TapouT ep

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

Performify's picks, other notes

Another superb article by Performify at UFCJunkie.com.
He has the fights pretty much going the way I felt, at least the ones I had thought about. I'm looking forward to Thiago Silva & Sean Salmon's fights. Chris Leben is going too, I find myself pulling for the guy. He's a tough kid...I don't doubt that whatever happens, he'll land on his feet.

Sam Caplan from CBS Sportsline & Five Ounces of Pain has his 71 preds online. Has the media coverage of Chuck been un-freakin'-believable or what? I saw him on ESPN, FSN, and Spike all in the course of about an hour last night, and have been hearing about him non-stop. Amazing. MMA has grown even since I got into it, about two years ago. Not a long time for such growth. I just noticed that Sherdog is reporting a Sportscenter report<.a> tonight on the rematch. Wow!

The WEC is on Versus June 3rd, keep that on your calendar. With the big-number cable channels (Like Bodogfight on "ION", whatever that is...channel 96 on Cox) it's easy to forget. WEC has Mayhem Miller and Razor Rob, so that's some stuff to look forward to.

Busy Memorial Day fight weekend.
5/26/2007 - KOTC: Damage Control

5/26/2007 - KOTC: Eclipse

5/26/2007 - UFC 71: Liddell vs. Jackson

5/26/2007 - Shooto: Battle Mix Tokyo 3

5/27/2007 - GCM: Cage Force EX Eastern Bound

5/27/2007 - K-GRACE: K-GRACE 1

5/30/2007 - Pancrase: Rising 6

Copied Directly from Sherdog.com. As usual.

WEC and VERSUS

Previously known only for me not watching NHL playoff games on it, the VERSUS channel is going to have my eyeballs starting on June 3, since they'll be showing WEC events live, on cable! I'm only 20 days late with this news! Hooray!

June 3 8-9 p.m. WEC One-Hour Event Special 9-11 p.m. WEC LIVE Event

June 6 9-10 p.m. WEC One-Hour Event Special

June 13 9-10 p.m. WEC One-Hour Event Special

August 5 8-9 p.m. WEC One-Hour Event Special 9-11 p.m. WEC LIVE Event

August 8 9-10 p.m. WEC One-Hour Event Special

August 15 9-10 p.m. WEC One-Hour Event Special

September 5 9-11 p.m. WEC LIVE Event

Good on VERSUS! WEC has some exciting fighters, like "Mayhem" Miller, "Diesel" "Look out for that knee" Riggs and "Razor" Rob McCullough. I for one look forward to having even more MMA options on cable, even if it's still comin' from Zuffa. Don't forget IFL, although I am still having trouble keeping track of everything in that league. They don't do such a great job of tying the teams to the cities, to get that local fan base going that makes a "team" a team.