect but he has one KO loss, to a guy by the name of Gomi... His wins early in his career were via submission, perhaps due to Shooto's attention to grappling (I don't know Shooto so well, so any info there would be appreciated), and in recent years he's used his strikes to end fights.
Karo has an amazing grappling game, with throws, greco, and (to a lesser extent) submissions, as well as defense against all of the above. He as an unorthodox, kind of weird striking style, with a lot of weight behind his punches. I don't recall much about his kicks. He as a frenetic attacking style to go with it, whence his nickname "The Heat". I've seen him throw knees from time to time to decent effect, but they seem to be afterthoughts. His ground and pound is well above average. He does leave his chin open when he's punching, that bizarre Hermes-Franca-like duck your head and wing for the fences attack, and could be dropped by a power puncher.
I'd see it going two ways (of course, it can always go a million ways)... Mach holds his spacing and measures out Karo for strikes over most of a fight, taking out his legs and setting up big punches, for a unanimous decision win or even a 3rd round KO. That or Karo gets in close and works his grappling to bring it to the floor. You could see a lot of transitions on the ground, because Mach is not going to get pushed around by anyone, but I believe that after getting somewhat exposed as to his cardio against Diego Sanchez, Karo has brought a lot more gas to his fights, and would continue to push the action through the third round. If Karo can take a strong top position he could unleash some viscious ground and pound.
Another thing to consider is the introduction of the cage. Mach has fought Shooto, DEEP, and of course Pride, but only once in the UFC, a loss to Matt Hughes at UFC 36 in 2002. As we've seen, it's important to train in a cage. I couldn't make a prediction about these fighters, but I'd love to watch the fight. Karo and Mach are two of my favorites, and I believe it would be a battle for the ages, as well as going a long way towards clearing up where these two fighters stand in the rankings. Of course, the UFC sometimes throws a patsy to a new high-level fighter coming to the organization, and the welterweights are especially crowded right now. I think that just makes for the possibility of more exciting fights... a lot better situation to be in than, say, the middleweights, who have pretty much no contenders outside of Rich Franklin right now.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Lawler and etc

I was watching a little marathon of "UFC Unleashed" on Spike last night, since I let the GF watch Top Chef I got to pretty much do what I wanted with the TV after that. They showed a few interesting fights, Nick Diaz vs. Oishi, Diaz vs. Lawler, and Sylvia vs. Rodriguez. All fights we've seen a few times before (I mean, you and me, dear reader, not the royal "we"), but good fights from various persepctives. Lawler-Diaz was interesting in that Diaz the Jui jitsu specialist got in there and threw leather with Ruthless Robbie the brawler. Diaz was hurt pretty badly a couple times as well, and that fight could have gone either way. Even though I'm pretty certain he's a knucklehead, I respect Diaz's fighting skills. He's impressive to watch. The hook that dropped Lawler, all shakey-headed and google-eyed, was a pretty shot, even if Nick's eyes were screwed tightly shut like a suckling babe. Hey: it's ain't lucky if you throws it.
They also showed Louiseau-McCarthy, when The Crow looked like the second coming of Christ in the middleweight div. The sick spinning back kick to the ribs-flying knee win was the first time I'd ever seen Louiseau, and I was impressed. To see what he's done since his title shot is a little depressing.
But I was wondering what happened to Lawler, mainly. Turns out he's fighting "Ninja" Rua on Saturday in an EliteXC event, "Uprising", for the EliteXC Middleweight belt. The last fight I saw with Robbie was him KOing Frank Trigg in ICON Sport for their belt. The next fight was supposed to be against someone named Hose, but it was postponed from its late-July date, and now Robbie's not fighting for his belt, but for Ninja's. ConFyooZin. And the guy Hose is fighting on the undercard. The card also features an interesting matchup with Jake Shields fighting Renato Verissimo, which almost makes me want to get Showtime. Almost.
Robbie Lawler was an exciting fighter in the UFC. Hopefully he makes it back into the spotlight...this seems pretty big. I see huge changes in MMA over the next year and a half or so, as the big money players are starting to line up their plans. UFC is going to find their little sandbox pretty crowded, especially after the free UFC 75 show drew more viewers than competing NASCAR and college football programming. That gives money guys big fat boners.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Monday Morning

Ok, I was a little bit upset about the Hamill-Count Douche decision. I still am. One of the judges of the fight went on MMA Underground and tried to justify his decision, letting us know that "Mario Yamasaki thought [Count Decision Bitch] won too!" I'd imagine that the judge was making that whiny, wheedling voice that people use when they're making fun of someone begging for their rationalization to be believed, and he was using it because he's begging for his rationalization to be believed. That guy lost all credibility as a judge in my book. Next time I watch a fight where one dude spends three rounds running for his life and firing off light jabs, or lying on his back and "turning for armbars", I'll think "Hey! He's dominating this fight!"
Utter, stink-filled bullshit from the judges.
The shittiest thing is this: Bad news dominated this event. Bad news in the form of Cro Cop sucking, bad news in the form of this god-awful decision. Houston Alexander had a huge success, Marcus Davis was impressive as hell, and Rampage put together a smart gameplan to win two belts, even if it wasn't a super-exciting fight. It's too bad that all this has to be overshadowed by incompetent judging.
Well, no more posts about that, I'm done. On to the next event.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Post-UFC 75 thoughts

