MMA: UFC 92: Two New Champions Crowned, The Ax Murderer Is Dead

UFC 92 was the second straight fantastic pay per view event from the UFC. The main event saw Rashad Evans win the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship of the World from Forrest Griffin. Rashad Evans took Forrest down in the third and was raining down punches on Forrest with great vengeance and furious anger. Forrest was able to tie Evans up in his guard momentarily before Evans was able to rise up and land a series of brutal uppercuts which caused Forrest's head to bounce off the canvas and the referee stopped it at 2:46 of round three. Rashad Evans is still undefeated, he still has not attempted a single submission in the UFC, and he is now world champion in the deepest pool of talent in any MMA division in the universe.

For those of you counting at home Rashad Evans has now defeated two Ultimate Fighter winners. Last night he defeated season 1 winner Forrest Griffin and last November at UFC 78 he defeated Ultimate Fighter season 3 winner Michael "The Count" Bisping. Maybe recent winner Ryan Bader won't completely suck and Rashad Evans can knock him out too.

In the fight for the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship Frank Mir completely decimated Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. Mir's standup game looked better than it ever has and he knocked down Nogueira twice in the first round. At the conclusion of that round both announcers were calling it a 10-8 round for Mir. I wouldn't have scored it that way but I wouldn't have a problem if the judges did(In fact only one of the judges scored it a 10-8 round). The second round was more of the same as Mir dropped him with punches and then became the first fighter to ever finish Nogeuiera. Mir smiled, walked over to the side of the cage where Brock Lesnar was sitting, pointed and said, "You have my belt."

Mir went on to cut a great promo. He said that you can do anything, and that he is proof of that. He said that even he didn't believe that he could beat Nogueira. When Joe Rogan asked him about the Brock Lesnar fight Mir called it inevitable, and he began to talk shit about Lesnar ending with, "We'll see if you can get out of the first round this time." Oh my god, I want to see this fight right now!


Quinton "Rampage" Jackson found redemption by knocking "The Ax Murderer" Wanderlei Silva the fuck out and earning himself a $60,000 bonus for knock out of the night honors. During the pre-fight staredown the referee said, "If you would like to touch gloves do it now." Neither man moved. I told Brookie, "They didn't touch gloves!" And she responded with, "Someone is going to die!" At 3:21 of round 1 that just about happened. Rampage ducked under a 1-2 combo from Wanderlei and countered with a left hook right on the jaw and Wanderlei Silva was asleep before he hit the mat. Sleep safe tonight everyone, Rampage is in a pleasant mood. It's possible that he will get the next shot at Rashad Evans title.

The rest of the show was excellent with a series of knockouts and referee stoppages almost all coming early in the fights.


Cheick Kongo looked stellar as he dominated Mostapha Al Turk. Kongo will probably be next in line for a heavyweight title shot after the Lesnar-Mir match in the spring.

CB Dolloway looked very good though he is still nowhere near ready for a match with Middleweight Champ Anderson Silva.

UFC 94 takes place on January 31, 2009 with a huge main event between UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre and UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn in a rematch from UFC 58. This should be an epic battle.

MMA: UFC 92 Preview

UFC 92 has one of the most stacked cards in MMA history. The show features two title fights as well as the first UFC match between two legends of the sport.

The Ultimate Fighter season 1 winner Forrest Griffin makes his first defense of the Light Heavyweight Championship when he defends his title against the Ultimate Fighter season 2 winner "Sugar" Rashad Evans.

Rashad Evans comes into tonight's fight with an unbeaten record of 12-0-1. He showed in his last fight against Chuck Liddell that he has definite knockout power. That alone makes him a very dangerous fighter.

We last saw Forrest Griffin on July 5th when he defeated then champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson by unanimous decision. Since his last loss, which happened almost 2 years ago, Forrest has turned himself into an excellent all around fighter who can really pick apart an opponent without putting himself in grave danger. In the 2nd round against Rampage he also showed an improved ground game. Forrest does everything extremely well. Some fighters you look at and say, "Oh he's a great stand up fighter," or, "He's a submission expert." Forrest Griffin on the other hand is just a great great fighter.

