TUF Thinking

The 9th season of The Ultimate Fighter is starting to wind down. Lots of the bravado has been spewed, there was a, thankfully, short introduction and quick whooping of Junie Browning Jr., another redneck with a taste for alcohol and being a colossal douchebag, but the real mark on this season has been the United States versus the United Kingdom aspect.

Of course, the coaches are a big part of the show and they couldn't be more polar opposite. Dan Henderson is an old school, tough as nails, been there done that, don't need to brag about did it wrestler turned fighter. His pedigree is legend, his mentality is balls to the wall. Michael Bisping is the UK coach, he made his mark on MMA and the UFC by winning a previous season. Where Hendo is quiet and thoughtful, Bisping is brash, abrasive and cocky.

I've never been much of a Bisping fan, he's a good fighter to be sure, but he's kind of a cock and its hard to root for a cock, maybe unless you're kind of a cock yourself, I don't know.

In the coach's battle, I'm all Hendo and I'm looking forward to seeing Hendo thrash Bisping like the loud mouthed prick he is at the end of the season. Of course, it probably won't be anywhere near as one-sided as I'm hoping but I'm pretty confident that Hendo will handle Bisping.

Now, to the fighters. I actually find myself liking the UK team more. They seem like a good bunch of guys for the most part. Some of the Americans are alright but they seem to be more talk than action, more bullshit than results and kind of come off like dicks.

And in tonight's episode, Michael Bisping apparently goes one big step over the line and sprays water from his water bottle into the face of Damarques, an American fighter with a big mouth. We'll see how it all shakes out in the end.

Overall, the UK fighters have made this season worth watching for me. But at least there's been less overt idiocy (think Jesse Taylor pissing himself by the pool while drunk and stupid) in the house this season which does nothing but denigrate the sport as a whole.

Random

I feel inordinately proud that I filled five big trash bags with yanked weeds from the steetside of my fence.

Sully and Grady are wearing matching green and yellow tie-dyes today that we made at a St. Patty's party a couple of weeks ago. Sully told his daycare provider this morning that I made them at a party, the way he enunciates is just too funny and sweet.

My district has seen fit to close down one of the means I was using to get access to my home computer and no firewall. My annoyance is powerful.

The seemingly capricious nature of the filtering is just stupid. Garbage sites like Millsberry, Cartoon Network and Family Guy (note, garbage in the sense that they have zero educational content) are allowed but sites like TinyURL are blocked. Stupid and annoying. Made more because I used to be able to bypass the blockages by entering my tech account information but they aren't allowing that anymore. What I need is a 3G card for my laptop so I can connect without concern for firewalls and blockages.

I'm looking forward to checking in with some of my teachers I've gotten Kyani samples to. One has been having some pretty serious stomach issues that should be starting to improve. Another has a son who's wrestling and will totally dig the extra energy. And yet another had surgery recently and will make a quicker recovery with his free radicals being actively chased down and flushed out.

It will be interesting to see if the after school jerky says anything. Last week, I got rid of his yard sticks because he used them to hit the backs of the kid's chairs when they weren't working hard enough. Not cool and bordering on abusive. I also made it so that he couldn't use the admin sign-in on my lab computer. No reason why he should be logged in as an admin, ever. He's not a tech and he had his email account removed for abuse. I doubt he'll say anything since he's got no grounds to complain.

I think I processed six or seven loads of laundry yesterday.

There are nine full days of work before Spring Break. Spring Break activities include: a day trip down to the Sea Otter Classic for photos and biking fun, a camping trip, several good long ripper mountain bike rides, a yard sale/garage excavation.

Looking forward to a UFC event tomorrow night, Ultimate Fight Night Condit vs. Kampman (predictions coming soon) followed by the first episode of the new season of The Ultimate Fighter US vs. UK. The coaches are Dan Henderson for the US and Michael Bisping for the UK. Two fighters I have alot of respect for and it should be a good season.

Finally, after two weeks of Survivor on virtual hiatus, there's a new episode this week. March Madness killed one show one week and they aired an annoying behind-the-scenes show the next. I wonder how many people just stopped watching altogether?

