Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Cyborg

Strikeforce's next big card before highly-anticipated heavyweight tournament is the Diaz vs. Cyborg event.
Really?

Diaz vs. Cyborg?

So instead of fighting someone who will undoubtedly bring a very good fight and not to mention higher ratings and a bigger audience turnout in Mayhem Miller, or even a big challenge and exciting venue in the cocky Paul Daley, Nick Diaz is fighting Cyborg Santos?!?

And this is not CRISTIANE "Cyborg" Santos, the dominant reigning champion female fighter at women's 145 middleweight, mind you (although that would ARGUABLY be a better fight where betting odds could even favor the scary-ass, manly-looking lady...). THIS is her HUSBAND, Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, whos record is 18-13 for crying out loud.  Okay first off, why does this guy share the same mma nickname as his wife? That's not cool man! Second, why is she buffer than him? He must seriously be into dudes:

ANYWAY, back to the fight.

Diaz should not be given Cyborg, he should have
been given top competition in Mayhem Miller or Paul Semtex Daley.  But since he was given Cyborg, let's look at the few the potential pros:


1. Cyborg fights are pretty exciting.  Win or lose, knock out or be knocked out, he comes very aggressively and ferociously.  He has a pretty beastly look on his face all the time, and you know he doesn't give a shit about anything but fighting and tearing his way through his opposition.

2. Cyborg has knocked out opponents before as the underdog.  He has knockout power and vicious striking, although it isn't as polished or crisp as Nick Diaz' peppering jabs and boxing prowess.

3. Nick Diaz can turn this into a stand up war, but
most likely he will mix it up with takedowns and submissions to defeat Cyborg and this might be a very nice fight with a very nice finish from either end.

4. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza is defending his middleweight title against contender Robbie "Ruthless" Lawler.  Jacare is a very solid fighter with highly-touted BJJ skills (easily reflect in his grappling credentials and 10 submission wins) and Lawler has got 17 knockouts out of 20 wins.  17 KNOCKOUTS!!! That's an 85% knockout rate!! You've got yourself a 77% submission rate champion defending his belt against an 85% knockout rate challenger....this fight has got to end very nicely for mma fans.

And finally....

5. Herschel Walker fights again.  Nuff said!

Rashad Evans' secret to beating Shogun: Shake Weights

Yep, you know what I'm talking about.

By now, I'm sure you all know what shake weights are, but if you lame enough not to , I'll give you a  run down:

These are phallic-looking, modified dumbbells that work out your arms by vibrating techonology.  You hold them still in a very sexually suggestive manner, and they work you out as if you jerk your humongous penis off with both hands and a tight grip. BAM, biceps, triceps, and shoulders!

And yes, they are now Rashad Evans' secret weapon against the light heavyweight champ:

Good luck Rashad! I hope you get your teeth knocked out for this!

UFC 128: Shogun vs Evans pre-fight interview

Man, I CANNOT wait for this fight to happen.  Haven't seen a vintage 100% Shogun in ages...let's hope for another brutal knockout from Shogun, and another vicious beating on Rashad's face.

Brock Lesnar and JDS announced as coaches for TUF season 13!!

Wow, JDS vs Brock....is this not an awesome match??? This was announced after:
- Cain starts surgery and is out of action
- Strikeforce announces their heavyweight Grand Prix
- Brock rumored to be quitting
- JDS publicizes frustration over title shot delay and asks for a interim match up


JDS is willing to risk his contendership to fight one more time while Cain heals up, and now he is granted Brock Lesnar for that match!

Not only that, but there will be a whole season of TUF to hype it up!

Apparently, they are coaching welterweights.  Kinda weird, but let's see.

Smart move by the UFC to answer back to Strikeforce's huge grand prix news, however this can go bad and Brock Lesnar loses fast and gets dominated again.  Hopefully his persona on TUF is badass or villainous enough so that ticket sales go through the roof for the fight, which is rumored to be UFC 131.  Ratings for this season should be at an all-time high since Brock is one of the most successful draws in MMA and hardcore fans will get to see two heavyweight top 5 fighters duke it out!

