Preach it, brother Dave!

Lesnar backlash brims with double standards - UFC - Yahoo! Sports

There have been 61 fighters in Ultimate Fighting Championship history whio were pro wrestlers at one point or another. There are nine on the current UFC roster. Of the six fighters in the UFC Hall of Fame, three – Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn and Mark Coleman – dabbled in wrestling.

But UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is the only one vilified for it.

Brock vs. Fedor!?

Dana White says Fedor Emelianenko will fight in the UFC, Brock Lesnar fight imminent | MMAjunkie.com

"This Fedor thing has gone on and on and on," White said in the post-UFC 100 press conference. "Eventually, Fedor's going to be here. I want Fedor. I want him to come to the UFC and everything else.

"This guy (Brock Lesnar) just won the heavyweight title, and we'll end up getting that deal done. And then we'll do Brock vs. Fedor, and it'll be a huge fight."

How soon could we such the fight?

"Who knows," White said. "He's obviously contractually obligated to fight (with Affliction). Once that's over, we'll figure it out."

UFC 100 picks

Here's my entirely non-scientific picks for the three main events of UFC 100. I'm going to do this two ways: my "heart" pick (what I hope to happen) and my "head" pick (what I think will actually happen).

Check back late Saturday night for an opportunity to laugh at my lack of prognostication abilities.

Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir for the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship
Heart pick: BROCK SMASH LITTLE MAN!
Head pick: BROCK SMASH LITTLE MAN!

Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves for the UFC Welterweight Championship
Heart pick: GSP by submission in second round
Head pick: GSP squeaks out a five-round decision

Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping
Heart pick: Henderson by knockout in round one
Head pick: Henderson by split decision

Where to watch UFC 100 in Edmonton and Calgary

My (semi) regular post on where to find a bar to watch the UFC 100 PPV. The link is here.

UFC 100: We're Just Getting Started

Commercial for the new Ultimate Fighter

Shame that my eagerness to see this means by the time it comes, winter will be at our doorstep.

Tim Sylvia vs. Ray Mercer

This brings me so much joy!

Where to watch UFC 99 in Edmonton and Calgary

My (semi) regular post on where to find a bar to watch the UFC 99 PPV. The link is here.

The next season of Ultimate Fighter just got awesome

Because Kimbo Slice is part of the cast!

The coaches for the next season of Ultimate Fighter are ...

Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans.

Umm ... what?

Rashad Evans embarks on a new career

Where to watch UFC 98 in Edmonton and Calgary

My (semi) regular post on where to find a bar to watch the UFC 98 PPV. The link is here.

UFC 100 poster

Tremendous.

Best. Submission. Ever. - Inverted Triangle

UFC 101: Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva

The MMA world is abuzz today with the news that the August UFC PPV will be co-main evented by UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva moving up to 205 lbs to take a (non-title) fight with former lightheavyweight champion Forrest Griffin.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who isn't excited by this fight, but surely I'm in the minority. Here's my problems with it:

• It puts Silva's middleweight title on ice until at least late fall, and more likely until the end of the year. Sure, Silva's coming off two boring fights and needs his marketability rehabbed pronto, but that's no excuse for forcing middleweight contenders to sit on the sidelines, waiting for Silva to defend his belt again.
• There's no upside to Forrest taking this fight. It's a non-title fight. If Griffin wins, it's not like he's moving down to 185 lbs. to fight Silva for the title. If Griffin loses, it makes it harder for UFC to put him back in the 205 lbs. title picture.
  
• There's little upside in Silva taking this fight. If he loses, UFC's beaten their middleweight champion (who really isn't much of a draw at the best of times) with no return match in the offing. In the meantime, he has to then take that loss into a title defence against a long-suffering middleweight contender in, likely, December. If he wins, well, he wins. But will it help his drawing power in the long run?

Frankly, I'm way more excited about the Kenny Florian-BJ Penn match on this show, if only because I want to see Florian take BJ's 155 lbs. title from him.

