I return..

Sorry to anyone who might actually read this lol, I was extremely busy last week with all the stuff pouring in from the MMA world and because I had the flu! But anyways, no biggie hopefully and my apologies completely to anyone who reads this to keep up to date with the world of MMA. On to the news:

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson was arrested and released on $25,000 bail (posted by Dana White) early last week. The very next day he was picked up again by police, but this time taken into a mental clinic for evaluation. Apperently, he is so bad off mentally right now they have extended the 72 hour initial window for holding a person and Rampage remains in custody of the mental clinic in California. This all started when Jackson hit multiple vehicles and took police on a 5 + minute chase across SoCal. I in no way am "friends" or want to come across looking like I really "know" Quinton Jackson. I have met the man a few times, but in those few occasions I can say this comes as a complete shock. Anyone who has talked to Quinton Jackson the man, not fighter, will tell you he is a very charismatic business man who knows how to promote himself and is very down to earth. He is a father of 4 and is married. Speaking on behalf of myself and many others I want to wish Quinton a quick recovery and we all hope to see him back to himself soon! GOD bless Rampage!

This past weekend was also the UFC and Afflicition showdown! In case you missed it, Dana White put on a free Fight Night Live on Spike to counter the Affliction PPV. What it really boils down to is this... White is a smart business man and wants NO competition. And why would anyone complain? No competition means all the best fighters in the world would be in the UFC, right? Wrong. Dana is a smart business man, and he DOES NOT want competition to rival the success the UFC has grown too. However, its a double-edged sword. You cannot please everyone, and thus weather it be Pride, Elite XC, Strikeforce or Affliction .. there will always be another outlet for fighters to go and get paid and STILL get TV or media exposure, yes Dana.. you've contributed to making the sport so big there will always be competition. And this weekend showed what seems to be on first glance, the UFCs first legitiment competition.

First, UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas, NV. The undercard was decent looking on paper, tons of interesting, if not intriguing, bouts. First up saw Jesse Taylor, the now infamous member of the TUF show to get kicked out due to bad behaviour AFTER the show stopped taping, vs. CB Dolloway, favorite to win the whole show at the beginning but than suffered a semi's loss to Amir Sadallah and than replaced Taylor in the finals and lost a 2nd time to Amir. Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was trying to hard, or maybe it was just Taylor isnt that good?? But Dolloway dominated the fight and eventually choked out Taylor with a Peruvian Necktie (my new favorite name of a submission, taking the place of the Darce choke.) in the 1st rd. For those not familiar with the submission manuever, it basically involves stretching your legs around someone, while securing your fists clinched together underneath the neck of the opponent, than when secured around the neck, use your legs and arms to stretch and lean back thus cutting off the air supply (BJ Penn showed me this once when I asked him to "show me a submission I never have seen before right now; YES this move hurts). Than, Kevin Burns got a cheap win over Anthony Johnson in what was turning out to be a possible fight of the night canidate. Johnson repeatedly recieved thumbs to the eyes over the course of the fight, and than recieved a poke to the eye and while flying back and going to the ground holding his eye a phantom uppercut that missed seemingly to the official Steve Mazzagatti. In fairness to the ref, I didnt even realize it live. I thought "oh he got caught with the uppercut", than on replay I saw clearly what happened. Its a shame and both men went out with class asking the fans forgiveness basically was Burns and said he didnt want to win that way and Johnson urged the fans to not boo Burns and said he would be back, and I will be watching as Anthony Johnson is really turning into a 'cant miss fight' fighter. Cain Velasquez. That's all I need to say.. you want details on his fight with Jake O'Brien? Beatdown. All hail the future heavyweight champion! He is Brock Lesner with MMA skill! He would quite possibly beat Nogueria in my opinion right this second. I don't see a heavyweight out there outside of Couture and Fedor that would touch this kid. Frankie Edgar than took on former 155 lber title contender Hermes Franca, who is coming off a 1 year layoff following a positive steroid test after his title chance against Sean Sherk. Franca was taken down at will, and although attempting a few submission attempts, really took a beating from Edgar. With the fight in the back, late in the 3rd round Franca landed a few shots that really hurt Edgar but he quickly took Franca down to the mat and laid on top to recover for the last few seconds to take a big win. Edgar was destroyed by former TUF fighter Gray Mayner. Edgar proved much stronger than Franca and that really was the difference. If Frankie can learn to cope with fighters stronger than him, he'd really be a great fighter. As is though, he will remain looked at as a decent fighter instead. Than the most disappointing fight of the entire night. Brandon Vera moved down to 205 lbs to take on little known IFL vet Reese Andy. Vera was expected to destroy Andy and be looked at as a real threat for the 205 belt. Instead, he took home a unanamous decision win in a very lackluster, slow, extremely boring fight that left the crowd boo'ing throughout much of it. Vera said in the post -fight interview that the short notice and his first trip down to 205 really made him more tired that usual and that he felt he could do it 'better' next time out. Vera who also in the past was very vocal about his desire to stay at heavyweight started to back down from that approach saying "ill stay here at 205 if thats what the UFC wants". Even though the fight sucked and Vera let a much lesser fighter hang around all night still in my opinion can be great. If he stays at 205 lbs, and really trains for a fight properly should destroy most of that division. Finally it was time for the main event that featured Middleweight king Anderson Silva's move up to 205 lbs (light heavyweight) and face heavy-handed James 'the Sandman' Irvin who was coming off a UFC record 8 second KO over Houston Alexander in his last fight. A lot of people thought Irvin could hang around atleast a round and could potentially test Anderson's jaw. Instead, Silva showed exactly why he is one of the baddest men around KO'ing Irvin in just over a minute with a devastating 1 punch near KO followed by 8-10 shots from the top of Irvin with the last landing under Irvins eye splitting him WIDE open. At this point and time in the evening, Fedor had not fought yet and I was thinking to myself "well, the UFC won tonight already because of that.". You have to understand my standpoint, James Irvin = Chris Leban, with that win or wins, it gave Anderson Silva an instant titleshot. It was that kind of KO by the way for those wondering why the comparison. If Silva wanted, he could ask Dana White to give him a title shot at 205, and he'd get it. His friendship with Lyoto Machida will make him NOT do that, but Dana White could say "Look, fight Griffin in a 'non-title' fight (something like Hughes .vs. Gracie), even if you have to make it a catch weight (204 or 206), it would be the biggest event ever and Griffin has the bravado to want to fight him, im telling you Griffin would fight a freakin 300 lb 7'3 guy without a problem, and REALLY believe he would win. It would make for great stuff, but I dont think it will happen soon. More likely, Silva will drop back to 185 and now fight Patrick Cote in September, October or November (hearing Sept. still). Cote will replace Okami because he broke his hand (chickened out) and wont be able to fight.

