Remember the words of Chaim Bertman: “in the venom, is a whisper of the antidote.” (Chaim Bertman, A Taxonomy of Vipers ) This is the way of the “eagle in the sky …. the snake on a rock” and W.B. Yeats’ “terrible beauty”.
Disclaimer: The writers of this blog will not be held responsible for any uncontrollable paroxysms of enlightenment that may result from ingesting its contents; the cyber-axiomatic musings of unsung savants.
The end for Brett Rogers (10-1) came suddenly when Fedor “The Last” Emperor” Emelianenko (31-1) unleashed a right cross straight to his chin. Rogers went down in a crumbling heap with Fedor piling on. Referee Big John McCarthy jumped in to stop the fight. TKO! The time? 1.48 of a second round of the Strikeforce-M1 Global fight at Sears Centre on the outskirts of Chicago, IL. But the realization that this could have gone either way was not lost on the MMA crowd.
News Flash: The Emperor lives and so does his legend!; but he really shouldn’t be trying this at home, even when his last name is Emelianenko. Reason? The combined weight/size difference (with the emphasis on combined) proved consequential throughout the first and parts of the second round. Fedor, who got tagged and manhandled inspite of stalking Rogers, was bleeding visibly by the end of the first round from Rogers’ left jab versus Fedor’s looping right. One can easily dismiss size when weight is kept constant but not when the weight/size combination tips critical mass. The evidence was all over the ground battles and cage clinches. Rogers leaned on Fedor in clinches and Fedor could hardly contain Rogers. His attempt at a triangle choke hold looked almost quaint.
Throughout the fight, Fedor was the stalker and Rogers the stalkee, perhaps because of the weight of Fedor’s legend on Rogers mind. “I doubted myself,” Roger’s said later in his post fight interview. “I should have threw my hands a lot more. That’s the only reason I failed today.” A rematch is a possibility, but Fedor is likely to go for a title fight against current heavyweight holder, Alistair Overeem.
True, Fedor has made a career of beating men much bigger than him, but it’s gonna prove his undoing as he gets closer to men of Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin’s mettle. So our advice stands.
Compare:
Fedor Emelianenko’s 232 vs Brett Rogers’ 264 (32lb weight difference.)
Brock Lesnar, 265 vs Randy Couture, 220 (45lb weight difference, UFC 91.)
Lesnar 265 vs Mir 240, (25lb difference, UFC 100.)
Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko: Anatomy of an Old World warrior in paunchy old school guises. The self-deprecating manner is off-set by an iron will and serious knock-out power.
The incongruity of being Fedor: The Last Emperor won, but he looked mortal. Dana White kind of lost a little skin off his nose tonight, but his argument still stands: Fedor would not win against the best of the best in UFC’s 265lb division. But the Emperor lives. Why? Because that argument in and of itself does not discredit the contention that Fedor remains one of the best pound for pound fighter on the planet. Period. (Remember the weight thingy?)
The icy sangfroid and Old World machismo: What is most intriguing about Fedor’s ascendance is his low-key, balding and almost paunchy Old World machismo. Contrast that with the chiseled and pumped up displays of what passes for MMA machismo in the UFC and you have a contrast most beguiling. Fedor chalks one up for the pudgy and balding barfly pugilists who could knock you down onto your ass should you have the temerity to disrespect the ol’ missus before last call.
One for the ages: The odd-defying athleticism of Fedor Emelianenko notches one more for the record books as he knocks out Brett Rogers at the Strikeforce-M1 Global fight outside Chicago, IL on 11/7/09.
Reflections on Fedor, UFC and the legacy of the Last Emperor:
Whatever happens from here onwards does not matter very much. The legacy of the number one ranked fighter in the world is safe behind a vault of collective memory. At 33 years and counting, Fedor is not a spring chicken anymore. Not by MMA standards. He probably has a couple of good years left in him before the younger whipper-snappers start nipping at his heels. He really needs to choose carefully who he fights from henceforth. The world that made him (read that MMA) needs him more than he needs it, because he has really arrived. UFC with its crass posturing and braggadocious loudmouths should be last on his list. And the last thing Fedor needs is to be thrown into some freak show of the order of Randy Couture vs Brock Lesnar with a 45+lbs weight differential. He really has nothing left to prove to the world.
One day, not too far from hence, when the sports world will find the center of the MMA universe, and the UFC will be surprised to find that it is not the only one one in there. Fedor’s choices have been right from day one. And the noises coming from the UFC are nothing sour-pussy grapes. The UFC needs Fedor the way a pimp needs a hooker. “Nyet” has always been the right response.
Long live the Last Emperor, and the sport that gave fame to his name.
The Brock: Recuperating from a pesky flu-like illness waits for UFC 108 after the New Year.
The Brock: Recuperating from a flu-like illness waits for UFC 108 after the New Year.In case you haven’t heard, UFC 106 scheduled for November 11, 2009 has been postponed to UFC 108 on January 2, 2010 due to Brock Lesnar coming down with flu-like symptoms. The pesky illness which has lasted for about a month has compromised his training schedule. No further details about it have been released beyond Yahoo Sports mentione of “upper respiratory issues, fever and extreme fatigue.”
We hope he gets well soon for his own sake and for the fight. All things being equal, the delay should make for a more interesting fight as it will give Carwin more training time and a chance to bring something more substantive to the octagon. The delay will more likely improve Carwin’s chances of winning more than it will cement Lesnar’s grip on a guaranteed win. Watch the odds. Watch the odds which now stand about 68/32% for Lesnar. Two months is a long time and if Carwin uses it to improve his strength and mediocre stand-up skills, he may stand a chance. Will he pull a Shogun on Lesnar? Well, we certainly hope. But keep away those California judges, the ones who fumbled UFC 104 at the Staples Center!
