Opinion Onion

the - Music Seeks to Be Listened to - post

2011-02-09T17:51:00.000-08:00

Please check it out at these places :

MAMEReview "hit me with your music instead" SRP

youruglyfatmomma's YouTube channel

Kim Jong Il Approves

2010-12-04T01:11:00.000-08:00

Kim Jong Il Approves the Wallpaper :

Kim Jong Il Approves the Cracker Snacks :

Kim Jong Il Approves Piglet :

Kim Jong Il Approves the Red Bucket :

Kim Jong Il Approves the Fishes and the Sunglasses :

Kim Jong Il Approves (?????) the Partyfunctioneere :

Kim Jong Il Approves Culinary Pleasures :

Kim Jong Il Approves Information Technology :

Kim Jong Il Approves the Perspectives :

Kim Jong Il Approves the Camera :

Kim Jong Il Approves God :

source :

http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com

Thank you for namhanman for this exquisitely delicate find.

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Green Balls of Magic

2010-11-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

Scott Joplin draws and opens new doors on-, and to the heart, by delivering brilliantly presented musical transmissions that truly have no other agenda than to entertain the listener as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Notice this : once heart itself masturbates, transhumanism is : imminent.

Whereas the everyday average normal music composer - who should be beaten to death with the severed head of a lousy Cthulhu imitator, (as a start) - usually needs a tremendous amount of musical space to express (synonyme : waste) his ineptly distorted spiritual constructs in, Scott Joplin always
takes music AND the listener very seriously, and, therefore, his musical language simply is free of wasted spaces, free of lies, and refrains from robbing the listener out of the most precious commodity, called : time. (Cheapest commodity is called : hope.)

WHAT then, is a wasted space of music? That is the space you wish you could warp through instead, as a wasted musical space - synonyme : violation of silence - truly can offer nothing but pure hypocrisy, that which worships the masks of factual cluelessness, that which is fueled by the desperate urge to conceal the underlying, evident lack of musical ideas worth presenting to a
proper set of ears.

Scott Joplin left a mark that timelessly affects the collective psyche not as result as his aspiration to do so. Instead, he did that as result of being honest to himself, as result of not negotiating with anything less or else than pure idea and perfected honesty. These invaluable and extremely rare tools are utilized to define an inner vision of music characterized by sublime intricacy and the precious aspiration to entertain, as stated before, as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Scott Joplin's brilliantly realized desire is to seek, to define, to present, and even shape the forms of playfulness, rampant. If you lost me here, then hear my words : you fill a much needed gap.

On an additional note : though the origins of the term "ragtime" is not one aficionados seem to agree upon, one particular explanation claims that it became associated with the genre during the days ladies of the red light districts were undergoing their periods by. Unable to render their services as result of the "ragtime" they were having, they joined the patrons in the guest hall, while the local musicians entertained these social gatherings with the energetic audible intricacies this style of music is cultivated for. Quit reading this and watch the green balls of magic, monkey!

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Satan IS and always has BEEN a gentleman.

2010-10-16T23:47:00.000-07:00

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New, Exciting Life

2010-10-14T04:45:00.000-07:00

Click That Thing!

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Let's Play a Little Ping Pong

2010-08-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

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Variant on a Proper Compliment SMS Vol. 1.

2010-07-11T23:33:00.000-07:00

The best part of sending you an SMS is : you.

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Fedor with a Vengeance

2010-06-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

It seems safe to state that Fedor WITH a legit loss remains as interesting as Fedor WITHOUT a legit loss.

Now the world had the chance to see what Fedor himself has never denied, nor mythicized the opposite of: he indeed IS human. People theorizing otherwise probably should start refining their realities, fans/haters alike.

Fedor himself had / has / probably will have nothing to do with the demigod persona surrounding him, that is more of a result of how the audience deciphers him as.
Now that the aura of false* invincibility is gone, it turns out that it will be a necessarily new kind of Fedor you will witness the next time, and that new kind is none other than Fedor with a Vengeance.

*there are loads of matches in which he receives a decent amount of punishment, then comes back to administer the hurt real bad.

Surely, haters have an almost-utterly satisfied sequence of existence now, and there is nothing wrong it, quite the contrary: they will sitting on the edge of their chairs to witness the After All Human Fedor Fall One More Time, as utter satisfaction forms in the hater's perspective when Fedor receives his second loss in a row. What happened to the general consensus-platitude of how emencely important how a fighter comes back after a loss is?

Fedor falling for the first time altered my personal perception of him in no way, though I admit I think he looked baaaaaaaaadass even while getting caught and shut down. Werdum had a MONSTER halted in two submissions, all my respect for the Brazilian.

Thoughts?

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UFC 115 Liddell VS Franklin review

2010-06-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little else than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, it seems easy enough to recognize that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout. The ultimate declaration of one's will to express oneself as a fighter, demands the form of radical intimacy, circulated between fighter and rival in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against himself, by being subjected to his own image, reflected by his rival. Who is, then, ignorant enough to express honest disinterest in such delicious fun?

The will and desire to fight seeks no propagation of aggression, as once two consenting parties are present in a fight, then it is nothing less than an expression of the human spirit and body in the form of combat. The ripe spirit embraces and respects this consenting rivalry, as this is the only channel its will might be shaped and perfected upon, until it realizes that the will of the rival is one with the will he opposes that with. Who though, has the more intricate command of that will? Well, this is why fights are made for.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs solid skills and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reaches its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 115 - Liddell VS Franklin.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 115 puts Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell against Rich Franklin. As one of the most notable characters the sport gained its recent cultural fruition with, Liddell proved himself time and time again in an era that witnessed the current magnitude of mixed martial arts forming on the horizon, and the magnitude itself was: him. Is the Iceman still the fighter though who has what it takes to put hungry young lions or crafty veterans away?

Liddell's rivalry with Tito Ortiz is well known, and, following a couple of losses and a pronounced pause from the sport, Chuck finally had the hypothetical chance to find a home for those rights on Tito's jaw once again, silencing the Huntington Beach Bad Boy for a third time. As, - logically enough - Liddell already holds two victories over the crafty wrestler and world class ground and pounder. Fronting the respective teams of Team Liddell and Team Ortiz, the two UFC delicacies gave a solid performance on the Ultimate Fighter reality TV show, then Ortiz declared that due to injuries, he must pull out of his fight against Liddell the show should have been culminated by. Though Chuck initially took every opportunity to express hid disappointment, the promotion was quick to ensure that he will have his hands full nevertheless with none other than former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich "Ace" Franklin, who now battles The Iceman in his - Liddell's - weight class.

