Several Clinch Gear athletes competed at the Olympic Trials and had excellent showings. Nick Simmons, the returning World Team Member and #1 seed in the tournament, won his first two matches including a win over the defending Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo before losing in the finals to the eventual champion Sam Hazewinkel in the men’s freestyle 55kg division. Simmons finished in 2nd place. Also competing were Clinch Gear athletes Joe Warren, Teyon Ware, Dennis Hall, Chase Pami (4th place finish), Ben Kjar (4th place finish) and Andrew Hochstrasser (4th place finish). Clinch Gear is proud to sponsor such a dedicated team of athletes.

Former champions collide when Clinch Gear fighter Cung Le faces Rich Franklin at UFC 148 in July. In a fight that promises to be a stand-up war, former StrikeForce Middleweight Champion Cung Le puts his style of Sanshou up against former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin. Over half of Franklin’s wins (53%) have come by KO or TKO while all of Cung Le’s wins have come by KO or TKO. Look forward to fireworks at UFC 148 in July!

The Irish led from start to finish, outpacing a murderer’s row of national caliber prep wrestling teams, including defending state champion teams Baylor (TN), Archbishop Rummel (LA) and St. Thomas (TX); state runners-up McCallie School (TN), Bishop Lynch (TX) and Providence Day (NC); perennial national prep dynamos St. Paul’s (MD), The Kiski School (PA) and Calvary Chapel (CA); and 2012 Georgia High School Association Team Dual champions Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School.

2012 Clinch Gear Prep Slam Outstanding Upper Weight Michael Hooker, Father Ryan

Michael Hooker (Wrestling USA Magazine Senior Class 152 #19) paced Father Ryan, reeling off five pins to earn the tournament’s Outstanding Upper Weight award. It was the second consecutive Clinch Gear Prep Slam crown for Hooker, a two-time Tennessee state champion and a four-time finalist.

Hooker set a new state record for career wins with his third-period fall in the 160 final over two-time Maryland state champion Brad Mutchnik (WUSA Sr. 152 #23) of St. Paul’s (MD), recording his 230th high school victory.

2012 Clinch Gear Prep Slam Outstanding Lower Weight Zach Watson, Baylor School

Baylor’s Zach Watson (WUSA Sr. 126 #23) netted the Clinch Gear Prep Slam’s Outstanding Lower Weight honors with a dominant performance in the 126 final, a 5-0 shutout of Ben Friedman (WUSA Sr. 126 #18), a Prep Nationals finalist, three-time Prep Nationals placewinner and three-time Maryland state champion from St. Paul’s (MD).

It was the second Clinch Gear Prep Slam titleand fourth finals appearance for the University of Virginia-bound Watson, who is also a four-time Tennessee state champion.

2011 USA Wrestling Junior Greco-Roman national champion Geordan Speiller of Pine Castle Christian Academy (FL) was dominant in the 170 division, scoring two pins and a tech fall en route to a finals showdown with Holy Innocents’ Jason Grimes, a USAW Cadet All-American in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Speiller (WUSA Sr. 160 #6), a two-time Florida state champion, dominated with takedowns, defeating Grimes (WUSAJr. 170 #14), a two-time Georgia state medalist, by a score of 8-4.

USAW Cadet National Greco-Roman champion and Junior Greco-Roman All-American Scott Gibbons of Archbishop Rummel was the crown jewel of the 182 division. Along with his impressive national credentials, Gibbons (WUSA Sr. 182 #11), who committed to Princeton, is a two-time Louisiana state champion and a returning Clinch Gear Prep Slam Finalist. He finished the tournament with two falls and two decisions, including a 7-1 finals victory over two-time Georgia state medalist Lee Davis of Holy Innocents’.

The 132 final between Chris Caton of Northside Christian Academy (NC) and Bishop Lynch’s Travis Rodenbaugh was a match-up of returning Clinch Gear Prep Slam champions. It was the third consecutive Clinch Gear Prep Slam title and fourth consecutive finals appearance for Caton (WUSA Sr. 126 #12). A 2011 Prep Nationals runner-up, two-time Prep Nationals medalist and three-time North Carolina state champion, Caton dispatched Rodenbaugh, a defending Texas state champion, at 1:44 of the first period.

Clinch Gear Prep Slam Notes:
–Undefeated freshman Kenneth Brinson of Marist (GA) was the surprise winner at 195, defeating the top two seeds along the way.

–In the 152 final, Pete Galli of St. Paul’s (MD) and Spencer Jones of Darlington (GA) earned the Best Finals Match award. Galli (WUSA Sr. #16), a Prep Nationals finalist, two-time Prep Nationals placewinner, two-time Maryland state champion and three time finalist, withstood a late charge by Jones, a three-time Georgia state champion and returning Clinch Gear Prep Slam finalist, to claim a 7-5 victory.

–St. Paul’s (MD) freshman Ryan Friedman won the 106 title, with two pins, a tech fall and a 7-0 decision in the final over Calvary Chapel senior Gordon McDonald.

–McCallie junior Alex Elsea won the 113 crown with two pins and two decisions.

–Lake Highland Prep (FL) had champions at 120 and 220, as sophomore Anthony Petrone (WUSA Fr./So. 113 Honorable Mention) won a nail biter over Calvary Chapel and Carter Shipley (WUSA Jr. 220 #16) edged Georgia state champion Mark Mongell of St. Francis, 5-4.

–Father Ryan’s Mark Marchetti (WUSA Jr. 1160 HM) won the 145 title, defeating Texas state champion Ricky Regas of St. Thomas.

–Returning Clinch Gear Prep Slam champion and two-time Georgia state medalist Chad Pyke of Woodward Academy beat Tennessee state champion Alex Ward of McCallie to capture the 138 title.

–At 285, Montgomery Bell Academy (TN) state placer Jashon Roberton defeated Calvary Chapel’s Elliot Taylor, ranked sixth in the state of California by CalGrappler.com.

–St. Paul’s (MD) finished second in the team points race, with two champions, four finalists and seven placewinners.

–McCallie was third, with one champion, two finalists and seven medalists.

–Calvary Chapel placed fourth in the team standings, with two finalists, five semi-finalists and seven medal winners.

–The Kiski School rounded out the top five, with one finalist and six placewinners.

2012 Clinch Gear Prep Slam Individual Results

106: Ryan Friedman (St. Paul’s MD) def. Gordon McDonald (Calvary Chapel) by dec., 7-0
113: Alex Elsea (McCallie) def. Jack Pantanella (Kiski School) by dec., 9-7
120: Anthony Petrone (Lake Highland Prep) def. Adam Alvarado (Calvary Chapel) by dec., 2-1
126: Zach Watson (Baylor) def. Eric Friedman (St. Paul’s MD) by dec., 5-0
132: Chris Caton (Northside Christian, NC) def. Travis Rodenbaugh (Bishop Lynch) by fall, 1:44
138: Chad Pyke (Woodward Academy) def. Alex Ward (McCallie) by dec., 4-2
145: Mark Marchetti (Father Ryan) def. Ricky Regas (St. Thomas) by dec., 7-2
152: Pete Galli (St. Paul’s MD) def. Spencer Jones (Darlington) by dec., 7-5
160: Michael Hooker (Father Ryan) def. Brad Mutchnik (St. Paul’s MD) by fall, 5:12
170: Geordan Speiller (Pine Castle Christian Academy) def. Jason Grimes (Holy Innocents’) by dec., 8-4
182: Scott Gibbons (Archbishop Rummel) def. Lee Davis (Holy Innocents’) by dec., 7-1
195: Kenneth Brinson (Marist) def. Jeff Lamer (St. Benedict at Auburndale) by dec., 7-6 2OT
220: Carter Shipley (Lake Highland Prep) def. Mark Mongell (St. Francis) by dec., 5-4
285: Jashon Roberton (Montgomery Bell Academy) def. Elliot Taylor (Calvary Chapel) by dec., 5-1

2012 Clinch Gear Prep Slam Individual Awards:

Outstanding Lower Weight: Watson, Baylor (2 pins, 1 MD, 2 dec)
Outstanding Upper Weight: Hooker, Father Ryan (5 pins)
Best Finals Match: Galli, St. Paul’s MD vs. Jones, Darlington (152)

2012 Clinch Gear Prep Slam Team Results

1.Father Ryan218.0
2.St. Paul’s MD186.5
3.McCallie183.0
4.Calvary Chapel165.0
5.Kiski School136.5
6.Baylor133.0
7.Montgomery Bell Academy121.0
8.St. Paul’s LA116.0
9.Archbishop Rummel107.0
10.Holy Innocents103.5
11.Woodward Academy100.5
12.Greater Atlanta Christian90.5
13.St. Thomas84.5
14.St. Benedict at Auburndale78.0
15.Bishop Lynch73.5
16.Lake Highland Prep72.5
17.Lovett67.0
18.Darlington63.0
19.Marist63.0
20.First Presbyterian Day School51.0
21.Athens Christian School48.0
22.LaSalle Institute47.0
23.Episcopal Academy46.0
24.Riverside Military41.0
25.St. Francis41.0
26.St. Pius X41.0
27.Providence Day School37.0
28.Northside Christian – N Carolina34.0
29.Pine Castle Christian Academy33.5
30.Walker29.0
31.University Heights Academy27.0
32.Tampa Preparatory School24.0
33.Benedictine Military23.0
34.Eagles Landing Christian22.0
35.Landmark Christian20.5
36.Franklin Road Academy20.0
37.Calvary Christian Academy19.5
38.Christ Church Episcopal School15.0
39.Northside Christian – Florida15.0
40.Fellowship Christian Academy11.0
41.San Antonio Christian9.0
42.Christ Church8.0
43.Savannah Christian Preparatory School5.0
44.Savannah Country Day0.0

106 Results

1st Place – Ryan Friedman of St. Paul’s MD
2nd Place – Gordon McDonald of Calvary Chapel
3rd Place – Michael Eckhart of Father Ryan
4th Place – James Westbrooks of McCallie
5th Place – Kyler Allen of Lovett
6th Place – David Wells of Benedictine Military

1st Place Match
Ryan Friedman (St. Paul’s MD) 4-0, over Gordon McDonald (Calvary Chapel) 4-1.(Dec 7-0)
3rd Place Match
Michael Eckhart (Father Ryan) 5-1, over James Westbrooks (McCallie) 5-2.(Maj 8-0)
5th Place Match
Kyler Allen (Lovett) 4-2, over David Wells (Benedictine Military) 3-3. (Pin 0:58)

113 Results

1st Place – Alex Elsea of McCallie
2nd Place – Jack Pantanella of Kiski School
3rd Place – Christopher Wesnofske of Father Ryan
4th Place – Matt Calcote of Archbishop Rummel
5th Place – Peter Cunningham of Calvary Chapel
6th Place – Nicky Tribble of St. Thomas

1st Place Match
Alex Elsea (McCallie) 5-0, over Jack Pantanella (Kiski School) 4-1. (Dec 9-7)
3rd Place Match
Christopher Wesnofske (Father Ryan) 5-1, over Matt Calcote (Archbishop Rummel) 4-2. (Pin 4:10)
5th Place Match
Peter Cunningham (Calvary Chapel) 6-2, over Nicky Tribble (St. Thomas) 3-3. (FF)

120 Results

1st Place – Anthony Petrone of Lake Highland Prep
2nd Place – Adam Alvarado of Calvary Chapel
3rd Place – Jack Mutchnik of St. Paul’s MD
4th Place – Kyle Jennings of St. Benedict at Auburndale
5th Place – Austin Marsico of Kiski School
6th Place – Caleb Greer of Landmark Christian

1st Place Match
Anthony Petrone (Lake Highland Prep) 5-0, over Adam Alvarado (Calvary Chapel) 3-1.(Dec 2-1)
3rd Place Match
Jack Mutchnik (St. Paul’s MD) 7-1, over Kyle Jennings (St. Benedict at Auburndale) 6-2. (Maj 9-1)
5th Place Match
Austin Marsico (Kiski School) 3-2, over Caleb Greer (Landmark Christian) 2-3. (I-D)

126 Results

1st Place – Zach Watson of Baylor
2nd Place – Eric Friedman of St. Paul’s MD
3rd Place – Connor Campo of St. Paul’s LA
4th Place – Chandler Pyke of Woodward Academy
5th Place – Judson Preskitt of Bishop Lynch
6th Place – Peter Palacios of Calvary Chapel

1st Place Match
Zach Watson (Baylor) 5-0, over Eric Friedman (St. Paul’s MD) 4-1.(Dec 5-0)
3rd Place Match
Connor Campo (St. Paul’s LA) 6-1, over Chandler Pyke (Woodward Academy) 5-2.(Dec 8-2)
5th Place Match
Judson Preskitt (Bishop Lynch) 4-2, over Peter Palacios (Calvary Chapel) 5-3. (Dec 4-3)

132 Results

1st Place – Chris Caton of Northside Christian – N Carolina
2nd Place – Travis Rodenbaugh of Bishop Lynch
3rd Place – Zack Kelly of Kiski School
4th Place – JahlaniCallender of Calvary Christian Academy
5th Place – Tim Westbrooks of McCallie
6th Place – Brandon Brunner of Baylor

1st Place Match
Chris Caton (Northside Christian – N Carolina) 5-0, over Travis Rodenbaugh (Bishop Lynch) 4-1. (Pin 1:44)
3rd Place Match
Zack Kelly (Kiski School) 7-1, over JahlaniCallender(Calvary Christian Academy) 4-2. (Dec 6-3)
5th Place Match
Tim Westbrooks (McCallie) 4-2, over Brandon Brunner (Baylor) 2-3. (Dec 6-3)

138 Results

1st Place – Chad Pyke of Woodward Academy
2nd Place – Alex Ward of McCallie
3rd Place – Michael Longo of Calvary Chapel
4th Place – Robbie Martin of St. Pius X
5th Place – Bryant Meyers of Kiski School
6th Place – Daniel Bellet of Montgomery Bell Academy

1st Place Match
Chad Pyke (Woodward Academy) 5-0, over Alex Ward (McCallie) 4-1. (Dec 4-2)
3rd Place Match
Michael Longo (Calvary Chapel) 5-1, over Robbie Martin (St. Pius X) 5-2.(Dec 1-0)
5th Place Match
Bryant Meyers (Kiski School) 6-2, over Daniel Bellet (Montgomery Bell Academy) 3-3. (Pin 2:19)

145 Results

1st Place – Mark Marchetti of Father Ryan
2nd Place – Ricky Regas of St. Thomas
3rd Place – Aaron Negrette of Calvary Chapel
4th Place – Cole Wheeler of First Presbyterian Day School
5th Place – Bryson Popp of Baylor
6th Place – Connor Wagh of St. Paul’s MD

1st Place Match
Mark Marchetti (Father Ryan) 5-0, over Ricky Regas (St. Thomas) 4-1. (Dec 7-2)
3rd Place Match
Aaron Negrette (Calvary Chapel) 5-1, over Cole Wheeler (First Presbyterian Day School) 4-2.(Dec 11-6)
5th Place Match
Bryson Popp (Baylor) 5-2, over Connor Wagh (St. Paul’s MD) 5-3. (Pin 3:32)

152 Results

1st Place – Pete Galli of St. Paul’s MD
2nd Place – Spencer Jones of Darlington
3rd Place – John Mark Bellet of Montgomery Bell Academy
4th Place – Cole Moseley of Father Ryan
5th Place – Manny Markantone of Kiski School
6th Place – KaylonSencio of St. Thomas

