Archive for February, 2008

I am very excited for this show. The Tank-Kimbo main event is legitimately intriguing. We learned from Ultimate Tank Abbott that no matter what happens Tank will have “the W in life.”

From the street to Elite! STREET CERTIFIED!

Stephen Quadros, Mauro Ranallo and Bill Goldberg. This may be the worst announce team in history. Quadros is claiming:

A. Most new fans know Tank from watching him bench press on the internet and
B. That Tank is in shape for the fight.

We will see.

James Thompson v. Brett Rogers:

Thompson charges out immediately and looks for the takedown instead of exchanging blows. Mauro says Thompson has a glass jaw and Quadros gets a little fired up. Rogers, of course immediately knocks him out. After the fight Rogers does the worst dance in the history of dances. “Wobble Wobble.” Rogers may actually be a guy from bumfights.

MAURO RANALLO SAYS EVERYTHING LIKE HE IS YELLING! EVERYTHING! He also has a horrible “black person” imitation that is semi-offensive.

Yves Edwards v. Edson Berto

Edwards does a long interview about how sexy he is. I’m now actively rooting for the other guy. Conan Silviera is in Yves corner and looks to be a Super Heavyweight.

Nice back and forth fight with some nice work on the ground and standing. Edwards ends it with a spectacular knee to the jaw from the clinch. The Urijah Faber special.

Scott Smith v. Kyle Noke

The Aussie. Not much of a nickname. He was the bodyguard for Steve Irwin, so he failed in his first career. Smith is a guy from the Ultimate Fighter.

Goldberg said it was a pleasure to watch these guys bang. Could his show be gayer? Smith has on nice nice baby blue shorts to continue on a theme. Crowd is saying Boo-Urns. Wait, they are booing the lack of action.

Seven seconds into Round 2 and Smith kills Noke dead. Smith adds an unnecessary cheap show to seal the deal. Goldberg say he rearranged his DNA? He will join the Croc Hunter in a better place. Smith’s boys couldn’t be there because their belly button rings got infected. You couldn’t make this stuff up.

Penultimate match: Ricco Rodriguez v. Antonio Silva

Ricco looks fat, but not obese fat. Goldberg says he is a good fighter but not a good human being. Ouch. Mauro used the word “alacrity,” incorrectly, but he impressed his Neanderthal booth mates.

Silva has a giant tattoo of a Big Foot on his back. I take back what I said earlier. Ricco looks to be in good shape for this, well, until he moves. Then the jiggling begins. Silva is the ugliest man in this or any sport.

Ricco is jiggling everywhere in this and his belly is hanging over his shorts. Silva is snapping his head back throughout the round, until Ricco finally gets a takedown with less than two minutes remaining. Ricco just added a blackbelt from ATT he bought online for $10. So his credentials are improving. First round to Silva.

Silva dominates the second round. Ricco gets a cut and tells the ref he can’t see. He’s trying to get them to stop the fight but the Doctor is like “You can still fight pussy.” Borderline 10-8 round.

Silva gets a takedown and Ricco never even tries to defend. Silva is showing no fear of Ricco on the ground and Ricco is getting beaten down. Ricco comes on strong and may have taken the third round in which Silva did very little. Ranallo hates Ricco! And Quadros calls him a “cockroach.” Man EliteXC is not happy with Ricco taking it to Silva. Mauro has experience as a pudding eating judge. Ricco wasn’t there. Silva wins a much delayed split decision. Just enough time for Gary Shaw to bribe the judges.

Tank Abbott v. Kimbo Slice

Kimbo is the STREET FIGHTING STAR OF THE INTERNET! Kimbo wins in 43 seconds. This was pure toughman shit. Let’s see Kimbo against someone who isn’t a 43 year old bar fighter. Tank Flair flops after the first punch that connects. Well, I feel disappointed. Showtime apparently wants Kimbo to fight Ken Shamrock. Apparently Kimbo is contractually obligated to fight every octogenarian in the sport.

The strong first year that saw Sapp thrash K-1 star Ernesto Hoost twice and almost beat Pride Champion Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera made Sapp a legitimate celebrity in Japan. Things got weird quickly. Soon he couldn’t even walk outside without an escort. “When I would walk down the street and everyone would start flipping over taxi cabs and going nuts,” Sapp said. “The police would ask me not to walk outside. It was nuts.” Japan had its share of gaijin stars in the pro wrestling and fighting industries, but none could compare to Sapp.

