Make This Fight: 5 reasons why Bisping vs Belfort makes sense

After Bisping's controversial win over Jorge Rivera, it seems to be that there's some clamoring for Vitor Belfort to face off against the cocky Brit. Though some may think that it's almost too big of a step up in competition for Bisping (considering his last two outings against top name opponents ended with him either unconscious or close to it), I think that this fight makes quite a bit of sense. Here's five reasons why:

1. Major PPV sales.

Though I don't think that this could carry a card, I think that this would help aid sales as a co-main event fight. Vitor's a popular fighter, as is Bisping. On top of that, there would be quite a few words between the two. Vitor, as many know, is a "face" type person along with being very big on respect. Bisping is one of the biggest heels in the sport, and loves to run his mouth, even when he's outmatched. So, it wouldn't be difficult for the two of them get get people interested. In fact, I'd love to see this as the co-main of the possible GSP vs Anderson Silva superfight.

2. A great test for Bisping

Bisping hasn't beaten anyone who has held a world title as of yet. It's the one notch that he hasn't carried under his belt yet. However, he put up a solid performance against Wanderlei (even though he wasn't the better fighter) so there's a chance that he wouldn't be out of the fight. I can't really say that this would be his toughest test to date (Hendo was that test, and Bisping failed) but it would certainly be a solid one to see where Bisping is going to fit in the division from here on in.

3. A solid comeback fight for Vitor

Though Vitor's a great fighter, he didn't exactly come out of his fight with Anderson looking good. It's one thing to be on the end of a highlight reel KO, but it's another to be on the end of a highlight reel KO from a rare kick. However, if Vitor can beat Bisping, it gives him a good win on the record, and moves him a couple of notches closer to a title shot. After a devastating loss like he just had, it's a good match for him to be in, provided he wins it.

4. A standing fight

Though both men are good on the ground (Vitor holding an advantage there) the tendencies of both fighters show that they're going to want to keep this fight standing. MMA fans love a stand-up fight, and Bisping at the very least keeps going from bell to bell. He's not the most powerful striker out there, but he's also nowhere near the slowest. The same can be said of Vitor Belfort. Though one of them may shoot in (my money being on Mike because he's not a big fan of being hit) I don't see this one being a ground war.

5. PRIDE fans will love it if Bisping loses.

Let's be honest. We Pride fans love watching a UFC grown superstar get destroyed by someone who fought in Pride. It keeps that "Pride never die" spirit alive. Vitor wasn't the biggest star in Pride, but it's still more than can be said of Bisping. It was gratifying to see Bisping get flattened by a former two time champ of Pride, and get beat by the former Pride middleweight champion. In fact, we would have all loved to see Bisping get soccer kicked by Wanderlei for old time's sake, but such is the price of the unified rules.

So, with all of that said, don't just sit here and agree with me! Tweet the following to Dana White:

@DanaWhite You need to have @VitorBelfort teach Bisping some respect! #vitorvsbisping

Also, follow me on Twitter @TheCynicsCorner

Let's do this.

-Micah C

Undisputed Facts!!..5 things from UFC 127

Will Lebron Fitch take his talents to another promotion???

Happy Sunday, everyone! Dagenius of MMA is back to share with you some important facts from the latest UFC event. For those reading this column for the first time, these are 1000% factual statements (of opinion) from the most recent MMA big show

1. ION tv rocks for prelim viewing. This has been a stroke of genius by UFC brass to show these undercard fights for free. This isnt a news flash. The news flash is that the Ion HD feed is much better than spike at least here in LA.

2. John Fitch, I ALMOST feel sorry for you. You are now stuck in limbo in the WW division. Sure you are at the top, but I would favor GSP or Shields over you in a fight 8-9 times out of 10. The worst part is you arent marketable enough to offset your limitations as a wrestler who happens to fight MMA. My advice for you, ask out of your contract and go be a big dog in strikeforce. Time for you to take you takedown talents elsewhere. Why only almost sorry? You sir are not a FIGHTER. You are an outpointer.

3. BJ I DO feel sorry for you. It was narrow but I feel you won rounds 1 and 2 and lost round 3. Didnt look like a 10-8 to me but I thought you would be rewarded for fighting up and get the split decision. A rematch doesnt do much for you or fitch honestly. That was small level robbery..not like Fukada but I do think you won a fight that you had no business winning. Most of all, you sir ARE A FIGHTER! Thank you for showing that spirit

4.Bisping..where to begin. Class has a place in everything you do or as my father says, "Son, no matter what the situation, you can always choose the classy option". Bisping continues to choose to be his unclassy self. Im not concerned about the spitting or the trash talk etc. Simply put, he sure didnt act like a fighter who accidentally hit his opponnent with an illegal strike that decided the fight. Cheating has no place in sport. Save that for street fighting. Paging Dan Henderson please.