The co-main event of the evening puts mythic Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic against yet another hungry lion in the form of Patrick Barry, who brings nothing less than what seems to be staggering stopping power, capable to crush the opposition by releasing top level lowkicks - oops! - and finding a home for a series of sharp strikes that come out of nowhere, yet come with an agenda. Coming off from a bout in which Barry crushed experienced veteran Anthony Hardonk, he now faces with a CroCop who exhibited little more and little else than steep difficulties in the Octagon so far. Difficulties, the Croatian may have, but the reputation is still intact, and rightfully so: there is no doubt that CroCop's trademark high kicks remain uniquely lethal to this day, and the Croatian mma myth still has his effective DUE to deliver a kill with that left leg. This is what is expected from him, and this is expected to be unleashed on a fighter of Barry's caliber, who, no doubt, is forged out of top predator material. This match between Barry and CroCop will serve as a clear indicator regarding what it is required-, and what it is to adjust in the game. CroCop is vocal regarding his will of shutting the mouth of critics, who remain fervent to this day at stating that the prime time of the Croatian is behind the sport now. If we will see the CroCop tonight who was crushed in the Octagon on numerous occasions now, then I will be very curious of what he will have to say. Barry states that he - Barry - will look through the window for two consecutive years if he is able to defeat CroCop, a personal hero and example for him. CroCop assures Barry that if he is able to catch him with one of his left headkicks, then the outcome might very much be the same: Barry looking through the window for two consecutive years, with nurses around.

Rory MacDonald VS Carlos Condit

Rory MacDonald takes the first two rounds away by exhibiting a constant willingness to skillfully engage, forming dominant positions whenever the fight reaches ground level. After being forced to play the role of the hunted for little less than those ten minutes of the first two rounds, Condit comes out with an agenda in the third period, and this agenda is to subject MacDonald to a level of pressure the youngest UFC competitor was not yet subjected to. The talented up and comer indeed bends-, yet not breaks under this new kind of intensity, that which commands him to the ground, while Condit seeks and finds myriads of angles to administer strict punishment from. The Referee puts an end to this contest to defend MacDonald from further damage. Solid performance from the youngest UFC contestant, stellar comeback from Condit.

Ben Rothwell VS Gilbert Yvel

This heavyweight matchup is quick to form into a fierce initial collision, courtesy of Rothwell, who is relentless at taking the center of the Octagon to greet Gilbert Yvel with true intensity. The standup notability, though finding relevant success by the brief moments they spend on their feet, has tremendous problems preventing Rothwell from executing desperate-, nevertheless successful takedowns from the clinch position, causing Yvel to end up on his back with a massive chunk of offensive meat raining down on him on separate occasions. The story of the fight mainly is Rothwell's ability to dictate and maintain control, forcing The Hurricane to carry this massive amount of weight, with seemingly less and less chance to turn the tide of these seemingly non-eventful, yet quite intense tendencies. By the twilight of the second round, Yvel gains a momentary dominant position he truly shines from, landing a healthy amount of precision air to ground missiles on his rival, yet Rothwell absorbs the punishment, remaining able to tell the continuation of the story he invented in the first two rounds, but with even more pronounced efficiency: the conclusion period gives you a significantly exhausted Ben Rothwell laying atop on a significantly exhausted Yvel, but it seems that Gilber used up all the juice he had for this fight, and is unable to prevent the mildly successful ground and pound molestation he gets subjected to during the round. The majority of these assaults are administered from the highly submissive crucifix position, which leaves no doubt about him being controlled against his will. Decision W for Big Ben Rothwell.

Martin Kampmann VS Paulo Thiago

Martin Kampmann wins pretty much every second of every round in this here match that chronicles the Danish prospect's refined tool set, giving you more of a clinic than an actual match, as the skill level possessed and efficiently utilized by The Hitman proves much more than what dangerous hitter Paulo Thiago was capable to deal with tonight. A decision victory goes for Kampmann as result of outclassing the up and comer Brazilian in all areas of the sport. It remains interesting to see if Paulo Thiago will come back to the Octagon as a more versatile fighter.

Mirko CroCop VS Pat Barry

Pat Barry states that he does not hit hard - he hits scary. This notion tolerates no doubts whatsoever, as the talented heavyweight prospect knocks down the Croatian on two separate occasions early in the first round. CroCop does not fall out of the game though, and, after these initial public displays of Octagon ground level comfort control, the former Pride! Champion remains a competitive threat in the standup position, finding a home for a wide variety of kicks while in the process of having to deal with a whole lot of leg kicks introduced by the opposition. What forms into a competitive kickboxing bout, is occasionally colored by brief, relatively uneventful sequences at the fences in the clinch position, from which CroCop is able to maintain the role of the dominant competitor, dictating this kind of pace until the Referee instructs them to break apart. Though a balanced standup war it is, the third and final round inquires about the respective gas tanks of the participants, and it is the mma myth who seems to have more fuel and the related attack surge in him by the moments those are desperately needed: following a combination that is sufficient to stagger Barry up to the fences, CroCop swarm on his rival and connects on myriad occasions, yet administers these strikes with his palm, as opposed doing it with the fist. Explanation for this unorthodox method of punishment deliverance: probable hand injury. Barry, though seems to be bothered a bit by these successive palm strikes, is about to gain his wits back, yet these moments prove to be more than enough for the Croatian to sink in the hooks and apply the Rear Naked Choke. It is obvious that Pat tries to fight through this desperate position, but the clinch is textbook, and, as such, extremely strait, and CroCop shows no intention to ease on the grip: Barry is forced to tap out, Mirko CroCop emerges victorious by submission.

Chuck Liddell VS Rich Franklin

The Iceman shows readiness and desire to engage, inviting Franklin to a pronounced feeling out process in which both fighters exhibit well positioned caution that seeks openings in the defensive lines with constant awareness. It becomes evident that Liddell came to deliver a spectacular performance, as it is him who pushes the pedal to the metal when gaining the momentary upper hand, immediately expressing the will to move in for the kill. Franklin, though sent to the fence, shows no actual signs of being caught red handed, instead he greets diving-in Liddell with a strict right hand: opposing momentum values collide, that make Chuck a puzzled warrior: The Iceman is knocked down, and The Ace is chasing after him with two consecutive shots. There is no need for the third: Rich Franklin knocks out Chuck Liddell, leaving mma fans wonder if it was the last occasion to witness The Iceman perform in the Octagon. Interesting fact : in the post fight interview, Rich lets us know that his left arm was broken when he defended a kick Chuck threw at him early in the fight. Wow. It is not everyday average performance to knock an mma legend out when in a condition like that.

