"You heard it here second"

CNN made me think about the end of the world last night

2011-04-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well, this blog was my original MMA blog which has since morphed into CTMMANews.com. So I figured, why not use this space for some of my more generally applicable advice and musings? It's my way of giving back.

So, what to talk about? I could tackle some of our government dilemmas. Maybe give some advice as to how to get along in these harsh economic times. But nay, there is a much more pressing matter at hand. If you have been watching any late night tv, you may have heard that the world is going to end in 2012. I know right? You'd think they'd be more thorough in distributing such critical information. It's ok though because some guy in Arizona is going to jump off a cliff at 11:11 a.m. at the exact moment of the solstice, go through a portal, and keep the computer program we're all plugged into from shutting down. No I'm not kidding and I assume only Microsoft could be responsible for such shoddy programming.

While that is clearly a ridiculous interpretation of the Mayan calendars abrupt ending next year, there is no doubt that we're all doobed.(No I don't have a cold, that's how things are pronounced in my house)So what to do? No worries, I've got your Y/2/12 survival guide right here.

1) Be a ninja
- be it zombies or selfish neihbes (that's neighbors for those who don't speak "abreve") who were not prepared, you need to learn how to open a can of whoop-donkey when the cranberries hit the fan, so take a page out of my girlfriends playbook and stock up on guns and ammo before that socialist muslim craps on the Bill of Declaration of Independence and makes buying a grenade launcher illegal.

Awwwwwwww yeahhhhhhhh

2) Learn how to kill ninjas
- there's a million people out there reading this blog RIGHT NOW who are enrolling in ninja classes and buying grenade launchers and you need to learn how to kill them. This is survival and we need the cream corn of the corn crop making it through so we can repopulate the world with smart people rather than the type of people who currently don't use blinkers or can't get you're order correct at Wendys. (how hard is your job? really?)

Ninja > Pirate

3) Bunker down
- git er done and bunker down. Concrete walls underground with automated gattling guns is the way to go. Every once in awhile go top side and eat the people that tried to break into your survival fortress. The Book of Eli will try to tell you that eating human meat will make you shakey. They've obviously never watched Highlander. You eat someone and you gain their power, not to mention they can't turn into a zombie if you've already digested and pooped them out. #poopzombies

4) Friends
- you can't repopulate by yourself... only weird frogs do that... now that I think of it I'm adding frogs to my Post-Apocalypse-Axis-of-Evil...as well as hyphens because I'm not sure if they're necessary. But you need a group of friends with well rounded skill sets to keep things going. Some hunters, some farmers, maybe a chemist or engineer. Just make sure everyone you decide to live with is weaker than you so you can eat them if necessary. I've already set up my living arrangement that way. One less thing to do when the cranberries hit the fan. (Brian dies first so I can make Jon cook him)

If it comes down to survival, I WILL dropkick your baby

5) Rebuilding plan
- I've already commissioned blueprints of RalphTopia. It's going to be awesome. There's lots of arcades. Also, a statue of me as a ninja, but you can't find it, BECAUSE I'M A NINJA!!!! It's going to be where Boogertown, North Carolina is now. (Yes that's a real city. bet you a dollar)

I hear they keep it clean with the use of pickit lines.....get it? #heheboogers

6) food
- If you don't eat you can't continue being awesome, so while you shouldn't let it take your focus off of ninja-ing or practicing shooting vagabonds and gypsies (careful, they can curse you. Shoot them before they start talking or try to hand you a button. You don't want to wind up like the girl in Drag Me to Hell), get some food. Probably best to just take over an abandoned GNC and pound protein bars. The protes keep you powerful so you can continue crushing others on your way to Grand Emperor-ship.

While this guide was brief, I wanted to get the really important goals across. If you get these 6 simple rules down everything else is semantics, and no one knows what a semantic is so it's obviously not important. Good luck and God-speed

For reference, this is what Apocalypse-prepardness looks like

UFC 111 Recap

2010-03-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

The 17,000 fans at the sold out Prudential Center this past Saturday saw a champion retain his belt and a new champion crowned in addition to the other 8 fights featured on the UFC 111 card.

On the preliminary card, local fighter Greg Soto started the night against fan favorite Matt Riddle. Riddle controlled the action through the first two rounds using good hand combinations as well as takedowns, although Soto appeared to be gaining steam. That momentum was halted however when an illegal upkick to Riddle from Soto earned Soto a disqualification in his first UFC fight. An unfortunate end to an entertaining fight.

Jared Hamman defeated Rodney Wallace by decision in their Fight of the Night performance. Both fighters came out looking for the early knock out and while that may have tired them out quickly, neither fighter gave up throughout the 3 rounds. Both men scored with hard combinations but Hamman looked to be the better striker as Wallace's wrestling saved him on multiple occasion when Hamman looked like he was close to ending the fight. The two fighters each earned $65,000 bonuses for the exciting performance.

Nate Diaz impressed in his welterweight debut, coming up from lightweight to challenge Rory Markham. While this was thought to be a classic "Grappler vs Striker" with Diaz being the Jiu Jitsu expert and Markham the kickboxer, Diaz proved the more dominant stand up fighter, landing crisp combinations before dropping his opponent and earning the TKO at 2:47 of the first round.

New jersey native Kurt Pellegrino won an exciting ground battle against fellow Jiu Jitsu fighter Fabricio Camoes via Rear Naked Choke towards the end of the second round. Camoes nearly finished the fight with the same technique early in the first, but Pellegrino was able to survive and reverse position. The finish earned Pellegrino a $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus.

In the first of two title fights, Shane Carwin continued his streak of 1st round stoppages earning him the Interim Heavyweight Championship and a unification bout with current champ, Brock Lesnar. Carwin pushed his opponent, former champ Frank Mir, into the cage early, using knees and dirty boxing to wear down his opponent. A little more than halfway through the round saw a series of uppercuts from Carwin drop Mir to the canvas where Carwin followed up with punches, causing the ref to stop the fight. After the fight, Lesnar entered the cage to congratulate Carwin, but remind him he had won a "fake belt" in the interim championship and that he'd need to fight himself to earn the real one.

The second championship bout of the night saw top pound-for-pound great Georges "Rush" St. Pierre battle Englands Dan Hardy for the welterweight title. St. Pierre seemed intent on getting the submission win, constantly passing Hardys guard and looking for chokes and armlocks. The first and fourth rounds saw Hardy in dire straights as St. Pierre looked to have an armbar and kimura locked in. Hardy though refused to tap and managed to get out of the holds to survive until the judges score cards, which unanimously saw St. Pierre taking all 5 rounds. One judge even gave St. Pierre a 10-8 round and another 2 10-8 rounds. While dominating his opponent, St. Pierre immediately received critisiscm for not finishing the fight, as Hardy came in as a +500 underdog and wasn't expected to make it the distance. The crowd at the Prudential Center voiced their dissaproval throughout the 5th and final round as the action seemed to slow. My opinion is with the two near submissions, "Rush" was clearly trying to finish. My only critique would be that after Hardy was able to escape two very close armlocks, St. Pierre could have changed his gameplan to focus more on landing strikes on the ground. Given that St. Pierre was able to basically pass Hardys guard at will, he was in position to deliver the strikes but seemed intent on looking for the submission.

Overall an entertaining card that saw some meaningful division matches in addition to the two title fights.

Behind the Record: Chris Lytle

2010-03-25T09:03:00.001-07:00

Since 1999, Chris "Lights Out" Lytle has fought for Pancrase, HOOKnSHOOT, Cage Rage, the WEC and his longtime home now with the UFC where he has been fighting for the past 4 years. With a record of 28-17-5, Lytle has never fought for a major title but has held the HOOKnSHOOT and Cage Rage welterweight titles. He is a 4 time Fight of the Night, one time Knock Out of the Night and two time Submission of the Night bonus winner in the UFC.

