Mik

What an eye-popping announcement. But wow, Lorenzo made $114M last year? That's nuts.

I'd be really surprised if Irvin lasted more than 3 minutes honestly...to answer Dama's question. Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin both pose more of a threat to Anderson then James Irvin does.

Does anybody have any good tips to make the transition from medium to hard besides practice? I am getting 5 stars on medium all the way up to "One" but on hard the only songs I can finish are "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and "Slow Ride". Friggin' "Talk Dirty to Me" is kicking my ass and I have a 100% on the song in medium. It frustrates me enough that I almost don't want to play it anymore. Any tips I'm missing?

That's why it's such a stupid match. If he beats James Irvin everyone is going to be like big fucking deal, he beat a guy with a smiley face tattoed on his abs who also happens to not be such a good fighter. If he loses...forget it. What were they thinking? Still, though... a few good fighters on the card as well as Franca/Edgar. Good enough for me.

July 19th Spike card is apparently on. Vera and Velasquez are on the card. No opponents yet for either. Wandi turned it down. FWIW, MMARated.com is reporting that Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin at 205 is the main. I hate that fight.

Hey how is MLB.tv this year? If the Marlins are still in the race by the time I get my internets back at home (and I don't see why they won't be) then I think I have no choice but to pick it up. FYI about Manuel, he was actually the bench coach of the 1997 champion Marlins.

Chuck vs. Rashad in Atlanta is as official as can be now... I just got an email about it from the UFC.

Any viewership taken away from Affliction is a win for Dana. He wants to sink them before they have the chance to float. Hardcore fans are tuning in to the Affliction show most likely no matter what, but if any casual fans were thinking of buying it...well they are going to change their mind if they can see Wanderlei on free TV. They've done a good enough hype job with Wanderlei from his Chuck fight alone that people who never even heard of PRIDE want to see him fight. I don't know. I can see why they would do it even if it doesn't succeed numbers wise. As for Vera - he should be fine to fight. Yeah he lost but it's still 1 month plus. Guys do that all the time, just generally not on bigger UFC level cards. Also, I don't think making 205 will be an issue for him. As of now it's just a rumor so take it with a grain of salt.

Sherdog is reporting that the UFC is looking to put on a live TV special on July 19th headlined by Brandon Vera vs. Wanderlei Silva at 205. July 19th is, of course, Fedor vs. Sylvia. Don't fuck with Sleazy D creepy tattooed affliction guy. The real winner: hardcore fans with DVR. I'll buy the PPV, record the Spike special and watch them back to back.

Still hard to really tell what's going on. Or, at least, it took me a minute.

Well, Jacare won. Melvin destroyed Sakuraba. Apparently Aoki pulled off a never before seen sub...like a gogoplata from the top. They are calling it aokiplata at five ounces. You ever seen that sub before, Tong? Sounds like I missed another good card by DREAM.

Better Dan Henderson performance? - Knocking out Wanderlei - Second fight with Nog where he escapes about 1000 close sub attempts before getting arm-barred in the 3rd. I might be leaning towards the second. He was 194 for the fight with Nog, so giving up about 40 pounds and despite the fact that he lost he escaped about 50 submission attemps that 99.5% of MMA fighters would have called it quits on. I think Quadros and Bas called the fight "over" about 20 times. IIRC, Dan didn't even tap on the arm-bar... it was a ref stoppage. Honestly I'd still go with KO'ing Wanderlei because he actually, know you, won the fight. But his 2nd fight with Nogueira was pretty impressive. As for LOTC's comment above... yes this is the one month in like the last 10 years and probably the next 10 to come when I don't have cable or home internet. Lucky lucky me.

They raised the price of texting on the 3G as well? I'm not really sure how that's justified. I can see a raised data price because 3G is more expensive for them and quicker fo the consumer but a text is going through the same speed no matter what network you're using. That's odd. Yet another reason I'm sticking with good ol' edge for now.

Huh? Where did you hear that? Data went up from $20/month to $30/month.

EPIC FAIL

I heard this new one comes with a sim card remover directly in the box. I'm not getting this one right away. I'll stick with my crappy EDGE first gen for awhile. It can still run the 2.0 firmware and I'll just be happy with that for a bit.

So it looks like the IFL is just about dead in the water. They have a few guys who should find homes immediately. Matyushenko, Heiron, Horodecki, Roy Nelson, etc. The fight I want to see most now is Miguel Torres vs. Wagnney Fabiano. Fabiano has looked really impressive the past few times out. I think it'd be awesome.

Or Syracuse. In which case people could crash at my house.

I finally saw Guida/Aurelio from UFC 74 this past weekend. Can someone do their best job to explain to me how that was a split decision? When Buffer read the announcement I almost spit out my drink.

Here's the lineup. The new UFC product line from JAKKS will be collector-focused, and the license covers UFC legend Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, Brock Lesnar, Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira, Michael “The Count” Bisping and UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva, among others. The license also includes the famed UFC Octagon, and role-play items based on the UFC brand and its classic and current roster of star fighters. I have been looking for figures to put on my DVD rack next to Charlie, Locke, and Mr. Eko for awhile now and this might be the trick. However... those aren't exactly the UFC figurines I want. I'd buy: Lesnar B.J. Penn GSP Anderson Silva Rampage Wanderlei Huerta (obviously) I may be forgetting some but I wouldn't spend a dime on any other fighter right now. I wouldn't buy any at all if I didn't think they looked cool filling up some space on a giant DVD case.

I wonder if they said it's not a TV deal just as smoke and mirrors. I mean, if it's not...what else could shape the next 5 years? Maybe a buy-out... new ownership? New partners? Legalization in NY? That would be weak though... and I live in NY.

I want Illusion of Gaia on the VC. I used to love that game as a kid. I wonder if it's still any good or if I'm going to wind up horribly disappointed... like Startropics.

The Vampire Weekend anti-hype kind of bothers me. It's pretty much exemplifies "indie kids" to a tee. Band coming out with a lot of hype behind them and a lot of people hate them without even listening to it because there's "too much hype". I don't understand the mindset at all. I get it a little bit with Black Kids because at least in that case they are being kinda rushed into the spotlight while still kind of sucking and having no clue how to play a live show but whatever. I'll still be trying to get my hands on Partie Tramatic as soon as possible. But Vampire Weekend is at least talented (while obviously not being everyone's cup of tea). Anyway - I know they aren't a Smartmarks favorite but did anyone get the new Coldplay? People are gushing and I'm hoping it's much better then the dreck that was their last album.

Original quote: Of course, FozOP is running wild with speculation. We might as well guess too. I guess a TV deal is the obvious choice but does anyone want to throw any oddball ideas in to the mix? I'm guessing that the announcement will be big enough to keep this a thread and rename it afterward and if it's not then I'll just delete this.

It's probably worth nothing that Ryan Tucker made his MLB debut yesterday for the Marlins. He was part of their 2005 draft class that included 5 first round pitchers. He was always thought of as a bullpen arm and kind of wild and also always overshadowed by Chris Volstad and Aaron Thompson. Either way - he has been nearly unhittable in the minors this season and got the call yesterday. I couldn't catch the game but I heard he looked filthy when he was actually getting the ball over the plate. He ended up getting the win over the Reds. He's probably going to end up staying in the bigs, even if he moves to the pen. Volstad is also almost ready for the show. With some of the Marlins prized arms actually making it to the big leagues the time could be soon for another legit run.