Or “Fuck the Judges: Machida succumbs to the fists and kicks of fearless rock n’ roller named Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. “
Yes, we said “succumb”, because that is exactly what Machida did. Noone has any idea which fight the UFC 104 judges saw when they scored it 48-47 unanimously for Machida when he was winded, beaten and bloodied by round 5, having been rocked not once – but countless times by a young tough who knew where the Machida’s stylistic the bones were buried. And he went right to it until he drew visible blood in the end.
In our scoring Shogun won all rounds with the possible exception of round 3 where Machida exploded with strikes and kicks that could have knocked Shogun out had his power not failed him. How judges Cecil Peoples and Marcos Rosales could have given the first two rounds to Machida is beyond comprehension. And the judge who gave Shogun at least the first round inexplicably reverses himself and gives the final one to Machida who was visibly debilitated by a dominant Shogun in that round. This judging just boggles the mind when one sits down with pen and paper and replays the entire fight.
You can see the fight video here, while it lasts. The loading lags quite a bit, so your best bet is to launch it, place it on pause it and brew a nice cup of coffee for about 20 minutes and then play the video when the graphic meter shows that it is fully loaded, all 36:29 of it. You will get a smooth play that can be paused and replayed on the go.
The Mega-Video version which twice as large as the standard mini-screen version can be seen at www.mmator.com. Just allow for adequate loading time, depending on the speed and capacity of your connection, and you will have a lot of fun watching this.
And for the static side of the action you can check out these nice action pics are at the San Francisco Examiner page.
Rashad Evans is seating at home nodding his head like a sage
As the veil parts and the cloud lifts from his head.
The Machida thrill is gone, and he now knows it can be done
Because a young tough named Shogun showed him how
Night-time Robbery at the Staples: We at Cyberaxis are pretty miffed about this. There is nothing anecdotal about this contention: Mauricio Rua, who came in as the decided underdog, beat Lyoto Machida silly, then got robbed blind by three senile judges and God knows what else. Someone needs to investigate them, and while they are at it, get their blood and urine samples because the fans deserve to know what the were on the night they plopped their fat asses in the judges’ chairs. The unanimous 48-47 decision for Machida should, in the name of on-going integrity of the UFC, not go unchallenged because Rua beat Machida soundly in at least 3, if not more, of those the 5 rounds. MMA fans deserve to know what fight those judges were watching tonight. Seriously. Placing the burden on Shogun because he did not knock Machida out outright is a convenient cop-out.
I see politics has made its way into the UFC. It was bound to happen, just like boxing. I’m seriously debating on not watching UFC anymore. That decision was absolutely FIXED. And I wanted Machida to win. F*## the money grubbing criminals. NOFYB, Salt Lake City Headlines Examiner.
The release of the judges score card does little to shed any light on what went on inside their heads or what fight they were watching. Their defenders are gonna have an impossible time trying to explain this kind of UNANIMOUS scoring:
Judges Sch-mudges – Fuck the Judges! (They were scoring out of their asses): An impartial panel should review that fight frame by frame and re-score it and publish their results before the end of 30 days – with the power of some kind of redress, within or without the regulations. This may have no precedent in UFC – but that is what the UFC should have to deal with when their judges return such a ridiculous verdict. Unanimous!? Give us a break. UFC adjudication runs the risk of being considered a bloody joke, if not worse – if you get our drift here.
“Lyoto Machida, the heavily favored light heavyweight champion took on Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in a five round title fight. During this fight, Machida got flat out beat. Of the five rounds, only one, the third, was even seriously debatable to going to Machida. He’s an undefeated champion who has beaten huge name Rashad Evans to a great buy-rate and the UFC clearly wants to protect him, but this is absurd. A man cannot clearly lose 4 or 5 rounds and likely have lost that fifth, then win the fight by decision. It’s simply not possible. To quote a certain famous dramatist: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” So, with this, so soon after UFC 101, Dana White, the UFC owner, has opened himself up for massive questioning and investigating. Wrestling, long believed real, suffered the same fate and became pure entertainment. Is that the fate of the UFC and MMA in general?” (Aaron Glazer, “What are the chances that Machida vs Shogun Rua was fixed?”, San Francisco Examiner, October 25, 2009)
The Deconstruction of Lyoto Machina at UFC 104 by a fearless young gun, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Shogun's intermittent barrages hobbled Machida, in addition to drawing visible blood in the end. (Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
Cyberaxis prediction: A professional and public relations firestorm has already erupted over this and Dana White and the UFC will have to fix this post haste. Did we say “fix”? That was totally cosmic!
This latest fiasco adds incredible fuel to the bonfire of bad decisions that have been made in the UFC lately. And a lot of fans, judging by actual and internet postings, “have had it with UFC”! Such shennanigans undermine the tenuous faith fans have in this nascent organization. It leads the level-headed to wonder whether the UFC is just greasy fight organization with the genes of other fight organizations that have gone before it. Boxing and wheeler-dealing ways of Don King come to mind.
“Shogun and Machida fought their hearts out, but anyone watching that fight knows Shogun won.
The UFC just lost a ton of credibility. It isn’t really a secret that Machida is one of their money makers now, but Shogun won that fight and I doubt I will pay for another UFC fight.
