The Spider Pulls It Out!!!

Chael Sonnen talked more trash than any fighter in UFC history leading up to Saturday's middleweight title fight with Anderson Silva.

Once he got Silva in the cage at UFC 117, he backed the talk up for four and a half rounds, dominating Silva until the champion finally managed to sink in a triangle choke that forced Sonnen to tap out in the fifth round.

"Chael had a hell of a fight tonight," Silva said afterward. "I knew that I was losing the first four rounds."

"It was a tough fight," Sonnen said afterward. "He's a tough guy. I came in second. What can I say? They gave me my chance and I came up short."

MMAFighting.com

See now that Silva/Sonnen fight is EXACTLY why MMA>>>>Boxing at this point. Think about it, when was the last time you saw a guy that far down on the score cards come back and win in boxing? Ain't no running, and no stalling. Cats are going for broke every second of every fight. That means sometimes the guy that's down will have an opportunity to win.

I kept wondering why Silva wasn't attempting any triangles or arm bars but he slapped both on in one at the end. Chael attempted to act like he hadn't tapped...again. But nobody was buying it and while he fought a helluva fight for 4+ rounds, you ALWAYS have to be on guard against Silva.

Maybe there will be a rematch. I expect if there is Silva will look a lot better because he definitely didn't look like himself for most of the fight. Some of that was Sonnen for sure, but some of it was him.

Murdaaaaaa

I don't know how many of you out there are MMA fans but if you are looking for something to watch this weekend there are gonna be a lot of worse ways to waste your money than by paying to watch the UFC 117 card. The highlight of course is going to be the Anderson "The Spider" Silva vs Chael Sonnen main event and I have a feeling that its going to be brutal. Silva has looked lackluster against guys who only wanted to take him to the ground and do jiu jitsu. Sonnen is a guy who wants to stand and trade. And considering as much smack as Sonnen's been talking the starts are aligned for him to get knocked the hell out.

So whether you are a hardcore fan or someone whose just curious about the sport, I would HIGHLY recommend this fight card on Saturday night.

James Toney Is A Funny Dude

I have no idea how James Toney will do against Randy Couture in the ring but the lead up to the fight should be EPIC!!!

Clash Of The Titans

Tomorrow night two of the biggest (literally) heavyweight stars in MMA will face off at UFC 116.  Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin both will weigh in at the limit of 265 pounds but by the time the bell rings both will be significantly bigger.  This fight as the potential to be the biggest PPV draw ever for the UFC and its almost sure to live up to the hype.  The reason being is that these two behemoths are both brawlers by nature and strikers by training.  As much as I enjoy the chess game of a good jiu jitsu fight, that ain't what this is right here folks.  Somebody is getting their block knocked off come tomorrow evening.

For me I actually like both guys well enough.  Carwin is seen more as an up and comer although he probably has more experience and formal training in MMA at this point than Lesnar.  And Lesnar while immensely physically gifted, is somewhat of a dick.  Let me rephrase that, he's a major league asshole.  And while I'm not necessarily always anti-asshole, he did turn me off with his antics initially.

Well although Im still not what you would call a "fan" of Lesnar's, I have a helluva lot of respect for what he has done in his first 5 fights.  The guy is like a force of nature.  So big and quick that it should be against the law.  And he's vicious on top of it.  Many times with MMA or even boxing you find guys with one or the other.  Guys with a lot of killer instinct but a lower level of athletic ability, or a guy who is immensely skill that is perfectly happy with a decision every time rather than a stoppage. (*cough* Mayweather *cough*)  So while I won't be cheering the guy on, I will DEFINITELY be front and center to watch his fights.

Mind you I felt that way BEFORE reading this article.  Now I know that words are just words, but if this guy has really stepped his game up the way its inferred in the article, that's what I would call down right scary.

“I’ve been kinda like a steam locomotive ever since January 5th,” he said. “We threw a little coal in the fire, we got the engines going a little bit, and every week, the locomotive kept building more steam and building more power, and that’s really what this has been. Everything’s coming together, and I’ve said this before – the Brock Lesnar now would annihilate the Brock Lesnar of a year ago. That’s how crazy this is. I had to have a major setback, and it was almost a good thing. We started from scratch in January and really built my strength, my core, and I was able to work on a lot of different things, and I wasn’t under any pressure. I brought different training partners in and got a different look from some different coaches. We got this piece of clay, and we said let’s mold it again.”

Now that’s scary, considering that the first piece of clay won four of his five pro bouts, won the heavyweight title, avenged his only defeat, and basically steamrolled everyone in his path. But Lesnar knows that if you’re not improving, you’re slipping, and while he didn’t completely change his team, he did revamp it in certain areas, with key additions to this camp being UFC Hall of Famer and the man Lesnar beat for the title, Randy Couture, and standout boxing coach Peter Welch.