I expect Forrest to dominate and win this fight fairly easily and give Rashad Evans his first ever MMA loss. I say, Forrest by unanimous decision 50-45.

The Ultimate Fighter theme continues as the two coaches from the 8th season go head to head as Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira defends the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. Mir is a submission specialist, but he's not as good as the Brazilian Noguiera. At this point in time Mir is best known for beating the current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar in Lesnar's UFC debut. He won that fight due to a questionable stand up and point deduction by referee Steve Mazagatti. One could argue, and I certainly do, that the fight should have been stopped before then and that Mir was being destroyed and he was not intelligently defending himself.

The winner of this fight will face Brock Lesnar sometime in the Spring in a match to unify the two different versions of the UFC Heavyweight Championship. The best case scenario is for Frank Mir to beat Nogueira tonight in order to set up the rematch with Lesnar. Lesnar vs the one man who has beaten him in his career in a battle to unify the world heavyweight titles! That is a huge money fight right there!

Unfortunately for us Nogueira is so much better than Frank Mir and I expect Noguiera to win via submission in the 2nd round.

Probably the most intriguing fight on UFC 92 is Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva. This is of course the first match for Rampage since he lost his belt to Forrest and went on his well, extended rampage. These two men have fought twice previously in Japan for the former Pride organization. Both of those fights ended with two of the most vicious knockouts you have ever seen and with Wanderlei Silva victorious. After the first fight Rampage flipped out and ended up becoming a born again Christian. Shortly after the second loss Rampage fired his coaches and trainers and hired Juanito Ibarra to train and manage his career. After his loss to Forrest, Rampage went on his rampage and then fired Ibarra.

If Wanderlei wins this fight I am afraid of what Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will do. In all of his UFC fights Rampage has showed a propensity for standing and exchanging punches. That is a very dangerous tactic when your opponent is the man known as The Axe Murderer.

I predict that the Axe Murderer will knockout Rampage in the second round. And if that happens, you should probably lock your door.

The only other match scheduled to air live on the PPV is the Ultimate Fighter 7 runner up CB Dollaway against Mike Massenzio. I have no idea who that guy is.

CB Dollaway will win via submission- Peruvian Necktie- in the first round. The peruvian necktie is his favorite submission hold, and he actually tapped out Rampage with it when Rampage was his coach on the Ultimate Fighter.

Overall this should be an amazing show with three huge matches all of which could headline a UFC pay-per-view event.

As is my preference, I will be watching the show at King Cobra in Seattle again tonight. I highly recommend the sweet potato fries.

MMA: UFC 91 Results, Brock Lesnar is Your UFC Heavyweight Champion

Saturday Night's main event was all it was cracked up to be. In one corner there was the legendary champion and huge fan favorite Randy Couture. In the other corner was the MMA newcomer and a huge beast of a man Brock Lesnar who was appearing in just his fourth pro fight.

The crowd was super hot for the fight with chants of, "Randy" during the introductions and voracious boos all around for Lesnar. In the first round both fighters were clinched up against the fence. Brock is so big and strong that his knees to Randy's thigh actually lifted Randy off the ground. It was an amazing show of size and strength.

Brock eventually took Randy down to the ground in the first round. Randy was able to reverse it and get on top which caused a huge crowd pop and more chants of, "Randy!" Randy was only on top for a moment before Brock rolled him back over and took mount.

Brock Lesnar won the first round on all three judges scorecards.

In the second the fighters exchanged some punches and Randy cut Brock open under his eye. Brock then hit a big right directly to Randy's temple and the world champion crumpled straight down. Brock immediately hit a hammer fist to the face as he pounced on Randy and delivered 35(!) unanswered shots before the referee finally put an end to it all. I had already been screaming, "Stop it! What are you doing, stop the fight?!?" The crowd booed their new champion.

In the semi-main event Kenny "Ken Flo" Florian beat Joe "Daddy" Stephenson in a little more than 4 minutes with a rear naked choke. Ken Flo came down to the ring in this awesome jacket. After his match I took Brookie's iPhone and tried to look up the jacket, but iPhones suck apparently.

