See Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Ken Shamrock, Tito Ortiz and all of the fighters preparing to battle it out at UFC 61: BITTER RIVALS, as they weigh-in at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The public is welcome Friday, July 7th from 3-5pm. This event is free of charge.

Just make sure you don't try to film the event or Dana White will sick his publicist on you. Just ask the folks over at Sherdog.com if you don't believe me.

Acording to his official website everyone's favorite Pride fighter Wanderlei Silva, fresh off his win over Kazuyuki Fujita, will be in Las Vegas to attend UFC 61. Unfortunately he won't be there to fight. Maybe one day we can see a battle between UFC Champ Chuck Liddel and Silva but until then I guess this is the closest we'll ever get for now. I wonder if they'll even mention him on the PPV broadcast?

Wanderlei, from Japan to Usa
Midde-weight champion will be at audience seats of Ultimate fight championship.

Wanderlei will have two days at Brazil after his victory upon Fujita in second round of Pride Grand Prix Openweight 2006, this Saturday. The champ received an invitation of Dream stage entertainment, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, to watch at his side the 61º edition of UFC-Ultimate fight championship, next day 8.
"- I don´t know for sure what we´ll be doing there, but i´ll be with Sakakibara in Las Vegas - comments Wanderlei, that will celebrate his birthday next July 3º.
The appearance of Pride in USA is faced as an excellent opportunity for brazilians fighters. According to Chute Boxe star, there will be the great market of MMA for the next five years.
"-I hope to have chance to fight there and make more fans. This is a great market, and the last time I was there, i got a huge caress from the folks- remembered the paranaense star- According Rudimar Fedrigo, Chute Boxe leader, there is the possibility to Wanderlei represents the Pride in United States.

Globo.com

Well it's right about that time for UFC 61 folks! Man have we seen a lot of MMA in the past few weeks and hopefully to top off everyone's 4th of July weekend we'll get to witness some real fireworks in the Octagon.

First off it's the re-match that nobody really thought was necessary, Ortiz vs Shamrock II. There's no doubt these guys hate each other and while their utter disdain for one another does make for some interesting tv, do we really need part two? But their first fight was such a one sided beatdown it kinda makes you scratch your head and ask why are they fighting again?

They're hyping up a fight that in essence should be as one sided as Hughes-Gracie was at UFC 60 and Dana's hoping that all the loud bells and whistles surrounding Ken and Tito will distract you dear viewer into thinking that you're actually watching something of substance. Come for an epic match-up between two legends of the Octagon and we'll give you Tito smacking around Kenny again.

And don't forget Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski III - a fight that had to happen because...Well because, there's nobody else in the heavyweight ranks.



In light of bringing real competition into the UFC, Dana White and the rest of the suits over at Zuffa give us the ultimate in re-runs. You know when I was a kid, I couldn't wait to see "Return of the Jedi" when it came out. But I ended up feeling pretty dissapointed after watching it. Why? It was part one all over again - yeah you had some Ewoks but nobody liked the Ewoks - with Lucas bringing back the Death Star you couldn't help but feel like you had gone down this path already. It's the samething that's going on in the UFC. Like Lucas, Dana White seems to be sufferring from a lack of originality and/or talent and instead of brining us something fresh he's hoping the old familiar will do.


Not too many people know that Tim Sylvia is actually half Wookie.

This is an issue that may not sound like too much of a big deal right now. Yeah MMA is really taking off and we are witnessing a level of coverage that we've never had before. But trust me it's an issue that will turn into a huge problem not only for the UFC but MMA in America in the no so far off future. I hope the UFC addresses this problem and addresses it soon, aside from Liddel and Ortiz the Lightheavy Division is pretty thin, hell it's freakin' anorexic and that goes double for the Heavyweight division. Fighters are not cheap and quality ones don't just grow on trees so if you're going to keep pumping out shows Dana now is the time to start signing the big names.

But hey it's not all bad, I'm going to the fights again so it's another opportunity to give the UFC my hard earned money. Yes so I can sit up in the nosebleed section while some blond skank from the Hilton family or David #### gets to sit up front. Better yet, I get to go and watch the fight up in the thin air while some two bit sports hack who doesn't know the slightest thing about MMA gets to sit Octagonside. Me sound bitter? Maybe just a little bit.

In all honesty I'm actually pretty excited about the Sylvia vs Arlovski rubbermatch, the first two have been great fights and I have no doubt that number three will be just as exciting. I just wish the division was deep enough to have a little build up so the paying audience could have a little time to get excited again. That second fight was crazy and to have part three come so soon, well it's all a little overwhelming.

