brashleyholland

The last one I went to was pretty quick, even though there were about 15 fights on the card. About four hours I think.

Nothing surprises me with them anymore. Hopefully it's a precursor to another Noons-Diaz fight, but you never know with SF. Still, any man who cites...a'hem...self gratification as his key training method (because it's a workout AND pleasure) is OK by me. Seriously though, the only decent thing to come out of this is Bennett getting a payday after he was stiffed by Shine fights last weekend. I'd laugh (at Strikeforce) if KH derailed Noons again.

A powerbomb like this? :-p http://i43.tinypic.com/2cgeupu.jpg We'd hoped to get Randy on the radio show/podcast in the run up to the fight, but apparently he's doing a press tour for The Expendables and training away from home. Hopefully we can get him on the phone, but we record early Sunday morning US time, so we'll have to wait and see... I tell you what, regardless of everything else, I'm going to be seriously nervous until that fight hits the ground

Picture of the week: Nate Diaz has a little something special for Marcus Davis... http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/454743/photo-731127.jpg

I don't know much of anything about Japanese wrestling as such, but I do know that MMA's popularity over there is intrinsically linked to it. The first Pride show had a couple of wrestling matches on it, and was originally going to showcase both. My prediction is that when wrestling in Japan picks up again, so will MMA. Interestingly, for the first time in well, ever...the UFC are getting a lot of coverage in Japanese sports rags.

None of what you posted there has anything to do with why they jumped ship in the first place, which was what I thought we were talking about. I'm not trying to argue with you mate, you asked me a question, and I'm taking time out of my working day (as much as sitting in my dressing gown watching K-1 and typing is work, anyway) to answer it I can Google American news site too, but I know enough about the MMA industry in Japan to know that I'm not going to scratch the surface of it by reading MiddleEasy. You need to read newspapers like Gong, Shukan Gendai/Shukan Playboy, or follow a respected Japanese MMA blogger like Gryphon, or someone like Zach Arnold, who is possibly the American MMA writer most 'plugged in' to the Japanese fight game. DQ jumped ship because they balked at the cost of Sengoku's NYE event, at a time when Sengoku was pulling in appalling gates and ratings. WVR was forced to work with Dream on NYE because without DQ, they had no money. Here's the original story, as it broke in Japan, from a Japanese newspaper who actually know what they are taking about. It's in Japanese, unfortunately. http://blog.livedoor.jp/nhbnews/archives/51963356.html Here is Zach Arnold's breakdown of it, in English. You simply cannot get a feel for the Japanese fight game from American, British or any other news sources outside of Japan. This is why I put a lot of stock in Zach, because he has over a decade's experience in Japan, writing about Japanese MMA and wrestling, and a network of sources in the Japanese fight game. Most of what you see reported on western MMA sites is regurgitated from Dream/K-1/Sengoku press releases. It's like only believing what you read on UFC.com. If you want to know what is really happening in Japanese MMA, you need to be Japanese, or at the very least speak Japanese and have Japanese connections. Otherwise, you'll always be an outsider and be told what they want to to hear. A good example - Sengoku's official repose to the cancellation of their Ariake Colosseum show? A amateur wrestling event double booked it! None taken. We're the biggest MMA site in the UK by an absolute country mile and our US-podcast (formerly ProFightNetwork Radio) was the most downloaded MMA podcast in the states last year, or thereabouts. We've been credited as a source on multiple