Back from the Dead

:)

Missed this. Lets see...the last time I wrote, MARCH?! Gadzooks, Holy Moly, OhmyLanta! What have I missed??

How about an entire season of TUF, almost 2 since the Finale for 14 is coming up!

Alright. Well. If I reminisced about big league MMA for the last 8 months, I would be here all day (and I'm on duty so...I have all day.)

Well. Hm. Lemme sit here and think about how I'm going to do this post up.

I guess I haven't updated since before my fight. It didn't go my way. I actually ended up with a mandibular fracture. It was pretty gnarly, I got kicked in the face. First time cage jitters, not moving my feet, didn't see it coming, I could come up with a million excuses. The truth being that I simply got beat. No other way around it.

I spent a few days in the hospital and the doctor there outfitted me with titanium splints which are basically like a new jaw... which is pretty cool.

                                                Biting isn't legal in MMA.......yet!

I spent a few months out of the loops, went from 178 pounds back up to 210...all bad. I'm back on that horse though, get-getting it. I'll be back and next time baby, I'll be bulletproof!

Anyhooooo...

Most recently UFC 139 showcased all sorts of legends. First and foremost, one of my favorite fighters, Urijah Faber is making his way back to the title shot against Dominick Cruz. After tapping out Brian Bowles, he's got a few months now to prepare. In the first time he fought Cruz, it was for the WEC featherweight title. Faber got a guillotine choke on him. In their second match, again a title fight but the tables were turned, Cruz was the bantamweight champ and Faber was coming for it.

                                                           
It didn't happen though. After 5 rounds of war, Cruz remained champ and my boy was sent packing back to work his way up through the ranks. In the time since, Cruz has defended his title on free-tv against Demetriouis "Mighty Mouse" Johnson. That too was a great fight. Cruz has proven himself champion, but my prediction is this next time around, Faber vs Cruz 3, is that Fabers going to dethrone him. It'll be awesome and I can't wait.

Also on the 139 card were Cung Le and Wanderlei Silva. Wanderlei was coming off a tough knockout loss to Chris Leben

You messed with the wrong Dyed-Ginger, breh

Cung Le came over from everyones favorite shitty cage fighting league, Strikeforce, where he was badass and went 9-1 in his MMA career.

Oh wait, it wasn't the UFC. Le got KTFO in round two.

The main event was intense. Awesome, great, stupendous, terrific, whatever you want to call it. But Shogun and Dan Henderson went for it, and earned their fight of the night bonus for real. Hendo came out on top, but it wasn't for lack of trying on Shoguns part. Awesome fight.

Also on the card was Stephan Bonnar, who no one seems to like but me. The dude puts on a show every time he fights and you can't blame him for that. Sure he talks a little funny, and has t-shirts made about people that don't agree to it. So what?

Stupid Koscheck.

OH!

Tshirts!

Tell me if you want one! Hit me up on my Facebook page, links at the bottom of this page.

So that was the most recent UFC.

I spoke about Strikeforce in passing in this edition of BenClarkMMA...but, I must say, since subscribing to showtime, I am becomming more impressed with the brand. They need new commentators, and their presentation of MMA as less of a sport and more of a freakshow is less than pleasing, but with Alistair Overeem (signed now to the UFC), Daniel Cormier, Miesha Tate, Luke Ruckhold, Tyrone Woodley, the Strikeforce organization is becoming better.

Also, the UFC's latest season of the Ultimate Fighter has been ridiculous. Mayhem Miller and Michael Bisping coaching 135 lbs and 145 lbs fighters, with all the pranks and a surprising amount of stoppages (usually KO and submissions come at the heavier weights where the athlete can deal more trauma out due to size) has led me to DVR this religiously. I would have DVR'd it anyway, lets be honest...I'm addicted to MMA, but I actually look forward to wednesday evenings during this time of the year.

What else has happened?

Oh. Duh.

How could I possibly forget that the Heavyweight Strap has been passed again? Look at this.

