MMA Fanatics Blog

I just want to thank those of you that continue to find my blog and enjoy my MMA articles and thoughts. Don't forget I have moved this blog to a permanent domain at:
Mixed Martial Art Fans

Please feel free to leave comments!

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Technical issues with the new MMA blog resolved

Well I had the new blog up and running and was posting away and all was great. I got real busy with some stuff the end of June into the start of July and just did not have time to post and I was on vacation for 10 days.

When I returned Wordpress had a new version available and was supposed to be all so simple to update to the new version. Needless to say my meager nerd skills were stretched and I ended up having to start over with a new install but I did finally get the new version up and running.

Things are all back to normal now and I have posted some thoughts on the recent developments with Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock who will be fighting for the 3rd and final time in October so go on over and check it out.

Thanks to all who stop by to read and enjoy my blog...

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

UFC MMA Tito Ortiz Ken Shamrock

New MMA Fanatics Blog!

I have moved this blog over to it's own domain using wordpress. All future posts can be seen here: Mixed Martial Art Fans. Come and check out my latest article on tonights UFC 61 Bitter Rivals.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

UFC All Access features Tito Ortiz tonight on spike.

Spike TV and UFC are bringing a new episode of All Access tonight featuring Tito Ortiz. I really enjoy the all access shows, the last 2 they did on Rich Franklin and Andrei Arlovski were really interesting.

I found it fascinating seeing what the average day of a UFC star actually consists of, from Frankin's hardcore cardio training to Arlovski's 8 egg and steak breakfasts. Plus! Grabbing big eye fulls of the host & gorgeous octagon girl Rachelle Leah will also ensure your attention is at a high level for 30 mins!

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

UFC MMA Tito Ortiz Spike TV Rachelle Leah

Ultimate Fight Night some quick thoughts...

The latest installment of Ultimate Fight Night was exciting with a couple favorites going down hard. TUF 2 heavyweight champion Rashad Evans completely dominates TUF season one light heavy runner up Stephan Bonnar for a full 3 rounds and gets the easy decision.

Crowd pleaser and iron chinned Chris Leben had his 5 Octagon win streak ended and goes down hard, getting knocked out in 49 seconds of round one to UFC newcomer Anderson Silva.

Silva may be new to the UFC but he's no MMA rookie, the Pride and Shooto veteran sports a solid 16-4 MMA record. I look forward to more exciting fights from Silva in the future.

Another favorite of mine Luke Cummo, loses by decision after 3 hard fought rounds against Canadian Jonathan Goulet. Most of the fight he spent on his back fending off Goulet's elbows and strikes. Late in the 3rd it looked as though Luke may pull out a submission victory with a rear naked choke, but Goulet was able to pry Luke's hands apart and the round was over moments later.

Between the TUF 3 Finals, UFN, and the up coming UFC 61 my brain will be on fight overload!

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

UFC Ultimate Fight Night MMA Mixed Marial Arts Stephan Bonnar Rashad Evans Chris Leben Anderson Silva Luke Cummo Jonathan Goulet

TUF 3 Finals, thoughts & predictions

The TUF 3 finale is this Saturday and it's time for some thoughts and analysis on the two fights for the contracts; Ed Herman vs Kendall Grove and Michael Bisping vs Josh Haynes.

First lets look at Ed and Kendall... A lot of commentators have been saying don't judge Ed by the fights you saw during the show, which I was not impressed with. Really, if you look at the guys he fought Rory ended up being an uptight prissy in the ring as well as the house and Danny who does have some potential just didn't have the skill set to win against Ed and was outmatched.

A closer look at Ed's fight history reveals a modest 10 and 3 record (Sherdog) most telling though is that all 3 losses came via submissions. That could bode badly for Ed against the lanky Kendall who has won the majority of his professional fights via submission. By the same token Ed is also a good submission fighter in his own right and won via submission 6 times out of 10 wins.

With all that being said I find this fight hard to call, I believe both fighters are evenly matched. In the end I'm going with Kendall for the win via strikes/tko either late in the 2nd or early in the 3rd round. I think Kendall's height and reach advantage along with some great kicking ability will be the deciding factor in this fight.

Now for Michael and Josh... Josh was definitely the sleeper fighter of this competition. I wasn't too sure what to think of him at first as he just didn't seem to fit in that fighter "mold" that we are all accustomed to.

But once he did the interview prior to his first fight against Tait Fletcher where he poured his heart about why he's there doing this, and what he's fighting for I gained a ton of respect for him. Josh fights his heart out for his family, particularly for his son Thor who has fought the toughest fight, the one against brain cancer and one he is winning.

I was also impressed with his fight against Fletcher, he just kept at it and at it never gave up and came away with the decision. Despite the fact that Jesse dominated him for all of round one he stayed cool fought of the choke attempts and won the fight early in round two via standing guillotine. This guy has tons heart and simply will not quit.