5.Brian Ebersole!! You are the wiliest fighter that I have seen in the octagon in a while. Cartwheel kicks..sauntering back to your corner with 7 seconds to go. AWESOME!! I applaud you sir.

You're kidding me, right? Part 2 – UFC 127

The reason I titled this series the way I did is because the phrase is just a general phrase of bewilderment. So, with that said, let me go through the shockers of the evening.

Nick Ring vs Riki Fukuda

I like Nick Ring. He's a good fighter, and his bout against Court McGee was a lot of fun to watch. However, Riki Fukuda won the fight against Ring. Not only did he win it, but I'm pretty sure that there isn't a logical argument for Ring winning that fight. Not to mention, the shock of the decision came in two parts. At first, when you hear the 29-28 score, you think “Oh, I guess they gave Ring the first round.” After that, you hear Nick Ring, and wonder if Buffer forgot what words are.

Mark Hunt won

Honestly, this was the biggest shock of the night for me. When this fight was first announced, I don't know if anyone really gave Hunt a chance to win it. Heck, I'm not completely sure if Mark Hunt gave himself a chance to win it. But, a few things should have been kept in mind. The first was that Tuchsherer really hasn't shined inside the Octagon. He was 1-2 coming into the fight, and should have been 0-3. Still, when Luke Thomas said on my Twitter feed that Hunt had knocked him out, I was in quite a bit of disbelief. Then, when I saw the KO, it was probably one of the coolest ones I had seen in a while. So, Hunt's still got a job with the UFC. I'm kinda curious who he'll fight next. Only kind of, though.

Michael Bisping in general

First off, if you say that Bisping's actions shouldn't be brought up, you're wrong. Any time that a fighter acts with such poor sportsmanship, he deserves any negative criticism coming toward him. Second, Bisping has now solidified that any pay per view he's involved in now will gain a lot of viewers. What Bisping did in the octagon put a foul taste in my mouth. First, he blatantly knees a downed opponent (which is an understandable rule, and this comes from a Pride fan). Second, he's happy about it. Third, he celebrates a win over someone that he beat by cheating. What's really funny is that Bisping didn't look that impressive. The first round was competitive, but Bisping had the edge until the knee. Then, Bisping got planted by Rivera's right hand while Rivera was still hurt in the second round. With all that said, Bisping's attitude and actions have probably gained him a better opponent, and probably an opponent that won't like him. I wish Hendo were still in the UFC to show this guy a lesson again, but I'd settle for Nate Marquardt or Vitor Belfort

People making a fuss over the Penn/Fitch decision

B.J. Penn won the first two rounds. He mounted no offense in the third. A 10-8 was justified. Deal with it.

Being a douchebag isn't nation specific, so stop the xenophobic claim before you start.

-Micah C

How Does Mark Hunt Still Have A Job?

I love Rulon Gardner. That guy was, and will remain, one of the most phenomenal American athletes ever. His 2000 Olympic match against Karelin was a nail-biter from the outset. But while he's never been a slender fella, he's spent the last 10 years getting FAT. Fat enough to embarrass himself on national TV.

Mark Hunt is, to me, MMA's Rulon Gardner. Never a slim guy, since his last win against Tsuyoshi Kosaka (who?) in 2006, he's basically just gotten FAT. Cruising around at well over 300 lbs, when he's not fighting he resembles a 5'10" Tim Sylvia. And that's not a good thing.



I mean, seriously - when you're weighing in AFTER CUTTING WEIGHT TO MAKE 265, if your muffin-top is still comfortably spilling out over the top of your shorts... you may need to re-examine your height-to-weight ratio.

But weight aside, if the guy had the skills to hang in the UFC's heavyweight division, it wouldn't be that big a deal. But he doesn't. Not anymore.

I want to be clear - Mark Hunt started off his career in FANTASTIC style, and even decisioned Mirko and Wanderlei before they both had their brains rattled a couple too many times. He's a hard puncher, and.... well, that's about it.

And let's be fair - yes, he's lost his last 6 fights. But other than Sean McCorkle (who?), he lost to Fedor, Alistair Overeem, Josh Barnett, Mousasi, and Manhoef. That's a pretty significant list. In fact, I don't know of too many guys who can say they've fought at that level of competition over the last several years, considering some of those names are bandied about on Greatest-Of-All-Time lists.

But what does it mean that Hunt showed up for the fight with Sean McCorkle fat, uninspired (although he did give us the Tito Ortiz "I promise it'll be different this time, guys"), and still without a shred of submission defense.

How is Mark Hunt still employed by the UFC with a 5-7 record, and with no win in the last 6 years? MAYBE you could argue he's a "fan favorite," that his presence on the card is supposed to drive up buys. If that's the case, though, why is this one of the only fights on the card NOT being shown on the PPV, Ion, OR Facebook?

