Some of the best moments from Saturday nights main event.

The two combatants face off. Brock hungry, Cain not care.

I reject your takedown...

... and substitute it with my own.

Now dance, bitch!

How taste my knee-knee? (and great timing, producer...)

You're just gonna lay there? Okay I'll just keep punching you then.

Oh my... Are you still trying to win?

"Brock... BROCK! I already stopped the fight, you can stop rolling around now." - Herb Dean

and for a bonus - another WTF moment. Anyone know what's going on here? This is right after the fight.

An interesting article in the Columbus Dispatch highlights one of the possible victims of MMA's popularity - amateur wrestling.

As MMA gets more popular, and payouts get larger, less people are choosing amateur wrestling as a career and foregoing the Olympics for the Octagon. With wrestling being perhaps the easiest skill to transition to MMA, it seems inevitable that athletes would choose to make the transition.

"People doing MMA now didn't have the dream of being a UFC champion" as a kid, said former Ohio State national champion Tommy Rowlands, who works in the MMA industry but doesn't fight. "That's where wrestling is really going to take a hit if we don't do something. (Today's) kids are going to become adults and then they are going to say, 'Forget the Olympics. I want to be a UFC champion.' "

The temptation is everywhere:

"I might take a fight right after worlds," [member of the US wrestling team, Shawn Bunch] said. "You could do both, but it takes a lot of time. It's very tempting. I've got a lot of friends in (MMA). They try to (persuade me), flashing their money."

In response, USA wrestling has chosen to sweeten the amateur wrestling pot a bit, offering $250,000 for a gold in 2012, $50,000 for silver and $25,000 for bronze. But, as Tommy Rowlands points out, the promise of fame and wealth in MMA may be too much for some.

"You could make $18,000 in your first MMA fight ... and be a star," Rowlands said. "The only way you become a star in wrestling is if you win the Olympic gold medal."

I think amateur wrestling will survive, but it will definitely take a hit as wrestlers who aren't top level will see no reason to avoid MMA. The trickle down effect, while not devastating, may very well hurt the sport as people choose fighting over competing, mentoring, training others. Time will tell, but I wonder if some of these guys aren't shooting the hand that fed them a little.

Over on MMAJunkie, Renato "Babalu" Sobral has some words about his upcoming bout with Rameau Thierry Sokodjou at Affliction: Day of Reckoning, on January 24th.

How has he prepared:

"I have to prepare a little bit for Sokoudjou's strikes, and I have to respect his judo skills of course," Sobral said in a recent media call. "I respect all his skills, but I know what I have to do to win this fight. And I don't have anything special prepared for Sokoudjou."

...

"If you don't train hard -- if you don't train properly for the fight, you'll probably be more nervous than you should," Sobral said. "I just have to push the pace of the fight."

How much difference with experience make:

"The truth is that it doesn't matter," Sobral said. "If you have 100 fights in the bag or one fight, minutes before the fight everybody pretty much does the same. That's where you have to control more emotions over there, like minutes before the fight. But this really doesn't matter very much because some kids just coming up right now, they already know how to control (their pre-fight) emotions."

How's it gonna end, Babalu?

"I know how it's going to end," Sobral said. "It's going to end with me finishing the fight. I'm probably going to submit him."

photo via www.mmapassport.com

In an interview with WhoTV.com, Josh Neer admits to "mistake".

(Link to Video - I don't know how to embed it here)

Some tidbits:

I want to apologize to my friends, my family and uh... my fans, I made some bad choices I basically just wanna move on and put this behind me.

Neer once said about amateur fighters, "Those guys give the sport a bad name and they make professional fighters like us look bad because we're professional athletes." (side note: Whaaa?). When the reporter called him on this and asked if he felt like a hypocrite he said:

No, I think uhh... everybody makes bad choices and I think all you can (do) is learn from your mistakes and move on.

When asked if he feared this would end his UFC days:

I don't know yet, it's all up to the UFC at this point, there's nothing I can really do so uhh.. I just got to sit back and uhh... hopefully they let me fight and I move on from this and uhh... no more troubles.

What does he say to people who think he shouldn't get another chance:

Uhh just, uhh I mean... it's their choice if they wanna give up on me that's their choice, I mean I can't do anything about that. All I can (do) is move on and try to be a better person and try to learn from this.

He will go before a Polk County judge on Friday, facing charges of Operating While Intoxicated and Eluding Police (which is a federal crme).

Note to Neer:

Deciding to paint your kitchen black is a mistake. Closing your eyes and shooting a gun into a crowded apartment building hoping you don't hit anyone (which is what drunk driving is, folks), is not a mistake. Also, this isn't the first time you did it, so you don't get the "learn from the mistakes and move on" pass.

