Bleacher Report - Articles by Prince of eStonia

Get Ready For The Fight: Gina Carano Vs. UFC 100

Prince of eStonia — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:50:22 -0400

In addition to picking a fight with Chris Cyborg over who can submit a TV reporter faster—she has also picked a fight with Dana White over who can draw more attention.

As an industry insider, Loretta Hunt has clearly picked Gina to win by stating: "Gina would single-handedly garner more press and media attention than UFC 100"

Fortunately for all of us MMA fans we have a chance to find out, come this Saturday August 15th, as in addition to scheduled Strikeforce event on Showtime—we have also pleasure to see the UFC 100 replay on Spike TV.

Dana White has clearly heard my cry to see better fights from UFC 100—as the card they show is much improved from what was shown on PPV.

Strikeforce fight card:

Gina “Conviction” Carano (7-0) vs. Cris “Cyborg” (7-1) – 145lb Female Championship Bout

Renato "Babalu" Sobral (35-8) vs. Gegard Mousasi (25-2-1) - Light Heavyweight Championship Bout

Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez (15-2) vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (18-5-1) – Lightweight Interim Championship Bout

Jay "The Thoroughbred" Hieron (17-4) vs. Jesse "JT Money" Taylor (13-3)

and hopefully we will see Mike "Mak" Kyle (12-6-1) vs. Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum (11-4-1) from undercard.

UFC 100 on Spike TV:

265 lbs.: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir

185 lbs.: Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping

185 lbs.: Alan Belcher vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama

205 lbs.: Stephan Bonnar vs. Mark Coleman

155 lbs.: Shannon Gurgerty vs. Matt Grice

205 lbs.: Jon Jones vs. Jake O’Brien

Top 10 MMA Pound-for-Pound Fighters Per Dollar

Prince of eStonia — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:30:42 -0400

To put an end to endless discussion to pound-for-pound lists - I have created a list based on the real value of a fighter - the amount he gets paid which corresponds to the number of butts in the seats. Before we get to the list - I would like to mention a few fighters who did not make the list. Lets start with WEC: fighters like Urijah Faber, Miguel Torres make only around 25K per fight - so they are far far away from top 10. Lyoto Machida only made only 140K in UFC 98 so the Karate Chopper did not make the cut either. And finally Anderson Silva comes in at number 11 based on the Fight Night 14 salary of 200K - so unless he made substiantially more in UFC 101 - he is not making the cut. So lets get ready to see who are the "Real" pound-for-pound kingpins!

Begin Slideshow

UFC Unleashes Din Thomas, Roger Huerta, and Anderson Silva, Sat. PPV

Prince of eStonia — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:33:15 -0400

This is another one of my articles to let the world know how great UFC is, and what a delight it is to have Dana White as the President of the premier MMA organization, which delivers free shows on Spike TV for the whole world to see. Did I say that all those fights below I saw free on Spike TV's UFC Unleashed? Tivo and DVR are MMA fan's best friends.

Din Thomas vs. Jeremy Stephens

Simply amazing fight by Din—this UFC veteran showed us an amazing arm-bar in this fight. Din Thomas' last fight was in the featherweight division on the March Badness Pay Per View, where he showed us a vicious knock-out via flying knee. I've been a fan since. Din Thomas' next fight: this Saturday on Ultimate Chaos MMA Pay Per View.

Roger Huerta vs. John Halverson

There was a little controversy in this fight, as Joe Rogan kept yelling about illegal knees by "El Matador." It clears in the final replay because the knee was to the shoulder of Halverson, which was completely legal. Huerta's next fight: Hollywood movie screen. Good news: Huerta is rumored to face Gray Maynard in September's UFC Fight Night Event and make a run for the BJ Penn's title!

Eric Schafer vs. Rob MacDonald

Eric Schafer is the man who sent Houston Alexander packing from UFC—this is "Ravishing Red's" earlier fight, which sent Rob MacDonald to sleep via arm triangle. Schafer's next fight: TBA

Stephan Bonnar vs. Mike Nickels

The Man best known for his The Ultimate Fighter One Finale fight with Forrest Griffin at his best—I picked Bonnar to win. Beautiful Gracie Jiu-jitsu demonstration—finish with rear naked choke. It's common, but very effective. Bonnar's next fight: UFC 100 against Mark Coleman.

Anderson Silva vs. Nate Marquardt

The year was 2007; and Silva spoke as good English back then as he does now. The difference is: Back then, nobody cared about his English, because he used to brutally knock-out anyone on his path. Silva's next fight: UFC 101 against Forrest Griffin.

