Karo Parisyan Out of UFC 106 & UFC

According to Dana White on twitter, "Karo Parisyan has f****d over the UFC, the fans and his opponent again!!! He will not be fighting saturday or ever again in the UFC!!"

There you go, Karo was expected to make his comeback to the octagon Saturday Night at UFC 106 in the Main Card against Dustin Hazelett. No word yet on if Hazelett will get another opponent or what pre-lim card will move to the Main Card. (Tough blow to the fans as the pre-lims air live and free on Spike TV, so the best one, perhaps Davis vs. Saunders now moves to ppv.)

In Parisyan's only fight of 2008 he was knocked out by Thiago Alves. He was then set to fight Yoshida at UFC 88 but pulled out right before the weigh-ins with a "back injury." He finally returned to in the cage at UFC 94 (Jan. '09) vs. Dong Hyun Kim and won barely in a split decision... which was overturned after getting busted for pain killers.

It's been a bumpy ride for Karo Parisyan, who is still a Top 20 welterweight in the world. He has career victories over Matt Serra, Nick Diaz, Nick Thompson, Ryo Chonan, Chris Lytle, Josh Burkman, Drew Fickett, and Dave Strasser in his 1st UFC fight back in 2003 less than a month after his 21st birthday. His only losses are to Alves, Diego Sanchez, Georges St. Pierre, and Sean Sherk (twice).

If Karo wants to fight, and it seems like a big if at this point, he would be a guy that Strikeforce would certainly target. He's only 27 years old and boosts an 18-5 record.

Karo Parisyan vs. Nick Diaz II perhaps? We shall see.

-Keefe

Keefe's Pick 3 for Week 11 & UFC 106

Keefe's Pick 3 is a perfect 6-0 in the past 2 weeks in the NFL, and 4-2 in MMA. Here's 6 more picks for the weekend. In fact let's get started with the Thursday Night Game. (HEADS UP get your Dolphins/Panthers in or out of your lineup... and if you have Ronnie Brown, I am sorry.)

Panthers (-3) over Dolphins
Lions (-3.5) over Browns
Patriots (-10.5) over Jets

Last Week: 3-0
Overall: 15-12

UFC 106
Tito Ortiz over Forrest Griffin
Josh Koscheck over Anthony Johnson
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira over Luis Cane

Last Week: 1-2
Overall: 4-2

Enjoy the fights and the football!

-Keefe

I liked Belicheck's decision...

"I thought we could make it. I don't know how we could not get a yard on that (play) but we didn't...We came out here to win." - Belicheck via @Trags on Twitter.

That's exactly why I liked Belicheck's play call on 4th and 1 at the NE 28 yard line. If they get a yard, the game is over. Done dada. And the Pats are sitting at 7-2, the Colts 8-1, and New England holding a tie-breaker for home field throughout the playoffs. And he's right, they should have gotten a yard there.

I like the call for a few reasons. He went for the kill. On the road against an undefeated Colts team with one of the best quarterbacks of our era, he tried to finish them off without giving Peyton a chance to win it. But I have to think that Belicheck saw the Jets lose today and figured at this point, it will be hard for the Patriots to lose the AFC East. They hold a 2-game lead over the Dolphins and have already beaten them (27-17 at home last week). The Patriots will contend for a Super Bowl, and he is showing confidence in his TEAM for the rest of the season, which is more important than showing confidence in his defense for one game that, in the grand scheme of things, isn't really that big of a deal.

Let's face it, it's not a guarantee that had the Pats won, the Colts would lose another game and/or the Pats will win out. Because in order to hit that tiebreaker, that's probably what would've needed to happen. And even if the game goes through Indy for the playoffs, I'm a fan of the Pats offense indoors. They dropped 34 points on the Colts tonight. And they can probably do it again. So relax everyone, the Pats are fine. If the Pats were tied for the division lead and on the bubble for a playoff spot, I think Belicheck punts. But they're not. They'll make the playoffs as the AFC East champs and he knows that. You should too.

-Bess

Brandon Jennings is Absurd

Last night Brandon Jennings dropped 55 points on the Warriors in a Bucks win. He shot 62% from the floor including 7/8 from 3. Jennings also added 5 rebounds and 5 assists. He's got a Bucks team, playing without Michael Redd, at 5-2 to start the year.

You think the Knicks (Jordan Hill), T-Wolves (Ricky Rubio debacle), and even Grizzlies (Hasheem Thabeet) would like to have their draft picks back. Minnesota drafted 2 point guards ahead of Jennings. Unbelievable.

Rather than dominating the PAC-10 and all of college basketball, Jennings went to Italy, where he struggled playing professional basketball against grown men. Well, he certainly got the most out of it, and was much more prepared than a year of college (See: Holiday, Jrue).

I am a huge Jennings fan, and the Knicks & T-Wolves will regret their picks for years to come.

