Hawkius Maximus

It was kind of a dick statement from Dana, but at the same time, Kimbo's not good enough to get much past TUF realistically. Having star power and name power and being a good fighter are not mutually exclusive ideas. He's not good. If UFC hadn't talked so much shit about Kimbo, they'd sign him in a heartbeat. The problem is, I don't know if Dana ever sat down and said "...Hey, what if?" about it. He's not that type of person. So he buried Kimbo to everyone who would listen, and now he's a free agent and he's kind of...stuck. You could easily get a TV rating or a decent PPV buyrate out of Kimbo in a freakshow fight and then see where you go from there, but ...realistically? He's not good enough to even lace the boots of people like Nog or Randy. Kimbo on TV for eight weeks in a house with little to no supervision with a couple other abrasive personalities would be goddamn hilarious though.

Not good. Not good at all. The problem with the PPV shows, is the same issue that people like me who only buy the PPV's have bitched about. If you don't follow ROH, you don't know *ANYTHING* that's going on. There's no possibility for growth there, and it has been that way since the first show. They've done a poor job from day one getting over personalities and feuds. Not to mention that the production was pretty horrible until recently as well. The last PPV was a vast improvement. The videos of Claudio and the Briscoes did more in a few seconds to get them over then anything thus far. To be honest, I'm the type of fan ROH should be trying to grab, and they've never gotten me. Right now, it's more the booking then anything. I typically find the booking to be utterly confusing. What are Age of the Fall rebelling against? Is Necro Butcher a face? Is he a heel? Does anyone know? I don't even know who the tag champions are. If their Steen & Generico, then why didn't they lose the titles on the last show where they lost an iron man match to LAX? It's just a very confusing product right now. Age of the Fall being over everything is not good, outside of Tyler Black. They are absolute negative buys on the PPVs. I used to use the "Every match on a card feels exactly the same" complaint, but on the last few PPV's, they've managed to mix up different paces and styles well. So I can't really use that as a negative on ROH's possibility for growth when I haven't seen it recently.

There's "trying to box", and then there's "Hitting each other in the face". Sherk & Griffin punched each other alot. That is not "trying", that is actually punching each other in the face alot.

I have what Cote is saying it is...After an ACL tear, I was experiencing issues where something in my knee would "pop" out with a visible jerk like his. It would basically lock my knee up with incredible pain until I popped it back in. It's not an ACL tear persay, but something related to it. I honestly have no idea what it is though, despite having it. Even after his knee popped back in, there's no way he could have fought. That weakens your knee heavily. It takes days or weeks to fully recover from it. I think cote described it exactly as I used to, "Knee popped out".

It was quite clear that Silva was mocking Cote. I don't know why. It's very unlike him, but he was clearly mocking him. At times, he ran away for no reason, at others he adopted the same stance Cote was using, at others he'd randomly throw his hands around for no reason, hell at one point he fucking started doing a capoeira dance. Even when Cote tried to get to the ground and Silva was standing over him...He threw two obviously joke kicks, and even offered to help Cote up. Cote must have done something to piss Silva off. He usually tries to get things over with as quickly as possible, but he seemed to almost allowing Cote to live just so he could try and humiliate him. My friend theorized that Silva may have been trying to make the fight more entertaining. It was pretty clear from the bursts of offense that he hit Cote with, that he probably could have finished him but he just...didn't want to. Very bizarre.

You've read up on this right? Because everything you've mentioned is *NOT* why Elite XC has died. Elite XC died because neither Showtime nor CBS stepped up to buy them. They were going to until the Petrugate scandal broke, and in fact had all but agreed to it. When people started claiming that they were fixing fights, or trying to influence fights, CBS got the fuck out of dodge. It wasn't because Kimbo lost, but because Elite XC tried to put in a form of a fix. They then forced Showtime to try and claim all the money they had loaned to Elite XC. THAT was what killed Elite XC. Showtime collected on all the money they had loaned, gave them three days, and Elite XC defaulted because they couldn't possibly have paid it. They could have functioned with this "sixty million in the hole" with CBS and Showtime propping them up. They had virtually been in debt this entire time. What killed them was Showtime demanding the money they had loaned once it was pushed through the channels that the deal was off. Had CBS went through with the agreement Elite XC would be fine right now, and it would have been 100% dependent on their ratings from that point on. Which were good, a fact that cannot nor should be ignored. Kimbo Slice had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with their death beyond losing and Elite XC being shady as hell. In fact, had it not been for Kimbo drawing gates and ratings, they would have died months ago. He was the *ONLY* drawing fighter in Elite XC. Until Tito Ortiz draws independent of UFC, for right now, Kimbo Slice is the biggest draw that is not affiliated with the UFC in North America. Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, Fedor, Sylvia, Arlovski, etc, etc all have really nothing on Kimbo. Does that mean Elite XC should have built they entire house on a stack of cards? Probably not, but what the hell were they supposed to do? Die months ago with no hope? If you don't like Kimbo Slice, fine, but don't try to misconstrue this as some kind of cosmic karma for Elite XC pushing Kimbo. It wasn't. If anything, its cosmic karma for Elite XC being incredibly sleazy and being dumb enough to get caught doing it. As for my earlier post that mentioned Affliction...Affliction's dead. Their still going to be paying 2-3 million just on fighter purses for the next show. UFC won't let them run unopposed, and their scared to death of running against UFC. At this rate, considering it's been pushed back two times (that I remember) because of that, they'll be lucky if they ever get another show off. Right now, it's scheduled for January, but they'd have to do around 200,000+ buys to even break even with all their costs. It won't happen. And no one really knows what the fuck the Golden Boy Productions thing is either. There won't be any boxing on the next Affliction show, like had been rumored, unless things changed without me knowing..

