Bleacher Report - Articles by Josh Nason

TUF 10 Finals: Roy Nelson Vs. Brendan Schaub Set for Saturday

Josh Nason — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:18:03 -0500

While the 10th season of The Ultimate Fighter will forever be known as "The Kimbo Season," former IFL Champion Roy Nelson and young Brendan Schaub will look to make an impression this Saturday when the two fight in the TUF heavyweight finals.

As seen Thursday night during a double-shot of TUF , Nelson crucifixed James McSweeney and bloodied his head in a first-round TKO win, while Schaub took it to Marcus Jones, grounding and knocking him out in a first-round win.

The 33-year-old Nelson (13-4) has been a journeyman since the IFL shut down, an organization where he fought seven times. UFC President Dana White has been vocal on TUF about not being impressed by Nelson until his win over McSweeney, so it will be an interesting situation to see unfold if Nelson can pull off the win Saturday.

Nelson's not the most visually appealing guy, but the thought of having a fighter under White's employ that he publicly doesn't care for? Awesome.

Schaub (4-0) has been competing since June 2008 after retiring from the Arena Football League. In all four wins for regional promotions, he's won via first-round T/KO. He'll be an underdog, but has shown the type of power that can even odds quickly. If he does pull off the win, the UFC will need to put him against similarly experienced fighters for a while until they understand exactly what they have.

Also booked for this Saturday:

> Jon Jones (9-0) vs. Matt Hamill (6-2): One of the most exciting prospects in the 205 division against one of its best stories. I love it! Hamill is coming off a brutal first-round KO of Mark Munoz at UFC 96 in March, while the undefeated Jones last submitted Jake O'Brien at UFC 100. I can't wait to see this.

> Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander: It was surprising to see Kimbo not take up Dana White's opportunity to fight during the Thursday shows, as it almost felt like White was vindicated for all of the trash he used to talk about him.

Regardless, he's giving Slice (3-1) a huge opportunity this Saturday—his first real fight since the Seth Petruzelli loss in October 2008. Alexander (9-4) will be looking to avoid his fourth straight loss in the UFC. Another fun fight to look forward to.

> Marcus Jones vs. Matt Mitrione: While billed as settling a score from the show, Jones was out of line in harassing Mitrione after he unintentionally caused possible career-ending damage to Scott Junk's eye.

Mitrione showed some power in his time on TUF , while Jones—originally thought to be an unstoppable beast—looked bad in his defeat to Schaub. Is this Jones' final fight?

> Frankie Edgar vs. Matt Veach
> Brian Stann vs. Rodney Wallace
> John Howard vs. Dennis Hallman
> Mark Bocek vs. Joe Brammer
> Justin Wren vs. Jon Madsen (TUF )
> Darrill Schoonover vs. James McSweeney (TUF )

Other than Edgar vs. Veach, I'm not sure how many of the undercard bouts are making it to live air. Saturday night should be a lot of fun with some interesting bouts featuring interesting personalities that have a lot on the line. I can't wait!

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio and Mauro Ranallo's The Fight Show . Follow him on Twitter .

Massachusetts Legalizes MMA, UFC Preparing For Late-Summer Event

Josh Nason — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:40:59 -0500

Amidst one of the most embarrassing Patriots defeats in recent memory, a beam of bright freakin' sunshine shone through as Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill legalizing mixed martial arts in the Bay State, clearing the way for the UFC to put Boston in its rotation of major cities for future shows.

For those of us in New England, who have waited and clamored for this moment, it's finally happened and there's no turning back.

Massachusetts becomes the 42nd state to legalize the sport and one of the few major markets left to tackle. While the fight to do the same in New York City, Toronto and Vancouver are going to be a bit more dogged, one of the two major jewels of the Northeast sports scene is now secure.

UFC VP of Regulation and Govt. Affairs Marc Ratner told the Boston Herald Monday night that he has already contacted the TD Garden to confirm previously held dates and said there will likely be an event in Boston in either July or August.

This would seem to contradict previous reports that the UFC would debut at Fenway Park, given the Red Sox will be in full season swing. However, the Red Sox do go on major road trips in July and have three open weekends in August as outside possibilities. But you'd think that for the first event, the threat of rain might be enough to warrant staying inside. A UFC rainout? That would be weird.

Regardless, Monday night marked another major milestone for the sport and a huge step forward for us here in New England that have previously been forced to travel to see a major event. The local promotions will also get a major benefit here as well as the region will get more and more events featuring the stars of tomorrow in more intimate settings.

Despite the Pats, it's a good night after all.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio . Follow him on Twitter .

The Strange Saturday Night of Fighters Junie Browning and Jon Koppenhaver

Josh Nason — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:47:07 -0500

There must have been something in the air Saturday as two of The Ultimate Fighter alums had quite the controversial night; despite being hundreds of miles apart with one not even in competition.

Let's begin with Junie Browning who was featured in the main event for MMA Big Show at the Belterra Casino in Indiana. He easily handled an inexperienced Scott Cornwell (1-1) by submitting him with relative ease via first round triangle at 3:13.

You'll remember Junie as the centerpiece of controversy for the eighth season of TUF: Mir vs. Nogueira, which was focused nearly every week on Browning's bizarre bipolar behavior and the countdown to when he eventually would be kicked off.

While that never happened, UFC Prez Dana White still gave him a chance to compete after the show was completed, once on that season's TUF finale show (a Fight Of The Night win over Dave Kaplan) and this past April on an Ultimate Fight Night event, a submission loss to Cole Miller.

Saturday was to be notable for the 4-1 Browning as it was his first fight since being cut from the UFC in October due to an assault incident in a Nevada hospital.

Browning took too many anti-anxiety pills in an apparent suicide attempt and wasn't too nice to the nurses there upon being admitted.

Quite a guy this Junie Browning is, so much so that he's apparently also still wanted by Nevada authorities for missing his court date for said offense.

Following his victory, the Belterra crowd showed their love by showering Browning with boos. Of course, the 155-pounder wasn't going to let them have the last word. From ProMMA.info:

"Then the microphone was handed to Junie and the arena filled with boos. Junie said, “I try to come out here and put on a show. If you don’t like it, then f*ck ya’ll!” This actually brought out a few cheers. Then Junie had a special message for the ladies. He said, “LADIES, AFTER THIS I WANT TWO LINES, ONE FOR SUCKING, AND ONE FOR F*CKING.” He dropped the mic to the ground and walked out of the cage. The boos were deafening."

Fantastic. Is there any doubt as to how this story will eventually end?

In the second half of our co-main event of strangeness, we have the man now legally known as War Machine, the former Jon Koppenhaver. Since being cut by the UFC in the summer of '08 due to comments about the late Evan Tanner and refusing to take a fight against newcomer Brandon Wolff, Machine has been working the regional circuit and been staying active with a 5-1 post-UFC mark.

He's also been staying quite active on the Internet while doing so and has shown no filters in going after opponents, fighters or people's viewpoints. You'll remember Koppenhaver from the sixth season of TUF, the Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes edition that came in the fall of 2007.

Somewhere along the way, Machine decided he wanted to also work in porn and recently filmed his first scene. How the two correlate for careers is beyond me, but they intersected Saturday night at an adult film get-together where Machine went ballistic.

From porn news/gossip site AdultFYI.com:

"This looked like something out of a bad Vince McMahon script as this guy War Machine went nuts and began taking everyone on at this party," The Vizier says. "We're talking multiple assaults and battery with the cops after him."

"War Machine’s own agent, Derek Hay, looked to be the primary target with a couple of shots to the head. Mika Tan’s Ex was KO’d as well & sent to hospital."

“I never saw anything like it,” continued The Vizier. “War Machine was in kill mode. His fists were lethal weapons. Anyone who tried to get between him and Derek got taken down – hard.”

According to some eyewitness reports sent to Figure 4 Online, Machine took off before the cops got there but it's not clear whether the cops want to talk to him. Machine hasn't exactly been laying low and has been pretty active on his Twitter feed which you can see here in all its glory, complete with interactions from other porn stars who were there.

He is saying now there were five drunk guys in his face giving him grief about something which set him off. I'm sure we'll hear more about this nonsense soon enough.

In a weekend where there were no mainstream events taking place, it's always good to know there is still MMA news being made...positive and negative.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

MMA Newsday: The Hot UFC Middleweight Division, Junie Browning's Return

Josh Nason — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:56:41 -0500

Hope everyone had a great holiday so far and keeps it going through the weekend. It's a light one for MMA today, which is welcome considered the enormous amount of events we've had this month.

Several outlets are reporting that Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping is set for the UFC's debut in Australia, the officially unannounced UFC 110 in February in Sydney.

Bisping (19-2) is coming off a second-round TKO of Denis Kang at UFC 105, while Silva (32-10-1) hasn't fought since losing to Rich Franklin by decision at June's UFC 99, as he's recovering from facial surgery.

The middleweight division has really been ramping up in the past few months, even with the departure of Dan Henderson. With middleweight champion Anderson Silva (hopefully) set to defend against Vitor Belfort at February's UFC 109, the winner will have either the winner of Bisping/Silva or Nate Marquardt/Chael Sonnen to look forward to in the early summer.

Speaking of Henderson, there is still no word on his future. Strikeforce has yet to announce anything and you've got to think Henderson is ready to fight as his last bout was in July.

*****

Heavyweights Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is being planned for either UFC Feb. 6 Las Vegas show or the Australia show mentioned above. The winner will likely be the next in line for a heavyweight title shot, which could end up being an interim title match against Shane Carwin, as there's no update on Brock Lesnar's status.

This fight was originally scheduled for UFC 108 on Jan. 2 but got pushed back due to Nogueira's bout with a staph infection that put him in the hospital.

*****

Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez for the undisputed Strikeforce lightweight title has been added to headline the Dec. 19 Strikeforce card on Showtime. These two have been looking to rematch since July of 2008, when Thomson won a unanimous decision over Melendez for the title. Since then, an interim belt was created, which Melendez won. Follow all that?

The card itself looks really fun with that, Cung Le vs. Scott Smith, Robbie Lawler vs. Benji Radach (rumored), King Mo vs. Mike Whitehead (rumored), and Matt Lindland vs. Jacare Souza.

*****

Junie Browning is back and will headline for MMA Big Show this Saturday at the Belterra Casino Resort in Belterra, Ind., against Scott Cornwell. For those of you not in the area, you can stream the fight for $10 via MMABigShow.com. Fifteen fights in all including Mojo Horne vs. Kevin Barkdull and Chris Bennett vs. Brian Karmolinski.

*****

Wreck MMA on Dec. 12 at the Robert Guertin Arena in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada with Fabio Holanda vs. Sean Pierson, Mark Holst vs. Nabil Khatib, Igor Gracie and more. A portion of the proceeds will go to Solider On, a charity that assists ill or injured Canadian Forces personnel. (Thanks to www.WreckMMA.com.)

*****

So much for a holiday. Brock Larson was cut by the UFC this week after two straight losses. In an interview with MMAJunkie.com, Larson didn't seem upset and said he's had a hard time getting motivated for the last two fights because "the undercards didn't do it" for him. I find that statement to be quite something. If competing for the UFC doesn't do it for a 32-year-old journeyman, why should he expect to get a top draw somewhere else?

*****

Former Zuffa/Strikeforce fighter Jeff Curran will take on Tomohiko Hori on Dec. 5 in Lakemoor, Ill., for XFO. (Thanks to Phil Lanides/www.xfomma.com.)

*****

Plans for the MMA Expo in Philadelphia are coming together, scheduled for January 9-10 at the Valley Forge Convention Center. Xtreme Cage Combat will be putting on a Pro-Am show, along with seminars, exhibitions, etc.

Sean Sherk, Shonie Carter, Kim Couture and Cung Le are already scheduled to be in attendance. For more info, go to Philadelphia.mixedmartialartsexpo.com.

*****

X-1 World Events of Hawaii has agreed to a distribution deal with FightZone TV, a group that airing on Sun Sports in Florida, Sport South in Georgia and other small regional sports networks. (Thanks to Phil Lanides, x1events.com and fightzone.tv.)

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

UFC 106: Recap, Bonuses, Analysis and What's Next

Josh Nason — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:13:01 -0500

Even I was a bit impressed last night at the drawing power of Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin in my little part of the world here in Manchester, NH.

The bar we go to for all UFC ppvs (the awesome MMA-friendly Murphy's Taproom ) was packed last night for UFC 106 and into almost every fight of the night with the exception of Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann.

From Amir Sadollah's Muay Thai clinch clinic on Phil Baroni to the slow motion of Josh Koscheck's finger going in Anthony Johnson's eye, they were transfixed.

And then there was the main event. People cheered for Tito Ortiz and loved Forrest Griffin. They were into this fight like it was five years ago when Ortiz was near the top of his game and when it was all over, most were surprised at the split decision victory for Griffin. 30-27 score? What?

The reason I tell this story is that when I looked around the room, it became apparent that no matter how much guys like myself may complain about the amount of shows and the lack of stars right now on these events due to injury and an overload of cards to fill, it doesn't matter.

UFC is king and the people Saturday night didn't care that Ortiz had been an afterthought in MMA for almost two years. He was a star from the past and they were into it. If that happened here in small New Hampshire, I'm betting it was pretty representative around the country as well.

Forrest Griffin def. Tito Ortiz by split decision

I need to watch the fight again, but at first blush, I thought Ortiz had won 29-28. I was surprised, but not floored by the decision which just seemed to fit given what happened in their first fight. (Of course, they need a 3rd one, right? Almost too good to be true.) Griffin looked good in the win which helped soothe the embarrassment of his loss to Anderson Silva in August and put a positive end to his 2009.

