A wins a win

The main event at UFC 123 featured a fight between two of the best Light Heavyweights in the world, Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida.

Both men are former UFC Light Heavyweight champions and a win would vault one of these fighters right back into the title picture.

The fight was an extremely close one.  Machida is one of the hardest fighters to hit cleanly in MMA.  He leaps into range, fires a combination, and backs out of danger before his opponent has a chance to counterattack.  In the first round, Rampage was using good movement to keep Machida in front of him but had trouble landing any power shot.  The first round could be awarded to either fighter.  Machida landed a handful of hard leg kicks and avoided much of Jackson's punches but Rampage was constantly pressuring "The Dragon" and landed several strong uppercuts. 

The second round was definitely in Rampage's favor.  He did a better job at cutting the cage off, landed more strikes, and he scored a takedown.

The third round, however, was all Machida.  He stunned Rampage with a flurry of punches to force him back against the fence then scored a trip takedown.  From there he worked from half guard and was able to pass to mount.  With about a minute and a half remaining Machida spins for an armbar.  Rampage is able to get to his feet but "The Dragon" is still latched onto his arm.  Jackson then picks Machida up off the ground and tosses him away from him.  Machida is able to land on his feet and tries to score a clinch takedown against the fence as the fight ends.

An extremely close fight comes down to the scorecards.  Two judges see it for Jackson, 29-28, and one sees it for Machida, 29-28.  Rampage picks up the Split Decision.  Rampage admitted to Joe Rogan during the post-fight interview in the Octagon that he thought Machida had won the fight and offered to take an immediate rematch with "The Dragon."


Rampage was visually shocked to hear he had picked up the decision victory.

 I personally had Machida winning the fight, but I am a huge Rampage fan and I was glad to see him take the decision.  Machida's style of constantly backing away from any danger was his downfall in this fight.  If he would have been more aggressive, I'm positive the fight would have gone his way. 

A fight with Machida isn't a great way to showcase Rampage's skills, even though he showed a much better ability to cut the cage off then I'm used to seeing from him.  To show why I am such a huge Rampage fan I collected a few short highlight clips of him for you to enjoy.  Along with the nickname "Rampage,"  Quinton is also known as "Slampage" and you will soon see why.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbEU6X0OXkI

Pride Never Die!

My last post about Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic got me thinking about how much I loved the Pride Fighting Championship.  I then decided that it would be really good to show my love in a blog post about its history and great moments in the organization.

Pride Fighting Championship, also known as Pride FC or simply Pride, was a Mixed Martial Arts promotion based out of Japan.  It was started in 1997 as a one time event to pit popular Japanese pro-wrestler, Nobuhiko Takada, against Rickson Gracie.  The immense success of the event, which drew 47,000 to the Tokyo Dome, allowed the company to hold regular MMA events.  Pride wasn't broadcast anywhere in the United States until the Final Round of the 2000 Grand Prix.

The 2000 Grand Prix was an open-weight tournament to be held over the course of two nights.  The Opening Round was held in January of 2000 with a field of 16 fighters.  The Final Round was held in May of 2000.  The final 8 fighters would have to win 3 fights in one night to win the tournament.  Mark Coleman would go on to win the tournament by beating Igor Vovchanchyn in the final bout.  Coleman, a two time UFC tournament champion and the first ever UFC Heavyweight champion, was so overcome with joy after the win that he attempted to jump over the Pride ring ropes and hilariously bounced off them back into the ring.



After this night, Pride became a huge hit not only in Japan but in the United States.  American fans had to learn a new set of rules from the Unified Rules that were now in place in the states.  In Pride the first round lasted 10 minutes while the final two rounds were 5 minutes long.  The 10 minute first round was to give ground fighters the time necessary to work for a submission.  The fight wasn't judged round by round but as a fight entirely.  Pride fights were staged in a 5 rope square boxing style ring.  Pride did not allow elbow strikes to a grounded opponent but they did allow knees and soccer kicks to a grounded opponent.  Stomps to the head were also a staple of a Pride fight, usually by Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio Rua.

Pride was known for their elaborate event openings and the famous "fighter parade."  The Pride event openings were filled with the sounds of a full orchestra, pyrotechnics and the ravings of Lenne Hardt, also known as the "Crazy Pride Lady."  These elaborate introductions were in stark contrast to the basic openings of events such as the UFC who had begun to discontinue fighter introductions and pyrotechnics during their shows.  When a Pride event was starting the excitement was palpable.




