One thing I love is that in each scenario, these trained fighters dealt with dangerous nad ARMED criminals with submission, not violence. Fricken awesome.
With the exponential rise in popularity of MMA, how could you possibly think of committing a crime without fearing that a trained, professional fighter may be there to Armbar or RNC you?
A year ago I would have been GO FABER! But a lot has happened since then … And it’s not that I like Faber any LESS, because he will always be one of my favorites. It is just that I like Dominick Cruz MORE. I have started following his fights and growth as a fighter, and have grown to appreciate who is as a warrior. I met him on 2 occasions and was very impressed with who he is as a person, too. Which speaks volumes to me.
This is going to be a difficult fight to watch, seeing as I like both guys … but there is no hesitation when I say WAR CRUZ!!! Keep that belt and remind the world that YOU are the CHAMP!!
Our tickets are purchased. Our airfare is booked. Our hotel rooms are reserved. Our passports are in!
UFC 131 … here we come!!
Here are the fights I’m most excited about:
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha
Of course THIS is the fight I’m really going there to see. Yeah, I wanted to see Cowboy beat the vegan out of Danzig, but that can wait for another day. Based on his record, it appears as though Vagner does not have a ton of experience. AND he’s a JJ fighter … When in the hell is the UFC gonna give Cowboy a stand up guy to throw punches with? Oh well. It is going to be a great fight no matter what. Cowboy is incapable of putting on anything BUT an excellent fight. WAR!!
Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin
It’s sad that Lesnar is out with Diverticulitis. That just sucks for him and I hope he can get through it to continue fighting. But OMG! I’m so excited to be able to be able to watch a Carwin fight live!!! Gotta support my Colorado boys!
Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes
Holy Featherweight Batman!! This will be a great fight. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around someone who at one point fought welterweight and is now fighting featherweight. That weight difference is the equivalent of a 2nd grade child. I know, I have one. Mad props to Kenny for this adventure!
Dustin Poirier vs. Jason Young
Damn! This will be a good one for sure. This is Jason’s UFC debut, and I’m sure he will rock it. And with Dustin being a “full-time ninja” this has GOT to be a great prelim fight!!
“For the first time ever, UFC fighters will now possess customized accident insurance coverage. That means the UFC will cover any injuries fighters sustain in training leading up to a bout. In the past, insurance only provided fighters with care for injuries that occurred on fight night.” Source: Las Vegas Sun
This new insurance will cover almost 350 fighters from both UFC and Strikeforce.
This is FANTASTIC news for the men and women who are putting their health and livelihood on the line every time they step into the ring – whether to fight or to train for an upcoming fight.
We are heading to Seattle to watch UFC Fight Night 24 LIVE. I got my Leonard Garcia walk out shirt and am ready for WAR!!
I am MOST excited about the Garcia/Phan rematch. See, I believe that Leonard won over Phan in the TUF Finale. Close fight? Absolutely. Sometimes, we need to stop being swayed by the commentators and actually *watch* the fight. I’m looking forward to Leonard winning. Again. WAR BAD BOY!!
I’m also pretty excited for the opportunity to see my fellow Coloradoan, Duane Ludwig fight Amir Sadollah. WAR BANG!
And, of course, Dan Hardy will be there to fight Anthony Johnson. WAR OUTLAW!
This will be an awesome night of fight in the wonderful city of Seattle – the place I was born!
Being able to attend the epic last WEC event is an experience I will remember for a lifetime. And WEC 53 was most definitely EPIC. We flew into Phoenix, from Colorado, on Wednesday afternoon and flew back out Friday.
I love watching the weigh-ins. All those guys suck weight to get to their goal, and then, over the next 24 hours, they put a metric crap ton load back on again before their fight. We scored some cool WEC sweatshirts and posters, and I was able to take some pretty cool WEC 53 Weigh -in pics.
Right before we headed over to the weigh-ins we had the pleasure of running into the one and only Urijah Faber. Sweet!
The highlight of my trip to the weigh-ins was finally “meeting” Ariel Helwani (one of the best MMA journalists, ever.) and my Twitter friend Jen Palaszewski (aka MMA Wives), wife of Bart Palaszewski. She even gave me a goodie bag!
2. Post Weigh-Ins
Shortly after weigh-ins I ran into my favorite trash talking kid, Stephan Bonnar. Tracy snapped a pic …
In an effort to put back ON that metric crap ton load of weight, fighters go chow down after weigh-ins. Derek and I went to dinner with Cowboy and Leonard Garcia, and several other friends. Cerrone drove us there, and I would venture a guess that riding along with the Cowboy is definitely higher up on the “OH SHIT, THIS IS EXCITING!” meter than watching the Showtime Kick for the 1st time. I think I even learned a thing or two about cattle herding on the way …
We had pasta, pasta, salad and pasta for dinner and talked about all kinds of crazy stuff. You gotta love those boys!! I do.
