Lei Tong

- Kerr had an MMA career BECAUSE of the drugs, IMO. The guy just didn't have the natural mental toughness to be a great MMA fighter and tried to bypass that by shooting up some false confidence. - Even if Lesnar has good cardio (hardly a given considering all of his excess bulk), if he hasn't learned how to control his breathing while striking, he could still tire out.

Vitor lighted Sak up early on, and was arguably on his way to a first round TKO, when he broke his hand on Sak's head. Of course this was more than enough reason for Vitor to give up, and so spent the rest of the fight getting embarassed.

The same could be said of a number of matches on the list, though I imagine RRR may have also been shooting for "historical" value on some.

Sounds like a guy who might need to catch a good beating, that's all.

Did you see Sapp's fight against Choi? Kim Min Soo was hockey punching Bob to death, then all of a sudden BOOM!... somewhat straight right down the pipe. Yeah, he's still mostly a swinging clubber, but one straight punch out of 50 is still an improvement for the guy. For all we know, a 1-2 could be around the corner.

What factors? I have yet to hear anything about Lesnar's heart, good or bad. What team is Lesnar training with?

For all his MMA experience, it's actually not indictive of Sapp's level of skill or training. His game is still based almost purely on his power, and when put up against a strong, accomplished wrestler in Fujita, he got his ass handed to him. Of course, Fujita has much more going for him than Lesnar, including an iron chin and years of MMA experience and training. As of now, all we really know about Brock is that he'll likely be a strong guy with good wrestling, and in reality could be hampered with a bad chin, no cardio, a weak heart, etc. Sapp's a decent pick based solely on the fact that he's a known quantity.

If Lesnar doesn't have the skills to finish Sapp, he's in trouble. Why? Because Sapp can actually throw a straight right nowadays. Of course, the most likely outcome = hilarity via total lack of cardio.

Here's to hoping more people watch Sakuraba vs. Belfort/Goes.

Horwich isn't that hot lately, but Jamal is a pimp.

1) I learned to properly defend an armbar from the opponent's guard in a day, and had the defense pretty much ingrained in about a week, so I think someone as athletic as Jesse could've easily picked it up in the same time. 2) Even Ken's fighters are saying Ken isn't training them right. I'm with them.

Again, the problem is that Ken has found no balance. Will his light workout schedule keep these guys relatively injury free? Yes. Will it hurt the in-ring performance of some? Yes. An argument could be made that Jesse could've avoided Noah's armbar if Ken actually bothered bringing in a BJJ to help these guys, or had the two been on different teams. While no one outside of Koscheck has become noticably more skilled while on the show, it doesn't take much for a fighter to either be hurt by bad training or coaching. Again, you're giving Ken credit simply for not going Matt Hughes on his guys (which is really common sense), while Tito has largely kept his guys uninjured as well as training them better.

For a number of these guys, even the relatively short training camp that the whole thing becomes can dramatically improve their chances of winning the competition, which is a much more realistic goal than them becoming great fighters. Because they have an obligation as coaches. Regardless of why they signed up to be coaches, a lot of these guys are looking forward to the opprotunity to work with them and hopefully pick up a thing or two about the fight game. From the sound of it, you'd rather have them just sit around the house all day with random fights every few days. As I mentioned already, their training works as mini-training camps for the fights. Rotharmel, Nichels & Hutcherson weren't training outside becuase they were bored; rather they realized that outside of learning the techincal aspects of the game (which they already know), good training is going to keep them physically fit and prepared for their matches much better than sitting around doing nothing is. Thus far, Tito's biggest detractor may be that he's pushing his fighters too hard. However, outside of a freak accident that occurred during some admittedly ill-time rolling, his guys seem to largely appreciate the intensity and thoroughness of his workouts. Ken, on the other hand, has only proven how little he knows about coaching fighters (as though the large gaping holes in the games of most Lion's Den fighters wasn't enough): - He admittedly knows little about BJJ, yet fails to provide a BJJ coach. - Brought in a little-seen boxing coach, who even if of good quality, fails to address the need for a more well rounded striking game. - Also brought in a nutrisionalist who, questionable dietary advice aside, seems to provide little to the team as a whole. - In spite of his "understanding" that these guys need not overtrain, he fails to find a good balance, provinding little training at all and then going apeshit when the injuries he hoped to avoid actually do become an issue. - Fails to command any respect from his team, who have actually worked with guys quality enough to know his ways are asinine.

Well considering a number of his fighters are raw prospects who could use the actual training... Ken popping a boner as they watch his video package is hardly the thing these guys need. Luckily for him, Kalib & Herman will be relatively unaffected by this ordeal.

Well, there was also the fact that Hughes was hardly a very popular champion at the time, and Sherk was a relatively unseen challenger with a reputation for being boring. Also, a couple of lackluster undercard performances (Romie gassing about a minute in, Alavarez showing nothing and Correira not much more) didn't help matters.

I just remembered that Sakuraba TKO'ed Ken. The pressure's really on for Tito to kill him inside a minute.

Keep in mind, Brock is a former NCAA wrestling champion. He'd be far from clueless in the Octagon. Or he could end up as the next Mark Kerr.

Bisping brutalized him, as expected. The remaining fights and outcomes since last week have been pretty easy to deduce.

...I was slinging shit, but when did I say Marquardt finishes Noguiera?

Ok, fuck it. I was trying to be inflammatory. EDIT: Regarding Nate being a better finisher than Fedor, not about being a good finisher at all or taking Loiseau.

Again, I site a difference in skill level. Of course Noguiera is the best fighter either guy has faced. But outside of him, I'd say the general shittiness of the HW division is evident: Goodridge = Charles Bennet with a lesser chin Schilt = an awkward Duane Ludwig at 150lbs. Filipovic = A steadier Morkevicius Fujita = a cumbersome Trevor Prangley I say, P4P-wise, Marquardt finishes pretty much everyone Fedor has, minus those who beat him because he's simply not as good Emelianenko.

If the HW & MW divisions or their average level of competition nowadays were in anyway similar, I'd be willing to bet Fedor struggles to finish half of his opponents. As is, Nate has a lower JD percentage against generally stiffer competition.

Give him a middleweight TK and watch the slaughter commence. Or Loiseau.

Loiseau could tee off on Chris all night and not KO him. Dave's best bet would be TKO via cut stoppage. Also, Marqaurdt is a better finisher than Fedor.

Also worth noting is that Diego has beaten and Chris has lost to their two common opponents.