Here you go: Five really good, and free, reasons why UFC is the best and we should all thank Dana White!

Since there is no UFC programming on Spike this weekend, we can all go ahead and get our MMA fix by watching the Ultimate Chaos MMA on PPV. Follow me on twitter for the full fight commentary.

Womens MMA: Gina Carano Watch Out: Sarah Kaufman Is a Perfect 10

Prince of eStonia — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:50:44 -0400

If that picture does not say perfect 10, send me a better one! The girl on the right is Sarah Kaufman, who achieved perfect 10-0 MMA record last friday in the Strikeforce Challengers event. She put on a brutal 15-minute beat-down on the challenger, who is left on the picture, Shayna Baszler.

So I was proven wrong in my quest for women's three-minute rounds, but my brother from another mother, Doctor Benjamin, seems to agree with me.

To the credit of "The Queen of Spades," she looked much-improved since her loss to Christiane "Cyborg" Santos. The submission hold she put on Kaufman in Round One was nothing like I had ever seen: This hold, which was taught to her by ex-UFC Heavyweight Champion and Fedor Emelianenko's next opponent, Josh Barnett, would have choked out any lesser opponent. Kaufman powered out of it, despite of turning purple in the face during this process. You can check out the fight video here. That chokehold was definitely a highlight in otherwise lack-luster Strikeforce event.

Other than the women's fight, Strikeforce Challengers was complete garbage compared to any UFC event. The only other notable fight was Luke Rockhold's impressive knock-down and choke-out over the Cory Devela. Even though "The Marine," Tim Kennedy, was impressive as always, it was the referee who took away the glory by letting Tim pound the back of the head of Nick Thompson. That was not a happy fight for "The Goat," as Strikeforce FORCED him to step up a weight class. That would never happen in UFC, where fighters usually step down to fight lesser competition. Each weight class is stacked in UFC, but Strikeforce seems to have a real trouble finding equally-matched opponents in the same weight class.

Finally, there were Jorge Gurgel and Joey Villasenor. Even though "Smokin' Joe" deserved a win over Chris Cyborg's husband, Evangelista Santos, we all expected a highlight reel knockout from him.

Dana's word about Jorge: "Good riddance! Don't expect to see any BJJ from that guy any time soon." Opposite to Gurgel is Lyle Beerbohm, as Mr. "Fancy Pants" uses his stregths to his advantage - see feature story in mmajunkie.com

So here you go, another example why UFC is the best, but keep an eye on Strikeforce women. Sarah Kaufman is sure to challenge the winner of Gina Carano vs. Christiane Santos.

Poor Officiating Taints TUF Finals: Wilks Advances Via Illegal Knee

Prince of eStonia — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:32:18 -0400

Nothing pisses me off more than people who can't do their job right; and lately UFC has been hiring plenty of referees who just plain suck.

I just finished watching Franky Lester vs. James Wilks—and the only thing I have to say is WTF was the referee doing? Half of the knees that landed happened when Lester had one knee down. I might be new to MMA, but isn't it illegal to knee the downed opponent to the head? By "down" I mean any of the four points—knees or elbows—touching ground.

If I'm wrong, pardon my novice ignorance about the sport's rules, but I'm quite sure that there are other referees, also in the UFC who regularly screw up in big ways. Another example being the Cro Crop vs. Al Turk match-up where referee was so stupid that he did not realize the illegal eye poke.

I know what you all are saying: The outcome of both of those fights would not have been different. My whole point of this article is not to take credit away from the winners, but it is to say that the referees who UFC hires SUCK; and by the ref doing shoddy job, they take the glory away from the fighters who really deserve to win.

Keep the fights clean please or bring BIG John McCarthy back!

!!Update!! I watched the fight again and took a picture - and you can clearly see that the last knee was thrown when both his hand and knee touched the ground - I thought ref was going to call a foul - but what do I know - I would have thought this is DQ!!!

So congratulations to the British Team!

New HW King In Town: ALL Hail "Pee Wee" Herman & Bellator Fighting

Prince of eStonia — Sun, 03 May 2009 13:48:27 -0400

Bellator Fighting Championship, broadcast on ESPN Deportes every Saturday evening and also available from their website http://www.bellator.com/ delivered their most exciting and talent-ridden card yet—we saw the favorite Eddie Alvarez to rise to the occasion with his amazing wrestling to control the fight and end it in Round 3 with a rear-naked choke while Jorge Masvidal got choked out by a reverted triangle choke (first time I have ever seen that kind of finish in MMA fight).

