First, Mr. Patrick Pannella has been very upfront with me and kind enough to address my concerns with Maryland MMA regulations.  Maryland has not yet had an MMA show of any kind.  The first being a pro bout slated for later this month.  After attending UWC 7 in Virginia this past weekend I was motivated to get involved in my own state.  I first contacted Mr. Pannella on Sunday morning and he has been more then receptive to my requests.  I think the AC is taking the right approach to qualify judges through the amateur ranks and I completely agree with what he had to say about the young, but well thought out process in MD.  He had his own thoughts on UWC 7 and the judging, but I will get to that. I spoke to him this afternoon and I genuinely respect him.

He stated that he knows people have concerns about MD starting pro MMA before amateur, but many states don't even have amateur regulations.  The pro regulation is tried and true and can be adopted, but the amateur process does need a little more time to develop and I don't believe that this is a case of running before you walk.  He said that they will bring in qualified MMA officials and judges from other states and only use local refs and judges that are experienced and proven, while the amateur ranks will be used to develop the local ranks.  He said that judges will only moving up based on experience and performance.  I am young and I hope to start at the bottom and work my way up.  I think he was under the impression that I wanted to jump into pro MMA and that couldn't be further from the truth.  I run toward structure and regulation.  Then he brought up something that made me feel great about MMA in MD.  He said he believes judges should be able to justify scores.  And that goes right along with rating a judge's (or ref's for that matter) performance. 

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Promoted to the front page from the FanPosts by Luke Thomas. This post is best viewed in WIDE mode.

Images and stats via www.uwcmma.com

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If you would have asked me a year ago if Kenny Florian had a chance against BJ Penn I would have looked at you funny.  Penn had demolished Sean Sherk, an imposing lightweight at the time who holds a dominate win over Florian.  Right now the line on a Florian win sits at +200 on Bodog.  Those are long odds, but not insurmountable.  Kenny is wicked good, but his talent doesn’t jump out at you like BJJ ground wizard or a raw power standing or an impressive wrestling pedigree. His skills fly under the radar because he is unassuming and well rounded.  When this match was announced I was not very excited. Sure, Kenny has earned a title shot both by beating a lot of contenders and not losing, which in such a deep division is commendable in its own right. Now I am going to explain to you why I was wrong not to be excited and why you too should be excited for the Lightweight title fight Saturday.

Now I am not saying Kenny will win.  I think he is rightfully the underdog.  But his style is smothering.  His control is complete and he doesn’t put himself in bad position.  He fights smart and make his opponent beat him because he never beats himself.  His record is strikingly clean and full of wins by finish.  He finds a way to win and has only one loss at lightweight and that was to Sean Sherk who has a great take down and great top control.  Kenny also had some trouble early in his fight with Joe Lauzon, but again Lauzon is a guy with a very solid take down.

UFC 101: Declaration coverage

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            Fedor Emelianenko is the number one heavyweight mixed martial artist in the world and few people disagree with that.  Is he overrated? Maybe.  Is he ducking top fighters? I don’t know.  The fact of the matter is, he hasen’t lost in quite a long time.  In a sport where staying on top is so hard and losses don’t spell the end, Fedor has kept his record clean for a long time and depending on who you ask, he has never been defeated.  He has fought top fighters, maybe not in there prime, but he has a lot of wins versus a lot of quality fighters.  He can lay claim to one of the most prestigous championship belts in MMA, the Pride Heavyweight Championchip Belt. 

            Now the UFC wants him.  They don’t want him because he can draw in fans. They aren’t bending over backward and dusting off the checkbook because they think he is a great guy.  They think he is the number one heavyweight fighter in the world, no matter what they say about him or what they think about his management.  They don’t need him, they just want him and for that I am greatful.  I want to see top fighters face off as much as the next guy, but there will always be a fight that needs to happen or a fighter that is not with one organization or another.  For the short time I have been into the sport I have seen this pattern more then once.  Take the long antisipated bout between Chuck Liddell and Wanderli Silva.  In that case, the fighters were rabid to fight eachother and the fight just couldn’t get made.  When it did happen is was well after interest had peaked.  Both fighters were coming off losses and the fight was great, but for me it felt anticlimactic.  After the fight I checked it off the “fights that need to happen” list and moved on. 

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A relatively new trend in Japan could lead to an even greater decline in interest in combat sports.  I found an article on slate.com about "Grass-eating men" in Japan who shun consumption and seek quieter less competitive lives.  It’s a growing subculture in Japan and the lack of macho under thirty types may drive out combat sports all together.  As many of us know, Japan is a hard place to gauge.  But according to a survey cited in the slate article, 75% of men ages 20-30 describe themselves as grass eating men.  That is a huge chunk of the key age demographic for MMA.  A large portion of the audience may be lost for the time being.  The attitude shift is a shift away from MMA.

Perhaps this means a rise in interest from women.  Maybe, like so many other things is Japan, it is just a fad and fighting will come back stronger then ever.  Maybe an earthquake will open the earth and swallow Japan rendering this article pointless.  Something to consider, something to talk about.  I don’t know a lot about Japan, but I am interested in hearing other reasons then Yakuza on why Japan MMA is down.  I love Dream shows as much as the next guy, but they are not Pride and not as stable.  What say you?

image via slate.com

Ariel Helwani reporting a jump to PPV for the WEC and a hop across the boarder into Mexico City.  I think they could sell out, but how good will a PPV sell.

"I think we could be (ready for pay-per-view in 2009)," Harris said. "I think you'll agree that the key to pay-per-view is having fights that people are willing to pay to watch. That's what pay-per-view is all about. I think that we've produced shows that have had fights like that, but I also believe that it takes time to build your brand, which we're doing. So, I think towards the end of '09 we could be ready and certainly 2010."

The make an interesting case for going to Mexico.  It makes sense to me.  A lot of there stars are Hispanic and they have done shows in New Mexico and Cali. 

"...I know the UFC has interest in doing shows in Mexico, and I believe that if they went to Mexico, they would be very, very successful, as they have been pretty much everywhere they've gone. We do have some of the top Mexican/Hispanic fighters in the world in WEC. You know, we've taken Miguel down to Mexico for press tours, and the reaction has been huge. A lot of people know who Miguel is down there, so based on that, I think we can do well doing a show down there."

I guess it's a race to see who gets to Mexico first; WEC of UFC.  My guess is Zuffa wins either way.  I never understood why they didn't go to Mexico and Canada before places like England and the upcoming German show.

Image via www.everyjoe.com