It's a damn conspiracy, I tell you. I want to believe that Mark Hunt, Brandon Vera, and Tito Ortiz all have some super-secret information on Dana White, and it's got to be the only thing keeping them in the UFC. Of course, it's much simpler than that with Hunt.



Dana's got to be thankful THAT deal's about done. On a positive note, Hunt's opponent, Chris Tuchscherer, appears to have been given this fight simply to mangle Hunt. In fact, Tuch has 2 wins by legit submission, including an arm bar. Which makes him look like a jiu jitsu black belt compared to Hunt.

So here's hoping we see a big bear hug takedown and a merciful quick finish, so I can go back to remembering the guy that liver-kicked Dan Bobish (WAR BAS RUTTEN!) into submission (despite an AWESOME beer gut). Because that's how Mark Hunt should be remembered. Not as the muffin-top guy.

You're kidding me, right? Part 1 - Nick Diaz

Yeah, yeah, I know. I promised this article a long time ago under a different title, but Blistered Thumbs has kept me busy. So, I simply wanted to present a condensed version of my thoughts on Nick Diaz as of late, and what has me so frustrated about this guy. Trust me, there's plenty to keep me frustrated, that's for damn sure.

The first thing I wanted to discuss was his inability to keep his story straight. We've all heard Nick Diaz's claims, and they're pretty funny. "I won the fight against Sean Sherk!" No, you didn't, but you're adorable. "GSP isn't down to fight me." That's not the case either, but you're a funny guy, you know that? A lot of these claims are very entertaining, to the point where I question how Ariel Helwani can keep a straight face when he interviews this guy. What puts the dunce cap on Diaz's head here is his consistent calling out of UFC fighters, and he signs a multi-year deal with Strikeforce. So, you'd figure he'd stop with the call outs, right? Wrong. First thing he does in the conference call for the Cyborg fight is talk about GSP.

Second thing that needs to be discussed has a bit more to do with the call-outs, but mostly because someone finally caught him in the lie. We all know about Mayhem getting jumped, the Don't Be Scared Homie website, and so forth, so let me just get down to the significance. On October 9th of 2010, Nick was quoted as saying that he'd fight at 185, and just wants someone to step up and fight him. So, with a smile and a laugh, in walks Mayhem Miller, and the fight makes a lot of sense. Neither has beaten the best in the world, but they're both experienced fighters that are fun to watch. Not to mention the fact that they'd more than likely nullify each other on the ground, so they'd end up trying to murder each other in the cage. But, no. Instead, we saw Nick Diaz exposed for who he really is: someone who gets to pick and choose his fights.

This brings me to issue number three: being a paper champion. Fact of the matter is that Nick's belt literally means nothing in terms of value. Granted, this is partially the fault of the promotion, but Nick willingly ducked a fight with Jay Hieron, and was later given a much easier fight in the one dimensional Marius Zaromskis (and anyone who says different is wrong). Then, he faced down a bloated lightweight in K.J. Noons, and had a good fight. However, the fact of the matter is that he couldn't put away an unranked lightweight. After that bout, Nick played a little more Duck Hunt and took a fight with Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, who isn't much more than a career journeyman. Despite the thunderous claims of "FUN FIGHT OMG ROFL" from people, the fight was pointless. It's like watching the Titanic film. The boat's gonna sink. Part of what gives belts their worth is the quality of people challenging for them, and right now I think that a WAMMA belt holds more value. At least Aoki beat someone credible for his.

In conclusion, I think that homie is a scared fraud. Nick Diaz hasn't beaten anyone of note since 2007, which was a win over a bloated lightweight in Takanori Gomi. He doesn't want to fight Jason Miller or Jay Hieron, but he'll call out people from other promotions (who would absolutely crush him) all damn day. Yes, Nick Diaz is a fun fighter. Here's the thing: So is Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Thiago Alves, Thiago Silva, Rampage Jackson, etc.

Nick Diaz isn't worth defending until he does something worth defending.

How can a guy who makes six figures plus a year be driving a Honda?

-Micah C

My Thoughts On Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva

This past weekend gave us another impressive, action-packed Strikeforce card. We saw a legend, a god amongst mere mortals, beaten to a pulp. We saw a former champion fall to defeat via KO for the 7th time in his career. We saw exciting action but, to me at least,the sadness of those events completely overshadowed the exciting night of fights. Fedor Emelianenko, a man widely regarded as the greatest Heavyweight of all time or fighter for that matter, was barraged with punches from Antonio Silva, a man who practically just made a serious name and contendership for himself. A hotly contested first round, which I gave to The Last Emperor, gave way to a one sided beatdown of a round with Silva swinging the hammer. After taking an immense amount of punishment and pressure, Fedor survived, and almost pulled off another stunning come from behind win. Sadly, it was not to be and Fedor was stopped because of a severely swollen eye. Afterwards, we lamented and said that it might be time for him to hang up the gloves. If that was the last time I had the privilege of seeing The Last Emperor fight, I must say I will miss the aura he carried every time he fought. It has been a great ride, Fedor, and if this is the end, thanks for all the memories.