OK, I haven't read it in a headline anywhere else: Matt Hamill was completely and totally robbed. It was fucking cheap, daylight robbery, the judges were absolutely and completely wrong. Hamill dominated that asshole the entire fight, and I cannot understand how any breathing human being with a fucking conscience could call that fight for Bisping. From this point forward Michael Bisping is the Decision Bitch. I will not refer to his crap thieving name again. His fucking MAMA knew he lost that fight. He knew it. The crowd knew it. The judges knew it. Either one or all of them were on the take. Biggest bullshit call I've seen ever. I lost a whole ton of respect for UFC in that fight. I am not convinced I'll watch it again, to be honest.
The Rampage-Henderson fight was awesome, two equal fighters going at it hammer and tongs. The English crowd was apparently gathered from local homes for the brain-damaged, because I heard boos quite a bit. Rampage's post-fight interview was awesome.
Marcus Davis/Paul Taylor was one of the best fights I've seen all year. I'm amazed it wasn't stopped earlier, after the huge kick from Taylor, but Davis impressed the shit out of me with his toughness and will. Great fight, catch if you can.
I want to reiterate, in case anyone wasn't sure, that I'm fucking livid to the point of throwing things about the Hamill robbery. Decision Bitch got handed a hometown gift in a fucking wrapper. He should hang his weak-ass backpedalling no-forehead having head in shame anytime someone walks by, because he is a MARKETING TOOL, not a fucking fighter. This post should be considered a big wet gob of spit on his fucking bullshit Decision Bitch head.

Friday, September 7, 2007

pre UFC 75 thoughts

Everyone cleared the weigh-ins for UFC 75. Rampage showed up in bright orange underoos, apparently. What the hell?

Fightlinker has a funny-ass post about people who run MMA sites. Somehow, in the confusion, I was neglected...right....yeah, that's it, it's very, uh, busy. Here's a picture if the...uh...oversight...gets fixed.


Here's the card:

Date: Sept. 8, 2007
Location: London, England
Venue: The O2 Arena
Broadcast: Spike TV (tape delay)

PRIDE champion Dan Henderson vs. UFC champion Quinton Jackson (for both light heavyweight belts)
Marcus Davis vs. Paul Taylor (swing bout)
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Cheick Kongo
Michael Bisping vs. Matt Hamill
Houston Alexander vs. Alessio Sakara

Terry Etim vs. Gleison Tibau
Jess Liaudin vs. Anthony Torres
Tomasz Drwal vs. Thiago Silva
Dennis Siver vs. Naoyuki Kotani

Friday, August 31, 2007

UFC 74 thoughts

Well, we had a legend continue, an upset, and a controversy.

The legend was Randy Couture doing what he does best, which is defy expectations. He did it in grand fashion by beating the tar out of a big, strong, hard-hitting Gabriel Gonzaga, with dirty boxing and slams and every other weapon he had, including his incredibly hard head. He ate a couple massive head kicks, like the ones that knocked out Cro Cop (tho RC checked them with his forearm), and one of 'em broke a bone in his arm. A particular slam brought up his hard head as well...many folks say Randy busted Gonzaga's nose open with an inadvertant headbutt during the slam, while others saw it as Gonzaga's leg coming up and hitting him in his own Napao. I saw numerous angles, and it looked like his knee did the damage. During the actual event I didn't see a headbutt, but Randy said he felt his head doing the damage. Of course, in a fight, things aren't always as they appear, and Joe Rogan lead him into that assumption during the interview. My take: The knee did the damage, and Randy would have wasted him anyways. Napao had a bit of controversy in that fight because he looked at the ref and told him he couldn't see. Herb Dean stopped the fight and told him "Either you fight or you quit" or something like, and a doctor took a cursory look at it. All was declared well, and many fans felt it was a cheap way to get a rest. Didn't help.
The upset came when Patrick Cote defied expectations and beat Kendall Grove, with a viscious punch to the temple that landed him in TKOville. Cote looked like the guy who fought Tito Ortiz to a near-standstill, and gaveme one of two wrong picks on the whole card. Damn I hate that. Good for Cote, though, he put up a hell of a fight, and earned the win for sure. Grove will likely be back, he's an impressive fighter. Maybe he'll opt not to stand with the striker next time...
The controversy came when Renato "Babalu" Sobral opted to hang onto an anaconda choke for about 4 seconds after David heath, bloodied and beaten, had tapped out. Steve Mazzagatti had jumped in to stop the fight, and Sobral looked up at him and held the choke for a few beats before letting go. In the post-fight interview, he told Rogan he wanted to "teach him a lesson", apparently for trashtalk at the weigh-in. I heard somewhere Heath wore a shirt with Sobral's recent mug shot on it as well, but haven't found confirmation of that. In the intervening days a lot of talk has gone on, the Nevada State Athletic Comission has held up his win bonus ($25,000) but not announced his fine, Dana White has announced he'll be released from his UFC contract (I thought he was on his last fight, but what do I know), and the NSAC has announced he won't be suspended, but will likely be fined. My take: Good riddance. It was a despicable move, and it breaks all the bargains you make in stepping in the cage. You agree that you'll let go when the ref tells you to let go. He broke the deal. Hopefully he faces that same situation some day. Someone on another blog commented that it's bad because some other organization will sign him and compete with the UFC. 1) Good, go away Babalu. B) Good, competition will force the UFC to be better. If another org having Babalu, a guy who's maybe a top 15 heavyweight, gives UFC the shakeys, tough shit for them. Work harder.
Oh yeah: Everyone who says "BJ Penn held his choke too long on Jens!" is a complete idiot. So if someone came up and kicked you in the nuts and runs off, then your friend says "Well, this other guy I saw kicked someone in the nuts too, and got away with it, so tough luck", you'd be cool with it because someone got away with it? Bullshit. If you want streetfighting, go outside and watch it. If you want a sport, you can't tolerate that garbage. If BJ looks at the ref yelling at him to release the hold with a "Me no speako english" face (as if the ref would be saying ANYTHING ELSE) while choking someone unconscious, then he deserves to be run outta town. I'm sure ICON would crown him King of the Entire Universe and hand him a golden pineapple. But Babalu broke the deal.
Overall it was an above-average event. I'd give it a solid B. They showed the four bouts set to be televised, and the Thales Leites/Ryan Jensen fight, which was a solid win for Leites. The room I was in at my brother's house was a solid ROAR, with about twenty people, during the Couture fight. It was invigorating. I hope the upcoming event (on stinking tape delay) matches up. There's an Art of War event on tomorrow night, with Jeff Monson taking on Pedro Rizzo, that I may purchase and enjoy. I'd recommend visiting UFC Daily, good site. They have some cool stuff coming, too.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Performify's picks at UFCJ

