It's been a little hectic. In and out, here and there.
With all the hussle and bussle it's been a little quiet here, but worry not you were still in the thoughts. By now you've already heard what a stellar weekend of fights they had at UFC 85. Great showings by Mike Swick, Michael Bisbing, and Thiago Alves.
While most of the controversy revolved around the officiating and calls, all in all it was great production with constant action and a great flow to the event. Plenty of fights on this one to pass the time, so if you've already watched most the fights in pieces sit down to enjoy a great series. We'll have the Post-thoughts and highlights a bit later...
Right now you should grab that Brewskie, a bowl of chips and salsa...
Big Big BIG Weekend for MMA. And even more surprising about it, all UFC had to show for it was an Ultimate Knockouts ft. the Iceman. No wonder, front man Dana White has a few things to say about this weekend.
If you saw Elite Xc 3 out of 5 fights where worthy, Gina and Young stole the show followed closely by the Lawler/Smith No Contest. On Espn they talk the turn of MMA and Television.
Dana being the salesman he is spins all the other current sports, but in actuality if boxing/wrestling can be shown mma is marketable.
Wether or not what CBS showed the world on Sat was positive for MMA or negative. It's been said before, there is no such thing as bad press. Let's hope. It wasn't ground-breaking, but it was an eventful night. Was it successful? Thanks to MMAmainia.com
Here’s what we do know:
The 18-49 year old demographic showed a strong increase in viewers over the first two hours of the broadcast. The first half hour showed 1.4 million viewers, which increased to 2.4 between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m. ET.
While most of us were glued CBS w/ picture in picture on Spike Saturday Night, Abc actually is rounding the corner. 20/20 Special Delivery.
Mixed Martial Arts = The Devil?
Or is this just a NEW threat on the horizon we must paint as evil?
77 deaths as of baseball, 25000 cheerleaders with trips to the hospitals, and 0 deaths and no more injuries than boxing...
Bad Luck Chuck. It's been an interesting (to say in the least) year for Chuck Liddell, all out side the cage too. It seems that his career at the moment is destined to be riddled with circumstantial bruises. Hardcore MMA followers across the states scrambled for a pair of 'Depends' following the announcement of Shogun vs Chuck at UFC 84. It was a fight that had fireworks all over it. Legend vs Prodigy. A match-up from heaven, only to live a week. Shogun out with knee injury. Now we were all glad we we're wearing diapers, I shit myself hearing the replacement for Shogun was who? None other than Rashad "I'll Out Last You" Evans, who's unbeaten record looks impressive on paper, but with 7 of the last 11 victories coming from judges. Calling Evans a 'finisher' is a bit of a stretch. So the fight lost serious clout, now is more a stocking stuffer than headline. If that weren't it, latest word is now The Iceman, after suffering an extensive hamstring pull is forced to pull out as well. The Fighting Gods have been so unkind.
But, there is always a silver-lining.
-Chuck is already in a verbal pissing match with a potential dream fight, Kimbo. Enough has been said to have both sides seeking proper steps to set up a possible bout. Providing Kimbo's Prime Time Slice with CBS does well in May, this could almost make up for not seeing Shogun and Liddell in the first place.
-James Irvin, proven banger has stepped up to fill the spot for Chuck. Irvin has been known to dismantle people, ask Marcus Houston or Terry Martin. At least one person in this fight will be looking to end it.
"No Rest for No Love" Following an impressive win at over K-1 Veteran Sam Stout at UFC 83, Welterweight Rich "No Love" Clemeniti ops for no downtime. The three war in Montreal was taken after a decision, Clementi left one battle to prepare for the next. Scheduled for the upcoming UFC 84, Clementi is set to toe off with a UK star of Terry Etim in Las Vegas come this May 24th. With recent wins over Melvin Guillard, Anthony Johnson, and now Sam, Rich seems to have found a stride. Great on the ground, and hands to show we're secretly hoping Mac Danzig and Clementi cross paths in the center of the octagon.
