brashleyholland

I think it depends on what you've broken and how you've broken it. I shattered my outside metacarpal on my right hand, two clean breaks, and crushed the same knuckle. Couldn't make a fist, let alone punch. Still having trouble with it nine years on. Was it Kevin Burns who poked Anthony Johnson in the eye because he couldn't make a proper fist due to a previously broken hand?

Someone needs to stop reading Wiki and start watching fights.... Completely irrelevant. Nelson is coming off a TV show watched by just shy of a couple of million people for 12 weeks, followed by two fights that were live on free TV. Cro Cop is an unfamiliar commodity...another 'Pride guy' who's UFC fights, lets be honest, have been garbage for the most part. The only place where Mirko is more popular than Brock Lesnar is Croatia (and maybe Frank Mir's house)...there's not 'international' fanbase that he can draw. Also, Nelson is an American and a good talker who will actually put the effort in to promote the fight, something that Cro Cop has never been willing to do. Nelson vs Lesnar does more PPV's than Lesnar vs Cro Cop any day of the week.

Makura Panchi, apparently...doesn't sound too bad! Agreed on both counts.

...and damn, that Imada/Curran decision was pretty poor.

Matsumoto was in a different weightclass. She was also notoriously stubborn about getting fighters to come down to her, rather than meeting halfway. Personally I feel that fighters should move up, rather than down, once they have cleared out a division. I've not seen the retirement match between her and Fujii, but I understand it was essentially an exhibition/work, with Fujii letting Matsumoto get her trademark flying armbar in just before the bell. Bless her. You got me on Tsuji though, that is a wierd one...I remember a few years back there was talk of one of the big Japanese shows putting it on, but it fell through. I might be waaaaay off here, but I seem to remember Tsuji having a baby at some point, which put the fight on the backburner. Still, for me, Tsuji wasn't a career-making fight for Fujii. Most of her wins came under Smackgirl rules, which are horrendously twisted towards kickboxers (30 second stand-ups regardless of action, no strikes to the head on the ground)...I don't really class that (mainly the 30-second rule) as 'propper' MMA. Bellator have only confirmed Fujii, Sexton (a super-flyweight), Ward and Pene for their tourney so far. Elena Reid (19-6-6 boxer with a couple of MMA fights, 4-1) is supposedly a lock. I'm going to say Jess Aguilar, Angelica Magana and Lynn Alvarez will make up the rest of the bracket. I can't see them having more than one Japanese fighter in there to be honest. Looking forward to this a lot more than the HW men's tourney. I can see that turning into the 'Cole Konrad' dry-humping show. I was quite high on Dave Herman for a while, but he's not looked good recently.

I was just yanking your chain ;-) I fully respect the Sonnen bro-mance...I think everything that man says should be recorded for posterity. It's got everyone of note at 115 pounds, and a number of bigger girls. Who else is there for her to beat? If you look at the mens records for 115, they all look the same. 4-3, 10-5, 2-1 etc...you can only beat whoever is put on front of you, and to her credit, she's also moved up in weight to fight bigger gals as well. Most of the girls she has fought are amongst the best female grapplers in the world too. Nothing to be sniffed it. Like you said, the problem is that there isn't a massive depth of talent at 115. I suppose you could say the same thing (to an extent) about the 135 mens division in the US until recently. At the same time, I don't think Fujii (or any other girl at that weight) should be moving up to fight the Caranos, Cyborgs, Toughills etc, much in the same way as nobody is calling for GSP to fight at 205 to cement his legecy. This 155lb tourney is supposed to have 8 of the top ten 115lb women in the world in it. Hopefully once she's swept the field, she'll get some more respect in the US. Crowd seemed to like her at Bellator last night, despite the fact the she was fighting a limpet. Fell asleep before the Amada/Curran fight, just about to watch it now...