UFC will probably look into/sign a few guys...Robbie Lawler, Jake Shields, and Eddie Alvarez come to mind immediately. Alvarez does have a deal with DREAM, but for all intents and purposes, DREAM is pretty much dead as well. I could see Dana giving Petruzelli a look...if only to fuck with the ghost of Elite XC more. Women fighters are fucked due to this. They don't have an outlet since UFC (and WEC) will not feature women fighting. Blame Dana for that. And Meltzer says that many of the Elite guys were paid more then they were worth, which will hurt their ability to get picked up by UFC since more likely then not, UFC will low-ball just about everyone. So many people will be stuck doing indy's, or not fighting at all. There's no real other big promotions in the world, since Affliction is all but dead itself, DREAM being in limbo, and Sengoku just...existing.

If what Seth Petruzelli said about Elite XC is true, then they deserved to die. It's one thing to offer bonuses, or try to encourage fighters to try and win, but it's an entirely different matter to try and influence directly the fight. The fact is, Kimbo was fucked no matter what happened, so really, Elite XC just shot themselves in the face for no reason. Dave Meltzer has been dropping hints that a form of this happens in UFC as well. He's being cryptic for a reason, referring to the "undisclosed bonuses" UFC hands out. If they do anything to this level, only Dave knows, and for his own career he's not saying. I would doubt they do, because it's like playing with fire, but it's hard to say. The fact that UFC keeps these bonuses completely under wraps is suspicious to say the least.

With my 360 dead, and my Wii doing absolutely nothing to alleviate the boredom I downloaded Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 UNDUB. This fucking game. For one, you draw out your "powers" by SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE HEAD. For two, it plays unlike any other RPG I've ever played...It's part relationship sim (Not so much Dating), part RPG, part monster collector, part I dunno what exactly...The fact that you basically have an area where you can at will grind your character is a novel idea. The fact that you can split up your party at will and have them fight on their own is as well, and the fact that you have to monitor your fatique is very interesting. Fight too much, you get sick and you suck when sick. There's even stats for stuff like academics that take time and energy to raise, all of it leading to the fatique issue. The undub thing is a facinating new thing in the "hacks" world it seems...They rip out the English voice work, and replace it with the original Japanese. Soo much more enjoyable. The horrible English dubs were part of why I never checked out many RPG's these days. Their just so bad.

Franklin dropped before Silva. He just didn't fight first. If I remember right, the Franklin fight was postponed, and Silva was shoo-horned in with only a few weeks of prep for the fight with Irvin. That or Franklin was announced before Silva. Either way. So, in truth, while they fought at different times, Franklin "dropped" before Silva did.

Franklin may as well drop back down. Silva followed him to LHW. Like he's stalking him.

Comparing Lyoto to Bisping isn't really fair to either. Machida fights to ensure a decision, but almost always aims to kill the other guy in the final round. Bisping didn't change styles, pace, or anything the entire fight. His goal was to jab and win the UD, which he did. Machida makes sure he gets the decision, but then goes out with full intent to win. It's pretty obvious when you watch Lyoto fight. He almost always fights harder in round three. It generally doesn't work, but it's like he mentally says, "Okay I won two rounds now I hurt him." It's also not fair, because they display totally different styles. Lyoto's a counter-fighter. He doesn't engage early because he wants the opponent to so he can nail a strong counter. Bisping just *RAN* from Leben. Leben makes a motion to charge, and Bisping would leap backwards. Bisping fought like Anderson Silva without the power. Lyoto fights like...well...Lyoto. But in Bisping's defense, it's not fair to compare him to Lyoto. Bisping has obvious weaknesses. Lyoto hasn't really shown any. Lyoto, if he can't win standing will take the fight to the ground. Even if he's winning the fight, if he can't KO someone (Like against Nakamura), he'll atleast try the ground. In this fight, Bisping was not going to win on the ground, and he couldn't finish Leben standing. All he could really do was hit him, do almost no damage aside from some cuts, and get the hell away. And to his credit, it worked. The problem is, when he runs into someone who has speed near his own, the style he's displayed won't work. Nor will his "barrages" that he's shown in his other MW fights because he just doesn't have enough power. Bisping's kind of stuck. He fights Silva, he'll be murdered and exposed as Silva will just hunt him and chase him down. But hey, he might make it past the second round.

