I Lied, I Bought UFC 72

Damn, that Luke Thomas. I end up being the first caller on the show, Luke gets me all hyped up, and I end up ordering that shitty card.
Honestly, it wasnt really that bad. The undercard bouts were fantastic. Ed Herman showed he belongs in the UFC. He keeps improving every fight. The Griffin v Guida fight was nonstop and mosdef was fight of the night, but I feel Guida got robbed. No way did Griffin win rounds 2 and three. I guess the fulcrum round was 2, but I thought Guida initiated more, and did more overall damage. Jason MacDonald beating a much improved Rory Singer was fantastic to me. I really like JMac as much as I pick on Canadiens. He is a real respectable guy with a great attitude. Even in his interview with Joe, you could tell he felt uncomfortable talking a little trash to Singer about his prefight presser comedy routine.
THE HEADLINE FIGHTS SUCKED. That is exactly why I didnt wanna buy this card. I was truly afraid of Forrest and Okami not engaging. Well, Forrest engaged, but kept pulling off when he could have finished. I know he is just coming off a loss, but this habit of flurrying and then running is becoming way too prevalent in the UFC. I know Okami starts slow, and he filled the bill tonight. I was afraid of just what happened. Okami gave away the first two rounds, then came out tough as nails and dominated Franklin in the third. Rich just proved to me that he is nowhere near the level of Hendo, ASilva, Nate, or Ryo. If he gets a title shot next as was announced, I expect that will be his last fight in the UFC.
They must institute a yellow card system to punish fighters for lack of aggression. This recurring theme is getting boring. A fighter wins the first, flurries in the second, and cruises in the third. I understand Forrest's position, but Hector Ramirez was limping around the ring on a battered left leg. He was prime for a head kick or a good one-two-kick-one two. And Okami, while that's his style to start slow, it is really not good to have the crowd BOO the last four headline and co-headline fights.

Was this card worth $40? Not on your life.

Side note -- Goldie kept saying the area in Ireland was sold out. Um, click here for the truth.

A Must Win for Rich Franklin

With UFC 72 looming, I wanted to get this out now. This very well could be the last time we see Rich Franklin in the UFC's Octagon. I believe this is the last or second to last fight on his current contract. He is currently paid $21,000 to show and the same to win. At UFC 64 and 68, this is what he made. Franklin is one of the most marketable fighters the UFC has, his headlining 72 is the case made. How does the UFC pay a guy like Rich $21k when guys like Lyoto Machida makes $20/$20, Cheick Kongo makes $20/$20, Werdum makes $80/$80, Arlovski makes $80/$80, and Gonzaga makes $30/$30? I know Rich signed a long-term deal awhile ago, and I'm sure if he beats Okami he will get a better contract next time, but today is a must win for Rich to stay in the UFC. But if not, it won't be that bad for him, EliteXC or bodogFIGHT wll be right around the corner offering him $100s of thousands of dollars to sign.

Thoughts for Saturday

Some random news here and there.....

Shinya Aoki is talking with the UFC.

As I expected, Royce Gracie is maintaining his innocence. Let's hope it's true.

No cause has been given, but Murilo "Ninja" Rua is off the upcoming EliteXC/Strikeforce card. Damn, Rua vs Villasenor for the vacant EliteXC MW title was a fight I was really wanting to see.

I will not be paying for UFC 72 when the Strikeforce card is next week. It's one thing to watch good fighters at 3pm in the afternoon, it's another thing to pay $40 to do it when only the main bout has any immeidate title implications. I know this card was supposed to be free at first, but the UFC had enough time to spice it up or to lower the PPV cost.

A Thought on Some Serious Bullshit

My man Bloody Elbow made a point on his blog about MMA fighters being compared to soldiers. I want to address this here and now.

MMA fighters are just that, fighters. They aren't soldiers, they aren't going into combat, and it's not war.

