Mark Bocek could not handle the Smoothness

  When i found out that Ben Henderson was making his UFC debut at the organizations debut in Toronto against Mark Bocek, i was immediately exited. Many may have been attracted to this historic card by the two title fights but it was this  fight that i was most drawn towards. I immediately knew that Henderson will give a great performance to open up the main card. I soon found out that my predictions were true.

  The first round opened up with Bocek pushing the pace and going in for a takedown. Henderson stuffed and put Bocek against the cage in the process. Yves Lavigne separated them while Henderson had the upper hand in the clinch work.  He landed a good right hand, and a superman punch to leg kick combination. At the end f the round Bocek successfully got a takedown but did little damage on the top. Most of the damage by Henderson with some sharp elbows.
   Round two's beginning was similar to the prior round, Bocek got a takedown, Benderson soon stood up and put Bocek up against the cage. Once again, in an annoying fashion, Yves Lavigne broke them up while Benderson had the advantage on the cage. Henderson later got a takedown from a slam and ended up with his leg in a wierd position after posturing up. He escapes and puts Bocek against the cage, but ended up in another dangerous position. Bocek dragged him down with a head lock which soon turned into an anaconda choke. It then became a standing guillotine that was takedown to the ground. Ben Henderson escapes and lands damaging knees to the body in a very explosive manner with a elbow following up cuts Bocek open.
  The third and final round opens up with another Bocek take down after catching the leg. Henderson goes for an armbar and ends up on the top position. He lands some strong shots to he body and once agin he gets his leg trapped that allows Bocek to get the back. Bocek is shrugged off and is pulled won to the ground. As Bocek stands up he eats some vicious kness to the body. He gets another takedown but does nothing with it. The fight ends and all three judges score it 30-27 for Ben Henderson. This was a great way to open up the card. With Ben Hendersons addition, the UFC lightweight division just became a lot more interesting. Hopefully he continues to be successful just as he was in the WEC.

As Soon as he loses, Shields will be thrown to the Curb

    Don't get me wrong, Jake Shields is a very talented fighter but he lacks even the smallest sense of personality. Strikeforce knew early that he was just a major liability, thats why they brought Dan henderson in to fix the problem. But then it backfired and he later joined the UFC. The ratings for CBS plummeted during the course of this fight, he may be talented but his style is a complete boor. He has now gone 13 rounds without a finish.
   In his UFC debut, Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg even commented on his past as the Strikeforce middleweight champion while it was not yet under the Zuffa umbrella. This displays how hard it is to even market him because he is a relatively unknown fighter to the average fan.
   By thrown to the curb i mean he will no longer be relevant. He will have to run a course just as Jon Fitch 4/has, he will be promised future championship fights if he does attain another great win streak but he will never receive such match. Shields is not a draw and has an unentertaining style of fighting. The atmosphere of Torontos debut UFC card alone has increased the suspense and no build up from the fighters themselves is needed. The only reason Shields is even fighting tomorrow at UFC 129 is to fill the a giant gapping hole in the card, an opponent for GSP.
   George St Pierres allure alone can fill out a stadium, all you need to have is a breathing opponent in front of him. Canadians from across the great white north will enter Rogers Center to see their fellow countryman GSP win, not to see a well contested bout or even an upset. You can have a featherweight fight GSP at Rogers Center and the tickets will still sell in record time. Jake Shields was at at the right moment at the right time to fill a much need spot in the UFC most prestigious venue. His title shot has been defended by MMA fans all over the net due to his fifteen streak win which gives Dana Whites decision making credibility.
   Jake Shields is the P4P least draw in the top twenty fighters in the world. What will interesting after UFC 129 is in which way his career turns. He may get interesting fights but Dana White will not go as near as implying that Shields is "still in the mix", whatever that means.