Chris Lytle trains in Mixed Martial Arts part time along side being a firefighter in Indianapolis. He started training in 1998, only 6 years after the North American inception of the sport and is still competing at the highest level after 11 years. That amount of time in the sport explains a record with 50 pro MMA fights and a 13-1-1 professional boxing record. While his MMA record can appear underwhelming as far as win-loss ratio, of his 17 losses, 15 were by decision and 2 were via cut. In over 50 fights with some of MMA's best, no one has been able to submit or knock out Chris Lytle.

Lytle's early days in Pancrase saw him take some of his first losses to Jason Delucia and Shonie Carter while fighting to a draw with Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa. His UFC debut was a decision loss against Ben Earwood, a little known MMA fighter who hasn't fought since retiring in 2001 but was a top welterweight at the time. Lytle wouldn't return to the UFC for 3 years untilfighting Robbie Lawler to another decision loss. His first UFC win would come 5 months later (submitting Pete Spratt in between) with a submission of Tiki Goshen that started a great 3 year run for the fighter. From 2004 to 2006 Lytle went 8-2, losing by decision to Karo Parisyan and by cut to Joe Riggs while securing wins over the aforementioned Goshen and Spratt along with Ronald Jhun, Pat Healy and Savant Young leading him to fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter titled "The Comeback". Lytle fought his way to the finals taking out Pete Spratt and Din Thomas before losing in the finale by split decision to Matt Serra in a fight that was somewhat of a stalemate, with Serra pushing Lytle against the cage for most of the fight. Serra went on to score the upset of the century when he knocked out Georges St. Pierre while Lytle suffered a loss to Matt Hughes.

Starting with the Matt Serra loss, Lytle has gone 6-5 over the past four years (one fight being in the UFL) and delivered some of the most exciting fights in the division, as his frequent bonuses will attest to. After the unfortunate early ending to his Fight of the Night with Thiago Alves (which months prior was rumored to instead be a move to the WEC to challenge Carlos Condit for the title), Lytle came out against Kyle Bradley and knocked him out in 33 seconds, earning his KO of the Night award. He said at the time he was going to stop worrying about being technical and just come out and fight. This reinvention produced his second Fight of the Night bonus in a slug fest with Kevin Burns, the close win over Paul Taylor (you guessed it, another Fight of the Night), the much hyped battle with Marcus Davis in Dublin, Ireland (which was shockingly a Fight of the Night winner) and his recent rolling knee bar and Submission of the Night win against up and coming Brian Foster. Mixed in the list of wins was one of the bloodiest fights of 2008 where Lytle was out wrestled and cut open by Josh Koschek. Throughout the fight, Lytle never stopped searching for submissions despite the grotesque amount of blood coming from the cuts on his face. This was the only fight in a 7 fight stretch where Lytle did not win a bonus. Going 6-1 for bonuses in his past 7fights, Lytle has netted himself an extra $275,000 over a roughly 2.5 year span.

Unfortunately, Lytle's weakness being wrestling, we're likely to never see him crack the top tier of the UFC's stacked welterweight division. However, one would have to imagine that every up and coming welterweight can't help but take a deep breath before accepting a fight with one of the division toughest competitors and fans everywhere can't help but shift a bit closer to the edge of their seat and lean in towards their tv's when "Lights Out" enters the ring because win or lose, you're guaranteed to see an exciting fight.

My Proposed Jon Jones Road Map

2010-03-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

After Jon Jones casually dismantled Brandon Vera, the talk began of how long until he fought for a title. Some have advocated letting the young fighter take his time to develop while others have said his unique potential warrants the fast lane to top level competition. Dana White however has given us a general time line.

"He's not ready for that," White said. "I'd like to see him get another year under his belt, and in that year, before he got a shot at the title, he'd have to take out Rashad (Evans), 'Rampage' (Jackson), possibly 'Shogun' (Rua) or (Lyoto) Machida, then get the title shot." - Dana White
In the past Jones has normally fought every 5 to 6 months. Given his easy win this past Sunday, one could propose a quicker turn around for his next fight, even with some time off to spend with his family, as Jones has stated is in his immediate plans. Lets say that puts him approximately around July or August. UFC 116 on July 3rd in Vegas is possible and with Brock's proposed return, it would be a high volume pay per view that would provide more exposure for a fighter the UFC is sure to want to promote heavily. In that same vein of promotion, we could also see Jones showcased again for free on UFC on Versus 2 on August 1st. However, deciding weather or not Jones gets put on free tv or a big pay per view card and when the next fight would be will be determined by his opponent.

The next opponent for Jon Jones should be another fighter on a win streak and with name value. Jones took on Vera off of a close loss to Randy Couture (who spent 15 frustrating minutes trying to take Vera down against the cage, something that took Jones only seconds on open canvas) but Vera's name value and the somewhat controversial nature of the loss warranted the match up. White's comments of Jones taking out one of the LHW elite before a title shot and those fighters being already matched up makes any of them an unlikely next opponent as the winners will be up for title shots and the losers will have a hard time coming out unscathed. So who is available for Jones on his way to a #1 contenders fight?

One up and coming fighter who is also coming off a big win is Ryan Bader. A fellow wrestler with a powerful right hand would provide a good stylistic match up and would be a great fight for the fans. This would be an excellent audience-pleaser on a Versus card. Also, Vladimir Matyushenko is a legend and has been on a streak. Jones style would force the methodical Matyushenko to have a more exciting fight than he has lately. My personal favorite potential match up, the winner of Forrest Griffin vs Lil' Nog which makes sense on many levels. Their fight is scheduled for UFC 114 in May, giving Jones 2 months to himself before starting to think about his next fight. Either fighter would be a tough and established opponent where a win would leave Jones a clear path for a #1 contenders fight against one of the top 5 of the division that White mentioned. These two fights puts us just over a year in the future with Jones potentially starting at a title shot no longer as a prospect, but as a clear cut #1 contender.

UFC 111 Implications

2010-03-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

UFC 111 is the most stacked fight card since UFC 100. Two title fights and several matchups that are very meaningful to their divisions. Breakdowns are a dime a dozen so I want to focus more on the implications for the future that some of these fights present.

GSP vs Dan Hardy
I'll start by stating that I am assuming GSP wins this fight. I'm assuming he takes Hardy down, passes to side and takes a kimura in the 1st round and proves Hardy doesn't belong in the same cage (I think Hardy vs Paulo Thiago would have been a more reasonable matchup considering division standings although I suppose St. Pierre had to fight somebody). A victory here will leave GSP as the most dominant welterweight of all time, standing atop a completely cleared out division with the only potential contenders looking for rematches in a fight they've already lost. Fitch or Alves make a strong case for the next title shot with Josh Koschek and Paulo Thiago not far behind. While Thiago is the only one of those to not already have a loss to St. Pierre, it's hard to get too excited about the potential match up after Fitch was able to control Thiago on the ground for 3 rounds. Only just now approaching his 30's, there is no end in sight for one of the sports most dominant athletes reign over the welterweight division, and he has (wisely) stated, there is no reason for him to go to middleweight to fight a much larger Anderson Silva.

Mir vs Carwin
Obviously when a title is on the line, the implications are clear. The winner fights Brock Lesnar and no matter who wins, that fight will be huge with either Cawin vs Lesnar being a clash of the two biggest Heavyweights the UFC has ever had (in modern times) or Mir vs Lesnar completing the trilogy that Frank Mir has been able to keep fresh in everyones mind no matter who he is actually scheduled to fight. Either way, the resulting title fight with Brock will headline what is likely to be a huge pay per view card for the UFC and a tough fight for Brock coming off such a long layoff. I will say that as big of a Carwin fan that I am, I have a hard time seeing him beating Mir after a year plus between fights. Both fighters though have dynamic finishing power and like to finish things quickly so don't blink when the bell rings.

