RavishingRickRudo

I think it's odd that they put 2 crackers in a packet. What are you going to do with just 2 crackers? I guess put some peanutbutter between them for a lil sandwich, but I can't imagine it being very useful, hunger-wise. Wow, looking at all the ingredients on this cracker packet, it's amazing how something you'd think is so simple can be so complex.

Before: After: In between: Jesus Christo that's a beating.

Randy Couture was probably the first fighter I attached myself to when I started getting into MMA again. Watching UFC 13, here's a wrestler who is subbing guys and pounding out these huge fuckers. Then they bring up his boxing in the Army and there's a total package right there. That was awesome and indicative of the kind of athlete that was coming out at that time. It was also around this time that Randy had his war with Pedro Rizzo, and seeing that sorta connected me to the modern-day UFC. The fight itself was just a fucking war, and I remember watching the rematch on PPV and seeing Randy just blow through Rizzo. Though the Rizzo fights get brought up as an example of how Randy is able to overcome and persevere, 2003 was truly his defining year. His fights with Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were fucking insane. For about a year, maybe even more, all the talk was "Tito and Chuck". That's where the focus was. Then out of nowhere comes Randy Couture and spoils them both and makes them look like amateurs. Looking back, 2003 - when Randy was 40 years old - was his peak in fighting. It's going to be weird seeing a UFC without Randy Couture. An excellent Couture HL video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1...q=randy+couture

On UFC.tv there is an interview with Randy. He says he's going to be "competing with his girlfriend on an adventure show (in the spring)". Please tell me we'll be seeing The Natural on The Amazing Race! He also said that he was planning on retiring win or lose, and decided about a month ago.

Hmm, they didn't have The Wild And Crazy Guy go into a gay bar. Damn, I'm out $20.

Respect. That Vera KO was so pretty. Fucking awesome card. Goddamn.

AGREED! I would have liked to have had something infront of me so I could compose my thoughts a lil better, as there were times where my mind was going in different directions and whatever point I was making sorta came out as a bit of a ramble. So if you were like "the fuck?", that was me with a half-thought trying to fill in the other half. But whatever nervousness you had didn't show up.

Lei, you were probably my favourite part of that roundtable, the Mexican/Eddie Guerrero comment had me laughin.

Malenko vs. Mysterio would be closer, stylistically to Malenko/Guerrero than Benoit/Malenko. I say do Benoit vs. Masato Tanaka

It's easier to escape when your opponent has your head trapped if you don't have hair. Not that that's the exact reason for why these guys in particular are bald, but in general, most MMA fighters don't have a full head of hair because it works against you (plus it gets in your eyes... OUIMET~!)

I was about to say "Who is this Snoreona fella and how come I've never heard of him", and then I sorta connected the dots..

Day-boo~!

The Man: The Contestants (photos couresty of InsideFighting.com, from the UFC 57 Weigh-In): Randy Doh!-ture Mike Van Arsdale Brandon Vera Gilbert Aldana Jeff Monson Mike Whitehead Keith Jardine

That was a lot funnier than I remembered. This, of course, should not be unexpected when LOTC has a live mic infront of him. Poor Downhome. I thought it gelled really well and once it got going it really got going. Though it is apparent that LOTC, Lei Tong, and NGA need their own show called Smark Cultured where they look at daily events through the perspectives of a Mexican, a Canadian, and an Australian. Oh-ho-ho, hilariousity.

I remember watching the fight and the announcers weren't really on Randys jock as they are today.

There's a KOTC Canada event on TSN right now and one dude just superkicked another duge. Sweet Chin Music Superkick. That was fucking awesome. The guy just shrugged it off, but still. It connected.

I think one of the most important things to note is the Randy Couture is at his best when he is the underdog. Against Liddell the first time, against Rizzo the second time when a lot of people believed he lost the first fight, against Belfort the first time. I'm not 100% sure on it, but against Randleman I think he went in as the underdog as well. He has an uncanny ability to rise to the occasion and DOMINATE, and that's a huge x-factor in his favour.

Plus no one really expected anything great out of the HW fight, while lots of people were stoked at the prospect of two top MW's going at it. Then again, these are the schmucks who voted Randy Couture as Fighter of the Year in 2004, so this is not really unexpected.

The Brian Pillman stuff, especially the WCW/ECW stuff will be fantastic. Especially with Heyman and Bischoffs POVs, as well as Austins.

They *need* to get as much footage of Hogan in Japan as possible, specifically his work from the early 80's in New Japan. That shit is fucking great. I wonder if they can use the Supershow Tokyo Dome footage with Hogan vs. Hansen, since it was a joint production?

From LAW... *Look for "Ultimate Fighter 2" finalist Brad Imes to take on Gabriel Gonzaga at the UFC April show in Anaheim. How Gonzaga is being invited back is beyond me after having the worst fight of 2005 with Kevin Jordan in November.