WARNING: Not one ounce of technique was used in the following beatdown. Viewer Discretion is advised.

Look at that Mickey Mouse haymaker. WTF DUDE?

Dana White spent all sorts of money and danced with the devil on this to bring UFC on the same network as the NFL, and in doing so he showed a minute of carnage. I love carnage. It makes me happy. But this wasn't a good display for MMA to the unknowing masses. Next time there will hopefully be some MMA, not just a fist fight slug out.

But goddamn that was cool..

Anywho, that will just about do it for this entry. Hopefully I will remember to update more often, but if I don't, here's to you and yours, I'll be back around sometime.

UFC buys Strikeforce, Oxygen Restriction, BenClarkMMA learns how to fight better

Hey Readers!

Not sorry for the long delay in writing, I'm a busy man. But now that I've got my things in order and no work pending for a bit, I have time to sit and write about my favorite sport.

Well, for the first order of business...something extremely crazy happened the other day. Zuffa LLC., the corporation that owns the UFC bought out Strikeforce.

                                                         Dana White, King of MMA promo

This isn't the first time that the UFC flexed it's check book to control more and more of mainstream MMA. Back in 2007, the UFC purchased PRIDE FC from it's Japanese owners, as well as the WFA and WEC. All these promotions became merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in time, and all their fighters were signed over. Elite XC and the IFL, other big promotions caved on their own, and weren't worth the money that the UFC could have easily used to buy them.

                                           Seen here; the International Fight League and Elite XC

This left Strikeforce the sole competitor in the mixed martial arts market. Broadcasting their fights on Showtime and CBS and also competing female fighters made up for their supposed lack of talent. However, in recent months Strikeforce has been putting on blow out fights, and has had stacked talents, especially in the heavyweight division. Fighters such as Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum, not to mention former UFC heavyweight champions Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett. Welterweight champion Nick Diaz, contenders Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos and Tyron Woodley also make strong arguments for talent within the promotion, as well as a few others.

TL;DR ---> Strikeforce is legitimate.

With the new Grand Prix tournament format, it began to look like the Strikeforce brand was about to take off. Swift action by the Ulitmate Fighting Championship shows their business savy as well as their dominion over the sport. In time it may look like Mixed Martial Arts may rival major sport leagues like the NFL and NBA in revenue and fan following.

I also can't wait to see Fedor Emelianenko fight Randy Couture, or Gilbert Melendez throw down with Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard.

Just waiting for the day that the UFC buys Bellator FC.

In other news, I got this.

My coach Jose calls me a telemarketers wet dream, but hey. Haters gonna hate. In the 2 weeks or so I've been working out in it, I feel like my cardio has made as much progress as you can hope to in a short period of time. It feels like I'm working out with a plastic bag over my head, and the energy it saps from my body and the subsequent recovery have been pretty intense.

Grappling at MMA practice has become a lot easier, and that whole "Control your breathing" mantra has been manifested for me by way of ridiculous looking training gear. Thanks, Sean Sherk!

That leads me to my next musing, which is MMA fighting in my personal experience.

Since my last writing, I've taken up extreme interest in stand up fighting. By no means would I say I'm a legit badass, but lots of pad work as well as tons of video watching have led me to the ability to move my head and feet around well enough that I feel confident in the starting position of all MMA fights: Standing Up.

 This is a dramaticized version of my thigh, because my coach Jose put the hurt on me during leg sparring. After 3 or so sessions of getting the crap kicked out of me I started to not look where I was throwing kicks, moving my feet around and generally doing the right thing. Coupled with the bob-and-weave training that Rich our Muay Thai coach put me through, the progress is beginning to show.

So this week I'll get an appointment made to get my medical checks done, and then after that I hope I will be deemed worthy to set foot in a steel cage to fight another dude for fame, because fortune only comes after going pro, and I can't do that until my 6th fight in the great state of Arizona.