So I was on the Strikeforce LA press conference call earlier today... - The winner of Lawler/Babalu gets a title shot. If Babalu wins, he gets Lawal, if Lawler wins he gets Jacare. Seems they have finally (publicly) given up on Shields. - Babalu's manager said he would turn down a fight with King Mo because of their relationship...but would do it if it was the only fight on the table and the fans wanted it. Said they were actively seeking fights with Hendo and Mousasi. - Babalu didn't seem comfortable with the weight issue...said he appreciates Robbie taking the fight at 195 and Lawler's camp initially asked for 190 and 192. Said he hasn't been at 185 since he was 15. - I asked Scott Coker if he thinks the videogames market could be a big crossover market for SF (the LA show is part of the E3 expo), and if this could be a yearly thing. He said he'll definitely look to bring the show back to LA (not the best MMA market) but doesn't envisage doing a yearly E3 card with further updates of EA's game. Says that aspects of the game will continue to appear in SF's productions. (They had Frank Shamrock talking over clips of the game prior to certain fights on recent SF cards...it was pretty weak...) - I also asked about the format of the card. Coker had previously mentioned that this card was a little different as it featured guys from the 'Challengers' series and the Showtime/CBS cards on the same billing. He said that the two types of cards have very different business models and fan experiences, so this would be something of a trial. I'd hoped to ask some better questions but the operator screwed up and didn't put me in the queue...by the time I got on people had asked pretty much every question I had written down, so I was literally writing my second question while he was answering the first :-p

Megumi Fujii's opponent for Thursday's Bellator card has been revealed. It's Sarah Schneider (4-4). Just to give that some context, it would be like putting Kimbo Slice in the cage with Fedor... ...and then giving Fedor a gun. I know they're short of ladies (especially at Fujii's usual 115lb weight) but this is crazy. Schneider normally fights at 135 as well, so I dunno if this is gonna be a catchweight or something. Either way, Fujii will be taking a foot/leg home with her.

He didn't even take down a half mental Paulo Filho Seriously though, if he doesn't catch Sonnen comming in, he's going to tap him from his back. Sonnen gets tapped more than a top level fighter should. *Runs off to look at fight-finder* Seven times...yeah, he's getting tapped. Triangle, 2nd round...you heard it here first. In fact, if Sonnen wins I'll have a 'Vote Sonnen' avatar for the rest of the year I have to admit though, he is the most entertaining interview in the UFC right now by a country mile.

Nope, I'm really looking forward to it as well. I talk to Big Ben quite often, and Yvel is a guy I've followed since I moved to Holland in the late 90's. He was a middleweight Thai Boxer without a single tattoo back then :-p Cro Cop/Barry and Condit/MacDonald should be exciting, Kampmann-Thiago has all the makings of an excellent fight and I'm really hoping to see Funch vs Patrick if there is time. The main event...well, it is what it is...would have been nice to see it a few years ago, but it should still be competitive, albeit for very different reasons. I think this could be one of those sleeper cards that lacks any terribly important bouts, but turns out great, like 95.

Honestly I have no idea. I can only guess that they do 2 round amateur bouts or something along those lines. He did look pretty tired in the 3rd round against Yoshida. Doesn't really mean much, other than that if he looses, it wont be on his record. Most guys start off with amateur bouts - its refreshing to see a high-profile Japanese Judo player being handled properly instead of being thrown to the wolves.

Satoshi Ishii Update: He lost his latest fight DQ after doing an absolute number on the guy after the bell, with the referee trying in vain to pull him off. Stay classy Japan! UPDATE: X-1 have changed the result to a no-contest, because the ref didn't interfere in a timely manner....riiiiight.