It is obvious someone sent you out to do the I'm So Repentant thing. Save it for the judge, because most of us thinking people hope you not only get tossed from the UFC, but get the full punishment that the law can give

photo via img.perezhilton.com

Tito Ortiz spoke with MMAJunkie.com about his surgery and his take on the recent fight with Lyoto Machida.

How he feels after the surgery:

"I'm excited to be 100 percent again," Ortiz said. "I'm about 40 percent right now, but I'm not as brittle as a glass house anymore. I'm starting to be able to move around a little more and not taking painkillers anymore is the biggest thing.

"I think I'm blessed, and I can't wait to be 100 percent back into physical shape where I'm able to compete and I'm able to train to where I once was before five years ago. It's been a while, since I lost to (Randy) Couture (in September 2003), that I was 100 percent. And a lot of fans don't really know that, but it was so serious that I had to get surgery."

How he feels about the loss to Lyoto Machida:

"I watched the Machida fight for the first time last night," Ortiz said. "Since competing in it, I haven't even watched the fight. I hate losses. It's like a loved one dying to me. That's how passionate I am about this sport.

"But I watched it, and [my performance] wasn't as bad as I thought it was. [Machida] ran the whole time, and it's kind of funny the whole time to watch (UFC announcers) Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan hype up how elusive he was -- which I thought was really strange. You can be praised upon being elusive and not fighting?

"And he was putting pressure? I understand how he was putting pressure if he was the one that was going forward the whole time. But it's showing how they can put the icing on the cake of someone who I think is afraid to fight."

...

"Machida won the fight fair and square," Ortiz said. "It was just really frustrating to watch a guy run away from me the whole time."

...

"Machida didn't bring it that night, but he did get a win," Ortiz said. "And I think it all played out to Zuffa's way of what they wanted to do with me. But I guess if you're going to lose a fight, lose it like that and not get knocked out.

And, of course:

"Everything happens for a reason in this world. I'm willing to continue my career."

I think it's time he moved to pro-Wrestling. It is my humble opinion that at this point in his career, he is better at being a heel than a fighter. But if he is right after his injury being that bad, and him at 100% now - who knows?

photo via via sharkspage.com

KCCI.com has of the story.

Police weren't even an hour into the New Year before they began a high-speed chase through the metro Thursday morning.

 

The case was captured on DOT traffic cams at 12:40 a.m. It started in downtown when Joshua Neer, 25, of Urbandale, struck a police car.

A chase ensued that wound through the city before Neer jumped on I-35/80 at the 86th Street on-ramp.

Cameras showed several officers in pursuit as he headed east on the Interstate. 

Officers deployed stop sticks to flatten the cars's tires. Neer finally gave up near the east mix master, police said.

Neer faces a second offense DUI charge and is also charged with eluding police.

According to MMAJunkie.com, Neer was later released on $7000 bail.

More from the DesMoines Register:

Drunken revelers kept metro area police scrambling on New Year’s Eve, including an allegedly intoxicated professional “ultimate fighter” who caused a car crash in downtown Des Moines then took off at speeds topping 100 mph.

Joshua Martin Neer, a 25-year-old Iowan who is competing in Tampa next month in an Ultimate Fighting Championship, was charged with a felony after leading police on a 20-mile chase that ended on Interstate 80.

...

Just after midnight, a squad car on routine patrol was stopped for a red light on Court Avenue when the car behind rear-ended it, according to a written report. The woman told police her car was also struck from behind.

The 25-year-old male driver in the third car, a black Audi Quattro, then pulled out, crossed into oncoming traffic on Court Avenue, and turned north on Fourth Street, the police report stated.

Police chased the Audi 20 miles.

At Sixth and Euclid avenues, the officer attempted a stop the fleeing car by hitting the back right quarter panel with the front left side of the squad car, a technique known as a precision immobilization technique, or PIT maneuver.

The Audi spun around but the driver regained control and continued west on Euclid Avenue.

Des Moines police continued the chase as the Audi traveled into Urbandale, then onto Interstate Highway 80 eastbound. The Audi reached speeds in excess of 100 mph in a 65 mph zone, the police report says.

The chase ended at mile marker 137.

Police charged Neer, of 3535 Jersey Ridge Road No. 312 in Davenport, with felony eluding and second-offense operating while intoxicated shortly after 1 a.m. on New Year’s Day, records show.

I hope he gets the most that the law can give him. Drunk driving is one of the worst, and most avoidable, things that can be done and leads to the deaths of parents, grandparents, children, etc.. My respect for this guy just dropped below zero. Happy New Year, Josh Neer! I hope you rot in prison.

