It Has Been Too Long

Ok Ok Ok – I know I haven’t written forever and this is a fairly common thing for me. What can I say? My professors aren’t that interested in my MMA blog, not nearly as much as they are interested in actually inflicting physical pain on me via reading and writing assignments.  They are masters of their craft I tell you.  But it is summer time and thus it is time to talk MMA once more! I am going to run down all the hottest issues while I was gone in pretty short order because, much to my surprise, the sport didn’t stop for my barely read blog.  Ok! Lets do it!

Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva are finally going to fight again but unfortunately it will not take place in a Brazilian stadium is it was originally planned.  This is both terrible and pretty great news. Its terrible because we won’t get to see the biggest and hottest crowed in MMA history lose its mind. Its good because the chances of a murder attempt are significantly lower in Vegas. I am speaking of course directly to the hate for Chael Sonnen and only indirectly to the crime rate in Brazil.  Seriously though, I wish I was kidding when I say that an attempt on Sonnan’s life might have been made, especially if he won.   The fight will be the biggest of the summer no doubt.  Don’t expect a rerun of their first encounter; this is a much much different fight.

Umm Alistair Overeem tested positive for roids. If you are surprised by this then stop reading this right now and go look up “Alistair Overeem before and after” on google/yahoo images.  Seriously, we all knew. 

Speaking of which, Frank Mir steps in to face Junior Dos Santos for the HW title. I am predicting a pretty severe KO in this one and the title is staying put.  I really like JDS and I honestly think he might be able to run this division for some time. This will be the first step.

Jon Jones is good. There I said it. This guy has done nothing but beat up former champions and look impressive doing so.  I know I am hater but let me say this. I just don’t understand.  He is powerful and talented and rangy (that is the real key) but no one seems willing to go in and attack him.  Maybe he is doing something with his footwork and range that honestly just can’t pick up on. Maybe people are scared. I don’t know.  It just seems to me that in his last two out of three fights (Rampage and Rashad) I found myself saying “attack” in my head a lot. I’m 100% a keyboard warrior when I say that and I get that but there is just something I don’t understand about this but I am the kind of geek that doesn’t just accept that and move on.  I will continue to think in my head that guys have a chance against him and it’s quite likely that I will continue to be proven wrong.

UFC on FOX 3 did less than awesome ratings and apparently that was news.  This is really simple. They messed up the first two in practice. They put names on there but they put them in fights that were bound to be boring or way too fast (JDS/Velasquez).  So they stacked this card with more exciting fights, fights that would deliver. Unfortunately the names weren’t as big. The timing was also bad. It was on Cinco de Mayo on the same night as the Floyd Mayweather fight. Don’t buy the hype. This is legit not a big deal.

So Dana White called people who download UFC events on line terrorists, proving once and for all he does not know the meaning of the word terrorist (which is odd because its more or less a pejorative term).  Eh – Dana white is really just showing that he is the ultimate capitalist and that money is life for him. To threaten his money is to threaten human life.  This just furthers the hate part of my love/hate relationship with Dana White. He is an MMA/business mastermind and more often than not he is right about the sport. But he says incredibly stupid things, sexisist things, and so on.  However, I almost admire how unabashed he is about it. Dana White knows who he is and he has no problem with it and certainly has no problem with what anyone else says/thinks about. He isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and that is great for MMA.

Cyborg Santos also tested positive for roids and once again no one was surprised. This is actually a shame because she brought a level of legitimacy to female MMA that no one else can. Unfortunately that was undermined greatly by her positive test.  On the bright side MMA fans tend to have goldfish like memories for positive tests so she will likely be forgiven pretty quickly.

Benson Henderson rose to greatness and took the lightweight title from Frankie Edgar.  Newsworthy because he dethroned one of the more impressive champions over the last year and because it sets up one of the biggest rematches of the year in their return engagement. 

Strikeforced stepped up, took a chance, and ran a show with a female headline fight.  I like the guts it took. I like that women are getting the spotlight in MMA for a bit. However I am not sure the show did all that well and the discourse around it was generally that of disappointment, not in the fight but in the card. 

Don’t miss UFC on Fuel Tuesday May 15^th and Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Finale May 19^th.  Both cards are well worth it and should shake up the title pictures of the UFC.