KenFlo vs Octagon Post and Sherk. Watch the video here

Decent fight overall for Sherk, his takedowns are explosive. Kenflo was cool though, hung in till the end which many, including me didn't expect.

So hot on the heels of his win in Heros I get a news release stating Carlos will be fighting Renzo Gracie in the IFL this coming Dec 29th. Go Carlos! Go Dragons! More here

Sport Navi has some great shots of Carlos Newton winning his Heros match. Go there and see them. Go now. You are only ever three devastating uppercuts away from losing consciousness.

Hey,

I found my old Pride post. May as well post it now as I get ready for the card this weekend.

Random Pride thoughts:

Thanks to ExpressVu all day replay I get to watch Pride WWGP Survival at a decent hour.
There must be some time shifting that can be done for us folks way out east. Anyhow with some news floating around about PRide's loss of the TV contract in Japan Survival might be an apt name for this card. The TV company also produce the PPV shows that you and I get to see, hopefully something good comes around, another channel maybe will pick them up.

Random thought 1: Does Ou Won Jin have some kind of unchokable neck?! I would have
been tapping like Gregory Hines in those. From Grappling to slugfest to GnP this fight had it all, good match.

Random Thought 2: Suleov tries to capture the power of Chuck Norris' Beard. 15 mins of playing two for flinching until finally a big punch lands. Little more tag is played. That one punch wins the fight. My grass grew six inches this week, it was more exciting.

Random Thought 3: Nice scramble out the back by Bech... whatever Gregory at the 3 min
or so mark and a nice slam by Filho just after. Mostly decent pace of GnP, if you saw the fight you can't argue with the decision. OK match

Random Thought 4: Beautiful Scramble by Joey at just about the last minute, great finish too. Good Match.

Random Thought 5: I'd like to have Yoshida in my corner...neither that or the gi helped this guy. OK match

Random Thought 6: Throws, sub attempts, and good old face punching. Good Match

Random Thought 7: Let's hope this loss will be Bennett's last...appearance in the ring. OK Match

Random Thought 8: Wasn't this Alfonso guy in a bad video game? Fitting that Sakurai got a perfect finish than huh? Good match just because of the right hand.

Random Thought 9: It's illegal to kill Zebras for use in Speedos isn't it? Oh well it worked for him. Pretty equal brawl, Good Match.

Random Thought 10: Don't Blink. Kang bandwagon, all aboard! Good match

Random Thought 11: Any match with a flying knee is a good match. I don't know why but I like the NYBA, sorry to see him drop this one.

Closing thought: Good card, If there is another Bushido I will watch. Here's hoping the stories are hype or another channel will pick up PrideFC.

Well I saw the last episode of the IFL pilot. Good stuff. The only part I didn't like was the full screen of Pat coaching, while the fight was happening. They showed the fight on the big screen in the background but the shot was bad. Stick with the fullscreen fights with the coach inserts, Other than that good job by the IFL.tv crew.

Bring on the new teams!!!!

Blogspot was screwed up for a while, they lost my Pride post! and my last IFL post.

Just got to see the second episode of the IFL pilot. More good stuff. All the previous comments stand for this set of fights too. I could do without the picking up in the 3rd round for fights but I understand they have limited time. The show pits Mo Smith's Tiger Sharks against Renzo Gracie's Pitbulls.

I have heard some rumblings of people with FSN getting mixed up schedules and how this programme is jumping around timewise. That is too bad, it could kill the show's chances, it deserves better! Get it on TV in Canada too while you're at it IFL.

Hey! Delson Heleno for all you folks asking for Capoeira in MMA. Leadfoot is here. Lets just say the kicks do finish it, how is up to you to see.

Rogan and Eddie Bravo in the crowd giving positive interviews about the league is nice after the big stink Dana allegedly put up and the lawsuits etc.

I'll be tuning in for the final when I can. I advise you to do the same. It has aired on FSN already but I am sure you can catch reruns. Do it, it is worth every minute.

Carlos Newton!!!!

More IFL news. Newton is going to lead the Dragons team from Canada in the IFL. Go Carlos, go Canada, go Dragons.

Also announced was Matt Lindland as a coach, awesome work IFL. He has pretty much the best name in the league, even if it is prowrestling throwback. The Wolfpack. Also we get Mark Coleman with a UK based team?! and Antonio Inoki coaching team Japan. Holy Shit I am stoked. No names for their teams yet. I can't wait to see these logos.

Which brings me to a criticism of the IFL. Get this news on your webpage. Don't make me read and link to it on Sherdog. Hell everyone loves Sherdog but you have to get this stuff on your page, with logos and bios. This is simple web work folks, all the content should have been ready and approved and the minute that press conference was happening it should have been turned up on ifl.tv
Instead I have to send people here to see the video http://www.sherdog.com/videos/videos.asp?v_id=721

Another criticism. Do not ever let that stumbling, stuttering fool announce important news again! Hire a publicist, never let people know you didn't have the final name of a team ironed out until seconds before the announcement. It isn't funny, it is embarrassing. I don't care if he is rich and running the show, he came off as an idiot.

