Picks for UFC 146: Fat Guys, Fatter Lips!

Posted on May 25, 2012 by kevinmarshall

Even though I maintain that the real money division in MMA is Light Heavyweight (it has been since the late 90s and will continue to be for the foreseeable future), the Heavyweights are still a major draw. People will always be impressed with big men who kick ass, plus it’s always re-assuring to see fighters that look more like you and me (re: only have a two or four pack at best).

This Saturday, the UFC’s doing something unique: an all-heavyweight card. Some injuries have occurred, naturally, that changed it up a bit and may have prevented this from being the supercard the UFC envisioned, but it still promises to be an entertaining evening of slobberknockers.

Gonzaga was literally on this card just long enough to get on the poster and fuck it all up.

UFC 146: FAT GUYS THAT HIT HARD!*

Junior dos Santos (c) vs. Frank Mir for the UFC Heavyweight Championship
Frank Mir steps in for Alistair Overeem, who ate too much damn horsemeat and popped a 14:1 T/E ratio for a surprise drug test that actually shouldn’t have been a surprise given they told him in advance to be prepared to be tested out of competition (, you buffoon). Frank Mir was the first and most logical choice. People seem to think he has no chance, but the story of Frank Mir is littered with situations where fans and fighters underestimated him at their peril. Personally, I was in the camp that thought after that motorcycle accident that he was done being an elite fighter, and yet here we are eight years later and he’s still a contender and legit top five in his division. Still, I think Dos Santos is too quick, hits too hard, and is too wily for Mir.
PICK: Junior Dos Santos via R1 KO
Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva
This fight was created out necessity because of the Overeem debacle. Cain was Mir’s original opponent, and Silva was scheduled to face Roy Nelson. I think both would have been more intriguing match-ups, though I think this one is going to be a tougher fight for Velasquez than people think. MMA is a very “what have you done for me lately” sport, and as such, the most recent impression people have of Antonio “Big Foot” Silva was his poor display against Cormier last September. However, that fight should come with the disclaimer that Silva is much better than he showed that night and Cormier, then and still to an extent now, is the most underrated fighter in the game. That said, I’m still going with Velasquez, who’s stronger and has a deeper toolbox than Bigfoot. I think he got caught by Dos Santos in the same way every guy eventually does, and I’m convinced a title rematch would have a different outcome. I think we’ll see that happen with a decisive win here.
PICK: Cain Velasquez via Unanimous Decision
Heavyweight bout: Roy Nelson vs. Dave Herman
Nelson has become a gatekeeper for the division, which some people expected as soon as he was signed by the UFC and won the all-heavyweight season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” As a guy who looks at MMA as more sport than entertainment, Nelson frustrates me because he often trains and fights with the entertainment aspect in mind, and it costs him dearly whenever he has to face a top 5 fighter. Herman has far less experience than Nelson at the upper echelon of MMA, but he’s a wickedly dangerous slugger that can and I think will draw Nelson into the same old bad habits that have cost him in three of his last four fights.
PICK: Dave Herman via KO R3
Heavyweight bout: Stipe Miočić vs. Shane del Rosario
This fight is getting the least attention out of any on the main card, but in my mind it’s the most interesting. Both guys are undefeated against decent competition and have a strong all-around pedigree: Miočić is a fierce striker with a legit collegiate wrestling background and del Rosario is a Muay Thai champion with dangerous Jiu-Jitsu. This one’s as close to a push as you’ll get on this card. I’m going (hesitantly) with del Rosario, though Miočić can pull it off if he can manage to avoid del Rosario’s onslaught and effectively utilize his wrestling.
PICK: Shane del Rosario via R2 TKO
Heavyweight bout: Stefan Struve vs. Lavar Johnson
Johnson is the type of fighter that is Struve’s kryptonite: an aggressive heavy-hitter who won’t give him room to recover. Struve has skills and a freakish reach, but he’s also a slow starter with a habit of taking bad beatings before he gets going. I’m going with the upset on this one.
PICK: Lavar Johnson by R1 KO.

PRELIMINARY BOUTS

Featherweight bout: Mike Brown vs. Daniel Pineda
Light Heavyweight bout: Kyle Kingsbury vs. Glover Teixeira
Lightweight bout: Jacob Volkmann vs. Paul Sass
I’m hoping for a knockout win for Sass, just so we don’t have to hear Volkmann’s painfully unfunny dumbass “jokes” afterwards.

