Top 10 Things I Learned From UFC 79

UFC 79 was a great event, here's what I learned.

10. Lyoto Machida is no joke, whether or not you like his fighting style, the guy wins. Soko is a talented guy, but I think we all underestimated Machida's skills.

9. Melvin Guillard and Rich Clementi should not be allowed back in the UFC. Talking shit to each other is fine, hating each other is fine, but the way these 2 guys acted is just idiotic.

8. Okay UFC we get it, you hated the Pride Fighting Championships. The whole "we're not in Japan" thing is getting old.

7. I still don't understand why the UFC doesn't show ALL undercard fights, for 40-50 bucks most people want all the action they can handle and many times the undercard fights are great.

6. Georges St. Pierre will be the welterweight champion in 2008.

5. Take it from GSP, if you wanna beat a world class wrestler(Hughes, Koscheck) put them on their back.

4. Wanderlei Silva remains on the top of my list as the most entertaining fighter ever.

3. When Chuck Liddell wins, Dana White is the happiest man on earth.

2. Biased commentary is getting a little out of control. I watched the Liddell/Silva fight 3 times and you would think Chuck was fighting a nobody. All the replays were Chuck highlights and the knock down for Silva was discredited as a simple slip.

1. I don't care what anyone says Wanderlei Silva vs Chuck Liddell is in the top 3 greatest fights I've ever witnessed and for me it lived up to the hype.

Brand New Wanderlei Silva Video Interview

Hey everyone this is a brand new interview from rawvegas.com's road to UFC 79. Good interview, if your an aspiring musician Wandy is looking for some entrance music and is accepting music through his website at wanderleisilva.com.br.

Sean Sherk Will Not Be Stripped of His Title

****UPDATE, Apparently Sherk is now being stripped! Here's a LINK to the story****
UFC Lighweight Champion Sean Sherk will remain the champion, despite testing positive for steroids. Here's the meat of the article from mmafightline.

UFC president Dana White has gone back and forth on whether he would strip Sherk of his title were he to lose his appeal to the NSAC. First, White told Yahoo!Sports' Kevin Iole that Sherk would keep the title regardless of the outcome of his appeal, then a few days later, White backpedelled on those comments stating during a conference call that Sherk would probably be stripped of his title if he were to lose his appeal.

Read the rest HERE

Sherk has denied the positive test from the beginning and some in the MMA community would question the way CSAC has handled the whole situation. In any case Sherk and B.J. Penn need to get in the cage and fight. Until that happens many fans will still consider the lightweight belt in limbo.

New Video Interview with Frank Mir About His Upcoming Bout with Brock Lesner

Frank Mir weighs in on his fight with former pro wrestler turned MMA fighter Brock Lesner. Also an interview with Frank Trigg about his clothing line Triggonomics.

Modern MMA's First Death Occurs

MMA fighter Sam Vasquez has passed away after complications from an MMA bout on October 20th he was 35. Heres a snippet from sherdog.

The Harris County Medical Examiner, which confirmed Vasquez passed at 8:15 p.m. CT, has not yet released the cause of death, the report said.

After enduring separate surgeries to remove blood clots from his brain as well as a massive stroke, Vasquez was discharged from downtown Houston's Saint Joseph Medical Center Critical Care Unit and transferred to an area hospice on Nov. 26.

On Wednesday Sandra Vasquez, the fighter's wife, told Sherdog.com, "He's about to go." Two days later, Vasquez, the father of a 7-year-old boy, lost his battle with the apparent affects of a regulated mixed martial arts fight.

Read the rest HERE

First M-1 Global Pay Per View Possibly Fedor vs Barnett

Sam Caplan has reported that M-1 Global could hold their first Pay Per View in the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The report below.

ProElite.com (SamCaplan.ProElite.com) has learned through multiple sources that M-1 Global is leaning towards holding their first pay-per-view event in the U.S. in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center, the same venue that hosted UFC 78 earlier this month.