Comparisons between Tough Enough and TUF are ridiculous

   With the recent decline of the entertainment coming from The Ultimate Fighter, the MMA world has gotten its panties in a bunch over the WWE own reality series, Tough Enough. I was not aware that there were so many hidden pro-wrestling fans in MMA. I must admit as well that I too watched RAW and Smackdown but this was before I entered high school, when the Attitude Era was at its peak. Both shows are on a completely different spectrum from one another, so comparisons between the two are absolutely futile.
   If the previous season of TUF angered people because of competitors that were former NFL players, one should take note that Rima Fakih, 2010 Miss USA, is one of the contestants on Tough Enough for crying out loud. Tough Enough is not even a contest, its more like a mixture between one of the many VH1 reality shows and The Real World, which is the complete opposite of its title. The contestants even carry replica WWE belts around and are separated from them once they are eliminated. Not only that but a previous contestant of TUF 7, Jeremiah Riggs, lost the opening fight and didnt even make it in the house. His overall MMA record is 7-5, opening up with four consecutive loses after his debut. This further proves the seriousness this so called farming pro-wrestling reality series should be given. I can guarantee you that it will not produce a superstar to the extent of The Rock, Triple H or Shawn Michaels.
  The matter is, The Ultimate Fighter has already done its part in pushing the UFC to mainstream. It saved mixed martial arts present dominating organization from complete destruction and has pushed forward into a sports powerhouse. Without the Ultimate FIghter, the UFC would have most likely filled for bankruptcy and ended the looming exposure of MMA to the world. So, it really has already fulfilled its purpose, there is no reason to begin degrading it now after twelve, and soon to be thirteen, seasons.

Jon Jones out, Phil Davis in

Once again, Rashad Evans road to the title has been hindered. Apparently Jon Jones will not be able to fight at UFC 133. The UFC posted on its twitter page the following "Forget what you thought you knew! Philly. UFC 133. @PhilMrWonderful Davis vs. @SugaRashadEvans". I was really looking forward to seeing Rashad fight his former teammate in a much heated grudge match, but now instead we will witness the not so MMA wonderful Phil Davis take his shot at the New York native. This will only add suspense to the match up between the two, i believe that Phil Davis has absolutely no chance at winning, his last performance proved that he is not ready for the top light heavyweights. It seems that the UFC has no other options either than this match up, recently the talent in the light heavyweight pool has become dry. 

Ratings for GSP vs Jake Shields are no suprise

The mediocre ratings for the UFCs third installment of its Primetime series, UFC Primetime: St-Pierre vs. Shields, should not be shocking. Not only is Jake Shields an unknown fighter to the casual fan but GSP just doesnt have the personality to entertain people with his words. A majority of the time during the first primetime episode of this series, St.Pierre's coaches spoke for him. Two weeks ago, MMA Junkie reported that 

Wednesday night's (April 13th) debut of "UFC Primetime: St-Pierre vs. Shields," which previews the UFC 129 main event on April 30 between current UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and top contender Jake Shields, drew 610,000 viewers to Spike TV

It was the worst debut of the five primetime episode. The reason for is that the series has been watered down and become overly generic. Its the same thing over and over again,"GSP gets better everyday, its so scary". Yeah, Im completely frightened. This is his third time in the primetime series and it seems that his role has been played out. His coaches once again prove to be nothing but broken records. At one point during the first episode i started laughing hysterically when Jake Shields said that he will, "im going to bash his head in". If by he he means a 13 year old boy, but if he meant any real MMA fighter he is strongly mistaken. The only thing he will be bashing is the fans with another sleep educing performance.

I just noticed something today, its weird that Frankie Edgar went around saying "im 13 and Gray Maynard". So, now that he has just had a draw with him at UFC 125, do you think he will go around saying "im 13, Gray Maynard and another Gray Maynard"? If so, this upcoming countdown show is going to pretty weird.

Some kid thinks he trains UFC

This video was recently brought to my attention on Sherdog. Some teenage kid thinks hes doing UFC. I cant event begin to describe the mind boggling paradox when his mom say that "his passion is to go out for UFC". What the hell does the mean? I dont understand it, even if you did replace MMA with the term UC in their erroneous statements it would still be a little confusing. This is absolutely ridiculous.

An early stoppage ruins the entire card

  Going into the main event, Strikeforce: Diaz vs Daley had displayed a lot of entertaining fights. The main event was no different until Big John McCarthy moronically stopped the fight with only four seconds left in the round due to Nick Diaz's vicious and deadly blows. Not only did this ruin the card but it displayed that referees due in fact have biases towards fighters. At one point in fight, Paul Daley had Nick Diaz face down unresponsively and Big John McCarthy didn't even flinch.

