UFC 118 as it Happens and Happened: saying bye to James Toney

The gladiator guy is putting on his stuff. This is the first time he’s ever put on his gear and walked out in Boston.

“I have no doubt tonight Joe, that tonight is going to be a good night,” says Mike Goldberg. Zuffa now has to pay 88 cents to the Black Eyed Peas and I agree with Mike.

We’re jumping right in with Nate Diaz and Marcus Davis. Davis has been a pro fighter since Diaz was in elementary school, but Diaz is a straight up fighter for life suckas.

Davis out to House of Pain, Jump Around. I've seen it live a couple times, a very entertaining enterance.

The 209 is in the house. Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez with Nate. Kind of a dumb thing to say, but Nate Diaz looks way bigger at 170. He’d probably even look bigger if he was at185!

Diaz mean mugging and punching himself as Bruce Buffer announces him and we’re fighting…

It looks like Diaz was saving all his talking for the Octagon. Davis wins the first big exchange but somehow gets cut. Didn’t faze Diaz.

Davis’ cut is above his right eye and it’s pretty bad. Doctor decides to take a look at it. Yves says, “I think he’s fine though.” Doctor agrees.

Diaz peppering Davis in round two. Davis’ eye looks like hamburger. Davis get a trip to end the round.

Diaz back to looking comfortable in round three. Less than two minutes left and Diaz scores the takedown. Diaz puts Davis to sleep, very impressive performance.

Gray Maynard and Kenny Florian next. Winner is gonna get a shot at the winner of Penn/Edgar. We’re kind of seeing a little four man tourney here tonight.

I think Maynard’s hair is usually shorter. Here come Ken-Flo and the crowd likes him.

Feeling out in the first few minutes of round one. I always wonder why the UFC gives Keith Florian a microphone. That dude can be heard with ease.

Maynard finally takes Florian down. Not much action though other than Keith yelling, “Watch the feet. Watch the feet.”

Florian is cut and on his back and he probably lost round one. Gray Maynard is an enigma.

Stitch working on Kenny's cut. Kenny needs to finish Gray in round three.

Almost two minutes in and Gray gets another takedown. Seriously, I wonder what can be done to beat Maynard. The guy just grinds out wins.

Florian is definitely frustrated. Maynard now has 10 wins and 8 by decision.

Mario Miranda getting a step up in competition after stopping David Loiseau at 115. Demian Maia wants to wipe away the memories of his last fight against Anderson Silva. And that's gonna be tough with Anderson in Miranda's corner.

Maia takes Miranda down and is going to work in a hurry.

Maia is rolling through two rounds. The crowd is falling into a serious lull.

In other news…Paris Hilton got busted for drugs. Cocaine fell out of her purse. Apparently the police were able to follow the smoke trail coming out of the Escalade and that led to the stop and eventual arrest. That’s not hot Paris.

I think this dude, Gary Robinson, needs to be in the TD Garden to get everybody fired up:



Alright, let’s see if James Toney and Randy Couture can get everybody fired up.

I think it’s cool seeing James Toney enter the Octagon. Now here comes Randy and both men look like they’re going to a movie instead of getting ready to fight.

Are we about to be shocked?

I know if James gets up I will be totally shocked. It took Randy about 2.2 seconds to get on top of James. There's a chant of UFC, that's kind of hilarious.

"What we learned in UFC 1, still is applied in UFC 118," says Joe Rogan and it's so true.

It was anti-climactic because exactly what was expected happened. But hey, that arm triangle on James Toney just earned Randy his black belt from Neil Melanson.

Got to give it up to James for giving it a go and he says he's going to come back?

Looks like pretty much all the members of the Patriots and Celtics are on hand. Hopefully they'll get to see a great fight between Penn and Edgar.

Alright, will Edgar prove it wasn't a fluke or will a "motivated" Penn reclaim the lightweight belt?

Is BJ Penn having a seizure as Bruce Buffer announces him? One of those where the person just zones out.