Over on Fight Hype they have an interview with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in which he discusses his recent KO of Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva, and some other things. As many of you know, Rampage's mind tends to wander and flitter about as he makes various points. I tried to pick the pieces and put them in the appropriate categories.

How did he feel before the fight:

I was just focused. I didn't want to do the howl. I didn't want to howl until I knocked him out, you know what I'm saying? I can honestly say my last fight kind of changed me. It did something to me and I don't even think I'm the same person no more.

...

I was happy I was nervous for this fight because two times I fought Wanderlei, I wasn't nervous at all. Those were the only two times I've never not been nervous before in my whole career and this was the most nervous I've ever been so it's kind of weird, but it all played out.

What was his gameplan:

My plan was to whoop his ass. 

...

I know Wanderlei swings wild with his punches. I fought Wanderlei twice. The same way I beat him Saturday was the same way I was supposed to beat him those other times, but things didn't work right. It don't matter what he do, it matters what I do. That's my philosophy on the way I fight.

What does he think about his new training crew, and umm.. God. Actually he was just asked about his new camp but...

I'm going to tell ya'll what's real and people can take it how they like it and take it how they want to and if they don't like it, so be it. I give all the glory to God man. Everybody knows I was going through a whole lot. I had a lot of stuff going on with me and God kept me strong. He kept my mind strong and kept me focused. The Wolfslair Team is teh best team around. They work hard and they did everything. They showed me love, they trained me hard, they took good care of me and put they heart and soul into it. I have to thank the Wolfslair Team for everything they did for me, but all glory is to God man. All praises go to the most high. People don't understand, I came a long way, I came a long way.

Regarding Wanderlei shoving him at the weigh in:

I'm telling you, I knew Wanderlei was going to do that. That's the second time that he's pushed me or something like that. I'm not the type of person to treat people like that. I do my fighting in the octagan, that' where I do my fighting at. ... He didn't motivate me no more than I was already motivated.

...

I was laughing because he is predictable, you know what I'm saying? I knew he was going to do it and that's what made it so funny. What people didn't see is they have a fighters backroom and when he came in the room he was looking at me and talking loud. He asked me why I was smiling at him and laughing at him and we had some words back there. I ain't going to get into everything that was said, but the other fighters were back there and they heard everything. He came back there starting some more stuff. He wanted to fight back there. I only fight for money. I don't see a reason for fighting backstage when people can break it up real fast.

The knock out of Wanderlei Silva:

If Wanderlei wasn't going down from that left, that right was coming right behind it. He would have had to go down sooner or later. Wanderlei is a tough cat and he recovers from punches really fast when you drop him. All I was thinking is if he didn't go down, I just gotta stay on him.

He talks about using supplements after all these years without doing so:

All these supplements man... I hooked up with Kerry Kayes, who is Ricky Hatton's nutritionalist in the UK. He broke nutrition down to me where I could understand it. No one ever broke it down to me to where I could understand it. I had some injuries and stuff when I was fighting and training and it was breaking down my body. I didn't have enough protein because, number one, I wasn't eating right and then I wasn't taking in the right protein with shakes, multi-vitamins, meal replacements and recovery drinks. He had me on this program with his nutrition company called CNP based in the UK and he put me down on these supplements and they were the real deal. I just feel like that was a blessing in itself right there. ... I might start liking training. It wasn't hard, I had a lot of energy to train, I could go the five minutes easy and I was sparring real hard with tough guys. I had a new guy every two minutes and they were going full blast and I was keeping up with everybody. I was handling my business and I think it was because of the supplements.

...

(Supplements) made me a whole new person. I'm a whole new fighter.

His response to Joe Rogan saying that he had difficulty making weight:

Joe Rogan probably didn't know what he was talking about right then and there. I could have made 205 if I wanted to. I didn't have any trouble cutting weight. I'm not the champion right now. Ionly have to be 206.

His response to Mike Whitehead saying that he was throwing scared punches:

Who the hell is Mike Whitehead?

To what does he attribute his knock out power:

I have a big ass and big legs an when I hit people, I put my ass into it. That's where the knock out power comes from when I throw them punches. I'm not that skilled to know all of that stuff, but that's what boxing trainers and people are telling me; that it comes from your legs and your ass and I kinda figured that.

Who does he want to fight next?

I want Forrest. I want everybody that has ever beaten me. I've been saying that over and over. I want everybody that's beaten me in the past.  I want to fight Forrest next bcause that was a bad fight. I want that one more, because, I don't mean to be complaining or crying, but when I lay down at night, that's one of the things that stays in my mind. I'm not mad at Forrest. I can't blame Forrest. Forrest didn't make me gain a whole lot of weight and take so much time off from training. Forrest didn't have nothing to do with that. It's all about me. I'm upset with myself for that. It's all about me but I want to prove to myself that I can beat Forrest bcause I know I can.

