November 26, 2009 by James Gideon

On this Thanksgiving Day, it’s time to give thanks. With an unusual number of injuries to the top competitors in mixed martial arts, MMA fans have been missing out on many of the fights they want to see. That being the case, there are many things to give thanks for this Thanksgiving.

3. “The Prodigy” BJ Penn

Penn is willing to test himself against the best fighters in the world in any weight division. In 2005, Penn fought the 220 lb Lyoto Machida at K-1 Heroes 1 in Saitama, Japan (unanimous decision loss), and he campaigned to move up to fight Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre earlier this year. BJ Penn is the only UFC champion who has remained injury free of late. Since his loss to St-Pierre in January, Penn put on an outstanding display against, then number one UFC lightweight contender, Kenny Florian at UFC 101. Next month, Penn will face Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez, who may prove to be the biggest lightweight test of Penn’s career. MMA fans should be thankful for BJ Penn.

2. UFC veterans Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz

With all of the injuries to the elite fighters in the UFC, veterans Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz have picked up the slack. They have the name recognition to headline pay-per-views, and they have done just that. At 46 years of age, Randy Couture is still one of the top 5 light heavyweights in the world. He has fended off retirement, and given us some outstanding displays in the octagon. Whether you love him or you hate him, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz is good for the UFC and mixed martial arts. Ortiz can headline a pay-per-view whether he is champion or not, and not many fighters can do that. Ortiz could have done without making excuses for his split decision loss to Forrest Griffin, but with Tito that is par for the course. MMA fans should be thankful for Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz.

1. Strikeforce

Mixed martial arts is still in its infancy. As the sport becomes well-developed and mainstream, one dominate promotion may be good for the sport, as it is in football (NFL), basketball (NBA), and baseball (MLB), but at this stage competition among promotions is still important. Competition will help balance the pay scale for fighters with the profits of promoters. High fighter purses will encourage some of the best athletes in the world to pursue MMA, and that is obviously good for the sport. Thus far, Strikeforce, unlike Elite XC, has seemed to be a solid promotion that gives fans the best fights possible. Without Strikeforce, MMA fans may be missing out on the talents of fighters such as Fedor Emelianenko and Nick Diaz. MMA fans should be thankful for Strikeforce.

We have this product called Perfect Water and I have to say it is the best damn water out there.  I don’t typically drink this water on a day to day basis because I just don’t drink bottled water on a day to day basis.  However I’m a fairly active guy and anytime I play any sports or run I take a bottle with me and I’m very glad I do.  I’ve played hockey for almost 18 years of my life and when drinking regular water it just doesn’t give you that umph needed to continue.  Does it quench your thirst? Maybe for that few minutes however it doesn’t really help you recover from the fatigue.  However this water does a great job of helping you recover a bit faster and gives you that little umph to keep you going through your activity.

Today we had a indoor soccer match against another team within our corporate organization.  I brought a long my perfect water because I knew I was a bit out of shape since I’ve not been running in a few months and wanted to make sure I could play the whole game without pewtering out.  I’m still to this day surprised how Perfect Water really does help you recover.  I’m drinking my water and about 1/4 the way through I’m feeling pretty good and while I’m sitting on the bench waiting for my turn I’m not huffing and puffing as much anymore and I’m actually able to recover a bit faster than some of the other guys.  I was quite pleasantly surprised at this and have to owe it partially to the Perfect Water.

Some facts about the water:

• Its purified
• Remineralized
• Has an Enhanced pH
• It has gone through Reverse osmosis
• Its ozonated
• Tastes great

Fun Fact:

Randy Couture from the UFC drinks it.  His personal gym is stocked with it

 You can check out the Perfect Water website here

Esta noche se presentará la “version damas” de UFC 105
UFC 105 fue encabezado por Randy Couture vs Brandon Vera
Y esta noche pelearan

• Kim Couture (ex-esposa de Randy Couture) vs Kerry Vera (esposa de Brandon Vera)

Dentro del evento Strikeforce Challenger Series, que tendrá lugar en Kansas City
Este será el tercer encuentro profesional para Kim, quién tiene marca de 1-1, mientras que para Kerry, será su segundo encuentro, llevando 1 pelea ganada hasta el momento