Pride wasn't just all flash and no substance.  They put on some of the most entertaining and technically superb fights of all-time.  Many of the magical moments Pride gave the MMA world were a direct cause of their Grand Prix tournaments.  The Mark Coleman celebration and Kazushi Sakuraba's epic 90 minute fight with Royce Gracie at the 2000 Grand Prix, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's destruction of the competition at the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix, and Wanderlei Silva's war with Quinton Jackson at the 2003 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix are all moments that will live forever thanks to the Pride tournaments.

For years, Pride enjoyed success that rivaled the UFC in America.  Around the 10th Anniversary of Pride the organization would be dealt a serious blow.  The organization was dogged for years concerning allegations that they had ties to the Yakuza or Japanese mob.  The Japanese tabloid, Shukan Gendai, published that Pride was a Yakuza front.  With these allegations running wild, Fuji Network terminated their television deal with Pride.  The Fuji television deal was extremely lucrative for Pride and they were left with just the pay-per-view carrier, SKY PerfecTV, as their lone outlet to Japanese television.  10 months later, Pride was sold to Lorenzo Fertitta and the UFC.

The Fertittas and Dana White promised they would keep the Pride name going and hold events in Japan at the press conference to announce the purchase of Pride but it never panned out.  The UFC could never find a way to work in Japan.  Even when they loaned Chuck Liddell to Pride to enter the 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix they could never get Pride to send one of their fighters over to the UFC to fight.  The Japanese are a very nationalistic people and the thought of an American company running the Pride organization was almost sacrilegious to them.  The Pride Worldwide offices closed October 4, 2007.

There will never be another Pride Fighting Championship.  The UFC may put on fights that are just as good and sometimes better than past Pride fights, but they will never have the same feel and atmosphere that accompanied Pride.  There was nothing like the deathly silence of 50,000 Japanese fans the moment before they erupted in cheering when their fighter won.

This video says all that needs to be said about Pride that I couldn't capture in my writing.

MMA Legends: Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

It is a pretty slow news day in the world of Mixed Martial Arts.  Everyone is just gearing up for the furious pace of events scheduled for the last half of November/first half of December.  From November 11 to December 16 there will be a total of 8 major events.  WEC 52, UFC 122, Strikeforce Challengers 12, UFC 123, The Ultimate Fighter Finale, Strikeforce:  Babalu vs Henderson, UFC 124, and the last WEC event ever.

With the brief lull in events, I decided this would be a perfect time to post a little history lesson on a fighter.  I struggled with who I should pick and decided to watch some highlight videos on youtube.  After watching the one below I knew I had to write about one of my favorite Heavyweights of all-time, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic.







Mirko, born September 10, 1974, started his fighting career in a K-1 ring.  K-1 is a kickboxing promotion.  It is basically Mixed Martial Arts without takedowns and ground fighting.  Fighters can kick, knee and punch and they wear larger, boxing style gloves.  During this time Mirko was a commando in the Croatian anti-terrorist unit Alpha where he picked up the nickname "Cro Cop" which is short for Croatian Cop.  Mirko would amass a record of 12-7 in K-1 with notable wins against Jerome Le Banner, Mike Bernardo, Musashi, Sam Greco, and Peter Aerts.  3 of his losses would be at the hands of legendary kickboxer, Ernesto Hoost.  After losing to Michael McDonald, Filipovic started his transition to MMA.

Mirko would have immediate success in MMA.  His K-1 level striking, most notably his laser-like accuracy with his hands and his devastating kicks, translated very well to the new sport.  He also developed one of the best sprawls and takedown defenses in the world, keeping the fight just where he wanted it.  Cro Cop would go on to have an amazing run in the Pride Fighting organization.  Wins over Kazushi Sakuraba, Heath Herring, Igor Vovchanchyn, Josh Barnett, Aleks Emelianenko, Kevin Randleman, and Mark Coleman would propel him into a Heavyweight title fight with Fedor Emelianenko.  The fight was almost exactly a year to the day since Cro Cop knocked out Fedor's little brother, Aleksander.  Mirko would lose the epic Heavyweight fight by Unanimous Decision.

This was another huge letdown for the Croatian.  In 2003, he was dominating Big Nog in their Interim Heavyweight title fight until Nogueira pulled out a miracle armbar win.  In 2004, he would be eliminated from the Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament when Kevin Randleman pulled off the KO upset.  With the loss to Fedor it seemed that Mirko would be the greatest fighter never to win a major title.

