Hijinks Inc.

Tag: MMA

  • The MMA Minute – UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen

    The pound for pound best fighter in the world (when he chooses to actually fight) is up against an elite wrestler who’s been calling him out since day 1. It should be noted that in the past, Anderson Silva has had the most trouble against the top wrestlers he’s faced. Silva has faced a lot of scrutiny lately because of his recent lackluster matches against Demian Maia and Thales Leites, when he spent more time playing matador, and less time as the bull. Meanwhile Chael Sonnen has been spouting off so much trash talk to try and get under Silva’s skin, it’s been unbearable. I’ve got a video with a ‘best of’ Sonnen’s yapping after the jump if you want to check it out.

    As if anything was needed to ramp up the intensity of this fight after all this talking, Dana White has threatened to cut Silva from the UFC if he fights the same way he did in his last bout in Abu Dhabi. “I’m telling you right now, if he acts like that again in the ring, I will cut him,” said White. “I don’t care if he’s the pound for pound best fighter in the world. I don’t care if he’s the middleweight champion.” Now, keep in mind that Dana White is a big talker in  his own right, so I have a hard time seeing him cutting Silva, but it definitely adds an interesting angle to this fight. I wouldn’t miss this fight for anything and I expect fireworks from the main event, but regardless, the winner will face Vitor Belfort in a matchup currently targeted for November.

    The rest of the card is made up with very solid matchups as well. We’ve finally got a long delayed re-match between Fitch and Alves. They originally met back in June of 2006 and this fight has been rescheduled 3 different time. Fitch has torn through everybody he’s faced in the UFC except for his title fight against GSP. The always entertaining Clay Guida and new UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes will also appear on this card, not facing each other of course, but they should be good fights.

    Dana White also confirmed that the winner of the Nelson/dos Santos fight will get a UFC Heavyweight title shot against the Lesnar/Velasquez winner. Here’s a rundown of the fights:

    Main card

    And of course, here’s my picks: Silva takes Sonnen seriously and finishes him off (you really can’t pick against someone as established as Silva until they show a drop-off in their game, Silva hasn’t, so I’m sticking with him), Fitch to take down Alves for the 2nd time, Guida over dos Anjos, I think Hughes will outpoint Almeida for a decision victory, and dos Santos over Nelson. It should be a good card! Again, if you’re interested, the Sonnen video is after the jump.

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  • The MMA Minute – UFC Live 2 Aftermath

    This was a great night of fights for a non-PPV card! I’m not going to waste any of your time on pleasantries, let’s just get into the recaps:

    Jones looked very good against the experience Matyushenko. Once he got Matyushenko to the ground, he was able to get a crucifix position and rain down a bunch of quick, strong elbows, and Matyushenko was unable to defend. I’m not sure Jones really even received any damage in this fight. I don’t think we’ll be seeing much more of him except for on PPV fights, he’s going to be in title contention in the very near future.

    Frankly, I’m surprised any of the judges gave Muñoz a round. Okami clearly came into this fight with the plan to avoid takedowns and keep the fight standing. He controlled the center of the octagon and did a tremendous job sprawling to neutralize Muñoz’s takedown attempts. One of those close fights that really wasn’t that close. Okami just doesn’t lose very often in the UFC, only to Rich Franklin and Chael Sonnen, who he now trains with.

    Howard has said that he never throws a set-up punch, and that was clearly the case in this fight. Every punch he threw was a swing for the fences. He tagged Ellenberger with a few good throws, but Ellenberger did an outstanding job avoiding the big damage, and taking Howard down. A few well placed elbows got Howard’s left eye to swell shut (probably some sort of broken orbital bone, it was pretty nasty). This was a good win for Ellenberger to bounce back from a very close loss to Carlos Condit in his last fight.

    Gomi did not look good in his first fight in the UFC against Kenny Florian, but he was very impressive tonight against Griffin. He landed a punch flush on Griffin’s jaw and Griffin landed face down on the ground as the ref stepped in to end it. Solid performance by Gomi.

    So in the end, I again had a disappointing night, going 2-2 on the night with my picks. I have a habit of picking against Japanese fighters in the UFC, many of them just don’t fare very well on US soil (they destroy people over there though), and they both managed to win tonight. I’ve got plenty of chances for redemption this month, with 4 more events coming up. Like I said in the intro, this was a good night of fights considering it wasn’t a PPV event. We’ve got UFC 117 this Saturday, and it might be the best card of the year, I’ll bring you that preview on Friday.

  • The MMA Minute – UFC Live 2: Jones vs. Matyushenko

    The page turns on the calendar tomorrow, and with that we leave the slowest month in recent memory (as far as the MMA world is concerned). August is the complete opposite, with a whopping 5 events to keep us occupied. We waste no time getting started as the first event is tomorrow, the first of the month, as the UFC brings us UFC Live 2: Jones vs. Matyushenko. The event will be the second UFC event to be broadcast on Versus; the first being UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones.

    We’ve got a couple interesting things with this card, the least of which is the return of “Big” John McCarthy. He’ll referee this event, the first time he has refereed at a UFC event in almost 3 years. This will be Matyushenko’s 3rd fight since his return to the UFC, and Jones is a very dynamic opponent, especially compared to his previous 2 fights. I’m also curious about how the 2 wrestlers, Muñoz and Ellenberger, will fare in their matchups. With that said, let’s get to the picks:

    Main card

    As good as Matyushenko has been, Jones’ only setback was when he was disqualified for the use of multiple, illegal, 12-to-6 (striking from top of skull and down) elbows so I like Jones to continue to climb the ladder. I’ll also take Muñoz over Okami, Ellenberger over Howard, and Griffin over Gomi.

  • The MMA Minute – A Brief History of the UFC, Part 2

    Last week we covered much of the history of the UFC leading up the purchase by Zuffa. As usual, I want to direct you to the article on Wikipedia, which is where most of this information came from, I simply merged a few articles together and added my two cents for entertainment purposes.

    So the UFC was floundering, it was up against government bans and was hemorrhaging money, unable to keep up without the income from the pay per views. After making some widespread changes to the rules and equipment allowed, they were able to secure U.S. sanctioning, but were on the edge of bankruptcy. (more…)

  • T.W.I.S.T. for July 18-24

    This week wasn’t  nearly as bad as last week, when we were forced to talk about baseball. Here’s the week in sports tomfoolery:

    College Football

    USC got what was coming to them this summer. The school cheated, or at least turned their backs on the cheating at hand, their way to the top, and now they’re paying for it. ESPN says, “USC is cleaning house in its tarnished athletic department, throwing out much of what got the school in severe NCAA trouble. Athletic director Mike Garrett and Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy are the first two items to go.”

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Bush have his biggest games against nobodies? Meanwhile, Vince Young had his biggest games on the biggest stages, and single handedly took down the big powerful USC team that Bush played for in the National Championship game. Vince Young should’ve won the the Heisman that year, that’s all there is to it.

    The best line I’ve heard about this story was on twitter: “You know things are messed up when USC cuts ties with Reggie Bush, but they’re still all good with OJ Simpson” Now that’s a school that has it’s priorities straight!

    Now that USC got their punishment, the NCAA is really cracking down on all the big dogs, as there are current investigations in Florida and Alabama, and Nick Saban is pissed about it!

    More after the jump. (more…)