Hell, Mike Goldberg was advertising for the UFC constantly right in the middle of fights. I don’t pay $45 to hear that distracting garbage.
And I certainly don’t pay $45 to see the judges literally gift a fight.
Lyoto even knew he lost when the fight ended. He could barely raise his hands in victory, because HE knew he lost. When Lyoto was waiting for the decision, it was clearly written on his face that he lost. He was waiting for the announcement to take his title away.
UFC is cheap. No respect for their fighters. Shogun is the true champion and we all know it. Everyone who watched that fight knows it.
Between this and calling the Cain/Ben fight way early, I’d have to say the UFC screwed up. Uga Booga – Commenting on Aaron Glazer’s Post “What are the chances that UFC 104’s Machida vs Shogun Rua was fixed?”
The UFC clearly had a vested interest in a win by Machida because of the dire need star luster in a division that hasn’t had it ever since Tito Ortiz or Chuck Liddel were dethroned. The musical chair circus of Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida within a short space of time has done little to build the potential for effective marketing and major Pay Per View bank. Shogun Rua was not supposed to win tonight because it would have perpetuated the musical chair circus. But win in actuality he did. Now the question that remains is what fight were those judges watching? What is their history and background?
Judges Sch-mudges - Fuck the Judges! They scored out of their asses. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua clearly won UFC 104. Check out the body language. The fraudulent judges' ruling will taint the UFC for a long time. And Shogun's dominant performance was a game changer for Lyoto Machida.
There was nothing particularly esoteric about the way the fight progressed tonight. A 15 year old could have judged the contest equitably. Shogun beat Machida’s butt black and blue. No ifs ands or butts about it. Machida’s body language, not to mention his face, said it all. He looked battered, winded and defeated. Compare that visual with that of Shogun: He was energized, smiling and pumping up his fists following the final bell. And Shogun, a veteran of brutal Pride battles of yore ain’t no dummy. A five year old kid could have easily surmised the result of what had just happened; but the judges saw something completely different on top of scoring a fight that must have been playing in their heads prior to coming to the Staples Center.
“Dana joked that Strike Force should be called Strike Farce. I gotta say that with the judges decision last night the biggest farce right now is the UFC and anyone who says Fedor was foolish for not joining the UFC can eat crow because the same thing could have happened to him as it did Shogun. If Fedor is to join the UFC it has to be co-promoted to prevent the corrupt UFC judges from making incorrect rulings. Otherwise fighters should hop on the Strike Force band wagon because it may be the only legitimate American MMA fighting organization left right now. ( Neil Roger responding to Brian Oswald’s ‘Does A Lyoto Machida vs Shogun Rua Rescue The Division?’ Bleacher Report, October 25, 2009)
Even Dana White had to admit to Shogun that he had him ahead of Machida by his own reckoning. And a forlon Machida refused, even through his corner, to say whether he seconded the judges’ decision. He deflected the issue by pointing out that all three judges had scored the fight in his favor. The fans responded to the announcement of the Machida win with boos that were heard around the world; which places both the UFC and the Machida camp in an unenviable position of partly defending the indefensible. The rematch concession doesn’t even begin to address the fact Shogun was robbed blind. It wasn’t a good day for the UFC, or the Machida camp. Lyoto doesn’t really deserve to be booed over this, but that is what he is gonna get, especially for his post-fight reaction.
The P.R. Mess: The rematch idea is just another crazy sideshow in an organization that already has many crazy sideshows – this one coming on the heels of Quinton Jackson’s abdication (following what he describes as a series of crazy decisions by Dana White.) The UFC 104 judges should have gotten it right in the first place and not robbed Shogun Rua blind of the belt he clearly deserved. This mess is just not needed. And the rematch is not gonna please a lot of people. And if it happens, the UFC needs to make it a free, televised event in prime time. Charging for such an event would be immoral and unethical.
Despite Rua controlling the octagon for a majority of the five-round battle (of UFC 104), the judges ruled unanimously (48-47) that Machida was the victor. FightMetric, the FanGraphs of Mixed Martial Arts, shows that Rua was far-and-away the winner of the bout, mostly on account of landing nearly twice as many hits as his opponent. Following the fight, the Internet was very quickly populated with claims that the fight was fixed. UFC President Dana White denied the fix, but did criticize the judges over the ruling and immediately scheduled a rematch between the two fighters.
White, of course, would never flat admit that the fight was fixed. He can feign anger at the judges, but look at what he gets out of it: profit from UFC 104 due to the Machida-Rua fight, and then a rematch that is already generating a lot of buzz, which leads to more revenue. What are we — including us skeptics — going to do when that rematch is televised? We’ll tune in! Of course we will! (Bill Baer, “What If It Isn’t Real?” Baseball Daily Digest)
As if the UFC needs this, there are fans already vowing to never purchase Pay Per View for UFC events again. The alternative for hopeless addicts would be seeing UFC events at Hooters or local neighborhood sports bars that show these events gratis or for a small cover charge.
The UFC should start addressing its P.R. problem by releasing the full video of the Machida-Rua fight gratis in the name of transparency. Whether the UFC management and its counterparts at all levels of gaming are gonna pursue this public fiasco with true reformist zeal or the weary old “this-is-how-babies-are-made” attitude is gonna make a world of difference. But we are not holding our breath.
Screw the Muppet Show farts who scored UFC 104 for Machida when the Mauricio Shogun Rua had clearly outboxed and out-smacked the reigning champion. In the minds of hard core fans, Shogun IS the new Light Heavyweight champion.
Stay tuned, because we are just clearing our throat here.
