Sunday, December 28, 2008

Does Yushin deserve a shot?

Eric and I went back and forth a little over this at MMARatings, but for some reason the comment button stopped working for me there. Eric seems to put a lot of importance on Yushin "deserving" a shot. I think he's the most deserving. I'm not sure those are different criteria.
Yushin Okami is widely perceived as a boring fighter. He's got 10 decision wins and 12 stoppages, as well as one win via DQ, notably over Anderson Silva. The two fighters Eric asked me about, presumably as being more deserving than Yushin, are Michael Bisping and Demian Maia. Also, wins over Mike Swick and Jason MacDonald don't mean much. I'd presume that goes for all three fighters.
Now Bisping has less than a handful of fights at 185lbs. He beat Chris Leben, Jason Day, and Charles McCarthy at 185. He's basically fought a long string of gatekeepers in my estimation since rising out of the regional MMA circuit. I've recently upgraded my estimation of Bisping, but in my book he's still a level below Yushin. If you look at his recent record it's good, 7-1 in the UFC if you count the horrific decision win over Matt Hamill and the nearly as horrific loss to Rashad Evans. As I was told that Yushin would have to beat someone of a Rich Franklin or Dan Henderson level, and neither of them is a middleweight anymore, it's a wonder who he's supposed to fight. I pointed out that he could fight Marquardt for a #1 contender spot, which Thales Leites didn't have to get through. Anyhow, it's irrelevant, as the Leites fight is merely a rumor at the moment.
Maia has very little record to base any estimation on. He's 4-0 in the UFC with wins over Nate Quarry, Ed Herman, and Ryan Jensen, as long as Jason MacDonald doesn't seem to count, so 3 and 0, I guess.
Yushin Okami is 7-1 with a decision loss to Rich Franklin in the ME at 72. He's beaten everyone in front of him other than Ace, which is something a lot of guys can say.
Leites, by the way, is 6-1 in the UFC with a loss in his debut to Martin Kampmann, and wins over Drew McFedries, Pete Sell, Floyd Sword, and an absolute fucking abortion of a penalty decision "win" over Nate Marquardt. Yes, the rules are the rules blah blah blah it still sucked. But a win is a win, that's why Yushin has a win over who?
While looking closer at Leites for this entry, I lost some of my doubt about him. Outside of the pool of guys who already had a shot at the Spider (Dan Henderson and Nate the Great are two guys I'd like to see get rematches), Leites and Yushin are the two most deserving. As a fan I'd say Yushin, but honestly I can't say I'd be pissed for Leites. This isn't boxing, where you have champs who only take title shots against the biggest money draw. Otherwise Gabe Gonzaga would never have been in there with Randy. This is MMA, where we should get to see the best fighters fight. If that's the case, then we get Yushin-Silva, or Leites-Silva, with the guy on the out getting a #1 contender fight. So how about, if the Leites-Silva fight actually happens, the Yushin fights Bisping for a contender's spot? Or vice versa. Seems fair. Worry about Maia next summer.

Here's the records, by the way:

Okami

Win Dean Lister
Win Evan Tanner
Win Jason MacDonald
Loss Rich Franklin
Win Mike Swick
Win Rory Singer
Win Kalib Starnes
Win Alan Belcher
Win Izuru Takeuchi
Win Pang Ji Won
Loss Jake Shields
Win Anderson Silva
Win Myun Joo Lee
Win Damien Riccio
Win Nick Thompson
Win Brian Foster
Win Eiji Ishikawa
Loss Falaniko Vitale
Win Ryuta Sakurai
Win Kousei Kubota
Loss Amar Suloev
Win Kazuhiro Hanada
Win Hidehiko Hasegawa
Win Hikaru Sato
Win Sen Nakadai
Win Steve White
Win Kyosuke Sasaki

Maia

Win Nate Quarry
Win Jason MacDonald
Win Ed Herman
Win Ryan Jensen
Win Ryan Stout
Win Fabio Nascimento
Win Gustavo Machado
Win Vitelmo Kubis Bandeira
Win Lukas Chlewicki

Bisping

Win Chris Leben
Win Jason Day
Win Charles McCarthy
Loss Rashad Evans
Win Matt Hamill
Win Elvis Sinosic
Win Eric Schafer
Win Josh Haynes
Win Ross Pointon
Win Jakob Lovstad
Win Miika Mehmet
Win Alex Cook
Win Dave Radford
Win Mark Epstein
Win Andy Bridges
Win Mark Epstein
Win John Weir
Win Steve Mathews

Thales Leites

Win Drew McFedries
Win Nate Marquardt
Win Ryan Jensen
Win Floyd Sword
Win Pete Sell
Loss Martin Kampmann
Win Jose Landi-Jons
Win Osami Shibuya
Win Jason Guida
Win Ronald Jhun
Win Gustavo Machado
Win Adam Roland
Win Lucio Linhares
Win Flavio Luiz Moura
Win Felipe Arinelli

Insert Cliche Here


I was pondering the three top fights on last night's card, and trying to come up with an appropriate cliche. I thought of longshots, David v. Goliath, sniping womp rats, and those adorable south Pacific penguins leaping from frothy seas up to seemingly unreachable rocky shores. They're all stupid. Rampage, Rashad and Mir simply won last night, and won when most people thought they couldn't.
Rampage beat his demons and troubles, and the apparition of loss standing in front of him, with a measure of serenity alongside his ferocious hand. The extra blows while being held by the ref were beyond the pale, in my book. His win is undeniable. While he should be censured for his extracirricular activity, it's nothing more than we've seen in the past. On the flip side, is Wanderlei done? I think he deserves a chance to prove he can still fight. For god's sake give him someone with short arms next time, though. What about Rousimar Palhares?
Rashad Evans did what I thought he would do, but many thought he couldn't. He looked tiny against Griffin, and was clearly losing a close fight til the third round. Rashad's ground and pound was impressive and powerful, and he avoided Forrest's dangerous sub game with seeming ease. Congratulations to Evans, winner of the 2nd TUF season, and new light heavyweight UFC Champion.
Frank Mir did something simply amazing last night, finishing the unfinishable, climbing the unclimbable peak. Stopping Big Nog, in the way he did, blew my mind. I picked Nog to win because I couldn't come up with a reason he would lose. I should have seen his coach. "Striking Unlimited" has been in the media as much as Mir leading up to the fight. For some reason that made no impact on me. I'd like to say two things about this fight: Lesnar-Mir 2 is now officially exciting, and Couture-Nogueira looks like it must happen. Congratulations to Frank Mir on evolving, growing, and most of all overcoming his travails. You are the man.
Overall the card was outstanding. The three main fights were inspiring. The undercards they featured were interesting, except for Hammill-Andy. As MMA Journalist put it: "Reese Andy vs. Matt Hamill is the reason why watching wrestlers box makes me nauseous." There were only two decisions on the card (UFC loves finishes). Yushin won a unanimous D over Dean Lister, and predictably the MMA world is yelling "Yushin is a boring fighter!" Of course Lister falling on his ass trying to get it to the ground the whole fight meant nothing to them. Yushin and Machida are basically in the same boat...they keep winning, and their odds of getting a title shot get no closer. Maybe an "exciting" win over Thiago Silva will get Lyoto his shot, but there's little that Yushin can do.
Pics at NBC Sports

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Kevin Burns

So Burns was getting ready to leave for the fight, running late. Grabbed his bag, and his keys, and quickly patted down his pockets while scanning the room to see if he'd forgotten anything. Satisfied, or more likely out of time, he runs to the door. As he grabs the handle, his phone rings.
He pauses for a second, and with a "Let the machine get it", shrug, heads out. As the door slams, his answering machine clicks on.
"Hey baby!" says the machine "You've reached the fiiiire! It ain't gonna burn if you leave a message!" The beep sounds, and a voice comes through.
"Hey, Kevin, it's Chuck Liddell. Just wanted to say, don't throw any fucking lazy left hands. It really, really hurts. Okay, that's it, good luck tonight, later."

Sunday, December 14, 2008

TUF thought

you know, a lot of people have wondered what TUF might need to bring it to a higher level, or reclaim what it has lost, viership-wise, in the wake of Griffin-Bonnar's peak. I'd say: making the finale a 5 round fight for the "TUF belt" would add a lot to the final. Who wouldn't have wanted a couple extras every final? I know it wouldn't have made a difference in say Diaz-Gamburyan, Haynes-Bisping or Speer-Danzig, but Lytle-Serra? Different fight entirely. Rashad Evans? Who knows how his fight against Imes ends in rounds 4 and 5?
While it wouldn't be the solution for the fighters during the season, it makes the finale bigger, and the prize bigger as well.
Just a thought.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

yet another post on junie browning

fuck this kid pisses me off. the most annoying part is the guy showed extreme improvement against kaplan. either that or kaplan sucks more than I thought.
during the broadcast of the show i railed against Dana White's hypocrisy in portraying himself as somehow powerless to get browning off the show, but i realize i was snookered. he doesn't care about the Code he seemed to imply in previous "do you want to be a fucking fighter" speeches. He's a character. Dana White is basically The Promoter character now. he doesn't make decisions. Lorenzo Fertittas makes the decisions. look at the Fitch situation. The Fitch Sitch? White blustered and yelled. Fitch, confused, walked out. The Businessman, Lorenzo, stepped in. The Promoter went on a plane, talked shit, and barked for the show.
Who's in charge? Not Dana White. The way Junie was treated on the show proves that.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Frank Mir rambles about TUF, lays down some info