Officials from M-1 recently visited the Prudential Center and were impressed with the venue and are looking at booking a possible date in February or March.

Chicago had been receiving serious consideration for the event but logistical issues are likely to prevent it from being the first host city for M-1.

However, logistical issues could be a factor in Newark as well because it is believed there are no available dates on Saturday in February in March. If the Prudential Center is booked, M-1 Global may have to consider holding an event on a Friday.

Matchups for the first show are already being discussed. A main event between Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett is under consideration but Barnett is currently not contracted to the promotion. - Original Source Sam Caplan Blog

This is something that any real MMA fan would pay their hard-earned money to see. A Fedor vs Barnett matchup has long been a fight that fans have begged for. If M-1 Global can pull this off, along with some decent fights on the rest of the card then they may prove to be a real contender in the business of Mixed Martial Arts.

New Interview With Dan Henderson

Hey guys here is an interview with Hendo from mmahawaii.com, pretty good interview except for the first couple minutes all they talk about is supplements?

New Video Interview with Wanderlei Silva

Hey guys, check out this wanderlei interview, he weighs in on a number of issues.

Part 1


Part 2

Why MMA Will Overtake Boxing

Hey guys here's an article I wrote awile back about why I think Mixed Martial Arts will overtake boxing. Below is the article in its entirety.

Boxing has long been the king of the pay-per-view airways, and that still holds true, just barely. Although the recent superfight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. grossed a record breaking $120 million, this was not the fight to save boxing. This was not even a great fight. The fight sold well on massive hype and the fighters names, but a fight you tell your grandkids about it was absolutely not.

"This puts to bed this theory of boxing being in trouble, or being dead or dying," said Ross Greenburg, head of HBO Sports. "This fight would have never materialized if boxing was dying." Sorry Ross, but he knows whats going on and he knows exactly why his sport is struggling so much. It has become tradition for HBO boxing announcer Jim Lampley to say something derogatory about Mixed Martial Arts, saying after the De La Hoya vs Mayweather fight that "Mixed Martial Arts is entertaining. The kind of skill level you saw in the ring tonight - there's nothing in mixed martial arts which is within light years of what Mayweather and De La Hoya are able to do with their hands."

Cheap shots aside, Lampley knows MMA is winning some battles in the war. Colorful UFC president Dana White knows it too, saying in his 60 minutes interview "When you start watching the UFC, boxing sucks, boxing is boring". He may be right on the money with that statement. Why watch 2 guys use one form of fighting discipline on each other, when you can watch 2 guys not only use boxing, but Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, submissions and many forms of wrestling. If Lampley wants to talk about skill level why don't you ask a boxer to take 4 or 5 leg kicks without crying, protect against a shoot and takedown or avoid getting arm-barred, choked out or leg-locked. Boxer's only have to worry about getting punched and throwing a punch. So don't bring skill level into the discussion.

Lets take a look at the main reason boxing was popular in its hey days. The most often overlooked aspect of boxing's popularity is the presence of one true champion, usually heavyweight. These days we have no clue has to who that is in part because nobody's good enough to completley dominate. Its the allure of being labeled "unbeatable" that draws people to that kind of champion. Where would golf be without Tiger Woods and what happened to basketball when Michael Jordan retired the first time. In MMA there is this "unbeatable" champion, Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor is a mild-mannered stone cold fighter who is versed in every aspect of the MMA game. He is considered unbeatable by most, which makes it all the more appealing to watch his fights. If he ever loses it will be a major shock to anybody watching, which is why people tune-in. This affects all the fights because you watch an up and comer and think "could he be the one to take down Fedor"

UFC owners Zuffa {owned by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta} recently bought their biggest competitor, Japanese promotion Pride Fighting Championship. From the perspective of die-hard fans Pride was considered to have the best fighters in the world. It was extremely popular in Japan, until Fuji TV terminated their contract. Pride couldn't handle the loss and had to sell. With Pride on board many superfights that was thought never to be possible are. Popular fighters such as Fedor, Wanderlai Silva, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and before the purchase Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson are now able to go up against the UFC's elite such as Randy Couture, Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn and Matt Serra. Being able to promote these kind of superfights will further cement MMA as a true young contender to an old champion, boxing.