Meanwhile, the reaction to the judges’ decision runs the whole gamut from the cant and sophistry of the MMA Fanhouse article here (“Outrage in Machida-Shogun Unwarranted in Razor-Close Fight” by Mike Chiapetta) to the wholesale outrage expressed by most fans before the industry spin-meisters started spinning the the story. Here is a sample of the firestorm that exploded on Tweeter minutes after the results were announced. It does not matter which search terms you enter. The results are the same. Noone except the most die-hard urine-drinkers, believe Machida won tonight:
Beginning of sample tweets:
ScottChuckUFC 104 thoughts…Shogunwasrobbed. Also Cain is a scary man and a fight with Brock would be great. 7 minutes ago from web
BrickyardGrillShogunwasrobbed! #UFCwas totally rigged! Machida got annihilated out there! I give up on any mixed martial arts competitions…. 29 minutes ago from web
the_sofa_kingShogunwasrobbed I say. I bet a parlay of all underdogs and was on my way to a 3000 dollar payday until that terrible decision 35 minutes ago from web
916ChrisThought UFC 104 was a really good ppv with a great, tactical main event. That said Shogun won and wasrobbed of a victory by the judges imo about 1 hour ago from web
TheRepublican86Says “evrybody knew who won 2nite,SHOGUN! Even da crowe expressed der opinion. Dey booooed Machida and applauded SHOGUN!” FACT! 13 minutes ago from txt
sirshanMachidawon. Lets face it…if the champ didnt get ko’d or submitted, he won. Punished him yes…win, not really. No belt, no win. LOL!!!!! 14 minutes ago from Tweetie
apsmithjrI watched the IFC fight, and rua got screwed. machida didn’t even think he won. How do all judges score the same? Something was rotten. 16 minutes ago from Twitterrific
Karl_Tan_Ipongmaybe shogun won that fight by score but i think he should knock machida out first to be considered as the champ.. 23 minutes ago from web
ryanglancylyoto machida and cain velasquez both win. one called a little early and the other just a little lucky. either way, glad they both won. 25 minutes ago from web
DerekWinsickWOW Shogun really won the fight it was either 49-46 him or I can see 48-47 Shogun not 48-47 Machida he did nothing to win that fight about 2 hours ago from web
Shogun will clock Machida a few times towards the end of the first round and beginning of the second round, but Machida will knock him out in the second round. Before this, we see Shogun trying to shoot or take Machida down a couple of times with limited or no success.
UFC 104 weigh-in face-off: Machida looks bigger and stronger, in addition to being the more skilled and disciplined of the two fighters. Shogun is right-handed. All things being equal, that is not gonna help him at all.
And the reason has to do with the match-up itself (Uninspired and uninspiring.) Ben Fowlkes of Sport Illustrated makes a compelling case for why the rationale behind the Machida/Shogun match is “a bitty fuzzy.” A casual check of Google will reveal an amazing paucity of links with stories about this match-up. This paucity of stories very much corresponds to the lack of searches about Machida or Rua as reflected in the hit statistics of this blog. (FYI: When Frank Mir fought Brock Lesnar at UFC 100, the statistics for the corresponding stories in this blog were off the charts and interest in Mir or Lesnar did not flag until about 4 weeks later.)
Machida vs Rua: An unspired fight in the mental dead zone. A surprise would be very much welcome.
Some of us will still watch it more for what it will reveal of Machida than Rua. Machida will probably win this one, which will prove little beyond perhaps showcasing what else he has in the bag. But on the other hand, he may slip up and get rocked by Rua – which is why these fights always have something beyond the predictable. Now THAT would be news – and so much for Joe Rogan’s “Machida Era.” So to make things a bit interesting here, we are gonna root for Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, and hope that he presses Machida and wins by a lucky TKO by round three. We hope he will the little lucky break that Mir had with Lesnar in UFC 98. A long shot, but things have been known to happen.
The current odds are heavily in favor of Machida winning this at -$500 for Machida vs +$350 for Rua. This means you have to put down $500 to win $100 if you are betting for a Machida win. If you are betting for a Rua win you only have to put down $100 for a chance to win $350 if he wins.
UFC 104 weigh-in face-off: Machida looks bigger and stronger.
The UFC has a vested interest in a Machida win because if he loses the lack of bankable stars in the light heavyweight division will continue to reign supreme and that can’t be good for business. And Joe Rogan after proclaiming the beginning of “Era de Machida” will secretly be pulling for him. A Machida loss would be a lose-lose proposition for Dana White who had a big hand, if not only hand in engineering the Machida-Rua match-up while elbowing Quinton towards the Jackson- Evans match-up. If Machida loses, it means that the UFC lost at least one chance to make major coin on what would have been a Machida-Jackson MMA and PPV lollapalooza. And the fact of the matter is that Dana can’t afford to make half-assed decisions that fail to connect with the fans. Machida is 30 …. Not exactly on the ascent side of the mountain (age-wise.)
The rest of our thoughts on the lack of interest in this fight are contained in parts of the following posts:
I never liked “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix until I heard a cover of it on “In From The Storm” – an all-star tribute with good ol’ Buddy Miles flipping a vocal behind a trip-hopped beat and a full orchestra. If you are someone who never liked the thump-thump-chunk-chunk vibe of the original version, you should definitely check this one out. There is mercurial gold behind that ol’ chestnut, thanks to good ol’ Billy and the genius of the conceptualizer/arranger who is not specifically mentioned in the CD liner notes.
Jimi Hendrix, trip-hop and strings. Who would have thunk?