Raw Vegas Video
Always remember: You're watching a finished, edited product.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Fight for many different Troop Night

Either Jim Miller can't strike or Matt Wiman is the toughest SOB I've ever seen. Boy can that kid take some punches. Jim Miller is pretty impressive, too. Boy those guys were exhausted as fuck. I like Miller urging the viewers to donate. If I wasn't broke as a hobo right now I'd totally donate. I already have, last year. That's something I guess.
God damn I hope that Yoshida guy digs deep into his Asian Drew Fickett soul and finds a way to snag a choke on Josh Koskcheck. I really, really would like to see that guy leave the UFC.
Wow Tim Credeur came out looking tough. Disjointed first round, but a nice job by Credeur working his game plan, throwing Francas and Lebens all over the place. I loved the fake right hand to leg kick. Two or three of those in a row and a guy can be knocked out.
Handy!
Man this is some terrible standup. Credeur's standup is effective in this fight, but ugly as shit. On the ground, with Longran or whatever his name is on his back, they were at pretty much a standstill. On the feet, Credeur's the only guy with a clue. Well, half a clue.
That half a clue was enough to stop the fight. David Terrell saw a familiar sight: an ugly-ass guy beating the shit out of a pretty boy in his camp. At least this time it was one of his students, not himself, being beaten to a pulp. RIP Evan Tanner.
They're showing a "sneak peek" of Valkyrie, the movie about the really shitty assassination attempt by a German colonel who is being portrayed by a dirty Scientologist.
Looks like the other guy told Miragliotta he was done in the corner. Wonder if he'll get another shot at the UFC? They don't like guys who quit.
Got bored of blogging. Good event. Fuck Josh Koscheck. Fuck refs who don't understand grappling. Fuck Goulet's wandering eye, wander on outta the UFC.

Leites to fight the Spider for MW belt?

MMAFrenzy reports Dana White is giving Thales Leites a title shot against Anderson Silva. I wasn't able to dig up more than that right off the bat.
Apparently Yushin Okami is either still injured, or on the outs with the UFC. I can understand why the UFC would not want Okami...you go from one non-english speaking champ to another, if Yushin finds some way to win. Also, Okami has a style some people think is boring. I like him myself. I bet we probably see him one or two more times on undercards and then he's out.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Silva off to Japan

Bigfoot is heading to the land of the Rising Sun to do battle in Sengouku. Bloody Elbow opines that:

Its just not fair to Silva to ask that he sit out a year when everyone agrees that the CSAC was screwing up left and right when they suspended him.

Of course, there's another angle on this, that Silva's management had knowledge of how screwed up the Commission was, and knew they had little leverage even if the evidence against Silva was strong, given the shitstorm that was about to hit them in re Armando Garcia. I haven't seen any of the testing evidence regarding Silva, and the assertions of innocence are just that, assertions. He DID have a hearing, and he DID agree to be bound by the CSAC's decisions by acquiring a fighter's license in California. However fucked up the commission may be, they're still the governing body.
All that said, I'm still on Silva's side in this. I hope he can get a few fights in Japan, serve out his CA suspension, face the music, and pay a fine like Vitor did. Silva's an excellent fighter, and I'd love to see him fighting a variety of heavyweights, either in the UFC or in Affliction.
Also, what's with his giant-face? Is it some kind of (er) affliction? Most dudes with that face are between 8' to 15' tall. He's big, at 6'3", but not massive like an NBA center.

Tito Ortiz bets on fights?

I was listening to the interview Luke Thomas did with the writer from the Atlantic who did the piece on Rampage. Partway through it the guys says Ortiz is a "guy who bets on fights". It's kind of a throwaway line, but whoa...bets on whose fights? Right at the 21:35 mark of the interview. Long-ass interview by the way.
I know MMA isn't baseball, but is this something that could be an issue?

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Manny Tapia talks loss

Here's "the Mangler" talking about his stoppage loss to Miguel Torres tonight.
I admire his attitude, especially his final comment (I didn't quit! They stopped it!). But Torres was definitely the better man tonight, and he never looked in trouble against Tapia.
What's going on with guys not going to their advantage these days? It seems like there's a lot of guys with advantages on the ground not taking it there. Is there some shit going on with promoters wanting to keep it standing? Of course, Fabiano-Tamura tonight was a total ground-fest (I enjoyed it a lot) so that makes the above point retarded.
You know, I'm going to replace the word "retarded" with "junie" from now on. It's not fair to retarded people, who have to struggle and strive, to put them behind that piece of shit. So my above point is totally junie. Sorry retards, I'm on your side, baby.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

TUF shit

Junie's gone, and Dana White is so completely full of shit it boggles the mind.
I'm pissed off that A) I had to listen to Junie whine for hours and B) I had to hurt my brain trying to follow Dana's insane "logic" regarding that hillbilly retard. I'm amazed that Efraim gave Junie as much time as he did. The guy is a heartless, no-endurance, zero-talent clown. Enough of that guy. He is now in the TUF Ass-clown Hall of Fame, along with Marlon Sims, Gabe Ruediger, and a glittering cast.
Vinny and Krystof's fight was interesting while it lasted. I think Vinny will tear through Ryan Bader. Bader has little to offer at this point in his career. Nover vs. Efraim should be excellent, and each seems like a worthy addition to the UFC's lightweight division.

FGP RANKINGS: Post-WEC Featherweights

Well shit. My #1 and #3 fighters just went at it for 2.95 rounds, and Tamura succumbed to a head-and-arm choke with 15 seconds or so to go. While it will take smarter men than me to determine if Waggney's just that good or Akitoshi's overrated, i gotta say I loved Waggney's determination in that fight to keep it exactly where he wanted it, and the finish was grueling.
I decided that MTB's win over Urijah Faber earns him my top spot. I did a little more reading on Hioki, the guy who kind of defaulted his way to my #1 spot, and I can't justify putting him at the top. Waggney definitely earned himself a shot in my book.
Next up, bantamweights! Even tinier fists of fury!


  1. Mike Thomas Brown

  2. Wagnney Fabiano

  3. Hatsu Hioki

  4. Rafael Assuncao

  5. Urijah "The California Kid" Faber

  6. Masakazu "Ashikan Judan" Imanari

  7. Akitoshi "Ironman" Tamura

  8. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto

  9. Takeshi "Lion" Inoue

  10. Hideki Kadowaki

  11. Wilson Reis

  12. Rumina "Moon Wolf" Sato

  13. Antonio "Pato" Carvalho

  14. Leonard Garcia

  15. Jens "Lil Evil" Pulver

  16. Rani Yahya

  17. Bao Quach

Friday, November 28, 2008

One reason CSAC may have suspended testing

A few folks are wondering what's up with the testing suspension for Strikeforce's last event, as the new guard at the commission is getting a new test setup in place. While I haven't read every article on the issue, it seems to me that suspending your testing to implement new testing means there's something so very bad with the old one you don't want to take a chance getting your ass sued off. And since that's one of the first major California shows since Armando Garcia got the boot, it seems to me that this new dude must have looked at what was going on, issued a short, terrified scream, and rapidly begun tearing shit down to burn the evidence. Just my take.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Forrest sighting


He sure keeps a low profile for a UFC champ. It still sounds weird saying "UFC Light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin". While I was watching, I started to get the idea that this fight could end up being the most boring fight ever seen, with Forrest refusing to leave his game plan, and Rashad refusing to leave his, or it could end viciously.
Forrest doesn't really have much in the way of KO power (2 KO's in his career, and one over Elvis Sinosic...), but he's long, and his cardio is unbelievable. I've seen Rashad tire more often than I've seen Forrest tire. Forrest has a significant height and reach advantage, and generally looks pretty big at light heavy. Forrest has been knocked out, but not often. His last loss was to Keith Jardine, in what I like to call the Hand of God fight, since Jardine's hand looked like he was reaching all the way up into the heavens and grabbing some whup-ass to lay politely on Griffin's head. Griffin's jiu jitsu is excellent, as are his skills in almost every area of fighting. I'd say he's got some of the best MMA jiu jitsu in the UFC, as far as combining the discipline with all the other necessary skills. Forrest has tons of experience, a great camp, and a willingness to do anything to win. He's got a tremendous heart as well.
Rashad Evans has a lot of heart too, having fought much larger guys at heavyweight before establishing himself with a series of escalating explosions at LHW. The pound-out of Lambert, the Headkick, and the KO of Chuck were on either side of a couple of controversial decisions. Rashad has excellent handspeed, and a great camp as well. He's giving up 4" in height to Forrest, but generally gives up a lot of size to opponents. Rashad's improved with every fight. His wrestling is great, but his jiu jitsu is pretty much non-existent, even though he's got some defense, obviously. Rashad also has a special weapon, the Greg Jackson nipple-tweak, which apparently causes guys to go out and beat the living shit out of people. Leonard Garcia, GSP, and Rashad all tweak nip and finished their opponents. So watch out!
Common opponents are Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar, Griffin loss/winx2, Rashad draw/win.
In the end, Rashad once again has a big mountain to climb. Before his fight against Chuck, I said "You know, pretty much every time they've put a challenge in front of this guy, he's found a way to win". And other than Ortiz that's true, whatever you think of judges' relative competence. Forrest is the same...each has some missteps, but each has come back stronger, and scored big wins during their biggest challenges. I believe that Forrest Griffin can find a way to win this fight. But I also believe that Rashad Evans has faster hands and better footwork than Forrest. While it's bizarre to say Forrest Griffin, UFC LHW Champ, it'll be one hundred times weirder to say "Rashad Evans, UFC LHW Champ", when a big hand from Rashad finds its way home in the second round.
Of course, the last time I tried to analyze like this I was pretty sure Randy would give Brock Lesnar an asswhippin.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Shane Ott critical but stable

Here's an update on Shane Ott, who suffered terrible injuries a few weeks ago in a motorcycle accident.