                                    "I HATE BEN CLARK AND ALL OTHER MMA FIGHTERS"

kthxbai bruh bruhs!

UFC 126 Main Card Predictions!

Oh yes.

It's time, followers! Once again, theres going to be fists and shins flying, people getting choked, maybe (and I mean probably) some blood. Lots of action is headed our way with the best looking card since UFC 125.

Here we go...

Miguel Torres (38 -3) vs Antonio Banuelos (18-6)

I don't really know much about Antonio Banuelos, but his record reflects a win (albeit by split decision) over Scott Jorgensen, who he's fought twice. He lost the other one by a more convincing Unanimous Decision. Miguel Torres, the former WEC bantamweight champ, on the other hand holds impressive wins over Takeya Mizugaki and Charlie Valencia. Recently he dropped two fights to great fighters Brian Bowles and Joseph Benavidez. This is a good match up, and I see Miguel Torres taking it by Unanimous Decision. For no other reason than his mullet.

Jon Jones (11-1) vs Ryan Bader (12-0)

This fight has classic written all over it as two young powerhouse light heavyweights set out to become the future of their division.  Jon Jones was an all-star wrestler in college, and displays flashy (he calls it "funky" and "weird") striking. He's beaten legendary Stephan Bonnar and the usually tenacious Brandon Vera (although, the Truth sucks now and just got cut from the UFC). His only loss has come via disqualification for delivering sicknasty elbows to the face of Matt Hamill.

                                            "Hey check this out, I just broke his face!!!!"

Ryan Bader is undefeated, and hold wins over Keith Jardine, Minotauro Nogueira or however you spell it, and also comes into this fight with a 10 inch reach disadvantage, and he doesn't do spinning flying hella sweet back kicks or anything like that.

                                                                     Yep. Look!

So it's safe to say, that despite his undefeated record and wrestling credentials, I'm giving the nod to Bones Jones, TKO in the 1st or 2nd.

Jake Ellenberger (23-5) vs Carlos Eduardo Rocha (9-0)

I will just say Jake Ellenberger, because he was once a Marine, and this is a filler match if ever there was one.

Forrest Griffin (17-6) vs Rich Franklin (28-5)

I cannot wait for this. I can't wait one minute. It's almost as exciting as the nights main event. And that's saying something!

Forrest Griffin is the Ultimate Fighter. Literally! Season 1 winner of the UFC's ultimate reality show, and maybe the toughest, gamest fighter to ever set foot in the octagon. It doesn't get much more exciting than Forrest Griffin. In every fight I've ever watched him in, I can't say once that i've been bored or even thought of touching the remote (and not just because I usually watch UFC at a bar where there is no remote, or my friend Nic's house where there is a bar, and I don't usually feel like touching the remote anyway)

Rich Franklin is a former champion (so is Forrest..ha!)  and does things like knock out a legend while having a broken arm.

                            Chuck Liddell ordered a knuckle Sandwhich, with a side of retirement

Stylistically and aggressively, this is a mirror match. They even look like eachother, freakishly. Kinda like me and the Tucson shooter, but I won't get into that. ANYWAY. If for no other reason than his redneck toughness and crazy ground game, I'm going to have to say Forrest Griffin takes this one, probably by decision.

                                                Just another day at the office, AMIRIGHT?!

Anderson "The Spider" Silva (27-4, 12-0 UFC) vs Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort (19-8, 1-0 since his return to the UFC)

Well haters, while you were sleeping, Vitor Belfort crept in, overweight and out of practice, fighting in smaller shows since his departure from the UFC back in 1927. Psych. But really, why does this guy have a title shot? He fought Rich Franklin at UFC 103 back in 1972 and didn't even weigh in as a  middle weight. For the life of me, I do nut see the wisdom that Dana White usually sprinkles in his title fight match ups. But whatever, as a wannabe cagefighter and even bigger wannabe journalist, I have to break this down. And of course, I'm not a scientist or a referee, so I'm just going to talk smack until you start laughing and tell me about it later.