Dana, MMA has some great fans and they deserve better, hell the sport deserves better. It's time to get the checkbook out and go after fighters that really belong in the "Superbowl" of mixed martial arts.

Anyways, I'm done with my rant let's get to the fights.




First up is a fight featuring the UFC's number one contender in the heavyweight ranks: Jeff Monson. And his opponent Anthony Perosh of course...Who? Perosh is a BJJ fighter who comes from the land down under. A teammate of UFC veteran Elvis Sinosic and like Monson he comes into the Octagon with a pretty distinguished grappling resume. Persosh has placed 3rd in the World in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2003 and also in 1999, second in the 2000 Pan American and is the current and 7 times Australian Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion. He received his blackbelt from the Machados so you know he's legit.

Zuffa in their great wisdom has decided to match-up two ground fighters again. You think after Monson vs Pe De Pano, they would have learned that this type of match-up doesn't really make for an exciting bout. Perosh supposedly has some stand-up and wrestling ability as well so maybe not all is lost. PLEASE GOD I HOPE SO.

I hope I'm wrong but I see Monson taking this fight to the ground and grinding out a decision. Rogan's said it before, and I totally agree with him, when you get two guys who are very skilled on the ground, it's going to end up in a stalemate. I hope the ref keeps a close eye on these guys and if there's not much going on the ground but positioning he'll do the right thing and have plenty of restarts on the feet. I haven't seen much of this Octagon rookie, so who knows maybe Perosh has a decent sprawl and keeps it standing. That's where Monson's game is the weakest. Keep it standing Perosh and you'll have a great chance of beating him.

If Monson wins, he'll most likely fight the winner of Sylvia vs Arlovski III. Do you really care? I don't.

Monson by decision.




I'm excited about this match because I've heard some great things about Pellegrino, he a wrestler and BJJ'er who fights out of Hermes Franca's camp. He's also trained with BJJ great Renzo Gracie, Ricardo Almeida, and the boys over at ATT as well.

But will he have what it takes to beat the veteran Fickett? He's going to be the smaller fighter, as 155 is the weightclass his best suited for and this will also be his Octagon debut. Pellegrino can strike but his bread and butter is the taking the fight to the ground.

Drew Fickett is 2-2 in UFC, his last fight he lost to Josh Burkman at Ultimate Fight Night 3 by guillotine. Fickett is your typical MMA fighter as he brings a very ballanced game with skill on the ground and the ability to stand if need be. Fickett does have the advantage experience wise, since he has fought in the UFC already. Will that experience give him a competive edge over the UFC rookie Pellegrino?

I think this is going to be a three round war, Pellegrino's going to have to get rid of those butterflys quick. He's got an awesome groundgame and if there's a weakness in Fickett it's his groundgame. But Fickett's a toughfighter and he's got a lot of heart so he's not going to just roll over and die either.

Pellegrino by decision.




I was jumping for joy when I heard that the UFC re-signed Franca to the lightweight division. He's an exciting fighter who's foundation is BJJ but he's also got some heavy heavy hands for such a little guy. Yes he's lost some close decisions to Thompson and Edwards but he was in both of those fights till the end.

Joe Jordan, is a MMA vet who sports a 19-9-2 record. He is also a last minute replacement who is making his Octagon debut. I have to be honest with you, I really don't know too much about Joe Jordan. But I give him major props for taking the fight on short notice and against someone as dangerous as Franca. Who knows what will happen as stranger things have gone down in the Octagon and I'm sure he's a game fighter but Franca is a serious contender at this weightclass. Besides I'm sure Franca is looking to make a statement with his first fight back in the Octagon...

Franca by ko in round one.




This is the fight I'm looking forward to the most in the prelims. We've got two guys who like to ####.

We last saw Aldana in the UFC where he ended up losing to Bunentello. He's a brawler who likes to throw but he's also showed the ability to grind it out with some ground and pound. He's got an iron chin but his conditioning is questionable. He was gassed by the end of the first in his Octagon debut.

I've heard great things about Kongo, he's a Muay Thai fighter out of France (originally from Africa) who likes to strike especially with some very vicious and powerful knees and kicks. He's already been a champion in Europe with the Rings circut, holding belts in both the Freefight and Muay Thai divisions. Supposedly he's been training in martial arts since he was five years old. One look at this kid and you know he's a fighter.