Former WWE star Bobby Lashley to fight in Edmonton

MFC 21: Bobby Lashley to debut against Mike Cook on May 15 at UFC blog for UFC news, results, videos, rumors, fights, pics and tickets — MMAmania.com

Prior to his June 27 pay-per-view fight against Bob Sapp for Prize Fight Promotions], former WWE star Bobby “The Dominator” Lashley will step into the MFC ring on Friday, May 15 at MFC 21: “Hard Knocks” live from the River Cree Resort and Casino and airing live throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico on HDNet Fights.

I gotta say ... good on MFC for getting him for this fight. I'm impressed.

The WWE hates Montreal, part MXVIII

London Bound...Bret Hart...Chuck Liddell...Retirement Rumors Galore...Awesome Midnight Express Book | J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q

The fans booed the amazing Anderson Silva Saturday night for not brawling with his opponent which showed how many casual/uninformed fans were in attendance.

Where to watch UFC 97 in Edmonton and Calgary

My (semi) regular post on where to find a bar to watch tonight's UFC 97 PPV. The link is here.

GSP vs. BJ Penn on Spike a big fat failure turtle

So ... Spike has spent weeks hyping up the free showing of the January PPV last night by saying, "It was the fight that was supposed to settle the score ... and ended in controversy. Did Georges. St. Pierre use illegal grease to score his victory over BJ Penn? See for yourself as UFC presents UFC 94 ... blah, blah, blah" And they even used still photos of the cornerguy holding a jar of Vaseline near GSP's back.

Then, during the broadcast last night, they cut out all the between round stuff to air commercials. They never aired the commission guy telling GSP's corner to wipe him off. They never showed any of the "breathing techniques".

In short, they built this up as your chance to determine for yourself whether GSP cheated or not, and then NEVER SHOWED ANY OF THE SUPPOSEDLY INCRIMINATING FOOTAGE that happened between rounds.

Seriously .... this was as bait and switch as it gets. Fine - you got to see a PPV card for free on TV. But if you hadn't seen the original PPV and bought the hype from Spike on this and went to watch it determined to catch GSP's corner cheating, well, you were entirely out of luck, because UFC and/or Spike never showed any of that on TV.

Fail.

(And, for the record, I think BJ Penn's complaints about this fight and the "greasing" are ludicrous.)

Crazy MMA knockout!

Chuck Liddell hypnotizes UFC audience

The Ultimate Fighter - USA vs. UK

The new season of The Ultimate Fighter starts tomorrow (Wednesday), and it's proceeded by the usual Spike TV Ultimate Fight Night special.

I'll watch all of it, and I'll probably enjoy it as well. But there's nothing about this season of The Ultimate Fighter that I'm particularly looking forward to: I like Dan Henderson, and Michael Bisping is fine, but it's not like I'm chomping at the bit to see them fight each other. So the lure of the coaches fighting is "meh" at best. And the quality of the guys on TUF in recent seasons has declined dramatically, so there's little reason to emotionally invest in a bunch of fighters when there's little chance that any of them will actually leave a lasting impression in the UFC. The days of the UFC finding the next Forrest Griffin or Rashad Evans (or Michael Bisping, for that matter) from TUF are almost certainly over.

Not to mention, being Canadian, the whole USA vs. UK angle on this season is not exactly a patriotic lure.

But, as I said, I'll watch all of it. Because it's still going to be more compelling than the WWE has been of late.

The May 23 UFC main event is ...

Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida for the title.

Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir it is not.

Latest on UFC main event picture

According to Dave Meltzer at wrestlingobserver.com, the Frank Mir-Brock Lesnar fight is being moved to UFC 100 on July 11. Dana White would like the May 23 main event to be Rashad Evans defending against Rampage Jackson, but Quinton isn't sure if he wants that fight on such short notice. If he doesn't accept, Lyoto Machida would get the title shot.

Frank Mir injury update

The latest update courtesy of Figure 4 Weekly Online is that Frank Mir did undergo a knee scope during the week, but the match against Brock Lesnar has not been officially cancelled yet. One poster on the F4W messageboards said that UFC would announce the new main event for the May show tonight during the Jackson-Jardine PPV.

UPDATE: Frank Mir is telling people that he can't spar for four to six weeks, and wants the match moved to the summer.