Brock Lesnar vs. Junior dos Santos.....

Yep, no lies! Stay tuned....

dos Santos ready to fight again for interim; Carwin returns to action soon

Our UFC no.1 heavyweight contender has recently stated that he would like to fight for the interim belt while Cain is out of action for 6-8 months. 

To me this makes sense given that JDS does not want to be inactive when the biggest fight of his life is his next one, he wont be getting paid without fighting for 6-8 months, and the man must be going CRAZY when he was told that Cain was injured, especially after seeing Cain dismantle Brock fast and unscathed and being told he was next in line and probably thinking to himself that he could more than handle Cain.  If I were JDS, the best striker in the heavyweight division, and I were told that I was to fight Cain in the next few UFC events and then suddenly told "NOPE, sorry, Cain's actually not fine.  He's hurt.  He needs surgery.  And he'll be out for a looong time.  Sorry," I'd be pretty pissed too.

But herein lies the problem: It's great for fans to see him maul another heavyweight fighter on the UFC's roster and all, but I don't see anyone standing a chance with JDS, other than the heavyweight champion himself of course.  So as a warm-up to his eventful fight with Cain (which might even take place in Brazil for the UFC's first return to the country), maybe JDS can take on Shane Carwin, the winner of CroCop/Schaub or the winner of Big Country/Frank Mir.  This can be problematic though, seeing as how Shane Carwin is coming off an epic loss to Brock Lesnar, and if either CroCop or Big Country win their fights, they both would be coming in with already with a loss ironically from JDS.

Who else could JDS fight that he hasn't already destroyed? What should the UFC do with JDS' interim proposal?

UFC 128: Shogun vs. Evans official fight poster!

There it is, ladies and gentlement! The official poster of UFC 128.

Finally, we have some closure on when the UFC lightheavyweight title would be fought for again!

After Rashad's public display of frustration of waiting for Shogun's surgery and rehab and fans questioning when Shogun would return after his knockout of Lyoto Machida, we finally have confirmation in the form of an official fight poster!

Also on this card is:

Cro Cop vs Schaub

Sexyama vs Marquardt

Jim Miller vs Kamal Shalorus

Werdum vs Overeem for the Semi-final advance, plus the Strikeforce Heavyweight Title

Now this has got be some weird, complex stuff.
Not only is Strikeforce having a Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament, but the champion Alistair Overeem is in the quarter-final and his Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship Belt is also on the line.

So...assuming Overeem advances to the finals, his heavyweight title will have been defended twice already? He risks losing his belt 3 times during this tournament? That's some crazy shit, but I must say, I am very excited anyway!

So one of the four quarter-final matches will showcase a rematch between Overeem and Werdum of their first fight in Pride FC back in 2006, which ended with Werdum submitting Overeem via kimura.

Werdum has recently stated via twitter that he "is not happy with the rematch" because he would rather rematch Fedor Emelianenko, whom he decisively beat last year via triangle submission. He goes on to say that he will definitely beat Overeem again so that the Fedor rematch can happen:

"I’ll catch him again, you can bet on it. I’ll beat him with my game plan and smartness. I wouldn’t like to give Overeem this rematch, I’m just fighting because the event matched this fight. To Fedor I’ll give this rematch happily, because I like him and he deserves this rematch. But first I have to think about how I’ll beat Overeem so that rematch can happen."

Werdum seems to really believe that Strikeforce has set this match up for PPV revenue, so that ultimately you will see him face Fedor and that Overeem is just an easy beat to warm up to the Fedor match.  Does anyone else besides me think that Werdum is way over his head here? Why does he think Overeem will be a piece of cake?

