True Champion

With another amazing win I think Jose Aldo can be considered one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. Of course I already considered him one of the best P4P before tonight but with another devastating and brutal knockout over top contender Manny Gamburyan it just puts Aldo's name that much closer to Georges St-Pierre's and Anderson Silva's legacy on my P4P list.

Would people consider Aldo already better than Silva P4P? I can see a small argument there but I say Aldo needs a few more big wins before that happens. As of now, he's going to have to settle for 3rd place on my best "Pound for Pound" fighters list

Oh yeah, did I mention? Zhang Tie Quan won tonight too! He's the first Chinese UFC/WEC fighter I've ever seen fighting and he won via submission. Very nice Zhang, representing the China-men around the world very well.

UFC 119: The greatest ethnic nicknames

We have "The Dominican Demon", "The Mexicutioner", and "The Super Samoan" on this card. Too bad we only have Melvin "The Young Assassin" Guillard and not Sokoudjou aka "The African Assassin". That would be an even more stacked card with ethnic names!

Frank Mir vs. Mirko "CroCop"
I have Mir winning this via tapout. I see him knocking down CroCop and going for the submission win just like he did to Kongo. Of course he can get the TKO or submission if he gets CroCop down but from looking at the rest of the card, I see it easier to get a submission of the night award than knockout of the night.

Ryan Bader Vs. Lil Nog
Bader takes this. I just see his brute strength being too much for Lil Nog to handle on the feet and on the floor. Maybe Bader vs. Jon Jones after this? That would be an epic battle of the 2 biggest rising stars of 205.

Also, I hope Melvin Guillard knocks Jeremy Stephens out cold. I'm a fan of Guillard and his KO power.

UFC 118: MMA vs. Boxing

Couture vs. Toney is being portrayed as a MMA vs Boxing match but I see it more as an oldschool brawl like the early days of the UFC. Just like how Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock was a wrestling vs. jiu-jitsu match, this is much the same. Its a wrestler vs. a boxer.

I'm not going to lie. The fights probably going to be boringggg. Couture will do what he does best and push Toney on the cage in the clinch and then when there's an opening he will go for the double leg takedown. It will be a submission win if we're lucky, but it will probably end up in an unanimous decision for couture.

When you put a boxer like Toney who's trained in MMA for what? 13 month? Vs. a wrestler like Couture who's been in MMA for 13 years! The wrestler will win 9/10 times.

Not time for Silva vs. Sonnen 2

The tap heard around the world!

Some people want to see Silva vs. Sonnen 2 immediately and I totally understand where they are coming from. Sonnen dominated (brutaly dominated) the entire fight. Just take down after take down. And the 1 time Silva got the take down in the 4th round! Sonnen reversed it and ended up on top.

An immediate Sonnen vs. Silva 2 should NOT happen. Immediate rematches should only be done when there is a controversial judges decision: Machida/Shogun 1. It wouldn't be the right move in the long run. This isn't boxing where you only see the same names headlining the main events over and over again. This is the UFC! Where they bring new blood and welcome new challengers. Sure, if a rematch is made Sonnen will talk trash (probably more) and hype the fight even bigger than this one, and a whole lot of people will probably buy the PPV, and good old Dana will probably make a lot of $$. But in order to keep the UFC's reputation of constantly creating new stars Dana/ Joe Silva just has to let this one go.

The rare moment the fight was standing....

Silva cracked his ribs in the 1st round and said he will be out until early 2011. He needs to concentrate on helping the Nogueira bothers on their upcoming fights and after that passes he wants to go back to Brazil and spend time with his family.

This is what I want to see: Chael Sonnen vs. Vitor Belfort for the #1 contender spot in November. If Sonnen wins, great, make a Silva vs. Sonnen 2. If Vitor wins, great, that was the matchup the UFC originally planned last year. Its a win/win situation!

" Beating Anderson Silva is like eating Chinese food. Twenty minutes after you’re done, you want to do it again." (Look @ Lorenzo's face)

Roger Huerta's Street Brawl

Apparently Roger Huerta got into a fight last week and he knocked out some random dude. One thing that irritates me about this story is how CBS and TMZ have headlines like "UFC fighter gets into Brawl". 1st off, Huerta is no longer in the UFC, he's in Bellator. 2nd he knocked this guy out because the guy hit a girl first. And I know what you guys are thinking, don't worry, the girl that got punched by the guy wasn't Snooki. Huerta should be a hero but the media has the idea that all MMA fighters are blood thirsty street fighters. With the exception of Kimbo Slice.... but who out there can really call him a mixed martial artist?