Well, it is and it isn't. The best way to describe modern Shooto is a sanctioning body. It was started as a promotion in the 80's by Satoru Sayama in the 80's as an 'amateur' league, although people were paid to fight. Sayama wanted to emphasize the sporting aspect, as well as maintain links to Japanese pro-wrestling, therefore strict rules were implemented to separate it from 'no holds barred' fighting. Gym's were founded where fighters would learn the basic principles of 'Shooto'; strikes, submission, throws and positioning. This was an amalgamation of BJJ, Judo, Karate, Kickboxing etc... In that respect, Shooto was a 'sport' before MMA/NHB was a sport. They expanded due to demand, and sanctioned Shooto gyms started popping up all over Japan. Because it was too big of an operation to manage from one place, the gyms themselves started putting on events under the banner of Shooto. The organisation would become a licensing, sanctioning and promotional umbrella, much like the WBC or IBF, but combined with the licensing powers of a state commission. In order to compete in Shooto, you have to earn an amateur licence and progress through the amateur ranks. After a number of fights you can earn a 'B-Class' pro-am licence and eventually a full 'A-Class' pro Shooto licence. Doesn't mean you can fight pro anywhere else if you don't have one, it's essentially a way of making sure guys get fair fights. That's why you often see some of the top guys from Shooto with quite a few losses on their records; early on there is no 'building' process or easy bouts, they are matched with guys on their level so there is no record padding. During the 90's Shooto ran the World Vale Tudo Open - a series of no holds barred events featuring fighters from around the world and Japanese 'Shooters'. The Japanese fighters were often lagging behind in certain techniques, e.g. punches to the head on the ground (which Shooto prohibited), so Shooto rules were changed to allow these techniques. Rickson Gracie famously won the WVTO on consecutive years. Nowadays, the rules have become even more refined and in line with standard MMA rules. Shooto is MMA, just with it's own controlling body. A pro Shooto fight will be on a pro record just like a pro UFC, Pancrase or Strikeforce fight would be. Many Shooto fighters have fought on other major promotions cards while holding Shooto titles or still being ranked in Shooto, such as Hansen, Kawajiri, Gomi, Uno, Sato etc etc. As for the promotions, Shooto is still the overall promoter (usually the shows will have Shooto somewhere in the title) but the biggest 'promoter' currently is SUSTAIN, with GutsMan a close second. Other prominent local Shooto promoters are Alive, GrapplingMan and K'z Factory.

My take on the 'Zuffa Myth' stuff... The UFC definatelly deserves all the credit in the world for taking MMA to the dizzy hights it's currently at in the west. That said, they didn't design the play, they just took the ball and ran with it. A lot of confusion arises because much of the non-MMA media that covers the sport inadvertently (or out of laziness) perpetrate the 'Zuffa Myth'...i.e. that Zuffa gave everyone gloves, weight classes and rules and sanctioning. For their part, the UFC don't often do anything to dispell the myth, quite the opposite in fact... This is a great example, and a very funny read for anyone who was following MMA closely at the time: http://www.whaledog.com/?p=127

Hang on a second... Oh look, it's Joe Rogan!

So....Fedor is running for some form of govenment possition in his native Russia. The accompanying rumour is that he will retire at the end of his Strikeforce contract, which has two more fights on it. It's only a rumour, but honestly I'm not massively surprised. He's nearly 34 (the beginning of the end for most fighters), he's been competing in MMA for over a decade and was competing in Judo and Sambo since the age of 10...that's a lot of wear and tear. It'd be nice to see a professional fighter go out on top for a change. I don't want to see Fedor as a 40-year-old Russian Chuck Liddell; punch drunk, broken down and slurring his words after getting railed by a new generation of athletes that he can't compete with. Yes, I'd have loved to see him fight Brock. Carwin and Cain I could care less about to be honest...I they'll be elite level fighters in a year's time, no doubt, but I fail to see what Fedor has to prove to Velasquez (whose biggest wins thus far have been Ben Rothwell and a man Fedor smashed twice half a decade ago) or Carwin (Mir, Gonzaga and Neil Wain...) at this point. A year or two, yes, right now, no. The Lesnar fight is more of a magnitude thing than anything else. Here's a thought...Let's assume that he beats Werdum. Will Strikeforce give him a title bout against Overeem (a bout he'd be the odds-on favourite to win) if he's going to retire straight away?

I'd really like to see him fight Frank Shamrock. Purely because it never happened and they're both about the same amount of battle worn. 'Back in the day' I'd have sold my own grandmother to see Sak vs Randy and Tito. Late 90's/early 00's.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rANVY8iAyLU/SdGnciKFp4I/AAAAAAAAAY0/7xu7i7DDgCY/s400/awesome.gif At least twice as awesome as that. He's the only man who even comes close to Sudo for awesome entrances...with Gono a respectable third :-D

They tried it at UFC 40 for the Ken/Tito fight (and a more toned down version for - I think - Liddell/Couture 1)...They had a pro-wrestling ramp, fighter specific videos playing as they walked to the cage and some crazy laser thing going on with their entrance music. Didn't care for it myself, too 'pro-wrestling' and not in a good, Japanese way Apparently the cost of the set-up was prohibitive for all but the biggest of fights and they wanted a uniform presentation across all their events. UFC 42 only did 35,000 buys, not enough to warrent spending six-figures on production. I'm sure they could do it now...but I'm not a fan. Leave that stuff to the guys that will do it properly, like this dude...

