Some thoughts while I recover from my UFC 116 hangover...

- Brock Lesnar won after getting his ass kicked for five minutes.  Who knew Brock would be a Heavyweight Jiu-Jitsu master. That's not over-the-top hyperbole...

- There is a difference between weight and promotion and skill and experience. Certainly Lesnar vs. Carwin was exciting and the "biggest" (note: it should have been called "largest") fight but it was definitely not at the top of the technique totem poll and that's okay.

- For about three and a half minutes I looked like a genius then the referee decided not to stop the fight.

- I take it this means Team Carwin loses to Team Edward. Damn you Stephanie Myers and your shitty writing!

- How many MMA fans were pissed at the WWE contingent. If you thought the Pride vs. UFC days of 2005 were bad wait till you see the threads UFC vs. WWE of 2010.

- And I just took out a second mortgage and put in on Cain Velasquez to beat Lesnar.

- Someone buy Shane Carwin and Yoshihiro Akiyama a treadmill.

- Who knew that Chris Leben would become semi-relevant again at 185lbs.

- Sotiropopants strike again!

Sorry for the short version but family obligations call.

SBN coverage of UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin

- Robbie Lawler vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral was a surprisingly game main event. Another reason why you should never have expectations is that you will always be pleasantly surprised.

- Is anyone else slightly perplexed by Robbie Lawler lately? He looks like he is sort of going through the motions. Perhaps this is just paranoia and Lawler just handles leg kicks poorly but I can't help but feel that the product Robbie is putting out there isn't 100%.

- So, "Babalu" called out Dan Henderson, which is an interesting fight. Unfortunately, isn't he suppose to be fighting "King Mo" as he just won a title shot? But Lawal won't fight Sobral. Ah, Strikeforce is so confusing!

- Is it just me or is Zaromskis shrinking with each successive fight at welterweight in Strikeforce? I hate to jump on the "this guy should drop in weight because he's losing" bandwagon but I think by writing that I just did.

- I am really starting to enjoy MMA fights in Theaters for whatever reason. I think part of it is that for the smaller tier promotions, like Strikeforce and Bellator, it doesn't make the venue feel so empty compared to a 10,000 person minor hockey stadium only filled to half capacity. There's something to be said for intimate caged violence.

- If the Cyborgs ever made an adult video *looks into the camera dramatically* then god help us all...

- K.J. Noons vs. Nick Diaz please!

- Tim Kennedy man handled Trevor Prangley. We really need to start calling this former Ranger "The Sniper". Look, I even have a banner for him.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Los Angeles

Some thoughts while I recover from my UFC 115 hangover...

- Rich Franklin was the latest fighter charge up the hhadoken punch and knock Chuck Liddell back to 1996.

- Rich Franklin hasn't knocked someone out since 2005. He knocked out Liddell with a broken arm. Franklin is left handed and finished Liddell with a short right hook. And that's why we say that Liddell's chin has become a warm gooey pile of ectoplasm.

- Since 2007 Liddell is 1-5 with four "was he just run over by a train?" knockout losses.

- Joe Rogan, Mike Goldberg and Dana White all seemed eager to establish the  "Chuck will retire" narrative. Then again, this happened after UFC 97 and I wouldn't be surprised if they go to the Liddell vs. Ortiz well as a farewell fight for "The Iceman" in a year.

- Got to love how Dana, Chuck and company went bananas at Tito Ortiz for saying that Liddell needed an "intervention" only to read a plethora of stories this week saying how Chuck is training seriously and has changed his "lifestyle" (psst that's a code word for getting sloppy drunk). Hell, Joe Rogan hyped Liddell on Spike saying, "he hasn’t had a drop to drink in 9 months." Nice.

- When Pat Barry landed those two right hands against Mirko "Cro Cop" causing his face to swell up like Augustus Gloop it felt like it was going to be a long night for "Cro Cop" fanboys. But then something strange happened. Filipovic responded to adversity, came back and actually took Barry down even winning by submission. Then again, Barry broke his right hand after that second punch, which essentially took away his best weapon. But just like the U.S. national soccer team, beggars can't be choosers!

- With all the man love between Pat Barry and Mirko Filipovic the two should star in a Judd Apatow "bromance" film.

- This was Filipovic's last fight on his current UFC contract. Zuffa was probably going to re-sign him for the upcoming German card anyways but look for

- Pat Barry's hand and Mirko Filipovic's face is a great example of what really happens when you punch someone in the face. You break your hand and they break their face. Sort of a push of brokenness...

