We're nearing the apex of all the hype for UFC 121 and Brock Lesnar's title bout with Cain Velasquez, and quite frankly, we could use a break. A little levity is called for, and here it is in the form of UFC commentator Joe Rogan doing a dead-on impression of Strikeforce commentator Mauro Ranallo.
Now, we can return to the hype. BROCK-SMASH-CAIN-PUNCH-OOOOOOWWWWWW.
Thanks to Chicago's MMA for the heads-up.
It's not like Spike didn't air UFC programming anyway. While live fights were happening across the pond, Spike chose to air a marathon of "UFC Unleashed." So, instead of showing live fights mixed in with the taped fights of "Unleashed," they showed taped fights followed by taped fights. How is this a winning programming strategy?
Spike also has plenty of experience working with the UFC to produce live events, considering that Ultimate Fight Nights air live on Spike. If Spike's excuse was that they didn't want to compete with other sporting events, Saturday night was not a good time to air the show. The fights had to compete with the MLB playoffs and college football.
Fans shouldn't have to worry about trying to stay spoiler-free, and media shouldn't have to choose between illegally streaming the fights or waiting until they air to report the results. Spike should use common sense and air the fights when they are happening.
Filed under: Lakers, NBA Rumors
TMZ is reporting that Los Angeles Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic and women's tennis star Maria Sharapova are engaged.
On this week's episode of "The Ultimate Fighter," we have one episode, but two fights. What does that mean? You'll have to read on to find out.
Good problem to have of the week: With their first win, Team Koscheck is stressed about how to pick the next fight. They see it as a bad but good situation.
Under your skin of the week: Team GSP is very upset by the way Team Koscheck has celebrated their win. Koscheck and the coaches stopped by and picked on Michael Johnson, who was clearly ticked off by it. Somehow, these fighters don't get that getting mad about it is exactly what Koscheck wants.
Voice of reason of the week: Georges St. Pierre sat his team down and told them not to let Team Koscheck's antics get under their skin. That makes sense ... so clearly, that advice won't be followed.
Trash talk guessing game No. 1 -- Who said:
I just go out there and kick and punch and knee.
I'm not like these other guys that he's fought.
I want him to feel pain.
First fight of the week: Cody McKenzie (Team GSP) vs. Marc Stevens (Team Koscheck)
Round 1: Stevens shoots in for a quick takedown and McKenzie sinks in his trademark guillotine. Stevens is put to sleep, and Koscheck is clearly disgusted.
After the fight, the Stevens locker room is dead silent. Koscheck had no explanation to offer his fighters, and they had to head in to the gym for the next fight announcement. Team GSP had control, and they put up their fighter Jonathan Brookins against Sevak Magakian. GSP calls Brookins his secret weapon. In case you're unfamiliar with Brookins' work -- which maybe GSP was -- he is one of the many fighters that Jose Aldo destroyed on the way to the WEC championship.
Stupid prank of the week: "Ahhh, Josh, where you put my sandals?" Koscheck hid GSP's sandals, which is the one of the weakest pranks in the history of "The Ultimate Fighter."
Trash talk guessing game No. 2 -- Who said:
I want to go up, like flowers to the sun.
This is like, win or die, man.
Second fight of the week: Jonathan Brookins (Team GSP) vs. Sevak Magakian (Team Koscheck)
Round 1: Brookins earned the first cheer of the fight when he supplexed Magakian down to the ground. Though Magakian stood up quickly, Brookins stayed on his back. After some maneuvering, he sunk in a standing rear naked choke and put Magakian to sleep.
Body count of the week: Two fights, two fighters put to sleep. Team GSP took both fights this week, leaving one last fight for Team Koscheck to try to dig out of the hole next week.
Filed under: Penguins
Ask anybody associated with the Penguins who their No. 1 goaltender is, and the answer will surely be Marc-Andre Fleury, which isn't a surprise. He is, after all, the most talented goalie on the roster.
Filed under: NFL Quarterbacks, Sports Business and Media
Brett Favre's television ads for Wrangler weren't in rotation during NFL broadcasts on Sunday, a possible sign the jean company is distancing itself from the embattled Minnesota Vikings quarterback in the wake of his sexting scandal.
In a video he recently Tweeted, Jon Fitch showed that he is not an adept standup paddleboarder.