The Co-Main Event also presented a possible last fight for another great fighter. Andrei Arlovski, a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, was stopped for the 7th time in his career by KO. After starting out very well by sticking and moving, Arlovski got in a close quarters battle and ended up unconscious. I honestly think it is time for Andrei to hang them up, not because I do not think he is a great fighter or I do not like watching him fight, it is because I want the best for the rest of his life post-mma, but that is up to him. Once again, if it is the end of the Pitbull's mma career, thanks for the memories.

The rest of the card was quite enjoyable, the Griggs/Villante fight was an absolute war. I just don't understand why Yves Lavigne decided to stop the action to rinse out Villante's mouthpiece after he just landed a headkick on Griggs... somethings I cannot understand.

These are my highlights and my thoughts. They are completely opinion based.

~Stay Thirsty My Friends~,

Zack

fedora the explorer, swipers just swiped him

Fedor defending a takedown from Mark Coleman

While im disappointed he lost, its not directed at Fedor himself, or Pezao for taking full control of his destiny

im disappointed in myself for letting my inner child take control of my emotions, and put all the chips on Red-Devil

for a while now, i've had the opportunity taken from me for various reason's to watch my beloved sport

see the up and comers, and see the greats get greater...

i didn't find out Fedor lost to Werdum till almost a month and a half later

i fell out of the loop, and i spent the last 2 months getting back into the loop

not only did i get back in it, i ran it, upside down and all around every side

like Sonic The Hedgehog i traversed and got my rings/hit my springs and i balled up..

to take on all obstacles

Everybody has a childhood, and everybody has that one hero, superman, spiderman, batman

in my case it was Joe Strummer, to me he was the greatest musician ever to live, and i was lucky enough to hear him speak, sing, and meet him (he signed my record) and throughout my early teens he was the greatest thing ever...

Until one night late in my mom's dinning room ( we had cable set up in the dining room i know its strange we didnt have it in the living room till like 2 years later)

i sat straddling my chair, coffee mug in hand, almost dangling from my fingers

it was my 16th birthday, 3rd of November and i watched what i thought was the next level of pro wrestling.

Two men in a ring, tackling, grappling and striking each other, i had no clue what the commentary team was saying, but it never mattered my brother and i had watched pro wrestling in almost every language on the planet, just to see the 'sport' itself

Those two men were Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Heath Herring.

Not knowing anything about the sport i would come to love

i immediately gravitated to Herring spurring him on to defeat the Brazillian

to my disappointment Big Nog took Herring the distance and became the first

Heavyweight champion of PRIDE FC, i wouldnt watch it live again for a few years

but in-between i learned, read and watched some of the previous PRIDE events, earlier UFC tournaments and any type of "vale tudo" i could find

The next time i would see Nog, he was standing across the ring from the man i now know

simply as Fedor

a small package put together by the sports announcer's informed me this was the second time the men had met, and the first was ruled a no contest..

i sat again, cup in hand in awe, going against the Brazilian.. and i was not disappointed

Fedor bombarded, and rained blows that looked as ferocious as they sounded

over and over drilling Nog, in amongst the back and forth grappling that ensued

and he prevailed, what i thought was pro wrestling, was something more

a brutal, and beautiful display of skill, heart and absolute dominating power is what i had witnessed, and it would continue for almost a decade

fast forward to 2011 and i've witnessed what had become the focal point of my MMA fanaticism

destroyed, with all his offence quashed, or countered before my eyes and the fight called off, for fears he could not continue.

Calls of "he was just too big" or "how can anyone overcome a size advantage like that" rung out among sports blog's - but what everyone's seemed to throw to the side, was this was Fedor

the man that made freakshow's seem almost reasonable, when he dismantled gigantic Korean kickboxer Hong Man Choi and arm barred him in the first round, the size and weight advantage didn't matter when he won, but now he's finally suffered not one, but 2 back to back defeats

(regardless of what some may say, due to the stoppage, last night was a defeat)

all the variables that made his myth and legend seem all the more fierce and his career tha tmuch more special

are thrown out as negatives, and exscuses as to why he lost.