His life was pretty crazy. It’s amazing that he even had time to fight at all. He became a staple of the network Japanese morning and evening shows and was on the air every day, sometimes on multiple channels.

“I would eat breakfast early, go to sleep, wake up again at 8 AM. From there I’d go and do television shows from about 8 to 2 o’clock. From 2 to 4 I would eat lunch, from 6 to 9 I would have to do some more television shows and then some rest and go eat dinner. Then I’d have to do some commercials and television shows, some of the late night television shows. The next day I’d get up and go anywhere from a pro wrestling match or pro wrestling practice, then kickboxing practice, followed by MMA practice,” Sapp said. “A kickboxing or MMA match would be followed almost immediately by commercials or pro wrestling. Then the next day I’d have a full onslaught of television. It was hard. And that’s one of the reasons my records are going to stand. I don’t think you’ll find anyone who’s going to be able to work and do that much stuff. I did comedy shows and the only thing beating out my fights were my comedy shows. The entertainment I was providing was ridiculous. They had me doing absolutely everything and anything.”

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by Kendall Shields

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Yesterday’s DREAM press conference at Tokyo’s Hotel Metropolitan — which you can watch streaming in three parts, if you are so inclined — seems to be drawing more attention over the announced signing of Mirko Cro Cop than anything else. MMA Junkie is quick to point out that between Cro Cop’s jump to DREAM (which Cro Cop suggests is perhaps only temporary), coupled with the new promotion’s working relationship with M-1 Global, could mean a rematch of Cro Cop’s 2005 loss to Fedor Emelianenko. Putting aside the question of how long the M-1 Global coalition seems likely to hold together — there is word that Monte Cox is trying to buy-out the Russian elements of M-1’s ownership, and who knows what that would mean re: Fedor — is Cro Cop/Fedor II anywhere near the top of anyone’s wish list? Fedor won a dominant decision the first time they met, and, after his impressive run through the Pride OWGP in 2006, Cro Cop has fallen on almost inconceivably bad times, with his dramatic loss to Gabriel Gonzaga and his lifeless showings in the UFC fights that preceded and followed it. Indeed, the reason Cro Cop was free to pursue a deal with DREAM is that the UFC had come to see his contract as a liability: Cro Cop is in no position to perform at the level required to make his contract viable for the UFC. He looks completely spent, and he simply never became the draw the UFC no doubt anticipated he’d become when they threw a big money deal his way.

So forget about Cro Cop. What’s really exciting about yesterday’s DREAM press conference isn’t the return of a fighter who couldn’t get past Cheik Kongo; it’s that major-league Japanese MMA seems set to return in a big way in 2008.

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Manny Tapia Vs. Antonio Banuelos

135! You better push the pace. These guys are the size of women. Just saying. Tapia is from Chino like Ryan from the OC. He is, therefore, hard. Banuelos is from Chuck Liddell’s camp and Chuck and Hackleman are in his corner.

This is like the quintessence of POWPOWPOW. Brock Lesnar is as big as both of these guys combined. This is a slick little fight. Banuelos wins the first round by the narrowest of margins.

Put my kid to bed during Round 2. Sang Wheels on the Bus and Old McDonald.
Manuelos is getting tired and Tapia is frustrating him by avoiding his takedowns.

Split Draw. I can live with that as both guys had their moments. Good fight.

Score correction. Apparently Tapia was the actual winner. Screwjob finish. How much you wanna bet Cecil Peoples had some Cheeto residue on his scoring card?

WEC BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT:
CHASE BEEBE VS. MIGUEL TORRES

Title fight between the best woman sized men in North America! They talk to Urijah Faber. Gay fighter or gayest fighter? One guy is giving the other guy a valentine’s gift, what the hell? Kind of your classic wrestler v. BJJ matchup. Torres needs a sub to win. Beebe is wearing a shirt with skulls on it. Bold choice. The ring announcer is awesome. Beebe doesn’t have one loss, he has one taste of defeat.

This is like watching insects fight. Torres is in an open guard with Praying Mantis legs. Torres is an angry dude even in victory. He has hella ne waza. Torres wins with an Anaconda choke that he somehow turns into a SUPER guillotine. He’s one to watch!