Affliction: Banned on PPV
I want to add on free TV Affliction showed 2 fights including the Phenom Vitor Belfort KO win over Terry Martin. Mike Pyle defeated J.J. Ambrose by rear naked choke in the 1st round. Ambrose started out decently enough at in the early seconds, but soon Pyle's experience really showed and he completely dominated in a much one-sided fight for Pyle and a quick win. Fighters at Xtreme Couture, besides his wife, seem to really be doing well recently. Next was Antonio Rogerio Nogueira's stoppage of Edwin DeWees. Edwin DeWeees stinks, he just got murdered by Frank Trigg and Nogueira did the same. It ended in the 1st round by 'referee' stoppage. Basically what they wanted to do was establish names tonight that may not be familiar with the casual MMA fan or strickly UFC fan. Rogerio Nogueira fits this bill. If you watched PRIDE, you would know this man already and if you saw the highlights of Sokodojou's KO of him, you would think he is terrible. Fact is, Nogueira is an elite light heavyweight and is one of the best guys in the world at 205. He was expected to murder Sokodojou but got caught. Next up is another case, Matt Linland took on Fabio Nascimento (not the model). Lindland has fought everywhere so everyone should have seen him atleast once. He's fought everyone including Rampage, and Fedor among others and won a Silver medal at the Olympics. I had never seen Fabio, but he looked good (no pun intended) throughout and really made Lindland earn the win, which he did with his takedowns and ground and pound. He won a unanamous decision and now a possible Belfort-Lindland match can be made at 185 lbs for the next Affliction PPV. The next fight was Renato 'Babalu' Sobral taking on Mike Whitehead in a clash at 205 lbs. The best fight of the night in my opinion feature the 1st and 3rd clearly going to Sobral and the 2nd was actually pretty close, I gave it to Whitehead. But in the end, Sobral won the unanmous decision win. Sobral looked great, and I have always been a fan of his. I think it was kinda bogus Dana fired him for holding that choke when other fighters like BJ Penn did the same thing. It's just how it goes, he held it for a extra 3 seconds and than let it go. But, either way he looked good against a decent 205 lber and gym legend Whitehead, who never seems to fully get it all together when in the ring. At the gym in training he is legendary with his unbelievable sessions and apperent 'wins' over top flight guys. Heard a rumor he KO'd W. Silva but just a rumor. Either way, Whitehead will have to come out and try again at the next Affliction show. It was a good enough fight fans will want to see him again, and Sobral will likely be paired against Nogueira for a belt. Next was Mike Hominick submitting Savant Young via arm bar in the 2nd round. The first round was terribly boring, borderline Vera-Andy, and the 2nd got a bit more exciting actually. Young took Hominick down but Mike tried several submission attempts and Young attempted a huge power bomb that nearly got Hominick but at the last second he let it go and avoiding major impact. On another triangle attempt he converted it to a armbar and got the tap from Young. If the 1st round was like the 2nd round it would have been great. I guess just a case of some nerves and a feeling out process. Either way Hominick looked good and will definitely be back for Afflictions next show. Than came the heavyweights! Up first was Josh Barnett avenging a loss to Pedro Rizzo by devasting KO in the 2nd round. The 1st round was sluggish and a bit boring but the 2nd belonged to Barnett. Josh opened up Rizzo with a right hand and followed with a left hook that dropped Rizzo cold, Barnett pounced on him and landed 2 hammer fists before the red could jump in and stop it officially. Barnett looked amazing with the KO, and is next in line to face (find out who won the main event below) for the title. Someone he has never faced and would make for a HUGE fight main event, even bigger than this last PPV was. Next up was