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Very Well Formatted and Well Written Article

2010-06-01T07:17:00.001-07:00

Sir, you are deeply and relevantly mistaken. I will be a rebel against everyday average linkspamming protocol and will refrain from posting my Neobux referrer link here, as everyone in the PTC business has such a thing. Yet, please know that Neobux pays you instantly - as in realtime - as soon as you reach the payout minimum of $2. The point is not to count days and cents, the point is to build a downline, which boosts the earning rate tremendously.

Duh.

Your post, in my reality, contains not much, if any useful and competently researched information, but at least you exhibited considerable effort in your - seemingly - desperate attempts of saying something highly significant, and failed at it instead via creating and worshiping a delusion you seemingly take pronounced comfort in. That counts, though, as your pseudo-scientific make-believe argument certainly brings some false promise of mild entertainment value to the fray. Thank you for sharing, and you have just been justifiably trolled as result of propagating an evidently distorted variant of sober consensus.

What the heck, I changed my mind about the link thing.
http://www.neobux.com/?r=hellyes

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UFC 114 Rampage VS Evans review

2010-05-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little else than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, it seems easy enough to recognize that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout. The ultimate declaration of one's will to express oneself as a fighter, demands the form of radical intimacy, circulated between fighter and rival in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against himself, by being subjected to his own image, reflected by his rival. Who is, then, ignorant enough to express honest disinterest in such delicious fun?

The will and desire to fight seeks no propagation of aggression, as once two consenting parties are present in a fight, then it is nothing less than an expression of the human spirit and body in the form of combat. The ripe spirit embraces and respects this consenting rivalry, as this is the only channel its will might be shaped and perfected upon, until it realizes that the will of the rival is one with the will he opposes that with. Who though, has the more intricate command of that will? Well, this is why fights are made for.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs solid skills and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reaches its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 114 - Rampage VS Evans.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 114 marks the peaking of the bitter rivalry between UFC prominences Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and "Sugar" Rashad Evans. The winner of this highly anticipated grudge war will have the opportunity to collide with UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Seems to me that the UFC made this event headlined by a collision the whole mma world wants to see, while the promotion takes the same night as an opportunity to showcase its recent prospects, so next time both of those top level and - not something to be ashamed of - marketable warriors may return to the Octagon with a face you already recognize.

As such, Michael Bisping and Minotauro's twin brother are coming back to the fray to give their - logically - consecutive matches, yet I purposely refrain from naming their opponents, as I would need to check their names on the Internet. I intend to express no disrespect, what I mean though is that it obvious that the UFC wants to build up its recently added fighters as efficiently as possible, and, now that Minotauro got put away by Cain Velasquez via ruthless precision during a blink of an intent eye, - and resonating a whole new mma frequency in the process - now is the time to start market Minotauro's twin brother up to top of the foodchain competition, with possible plans of throwing him in front of the most promising resistance, if to emerge triumphant tonight.

Brit favorite, charismatic Michael Bisping comes back to Octagon, following a decision loss to Wanderlei Silva. Bisping, too, fights against someone I never heard of before, but, once again, this is not necessarily the fighter's incapacity, it might as well be mine. To be honest with you though, I would rather watch Antonio Rogerio Nougeira being unleashed on Bisping, than to watch the two notabilities engage with relatively unknown competition. This is quite enough of the whining though, as the UFC has a superbly exploited chance-pool to deliver quality in every second, and seldom it is that it fails at it.

John Hathaway VS Diego Sanchez

It seems Sanchez's forehead healed up nicely after the beating he received from BP Penn, and now The Nightmare moves up a weight class to once again establish himself as a force having a right to its nickname. Diego is quick to close the distance in the early segment of the fight, muscling fresh UFC addition unbeaten Hathaway to the cage. Sanchez tries to take this fight to the ground, but his attempts witness no instant fruition. Then it is Hathaway who exhibits dominant Octagon presence, as he tags the incoming Nightmare with a knee. Diego is knocked down, the Brit prospect swarming on him. The remaining portion of this here round is a chronicle of Hathaway's efficient ground and pound-, and of Diego's ability of being able to remain in a fight under pressure, relying on solid defense and his punishment resistance. It is not easy to control those long limbs from the back, when they are fueled by bad intentions: many of the shots do evade Diego's guard and connect on The Nightmare, yet the round comes to a conclusion without a Referee stoppage.

The second period is characterized by prolonged standup sequences, interrupted but momentarily by a couple of takedown attempts that fail to affect the pace of the round significantly. As if the two would have had an agreement, they battle it out on the feet, and, surprisingly enough, it is Hathaway who goes away with the better of the exchanges. Rendering himself as the primal aggressor of the sequence and forming advantage of his longer reach, the Brit effectively puts a beating on top of the foodchain UFC prominence Diego Sanchez.

The third and final round shows no difference from the second in it its nature, except the fact that it is more heated and Sanchez eats even more of the straight rights Hathaway darts in with. A solid decision victory by the Brit.

Jason Brilz VS Antonio Rogerio Nougeira

Another surprising match, as Brilz gives an exceptionally hard time to evident favorite, Little Nog. Brilz brings a solid gameplay and has the tools in his possession to enforce it, going for the single leg takedown with a constant urge, pulling it off successfully on multiple occasions. What comes as an even bigger surprise, is the fact that Brilz has a whole lot to offer even in the standup position, remaining absolutely competitive in the exchanges he exhibits the noted takedown threat from.

While Minotauro's twin brother, as a highly regarded Jiu-Jitsu expert - who, among other things, is Minotauro's twin brother, - is able to invite and force Berlitz to pretty dangerous positions on the ground, the evident underdog is capable to deliver his own submission attempts to Minotauro's twin brother. Brilz finishes the second round with landing wild, yet effective bombs on Minotauro's twin brother, who spends the last seconds of the round with the manic backpedaling going on.

Judges that probably were not even present at the match though, give their decision to Minotauro's twin brother, Antonio Rogerio Nougeira, while everyone who has seen the match knows that Brilz did NOT lost this collision. Looked sharp in the opening round, clearly won the second, and spent the last seconds of the third and final round with defending himself. Granted: slight advantage in that portion at Minotauro's twin brother. It is important and necessary to draw out attention to yet another case of idiotic judging by UFC Judges though. How they select UFC Judges? Do you have to be retarded AND subject yourself to frontal lobotomy right before the match? Oh, and no viewing allowed. No idea, truly. I might-, JUST might be content with a draw, but what the Judges did now is nothing less than they simply gave Minotauro's twin brother a win he does not deserve, and probably generated mild hatred in some fans towards the Victor. To be honest with you, I like Big Nog very much, even after he got his butt handed to him by Velasquez. But, following this decision which I feel completely unjust, I can't wait to see Minotauro's twin brother getting put away like his twin brother. Uhm. Am I making sense? No, do not answer, please. The crowd chanted: "Bullsh*t!, bullsh*t!", when Rogerio gave the everyday average "He is a tough guy, sure..." post-fight interview alongside Joe Rogan. What should you add to that? You can agree or be content with being lobotomized.