I spent many years overseas defending my great nation and have seen my share of nightmares. I'd climb in a cage with Chuck Liddell right now, than have to back to Africa and see ethic cleansing up close. I'd punch Fedor in the face before going back to Colombia and seeing Colombian policemen hanging from poles with their throats cut and their dicks stuck in their mouths. I'd kick Mirko Filipovic in the nuts before seeing a 10 year old girl get her head blown off again ten feet in front of me.

My favorite comparison is this:

MMA fights are to street fighting as paintball is to actual combat.

MMA is a sport, nothing more. Aint no refs in the rain forests of S. America or in an alley in New York. When your fighting for your life, you dont think about wrist control or foot position, you think about shoving a finger into your enemy's eye or tearing off his ear or placing one in the body T.

Royce Lets Down the World

I'm not gonna rehash the details, but this is just a knife in the heart for me. I'm sure he wasn't juicing back in the day, so I hope my memories of him don't tarnish over time, but I think they will. The worst part, he was facing the Gracie-Killer in Sak. It makes it all that much worse that the only way he felt he could win over the scourge of his family name is by using steroids. It's funny too, Sak is well respected by the family, almost a family friend, and to have Royce CHEAT against him is dishonorable to me.

I know steroids are prevalent in MMA. With the time between bouts, its easy to stack for awhile and then get off of them so the fighter is clean for the test, but this is not what martial arts are about.

I recently lost my brown/3rd stripe test to a black belt who knee barred me so bad I limped for a week. I needed to beat him or last 5 mins and win on points. I was winning the first 2:50 secs of the match. I was on the side of his back, and went to sweep his left leg. I was thinking I could transition to a side choke or RNC, but as we landed he grabbed my leg and ended it. I stood up limping, shook his hand and thanked him for the match. I felt like Corey Hill after he lost to Diaz. I lasted a good while and was beating him on points, no doubt about that.

I tell that story because I want the reader to understand what martial arts feels like. It's not about winning as much as it is about testing yourself. If a fighter feels he needs an unnatural advantage to win, he has already lost. You are born into this world with your balls and your honor. That is all you get start. What you do with them, and if you get to keep them, is up to you. Royce has lost both.

Thinking about something...

UFCMania has recommended moving to WordPress. I dont even show up in google until the third page, and this is a google blog! WTF is that!?

Tapout on Versus

Wow, very cool show. I didnt even know I had Versus on my DirecTV until about a week ago...

Tonight's episode featured a fighter out of John Hackleman's The Pit named Antonio Banuelos. He's a 135 lb fighter who fights in the WEC. Tough kid! Damn, does he put out in training. The guy was going at 100 mph doing situps, pullups, tire pounding, medicine ball throwing... just working his ass off.

Later in the show, he's at Liddell's house at a party with the Tapout crew. He was abstaining since he had a fight that Saturday at WEC 26 on 3/24/07. So, in regards to the Vernon White accusation of Liddell being in rehab, I think it is clearly bullshit. During the filming of the show, Liddell is repeatedly shown training along side his Pit teammates. But it makes you wonder how "sick" he really was with pneumonia, or if he really wasnt just drunk after another hard night of partying.

The show ended with Banuelos losing via KO to Charlie Valencia. When he was backstage, Liddell is telling him that hey, it happens, you just got caught, you made a mistake... Wonder if Antonio was saying the same thing to him at UFC 71?

A side note out of the show, John Hackleman is so hard, he made his 80 year old father work out the day after he had a stroke. If he only pushed Chuck that hard...

Chuck Liddell on MMAWeekly Radio Tonight

Chuck Liddell will be on MMAWeekly Radio tonight at 9pm est. Joining him as a guest will be Frank Mir. Man, I hope they dont rehash the same crap everyone has been asking him since UFC 71.

Listen here.

Hello World

This is my first post on my first blog. This blog will be my own take on all that goes on in the world of MMA. It will probably deal mostly with the UFC and Pride, but other news is bound to happen. I want it to be fun, but then again at times be serious. I hope I'm not the only one who ever reads it.
I wanna thank UFCMania for inspiring me to start a place of my own.