Bad Ass Breakdown: UFC 57 - 2/1/2006 by Phil Baroni UFC 57 is an intriguing card from top to bottom. All nine fights present interesting matchups that will answer one or more questions lingering questions about virtually every fighter on the card. Plus, it’s nice to see a UFC card that isn’t littered with guys from “The Ultimate Fighter.” We only have two TUF 2 guys on the card and neither one has a gimmie matchup. Instead, they’re facing each other. So that leaves 16 guys who’ve truly earned their right to be in the cage. Let’s take a look at the first half of the card: Brandon Vera vs. Justin Eilers Brandon Vera is a pretty good wrestler. He’s trained with a lot of top guys, like Randy Couture and other guys at the Olympic Training Center. Now, is he a world-class wrestler? No. He’s never competed and placed at the world level, but he’s still got a big edge over Justin Eilers in this fight. When it comes to striking, I’m not so sure about Vera. He’s never shown me anything with his hands. But he’s got very strong leg kicks and solid knees. Eilers, by contrast, has real knockout power in his hands. We saw that when he stopped a very big Mike Kyle. That power, plus his willingness to stand and brawl with anyone, will be a big asset in this fight. If this comes down to a standup fight, I give the edge to Eilers. Normally, guys who rely on kicks and knees aren’t that comfortable against guys who bull rush in, check the kicks and then let their hands go. The kicker needs space to land big shots, and an aggressive puncher who knows how to defend kicks typically won’t give him that space. Eilers is the bigger, stronger, more aggressive fighter. So, Vera really should try to take the fight to the ground or really focus on getting the Thai clinch. On the ground, Vera has the edge. He used to train with Dean Lister down at City Boxing in San Diego. They were top training partners. But Lister left that gym and Vera didn’t for whatever reason. So we know his ground game is very good. If he puts Eilers on his back, then he has an overwhelming advantage. I’d still give Vera a slight edge if he ends up fighting from his guard. Eilers could be dangerous pounding down on him, but Vera will still hold the advantage in that scenario. The one asterisk to that analysis is the fact that Eilers is coming off back-to-back losses. There’s no hiding from the fact that losses chip away at your confidence. And there’s nothing worse than a humbled fighter. I should know that better than anyone. Fighter’s need to be cocky. They need to be completely sure of themselves before they step into the cage. Eilers knows he needs to win in order to keep his UFC career alive. He knows he needs to look impressive. That’s a lot of pressure. Will he wilt from the pressure? Or, will he step up and use the pressure as extra motivated? He needs to start out quickly, impose his will on the softer, weaker Vera and focusing on trying to win the fight right from Jump Street. He has to completely forget about fighting not to lose. I fought trying not to lose against Pete Sell and we all know how that one turned out. Eilers has to avoid falling into that trap. In truth, both of these guys should probably fight 205 pounds. Neither are big heavyweights. I’m not sure either can really compete with the giants in the division like Arlovski or Frank Mir. Personally, I’d like to see the winner drop down in weight and see what kind of noise he can make among the light heavies. Alessio Sakara vs. Elvis Sinosic This should be another fight for Alessio Sakara to demonstrate his standup skills. In terms of skill level, there are MMA strikers, like Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar. Then, there are guys who are on another level. Not necessarily world-class strikers, but still at another level above good MMA strikers. Sakara is one of those guys, principally because of his solid amateur boxing background. He looked great on the feet in his last fight until he got kicked in the balls. He uses his jab better than anyone I’ve ever seen in MMA. He pumps it over and over to control the distance and set up big power punches as he steps inside. His hands look nice and fast, but his ground game still has a huge question mark hovering over it. Elvis Sinosic showed some improvement in his standup game in his last fight against Griffin. He had Griffin rocked early, but he still got knocked out in the first round. If he stands with Sakara, he gets knocked out early – no doubt about it. Sakara is a much bigger puncher than Griffin. And he’s able to take better advantage of Sinosic’s mistakes, countering more effectively compared to Griffin. That means Sinosic’s best bet is to take the fight to the ground and try to find a way down there. Can Sakara defend the takedown? Sinosic doesn’t have the best takedowns. So that’s a tough one to answer. Can he defend submissions? I don’t know. But I’m still not sold on Sinosic’s ground skills. He’s lived too long off one submission win over a top guy. That doesn’t mean all that much to me. Let’s face it, Elvis Sinosic is a journeyman. He’s just an opponent in this fight. Granted, he’ll try to make the best of the opportunity. But he’s being brought in to lose to Sakara, and lose in spectacular fashion. Brandon Lee Hinkle vs. Jeff Monson Jeff Monson’s fought at both heavyweight and light heavyweight, so he’s a smallish, but durable, heavyweight. His big strength lies in his grappling. The guy has serious skills in that area, competing in what seems like every big tournament from Abu Dhabi to NAGA to Grappler’s Quest. My Hammer House teammate, Brandon Lee Hinkle, is known for having two of the top five greatest fights in IVC history – the fights with Ebenezer Braga and Carlos Baretto. So he’s a durable fighter that can survive a total war, though I don’t know if he’ll need that durability against a grappler like Monson. In breaking down the matchup, I’d give the wrestling advantage to Hinkle. When you get in deep against a grappler like Monson, they pull guard a lot. So I expect Hinkle to get on top and stop pounding away with his right hand. The guy is very right hand happy inside the guard. He once threw like 37 consecutive right hands from the guard in a fight. Monson is a short, stocky guy. He’s not really built for submissions. He’s more of a takedown-and-hold fighter who looks to grind out decisions. So I don’t see him tapping Hinkle. He’s going to try to pull out a lay-and-pray win. To me, this fight comes down to whether Hinkle shows up in great shape. He doesn’t always get in the greatest shape. He trains hard, but still likes to party a bit. I expect Hinkle to get the early takedown and start pounding away with right hands. If he’s in great shape, he should ground-and-pound his way to a win. If not, Monson can gas him out by surviving the first onslaught and then doing what he does best – takedown and hold him down for a decision. Keith Jardine vs. Mike Whitehead This is a do-or-die fight for Mike Whitehead. He’s got what seems to be a very beatable opponent. Although Keith Jardine is rumored to have great ground skills, I haven’t really seen them. He didn’t really show them in any of his TUF 2 fights. So, he might be like David Terrell, where he has tremendous ground skills in the gym, but doesn’t bring them to the cage. Evan Tanner’s ground and pound made Terrell’s submission game look subpar. Why? It’s a whole new ballgame when someone’s pounding on your face in a real fight compared to the controlled environment of training camp. The problem, though, is that Whitehead has shown a tendency to choke when he’s on the big stage. He didn’t put up a good effort against Brandon Vera at WEC 13. And his loss to Rashad Evans in the quarterfinals of TUF2 was forgettable effort. So, I wonder if he’ll show up in his true UFC debut on Saturday night. Will Whitehead finally step up to the plate and go down swinging, or is he going to strikeout looking like he did against Evans? If he brings the fight to Jardine, I like him to win. His training partners at Team Miletich hold him in high regard because of his good wrestling and solid ground-and-pound game. So he needs to forget about Jardine’s jiu-jitsu game, put the guy on his back up against the fence and blast away. Even though Jardine hasn’t looked good on the feet, he probably has the edge over Whitehead standing. But why mess around with a big guy who can hurt you with a right hand? Jardine should try to put Whitehead where he’s the most uncomfortable – on his back. From there, he can work for submissions or pound away.