Penn stalking but Edgar takes Penn down in a hurry. Back to standing and Edgar takes him down again. As we all know, no small task taking Penn to the canvas.

Good first round for Edgar.

Amazing that Edgar is taking Penn down like he is. Not doing much on the ground, but still.

Round two was very close I thought.

And in round three Edgar really finds his range and continues to connect on Penn.

Penn takes Edgar down to start round four!

My heart's beating a little faster. Edgar on top now, better be careful as Penn is a pretzel.

Edgar turned it around and won round four.

Great scramble in the first minute of round five. The most dangerous place for Edgar is in Penn's guard.

Well wow...Frank Edgar really does have the answer (that's bad I know). This time it wasn't really close. Edgar dominated in a big way.

Finishing up with Joe Lauzon and Gabe Ruediger. Good one to show because 118 was a little ho hum, especially after the last few super exciting events.

I'll be looking forward to Edgar/Maynard II whenever it happens.

UFC 118 Spike Prelims as it Happens and Happened

Nick Lentz is nicknamed “The Carnie.” I like it. Andre Winner should be nicknamed “Winner Chicken Dinner”…Andre Winner “Winner Chicken Dinner.” Only problem is you’ve got to always say it together.

Round one is all about Lentz trying to take Winner down and Winner trying to stay on his feet.

I’ve got the song “That’s how you know” from Enchanted stuck in my head. My daughter and I were dancing to it earlier. Really hope something exciting happens in this fight to knock it out of my head.

Fights almost over, been the same throughout. Lentz outwrestled Winner. Looks like Bruce Buffer won’t get to yell, “And the winner is Andre Winner, winner chicken dinner!”

Time for Joe Lauzon and Gabe Ruediger…How do you know that you love her? How do you know that you need her? How do you know that your truly really truly…dammit, song’s still in my head. It’s just so catchy…

Sticking with nicknames, a couple years ago there was a push for Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon to change his nickname to “Creepy” Joe Lauzon. If he did in fact change it, it would be one of my favorite nicknames.

We all remember Gabe Ruediger and his weight cutting fiasco on TUF 5. He’s back in the UFC and I think he isn’t taken as seriously because of the reality show. Too bad because he’s 17-5 and a solid fighter.

Crowd is going crazy as Lauzon is swarming Ruediger like a bunch of Koi’s used to having people feed them bread at an Asian restaurant. Lauzon makes quick work of Ruediger and forces him to tap to an armbar just two minutes in. The crowd is still going crazy.

Hey that song that was in my head is gone!

Thanks to “Creepy” Joe destroying Ruediger we get to watch Dan Miller vs. John Salter.

Pretty good round one, Miller is cut on the head, Salter is cut on the eye. Don House and Leon Tabbs get a little action.

Trading punches for the first minute of round one. Salter shoots right into a Dan Miller guillotine. It was a great sub. Joe Rogan just said it’s called the ninja choke. When Miller gets his arms around your neck it’s not a good thing. Don’t believe me? Watch this:



Joe Rogan and Dana White talk about Penn/Edgar II and Gray Maynard/Kenny Florian. Also, of course talk about Toney/Couture. James Toney and Stitch are shown messing around in the locker room. Stitch of course has worked with all the big name boxers. He's got a story about Toney in his upcoming book FROM THE FIELDS TO THE GARDEN: THE LIFE OF STITCH DURAN available one month from today!

Time for the main card.

Congratulations Dana White, bet you’re F’ing Happy

The guy was chased out of Boston by the mob for a few thousand dollars. Now he returns with his sport regulated in Massachusetts. Screw the mob; they got nothing on Dana White now. He brings with him a fan expo and enough cash to probably make all those guys that ran him out of town find a nice home on the bottom of a river sleeping with the fishes.

This weekend is like his high school reunion. He’s back in town saying look at this hotel doorman now.

