Chicks Heart Fights

First off, Comcast is not my friend. The feed was screwed up for the first fight, and so I missed it. If the feed would not have been back in time for the Huerta/Florian fight, it would not have been pretty. Actually, maybe it would have been better if I didn’t see it.

Roger never really seemed to find his groove during the fight. He just didn’t look like the energetic fighter that I’m used to. He was pushing the pace a bit in the second, but he was not impressive. Ken-Flo looked great, and he deserved the win.

Manny vs. Rob ended quickly with a beautiful right by Rob Emerson, and Manny was out like the Comcast feed earlier tonight. Emerson’s hat is ugly. Emerson’s hat always make him look 12. Emerson is gracious in winning.

It’s been a weird collection of entrance music tonight. Outside of Huerta’s El Matador, it’s been pretty bad. Dan Evensen’s is just bizarre.

Joe Rogan calls the UFC more cool than the Olympics. I STRONGLY disagree Joe.

Cheick Kongo has one of the top 5 bodies in the UFC. He kicked some booty tonight.

I wonder who would win in Trivial Pursuit between Brock Lesnar and Heath Herring?

From working NCAA’s, I’ve walked behind Brock Lesnar, and he is one of the most massive human beings that I’ve ever been around. He’s like a damn Mack Truck. I think if I ran my Hyundai into him, my car would catch the brunt of the damage.

Heath Herring will need to explain to me how a long leather jacket is a cowboy fashion.

Brock Lesnar seems to be having a blast in the UFC. I like to watch a fighter who truly enjoys fighting. Lesnar doesn’t need the money, so he’s doing it because he likes it.

Who has the better accent, GSP or Michael Bisping?

GSP was just plain old dominant, but I did not like BJ coming in at the end. That took away GSP’s moment. Of course he’ll fight you, BJ. He’s a professional.

Hot fights. Hot men. Hot month. There is no other way to describe UFC 87 than hot. I’ve been elbow-deep in the Olympics, yet I still can’t escape the heat permeating from Minneapolis, Minn. for this weekend’s event.  HOT.

Let’s get out the cold compresses and dive in:

Champ Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch (for welterweight title)

GSP has looked unstoppable in his last three fights. Jon Fitch has been the next big thing for a while now, but considering how top-heavy welterweight is, this is his biggest test. Unfortunately, it’s a test he will fail. GSP’s ground game and vicious kicks will win out.

Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring

Brock Lesnar is quite skilled at picking things up quickly. His first fight with Mir made the kind of mistakes that only a beginner would make. (Or a dumb veteran.) Even though Herring won over Cheick Kongo, I’m still not impressed. I think this will be Lesnar’s first win in the UFC.

Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta

Speaking of hotness - I need to crank the AC up for this one. This has the potential for fight of the year. Both fighters go nonstop, and are technically sound. The match-up is about as perfect as it gets. I have to pick my man Roger, because, well, he’s Roger. A gal’s gotta follow her heart.

Rob Emerson vs. Manny Gamburyan

Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia

Luke Cummo vs. Tamdan McCrory

Dan Evensen vs. Cheick Kongo

Jon Jones vs. Andre Gusmao

Steve Bruno vs. Chris Wilson

Ben Saunders vs. Ryan Thomas

What the web is saying…

Cage Potato 

Bloody Elbow

I hope you are all enjoying your Memorial Day. Me? I’m on my eighth straight episode of Law and Order on TNT, and there is not much chance of me changing the channel. I have a bunch of different items for your reading pleasure today.

From Combat Lifestyle. I wonder if Roger and Kenny are letting us know how their fight is going to turn out.

Leftovers from UFC 84: Michael David Smith enlightens us on the sights and sounds of a UFC event from Octagon-side. Also, Ben Goldstein from Cage Potato is not going to die from drinking ipecac. Good to hear that you’ll keep living, Ben!

If the Chaos That is UFC 85 wasn’t enough for you, UFC 87 has had a few changes, too. Mark Coleman is injured, so he will not be fighting Brock Lesnar; Heath Herring will be. Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch has been added as the main card, and Clay Guida will fight Mac Danzig. Add that to a card that already has Florian-Huerta, and Dan Evenson vs. Cheick Kongo-this gal is getting dizzy just thinking about it.