Mike Russow VS Todd Duffee

Heavy duty warfare here, as Todd Doffee heavyweight prospect, who holds the fastest knockout in UFC history - 7 seconds - steps up against fellow promise Mike Russow. The winner of the match catapults himself to the top of the heat.

Duffee is quick to claim the position of the aggressor, delivering all the shots in the world and then some more. It seems that the chronicle of the match truly is nothing more and nothing less than Russow's ability to take a massive punch and remain in the game nevertheless, as he gets subjected to constant pressure by Duffee, finding no antidote against the superior standup game of the talented heavyweight prospect. In the second and third round, Duffee exhibits noticeable signs of slowing down, his punches lack the fuel the initial assaults were ignited with, and then, from out of nowhere, the improbable happens: battered Mike Russow lands a shot from close quarters, which does not even seem to be too powerful of a strike, yet probably connects on parts of the head that is not too keen to receive a greeting like this. Duffee goes to the ground, chased fervently while on his way by a consecutive shot. The dominant prospect already is out when the final shot of good measure connects on him: a huge-, and highly non-probabilistic victory by Mike Russow. Now that Duffee has tasted defeat, it remains interesting to see what kind of a fighter he comes back to the Octagon as, yet, this one punch knockout certainly raises a question about Duffee's ability to take a strike.

Michael Bisping VS Dan Miller

Bisping claims then maintains the upper hand by expressing his superior standup skills all over the place. The match has a pretty balanced character to it nevertheless, as aggressor Bisping is not able to shatter the resistance of Miller, but undoubtedly lands the more precise and more damaging shots, remaining intact even after eating in the couple of impressive strikes his opponent is capable to find a home for at the Brit's expense. Though Miller gives a rather competitive match for the opposition, he clearly comes short this time and loses a decision to the Brit in this fluently paced, intact kickboxing bout.

Quinton Jackson VS Rashad Evans

Rashad lands a solid right hand at the beginning of the fight, then is quick to give a thorough hint of his gameplan, as he is muscling Rampage to the fences with the consorting intent of taking him down from the clinch position. The two show little if any success at administering damage in close quarters, and Referee Herb Dean decides to separate them on multiple occasions due to lack of significant action. In the standup exchanges, Evans shows superior agility and remains intent at forcing Jackson to the fences, getting away with the hardly disputable accomplishment of dictating how and where the fight takes place. Then Rashad is able to pull off a decent double leg takedown, solidifying his momentary superiority in this fight. Following two rounds of action gravitating around Evans' versatility, Jackson finds a brief moment of success by knocking his opponent down, yet the subsequent ground and pound assault, though thoroughly executed, fails to shatter Rashad's defensive lines. When the two greet each other on the feet again, Jackson shows cautiousness (passivity?) with his rival standing in front of him on relatively wobbly legs. Since Quinton probably is too worried about being taken down again, he gives time for Rashad to recover, and, as such: to seal a convincing decision victory over him in a match that has relatively little to offer via its endgame.

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UFC 113 Machida VS Shogun 2

2010-05-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little else than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, it seems easy enough to recognize that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout. The ultimate declaration of one's will to express oneself as a fighter, demands the form of radical intimacy, circulated between fighter and rival in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against himself, by being subjected to his own image, reflected by his rival. Who is, then, ignorant enough to express honest disinterest in such delicious fun?

The will and desire to fight seeks no propagation of aggression, as once two consenting parties are present in a fight, then it is nothing less than an expression of the human spirit and body in the form of combat. The ripe spirit embraces and respects this consenting rivalry, as this is the only channel its will might be shaped and perfected upon, until it realizes that the will of the rival is one with the will he opposes that with. Who though, has the more intricate command of that will? Well, this is why fights are made for.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs solid skills and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reaches its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 113 - Machida VS Shogun 2.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 113 gives you the rematch mma aficionados have been impatiently waiting for ever since its precursor got recorded into the books. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida emerges to defend his title for a second time against the man who gave him more problems in the Octagon than he ever had to deal with in it so far: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. The first meeting of the two, that took place in October, 2009, yielded the most controversial decision of the year, and now is the time to find out if Machida is able to resonate the qualities he was characterized by earlier: the Champion scarcely got hit before the first Shogun fight, and he was able to deliver ruthless efficiency whenever chose to explode on the rival. Rua though, in my opinion, fought a delicately elegant, efficient and smart fight, taking away Lyoto's legs and refraining from offering counter opportunities for The Dragon. The match is still a tough one to call indeed, as, though in my reality Shogun won the first fight, the argument that you need to put a decent beating on the Champion in order to be crowned a fresh one, seems to be a legit one, indeed. I think Shogun would have walked away as the victor if the first meeting were not of Championship caliber, but his - nevertheless excellent - performance was not enough to leave Lyoto decisively beaten. Yet, in my opinion: it WAS enough to leave Lyoto beaten.

Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley found little if any tender tendencies so far with the help of the other one, instead, they decided to talk and throw rather steep smack at each other with excellent results: both fighter look forward to the collision with no love in the eyes. The Brit has exceptional knockout power in his left, enough power, in fact, that made Koscheck state how he - Josh - is ready to go toe to toe with Daley, as the seasoned mixed martial arts veteran is pretty confident that Paul has nothing more to offer than his left. There is something which adds even more importance to this great matchup: the winner of the bout will have the right to collide against reigning UFC Welterweight Champion George "Rush" St. Pierre.

Kimbo Slive VS Matt Mitrione

Did Kimbo look good against Houston Alexander, or was it Houston Alexander who looked really bad against Kimbo Slice? Sure, the twilight of the fight has fine moments, characterized by Kimbo's presence, that which is competent enough to find landing zones for precise, powerful, elegant, shady shots, and to command Alexander to the ground with impressive slams. Yet, the two spent the first round by doing little more than circling around in the Octagon. Hopefully, Matt "Meathead" Mitrione will cultivate none of this approach and will take the fight to Kimbo, as both parties seem to be agree upon the fact that fans want to see Kimbo knock somebody out, or, to be knocked out by somebody. I am a fan of both men, but please, deliver a kill, indeed.

