oooookay

so jesse kicks out a window and raises some hell. chris leben was in jail. john koppenhaver was in jailfor beating a guy up on the street. emerson was in court for gang charges.

they just crucified this this kid for nothing. what a fucking gyp. that's retarded. it seems like a transparent attempt to get that idiot CB back in the finals.

CB and Tim both showed heart in the matchup they made to determine a replacement. I score it for Tim by a razor thin margin on activity and punches. Now I'm not sure.
Could be CB unanimous. like 9.9-10 rounds. But I dunno. I'll post this before the decision.

Whoever wins, Amir is the man. No one else display the heart and determination and chin he did. I hope he wins.

CB by unanimous decision. He should get beat again by Amir.

Dana gave them both a double win bonus, $10K. It's stupid, however. I didn't mention CB and Amir's first fight, but it was pretty awesome. Amir took a beating on his back (way more action from CB on top than the second fight), and kept coming and coming, bleeding all over. At the end he scored an armbar and tapped the arrogant joker Dalloway out.

july 18, UFC vs. Affliction

It appears that UFC is seriously escalating their hatred of Affliction from a "keep your filthy shirts out of here" tiff to a "Oh yeah? OH YEAH?" staredown of epic proportions. They've got a rumored card of Anderson Silva (at 205lbs) vs. James Irvin for free on Spike up against Affliction's retardedly-named "Banned" PPV Card.
Attempted (as per fightlinker's spot on characterization):


Frankly, it seems like a lot of effort, on short notice, putting a very good fighter in harm's way for not much reward. My brother mentioned that perhaps they're feeling some actual financial pinch from the whole thing already, which would make sense. Otherwise it's just a massive overreaction. Running a free Spike card might actually dilute some interest in the upcoming regular PPV cards, and taking talent from it definitely will.

I guess we'll see.

Elite XC Return of the King

Well here we go. Ten PM Pacific time, the show begins. Every time I see Mauro Ranallo I think that he's going to talk SO HARD he'll just fuckin break up like an x-wing heading for the womprat-sized opening.
Feijao-Cole to open. Cole is the guy who unexpectedly armbarred Mike Kyle back to anonymity, thank you so much. Feijao leaves the already-rotting corpse of the IFL for greener pastures. Goldberg just revealed that Feijao studied for veterinarian science, and that he (Goldberg) is an animal advocate. Stats for the fighters are identical except age. They don't show reach on the EXC "tale of the tape" graphic.
Yamasaki is the official.
All the judges are from Hawaii. Cole looks nervous, Feijao looked eager coming into the cage. They're doing the "official" announcement and Cole still looks nervous. Feijao looks a lot more nervous now that he's in the middle of the cage. Anderson "The Spider" Silva in his corner...oh my. I'd be worried if Silva was within a hundred miles of me, frankly. I'm glad he's in Hawaii. He's scary.
Fight's ON.
Feijao with some kicks, then a takedown, Cole gets back up, impressively.
Clinched against the cage. Knees to the leg against the cage, a little striking clinched up. Yamasaki separates them, apparently a groin strike. Cole has his five minutes...no ref fuckups PLEASE. Good, we're starting. Homerun kick from Feijao...missed.
Leg kicks & knees are viscious. Cole grabs a leg out of the clinch but Feijao tries a standing knee, Cole is rocked, Feijao follows with strikes and sends it to the ground. Cole is rocked and taking strikes, Half-eye-el hits him in the back of the head a few times after spinning to the back. Yamasaki watches with little interest seemingly. After a few more strikes Mario stops it. The replay shows that it was a knee out of the clinch that started Cole's problems.
So I guess they're going to desperately hope they sign Tito Ortiz for a Feijao-Ortiz LHW matchup. Cole didn't show a lot of resistance once Feijao started throwing strikes from the clinch.
Goldberg tries to interview, Feijao doesn't hear a lot of what he's saying. He understood "Anderson Silva". Disses Feijao's english, what a dick. They replayed Feijao hitting Cole square in the back of the dome. Nice.
Well, this is off to a roaring start.

They're replaying the CBS EXC title bout between Scott Smith and Robbie Lawler, which was stopped due to doctor retardation. They're going to rematch it, thankfully. Scott Smith is possibly a pathologically insane person. I love that guy.