I've got him 4th, based on his current run of form and the fact that my number 5, Alves (previously 3rd) hasn't fought in a year. That said, there is nobody he can beat outside of Strikeforce that will ever make me rank him higher than that. He's supposedly improved so much since he left the UFC...lets see him against even a moderatelly skilled wrestler and find out. If Ben Askren wins Bellator, that might be interesting. As for P4P...He's not there yet. His all-round skill set and willingness to fight from 155 up to 185 (Cesar Gracie has said that with the right money and opponent, they'd put him in at 205) counts for him. For me though, to be in the P4P list, you need to have beaten a couple of current/recent champions...that's what Diaz is lacking. We'll see him in the UFC as soon as his contract is up anyway, so we might not have to wait too long to find out where he stands.

Agree totally about the differences...but that's even more reason why you need someone to hold the whole thing together. Goldy is generic and accessible...they don't want (or need) him to be spewing jargon. Like others have said, he's the voice of the layperson who wants to be hand-held through what they're watching, with a second, knowledgeable person to fill in the blanks. This is all about salesmanship...it sucks, but it's a necessary evil. The UFC wanted Rashad to win that fight, make no mistake about it. Sure, if Rampage had won and the A-Team movie went on to be a great success, the UFC would benefit from the additional expose. It's a short term thing though...who knows what Rampage will do next? He was being offered additional roles before the A-Team had wrapped....he could be finished with fighting this time next year. Rashad on the other hand, he'll be around for a while...he's the long term investment; win or lose, they were going to make him look good. I remember when Mauro started to go through the Bas Rutten Big Book of Combat...he just came across as a try-hard and Bas had to keep correcting him anyway. This is exactly it. I'd say that somewhere between 25-35% of PPV purchasers are 'casual' fans. I'm basing that off the number of people who pay for the bottom-shelf PPV's with very little drawing power. These people don't want to hear about the intricacies of transitions or which submission grappling tournaments a particular fighter came 3rd in last year...they want BUUUD LIGHT and OCTAGON WAAAARIORS!

'Sensei' Will Vanders - Now *this* is bad... "In and out like a fiddler's elbow" "That was a performance so bright, if he ever gives up K-1 he could become a disco strobe" "Busier than a Bishop's hat" (my personal favourite) "He's between a dog and lamppost" "He will drink heartily from the well of misery/bitter chalice of defeat" "Bye-bye Pepsi Cola, hello holy wine!" "He's so deadly, it's like taking a viper....(uncomfortable pause)....onto your bosom.

You should never, NEVER have a commentary team without at least one professional broadcaster. People rag on Mauro and Goldy, but they hold the broadcasts together. They aren't there to provide insight, they're commentators; they keep the pace, sell the product, sell the fighters and do play-by-play. The Rogans, Shamrocks, Mirs, Florians etc are the colour guys...they provide the insight and 'know-how'. I've seen Bas Rutten (IMO, the best colour man in the business) do play-by-play while another fighter did the colour and it was HORRIBLE. Disjointed, lacking flow...just horrible. Rogan is perfect because he's a superfan. He know's more UFC history than most fighters I've met. Goldy is perfect too, for his role. I don't particularly care for him, but his job is to SELL SELL SELL!!! the UFC brand and fighters to casual fans, and he does a damn good job of it. My all-time favourite commentary team was 'The Fight Professor' Stephan Quadros and Bas Rutten when they did 2H2H, Pride etc. Sorry Daffanka, but as someone who grew up listening to 'Sensei' Will Vanders commentating on K-1 for Eurosport, 'The Voice' is a breath of fresh air for me; definitely a guilty pleasure. He's also an awesome guy in person, very knowledgeable and funny as hell. GOODNIGHT IRENE!!!

