It’s been a good holiday season but now it’s time to go back to work. Christmas was good, those of you who follow me on twitter know that my parents hit a homerun and bought me Madden ’10 and a second controller for my PS3. It’s wonderful to be a 25-year-old kid. The Cowboys clinched a playoff spot and will win the division and a home game next weekend. I’m anticipating a solid run for the superbowl, that’s the only playoff win that actually matters.

Now on to MMA, this is a very slow news week so I really nothing to repeat.

Big Baby quit MMA that’s probably best for him and the sport he was too old to develop an effective striking game. This is why you should start with a strong standing base before you develop a sophisticated ground game. The fight starts standing.

Gilbert Yvel makes his UFC debut this Saturday against Junior Dos Santos. Unfortunately this is worse news for the heavyweight division than you think. If Dos Santos beats Yvel impressively it’s going to crowd the title picture even more so than it is right now. Somebody please call a doctor and get the heavyweight division healthy so we can restore order.

I hate to defend Frank Mir (even though I secretly love him) but the media needs to stop hyping his comment. He didn’t say Brock should be stripped, he only brought into question how long the UFC should wait before they strip him. Everyone needs to relax.

Ok there’s really nothing else to report here but you know what? I’ll preview UFC 108, I’ll give an in depth breakdown of a couple of the fights, and I’ll give quick picks for the entire card look for that later on this week.

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MAIN CARD

• B.J. Penn def. Diego Sanchez via TKO (cut) - Round 5, 2:37
• Frank Mir def. Cheick Kongo via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 1:12
• Jon Fitch def. Mike Pierce via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Kenny Florian def. Clay Guida via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 2:19
• Stefan Struve def. Paul Buentello via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)

UNDER CARD

• Alan Belcher def. Wilson Gouveia via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 3:03
• Matt Wiman def. Shane Nelson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Johny Hendricks def. Ricardo Funch via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)
• Rousimar Palhares def. Lucio Linhares via submission (heel hook) - Round 2, 3:21
• DaMarques Johnson def. Edgar Garcia via submission (triangle choke) - Round 1, 4:03
• T.J. Grant def. Kevin Burns via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 4:57

MAIN CARD

* Champ B.J. Penn (155) vs. Diego Sanchez (154.5)
* Cheick Kongo (239) vs. Frank Mir (264.5)
* Kenny Florian (156) vs. Clay Guida (156)
* Paul Buentello (255) vs. Stefan Struve (247)
* Jon Fitch (171) vs. Mike Pierce (171)

UNDER CARD

* Alan Belcher (195) vs. Wilson Gouveia (193)
* Shane Nelson (156) vs. Matt Wiman (156)
* Ricardo Funch (171) vs. Johny Hendricks (171)
* Lucio Linhares (185) vs. Rousimar Palhares (186)
* Edgar Garcia (171) vs. DaMarques Johnson (171)
* Kevin Burns (171) vs. T.J. Grant (171)

P.J. Harrison's Picks
Burns by SD
Johnson by TKO in 2nd
Palhares by Sub in 2nd
Hendricks by TKO in 3rd
Nelson by Sub in 1st
Belcher by TKO in 3rd
Struve by TKO in 2nd
Guida by SD
Fitch by TKO in 2nd
Mir by Sub in 2nd
Penn by Sub in 3rd

Big Ron's Picks
Burns
Johnson
Palhares
Hendricks
Wiman
Gouveia
Fitch
Struve
Florian
Mir
Penn

X_Tinaz Picks
Grant
Garcia
Palhares
Hendricks
Wiman
Belcher
Struve
Florian
Fitch
Mir
Sanchez

DaSilva's Picks
Burns by 2nd rd (t)ko
Johnson by decision
Palhares by 1st rd sub
Hendricks by 1st rd (t)ko
Wiman by decision
Belcher by 2nd rd ko
Buentello by 1st rd ko
Florian by 3rd rd (t)ko
Fitch by decision
Mir by 2nd rd sub
Sanchez by decision