Maybe because he's beaten Overeem before, but cmon, that was in 2006 before Overeem was even a real heavyweight and way before he has become the monster that he is today.  Both men have made huge accomplishments and have evolved as fighters since 2006, but let's have a look and compare the two:

Werdum since 2006 has lost to Minotauro Nogueira, lost to Arlovski, finished Gonzaga and Vera via TKO, was knocked out via uppercut by JDS, gone on to submit Mike Kyle and beat Bigfoot Silva, and then did the seemingly impossible by submitting Fedor Emelianenko, giving the Russian his first true loss of entire career.  Pretty impressive right?

Now on to Overeem.  The man was stopped 3 times in a row by Lil Nog, Ricardo Arona, Shogun, goes on to lose one more time to Kharitonov by KO (who is also in the quarterfinals against Arlovski).  This looks pretty bad doesn't it? WRONG! Alistair moves on to dominate Paul Buentello and becomes the Strikeforce Heavyweight champ, knocks out Lee Tae-Hyun in Dream 4, submits Mark Hunt in Dream 5, dominates Cro Cop before a no-contest was issued due to a groin shot, kimuras Gary Goodridge, goes to K-1 to knock out Badr Hari and defeats Peter Aerts (two of the most dominant forces in K-1), knocks out Fujita, TKO's Brett Rogers (also in the quarterfinals) to defend his Strikeforce belt, wins the 2010 K-1 Grand Prix tournament, and then knocks out Todd Duffee to win the Dream heavyweight Interim belt.

Overeem has a belt in Strikeforce, K-1, and now Dream. I don't think Werdum will get the submission this time.  In fact, I think Werdum may just get KTFO and sleep on the mat as far as the ground game goes in this match-up!

Anderson Silva can be beaten (but that probably won't happen...)

Anderson Silva, one of the most gifted and badassed fighters to have ever lived is just a wrecking machine who gracefuly glides around the ring, and after he is finished dancing, his opponents are left battered on the floor covered in their own blood.  You're talking about one of the pound-for-pound greatest, if not THE greatest here who has been undefeated since his arrival in UFC, who just got beat up for 4.5 rounds by a guy who took steroids and STILL WON.

 

Does Anderson Silva even bleed? Please read that question over again and take a minute to think about it...Have you ever, EVER seen him bleed? Don't even try and photoshop some blood into his pictures, your computer will explode. Anderson Silva does not bleed.

In any fight, Anderson Silva is always the favorite pick when it comes to betting odds, and for good reason too. However, in his next upcoming fight, I have a feeling Anderson Silva can be beaten, however unlikely it will be.

1. Anderson Silva has lost BEFORE. 2 times, it was a clear defeat by submissions, 1 other time by DQ, and 1 by decision. I know these defeats came ages ago and Anderson Silva has become even more talented since then, but a loss is still a loss and in MMA, anything can happen on any given night, no matter how talented you are. (but this probably wont happen...since Anderson has great jiu-jitsu and nasty elbows from the bottom. He hasn't been submitted or even gotten close to being submitted in over 8 years. vitor Belfort himself has a black-belt in BJJ, but seeing him submit someone is just as rare as seeing the champ getting submitted.)

 2. Silva was dominated in his last fight. Aside from the facts that Chael was caught with much higher levels of testosterone in his system and that Anderson himself had a rib injury prior to the fight, UFC 117 showed us that the middleweight champ can still be hurt. And if Vitor lands one of his punches where Chael did, Anderson will be much more hurt than he's ever been. (but most likely not...Anderson Silva has never been finished through strikes with his fast head movement and lightning fast counter punching. Vitor's aggression can very well strip him of his own consciousness if he eats one of Anderson's pinpoint counter punches.)