1st Place Match
Pete Galli (St. Paul’s MD) 5-0, over Spencer Jones (Darlington) 4-1.(Dec 7-5)
3rd Place Match
John Mark Bellet (Montgomery Bell Academy) 5-1, over Cole Moseley (Father Ryan) 4-2.(Dec 3-1)
5th Place Match
Manny Markantone (Kiski School) 5-2, over KaylonSencio (St. Thomas) 4-3. (TF 17-2)

160 Results

1st Place – Michael Hooker of Father Ryan
2nd Place – Brad Mutchnik of St. Paul’s MD
3rd Place – Connor Sutton of LaSalle Institute
4th Place – Elijah Ballard of Athens Christian School
5th Place – James Cavaliere of St. Paul’s LA
6th Place – Zach Feuerbach of Greater Atlanta Christian

1st Place Match
Michael Hooker (Father Ryan) 5-0, over Brad Mutchnik (St. Paul’s MD) 4-1. (Pin 5:12)
3rd Place Match
Connor Sutton (LaSalle Institute) 5-1, over Elijah Ballard (Athens Christian School) 4-2. (Dec 11-6)
5th Place Match
James Cavaliere (St. Paul’s LA) 5-2, over Zach Feuerbach (Greater Atlanta Christian) 4-3. (Dec 8-5)

170 Results

1st Place – Geordan Speiller of Pine Castle Christian Academy
2nd Place – Jason Grimes of Holy Innocents
3rd Place – Spencer Craig of Baylor
4th Place – Chris Arms of St. Paul’s LA
5th Place – Elliot Berz of McCallie
6th Place – Ben Veler of Bishop Lynch

1st Place Match
Geordan Speiller (Pine Castle Christian Academy) 4-0, over Jason Grimes (Holy Innocents) 4-1.(Dec 8-4)
3rd Place Match
Spencer Craig (Baylor) 4-1, over Chris Arms (St. Paul’s LA) 4-2. (Pin 2:06)
5th Place Match
Elliot Berz (McCallie) 4-2, over Ben Veler(Bishop Lynch) 4-3. (TF 16-1)

182 Results

1st Place – Scott Gibbons of Archbishop Rummel
2nd Place – Lee Davis of Holy Innocents
3rd Place – TJ Holmes of Father Ryan
4th Place – Matt Bodine of Baylor
5th Place – Nathan Hoodenpyle of McCallie
6th Place – Thomas Cusack of Episcopal Academy

1st Place Match
Scott Gibbons (Archbishop Rummel) 4-0, over Lee Davis (Holy Innocents) 3-1.(Dec 7-1)
3rd Place Match
TJ Holmes (Father Ryan) 4-1, over Matt Bodine (Baylor) 5-2.(Dec 3-1)
5th Place Match
Nathan Hoodenpyle (McCallie) 5-2, over Thomas Cusack (Episcopal Academy) 3-3. (Dec 8-3)

195 Results

1st Place – Kenneth Brinson of Marist
2nd Place – Jeff Lamer of St. Benedict at Auburndale
3rd Place – Ricky Fisher of Father Ryan
4th Place – Mike Green of St. Paul’s MD
5th Place – Charlie Rousseau of Holy Innocents
6th Place – Max Wilsey of Woodward Academy

1st Place Match
Kenneth Brinson (Marist) 4-0, over Jeff Lamer (St. Benedict at Auburndale) 3-1.(Dec 7-6)
3rd Place Match
Ricky Fisher (Father Ryan) 5-1, over Mike Green (St. Paul’s MD) 4-2.(Dec 5-1)
5th Place Match
Charlie Rousseau (Holy Innocents) 3-2, over Max Wilsey (Woodward Academy) 3-3. (OT 6-4)

220 Results

1st Place – Carter Shipley of Lake Highland Prep
2nd Place – Mark Mongell of St. Francis
3rd Place – John Babson of LaSalle Institute
4th Place – Parker Fair of Greater Atlanta Christian
5th Place – Michael Vickers of Woodward Academy
6th Place – Morris Eguakun of Montgomery Bell Academy

1st Place Match
Carter Shipley (Lake Highland Prep) 5-0, over Mark Mongell (St. Francis) 3-1. (Dec 5-4)
3rd Place Match
John Babson (LaSalle Institute) 5-1, over Parker Fair (Greater Atlanta Christian) 4-2. (2-OT 6-3)
5th Place Match
Michael Vickers (Woodward Academy) 4-2, over Morris Eguakun (Montgomery Bell Academy) 4-3. (Dec 6-2)

285 Results

1st Place – Jashon Roberton of Montgomery Bell Academy
2nd Place – Elliot Taylor of Calvary Chapel
3rd Place – Tye Youngblood of McCallie
4th Place – Allan Beattie of Kiski School
5th Place – Shane Burkholder of St. Paul’s LA
6th Place – Gavin Lawrence of Darlington

1st Place Match
Jashon Roberton (Montgomery Bell Academy) 5-0, over Elliot Taylor (Calvary Chapel) 4-1.(Dec 5-1)
3rd Place Match
Tye Youngblood (McCallie) 5-1, over Allan Beattie (Kiski School) 4-2.(Pin 2:42)
5th Place Match
Shane Burkholder (St. Paul’s LA) 3-2, over Gavin Lawrence (Darlington) 4-3. (Pin 0:47)

Sonnen and Bisping is the kind of fight we used to wait months for. Two trash talking guys at the top of their game would have had PPV gold written all over it. Those were the days before the UFC entered a big money seven year deal with FOX. When Mark Munoz (who was scheduled to fight Sonnen) got hurt, the UFC was in a jam to fill its co main event spot for UFC on FOX 2. Munoz got hurt with just 11 days to go until fight night, which didn’t make UFC match maker Joe Silva’s job any easier.

For the short term the UFC got lucky because Bisping was already training to fight Damian Maia on the same card. A couple of phone calls later the fans ended up with quite a surprise, a dream match-up between two of the most hated guys in the game.

The fact that Sonnen vs. Bisping is put on free TV in the same week a proposed PPV card from Montreal gets cancelled due to “scheduling conflicts” tells you how different life must be for Zuffa.

UFC 145 had been scheduled for March in Montreal, but was cancelled after the UFC could not put together a decent main event. It’s easy for me to say the UFC should have postponed a fight between Bisping and Sonnen, but there are other factors involved. With less than two weeks until fight night most guys are in shape and want to fight. Having everything put on hold for another eight weeks is asking a lot of both fighters. I get that.

Still, Sonnen has as much buzz around him as any guy in the game and it’s impossible for me to believe the UFC hype machine would not have been running at full power getting people hyped up to see which loudmouth would get his ass kicked. My pitch to both guys would be simple. You are going to make a lot more money headlining in Montreal than you will in Chicago. Take some time to rest and then get back after it. You are a fighter, this is what you do.

Would Bisping/Sonnen set PPV buy records? Maybe not, but I’d bet a few bucks it would end up in the top 5 for 2012 as well as selling out the Bell Center in Montreal.

Instead, UFC 145 was cancelled and Bisping and Sonnen find themselves in a supporting role to the main event of Phil Davis against Rashad Evans.

I don’t blame Dana White for being excited about getting a deal done with FOX. The promotion during the MLB playoffs as well as last week’s NFL games is priceless, plus the programming on Fuel and FX has been excellent for the first month.

It doesn’t change the fact that White and the UFC have backed themselves into a corner by signing with FOX. FOX is used to getting the best from all of the leagues they sign deals with and it’s no different with the UFC. That’s why when Munoz gets hurt; we the fans ultimately win by getting Sonnen vs. Bisping on free TV.

Here is a bigger problem. There is almost no excitement for this card and we are less than a week away. It feels like nobody cares if they see Rashad Evans try to move one step closer to his long awaited showdown with Jon Jones and with only 11 days notice, Bisping/Sonnen didn’t have enough time to develop into a “must see” fight. Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit is another insane fight and we are just 10 days away from that. Are you counting the days down and locking in plans with friends for that one or are you like many who say “If I don’t see this one, I will see the next one”?

Last Friday we saw some great fights for the debut of UFC on FX. These are usually the kind of fights where friends are calling and texting me talking about what we just saw. How many texts did you get on Friday?  I got two, one of which was asking what time the fights started.

We haven’t even touched on dueling seasons of “The Ultimate Fighter” beginning in March. I feel like I do when watching my four year old boys rip through Christmas presents not paying attention to what they have, instead they are more concerned with what is next.

It’s OK for the UFC to boast about all the great fights they are putting on, but if a lot of those fights are getting lost in the shuffle does it really matter? White’s made a ton of money for himself and his company by always staying a step ahead of everyone else and for that he deserves the benefit of the doubt. It just seems like the risk is starting to catch up with the reward.

follow me on twitter @jpdotseth

I’ve interviewed Dan plenty of times, but I still have no idea how to describe the relationship between Henderson and White. If you watch Dana on TV he likes to play the bad ass. In contrast, Henderson is one of the nicest guys you will meet but can also be a major league ball breaker.

I think Dan likes picking on Dana because of the attitude White shows when he is front of the camera. Think about it, did you ever see Henderson make a joke at the expense of Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker? I never did. Still, Henderson needs to remember that Dana White is the boss and if the boss calls asking for a favor, I think most of us are going to do that favor ESPECIALLY if we just came back from Strikeforce.

White needs a main event for UFC 145 taking place March 24^th in Montreal. With options limited due to injuries and the need to fill a whopping 34 cards in 2012, White turned to Henderson. Wouldn’t you have loved to see White’s expression when Hendo said no?

When we spoke with Dan last week on “Clinch Gear Radio” he made the point that the fans are not interested in seeing him fight Nogueira and I agree with Dan on that point. Nogueira has been on the downside of his career going just 2-2 in his last 4 fights. If you look at Nogueira’s record, prior to beating an over-the-hill Tito Ortiz at UFC 140, his last major win was a knockout over Alistair Overeem back in July 2006.

Dan also said he told White he would be willing to face Nogueira in a 3 round fight (instead of the UFC’s new dumb rule that every main event will be 5 rounds) but White said no. So here we sit just about 8 weeks out with no main event for UFC 145 and no fight for Henderson.

What’s been made clear over the past week is the fans agree with Henderson and don’t feel there is a need for Dan at this stage of his career to take fights that don’t matter. While White’s history shows he listens to the fans via twitter and other social media outlets, I just have a weird feeling Dan could be headed to the end of the bench for a long time.

Light heavyweight is a pretty deep division for the UFC. You have Rashad Evans and Jon Jones as well as newcomers Alexander Gustafsson, Phil Davis and Ryan Jimmo all of whom could pose a strong challenge to Jones. Mix in former champs “Shogun” Rua and “Rampage” Jackson and the wait could get long for Henderson.

I’m not crazy, I know fans want to see if Jones can handle an “H-Bomb” and would riot in the streets if Jimmo got a title shot ahead of Henderson. I’m just saying the UFC has options outside of the former Strikeforce champ and if they want to punish Dan by making him wait, they do have challengers standing by. If Davis beats Evans next week in Chicago, “Mr Wonderful” could jump ahead of Dan.

Henderson has fought 37 times without my advice and I know he isn’t looking for it here. I just hope the decision he made last week pays off big instead of leaving the poker loving Henderson with no chips left to play.

2012 Clinch Gear Battle for the Belt Individual Champions

Clovis HS, 2012 Clinch Gear Battle for the Belt Team Champions

Isaiah Martinez, Lemoore HS, Champion of Champions

Photo credits: Photos John Sachs courtesy of www.tech-fall.com

Clovis High School (Intermat #3, Clinch Gear National HS Team Rankings #5, TheCaliforniaWrestler.com #1) stormed to the team points lead during the semi-final round and never looked back, advancing six wrestlers to the finals. The Cougars finished the grueling two-day tournament with three champions, nine total medalists and 272.5 team points.

Poway High School (Intermat #18, Clinch Gear National HS Team Rankings #18, TheCaliforniaWrestler.com #2) finished a distant second in the team standings with 203 team points. The Titans had one finalist and eight placewinners.

Bakersfield High School (Intermat #22, Clinch Gear National HS Team Rankings Honorable Mention, TheCaliforniaWrestler.com #3) finished third in the Clinch Gear Battle for the Belt team race with 150.5 team points. The Drillers had three individual champions and four placers, as well as a fourth finalist representing the Bakersfield “B” squad.

Defending California state champion Johnson Mai (Intermat #5, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #3) of North Torrance won the title at 106, recording a technical fall over the state’s fifth-ranked wrestler, Angel Velasquez of Central Catholic. Mai earned the Lower Weight MVP award with four falls and two technical falls. St. John Bosco’s freshman phenom, Zahid Valencia (Intermat #1, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #2), did not compete.

At 113, returning California state runner-up Isaiah Locsin (Intermat #4, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #7) of Live OakHS, ranked second in the state, defeated fifth-ranked Joseph Dominguez of St. John Bosco by a 5-0 score to capture the championship. Micah Perez (Intermat #9, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #8) of Central Union, a junior currently ranked third in the state, did not compete.

Clovis HS brothers Jonas and Daniel Gaytan each moved up a weight class and took home the belts at 120 and 126, respectively. Jonas is currently the state’s top-ranked wrestler at 113, while Daniel, a returning California state champion, is ranked second at 120.

Righetti’s Josh Rodriguez, the state’s second-ranked wrestler at 126 and the Clinch Gear Battle for the Belt top seed, placed third. Second seed Connor Pollock of Folsom, ranked third in the state, finished in third.

St. John Bosco freshman standout Anthony Valencia, ranked first in the state at 126, claimed the title at 132, shutting out third-ranked Martin Ramirez of Elk Grove, 7-0. Ramirez placed third in the 2011 California CIF State Championships. Poway’s Victor Lopez, ranked sixth in the state, beat returning Nevada 4A state champion Zack Perry of Green Valley in the third place match.

It was an all-Bakersfield HS affair at 138, as Natrelle Demison (Intermat #11, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #14), ranked second in California, bested teammate Micah Cruz. Ranked fifth at 132, Cruz wrestled up a weight and represented the Drillers’ “B” team. It was Demison’s third career Battle for the Belt title.

Fifth-seeded Luke Wilson of Righetti pulled off the upset win at 145 over Bakersfield’s Maxx Ramirez, the state’s fourth-ranked wrestler, recording a fall just 24 seconds into the first period.

Lemoore junior Isaiah Martinez (Intermat #3, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #2), a returning state champion who is currently ranked first at 152, defeated Del Oro’s Austin Branum, the state’s third-ranked wrestler, by technical fall, 23-8. It was the third consecutive Clinch Gear Battle for the Belt title for Martinez, who was named the tournament’s Champion of Champions.Second seed Coleman Hammond (Intermat #6, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #6) was injured in the quarterfinal round and withdrew from the tournament.

Two Nevada standouts squared off at 160, with Spring Valley’s Ray Waters, a 2011 4A runner-up at 152, pinning Green Valley’s Ryder Newman, a 2011 4A state champion at 145, in the third period to claim the Clinch gear Battle for the Belt championship. Clovis’ Adrian Salas, ranked third in the California, was upset in the second round but came back to place third.

