brashleyholland

Optimus Prime says... http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/brashleyholland/p20120216-022315.jpg "PLUG LAPTOP INTO BIG TELLY. ENJOY ULTIMATE HUMAN FIGHTING"

What a rotten 24 hours. First the news that Gary Goodridge has been diagnosed with Pugilistic Dementia...then the news that K-1 legend Mike Bernardo has committed suicide.

Haha, of course I do, but BAMMA aren't in a position to pay to fly (and I use this term with the greatest respect) 'no-name' fighters in from other countries at the moment. Tell him to get in touch with someone at Ring of Combat in New Jersey. Most of his fights are in PA so I'm guessing he lives there, and NJ isn't too far, right? Anyway, ROC have got good connections to higher up the food chain. I can give him a number if he can't get one, but I think there is an application form on their website.

Yup, Johnny Hendricks. Someone said it's the first time a D1 champ has fought a D1 champ in any MMA promotion. Not sure if that's true or not and can't be bother to check, but pretty cool if true. Hope Hendricks smashes him to bits, if I'm honest :-p

Gunnar is LEGIT. BJJ black belt Under Renzo Gracie by the age of 21, which is insane. He's one of the best sub grapplers in the world and has an 8-0-1 MMA record to boot. He's not fought for a couple of years as he's been focued on grappling, but when he comes back full time he's gonna make some serious waves. Oh and he's a karate black belt as well, y'know, just incase.

With the credentials that he has, probably yes. People said the same thing about Jacare a few years back...he took a few years to adapt, so I'm willing to give Gracie a bit of time too. What a shark tank of a division to jump into though.

It looks like Roger Gracie and Eddie Alvarez are UFC bound!

What they really want to avoid is 'super agents'...guys who have a stable of top names or have a pipeline from a certain country (like Ed Soares does with Brazil). At one point, Soares had the Nogueira brothers, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Jose Aldo on the books. At one point three of those guys held belts at the same time. That gives him a lot of power when it comes to matchmaking, and is widely believed to be the reason for all the shenanigans re: Silva's fight with Belfort/permanent move to 205. With the 'super agents' it's a similar problem, but more direct. Lets say I manage Anderson Silva, Michael Bisping and Vitor Belfort. I can literally hold the UFC to ransom when it comes to matchmaking/purses. I can also approach Chael Sonnen and say "Hey Chael, I have the division tied up...if you sign with me as well I can get you an extra $100,000 to fight any one of those guys". In boxing there is often a blurry line between managers and promoters and the UFC doesn't want that...they want to be the promoter, they want to dictate who fights who, and for how much.

I'm with you, it's a tough one to call. My gut says that Frankie will be able to use his wresting in reverse and outbox Hendo for five rounds though. That could make for a really pedestrian fight or a real slugfest, depending on how willing Henderson is to go balls to the wall.

It actually predates that, going back to issues they've had with guys like Ken Pavia, Ed Soares etc etc

I think that at the UFC level, you need a manager. And I mean a professional manager, with either a qualification or 20+ years in the business. For example, the guy who runs MMABay was looking at managing fighters recently. He came across a 2-0 FW here in the UK and got in touch. The guy's coach had been 'looking after him' but he had nothing. In the space of a few days, my mate had secured him £300 sponsorship money (which is a lot for a 2-0 guy in the UK fighting on untelevised cards, probably unheard of), all the gear he needed for training (rash guards, hand wraps, pads, gloves etc) AND 8 weeks worth of supplements worth hundreds of pounds. Now with that said, neither of us are even remotely qualified to deal with the amount of legal stuff that comes with UFC contracts. Not in a million years, and if I managed a fighter who was signed by the UFC tomorrow, I would take my 20% of his contract and find him a manager who was better equipped to deal with them. Coaches often have their guys best interests at heart, but that doesn't mean they can deal with UFC contracts. They're HUGE. I'm not talking 10 pages, I'm talking stacks of paper. What I don't want to see is coaches who mean well signing young kids lives away and not getting them properly compensated. UFC dealing directly with fighters/coaches would be ok if there was a union, which there isn't.

