interesting TUF note

just randomly wandering through Sherdog as is the norm, and I noticed that Rob (best fight we've ever had!) Emerson had already fought his opposing coach Jens Pulver way back in his first fight in 2002. Of course, this was Rob's first pro fight in an org called "Ultimate Wrestling", and Pulver's...fifteenth, after he'd already posted wins over B.J. Penn, Caol Uno, and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. It's easy to forget that MMA has been going on for quite a while, and that a lot of fighters have a long history in promotions other than the "Big Two" Pride and UFC. Jens is a good example, but Joe "Daddy" is a good one too...with 34 professional MMA fights under his belt, Stevenson has fought some real fighters: Mishima, Guillard, Neer, Cummo, Denny, Dewees, and Jens. So before we saw him lay a brutal choke on an over excited Melvin recently, he had a long and impressive resume as a mixed martial artist. The way the UFC promotes fighters, you'd think they were making their debuts when they enter the Octagon.
I'd recommend doing a search on any fighters you're interested in on Sherdog, Wikipedia, and of course Google to see what else they've been up to. You may run into some interesting results. Also, consider finding a way of contributing to the great free sites like Wikipedia. They're an amazing resource that costs very little to access, and it's a good feeling to help them get better. A LOT of articles on combat sports originate in non-English-speaking countries, and it's a small thing to help, say, clean up an article about a kickboxer or SAMBO champ you admire.

har har

Okay, I know no one wants to hear anything about Gabe Ruediger again, but this is effin funny:


thanks "Punch Drunk Love" at 411mania.com

So-so UFN

Okay, I thought I'd weigh in briefly on last night's Ultimate Fight Night & TUF 5.

• Kenny Florian is cool. I liked him early and I still like him. He was fired up after that fight, screaming his head off. Anyone know what he was saying? I couldn't make it out. He showed tremendous brains & heart in that fight, getting snagged in the knee bar and escaping. The near tapout was very dramatic, and Florian/Mishima was the best fight of the night.

• Rogan made a great point about Ken-Flo: He's a normal guy who works really hard. I think that's why I like him. I hope he gets another shot at Sherk, or whoever the title holder is. Florian/Franca might be freaking great.

• Guillard has to watch his damn melon. He pretty much stuck his head in there like he was begging to be choked out.

• McNully/Hardonk was boring as hell. Ranks above, slightly, Herring/O'Brien in boredom and ineptitude.

• TUF 5 looks like it'll be loud, but maybe not awesome. The kids seem like they're putting on a show for the cameras, like all of them do. As of now I'm going to Tivo through to the fights, but we'll see.

• Can't wait for Jens and BJ to fight. There's still some prime smack flying.

• The team Jens brought with him to TUF looks great.

• Jens and Lauzon being together has already been mentioned, but is it weird that both of these guys are training fighters they'll possibly have to throw leather with? The whole thing seems set up to make everyone spaz out as much as possible. I guess that's the point.

• This interview with Joe Daddy is pretty good.

More as I think of it.

This weekend

As I mentioned before, this weekend is crazy. Here's the "Upcoming Events" sidebar at Sherdog.com:

» 4/5/2007 - UFC: Fight Night 9
» 4/6/2007 - CITC 2: CHAOS IN THE CAGE 2
» 4/7/2007 - IFL: Moline
» 4/7/2007 - UFC 69: Shootout
» 4/7/2007 - American Bushido: 2007 Grand Prix Semifinals
» 4/7/2007 - Turf Wars III: Extreme Fury
» 4/7/2007 - Warriors Cup: Stockton (myspace page...)

There's an assload of MMA stuff on myspace, which is good, I suppose, for the fighters and promotions, but not so good for the users. There's not much worse interface, design, etc on the web than myspace, AND it's owned by the reprehensible NEWS Corp & Rupert "Repressive Regimes are my BBF!" Murdoch. Meh.
That list doesn't even mention the fact that you can get PRIDE 34 at midnight on PPV and that the Ultimate Fighter 5 starts after UFNL on Spike! I'm hyperventilating a bit waiting for this evening. Even though I'll miss mc chris...some sacrifices must be made. Here's Performify from UFCJunkie.com running down some of the fights at Fight Night Live tonight.

Rich Franklin has been reported as fighting Martin Kampmann (from Sherdog.com):

The next chapter in Rich Franklin's (Pictures) quest to regain the UFC middleweight crown will unfold on June 16 Sherdog.com has learned, when "Ace" faces Martin Kampmann (Pictures) in the main event of UFC's first foray into Ireland.
In his return to the Octagon after losing the belt to Anderson Silva, the 32-year-old Franklin easily stopped Jason MacDonald (Pictures) in early March. On that same card Kampmann, 24, endured Drew McFedries' power before winning by arm-triangle choke.
Having won each of his three UFC contests, the Dane (15-2-0) gets a chance to prove he belongs among the best at 185 when he steps in against Franklin (21-2-0, 1 NC; 8-1 in the UFC).
It's expected Zuffa will officially announce the fight during Thursday's UFC Fight Night telecast from Las Vegas on SpikeTV.
Also, a fight between Forrest Griffin (Pictures) and Hector Ramirez (Pictures) is being discussed.

I'm looking forward to a rematch for Ace, personally. He's an impressive fighter, even if the UFC brass has a bit too big of a hard-on for him. I liked how he told the crowd to STFU when they started booing the amazing Spider Silva. Boo-birds always amazed me. Boo before, if you must, but after everything's been laid on the line, shut your porkhole. Anyone who steps up deserves at least respect.

I got lots more I want to talk about, so stay tuned!

Start!

This week seemed as good as any to start an MMA blog. With Ultimate Fight Night and TUF 5 on Thursday as well as UFC 69 Shootout and PRIDE 34 Kamikaze AND an IFL show...it boggles the mind. I'm going to try and post from very much a fan's point of view, with none of the snotty "I could roll with Minotauro" BS you see in some other blogs.
Hang in there, check back, and thanks for coming by.