Frank Mir injured? May fight with Brock off?

MMA reporter Oliver Copp is reporting on the Figure 4 Online messageboards right now that Frank Mir is injured and his May fight with Brock Lesnar to unify the UFC Heavyweight and Interim Heavyweight titles is off.

If true, this is terrible news. That was easily a million buys PPV.

Updates and links as they become available.

UPDATE: MMA Weekly says Mir's already had knee surgery.

I guess the question now is whether UFC knew about this before they started selling tickets to UFC 98 and officially announcing the fight?

SECOND UPDATE: Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports says Mir did have knee surgery, but the fight is still on for May. As of now, UFC boss Dana White is claiming ignorance.

THIRD UPDATE: Several posters on the F4W messageboards have pointed out that Dana White's protests of not knowing anything about Mir's knee surgery before putting tickets on sale yesterday ring hollow. Mir, after all, was conspicuous by his absence at the announce booth at the WEC show on Sunday night. That doesn't necessarily mean White knew he could be pulling out of the fight, but the timing is certainly strange.

FOURTH UPDATE: Bryan and Dave at Figure 4 Online/Wrestling Observer are reporting that Mir's knee still needs to be operated on, and May main event is touch and go, and possible fight could be moved to UFC 99 or 100. Still, it begs question of whether UFC knew this yesterday when they put tickets on sale for UFC 98. The credibility of UFC as honest promoters could take a big hit on this one. UFC has always been up front with fans about state of cards.

UFC 96

Sorry, I just can't get excited about Keith Jardine fighting Rampage Jackson. Well, I can get kinda excited about the Jackson part of it, but not the Jardine part of it. It may turn out to be fight of the year, but I'm not buying this show.

My next UFC PPV will be the May show, with Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir for the undisputed heavyweight title.

You're doing it wrong

This man tested positive for steroids.

Weight classes? What weight classes?

When Diego Sanchez, making his debut in the UFC's lightweight, 155 lbs. division, admits after the fight that he walked into the fight at 172 lbs. - two pounds over the welterweight limit - it's time for UFC and the athletic commissions to take weight classes a little more seriously.

Dear Dana White

If your Montreal show falls through because of the stupid athletic commission, please consider moving the show to Edmonton. It would be an instant sellout.

BJ Penn Welcome Home Rally

In case you're in Hawaii this week and want to celebrate the biggest four-round one-sided butt-kicking in UFC history. Why BJ would want a party to mark his beating is beyind me, but, hey, Ala Moana is quite the nice place, so it's not all bad.

Strikeforce buys EliteXC

Strikeforce announces acquisition of select Prolite/EliteXC assets | MMAjunkie.com

The long-rumored sale of many of the ill-fated ProElite organization's assets is finally complete.

Rumors of the sale initially surfaced on Wednesday evening as SI.com's Josh Gross received confirmation of the transaction from ProElite Chief Executive Officer Chuck Champion.

Today a press release by the California-based Striekforce organization confirmed that the company has purchased a significant portion of ProElite's assets, including some fighters' contracts and a video library of past CBS and Showtime-broadcast events.

This is good news for MMA. A strong second promotion in North America is a welcome addition. Don't get me wrong - I love UFC. But a little healthy competition never hurt anyone.

GSP! GSP! GSP! GSP!

I've never been more satisfied with the end of a fight. It was soooooo good to see Georges. St. Pierre leave BJ Penn beaten, broken and humbled. Maybe next time BJ will train more than his mouth for a fight.

Where to watch UFC 94 in Edmonton or Calgary

My semi-regular public service announcement on where to watch UFC pay-per-views in Edmonton or Calgary (or anywhere else in Alberta). Details on bars and restaurants showing the PPV are here.

Tonight's show should be awesome. GSP! GSP! GSP!

Trouble in paradise? B.J. Penn cuts short "UFC Primetime" taping | MMAjunkie.com

Despite solid ratings for Spike TV's first installment of the three-part "UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Penn II" series, at least one participant was apparently unhappy with how he was portrayed in the piece.

A source close to the show on Tuesday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) B.J. Penn recently shut down a taping and interview session for the series and no longer wants involved in the project.