Kenny Florian understands how to build and sell a fight. The first words out of his mouth in his post fight interview in front of the crowd was, "I want BJ's belt," BJ Penn is the current UFC Lightweight Champion. Ken Flo added, "I consider BJ to be a master. It's time to kill the master." I want to see this fight so bad!

UFC 91 was an awesome show from top to bottom. With the exception of the main event every fight on the main card ended in the first round. Only the fight of the night award winners Jorge Gurgel and Aaron Riley had a fight that went the distance. The main card fights were so short that every prelim fight was shown on the pay per view to fill time. This is one of the greatest shows in UFC history filled with quick knockouts and submissions. There was not a boring fight to be found.

The next pay per view is UFC 92 on December 27th which has a stacked card with a triple main event. On that night we will get to see Forrest Griffin defend the Light Heavyweight title against Rashad Evans, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira will defend the Interim Heavyweight Title against Frank Mir(winner to face Brock Lesnar to unify the titles), and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson returns to fight Wanderlai Silva. It's going to be spectacular!

MMA News: More on Rampage

Holli Griggs was driving in her car when she was sideswiped by Quinton Jackson's escalade on the day of the rampage. She was pregnant. The day after the chase she said that she and possibly her unborn child were injured in the incident. She had a miscarriage this weekend.

The vehicular manslaughter law in the state of California does not cover a fetus. Regardless of the effects of the criminal investigation this certainly does not bode well for Jackson in a possible civil case- I say possible only because it hasn't been filed yet. I would be willing to bet that we will see one in this instance.

The Newport Beach Daily Pilot quoted the District Attorney spokesperson as saying,
"Our office will make sure we take as much time as necessary to make a proper filing decision and including all evidence and medical information to make sure any charges that are filed are fair and accurate,"

There are currently no negotiations or plans for Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's next fight.

MMA: More on Rampage

The day after the car chase Quinton Jackson was with friends and he was apparently rambling about various aspects of the Bible and claiming that he himself was God. This is why his friends flagged down a cop car, and then he was admitted for a psychological evaluation. In the state of California a person can be held for up to 72 hours on a psychological evaluation. Jackson's stay in the hospital was extended beyond those 72 hours. Information beyond this is very hard to come by due to the legalities of HIPPA.

He is no longer in the hospital.

At the end of 2003 and then again in 2004 Rampage was knocked out in two fights against then PRIDE middleweight champion Wanderlai Silva. After these fights Jackson was said to have been acting strange and he went into a deep depression. Then he announced that he had found God, and was now a born again Christian.

It appears that we are watching some sort of repeat of this situation, except of course this time he has felony charges to deal with from his accident riddled car chase.

Right now there are no plans, or talks underway, for his next fight. Right now Rampage just needs to deal with his personal stuff, and when, or if, he gets it all worked out then the UFC can think about an opponent and a date for his next fight.

If he is actually convicted of the felony charge then it will be difficult for him to fight again. The California State Athletic Commission would not allow a felon to fight, and it's unlikely that the Nevada State Athletic Commission would allow him to fight either.

We have yet to hear the end of this mess.

MMA News: Anderson Silva and Fedor dominate, Tim Sylvia sucks

I tried to go to Piecora's in Seattle last night to watch the free UFC show. I was arriving late, because I only really wanted to see the Anderson Silva-James Irvin fight. When I got to the restaurant they had the Mariners game on the TV, but their website said they were going to have the UFC show on. Boo!

I thought about driving 25 minutes to the Magnolia Pub, the other place I know that shows UFC fights, but I wasn't really up to it after working all day. If Silva was actually defending the middleweight title then I would have gone the extra mile(s) to see the fight live.

Instead, I just watched it online.

Silva wins in dominant fashion via knockout in 1:01. James Irvin doesn't hit him. Well he doesn't hit Silva until he throws a kick to the body which Anderson Silva catches. Silva catches the leg and throws a heavy right that lands right in the middle of the face. Irvin goes down from there and Silva pounces on him and throws some more shots to the head until the ref has finally seen enough. An easy day at the office for the UFC middleweight champion fighting up in weight at 205.