Noticed I used the term MMA fighters instead of UFC fighters? It's annoying when people think UFC is a sport. No! UFC is a company, its a league. You don't call up your friend and go like "Hey do you want to play some NBA?" No! You go "Hey do you want to play some basketball?" Not all MMA fights are in the UFC, the UFC is just the highest stage of the world for mixed martial arts competition.

So please remember: UFC is a league NOT a sport, Most MMA fighters are professional with a few bad apples like Paul Daley, Roger Huerta is a BAMF not a street fighter!

This story doesn't really shock me. Roger Huerta or not, if a guy punches a girl he's probably going to get his ass kicked. The only thing that shocked me is that this street fight wasn't in this season's Jersey Shore.

UFC 117: Brazil vs. USA

The entire main card is stacked with Brazilians vs. Americans @ UFC 117! I'm sorry America, I see Brazil winning this one. My picks are: Silva, Alves, Almeida, Guida. 3/4 advantage Brazil. I didn't include Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson in the prediction because I'm on the fence about that fight.

Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen
Hats off to Chael Sonnen because he made me actually want to see this fight. After Silva's performance against Demian Maia, most fans were disappointed, but Chael Sonnen's shit talk made us want to see the P4P king pin back in the cage to silence his new opponent. And when I say shit talk I do mean a whole lot of shit talk.

He said something on the line of this:
-"I don't do that whole Jiu-Jitsu bullshit because I find it gay for a guy to be in my guard"-
Okay fine, fair enough. We all have our own opinions. BUT WAIT! Wasn't Sonnen a Division I All-American wrestler?? And isn't the whole objective of wrestling is to grab your opponent's legs and drag them to the ground so you are on top of them? So uhh if Jiu-Jitsu is gay... you're homo.

I can go on for hours of how Chael talks trash but we would be here forever. Here is 1 of the few lines he said that was actually funny: "[Silva] doesn’t come from a bowing culture. If you bow in Brazil, they’ll hit you over your head, take your wallet and walk off laughing." - Chael Sonnen

I'm giving this fight to Silva via KO. I hope its the Anderson we saw vs. Forrest Griffen and not the Anderson we saw against Thales Leites in the cage come August 7th.

Does Chael Sonnen stand a chance?
- Its MMA, everyone has a chance. No one thought Fedor would ever lose but here we are with the Last Emperor off his pedestal. The only way I see Sonnen winning is if Silva loses (no duh). What I mean by that is Chael can only win if Silva comes in not @ 100%. If he comes in out of shape, that's probably not a good idea when Sonnen is across the cage from him. This is a extremely slim chance. The only reason I think it will go past the first round is because I think Silva will allow it to go past 5 minutes. He wants to beat up Sonnen, not just just a win over him.

"One thing's for sure. If you're an MMA fan, you will not wan to miss this fight." - Ed Soares

"Sonnen has 3 options in this fight. Tap, Snap, or Nap." - Rich

UFC 108: Evans vs Silva

Fight prediction: Rashad Evans* via unanimous decisionNow, this fight will probably be a close fight and I can see the fight going both ways. The only reason I say Evans will win is because I believe he will go back to his superior wrestling abilities. After the Machida fight I think he realized knocking someone out is great but only if you're not on the receiving end.If the fight stays standing up I'm sorry Rashad but I see Silva ending it with a TKO. People keep saying how Evans is SO fast with his hands but Thiago is no slouch with his speed. I'll give Rashad a slight advantage there, but not much. Thiago will pick apart your every weakness and capitalize on any chance he sees.

Both fighters are at the top of the LHW division and I'm sure both of them will have strong game plans going into the fight, it will all come down to execution.

Rashad you better win for your boy Jardine.

The best of 2009

Its almost the end of 2009 and I think it is in order to post up some of the best fights of the year!

Fight of the Year: Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida
People talk about how dominating Diego was in the fight but the reason I gave this the fight of the year is because of Guida. He stayed alive even after a number of clean hits and even a devastating head kick by Sanchez. Their stare down was also one of the most intense ones I've ever seen.

Submission of the Year: Toby Imada vs. Jorge Masvidal
The first reverse triangle choke in the octagon, very impressive.

Knockout of the Year: Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping
There were a few knockouts I was thinking about putting up then I remembered Henderson's major KO over the bigmouth Brit. Good job Hendo! you shut his Brit mouth!