In wrestling terms, this smells like a "work" designed to continue the build for the match. Or maybe BJ just threw a fit.

And watch this show. It's really good!

Another report here.

Where to watch UFC 93 in Edmonton and Calgary

My semi-regular public service announcement on where to watch UFC pay-per-views in Edmonton or Calgary (or anywhere else in Alberta). Details on bars and restaurants showing the PPV are here.

UFC 94 poster brings the awesome

MMA Superkick!

Shawn Michaels would be proud.

Even Jim Ross is more interested in UFC than WWE these days ...

MMA/UFC Thoughts...Radio Daze...Jeff Hardy face paint...Legends Roundtable back on tap... | J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q

It looks as if the UFC might soon be cleared to promote events in New York state which, as a UFC fan, I perceive to be a good thing. The UFC would bring in much needed new revenue into the state and under these current economic times I can't see why any state would take steps to prevent the UFC from promoting and adding to the economy.

Click the link for the rest of Ross's latest blog, which is always a good read.

UFC 94 poster

Oh yes ...

UFC champ Anderson Silva denied entrance into Canada

UFC champ Anderson Silva denied entrance into Canada

UFC champ Anderson Silva denied entrance into Canada
Kenny Florian attends autograph session in Kamloops; Silva turned away at border
Catherine Litt, Kamloops Daily News
Published: Friday, November 21, 2008

KAMLOOPS - Last summer, it was a troupe of dancers from Papua New Guinea who were turned away by Canadian border agents.

Now it's a mixed martial arts fighter from Brazil.

A planned visit to Kamloops by UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was abruptly halted Friday when Canada Border Services denied the athlete entrance into Canada.

The era of Brock!

BROCK WINS! BROCK WINS! BROCK WINS!

Where to watch UFC 91 in Edmonton or Calgary

It's time for my regular public service announcement on where to watch UFC fights in Edmonton, Calgary or elsewhere in Alberta. All that info can be found at this link right here.

UFC 91: Couture versus Lesnar!

The big fight is this Saturday, and here's my entirely unscientific look at why (insert fighter's name here) will win.

Randy will beat Brock because:

• He's Randy Freaking Couture. He always finds a way to win.
• He's way more skilled and talented in the Octagon than Brock.
• Did I mention he's Randy Couture?

Brock will beat Randy because:

• Have you seen this man?
• No, seriously. Did you see him destroy Heath Herring?
• He's HUGE and POWERFUL and will rip Randy's arms off his body and beat him into submission WITH IS OWN ARMS.

As far as my own personal prediction, I'm sitting entirely on the fence on this one. I can see Brock bull rush Randy, clock him, take him down and pummel him. I can also see Randy keep his distance, run Brock ragged for five rounds and win a decision.

Strikeforce draws 1.1 million viewers

"Strikeforce on NBC" draws record 1.1 million viewers | MMAjunkie.com

This past Saturday's airing of "Strikeforce on NBC" topped out with more than 1.1 million viewers, the California-based organization today announced.

In other words ... a mixed martial arts group that only hardcore fans know about, that airs in most markets in the middle of the night, now has almost as many viewers as TNA Impact, which airs on prime time.

Yeah, TNA sucks.

Where to watch UFC in Edmonton

I normally don't post this until Saturday, but my site stats are showing the search strings appearing much earlier than normal, so what the heck. Here's my semi-regular public service posting on where to watch UFC pay-per-views in Edmonton.

I have to say, if the number of search strings looking for info on UFC 90 is indication of overall interest in Anderson Silva versus Patrick Cote, this PPV may do surprisingly good numbers.

Elite XC is dead

Yup.

UFC is basically the only MMA game in town now.

Bye, Kimbo.

Now if only Dana White would open a women's division, Gina Carano could get a job ...

How did Michael Bisping win that fight?

Apparently, backpedaling and getting hit amounts to a win in UFC these days ...

The UFC October continues

UFC has a three-hour free show on Spike TV tonight, headlined by Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben. The show is from the UK, so Bisping is going to be a huge crowd favorite ... which makes me want to see Leben upset him and cut a big heel promo afterwards.