John Fitch vs Thiago Alves
This fight may not produce a clear cut #1 contender but the winner makes a case at defining himself as the #2 welterweight in the UFC and possibly the world (depending on where you put Jake Shields). If John Fitch wins here he likely gets a title shot. If he stops Thiago Alves, then he should definitely get a title shot. Alves on the other hand will need another win or two to get back to the title if he bests Fitch on Saturday. For Alves, a rematch with Koschek or the previsouly scrapped match with Paulo Thiago make for good #1 contenders fights. I am leaning toward Fitch winning in this one as while Thiago lost to GSP at UFC 100, Fitch beat Paulo Thiago and then a tough Mike Pierce while Alves has been on the shelf for 8 months due to injuries.
(visit the MMAJunkie forums for a really great look at ring rust with good hard data)

Nate Diaz vs Rory Markham
I never thought Diaz was a big lightweight so this career move will be interesting. I will attempt a breakdown here and say that, despite Markham not fighting in a year, I struggle to find a way Diaz wins this outside of Markham making a grievous tactical error. I do not see Markham taking Diaz down which eliminates Diaz's triangle and guillotines (both of which are excellent) and I also don't see Nates wrestling allowing him to get the fight to the ground. On the feet, Diaz's boxing doesn't seem to impress judges and lacks finishing power. I expect Markham to keep it on the feet, and while not being able to crack Diaz's strong chin, win a decision by landing the harder strikes throughout the rounds. Should Diaz show either improved wrestling or punching power however, he makes a case that his move up a division was justified. This match up at welterweight is a good first test for Diaz in the division but should he lose, that would put him at 1-4 in his last 5 fights and make it hard for the UFC to justify keeping him on the roster.

I'm also interested to see Ricardo Almeida at welterweight against the always tough and aggressive Matt Brown as well as Saunders vs Ellenberger, both of which should be exciting and high paced fights. I'm glad I got my tickets before they sold out.

Herb Dean and Josh Rosenthal Earn Their Pay

2010-03-24T08:19:00.001-07:00

Refereeing was the hottest topic in MMA not even a month ago. Dana White's critiscism of Steve Mazagatti was all over vlogs and forums with fans weighing in on the issue. Last night however saw some excellent refereeing as Herb Dean and Josh Rosenthal had to make some tough calls and showed that there are refs out there who can handle the pressure and make the hard decisions.

First off was Josh Rosenthal overseeing the Sakara vs Irvin fight. Sakara's left hook hit Irvin in the eye and Irvin winced and fell to the ground holding his eye as Sakara jumped on him. Josh Rosenthal stepped in to what people initially though was a break to check the eye, but was actually the end of the fight. Rosenthal was in position to see the strike and recognized that the fist was closed when it landed. Since it was a legal strike that did the damage rendering Irvin unable to intelligently defend himself, the stoppage was a TKO win for Sakara. A perfect by-the-book call by Rosenthal who did not let the boo's from the crowd or the protestings of the fighters get to him.

The next scenario was not as clear cut but I believe Herb Dean made the best decisions possible during the Kongo vs Buentello contest. I will preface this by saying that Check Kongo needs to tighten up his game as far as fouls go. In this one fight we saw knees to the head of a grounded opponent, 12 to 6 elbows (which wether I like it or not, are currently illegal), a groin shot against the cage unseen by the ref (where Buentello also did not call attention to it aside from a look of pain) and some grabbing of the shorts. Is Kongo lucky he didn't get DQ'd? Maybe, but that result probably wouldn't have pleased the fans or the fighters. There was also a tough call where Kong had Buentello in a front headlock and was throwing knees to the head which were perfectly legal. Buentello then, without changing his body position, placed a hand on the ground to make himself grounded, rendering those same knees illegal. This was a few moments after Kongo had a point taken away for the clearly illegal knees to the head. Herb Dean stopped the action which was correct because the knees were infact illegal. However, he did not deduct a point from Kongo because he said that Buentello was "playing the game". This is why I like that call. For one, he stopped the action when the foul occured which was by-the-book. There is no arguing that Buentello became grounded and received knees to the head. It is absolutely the attacking fighters responsibility to make sure they are throwing legal techniques. Now I like the decision to not deduct a point because after throwing legal knees, he continued to do the same thing that seconds before was perfectly legal. Kongo was not in a position to see the hand change and while it is still his responsibility to do so, it was not technically an intentional foul as the previous knee was where Kongo was in position to see that Buentello was grounded.

Overall, a great night of fights where two of the fights could have ended in controversy, and while still awkward, the better fighters got the W's.

WEC Recap

2010-03-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

At WEC 47, the fighters showed that what appears on paper doesn't always translate to the cage. Oddsmakers would have had us believe that Brian Bowles and Miguel Torres were on the road to a rematch, but Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez not only pulled upsets, but did so convincingly. This is a credit to Sean Shelby's matchmaking as his WEC 42 matchup of Cruz and Benavidez could now be a future title bout as both fighters have now themselves as No. 1 and No. 2 in the division. As such, the former top-of-the-list rematch in the bantamweight division of Bowles vs. Torres looks to be a non-title affair, and while still a fight that would put the victor back in the title mix, the loser has even more to lose with both fighters getting finished in fights they were favored to win. Shelby will have his hands full as the volatile WEC title landscape continues to shift unpredictably. Lets take a look at what these fights mean for the future.

One thing to take from Cruz and Benavidez is that your record does not show how good you are. Cruz's decision wins made some doubt his ability to finish added to Bowles big name KO over Torres equaled most people predicting an easy win for Bowles. Pat Militech on MMA Live however had analyzed his fights and the way he moved and predicted an upset that had Franklin Mcneil scoffing. Needless to say I can't wait until the next episode of MMA Live.

The flip side of the Cruz/Bowles equation had Benavidez losing a close decision to Cruz, which at the time most said that if he couldn't beat Cruz, what hope would he have against Torres? Again, not only a big win but a dominant finish for Benavidez. Torres seemed to lack his usual aggressive striking game and while he started to use his length and jab, it was too little too late.

What we saw is that big name wins and win/loss on a record had masked the fact from most people that Cruz and Benavidez are the #1 and #2 fighters in the WEC's bantamweight division.

We now likely have several rematches on the horizon. Cruz/Benavidez is a fight that before this event, no one cared about a rematch but now after their dominant marque wins is going to be the best WEC rematch outside of Faber/Brown and Cerrone/Henderson. Also, Torres and Bowles will likely get their rematch but the conotations will be much different. Instead of fighting for the title as most assumed would be the case, they are fighting for relevancy. Torres is 0-2 in his last two and Bowles got dominated by Cruz. The loser of the fight will now find themselves much further down the ladder than if the rematch was contested for a title. The third rematch from this card is a likely rematch between George Roop and Leonard Garcia who fought their Fight of the Night bout on the undercard. Garcia was supposed to destroy Roop but had it not been for a bad point deduction by the ref, Roop would have won the split decision instead of the bout ending in a dissapointing draw.

All in all a solid WEC card and good night of fights.

Other notable events on the card were;
-Scott Jorgensons violent guillotine choke win
-Javier Mendez finally getting a much deserved win
-The fact that I may not be able to emotionally handle seeing Jens Pulver fight again
-Taurosevicius vs Davis to me highlights the need for more Draws. Neither fighter in my opinion deserves to be coming off of a win or a loss in their next fight.

Stylistic Double Standard in MMA

2010-03-04T07:38:00.000-08:00

When a talented wrestler comes into MMA, we expect a one-sided skill set but we still want to see his potential. We'll give him time to develop his striking while he competes and wins decisions. When a world class boxer enters the sport though, we doubt his chances against any “decent, well rounded” fighter. There is no doubt that wrestling is the hinge that determines where a fight takes place, and thereby determines what skillset the fighters will be using, but there are plenty of good fighters that have average wrestling. With the signing of James Toney, some fans reacted with disdain while there are plenty of kick boxers who have come over to MMA who haven’t received the same criticism about their background. Fans have given a pass to fighters who “brawl” because it’s entertaining when it’s just subpar striking. If he can adapt and take the time to learn grappling, I think Toney can raise the current level of striking in MMA just as the influx of top wrestlers has raised the level of wrestling in the sport. As we get more and more fighters from certain specialities who, and this is key, are able to adapt their style to MMA as well as learn the other necessary skillsets it will make for even better future fighters.