- Ben Rothwell defeats Gilbert Yvel. Luckily we didn't have to hear a bunch of Zuffa lies hype about Yvel like we had to at UFC 109. Now he can be quietly cut and Rothwell can fight Mirko in Germany later this year (health permitting of course).

- That sound you heard? That was everyone jumping off the Paulo Thiago bandwagon.

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Some thoughts while I recover from my hangover...

- Rampage Jackson was slow with no discernible gameplan while Rashad Evans was the exact opposite. Those "seven and half minute miles" really did wonders. Nice job Wolfslair, you've potentially ruined a perfectly good fighter. Granted they got help from Hollywood...

- Rashad Evans now has two wins where he was almost knocked out in the final frame. A troubling trend made all the worse by the fact that they were against opponents who were nowhere near peek condition. Thiago Silva had the back injury heading into UFC 108 (he went in for surgery after the fight) and Rampage had the too much biscuits and gravy injury heading into UFC 114. Not a good sign for Rashad's future fight with Shogun.

- Michael Bisping defeated Dan Miller *yawn*. Seriously, Miller was out boxed by Demian Maia so it wasn't hard to envision a similar scenario against "The Count". Unfortunately now we have to listen to Bisping talk about how he should be in line for a title shot *sigh*.

- Yeah, the judges gave Rogerio Nogueira a gift but you know what? I am sort of cool with it. Rogerio will get to fight Forrest Griffin *fingers crossed* and Brilz still gets the marketing bump from almost winning an upset. That seems to be a win for everyone involved. Well, except Forrest...

- So, will Jason Brilz be the next Sokoudjou? In fairness to Rameau he also beat Ricardo Arona when he was still good...

- Duffman was just knocked out -- Oh yeah!

- Wow, how prescient was Todd Duffee's pre-fight interviews? Duffee came off as a curmudgeon complaining of being over-hyped and that Russow was a solid opponent. Well after three rounds of a Dufftastic ass kicking Russow landed one big punch and KO'd Todd. I guess we no longer need to call it the Hail Mary. Hello, Hail Russow.

- Something no one has really pointed out was that Duffee was knocked cold by how he hit the canvas, which looked like a passenger in a car not wearing a seat belt after running into a wall. Can you say whiplash?

- Diego Sanchez enjoyed the ability to eat solid food again and then was promptly defeated by a UFC newcomer. Does this mean back to lightweight? Maybe Diego should have a taken that fight with Kenny Florian after all...

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(Dutch Orange in honor of Overeem)

Some thoughts while I recover from my Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery hangover...

- Alistair Overeem is still a pretty damn good heavyweight. Dare we say he "Reem'd" Rogers?! *crickets chirp* That doesn't sound right...

- Also, Alistair's first name is the least intimidating first name for a guy who eats horse meat. He should be Attila Overeem, Agamemnon Overeem, Alcibiades Overeem or how about Anakin Overeem?

- Wow did Brett Rogers look tentative and uncomfortable. For a guy who blitz Andrei Arlovksi ito near irrelevance and held his own against Fedor, Rogers was almost Jamesian in his caution. What made it even more bizarre was the fact that Rogers cited his loss to Fedor due to being tentative. So if Rogers was tentative against Fedor what does that make his performance against Overeem? Shilly-Shally? Thank you word of the day calendar...

- So, if Fedor beats Werdum then Strikeforce will be set up for an Overeem-Emelianenko main event. Would that be on CBS or pay-per view? Just keep the Diaz's away and let's get in on network television for the sake of everyone's bank account.

- Also, an Alistair-Fedor fight would probably be one of the more interesting fights to follow just to see what the camps would say. Hell, it would almost be the European Union vs. The Russian Federation. Just watch out for the polonium-210!

- Time for a brief example of MMA math: Brett Rogers hung with Fedor for a round but was demolished from the get-go by Overeem. UBEREEM IS BETTER THAN FEDOR!

To show why these transitive comparisons don't always work let's examine college football real quick. Purdue beat Ohio State but Ohio State beat Oregon who lost to Boise State. That means Purdue is the third best team in the country!

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(Oh, Canada...)

Some thoughts while I recover from my UFC 113 Hangover...

