Lei Tong

The only way this fight will be great is if Sergei knocks Aleks into a coma and Volk Han stumbles into the ring, drinking a bottle of vodka, and proceeds to piss on Aleks.

Dude, it's going to be a methodical beatdown from Sergei, who does pretty much everything better than Aleks except be fat.

Because it wouldn't be a big win for either guy. Me and MSIA spent most of yesterday morning tearing guys to shreds for overhyping this match. C&p'ed... Anyways, Sergei is basically still living off of a close fight with Minotuaro, whom almost EVERYBODY is competitive with until he beats them. He also unimpressively beat Werdum, but people on both sides would probably like to forget that fight. On the otherhand, whereas Sergei has built his name off of his in-ring ability, Aleks has been hyped to end because: 1) He's Fedor's brother 2) He's huge with tattoos 3) He's KO'ed some scrubs However, he's looked like crap with every step up in competition, struggling heavily with Silva & Nastula, and getting stopped by Mirko & Barnett. So in other words... It's basically a matter of Slightly Proven vs. Proven Mediocrity.

I wouldn't say it's useless as much as... - Not all blackbelts are actually equally skilled - Many guys' BJJ games don't translate to MMA well - Some BJJ'ers tend to be closer in style to wrestlers in their grappling game - Since the awarding of belts is at an instructor's discretion, competition experience isn't always necessary to advance in rank Of course, there's also alot of notable examples of guys getting obviously undeserved black belts for a variety of reasons, though those tend to be an exception. Also, I wouldn't necessarily say Tito would school alot of BJJ blackbelts unde pure submission wrestling or BJJ rules, but with his sizen, strength, wrestling & no-gi experience, he could probably beat a number of them on points.

Might as well have been.

Seriously, that board is weak as fuck. MSIA and Mr. Blue concur with me. The Triumverate has spoken.

I know. I just like mentioning the fact that Goes, for all intents and purposes, beat Sak, thus blemishing the whole "Sak > BJJ" sentiment.

Allan Goes def. Kazushi Sakuraba via Unanimous JD in a just world.

Casual UFC fans are already showing interest in finding out who Silva is. Besides, who sounds like a more appealing opponent: crazy looking mongoloid nicknamed "The Axe Murderer" who's touted as a Japanese champion, or some soft-looking yokel with a forgettable name whose claim to fame is being a tough journeyman?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgHN_yYYYzY

A pair of JD's against a guy whose best wins were at two weight classes lower? Were you born in Jersey?

That's still one more big win than Gatti.

But Baldo still whooped on him in impressive fashion, in a manner many didn't think he could. Not many other champions have done much else this year just yet (aside from Pacquiao), so when combined with the victory over Judah, Baldo's praise for what he's already done this year is well earned. Yeah well sometimes commentators are stupid. I mean they were making a huge deal that Baldomir had 9 losses and 6 draws, but he still had 40+wins. Also, I can't stress enough the difference it makes on some fighters when they fuck around with moving up and down in weight. Not everyone can handle the transition. Gatti obviously couldn't because he was landing clean head shots that had ZERO EFFECT. On the other hand, every time Gatti got hit it looked like Baldomir was hitting raw hamburger meat. Again: the only problem this time around is that Gatti was fighting a good fighter who he didn't outsize. Gatti would've never been a threat at 147lbs. Hell, he wasn't much of a threat at 140lbs., unless he was fighting someone of his caliber like Mickey Ward. Dorin was a small, semi-retired lightweight; Ruelas was shot and yet still nearly KO'ed Gatti; Millet was past his best and was notable at that point only for being able to down Judah; and Patterson was a solid (but nothing special) LW win. Also, B-level club fighters DO lose to Mickey Ward, Ivan Robinson, & Angel Manfredy. If the Hall of Fame were about honoring the best boxers of all time, or even their generations... no. But hell, nowadays guys like Vinny Paz are now "HOF caliber." Except he routinely got beat by the best fighters he fought (a few of them being not that good).

But Baldo still whooped on him in impressive fashion, in a manner many didn't think he could. Not many other champions have done much else this year just yet (aside from Pacquiao), so when combined with the victory over Judah, Baldo's praise for what he's already done this year is well earned.

Black COULD lay on Aoki for 15 minutes, but Aoki has to be favored. Black hasn't exactly excelled against good competition in his career (and reportedly should've lost the JD to Alessio), while Aoki has nigh-dominated almost everyone's he's faced, including guys like Hironaka & Kikuchi. Also, I REALLY hate that people on SD have such strong opinions on Aoki's losses, having probably never seen either.

Some good matchmaking there as: 1) I love Aoki and hate Black. 2) Curran & Hioki are both very good featherweights. 3) Gomi's boy gets his biggest test (and likely asskicking) to date. 4) Kawajiri gets to brutalize someone. Although, I am a bit dissapointed that Aoki went against his previously held convictions. Obviously, his 4 months in the academy turned him into a cynical, burned-out cop.

Against good fighters he doesn't massively outsize? I agree.

...and proved how badly Frye fucking sucks.

I love how by the time Buffer anounced the results, the vibe throughout the arena was like that of a funeral. I still can't believe people didn't even give Bladomir enough credit to last as long as Damgaard, much less whoop on Gatti.

Hardest fucking picture ever.

Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 > FPW in regards to MMA. Hell, Def Jam: Fight For NY is a better MMA game than most MMA games (which it actually isn't).

Yushin Okami is an international sensation.

Really, Sakurai? He's very strong, but I never considered him freakishly strong for his size. What kind of pro wrestling test of strength, arm wrestling? super pose down? Maybe it could end with a contract signing or a cake or trophy presentation resulting in a massive brawl? Sakurai isn't freakishly strong, but I don't consider Filho to be, either. I mean, fuckin' Matsui handled his stength pretty well. Anyways, I meant the old clasping-hands-to-loving-embrace thingamajigger.

No way. If the fight were decided by a pro wrestling test of strength, Sakurai would've crushed Filho. Besides, I kind of hate giving anyone as obviously roided to the gills as Filho too much credit for being strong.

I still haven't seen how he's booking for the 'net crowd, unless you're going strictly by Wanderlei coming in, who is a fighter who can appeal to the masses just as easily given a little background info. LYOTO would be more of a signing that reeked of playing to the internet crowd, as the dude's pretty boring and somewhat unproven and yet still gets hyped to no end.