Ortiz is still an interesting draw, but I thought the complaining at the end about his neck and "cracked skull" just came off as desperate and excuse-driven. In the post-game press conference, Ortiz held court and said multiple times that he was robbed.

Surprisingly, he was very emotional and said his career was in Dana White's hands. He's a welcome addition to the star-starved light heavyweight division, but the jury is still out as whether he'll ultimately be relevant in this latest go-round.

And the suggestion from the post-game presser about Ortiz and Griffin being coaches for the 11th season of The Ultimate Fighter? That sounds great to me, but I think the impending GSP vs. Dan Hardy fight could use it a bit more. Ortiz vs. Griffin III will sell just fine, but people need a reason to believe Hardy has a chance...any reason at all.

Josh Koscheck def. Anthony Johnson by second round submission

What a weird fight. Between the phantom knee/eye poke on Kosheck to Johnson ironically getting eye gouged twice, this fight was just two rounds but felt like it took about 45 minutes.

Koscheck did exactly what I expected in taking the young Johnson to the ground and making him think about something other than his fists. Good win by Koscheck who earned both Submission Of The Night and Fight Of The Night honors (good for an extra $140k) and has become the UFC's most reliable ironman this fall.

But has Koscheck earned a title shot? Ehhhh, I'm not so sure. Johnson's not a top contender yet and Koscheck can't seem to put a long win streak together. I love the fact he called out Hardy which sets up a fun fight between them down the road, but I need to see Koscheck really beat down a top 10 fighter before I would say he's next in line for GSP.

For Johnson, he's got plenty of time to get better. This was a big jump in competition, so his next fight is going to be important. There was a lot of pressure here, but I like "Rumble" a lot. He's a flashy and fun fighter to watch, so I hope he continues to progress. Losses matter, but this isn't a career killer by any stretch.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira def. Luiz Cane by first-round TKO

Lil' Nog looked great and hopefully will be a shot in the arm in the 205 division. Cane looked overmatched and overwhelmed against Nogueira, who has transitioned as of late into a TKO machine despite having great submission skills. Cane is far from a top 205'er, but I liked what I saw Saturday out of Lil' Nog and am really interested to see who's next in line for him.

He also earned $70k for Knockout Of The Night.

Paulo Thiago def. Jacob Volkmann by unanimous decision

Volkmann looked terrified at the start of the fight as this was his first shot in the big time. Of the televised event, this was the fight that got over the least with the crowd I watched with, even with an entertaining third round. Thiago got back on the winning side of the ledger after suffering his first career loss at UFC 100, but he's not a contender for the 170-pound title just yet.

Amir Sadollah def. Phil Baroni by unanimous decision

Just a pure battering of Baroni, who physically looked great but was absolutely gassed after the first round. I'm not sure why the UFC decided Baroni was worth bringing back, but Sadollah took advantage of the situation. He's still quite inexperienced, but looked the part in devastating Baroni in the clinch with knees that had the crowd cringing with each hard connection.

Maybe Baroni has one more fight left in him, but there is a pattern in him not having the cardio to excel in 15 minutes of action. Gotta give it to him though...he was swinging for the fences until the end.

Ben Saunders def. Marcus Davis via first round KO

I'm becoming a big Saunders fan as his height and wingspan give him a huge advantage in the division. UFC has a great prospect here and need to be smart with his opponents so they don't burn out the candle. Sadly, I'm also a Davis fan and he got decimated. He's lost two straight and this was his first loss by KO in his career. At 36 years old, you have to wonder if one more loss will be enough for the UFC to call it good.

Kendall Grove def. Jake Rosholt via first round submission

This could have earned Submission Of The Night as well. It's hard to figure out Grove who has gone into the 'win a few, lose a few' mode the past two years. This is a bad loss for Rosholt who tapped out really quickly after being caught in the triangle from the ground.

Did you know he beat Chris Leben in August? That seems like a very long time ago now. The UFC is a lot different than the WEC and Rosholt is getting a crash course in just how much.

Brian Foster def. Brock Larson via second round submission

This was another weird fight with Larson losing two points in the first round due to a kick to a grounded opponent (both were separated and Larson kicked him in the face as he attempted to get up) and a knee while Foster had three points on the ground (how was Larson supposed to see Foster's hand touching the mat?). Foster poured it on in the second and looked good in doing so. Larson's lost two in a row...not good.

George Sotiropoulos def. Jason Dent via second round submission

Sotiropoulos looked good in working over Dent, who also made a nice showing here. He's not very TV friendly in terms of what some look for in a fighter, but he's also a good opponent for guys on the way up. If he can put some wins together, who knows?

Caol Uno and Fabricio Camoes drew

The only fight that didn't make TV. What a surprise. I didn't see this, but I can only imagine the excitement.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio . Follow him on Twitter.

UFC 106: The Five Bullet Point Preview

Josh Nason — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:59:07 -0500

Good lord, there's a lot of mixed martial arts going on right now. The fourth and arguably biggest show of the week is set for Las Vegas Saturday night with UFC 106: Ortiz vs. Griffin II, headlined by a main event that features the return of a former champion most thought would never come back against a former champion that needs a big win in the worst way possible.

Originally scheduled to be headlined by Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, there could be worse main events for UFC 106 than Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin II and as both men are being introduced, suddenly no one will care about what could have been and will focus on what's in front of them.

With a win, Ortiz can erase his period of inactivity and stake a claim for a future shot at the Light-Heavyweight title. With a loss, he can simply say that it was his first fight back from a major injury and that he'll be better next time—the ultimate no-lose situation.

Griffin, however, needs a win, badly, coming off two straight losses to Rashad Evans (where he lost his L.H. title) and Anderson Silva (an embarrassing and overwhelming KO defeat). He wouldn't be in danger of getting cut like most fighters with three losses, but it would become that much harder to justify putting him among the top 205'ers in the division—fanfare or not.

However, a victory gets him back on track for another high-profile fight in the late-spring.

Let's jump into the UFC 106 Five Bullet Point Preview, shall we?

Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin (205)

After fighting four times along in 2006, Ortiz (15-6-1) has stepped into the Octagon just twice in the last three years and hasn't won since KO'ing Ken Shamrock in October of 2006.
After a unanimous decision over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 25 gave him the Light-Heavyweight title, Ortiz defended the title a record five times over almost three years before dropping it to Randy Couture at UFC 44.
The 30-year-old Griffin has never lost by submission, but Ortiz has only two submission victories to his credit.
When Griffin (16-6) wins fights, it's either by submission (7) or decision (6).
This fight ultimately will come down to the big unknown of Ortiz. While he's touting that the back surgery he had last year has made him a new man, there's a lot of ring rust to be scraped off—even for a veteran. Griffin last fought in August and is ready for redemption. This should be a very good fight that will go the distance.

Anthony Johnson vs. Josh Koscheck (170)

Necessity is the mother of fight-making, as this one literally was put together about three weeks ago. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
Johnson's last fight was a :41 knockout of Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 104 last month, the same fight he completely missed weight for by a good six pounds. It was his third straight win.
Koscheck (13-4) has had a little more time to rest, having last decimated Frank Trigg via first round TKO at UFC 104 in late-September.
The 31-year-old Koscheck can beat people in a variety of ways (4 T/KOs, 4 submissions, 5 decisions) but has two straight first round T/KOs.
The 8-2 Johnson likes to win via one method: T/KO. His first loss was via submission, so it will be really interesting to see what happens when Koscheck attempts to ground the fight and how Johnson counteracts.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Luiz Cane (205)

Rogerio is the younger brother of Rodrigo Nogueira, aka Minotauro. His nickname is Minotouro which isn't confusing or anything.
Rogerio (17-3) will be making his UFC debut after a long run in PRIDE and some scattered shows including two Affliction events. He comes into Saturday on a five-fight win streak.
The 28-year-old Cane will be making his fourth UFC appearance and has won three fights in a row, last decisioning Steve Cantwell at April's UFC 97.
Even with a black belt in BJJ, Cane prefers T/KO to finish off opponents with eight of his 10 wins coming via strikes.
Nogueira has a slew of decision wins (seven) and submission victories (six), but three of his last five wins have been via T/KO.

Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni (170)

This will be the third fight for Sadollah (1-1), who last lost via controversial first round TKO to Johnny Hendricks at August's UFC 101.
The 29-year-old Sadollah is still a bit of an unknown with just two pro fights and four amateur fights. Since winning TUF 7, he's been plagued by injuries and the Hendricks fight was his first since winning the competition.
This will mark Baroni's return to the UFC—his first tilt in the Octagon since February 2005 when he left the organization after a four-fight losing streak.
The 33-year old Baroni has been known more for his mouth and slugfests than any type of win streaks as he brings a 13-11 mark to the cage Saturday night. He has won three of his last four, last losing by decision to Joe Riggs at a Strikeforce event this summer.
When Baroni wins, it's by TKO and when he loses, it's either by TKO or decision. He doesn't give up, which will make this an interesting clash of style. Sadollah is a black belt in sambo and a white belt in BJJ, so I would assume he'd look to take this down to the ground.

Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann (170)

After starting his career at 11-0, Thiago finally tasted defeat in his last fight—a decision loss to Jon Fitch at UFC 100 (a fight that was actually after Lesnar/Mir due to scheduling).
Volkmann makes his UFC debut after compiling a 9-0 record in the regionals, last winning via 1st round submission in May for Bellator Fighting Championships.
Thiago made his UFC debut by TKO'ing Josh Koscheck in the first round at UFC 95, fighting solely in Brazil before that.
This fight will likely be two guys battling for submissions as they have a combined 12 tapout wins out of 20 victories.
Watch for a fast start from Volkmann, who has six first-round wins to his credit.

UFC Newsday: Weigh-in Report, Dana White QA, New Upcoming Fights

Josh Nason — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:53:17 -0500

No major stories coming out of the Friday weigh-ins for UFC 106 today in Las Vegas. Everyone made weight (even Phil Baroni who was rumored to be 20 pounds too heavy earlier this week) and there were no noteworthy shoving incidents or throwdowns. These guys are too professional these days!

In looking over the card, this should be a decent show but the top two matches are really going to make or break this one:

PPV Card

Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson
"Minotoro" Nogueira vs. Luis Cane
Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni
Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann

Spike TV Pre-Show

Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt
Ben Saunders vs. Marcus Davis (I'm surprised this wasn't bumped to the PPV. I'd rather pay to see this than Thiago vs. Volkmann.)

Non-Televised

George Sotiropolous vs. Jason Dent
Caol Uno vs. Fabricio Comoes
Brock Larson vs. Brian Foster

*****

Dana White and Cain Velasquez were at the pre weigh-in Fight Club Q & A session today. Here are some highlights:

- Brock Lesnar is going to Mayo Clinic soon. 'He's very, very sick." (Note that Lesnar's camp posted a video earlier today that makes it seem like we haven't seen the last of him. I'd bet on that.

- Some asked when the UFC will sign Fedor. (Are you serious? Aren't we past this yet? Holy shit!). White said it takes two to make a deal and that they made a respectable offer that was turned down. He joked he wants 'that bald little fat guy over here' which apparently riles up the Fedor fans.

- He was asked about creating a Super Heavyweight Division, but said that really came up when Randy Couture was fighting heavyweight. but that Randy belongs at 205. He said all the guys at heavyweight (Cheick Kongo, Lesnar, Velasquez) are real heavyweights so there's no need to create another division.

- Said of Karo Parisyan that he's got a lot of problems emotionally and physically and needs to take care of his personal life for a while. He mentioned he's been unprofessional and unforgivable the last three fights. He likes him, but he hasn't been the old Karo for a long time.

- He was asked about Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes. Mentioned that Matt is fighting soon, probably in early '10. Said that Chuck and he haven't got to talking about his future and that Liddell has got one more finale dance for Dancing With The Stars and that after that, they will talk. (So much for Liddell definitely not fighting anymore...why did we ever think otherwise?)

- Was asked about adding a bantamweight and featherweight division. White said he always get asked by the media about it and that they've talked about it internally, but there are considerations with Versus and their contract with WEC. Coincidentally, White said they WEC inked a new deal with Versus Friday, but no details were given.

- On Rashad/Rampage: if Rashad makes it out of January's fight with Thiago Silva, we'll see Rashad vs. Rampage after that. He didn't trash talk Rampage at all, so something's getting done behind the scenes - a change of pace from his tone last week.

- Was asked about a women's division. He said his hesitation is that there are not enough good girls to fill out the division, a problem he sees is the same with women's boxing in that there are three or four that are good and a lot that aren't. He said that until the talent is more equal, he's not into doing it. He joked that maybe they should put guys and girls in the TUF house together but that would have to be on HBO.

- On the scoring for Couture/Vera, he said he was sitting with Vera's wife and when she asked about what he thought, he felt Couture was going to get the decision which Lorenzo Fertitta and Joe Silva disagreed with. He reiterated what he tells fighters: don't leave it in the judges' hands, do enough to win, be aggressive.

- When asked if he'd be a character in another UFC video game, he said he had no interest and that they wanted to keep the game as realistic as possible. Someone yelled that he could fight Tito Ortiz and he joked that they were friends now.

AOL Fanhouse posted a nine-minute excerpt here.