LightsOutFW's Picks
Grant by Decision
Johnson by KO round 1
Palhares by sub round 2
Hendricks by TKO round 1
Nelson by TKO round 2
Belcher by decision
Buentello by TKO round 1
Florian by Split Decision
Fitch by TKO round 1
Kongo by KO round 2
Sanchez by Split Decision

JeremyMayMMA's Picks
Burns by eye poke-lol
I'm pulling for Johnson here
I hope Johnny wins for Amirs sake so he lost to a guy who's consistent
Matt I think will take this fight
Alan wins decision
I want Clay to win but think it will be a decision win for Kenny
I've been waiting to see more Fitch he wins this one via sub!
My boy Kongo sub via strikes in the late first!
B.J. Penn is a god! DS doesn't even have a chance!

BRIANCMERRITT
Fitch by decision

Guida by split decision- I think Guida's striking will take the edge over Ken Flo's awesome ground game.

Mir by submission in the 2nd round- Kongo will be able to stand and bang with Mir for the first round, then by the second Mir will establish ground control.

BJ Penn- submission in the 2nd round- Diego's stand up is almost even with BJ. But, BJ will set up his strikes for the take down, and will submit Diego.

I recently asked my Twitter friends who Rampage would fight if Rashad loses to Thiago Silva at UFC 108. The results were overwhelmingly in Rashad's favor regardless of the outcome against Silva. Here is what they said:

DaMMAgeControl After all that trash talk and drama, I say he fights Rashad anyway, win or lose. I lost alot of respect for Rampage on TUF...

HellnBackMMA I think he still fights Rashad no matter what happens at 108

Bauzen Rashad

MMAAdvertising If they give him another fight first then things could get way more complicated.


kingofcaffeine I agree with Dammage! I'm a fan but I lost a lot of respect for Rampage - but they have to fight, too much hype!

jeffgarciaspfd Rashad, its about rivalry.... Chuck and Wand lost before their epic battle.

Raider_Dave Still Rashad.

CamChristoff Rashad/Rampage will still happen.

Scream13 Anyone he wants. He was in line for the shot. He did the show when Dana asked him too & pulled off major hype while filming movies.

colintimberlake I kind of think even if Rashad loses, Rampage fights Rashad...

If Rashad loses to Silva which I believe is a strong possibility he will have lost 2 fights in a row. What other fighters have lost 2 in a row & still got the fight they wanted for the 3rd? Will the UFC make him & Rampage fight someone else prior to their fight? What happens if they both lose those fights?

Rampage hasn't fought since he beat Jardine at UFC 96 last March. He will more than likely not get into the cage until around the same time in '10 if not later. I'm sure ring rust will be talked about plus he will have been a pro fighter for over 10 years and going on 32 years of age. As he stated a few months ago his body is beat up a lot more than us fans realize. He chose not to fight Rashad & took a lead role as Sgt. Bosco Baracus in The A-Team. Tons of critics bashed him for a few weeks & continue to do so because of his antic on the last season of TUF. I guess people don't care what kind of shape his body is in as long as he fights. I think they also failed to realize that the A-Team is Rampage's 9th film he has been a part of so it's not like filming the A-Team is an excuse not to fight Rashad. The UFC does a great job of promoting but all the shit talking backfired when Rampage backed out, so naturally Dana talked shit about him which gave the situation even more press.

Rashad on the other hand was ready to fight no matter what. I think Thiago Silva is going to be a tough test for him. I won't make my picks until after the weigh-ins.

I would like to see Rampage fight Rashad next year. Even with ring rust I think Rampage aka Mr. T wins that fight any way he chooses. Make sure you follow me on Twitter & throw some answers my way if you would like to be featured on our site.