episodes of ESPN's MMA Live. We run the Wolfslair's online presence, Rampage's website and we're partners with Xtreme Couture. The sad fact is, there's no money to be made in MMA journalism alone. We've spent the past year focusing on building up the business side of our operation rather than trying to go head to head with MMAWeekly etc for news. Between us we have various other (MMA and non-MMA) jobs/businesses to run as we all have bills to pay. Now that things are coming together on that front, you'll be hearing alot more from us ...at least you will when we get bored of Go-Karting with Rampage :-p http://www.mmabay.co.uk/2010/05/18/quinton-%E2%80%9Crampage%E2%80%9D-jackson-hits-the-go-karts-with-mmabay-for-may-video-blog/ Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Ishii-Yoshida didn't contribute in a big way. Whichever way you slice it, it was either the 1st or second most watched fight in Japan that year! There's a theory in Japan called the 'Grandma Tanaka' theory. Grandma Tanaka is a term used to describe the matriarchal Grandmother of Japanese families, the old lady who all the family visits at the weekend who, despite being older than your average Picasso, is still very much in charge...in her own home at least...particularly, for the purposes of this analogy, of what is on TV after dinner. Grandma Tanaka does not like Minowa. She doesn't like brash, ****y characters like Aoki. She doesn't like thuggish-looking guys like Kawajiri grinding out decisions. Grandma Tanaka likes hard working, fresh-faced, handsome young fighters who are rolemodels for her Grandchildren. In Japan, Grandma Tanaka is a really important demographic, especially on days like NYE, because families tend to congregate at her house. Guys like Ishii, Yoshida, Sakuraba etc are popular with men and sports/wrestling fans. Your Masato's, Uno's Tokoro's, Sudo's etc are popular with women, especially Grandma Tanaka. That, plus the fact that Masato's retirement was the biggest talking point in mainstream Japanese newspapers/TV news before and after Dynamite, leads me to believe that they edged it. The best way I can describe Minowa is as the Shark Boy of Japanese MMA. He gets a big reaction from crowds, but outside of that, he's not popular in the sense that Ishii is popular, or Sakuraba was popular. Even Sakuraba is suffering these days after a few high profile losses. His fight with Gracie is being promoted as an afterthought to Diaz/Sakurai. I've been lucky enough to attend some of Saku's biggest fights over the years, and the reactions he got were incredible. I attended GSP's rematch with Serra in Canada and some of Randy Couture's biggest fights...what they get was nothing compared to the Saku love I experienced in Japan. The muted reaction's he's been getting recently since he was destroyed by Arona, Monhoef, Akiyama and handled by Tamura are pretty depressing. There have been plenty of events in Japan this year, big and small, that they could have booked Ishii on. You're probably spot on about the confidence side of it...but I'd question what fighting infront of a couple of hundred people would do for his confidence, when he's used to being infront of millions on Japanese TV and in the Olympics just two years ago. Other than Shibata and the guy he fought at the last Dream cage show...I can't think of any. Point being, there is certainly nobody with the popularity of Takada or Funaki in the 90's who would give Ishii a popularity boost for beating them. If they're looking for non-MMA opponents, they should be trying to get him fights with K-1 guys, Judo guys or whoever the world heavyweight Karate champion is these days. I think their best bet (if they can find the money) is to try and get Ogawa out of retirement...He's 42 and unlike Yoshida hasn't fought at all in the past five years (plus he was never any good to begin with)...I have no idea what he's up to or if he's in the market for a fight without a HUGE payday.