A year after the Fedor loss, Mirko would be entered into the 2006 Pride Open-Weight Grand Prix.  The Open-Weight Grand Prix was a tournament with no weight limits.  A Heavyweight could be matched up with a Middleweight for example.  Filipovic won his first fight in May against Ikuhisa Minowa by TKO and followed that up in September by brutalizing Hidehiko Yoshida by leg kicks.  With the win, Mirko was headed to the semifinals at Pride Final Conflict Absolute.  He would have to win two fights in one night to win the tournament.  The other semifinalists were Josh Barnett, Wanderlei Silva, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.  Cro Cop was matched up with Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva in his first fight.  The two had fought before to a controversial draw years before.  This time there was no controversy as Cro Cop scored another highlight reel head kick KO victory.  Josh Barnett won his matchup with Nogueira in a grueling split decision.  In the finals, Cro Cop would finally win the big one by submitting Barnett with strikes.

Cro Cop finally struck gold in the Open-Weight Grand Prix.

That would be Mirko's last fight in the Pride organization.  The stars were aligned that night for Cro Cop.  He moved on to the UFC and for a short time Dream after his time in Pride.  He is currently 6-4-1 since winning the Grand Prix.  Age and injuries have really taken a toll on Cro Cop the past few years. 

I will always remember him for his devastating kicks, he once famously referred to them as, "Right leg hospital, left leg cemetery" and his amazing Pride fights.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Brock Lesnar is a giant of a man.  Lets just get that piece of information out of the way right off the bat.  The guy stands 6'3'' and he has to cut weight just to make the 265 lb. weight limit for the Heavyweight division.  Brock is a four-time All-American, a two-time Big Ten champion, and he won the 2000 Heavyweight NCAA Division 1 National Championship in wrestling.  If you were to meet a person in a dark alley, Lesnar would probably be in your top 5 of people you would not want to see.  Even with all that;  his size, athleticism, and strength, he could not stop Cain Velasquez from taking his UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 121.

Lesnar tried to bull rush across the ring at the very start of the fight to catch Cain off guard but Velasquez used his superior footwork to stay out of danger.  Brock then shot in for a takedown and briefly had it until Cain worked back to his feet.  Lesnar tried again to take Velasquez to the mat but Cain was ready and used his Arizona State University honed wrestling to stifle the behemoth champion.  Once Brock couldn't take Cain down the fight was basically over.  Cain landed a few strikes that had Lesnar spinning and ducking out of harms way but Velasquez was relentless.  Brock was dropped but managed to get back up after absorbing some ground and pound.  His legs were still shaky when Cain dropped him again and pounded him out.  The referee was forced to step in and save Lesnar from a further beating.  Velasquez dominates Lesnar to become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion by first round TKO.  With the win, Cain becomes the first Mexican Heavyweight champion in combat history.  That includes both MMA and boxing.

To further illustrate the epic destruction of Brock Lesnar, here are the numbers from FightMetric.com.

Cain Velasquez versus Brock Lesnar by the numbers

Cain outstruck Brock 48 to 11.  31 of the strikes were power or significant punches.  That is one of the purest beatdowns you will see in the UFC.

Up next for the new champion will be a title fight against Junior Dos Santos.  Dos Santos is a Brazilian striker who trains with the Nogueira brothers out of Team Black House.

I should of asked for a new car or something...

I was all set to write Part 2 of my blog detailing why the UFC should merge with their smaller WEC promotion and then Dana White announces that the UFC would absorb the WEC's roster of fighters.  Way to steal my thunder.

The WEC will finish the final two events they had scheduled in 2010 and come January of 2011 the WEC will be no more.  This sets up a few interesting situations that will be hashed out in the coming months.

The winner of the December 16th WEC Lightweight title fight between champion, Ben Henderson, and Anthony Pettis will get to fight the winner of Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard for the UFC Lightweight title.  Also, Jose Aldo will be defending his UFC Featherweight title at UFC 125.  Just saying Jose Aldo and UFC title in the same sentence makes me smile.  The guy is a star and will finally get the attention from casual fans he deserves.  All the WEC employees will be brought over to the UFC, even down to the ring card girl, Brittany Palmer.

I'm off to search for more pictures of Brittany Palmer.  Umm.  For research.  Yes, blog research.