MAIN CARD on ShowTime

* Cung Le vs. Scott Smith
* Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez
* Matt Lindland vs. Ronald "Jacare" Souza
* Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal vs. Mike Whitehead
* Robbie Lawler vs. Trevor Prangley

UNDER CARD

* Antwain Britt vs. Scott Lighty
* Daisuke Nakamura vs. Bryan Travers
* Juan Nunez vs. Luis Mendoza
* Bobby Stack vs. Alex Trevino
* Alex Crispim vs. A.J. Fonseca



MAIN CARD on Versus

* Donald Cerrone vs. Ed Ratcliff
* Chris Horodecki vs. Anthony Njokuani
* Joseph Benavidez vs. Rani Yahya
* Scott Jorgensen vs. Takeya Mizugaki

UNDER CARD

* Bart Palaszewski vs. Anthony Pettis
* Muhsin Corbbrey vs. Zach Micklewright
* Chad George vs. John Hosman
* Tyler Toner vs. Brandon Visher
* Kyle Dietz vs. Brad Pickett
* Erik Koch vs. Jameel Massouh

Short SOMMA today because it’s a slow news in MMA week, maybe it’ll pick up as the days go on.

I’m so glad this season of TUF is over, and this will be the last time Spike has me this hyped about The Ultimate Fighter ever again. There was absolutely zero, and I repeat ZERO payoff for sticking with this season. Rampage didn’t fight Rashad, Kimbo didn’t knock anyone out and Roy Nelson was the least exciting winner we’ve ever seen. Then they decide to follow it up by saying next season’s coaches are older and slower than we’ve ever seen before in Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz.

This would give me motivation to quit the UFC and start watching Strikeforce except that Strikeforce is only signing old legends for a lot more than they’re worth. In about a year a lot of people are going to see that Dana White was correct in not giving Hendo what he wanted. First of all Dan Henderson is old, and not the kind of old that makes you a legend like Randy Couture. (who incidentally is 1-2 since his return to MMA for those who are keeping track) Henderson is Chuck Liddell old, he’s the type of old that says just because I haven’t been knocked out a lot recently doesn’t mean that I can’t start. Now I admit Henderson is looking a lot better than Chuck in his recent fights in his old age however I think his days of walking through top competition are behind him. I’m kind of disappointed that his contract is taking so long to get squared away as now he hasn’t fought since July. I would’ve liked to have seen how he fared against Nate Marquardt to get a true barometer of where his skill is but perhaps this means Strikeforce will give him an immediate title shot against Mousasi, or Shields. He says he wants to fight Fedor but I hope for his sake that this doesn’t happen. Please remember this is the guy that barely defeated Rich Franklin. This is quite a jump in competition.

So this weekend we have battle of the craziest sound bites between Diego Sanchez and BJ Penn. I’ve come to the conclusion that the things Sanchez says makes Penn actually sound sane when he interviews. Anyways I’ll break down selected fights from that card later this week.

I am glad TUF 10 is finally over. I am hearing good things about the TUF 11 Middleweights & I'm kinda looking forward to Tito & Chuck talking shit to each other. It won't be as bad & repetitive as Rashad & Rampage plus they will actually fight after the show...crazy I know.

I'll start with James McSweeney. This guy in my opinion is the real deal. He is only going to get better. Although he doesn't have much of a ground game...neither did Chuck Liddell in his prime & we all know what he did. McSweeney can also take a punch & he is a very good striker.

Although Matt Mitrione didn't make it to the finals & pretty much looked like a D bag throughout the show I think he also has potential. He is a very resilient, big dude with a decent all around game.

Frankie Edgar is a beast at 155. I picked Matt Veach because of his strength & the fact that he trains with the H.I.T Squad. Edgar in my opinion is extremely close to a title shot. He should get the opportunity depending on Gray Maynard's performance against Nick Diaz at UFN 20. Edgar lost to Maynard at UFN 13 by UD.

Kimbo Slice did not win that BS fight against Houston Alexander. Kimbo won the 2nd round & that's it. I'm not even going to get in to the whole Kimbo thing, or fights being thrown. If any of you have ever seen Kimbo's YouTube fights you would know he doesn't knock people out...he knocks them (them being fighters you have never heard of & will never hear from again) down. His ground game is better as we all saw. Alexander did a lot of circling but that doesn't mean he lost the fight because of it. I am really not interested in watching Kimbo fight anyone but Dana is interested in the money he brings so we will have to put up with it for a while.

