It's Not They Are Coming, It's They Are Already Here!!!

When I think of bad dudes to fight in the UFC, the people I think of are those from the Islands of Hawai'i. Let's face it:

 BJ Penn

Kendall Grove

Chris Leben

There are so many more that I could name but the list is so long. These fighters from the Islands are tough and they love to scrap. They are not afraid to throw punches as Max Holloway showed in his recent fight (and he was winning the fight):

Speaking of the 3 ranked featherweight in the UFC, Max Holloway is one of the most dangerous fighters in his weight class. His last lose was to Conor McGregor three years ago, since then he has been on a nine-fight win streak, with only three of those by Decision to include the GIF up above against Ricardo Lamas. This was a great fight for Max and puts him in sight for a title shot with McGregor. Max has evolved since his last fight with Conor and I believe that he is ready to take the fight to McGregor. Conor has shown that his ground game needs a lot of work with his last submission loss to Nate Diaz. Also Conor showed that his take down game is going to need to evolve if he wishes to remain the UFC Featherweight Champ. Max has shown, he can stay in the Octagon with the best, I believe that he should be the next person getting a shot at the title:

He has great striking from his feet:

He also loves to throw combo after combo:

Max is an elite fighter with huge dreams and I pull for him every time he steps in the ring.

There is one more fighter that I have to talk about from the Island, and if you are from Hawai'i...you already know who I am talking about:

Travis "Hapa" Browne could be one of the most versatile heavyweight fighters I have ever seen. He is one of those guys who can do it all.

Just ask Chad Griggs, who was the man who stopped Bobby Lashley's win streak in StrikeForce. Griggs came to the UFC looking to continue his win streak but instead met Travis, the fight ended like this:

Travis has the ability to strike from all sides of the Octagon. He has shown his ability to stop great wrestlers do what they do best, take the fight to the ground ask Josh Barnett:

Travis has also had a few upsets, that even myself thought were amazing. His KO victory over Alistar Overeem was amazing:

For people who do not remember this fight, Overeem was dominating the fight and Travis had hit the canvas twice but was able to whether the storm for the victory. Travis has a strong chin, for people to be able to put him down, you have to constantly be hitting him, but he does love to counter and force his fight on people. Even if you are the taller than him (which most fighters are not) you still do not have a chance, remember this thing of beauty:

It took Struve a full second to hit the mat, meanwhile he was out the moment the punch landed. Also this is one of my top favorite KOs ever in a UFC fight. 

Travis has one of the toughest test coming up at UFC 200. Cain Velazquez is no push over by any means. He is a former Champion and has great heart and hands. He was the man who dethroned Brock Lesnar from his reign and I think Cain has the ability to get back to mountain top. I think Cain is going to try and utilize his wrestling to help him win this fight, but as I have mentioned Travis does have good wrestling defense for those with great wrestling takedowns. I am pulling for Travis Browne in this fight, and hope the next fight Travis gets is one for the Heavyweight Title. He has also been around the title talks but has not sealed the deal to get that shot, hopefully this will be that match that puts him over. 

I am a huge fan of Hawai'i fighters as most can now tell by this blog I have here. There are great fighters from all over the world but, I feel that with Hawai'ian fighters they are as tough as they come. 

The Return Of The Beast

By the way I titled this article you can probably imagine who I am talking about, and if you do not then the picture should give it away. I am talking about the Beast who hails from the University of Minnesota, the former UFC Heavyweight Champ, former multiple WWE Champ, former Heavyweight Wrestling Champ in the NCAA Division I. The one in 23-1, the one who broke the famous Undertaker Streak at Wrestlemania XXX.

I have so much fun talking about the man returning back to the UFC for one more fight, but you have to wonder what does Brock bring to UFC 200? What does he have left in the tank? If he beats Mark Hunt, what does that mean for the title hunt? If he loses, what does that mean for Brock? There are a lot of unanswered questions that come with Brock coming back to the Octagon. There can not be any question that if he beats Mark Hunt, Brock is telling the WWE I need to win this title. As the WWE, how do you tell someone "no" who looks like this:

What does it mean to have Brock Lesnar back in the UFC. From a revenue point, it means a lot! Brock has a huge fans base and people will follow him wherever he goes, I am going on a limb and saying if Brock did "Dancing with the Stars", a lot of his fans would go to vote for him just because of who he is. I could imagine that anyone on the ballroom floor could look like this:

So let's say that Brock is able to win against Mark Hunt, what does this do for the title hunt? I found it amazing that I am looking at the MMA world and Brock is not ranked! But, to be honest it has been four years since he has been in the Octagon and he will have a lot of ring rust that will come with it. Some could argue, he has been in the WWE and still in shape, but there is a difference. Yes, sometimes people get hit for real in the WWE, but YOU GET HIT FOR REAL IN THE UFC! Now Brock is able to throw punches and do some damage when he wants to such as:

But when Brock has fought against people who is a better striker than what he is, it has not turned out well for him, remember this:

Or this:

Now I am not taking anything way from Brock (especially when we all knew that Overeem was using PEDs) but Cain was a younger version of Brock and had better striking than Brock did. Also, Brock said that he did not end his fighting career and illness did. But you have to wonder, where Brock would have been in the UFC if he had stayed. With guys like Junior Dos Santos, Roy Nelson, Fabricio Werdum, Travis Browne how will or would he stack up against those guys? His striking is not elite, most of those strikers will be able to out hit him; his wrestling is excellent, but there are some of those who are better than him and can take him down with ease; he has a sub-par submission game, the only submission victory he has is against Shane Carwin (and that was in the second round after Carwin gassed out and let him put in an arm triangle):

As I mentioned Brock's striking is not elite, but he does have stopping power. Now when it comes to fighting someone like Mark Hunt, he is going to need to land big shots often to have a chance. Hunt loves to throw bombs and make sure that people feel his punches, like this:

Or this:

or even this:

Brock has a lot of work to do, but I do seem him trying to take this fight to the ground and work his ground and pound. Mark Hunt does not have a great wrestling defense or even an ability to get off the mat once he has been taking down. Brock can do a lot of damage when he does not have a lot of room on the ground. Just ask Frank Mir:

I think this fight has an element of unknown but awesomeness at the same time. Lesnar can throw bombs with Hunt if he wants to, but really should utilize his ground game. Mark knows that takedowns will be coming but does he have the speed to protect his legs before Brock moves in?

UFC 200 will answer a lot of questions for us. Will Brock continue his journey in the UFC if he wins at 200? Will the WWE grant Brock the ability to chase another Heavyweight title? Will more people jump back on the Lesnar train at UFC 200? All these questions and more will be answer at UFC 200!!!

What are your thoughts on this fight? Let me know in the comments below.

From Street Fighter To MMA Fighter

We all know the story of Muhammad Ali, the man who brought Boxing to a higher level. The man with excellent footwork, fast hands, and a mouth that could cash the checks his body was writing. But I want to talk about another fighter who we recently lost on Monday of last week.

Kevin Ferguson was born in Nassau, Bahamas in 1974. Most of you would know this man as Kimbo Slice, he started his career as a bouncer who would fight men on the side. I remember back in 2007-2008 people would constantly be talking about this man who was knocking dudes out on the regular. I was amazed at what I saw, Kimbo was really hurting guys and more guys just kept stepping up to the plate only to get knocked out. Like this guy:

Kimbo was known for having a lot of power in his hands, he once told Michael Jai White, "His left hook was his fastest punch." He love to throw punches with everyone, it did not matter who it was: bigger, faster, more experienced, Kimbo was willing to get into battles with everyone.

The one thing I think I will always remember about Kimbo was he was the first person I watched on one of the three big networks in the main event. It was 2008 and Elite XC had reserved a spot on CBS, the main event fight was between Kimbo Slice and Tank Abbott (Remember Tank???). Tank was known as a man who would drink a beer right before his fights in the UFC, while his opponent would be warming up. It was crazy to see, at that time Kimbo was willing to get into a ring with someone so dangerous (Tank was required to wear gloves in the UFC, when it use to be bareknuckles). Kimbo did not care he fought against an older Tank Abbott, but as MMA and Boxing had shown us, anyone who can throw a punch will always have a shot to win the fight. Kimbo did win that fight, it sort of look like this:

Now Kimbo would go on and fight three more fights for Elite XC on CBS.

 

His last fight with Elite XC, he was knocked out by Seth Petruzelli. After that Elite XC folded and Kimbo found himself on the outside once again.

Kimbo was a fighter, he refused to let life beat him down, Dana White used to talk about him all the time. Things like "he wasn't ready for the UFC", "If Kimbo wants to fight in the UFC, he has to go through the Ultimate Fighter", etc. When Kimbo heard that Dana would let him fight in the Ultimate Fighter, Kimbo took Dana White up on his offer and showed up. Dana was surprised that Kimbo had shown up and was willing to handle the business. This is where a lot of Kimbo's fight game was exposed. He was fighting former IFL Champ, Roy Nelson. Roy and Kimbo threw punches back and forth and Kimbo connected but, Nelson withstood the storm and took Kimbo to the ground and earned the TKO.

Kimbo had said he learned a lot from his time in the Ultimate Fighter and had a lot of respect for the guys on the show. On December 5th of 2008 Kimbo was on the fight card for Ultimate Fighter Finale against Houston Alexander (also known for having heavy hands). Kimbo did not have a ground game, he was not someone who learned Brazilian Jui-Jitsu, he did not even have a wrestling background. He was a man who just wanted to punch people repeatedly and win fights. But with one slam Kimbo showed that he was willing to learn and take on and evolution status to win fights:

Kimbo would beat Houston on that night in a decision but people could see that Kimbo had little endurance, and anyone who took him to the deep waters, he would not make it. Matt Mitrione did just that, he burned Kimbo out in the first round and continued to use his game to wear out Kimbo for the victory. Kimbo was cut by the UFC after that loss, he had not "evolved" enough according to Dana White. Kimbo refused to let that cut keep him down, he then took his talents to another form of fighting.