Why a UFC/WEC merger should happen - Part 1

I briefly touched on the subject of the UFC absorbing the WEC in my last post.  Countless MMA journalists have called for the WEC and its lighter roster of fighters to be brought over to the UFC and I see no reason why the move would not be a rousing success for both the fighters and the UFC.  Before I get into how the merger would help the fighters, here is a list of events by year the UFC has put on since 2000.

6 events in 2000
5 events in 2001
7 events in 2002
5 events in 2003
5  events in 2004
10 events in 2005 (coincides with the popularity of the Ultimate Fighter reality show)
18 events in 2006
19 events in 2007
20 events in 2008
20 events in 2009
24 events scheduled for 2010

By the time the UFC rolls into Montreal in December to finish their year, they will have already smashed their previous record of 20 events in a calendar year by 4.  A company who once was content with scheduling an event once every two months, now schedules two events every month. 

With the increase in events held every year the UFC has became the undisputed king of pay-per-view, taking the crown from professional wrestling.  With this increase in events, the UFC might be falling into the same oversaturation trap that has taken a chunk out of professional wrestling's numbers.  For example, the WWE has several shows every week on top of their monthly pay-per-view schedule.  The UFC also airs a weekly show, The Ultimate Fighter, alongside their SpikeTV Fight Night events, Ultimate Fighter Finale shows and pay-per-views.  The WWE and UFC also have to compete with upstart promotions, TNA and Strikeforce, who are looking to siphon off even more business.

The problem with the UFC isn't that it has to many events, the problem is that they don't have enough quality fighters to fill the additional slots at the events.  That problem would immediately be relieved by the infusion of the WEC's roster of lighter fighters to the UFC's talent pool.  The great thing about the merger is that both promotions are run by the parent company, Zuffa, so there would be no convoluted contract manuevering like there was when the UFC purchased Pride Fighting Championship. 

UFC 119 and WEC 51 were held a mere 5 days apart from one another.  How amazing would UFC 119 have been if the card looked like this.

Jose Aldo vs Manny Gamburyan for the Featherweight title
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs Frank Mir
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs Ryan Bader
Sean Sherk vs Evan Dunham
Matt Serra vs Chris Lytle

Jamie Varner vs Donald Cerrone
Melvin Guillard vs Jeremy Stephens
C.B. Dollaway vs Joe Doerksen
Miguel Torres vs Charlie Valencia
Chan Sung Jung vs George Roop
Mike Brown vs Cole Province

I think UFC 119's pay-per-view buyrate, which was around 275,000, would of at least jumped into the 400,000 - 500,000 range with the quality of the card.  If a handful of WEC fighters added to one subpar UFC event could improve their numbers that much, you would have to imagine the UFC would jump at the idea of merging.

In Part 2, I will discuss how the UFC and WEC fighters would benefit from a roster merger.

Baddest man on the planet?

Historically, the heavier weight class fighters have been considered to be the best fighters in the world.  I agree with that sentiment for the most part but I believe that there is a smaller fighter that has just as much claim to the top fighter spot as Brock Lesnar or Fedor Emelianenko has.  That man is WEC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo.

Aldo is primarily a stand-up fighter.  He uses his aggressive Muay Thai striking, especially flying knees and leg kicks, to overwhelm his opponents.  Aldo has pinpoint accuracy and lightning speed with all his strikes, earning him the nickname the "Brazilian Cobra."  His wrestling is also extremely underrated.  If his opponent is lucky enough to get him down to the canvas he still has to contend with Aldo's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, which he received from the Nogueira brothers.

Aldo has used these skills to tear through the WEC's 145lb. competition since his debut in 2008.  At the age of 24, Jose already has several career defining fights to his name.  It only took him 8 seconds, and a double flying knee, to dispatch of Cub Swanson.

Another highlight fight for Aldo was his destruction of former champion, Urijah Faber.  The California Kid was battered by kicks to his leg for 5 excruciating rounds and could barely walk out of the cage.  Aldo was able to keep the fight standing and brutalized Faber in his hometown.



Urijah's leg the morning after the fight.



Urijah's leg several days after the fight.



Last Thursday Jose defended his title against Manny Gamburyan with a fantastic display of striking.  After feeling Manny out in the first round, Aldo unleashed a furious ground assault that knocked Gamburyan out cold.  There are not many more threats left for Jose at Featherweight, besides Josh Grispi, and there are talks of him jumping up a weight class to take on the UFC's Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar.  I would love to see that fight but I would much rather see the WEC folded into the UFC so Jose Aldo and the WEC's army of lighter fighters get the exposure they deserve.