“I looked around across the board and analyzed my life in general,” said Lesnar, 32. “First of all personally and family wise and then I analyzed my fight situation. How can I get better? How can I evolve? What’s stagnant in my training and what are some different things that I can do? I bumped into Peter in Las Vegas a while ago, (UFC President) Dana (White) introduced me to him and we hit it off, so I brought him out here. I wasn’t sure what I was gonna get, wasn’t sure if our personalities were gonna match, but he came out, it worked out, we got along great, and more importantly, he’s a great teacher. I learned a lot of good stuff from him and I wish I had brought him in sooner. I’m happy with the decision and it’s been great.”

Peter Welch AND Randy Couture?!?!

Man listen, Carwin is a certified BEAST and I take nothing from him. But if Brock is even better on the feet now its gonna get really really ugly. And I mean that in the best sense of the word.

Now THAT'S What I Call A Promo!

Aye, check out this promo for Shogun Vs The Dragon at UFC 113




If you wanted to get me interested you did a great job!

Now Its Time For The Main Event!

I didn't actually watch the fight last night between Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiaou. I knew it would be a decent fight but its not the fight I, nor many other boxing fans, wanted to see. At this point boxing is in a place where charging more than $50 for a fight that people aren't clamoring for is going to continue to erode the fan base. Its bad enough that you rarely have a "name" fighter on the undercard, but then you end up sitting through a fight that, even when exciting, wasn't really what you were hoping for.

Well Pacman brought home the victory last night with a 12th round TKO and from what I understand it was a dominating performance by him. Congratulations to him on the win but what I really hope is that his triumph now brings us all what we have REALLY been waiting for.

Money vs Pacman.

Speaking for me I can tell you that I would gladly throw down the coin to see Manny Pacquiaou and Floyd Mayweather 'throw them thangs' no matter where the venue is that they meet up or who is on the undercard. Boxing NEEDS this fight to happen now if they want to remain viable. Hell I just saw a UFC card for FREE on Spike TV yesterday with a bunch of guys who put on exciting fights for the most part. Just last week the same thing happened with the Strikeforce promotion on CBS, and in that one I got to see Fedor Emelianenko put a guy to sleep in the main event. If boxing can't finally give their fans the fight they have been wanting for the past several years then they will be sealing their fate against the likes of the rising MMA promotions.

I can tell you this, they won't see another dime of my money until that fight happens.

It is what it is.

Mayweather/Marquez

Rather than talk about this cakewalk of a fight I figure I would post the youtube of UFC's Dana White sounding like an oracle describing why nobody should have paid to see it. Oh and just for shits and giggles, click here to read about the 4 exciting knockouts that happened pretty much at the same time on the UFC card.......which cost $10 less...

Doing What They Do

On an otherwise pedestrian UFC 101 fight card, the two headliners showed why they were featured in the co main events.

First Anderson "The Spider" Silva served Forrest Griffin a two piece which resulted in a dislocated jaw.

I am sure this YouTube won't last long so enjoy it while you can!



Then BJ "The Prodigy" Penn choked out Kenny "KenFlo" Florian to retain his lightweight belt.



Next up for me is the new season of "The Ultimate Fighter" which will feature an ex teammate of mine, Marcus Jones. Marcus is probably the strongest guy I have ever been around and I will be pulling for him every week. In a dream match up he would face YouTube sensation, Kimbo Slice in the finals. I am pretty sure that would put some asses in the seats.

I guess I shouldn't say next up exactly because tonight Miguel Torres will be fighting on Versus defending his WEC belt. If you are a MMA fan you definitely want to check him out.

Who Blinked?

UFC Chairman Dana White and former UFC light heavyweight champion and MMA superstar Tito Ortiz have a well documented history of bad blood. Once Ortiz's contract ran out it was seen as the end of his career as a UFC fighter for good. In the intervening months White has taken every opportunity to trash Ortiz and call him a coward that you could possibly imagine. So I am more than a little curious as to how this came to be.

It was said that the bad blood between UFC President Dana White and former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz ran so deep that reconciliation wasn’t even a remote possibility. But after a twitter exchange between the two surfaced recently, fans began speculating that a return to the Octagon wouldn’t be too far off for ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.’ On Friday, White made it official, announcing Ortiz’ re-signing with the UFC during a media teleconference.

“Tito and I have history that pretty much everybody knows,” said White. “We have put all our differences aside, have squashed everything, and we’re ready to move forward. Tito Ortiz is still a guy that fans want to see fight, he just had back surgery, he’s getting back into training, he feels good and he’s ready to compete in the 205-pound division and take a shot at the title again. And Tito Ortiz will retire in the UFC.”

“I think time really cures everything,” said Ortiz. “Dana came to me and was a man of his word. He apologized to me for the things that he did prior, and for me, it (returning) was about competition. My fans deserve the best Tito Ortiz.”

Now this is even more curious when you consider the fact that the UFC has never been deeper in the light heavyweight division. It would seem that Ortiz needed the UFC a lot more than the UFC needed him. So what gives?