*****

There was some concern today when it was heard that main announcer Mike Goldberg went to the hospital today and couldn't work the Fight Club Q/A session. What was the problem? Could he work Saturday night? What if he couldn't?

Well, Goldberg is fine and Twittered that "The story of my demise has been overly exaggerated...I am sick from UK trip...Doc Stile gave me an IV...I'm going to sleep and will be ready".

I wonder if he couldn't go, who is the play-by-play backup?

*****

Not sure why Strikeforce put on a Challengers event Friday night considering the mass amount of UFC/WEC this week, but we'll get back to them Monday including a look at the event calendar they just released.

*****

MMA Weekly reported that Nate Marquardt's next fight will be against Chael Sonnen at February's UFC 109 in Las Vegas. As Anderson Silva is rumored to be defending the Middleweight title against Vitor Belfort in the first quarter of '09, Marquardt has to be the next guy in line for a shot if he can dispatch Sonnen. I guess we'll have to wait for a Marquardt/Mike Bisping fight until sometime in '10 but I gotta imagine that's coming.

They also quoted White as saying Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre's impending return vs. Dan Hardy will likely take place in Las Vegas. No date has been given.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

WEC 44 Results: Jose Aldo Stuns Mike Brown To Win Featherweight Title

Josh Nason — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:45:09 -0500

Jose Aldo made it look easy in dispatching of WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown at WEC 44 Wednesday night, winning the title via second round TKO after getting Brown's back and unloading punches until the referee stopped the fight.

Simply put, Aldo was dominant and didn't let the champion get comfortable in the first round, aggressively striking and throwing his signature flying knee. There was no controversy in the stop as Brown looked overmatched.

Jose Aldo has officially arrived, and I am looking forward to his first defense of the gold, which I assume to be against Urijah Faber in the spring.

Here's how the whole card broke down:

Jose Aldo def. Mike Brown by second round TKO (1:20) to win WEC Featherweight Title

Maybe the key is to make no eye contact before the fight as Aldo stared at the ground during the mid-ring touch-up. He pressed the action early with leg kicks and punches. I guess it was a bad sign early that Brown—a wrestling stud—couldn't take Aldo down.

Brown began to look more comfortable near the end of the round and threw some straight kicks to the gut, but Aldo still won the round, 10-9.

In the second round, Aldo grounded Brown and eventually mounted him. Brown uncharacteristically gave Aldo his back and it was game over. Aldo started throwing hard punches to the side of Brown's head while sneaking in some to the face with no response or real defense.

Shocking? Yes. But Aldo is good...really good. Post-fight, Brown looked beaten, swollen with some blood from his nose.

The crowd just sat on their hands when Aldo won. I don't know if the Vegas crowd at the Palms was just that bad or big Mike Brown fans, but they couldn't have cared less about the Aldo victory.

Manny Gamburyan def. Leonard Garcia by unanimous decision

Good fight, but how did one judge give all three rounds to Gamburyan? Two judges had it 29-28 for Manny.

First: MG seems perfect for the WEC...both guys looks in great shape. A low blow got Garcia a bit pissed, but the announcers made a good point that MG is 5'5"so knee strikes are risky for him. Garcia's height and reach advantage is definitely working in his advantage. He seems calm and confident.

Second: MG got Garcia down late in the round and landed some punches and attempted a guillotine. Garcia got up but I think MG stole the round with another takedown and some standing punches to end the round.

Third: At one point, Garcia stood with his arms down and was looking for Manny to hit him, which he did but didn't tag him that hard. Man, Garcia is intense. MG got the takedown around the 2:25 mark and capitalized. Manny's ground game is taking over as Garcia is trapped. Nice win.

Karen Darabedyan def. Rob McCullough by split decision

This was a great fight that featured a second round that was outstanding. McCullough was hyper-active in the first round and Darabedyan was content to just wait and then strike with precision the last 90 seconds, opening up a cut on McCullough's nose, winning the round.

The second round was just plain awesome. Darabedyan landed some nasty elbows in one of the few times the fight went to the ground, but McCullough was able to open a cut under his right eye. Most of the round was both guys trading and connecting with hard punches that kept finding their mark. Just awesome!

In the third, there was action but no real damage done. Both guys seemed content to keep it a stand-up war with 90 percent punches and 10 percent kicks. The third seemed like each guy was afraid to make THE one big mistake.

KD earned the split decision, but it could have gone either way. Scores were 30-27 KD, 30-27 RM and 29-28 KD.

Shane Roller defeated Danny Castillo via third round submission (1:26)

Decent fight that was very competitive. Roller got the mount in the second round and was laying in punches but Castillo survived with good defense, not giving Roller his face or ears. Roller got Castillo's back in the third and sunk in a guillotine choke. Castillo held on for a while, but eventually had to tap.

Kamal Shalorus def. Will Kerr via first round TKO (1:26)

Shalorus was dominant in his beatdown of Kerr, opening up a nasty gash under his right eye. The end came when Shalorus connected with an overhand right and landed a left hook that was enough for ref Steve Mazzagatti to end the fight. Both men were making their WEC debut.

MMA Newsday: Lesnar Update, Couture-Coleman, Overlooked Brown-Aldo Fight

Josh Nason — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:26:12 -0500

Are you ready for another MMA event?

What? You didn't know WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown was fighting Jose Aldo Wednesday night? More on this in a few minutes.

The biggest news story in MMA—UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar's health— didn't have any real juicy layers added today. The latest update is that Lesnar had minor surgery this week to help resolve a bacterial infection in his intestines.

This may or may not be the medical issue that could cause Lesnar's career to end prematurely, but as of right now, everyone is still staying pretty quiet.

There is obviously no timetable for his return or announcement of a retirement until he gets better—the key component being the definition of "better" in this situation. This couldn't come at a worse time for the UFC, as they have a ton of events in 2010 and their biggest PPV draw may have to call it quits.

With this, the Rampage Jackson situation, and the rest of the top draws resting from injuries and surgeries, the world's largest MMA organization is facing something they haven't had to deal with in quite some time—adversity.

If Lesnar was to hang it up, it would be a huge blow.

But there's something telling me that we haven't seen the last of the Minnesota mauler in the Octagon. Not by a long shot. It just will probably be a while.

No word on whether we're getting an interim heavyweight champion, but it's being considered. I'd find it hard to believe that we won't see Cain Velasquez vs. Shane Carwin for the gold sometime in the spring.

*****
Who wants a legends match? According to Sherdog , fans will get to "enjoy" hall-of-famers Randy Couture and Mark Coleman doing battle against each other in a 205 tilt at February's UFC 109 in Las Vegas. Ugh. The combined ages here? 90. Seriously, what is going on here?

*****
I read this column by Five Ounces of Pain's Cory Brady with the opinion that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski is a hot free agent right now for either the UFC or Strikeforce. I love 5 Oz., but no, he's not.

*****
Finally, there is the odd case of WEC 44 taking place Wednesday night, an ill-timed card considering the massive amount of MMA we have in November. Normally, Featherweight Champion Mike Brown vs. the exciting Jose Aldo would be a big deal, but it's nearly completely lost other than for the hardcores.

There was ZERO promotion for this during last week's UFC 105, and overall it got lost in the shuffle which is a damn shame. (I guess this Saturday's UFC 106 is more important in the long run, but maybe putting three freaking shows on in one week is a little overkill, no?)

Your card for tomorrow night, previewed in full by my bud E. Spencer Kyte at Keyboard Kimura:

- Featherweight Champion Mike Brown vs. Jose Aldo: I see Brown winning this in the 3rd via TKO. Aldo is awesome, but he's not at the Urijah Faber level yet and Brown handled Faber not once, but twice. Aldo vs. Faber? Now THAT would be fun.

- Leonard Garcia vs. Manny Gamburyan: This is an interesting one as Gamburyan is coming off a successful unanimous decision WEC debut win in June and is looking to throw his name in the hat for a title shot down the road, while Garcia is coming off a split decision win in August, one fight removed from his destruction at the hands of Brown.

- Rob McCullough vs. Karen Darabedyan: Darabedyan is riding a six-fight win streak and will make his WEC debut against the suddenly blase McCullough who is 2-2 in his last four. I'm not sure what to make of the "Razor" anymore, but Wednesday night will tell a lot.

- Danny Castillo vs. Shane Roller: The 8-1 Castillo takes on the 6-2 Roller in what should be a fun fight. Both can finish in a variety of ways, but this is a coin flip. Castillo has won three in a row.

There are also six matches on the undercard, so expect to see some bonus action if the four main fights go quickly. I just wish this and the December WEC card were combined and taking place next month as Brown/Aldo deserves better. Here's hoping they put on a memorable performance!

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling, and boxing blog Ropes, Ring, and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio . Follow him on Twitter .

UFC 105: Recap, Analysis, Looking Ahead to What's Next for Couture

Josh Nason — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:39:44 -0500

There were plenty of new story lines coming out of UFC 105 as two men seemingly earned title shots while another doesn't seem to have a logical next fight after his victory.

Saturday's event from Manchester, England, was full of great action featuring Randy Couture seeking out a decision win over Brandon Vera, Dan Hardy decisively defeating Mike Swick, and an undercard full of knockouts.

Randy Couture def. Brandon Vera by unanimous decision

The night's main attraction was great for those who love grappling against the cage, but overall Couture against Vera was in the middle in terms of excitement. The majority of the action early on was Couture pressing Vera up against the cage looking for a takedown, evolving into whether he could survive Vera's kicks when the action pushed to the middle of the Octagon.

Couture earned the decision by controlling Vera for the first round, and doing just enough in the third. Vera easily took the second round through powerful kicks, including a sequence where he connected on a body kick to the ribs, hit a punch, and threw a knee that knocked Couture down midway through the round. Vera attempted to finish, but wasn't fast enough, and seemingly didn't have enough energy to finish the attack.

In the third, Couture attempted to keep it close while Vera was seeking separation to land more kicks. Couture was fine to exchange, but Vera was getting the best of them, taking advantage of multiple referee separations all night. This was probably as even a round as you could get, and if Vera had got the duke, Couture wouldn't have had much to complain about. All judges scored the bout 29-28.

Upon hearing the decision, Vera simply walked out of the cage and sat dejected on the outside, failing to immediately acknowledge Couture. To me, that was disappointing as Vera was impressive in defeat, but still manages to revert back to this bizarre attitude at the worst possible time.

What's next for Couture? I'm not sure. I don't think he earned a title match against Lyoto Machida with the win that honestly felt inconsequential in the grand scheme of the light heavyweight division. Would it make sense to put him against the winner of Rashad Evans against Thiago Silva? What about a bout with Wanderlei Silva at 205? Rich Franklin at 205? There's no obvious next opponent or next step here.

Dan Hardy def. Mike Swick by unanimous decision

Hardy was good, but not dominant in defeating Swick via unanimous decision. Hardy simply hit harder and took advantage when in the position to do so. He's a big welterweight, and was more filled out than Swick.

The first round featured a lot of cage grappling with a few exchanges, and as the fight wore on, Hardy's shots began to hurt Swick. Hardy had him grounded in the third, and was hitting some hard elbows, opening up a cut on the side of Swick's head, which you don't see that often.

Two judges scored the fight 30-27 with another at 29-28.

With the win, Hardy earns a shot at Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre (who was in attendance) sometime in 2010. There was nothing that Hardy showed me here that makes me think he's got a prayer against GSP.

Michael Bisping def. Denis Kang by second round TKO (4:24)

"The Count" used a second-round assault to get the win over the veteran Kang that has to put him in line for a title shot in 2010. After being dominated on the ground by Kang in the first round, Bisping took Kang down in the second and used impressive ground-and-pound to bloody up Kang's nose and eye.

Kang continued to try to get up, but Bisping made him pay every time with more punches. Bisping kept taking him down at will, and unloaded a final assault of punches and knees to the body that forced the ref to stop it.

For Bisping, I'd like to think he's earned a shot at the Middleweight title, but that may not come until next summer depending on when Anderson Silva next defends the gold. Perhaps a No. 1 contender's match against Nate Marquardt? As far as Kang goes, he's lost two of his last three, and four of his last seven. It was worth a shot, but Kang's run in the UFC should probably come to an end.

Ross Pearson def. Aaron Riley via second round TKO (4:38)

Pearson came out firing in an impressive first round in what was an all-out assault with kicks, knees, and punches. It was more of the same in the second when Pearson effectively ended the fight with a flying knee that busted Riley's nose badly, opening up a gusher. It couldn't have been a better "official" UFC debut for the TUF winner who decimated a veteran in short order. Expect to see a lot more of Pearson on UK cards in the future.

Matt Brown def. James Wilks via third round TKO (2:27)

The polar opposite of Pearson, Wilks did not impress in his first fight since winning TUF. Early on, it was all grappling against the cage with submission specialist Wilks looking for takedowns. However, Brown was up to the task, and defended. In the second round, Brown caught Wilks with a flying knee that dropped him, but Brown didn't let his hands go to finish him off.

Wilks showed great presence even when dazed, tying up Brown with various leg locks and counters when he was on Dream Street. The end came in the third when Wilks almost finished Brown with a nice kimura, but his flexible opponent worked his way out of it, and eventually got full mount. Still dazed from the knee in the second, Wilks succumbed to Brown's punches, and rolled over after being beaten in the face, good enough for the ref to stop the fight. Great performance by Brown ( third straight win), and tough defeat for Wilks.