The show honestly didn't do much for me...I think it was because I didn't feel good and was incredibly tired throughout though. I had trouble fully paying attention throughout. In the main event, Bisping had a gameplan and he implemented it...but it didn't earn him any points with me. I don't like the style in MMA of what he did. Namely to hit and run. He just...hid behind his reach and ran around for most of the fight. The fight went pretty much exactly as I predicted. Leben couldn't catch Bisping, and Bisping doesn't have the power to KO someone like Leben. So he just...stayed out range and picked his shots. He also didn't get any points with me by saying that a UD was his plan all along. I fucking *HATE* that. I'm not saying it's not a valid strategy in fighting (Unless you changed decisions to auto draws. Then the shit would disapear), but at the same time it's not something I like to watch for fifteen minutes. Leben looked like a completely different person, but he just couldn't get within range and catch Bisping to land too often. Lytle/Taylor was good...Lytle was deeeead tired by the final round, but Taylor wasn't able to finish him and not for a lack of trying. Cane/Sokoudjou was alright...Rogan pretty much clearly called it when he said that Sokoudjou was gassing due to his power. He needs to learn how to mix his power...Otherwise, the gameplan to beat him is pretty easy. Vera/Jardine was good...but aside from the crazy ass finish to round one, I don't really remember much. I don't know if I didn't pay attention, or nothing made an impression but I just...don't remember much.

So...this registering online thing, do you happen to have a link for it? https://service.xbox.com/servicehome.aspx?scrx=1 That should work...It'll even keep track of your repair. When I did it, I got an email from Microsoft with tracking info for when it's shipped, and all kinds of stuff.

Silva would have equal odds against the top LHW guys, if only because most of them are heavyweights cutting down, and most are near or about equal to him in skill at the highest level. It's hard to gauge where Forrest is skill wise in terms of others, but he's one of those fighters who work their asses off and have some natural affinity to it. Forrest is damn good, but it's more his toughness and heart that keeps him going. I don't know if he could survive Silva though. Forrest typically takes too many shots, and against Anderson that'd catch up to him quickly. You take a Rampage, who has shown a weakness to Muay Thai historically, but also has fearsome wrestling ability and power against Silva and it's 50/50 at that point. Silva's got a good ground game, but there's no one in the MW division anywhere near Rampage's strength. Same goes for Wanderlai Silva, in a different sense. Anderson and Wanderlai are complete opposites of each other. Anderson is all about fluidity, hitting quickly at odd angles, letting the damage quickly pile up. Wanderlai is all about charging, hitting very hard, and trying to eliminate with one or two strikes at most. I said in another thread, but I'd pay for that fight. I think it's been rumored before. Machida/Silva will never happen, but I honestly have no fucking idea how that one would go. As for someone from WW stepping up...The only one in that division crazy enough would be GSP. No one else can beat GSP at that weight, how the hell would they beat Silva at a higher weight? GSP I could see because he's a competitor and pretty soon he won't have any real challenges left, but UFC would not allow him to do so unless he lost to Penn. Then anything could happen.

I doubt that. Leben's won two in a row both by KO/TKO. If he beats Bisping in a live special on TV in the main event, by virtue of default he'd become the top contender. If the fight would go any differently, probably not, but it's not like UFC has this magical stockpile of fighters that Silva hasn't beaten. Okami and Maia are the only "top" names they really have, and neither are established enough to main event a PPV. Leben in theory at worst would be able to help spark a high TV rating, if not a halfway decent buyrate depending on how Leben looks against Bisping, and how they built it.

I'm excited for this fight. I'm not sure why. Leben's really impressed me the last few times he's fought. Not because he's really gotten better, but because he just wants to win so bad that his body won't go down. On the Bryan & Vinny show at F4O they called Leben's style "Zombie-Fu" if only because he just keeps coming. Like Nogueira stated on The Ultimate Fighter last night...You can't teach heart, and if anything, Leben has that in excess. Bisping's been pretty protected, and theoretically he should be further along then Leben, but I don't think he has Leben's power, nor has he really faced anyone with Leben's power. Outside of Hamill, he hasn't faced anyone as mentally strong as Leben either. So if I had to pick, I'd say either Bisping wins by UD just because he flies around Leben like a hummingbird and lands shots but doesn't drop Leben, or when Leben finally catches Bisping he drops him for a TKO/KO.