In his post-match promo Silva says that his first priority is to defend the title at 185, but he wants to have the best matchups regardless of weight class. I look forward to the impending middleweight champ Anderson Silva vs welterweight champ Georges St.Pierre fight. Seriously, book this now!

I was also able to track down the main event of last night's inaugural Affliction pay per view, which Donald Trump is still claiming was sold out. Prior to this fight I had never seen Fedor Emelianenko fight. He absolutely dominated Tim Sylvia. The fight lasts 36 seconds, but this is a murder. Sylvia grabs a muay thai clinch early, and Fedor lands an uppercut and punches his way out of it(!) and down goes Sylvia, covering his head. Fedor jumps on him and starts swinging away at the head. Sylvia rolls over and gives up his back. Then Fedor shows just how massively strong he is: Sylvia has his arms up covering his head- I would have actually stopped the fight at this point if I was the ref, because covering your head does not constitute intelligently defending your self- then Fedor just thrusts his arm in between Sylvia's arm and his neck. Instantly, Sylvia grabs a hold of Fedor's arm so that he doesn't get choked out. But Fedor locks in the choke with no struggle, clasps his hands, and Sylvia is tapping out. Fight over in 36 seconds. Holy fuck is Fedor strong! I mean, Tim Sylvia is a big dude and Fedor just had his way with him landing punches while Sylvia held him in the clinch and then getting the rear naked choke without even having to try hard.

Fedor is your WAMMA(World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts) Heavyweight Champion!

After the fight Fedor said he wants Randy Couture. Randy Couture entered the ring and said that he wants the fight as well. A pro wrestling angle just broke out! You see, Randy Couture is the UFC Heavyweight Champion and he has a no-compete clause in his UFC contract until at least October. Also, the UFC is currently suing Couture for refusing to fight. I don't think this appearance on a competitor's PPV is going to help Couture's legal defense at all.

Andrei Arlovski beat Ben Rothwell via KO in the third round of their fight, which the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer called a great fight. I like Arlovski, and I think it's a good bet that we will see Fedor defend his new title against Arlovski at the next Affliction show. The Affliction website currently has no mention of when the next event will take place.

So, WAMMA is this group of people who do a "global ranking" of fighters by weight class. It's stupid, and unnecessary. They think they are awesome though, and I think it's a complete joke that they crowned a champion in the first main event that they are involved in. At least set up a tournament of sorts. Maybe on this show have a couple of "semifinal" matches and next shows have the "finals" and crown the champion then.

It's safe to say that Affliction lost millions of dollars putting on their show tonight. They threw a lot of money at people in order to put together the card that they did. They did get plenty of media exposure.

ESPN.com had Fedor on the main page all day yesterday with an article about him. That's right, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson lost his UFC title to Forrest Griffin and nothing mentioned on ESPN.com. Quinton Jackson goes on a rampage and no mention of it on ESPN.com. Fedor Emelianenko fights in the first Affliction pay per view and it's front page news!

MMA News: Your daily dose of Rampage

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson's hearing for felony evading, reckless driving and hit and run has been set for August 15. The Costa Mesa police have stated that drugs nor alcohol were involved in the incident.

On Wednesday afternoon Rampage was in fact detained at a hospital for a mental health evaluation. Right now I can not find any information on when, or if, he was released. If he has not yet been released then he will probably be let go this afternoon as we are slowly approaching the 48 hour mark of when he was taken in for an evaluation.

One of the few quotes available comes from someone who works at the same training facility as Rampge, “I think he just snapped. He had a nervous breakdown,” said Paul Foster, a friend and fellow trainer at Huntington Beach’s Ultimate Training Center. “Normally, he’s 99.9% under control. Everybody loses control at one time or another. But not everybody’s around to see it.”

In other MMA news: This Saturday is the debut Affliction show live on pay per view from Los Angeles. There are a ton of tickets available and TicketMaster just slashed the prices. Tickets priced at $1000 are now priced at $585. Despite all of this Donald Trump, who has money in the promotion, continues to do media interviews claiming that the show is sold out. Shouldn't the point of his interviews this week be to drum up interest and ticket sales?

