Perhaps this is overly obvious and I`m preaching to the saved, but I`m really surprised by Schaub`S 45 day suspension.. More than likely, he had a seizure. I`m not saying this as in "I`m 100% sure", but as in "very likely".

There are numerous variants of epileptic seizures, and he probably had a localized (as compared to a generalized) version of it. Fronto-temporal epilepsy is often preceded by posturing, mumbling or repetitive movements and my guess was that the ghost guard was a preceding a seizure. I thought Brendan looked "out" while standing with the ref.

Now, given that Schaub has been knocked out three times in a relative short timespan and that he most likely has a traumatically induced seizure this time. I would probably advise him to avoid getting hit in the head in the nearest future. And by that I mean, like, preferably never again.

Oh, and "Ghost guard" is simply brillliant! (Qudos to Balrog !)

Disclaimer: I`m from Sweden. In Sweden we mostly drink alcohol. I have however done my fair share of non-legal substances in my not-so-far-away youth, which I think is beneficial to my current line of occupation. Which is psychiatry. I`m an intern and will probably be a specialist around the beginning of 2012. And let`s just say that my openness to drugs has taken a hit during those years...

While I`m not saying that the recent Diaz-incident is in any way related to his selfadmitted use of marijuana... I`d just like to take this moment to elaborate on the mental effects of THC.

In short: It makes you stupid. It plays havoc with your concentration and memory. It gives you a shitload of anxiety. You`ll have issues with apathy, social anxiety, paranoia, depression and manic episodes.

No. I`m not saying that you`ll turn into a vegetable just by taking a whiff off a joint, but heavyduty everyday longtime use WILL turn you into a shell of your former self.

During my limited time as an active practitioner I`ve seen lots THC-addicts and most show the same problems. They are slow-witted, anxietyprone, borderline psychotic, apathic and have an unstable mood. The funny thing is that most of them say that they need THC to think and function. That it makes them more productive and smarter. That they`re mood gets better and they`ll be less depressed.

Well. Of course you`ll feel better with it. YOU ARE ADDICTED! Abstinence is a bitch. Deal with it.

And on that note. I`ve been wondering how someone like Diaz would deal with THC-abstinence. Not well was my guess (Not saying that abstinence is his problem. Could very well be excessive use that is the root of his problems. Or maybe it`s not related to use of banned substances in any way.)

Granted. I get a skewed view of the drug since I`ve been working with addicts and psychiatric patients of all kinds, but the thing is, in Sweden THC aint such a big thing compared to in the states. And a lot of my patients have been using it. A lot.

Self medication you say? Maybe. In some cases. But that`s the same answer you`ll get asking any addict with any kind of addiction. I also did a quick check on wikipedia. And was amazed by the lack of negativity concerning the sweet little herb... For those interest. Read a bit about endocannaboids. They`re pretty cool. Not sure that you wanna mess to much with them, but they`re cool. In conclusion. From a clinical view, the problem with THC is a lot bigger than just being a gateway drug. It can also turn you into Subo.

 

Now, I won`t lie... I must admit that I initially went and checked MiddleEasy cause I found the prospect of seeing The Reem punch some random kid in the stomach... and kick another kid in the leg extremely tantalizing.

But.

Once I got there, I saw another piece about Rhonda Rousey. And since I won`t lie this time either, I`ll have to admit that I kinda just wanted to see more Rowdy Rhonda... But! The video was actually rather interesting to watch for a bjj-novice such as myself.

Brilliant, I thought, let`s post the video as a fanshot with a link to MiddleEasy. Sadly I`m somewhat of a moron in all things related to the Interwebs and failed. I will therefore post a fanpost and urge you to either go read it (and watch the video) or, if you`re technically more proficient than I, post the video as a FanShot and make my somewhat unneccessary FanPost superfluos (that`s a word, righ`t?).

http://www.middleeasy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5579:since-were-not-tired-of-looking-at-ronda-rousey-heres-a-video-breaking-down-her-fight-with-sarah-dalelio&catid=34:organizations

A lot, perhaps even all, of the Lesnar-Velasquez post fight discussion has been centered on Lesnar`s inability to take a shot, his lack of chin, or more specifically his immediate panic-reaction to getting hit. In my opinion, there is more to it than that.

As far as I`ve heard, Brock stormed across the ring as soon as the fight started cause he was afraid to get hit. I think he might have been afraid of something else too... namely gassing.

Brock knew that he was facing an excellent wrestler, but not only that, an excellent wrestlers with exceptional cardio... and he was facing him in a 5-round fight! This the same year as Brocks life-threatening illness no less. Brock was forced to rebuild a lot of lost bulk AND doing cardio. Not an easy task.

 I`m suspecting that Brock, and his camp, knew that Brock wouldn`t be able to last 5 rounds with Cain.

So, what did Brock Lesnar have going for him going into that fight? Strength? Possibly speed? Maybe power... With that in mind Lesnar`s camp devised a gameplan based on taking Cain down... more or less through bullrushing Cain. And probably try to finish him quickly, something that, based on the Kongo-fight for instance, didn`t seem out of the realm of possibilities.

Using that gameplan Lesnar must have known that he would now have ZERO chance of lasting 5 rounds without becoming a reincarnation of second-round-Carwin. That`s why I believe Lesnar started to panic BEFORE he got hit by Velasquez, the shots to his head only accentuated the fact.

For the JDS-fight, Lesnar will have had at least another 6 months to build cardio. He knows that he will probably have a good chance of taking JDS down, not only in the first... but in the second... and in the third. And if Lesnar does that, he`ll have a decent shot at winning a decision. Stand-up, you say? No way, I say. This is Brock we`re talking about. Or, should I say: BROCKLESNARRR!!!!

A Brock Lesnar going into a fight with the clear objective to win a decision, something he`s done before (See: Herring, Heath) is probably better prepared, and more willing, to take a few shots on the way, than a Brock Lesnar that is terrified of gassing (and thus becoming defenseless), who`s starting to panic and gas... and having seen his gameplan/only way of winning go up in smoke.

In conclusion, THAT`S why I believe that in the contract discussions between White and Lesnar, the non-title fight was a demand from Brock, not from White. After all, 3 rounds is a lot less than 5...

Poll

Who wanted the JDS-Lesnar fight to be non-title (3 rounds)?