Falling off the paddleboard after three seconds is the least of Fitch's problems. That welterweight title shot that he thought he was in line for? It turns out that the winner of Jake Shields vs. Martin Kampmann will likely get the next shot at the winner of Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck.
"If Jake Shields should win against Martin Kampmann, it will probably be him next," [Dana] White said.
That "probably" is a ray of hope for Fitch. Probably means nothing is set in stone. Fitch proposed that he should fight the winner of Shields/Kampmann for the title shot. What would you like to see happen with the UFC welterweight belt?
England's Michael Bisping gave the fans in London something to cheer about in the main event at UFC 120 on Saturday, coming back from a shaky start to win a unanimous decision after a hard-fought 15 minutes in the Octagon with Yoshihiro Akiyama.
Filed under: Air Force, Arkansas State, Brigham Young, San Jose State, TCU
San Jose State coach Mike MacIntyre didn't mean to be disrespectful to Boise State when on Monday's teleconference he said his team was a "J.V. football team" during the 48-0 shellacking at the hands of the Broncos. He was simply pointing out how depleted his team was starting to look.
Filed under: Mavericks, Warriors, NBA Coaches
DALLAS -- He turned 70 in May. He already had said this was to be his last season as an NBA coach.
He's only got three fights, but the way he's carried himself has led to a fight with legendary streetfighter Kimbo Slice and then big exposure again this weekend on Spike TV. After beating up Joey Beltran at UFC 119, he added another footnote to his growing story. Mitrione closed out the postfight interview with UFC analyst Joe Rogan by telling someone they were fired.
It turns out Mitrione dumped his agent Malki Kawa. Mitrione went on to explain that it wasn't a joke. Why did he fire his agent? Mitrione claimed Kawa let him down at UFC 119.
"He did the worst job ever when it came to sponsorships," Mitrione told Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting. "For a televised fight, he got me $5,000. That is highly unacceptable."
"We were asking him who did you get? Who do I need to get on my shorts," said Mitrione. "The answers I get are 'your wife's bothering me about stuff that's not her business.' Really? My wife? It's not her business about my money. That's a trip. He was out of line in a lot of ways. I think it's really appropriate for me to fire you on national television."
Where was Kawa? The MMA agent (pictured on the right) was in Las Vegas this weekend with Jon Jones (left), another one of his clients.
Right or wrong, Kawa chose to hang with the guy many think is the No. 1 prospect and rising star in mixed martial arts. Jones was in Sin City for the Mr. Olympia competition and expo. The duo also spent time hanging out with the likes of "Jersey Shore" star Jenni "JWoww" Farley at The Bank, a Vegas nightclub.
Kawa responded to the firing on Twitter by saying there was a lot more to the story and that he never disrespected Mitrione's wife.
Update: Kawa further responded to the firing on "the MMA Hour" on FanHouse's MMA Fighting.
"I'm not upset with him. I'm just upset with the fact that he didn't give me a chance to explain to him some of the process that has happened and why his numbers weren't $10,000-$15,000."
Kawa explained there were too many people around Mitrione calling potential sponsors on his behalf. There was also a misunderstanding of where money from TapouT and Hitman clothing was coming from.
Kawa added that he didn't disrespect Mitrione's wife.
"I have nothing but the utmost respect for his wife, for his entire family. Just as a person, I don't disrespect anyone's family," said Kawa.
Kawa says this story and others are cheating Mitrione from his moment and what the true focus should be.
"I feel bad for him," said Kawa. "This case has taken over the good job he did at the fights. This has gotten crazy."
Kawa's reputation is pretty solid. There haven't been any complaints from his other clients like Kenny Florian, Carlos Condit, Ben Henderson, Matthew Riddle and Thiago Alves.
Filed under: NASCAR Crashes, Nationwide Series, NASCAR
FONTANA , Calif. -- Danica Patrick was kept from her best career finish in the Nationwide Series by what her crew chief described as a "blatant" retaliatory collision late in the CampingWorld.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday.
Strikeforce announced on Tuesday that they have add Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland to a December 5 card in St. Louis that will be headlined by Dan Henderson vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral. Lawler and Lindland are both veterans who can bring an interesting fight to the table, so who wouldn't be happy about that?
Tim Kennedy.