-Keefe

Also UFC 105 is in the books. Randy Couture gets the win over Brandon Vera. Dan Hardy, shockingly earns a welterweight title shot following a decision victory over Mike Swick, and Michael Bisping beat Denis Kang.

Tito vs. Forrest II this Saturday!

Jimmy the Greek makes his return - Week 10 NFL picks

Sorry I've been missing lately...had a couple back-to-back busy weekends and couldn't get anything up. However, while I was gone I happened to win $300 in an office pool picking against the spread. I've still been winning, and I'm rolling into this week looking to keep it going. Hit a little roadbump on Thursday night, taking the Bears (+3.5), but I feel I can justifiably blame it on Jay Cutler throwing 5 picks, including 2 in the end zone. Loser. Here are the rest of the picks...

Dolphins (-9.5) over Bucs
Freeman makes his first start on the road, and I think he and the rest of his team will come back to Earth after an unbelievable upset over Green Bay. Miami is much, much better than this team.

Lions (+16.5) over Vikings
Minny will win comfortably, but this many points just scares me. All it takes is a late score to screw you over, and I feel like that will happen here. Detroit is still a threat to cover large spreads. Is that when you know you've hit a new low? When you're labeled as a team that's a threat to cover a large point spread in your favor?

Jaguars (+6.5) over Jets
A buddy of mine said last night the Jaguars are the best worst team in the NFL. Well spoken. MJD3 will slow down the blitzing of the Jets and Garrard will get some passes off. I don't know if they win, but they'll cover.

Saints (-13.5) over Rams
Blowout.

Broncos (-6.5) over Redskins
Denver rebounds against a struggling 'Skins team. Look for Brandon Marshall to have a big day, and the Broncos defense to step up and save this team from a losing streak.

Bengals (+6.5) over Steelers
Pitt wins this game at home, but Cincy threatens late until a Carson Palmer pick by Palomalu seals the deal. OchoCinco scores and Adam Schefter loves it.

Falcons (-1.5) over Panthers
Matt Ryan bounces back with a great game against Carolina. D'Angelo Williams is a little banged up and the Falcons secondary will pick off Delhomme twice.

Titans (-6.5) over Bills
Tennessee is rolling and will keep it going. Can they win out and sneak into the playoffs? Absolutely not.

Chiefs (+1.5) over Raiders
The Gus Johnson Game of the Week.

Packers (+2.5) over Cowboys
Green Bay bounces back and surprises a lot of people with a win over Dallas. Don't count out Aaron Rodgers. The kid is legit and will have a huge day. Hopefully to Greg Jennings.

Seahawks (+8.5) over Cardinals
Arizona wins comfortably through the air, but Hasselbeck and the Seahawks can score too. They'll keep it close.

Eagles (+2.5) over Chargers
Mcnabb and the Eagles bounce back. SD shouldn't have won last week, but NYG choked in the secondary. If Rivers didn't find Jackson in the back of the end zone, this wouldn't even be a thought.

Pats (+2.5) over Colts
Brady engineers a late TD drive, just moments after Manning engineered one of his own for a short lived lead. An all-time classic.

Ravens (-10.5) over Browns
This is awful.

This week: 0-1
Last week: 10-3
Overall: 74-56

-The Greek

Keefe's Pick 3 for Week 10

Finally did what I set out to do when I started (Week 2) and that's a 3-0 week. Also went 3-0 on the Strikeforce fights. Let's try and make it another 6-0 weekend between NFL Week 10 and UFC 105.

Bengals (+7) over Steelers
Patriots (+3) over Colts
Ravens (-11) over Ravens

UFC 105
Couture over Vera (decision)
Swick over Hardy (2nd round KO)
Kang over Bisping (1st round KO)

NFL Pick 3:
Last Week: 3-0
Overall: 12-12

-Keefe

Out onaliM's Daily Streak for the Cash Lock

There are more than a few matchups ESPN has given us that I would love to bite on today. Spain over Nigeria in the U-17 World Cup Semi looks promising, but rumor has it Nigeria is at home and is very tough to beat there. Bowling Green over Miami-OH is another attractive matchup, but BGSU's has a lowsy run defense and Miami has a solid run game. Both teams don't score a lot of points so I would think we'll see something very close.

I may be going against the grain with my pick today (with just 23% of the picks), but this game is as close to a lock as you can get without calling Tim Donaghy for a little help.

Cleveland is coming off a physical game last night with the Magic. Yes, we all know Lebron is on fire (averaging 30 pts/gm in the Cavs last 4), but so is DWade (who has dropped 40 in 2 of his last 3). El Heat arguably have the league's best pure scorer in Wade, and with the Cavs coming off a hard fought battle last night I suspect we will see Wade pick the tired Cleveland defense apart at home.

The Pick: Miami Heat over the Cleveland Cavs (Dwayne Wade over Lebron James)

Current Streak: 3