This weekend is MMA’s debut on network primetime: EliteXC on CBS. I plan to write more later this week, and liveblog the event, but I wanted to share this in the meantime. Kimbo Slice was hoping to advertise for Reality Kings on his shorts. Reality Kings brings us such wonderful sites as Milf Hunter, Round and Brown and We Live Together. (Sorry, not linking to them.) CBS said no dice, and it was the completely right move by CBS. Though advertising for the parent company might not break FCC standards, it’s still not the best idea to have MMA linked to pornography in its first time available to the masses for free.

Finally, if you haven’t stopped by Adam Frey’s blog recently, check it out and give Adam some words of encouragement. Despite good news about the size of his tumor, the daily grind of chemotherapy is starting to wear on him, and some d-bags think that it’s a good idea to leave messages saying that he is going to die. Not cool. Let Adam know that you’re cheering for him.

Buried during last week’s announcement of ASU dropping its wrestling program was the fact that Maryland hired Kerry McCoy to replace Pat Santoro . Though a tough loss for Stanford, this is great news for the Terps. McCoy will continue the great work that Santoro had started at the up and coming school. With alumni support and full funding, McCoy will get Maryland to a top ten standing, and more importantly, in my opinion, fuel growth of the sport in the Capitol region.

Back to ASU, CB Dollaway, ASU All-American and current TUF cast member, wrote a column for MMA Junkie expressing his feelings about the cut. Jason Bryant had two interviews - first with Anthony Robles, ASU freshman wrestler , and Lisa Love , ASU AD.

Now onto things that don’t get me nearly as angry, ESPN has stepped up its coverage of MMA. With Sherdog’s help, MMA now has its own page on ESPN.com ,  and a weekly internet only show, MMA Live (found on the left side of the MMA page.) Kenny Florian is one of the contributors, and its a decent rundown with results, profiles and general MMA discussion. The only thing I don’t like is the “MMA 101″ segment, where Florian taught us the basics of MMA. I wouldn’t be watching a 30 minute MMA show if I needed the basics. Save those segments for a Sportscenter broadcast before a big fight.

It seems weird to live blog some fights when the sun is still out. Tonight will be a marathon of blogging for me. I will be posting the results of fights after the jump. As Mike Goldberg likes to say… and here, we, go… (more…)

If you haven’t set aside your Wednesday night, do it now. Hire a babysitter, unplug the phone, leave work on time for once-do what you have to do to make sure that you are in front of a television at 7 Eastern, 6 central. Check out this line-up of fights:

• Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon
• Thiago Alves vs. Karo Parysian
• Matt Hamill vs. Tim Boetsch
• Kurt Pellegrino Vs. Nate Diaz
• James Irvin Vs. Houston Alexander
• Gray Maynard Vs. Frank Edgar*
• Josh Neer Vs. Din Thomas*
• Ryan Roberts Vs. Marcus Aurelio*
• Jeff Cox Vs. Manny Gamburyan*
• Samy Schiavo Vs. Clay Guida*
• Roman Mitichyan Vs. George Sotiropoulos*
• Anthony Johnson Vs. Tommy Speer*

Lots of good articles have been written about both tomorrow’s Fight Night and the premiere of the Ultimate Fighter. MMAJunkie takes a look at the State of the TUF Franchise. Kevin Iole writes about Joe Lauzon, computer nerd and ass kicker. Cage Potato has a profile of Clay Guida, whose fight, unfortunately, will probably not be televised.

Here are two great wrestling links. First, Rock M Nation has a great multimedia profile of Ben Askren. Jason Bryant at Intermat took a look the NCAA Championship by the numbers: everything from the number of neckties that Tom Brands wore to the total attendance of the tournament.

Tomorrow night, I am planning on live blogging Ultimate Fight Night, and I will also write recaps of the Ultimate Fighter. So many great fights-so little time!

Finally, for some shameless self-promotion, I will be on the Blogcritics Treehouse Fort on Thursday night, discussing MMA.  Listen to my dulcet tones!