The Strikeforce middleweight said on his Facebook page and Twitter that he had asked to fight Lawler or Lindland next. "I'm so pissed. I asked for Robbie Lawler or Matt Lindland (in addition to a bunch of other guys) if I didn't get Jacare, and now they are fighting eachother?!?!?"
The last time we saw Kennedy, he lost a unanimous decision to Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza in a bid for Strikeforce's middleweight belt. If a rematch is not in the offing, then a fight between him and Lawler or Lindland would be an exciting bout.
Filed under: Ryder Cup
Joe Silva's also always on the lookout to add new prospects to the UFC roster. But that doesn't mean the UFC's matchmaker is limited to adding young fighters with unbeaten records. This week he added two veterans who've been on fire recently.
Bloody Elbow reports that Riki Fukuda (17-4) is part of the UFC middleweight ranks. The 29-year-old 185-pound champ from DEEP in Japan is on a seven-fight win streak. He was last seen in the U.S. back in 2007 where he lost a close decision to Joey Villasenor on an EliteXC card in Hawaii. He's well-rounded, something the UFC middleweight division needs, and by the looks of this early fight against Oleg Bazayev, he's got knockout power. The video is hilarious as Bazayev yells with each punch he lands and then learns that he needs to protect his chin when throwing a bodyshot (0:50 mark).
Silva also hit Brazil for another squatty submission artist. Alexandre "Cacareco" Ferreira strongly resembles middleweight Rousimar Palhares except that he fights at 205 pounds. The 5-foot-7 fire hydrant has the same ridiculous track record when it comes to submissions as well. Cacareco (18-6) has finished seven straight opponents via submission. He'll debut at UFC 122 against Vladimir Matyushenko. What should Matyushenko guard against? Everything. Cacareco's recent wins have come by kimura, achilles lock, guillotine choke, knee bar and rear-naked choke. One problem for Cacareco, Matyushenko has never been submitted in 29 fights.
Check out these exclusive pictures from WEC 51: Aldo vs. Gamburyan by Tracy Lee. Look now to see Gamburyan resemble the bat boy, Donald Cerrone's flying knee, and Aldo wearing the belt that goes with everything.
After Jose Aldo destroyed Manny Gamburyan in Broomfield, Colo., the WEC faced the media. Notes from the WEC 51 press conference:
-- Bonuses of $10,000 were handed out to George Roop for Knockout of the Night, Miguel Torres for Submission of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses were given to Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone.
-- Cerrone explained his behavior at the end of his bout with Varner. "At the end of the fight, he tried to hug me, and I said get away from me. I still don't like the guy," Cerrone said.
-- Miguel Torres said that he is not worried about a title shot for now, just focused on training and improving. The next bantamweight title fight will be December 16, with Scott Jorgensen fighting Dominick Cruz in Glendale, Ariz.
-- Two judges gave the first round of the title fight to Gamburyan, and Aldo didn't disagree with that assessment. Aldo said that he likes to study his opponent in the first round, and then get after it in the second.
-- Torres attributed his win to training at Tri-Star in Montreal with Firas Zahabi, the coach for Georges St. Pierre and Kenny Florian. He said that working with full-time professionals made the difference.
-- Mark Hominick said that he fought Leonard Garcia with a broken hand. He had bent his thumb backwards on the last day of training camp and just had it well-taped for the bout. He also wants rematch with Josh Grispi, calling his loss to him "a bitter pill to swallow."
Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10, Coaching, Heisman
If you peruse Michigan's roster, you will notice that only two players' heights are not listed. One is that of backup tailback Stephen Hopkins, a freshman, and the other's is Denard Robinson's.
Alessio Sakara Kazushi Gracie Hunter Sakuraba Hayato Sakurai
Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce
Filed under: Grizzlies, Lakers, Nuggets, Raptors, NBA Injuries, The Works
In The Works today: a basketball version of baseball's tried-and-true OPS, and we preview the Grizzlies and Raptors.
Phil Jackson, upset with Andrew Bynum's lengthening timetable for recovery from knee surgery, has announced to the world that Bynum, a would-be star making eight figures, perhaps ought to be a situational, short-minutes player ... like Yao Ming. It might be the closest Phil's ever come to flipping the bird at one of his players, and it tells of a real, potentially Shaq-like disconnect between the legendary coach and the ingenue.
