RavishingRickRudo

Watching the weight ins and BJ looks in the best shape he's been in since he started, maybe better.

Rob Di Censo vs. Fabio Holanda, OSWI 4. The sequence around 4:45 was dope. Holanda is the Honkey Ton Man of no gi.

Crane vs. Pellegrino is such an awesome fight. I really hate that we might be able to see it.

UFC 74: Respect is such a good show. Might be a top 5 UFC show of all time. The blood splatter in Babalu/Heath was fucking gorgeous. The only fight that was bad was Guida vs. Aurelio. Huerta vs. Crane is so my Fight of the Year. Crane is so fucking awesome. I can't wait for him vs. Pellegrino. That fight is soda-licious. Cote's flash KO of Kendall still gets me cheering.

Watching the Pellegrino fight, a number of positives and negatives come out of it for Joe Daddy: A positive is his head movement while standing. He was bobbing and weaving, slipping a lot of Pellegrino's jabs, to a point to where I would consider his movement to be ahead of the game in MMA, as most fighters just keep their head as a stationary target. Another positive was his stamina; I won't completely go against my "pillar of conditioning" comment, but the fact is in that fight with Batman, Joe finished very strong in the third round in what wasn't exactly the most physically grueling contest ever, but one that where such conditioning is impressive. However, I think the negatives play right into BJ's favour. Pellegrino landed a lot of uppercuts in that fight, and BJ loves to throw the uppercut, and since Joe will want to take BJ down, he'll be susceptible to it whenever he initiates or disengages from the clinch or takedown. Also, while Joe was slipping a lot of Pellegrino's single shots, when Kurt threw combos, Stevenson stayed as a stationary target. If BJ puts the heat on Joe, it might make for a short night. To top it all off, Joe's punches had little power behind them, so I don't see any reason for BJ to keep his distance and stay out of the pocket.

I imagine this game will be won and lost in the clinch, where BJ will be too big for Joe to muscle around and Joe will gas quicker than he expected.

Letterman would have a field day. "Pele... Palelai... Palelai... Pele"

Kimbo via Mike Tyson Aura. ... and you so can wait. Don't even lie.

Kimbo via dive.

When has Stevenson been the pillar of conditioning? In my view he's as suspect as Penn to gassing out if the pace is quick enough. The biggest advantage Stevenson has is he knows BJ tends to fade if he doesn't finish early and will be doing his best to bore the fuck out of us as he stalls for the championship round. But I can't see that happening.

At least Eric Pele isn't in the UFC. Then Shaw would be shitting all over himself in that statement.

What BJ lacks in technique and variety of strikes he makes up for in aggression and relative fearlessness, coupled with the ability to take a shot. Putting pressure on guys who don't like to strike is more effective, imo, than picking shots and letting them keep their composure standing. Plus, BJ is very good at mixing up his strikes with takedowns and clinches, so in an MMA perspective, I'd say BJ's stand up is somewhat underrated, though still is something that is behind his wrestling and jj. Joe struggled against Pellegrino, to where -at the time watching it- I would have picked Batman to win. That may change on a repeat viewing, but it's something to consider. Kurt is a good fighter, no doubt, and beating Jay R. Palmer is quite the feather in his cap, but he's no Best P4P Fighter Ever.

In an article on Sherdog, St. Pierre's manager talks about GSP's desire to move up to 185 once he cleans out the WW division.

"SHOW ME THE SUGAR!"

That's my general feeling on XCN. Mindyou, Geris has been working on this for a while, but it seems like too many divided loyalties. I doubt Joslin will put the club before his, and at the end of the day Tompkins can reign his guys in whenever he wants. Also, the student base is going to be an interesting one, as it will likely attract a lot of people for the name alone, and who will ultimately end up vanishing at the end of their term. It seems like a Legends Gym scenario, where it starts off with lots of names attached and at the end of the day when the people who go there for the names realize that they don't get to roll with those names and instead take instructions from guys who they don't know, they'll end up leaving. The money won't be what everyone thinks and those in it for the money will leave. Since it's a franchise, Couture and Co will end up taking a percentage of whatever is made, as well. To me, it seems too much like a money grab to work. The gyms that have longevity are ones that started from nothing and grew from there. The ones that rely on the owner's and trainers passion are the ones that tend to build a more loyal student base. I would imagine GSP's problems with the Government would be financial, and most likely dealing with the tax man, given how the UFC pays their fighters.

Can I just say how awesome this Countdown show is? Now with omnipotent voice~~!

Oh, and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Bocek vs. Danzig for the Montreal show, according to Danzigs manager Monte Cox.

Hot Fuzz was really good, and the "This shit just got real" made me laugh hysterically, but they were doing something that South Park perfected, so it was still a bit of a disappointment. I watched Night at the Museum the other day. Ranks up there with National Treasure in regards to being a movie being way more enjoyable than one would expect.

I would have pegged two of those teams to be done in the first 5 episodes. Old people never make it far! They're too old! Is the Hippies/Fratcats season of AR out on DVD?

None of these guys are notable. You'd think the WFA's demise would teach people a lesson in regards to "stacking" a show with guys who won't draw what you're paying them. From Loretta Hunt: With 20 fighters on the card, that means at least $10,000 per fighter. I like how people cried out for Zuffa to raise fighter pay, stating that competition was great because it inflated the fighter payroll. In reality, the best thing for the sport was for inflation to stay low as long as possible. Fighters making big money doesn't help the fans, it just closes the doors of promotions, sometimes even before they open. This stuff only hurts the smaller, dumber shows. Which is to say, everyone other than the UFC. I don't think there's a single guy on that card that could bring in $10,000 dollars worth of business, let alone all of the big "notables" that stacked this show put together. Short of Bas Rutten running out singing his "theme" and expecting everyone else to know the words, WCO couldn't have possibly been more delusional.

When in doubt, pick the wrestler if he doesn't have horrible submission defense.

I'm in. Name is RudoGracie.

Ah yes, sodomizing rapists. Which is, really, the main draw of prison. Especially for straight, falsely accused rapists.

Yeah, at least getting raped garners you some sympathy. ...err. Going on the report, they're charging him, like, 300 a month in rent. But when you think about it - clothes, laundry, food, exercise, bed ... all paid for. If anything, he should be charged for theft for trying to get away with such a sweet deal.