Archive for the 'Lee Casebolt' Category

Discuss this article in our forums. 

by Lee Casebolt

Two things happened for the very first time last night:

 1) I watched a full hour of BET and, not coincidentally,

2) BET introduced MMA programming with the debut of Iron Ring. Read the rest of this entry »

Discuss this article in the Total-MMA forum!

 By Lee Casebolt

Unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere, I presume you’ve heard about the deal between the CBS television network and MMA wannabe player ProElite, parent company of EliteXC.  The announcement has garnered a fair amount of response amongst the MMA congnoscenti, ranging from the moderately positive to the outraged.  On the one hand, you have those who see an enlarged market for the sport of mixed martial arts, with all of the opportunities that brings.  On the other, you have those who see Kimbo Slice, face of MMA, and are (justifiably) terrified.

Read the rest of this entry »

Discuss this article in the Total-MMA forum! 

 by Lee Casebolt

The Book is back, just in time for what promises to be the best title fight of 2008.

For our newer readers, The Book is Total-MMA’s scouting report on the best fighters in the world.  Later this week, the ever-demanding Jonathan Snowden will be scrutinizing Pride 183-lb champ Dan Henderson.  First, though, let’s take a look at Henderson’s opponent for this weekend, UFC and Cage Rage middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Read the rest of this entry »

Discuss this story in our forums!

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 »

By Lee Casebolt 

Discuss this story in the Total MMA Forums 

Welcome back to the Total MMA Book Club.  Today we take a look at the latest MMA literary offering, a new autobiography by former Light Heavyweight champ Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, appropriately titled Iceman: My Fighting Life.  Read the rest of this entry »

By Lee Casebolt

Now you’ve had a week to think about Penn vs. Sherk and Shamrock vs. Le, and you are, no doubt, quivering with anticipation over both fights. But wait, fight fan, there’s more. Much, much more. Well, ok, just a few more. There’s a welterweight rematch, a battle of the two best middleweights in the game, and a heavyweight scrap that’s going to annoy a lot of people. Let’s take a look.

Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra, UFC Welterweight Title

2007 was a year of upsets, but none were bigger than Matt Serra knocking out Georges St. Pierre. Forget the fact that GSP was (and is) indisputably the best 170lber on the planet. Forget that he’d just wrecked Matt Hughes, as dominant a fighter as the UFC has ever seen. Forget that Matt Serra was “just a reality show winner”. Remember that Matt Serra was (and is) a blown up lightweight groundfighting specialist who, up til last April, had never knocked out any opponent in his career. And he stops GSP in the first round? What kind of world is this?
Read the rest of this entry »

DISCUSS THIS STORY IN THE TOTAL-MMA.COM FORUMS

By Lee Casebolt  

2007 was The Year of the Upset in MMA, as evidenced by such unlikely happenings as Matt Serra, World Welterweight Champion, and Randy Couture, three time World Heavyweight Champion.  No one gave Serra a realistic chance of defeating the younger, larger, stronger, and generally better skilled Georges St. Pierre.  Similarly, the enormous Tim Sylvia was popularly thought to be too much for an aging Randy Couture who had moved to light heavyweight, after all, specifically to avoid 270+lb monsters cutting down to the 265 limit.

 This year’s upcoming title fights are, on paper, much more balanced encounters than those two contests, so if you think anyone really knows how they’re going to go down, you’re insane.  Which is not to say I (and thousands of others) will not make our predictions, based on either sound logic and keen observation or raw emotion and pure guesswork; it’s the internet, and that’s what it’s for.  For you, the fan, though, the important question at this juncture is not “Who’s going to win?” but “Why should I care?”  A belt is just a shiny piece of metal riveted to a leather strap.  In and of itself, it means nothing with regard to the quality or importance of a fight.  Today we’ll take a look at the upcoming title bouts which have been announced, and go over why they should be both good fights and significant fights. 

Read the rest of this entry »

DISCUSS THIS STORY IN THE TOTAL-MMA FORUMS

By Lee Casebolt
Once he was referred to, derogatorily, as “Ken Shamroid,” a reference to his sculpted – but suspect – physique in a sport he then co-dominated with a lanky Brazilian and a doughy wrestler. Now he is mocked as “Can Shamrock” due to his greatly diminished skills. Ken Shamrock has been derided for winning fights (“work!”), losing fights (“Petey, my heart!”), neither winning nor losing a fight (“boring!”), and making some admittedly unfortunate facial hair decisions. From the height of his powers to the depths of his (relative) dotage, Ken Shamrock can’t get a break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Matt Hughes is my favorite fighter.

It’s not that I relate to him on any sort of personal level. We’re both hyper-competitive, but I was on the debate team in high school and the most athletic thing I ever did was run my mouth. Meanwhile, Hughes has been wrestling since he was a fetus. Had we gone to school together, he probably would’ve given me a wedgie and stolen my lunch money (and the joke’s on him – I didn’t have any lunch money) if we crossed paths at all. Other than that, we’re both Caucasian males of approximately the same age, residing in adjacent states. Otherwise, we couldn’t be more different.

DISCUSS THIS STORY IN THE TOTAL-MMA.COM FORUMS

Read the rest of this entry »