Just a reminder that the UFC Fight Night 19 is on tonight as well as the premier of the 10th season of The Ultimate Fighter. I’ve got a preview going up at TBL at 4:45 My Time. It will run for 14 minutes then be deleted from the archives. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not a big MMA guy and by “not a big MMA guy” I mean I  don’t watch it and usually deride it for being overtly homoerotic in nature.  That being said, I do recognize that it requires a great deal of physical talent and strategy to succeed in the sport and isn’t just two muscle bound retards pounding each other’s asses.

But it’s hard for me to defend this clip of Dan Henderson KO’ing Michael Bisping.  Don’t get me wrong, the first punch, the knockout punch, is impressive as all get out.  It’s a clean shot, well placed and powerful.  But, as a novice to this sport, let me ask: is it standard practice to jump on a clearly unconscious man who’s not even holding his hands up to protect himself and deliver another brutal punch when the fight is clearly over?  Is this what we’re doing now? Are we trying to end careers?  Why not just make it a fight to the death?

After the fight, Henderson had this to say:

When asked by commentator Joe Rogan in the Octagon immediately after the fight, Henderson said he’d known Bisping was unconscious and that he had delivered the second blow to “shut him up”.

Henderson admitted that he probably shouldn’t have said that and claimed that it was just a poor choice of words rather than an indication of malice.

I’m glad that these guys are able to separate the theatrics of the sport (hyping it by deriding your opponent in the lead up to the fight) from concern for another human life.  After all, we wouldn’t want a sport already brimming with excessive brutality to cross the line when one fighter really wants to shut the other up.

(h/t Chicago MMA for the gif)

Did I mention I launched an MMA blog this week? Yup, UFC, Strikeforce, Affliction, Arianny… you name it, I might cover it. I’ve written literally hundreds of words about UFC 99 this week. If I didn’t like watching dudes rolling around on the ground with each other in their underpants, I wouldn’t have been able to do it, but I managed. Anyway, here is your UFC 99 preview, sponsored by the new MMA blog that all the kids* are talking about, Blood, Booze and Bruises.

UFC 99: The Comeback

Headliners: Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva – Two of the biggest names in the sport are set to do battle. Wanderlei wins, he’s got a title shot against Anderson Silva. Hopefully, they explained to Rich Franklin that if he wins he won’t have to fight Anderson, otherwise, he might drop to the canvas when they touch gloves. Should be a slugfest as both fighters are great strikers.

Highlights: Cain Velasquez vs. Cheick Kongo – The big boys. Winner should get a shot at the winner of UFC 100’s Frank Mir-Brock Lesnar rematch for the title. Kongo is honestly the scariest person I’ve ever seen, despite the fact that he’s French and wears glasses. (Seriously) Read the rest of this entry »

The last time the UFC came to my part of the country, my friends and I went. Five of us piled in a car and drove to Newark in the middle of November for UFC 78. It was a cool experience. For everyone except the GF it was our first live UFC show. The card ended up being fairly underwhelming and didn’t feature any huge names, but we still had a great time.

Some of the guys we saw have been quite successful since then. Among the successes is the current Light Heavyweight champion, Rashad Evans who will forever be known as “Rasheem!” in our circle.

While we were watching the fight, my roommate and our friend Mike were drinking the delicious $8 beers that sporting events are known for. As Mike does, he got drunk. When he gets drunk, he has a tendency to get excited. Eventually, he turned his attention to Rashad Evans.  Throughout the main event, Mike yelled out various encouraging sentiments to the future champ. Except he kept calling him “Rasheem.” Over and over.

From there on out, he’s been Rasheed “Rasheem!” Evans.

So why am I telling you this?

Mike is getting married on August 8th. He and Katie got engaged last spring and set the date soon after. This all cool up until last night.

During the Fight Night telecast Amir Sadollah and Forrest Griffin announced that they would both be returning to the Octagon for UFC 101 in Philadelphia – a mere 4 hour drive from my house.  The date? August 8th.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! Read the rest of this entry »

Mixed Martial Arts is banned in New York state. It doesn’t look like that’s going to change because the people who create the laws are opposed to and ignorant about the sport. The latest face of the opposition is Assemblyman Bob Reilly. In his latest effort to blindly justify something he knows nothing about, his office did a poll of New York residents. 468 to be exact.

The 2007 US Census put the New York population at 19,297,729. That’s approximately .000025% of New York residents. Gosh, that certainly seems like a small sample size. I’m pretty sure I heard on the news that the survey took place in Newtonville which is the area I live in. I was not surveyed. I’m also willing to guess that the students at Siena College were not surveyed.

This is pure speculation on my part, but I’m guessing this survey went out to the upper-middle class residents that primarily own homes in the Newtonville area. And how did they pose the question to these residents?

“Ultimate fighting, or mixed martial arts, is currently banned in New York State. There is current debate whether ultimate fighting should be permitted statewide. Do you think ultimate fighting matches should be allowed in New York State?”

FAIL Read the rest of this entry »