Death of Affliction

Hello MMA fans, let me inform you yet again on another week of absolute madness in the world of professional fighting. As I sit and watch the replay of DREAM 10 on HDNET, I wonder about the status of MMA promotions outside of the UFC. How are there finances, there fan bases, the quality of fighters they have under contact and of course their marketing. I can wonder about all of these things, and as soon as I do, I seem to have my questions answered by the promotions I wonder about.

Out of all my questions I have, I have never thought about the status of if someone will fight in a main event. To me, fighting is a business opportunity and a battle inside each fighter to prove that they are unafraid of any challenge in front of them. The challenge that lay before Affliction this past week was to find someone who was willing to accomplish both of these opportunities represented by the fight game in the main event of the promotions third event. The opponent to who ever were brave enough (or stupid enough) was Fedor Emelianeko who has only lost one fight in his career.

UFC 100 Aftermath and Beyond

Hello MMA fans, welcome to another wonderful edition of my great blog where I give you all the good details about all that is exciting in the world of professional fighting. On this edition I will go into the details of the historic UFC 100 and all of its exciting bouts and what the results mean for the rest of the MMA world. Also I will let you know about up coming bouts and the rumors of heavy weights traveling far distances to challenge the UFC’s top dog in the division, or lucky one in Brock Lesnar.

 So this past weekend held one of the best cards of all time in the UFC’s history with some of the best fighters and some shocking moments in some of the preliminary fights. Such a big shocking upset was the win that former heavy weight champ Mark Coleman beating ‘TUF’ 1 finalist Stephan Bonnar by unanimous decision. My personal theory is that in Coleman’s last fight against Shogun, his bad cardio was caused by him spending his last few fights at heavyweight when he fought with Pride. Now that he has had a chance to make weight comfortably, he has proven to be much stronger.

History is made at UFC 100

Hello MMA fans, here is the second part of this weeks amazing weekend which will hold one of the biggest, most watched MMA events of all time. Of course its being put on by the biggest promotion in the world, the UFC which has stated publicly how the event was sold out before tickets were made available to the public. UFC 100 will be held in the promotions home of Las Vegas at the Mandaly Bay Events Center. Now before I got into detail about each bout, it must be said how last month at UFC 99 Mirko Cro Cop had made his return to the UFC only to win and apparently bolt to Japan for a three fight deal to DREAM. However after talking and explaining how Cro Cop was not happy with the deal the UFC was offering, the UFC seems to be making strides to make the heavyweight happy and have him fight as early as September against Junior dos Santos.

Now that the most recent new is out of the way, I trust that the true fans of this growing sport have been watching the countdown of the promotions best 100 fights which concludes at 9pm Saturday night on SPIKE. My personal top five would be Wanderlei Silva v. Chuck Lidell, Randy Couture v. Tim Sylvia, Forrest Griffin v. Rampage Jackson, Forrest v. Stephan Bonnar and my all time favorite fight was between Clay Guida v. Roger Huerta. Each of these fights was already listed on the top 100 except Griffin v. Bonnar, which I personally feel will be number one.

The UFC’s American Rival

Hello MMA fans happy late Independence Day. Well what can I say about the following week as the biggest promotion in the world is only a few days away from its 100th pay per view event. This fight card as I have mentioned a few months ago, is going to be one of the best of all time. Two titles will be on the line, a great grudge match between the Ultimate Fighter coaches, a UFC introduction by a great Japanese veteran and an under card that will only make the event better. However I will not be talking about this historic event now, but rather let you know about some great news about upcoming fights in the UFC and in other promotions.

 First off lets look at Strikeforce, the San Jose based promotion has been in talks with a legend of MMA in UFC drop out Tito Ortiz. Ortiz has been on a hiatus from fighting ever since his last fight with the UFC in which he lost to current light heavy weight champion Lyoto Machida. Ortiz had taken time off to let his contract with the UFC run out after he and the MMA giant had fallen out, more specifically with UFC president Dana White. Also during that time Ortiz had underwent back surgery to fix an injury that had been ailing him for the past few years.

Lightweight is the new Heavyweight

Hello MMA fans, yes it is a Friday night and I am deep in the wonderful world of MMA news and rumors as I relax before a wedding. What news could I possibly have to give two blogs in a week? Well one of my favorite fighters has decided to make his return to the fight game, also I have news of the future of the WEC’s lightweight division and news about the lightweight fighter who is probably the most sought after fighter in the world.

To start off I’ll discuss some news about one of my favorite fighters in the game, Roger Huerta, and his return to the UFC. Almost a year since his last fight against Kenny Florian, whom he lost to by unanimous decision, Huerta will be making his return to fighting against undefeated contender Gray Maynard at UFC’s Ultimate Fight Night 19. Since his last fight, Huerta had been fulfilling other business ventures, such as his role in the upcoming movie ‘Tekken’, which is due out later in 2009.

