This is a spectacular video. If you aren't excited about this tournament after this video, then you aren't a fan of MMA. Strikeforce gets a lot of criticism and many have already taken a big crap all over the tournament before it has taken place, but this video here...gives hope. 

Welcome to a new feature I'm trying out called Loser Leaves Town where we look at fighters who's jobs are basically on the line at UFC 125. With Dana White and Zuffa being chop-happy and the mandate that entertainment precedes all, this should provide for some interesting things. 

Brandon Vera - Brandon Vera has lost two in a row, one to Randy Couture and a demolition by Jon Jones. On the strength of losing three in a row, he could be cut. He will also have lost 4 out of his last 6 fights. This fight is booked as if the intent was to provide Thiago Silva with a "gimme" but someone who still has name value. Brandon Vera, who was once a bright prospect in two division, has primarily turned out to be a product of mainly hype (with a couple key wins). Uncle Dana never forgets and Brandon Vera and the UFC had a bad contract dispute back when. Ultimately, the UFC isn't afraid of losing Vera as his name isn't a draw and he wouldn't be much value to Strikeforce as a name (he would have value in filling out the weak LHW division). Vera is also 33 and is, at best, a mid-level LHW in the most stacked division the UFC has.

Jeremy Stephens - Maybe this is wishful thinking, I don't know. I do know this would be two in a row and 4 out of his last 6. He committed a cardinal sin against Melvin Guillard, he talked a bunch of shit and lost. Not only did he lose, but it was a "boring fight". Dana White HATES that. Lil' Heathen fights that style Dana White loves which is STANDANDBANGRRRR, but the UFC 155 division just doubled with the acquisition of the WEC. A lot of 155ers are fighting for their jobs. If he gets finished or goes down in boring decision, he could get the ax. He's young, go out there and pick up some wins and he'll be right back in the mix. 

Marcus Davis - That makes this fight a S.C. Michaelson Official "Loser Leaves Town" match. Marcus Davis with a loss with be 4 out of his last 5. He just left the WW division and is now in the most overcrowded division in the UFC. He can't go down to 145. His value as a name for expanding into Europe is all but gone as the UFC has developed a stronghold in the UK and feels comfortable in giving them consistently shitty cards. The lone fight he won was against Jonathan Goulet who is out of the UFC. I definitely see the loser of this fight getting cut. 

Phil Baroni - I like Philbert Baloney. I loved he and Mark Coleman and Coleman's dad taking on all of Juiced Boxe when they got jumped in the ring by Wand and the rest of the goons. That showed heart. Hell, Baroni's shown heart a lot in his career. I think that might be his biggest talent is his heart. Unfortunately, he's a career .500 fighter with cardio problems. I just don't think the UFC is going to have room for him if he loses this fight. 

Of course, any fighter who puts on a "boring" fight is subject to getting at the whims of the upper management of the UFC. Hopefully, everyone keeps their job, but in today's world, that don't seem possible. 

Twitter

SBN coverage of UFC 125: Resolution

First PPV of the year, what a doozie. If my general apathy isn't apparent, let me state I'm not too interested in this card.    Don't be mistaken, I love MMA and watching it and would probably watch high school level MMA if it came on TV. This card, there's nothing that would compel me to buy it as the only fight I'm dying to see is the first fight of the night and won't be shown on TV. I'm not even betting on this card (a first in like a couple years) which means I can actually post fight predictions. I tend not to post predictions as almost sort of a good luck thing. I decided to round up the WKR staff to give their thoughts as well. 

Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard

S.C. Michaelson: Zzzzzzzz. Someone is getting lay and prayed or jabbed to death. Maynard beat Edgar up a couple years ago, I expect more of the same from Lay Praynard. I don't mean to be harsh. I actually like Gray, I thought he was great on the Countdown. Poor Frankie, I mean the guy beats BJ Penn twice and he's still the underdog. If the guy had some personality, he could parlay that into a compelling character that draws fans. C'est la vie. His title run won't extend past tonight. Gray Maynard

Staff. *ahem* STAFF!. Hello? Need some picks. Zak? St. Martin? Sub0, I mean Subotecki? Wait, is it "Subo" or Subzero"? I JUST realized it probably is Subzero. Interesting. I will soldier on.