Final note of happiness:

I just want to let everybody in this world know that it doesn't matter what you're going through or what kind or curveball life throws at you, you gotta stay positive, stay happy and turn to God. People get all depressed and some people commit suicide... we got people committing suicide and I don't want to say no names because it's all speculation right now. There is no problem bad enough to where you gotta kill yourself, you know what I'm saying? Everybody knows about my recent problems and that was a real low point in my life. I was real embarrassed with everything, but I still came out and showed my face. I was still the same person; I smiled at people because I know that's life.

According to Fanhouse.com, company man Kenny "Kenflo" Florian is the latest to join the anti-Mazzagatti bandwagon, saying:

"I think someone should have gotten him glasses for Christmas," Florian said. "I'll be honest, he really has been late with a lot of his calls, and it has been a consistent thing with him."

Naturally, this has more to do with making sure he stays on Dana White's Nice List (and thus, Brock Lesnar's) than it has to do with reality, and I think we will see more yessir fighters come along soon, unfortunately.

In my opinion, what this all boils down to is referee intimidation. It is saying, "Don't screw with our cash cow or we'll do what we can to hurt your career." We saw it when Brock Lesnar had his lawyers get Mazzagatti removed from refereeing his match with Randy Couture, because he dared to enforce the rules against Lesnar in his match against Mir.

Anyone who can use google can easily see how absurd this whole thing is, as Mazzagatti and other referees are always criticized for stopping fights too early or too late. Sometimes there are even debates among fans about whether a fight was stopped too early or too late.

It is sad to see how quickly many fans are also jumping on the bandwagon. As I said somewhere else, referee's can't win. The only perfect referee is the retired referee Big John, and he will stop being perfect in the mind of the fans as soon as he starts to referee big matches again and a call goes against someone's opinion.

They are not perfect, but then neither are the fighters - but they do their best and I think the Nevada referees do a hell of a good job.

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I found this photo while searching for a photo of Mazzagatti and it made me laugh. enjoy.

Promoted from the FanPosts to the front page by Cannon Jacques.

In an article over at Sherdog.com, Corey Hill talks about the fight at UFC Fight For The Troops, the gruesome leg snapping, and his future in the sport.

His take on what happened:

“My corner and I felt I’d won the first round,” said Hill of his brief clash with Hartt. “There’s a certain amount of things that have to line up to be perfect. Everything was lined up. I threw a kick. He checked it.”

...

“The minute I landed it, it was like my body was going off that something was wrong. I immediately extended my arms like, ‘My leg, my leg, my leg! No!’" he said. “I knew something was wrong. When I tried to plant it and it wasn’t there, I knew something was wrong.”

On why he didn't tap out, and instead tried to get a kimura:

“It was funny, ‘cause it was there,” laughed Hill. “Looking at my ankle, I knew something was wrong… but I’m like, ‘Yo, can I get him with the Kimura?’ Obviously I couldn’t finish it. I was in too much pain, I was just probably protecting myself.”

...

“I remember lifting my head up and I looked at it and I saw the bottom of my foot. I’d never seen the bottom of my foot before,” said Hill.

What does he have to say to people who think he is too skinny to fight?

“I’ve always been a thin guy with not a lot of body fat,” said Hill. "I walk around on normal days at 166 [pounds]. When I train, I’m in the low 60s, so it makes sense to cut a few pounds rather than fight these guys that are 185-200 pounds cutting down to 170. If they think this guy’s too skinny, that’s their opinion. I have people on the other side that say that my body type’s the perfect frame to win a world title.”

...

“Kick something as hard as you can,” he said. “I don’t think it matters if you’re a big guy or a small guy, you kick something as hard as you can and it runs into science. Action and reaction. For it to snap -- the perfect check, the perfect knee. If you noticed in the first round, I landed some killer leg kicks. That’s why he checked. This is why this happened.”

But he fully intends to fight again, and he aims for the top:

“People are like, ‘Wow, you want to rush back into that after your injury?’ People that aren’t in love with things don’t know how hard it is to walk away from them,” said Hill.

...

“I started this to win a belt,” he said. “It’s a little confusing when things like this happen as far as a mental setback, but physically, if my body is willing, I’m going to get back out there. I’m looking forward to making big news with the comeback.”

Power to ya, Corey. But it wouldn't hurt for you to put a little meat on them bones.

Some other interesting bits from the article:

* The emergency crew couldn't give Hill painkillers, because the IV kept popping out of his thin arms.

* Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White called Hill at the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center to wish him a speedy recovery.

* The UFC paid for his medical treatment, and even left an employee with him for six days in the hospital.

Photo via www.buddytv.com