And if he lives up to the hype, hopefully he'll take out Aldana with some of those nasty knees he has. Maybe we'll see how good his groundwork is as I can see Aldana comming out and trying to ground and pound his way to the win. Why sit and strike with someone when that's their biggest strength?

Still I have a feeling that Kongo's going to be the guy that everyone's talking about after the fight.

Kongo by tko in round two.




This fight is a toss up for me. Due to the simple fact I don't know if Frank Mir has totally recovered from his injuries. Mir was sidelined for quite a while after he was involved in a motorcycle accident. In his first fight back he got absolutely worked by Pe De Pano. The speed, power, and grace that really marked his style of fighting had gone and we had to witness a beating that I can only describe as sad.

I'm interested in seeing how this fight gets to the ground if it does at all. Christison is a large large man. Will Mir have the strength to take his opponent down? If it does go to the ground will have enough strength to work the guard like he once did? There's a lot of drama in this fight and I'm nervous yet excited to see how this all unfolds.

Christison will have the reach advantage in this fight if it stays standing up. He throws straight punches and for a big guy he's got some decent technique. But all that size is going to be a serious problem if it goes to the ground. Those long legs are a major issue if it goes to the ground. Guys with long legs get taken down easy and their guard is pretty easy to pass.

If Mir is healthy I see him winning and winning easily. If not, it's going to be another bloody affair with Mir taking shots from the guard. I hope that Mir wins, because this guy was the former champ and it would be really horrible to see a great career end with such a stupid accident.

Mir by armbar in round one.




This is going to be an interesting fight because it involves Josh Neer. Neer isn't the most talented fighter out there but the kid has heart. There's just no quit in him. If you saw that fight with Guillard, you know what I'm talking about. He's spent the majority of the time in that fight getting the #### knocked out of him but came back and secured a triangle choke to get the win. Neer is a lot like Fickett in the sense he is very balanced guy interms of being able to do it all. But he does have an inclination toward duking it out with strikes. And he trains with the Miletich crew so you know he's comming in prepared for anything and everything.

The only thing about Neer is that I sort of look at him as the litmus test for the fighters in 170. I feel he's the type of guy that will have a long career in MMA but he'll never be the champ. Like I said he's got a lot of heart and fundamentally he's solid. He does many things but not anything outstanding. If you're a decent fighter Neer's the type of guy you'll fight . He comes to fight in shape and he'll make you work. He's the guy you'll fight if the UFC is trying to give you a boost in terms of fan appeal and recognition. If you haven't been training or really don't have what it takes to be in that division Neer will make you look bad. Lose to Neer and you'll know that your days in the UFC are probably numbered. Beat Neer and who knows you just might have what it takes to be a contender one day.

Josh Burkman's an athlete first and foremost. He doesn't have the best technique but makes up for it in pure strength and brute force. He's got some wrestling skills and can work a submission or even go for some ground and pound too. But he's also kind of a brawler, so he has that mentality of someone who's looking to throwdown even if it's not in his best interest to do so.

Look for Burkman to pin Neer up against the fence in the clinch, he'll try to overwhelm Neer with pure aggression and guile. He'll throw some strikes for a bit, I think Neer's got him beat there so look for an eventual takedown.

With Neer's heart and overall skills this could be a close fight between the two fighters. Burkman might dominate the entire fight yet all he has to do is make one mistake and Neer could pull it out. I know Burkman has been training with Tito Ortiz and the rest of the guys up at Big Bear. Maybe this is what gives him the edge and therefore I'm leaning towards Burkman.

Burkman by decision.





This could be the fight of the night. Match-up's make fights and this one has all the makings of a classic match.

Joe Stevenson's making the drop down to 155 where he's meeting up with the former uncrowned king of that division Yves Edwards. They're both comming off losses in the Octagon but don't sleep on either of these guys because they're quality fighters.

Look for Stevenson to take this fight to the ground and quick! Yves has some great stand up and Stevenson won't want to have anything to do with those knees and elbows.

On the ground this should make for a very very competitive match. Stevenson is a great grappler, but so is Yves in his own right. Stevenson is going to have to work that ground and pound if he's going to win. Getting into a grappling match with Yves is the last thing he want's to do.

Why you ask? Because that will give Yves the opportunity to escape or even sweep his opponent. Nope, Joe will want to stack Yves up against the fence and work those elbows. Slow this fight down and force Yves to grind it out. You know how basketball teams like to force teams that like to run into a half court game? That's exactly what I'm talking about here.