Michael Bisping is equally impressive but for different reasons. Bisping is the kind of guy that has a clear plan on what he wants to accomplish and will work as hard as he can to meet his goals.

Overall Bisping has the most definitive MMA skill set of any fighter on the show. Training in Jiu Jitsu since the age of eight his ground skills are solid as are his stand up skills. He has the desire, the cardio, and the drive to win the UFC contract.

This fight I find much easier to call. Despite all my positive comments on Josh and my admiration for his heart I believe that Bisping is overall a much better fighter and I can clearly see him winning this fight.

I think this could go one of 2 ways, a full 3 rounds of battle with Bisping getting the decision, or late in the first possibly early in the 2nd round via some kind of submission. I'd be concerned for Josh if it went to submission because I just don't think he'll tap and I could see a broken arm or some torn ligaments that would keep him away from the fight game for several months.

Josh's heart will surely be a factor in this fight but Bisping will get the contract and go on to be one of the elite fighters in the UFC.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)
UFC MMA TUF 3 The Ultimate Fighter Michael Bisping Josh Haynes Kendall Grove Ed Herman

TUF 3 the last 3 semi final fights

2 great episodes last night, lots of laughs and lots of action. I won't get into too much detail over the whole Rory "is gay" thing but man that was some funny stuff, juvenile to be sure but funny none the less. Once we got past the sharpie graffiti on fighters gear, ass crack sweat on the MMA gloves, and pissing in another fighters head gear there were some actual fights.

Team Ortiz is hanging out in the gym and in comes Matt fresh from his stay at the hospital. So they are all filling Matt in on how he won etc. etc. they start mentioning Tait and Kristian when it becomes apparent that Matt hasn't been told that the Dr's won't allow him to continue fighting.

I was a little harsh on Matt before, but you could tell by the look on his face that he was crushed after working so hard. However all is not lost for Matt, after TUF3 finished shooting Matt teamed up with Tito and is now training with him and some other members of TUF3. Check out this post on Ninjashoes MMA forum for more info and some great pics.

So now for the first fight of the night it's Rory Singer vs Ed Herman, both guys can't stand each other and are looking forward to dishing it out in the ring.

Round one was relatively even with the edge going to Ed Herman. Ed takes Rory to the ground shortly after the fight starts and starts working in some elbows and strikes. Rory is doing a good job of defending himself in the first round and is eventually able to stand up and get a takedown on Ed.

Rory only has about a minute and a half of the round left to work in some of his own ground and pound and manages to get a couple strikes in before the round was over but not much. Round 2 starts out with each man trading a couple shots to the head and Ed takes Rory down again. With a constant forearm and or a elbow tip smashing his face, Ed wears Rory's will to fight down to nothing and Rory practically gives up the rear naked choke on a silver platter and taps out moments later.

Next up starting on episode 2 is Josh Haynes vs. Jesse Forbes. The fight gets off to a quick start and the stronger Jesse takes Josh to the ground and quickly gets Josh's back. Jesse is working extra hard to try and sink a choke and once or twice he very nearly succeeds.

Josh is no quitter and he keeps working on the choke defense the whole time and manages to prevent Jesse from locking it in all the way. Josh eventually works his way out from under Jesse and into Jesse's guard but only for a moment when Josh loses position due to a failed leg lock attempt and the round ends.

Jesse is clearly gassed from all the energy he spent trying to put a vice on Josh's head and his arms are very tired. Jesse opens up round 2 by quickly shooting in on Josh. Josh gets his arms around Jesse's neck from the shoot attempt and sinks in a sweet standing guillotine and he's got it locked in tight, moments later Jesse is forced to tap.

I knew that was going to happen to Jesse, he's a good wrestler and an excellent athlete but his lack of MMA experience proved to be his downfall again by getting caught with another submission.

I gotta give it up for Josh, this guy has heart like you won't believe. I think he's the most real fighter on the show. He's not there to get drunk, have a good time, or talk a bunch of shit, he's there to get the contract, and he's there to do it for his family. Nice win Josh....

Ok, so now we have probably the most anticipated fight of the night, the battle of Britain... Michael Bisping vs Ross Pointon.

During the pre-fight interviews Bisping thinks he may try to throw a flying knee on Ross as that is the last thing he'll be expecting. Pointon just can't wait to get in there and starting banging, you know what I mean?

Meanwhile all the other fighters are hanging out downstairs getting drunk, a ketchup and mustard sling fight ensues and food is hurled all about the downstairs area.

On to the fight... The fight opens up with Ross tagging Michael a nice hard right that staggers him a bit. Michaels declares that's the only one that Ross is going to get. Both men continue to move in and out taking shots at each other.