LIVE ON FX

Welterweight bout: Dan Hardy vs. Duane Ludwig
Middleweight bout: Jason Miller vs. C.B. Dollaway
Jason Miller has said that if he can’t win this fight he probably doesn’t belong in the UFC. He’s right, and if that does happen I think Dana White et al will agree.
Lightweight bout: Edson Barboza vs. Jamie Varner
Featherweight bout: Diego Brandao vs. Darren Elkins

* not the actual title of this show

More on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights from the Times Union Center: the Attendance was Dreadful

Posted on May 21, 2012 by kevinmarshall

Firstly, Pete Dougherty with the Times Union has a video up with an interesting montage of what goes down behind the scenes the day before and during the televised broadcast.

Also, for those who missed the event, here’s my real-time live blogging of the event. Trust me, it’s a quicker read than you’d think.

And the post-fight press conference.

Firstly, this needs to be said: it was a great card from top to bottom. I don’t know why so many people griped about the fights on the first card back in February, except to say a lot of them probably just don’t like boxing enough to tolerate a full night of it. Which, given the long absence of boxing in this area, is to be expected. Still, in terms of fight quality, I thought this card blew the previous card out of the water. And I thought the previous card had some good fights on it.

Unfortunately and despite the presence of ESPN2, the attendance dropped. Badly.

I know I’ll get shit for this again, and likely there’ll be more than a couple folks stomping their feet about it and generally making themselves look like assholes. But attendance was nowhere near 3,500 for the first event (click HERE and HERE if you want to revisit that debacle), and to say it only dropped by about fifty people as is being reported elsewhere is…okay, I’ll be more diplomatic this time around and say they’re being generous.

This time, though, I thought enough to take some pictures. Things to keep in mind: these were all taken after the event started. People didn’t “start trickling in”halfway through the card. This isn’t Vegas, LA, or any of those other markets where people only show up for the last two fights. In a place like Albany, people pay for a show and they come for the entirety of it.

That said…

…not 3,500. Sorry. Even less so this go around.

Joe DeGuardia, to his credit, neither attempted to make it out to be something it wasn’t nor did he seem deterred. For him, he claims, it’s still a money-making venture. I don’t have any reason to doubt that TV and endorsements offset poor attendance. But don’t get it twisted: attendance was still very, very poor.

There was absolutely no buzz heading into this event despite the fact that it’s been the only thing of note in this area recently that was on cable television throughout the nation. Is that poor PR and promotion? Possibly. Or it just could be that boxing isn’t what it used to be and is less of a draw in smaller markets like Albany. There was a complication with the broadcast that was comically analogous to this: between the opening bout and the first televised bout, the crowd sat for fifty-five minutes waiting for a college softball game to end. That’s right – boxing had to wait for college softball to end on ESPN2.

In terms of mainstream prominence, boxing in the last twenty years has taken a huge hit from the proliferation of big-men team sports like football and basketball. The money division for boxing has always been heavyweights, and there are few legit North American heavyweights because big kids with any semblance of athleticism are pushed into and/or gravitate towards team sports, football especially. Of course there are other factors, such as the alphabet soup title situation and promoter politics preventing big fights from happening, that have made a public first skeptical then apathetic towards the sport.

There’s still hope, though. I think the Fight community is strong enough in this area to support boxing. ARES Promotions, which has a card themselves on June 10th at the Egg, draws a really good crowd for their room and the enthusiasm is incredible. Their success is due largely to their focus on local fighters and the charisma of fighters like Javi Martinez, Shawn Miller, Mikey Faragon, and Sarah Kuhn. I think Star Boxing, in a similar vein, can grow and expand in the coming year(s). So long as DeGuardia retains his optimism and knows – as I suspect he does – that they’re in it for the long game.

Anyway, you guys should really make it out to these cards. It’s a good time. Trust me.

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Jon Jones’ Psuedo-Apology for DUI is Appalling

Posted on May 21, 2012 by kevinmarshall

I’m not one to hate on Jon Jones. As a matter of fact, I’ve been one of those people from the beginning that has always been taken aback at all of the animosity towards him. I always thought he was just one of those guys that wasn’t what people wanted him to be – whatever that is – and as such he was unfairly labeled a “phony.”