So if you haven't seen Bellator fighting yet—I strongly recommend to visit bellator.com coming Wednesday to check out all 8 finishes.

That said, what I really wanted to talk about is the Heavyweight fighter Dave Herman whose nickname happens to be "Pee Wee". But with 14-1 record—all victories coming via vicious stoppages—he is no joke—see the video in the next page from Bellator V - to see what one vicious knee from that guy can do.

But what is most mind-boggling about Dave Herman is that he just started training in MMA gym this year (after his loss to Mu Bae Choi)—all his previous 13 KO/TKO wins have come from pure talent and wrestling background, FiveOuncesOfPain has an extensive interview with him on this topic: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2009/04/30/dave-pee-wee-herman-nobody-ever-showed-me-how/

So that being said—I did see that Dave Herman has learned from his loss, still needs more training on cardio and boxing defense, but once he puts it all together—heavyweights you better watch out for "Pee Wee"—like the saying goes: "Name does not make the man, The Man makes a name for himself"

Hope you liked, page 2 will contain videos from Bellator V, and page 3 will contain highlights from Dave Herman's previous fights, including the destruction of the beast they call Ron Waterman ;)

Video: Dave Herman vs. Josh Barnes

Video: Jorge Masvidal vs. Toby Imada

Video: Eddie Alvarez vs.Eric Reynolds

Video: Dave Herman vs. Ron Waterman

Video: Dave Herman vs James Ferguson

Sengoku: Mu Bae Choi vs. Dave Herman
by mmajunky

Can You Guess Who I Am? (Copycat Edition)

Prince of eStonia — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:08:09 -0400

1) I have twice as many wins by submission as I have by knockout or decision

2) I have fought in UFC nine times and I have victories over two UFC champions from two different weight classes

3) Some of my team members include Gouveia, Kang, Cole Miller, Mike Brown, and Chuck Liddell; I am from Delaware and fight out of Florida

4) I currently fight in a weight class that does not exist in UFC and my last victory was a vicious knockout by a knee on 3/21/2009

5) I have lost to BJ Penn - I was 12-1 at the time, it was BJ's second fight

6) I was featured on Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback

You know the rules and hope you don't mind me copy-cating Mike's idea.

Womens MMA: 5 Minutes, 3 Minutes Or Bikini Fights?

Prince of eStonia — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:53:20 -0400

Last weekend, during the Strikeforce women's MMA fight, the announcers asked an interesting question: Should the women fight the same five-minute rounds as the men?

They are, in fact, trained professionals who should have the full chance to show off their skills.

Even though there has been a lot of talk about the issues with women's MMA (i.e. stars not making weight, how they are portrayed, and who should be the face of MMA), I do not think that the length of the fight should be changed from its current three-minute format in Strikeforce.

Even though women are as skilled as men and train as hard as the the men, there is just something about violence against women that I can't stand, so the less time they have to hurt each other, the better.

On the plus side, shorter rounds tend to make for more action-packed fights, as there is no time to stall, which occurs sometimes in women's fights that go five-minute rounds.

(Side Note: I would also like to take this opportunity to take a swipe at Dana. The foul language used to attack the female journalist regarding her work is only something what a douche clown would do.)

On the other side of the coin in the round length debate is the issue whether or not the three-minute rounds are enough time to finish the opponent. Cyborg was able to finish the fight in the third and final round, which leads me to believe that 9 minutes will not be enough when she fights Gina Carano (it's rumored to take place in August).

I think solution here is to make this a championship match—perhaps WAMMA can throw a nice-looking belt in the cage and then the length of the fight will be 15 minutes:).

The Strikeforce event was quite satisfying for me as an MMA fan. I really liked how they showed fight stats (which UFC does not do). I wouldn't have realized how far behind Scott Smith was if they hadn't show the stat that he landed just 23 shots compared to 171 thrown and landed by Benji Radach.

It was an amazing comeback by Smith's hands of steel. You always have a chance to win, even when far behind in the third round and that's why I love MMA.

Lastly, I do not object to women in bikinis, especially if they have a body for it, but the dress code in the ring should be up to the fighters. It would be nice, however, if they can make weight and show some skin.

So, which direction should the women's MMA go?

If You Want To Watch MMA Tonight: March Badness Is on PPV

Prince of eStonia — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:18:33 -0400

If you read the Bleacher Report MMA section today, you are probably a hardcore MMA fan like me and already know that a new MMA fighting show debuts on pay-per-view, "March Badness."