Couture vs. Lesnar

Oh yes.

October: All UFC, All The Time

There's another UFC pay-per-view rerun on Spike TV tonight. This is the one with George St. Pierre's title defence against Jon Fitch (Spoiler: GSP won). But more importantly, it featured Brock Lesnar beating the holy you-know-what out of Heath Herring. (Spoiler: Duh.)

Definitely worth putting on the DVR and burning to DVD.

EliteXC on CBS thoughts

Well, that was a thumbs down show if I've ever seen one. We all got to see an MMA promotion die on live TV, and it wasn't pretty (even if it was pretty funny). Between the technical glitches, the WALKING~! and the brutal main event that utterly exposed Kimbo Slice as a goof, it was not EliteXC's best moment. It may have been their last moment. When you think back on pivotal moments in mixed martial arts, remember Ken Shamrock's eyebrow laceration. It killed an entire promotion.

On the plus side, last night's show was good for my hit count, generating nearly 600 hits in the afternoon and evening.

Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock cancelled?

There's word going around the MMA world right now that due to a cut suffered by Ken Shamrock, his fight with Kimbo Slice tonight is off.

Well, bye EliteXC. Nice knowing you.

UPDATE 5:59 p.m.: The fight is OFF. The commission doctor has ruled Ken unable to compete due to a cut over an eye. No replacement has been named yet.

UPDATE 6:18 p.m. The latest from Dave Meltzer's play-by-play on figurefouronline.com

Nothing has been said to the live crowd about the main event. This has changed six times in the last several hours, but as of this moment, the scheduled main event is not happening. Frank Shamrock is still at the announcers desk and at this moment is getting ready for a stand-up but as of 15 minutes ago was awaiting word if the commission would allow him to do the main event or if Slice would accept him as a new opponent. Petruzelli's match with Aaron LaRosa hasn't happened yet because Petruzelli is also a possible opponent for Slice.

UPDATE 6:31 p.m. Apparently, it's Kimbo vs. Seth Petruzelli (whodat? - ed.) in the main event.

UPDATE 9:16 p.m. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!! Kimbo got humiliated against a guy who hadn't fought in a year! Kimbo's done, Gus.

Saturday Night Fights ... and more fights

It's all fights all night long tonight with Elite XC's third (final?) CBS prime-time special featuring Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock in what may be a 9-second destruction of poor Ken. And UFC is countering on Spike TV by showing the recent Rampage Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin title fight PPV that sent poor Quinton for a time out.

Fortunately, staggered feeds and digital cable means I get to DVR both of them and don't have to choose one or the other.

And I have to say, I'm loving the fact that UFC is giving me all these PPV shows for free. It's saving me a bundle of money, and I can burn them to DVD before deleting them, saving me having to purchase the DVD as well.

Lesnar-Couture rumors appear to be untrue

Lesnar-Couture rumors appear to be untrue

Posted using ShareThis

There were a lot of panicked people in the MMA world yesterday as rumors were floated by a usually reliable poster on the Internet that Brock Lesnar was injured in training and his Nov. 15 Las Vegas match with Randy Couture would be canceled.

Rashad Evans granted title shot after knocking out Chuck Liddell

That's the sound of a $6 million buyrate getting flushed down the toilet.

Poor Chuck. He's gone from the UFC's poster boy to Jobber to the Stars.

Where to watch UFC shows in Edmonton

Due to the number of Google searches leading to this site that ask a variation of the title question, I provide as a public service this link.

Randy vs. Brock?

So the big rumour in the MMA world these days is that Randy Couture will end his legal battle with UFC, return to Zuffa-land and battle Brock Lesnar at the November PPV.

Randy vs. Brock would be a money fight. I would love to see Brock win, but after just 3 professional fights, that's not happening.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson arrested

This is a weird one.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, former light heavyweight champion of the Ultimate Fighter Championships, was arrested on suspicion of felony evading, hit-and-run and reckless driving Tuesday after he allegedly led police on a pursuit from Costa Mesa to Newport Beach, police said

Click the link for the full story.