Ross isn't being as effective as he could be because he isn't stepping in and his big punches are missing Bisping's head by 4 and 5 inches. Bisping goes for the shoot but Pointon is able to hold him off.

They each back off a little and Bisping comes in with that flying knee and it works perfectly catching Ross on the temple and sending him staggering backwards. Michael wisely rushes in and finishes Ross off with a flurry of punches that causes the ref to stop the fight.

Michael Bisping is no joke. He has the skills, desire, strength, experience, and conditioning to be an elite fighter in the UFC and I'm looking for him to take the Light Heavy contract against Josh Haynes.

So the Ultimate Fighter 3 finals are set:

Kendall Grove vs. Ed Herman for the middleweight final

And..

Michael Bisping vs. Josh Haynes in the light heavyweight final

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

UFC MMA TUF 3 The Ultimate Fighter Michael Bisping Josh Haynes Ross Pointon Kendall Grove Ed Herman

Good news for UFC fans outside the USA

Starting with UFC 61, UFC On Demand will begin live streaming for all Ultimate Fighting Championship events. I know this will be some welcome news to those fans that live outside the USA or Canada and that either can't get them at all or the events are greatly delayed sometimes for weeks.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)
UFC UFC 61 Ultimate Fighting Championship MMA Mixed Martial Arts

TUF 3 Semi Finals

Wow, where do I start with tonight's episode... The show opens up with Dana coming to the house and treating the guys to a catered dinner which was very cool.

The first surprise of the show was after dinner when Dana brought all the losing fighters back to hang with the guys in the semis. A nice kind of reunion follows but a couple of the guys are a bit dismayed to hear that they are going to hang at the house an help them train, feeling that would be a distraction.

Surprise number 2 was a best of 3 pool game between Tito and Ken for a cool ten grand in cash. Tito was excited to do it apparently he has billiard skills, unfortunately for him Ken smoked him 2 games straight for the 10K.

Later on it's revealed that Matt would not be able to continue due to the injury he suffered to his arm in training and his exhaustion after his "fight" with Mike Nickles. In a strange way I'm glad he's not coming back. Mike could not come back either due to a broken nose and that's probably best...

Now Dana has a dilemma on his hands because he has to bring someone back and his first choice was Tait Fletcher. Shockingly Tait declines the golden opportunity to return because he won't be able to get his head straight before the fight.

Tait said that he had already turned a corner mentally after his close loss to Josh Haynes and didn't think he could be prepared mentally to fight again. I can sort of see what he's saying but if he really wanted this that bad you would get your head straight asap.

So next Dana goes to Kristian Rothaermel and offers him the same deal and again is turned down. If there was anyone in this competition that didn't belong there besides that wuss Noah Inhofer it was Kristian, good riddance.

Well Dana is blown away, but he does have one guy in mind that he knows will take this fight and that is Ross Pointon. Ross immediately jumps at the chance which I think is cool, plus he gets to fight at his more natural weight of 205. I liked Ross from the start and I'm glad to see he's going to get a 2nd chance.

What a great fight tonight too especially after that poor excuse for a MMA fight last week. 1st in the semis is Kendall Grove vs. Kalib Starnes.

This is how 2 guys fight and leave it all in the ring! Round one was fairly even but I'd have to give the edge to Kalib for the big slam and generally having the control in round one. But it was close, Kendall is no joke and he held his own despite Kalib's persistence.

Round 2 was a turning point for Kendall, Kalib got him down a couple times but Kendall fought his way thru the take downs and returned some punishment on Kalib in a big way with some big kicks, knees, and punches. At the end of round 2 Kalib is complaining that his rib is injured and Kendall immediately takes notice of that.

Round 3 Kendall comes out hard and strong and goes to work right away on Kalib's injured ribs. Kalib shoots in for a take down and the ref breaks them up prepared to deduct a point from Kalib for continuing to grab Kendall's shorts. It's at this point that Kalib verbally signals that he can't continue due to the rib injury.

Kendall gets the win and will now move on to the finals June 24th for a chance to be the ultimate fighter. I thinks thats great I like Kendall, you gotta give it up to him, he stuck in there took some big shots but never gave up. Dagger!!!!

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

UFC Ultimate Fighter TUF 3 Kendall Grove Kalib Starnes Dana White Ken Shamrock Tito Ortiz

New heavyweight fight matchup added to UFC 61

The UFC has added a heavyweight fight to the card at UFC 61 Gilbert Aldana vs. Cheick Kongo. I have to admit I know very little about either fighter other than what I've been able to glean from fight stats published on the internet.

Gilbert Aldana is coming off a tough loss to Paul Buentello in UFC 57 where he lost the fight by TKO at 2:27 in round 2. Most of Aldana's experience comes from Rage in The Cage where he was undefeated prior meeting up with Buentello.