Walking through the hotel and sitting down for breakfast you can feel the intensity that surrounds everyone, pre-fight. It is almost a surreal experience – but one that really gives you a peek into the life of a fighter. There is a mental and emotional battle that starts way before Bruce Buffer starts talking.
Later we went to lunch, where we took over a chunk of the restaurant and talked about intellectual things like grape Kool-Ade and Nicki Minaj. This is also when I was able to meet Cub Swanson.
4. Preliminary Fights
On any other day, the WEC 53 preliminary fights would have made a spectacular UFC Main Card. Being able to watch all of these fights LIVE was an AWESOME experience.
3 KO’s in a row – all 1st round and all pretty dang exciting. (Well, when Ken Stone got hauled out of the octagon on a stretcher, THAT was scary. But he is fine now.) Jamie Varner had to tap out in the first round, in his own hometown, because of Shane Roller = excellence. Then there was the emotional victory of Danny Boy Downes over the Mongolian Wolf.
And, of course, there was the Pickett – Menjivar fight that would have easily made Fight of the Night, had Anthony Pettis not become a matrix ninja later on that same evening. One of my all-time favorite fighters, One-Punch (who walks out in suspenders and that fabulous hat), won by unanimous decision. YES!! Check it out …
5. Main Card
When Bart fought Shalorus, I thought it could go either way, but believed that Bart won. Sadly, the judges didn’t agree with me.
Of course, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone dominated the fight against Chris Horodecki – with a triangle hold that won him the fight in round 2. WAR COWBOY!!! I just love watching Cowboy saunter around the cage looking for a fight. He will go on to fight Cole Miller, I believe …
The 2 belt fights were each 5 rounds of pure awesomeness. It was intense watching Scotty and Cruz fly around the cage throwing punches like champions. I wanted Scotty to win so bad … but Dominic was the clear winner, becoming both the last WEC and 1st UFC Bantamweight Champion. (Meh. I still bet Faber could take him out. ... and not to dinner.)
The Henderson and Pettis fight was close … round to round. SUPER intense as the crowd, obviously pro-Henderson, cheered for their boy, but burst into near hysteria when Pettis, in the last minute of the last round did this:
Anthony “Showtime” Pettis won the WEC Lightweight belt and will go on to fight the winner of the UFC Maynard/Edgar fight for the UFC belt.
After the fights, the cumulative energy is completely different. The stress is gone – replaced by exhaustion of the fighters, and also (on some part) the fans! There were tons of after-parties and I was able to hang with some of my favorite people, drink a little too much Jack and meet Pettis, the TaopuT boys and Herb Dean.
I had an awesome time at WEC 51 back in September (another great night of fights), but BEING THERE for WEC 53 was not only an honor, but a lifelong memory.
Here are my picks for the WEC 53 fights that I care the most about. And just so you know, I make my picks based off of who I WANT to win and why – not necessarily based off of fight records.
Lightweight Championship
Ben Henderson is going take this one. And I want him to win, too. Why, because I want Cerrone to win HIS fight and then eventually have the ultimate Colorado Springs Lightweight Championship UFC fight. (Yes, both Cerrone and Henderson are from here in Colorado Springs. HA! )
Bantamweight Championship
I want Scotty Jorgensen to win, but I think Dominick Cruz will take this one. Which is fine, ultimately, because I want to see Urijah Faber fight Cruz again.
Lightweight
WAR COWBOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My boy will drag this fight out through all 3 rounds if at all possible, forcing Chris to put that “hammer” back in his toolbox.
That said, I want Shane Roller to destroy Jamie Varner in his own hometown. Preferably by KO in the first round. How wonderful would THAT BE?? Very. (Hell, if I had it my way, I would fly Felice Herrig* out to beat on Varner for me, too. )
Bantamweight (preliminary)
One Punch FTW!!!!!! Brad Pickett has everything it takes to win this fight over Menjivar. Brad is totally bad ass and I look forward to seeing this fight. TONS of action, I can only assume!!
(*My opinion of Varner is no reflection of anyone else’s opinion of Varner. Well, except for maybe Cowboy’s opinion of Varner ….)
Below is a request that @TapoutSKRAPE posted on Twitter this evening. PLEASE PLEASE READ and HELP MASK!!
I have a HUGE favor to ask of you all!! It doesn’t matter if you knew or met Charles(Mask) or not! But if he touched your life in ANY way please write a short Victim Impact Statement and email it to our District Attorney Jason. Jason will then print out all the emails and let the judge & jury read them before any decision is made.
Please include in Victim Impact Statement: case # 09HF0445 of Charles David Lewis Jr.(MASK).
Include a positive funny story, how u met him/us if you did, how his death affected you/the community, and what the judge should consider sentencing the drunk driver that killed him to!!!
Thanks again, I appreciate it the email is Jason.Baez@da.ocgov.com
Thank you, TapouT for everything you have done for MMA.
You gotta love those boys!! I do.
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