Andre Winner def. Rolando Delgado via first round KO (3:22)

Winner was connecting early and hurting Delgado with his hands, and then landed a nasty overhand right that put him out quickly. He landed a few extra punches afterward as the ref was horribly out of position for the stoppage. Impressive UFC debut by Winner, another sure-fire star on future UK cards.

Alexander Gustafsson defeated Jared Hamman by first round KO (:41)

Off a break for an accidental finger to the eye, they touched gloves and Gustafsson unleashed a straight right that dropped Hamman. After a few follow up punches, the ref stopped it. Impressive, quick win by Gustafsson (9-0) in his UFC debut.

Bonuses/Notes/Thoughts

Michael Bisping and Denis Kang each won $40k for Fight Of The Night.
Terry Etim earned Submission Of The Night honors with his second round guillotine choke victory over Shannon Gugerty, taking $40k for the effort.
Dennis Siver won the competitive Knockout Of The Night with a spin kick to the midsection of Paul Kelly and picked up $40k.
Why couldn't Mike Goldberg just read the Spike promos live during the event like he usually does? The post-production audio didn't match anything and sounded awkward.
Overall, it was a nice tight three-hour show with plenty of action from the main card and a few quick undercard bouts. I would have liked to see a few of the ring entrances, but it didn't take too much away from the show.

Strikeforce: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers: The Five Bullet-Point Preview

Josh Nason — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:13:40 -0500

As we're on the doorstep of Strikeforce's return to network TV with tonight's CBS Saturday Night Fights featuring Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers, it's time for the Five Bullet Point Preview.

We'll look at the three main bouts on the card and add some opinion, along with the facts: five bullet points per fight.

To listen to my chat with The Fight Network's John Pollock about this event, click here .

Are you ready for Fedor on national TV? Are you ready for free MMA? Are you ready to read? Enjoy the Fedor vs. Rogers: The Five Bullet Point Preview!

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers

- This marks a big step up in competition for Brett Rogers, almost too much if you look at the numbers. Can he overcome it like he did with Andrei Arlovski or fall prey to that which is Fedor?

- How is Fedor going to resonate with the U.S. audience—both in arena and on TV? He's lacking that instant 'star' charisma, but could a resounding victory help overcome that.

- Win or lose, Fedor needs marketable challengers. Bobby Lashley? Fabricio Werdum? Uhhh...who else? These Strikeforce rosters still need depth.

- The best case scenario for Strikeforce: This is a fun slugfest that goes three rounds with a decisive winner by KO. Worst case: Fedor wins relatively easily and doesn't get over.

- Interesting fact: Fedor (30-1-1) has only fought twice in the last two years, while Rogers (10-0) has fought twice in 2009 alone.

Middleweight Title: Jake Shields vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller

- Amidst the buzz for Fedor/Rogers, this fight is being overlooked which is a damn shame. A great fight here would do wonders for the promotion.

- Is Miller more of a MTV figure than a fighter? What do we really know about him? One thing: he's a talented submission artist as 13 of his 22 wins have come via tapout.

- Shields (23-4-1) hasn't lost since 2004 and brings a 12-fight win streak into Saturday night.

- Shields hasn't gone past the second round in his last eight and has submitted four guys in a row.

- This will be a five-round fight for the vacant Middleweight title, which Cung Le hadn't defended since March 2008. Le will return to action in December against Scott Smith, so perhaps we could see Le vs. the Shields/Miller winner in the spring of 2010.

Gegard Mousasi vs. Rameau Theirry Sokoudjou

- The 24-year-old Mousasi is the Light-Heavyweight Champion, but the title won't be on the line.

- Mousasi hasn't lost since 2006 and has a 13-fight winning streak coming into Saturday. Is the next great thing at 205?

- The 25-year-old Sokoudjou continues to be somewhat of a mystery, even at 7-4. After a failed run in the UFC, Sokoudjou returned to Japan and recorded successive first round KOs over Jan Nortje and Bob Sapp for DREAM. Which RTS are we going to see Saturday?

- Of Mousasi's 26 wins, 15 have come via T/KO with nine by submission.

- When Sokodjou loses, it's the second round. When he wins, it's in the first.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio . Follow him on Twitter.

Understanding This Week's UFC Fighter Summit

Josh Nason — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:47:17 -0500

On Tuesday, the phrase 'UFC Summit' became one of the hottest trending topics on Twitter—spending considerable time among the Top 10.

Like I did, you might be asking, "Errrr...what's the UFC Summit?" Just the name sounded exciting, mysterious, ground-breaking and fun.

In a world dominated by up-to-the-millisecond social media, how did we not know this was coming up? And again, what is it?

So I did some research tonight and here's an overview. There's not a lot out there, but this is what I found:

- It's a Zuffa-run deal, so fighters from both the UFC and WEC were involved.

- It's in Las Vegas, home of Zuffa.

- Just fighters were invited, no press. I'm unclear if managers and agents were included but my guess is no.

- Quite an entourage of fighters were present including Urijah Faber, Ben Henderson, Mark Coleman, Demien Maia, Mike Swick, Joe Lauzon, Nick Diaz, the Nogueira brothers, Scott Jorgensen, Red Schafer, and more. Of course, Prez Dana White and co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta were there. In all, an estimated 50 fighters have been in attendance.

- Monday night was a group dinner with everyone getting to interact and hang out with each other. White posted pics to his Twitter account throughout the night.

- From 5 Oz. Of Pain: "Topics at the actual summit ranged in degrees of seriousness, focusing on subjects like fighter-safety (weight-cutting, steroids, recreational drugs), professionalism (thanking sponsors, gambling, individual branding), and show production (swing bouts, etc.)."

- There were some video shoots done, but it's unclear for what.

- If you follow any of the attendees' Twitter accounts, there was plenty of positive chatter about the event. Here's the Twitter search of the topic if you want to see what everyone was saying and as of 1 am EST, were still saying as they headed out to dinner.

- I'm not sure if it's extended into Wednesday.

This sounds like an awesome experience. No word if it will be an annual deal, but my thought is that Dana and the Fertittas would like to do anything they can to keep fighter camaraderie and morale high. Other sports do this on an annual basis (union meetings, etc) so it makes sense for the UFC crew to do the same.

(Thanks to Scott Jorgensen for the pic.)

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter .

Patience Is a Virtue: Ramon Ramirez Trade Shows Wisdom of Red Sox Front Office

Josh Nason — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:07:41 -0500

In the Nation, we tend to get impatient...a lot.

This tends to escalate in offseasons following disappointing campaigns, but then again, our version of disappointing would make about 80 percent of the rest of baseball angry considering the Red Sox's run of success over the past decade.

We assume (hope?) there are going to be some massive moves made by Theo Epstein and the crew to bolster the offense and improve the team's chances of winning another World Series. It's only been a few years since we last tasted the champagne, but with the Yankees closing in on No. 27 any day now, it feels like an eternity.

So while visions of trading for Adrian Gonzalez, Miguel Cabrera, or Felix Hernandez dance in our heads, it's important to note that even the smallest trades can become impact moves. A one-for-one deal in December can pay dividends in July, even if it doesn't involve sexy names or big contracts.

The Red Sox have shown infinite patience when it comes to making trades, often ending up on the positive side of the ledger. I think it's even more impressive considering the furor of the fans when we seem to identify with a player that could be shipped off for good players in return. We are not patient, but the Sox front office is...thankfully.

Take Coco Crisp, for example. When Boston first acquired him from Cleveland for third base prospect Andy Marte (remember him?) prior to the 2006 season, there was excitement as he seemed to be on the brink of being an all-around standout center fielder about to enter the prime of his career.

Besides having a cool name, Crisp had steadily improved in his four major league seasons, apexing in '05 with a .300 average, 16 homers, 69 RBI, 86 runs, 42 doubles, and a .345 OBP. Put in front of that 2006 lineup, and there were high expectations for Crisp's offensive numbers—coupled with defensive play that would complete the package.

But Crisp started out his Boston career on the DL and in three seasons at the Fens never really did get it going. While the defense was there, it felt like Crisp just never came close to his offensive potential and was not good in the leadoff spot.

He became more of a frustration than anything, and with Jacoby Ellsbury's late season emergence in 2007, Crisp was deemed expendable by the fans—who were then surprised that Crisp lasted the entire '08 season with the team.

Boston did get some decent play out of their fourth outfielder, but it was Epstein's decision to hold onto Crisp that turned out to be a brilliant move. Going into his free agent year and somewhat complaining that he didn't want to platoon again in '09, the Red Sox traded Crisp to Kansas City for a young bullpen arm—Ramon Ramirez.

It wasn't treated as much, but it turned out to be a pretty damn good deal.

Then 26, Ramirez was a bright spot for an awful team, posting a 2.64 ERA in 71 games for the Royals, fanning 70 in 71.2 innings. With just three seasons under his belt, Ramirez wasn't a gamble but a young power arm the Red Sox sorely needed. There would be no NL-to-AL transition year either as Ramirez had already been through the wars of fighting AL lineups.

Why would the Royals want to give up a good player for a serviceable outfielder? There's a reason why they are the Royals, people.

Now 27, Ramirez had a good first season at the Fens (7-4, 2.84, 69.2 innings), regressing in strikeouts—dropping to 52—while staying nearly the same in walks. There were some rough spots as he allowed five more homers than the season prior and had a few stinkers, but in the first half of the season, he was near All-Star quality (2.23 ERA, 10 holds through July 31).

Granted, he had an ugly August and September (4.00-plus ERA each month, two blown saves), but perhaps some second half wear and pitching in a much smaller fishbowl got to him at times.

But given another year with John Farrell and having this past season as a big learning experience, I'm excited to see what Ramirez can do with a back end of Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon there as anchors. With Takashi Saito and likely Manny Delcarmen gone, he'll have a more defined role in '10.

Crisp, by the way, played in just 49 games with the Royals after tearing his labrum early in the year. He was hitting just .228 at the time and will look to have someone give him a chance to catch on this winter, likely in the National League, where he always seem to rip it up in interleague games.

There is no way Epstein could have predicted Crisp's injury, but all in all, the Red Sox completely won this trade. If they had dealt Crisp prior to '08? Likely not as good a part as a young power pitcher. They waited, and it paid off.

So going into the cold of winter, keep two things in mind: Small moves matter, and trust in the patience of the front office. Like Pop Nason always says, patience is a virtue, even if it makes the impatient grumpy.

Josh Nason is the main writer for Small White Ball, a New England-based sports and media blog that contributes to Bleacher Report. Reach him via Twitter or josh [at] smallwhiteball [dot-com].

MMA Week In Review: Kimbo Slice's Next Fight, MMA in Boston, Another Great TUF

Josh Nason — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:05:12 -0500

In no particular order, here are five stories that caught my attention in MMA this week:

1 - Kimbo Slice to face Houston Alexander in catch-weight bout at the TUF 10 finale

When I first read about this rumor, it just made a lot of sense. Since getting on a hot streak with a couple convincing KOs in 2007, Alexander had lost three straight in the Octagon and got permission to fight outside the UFC, a first round TKO at a regional card last month. One more UFC loss and he's done.

Then, there's Kimbo—an equally jacked and potentially potent KO machine.

He's got no ground game, which everyone knows. He's a ratings draw, even though he hasn't strung together any great fights to warrant the attention. But people are drawn to him and the UFC is smart to put him against another banger who also has nothing to lose. There won't need to be any concern about a ground game other than a guy hitting the ground after being KO'd.

It will be two big scary men swinging lethal fists at each other with a lot more than a 'W' on the line. It's a catch-weight bout (215) and has finally been made official. I can't remember a similar time I've been this excited about seeing two guys on losing streaks.

2 - MMA is one step closer to reality in Boston

The Massachusetts House of Representative voted 114-10 to pass a bill that would sanction mixed martial arts in the state , leaving just the Senate to vote on the bill and a Gov. Deval Patrick signature to put it into law. The Senate previously approved the bill in July, but there were some adjustments, so they now need to re-vote.

Due to the legislative calendar, it is doubtful this will happen before the end of the year. However, once it happens, the UFC will move quickly to bring a major event to the Northeast—FINALLY.

The state would get four percent of ticket sales revenue for all events and up to $75,000 for a televised show.

As someone based 45 minutes outside of Boston, I cannot wait. Massachusetts will be the 41st state to legislate.

3 - Lesnar out, Machida out, great fights out

By now, you've read about Brock Lesnar's illness that has put him out of his first UFC Heavyweight title defense against Shane Carwin at UFC 106.

Now, Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida has been put on the shelf until mid-January following surgery on his left hand, meaning his rematch against Shogun Rua has been postponed indefinitely.

Some other injuries this week: Thiago Alves is already out of his match with Jon Fitch at UFC 107 after being named a replacement for the injured Ricardo Almeida and Kurt Pellegrino pulled out of the TUF 10 finale against Frankie Edgar due to a back injury. Fitch will now face Mike Pierce—until something happens to him.

Another big one: Anderson Silva will not defend his Middleweight title against Vitor Belfort at January's UFC 108 due to on-going recovery from elbow surgery.

Ugh. Is there any top talent in the UFC that isn't injured right now?

On the flip side for UFC 106, Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson has been inked for UFC 106 and Phil Baroni vs. Amir Sadollah has been moved up to the main card—now headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin.

In case you missed it, here's my column from earlier this week on why there are too many UFC events and the ramifications of them all.

4 - If you like not paying for MMA, the next two weeks are for you

It hit me last night that fans' wallets get a nice break over the next two weeks with high-profile events featuring some of the game's most recognizable faces.