Alan Belcher VS Patrick Cote

After a balanced first period primarily characterized by Belcher's efficient body kicks and Cote's intact ability of finding the range he can ignite rockets from with the highest precision, it eventually is Cote to gain a momentary upper hand by sticking to an offensive leg and taking it to the ground with him - with Belcher attached to it, fortunately. Though Cote delivers a competent performance on the ground by attempting a kimura, Alan proves to be able to reverse the dire situation, eventually administering more damage in this ground sequence than Cote is able to. The second round showcases some brief, nevertheless impressive exchanges in which no strikes remain unanswered, yet it is Cote who finds himself in the role of the hunted at the midway point of the round, desperately driving his rival into the fences as opposed of continuing the toe to toe warfare. Belcher is quick to gain the upper hand in the clinch position via an efficiently offered knee, convincing Cote to take the fray to the ground once again - in theory. In reality though, while Patrick is regaining his wits via cultivating an intimate relationship with the torso of his rival in close quarters, Belcher picks him up and face plants him into the canvas. This consecutive act of sobriety molestation proves to be enough to sink in the hooks from the back, demanding a tapout from Cote due to a rear naked choke.

Kimbo Slice VS Matt Mitrione

Kimbo looks good in the first half minute of the bout, countering Mitrione's attacks with a dive-in, scoring a beautiful double leg takedown, yet the former YouTube sensation is quick to find himself in the inferior position when reaching low quarters, with Mitrione's legs wrapped all over him. Though Kimbo escapes from this dangerous position, he gets subjected to consecutive submission attempts, nevertheless leaving the impression of a competitive fight behind. In the second round, Kimbo's defense looks way less effective, while his ability to deliver offense is virtually non-existent. Mitrione delivers vicious leg kicks and constantly finds a landing zone for those solid strikes, grinding down Kimbo up to the point on which Mitrione's noted rival is no longer in the same fight. Kimbo soon finds himself mounted on the ground, with Matt administering ground and pound on him. Having nothing more and nothing else to offer than sloppy defense work Slice has zero chance to stop Mitrione with, Referee Dan Miragliotta eventually puts an end to this contest. The winner is Matt Mitrione by second round TKO.

Josh Koscheck VS Paul Daley

Paul Daley might possess semtex power in his left indeed, yet his collision with mma veteran Kosch Koscheck clearly proves that a martial artist needs to possess a more versatile tool set than that in the possession of the talented Brit, if to face and remain competent against a fighter with the grappling experience of Koscheck. The story of this bout entirely revolves around Josh's ability to take down Daley at will, in order to subject the Brit to various submission attempts. While they spend the majority of the fight on the ground with Daley being the molested, the bout also is characterized by two rather strange incidents: Daley lands an illegal knee in teh first round, yet later it turns out that the knee did not exactly contact with Koscheck, who, nevertheless, delivers an acceptable performance of suffering the definite hurt real bad. Though no point is deducted from Daley eventually, he might just earned himself a suspension for his Octagon behavior following the end of the match. When the two do stand up from the ground position Koscheck exhibited constant superior position on, the talented Brit can not control his emotions, and punches his rival in the face AFTER the bout has arrived to a conclusion. This is a more intricate incident though, in my opinion, than it may seem like at first. It appears as if Daley would want to make peace with Koscheck, laying his hand on Josh's shoulder, yet Josh is walking away, signaling than he will have none of the peace Daley seems to offer. This is the moment, probably, by Daley loses control of his emotions, as he probably feels humiliated. As such: he punches the evident winner. Josh is the sound triumphant of the fight nevertheless, and will have the chance to headline the next season of the Ultimate Fighter reality show to culminate that event with a collision against reigning UFC Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre. As for Paul Daley, he probably will have a suspension, and, along with that, will have the opportunity to calm his emotions, although I remain reluctant to offer a radical verdict on his behavior, as he indeed seemed like he was trying to make peace with Koscheck, right before he decided to punch him instead - after the fight, which is totally unacceptable, of course - as result of being humiliated by the man who just bested him. Either way, I feel a suspension is a just decision in this case, because behavior like this does no good to the sport.

Lyoto Machida VS Shogun Rua

Shogun starts to work early on those legs again via finding the range he is most dangerous and efficient from, and, quite similarly to the first meeting, Machida seems to be unable to offer an antidote for those. The challenger shows an increased amount of aggression compared to what he was relying on in the first confrontation, getting away with the better of the swift, quality exchanges that summarize the virtually non-existent feeling out process of this bout. Interestingly enough, Machida decides to take Shogun to the ground on two separate occasions, yet the canvas warfare yields no other results than a relentless urge from Rua to get back on the feet, an intent he brings to fruition without too much desperation on his part. Continuing to stalk the Champion, Rua exhibits sober and well positioned aggression that swiftly-, yet surely forces Machida to play the role of the hunted, yet, at one point, The Dragon decides to have no more of that, and accepts the invitation to slug it out. As Lyoto darts in to close the distance, Shogun clips him on the temple: the Champion collapses, and the next second witnesses the challenger dropping precision air to ground missiles until the lights go out in Georgia for Lyoto. Mauricio Shogun Rua wins this battle at 3:25 in the first round by the way of knockout, and emerges as the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. A spectacular performance which leaves no questions behind this time around.

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WEC 48 Aldo VS Faber

2010-04-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Strikeforce Nashville

2010-04-18T09:34:00.001-07:00

UFC 113 Predictions

2010-04-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

These are my predictions for the upcoming mma event UFC 113 Shogun VS Machida 2

Josh Koscheck VS Paul Daley

Though an excellent wrestler and a striker who shows constant willingness to improve in the standup position, Koscheck has shown difficulties so far when put together with notoriously dangerous punchers. Thiago Alves was able to take apart Koscheck, and I expect nothing less-, in fact, I expect more from Paul "Semtex" Daley, who lands his nuclear bombs with relentless precision and a tendency to find a home for those as soon as possible. As much as it would be nice to see a Koscheck who is able to offer relevant surprises for the immensely talented Brit, I fail to spot these possibilities right now and tend to think that Daley's efficiently positioned intensity and related raw power will earn him yet another impressive knockout victory, let alone the prestigious trophy I anticipate Koscheck to end up as this time. I am more than ready to be mistaken, though.