Fighter of the Year: Jose Aldo
This was an easy pick for me, with so many big fighters currently injured. Aldo got 4 fights this year. That is pretty much fight after fight without much rest. Whats impressive is he ended them all via TKO and even became the new Featherweight champion when he defeated the the killer Mike Brown.

"SAY UNCLE!"

Best Card of the Year: UFC 100
This was simply a stacked card. And when I say stacked, I mean it. GSP, one of the pound for pound best fighters in the world. Brock Lesnar, the pay per view attraction for any card. Henderson and Bisping finally face each other in the ring. How could this card not make it to fight card of the year??
Biggest Disappointment of the Year: Rampage
After the Jardine fight Rampage said "I WANT MY BELT BACK!!!" What happened to that? Now hes gone from the UFC. Hes saying hes coming back now but it obviously won't happen this year. Rampage vs. Rashad! If the fight doesn't end via KO or if they don't stand and bang with each other, the trash talk would have been useless!MMA Fail of the Year:

YES Cartwheel

Diego's facial bones scare me

Its official the "yes cartwheel" doesn't work! Penn is untouchable at 155.

Any MMA fan would have known BJ was better than Diego in every category but even I was surprised at how badly BJ dominated the fight. In a previous blog I said BJ would win by using his boxing, take down defense, and jiu jitsu. I will now admit I was wrong... He didn't even need his jiu jitsu! Diego's take downs became desperate and when ever you're desperate in the cage, its not a good sign.

Even I questioned BJ's cardio work before but I promise to never do that again. Diego Sanchez and Sean Sherk are 2 of the biggest cardio machines out there and BJ took them apart.

The world's best at 155

I may think Diego is an odd person, but as a fighter, the guy has got heart. He got rocked in the first round and he made all the way till the 5th round. sort of....

"YES! Yes! yes...... aww fuck it... I lost.... NO!"

So whos next? A hard question but its clear no one at 155 suits BJ. Maybe a fight against Jose Aldo? But I don't see that happening. Probably moving up to 170 to face Josh Koscheck or even Jon Fitch to earn a #1 contenders match against GSP again. In my opinion its useless, no one can take down Georges St-Pierre at 170 (literally).

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 11

With the close of TUF season 10, the coaches of season were announced. I honestly didn't know who could step in as the coaches because its been 10 long seasons and good coaches are just running dry. They even had to use Rampage twice, a man who should never be a corner man for any fighter!As much as I rip on Dana for being an unethical person, hes a business man. Two former light heavyweight champions will compete as the new coaches! “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz and Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell will coach once again making it their 2nd time coaching each. Liddell was the original coach when he faced Randy Couture and Ortiz coached season 3 against Ken Shamrock.As far as the Liddell vs Ortiz 3 goes, its probably the only fight Chuck could have came back in. In my eyes the man is already retired. He wants to end off his career with a win but Ortiz also needs a win, he hasn't won in over 3 years! Chuck has two wins over Ortiz and a third win would just make it ugly. I'm a fan of both fighters so I don't want to call the results and I can't wait to watch the new season in April.

I agree with you Dennis, I want to see an "I quit match" (WWE) where the person has to say they quit or else the match continues!

Rampage back in UFC?

Is Rampage coming back to the UFC already? Seems like just yesterday the stories of him leaving the UFC came running out. Its not anything for certain but Rampage posted saying he wants to come back to shut Dana's mouth and to prove to all the haters that hes not scared of Rashad Evans or even Titties. I think its stupid for people to call the former Pride and UFC champion scared of an opponent, he deserves more respect. He still loves the sport and Rampage's return is great news for a MMA fan like me. The match up against Evans probably won't come until spring because Rashad is already fighting Thiago Silva at UFC 108 on January 2nd 2010. I just hope the fight will end up happening one way or another because I want to see one of them get knocked out! (preferably Rashad)

Dan Henderson Signs With Strikeforce

All I have is just one question.... Why Dan why? 90% of the best fighters in the world are in the UFC so why would you sign with Strikeforce? I have nothing personal against Strikeforce and I'm not going to bash it (unlike Dana White) but how many exciting fights can you have with them? I can see you facing the light heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi or the middle weight champ Jake Shields but thats about it. You left the UFC because you thought you weren't getting paid enough and probably because they gave the title shot to Vitor Belfort. You made $350,000 from UFC 100 alone, can Strikeforce really match that salary? With so many questions, the MMA world is waiting for answers.