Even though, any non-UFC show will always take rap about how all the fighters they put on suck (even Affliction/Fedor gets their fair share). I think there are couple of fights that may turn out to be quite good scraps. Considering UFC won't be counter-programming aginst them tonight, March Badness could give you the weekly MMA fix you need.

MMA Fights

265 lbs.: Bobby Lashley (251.5) vs. Jason Guida (232)

This will be fun, watching 250 plus pound beast ripping apart an outcast from The Ultimate Fighter.

265 lbs.: Roy Nelson (262) vs. Jeff Monson (245.75)

This should be quite competitive fight, both guys have been in the ring with the best Roy "Country Boy" Nelson has been in notable fights against Arlovski, Brad Imes & Ben Rothwell.

He's the guy who proves that looks can be deceiving ;)

Jeff "The Snowman" Monson has faced who-is-who in heavyweight division (Ricco Rodriguez, Rizzo, Barnett), including duking out five-round decision for UFC HW title against Tim Sylvia.

145 lbs.: Din Thomas (144.75) vs. Gabe Lemley (144.75)
After his two tough losses in UFC (Florian & Neer), Din is most certainly looking for impressive win here to put together a winning streak

170 lbs.: Dennis Hallman (169) vs. Danny Ruiz (170)

170 lbs.: James Freeman (171.25) vs. John Mowry (176.75)

It sucks that "Kimbo killer" Seth Petruzelli pulled out at the last minute—would have been fun to see him getting his ass kicked by Doug "The Rhino" Marshall

The card also features boxing bouts

Roy Jones Jr. 173.25 lbs. vs. Omar Sheika 175 lbs.
B.J. Flores 199.25 lbs. vs. Jose Luis Herrera 199.25 lbs.
Kieyon Bussey 122.25 lbs. vs. Robert DaLuz 123.5 lbs.
Richmond Dalphone 173.75 lbs. vs. Eric Clinton 173.25 lbs.
Kelvin Price 233.75 lbs. vs. Kevin Howard 280 lbs.

Maybe next time they can get Arlovski & Kimbo Slice for their boxing section. :)

Three Reasons Why B.J. Penn Will Lose to GSP at UFC 94

Prince of eStonia — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:35:07 -0500

It was originally suppose to be titled "10 reasons why Flyin Hawaiin sucks so hard" (thanks for suggestion Mike) - but then I decided to go with my original idea. BTW - it is not a rip-off from Three Reasons Why B.J. Penn Will Beat Georges St. Pierre - I was almost shocked when I saw that my "original idea" had been "stolen" - what a relief that it's the other side of the debate :)

Actually I was about to write this earlier, but each time I started, the progress stopped at cropping the uploaded photo [both at home & work]- so I used stock photo instead

Well, anyways, I hope you guys all watched UFC Primetime this week so y'all know what I am talking about—it was a real treat for GSP fans and gave me three damn good reasons to write this article, so here we go:

1) You do not talk trash to Georges St. Pierre!

Was it just me, or did BJ Penn sounded really stupid right off the bat: "I am ready to die - I will go all the way". W T F is he talking about? There have been no deaths in UFC—who is he going to kill? Himself after the fight?

GSP's response to this trash talk was just priceless: "I have never been insulted this bad in my life." Five stars George for not stooping to BJ's level - afterall - all this trash talk is pure nonsense after the fight is all done & over - it is not the size of the mouth that gets wins for the champions - it's the size of their hearts.

Also - another thing about B.J.'s trash talk makes me wonder - is he trying to overcompensate for something?

2) Good time to take a vacation - Three weeks before the biggest fight of your life!!

I really do not know that much about preparing for a championship MMA match (I've heard that last week you can take a bit easier)—but my best guess is that even if Dana White is pissed off about B.J. Penn being on vacation—it might not be the bestest idea.

3) GSP already took the best BJ had to offer & still came back to win

I know the counter-argument of BJ-huggers - judges were wrong. Well guess what - you can't win a fight by winning just one round - Yes - BJ beat GSP to bloody mess in the 1st round - but that was it - GSP came back & won it - he had heart where a lot of other fighters would have given up.

Which furthermore discredits BJ Penn's trashtalk statement that he will break GSP - he gave his best last time & still could not "break" George - I bet this time he will not even come close to this - as George is clearly much better prepared while BJ is vacationing in the spa with his girlfriend.

Yes, primetime was a real treat as if before seeing it, I had BJ about 20 percent chance winning the fight, now it's five percent. If I were a betting man, I would run out & lay quite a few smackers on GSP.