As usual Performify shows us his thinking on the upcoming UFC 74 card for Saturday. I'm jacked for this one, and I've pondered it long and hard. I came to a lot of the same conclusions as Performify, but there are a couple discrepancies. For one, he's got Marcus Aurelio beating Clay Guida in one of the undercard fights. I disagree with this pick, mainly based on the gas tank. Guida comes on at about 100 miles per hour and never stops. He fights like a Tasmanian devil and is exceptionally dynamic going from level to level, and will out-cardio Aurelio at the end, either by ground-and-pound or a choke brought on by strikes. Aurelio is a great fighter, but Guida has an unstoppable motor. I'd sure like to see this card instead of Kendall Grove vs. Patrick "The Submittee" Cote. Feh.
Performify also believes David Heath will be able to pull off the mild upset against Babalu Sobral. While I don't fault his reasoning, I think he's looking at Babalu wrong, believing he'll be tentative. He's right in saying that if Sobral loses, he's probably out of the UFC. I think this will make him even more ferocious. Lambert outfought Babalu pretty well in their matchup, but Sobral is a lion. He'll take some licks but I think he'll come through in the end and show his heart.
Perfomify has Grove by decision, while I think he'll submit Cote within two minutes. Maybe three. For a while, I thought maybe he'd submit him so fast that it would acutally warp time, and send us back before the fight, in which case I could make a lot of money remembering the undercard, but no, I think Grove's submission will come within the standard flow of linear space-time as we generally perceive it.
Sadly for UFCjunkie, most weeks we see at least one or two articles shilling bodog's sports book, and all of his articles analyzing fights come from a wagering perspective. I have nothing against wagering, believe me, but I'd like to see fight analysis from what I consider one of the top three MMA sites in the world that doesn't include a sportsbook line. His picks are generally well thought-out and interesting, but when, in the GSP-Koscheck fight, for instance, he bases his call on "a small play at this line", it kind of makes me go, "Eh". I personally don't see how Koscheck can beat GSP...I know I've overestimated GSP in the past (Hi, Matt!) but come on...Matt Hughes couldn't take down GSP. Is Koscheck that much better a wrestler than Hughes? We know for a fact that Kos has no striking compared to GSP, and the repeated takedown is his only offense. I see a KO or dominating decision win for GSP, and a rematch with a Matt of some variety.
Performify also sees Randy "The Natural" Couture as being unable to beat Gonzaga. I thought there was no way Randy could beat Tim Sylvia. I mean, he's got most of the same problems he had against Sylvia...size, age, striking, etc. And what did he do? Dominate Sylvia for 25 minutes, like a dog ripping at a bone. Gonzaga is impressive, I'll grant you. But no one is smarter than Randy, and no one comes in more determined. Of course Couture could lose, all fighters can lose. Ask GSP. But Randy won't. I have Randy winning by TKO in the fourth, covered in blood. One of these dudes is leaving on a stretcher. Either way, it should be a war, so keep your hats firmly on your head or they may fly off.
Ok, I don't know if anyone can tell but I'm pumped.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

One other thing

That tournament that Babalu won? IFC Global Domination, September 6 2003, in Denver. Here's the opening round:

3 Renato Sobral Trevor Prangley Decision (Unanimous) 3rd 5:00
4 Mauricio Rua Eric Wanderlei TKO (Punches) 2nd 2:54
5 Jeremy Horn Mikhail Avetisyan Submission (Armbar) 1st 4:59
6 Forrest Griffin Chael Sonnen Submission (Triangle Choke) 1st 2:25

Next

9 Renato Sobral Mauricio Rua Submission (Guillotine Choke) 3rd 3:07
10 Jeremy Horn Forrest Griffin KO (Kick) 2nd 3:40

Final
15 Renato Sobral Jeremy Horn Decision (Unanimous)3 5:00

Man, nice freaking card. Looks like it had a four-man heavyweight tournament as well, some female fights, and Nate Marquardt pummelling someone named Steve Gomm into submission. The HW winner's name is Tom Sauer too. I bet he tricked the other fighter into whitewashing the ring, and then beat the hell out of him when he went for a drop cloth. That's what I'd do.

