Lei Tong

Either the Newton or Carter fight, IIRC.

I don't recall anyone from Miletich's corner being in serious trouble after they were found to be greasing him up, but I guess you could argue it was a different time.

Just rewatched Kim/Karo. Now I'm pissed.

Good job by GSP, as he looked great, especially his guard passing. And while I did say and do think size had something to do with it, the biggest factor of the fight was GSP utilizing great boxing to bust BJ's nose up. As soon as GSP began mangling Penn's face with the jab, my heart sunk, as I knew BJ wouldn't see the final bell. My picks overall sucked ass tonight. 4/10, only getting one method correctly, IIRC. I thought Kim won, but it didn't really matter much in the end, as he fought a bit stupidly and made the exact same mistake he did against Brown. Someone needs to let that fucking Korean know that RNC"s are pretty hard to get unless set-up with G&P, which itself is hard to do when you're playing Rumina Sato back control.

I'm pretty sure far worse has been thrown around here before with little adversity coming from it. I think we're probably a thicker-skinned sort than the rest of fags and pansies on the board if that's what passes as objectionable. Besides, my ability to effectively tell stories will be seriously hampered if I can't utilize racial epithets and tell doubters to go fuck their mothers.

I survived through Wanderlei's early PRIDE MW title reign; a BJ win will be easily worth it.

I have no reason to believe that Karo hits harder than Kim at this point, both have defensive liabilities, and I don't think Brown gassed Kim (as Brown did next to nothing but defend in the first round); Kim did it to himself. He's shown before he can fight for at a good clip for 15 minutes, though not yet against someone like Karo, I'll admit. As for Blue, we both favor Kim, but for different reasons.

Wrong. There is 20,540 black people in Calgary. *20,539½

Canada... such a mysterious and backwater land.

Wait... does EHME train and/or live near with every black fighter around? That would at least explain some things.

Eh... I think he may have been working under Vera parameters, where he looked better against bigger, sloth-like opponents who can't really handle his skill set. Carmelo Marrero is a similarly styled fighter who's found that its takes more than some good wrestling skills to excel at a deeper division with more varying skill sets. Also, it may do him well to seek out alternative training elsewhere. He's shown that he has a solid grasp of BJJ positioning, but his actual submission applications and use of G&P don't seem to be where they should be just yet. Getting out of Indiana and finding some alternative training would probably be good for his development.

No way Karo outstrikes Kim, IMO. Kim is taller and throws straighter punches down the pipe from a stance Karo isn't used to seeing. Of course, if Karo wants to turn this into a Judo match, his chances increase a good deal, as Kim isn't very good off of his back. However, with Karo's inclination to strike in the past and Kim's own Judo background, Karo sees like he'd be inclined to try winning this standing. As for the Brown fight, I think it mostly had to do with Kim fighting an extremely awkward fight that ran counter his normal style, gassing him out. Kim normally fights a relatively conservative striking and G&P game based on controlling pace and tempo. Againt Brown, he decided to try and act like a Korean Marcelo Garcia, and ended up blowing his load. Prior to blowing his load, Kim hardly looked bad at all, sans the few moments he was on his back. I'm mostly rehashing here, but I think you're sleeping on a live 'dog.

Bottom pic. Diaz got up in Guida's face (or, the air above his head), and Guida responded in kind.

What the fuck is up with Canadian boxing officials and judges? Urango & Ngoudjo had to battle through a 5 minute 10th round as apparently no officials realized that the two guys had been fighting for a round and a half's worth of time before the timekeeper finally ended the round. Then, though Urango deserved a relatively close win, the judges seemed to overcompensate for complaints about hometown judging by giving Urango the win via some absolutely ridiculous scores. At least the right guy took the JD.

Oh yeah. Forgot about the special ed. staredown.

Jones got up in Bonnar's face, Fitch had fun with Gono's wig, and BJ looked less portly this time around. Oh, and Karo showed up.

Oh, and some Andy hate: "The K-1 GP World Final, where Aerts exposed Hug in the tourney final, as being the overated hack he was, by nearly killing him about 20 seconds in to the opening round. Aerts KO'd Hug with head kick that was so hard, it gave Hug cancer and killed him months later." - Dad, on his favorite K-1 moment

Well, it's worth noting that Andy wasn't a "natural" 215-220, so the true size difference was a bit more severe.

Andy didn't have the greatest chin ever (could be attributed to the size disadvantage he usually had), plus Smith pretty much nailed him on a break, IIRC.

Given his skill set, he should've merked Burkman & Fickett, IMO.

Dude... he's fucking Armenian. I'm not necessarily saying that he hasn't been dedicated to his training. I'm simply saying that his performances have been relatively lackluster since the Sanchez bout. It's also easy to forget that the guy has already been fighting for ten years, so there's the possibility that a decade of fighting and/or training have taken their toll on him, despite his age.

Best amongst the fighters, but that's not saying much. "All things being equal, the bigger guy takes it" is a pretty widely subscribed to train of thought. I actually didn't even bother going into it the other night because I figured it was such an expected thing to bring up.

