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!!

If you are going to be in attendance, look for me! I’ll give you a “Bruises are Sexy – Support Mixed Martial Arts” sticker …

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.

Thank you, Dana!

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!

Oh and congratulations Cowboy for making this SPIKE event the most watched UFC Spike event ever!  Read: UFC 126 sets “UFC Prelims” record with 2 million viewers on Spike TV

Here were my picks … and yes, I was 100% correct!

• Mike Pierce  beats Kenny Robertson
• Kyle Kingsbury beats Ricardo Romero
• Paul Taylor beats Gabe Ruediger
• Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson [UFC debut] beats Norifumi Yamamoto
• Chad Mendes [UFC debut] beats Michihiro Omigawa
• Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone [UFC debut] beats Paul Kelly
• Miguel Torres [UFC debut] beats Antonio Banuelos
• Jake Ellenberger beats Carlos Eduardo Rocha
• Jon Jones beats Ryan Bader
• Forrest Griffin beats Rich Franklin
• Anderson Silva beats Vitor Belfort via front kick to the head

WAR ME!!

WEC 53 RECAP MUST READ:  Spilled Bag of Fights: The Kick!

1. Weigh-Ins

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 …

[Pic courtesy of the Lovely Miss Tracy Lee | Combat Lifestyles]

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.

[ Picture of me with 2 of my faves courtesy of
Miss Tracy Lee | Alienware & Combat Lifestyles ]

3. Morning of Fights

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 …

Read Also:  The Difference Between Fighters and Athletes in MMA

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:

[SOURCE]

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.

Hey UFC … the WEC has just made your events exponentially better.

Hell Yeah!

Tickets, flights and hotel secured. We are going to WEC 53 – the epic and historic LAST WEC event before it is absorbed into UFC. Read Also: Farewell to an Era. Hello to an Exponentially More Talented UFC | UFC WEC Merge

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.

Read Also: The Difference Between Fighters and Athletes in MMA

Lightweight

WAR BARTIMUS!!!!!!!!!!! Dude, you gotta love Bart. He will annihilate Shalorus. Just you watch …

Check Out: MMA Wives (and buy a cool MMAWIVES Christmas ornament!!)

Lightweight (preliminary)

Anybody But Varner.

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 ….)

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.