El evento será transmitido por Showtime
El cartel está encabezado por el duelo Tyron Woodley vs Rudy Bears

ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers

A ser televisado

• Welterweight bout:  Tyron Woodley vs.  Rudy Bears
• Women’s (135 lbs) bout:  Kim Couture vs.  Kerry Vera
• Welterweight bout:  Bobby Voelker vs.  Erik Apple
• Light Heavyweight bout:  Aaron Rosa vs.  Rafael Cavalcante
• Middleweight bout:  Kevin Casey vs.  Chad Vance

Preeliminar

• Lightweight bout: Lee Gibson vs.  Joe Wilk
• Featherweight bout:  Brian Davidson vs.  Russell Patrick
• Welterweight bout:  Andrew Waters vs.  Nick Nolte
• Middlewight bout:  Darryl Cobb vs.  Gary Tapasua
• Catchweight (165 lbs) bout:  Mike Chandler vs.  Rich Bouphanouvong
• Catchweight (190 lbs) bout:  Dominic Brown vs.  Lucas Lopes

Anderson Silva / UFC.com

Las malas noticias para UFC no cesan, Anderson Silva, su campeón de peso medio, y el único peleador que “rivaliza” con Fedor para ser considerado el mejor libra por libra del mundo, podría requerir más tiempo para recuperase de su lesión

De ser esto correcto, la única pelea por un título que UFC podrá presentar durante 3 o 4 meses, será la de BJ Penn (Justamente por eso Dana White busca inventar otra lucha por un título interino de peso completo)
Silva y Vitor Belfort están programados para enfrentarse en UFC 109, el 6 de febrero 2010, pero ya se habla que el encuentro podría ser sustituido por la pelea entre miembros del Salón de la Fama: Randy Couture vs Mark Coleman

Props: MMAMania

It could be one for the ages … literally.

Former UFC heavyweight champions and hall of famers, Randy Couture and Mark Coleman, are penciled in to collide in a 205-pound showdown at UFC 109 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Feb. 6, according to Sherdog.com.

The report indicates that bout agreements have been distributed to both fighters; however, nothing is official at this time.

Couture, 46, most recently earned a unanimous decision over Brandon Vera in the UFC 105 main event just this past weekend. It wasn’t a thrilling or performance from “The Natural,” but it was good enough to earn him the nod from all three judges sitting ringside who scored the fight.

It marked Couture’s first fight in the 205-pound division since his short-lived retirement back in 2006.

Coleman’s also coming off a pretty solid win at 205, decisioning Ultimate Fighter runner-up Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100 last July.  It was considered a pretty big upset, considering how fucking shitty Mark looked when he made his return to the octagon against Shogun Rua at UFC 93 (he lost via TKO in the third).  As the blurb from MMAMania said, Couture recently beat Vera at UFC 105, and as much as that fight fucking sucked, it was a pretty clear win for the multiple UFC champion.

Regardless of their lackluster performances, I’m stoked to see this fight happen.  Not too often will fans get to see two timeless veterans competing against one another (unless you caught the abortion that was YAMMA Pit Fighting), especially in an organization like the UFC.  I personally think that this fight will kick ass for a few reasons:

• Neither fighter needs to really worry about fighting a young, up and comer, who is looking to make a name for himself by wrecking a veteran.
• Both are great wrestlers, which means we might see a solid stand-up battle.
• This is a SUPERFIGHT, and both fighters should be equally motivated to go out and perform at their absolute best.

This also means that Coleman, who currently trains at Randy’s gym, will have to see training elsewhere for this fight.  My hope is that he reunites with his former Hammer House fighters, because who doesn’t love Wes Sims, the NYBA, and Kevin Randleplex?  I’m sure Couture will be the heavy favorite, but I’ll be pulling for Coleman, hard to not love the dude who wrecked a prime Igor Vovchancyn! This fight fucking rules!

It appears that a battle for the ages will take place at UFC 109. As 46 year old Randy Couture will battle 44-year old Mark Coleman. The bout has been verbally agreed to, but no bout agreements have been signed.