A sight for sore eyes

It might be just me but Anthony Johnson has the worst eye poke luck. It was first at Fight Night 14 where Johnson faced off against Burns and Burns struck Johnson in the eyes several times. The fight ended horrible, one of the worst ends to a fight ever. Its right up there with the Machida vs Shogun and Bisping vs Hamill as my shittiest end to a fight ever. Johnson got poked... no....no.... he got stabbed in the eye and the ref called it a knockout (good job Steve Mazzagatti...). What the hell was that! Johnson had to have serious eye surgery after the fight.Well that was all in the past but today when he faced off against Josh Koscheck, he was the victim of an eye poke again. I believe he was poked twice in the eye and some fans might be saying why is he faking it?! Look at the replays and tell if if thats not half a finger in a guy's eye. I really don't know how to feel after that fight. Koscheck won via submission.I believe Johnson is the future of 170 and I still do. Eye pokes affect a fighter for the entire fight. Johnson might have lost his first fight to Burns but the rematch ended with a KO with Johnson standing tall. I'm sure the result would be different if he met with Koscheck again.

Joe Rogan keeps saying he would like to see closed gloves for the 4 fingers so there are no more eye pokes in the UFC but if they do that they are giving the edge to stand uo fighters. The jiu jitsu fighters will not be able to do anything on the ground with closed gloves. Can you imagine how badly Royce Gracie would have been owned by his opponents if they had that back in the day mma was born? Gracie is pretty much the first guy to use jiu jitsu in the UFC and made people think wth because he made guys twice his size tap. The gloves can not become closed, it just not going to happen.

Now after getting my anger out from the eye pokes, let me just say GSP vs Koscheck sounds a whole lot better than GSP vs Hardy. Koscheck and Hardy are both irrigant cocky assholes so can't really say much about that but Koscheck's last 2 fights have just been way too impressive to not give him a title shot. Just because White wants a British champion to gain more money over from the UK doesn't mean Hardy should get the nod. He will probably get the title shot with GSP but I just want to take a stand and say thats not the fight true mma fans want to see.

Nicknames

You know what I noticed, almost every UFC fighter has a nickname. Some of the nicknames out there are great but others simply lack imagination. I'll just name some of my favourite and some of the worst names out there. *This blog will have many pictures of MMA fighters so you can put a face to the name (pictures are below their name).*

Favourites:
Randy "The Natural" Couture: He truly is a natural still fighting at the age of 44.Mauricio "Shogun" RuaMirko Filipović or simply Mirko Cro Cop: I just find this name to be good because Mirko was a former cop in Croatia, hence the name Cro Cop.

Georges "Rush" St-Pierre: Some people don't like his nickname because it doesn't describe the fighter. I would tell those people to watch more MMA because no one can handle George's conditioning and his game play.Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell: The best name out there and he was one of the best in his prime.Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko: Being the best fighter from Russia and possibly the best pound for pound fighter, he is the man to beat in the heavyweight division. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

The Worse:
Logan "The Pink Pounder" Clark

Cheick "The French Sensation" Kongo: I think hes a great fighter but I don't like his nickname. Just because there are not too many French fighters in the UFC does not mean people should put where they are from on their nicknames.Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald: All UFC fighters are athletes, thats like me calling myself Richard "The Chinaman" Chong

Frank "twinkle toes" Trigg: This just reminds me of Avatar (Yes I'm an Avatar geek)

Ken "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Shamrock: The purpose of a nick name is for others to remember you by. This nickname is longer than his own name. What are you thinking about Shamrock!I just wanted to add there are probably 10 people with the word "assassin" in their nickname and even if I think thats a decent name, its not creative anymore. (African Assassin, The Assassin, The Silent Assassin etc.) Change your nicknames!

Funny (People who choose a nick name because of their last names):
Kevin "The Fire" Burns

Ryan "Darth" Bader: It would be funnier if he called himself Ryan "The Master" Bader

Ron "H20 Man" Waterman

"The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine: I actually like this nickname.There is also Kendall "Da Spider" Grove and Anderson "The Spider" Silva. One of them really have to change their nicknames. Of course the champ and the pound for pound best fighter can't give up his nickname. So Kendall Grove or Da Spider, whatever you go by these days, change your name.

I know a lot of people in MMA have nick names but people have to live up to their names. Such as Nate "The Great" Marquardt or "The Prodigy" BJ Penn.