FEATHERWEIGHT BOUT:
HIROYUKI TAKAYA VS. LEONARD GARCIA

Takaya’s nickname is Evil Fist. That is awesome. This should be a real good fight. Garcia destroys him with leg kicks and then drops him with a straight right. Garcia is so happy to be at his natural weight.

WEC LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT:
ROB MCCULLOUGH VS. JAMIE VARNER

Razor Rob has great hands. Varner is a good wrestler, but isn’t much of a submission guy. I see this lasting a bit and Rob eventually catching him with something. Varner is wearing headphones to the ring. Isn’t that his music playing? Is he listening to Tony Robbins?

Varner takes the first round, winning the standup and scoring several takedowns. He looks gassed though, so the fight could get ugly for him next round.

Varner wins the second round too. Not much happening and the crowd is turning.

Just as I say that, they go balls to the wall. Varner gets hurt by a left hook but manages to recover with the help of a convenient timeout to recover his mouthpiece. Then Varner murders him and Mazzagatti lets Rob take a beating before finally stopping the fight. Mazzagatti is so terrible. Someone will die as he watches awestruck.

WEC WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT:
CARLOS CONDIT VS. CARLO PRATER

Carlos Condit is maybe Zuffa’s 9th best WW. Prater holds a win over Condit and is supposedly Brazillian. I don’t see it or hear it. I call bullshit. Prater comes out to Rush’s Tom Sawyer. He should be automatically awarded the first round on the strength of song selection. Condit appears to have his parents in his corner. The announcer asks the crowd if they are ready. I would say they are. Very ready.

Prater scores with a beautiful judo throw but then has to defend, defend, defend. Carlos ends it early with a tight guillotine. OK, Condit is Zuffa’s 7th best WW. We see his Dad and it is not the guy from his corner. Who is the other old man? I must know.

Great show. Show of the Year so far!

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By Lee Casebolt

A couple of weeks ago, I finished the second in a pair of articles regarding upcoming title fights and why you should care about them.  Leaving aside my horrible underestimation of one Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for just a moment, you’ll note that I left out all three of tonight’s WEC title fights.  No, I didn’t forget.  I’m just not sure you should care. Read the rest of this entry »

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By Marc Staehling

Having a lengthy career in mixed martial arts without losing a single fight is a rare, nigh impossible feat to accomplish. The legendary Fedor Emelianenko has a blemish on his record. Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, down the line you go of all the great warriors and champions this sport has seen over the years, and they’ve all tasted defeat. This is one of the reasons why the sport is so exciting and fun to watch. One false move, and you can be concussed with a single strike, or have a limb broken in the blink of an eye.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship currently has eleven active fighters on the roster who are undefeated at 3-0 or better in the octagon. Five of these eleven are not only undefeated in the UFC, but in their MMA careers. Let’s take a look at the lightweights and welterweights first shall we:

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By: Bill Thompson

This week I figured I’d delve into a big match-up that was been announced for the future. Nothing elaborate, but I will give a few thoughts into the fight, the impact it will have on the individual fighters, and their futures in the light heavyweight division. Without further ado, let’s take a look ahead

Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Rua

This match-up was just announced for UFC 85, and it is a fight a few years in the making. As soon as Mauricio “Shogun” Rua went on his tear through the Pride middleweight, our version of light heavyweight, grand prix in 2005 his name skyrocketed to the top of the light heavyweight ranks. Also around this time Chuck Liddell was in the middle of running through Jeremy Horn, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, and Renato Sobral to cement himself at the top of the light heavyweight mountain. In some places the argument over whether Rua was number one or Liddell was number one boiled down to the infantile “Pride is better than the UFC/UFC is better than Pride” line of thinking. However in most intelligent conversations there wasn’t a clear cut answer to the question because both men had proven themselves to be among the best in the sport. The only clear way to solve the debate was for the two men to square off, something not thought possible until the day that Pride was bought out by Zuffa, parent company of UFC. Unfortunately for both men their careers did not continue down the dominant path. Liddell was knocked out by Quinton Jackson and decisioned by Keith Jardine in consecutive fights, while Shogun was thoroughly manhandled and eventually choked out by Forrest Griffin in his one and only UFC bout to date. Liddell managed to bounce back from his setbacks with a decision win over another top light heavyweight in Wanderlei Silva. Then came the announcement this past week that these two would finally be facing off, a few years and fights too late, but a marquee match-up none the less.

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