Chris Leben vs Brian Stann

Me:  I think this fight will hinge on if Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman is in Chris Leben's corner according to the rumor I heard. If he is, I think that will motivate Leben to win and save his money so that he doesn't end up like Dog. Brian Stann is a Marine. He served his country. He also was the WEC LHW champion, but no one talks about that. The last fighter who's military background was heavily pushed was Tim Kennedy.........Kennedy and we saw how that worked out. This is Stann's first fight at 185 and frankly, I don't think it will be a great debut. it's hard to root for a two-time drunk driver, but then I realize I'm not rooting for him, I'm just predicting him. I'm actually rooting for Stann because a) i don't like drunk drivers and b) If Leben wins, he'll be rewarded with a big fight against Wand, Sonnen, or Bisping. Isn't it funny how the MW division is so interesting now when it was boring as fuck just a year ago? Chris Leben. 

Thiago Silva vs Brandon Vera 

Me- This comes down to did Brandon Vera "face his Mirs" and overcome his loss to Jon Jones. That, I don't know. His interview after the fight and even up to the press conference seem to suggest no. It was the main topic of conversation and his reasoning seemed to center around that he underestimated Jones rather than Jones just being really good. He's externalizing rather than internalizing. Despite that, Thiago Silva is not a pushover. Silva has only lost to Machida and Rashad. This is a tough tough fight for Vera. A fight I see him losing. Thiago Silva

Takanori Gomi vs Clay Guida

Me: OMG GOMI IS BACK! Well, that's what people said after he KO'd Tyson Griffin. Is Gomi "back"? We'll see. Clay Guida is a machine. He also looks like Dave Meltzer's son. Guida has the Japanese fighter's kryptonite - good wrestling. That will be the factor in this fight. Gomi isn't your typical Japanese fighter in that aspect. He has serviceable TDD. However, I'm going against the grain and I'm picking Clay Guida. 

Nate Diaz vs. Dong Hyun Kim

Me: I love the Diaz brothers. I love the Korean Zombie even though I thought he was in the 145 lb weight class. I guess he's bulking up. I don't see him being able to beat Nate Diaz. Especially since Nate has recently competed at Middleweight. If it goes to the ground, I see Nate threatening with submissions or sweeps and getting out of danger. Nate Diaz. 

DING DING That chime means our time is running short. I'll give the wheel a final spin. I'll ask you to give me a prediction, you'll have 5 seconds to explain it. Vowels are worth nothing.

Phil Baroni vs Brad Tavares

Me: I'm going to break my rule right here.  I'm sorry, I must TAKE A STAND. As you know, a month or so ago, it was rumored that the UFC was going to run Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir 3. I was upset with that. I was on twitter and saw someone tweet about it. An idea hit me. Why not start a grassroots movement and get people to tweet Dana White and tell him "Halt, don't booketh that fight" and I'll be gotdamned it WORKED. So since then, people have decided to APE my idea and message Dana about EVERYTHING they disagree with. Why mention this? Because I'm a braggart. No, seriously because PHILBERT Baroni, when seeing the success of my campaign, begged people on Twitter to tweet Dana to get his fight shown on the prelims. And it WORKED. So now we're forced to watch Phil Baroni gas out after a round. Brad Tavares is my prediction, I can't even remember a Brad Tavares fight, but I predict Baroni gasses. 

Marcus Davis vs Jeremy Stephens

Me: Marcus Davis, who's as Irish as I am, will win. Not a fan of Jeremy "N*gga" Stephens. 

