MMA in June Hub

 From Cologne, Germany. Original airdate: 6/13/09

Welterweight bout:  Dan Hardy d. Marcus Davis via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28). Why does Hardy care what Marcus wants to represent? Anyways, this was a good fight nonetheless as Marcus ate the most strikes, but he controlled the fight. Plus it had near submissions.

Lightweight bout:  Spencer Fisher d  Caol Uno via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). Not the greatest of fights and it was a bit of a snoozefest... Uno needs to push it.

Welterweight bout:  Mike Swick d  Ben Saunders via TKO (strikes) at 3:47 of round 2. Ben’s nickname is “Killa B,” which no self-respecting white guy should ever have. That alone is reason enough for Swick to kill him. Anyhoo, Swick looked excellent against a very good fighter. Mike is no Georges St. Pierre, but he’s a good jack-of-all-trades type of fighter.

Heavyweight bout:  Mirko Filipovic d  Mostapha Al-turk via TKO (Strikes) at 3:06 of round 1. Cro Cop won by eye poke of doom! Sucks that it had to end on a eyepoke because Mirko was gonna beat him up anyway as turk was just swinging wild. Oh, and if titles were decided on entrance music, Al Turk would be undisputed champ no doubt.

Heavyweight bout:  Cain Velasquez d.  Cheick Kongo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). Cain is the new Tito Ortiz. Good staredown at the start. Anyways, Cain just dominated Kongo after getting rocked in the beginning. Kongo was fighting like a dumbass; he needed to create space and throw his hands. Kongo has fallen in love with grappling and I don't know why. Anyhoo, Kongo could have won this if he kept distance and throws hands. I think Brock would murder Cain. I now hate Velasquez the same way I hate Coleman and Don Frye back in the day.

Catchweight (195 lb) bout:  Rich Franklin d.  Wanderlei Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). Damn Wanderlei. Losing to a friggin' math teacher. What's amazing was that Wanderlei was basically running on fumes after Round 1 and Franklin still couldn't do crap. Bad decision, screw Franklin. I hope he gets cancer. Wandy should have won that. You can't give the last round to Rich just for a meaningless takedown. Damn, I hate how scoring a harmless takedown is weighted so heavily. Say what you want about Japan's scoring system but what they get right is that takedowns are not skewed heavily like they are in the UFC.

Final Thoughts: It was probably the worst and most uninteresting PPV card I have seen in at least a year. I didn't really care about any of the matches going in, the matches ended up being pretty boring with too many judges decisions. Just didn't seem like the guys were trying their hardest.

 From Sacramento, California. Original airdate: 6/07/09

Featherweight Championship bout:  Mike Brown d.  Urijah Faber via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47) to retain the WEC Featherweight Championship. This was great; they went all out. Too bad Urijah broke his hand, he may have won the fight, but he still took it to Brown even with a broken right. I believe a third match is neccessary.

Featherweight bout:  Jose Aldo d.  Cub Swanson via TKO (flying knee and punches) at 0:08 of round 1. Aldo's flying knee was sweeeeeet. I can't wait for MTB and Aldo.

Lightweight bout:  Donald Cerrone d.  James Krause via submission (rear naked choke) at 4:38 of round 1. Cerrone won as I expected.

Featherweight bout:  Josh Grispi d. Jens Pulver via submission (guillotine choke) at 0:33 of round 1. It's too bad Pulver flamed out really quick, because he could've helped promote the WEC even more with his name power.

Featherweight bout:  Manny Gamburyan d.  John Franchi via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). Manny is entertaining to say the least.

Final Thoughts: This card was better than the Strikeforce card overall. Faber-Brown is what I expected it would be and overall the card was more entertaining.

 Catchweight 182lb bout:  Jake Shields d. Robbie Lawler via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:00 of round 1. Lawler seemed so better than Shields in every way, but Lawler was just asking to be tapped the way he acted so cocky. No wonder he never made it in the UFC.

Heavyweight bout:  Brett Rogers d. Andrei Arlovski via KO (punches) at 0:22 of round 1. Well then, seems Arlovski's career is over. It was a good run. I would pay in a heartbeat to see Rogers and Fedor, since they hinted that Rogers finished Arlovski quicker than Fedor did.

Catchweight 180lb bout:  Nick Diaz d.  Scott Smith via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:41 of round 3. MOTN because Diaz was throwing punches all fight, and Scott Smith was landing some powerful blows too and I was on the edge of my seat because it. Diaz and Smith put on a great show, but Diaz's superior training paid off, and a good chokeout to end it.

Welterweight bout:  Joe Riggs d. Phil Baroni via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). This was okay. Phil Baroni is the Brooklyn Brawler of MMA, but he can sure take a lickin.

Light Heavyweight Bout:  Mike Whitehead d. Kevin Randleman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). Randleman looked tired after the first three minutes. It was an interesting match to me, but I can understand why the crowd was booing in spots.

So, fun night. Some good fights and around 48 minutes of fighting for me.

GINA CARANO VS. CRIS CYBORG ON AUGUST 15TH 

 Just as the title says. We have two big events tonight and tommorow night in MMA. Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields and WEC 41: Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber II. I'm posting it all here because they are so close together.

Saturday night. 7pm Pacific and 10 pm Eastern time for most people.