Lets see.

This video should give you a ballpark idea how Anderson Silva conducts business. He's got the best hands in the entire fighting world, boxers be damned. Yeah, I said it. I even slightly dissed my hero (no homo) Georges St-Pierre with that comment. And my girlfriend will tell you how annoyingly I look up to St-Pierre as a fighter role model. So what?

Vitor Belfort came into the UFC at the ripe age of 19 and knocked everyone out. Big fat dudes, in shape dudes, doesn't matter, he got those KTFO's. However, he never fought the Spider.

                                                           "Just try to hit me Napoleon."

His highlight reel shows him impressively charging forward, fists flying like fists are going out of style. Quicker than tickle-me-elmo sales in Candy Land. I'm telling you what, it took me about 5 minutes of thinking how to describe that quickness. But the catch is, Vitor isn't a middleweight! He's a light heavyweight or even a heavyweight! WHY DOES HE GET THIS SHOT?! YUSHIN OKAMI DESERVES IT (even though he hugged Nate Marquardt for 15 minutes to get the right)  Whatever. Vitors no joke, and Anderson has his work cut out for him.

So on saturday night, what can you expect when The Champ and the Undeserving Contender step in the cage?

Mass destruction, of course. Depending on which Anderson Silva shows up (He has his wrecking-ball nights, and other nights he likes to play Dance Dance Revolution around the cage while the other guy tries to pull guard. UGHHHH so boring), I think this will be a good night for the Champion. If he brings his A-game, those Muay Thai knees and laser guided UFC gloves, Vitor Belforts gonna be waking up in the hospital. If Vitor Belfort can still move and hit like he did at 205, the fight will be much more interesting and drawn out. A roid raging Chael Sonnen knocked Silvas ass around for most of 5 rounds before being submitted. (The jokes on Sonnen, he said that Silvas black belt in Jiu Jitsu was a happy meal toy, an unearned hand-out. So he got submitted. Obviously!)

My call? Anderson Silva, TKO, 3rd Round.

Stay tuned for the aftermath!

Return of the Blog! Highlight Reels and Future Deals

Sorry for the long break! I haven't felt like writing, and that's the honest truth. I've had plenty to write about though, and this new edition of BenClarkMMA will be featured in the highlight format.

Lets see, since November 30th...

Strikeforce: Hendo vs Babalu II, 4 December 2010

Get real. No one likes Strikeforce, especially when they release promotionals without a complete card. Herschel Walker probs fought the Ghost of Christmas future that night. Who knows?

Please, Scott Coker, CEO and failure-king of Strikeforce. Take notes from ANYBODY ELSE promoting Mixed Martial Arts, please. You SUCK! I hate your events, your champions are GARBAGE (besides maybe Nick Diaz) and you WISH. Yes, you just wish. Why would you put on this supposedly "great" fight night on the same night as your bigger, meaner, brother the UFC's TUF finale? You are so dumb. How did you figure you'd get ratings? Why am I addressing you when you obviously don't read my blog? Shut up....


TUF 12 Finale, 4 December 2010

Jonathan Brookins defeated Michael Johnson for the Ultimate Fighter Season 12 6 figure contract and glass trophy

                                                 Sweet! He always wanted a glass square.

It was obviously a decision, as both fighters are strong wrestlers, and respect eachothers stand up, plus trained under GSP all season and knew the ins and outs of each others games. Good on them, they bored the crap out of me. Just kidding, but  not really.

The best fight on that card was Nam Phan vs. Leonard Garcia, in the UFC's first ever live-aired Featherweight bout.

                    Phan, shown here showing Garcia the monster in his trunks, note the facial expression of horror, because Phan is that much Man.

I'm a damn Nam Phan fan, and unfortunately he got robbed. However, Dana White in his infinite wisdom and awesomeness declared an immediate rematch, and hopefully Nam Phan can get his win back. However, it was an awesome fight, one that everyone enjoyed watching more than the main event.

