Hawkius Maximus

Watching hardcores freak out about this fight is hilarious, as it always is. Because no matter how many times it's shown, they just don't get it. You'd think after the second CBS died in the ratings that it would have sent a wake up call to people. MMA for the sake of MMA will never draw. Ever. No matter what country. No matter how talented the fighters are. It will *NEVER* draw. I don't care who you are, you won't draw just on skill alone. It's always been about marketing, star power, storylines, and charisma. From day one. And it always will be. Ken Shamrock, for everything he isn't anymore is one of the few MMA fighters who "gets" that MMA needs heels. It needs charisma. It needs shit talking to get interest. It needs a hook. Kimbo Slice has more notoriety then he should have, but the proof is in the pudding as the saying goes. He drew on his own a monsterous rating for their debut. The man draws, and Ken Shamrock is one of the few people out there that you can put against Kimbo and immediately draw interest. The Street Fighter vs. The UFC original. I would imagine that as soon as they get to press conferences and TV ads, that Ken Shamrock will be out there talking as much shit about Kimbo as he possibly can. The bigger the rating, the more people see his fight, the more potential offers he will get, and the more money he'll make. He's a smart man. As for what happens, who knows? Ken will likely lose, which I'm sure won't help those "KIMBO'S FIGHTS ARE A WORK!" crowd, but what can you do? Win or lose it's win/win for Elite XC. Ken wins? Well then by golly you can throw Ken into a big fight again. Kimbo wins? Well by golly then you can throw him into a big fight again. Winning and losing do not matter in the business of MMA. It's all about how you play the fans.

Chuck had some difficulty finishing an over the hill Tito, more then the first fight they had. He was KO'd by Jackson. He was outpointed and outscored against Jardine. He had to resort to tactics he's never used since he became successful in the UFC to beat Silva. That's not a good resume. And for Dan, I was more or less referencing Bustamante and so on. Cause he beat em.

In American judging, it doesn't matter who does more on the ground. All that really matters is the takedown. For some odd reason, the takedown is pointed like one of the strongest things you can do in MMA. On TUF last season, I believe we saw that two takedowns can negate three knockdowns. Someday, maybe they'll figure out that you can't win a fight just on a takedown and it's really just a change of positions. I doubt it though. I didn't realize this was the next UFC event. I suppose I should give predictions... Rashad over Liddell...I think Chuck's over his peak. In the Silva fight, near the end Chuck just fought to win which says a lot about him. Silva would not die, Liddell couldn't put him out, and realizing he might be in danger of losing Liddell began to use takedowns. Chuck is not the same guy he once was. Be it age, injury, burnout, or his lifestyle he's lost the spark. On the flipside, Rashad wants this. He wins this fight, and he's in top contention but loses it and he's back in the muck of the division. I think Chuck will come out swinging, but Rashad will manage to avoid the brunt. As for how Rashad wins...I haven't quite figured that out. Rashad has decent standing strikes, but his bread and butter is the takedown. If he can get Liddell down, he wins. If he can't, he loses. I still say Rashad somehow pulls it off, but it'll be a decision. Hamill over Rich Franklin. I think this is a DANGEROUS fight for Rich. If the Bisping fight had been scored correctly, Hamill would have no losses in the UFC. He's a strong wrestler with a pretty scary dirty boxing style. I think Franklin's a better overall fighter, but we've all seen that being better overall doesn't mean you can beat someone who has a fantastic set of skills in one area. I think Hamill bullies Franklin the entire fight, and catches him in a dirty boxing clinch and works him over for a TKO. Yoshida over Karo, more or less because I don't like Karo. Henderson over Palhares...this is an interesting fight. It's make or break for Dan, and it's obvious that UFC wants to turn Palhares into a star. The problem is, Dan in these kind of situations is very, very dangerous. Dan's always been the kind of guy that wins three then loses one throughout his entire career. He's NEVER been the type to go off on a huge winning streak outside of his initial one. I think Dan's experience, and overall skill will be too much. Dan's dealt with submission wizards, so I don't know what Palhares will be able to offer to challenge him. Kampmann vs. Marquardt is another one where UFC obviously wants it to go a certain way. I have no idea who'll win this one. Nate should be a top contender, but he seems to choke at the "best" possible moments. I can't say who'll win this one.