Unlucky 106

Looks like UFC 106 is having trouble again. Earlier this month Mark Coleman already bailed out from the co-main event with Tito Ortiz and fortunately enough they got Forrest Griffin to replace the spot. I like this move by Forrest because his last fight with Tito came down to a split decision loss (in my opinion I thought Forrest won, great job judges!).

I don't know why Griffin was crying after the Anderson fight. Its like losing an arm wrestling competition to the Hulk, there is nothing to feel ashamed of. After saying that, it is a must win for both fighters because this is Tito's first fight since coming back and of course if Forrest loses, it would be his third consecutive loss.

The main event is having just as much trouble because Brock Lesnar has officially pulled out of the card due to illness. His manager claims he has been sick for over 3 weeks but ensures it is not the swine flu. Although I'm not sure to what extent the sickness is, MAN UP LESNAR! Your the heavy weight champion! Set the example! No one always fights 100% and you can't pull out of a fight due to an illness.
The card is already having trouble selling tickets I just don't see how the UFC can help this card.

Robbed in L.A.

MMA Fan 1: Omg! Shogun was robbed in L.A.!
MMA Fan 2: Where did he get robbed? He was probably in Compton and ran into a gang right?
MMA Fan 1: No... it was the 3 judges at the Staple Center who robbed Shogun tonight.

Thats right Machida won like everyone said he would, but he should thank the judges for the victory, not himself. The fight was an extremely technical stand up fight where it never even touched the ground. Shogun gave Machida plenty to worry about with kicks from every angle possible. This just shows how kicks are under utilized in the UFC today. The fight reminded me of how Keith Jardine defeated Chuck Liddell by using ruthless body kicks and how Forrest Griffin defeated Rampage for the title with the hard leg kicks. The only difference is they won their fights and Rua came out empty handed.
All 3 judges gave the fight a decision of 48-47 in favour of Machida. I had it 49-46 Rua by giving the 3rd round to Machida. Even Machida looked surprised when he heard Bruce Buffer calling him out as the winner. You hear it over and over again but I guess you can never leave it in the hands of the judges. If GSP was at the arena he would tell Machida "I was not impressed by your performance." I think if Vin Diesel has taught us anything its that it doesn't matter if you win by a mile or win by an inch, a win is a win. Enough with the bullshit of "you have to clearly beat the champ to be the champ". This reminds of of the fight in the U.K. where Bisping got a judges decision over Hamill. Its as if the UFC is turning in to the WWE! I left WWE for a reason, please don't start acting like them.

I would like to see Anderson Silva vs Shogun to see who is the number 1 contender. The only problem is if Shogun won the fight his 2nd title shot would come too soon. Perhaps Anderson Silva vs Rashad Evans would also do the job.

*If you agree with this join A.S.S. - The official Alliance for Shogun's Success*

Its time to slay the Dragon!

Lyoto Machida is finally defending his belt this Saturday against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 104. I really hope I have time to watch it even if I doubt I will since I have midterms. Regardless of whether I will be able to watch this live or not I'll make sure to download it.

I know there are a lot of people cheering for Shogun but this isn't 3 years ago. Shogun is a different fighter now. He had his 1st loss in the UFC against Forrest Griffen, someone I wouldn't even consider in the top 5 light heavyweights in the world. He has had 2 knee surgeries and his conditioning did not look great against Mark Coleman. In his last fight he knocked out "The Iceman" but you have to remember this is a Chuck Liddell who should have retired 3 fights ago. None the less the TKO was impressive but was it as nice as Machida's KO against Rashad Evans?

If this was back in Pride a few years ago I would give the fight to Shogun, but now I would have to stick to Machida. If Shogun has any chance surviving he has to take this fight to the ground and hope he locks down a submission.

I don't want to jump the gun here because anything can happening in the cage but if Machida does win, who will he fight? I do not see another #1 contender. Rampage was an option but who knows how long it will take him to realize he belongs in the UFC. Maybe after the fact he realizes hes not an actor!

Now this is hard to say because Anderson Silva is not sure if he can take on Belfort because of his elbow surgery. Every one knows I don't even believe Belfort deserves that title shot. So here is what I purpose. Why not let the middleweight champion face the light-heavyweight champion if he survives Shogun. In my eyes Anderson is the only person who can "slay the Dragon ". This idea would give great publicity such as the BJ Penn vs GSP fight did. I would consider both Anderson and Machida in my top 5 pound for pound best fighters in the world and this fight would make any fight card one to remember.