Bodogfight show on Ion...Lee vs. Alvarez

Matt Lee and Eddie Alvarez squared off in July for #1 contender status in the bodog welterweight division, whatever that is. I know, I know, it's 170lbs. I just have trouble giving "bodog welterweight champ" a lot of...err...wieght. I watch Nick Thompson whup the living hell out of Eddie Alvarez to take his belt, though, rebroadcast from St. Petersburg, Russia.
Sam Caplan attended this show and reviewed it after the fact. I didn't get to see any of the card on accounta me being several thousands of miles away and also po.
Well, they showed an hour-long episode of bodogfight last night, and it was all build-up to Lee-Alvarez. I'm serious. about half an hour at least of just showing fighters working out, talking about their backgrounds and families....I was deeply pleased I had it on DVR. I'm sorry guys, I didn't listen to all of that shit. Less talky, more punchy.
From what they're announcing, it seems that they're going to show all of the fights from their Trenton NJ event on separate TV shows. Yves Edwards-Jorge Masvidal, Trevor Prangley-Yuki Kondo, etc.
The fight itself, for all the buildup, was a decent one. The crowd was mostly Alvarez supporters, and from what Sam reported they were barely through the card 4 1/2 hours after starting. The announcers seem to be under orders to really RATCHET UP THEIR REACTIONS to every single thing. Alvarez would throw one or two looping punches, connect with one mildly, and Lee would shove him away (since Alvarez apparently represents the Lollipop Guild). Then, the annoucer, at the top of his lungs, declaims "Alvarez stunned him with that right hand! He's stunned him! But Lee is game! He's got granite in his chin!!!" and I'm sitting there thinking....err....that was a mild exchange, no one got hurt. Lee looked shaken up once or twice, Alvarez has decently heavy hands, but he didn't appear to be in danger of a KO at any moment. Lee threw some strong hands, and except for a couple minutes of the first round this one stayed on the feet the whole way. Lee had one huge problem, in that he was considerably slower than Alvarez. Nick Thompson showed what happens to Alvarez when he's in against a bigger fighter who's as fast or faster than he is, and Lee showed a bigger fighter who's slower.
To Lee and Alvarez's credit, it WAS a good fight, lots of hands, some exciting moments, some in-fight trashtalking, sportsmanship at the bell. It's just that when the announcer is going out of his mind, and what I'm watching is good, not great, and when I have to wait (well, fast-forward) for thirty minutes to actually get to a fight, I react badly. Like beer in green bottles exposed to the sun, it left a bad taste in my mouth. which sucks since the fighters left it in the ring.
Bodogfight has some good fighters. But only half a card's worth, in my opinion. Trevor Prangley is the real deal at 185. But who does he fight? He's made mincemeat of the 185lbs div in bodog. Yuki Kondo, Kayce Uscola, Anthony Ruiz and Andrei Semenov. He's got a five-fight run going. They'll have to sign someone. Matt Lindland is available for a price. Babalu fights at 205 (they fought in a tournament, in 2003. Babalu won the whole thing, beating Prangley, Shogun, and Jeremy Horn in one night. That's one reason I'm a fan of Sobral's, even though he's on the downturn right now).
We'll see. I think they need to divorce the "bodog brand" from the fight division a little bit, to let it stand on its own. Either that or get back into sports booking and leave the fight promotions to other people.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Tito Ortiz

I've been thinking about Tito OrtizSherdog and his history a bit. I've never been a huge fan of his, mostly because of his incessant trash talk. If he couldn't talk shit he'd be silent. Still, thanks to UFC Unleashed on Spike, and my brother's almost encyclopedic knowledge of UFC fighters, I've come to appreciate just what the guy's done in his career, even in his losses. I've seen him get beat twice by Chuck Liddell, pretty much whupped both times. The second fight I still believe should have been stopped in the first round. I've seen him win as well. Twice over Ken Shamrock, in fights that were more hype than substance, but against Forrest Griffin he dominated. That fight was odd because of the constant nuthugging going on from the announcer's booth. Stephen Bonnar was about the biggest cheerleader I've ever heard. The sad part is that what I saw was Forrest Griffin getting dominated. He was beaten all three rounds. Even though all the judges gave at least one round to Griffin (what fight was the other judge, who scored it for Forrest watching?!), I didn't think he did much of anything at all in that second round. Some punches, sure, but why not punish the chicken legs? One judge gave round one to Ortiz 10-8! Sheesh. Anyways, numbers:
In a 21 fight professional career, Ortiz is 15-5-1. The fight against Rashad Evans at UFC 73 Stacked was his only draw, after losing a point for grabbing the cage. I thought he frankly dominated Rashad as well, even into the third, before turning passive from what I can only believe was fatigue.

Notable Wins:
Ken Shamrock three times
Guy Mezger
Wanderlei Silva
Yuki Kondo
Elvis Sinosic (back when that counted in '01)
Vladimir Matsyushenko
Evan Tanner
Vitor Belfort

Notable losses:
Chuck Liddell twice
Randy Couture
Frank Shamrock
Guy Mezger


That's a pretty damn good resume. He's fought the top tier his whole career. The first UFC he entered, according to his wikipedia page, was for no pay, and he won his first match before later falling to Guy Mezger for in their first fight. He's had controversy, yes, appearing in general to be a complete dick to opponents at every opportunity, especially in victory, with his "famous" insulting t-shirt sayings. But he's still gotten in the ring with the best, and taken beatings when they were coming to him. So Tito Ortiz is still in my top ten light heavyweight (205lb) fighters list, at #10, til someone shows me something impressive.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

more roids

Here's the MMAweekly.com article from earlier this year looking at drug tests for MMA fighters in CA. A couple interesting points in the article that make it, in my mind, kind of irrelevant:
The first one made me think...whoa, that's a lot of boxers...

In addition to 31 professional boxers in the same time period, 23 mixed martial artists tested positive for banned substances in the past year, and the complete list of these fighters can be found below.

The next comment kind of made me go "Eh? What's the point of this story?"