Courtesy of Anthony "The Duke": "Shane is awake and talking now, though he is heavily sedated and still in the ICU. His condition is still critical but stable. Doctors are worrying about infection, that is why Shane is still in the ICU. Shane's speech is improving, probably slurred by the drugs they have him on. Shane lifted his arms, despite his injuries. He talked with his family and even watched a little TV. Shane is making excellent progress in his recovery and he has a very positive attitude towards his situation right now.

Keep fighting Shane!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Semy Schilt in the movies, no one cares

There's a movie coming out, the third installment of the "Transporter" franchise. During the TV commercials, which feature I Wanna Be Your Dog by Iggy Pop, you occasionally get a glimpse of Semmy Schilt fighting Jason Statham, or whatever his Transporter character is called, and Statham saying something like "You're the small one?", to which Schilt replies "I'm the big one", which is a good joke, because Schilt is massive, and it's funny to call large people small.

The guy is named Frank. I have trouble caring honestly, I haven't seen any of the first two. It's only because Semmy's in it that I even bring it up. And on the IMDB page he's listed...last. Lots of screen time, I'm imagining. He actually comes up after Asian Clerk Electronics Store (must have been a number of Asian Clerks in this movie) and Ambulance Man. That's rough! Here's some Semmy K-1 video to assuage his ego:

Semmy vs. Mark Hunt


Semmy Schilt drops a fool with a leg kick/punch combo


Semmy HL with a weird end title. Semmy has hurt people.


Semmy vs. Remy

oh yeah

I doubt anyone who reads this doesn't know, but Fitch re-signed with the UFC after talking with the Fertittas. No word on Velasquez and Koscheck, but I'm betting they'll stay too.

FGP Rankings: Anderson Silva Victims, or Middleweights

Well, time for me to do some work here. I've avoided taking on a middleweight ranking because it's basically Anderson Silva and [insert any order of 185lb fighters here]. Anderson's been so brutally dominant that it's hard to even care about the fighters under him. He's like a pelt-clad barbarian king sitting on a pile of the skulls of his enemies. But I'll give it a shot anyways.


  1. Anderson "The Spider" Silva

  2. "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler

  3. Yushin Okami

  4. Dan Henderson

  5. Nate Marquardt

  6. Jorge Santiago

  7. Matt "Stinky" Lindland

  8. Gegard Mousasi

  9. Kazuo Misaki

  10. Cung Le

  11. Denis Kang

  12. "Smokin'" Joey Villasenor

  13. Murilo "Ninja" Rua

  14. Trevor Prangley

  15. Chael Sonnen

  16. Paulo "Ely" Filho


I'm sure I've missed someone good somewhere in there. Let me know what you think, and I'll change it up if you make sense.
UPDATE: I agree with kentyman in comments. He smat. Also: "Filho-dough" is pretty funny.
Another UPDATE: Rev. C brings up a good point about Cung Le. He's not smat, but he's got kind of a native cunning, like a stoat, or mink.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

TUF tonight

I'm watching the Ultimate Fighter, and I see Dana White's fucking fighter-robbing fat head, and he says "it's sad when fighters get robbed by bad judging". I guess I'm a bad judge, I totally agreed with the judges. Polakowski had a shot to win that second round, but once he got taken down, he blew it, and never escaped. He wasn't robbed.
Semi matchups: God I hope Junie gets murdered. He might. He's not much of a fighter, at least so far. Marshall-Bader could be a great fight, a classic matchup. I'm interested in the fact that they put Krystof up against a training partner from his own camp, a guy who he seems most concerned about. At least we're finally through the junk and get to see the better fighters of the house. All I ask is a bloody, horrific beating delivered by Efraim to Junie. I do think it's possible.
Of course, there's tons of drunk hillbillies fawning over Junie, so maybe he already spilled the beans and is in the final.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

More on...uh...Lifetimelikeness-Gate

Dana White's main complaints, based on the one interview he's given (to Kevin Iole I believe) are related to fighters not being with his program, or realizing how bad the economy is, or giving him props for all his hard work. This just seems like spin, like playing for time. He knows those are all bullshit arguments. He does not say a single thing to respond to the objections Fitch has to giving up his image and name rights in a given venue for the rest of his life.
Jon Fitch is not an idiot, and he seems genuinely confused as to why this had to happen like it did. He does add the very retarded "it's a respect thing" but he does not claim any personal reasons for his decision other than that. Everything is business.
So we have White claiming people don't care how hard he works, what the economy is like, or what contract language Chuck Liddell agreed to. And we have Fitch saying "I tried to negotiate" and "Its confusing", and saying he wants to take care of his family.
At this early point I'm totally and completely on Jon Fitch's side. This seems like utterly ridiculous, ham-fisted bully business tactics, and it's making me wonder what they do to other fighters. I picture "You'll never work in this town again!" shit. What a huge clusterfuck. What, 20 years, ten years, that wasn't enough? That's just idiotic that Dana White would let this get where it is. Fucking idiotic. And Jon Fitch is NOT a person people are likely to hate on too hard. What a fuckup by White.

Fitch doesn't get why this happened...

Kevin Iole put together a good article on the explosion with American Kickboxing Academy and the UFC. Apparently, based on Dana White's cursing, it's his call, too. He's pissed the AKA guys aren't "with the program", while Fitch is sticking with his point that he shouldn't have to sign away rights to his name and likeness for a lifetime, with nothing for his heirs should he pass away (and make money for the company with merchandise after he dies). Fitch notes there was a merchandising meeting recently. Dana White just trashes the fuck out of everyone at AKA, especially Cain Velasquez.
This is looking more and more fucked up. White is looking like he totally overreacted. While I don't see White's competition doing better than the UFC, I also can figure on high-level athletes taking this into account when considering MMA. The idea that Fitch and Koscheck could be booted from the UFC is hard to figure. Could be a great fucking windfall for the other promotions. I'd imagine that a LOT of fighters will be hesitant to give up lifetime rights. Imagine what happens if Thiago Alves doesn't want to give up rights...or any up and coming contender. You have what, GSP fight BJ Penn over and over? Hope Kurt Angle shows up? What the fuck.

Fitch cut from the UFC

WOW! That's unreal...according to Luke Thomas at Bloody Elbow, the UFC cuts Jon Fitch because he wouldn't sign an agreement giving them lifetime rights to his likeness & name in video games. Fuck, I wouldn't sign that shit either. Christian "Who?" Wellisch was apparently cut for the same reason. American Kickboxing Academy, Fitch's camp, has some notable fighters on their roster, including Cain Velasquez, Mike Swick, and Josh Koscheck...I wonder what will happen with those guys?
This development looks like a win for Affliction, XFC, and Strikeforce to me. I wonder if Dana White is going to shitlist anyone who signs one of his shit-upon fightersWill there be lawsuits? UFC conceivably already had a signed agreement with Fitch to fight Akahiro Gono, is cutting him (Man!) a breach of that contract? Will the UFC's hubris finally cause some unionization efforts to kick into high gear?
Man! Unreal!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Nick over at MMARatings.net brings up some very good points about the big seat-cushion-pec-having freak of nature man-mountain Brock Lesnar:

One thing we learned about Brock is that he's a natural fighter. Lesnar threw a wide variety of strikes beyond his jab and one-two, and seemed to have a good sense for when there were chances for him to strike and hurt his opponent, which is very important. His knees are going to give a lot of people fits, and he obviously has an enormous amount of power in his hands. We still haven't seen him eat really big shots, but he doesn't have a glass chin or no heart, because he just walked through the stiff shots Randy landed a couple of times.

I wondered about his chin too, and at least so far he's passed the test. A fight against Big Nog would be a challenge, that's for sure, but man...if you walk into one of those punches you're goin' out.
The whole article is good, I'd recommend reading through. And I TOLD YOU KENNY WOULD PULL IT OFF.

Video: Fedor drops a decision in Sambo

Well, it had to happen at some point. Fedor loses at something for the first time since TK won the "I'm not going to die today" lottery with a cut in RINGS.
The video is crap, but still.