Next Saturday, CBS airs the much-anticipated Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers bout as Strikeforce returns to network TV for the first time since last October's disastrous EliteXC event.

This is arguably the most important event in the company's history and quite the experiment to see if Fedor can draw ratings.

This is a huge step up in competition for Rogers in his quest for respect. Strikeforce can only hope for a great fight that leads to a must-see rematch, not a quick-hit, ten-second fluke knockout.

By the way, Jake Shields vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller is getting no love, as is the return of Gegard Mousasi.

It just shows how important regular TV is to help hype and shape events. This will be another fun card, hurt by a regular televised marketing vehicle to help drive it.

In two weeks, we get UFC 105 headlined by Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera, supported by Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy and Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang. More on this as we get closer to the event, but in my opinion, there is one more fight for Couture that matters—and it ain't against Brandon Vera.

5 - TUF was awesome again this week, except if you like doors

This show just continues to be awe-inspiring. While the qualities of the fights aren't great, it's the personalities that are selling them as must-see.

Matt Mitrione? Are you kidding me? A guy with voices in his head who everyone hates comes close to KO-ing a guy that has been in the UFC, only to essentially gas out and asked to be knocked out—only to actually pull off a decision win and put Rashad's team to 7-0?

Did you understand any of that sentence? Wow! I love this show.

I don't think any of these guys are going to make a real impact in the UFC, but take the show for what it is: must-see entertainment.

And Rampage demolishing that door at the end of the show is something we'll see replayed for years to come. I think it's safe to say that door tapped out.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

Brock Lesnar-Shane Carwin Postponement Spotlights Big UFC Issue: Too Many Events

Josh Nason — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:33:23 -0400

With Monday's surprise announcement that UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar's match with Shane Carwin was postponed due to an undisclosed illness, a major flaw in the UFC's business model was once again exposed.

While still hot, the UFC is putting on way too many events, thinning out the talent levels on the shows, giving fans weak PPV main events, and putting them in a terrible spot when having to adjust to situations like the Lesnar one.

I love mixed martial arts as much as anyone, but we're at the saturation point. There is more original and re-aired UFC programming than ever before, both on Spike and PPV. Strikeforce has their major events every two months and then Challengers events to fill in around those.

WEC runs several times a year. When you add in the Japanese organizations, you can literally find enough MMA to fill your plate every night of the week if you have patience, Internet, and a DVR.

For the sake of this argument, let's focus on the UFC—the same group who plans to put on 20 events in 2010, or the equivalent of one every week for five straight months. When you add in the other organizations, we could see almost 60 to 70 percent of next year's weekly calendar with fresh MMA. Holy shnikes.

Some of you are probably saying, "What are you complaining about? I love MMA and can't get enough!"

Well, these three things really stand out to me:

Depth of Talent on Shows

One of the UFC's major selling points to viewers during the start of the boom period was awesome top-to-bottom cards with strong matches and established talent. While the UFC's ability to sell personalities and the brand itself has helped overcome obstacles with putting lesser names on the main shows, the events they've been putting on are weaker than they were a year ago.

Wouldn't you rather buy a PPV with five awesome matches than one with two awesome fights and three average ones? I'd be willing to sacrifice two months off without an event if that meant the one I was paying to see was going to be that much better.

They've managed to avoid the boxing model of one huge event and a bunch of awful fights, but they're slipping due to the amount of cards they have to fill.

Case in point: this past weekend's UFC 104. While the Lyoto Machida/Shogun Rua title match may not have been the sexiest main event in history, look at the card it was anchoring: Cain Velasquez/Ben Rothwell as your second top match? No.

Joe Stevenson/Spencer Fisher? Great opener for a loaded card. Anthony Johnson/Yoshiyuki Yoshida? A great Spike TV match. The Gleison Tibau vs. Josh Neer match shouldn't have made TV at all.

Less shows means less matches you are forced to make, and stronger cards overall. There is also a point to be made about whether the guys who are challenging for a title have truly earned their shot as opposed to being put in a match because the UFC needs a main event. Did Rua earn that shot Saturday or should it really have been Rashad Evans getting a rematch? Or Rampage Jackson? Or even Forrest Griffin?

Weak Main Events

This one kills me. Your main event is supposed to be the obvious big draw. That's why guys like Lesnar and Georges St. Pierre are pushed so heavily: People want to pay to see them fight.

But when I see UFC 103 with Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort on top or UFC 105 with Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera as the main event, I cringe—not because I don't want to see those fights—but because those aren't UFC-quality main events that we are used to seeing.

Like it or not, there is a definite lack of big money draws in the UFC right now. While there is plenty of top talent (Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, Griffin, Evans, etc.), the money is really made in the matchups.

Again, it's a function of having to fill too many events, but I really liked the days when a main event meant something. Does Couture/Vera get you excited? Me neither. I understand it's on Spike, but if you take a step back, there is no reason Couture should be fighting on cable TV. He can still earn money as part of a bigger card, but they needed the name to justify a main event. That's a bad practice to get into.

Because of injuries, other matches get moved around, which further hurts the possibility of the matches we do want to see getting made. In a case like Silva vs. Griffin, we benefited as that joined Penn vs. Kenny Florian as a nice one-two punch to headline a show.

That's the exception to the rule, however. Griffin never did get his rematch for the Light-Heavyweight title and with a loss to Tito Ortiz, he could be further away than ever. Had there been less of a need to fill a spot along the way, he probably would have got a rematch against Evans by now, meaning Machida would have had to earn a shot with another couple key fights.

With Lesnar/Carwin now reportedly pushed to January, we're left with Ortiz vs. Griffin II as the main event. Interesting? Yes. Better as a supporting match on the undercard? You bet.

And with 20 events to fill next year and the increased odds of main events getting scrapped due to random injury, you're going to see more lackluster main events that don't draw as much money as they should and more matches that should happen never come to fruition.

UFC Is Not Other Sports and Has No Offseason

I've heard the comparison that Dana White and the Fertitta brothers defend the amount of UFC on TV to college football—another sport that's all over the place on weekends. The only problem with that argument is college football has an offseason while UFC goes year-round.

In today's society, people need a break every now and again. With no real option to have three or four months off like major sports, it's up to White and the Fertittas to err on the side of caution with how much is too much. However, that doesn't feel like it's happening.

Ideally, the UFC would run six PPVs per year with four supporting shows on Spike TV. That's it. That gives them the ability to stack cards and routinely get one million buys per show based on the current popularity and the carryover buzz to the mainstream fans that need persuading.

Then, if a Lesnar situation happens again, you have a legitimate main event likely available to put in its place—either from the undercard or another event if need be.

A key point is that I'm not talking about the lack of interest with hardcore fans like you and me. We're going to watch the shows anyway, regardless of who's fighting, and find some positives among them. But it's the mainstream fans that can make the difference between 600,000 and 1.2 million buys. And on a side note, the hardcore fans should expect the very best at every event. That's why we're so into it to begin with.

There's no better preacher for the sport than a true MMA enthusiast, and if I can tell my friends with a straight face that they are stupid not to watch a certain show, more power to me and to our sport.

Like any other major business, as long as the money is green and keeps coming in, we're going to see more and more and more UFC. Next year is going to be a major milestone for the business and a true indication of just how far the sport has come.

I just hope we see some great fights amidst the clutter that will make it all worth it.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine, Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

UFC 104 Results: Lyoto Machida Earns Controversial Decision Over Shogun

Josh Nason — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:28:23 -0400

If you were a fan of kicks, the main event of UFC 104 was for you as Lyoto Machida defeated Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua in a controversial unanimous decision win to retain the UFC Light Heavyweight title Saturday night in Los Angeles, CA.

The lackluster fight saw Rua push the action from the center of the cage and keep Machida off his game with plenty of leg kicks, making it hard to understand exactly how Machida won the fight. Even with a few flurries of punches sprinkled throughout, it just wasn't Machida's night but somehow the judges saw it fit to all score the fight 48-47 for "The Dragon".

The crowd heavily booed Machida in his post-fight interview, which was a stark contrast from when he defeated Rashad Evans for the title earlier this year and became an instant fan favorite. This felt like more of the decision-seeking Machida rather than the aggressive guy we saw in his last two fights.

Both Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan were pushing hard for the idea of a rematch. Based on what we saw here, that doesn't excite me in the least. This division is severely lacking star power and Machida was the closest thing to a new star coming into tonight.

I also thought the sentiment that you have to go above and beyond to defeat a champ and that a decision going his way should be expected is bullsh*t. A win is a win and Machida didn't win this fight tonight.

In other action:

Cain Velasquez def. Ben Rothwell via 2nd round TKO (:48)

Velasquez (7-0) looked dominant over Rothwell, who was in his first action in almost a year. The finish was controversial as ref Steve Mazzagatti stopped the fight in the 2nd round as Velasquez connected with six straight punches as Rothwell was getting up.

Velasquez had no issue taking down Rothwell (30-7) and simply pounded him from every position. No one seemed to doubt Velasquez earned the win, but were critical of how the fight got stopped. I can see both sides of the argument.

Joe Stevenson def. Spencer Fisher via 2nd round TKO

It's no coincidence that Stevenson has looked great in two straight fights since going to Greg Jackson's camp. The end came when Stevenson had Fisher grounded and laid in repeated elbows/forearms for the win. After a run where he looked like it might be gatekeeper status for 'Daddy,' he's arguably one big win away from inserting himself into the title picture again.

Gleison Tibau def. Josh Neer via unanimous decision

This one didn't do anything for me. Tibau did enough to win, but didn't set the place ablaze in doing so.

Anthony Johnson def. Yoshiyuki Yoshida via 1st round TKO (:41)

Dominant, but he had a huge weight advantage going in and simply unloaded on Yoshida to elevate himself to 8-2. It seems to be a consensus opinion that Johnson will be fighting at 185 from here on out as the weight cut down to welterweight is just too much. When Yoshida gets knocked out, he gets knocked out. This just wasn't competitive at all.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine, Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

UFC 104: The Five Bullet Point Preview

Josh Nason — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:45:22 -0400

Five fights, five bullet points per fight, five drinks for me at the bar for writing this for you. It's UFC 104 from Los Angeles, CA, tonight and here's your official Five Bullet Point Preview, y'all!

Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua

Machida is still undefeated in his six-year career, going 15-0 with his latest win being his title victory over Rashad Evans at May's UFC 98.
After his four of his first five UFC fights ended via unanimous decision, Machida has won his last two by KO.
A long-time PRIDE veteran, Rua enters the cage Saturday at 18-3 and a TKO winner in his last two fights.
Despite being a BJJ black belt, the 27-year-old Rua has won 83% of his fights via T/KO.
The two have fought a who's who of UFC studs in their path to get here. Rua has faced Chuck Liddell, Mark Coleman and Forrest Griffin in his last three, while Machida has battled Evans, Thiago Silva and Tito Ortiz in his last three.

Cain Velasquez vs. Ben Rothwell

The 27-year-old Velasquez is still unblemished at 6-0 in his three-year career, having last defeated Cheick Kongo at June's UFC 99.
Velasquez's unanimous decision win over Kongo was his first victory not to come via T/KO.
After nearly eight years in the game, this will be Rothwell's first tilt in the UFC as his contract was acquired from Affliction earlier this summer. However, this will be his first fight since last December.
At 30-6, Rothwell brings a ton of experience into the cage and has won 14 of his last 15 fights - the sole loss being to former UFC Heavyweight Champ Andrei Arlovski in July 2008.
There is no real pattern in Rothwell's six losses and a slight edge in his wins (17 T/KO to 11 submissions).

Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher

Both men enter the cage with a combined 67 pro fights to their credit.
This is Stevenson's second match since moving camps to Arizona fight guru Greg Jackson. After losing three of his last four before that, Stevenson earned a unanimous decision win over Nate Diaz at June's Ultimate Fighter Nine Finale show.
The 27-year-old Stevenson has earned Fight of the Night honors in his last two bouts. (40 fights and he's only 27? Wow.)
The 33-year-old Fisher (23-4) has won his last three fights in a row, two by unanimous decision. He last defeated Caol Uno at UFC 99.
There is no major trends in Fisher's style of victory, though four of his last five fights have gone the distance. Stevenson loves sinking in a choke for a win, but has gone the distance in his last two.

Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida

Johnson missed weight by a good six pounds (!!!) at Friday's weigh-in, so this will be at an agreed catchweight of 176.
A third-year pro, Johnson (7-2) has been one of the sport's fastest rising and most exciting prospects. His three UFC wins have come via T/KO.
This is Johnson's first fight since having to bow out of a TUF 9 Finale bout against Matt Brown due to a knee injury.
Yoshida (11-3) has amassed a 2-1 record while in the UFC and is coming off a first-round submission win over Brandon Wolff at UFC 98.
If you're having a tough time remembering Yoshida, he was the guy that Josh Kosheck laid out with a highlight reel KO at the Fight For The Troops event. Yeah, that's him!

Gleison Tibau vs. Josh Neer

Tibau (19-6) has been in the UFC for a long time, having competed for Zuffa since November 2006.
This will be Tibau's fourth fight of 2009, a year in which he's gone 2-1.
Neer is equally a veteran at 25-8-1 and has had several multi-fight runs in the UFC over a 6+ year career.
Neer has lost two of his last three - both via unanimous decision. Of his wins, 10 have been KO's while 11 were via submission.
When Tibau wins, it's either via submission (9) or decision (8). There are no trends to his losses. Regardless, both guys need to win here tonight.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine , Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

Red Sox Playoffs: They've Been Here Before

Josh Nason — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:41:33 -0400

Down 2-0 in a five-game series? Pshhhh, please. That's nothing. Try being down 3-0 to your blood rivals in the ALCS a year removed from them ripping your hearts out in Game Seven.

