The Mixed Bag for Tonight's TUF Finale

Season 5 is over, thank God. No more streetfights, crying, eating cake, whining, and colonics. But the show has produced at least 6 new LWs I'll be keeping my eye on: Manny, Nate, Joe, Cole, Matt, and Gray.

MMA on Tap will be live blogging the event.

Luke Thomas will be live on the air with MMA's only pre and post fight radio show. The pre-fight show starts at 8pm est, and the post-fight show starts at 12am.

And Sam Caplan posted his thoughts on tonight's card here.

My picks for tonight for all the fights that arent horrible mismatches are Jens Pulver over BJ by submission or GnP and I dont mean a flurry GnP, I mean brutal GnP; Nate Diaz over Manny easier than most are saying by submission in round 2; and in the upset of the nite, Brian Gerharty subs Matt Wiman. The rest of the fights are just terrible.
If either Garcia or Huerta lose, the UFC is weering egg come Sunday morning. Between the two, Huerta has the greatest chance of getting upset. Anytime the UFC pulls some guy outta nowhere to fight one of their stars, you can bet at least that Joe Silva knows the kid can fight. Not many picked Houston Alexander over Keith Jardine, and looked what happened there. Doug Evans can fight. Will he beat Huerta? I'm not picking this underdog like I did Houston, but if Huerta is looking past him, his night could be over quick.

A Blogger's Comment on ... Blogging

Feel free to comment however you like on this site. I don't edit for cursing or disagreeing with me. Hell, the world wouldn't be any fun if we all agreed all the time. I also won't delete if the more knowledgeable readers rip just the shit of a freaking idiot who decides to post libelous and ridiculous statements, such as saying Cung Le's pays his opponents to stand and get beaten on. Other blogs deem calling a person such as this an idiot as grounds to delete that post, but in turn leave up the more ridiculous statement. Affirmation through deletion.
I feel an IP ban coming on, but hey, who cares. I have my own blog now. It's not like I could give a shit. I don't need news about Rachelle Leah's FHM spread or three day old news about Denis Kang and Soko to keep me going. In fact my whole reason for starting this blog in the first place was not getting credit for my contributions elsewhere.
Control the trolls, or they will eventually control your site. The Internet doesn't need anymore Sherdog forums, 90% of the UG, or Fightsports. It needs solid MMA NEWS sites and active bloggers posting their opinions, not rehashing the news and calling it blogging. Trolling doesn't do anyone any good, and it's our responsibility as bloggers to educate the uninformed and to bitch slap people who make outrageous statements. Peace, MTU.

EliteXC/Strikeforce Vids Coming Coon

Dailymotion has them up, but the site is apparently suffering technical difficulties. Maybe it's all the MMA fans crashing the site trying to watch last nights card, who knows. I have a backdoor to the site, and even that is only half loading, so check back from time to time throughout the day. I planned this whole weekend around watching nothing but MMA, so I'll be around.

Adam Morgan has them up over on Sprawl-N-Brawl. Thanks Adam.

That Was One Heck of an EliteXC/Strikeforce Card

Wow is all I can say. Damn that Luke Thomas again for hypin' me up to buy the UFC 72 card. This set of fights tonight is what all MMA cards should be like. This card was "STACKED" from top to bottom with talented and exciting fighters.

Paul Daley, the reigning Cage Rage Lightweight Champion, was a much sought ofter free agent whom the UFC passed on ( another one ). EliteXC was smart enough to gobble this guy up, and he did not disappoint. Daley fought tough fellow Muay Thai fighter Duane "Bang" Ludwig. With both fighters trading vicious MT style knees and elbows throughout round one, there was no way this one was going past round two. It didn't, with Daley winning at :42 of round two via TKO.

Victor "Joe Boxer" Valenzuela got unluckier than his original opponent, Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett, by running into rising force Edson Berto. Berto, son of former UFC 10 tournament fighter Dieusel Berto, is a throw back Pancrase style fighter ( you know I like him ). His pro record is 11-3-1 with 8 wins via submission and all three losses via decision. Why do I say throwback Pancrase fighter? Five of his eight subs all come by way of heel hook, as tonight's did. Another rising 155er. Forget Pride, the WORLD needs a 155 lb tourney to sort through all these great lightweight fighters we are now seeing.

Kimbo Slice should be thanking God that a bout with Paul Buentello never materialized. The headhunter took on former K-1 champion turned MMA fighter Carter Williams. Williams is the refined version of Kimbo, and Beuntello just ate him up after an initial flurry by Carter. Not many, myself included, thought it would make it out of round one, and it did, albeit by :10 into the second round with Buentello winning via nasty eyeball punch for the TKO stoppage.