3%

Damn you Brock, you`re NOT getting a shot at a belt! (White)

2 votes

12%

I want to spend as little time away from Minnesota as possible. Since 3 rounds means tha`t I´ll have to be away from home a shorter period of time, I won`t take a 5-round fight... Belt? I don`t need no stinkin belt! (Lesnar)

7 votes

83%

So, we agree? Let`s not waste precious natural resources on making fake-straps. We`ll just have the fight and be done with it.. 3 rounds it is! (Lesnar and White)

47 votes

56 votes | Poll has closed

So. I thought I`d add somewhat of a different flavour to the current topics by adding Big Nog and Big Brock to them.

 It seems as if two of our greatest hero`s are currently having a hard time finding a suitable opponent? Have no fear, Blueberry is here! Let`s look at the cosmic coincidences that turn this match-up from a mere MMA-fight in to a clash of giants whose common faith has long been written in the stars!

7/7 2007 Nogueira vs Herring : Win Noguiera, UD

9/8 2008 Lesnar vs Herring: Win Lesnar, UD

 

27/12 2007 Noguiera vs Mir: Win Mir, TKO

2/2 2008 Lesnar vs Mir : Win Mir, Sub

 

29/8 2009 Noguiera vs Couture: Win Nogueira, UD

15/11 2008 Lesnar vs Couture: Win Lesnar, TKO

 

20/2 2010 Nogueira vs Velasquez: Win Velazques, TKO R1

23/10 2010 Lesnar vs Velasquez: Win Velasquez, TKO R1

 

The only non-matching fights they have taken are the re-match against Mir for Lesnar, Nog vs Sylvi and Lesnar vs Carwin... But to be fair, both Lesnar and Nog won by submission in those fights.

 

Putting such things as predestination aside, there ARE benefits for them both:

Lesnar needs a fighter with a name, someone he can beat, who that doesn`t punch like a mule, is kinda slow and can`t wrestle to good. Voilà, behold Antonio Rodrigo "Big Nog" Nogueira, AKA Lesnar`s next opponent!

Nogueira needs a fighter with a big name, someone he can beat, who isn`t a KO-artist, with rudimentary skills and is preferably a wrestler so Nogueira can show off his skills on the ground. Voilà, behold Brock Lesnar, AKA Noguiera`s next opponent!

 

Anderson Silva is one of, if not the best, MMA-fighters in the world. Heck, he`s one of the all time greats. He`s vicious on his feet with recent KO`s of Leben, Franklin x2, Irvin, Griffin and Marquardt, and he has submitted the likes of Travis Lutter and Dan Henderson, all in recent history.

Yet. Lately he`s been somewhat of a disappointment. His fights against Patrick Cotè, Thales Leites and Demian Maia were all fought at a very slow tempo, with Anderson being seemingly superior fighter, yet failing to move in for the kill against "helpless" opponents (No, Cotè didn`t put up a fight. Please re-watch that fight if any of you think it was even close).

His excuses have been: "I wanted to show that I could go 5 rounds" (Cotè) "He wouldn`t fight me. "(Leites) and "I couldn`t get the timing down" (Maia). What most fans (invcluding myself) and reporters have seen is a seemingly disinterested, lazy clown. Taking no risks whatsoever and show-boating at every chance he`s gotten. So, is Anderson lying through his teeth? Or is perhaps the truth hidden somewhere in between? Is there perhaps some other explanation?

In the same time-period as the 3 mentioned MW-championship fights, he`s also fought twice at LHW, against James Irvin (KO 1st round) and the former LHW-champion Forrest Griffin (KO 1st round).

Or another way of looking at it:

2006-06-23 to 2008-03-01

6 fights, all at MW. 4 TKO/KO, 2 submissions. None getting past the second round.

2008-07-19 to 2010-04-10

5 fights, 3 at MW, 2 at LHW. 5 fights at MW, 5 decisions, 2 fights at  LHW, 2 KO`s (both 1st round).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here`s my theory. Anderson Silva is fighting with a build suited for LHW-combats. As an example: He fought Irvin at LHW, the very same Irvin that looked like a zombie at MW. Anderson Silva is not much smaller than Irvin.

Maybe Silva is just so good that a Silva with bad cardio and poor timing due to horrific weight-cuts is still juuuust good enough to win at MW. If he paces himself that is. The same Anderson Silva that is an absolute killing-machine at LHW... I also believe that Anderson Silva had intended a permanant move to LHW, but Machida being a seemingly unstoppable champion (and Anderson Silva`s friend) left Anderson hanging in a limbo between MW and LHW.

 

via www.mmaontap.com

 

Lastly, I`d like to say that if I got to have one MMA-wish come true... It would be to see Shogun vs Anderson Silva. It would just be so awesome.

Poll

Has the jumping between weightclasses affected Anderson Silva`s performance at MW?

16%

Yes. His erratic behaviour might be influenced by a more difficult weight-cut.

41 votes

83%

No. It`s a mental thing. Anderson fights the way he wants to fight.

207 votes

248 votes | Poll has closed

Disclaimer: My post is in not meant to discredit or bash any fighters. If you believe the contents to be offensive to any fighters, I can either remove it from the post, or you (mods) may delete it all-together.

There are many things that can influence speech. Just to mention a few: Alzheimer`s, Vascular dementia, Pick`s disease, Parkinson, Frontotemporal dementia, Multiple Sclerosis, Alcoholic dementia, Wernicke`s Encephalopathia, Viral encephalopathias, Strokes, Brain hemorraghes, Depression, Psychosis, Manias etc etc

Brain damage does not equal stupid. Nor does dementia equal stupid.

That being said, I`d like to start my post with a quote from dr Pitt`s excellent article on Sherdog on the subject of Dementia Pugilistica:

Dementia Pugilistica, also known as Boxers' Dementia or Punch Drunk Syndrome, develops gradually and is irreversible. The early signs are subtle: changes in personality, impaired judgment, confusion, discrete deficits in memory. Over time the psychiatric complications become more profound--paranoia, impulsivity, aggression, depression, and ultimately functional dementia. Neuromotor dysfunction coincides with the psychiatric decline. Sufferers endure slurred speech, tremors, gait disturbance and gradually decline into immobility.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Fistic-Medicine-Dementia-Pugilistica-amp-MMA-22581

I would like to add that not only is speech problem probably not the first sign that something is amiss, there are also different kind of problems that linguistic problems dould debut with, due to which part of the brain that is affected. You have for instance, progressive aphasia, where you speak less, you have increased problems finding words and, you search for words and you have lessened vocabulary.