"Pee Wee" Herman vs. Ron H20 Waterman. I'm going to see if the fightlinker chat channel is up. I'm getting bored with the whole liveblogging thing. I always do.
No one home. Waterman with a takedown after some exchanges. Waterman keeps trying the canopener...weird. Herman brings the roundhouse kick, then takes waterman down and elbows him in the back of the head fifteen times, then spins to mount and punches him out to a stoppage. What's with the blows to the back of the fucking head? At least Feijao only had one, Herman dropped like 20 elbows to the back of Waterman's head. I'm sure they'll say "It was slightly to the side!" Meh. Herman wins. The mouse on Waterman's eye is really gross. So who's Bigfoot Silva going to fight, Bret Rogers or PeeWee Herman? Either one is OK. PeeWee is undefeated, Rogers is solid. A win by Silva over either would be a legit reason to give him the belt.
Fuck, please, never let Goldberg do a "walk us through the fight" interview again...god didn't they learn anything from UFC? Nothing sucks worse than the in-ring "walk me through the fight" interview. Dave Herman's sucked just that bad. Do it in the lockerroom later. meh.
Stephen Quadros is interviewing Yves Edwards. They're not saying anything interesting. Quadros even looked a little confused by the interview. Ninja Rua- Tony Bonello coming up here. Ninja looked like shit against Robbie Lawler to lose his EXC MW belt, can he change that up? So far the fights have been a little uninteresting, hopefully these next three will be good.
Bonello has had an insane life, Ninja looks eager to get it on. He's grinning a lot. Bonello looks nervous but not scared. Yamasaki has some crazy earpiece thing in his ear...not sure what that's for. Doesn't look like the kickass RefCam that Pride had.
Apparently Bonello is undefeated. Ninja's sure fought a high level of competition. 15-8-1. I can't tell who's in his corner, It looks like it might be Shogun. Bonello is yelling at Ninja during the staredown.
Bonello and Ninja throw a little, clinch, then Bonello pulls guard of all things. Ninja passes and works side. Elbows from side. Ninja looks heavy on the side...Ninja is dominating. Ninja is delivering elbows like mad. Now mounted. the elbows are ferocious. Ninja goes to knee on belly and knocks Bonello out. All of Bonello's posturing seems hollow, he had zero on the ground. Looks like a can thrown to Ninja. It is indeed Shogun in the corner. OK, so far, three fights, three basic mismatches. No strikes to the back of the head at least. Apparently that WAS a ref cam, and the ref cam showed Ninja with the full-on rape-choke on Bonello's neck, thumb in throat and everything. Neat!
More in-ring interview retardation, he's got a kid coming, good for him, hope it's got all its bits. The crowd sounded like it reacted well, I'll have to ask Esther what really happened. I haven't seen her anywhere yet, but I've been looking up and down from my laptop so who knows what I missed.
Quadros interviews Noons. Gay. Karl James looks pretty calm. He never really looks worried, even right before he gets KTFO. Gotta give him that. I'm rooting for the kid.
Next up Mushin Corbbrey vs Nick Diaz. Diaz is lookin good after his plastic surgery. He doesn't sound as retarded as his little brother. Corbbrey looks solid, yetanother guy shorter than Diaz.
Both guys stand for the first round, and more into the second. Lots of standing trades, nothing on the ground so far. Good shots landed by both guys, Diaz probably won both rounds so far. Takedown to side control with ten seconds left in the second to seal that round. I'd say two rounds to none, Diaz. Corbbrey needs to KO or submit Diaz this round. He's looking at a split decision loss at BEST.