We all know White is a boxing fan. He did a little boxing in his day. He often talks of his love for the sport. So to make this UFC 118 weekend a little better for him, he’s got a boxer in James Toney in the co-main event against Randy Couture.

Sure he says a bunch of stuff that pisses a lot of fans off, sure he gets to do way cooler stuff than basically all the rest of us and then rubs it in our face with his video blog. But you know what, I’ll still tell him congratulations. He’s done a lot of craziness and has worked his way into a coveted position. Congratulations Dana White, I really do bet you’re F’ing happy.

UFC 118: Why James Toney will win vs. Why Randy Couture will Win

The idea of a high-level boxer, even one a little over the hill, entering the Octagon is exciting. The UFC and MMA was born on the style match ups and now here it is in 2010 and we have a boxer against a wrestler.

Speaking of the year, it is a reason why James Toney will pull off the shocking victory. Randy Couture came into this world on June 22, 1963. He’s 47 freaking years old. I know we see him as the ageless wonder, but now it is time for age to catch up with him. Add to this fact that he is fighting a guy who uses his hands better than any man Randy has ever fought and he is sure to get his head bounced around before he can shoot in and take Toney to the canvas. One big shot, a discombobulated Randy, and the wrestling won’t matter. Toney will punch his way to the first round win.

Then again...

Randy is old, but his age hasn’t hurt him and it won’t tonight, especially because he’s fighting an over the hill boxer who is just five years his younger and has no business in the Octagon. James Toney has never even been in the Octagon. It’s been Randy’s home for almost 15 years. He’s going to dump Toney on his head and then do whatever he wants on the ground. James Toney is not in shape, Randy is a cardio machine. Once he gets Toney on the ground he’ll do whatever he wants as Toney flops about. The fight will last as long as Randy wants it to last. He can submit Toney in the first couple minutes or take his time and pound away to a stoppage.

Which scenario is more plausible?

I’m going with scenario number two. Randy is going to remind everyone why mixed martial arts is a sport that requires training in multiple disciplines. No matter how good a boxer is, he can’t jump into the Octagon and expect to be successful. Of course James could prove a lot of us wrong, that’s why we’re going to watch right?

August 2010 Women's Independent World MMA Rankings Released

The August 2010 Women's Independent World MMA Rankings have been released. These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple MMA web sites, as well as http://www.independentworldmmarankings.com/.

The members of the voting panel for the Women's Independent World MMA Rankings are, in alphabetical order: Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter and MMA Journalist Blog); Yael Grauer (MMA HQ); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (Freelance); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion); and Ivan Trembow (Freelance).

Note: Gina Carano, Lena Ovchynnikova, and Emily Thompson are temporarily ineligible to be ranked, due to the fact that they have not fought in over 12 full months.

Note: Carina Damm has regained her eligibility to be ranked because she has fulfilled the terms of her 2008 California State Athletic Commission steroids suspension by paying her fine. Given that she has recent fights in both the bantamweight and flyweight divisions, she is eligible to be ranked in both of those weight classes.

August 2010 Women's Independent World MMA Rankings
Ballots collected on August 24, 2010

Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (10-1)
2. Marloes Coenen (17-4)
3. Yuko "Hiroko" Yamanaka (9-1-1)
4. Cindy Dandois (4-0)
5. Shana Olsen (4-0)
6. Amanda Nunes (5-1)
7. Jamie Seaton (2-1)
8. Hitomi Akano (16-8)
9. Ediane Gomes (5-1)
10. Yoko Takahashi (14-11-3)

Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
1. Sarah Kaufman (12-0)
2. Roxanne Modafferi (15-6)
3. Tara LaRosa (18-2)
4. Miesha Tate (11-2)
5. Hitomi Akano (16-8)
6. Shayna Baszler (12-6)
7. Takayo Hashi (12-2)
8. Jennifer Tate (6-1)
9. Julie Kedzie (14-8)
10. Vanessa Porto (10-4)