Then you have the variant were tone and pace is normal, but grammar is severely affected, you misuse words, perhaps increased use of profanity, and are generally incoherent. Sometimes you slurr your speech, sometimes not. Depends on whether the problem stems from damage to your temporal cortex (words, grammar), premotorcortex (slurred speech) or frontal cortex (inhibition, social competence, mood, planning), or perhaps you have a deficient working memory...

Then again, No Man Is An Island. The brain is mostly about balance. What may be conceived as dysfunction of one area, may actually be overactivity of a different area. Most fuctions in the brain are related to neurocircuits, a damage to one are can sometimes be compensated by other areas along the chain, in other instances, it cannot.

All in all, speech is most of the time not an early symtom of wrongness in the brain (unless there`s localized damage such as a stroke or a cerebral hemorraghe), which is why I believe that fighters that slur or are almost incoherent should definately NOT be allowed to fight.

`To end with some examples. A lot of BE members worry about Chuck Liddell and I think there`s a majority of readers that would like him to stop fighting. Some are worried about Big Nog, since the fact that he talks and moves differently than his twin brother might be construed as worrying.

I would like to add two more fighters to that list: James Toney and Chris Leben. Toney has been ridiculed over and over due to his slurred speech, his strange wording (neologisms), his strange lack of insight to his situation and his non-existent grammar, yet I haven`t heard many voicing the opinion that perhaps the real reason that Couture vs Toney shouldn`t happen is that Toney display`s a varying array of signs indicating damage to the brain? then again, I don`t really know Toney, he might have been speaking in the same manner 20 years ago. I mean, Tito is semi-coherent as it is, but as far as I know, he`s always talked like that, which would mean that there is no alteration to his speech pattern.

Leben however, is to me, an even stranger case. He has, over the years, displayed one of the best chins in the business. Unfortunately, displaying a great chin means that you will have to put that chin on display by taking a lot of very hard blows to the head. Leben has certainly done just that. The fact that he has admitted to having a drinking-problem in his earlier years does not exactly help his brain. What worries me about Leben is that I think his speech pattern has altered over the last couple of years. Don`t believe me? I urge you to re-watch some of the TUF-material and then watch his Countdown interview before the Bisping-fight and compare the two. You may also compare Leben`s speech pattern to that of his brother that also appeared on the Countdown show. Then again, I might be wrong, my ear for tone and rythm is not the best... Let`s just say that I didn`t exactly excel as a guitarplayer in my earlier years.

Dear Mr Rua!

Knee-surgery. Again. I feel bad for you, mr Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. And I feel VERY bad for all us fans that miss out on your wonderful MuayThaiMadness.

That being said, I think you should vacate your title immediately. There are a number of reasons as to why this would be beneficiary for you, The UFC and us (The Fans).

1) The Time Aspect. You won your title in May -10. We now know that you will be sidelined until at least march -2011. Let say that your rehabilitation goes awry, and all of a sudden, more than a year has passed? That`s a whole year without a "real" titlefight in the second biggest division in UFC. (Second after BROCKLESNAR-weight). We do NOT need another fake-belt! No sir.

2) Shogun`s Rehabilitation. If you`re the champion, there will be constant pressure on you to rehabilitate as fast as possible. Chances are good that you may rush your preparations unneccesarily, thus gettin re-injured.

3) Ring Rust. As we all saw in the Shogun vs Coleman fight, comin back from serious knee-surgery aint easy. You gassed. Bad. And that was in a 3-round fight. Imagine if that had been a 5-round fight? ( I still think the stoppage in that fight was questionable..) It wouldn`t have been pretty.

4) Quality Of Opponent. It´s not fair to be to forced to fight the Nr 1 LHW inhyour return fight. Imagine if the Coleman-fight had been against Machida instead? You would`t have won THAT fight, that`s for sure!

So in conclusion: Drop the Belt Shogun!

And most importantly: Get well Soon!

Best Wishes/

Mr Muffin

Poll

Should Shogun vacate the Title?? (and perhaps get a crack at crackin` Tito`s skull in his return fight instead of gettin` molested by Machida)?

34%

Drop the Belt Shogun! Do it For the Children! Think of the Children!!

61 votes

65%

Keep The Belt Shogun! Possession is 90% of the law!! And besides, your INVINCIBLE (Screw Cardio, that`s for pussies!)!!!

117 votes

178 votes | Poll has closed

Actually Cane`s deficency could be summed up i one word :Defense. If you ask me has no headmovement, doesn`t block anything and moves straight forward.

I was never that impressed by Cane to begin with. Sure, he destroyed Lambert and beat Sokodjou/Catwell, but to me he was the Leben of LightHeavyweight. Moving straight forward and trusting his chin.

He`s got some nice straight punches and seems to pack some power, but in every fight I`ve seen, he gets tagged repeatedly. You just can`t do that in weightclasses above featherweight and get away with it. I urge you all to review the first round against Sokodjou or the third round against Cantwell. Everything they threw, Cane blocked with his chin.

I´ll admit that I thought Cane had a shot against Nogueira, but that was due to the fact that I actually thought he could wade in and get hit repatedly. I guess I got Rogerio mixed up with his brother Rodrigo (another excellent example of a chin-blocker) and forgot that Rogerio actually dropped Shogun. (Silly me.)

That being said Cane might beat The Snake, but that`s more due to lack of quality on the Snake`s part, but Cane will never ever be the champ.

I`ve been asking myself a question lately: What`s the difference between "killer instinct" and sadism? And wherein lies the difference between lack of killer instinct and being merciful? I dunno. But to me, it`s an important distinction to make.

While I by no means ever have been a world-beater, there are occasions where I show "mercy". When my team leads a soccer-game 8-0, I wouldn`t foul an opposing striker with a scoring chance. If I were to win at FIFA 10 times in a row, I wouldn`t exactly go all out trying to give my poor friend another vicious beating. That`s how I roll, and I expect most of us to act in the same way. We want to win, but we do not humiliate.