Diaz shoots to start the third, Corbbrey defends. Standing and trading, Diaz gets the best of it. Another Diaz takedown to halfguard. To side control. Diaz is dripping blood. Working the kimura. It's close. He's almost there to armbar....escaped...to get stacked up on the cage. Nick landing blows from the top. Falls to side. Crossface. Working the arm again...Muhsin needs to stand up to do something with 120 to go. Mounted...It's going to be stopped in a second. It's over. Diaz shows some class grabbing Corbbrey as soon as its stopped to give him a hug. Ranallo mentions that Diaz sparred with Andre Ward, who was featured in Sam Sheridan's "A Fighter's Heart". Diaz and Corbbrey obviously like each other. Here comes the shitty in-cage interview. I think Diaz is stoned. He's getting booed right now. Goldberg tried to get him to call out Noons and he wouldn't do it.
There's Anderson Silva in the crowd.
OK! Main event, Noons Edwards. Let's fuckin do this.
I keep looking for Esther on the apron of the cage and I'm not seeing her. I'll have to figure out where she is later.
This event feels kind of lame so far, the production isn't really making me crazy or excited. Yves looks like he's got a crazy scar or cut on his nose. Funny comment from Yves: I was happy to see KJ win that belt, he's my boy...then I thought, crap, he's in my weight, I'm going to have to beat his ass.
Should be a fast fight.
The announcer (not the official announcement, just the one where they're walking into the ring. not the one before the ring entrance either. Just...an announcement I guess.) calls Yves a "Cage-master". Like a Moon Master?
OK! "Official ring introductions" happening. I'll trade four or five more pre-fight introductions to NOT have to sit through a post-fight in-cage interview with Goldberg. Seriously.
They're introducing Yves as fighting "Thugjitsu". Oy. I wonder if American Top Team offers a Tugjitsu course to overweight suburbanites in Florida.
Noons has 5 KO wins, and one KO loss in six fights. That doesn't apparently include the stoppage against Nick Diaz. That's a TKO, not a KO. Stupid EXC graphic. Yamasaki looks like he's on crack. Ear camera.
It's on.
OK, Noons comes out fast, throwing straight hands, then they trade, and KJ catches him, drops him and throws insane retard strikes til the ref stops it. Fast as hell. Big cut on Edwards' nose. Let's see a replay. OK! Big fat right uppercut from KJ dropped Yves, and he followed into the guard with intense strikes. The weirdest part was the casual stoppage from Mario Yamasaki...you could tell he'd decided to stop it, but he moved in very slowly and gradually. Weird.
The post fight interview is funny, Noons keeps trying to escape, Goldberg just asked "Do you have someplace to be?"
Yves really looks bummed. He hit KJ hard, and followed, but got caught himself. Fast but good fight.
Yves gave props, said he didn't remember any of the stuff after he got popped.
Ah, they brought Diaz into the ring. Stupid. Noons asks the fans if Diaz deserves a rematch. They boo. Diaz says "don't be scared homey. Now a fight breaks out. Whoa.
Looks like Nick or Nate was flipping off Noons' father and he took exception to that. Both Diaz boys stood on the ramp and threw retarded gang signs and postured. I hate them more now. Someone on Noons' side threw blows. Noons' father looked like he was going to do some damage. The crowd is definitely pro-Noons.
Noons still has the belt. Decent event, B- or C+