Couture is coming off of a controversial victory over Brandon Vera at UFC 105. Meanwhile, Coleman is coming off of a knee injury that forced him out of his UFC 106 bout with Tito Ortiz.

The two UFC Hall of Famers were scheduled to meet at UFC 17, but the fight never panned out, but hopefully this one will. If the fight takes place it will bet he first time that two UFC Hall of Famers fight.

Both guys have a solid wrestling pedigree and one would have to believe that conditioning would be a key here. A win over Coleman could merit a title shot for Couture.

UFC 109 is expected to take place on February 6th and very well could be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort.

The internets are up in arms about the Couture/Vera decision last weekend. And I’ll admit, I was amongst the most vocal opponents of the decision. I don’t think that Vera won the fight, but I do think that the fight is an example of how the 10 point system can fail. I emailed our friend Nick Lembo from the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board and asked for his opinion.

Hit the jump to see what Nick says.

I don’t have an issue as to how that particular fight was scored. While some may disagree with the scoring and have valid points, it was far from the oft-used “robbery” term.
Judges are evaluating effective striking, effective grappling, control of the fighting area, effective aggressiveness and defense.

While Couture did not do much in rounds one and three, it could be said that Vera did even less.
The judges scored based on the referee’s limited re-starts, which were within his discretion.
Couture is a very intelligent fighter who controlled how and where most of the fight would occur. Couture controlled the pace, location and interactions.
To truly score a fight, television viewers should turn the commentary off, limit social distractions and solely focus on the fight itself without any interference or interactions with others.

So, take that, internets.

I moved last weekend to my own place. Which is awesome, I love it plenty of space for me to stretch out for the trip into manhood. Unfortunately because of this I missed UFC 105, and since that was the majority of my article today this might be a short SOMMA. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get inspired and keep going only time shall tell.

According to middleeasy.com Brock has what’s called diverticulitis. To me this sounds like one of those diseases that Peter Griffin would say with his gingivitis voice. (circa season 2 I believe) Honestly though I hope he’s ok I’m not a huge Brock fan but he needs to fight in order for the UFC Heavyweight story to continue to develop. Plus death is never something I would wish on someone who merely irritates me. He has to stick around so I can hate on him some more.

So for those of you keeping count at home, Brock, Carwin, and Big Nog are all out of UFC 108. Have no fear though Silva vs. Evans is here. It is now the main event of UFC 108. It’s not a terrible main event at all I’m looking forward to this fight. However I still think Dana needs to have a talk with Mr. Rampage Jackson because at this point the UFC could use all the draws they can get. While you’re at it go get Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski too sign them to one fight contracts and let them win their way back into our hearts.

Vitor Belfort will be fighting Anderson Silva for the belt at UFC 109 or so the rumor is saying. Now he can join the ever growing list of people who aren’t ready for a title shot yet. Yes I’m talking about Dan Hardy. He barely beat Marcus Davis (I don’t really feel like he won the fight) He soundly beat Mike Swick from what I hear however I don’t even think Swick should have been fighting Hardy for the number one contender spot as we have Johnson and Koshchek fighting on Saturday. If Hardy is going to fight anyone it should be Anthony Rumble Johnson if he beats Johnson then he’s ready for GSP. Well then who is GSP going to fight Ronald? He can fight Jon Fitch. Fitch is a tough opponent who deserves a rematch as he put on a great fight with GSP in his last fight with him.

I have to point this out the welterweight division could be in trouble with these match-ups. Since Dan Hardy will be fighting for the title consider this. If Dan Hardy loses, and Swick, Koshchek, Fitch, and Alves all win their next respective fights, then who do they fight next? At this point I think they’d all have the same legitimate claim to the title shot. This may have been poor planning on someone’s part. It may be time for a UFC welterweight grand prix.