Translating the same mentality into fighting.

I believe that Aldo could have finished the fight against Faber, but he didn`t have the heart to do it. The first 3 rounds displayed an outmatched and outclassed Faber getting his leg destroyed. When the 4th round started it was painfully obvious that Faber could hardly move and while his ONLY shot at winning was taking Aldo down, there was just no way he would ever get the fight to the ground hobbling around the cage on one leg.

That`s when Aldo suddenly took the fight to the ground and mauled Faber. The last 2 minutes of the round he had Faber IN A CRUCIFIX. Faber wasn`t going anywhere anytime soon and while you may argue that Faber was trying to get out, to say that he was intelligently defending himself was stretching the term very far.

Then comes the 5th round.

Suddenly Aldo doesn`t engage anymore. He doesn`t land knees that are there for the taking, he doesn`t ground and pound, he doesn`t even attack the legs of Faber anymore. Was Aldo playing it safe?? I just don`t buy it. What I believe, and will always believe no matter what, is that even born fighters such as Jose Aldo are HUMAN. Beating a defenseless human being has nothing to do with sport. I believe that Aldo just didn`t want to hurt Faber anymore and that Faber deserved a decision-loss.

(To show that I do not consider this behaviour to be an isolated incident I`ll give you CroCop vs Perosh or Sonnen vs Filho II as references)

Gabriel Gonzaga has earned himself a reputation as a "brawler" or maybe,if there is such a term a "stand-and-bang"-er. I can however not fathom as to why it is so?

First, let`s look at his record: 11 wins (5 TKO/KO vs 6 submissions) and 4 losses (All by TKO/KO). More than half his wins (55%) are by submission, which for a heavyweight is a lot. If we look at three of the best submissions-artists at heavyweight: Fabricio Werdum has 13 wins (5 submissions) , Fedor Emelianenko has 32 wins (16 submissions), Minotauro Nogueira has 32 wins (20 submissions), we find that of the three, only Minotauro has a higher percentage (62.5%) of submissions.

But maybe the truth is hidden by those statistics? Is in fact so that he has developed into a brawler in his last couple of fights? Chris Tuscherer was severely out (mis?)matched and presented virtually no threat to Gonzaga who dispatched Tuscherer easily (admittedly the groin-shot may have helped), Josh Hendricks was dispatched in less than a minute and he took Justin McCully (A BJJ blackbelt) to the ground and easily submitted him.

When he faced Werdum, Gonzaga immediately took the fight to the ground and dominated Werdum for the entire first round. In the second, he gassed, and Werdum destroyed him on the feet and then on the ground.

In the Couture-fight, most would say that the gameplan probably should include some striking. It was, however Couture Gonzaga down and in the process headbutted Gonzaga`s Napao (big nose) into oblivion. Couture then dominated the clinch-game and Gonzaga (his cardio not improving by breathing a mixture of blood and snot for the entirety of the fight) gassed/wilted and Couture pounded him out.

In the Mirko CroCop fight, people tend to remember the vicious headkick, but they conveniently forget that the KO was facilitated by at least two minutes of brutal GnP which probably had Mirko somewhat dazed and probably more worried about another takedown than a left high-kick.

Finally we have the Carwin-fight. In that fight Gonzaga immediately took SHANE CARWIN down. I reapeat, he took Carwin "the great wrestler" to the ground and had him in a very bad spot before a dazed Carwin got to his feet and caught Gonzaga flush. Game Over.

So, what can we deduce from his recent fights? It seems as if Gonzaga takes the fight to the ground at the first chance he gets, unless his opponent is severely out-matched on the feet. His cardio has cost him at least two fights (Couture and Werdum), he does seem to fade the longer the fight progresses and while his chin is debatable but I hardly think that getting KO`d by Carwin automatically qualifies it as being "weak". In conclusion.

I am positive that Gonzaga will TRY to make the fight against Dos Santos into a ground fight, but before the fight can get to the ground, they will, as Dan Hardy put it, "both start standing."

 

Image via sherdog.com

One of the major issues I have with many of the eloquent and insightful contributors on this site is the sentiment that belts outside of UFC (and maybe WEC) doesn`t matter. I find that to be a strange concept. I`ll try to give you a couple of reasons why.

1) The first and most obvious reason why belts matter is: The rules change. You go 5 instead of 3 rounds. That increases the total fight-time by 67% (If I remember my high-school math correctly?). That`s a huge difference. And thus it tweaks the odds in favour of the cardio-machines such as GSP, Faber, Diaz, Griffin or Couture. It also increases the value of a great chin or true KO-power. Take Bisping vs Henderson for instance. Pre-fight I found it to be a close call and I actually had Bisping winning the fight until he got short-circuited. Would I have considered the fight a close call if it had been 5 rounds? Probably not. The odds of Bisping avoiding One-shot-Hendo for 5 rounds? Let`s just say I wouldn`t bet on Bisping at even money..

2) The emotional value increases. Everyone always want to win... Be honest now. What would you be happier about: Winning a ping-pong tournament against 5-6 of your friends or finishing in 3rd place when 5 more of your friends (who you knew were the best) were added to the tournament? Am I the only one that finds the glory of winning a local soccer- or tennis- tournament intoxicating? And the same goes for me as a spectator. I want to see who WINS! Which is not necessarily is the same as the "best".

 

via cdn3.sbnation.com

In conclusion. Sure. All belts were not created equal. But to say that they are worthless? Come on.

People care about college-football (the best players are in the NFL), national championships in wrestling (the best are in the Olympics) and who wins the European championships in soccer (compared to WORLD cup), and I care about who wins Allsvenskan in Sweden (even though the best players are mostly in Premier League).

via clarafordfoundation.files.wordpress.com

 

You may be the biggest fish in a small pond, but you`re still the biggest fish IN THAT POND!!

Somewhat obscured by BJ Penn`s deconstruction of Diego, KenFlo`s hammering of the Carpenter and Mir`s grip of Cheick`s neck, two middling heavuweights battled it out.

I found the fight fairly enjoyable, especially the first round. And since I was rooting for Struve, I was quite pleased with the result...

But.. While I was pleased by the result and completely agree with it, I was somewhat suprised by the scoring. I, and two of the judges, scored it 10-9 Struve, 10-9 Buentello and 10-9 Struve, thus giving a victory for Struve 29-28.

