In the wake of Big John leaving the reffing world, someone has to fill the void covering the ever important title fights. The big names, of course, are Mario Yamasaki and Steve Mazzagatti. It looks like Mazzagatti, though, will not be the referee at the title fight between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar.

Lesnar’s representatives have attacked Mazzagatti’s impartiality to the case on the basis that Mazzagatti has given Brock Lesnar a point deduction for striking to the back of the head in the fight with Frank Mir.

I have to say that apart from the attack on Mazzagatti’s impartiality, which is both unwarranted and stupid, is based on what is absolutely not a controversial decision, what is most incredible to me is this notion that Mazzagatti would be impartial and that there would be a controversy because of a call he made.

Herb Dean is a different story, as Dean has been known to step in a little early, but this notion that a lone call by a referee, that had no significant impact on the fight (though people would argue that the standup was what gave Mir the opportunity to win, he would have caught that submission with any opening that he got), will create a stir.

Obviously they are trying to give Brock Lesnar the same defense that Ken Shamrock had going into the third fight with Tito; the “oh, that loss doesn’t count” defense. It doesn’t matter, though, as it’s not like Lesnar will be recognized as a legitimate contender after the tournament.

All across America people tuned in to the weekly showing of The Ultimate Fighter in what could be better named Junie watching! Thousands of people watched to see Junie jump the cage and as a result get the boot from the show, but instead, he received a stern talking to from Frank Mir and that seemed to be the end of it. He did make some rather interesting remarks saying coming on the show was the worst decision he ever made. Junie for sure is providing some needed excitement to the show that many think is on the decline.

The show was not one without drama but after the first 10 minutes it was without Junie drama. After the cage incident the show quickly turned to the best fighter in the world, as he seemed to put on nothing short of a training clinic full of some of the quickest kicks and striking you will ever see. Silva helped Team Nog train and get ready for the upcoming fight. Nog’s team had control and he decided to place Shane Primm vs. Eliot Marshall. This fight was supposed to be a knock down drag out exciting fight but it the complete opposite! Marshall took control very fast after a wild rush by Primm which led to the fighters being on the mat. Marshall landed in side control and before you knew it he had the mount. A few seconds later he had Primm’s back and eventually sank in the choke. Eliot Marshall proved that he is a force and is not to be ignored in this tournament for the contract.

As you could imagine Dana White has said that this is the best season ever. It does tend to have a bit more excitement in the house, and the fights look like they will be better than last season. Tune in next week for more Junie watching!

We haven’t heard a lot about rumors regarding The Ultimate Fighter 8 online aside from a few message board posts which is somewhat surprising. The tryouts for TUF 8 were held back on April 10th at the Boston Sheraton Hotel while local news crews and MMA blogs covered the event. The show is set to feature Frank Mir and UFC Heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira as coaches with both lightweight and heavyweight fighters on the roster. Let’s see who is supposedly on the show.

Lightweights:
Dave Kaplan, Charles Diaz, Phillipe Nover, Roli Delgado, Wesley Murch, Spencer Paige, Danny Martinez, Joe Duarte, Allen Browning, Efrain Escudero, Shane Nelson, Jason MacKay, George Roop

Heavyweights:
Krzysztof Soszynski, Ryan Bader, Glover Teixeira, Jesse Veium, Eliot Marshall, Vinicius Magalhaes, Lance Evans, Jason Brilz, Ryan Jimmo, Antwain Britt, Shane Primm, Kyle Kingsbury, Tom Lawlor

This is my first post on the site, and I’m glad to be here. Looks like a great group of guys and a solid think-tank. Given my background in the sport, and some of the results from the recent UFC cards, I thought this would be a good way to start this off.

There was a time when many a sherdog columnist wrote that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was done, and that the new fighter was a hybrid of wrestling and muay thai, with a little jiu-jitsu and some submission defense. There was a time when there was not a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter could be found in the UFC.

That time wasn’t too long ago, but you’d never guess it by looking at the current status of the UFC, and objective assessment will show that those predictions, that BJJ would become an obsolete style when people figured out how to defend the armbar and utilize the groundnpound form guard, are clearly wrong.

Four of the UFC’s five champions are Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelts. Anderson Silva, Matt Serra, BJ Penn and recently crowned heavyweight king Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (who gave Silva his blackbelt) all hold the honor, but they’re not the only one, and it’s clear that the knowledge of the ground game is something that can’t just be learned from wrestling and transitioning to grappling, as we’ve seen time and time again.