Yves on the otherhand should look to keep this standing as it is his strength. But he's also got a very dangerous guard and he is very adapt to throw in a triangle choke or two. Either way, he's got to keep active and keep that pace frantic. That will cause Joe to expend a lot of energy and keep his options open to different modes of attack. Yves can do it all.

This is going to be a back and forth battle with Yves catching Stevenson with a kick or a knee in a later round. I feel that Yves is too experienced and well balanced for Joe Stevenson at this point.

Yves by tko in round three.

I'll post my thoughts on the two fights in the main event tomorrow.

I will post the results for Pride Critical Countdown in the comments section. You've been warned!
You can watch the American PPV on Sunday.

Wow! I mean wow, Anderson Silva just destroyed Chris Leven tonight. It took a mere 45 seconds for Silva to take the very tough Leben out. From the begining Silva picked apart Leben with well placed jabs that sent Chris back on his heels. Then a beautiful left kick, some punches, and a knee to the head from the clinch that put Leben out.

Chris Leben was totally out classed tonight, the brawler had no answer for Silva's speed and accuracy. And what an introduction for UFC fans to Anderson Silva. Rich Franklin should be very very worried about his status as UFC champ in the comming future.


Here are the full results:

Jorge Santiago defeated Justin Levens via TKO (Round 1)

Jon Fitch defeated Thiago Alves via TKO (Round 2)

Jason Lambert defeated Brandon Lee Hinkle via TKO (Round 1)

Josh Koscheck defeated Dave Menne (Judges’ Decision)

Mark Hominick defeated Jorge Gurgel (Judges’ Decision)

Rashad Evans defeated Stephan Bonnar (Judges’ Decision)

Anderson Silva defeated Chris Leben via KO (Round 1)

I'll admit I got nothing done this past saturday. I just watched the Ultimate Fighter marathon on Spike and drank my beer. By the way, I've become a big fan of Session Lager now. They come in these cool little stubby bottles - can you say Lucky Lager - and it's cheap to boot!

What can I say there was a whole lot to love about the fights we saw the other night. Ed Herman and Kendall Grove gave us an absolute classic three round war. Bisping put on a clinic while Josh showed everyone there is no limit to the amount of heart he has.

There's a lot to talk about so let's get down to it.



I tuned in to catch the live internet pre-fight show on Spiketv.com for the east coast at 5:30 and all in all it was a pretty lame event. You had Griffin and Bonnar mugging for the camera, some annoying chick doing interviews but you did have a memorable appearance from Randy Couture.

The Spike show was pretty much filled with ads for Blade and interviews with guys like Chuck Liddell, Chris Leben, and Randy Couture on who they thought would win the finals. About 30 or so minutes into the show, a little segment about Tito Ortiz finished up and Spike went back to the live feed with the cameras on Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, and Randy Couture.

Obviously Randy didn't know that they were back on and we were treated to a nice little moment where we got to watch him gleefully say, "Who's the #### ####?" And without a beat Forrest Griffin responds with something like, "Well we're back on the air." Of course right then and there it was apparent to all three of them that everyone who was watching the live feed just heard what Randy had just said. Talk about awkward.

Strangely enough, for some reason Spike decided not rebroadcast the internet pre-fight show at 8:30 for west coast audiences. Hmmmm I wonder why?



You know if there's one thing that really bugged the living hell out of me about the finale: it was the amount of ads we were bombarded with that night. I know it's free fights so I shouldn't complain but in the span of three hours we got to watch a total of five fights.

The amount of Blade promos we had to watch started to verge on the comical. If it wasn't a Blade commercial every three seconds, we had Goldberg and Joe Rogan constantly plugging the show and doing interviews with people no one cared about. And honestly, do you think that anyone who is a fan of MMA really cares about a Kung-Fu fighting Vampire?

Message to the suits over at Spike TV: you should be promoting the UFC and MMA on the Blade show, and not the other way around. If it hasn't dawned on you guys yet, MMA is a lot bigger now than a tv show about some vampire superhero that peaked back in 1998.

By the way that guy who's playing Blade, didn't he used to be a rapper for the group Onyx?


Rogan pretends to be interested in Blade while interviewing the actor known as Sticky.

But Blade wasn't the worst offender that evening. Nope that title rests in the hands of Xyience and honestly I'd really like to choke whoever was behind their marketing ploy. What they did was just insulting, not only to the sport of MMA but to the viewing audience as well.