The personnel features Buddy Miles on lead and background vocals – the man who distinguished himself with a free-wheeling vocal chants on “Who Knows” and “Them Changes”.
The legendary Bootsy Collins is featured on bass, drum loops and effects as well as background vocal. Bernie Worrell play clavinet and D.D. plays rhythm guitar. Michael Hill plays guitar and Steve Lukather lights up this mother with his guitar solos. Dennis Chambers plays drums.
The cut was recorded at Jimi’s Electric Lady Studios in New York by Eddie Kramer & Joe “Primo” Pirrera with additional recording at Bootzilla Productions. The lush orchestral arrangements were done by Bernie Worrell and the recording was done at the Martin Erskine Studio, in New York.
Hendrix's "Purple Haze" in authentic technicolor: An rough gem from an old master ... buffed, polished and left to glisten in the sun. A definite must listen ...
And for good measure, here is Buddy Miles, flipping a vocal on “Them Changes” like it was going out of style (Fillmore East, NY, New Year’s eve 1969-70)
The Machida era is a figment of Joe Rogan’s imagination because the idea that Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida will reign supreme in the light heavyweight division for 10 years is a bit of a stretch, if not just plain silly. With the attention that MMA and the UFC is garnering and endless waves stronger fighters throwing their hats into the octagon, Machida will be lucky if he lasts five years. Machida’s style has already been decoded and it is not gonna take hungry young ‘uns ten years to incorporate counter-strategies into their style.
Anderson Silva already has the chops to beat Machida (if he moves to the light heavyweight division and of course agrees to fight his former training compadre. The only problem with that is that it just doesn’t make for a very interesting fight. As much as Anderson Silva represents the apogee of MMA skill, he still lacks the stylistic and typological polarity to make a match-up between him and Machida a bankable affair, both in terms of the historical and psycho-dramatic bang for the buck. Know-nothing dilettantes will clamor for this fight but it just ain’t worth the trouble it will take Dana White to put it together. Very few aficianados want to see this fight because it proves nothing, one way or the other. So what if, Anderson edges Machida or Machida edges Anderson? Physiologically and stylistically they are cut from same cloth. They know each others’ flips and flops the way Cheech knew Chong’s. No this would just be another case of misdirected power if Dana listens to the peanut gallery and forces the two former compadres into busting each other’s “nutsacks”.
Absent Anderson Silva, the Machida killer is alive and well, albeit in hypothetical form. And the good news is that he doesn’t necessarily have to drink urine todies or be the Karate kid to beat the Belen wunderkind. No, he just has to have a few qualities among which would be strength, quickness and devastating accuracy with his punches and kicks. In addition, he has to be:
1. A south-paw or fighter who can adopt an effective south-paw stance to out- mirror Machida’s stance, thereby cutting down his effective striking distance. And by effective we mean someone who can actually kick and strike from that stance. (An Anderson Silva quality)
2. A fighter who can fire on the run to neutralize Lyoto’s Ginger Rogers routine. Those who have seen Lyoto’s fights know how quickly he moves back and sideways to avoid being hit. The Machida killer would have to hit him on the run, especially with fists. Rashad Evans in UFC 98 should have gone for broke and closed the gap with Machida, but then he probably didn’t have the quickness to chase him and fire on the gallop. (Anderson Silva can do this, but what is not clear is whether he can keep up with the speed and evasive quickness of Machida.)
3. A great clinch fighter with Chuck Liddell like takedown defenses. And the reason has to do with the fact that when Machida runs out of room, the fighters will probably a clinch, at which point the Machida killer would have to defend a footsweep or take Machida down for the kill. (Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva quality)
4. A strong ground and pound monster with near impeccable BJJ defense.
Stay tuned as we refine and add to this list in light of more Machida fights. Meanwhile watch this UFC 98 classic to see how our suggested strategies would have altered the outcome for poor old Rashad Evans: His cardinal mistake? Not closing the gap, thus reducing his arsenal to fighting devastating foot with fist. Machida’s foot did more damage, impact wise, than his fists. The fists were only effective when their impact multiplied by cumulation.
The news that Quinton Jackson has quit UFC should really come as no surprise. Couture was the first to ever, burst upon that silent sea. And talking about things oceanic, the foul sea-food smell around L’affaire de Machida was the first tip off that something was indeed “rotten in the State of UFC” and we said so at the time. (Surprise, surprise.) Now comes the revelation in a no-holds-barred announcement on Quinton Jackson’s website, that that was just one, of a long litany of disappointments, that made him quit UFC. And one of the things he mentions is that Dana White DID NOT give him a shot at Machida’s title after UFC 98, which if true, would bolster our contention that Jackson was clearly dissembling in that well publicised interview in which he defended what he presented at the time as his decision not to fight Machida. Quote:
“When Rashad got knocked out I told them I wanted to fight Machida for the belt but Dana told me if I coach TUF against Rashad that I could fight Machida afterwards cause this was a different type of ultimate fighter show they were doing. After I signed the contract Dana then changes his mind and says I have to fight Rashad and even told me what to say in the press and so my fans think I was scared to fight Machida. After all that I still never complained and I did it all.” (Quinton Jackson)
The plot thickens. Of course there are two sides to every story, even where Dana “The Great” White is concerned. So Quinton may be practically screwing himself in the rear with the timing of his exit and reason for doing so: the chance to play B. A. Baracus in the movie remake of “The ‘A’ Team“.
