Lei Tong

A few of the fighter's have been dropping hints to people close to them on who wins the competition, and though none of it is contradictory so far, I dunno how many of them are BS'ing. It's kind of ironic that a pretty small-ish MW like Diego is the juggernaut of his division, but that annoying tard proved why last night. And YPoV...

I think you may be confusing Rafferty with Kenny Florian, who's a BJJ stud and also has lots of no-gi grappling experience as well.

Dunno about the authenticity of what the guy said, but an SD poster claimns that his local newspaper said tonight's fight would be: Josh Rafferty vs. Diego Sanchez, which if true, would lead me to believe Couture's team already got sick of his attitude and fed him to the proverbial wolves.

Forrest Griffin grappling clip

Machida's a good style match-up for BJ, actually. He's more of a counter striker with an average ground game and unspectacular power. No mis-match here.

They were raw when he fought at HW, but he always had decent low-kicks. However, if you saw him at IFC, he outstruck all three of his opponents (Prangley, SHogun, & Horn) and flowed from strikes to takedowns very well.

SPOILERS: Leben's hand (the one missing skin on the knuckle) opens the door in the preview of next week's show.

Trevor prangley lost in South Africa (by JD to a HW), so OF COURSE he's off the upcoming UFC card. He'll be replaced by Joe Riggs.

Thacker was a LHW, so nix that. Sanford was a bit out of shape and nobody seemed to really care about him leaving (rather, caring more that Leben didn't), and Karalexis didn't go out with any sort controversy.

I don't really think they "fed" him to Chuck. Chuck had looked far from invincible in his last few fights before that one, and had never come at an opponent like he did that night. However, everyone pretty much assumed Babalu earned his way back into the UFC with his IFC tournament win, though it's a bit suprising they couldn't find anything for him until now.

HW: 1) Fedor 2) Minotauro 3) Filipovic 4) Arlovski 5) Barnett 6) Mir 7) Sylvia 8) Kharitonov 9) Matyushenko 10) Rizzo LHW: 1) Couture 2) Silva 3) Jackson 4) Liddell 5) Arona 6) Henderson 7) Ortiz 8) Sobral 9) Minotoro 10) Belfort MW: 1) Tanner 2) Horn 3) Terrell 4) Marquardt 5) Lindland 6) Suda 7) Chonan 8) Silva 9) Misaki 10) Gono

Fromd SD: "Today, the California State Athletic Commission voted four to one in favor of sanctioning mixed martial arts, Sherdog.com's Josh Gross reports. The adopted rules are the same as the commission accepted in 2003, which are nearly identical as the rules used in Nevada and New Jersey. Expanded report to follow." Well, that rules.

I wouldn't say none of them belong in the UFC yet. If Diego or Nate can make through each other as well as the other MW's (and possibly the LHW winner), then they'd fare at least decently in the UFC's MW division. Tanner & Lindland are smart yet vulnerable fighters, Franklin's moving back up in weight, & Terrell may be headed back to Pancrase, so they're not exactly going to be facing murderer's row upon entry. Also, IMO Doerkson is better than one would gather from his UFC debut. He (like a lot of people), underestimated how powerful Riggs would be at 185, and paid the price, though trying to outwrestle Diesel was a dumb move regardless.

Well, Diego can take shot, and something tells me the guy's too much of a retard to feel pain anyways. With Nate likely out & Josh being exposed, Diego more or less has the MW division in the bag.

I dunno. Crhis doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would need the threat of harm to motivate to work harder off his back, and if he does... well, then it's his own fault for losing that much more.

Okay, you lost me with the Bruce Lee reference.

I don't necessarily see how Leben would've tried harder vs. Diego. Unlike Koscheck, Sanchez brings good G&P to the game as well as submissions, so if anything Leben would've had more to worry about than being active on the ground. Leben's ground game on his back has always been for the most part to wait for a stand-up and then "smash come cats," and that's probably why he's been controlled on the ground in his last 3 fights.

Man, Koscheck is going to get steamrolled by Diego. Also, how sad is it that aside from a single kimura attempt, Karalexis tried harder than Chris off his back?

Anyone notice Diego sweep Josh like nothing? Once again, Diego > Josh

Swick, like most AKA guys, fancies himself a striker but isn't afraid to go to the ground when outgunned (which he certainly was).

This card didn't excite me much before the event, so I wasn't much let down by the fights.

Show to show, Leben has been the show's biggest personality, so I'd say the show's entertainment level does better if he sticks around, rather than wait possibly the rest of the season for a revenge match between two relatively non-talkative guys like Quarry & Koscheck (though I liked Nate's "Konichiwa, bitches!" line). For example, did anyone else feel think Bonnar feeling guilty for not being able to fight in Lodune's place against Southworth would've made a good backstory for those two fighting, even with the friendship only lightly touched on? But hell, who would remember now?

[forrest]...NO.[/forrest]

For a quick crash course in some of the other Japanese orgs, the "Best of SHOOTO" comps are good pick-ups, as well as RINGS 1999 & 2000 KOK tournaments (each has a Block A, Block B, & Finals tape, which are better when watched together, IMO). With Pancrase, the early matches' rules are so different & the legitimacy questionable enough that I'd suggest mostly 1999-now stuff. However, many of the matches often go to the judges (not due to lack of trying on anybodies part, though) so it's not for everyone.

BTW- With Nate's injury, did anybody expect a "Team Couture Covers for Nate" plot, where the team starts putting themselves on the chopping block in exhange for Nate staying safe until his injury recovers?