We’ve got UFC 106 coming up this week, and we’ve got WEC: Aldo vs. Brown coming up tomorrow. I love Mike Brown as he is a legitimate fighter and has looked impressive against elite opponents. However I’m picking my man Jose Aldo. I’m not even going to explain why. Why, you ask? Simple because I’ve chosen to enjoy this MMA show as a fan and not as an analyst (and because it’s tomorrow and I simply don’t have time to break down the WEC card) however, you can look forward to my picks for UFC 106 on Thursday and Friday and of course a TUF wrap up on Wednesday. Hey maybe I’ll even throw in a bonus WEC wrap up post. Who knows??? Arrrrrrggggghhhhh! All this posting is making me go postal!!!

Well that was corny.

Although the 105^th event played out to a filled Manchester Evening Standard arena last night, the UFC’s 105 post-mortem will include two nagging issues that cast a shadow on yesterday’s card, underlining two recent areas of concern for the organization: scoring and refereeing.

Beginning with the first bout of the evening (undercard), LW UK fighter Andre Winner absolutely smashed Rolando Delgado with a devastating right hand that knocked him out on impact around mid-round 1. He received two unnecessary blows while out on the ground because of the distant position of the referee, who had previously circled out of the action to place himself behind Winner at the diametrical opposite location in the Octagon. The referee clearly saw the blow that KO’ed Delgado, but was so far away from the action that Winner was able to land two undefended punches to a motionless Delgado before the bout was brought to a halt. Only four months after Henderson’s double KO’ing of Bisping, the UFC should avoid such situations as they only serve its detractors and impede the sport’s growth. Of note, the UFC didn’t reward that KO with the traditional KO of the Night purse, as it chose to do so when Hendo KO’ed Bisping at UFC 100 ($100,000). Last night’s KOTN went to Siver’s TKO over fellow LW Paul Kelly in the 2^nd round ($40,000).

The main event that book-ended the evening saw the judges award a unanimous decision to UFC LHW Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture over Brandon Vera. Couture almost completely dictated the pace (minus devastating leg kicks, though too few, and a mount) by pressing Vera against the fence, effectively nullifying his striking advantage for the duration of the three-round engagement. Acknowledged by all who witnessed the fight, Vera inflicted more damage. The decision stunned the crowd, prompting Vera to leave the Octagon. After colour commentator Joe Rogan finished his post-decision interview with Couture, Vera came back to the Octagon and confessed being shocked by the scoring and added an ironic thank you addressed to the judges. Seconds earlier while talking to Couture, Rogan had admitted he had scored the bout in favour of Vera. Though Vera got the popular support, Couture benefited from playing out his game plan, attempting take-downs (defended by Vera) and dictating the pace, which made for a somewhat dull fight. But according to the ten-point must system rules used by the UFC, the decision was rightfully awarded to Couture. One area of improvement in the fight could have been the refereeing, as Couture received some latitude from the officiating ref. Marc Goddard for his clinching game that lead to naught.

The WW bout between Mike Swick and Dan Hardy provided an upset, as the favourite, Swick, was dominated by the Englishman through all three rounds. Though a non-title bout, it carried a lot of weight for Swick who was expected to win over Hardy and obtain a shot at the current WW champion, Georges St-Pierre. Hardy’s chin proved very resilient and his power impressive. UFC’s Dana White had already stated the winner of this bout might get a shot at the champ. The outcome should precipitate a fight between GSP and ‘The Outlaw’, but few give him a genuine chance at pulling a victory.                                                                                                                                                                                    

The other Englishman that had the crowd roaring was Michael Bisping, who decisively defeated by TKO (punches) his MW opponent Denis Kang for this non-title bout. Kang had stunned Bisping early in the first stanza, leading him to quickly keep him on the mat. Bisping’s active grappling frustrated all of Kang’s ground and pound attempts. When the second round began, Bisping charged his opponent and punched him twice to the ground, the second barrage of punches to the ailing Kang proved sufficient for an early stoppage (TKO). This bout earned fighters the Fight of the Night award and a $40,000 purse respectively.

The LW non-title fight opposing Ross Pearson to Aaron Riley also provided a spectacular upset, when the underdog Pearson TKO’ed the veteran Riley in round 2. Pearson quickly imposed his rhythm and landed big shots that rocked Riley early on. Riley wasn’t able to reverse this and was on the losing end of a brutal clinch game before the doctor called an end to it.

