Help, humor, hope and healing for the brokenhearted and hurting. Author April Lorier assists victims of abuse in finding their way back to God's love and acceptance. April's blog is a humorous, helpful resource for seekers of emotional and spiritual growth.
Danzig v Bocek: This fight was more exciting than I expected it to be, mainly because I had no idea whether Bocek was any good.Turns out he is.I?m not sure if I agree with the commentators that he?s an amazing BJJ guy because, even in the first round, his most victorious, he kept putting himself in poor positions.
Obviously, in the last two rounds that Danzig dominated, poor positioning is a little more understandable, but it almost seemed like he was overly worried about getting hit, which made it easier to distract him while Danzig took up superior positions.
Danzig?s good, but I?m not sure how soon or if he?ll ever get a shot at the top guys (arguably Penn and Sherk right now) because there are so many talented 155 guys in the UFC, not to mention those outside the organization.He did well in this fight, but I think he has a long road ahead to become serious contender.Despite being a vegan-hippie, I like Mac much more than the singer with the same surname.
Bisping v McCarthy: Bisping has kind of a big mouth, but he?s English and they love that ?banter.?I thought McCarthy made a decent point about Bisping being fed lower-tier guys so that he helps the UFC grow in the UK, but McCarthy did nothing to change that point.
I would?ve figured that if I?m fighting a striker with questionable ground skills (see Lutter v Franklin), I?d do my best to get him on the mat and work from there.This was confirmed the one time McCarthy took him down and almost had the armbar within two seconds.
The problem is that covering up and then taunting your opponent isn?t a gameplan, it?s waiting to get your head kicked in.Bisping looks better at this weight and it?s certainly one in which he can have more success, but it?s difficult to determine whether he?s any good considering most of his opponents.And even with his increased quickness he isn?t on the same planet as the champ.
Quarry v Starnes: Easily the most boring fight, but it did make me realize one thing: apparently, I am a UFC-caliber fighter.I can run away from someone for 12 minutes.
Canadians are pretty laid-back folk, so you have to be kind of a douche to get them to turn on you, but Starnes someone managed to do it.And to top it off, he then calls out one of Quarry?s corner men (?Fuck you, you come out here and fight faggot? or something like that), a questionable time to trash-talk.I hope he?s sealed his fate in the UFC because everyone I know would rather stick fire ants up their buttholes than watch him ?fight? in the ring again.
I just don?t get.What was his gameplan?I was praying to the MMA gods that he was just trying to frustrate and fatigue Quarry until the third round and then go for a submission.Kind of the way the Diaz brothers and Minotauro fight, except replace getting punched in the face with running away, but Starnes is not a submission specialist.
Quarry looked ready to go and like he?s evolved his fighting style, so I hope the UFC gives him a decent opponent.Soon.
Franklin v Lutter: Lutter might?ve had the best line of the night in the pre-fight interview, ?I was dominating Silva?right up until he won.?
Also, Nickelback, are you fucking serious?Canada has apologized numerous times for inflicting that band on the world.Was Lutter trying to ingratiate himself to America?s hat?Why not wear a Mounties suit, a maple leaf hat, and drink some syrup?Maybe walk in with a bottle of Molson and a hockey stick?
His attitude made it pretty sweet to see Franklin not only punch his head in, but spin out of the armbar.It looked like Franklin was done, but he must?ve felt that Lutter didn?t have control of his hand and rolled out.
That counter seemed to demoralize Lutter.Similar to the Bisping fight, it was like Lutter thought to himself, ?well, that was my chance and I lost it.Game over.?
The problem is that Franklin isn?t getting another shot at Anderson Silva, so his next fight will probably be Henderson, but after that who does he fight?Oh, well that?s something for the UFC to sort out.You could tell that Franklin worked on his take-down and submission defenses and unlike GSP, Lutter did exactly what was expected.
GSP v Serra: I, like everyone else (though not according to the text message polling- how many cellphones are in Long Island?), thought GSP would win.For me the surprising aspect was how dominant he was in every facet of the fight.
He took Serra down at-will, used his striking effectively, and never let Serra breath whether GSP was in his guard (which was passed multiple times with ease) or side-control.
Like me, I think Serra was expecting the fight to stay standing for awhile and neither he nor his coaches knew how to adjust.You could hear it in the break between rounds; they had no idea what GSP was going to do next.
Most importantly, I think GSP is quickly confirming himself as the standard-setter in MMA.Make no mistake, I agree that Fedor and Anderson Silva are both better pound-for-pound fighters, but GSP is at least five years younger and a better athlete.He?ll probably have to fight a couple of challengers at 170, but those challengers in the UFC are poor-man versions of him.Hopefully, within the next two years, we?ll get to see him fight either BJ Penn or Silva or both.