Flyweight Rankings (116 to 125 lbs.)
1. Tara LaRosa (18-2)
2. Aisling Daly (9-0)
3. Rosi Sexton (10-2)
4. Zoila Frausto (8-1)
5. Rin Nakai (7-0)
6. Megumi Fujii (21-0)
7. Sally Krumdiack (8-3)
8. Monica Lovato (5-1)
9. Jeri Sitzes (3-1)
10. Carina Damm (15-4)

Junior Flyweight Rankings (106 to 115 lbs.)
1. Megumi Fujii (21-0)
2. Yuka Tsuji (22-2)
3. Lisa Ward (13-5)
4. Mei "V Hajime" Yamaguchi (6-2)
5. Jessica Aguilar (9-3)
6. Zoila Frausto (8-1)
7. Kyoko Takabayashi (11-4)
8. Jessica Pene (7-1)
9. Angela Magana (8-4)
10. Emi Fujino (8-4)

The Women's Independent World MMA Rankings are tabulated and published on a monthly basis, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on.

The rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody's vote counting more than anybody else's vote, and no computerized voting.

The voters are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters' actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they've actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win hypothetical match-ups.

Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight.

Disciplinary Suspensions: Fighters who are currently serving disciplinary suspensions, or who have been denied a license for drug test or disciplinary reasons, are not eligible to be ranked.

Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that she is leaving one weight class in order to fight in another weight class, the fighter is not eligible to be ranked in the new weight class until her first fight in the new weight class has taken place.

Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class.

Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Joshua Stein, and Yael Grauer for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.

I could be a UFC Champ if I could just find the right Gym!

These words were spoken by my dumb friend a few weeks ago. He said them with his chest all puffed out and confidence that comes with knowing he’d never have to try to prove his machismo.

I nodded. “You really think so?”

“Hell yeah, but I can’t find a damn gym.”

“So that’s the only thing stopping you?”

“Yep,” he said and punched his fist into his palm. “That’s all that’s keeping me from the belt.”

I smiled and patted him on his soft shoulder. “Have you ever heard of Find MMA Gyms?” I asked.

He gave me a deer in the headlights look and I went on to tell him that in just a few clicks we could probably find a gym just miles away. Find MMA Gyms is the place to find a gym in the U.S. and now in Canada too.

The web site is a terrific resource for anybody searching for a combat sports gym in their area. I talked with founder William Li not long ago and found out that the site now has over 3,500 gyms listed and it’s still getting daily submissions. California is still the reigning king, but Florida, Texas, and New York are gaining.

We all know Canada is an MMA hotbed. The UFC routinely sells out the Canadian venues in something like 4.3 seconds. William said of Canadian gyms, “We started getting a few submissions from Canadian gyms and realized we couldn't add them to our USA site. The .ca website was always on the back of my mind, but never got around to putting it together. For crying out loud, Georges St-Pierre, the reigning Welterweight Champion of the UFC, is Canadian and trains at Tristar MMA gym (Montreal). Mixed martial arts in Canada has always been hot and we just felt it necessary to expand Find MMA Gym to North America. MMA Gyms Canada is now live and we couldn't be more excited to see how it will grow.”

And delving a little further into the Canadian MMA gym market, William talked of the recent news about MMA legislation in Ontario. “The amount of MMA gyms in Ontario, Canada is growing out of control. It is, by far, the province with the most mixed martial arts gyms. Clearly, legislation is a huge step and another hurdle cleared in growing the sport of MMA into Canada.”

Both sites, http://www.findmmagym.com/ and http://www.findmmagym.ca/ are easy to use and they provide much more than just a list of gyms. Reviews, videos, top ten gyms, and MMA training techniques can all be found with a click of the mouse.

William Li is a name not many people in the industry probably know, but they should. He and his staff are providing a great service to aspiring MMA athletes all over the United States and now Canada, and one day he plans to expand to other countries as well.

My super tough friend hasn’t been to the site yet. I guess he doesn’t want that belt so bad after all.

