Oscar Worthy?

Frank Mir must love Greek Mythology.  Or maybe he’s seen the movie Troy (and we’re hoping it wasn’t just to watch the Brad Pitt nude scenes.)

Regardless of how he has come to know the legend of the Trojan Horse, Mir is definetly versed in the art of little white lies.

In an interview over the weekend, Mir discussed the copious amount of rumors that were surrounding his Dec. 27th bout with Antonio ‘Rodgrio’ Nogueria.  For those unfamiliar with the situation, there were more rumors about Mir’s injuries than there are credible theories about who killed JFK.  It turns out, however, that most of these speculations were Mir’s little white lies.  In the interview, Mir explained how he was the one releasing the majority of the false rumors:

Every fighter gets injured a lot during training camps.  One thing I’ve learned not to do is – I don’t really give any validity to my injuries. Some of my injuries are fake. I’ve faked a few injuries in the past but not to pull out of fights or anything. It’s just there a lot of rumors out there, and when I hear them, I help people out.  That way when a real, legitimate injury goes through, people question whether I’m really hurt or not.

Brilliant.  While it will never be known if these fake rumors were the Trojan Horse that made Nogueria let his guard down (our guess is probablly not), It is true that Mir did just as Greeks did to those of Troy, as he raped and pillaged Nogueria’s face with punches.

To leave you with one last thought, we’re guessing that quite a few people wished Mir could have filled them in on this tid-bit of information before they hit the betting terminal. Betting lines aside, we now know that there is no credibility to the rumors that Mir had a broken heart, a wrenched ankle, and writer’s cramp.

Davenport, Iowa – Last Thursday was an unfortunate start to 2009 for UFC lightweight Josh Neer, winding up in jail after an intoxicated hit-and-run, high speed chase, spike-strip ending, and alleged police beat down.

Can't we all just get along?

According to the Des Moines Police Department, Neer rear-ended a car at a stoplight, and was spotted fleeing the scene by an officer directly in front of the collision. “The Dentist” then led the cops on a 100+ mph chase in his Audi Quattro. A police PIT maneuver and spike strips were used to end the fleeing fighters trek, concluding with Neer’s arrest after blowing a tire.

Sherdog reported that Mickey Dubberly, Neer’s manager has stated his client remembers things a little differently that night. Neer says he struck a stopped car, got out to check for damage, and continued on his way when he saw none. It was only after lit up from behind by the cops did Neer panic and run.

Either way, the fighter ended up with bruises to his stomach, thighs, and head after the arresting officers repeatedly kicked him. There should be a dashboard camera with what actually occurred on tape, one wonders if it will be made public. The tape should be released immediately, and carefully reviewed for cuts, edits, and omissions by video experts. We shouldn’t forget what happened last year in Shreveport, LA to Angela Garbarino after she was arrested for suspicion of DWI.

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It looks to be obvious that the police have a special knack for inflicting pain and punishment on people being held down, shackled, or out-manned 10-1. While the extreme cop takedown is necessary in some scenarios, all too often citizens with no apparent threats are speared like Terry Tate (the Office Linebacker), and beaten like George St. Pierre did Matt Serra the second time (ouch, knees to the ribs).

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Saitama Super Arena, Japan - Lightweight star Takanori Gomi lost his second fight in a row today, this latest outing to 24-8-9 PANCRASEism fighter Saturo Kitaoka.  It was a short night for the new champ, with the end coming by way of Achilles Lock at 1:41 of the 1st round.  Kitaoka was caught early with a few straight “Fireball Kid” punches, but was able to get the fight down and out-grapple the more celebrated Gomi.

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Aoki's Pink Panties

What’s with the stretchy pants in Japanese MMA?  We’ve all got used to Shinya Aoki’s bright pink pair of pantyhose way before his sub victory over Eddie Alvarez a few days ago, but did it also give him too much of an advantage?  A few strategically placed pieces of fabric (or rubber) would definitely help keep a limb in place for a submission, well after the fighters become slippery with sweat.  Hopefully we won’t see the cock-stockings on this side of the world, or we may just have the pleasure of seeing Ken Shamrock sinking some antique ankle-locks while wearing Tommy Lasorda’s old LA Dodgers jersey pants.