 3. Vitor has shown us how strong he is and has gone on an absolute massacre in his last 5 fights, including a first round knockout of Matt Lindland where the poor guy was left on the floor convulsing and a first round knockout of Rich Franklin, where the former UFC middleweight champ was just outstruck and left smashed. Vitor handled Rich even faster than Anderson did, with less effort too. Anderson may just be facing someone who punches just as hard and just as fast as he does, if not harder and faster. (unlikely though...Anderson will be much more cautious after his beating from Chael Sonnen, and I am very sure he will be just as elusive as he has always been to pull the counters to put Vitor to sleep).

 4. Vitor has actually trained with Anderson! People are forgetting that Vitor was training with Black House back in 2006 with guys like Nogueira, Machida, and Silva himself.  Vitor may just have a bit more insight into Anderson Silva's game than most of Silva's opponent in the past.  It may have been 2006, but that's still better than not knowing anything other than youtube clips of Silva's dominance.





Now I know everyone believes Silva will win, and I am not saying he won't, because he probably will.  What I am saying is that Vitor stands much more of a chance than the other opponents did, and if he catches Silva he just might be the next champion. Vitor knocks guys out and has almost a 70% knockout rate. Anderson cannot play the cocky bastard he always does if he wants to win because Vitor is not someone you can just fool around with during a 5-round war.

Thiago Silva vs Rampage Jackson for UFC 130

There you have it ladies and gents: Thiago Silva vs Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has been announced for UFC 130.

Thiago Silva, coming in with a 15-2 record after dominating Brandon Vera faces Rampage Jackson who boasts a record of 31-8 after his controversial decision over Lyoto Machida.  Both men strike very well and have made great comebacks after being away from the octagon for so long (Silva with his back injuries and Jackson with his filming).

Expect a very exciting fight as both men love to trade punches, have knockout power, and together have a combined number of 25 career TKO/KO's.

James Toney vs Rampage Jackson in a war of ridiculously funny words

Man, James Toney is at it again.

And this time, he's calling out Rampage and talkin' MAD shit!
This guy is hilarious; the UFC should resign just because of his shittalk-genius!

Check this out:

''I saw that little video. It's comical; that motherfucker sound like Lady Gaga in that video. He is a joke. If he really want to do it, all he gotta do is call me. He knows my number; he got it. Don't act brand new motherfucker. He talkin about how he gonna do this and do that. He says I'm barking up the wrong tree? Motherfucker, I will piss on your tree. He just got to get his balls up and we can do this. It took him a month to reply to my first statement because he had to let his balls get bigger and let them fake motherfuckers he hang around gas him up (laughing). Rampage is a clown man. sign a contract and we can do it. It ain't nothing but a word.''

LOL!!!
That's not all!!!!

''When you talk about challenging the heavyweight champion of the world to a fist fight, you gotta have big nuts. He got little mini nuts. This is some real shit I do. He just signed his death warrant right there, I'm telling you. I will fuck him up, what I do is real. This ain't no game boy this nigga was trying to to play some hard music in the background like he's gangsta. It sounded like some country and western shit to me. I hang with real gangsta's. To be a gangsta, you got to have some real gangsta's behind you. What he got? He got the Klu Klux Klan behind him. I'm the peoples Champ and I give them what they want.''

"Little mini nuts," LOLOL!!!






Man, even though Toney got his ass submitted with the quickness by a 47-year-old Randy, he's at least earned back a little respect just through his comical trashtalk.






I am not quite sure how or when this all started, but this is just about where I tuned in:

Toney's interview with fight hype:
"The only thing that the Fake Mr. T has to do is sign the contract. Rampage is a decent club fighter and if he thinks his club fighting style can match my skills, then he is crazy as hell. What? Is he mad because I called him an Uncle Tom or because I said Detroit wouldn't accept him? (Laughing) ... Rampage is still an Uncle Tom and I will go on record and say he is not dumb enough to stand and trade with me. Machida almost knocked him out, so what do you think I would do to him. Rampage is a black redneck. He better stick to hanging with them white boys and keep my name out of his mouth. I ain't hard to find; sign the contract."