Listen Xyience, you guys have a stranghold on the UFC when it comes to ads. We get it already. Did you really feel the need to have a fighter plug one of your products right after the fight? Incase you missed it, it was right after the Jardine vs Gouveia fight. Right there in the middle of the ring with Joe Rogan beside him, what does Jardine have in his hand? A can of Xyience's new energy drink and if that's not bad enough, they have a big close up of him taking a big ol' swig out it. It was so scripted, awkward, and clumsy it litterally made me cringe.




Keith Jardine does a plug for Xyience while Rogan pretends not to notice.

At the end of that fight, it wasn't Jardine's face or legs that took the worst beating...it was his dignity. Ouch! It's a shame the Xyience people didn't stop there, they should have had a small child waiting for Jardine next to the Octagon door. And like the Coca Cola ad featuring Mean Joe Green, Jardine would have handed the small child his shorts covered in blood in exchange for a cool refreshing Xyience energy drink. There wouldn't have been a dry eye in the house.

In part II, I'll be going over some of the fights while I drink an ice cold beer from Session Lager.

UFC Ulitmate Fight Night 5 will be this Wednesday, June 28th on Spike!

Can there be too much o####ood thing, when it comes to MMA not for me! We just had the TUF 3 finale and now UFN 5 and don't forget UFC 61 is right around the corner on July 8th.

Here's the card for UFN 5:

Anderson Silva vs. Chris Leben
Stephan Bonnar vs. Rashad Evans
Luke Cummo vs. Jonathan Goulet
Josh Koscheck vs. Dave Menne
Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Jorge Gurgel vs. Mark Hominick
Jason Lambert vs. Branden Lee Hinkle
Justin Levens vs. Jorge Santiago
Kristian Rothaermel vs. Rob MacDonald

The set up is probably going to be four fights with plenty ads for Xyience, UFC 61, and of course that Spike show Blade. Whatever you do, just don't miss that Silva vs Leben match-up!

Here are the results for the TUF 3 finale. I'll have a write up about the show later.

Mike Nickels defeats Wes Combs by rear naked choke at 3:20 in Round 1

Matt Hamill defeats Jesse Forbes by TKO at 4:47 in Round 1

Luigi Fioravanti defeats Solomon Hutcherson by KO at 4:15 in Round 1

Kalib Starnes defeats Danny Abbadi by rear naked choke at 2:56 in Round 1

Rory Singer defeats Ross Pointon by submission triangle choke at 0:44 in Round 1

Keith Jardine defeats Wilson Gouveia by unanimous decision

Kendall Grove defeats Ed Herman by unanimous decision

Michael Bisping defeats Josh Haynes by TKO at 4:14 in Round 2

Kenny Forian defeats Sam Stout by rear naked choke at 1:46 in Round 1

It's taken more than four years but the original champ of the 155 division is back with the UFC.

Yes that's right Jens "Little Evil" Pulver is signed and ready to make his long awaited return to The Octagon. As some of you may remember Jens was the first champion of the 155 division who was essentally blacklisted from the UFC after his win over Bj Penn. After the Penn fight contract negotiations fell apart between Jens and the UFC - leading to long standing feud between Pulver and UFC President Dana White.

Jens in only another quality fighter that the UFC has signed to the newly revamped lightweight division that really is going to be one to watch. And considering that Jens never acutally lost the belt, one can only hope that he will be in the mix for the title once again.

Pulver is also rumored to be a coach on The Ultimate Fighter season five as well.

Well not quite six degrees but I thought this was interesting...



Did you know that Kendall Grove is cousins with...



USC Linebacker Kaluka Maiava

And Kaluka Maiava is the nephew of none other than...



Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Those are some good genes.

As my old roommate would say, "It's gameday baby!" And there's nothing wrong with a little free UFC on tv! I've got to say at the very least this season of The Ultimate Fighter has been a pretty interesting watch. First off they got rid of those stupid games, thank the lord, once they said that you knew it was all about the fights baby. And someone was smart enough to decide that everyone should have at least one fight - imagine that!

I mean you had it all this season: great fights, budding stars, a neurotic Jew, two Brits, throw in a deaf guy, some crappy judges and an even worse girlfriend. In terms of the fights and the fighters, it was way better than what season two had to offer - these guys were actually interesting people inside and outside the Octagon. It didn't hurt that we got to see Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock back to their old ways as well.

Actually one of the reasons I tuned in every week was to watch Ortiz and Shamrock in their natural environment - the world of MMA. Ortiz really shined as not only a coach but a mentor to these young guys, he genuinely seemed to care and it showed. Not only did he personally invest his time and effort into the training, he brought in two awesome coaches - Dean Lister and Saul Soliz. It was nice to see the real Tito Ortiz and not the toughguy act he likes to front when he is on Pay Per Views. I hope the crowds will give the guy a little more respect now, I think he's earned it.

