SB Nation User Blog: Warhand

Elbows Huah! What are they good for?

Warhand — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:25:47 -0000

Elbows rarely KO an opponent (unless your Anderson Silve in "Cage Rage"). They have great potential to end a good fight due to a cut. Most promotions do not allow elbows on the ground nor standing. Do we really need them in the UFC? I would like to read some of your reasons for the allowance of elbows. Blood is cool and all but it sucks when a competitor with plenty of fight left in them gets cut and can't continue. Leave a comment or just take the poll below.

Poll

Should elbows be allowed in the UFC?

Clinch Gear and RVCA banned by UFC

Warhand — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:41:22 -0000

This from FightersOnlyMagazine:

RVCA and Clinch Gear have become the two latest additions to the UFC’s sponsorship blacklist, it was confirmed today. The bannings were the subject of much discussion among industry insiders at the weekend’s UFC 105 event, but were not confirmed until today.

RVCA has attracted the ire of the UFC by sponsoring Fedor Emelianenko for his fight with Brett Rogers on the recent Strikeforce/CBS show. As a long-time sponsor of lightweight champion BJ Penn, the brand is a familiar one with UFC fans.

Clinch Gear has been banned from the Octagon for obvious reasons. The brand is Dan Henderson’s own clothing line and as the UFC and he are no longer seeing eye to eye, the label is not welcome in the cage. Relations between UFC president Dana White and Henderson have apparently been cordial during negotiations but this latest move may upset the former Pride double-champion.

The UFC and a Zuffa have a history of banning certain brands from sponsoring athletes in the UFC and WEC cages. And earlier this year, an arbitrary sponsorship tax was also introduced with the aim of filtering out the small-scale companies that were finding their way into main-card sponsorship slots.

Once again the message is sent from the UFC to everyone. If you're not on the bus you'll be under the bus.

I Want To Know What You Think.

Warhand — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:17:49 -0000

We all know judging something as subjective as a MMA fight is never going to be perfect. There are so many factors at play and just as many opinions of how one can interpret such factors that it is inevitable that we will have decisions that some will find wrong. Ofcourse we would all like to see a great fight with a clear decision we all agree upon. In light of the slightly controversial Machida / Shogun decision, I offer the following poll to BE readers:

Poll

Between these two options; what would you prefer to see from a PPV fight?

Great fight with a cotroversial decision.

110 votes

Boring fight with a unanimous decision everyone agrees upon.

18 votes

128 votes | Poll has closed

Carano Future; Follow The Formula To Success(American Thinking)

Warhand — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:58:58 -0000

Optional title: Wag the Dog

Ok, so Carano got beat down by Cyborg. I and many others are not surprised.

Carano had and still does have a lot of hype. Now is the time to make some moves.

The goal is to get a career in acting. She has to stop fighting soon. One more fight

that she can win and maybe a re-match against Cyborg and thats it. It is very important that she not get her nose

broken or endure any facial damage that cannot be easily repaired by plastic surgery. She may not even need

to fight again. Next step is to do something that will really get the blood flowing to the male

audience penis.

Rumors of a sex tape won't do it. An actual sex tape has to be released

or some kind of Playboy spread. After that it is time for a reality show of basic design. Something

that plays the fight angle or some kind of dating theme. Follow this with a super sexy

commercial during the Super Bowl and then a supporting role in a major motion picture.

Carano money train leaves the station in approx. 3 - 4 years.

Enough About Chuck....Let's talk about what matters; Undefeated Competitors Fighting for The Title: Evans VS. Machida

Warhand — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:45:59 -0000

This fight has the potential of being totally awesome or really boring. I am certain it will be better than the Silva vs. Leites fight. During the Machida vs. Ortiz fight Joe Rogan stated that he thought the type of fighter that would give Machida trouble would be a really good striker. Well, with Rashad we have a great wrestler with very accurate and powerful striking. But is this the the view to take. The betting odds favor Machida, however, Evans is the champ and he would be wise to force the "elusive" Machida to come to him much the way he did with Liddell.

Lyoto on the other hand needs to make Rashad really uncomfortable. He must continue to be his elusive self but also frustrate Rashad in the exchanges in the hope that Evans falls back on his wrestling. If Lyoto can get Rashad to take him down I think he stands a good chance of pulling off a submission. We haven't seen a ton of Lyoto's ground game but I am pretty sure he has some good BJJ.

This is how I feel about this fight at this moment though I am certain my opinion will change. I really just want to get the discussion going surrounding this fight. Please challenge my analysis of this match up because it is the only way I can get an objective view of it. Who do you favor and why? I am salivating over this one already and to quote Willy Wonka, "The suspense is killing me. I hope it lasts."

