online gamblin'

Today I was running some fibre optic cable for a certain online gambling place. This company also stages MMA fights all over the world. To say there's some money in this place would be...well, the owner is a billionaire. So there you go.

I sure got into the wrong field!!

I'm hearing rumors Georges St. Pierre may fight Josh Koscheck in his next fight. Here's where being one of Dana White's boys pays off. When Matt Hughes got knocked out and lost his welterweight title, he was actually offered an immediate rematch. He turned it down. He had to know he was going to be smashed again by St. Pierre. Instead, St. Pierre loses to Matt Serra in an amazing upset...and there Matt Hughes was, the happiest, most classless guy in the world. Happy because he now could fight Serra for the title, and classless of how much he laughed and cackled. GSP will smash him again someday.

The second point is, GSP has to fight a top 5 fighter to claw his way back to a title shot, and Hughes had the option of turning down an immediate rematch, and get a cream puff fight in Chris Lytle. I believe Lytle has a career record of 1-6 in the UFC. You do the math.

Lucky Punch?

I'm still recovering from the shocking KO loss of Georges St. Pierre on April 7th.
In case you missed it, Matt Serra, a known grappler, KO'd the pound-for-pound best mixed martial artist in the world.

As Ross Pointon would say, "Craziness. Y'know what I mean?"

And on a final note, Matt Hughes reaction after the fight just proves how much of a classless jackass he really, truly is. When GSP dummied him up a few months back, GSP was nothing but respectful. Hughes will get his soon.

This and That

3 cheers for Randy Couture!!
He beat up, then beat the walking sleeping pill Tim Sylvia. Brains over Brawn. Although it's true what person once wrote about big Tim, he has all the grace of a new born giraffe.

Randy's next fight is the winner of Cro Cop v. Gonzaga...my money is on Cro Cop.

As for the Pride/UFC buyout, I'm happy with it. It will in fact lead to more diversity, more dream fights. Pride will need to get more visibility in North America though, to really reap the benefits of these super fights.

The only drawback is for the fighters themselves, with the Zuffa monopoly so to speak. This is probably why Elite XC, Elite Pro, Strike Force, Cage Rage, Showtime, Spirit XC and Bodog fight all came together to form an alliance, to form a "rebellion" so to speak against the "Empire"

We're in for an exciting ride in MMA.

UFC 68

Predictions for UFC 68 this Saturday, March 3rd.

Hvywt.: Tim Sylvia (263) vs. Randy Couture (222.5)
Money is on Sylvia, heart is with Couture. Randy has exciting fights. Did I mention I dislike Sylvia intensely? He's boring, AND he's a jerk like Matt Hughes.

170 lb.: Matt Hughes (171) vs. Chris Lytle (169)
Money is on Hughes, but I'm pulling for Lytle. Hughes is a cocky jerk, even after Georges St. Pierre squashed him in their last fight. If you lose, you lose. No need to make up excuses.

185 lb.: Rich Franklin (185) vs. Jason MacDonald (183.5)
Money is on Franklin. I think "the Athlete's" run ends here. He was beaten by Kalib Starnes after all, and he's no spring chicken at 31. The excuse of "he was young and learning" doesn't apply here, as it did to Rampage vs. Eastman in 2000.

205 lb.: Renato “Babalu” Sobral (204) vs. Jason Lambert (204)
I think Babalu will take this one by submission. He will bounce back with a win, after inexplicably chasing Chuck Liddell around the ring in his last fight.

UFC fighter Michael Bisping recently spoke with The Tampa Tribune, stating that mixed martial artists don’t take tune up fights, unlike some boxers do.

Here’s a highlight of the article:

“I don’t think anyone in our sport gets protected. Chuck Liddell has been on a terrific run, but he always fights quality competition. They don’t give him tune-up fights like they do in boxing. We know the better we fight, the more money we will make. We are more focused on being the best fighters out there than having nice records.”

With that said, UFC 70 is in Bisping's hometown, he's supposed to be UFC's European poster boy, he's fighting a journeyman fighter named Elvis Sinosic, who has a win-loss-tie record of
8-9-2 record.

Don't think I'm harping on Bisping as a fighter, he's a great fighter. I just can't believe he'd come up with that remark!! Sure sounds like and looks like a tune-up fight in order to ensure the poster boy gets a win in his hometown!!

UFC 68

If you venture over to UFC 68's website, ufc68.ufc.com you'll find previews and trailers of the top three fights. The fights being Couture v Sylvia, Franklin v McDonald, and Hughes v Lytle. Every one of the fighters take a turn getting inverviewed and predict victory. Everyone except poor Chris Lytle. Even Dana White and Joe Rogan get some face time, but one fighter in one of the "marquee" matches doesn't??

What gives?

A great striker like Georges St. Pierre smacked Hughes around in November. A good striker like Lytle could land a lucky punch couldn't he? Shouldn't he get some face time to pump the match?

