Enough of "TUF"

I loved The Ultimate Fighter reality show on Spike TV. The UFC came up with an idea for a show to promote the sport, the organization, and some new fighters. With such fighters as Forrest Griffin, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Chris Leben, Stephen Bonnar, Kenny Florian, Mike Swick, Nate Quarry, Rashad Evans, Joe Stevenson, Marcus Davis, Michael Bisping, Mac Danzig, not to mention the comeback cast that included Matt Serra, Chris Lytle, and Travis Lutter, all living in the Ultimate Fighter house, it couldn't miss.

The coaches early on were UFC stars, that were being introduced to the majority of the public. Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Rich Franklin, and Matt Hughes put their "teams" through work outs preparing them for elimination fights. But Season 3, Dana White got an idea. Let's promote an upcoming fight, a grudge match. Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock would coach opposite sides, then square off in the octogon. It made for good tv. You had to tune in each week to see the confrontations between Tito and Shamrock, two guys that couldn't wait to fight each other.

The problem may have been that this was successful. Now Dana and the UFC wanted to promote big fights through TUF. Rather than letting a guy fight for or defend the belt in a couple months, they would film a season of the show and then finally have their fight. (See: Rampage vs. Forrest & Mir vs. Big Nog.) As Besse and I have pointed out many times, it essentially puts a hold on a division.

Well mmajunkie.com and other outlets have confirmed that Season 10 of TUF will be coached by Rampage Jackson (again) and former TUF winner Rashad Evans. What? Why recycle coaches? Why put a guy in who's getting a title fight against some one else? Is Rampage still getting the first crack at Lyoto? I don't get it. The season is going to be all heavyweights, 16 of them, and possibly including a few former NFL players. Rashad, the former Light Heavyweight Champ, was the only Heavyweight Champion of TUF, so I understand bringing him back to the show, but Rampage?

The focus has become more on the coaches then the new talent, plus let's face it, the show has run its course. They took out the Real World/ Road Rules Challenge type tasks after the first or second season, but since then its been basically the same stuff. I'll still watch every once in awhile, but it used to be appointment television. Can't say the same thing now.

TUF brought in a ton of fans to MMA, the Griffin vs. Bonnar fight at the TUF 1 Finale may very well be the most important fight in the history of mixed martial arts. Despite all that it's time to hang it up.

Enough of TUF.


-Keefe


Side note: Frank Trigg signed a new deal with the UFC. Should be very interesting to see what he has left, and who he will face next.

Bash Brother gets bashed in Japan

Jose Canseco tried his hand at professional mixed martial arts earlier this morning over in Japan, taking on 7'2" goliath Hong Man Choi - he of the armbarred by Fedor variety. Now Canseco didn't come into this fight lacking experience. He was the victim of a lucky punch and poor officiating in his celebrity boxing match with Vai Sikahema and later outslugged Danny Bonaduce in an all out war that made Gatti-Ward look amateurish.

Obviously I'm being facetious. Sikahema embarassed Canseco with a thunderous right hand and blitzed him out of the ring. Then Canseco took on Bonaduce, a former Patridge kid. Really? Not only did Canseco struggle to eeke out a split decision, but it against a guy who was smoking a cigarette on the way into the ring. Not exactly an impressive resume. But Canseco is a draw, especially in Japan due to his baseball playing days, and he admitted he was in need of the cash. I give him props for owning up to that. But it certainly didn't get him anywhere in this fight. Check it out...



Valiant effort by Canseco. Unfortunately he appeared to blow out his knee towards the end of the fight and Choi pounced and took advantage. I'd love to be able to say that the knee injury led to his demise, but let's face it, Canseco had it coming, especially wearing pants like those. What did he have, vericose veins he was hiding? Let's hope he heals quickly and gets back to competing soon. Did I really just say that?