My MW top 10 is something like 1 Silva 2 Sonnen 3 Shields 4 Henderson 5 Marquardt 6 Maia 7 Santiago 8 Okami 9 Akiyama 10 Belfort To be honest though, you can pretty much chop and change 6-9. Jacare is lacking that one big win to put him in there. If he beats Lawler, that'd do it for me.

Well, it is the case, because that's exactly what happened. Don Quijote did not want to foot the bill for SCR on a pay-to-play network, because SRC's ratings have been going down the pan, they've been struggling to fill small buildings and they would have been going up against Dynamite on TBS, which had Masato's retirement fight. It would have been a pointless exercise. The ONLY reason FEG and WVR worked together on NYE 2009 was that Don Quijote refused to fund an SRC event. Says who? FEG? Funny that...they also said that the entire event did a 20% share, which was an outright lie. The only official ratings figures released by the TV networks in Japan (therefore the only ones you should believe) were released by segment...Ishii and Masato's fights were part of the same segment. You really think Ishii is going to outdraw Masato on NYE in Japan? In his last ever fight no less? Here's how much interest there was for Ishii-Yoshida: Sengoku couldn't find a TV network that would air it. Their only option was to buy TV time on TV-Tokyo...which again goes back to the above point of DQ balking at the pricetag for the event. We'll never know with 100% certainty...but as an educated guess I'd say that more people were watching Masato. Why would FEG massage the ratings for Yoshida-Ishii, two Sengoku fighters? The same reason Dana White tells you that he sells out every UFC in Vegas, when in reality thousands of tickets are given away. J-Rock, the management powerhouse that handles Yoshida Dojo and all the Japanese Judo fighters coming into MMA is already distancing itself from World Victory Road...they'll probably end up in bed with Dream before the year is out. FEG are shopping Dream around, which essentially means they are shopping Japanese MMA around. Massaging the TV figure for that fight was basically a case of; "Look, he may have lost but people really want to see Ishii, honest!! Wanna buy my MMA company?" Keep in mind as well that K-1 was seriously unhappy about Masato's retirement. He was one of their biggest ever stars, and he walked away from the game at 31, in his fighting prime, at a time when the fight industry in Japan is in dire need of home-grown stars. The politics of the fight game in Japan means it's very unlikely that they would have come out and said "Masato's fight was the best rated bout on the card". It's uncommon for Japanese fighters to go out on top. It's a very 'pro-wrestling' kind of thing to say, but the done thing is to pass the torch...Masato broke with tradition in that respect, which some inside K-1 saw as a slap in the face. What are you basing that on? Ishii was talked up for two years as the saviour of Japanese MMA. Losses to high profile MMA fighters can be forgiven, especially when you have a solid career/wins behind you (Sakuraba, Yoshida)...a loss to a half-crippled, essentially retired old man who was served up to you on a plate, when people have invested a ton of money into you...that's not easily forgotten. Here's a good comparison...it's like if the UFC had sent Brock Lesnar to fight someone with no MMA experience on a Cage Warriors show in the UK after his loss to Mir, and not told anyone about it until after it had happened. In fact, I'd argue it's worse that that, as the UFC never touted Lesnar as the next big thing until he actually won. The way I see it is this: If Ishii's loss can be easily forgotten, why isn't he booked in Japan right now? This is part of the problem...Which popular pro wrestlers should they throw at Ishii? The fortunes of MMA in Japan have always been linked to the fortunes of pro-wrestling. When wrestling does well, MMA piggybacks it. Wrestling isn't enjoying the popularity it had during the Kakutougi boom years. The pro wrestling connection did wonders for Japanese MMA in the past with the likes of Ogawa (interesting parallel to Ishii there...), Takada, etc...but there aren't any wrestlers in Japan that currently fit that mould. Why didn't they give him Minowa, Nakao or Shibata? Because they don't think he will beat those guys. Another loss will seriously hurt him long term. It says a lot about the faith they have Ishii that they sent him to a tiny event in NZ to get a win. Yoshida, Takimoto, Nastula, etc...they all got multiple high-profile bouts win or lose early in their careers. I'm not saying that Ishii can't ever become a decent draw...but the buzz for him in Japan is dead following the Yoshida loss. He'll likely get a featured bout when he next fights in his home country...but what if he loses again? Remember, this is the guy whose battle plan was originally Yoshida, Fedor, Couture, Lesnar. He'll probably end up fighting Antz Nansen, Henry Miller or whoever it was under the Mantaro Kinniku mask... :-p

This is what worries me...he really struggled and failed to finish a couple of kimura attempts in that fight...a move which really should be his bread and butter, especially against someone with no grappling experience. Could very well be Nastula 2.0 instead of Yoshida 2.0. I reckon a fight with Nakamura would give us a good indication of where he stands. From what I hear they are looking at some kind of...not tournament exactly, but a series of fights to decide a new middleweight champ by the end of the year. Hendo, Jacare, Lawler, Rockhold Mayhem and Kennedy are the names currently being thrown around. Mo does train at Quest, but he doesn't train anywhere exclusivly at the moment...he's very much into the 'nomad' thing while he's in the early stages of his career. Dunno how that's gonna work out for him now that he's taking big fights. I also hate the idea of Mike Kyle potentially getting a title shot in any semi-respectable MMA promotion. I'm all for 'forgive and forget'...but seriously, if they're resorting to Kyle any time soon then they might as well just give it up.