I still hold to that. I don’t think the guy’s phony. But his reaction to his DUI arrest early Sunday morning sure is shitty.

From his Facebook page:

Man I haven’t added anyone new to my Facebook page in like three years and right now I’m so glad that I haven’t. It has literally been sickening to have so many people try to kick me while I’m down. At the same time, I totally understand, I gave them the leeway to. I screwed up, big time. Just needed to say thank you to all you guys for being amazing friends/supporters.

Always having to deal with so many critics, haters and fickle mma fans, I almost forgot how strong of a home base I had (607 and people that knew me before I was a champion fighter). Although the hell that will come with this hasn’t even started yet, I want you guys to know how much better you’ve all made me feel, not only about this situation but about life, everything. It’s good to feel that people are there and care. With that being said, I felt I should apologize to you first.

I’m truly sorry to those of you that I may have embarrassed in any way, to those of you with kids that I may have let down. I will prove to them as well as to myself, that no matter what is happening in life, we can always work our way back and make things even better than before. Reading you guys uplifting comments was a great reminder for me to not give up on who I am or all the hateful people. I’m not gonna allow this situation to outweigh the positive. I love you guys right back and I promise to make things right.

ps sorry about the terrible grammar

Jones isn’t the first athlete to get busted with this and he won’t be the last. Not by a long shot. It’s a problem bigger than him, particularly in the sense that the “personal Hell” he alludes to are the consequences of him being arrested after crashing into a telephone poll and escaping with minor (if that) injuries. That’s a very common reaction to this sort of thing.

Yet it’s nothing compared to the personal Hell of the family of someone that very well could have been on the wrong end of his Mercedes Benz.

And that’s the real problem here. Jones’s entire “apology” here is built on self-pity and self-deprecation. The last line, apologizing for the terrible grammar and stamped with an emoticon, is the penultimate sentiment. Jon Jones is aghast at the nasty reaction anonymous strangers had to his arrest, rather than at the fact that he could have killed somebody.

Like I said, this isn’t the first and won’t be the last time this happens to a professional athlete. But that doesn’t mean he or we should treat it so flippantly. Too many people, some of whom are reading this, have lost people due to the poor decisions and reckless behavior of people like Jones. For him to intimate anything but the deepest regret is irresponsible and reprehensible.

Shame on you, man.

Star Boxing/ESPN2 Friday Night Fights Post-Fight Press Conference 5/18/2012

Posted on May 19, 2012 by kevinmarshall

Promoter Joe DeGuardia talks to the media following Star Boxing’s second event at the Times Union Center, broadcast live on ESPN2′s Friday Night Fights.

Joining him are NABO Jr. Welterweight Champion Karim Mayfield, challenger Tito Serrano, Jason Escalera, and Nick Brinson.

Story filed with the Knick Ledger; will post when available.

Live blog: ESPN2′s Friday Night Fights live at the Times Union Center

Posted on May 18, 2012 by kevinmarshall

Welcome to live coverage of ESPN2′s Friday Night Fights, emanating from the Times Union Center in Albany, NY.

The event will be Star Boxing’s second foray into promoting at the Times Union Center, with their first event marking the return of boxing to the facility in over a decade.

The main event will feature Raymond Serrano taking on Karim Mayfield for the NABO Jr. Welterweight Championship. In other action, undefeated Jason Escalera takes on Nick Brinson in a Super Middleweight bout.

Live, real-time updates are below. Feel free to join the conversation! Just keep it civil.

Uncertain Proving Grounds: Barnett vs. Cormier & Bellator 69

Posted on May 18, 2012 by kevinmarshall

My introductory post for Spike TV is up!

Hey, quit harping on fights that won’t happen like the one between Josh Koscheck and BJ Penn (he already told you he was retired! Leave BJ alone!). There’s plenty of interesting stuff that IS going down this weekend, even if many of the fighters involved face more uncertainty once their evenings are over.

————

Also, as a reminder, I’ll be live-blogging tonight’s Star Boxing card at the Times Union Center, part of which will broadcast live on ESPN as part of Friday Night Fights. You can check that out right here on the Mixed Marshall Arts blog. The live blog will kick off at 7:30pm EST.