Cro Cop Next Stop Dream 4 has officially declared the next showing of Cro Cop. Today Dream announced that Mirko and Jerome LeBanner (an explosive striker) will be meeting each other June 16th in Tokyo. Lebanner is 3-1-1, hardly enough to strike fear in the Croatian.
Fighting with Fedor. Yes we mean M-1, but not quite what you may think. Yes, the same M-1 that supposedly contracted Fedor Emelianenko, up until they realized he'd never signed any contracts. "Oh yeah, that formality." The same company has released a statement of a new reality show in the works for the Russian, titled: Fighting with Fedor. The (Ultimate Fighter Knock Off) show will feature 16 fighters who are all competing (twist) to fight Fedor.
Heavyweights will pummel each other, to in hopes of finding the one among them worthy enough to get KO'd by one of the most all-time winning MMA fighters to date. (FYI, Fedor now sits at 28-1-1.)
Just makes it hard calling the winner of that show, a 'winner'.
Zuffa Companies Unite And lastly UFC and WEC announce future plans. UFC will push for the heavier weight classes, while the WEC will focus on the lower weight classes. Dana White @ MMAAnalyst with more clarification.
White says the UFC has no plans to introduce a 145-pound weight class. “That’s why we bought the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting).”
In fact, he said they are going to take steps to make the two circuits more distinct. “We’re going to make the WEC the smaller weights and the UFC will be the heavier weights. We’ll probably take some of the guys in the higher weights, the champions over there and bring them into UFC. We’re still trying to figure that out.”
WEC features 135-(bantamweight) and 145-pound (featherweight) weight classes as well as 155, 170, 185 and 205. The UFC has 155, 170, 185, 205 and heavyweight.
For those whom are still in morning for the recent passing of one the most elite and stylistic fighting championships, PRIDE, this weekend I believe our prayers have been answered.
In the states we have come to find there are two types of fans. There are those who love MMA and those who think the UFC IS MMA. While the previous fan is prominent the later is more of what you'll find thanks to the over abundant brainwashi-sorry marketing efforts of Zuffa. Yes, the Ufc is the most successful dollar-wise because of the PPV (pay-per-view) division, Pride was a much more long-standing and crowd supported entity. Since conception in 1997, Pride toted a semblance with it's name in it's choice in fighters, which now reign the UFC (Anderson Silva, Rampage Jackson, Minotaro Noguiera) but, also in the knowledge of its fanbase. While broad casted in 40 diffrent countries Pride's largest event in the Tokyo Dome reached 70,000 strong compared to the UFC's infant 22,000. The Eastern culture had more of an understanding for the technical aspects of the martial arts and loved to see combatants reach new levels. It's been said that the UFC, after Dana White breathing life back into it, resembled a fighting championship with (even before Lesner) WWE steroids pumped into it's system. Focusing on the chatter between the fighters before, during, and after the fight as well the most blood on the matt.
If that is how you feel, then we have your answer.
DREAM. And this weekend was a list of fights that we have not seen matching caliber, intensity, or technique in quite some time. We're sure you'll agree DREAM is a gem. In between the flashes of blood lust and testosterone craves the UFC is good for, those days you want to see the top shelf performances Pride was known for DREAM has arrived. Take a look at this weekend. It's a showcase of fights that barely makes it out of the first round. Topped off with the return on Cro Cop. Yes, we do mean return.
This fight may get off to a slower start, towards the mid-way mark you realize you are watching two scrappers. This is one of the longer fights of the evening, but immediatly following the bout watch the two combatants.
Fireworks, standing up or on the ground. And the early transition from the rear-naked, to the arm-bar, to the triangle choke was poetry in motion. The only thing crazier was Boku survived...
It was an action filed day in the world of MMA today...