I'm still thinking about that outstanding sushi we had the other night. The two new rolls we tried were really superb, the Roll Forest (mango, avo, macadamia nuts and topped with a tiger prawn) was good but the Grinch Roll (deep fried soft shell crab, spicy tuna topped with avo, tuna, wasabi tobiko and spicy mayo) was really top notch especially with the wasabi tobiko on top.

That's about it for now.

TUF 8 Finale Recap

Alrighty, first off, props to Ryan Bader for showing some very solid stand up and knocking Vinny down and out with a partially blocked punch. Very impressive. And way more interesting than his last fight against Eliot Marshall.

Let's see how I did on my predictions from the other day. Overall, I called 5 of the 10 fight outcomes which is a failing grade. I got a couple of the means of victory correct but none of the rounds right. I did not hit it out of the park.

Let's check the scorecard and see how I did.
155 lbs.: Phillipe Nover (155) vs. Efrain Escudero (156)
Prediction: Nover by TKO in Round 2
Actual result: Escudero by unanimous decision.

Main card (Televised):
205 lbs.: Ryan Bader (205) vs. Vinicius Magalhães (205)
Prediction: Vinny by submission in Round 1.
Actual result: Bader by TKO (strikes) in Round 1.

185 lbs.: Wilson Gouveia (189) vs. Jason MacDonald (184)
Prediction: MacDonald by TKO (strikes) in Round 2.
Actual result: Gouveia by submission in Round 1.

170 lbs.: Kevin Burns (171) vs. Anthony Johnson (171)
Prediction: Who knows but its going to be good! But I'll go with Johnson by TKO strikes in Round 2.
Actual result: Johnson by TKO in Round 3.

155 lbs.: Junie Browning (156) vs. Dave Kaplan (156)
Prediction: Kaplan by KO strikes in Round 2.
Actual result: Browning by submission in Round 2.

Under card (May not be broadcast):
205 lbs.: Krzysztof Soszynski (202) vs. Shane Primm (205)
Prediction: Krzysztof by TKO strikes in Round 1.
Actual result: Sosznski by submission in Round 2.

205 lbs.: Eliot Marshall (203) vs. Jules Bruchez (205)
Prediction: Marshall by submission in Round 2.
Actual result: Marshall by submission in Round 1.

205 lbs.: Kyle Kingsbury (205) vs. Tom Lawlor (204)
Prediction: Lawlor by TKO strikes in Round 2.
Actual result: Lawlor by unanimous decision.

155 lbs.: Shane Nelson (156) vs. George Roop (153)
Result: Nelson by submission in Round 2.
Actual result: Nelson by split decision

155 lbs.: Rolando Delgado (155) vs. John Polakowski (152)
Prediction: Polakowski by TKO strikes in Round 3.
Actual result: Delgado by submission in Round 2.

The fight of the night, for me, was Escudero/Nover or Burns/Johnson. The Browning/Kaplan fight was okay but I don't think it should have gotten fight of the night honors.

TUF 8 Finale Predictions

The finale of The Ultimate Fighter season 8 is tonight and so I thought I'd put up my predictions and thoughts.

Main event:
155 lbs.: Phillipe Nover (155) vs. Efrain Escudero (156)
Nover has got to be the favorite here. He's a very nice guy outside of the octagon but he becomes a crazed animal in it and he's got the skills to knock out pretty much anyone. I like both Phillipe and Efrain but I don't think Efrain is going to be able to withstand Phillipe's barrage.
Result: Nover by TKO in Round 2

Main card (Televised):
205 lbs.: Ryan Bader (205) vs. Vinicius Magalhães (205)
If Ryan Bader wins this match then he will be the limpest winner of TUF ever. He's got no stand up and no submissions, he's a wrestler. His fights are boring as hell. Vinny is a world champion brazilian jui jitsu. Either way, this is likely to be a quick fight without much action until Vinny submits Bader.
Result: Vinny by submission in Round 1.