And it's not out of the question UFC would keep them from fighting for almost a year. Quinton Jackson went almost a year before the fight with Forrest. And Nog is going to be going on almost a year before fighting Mir. UFC does it rather often, actually.

Everyone but me. I simply picked to feel included. I don'ts wants to be alonez.

If Hirooki Goto had the momentum he had last year, this would be an amazingly great decision. However, that's not what they did. He lost all his hype, all his momentum and all his fans that had led to the fans PASSIONATELY cheering him to beat Tanahashi last year for the IWGP title just a few months after returning. I think Goto has a fantastic upside and could be a huge star but New Japan has never quite figured out what made the fans cheer him in the first place. He was the young guy who was woefully undermatched, but never gave up. In his matches with Tenzan and Tanahashi, the heat would *DIE* the moment he did anything heelish, but would pick up immensely as soon as he was in trouble. New Japan doesn't get this, and put him in what is either a heel of tweener stable depending on you routlook. It's a lock now that Muto's retaining the title. I can't see any way Goto wins the title, and it'll be semi main event under Suwama/Kea for the TC. It'll be interesting how history looks back at this G-1.

I just finished Mass Effect...got it from Gamefly on Wed and blazed through it. Ended up around level 40+ without doing many of the sidequests. I thought I'd be able to go around the space after the game, free form style. I was wrong. The first thing that has to be said. The Mako. Fuck the Mako. The idea is a good one in theory, but in execution it was horrible. The thing didn't control well at all, and the use of BOTH STICKS combining a regular driving style with Halo's was a horrible design choice, and on big missions when you *HAD* to use it, it became outright frustrating. On the side quests or simply rampaging through a world, I'd go out of my way to try and wreck the thing by diving off mountains. More or less to see if I could explode it. On foot, I died only twice the entire game (An ambush attack on one of the early missions and against Benezia) but in the Mako? I died quite alot. I ran into a Thresher Maw and kept dying against it which just made me furious until I killed the thing. I'd die in missions when the controls would get squirelly and I'd end up going backwards towards the enemy for no reason into rocket fire while fighting with the control to get the hell out of the way. Once I simply died in the Mako for making a wrong turn. I still don't know why I died there. Nothing hit me. I just...died. I enjoyed the gameplay on foot when the game would allow me to simply do that. I was very frustrated in the game for a long time due to the crappy radar/map on the corner, but once I got into the whole "check map from start menu every few minutes" mode I got around okay. By the end of the game, nothing could stand against me as a Soldier/Shock trooper with Ashley completely filled out in battle powers, and a supporting Tali. Not even bosses could last very long at all. I never really used anyone else...For awhile I used Wrex but I filled the tank role, Garrus was useless to me, and Liara I used a few times and marveled at how she'd hold enemies in the air for me to kill...As for Kaidan? I hated Kaidan. Made a certain moment more enjoyable. One thing I've never seen anyone mention but it has to be said. The Archive. That was the biggest waste of time I have ever seen in a video game. You walk, and walk, and walk fighting maybe four enemies the entire time for ATLEAST five minutes straight of just holding up. Get to a little console...then you have to *WALK BACK* which the game did a poor job explaining (I tried for ages to get down from the ledge on foot) and once you get out of the archive, you have to get in the mako...AND GO BACK DOWN AGAIN. And to make it worse, when your walking there's shit in the way that your allies get stuck on, which if you don't notice means you'll have to backtrack to get them free. It was like the developers suddenly said, "Yeah, this game has good pace on the battles, elevators aside...lets put in a GIGANTIC tunnel just to fuck with the player and the game's pacing! Swerve!". Ending felt...bleh for all the work I put in too. It might have been because I played exceptionally morality driven and good but all it seemed to be was a hype for Mass Effect 2, which is *NOT* how you should pay off a thirty hour game. I dunno, I'm trying to figure out if a bleh ending and a frustrating end game destroys the last few days of enjoyment or not. It's iffy.