UFC 119 and Strikeforce

This past Saturday the UFC brought the Octagon to Indianapolis, Indiana for the first time with UFC 119.  The main event, Cro Cop versus Mir, was 14 minutes of two guys hugging against the fence.  In the final minute, Frank Mir landed a fight-ending knee but by then most people were headed for the exits.  The co-main event, Rogerio Nogueira versus Ryan Bader, was also a strange fight.  No one really landed anything substantial except the short amount of punches Bader landed in the first round.  Nog was winning the stand up for most of the fight but Bader would steal the round with takedowns and wound up with the decision.  The only solid fight, Sherk versus Dunham, was tarnished with a pretty bad judge's decision.  Sherk was able to win the first round with his powerful wrestling and opened up a nasty gash on Dunham's right eyebrow that would leak blood for the rest of the fight.  Dunham utilized his superior striking to pepper Sherk for the final two rounds.  So it was surprising when the judges came back with a split decision for the "Muscle Shark."

To wash the bad taste out of my mouth from UFC 119, Strikeforce announced they will be returning to St. Louis on December 4th.  My brother and I have been at both of the previous St. Louis Strikeforce shows and we are definitely going to be at this one.  There is only one fight that is official so far but it will be an awesome fight.  Renato "Babalu" Sobral will be taking on Dan Henderson in the main event.  I am a huge fan of both fighters and I can't wait to see how the fight plays out.  Tickets went on sale this morning for Strikeforce insiders and the general public can purchase tickets this Friday.  See you at the fights.

Chael fails

Chael Sonnen was only a few minutes away from stunning the MMA world.  For 23 minutes, Chael smothered the champion, Anderson Silva, with his wrestling and ground and pound.  In the 5th and final round of their UFC 117 bout, Anderson threw his legs up and locked in a triangle choke/armbar combination that forced Sonnen to tapout.  Silva escaped back to Brazil with his title and Chael was left with nothing but heartbreak and thoughts of "what if?"

Sonnen moments before tapping out.

Unfortunately for Chael, when it rains it pours.  According to George Dodd of the California State Athletic Commission, Sonnen failed his pre-fight drug test for a banned substance.  It is unclear if Chael had a performance-enhancing drug in his system but it is likely since he passed their test for drugs of abuse.  The test for drugs of abuse cover drugs such as cocaine, heroin, cannabis, and amphetamines.

With the positive test result, Sonnen is looking at a one year suspension and a fine.  This also kills the rematch Sonnen was promised immediately after his loss at UFC 117.  Not only did Chael lose his first shot at Anderson's belt, he now has lost his second shot without even getting into the cage.  The upcoming fight between Yushin Okami and Vitor Belfort will now determine who gets the next shot at Anderson Silva and the Middleweight Championship.

It will be interesting to see what Chael had in his system and if he will appeal the suspension.

UFC 118 Aftermath

The effects of UFC 118 are still rippling across the MMA landscape.  With a UFC Lightweight title fight and and a Hall of Fame caliber professional boxer taking on a UFC Hall of Fame member there was plenty to talk about.  On top of these two co-main events there were three other excellent bouts I want to touch on.

The fight between Joe Lauzon and Gabe Ruediger is the first noteworthy fight.  SpikeTV broadcasts two preliminary fights and luckily this fight was the lead in to the pay-per-view.  The first fight that Spike aired was Nik Lentz vs Andre Winner and it was brutal.  15 minutes of Lentz attempting to take Winner down to avoid his striking.  This fight's lack of action could have been the nail in the coffin for anyone on the fence about buying the pay-per-view.  Luckily, Boston's very own Joe Lauzon came through in the second fight of the night with an amazing display of ground work.  After slamming Ruediger to the mat, Lauzon unloaded some vicious punches, causing Gabe to attempt to improve his position.  Lauzon saw it coming and slapped on a fight ending armbar in just over 2 minutes.  Joe gets a much needed win and does it in front of the home crowd.