Rampage's response to that interview:

"James Toney, I heard you called me a black redneck. That's just repugnant, that's really messed up," Rampage was quoted by Fighters Only as saying in a video blog. "How is your hillbilly ass gonna call me a black redneck? Your mouth is writing a cheque your ass can't cash. Don't fuck with a nigga like me because I ain't scared of your punk ass. You're pissing me off, keep running your mouth. I ain't playing no games either. Get out of my face, phoney James Toney."

I don't about you guys, but if all this twitter/interview/blog/internet BS was a match-up, Toney took
the cake by maddddd TKO for sure!!

BJ Penn works on boxing with Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Word on the street has it that  our boy Baby Jay is refining his boxing skills with none other than Floyd Mayweather Sr.


BJ Penn is going to be a beast if his striking is going to improve any more than it already has.


However, is this what he really needs right now heading into a bout with Jon, the decision-grinding-no action-boring-play-it-safe-wrestler, Fitch? I believe BJ Penn's current striking skills are already WAY overmatched for Jon Fitch, but striking isn't going to even matter in this
 match because Jon Fitch will not, and I  repeat, WILL NOT STAND TO STRIKE WITH BJ!

He tried that shit once with GSP and I'm pretty sure his boring ass has learned to play it safe by taking guys down and holding them there like he did with Mike Pierce, Ben Saunders, and Thiago Alves.  I respect the importance of wrestling and the ground game as much as the next guy, but I also feel that being entertained and thrilled while watching a fight is important too.  If I never care to watch a fight more than once, it probably wasn't that great or memorable....which is exactly what Fitch's fights are to me, forgettable and boring.  If you're going to sell "Best of Jon Fitch Fights" on blu-ray at Target, I will go there, buy the entire collection, bring it home, piss all over it, and set it on fire.

ANYWAY, back to BJ Penn's training.

I believe BJ Penn already possesses the tools in the stand-up game to disconnect Fitch from his consciousness, but so did Ben Saunders and especially so did Thiago Alves.  It doesn't matter how crisp your BOXING gets, Jon Fitch will do to you what he does to every other goddamn guy: take you down and keep you down and win a shitload of points.  What BJ really needs to work on is improving his already solid takedown defense, his jiu-jitsu game from the bottom, and get ready to sprawl and brawl. If BJ can frustrate Fitch and lure him into inevitable stand-up, Fitch will eventually fold like a little bitch and get knocked the fuck out.

Fitch's strategy is the same as always, and I wouldn't bet on him trying to submit or TKO the Prodigy.  I would hate to see Fitch employ his decision-earning grinds on BJ and then get a crack at the welterweight belt for it, only to get his own ass handed to him by Georges. BJ needs to get this win, not only to prove that he belongs in the welterweight division's elite, that he has still got it in him to dominate the way he used to, but also most importantly, because Jon Fitch needs to his lame ass knocked out and BJ has a chance to hand it to him.  After watching Jon Fitch tapes (or tape, he does the same shit every tape anyway), BJ Penn has got to understand that being on the bottom will net you a loss unless he goes for some hip escapes or triangle submission. ANYTHING!

The Featherweight pound for pounder returns!

 

That's right folks, your champ returns!

It is estimated Jose (that's pronounced JO-ZAY, not ho-zay!) Aldo will, in March, return to fighting not only to debut in the official UFC octagon, but to rightfully claim his featherweight belt.

For those of you who have been living in caves, Jose Aldo is a complete wrecking machine who has destroyed everything put in his path (ask Urijah Faber's legs) and has yet to be stopped.

Man, wasn't that Grispi guy supposed to fight him? Thank goodness he didn't, i'm pretty sure Aldo would have kicked the shit out of him.

Brace yourselves, Overeem vs Emelianenko just may happen!

There it is, ladies and gents!!

My picks for the semifinals: Fedor, Overeem, Kharitonov, Barnett.

Stay tuned...

Two legendary warriors....one will fight for the belt once more, the other will most likely leave the ufc....

