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

 
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