Size

Height

Weight

Reach

Power

Fedor had conquered them all in the race for MMA supremacy as the greatest fighter who ever lived - Until last night they finally caught back up, and overtook him in the race

BJJ has run a muck on Fedor in his last two outings, once via straight submission when he was forced to surrender his hope via tapout

and now a second time where regardless of his opponents size in the past

transitional guard play coupled with a deeper skill set than past opponents who towered over top

exhausted, and wore down fedor, while ground and pound rendered him unable to continue the fight in the eyes of medical staff

Fedor's downhill race has already begun, will he fight again?

Coker says yes

but many say he clearly stated its done, an dusted and his reign has ended with a retirement in the cage

with news of coker considering Fedor being an "alternate" in the tournament, its already become what many feared it might

a joke, even the consideration of putting a fighter back in, who lost int he first round renders the idea that the "best man" will prevail a complete void statement and makes any hope strikeforce had of keeping the tourny legit null, not enough coker has stated who knows we may still see Fedor vs Overeem anyway...

which means yet again strikeforce would put a fighter coming off a loss into the title picture, instead of the winner of the tournament...

because at this stage, fedor won't wait, his clock is already ticking out, and i don't think the fans want to wait.. its now or never, and when ever it is

it makes a fool out of fans for buying into the idea we would witness the best man prevail and gain what he rightfully deserves (a title shot against their HW strap holder The Reem)

and it puts all their money on Red, as mine was

and its a bet that cannot be won

Unintelligent Matchmaking: UFC 126

Apologies this took so long but I have had a busy week

Kenny Robertson:
Already Cut

Mike Pierce:
Winner of Diaz/Macdonald

Ricardo Romero:
Fabio Maldonaldo

Kyle Kingsbury;
Tim Boestch

Gabe Ruedinger:
Unemployment Line

Paul Taylor:
Loser of Siver/Sotiropoulos

Kid Yamamoto:
Chris Carisio

Demetrious Johnson:
Scott Jorgensen

Michihiro Omigawa:
Mike Brown

Chad Mendes:
Contender fight with Dustin Poirer

Paul Kelly:
Already Cut

Donald Cerrone:
Cole Miller

Antonio Banuelous:
Renan Brao

Miguel Torres:
Signed to fight Pickett

Carlos Rocha:
Charlie Brennaman

Jake Ellenberger:
Loser of Penn/Fitch

Ryan Bader:
Rich Franklin

Jon Jones:
Set for Title Shot against Shogun

Rich Franklin:
Already suggested Bader

Forrest Griffin:
Winner of Lil Nog/Ortiz

Vitor Belfort:
Wanderlei Silva

Anderson Silva:
Georges St. Pierre

See you after 127!!!

5 Things..from UFC 126..Undisputed facts

What has two thumbs and is the best p4p fighter on earth?? THIS guy

Hello readers and happy super bowl Sunday! One of my usual and favorite columns to write about are my 100% factual statements (of opinion) that become apparent after the latest MMA event. In the interest of brevity, im going to limit it to 5 things going forward. This is a blog after all, not an e-version of War and Peace. That said here are 5 factual statements that you can take to the MMA bank...

1. Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the game. He has been dominant in the UFC since his first outstanding performance against Chris Leben. Silva has haters like all champions in all sports but when you look at what he has actually done in the cage, not any what-if scenarios, its pretty impressive. Hes tapped good grapplers and now he KOs a good mma striker in spectacular fashion. There really isnt any ones resume in the cage over the last 3 years that you can look at and place ahead of Silva.

2. Muay Thai is "back" as the BEST standup discipline for mma. Sure, it never left but it seems that a majority of casual fans have started questioning something that was frankly a given from the beginning of MMA. In the area that is stand up, you are best served to know how to strike with the greatest number of weapons possible. Muay Thai gives Anderson, Shogun, Cain (close to MT), and Aldo those weapons and they put em to use.

3. Jon Jones is the truth. He absolutely dominated a very solid Ryan Bader. Rather than talk about the fight against Shogun, lets give Bones some major credit for coming up big in a BIG fight for him. He made a statement!

4. Your ball, GSP. The mega fight that everyone is expecting just had the ante upped. The pressure is firmly on GSP to look excellent in his next fight against Jake Shields. Shields is a very tough opponent and will definitely test George on the ground. George cant turn in a jab happy performance in this case. We need to see his best.

5. Peace WEC. Your fighters are fighting well as they acclimate into the UFC talent pool. I certainly enjoyed watching the WEC over the years, but if these are the kind of cards we can can expect going forward, I say good bye WEC, respect but we MMA fans are better off without you!