- Mauricio "Shogun" Rua found sweet, sweet, redemption as he blew through Lyoto Machida to win the light heavyweight title. Rua didn't use a slow patient attack of kicks, instead, he went straight to the Chute box blitz attack, overwhelming Machida and knocking him out at the 3:35 of the first round. That was the second first loss of Machida's career and the first time he was ever knocked out.

- Lyoto Machida looked really off. Granted the fight was short so we don't have that much information to really pour over but it looked like he was sluggish during each exchange. Was that poor adaptation by Machida or a great attack from Shogun?

- Remember when we all thought Lyoto Machida was an unbeatable karate god? Oh, 2009. Those were the good ole days when we thought Taylor Swift could sing, Lady Gaga was a man and that nothing ever goes wrong with oil rigs!  

- 350 days. The Length of Pax Machida

- Does this revitalize the old UFC-PRIDE debate? For the record, most of the fighters from either promotion at the height of the debate have faded, so the whole thing is irrelevant but a lot of fun for the Internet. 

- Also, the Rua-Machida fight answered a very important dork question: who would win in a fight between a dragon and a shogun (aka samurai). The answer? The Muay Thai fighter -- zing! 

- For a night that was filled with some suspect judging (who the hell scored that fight for Stout? And who the hell scored that first round for Kimbo Slice) it was such a relief that the title fight didn't go to the judges card. 

- Apparently Mauricio "Shogun" Rua had an appendicitis at the beginning of his fight camp. 

- Josh Koscheck proved that he is not an idiot as he easily out wrestled Paul Daley for three rounds. Koscheck's victory earns him a title shot against Georges St. Pierre and the role of coach on TUF 12.

- Paul Daley threw a sucker punch at the end of the fight, which, surprisingly, Josh defended really well. Daley's actions may have blown up his UFC career but Koscheck is the best heel in MMA. Josh faked being hurt from a low blow (again), called out the entire Montreal crowd saying, "The Pittsburgh Penguins are gonna kick your [expletive]!" As Koscheck left the cage he blew kisses to the crowd who responded by throwing items at the Western Pennsylvania native.

- Can we change "boom goes the dynamite" to "boom goes the semtex"?

- Rough night for Canada though. The Canadiens lose to Penguins, and the Canadian fighters went 1-6 on the evening. But our maple leaf northern neighbors shouldn't fret, they still have Georges St. Pierre and the fine ladies pictured above. They are a national treasure. 

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(This about sums up what happens...)

Some thoughts while I recover from my WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber hangover...

- Around 2 o'clock yesterday I began pondering Urijah Faber's odds. Faber was at +285 and I began to wonder if it represented a smart value bet. I ended up shying away from the bet as I felt Aldo was the better the fighter but holy 13th century massacres! Aldo went Cannae on Faber's ass.

- There's a reason why I talked up Jose Aldo on KSK's podcast and now you know why.

- The city of Sacramento held their first and probably last "Urijah Faber Day".

- You have to wonder why Faber's corner didn't protect his long-term health and throw in the towel. After the third round Urijah was on one leg and each time Aldo threw a kick Faber would twirl like a ballerina in an attempt to lessen the force of the impact. Faber's corner even had to pick him up and carry him back to the corner between rounds four and five. At some point you have to ask why they didn't say "Enough is enough. I want you to be able to walk when your fifty".

- Jose Aldo is a Velociraptor

- Will there be any residual effects from selling the fight as an "Urijah Faber" event for fans only to see  him get his ass kicked worse than NBC's primetime schedule (zing!). 

- Ben Henderson's "Jesus Powers" continue in full force as he smoked Donald Cerrone in under two minutes. For a rematch of a fight that was a controversial five round decision it was surprisingly anti-climatic.

- Where the hell was the WEC logo? Zuffa blocked it out from the cage, gloves, commercials for upcoming events and simply ignored the promotions name. Surprisingly it was still on the championship belts and the ring girls uniforms, though Chandella Powell pulled duty with Brittney Palmer.

- This new promotion Aldo Faver FC is pretty sweet!

- Mike Brown was knocked out by Manny Gamburyan. For those not familiar with "Manvil" his punching prowess was thought to be the equivalent of a feather pillow hitting a mattress as oppose to hammer striking an anvil. Manny will most likely fight for the featherweight title next.

- Manny Gamburyan will inject geopolitics into your MMA!