PS, don't overlook the possibility of shit going down afterwards. If the Diaz boys are anything it's stupid. Remember the hospital fight between Nick and Diesel Riggs? So shit could still go down in the tunnels. Who knows. Looks like a little bad blood.

WEC Pulver vs Faber

I'll be updating as it goes if you want to reload.

Well, the live event is starting up. In stark contrast to last night's EliteXC event they're airing it at 6pm when it's actually happening instead of leaving to wait. It's on the west coast but still.
First up is Razor Rob vs Kenneth Alexander. I don't know Alexander at all, but Rob lost his belt to Jaime Varner in his last fight. Varner escaped after trying to call timeout and Rob didn't pursue to finish him. Ah, regrets. Lots of commercial breaks so far.
Todd Harris is a decent play by play guy, and I've always liked Frank Mir. Wonder how he'll do in TUF.
Alexander's nick name is "The Black Ninja". Shouldn't they just call him "The Ninja"? It's like, Chinese food is just "food" in China. This is a big fight for Rob. If he loses, he's out of the picture. Alexander looks in shape. Who knows what kind of skill level he brings though...the CSAC wouldn't let him go in there against someone who was totally outmatched would they?
They're walkin' out.
Alexander vs McCullough
ROUND ONE: Razor Rob looks confident and calm. He's got Tiki Ghosn in his corner though, and TIki's suckitude may infect him. Be very careful, that's a lot of suck. Frank Mir is talking him up like a motherfucker. Rob is a good fighter, but come on Frank. There's a kickass vid of him and Nam Phan in TJ on Youtube somewhere. Look it up. Finally, "official introductions". Can't they streamline this shit somehow? They spend half an hour introducing these guys, then introduce them all over again in the ring. Feh!
OK, here we go. Josh Rosenthal refs. He sounds like the guy from YAMMA.
Feeling out. I didn't realize this was a rematch. Rob's nervous as fuck about the takedown. He takes Alexander down instead and holds up against the cage.
Not a lot happening.
Alexander gets up. head kick from alexander. Rob takes it. Still feeling out. Straight hand from Alexander. Shot stuffed by Rob, pops Alexander with a right. Straight kick from Alexander. Leg kick from McCullough. Again. boos coming down. McCullough's stalking Alexander. Headkick tried by Alexander. Alexander looks bigger than McCullough. Clinched against the fence. Shot attempt by Alexander, knee by Rob clipped him, the shot was shrugged off. Cut on McCullough. Ends with an uppercut try by Alexander. Sacramento fans are just as lame as NJ fans, they're booing. I'd give the round to Rob but not by much, neither guy did a lot but Rob landed a couple better strikes.
ROUND TWO:
They replayed the knee on the shot attempt and it missed (from the first round). Still wandering around the cage. Bodylock takedown by Alexander. McCullough sneaks out and pops up. Not much happening again. Fake shot by Alexander nearly popped Rob. Rob needs to do more.
Looks like both guys are trying to counter punch. Headkick by Alexander connects. More wandering around the cage. Uppercut by Alexander. Alexander acted like he got kicked in the nuts. Robs starting to connect a little. He's still nervous about the shot. Leg kicks from McCullough. More boos. Still feels like the first round. Cut kick straight left from Rob. Takedown by alexander. Can't keep Rob down. Another takedown by alexander. Frank Mir isn't impressed with Alexander's top control at all. More booing. Fucking stupidass fans. I'm glad I'm not an MMA judge. Two takedowns by Alexander but not a lot of other shit going on. Kind of a boring fight..
ROUND THREE :
Kicks from rob to the leg. Looks like the other two rounds. I think Alexander is losing. His corner thinks he's winning. Shot and a kick from Rob. Junky stuff, Alexander tries a shot to knee transition but Rob blocks it. Crazy seat-banging noise from the crowd. They were chanting "Fight, fight fight!"
Nice kick from Rob. Trading occasional punches. Alexander is barely moving
knees from Rob. Holding up against the cage. But shot from Rob, fight is paused. Right on the cup and Rob knew it. Mir makes a joke about iron crotch kung fu.
Restarted. McCullough is pushing. Shot sprawl up in the clinch. Trading occasional blows again, clinch, push away. Fake shot again by Alexander, picks a kick and ankle trips Rob down. then sits in Robs guard, rob gets back up and away. Trading some more. Round ends, more booing. Fuckin crowd at Arco needs to get in a ring and see how they like it. Dicks. Eh, I'd give Rob a split decision. Could go either way. We'll see. Not much going on, lots of cut kicks and leg kicks from Rob. A few strikes from Alexander but not much. A couple takedowns. Alexander didn't seem to do near enough to win the fight.
Here's the decision. 30-27 Rob x2, 29-28 Alexander, Razor Rob takes a split decision. Crowd boos again. Shut up already you a-holes. Rob mentions Alexander was a soldier in the military and the crowd quiets a little. Dopes.
They interviewed Jaime Varner. He's got a terrible, terrible haircut.
Mark Munoz vs Chuck Grigsby
Munoz is a champion wrestler apparently.
ROUND ONE: Grigsby came out to Rage Against the Machine, so I'm rooting for him. Apparently Munoz is the guy they're trying to build up. Grigsby is enormous tho, 6' 6" for a 205lber is tall as hell. They're finally getting to the fifteenth introduction. This is the "official" one.
Shot into a near northsouth choke. Grigsby is stalking him back. Munoz got staggered with an uppercut. Munoz has no standup. Munoz takes him down to side control. Strikes from the top, Grigsby got back to guard. NOt exactly BJJ experts here. Decent top strikes from Munoz, big punch on a guard pass. Side control again for Munoz.
Munoz is raining down strikes now. Another big punch to guard pass, knocked him out. Munoz wins via TKO. Nice job by Munoz. Desi picked him to win and she's being smug.
I like fighters who deliver punishment on the guard pass (see URL). Nicely done by Munoz, Grigsby's reaction will likely by "I shouldn't have gone for the leglock".

Donald Cerrone vs Danny Castillo
ROUND ONE: "somebody's Oh Must Go." I hate that shit. So far all the main card fights feature dudes from Sacramento. Cowboy looks tight. Cowboy has a guns thing on his banner and "Jesus didn't tap.com". Fucking hilarious. Mazzagati looking cleanshaven. Body knee from Cerrone, missed kick by Cerrone leads to a takedown, ground fighting, to an armbar try by Cerrone, it's in, it's over. Sub win by Cerrone. Little bit of a mismatch there. Castillo didn't look like he had a chance.