Quick thoughts on The Ultimate Fighter Finale

• I learned my lesson from previous TUF finales. I DVR'd this show, and started watching it about 60 minutes in. By the time the main event was over, I had caught up to the live broadcast. So I watched a 3-hour show in 2 hours. That made it bearable.
• I was happy that Amir won the TUF title, but it looked more like CB's hand slipped onto Amir's leg and not a tap. It was very interesting that during the post-fight interviews, there was not a single mention of the controversial (non)tap despite the fact that CB was obviously upset about it.
• Amir's got a ton of charisma and he's funny as heck. Let's now see what he does against real competition. Remember, he's now just 1-0 in MMA.
• OK, the judge who scored the main event 29-28 in favor of Evan Tanner should never be allowed to judge again. Particularly when the other two judges had Tanner losing one round 10-8.
• All in all, a thumbs in the middle show. Nothing terribly exciting but nothing awful. I'm not sure if I would have felt the same way, though, had I watched it live without being able to fast-forward through all the commercials, interviews, etc.
  

The UFC's big announcement is ...

... kinda underwhelming.

Ah, well, I await listening to Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez's audio update from earlier this afternoon to explain it all to me.

Is this UFC's big announcement tomorrow?

MMAPayout.com: The Business of MMA: Update on UFC's Major Announcement

MMAPayout.com has learned that Bertelsmann Media, a German based international entertainment company, is rumored to have had advanced discussions about acquiring a controlling interest in Zuffa.

Hmmm ... if this is it, I have decidedly mixed feelings about it. The plus side would be Bertelsmann would likely have way more leverage to get UFC a major TV deal. But as we've seen in pro-wrestling (Hello, Ted Turner's WCW!) just having a big corporate media owner doesn't necessarily guarantee huge success.

Sorry, no witty Star Wars related headline

But go figure ...

Trivia: George Lucas’s Daughter is an MMA Fighter | /Film

One more thought on Elite XC's debut last night

Did no one at CBS or Elite XC have a run-time sheet for the event?

It was scheduled for a two hour block. It went 2 hours and 50 minutes. That's a BIG overtime run.

There were, what, five fights on the show?

One was a title fight - so it had the potential to go 25 minutes, plus at least 10 minutes ancillary time for interviews, intros, round breaks, etc. Let's be extra generous and say 40 minutes for the title fight in total.

There were 3 other matches that had the potential to go 15 minutes each. That's another 45 minutes, plus a minimum of 15 minutes of ancillary time.

Already, we're up to ONE HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES OF A TWO HOUR SHOW!

And THEN there's the women's fight: a maximum of 9 minutes, plus minimum 5 minutes ancillary time for ring intros, etc., so that's FOURTEEN MINUTES.

In other words, if every fight went the distance and Elite XC did NO backstage interviews, NO introduction of new fans to MMA, no highlight packages, personality profiles or ANYTHING ELSE, last night's card could have featured ONE HOUR AND FIFTY FOUR MINUTES of fight time with intros and round breaks - NOT COUNTING COMMERCIALS!

I ask again: DID ANYONE AT CBS OR ELITE XC PUT THE CARD TO A RUN-TIME? Or did they DELIBERATELY schedule the show for 2 hours knowing full well it was going to go 3?

Sure, this was the debut of Mixed Martial Arts in network primetime. But in this regard, CBS and Elite XC showed just how not-ready-for-primetime they were.

EDIT, 6:37 p.m.: Mauro Ranallo (one of the announcers on last night's show) just said on Wrestling Observer Live that the show went so long that his DVR cut out before the Kimbo Slice main event. So, yeah, really lousy time management on the part of Elite XC and CBS.

This just screams "pro-wrestling angle"

Kimbo Slice and Brett Rogers in altercation at EliteXC press conference | MMAjunkie.com

Elite XC debut on CBS

Thumbs in the middle.
Best fight: Gina Carano's fight
Worst fight: Kimbo's fight

Well, after the Gina Carano fight was done, I thought the Elite XC show was going to be a big thumbs up. Unfortunately, by the time it ended, it was a thumbs in the middle show due to the no-contest between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith and then Kimbo being totally exposed as a bad fighter (yes, we're all shocked ... ) in the main event. And there's no excuse for such terrible time management on such an important show. Running almost an hour overtime is inexcusable, particularly given that this was the kind of show a lot of MMA fans would just set on the DVR and watch later tonight or tomorrow.