But one judge scored it 28-28. How did that happen? The first round was Struve`s. The second round was Buentello`s. So...

Did that lone judge give the 10-8 to Struve? Possibly. Struve did spend almost the entire round on Buentello`s back, trying to apply choke`s. Or did he think that Buentello`s knockdown rendered a 10-8 round in the second stanza?

Merely out of curiosity. Would you rather give Struve a 10-8 for his complete domination on the ground and constant submission-attempts, (but very little significant damage)? Or would you give Buentello a 10-8 for his knockdown?

I, for one, believe both were 10-9 rounds... But if you HAD to score one of them 10-8?

Poll

Which round was a 10-8?

81%

Round 1 Struve.

88 votes

18%

Round 2 Buentello

20 votes

108 votes | Poll has closed

 

Not so long ago, Joe Silva announced that they would down-size their roster to somewhere around 250 fighters. Soon thereafter fighters like Thales Leites and Jason McDonald were cut. But still… 250 fighters? That`s a lot.

Let`s do some quick 6th grade math here. There are about twelve numbered events a year, each hosting 9 fights in average. Add about six(?) Fight Nights to that and two TUF-finale`s a year, each with about nine fights. That`s 12+6+2 = 20 events. 20 x 9 = 180 fights. 180x2 = 360 fighter-slots a year. 360/250 = 1.44 That`s less than one and a half fight per fighter a year. Not a lot.

And in reality it is probably even less than that. A lot of the fight-slots are filled with newcomers slotted in through TUF, I`d say probably around 8-10 fighters a year (conservatively) getting in average two fights each. That`s another 20 fight-slots lost. Then another 5-10 fighters are externally recruited, taking another 20 slots. Which leaves us with 320/250 = 1.3 fights/fighter/year. 1.3!!! And that`s not including that many of the stars fight 2-4 times a year…

Continue reading this post »

 

I was watching the Shields vs Miller fight the other day and was unseemingly annoyed. At first I didn`t know why ( I like grapplers), since the fight was fairly entertaining, but then it hit me. It was all the un-natural positions they got in where they were able to just chill. Every fiber in my body was screaming "Elbow! ELBOW!!!", but of course, that wasn`t allowed. That left Shields sitting in Mayhems lap... and nothing even remotely dangerous was about to happen as long as they stayed in that position.

For some time now I`ve found it odd that the major american MMA organizations have rules that differ. It´s strange, since it`s the same sport and the same country. I could accept it for the dearly departed Affliction and IFL , since they were fighting in a ring, but why Strikeforce (and the late EliteXC) choose not to allow elbows on the ground is beyond me. Are they so afraid of blood? It is after all an american audience that they are catering for and the american public does not seem so squeamish when it comes to a little red leakage?

But on the other hand, may that very rule have influenced Fedor and M-1 Global`s decision to join Strikeforce instead of UFC? I know it`s kinda far fetched (and that it was most likely based on possible co-promotion on M-1`s part), but please hear me out...

Poll

Who would benefit from allowing elbows on the ground?:

15%

Fedor Emilianenko

16 votes

43%

Brock Lesnar

45 votes

40%

The Bear

42 votes

103 votes | Poll has closed

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I read a reply in a different post where it was suggested that Machida should go down a weight-class. The suggestion was, as should be, not taken very kindly by most other BloodyElbowers and I must admit that I chuckled somewhat when I read about it. But... then I thought about it some more...If Machida wins against Shogun, the disussion is moot. He is then the reigning LHW-champ and will likely remain so for quite some time. But if Machida loses he is stuck in limbo.

The logical challengers to Shogun would be Rashad Evans (if he wins against Thiago SIlva), Little Nog (if he beats Cane). Rampage is out and Tito Ortiz would need a couple of wins before he can be passed off as a challenger.

However. The most likely challenger of them all would be Anderson Silva. Shogun would have beaten the "pupil", time for the master to step forward. Anderson wouldn`t fight for the title since it was MAchida`s, but if MAchida is out, Anderson Silva would probably step in.

Machida could in the meantime drop down to middleweight, which he probably could do tomorrow and would soon be fighting for and very likely winning the middleweight title that Anderson Silva would vacate as soon as he had won the LHW-title. As soon as Anderson Silva lost the LHW-title, or retired, Machida could once again move back up a weight-class.

All this depends of course on a lot of "if"s and "maybe"s but if:

a) Shogun beats Machida in the rematch

b) Anderson SIlva gets the next title-shot (not unlikely)

c) Anderson Silva beats Shogun and then vacates the MW-title.

...Machida may drop down to MW.

I actually think that some of Anderson`s posturing regarding the Shogun-Machida fight is partly to put himself in the limelight and position himself where he can legitimately challenge Shogun.

That being said, I will still be rooting for Machida on January 2.

I`ve just read poudngrounds post about CroCops interview.

 

Reading that, I feel fairly certain that he won`t return to the Octagon. So, since he won`t be around anymore, I´ll take this opportunity to thank him for all the memories.

 

After some soul-searching I realised that my favorite CroCop-memory is actually not from any "real" MMA-fight,it was from when he destroyed Sapp`s jaw with one punch. And at that point in time, I actually believed *coughs* the hype surrounding The Beast.

What`s your favorite CroCopian memory?

As contenders in the welterweight-division continues to dwindle, the call to arms for a Silva vs St Pierre superfight are getting louder. I`ll admit that at the moment there are no real contenders for the Canadian.

That, on the other hand, does not necessarily mean that`s it`s a good idea to put him up against a fellow contestant for the P4P-title, who just happens to be 30 pounds heavier and 3 inches taller.

So, I`m just gonna give a couple of reasons as to why they shouldn`t fight.

1) It could destroy a division. If GSP wins, he`ll have to stay at the division. What`s the point in ever seeing him fight a smwll WW when he just destroyed a 230 pound potential P4P nr 1? That would leave ww without it`s champ and as a side-effect MW would be even more depleted of challengers than it was before. If you have a guy that destroys Anderson Silva, would it really be that interesting to see him against Nate Marquart?

2) If St Pierre wins, Anderson Silva may leave. I, for one, want him in UFC now, not in three years when he`s done fighting the likes of Roy Jones Jr.