TONIGHT: live blog for ESPN2 Friday Night Fights from the Times Union Center

Posted on May 18, 2012 by kevinmarshall

Tonight is Star Boxing’s second foray into promoting boxing at the Times Union Center in Albany. As an added bonus, they’ll be broadcasting live on ESPN2 for Friday Night Fights. I’ll be providing live, round by round coverage of it over on the Mixed Marshall Arts blog, pending technological cooperation from the Times Union Center’s wi-fi and so forth.

Is that it for now? I think that’s it for now. My ribs still hurt but they’ve gotten noticeably better over the last twenty-four hours.

Who is Buying Vinny Magalhaes’ M-1 Challenge Title on eBay?

Posted on May 14, 2012 by kevinmarshall

Vinny Magalhaes, fed up with M-1′s antics after they held him up in contract limbo for half a year, has put his title belt up for sale on eBay.

Magalhaes won the M-1 Challenge Light Heavyweight Championship (which means he’s the champion of…M-1 Challenge? Like just that particular show? Is that like a TV Title? Is he Arn Anderson?) back in October 2011, and to show his appreciation, he’s saying “screw those guys” and getting more money out of the belt itself than he ever would have out of pseudo-oligarch Evgeni Kogan and his business associates that I’m sure aren’t shady Russian mobsters.

Amazingly, bidding is all the way up to $100,000.

ONE. HUNDRED. THOUSAND. DOLLARS. FOR THE GODDAMN M-1 CHALLENGE BELT.

I could see paying a few thousand for it on a lark if you had more money than you knew what to do with, but who on Earth would pay that kind money for this belt?

I have a few theories:

Joe Rogan, after getting really fucking high after recording a podcast.
Evgeni Kogan, trying to save face.
A Russian mobster One of Evgeni’s former business associates, who will hold the belt for ransom.
Some damn kid who thinks fake bids are real funny until their father gets a bill in the mail for $100,000 and every bit of that is coming out of your allowance, young man!
Vladimir Putin, who will wear the belt during the next installment of those creepy call-in shows where he tells people he is the snake Kaa from The Jungle Book and that he will hypnotize and swallow them whole. I’m not making that last part up.

My First (last?) Time in a Cage and Nick Diaz’s no-show

Posted on May 14, 2012 by kevinmarshall

I lost, and badly, in the first round by TKO. That put me in a depressive state for a couple days. But god DAMN was it fun. Hats off to my opponent, Josh Beretz, to whom I was all like “come at me, bro” and holy shit did he ever.

The right side of my jaw is still sore and my side still kills me every time I move thanks to a solid front kick. Nothing broken, just bruised. Only thing that hurts more is my pride and the disappointment I felt in the outcome. I’m putting on a good face but it’s fucking killing me that I didn’t and couldn’t do more. Nice guys, all involved, including the other fighters who were nothing but great before and after the fight. But FUCK I wanted to win. I recognize a big part of this are my own character flaws. I hate that I lost and that I didn’t go out on my shield. I feel ashamed that a fight was stopped and I was able to simply walk away from it. And there’s nothing anyone can say, despite their earnestness, that can convince or make me feel otherwise. I know just from viewing and knowing about combat sports that I shouldn’t feel that way, but I do, for better or worse.

But, again, god DAMN did I love it. The whole experience. Right up to and including getting owned by a vastly superior opponent and getting my bell rung. It was walking away, and every step I’ve taken afterwards, that is killing me. That shame, and the depression, is fading. Slowly. Very, very slowly. But I don’t regret a goddamn second and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Anyways. Thanks to Shannon Miller and Shawn Miller for prepping me the last few weeks. Kudos as well to Ed Kinner who made me privy to some more techniques the day of the fight. Also to Ryan Thompson and Kyle Spiak for cornering and Cage Wars for hosting the damn thing.

For a much more competitive (and damn good) fight, check out the main event title match.

In other news, shocker: Nick Diaz is a headcase. He no-showed a charity no-gi BJJ challenge against Braulio Estima. A day after we got a range of excuses, hemming and hawing from him and his camp. But the bottom line is that he’s done this before, it’s just now getting to the point where he’s doing it for actual competitions.