In the end, this really did remind me of the old late 1980s AWA or early 1990s WCW trying to run a big show pretending they were major league when they so obviously were not. The announcers (Mauro, particularly) constantly referring to Pride and UFC didn't help matters any. It was entertaining (mostly) but in the end, it's not going to change anything in the MMA world.

Legends of Fighting Double KO

More wacky!


http://view.break.com/505060 - Watch more free videos

King of the Cage Double KO

Wacky!


http://view.break.com/509146 - Watch more free videos

There are no words

MICHAEL JACKSON LOVES THE UFC

Where to watch UFC shows in Edmonton

There's a UFC pay-per-view tonight, so time for my monthly post on where to find a bar to watch UFC in Edmonton.

We stand on guard for thee!

UFC® : Ultimate Fighting Championship®

The link above is to a UFC news release on its new closed-circuit PPV agreement with Canadastar to broadcast UFC PPVs in Canadian bars and restaurants.

The announcement is notable for the following quote right at the bottom:

Canadastar has been established as a household name to sports oriented bars, restaurants and casinos throughout the dominion.

I have to admire any news release that for whatever reason, references Canada as a Dominion.

A Hex on the IFL

Because the six-sided ring worked so well for the popularity of TNA Wrestling, didn't it?

Ultimate Fight Night - Ultimate Fighter

UFC has a three-hour Ultimate Fight Night tonight, followed by the premier of the new Ultimate Fighter series featuring Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin as the two coaches, which should rule the Earth.

But that's FOUR HOURS of UFC programming tonight!

FOUR HOURS!

Seriously ... who has time on a Wednesday evening, the middle of the work week, to watch FOUR HOURS of MMA.

Sure, Wrestlemania was four hours long. But it was Sunday afternoon. And it was WRESTLEMANIA!

This is no Wrestlemania.

Pride Fighting Championships returns to DVD

This is the best news I've read all day.

Admittedly, it is only 8:25 a.m.

Seriously, though, my brother Dean has been getting me old Pride FC sets for Christmas for a few years now, and they're great. I'm looking forward to the "new" stuff coming out.

UFC 82: I'm wrong again

I predicted Henderson over Silva. Oops.

NEW! Shared items

The keen-eyed among you will have noticed that I now have a "shared items" applet along the right-hand side of the page. I have several dozen blog feeds in my Google Reader (an amazing application), and from time to time, I'll be marking items there that I think my readership (all 4 of you) might be interested in reading as well. Or not.

The items can be clicked one at a time, or you can click the "read more" link to read all the items in my list.

Currently, there's some MMA news, a good article on the death of Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman, and and older link to the day I got cut from the Edmonton Sun.

This could be HUGE for MMA

There's talk today that EliteXC, probably the closest thing the UFC has to a rival in North America as far as MMA promotions go, is going to get a TV deal with CBS.

If this happens, this is huge for the sport of mixed martial arts. It's obviously great for EliteXC, which would go from being the distant second-place promotion in the U.S., to being a legitimate threat to the UFC overight.

It will be good for fighters, too, as a rising EliteXC is going to be trying to lure talent from UFC, and bidding wars are going to erupt for top talent.

It could even be good news for Dana White, the combative UFC president who has been acting more and more like Vince McMahon recently than ever before (and that's not a compliment). Dana has tried to get on HBO ... and failed. He tried to get on CBS ... and apparently failed.

Sure, Spike TV probably saved UFC from bankruptcy, but UFC needs to take the next step in growth, and Dana's reported insistence on maintaining total control over his product (including how it is broadcasted) has hindered that growth and kept him from signing those deals with HBO and CBS.


Maybe this will be the kick in the pants that Dana White needs to realize he's not the only game in town and that it's time to loosen up on the controls in order to take his company to the next level.

EDIT: More info on the pending deal here.

Thanks to Jason Genegabus, a columnist with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for the use of the great photo of the Elite XC title belt!