If either of those fights happens, I will happily sell the rights to my first born to see them in person.
I'm generally kind of terrible at making predictions. If my predictions were an NBA record I'd be a 4 or 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, but planning my summer getaways if I was in the West. With that in mind (and the fact that the fights start in half an hour and I still haven't gone to Dunkin Donuts), I'm only going predict the big fight:
GSP v Serra: I'm not exactly going out on a limb here by picking GSP to win, but I do think I'm going against the general consensus that GSP is going to bull through Serra. There are two reasons for this:
1. GSP has a game-plan and it doesn't consist of keeping Serra on the ground because Serra is a legit black-belt and that isn't going to be a place where GSP can land any kind of submission. In Serra's guard definitely favors the little New Yorker because his arms and legs are approximately 12 inches long. GSP will stay on the outside and jab, go in and get out, which is what he didn't do the first time. If he catches Serra or sees Serra starting to fatigue, he smother him, but GSP won't go in prior.
2. For all the questioning of his mental toughness, GSP is arguably the ideal makeup you would want in a modern day mixed martial artist. He got manhandled the last time, so what did he do? He went to a professional to get his head right and he completely revamped his training because he realized that talent alone wasn't going to make him the best. At 26, he's making adjustments that another supremely talented fighter didn't make until years later. This means that the sloppiness that was exposed in the first Serra fight is non-existent, he's stronger and more experienced, and he has the backing of the hometown. I've read a few places that the home crowd might force GSP to feel the pressure to perform, but he seems much too disciplined to breakaway from his gameplan, which isn't something I would've said a couple of years ago.
Those two rambling paragraphs can be summed up like this: GSP has a gameplan and he has evolved as a fighter.
Based on both of those points, I'm predicting that the fight'll be stopped in the late third or early fourth round. Serra doesn't look quite as fit as I've seen previous times and knowing that all the pressure is on the Canadian might (and I emphasize might) have influenced his training.
I'll watch the other fights, but none of them seem too enthralling. I'll still right up a review once they're finished and hopefully I can ramble, turn on my caps lock key, and quit using punctuation as I fellate UFC 83 with my typing.
Jesus, where does all the time go? I've been missing out on posting about UFN 13, Butterbean's hilarious fight in YAMMA, and the new season of the Ultimate Fighter. Why? I'd like to say it's because I'm lazy and all of these hot chicks keep wanting to hook up with me and then go get me Chipotle afterwards, but the truth is...I've been busy. Like too busy to even point out that Arianny Celeste is my new favorite person in all of mixed martial arts. I had a professor that looked a lot like Arianny, but she was kind of crazy and I'm not sure if that's good or not...
Anyway, I don't know where I was going with that, but you should totally look her up because she's way hotter than your mom and make not mistake, your mom is HOT. Then, go check out Butterbean v Pat Smith at: http://www.mmascraps.com/2008/04/butterbean-vs-pat-smith-video-yamma-pit.html
It's short and you will not regret it. I actually kind of like the Yamma set-up, it makes pushing your opponent up against the cage less of an asset and also allows the subservient fighter more of an opportunity to better his position. It looks effing huge though, so some guys might get tired just from running to meet in the middle of the ring.
I am definitely watching GSP v Serra this weekend because I think it'll be a much closer fight than a lot of people are giving Serra credit for. I still think GSP will win because he learns from his mistakes and moves on, but I don't think he'll demolish Serra the way he did Matt Hughes. But then again, it'd be kind of awesome for an American to go up to America Jr. and whip their golden boy right in front of those snooty French-wannabes. Then Serra can end every sentence of his victory speech with "eh" and say "aboot" instead of "about."
Well I was planning on writing about Dream since I was really excited about the JZ v Aoki fight and it would give me a chance to brush up on my Japanese, which, now that I no longer watch Voltron, is admittedly rusty. Then it was pointed out to me that Aoki is basically a little girl.
In college, I played soccer with a guy who was aptly nicknamed "Pinup" because of his fondness for getting up two hours earlier than everyone else so that he could take his time in the shower and then primp to his heart's content afterwards while everyone else was still passed out. If you were to pick a player on our team to do an advert for adidas, you'd go with Pinup because he looked the part. When there was no pressure on him or anyone aggressive around, he looked like the best player on the team. The problem was that he would disappear at the first signs of aggression and react to getting tapped like someone had just shoved bottle rockets up his nostrils. Aoki is the Pinup of MMA.
I couldn't really tell you who the other fighters were because, and I'm totally not lying, I don't speak or read any Japanese. There were a couple of decent fights, but I couldn't really tell who won, only that there was ample evidence that the UFC definitely doesn't have the monopoly in terms of quality fighters.