185 lbs.: Wilson Gouveia (189) vs. Jason MacDonald (184)
Gouveia came in overweight and gives up 20% of his pay to MacDonald. He's already at a pyschological disadvantage and Jason MacDonald is an excellent all-round fighter.
Result: MacDonald by TKO (strikes) in Round 2.

170 lbs.: Kevin Burns (171) vs. Anthony Johnson (171)
This should be an explosive fight. Anthony Johnson is an electric fighter who has a tendency to overwhelm his opponents. Its also a rematch in which Johnson lost the first fight because of a bad call by the ref (he was given a TKO but replays showed he got poked in the eye before the onslaught that ended it).
Result: Who knows but its going to be good! But I'll go with Johnson by TKO strikes in Round 2.

155 lbs.: Junie Browning (156) vs. Dave Kaplan (156)
Junie Browning is a tool. He's got some good fighting skills but he's a complete ass of a human being. Dave Kaplan tried to show off his "iron" chin against Nover and got knocked the fuck out. I expect Kaplan to have a better game plan this time around and not give up his chin like an idiot. Maybe Junie shows something beyond his toolishness, maybe not. Either way, I expect Kaplan to knock him out.
Result: Kaplan by KO strikes in Round 2.

Under card (May not be broadcast):
205 lbs.: Krzysztof Soszynski (202) vs. Shane Primm (205)
Result: Krzysztof by TKO strikes in Round 1.

205 lbs.: Eliot Marshall (203) vs. Jules Bruchez (205)
Result: Marshall by submission in Round 2.

205 lbs.: Kyle Kingsbury (205) vs. Tom Lawlor (204)
Lawlor is rocking the Evan Tanner memorial beard. He also came across as a funny, likable and good guy on the show. Kyle came across as kind of an asshole. Sorry, Kyle, but I think I'm going with Tom Lawlor in this one just because I like him better. (Note, I spared you all the full pic of Tom in his speedo. You're welcome.
Result: Lawlor by TKO strikes in Round 2.

155 lbs.: Shane Nelson (156) vs. George Roop (153)
Roop is a fighter with a big heart, he won a fight during the season with a broken hand but I tend to think Shane has a more complete game and will win this via submission.
Result: Nelson by submission in Round 2.

155 lbs.: Rolando Delgado (155) vs. John Polakowski (152)
Mr. Huggybear with Crazy Hair Polakowski was everyone's friend and is a genuinely nice, if slightly creepy and cloying, guy. Delgado took a rash of shit for his fifteen minute roundabout explanation of how he got his black belt in Brazilian jui jitsu but he took a hell of a fight to Junie Browning before losing.
Result: Polakowski by TKO strikes in Round 3.

TUF Semi-Finals Episode 1 Recap

The Ultimate Fighter is just about done for another season and, after skipping last week, they decided to double stack this week and run back to back episodes with two fights in each episode. That means there's pretty much nothing but the confidence talk leading up to the fights and then the fights themselves.

The confidence talk is when each fighter is interviewed by someone off-camera and gets to say why they will win. Sometimes they talk trash about the other fighter, sometimes they just say they'll win because they have more heart and blah, blah, blah. I tend to find the confidence talk and trash talk to be boring as hell and I can fast forward right through it.

The first semi-final fight was between Eliot Marshall and Ryan Bader, two light heavyweights. Marshal is a Brazilian jui jitsu black belt and Bader is a two time national champion wrestler. What could have and should have been a good fight basically consisted of Bader laying on top of Marshall and doing almost nothing for fifteen minutes. It was one of the worst and most boring fights I've ever seen on the show. Bader won because he controlled the fight but if he wins the show, he'll be the lamest winner of all time. His fighting style is to bore people to death.

The second semi-final fight was between George Roop and Phillipe Nover, two lightweights. Nover was the guy who fainted during the initial introductions and caused Dana White to nickname him Faintin' Phillipe. But, after his utter annihilation of Dave Caplan (sp?), White was singing his praises. Roop seriously messed up his hand a few days before his last fight and basically won his last fight one-handed. Roop was over-matched by Nover and the fight ended pretty quickly by a kimora submission that looked horribly painful and nearly broke Roop's arm.