The 170 final pitted two nationally ranked wrestlers, Zach Nevills (Intermat #2, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #4) of Clovis versus Bakersfield’s Silas Nacita (Intermat #18, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #15), who are also ranked first and second in the California, respectively. Nacita, who lost to Nevills in the third-place match at the 2011 California CIF State Championships, turned the table with a 5-3 victory. Poway’s Connor King (Intermat #19, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #17) placed fifth.

At 182, California’s fifth ranked Kyle Pope of Bakersfield narrowly defeated third-ranked Ryan Davies of Clovis to capture the tourney belt. Sixth-ranked Jon Wixom of Chaparral HS finished third.

In the 195 division, Bucknell-bound Robert Marchese (Intermat #11) recorded two falls, a tech fall, a major decision and two decisions to earn the Upper Weight MVP award. Marchese, the state’s top-ranked wrestler, beat number three-ranked Dakota Gordon of Clovis in the final, 3-1. Bellarmine’s Danny Chaid, ranked fourth in the state, finished third.

De La Salle senior Justin Walker, ranked second in California at 195, claimed the Clinch Gear Battle for the Belt title at 220 with a 3-1 victory over Elk Grove’s Josh Letuligasenoa, who upset third-ranked Richard Durr of Poway in the semi-finals.

At 285, Clovis sophomore Nick Nevills (Intermat #5, Clinch Gear National HS Rankings #5), ranked first in the state, notched a 3-2 win over’s sixth-ranked senior Robert Chismof Downey.

The 2012 Clinch Gear Battle for the Belt is one of just 21 high school events nationwide to earn the prestigious FloNationals Major designation, welcoming over 60 top high school wrestling teams from throughout California, Colorado & Nevada.

Final Team Standings:

1. Clovis 272.5
2. Poway 203
3. Bakersfield 150.5
4. Lemoore 129
5. Righetti 112
6. Green Valley 108
7. Sultana 105
8. Chico 104.5
9. Spring Valley 101
10. St. John Bosco 98

Individual Results:

106: Mai Johnson, North Torrance def. Angel Velasquez, Central Catholic, TF 18-3
113: Isaiah Locsin, Live Oak def. Joseph Dominguez, St. John Bosco, 5-0
120: Jonas Gaytan, Clovis def. Josh Miranda, Poway, 2-1
126: Daniel Gaytan, Clovis def. Evan McKirdy, Del Norte, 4-1
132: Anthony Valencia, St. John Bosco def. Martin Ramirez, Elk Grove, 7-0
138: Natrelle Demison, Bakersfield def. Micah Cruz, Bakersfield “B”, 12-3
145: Luke Wilson, Righetti def. Maxx Ramirez, Bakersfield, F 0:24
152: Isaiah Martinez, Lemoore def. Austin Branum, Del Oro, TF 23-8
160: Ray Waters, Spring Valley def. Ryder Newman, Green Valley, F 5:18
170: Silas Nacita, Bakersfield def. Zach Nevills, Clovis, 5-3
182: Kyle Pope, Bakersfield def. Ryan Davies, Clovis, 2-1
195: Robert Marchese, Oak Hills def. Dakota Gordon, Clovis, 3-1
220: Justin Walker, De La Salle def. Josh Letuligasenoa, Elk Grove, 3-1
285: Nick Nevills, Clovis def. Robert Chism, Downey, 3-2

Individual Awards:

Lower Weight MVP: Johnson Mai, North Torrance
Upper Weight MVP: Robert Marchese, Oak Hills
Champion of Champions: Isaiah Martinez, Lemoore

Between the referees and the judges, I’m not sure who had a tougher night. Dana White has always said he feels Herb Dean is the best referee in MMA. I’ve always wondered if White truly believes this, or intends it as a shot at “Big” John McCarthy who had a falling out with White a few years back.

White will not allow announcer Bruce Buffer to refer to McCarthy as “Big John”. Listen the next time the UFC has a card in California; you will hear Buffer almost whisper “your referee is John McCarthy”.

Getting back to Dean, I think Herb usually does a great job. How many times have I written what he told us on Clinch Gear Radio…”A good referee is one who stops a fight a punch too early as opposed to a punch too late”.

I wish Herb would have followed his own advice Saturday as he let a helpless Keith Jardine take punch after punch from Luke Rockhold when “The Dean of Mean” was clearly out and no longer able to defend himself. It was scary to see live and watching the replay of the Showtime broadcast it was obvious Mauro Ranallo felt the same way I did.

As bad as Dean was, he wasn’t even the worst referee working. That honor would go to Kim Winslow. White has always complained about the work of Steve Mazzagatti, calling Mazzagatti “The worst referee in the sport” any chance he gets. I wonder if the UFC president will change his vote after sitting ringside and watching Winslow allow “King Mo” Lawal  to land 15 unanswered punches to the face of Lorenz Larkin before finally stepping in.

Winslow is the same ref who a year ago let an over-matched Jan Finney answer the bell for the second round against Cris “Cyborg” Santos when it was clear the beaten up Finney had no shot to win the fight.

This was supposed to be a big weekend for Strikeforce as they hosted their first card of the year on a weekend where Showtime was being provided by most cable and satellite providers for free. You have to wonder how many people decided to check MMA out for the first time. Luckily, Larkin and Jardine are OK, but I hope someone from the NSAC sits down with both to review the tapes and ask them what the hell they were waiting for.

The judges assigned for the night of fights also had their problems. Most of the people in attendance believed James Terry did enough to defeat Nah Shon Burell. Not NSAC’s finest who awarded Burell the victory. Burell’s corner men were heard telling people backstage “we stole that one”.

One judge gave Tarec Saffiedine all three rounds of his back and forth battle with Tyler Stinson. The always classy Saffiedine questioned this afterwards saying he believed Stinson had done enough to win the first.

The worst call of the night was the judge who thought Jordan Mein (who spent all three rounds on his back after being taken down) had done enough to beat Tyron Woodley. Woodley used his superior wrestling skills to dominate Mein over the course of the fight.

I’m pretty sure Glen Trowbridge was the ONLY person in Vegas who thought Mein won the fight.

Like I said for the most part the NSAC does a solid job of making sure qualified people are assigned to work the fights. Saturday night (in front of a national TV audience) was not one of those nights. Let’s hope they are better the next time before somebody gets seriously hurt.

People couldn’t get on twitter or facebook fast enough to post messages making fun of the former champ. I’ve never understood why there is so much animosity towards a guy who retires with a 4-3 record. Lesnar walks away with wins over Heath Herring, Frank Mir, Randy Couture and Shane Carwin.

That’s it. Outside of Couture no real fan favorites in the group so the hatred can’t be based here. It also can’t be based on his lifestyle. Lesnar’s not a guy you see getting out of limos in front of the hottest clubs, he is a guy who says his life consisted of just three things; family, fighting and training. Seems like the same message we hear from Dan Henderson, but the two guys couldn’t be further apart when it comes to popularity.

Is it his fighting style? Win or lose most of his fights featured a ton of action and his last two saw Lesnar take some monster shots before the fights were called. His walks to the octagon provided some of the loudest responses in UFC history.

I was in Anaheim when the Ducks won the NHL’s Stanley Cup championship in 2007. Honda Center was as loud as any building I’ve ever been in as the Ducks skated around with the cup hoisted high. It was pretty cool to be there, just as it was in October of 2010 when Cain Velasquez knocked out Lesnar to become the UFC heavyweight champion. I’m not kidding when I saw it was louder for Lesnar’s walkout then it was for the Ducks. The noise ringing in my ears wasn’t boos, it was cheers. Yes, there were boos mixed in and with Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” pounding through the loudspeakers it was tough to decipher what was what, but believe me there were more cheers than boos.

How can you not appreciate a guy who survived a surgery in which a foot of his colon was removed? It became obvious early that Lesnar may look the same, but physically he was no longer able to take shots to the body and that was in the end his downfall. Overeem was too big and too strong for Lesnar and those shots to his surgically repaired midsection did incredible damage.

Sorry, I like the guy and I am sorry to see him go. There was energy around Lesnar that is different than any other current fighter outside of maybe Nick Diaz.  Maybe people considered Lesnar a bully and they were happy to see him get beat up. He didn’t come across as a bully during his time as a coach on “The Ultimate Fighter” in fact he was just the opposite. He looked a guy who even with limited experience had the skills and knowledge to make some of the young fighters better.

Does Lesnar belong in the Hall of Fame? No, but he is definitely a guy who made a mark in the sport. The UFC will never open their books but I’d be willing to bet Lesnar is top 5 in PPV and merchandise buys. Maybe you think that shouldn’t matter to us, but I guarantee Dana White is sorry to see him go. Lesnar may not have been able to beat the guys at the top of the heavyweight division but coming back from diverticulitis is the biggest win of his career and for that he deserves your applause not boos.

Like a lot of you I love the NFL but I forgot about the experience of talking to your average fan. The word “sucks” comes out of their mouth 3-4 times in each sentence.

“Hey Guys, I just want to say that our GM sucks, and he hired a coach that sucks, so now our team sucks! Thanks for letting me on the air, Merry Christmas!”

Wednesday I go back to hosting “Clinch Gear Radio” with Stephen Quadros and I honestly can’t remember a time in the past year where we ever took a call like the one above.

We get plenty of calls from fans who may not like a fighter, or are disappointed in a fight they laid out $55.00 to watch, but the majority of the callers are actually very nice.

It just makes me laugh that a sport that gets so much bad publicity has the most well spoken fans. I’m not blowing smoke, you can go listen to any of our past shows and you will agree. Maybe it’s because I host the show with “The Fight Professor” so people think they need to be on their best behavior, but I don’t think so.

One of my biggest pet peeves is people that criticize the sport without giving it a chance or taking the time to learn a little about the fighters themselves.

The NBA during the finals is OK, but I would rather wash your car then watch the Golden State Warriors play a regular season game, because it’s boring. It’s about as exciting as watching my neighbor throw away a bag of trash. I have been to plenty of games, met players and coaches who were good guys but it still doesn’t appeal to me as a fun way to spend any night of the week.

I have a buddy of mine who finally decided to watch a UFC fight after hearing me talk about how cool the sport was for years. No joke, the ONLY fight he has seen start to finish is the Frank Mir vs. Minotauro Nogueira fight from UFC 140. You know, the fight that ended when Mir snapped “Big Nog’s” arm!

I tried to explain that isn’t the norm, but it didn’t matter he was one and done. It’s OK at least he gave it a shot and the fight probably gave him a nightmare or two so it worked out in the end!

All kidding aside, it’s hard for me to believe any skeptic would not have enjoyed recent fights between Ben Henderson and Clay Guida as well as the epic battle between Dan Henderson and “Shogun” Rua.

These were two completely different styles of fights that were filled with drama and excitement, just like a great NFL game. Anytime I get a chance to be on the radio I will do it, but give me Lesnar vs. Overeem instead of “What do the Lakers do Now?” any day of the week. Happy New Year Everybody!

Remember as a kid watching your favorite sports stars in action? What was your natural response? You grabbed a ball and bat then headed outside trying to mimic what we just saw. That usually led to playing little league baseball or Pop Warner football. I’m not just talking to the guys, the girls on my block played every sport we did and were usually pretty damn good.

I would imagine plenty of you played high school sports and some may even have played in college. We were chasing a dream and having a great time doing it.

What girl watched Strikeforce on Saturday night and said “I want to do that”! “I want to fight “Cyborg”!?  Maybe some said they wanted to fight LIKE “Cyborg”, I doubt anyone wanted to be next in line for the featherweight champ. Hamanaka got crushed just as Jan Finney and so many others before her did. Ronda Rousey may have been smiling and waving at ringside, but do we really believe the former Olympian is in a hurry to face Santos at this stage of her career? Rousey has had just 4 professional fights and 3 amateur matches, winning all of them in under a minute.  She has been impressive and I get it that you have to be pretty good to have the success worldwide that Rousey has had. Still, I would have sat there quietly hoping Santos left the cage without seeing me.

When asked in her post fight interview about a possible showdown with Rousey, the champ simply said “she talks too much”. Uh-oh. I think the results are bad enough with a happy champion; I don’t want to see what goes down when she enters the cage in a bad mood.

Maybe Rousey is able to tap out the champion as she has done her previous 7 opponents. Maybe she catches Santos charging in, takes the fight to the mat and executes an Armbar to win the title. That’s the scenario Strikeforce officials have to be praying for. Rousey is an excellent fighter, but Santos looks unstoppable right now.

What happens if Santos beats Rousey in the same manner she has defeated world class fighters like Gina Carano and Marloes Coenen? Who does she fight next? Scott Coker the former head of Strikeforce said last week that fighters are dropping down to 135 to avoid Santos. That isn’t good.

When asked his thoughts on women’s MMA, UFC president Dana White has always said the same thing; ”There are some good fighters, just not enough to fill out a division”. If fighters are cutting an extra 10 pounds to avoid a possible beat-down at the hands of Santos, how does that help the long term future of the sport?

Forget about the talk of Santos fighting a man. That is never going to happen. The UFC has enough fires to put out without starting a massive one promoting a fight between a man and a woman.

If you are a young male fighter you try to work your way up the ladder and hope to get a shot in the UFC. If you are a young female fighter you could find yourself in Bellator or Strikeforce pretty quickly due to the lack of quality fighters. If you weigh 135 pounds you could someday face Miesha Tate, Sara Kaufman or Coenen. All excellent fighters, but not the wrecking machine Santos is.

Yamanaka was a 9-1 underdog Saturday night who fought like a 99-1 underdog. Fights are great when you have no idea how they are going to play out. Most of us expected a short night, but I’m not sure anybody saw the fight ending in less than 20 seconds. Yamanaka was in the midst of an 8 fight win streak and had an overall record of 12-1. While all of her previous fights took place in Japan, she was expected to give Santos a good challenge. She didn’t.

If I am Sean Shelby (matchmaker for Strikeforce) I make the Rousey/Santos fight right now.  Rousey is the only viable challenge and people want to see the fight. I then pray for a Rousey win to set up not only a rematch, but hopefully to encourage more quality fighters to enter the 145lb division.

Look at the lightweight division. You have 7/10 guys spread out over the UFC, Strikeforce and even Bellator that put together make excellent fights. That’s what we need for the women as well. Start with 5 fighters and work up from there. It generates buzz and keeps the women a major part of the sport. Anymore 16 second blowouts and the buzz goes away replaced by memories.

I am a big fan of Cris Santos, and it was great to see her live, it doesn’t change the fact I think she needs to lose and lose fast if women’s MMA has any chance to survive.

Jones is the total package for the UFC. He is at the top of the pound for pound list, looks like a movie star and is an excellent interview. Dana White knows better than anyone how quickly titles change hands in this sport, so he is going to get the most out of Jones.

Jones talked about taking some time off after defeating Lyoto Machida Saturday night. I can’t imagine how mentally draining his schedule had to be the past couple of weeks. Add in the fact he has fought “Shogun” Rua, “Rampage” Jackson and now Machida in his last three fights, the kid has earned a vacation.

That would be fine in a normal UFC but with GSP and Silva hurt and pay per views needing to be sold, I would expect Jones back in the octagon this spring.

His fight at UFC 140 came exactly 11 weeks after he defeated Jackson. When you consider most guys at this level use 6/8 weeks to get prepared, that didn’t leave Jones a lot of time to recharge the battery.

With money making fights against Dan Henderson and Rashad Evans coming in 2012, the road doesn’t get any easier.

Another piece to this puzzle was exposed Saturday night. Machida had a pretty decent first round before getting choked out in the second. During the course of that first round, Machida cracked Jones with a couple of hard punches. The look on Jones face made it clear that the champ didn’t enjoy the experience.