3) It messes with the LHW-division. If GSP wins, how would that make Forrest look? Sure, it`s MMAth, but please remember that Forrest was the champion as little as a year ago.

4) If Silva wins, it will likely be by KO. You don`t want GSP to be developing a glass-jaw at this tender age. And it really doesn`t prove anything. People will say that "Silva was to big for him".

5) You give away a lot of potential match-ups for free.

It would be interesting to see GSP move up in weight though. Let him fight one of the contenders at MW. I would put him against Okami, Sonnen or Marquart.

If he wins, you get more interesting match-ups, if he loses, he`ll move back down having shown how worthy the challengers at MW really are.

 

I would pit GSP againt a

Poll

Who should GSP fight next?

5%

Nate Marquart

13 votes

11%

Yushin Okami

29 votes

9%

Dan Henderson

23 votes

7%

Chael Sonnen

18 votes

16%

I still think he should fight Anderson Silva

40 votes

50%

Let him stay at welterweight. Contenders will appear.

123 votes

246 votes | Poll has closed

I know, I know. BE represents the meta-rankings, which so far are the best rankings available. I do think there are some major flaws involved in the rankings that compile the meta-rankings. The sum of all stupidity does not necessarily add up to genius. Sorry.

1) There`s no expiry-date on wins. A win 10 years ago simply doesn`t count. That`s like saying that Thomas Enquist (who`s that??) is the greatest tennis-player ever cause he has a 3-0 record over Roger Federer. That would however be silly, since those matches were like ten years ago. Enquist quit a long time ago. He has no ranking at all. Where should Tyson be ranked if he made a comeback? He does have a lot of quality wins? Or even better... Lennox Lewis? Is he still ranked nr 1 if he made a comeback? If Fedor retires and makes a comeback in 10 years, would he still be ranked as nr 1?

2) To much / to little stock is put in HOW you win. If you KO a guy in 10 seconds, why is that considered more impressive than a 3-round-decision win? I give you Junior dos Santos as an example. He basically KO`d Werdum with his first shot and was instantly a top 10 HW! Brett Rogers catches Arlovski in the first 10-seconds and he`s the next big thing... Timmay gets caught and then submitted and he`s suddenly a has-been (talkin bout Fedor, not Mercer) Randy was veeery close to doing the exact same thing to Timmay. My point is, they won, which they should get credit for, but they seem to have gotten more credit than was due, just because it was a TV-friendly way to win. AA-vs Fedor? If AA was to win, he would have to win a desicion. Well? He didn`t.

If Lesnar had clipped Herring and then finished the fight, would he have gotten a title-shot? My guess is no. What he did was show us a skill-set that was impressive.

3) People talk about MMAth and how it doesn`t correspond to reality and then they still use it. If you loose against someone, doesn`t mean that they are better than you. It may just have been a bad stylistic match-up (Rampage vs Forrest). If nr 2 fights against nr 3 and nr 2 loses, I can see how that would make them switch places, but how can you drop 3-4 places by such a loss?

4) People completely disregard the term "developing fighter" when they judge a win. Is Brock Lesnar the same fighter today that he was two years ago? I don`t think so. Was Kenny Florian the same fighter three years ago? No. Is Rich Clementi the same fighter as three years ago? Yes. Matt Serra? Hmm. Chubbier, but basically yes.

My point is that fighters develop A LOT in their first couple of years, not so much after that.

5) How do you count a win in a different weightclass? When people talk about the resume`s of the old-timers they tend to forget what weightclass (or no weightclass) that fight was in. Nowadays, a win at catch-weight doesn`t cound at all. None of those ways seem like the golden path to me...

What I think a lot of people seem to forget is the fact about the noble art of commentating is the importance of silence.

Commentating is supposed to explain simple, yet fairly obvious, things such as X has the ball and passes to Y or Fighter A kicks Fighter B in the head. This might seem like a simple task, but lo and behold, a lot of commentators fail in this area. I would like to make a list of areas in which they may fail...

For the Play-by-Play:

Timing:

Usually cause they talk to much about other things than what`s happening NOW! It`s all about timing. In other words, say something now, or be forever silent. I do not want to hear "20 seconds ago Ronaldo passed the ball to Berbatov I waited a while and checked the replay to be sure." and in the meantime see the oppposing team score. Same thing with fights. It`s now or never.

Choice of words:

This is simple. If you`re p-b-p, use as few and as short ones as possible. Grammar? I don`t care. Using the right words?? Don`t care. Four syllables or more? Please don`t!

Emotions:

I`d much rather hear someone scream "What a SHOT!" or "And he SCOOOOOOORES!!" Thus reflecting the emotions in the moment,  than hearing "bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.....", while I`m jumping up and down like a madman trying to celebrate.

A p-b-p is suppose to enhance the feel of the fight or the game. I want him (or her) to make me more enthused or enraged. I watch sports because I care about what`s happening. Ever tried watching a fight without sound? Not as exciting, is it? Is that because you don´t understand what`s happening??? Or is is something else?

Voice:

This is an often overlooked part of commentating. I would compare tone-of-voice to smell. You just "like" or "dislike". Some most agree on, with other`s it varies. If you don´t like the voice your hearing, chances are that you won`t like what it has to say. I like Goldberg`s voice, I like Randy Couture`s voice, I like Forrest Griffin`s voice. I tolerate Kenny Florian`s voice and I tolerate `Dan Henderson´s voice. BJ Penn`s makes my skin crawl and Mauro Ranallo`s make me wanna punch something. I can`t explain it. I.. just.. don`t .. like.. the .. sound.

Color-commentator

A bit different demands on this one. 

Timing:

Wait. Wait. Wait. Choose your moments with care. Don`t talk all the time! ( I can see you Jens Pulver!!)

What to say (wording):

Explain what just happened, or even better, make me see something that MAY be about to happen. The further into the future the better. I can see that he may throw elbows, but what I may not see is when he`s baiting someone to pass his guard in order to get a triangle.

Emotions:

Don`t get all analytical in an emotional moment. If I see a great knock-out or a super-submission, please don`t choose that exact moment to tell me that he dropped his right hand or that he should`t have gone to the ground in the first place. Wait until I`m emotionally ready for it.

 

And last, but not least... for both Color and Play-by-Play...

 

BALANCE AND HARMONY!