While Ortiz really showed how great of a coach and competitor he is, Shamrock did what I only can describe as: further destruction to his already crumbling MMA reputation. This is a UFC Hall of Famer we got here people. I don't know about you guys, but this season of The Ultimate Fighter makes me wonder if he really knows anything about the fight game. It's obvious he doesn't know squat about groundfighting. Which is funny because in the past he was known as a submission specialist.

He didn't seem care about his fighters at all, except towards the very end. This show was just an opportunity for him to get some tv time - and that showed too.

Season three will easily go down as my favorite season so far, I hope the final fights live up to the rest of the season. Hell the season was a great achievement solely due to the fact: it actually makes me excited about watching the onesided beatdown known as Shamrock vs Ortiz II! UFC 61 here I come...

Before I go on with my picks, I do want to add that the fights you see on the finale or even on Ultimate Fight Night Live shows are merely appetizers to the main course. In the world of MMA, the main course would be something like UFC 61. So don't go in watching these fights with high expectations. The best way to approach these fights is with a wait and see attitude. You're getting to watch free fights so have fun and hope that someone brings something new to the table...

Here are my picks, hope you enjoy the fights!



Well what can you say about Mike Nickels? He's got a lot of tattoos and he showed a lot of heart in his fight against Matt Hamill. But he also showed a complete lack of any decent stand-up as he essentially got beat up by a one armed wrestler in his TUF match. You knew Matt Hamill didn't have any stand up but man Mike Nickels just looked awful - what was his excuse?

Luckly for Mike his speciality is on the ground. And thank heaven for all of us he isn't facing another elite wrestler in his oponent Wes Combs. Unfortunately for Mike his opponent Wes Combs has some heavy heavy hands. Wes is also sporting a record of 12-0 with the majority of the fights ending in KO or TKO. If Nickels doesn't get this fight to the ground it's going to be over for him quick.

Then again, we really haven't seen what if anygrounds skills or cardio for that matter Wes Combs has. We've seen Mike Nickles slug it out in a war, Wes hasn't done that yet.




Fioravanti is a fighter who really should be in the 170 pound weight class and quite frankly I'm pretty stunned that most sportsbooks have him as the favorite. I don't know maybe they see something I don't.

Unless Luigi pulls a "Rory" and manages to get off a miracle kick, Solomon should be able to take Luigi down at will and work his ground and pound to a win.





This should be a pretty easy fight for Rory Singer, but with Rory you never know. Rory is one of those fighters who has all the tools but lacks the most important thing for success in MMA: a strong mind. Lets face it, he's a neurotic mess.

Ross is a brawler with very little else to speak of skills wise. He's looking to knock you out and dares you to stand up and trade with him. Who knows maybe Ross has become a little wiser since the shows taping and taken to becoming a total fighter. I dobut it. So, unless Rory decides to give up like he did in his fight against Ed Herman, he should be able to take Ross down and eventually secure a submission.




This is probably the easiest fight to pick. Kalib Starnes by anything he wants. Danny is way over his head in this fight. Kalib is bigger, more experienced, and far more of a balanced fighter than Danny is. And of course there's the issue of maturity. Kalib is the professional while Danny is still a kid playing a grown-up's game.

Unless Kalib hasn't fully recovered from his rib injury, he should be able to run right through Danny. Look for Kalib maybe trade a little in the begining then he'll eventually take Danny down to the mat. From there he'll work some strikes on the ground and eventually submit him.

I hope Kalib gets another shot at Kendall down the road. That is re-match I would pay money to see. If there was one fighter who really got jobbed by having Shamrock as his coach, it's Starnes.





Barring the unthinkable of happening again - you know Matt breaks his arm during training and thus decides to stand up and strike with Jesse - he should be able to take him down and control Jesse for three rounds. Who knows maybe one of them will show some new skills that we didn't see on TUF. To me Jesse is a fighter cast in the same mold as Hamill. A fighter with a strong wrestling base. Too bad for Jesse he's facing a better wrestler with better takedowns. See where I'm going with this?

But in what little we did see of Jesse, he did manage to go for a rear naked choke against Josh. Hell he pretty damn near came close to skining that choke in. You've got give Josh some credit there too, he did an incredible job of fighting off that choke especially in the position he was in. Anyways my point is: if Jesse is somehow able to turn the tables on Matt and got him in a tight spot, does Matt have the training or the ability at this point to counter a rear naked choke? Probably not.