The rest of the card went like this:

Welterweight bout: James Wilks vs. Matt Brown. Brown defeated Wilks via TKO (punches) at 2:26 of Round 3.

Light Heavyweight bout between Alexander Gustafsson and Jared Hamman. Gustafsson defeated Hamman via KO (punches) at 0:41 of round 1.

Welterweight bout between Nick Osipczak and Matthew Riddle. Osipczak defeated Riddle via TKO (punches) at 3:53 of round 3.

Lightweight bout between Terry Etim and Shannon Gugerty. Etim defeated Gugerty via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:24 of round 2. Submission of the Night award ($40,000)

Welterweight bout between Paul Taylor and John Hathaway. Hathaway defeated Taylor via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).

Photos by Dave Mandel, Sherdog.com

Simply put, Randy Couture still has it. The man is an amazing specimen when you stand back and look at his accomplishments and his AGE. This man is 46 years old, and he absolutely dominated Brandon Vera in the clinch. Keep in mind that both guys had wrestling backgrounds. This wasn’t a “Randy’s wrestling kept so-and-so from his strength” situation. Both men had excellent wrestling skills; Randy just showed that he still is a force to be reckoned with, even if it means relatively boring fights to the casual fan.

Don’t forget that the WEC is holding an event this Wednesday; the main event is Mike Brown vs. Jose Aldo, for the featherweight title. This match alone is worth the price of admission, which, if you’re like me, means that you’ll be watching it for free on Versus. Free MMA – who can complain about that?

Have a great week!

-Chris

Winners:

• The British Fighters – The British fighters dominated the day at UFC 105.  Six British fighters earned victories at UFC 105.  Dan Hardy may have been the biggest winner of the night as his victory over Mike Swick earned him a title shot against Georges St. Pierre.  Michael Bisping struggled in round one against Dennis Kang, but he recovered nicely with a big win in round 2.  Ross Pearson looked fantastic and showed that he has potential to really climb the lightweight rankings.  Andre Winner destroyed Roli Delgado in what was a highlight reel KO.  Slick Nick Osipczak beat up on Matt Riddle.  Lastly, John Hathaway really looked good against Paul Taylor. 
• Matt Brown – Brown has been one of the best guys to come out of TUF 7.  He looked fair on the show, but since the show he has looked great.  He only has one loss and that was a controversial loss to Dong Hyun Kim.  He followed that with an impressive crushing of Pete Sell.  Brown handed it to TUF winner James Wilks.  I was impressed with Brown. 
• Randy Couture – He did not cause jaws to drop, but he showed that even at 46 he can hang with the top 205ers.  I didn’t agree with the decision, but the victory was certainly good for Randy and will create some excitment about a second fight at 205.  Mark Coleman?  Tito Ortiz?  Forrest Griffin? 

Losers

Brandon Vera – I personally thought Vera won that fight.  I gave Randy round one and Brandon round 2.   I believe that is clear.  Round 3 I gave it to Vera in large part due to the takedown at the end.  I don’t think vera looked bad, but his inability to create space and work his striking was bad and his stock had to fall some.  However, he may have gained soe quality exposure and a lot of people felt he won that fight.  He will be back.

Mike Swick – Many people seem to think Hardy just was really good Saturday.  I think Swick looked sorry.  He proved he will never be a contender.  He showed no heart.  He could not recover from those big shots of Hardy.  This loss really hurt Swick who had the chance of a lifetime.  He dropped big time in my rankings.

“Vertical Lay n Pray”

Let’s establish a few things. I adore Randy Couture as a fighter. He’s a goddamn miracle of the body and a hard fight for anyone in two weight divisions. He gave Lesnar his hardest fight so far, excluding what is looking more and more like a freak fuckup with the kneebar in Mir 1. He’s pushed Noguiera, taken one of three from Lidell in his prime, took two in a row from Rizzo in his prime, whomped Ortiz, Sylvia, etc. What he did last night was the stand up equivalent to LnP and the judges gave him the match for it.