Monday, November 17, 2008

WTF BBQ

I was looking over fighter salary for the latest UFC, and this jumped out:

Gabriel Gonzaga — $110,000 ($55,000 to show, $55,000 to win)
Josh Hendricks — $8,000
Gabriel Gonzaga defeated Josh Hendricks via technical knockout (strikes) in round one

Gonzaga is the poison mortgage debt of the UFC. They need to ship that guy out ASAP.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Mir-Nog

A lot of people are giving Frank Mir zero shot to beat Big Nog in their upcoming matchup. I have to disagree. Frank Mir may have a big hill to climb, but it's far from an impossible task for the former UFC heavyweight champ.
Mir certainly doesn't bring the same resume Nog does to their showdown. But he does bring a supremely effective MMA BJJ game, and one of the strongest grips you're likely to see in any weight class. He's just now getting back into form, four years after his devastating motorcycle accident cost him his belt. Nogueira comes in having looked downright beatable in his last two fights, despite, to his immense credit, finding victory in both, against heath Herring and Tim Sylvia. Nog has a couple inches but comes in lighter.
I'll make two predictions on this fight, and seeing how I normally fare in title fights, I expect to be wrong on both counts: Either Mir will surprise Nog with a hard shot and finish him with a sub (something neither Herring nor Sylvia had the capability of doing) during Nog's "warm-up" period (the first 3-4 minutes of the fight), or Nog will weather that initial storm, watch Mir gas, and TKO or sub Mir in the second.
Or something else.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

UFC 91: well well well

So professional wrestler Brock Lesnar is the UFC's heavyweight champ, if you didn't know. It's a tough event for me, UFC 91. Randy losing at any time makes me sad. He's a hero of mine. But he got beat fair and square, rocked several times, and pounded out. I thought Lesnar's chin was tested a couple times, and he came through with flying colors. Throwing that massive meathook out there pretty much means anything caught in front of it is going to get hurt. With those chair-cushion pecs and chicken legs he cuts basically the same figure as the dad from the Impossibles. But he won, fair an' fuckin' square. Sigh. Time just caught up with Randy, from the front and the back. I'm curious as to what his next step is.

The happy part of the night was Kenny Florian just tearing the shit out of Joe Daddy. I don't dislike Stevenson, but I am a Florian fan, and his performance was quite the thing to behold, especially after taking Daddy down and dominating such a good wrestler on the ground. I hope BJ actually gives enough of a shit to come back down to 155 and fight him...don't get me wrong, I don't think he's got a chance in hell of beating BJ Penn unless BJ loses a leg or something, but he deserves his shot.

Lil Heathen's uppercut KO of Dos Anjos was a thing to fucking behold. If you've got a Dos in your name...look the fuck out for the uppercut, whether to throw or dodge. I'm looking at you, Washington Dos Anjos.

Oh my, Brock Lesnar on Sportscenter as I write this. Interesting, guys are talking it up well. "He's dribbling his head!" Okay. Well, it's good to see UFC shown as a real live sport on ESPN instead of hearing fucking Michael Wilbon whine about it. Good on you ESPN.

I liked the amount of fights they showed, it was cool to see. Matt Brown showed a lot in a hard fought win, Demian Maia treated Nate Rock Quarry very impolitely, and Dustin Hazelett made us all go "OOOWWW" in the living room. What a sick display of BJJ from Maia and Hazelett. Gabe Gonzaga looked like total shit, and still KO'd the giant ball of fuckin dough they threw at him. Sorry Gabe, I liked your English (?) but you haven't shown me shit since KO'ing Cro Cop.

What in the living fuck is up with Jorge Gurgel, BJJ black belt, NEVER USING FUCKING BJJ IN FIGHTS? What is wrong with that guy? He had Mark Della Grotta in his corner...did he forget he's a jits guy? I've seen him fight three or four times and never once try to submit a guy! What the fuck!

Overall a solid card, with lots of excellent fights. I wish Randy had found a way through, but the man is far closer to 50 than not. I hope he gets one more shot at glory before he goes, perhaps against Big Nog if he can come through this heavyweight "tournament" with the unified belt. But honestly...right now I'm a little tired, and not overly thrilled with the fact that Lesnar is the titleholder. If anything interesting occurs to me I'll add it tomorrow after watching the Chargers lose again. And Clint, I was right about Maia-Quarry, so NYAH.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Affliction afflicted (updated)

So Todd Beard, one of the guys who runs Affliction, has a criminal past. Probably easy to paper over when you run a relatively obscure clothing company. The trouble he's having is he got into a publicly regulated business, promotion of MMA events, and publicly trashed his highest-profile business partner outside of Donald Trump, Randy Couture. So Kim Couture got a temporary restraining order, and shit has hit the fan, spraying everywhere.
Now, he's got another huge issue: turns out he's a felon, and people with gaming licenses, like Donald Trump, can't work with felons. Whoops! Showtime has also just signed on, or is in the process of signing on, to run a PPV for Affliction. Will this cause Showtime to bolt? Of course, they did work with Jared and Gary Shaw (and still do in boxing, I'd imagine) so who can say.
I'm wondering if drunken Todd Beard wishes he'd stayed in the t-shirts-only business. When he was raping drunken frat boys for $60 an enzyme-encrusted, imported-rhinestone-having tee, no one pointed out his wife-punching felony-riddled past.

I-love-hyphens.

UPDATE: Apparently, Beard was involved in a boiler room telephone scam. I had a job like this for four hours in the 90's. My friend "Tom" called me up, said "Dude, you need money, come work for me", so I showed up on a Tuesday (I was unemployed at the time). He set me in a chair next to one guy, and I listened in as he convinced an older lady to buy a $1,300 makeup kit in exchange for two "vouchers" that were good for "First class travel on any airline". He then kicked her over to my friend ("friend") "Tom", who talked her up even higher, though I didn't get to listen. After a couple more calls (I made one or two but got nowhere, which is apparently normal), we took a lunch break. I told "Tom" I couldn't do it, it seemed too scummy, but I'd gladly still smoke his weed. He said take care, unconcerned. A couple weeks later, they were raided by the federal government, maybe in the same sting operation, and "Tom" went to jail and owed over $100K in fines. He was the top closer who brought in the most dough. I'm just glad that my initial reaction was to feel sick to my stomach...
If this is the shit Beard was up to, he deserved to go to jail. It's exactly like robbery, except you do it on the phone.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

HW Title Tourney: Round 1, Randy vs Brock

All right. It's coming up, Saturday night Randy Couture returns to the Octagon with perhaps his stiffest test in the last few years...perhaps, objectively, of his career. Brock Lesnar, for whatever reason he doesn't deserve it (and there are many (many, many, many)), is going to be allowed to step in against the living legend for a slice of the UFC heavyweight title.
Brock's pros: he's huge. He's fast. He's strong and has great balance and hits very hard. Cons: Zero experience. Slow hands. No finishing outside of the ape-attack. Unknown chin, poor sub defense (apparently).

Couture's pros: Experience in every single imaginable aspect of the sport. World-class conditioning, Greco-Roman grappling. Possibly the best camp in the sport. Possibly the best game-planner in the sport, ever. Cons: Older. Smaller than Brock. Not necessarily the best fighter off his back.

X-factor: All the unknowns about Lesnar. What's his chin like? If Brock walks into well-designed a punch from Randy, is he going to fall like Sylvia or sleep? Is Randy going to be able to stop his bull-rush takedowns, which honestly can be breathtaking? Does Lesnar have an actual five-round gas tank?

I'm going to go on record right now and say Randy Couture is going to win this fight and defend his belt. I am also going to say this: it is a razor close decision, in my mind, and I don't know how he's going to do it. He could literally take the big galoot down and pound him out in the first round, or he could put together a deliberate five-round point win, or anything in between. Fuck, Lesnar could be pounding the shit out of Randy in the third, and fall prey to a clever anaconda choke out of nowhere. Lesnar could win this fight too. He could win in the first round. He hits like a god damn truck. But Randy's fought hard hitters, and knows how to counter everything.

If I had to guess...Randy Couture wins, by a choke, in the fourth round.

Or something else.

There's some other fights going on too. Kenny Florian faces what's gotta be a #1 eliminator fight in Joe Daddy Stevenson. Both guys fought once for the lightweight belt and got beat down pretty bad by their opponent's favored method, Kenny by UD vs. Sean Sherk and Joe Daddy by murder against BJ Penn in the famous "Crying and squirting blood" matchup. This is a tough one to call as well...both guys are like funhouse mirror images of the other, supremely dedicated fighters who've raised their games on willpower and work. I see Kenny coming in with the better gameplan and winning a decision. Joe Daddy could pull of a win here too. I don't read betting lines because I suck at it, but it feels like a Stevenson win would be a small upset. Kenny Florian is one of my favorite fighters, so take that into account.

josh Hendricks is going to try and prove himself against Gabe Gonzaga. If Gonzaga shows up strong and focused, he will destroy up-and-coming Hendricks. If he doesn't, Hendricks will destroy him. I think Hendricks takes the torch here.

Nate Quarry-Demian Maia could be awesome or it could suck. I'm going for awesome...dynamic and constantly on edge, in my view Maia figures out a sub at some point in the second round, and has his hand lifted while blood pours out of his eyebrow. Don't count out Quarry though, he is a very exciting fighter who will never stop working.

The rest of the fights I'm not picking. There's all sorts of stuff, plus a couple that could turn entertaining, but I have no money based on that shit, so pick it yourself. I'm drunk now and going to bed.