Dustin Poirier vs Josh Grispi

Me: Breaking my rule AGAIN. Remember how I wrote about how the 135 and 145 guys will have a hard time becoming stars and taken as seriously as the bigger fighters. HERE'S EVIDENCE #1. You have the #1 contender to the UFC 145 Title, his opponent gets injured and he goes from co-main all the way back to the prelims. Great show of faith there. I'm picking Josh Grispi. This seems to be a showcase fight for him. 

Mike Brown vs Diego Nunes

Me: EVIDENCE #2. You have the former WEC 145 champ and he's on the unaired prelims. Yet Phil Baroni can make it on TV. I mean I'm not picking on Baroni, I'm just saying. And you think the smaller guys will be taken seriously/pushed. This ain't no different than...Oh I'm not gonna say that. Mike Brown wins. 

Daniel Roberts vs Greg Soto

Me: Roberts is Black, I'm picking him. Daniel Roberts. Nah, I'm kidding. I mean i am picking Roberts, but mostly because of the 2 degrees of separation we have and the fact that he was giving Doomsday hell before the KO and he's performed great in his past two fights winning SOTN with a motherfucking Anaconda Choke in under a minute. 

Antonio McKee vs Jacob Volkmann

Me: Finally. Finally. Finally. A fight I care about. Finally Antonio McKee makes his Octagon debut. Whatever reason you believe he was not part of the UFC earlier, the fact of the matter is he is there now and even at the age of 40, he looks to make an impact. He's fighting Christmas who is a good grappler in his own right. McKee's credentials speak for themselves and many fighters in the industry vouch for his skills, but can he apply them on the big stage? In the entertain-first world of the UFC can he win and be exciting? He's provided plenty of smack-talk, but we'll see if he can back it up in the cage. I'm going with El Negro. Antonio McKee. 

Follow me on Twitter

SBN coverage of UFC 125: Resolution

Cain Velasquez entered into the cage against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria at UFC 110 to the tunes of Vicente Fernández's "Los Mandados". Vicente is one of Mexico's most famous mariachis (specifically the one man/one guitar style of ranchero) of the 20th century. "Los Mandados" was a ballad written by Jorge Lerma and performed by Senor Fernández in 1965. "Los Mandados" literally translates to "the errands", but is actually in reference to the slang term "Me hacen los mandados"  which meanans "they can't hold me down/get the best of me".

The lyrics to the song and their translation after the jump

Continue reading this post »

Strikeforce is constantly under fire from the MMA world, and sometimes, it's deserved, but Saturday night, the biggest competitor to the UFC is giving us quality fights on Showtime, and it's worth talking about.  Bad boy Nick Diaz looks to defeat the man who gave him his last loss, Karl James Noons, for the welterweight title.  Also on the card, Josh Thomson is taking on Gesias Cavalcante in what could turn out to be an incredibly exciting match.  Sarah Kaufman will also defend the women's welterweight title against Marloes Coenen and Tyrone Woodley faces Andre Galvao in the first bout of the evening.  

Tyrone Woodley vs. Andre Galvao:

This match up screams "wrestling vs. BJJ", Woodley being a two time NCAA All-American, and Galvao being a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.  Woodley is undefeated, and Galvao only has one loss on his record, but is undefeated since coming to Strikeforce.  Galvao did not impress me in his last match against Jorge Patino, and one has to wonder if Woodley will be too much for the Brazilian here.  Don't sleep on Galvao though, his skills on the mat are nothing to scoff at, one slip by Woodley and the fight could be over.  With both men keeping their eyes on the main event, the winner will be climbing closer to a title shot, and moving from prospect, to contender.

After the jump, we break down the rest of the card, and the rematch between Nick Diaz and KJ Noons.