Quinton Jackson: Old school slugger holding an incidental flashlight to the belly of the UFC beast. He is not always the most rational, but there are some issues that go beyond him here, namely the UFC's decision making process.
But the fact that Quinton Jackson may not be as smart or as pure as the driven snow does not negate the fact that Dana White makes screwy decisions sometimes. Heck, the fact that a guy as gentlemanly as Randy Couture said sayonara to the Hairless One and his organization once should give all level-headed fans a pause for thought. So the bottomline is that Dana is not gonna come out smelling like a rose in this one. He may, like Vince McMahon in the case of Bret Hart, argue that Quinton Jackson owes “loyalty” to the biz that kept him employed, but it that won’t wash, especially coming from the Great White. Dana has fanboys that regularly polish his knob (figuratively of course), but there is a large chunk of MMA fandom, that is is hip to his machinations. Jackson’s official announcement did a lot to expose the belly of the beast and how fight decisions are made. The Machida-Jackson reversal, if true, may turn out to be one of the worst decisions Dana White made; an unraveling point that denied MMA fans of a historic face-off while depriving Machida of a great exclamation point of his young career.
Iconography of dominance (In the animal kingdom, such verities have distinct ordors): Quinton Jackson as Lobo King of the Currumpaw cuts loose with a symbolic howl in front of a fallen ungulate (Chuck Liddell). Can characters like Quinton Rampage Jackson be easily replaced? The question is rhetorical.
This is a messy stew and noone at this juncture can figure out what went into it. But lets be real. This is a shady business. And as Modus Operandi go, it couldn’t be that far removed from the shady world of boxing. Call it a recessive gene or family resemblance. So the expectations that things are gonna be on the up and up are just stupid. There is enough grease in this business to go around. It ain’t the PTA and neither should it be if it want to crawl from obscurity. Characters like Dana White thus have their uses.
And Quinton Jackson has had his issues in the past. But just because Dana White and UFC helped him when he was down doesn’t mean UFC can squeeze him at every turn. The more hard-nosed will say, hey, this is business – but even they have to admit that lop-sided quid pro quo’s rarely end with happy tidings.
Our sentimentality vote goes with Quinton Jackson on this one. He is the little guy and he stands to lose this unless he can make a quick re-entry into MMA after his movie. His acting career ain’t going anywhere and the glory days of an MMA fighter are woefully numbered. Ten years, if that, is a tight window for a sport that does not pay very much. And if Jackson burns his bridges with UFC, where is he gonna go?
Everything in our crystal ball says Quinton Jackson will do his movie and quickly come back to MMA either with UFC or via another promotion. If not, he will go quietly into that goodnight while taking obscure exhibition fights to, as he originally put it, “feed his family.” The UFC will do OK without Jackson, but the 205lb division will miss the energy, passion and technicolor he brought to the octagon for the next five years.
Now having said that, here is the resignation statement that Quinton Jackson posted on his website ( log in information required). We are posting it here verbatim:
Quinton Rampage Jackson Resignation Statement:
Quinton Rampage Jackson:Shades of a true original
“I’m done fighting. The UFC has done a lot for me but I think I have done more for them. The UFC bought WFA to get my contract and they saved my life, so I felt loyal to them. They pushed me into a fight with Chuck Liddell even when I clearly stated I wasn’t ready to fight for the belt because the American fans didn’t know me but I took the fight and didn’t complain and after I won the American fans booed me for the first time which changed the way I saw them and it hurt me deeply.
“Then before I can even get out of the cage they announced that I was fighting Dan Henderson without even asking me. After I beat Dan Henderson, I made history in becoming the first undisputed champion in MMA but was never even given the pride belt in the cage and I was never promoted as the undisputed champ. Later Anderson Silva was.
“Then they had me coach TUF season 7 and fight Forrest and the fight was very controversial and normally when a fight is that close and controversial there is normally an instant replay. I can name a couple of instances. Instead they offered me the Vanderlei Silva fight which I gladly accepted even though I know it was a very risky fight for me to take because of all the drama that was happening to me at the time. I fought that fight with a jaw injury and then a couple weeks later Dana called me and asked me to fight Rashad. For the first time I said no, I didn’t want to fight because it was such short notice and I wouldn’t have had a long break between camp. Dana talked me into fighting Rashad anyway but Rashad refused the fight and so I had to fight Jardine as a favor to the UFC instead of getting my belt back (which wasn’t even worth it to me financially).
“Then I reinjured my jaw in the fight with Vanderlei and Jardine. Frank Mir gets hurt so they wanted to switch my fight from UFC 100 to the fight Frank couldn’t make it to but I couldn’t fight cause I needed jaw surgery. So they give Machida the fight against Rashad and they told me they want me to coach TUF season 10 against Rashad. That’s why I wanted Rashad to win so bad but when Rashad got knocked out I told them I wanted to fight Machida for the belt but Dana told me if I coach TUF against Rashad that I could fight Machida afterwards cause this was a different type of ultimate fighter show they were doing. After I signed the contract Dana then changes his mind and says I have to fight Rashad and even told me what to say in the press and so my fans think I was scared to fight Machida. After all that I still never complained and I did it all.