Gray Maynard versus Kenny Florian was also an important fight.  The winner of this fight would become the #1 contender in the UFC's Lightweight division and would get the title shot against the winner of B.J. Penn vs Frankie Edgar, who would fight later that night.  The bigger and stronger wrestler, as is usually the case, won out in this fight.  Maynard was able to nullify Florian's crisper boxing and muay thai with takedowns.  Florian threatened with submissions off his back in the third round, but by then Maynard had the fight well in hand.  With the win, Maynard sets himself up to fight for the UFC Lightweight title, most likely in December barring any injuries.

The co-main event of the evening saw professional boxing champion, James Toney, try his hand at MMA for the first time against MMA legend, Randy Couture.  The fight went like most people expected.  Couture immediately shot in for a takedown that Toney had no defense for and passed to mount.  Once Couture had the mount secure, he peppered Toney with punches before sinking in a tight arm-triangle choke.  During the post-fight press conference, Dana White informed reporters that this would be the first and only fight for James Toney in the UFC.  Don't feel bad for James though, he made a reported $500,000 for less than four minutes of work.

James Toney dreaming about spending half a million dollars with some help from Randy Couture.

The main event was a rematch from UFC 112 where Frankie Edgar won a razor thin decision to take B.J. Penn's Lightweight title.  This time there was no controversy.  Edgar danced around a flat-footed Penn the entire fight and scored a dominating 50-45 decision on all scorecards.  B.J. is known for his excellent boxing, especially his piston-like jab, but he could not catch up to Edgar's speed, timing, and footwork.  Penn looked absolutely lost during most of the fight.  In between rounds his cornermen were just as bewildered.  Instead of giving technical instructions to help turn the fight around for their fighter, all they could muster was "You've been here before, this is your fight.  He has nothing for you" style pep talks.  With this win, Frankie gets a chance to avenge his only professional loss when he fights #1 contender, Gray Maynard.  Penn sounded like he was on the verge of retiring, but just weeks later he has already signed up to fight former UFC Welterweight champion Matt Hughes in November.

Frankie Edgar dominated B.J. Penn for 5 rounds to retain his Lightweight title.

UFC 118 results:
Frankie Edgar defeats B.J. Penn by Unanimous Decision
Randy Couture defeats James Toney by Submission (arm-triangle choke) in the first round
Demian Mai defeats Mario Miranda by Unanimous Decision
Gray Maynard defeats Kenny Florian by Unanimous Decision
Nate Diaz defeats Marcus Davis by Submission (guillotine choke) in the third round
Joe Lauzon defeats Gabe Ruediger by Submission (armbar) in the first round
Nik Lentz defeats Andre Winner by Unanimous Decision
Dan Miller defeats John Salter by Submission (guillotine choke) in the second round
Greg Soto defeats Nick Osipczak by Unanimous Decision
Mike Pierce defeats Amilcar Alves by Submission (straight armbar) in the third round

Be sure to tune in at 7 p.m. cst to SpikeTV Wednesday, September 15 for another night of fights.  UFC Fight Night 22 will be live from the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas with Nate Marquardt versus Rousimar Palhares as the main event.  Following Fight Night 22 on Spike, will be the premiere of the 12th season of the Ultimate Fighter reality show with coaches Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koshceck.  MMA fans are in for a treat.  September has 8 major events still in the pipeline from the UFC, WEC, Dream, and Bellator so enjoy.

The Life of Evan Tanner

This past Wednesday marks the two year anniversary of the death of MMA legend Evan Tanner, one of the most interesting and enigmatic figures in all of sports.

Evan was blessed not only physically but mentally.  His love for reading started as a child and carried over into adulthood, where he would read stacks of philosphy books even while he prepared to step into a cage to fight another human being.  As is the case with most people with immense talents, Evan had personal demons that haunted him, none worse than the lack of relationship he had with his mother, father, and stepfather.  In typical Evan Tanner style he met each and every challenge head on.

In high school Evan, with no previous wrestling experience, tried out for the wrestling team.  He would go on to win back-to-back Texas state wrestling championships his junior and senior years.  Having conquered that challenge he moved to Iowa to attend medical school.  Evan excelled at school and made the dean's list, but before he completed his degree he dropped out of school.  Evan was fighting several personal demons at this time, namely his addiction to alcohol.

For the next several years, Evan traveled the country stopping only when he needed money, usually taking the most physically demanding jobs the town could offer.  Evan's travels led him back to his hometown of Amarillo in 1997 where he saw his first ever mixed martial arts fight and his life would never be the same.

