EasyLinuxGuide Blog

I should have seen Chuck’s loss to Jardine coming. He didn’t look that great against Rampage but that was a quick fight and everyone can get caught, but it really looked like the fire in Chuck had extinguished in the Jardine bout. I picked Liddell to win so I lost this one. Chuck never really looked like he was in the contest, Jardine kept his head moving the whole time. In a pre-fight interview, Jardine said that he felt he was better in standup than Chuck. At the time, that was a laughable statement but now, no one is laughing except Jardine perhaps after winning a decision. There has been talk of Chuck retiring which I think is probably the best move. It’s not great to go out like he would, but the road back would be long and even harder now and I don’t think Chuck has it in him to do it.

A lot of people were shocked that Forrest Griffin picked Mauricio “Shogun” Rua as his next opponent. After watching Shogun’s Brother “Ninja” lose decisively to Robbie Lawler in EliteXC, I had the impression that Chutebox wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I knew Forrest had incredible heart as well so I picked Forrest to win by decision. Griffin ended up finishing Rua just 15 seconds before the fight was over. This was a bit annoying for me because I picked Griffin to win by decision, if he had just let the fight go to the scorecards

Jon Fitch went up against crowd favorite Diego Sanchez. I actually had seen Fitch fight before and after seeing Diego’s uninspired loss to Koschek, I decided to go with Fitch which turned out to be a wise choice as he won a decision.

Overall, I went 6 for 9 including the undercard picks. Not too bad considering some of the undercard fighters I had never heard of before.

For anyone interested in the UFC, it would be a good idea to check out other events in MMA as there are other organizations that are making their mark as well. MMA is more popular than it has ever been and the UFC can’t keep up with giving enough fighters their chance to battle in the octagon. At the time same, the UFC has a reputation and likely doesn’t want to give just any fighter Octagon time as typically fans are paying for these events.

Luckily for MMA fans, these other organizations have some great fighters that may or may not have had some Octagon time and are now thriving elsewhere and a good example of that is someone like Robbie Lawler. Also, it can be a place where fighters can prove themselves perhaps for the first time or maybe for a comeback like Nick Diaz.

The free televised card started off with Jake Shields vs Renato Verissimo. Shields looked like he might have been in trouble at one point but quickly turned the tables and dominated with ground and pound and earned a TKO victory. This was a good fight, but it was over quickly. Shields overmatched Verissimo on this night.

The most peculiar match of the night was between Gina Carano and Tonya Evinger. This was the first women’s bout I had seen in a high profile event like this EliteXC one, but that isn’t what made it seem odd to me. First, for those of you who don’t know, Gina is known as the poster girl for women’s MMA. There is every reason for promoters to want to see her do well and push her popularity as she is a perfect marketing tool. She has talent and the look. In the fight with Tonya Evinger, it seemed very clear to me that Tonya was stronger than Gina and when the fight went to the ground (an area Gina isn’t nearly as skilled in compared to her standup), it was definitely to Evinger’s advantage. Strangely though, seconds before the round ended when it seemed that Evinger was in total control, Evinger gave up her dominant position and looked like she went limp flat on the ground, giving her back and neck to Carano for a rear naked choke victory. Evinger looked disgusted when Carano’s hand was raised in victory. I know it’s terrible to think of something like this being set up and maybe I’m tainted by all those years of my youth watching wrestling entertainment, but it just didn’t feel right to me.

Joey Villasenor took on up and comer Riki Fukuda. This was an excellent fight. It went the distance and both of these guys proved their each have good chins. This fight was very evenly matched and exciting to watch. This was basically a gatekeeper match in my eyes with Villasenor proving he still has some fight in him, but beating a younger opponent after a full three rounds.

Nick Diaz was in his first fight since coming off a 6 month suspension for testing positive for marijuana use causing his victory over Gomi to be ruled a no contest. Diaz has been very outspoken in interviews indicating that he had been using marijuana for numerous fights in the past and was never tested for it. He also stated that he was high for the recent marathon he participated in.  He has also said that he will never test positive for marijuana again. Versus “Iron” Mike Aina,  Diaz showed his precision boxing skills while Aina used more of a brawl style. Both fighters stayed in the fight and competed very well. I personally thought Aina had won the fight but it was a close decision. It did end up being a close decision going to Diaz which wasn’t very pleasing to the hometown crowd. It’s one of those decisions that reinforces that it is always best not to let a fight go to the judges, but I certainly wouldn’t call the decision unjust in any way. It really could have gone either way. I thought Aina was more aggressive and I don’t know why Diaz didn’t use more of his BJJ skills because I do believe he could have got a submission. Either way, it was a very entertaining fight.

In the main event, “Ruthless” Lawler took on Mauricio “Ninja” Rua who had said that although he respected the Miletich camp, that he felt that Chutebox was better. From the start of this start, I could tell that Lawler was in better shape and was just biding his time, looking to figure out his timing, while Rua just threw shots. It seemed only a matter of time before Lawler got his chance to rip apart Rua’s standup. In the third round, Lawler got his chance as it was very clear that Rua had gassed himself and along with Lawler figuring out the timing on taking his shots, proved to be the advantage Lawler capitalized on. Lawler connected on a glancing uppercut and then timed a few other punches perfectly until Rua hit the canvass and then in trademark style, Lawler reared back his right arm and leveled several haymakers while Rua was on the ground. Lawler ended up walking out with the Elite XC belt. I was really impressed with Lawler’s patience in this fight.

In the post fight press conference, Diaz, who would have seemed to go on forever as he appeared to in his post fight interview, thanked Elite XC and referred to Aina as “this guy” several times. Also, Elite XC’s live promoter Gary Shaw made a point of saying that Elite XC would have as many weight classes as necessary to keep fighters healthy and that he felt that having to cut weight was a concern and should be avoided when fighters are not in a good position to rehydrate themselves. It certainly seems to be attracting a lot of attention from the fighters and their payouts are quite comparable to UFC’s so it could set a nice precedent.