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It’s not a secret that boxing has taken a real turn for the worst in the last few years, and it’s also become obvious that MMA and the like is a fast growing sport. It could be that boxing is run by old, out of the mainstream guys who don’t know how to promote anymore. Dana White however has a different view on why it could be. He thinks it’s more because boxing doesn’t invest back into the sport like MMA.. well…. screw it, just read what he said yourself.

“I used (boxing) as the blueprint of what not to do. Boxing doesn’t do what I would do if I was running one of these cards…When De La Hoya and Mayweather had their pay-per-view with over 1 million buys, he could have stacked that card with all the talent Golden Boy has. You know why he didn’t? He didn’t want to give up the money. Nobody in boxing is willing to invest money back into boxing’s future.”

Try not to laugh to much Mr. White

” We do in the UFC. The money that we make we invest back into the business. We use it to help grow the sport. Nobody in boxing is willing to do that. And because of that, in my opinion, they have no reason to sit around and (cry) their sport is dying. A lot of people love that De La Hoya is a fighter and the promoter but thing is, it leaves you short-sighted. And he only cares about himself. He knows he gets the pay-per-views when he fights but he doesn’t stack the card with fights that will build future fights. You have to invest in a company and De La Hoya is not willing to do that.”

MMA has been growing like wildfire and after always being compared to boxing it looks like boxing is losing the battle for dominance. Although that saddens me because anyone who enjoys MMA has to have a certain respect for boxing I can’t complain to much. This sure as hell isn’t a boxing website!

“Ultimate Women Combat,” a new reality show is in the works with NBC Universal and other companies. The series hopes to expand the small field of female fighters trying to make a name for themselves. UK fighter Rosi Sexton has commited to be a coach as well as US fighter Tara Lorosa and Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Cesar Gracie. The team in charge of putting together the show has already recieved 60 submissions from hopeful women in both the United States and the UK.

Double-dog dare you to ask one of them to make you a sandwich

Now, this may seem like a change of subject but with the recent explosion of MMA based reality shows don’t we risk over-exposure? We’ve seen all this before. Something gets REALLY popular really fast and then all the sudden just dies. Any of these things ring a bell? Motorcycle shows? Poker Championships? Get your neighbors to fix your house for you? I’m not saying exposure is bad, far from it. But right when MMA is really starting to get big and spread it’s wings do we really want to give people more than they can handle? With The Ultimate Fighter standing out amongst the crowd as the “American Idol” of the bunch I suppose this is a little different since it’s essentially the same show only with women.

On the bright side… theres something errily erotic and sexy about a girl who can kick you ass. Certainly these women can. 3rd from the left? Oh yeah, put in a guillotine any day. What was I talking about? Oh yeah. So in retrospect I can’t say having 30 MMA reality shows out there will be bad yet but if it goes bad fast don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Look out Gina Carano, you’ve got company.

Mixed martial arts fighter Justin Eilers was shot and killed late Christmas night in Nampa, Idaho. According to various reports, Canyon County Sheriff’s Officers responded to a domestic disturbance call in the 4600 block of Happy Valley Road in Nampa at 10:44 p.m. on Thursday. Emergency crews tried to revive Eilers but all attempts were unsuccesful and the death is currently under investigation.

RIP Justin Eilers

Eilers was a professional MMA fighter with a record of 19-7-1. He won his first fight in the Octagon before losing 3 in a row and leaving the UFC, one of the loses having come from Andre Arlovski. He would later fight for the WEC a few times before losing his EliteEX Heavyweight title belt to Antonio Silva mid 2008.  Justin Eilers was 30 at the time of his death and his passing comes as a shock to his family and the MMA community.

You can see one of Eilers final fights, this one in the XCF against Matt Hough below. Also an interview at the end. He was a pretty well spoken guy if you can get over the annoying ass announcers voice.