Most people don’t enjoy getting punched in the face, but it is one of the job skills required if you are going to be a champion in the UFC. Watching Jones grimace made me think of Roger Gracie. Gracie was having great success in his brief Strikeforce career winning his first 4 fights via submission. There was talk of Gracie getting a shot at the light heavyweight belt if he was able to get by King Mo.

There was only one problem. King Mo came to fight and as soon as he landed a huge shot to the side of Gracie’s head, the man with the famous last name couldn’t find a soft place to land fast enough. He was done and the mystique ended.

There was a pretty good documentary about former NFL quarterback Todd Marinovich on ESPN this weekend. Marinovich stated that after winning a big game for the LA Raiders during his rookie season, he lost his desire for football and was ready to move on to other challenges.

Marinovich had bigger issues that luckily are not a problem for Jones, but I don’t think “Bones” is a “lifer” when it comes to fighting. When I say “lifer” I’m talking about guys like Nick Diaz who will probably still be fighting when he’s 50, I wonder if Jones will still be fighting when he is 30.

If there’s ever a guy that the saying “the world is your oyster” applies to, it’s Jones. Why would you want to keep up the crazy schedule, the weight cuts, the punches to the head when there are careers screaming your name that pay more money without all the hassle?

Jones had a look on his face Saturday night that we haven’t seen before. Maybe he beats Henderson and Evans and challenges Anderson Silva’s record for most successful title defenses. He might, but I am not betting on it. I think Dan Henderson is going to land one of those massive right hands and Jon Jones (like Roger Gracie) is going down and out.

Out as light heavyweight champion and out of the rat race the UFC has put him in over the past 12 months.

You have to be of a different mindset to last in this game. Guys like Liddell, Diaz, Henderson, Silva (Anderson and Wanderlei) have that mindset and maybe Jones does too, I just think his reign will end sooner than later.

THAT FIGHT WAS STOPPED WAAAAAY TOO EARLY!- I heard this twice last week. I heard it first during The Ultimate Fighter finale in the fight between John Dodson and TJ Dillashaw and I also heard it in regards to the boxing match between Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto. Let’s start with the Dillashaw fight which I admit was a crazy ending. Dodson landed a forearm right above Dillashaw’s ear knocking him to the mat. At that point Dodson pounced and landed a couple of more punches before Herb Dean stepped in and called off the fight.

For as many fights as we fans watch during any given week, Herb Dean probably works twice that number. He is the guy Dana White called “The best in the business”. If Herb Dean says TJ has had enough that’s good enough for me. Dean is a former fighter, and has been in the cage for hundreds if not thousands of fights. He knows what to look for, what the warning signs are that a guy is truly hurt. I remember when Herb joined us on Clinch Gear Radio a couple of months back. When talking about what makes a good referee, Herb said “The guys who stop a fight one punch early instead of one punch too late”. TJ Dillashaw will fight again. I’m sure his pride was hurt, but other than that he will be fine. That may not have been the case had Dean let Dodson continue his assault. Joe Rogan mentioned  Dillashaw was on very shaky legs when he got up off the mat

In regards to the boxing match, Margarito’s fans have been crying for the past couple of days about his fight with Cotto being stopped after the 9^th round. Keep in mind that their hero was down by at least 5 points on all judges’ scorecards, and his surgically repaired right eye was swollen shut. They are mad because he wasn’t carried out on his shield. I like Margarito because he never stops talking and his comments after the fight were very funny. That doesn’t change the fact he had no chance to come back and win that fight. Let’s hope the damage done to his right eye is not too severe. “The Tijuana Tornado” is good for boxing and I hope the doctor’s decision to stop the fight allows him to fight again down the road.

Here is another stupid thing I hear all the time…

_________ has already beat________ so there is no reason for them to fight again.

Spoken like a true fan. A fan that forgets it may be called the fight “game” but it’s very much a business and when done right a very profitable business. You can fill in the blanks with hundreds of names on each side, and admittedly there are times when the above statement would be true. It does not apply to Anderson Silva though when talking about rematches with Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson. I’m biased as a friend of Dan’s so for this blog I will focus strictly on Sonnen. When I hear Silva’s camp (and fans) saying there is no reason for a rematch I just laugh. Sonnen was cruising to an easy victory when he made one mistake allowing Silva to retain his title. It was a perfect example of how easy things can change in an MMA fight. That is reason enough for a rematch. Was Sonnen lucky? Was his performance for 4 ½ rounds a fluke? Was the champ sick or injured? Let’s match them up again and find out.  The other part of the puzzle is by far the biggest piece and that is the trash talking abilities of Sonnen. Ever since that night in Oakland, Sonnen has been talking and talking in an attempt to get a rematch. When he grabbed the mike at UFC 136 in Houston and said….”Anderson Silva…you absolutely suck!!”  The crowd went crazy.  Do we need every contender in the UFC grabbing the mike and acting the same way? Of course not, but in this case it works. It makes us want to see the rematch and it makes Dana White and the rest of the UFC see nothing but dollar signs. If this fight is held in Brazil, it will be the single largest gate in UFC history. Silva is a hero in Brazil and Sonnen will have no trouble wearing the black hat as he rides in to town to get the title he believes is his.

For people to say this fight doesn’t need to happen is crazy. Do you really think Dana White is going to let that fight slip through the cracks? No chance.  Go look at the middleweight division at UFC.com and tell me two names you would pay $55.00 to watch Silva fight.  Alan Belcher?  You want to see Silva fight Ed Herman? Both are tough guys that I always enjoy watching fight, but I’m not paying $55.00 to see them fight “The Spider” and Dana White knows it.

It’s great to talk s**t with your buddies while having a couple of beers watching the fights, I’m just saying its even better when you know what the hell you are talking about.

We are a little more than a week removed from two incredible fights featuring Clinch Gear athletes Michael Chandler and Dan Henderson. Two guys that I have gotten to know a little bit and I’m happy to count them as friends. While they might make their living trying to knock guys out, both guys are as easy going and friendly outside the cage as any pro athletes I have met.

We tend to be short sighted and lazy when it comes to our sports opinions. What we see in a 30 second SportsCenter clip is usually enough for us to determine if we like an athlete, coach, broadcaster, etc.

I know because it’s what I was feeling watching NFL highlights this morning. I’m lucky because my kids are only 4 years old so they don’t understand the actions of idiots such as Stevie Johnson and Ndamukong Suh.

Johnson, a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, mocked NY Jets receiver Plaxico Burress by acting as if he had shot himself in the leg after scoring a touchdown yesterday. Burress spent 18 months in jail after shooting himself in the leg at a club.

Suh is one of the best players on the Detroit Lions, but will find himself on the bench for the next two games after stomping on a member of the Green Bay Packers during a nationally televised game Thanksgiving Day.

Two guys acting like idiots vs. two guys who are looked at as thugs because they are professional fighters. I understand that there are plenty of good guys in the NFL just as there are plenty of blockheads in MMA.

It would be nice if there was an equal balance of coverage, but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Big time media outlets will cover boxing because it’s simple. Its two guys standing and punching each other. Watch it for 30 seconds and you understand what’s going on. MMA will not get the same kind of attention because once a fight goes to the ground it all becomes foreign to mainstream media.

I think Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan do an amazing job of letting us as viewers know what is going on, but like I said earlier, if they don’t know EVERYTHING in 15 seconds then it’s too hard to follow and they will move on. It’s disappointing, but that’s how it’s going to be until more mainstream guys take the time to learn the sport and the fighters.

I used to love sitting with coaches and players trying to be a sponge and learn as much as I could. I would be ok for about 10 minutes, and then they would lose me. Still, it was a great time and I jumped at any chance I could to watch game tapes with people who see a totally different game than I do.

I’m not sure it would be the same experience watching a fight with Dan or Chandler, but c’mon who wouldn’t jump at that chance!

If you are watching ESPN this week and get bored by the antics of guys like Suh and Johnson go back to your DVR and watch Chandler and Hendo put on a show. It will fire you up again in no time.

On a different note Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller are fighting this Saturday night. That is a fight with ZERO buzz. It’s too bad because I like both guys, and I enjoyed the early weeks of The Ultimate Fighter, but found myself getting bored and losing interest.

I think the live fights on FX starting with the next season will be good, but I think stretching the season out to 14 weeks is a mistake. I would prefer to see 2 fights per show. Seems that would keep things moving. This year I lost interest in some of these guys, and all the pranks felt staged. Bisping vs. Miller should be a really good fight and I feel like if I miss it it’s no big deal.

Keep in mind I am writing this on Monday and by the time fight night rolls around I think that feeling will change, but it’s still weird that a fight between two of the bigger personalities in the sport is almost an afterthought.

We have a great show lined up for Wednesday’s Clinch Gear Radio. UFC welterweight contender Jake Ellenberger will join us to talk about fighting Diego Sanchez and UFC play by play voice Mike Goldberg will look back at an incredible year in the octagon. Clinch Gear Radio airs live every Wednesday from 4pm-6pm ET/ 1pm-3pm PT on Sirius 94 and XM 208.

If you have any comments or questions you can always reach me via email at jeff@clinchgear.com

Let’s go back to a week ago Monday when I stopped by Team Quest to watch Dan’s final workout before flying to San Jose. The plan was for Dan to spar 5 hard rounds, but due to a chest cold he couldn’t shake, he was only able to go four. There seemed to be more concern than usual amongst his coaches when asked about final preparations. Those concerns stayed with me all week and as the fighters made their walk to the cage.

After introductions the fighters were brought to the center of the cage where the size difference became apparent immediately. Rua looked huge next to Henderson. Not huge in the sense of muscles like we saw with Feijao, but his legs looked like those of an NFL linebacker.

The fight itself was almost like two separate fights. One that consisted of rounds 1-3 and the other in the championship rounds of 4 and 5. Henderson clearly hurt Rua in the first round, opening up a cut over the younger man’s eye in the process. Speaking with Dan’s coaches afterwards, they said when Dan saw blood, the game plan of working the body went out the window. Dan went for the KO, but credit to Rua who was able to hang on and survive the round. It was a clear 10-9 round for Dan.

The second round was more of the same as both guys had their moments, but Henderson was landing the bigger shots. Shots that were starting to disfigure Rua’s face in a manner we have never seen before. This was again a round scored by all three judges 10-9 in Dan’s favor.

The third round was a huge one for Henderson as he landed a couple of monster right hands that put the bigger and younger Rua on the mat. Dan pounced looking for the finish, and it’s hard to imagine any ref not named Josh Rosenthal not stopping the fight. Rosenthal has a reputation of being a very smart ref who is going to give fighters every chance to continue before calling an end to a fight. He lived up to that reputation here. While as a Hendo fan I wanted him to jump in,  I respect the fact he has always been consistent. This was another round scored 10-9 for Dan**

The fourth round saw a swing in momentum as Rua started to find a second wind and found himself right back in the fight after landing a monster uppercut that clearly had Henderson in trouble. Dan found it within himself to survive, and while Dan feels like he did enough in the round to win I can’t argue with the judges who gave the round to Rua 10-9.

The fifth round is where the debate is focused. Henderson came out clearly looking to just hang on and earn the decision. The round was dominated by Rua and the judges agreed giving it to the former champ by a 10-9 score. Dana White said in the post fight press conference that he scored the fifth 10-8 in favor of Rua which would have made the fight a draw.

As I write this on Monday I am basing everything on what I saw (and remember) from my spot at ringside. I have no problem with the idea of a 10-8 round for Rua in the fifth as long as the third is considered for a 10-8 round for Dan. It’s really hard for me to believe that fight would not have been stopped by another referee.  As Dan himself said afterwards one or two more good shots would have forced Rosenthal to step in. If a fighter is in that much trouble, how can you not also consider that for a 10-8 round?

At the end of the night the right guy won the fight. Rua may have a broken jaw and his face looked as if he had been in a car accident. That being said, I have never seen anything close to the guts and heart displayed by both guys. I was a Rua fan going into the fight, and a bigger fan afterwards.  One of the best parts of this job allows me to go backstage after the fights.

The class shown by both guys and their respective teams is hard to imagine. Here are two guys who just minutes earlier tried to knock each other out now sharing handshakes and hugs in the ultimate show of class.

I know some people would like to see a rematch, and it’s almost a given it will happen…down the road. Henderson was promised a shot at a title if he won and he did just that.

He has earned the right to fight Jon Jones or get that rematch that he wants with Anderson Silva.

One of the great things about sports is the chance to argue who won and who is better. You may think the fight should have been a draw.  I have no problem with that (even though you would be wrong) I also have no problem with people who like another fight in UFC history better than this one. Got to be honest, (Ben) Henderson vs. Clay Guida was maybe my personal favorite. Scott Coker told me one time “Guys can do more for themselves in this sport losing a great fight than winning a bad one”. This was a great fight, and instead of debating the decision I am thankful I was there and even more thankful that we seem to keep seeing fights like this on a regular basis. What a night and what a fight! Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Clinch Gear!

For every limited-edition Dan Henderson walkout shirt sold through Nov. 24, Clinch Gear will subsidize the cost of providing a Thanksgiving meal for a family of four at either the Denver Rescue Mission or the San Diego Rescue Mission, area organizations where the Clinch Gear brand operates.

The Nov. 19 bout marks Henderson’s return to the UFC after a successful four-fight stint in Strikeforce, where he headlined events on CBS and Showtime while winning that organization’s light heavyweight crown. Henderson is expected to contend for a UFC title with a victory over Rua.

“With the Thanksgiving holiday just days after my fight, we want to remind UFC fans that there are a lot of people out there fighting for more important things than a UFC title,” said Henderson. “So many American families are struggling to pay for basic necessities, such as food, clothing and shelter. This is an opportunity for Clinch Gear and the MMA community to make a difference this Thanksgiving.”

The walkout tee features the Hendo name highlighted in red within the phrase “Heart & Mind Overcome All.” The phrase embodies Henderson’s work ethic and his approach to life and competition.  It is also a message that the two-time U.S. Olympian and Clinch Gear hope will inspire others to pursue their dreams.

“Giving back is a big part of our company culture,” said Clinch Gear CEO Bruce Pettet. “With the help of the MMA community, our donations will give needy families a traditional Thanksgiving meal and a little less to worry about this holiday season.”

Sales from an additional Clinch Gear tee, featuring an American flag within the Clinch Gear logo, which will be worn by Henderson’s cornermen at UFC 139, will also support the cause. Both shirts will be available for sale at ClinchGear.com and select distributors for $29.95 each.

About Clinch Gear™

Founded in 2003, Clinch Gear™ is a leading performance sports apparel brand for athletes and training enthusiasts, with a rich history in mixed martial arts and amateur wrestling. Clinch Gear maintains a singular focus on product innovation, consistently seeking to elevate industry standards for performance, quality and fit. Clinch Gear is headquartered in Denver, and is part of the Collective Licensing International portfolio of youth lifestyle and performance brands including Airwalk®, Above The Rim®, Vision Street Wear®, Sims®, Lamar® and LTD®, World Snowboarding Championships™ and Hind® brands.  For more information, visit www.clinchgear.com.

Media Contact:

Aaron Crecy, 619-741-2502

Erika Sauerwein, 303-761-1345×103

How wild was it to see promos during the NFL broadcast? I have to imagine White and his staff had to be pinching themselves as they heard NFL announcers  promoting the fight between Junior Dos Santos and the current UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez. When this fight was announced as the first fight on FOX, a lot of people (myself included) were surprised that a fight this big would be given away on free TV. In hindsight it was not only the right decision, it was a very smart decision.