The only other promotion in the world that will be able to sign these people will be Sengoku, which I dunno how has seemingly lived through all this. Sengoku really doesn't have any expectations like DREAM did, and they don't really employ anyone that costs a lot. So while they don't sell out, they don't seem to be bleeding money severely. I could see Hansen or Eddie Alvarez ending up there, depending on their demands. Most of the DREAM Japanese talent probably will go there, again, depending on price. I don't see Yoshida breaking his company just to sign a few names. The man main evented against MAURICE SMITH for gods sake. If Sengoku goes down, then there's no one left. In the entire world. Unless you consider Pancrase or DEEP within the equasion, and quite frankly I do not. They are what they are. They are nothing more then that.

I could see it. WEC is proving to be a success. If all these promotions fold, they may HAVE to. I can't see Dana knowingly letting guys like Alvarez and Hansen sit on the sideline. If nothing else, Dana's a good man to the fighters. He'll feel to some extent that he has to employ some of these people. The problem is identity. WEC is for smaller fighters. What would the third promotion be? Exactly like UFC? You'd be competing with yourself. Maybe if you did it in another market, but again...Where? UK? That may work. Japan if DREAM goes down is *DEAD*, plus it'd never work there. Another option would be severely scale up the amount of UFC shows. UFC could easily pull off some type of stunt where it's an event every two/three weeks without fail. It wouldn't really be hard at all, and then overload each show with guys. That might work.

I don't get the Tanahashi thing myself. NJPW supporters will say that he was just coming off an injury, and all that...but partisan booking does nothing for anyone. Tanahashi was pushed as THE GUY for so long, and as their face for so long that this is a bad idea. The storyline is valid, but I still think it's silly. Hopefully they rebound him, and it's not a long term thing, but with NJPW it would not surprise me to see Tanahashi depushed.

Zach Arnold basically summed it up with his post last night. If Elite XC goes under, they will have done what UFC would have never done: Kill any place in MMA for young fighters to fight as a whole. Elite XC bought up so many of the small promotions that UFC will have a virtual monopoly on everything now. White was on record as saying he'd never target the King of the Cage's or Cage Rage's, or any of them because they were useful for grooming talent for UFC. Elite XC targeted them all. Elite XC's plan seemed to be to buy all these companies and then use it to keep fighters from UFC, mainly young ones. A good idea in theory, kind of the "starve them out" idea...but the problem is, Elite XC has never been financially viable, and they put themselves in the hole big time. You can't "starve them out" when you are bleeding to death. If the October show does not excel and convinces CBS to help them more, their done. And unless a miracle happens, I wouldn't count on Affliction being viable for much longer. People in MMA, even fans sometimes fail to realize that it really doesn't matter who the best fighters in the world are or how great your cards are. What matters is money. These groups like Affliction being the prime example just thought if they got the best fighters they could, they'd make money. It just doesn't work that way. DREAM's on death's door as well. If the next show's rating is not a success, they will have funding cut. They NEED the next show to be a rating's success to survive. It does not look good. With DREAM dead, the floodgates open on alot of talent there as well. UFC will have pick of the litter...but I don't expect them to sign everyone. How could you? UFC's already got a huge roster without figuring in Elite's talent, or DREAM's or any of that. For the fighter's this is a nightmare. Pretty soon it will be UFC and WEC alone. And they can't employ *EVERYONE*.