Support Your Local Fighter

2010-03-01T13:05:00.001-08:00

Injuries are a part of training and often fighters are asked to step in on short notice as a replacement, but with the UFC roster being trimmed every event, it’s natural for most established UFC employees to be hesitant to fight without enough preparation time. Enter the prospect, the local champion, the part time MMA fighter. One fighter’s injury is another’s shot at the big time. The most recent examples being UFC on Versus 1 prelim fighters Julio Paulino and Derrik Elkins. Paulino most recently fought in Alaska and Elkins in Indiana. So next time you pass up that local MMA show, where you can probably get front row seats for $50, think about the people who went to TKO 14 and got to see GSP choke out Pete Spratt before anyone in the US knew who he was. There may be MMA history being made in your own backyard.

Frank Mir Backlash Unwarranted

2010-03-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

Frank Mir recently shared in an interview that in his mind he was going to “kill” Brock Lesnar the next time they meet in the Octagon. He received quite a bit of backlash from both media and his employers at the UFC. While Mir is known to toy the line of hyping a fight and trash talk, it seems that that reputation and peoples dislike for his attitude has made the community react more harshly than it normally would. Lesnar, BJ Penn and Kenny Florian have all used terms involving death or killing when hyping future match ups but none received the harsh reprimand that Mir has. Obviously there has been much work done to enhance the image of MMA to gain regulation in new states as well as mainstream acceptance, but being a combat sport we should expect fighter to have an aggressive attitude when hyping an upcoming fight.

Has George Sotiropoulos Arrived or Have We Just Not Noticed?

2010-02-23T07:28:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday at UFC 110 George Sotiropoulos proved the majority of fans and pundits wrong by dominating the heavily favored Joe Stevenson everywhere the fight went. Weather on the feet, in top position or from his back, Sotiropolous was never in trouble and always had Stevenson defending either his crisp striking or a slew of diverse submission attempts. While Stevenson had a few moments of brilliance diving for a D'arce choke and getting top position late in the 3rd round, the 30-27 score that George received hardly tells the whole story.

Already fans are breaking down Sotiropolous vs Penn, maybe less because of his win over Joe "Daddy" and more because there doesn't seem to be any challenges for Penn inside the UFC lately. One lightweight that fans have always wanted to see Penn pitted against, Shinya Aoki, has fought Sotiropolous in the past. The fight can be watched here on MiddleEasy dot com.

http://middleeasy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1626:aoki-vs-sotiropoulos-is-so-perfect-of-a-fight-that-it-already-happened-and-we-have-the-video&catid=35:events

While George spent much of the first round protecting his knees from Aoki's heel hook attempts and ended the fight with an unfortunate groin kick, George fought well against one of the worlds top lightweights. It's likely George has been overlooked due to going through The Ultimate Fighter show and losing on that show to Tommy Spear, a fighter who has since been dropped from the UFC. During that TUF loss however George was poked in the eye several times and was fighting a man huge for the welterweight division, let alone Georges home division of lightweight.

After a perfomance like the one against Stevenson, Sotiropolous' next fight should be against a top 5 opponent. Perhaps Sean Sherk, Gray Maynard or Tyson Griffin or even the winner of Gomi vs Florian would appropriate next level opponents and a quality win over either would put George within sight of BJ Penns belt.

MMA Promotions Control Over Match Ups Has Pros and Cons

2010-02-12T11:49:00.001-08:00

MMA is unique in that promoters have control over their matchups. This has been a blessing and a curse in that hardcore fans see fighters like Jon Fitch and Yushin Okami passed over because their style doesn’t sell, while big names or charismatic fighters like Brock Lesnar or Dan Hardy seemingly get to jump the line to a title shot. There is also the positive side where fights that end like Machida vs Rua can be instantly re-matched to give fans the closure they want and promoters often listen to both fighters and fans and create fights like Davis vs Lytle. It will be interesting to see if this model persists as the sport grows and even one day big promotions change hands. While it’s harder to dodge a worthy challenger than in boxing, the potential does remain for promoters to hand pick matchups and promote the fighters they want.

UFC 110 Main Event Illustrates Changing of the Guard

2010-02-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

It first happened at UFC 65 when Georges St. Pierre took the title from Matt Hughes. We saw a changing of the guard when the younger fighter defeated the legend. We are approaching an epoch in this young sport where the pioneers and legends are reaching retirement age. I believe we will see more marquee fighters retire in the next two years than in all of MMA past combined. As that happens, we will see more fights like the upcoming UFC 110 main card bout of Nogueira vs Velasquez. As hardcore fans continue to bet on and pick fights, they will start having to gauge how talent and athleticism weigh against experience and technique; intangible attributes with no easy conversion scale. On February 21st will Nogueira teach the younger fighter a lesson, or will Velasquez show us that Nogueira’s wars have finally caught up with him?

UFC Relentless: Aftermath

2010-02-08T08:06:00.000-08:00

Randy Couture defeats Mark Coleman

Randy Couture finished an outclassed Mark Coleman in the second round via rear naked choke. The first round saw Randy with great angles, stiff jabs and 1 2 combinations consistently hit a stiff and robotic looking Coleman. The last few minutes were Coutures signature clinch and dirty boxing against the cage that drained the last out of Coleman. The second was a continuation of the first with Randy taking the fight to that mat and mercifully opting for the submission rather than the TKO.

According to Dana White, this win put Couture back in title contention at Light Heavy Weight. Pundits and fans however are not all in agreement. While Couture continues to defy conventional age limitations, his recent fights with Antonio Rogrigo Noguera and Brandon Vera have raised questions on how he will fare against elite strikers. While there is no doubt that his clinch and wrestling still outclass the level of most fighters, Noguera's hands and Vera's feet put Couture in danger of being stopped in both fights.

White said in the post fight press conference that Randy is somewhere in the middle of the winners of the upcoming Machida VS Rua rematch and the long awaited grudge match of Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. It's hard to say how Randy's wrestling would match up against these elite knock out artists but one would think with how active he's been (3 fights in 7 months) we're likely to see another Captain America fight before he gets matched up with any of the aforementioned victors.

WEC 48 Pay Per View

2010-02-08T07:54:00.001-08:00

The votes are in: Most MMA fans say they are not willing to pay $44.99 to watch WEC 48. Despite putting their biggest names on a card, three top-10 featherweight fighters and two big title fights that both have "Fight of the Year" potential, the community is apparently not willing to pay. I personally will buy this card because I simply cannot pass up seeing this caliber of MMA. However, one would think the WEC, for its pay-per-view debut, would have scheduled it on a slower month in today's tighter economy. Also, for a product people are used to getting free, they could have started at a lower price. Aside from that, a star-studded card like this is perfect to be the WEC's first pay-per-view event, and we would be naïve fans to think that the WEC could remain active and increase fighter pay based solely on free shows.

Ralph "RJCT" Purificato
Wallingford, Conn.

Why GSP vs A. Silva Doesn't Make Sense for the Fighters

2010-01-25T08:03:00.001-08:00

As much as I would love to see Anderson Silva vs Georges St. Pierre, I don't think it benefits either fighter. The welterweight division is stacked so GSP can fight credible challengers and go down in history as the most dominant welterweight of all time. Even though he'd be at a size disadvantage, if GSP loses it will lower his p4p status and his image of dominance which for a fighter is important. That's why GSP has some of the most mainstream sponsors of any MMA fighter, because he's a dominant athlete. If GSP won, although it will rocket his p4p status and image, I don’t think he can continually defend the middleweight title at his size. If Anderson loses it destroys his mystique and p4p ranking. Anderson's beating guys at 185 and 205 so what does fighting a welterweight, although a dominant one, benefit him?