  The night started off with Shinya Aokis return to Strikeforce against Lyle "Fancy Pants" Beerbohm. Aoki took Fancy Pants down and ended it flawlessly by a neck crack. It may have not been full of a lot of action but i was glad to see Aoki get a win after the embarrassing defeat he suffered at Dynamite!! 2010. 

  Up next was the fight between Gegard Mousasi and Keith Jardine. It was evident early that Gegard was not fully prepared for this bout. Jardine was able to take him down four times in just the first round. Gegard landed an obvious illegal up kick and was deducted a point for it. This point deduction proved to be a game changer because the remaining rounds were in Mousasi's favor so the fight was ruled a majority draw. Many dispute it, but i completely agree with it. Mousasi was clearly aware that the up kick was illegal. I was extremely surprised to see that Keith Jardine was able to get some what of his chin back. He ate some very hard shots from the Dream Catcher but he continued to fight.

Strikeforces Undesirable Belt

  Tonight is the much awaited battle between Nick Diaz and Paul Daley. Both are two of the top welterweights in the world, they are also both known for their boxing abilities, and they are very open about their feelings by fully expressing themselves at any chance they get. Another thing they share in common is their scorn for the UFC. Nick Diaz's feels scorn because he felt that he was on the short end of many close decisions while in the organization and Paul Daley because he has been banned from fighting in the UFC because of his post fight punch on Josh Koscheck.

  Now that ZUFFA owns Strikeforce, the two have expressed their feelings towards the situation. Neither seems to want the belt because they feel that it has lost all its valor. In an interview with MMA Weekly, Diaz said that "I don't feel like a champion right now that the UFC bought this organization". On the Underground MMA forum, Paul Daley posted "what if i dont wanna fight for DANA WHITE/ZUFFA?......Dana white bans me for life from the UFC, Then buys STRIKEFORCE, and thinks Im still gonna be EASY". Neither fighter has taken well with the recent buyout, i do not blame them, Strikeforce was a more open organization and not that it has been sold to the highest bidder , fighters options are now limited. It is surprising though that neither fighter is exited to be one of the last Strikeforce welterweight champions and to also have an opportunity at the UFC welterweight belt in order to unify the belts.

The Ultimate Fighter 13: Episode 2

  Last night was the second episode of the Ultimate Fighter : Team Lesnar vs Team Dos Santos. This season already started off on a bad foot and now its gotten even worse. The first episode did not feature fights to get in the house and it has become more evident the level of declining talent on TUF.
  Fights to get in the house started of the previous seasons with a bang and showed just what these fighters had to offer. It included a number of fights to keep the viewers interested throughout the entire episode with numerous recaps. The first episode was just a display of Shamar Baliey overpowering Nordin Asrih with his wrestling. There were no entertaining moments in the fight.

  This second episode was no more entertaining than the last. Keon Caldwell leaves the house because he "misses his family". No matter what, this guys just a quitter, he could have had the opportunity of a life time and now hes blown it. There is no room for cowards such as this one in the UFC. His family was not going to go anywhere in the course of the six weeks. It would have behooved him to just keep moving forward in the TUF competition and have a chance at greatness. Instead he took the easy road out. Many can train their whole lives, but few are actually born with heart.
  Then, Junior Dos Santos announced the next fight between Javier Torres, who for some reason reminds me of Babalu, and Chris Cope. This fight was just a train wreck. All Javier did in the first round was hold Cope against the cage. It was an absolute hug fest, but luckily Cope survived this deadly attack. Even though he knew what Torres intentions were, Cope continuously clinched with him and ended up with his back against the cage. I can barely remember the second round, i might have nodded off for a moment to regain my strength. The third round was just another hug fest, in between this clinch work, cope landed a couple of shots and this was the most significant action in the entire fight. Even though it has been complete dreadful, i will continue to watch The Ultimate Fighter. Not for the fighters but for the coaches, i would like to see how both Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos act under pressure. Both coaches seem to be doing a great job in guiding their inferiors. Hopefully there are at least some glimpses of entertainment in the remainder of the season.
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