I didn't watch the second episode yet because I needed to get to bed earlier than I have been. But the fights in the second episode should be pretty good with Krystoff fighting Vinny and Junie fighting Ephraim. I kind of hope Junie gets the snot beat out of him but I don't think it will happen, he might lose but he won't get the ass-kicking he really needs.

I'm seeing the final as.....dammit, I just went to the TUF site to do a spell check and saw who won and what the finals are going to be. That sucks. Oh well.

Another Ultimate Fighter Finale with a Twist

The latest season of The Ultimate Fighter culminated in a fight between the finalist and the semi-finalist he'd already beaten coming back for another fight due to drunken rampage by the other finalist. If that didn't make sense then good, its not really supposed to.

The finalist who got booted, Jesse Taylor, will be back. He's a character, he's a really good fighter and now his return can be hyped up. If he does reasonably well then we'll likely see a rematch of the supposed to be finale of Amir against Jesse.

I have to say that I thought Amir took the fight-off and repeat of the semi-final in stride. I would have been pissed off about it really. He just beat CB and now CB gets another chance at winning the show even though he had been eliminated? Kind of bogus. But that's what has to happen when the unknown happens.

The finale was not the fight of the night. I'd have to give that one to Spencer Fisher against Jeremy Stevens. I have become a big fan of Spencer Fisher and his lightning punches. The guy is a great fighter and provides a good fight regardless of who's fighting against. I would have liked to have seen Matt Brown vs Matt Arroyo. And I did enjoy seeing Diego Sanchez kick some ass over Luigi Fiorvanti.

Next weekend is the Pay-Per-View light heavyweight championship fight between Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, the champ, and Forrest Griffin. I'd like to see the fight but I'm not seeing myself drop forty five or fifty bucks for it. Let's see who else is on the card. Okay, some Melvin Guillard, some Cole Miller (Jay's UFC twin), some Josh Koscheck, and some Tyson Griffin. Not a bad card at all and I'm sure some of these fights are going to be solid.

I'll be curious as to what the next season of TUF brings, I like how the show keeps evolving to improve itself and provide more balanced fights and less focus on the annoying house drama. Actually, my idea was to keep the current regular show format but add another half hour behind-the-scenes at the house show for the viewers who want more background (and their girlfriends/wives who get squeemed out by the fights themselves).

Amir is a different kind of Ultimate Fighter and I'm going to enjoy watching his future fights. I think he will be able to go as far as he chooses to go.

TUF Review and Preview

Last night was the special extended episode of The Ultimate Fighter before the big finale show that would see the coaches fight for the Light-Heavyweight title as well as the two show winners fighting for the show crown.

After the opening credits, the show jumped straight into one of the most anticipated matchups of the season, Amir against CB "He of the permanent smirk". I've got nothing against CB, he's been a good fighter, is big, strong, fast and dominated his fights. But Amir was the underdog and I just have a tendency to go for the underdog.

It was a great fight. Really. Two and a half rounds of back and forth fighting. Amir's stand-up was better than CB's and CB's ground game was just a little better than Amir's. But Amir impressed me throughout the fight, his flying knees, his combinations, his aggression and absolute iron jaw. Also, he was totally unfazed by a nasty gash under his eye and blood going everywhere.

CB, on the other hand, who'd looked so powerful in his previous fights, didn't look overwhelming, didn't strike fear into Amir's heart and, as the fight wore on, showed that his conditioning wasn't quite what it could have been. In other words, he gassed out and his pace of fighting slowed considerably. He was still throwing big punches but they were telegraphed and Amir was able to slip many of them without trouble.

In the end, Amir was able to catch CB in an arm bar and force him to tap out or risk getting his arm broken or ligaments torn. It was a great fight.

Plus, big props to the UFC for the way they showed the fight. The first two rounds of the fight were shown without a break, five minutes of fighting, a fade to black and then back to five minutes more of fighting for the second round. It was a great way to show the fight and I almost felt guilty using my 30 second advance on my Tivo to get right back to the action. Almost.

