Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Wow! Lots of Drama Going On in MMA

I didn't catch the fight last weekend mainly cause I'm poor and have no interest in watching Rashad beat Tito. Kinda glad too cause I missed the whole "Wardrobe Malfunction" that occurred. More people are talking about the Golden Glory fighters being let go by Zuffa then the card itself, now there's definitely some juicy politics involved in that one. I could put on my conspiracy theory hat but then you would have to read 3 whole pages of crap to what would amount to "I have no fucking clue why this is happening".

Fedor being let go from Strikeforce is a big hit (for Fedor mainly). I know Fedor has ties to M-1 but unless M-1 actually promotes some big fights with big star fighters, it's basically "the Fedor League" and honestly the perception of American fans, is we don't even consider it a league, just Fedor's management. Maybe business wise it's smart for Fedor to stay with M-1 but for his fight career, it hurts it. It's one thing being beaten in a top league but what if Fedor fights a nobody and gets defeated? I personally don't want to see that, Fedor shouldn't be a stepping stone for up and comers, he earned the right to fight names just like Chuck Liddell earned the right to go out fighting top guys and not scrubs. It's a shame too cause everything was looking so promising after the Zuffa merger for Strikeforce but now they've lost 2 of their big name heavyweights and the female division (which according to Dana White doesn't have enough fighters) looses a top contender.... and what did Strikeforce gain from this? Keith Jardine..... well someone got shafted in this deal.

Obligatory source links
Fedor gets cut from Strikeforcce
Bas Rutten's thoughts on Golden Glory Vs Zuffa

Now for some OMMA stuff that happened over the weekend. Well I'm back at editing videos again, did a little promo for them


The cards I was involved in
Ultimate Combat 11 "To Hell and Back"
Bushido 32 "Silva vs Burns II"
Strikers' Challenge 9 "One Ring to Rule Them All"

My CAF Arnold did a little interview for "The voice vs." before he defended his belt, check it out here

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Cooking with Booze



Back from the dead as it were, enjoy everyone. I actually tried making these..... didn't turn out so well for me (huge mess) but they were delicious.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Post Strikeforce/M1-Global Fedor vs Hendo

For those that don't know, Fedor was Ko'ed on Saturday by Dan Henderson and it's created a ton of controversy from Fedor fans and Fedor haters as to whether the fight was stopped too early by Herb Dean. Personally, I believe Herb Dean made the right call. I mean Fedor was limp, there is no denying this. Herb doesn't have the benefit of instant replays and multiple camera angles, he has to make a split second decision based on the safety of the athlete. I watched the fight multiple times and yes, on the replay it looks like Fedor turns to Dan and recovers but that's easy for someone like me to notice in the comfort of my own home with the benefit of rewind but in the moment when you are the only official in the cage and all eyes are looking at you to arbitrate the fight, you have to err on the side of caution. We don't know if Fedor was mentally sound enough to defend himself from Dan's ground and pound to survive the round or if Dan would have caved in his face, those are hypothetical and I don't tend to dwell on those too much.

I think a good deal of the anger that has come from the stoppage was that the fans just wanted to see round 2. I mean round 1 was electrifying with both guys suffering big close calls. Remember, Dan was in trouble right before the KO happens and before that Dan was landing some shots. The pendulum of momentum was swinging both ways that night, it just happened to stop in favor of Dan.

Now there's questions about Fedor's future in the sport and I wouldn't mind him retiring now however this is also a sport where people are practically one fight away from a belt or number one contender spot. Look at Tito Ortiz, most including myself believed him to be done but he gets one win and is now given a number 1 contender fight against Rashad. If Fedor does choose to keep fighting, I believe his career is better off if he left M1-Global and just go into the UFC. You never know, he could win one fight and due to injuries plaguing the roster, get a shot at a title or number 1 contender fight (just like Tito).

It's a shame Dan's win over Fedor has to be plagued by this early stoppage debate but it is was it is.

As for the whole card, it wasn't too bad. Most fights went how I thought they would go but there are some highlights.

SCOTT SMITH vs TAREC SAFFIEDINE- Smith looked like he had nothing left in round 3 and who can blame him when Saffiedine outclasses him in the stand up completely. I'm not liking this welterweight version of Smith, so far he hasn't been performing very well lately.

PAUL DALEY vs TYRON WOODLEY- I'm really impressed that Daley was able to starve off the takedown in round 1 and later on in the fight was almost able to get a gogoplatta. That shows he's been working on his weaknesses(ground game). Woodley looked like he was tired in round 3 which is something I wasn't expecting. The fight wasn't as one sided as I expected but it still ended with Woodley winning.

ROBBIE LAWLER vs TIM KENNEDY- Lawler was dissapointed at the decision but seriously he only landed 1 big blow which was the uppercut that broke Kennedy's nose. Rather then press Kennedy in round 3 (takedowns be damned) he just let Kennedy grab him and stall. Lawler had a chance here to take out a Tim Kennedy without his greatest asset, cardio. Kennedy didn't have a full camp for this fight and after round 2 couldn't breath through his nose but instead has to forcibly breath through his mouth guard, Lawler didn't press this weakness. Kennedy was looking a little sloppy in the stand up department but he was still able to turn this fight into a grappling contest which despite the booing in the crowd and some people thinking Kennedy was fighting cowardly (typical meathead reaction) he won. There's a difference between fear and caution, I'm not afraid of fire but I wouldn't stand in the middle of a bonfire. I just think it's ignorant to call a former war veteran who's been in firefights and stepping into the cage against someone with 15 KO's "afraid of getting knocked out". I'm sure the majority of MMA fans understand why Kennedy fought that way, it's just too bad the morons (who tend to be the loudest) have to shout BS during a live fight and make their opinions known in comments and message boards. That's Ok, cause most of the negative comments I've read about Kennedy seem to be coming from people with the spelling skill and intelligence of a kindergartner.

MARLOES COENEN vs MIESHA TATE - Fight of the night in my opinion. Coenen didn't get um... what's the correct term for this, womanhandled? like she did with Liz and fought a very competitive grappling match with Tate. Tate won round one but Coenen won round 2 and it went back and forth. Lots of reversals and for the few moments it was standing Coenen was landing some good straights. Congratulations to Tate on the sub victory, it's always an accomplishment to submit a submission master.

FEDOR EMELIANENKO vs DAN HENDERSON- I've basically covered this earlier but it did feel like the fight ended before it even really got started which is a shame but that's the fight game, it wouldn't be exciting if the unexpected didn't happen and I guess it wouldn't be as fun if people didn't have something to argue about on the internet the next day.