Jon Jones To Learn Portuguese In Preparation For UFC 128 Title Bout

(photo via sherdog.com)

Most everyone in the MMA blogosphere is familiar with Jonny "Bones" Jones' use of Twitter to help himself prepare for his fights. Prior to his UFC 126 fight with Ryan Bader, he would read the tweets of Bader himself, his training partners, coaches, and probably his parents. Now it looks like he'll be taking it to the next level to prepare for UFC light-heavyweight champ, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

"I really feel I had a lot of success using Twitter to prepare myself for Bader, but Shogun presents a lot of problems, and one of them is that English is not his native language. So to help get myself ready I'm going to learn Portuguese. As soon as I got done with the Bader fight, I got on my laptop and ordered Rosetta Stone from Amazon, rush-delivery. Hopefully it gets here by Monday and Coach Jackson and I can begin. No down-time for me."

Jones went into further detail. "I know a month and a half is a short amount of time to learn a new language, but everyone here at Team Jackson says I learn new things so fast that I don't foresee a problem." Jones also says he plans on flying to Curitiba, Brazil (the hometown of "Shogun" Rua) to talk with Rua's friends and family, saying "You can only learn so much from Twitter posts" and that he "needs to go straight to the source." Jones went on to compare his preparation methods to actors like Daniel Day-Lewis, who are proponents of method acting. "Those method guys totally immerse themselves in their characters, and that's kind of what I do pre-fight. I draw a lot of inspiration from that."

Jones declined any further questions, saying "From now on until after the fight, I'm not going to speak any more English. Obrigado. Gracas a Deus."

Note: Not a real interview. Totally fictional.

UFC 126 Unintelligent Predictions - Micah C's take

After the downright epic staredown yesterday, I don't know a single MMA fan that isn't completely and totally psyched for tomorrow's card. It's going to be an intense night of fights, to say the least, so let's go ahead and get to my predictions, eh?

Torres vs Banuelos

Vegas Odds: -300 Torres, +400 Banuelos

What I think: To be quite honest with you, I'm not one hundred percent convinced that Miguel is completely out of his slump. He's a great fighter, but Banuelos has looked a little bit better as of late. I expect this one to be a scrap, but I've got this feeling that Banuelos is a pretty safe underdog pick in this one. So, I'm going to take Banuelos by Decision. I could be wrong, but I don't care.

Jon Jones vs Ryan Bader

Vegas Odds: -350 Jones, +250 Bader

What I think: First, I think whoever thought up those odds in Vegas is an idiot. Second, I think that this is a really tough test for Jon Jones. First and foremost, Bader has quite a bit more credentials than Jones does, both inside and outside the octagon. Bader has been fighting longer, in actuality has three more fights than Jones (his three bouts in the TUF house against Lawlor, Kingsbury, and Marshall), and is also a much more experienced wrestler. On top of that, he's arguably fought tougher competition. So far, the logic I've seen from most people is "Jon Jones spins a lot, so he wins, herp derp." I'm taking Bader by decision here.

Jake Ellenburger vs Carlos Eduardo Rocha

Vegas Odds: -350 Ellenburger, +250 Rocha

What I think: Popcorn break. Why is this on the main card and Yamamoto is on Facebook? WTF Joe Silva? Ellenburger by whatever.

Rich Franklin vs Forrest Griffin

Vegas Odds: -150 Franklin, +155 Griffin

What I think: More than likely going to be fight of the night, in my estimation. Both of these guys are well rounded. Forrest is bigger, but Rich is faster. Forrest is a BJJ black belt under Drysdale, and Franklin has great submission defense. All of these facts are true. However, I think the one thing people have understated in this bout is that Rich has a lot more power in his hands than Forrest does. I expect these two to beat the ever loving crap out of one another, but I'm betting that Rich's ability to deal out punishment on the feet will put Forrest away. I'm saying Rick Franklin by KO, round 3.

Main Event: Anderson Silva vs Vitor Belfort

Vegas Odds: -280 Anderson, +210 Vitor

What I think: Truthfully, I think that Vitor is a fairly safe bet if you're a betting man. He does have a solid toolset to beat Anderson. However, the same can be said of Dan Henderson, Fael Sonnen, Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin, and others. At the end of the day, I think that it boils down to the fact that Vitor is an aggressive striker, and Anderson is one of the best counter-punchers in the business. As the fight goes on, it will favor Anderson, and we'll see Vitor's second (or is it third?) comeback put to rest by the Spider. So, I say Anderson Silva by TKO, Round 2. Fun fact: Both the main event and co-main event feature a 205 pound champion facing a person to hold the 185 strap.

Shawn Tompkins is a glorious bastard.

-Micah C

Can Vitor Win?

I am an admitted Anderson Silva fanboy. I love watching him fight. His phenomenal destruction of Forrest Griffin was one of my favorite fights ever to watch. Like most everyone, I’ve been a little frustrated at the up-and-down nature of his seeming interest in his fights. He SAYS he’s happy, ready to fight, and trained for Vitor tonight. I have to believe him, although he said roughly the same thing prior to the Demian Maia fight… while I’m sure he was properly trained, he definitely wasn’t happy about it, and we all know how that went.