Cheick Kongo is a relatively un-known fighter here in the US and has done most of his fighting in Holland with the Rings Holland organization where he holds a 7-2 & 1 MMA record.

Both men seem to be solid fighters with big punches and this promises to be an exciting fight.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

MMA Mixed Martial Arts UFC 61 Ultimate Fighting Championship

Chuck Liddell vs. Renato Sobral at UFC 62

According to the UFC 60 recap in Sundays Boston Herald article, it seems to be confirmed that light heavyweight titleholder Chuck Liddell will be squaring off against Renato "Babalu" Sobral at UFC 62 on August 26th for the belt.

Hopefully Sobral will fare better then their last meeting on 11-22-02 at UFC 40 where Babalu took a brutal kick to the head from Chuck at 2:55 in round one and was knocked out.

That same kick is the one that you see during the opening sequence of every UFC Unleashed and is one the great fight highlights ever.

I really think Chuck has Sobral's number and that he will again prove his dominance at 205 with another win. It will be interesting to watch the build up to this fight as the summer progresses.

See my previous post on this subject here.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)
UFC Chuck Liddell Renato Sobral
UFC 62 Ultimate Fighting Championship MMA

TUF 3 Matt Hamill VS. Mike Nickles

I just finished watching the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter and that had to be the gayest fight I've ever seen in my life. My fricken wife could have beat Matt's ass that's how bad this was.

I swear I thought Mike was deaf, if he had only listened to his coach and his team mates he could have won this fight. All it seemed Mike was capable of was throwing these wild windmill type punches with head down and his eyes closed...?

I can't be the only person that thought this fight was weak. Matt is supposed to be some kind of Olympic caliber wrestler and he can't hang for 10 mins with out getting faint and feeling like he was going to puke?

I am sorely disappointed in this fight even my wife was like "What the hell is this?!" That being said I can only agree with the decision even though this fight was "sloppy" as Dana White put it, Matt clearly got in way more strikes than Mike did and I grudgingly admit he deserved the decision.

Neither man should be proud of that fight...

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Brandon Vera... Walking the walk and backing it all up.

I have to admit I've been more impressed with Brandon Vera than any of the new up and comer fighters I've seen lately. This guy has a stated goal to be the first fighter to hold the Heavy and Light Heavyweight belts in the UFC, and damn if it doesn't look like he could do it.

He's rolling right over guys that are 20, 30, 40 pounds heavier than he is and his most recent win in UFC 60 over Assuerio Silva is more proof that this guy has everything it takes to get a title shot.

Can you imagine the possible title fight scenarios? Vera VS. Sylvia (or Arlovski), Vera VS. Liddell Wow! I'll be first in line for that PPV!

The Washington Post has a great article on Vera today, check it out Here.

You can also check out Brandon's website here: Brandon Vera

And he has a cool blog with video you can see here: Brandon Vera Blog

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

New MMA Fanatics Logo

I have to give props to my friend Scott for making up this logo for my MMA blog he's quite the photoshop genius. Thanks Buddy! You can check out his blog here: From The Mind of a Zombie

Mike Kyle on national suspension list for kicking a downed fighter

On May 5th the World Extreme Cagefighting organization held an event in Lemoore CA. One of the matchups at that fight was Mike Kyle vs. Brian Olsen. During the fight Olsen had slipped over the back of Kyle and landed on the ground on all fours, Kyle promptly delivered a hell of a kick right to Olsen's face!

Unfortunately I had missed the fight on the 5th as I was out of town but I had a chance to see the event replayed on HD NET this past weekend and view the fight that I had heard so much about.

As most of us are aware kicking a downed fighter in the head is prohibited in just about every MMA organization. Kicks to the legs and body are generally allowed in most places.

It was shocking to see Kyle take this action and when ref Josh Rosenthal stepped in to stop the fight Kyle kept pounding away and Rosenthal had to be assisted by Herb Dean to pull Kyle off of Olsen.

Well the California State Athletic Commission voted on May 26th to indefinitely suspend Kyle's license to fight in CA. Furthermore the WEC has also suspended Kyle from competing in any of their events and he has been put on the national suspension list.

I would suspect that was the last event Mike Kyle will ever have in the US as he has had trouble previously with accusations of "Dirty fighting". And good riddance too...

These are the type of actions that give MMA a bad name and provide ammo to it's detractors. Combat sports have come a long way in the last 10 years and morons like Mike Kyle that can't follow rules have no place within it's future.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Another fantastic UFC event last night.

Well the torch has been officially passed, after last nights UFC 60 it's clear that the new era of UFC fighters are a step above those from the early 90's.

I expected the Matt Hughes vs Royce Gracie fight to go at least 2 rounds and I was a bit surprised at the utter domination Matt had over Royce. I was not surprised that the fight ended in a TKO ref stoppage, I expected that, just not in such an overwhelming fashion.