You need a fight like this to catch the attention of people that have not yet become fans. There are plenty of fights that we die-hards would have watched happily, but I don’t know that casual fans would give up their Saturday night for anything less. The only thing keeping it from being a perfect promotion was the head-scratching decision to only televise the main event. Velasquez and Dos Santos has all the makings of a great fight, and will hopefully make the kind of impact FOX and the UFC are looking for.

There is no doubt in my mind that the co-main event between Clay Guida and Ben Henderson will be the kind of fight people are talking about two days later. Both guys have the crazy hair which would be talking points for first time fans, but they also have that reckless style that would keep fans on the edge of their seat for three rounds. I thought it was a great call to make this the co-main event, but to bury this fight on the Internet makes no sense.

Dana White said last week that even if the fight between Dos Santos and Velasquez ends in 10 seconds, it will still be the only fight shown on FOX. Why I have no idea, and as we have all learned of late what White says on Monday isn’t always the case on Friday. Still, a double bill of the lightweight elimination fight followed by the heavyweight fight is almost a perfect storm. How could new fans not become regular fans after seeing what these 4 guys at the top of their game deliver without spending a dollar?  Maybe we will find out the reason why this week.  It’s hard to get people to watch sporting events on their computer, especially events they are not sure if they are going to like. I feel bad for Henderson and Guida who had to have a bigger vision than Facebook when they agreed to the fight. How many people will see that fight? Like I said it makes you scratch your head but White and Silva’s have had a pretty good run going so I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Saturday night is going to be a huge night and I am really looking forward to being there, I just hope the fight matches the hype.

It was a card that needed a great main event and Penn and Diaz gave us just that, if not more. It was a true old-school fight in every sense of the word. The fight reminded me of the kind you used to see in middle school when a guy said something to another guy’s girl and pride became involved. Penn started quickly, but soon Diaz started to pick apart the former two-division champion and you had to wonder if Penn would be able to stay on his fight until the final bell.

I’ve never been to Stockton California or Hilo Hawaii, but I can tell you one thing…there are some bad dudes that come from those parts of the country.

Diaz won the unanimous decision and now finds himself back in line for a shot at George St Pierre’s welterweight championship. You know the same welterweight championship Diaz was scheduled to fight for Saturday night before a series of bizarre circumstances (along with an itchy trigger finger from the UFC) moved Diaz into the fight with Penn.

I am (and have always been) a fan of Diaz. The first time I remember seeing Diaz was the night he shocked everyone by dropping Robbie Lawler on his face at UFC 47.  As Dana White put it at the post fight press conference “Nick is a real fighter…he is the real deal”. No doubt about it. Have you ever seen BJ Penn busted up in the manner Diaz left him? I haven’t either.

As much as Diaz may be the real deal and a real fighter, his interviews are becoming a real bore. I get it Nick, you make no money, you get no respect, nobody likes you etc.

I have no idea how much Diaz makes, but he deserves to be amongst the highest paid guys in the sport. As much as any other guy in the sport, Diaz gives you every bit of your money’s worth anytime he steps in the cage.

The part about respect and likability though is bullshit. Diaz has as many fans as any current champion or contender. People have always cheered for the bad guy and Nick fits that role perfect. There is a fine line between being the bad guy and coming off as a whiner.

The hair in the soup for Diaz is a lack of new material when he finds himself in front of a microphone. As fans we have heard this same story over and over. He was pissed at Scott Coker and Strikeforce and we all agreed with him. Now when he complains about Dana White and the conditions at the UFC I find myself reaching for the remote.

Diaz may be the one guy saying what everybody else is afraid to say. I have no idea if 1% or 100% of his complaints are legit; I’m just getting burned out on it being the first thing out of his mouth every time he is interviewed.

I can’t wait for Diaz vs. St Pierre. I don’t bet on the fights, but if I did I would bet Diaz. I think he is already in GSP’s head which could take the champion out of his normal game plan. I wouldn’t be surprised if St Pierre gets away from his usual conservative style and does try to give Diaz a beating. That was the term we heard from White when describing GSP’s desire for a fight with the former Strikeforce champ.

GSP has heard the criticism about his style from fans, media and in a roundabout way Dana White himself. He had his manhood challenged Saturday night and I would be shocked if it doesn’t affect his approach. Maybe I’m nuts, but I think we see a new champion crowned in the welterweight division come Super Bowl weekend. I just hope the post fight message is a little different this time around.

As we look ahead to the next couple of weeks, we will see BJ Penn fight Nick Diaz, Chris Leben take on Mark Munoz, Cain Velasquez defends the heavyweight title against Cain Velasquez and Dan Henderson will face “Shogun” Rua just to name a few. I know I left off plenty of fights, and that proves White’s point.

We as MMA fans will watch as many good fights as the UFC can serve up. The tough part of White and matchmaker Joe Silva is finding the right balance between fights shown on Pay-Per-View and fights shown on free TV.

We took a lot of calls last week of people complaining that Penn vs. Diaz was the new main event for UFC 137, due to welterweight champ George St Pierre suffering a knee injury.

It’s hard for me to find fault with the decision made by the UFC considering the timing of the injury. St Pierre injured the knee with less than two weeks until fight night. It wouldn’t be fair to Condit to try and shoe-horn another fighter into St Pierre’s spot in order to save the card.

If Josh Koscheck were to fight (and defeat) Condit, what would the UFC do? Are there any fans that need to see another fight between Koscheck and St Pierre? I’m a huge Koscheck fan, but I have no interest in a third go-around between those two after the one-sided beating we saw the last time.

The UFC understands a card with an aging BJ Penn facing Nick Diaz and Matt Mitrione taking on Cheick Kongo in the top two slots will not do huge business, but that is the hand they were dealt so they will play it and move on.

I’ll never tell you how to spend your money, but I’ve learned over the past twelve months that fights I don’t really care about usually turn out to be some of the best ones.

Diaz and Penn have spoken openly of their friendship and mutual respect. That is a red flag for me wondering if it could lead to a boring fight. As soon as I write that, I try to think of a fight that either guy has been involved in would be described as “boring”. I know many of you will point to Penn’s fight with Jon Fitch, but I blame that on Fitch who I can’t ever remember being in an exciting fight.

I would tell you this…maybe this is the card where you and a couple buddies split the cost, that way if the card IS weak you are only out a few bucks.

I am not a gambler, but I bet we see plenty of highlight reel moments on Saturday night. Either way I am glad the fights are back.

“Filthy” Tom Lawlor joins Stephen Quadros and me this week on Clinch Gear Radio. Tune in Wednesday from 4pm-6pm ET/1pm-3pm PT on Sirius 94/XM 208.

You read that right. Hopkins was knot knocked down, he was thrown down with such force the champion separated his shoulder on landing and was unable to continue. At this point most people expected the fight to be declared a no contest based on the foul. Instead, referee Pat Russell called it a TKO win for Dawson making Dawson the new champion.

I have known Pat Russell for close to 20 years. He is a good man and a better referee who had a brutal night on Saturday. The California State Athletic Commission has the right to overturn the ruling, and most people expect that to happen by the end of the week.

Still, on the heels of the strange ending to last month’s Floyd Mayweather/Victor Ortiz fight this was not good for boxing.  As a 30+ year boxing fan it is becoming more and more difficult to stay interested in the sport.

It is starting to remind me of my days in high school when my buddies and I loved the WWE. We didn’t love it enough to buy a belt, but were still fans. As time went on, our favorite guys retired (or died) and we found better things (UFC) to spend our money on.

Compare what you saw Saturday night to what you saw 7 days earlier at UFC 136. On that night Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Chael Sonnen, Nam Phan, Leonard Garcia and Joe Lauzon gave you your money’s worth and more.

I didn’t see any angry fans leaving the Toyota Center, just people with big smiles talking about what they had just seen. That is a bit of a contrast of the angry people who left Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles feeling like they had just been ripped off.

It cracks me up how guys that work in boxing refuse to admit they have a major problem on their hands. Ross Greenburg had been the president of HBO sports for almost 10 years before getting blown out over the summer. Most insiders believe Greenburg’s inability to make interesting fights paid a huge part in his downfall.

You would think that may light a fire under the guys at HBO in charge of boxing, but if you look at what is on the horizon you have a Manny Pacquiao fight and that is it.

It wasn’t that long ago when you had Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad, Pacquiao, Mayweather and a couple of other guys that were always fighting on HBO.

HBO seemed to have the Midas touch when it came to finding the stars of tomorrow, and did a great job of promoting them. Somewhere along the line that magic went away and we are still waiting for it to return. If I offered you $5.00 for every guy not named Pacquiao, Mayweather or Klitschko that is a featured fighter on HBO, how much would it cost me?

One thing that boxing has over MMA is its place in American literature. I have always tried to figure out what it is about boxing that catches the eye of authors such as Joyce Carol Oates, AJ Liebling and Thomas Hauser.

Hauser is my favorite out of the group, and has a new book out called “Winks and Daggers” which is a collection of essays Hauser has written over the past 12 months for the website Seconds Out.

Hauser has a knack for finding guys behind the scenes and making you interested in that guy’s life. He has more stories like that in the new book, but he also dedicates 25 pages to the problems at HBO.

It is a great read for anyone that is a fight fan. HBO announced last week the hiring of Ken Hershman as their new head of sports programming.

Hershman comes from Showtime where he had a nice track record of success not only in boxing, but also with Strikeforce, the NFL, NASCAR and Major League Baseball.

Hershman had some run-ins with Dana White, but with the new FOX deal I don’t think HBO was going to be an option for the UFC no matter who the new president was.

The tradition of boxing on HBO is amazing. The last two fights have been terrible. It will be interesting to see if Hershman is the guy to recapture the magic, or a guy who helps pound another nail in the coffin.

I have been lucky enough to cover the Super Bowl four different times. Like the fan expo, at the Super Bowl it is easy to lose track of all the former players you see around town. The difference between the UFC and the NFL comes when you talk about accessibility of the players/fighters.

While you may see Joe Montana at a restaurant, you have no chance of talking to him for 5/10 minutes as MMA fans were able to do with guys such as Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva, Clay Guida and more.

I watched Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez put his bags down to take pictures and sign autographs for a half a dozen fans in the hotel lobby.

On the topic of autographs, if that is your thing, bring your patience because once you are in the expo, you are going to wait…and wait…and wait. I heard security tell people they could expect to be in line an hour in order to meet Mark Munoz.

My advice would be, take your chances on autographs outside the venue, and head over to the main stage and listen to the guest speakers. Fans in Houston were treated to an all-star reunion of former cast members of “The Ultimate Fighter”, Herb Dean was great talking about being a referee. “Mayhem” Miller seemed to be having a great time as he stalked from one side of the stage to the other taking questions from the fans.

Along with your patience, bring your wallet. There is anything a UFC fan could want for sale at the expo, but it all comes with a (high) price. When a fight program is $20.00, you know you are not getting out easy.

On the topic of buying “anything” a fan could want, what is the appeal of buying a championship belt? I must have seen 50 people (none named GSP) strolling around the floor of the convention center with a belt draped over their shoulder and a stupid smug look on their face. What do you do with that belt? How do you get it through the TSA line at the airport? I can understand posters, programs, hats, shirts, DVDs etc, but a belt? Is there no one in their life to sit them down and say “Hey Greg, I know that you are a bad-ass, but you like more like a guy who has never gotten laid in his life walking around with that belt on your shoulder”.

You could have walked the hallways of the downtown Hilton in a pair of Dennis Hallman’s trunks and a tank top and had the same reaction from your peers. Trust me, never once did anyone stop what they were doing and say “Hey! There goes the champ” No,  instead what they were saying was “Look at the F’n idiot, who spent $400 on his belt, and $75 to sit in the back row of the arena”. I was at the post fight press conference and I never heard Chael Sonnen mention your name, so that money may have been better spent elsewhere. I hate to be the guy to break this news to you, but better me then the chick you meet on Craigslist.  Put the “belt” up for sale on Ebay and use whatever cash you get to try and get your guy card back.

That thinking was squashed this past Saturday night when Dominick Cruz defended his bantamweight title against Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in a great 5 round fight. There were so many different twists and turns in this fight it was impossible to not watch from the edge of your seat.

How many times have we talked about the saying “Sometimes guys can do more for their career losing a close fight then winning a boring one”? That was again the case Saturday in regards to Johnson. At just 5’3 Johnson will be a star if he becomes the face of the new flyweight division.

Simon Cowell is wasting four hours a week looking for someone with the “X Factor” when all he had to do was spend 30 minutes watching the main event to find his guy. Johnson has great skills and is an excellent interview. Just what you need as more and more mainstream media members start doing stories on MMA.

There is no shame is losing to a guy as well rounded as Cruz, and Johnson is another guy I look forward to watching the next time he steps in the octagon.

It’s crazy to think Cruz continued to fight with a broken hand. The champ’s hands are starting to become an issue, and I hope Cruz

This week our office is headed to the UFC Expo in Houston. If you will be at the Expo on Friday or Saturday, I hope you will stop by booth 1421 to say hello. We will have some of the Clinch Gear athletes there signing autographs as well as doing two radio shows for Sirius/XM from the booth.

Dan Henderson needs your help. Two pairs of Dan’s fight shorts, including the pair he wore for his win over Fedor were stolen from his locker room as Dan met with the media after the fight. I can tell you from firsthand experience; security was very tight that night meaning only a limited amount of people would have had access to Dan’s locker room.

Dan told me today after the fight he went back to the locker room where he put his shorts in his bag. He then showed, got stitches and went to the press conference. Dan has kept the hand wraps, gloves and shorts from all of his fights for his kids, and wants these back.

We are hoping that you will keep your eye out on twitter, Craigslist, eBay etc to see if anyone is selling “Fight worn shorts” from Dan. In spite of what the ad may say, these were stolen and Dan would like them back.

If you help us get them back I promise Dan and Clinch Gear will do something cool for you as a small thanks for your help.

Thanks for checking in, we will see you in Houston!

That’s the way I felt after watching Jon Jones walk through Rampage Jackson Saturday night. You can talk all you want about Rampage being on the downside of his hall of fame career, or the effect of fighting in the high altitude of Denver, none of it matters. What we saw Saturday night was a one sided beat-down. It looked like a man fighting a kid, except the roles were reversed with the 24 yr old Jones looking like the seasoned veteran.

Joe Rogan made a point somewhere in the 2^nd or 3^rd round that Jackson had the look of a guy who had no idea what to do. I thought Rogan was right on target, but then thought about that statement. In Jackson you have a guy who has fought some of the toughest guys in the sport. Guys like Liddell, Henderson and Wanderlei Silva to name a few, but here was young Jon Jones (in just his 15^th pro fight) leaving him wandering around the octagon with no answers.

In the NFL it’s trendy to describe a player as a “Hybrid”. Antonio Gates, Calvin Johnson and similar players have had that title bestowed upon them. I always thought it was a cliche, but I have to admit it’s the first word that comes to mind when I think about Jones.

He is 6’4 which is pretty tall for a light heavyweight. We have seen his wrestling skills as well as his power. His defense appears to be solid; I guess the only question mark is his chin. Jones is so crafty though, I don’t know if anyone in the division has the ability to keep him in one place long enough to see if the champ can survive a big punch.