A Blood Bath and Japan’s Festivities!

Hello MMA fans, ummmm so I don’t know how to easily say this but this past weekend, I believe the fight of the year took place. During the main event of the season finale of The Ultimate Fighter, lightweight contenders Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida proved that the lightweight division is by far the best. I’ll discuss a little more about this event as well as an upcoming DREAM event, and a few more fights in the works across several other promotions as well as news as MMA expands across the country.

 As I said, the fight of the year may have taken place this past weekend as well as several other great fights. The fight of the night bonuses could have been tossed around very easily; however this weekend the UFC got it right as it gave four fights the $25,000 bonus to fights that were very deserving. The main event which was a bloody climax to a great night of fights was very easily fight of the year as well as giving the winner a shot at the lightweight crown after the August fight between champion BJ Penn and Kenny Florian.

Controversy, Rule Changes and a Seasons End

Hello MMA fans, for those of you who might have missed recent activity in the fast growing sport in the world, then it will be my pleasure to help catch you up on some important fights from last weekends UFC 99 and the news that followed. A possibility that instant replay will be brought into the fight game. Finally this week will be the final semifinal bout in the season of the Ultimate Fighter with the season finale being this weekend.

Last week I talked about how this year’s best card could possibly be UFC 99 with Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva being the main event. And for anyone who watched it, you know that I was pretty close to the truth. The main event saw Franklin win by unanimous decision in an all out brawl, Cro Cop won his return with a controversial eye poke to Al-turk, Velasquez proved he was indeed the real deal against Kongo, Swick beat fellow striker Saunders by (of course) knockout, and Hardy won the war of words against Davis. All in all the event was a great way to show Germany how great the UFC is with a crowd of 12,800 fans enjoying the action.

 The backlash of this card has to do with Silva loosing his fifth fight out of his last six with three of those being by knockout. Many question his desire to keep fighting, but Silva puts those claims to rest. However the real question is can he keep fighting against the world’s best as he has been used to going back to his amazing run in PRIDE. This is indeed a real concern considering he is one of the best knockout artists in the UFC. Maybe his form will change as he drops to middleweight, or maybe this is the beginning of the end, but really I think he has a little left in him to go and be his past self.

Card of the Year

Hello MMA fans, as a community we are about one month away from experiencing history with UFC 100 and the two titles and amazing fights attached to it. However, are we ignoring UFC 99 just so the century can be reached? I personally think so, and that is wrong. Why? Because in all, this card could be the best fight card in any promotion this year. The main event is between former UFC middleweight champ Rich Franklin and former Pride champ Wanderlei Silva at a catchweight of 195.

 This main event, between two former champs who are all-time fan favorites in the game is possibly the best main event. Both fighters are great stand up fighters and have great knock out power, most importantly they love to stand up and love to knock out opponents. This fact gives this fight the opportunity to be fight of the year or give knock out of the year. Also there is a secret motivation for Silva and a secret weapon for Franklin, the answer to both these questions is Anderson Silva.

Reality or Just a Dream?

Hello MMA fans, hope you all are ready for another edition of interesting news, upcoming matchups and your update of The Ultimate Fighter, so where to start well with ‘TUF’ of course. Last week I mentioned how Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson would be going up against fellow former champ Sugar Rahsad Evans after they coach season ten of The Ultimate Fighter. This week has interesting additional news as too who would be joining the cast of the show. It’s non other than the internet sensation, Kimbo Slice. Last MMA fans saw of Kimbo was his shocking loss to ‘TUF’ alum, Seth Petruzelli. Petruzelli of course stepped in to fight in the spot of Ken Shamrock.

 Now since his loss and EliteXC folding, Kimbo has not seen any MMA action or been in the media spotlight except as a punch line on ‘Jim Rome is Burning’. But in an interview from UFC president Dana White, White commented on Kimbo’s ability and also said “he can only get into the UFC through The Ultimate Fighter.” Seems Slice will be taking the bosses advice and take his chances on the reality show and possibly be the most recognizable figure in the shows existence besides the two opposing coaches.

Past, Present and Violent Future

Hello MMA fans! Well go figure after a week of calling this season of ‘TUF’ a boring one, this weeks edition proved me wrong with a bit of controversy as well as an interesting final first round fight. Also this week I’ll discuss UFC 98’s two interesting bouts between Hughes v. Serra and the light heavyweight fight between Evans v. Machida. Finally there will be interesting news coming from the next season of the Ultimate Fighter as the coaches have been leaked, and their fight will be awesome.

 So as we get started I will say that this season of ‘TUF’ has finally picked up. Of course as an individual who generally doesn’t watch reality television, this season has certainly lacked any controversy, any hatred coming from the coaches, barely any smack talk, and a lack of great fights. How did this past week’s episode change that, well it starts with a bottle of water being shot in the face of Damarqcues Johnson from Michael Bisping. This event came after Dan Henderson asked Bisping to change training times between the two teams, Bisping refused and later took his frustrations out on Johnson, claiming he used a racial slur in a previous episode.