Something interesting

Joachim Hansen vs. Geisas Calvancante looks like a great fight. "Hellboy" is one of my favorites...hopefully I'll be able to stream this without having the main event come on sometime around 3AM.
There's so much dull shit going on. It's funny, I was listening to Fightlinker's podcast (before it turned into a union-bash-a-thon) and they mentioned a malaise among the hardcore fans/bloggers/whatever in regards to MMA. That was in response to a comment thread question for their mailbag show. I wrote about this a while ago, and it still feels like it. The matchups to get excited about seem few and far between, because "hardcores" are feeling like they've seen everything.
It's not true though! It's not like boxing where there's only so many ways a guy can punch another dude. We just saw an absolutely dominant champ get KTFO'd while attempting a spinning back elbow! That's awesome. The same champ who pulled a knee to the face while standing on one leg out of his ass. This is still good stuff...let's stop readin' the same stories over and over from different sites. If you already read a paragraph linking to Bloody Elbow's story on Armando Garcia, just...don't read another one. Draw a picture, read something else, go for a walk. Don't overload on this shit, just enjoy it with wide-open eyes and ears.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Famous parents: Ryan Couture

Cage Potato has an item that's supposed to be about Ryan Couture's amateur MMA debut, but instead veers off into talking about children of famous people doing what their parents did to get famous. He mentions Peyton Manning as a success, and Gloria Hemingway as a failure. Personally, I would have gone with Pete Rose Jr., as sports figures are more useful, as well as sports careers being a little less complicated, as Dr. Gregory Hancock Hemingway very much was.
If the idea was to contrast a successful career with a failed career, it may have been better to just stick to sports. Hemingway's youngest child wasn't even a failed writer, but a doctor. He struggled with fetishistic transvestitism his whole life, but from what I'm able to gather was never an "out" transvestite, or a fully "gender-reassigned" individual.
But I may be taking this too seriously. CP was just looking to make a cheap joke. Mission accomplished!

Monday, November 10, 2008

More BE stuff

I'm bored with this now. But boy-o-boy do they come off as pretentious.

Lloyd and Deadspin do not sit in a tree

Apparently, Lloyd Irvin is still pissed that Deadspin, after jumping the gun (ha ha!) and releasing a snarky-ish take on his ordeal, didn't rename itself to "we-love-Lloyd-and-he-is-the-bestzorz.com", and decided that releasing a horrible 911 call to the world was the best way to get the author of the piece he didn't like to update...wait, he already updated...damn...he wanted him to...feel really bad? I guess that's the goal there. Apparently his readers (and bloody elbows) wanted to show the world they would violently attack anyone who voiced doubt about a story. As far as I know it didn't go past angry comments, but still. Internet threats just make you look like a huge, lube-soaked didlo shoved up some fat hairy transvestite's ass. Yeah, picture that for a while.
Even fightlinker is getting involved-er, and make the silly error of equating the commenters on a story with the story itself. It's an easy mistake to make...but if anyone in the world should be able to separate their commenters idiocy from their own, it's Ryan an' Jake.
From what I can tell Irvin is upset that his Google results keep ending up on the Deadspin story. I just did a Google search and, while it's a front page result, it's not the top result for "Lloyd Irvin". One thing I DO know is that continuing to talk about it, and continuing to encourage your readers and loyalists (Hey! Bloody Elbow! That's you!)they're just letting it live longer and longer, because snide pricks like me will link to it to make fun of everyone.

the moral of the story is...

If I write about you, you're fucked.
So, look out Thiago Alves.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

FGP Rankings: Way to go, Brownie! FW's

I'm not sure if Urijah was overrated or just got caught. I'd love to see an immediate rematch, frankly. Whatever happens, MTB has some quality wins under his belt in a very dynamic division. I'll update this post later, just wanted to react to that. Also, FWIW, Paulo Filho is a fucking tub of lard asshole. Just sayin'

  1. Akitoshi "Ironman" Tamura

  2. Hatsu Hioki

  3. Wagnney Fabiano

  4. Mike Thomas Brown

  5. Rafael Assuncao

  6. Urijah "The California Kid" Faber

  7. Masakazu "Ashikan Judan" Imanari

  8. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto

  9. Takeshi "Lion" Inoue

  10. Hideki Kadowaki

  11. Wilson Reis

  12. Rumina "Moon Wolf" Sato

  13. Antonio "Pato" Carvalho

  14. Leonard Garcia

  15. Jens "Lil Evil" Pulver

  16. Rani Yahya

  17. Bao Quach

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Hermes, WTF? WTF with all the WTF's?

Fuck! Hermes Franca gets popped. Innocent until proven guilty, of course. I know for a fact people who aren't fucked up get nailed for DUI's too. But still...
Also, WEC 36 was not exactly the barn-burner we're used to seeing. Faber got drilled, Filho is a fucking clown, Pulver got TKO'd and Rosholt has zero standup. It was an OK card, but apparently the Fight of the Year wasn't broadcast (why McCullough vs. Cerrone, two of the premier talents in one of the divisions that's NOT getting folded into the UFC, were on the dark part of the card I don't know...this has happened before). They have to slide the MW's and LHW's over to the UFC and get on with it. Let's see those little guys go to war, I want a whole card that could fit inside a fucking clown car.

He also loves hard candy and his grandkids


I sympathize with Luke Thomas' disgust towards the Ultimate Fighter's current season, I really do. I have been fast-forwarding through the latest season on DVR, and didn't catch any of the garbage last night other than the lame-ass fight. He comes off as a huffy old woman in that post though. Next thing you know he'll be damned positive those TUF boys were on his lawn, messing up his begonias. Simple expedient, and most effective: don't watch. To be fair, that's what he's claiming he's doing from now on, but no need to wag a bony, liver-spotted finger on your way out. Either ratings drop because the shit they're putting on doesn't sell, they rise because in addition to pure-as-the-driven-snow "hardcore" fans morons watch the show as well, or they (most likely) stay the fuckin' same, as some jackass gawkers come aboard to offset the purists who can't stand the stupidity anymore.

Picture stolen from Colin S. without his permission. I'll take it down if you want me to. Note: it's credited!

WEC 36 stuff

Well, my DVR ended when the show ended, which was apparently half an hour before the fights actually ended. Thank you Versus. As a result I didn't see the Faber-Brown fight til this morning, though I'd looked up the results. My cable internet is slow as a Palin child, so I just went to bed. Wow, Faber got caught! That silly spinning elbow cost him dearly, though it seemed more coincidence than anything. Unfortunately for Urijah: It's not a lucky punch if you throw it. We've seen Faber take some punishment too, so it's wild to see him get dropped.
There were some good undercard fights, Rosholt vs Osterneck was a blast, even though Rosholt's lack of standup makes me think Dan Severn was watching from 1999 going "Fuck yeah!"

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Okay, MMA fans....

Question: How is paulo filho a top-ranked MMA middleweight, again?

Answer: He's not. Maybe he's a bad-ass grappler, but all I see is a half-assed, mentally weak, overweight slug. This fight against Chael Sonnen, a strong journeyman at best, showed us a Filho with zero standup, and zero determination, and zero ability to control where a fight goes. When you can't beat a guy where the fight is you take it where you can beat him, right? Ask Big Nog, ask Chuck Liddell a couple years ago. Ask all the great fighters. Filho stood and flapped his flabby fuckin' arms like an asshole.
I hope I never see that scumbag fight again. Good job on Chael exposing him. Your mind is part of your arsenal too, and if his mind is only good enough for grappling contests, he oughta head on over to the Mundials or ADCC and not darken a god damned cage again. I'm seriously pissed off at that waste of space. Did he even hand over his belt like he claimed? They didn't show it.

Thiago Alves will wait for a shot

Via Fighters Only, Thiago Alves says he's waiting for a shot at the WW belt against GSP or BJ Penn, and that he weighs upwards of 200lbs when he steps in the ring to fight.

In the interview, Alves also revealed what many observers have long suspected: he is nearly 200lbs when he fights.

“I go with 171 pounds at the weight-ins, and then I go to the fight with 198, 199 pounds”, he revealed, adding that despite the occasional struggle to make weight, he does not want to move up to middleweight.

OK, Thiago, you're a big WW and you have heavy hands and kicks. But honestly...does anyone think this guy is on the same planet as BJ Penn or Georges St. Pierre? Really? And why on earth would BJ even consider taking a fight against a guy with KO power who could swipe his belt (if he wins it) with a winging punch? I know GSP will fight whoever they put in front of him, but BJ may just walk, holding up both belts, and fight someone like Paulo Filho in a catchweight match in Hawaii for a million bucks or some shit. I don't see Baby Jay wanting to get involved with a bunch of title defenses against maybe-so fighters. What's in it for him?
I guess I just don't buy Thiago Alves as an elite fighter at BJ & GSP's level yet. We'll see right? Provided Karo doesn't sneak over to his house and hit him in the knee with a pipe.

related vids

WEC 36 tonight

Faber vs. Valencia KOTC


Cerrone vs. Castillo WEC (Shitty vid from a TV screen, but a slick win)


Razor Rob HL vid


Jake Rosholt's 07 debut fight

WTF Paulo!

Another fat brazilian...
What's wrong with Filho? I doubt that he's got the mental makeup to take over the UFC's middleweight division like Anderson Silva claims he will, by the simple reason that if you can't make 185 pounds, you're NOT A FUCKING MIDDLEWEIGHT. Go fight light heavy, you dick.
So this marks (as others have reported) the third time Chael Sonnen has been denied his "official" shot at the WEC MW strap. Though, as pointed out by FL, it really doesn't matter that much does it?

Monday, November 3, 2008

props

this isn't a political blog, but I'm a political person, and I noticed that for some reason Google hosted a "Yes on 8" ad on my page. I'm completely, utterly opposed to Prop 8 in every way shape and form. I think it's a despicable attempt to write hate, bigotry and injustice into the constitution of our state.
I just wanted to be clear on that.