-Bess

The fruits of one's labor

Lyoto Machida is one scary, scary dude. Should be a lot of fun watching him take on "Rampage" Jackson later this year. There are rumors swirling about him and Jackson taking opposing sides as coaches on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. I have mixed emotions about this. The positive in doing this is that it would give Machida even more exposure to American fans, perhaps even moreso to casual fans who may be checking the show out. It's hard to believe that a lot of hardcore fans still watch TUF because of the antics within the house, the fact that it's the same boring format every season, and quite frankly, the fighters are decent at best. But for a casual or new fan to the sport, it's a solid way to become introduce to MMA and UFC, and also gives them exposure to some of the sports stars who are serving as coaches.

However, I'm weary of Jackson and Machida being coaches on this show for a couple reasons. First and foremost is that show starts filming in the first week of June. It wouldn't start airing until September and thus Jackson and Machida would not square off for "The Dragon's" belt until the end of the year, most likely headlining the final card of 2009. Secondly, Jackson has already served as a coach on the show against Forrest Griffin. Admittedly, Jackson said he didn't really enjoy it and that he got extremely overweight being on the show. Obviously it could serve as a nice PR move to continue rebuilding his reputation with fans after his meltdown following the loss of his title to Griffin, but I'm skeptical. I want to see the best Rampage take on Machida because it could make for an all-time classic matchup. Rampage has terrific standup with his boxing skillset and his defense, and he also brings great wrestling and tremendous ground and pound to the table. I honestly don't know if he has the tools to take out Machida - he is one dangerous BAMF - but it could make for an exciting fight. Rampage always brings the fight, and it would be interesting to see Machida karate take on such an aggressive, yet calculated and disciplined style of boxing and wrestling. Dana White's announcement comes on June 2nd, so we'll just have to wait and see, but with every other title currently scheduled for upcoming matchups, all signs point to it happened. Unless they're bringing Tito and Ken Shamrock back for another grudge match.

-Bess

George Brett classics

Anyone and everyone has most likely seen the George Brett video where he went psychotic on a home plate umpire over a pine tar incident. While playing the Yankees, Brett hit a homerun to give the Royals a 5-4 lead in the ninth. Yankees manager Billy Martin challenged that pine tar on Brett's bat went too high up the barrel and violated MLB rules; the homerun was reversed and that led to a classic moment in MLB history. If you haven't seen it, a) you've been living under a rock and b) check it out below:



As good as that is, I saw a video a longtime back and my buddy Kevin reminded me of it a few days ago. He called me practically in tears, and for good reason. Enjoy the following video in which Brett discusses shitting himself:



You gotta love him at the end. "Who's the pitchers in this game?"

Absolute classic. Also reminded me of the video from Cky3 of Raab himself taking a dump while running. And yes, it was on YouTube:



Which also brought me to an on-air blooper for a weatherman during his portion of the newscast. He doesn't actually soil himself during the forecast, but just watch the guy as he tries to battle through it. You can tell he's pinching his cheeks to the fullest and the fact that he didn't make it on camera for the first half of it tells you he was really trying to work up the courage to even walk. Gotta love when he actually reaches down to his stomach; at that point it was only a matter of time before he threw in the towel...



Happy Memorial Day.

-Bess

UFC 98 Results

Main Card:

Lyoto Machida def. Rashad Evans in 2nd round via TKO (strikes). Machida wins Light Heavyweight Championship
Matt Hughes def. Matt Serra via unanimous decision (29-28).
Drew McFedries def. Xavier Foupa-Pokam in 1st round via TKO (37 seconds).
Chael Sonnen def. Dan Miller via unanimous decision.
Frankie Edgar def. Sean Sherk via unanimous decision.