Anyway.

UFC 124: St-Pierre vs Koscheck II, 11 December 2010

"I'm gonna hit you, riiiiight here"

The above quote is from none other than Josh "Probably Won't Fight Again" Koscheck, uttered while pointing at the Champs chin on national T.V. talking smack. However, as you can see by the picture above, Joshua got a rude reminder as to why you shouldn't say anything outrageous to GSP in regards to fighting him. Because he WILL ground you. LITERALLY. Like your dad. GROUND YOU. Josh couldn't fly home to California, because of a fracture to his orbital bone, rendering his flight home impossible, because a change in air pressure would kill him/hurt real bad.

      This bearded Gentleman demonstrates what would happen to Kos at 30,000 feet.

For 5 straight rounds, GSP laid a beat down on Koscheck unlike any seen before. He broke his face with jabs! From the first round forward, GSP would glide in, pop a couple shots to silly boy Josh's face, and then back out while Kos would throw a couple haymaker style punches that didn't stand a snowballs chance in hell of hitting him, because he couldn't see out his right eye. LOL?

Félicitations au champion, Georges St-Pierre pour une autre défense victorieuse de son titre!!!

Also at UFC 124,

Sean McCorkle may look like he's winning here, but he didn't. That 6'11" guy on the bottom of this picture reversed, and put on a clinic of ground and pound, winning by TKO in the first round. I can't find a picture of this, however, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Or look up the stats.

Moving right along....

WEC 53: Henderson Vs Pettis, 16 December 2010 

Here.

That's all you need to see.

UFC 125: Resolution,  1 January 2011

In what I expected to be the badassest card ever, this did not disappoint. It was chock full of hard hitting fights, and balls-to-the-wall MMA action that I am so addicted to.

Clay Guida Vs. Takanori Gomi. I had Gomi picked out for this fight. I thought Guida was going to get knocked out. In the first round, Guida decided to say "Forget getting knocked out, I think I'll guillotine this PRIDE legend into submission. Seeya!"

Dong Hyun Kim vs Nate Diaz was also amazing. I had Stun Gun winning, and he did, but by decision. I thought it would be a bit more one sided, however, Nate Diaz put up a fantastic fight, and even for a minute it looked like he knocked Kim out with knees to the face. But he didn't apparently, because Kim was technically a downed opponent with his hand on the ground. Wuss. Anyway, 2 rounds to 1, Kim. The third round is where Nate Diaz almost came back and knocked the Korean back to the mean streets of Seoul.

                                             I mean, look at this Thug straight outta Stockton.


Oh yeah. Brandon Vera got his ass beat. It was Thiago Silvas come back fight and this is what happened..

After the nap, we had Brian Stann Vs. Chris Leben.

This fight was awesome. Chris Leben always swings for the fences and Brian Stann is a rough tough can't get enough US Marine, OOORAH!

Anyway. Despite allegiance to the Beloved Corps, I picked Leben to win this fight, simply because he's a monster. I was wrong. Initially, Chris Lebens iron chin helped him recover from 3, count 'em THREE monster strikes to the face where Stann would have KO'd any other living man. It wasn't happening. Chris Leben just kept getting back up, because Screw Brain Cells.

Damn.

And the Maaaaaain EVENT, of THE EEEEVENING!

This fight rocked my socks off. The first round, it was a miniature version of Velasquez vs Lesnar, where the challenger Maynard was beating the epic snot out of the champ, Frankie Edgar. But Frankie Edgar is made of bouncy ball, and every time he got knocked down, he literally back flipped back up and redefined "roll with the punches"

                                          No. This isn't from the Jersey Shore, it's Toughness Incarnate.

Anyway. After the first round, which everyone scored 10-8 for Maynard, I think the Champ won the rest of the fight, giving him the edge to win a decision, a close one, but still a win. However, the Judges declared it a draw. Edgar retained his title, but didn't win. I was kinda bummed that I didn't see a finish in that first round. It was sick and twisted how bad Maynard put the hurt on Edgar. Mmm mm mm. Shaking my head.