So I’ve been pondering the fight tonight. Assuming the REAL Anderson Silva shows up, does Vitor stand a chance? How can he win this fight?

Let’s look at this objectively… what are Vitor’s strengths?

Swarming: In terms of standup, he’s got some crazy swarming attacks. He’s calmed down a little in his old age, but especially early on, he looked like a prime Wanderlei (and even beat Wanderlei at his own game).



Anderson Silva hasn’t really had to deal with this style since maybe Chris Leben, but Leben was psyched out before he even stepped in the cage. Forrest Griffin tried some combos, but that stopped once he got punched in the face by a Matrix-esque Silva.



More importantly, Vitor knows WHEN to turn it on. He’s got that killer instinct to finish a fight when his opponent is wounded. He did it with Wanderlei, with Lindland, with Terry Martin. If he wobbles Anderson, he'll be able to finish him, something Chael Sonnen could have learned from.

Boxing technique: While in my opinion Vitor’s strength is more Chute Boxe than Duke Roufus (I know he didn’t train with CB, but it’s that style), he’s got solid boxing technique. However: Anderson Silva is no Josemario Neves.



Silva’s boxing is just as good as Vitor’s, if not better, and I just can’t see accuracy being Vitor’s golden egg in this one. That’s not how he rolls.

Hard punches: Vitor hits hard. Just ask Tank Abbott. And Marvin Eastman. And dear God, ask Matt Lindland, who I don’t think has woken up yet from Vitor’s 39-second ass-kicking in 2009.



On the other hand, Dan Henderson hits way harder than Vitor. Forrest Griffin hits pretty hard. Patrick Cote hits hard. Granted, none of those guys is known for any degree of accuracy with that power, like Vitor is. But if hitting really hard is a variable, none of those guys even touched Anderson Silva. You have to pin Silva up against something before that hard-hitting can work.

Good (but not world class) wrestling: Vitor typically uses his wrestling defensively, but if he gets close, he’s got the ability to clinch and take people to the ground. But while he couldn’t keep a Greco-Roman superhero like Randy Couture from taking him down, he’s kept mid-level wrestlers like Tito from doing anything he didn’t want to do. But let’s be fair – we’re not in danger of seeing Anderson try to take Vitor down. Will Vitor try to take down Anderson? Possibly – but he won’t do it by shooting, it’ll be from a clinch; Vitor likes to move to one side and use an outside trip, which is how Dan Henderson got Silva to the mat as well.

Jits: Vitor’s got his black belt from Carlson Gracie. In BJJ terms that’s a step higher than the Nogueiras, which is where Silva got his. However, Vitor hasn’t tended to display what I’d call wizardry on the mat. Not to say he doesn't have the ability, but he's no Demian Maia, Shinya Aoki, or Roger Gracie. On the other hand, neither has Anderson shown that level of jits, although both of them have shown that they’ve got the chops to take advantage of a situation. Just ask Chael Sonnen and Joe Charles. I just don’t think we’ll end up seeing a flying scissor heel hook.



Ground-and-Pound: If you combine strong punches with pinning Anderson on the floor, you've got a real problem for Silva. Belfort may not have the best wrestling or even the best jiu jitsu, but all he needs is to be able to hold Silva down for a couple seconds. This is where I think he's got the best chance to win the fight. Can Silva recover? Yeah, Dan Henderson beat him up on the ground but Silva defended well enough to get it stood back up. If he can do that against Belfort, that neutralizes what I think is Belfort's only real advantage.

My prediction? If it stays standing, Silva’s got the edge by a lot. If Belfort can close and take down Silva, then I think he’s got a slight edge with G-n-P. I hope Anderson trained to stay away from a swarming Vitor, since that’s the only way I see him getting close. When I first thought about this fight, I really wanted to believe that Vitor didn’t stand a chance. But with a little analysis, I think it’s a lot closer than I initially believed. We’ll see, won’t we?

Vitor Highlight Reel (turn off the sound, it’s better)



Anderson Silva Highlight Reel (turn off the sound, it’s better)

Strike Force..Long live?

(One of these girls is the next big thing in strikeforce..hint.its the hot one)


Happy superbowl week, readers! There are a couple of big sporting events to happen this weekend (Pack v Steelers and Anderson-Vitor, Duh) so me being the blogger with his finger on the pulse of the sports pop culture world, im going to write about an old second tier mma event?? WHAT?

I am openly rooting for Strikeforce and have been since the beginning. (Bellator also) I spent some time in the Bay Area and have some good memories of a lot of their fighters working in smaller events. I root for them primarily because I think more large scale MMA promotions are better for the fighters and the fans. The UFC is the big dog so they dont need my encouragement anymore like they had in the early days. They get the ultimate from me which is my PPV dollars on a regular basis. Strike force is the first promotion that is actually nearing that level!