I cannot stress this enough. If you have  a p-b-p that talks a lot, the other one has to be quiet, and vice versa. The P-b-P should be loud and semi-stupid, the Color must be at least as clever as yourself. And they have to LIKE eachother. There`s nothing more painful than to listen to a pair of commentators that don`t like or respect eachother.

 

And now to my point. NEITHER Goldberg or Rogan is perfect, but they are a very enjoyable team. I`m not to fond of Rogan (Say "Gun`s blazing" or "He`s a machine!" one more time and I´ll..) as color, but he`ll do. As a pair though? None is better!

 

So here was the P-b-P, fell free to Color me Badd.

 

"Ì`d like to fight him"--- I can whoop him good!

"He`s a legend of the sport"--- He used to be good, but now I can whoop him good!

"I want a title-shot" --- I don`t deserve to fight for the title, but I will publicly whine about getting one to look like I actually do deserve it.

"I like to stand and bang" --- I have no head-movement. I have no ground-game. I can`t hit a moving target. Please stand still so I can hit you!

"I was only trash-talking..."--- Please! I want you to like me! 

"I was never out!"--- I was out, but I lost to many braincells to remember it.

"I fight for the fans!"--- I fight for ME! And I love that you love me, cause I want you to love me as much as I love myself!

"I`m prepared to go three hard rounds if I have to!"--- The rumors about me not doing any cardio are not true. NOT true I tell you!

Sherk vs Edgar was a huge fight. For Sherk that is. My guess is that the whole point of that fight was to cement Sherk as a contender. And what better way to do that than to put Sherk up against a smaller version of himself? There was even an upside to Edgar loosing. A loss would almost certainly have forced Edgar down to featherweight where he would be an immediate contender.

To be able to move Edgar to WEC he would have to loose... and it`s much better to send him off with a loss to the no 1 LW-contender  than to Gray Maynard.

But things went wrong... and Edgar won. Or depending how you look at it, Sherk lost.

So far almost everything I`ve seen concerning the fight is focused on Sherk`s idiotic gameplan, or maybe on his non-existing boxing. What I would like to point out that in a way he may have been tricked into that gameplan.

There`s no doubt that Sherk was planning to box, but had he really planned to completely abandon his boxing? 

I was kinda surprised when I first saw Edgar threaten with a takedown-attempt. After a couple of them I was more and more impressed. I think that Edgar never really intended to take Sherk down. He used TD-attempts to indicate to Sherk that "Hey man, I can`t box with you Mr T-Rex! I have to take this fight to the ground!" Thus installing a false sense of security into Sherk. I`m guessing that Edgar may have gameplanned on winning by unanimous decision 29-28.

When Sherk finally realised that he was actually loosing the stand-up, it was already to late. And since Sherk`s ground`n pound doesn`t finish fighters off, taking it to the ground wasn´t really an option in the third round, he had to hope for a very unlikely KO. Even if Edgar hadn`t put Sherk in a guillotine at the end, he would still have won the fight.

 

Having just read Mr Rome`s post about Rampage and TUF, I realised that he touched a somewhat sore point. Who will be headlining our precious PPV`s in the autumn?

I`ve been actively ignoring that question myself. Kinda like how you don`t open letters when you don`t want to read what`s inside them? Anyways..

 Here are some fights I would pay to see as headliners.

 September:

Shane Carwin vs Cheick Kongo

Gray Maynard vs Diego Sanchez

Matt Hughes vs Josh Koscheck

October:

Sean Sherk vs Takanori Gomi

Jon Fitch vs Martin Kampmann

Swick/Saunders vs Carlos Condit

Wanderlei Silva vs Anderson Silva

Rich Franklin vs Mauricio Shogun

 

Any other suggestions?

Realizing that he would never dethrone Anderson Silva a desillusioned Ace made the decision to move up in weight. Being to good to be a gatekeeper, since he might accidentally defeat potential MW-contenders, his move was strongly incouraged by Dana White.

But what has happended since?

First he fought Matt "the Hammer" Hamíll in a fight where Franklin had little to nothing to gain. If he won, he would have beaten a still very rough newcomer that was yet to establish himself as a quality fighter. If he lost, which at least prior to the fight seemed like a very real possibility, he would have lost all hopes of being regarded as a challenger at LHW.

Then he fought Dan "Hendo" Henderson. A fight that was a very obcious set-up for Hendo to get a run at coaching TUF and in the long-run maybe challenge Anderson SIlva again. If Franklin lost, he would have lost to a middleweight. If Franklin won, he would have won against a middleweight fighting at LHW. As a bonus he would have been forced to alienate UFC by not accepting a coaching job in a division where he doe`sn`t want to fight, or move back in weight.

Thirds the charm then? A fight against Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva simply must be relevant? Right? Not really. Once again Franklin`s fighting at middleweight (or "catch-weight"). If Wanderlei wins, he will have beaten a guy that was the ex-champ at MW. A guy that lost a split decision to Henderson (who has more than a fair shot at gettin a shot át Anderson Silva before the year is over). Wanderlei Silva is then a very real threat at MW. If Franklin wins, he will have beaten a LHW in the middle of a weight-cut. A LHW that has lost four of his last five bouts with three of those four losses by KO.

All in all, I think it`s a clever way of setting up MW-challengers for Anderson Silva, without actually risking a loss in that very same division.

Normally I`m not a fan of polls. Usually the subject at question is to diverse to fit into neat categories and the answers don`t really give any new information. This, to me, is an exception though.

BJ Penn was (still is?) one of the most popular fighters in the history of MMA. His fast hands, his flexibility and his pre-fight trash-talks have endeared him to a lot of fans. I`m starting to wonder what has happened to his fans now though. Do they still like/love him? Or has he pushed this GreaseGate-thingy just a bit to far?

If he has seriously damaged his popularity he may very well have seriously damaged his marketability in the process. Low marketability would decrease his chances of gettin what he wants and reduce the pressure on UFC to indulge his wishes.

I know what I think, but I would like to get the opinion of the initiated fans hanging around BE.

Poll

Are you a fan af BJ Penn?

27%

You bet! Penn IS martial arts!

67 votes

42%

I was a fan, you know, but now I`m like, whatever, don`t like him no more

106 votes

27%

Never was, never will be! He`s hit running-the-rock-bottom.