Read the full story

But did you really expect him to beat the guy someone who could exploit his biggest weakness? As I noted back on November 5th of last year, the UFC picked a bad opponent for their rising star. Noted for his ground and pound in MMA and his amateur wrestling skills back in college, Lesnar needed to go up against someone who would try to stand with him. Heath Herring, Cheick Kongo (who is actually up against the former in UFC 82), or even the big and boring Tim Sylvia.

Lesnar did, however, take Mir down early in the fight and land some heavy punches which left the former heavyweight champ dazed. I actually thought Lesnar had a chance to end the fight, but Mir was able to pull through and submit Lesnar with a kneebar. It was exactly what I expect - Lesnar came out swinging, but he left himself open after hastily attempting to ground and pound someone who wasn’t Moo Soo Kim.

Overall, I was impressed with Lesnar and I feel he has amazing potential if he could just slow himself down. It sounds weird, but it was almost like his punches were too quick. He didn’t take his time to pick Mir apart when he had the change. I can see Lesnar walking through many heavyweights if he can work developing a better MMA style if the near future.

I’m just hoping a lot of people didn’t drop a lot of money on Lesnar because of the betting odds. I also wish I would have bet on Mir’s submission win during the opening round.

Ever since he showed up with Royce Gracie at a press conference for K-1, I’ve been watching all the folks clamoring to see how Brock Lesnar will do in a real fight.

When I first heard that they were lining him up against Hong Man Choi, I was genuinely interested. Unfortunately, that never went down. Instead we were treated to Lesnar taking on the undersized and out gunned Min Soo Kim. Read the full story

I’ve been finding myself staring at ESPN with a look of disbelief. I’m reading around and shaking my head, because there is this cloud of hype that seems to be hanging over the entire MMA landscape as we approach this weekend.

Chances are, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Here we are, just a few days away from one of the most historical match ups EVER in the UFC. Yet there are few people talking about it. Nope. There is no one really out there talking about the big and very significant match that isn’t even getting top billing. All I hear about is some former pro wrestler coming into the mix………

Pardon me if I’m not hopping out of my skin with excitement over that.

What has my attention is more than likely the same thing that has the attention of the fans who are not going to buy into hype until it is legitimized in a setting that is real, not fantasy.

Nope, not that gorilla who’s value is yet to be determined……

I’m talking about a fight between a former UFC HW Champion and a former Pride HW Champion. Tim Sylvia vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. The Maine-Iac vs. Minotauro. The history here is so long, it just baffles me that the contest is generating so little discussion.

I suppose a lot of that has to do with Big Nog’s only performance in the cage thus far. Where all the neophytes and their MMA math (MMAth) spew quarter baked opinions about Big Nog’s abilities, based entirely on his fight with Heath Herring, I hope there will be more seasoned fans who can show these new fans the err of their ways.

First of all, Heath Herring just gets completely disrespected in that analysis. People say Big Nog looked “bad” in his fight with Herring. To those people, I always ask the question:

“What are you talking about?”

The constant response is that Herring floored Nogueira with a kick, and had the fight won, but gave it away. Those people……those people make me want to strap them to a chair and show them the real deal with Nogueira. Heath Herring has been to the mat with Big Nog before, and he knows better than anyone currently in the UFC how skilled Big Nog is on the ground.

And then take it one step further. While those people think Big Nog did poorly in that fight, those people must not understand that the kick which Nog survived would have ended the night for just about anyone else in the HW division. Does the fact that it was delivered by Herring make seem like it was less than crushing? I have no idea.

Prior to arriving in the UFC Big Nog went on one of the most dominant streaks in MMA history. His BJJ was off the chain. Slowly but surely, he developed some very strong boxing skills as well. If it weren’t for Fedor Emelianenko’s rise, Big Nog would have stayed the Big Dog in Pride until the promotion collapsed.

Just several years ago, a fight between Big Nog and Tim Sylvia would have had Big Nog as the head and shoulders favorite in the eyes of the hard core fans. These days, the majority aren’t even giving him a strong chance. I don’t know what this analysis could possibly be based on, but it sure can’t be history.

This entire fight is getting disrespected. Not enough talk, not enough promotion, the fact that it is being overshadowed, and even the “interim” title that the fight is for. All of these factors make me wonder what kind of direction the UFC is going in.

This is an interesting match up, far more so than the one that is getting all the attention.

You’ve got a massive guy with vastly underrated takedown defense and very credible stand up skills lined up against a guy who could be called a wizard on the ground, who’s stand up is just as credible, if not technically better than his opponent’s! Granted, this could have stolen some of the Lesnar-Hype if Sylvia was still knocking people out. Then you’d also have the unstoppable force of Sylvia’s right hand meeting the immovable object that is Nog’s chin.