Let’s take that fight and rotate it 90 degrees, shall we? Fighter A gets tagged early but takes down B and lays in his guard until the ref stands him up. A then repeats this twice more that round, but without the tagging part. A lands very few shots at all during this round, and none are damaging. B decisively wins the second round with a knockdown and other strikes. In round 3, B again wins the standup striking, while A takes him down again and manages some barely adequate Ground ‘n’ Pound. B manages to reverse A for a brief moment and mounts him and then scores a bit with some mostly ineffective strikes before B manages to get up.

We’d be bitching about judges awarding a terrible victory to Lay n Pray and fighter A would be widely derided for the match. Vera just got Dan Severn’d out.

UFC-105

Depois de no UFC 104 ter havido muita polêmica em torno da vitória atribuída pelos juízes a Lyoto Machida, também agora no evento principal do UFC 105 houve um sentimento mais ou menos generalizado de que a enorme popularidade de Couture junto dos fãs pode justificar a vitória por decisão unânime que conseguiu sobre Brandon Vera. Apesar de o combate ter sido disputado, Vera teve algum ascendente no segundo e terceiro assaltos, o que fez com que o próprio Couture afirmasse no final que teria entendido se os juízes tivessem escolhido o seu adversário como vencedor. [+]

Com esta vitória, o “Capitão América” fica bem posicionado para voltar a lutar pelo título da categoria de pesos meio-pesados, todavia o campeão Lyoto Machida foi operado à mão esquerda no seguimento da sua luta com Maurício “Shogun” Rua, pelo que não poderá defender o seu cinto nos próximos tempos. Para lá disso, o próprio presidente Dana White já afirmou que o lutador de Curitiba merecia nova oportunidade contra Machida, dado que o primeiro duelo entre os dois brasileiros levantou sérias dúvidas sobre quem seria o justo vencedor.

Como a ação na UFC não pára, teremos já no próximo sábado o evento UFC 106, em que o combate cabeça de cartaz opõe Forrest Griffin e Tito Ortiz. E uma vez que Machida está a recuperar da intervenção cirúrgica a que foi submetido, é possível que voltemos a assistir a confrontos entre Couture e Ortiz (Couture triunfou em 2003) e entre “Shogun” e Griffin (vitória de Griffin em 2007). Sobretudo este último combate tem tudo para ser explosivo, dado que Forrest precisa fazer esquecer a humilhação sofrida contra Anderson Silva e que Maurício Rua adorará por certo ter a possibilidade de vingar a derrota que Griffin lhe infligiu no seu combate de estréia no UFC.

Nos restantes combates da noite, destaque para as vitórias dos britânicos Dan Hardy e Michael Bisping, respectivamente contra Mike Swick e Denis Kang. Hardy deverá agora ser o próximo lutador a enfrentar o fenômeno dos pesos meio-médios Georges St. Pierre, enquanto Bisping sobe mais um degrau na hierarquia dos pesos médios após ter sofrido um KO devastador às mãos de Dan Henderson no UFC 100.

Relativamente à categoria de pesos pesados, as notícias não são nada boas para os fãs. O combate entre o campeão Brock Lesnar e Shane Carwin previsto para o UFC 106 foi cancelado em virtude de uma mononucleose contraída por Lesnar. Os prognósticos de recuperação não são animadores, sendo que Dana White até já admite a possibilidade de Lesnar não regressar de todo ao octógono. Como uma desgraça nunca vem só, foi também anunciado que António Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira padece de uma infecção bacteriana que o pode obrigar a internamento hospitalar e que para já o afasta do UFC 108, onde tinha combate marcado contra Cain Velasquez. Perante a perda (ainda que momentânea) de dois dos principais pesos pesados da UFC, poder-se-ia pensar que a organização retomaria a sua ideia original de ter Velasquez a combater contra Carwin, quiçá até por um título interino, só que ao saber do cancelamento do seu combate no UFC 106 Carwin aproveitou para ser submetido a uma cirurgia ao joelho, pelo que só deverá regressar à ação lá para Fevereiro. Em face de tudo isto, não será fácil para Dana White encontrar um adversário à altura de Cain Velasquez, faltando ainda decidir o que fazer a respeito do título de campeão.