Looking at Strikeforce, Diaz v Cyborg (you know, the less famous one), you saw Strikeforce put on an even better card than their last one. The main event fight was worthy. Some back and forth action. Both fighters putting their strikes on the other and one mistake lead to Diaz pulling out his now rarely used A level BJJ to get the submission. I could have done without the shots of the more famous Cyborg crying as her hubby tapped but hey, MMA is about showing stars in the audience and she might be the most bankable Strikeforce athlete. Notice how much softer her image is these days :)

Production was excellent. The pace of the card went well and Pat Miletech continues to work towards the title of best commentator in MMA. Pat is so good he balances how terrible Mauro "its all about me" Ranallo is. Frank Shamrock?? Hes just wily so ill leave it at that. All that said, the commentating team cant take away from good fights. We all watch UFC and Mike Goldberg says some of the stupidest things ever on TV. If we can get more Pat and good fights, that will be a pretty compelling package. Strikeforce as a product is getting better and now with the prospect of the Heavyweight Tournament, the spotlight is actually going to be on Strikeforce! Dont mess it up guys. If you produce these type of shows and better, by the end of the HW tourney, Strikeforce will officially be over the hump and very viable long term!!

Big up to Jenna Castillo (photo) winning in her MMA debut. Shes trains at my old gym and we all remember her face a few years ago when people asked her if she was going to fight mma. Glad to see she is going for it!!

Lights Out Confuses The Crap Out Of Me

Duckfaces are everywhere these days.

This article has some spoilers about the latest episode of "Lights Out" on FX, so don't read this if you haven't seen it yet.

For those of you who don't know, FX airs a drama series about a fictional retired boxing HW champ named Patrick "Lights" Leary, every Tuesday at 10 p.m. EST. Also, as I'm sure most of you know, during a recent episode, two of the characters were discussing the issue of a boxer cutting weight (eight pounds in two weeks) and mentioned how he may have to start using crystal meth "like those MMA guys do." The clip from the show has gotten around the interwebs, but for the life of me I can't find it anywhere. Anyway, I'm sure this little blurb kind of annoyed a lot of you, and for a couple reasons. A) I'm pretty sure 99.9% of MMA fighters don't use crystal meth, or any type of drugs for that matter, and B) Eight pounds in two weeks is not a huge deal. If you only have to cut that much, you're probably going to be out-sized come fight time.

About halfway through this week's show, Leary and his father go to the bar to watch some boxing. When they get there, they see that the bar is playing a Bellator event instead. They talk to the waitress and are told they can watch it but only with the sound down. While they're watching, the two characters complain about how they used to be able to watch great boxing matches every Friday, but are now lucky to see them once or twice a year. Nice little jab at the boxing world there.

Also featured this week was other than El Guapo himself, Bas Rutten. This was interesting. The writers, or producers, or casting director, or whoever, showed enough wherewithal to cast an "MMA guy" to play an actual mixed martial artist for the series. That's about where they stopped though. Bas' character works for a criminal as a debt collector/goon, pretty much beating the crap out of whoever this guy wants him to, like the main character's brother. But, the character is also described as a "former MMA fighter, world-class." I guess that's the best job former world-class mixed martial artists can get after they retire.

Eventually, the main character Patrick Leary agrees to fight Bas' character (I think it was something like Dochage) in an underground cage match to make some money. "Lights" lands some boxing combinations, Dochage takes him down and armbars him, Leary escapes and lands in full guard, and the fight pretty much goes on that way for a couple more minutes. It was actually well-choreographed, and I understand that the whole point of that scene was to have Leary win. I really do. And I guess they have to show Dochage using some MMA techniques, to prove that he was "world-class." But, you know, James Toney and everything. Old boxers would lose MMA fights. Boxers in their prime would lose to MMA fighters 99 out of 100 times. Yet, Leary escapes three submissions and a mount to eventually knock Dochage out with an uppercut to the throat and a punch to the back of the head. Frankly, I'm surprised they even showed the ground game in the scene. I'll bet Bas had something to do with that.

I guess one of the messages of this little scene was that Leary is still a tough SOB and could make a comeback in boxing, which is a central theme to the series, but it's not really doing MMA any favors. In the world of the show, MMA fighters are criminal crystal meth tweekers who would still be beaten by old, retired boxers. This isn't a big deal to me, because I know it's not true. I'll bet a lot of the viewers of the show know this isn't true as well. It's the little things that bother me, I guess. In the long run it's not going to hurt the "legitimacy of MMA" at all. It's already legitimate, and it's not going anywhere. But to me it seems like the writers kind of half-assed their research and took a bit too much poetic license when they wrote the scripts for this season. Just my two cents. At least they wore MMA gloves during the fight. That's a step up from the norm.