Who knows maybe this could end up being the fight of the night. I couldn't tell you, as I've never seen Gouveia fight before. I do know that he comes out of the famous American Top Team academy in Florida. And like many fighters out of ATT, he's got a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background but he's not afraid to throw strikes either.

Jardine is comming off a close decision loss to Bonnar and is probably looking to make amends for that fight. For me this is a toss up, so I guess I'll take Jardine since he's the fighter with more UFC experience.




Tito and some TUF alumnus from seasons past training in Big Bear



This is the fight I'm most looking forward to. This is going to be a war. Ed Herman reminds me of a lot of a young Tito Ortiz. A fighter with a strong wrestling base who is looking to take the fight to the ground. Actually there's no doubt what he's looking to do: take you down and pound it out. Ironically he won both fights on the show by submission. Depending on who you ask he's looked dominating or a little rusty. Personally I think he's a little overrated. His fight with Danny looked more like a sparring session for him in a very uninspired performance where he easily secured an armbar in round one. His second fight with Rory was a little tougher, untill Rory decided to give up and practically hand Ed the rear naked choke.

The problem I see with Ed is that he is really really slow. He's got a very methodical way of fighting and it's easy to see where he's trying to go in a fight. Plus he's got little to no stand up and with a fighter like Kendall that could pose some serious problems. Kendall has got some mean elbows and knees and from the clinch they are down right scary. Just ask Ross.

If Ed and Kendall clinch, look for Kendall to start throwing his vicious knees and elbows. That's if Ed can get close enough to clinch up with Kendall. You see Kendall's got a serious reach advantage on Ed as well. And if he's smart he'll use that advantage tonight. Look for Kendall to throw that jab out there early and often in hopes of keeping Ed on the outside and offbalance. Who knows maybe he'll get lucky and catch Ed with a kick to the head a la Mike Zwick.

Kendall's weakness is his ground game, which is ironic considering that he started out training in Jiu-Jitsu. Specifically his defense on the ground that's the problem. His guard isn't the best, I think it could be best described as porus. Porus in the sense that it's easy for someone on top to get off strikes. When someone has a good guard, the opponent will have a tough time doing much of anything let alone mount a decent offensive attack. Why you ask? Well that's because a fighter with a good guard is constantly moving, controlling his opponents arms so he cant throw a decent strike. Or if he doesn't have arm control, he'll grab onto his opponents upperbody. Holding on or hugging the opponents body will not allow the fighter on top to get the proper seperation he needs to throw effective strkes. Long story short, Kendall doesnt do that. The fighter on top usally is able to get off punches or even pass guard.

In his fight with Kalib, he was taken down pretty easily and didn't not defend well against Kalib's strikes. If Ed is able to get Kendall down and keep him there, Kendall could be in for a world of hurt.

Here's the rub. While I do think Ed will be able to take Kendall down in the early rounds, he is going to have a hard time keeping him down there. Look for Kendall to "wall walk" back up to his feet, circle out and start throwing those nasty elbows, knees, and kicks.

Kendall wants to keep Ed in the "scary area" of space that exists between two fighters: where he's close enough to hit Ed but not close enough to be taken down. It's a window composed of time, space, and opportunity where Ed, like all wrestlers, are dangerously exposed to strikes before they can get a clich or takedown.

Anyway you put it, this fight is going to be a war. And I'm going with the upset.





Another fighter versus a brawler match up. Haynes is the classic underdog, a little smaller and a little slower than his oppenent Michael Bisping. But he has a lot of heart and it's easy to root for the guy because there's no quit in the guy. I guarantee you one thing, it's that Josh Haynes will leave it all out there tonight.

Look for Haynes to bullrush Bisping at the start of this one. I think both fighters will be looking to dish out some heavy leather in the begining. Especially Haynes as his odds of winning this fight get worse and worse the longer it goes on. So Haynes will probably throw everything at Bisping in hopes of catching him early and ending it quick.

Bisping is definitely the better athlete of the two. He's got the better stand up and a decent ground game. Though we have yet to see how he holds up against a sustained ground and pound so I really can't say how good his guard is. Quite frankly it really hasn't been tested yet. I think the only area where Bisping has a problem is in his takedown defense. If Haynes can push Bisping up against the cage and work a take down, who knows maybe he'll be able to ground and pound his way to a huge upset win. I do know that his cardio is the stronger of the two, so look for The Count start pouring it on in rounds two and three if he survives Josh's initial flurry. Michael won't have to take the fight to Josh, he can just standback and take his shots if he's smart.