As I stated in my previous post this Hughes win certainly locks Matt in as the most dominant welterweight in UFC history.

I don't want to take anything away from Royce, he hung in there way beyond any other fighter would have under the same circumstances. I thought for sure that he would have to tap with the pressure Matt was applying to his arm yet if you saw the look on his face it wasn't any different than how he would look relaxing in a comfortable armchair. That's a testament to his toughness, he simply would not submit.

The remainder of the card also featured some great fights. Mike "Quick" Swick again lived up to his name by taking out Joe Riggs by guillotine choke 2:19 in round one.

Brandon Vera was able to quickly take out Brazilian big man Assuerio Silva by also utilizing a guillotine choke 2:39 in round one. Brandon just looks better and better each time he fights, could there be an eventual title fight against light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell? Time will tell.

Up and comer Melvin Guillard just about took Las Vegas native Rick Davis' head off with a crushing overhand right that sent Davis to the mat like a ragdoll at 1:37 of round one.

All in all it was great show now it's time to wait for UFC 61 Bitter Rivals July 8th.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

It's finally here... UFC 60 airs tonight.

What has to be the most highly anticipated and hotly debated Ultimate Fighting Championship event will take place in just a matter of hours... UFC 60 Matt Hughes VS. Royce Gracie.

How much more can be said about a fight between UFC legend Royce Gracie and 8 time welterweight champion Matt Hughes that hasn't already been discussed?

This matchup promises to be a UFC milestone to be sure. If Gracie wins this fight it can only elevate him further in a sport where he is already a legend. If Hughes wins this fight it will cement him as the most prolific welterweight of his time and in UFC history.

Now it's time for my fight prediction, this is going to be tricky but I've given it a lot of thought...

This is going to be a good fight regardless, I believe that Matt is going to press the standup game hard and will stay at arms length to avoid having the fight go to the ground. If Hughes can get in some good shots on Royce and actually hurt him then Gracie is going to lose this fight. Royce does not like to be hit and he does not like to be hurt, nor is he used to experiencing that in a fight.

Royce will attempt to get this fight to the ground as quickly as he can which will be his best bet as that is his best game. Equally deadly on bottom or on top if the fight stays on the ground the edge must go to Gracie.

Ultimately I believe this fight will be called late in the 2nd round or early 3rd round as a TKO win for Matt Hughes.

With all the hoopla surrounding Matt and Royce some great matchups have been lost in the back ground.

Joe Riggs VS. Mike Swick promises to be an entertaining matchup, I think we are going to see a little bit more than 30 or 40 seconds of Swick in this fight against the likes of Riggs.

Another intriguing matchup that I'm looking forward to is Brandon Vera VS. Assuerio Silva. Vera has been on an impressive run and will have his hands full with the hard hitting Silva tonight.

It going to be a great show! 90 minutes to go!

Post fight comments to follow tomorrow.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

TUF 3 Ed Herman VS. Danny Abaddi short & sweet.

Finally this week we got to see the whiskey drinking Ed Herman show his stuff in the octagon. Ed finally got his wish this week to have a fight against a team Ortiz member after being "slighted" by Tito when teams were picked.

Representing team Ortiz was the quiet karate instructor Danny Abaddi. Actually turns out Danny is a bit of a talker and story teller as some of the scenes with his housemates show.

Once the fight is made both fighters start making preparations for meeting each other and Danny suffers a low back injury. Danny has to keep leaving the house for therapy appointments and that makes for a lot of speculation among the remaining fighters back at the house.

So now it's fight day and the fight opens up with both guys trading some jabs. Danny catches Ed with a nice right that staggers him Danny then goes into the clinch and they back up to the fence.

Ed gets Danny to the mat within a few moments enters his guard and starts working in some elbows and punches. Danny for the most part is able to defend himself pretty well from the guard and that helps to mitigate Ed's effort somewhat but he is taking damage.

Danny makes a move to roll out from under Ed and leaves his arm wide open. Ed promptly secures it, lays the armbar in deep and Danny quickly taps.

While Ed dominated the fight I certainly didn't see anything in that performance that backs up all the talking he does about how great he is. Perhaps we'll see what Ed really has when he fights next in the semis I'll be interested to see what he can do.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Getting fired up for UFC 60 Hughes vs. Gracie

Like us MMA fans couldn't be anymore stoked and ready for this weekends Ultimate Fighting event when along comes the UFC 60 countdown show. Yes, there will be a preview show on Spike tonight at 10. Don't forget to tune in!