Sunday's Game Three against the Angels is just another day at Fenway Park...we hope.

This is getting to be old news for the Local Nine: down 3-1 in '04 against the afore-mentioned Yankees and down 3-1 in '07 against the Cleveland Indians - both World Series winning seasons. They were also down 3-1 in the ALCS last season but since they lost in Game 7, many forget the accomplishment.

Some interesting (or potentially heartbreaking) stats:

- Since 2003, Boston is 13-3 in potential elimination games.

- The Red Sox have won three games in a row 14 times this season.

- In the Divisional Series, four teams have come back from 2-0 deficits, including the '99 and '03 editions of the Sox. In both situations, they lost their first two games on the road.

- Boston was 56-25 at home this season, second best in baseball.

But the key today is to hit and hit early. In the first two games, the Sox offense has managed just eight hits and one run and will face old rival Scott Kazmir—someone is familiar with the confines of Fenway during his run with Tampa Bay.

Kazmir has had success at the Fens, allowing just 14 runs and fanning 46 in 40 innings of work from 2006-2008, holding the Sox to a .250 batting average. This season? Two starts and two wins in similar fashion.

But this is October and traditionally, this is when Boston plays its best baseball. There's a reason why this club has come back time and time and time again. Until they falter, trust in the notion that this is old hat to Terry Francona. In fact, this is more the norm.

They've been here before. The question is can they do it again.

Josh Nason is the main writer for Small White Ball, a New England-based sports and media blog that has contributed to Bleacher Report since 2008. Reach him via Twitter or josh [at] smallwhiteball [dot-com].

WWE Hell In A Cell PPV Results: Undertaker, Randy Orton Both Win Titles

Josh Nason — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:10:15 -0400

The Undertaker won the World title for the third time and Randy Orton defeated John Cena for the WWE title Sunday at WWE's Hell In A Cell ppv Sunday night in Newark, NJ.

As many expected, Undertaker beat CM Punk for the gold, his seventh overall WWE/World title reign. The match - contested inside the Cell - opened the show and ended when Undertaker chokeslammed and tombstone piledrove Punk for the win, following a chair shot to his face.

In the WWE title match, Randy Orton defeated Cena for his fifth WWE title reign (sixth WWE/World title overall) in the night's second Cell match. Cena had just won the belt back from Orton at last month's Breaking Point ppv, so we are back to short title reigns again. Yeah. Finish came when Orton choked out Cena while in the ropes and after Orton untied him, he hit the Punt of Doom for the win.

In the main event of the night, DX defeated Legacy, also in the Cell. The match started with Legacy attacking DX as they got to the ring. The two teams did a huge brawl outside and around the ring for about 10 minutes before Legacy managed to get Shawn Michaels in the ring alone and locked the cage behind them. They worked over Michaels' knee for the duration of the match.

HHH eventually got in after deciding to get bolt cutters following 10 unsuccessful minutes of attempting to get in the cage. Michaels took a beating the entire match and will be sore Monday. As always, he was awesome. DX locked DiBiase out of the cage and beat on Rhodes, including a flying Michaels elbow while Rhodes' neck was in a chair. The end came when Michaels hit a superkick at the same time HHH used a sledgehammer with Michaels pinning Rhodes. DiBiase also got superkicked post-match.

In other action

Intercontinental Champion John Morrison defeated Dolph Ziggler

Morrison connected on the Starship Pain for the clean win.

Divas Champion Mickie James beat Alicia Fox

James won clean after catching Fox with the jumping DDT after a missed James axe kick.

Unified Tag Champions Chris Jericho/Big Show def. Rey Mysterio/Batista

The end came when Show punched Mysterio during a springboard attempt off the ropes and pinned him. Said to be really good.

Drew McIntyre def. R-Truth

This followed the Orton/Cena match. McIntyre pinned Truth clean following a double-arm DDT.

US Champion Kofi Kingston def. The Miz and Jack Swagger

Fast-paced, fun match that ended with Kingston hitting the Trouble in Paradise kick on Swagger after Swagger had laid out Miz with the doctor bomb. Kingston then pinned Miz for the win.

Notes

- Matt Hardy pinned Mike Knox in a dark match after a Twist of Fate.

- They separated out the Cell matches so they didn't go all three in a row.

- Don't forget: this is the new no blood era of the WWE, so there were no gushers tonight.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007 and Bleacher Report since 2008. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

Winning the World Series: Do the Last 10 Games Even Matter?

Josh Nason — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:35:54 -0400

A lot was made of the recent losing woes of the Red Sox and how going into the playoffs amidst a losing streak spelled doom for the Boston Local 9.

If you look at the last 10 World Series champions, it could. Then again, it might be just a meaningless side note.

From 1999-2008, six of the eventual champs went into the playoffs on a winning record, including the last two. Only three had losing records: the 2000 Yankees (2-8 and lost their last seven games), the 2002 Anaheim Angels (4-6) and the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals (3-7).

One team (the '99 Yankees) went in at .500 in their last 10 games.

1999: NYY 5-5
2000: NYY 2-8
2001: Arizona 7-3
2002: Anaheim 4-6
2003: Florida 7-3
2004: Boston 7-3
2005: Chicago White Sox 8-2
2006: St. Louis 3-7 (only played 161 games)
2007: Boston 6-4
2008: Philadelphia 7-3

With two games left, the Sox are 4-6 in their last 10 and no matter what they do, they will go in on a losing record. Does it mean anything? Probably not as there are a ton of other factors that affect playoff performance like playoff opponents, setting up your pitching and injuries.

It's an interesting stat, but not really that meaningful. Cementing your playoff status earlier than later and putting yourself in a prime position to win is what's important.

But hearing all of the chatter this week, you'd think the Red Sox have no chance at winning a title because of their recent play.

Last I checked, Jon Lester and Josh Beckett are your Game 1 and 2 starters and the rest of the team is healthy and ready to roll. That's really what matters, isn't it?

Josh Nason is the main writer for Small White Ball, a New England-based sports and media blog that contributes to Bleacher Report. Reach him via Twitter or josh [at] smallwhiteball [dot-com].

Boston Red Sox Wild Card Celebration Justified But Ill-Timed

Josh Nason — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:58:28 -0400

Point 1: If you're among those that think celebrating a Wild Card berth in the Major League Baseball playoffs is unwarranted, you're wrong.

Eight out of 30 teams make the playoffs, just under 27%. When compared to the NHL or NBA where nearly half the league makes it in, it seems a lot more difficult by comparison. If you're among those that still think it's easy, you should be reading something else.

It's an accomplishment to be amidst that 27%.

Baseball is longer and in a lot of ways, that much more intense than other sports. These guys start spring training in freakin' March. For a club that doesn't make the postseason, that's still seven months. For a playoff club that makes it to the World Series, tack on another five weeks.

With 162 games, rainouts, road trips, stretches of days with no time off and all of the other b.s. that comes into play with being a pro athlete, no wonder why a harmonious clubhouse is an important one. These guys are tighter than family: they're a baseball team.

When you spend this much time with a group of 25 guys plus coaches, you're going to want to celebrate when you reach an achievement like this. It's human nature...what do you expect or want them to do?

Wild card or not, a playoff berth is a playoff berth. Wild cards win the World Series quite frequently, so to act like it's a sub-.500 team that made it in is foolish.

Finally, it's Boston. The media scrutiny here is intense and every...single...thing is ripped apart, analyzed, put back together and then ripped apart again. Like it or not, but you'd be stressed too. These guys deserve to let off steam when becoming part of the Great Eight.

But...

Despite their fifth straight loss, the Red Sox ticket to the postseason was punched as the Texas Rangers lost yet again to Los Angeles later in the night. Once again, the Boston Red Sox were solidified to be among the eight competing for a World Series title, a win giving them their third title in the last six seasons.

Point 2: It was weak of the team to celebrate last night, but unfortunately, there wasn't a good time to do it.

I didn't feel much like celebrating when I heard the news. Did you?

Well, the Red Sox did, holding a private celebration in the locker room once they got the news. Players filtered out and gave interviews, soaked in the alcoholic suds of beer and champagne. It's a scene we've seen play out many times, but this one was just for them. For once, they closed off their world to the outside which in a lot of ways, is refreshing.

We don't need to see everything, even though we feel we're justified in doing so.

But should the team have celebrated after not just one loss, but five straight? The accomplishment remains the same, but it feels weird to me. I read quotes like this from the Herald recap which baffled me and illustrated the mental disconnect between being a pro athlete and a normal schmoe like me:

"The second baseman acknowledged that this celebration was different than most, especially since the team is in the midst of a five-game losing streak and it took a loss by the Rangers to lock up this victory party."

"The game tonight was pretty intense but it doesn't matter how you do it,'' said Pedroia."

True, but it kinda does. If this team was to somehow lose their remaining five games, that'd be ok?

This one really got me though.

"Closer Jonathan Papelbon, who in past years has celebrated clinching moments by dancing a jig, wearing a cardboard beer box on his head and cavorting in his jock strap, was living up to party animal reputation, according to Bay and Lowell.

"He's probably in a thong right now, with goggles and drinking Budweiser,'' said Mike Lowell."

That just seems to be ignoring that this team doesn't look good right now at all. This team does deserve to be in the postseason based on that hot streak in September and the consistent play throughout that put them in this position. I don't think this can be debated.

But watching that Yankees series and this long-ball debacle against Toronto doesn't put a skip in my baseball step. I guess I'm being too much of a in-the-now guy, but it bothers me that the team celebrated last night after their fifth loss in a row.

My ideal situation? Wait until you win and then go nuts. Make the decision internally to celebrate with your victory as a capper - not due to someone else's collapse and especially not in the midst of your own tailspin.

Point 3: The fans got screwed over and there's nothing we can do about it.

We all knew this team was going to the playoffs for the past week or so, but there's still that finality of 'Yes...we're going back!' punctuated with a win and observation of a celebration.

As I'm assuming there will no on-field celebration following a win tonight, the fans essentially got robbed of their own moment - the one earned by countless hours watching, following and writing about the Red Sox.

Having Texas collapse like a tent without stakes? Great. Just do something to give us a reason to cheer this week...or in October. Please.

Josh Nason is the main writer for Small White Ball, a New England-based sports and media blog that has contributed to Bleacher Report since 2008. Reach him via Twitter or josh [at] smallwhiteball [dot-com].

Despite Playoff Berth, Red Sox Management Failed Their Fans Wednesday

Josh Nason — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:53:52 -0400

As someone who spent the better part of a decade working for a successful minor league hockey team, I know that it's not easy working in a pro sports front office - especially when you're on top at the box office and in the standings.

One of the most valuable lessons I learned was that no matter how successful your organization gets, you always need to listen to your audience and when it's possible. always do the right thing. A free pair of tickets here or a free t-shirt there doesn't mean a whole lot financially in the long run and if that small gesture is appreciated and keeps that fan coming back after they feel like they've been wronged, it can mean a lot.

The best organizations seek these fires out before they happen and are proactive. There's a reason why clubs win awards for great customer service and have loyalty beyond belief. Even a cynic like myself saw what just a little compassion and a eye for helping out can do for long-term fan loyalty.

Sadly, most teams in this era are driven solely by the dollar collected in the now and don't see that big picture of 'paying it forward'. On Wednesday, the Red Sox - an organization that has made a tremendous effort to improve the fan experience - had an opportunity to really go above and beyond, but didn't. Instead, they stayed content with a packed house that had already paid their money to get in and were going to spend more anyway.

As the lineups for Wednesday's game were announced, you could hear audible groans from across the Nation as our heroes like Pedroia, Youkilis and Bay were replaced by names like Gathright, Kotchman and Woodward. As the Sox had celebrated another postseason appearance thanks to Texas the night before, manager Terry Francona decided to give the regulars a well-deserved game off.

That's not the issue. A manager has to worry about what's best for the team, not for the fans. Allowing the outside world to influence on-field decisions can have disastrous results and implications. Having said that, you have to feel for the people who make it down to Fenway Park for one game a year to see the dregs of the lineup in there.

It's an unfortunate coincidence and a hazard of going to a game that late in the season. I don't have kids, but would hate to have to attempt to explain to my son or daughter why their heroes aren't on the field. But that's life and letdowns happen.

But here's where management could have stepped up.

The afore-mentioned playoff celebration was done behind closed doors as Boston couldn't punch their postseason ticket on their own and needed helped to do so in the late, late hours of Tuesday night. Normally, a berth to the playoffs 'won' at home elicits some in-stadium celebration with the fans watching on and celebrating in their own. But this time - due to the time of night, the nature of the win and the team decision - that team celebration was done with no media and no fans.

In other words, the fans were shut out of something they deserved to enjoy as well. There's a lot of commitment being a baseball fan, but again, letdowns happens.

So given that scenario above and then knowing the equivalent of a AAAA team was going to be on the field hours prior to the game, management should have done something to make it right. People paid top dollar to go to the game and while management couldn't control who went on the field, they have full reign with what happens once that ticket is scanned in. Instead, they did nothing.

It could have been a one-night only deep discount on merchandise or $1 hot dogs all night or some other gesture that financially would have been appreciated and noticed. Would they have taken a hit on the nightly take? Sure, but hey, letdowns happen, right? There's going to be a few playoff games where they will make it back.