Shane Ott fights for his life


Keep Shane Ott in your thoughts. Apparently he's battling to survive injuries from a serious motorcycle accident.

rare comic sightings at FL

even though I don't post over there anymore, I still love Fightlinker. They finally did a new comic, though not as a regular feature, allegedly (we'll see how well that works out).
"Suck a bag of dicks" is one of my favorite insults.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

WEC 36 on Wednesday

Interestin card coming up on Versus. MMAonTap has the final card and some info on last-minute changes:

Main Card

Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown (WEC Featherweight Title)
Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen (WEC Middleweight Title)
Jens Pulver vs. Leonard Garcia
Jake Rosholt vs. Nissen Osterneck

Preliminary Fights

Rob McCullough vs. Donald Cerrone
Yoshiro Maeda vs. Rani Yayha
Carmello Marrero vs. Steve Steinbeiss
Jose Aldo vs. Jonathan Brookins
Rafael Dias vs. Danny Castillo
David Avellan vs. Aaron Simpson

The top three fights on the card should be a blast. Faber generally entertains, Filho vs Sonnen actually has a little bad blood in it, and Pulver - Garcia should be a war. I don't know much about most of the other fighters, except that WHY ON EARTH IS MCCULLOUGH VS CERRONE NOT ON THE MAIN CARD? Maeda-Yayha could be fun, Rani's a scrappy little fucker. Marrero I remember holding Cheik Kongo on the ground for three rounds. This airs over the weeks TUF, right?

Saturday, November 1, 2008

FGP Ranks Giant Fuckers: Heavyweights

Okay, we did 205ers and 145ers. Here's everyone bigger than that. Some guys are bigger than both of them put together.


  1. Fedor Emelianenko

  2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

  3. Andrei Arlovski

  4. Josh Barnett

  5. Randy Couture

  6. Tim Sylvia

  7. Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic

  8. Aleksander Emelianenko

  9. Alistair Overeem

  10. Frank Mir

  11. Sergei Kharitonov

  12. Fabricio Werdum

  13. Gabriel Gonzaga

  14. Cheik Kongo

  15. Antonio Silva

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

tonight's TUF sucked ten assholes

What a piece of shit episode. Big Nog acted like an oversensitive schoolgirl with a vagina full of sand, the fight was stupid and the fighters unlikeable and/or retarded, and no fewer than two fighters baked fucking cakes. Cakes.

You know, it is as sad as can be that the only saving grace of a show is a drunken, idiotic, inbred hillbilly who should have been kicked off the show immediately. In the context of that show, that is the saddest thing ever.

Candid Scott Smith Talk

Scott Smith talks to MMAMania.com about the demise of EliteXC, and his experiences with the company. A few choice quotes:

“When I saw Kimbo lose (to Seth Petruzelli) I thought oh this isn’t good for EliteXC, they’ve got all their eggs in one basket. Then when I saw the controversy I knew it was just a matter of time at that point. We were kind of hoping for the November card just to get one last payday but everybody knew it was inevitable, it was just a matter of when.”

“I’ve been in camp for over eight weeks and I’ve been pushing myself hard. It’s one thing if [it happens] two months out from a fight, but two weeks? It’s devastating. Even if I lost, worst case scenario, (including sponsorship money) I would still be out close to $40,000."

“Jeremy Lappen actually called me last night. He was very professional, very nice. He apologized for having to cancel the card and I kind of felt bad for the guy, that’s a tough phone call to make. (Lappen) said they even offered for upper management not to get a paycheck for this fight to try to make (the November card) happen. I consider Jeremy a friend and I really appreciated that phone call, it was very professional of him.”
And my favorite:
“The hard thing is I just don’t know what’s going to happen. All I can do is keep training. And if I’ve ever said anything bad about Strikeforce or the UFC or Affliction, I take it all back. I love all those guys!”

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

FGP Ranks Tiny Fists of Fury: Featherweights


Unlike LHW's, the featherweight division is stocked with many non-US fighters. Some of the best are in the WEC, including a man who shows up on many pound-for-pound lists, Urijah Faber. The UFC has no featherweight division because Dana White is terrified of leprechauns, and he thinks Urijah Faber will get him in his sleep. You know what? I bet he will, too. I count Kid Yamamoto because :

  1. Urijah "The California Kid" Faber

  2. Akitoshi "Ironman" Tamura

  3. Hatsu Hioki

  4. Wagnney Fabiano

  5. Rafael Assuncao

  6. Masakazu "Ashikan Judan" Imanari

  7. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto

  8. Takeshi "Lion" Inoue

  9. Hideki Kadowaki

  10. Wilson Reis

  11. Jeff "Big Frog" Curran

  12. Jens "Lil Evil" Pulver

  13. Rumina "Moon Wolf" Sato

  14. Antonio "Pato" Carvalho

  15. Bao Quach

  16. Mike Brown

  17. Rani Yahya


Since the lighter weight classes can see a lot of turnover, some of these guys don't necessarily have a ton of fights at exactly 145lbs, and if you think one of my picks sucks, tell me so! If I agree, I'll change it. Let's talk it over.
Bao Quach is interesting, he's on a nine fight winning streak, but he's been beaten pretty regularly when he steps up to the highest levels of competition at 145. With ProElite out of action, will we see a new fighter stepping up, or will...I'm sorry for this...the Bao break? TEEHEE!

Monday, October 27, 2008

The Spider: No disrespect

Anderson Silva says he wasn't disrespecting Patrick Cote by clowning around, offering to help him up, and backing up whenever he had him hurt.

Okay.

Also, he says he's heading to Thailand to "sharpen" his Muay Thai. Everyone in the world, surrender. Now he'll be able to kick bullets out of mid-fucking-air.

Rankings? Fuck yes, rankings!


Well, since I have some time on my hands before they foreclose on me or whatever they do when your mortgage is 100k more than your house is worth, I decided to do my own rankings. I'll take into account any commenters' rankings as well. If I like them, I'll change mine. If it's any fun, I'll do it again. For now let's talk light heavyweights.
UFC's light heavyweight division is just as turbulent as most of the rest of the weight classes outside middles. However, with their absorption of the WEC's LHW division, they are pretty much the only game in town, nowadays.

  1. Forrest Griffin

  2. Lyoto Machida

  3. Quinton Jackson

  4. Rashad Evans

  5. Wanderlei Silva

  6. Chuck Liddell

  7. Vladimir Matyushenko

  8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

  9. Mauricio Rua

  10. Keith Jardine

  11. Luis Arthur Cane

  12. Thiago Silva

  13. Dan Henderson

  14. Renato Sobral

  15. Tito Ortiz

  16. Rich Franklin

  17. Stephan Bonnar

  18. Ricardo Arona

  19. Steve Cantwell

  20. Goran Reljic


The vast majority of LHW's are in the UFC...a couple exceptions are Lil' Nog, The Janitor Matyushenko, Tito Ortiz and Babalu Sobral. While those are some quality fighters, the UFC has more than enough men under contract to be far and away the number one promotion for the division. The title picture is a bit murky as well, with some of what would have been considered elite fighters suffering losses, such as Shogun Rua's loss to current UFC Chanp Forrest Griffin, and Judo Thierry's losses to Machida and Cane (sandwiching a convincing victory over Kaz Nakamura, who needs to jog).
Forrest Griffin has a defense against Rashad Evans coming up due to his upset of Rampage and Evan's upset of Chuck Liddell. I figure on Forrest keeping his title in a hard-fought decision, and matching up, I hope, against a very deserving Lyoto Machida.

Image property Sherdog.com, used without permission.

Alves gets a shot?

I guess Dana White feels like since Thiago Alves got past Karo, Hughes and Kos he deserves a shot at the winner of BJ Penn-GSP. While I can't deny the kid's skills or results...I think he'll be killed.
Thiago actually is on a seven-fight win streak, and is 9-2 overall in the UFC. His level of competition has been relatively high as well, with his only losses coming to Spencer Fisher and Jon Fitch in the Octagon (will it be renamed the Cocktagon if Brock Lesnar wins a belt?). But really...GSP and BJ Penn are on different planes than everyone else. Either guy is going to school Alves. I'd put money on it if, as a California homeowner, I wasn't completely out of money. Thank dog blogger is free!

One problem with MMA contraction

I was just watching Denis Kang KO Marvin "The Beastman" Eastman (thanks Cage Potato) and it occurred to me: contracting MMA promotions, with some failing like EliteXC, IFL, etc, and the UFC being possibly more frugal in paying and holding fighters, will mean that more and more cards will be held dark, with either no video at all or just handheld viral-type videos available. That, to me, is sad. There are definitely more great fighters out there than the UFC can pay...and even at the height of MMA's expansion, with bododfight airing cards, and HDNet and so on and so forth, we STILL missed great fights.
I guess we'll wait and see. It seems like EliteXC's death is pretty sad in yet another way, even if Jared Shaw and Tappen were douchenozzles.