Main Card:
182 lbs. (Catchweight): “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (16-4) vs. Jake Shields (22-4-1)
180 lbs. (Catchweight): Nick Diaz (19-7) vs. Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith (17-5)
265 lbs.: Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (15-6) vs. Brett “The Grim” Rogers (9-0)
170 lbs.: Phil “New York Bad Ass” Baroni (13-10) vs. Joe “Diesel” Riggs (29-10)
205 lbs.: Kevin “The Monster” Randleman (17-12) vs. Mike Whitehead (23-7)

Under card:
205 lbs.: Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante (7-1) vs. Mike “MAK” Kyle (11-6-1)
170 lbs.: Josh Baumgartner (5-0) vs. Jesse Finney (3-0)
170 lbs.: Tyron “Tobasco” Woodley (2-0) vs. Sal Woods (2-4)
185 lbs.: Lucas Lopes (8-8) vs. Scott Ventimiglia (12-5-1)
155 lbs.: Pat Benson (3-5-1) vs. Dave Cochran (16-19)
265 lbs.: Booker DeRousse (1-1) vs. James Wade (0-0)

WEC 41 lands on Sunday, June 7th at 6pm Pacific 9pm Eastern on VERSUS. It will probably be replayed over and over again through the night. This is the long awaited rematch with Champion Mike Thomas Brown and WEC babyface Urijah Faber.

Main Card:
145 lbs.: Featherweight Champion Mike Thomas Brown (21-4) vs. Urijah “The California Kid” Faber (22-2)
145 lbs.: Jose “Junior” Aldo (14-1) vs. Cub Swanson (13-2)
155 lbs.: James Krause (10-0) vs. Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (9-1)
145 lbs.: Josh “The Fluke” Grispi (12-1) vs. Jens “Little Evil” Pulver (22-11-1)

Under card:
145 lbs.: Manny “The Pitbull” Gamburyan (8-4) vs. John Franchi (5-0)
135 lbs.: Charlie Valencia (10-5) vs. Kyle Dietz (5-0)
155 lbs.: Mike “The Beast” Campbell (6-1) vs. Anthony “Showtime” Pettis (6-0)
135 lbs.: Scott Jorgensen (6-2) vs. Antonio Banuelos (15-4)
135 lbs.: Frank Gomez (6-1) vs. TBA
145 lbs.: Rolando Perez (4-2-1) vs. Seth “2 Quick” Dikun (6-3)

 LAS VEGAS – Kimbo Slice, the controversial heavyweight who in 2008 headlined the most-viewed mixed martial arts card in history, will be one of 16 contestants on the forthcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s reality TV series.

Dana White, the UFC’s outspoken president, has repeatedly mocked Slice for his lack of fighting ability. Slice, whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, became a cult figure by competing in street fights that were posted on YouTube. Slice’s “bouts” drew tens of millions of views and led him to turn professional.

He fought for the now defunct Elite XC, garnering massive media attention but getting mocked by White and others affiliated with the UFC for a lack of ability.

White has called him a “joke,” a “bum” and “not a real fighter,” among other less than kind descriptions. He said that Slice would “get murdered if he fought in the UFC” and suggested that his lightweight champion, 155-pound B.J. Penn, would “annihilate” the 230-pound Slice.

The UFC president has repeatedly insisted he would not allow Slice to compete in the UFC unless he won his way onto the show by competing on “The Ultimate Fighter,” which beings taping Wednesday and is scheduled to air in September.

Slice has called White’s bluff and will appear on Season 10 of the highly rated Spike TV series, White has confirmed. Fighters live in the same house and train together, and then fight during the show in a bid to earn a UFC contract.

His appearance, along with that of former UFC light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans as coaches, should guarantee massive ratings.

“It should be interesting, given some of the things I’ve said about him,” White said.

Slice, who has a 3-1 professional record, appeared in the main event of the first MMA card shown on network television in the U.S. when he fought James Thompson on May 31, 2008, on CBS.

Slice won by third-round stoppage in a bout that attracted a record 6.5 million viewers and remains the most-viewed MMA bout in history.

But Slice hasn’t fought since Oct. 4, when he was knocked out by a jab from late replacement Seth Petruzelli, a light heavyweight, just 14 seconds into another fight broadcast on CBS. The plug was pulled on Elite XC, which reportedly lost millions of dollars, in the aftermath of the fight.

White promised “some major surprises” as he announced on a Thursday conference call that Jackson and Evans, each of whom is a former light heavyweight champion, would serve as coaches on Season 10.

He declined to say anything further but urged reporters on the call not to miss media day, which is Tuesday at the UFC Training Center in Las Vegas.

White worked hard to keep Slice’s appearance on the show a secret, hoping to have unveiled him Tuesday. Season 10, which is being called “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights,” was originally slated to feature a cast of eight heavyweights and eight middleweights, but the UFC quietly informed the middleweights who tried out that it was going with an all-heavyweight show.

And unlike in recent seasons, where the competitors had to win a fight to earn their way into the house, there will be no such arrangement this time. All 16 fighters – Spike and the UFC are keeping names of the others a closely guarded secret – will automatically move into the house.

Though White goes to great lengths to insist that nothing on the show is scripted, it’s virtually guaranteed that Slice won’t fight early in the competition. Having him around and alive in the competition is going to keep ratings elevated.

If Slice is able to advance to the live Dec. 5 finale, with a chance to earn a UFC contract with a win, ratings would likely be the largest in Spike history.

Well, it's about damn time he learned to actually fight.