Welcome to the inaugural edition of Yelling About MMA. While I've done columns before, it's been a couple years since I've done so, and am thus a bit rusty. Let me tell you a little bit about myself to begin. While I'm not going to go into in-depth details about my personal life, I think a few anecdotes could be helpful to those reading. My name is Evan, and first off, I'm one of the newer fans to MMA. While I'm not one of those brought in by the recent video game UFC Undisputed, I haven't been around since the blood feud of Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock. I clearly remember my first UFC pay per view, UFC 84, which featured a vicious knockout of Keith Jardine by the Axe Murderer Wanderlei Silva, as well as a title fight between lightweights BJ Penn and Sean Sherk. I didn't know the backstory of how Sherk had been suspended for steroid use, which he vehemently denied, I didn't know about the freakish flexibility of Penn, I didn't know anything, other than a brief explanation of the rules by my friend Cory. I wasn't even there for the first couple of fights, I walked in just as Jardine had his jaw broken by a brutal display of force from Silva. From that moment on, I was hooked. When the main event finally rolled around, I wanted to know more and more about this "UFC thing". From that time on, till present day, I've missed few fight cards, been to a live event myself, and branched out to the other organizations. I even partook in a few Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kickboxing classes, though a lack of time quickly put an end to that. Now, I decided that it was time for me to get my voice out there among the millions of others. But I aim to distinguish myself from all the other idiots out there (I'm looking at you Perez) with my particular brand of wit, intellect, and pure unadulterated love for combat sports.
In any case, enough about me. Time to get down to the real stuff.
(Soundbytes)
This is the section where I breakdown the news from around the world of combat sports, from the ridiculous to the reheaheaheallly ridiculous.
1: Fedor announced today that he's the headliner for EA Sports MMA.
An old song once said that you don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger, and you don't mess around with Dana White. Well, maybe not the last part, but it still rings true. Dana has specifically stated that anyone in the game would be barred from the UFC. While former heavyweight champion Minotauro Nogueira is featured in the game, his is a special case since it was a part of his contract negotiations with the UFC that he be allowed into the game. But Fedor seems to want to make Dana look like an idiot, which does not bode well for for the contract negotiations.
2: Nick Diaz will face Jay Hieron for the Strikeforce welterweight title.
After Joe Riggs was forced to pull from the fight for a yet-to-be-disclosed reason, we now learn that Jay Hieron will be fighting for the title. I haven't seen much of Jay "The Thoroughbred", but his 17-4 record with six coming by knockout and five coming by submission speaks for itself. Diaz is no pushover either, possessing a 20-7, 1 NC record, and a BJJ black belt from Cesar Gracie. I nany case, Strikeforce has another good bout on its hands for its "Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg" fight on August 15.
3: There is never a three.
4: CNBC premieres its second documentary about the UFC tonight.
Tonight at 10 pm ET, CNBC's special on the UFC "Ultimate Fighting: Fistful of Dollars" premieres tonight. Check it out.
(Closing Thoughts)
If you haven't already, you can check out my twitter at http://twitter.com/Evan_C
I'll be tweeting the UFC press conference on Friday real-time, and I'll post everything on here when it's all said and done.
Peace out, and rock on.
-Evan
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