Last week I heard more and more people whining about Jones personality. “He is too cocky; He needs to stop talking so much.” I have never understood that. I had the chance to interview Jones a couple of times prior to his fight with Vladimir Matyushenko and found him to be a good guy with a great sense of humor.

For those that still have doubts about Jones, there are a couple of fights on the horizon that will answer any possible questions. The first will be a grudge match with Rashad Evans. The brief meeting between the two fighters in the cage Saturday showed there is legit heat between these guys.  Will these guys be able to put the bad feelings behind them and focus on their game plan?  OR will emotions rise, leading to one making a mistake leading to defeat?

That should be an excellent fight, but I would still favor Jones. There’s also the chance of a fight with current Strikeforce champ Dan Henderson who has signed a deal to return to the UFC. Henderson has a tough fight coming up with “Shogun” Rua at UFC 139, but would be in line for a title shot with a win.

How would Jones react if Henderson landed that huge right hand which has ended so many fights? I don’t know, what I do know is Jones proved again Saturday night that he is good….he’s pretty F’n good!

It starts with the coaches. After suffering through nice guys Junior Dos Santos and GSP, we now have coaches you either love or hate in Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller. It’s funny, but I have as many friends that can’t stand Miller as those that hate Bisping’s act. As we saw with Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans in season 10, when you have two coaches jaw-jacking each week it’s pretty damn entertaining.

When the coaches fight at the end of the year I think Bisping wins easy, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to the many ways “Mayhem” will attempt to get under Bisping’s (thin) skin. That was the complaint you heard the most when Bisping coached against Dan Henderson. People were mad that Dan didn’t trash talk more, but in hindsight didn’t that make Dan’s brutal KO much more enjoyable?

Miller doesn’t possess Henderson’s punching power, but he always has something to say when a camera is around and the next couple of weeks should be no different. By week #3 I bet we hear Bisping say “I really don’t like the guy.”

The coaches can be the best talkers in the world, but the show will always come down to the fighters and the fights themselves. Guys like Junie Browning, Jamie Yager and Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres made for good drama within the four walls of the house, but had nothing within the eight sides of the octagon.

I don’t know that we can expect anything new when it comes to what we see in the house. Pranks, drunken idiots and guys looking like fools on national TV for giving up a shot in the UFC because they missed a girlfriend no longer seem interesting. Chris Cope who was on the last season of TUF told me a very funny story about in-house “drama.” According to Cope, as soon as guys lost a fight they would do anything in their power to get a fight on the season finale.

In order to do that, they would have to find a conflict (real or faked) with another member of the house. Cope said it became a running joke as guys would look for the lights of the TV camera and would then approach the closest fighter standing around and tell that guy why it was important they fought on the finale.

Maybe the most intriguing part of season 14 is the debut of featherweights and bantamweights. Some of the best fights happen in the lower weight classes and with Dana White announcing fans now have the chance to vote on fight, KO and submission of the season; you have to believe guys will go for it for a shot at that $25k bonus.

White has been guilty of over-hyping TUF in the past, but knowing the premiere is two hours long to show all of the elimination round fights is fine with me.

This will be the final season of TUF on Spike before the UFC’s new TV deal kicks in with FX. Season 15 will feature live fights, coaches training with their teams and longer seasons. Change is good and hopefully the changes will keep the show around for a while.

One of the biggest problems has been trying to live up to what we saw in the first season. In hindsight it’s crazy to think guys with such strong UFC careers as Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, Kenny Florian, Diego Sanchez, Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin were all introduced in that class.

People talk about the classic fight between Bonnar and Griffin as well as the natural dislike between Koscheck and Leben, but many of us forget the episode in which Bobby Southworth had to cut 20lbs to make weight. That was insane as Southworth kept trying to quit while Koscheck forced him to stay in the sauna. You thought there was no way Southworth would be able to fight, much less win. Southworth did win and it was one of the many memorable moments of season one.

Fighters in the following seasons must have gotten the message as I can’t remember another incident of guys needing to cut so much weight in so little time.

Producers of the show have a chicken/egg dilemma when it comes to casting. Do you look for funny guys who are decent fighters or good fighters that may not have the best personality? It might seem like an easy choice, but with the average household having 300 channels you need guys that are entertaining.

When you have 16 guys living in the same house, you need to do something to stand out. From the brief preview on the UFC’s website I saw a guy with green hair. I don’t know his name or his record; I just figure he must be tough as hell to walk into that situation with green hair so I will pay attention when he fights.

With the anticipation comes pressure to live up to White’s declaration “These are the best elimination fights ever.” That sets the bar pretty high.  I’m sure there will be a couple of blogs along the way where I am complaining about what I think is wrong with the show. It happens every year, but if we can get a couple of new names to remember it will all be worth it. If we get to the end and the only fight we want to see is Bisping vs. Miller, then even next year’s changes may not be enough to peak interest in a show that has meant so much to the growth of MMA

That’s right. Just 24 hours after Dana White told the world that Diaz was out, he was right back in. Not fighting GSP in a battle of champions, instead facing Penn in the co-main event. I like Dana White and I think 99% of what he touches turns to gold, but not this time. I understood his frustration with Diaz, but there were a couple of points that needed to be addressed. The first was the fight was still six weeks away when Diaz was yanked. If the fighter from Stockton flaked in the two/three weeks prior to the fight it would make more sense than getting an itchy trigger finger SIX weeks out. I have been to countless press conferences and trust me, you learn nothing. Fighter A “He is tough and I will have to be at my best”. Fighter B “This is going to be a great fight and I hope all the fans come out” Take a couple of pictures, drink a warm soda, shoot the s**t with the other guys in the media and you go home.

Point 2: This fight was easily one of the most anticipated fights of the year and it was taking place in Las Vegas instead of a new market to the UFC where you need to get out and hustle to promote the fight. When Diaz fought Paul Daley in San Diego, they had to do everything because there was no guarantee on ticket sales..that would not be a problem here. Tickets were set to go on sale this past Saturday, and most experts expected an easy sellout.

Point 3: White knows he has something good in Diaz and that’s why the decision to bring him back makes sense. It makes no sense to put him back on 137. If Diaz and Penn were to fight a month later, nobody says a word. In fact I think most people would applaud the UFC for giving Diaz a second shot and would look forward to a great fight. Now it just looks bad. It reminds me of the classic quote from boxing promoter Bob Arum “yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth”.

I like Condit and I think he is a worthy challenger for the belt, just not right now. The right fight was (and still is) GSP vs. Diaz with the winner of Condit/Penn in line for a title shot. It would be another example of the UFC doing a perfect job of storytelling and building excitement for a card down the road.

I wonder what the hit will be to PPV buys. The UFC cards are not cheap ($55.00 for HD) but more often than not you get your money’s worth based on the match making skills of Joe Silva. It’s hard to remember a recent card where at least 3 out of the 5 main card fights didn’t deliver positive results. You could have had 4 waiters fighting 4 cab drivers on the GSP/Diaz under card and I still would have bought it. It was a super fight whether Dana White wanted to use that term or not. White has been on quite a roll recently and deserves the benefit of the doubt; I just wish we didn’t have to lose Diaz vs. GSP in the process.

The weekend got off to a huge start on Friday when UFC President Dana White announced Cain Velasquez would defend his UFC heavyweight championship against Junior Dos Santos November 12^th on FOX.

This was a major story on a couple of different levels; the first being a sure fire pay-per-view money maker was instead being given away for free as the first fight on FOX.

The fight itself should live up to the hype as the 29 year old champion will enter the octagon with a perfect record of 9-0 with 8 of those wins coming by knockout. Velasquez has not fought since October of last year when he steamrolled former champ Brock Lesnar. Shortly afterwards, Velasquez had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff.

13 months is a long layoff, and Velasquez cannot afford to be rusty against his 26 year old opponent.

Dos Santos is a wrecking machine with a record of 13-1. He also has 8 knockouts, and has defeated such name fighters as Mirko Cro Cop, Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin.

There is no doubt this should be an excellent fight. FOX is going all out with a red carpet pre-fight show to go along with plenty of hype over the next couple of weeks during their MLB and NFL broadcasts.

It will be a huge night for the UFC and they are treating it as such by putting the heavyweight championship up for grabs.They announced another strong fight for the card with Clay Guida fighting Ben Henderson. The winner of this fight has to be considered the #1 contender for the lightweight title. While White stated that only the heavyweight championship fight would be shown on FOX, it doesn’t make sense not to show a fight between two guys as exciting as Guida and Henderson. If the title fight ends early (and it should) I hope this is the fight that is shown to fill the time.

Tuesday also brought big news in the heavyweight division as it was announced former Strikeforce champ Alistair Overeem will make his UFC debut on December 30^th against Lesnar.

This is another fight that fans are excited to see, and confirms the UFC as the clear cut leader in the fan friendly department.

It wasn’t that long ago this fight seemed nothing more than a pipe dream between champions in different promotions, but once Zuffa purchased Strikeforce the wheels for super fights were put in motion.

The first happens next month when UFC welterweight champ George St Pierre fights former Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz. This fight works on so many levels as both guys had blown through the best competition in their division, plus it’s good vs. evil as nice guy GSP fights the bad boy Diaz.

If there is any negative that comes with these fights, it’s the nails being pounded into the coffin of Strikeforce. When two of your current champs are fighting for your rival and a third (Dan Henderson) is close to signing a deal to return to the UFC it kills your credibility.

You knew this day was coming when the sale was announced, even if Dana White swore that it would be “business as usual”. When the injury bug hit, White had to make a move and that move was the slow demise of Strikeforce. He owns it and should be able to run it as he likes. As sorry as I will be to see Strikeforce go away, I am more excited to see the fights that are coming. See ya later Strikeforce, you had a good run but now it’s time to let the UFC take over. Any scenario in which the fans win is always good and I am hard pressed to think of a better weekend then the one we just had.

It’s a little sad that this weekend will bring the semi-finals of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix. An event when it was announced that was supposed to put the smaller promotion at the same level if not higher when it came to the heavyweight division.

Remember? You were looking ahead to a showdown between Overeem and Fedor and wondering if guys like Josh Barnett or “Big Foot” Silva could pull an upset along the way. Silva did defeat Fedor and while Barnett is still alive in the tournament, do you care? Me either. I will watch because I love the fights, but I would be shocked if we don’t see ads for the UFC on FOX debut.

It’s crazy how the landscape has changed in the past six months. I’m sorry for the people who will lose their jobs, but excited to see what super-fights will be announced next.

It might not make a lot of sense, but these are the cards that usually turn out to be some of my favorites. The cards where I seem to have the lowest expectations, more often than not deliver the best results.

UFC 134 delivered right from the first fight on Spike TV. Rousimar Palhares and Dan Miller fought one of the better fights of recent memory to get the night started. Palhares in the end won by unanimous decision, but Miller stood in and exchanged with one of the strongest guys in the middleweight division.

I can’t wait to see what is next for Palhares since he has lost to the two biggest name guys he’s fought (Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt). I think his next fight will go a long way in determining if Palhares can hang with the best fighters in the world.

After Thiago Tavares knocked out Spencer Fisher in the 2^nd round of their fight, it was time for the PPV portion of 134.

I don’t know about you, but guys that seem a little too cocky on their way to the octagon bug me so much I immediately start to cheer against them whether I know anything about them or not.

That was the case for me with Luiz Cane who had this very smug look on his face as he made his walk to the cage. Maybe it was the excitement of fighting in front of his hometown fans that caused Cane to look so arrogant, hell if 14,000 people were screaming our names we might look the same way. Still, I became a fan of Stanislav Nedkov at that very moment.

Cane looked like a guy who deserved to be cocky early on as he stalked Nedkov and opened a cut along the side of the nose that really seemed to bother Nedkov. Just as I started to lose hope for my new favorite fighter, Nedkov doing his best “My Bodyguard” impression, stood up to the bully and knocked Cane out. Knockouts happen all the time and we always say there is no disgrace in losing a good, clean, tough MMA fight. Still, it was kind of funny to see Cane do a running leap off the cage after being clearly hurt by Nedkov’s punch.

I may have cheered for Nedkov this past Saturday night, but I think I will bet against him in his next fight. He takes too many punches, and I am pretty sure a better fighter may have finished him.

I thought Ross Pearson did enough to hand Edson Barboza his first loss, but the judges saw it different giving Barboza the win by split decision. The good news for Pearson came at the end of the night when Dan White deemed this fight of the night and gave each fighter a $100,000 bonus.

I am bummed I wasn’t a bigger fan during the glory days of Pride. I remember reading about Fedor, Mirko Cro Cop and the Nogueira brothers, but I wasn’t interested enough to buy the PPV’s or DVDs of some of those legendary fights.

Still, I knew then as I know now that the Nogueira’s had played a big part in the development of the sport. Both brothers have an easy smile and seem to carry themselves with nothing but class, so like so many fans I didn’t want to see “Big Nog” get hurt in his fight against the younger and stronger Brendan Schaub.

Schaub had looked good in his last fight when he knocked out Cro Cop and a lot of people (myself included) expected the same result here. I can’t remember a fight where I was happier to be wrong. Schaub looked good early, but Nogueira drove the Rio crowd into a frenzy when he knocked Schaub out at 3:09 of the first round.

It was a great win and for the 35 year old “Minotauro” and for me was the highlight of the night.

“Shogun” Rua walked right through Forrest Griffin, knocking out the popular fighter in just 1:53. It goes to show how quickly things can change in this sport. While Griffin has always been known most for his funny personality, he was as tough as there was on the UFC roster. Griffin now looks like his chin is shot as he was knocked out for the third time in his last five fights.

Griffin now joins guys like Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva in a group of fighters that appear to be able to be knocked out after one solid punch. The good news for Griffin came after the fight with news that his wife was in labor about to deliver a baby daughter. Nice move by Dana White getting Griffin on the UFC’s private plane to try to get him home in time for the birth.

While it may be the end of the road for Griffin, it was a nice rebound win for Rua after losing by knockout to Jon Jones in March. Rua could be in line for a fight with current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson, with the winner getting a shot at the title.

Anderson Silva won for the 15^th time in a row as he destroyed Yushin Okami at 2:04 of the 2^nd round. Okami might be the last guy to have defeated Silva, but he was grossly outclassed the second time around.

With all due respect to GSP, Silva is the man right now in the UFC and Dana White has a (good) dilemma on his hands as he figures out what to do next with his middleweight champion.

There is the idea of a super fight between Silva and GSP. From a business standpoint this makes the most sense as it’s the fight fans want to see. How will GSP do going up in weight against a guy as crafty as Silva?

With St Pierre set to fight Nick Diaz at the end of October the biggest issue is time. Would Silva be willing to wait to fight the smaller man.

Next is the possibility of a rematch with Chael Sonnen who was the guy to come closest to defeating Silva. There is no love lost between these two, and the hype would be off the charts. Sonnen has a fight set for October 8^th against Brian Stann and my guess is, if Sonnen wins we see the rematch possibly before the end of the year.

The dark horse in all of this is Henderson who lost to Silva at UFC 82 three years ago. Henderson has been on a nice roll in Strikeforce, but now finds himself a free agent with all signs pointing to a UFC return.

Henderson has won his last three fights in convincing fashion, but those fights were fought at 205lbs. the 41 yr old Henderson prefers to stay at light heavyweight, but would go through another weight cut for another shot at Silva.

Any of these three fights would be great, I just wonder which one happens first.