The Affliction show has Fedor vs Tim Sylvia as the main event. Skip it. Watch the free show on UFC instead with the main event of Anderson Silva vs James Irvin. I'm taking Anderson Silva via submission in the 2nd round with a triangle choke.

I hope that Fedor wins by knockout.

In WWE news: This Sunday's Great American Bash is headlined by CM Punk's first ever pay per view title defense when he takes on Batista. Punk should win, if only to appease me.

MMA News: Rampage! Redux

TMZ is reporting that Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson was picked up by police a second time this week.

Yesterday afternoon he was apparently hanging out with some friends, and his friends flagged down a cop car and said that Rampage was acting odd. The police officers at the scene deemed him a danger to self and/or others, so he was taken to a hospital for observation.

It's also being reported that he was very cooperative with police.

After the July 5th title fight loss Rampage said in his post fight interview that he would never have 9 months between fights again.

The top 4 draws in the UFC light heavyweight division are champion Forest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, Wanderlai Silva, and Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson. Liddell is fighting Rashad Evans in September, and if Chuck wins that fight he would be the obvious choice for the next title match.
If Chuck loses then you could go to an immediate rematch between Griffin and Rampage.

That last idea has probably been tossed out the window this week.

Something is odd in Irvine, CA.

Rampage!

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson was arrested yesterday after police were responding to reports of a hit and run involving his vehicle. As you can see from the AP picture, his truck is easy to find since it has a huge picture of himself on it. Awesome.

Once the police caught up with him he continued to drive on a flat tire and led the police on a short chase before he finally stopped. Police officers had their guns drawn as he was taken into custody.

THIS IS HUGE NEWS

Rampage lost the Light Heavyweight title to Forrest Griffin on July 5th. It was a very close and an extremely awesome fight. The UFC Light Heavyweight Championship is the premier title belt in the premier mixed martial arts organization in the world.
Quinton Jackson was the 12-5 favorite in Vegas for this fight, and chances are he will be the odds makers favorite for a potential rematch. He is one of the top fighters in the world at the premier weight class in the UFC.

The only reason why this story isn't being reported everywhere is because it's going to take the media sources a while to figure out who this guy is and what it means. The sports writers in this country are an old boys club, and they are slow to learn no things. They didn't spend anytime learning about MMA as a sport growing up, so as it becomes more popular they have no idea how to report on it. So instead they look down upon it and publish lies. The weekend of the last UFC pay per view where Rampage lost the title ESPN gave something like 12 times the amount of coverage to the competitive hotdog eating contest in Long Island. Let me rephrase that- The premier sporting news network in the world spent 12 times as long covering an eating contest than they did on a title change in the UFC.

The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer reported that UFC President Dana White went to Orange County to post bail. I hope that someday n I get into trouble a very powerful rich man will come to my aid.

He was booked on suspicion of felony evading, hit and run and reckless driving.
There were no injuries, so I would not be surprised to see absolutely no jail time handed down. Then again this is the United States and Quinton Jackson is a black man, so you never know. With the PPV buyrate percentage that is negotiated into his contract it's estimated that he made right around 7 figures for his fight on July 5, so he should be able to afford to get himself some excellent lawyers.

It has been a full 24 hours since the incident and no one is reporting that there were drugs or alcohol involved. It does seem like erratic behavior of sorts from the former champion.

In other MMA news the UFC is running a free a show on Spike TV this weekend with a main event of current middleweight champion Anderson Silva vs James Irvin. This will not be for the Middleweight Championship as Silva will be fighting up a weight class. He is hoping to defend the Middleweight title at 185 lbs and also fight at 205 lbs. I hope he holds two belts in two weight classes at the same time.

This free Spike TV special is going head to head with the first pay per view from the Affliction group which has a main event of former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia and Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor has long been considered the top heavyweight in the world, but since he's never fought in the UFC my question is, then who has he really beaten? I hope Fedor wins, because I sure hate Tim Sylvia. Regardless I'm only watching this match if it shows up on youtube.

Save your money, watch the free show on Spike.