I for one will be watching anxiously for this fight. This is the a for the “middle school” fans to get excited about. The folks who were around a little while before The Ultimate Fighter was a twinkle in Dana’s eye know the importance of this fight. The “old school” fans don’t need it explained. The “new school” fans still don’t care. The fact that Big Nog could climb to the position of number one heavyweight in the world with a win here is pretty huge to me. A heck of a lot more huge than some former professional wrestler coming into the mix anyway.

Maybe if Big Tim and Big Nog were a couple of tatted up pretty boys with fake tans and highlights in their hair, this would be different? But man, I really hope that’s not true.

I expect this fight to go the distance, but am very interested to see how Big Nog’s ground attack works with Sylvia. That is of course, assuming he can get the fight to the ground in the first place. Standing up, this one should be an interesting technical match up. I can’t see Tim getting his first KO in almost three years (Arlovski ran into that punch, and I don’t care what anyone says on the matter.) against Big Nog. I hope we see Big Nog and Sylvia both at their best on Saturday night, and I hope that they get the attention of all the new schoolers tuning in to see that side of beef with the lame tattoo on his chest……

Two heavyweight fights? The two biggest fights on the card are the big guys? The guys who have been boring the UFC crowds as of late? Is this a good idea, Mr. UFC Matchmaker 2000; Joe Silva? Sorry for the game of 20 (or four) questions, but I’m a little worried that the UFC isn’t properly planning for positive crowd reaction during the next big event in the states. For the first time since UFC 75, there won’t even be a planned televised lightweight bout unless a main card fight is cut short. This may not be such a bad thing, however.

I realize that a heavyweight fight will need to headline at some point in time with the Couture walk off, but throwing a potential disaster of Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar under the headlining fight between Antonio Nogueira and Tim Sylvia could spell disaster. Or, in the case of UFC fans, B-O-O. After Big Nog’s near disastrous bout with Heath Herring, he’ll be up for a challenge against a 6′8″ Sylvia. I realize that Sylvia will most likely push to keep the fight up against the fence and try throw the punches and he pushes Nogueira away, hopefully the Brazilian will attempt to keep Sylvia engaged in some real fighting action, unlike the boring Brandon Vera fight.

Ex-WWE star Brock Lesnar looks to make his debut at fighting a real MMA fighter up against the skilled Frank Mir. This seems like an easy grab for Mir except for the fact that he hasn’t even started training yet. I know that said that Mir should have the upper hand in this fight in the past, but it looks like I might be eating my words on February 2nd.

Hopefully both fights can live up the little hype we have heard so far. On a side note, what is up with the UFC not hyping these events as much anymore? I’m not the only one asking as it has even affecting my desire to write about the events these days. Luckily, there is still some time for the UFC to fix this and think hard about the UFC 81 event itself.

Wanna make some big bucks if Fedor somehow knocks himself out up against Hong Man Choi at the end of this month? That probably won’t happen, but here are some other fights to bring in some extra after-Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) shopping.

Nick Thomas over at Bloody Elbow has a nice little article highlighting some of the betting odds for upcoming MMA events.  In my opinion, there’s a couple of money makers in there, but be sure to rule out the Emelianenko/Choi fight early. Even with Fedor at -1700 and Choi at +850, I doubt many would drop $1700 to win a measly $100, but I guess if you wanted to take the chance of a lifetime, you could drop $100 and hope to pick up another $850. If anyone does this, please let me know!

Here are the potential money makers:

St. Pierre -200 Hughes +160 - Although I can see St. Pierre taking the win, keep in mind that he’s only taken the fight on five weeks notice. Hughes, however, has been training for a five round fight for a long time. These odds should not be spread this far apart.

Penn -285 Stevenson +225 - We have only seen BJ Penn fight once. That was against someone who doesn’t even walk around at 155 while Penn had been up against Welterweights. There’s a good chance that Stevenson could steal this fight with his great conditioning.

Swick -175 Burkman +135 - Josh Burkman has gone up against Karo Parisyan and Forrest Petz while taking the decision against the latter and dropping the loss against the former in the past 7 months. Parisyan is said to be one of the top in his class and Burkman showed some heart during their UFC 71 undercard bout. While Mike Swick is 10-2, his wins are mostly from smaller organizations. This one is 50/50 in my eyes.

Lesnar -205 Mir +165 - This one is my favorite. The WWE wrestler with one win is favored over UFC veteran, Frank Mir. This is where you can make some big bucks on the off chance that Lesnar can dominate a seasoned MMA fighter.