If your like me you'll be pretty fired up after watching an hour highlighting some of the best fights of Matt Hughes and Royce Gracie. Between UFC 60 and 4 day holiday weekend I'm going to be heaven! Thank god my wife likes the UFC and doesn't get pissed by the extra $40 on the cable bill each month.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

UFC On Demand beta now available

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has launched it's new beta version of On Demand fights. This is really cool! There is a large selection of fights to browse, individual fights appear to be $1.99 or you can choose the monthly $9.99 option for unlimited DVD quality downloads.

Have a look here: UFC On Demand

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

IFL Debut, a new era in Mixed Martial Arts?

Just finished watching the International Fight League TV debut on FSN and it was very entertaining. Tonight's match featured Team Anaconda led by Bas Rutten vs. The Silverbacks coached by Pat Miletich.

There were 5 fights on the card for the inaugural event. One of the more notable match ups of the event was Bart Palaszewski vs. John Shackelford in the lightweight category.

Round one went down with Palaszewski pressing the action with good striking and being the aggressor for the entire round. Round 2 opened up with more of the same and as the seconds ticked by I got the clear impression that Shackelford was outmatched by the more experienced Palaszewski.

Palaszewski kept coming on hard and caught Shackelford with a right uppercut followed closely by a left hook that sent Shackelford to the mat for the KO and a win for the Silverbacks.

Another good (and short) fight was between Welterweight fighters Mike Pyle for the Anacondas and Rory Markham for the Silverbacks.

Rory came in strong and had Pyle on the defensive immediately. Markham then landed a nice right hand sending Pyle down, Rory quickly took advantage of the knockdown and commenced pounding Pyle for a moment before the fight was stopped by the referee. Markham and the Silverbacks ended the night with a decisive victory that should have the other team Welteweights thinking.

Overall a great opening event for the International Fight League and team based MMA, I'll definitely be tuning in for more. Stay tuned for more IFL fights on 5-28 & 6-4 set your Tivo's and DVR's!

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

International Fight League kicks off tonight on FSN

The IFL makes it's TV debut tonight on FSN, 6 pm for those of us on the east coast. See the story here: IFL

I've been looking forward to the start if the International Fight League for a few months now and I hope to see some great fights. It will also be interesting to see how the league format works out as well. Check back later for my post event thoughts and comments.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Tait Fletcher vs Josh Haynes on TUF3 last night

Great fight on TUF3 last night. It was hard to know who to root for as I like Tait, but I'm giving props to Josh for his passioned commitment to his family and the sport. And I was glad to see him get the decision.

Now as far as the decision is concerned... Clearly after 2 rounds this fight was a draw and I share the same opinion as Dana White that this fight should have gone to a 3rd and deciding round. With so much at stake for each fighter that opportunity should have been given.

But, MMA is a fickle sport sometimes and thats why fighters always want the tap out or knock out instead of letting the judges shape your destiny. I'm looking forward to what Josh will do in the semis's.

Lots of bitching to due to the return of Jesse which I think was a poor decision by TUF. If it was me I would have brought Solomon back. I think Hutcherson brought alot more to the table than Jesse who will most likely get pounded again at his next fight.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Ortiz will fight Shamrock in July & TUF 3 thoughts...

I was making the rounds of some fighter sites and Tito Ortiz.com is saying that Tito will fight Ken Shamrock in July (UFC 61?) Apparently Tito is recovering from some stretched knee ligaments and a bulging disc suffered during TUF3 filming and aggravated from his fight with Forrest Griffin.

I don't think that would change the outcome of the fight though. Slightly injured or healed I'm afraid Tito is going to have his way with Ken yet again, and then Ken should retire. He's a UFC legend and a great ambassador for the sport but he just doesn't have that same edge anymore.

Quite frankly after seeing Ken on TUF3 I don't get the same warm and fuzzy feeling I had before I saw him on there. His coaching style leaves a lot to be desired, he seems aimless, and can't keep his team morale up. It seems I should have expected more from a guy of his Caliber.

Despite some complaining from the team about favoritism and training injuries I was very surprised by what an excellent coach Tito is. He's attentive, enthused and genuinely interested in having the winning team and advancing the skills of each fighter. I thought he was going to be a bit more of a punk based on his Octagon antics but he's been great to watch.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

International Fight League to air on FSN this month.

I'm sure that most all of the serious MMA fans have heard of the International Fight League. A new organization that is team based with 5 fighters to a team and 8 teams all together.

Coached by the likes of Pat Miletich, Bas Ruten, Maurice Smith and Renzo Gracie it promises to be an exciting new way to view the sport of mixed martial arts.

I have been looking forward to seeing some of these fights for quite a while now and it looks like they are ready for TV. Taped events will be shown on Fox Sports Net beginning on May 21st.

Get all the details here

Courtesy of International Fight League.com

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Download MMA fights right to your desktop for Free here

Was surfing the Sherdog.com forums Monday when I noticed this guy had his MMA forum linked in his sig line stating that there were various fights that could be downloaded to your PC.