A PROPOSED TWEAK TO THE 10-POINT MUST SYSTEM

2010-01-25T08:02:00.001-08:00

Whether people like it or not, the 10-point-must system that is currently in place for MMA is going to be around for a long time. One adjustment could be for judges to change the score of a previous round to weigh it against later rounds in the same fight. Take the recent Tom Lawlor vs. Aaron Simpson fight. A judge gives Lawlor a 10-9 in the first round, and then he gives the second round to Simpson, 10-9. The judge realizes the discrepancy in the dominance of the rounds, goes back, and gives Lawlor a 10-8 in the first. When round one happened, it happened in isolation without anyone knowing how close round two would be. After both rounds happened, they had two rounds to compare against each other and could then rate Lawlor's first round more dominant that Simpson's win in round two. This way judges can see who "won his round more than the other won his round," so to speak. (Special thanks to "EAJames" for starting this topic in the MMAjunkie.com MMA Forums.)

SANCHEZ'S RETURN TO 170 SPOILS POSSIBILITY OF INTRIGUING FLORIAN REMATCH

2010-01-25T08:01:00.000-08:00

I was very disappointed to hear that Diego Sanchez abruptly decided to move back to welterweight following his loss to UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn. I was really hoping to see a rematch between Sanchez and Kenny Florian and felt that that fight would tell us a lot about both fighters and where they stand at 155 pounds. We all remember the lopsided first fight at middleweight, which was a far cry from the close fight contested between Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin on the same The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale card. Since then Florian has become synonymous with hard work and talent, and Sanchez has remained the super-aggressive cardio machine. Styles make fights, and this one would've been an exciting and tactical bout to watch. It also would have put the winner as a clear top-five lightweight on a quick track to a Penn rematch (though the outcome of that for either fighter would likely be the same).

November 29th 2009 SOME FANS TOO QUICK TO CRITICIZE JUDGING

2009-12-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

Lately there has been a lot of talk about reform in MMA judging. I, for one, agree and think the best solution right now is more educated judges and an emphasis on damage and trying to finish the fight. However, because of recent decisions in which there was clearly a lack of MMA knowledge, fans are now quick to cry "foul" every time they disagree with a decision. For instance, in Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin II, I personally felt Griffin clearly won the first and third rounds and that the second was close due to his standup and the sweep. The point of this entry being, though, while we know there are some enhancements that are certainly needed, let's not cry foul every time we see something differently or our favorite fighter loses a decision – especially when it's the fighter's fault if it goes to the cards in the first place.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/17025/the-sunday-junkie-nov-29-edition.mma

Lesnar vs Carwin

2009-08-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

http://mmajunkie.com/news/15921/brock-lesnar-and-shane-carwin-in-discussions-to-meet-at-ufc-106-in-las-vegas.mma

As broken by MMAJunkie (My personal choice of MMA news broker be it through their site or twitter) a likely bout between Heavyweight Juggernauts Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin is slated for UFC 106 in Vegas.

As Brock has amassed his 4-1 record using his size and athleticism to negate the large experience gaps he has faced against his opponents so far, Carwin poses a "fair fight" in terms of physical gifts. Carwin is the only fighter in the UFC with bigger hands than Lesnar, both of which needed custom gloves made for them, making this fight a tough test for Lesnar.

Lesnar, while belittled by hardcore fans for his lack of experience and marketing shove up the title ladder showed a savy gameplan and patience in his dominant performance against Frank Mir last July.

Carwin's last bout was a step up in competition against Gabe Gonzaga who not only tested Carwin's chin but also his skills off of his back, both of which he passed and delivered another devastating KO, bringing his record to 11-0.

While Brock's 4-1 record pales to Carwins 11-0, it can be argued that Brock has faced tougher competition with his last 3 victories being over vet Heath Herring, legend Randy Couture and avenging his one loss against Frank Mir who was coming off a destructive win over Antonio Noguiera. Carwin's hit list, while not as elite, consists of solid fighters, all of whom never made it out of the first round.

When breaking down this fight, only experience seems to set the two apart. Both are enormous and athletic wrestlers with devastating KO power and both come from strong camps with coaches that will come up with a perfect gameplan, which will likely be the same for each fighter. There are small advantages in each area however as Brock is the more decorated college wrestler while Shane has showed more polished boxing.

The likely plan for both is as follows; A) Put him on his back B) Stand and knock him out. I for one hope plan A is quickly abandoned. Brock has yet to be tested on his feat and I feel has shown some weakness there. Randy had early success on the feet and the few offensive moments by Mir in their last fight had Brock covered up and moving straight back until a flying knee attempt ended with Frank on his back again.

Now that Greg Jackson has Carwin training full time for the first time in his career, he'll likely have him aggressive in the standup as that will help set up the takedown. Straight wrestling will favor Brock but throwing hands and having him cover up will present the opportunity for Shane to change levels and score the takedown and finally test Lesnar on his back. If Shane can connect and test his chin or get top position, we could easily have a new Heavyweight Champion.

Lesnar will likely look to stand initially but should be able to take the fight to the ground whenever he'd like. In the past we've seen that it doesn't take much more than a playground-like shove for Brock to put someone on their back. If Brock gets on top, expect a more aggressive attack than he showed against Mir as he won't be worrying about submission defense as much.

This fight boils down to either who connects first or who gets on top first. If they stand for any amount of time I don't expect this fight to leave the first round. Should they decide to wrestle, we may see the fight hit the second or third. Either way, both fighters are powerful and aggressive making this Clash of the Titans a great fight to look forward too.

UFC 98 Picks and Comments

2009-05-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Lyoto Machida-Dec-5
Matt Hughes-Dec-3
Xavier Foupa-Pokam-Ko-2
Dan Miller-Sub-3
Sean Sherk-Dec-3
Brock Larson-Dec-3
Pat Barry-Ko-1
Phillipe Nover-Ko-1
Krzysztof Soszynski-Dec-3
Yoshiyuki Yoshida-Ko-2
David Kaplan-Ko-3

My thoughts on why I am more confident in Hughes winning than Lyoto as a lot of people Serra is very capable of pulling off the upset while saying Lyoto is favored to win. I just feel the opposite way although I agree Hughes and Lyoto should both win.

Hughes and Serra are both coming off injuries, Hughes more recently and both haven't fought in alittle over a year.

Looking at their past opponents, Serra's big wins besides GSP are Jeff Curan and Chris Lytle. The Lytle fight was not the greatest fight ever. Now I don't believe in lucky punches. Serras KO was great, he has heavy hands no doubt. However, I think GSP showed 9 out of 10 times he will dominate that fight and I think most agree as no one is clamoring for the rubbermatch.

Also, between Serras '05 loss to Karo and his 11/06 win over Lytle, he had no pro fights although he did fight on TUF. In that time, Hughes;

Loss Georges St. Pierre
Win B.J. Penn
Win Royce Gracie
Win Joe Riggs

all tough fights (ok Royce wasnt too tough) and alot of experience gained.

I fully understand the fight is here and now but looking at their history I really don't see how Serra on his best day will beat Hughes on his worst day. And I am definitely a Serra fan and not really a fan of Hughes. Serra's only 4 MMA subs are against nobodies. 3 of them were in his first 3 fights against guys that never fought again, 0-1. I think Hughes is a better MMA Submission fighter. No Gi BJJ match I take Serra all day against anybody but he has never shown great submission finishing power against anyone even C level. Hughes has gotten out of tough spots with better mma submission fighters. His second fight with BJ he was in the worst spot you could be in against BJ and toughed it out.

Also, Hughes has shown a desire to improve by going to train with Sean Sherk. This shows me he has humbled himself and is smart enough to know that he needed to switch things up to continue to compete. Serra, although training with the miller brothers and frankie edgar as shown in his blog, seems to be doing the same things. Hughes at least had the excuse that his past routine made him the greates WW champ in history (until GSP racks up his inevitable win streak) where Serra's didn't do much for his career. That is why I think Hughes is a top lock for a Decision win.

Now for Lyoto vs Rashad. This case is simply to give my perspective on why I am low locking this one based on the fact that Rashad absolutely has the ability to finish Lyoto, although I'm confident Lyoto will win a decision.

Lyoto in the fights I've seen (please point me in the direction of information I may have not seen) hasn't really shown what kind of chin he has. i'm not saying it's weak but more that it is an unknown variable. I can't confidently say that if (and I know its a big if) Rashad connects with a right hand or head kick that Lyoto can shrug it off.