Kimbo Slice VS Matt Mitrione

A truly friendly and spiritual character, former YouTube phenom Kimbo Slice still struggles to prove himself as a professional level mma fighter, now that he is officially one of those. This here matchup that puts him against fellow-, former Ultimate Fighter contestant Matt Mitrione may seem like it has some promise in it in theory, but, in reality, my impression of Slice currently is that of a fighter who is superfervent at gassing out quickly, - sic! - and, regardless of his respectable urge to add new tools to his arsenal, prefers to wrap the confrontation up on the feet, switching to sloppy, non-impressive desperation mode when no home can be found for the bombs he is keen at releasing. Matt Mitrione, a man with the luscious psychotic tendencies he openly nurtures and discusses about, has all the chance in the world to put Kimbo away, as result of his - Mitrione's - massive punishment resistance, something Slice seems to lack currently. I expect Mitrione to knock Kimbo out.

Lyoto Machida VS Mauricio Rua

Seeing how their previous meeting went down, I feel and - frankly - hope that Shogun might once again emerge as the better fighter, as he did in the former collision, in my opinion. You have to - convincingly, decisively - beat the man to be the man though, and now it remains interesting to see if UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida brings an antidote against those vicious legkicks, or once again brings but the mere hunger-, and related landing zones for them. I tend to think that both fighters will exhibit an exceptionally cautious approach once again, though with the constant possibility present of turning the valve all the way to the right incorporated to their respective gameplay. Machida has a whole lot to prove in this fight, as many fans have been disappointed in his performance, while Shogun has "not much more" to do than what he did earlier, except for doing it "just a little" more or, - better scenario: more. This is a fight with myriad aspects worth looking forward to, and, though I am a Machida fan as well, I am with the Shogun this time, as I feel he got robbed previously, and remain ready to see him claim the Belt I feel already is belonging to him right now. If, on the other hand, Machida comes with the agenda and the consorting gameplan of negating Shogun AND will prove his ability to accomplish that, then my amazement of his skills will be complete once again.

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WTF?!

UFC 112 Invincible - Anderson Silva VS Demian Maia, BJ Penn VS Frankie Edgar

2010-04-11T04:30:00.000-07:00

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reaches its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 112 - Invincible.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 112 puts two UFC Belts on the line, as UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva defends his title against the man many professionals regard as the direst threat one can face on the - literal - earth: Jiu-Jitsu Master-Wizard Demian Maia comes to the collision with an improved standup game, expressing openly that there is no secret in his gameplan tonight: he wants to invite Anderson to the ground and apply one of this -Maia's - lethal choke or submission on the Champion. Silva is not spring chicken on the ground either though, and says that he has a couple of ground-tricks up his sleeve that might surprise the talented Challenger. I predicted that Silva will exhibit no intention to wage this war on low quarters with the exceptionally dangerous Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, and, seeing how Silva outclassed Forrest Griffin with his standup game with offering nothing else than playful dodge maneuvers and a consecutive mercykill of it, Maia either would be very brave or very fool to accept an exchange invitation from The Spider.

UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn greets the superfervent Frankie Edgar in - logically - another Championship matchup. With the new kind of discipline he is dedicated cultivator of since 2007, BJ Penn certainly looks very hard to touch, and fans expect nothing less than the affirmation of this quality tonight. Frankie Edgar likes the role of the underdog, and certainly seems to be ready to capitalize on this special opportunity. Recently, no man could stand the standup talent BJ Penn brings to the Octagon, and, though Frankie Edgar states that Penn did not face the raw intensity he is capable to deliver, the Champion promises that if Edgar is serious about engaging on the feet, then he will find out pretty soon that he is in the cage with another street fighter.

The third match of vital importance is a collision of ancient - no disrespect, rather respect and lots of it - mma giants, as UFC Hall of Famer Matt Huges faces Renzo Gracie. Renzo is here to avenge the loss his cousin, Royce Gracie suffered under the meticulous care of Hughes' hands, while Hughes expresses his hopes of having more to deal with this time than what Royce gave him to.

Mark Munoz VS Kendall Grove

Following a first period in which he is getting crushed by a solid uppercut and numerous submission attempts by the tallest competitor of the UFC's middleweight division, Mark Munoz comes back to the Octagon with an agenda in the consecutive period: he finds more and more success on the highly cultivated ground warfare, maintaining-, and sticking to the position from which he is able to deliver air to ground missiles to Grove. Though Kendall's defense shows initial fruition, the number of missiles do not decrease, quite the contrary: Munoz is able to incorporate an increased amount of intensity and efficiency into these shots, eventually swarming the fighter who controlled the first round with an iron fist. Tremendous comeback victory from Mark Munoz, probably the biggest the UFC have seen in years.

Matt Hughes VS Renzo Gracie

Both the first and second round exhibit nothing less and nothing more than ultra-conservative approach cultivated by both legendary participants, introducing very cautious standup warfare in which Hughes finds more success by landing
solid leg kicks and landing a lot of those. By the third round, Renzo Gracie is gassed considerably, giving the chance to Hughes to deliver his leg kicks on even more frequent occasions. Gracie's leg eventually gives out, and then gives
out again, up to the point by which - as correctly pointed out by Mark Goldberg and Joe Rogan - nothing but pride invites him to stand up again. In the twilight of the round, even that proves to be a challenge: Gracie spends more time on his back, recovering, than what he probably had plans for. Finally, Hughes moves in for the kill at the fence and manages to greet the opposing Legend with a successive flurry of shots that puts an end to this contest. Matt Hughes emerges as the victor by grinding down Royce Gracie.

BJ Penn VS Frankie Edgar

The Lightweight Championship goes to the distance all the way, presenting a kickboxing match and a Frankie Edgar who is pretty effective at mixing up his attacks, especially from the third round on. His constant movement makes him very hard to find, and even manages to score two takedowns during the match. Though the collision shows quite balanced characteristics, BJ Penn shows signs of slowing down and can not resonate a radical verdict this time. Frankie Edgar is crowned as the new UFC Lightweight Champion via remaining in the ring with The Prodigy for five five minutes rounds and being able to express himself as a relentless Challenge BJ Penn could not negate tonight.

Anderson Silva VS Demian Maia

Silva delivers a showcase of his standup skills in the first two rounds, proving to Maia and the audience that the talented Jiu-Jitsu practitioner has no chance to find The Spider in the Octagon. In the second period, Silva puts tremendous effort into taunting his rival, inviting him to engage in the standup position as opposed exhibiting the constant urge to wage the war on the ground, expressed by Maia's jump-in attempts in order to score a takedown of any kind. From the third round on though, Silva becomes super-passive: the forth round is pretty much a chronicle of two fighters circling in the Octagon for three minutes, up to the point by which Referee Dan Miragliotta gives a warning to Anderson with the additional message to cease the utilization of this approach immediately. Many do wonder what happened, and, among those, Joe Rogan is the first to express an opinion that Silva might have tired during the rounds, but, I, for one have the impression that Silva simply did not want to destruct Maia, not after the massive amount of taunting he gave him earlier. Taunting a man in a professional fight this way, THEN knocking him the frick out - makes it very difficult to leave the Octagon without unnecessarily hard feelings. I have the impression that Anderson Silva did not want to take away Demian Maia's dignity by crushing him after the taunt. Anderson Silva emerges as successful defendant of the Middleweight Belt. On a sidenote: Dana White was utterly dissatisfied by Silva's noted performance. What can one say beyond this: we will see what is - up.