You may notice in the list below that not a single fighter tested positive for steroids over the past year in California. This is because there has been no steroid testing in California over the past year. This will change in April 2007, according to CSAC head Garcia, who said, "No steroid policy has ever been in place in California. Obviously, I was not satisfied by this." Starting in April, a total of approximately 25 fighters per month will be tested for steroids in California, and any fighter who tests positive for steroids will be suspended for six months and fined $2,500.


So...no steroids testing at all? And when the do start testing, dudes start popping up positive? Apparently they started at the end of March, and we end up with this. Looking hard at it is making me realize how hard it is to get a handle at this. there's a lot of fighting going on around the country, as well.
Let's hope smarter folk than me are getting their mitts in this. either legalize, or test properly. that's all there is to it.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

White boys from the Midwest

Sam Caplan at Five Oz. of Pain has a post talking about Bob Arum being interviewed about MMA. In it Arum claims that the UFC is just a bunch of "white boys from the Midwest" and that "50-60%" are using banned substances. I have problems with both of those characterizations.
First off, the white boys from the Midwest point. I could care less if it was, frankly, if those were the best fighters in the world. It's simply not true, however. Though there's a good representation of Midwest white boys fighting in UFC and every MMA promotion, it's because of merit. There are some of the greatest wrestling programs in the world in the Midwest, at Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa State, and so on and so on.
I'll use one page of the UFC fighters list as a sample. It may or may not be perfectly representative, but I don't really want to go through every page right now.
This page goes A through some of the E's:


Abbadi Danny 2-2-0 5' 11" (180 cm) 185 (84 kg)
Ultimate Fighter castmember, kind of an idiot. Sadly, niether white nor midwestern. Orlabdo FL

Alessio John 25-11-0 5' 10" (178 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Possibly midwestern, but a differnt country. Definitely white tho.

Alexander Houston 7-1-0 6' 0" (183 cm) 205 (93 kg)
Good lord! A midwesterner! Omaha NE. He also matches the male criteria, but comes up short on whiteness.

Alves Thiago 16-4-0 5' 8" (173 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Brazil. Brazil is noted for having a lot of non-Midwesterners roaming around, not doing Midwestern things. Same nickname as the next guy, "Pitbull".

Arlovski Andrei 12-5-0 6' 4" (193 cm) 240 (109 kg)
I didn't look it up yet, but I'm gambling he's Russian. No! The Pitbull is Belarussian. However, he is white, male, and fights out of Chicago, which is in the Midwest. I don't think that "international Sambo practitioner" is what Arum was driving at, however.

Assuncao Junior 5-2-0 5' 9" (175 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Looks male and white. From Atlanta GA, according the UFC's site. Funny note: Under strengths, lists, "heart". Damn, that's rough.

Aurelio Marcus 14-4-0 5' 10" (178 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Coconut Creek FL. Originally from Brazil. Beat Gomi in a non-title fight.

Baroni Phil 6-5-0 5' 9" (175 cm) 184 (83 kg)
Long Island NY. The New York Bad Ass is known for gassing in the late rounds, not eating deep-fried things at county fairs. Though I bet he would, especially if he could have a smoke and a beer with it.

Belcher Alan 10-3-0 6' 2" (188 cm) 205 (93 kg)
Born Arkansas (Midwest!) fights out of Biloxi MS. Damn, so close. Recently beat Sean Salmon after taking the fight on about 15 minutes notice and moving up to light heavy. Sean Salmon has no luck.

Belfort Vitor 12-5-0 6' 0" (183 cm) 205 (93 kg)
I'm guessing this fellow may be from abroad. The Phenom was born in Rio de Janeiro. I think thats in Kansas.

Berube Allen 2-1-0 5' 8" (173 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Misses the region completely. born in Maine, trains in Tampa FL. Also nicknamed "Monstah Lobstah". Should be banned forever from fighting for his acts on TUF and for his insipid nickname.

Bisping Michael 14-0-0 6' 2" (188 cm) 205 (93 kg)
Definitely white...born, sadly for Bob, in Liverpool England.

Black Jason 22-2-1 5' 8" (173 cm) 155 (70 kg)
BINGO! Born in Iowa, trains in Iowa. Midwesterner, white, male. Nailed it Bob!

Bocek Mark 4-0-0 5' 8" (173 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Stupid wrong country again.

Bonnar Stephan 12-4-0 6' 4" (193 cm) 205 (93 kg)
Munster, IN , USA...that is pretty Midwestern.

Braga Wander 16-0-0 5' 8" (173 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Brown Mike 9-3-0 5' 6" (168 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Portland, Maine

Bruno Steve 12-3-0 5' 10" (178 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Born Brooklyn NY, fights out of Coconut Creek FL

Buentello Paul 20-9-0 6' 2" (188 cm) 235 (107 kg)
Amarillo TX

Burkman Josh 19-4-0 5' 10" (178 cm) 170 (77 kg)
The SLC, UT

Byrnes Steve 6-1-0 6' 0" (183 cm) 185 (84 kg)
Born in Cleveland! fights out of Hawaii though, noted for its lack of whiteys not wearing tourist gear.

Carneiro Roan 11-5-0 5' 9" (175 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Carter Shonie 66-14-7 5' 9" (175 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Chicago IL. Deceidely not white tho. The blinged pimp goblet gave that away.

Caudillo Luke 15-7-0 5' 7" (170 cm) 155 (70 kg)
North Platte, NE. Midwestern also. Lacking in whiteness. Bob's theory is looking not only stupid, but pathetic so far. What do you say to fighters who work hard, and prefect techinque, and show all this heart and effort, and get dismissed by some corrupt old scumbag like Bob Arum? Who's white, I'm afraid to say.