While GSP makes his 6th defense against Jake Shields, two other former champions will duke it out for an epic light heavy weight battle.  Any clue as to which fighters?

Yup, you guessed it.

Captain America vs Ryu from Marvel vs Capcom 2!!!

No, really though, I'm not even lying. Captain America is really fighting Ryu! Except not in a video game, but in REAL LIFE!

Announced officially for UFC 129, you have Randy "The Natural" Couture vs Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida in the main card in Toronto.

This match will be quite interesting, as just weeks prior to the announcement, Randy himself stated that he might just retire unless he gets to fight Lyoto or Shogun.

I know people are writing Randy off early, and I don't blame them; Randy is 47 years old and is not fighting the way he used to. However, if you compare their styles, Randy stands much more of a chance than people think.  Lyoto plays a very good elusive and counter punching game, but Randy employs a lot of dirty boxing and clinchwork.  If Lyoto times his shots correctly, he may knock Randy out the way he put Rashad to sleep, but if Randy can push him up against the fence and just grind and tire him out, Randy just might be able to give Lyoto a brutal beating! No ha-dou-ken's here, son!

Randy has earned two submission wins via rear naked choke in his last 3 outings, but I don't see him submitting Lyoto, who we've yet to see get submitted. Lyoto has been knocked out once, but I don't see Randy being the second man to do that to him either. Randy has got to play smart by avoiding Lyoto's karate while employing his clinch and out wrestling the karateka.

Lyoto on the other hand just has to do what he does best: play it defensively by quick dodging and timing shots perfectly. His game worked perfectly against Remy Sokoudjou, Thiago Silva, and Rahasad Evans, and all 3 were confused and most likely infuriated by Lyoto's unique style. Lyoto is also proficient in the submission game, but even Nogueira couldn't submit Randy, and I don't think The Dragon is going to be the first man to ever submit Captain America. Lyoto might get frustrated himself if he chooses to fight Randy's fight by staying in the clinch or trying to grapple with Randy, so he needs to keep his guard up if he expects to shoryuken Randy's ass to retirement!

But, this is MMA, and you never know what is going to happen. You don't know that Randy is done...hell, Randy doesn't know if he's done, and when everyone thinks he will lose, he just kicks even more ass. And Lyoto just came off two losses in a row, you think he's dumb enough to let this one go to the judge's hands? Think not. Expect Lyoto to go for a knockout or a submission to prove he still belongs with the elite of mma.

I'm a fan of both and I know either guy has the power and the heart to reign victorious, but I believe Lyoto will take the win here. Anyone think Randy can pull this off?

Breaking news from Strikeforce

Two pieces of news in one for you today:

1. Fedor re-signs with Strikeforce.  Today should be the day I officially cease to believe any rumor containing the words "Fedor" and "UFC" in one sentence...but it probably won't be because I would probably shart my pants in excitement if he seriously did. His first fight is going to be in February against Antonio Silva in what will be Strikeforce's Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament, which leads me to the second, more important piece of news:

2. STRIKEFORCE IS HAVING A HEAVYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT!
This is probably the coolest AND smartest thing Strikeforce is putting up for the fans: while the UFC's heavyweight division took a minor hit with Cain sidelined with surgery, Brock rumored to be leaving for WWE, Roy Nelson having contractual issues, and Junior dos santos left in interim-belt purgatory, Strikeforce is strategically pitting their 8 ranked heavyweights against eachother in timely, vintage MMA fashion.
I feel Strikeforce has done some weird shit in the past, such as granting title shots after 1 win and giving their heavyweight champion an opponent who was coming off a knockout loss (only to be knocked out again), but this heavyweight tourney looks to make up for it (at least on paper...) and one has to admit that this is one of the more exciting things they have done.