Here is the link: Ninjashoes MMA Forum

There is a long list of links posted there with various fight titles, lots of old school Ultimate Fighting Championship fights, some Pride fights and a couple other organizations as well.

Only about half the links work unfortunately, but I was still able to DL a bunch of great fights and will be grabbing a few more to make some DVD's. The links that are on megaupload.com almost all of those are fine but none of the rapidshare.de links seem to work so don't waste your time.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

The latest Ultimate Fighter episode...

I've been away from this blog for a few days due to a death in the family and I was out of town since Saturday last week. Upon my return I have gone to my DVR and caught up on my TUF 3 episode and I feel compelled to share my feelings here regarding Noah Inhofer.

I can't believe what a pussy this guy is... Here you are, with a shot at a 6 figure contract in the UFC, and your going to give that up over some broad that you've been dating for 6 months!?!

Give me a break, this, "I think you cheated on me" kind of BS is from fricken high school and Noah is supposed to be a "grown man"... yeah right.

And what kind of girl supposedly so in love with him, would ruin his chance of making the big time over this kind of childish crap? Did you see Tito's face when he got the news? What a riot! He was totally floored that Noah would leave over this.

Hope it worth it Noah... See Ya!

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

UFC News & Tidbits

Lots and lots of exciting UFC fight news out there! Besides Hughes vs Gracie there is alot of talk about the proposed rubber match title fight between Arlovski and Sylvia.

It's been rumored/reported that Arlovski and Sylvia will have a rubber match at UFC 61. That's a quick turnaround between fights, but I'd love to see it none the less!

No knock on Sylvia but Arlovski is my man and I doubt he'll let himself get caught a 2nd time with Tim's meaty right hand. Where as Sylvia has been dropped 2 times with almost identical rights from Arlovski in their past 2 fights.

See my previous fight analysis on Arlovski/Sylvia from UFC 59 here. And my post fight thoughts here.

Sylvia actually requested this fight, he wants a successful title defense against Arlovski to silence the critics that he just "got lucky" and is a legitimate champion... We'll see.

From what I've read it sounds like Forrest Griffin may be taking on Ken Shamrock in place of Tito Ortiz due to injury. Wow, that will be a hell of a fight!

Lots of rumors surrounding Tito as well. There has been talk that he may retire, and some other talk that he has NOT pulled out of the Shamrock fight no one really knows for sure.

We'll find out in the next month or so...

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Who's next for Chuck Liddell?

Many think it will be the man in this picture, Renato "Babalu" Sobral considered by most to be the number one contender in the UFC for the heavyweight belt.

The last time these two men met in the octagon was 11-22-02 at UFC 40. Chuck knocked Babalu out at 2:55 in round one with a devastating headkick that has made all the UFC highlight reels since and is included in the opening to UFC Unleashed.

Sobral's last 3 appearances in the UFC have all been wins. An armbar submission over Travis Wiuff at UFC 52, triangle choke over Chael Sonnen UFC 55, and rear naked choke over Mike Van Arsdale UFC 57.

My early prediction if this fight is put on.... another crushing knockout of Babalu is all I can see. Babalu is good but he's not up to beating Liddell just yet.

Look for this fight to probably be sometime in August at UFC 62.

Mike
(MMA fanatic)

UFC 60 Hughes vs Gracie interactive website

When perusing the UFC.com site this morning I noticed that they have a special interactive site setup for a preview of UFC 60 and it is very cool. If you haven't seen it yet you can check it out here: UFC 60

I spent at least an hour this morning watching the previews and checking out the interactive interviews with Matt Hughes, Royce Gracie and Dana White, this thing kicks ass!

Listening to Matt and Royce discuss their individual fight plans I find that they are much as I had speculated in my previous post.

Matt intends to keep this fight standing up and beat Royce with effective striking. Royce plans on working his game patiently to get Hughes to the ground and sink in some kind of submission.

The build up to this fight is going to be intense and I think this fight will be one for the record books.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Matt Hughes VS. Royce Gracie... Too tough to call?

With about a month to go until this fight there certainly is a lot of speculation about who is going to win. I'm kind of torn on this one to be honest and I think this fight is evenly matched overall and will be just about impossible to pick a winner.

I'm an old school MMA fan from the mid-90's and got the fever watching Royce choke out Dan Severn after almost 40 minutes of grappling action. Just the other night Spike ran a Royce Gracie special highlighting some of his notable (Aren't they all?) wins from the very first couple of Ultimate Fighting Championship events.

Initially I was pretty confident that Matt Hughes was going to handle Royce fairly easily, but after watching that special I am not so sure as I was.

Royce was in his late 20's when the UFC and he got their start, and at that time he was clearly an accomplished master in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and submissions. Things get better with time and I suspect this is also the case with Royce Gracie.

