SB Nation User Blog: thetakeover

Elizabeth Lambert should fight Cyborg or Gina Carano in the cage

thetakeover — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:42:26 -0000

Have you seen the viral video of New Mexico women's soccer player Elizabeth Lambert beating the holy hell out of BYU? The announcer on ESPN even says it has some "MMA qualities to it." I think this should immediately be capitalized upon by Strikeforce and sign Ms. Lambert up for a fight against either Cyborg or Gina Carano. People would tune in to see her get her just desserts for the cheap shots. She could be the new Kimbo Slice. Make it happen, Coker!

This was one of several pictures I snapped of Fedor Emelianenko as he was departing the post-fight...

thetakeover — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:21:02 -0000

This was one of several pictures I snapped of Fedor Emelianenko as he was departing the post-fight press conference. You can really see the extent of the damage to his face.

Meet Brett Rogers, the man who is fighting Fedor

thetakeover — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:18:31 -0000

Brett Rogers has very much been in Fedor's shadow during the promotion of Saturday's event. That's to be expected--Fedor is much more of a known commodity, and he is the oddsmaker's favorite to win the fight, which could be a star-making coming out party for the Russian.

But Rogers has a pretty interesting story himself. He lives and trains in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the City Pages just published a lengthy profile that serves as a good get-to-know-you brief on the other guy in the fight. Excerpts:

"The storyline looks like Ivan Drago versus Rocky," says Mike Afromowitz, a spokesman for Strikeforce, co-promoter of the bout. "But it's more than that. It's two guys who walked two different paths. Now, they are going to meet in what I think will be one barnburner of a fight."

Rogers on Fedor:

"Ain't nothing but another man," Rogers says aloud. "Just another man. That's all he is to me."

On moving to St. Paul from the notorious Cabrini Green housing projects in Chicago:

Rogers grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago, possibly the toughest 12 blocks in America. Now razed, the failed urban experiment became synonymous with violence— a cluster of low-income apartments where snipers fired at cops, teens slept in bathtubs, and thugs raped and poisoned a nine-year-old girl, leaving her in a stairwell.

If not for his grandmother, Rogers might be dead. She moved him to St. Paul when he was in fourth grade.

"My grandmother...she's everything, man. I mean, everything," says Rogers. "And, you know, she was hesitant about me doing this. As that's what she took me up here to avoid. But she's coming around. I just had to tell her I could be professional with this."

There is also a slideshow of pictures of "The Grim" training.

Fedor in first screenshot of new EA MMA game

thetakeover — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:21:21 -0000

via cache.gawker.com

The first screenshots of EA's new MMA game appear in Sports Illustrated this week (anybody got a sub?) but one screenshot has been posted on Facebook by EA Sports and is currently featured on videogame blog Kotaku. It shows Fedor arm-barring a character that I would guess is Randy Couture.

It doesn't appear dark enough to be Fedor's upcoming opponent, Brett "The Grim" Rogers, who confirms he was recently scanned for the game and will be appearing in it. You can find more discussion in this Fanshot that I didn't see before I posted this,

Sam Stout vs. Phillipe Nover Bout Cancelled

thetakeover — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:15:57 -0000

This Fan Post was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.

danawhiteufc: Sam Stout was very cool during the incident and is a class act!!

That's too bad. I was looking forward to this fight. I hope everything is ok with Phillipe and that we get an update on the underlying cause of seizure. I also hope they can find Stout another fight soon.

UPDATE [from Luke Thomas]: Talk about a string of bad luck for Nover. Here's to hoping he gets the chance to build a career in the UFC.

HT: http://twitter.com/danawhiteufc

My UFC 102 lock bet

thetakeover — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:01:28 -0000

I always look forward to the Fridays before major UFC events to see the frontpagers' posts on their bets.

Quite frankly, I consider BE to host the pre-eminent opinions in the MMA world, and if you don't believe me check out this Tweet.

I just locked in my last bet for UFC 102, So I'm gonna throw out the combo, and you guys can argue about what a dumbass I am ...

Couture, Leben, Gonzaga, Vera, Russo, Duffee, Munoz

Bet $8.18 to make $126.73.

I take no responsibility for your dumbass betting your wife's ring on this thing. I'm just telling you what I bet $8.18 on. No need to come back and shit on me when I'm wrong. My own self-hatred and my wife's brutal nagging is more than enough punishment for anyone this side of Prometheus.

Frank Fertitta Jr., father of UFC owners, dies at 70

thetakeover — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:23:54 -0000

Frank Fertitta Jr., the founder of Stations Casino and father of UFC owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, has died due to complications from a heart condition. He was 70.