Many people in the MMA community believe Anderson “The Spider” Silva is the best pound for pound fighter out there right now, maybe second only to Fedor. So why is his next fight against Thales Leites… in April? I mean, Leites isn’t a push over by any means but we are talking about Anderson Silva here. If the UFC and Dana White believe he is the best of the best then why isn’t he getting one of those prime match-ups that get a true fighters dick hard because of the challenge of an equal opponent? After his last fight where he toyed with Patrick Cote he should be put up against any fighter that wants to fight him, regardless of weight class or affiliation. “Sugar” Rashad Evans? Fedor Emelianenko? Ryu? Somebody is man enough for the job we just need to figure out who…

KO by machete?

Screech.  Paris Hilton. Hayato ‘Mach’ Sakurai.  What do all three have in common?

They’re all amateur porn stars.

Ground and Pound

That’s right.  Japan’s own, ‘Mach’ Sakurai, who is slated to fight Katsuyori Shibata at the New Year’s eve Dynamite card, has recently became the latest celebrity (we use the term very loosely) to have a sex tape surface.  Reportedly, Sakurai is shown porking three different women in the sex tape (none of which are believed to be his wife).

With the release of this tape, Sakurai is now eligible for his own reality show in the United States.  Sex tapes are credited for getting Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian their own reality shows, then why the hell can’t it work for ‘Mach’?  We can see it now: A Shot at Love: Sake Bombs with Sakurai

And for all you creepers who want to see more of Sakurai, here’s some NSFW links:

Gross, Grosser, Grossest

Watching UFC 92 last night if one made his or her way through the multiple commercials and pre-fight plugs for My Bloody Valentine 3-D you could enjoy one or two advertisements for the upcoming MMA video game “UFC Undisputed.” Now, this game has been talked about for a long time and honestly all we’ve gotten from it is blue balls and a handful of screenshots showing Forrest Griffin kicking the hell out of Rampage Jackson.

This would have been a much more bad-ass ending than by decision

The projected release date is Spring 2009 but the website for the game doesn’t make any promises and just says 2009.

From early trailers it looks like everyone and their grandma will be in this game. Fighters and non-fighters both, such as Joe Rogan, Mike Goldberg, and the great Bruce Buffer. Everything we have seen so far looks absolutely amazing. The game developers have incorporated realistic fight strategies based on UFC footage and motion capture, and each fighter in the game is given certain grappling techniques they specialize in to use. There’s no health bars, and no HUD so your fighter keeps on going until a sub or KO and a fight can end at any moment just like in a real MMA bout depending on the hit and situation.

The only problem I can foresee is that although the game developer seems to have done a great job so far from the trailers and demo, we must remember that it was made by THQ… the same company that brought us the WCW, WWF, WWE games, an insane amount of ATV racing games, Destroy All Humans, and of course Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island. So.. with that in mind watch the video below of the 2009 trailer that premiered at E3 this year.

‘Sombitch.’

Redefining Blue Balls.

That’s what was probably muttered by Mustapha Al Turk, after his balls were obliterated by Cheick Kongo’s retaliatory ball smashing knee at Saturday’s UFC 92.  

For those who were unable to watch the fight, Al Turk had accidentally struck Kongo’s testicle region early in the first round of their bout.  Later in that same round, Kongo delivered a boisterous knee strike directly into Al Turk’s crotch that raised eyebrows nationwide.  While it’s unclear whether Kongo’s knee was intentional or accidental, it is very clear that Al Turk’s baby makers are probably in disarray.  Although it is mandatory for UFC fighters to wear protection in their lower regions, some strike can rattle you to your core: and Kongo’s knee was one of those kind of strikes.  While these types of strikes are not uncommon in a MMA bout, the Dojo is unsure of what place the nut-strike should hold in the MMA world.

The Three Stages of a Scrotum Strike

The eye for an eye, nut for a nut transaction between Kongo and Al Turk has the Dojo questioning what should be the proper ettiquette for going after the go-nads.    Our conclusion: Take a page from T.I. and do whatever you like.  It’s awfully hard to justify an attack to a man’s baby maker, but after receiving a ball strike you can not slight a man for wanting to retaliate with a low blow of his own.  While this is not a black and white issue, it’s certainly a grey area that will remain unsettled for quite some time.  On second thought, it’s more of a bluish-purple kind of area….