What A Weekend For MMA

It’s been a long weekend in our sport, and I’m pretty exhausted.  After the IFL Grand Prix and UFC 79, it’s enough to make you wonder how we got to this point from the days of tiny shows in civic center arenas that went straight to VHS tapes.  How far we’ve come.  Anyway, it’s Monday [...]

IFL Grand Prix Play-By-Play

We’re about an hour into the Grand Prix and have already been treated to some amazing fights. You can check out the play-by-play on IFL.tv, or if you’ve got HDNet you can watch it beginning at 9:30 pm EST. If you’re in Canada, we’re also on Fox Sports there.
In the preliminary fights, Tim [...]

Blogging the IFL Grand Prix Finals

It’s been a busy couple of days in lovely Groton, Connecticut.  Yesterday we spent about twelve hours interviewing fighters for web footage, and it was a journey, to say the least.
We started out with big dreams about the array of topics we’d get the fighters to talk about.  That lasted about ten minutes.  It’s harder [...]

Fun With Betting Odds: UFC 79

It’s a big weekend in MMA, which is only fitting considering the year we’ve had.  I’m in Connecticut for the final round of the IFL Grand Prix, while across the country the UFC has one of their best offerings of 2007.  That’s enough great MMA in one night to last you several months, but if [...]

What’s Really At Stake in Liddell-Silva Bout

In just a few days the UFC will showcase two matches that could easily be main events by themselves, one of which is a dream match of two years ago that MMA fans thought they might never see. Ever since Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva sat atop the 205-pound division in their respective [...]

Frank Shamrock Talking Crazy

I love when certain MMA fighters get a chance to say what’s on their mind and let us all know just how insane they truly are. Readers of this blog will know that I am a huge Nick Diaz fan, partly for this reason, but the old school master of MMA Crazy Talk has [...]

Couture Remains Adamant About Fighting Fedor

Say this for Randy Couture: once he gets an idea in his head, he doesn’t let go of it very easily. Couture showed up at HDNet Fights this past Saturday and made it very clear that he hasn’t given up on fighting the world’s top heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko. To hear Couture tell it, [...]

Fedor-Choi To Revive Japanese MMA Tradition of Freak Show Bouts

We all miss the great shows Pride used to put on — the unbelievable production value, the Grand Prix tournaments, the giggling ring girls who all seemed to be about fourteen years old.  What we don’t miss (or at least I don’t) are the circus fights they organized for no discernible reason.
Well, now that big [...]

WEC Takes A Step Forward

I know I’ve already written about the underwhelming feeling I usually get from watching the WEC on Versus, but even I’m willing to admit that last night’s event was a major breakthrough for them.  It featured three titles on the line, one long-simmering grudge match, and at least one back-and-forth battle that was exciting despite [...]

Reasons to Like Paulo Filho

I’ll be honest: there’s something about the WEC that fails to generate any excitement in me. Sure, I watch it when it comes on. It’s MMA and it’s free on an obscure cable channel I actually get (Versus), so why not? But I can’t help but notice that the fights are often [...]

Dear Don Is Back

I posted a new installment of Dear Don on the IFL site today. I recommend giving it a read. Don’s been a tough guy to get a hold of recently what with all his pro wrestling engagements in Japan, fistfights in hotel lobbies, and busy appearance schedule across the country, hence the long [...]

Wave Goodbye To The Light Heavyweight Title

The very poorly kept secret is now official: Forrest Griffin and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will be the two coaches for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, culminating in a title fight at the end of the show. And you thought the UFC would learn from their mistakes.
After making the announcement Dana White promised [...]

Danzig, Huerta Prove Themselves at TUF Finale

Mac Danzig’s moment in the sun has been a long time coming, but he proved why he deserved it last night in his dominating victory over Tommy Speer.  Forget the hype about the country-strong farm boy against the Hollywood vegan.  This fight was about experience and technique.  Danzig had both and Speer had neither.
It took [...]

Betting Odds and Breakdowns: TUF Finale

The finale of The Ultimate Fighter offers a good chance to take advantage of the general lack of knowledge surrounding the reality show fighters.  Few people have seen enough of most of these guys to have a really good fix on what they’re capable of, and the variance in the betting lines from one online [...]

TUF Finale Preview at CBS Sportsline

Our customary “head-to-head” feature previewing Saturday night’s TUF Finals show is now live on CBS Sportsline. This time around there are very few consensus choices, which means either that we should be looking at a pretty competitive card or that none of us has seen enough of these reality show guys yet to really [...]