One more aspect overlooked by skeptics is the fact that MMA has less serious injuries than boxing. Its not like in boxing where you may take over 100 punches to your head and midsection. Furthermore if you get knocked out in boxing you can get back up and take more punishment, in MMA if the ref thinks your knocked out for a second the fights over. So Lampley and other skeptics can moan all they want, but the facts are the facts and pay-per-view has a new shining prince waiting to be crowned king.

quotes provided by foxsports.com

Original Source

The Rise of Mixed Martial Arts

Hey everyone, this is an article I wrote a while back for a website, obviously alot of things have changed since then(like some people thinking Fedor isn't number 1 anymore), but its an educational article for someone who may be new to MMA.



In the early days of mixed martial arts the concept was simple. Fighters used their specific fighting discipline against an opponent with a different fighting discipline. To prove their style was better they simply got in the ring and used the only style they had trained in for years. This mix of styles often resulted in boring matches. In November of 1993 the first event was held by entrepreneur Art Davie and son of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu creator Helio Gracie's son Rorion Gracie. They named their event Ultimate Fighting Championship now known as the UFC.

The only rules in these fights were no eye-gouging and no biting, but other than that anything else was allowed including groin shots and head butts. The event became popular as people were drawn to the violence and technique. Then came politics as many politicians denounced the sport for its brutal nature. Senator John McCain was so adamant about banning the UFC he was successful in making it illegal in all but 3 states. McCain, who is known for having connections in boxing, also had it removed from 90% of pay-per-view providers. While the UFC was struggling mightily, a promotion in Japan called Pride Fighting Championship was flourishing.

Pride fights were fought in a traditional ring and had slightly different rules than UFC. The UFC was bought by the Zuffa organization in 2001 a company with money and connections. Zuffa is owned by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta with Dana White being the president. Zuffa was able to get the sport sanctioned in most states that McCain got it banned from. They also inserted boxing like rules with a point system, weight classes, outlawing techniques such as kicking a downed opponent along with rules that were already in place such as glove wearing, no groin shots and no head butts. With these rules in place viewers were able to see the amazing techniques used by the fighters realizing it wasn't just an all-out street brawl with no abilities. Fighters now combined many different fighting styles in fights including jiu-jitsu, boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, judo, sambo, greco-roman wrestling, submissions and other forms. Fighters in Pride and UFC became celebrities.

UFC owners Zuffa bought Pride recently and is now able to have Super-Fights that many people thought would never happen. Some examples would be Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlai Silva(Now on for December 29th at UFC 79), Fedor Emelianenko vs. Randy Couture and Couture vs. Silva. One of the things that makes MMA so popular now is the fact that there is a consensus greatest fighter in the world in Fedor Emelianenko. Boxing was at its finest when there was one man on top and Fedor is considered unbeatable by most, so if he does lose it would be a major shock. The allure of one guy dominating a sport like Tiger Woods or Roger Federer always makes the sport more popular because everybody is after him but no one can beat him. This sport will continue to grow as the reality TV show "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike TV lets people in on the world of MMA. MMA is NOT a fad that will go away, its here to stay.

UFC Announces Dan Henderson vs Anderson Silva

The UFC announced at the post fight press conference that Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva will face Dan Henderson in March next year.

Heres the FULL ARTICLE from MMAweekly.

My Take- Man I'm counting the days for this fight to happen, what a war this should be. Both have ridiculous chins so a knockout is not likely, but both have serious power so you never know. The big question I think would be is if the wrestler Hendo will want to take Anderson down and hold him there or will Anderson's muay thai be too much. In any case there is plenty of time to dissect every angle of this fight, so for now I'm just really excited because this will one of the best main events in UFC history.

ESPN Houston Alexander Video

This is a cool short interview with Alexander.