In regards to the WEC, I was really only looking forward to two fights and one of them wasn't televised because it ended after an illegal knee by Alessio. The other one was "good vs. evil" Marshall v. Stann. I was actually surprised that it ended the way it did. Not that Stann knocked him out, but that it happened so quickly. Plus, before the replay, Marshall looked like he was "intelligently defending" himself when Herb Dean stopped the fight, but when they showed Marshall's reaction after the stoppage it looked like Marshall was grateful for the ref's intervention.
My internet's being a high-maintenance little bitch right now, so I can't load any of the other fights, but it looks like Stann's going to be the one to beat for another year or so until they move him up to the "big leagues."
As I'm sure you can probably tell, 90% of my information regarding MMA comes from the UFC and watching whatever fights I can that are found by much more resourceful people than me. See mmascraps.com and punchkickchoke.blogspot.com
This means that obviously, my top ten will be much more biased than some. Also, I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with my choices because I like being entertained while watching fights. Without much further ado: 1. Fedor Emelianenko: people can argue that he hasn't fought a top-tier fighter in over a year, but fuck that, the guy's already beat most of the best and it's not HIS fault the Couture fight has taken so long materialize. This guy is brutally efficient, moves like a lightweight, and is classy in the way he conducts himself.
2. BJ Penn: I've already written about my love/hate reaction to this guy. He's an awesome teacher, seems like a cool guy to have a beer with, and (on his day) one of the most unstoppable fighters in the world. At the same time, he's kind of lazy and cocky. In the end, there's no one that's overall better in all aspects of the game (outside of arguably #1).
3. Randy Couture: An American institution. Watching Frank Shamrock get knocked out last weekend by a guy named "Buzz" just reaffirms how impressive this guy is, not just at his age, but at any age. Plus, watching him ground-and-pound on Fight Science was slightly more than frightening. Out of all fighters on my list, I think it'd be the greatest honor to meet this guy.
4. Roger Huerta: Sure, he has a kickass record and his fight with Guida was probably one of my favorites of all time, but I'm not sure how high he really ranks in most people's top tens. In a lot of ways, he's the Cormac McCarthy of MMA (stick with me here), utterly relentless once he gets going. It makes for awesome books and awesome fights. I can't urge you enough to read his short bio on ESPN as well.
5. Georges St. Pierre: despite being born to the severe disadvantage of being French Canadian (just kidding America Jr., we love your mounties and syrup), GSP is like a younger and lighter version of Fedor, classy and ruthless. Quick and an unbelievable athlete, his only mild downside is his chin (although I'm sure Serra fans will argue that Serra is just that good...we'll see in a few weeks) and those unfortunate tattoos.
6. Anderson Silva: If you've read previous posts, you'd know that I thought Henderson would win. Silva made him look average. Everyone knows how damn efficient this guy is, but then, as if to emphasize how badass he is, he submits a guy that's only been submitted twice (I think). A dragon could eat my family, set my house on fire, and then take a liquidy, putrid dump on the ashes and I'd still die a happy man if I got to see Silva fight GSP.
7. Minotauro Nogueira: I'm pretty sure he watches Rocky movie before fight, based on his game-plans, but I don't know if I've ever seen someone so effective on the ground. Watching him submit Silvia, it was like Silvia had cement in his limbs compared to how quickly Nogueira moved. punchkickchoke.blogspot.com has (had) a cool video that broke down all the moves leading up to the guillotine.
8. Royce Gracie: He (and all of the Gracies) arguably changed martial arts forever. Even now, it's difficult to find many fighters that don't employ at least some BJJ in their game (Chuck Liddell and...). Even though most of his success can be largely attributed to the fact that no one had any idea what the hell he was doing until they suddenly realized they had to tap out, that doesn't change the fact that at his peak, he put on clinic for close to ten years.
9. Rampage Jackson: I like him as much for his personality as his fighting ability. Now that Couture's done with the UFC, I can't think of a better "face" for the organization. As entertaining in the ring...er, cage as out of it, this guy's a monster. I'm excited to see what kind of teacher he is as well, considering the "improvements" Kongo displayed against Herring (I don't mean that sarcastically), which means the next season of TUF should kickass.
10. Bas Rutten: Honestly, I haven't seen that many of his fights, but if there's one guy I'd prefer to have a beer with other than BJ, it's definitely Bas. I like the story (told by him of course) of Brian Urlacher wanting to fight and then apologizing a few minutes later once some people told him who Bas was and what he did for a living (it was on the Best Damn Sports Show I believe). In addition, he's a hilarious commentator and apparently an awesome coach from what I've heard through the grapevine, which we'll hopefully get to verify once Elite lines Kimbo Slice up with a functional opponent.
7.30 out of 10 (10 Votes)