This MMA documentary came out a few years back to a hint of fanfare, reportedly having a nice showing at some domestic film festivals. My hope watching it was to catch a bit of quality film making and maybe a bit of quality MMA action, or behind the scenes footage, along the way.
Sadly, I didn’t get much of either. Read the rest of this entry »
Let’s be honest here. Saturday’s UFC (I don’t bother to count them anymore) is pretty much a one fight card. I mean, all due respect to Tamden McCrory, no one’s tuning in to watch him and Dustin Hazelett, however good their matchup might be. Demian Maia might be a top up and coming middleweight, but his bout with Nate Quarry is a keeping-busy fight. And why are Jorge Gurgel and Aaron Riley even on a UFC card? Did we go back in time five years and no one tell me?
No, if you’re shelling out the bucks to see this show, you’re there for one reason and one reason only – to see if Brock Lesnar really is the next big thing in MMA, or if Randy Couture can pull off yet another miracle win over what appears to be a physically superior opponent. On one side, you’ve got (comparative) youth, size, speed, and power. On the other, experience, savvy, and legendary conditioning. So how does tomorrow’s main event go? Read the rest of this entry »
Anyone reading Total-MMA.com will know at least some of the Randy Couture story, but his recently published memoir, Becoming the Natural, which landed on the NY Times best seller list last month, may offer a surprise. Always lauded as an inspirational figure, Couture’s book, co-authored by longtime MMA journalist Loretta Hunt, ends up surprisingly downbeat.
“The fight contract is up today…July 19th according to the contract. That was 18 months or four fights.That’s the way the contract is written, by the language that I’ve read in the contract that my attornies explained to me. That’s the rub. They say I owe them two more fights. And, we need the State to settle the dispute and give us a declaration as to what they say the contract says. I either owe them two more fights and I’ll fight Nogueira or find a way hopefully for the UFC to make the Fedor fight happen, that’s what means most to me. Or retire if that’s the case…I don’t know what’s going to happen there. Or they’ll say no, the contract term ended, you’re free and clear to go and fight wherever you want.” - Fox Sports’ Alex Marvez got a one-on-one with Randy post-Affliction.
Randy does go on to say that whoever loses the decision might take it to the Supreme Court, but this has to be seen as a positive step as far as this whole debacle is concerned. I for one think ‘Minotauro vs. ‘The Natural’ is just as compelling a match-up as the Emelianenko fight. Couture’s “Fedor-only” approach is a bit of a slight to a guy with a resume like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Despite coaching on The Ultimate Fighter against the presumed contender Frank Mir, one can only think that the UFC would jump at a Couture-Nogueira unification match, putting the Mir fight on the backburner. No matter what happens in the legal arena, fans and media alike deserve to see Randy Couture fighting again in the near future. *fingers crossed*
I’m not a betting man. (If you are, Iain has a fine column with you in mind.)
So on the night of a UFC, I like to consult the “experts” just for fun and not for profit. Tonight’s UFC, emenating from the childhood home of Matt Serra’s hero Arturo “Thunder” Gatti, and that guy in the picture above, is no exception. Here’s what I found on the net when I should have been preparing for a wedding today:
By Iain Liddle
Discuss this in the Total-MMA.com forums ~!
If you’ll allow me to be self-indulgent then I’ll use this week’s entry to throw out a question that has been niggling away at me of late.
March has already produced another installment in two great boxing rivalries. On March 1st Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez stepped into the ring together for the third time. They were tied at 1-1 in their rivalry having fought twice before in the previous thirteen months and both had been nominated for ‘Fight of the year’ for 2007. In fact, most boxing writers who I respect are unanimous in the view that the second encounter was the best to have taken place last year, despite Kelly Pavlik vs Jermain Taylor eventually taking the official boxing writer’s award.
As they prepared to lace up the gloves one more time, fan and promoter expectations were high. Gary Shaw had been proclaiming this fight as the antidote to February’s Klitschko-Ibraghimov snoozefest before it had even taken place. Showtime placed both of the preceding bouts on their website to justify the hype and show fans just how good the sport can be and will be again. It never seemed to cross anyone’s mind that the two Mexicans may disappoint us.