The guy is an idiot. I bet Dana is thanking his lucky stars that Diaz didn't win that fight now!! I'm guessing the Sanchez/Ellenberger winner gets the next title shot now. Wouldn't be surprised to see that fight headline a Fox card in June/July. Kos vs Hendricks co-main event. Condit vs Diaz is trending at 400,000 buys.

It's been on the cards for a while, more of a logistical thing than anything else. His family lives in Cali now, and he's trained for his last few fights out there with Tiki Ghosn and co. He's having to fly his coaches etc out to Cali for every fight, and that's not cheap - especially when there is no shortage of great guys to train with out in the US. Like I said it's been on the cards, but I was just as surprised as the next man when it came out today. There's no bad blood that I've heard of. Interesting as well that Shogun has given an interview saying that the UFC has made it clear to fighters that they don't need managers. Aldo split with Soares recently, and the guy who owns the Wolfy also manages Mike. Could be the start of a trend of fighters ditching their managers and letting their coaches deal directly with the UFC. That's clearly what the UFC wants, as they've made no bones about their disdain for managers for a while now. I'm torn myself. Managers can be a blessing and a curse...

My sources tell me that Roy Nelson tested positive for gravy. Or should that be my sauces?

I was gonna be a UFC champ, but then I got high... I was gonna bring gold back to my camp, but I got high... Now I'm gonna get suspended, and I know whyyyyyyy, hey hey, Because I got high, because I got high, because I got hiiiiigh. Looks like Nick Diaz has been on the Iron Shiek's green medicine :-p

Sorry for the terrible picture but... http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/brashleyholland/Picture0006.jpg

He was born with a very defined bone structure around his eyes and cheekbones. Not good for someone who boxes/does MMA as much as he does. He had surgery a few years back to file the sharp bones in his eyebrows down. It's not perfect though, and he still has issues with scar tissue from getting cut so often in fights/sparring.

I don't think he has a different strategy...his wrestling is, and always has been, garbage. I don't think we'll see him pull guard much either...his BJJ may be amongst the best in the sport, but with the state of his eyes he doesn't want to be on the bottom against someone like Condit in an environment where elbows are allowed.

Nick Diaz is coming out of retirement *SHOCK HORROR* Diaz vs Condit 2 has been verbally agreed, bout agreements to be signed Friday. http://www.mmabay.co.uk/2012/02/08/breaking-news-condit-accepts-immediate-diaz-rematch/ This sets a strange precedent. What they're essentially saying is that A) They wanted Diaz to win (which they did), and B) they'll put PPV buys ahead of the integrity of their divisions. Despite a massive outcry, and White himself saying that he thought the result was wrong, there is no immediate Bisping vs Sonnen rematch, because Sonnen vs Silva 2 is the outcome the UFC wanted. They wanted Diaz vs GSP here, and didn't get the outcome they wanted. Hmm. Part of me wants Condit to win EXACTLY the same way, just to see it blow up in their faces :-p

THQ's rules? Probably not. My Mrs might have a slightly differing opinion though... ...which is why I'm kicking her out for the weekend so the lads can come round and play UFC after we get in on Saturday night and during Sunday's 'recovery period'. Seriously :-p

My review copy of Undisputed 3 will be in the post tomorrow, so I should have it Wednesday. Review embargo in place until the 14th of Feb though, so I can't say anything until then. You jelly? :-p

They were already unlocked on the version I played, and they're all already there on the roster screen on the games website. I thought you meant 'secret' characters.

There are no unlockable characters, the roster you've seen is the roster that's available...unless there's something stupid like Shaq in there again, but I won't be wasting my time figuring that out :-p Will post the Ultimate Fights when I have it though.

Getting it a week before release apparently, so hopefully this week. Probably gonna be too busy to play it now :-p

Which is why it would then be fair to deduct one point. The only way he should have taken two is if he thought that Leeroy deliberately, flagrantly targeted the groin. Fact is, with orthodox vs southpaw you'll always get those kicks going astray.