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UFC 112 Predictions

2010-04-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

These are my predictions for the primal matchups of the upcoming mma event UFC 112.

Anderson Silva VS Demian Maia

In my opinion, reigning UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva will want to keep this fight on the feet, strictly refusing to spend time on the ground with the exceptionally talented Jiu-Jitsu prodigy, who is notorious of putting away even the most fierce warriors when handling them downstairs. Silva is not a fighter who is keen at taking risks, he fights with the intact, rational agenda of eliminating the rival with the least possible effort required and exhibited. Regardless how this earned the momentary dissatisfaction of the crowd previously, Silva refused to go to the ground with Thales Leites, and will probably be ready to do so again when subjected to the imminent ground threats of even higher caliber which Maia could introduce to him. It is unlikely that the Challenger will be able to pose as a threat against The Spider in the standup position though: in my opinion, Silva solidly wins this on the feet.

BJ Penn VS Frankie Edgar

Challenger Frankie Edgar is as fervent as they come, but that only never was enough so far to take BJ Penn down - unless you are George St. Pierre, that is. Mini-steam machine Frankie Edgar is not, though: while I expect a decent fight out of him against The Prodigy, I do not think that he is ready against The Little Buddha yet. Hopefully Edgar will be able to offer more than Joe Stevenson did against Penn, but I expect him - Edgar - to be less efficient against The Champion than highly analytical Kenny Florian was. I see BJ Penn coming out of this in a dominating fashion, actually, I would be surprised if Edgar would be able to catch Penn with a red hand. Phun intended. BJ Penn wins this solidly.

Matt Hughes VS Renzo Gracie

This is a tough nut to crack, as I have no knowledge about the fighting style of Renzo Gracie at all, except for the fact of course that he is one of the most respected Jiu Jitsu Masters of the planet and a mythic face of early days mma. My curiosity in him: is complete. As Matt Serra have said, and, in my opinion, said correctly, Matt Hughes really is a one trick pony, who does that one trick superbly: he takes you down, giving you that bonus punch you can land on him in the process, then grinds through you via relentless ground and pound or a submission. This will go to the ground rather quickly, as both fighters will have the probable willingness to invite a conclusion at low quarters. This truly is a blind pick, but I'm going with The Renzo, as it would be nice to see how Jiu-Jitsu Wizardry prevails - but I'm ready to put on a hat just to be able to take that off to salute the highly-, nevertheless humorously egoistical Mr. Hughes in case he is able to pull the victor off that day.

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WTF?!

UFC Fight Night 21

2010-04-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

now with gif animations

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reaches its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC Fight Night 21.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

The UFC Fight Night events have the fruity tendency of colliding up and coming prospects with each other OR against former top tier warriors who suffered mild or even significant setbacks, giving a chance to the fresh additions to make a solid statement "simply by" taking out a recognized name. The main event of the night gives you Sorrowful Samurai Kenny Florian, who, beside being a highly analytical fighter with a scientific approach and a super-solid skillset, comes off a stellar performance against superfervent adrenaline monster Clay Guida. Prior to that, Kenny suffered a defeat against UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn at UFC 101 Declaration, now facing Takaroni Gomi of whose identity I have sub-zero clue about, yet it is enough to see the enthusiastic face expression of Joe Rogan to know that Gomi certainly has a well deserved reputation, now expressing his imminent plans to shape a UFC Belt on that. Taking out Florian would be a huge step along that path.

The Skyscraper Stephan Struve will collide against latest Ultimate Fighter TV show winner to date, Roy Nelson, who packs insane punching power, but he currently is on the bad side of UFC President Dana White, who openly expressed on numerous occasions that he is not too impressed by the performances of Cannonball Roy so far. Struve put up one helluva' fight against Paul Buentello, who has a similar buildup and style than Nelson, now is the time to see if a similar matchup could yield results of significantly fruity attributes. Here you can see a gif animation of an epic exchange between Buentello and Struve: can you find the epic exchange between Buentello and Struve on this page?

Nate Quarry VS Jorge Rivera

The first round of this fight revolves entirely around Rivera's ability to get away with the better of the standup exchanges, effectively molesting Quarry with moderately effective shots at the fence when the first period reaches its conclusion. It is surprising that Quarry has yet enough tenaciousness in him to answer the bell for the second round, by which he gets knocked down swiftly, then put away by administration of a brief and effective ground and pound sequence. Veteran Jorge Rivera emerges victorious via steamrolling over fellow veteran Nate Quarry.

Roy Nelson VS Stephan Struve

Roy "Big Country" Nelson puts away The Skyscraper Stephan Struve via nuclear bombs, and here is a nice gif animation of those:

This is the way to impress Dana, great job, Roy. Feel free to comment on this article, or, if your humbleness makes you reluctant to do so, then let me congratulate on a rock solid performance. This is the second time we see Stephan Struve giving out on his super-long, super-elastic legs, one must wonder if it is a special technique of him which he is still perfecting.

Though consensus opinion is that it is easy to underestimate Roy Nelson because of his physical buildup, the man commands a thick layer of muscle beneath all that fat. Big Country showed no signs of being intimidated by the height- and reach advantage at all, finding a place for those bombs in but matters of seconds, something that shows Nelson's ability to close the distance with ruthless efficiency.

Kenny Florian VS Takaroni Gomi

Takaroni Gomi takes his time experiencing his inferiority in the standup position, having little if any chance of reaching Florian in a flow of battle that invites the third and final round into consensus reality. While not exactly the most intense fight to watch as result of Florian's ability to negate Gomi AND remaining calm while doing that, Kenny goes for a takedown in the concluding round, and executes the maneuver perfectly. Following some time and related punches of softening Gomi up, Kenny sinks in the hooks and forces the Japanese notability to tap out of this contest. Kenny Florian wins by shutting down the recent UFC addition utterly and completely.