By now most of the fighting community has caught wind of the possibility of Russian King Pin Fedor Emelianenko going free agent in the very near future. While there is no confirmation on which direction they are leaning but in lighter news there is a chance we will see the king in UFC territory soon. Yes, yes Randy we said it before be careful what you wish for. Sources at MMAweekly were informed that both sides of the fence are in negotiations or at least entertaining the thought of a 1 match bout between The Russian Emperor and Capt. America himself Randy Couture. We will save the thoughts of the outcome for a later date, for now we will revel in the the minute occasion that Dana White at least spouts off his "Slur, Slur, Explicative" after the papers are signed. One can only hope.
How this would affect Randy's current court proceedings is uncertain. But lets hope he can work of the steam in the cage.
As if that wasn't news enough. Word has also traveled about Silva's latest comments following UFC 82.
All these boxers out there talking s--- how MMA fighters aren't technical, well he's willing to step up and fight them in their own game," says Soares, who notes that the idea to challenge the aging Jones was the UFC champ's. "So, if anything, he's not trying to say there's nothing to prove in MMA; he's trying to plant a flag for every one of the fighters out there in the world that fight MMA.
Then his management citing names to those Silva would like to see in the ring- namely Roy Jones Jr.
"We respect Jones’ boxing ability and think he’s one of the best,” said Soares, “but we’re tired of different boxers saying that MMA fighters aren’t technical. Anderson would love to fight Roy Jones in a boxing match under boxing rules to prove that MMA fighters are technical, too."
This set the MMA world ablaze... Until... Ed's latest at Sherdog.com-
"I just spoke with Roy Jones’ management and they are very interested in it. They think it would break all kinds of pay-per-view records. It all kind of started as a dream of Anderson’s, but if the UFC would back it, it is something that we really would like to pursue.”
Jones’ management indicated that this could be a fight that would bring together the fractured factions of boxing and mixed martial arts. “They think it will actually bring together the boxing and MMA communities,” said Soares.
Jones is currently headed out of the country until next week, but his management told Soares that he was “flattered and excited” by Silva’s interest in a boxing match with him. The parties are expected to talk again once Jones returns."
Again, all comments on the fight will be held til the possibility is the reality...but boy, oh boy are we serious when we say be careful what you wish for...
Ultimately this is about business. As much as we'd like to say Anderson Silva is testing his merit against another warrior, the bottom line is the contract (his balls) are held by Dana and Zuffa. And while the money in the event is there, with the possibility of 2 pound for pound bests to face off with a unification of fans from the Boxing and MMA world together, the question is...will Dana allow his pride and joy in the ring? If he wins he gains clout, he gains recognition beyond any fighter ever...he stands 2 or 3 rounds he gets a pat on the back and some brews bought for hanging with one of the world's greatest. But, if he loses...how would that affect the world's view of MMA? How does Dana see that affecting his pocket books down the road? Only time will tell...and when it does you better believe it'll be EVERYWHERE. Especially here...
Here's a little gem folks. You needed a little blood. We could tell.
So in light of the holiday, we'll give you a little green love. Today, Marcus Davis will take center stage. Coming to us off of an impressive, 11 fight win streak, six coming way of the UFC. He is a beast with explosive power, great accuracy, and deceptively quick hands.
With out further adieu Marcus Davis aka The Irish Hand Grenade.
With this amount of power it appears as if he puts nothing into his strikes, but the aftermath tells the tale. Next Marcus squares off with Paul Taylor, a Brit who takes The Grenade to the edge and back at UFC 75. One of the great epic turn-arounds.
Showing the versatility along with the will. Taylor is no a push-over...
Last up at UFC 80 Marcus met another striker by way of Jeff Liauden. Originally, this was the only fight we were going to post...but we felt it would have been to much of a tease. So enjoy.
This once was a MMA Analysis colomn. We've taken a small detour and found a more useful spot for this project. This is a small recollection of my path in MMA. For now it's Muay Thai and BJJ. Had Ta Kwan Do as a kid and boxed off and on for the last few years. Putting it all together is quickly becoming an obsession.
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It's been a little hectic. In and out, here and there.