Chalangov Ansar 7-2-0 5' 11" (180 cm) 170 (77 kg)
2-3 isn't bad I guess. It just says "Russia" on his profile page.

Christison Dan 8-5-0 6' 8" (203 cm) 265 (120 kg)
Born LA CA, fighting out of Albequerque.

Clementi Rich 34-12-1 5' 9" (175 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Edison NJ

Combs Wes 12-2-0 6' 2" (188 cm) 205 (93 kg)
Victorville CA

Cote Patrick 11-4-0 5' 11" (180 cm) 185 (84 kg)
Rimouski, Quebec, Canada

Couture Randy 15-8-0 6' 2" (188 cm) 220 (100 kg)
Everett, WA

Cox Jeff 13-3-0 6' 4" (193 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Cleveland, OH There's one!

Crane Alberto 8-0-0 5' 9" (175 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Santa Fe NM

Cro Cop Mirko 22-5-2 6' 2" (188 cm) 220 (100 kg)
Zagreb Croatia

Crocota Edilberto 10-0-1 6' 0" (183 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Camp Formoso, Bahia, Brazil

Cruz Marcio 2-2-0 6' 4" (193 cm) 246 (112 kg)
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Cummo Luke 8-4-0 6' 0" (183 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Long Island, New York, USA

Curran Jeff 16-6-1 5' 6" (168 cm) 150 (68 kg)
Woodstock, Illinois, USA Another one!

Davis Rick 3-1-1 5' 9" (175 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Los Angeles, California

Davis Marcus 17-4-0 5' 10" (178 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Houlton, ME

Dent Jason 12-8-0 5' 9" (175 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Madison, OH Another one!

DeSouza Tony 9-3-0 6' 1" (185 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Lima, Peru The Peruvians make an appearance

Dewees Edwin 34-10-0 6' 1" (185 cm) 185 (84 kg)
Phoenix, AZ

Diaz Nick 14-6-0 6' 0" (183 cm) 170 (77 kg)
Stockton, California

Diaz Nathan 5-2-0 6' 0" (183 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Stockton, California

Doerksen Joe 27-8-0 6' 0" (183 cm) 185 (84 kg)
New Bothwell, Manitoba, Canada

Drwal Tomasz 14-1-0 6' 1" (185 cm) 205 (93 kg)
Krakow, Poland. With a good midwestern name like Tomasz....

Eastman Marvin 13-7-1 5' 9" (175 cm) 205 (93 kg)
Merced, California

Edgar Frank 6-0-0 5' 6" (168 cm) 155 (70 kg)
Summit, NJ

Edwards Yves 28-10-1 5' 9" (175 cm) 155 (70 kg)
The Woodlands, TX

Eilers Justin 9-5-1 6' 1" (185 cm) 235 (107 kg)
Nampa, Idaho


OK, thats 51 fighters. Decent number. Let's see what the numbers show.
8 are white and listed as being born in the Midwest, or fighting out of it if no birthplace was listed. Two of those are born in the midwest but fight elsewhere. so I'll be generous and say 8. that's 15.68% of the sample that is "White boys from the Midwest". Given that aproximately 65 million people live in what's generally defined as the Midwest, that is a good percentage, since something like 6 billion people live in the rest of the world. Unfortunately, it puts a definitive lie to Arum's claims that they're all the UFC has to offer.

He also claims "50-60%" of fighters test positive for banned substances. Though I don't have the resources to do this quickly, I pretty strongly feel this is incorrect on its face. I recall several high-profile cases of people showing up positive, obviously Stephen Bonnar, Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca. I can't think of too many others, though I'm positive they've happened. Sherdog shows the UFC as having put on 11 events this year, with six more to come so far. That's 90 fights this year. From what I know, 2 fighters have tested positive in the UFC. One event from what I can gather was not tested, that's the UFC event in London, "Nations Collide". So take those 10 out. 80 fights, 2 positives, one under appeal. Look, I'm no statistician, but I can pretty plainly see that is not "50-60%".
So none of Bob Arum's points are true. He's a senile moron who should not be given any credibility at all.
Good night Bob.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

TapouT ep

I just finished watching the TapouT episode with Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone, as well as a number of other fighters, and I've gotta say it again...I really like this show. They show you aspects of this game you don't see elsewhere, and they do a real good job of bringing across the constant menace that exists in the cage. I was watching this fight, that I'd already looked up on Sherdog, and I'm sitting on the edge of my seat rooting like crazy for some mad redneck I've never met, and actually got the chills when it ended. I won't spoil it in case my reader hasn't seen it yet. If you have something else to do while the hosts are doing their dumb act, which is interspersed with actual moments of honest business, the interaction with the fighters, trainers (a group woefully underrepresented in my opinion), officials, etc, it's a real kickass TV show. It's about as close as you can get to the actual thing without getting off your pasty white saddlebags.
The TapouT site is a bit cludgy...can't send comments, you get the php written in your browser window, not good. Hey TapouT guys! Let me fix your site! And thanks to Sam Caplan for convincing me to get past my initial hatred of the promos for this show.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

MMAWeekly.com fighter rankings

MMAWeekly.com's fighter rankings are out. See if you can notice anyone missing....