Andrei Arlovski taking on former IFL Heavyweight Champion Ben Rothwell. This was the fight of the night in most peoples opinion. The first round feature back and forth stand up action that saw Arlovski get the better of it slightly, but Rothwell held his own. The 2nd was the best round of the year in my opinion. Arlovski ROCKED Rothwell and had him in trouble and tried to apply a heal hook but Rothwell escaped and started the ground and pound on Arlovski. The ref stood them up for no reason whatsoever, and Arlovski started to dominate on the feet again. In the 3rd it was all Arlovski and he drilled Rothwell with a series of punches and knees and finally KO'd the bigman and set himself up for a future title shot at some point. Rothwell did no damage to his credability either hanging with Arlovski and showing great heart. FINALLY, it was time for the main event of the evening with former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia taking on former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. It would only last :39. Fedor would come out and land a few right hands and than a upper cut that lifted Sylvia off the floor and to the mat where Fedor would take his back immediatly, land a few more shots to the face and than strap on a rear naked choke with his hands and force Sylvia to tap out. At this point in the evening I thought "Ok, maybe the UFC didnt exactly win tonight"! It was an amazing showing for Fedor who now FINALLY must be recognized as the best heavyweight in the world, despite what Dana White will tell you. After the savage beating, Fedor was asked who he'd like the fight next'. He took a long pause, and than smiled and said a few words in Russian and than you could hear it loud and clear "Randy Couture". His official statement "My desire is a fight with Randy Couture". They than had Couture come to the ring and make a statement in which he said it would be his desire to have a fight with Fedor as soon as possible but the courts would have to decide. Currently, the UFC and Randy Couture are awaiting the courts decision on if Couture can get out of his contract come October or if he has to fulfill his 2 fight obligation to the UFC. If the UFC does win this case, I dont know what will happen. Fedor is still technically a Free Agent so to speak, so I would think the UFC would throw huge dollars his way to get him to atleast a 2 fight deal. Fedor is a free lance guy, you have to understand. He has a great desire to fight on New Years eve in Japan and has done so 3 years running. He likes to occasionally fight in his homeland of Russia, did so against Matt Lindland for his match in Bodog fight. He wants a 1 fight deal everytime, but it seems like if he gains your trust, he wont screw the company over and would come back to fight and defend the belt if he held it. I guess ego will have to be put aside but I could see it happening. If the UFC loses the court battle, October will be the date Couture will fight Fedor for Afflictions next PPV and it would be the biggest MMA event ever. If not, Fedor would fight again in Affliction against Josh Barnett most likely. You dont lose on either one. Both fights would be tremendous draws and generate great interest. I couldnt imagine and better second PPV would that match on it, and a possible Tito Ortiz return to shake things up. Id love to see Tito fight Babalu Sobral! I think the move to Affliction would rejevunate Titos career and that matchup would be great.

Just a note to those people out there that non-MMA related, anyone who hasnt seen 'The Dark Knight' needs to get out and see it. It is an amazing movie that I highly recommend. Heath Ledgers performance as the Joker is one of the best acting performances I have ever seen. It not really for kids, but if your 13 and over .. definitely worth the 10 bucks a ticket it cost me.

I need a few more questions for a decent mail bag, so please keep sending them and it will be posted soon. I am back now and will be updating daily if possible so keep your eye out for more!