Still not a fan?  Check out the line-up:

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva
Andrei Arlovski vs. Sergei Kharitonov
Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum
Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers

If the brackets close the way they should, we might even see Fedor vs. Alistair!
I'm pretty sure Alistair is smart enough to keep away from Werdum's submission game this time and to lure him into a stand-up war, and I'm preeeeetty sure Fedor is going to straight up kick Bigfoot's big ass.

Stay tuned!!

UFC 128: Shogun vs Evans now official

 

Finally, UFC 128 is made official with the light heavyweight champion Mauricio Shogun Rua defends his belt against the former light heavyweight champion, Suga Rashad Evans.

Shogun has gone through a long knee surgery after his brutal KO over former champ Lyoto Machida and is slated to for his first title defense against Rashad on this card.

I don't see Rashad winning this one if he barely got past Thiago Silva and Rampage's punches....Shogun may just knock him clean out

Chael Sonnen's problems

Wow, does Chael Sonnen have problems or what?

Just when things were starting to get a little better for Chael, he now pleads guilty on money laundering and can face 20 years in prison with a $500k fine.

Seriously, what is wrong with this guy? He really needs to get his shit together.


First, Chael falls out of a political race for unknown reasons at the time to focus on fighting.
Then, he talks all this disrespectful shit, and then he beats up Anderson Silva and we all begin to think that he can actually back up his shit talk. And then, he gets caught with steroids.
Then he gets suspended for a whole year but thanks to the incompetence of the powers that be behind his case, he gets to only pay a small fine and can fight within 6 months.
Now, he pleads guilty to...money-laundering? WTF is that?

Chael has got to get his life back together if he ever wants to step foot in the octagon again.
He's already got problems with CSAC, he's now in deep shit with the IRS, but Chael's biggest problem? He needs to stop getting submitted/passing out with his face in other guys' crotches:

Advice to Chael: stop getting triangled buddy! We're starting to think you like it!!

Alistair Overeem is the man.

Alistair Overeem is an absolute beast.

First, he pulverizes Brett Rogers within minutes, calls out Fedor, calls out Werdum, calls out Dana White, calls out Brock Lesnar, and then decides he's just going to go and kick some ass at kickboxing.  Lo and behold, he goes to K-1 for the 2010 tournament and fucking wins the title.

THEN he comes back to Japan for their NYE Dynamite event and signs to fight Todd Duffee, the once-rising prospect who recorded the fastest knockout in UFC history over Tim Hague (but got the axe due to "attitude problems").

And to no one's surprise, Overeem just destroys Duffee.  In 19 bloody seconds. Enjoy.

This is it.

MMA has always appealed to me in ways that no other sports have.  You have your drama, your heroes, your villains; these guys beat the shit out of each other and in the end can still shake hands and smile!  You can literally have some dude who specializes in leg locks taking on another guy who loves to kick.... Where the hell else are you going to find this?!

I was a late bloomer, tuning in during Tito Ortiz' reign as light heavyweight champion in the UFC and watching Pride clips here and there.  However, I really tuned in when Chuck Liddell's belt finally passed itself along to 3 other fighters and George St. Pierre has shown again how dominant he really is to the welterweight division. And then, Brock Lesnar happened.....and I REALLY tuned in.  One of the biggest assholes in WWF is now the HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION of UFC?  I might as well have been dwelling in a goddamn cave.

Anywho, the liver shot.  One of the most dangerous ways to strike your opponent.  I've always been a knockout fan, but the liver shot was something different, like a fresh breath of air (but not for the guy getting whooped of course).  Such an elegant and precise way to end a fight in painful and dramatic fashion and is such a sweet alternative to throwing an overhand right to the jaw or to swinging a shin bone straight to the temple. Watching Bas Rutten lay one on a guy is like having been there to witness Leonardo da Vinci paint the Mona Lisa. And hence, the name of this blog!

Bas Rutten says:  Do not get hit in the liver.

Enjoy the blog! Tune in again for my overly-opinionated rants on the ever-changing affairs in the MMA world!