Undercard:

Brock Larson def. Mike Pyle via 1st round submission (Arm Triangle)
Tim Hague def. Pat Barry via 1st round submission (Guillotine)
Kyle Bradley def. Phillipe Nover via 1st round TKO
Krzysztof Soszynski def. Andre Gusmao via 1st round TKO
Yoshiyuki Yoshida def. Brandon Wolff via 1st round submission (Guillotine)
George Roop def. Dave Kaplan via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 30-27)

-Keefe

The LA Clippers

The Clippers won the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday night, and today word comes that they will in fact select Oklahoma star and NCAA Player of the Year Blake Griffin. That had to be a relief to Frankie Munez, Penny Marshall, and the other two Clippers fans. I know Elgin Baylor is gone, but it's still the Clippers, LA's bastard second team.

Let's not forget, the last time the Clippers had the #1 pick in the NBA Draft, they went with this guy, just 11 years ago.



Kinda thrown together quickly by whoever did it, but you get the point. Not sure I would have gone "Should have picked Vince Carter." The Clip had plenty of options there at number 1. Vince Carter, certainly among the choices along with Antawn Jamison, Paul Pierce, and Dirk Nowitzki. No big deal, you figured a 7 footer out of Pacific was the safe choice, I get it.

They won't screw up the pick on June 25th, but will they screw up the player? Blake joins a front line that already has Marcus Camby, Chris Kamen, and Zach Randolph. Goodluck with all that...

-Keefe

Where Will Amazing Happen This Year?

Big ups to the OC for putting this together. Enjoy.




-Keefe

FINISH HIM! (or her)

Something to pass the time... I'm sitting here watching the Lakers run away with Game 7 against the Rockets and waiting for Celtics/ Magic Game 7. Stumbled across this the other day, and I know you will all enjoy it.

Mortal Kombat Fatalities



Just some great stuff there. I was always partial to Scorpion and Sub-Zero. The damn Scorpion finisher where he takes his mask off and spits fire (53 seconds in) is just (up-up-start), seems easy enough, but it's not. You're jumping, getting frustrated then the guy you just beat falls weakly to the ground. If those weren't enough we got more below.



The Lakers just lifted off their mask and blew fire on Houston. I hope the Celtics can do the same in a few hours.

-Keefe

UFC 2009 Undisputed

Perhaps the next great video game is hitting stores in 1 week. That game? UFC 2009 Undisputed. It will be the first UFC game for the XBOX 360 and PS3, and the first UFC game in about 5 years. The demo was released a few weeks back and I immediately downloaded it on the 360. It allows you to fight as either Shogun or Liddell and you can even go through the tutorial. Simply put, the game is awesome. I will be getting it May 19th. All the moves are there and it is quite realistic. In addition to the great fighter graphics they leave no stone unturned with the likes of Michael Goldberg and Joe Rogan on commentary and the great Bruce Buffer on the in-ring microphone.

My only hesitation was, what would the roster look like? How many fighters would be in there, would it only be the top few guys then a bunch of dudes from the reality show? Well take a look at the playable characters in UFC 2009 Undisputed... I can really only think of 1 very notable omission, Randy Couture.

Heavyweights: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Brandon Vera (LH), Gabriel Gonzaga, Cain Velasquez, Cheick Kongo, Eddie Sanchez, Heath Herring, Andrei Arlovski, Mirko Crocop Fabricio Werdum, Tim Sylvia, Mark Coleman, Antoni Hardonk and Justin McCully

Light Heavyweights: Chuck Liddell, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Tito Ortiz, Keith Jardine, Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Stephan Bonnar, James Irvin, Wilson Gouveia (MW), Houston Alexander, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Thiago Silva, Tim Boetsch and Ryan Bader (DLC).

Middleweights: Anderson Silva (LH), Rich Franklin (LH), Dan Henderson (LH), Michael Bisping (LH), Kendall Grove, Chris Leben, Jason MacDonald, Nate Marquardt, Drew McFedries, Ricardo Almeida, Evan Tanner, Yushin Okami, Demian Maia, Martin Kampmann (WW), Amir Sadollah (WW) and Thales Leites.