Strikeforce Houston: Was Jim Lovell on Hand for that Successful Failure?

Jim Lovell is one of the two astronauts, along with John Swigert Jr., who made the famous assertion, “Houston, we have a problem.” After Strikeforce’s efforts last night I just wonder if maybe he was watching cageside and remembering back to that Apollo 13 mission. The crew made it back to earth and the mission was deemed a “successful failure.”

This is kind of how I see Strikeforce Houston. The fights were good, I thought exciting, but each one had something happen that made any non-dandruff-riddled fan scratch his head. That’s not usually such a good thing.

With a nice cut on his left eye from round one, Bobby Lashley had full mount on Chad Griggs and was punching, resting, punching, resting...Then with a little less than a minute in the second round, referee Jon Shorle (a veteran referee) decided to stand them up. Lashley touched his eye and the doctor came in to check it. It was okay, the fight continued, a tired Lashley got stopped. Here’s the problem, the fight never should have been stopped. Lashley wasn’t doing much, but he was in full mount. Griggs was doing nothing to further damage the eye, and I think Shorle was simply standing them up, not to check the eye. That happened after the fact. Unless a fighter is taking a nap while in the mount, the referee should not stand them up! And if he stood Lashley up to check the cut, he should have put them back in the mounted position.

KJ Noons knocked Jorge Gurgel loopy with a left hook right at (or after) the bell to end round one. Then he bet up a still loopy Gurgel at the start of round two and inexplicably decided to throw a knee (almost a soccer kick) as referee Kerry Hatley ambled over to stop the fight. Whether the first left hook was that much after the bell or not, whether the knee landed or not, it doesn’t matter. Noons’ actions were totally inappropriate and nothing was said of either after the fact! It should be a NC or a loss for Noons and I’d go as far to say he should receive a suspension. Instead he’ll fight either Floyd Mayweather or Nick Diaz?

Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo Souza put on an extremely close fight. Kennedy got cut, Souza landed more standing arm strikes, Kennedy landed more leg strikes and more strikes overall, Souza couldn’t take Kennedy down, Kennedy dumped Souza twice, Souza landed more damaging shots...You get the idea, it was really close. Souza got the unanimous nod and a lot of people think Kennedy should have had his hand raised. I’ll say it was really close.

Big John was in the cage for the Rafael Feijao vs. King Mo bout. Feijao stifled Mo’s wrestling and then dropped him in the third. Mo held on to a single leg and took a ton of shots. Many thought at least some of these punches and elbows were to the back of the head and I believe I even heard Big John warn Feijao. Here’s the deal though, a warning doesn’t do Mo any good. He’s already rattled and getting hit on or near the back of the head makes it impossible for him to recover.

Despite the above issues with each of the main card fights, I thought it was an entertaining event. The fighters fought hard and all of them deserve credit (even Noons, I think he was wrong, but that doesn’t take away from his efforts and I don’t believe he’s a dirty fighter). And yes from time to time the announcers said something that was off, but it’s tough to talk at a fast pace for a long time in front of a bunch of people and not make any mistakes. I don’t think all the hate on Mauro, Frank, and Gus is deserved.

So if Jim Lovell was cageside, he might’ve said, “Houston we have a problem” a good four or five times, but at the end of the night he probably walked to the parking lot, climbed in his spaceship, and thought Strikeforce Houston was a “successful failure.”

I’d agree with Jim.

Ariel Helwani with Scott Coker on the aftermath of Strikeforce Houston (video)

Tim Kenndy the most Dangerous Man in the World: On Cooking

I know we are just hours away from WEC 50 and it promises to be a great card. Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited for it, but these Tim Kennedy spots crack me up:



I’ll be traveling tomorrow so I don’t know how much I’ll have on WEC 50, but I’ll do my best. Back at UFC 99 I watched Benavidez joking around and by sticking his toe up to his mouth like a baby. I went home and tried it, strained my right butt cheek. Props to Benavidez. I do think Cruz will beat him once again though.