St. Pierre def. Penn via Unanimous JD - I think that despite the talk of GSP's improved striking and reach advantage, he'll largely avoid striking with BJ as much as he can. He showed in the Serra rematch that he knows when to play it safe, and while BJ is a great jitz-player, St. Pierre probably realizes that he can control BJ on the mat as long as he sticks to tight, Nova Uniao-style top control whilst avoiding dangerous scrambles. He'll use his striking mainly to keep BJ off-balance on the feet with jabs and low kicks to set up his takedowns. I think BJ can take a round here or there based on his takedown defense, combined with more aggressive stand-up and good-enough takedown defense (as in, being able to fight off a couple of shots, here and there). However, despite St. Pierre not striking well off the back foot, I think BJ attempting to take advantage via dirty boxing exchanges will simply feed into GSP's desire for a takedown. In the end, I see GSP chipping away at BJ for the most of the fight, racking up points in between spurts of offense from BJ. Machida def. Silva via TKO, Rd.2 - I simply don't see Silva bringing anything to this fight that Ryoto won't be able to handle. The promise he held coming into the UFC has yet to be realized, with both his ledger and his performances being pretty underwhelming. None of his UFC opposition has shown much skill on the ground, while his stand-up has mostly seen him look vulnerable as he looks to brawl with varying degrees of success. Both Bonnar & Franklin suffered heavily for taking aggressive approaches to fighting Machida, and that's why I see Thiago failing to see the final bell on this one: he'll simply get countered too often, and will eventually get got with a shot that'll give Machida pretty much no choice but to pounce and finish him midway through the second. BTW- when did LYOTO change from a nickname to his given name? Kim def. Parisyan via TKO, Rd. 2 -My biggest upset pick on the night. Despite a rather grating personality, I love Karo, but I think he may be a bit past it already. He hasn't look especially motivated in years, and the long layoff and panic attack revelation can't help matters, either. Over the past couple of years, Karo has mostly seemed unwilling or unable to get fights to the mat, and given that Kim is a good judoka himself, I think Karo will once against be content to stand and trade. Whilst Kim didn't look great against Brown, I think it was based largely on fighting in an unfamilar style at a torid pace, which he'll avoid this time around. Kim can actually punch pretty well down the middle, which he'll find a way to utilize as Karo telegraphs his right hands. Diaz def. Guida via submission, Rd.1 - Guida is a guy I've really had a change of heart on over the past couple of years, as he actually took the time to make improvements to his game, and added a few wrinkles to his already formidable combination of strong wrestling and bottomless cardio. However, all of that being said, this is still a very bad tyle match-up for him. On the feet, I think Guida holds the advantage in both the boxing and power departments, but Diaz' superior height, reach, kicks and comparable chin will make it hard to take full advantage of those strengths. Eventually, takedowns will simply look too irresistible. Now, Guida has indeed improved since Endo threw the jitz gauntlet down on him, but Diaz is head and shoulders above Endo in the submission department. Guida may actually get a few good punches in on the mat, but that type of aggression without the proper submission savvy behind hit will simply play right into Diaz' main strength. Bonnar def. Jones via submission, Rd.1 - I'm admittedly not completely informed on Jones' MMA career, having only seen a couple of his fights, and damned if I can recall the Gusmao bout well. What I can recall, outside of good wrestling and explosiveness, is just how raw he looks. Bonnar is no world beater, but he's durable and follows the old MFS motto of "JUST WIN, BABY!" Whilst I don't think he has the wrestling to score an early takedown, I see Jones' overactive style eventually shooting himself into Bonnar, so-to-speak. Once on top, I think Bonnar will use his improved top game to quickly take advantage of Jones' inexperience off his back. Fitch def. Gono via unanimous JD - Fitch/Hironaka redux. Gono will probably make Fitch look BAD standing, countering him often. However, he's not the hardest puncher around anyway, but after the slapping debacle that may have cost him the Hardy fight, I doubt he'll be putting much behind his punches anytime soon. So, he'll essentially be point-tagging Fitch before getting taken down and pounded repeatedly. Gono's ground game is actually a bit underrated, and with Kikuta's focus on uupping his boys' BJJ over the past couple of years, I think he may be able to give Fitch a couple of Matt Hughes-esque scares. However, Fitch will simply be too big and too active to submit, as he grinds out another decision win, natch. -O'Brien def. Wellisch via TKO, Rd.1 - Yeah, yeah, yeah... everyone knows I'm a big O'Brien fan, and despite a number of setbacks going back a good while, I still think he has a big upside. While JOB is probably never going to wow anyone with his stand-up, he still has the quick level changes to catch most HW's off guard and render that point mute. Wellisch will be no exception, and given that Christian has never been the type of guy to handle adversity well, I actually see O'Brien using his underrated positioning skills to obtain a good vantage point to drop blows for a stoppage. Wilson def. Howard via Unanimous JD - Howard's another guy I haven't been exposed to much, but from what I have seen, I don't think he has the takedowns or the refined striking he'll need to counter Wilson's game. Of course, Wilson has been blasted out before, but the odds say that he outstrikes Howard throughout. Gamburyan def. Tavares via Unanimous JD - Tavares is exactly the type of guy who doesn't seem especially likely to give Manny many problems, short of Manny running into another punching exchange with his chin out. However, Tavares isn't a striker the caliber of Emerson, and doesn't have the power to keep Manny from swarming him standing. I also think Gamburyan holds the advantage in takedowns, though Tavares has a good shot that could catch Manny if he gets too reckless, and the top game to take advantage of it. However, I see Manny controlling the bout, using his wild, swinging punches to keep Tavares discouraged wherever the fight takes place. Arroyo def. Cramer via submission, Rd.2 - The only reason Im giving Cramer until the second is that you have to assume that training at ATT will give him SOME jitz. Regardless, Arroyo does what he does well enough to exploit his submission advantage before he gasses and/or Cramer has a chance to land a big shot.

Are you saying John Hackelman is wrong?! I'll give Mike the benefit the of the doubt and assume he meant from a reversal or sweep on a scramble resulting from the takedown.