I think if Josh's cardio was a little better this fight would goto a decision. But Josh is really a guy who could stand to lose more weight and in the end I believe thats going to catch up with him.





I heard the winner of this fight gets to take on Sean Sherk for the belt at 155. I don't know if thats a good thing or not. Honestly I think either of these guys will get wrecked by Sean so I'm not expecting too much. To tell you the truth this fight as a main event really doesn't do a whole lot for me. But like I said, the best way to approach these fights is with a wait and see attitude. Just take it all in and hope to be surprised and keep it at that.

This fight in many ways will be a traditional striker versus grappler match up.

Sam Stout is an accomplished kickboxer and sports a 9-1-1 MMA record. He's got fast hands and great cardio. Kenny Florian, another TUF alumnus, is your typical grappler - decent hand but someone who is looking to take it to the ground.

I think Kenny's going to have a hard time taking Stout down. And after repeated failed attempts, Sam will take over in the later rounds and pick apart a tired Florian with strikes.

Well UFC 61 is starting to shape up (I know I haven't even finnished putting up my UFC 60 analysis yet) and it looks to be a pretty interesting card.

Here is the line up for UFC 61 on July 8th so far (Updated June 16th):

Heavyweight Championship
Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski
Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock

Undercard
Cheick Kongo vs Gilbert Aldana
Joe Stevenson vs Yves Edwards
Frank Mir vs. Dan Chrisitenson
Josh Neer vs Josh Burkman
Joe Stevenson vs Yves Edwards
Jim York vs Christian Wellisch
Chiek Kango vs Gilbert Aldana
Drewe Ficket vs Kurt Pellegrino
Jeff Monson vs Anthony Perosh


And while were at it, Zuffa has put up their webpage for UFC 61 already. As of yet there's not much content but you can get some free wallpapers.

UFC 61

The card for the season finale of The Ultimate Fighter 3 on saturday June 24th has been released:

Main Event
Kenny Florian vs. Sam Stout

Light Heavyweight Finals:
Michael Bisping vs. Josh Haynes

Middleweight Finals:
Ed Herman vs. Kendall Grove

Undercard
Keith Jardine vs. Wilson Gouveia
Matt Hamill vs. Jesse Forbes
Kalib Starnes vs. Danny Abaddi
Rory Singer vs. Ross Pointon
Solomon Hutcherson vs. Luigi Fioravanti
Mike Nickels vs. Wes Combs


Am I the only one who's wondering where Tait is?

There will be a public memorial service for Ryan Bennett in California this Saturday (June 10th) at 10am. It will be held at the church where Ryan attended every Sunday.

There will be several family members of Ryan's in attendance, as well as several others who will pay tribute to Ryan.

The service is open to the public, so all are welcome to attend. We will hope to see you there.

The address and directions are located below.

SATURDAY JUNE 10, 10:00AM

Address:
The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
2600 Ramona Road
Atascadero, CA 93422

If you've been following the recent drama surrounding MMA's biggest promotion company and FOX Sports very own Pride Fighting Championships then you probably have seen this comming a mile away....

FUJI Television, one of Japan's largest networks, dropped Pride from it's programming citing that there was a breach of contract between both parties. The people over at Fightopinion.com believe that the termination of the contract between Pride and FUJI TV was due to Pride's alleged Yakuza connections.

What? Pride and The Yakuza? According to Fightopinion.com and a Japanese magazine called Shukan Gendai, Pride has been run and owned by the Yakuza for some time now. What is amazing to me is how little this has been talked about within the MMA community. I mean come on, this is PRIDE we are talking about people! How would you feel if the NFL or the NBA was actually run by the Gambinos?

You have to wonder if Fox Sports will follow FUJI TV and end their relationship Pride as well. Or will the lack of coverage about Pride and their links to oranized crime stateside allow Fox Sports and Pride to fly under the radar with the American viewing public?

Regardless what happens stateside, this is a major blow for the Pride organization which recently lost MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba to K-1. And I guess we wait and see if they get a new TV deal somewhere else or could we be witnessing the final days of Pride?

Check out the whole story at Zach Arnold's awesome website : Fightopinion.com

Thought I would share an article about Brandon Vera from the Washington Post with you guys. All in all the article is pretty positive about MMA and Vera.

But I should warn you guys, this writer's need for the dramatic was downright laughable at some points in the article.

Vera Article