This G1 has been very unpredictable. With one show left (with the finals combined on it), it's just about everyone's game still. In Block A Tanahashi and Inoue have been eliminated by points, and Manabu Nakanishi is out because he does not have a match on the final day. That leaves Otani, Kojima, Makabe & Bernard left in the block. In block B, Toru Yano has been eliminated due to not having another match, and by process of elimination, along with Hiroyoshi Tenzan. That leaves Yuji Nagata, Shinsuke Nakamura, Hirooki Goto, Toshiaki Kawada & Yutaka Yoshie. Block A more or less has come down to Togi Makabe vs. Satoshi Kojima. Throughout the tour, GBH (Makabe's heel stable) has led attacks on Tenzan, which is why he finished so poorly. They beat him half to death, until Tenzan's best friend Kojima finally made the run in to save him. I would *like* to see Makabe make the finals, but it makes more sense to see an overbooked mess where Kojima comes out victorious over Makabe to make the finals. Giant Bernard and Shinjiro Otani could both advance, but they have typical "spoiler" booking in that Bernard is facing Wataru Inoue, and Otani against Tanahashi. If Otani dropped Tanahashi, then he makes it unless Kojima wins as well. They'd tie. If both Kojima & Otani lose then Bernard would tie with Makabe, but Makabe would advance due to direct confrontation rules. If Makabe & Kojima tie while Otani loses, then Bernard wins over Kojima due to direct confrontation rules. Block B's either a mess or really simple. I haven't quite figured it out. Five people in Block B are tied at six points, which means that every single match on the final night is important. Toshiaki Kawada takes on Yutaka Yoshie, Hiroyoshi Tenzan takes on Shinsuke Nakamura, and Yuji Nagata takes on Hirooki Goto. No matter what unless Nakamura loses, one match goes to a draw, and another match has a winner, there will be some type of direct confrontation ruling to decide who gets through. Having said that, and knowing when the booking of the title match is (It's in All Japan), and that they've been pushing that no gaijin or outsider has ever won...I see the finals being Satoshi Kojima from Block A against either Shinsuke Nakamura or Hirooki Goto. Another viable option would be Togi Makabe vs. Toshiaki Kawada or Shinsuke Nakamura...If it were *me*, I'd go with Makabe vs. Nakamura due to their long feud. But an outsider will most likely make it, and thusly I pick Kojima. Whoever wins is going to All Japan and most likely losing to Keiji Muto in the IWGP title match. I can almost see NJPW giving it to Satoshi Kojima just for that reason. I don't know what New Japan would get in return, but I don't think it'd really hurt them. I'm leaning towards Togi Makabe winning as a matter of personal opinion, because he's the lowest of the three top "young" stars in NJPW behind Tanahashi and Nakamura, and really needs something for his resume. Tanahashi's won every single title but the Juniors, and Nakamura's a two time IWGP champ. Makabe's just held the WEW title and the tag titles. He needs something like a G-1 to give him a little more name value. Who knows though. I wouldn't have predicted Tanahashi would do this poorly, injury angle or not.

You either get it, or you don't. What Lesnar did is nothing different then Tito Ortiz did for most of his successful career. It's a way to draw attention and get interest. Lesnar lassoing him was AWESOME. Lesnar's post match including claiming he "got back on that horse and rode it out of town" were brilliant. Even better when you consider that Herring's nickname is the "Texas Crazy Horse". Awesome, awesome stuff. The fans ate it up with a spoon too. Lesnar continued at the post show conference, where he apparently apologized for his actions, then said he actually doesn't apologize because he doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks of him which only made people angrier. That man gets how to sell himself.

...What if I want to stay neutral? Like Switzerland. ...Can I has a banners tooz? Edit: meh. I'll just pick logically. GSP shall win.

Dave basically hit the nail on the head with Brock & Cain. Who the fuck wants to face those two? Brock I could see...You beat him and instant push. But Cain? There's no upside to that fight right now. Brock slowly beat Herring half to death, and Cain just raped JOB violently. There's many UFC heavyweights with way less skill then Herring, and JOB was a really high level wrestler. Neither JOB or Herring stood a chance against those two monsters. If Kongo takes the fight with Brock, then all the credit in the world to him. Given his style and his weaknesses, he's a ballsy fucker for taking that fight. It's not one he's likely to win at all. I would have said he'd have a chance to knee or something when Brock shoots in...but Brock's speed was immense. I don't see anyone having the reflexes for that.

Sorry, man, but that is totally untrue. In my indy, and every indy I worked with, the workers have 90% control over their match, but the spots and outcomes are the promoters' call. If I wanted a worker to gig, he'd gig. Granted, they could refuse, but they wouldn't be working the next show. ...You honestly listed "outcomes" against my point? It's a worked event. Of course the promoter makes that decision. I mean...really? Some spots I'll give you but outcomes? You honestly thought I meant that the workers decide who wins? Really? And anyway, your listed 90% control of lay out versus *NONE* in WWE. Your average midcarder in WWE has no say over how their match is laid out. That's what agents do, with instructions handed down by the writers. Every single aspect of their work is determined by WWE. They are not Independent Contractors.