I think you are expecting too much out of people if you think they wonder what you sound like.

Zuffa would like to send its sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Carlson Gracie Sr., who passed away today in Chicago at the age 72. A legendary Grandmaster and practitioner of jiu-jitsu, Gracie was cited in 2001 by Men's Fitness magazine as "arguably the best fighter ever produced by the Gracie clan," and he was just as special as a teacher, to not only a host of elite jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts competitors, but to everyone who stepped through the doors of his schools. He will be sorely missed. --UFC.tv

Cross-posted from DVDVR: “As of yesterday, everyone had good spirits. It looked like he’s going to pull this one out. The worst is over.” Stephan Bonnar commented about this morning’s news of Carlson Gracie’s death. Carlson Gracie had been sick for a couple of weeks, but his death comes as a shock to the Martial Arts and Mixed Martial Arts communities. Carlson, reportedly, wasn’t feeling well every since Stephan Bonnar’s ‘Ultimate Fight Night 3,’ bout against James Irvin on January 16th. Bonnar told MMAWeekly Carlson had been ill, “Ever since my fight. He got in the night before my fight, on Sunday. He said he wasn’t feeling good. He was sick. You could just tell he was sick. I thought he’d pull through and be all right, but he just got worse. He checked into the hospital last week and had a really bad infection, kidney stones. I guess he looked really, really bad, and they were surprised that he was able to pull through the worst. He was on the road to recovery as of yesterday, and then he passed away this morning.” The emotional Bonnar added, “It sucks man, I mean, because he was always in such good shape. He was so healthy and vibrant. He got sick a few weeks ago. It just got worse and worse. I saw him yesterday. He looked bad, but they said he was looking a lot better, and he’s going to pull through, and the worst is over. Then, I got the call this morning, so it sucks.” Stephan Bonnar has trained under Carlson Gracie since Carlson moved to the United States in 2002. Reflecting on his time with Carlson, Stephan commented, “What was great about him was he didn’t hold anything back. I know a lot of Jiu-Jitsu guys that will kind of save their best techniques. If you had a question, how do you defend this? He would answer. It really didn’t matter who you was, your first day of class. He was honest and open about it, his Jiu-Jitsu and about other things too. You know? He would give you the last dollar in his wallet. He was a real good person. I mean honestly. I just wouldn’t say that about anyone. Like a really, really good person Carlson was.” The impact of Carlson Gracie’s life on Jiu-Jitsu and MMA is obvious. He trained Murilo Bustamante, Vitor Belfort, many of the fighters that are now Brazilian Top Team... but what will be the impact of his death be on the Carlson Gracie Team and his academy? Answering that question, Bonnar said, “I really don’t know. I’m kind of sitting here with question marks. You know? What do I do from here? I mean, I’ve still got my guys to train with and that, but it does feel like something is missing. I’m all confused right now . . . It was just an honor to work with someone like him.”