Then this movie role came about that I have been trying to get for over a year and as soon as I found out I was close to getting it, I called Dana right away and asked to push the Memphis fight back just a month or so. I told him what this movie role meant to me. I told him that I used to bond with my father watching the TV show as a kid when my parents where still married & it represents the memories I had with my father when we lived together. My dad became an alcoholic and addicted to drugs and we grew apart. But after my dad got his life back together, I was so proud of my dad and I told him I would always take care of him in the future and make him proud of me. My dad and I are still very big fans of the show and I am basically doing this for the childhood memories I had spending time in front of the TV with my dad. Dana went on the internet and mocked me because of that and I still did nothing. Dana and I finally talked and we made up and then after that he went back on the internet and said some bullshit and he was talking bad about the movie when information is not even supposed to be released and talking about payments which is not even true could really hurt my future acting career, which could very well last longer than my fighting career. I’m not like Randy Couture. My body has been getting so many different injuries that I wont be able to fight until my forties and neither do I want to fight that long. So I feel like my second career could be in jeopardy. So I’m done fighting. I’ve been getting negative reviews from the dumb ass fans that don’t pay my bills or put my kids though college. So I’m hanging it up. I’m gonna miss all my loyal fans but hopefully they’ll follow me to my new career and I will gain more loyal fans along the way. And all you hater fans out there can kiss my big black hairy ass! And anybody that don’t like what I just said can come try to kick my ass!
“I still feel the UFC is a great organization and I felt like I was very loyal to them but they didn’t respect my loyalty but I wish the UFC the best. I did a lot of things for them. I wish no bad blood between us but I have kids and a family back in Memphis to provide for and that’s all that matters to me!” (Quinton Rampage Jackson)
Brock De Beast: Just look at that neck and tell us if Carwin will be able to snap it backwards or sideways with his celebrated "short right".
Forget about UFC 104 and 105 because they are just the feeble whimpers before the big bang of UFC 106. MMA time-space is about to unfurl, like universes coming into being. Worlds collide. Fans watch with bated breath …. not because Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin are pound-for-pound the best fighters in all of MMA but because they are the biggest and baddest mofos to ever traverse the octagon at that scale of magnification. That weight.
“When two elephants fight, the grass gets hurt.” West African proverb
Their form, unadorned, dwarfs everything the imagination throws at it. Mortals shudder at the thought of encountering behemoths in anything other than a friendly hello. (God forbid that any one of us would have to defend anyone’s honor in a bar room diss.) Such is the insidious cachet of heavyweights the world over. It has been and will always be.
The UFC Fumble: The only match-up that would have rivaled the Lesnar-Carwin card would have been the promised Machida-Jackson matchup; the same that never materialized because of UFC bungling. But we digress.
Shane De Behemoth, trying to look scary: He is a rock solid cyborg from top to bottom, but will he be tough enough to shock The Brock? We doubt it, and we are rarely wrong.
The end of Shane Carwin’s winning streak is nigh: Shane Carwin will not necessarily be Brock Lesnar’s road kill come UFC 106, but lose to The Brock he will. Our prediction is that it will be by a stoppage in the first or second round. The end will come via Lesnar’s ground-and-pound, most probably near the edge of the octagon. (Frank Mir will be watching and reliving his trauma.)
Eight reasons Lesnar will win UFC 106: The other tale o’ the tape:
1. Carwin is hungry, but Lesnar is hungrier. (Needs no explanation.)
2. Carwin can afford to lose this fight (He has a stable job ). Lesnar cannot. (His ego is now more pumped up than his form during WWE .) The bottomline is that Brock has way more to lose than Shane, especially after flippin’ off the fans at UFC 100. The battle is now up close and personal. Brock against the diehards of MMA who still think of him as a glorified beefcake.
3. Carwin, “The Engineer” will come in with a cerebral bent and Lesnar will go “gangsta” on him …. well as much as a Minnesota boy who talks of ramming horse-shoes up opponents’ bung-holes can. Lesnar’s M.O. is more primal or should we say “mo” gangsta. He will only be cautious until he sees an opening. Then he will explode on Carwin’s like Machida, but without the chops, karate or otherwise.
4. Carwin has octagonal scruples to fret about. Lesnar doesn’t.
5. Carwin has to muster the froth and foam with which to put away his opponents: the quality otherwise knows as the killer instinct. Lesnar’s come out of the humors of “fear and loathing”.
6. Carwin is a gentleman. Lesnar is a thuggish meat-head. (See #4). He doesn’t like people booing or making fun of him. Nobody does, but Lesnar takes it to a new level. How did he get this way? (Well, that is a story for another day …)
7. Carwin is strong, but Lesnar is stronger and more explosive beast with a hair reflex trigger, especially in the opening rounds (See #3 & #5, especially #3).
8. Lesnar has the Mike Tyson thing going for him before (Buster Douglas bust his chops) and the UFC just has not put someone big enough in front of him to stop “The Big Mo” as in momentum. Fans and self-styled analysts have it right: With the exception of Gonzaga, Carwin has really fought a bunch of nobodies, which really makes him one and zero (1-0). And to be really fair, this kind of makes him like Lesnar before Frank Mir in UFC 81 or Heath Herring in UFC 87.
9. Carwin seems to be very guarded about his chances of winning this thing. Lesnar is not. Victory is fait accompli even as Carwin hems and haws. Caution versus arrogance? Highly unlikely. Carwin’s hedgy talk is reminiscent of Evans’ in the weeks leading to the disastrous UFC 98. We trust Carwin’s sixth sense.
He recognizes that as some level, hence the morose campiness of his schtick. He knows he has no genuine talent and tries to make the best of what he has. The dour disposition is genuine. The flash is not.
The disposition is metastatic. There isn’t an ounce of authenticity in his droll piece, “The Brothel Creeper.” And in the following clip, Horsley hits his lines but barely. And when he does there is a dry, labored quality about them. His facade cracks often, and when it does, he does let on that he is in on the joke about himself. So is the audience.