This Elite XC event was just as entertaining as virtually any UFC PPV I have seen and frankly was probably better than the last 4 or 5 in recent recollection. Excellent job Elite XC!

The second UFC event brought to us from London appeared to be another success. Overall, the card was good with Quinton Rampage Jackson vs Dangerous Dan Henderson in the main even to unify the Pride and UFC titles.

The story of the night more than anything else was the ability to come back from adversity in fights. And on to the results…

Houston Alexander was first up against Alessio Sakara. Alexander was coming off a quick knockout vicory of Keith Jardin who will be fighting Chuck Liddell next (not sure how that makes any sense). Alexander came out explosive as he did in his previous fight, determined to show that is last victory was not a fluke as he mentioned in pre fight interviews. Alexander did end up overwhelming Sakara and seemed to prove himself as a real legitimate contender at light heavyweight. I had picked Alexander so I was 1-0 after this fight.

Next up was Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis vs hometown favorite “Relentless” Paul Taylor.  Taylor caught Davis with a crushing leg kick to the side of the head, knocking Davis over and it appeared that the fight was all but over. Davis kept his composure and went into a clinch on the ground and finally recovered and turned the tables on Taylor, overpowering him. It was a nice comeback for Davis for sure. I had picked Davis to win, putting me at 2-0 at that point.

Mirko Cro Cop who was knocked out in highight reel fashion by Gabriel Gonzaga was opposing Cheick Kongo who looked menacingly larger and more fit when the two met in the middle of the ring for the refs instructions. Cro Cop appeared slightly more aggressive in the early going, but it was Kongo was seemed to dominate and push the pace, eventually getting Cro Cop to back up. It  was disappointing to see Cro Cop in this state after he said he was embarrassed from the Gonzaga fight. I was really disappointed with Cro Cop’s performance and expected much better from him. It seemed like he was avoiding another knockout at any cost. He looked far too tentative. I had picked Cro Cop to win, putting me at 2-1.

The end of The Ultimate Fighter  3 would have pitted Matt “The Hammer” Hamill against Michael “The Count” Bisping if it wasn’t for Hamill suffering a concussion and not being able to compete. Hamill had been calling out Bisping in email interviews and such so there was some bad blood between the two leading up to this fight. The fight overall was very back and forth, but I strongly felt that Hamill was more aggressive and had Bisping backing up most of the time. Hamill’s standup was much improved, indicated in part of cuts under each of Bisping’s eyes.  The fight ended up going to a decision. One judge had scored the fight 30-27 for Hamill while the two others probably didn’t want to get stabbed in the London parking lot and gave 29-28 scores to Bisping. Situations like this make me feel like the location of the venue affect the judging. It made me feel sick to my stomach. Hamill won this fight in my mind. I really don’t know how anyone in their right mind could give this fight to Bisping, but that’s why it’s always better not to let a fight go to the scorecards. I did pick Bisping to win, this upped me to 3-1.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “Dangerous” Dan Henderson’s title unification bout surprisingly went all five rounds and the proper decision was made as Jackson won a unanimous  decision. Henderson clearly looked winded as the rounds went on. I had picked Jackson to win. I ended up 4-1 on the televised picks.

Disappointing again was that the UFC did not televise the undercard. I have not seen these fights but do plan on watching them as they tend to be some of the best ones to watch - especially the lightweights.

There is another UFC event in two weeks. It will be interesting to see if the UFC will keep up this pace of events. From a marketing and business point of view, it would be a good idea as the popularity is peaking right now.

I’m going to write a very brief rant about the latest UFC event. I did enjoy watching it but I do have to say that I get very disappointed with incidental collisions that taint fights. I know there is nothing that can be done about it and it is a part of the sport, but I was very disappointed with the Couture and Gonzaga fight. At one point very early on, Couture took down Gonzaga and Gonzaga ended up getting his nose smashed. From that point on, clearly Gonzaga had a lot of trouble breathing and had blood all over his face. I am not necessarily saying that Gonzaga would have beaten Couture, but it does bother me that we will never know what would have happened had the two been 100% and were affected by only each other’s intentional inflicting of punishment.

Also, disappointing is the fact that three of the best fights were not shown on the PPV. The two lightweight fights and also the Babalu fight were not televised as part of the PPV. The Babalu fight was probably the fight that was most discussed after the PPV as it had controversy relating to Babalu apparently intentionally holding a choke after the referee signaled to let go and Babalu apparently waited until Heath passed out.

The end result was that Babalu was fined his $25,000 fight bonus and also released from his contract from the UFC and this fight was foolishly not even a part of the PPV. I ended up going 8 for 9 on my picks. The only fight I lost was the Frank Mir fight against Antoni Hardonk. I wasn’t sure that Frank was ready to come back yet but it looks like he did very well. I like Mir and hope he continues his winning in the UFC.

The next UFC event is on September 15 from London where Michael Bisping will try to continue his winning streak in front of the home crowd. This event is going to be televised free on Spike. Let’s hope for a full card to show and some good fights where we truly get to find out which is the better fighter.

The Exies latest release is fully solid. From the radio friendly “Different Than You” and other standouts like “Better Now” and the slower “Stray”, this CD is like a greatest hits collection of Exies songs on one CD. This CD is not to be missed. Many other tracks are very solid, with a great pensive cover of The Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime”. More hard hitting are “This is the Sound” and “These are the Days”. “My Ordinary World” is also a track worthy of attention.

This is definitely worth picking up. There are a few tracks I could do without, but the vast majority are extremely solid.