On August 11th, 2010 Kimbo stepped into the boxing ring looking to earn his first victory. He would go on to earn a record of 7-0 in the boxing ring, it is to be noted that no fight went past the 4th round (also all boxing fights only went to the fourth round). Kimbo would KO 6 of the 7 people he fought against. Some people would say that the other boxers were paid to throw fights, but I remember Tay Bledsoe from Grand Island, NE talking about the power Kimbo had, and how he had never be hit like that before.

Bellator wanted to bring Kimbo back to the Octagon and they found his opponent in Ken Shamrock. Ken had been banned from the ring for HGH and using steroids but, upon coming back to the ring he had a steep hill against Kimbo. Now I am not saying the fight was the most elegant fight in history, but Kimbo did win the fight even though I thought he may lose the fight because Kimbo's ground game was still suspect. Ken exploited that weakness to the best of his ability:

But Kimbo being the fighter that he was refused to give up, he stood up and fought Ken Shamrock toe to toe. Then this happened:

Kimbo would go on to to fight one more fight against Dada 5000, a fight many people (myself included) considered to be the worst fight in MMA history. Dada was not in fighting shape, and Kimbo still had endurance issues. The fight would end in a KO against Dada 5000 (a fight where Dada claimed that his heart had stopped twice, after the fight):

The fight would later be changed to No Contest after Kimbo tested positive for elevated Testosterone.

Kimbo was suppose to headline another fight card at the O2 Arena in July.

He was a man who refused to let the world get him down, and continued to fight his way out being homeless and living in his car. He had a successful career in combative sports and was a modern rags to riches dude. A guy we can admire, yes he was a fighter, yes he did security in strip clubs and porn star movies. But he was a dude who just battled and battled, I am not sure that he even knew how far the road was he was on in the Combative Sports world.

Share your favorite story with me about Kimbo Slice. Whether that is a fight or a single moment I am curious to see what you guys thought of Kimbo Slice.

RIP Kimbo Slice: 2/8/74-6/6/16


*All images and gifs can be found on google.com, bellator.com, ufc.com

Also if you are wondering about Michael Jai White and Kimbo Slice's interaction here is the link for that video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdPP0TmqKiU

Taunting in the MMA

I originally wanted to write about UFC 199 and how I thought it was an amazing fight card with a lot of great finishes, but as I watched the fight card and looked back on it I became amazed. Amazed at the fact, of how much taunting there was going on during the fights.

Listen I am one to love having mental battles with people, but if you are in the middle of a fight why would you want to keep talking trash. No matter what combative sport you are in, or for that matter sport you are in, talking trash can come back and haunt you. (Remember what Richard Sherman said during his game against Tom Brady?)

Now I am not one to say that trash talking should not be done. Let your talking happen before the fight not during it. Now I know that a lot of people will say that it helps them in the fight, to get into the opponents head and throw them off their game, and I would value that opinion. Muhammad Ali (Rest In Peace) was one of the biggest trash talkers in the game. He would beat you mentally during press conferences and once he knew he had you in the fight, he would let you know. But Ali was not immune to getting his loses as well. 

Fighters who like to showboat and talk trash during a fight is asking to get knocked out. How do you think Weidman won the fight against Silva the first time...

Weidman just let his hands fly and connected the shot but Silva left his chin out there to get popped and that is all it took. This was back at UFC 162, and there are more instance where fighters have been tagged and KO'd remember this guy...https://youtu.be/P5VrNznDW9M

But in the UFC all of the fighters have that ability to KO the other man, they are considered the "Elite" fighters in the world. They have some tough guys who like to bang and throw down, look at Nate Diaz that man gets bloodied up just about every fight he has. To those who have not fought in a long time talking trash during a fight should be the last thing on your mind, such as Bobby Green. Here is a fighter who was sidelined for 18 months due to injuries who came back to fight, let his opponent know that "he couldn't hit" what happened next was Bobby Green getting knocked out in his first fight since his injury...

Dustin Poirier had said during his post fight interview that he has not going to curse doing his interview but that Bobby had said a lot to him during the fight. Not a good look if you are a fighter who is talking trash only to get KO'd. 

Now catching that "L" does not only happen to average fighters in the UFC even the "elites" can help themselves getting beat. Michael "The Count" Bisping has been constantly told he cannot finish guys because of his boxing. Last night when he fought Luke Rockhold (spoiler alert) he may have changed that. Luke said in his fight that The Count got the best of him and he took him for granted. Because Luke did not take the fight seriously and fought Bisping as if he were a stepping stone till his rematch with Weidman, he caught the a series of punches that ended his night in the first round, looked at lot like this...

All I am saying is, no fighter should be talking trash or taking fights easy because you think it will be. Especially if there are fist flying, a puncher's chance is all that is need to turn a fight from nothing into something. Most of these guys had felt that power and got put out on the mat, but too make it easier for someone because you think they are not worth it is ridiculous. 

To those who are training to become fighters, who those who are current, and those who are in a street fights (please do not go walking down the street looking for fights); do not be that guy who talks trash in the middle of a fight, you will get caught and you will be KO'd. It will eventually catch up to you and put you down. 

*All images can be found by the UFC, NFL, and Google.com