Bones Jones is an animal. He would have won the fight regardless of the 12-6 elbows he threw. I thought Hamill would win by decision. I think it should have been a NC. I hope Hamill heals up & comes back strong. I need to give Steve Mazzagatti a big shout out for verbally asking Hamill if he could continue. Steve you are a genius who's talent knows no bounds. Being a referee is an extremely hard job & must be even tougher when you don't know much about the fighters.


Big Country is smarter than the majority of the "fans" that watch this sport. People dogged him for laying on top of Kimbo as much as possible. This guy knows what he is doing & he proves it time & again. His black belt wasn't given to him by WAMMA...he earned it. I picked Schaub to win by TKO. I thought he would work some GNP on a gassed Nelson but unlike Kimbo..Big Country can really "throw dem thangs". I'm looking forward to watching him fight some of the monsters in the HW division. If Brock doesn't get better soon maybe Shane Carwin can exact some revenge for his boy Brendan.

One last thing, Big Country earned his way into the UFC, Kimbo didn't. Stop hating on Nelson.

UFC 107 is coming up this Saturday. We will have the full card with weigh-in results & predictions coming up in the next few days.

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• Roy Nelson def. Brendan Schaub via KO (punch) - Round 1, 3:45
• Matt Hamill def. Jon Jones via DQ (illegal elbow strike) - Round 1, 4:14
• Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson def. Houston Alexander via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Frankie Edgar def. Matt Veach via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 2:22
• Matt Mitrione def. Marcus Jones via KO (punches) - Round 2, 0:10
• James McSweeney def. Darrill Schoonover via TKO (strikes) - Round 3, 3:20
• Jon Madsen def. Justin Wren via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
• Brian Stann def. Rodney Wallace via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• John Howard def. Dennis Hallman via KO (punches) - Round 3, 4:55
• Mark Bocek def. Joe Brammer via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 3:36

Live On Spike TV Saturday December 5th From Las Vegas

P.J. Harrison's Picks
Brammer by Sub in 2nd
Howard by KO in 2nd
Stann by UD
Madsen by TKO in 3rd
McSweeney by KO in 2nd
Jones by TKO in 1st
Veach by TKO in 2nd
Alexander by KO in 1st
Hamill by SD
Schaub by TKO in 2nd

Big Ron
Nelson
Jones
Kimbo
Edgar
Mitrione
Schoonover
Wren
Stann
Howard
Bocek

X_Tinaz
Brammer
Howard
Stann
Wren
McSweeney
Jones
Edgar
Alexander
Hammill
Schaub

Hans711
Hammill dec
Nelson sub r1
Kimbo KO rd1
Edgar dec
Marcus jones tko rd3
Hallman tko rd2
Palhares sub rd1

DaSilva
* Roy Nelson vs. Brendan Schaub (“TUF 10″ tournament final) – Schaub by 2nd rd (t)ko
* Matt Hamill vs. Jon Jones – Hamill by decision
* Houston Alexander vs. Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson – Kimbo by 1st rd ko
* Frankie Edgar vs. Matt Veach – Edgar by decison
* Marcus Jones vs. Matt Mitrione – Marcus by 1st rd sub
* James McSweeney vs. Darrill Schoonover – Darrill by ko
* Jon Madsen vs. Justin Wren – Wren by 2nd rd (t)ko
* Brian Stann vs. Rodney Wallace – Stann by 3rd rd (t)ko
* Dennis Hallman vs. John Howard – Hallman by decision
* Mark Bocek vs. Joe Brammer – Bocek by 1st rd sub


Pat Chapman From Lights Out FightWear
Nelson vs. Schaub- Nelson via Sub round 2- Shaub won't be able to
handle the moon sitting on him.
Hamill vs. Jones- Jones TKO round 2
Kimbo vs. Alexander- Kimbo by KO round 1
Edgar vs. Veach- Edgar by decision
Jones vs. Mitrione- Big Baby by sub round 1
Schoonover vs. McSweeney- Titties by TKO round 2
Madsen vs. Wren- Wren by decision
Stann vs. Wallace- Stann TKO round 1
Howard vs. Hallman- Howard by decision
Bocek vs. Brammer- Bocek by sub round 3