 

Heavy Action

Hello everyone, sorry for not sharing my thoughts, views and news with you about the growing sport of Mixed Martial Arts last week. This week however has some very exciting returns and changes to the UFC’s heavyweight division as well as MMA newcomer and former WWE star Bobby Lashley. This recent news has all of a sudden made the heavyweight division in any promotion very interesting to watch.

Last week at Maximum Fighting Championships 21st event, former amateur and pro wrestling star Bobby Lashley won his third MMA fight by a guillotine choke against Mike Cook in less than half of a minute. Lashley has won his three fights with only being pushed to the limit against Jason Guida, brother of UFC lightweight star Clay Guida. The more interesting thing to point out about this fight is the intensity that Lashley showed when beating his opponent, claiming that Cook “had been making fun” of Lashley. This turned out to be a little bit of a misunderstanding; however the motivation seemed to prove that Lashley is an up and coming destructible force in the division.

What are they thinking?

With the recent crossover’s of athletes making their way into the world of MMA you have those who have competed in kick boxing or boxing, those who have competed in pro wrestling such as current UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley. Recently on an episode of ‘Pardon The Interruption’ it is reported that Shaq has been training in MMA to lose weight and possibly compete? However nothing will quite compare to pro baseball player turned celebrity boxer Jose Canseco, as he looks to make his debut at DREAM 9 on May 26 in Japan as he competes in the promotions grand prix which happens to be titled, “Super Hulk”.

The first round of the grand prix will pit Canseco against Hong Man Choi, a Korean kick boxer who is most famous for taking on Fedor at a New Years event in Japan and was submitted by arm bar. Other than this interesting bout you have other notable heavyweights like Mark Hunt, Bob Sapp, Sokoudjou, Jan Nortje, Minowa, and Gegard Mousasi. Mousasi has recently jumped up a weight class after winning the promotions middle weight grand prix.

Summer full of Blockbusters

With my last two entries I had decided to share my opinion on the UFC’s middleweight champion, Anderson Silva. To say the least I have been summing up his tenure in the UFC as one that has not seen him challenged by another great fighter, in any weight class. However this week ahs seen the UFC answering my prayers, not to mention every MMA fan, and made a dream fight between Silva and….wait for it, light heavyweight Forrest Griffin.

This upcoming fight, I personally feel will be the biggest challenge of Silva’s career against the former 205 champ. The fight will take place in Philadelphia at UFC 101 on Aug. 2 as the co-main event. The other main event will see BJ Penn defend his lightweight title against Kenny Florian. Both fights will be absolutely amazing, however with Silva’s last two unimpressive title defenses, it will be nice to see him go up against a bigger, natural 205 pound fighter. On top of his physical attributes, Griffin has been most impressive in two of his last three fights, beating Shogun, and Rampage.

What Happened to the Legends?

Between two weekends where some of the sports legends were out to show that they still have it, the performances that were in the spotlight seemed not as bright. Two weeks ago Nick Diaz destroyed the legend Frank Shamrock in the long awaited bout under the Strikeforce brand, and now this past weekend two fighters seemed to lack their usual strength at UFC 97. The co-main event fights at show were between middleweight champion Anderson Silva against Thales Leites and Chuck Liddell finally squaring off against Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua.

 In the Strikeforce promotion there was one great fight that had MMA fans talking and that was how much longer can Frank Shamrock keep going? The man seems to never die, however with his latest performance he might be thinking of retirement. Not to question his skills, but I honestly think it was foolish to take on a competitor like Diaz who has been improving on his striking abilities and seems to be on a great role. Even though the promotional events between the two were very confrontational, Diaz showed how classy he can be by helping Shamrock up after the fight and claiming, “he’s a legend, he’s been doing this longer than me”. So should Shamrock retire? It seems like he has one good fight left in him, might be awhile however though.

The UFC’s Best Division

Hello MMA fans, let me just explain why I chose not to give an update on last weeks episode of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. Main reason was because the United States team did not have a full team due to a few members of the prospects that looked suspect due to weight cuts and injuries for two fighters that basically came into the gym and left. That of course left two originally picked fighters left two fight mystery opponents for the right to live in the house. Unfortunately one of those mystery opponents was Rob Browning, brother of Junie Browning, last season’s crazy trouble maker on the show that eventually made it in the UFC and has had moderate success.

Why is it bad to have the younger brother of a UFC fighter a bad thing on such a promising show? Well with Junie constantly drinking and throwing glass at others, causing drama with fights in the house and not respecting his coaches, it could only get better right? Wrong. “Junie 2.0”, aka Rob Browning, hadn’t even joined the U.S. team by winning his way in the house and had the leisure of drinking, throwing eggs at the combined number of teams U.K. and U.S. as well as smashing one on his opponent’s chest.