The thing is, I can’t and won’t hate Nick Diaz for stuff like this because I know, as most everyone who has been following his career for more than a few weeks knows, that he has very real social anxiety/mental issues. And even though it’s prescribed by doctors in California, I really don’t think the weed is helping. That said, I also don’t rely on him as a fan of combat sports, and I wouldn’t rely on him if I were a promoter for an event.

More on the NY State Assembly’s Failure to Put MMA to a Vote…and Why

Posted on May 8, 2012 by kevinmarshall

Although few that follow the story were surprised by the failure of the bill to legalize MMA in New York State to reach the floor of the Assembly, there’s been plenty of reaction in MMA media circles.

The UFC’s Vice-President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner aired his grievances to the Times Union’s Jimmy Vielkind:

“I’m unhappy,” said Marc Ratner, UFC’s vice president for regulatory and governmental affairs. “I know we have the votes, but to not, in baseball terms, get an at bat is patently unfair and un-American.”

Hyperbole aside, it was quite the farce. Then again, it’s New York State politics, so that’s to be expected.

Silver yesterday decided not to put the legislation on the floor after a closed door meeting with most of 101 members of the Assembly’s Democratic conference. Silver claimed that an informal poll revealed that there wasn’t sufficient support to bring the bill to a vote. However, an anonymous source within the conference later told Ken Lovett of the New York Daily News that by her count it was about sixty to twenty-five in favor of the bill.

Between the growing support among Democrats in the Chamber and Assembly Republicans, those I’ve talked to in the Capitol think the bill easily would have passed this year if it had reached the floor.

Once again there’s been a lot of talk about the Culinary Union blocking the bill, but I’ve been corrected on that by many people in the know. For those who are unaware, the Fertitta brothers own Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC. They also own Station Casinos and operate the only non-union casinos in Las Vegas, making them a prime target for the local Culinary Union (a subsidiary of Unite Here). The Union’s been more than happy to attack Zuffa in New York and take credit for the strength of opposition to MMA, but the truth I’ve learned over the last two years is that it is owed more (sadly) to out and out ignorance and stubbornness of guys like Bob Reilly, Ron Canestrari, and Silver. Trust me when I say I wanted there to be a conspiracy of some sort, because the truth that it’s just people who don’t understand and even worse don’t want to understand is much more discouraging from an intellectual standpoint. But that’s politics for you.

Over at Fight Opinion, Zach Arnold brings up an important point about the latest Siena Poll on MMA and the seeming lack of support from New Yorkers for legalization.

I don’t care who you are, a consistent year-in, year-out 38% approval rate for any piece of legislation spells doom and rightfully so. However, when this inconvenient truth is mentioned to boosters, look out. All of a sudden, the constituents that the backers want to win over so bad suddenly become evil people who are ignorant, stupid, and don’t deserve MMA shows.

…

This attitude has permeated in the press throughout the yearly attempts of MMA legislation in New York. MMA is a sport I truly love, but I also recognize that it’s not for everyone and you can’t force people to eat the proverbial dog food if they don’t want to eat it. It doesn’t make them bad human beings.

He’s right about the poll, but wrong about it being a factor (same with the Unions who outside of Unite Here putting out public digs against Zuffa don’t give a lick about this issue). Polls and numbers are important, but so is context. A 38% approval rating isn’t great, but it also isn’t going to prevent anything from getting passed because MMA is a very, very low level issue for the average New Yorker.

If the bill was to pass the Assembly, there would not be outrage or indignation, nor would there be picketers and protests outside of events at Madison Square Garden. The circus has much more passionate and legitimate opposition and it still comes to town. The 38% number isn’t because people in New York are disgusted by MMA, it’s because they either don’t care and/or they’re swayed by the fact that it can’t get passed, so they assume it must be awful. If it were to pass and you were to conduct the same poll in three years, I guarantee you’d see a number in the high sixties or low seventies. That’s (sadly) how it works for low lying, uncontroversial issues.

Long story short, the only reason MMA didn’t pass because Sheldon Silver and a handful of his friends really, really don’t like it. Some of them are retiring while the rest are starting to ebb to the pressure of opposition and embarrassment of coverage each year. It’ll happen, probably next year. And no culinary union or poll will be able to stop it.