Simply put, there was a right thing to do Wednesday night and they just chose not to do it.

You do get into a slippery slope situation where you don't want to set a precedent that this is going to be the case every year. Every time a lackluster lineup is out there, ownership can't just financially apologize as that's way too subjective to legislate.

But Wednesday was different as you had the perfect excuse: the missed celebration the night before. Call it a playoff party and do something that makes it a special night to be there, no matter what lineup is on the field. It's shouldn't be a news flash here, but sometimes just going to Fenway isn't enough - especially when the team on the field manages just a few hits and gets destroyed which was the real mule kick to the night.

Like I said before, working in sports isn't the easiest thing to do. But sometimes the right decisions have to be made. On the field? That hasn't been a problem for the Boston Red Sox. Off the field? There's clearly still a lot of work to be done.

Josh Nason is the main writer for Small White Ball, a New England-based sports and media blog that has contributed to Bleacher Report since 2008. Reach him via Twitter or josh [at] smallwhiteball [dot-com].

Early Ratings: Kimbo Slice-Roy Nelson Fight Sets MMA Viewership Records

Josh Nason — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:37:28 -0400

We knew a plenty of people were going to watch Wednesday's "The Ultimate Fighter" match between Kimbo Slice and Roy Nelson, but early ratings show that Slice is even more of a ratings phenomenon then some experts gave him credit for.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer/Yahoo fame, the early numbers have Wednesday's edition of "TUF" as the highest-rated MMA show in history.

An estimated 5.3 million viewers tuned in for the show and 6.1 million for the fight itself.

This makes it the "highest rated fight in the history of UFC programming and most-watched MMA television show from start-to-finish in history," according to Meltzer.

In the all-important 18- to 34-year-old male demographic, the show had a 6.8 rating, the highest in Spike history.

The channel's previous high was Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock III in October 2006.

The fight itself peaked at 7.86 for males 18 to 34. The replay brought in an impressive 1.5 million.

Meltzer estimates this will translate into a final number of between 3.5-4.0 and had this interesting observation:

"Essentially, one out of every 12 males 18-34 in the U.S. last night watched either the live or replay show, comparable to probably the biggest sporting events in our culture other than NFL championship level games. "

Even in defeat, we are not even close to hearing the last of Kimbo Slice.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine, Bleacher Report since 2008 and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

TUF 10 Recap: Roy Nelson Beats Kimbo Slice

Josh Nason — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:07:46 -0400

You've got to hand it to the producers of The Ultimate Fighter. They managed to take a guy who was the scorn of the MMA world and make him a babyface in the span of one episode, even in defeat.

On Wednesday's mucho-anticipated show featuring Kimbo Slice vs. Roy Nelson, TUF delivered in every aspect, building to a somewhat disappointing crescendo as Nelson wanted no part of Slice's punching and used takedowns and a weight-inflicted crucifix to earn a 2nd round T/KO win.

Damn it. I really, really, really wanted Slice to win. They got me.

What made Slice so likable was they simply portrayed him as a normal guy honestly trying to learn and absorb everything he can about the sport. What EliteXC and CBS/Showtime failed to really hit home, TUF got over in 45 minutes. Perhaps Slice has changed since then, but it's amazing what compassion can come out of people when they just start being real.

There was definitely plenty of Sliceisms throughout (the eneME/inner me monologue was quite something), but the production crew did a fantastic job at hitting all of the small things that compile the Slice persona: the bald head, the beard, the drive.

As for Nelson, he was essentially a prop; a giant white trucker looking dude that is so independent he books his own fights, gets his own sponsors and overall does things his way. Normally, he's the type of guy that Middle America roots for. Not tonight.

The fight itself wasn't anything special. Slice's punching power is undeniable, but this isn't boxing and Nelson knew exactly what to do when he got in trouble: take it to the ground. Brilliantly alluded to earlier in the episode, Slice did not want to get Nelson on top of him as his size and girth were going to likely prove to be too much.

They were.

Slice looked down and out at the end of the 1st round as Nelson was laying on him in the crucifix position, hitting the top of his head with light blows. He was upset as he expected a stoppage, but as UFC Prez Dana White mentioned later, it was like a daughter play fighting with his dad. There wasn't real bad intentions behind them or if they were, Nelson isn't a real angry guy.

The second round was nearly exactly the same: Slice connecting early and Nelson taking him down. Eventually, ref Herb Dean couldn't let it go on as Slice's head was engulfed by Nelson's midsection and wasn't getting out of it. Sadly, the fight was over and our surprising anti-hero was out of the competition.

What happened next was interesting. White said that Nelson was acting like he had done something great but had simply done just enough to get by. Suddenly, Nelson became somewhat portrayed as a braggart that was boasting of some great accomplishment. He did enough to win, but for a guy that once was an IFL champion and has more experience than Slice will ever get, Roy Nelson didn't impress anyone.

Suddenly, I want to see Nelson get beat really badly. He ruined the story and our moment and did so in a way that was irritating. If I know anything about the UFC, it's that they don't want Roy Nelson to win the competition. He's simply not TV friendly and for the mainstream fans, his physical appearance is just too much to overcome his accomplishments.

What next for Slice? Like White said, simply get experience while he's in the house and that everyone leaves the show a better fighter. There was even some teasing of a potential Slice return if someone else has to leave because of injury. You get the feeling that something big is still down the pike for this season and that Slice is going to be a part of it.

I really hope so. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want to see Kimbo Slice fight again...and win.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine, has contributed to Bleacher Report since 2008 and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

Boston Red Sox Stretch Run: 10 Interesting Facts and Numbers

Josh Nason — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:15:58 -0400

Even with Sunday's disappointing and depressing New England Patriots' loss to the New York Jets, there is still plenty of reason to be happy, that being the Boston Red Sox.

Left for dead by many analysts, after a four-game sweep by the New York Yankees in early-August, Terry Francona's charges are showing all the doubters why everyone should just let the season play out before making bold claims.

There's a reason why the word "believe" was so important back in 2004 and 2007. This team doesn't die, no matter how many times people forget history and assume that they will.

It's going to be a fun October.

Let the following ease your Patriots-related pain, at least for a little bit.

Here are the 10 Red Sox-related numbers and factoids that I came across, as we enter the regular season's final two weeks (all numbers are going into Monday):

1. Boston has 14 games (seven home/seven away) remaining with no off-days.

2. Heading into 2009, they won 93 games or more in six of their last seven seasons, making the postseason in four of them. They currently sit at 89 wins.

3. The Red Sox are 52-22 at home and an even 37-37 on the road.

4. The Red Sox have a 99.9 certainty of making the playoffs, just behind the Yankees' 100 percent. Their all-important magic number is seven.

5. AL Central leading Detroit Tigers has a 77.5 percent chance of making the postseason, the lowest of any divisional leader by a long shot. The Anaheim Angels (the team Boston would play if the season ended today) have a 99.2 percent chance.

6. Everyone that thought John Farrell was to blame for John Smoltz and Brad Penny excelling elsewhere should have to revoke their pink Boston hats. The starters have allowed three runs or less in 13-straight games and have an 8-1 record with a 2.18 ERA during that time.

7. Josh Beckett's 201.1 innings this year are the most he's thrown since 2006, when he threw a career-high 204.2 frames.

8. Since giving up five runs on May 26 in a loss to Minnesota, the highest amount of runs Jon Lester has given up has been four—which happened one time in a late-July win. He's lost just once in his last 16 starts.

9. Since joining the Red Sox on Aug. 1, Victor Martinez's batting average has jumped from .283 to .297, along with his slugging (.461 to .477) and on-base percentage (366 to .378). In September, he's batting .370 and has a 19-game hitting streak, heading into Sunday. He is just two RBI short of his third career 100-RBI season.

10. Finally, the Red Sox are just five games behind the Yankees in the AL East. Back in August after that sweep and in subsequent weeks, Boston winning the division seemed to be so far-fetched it was ridiculous.

Not anymore.

UFC 103: The Five Bullet Point Preview

Josh Nason — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:36:08 -0400

It's time for UFC 103, emanating from Dallas, TX, tonight, and is doused with plenty of comeback stories throughout. Headlined by two former champions, UFC 103 isn't heavy on mega-stars and money-drawing talent, but has plenty of intriguing bouts and exciting fighters that should make it yet another fun night in the world's largest and most popular MMA organization.

That means it's time for the Five Bullet Point preview of UFC 103. Enjoy!

Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort

This is Franklin's third fight of 2009 and first since his unanimous decision win over Wanderlei Silva at June's UFC 99.
Belfort is coming off a decisive :37 KO win over Matt Lindland at Affliction's final event in January. This will be his third fight in the last two years.
Despite having a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Belfort prefers to knock guys out. With an overall 46 percent win by KO percentage, three of his last four wins have come by T/KO.
Franklin has lost four times in his career (three by TKO), while Belfort has lost eight times (five by decision).
The two share several common opponents including Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson and Marvin Eastman. Both men have fought a who's who of MMA talent in their combined 57 pro fights.

Frank Trigg vs. Josh Koscheck

The 31-year-old Koscheck fell to Paulo Thiago via first round TKO at March's UFC 95, his fifth fight in 12 months (3-2).
The method of Koscheck's 12 wins have been fairly even - three KOs, four submissions, five decisions - though his last win by submission came more than three years ago.
This will be the 37-year-old Trigg's first match in the UFC since a 1st-round submission loss to Georges St. Pierre at August 2005's UFC 54.
Trigg has won four fights in a row, the last three by decision.
Both come from an extensive wrestling background, Trigg at Oklahoma and Koscheck at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania where he won a NCAA Division I title and was a four-time All-American.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Junior Dos Santos

The 35-year-old Cro Cop has fought everyone and everywhere in his eight-year MMA career including the UFC and Pride against Fedor Emelianenko, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett, Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman.
After being tagged with consecutive losses for the first time in his career, Cro Cop hasn't lost in his last four fights.
The 25-year-old Dos Santos has gone 8-1 in his three-year career and comes into Saturday on a three-fight win streak.
Dos Santos has never gone past the first round and of his eight wins, six have come via T/KO.
Of Cro Cop's last 11 fights, only one has gone past the first round.

Martin Kampmann vs. Paul Daley

Daley is an injury substitution for Mike Swick (concussion) and this fight was originally slated to be for the No. 1 contendership for Georges St. Pierre's Welterweight title.
Kampmann (15-2) has been with the UFC since August 2006 and has a 6-1 Octagon record.
This will be Daley's first fight in the UFC after amassing a 21-8-2 record, mostly in his native England. This will be his fourth fight of 2009.
Daley's win by KO percentage is 76 percent and his last seven wins have come viaT/KO.
Kampmann (seen here) has lost just twice in his career, both via T/KO.

Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca

Griffin is one of the most popular fighters in the UFC and should get consideration for a title shot with a 13-2 record.
If Griffin has it his way, you're watching 15 full minutes as his last seven fights (5-2) have gone the distance.
After two straight losses, Franca picked up a unanimous decision win over Marcus Aurelio - way back at October 2008's UFC 90. He is coming off a torn ACL injury.
Griffin has lost twice, both by decision. Franca has lost seven times, all but one via decision.
Griffin (10 years younger than Franca) has won Fight Of The Night honors five times in his UFC career, including in his last two bouts.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007 and Bleacher Report since 2008. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine since January 2009 and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

UFC Ultimate Fight Night 19 Results: Diaz Submits Guillard

Josh Nason — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:59:46 -0400

Nate Diaz won the war of words by submitting Melvin Guillard, while Nate Quarry and Tim Credeur put on an awesome display as part of a great and entertaining UFC Ultimate Fight Night 19 Wednesday night from Oklahoma City, OK.

Diaz (11-4) took advantage of a Guillard (22-8-2) mistake, absorbing a takedown attempt and turning into a front guillotine choke for the win, ending a two-fight losing streak. Guillard had won three in a row going into Wednesday.

All four fights had their moments and this was one of the most memorable two-hour blocks of free live fights in quite some time. For the full results from UFN 19 including the return of Roger Huerta, keep on reading!

Nate Diaz def. Melvin Guillard via second round submission (guillotine) at 2:48.

Good staredown early as these guys aren't fans of each other. Guillard landed with a punch early and Diaz was bleeding pretty badly from his right eye. There was plenty of posturing and resulting boos from the crowd. It was unclear who they are cheering for. Maybe neither?

As the second round progressed, Guillard was showboating against the cage as Diaz was throwing punches and then got went for a takedown. The only problem? That takedown was right into a Diaz guillotine that made Guillard tap at 2:48.

Gray Maynard def. Roger Huerta by split decision

This one started off slow, but picked up the pace as it went. However, it still didn't feel like it fulfilled the promise it had going in. The first round was very slow with both guys mostly feeling each other out with Huerta managing to connect with some fists early.

As the second round came and went, Huerta pushed the pace and frustrated Maynard, who couldn't seem to get past Huerta's defense. When he did though, it stunned Huerta, dropping him on his a$$ once following a stiff jab.

Maynard took over the third with an early takedown and sunk in a sickening kimura on Huerta that almost popped out his shoulder blade through his skin. It has to be seen to believed how Huerta didn't tap out. Maynard got the split decision, but I could have easily seen this going to Huerta.

