Machida-San the Spoiler!

Poor Lyoto has to have the unenviable task of facilitating the final memory of Randy Couture's legendary fighting career, that being the old man waking up in the cage, staring at the lights in front of 55,000 maniacal Canadians. It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it, right? 

Machida-San is being very humble and respectful towards the old guy, as he should be, talking about how honored he is to be Randy's last opponent. Now, with the niceties aside, the reality is that this is just a really bad fight for Captain America and horrible timing to boot. After Lyoto's last loss to Rampage, another in a long list of ridiculous decisions that have plagued the sport, he knows he has to eliminate the possibility of that happening again and finish the fight by either submission or knockout. I'm going with the latter. As Lyoto has stated, he is not only fighting Randy Couture, he is also fighting the judges. With the way judging has gone in Mixed Martial Arts, to leave the outcome in the judges hands is not in anyone's best interests, including the fans. Randy will be forced to deal with a raging Dragon who has a very large chip on his shoulder. And given the speed disparity, there's isn't all that much for the old dude to do to stop the onslaught that Machida-San will bring in the cage in Toronto.

The question is, why did Randy take this fight as his last fight in the first place? He claims he wanted it for a while now, but with every passing day on his aging body and with his diminishing speed, this fight becomes  more and more impossible to win. There is also word that Lyoto's manager, Ed Soares, pushed for this fight. That's understandable because a win over Randy will go a long way as far as exposure to the more casual MMA fans. And stylistically, this fight is a no-brainer for Machida-San. His overwhelming speed and striking advantage will cause the old man to pull out what little is left of the hair on his balding dome. Again, that's after he comes to from the unconscious state that Lyoto will be forced to put him in. 

Randy has had a very impressive career regardless of his rather pedestrian record of 19-10. Most impressive to me is how late an age he started fighting at and how long he has lasted. He started fighting at the age Lyoto is now, 18 fights into his career. The guy is almost a half century old and still going strong, well, relatively speaking. You know a fighter has overstayed his welcome when his son is also fighting as a pro and is 28 years old. Unfortunately for Randy, he is choosing to end his career fighting one of the best fighters on the planet. This is after he took two laughable fights against a very old, washed up Mark Coleman and another very old, very fat, horribly out of shape, inexperienced MMA virgin, James Toney. Fighting those 2 dudes and fighting Lyoto Machida is as different as nuns and pornstars. We're talking two completely opposite ends of the spectrum here. The old man deserves his props for taking such a tough fight as his last outing. At what age does dementia set in? Zuffa would have easily given him another softball match-up as his swan song fight, but Randy chose to go out with possibly the hardest fight of his career. Again, he deserves props and respect for that. If nothing else, Randy is a tough, hard-nosed competitor and proved that just by signing this fight contract. 

Machida-San will be playing role of spoiler and assassin on Saturday night in front of 55,000 potentially drunk, loud Canadians and around a million more potentially drunk MMA fans sitting on their couches at home watching the PPV. He will have to spoil old man Couture's going away party and essentially kill his career as a fighter. It had to happen, the guy is 47 years old, and unfortunately, his time inside the cage will come to a violent end. Poor Lyoto has to be the nail in the coffin of a legend's storied career. It's been a nice run, Mr. Couture, you definitely put your stamp on the MMA game. Now go enjoy your much safer post-fighting life where you don't have to deal with fighting machines like the great Lyoto Machida.

"Like Water" is a MUST See!!!

 
Yes, I'm a biased MMA fan and yes, I'm also an Anderson Silva fan. So what, this movie kicks serious ass just like Anderson does!


Like Water is a documentary film that debuted in NYC at the Tribeca Film Festival that revolves around a year in the life of Anderson Silva, the world's greatest mixed martial arts fighter. It was masterfully directed by relatively new filmmaker, Pablo Croce, and is a VERY impressive piece of filmmaking! The title comes from the famous monologue by Bruce Lee about being "like water".


On the surface, the film is about the day to day existence of the greatest mixed martial artist this world has ever seen. Underneath all the obvious blood, sweat and tears of this extremely tough sport and lifestyle is the simple story of a devoted family man and devout, God fearing Christian. He's just a man doing what he has to do to put food on his family's table and clothes on their backs. As his grandmother says in the film, he found something he was good at. Sorry to disagree, Grandma, he's not just good at it, he's absolutely amazing at it. There's some intimate glimpses into Anderson's home life with his family. You get to see him at home with his wife and kids who are obviously Anderson's greatest motivation to do what he does. He is torn between making a living in the rough and tumble fight game and having to be away from his family for stretches as long as three months. That's a part of a fighter's existence that no one but those intimately involve see or know about. It's amazing that they can stay so focused. The dichotomy is that in order to provide the best possible life he can for his family, he is forced to be away from them. Ironically, that's one of the aspects of yin/yang that make up the man and the martial artist that is Anderson Silva. 