We literally struggled to give away free passes for the PPV here in the UK. We ran a contest for some free passes, and of the thousands of people who clicked on the contest page, we only got a handful of emails answering the stupidly easy question. I'll be watching the main event because if The World's Strongest Man vs the World's Most Unfortunate MMA Fighter doesn't make me laugh then I've clearly lost what remains of my soul. Also, the undercard has one or two decent scraps on it. Tara LaRosa vs. Roxanne Modafferi, Lutter vs Netal, Yves Edwards vs Mike Campbell in particular should be fun, especially the women's bout. Ishii didn't look great against a Muay Thai fighter with making his MMA debut. I'd say any chances of him landing that UFC deal are well and truly off the table.

Speaking of Ishii, he won his second MMA fight last weekend in New Zealand. In sort of related news (Aussies and Kiwis are basically the same, right?), the cards are coming together for the three Impact FC events in Australia in July... July 3rd - Perth Murilo "Ninja" Rua vs. Jeremy May Ricco Rodriguez vs. Brad Morris Jeff Monson vs. Jim Yorke Paulo Filho vs. John Kolosci Paul Daley vs. TBA July 10th - Brisbane: Josh Barnett vs. Geronimo Dos Santos Carlos Newton vs. Brian Ebersole Karo Parisyan vs. Luis Dutra Jr. Jeff Monson vs. Bira Lima Paulo Filho vs. Keith Johnson July 18th - Sydney: Ken Shamrock vs. Pedro Rizzo Jeff Monson vs. Ricco Rodriguez Murilo Bustamante vs. Jesse Taylor Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Joaquim Ferreira Paulo Filho vs. Denis Kang Soooo, Filho pulls out of three of his past four fights since October, and now we're expected to believe that he'll make three fights in as many weeks in Australia? Hmm. I don't know if Filho has any arrests on his record related to his drug problems, but if he does he might struggle to get a visa for Australia, who are notoriously tough in this area. Monson fighting three times and Ricco fighting twice sets alarm bells ringing as well. Either they're being a bit naughty, or there will be injuries...or we'll see some seriously low impact grappling exhibitions from The Snowman and Ricco.

Japanese MMA is not fine by any stretch of the imagination. It isn't stone cold dead, but it is in the worst shape it's ever been in. The first thing to note is that Japanese MMA is very different to US MMA in terms of both target audience and the way it is broadcast. The biggest difference is that there is little to no PPV in Japan. All the biggest fights have always been on TV, and on major networks to boot. The money in Japanese MMA comes from TV networks and major corporate sponsorships (Fields, Don Quijote). With the Yoshida-Ishii fight, it took place on NYE card. Both fighters were signed to Sengoku, but Sengoku's sponsor Don Quijote refused to pay for the bout due to falling ratings for MMA. That's why Dream and Sengoku ran a joint show on NYE. NYE in Japan is a big TV day...almost the entire country either watches MMA, or a singing show called Kohaku Uta Gassen. The segment of the show that did the high rating (nearly 17% of the entire viewing population) featured the Ishii-Yoshida fight, but more importantly the Masato retirement fight against Andy Souwer. It was the best rating MMA has had since 2006, but a far cry from earlier in the decade when almost 50% of the population was watching MMA on NYE. Ishii and Yoshida were both Judo gold medallists as well, and two of the nation's biggest sporting hero's. There is no way to compare their popularity to any MMA fighter in the US, they're more like Tiger Woods, David Beckham, etc level of popularity. It was Ishii's debut, and potentially (at the time) Yoshida's last fight...still, it's widely believed that the high rating was more down to the Masato retirement bout. The Kid-Warren fight did just over 19% of the TV audience. Again, nothing to write home about, but a huge rating in comparison to other Dream shows of late. Once again there were interesting circumstances surrounding the bout. Kid was returning from his high profile 'suspension' for his weed bust. It's tough to make a comparison, but think Tyson's first fight after he got out of prison, or the rematch with Holyfield. Kid got handled, damaging his credibility as a draw for Dream. Keep in mind as well that sponsors were still wary about having him involved in their shows because of the drug bust, and it was a disastrous turn of events. It's interesting that the two fights you mention have actually contributed in some way to the current slump in Japanese MMA. The fights were set up for Kid and Ishii (the 'next generation' of Japanese MMA) to win. Instead, Ishii was made to look horrible by an old, broken down, limping Yoshida and Kid was soundly defeated by Warren. There are no other strong, popular Japanese fighters at the moment. Aside from the two fights you mentioned, there has been nothing of note ratings wise in Japan recently. Even though those fights did decent numbers, the numbers were horrible in comparison to 1999-2005 numbers. Sponsors are hard to come by, Tokyo Broadcasting Systems are balking on paying for events without strong Japanese fighters. So in answer to your question: While more people might be watching MMA on TV in Japan that order PPV's or watch on TV in America, it's really an irrelevant comparison. MMA is expensive to produce. As with any other TV show, if the ratings bomb, TV companies will pull the plug, and that's exactly what's happening. No big money contracts for foreign fighters, no big budgets for fight cards. FEG is reportedly looking to sell Dream to focus on K-1...if that happens, it could signal an even bigger slump for the sport in Japan. Hope that makes sense! Regards, Mr Know It All (it's cool, I get get paid for it :-p)