With Chute Boxe facing off against Greg Jackson's camp, we saw Murilo "Ninja" Rua versus Joey Villasenor. With Shogun in his corner, Rua looked ready to take his first world title home. Other than an opening flash punch and take down, it was all Rua. With Villasenor sporting a 23-5 record before this bout, and Ninja having a 13-7 record, some new fans to MMA might have thought this bout was lopsided. It was, but not the way the records would tell you. Villasenor has never been able to move up to the next level, other than a somewhat impressive win over washed up Canadian fighter David Louiseau, dropping two of his last four to Robbie Lawler and Ryo Chonan. Rua on the other hand has fought, and lost to, mostly guys larger than him: Arona, Randleman, Kharitonov, and Rampage. Toss those Pride mismatches out and Ninja has a respectable 13-3-1 mark before tonight's bout. His three losses then would be to three of the top four MWs in the world in Dan Henderson, Paulo Filho, and Denis Kang. Not bad at all.

I cant say enough about Cung Le literally taking Tony Fryklund apart in their three round fight. Le IS the best striker at 185 in the world. He may be the best there is in all of MMA. As fans, we do need to see where his ground game is at, and we will soon as he is the reported next opponent of new Strikeforce MW Champion Frank Shamrock. Le throw strikes that I have NEVER seen actually work in MMA in my 16 years of watching mixed martial arts. Ever see a spinning crescent kick work? How about a spinning heel kick to a high roundhouse to a spinning back fist, all of which landed? His defense is just as good, ducking not one, not two, but three spinning back fists thrown by the Freak. But in the end it was Le's punishing body kicks that ultimately left Fryklund doubled up in agony on the mat with the referee waving off the contest at :25 of the third round.

I can't believe I starting doubting my pick of Frank Shamrock. I kept listening to all these MMA experts repeatedly say how Baroni was the favorite. Blah! Never again. To toot my own horn for sec ( hey, it's my blog ), I've been watching MMA or NHB for over 16 years. I have more on all these experts put together. Never again am I doubting my picks.
Shamrock revealed he blew out both his MCL and ACL in his knee two weeks prior to the bout. He couldn't shoot, he claimed, and he never did once in the whole fight. Instead he chose to stand with Phil Baroni. The whole time watching it, I'm thinking he's about to get KOed if he stands in from of the New York Badass. I'll never forget Evan Tanner in his post fight comments at UFC 45 saying how hard Baroni hits. I was waiting for that one big punch to lay Frank out, but he weathered everything Baroni had, and finally put him away with a rear naked choke ( complete choke as Phil didn't tap ).
After the fight Baroni said he tore his groin muscle in the first minute of the fight, so maybe the fans can have a rematch of this barn-burner in the future. I'd pay again.

Best thing about tonight were the fights and lack of decisions. The worst was having to listen to the idiot Mauro Ranallo. That dude is the whitest guy on the planet, but can't stop himself from saying his show-starter "Yo-yo-yo and away we go" and giving a shout out to his "peeps" in the whitest country on the planet, Canada.
I wish Crocop woulda really been pissed at him and LHKed his dumbass into unconsciousness.

Dana White Quick Quote: We're All Jackasses

I've been listening and reading old Dana White interviews for another project, and thought I'd post some of his memorable comments:

On tournaments: their uneventful. The LW tourney the UFC had ended in a draw and he doesn't wanna relive that.

On salaries: New guys have to pay their dues, MMA pay is better than boxing's starting pay grade of $100 per round, internet guys are retards and jackasses when we comment on the UFC's fighter pay.

On relations with other promoters: I don't have one with any of them.

Best MMA fight ever: Hughes v Trigg II, Lol.

On Fedor: Doesn't know much about him.

On himself: Jackass. I guess he's like us then.

EliteXC/Strikeforce Results **SPOILERS** UPDATE

Site is up, go here instead.

The ProElite site is completely swamped. I have a feeling that the undercard bouts arent going to be available. This is suprising since this is EliteXCs own website. I know they were planning on hyping up people to buy the PPV. This oversight may cost them millions if it isn't fixed.

ProElite.com will be streaming the undercard fights free starting at 7:30pm EST. Click the Live Events tab on the mainpage to watch.