I just watched the first episode of the IFL show. International Fight League (http://www.ifl.tv/) is what MMA should be on TV! I could end the post there as it sums up my feelings completely.

This show is beyond anything that Zuffa/UFC and Spike TV have come up with. The production quality, camera angles, announcing all lent to the feel that this was a real sports event not a spectacle. I loved it.

There has been lots of flak on the Internet about the shorter rounds and a few other rules. This is still MMA, ask the guys that took the beatings if they were doing MMA and I am sure they'd say yes. The rounds aren't noticeably shorter and lots of punishment occured, including a great leglock.

Another thing that gets the wankers on the boards going are the names. But honestly look at the links for the big three sports leagues. Go ahead I'll wait:

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/index.jsp
http://www.nhl.com/teams/index.html
http://www.nfl.com/

These names suck too, according to the criteria being used to judge the IFL names. Cats/Fish/imaginary beasts/ this is what sports names are, the IFL is no different. The logos aren't anyworse than fish wearing helmets and that duck mask thing. That arguement strikes out with me.

IFL, get this on TV with Expressvu. Do it now. At least get it on the Fight Network here in Canada so I can watch it without turning to the filesharing programs.

PS - Fight Network guys, get on Expressvu. What is the slowup?!

Ultimate Fight Night on Spike TV

I love Spike TV.

Leben vs Rivera
Chris Leben wins by convincing punching over Jorge Rivera. Whatever, I still don't like the guy. Not the kind of person I like to see representing the sport. Maybe his TUF persona was an act but it has coloured my opinion forever, first impressions and all that. It is getting hard to ignore his winning though.

Josh Burkman vs Drew Fickett
Burkman by guillitine choke ove the not quite so masterful Ficket(on this night anyhow). This match lasted just over a minute. That's two quick ones, I am holding out to see Jason von Flue on TV tonight. Two wins and Burkman is blabbing about 'his' title, thought saying he respects Matt HUghes and really wants Diego 'Dirty' Sanchez.

The historic hype announcement is coming. Going to shake the MMA world they say. If it is the Royce Gracie rumour that is floating around the Internet, I can really say I am more interested in Spike TV's new Blade series. Couture -Liddell 3 is getting the full treatment. But another mega fight is coming. Dana introduces the 'greatest weltterweight of all time' and the country music plays as Hughes wanders down to the cage(wonder how BJ Penn feels about that). His opponent appears to chimes of the original UFC theme, "the greatest fighter to ever step into the octagon" Royce Gracie. Blah. He is right, he did build the house but is it his anymore? Or did he forfeit on the mortgage by staying away so long? When does Blade start?

Bonnar vs Irvin
Maybe I'll get to see a flying knee knockout, that would make my night. Bonnar is okay, I like his interviews and he does fight well but for some reason I just don't care when he fights. Bonnar pushes Irvin up to the fence and takes him down. Some half guard scrambling takes place, a few light punches from Stefan and a Kimura/jujigatame attempt leads to Irvin springing up to his feet, only to be brought back down. Bonnar sinks a scary deep kimura/hammer lock and butIrvin won't tap, finally he does and Herb Dean stops the fight, probably saving the arm serious damage. Followed by another good interview by Stefan.

Goulet vs Ludwig
The lead in for this match lasted longer than the match itself. Goulet came right out of it after his head bounced off the floor. I thought at first it was stopped a little early, Bang landed hard but I thought Goulet would have been able to fight. His legs buckled and hit fell hard though so I guess it was fair. I expected better from Goulet I guess, oh well, more of both please. Especially if I can get a chance to hear Bas in the corner.

Sylvia vs Silva
Interesting move for Silva getting into a guardlike position with his back against the fence, making Tim hold both their weight up. It has to be stopped as Tim's pants are falling off. Lots of clinch work stops the long arms of Sylvia but nothing interesting happens. It gets separated again. Tim flurries and even jumps in with a knee, twicw. Lots of straight knees in the clinch. Silva absorbs it all and the fight goes to round two.

Silva opens with a spinning back kick to no avail. Silva continues to take shots from the outside and trys to bait Sylvia down to the ground but its a nogo. Silva gets inside and lands some good punches, cutting up Tim. again intot he standing guard move. When it breaks Silva is confident and it shows. Tim's reach keeps him honest though. Tim gets his own spinning kick and Silva nods. Tim gets a take down off a kick, off to round three.

another big spinning wheel kick for Silva to open. Silva is a little more offensive than Tim at the beginning. he is having a hard time getting inside though. Silva gets in and gets suplex position, Tim cheats and holds the fence. Jumping guard to make Tim hold the weight again. It gets broken up to the middle again. Silva lands the spinning back kick and gets a minor takedown that Tim recovers from quickly. Tim wins the last of the round by staying outside. Is it enough to put him over in the judges eyes?
Yep. 30-27 in two judges eyes which confuses me somewhat, I thought he won but not that convincingly. Arvloski is next.

Overall a great show. It's free and had good fights. Did I mention I love Spike TV?