Big Thanks

To ProElite.com for the free stream of Cage Rage 22. Great quality, good sound.

If the Marios Zaromskis v Ross Mason fight makes it to DM or YT, I'll post it. Marios is like a mini-Crocop. Awesome striker, and he ended this fight with a James Irvin flying knee. Crazy.

Herb Dean really does suck as a fighter. He can't punch, his kicks are sloppy, and his ground game is maybe a C+. He had actually won the first round, but then quit on the stool because of something wrong with his eye.

Why is it that the UFC has the money, has the fighters, and all the marketing power in the world, but little Cage Rage can put on an exciting, entertaining, and well produced show that the UFC can only dream about? Fire the promoter. Oh wait...

Where Have You Gone, Babalu?

What the hell has happened to his hands? This guy I really believed would one day be the UFC champ. Now he's in career-save mode. Here's a rare fight for ya.

WEF 8 Babalu vs Brad Kohler
Uploaded by snatchGTT

Forrest Griffin vs Newby Part 2

Everyone has seen the vid when Forrest kicked the Vegas reporter and broke his leg right? Well, it seems Newby wants some payback and has been in training with some MMA guys, Kalib Starnes and Marc Laimon to name a few. Check it out.

Mirko Is One Mean Dude

There's a video montage out there of Mirko kicking various things: cars, buildings, mountains, and people. This one is funniest to me. I'd post the vid, but the site it's on doesnt allow embedding and I can't link to it since it's members only. I'll try to figure out a way to save it out of the flash buffer, but so far it hasnt worked.

Let's Watch Some Staredowns!

I've been on a vid kick lately. This one is classic. The first half is all different staredowns between Mirko and some of his opponents. I can watch him stare at Wandy all day. Crocop is interesting in that the guys he respects ( Fedor, Nog, Coleman ) he just stands there and sometimes looks away. When he doesnt respect his opponent ( Wandy, Randleman ) he stares right through them.

Signed My First Sponsor

Yup. Let me introduce you to my new sponsor, Gravity Shoes, from Croatia. Check out their commercial, go ahead.

Here's My Pic of the Day

They sure don't look like two of the most dangerous men on the planet, do they?

This pic was taken while Wandy was visiting Randy in Ohio. Silva taught some classes around the country that I've heard were very well done, and did a few motivational speeches while making business contacts. Wanderlei is currently preparing to move to the US, so that's why he's saying he can't fight in September, but will fight in November.

But Wandy, even your website still says Sept. 22?

New UFC Video Game, Blah

Everyone's posting the preview. I got one better, a preview with RAMPAGE!!!


Another funny ass Rampage video goofing on the poor Japanese. Holy shit it's funny. Rare footage of a buzzing Page, and even more rare: a thin Heath Herring...

UFC on Demand and Unfulfilled

I normally don't link to many other sites, since too many bloggers do just that, but this one is to close to home. What happened to this guy, happened to me about two years ago. And they still haven't fixed it? I'm not saying torrenting is a good thing, but when so few legal options are available...

Horrible

Thanks to FightOpinion.

Crocop HLs Are a Dime a Dozen, Right?

Not this one. I can watch LHKs all day.

Mirko 'Crocop' Filipovic - "Journey of a Ronin" by RebiTo
Uploaded by sakurama39

Gayest MMA Video Ever?

Oldie but a goodie. If you haven't seen this then expect to laugh, then shake your head, then cry.

Wanderlei Silva & Mark Coleman - Schick Protector Commercial
Uploaded by bombayblockbuster

Rarely Seen Rampage Bout

Unless of course you have the DVD... and then upload it for others to see...

Quinton Rampage Jackson vs Yokoi
Uploaded by Princenino

Eye the Hi

Hyoto Sakurai
Uploaded by Panabas

Will someone please convince Mach to lay off the kalibi ribs and cut to 155? Is there any part of a complete MMA skillset this guy doesn't have? WIll Bruce Buffer say "Mahck" instead of "Maha"?

UFC More Boring Than Pride? You Decide - A Look at the Numbers

I made some calculations about how bouts end in both The UFC and the ol' Pride. I left out UFC Fight Nights and Pride Bushidos. The UFN are free so who really cares, and the Bushidos were only 2 rounds. I looked at the last 10 events for both orgs from UFC 73 to 64 and Pride 34 to 30 with Shockwave's 06 and 05, FC Absolute, Critical Countdown, and Total Elimination. I didnt include the only draw ( Tito v Rashad ) in the sum of the 180 bouts, and I included Nick Diaz's win over Gomi as a sub. Hey, it's what the fans saw, and that's all that matters really.