Silva Attempted 2 Foot Stomps

Warhand — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:00:29 -0000

I may be wrong but I remember Montreal demanding foot stomps be illegal in order for the UFC to put their event on in that city. I found it very interesting that Anderson Silva attempted two foot stomps in the first round. That was the only new rule and he tried just that. By now we have seen the gifs of Silva rubbing his arms and chest with the tiny amount of vaseline from his face. Surely he knew of all the vaseline controversy around the GSP vs. BJ fight. This is a mole hill that will never be a mountain but it seems that Silva either doesn't follow MMA news or he has very little respect for what he may believe to be arbitrary rules.

Dana White Pissed Women Off

Warhand — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:12:40 -0000

Women's media group to UFC boss: Apologize

A national women's sports media group is calling upon UFC President Dana White to apologize for disparaging comments he recently made about a female reporter, FOXSports.com has learned.

The Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM) issued a press release Wednesday calling for the Ultimate Fighting Championship to "take action in regards to misogynistic comments" that White made in a video blog posted on the promotion's Web site. AWSM President Jenni Carlson said her group's request for an apology from UFC went unanswered.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/sports-boxing/20090409/Marvez.WomenSlamWhite/

What I find interesting is that it didn't seem that White was attacking Hunt for being a female reporter but rather for attacking him and the UFC with no proof of the allegations. What do you think? Does the AWSM have reason to demand an apology or are they just trying to gain some relevance?

Was Tom Vaughn right?

Warhand — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:25:49 -0000

With his trust for fighters diminished, Vaughn has become defensive of his gym and his methods. "Nobody has ever left my gym and done better somewhere else," he said. "If he does, he'll be the first guy."

Obviously Condit did not do better as he lost after an 8 fight win streak. I personally think that Condit did really well against a really high level of competition in Kampman. I also feel like he handled the pressure of his first fight in the UFC like a true professional. I think everyone agrees that the decision could have gone either way. It may be too early to tell but I was wondering what the BE community thought. Was Condit's move to ACS a good one?

Day After Thoughts On UFC FN 17

Warhand — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:30:30 -0000

I was entertained by the fights last night. There were a lot of commercials but that is to be expected from a free event on cable.

Anthony Johnson was disappointed with his performance but I thought he looked pretty solid. The fight definitely had that "only a matter of time" feel to it. Fiorvanti seemed as though he was just waiting to be knocked out. Johnson was telegraphing his kicks a bit. It was a good start to the night.

Josh Neer is a crazy fighter. He looked crazy and acted kinda crazy. Danzig's striking looked really good to me. I loved the way Mack set his feet underneath him and threw good combos from the pocket. Some of those combos were pretty standard and seemed to amuse Neer. My question is this; How does a guy as seasoned as Danzig get caught in a triangle the way he did? The big difference maker in this fight appeared to be top game. When Neer was on top Danzig was in danger. This was not the case when Danzig was on top.

Cain gets KO of the night? Is this a bonus that has to be given out? There was no KO last night IMO. Cain could not finish his fight in an entertaining fashion and fans don't like that. Why didn't Cain deliver knees to the body or just stand up? That fight was stopped on the basis of lameness. People talk about Cain's huge potential but I need to see more.

My favorite fight of the night was Veach vs Grice but that was not a fair stoppage. Veach was in worse shape on the ground early in the round and it wasn't stopped. Grice gets dropped and takes one clean shot and it is over? Laughable. Veach showed an old truth in fighting last night. A good chin and powerful hands are still a good combination of assets. Especially at 155lbs.

Joe Lauzon is awesome! I was never a fan of "Creepy Joe" until last night. Lauzon had complete and total control of that fight. He showed poise and skill. Stephens never had an answer. When I read Lauzon's pre fight comments I thought he sounded too cocky but the kid delivered. I love how he got it to the ground by attacking the leg over and over. His butterfly guard was almost artistic. The thing that comes to mind when I ponder this fight is "control, control, control". "Creepy Joe" is a great nickname but if Lauzon wants to be called J-Lau he has earned the respect to be called whatever he wants to be called. I am the newest J-Lau fan!

One Last thing: Rosholt needs to listen to his corner.

Why have Watch Kaleb Run?

Warhand — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:46:37 -0000

I don't want to sound like a dick but why do we have Watch Kaleb Run? Zak is awesome, no doubt, but I don't understand why we need two MMA blogs. The title bothers me because I don't like giving attention to an idiot and I have yet to see anything at WKR that I couldn't have missed. Does anyone have any thoughts on this that can help me to appreciate WKR?