UFC 90...give him a hand


What, Anderson? You can help a guy up when you knock him down, but not when his knee blows out?
My brother and some friends met up to watch UFC 90 at a bar here in town. It was relatively full of mostly people watching the show. Woodies is an OK venue, even though the TVs in typical bar fashion are a little high up, so you have to get a sore neck or sit really far away. Also, the bar staff was hot, and the bar patrons were horrible, horrible sacks of the fried food they served.
I'm pretty bummed out that since Anderson Silva is claiming he's retiring at the end of his current contract, (every 185 pound fighter in the world suppresses a joyous leap and giggle combo at that news) this bout with Cote was one of the final six. You get the feeling you're witnessing something special with Silva...it blows that there's no special opponents, at least not right now, to challenge him. It's like the Bulls after the Lakers fell apart at the beginning of the '90's.
Is Fabricio Werdum more like GSP, Cro Cop, or Jens Pulver? I'm going with Cro Cop, as they were trying to keep him a legit title contender for next year after their little tourney plays out. What a punch! Welcome to the UFC, Junior dos Santos. Thanks for fucking up my fantasy picks.
Initially I thought that the Maynard-Clementi fight was promoted from the undercard to the main card, but Eric at MMARatings said nah, it was added as a main card fight. Ok. Still, I wish we could have seen Spencer Fischer vs. Shannon Gugerty instead. "The King" has sure fallen into the middle of the lightweight pack. Some tough losses, to Franca and Edgar, have put the title shot he was so close to seemingly out of reach. Will he get his shot before time erodes his skills? I hope so! I'm a huge Fischer fan.
Drew McFedries is an exciting fighter to watch, but is he UFC-level talent? He's like a huge Melvin Guillard, minus the idiocy of course. He can hit hard enough to knock out a moose, but his grappling is suspect. Of course, Leites isn't an average grappler. Here's an idea: Get Houston Alexander to drop down, or Drew to go up, and match those two. Slugfests are fun!
Speaking of which, I thought the Sherk fight was judged right on. My friend thought Tyson Griffin won, which made me question his sobriety.




Pic property o' the National Post.

I thought Thiago Alves did a great job, and he made weight, which erases some concerns I'd had. It still blows me away that that guy makes 170lbs. He's fucking enormous. Josh Koscheck, I hate to say it, impressed me with his toughness and his heavy hands. The leg kicks Alves deployed may have taken down a weaker man. As much as I think Kos is an assclown, he is one tough fuckin' assclown. Congratulations to Alves for a good fight against a very game opponent.
Hermes Franca picked up a unanimous decision in a bad blood fight against Marcus Aurelio.
Overall, I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars. Go rate it yourself over at MMARatings.net, I write some articles there (my last one was "Does Werdum Deserve a Title Shot Yet?" Hah, no, no he doesn't).
Also, I added my friend Esther Lin's photography site to the links at the left. If you need someone to give a huge bag of money to in exchange for the best fight photos you can get, call her up. She is willing to have blood sprayed on her head to get the shot. Are you that dedicated? I didn't fuckin' think so.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Brock Lesnar: Huge Fucking Retard

Huge in many ways, stature and relative retardedness being the most obvious. But this is new: He doesn't want Mazzagatti to be considered to ref his next fight.
Let's forget the fact that he's a freakshow pro wrestling idiot with a huge cock tattooed on his chest. He's got three professional fights. He doesn't dictate to the governing bodies who they set to ref his fights. They dictate. He fights at the pleasure of the people, not by some royal edict.
Well, let me just say this now: I believe Randy Couture is going to find a way to take Brock Lesnar, fold him into a wet, messy ball, and elbow him to oblivion, sending him to 2-2 in MMA competition and the undercards where he belongs, with the other freakshow heavies.

oh boy

i know there's plenty of good reasons that Elite XC went out of business. But man...they're replaying the Cung Le - Frank Shamrock fight tonight, and that was just a really good card. Probably because it was Showtime, but whatever. it was fucking good. Mainly from the pure crowd energy...there's few things, even on TV, that get you jacked up like a big arena full of people. That's why some of the UFN/TUF/WEC events kind of leave me saying...meh. The main event fights in EXC reminded me of being at the Chargers' home playoff win in 1994, 30 rows from the field. Just sound, bearing down on you.
When Chuck Liddell walked in with his LHW belt it felt like that. The last time I saw that in the UFC, where I was really jacked up, was Tim Sylvia vs. Randy Couture.
I guess I'm an adrenaline junkie, still. But since I'm a fat fuck, too, I'm an adrenaline junkie who gets his thrills from the couch.

That's just fucking sad!


PS: I just wanted to add that yes, I realize that possibly the best card EliteXC put on was a Strikeforce card. But fuckin' A, their name was on the ring supports, and that Cung Le-Frank Shamrock fight was just awesome.

Last night's TUF

All righty then...after a few weeks of bullshit, Junie Browning got in the ring against Roli Delgado. the fucked-up hillbilly talked shit the entire time (at least the time they showed it to us) and swore he'd KO Delgado in the first round. Not only did he NOT KO Delgado in the first round, he didn't KO him at all, despite what looked like some good shots, and at one point seeming to drop him. As a matter of fact, Junie was a little beat-up looking by the end of the fight. He edged a split-decision victory...hardly the dominant performance claimed. Roli's fight wasn't exactly inspiring, despite a great show of heart. His strength is jits, and he seems to have zero ability to get the fight down to the mat. He needs to find a way to bring his opponent down if he's going to actually fight MMA.
As for Browning's performance, it seems that:
1) He doesn't hit hard
2) Delgado has an iron chin
3) I don't have a three.
Delgado's strikes were pitty-pat crap. Junie's handspeed was pretty awful...he'd be eaten alive by someone with faster hands. Can you imagine Junie fighting Melvin "I suck at MMA" Guillard? That would be a slaughter! I'm annoyed that Browning is continuing...he looked pretty gassed, and had Delgado had any clinch game and been able to either throw elbows or greco the guy down it would have been over. Browning...I cannot figure he'll win. Efraim Escudero already called him out for the second round.

Monday, September 15, 2008

performify at MMAJ

Breaking down the "Heavyweight tournament" being run by the UFC.
While I remain impressed by the UFC's ability to manage the HW division while beset on all sides by adversity, the fact of the matter is they are trying to set up a former pro wrestler as their main heavyweight contender.
Randy Couture served in the armed forces, battled as an Olympic alternate, opened a successful string of gyms, starred in a god-awful movie that's selling tons of DVDs to foreigners with poor taste, and WON UFC TITLES in two different weight classes. FIVE TIMES.
Frank Mir beat Brock Lesnar, survived a horrific motorcycle accident that nearly killed him, broke Tim Sylvia's fuckin' arm on TV, and WON THE UFC HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was run over by a fucking truck as a child, losing part of his liver and laying in a coma for five days, he's beaten Dan Henderson, Mark Coleman, Heath Herring (three times!), Ricco Rodriguez (when he wasn't a fat-assed wife-moving drunk, Josh Barnett, Cro Cop, and Bob Sapp, he's never been submitted or KO'd, and he WON THE PRIDE FC HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.
Brock Lesnar was a decorated amateur wrestler and won the NCAA title in 2000. He fake wrestled in the US and Japan. He's 2-1 in MMA competition. He has 17 minutes and 39 seconds of MMA experience.

That guy is going to fight for a piece of the heavyweight belt against Randy Couture.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

unreal

it keeps getting worse...

Monday, September 8, 2008

oh man...Evan may be dead

I can't express how much this sucks. I hope it's a screw up or a frozen bigfoot costume or some shit.
Evan Tanner represented a whole bucketful of shit that was good about MMA...never mind that he was my favorite fighter. Man oh man. I'm really sad right now.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

i totally forgot

Eric at MMARatings.net gave me some space to write like a grown-up, instead of calling people names like "shit-faced ass chomper", which i haven't done recently but promise I will. He's got a cool site with a rate-everything system for fights, fighters, events, and articles. go check him out (that link is to my first article).

Monday, August 25, 2008

more of this crap

This time Cage Potato calling KJ Noons names. I'm going to end up sounding like the world's biggest Noons fan, which I'm not, but fucking A, quit buying the bullshit you guys! Seems like conventional wisdom is saying that Noons is a punk for "ducking" Nick Diaz. I disagree entirely. While Dion is a total chimp, he does have a right to rep his client. If they don't want to fight the guy, who knows, it may just be for a good reason, like he's a complete assclown. Why would you even want to give someone like that a shot? Why would Elite XC want him in there representing them? Good god, imagine if Nick Diaz won their lightweight belt! The assclownery would rise to staggering heights!
Seriously, though, all this chatter is just bullshit. The guy's only been idle two months. Big Nog (despite being on TUF 8) has been idle since February. So fuck, calm down. Breath. What Fabricio Camoes has to say about anything at all at this point in his career means very, very little. Props to him for try to build himself up, though.

Friday, August 22, 2008

man o man



SLOW FUCKING DAY. it's so slow that I actually believed that Jared Shaw and fucking Mark Dion verbally spewing diarrhea on each other was interesting.
I need to get out more.



I can post links! I did just now!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Noons "ducking" Diaz? Please.


Image property Tom Casino/EliteXC

Lots of places are reporting on Jared Shaw's weak-ass smack talk on KJ Noons. They're swallowing the whole thing like chumps. According to Shaw, Noons "won't even pick up the phone" or some shit. I'd say that if a professional fighter with a management company isn't picking up calls from a promoter, it's because they've exhausted their options in some way or another. Or it's a ploy for more money, which is exactly what Shaw is doing.