After CB's defeat, the show switched gears to what happened after the fighters were released from the house for a couple of days. Jesse Taylor, the other finalist and renowned nutter, partied too hard and his ego got too inflated. He kicked out a limo window and then freaked out a bunch of women in a bar. All of which might have been forgiven but when security showed up, he got aggressive and started shouting that he was a UFC fighter. Which, as anyone who's got a passing knowledge of UFC President Dana White, is a serious, serious breach of decorum. He ended up getting booted out off the show and out of the UFC.

Kind of a shame but he should have known better and should have kept his shit tight instead of getting drunk and stupid.

After Jesse's ejection, there was no one to fight Amir in the final so they brought back CB and Tim, who'd been beaten by Jesse to get to the final. They would fight to see who would advance to the final. What I thought was going to be a fairly one-sided match, with CB dominating Tim, turned out to be one of the best fights of the season. It went the full fifteen minutes and stayed mostly standing up where Tim demonstrated some surprisingly effective and quality striking. In the end, CB was able to eke out the victory and rematch with Amir for the final.

One hell of a great night of MMA! I'm looking forward to the finale not just for the CB and Amir rematch but because it'll also see Forrest and Rampage squaring off for the title. Rampage is a great show and a fantastic fighter, Forrest is almost always underestimated and always, always comes in to a fight in superb condition and has a great big heart. It should be a kickass fight too!

TUF Finale

Mac Danzig against Tommy Speer

Technique against Power

Skill against Heart

Skill and technique overcame power as Mac pretty capably and handily whooped Tommy to win this latest season of The Ultimate Fighter. It wasn't an especially good fight though.

The best fight of the night was the main card, Huerta vs. Guida. Two very dynamic and dangerous fighters who put on a great show. Guida was leading after two rounds but Huerta got him in a slick arm bar and that was that.

With how dynamic and exciting MMA fighting is, I can't understand why anyone is interested in boxing at all anymore.

Now That's a Finish!

I didn't want anyone to try and spoil last night's Ultimate Fighter episode so I stayed up to watch it and I was really glad I did.

** SPOILER ALERT ** Do not read any further if you have not watched the episode and do not want it spoiled.

I didn't expect Matt Arroyo to drop out at all but he did have a cracked rib and that'll mess with your body as well as your head so I can't fault him. And I think it was bunkum that Mac had to fight John twice, the second fight to get into the finals. But he kicked his butt again. The rest of John's team came off like total lame suckers who didn't want to fight at all. Richie Hightower pretended to want to fight Mac but he really and truly did not and he fooled no one, Mac would have enjoyed beating him down too much. And Richie knows he's outclassed by Mac, by a good margin.

The real fight was Tommy against George. Power against skill. Technique against farmboy muscle and determination. Most folks had given the fight to George since he's such a better schooled fighter. But Tommy's strength can be overwhelming. I don't think he meant to poke George in the eye with his thumb but it happened and George couldn't see very well for a bit.

And then Tommy landed some good rights, dropped George and then jumped on him and knocked him out cold, a first for George. Tommy looked much sharper, more focused and stuck by his fight plan, basically to use his size and power to overwhelm George, which he did in impressive fashion. How much of a factor was the thumb in the eye? Hard to say but George really should have taken all the time he could to let the eye settle down and clear up for him.

But he didn't and paid for it by kissing the canvas and really being knocked cold. And, as a result, Tommy Speer made an extra five thousand bucks.

Saturday is the big finale show with Mac against Tommy, I'm not sure who's going to prevail. Mac is a very solid all around fighter with alot of experience, confidence and skill where Tommy is very strong and gaining skills rapidly. It should be a good fight and it makes me smile to know that all of Serra's fighters have been eliminated.

I'm still pissed that Serra got hurt and can't fight Hughes for the title but accidents happen and its hard to hold it against him, too much.

So, after a pretty limp season full of loser drama (Joey wants to go home to his girlfriend, Mac is a grump, the upper decker incident, blah, blah, blah) with annoying coaches (Serra is a painfully irritating person, Hughes is a Bible-thumping egoist) and alot of pretty soft fights (one fighter shows up, the other looks like a deer caught in the headlights) but, at the end of the season, a good finish can make up for a pretty poor start and middle.

