Category — MMA

A couple of weeks ago I suggested electrifying the cage to liven up boring fights. It was mostly a response to the lack of Pride-like pop during recent UFC events. The loss of Brock Lesnar and his WWE heelness also takes away a bit of the lustre. So why not introduce tag-team fighting to the UFC?

They were originally going to put a moat around the octagon and fill it with sharks or crocodiles, so why not have fighters compete in pairs? Why not? Because MMA ain’t figure skating, that’s why not. Just look at the final seconds of this video — do you want to see UFC fighters rolling around in a tangled, sloppy and sweaty mess like that?

I saw this a few weeks ago, but it seems appropriate to post it now, post-Ralek Gracie rap video.

Although curling up from a barrage of strikes is par for the course for the former K-1 notable.

Pro athletes rarely know when to exit their sport gracefully. Their competitive nature, along with a total lack of real-world job skills, keeps them hanging on for one more game, one more match, one more fight. Case in point: Jens Pulver. Once upon a time, Pulver was the honey badger of MMA, a Pride veteran, UFC lightweight champion and WEC featherweight contender. But the 37-year-old hasn’t looked good, hasn’t been truly competitive, since his IFL knockout of newly unemployed UFC fighter Cole Escovedo in 2006. Last weekend Pulver headlined an RFA card in Nebraska against Tim Elliot. Hopefully, some sense got knocked into him and he’ll retire.

There’s a mixed bag of MMA news on this Friday afternoon, most of it scraps about upcoming scraps along with a few scrapes with the law. So let’s get started.

There’s Junie Browning on the run from the mafia in Thailand (of course he is); Brock Lesnar busted for poaching in Alberta during a recent killing spree, er, hunting trip (of course he was); Brett Rogers won’t face Tim Sylvia in a New Year’s Eve DREAM bout because he just got out of jail for beating his wife and can’t get a travel visa (of course not); and Sean Sherk was dragged from his car by a British SWAT team (didn’t see that coming).

Martin Kampmann and Thiago Alves will headline the March 3 UFC card in Australia, which has to be one of the weakest main events in some time even if it is free. The UFC has scooped up another heavyweight, re-signing Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga to a four-fight deal starting with Ednaldo Oliveira at, you guessed it, UFC 142 in Brazil. Meanwhile, reports are circulating that Paulo Thiago is out of UFC 142 due to a dislocated elbow suffered during training. He was to face Mike Pyle on the card headlined by featherweight champ Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes.

One arm or not, Nick Newell is a bad-ass. He’s 6-0 as a professional with one TKO and five submission wins, which is pretty fucking impressive for a guy with no left hand or forearm. You can tell he’s got a strong muay Thai and wrestling background and has apparently picked up a bit of jiu-jitsu (from Jean Jacques Machado perhaps?).  No, he’ll never make it to the UFC, where having only one fist is an insurmountable disadvantage, but he’s already proven he’s a legitimate fighter and not a freakshow attraction. I do wonder how lousy his opponents feel, especially fighters like the one in this video who gets out-struck, taken down, ground-and-pounded and then subbed via heel hook in less than 90 seconds. Wouldn’t getting beaten by a one-armed fighter make you rethink your career?

Marius Zaromskis has scored a few memorable head kick knockouts in his career. Hayato Sakurai, Jason High and Ho Bae Myeong all come to mind. But this cartwheel kick to the skull of Bruno Carvallo at Saturday’s K-1: Rumble of the Kings 6 in Stockholm, Sweden, takes the cake. It’s actually kind of a forward roll into an axe kick or a somersaulting heel kick or, well, just watch and decide for yourself. It certainly beats Anderson Silva’s and Lyoto Machida’s Steven Seagal-inspired front kicks in terms of athleticism and impact, although I’m not sure it ranks up there with Anthony Pettis’s off-the-cage kick to Ben Henderson but it’s close, and unlike Pettis, Zaromskis makes short work of his opponent afterward.