69 votes

2%

I don't have a strong opinion either way about B.J. Pen.

5 votes

247 votes | Poll has closed

I`ve been wondering for some time now what the relationsship status of Dana White and BJ Penn is. Officially, they`re on friendly terms, but a couple of comments by mr White has made me wonder...

1) Penn wanted to fight GSP as soon as he beat Stevenson. Penn made a very public statement about that. A (seemingly) annoyed White told him to "clean out LW first". What did Penn do? After beating Sherk he immediately made a post-fight announcement calling GSP out. I, for one, don`t think that was something that White was informed that he was about to do until after the fact. And when Penn had called GSP out, White was more or less forced to make the fight happen.

I`m not saying that it`s a fight that they wouldn`t have made anyway, but I don`t think they wanted to make it happen right there and then. Both had clear no 1 contenders in Alves (GSP) and Kenflo (BJ) and GSP wanted to rest. That in turn meant a long layoff for both of them and made it impossible to have titlefights in two weight-classes.

2) White has commented several times on Penn being a "natural LW". When Penn fought against GSP, he looked like he had added 7-8 pounds (at least) of fat. Pudgy Penn was back!

3) The segment where Penn doesn`t answer White`s calls and his brother covers up for him might seem innocent enough. But if you add the fact that White was the senior editor of the show, meaning that he left it in for a reason, and the fact that White makes a comment about Penn "surrounding himself with a lot of Yes-Men"?

To me it sounds as if White is trying to make a point. Maybe that Penn sometimes has a somewhat untroubled attitude to what "truth" is and has a rather big ego?

In my opinion, BJ Penn is starting to sound a bit like Tito. And Tito and White aint exactly best of friends...

I must admit that I was somewhat shocked when Herman lost to Choi. I felt grumpy for at least a day and didn`t really wanna search the net for a clip of the fight. I accidentally went to Yahoo sports though.

I agree with Herman seemingly having no conditioning, on the other hand he was impressive in the first round.

I have seldom seen a more illegal blow than the one that took him out though. Bent over the ropes, with his head about half a meter outside of the rope, facing towards the audience, he got hit with a sledgehammer in the back of the head.

If Cane was disqualified against Irvin, shouldn`t Choi  be banned for life or something like that? The reffing there made Miragliotta look like a genius.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/mma_experts/post/Choi-wins-but-is-knocked-out-by-own-cornerman?urn=mma,132189

Watching the fight, you initially thought Choi collapsed because of exhaustion but a closer look shows that his cornerman tackled him and actually knocked him out.

-And that scene is definately worth watching too. Hilarious!

(I would add the gif, but I have no idea how to do it.)

I`m a big fan of this site and I tend to visit it at least once a day. This dedication to a great site is what makes me make this post.

I`m from Sweden an live by CET which is GMT +1, or 6 hours earlier than New York. This in turn means that some events from the states are shown in the middle of the night, others in early morning.

Many of the bigger UFC events are shown on free television, but since it may start at 4 am you sometimes wait for the re-run a couple of days later. The Japanese events you simply have to wait a couple of days up to a week for before it is readily accessible over the net.

So, here`s my point. I wonder if it might be a good idea to stop posting the full event results on the main page? I`m all for presenting them on Bloodyelbow, but I wonder if the results could be under the "continue reading here" section? One or two results will always pop up under a headline and I don`t really expect to be able to visit a site and not get the result of a UFC LHW titlefight, but other than that?

 

This is more like a small heads-up...

I was a watching Ultimate 2008 in Sweden, where we actually get to see all the UFC-events Live on free television.

Normally the commentators consist out of two brothers Paolo Roberto (ex world-champ in boxing, maybe WBA? a.k.a Goldberg) and his brother Ian Roberto (knows his mma, a.k.a Rogan). This time Paolo was not present and was replaced by Jorgen Kruth, who is usually an expert-commentator for K1 (on Eurosport).

Jorgen Kruth is a very good K1 fighter, with a muay-thai base that has been trying to get into the Japanese circuit for years. He`s good enough, but for some reason he has never really gotten a chance there.

It seems as if he`s been training MMA lately (and is getting good at it). He`s waaay better than Pat Barry (and prolly than Hardonk) standing up, is 6-feet-3, has vicious knees and elbows (which he can`t really utilise in K1.) and truly looks bad-ass! Think of him as a slightly less bulky "6-feet-3 Jeff Monson" and you get the picture.

As a Swede and a huge MMA-fan I would really really love if he truly crossed over to MMA. I do think he would rock!

 

 

I was thinking the other day... If you look at the Affliction card you see a very exciting cards with evenly matched fighters and thus no gimmies at all. Even though you may "know" ,like all experts tend to do, which fighter is going to win... ( I know that I aaaalways know the winner. Except when I was wrong.) Babalu vs Sokodjou, Lindland vs Belfort, Fedor vs AA (and even the Horodecki vs Lauzon fight) all look extremely tasty to me.

There is one fight that stands out though, namely  Barnett vs Yvel!

Even though Yvel does have "all the tattoos and stuff", I`m guessing that it will be a very short fight. And Barnett will win. I still think it`s  a pretty decent match-up and here is why:

What Affliction wants is a clear contender after Fedor (presumably) has beaten AA. Barnett is the only one in sight. If you match him against a decent fighter he might actually loose and that would leave Affliction without a challenger. Brett Rogers or Tim Sylvia could beat Barnett on a good day. I`m guessing the interest for a Sylvia-Fedor rematch would be weak to say the least?

Even a close three-round decision would hurt Barnetts marketability cause comparing a win like that to Fedors utter destruction of Sylvia doesn`t look to good.

So what you do is match Barnett up with a "Tool that looks Cool", have him win after a minute of brutal GnP and voila! You have a contender that you can market!!

A scenario like that will keep the casual fans interested, Barnett stays in the loop by gettin some air-time and the hardcores have all the other great fights to watch! So if we all pretend that Affliction is in this for the long run, it`s a good strategy. (Compare this fight to Carwin vs Wain)

Affliction protects their only contender while they pretend to "risk" him. And contrary to Kimbo, Barnett IS a good fighter and he IS worthy of a shot at Fedor (if he wins against AA).

All in all, Atencio (or at least someone in the Affliction organization) has made a clever move here and I can do naught but applaud them!