New article from Sam

Sam Caplan from Five Ounces of Pain has a new article up on CBS Sportsline: The Top Ten Underachievers in MMA. I like the idea and don't feel it's a slam or anything. Saying someone's underachieving means you think they're good to begin with. Additionally, that's one thing I love about MMA: You can root for a fighter with a bad record. You can pull for a guy with an 0-3 record because MMA is so tough, anyone can get caught. It's not like boxing where if you Mayweather your way around, tagging pillow-jabs on a slower fighter, and hand-speed and cardio get you through. Sure, there's some fights like that (Sylvia-Arlovski 3, Arlovski-Werdum, Griffin-Sanchez), but far, far fewer. You have to engage in MMA, and if you do, you can get nailed, whoever you are, period.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

FIGHT! Magazine

Looks interesting. I will probably get a subscription.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

oh no

Say it ain't so...
Both Franca & Sherk test postitve for anabolic steroids. Hermes issued a statement apologizing, before the results came out. Sherk says nothing, will probably appeal I guess. A couple thoughts: Sherk's belt is gone, if he loses his appeal he's on the shelf for a year. Ask Frank Mir what they do to dudes that can't fight. Hermes claims to have been fighting paycheck to paycheck, got hurt, roided to get healed with eight weeks til fight night. So I guess with his $2,500 fine he still made $11,500 for the fight. That's gonna have to last a while. What about his Armory Academy? Doesn't he get paid by his students? I know it's not the lap of luxury, but come on. I guess he'll have to track down some more students or fight somewhere outside of CSAC's reach...though that will pretty much end his UFC career. What about the lightweight belt? BJ Penn was supposed to have the next shot, though he wants to fight 170, and there's a slew of others....Spencer Fisher! Joe Daddy, Din Thomas, Jens just left for WEC, Huerta, Tyson Griffin, Frank Edgar, Nate Diaz, Joe Lauzon, and so on an so forth. Good grief. What a MESS. Lordy.
I wonder how long Sherk was on the sauce? It taints them both. It taints the UFC. This is how many fighters that have tested positive? I can name Barnett, Bonnar and these two off the top of my head. Add this to the K1 show where the fight card read like a freakin pharmacy and MMA is looking kind of ugly now.

Monday, July 16, 2007

I don't know what to say about this

Okay, Joe Riggs fought Nick Diaz in February of 2006. Unanimous decision, Riggs. I didn't see this fight, I'll try and track down a video. Anyhow, after the fight, Riggs and Diaz end up in the same hospital. You go to the hospital after a fight pretty much no matter what, from what I understand. You get a piss test, and checked out for the medical reports. What happened there?

Riggs: Yea. I had an IV going. My blood was spraying everywhere. It was like a horror movie. I’m kneeing him and telling his brother, I’m like, come get your brother off of me. He was like, nothing I can do, man. No. His brother, that guy is an idiot, just hanging off his ball sack like a barnacle. I swear to God, I thought he was all for show. Nick Diaz is legitimately nuts. He’s crazy.

And from Diaz:
Trigg: Nick, do you take medication?

Diaz: No. I don’t take no f#%king medication. Come on man.


I cracked up like 15 times reading that. Riggs has never struck me (thankfully) as an idiot, but few fighters make me go "Hey, I want to discuss philosophy with that cat!" But man, Nick Diaz makes Riggs look like a fuggin GENIUS. I respect the hell out of Diaz' talent, but he comes off as such. a. knucklehead. Him and his brother. But man, what a crazy story. I'd like to see what the non-participants saw, get a third party account. But damn.

Friday, July 13, 2007

USA Today boxing vs. MMA article

USA Today decided to weigh in on the tired boxing vs. MMA argument, and they came at it from the inital standpoint of fighters preparing for US Olympic qualifying. Wouldn't it be cool if something that started out effectively as pankration in the original Olympic games made it back? Anyways, there's some interesting points.
One stupid one from amateur super heavy Mike Wilson:

"It's gotten so popular back home where I live and it's just like everybody, 'Oh, I'm a cage fighter. I'm a cage fighter.' And I'm like, 'If you're a real fighter, I want to see your butt up at 6 in the morning, putting in road work. I mean, all these guys train and go to a gym once or twice a month and call themselves cage fighters," Wilson said. "Boxing, you've got to be in top physical condition, mental condition. There's just so much more to it. It's an art. It's like a fine art. It's a chess match. It's a thinking man's game.

Ok, when you're touting the intelligence of anyone who fights for a living, you're on shaky ground.
Bantamweight Gary Russel Jr.:
"A lot of boxers like any type of contact," Russell said. "In Ultimate Fighting Championship there's more stuff you can do. You've got to be in shape, though."

And one more for the road from Wilson, or at least from his t-shirt:

"Real men fight in the ring. Cages are for the zoo."

What'chall think?

Friday, July 6, 2007

teh funzorz


dailymotion.com is basically the only place to get Pride video nowadays.

nice

Sam Caplan summarizes some stuff over at 5 oz. of Pain.
Apparently Brandon Vera's getting closer to fighting again, and he wants to fight twice in 07. we'll see.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Performify's picks are up

Over at UFCJunkie.com.
In re Nate the Great vs. Silva, talking about one of Nate's previous UFC fights:

Marquardt’s most recent performance was a thorough trouncing of elite grappler Dean Lister on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 8 in January. Lister was dominated so completely that the fight was scored 30-27, 30-25, 30-25 as a unanimous decision for Marquardt.

Just to be clear, 30-25 means you had TWO ten-eight rounds. A 10-8 is utter devastation.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

nice writeup

at Sherdog.com of the upcoming UFC 73 "Stacked", which I saw a small aircraft towing an advertisement for today at the beach, specifically it mentioned Tito vs. Rashad. And Tito complains that the UFC doesn't advertise him enough. Feh

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Join us! Join us!



i started Team Flying Guard Pass...so far I've got my brother, Eric, and Ikoi. Well, Eric when he de-asses his melon and figures out how to join up. I think he forgot what his username is, so I'm sending invites to some poor random shmuck.