Left to right: Jared Shaw, a penis. Separated at birth? Compelling...if true.
First off, all of the hot air coming out over this is from the lips of Jared Fucking Shaw. There's a few people out there who just hate KJ Noons, mainly jackass potheads from central CA (the third state of California...I so wish they'd secede), because he totally destroyed their mush-mouthed whiny pothead hero. Jared Shaw opens his mouth and they happily repeat whatever he says because it validates what they think already, not because it has any merit on its own. We don't know if it has merit: we don't know what's really going on. Is there a big-time dispute over contract language? Did Gary Shaw show up with no pants on at KJ's cousin's bar mitzvah? Did the Noons camp suddenly realize they couldn't work with a diseased scabies mound like Jared Shaw? We don't know. So to yap that anyone's ducking anyone without all the information is stupid.

Second, a lot of folks think this EliteXC CBS card coming up is the be-all, end-all of MMA in the entire history of the universe. It's not. It's important for EXC, and for MMA journalists who stand to make a better living if the thing goes mainstream, and for fans who are deeply invested. But if EXC fails, that just means that there's more fighters for other orgs and the price goes down. I have zero doubt that right now Noons' management is basically trying to soak every penny they can out of EXC. I doubt they'd agree that the sun was up if it may cost them a buck.
That of course is just my opinion. Could be that Noons is fucking terrified of Diaz, and hides under his bed shivering if he hears anyone lisping nearby. BUT WE DON'T KNOW. That's the point. I'm not taking anything Shaw says at face value. His interests do not lay with the truth. They lay with making as much money as he can. A big time repeating network deal can make him fuckin' truckloads of money (more power to him I suppose. Take care of your fucking employees though, prick), and that is what needs to be considered when reading what he says. Just like you can parse everything Dick Cheney says in relation to his love of eating tiny helpless babies alive, you can parse everything either Shaw says with their love of making stinking oodles of cash.

Can Faber get up for Brown?


One thing about smaller promotions is often questionable title fight matchups...and when you have a world-class pound-for-pound guy like Urijah Faber in a relatively rinky-dink org like the WEC, it can be exacerbated. Case in point: Mike Brown vs. Faber for the WEC 145lb belt September 10.
No way am I saying Brown is not a valid opponent...his record is fine at 17-4, with his only losses coming against the upper echelon of fighters: Hermes Franca in his pro debut, Genki Sudo (I've been installing Linux lately and seeing "sudo" makes me wonder what I need superuser privs for), Imanari (via leglock, duh) and the feisty Joe Lauzon (all his losses are by sub). He's got a few quality wins (I am not familiar with every fighter, so obviously at a given time an opponent could have been ranked higher), Yves Edwards, Jeff Curran, and Mark Hominick. He's a veteran with skills.
The issue is Urijah Faber. He appears to be a hardcore fighter who loves it for the sake of it. But so did Chuck Liddell going in against Keith Jardine. I realize they're different fighters at different points in their careers, but you gotta admit that Liddell didn't get up for Jardine, came in with no gameplan other than "knock this ugly fucker out" and looked pretty befuddled losing a decision, despite abrading Jardine pretty badly. Is there a fighter who can come in against Faber and do the same thing? While Urijah is one of the most aggressive fighters to ever step in the cage, aggression CAN be countered by a skilled & prepared opponent.
So it's possible that someone can face Faber with a smart plan and beat him. Likely? Probably not...not without some luck. Faber's only loss was to Tyson Griffin, and that came fighting over his natural weight and after a freak cut on the cage. The far more likely scenario is Faber getting a taste of mainstream fame and reading his own press. I don't care how dedicated an athlete you are, that stuff can get in your head. High-level athletics also naturally selects for super-confident individuals who may have a hard time seeing their own weaknesses (see Shamrock, Ken and Hughes, Matt)...combine any slipping with overconfidence and you have the making of an upset.
Urijah Faber has won with his energy, speed, strength, and grappling...as if that wasn't enough, he went in and beat Jens Pulver with his standup game, of all things. He had a BJJ black belt on his back for most of a round and looked like he was waiting for his dry cleaning, it worried him so little. Chance Farrar was clowned, and he's a tough-ass fighter. Norifumi Yammamoto for a while was seen as a dream fight, but he's been getting injured lately, who knows where Kid Dynamite is right now. The only fighter in the world who can beat Faber at this point at featherweight is Faber. There are some compelling fights from different weight classes for sure (Tyson Griffin rematch, Frankie Edgar, Imanari, Torres, etc), but as far as the 145 lb class is concerned, Faber is King. The only thing that occurs to me as a possible reason for him to stay totally focused would be the rumors of a WEC-UFC merger or whatever the story du jour happens to be...is he still in the WEC because of the lure of feature stories on ESPN, PPV millions, and UFC glory? Because right now Faber in the WEC is lamer than cornrows on a white guy. Hopefully we get to see him step up to the highest levels in his prime, and not later. The sport is ready for a guy like Faber, and so is the mainstream public. The best answer is a 145lb division in the UFC.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

ShoXC on friday

Watched with charles and des and ikoi. suganuma vs. hamman was a decent fight, poorly called by the PBP guys. the cyril diabate was just OK. the rest of the fights didn't really light me on fire. Still, decently put together. I'll not cancel Showtime for another week.

Friday, August 15, 2008

google reader blues

One problem with MMA right now is its size...relative to a lot of other sports it's in its infancy. There's simply not a whole lot of news every day, unlike say baseball, with its MLB, minor league, college, high school, and other teams, and hundreds of players who may at any second go insane or kill someone or do something else that's newsworthy. So some days, you end up with only a couple notable stories. Today it's Rampage's arraignment being delayed. I've seen that in my newsreader (google reader) at least 15 times today. It's barely news. But there it is again! Due to the vagaries of RSS feeds I'll probably be getting it for the next five days. Sherdog's in particular seems to update in spurts...nothing all day, then 50 stories in a row. Like they're jacking off into my google. How dare you!
Well, there's a ShoXC card later tonight, hopefully it doesn't suck. If anything happens, I'll fuckin' blog about it! Yeah! WOOO!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Oh please

Fightlinker has an "Open letter to Kenny Florian" up on their site, where they criticize Kenny for a number of things.
I disagree with the whole letter. Kenny put together a great fight plan, and whipped a kid who had rolled through almost everyone in front of him. While It may not have been the most exciting for some, it was effective above all.
Here's the scoring criteria (from NSAC):

7. Thus for all Judges scoring UFC fights, the prioritized order of evaluating criteria is:
-clean strikes and effective grappling are weighed first.
-octagon control
-effective aggressiveness

Note the insertion of the word "effective". While Huerta may have been more aggressive, he was certainly, by a wide margin, less effective.
One can make and argument that aggressiveness should count for more, and I'm fine with that. But the criteria is what it is, and if a fighter dominates a fight within the scoring criteria he (or she) didn't merely "not lose", they won. I mean, what are they looking for, people who put their heads down and swing their arms in windmills? Like a second grade "I'm going to swing my arm and if it hits you it's your fault" fight? Yes, you want people trying to finish. But the fighter's the one who decides when he/she can try to finish the opponent.
This applies to Lyoto Machida, too, a guy many people seem to really hate. I don't feel that way, as I've said in the past. I think the guy is pretty incredible, and I hope he gets a title shot soon.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

whoa

I've been ignoring this little son of a bitch haven't I? Vacation, life, etc. Too much yakking on Fightlinker. Wev!
I just noticed they're putting up fight-worn gear from Forrest Griffin for auction.
Fight-Worn Forrest Griffin Gear Being Auctioned Off for Charity
Seeing that made me think about the fact that Griffin's win didn't really fill me with joy. His beatdown of Shogun, I was just thrilled. It was awesome, the guy showed a ton of heart and a huge tank and went for the finish. The win over Rampage was just...tame by comparison. It wasn't very interesting. Griffin's persona is OK, his story is all right, but for some reason the "TUF guy wins the belt" thing didn't do much for me. What is he, the third TUF competitor to get a title shot after the show? Second to win it. I guess it depends on who he defends against, and how he does. Seems unlikely they'll give him a powderpuff opponent, or that he'd accept one.
I don't know what it is about that fight, but it left me feeling a bit uninterested, like I wasn't really engaged in the first place. Kind of like BJ's win over Sherk. OK, it's cool that he won, and he was pretty dominant, I hold nothing against the guy, great work. But overjoyed? Even excited? Nope.
Hopefully GSP and Fitch put on a good show this weekend. I wouldn't mind seeing Herring-Lesnar go a couple rounds. I have a feeling Heath is going to find a way to win this fight. He's a tough dude with a whole lot of experience. We'll have to see.
Kenny Florian-Roger Huerta is being talked up like a FOY candidate...I don't know about that. I think Kenny's going to walk all over this kid. Huerta's got a bright future, but so did Joe Lauzon, and you see what happened to him, eh?

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Saturday...



OK, the blog-consensus is that this saturday's showdown between Forrest and Jackson has "no heat" (it's been repeated enough, it must be true right?). While I can understand some of that, it seems like a lot of it is generated by the people saying it. They themselves, the "reporters" if you will, don't get up for this card and are thus not "sensing" any heat. Feh!

My theory? A lot of the early bloggers are getting a bit burned out on MMA for the moment.

Not "I quit" burned out, but they've developed a thick callous to protect them, and things seem less exciting than they back in 2002 and no one knew what all this "ultimate fighting" was.

As far as I'm concerned I'm definitely over the honeymoon, so maybe this feel I get off the range-o-blogs is just, well, me, selectively editing. But this card I'm excited for. I love watching Rampage fight, period. And now that Tito's out, 'Page brings the biggest head in the UFC to the cage, and he must protect the big-heads. I have Rampage by round 4 KO.

 
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