Undercard fights: I'll update these later. Had a problem with my DirecTV

Jason Von Flue vs. Luke Stewart - Stewart by GnP TKO ref stoppage
Mike Pyle vs. Aaron Wetherspoon
Anthony Figueroa vs. Chris Cariaso
Rex Richards vs. Ray Seraille
Seth Kleinbeck vs. Sam Spengler
David Smith vs. Sean Bassett
Nik Theotikos vs. Nick Covert

Main Card:

Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni - Shamrock via RNC chokeout rd 2 to become the Strikeforce MW Champion
Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Joey Villasenor - Rua via TKO in rd 2. Rua is the new EliteXC Middleweight Champion
Paul Buentello vs. Carter Williams - Buentello via TKO at :10 of round 2
Cung Le vs. Tony Fryklund - Le by TKO ( utter dominaton ) in rd 3
Victor “Joe Boxer” Valenzuela vs. Edson Berto - Berto via Tapout by Heel Hook at :47 of rd 1
Paul Daley vs. Duane “Bang” Ludwig (swing bout) - Daley by TKO at :42 of rd 2
Josh Thomson vs. Nick Gonzalez (swing bout) Thomson via Tapout from RNC at 1:47 of rd 1

I'll be posting the results as they happen, so check back.

NOT ONE FREAKING DECISION!!!

Soko Given Four Fight Contract with EliteXC

As reported yesterday, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou had been in talks with the UFC, bodog, and K-1. It seems he has decided to take the offer from EliteXC and have his management team peruse the details. The contract is not signed yet, but that seems likely. No word yet on the terms, but it is for four bouts.
Another loss for the UFC. Sure Soko has only two stunning wins on his 4-1 pro record, but there is no doubt this guy is for real. His grappling is world class, toss in a KO win over anyone named Noguiera, and an equally impressive KO over top 10 LHW Ricardo Arona and you have the makings of a star.
With the way Gary Shaw does business, he isnt gonna be losing many fighters if they're successful. Congrats to Soko. He deserves the best.

Dana White Confirms UFC = U Fight Cheap

Gary Shaw at the EliteXC/Strikeforce press conference made some joking remarks that the UFC doesn't pay their fighters well, actually calling the UFC - U Fight Cheap. Dana responded:

“Fighters can make more money here or there, but the UFC is the place to create your legacy,” White said. “Fifty years from now, people are going to ask who was the best ever and the UFC has the best fighters.”

What the hell do fighters care about legacy? This is the same type of crap boxing promoters used to say as they were running off to the bank pocketing fighter's purses back in the 50's. You worry about legacy after you're set up for life, not when your 4-0 in the Octagon and still working a part time job to make ends meet, like Jon Fitch has had to do along many others. I'm telling ya, within three years there will be an equal or a serious rival to the UFC. You can't continue to rake in the kind of dinero the UFC is and then pay the talent that gets it for you peanuts and expect to survive. That business model has never worked and never will.

Forrest Griffin Flying the Coop for EliteXC?

On the ProElite website, they are showing the press conference. At the 29:00 min mark, Gary Shaw, the president of EliteXC, tries to introduce Forrest Griffin. Forrest is eating free food at the buffet and cant be found, but Gary says, "He fought ( past tense ) for the U Fight Cheap organization." What the heck? He signed a 6 fight deal after winning the first season of the Ultimate Fighter and that contract was up after the Hector Ramirez bout, but I'm totally shocked the UFC wouldn't throw mad money at one of their most popular fighters.
In this bloggers opinion, the UFC is making serious errors lately regarding fighters. Yes, they are the biggest, but this sport is still growing. If they don't lock up all the best fighters now, someone can and will come along and challenge their current supremacy. Soko, Arona, Fedor, Hansen, and Kang all have had discussions lately with the UFC, and none seemed happy in their dealings with Dana and the crew. Those are some BIG names right there. Any organization that signs them instantly grows that much more respectable and that much more marketable.
UFC = U Fight Cheap.

Sokoudjou Confirms Talks with the UFC

In an interview with CBS Sportsline reporter Sam Caplan, his blog: FiveOuncesofPain, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou confirms that his management team of Ryan Parsons and Dan Henderson have been in talks with the UFC, and K-1 and bodogFIGHTS. He has two fights left of his old Pride contract, but apparently, he was one of the smarter fighters and had a clause stating he could refuse bouts if Pride was sold.

Where Soko will end should be determined by the end of this week. Rumors have swirled that the Soko camp wasn't happy with the UFC's offer. I earlier this week put that rumor to rest with a quote from Dan Henderson saying that they were not insulted, but Soko did confirm the offer is less than his current Pride contract.

He also touched on a something that makes all hardcore fans drool, a possible match with World #1 Contender Mauricio "Shogun Rua! Soko said he felt that bout would be a great measuring stick to see where he's at in MMA.

To read Sam's entire article, go here.