Miguel Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda five rounds for the bantamweight title.
Oh noz! Miguel Torres shaved the dirt stache! Still rockin the meximullet tho baby. Maeda walking out to the Beastie Boys. I bet he got it from Guitar Hero. Hey! Clay Guida ringside. Herb "The Predator" Dean in there officiating. Torres walks out to some mariachi music. Some of those mariachi songs are about hardcore shit. I like the fact that Torres walks out in a t-shirt and that's it. Not a bunch of shit to take off. Miguel is mad dogging Maeda a little. I didn't realize how young Maeda is, only 26. Maeda is maddogging right back. Lots of sponsors for Torres, including shoestore Zappos.com
ROUND ONE: Here we go! no glove touch...angry little dudes. Torres slipped on a kick goes down. Torres just ape rushes with beautiful strikes. Slips again. man Torres has some crazy striking. Torres is bleeding from the nose.
nearly grabbed an arm bar/shoulder lock, maeda escapes and does some brutal leg kicks while torres is down. fast and furious! lots of kicks from Torres. Axe kick from Maeda. Superman punch from Maeda. Lots of strikes. wild action. Maeda is delivering some punishment too. Heel kicks from his back by torres. crazy round! I love this! body knee staggers maeda. he comes back with some kicks. Wow, heck of a round. Mir is mentioning that Torres seems really angry, and he's fighting emotionally. I'd give the round to Torres but just by the thinnest margin. Maeda looked great, but Torres pressed a lot and seemed to land more strikes.
ROUND TWO:
leg kick maeda, head kick Torres. Torres hits the floor, invites maeda down, he refuses, torres does a weird butt jumping upkick and scrambles up. They're going to to toe right now it's great. Frank Mir is about to orgasm over this fight. Maeda is really trying to pick the leg on kicks a lot. Torres should go high. Great action against the cage. Leg lock toe hold attempt by Maeda. Competing toe holds. locked upon the ground like it was Pancrase. this is awesome. Scrambling! Torres trying to take the back, backwards elbow from Maeda. back to guard triangle try. Maeda stands back up. Torres trying a guillotine against the cage, to the mount. elbows! ouch maeda defending well. Torres gets the round right at the end. Wow!
ROUND THREE:
Frank Mir says it's the best fight he's ever seen in his life I can't argue. Hard jab from Torres. big knee. Maeda has a hard head. Maeda looks a little more cautious then bang catches a big left. Torres still stalking. Throwing long left jabs. flurry of strikes from both. Torres is battering him with jabs. Maeda's eye might be closing. Torres is outboxing him this round, big knee to punches for torres. Good shot from Maeda. Boddy kick by Torres. Kick barely misses by Torres. Still banging, Maeda seems to be fading a bit. taked won by Maeda, to full guard. Torres is bleeding, Maeda is sitting in his guard not doing much. Torres is still on the attack from his back. back up. Maeda's eye is closing. hard punches, Maeda can't see very well. Torres' quality is coming through. Maeda is fucking game though. wow what a fight.
ROUND FOUR: AAWWW FUCK it's over. damn damn damn. what a great fight.
Damn Maeda's eye was fucked up. Torres sure looks like he was in a fight. Classy show by both guys, they walked around the cage holding the other's arm up. Torres is tough as fuck. Sacramento loves this guy. He sure delivered.

Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver Five rounds for Faber's WEC featherweight belt
Faber looks retarded in cornrows. Please just cut your hair. Emily just IMd me "Battle of the awful hair!!!!" It's true. Holy shit too much talking. Jens coming out to AC/DC, rock! Clay's getting as much facetime as anyone is in this event. Crowd's going nutty for Urijah. Snoop Dogg? dr. dre? City of Compton? wrong city. meh, i don't know that song. the ring announcer said it was sold-out, but i don't think they sold the place out. God damn Faber looks solid and cut. Jens looks a little less cut.
ROUND ONE: nice round for faber, a lot on the feet, surprisingly. only on the ground for a secound or two. I'm not really blogging this one, i'm just watching.
ROUND TWO: OW MY NUTS. Jens seems ok.
ROunds so on, what a crazy fight. I'm digging this, i'm totally enrapt. Pulver's face is growing.
Wonder what they were talking about with the ref...
great battle. not as good as maeda-torres, but awesome.
this event was so much fucking better than last night's elitexc show it's hard to describe. great event, too bad the main event couldn't finish on the mat.

just a thought

EliteXC would have done better by putting Kimbo against their own guy, Brett Rogers, and letting him live or die there. Putting him against a hand-picked outsider who'd lost to Rogers already makes the outcome way worse, and damages the promotion.

Let's hope that the next show (which WON'T feature KJ Noons, but will probably feature Jake Shields) on CBS is better. There were some good fights tonight, but the questions seem to be beating the answers.

press coverage for EliteXC

A sampling of media responses.

Yahoo: "Internet king Kimbo outlasts Thompson"


CBSSportsline: "Controversial endings put damper on EliteXC's CBS debut"

Bleacherreport.com: 'EliteXC fixed: Kimbo Slice wins a rigged match"

SI.com:"Girl Power: Carano's KO adds spice to male-dominated EliteXC card"

Also SI.com:"Kimbo Slice manhandles Thompson in bloody EliteXC TV showcase" (Ed.: What?)