I love Leben, but you knew it was going to be a long night before they had rung the bell. Leben looked like a boy fighting a man, and Silva treated him like a kid giving him a brutal beating leaving “The Crippler” dazed, confused and face down on the mat.

I made a lot of money off friends who thought Rich Franklin would cruise by Silva in the first of their two match-ups. Like the Leben fight, the result was as brutal as it was fast. Who can forget the look in Franklin’s eyes as Silva locked in that Muay Thai clinch just before the end. Franklin looked like a guy who knew he was done even before Silva landed the series of crushing knees that broke Franklin’s nose and gave Silva the middleweight championship.

The result was almost identical a year later when Silva again used his knees to TKO Franklin. As a Franklin fan it was tough to see a guy who had done so well in his other fights, look so over matched against Silva.

Unless you were a total idiot, you knew you were watching a star in Silva*. The way he was walking through some of the toughest guys in the UFC while never breaking a sweat or appearing to be in trouble was unlike anything we were used to seeing.

Somewhere along the line Silva’s image changed. Maybe it’s just typical of sports fans where we build somebody up for the chance to tear them down, but I’m not sure that was the case with Silva. The easy smile seemed arrogant and phony, and we felt justified in feeling that way after the champ showed a total lack of respect for Damian Maia. “See! That is the real Silva! A jerk disrespectful of his opponents, that’s not what MMA is supposed to be!” Dana White said he was ready to fire Silva belt or no belt based on what he had seen, a lot of fans had seen enough and jumped off the Silva bandwagon. Hence the asterisk.

I won’t say I jumped too, but I’d be crazy to say I wasn’t ready. Then came his fight with Chael Sonnen. A fight in which Silva was being dominated for four and a half rounds before finding the smallest of openings to lock in a triangle arm-bar and steal the victory. It was an amazing fight with one of the greatest endings I have ever seen.

Next was a title defense against another of my favorite fighters Vitor Belfort. I couldn’t wait to see this fight, and I wondered which Silva would show up. I got my answer 3:25 into the first round when Silva used an amazing front kick to end the night. “What the hell was that?” I remember screaming like an idiot as a bunch of us watched the fight in the Clinch Gear offices. When Silva gave credit to Steven Seagal in his post fight interview I was a fan again *.  I felt like we were back watching the wrecking machine of 2006 and felt dumb for questioning his heart.

Has “The Spider” changed his attitude? Did Dana White’s threat (real or not) shake Silva out of his funk? Was the idea of a super-fight with George St Pierre enough to get him back on track? Who knows. What I do know is his last two performances have been excellent and when you consider he is fighting the last man to beat him in Yushin Okami, it’s safe to expect more of the same……isn’t it?

If Silva beat Okami Saturday night in Rio, he could finally meet St Pierre (assuming GSP gets by Nick Diaz) or maybe he has a rematch with Dan Henderson who is riding a hot streak and appears headed back to the UFC. Either of those would be huge fights. Maybe he fights both.  I know I am getting way ahead of myself, but if Silva were to win those fights, forget Liddell, Couture, Hughes and Penn, Anderson Silva would have to go down as the best to ever enter the octagon*.

Think of all the athletes you have watched over the years. If somebody is described as “good” that is pretty cool. Who wouldn’t want to be known as “a good NFL or NBA player”? Now think of all the players who have earned the right to be called “great”. It’s a much smaller group and again one that any of us would love to be a part of. Anderson Silva is a great fighter.

Now I say this assuming we see the same Silva we saw in the Franklin and Belfort fights. If he comes out and sleep walks to an easy decision win over Okami I’ll be back here ripping him a week from now. Derek Jeter can strike out three times, but if he hits a sac fly to win the game Yankee fans won’t shut up. A-Rod hits a two run homer in the first and they complain that he can’t do it in the clutch.

Same rules apply to Silva. We have grown to expect so much from him, that anything less than awesome just isn’t good enough. I have no doubt after he has retired, Silva will be remembered as one of the best to ever put on the gloves. What happens between now and then will be interesting to watch.

One thing we do agree on is our appreciation of guys who come to fight every night. A lot of these guys don’t get the hype, you will not see their faces on the cover of magazines sadly they are rarely featured on talks shows….even ours. That will change this week when Chris “Lights Out” Lytle joins us.

Lytle retired from the game at age 36 Sunday night after defeating Dan Hardy by submission in the third round of their excellent fight. Lytle ends his career with a record of 31-18. In 49 career fights, he never fought for the title. He was however in the “Fight of the Night” 6 times. He only scored three knockouts in those 31 wins, but one of those won “KO of the Night”. In fact, Lytle holds the record for most post-fight bonuses with 10. More than Liddell, Hughes, GSP and all the others stands Lytle, the firefighter from Indianapolis. Looking at his career, it’s impossible not to cheer for a guy like Lytle.

Let’s go back to January 2000. When all of us were celebrating our survival of Y2K, Lytle was in Japan losing by decision to Keiichiro Yamamiya. That loss dropped Lytle’s record to 3-3-3! Three wins, three losses and three draws? I don’t know about you, but I’m probably thinking about focusing on my life at the fire station instead of fighting again. Not Lytle, he kept going. We now move to November of 2000. Lytle loses a fight to Ben Earwood. The loss leaves Lytle with a record of 5-6-3.  What possible motivation would you have to stay in the fight game with that record? One week after the Earwood fight, Lytle would fight twice in the same night. Lytle won both fights, including a first round submission win over Beaver Beaver. I have to admit, when I read that fight on Wikipedia, I thought it had to be a joke, but nope it’s also listed as a win on Sherdog and I trust those guys as much as anyone.

Later in his career Lytle would face Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, Matt Hughes and Josh Koshcheck. While he may have lost those fights, he was never embarrassed.  Lytle is a throwback in the truest sense of the word and like so many before him, I am sorry that I became a fan late in his career.

Maybe Lytle doesn’t have the mass appeal of a Roy “Big Country” Nelson or Jason “Mayhem” Miller and maybe he isn’t a perfect technician like Jon Fitch, but its guys like Lytle that put this sport on their back and brought it to where it is today. Congrats on the win and your retirement Chris, I can’t wait to ask about your memories of the Beaver Beaver fight on Wednesday.

The facial expression of Ortiz reminded me of Lee Harvey Oswald shortly after Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby. Eyes closed mouth wide open; Ortiz had a look of a guy who knew his night was over. It was a pretty good performance from “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” up until he got the microphone and had to remind all of us how tough he is and how great he is. Shut up Tito!

I like Ortiz a lot because he was one of the major reasons I became a fan of the UFC. I couldn’t wait to watch Ortiz fight Chuck Liddell, Ken Shamrock etc.Then a funny thing happened, I started to pay attention to his interviews. Nothing wears me out more than a guy who has to constantly remind everybody how great he is.

Maybe that is fallout from the constant beat-downs Ortiz has been given at the hands of UFC president Dana White. I think White is pretty funny for the most part, but I think he is guilty of downplaying what Ortiz meant to the growth of MMA.

In the early days of the UFC there were a couple of guys that made me order a pay-per-view broadcast. Those guys were Tito Ortiz and Tank Abbott. Looking back, it’s funny to think of Tank Abbott competing in the same sport as guys like GSP, Cain Velasquez and Anderson Silva. No other sport has had such a drastic improvement in overall talent in such a short period of time. That is great for Zuffa and even better for fans who see great fights between amazing athletes, but that doesn’t change the fact Ortiz and Abbott were responsible for moving the needle in the early days.

I loved Tito’s win over Ryan Bader, because like so many other fans, I gave Ortiz no shot. I thought Bader would crush Ortiz, but instead it was the former Ultimate Fighter winner who was tapping out. It was one of the great upsets in UFC history, and Ortiz deserved his moment in the sun.

He earned more respect for stepping up and taking a fight against the always tough Evans just weeks after the Bader fight. People focus so much on the physical wear and tear, they forget about the mental aspect. Having spent a year covering this sport, I can tell you the mental part is huge.

Ortiz had gone almost five years without a win prior to UFC 132. In that time he was beaten pretty soundly by Matt Hamill, Lyoto Machida and Chuck Liddell. At 36 years of age he was also recovering from serious neck and back injuries.

The feeling of satisfaction Ortiz must have felt on July 2^nd had to be off the charts. Here he was with his arm raised after a fight that NOBODY gave him a chance to win. In most cases he would be able to take some time off to relax and reflect. Instead, he was asked to save a major PPV event when Phil Davis had to pull out of the Evans fight due to a knee injury.

Credit to Tito who probably against his better judgment  said yes. Ortiz did everything he could against Evans, but he didn’t look close to the guy we all watched a month earlier. Tito looked a little gassed at times and unfortunately Evans wouldn’t allow Ortiz the chance to catch lightning in a bottle for a second straight night.

Tito showed (again) that he’s tough and I am glad his job wasn’t on the line. He earned another chance with the Bader win, and I think he earned another fight when he said yes to fighting Evans. He did the right thing for his employer and deserves to be rewarded…I just hope we don’t have to hear about it for the next three months.

That theory may hold true for a lot of fighters, but it never entered the mind of Dan Henderson. Henderson continues to look for the best challenges, even at the age of 40. With no real legit contenders to his Strikeforce light heavyweight championship, Henderson decided to go after the guy once considered the best pound for pound fighter in the world.

The respect between the two fighters was obvious anytime the appeared together in the days leading up to the fight. Unlike Miesha Tate and Marloes Coenen who brought a strong dislike for each other into the cage, Henderson and Emelianenko are fighters who were there to do a job.

What a job they did coming out firing punches from the opening bell. There was no sign of mutual respect during the 4:12 these two went at it, this was a fight is its purest sense. When Emelianenko sent Henderson to the canvas late in the first round, you had to believe the bigger man would try to close the show as he had done so many times during his incredible 28 fight win streak. What he didn’t expect was to be face down and out on the canvas after a brutal uppercut thrown by Henderson.

We have all seen Dan’s power displayed in highlight reel knockouts, but the one Saturday night may be my favorite. To have that kind of power from a kneeling position is scary. It gets scarier when you consider Fedor had never been knocked out. This was not glass-jawed Andrei Arlovski lying face down on the mat; this was “The Last Emperor”.

The only tarnish on the evening was the questions from the Fedor camp about the timing of referee Herb Dean’s stoppage. It started in the cage when Fedor told Gus Johnson he could have continued. I get the fact Fedor is proud and wants to go out on his shield, but his comments came across to many as sour grapes.

At the time of the stoppage, there were 48 seconds remaining in the first round. How quickly people forget what Dan did to Babalu, Feijao and Michael Bisping when given the opportunity to land that last punch.  Henderson crushes guys and there is no question in my mind that if Herb Dean had not stepped in (even as timid as Dean did) Dan could have hurt Emelianenko. As Henderson said in the post fight press conference”I wasn’t going anywhere”. Do we really need to see the faded legend carried out on a stretcher before we can give credit for an amazing accomplishment?

Fedor was out and he was done. He answered questions about his heart still being in the game, there was no doubt he trained to win…the problem for Emelianenko was so did Henderson. As a member of Henderson’s camp told me Saturday night”We didn’t train this hard, come all this way to lose”

That was obvious. What will be your lasting image of Fedor? Will it be all of those amazing wins in Pride? Will it be images from his three shocking losses in a row? Or will it be a beaten man pleading that he could have continued?

What happened to “The One who Doesn’t Fall, Doesn’t Stand Up”? I guess that doesn’t apply to those that go to sleep in the middle of the cage. Fedor may deserve respect for what he has accomplished, but his actions showed a lack of respect for Henderson.

It has to be a shock to the system being so good for so long, only to see it all go out the window in a short period of time. It happens in baseball all the time, and now we have seen it in MMA. Bottom line is Fedor has lost three straight and he’s looked worse in each fight.

Now, those comments WERE made immediately after the fight. Maybe when Emelianenko gets home and sits down to watch the fight again, he will realize that Herb Dean not only did the right thing, he also saved Emelianenko from being seriously injured. Emelianenko and his wife have a new baby daughter. Those of us that have kids know firsthand that even the worst day can be forgotten in minutes when playing with your kids.

Other than a banged up eye and some other bumps and bruises that go with being a professional fighter, Emelianenko is able to do that tonight thanks to Herb Dean. Wouldn’t it be nice if the “legend” Emelianenko came out this week and said something to the effect of “after watching the tape of the fight, it was obvious the referee Herb Dean was correct in stopping the fight”

No longer would Fedor be looked at as a guy who can’t handle the truth, but instead as the class guy we all want him to be. Yeah, I won’t hold my breath. Fedor is the cash cow for M-1 and if he is done so are they. It’s a long flight from Chicago to Russia. That’s plenty of time to remind that cash cow of how he got jobbed, and next time people will see the real Fedor. Sure they will.

Armbar. Doctor Stoppage. TKO. What will be next? Retirement would be nice. While never quite looked at as a superstar by American fans, Emelianenko can walk away secure in the huge footprint he made on the sport. Fedor’s salary for this fight was a reported 1.2 million dollars. Since the average salary in Moscow comes in around $39k, I’m guessing the big man lives a comfortable life. There is really no reason to come back, and if that was his last fight on his current contract it’s a moot point.

UFC President Dana White has had a long running feud with M-1, and he seems to enjoy ripping the Russian promoters every chance he gets. Now that Zuffa runs Strikeforce there is no chance Emelianenko sees another 1.2 payday anytime soon. Gone are the super-fights with Brock Lesnar or Cain Velasquez. Japan isn’t an option and neither is Bellator. It’s all of a sudden a pretty lonely road for the guy once considered the world’s best, let’s hope it leads him home and not back in the cage.

It has not been a problem for Dan Henderson though. Chicago brings a much different vibe than Henderson’s last two fights against Babalu Sobral, and his most recent outing against the former light heavyweight champion Feijao.

I was in St Louis for the Babalu fight, and it seemed like I ran into Dan everywhere. He looked like he was running for Mayor. He was relaxed, in great shape, and was happy to have dinner with his friends who had flown to St Louis in the middle of the winter to support him. Henderson knew he was better than Babalu, and he proved it in devastating fashion.

While I have only been in Chicago less than 24 hours, I have not run into the champ anywhere. Not in the hotel lobby, walking the streets, or in a local restaurant. I was told last night that Dan has not been out since Tuesday night as he prepares for maybe his toughest fight ever against Fedor.

So what do we make of this? Is Dan more focused than ever? Hell, I don’t know. I just know that his training team is very confident. They understand the challenges that Fedor will pose for Dan, they just think their guy is ready.

I had two different people answer the following question the exact same way. When I asked how Dan was doing in his final preparations, they both replied “Man, he is strong…so damn strong”

I don’t know if you checked out any of the video interviews we have done with fighters that come to Team Quest to train with Dan. Afterwards I will always ask about the experience, and they always start with Henderson’s strength. Tom Lawlor described it as “crazy…old man strength”

We will see how effective that crazy old man strength can be against the bigger man. I posted an interesting interview that Sports Illustrated did with Dana White. When asked about this fight, Dana called it a “lose-lose” for Fedor saying he is fighting a natural 185lb fighter. If he loses, Fedor is done, and if he wins he beat a middleweight.

I found that choice of words from the UFC president very interesting. As most of you know, Henderson’s contract with Strikeforce ends with the Fedor fight. Most people assume that Dan will head back to the UFC, but Dan himself told me he plans on staying with Strikeforce for as long as the promotion is around.