That Anderson promo was fan-tas-tic.

Exactly. I can't bring myself to argue about potential outcome of Fedor fights anymore... Fixed lol Yeah, he's seemingly a little more rounded every time we see him. Joey is no joke on the feet; Jacare did well to hand with him. My only concern is that if he's struggling to take down and finish Villasenor over three rounds, then there are a lot of guys with better TD defence and heavy hands who might be able to decision him. Still, for someone relativity young in terms of his MMA career, he's transitioned incredibly well.

Fedor isn't ducking anyone. I know for a fact that he has ZERO involvement in his contract negotiations. He's a very, very simple man. Doesn't own a TV, doesn't have the internet. Lives in the same place he grew up, trains in the local sports hall. When he goes to Amsterdam to work on his stand up, he sits alone and reads the Bible in the evenings. He's not motivated by money in the slightest, outside of making a living. He's made more than enough for his family to live a comfortable life in Russia many times over. I've met him twice (very briefly) and there is no ego with him at all. Everyone I've spoken to who has actually spent serious time with him all say the same thing: He treats fighting like a job, not a sport. He approaches it the same way he'd approach manual labour. He doesn't care about winning or losing, it's just work. By all accounts he is a very unique individual. His management on the other hand are scumbags, pure and simple. I did some promotional work for M-1 for an event called Bushido Europe (a co-promotion with Pride) in Rotterdam in 2005. It's a long story which ends with them threatening me and a bunch of other people who were working with them with hilariously unjustified legal action. Lets just say that having had dealings with them myself, I know exactly what kind of people they are and what lengths they will go to in order to wring every last dollar out of Fedor's name. Aaaannyway... FEG's (owners of Dream/K-1) business plan for 2010/2011 is getting together a series of fights highlighting Josh Barnett, Fedor and Overeem. Barnett has been in some high-profile wrestling matches this year in Japan, so his stock is high right now. Fedor is also a fan favourite, although not a huge draw. Overeem is still riding the wave of his K-1 victories over Aerts (a living legend in Japan) and co. last year. The feeling is that if all three are coming off high profile fights/wrestling matches, then Tokyo Broadcasting Systems will shell out some serious dollar for a round-robin of sorts. Something like; Overeem vs Fedor, Barnett vs someone he can beat (maybe a rubber match with Rizzo if/when he beats Shamrock), with the winners and losers meeting at some point next year. Money is scarce in Japanese MMA at the moment, and FEG think that this trifecta could give the industry a jump start. If they're right, Overeem and Fedor stand to make much, much more $$$ by fighting each other in Japan than they ever would in SF or the UFC.