Still. Best fight I've seen in a long while.

Welp, folks, there you have it. The highlights of the last almost 2-months in MMA. Sure, there have been other events in other promotions, but none that I've watched and/or care about. Why? Because Bellator is whack, and DREAM hasn't held a fight since forever.

Upcoming events are UFC: Fight for the Troops 2, which features the main event of Melvin Guillard vs Evan Dunham. Guillard is winning a 3 fight win streak, and Dunham is coming off his first loss ever to Sean Sherk at UFC 119. I think Dunhams going to win this one, probably by submission. Considering 7 of 8 losses that belong to Guillard are via submission, it isn't too tough to see that happening, because Dunham has 6/11 wins by submission.

And it looks like he knows what he's doing while he's standing up too. Hmm....

Also, the SAME EXACT NIGHT AS A UFC EVENT...STRIKEFORCE: NO ONE CARES 43

 Why is that one guy highlighted, and a single glove on Nick Diaz, but the rest is black and white. I HATE STRIKEFORCE! I'll throw them a bone; I would watch Nick Diaz fight Evangelista Santos, other than that, Dexter is the only reason to watch Showtime at all.

                                                "Strikeforce: Dex Vs Strikeforce " promo poster


And soon after that is UFC 126: Silva Vs. Belfort. Silva, defending his title for the 543rd time, and Belfort coming out of seemingly nowhere, fighting once in the UFC after a huge hiatus, and he fought at a 195 pound
catchweight against Rich Franklin at UFC 103. Why on earth this man has a shot at the title confuses me, but it doesn't matter. Silvas going to kick him in the teeth, his lights will go out, and finally the rightful contender, Yushin Okami, can get his shot. I'm not too sure what the main event of UFC 122 was all about then, Marquardt and Okami fought for #1 contendership, and then bang, all of a sudden, this old geezer (Belfort fought at UFC 3 or something ridiculous. He's been around man) is figthting the pound for pound best. Whatever!

Anyway, dear readers, That concludes the highlights and heads-ups for this entry. I will try to write more. I promise.

                                           $5 to the person who guesses which person I am on this poster.

First Look at the Main Event of UFC 124! (TUF, and Travis Rael)

Lets do this.

GSP will defend his title against dark horse Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec Canada.

                                            The Crowd is already going wild. Seriously.

Let's take a look at the advantages of this fight.

Striking:

Both of these fighters have outstanding striking. Though primarily ground based, it's a known fact that when two wrestlers compete, you'll end up seeing a fist fight.  GSP is a black belt in Kyokushin Karate, which, is no joke.  Koscheck trains at AKA, home of newly crowned heavy weight champ, Cain Velasquez. In fact, two of his last four victories have come by way of TKO. However, he also has been caught by a jiu jitsu fighter, Paulo Thiago. Unimpressive, sir. Paulo Thiago was more surprised than anyone I think when he uppercutted Kos into next week.

                                                 Fork over that lunch money, Joshua.

St. Pierre however, hasn't had his clock cleaned since Matt Serra messed him up. He also avoided the heavy hands of always-mean Dan Hardy.

                  Nope. GSP never felt the wrath of a mohawked Brit quite like The Irish Hand Grenade

Who knows? Maybe GSP will be caught. The last time I gave the striking advantage to the challenger, that's what he relied on. I won't jinx my hero. (No homo, GSP is my hero. In fact, after Jose and Curtis teach me to beat people up more and more, and whomever I train with in the future; hopefully one day I can fight him.) Anyway, with GSP being a black belt, training with Muay Thai people and Phil Nurse as his kick boxing coach, I have to give him the nod. Kos is good, GSP is great.

Advantage: GSP

Wrestling and Ground Game:

Both of these fighters are outstanding wrestlers. In their first fight, GSP was taken down numerous times by Kos' Division I abilities. GSP has shown his mettle in this department against Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, Thiago Alves, and Dan Hardy. It isn't really clear who has the advantage here.