At 47, which is old for a leering dandy, he already looks tired. How is this gonna play out when there are no more layers to peel? We are loathe to contemplate this.
(If video has been removed, surf for “Thelonius by Common” on Youtube or Google)
This is the shits right here; a hip-hop classic which should be required listening for all aspiring M.C.s; dope beats and ill rhymes that grab you by the lapels and bitch-slap you silly till you cry for your fuh-kin’ uncle. My oh friggin’ my! Noone can fake this shit because it is un-fakeable.
Check out how the last MC on this joint totally hooks into the groove even as he cuts loose and floats above the beats like a Ninja – playin’ above the rim like friggin’ M.J. And when MC Common spits on this joint, he spits like he owns it. Smooth flow with an edge that never lets you forget who is boss. That’s presence. That’s authority.
Mega, mega props to MC Common and fuh-kin Slum Village. This totally rules!
Ha, yeah, yeah
Uhh, yeah, yeah, play at your own risk
Act like you know bitch I’m on some grown shit
Ha, yeah, yeah, play at your own risk
Act like you know bitch I’m on some grown shit
It’s the Thelonious, super microphonist
You know us, this rap shit we ’bout to own it
You know it, these mini-mes try to clone us
I got a bonus for the bitch that run up on us
I got a bonus for your bitch that run up on us
It’s the Thelonious, super microphonist
Uhh, no time to sleep cuz if you sleep you don’t eat
Gotta hold heat, just to make ends meet
Niggas livin on the street while other niggas feast
Aight wit you it ain’t aight wit me
Right, gotta make money all my life
Gotta stay fuckin bitches many types
Yeah you know what I’m talkin ’bout
Yup, stay turnin these bitches out
Dick em down also dick em out
Throw somethin down whenever my dick’s out
They know me so they restructure and reroute
They know me from Washington to down South
All the way to London to my nigga Common’s house
Right, it’s like a game we never play out, out, out, out…
Nigga no doubt, nigga get live or get knocked the fuck out
Word up, just be about what you about dogg
Knowhatimsayin’, just play at your own risk
Act like you know bitch I’m on some grown shit
It’s the Thelonious, super microphonist
You know us, this rap shit we ’bout to own it
You know it, cuz you can feel it in your throat
Say it
I’m ’bout to let my mind float
(com, say it)
Get your third eye poked
Fuck game, I assemble dope…
Ness, a nigga that’s fresh as the ’fess
Studied this rap shit, no need to mic test
You can feel it in your chest
Your b i, feel it in her breasts
Plus you, rhyme like a nigga wit his nipples pierced
We lick off lyrics in the streets and real niggas hear us
Dreamin when I wrote this, box me if I go too wild
Still doin this shit like dude in wild style
Invitin wack niggas to dinner
I trick daddy emcees and I don’t know, nann nigga
Who can take it where I take it
You better go into God like Mase did
Leavin crowds complacent
I move em above clouds whether on some ? surface the earth? shit
Or thug style you can feel it in your body
Yeah y’all you can feel it in your body
Like if a 12 gauge shottie shell hit your body
You don’t want no one to find your ass a hobby
Carbon copy, niggas tryin to clone us
You know us, Thelonious, super microphone
You know this, rap shit we ’bout to own it dun, for real
Ay, it’s like a ritual
You been invited let the ? ? stimulate the place
With the grace, nevertheless, I stress
Let the music put a smile on your face
As for the ritual, when it comes to spiritual excellence
You know I always leave you with the taste
I know you like it hard to the core
That’s what you ask for ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Hurtin like a ? ? in that ass, like a ritual
Conversation with the most high makes me wanna cry
I wonder why, you wanna get to paradise
But that itty bitty part of you don’t wanna die
So pay attention to my word, cuz it’s the truth
Meditation ease the mind, and brings the youth
It’s like a verse you could never read out of a book
Darken the line and your mind like a fish hook
Word is birth, yo I do it till the break of day
Pay attention to your art, never go astray
Word is bond
Yo we do it and we don’t quit
Sucka nigga you don’t want it, it’s Thelonious
Ownin this rap shit, super microphonist, and we known to spit
I spit fire like Esther on Sanford and Son did
I’m raw dude, more juice than Sunkist
You want this, so MJ kept sayin the rhyme flawless
Shit fly like MJ in his prime, off the wall wit mines
I’m grabbin my balls when I rhyme, nine nines bustin plus
Ball all the time, now stay on your mind like great sex
You ain’t on my mind I’m thinkin ’bout paychecks
Niggas large like an adex avirex jacket
Yo the gods they bust like latex sex packets
Emcees they don’t rhyme and ball, they lyin’ to y’all
They dyin’ to ball, the rhyme we do all the time
We do all the fine bitches they fall in lines
Me and my mans is somethin like the source sports
We gettin money a long time and y’all short
My niggas bounce and full rise and y’alls fall
You funny doo, cuz really you think you can do me
When you roll a 500 that’s really a 320
Should of let somebody else hook it
Numbers look crooked like King Kong shook it
I’m from where niggas bang gats when they celebrate
That’s how they play, don’t let it be a holiday
Thelonious niggas, if you testin us we get you laid back
Show you the definition of a pay back.”
). Lesnar cannot. (His ego is now more pumped up than his form during WWE .) The bottomline is that Brock has way more to lose than Shane, especially after flippin’ off the fans at UFC 100. The battle is now up close and personal. Brock against the diehards of MMA who still think of him as a glorified beefcake.