Most of the movie is based on Anderson's preparation for his fight with perennial bigmouth and steroid junkie, Chael Sonnen. It's very much a good guy, bad guy type of film. You leave the theatre hating Sonnen more than when you walked into it (if thats possible) and leave loving Anderson. As much as there is to like about Anderson, there is 10x's more to dislike about Chael. The guy just doesn't stop talking bullshit, EVER. He said more insane, idiotic things in an attempt to hype his fight with Anderson than Charlie Sheen did on one of his UStream broadcasts. We're talking monumental bullshit! What we get to see in this film is how unaffected Anderson is by Chael's never ending attempts to rile him up. Its obvious that Chael was trying to throw Anderson off of his game mentally by trying to anger him. Fighting with anger isn't smart, Anderson is smart. He was having none of it, choosing to take the high road and not engage in that nonsense. The Spider could care less. In fact, we also see that Anderson could care less about any of the ancillary tasks that are involved with being an athlete at the level he operates at. He wants nothing more out of life than to be with and provide for his family, train with his close friends and get in the cage to challenge himself, all while leaving the outcome, as he says, in God's hands. 


When it comes to training, Anderson and his Black House brothers do not play games. That's a dead ass serious team of fighters who totally support each other.There's plenty of inspirational, Rocky-like training footage throughout the film. If you want to see people sweat, you won't be disappointed. There is also moments when you see Anderson fighting through the pain of an undisclosed injury to train and prepare for battle. It seems like its some sort of rib/oblique strain, and very apparent that he's in a considerable amount of pain. There's definitely no quit in this dude, he refuses to half-step anything. He'd much rather sweat his ass off in the gym than sit in front of someone's camera or microphone to do interviews. As he says, it's like doing the same interview over and over, no one asks anything different. 


Some specific things that stood out to me in the film are:


-Ed Soares is an excellent manager. Getting a glimpse into what he does on a day to day basis is very impressive. Not only is he an interpreter for all of his Brazilian clients, he's also a motivator, a psychologist, a babysitter, a bodyguard, an older brother and a friend. It's obvious that Anderson and the rest of the Black House fighters really like, respect and appreciate Ed a whole lot.


-Dana White hasn't been around a camera or a microphone that he doesn't love. And he loves to hear himself talk. His nonsense about cutting Anderson from the roster was completely unbelievable and obviously all about him pushing his "I'm the boss" agenda. I didn't buy any of it, but for the sake of some drama in the film, I guess it served it's purpose. 


-Anderson is as true a martial artist as there is in this sport and he fully embraces the culture that comes along with that. He isn't just some fighter that goes to the gym to train. He encompasses all that is right about being a martial artist. There's a moment in the film where he comes into the Black House training facility and sees Lyoto Machida for the first time in a while. He gets very excited and calls Lyoto, "Machida-San". You can see from his expression that he is very happy to see Lyoto, that they are very good friends and that they are bonded by their respective lifelong study of martial arts. They have a conversation about their styles, agreeing that they are smart, cerebral fighters that don't need to engage in brawls just because that's what the bloodthirsty fans want to see. They also concur that they can't and shouldn't change anything, they just need to win their fights and stay safe. They are very similar in their mental and spiritual approaches to fighting. As Anderson said in the film, his primary goal in any fight, first and foremost, is to be able to get home to his family in one piece. 


You can't walk away from this film not understanding what's important to Anderson Silva. It's really very simple; his family, his God, his friends, his training family and his "job", which just so happens to be kicking people's asses inside a cage. Director, Pablo Croce, did an exemplary job in portraying that. It's the story of a simple man, in the prime of his career, being thrust into a complicated life, and all he wants is to do his job, a job he seems to both love and somewhat hate at the same time. More yin/yang. If it were up to Anderson, he would only  punch the time clock when he was training and when he steps foot inside the cage. All that other stuff involved in his chosen occupation is nothing but a nuisance, but something he is forced to do. He seems to hide inside the world of his Dr. Dre "Beats" headphones, only taking them off right before he has to "go to work". I wonder what music he is constantly listening to?


Since this film debuted in NYC, out of a possible 5 "apples", I give Like Water 4 & 1/2 apples. Pablo Croce did an excellent job on this documentary and he and his team did a fantastic job shooting it. Based on the quality of this film, Mr. Croce's future looks very bright. I just hope this movie gets the exposure it deserves and any anti-MMA biases people might have don't get in the way of it getting it's just due. Whether or not your a Mixed Martial Arts fan, an Anderson Silva fan or even hate him or the sport, go see Like Water. It's a very well made, inspiring film. I highly recommend it! Below is a link to an interview I did with Pablo right after the movie emptied out. It was totally unexpected and I want to thank Pablo for taking the time to chat.