The champion has never wrestled officially, not in high school, not in college. Our challenger however has,  and he did it well. But that was then, this is now. I can't say for sure who is better at passing, working, and takedowns. It's a really tough call, so tough in fact, I have to say that their wrestling is about the same.

However, this isn't a wrestling match, this is MMA. Duh. On the ground, GSP thrives. Strikes on the ground and he has shown extreme skill in submissions, in his last title defense, he basically would have ended anyone with that armbar, or the kimura. Dan Hardy is just tough as woodpecker lips. Koscheck has rear naked choked a few people. However, it's an unreliable statistic. If Koscheck takes it to the ground, chances are GSP's BJJ black belt and his champ status will negate any sort of submission Kos will throw his way. With the clear advantage in ground fighting, I have to give this department to the champion.

Advantage: GSP


Size and Cardio

Again, another really close subject. GSP and Kos have each been featured in workout magazines, been put on youtube, and have dedicated their life to athleticism. They each walk around not very heavy, and don't have much of a cut to 170 lbs. GSP has a slight reach advantage, at 76 inches to Kos 73. Reach doesn't mean much, Matt Serra is a midget and managed to KO the champion way back in the day though. It's pretty obvious what has to happen here...

Advantage: TIE

My outlook is GSP has the advantage in fighting, but athletically and size wise Koscheck is a good match. I also have to say it; the hometown crowd is GSP's.  I don't know why Dana White would do this to Koscheck, as GSP's back will be against the wall fighting in front of his Canadian homies. They should have fought in Mandalay Bay or MGM Grand Garden, but hey, I'm not a UFC promoter, I'm just a fan and hopeful. In any case, GSP will have the crowd rallying behind him, and even though Koscheck is determined, maybe even convinced, GSP is once again nervous and will one way or the other come out on top.

My call...

GSP by TKO in the 3rd, or Unanimous Decision, but more than likely, TKO in the 3rd.

Here is a picture of what I'll be doing during the fight so no one will think I'm a curse, because...you know, Brock Lesnar and all.

Next order of business...

The Ultimate Fighter!

Nam Phan vs. Michael Johnson

It's gonna come down to who woke up on the right side of the bed. Phan is a body-shot king, with impressive cardio and the will to win. Michael Johnson is a gifted athlete (..you know what? I think that's pretty messed up, the only dark black person in the house this season, and he's been called "the athletic one" by the show and by fans. Seriously, America. Get it together, this isn't 1963) and his stand up is good to go. However, I'm a damn Nam Phan Fan and I'm gonna say Nam walks away with this one. Sorry Mike!

Jonathan Brookins vs Kyle Watson

I'm not quite sure that Kyle Watsons match ups have been against the tougher fighters in the house, as his only real challenge might have been that British guy everyone forgot about already (you know...the Wild Card fighter that Michael Johnson beat earlier in the season). These guys have been choking people out all day, and they're team mates. Jonathan has the clear experience advantage (dude fought in the WEC against Jose Aldo. JOSE ALDO, the Brazilian GSP pretty much). I'm gonna have to say Brookins slides into home this week and makes it to the finals against Nam Phan.


Last but not least, in totally unofficial, non-professional, nobody knows this guy fashion, my training partner and when I make it, team mate, Travis Rael was successful in his amateur debut. Congrats on the third round TKO man! My first steps in MMA were much less successful, as I was on the receiving end, but then again...I didn't have our coaches in Japan. Enough about me, check this out.

Rage in the Cage 146

If the album is private, well, my bad. Travis's facebook is his own, and if I get some feedback on this article, maybe I can message him to make it a public work so you can see him beating the snot out of Riley Booth, with wrestling and ground and pound.

Well friends, Americans, countrymen...I'll probably be blogging again soon, but for now, I have to get back to work...or else! Laters!