Full Court Press

Isn't talking about the UFC kind of like talking about hockey in this town?

Roman responds: Are you crazy? The UFC is the hottest sporting body around. Hockey? What's that?

Great season.

I would like to see the two knuckleheads who fought in the house on the card for the 23rd.

Karo was out of line. I always thought he was a bully of sorts. I wonder if Dana will try to get a Nick Diaz/Karo re-match after the incident with Nate. The first time they fought it could have gone either way. Maybe a PPV down the line.. UFC 80- When Families Collide- The Rematches! I think it will at least add to the drama if Nick and Karo are in the respective corners for this one. I am looking for Nate to win the final. Manny is a little tank but he is boring as hell to watch. I don't think he will have as easy a time with Diaz, and his jujitsu, as he did with Lauzon. I am all for a good ground game, the Diaz/Maynard match was one, but Manny's style is torture to watch.

I like BJ in the main event. I have been horrible at my picks lately so look for Pulver. I gained more respect for Jens watching TUF I never liked him before. I think it will be a exiting match no matter who comes out the winner I am looking forward to it.

Speaking of TUF. Did you see the winner of season one, Rashad Evans, is signed to fight Tito in July. He is one of my favorite TUFs. They made him fight nearly every week and he still won the thing.

Those two knuckleheads were supposed to be on the June 23 card, but I just called it up and they aren't on it. And Nick and Karo will be in opposing corners that night. Should be fun.

Great season.

I would like to see the two knuckleheads who fought in the house on the card for the 23rd.

Karo was out of line. I always thought he was a bully of sorts. I wonder if Dana will try to get a Nick Diaz/Karo re-match after the incident with Nate. The first time they fought it could have gone either way. Maybe a PPV down the line.. UFC 80- When Families Collide- The Rematches! I think it will at least add to the drama if Nick and Karo are in the respective corners for this one. I am looking for Nate to win the final. Manny is a little tank but he is boring as hell to watch. I don't think he will have as easy a time with Diaz, and his jujitsu, as he did with Lauzon. I am all for a good ground game, the Diaz/Maynard match was one, but Manny's style is torture to watch.

I like BJ in the main event. I have been horrible at my picks lately so look for Pulver. I gained more respect for Jens watching TUF I never liked him before. I think it will be a exiting match no matter who comes out the winner I am looking forward to it.

Speaking of TUF. Did you see the winner of season one, Rashad Evans, is signed to fight Tito in July. He is one of my favorite TUFs. They made him fight nearly every week and he still won the thing.

Roman responds: Sweens, those two knuckleheads were scheduled to be on that card. Not sure what happened. I'll check.
And I like Rashad to beat Tito. Bonnar's also on that card. First one since the steroid suspension.
And Nick and Karo will be working corners next Saturday. Should be fun.

Roman, Jesse here, so you know I gotta give you my opinion on this.

Nate Diaz vs. Manny Gamburyan should be a good fight. While Diaz is tough and might seem like the more "skilled" of the two, I'd have to pick Manny to beat him. He really impressed me. He not only beat possibly the top two fighters from BJ's team (and I actually picked Joe Lauzon to beat him) but he showed an assertion to impose his will and take control of both of those fights.

As far as BJ vs. Pulver goes, it's a toss-up. Both guys are coming off loses (BJ against Matt Hughes, Pulver against Lauzon) and are hungry, but I look for BJ to win a decision victory over Pulver.

And I agree Roman. I also think Rashad will win in his match against Tito. While Tito is still capable of being a good fighter, I honestly believe he's reached his peak already. Ken Shamrock made him look good in their fights. Tito barely squeezed out a victory against Forrest Griffin (I thought Forrest should've won) and we saw what happened to him against Chuck Liddell.

It's always hard to call a BJ Penn fight. You never know which BJ Penn will show up. If I may draw an analogy to the featured sport of your other blog entry, BJ is kind of like the Alfonso Soriano of MMA, i.e. a guy with immense natural talent (quick, heavy hands and flexibility that borders on the freakish) who is capable destroying any top fighter (e.g. his previous victory over Hughes), but often seems disinterested and/or unintelligent in the ring, leaving him vulnerable to just about any seasoned fighter. Okay, the analogy ends with their respective payrolls, but you get my drift. Since I'm on an anti-Soriano jag right now I'll take Pulver. You gotta love his name - Pulver, as in "pulverize." Not to mention his nickname "Little Evil," which might be my favorite sports nickname ever.

Incidentally, I read on Wikipedia recently that BJ Penn comes from a family whose naming conventions are similar to those of the George Foreman clan. BJ's actual name is "Jay Dee Penn," and apparently he is the youngest of a group of male siblings, all of whom share the name "Jay Dee." His nickname is "BJ" which is short for "Baby Jay." I guess he uses the initials because it would be un-fighterly to walk into the ring being announced as "Baby Penn." Certainly no opponent would fear facing a guy whose name is reminiscent of an infant's play-space.

Roman - "Hockey" is an MMA-like sport that involves teams of guys fighting each other on an ice rink while wearing skates, pads and helmets. They also wield big sticks, though, oddly, are not allowed to bludgeon each other with them, for whatever reason. Oh, and occasionally combatants will club a small black disc into a net, though the logic behind this is unclear to anyone outside of Canada...

Roman responds: I've heard of the sport. In fact, I can vaguely remember it being played on the Near West side. I can almost recall arriving for games when the doors open two hours early so I can get good standing room space at the Stadium. ... No, can't be. They don't play that sport in this city, do they?

Good fights yesterday from Ireland. The main event was the weakest fight on the card. Okami did not look like himself at all. I would say Franklin took him out of his game but Franklin didn't seem to have a game plan of his own. Okami came alive in the third and showed he could dominate Franklin on the ground why he didn't do that the whole fight is a mystery to me. The the fights on the under card were much more entertaining.

The Griffin/Guida fight was great. Nice face plant by Griffin. I think Joe Rogan had to make up some new names for holds in that one. The scrambles were unreal. If you blinked during this one you missed a bunch. I really liked Guida, I think he got robbed. Its never good to leave the fight in the judges hands i guess.

The Forrest Griffin fight was nothing to write home about. In the post fight interview Forrest said he was injured and apologized about running away all night then he made a few joke attempts. As good a fighter as Forrest is, his sense of humor is horrible. He should get someone to work on his jokes for him. No one knows what he is talking about when he makes bad jokes. Meanwhile he is one of my favorite fighters and I hope he gets back to 100% and hires some writers for his jokes.

All in all I think the most of Dana's Irish names won last night although I am not sure they were all Irish but he tried.

Slight correction on my above post: Rashad Evens won the TUF Two not TUF One.

On to Penn/Pluver. The UFC has stacked June haven't they woo hoo!

TUF reruns all day... YES!! I take Manny. As much as I don't like Karo, I dislike Nick and Nate that much more. There's no getting around those two are just worthless.

And I'm going to have to say B.J. but I have a feeling Pulver's going to come out like a maniac and just terrorize. It will surely be a great fight.