The last two UFC main events have ended on judge’s scorecards and the decisions were controversial. Last night at UFC 105, Randy Couture beat Brandon Vera by unanimous decision and at UFC 104 Lyoto Machida defended his light heavyweight belt with a unanimous decision  over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. To many fans at home these looked the wrong decisions.

Last night, Couture controlled the pace of the fight well throughout, but Vera appeared to do more damage than Couture did throughout the fight.  At one point Vera rocked Couture with a strike, Couture fell to the ground and turned his back as if retreating. Watching from home it appeared that Couture won the first round, Vera won the second, and Vera won the third.  Both the second and third rounds were close but Vera got the lone takedown of the night in the third round. Couture’s win was not as much of a surprise as the unanimous decision.  The fact that Couture retreated from combat  and yet still won does not sit well.

The title fight in UFC 104 was rather uneventful, with not much happening in the five rounds.  No fighter appeared to have a distinct advantage on the scorecards. Rua attacked, while Machida was content to defend and never really pressed much of an offense.  It could be argued that Machida showed better technique, but he showed less fighting all around.

UFC President Dana White cannot be happy with the way his last two Main Events have gone.  White has clashed with fighters he thought did not bring enough a show to Octagon.  He took more than a few shots at former heavyweight champion Tim Slyvia, who he thought was too timid in his title defenses. For fights to end the way White wants them to, there might have to be a change to the rules.

Right now the UFC uses the Unified Rules for Mixed Martial Arts. This rule set is a 10-Point Must System were the winner of a round is awarded ten points and the loser is awarded nine or less.  The points are awarded based on “effective striking, effective grappling, control of the fighting area, effective aggressiveness and defense. ” That kind of rule set works fine if there is a consistent pace of action. But there does not seem to be enough incentive for all the fighters to push the pace. A belt-holder knows that they can hang back; there may be more of a risk in losing the belt by engaging the opponent.

There is a thought that you have to take the belt away from a champion and that a veteran will receive a more favorable decision than an up-and-comer. While those sentiments make sense, they are not fair and they do not always make for good fights.  The UFC needs to modify the rules to fit the style of fights the fans want. There needs to be points deducted from a fighter who does not engage or retreats during a fight (Timidity is a foul but that does not seem to cover plain tentativeness).  Punishing fighters who retreated or refused to meaningfully engage would force the action of a fight to continue and turn snooze fests like Rua vs. Machida into actual entertainment.

The NHL and the NFL made changes in recent years to increase the offense in their games. While some purists complain about the bastardization of hockey and football most fans are happier than ever with those sports. If Dana White wants the UFC to continue to grow he needs to make sure the fight by decisions we have been seeing recently stop happening.

Congratulations to Randy on his  unanimous decision victory over Brandon Vera at UFC 105!!

Bisping redeems himself in Manchester at UFC 105

Check out our weekly podcast at http://jackofallsports.podbean.com.

The Woodman, Beagle, and Missing Link recap UFC 105 and discuss the major themes emerging in the world of MMA. Much has happened in the last two weeks and UFC 106 is less than a week away!

We discuss the status of Brock Lesnar, Big Nog, and the uncertainty of the heavyweight division in the UFC. We speculate on the current UFC champs and look ahead to their next match-up. We also continue our discussion of the pro’s and cons of the pay per view revenue model.

Is the UFC watering down their product with so many promotions? Should the UFC broadcast more events for free if they want to offer so many showcases (and raise the purse money via conventional advertising)?

Can the UFC continue to expect MMA fans to pay $55 twice a month for cards that don’t even include any title fights? Let us know what you think!

Woodman, Missing Link, and The Beagle – see you next week as we recap UFC 106. Our special thanks to Ray Atkinson for making it all possible!

In a surprising unanimous decision, three judges in Manchester, England gave Randy Couture a UFC 105 victory over Brandon Vera after a fight in which Vera did most of the effective stand-up striking.

There’s controversy brewing in UFC World.