Nick Fuckin' Diaz!

Nick Diaz is the muther effin' man! That's really all that needs to be said. If you have any interest in combat sports, more specifically, EXCITING combat sports, you absolutely need to watch Nick fight. It's impossible for this dude to not put on an amazing performance in the cage. He is the consummate showman of Mixed Martial Arts. Last night's destruction of British banger, Paul Daly, was no exception to this definitive rule. In a fight where Nick had a clear advantage, that being his jiu jitsu skill, what does the Stockton bad boy do? He comes out and goes blow for blow with one of the most dangerous strikers on the planet in that division. That almost turned into a horrible decision. Semtex was dropping bombs on Nick's dome, literally dropping him more than once. Most fighters would have folded under that kind of pressure but not Mr. Diaz. He protected himself, got into a safer position, got back up and continued to bang with crazy Paul. Then the magic happened. Nasty Nick caught Semtex, dropped him and finished him just seconds before the end of one of the most electrifying rounds of MMA fighting you will ever see. Actually, that was some of the best five minutes of any fighting, period! As far as I'm concerned, it was the body shots (pictured below) that did the most damage. Being the cerebral fighter that Nick is, he knew headhunting wasn't the route to take and detoured down to the body. Nick smashed Semtex's torso like Rocky did that meat hanging in the freezer. Incredible to watch. 


Diaz is definitely a man of contradictions and highly misunderstood. In the same sentence, he'll tell you he feels he is underpaid, but he also makes too much money. If you understand what he is saying, he makes perfect sense. For as exciting and popular a fighter as he is, he is definitely underpaid, but he also makes very good money doing something he thoroughly enjoys and was born to do. As he says, he doesn't need a lot of money to live well in Stockton, California, and will be just fine if he never fought again. But if he is going to be a professional fighter, he should be paid properly. The dude puts asses in the seats at arenas and asses on the couches in front of TVs. There's no disputing that fact. Lots of people love him, lots hate him, but they all love to watch him fight. Dude deserves a serious raise. I hope Scott Coker and the bosses at Zuffa are reading this.

Some would say that Nick isn't the smartest dude you will ever meet. Actually, some call him dumb. That couldn't be further from the truth. While he might say and do some things that from a business perspective aren't particularly smart, he is not a dumb dude by any stretch of the imagination. He might come across as somewhat scatterbrained in interviews, but that's just because he doesn't want to do interviews in the first place. He'd much rather be sweatin' and bleedin' in the gym with his brothers. Those are his literal blood brother, Nate, and his brothers from other mothers who sweat and bleed next to him at the Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu Academy. No MMA team on the planet is as tight as Cesar Gracie's is. I absolutely love that about them. They are "all in", all the time, 24/7-365! And they are all very talented fighters. Cesar deserves a ton of credit for teaching these guys as well as he has and also for guiding their respective careers from the managerial side of the business. Props, Mr. Gracie! 

The future looks very bright for Nick Diaz. He is the reigning welterweight champion in Strikeforce, who as we all know, recently got purchased by Zuffa, the company behind the Ultimate Fighting Championship. That purchase could be both a good and a bad thing for Diaz. He has had some issues with Zuffa in the past, but given what Nick brings to the table, I can't see them letting him leave the fold. He's a valuable commodity in a sport with few. Nick has to be a Top 10 fighter as far as popularity and a Top 5 fighter as far as providing scintillating, memorable performances. The suits at Zuffa won't let him go anywhere, regardless of the fact that Nick leaves his middle finger permanently raised and purposefully pointed in their direction. That's the beauty of Nick Diaz. He is doing what he wants to do, the exact way he wants to do it. He has absolutely no interest in kissing anyone's ass, and he's proven that he doesn't have to. At the same time, if he loves and respects you, like he does his teacher and mentor, Cesar Gracie, he will literally die for you. He would do the same for his brothers at the academy as well. Dana White has recently stated that he likes Nick a lot, he just wishes he would tone down his anger a bit and "play the game" a little better. He said he didn't want Nick to change because that's a big part of his appeal, which it most certainly is, but he thinks some of his behavior is holding him back from being a full fledged superstar. While that may be true, Nick is just being Nick and its apparent that nothing will change that. It isn't an act, it's the real McCoy, take it or leave it. That is actually what I, and many of Nick's fans, like about him the most. He is a genuine dude, there's absolutely no bullshit in this kid whatsoever. Like him or not, you have to respect him for that.