If Cote wins, the entire MMA world will explode. It'd be the biggest upset that I can think of. I don't know how Cote even has a CHANCE, which is dangerous. Anytime someone comes in without a hope in the fucking world, the possibility is there that they'll just get lucky. I don't think Silva wouldn't train, because he honestly seems to enjoy it, but Cote could just come in blazing knowing his only hope is to catch Silva. I just don't see it happening. Cote's a solid fighter, but he has no outstanding strengths. He doesn't even have Irvin's punching power really, and that sure as fuck didn't help him. Everything Cote does, Silva does better by several degrees.

Most likely no. I think they'd fight each other, but UFC would most likely never make the fight. Silva is just now starting to make money. Lyoto is someone that no one has come close to figuring out. Silva might be able to, but it's still dangerous. Lyoto's no slouch in any department. If Lyoto won at LHW, it wouldn't really do much since Silva's only fought once there in UFC. As for Silva's career...It'd probably be good for him to lose. Do I think Cote will? Fuck no. Do I think a LHW could? Probably. There's people at LHW that would give Silva a pretty good fight if only because their so tough and strong. I would *KILL* to see Wanderlai vs. Anderson. Now that, would be a damn interesting fight. In MW? No. I don't see anyone in that division being even in the same stratosphere as Silva. I'd be interested to see Silva face the winner of Bisping/Leben if only because it'd easily be the highest profile fight Silva's had at MW. I don't think either would have a shot, but that's about the only direction they could go.

I'm getting a box. Unless their shipping me the shipping labels...which doesn't make much sense when you think about it.

I had that problem too Broward. The woman told me that in the last year (since I first did it) they changed to some kind of Google Maps type system. If it can't find your address, they won't ship it. I got around it by using a neighbor's. They found that immediately and are shipping to it. That'd be my advice.

In what is ironic, I made a post about Fallout 3 the only game I'm excited for. Twenty four hours later or thereabouts, my Xbox 360 Red Ringed with no warning. It is completely unresponsive. Just dead as a fucking doorknob. No warning, no set up, just *WHAM*. Thankfully, Microsoft has installed what appears to be a "Fix all" button on their repair thing for the Red Ring...While filling out the repair thing, they have a button for it. Hit it, and no charges and it seems to practically take care of itself. They've already shipped the box...I'm slated to get it by the 16th. I'm hoping that the turn around will be quick enough to get Fallout 3 on time for the 28th.

TUF's always wanted characters. All the biggest stars from the show have had something. Even Rashad would taunt during fights and got into an argument with Hughes over it. Junie's passed even Leben though. Leben set that bar pretty high, but my *GOD*. Why would he leap into the cage? Not only is the guy that just won in there with his team-mates, but also Nog who did not look pleased, and his own coach Mir who did *NOT* seem pleased.

The reality of the KJ Noons situation is that Noons wanted more money. He felt, and possibly rightly so that he had earned a better deal. He has a valid argument in that regard in that he was still on the same deal before he beat Diaz & Edwards back to back. However, he had signed a MMA/Boxing joint deal through Shaw, and Elite XC wouldn't honor the boxing side of it because...well...he was an MMA champion. For whatever reason, he's one of those dumb fuckers who thinks you can do two sports at once and succeed. No one has ever done it before him as far as I know in the "Boxing-Kickboxing-MMA triangle", but he thinks he can. So that was an issue as well. So when Elite XC wouldn't do those two things, Noons basically tried to get some hardcore support by saying that he wouldn't fight Diaz since he wasn't the real top contender. In Elite XC's world, Diaz is, but Noons seemed to be using Alvarez's accomplishments in DREAM's GP to try and say he should be fighting him. Alvarez has fought *ONCE* in Elite XC prior to this, I believe on a Sho XC card. So he took his ball and went home. Elite XC then booked Diaz, the man he "wouldn't face" against Alvarez the man he "wanted to face" as a way to stick it to him. And to make it worse, Noons is still contractually obligated to Elite XC. So that makes him even stupidier.

I fully agree with Curry in that Eddie Alvarez has fought much stronger competition lately. What you've done historically in the fight game doesn't matter. You're only as good as your last few fights, and Eddie Alvarez has been a monster. HOWEVER, that doesn't change that Nick Diaz for all his "patty cake striking" is a tough and possibly mentally retarded angry man. Diaz will stand there and trade even when he should clearly change tactics. I haven't been impressed with Diaz's last few fights, while I'm exactly the opposite with Alvarez. So for that alone, I have to pick Alvarez. That doesn't mean Diaz can't win, but I'm struggling to see *how* he can win this fight. His striking may be better technically, but Alvarez has more power. Diaz would probably have the advantage on the ground, but he has to get it there first which won't be easy. It'll be a tough night for Nick Diaz. But I think we can all agree. KJ Noons is a goof.