Continue reading this post »

This is by no means a traditional video game preview, as much as I'd like it to be, but there's a great deal of information available online regarding EA MMA's career mode, and for those out there who aren't going to be playing online, career mode is critical to the game.  Before I get into it, let me say immediately, it's looking pretty good on paper.  Many of my concerns like "must play mini-games to increase stats", deteriorating stats, and dull regional promotions are all answered, and I am pleased.  So let's get down to business, shall we?

Create-a-Fighter, 200 nicknames, 500 recorded names.

Wow.  EA knew they were shot in the foot not having the UFC license, but it appears that they're making up for that loss in many ways, this being one of them.  500 recorded names means unless your parents were so cruel that they gave you a common name with say...a K instead of a C...(I'm looking at you, mom and dad) your name is likely recorded and in the game.  Top that off with 200 nicknames...TWO HUNDRED, your fighter will certainly be molded to your liking when it comes to being introduced, or talked about by the commentators.  Also note, your nick name can be placed at the beginning of your name, not just between first and last names.  Expect to see a lot of familiar names that might not be in the game.

After the jump we get to training, regional promotions, and the overall impression of career mode.

Continue reading this post »

In what was supposed to be a rematch of the surprisingly one-sided beating Frank Mir put upon Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira, the main event has now transformed as Mirko "Crocop" Filipovic steps in for an injured Nogueira on short notice. Mir is coming off a 1^st round TKO loss to Shane Carwin at UFC 111 as well as the psychological ramifications of an unsuccessful weight gain to the Heavyweight maximum of 265 lbs. and an equally ineffective weight cut to Light Heavyweight (205 lbs.). Conversely Crocop, the 2006 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix Champion, is on a two-fight winning streak with a "Submission of the Night" choke out of Pat Barry and a TKO stoppage of Anthony Perosh after having some initial trouble adjusting from the ring to the cage. While this fight doesn't have any immediate title implications, the loser of contest will assuredly be out of the championship picture for quite some time.

One of the bigger stories going in to the fight is the condition of Mirko Crocop, specifically his right eye. Rumors swirled recently about Crocop having to pull out of the fight due to a severe eye injury. While those rumors were quickly quelled, Dana White and the UFC were forced to admit that Crocop had indeed suffered an injury to his eye, but had been cleared by doctors to fight. The unfortunate thing is his right eye just happens to be on the southpaw Mir's power hand side; a left hook or a left head-kick could go unseen by Crocop's damaged eye and swiftly end the fight.

Continue reading this post »

This Friday on Showtime at 11PM EST/PST, Strikeforce is putting on Strikeforce Challengers X, eminating from Pheonix, Arizona, which features a tournament to crown a Number-One contender to the 135 lb Women's title held by Sarah Kaufman. Far be it from Strikeforce to actually put an advertising push behind the fact that they're having one of the first one-night tournaments in a major U.S. MMA promotion in quite some time. Hell, they can't even be bothered to put their 135 lb Women's champion as a main event.

Weigh-in results:

Miesha Tate (9-2, 134.2) vs. Maiji Kujala (4-1, 134.4)

Hitomi Akano (15-7, 135) vs. Carina Damm (15-3, 134.8)

Akano/Damm winner vs. Tate/Kujala winner with Colleen Schneider (2-1, 134) vs. Liz Carmouche (3-0, 134.6) as a reserve fight in case the winner in the tournament first round gets injured and can't go to the finals.

The tournament pits Carina "Beauty But The Beast" Damm (15-3) against Hitomi "Girlfight Monster" Akano (15-7) and Maiju Kujala (4-1) versus *swoon* Miesha "Takedown" Tate (9-2) against each other in a winner-takes-all battle. While Kajala is a relative unknown, Damm is a BodogFight vet that normally fights at 125 lb and hasn't fought in the US in 2 years since being suspended for testing positive for Nandrolone making her the first female MMA fighter suspended for steroid use. Akano, who normally fights at 135, has fought for Strikeforce at 145 before most notably being drubbed by Cyborg Santos. The last participant is the object of my affection...Miesha Tate.

Continue reading this post »