My love for Renato Sobral, affectionately known as ‘Babalu,‘ rivals that of my feelings for Chael Sonnen.
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Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery News — Renato “Babalu” Sobral Still Cooler Than You
Posted in MMA, Media, Neverending love Tagged babalu sobral, Chael Sonnen, Renato Sobral, strikeforce, Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery Leave a comment
People in MMA Who Annoy Me More Than Mike Goldberg: Fans of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
Except for this one guy. But other than that, they really do.
Now that I have got that one little stickler of a point out of the way, I will make my own personal disclaimer so as to avoid any future misunderstanding. I am a Lyoto Machida fan. I will be vigorously rooting for him tomorrow night at UFC 113 as he defends his title against the aforementioned Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. I became a fan of Machida’s when I saw him unleash one of the most unique (and efficient) attacks I have ever seen on highlight-reel superstar David Heath at UFC 70.
That same night, in the main event, one of Shogun’s fellow PRIDE FC poster-boys — Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic” – was supposedly being set up for a title fight with then-heavyweight champion Randy Couture. It had been my duty as the most “educated” MMA fan of my group to insist to everyone that Cro Cop was not only legendary, but a veritable lock to win his fight that evening and proceed on to stealing the belt away from “Captain America.” Instead, the bigger, stronger, more well-rounded fighter — Gabriel Gonzaga — dominated the Croatian for four minutes and then delivered one of the most legendary knockouts in UFC history.
I looked like a fool. It was the last time I would ever pretend to think that PRIDE’s stable of fighters held some mystical advantage over those in the UFC.
Posted in Criticism, MMA Tagged bloody elbow, fanboys, lyoto machida, Mauricio Rua, shogun rua, UFC 113 Leave a comment
MMA Fans Surprised, Angered That Fighters Compete for Money
Mixed martial arts fans received a wake up call this week when negotiations stalled between San Jose-based Strikeforce and Fedor Emelianenko’s M-1 Global. While M-1 Global have blamed interruptions on issues with “co-promotion” and brand recognition, industry insiders speculate monetary compensation is the primary hold up.
“I always thought fighters got in the cage, you know, for me,” said Mark Blugruth, 40, of Richmond, VA. “I always imagined these guys were fighting to win over my favor. Like, I was some ancient king or something.”
Emelianenko’s situation is not unique. B.J. Penn left the UFC in 2005 to fight in Japan for a far great payday. Perhaps most famously, Randy Couture went as far as “resigning” from the UFC in late 2007 in a bid to cash in for a fight with the enigmatic Russian.
Jeremy Rothscoe is a lifelong MMA fan and plumber in southern Michigan. Rothscoe believes fighters chasing the almighty dollar to be shameless.
“These guys fight under the big, bright lights and think they’re something special,” said Rothscoe, who also moonlights in drag. “I’ll let you in on a little secret: these guys love fighting. You shouldn’t get paid for something you love to do. You don’t see me asking for a paycheck every time I watch a sunrise or check out the soccer moms at the park.”
Jim Fontana wants to know just who these guys think they are.
“I would be fired for some of the things these guys get away with,” said Fontana, who was later fired from his post as an air traffic controller for participating in this interview on the clock.
There may not be a bigger fan of MMA than UFC President Dana White. White says he has to deal with this greed first hand, and it disgusts him every day.
“Listen, I’m trying to run a business,” said White during a charity event for wealthy victims of male pattern baldness. “If it was up to me, these guys would be fighting for [fucking] free.”
SMG EXCLUSIVE: Details of Dana White’s Meeting With Anderson Silva Following UFC 112
New rumors have surfaced about the mysterious post-fight meeting between UFC President Dana White and middleweight champ Anderson Silva following April 10th’s UFC 112 main event in Abu Dhabi. A source familiar with the situation has contacted Sack Mike Goldberg with the juicy details.
According to the source, White entered Silva’s dressing room to find the champ sitting cross-legged on the floor, busy at the controls of a toy train. Candy wrappers lay scattered around the champion, who won his 11th straight bout in the UFC earlier in the evening. One corner of the room had been adorned with balloons reading “Awesome Job!” and “You’re Great!”
White asked Silva if the two could speak in private, which elicited no response from the Brazilian. Unperturbed, White repeated the question, which again went unanswered.
White then glanced over at Silva’s manager, Ed Soares. Soares walked over to his client, knelt down, and asked (in Portuguese), “Anderson, Mr. White would like to speak to you. Is that OK?”
Reports differ on the champion’s exact reaction, but the general consensus is that Silva set into a tremendous temper tantrum. One version has Silva knocking over the train set, screaming that Soares had “promised [Silva] playtime” if he beat challenger Demian Maia.