Trust me, he doesn't need the money that Strikeforce is paying him. I had a private tuition session with him as a birthday present a couple of years ago. If you ever want to get your ass well and truely kicked and come home with a few hundred quid missing from your wallet, I'd suggest getting mugged as a viable alternative I think Rogers suffered from 'Big Fish in Small Pond' syndrome. He looked great in Elite (especially with all the comparrisions to Kimbo) and he chinned Arlovski, who is a physically and mentally flawed fighter. Now that the Sharks have started swimming in the same waters, the Pirannah looks a lot less dangerous. Maybe a fight with Kimbo would be best for him (if they can get it done) or failing that, Lavar Johnson. Yeah, he exceeded my expectations. I guess you just cant put a price on experience. I still didn't give him a single round of that fight though...no idea what the judges that did were watching. The boy done good. I was convinced that he was going to walk onto a big left hook from Britt, but he managed to keep his head in the game and showed good killer instinct. He really needs to avenge that embarassing KO loss to Mike Kyle though. Kyle took a sloppy split-decision win in his KOTC light heavyweight title fight on Friday...wouldn't mind a rematch between those two later in the year. I can see Cavalcante getting thrown to Mo Lawal though due to a lack of challengers. Not a good move for him.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Daffanka" data-cite="Daffanka" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>So I guess the NC commission cancelled Shine Fights? I wanted to see Ninja fight <img alt=":(" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Something is definitely fishy here. AC's don't usually step in like that unless something is afoot. </p><p> </p><p> I feel sorry for the fighters...they'll still get paid, but will lose out on win bonuses and sponsorship money. Hopefully someone can pick a couple of these fights up...I could see Ninja vs Heath on Strikeforce, they have some slots to fill in coming months. </p><p> </p><p> Speaking of Ninja I just watched his fight against Murad Chunkaiev...great little scrap...he really is one of the more entertaining guys to watch.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Daffanka" data-cite="Daffanka" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I'm not even that excited about the event. I like Ninja and Krazy Horse fights always have a bit of fun about them but it's not like the fight is going to end any other way than Thomas winning with like a standing arm triangle.<p> </p><p> Actually, why hasn't the UFC picked up Ninja? Aren't they always on the lookout for decent middleweights? Is it the brain swelling Kharitonov gave him?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Mayorga out, Din's off the card and Ninja's fight is now the main event. Look's like they fought the law, and the law won. </p><p> </p><p> I think Ninja's been too hot and cold for the UFC. He's 2-2 in the past two years and has a ton of injuries.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Daffanka" data-cite="Daffanka" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>So the court ruled in favor of Don King re: letting Mayorga (a boxer under Don King contract) fight at Shine Fights tonight. Shine Fights say it's still on. This could get interesting.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I don't know what happens now...Not really familiar with the legal system as it pertains to this, but from what Josh Gross said they would be in contempt of court...but what what means in terms of the legalities of going ahead, I'm not sure. </p><p> </p><p> Does it mean that they can go ahead and King can sue them later? Can King request that police enforce the injunction, physically preventing the fight from happening? </p><p> </p><p> Even if Shine are confident that they are in the right and the judge who granted the injunction today was wrong, ignoring a legal ruling and putting yourself in contempt isn't going to do you any favours. </p><p> </p><p> One theory is that they're just holding off on making the announcement that Mayorga is out until the card has started in order to scrape as many PPV buys as they can. 90% of the promoters I've come across personally are scumbags, so this wouldn't surprise me in the least. </p><p> </p><p> Another theory is that the even hasn't sold many tickets, isn't expecting to sell many tickets and plans on folding after this card, making it difficult for King to proceed with any lawsuit.</p>

Also, lets hear the Sheep joke.

This reminds me of something we used to do to the new kids when I was in school/collage. I went to a private, British/international school in Holland. The kids there were made up of about 40 different nationalities, so there was a lot of ethnic diversity. There were a lot of kids whose parents worked at the Embassies, UN and various big multinational companies around The Hague and Amsterdam. Point being, there were always a fair few kids coming and going due to the nature of their parents work, hence there was always fresh meat for pranking. :-D Anyway, one of my friends was this HUUUUUUGE Nigerian dude. The guy was a monster, about 6'5 and ripped to shreds. He had an awesomely thick Nigerian accent and he could turn on 'the glare' at a moments notice that made you think he'd rip your arms off as soon as look at you. He also had the sickest, darkest sense of humour you could ever imagine, which led to him coming up with this little number.... Whenever we had a new kid, we'd be hanging out in the common room with them and this huge Nigerian dude would walk in and sit over the other side of the room. One of us would then rudely shout him over, talk down to him and boss him around in the most appallingly racist ways we could think of. The look on some of these kids faces as a group of spotty teenagers bullied this huge dude, who just took it all and kept a sad look on his face the whole time was priceless. One kid got fully outraged and demanded to know why he let us get away with it, to which he said something like "It's ok...They're only doing it because they get bullied by the Asians..." Nobody kept a straight face after that.