Welterweights: Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, Matt Sera (LW), Jon Fitch, Karo Parisyan, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Mike Swick (MW), Marcus Davis, Thiago Alves, Chris Lytle, Ben Saunders, Josh Burkman, Kyle Bradley, Matt Arroyo and Anthony Johnson.

Lightweights: BJ Penn (WW), Sean Sherk (WW), Kenny Florian, Roger Huerta, Joe Stevenson, Mac Danzig, Nathan Diaz, Spencer Fisher, Tyson Griffin, Gray Maynard, Thiago Tavares, Joe Lauzon, Rich Clementi, Mark Bocek, Hermes Franca, Frank Edgar and Efrain Escudero (DLC).

As you can see some of the fighters can partake in 2 different wait classes while a couple guys have to be downloaded. Throw in the fact that you can create your own fighter and there's a career mode, I am on board.

I'll let you know more about the game in a week.

-Rich Keefe

Ron Artest is the Man

There's more to this interview, but it's not posted on youtube yet. Artest talks about how fighting was a part of basketball when he played in high school and on the streets, but he's done with that now. He tells a story where his friend was killed during a game. Incredible. He's grown up. And he really has. I become a bigger fan of this guy the more I see him. I don't think he should have been tossed last night, and it's clear if the Rockets are going to pull this upset he is going to have to stay on the court.

I don't think there is a bigger bad ass in the NBA today. You got to love how Barkley always jokes about guys who get in each others faces during a game, and he always says, "Ernie, these guys are lovers... They can't fight." But when it comes to Ron Artest, Barkley says, "He can play with me anytime." Talk about respect.

And Artest isn't just some tough guy, he can play. He carried them to the Game 1 win and had 25 points before being wrongfully tossed last night. If he is further punished it will be a crime. The league is looking at Ron, Kobe, and Fisher heading into Game 3.

Best series in the playoffs right now, hope you're staying up and watching it.

Side note: If you were going to make a Top 10 list of NBA players you would not want to fight, would Artest be on there like 4 times? 5?

Off the top of my head...
1. Ron Artest
2. Ron Artest
3. Ron Artest
4. Ron Artest
5. Kenyon Martin
6. Dwight Howard
7. Reggie Evans
8. Kendrick Perkins
9. Nene (he's got to know jui-jitsu)
10. Udonis Haslem


-Keefe

The Orlando Magic!

Despite the fact that the Celtics are down 0-1 to the Magic, and lost home court advantage in the series. I still believe the C's will win the series. The reason? Because they aren't playing your older brother's Orlando Magic. Check it out...



-Keefe

Game 7 Strategy

Alright, after watching every second of the Celtics/ Bulls series I have come up with the following strategy that will guarentee the C's move on to face Orlando. It's only 1 simple thing. Yes it's important to defend Derrick Rose, not allow Joakim Noah to get offensive rebounds which turn into offensive celebrations, keep Perkins out of foul trouble, try to get anything and I mean anything out of the Celtics bench, and tire out Ben Gordon by making him chase Ray Allen for 48 minutes. All those things pale in comparison to my 1 very important key.

DON'T PLAY TONY ALLEN. EVER. FOR ANY REASON.

How can this be done? Well, Kevin Garnett needs to do something on the sidelines, besides drop F and MF Bombs when the camera is on, which I do love by the way. But KG is so talented that he should not be limited to that. Why not put him on Tony Allen watch. If Doc Rivers says, "Tony, get in there." KG can't allow it. Maybe something along the lines of the picture below will help illustrate how he can do that.

Hold on tight KG! Don't let Allen, Tony in the Game!

I don't care if Rondo, Ray, Pierce, Baby, Perk, Marbury, and House foul out. It could be Scal, Walker, Pruitt, and Moore out there, and I'd pray Doc Rivers turns into Norman Dale and says, "My team is on the floor."

I am nervous for Game 7, and even more nervous that Tony Allen may decide whether we're watching any more Celtics games this season.

-Keefe