And last night was a good episode with good fighting (props to John for taking the semi-final fight after Matt got hurt) and a big knockout of, who had been, the top dog in the house.

The Ultimate Crybaby Poser Fighter

I watched last night's episode of The Ultimate Fighter 5 yesterday afternoon and was looking forward to a good brawl between the tall and skinny Corey and the shorter, louder and out-of-shaper Gabe.

Gabe has been the mouth on this season, he talks and talks and talks and showed very little drive to back it up. He came in to a show about light weights (that's 155 pounds) weighing nearly 175 pounds. He was out of shape, overweight and seemingly unmotivated to lose it by hard work, taking short cuts like enemas to try and cut his weight.

In the end, he gave up like a little bitch and got hell from his team and the other team. And he gave up a mere 3 pounds from making weight. And the coaches too, BJ Penn got tired of hearing him try to talk his way out of being a fucking whiny quitter drama queen. That was the really annoying part (aside from no fight at the end of the show) that the whole show was Gabe, Gabe, Gabe and his excuses and whimpering. That scene of him laying on the floor outside the sauna whispering for them to pick him up and put him back in the sauna, like he's about to die. Come on, are you auditioning? Do you wanna be an action movie star, Gabe? David Caruso has more range than you and I place him just below a used pair of loafers.

Why? Because he's a quitter who didn't want to get his ass kicked by a substantially less experienced but more talented fighter. Or he didn't care about the fight and just wanted airtime, an audience to see his brilliance and wit and charm, bleh. And he's a loser who didn't give the opportunity the full effort that it deserved. I kind of hoped Dana White, the UFC president was going to smack him, he was soooo pissed off. And rightly so, he gave Gabe a golden opportunity and he squandered it like a moron. Sorry, like a moron who still thinks wearing your hat sideways is remotely cool.

Newsflash, Gabe, the 80's are long, long over. Wearing your hat sideways does nothing but demonstrate what a goofy ass poser you are.

Some future sponsorship ideas for you, Gabe.

The Talk Out of Your Ass Microphone - so everyone can hear your bragging that you won't back up.
The Lazyman Colonic - shove it up your own ass!
Man Bra - because those boobs you had on Day One were still there on the day you got kicked the hell off the show.
The Fickle Feather Vomit Comet - so you never have to let that cake you can't stop smashing into your mouth end up on your already inner-tubish gut.
Cry Me A River Power Water - so you can replenish all those electrolytes you lost while crying so many times on the show.
The Meltaway Fat Reduction Pillow - sleep that weight away, Gabe. It sure worked for yo....oh wait, nevermind.

It is a shame you'll never fight in the UFC again because I'd enjoy watching someone pummel you. I bet YouTube can find me some of that. Maybe I'll add an update later.

Quick Note on the Recent UFC Fight Night

Last night's UFC Fight Night featured a bunch of pretty good fights and the title match of Mirko Cro Cop against Gabriel Gonzaga was unreal. Great fighting and a stunning, HOLY-SHIT finish with Gonzaga, the larger man, throwing a high kick and connecting cleanly, dropping Cro Cop like a rag doll (and bending his ankle and knee all over the place which looked nauseating on replay).

But damn, that was amazing. Jaw droppingly quick.

And much better than the Orlovski fight where he sandbagged the third round.

Also, I might as well add that this season's Ultimate Fighter, the lightweights (that's 155 pounders) is good fun. The coaches (BJ Penn and Jens Pulver) fought once before and are fighting again at the end of the season. The fighters themselves are a bunch of fucking nutcases. Almost all of them are loony, Dana King, the prez of the UFC puts it to little man syndrome. The rock harder because they have to.

And the season has been good and entertaining. If you're into that sort of thing and I know plenty of people are thoroughly appalled by the UFC and the general glorification of fighting.

Hate to say it but men are going to fight whether you put it on television or not. It is man's nature to fight. Not all men have to fight but all men, on some level, identify with the clear win/loss dichotomy of the ring.

Anyway, the quickie turned into a not-so-quickie. Sorry about that.