I'm predicting Sylvia, Franklin and Hughes to win, though I'm pulling for all three to lose!!

UFC matchmaker

It would sure be fun to have Joe Silva's job. He's the UFC matchmaker. Dana White has confirmed that Chuck Liddell would like to fight Mirko Cro Cop. Hell, make it happen!!

UFC 67

Caught UFC 67 over the weekend and it was a very decent show. Not as much star power (yet) compare to UFC 66, but the fights were tremendous, especially the Griffin v. Edgar scrap.

Edgar was an unknown, but not for long. He defeated the next big thing in Tyson Griffin and in spectacular fashion. It was 15 minutes of blistering punches, kicks, subs and grappling. in other words, NOTHING like a Tim Sylvia "fight".

The main event was quite good, but it was more satisfying than good. Anderson Silva the striker submitted Travis Lutter, the Ju-Jitsu Ace as he likes to think of himself. I honestly do not know of a more cocky mid-level fighter, except for maybe Chris Lebin. Even so, Leben is just trying to promote himself. Lutter, on the other hand, believes his ground fighting is next to Godliness.

Apparently not.

Silva landed a boot to his chin from the ground and Travis fell into a triangle choke. He defended it well for about 30 seconds, but after Silva let loose his elbows, Travis quickly tapped out.

Beautiful.

I'll try not to vent too much in the next two weeks about how lame Tim Sylvia is, but I'm not making any promises.

Go Randy Go!!

Grappling

Maybe I wasn't cut out to be a fighter.
I did Tae Kwon Do for a number of years and followed that up with "Sport Ju-Jitsu" for another two years. I was in my teens to mid-twenties but found that it was too hard on my body. I just trained and grappled in class, not very many tournaments. Often I'd wake up and not be able to turn my head due to a sore neck. Needless to say, I relied heavily on my mirrors when changing lanes that day!!

Also, when I would enter Tae Kwon Do tournies, I would end up with massive welts and bruises all over my legs, and if you could walk/eat normally after a tournament, you were the king!! It's tough to imagine how these full contact fighters do it for so long, especially that freak of nature, Randy Couture.

The man is 43 years old, and still going strong. He must be on the sauce!! Just kidding. I hope he takes it to the big sloth on March 3rd.

Travis Loser. Er, Lutter.

I have not seen UFC 67 yet, but I understand during the weigh-ins Feb 1, Travis Lutter did NOT make weight. He apparently came in at 187lbs (the UFC Middleweight limit is 185lbs) and had one to two hours to lose the two pounds.

He left and came back two hours later and weighed exactly 1/2lb less.

No dice.

This guy wins the 6 week tournament, get a title shot, gets a sponsorship deal, talks tough like he's already the man...and fails to make weight. He mentioned in an interview that he does not have a coach, because, "what more can they teach me?"

Lots, apparently Travis. Like to stay away from the fridge.

Honestly, I could easily drop 2lbs if I had to in two hours, and I have less mass to lose than him. Pee, poo, spit, puke, and if you've already done all that...throw on some heavy clothes and run!!

I guess I shouldn't harp on poor Travis too much...he did show up shaved like a swimmer and had sunken cheeks. This couldn't have possibly pleased the UFC brass, as Georges St. Pierre had to pull out of his planned fight with Matt Serra due to a knee injury. That deprived this PPV of some star power, and Lutter's goof deprived this card of its only title fight.

I thought Travis had a decent (25-30%) chance to topple Anderson Silva, but not anymore. See Riggs v. Hughes in 2005. Joe Riggs failed to make weight for his title fight against then-champ Matt Hughes and was defeated the second he realized the fight wasn't for the title. He fought like a shell of a man and was quickly submitted.

Prediction results

For UFC's fight night, I picked: Evans to beat Salmon by 2nd round TKO (1 for 1). As for the rest of the card, I'm going with O'Brien (2 for 2, this was a huge upset by the way), Franca (3 for 3), Lister (3 for 4), Burkman (4 for 5), Ed "Tito shoulda picked me!!" Herman (5 for 6), Guida (5 for 7) and Clementi (6 for 8).

Not bad, eh? I should start putting money on my bets. Too bad Sports Action doesn't cover the UFC.

KO of the night was Ed Herman transitioning from his opponent's back into an armbar. That was very nice. Rashad's KO was more emphatic and people loved it, but when it comes down to it, was simply a roundhouse his opponed failed to block/duck. Technical fans appreciate Herman's on a different level.

I'll give my predictions for UFC 67, Silva vs. Lutter soon, so get ready to bet. If you win, my cut is 15%.

Cheeeeeech.

Pride FC

So Nick Diaz is scheduled to fight Takanori Gomi on Feb. 24th, Pride's 2nd American event. Interesting match-up to say the least. Gomi is very, very highly rated among MMA pundits (#1 Lighweight according to mmaweekly.com) but he's not very well known in the North America. Diaz, the motor-mouth trash talker, is a good fighter but got beaten by Diego Sanchez, Joe Riggs and Sean Sherk recently. He got back on track by winning his last two UFC fights.