Also, i cannot confidently say that Lyoto will be able to stop every one of Rashads takedowns. The closest information I have to compare is the Tito fight. Tito spent much of that fight trying to chase Lyoto down. I believe Rashads gameplan is to shoot all day as putting Lyoto on his back is his best bet to deal with his elusive foot work. With Rashads ability to set up the takedown with strikes and his explosiveness, he has a good chance to do that. I also feel that Rashad has finished better opponents than Lyoto has taken to decision. Tito being their common and Lyoto performing better against him than Rashad I feel is hard to compare as they were two very different fights with very different gameplans from each fighter.

The End of an Era

2009-04-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

Chuck Lidell first stepped into the Octagon on May 15th 1998 at UFC 17. He fought between the UFC and other organizations, with his first finish actually coming by way of a rear naked choke. After his win against Jeff Monson at UFC 29 Chuck never fought outside the UFC, aside from representing the organization in the Pride FC tournament. 21 wins with 13 KOs later, Chuck Lidell grudgingly resigned to the fact that his run in MMA was over following his loss to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 97. Ironically, his first and last UFC events were both titled "Redemption", bookends for an 11 year career that certainly did not need to be redeemed.

The Iceman was at his prime at a time when the UFC needed a public figure to herald the sport into the mainstream. With his rockstar appearance and lifestyle to quiet confidence, Chuck became a superstar as people tuned in to watch the Iceman take out his next victim. After losing to Quinton Jackson in Pride, Lidell went on a 7 fight streak that lasted two years, knocking out every single opponent that entered the cage with him. Fans everywhere couldn't help but pity his next opponents as second on the round timer seemed to countdown towards an inevitable conclusion, that left hook or right hand would find its mark and send the recipient crashing to the canvas.

Then in May '07, the highly anticipated rematch against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson came to a halt barely 2 minutes into the first round, courtesy of a Rampage counter punch to a low left hook by Chuck. His comback fight against Keith Jardine also did not go as planned, as Chuck lost a split decision. Then at UFC 79, a fight of the year candidate battle against long time rival Wanderlei Silva put Chuck back in spotlight. The three round war saw Chuck win a decision, dominating the action from start to finish with little lulls in action as the two swung for the fences for 15 minutes. It seemed like Chuck was on his way back to the top as he faced off against the younger Rashad Evans. The first round saw Chuck impose his will and land aggressive shots but the second round did not go the same. Pursuing his opponent against the cage, the younger and quicker Rashad landed a devastating right hook that put the Iceman out cold, putting the arena and viewers at home in stunned silence. Chuck eventually left the cage under his own power but the retirement talk had already started to buzz. The fight at UFC 97 against Shogun became a make or break effort to stay in the game. Unfortunately, powerful leg kicks and a left hand ended the bout decisively, and Chuck went down again.

At nearly 40 years of age, there is no shame in retirement from a sport, especially a sport that you not only built up into a mainstream obsession, but dominated for two years. Chuck "The Iceman" Lidell sat atop Mixed Martial Arts as a living legend, selling out arenas and selling shows on the power in his hands and fight anyone, anywhere and anytime attitude. A true fighter and warrior who lived for the competition, Chuck Lidell will always be a legend in the sport.

UFC 97 Picks

2009-04-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

Anderson Silva-KO-2
Chuck Liddell-KO-3
Cheick Kongo-KO-2
Luiz Cane-KO-1
Krzysztof Soszynski-Sub-3
Jason MacDonald-Sub-3
Denis Kang-Dec-3
David Loiseau-Dec-3
Ryo Chonan-Dec-3
Mark Bocek-Dec-3
Sam Stout-Dec-3
Vinny Magalhaes-Sub-2

Here are my picks for tomorrows card which should be really exciting. Cane/Cantwell and Soszynski/Stann (alliteration much?) have the chance to be absolute slug fests. Cane is powerful and aggressive and should be able to handle Cantwell fairly easily. Soszynski has a great advantage on the ground and can have a submission at any point. The question is will he test things out on the feet first and for how long? After some stand up I believe he'll take it to the ground and secure a submission.

There are several very close matchups this card with Herman/Loiseau, Stout/Wiman and MacDonald/Quarry. All three of these will be very close and can go either way. I think the clearer of the three is Macdonald vs Quarry. Macdonald has fought much better competition although losing to higher level fighters while Quarry, aside from losses to Maia and Franklin, has beaten mid level fighters. Looking at their shared opponents in Maia and Franklin, MacDonald fared much better than Quarry, showing great ground skills and defense against Maia, and while getting dominated by a strong fighter in Franklin, showed he could close the distance. I think that is the most telling fight as Quarry is not as strong as Franklin and will not be able to consistently stop MacDonalds takedown attempts. As Quarry was submitted much quicker by Maia than MacDonald, look for a late sub by the Canadian.

...one more note, if you think Kang is being fed an easy comeback opponent in the little known "Professor X" think again. An upset here in a KO by Xavier would not surprise me at all.

UFC Condit vs Kampmann

2009-03-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

Carlos Condit Vs. Martin Kampmann
Martin Kampmann-Dec-3

Ryan Bader Vs. Carmelo Marrero
Ryan Bader-Dec-3

Tyson Griffin Vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Tyson Griffin-Dec-3

Junie Browning Vs. Cole Miller
Junie Browning-Dec-3

Gleison Tibau Vs. Jeremy Stephens
Gleison Tibau-Sub-2

Ricardo Almeida Vs. Matt Horwich
Ricardo Almeida-Dec-3

Brock Larson Vs. Jesse Sanders
Brock Larson-Sub-1

Tim Credeur Vs. Nick Catone
Tim Credeur-Sub-2

Jorge Rivera Vs. Nissen Osterneck
Jorge Rivera-KO-2

Rob Kimmons Vs. Joe Vedepo
Rob Kimmons-Sub-1

Tim McKenzie Vs. Aaron Simpson
Tim McKenzie-TKO-2

Steve Steinbeiss Vs. Ryan Jensen
Steve Steinbeiss-Dec-3

Kampmann vs Condit
A great free main event fight, Condit vs Kampmann is going to be exciting. The two aggressive strikers have a tough test against each other. Condit has hype and the weight of his WEC belt on him as he makes his much anticipated UFC debut while great things are expected of Kampmann one division south of where he started his UFC career.

Condit has showed technical Muay Thai skills and a dangerous submission game off of his back, both courtesy of his lanky frame. He'll enjoy a 4 inch reach advantage in this fight which he'll use very well and combined with good angles and footwork will make Kampmann work to get inside. That being said, when Kampmann gets inside, look for him to strike, dirty box and clinch and use his size advantage to wear Condit down. Also, Kampmann has good takedowns and a good top game he can use if things get frustrating on his feet, and despite Condits move to the wrestling heavy Arizona Combat Sports, his takedown defense is his weakest area. Condit though has shown a great guard with quick armbars and triangles that keeps him dangerous when taken down.

Look for Kampmanns size and power to control Condit and take away the Unanimous Decision.

Other notable fights come courtesy of last seasons TUF contestants as Ryan Bader takes on Carmello Marrero and Junie Browning takes a step up in competition against ATTs Cole Miller.

MMA Junkie Sunday Junkie 3/22/09 Entry

2009-03-22T21:11:00.001-07:00

HUGHES AND LIDDELL ON VERGE OF RETIREMENT?

When fighters should retire is becoming a hot topic lately as some MMA legends have lost their dominance in the twilight of their careers. For some fighters such as Ken Shamrock, the choice seems obvious. Others, such as Matt Hughes or Chuck Liddell, the choice isn't as black and white. Both fighters, however, have upcoming bouts that should help determine what they've got left. Liddell's opponent, "Shogun" Rua, has looked very beatable even in his victory over Mark Coleman. Liddell has never had cardio issues, and if Rua shows up like he did in his past two fights, Liddell should have no problem getting a win. Hughes has a tough (but winnable) fight with Matt Serra. Having fought more than Serra recently and having good submission defense, Hughes should be able to pull off the decision win with his wrestling. However, retirement would seem inevitable if either loses. The question is if they win, will they choose to leave the sport on a high note, or will the thrill of victory keep them hooked and following the way of Shamrock?

