MMA Writer's Tournament : Round Two

Welcome to the second round of Bleacher Report’s MMA writer's tournament. The last article saw sixteen of MMA's most accomplished writers compete in a friendly tournament. The first round battles were intriguing and set the tone for the second round.

Most of the higher seeds advanced in the tournament, although we had a few upsets. The final vote tallies will not be posted in the article, but for those interested in the numbers, notify me and I can email you the results.

With that said, let’s dive into the second round, where we move from the sweet sixteen to the great eight. If you thought the first round provided intriguing match-ups, just wait to see the lineup for this round. After this round, the winners of each bracket will compete in the semi-finals.

Now, let's move on to the battles for round number two.

Dorothy Willis vs Nate Double
Dorothy Willis provided some good old fashioned controversy in the first round and we have come to expect nothing less from the feisty grandma of MMA. Although she made it clear she was against the idea of the tournament, she never asked to be removed from it, so she pushes forward by way of vote. Dorothy has developed an unforgettable reputation in her one-year-run on Bleacher Report and her impact on the MMA section will be remembered for a long time.

Nate Double was able to advance in the first round by getting by Josh Nason. While Josh was the higher seed, Nate D was able to take care of business and advance. Although Nate D hasn't been around as long as Dorothy, this is a compelling match-up. Nate D provides some of the best comments in the MMA section and also knows how to write a solid article when he isn’t bored at his sales job. Can Nate shock the MMA section and dethrone the legend that is Dorothy Willis?

Jason Cottier vs Mike Leanza
Stoker Dafire decided to leave the MMA section about a week ago and concentrate on the boxing section. Stoker personally told me he wanted Jason to advance since he was leaving. While it appeared Stoker was a clear favorite, it was a very close fight and Jason pulled in a lot of votes. Jason is starting to become a veteran on in the MMA section, having been here for nine months. Can Jason become the Cinderella writer of the tournament and get past Mike Leanza?

Mike Leanza overcame the high-ranked Rear Naked in what could be considered another first round upset. Mike recently entered the top five in the writer rankings due to some inactive writers, and looks to be a force in the section for some time. At only sixteen years old, it's only a matter of time before people realize what he is all about. Mike recently celebrated his 50th article; let's hope there are much more articles to come.

Brian Oswald vs Flyin' Hawaiian
Brian pulled off the win in the first round against Jaime Moreno, with even Jaime voting for Brian. Several people told me that with my first article, they discovered Jaime and are looking forward to his next articles. He is one to keep an eye on. Brian won the battle and advances to an interesting fight. Brian has only been around for six months and has already achieved so many things in that short period of time. But is there an upset round the corner?

Todd Jackson was on fire several weeks ago and likely would have won his first round battle back then, but Flyin' Hawaiian has caught his own fire these past few weeks and pulled off the upset. Ironically, even Flyin' voted for Todd, thinking he would lose, but he pulled through, and now has a huge wall in front of him. Flyin' is now the dark horse of this tournament and could surprise some of the top-ranked writers on the site, starting with Brian Oswald.

Derek Bolender vs Jessy Morris
Derek picked up the win over Nick Colon in the first round and now advances to round two. Although he isn't as active as he was several months ago, he has been around for one year and has proven he is one of the top writers here. This is an interesting battle since both men have been in the top five rankings for a while now, exchanging places in the process.

Jessy passed a stiff first round test over Sean Schimling, and now faces an even bigger challenge. Jessy has created some interesting concepts since his arrival, coming up with the Interactive Tournaments and the MMA writer's tournament. He has been around for nine months and has written 70 articles during that time.

So there you have it, the top eight writers on Bleacher Report.

I'm already looking forward to the semi-finals. Some controversy was created with the first article; I hope it will stop there and it can be all fun and games from here on out.
The voting will go exactly the same way, by comment or by e-mail at: [e-mail]