With Evan's past history of wrestling dominance still fresh in everyone's mind, a local promoter approached Tanner about entering a MMA tournament.  Evan accepted this new challenge and dominated the tournament, winning three fights in one night.  Having steamrolled the night's competition in just over five minutes, Evan dedicated himself to learning every nuance of the sport.  He rented VHS tapes of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Gracie family and taught himself.  With his new ground skills he demolished the competition, just like he did years before in every wrestling gym across Texas.

After fighting his way to a 16-1 record, Evan was invited to the UFC where he would go on to win the Middleweight championship.  Even after reaching the pinnacle of the sport, Evan wasn't satisfied.  He wanted his legacy to be something more substantial than just being a famous UFC champion.  When he lost the title he decided he wanted to give underpriviledged young fighters, like he once was, the chance to get top notch MMA training without costing them a dime.  He worked tirelessly to make that dream come true.  Using his fight purse money he bought a place to house his group of fighters and worked on fixing the place up.  Shortly after welcoming his first student to the house they had a falling out and his dream was crushed before it really got off the ground.

With this setback, Evan began drinking again and his life began to take one strange turn after another.  He grew a massive, unruly beard that made him nearly impossible to recognize, bought a boat with no previous boating experience and subsequently sank it, and he began taking dangerous motorcycle trips across desolate stretches of California desert.

Out of the blue he decided that he was done with drinking and decided that the best chance he had to do some good in the world was to use his fame as a UFC fighter.  He was successful in his first UFC comeback fight but would lose his next two.

With his UFC career in jeopardy he decided that he needed some spiritual time to right himself and decided that an adventure into one of the many stretches of California desert was what he needed.  Telling his fans on his blog, “I plan on going so deep into the desert that any failure of my equipment could cost me my life.”

Evan left from his apartment in Palo Verde, California on September 3rd with his motorcycle and carefully planned out survival supplies.  On the 4th of September Evan's water supply had run dry.  Evan planned for this and had satelite maps of a natural spring just five miles from his campsite.  What Evan didn't realize was that the maps he had were outdated.  The natural spring he expected to find was now a dry creek bed.  With the mercury hovering around 115 degrees he decided to take shelter under a small tree until the sun went down and he would walk the five miles back to camp.  Unfortunately Evan never made it back.  His body was found by the search and rescue crews just over a mile away from his camp.

The world lost an extremely caring, intelligent, and generous person the day Evan Tanner passed away and I hope that his resiliency in the face of daunting challenges will never be forgotten.  The forthcoming documentary "Once I was a Champion" should hopefully give voice to the causes Evan championed during his life.

"Let's get it on!"

What better way could I have chosen to title my first MMA blog post than by channeling referee "Big" John McCarthy's legendary fight starting catch phrase?

"Big" John giving the final instructions to Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski before their Heavyweight clash.

"Big" John is just one of several key figures in the mixed martial arts (MMA) world that I will talk about through the course of this blog.  The name I picked for this entire blog series also references a legend in the sport of MMA. 

"Big Nog" is the nickname given to one of the greatest Heavyweight fighters to ever live, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.  Also known as "Minotauro" to his Brazilian fans.  Nogueira holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a ground fighting self-defense system which was derived from Judo and utilizes grappling and submission holds like triangle chokes and armbars to incapacitate an assailant.  Big Nog is known for taking on much larger opponents, some as large as the 340 lb. Bob Sapp, and somehow pulling out the win in spectacular fashion.  His heart, or will to fight, is also one of his greatest assets.  At the age of eleven, "Big Nog" was run over by a truck and was in a coma for four days.  He stayed in the hospital for eleven months and lost part of his liver and a rib.  A large scar on Nogueira's back can still be seen from this incident and is one way to differentiate him from his twin brother, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who is also a very accomplished MMA fighter in his own right.  Nogueira has won several titles including the Pride Fighting Championship Heavyweight title and the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship.

"Big Nog" submitting Tim Sylvia with a guillotine choke to win the Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship.

As you can probably tell I love MMA.  I probably think about MMA more than anything else, even more than women and my love life.  Coincidentally enough, if you would like to keep abreast, pun intended, of my love life check out my other blog Late Night with Conebone69.

With so many events scheduled every month, I will have plenty of interesting things to cover.  Just this past weekend, Randy Couture took on UFC newcomer and professional boxing champion, James Toney in the co-main event of UFC 118.  Not to mention there was a UFC Lightweight title fight between Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn.  I will be covering the UFC 118 event results and any newsworthy items next week.  Thanks for reading.