Another version states that Silva began sobbing uncontrollably about wanting to play with his toys. Soares allegedly began dragging his man out of the room, angerly whispering, “You’ve made Mr. White mad. You’ve mad me mad. Don’t make this any harder on yourself.”
A final version has Silva telling Soares to “get that [expletive] playboy out of here,” and asking White “where his jiu-jitsu” was.
Regardless of the actual course of events, it is agreed that White apologized for the sudden entrance and remarked that he might have come at a bad time. He and Soares went on to arrange for a meeting at Silva’s home in Curitiba at a later date.
We’ll have more on this story as it develops.
Posted in maybe this is satire Tagged anderson silva, dana white, ed soares, UFC 112 Leave a comment
Strikeforce: Nashville — Outside the Cage
A collection of photos I took at Strikeforce: Nashville that involved activities outside of and around the cage. Well, that and my obsession with spotting UFC almost-was Brandon Vera in the crowd. I never got a good shot of him where his right eye was in clear view, but I saw it and it still looks messed up.
Click on the photos to get the full size.
Two pictures saved for the end. The first one is set aside because it was easily the best picture I took all night.
Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields. Still better known for having a few seconds of TV time as an assistant coach on The Ultimate Fighter.
The other picture is part of the reason why (sorry, Jamie) I have no documentation of the post-fight brawl. After the decision for the main event was announced (merely a formality, I assure you), I went to go say something to Ariel Helwani of AOL’s Fanhouse. I got the following picture, but I totally was not ready to shoot any in-cage action as I did not expect there to be any. I am totally not the professional photographer in the relationship.
Also, my peculiar stance on professional eye candy led me to no pictures of the ring card girls. Having worked side-by-side with the Nashville Predators dancers for a year, my perspective changed. Hard to explain; it is not that I do not notice them, just rather that I notice them exactly as much as I do everyone else. And when you take into account that a few of Strikeforce’s ring girls are the same people that I worked with at the Predators, the effect doubles.
Coming up next: photos from inside the cage (duh).
It’s Showtime! (Well, Actually, It’s CBS)
One more video from Strikeforce: Nashville before I get to photos and analysis. Have work duties and a Stanley Cup Playoff game calling my name soon, so those might not come until tomorrow or so.
Shot by the same dashingly handsome man as the previous video, this one features the fighter introductions for the Jake Shields vs. Dan Henderson main event (or, “special attraction” if you are ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr.). If I had known that referee Big John McCarthy’s famous “You ready? Are you ready? Let’s get it on!” would be mic’ed and audible throughout the arena, I would not have cut this video prior to that moment.
I must have a fascination with the introductions of main event fights, as if you visit my YouTube channel you will see that 50 percent of my uploaded videos are such.
Nevermind… I’ll give you one picture now for being such a nice audience. Click on them to get the full size.
Posted in MMA, Media Tagged Big John McCarthy, dan henderson, jake shields, Jimmy Lennon Jr., Strikeforce: Nashville Leave a comment
The Uncrowned (Yet Still Crowned) King
Here’s my footage of “King Mo” Lawal’s entrance last night at Strikeforce: Nashville.
I think Strikeforce’s whole fighter entrance thing is pretty lame myself — while they do the ramp and the lights, they don’t go full-on show business with it. Get some actual music, don’t have the ring announcer blow the big moment before they are even coming out, etc.
But people seem to love King Mo’s entrances. So here ya go.
More stuff from the show later; I just feel like crap right now.
ONE MORE THING
TYLEEEEEEEEEER
PleasepleasepleasepleasePLEASE tell me you used your superbadass press ninja shit to get some really awesome shot of Mayhem getting punted by the Cesar Gracie Douche Team or something. Come on, man, you gotta have SOMETHING good, right? Right?
Posted in Uncategorized 1 Comment
No, Seriously: Are wrestlers losing their skill?
Above: Jake Shields prepares for Saturday's fight against Dan Henderson.
Dan Henderson was laughable on the ground. There, I said it.
Dan Henderson, two-time olympian, (and not some bullshit Olympian like Herschel Walker) dominant two-division PRIDE champion, dude who wasn’t embarassed by Anderson Silva, was reduced to a pathetic has-been in many eyes by Jake Shields. Shields’ best offensive techniques have been passed down to him by a snuggie. Shields is the #1 contender for Jon Fitch’s cuddleweight championship pillow. I’ll let this sink in for a minute.
Many people would be quick to claim that Hendo’s wrestling is overrated, or that he was just physically outclassed, or that he puts too much faith in his ridiculously overpowered right hand. Seriously, that shit is OP, God needs to nerf that shit in the next patch. Not so, if you ask me. I think Dan has forgotten how to wrestle.
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Posted in Criticism, MMA Leave a comment