If Dan wins, and if he goes back to the UFC, would Dana White ask the 40 year old Henderson to drop back down to 185 after spending the last year at light heavyweight? Henderson says he can still make 185 easy, and the bad weight cut in Nashville was a fluke.

Could that mean Henderson vs. Silva 2? Again, who knows. I do know Dana White picks his words carefully, and the wheels must be churning in that bald head wondering what to do with Henderson if he is able to beat Fedor.

What happens for Fedor if he wins? In spite of what you may have read on different blogs, people that have seen Fedor this week say he looks to be in good shape. Fedor will never be mistaken for Alistair Overeem, but those that have seen him believe he is taking this fight very serious and has worked hard to be in better shape then he was for past fights.

Can Henderson land one of those “H-Bombs” and put “The Last Emperor” to sleep? What happens if the fight goes to the ground? If the fight goes to the third round does it favor the bigger or the smaller man? So many great questions about this fight, I guess we will have them all answered tomorrow night.

The sport is MMA which is short for Mixed Martial ARTS. There was nothing artistic in the Grove and Jensen scrap, outside of two guys doing everything in their power to win. This was plain and simple a fight. Not a bar fight, or a backyard brawl (which you can find thousands of on you-tube) no this was simply two guys (that most have never heard of) getting after it from the first bell.

Jensen stands 6’5 and has a record of 10-7. While he did appear on “The Ultimate Fighter”, he has never fought in a UFC event.

Grove stands 6’6, has a record of 11-3 and lost his only fight in the UFC. For every GSP headlining a UFC card in front of 55,000 screaming fans, there are thousands more like Grove and Jensen fighting for a couple of hundred bucks hoping that they still can get a shot at a major card.

Both guys came out firing, and before two long both were on the seat of their pants. As Grove applied an ankle lock, Jensen started firing punches to Grove’s body. Grove in turn started firing punches to Jensen’s face. I have never seen anything like it. It was rock’em sock’em robots from a sitting position.

Sorry, but I can’t stand watching guys like Jon Fitch fight. He is incredibly talented and also incredibly boring. I know he is a great technical fighter; his style is just not for me. Grove and Jensen did try a couple of submission holds, but in the end they went back to what they know best and that was firing hay-makers.

Will either guy get rich from MMA? No. Will this fight be remembered two weeks from now? Sadly, probably not. While Zab Judah slept walked thru his fight with Amir Khan in front of a much larger audience on HBO, Grove and Jensen went old school and had me on the edge of my seat.

I love it when people say only in a sport like MMA can a loss sometimes help your career. I don’t expect to see Jensen fighting Junior Dos Santos or Brock Lesnar anytime soon, but if Saturday’s fight gets him another fight on TV, that’s fine with me.

Maybe I should focus less on Bellator’s business side and just appreciate the fights, but what fun would that be? Congrats to Neil Grove and Zak Jensen. I’m sure you didn’t make jack sh*t in your paycheck, but anytime people are still talking about your fight two days later that’s a good thing.

Dana White looked less than pleased in the post fight press conference when he announced that Ortiz won a 75 thousand dollar bonus for “Submission of the Night”. It was crazy and you had to wonder what would be next for Ortiz. Shockingly, we got our answer just two weeks later when Phil Davis had to pull out of his fight with Rashad Evans at UFC 133 due to a knee injury. That would be just the latest in the long string of UFC main events crushed by injury. With only five weeks until fight night, and most of the top light heavyweights already signed for fights, the internet was lighting up with rumors on who would get the fight with Evans. In an amazing turn of events, Ortiz, just two weeks after fighting for his career, agreed to step back into the octagon to meet the guy he fought to a draw with back at UFC 73. A fight that Ortiz would have won had he not been penalized a point for holding the cage.

Dana White was a much different guy speaking to the media last week as opposed to the guy standing at that podium in Vegas. He praised Tito for stepping up, assured everyone that Ortiz’s job was not on the line and went as far to say Ortiz could earn a title shot with a win over Evans!

That shows you how things can turn on a dime in MMA. I don’t know Ortiz, so I really don’t care about his personality that has rubbed so many people within the sport the wrong way. I like watching the guy fight and I appreciate what he has meant to the sport. I also was floored by his performance by Baeder and was happy to see him get the fight with Evans.

I am also a realist though, and I question whether or not Tito can catch lightning twice. I was in the crowd at UFC 121 when Tito looked slow and out classed against Matt Hamill. The same Hamill who looked slow and out classed by “Rampage” Jackson. The win over Baeder may have stolen the show at 132, but Rashad Evans is a different level of fighter. He’s 15-1 with wins over Liddell, Griffin, Bisping and that same “Rampage” Jackson. Relax; I’m not playing the game where Rashad beat Rampage who beat Hamill who beat Ortiz so that means Rashad will beat Ortiz. I am only saying that for Tito to continue to stay on the UFC roster he’s going to have to beat tougher and tougher guys. Can he do it? Who knows, I thought he had no shot against Baeder and I think he has no shot against Evans. It’s just a great story with an ending that’s yet to be determined. Either way the guy is a sure fire hall of famer who (in typical Ortiz style) has given us all a lot to talk about for the past couple of weeks. Most of the guys who introduced me to the sport have hung up the gloves and that is a drag. We don’t see the Severns or Shamrocks any more. Chuck and Randy have said good-bye too. If Dan Henderson beats Fedor next week, that will be the end of “The Last Emperor” as well. Dana White said win or lose this isn’t the end of the road for Ortiz, but I don’t want to see the guy who destroyed Guy Mezgar and so many others buried on a Facebook prelim. Love him or hate him, Ortiz was one of the pioneers of the sport and a guy that always got me and my buddies to order a PPV, I can’t believe he did it again.

I feel bad for Phil Davis, but c’mon! Hasn’t your interest in 133 taken a 180 degree turn since the change? In what other sport could that happen? The Green Bay Packers don’t get a chance to cancel a game with the Lions in order to play the Steelers. I have to be honest; I can’t tell you two other fights on the card. All I know is 133 is must see TV now to see if the old man can do it again.

I lived in London for a year and got a job….working for Mickey Duff, the hall of fame promoter. I had the greatest arrangement of all time…If I would sell tickets for the three hours prior to the fight, I would be paid 25 pounds, two beers and a sandwich…I was pretty sure I had hit the lotto.

In 1991 I started working in local radio, and it didn’t take me long to figure out working in the media allowed me to apply for credentials to the fights, leaving that hard earned money in my pocket. Again, I was sure I had hit the jackpot. De La Hoya, Tyson, Norris, and Lewis were just some of the guys I was lucky enough to cover. In my garage I have one of those plastic storage tubs you get from Target that is packed with ticket stubs, press passes and fight programs.

In my living room I have the framed poster from the second Leonard/Hearns fight, and in my garage I have ten other framed fight posters that didn’t make the cut after I got married! I probably have twenty five more that are rolled and in tubes, their future has yet to be determined.

That is my story, and I am sure it’s similar to a lot of yours. I point it out as background as I try to figure out why I don’t pay attention to boxing anymore. I love the NFL and MLB, but when it comes to my favorite memories, it always starts with great fights.

There were two fights that people were talking about on the internet Saturday night. Paul Williams wins a highly disputed decision over Erislandy Lara and Brandon Rios knocked out Urban Antillon in what I read was an excellent fight.

That is crazy to me, that I am now reading about excellent fights instead of ripping my friends for missing them. Don’t tell me I missed the fights because no marquee names were involved. In 1998 I made one of my few winning wagers when I bet Angel Manfredy over Arturo Gatti.

Talking about it in the office today, the point was made that money has played a major part and that we no longer see the fights the fans are calling for.  For two plus years we have asked to see Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather square off, but that fight doesn’t seem to be any closer to being made now then it was two years ago.

Dana White can say that he is a boxing fan and there is room for both boxing and mma, but he knows he is responsible for slowly squashing the sport he claims to love so much.

By putting great fights on free TV, making the fights the fans want to see, listening when the fans protest fights rumored to be signed, and loading up cards with 3-4 really good fights, White is getting an “A” where boxing continues to get “C’s and D’s”.

Did you watch either of the fights this past weekend? Did a bunch of friends come over for beers and a BBQ to watch the fights? If not will you look for the replays? I have to admit I will look to see if a replay is coming up of the Rios fight, but if not so what. I can always go pull the VCR out of the garage and watch Hearns vs. Hagler and remember what boxing used to be, and wonder if it will ever be the same.

That was awful, and it happened earlier in the night when Dennis Siver was given a disputed victory over Matt Wiman. Wiman beat Siver up and still lost the fight. I remember when the discussion started for judges to have monitors at ringside. I thought it made great sense. If broadcasters and Dana White were using monitors, then why not the judges? Saturday night proved it has nothing to do with the monitors, it is a problem because some of these judges are just flat out clueless.

I have spoken to plenty of people who think Faber won the main event. It’s hard to argue when my own card was 2 rounds for Cruz, 1 round for Faber and 2 rounds even. I am far from an expert, but I haven’t heard a lot of complaints about my card. It was a tough fight to score, and both guys were effective. That wasn’t the case in the Wiman fight, and I don’t know where the Nevada state athletic commission goes from here in order to solve the problem.

The other storyline of the night involved two legends in the sport whose careers were hanging on by a thread as they entered the octagon. Tito Ortiz may not be a favorite of Dana White’s, but it’s hard to ignore what Ortiz meant to the UFC in the early days. Tank Abbott may have been the promotion’s first “bad boy”, but Ortiz showed early in his career that he had the skills to back up his loud talk.

Having not won a fight in almost 5 years and looking like a shell of his former self in his last fight against Matt Hamill, it was almost impossible seeing a scenario where Ortiz would defeat Ryan Baeder. Baeder, a former winner of the Ultimate Fighter had only one loss on his record and that was to current light heavyweight champ Jon Jones. He’s younger than Ortiz and appeared to be the guy who was going to send Tito right into retirement.

As we have learned time and time again in MMA there is no such thing as a sure bet. When Ortiz dropped Baeder with a right hand, and then locked in a choke forcing the younger man to tap, you could almost hear a pin drop as the crowd tried to convince themselves what they just witnessed. It was one of the great upsets in the UFC. I’m sure Dana White probably spit out a few f bombs in his seat knowing Ortiz lived to see another day, but sitting at home it was great to watch.

The result was sadly not the same for another legend on the card, Wanderlei Silva. Silva got destroyed in just 27 seconds by Chris Leben. Out cold face down on the mat in under 30 seconds is not the lasting memory we all want of a guy who had some many great performances first in Pride and then in the UFC.

All in all it was a good card. Cruz got his win, Ortiz got his lifeline, it’s just too bad “The axe murderer” got confirmation it’s time to hang em up.

Hawk will represent Clinch Gear’s growing line of performance training apparel, which includes the world’s leading Performance Training Shorts as well as technical compression and loose-fit Performance Shirts, compression shorts and compression briefs. Clinch Gear will also introduce A.J. Hawk signature products in 2012. The match was made by Conor Sammartin of Priority Sports & Entertainment.

“We are excited and honored to welcome A.J. to our roster of world-class athletes,” said Bruce Pettet, CEO of Collective Licensing International, the company that owns the Clinch Gear brand. “The fact that an NFL athlete of A.J.’s caliber recognizes the functional advantages of our products highlights Clinch Gear’s appeal to training enthusiasts worldwide.”

A two-time, All-American linebacker at Ohio State, Hawk was drafted by Green Bay in the first round (fifth overall pick) of the 2006 NFL draft. Hawk has never missed a game for the reigning Super Bowl champions, starting 77 of 80 regular season contests in his five-year career. The Ohio native has either led the team or finished second in tackles in each season.

“I am thrilled to join the Clinch Gear family,” Hawk said. “The brand makes the best performance gear on the market, giving me what I need to succeed in our intense strength and conditioning training. The first time I wore the brand’s Performance Training Shorts. I was amazed by how light, flexible and durable they are and how comfortably they fit.”

Founded in Southern California in 2003, Clinch Gear is the leading manufacturer of performance sports apparel for athletes and training enthusiasts, with a rich history in amateur wrestling and mixed martial arts.

In fact, Clinch Gear is the fastest-growing brand in amateur wrestling, establishing Performance Training Shorts as a viable product category in that sport and manufacturing stock and custom-sublimated wrestling singlets. Clinch Gear has outfitted some of the nation’s top universities, high schools and clubs.

Clinch Gear’s roster of elite athletes includes the legendary Herschel Walker; famed MMA world champion and two-time U.S. Greco Roman wrestling Olympian Dan Henderson; Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Clark Gracie; two-time NCAA wrestling champion, U.S. Open Freestyle National champion and U.S. World Freestyle Team member Jake Varner; and former Greco Roman wrestling world champion and current MMA world champion Joe Warren.

About Clinch Gear™

Founded in 2003, Clinch Gear™ is a leading performance sports apparel brand for athletes and training enthusiasts, with a rich history in mixed martial arts and amateur wrestling. Clinch Gear maintains a singular focus on product innovation, consistently seeking to elevate industry standards for performance, quality and fit. Clinch Gear is headquartered in San Diego, California, and is part of the Collective Licensing International portfolio of youth lifestyle and performance brands including Airwalk®, Above The Rim®, Vision Street Wear®, STRIKEFORCE™, Sims®, Lamar® and LTD®, World Snowboarding Championships™ and Hind® brands.  For more information, visit www.clinchgear.com.

Contact:

Aaron Crecy, General Manager

Clinch Gear

619-741-2502

aaron@clinchgear.com

I wasn’t a huge fan of either guy. Nothing against them, they just wouldn’t have ranked in my top 10 of guys I want to see fight. That has now changed after an exciting and crazy fight which saw Kongo come back from two knockdowns to KO Barry with a wild right hand and uppercut combination.

The whole sequence took 26 seconds, and at the end announcers Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan were calling it the wildest knockout they could remember in their more than 2000 fights announced together.

The fight started off with both guys circling and throwing leg kicks before Barry scored the first knockdown with a strong right hand. Kongo was in trouble and Barry jumped on him looking for the finish.  The taller Kongo was able to scramble to his feet before another Barry punch dropped him. At this point you had to believe it was just a matter of time until Barry got the win, but in one of the great comebacks you will see, Kongo stunned Barry with his own right hand, before finishing him with a brutal uppercut. Barry was out cold with his eyes wide open for a period of time before being helped to a stool.

I’m trying to think what else can be accomplished in 26 seconds that would bring that much back and forth excitement and also can be written about in this blog.The answer is not much.

There are always going to be big plays in the major four sports, but I can’t remember any where a guy is a hero for 23 seconds and out cold for the final 3.  You have to wonder about the effects for both fighters.  I bet we see Kongo in with one of the young heavyweight prospects that have been so impressive recently. Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione, Dave Herman, or Travis Browne would all be good fights. A win over any of those three and Kongo gets himself in line for a fight with one of the big names in the division.

The effects on Barry could be more telling. Barry started his career 4-0, but is now 2-3 over his past 5 fights. A pitcher in baseball can have an awful night, then come back four nights later to strikeout 12. It’s not that easy in MMA, especially when you fight in the UFC. Barry’s ability to forget about a fight in which he snagged defeat from the jaws of victory will be important.  It may be easier said than done knowing that highlight is going to be shown over and over again.  Those 26 seconds capped a crazy weekend in which Nate Marquardt was shown the door, and Kongo vs. Barry turned into a fight none of us will forget for a long time.