Manny, a native Armenian, brought up the Armenian Genocide that took place during WWI in his post-fight interview. For those not familiar with the politics surrounding the event the Turks (a longstanding U.S. ally) are not exactly thrilled with being labeled the perpetrators of a genocide (would you really want foreigners calling U.S. manifest destiny the Native American Genocide?), though they acknowledge the fact that a lot of Armenians died during the war. Turkey, the lone moderate, secular Muslim democracy, is also trying to join the EU much to the chagrin of come EU countries and the French recently officially recognized the genocide.

There's your International politics crash course. Your term papers are due on Wednesday by 5pm ET.

- Anthony Njokuani doesn't have much of a ground game as the feared striker was smoked on the ground by Shane Roller. However, I would still love to see Cerrone vs. Njokuani II.

- Scott Jorgensen avenged a loss to Antonio Banuelos who came into the cage sporting a Danny Trejo from Machete look. Jorgensen's win sets up a potential interim title fight with Joseph Benavidez at 135 lbs.

- The Zombies are coming!

Leonard Garcia won his fight against the atmosphere as 95.98777777% of his punches failed to find the flesh of Chan Sung Jung aka "The Korean Zombie". Jung won was screwed over by judges who were fooled into thinking that the fight was between Garcia and the Oxygen molecules.

Still, it was an EXTREMELY entertaining bout that instantly vaults up into the top-ten of must see fights for new fans. Many are saying this is the WEC's version of Griffin-Bonnar and I would agree except I thought this promotion was Aldo-Faber Cagefighting.

- Chad Mendes defeated Anthony Morrison and is now 2-0 in the WEC. Mendes is the prospect to watch at 145lbs.

SBN coverage of WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber

Some thoughts while I recover from my UFC 112 hangover...

- Silva vs. Maia turned into Silva vs. Leties 2.0, or Silva vs. Cote 3.0. You know what? WKR is going to go out on a limb and say that there is a pattern here. We aren't sure what but something is amiss...

- Enough about Anderson Silva. Seriously, our arms are up in the air. We have written about the same thing twice before so why bother hitting it again. The guy is going to do whatever the hell he wants and doesn't care what others think. Is that a virtue or a vice? We don't care enough to play arm chair psychologist, again!

- Credit to Demian Maia, he tried but was simply out matched on his feet and Silva refused to fight on the ground. It's almost like we completely predicted it.

- On to the good fights! Frankie Edgar put on a wonderful performance against B.J. Penn, which will most likely go down as upset of the year. More analysis on what Edgar did to defeat Penn later.

- Matt Hughes victory over Renzo Gracie should teach fans to (a) be patient and (b) watch what the fighters are doing and how that fits into a larger context. Hughes decided to chop down Renzo's leg and kicked it for 15 minutes until the Gracie fell over. Pretty simple gameplan to defeat a guy who hadn't fought in three years.

- When Renzo was asked if he should have taken a tune up fight he responded, "what kind of fighter would I be if I did that?" Good response.

- For the record, when the crowd was whistling those are boos.

- Mike Goldberg kept saying that Renzo Gracie is a big star in Abu Dhabi but never explained why. Gracie is basically  royalty because he trains the FUCKING PRINCE! Also, jiu-jitsu is a required course in school. No wonder the crowd would cheer for under hooks...

- Haha! Goldie says that Gracie is riding three straight "victories" the last of which was in 2007! Come on guys. Let's be a little more upfront about everything so people aren't asking, "wait, tune up fight? Where did that come from?"

- We now know why Abu Dhabi bought 10% of Zuffa. It was to run a three hour pay-per view commercial for the emirate. Seriously, it was a non-stop plug for Abu Dhabi.

- On another note, nice to see the WEC 48 plugs.

- Lumber liquidators! Greatest sponsor EVER!

- Phil Davis still has a lot of work to do but the guy has the tools to become great. Plus he wears pink, loves his mom and wants to throw down with Chandella. What's not to like about that?

- Did anyone know what that chant was during the second round of the dos Anjos fight?

- is it just me or does Rachelle look different? Like, "plastic surgery gone horribly awry" different.

- Bad refereeing on an international card? That has never happened before!

- When the hell did Kendall Grove become good?

- Wait, that's right. Munoz TKO's Kendall. That's better. 

- Finally, the fact that this was shown live and on tape delay could have been a blessing or a curse. In this case a curse. WKR had several fans ask if they should tell their friends not to get the card at 10pm ET in order to save the money. Word of mouth is a powerful tool and in this case it might have cut into Zuffa's bottom line.