The news broke on Twitter with a post from Goldie at 7:10 p.m.:

MFG16 My thoughts and prayers to the entire family...may Mr Fertitta rest in peace....

The AP confirms the story and reports that Mr. Fertitta died Friday morning.

Not only was he a beloved father, but in a very real way Mr. Fertitta helped to create the modern UFC, because the money made from Stations Casino allowed his sons to save the UFC at a time when it was at his lowest ebb.

We will likely see a dedication as part of UFC 102.

On behalf of the fans at Bloody Elbow, the Fertitta family has our condolences during this difficult time and we thank them for all they have done and continue to do for the sport of MMA.

Is female MMA bad MMA?

thetakeover — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:56:54 -0000

46-6P1Y7665 copy (via showtime_sports)

It is not a polite question, and it is one sure to draw cries of chauvinism, but after last night's Carano vs. Cyborg fight, I have to ask: Is female MMA bad MMA?

Consider:

In a fight for a championship belt, Cyborg TWICE pulled her opponent into FULL MOUNT (the worst possible position) -- something I have seldom (ever?) seen even in a men's pre-card match. This is pretty much the WORST THING YOU CAN DO. You have taken an offensively advantageous position--double underhooks--and used it to transition to a completely one-sided position for your opponent that is often a fight ender.

The only reason that in this case, it wasn't a fight ender (TWICE) is that her opponent, Gina Carano, DID NOT KNOW HOW TO KEEP THE FULL MOUNT POSITION. In fact, in one case, she GAVE UP THE FULL MOUNT BY STANDING UP. This is the mirror image of Cyborg's foolishness: Carano has gone from a highly dominant, fight-ending position into a neutral position which had so far proven to be to Cyborg's advantage!

This would be like watching a WNBA game where the players repeatedly threw the ball into the wrong basket, and professed not to know what a free throw was. You could use this as a Judo Chop clinic on what not to do.

What I saw last night looked like male mixed martial arts circa UFC 8. I am left to the conclusion that Carano and Cyborg are not particularly good martial artists by gender-neutral standards.

Yes, Mega Magu will be fun to watch against Cyborg and Gina. But then what? Is there some trove of highly talented female MMA artists that can arrive to give the sport legitimacy? At this point, the fanbase is smart enough from watching UFC that they can see the flaws in the game that were on abundant display last night.

If female MMA shrinks after last night, it may not be because Gina lost so much as the fact that neither her nor her opponent looked very good in the fight.

Is there any reason not to bet heavy on Cyborg?

thetakeover — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:23:42 -0000

This may be an incredibly facile headline, but I am honestly asking everybody in the BE community to give me a plausible argument for Gina Carano.

At -200, you get $5 for every $10 you bet on Cyborg. This seems to me a can't-lose proposition. Cyborg is a human wrecking machine. Where Gina has looked pretty winning, Cyborg has looked like she might murder somebody, jump on the cage to celebrate, then go douse the body with lye to make it disintegrate faster.

Does anybody think Gina has a solid chance of winning? A 1 in 3 chance of winning? And how could she win? A lucky punch? A submission?

I see Cyborg by KO or Ref Stoppage. I am only hoping Gina does not get her face messed up. Cyborg is truly scary. This is the only fight on the card that I think is a solid bet. The others are toss-ups with very skewed odds in favor of the sportsbook.

That said, I probably jinxed the whole thing by writing about it. And I will drink maple syrup, change my icon, wear a hairshirt or whatever other punishment when I am proven wrong and Gina shocks the world by winning, but I just don't see that happening.

10 things I'd like to never see again after UFC 101

thetakeover — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:20:12 -0000

Overall a fun night of fights, but there were a few moments I found myself shouting at my TV. Here are some things I hope I never see again after UFC 101:

10. Anderson Silva offering to help his opponent up (false respect is the ultimate disrespect)

9 .Anderson Silva shucking and jiving (it didn't work for Rashad either)

8. Thales Leites in the UFC (what a flop)

7. Fighters running out of the ring after losing (have we learned anything from Sherk?)

6. Forrest behaving like a baby (Got Waaaah?).

5. Judges blind to instant replay (no one should lose on an accidental headbutt).

4. TUF winners (new strategy: always bet against them)

3. Any conspiracy theories about Forrest "taking a dive" (the MMA equivalent of "birthers")

2. Anybody questioning that Anderson is best p4p. (He is.)

1. The clip of Florian saying, "I WANT BJ'S BELT!" (quoth the Stones: "You can't always get what you want.")