Defences. The linear title was held by Couture, which Brock won from him. He then defended his heavyweight title against Mir, unifying the interim belt in the process. Against Carwin, he'll be defending the linear heavyweight title a second time, as well as unifying the interim belt (if he wins). If Carwin wins, it would be a defence of the interim title only. His first defence of the heavyweight title would be his next fight. This nonsense is exactly why interim belts shouldn't be created :-p

What do you reckon to Warren taking the tourney though? I think he might sneak it...

There are a lot of people who share that feeling. The trouble is, Kimbo wasn't knocking anyone out (and technically, has only knocked out Tank Abbott in his entire pro and amateur career). On the flipside, they were limited with the number of people they could match him up with. Sticking him in with Shane Carwin or Junior dos Santos would all but guarantee a knock out, but those fights would never be sanctioned for obvious reasons. James McSweeney was their first choice, but he's had issues with a broken hand since the TUF finale and wouldn't have been ready in time. So essentially they are stuck with matching him up against equally poor/inexperienced fighters (Alexander/Mitrione) which as we saw produces awful fights that nobody wants to pay for. People will watch a guy like Kimbo on TV because he's charismatic...but it's a whole different ballgame when you're asking folks to shell out $50 for a PPV. Did you pay for UFC 113? If so, did you do so purely to see Kimbo? Very few people did, and that's part of the problem; when you're shelling out that kind of money, you want to see fighters who can fight...not worn out, washed up has-beens and never-was's gassing out and limping around on arthritic knees. I got to chat with the UFC's UK President a while back and I asked if we'd ever see Kimbo in the UK (they were planning a 'Fight Night' card in the UK at the time)...he said that he didn't see Kimbo lasting past his first loss for one simple reason. Joe Silva has a rule...if he doesn't think you can beat at least one fighter in your weight class, you get cut on a loss. That's exactly the position Kimbo was in. He turned down a fight with James Toney, so there was nobody left. Because they are on a completely different level experience and ability wise. Guys with few pro fights get special consideration anyway, but in Kimbo's case, when compared to Roger's the disparity is huge. Look at Kimbo's record: L - Mitrione (1-0) W - Alexander (9-4-1) L - Petruzelli (9-4) W - Thompson (14-8) W - Abbott (9-14) W - Cantrell (10-10) Now look at Roger's last few fights...a great performance against Fedor, the best HW in the sport, a 22-second KO of Arlovski, former UFC champion who has a string of highly ranked fighters on his record, Abongo Humphrey (6-0) and Jon Murphy (6-2). He also knocked out James Thompson in the first round, a man who gave Slice an absolute beating. It doesn't matter how long Kimbo has been training...that's not a fair fight...of course, they could take it somewhere with no commission, or a very lax one, if they wanted to get it done.

Sucks, but what can you do on a few days notice? I'm sure there aren't many guys on Lombard's level who A) would be willing to fight him without a camp and B) would be able to make 185 on a few days notice. Silva missed the 190lb catchweight by nearly a full pound yesterday....I don't know if he made it later on or if Hector let it slide. Filho is nothing but a liability at this point...if I was a promoter I'd be asking his management to put up the equivalent of his 'to fight' purse as a bond on him actually turning up before I put his name on any advertising. He's not the cheapest guy out there, either. Bellator has been really good this year though, for those who've been able to watch it. It's going to get even better on the 10th of July as they've signed Megumi Fujii (the female Fedor) to make her début ahead of season 3's women's tournament. In other news, Ken Shamrock will be fighting Pedro Rizzo in Australia after Mark Coleman couldn't come to an agreement. This changes everything for me...Rizzo is far too dangerous a striker for Ken to fight at this point. This all hinges on Pedro coming out of his fight with Gary Goodridge unscathed this weekend. Dream's 205lb GP is now officially canned after originally being shelved until later in the year. The reason being that there is no Japanese talent to fill out the ranks, so their TV partners won't pay for it. There will be a series of light heavyweight fights throughout the year in order to determine a 205lb champion in Dream. Speaking of Dream, Sakuraba is going for another Gracie scalp. I don't mind seeing him against guys like Ralek, because there is little chance of him getting 'Manhoef'd' again, which at 41 (and with his medical history) he really doesn't need. Should be fun for nostalgia, if nothing else.