Just as Nick would do, I raise and direct my middle finger at all the haters and non-believers who don't understand what makes a dude like Nick Diaz tick.

Fuck them, Nick, we got your back, homie!

Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting!!!

Although I doubt he's much of an MMA fan, Elton John said it best, Saturday night's alright for fighting! Actually, I'm pretty sure Bernie Taupin actually wrote that lyric. Thanks to Bellator and MTV2, we now have quality MMA fights every Saturday night for the forseeable future. Throw in all the UFC cards and the odd Strikeforce card and Saturday nights have once again become THE night for fight fans, especially MMA fans. And don't forget, boxing might be on life support, but it's still breathing, albeit, barely. MMA is the proverbial tank that has crushed all in it's path, especially the sweet science. That said, boxing has too many self inflicted wounds to even get into right now. The maniacs who run and ruined that great sport are their own worst enemies.

Tonight's Bellator card could easily be their best ever. It features an excellent main event with Eddie Alvarez defending his lightweight title against the very promising, very tough prospect, Pat Curran. Eddie is a beastly fighter, easily Top 5 in the class. Pat has a big win over former UFC latin poster boy, Roger Huerta. That should be an absolute banger. Bellator is also in the midst of their MW tournament which has already showcased some amazing fights. Tonight's match-up at 170 just adds to that quickly growing momentum. NYC's own, Lyman Good (pictured below) is mixing it up with the undefeated, heavy handed, Olympic judoka, Rick Hawn. Lyman is, in my opinion, one of the most slept on fighters in the sport. This dude can fight! He's very well rounded, loves to bang and has the heart and gas tank to back that up. I love to see this guy let it all out in the cage, which he always does. And of course, I've got to support my local fighters who rep NYC. Regardless of that, this kid is the real deal! There's also a very intriguing lightweight match-up between Toby Imada and Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. Pitbull most definitely epitomizes his nickname, this little dude brings it. Toby made MMA history by pulling off the very rare inverted triangle choke submission which earned him last year's Submission of the Year honors. Amazingly, Bellator's Richard Hale pulled off the exact same submission last week. Bellator is now officially the home of the inverted triangle. Hmmmm, maybe they should change the shape of their cage to a huge triangle? Somebody get Bjorn Rebney on the phone! You heard it here first, the Bellator Triangle! On top of all that, former UFC veteran, Ben Saunders, is making his Bellator debut against the very game Matt Lee. Ben's clinch game is insanely vicious. Dude throws knees with intent to kill. Easy, I don't mean he is literally trying to kill anybody. He definitely wants to hurt them though, and he sure as hell does. We're talking Anderson Silva type of clinch game devastation. Poor Brandon Wolff's dome is probably still lumped up from the beating Ben administered to him in the clinch over two years ago. It was beautifully brutal! Ask Marcus Davis what he thinks about Ben's knees? Worst beating he ever took, that's for damn sure! Ben is a very dangerous dude!

On the UFC front, Zuffa just made an interesting decision to start all their Saturday night cards at 9pm(EST) instead of it's longstanding 10pm start time. I kind of have to shake my head about this move. What's the point really? I assume they think that it's too late for people on the east coast. I think that's ridiculous. It's Saturday night, having the main event at or around midnight is perfect as far as I'm concerned. It's got to really suck for fans on the west coast. Who the hell wants to watch fights at 6 o'clock?!? The sun isn't even down yet unless it's the dead of winter. I'm curious to see what fans on both coasts think of this move. I can't see anyone on the west side being at all happy about this. Here on the east side it's not that big a deal, but I'd still prefer the later start. Then again, I operate on vampire hours so I'm probably the wrong guy to judge this move.

MTV2 is smartly being very flexible with the Saturday night Bellator cards. When it comes to nights when the UFC is also holding an event, Bellator has the option to start their cards a few hours earlier so as to not have to directly compete with the much bigger, much more established behemoth promotion. That's makes perfect sense to me. MMA fans can cozy up to the couch for as much as 6 or 7 straight hours of fights. You can't beat that, unless you make the mistake that I have, which is starting the beer consumption too early. Two words, fellow MMAlcoholics, pace yourself! If you don't, you'll either be sleeping by the late card's main event or you'll have no recollection of what you watched. Thank God for the DVR. I've had to re-watch many a fight on Sunday but that's a whole other story!

Thank you, Bjorn Rebney (pictured above), and thank you as well to the Zuffa brain trust, you've made this MMA fan, and many others, very happy. Saturday night's alright for fighting again, in a BIG way!

Domo arigato gozaimasu!!!