Also, if you saw the link from my page you're morally obligated to join my team and get all your picks 100% correct. God said so.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

What about Josh Barnett?

I started to think about the Heavyweights in MMA, and it struck me that we haven't heard a thing about Josh Barnett, former UFC Heavyweight champ. His own site JoshBarnett.tv, has precious little info. It does have a lot of pics of Josh. Anyone have any tips?

Thursday, June 21, 2007

TapouT on versus

You know, during the WEC event recently, they were heavily hyping promos of the show TapouT, featuring the people who run the eponymous clothing store travelling and interacting with fighters while running their business. The premise is they're looking for fighters to sponsor, tho I'm not too sure how that works out in practice, as so far two of the three episodes I've seen feature fighters from established camps and with relatively decent records. My first reaction was "Wow, that looks ridiculous", mainly because of the three hosts, "Mask" "Sky Scrape" and "Punkass". Mask wears face paint. All the time. Anyways, the show looked like a joke. But then I read Sam Caplan's rundown on 5 oz. of Pain and thought I'd give it another shot.
I'm going to spoil episodes so don't read any further if you don't want to know. I watch most MMA on DVR except UFC events, so I assume I'm behind everyone.
The episodes featuring Damacio Page and Matt Major have some interesting items, some feeling more staged than others. The staged bits feel like mini-infomercials, as much of the show does. Everything possible has a tapout logo on it, including the crotches of the models Mask shoots some catalog pics of in the first episode. The crew does some business, running a warehouse and acting confused by where things are. Then Mask calls Greg Jackson, one of the most well-known MMA trainers in the country, and asks if he has a fighter in one of the light classes who's "tatted up" and hispanic. Wouldn't you know, he does! There's a funny moment where Mask is going on and on about what he's looking for, then realized the call got disonnected. When he gets Jackson back on he tells him he's got just the guy.
The interesting part is when they show up at the gym, and You see the fighters working, with their coach instructing. At one point Diego Sanchez is chatting about his personal philosophy, which is kind of a lame and uninspired "Kill or be killed", as if that's some revelation. Page himself is smaller, tatted up hispanic guy. They decide he's driving with the Tapout kids from New Mexico, where Jackson's gym is, to Iowa, where the promotion is being held (It's Extreme Challenge 74, by the way. It looks like it was a regular card mixed in with a four-man tournament). Page's opponent's nickname is "The Mexicutioner", which makes me giggle. Page utterly destroys this kid, with a KO coming by way of elbow from the mount after nearly breaking his arm with an armbar. The other guy is a hometown boy, and Page is greeted with near silence up entering and leaving the cage. The real reward for Page is watching his opponent get helped gingerly making his way down the stairs, his cornermen saying "One at a time, one at a time". Like he's going to go skipping down stairs after getting his head nearly clean plucked from his body by a completely viscious elbow.
The last episode I watched featured Chuck Liddell's personal assistant Antonio Banuelos, the Iceman himself, John Hackelman (Chuck's trainer and longtime MMA legend, proprietor of The Pit), and a number of smokin' hot ladies. Chuck Liddell has a stripper pole in his house. And the base is all scuffed up from use. I'm going to pray it's chicks, because the thought of Chuck on that pole makes me a little woozy with dismay. This kid Banuelos is really endearing, he speaks earnestly and gets super-hyped for his bout. They show him talking about his past, training, doing his work ("I'm basically Chuck Liddell's bitch"), cleaning jocks ( don't need to see that again, by the way, TapouT crew), etc. They also show him going through cutting weight, which is intense. The fight itself is a tough one, and he gets caught by a wild uppercut in the scramble and flash-KO'd by Valencia, who all the people on the show say is "Really tough". Banuelos runs to the locker room and is quite emotional. Not quite "pulling a Wang" emotional, but close. To me it looked like he got hurt by Valencia's power and never really recovered. The KO came after Banuelos nearly secured a choke. Watching Chuck trying to console a fighter was fascinating, frankly. You never see the losers on most MMA shows outside "The Smashing Machine" and The Ultimate Fighter, and then it's pretty short. "That little bastard" crybaby Matt Wiman comes to mind. The TapouT crew is kind of silly too, with too many "Bro"s thrown in for my comfort. That's the emotionally skurred word to use when you're dealing with a man who's hurting but you're terrified of sounding like you have or understand feelings. "Bro, it's cool" "I was like bro, bro" "Brobrobro". Bro?
The thing is, even the obnoxiousness of the hosts in some cases doesn't take away from the fact that we're getting a look at the regimen and dedication these fighters need to prepare for a fight. The one exception was the Matt Major episode. This kid looks like an idiot. He was basically fighting a large brown marshmallow and was dead set to show off how well he could do spinning kicks. So instead of listening to his corner and finishing the guy, he lets it go to the cards. He wins, but seems to be more concerned with his own coolness than with winning. Add to that a near brawl after he gets in a much smaller man's face in the dressing room (kudos to the smaller guy for not backing down), yelling "Do you know who I am?!" Who cares, jerk. Frankly, guys like that piss me off, and they usually end up in jail. Or getting K'd the FO.
Overall, I'd recommend watching an ep or two, give it a shot. If you've got the DVR grab it. Try to get past the foolishiness of the opening credits and get to the actual fighters. That's where the meat in this sandwich is.

 
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