UFC:
Total (T)KO - 36 40.5%
Total Subs - 23 25.8%
Total Decs - 30 33.7%
Total Bouts - 89
Average Card: 3-4 KOs, 2 Subs, 3 Dec

Pride:
Total (T)KO - 36 40%
Total Subs - 35 38.9%
Total Decs - 19 21.1%
Total Bouts - 90
Average Card 3-4 KOs, 3-4 Subs, 1-2 Dec

UFC highest numbers in any one night KO/Sub/Dec:
6/3/5
Lowest:
1/1/1

Pride:
Highest:
5/5/5
Lowest:
2/1/0

Modal numbers: ( the most frequently occuring numbers )
UFC: 4/3/3
Pride : 4/4/1

Number of times the UFC had 2 or less of a certain outcome:
2/5/3
Pride:
1/2/7 ( seven out of ten cards had 2 or less dec )

Times bout ending happened zero times in a night:
UFC:
0/0/0
Pride:
0/0/2 ( Two cards had no decisions )

Times there were more or equal decisions than either of the others ( not combined ):
UFC: 4 in 10
Pride: 2 in 10

Times there were more decs than anything else ( combined ):
UFC: 1 ( 69 )
Pride: 0

UFC best of the best: UFC 65 6/1/2, UFC 66 5/3/1
Worst: UFC 69 1/2/5, UFC 73 2/3/4, UFC 67 4/1/4
Pride best of the best: 34 3/5/0, 33 4/4/1, Critical 4/4/1, or Total Elim 4/4/0
Worst: Shockwave 2005 2/5/5 ( still finished more fights than went to dec ).

The numbers are the numbers and I aint gonna spin em. Use your own heads. But at a UFC event your gonna see a whole lot more decisions, 1 in 3, than subs, 1 in 4.
At an old Pride event, you'd see more subs, 2 in 5, than decs, 1 in 5.

Yellow cards anyone?

Time to Say Goodbye

Normally I would post on here how fucking wrong I was in my picks, but not this time.

UFC 73 was such an abortion for the UFC, it's not even funny anymore. If they couldn't get that card right, they never will.

Officiating:
Does it get any worse than what we say last night? You can look at any two fights and see a complete lack of consistency in how the bouts were reffed. Big Nog should be 2-1 vs Herring if the fight was judged the way the Silva v Marquardt bout was, or vice versa. Sherk mighta been KOed by a fifth knee if he was stood up the same way Nate was after every 21 sec lull in action. Yes Sherk was active, but if the criteria is standup after 21 seconds, then we probably wouldn't have seen 23 mins on the ground. And who the fuck was checking fingernails at the door before the Tito v Rashad match?

Action:
How active was Sherk really? Franca never looked rocked in that whole match. Was Sherk really active as in trying to finish the match? Hardly.
Tito and Rashad was another match that saw a lot of hugging and kissing. Where are the warnings for stalling and lack of engaging that the Unified Rules call for? Has there ever been a clearer card begging for a yellow card system that this one? Probably, this is the UFC after all, but since it was called Stacked we chould have seen a bit more action.

Jiu Jitsu:
It really is dead. At least for UFC fighters claiming black belts in it. This card just clearly showed BJJ is useless without a wrestling pedigree to back it up. Without solid body control and a learnt understand of balance, BJJ just isnt as effective in MMA as it once was. Franca and Bocek looked like novices on the ground versus good wrestlers, Marquardt got nothing going, and Florian has become a Muay Thai striker. This domination of wrestling equating to boring action yearns for knees to a grounded opponent. Lets see Tito drop to a knee to avoid the MT then.

Goldberg and Rogan:
How bad was Goldberg last nite? I started muting my television to avoid listening to that hack speak. "And the amazing, incredible thing is that he puts his undefeated record on the line..." What the fuck does that mean? He was play by playing six seconds late all night. And I know their job is to hype, but after 2 decisions and a draw do you have to saw that it's an incredible night of fights, and that it doesnt get any better than this? I suppose I hate to be patronized, and that just insulted my intelligence.

Crowd and PPV:
Why no sellout? You could clearly see empty seats on the fly-by cam. I dont remember seeing that many empty chairs during the EliteXC/Strikeforce card just two weeks ago. Judging from the blogs, a lot of ppl who frequent the blogoshere were getting their info online and not watching at home or elsewhere. If the UFC cant sell this card to the more than casual fan, what can they sell? Better start having Chuck Liddell fight monthly.

The Future:
If the UFC lost as many casual fans after 71 as some pundits claim, then they lost another boatload last night. The card was sheer boredom with the exception of Big Nog almost getting KOed and Florian showing he really is getting better with each fight and new mental toughness we haven't seen before. Money on him moving to 145 in the near future.
As for my future, I can no longer consider myself a UFC fan. Will I watch? Sure, at a bar. They are never getting my money from me again. I'll buy the next EliteXC card and continue to watch Pancrase, Shooto, and bodog. I just can't stomach another letdown like last night.