There is some suspicion to me considering Huerta's contact status, but it definitely isn't going to garner public outcry. Even though Maynard won, it didn't feel like he did enough.
Carlos Condit def. Jake Ellenberger by split decision

This was a good fight, but I'm not sure how one of the judges scored the fight for Ellenberger. Halfway through the first round, Ellenberger hit a hard punch halfway that dropped Condit, but Condit came back standing with knee strikes. Then, it happened again but Condit survived. Condit looked good early, but Ellenberger was just a half-step ahead.

Condit took over in the second and third rounds on the ground as Condit kept going for submissions and wore the game Ellenberger out. People were booing the decision and Condit during his post-fight comments which was unfortunate. It wasn't like Ellenberger was screwed over, but just fell off the pace he pushed in the first round.

It was funny to hear Condit post-fight talk about how there are some up-and-comers he'd like to fight within the division, forgetting that in a lot of ways, he is also still an up-and-comer.

Nate Quarry def. Tim Credeur by unanimous decision

This fight was awesome! In the first round, both guys were active and kept it standing but Credeur was persistent and caught Quarry with a left jab that knocked him down and nearly finished him with a guillotine.

As the second round began, Credeur was landing hard blows and then Quarry connected with a short right that dropped him and the rest of the round was straight ground and pound.

The third round started exactly the same with Credeur connecting hard early with punches and then, Quarry hit a right that knocked him down. Both guys were gassed and worn out, but still kept pushing themselves to do better.

Credeur went for high leg kicks in the waning seconds, but couldn't connect hard enough. Quarry's right eye was nearly completely swollen and he looked a lot more beat up than Credeur, who was completely wiped out at the end. Quarry got the judges decision and earned it. Great fight!

Random Thoughts

Love the skate shoes Herb Dean wears inside the cage. I'd love to hang out with this guy.

I like Bruce Buffer's enthusiasm, but his pronunciations and voice inflections of certain fighter's names drives me crazy especially Nate Quarry ("Quar-EEEEEEE!") and Nate Diaz ("Deeeeeeee-AHHHHHHHHHZZZZ!")

They must have running low on time as there were no intros for either Diaz/Guillard or Huerta/Maynard, which seemed odd. Three decisions probably didn't help anything, but it still felt rushed near the end.

Mike Goldberg and Kenny Florian really avoided the issue of this being the last fight on the Huerta contract and the whole situation leading up to this. Florian kept talking about his skills improving, but if he's leaving, is it all for naught?

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007 and has contributed to Bleacher Report since 2008. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine since January 2009 and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

Fresh Mangos: Pedro Goes Retro, Outduels Tim Lincecum in 2-1 Win

Josh Nason — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:14:43 -0400

Admit it—you are rooting for Pedro Martinez to succeed in Philly, even just a little bit.

In his fifth start for Philadelphia since coming off the D.L. in August, Martinez transformed into the Big Petey Cool of old, outdueling San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum Thursday night to give the Phils a 2-1 win.

Over seven innings, the 37-year-old allowed just five hits and one run while striking out nine—his most since his last start in a Mets uniform on September 25, 2008.

After the first pitch of the game—a solo homer by the immortal Eugenio Velez—Martinez was electric. His pitch total? A paltry 87. Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge finished everything up in a game which lasted just 2:08.

By the way, Lincecum was equally up to task, fanning 11 and walking one in his seven innings on the hill. Of the four hits he allowed, one was a solo homer to Jayson Werth while the other was an RBI double to Ryan Howard.

That's the definition of a hard-luck loss for the 13-5 Lincecum, who has struck eight or more batters 19 times this season and has to be considered the front-runner for the NL Cy Young Award.

But Thursday was about Martinez, who is providing a huge boost for the Phillies as they look to extend their lead in the National League East. So far, Martinez is 3-0 with a 3.52 ERA in six starts. His control has been amazing, walking just three in 23 innings while striking out 23. In short, he has emerged as an important player for Philadelphia at the perfect time.

Of course, Boston fans know what Martinez brings to the table after seeing him here for seven seasons from 1998-2004, two of which were among the most dominant seasons in baseball history. But much like the exit of Manny Ramirez, some choose to remember the antics and posturing more than the actual player, sad considering the 117 wins he amassed and two championships he contributed to while here.

Good thing Pedro is giving everyone a refresher course on what they forgot. Perhaps there will be a return engagement here in October for the World Series.

Josh Nason is the main writer for Small White Ball, a New England-based sports and media blog that has contributed to Bleacher Report since 2008. Reach him via Twitter or josh [at] smallwhiteball [dot-com].

Legalization of MMA in Maine: A Frustrating Education Lies Ahead

Josh Nason — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:09:52 -0400

As a former 21-year resident of Maine (the U.S. state most people assume is part of Canada), I was happy to see the passing of a bill Tuesday that creates the Mixed Martial Arts Authority of Maine, a legislative body that will oversee regulation of the sport—making the Pine Tree State the 40th state to do so.

But in reading some of the news coverage about the bill, I also felt both frustrated and befuddled at the amazing lack of knowledge about MMA and the lengths that supporters like myself still have to go in explaining what the sport is and dispelling the myths that still exist.

Two quotes that really stuck out to me:

"Rep. Matthew Petersen, D-Rumford, sponsored the measure and said once the authority members are named, he expects there will be events in the state based on conversations with officials at Ultimate Fighting Championship, with some of them attending the ceremonial bill signing."

I can say with a near 100 percent guarantee and certainty that there is more of a chance for yours truly to fight in the UFC than there is for UFC to put on a show in Maine. Why?

The state's largest arena—The Civic Center—in Maine's largest city of Portland isn't nearly modern enough or large enough to attract the world's largest MMA organization.

At maximum and based on WWE shows with a similar configuration, I'm guesstimating the capacity for an event would be roughly 8500. Not bad, but with no luxury boxes or club seats, the revenue potential drops significantly.

Look at the venues that pay-per-views emanate from. Suddenly, the Civic Center is going to compare with Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Houston, or Minneapolis? Until Portland gets a brand new building, it's not happening with the UFC. Period.

Let's take ppv out of the equation then and look at the only UFC-related option remaining: one of the various mid-week Ultimate Fight Night events. The UFC takes a lot of factors into consideration when finding spots for events: population, pay-per-view numbers, tv ratings, etc.

Suddenly, our little state of 1.3 million people is going to be next in line for one of these? Stop it. The numbers and historical locales of these events don't lend themselves to thinking this will happen either.

Having said all that, there is definitely an opportunity for other groups to come here and do really well. The WEC (Zuffa's other organization) is an option if Maine native Mike Brown headlines as they typically run smaller venues and don't need the huge ticket prices to justify the expenses.

It could make sense, but wouldn't you just run in the bigger, more TV-friendly and closer to Boston Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH, and just advertising like hell in Maine instead?

However, New England-based groups like World Championship Fighting or Combat Zone should be salivating to do shows in Maine. They bring in great crowds and do a great job at putting on professional shows—even without the big budgets of the UFC.

Whatever promoter runs here first will have a great advantage and also a lot of responsibility to not screw this up for everyone else. It just won't be the UFC that will touch down with first contact.

But it was this other line of thinking that really got me...

"...Rep. Joe Wagner, D-Lyman, arguing that mixed martial arts contests are not a sport. He said unlike boxing rules, mixed martial arts contests can be very brutal, even sadistic. “I see this as a human demolition derby,” he said.

This, and the offhand comments made by Maine State Police Deputy Chief Bob Williams, are simply ridiculous and not based on any attempt at understanding what MMA is.

Get a clue, guys. This is what happens when political figures get involved without making any effort to know the subject matter and simply spout off rhetoric they have heard somewhere else.

Whenever someone makes a point to tell me how awful and violent MMA is, I ask them what they think about football or boxing. Most times, they say, "Yeah, they're violent but it's not the same." Really? Just because you grew up with both as part of the American lexicon doesn't mean they are any safer than MMA—they are simply different.

Don't believe me? Go listen to former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield speak...that is, if you can understand him. Boxing is mainly focused on hitting an opponent's head repeatedly in an effort to knock him down to the canvas. But if he's knocked down once, guess what?

He has a standing eight count to get back in the fight! Two rounds later, the same thing can happen and so on and so on. So if you add up the sparring and the actual fights, a boxer's dome can get pretty messed up throughout their career. Getting hit in the head that often for that many years isn't good. AT. ALL.

Hey, I grew up as a boxing fan (at least when it had some semblance of organization), but that doesn't mean it's safer.

Yet because of the image of Muhammad Ali or soft-and-cuddly George Foreman or reminiscing about Howard Cosell calling the Thrilla in Manila or the "sweet science" tag, boxing gets a pass. It's hypocritical and ignorant for anyone to let boxing pass and condemn mixed martial arts.

I also love football, but just because they have pads on doesn't mean it isn't violent. It's a constant colliding of bodies for over an hour and appeals to that animalistic side that people are afraid to admit they have.

It's ok that you like it, but don't tell me it's not aggressive and based on high-impact and brutal collisions. To pretend that what you're watching on your big screen every Sunday isn't causing long-term residual damage is also ignorant, but that doesn't stop you from tuning in, does it?

Unfortunately, it's the cage's fault.

If all MMA was competed in a boxing-style ring, people would be fine but it's the visual of an open-roof octagon of mesh and steel that gets people all hot and bothered. That's why the played-out dogfighting or human cockfighting analogies come so easily off the lips of pundits.

They don't focus on the skill of the men or women that step in there, ignoring years upon years of training in multiple disciplines like karate, judo, jiu-jitsu, boxing or wrestling.

Instead, it's easier to just snipe and cry "violence" instead of learning about what MMA has become: one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, one that is fully-regulated by state commissions that are interested in protecting the interests of all involved while bringing in positive financial gains for the state and one that features some of the nicest, well-spoken, accessible and driven individuals you could ever want to meet.

There aren't deaths or people being carried out in stretchers or unruly, uncontrolled violence, yet that's what opponents will always point to: something that doesn't exist.

It's great day that my home state has seen the light. It's just too bad that there are so many who choose to foolishly remain in the dark.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine since January 2009, Bleacher Report since 2008 and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.

UFC 102: The Five Bullet Point Recap, Bonuses, Couture Extension

Josh Nason — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:53:38 -0400

Plenty to recap in this one as UFC 102 came and went Saturday night in front of a wild crowd in Portland, Oregon, at the Rose Garden. Despite having no titles on the line, this set up some interesting fights down the road and was a good bridge to what is lining up to be a wild fall and winter.

The Overall Event

Antonio Nogueira and Randy Couture earned Fight of the Night and an additional $60k each for their efforts.
Nate Marquardt won Knockout Of The Night and $60k.
Jake Rosholt won Submission Of The Night and $60k.
Total gate was $1.92 million and 16,088 in attendance - one of the top five gates in Portland history according to UFC Prez Dana White.
Couture and the UFC agreed to a 28-month, six fight contract extension Saturday. I'm baffled by this on many different levels, but we'll save that argument for a later time.

Antonio 'Minotauro' Nogueira def. Randy Couture by unanimous decision

Both guys looked their age here tonight, despite one actually looking older than his age and the other looking younger. Follow that?
I had no idea what to expect going in, but after everything was all said and done, this is probably exactly how people should have predicted it.
Nogueira locked in choke after choke, but Couture was simply too game to tap. Between the knockdowns and the submission attempts, Big Nog almost won this thing three or four times.
In an era of crapping on referee decisions, give it to Mario Yamasaki. There were several points where a much-more inexperienced guy or someone too quick on the draw might have stopped it. But Yamasaki let them go and gave Couture time to recover without screwing over the efforts of Nogueira. Nice work here.
There is one final obvious fight left for Couture (more on that Sunday), while a Lesnar/Nogueira match is intriguing but not exactly mouth-watering.

Thiago Silva def. Keith Jardine via 1st-round KO (1:35)

This is one of the few I actually got right while watching tonight's show, but that's not exactly a badge of honor.
Silva simply looked great here, but there's something missing with his marketability. Perhaps it's the lack of English-speaking promos? He tried in his post-fight speech, but something isn't fully there yet.
Jardine has lost three of his last four and four of his last six. A candidate for the chopping block? One more loss and yes. He isn't co-main eventing any more cards anytime soon though.
By the way, did you buy this as the co-main event? Yeah, me neither.
Next up for Silva? That is an interesting question. Maybe the loser of Rashad Evans/Rampage Jackson?

Nate Marquardt def. Demian Maia by 1st-round KO (:21).

So much for the submission game in this one. Wow.
In the post-fight presser, Dana White said he needs to think on what is going to happen next and who will get the title shot against Anderson Silva. No. 1 contender's match for the December PPV perhaps?
You almost wonder how damaged Maia is going to be following this defeat. Can he ever be favored against a striker following this?

Jake Rosholt def. Chris Leben via 3rd round submission choke (1:20).

Leben was in a no-lose situation here after nine months off due to suspension. It's really the next fight that matters career-wise as tonight was the first step back. He looked good, but not great - which was expected.
Rosholt looked good, fending off Leben's attacks and taking the opportunity when it presented itself. That final choke? Picture perfect even though the ref blatantly ignored Leben's initial tap.
Rosholt was excited post-fight and has the type of personality that fans are going to connect with. I expect 2010 to be a big year for this guy.

Brandon Vera def. Krzysztof Soszynski via unanimous decision

Ugh. This fight was awful.
Vera still looks too light at this weight. My friend who had never seen him fight commented that he looked too small and yes, it's true.
I'm tired of the UFC pushing Vera as if he matters. He doesn't and is a non-factor in the light heavyweight division due to boring performances. I just don't get the attraction here.