TUF 7 Contestant Jeremy May
• Roy Nelson vs. Brendan Schaub ("TUF 10" tournament final)
Unfortunately I think Roy will take this one in the late first mid second with tko
• Matt Hamill vs. Jon Jones•
I'm a huge Matt Hamill fan but I think J Jones takes this via tko as well or decision
•Houston Alexander vs. Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson•
Lol. I'm all in on Team Rampage but Houstons speed and power is to much for Slice
•Frankie Edgar vs. Matt Veach
Frankie wins sub in the first
•Marcus Jones vs. Matt Mitrione
Marcus is my boy early sub hands down! Go Marcus
•James McSweeney vs. Darrill Schoonover
Not sure I know enough on this one to pick one of the rest for that matter...
•Jon Madsen vs. Justin Wren
•Brian Stann vs. Rodney Wallace
•Dennis Hallman vs. John Howard
•Mark Bocek vs. Joe Brammer
I take that back- Mark Bocek wins TKO before the end of the second rnd

MAIN CARD

* Roy Nelson (263) vs. Brendan Schaub (230)
* Matt Hamill (206) vs. Jon Jones (206)
* Houston Alexander (208) vs. Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson (212)
* Frankie Edgar (155) vs. Matt Veach (155)
* Marcus Jones (262) vs. Matt Mitrione (255)

PRELIMINARY CARD

* James McSweeney (235) vs. Darrill Schoonover (254)
* Jon Madsen (247) vs. Justin Wren (251)
* Brian Stann (205) vs. Rodney Wallace (203)
* Dennis Hallman (169) vs. John Howard (170)
* Joe Brammer (155) vs. Mark Bocek (156)

I would like everyone to take a moment and think about how great it would be if Rampage and Rashad were fighting next weekend.

*moment*

I had actually at one point had even forgot they were on the show. Can you even think about how far this season has come? I mean that in the most negative way possible. Do you remember the hype this show had starting way back in April when Kimbo was first announced to be a contestant on the show?

What has happened since then?

The grudge match of the century was postponed then cancelled. Rampage retired. . Roy Nelson crucified our Kimbo pipe dream. We realized that heavyweight actually means old, fat, and slow, which led to the worst season of fights in recent TUF history. Even the “drama” was whack, I actually applaud Matt Mitrione for making the season at least a little more exciting. If it weren’t for him and Rashad and Rampage fighting every two minutes this season would’ve been a bigger yawnfest than the British season.

Anyways in the first hour of this two part finale there were two fights. In the first we saw an apprehensive Matt Mitrione get submitted with a guillotine choke by James McSweeney. In the second fight we see another outstanding performance on the ground from Marcus Jones as he knocked out Darrill “Titties” Schoonover with heavy handed ground and pound.

At the end of the first hour the semi final fights were announced and I was looking forward to seeing Roy Nelson get beat up by James McSweeney.

However in the second hour James McSweeney became a complete and utter prick after picking on Zak Jensen and I actually became a Roy Nelson fan. So I was actually happy to see Roy get the win against McSweeney in what looked like his most impressive win of the season. He was able to rock McSweeney then get him to the ground in a bad position and rock some serious shots in the crucifix position. All in all it was a solid win for him to make it to the finals.

Brendan Schaub was the second fighter to make it to the finals with a big win over a big man in Marcus “The Darkness” Jones. Schaub was in trouble early after being in the side control of the obviously larger man in Jones. However after escaping the ground and bringing the fight back to his feet, Schaub was able to knockout Jones on the ground. Eerily similar and Jones’ win over Schoonover earlier in the episode.

So the Final matchups are set with Nelson vs. Schaub. In addition we’re also going to see Mitrione/Jones, Schoonover/McSweeney, Madsen/Wren and Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander. I think that Demico Rogers kind of got shafted in these match-ups as he’s the only talented person left who’s not on the Finale card at this time however I’m sure we’ll see him again.

Be sure to tune in this weekend, I have a feeling it’s going to be a good set of fights………or it could just be more of the Hype that Spike has been setting us up with all year long.

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