So, UFC 115 was interesting. - Great job from Hathaway. Wasn't expecting that solid and complete a performance at all. Will be interesting to see if he can keep up the momentum. Look out for 'Hitman' vs 'Stun Gun' @ UFC 120 in London. - Todd Duffee now apparently holds a second record...biggest strike disparity in a (T)KO loss. :-p Seriosuly though...I wanted to believe the hype with Duffee...and I'm really, really not one to buy into him being the second coming after he clipped the massively mediocre Tim Hauge. Tuchscherer/Schaub loser next for Todd. God knows what they do with Russow. Loser of Nelson/Mir? - Rampage did well for a guy coming off a 12-month lay off against a guy who did exactly what he needed to do to win. Thought 'Page had him in the third, but from what I heard he was to hesitant to go for the kill in case he ran out of steam and couldn't finish. That's the kind of stupid decision mental ring rust can make for you. All credit to Rashad though. - Nogueira-Brilz. Really enjoyed that fight as I'm a grappler myself at heart and I do love a good sweep. Interesting for me is that people rag on MMA judges for over-weighting sloppy striking and takedowns and not understanding the grappling aspect of MMA. Yet when some judges give a fight to someone who scored points with a ton of sweeps and transitions, they get ragged on some more. Can't win eh? For the record, I thought Brilz 'won the fight' overall. That said, my initial reaction was draw before the scores were announced. I can however, go through that fight and (correctly) score it 29-28 for Nogueira under the Unified Rules judging criteria. Here's a question for debate: If I lock down a guillotine, nearly pull a guy's head off with it for a minute but *don't* submit them...then is what I'm going 'effective grappling', considering that I've not hurt them and filled my own arms with lactic acid, impairing myself for the remainder of the fight? (It's not like a failed arm/kneebar where I could still have 'damaged' them by popping the elbow/knee before they escape) Should a failed sub count any more than a failed takedown? Or strikes? If you don't count that choke, would the decision be as controversial? I'm staying out of the 'who does Rampage fight next' debate for now as I'm in the middle of writing something on it for work which I'll link to here when it goes up for anyone who has five mins to spare :-p

Just your standard "I'm sorry for my actions" statement penned by a manager. The guy has no remorse whatsoever. The fight was very much Rocky (Gerges) vs Apollo Creed 1. Hari sells a lot of tickets in his home town (especially within the Moroccan community) and Gerges was there to take a beating, nothing more, nothing less. He's got one or two decent names on his record (Ashwin Balrack, who's 35 and well past his best and Paul Slowinski) but he's not on the same level as Hari. So Gerges take a beating but not only does he not capitulate, he keeps coming on to Hari. Hari's solution: Kick him in the face while he's down. Why? Who knows? I honestly don't think it was out of frustration; Hari has had attitude problems for years. Mike's gym is a great place to train (speaking from a little experience here) but the Pro's (and some of the guys who just train there) are an 'interesting' bunch when it comes to personalities. Lot of streetfighters and, ahem, 'alleged or former' criminals there....Melvin Manhoef was constantly in and out of prison for one thing or another until a few years ago. There were a couple of times that he turned up for fights straight from a jail cell where he'd spent the night. I was once told a story of him weighing-in for a fight in a police station where he was detained for 48 hours. And Melvin is one of the 'role model' Pro's at Mike's Gym... There's a clique of white skinheads and clique of Moroccans there...it's very confrontational and there are serious authority issues. It's a good place to take classes because the trainers are excellent, but it's not a fun place to train full time because of all the hassle. Paul Daley trains and does his camps there, funnily enough. Anyway, the problem with Hari is that he's one of the best in the world and one of the biggest draws in Europe and Japan, and he knows it. Was he even punished for what he did to Remy (who to be fair deserved an Oscar for his performance)? Lets see; Stripped of the meaningless K-1 Heavyweight title and fined his purse, then given the highest billed K-1 fight at Dynamite just three weeks later. Way to slap the wrists. Point being, he keeps getting away with it, so he'll keep doing it until he gets hit where it hurts - in the pocket. It's frustrating as a fan because the guy is just an awesome fighter...although this trademark 'Rolling Thunder Kick' KO of Hari from the great Pete Graham is one of my favourite K-1 KO's of all time :-p http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7266288123121388766#