"Ralph"
Wallingford, Conn.

Why You Shouldn't Only Be Watching the UFC

2009-03-16T08:01:00.001-07:00

The WEC
Headed by Miguel Torres, Uriah Faber, Mike Brown and a new 125 lb division, the little guys are making noise and showing why smaller and faster make for exciting fights. Miguel Torres is a pound for pound king who puts on fights that would put Anderson Silva on the edge of his seat. Unfolding drama north at 145lbs between new champ Mike Brown and the returning Uriah Faber adds to the excitement and with a deep list of legitimate contenders there are some great match ups on the way. Did I mention WEC cards are free?

DREAM
Aoki, Alvarez, Hansen, Kawajiri and JZ make up half of most of the 155lb Top Ten Lists and they're all in the same place. Add that mix to the tournament format still alive and well overseas and enjoy.

Strikeforce
The biggest North American contender to the throne held by the UFC. With the demise (thank God) of EliteXC, Scott Coker and Co. have grabbed some great fighters to add to their stable as well as a tv deal with CBS. Coker has shown he knows what he is doing and has steadily grown his brand for long term success. His fighters speak very well of how they're treated and even Dana White has nothing bad to say. While no division is exceptionally deep, they have solid fighters across the board and are more willing to play nice with other promotions to put on the fights that fans want. Expect BIG things from Coker and Strikeforce this year.

The infamous "Lucky Punch"

2009-03-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is a phrase you hear usually when someones favorite fighter gets knocked out, or when a fighter someone doesn't like wins. On a slightly less biased scale, one might use it when a fighter who is up on points get finished when they were on their way to winning a decision.

Now the meaning behind this phrase is no doubt to belittle the skills of the victor and chalk up the W to a "lucky" shot. Now let's look at this honestly without thinking how your friend, favorite fighter or hero lost a fight that from your couch you thought they had no business losing.

When does a fighter throw a punch? When they are trying to inflict damage to their opponent. Has anyone ever thrown a punch thinking, "Man I really hope this punch doesn't hurt them or knock them out, I'm really just trying to set up my takedown."? I doubt it. Punches may be thrown at different angles for different strategic reasons or to set up another attack but every time you see four knuckles flying at your face it's safe to assume the person owning those knuckles is not trying to make your day better.

So where does the luck get attributed? That person's lucky he threw the punch? Well he meant to throw the punch so that isn't it. Intention shows skill, he is doing something he trained to do to damage his opponent. Is he lucky the other guy didn't slip or block it? Well no one gets hit on purpose. That means the guy that got hit either didn't see it (lack of awareness) or didn't respond properly (lack of skill).

So no matter how you look at it, when one guys is one the canvas and the other is flexing for the cameras, a knock out shows a skill gap between two fighters.

UFC 96

2009-03-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

UFC 96

Quinton Jackson v. Keith Jardine
Winner: Quinton Jackson Knock Out 2

Matt Hamill v. Mark Munoz
Winner: Mark Munoz Unanimous Decision 3

Gabriel Gonzaga v. Shane Carwin
Winner: Shane Carwin Technical Knock Out 1

Tim Boetsch v. Jason Brilz
Winner: Tim Boetsch Technical Knock Out 2

Brandon Vera v. Michael Patt
Winner: Brandon Vera Knock Out 1

Kendall Grove v. Jason Day
Winner: Jason Day Technical Knock Out 1

Pete Sell v. Matt Brown
Winner: Pete Sell Unanimous Decision 3

Tamdan McCrory v. Ryan Madigan
Winner: Tamdan McCrory Unanimous Decision 3

Aaron Riley v. Shane Nelson
Winner: Aaron Riley Technical Knock Out 2

Gray Maynard v. Jim Miller
Winner: Gray Maynard Unanimous Decision 3

Notable Fights:

Jackson vs Jardine

Jardine will not be able to do what Forrest did. Forrest has much crisper, straighter hands which helped keep Jackson at range as opposed to Jardines crazy-monkey-loopy punches. While Jardine does have great kicks that were also a big part of Forrests victory, Jackson and his camp know there coming. Jackson power and crisp boxing will make it a short night for The Dean of Mean and likely net him a KO of the night.

Maynard vs Miller

The Miller brothers are known for stepping up on short notice and still winning. They've shown they have solid submissions and stand up and are well rounded with good cardio. Where we have seen the lightweight part of the Miller duo successful is top position, pushing the pace. I think Maynard presents problems here and we'll see Miller need to deviate from his normal plan to win. We know Maynard is the better wrestler. The key here will be standup, and if Millers submission game off his back is equal to his top game. I think Maynard will try to stand to see how that goes before going back to his wrestling bread and butter. Maynard is most likely to win and most likely by decision but the pace both these fighters set should earn a Fight of the Night bonus.

McCrory vs Madigan

I know its Madigan's debut and McCrory's 5th Octagon appearance but look at Madigans training and kickboxing record. If I were a betting man Madigan is a sick underdog bet since he's an underdog somewhere around 200 points last I saw.

Grove vs Day

A little biased here since Day trains at a Roy Harris school in Canada and I'm a Roy Harris man myself, but I'm still thinking this plays out like Day vs Belcher and Grove shows us his suspect chin like he did against Cote and Rivera.

The newest 155er

2009-02-11T10:53:00.000-08:00

Diego Sanchez has dropped from his welterweight home to the 155lb division. A division already stacked with talent, not to mention aggressive wrestlers with cardio. Sanchez has been known as an aggressive fighter who gets the takedown and ground and pounds and if he'll feels like being nice, will just choke you so you can tap and go home.

The problem at welterweight was when he hit AKA's wrestling roadblocks in Kos and Fitch. Deprived of his normal wrestling advantage, Diego dropped decisions to both fighters, although in very different fights. Koschek was content to feed Diego a steady diet of right hands while Fitch used an apparent size and strength advantage to stay in dominant position throughout their 3 round encounter.

Now Diego moves to a division where fighters like Sherk, Griffin, Maynard, Edgar and for his first fight Stevenson posses the same attributes that resulted in the two decision losses at welterweight. The cut in weight could give him a size advantage but depending on how his body takes it, he may not have the gas he's had at welterweight.

It will be interesting to see if Diego can transfer his aggressive wrestling style in a new division or if the similar talent there will prove to be a problem and result in some close split decisions against the many other wrestlers.

One exciting result of this move, who doesn't want to see a rematch with Kenny Florian? Florian was overwhelmed early their first match and made to look like he doesn't belong. He has since been a dominant contender, his only loss since his UFC debut against Diego coming to a 5 round decision loss to Sean Sherk. A second fight between Diego and Florian would certainly be a completely different story than the first.

Pound for Pound

2009-02-06T06:45:00.000-08:00

Anderson Silva
Middleweights tremble. Taking out Henderson, Franklin (x2), Marquardt, Lutter and Leben and none of them looked like they had a chance.
Fedor Emelianko
Fedor came off some time off inactivity as well as some fights that were easy for him to knock out two former UFC champs in the first round.
George St Pierre
Hughes (x2), BJ (x2), Fitch, Koscheck, Serra, Trigg, Miller, Sherk. Quite the hitlist.
Miguel Torres
He's beaten....everyone at 135 basically and during his fights looks more dominant than even Anderson Silva.
Thiago Alves
Big year taking out Hughes, Parisyan and Koscheck.
Forrest Griffin
Forrest stepped up to fight Shogun when Shogun was unstoppable. That bold move got him his fight with Jackson, who he also beat.
Quinton Jackson
Chuck, Hendo and Wanderlei. Despite a fumble to Forrest when he's on his game I think his combination of Boxing and Wrestling make him the best light heavyweight out there.
Lyoto Machida
I can't argue anymore. He's insane and tough fight for any A level lhw out there.
Eddie Alvarez/Shinya Aoki
Both these fighters were impressive in the Dream Tournament. Aoki going through Calvacante and Uno where Alvarez went through Hansen and Kawajiri. Aoki lost to Hansen (who Alavarez beat) but tapped Alvarez in the last fight for both fighters.
Urijah Faber
Despite his recent upset loss, then man has been tearing through 145ers like a buzzsaw. Look to see him return with a vengeance. Winning a rematch with Brown and beating Garcia will put him back in the top 5 pound for pound and hopefully set up a pound for pound dream match with Miguel Torres.