Advantages Diaz has is he's bigger than Gomi, and there are different rules for Pride when they fight in North America. I don't believe he'll be allowed to knee to the head of a downed opponent like he is in Japan. Gomi however, has more experience and has been a headliner on the big stage before. He also had a hard-fought decision loss to BJ Penn in 2003. Penn was handing Matt Hughes derrier to him before tearing a rib cartilage towards the end of the second round of their September 06 fight, so there's no shame in that loss whatsoever.

Either way, this will be an awesome fight, as I've always liked Diaz because he seems like someone you love to hate, and not in a Chris Leben way.

til next time

Ultimate Fight Night

Figured I'd share my thoughts on the upcoming UFC SpikeTV card on Jan 25. The headliner is Rashad Evans (Season 4's Heavyweight winner) vs. Sean Salmon. I used to be real down on Evans, simply because he's an awesome wrestler who only knew how to take his opponent down and sit on them. He had no MMA offence to speak of. He'd take them down, they'd get back up, he'd take them down again. On and on this went, for about 5-6 straight fights. No knockouts, just lacklustre decisions.

Then something happened in his last fight. He took the man down, and landed some big pops and managed to turn Jason Lambert's lights out. It wasn't pretty, but he showed more speed and a greater awareness. He fought like a big, black, Matt Hughes. His earlier fights reminded me of early UFC fights, where the wrestler would take his opponent down, hold him there, and....wait. and wait some more. and then some more. He showed something more in his last fight though, and that's a good thing.

I'm predicting he'll beat Salmon by 2nd round TKO. As for the rest of the card, I'm going with O'Brien, Franca, Lister, Burkman, Ed "Tito shoulda picked me!!" Herman, Guida and Clementi.

On a parting note, I love Ross Pointon's attitude. He's a terrible Lightheavy and Middleweight fighter though. He gets dismantled by all-around fighters all the time. Here's hoping he has better luck at welterweight. Obviously the UFC likes his attitude too, because the guy has done nothing but lose since he's been with them!!

The full UFC card can be found here.

MMA news

Hmm, my sources were correct. On Spike TV last night, Randy Couture announced his intentions to come out of retirement to face Tim Sylvia.

I sincerely hope Couture takes it to the big sloth Sylvia. We need an exciting champ for the most exciting sport. Yes, MMA has surpassed everything else in my opinion. I'd much rather watch a big time MMA fight than game 7 of MLB, NBA, or NHL playoffs. You can toss in that Bowl football players play for as well. They don't come close.

On a side note, Vancouver drivers are horrible winter drivers. In the last big snowfall we had, people had problems driving up a 2 degree incline. They insisted on driving on the iced-over, frozen road that other drivers had spun out on. I shifted over 2-3' and drove on the snowy patches and was doing fine, until the idiot driver behind me attempted to pass me. First of all, there's 25 cars in front of me still, that are stuck...where are you going? Second of all, you're crossing the yellow line to pass me. Thirdly, you're an idiot!!

MMA fighting

I heard through the grapevine that Randy "the Natural" Couture is going to announce he is coming out of retirement to face Tim "the-exceedingly-long-and-boring-lecture" Sylvia on March 3, 2007 for the heavyweight title in the UFC on Jan 11, 2007.

3 guesses as to who I'm pulling for?

I think Sylvia is capable of more exciting fights, the problem is, he loves winning so much, he fights not to lose rather than fighting to win. Think in Hockey terms, he's a walking neutral-zone trap. He will sit back and throw jabs at you all night long, lulling you to sleep. Once you get sick and tired of it and aggresively move in, big bad Tim backs up and jabs you some more. I just can't seem to watch his fights without taking a bathroom break or fast forwarding.

He's also one to talk smack. That's another one against the Tim-ster. Tito Ortiz talks smack to sell the fight, make money and he backs it up by going for the win. Tim smack talks, then sits back, jabbing at you with his gangly orangutan arms all night long.

If Couture wins, there's a bunch of interesting fight possibilities with the newly signed Mirko Cro Cop or the ex-champ, Andrei Arlovski.

Then that way, the UFC heavyweight title fight won't have to be on the undercard like it was everytime Sylvia has defended it, in UFC 65 (headlined by Hughes-St. Pierre II) and UFC 61 (headlined by Ortiz/Shamrock II)

In boxing's heyday, the heavyweight fight featuring Mike Tyson was the only match needed to sell tickets and ppvs. Proof the right heavyweight can carry things far, but the wrong one (insert Tim Sylvia's name here) can be downright disasterous.

Here's hoping Couture topples the sleep-inducing giant (and sleep in a bad way, not by knockout) at UFC 68!!