Now, after more than 10 years since his last UFC fight I would have to think that Royce is near God like with his BJJ skills. Matt Hughes is certainly going to have his hands full when he steps into the octagon especially with 3 of his 4 losses coming via submission.

Hughes is going to have to come out strong and avoid the takedown at all costs which will be easier said than done. He's going to need his impressive strength to keep this fight standing and if he can get a few nice shots in on Royce early he'll have a much better chance of ending up with the win.

Royce will also be fighting without a gi (forget the rumors) and I believe that will also work against him. Once these guys start sweating, getting some traction for a submission gets harder and harder and with no gi to provide some friction Gracie will have to contend with that as well.

My final amateur analysis... =))

On top or on bottom, if it goes to the ground early I'm looking for Royce to win. If Matt can use the sprawl and his strength to keep the fight on their feet watch for a Hughes win.

Only a month until we find out, I can hardly wait....

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Well, as evidenced by last nights bouts, fight prediction is a fickle science. An excellent UFC event overall with some really good fights, needless to say I was suprised at some of the outcomes.

First Griffin and Ortiz... What a great fight, 2 fierce and determined guys leaving it all in the ring. Round 1 I found myself thinking the worst while Tito had Forrest down on the mat applying his patented ground an pound and landing elbow after elbow. Those elbows eventually opened up a couple nice cuts on Griffin's forehead and near his eye that bled like crazy.

Right near the end of round one Forrest breaks away from Tito and gets back to his feet with a quick flurry of punches to let Tito know he was still in the fight. Right about here I'm comming up out of my chair cause this fight is about to get really exciting.

Round 2 was dominated by Forrest who seemed to get into his "groove" and was landing alot of nice punches. I was struck by difference in Tito from round 1, Forrest was able to negate all of Tito's takedown attempts with an excellent sprawl and enforced his will the entire round.

Come to find out after the fight that Tito was fighting with a knee injury and disc problem with his back. I think he gave up a lot of gas that first round after dishing out almost a full 5 mins of on the ground punishment, probably with the thought of putting Forrest away in round 1.

Round 3 started much the same as round 2 with Forrest pressing the action and Tito being stiffled with his takedown attempts. Round 3 could have gone to Forrest were it not for a successfull takedown by Ortiz.

Tito was finally able to get Forrest to the ground about two thirds of the way thru the round. Although Forrest was able defend himself well from his guard this ultimately tipped the scales in Tito's favor with the judges and he got the decision.

Kick Ass fight overall, I love Forrest Griffin he really makes every fight as exciting as it can be.

On to Arlovski vs. Sylvia. Wow! What can you say about this fight, I was all for Arlovski so this was a dissaponting one for me to watch. First 90 seconds or so both fighters are trading and landing some punches. Then Arlovski catches Sylvia with a sweet right hand right on the button and drops Sylvia. Arlovski moves in to capitalize and 5 seconds later Sylvia catches Arlovski with a sweet right and drops him. Sylvia jumps in for the kill and lays a half dozen punches to Arlovski's head at which point the ref calls the fight.... bummer.

I am happy for Sylvia he did bust his ass with a single minded determination and you gotta respect him for that.

Thats it for today, keep checking back for more ramblings and amateur MMA analysis.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Welcome fellow MMA Fanatics. With UFC 59: Reality Check only hours away I decided today would be a fine day to start an MMA blog... and here we are.

As the name of my Blog would indicate I am an MMA fanatic. I got hooked on Ultimate Fighting Championship back in the mid 90's but as a lot of people are aware it was difficult to find quality MMA programming on cable and pay per view, which sucked.

Since MMA has come back huge the last few years I find that I can't get enough! Be it UFC, WEC, Pride etc. I love it all.

I've really been looking forward to tonight's UFC event, there are some Kick Ass fights on the card tonight. I'm going to give my predictions on the 2 biggest fights tonight: Arlovski vs. Sylivia for the Heavyweight Title and Griffin vs. Ortiz.

For the titlefight I'm going with Arlovski. Andrei Arlovski is the more well rounded fighter overall and has the superior submissions skills as evidenced from his last win over Sylivia in Feb. of 2005 by Achilles lock at 47 seconds of the first round.

Of course you can't discount Sylvia's heart, immense strength, and devastating striking, this fight has all the hallmarks of great battle.

Griffin and Ortiz I find much harder to call as this is a very evenly matched fight in my opinion. Both fighters are excellent strikers, grapplers, and each man has tremendous heart. I give the edge in experience to Ortiz while Griffin has the iron determination.

Ultimately I find myself choosing Griffin as the winner of this bout. Unless either man makes a serious mistake I can see this going all 3 rounds for a judges decision.

Thanks for stopping by, check back for my post fight comments later this weekend.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)