Other notables: Kenny Florian has been smashing people left and right and his upcoming fight against BJ should be one of the best lw matches we've seen. Sherk as always is dominant despite his loss to BJ. Demian Maia has the skills to be a top 3 middleweight, he just needs the matchups to prove it. Josh Barnette will be Fedors toughest fight when they finally meet.

UFN Lauzon vs Stephens

2009-02-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

Joe Lauzon v. Jeremy Stephens Winner: Joe Lauzon	Submission (Choke)	3
Matt Grice v. Matt Veach Winner: Matt Veach	Submission (Choke)	2
Nick Catone v. Derek Downey Winner: Derek Downey	Technical Knock Out	2
Mac Danzig v. Josh Neer Winner: Josh Neer	Unanimous Decision	3
Gleison Tibau v. Rich Clementi Winner: Rich Clementi	Unanimous Decision	3
Cain Velasquez v. Denis Stojnic Winner: Cain Velasquez	Technical Knock Out	1
Kurt Pellegrino v. Rob Emerson Winner: Kurt Pellegrino	Submission (Choke)	2
Luigi Fioravanti v. Anthony Johnson Winner: Anthony Johnson	Unanimous Decision	3
Dan Miller v. Jake Rosholt Winner: Dan Miller	Technical Knock Out	2
Steve Bruno v. Matt Riddle Winner: Matt Riddle	Technical Knock Out	3

Fight Nights are always a rough call. They often hold new talent or veterans trying to break onto that next level with a big win which makes the match ups that much harder. When you look at the newer fighters their records are often unproven and their fight history such that you haven't really seen everything they have to offer. The veterans on these cards often have great resumes but dotted with inconsistency and losses, albeit usually to high caliber opponents.

These are the best picks I could make when pitting potential against performance.

Kurt Pellegrino is always on the verge of being a contender but for him it all comes down to execution. He has the tools to beat Emerson and should do so.

Danzig vs Neer should be high paced. I don't think Danzig will be able to finish Neer who will probably frustrate his opponent and earn a nod.

Stephens has a tough fight taking on Lauzon on short notice. Joe comes out fast and hard and will likely take it to the ground where his jitz and ground and pound will earn him a stoppage.

Post UFC 94

2009-02-02T06:29:00.000-08:00

What was supposed to be a battle as close as their first meeting turned out to be a one sided display of dominance by "Rush". The Canadian power house pushed the pace from the opening bell to the final round and showed himself to be an ever evolving and improving fighter, much to the dismay of every UFC welterweight watching. As impressive as his physical performance was the depth of strategy Georges showed in his post fight interview. The combination of Greg Jacksons blueprint and St. Pierre's technique and power made BJ Penn look like an outmatched contender, not a fellow champion who was supposed to give Georges his toughest fight since their first match a few years ago.

So where does this beat down leave the two champions? Well for one, it still leaves them both champions. BJ still holds his lightweight crown and Georges the undisputed welterweight king. It has cemented Georges as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world and opens the door a crack more to what would be the biggest fight in MMA's young history, St Pierre vs Silva. If Penn vs St Pierre was the mega fight of the century, biggest PPV in history, then St Pierre vs Silva is the Holy Grail, Armageddon, the definitive pound for pound fantasy fight. One would think that pre UFC 94 St Pierre would be an underdog to Silva, but after Saturday night one would have to think twice, or maybe three or four times before making such a statement.

As for BJ Penn, his only flaw has been focus. The fight with St Pierre brought him focus in trying to cement his legacy and claim to being the best fighter in mma. Hopefully this defeat will also bring him focus and a fire to concentrate on becoming the best lightweight of all time. With the UFC's interest in some of the lighter weight Japanese free agents, BJ will have all the motivation and concentration he needs. He showed back when he fought Gomi that he can take the best in the world at lightweight and there are many match ups out there to cement his legacy. Uno, Florian, Hansen, Alvarez or Aoki all make for amazing match ups should the UFC be able to grab some of those overseas match ups.

Another fighter who Saturday night answered critics and cemented his status as a premier fighter in his division was Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida who earned his nickname by devouring Thiago Silva in the first round. Thiago seemed to only be able to land a single right to the body and an elbow in the clinch as Machida would dart in, throw combinations and circle back out without absorbing any damage. Never moving straight back, Machidas footwork confounded the aggressive Brazilian as Silva punch after punch. The final few seconds of the round showed Machida throw Silva to his back and land two vicious punches that put his opponent out and earned him knockout of the night and a bump up in line for the light heavyweight belt. It's hard to say how any of the top light heavyweight fighters would approach such a unique fighter as Machida but that's for another time.

Pre UFC 94

2009-02-02T06:28:00.000-08:00

Georges St-Pierre v. BJ Penn
Winner: BJ Penn Technical Knock Out Rnd 3

Lyoto Machida v. Thiago Silva
Winner: Lyoto Machida Unanimous Decision Rnd 3

Stephan Bonnar v. Jon Jones
Winner: Stephan Bonnar Submission (Arm Lock) Rnd 2

Manny Gamburyan v. Thiago Tavares
Winner: Manny Gamburyan Unanimous Decision Rnd 3

Jake O'Brien v. Christian Wellisch
Winner: Jake O'Brien Technical Knock Out Rnd 2

Matt Arroyo v. Dan Cramer
Winner: Matt Arroyo Submission (Choke) Rnd 2

Chris Wilson v. John Howard
Winner: Chris Wilson Unanimous Decision Rnd 3

Jon Fitch v. Akihiro Gono
Winner: Jon Fitch Technical Knock Out Rnd 1

Nate Diaz v. Clay Guida
Winner: Nate Diaz Submission (Choke) Rnd 2

Karo Parisyan v. Dong Hyun Kim
Winner: Karo Parisyan Technical Knock Out Rnd 2

Lyoto Machida v. Thiago Silva:

Thomas Drwal, even in his loss, exposed that Thiago doesn't have the best cardio. Chasing Lyoto for three rounds is certainly going to be exhausting. Thiago might get tired enough for Machida to actually finish a fight, which he has only done when tapping Sokoudjou, the one of his past 5 fights that hasnt been a decision. While Silva is certainly capable of a knockout, not many people connect with Machida.

Nate Diaz v. Clay Guida

This will be a great fight. Diaz will probably hit a great triangle during a scramble in what would be fight of the night on any other card without competing with Penn vs St Pierre.

Other notables on the card are Dan Cramer making his pro debut in the UFC which is impressive as well as Stephan Bonnar returning after a long layoff due to injury.

and the main event...

Georges St-Pierre v. BJ Penn

This is gonna be amazing. St Pierre is going to look to control the fight with takedowns and steady ground and pound. He will not knock out or submit BJ and the only way he can stop the fight is if BJ gasses around rounds 4 or 5 and Georges gets a tko. A Unanimous Decision win by St Pierre seems the most likely result on paper.

BJ Penn has the potential to both knock out, tko or submit Georges the second he makes a mistake. His hands are fast and he hits very hard. Regardless of the outcome, BJ will win the first round with a hard jab setting up aggressive combinations. BJs flexibility and use of the rubber guard will also make it hard for GSP to posture up and deliver punches on the ground.

The big keys for a stoppage are BJs conditioning and Georges being able to pass BJs guard. Fight of the Night for sure and will be one of the best fights of 2009. While on paper I think GSPs athleticism and conditioning will earn him a decision (mayyybe late stoppage) my gut is telling me BJ is gonna connect within 3 rounds and wont stop till the ref pulls him off.

aaaaaaaand discuss...