Under the limited knowledge I have of employee versus independent contractor, there is no way WWE fits that bill. Indy wrestling, even ROH, yes, but not in WWE. IC's are told the job, when to do it, and so on but are 100% up to their own decision as for how to do it, or when to look for work. It's their decision to work. If they don't wish to, they don't have to. and they have autonomy on HOW to handle the work. An indy wrestler can build their match anyway they want. In WWE, not only are you told what the job is, you are told to extreme lengths how to do it. How to build your match. What spots. What to say in a promo down to every little detail. Very few people in WWE have *ANY* say over the work they do at all. And if you try to not work, one of the primary benefits of an IC? Yeah, that doesn't fly at all. They are employees masquerading as Independent Contractors. There is nothing independent about their work at all. Your average indy worker is. WWE and most likely TNA aren't anywhere close to it.

To be fair, Herring did tag Brock a few times and Brock just no sold them. By that point in the fight, Herring was half dead, but he still nailed him. Even nailed Brock with a few good knees if I remember right and Brock just...took em. I actually give credit to Herring, because most would have tapped or given up. That guy, no matter what happens, never gives up. Had Brock let go, I think in second round, Herring would have crumbled from the clinch knees. Herring just lurched over like he had been shot with a gun. But Brock either didn't notice, or didn't care and just held him up. Brock still has a ways to go, but his two bases of athletic ability and power are so goddamn powerful that he's a force. If he learns how to use positions better (If he had went for a back mount with hooks, Herring would have DIED) and works on his standup, he's gonna be a scary motherfucker. I'd say he already is, but that'd just make it worse. And insane praise to Jon Fitch. My GOD what a beating he took. I mean, talk about not giving up. He knew this could be his one shot and he was NOT going down no matter what he took, and GSP was more then happy to try and encourage him TO go down.

I take back everything I said about Brock in that fight. He won the stand up. He won the ground. He won *EVERYTHING*. Never got tired excessively. If Brock can work on his grappling a bit more, and refine his stand up then I don't know if there's a man that can beat him. After this short of a time, he nearly finished Herring a couple times. And Heath Herring like I've said, is INCREDIBLY tough. I could not have been more wrong, and I could not be happier then I was wrong.

Unless New Japan swerves us, then it's almost a lock Tanahashi's winning this year. The winner almost immediately gets a shot at Muto on AJPW's big show. They could in theory hold Tanahashi/Muto off, but Muto's done nothing for NJPW. He's only appeared once for them since winning the title, and their getting nothing out of this reign. All along, the plan has to have been Tanahashi beating Muto. It's the only one that makes any sense for all parties. Muto would agree to almost anything for Tanahashi since he's his friend and a "disciple" of his ways. And NJPW desperately wants to make Tanahashi a top draw ace. No better way then to take back his promotion's title from the invader who happens to be one of the biggest legends in pro-wrestling.

Judo was really good. Too bad it's not gonna get played in the US at all. Gotta make time for that horse walking~!

Dude, he's a grinder! It's what he does! Blood & Guts man! I think that's the nice "gritty" way of saying he can't finish people easily.

If you don't know (I know they pushed this during the first NFL preseason game a few days ago), but NBC is doing 100% free online streaming for every single event from the Olympics. I watched some horse stuff earlier. Streamed okay, and I don't have the greatest connection on earth. Didn't change the fact that the horse thing was the most boring thing I've seen this side of golf. I've got plans to watch Judo, Taekwon-Do and Wrestling. COMBAT~! SPORTS~! Everything else, I'll catch when NBC airs them. They *NEVER* air these sports on NBC or any of the channels so streaming's the only hope. God knows we need ten hours of ROWING coverage. the addy for the online streams are www.nbcolympics.com

I'd like to see Marufuji beat Nigel. He's not doing a whole lot in NOAH right now, and he's one of the best workers in the world. He'd be a credible champion to go from Nigel to someone else for awhile. He's also pretty over in ROH if I remember right.

Even so, it's still odd match making. I guess they figure Manny will smash Emerson, but still he's 7-6. Not UFC main card material. and I pick fights as logically as I can. In every department GSP should win, but then again, he should have smashed Serra the first time like he did the second. I'm not one of those guys that says there's a "pattern" to GSP or he has a "history" of it...but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that Fitch just comes in looking for murder, and GSP is caught off guard. I fully acknowledge that I could be wrong, but at the same time...I could be right. Realistically, there aren't many fighters that should be able to even hang with GSP. He's just so naturally gifted in every department. Hell, if Fitch makes it to a decision then it's almost a victory in and of itself.