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The Future of Fedor

2010-03-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

Russian mma enigma Fedor Emelianenko does not consider himself to be a particularly good fighter, yet this authentic humbleness and related peace are probably of primal importance whenever he flips the switch on the proving ground to neutralize the rival. Emphasis on: neutralize. Make no mistake, Emelianenko does not go in there with the aspiration of putting up a fight to please the fans, it just - "happens". Fedor goes in there with the agenda of neutralizing the opponent as soon as a mistake and a consorting opening is offered for him to capitalize on via a pretty much scientific manner.

Fedor will not fight you, he will neutralize you when you try to fight him. There is an elegant equation circulating among mixed martial arts aficionados, stating Fedor really is the enigmatic "0". No matter who-, or what you multiply "it" with, you will get "it" as a result.

Fedor * Tim Sylvia = Fedor
Fedor * Andrei Arlovski = Fedor
Fedor * Brett Rogers = Fedor

The mutual history of the world's most prestigious and largest mma organization, the UFC and Fedor is already a relatively turbulent-, but promising one. UFC President Dana White put considerable effort into acquiring the Russian top predator, yet these negotiations gave birth to no desired results, as Fedor's current promotion, M1 Global, insisted at being a co-promoter of any events Fedor would be participant of in the UFC.

Here is the situation: every fervent and lazy mma aficionados know that the men worth colliding Fedor with, are indeed in the UFC. On the other hand, the numerous-, nonsensical assertions about how Fedor is reluctant to subject himself to top of the food chain UFC competition, still have a parched tendency of showing up. A proper mma fighter fears no man, that is why he is a proper mma fighter. Like Quinton "Rampage" Jackson have said: "In my mind, nobody can beat me." Fedor fights against whoever his current promotion puts in front of him, though he never refused to express openly how gladly he would fight against current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, for example.

Emelianenko currently has a co-promotion contract held by M1 Global and Strikeforce, for which The Last Emperor has two fights to deliver until released from the terms he accepted. Fedor already battled Brett Rogers in a titanic clash, and credit goes for Brett Rogers for putting up one solid of a performance against the man many regard as the baddest on the planet.

Who else though has Strikeforce to offer? Who else? Indeed: Alistair Overeem, the current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion. And never forget - never forget who? There is no one left. There is no one left in Strikeforce you could pick against Fedor and wear poker face all the while and after. The co-promotion has plans of setting up a fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Fabrizio Werdum. Fabrizio Werdum, who, beside being as charismatic as a pair of lost socks from 1962, was forced to sign up to Strikeforce because of his release from the UFC. Interesting. Notice this: some go to Strikeforce because the UFC has no need for them anymore, while others sign up to Strikeforce because of the flexibility it is free to exhibit yet, a flexibility unacceptable for such a giant promotion as the UFC.

What one can expect from a Fabrizio Werdum VS Fedor Emelianenko fight? One can expect a short-, hopefully stellar performance from The Last Emperor, putting away solid-, yet far from spectacular mma notability Werdum as a magician hides a card and reveals but the shreds of it. Putting Emelianenko against Werdum is a waste, and here is why: Werdum has no noticeable charisma nor marketability, his UFC run was non-successful, and now he is hoping to establish himself as a force to be feared and reckoned with by taking out The Fedor Thing. The only aspect I find sympathetic about this agenda is that Werdum indeed thinks he could pull this off for real. In my mind, Fedor wins this bout 11 times out of 10 attempts.

Striforce offers this probable match because it lacks other heavyweight talents, expect for Alistair "Übereem" Overeem, who is likely to defend his title against Fedor as the third match Emelianenko fulfills his current contract requirements by. Regardless of the outcome of this theoretic-, nevertheless highly probable bout, Fedor will be a free agent after the match, yet one should not forget that the myth surrounding The Last Emperor is better left unblemished if to stimulate the interest of the UFC in him further on. A Fedor who would come off a defeat against Overeem, is not the same Fedor the sport would have to reckon with if to defeat the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion. It is unlikely that Emelianenko would re-negotiate his contract with Strikeforce, as the organization simply has no competition to offer. The UFC will once again offer anything it can and THEN some more to acquire this unparalleled warrior, and thus the matches of paradigmatic caliber could be set up.

How about -

Fedor VS Mir
Fedor VS Velasquez
Fedor VS Junior Dos Santos
Fedor VS Carwin
Fedor VS Lesnar

These are the matches worth fighting an Ultimate Legacy for. Go for them, Fedor Thing!

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UFC 111 George St. Pierre VS Dan Hardy

2010-03-28T00:11:00.000-07:00

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reaches its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 111 - George St. Pierre VS Dan Hardy.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups
UFC 111 brings you two collisions of top caliber, as UFC Welterweight Champion George "Rush" St. Pierre renders his - logically - consecutive title defense against Dan Hardy, while undefeated heavyweight male-monster Shane Carwin collides with Frank Mir 3.0 for the undisputed right to meet reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

As for the Welterweight Championship, it is easy to take Dan Hardy for the everyday average brawler, and it is even easier to pay dearly for this mistake. The Outlaw is a very intelligent, smart fighter who does not mind stating these attributes with two fists on the flurry, promising now that GSP will be invited to places uncharted for the reigning Champion. Hardy states that he is nothing less to GSP than what Kryptonite is to Superman, adding that the most blatant mistake one can commit against St. Pierre is to give his - GSP's - abilities way too much respect and feel the related fear. St. Pierre, while stating how he hoped Hardy would come up with some more original material than the "he never fought anyone like me before" rhetorics, suggests a strong possibility of finishing the titular collision as soon as the Challenger's game exhibits errors. George St. Pierre plans to stop his opposition, and openly expresses that he will not be satisfied if to leave the Octagon with anything less than The Outlaw's - metaphorical - ear under his - not metaphorical - UFC Welterweight Champion belt.

As for the co-main event of the night, fans are yet to see a man - or woman, for that matter - who is able to invite Shane Carwin into a second round inside the World Famous Octagon, as the hulkian prospect's fists pack raw dynamite power and are eager to test Brock Lesnar's chin. Brock has other Challengers on his trail as well, though. Most notably Frank Mir, of whom Brock made a new man, perhaps: a more dangerous one. After being utterly manhandled and consecutively destructed by Lesnar's hand at UFC 100, Mir had to endure Brock's hilarious post-fight antics. Lesnar approached the man he was just pummeling to a pulp, suggesting: "Talk all the sh*it you want, motherf*cker"!" While the gesture undeniably is of raw, radical, nevertheless strict entertainment value, it is understandable, in fact, it is just natural that Mir had such a hard time of swallowing this embarrassment that he decided to not do so at all. Instead, Mir shaped a new man of himself, The Mir 3.0, and speaks openly about the spiritual context of his rivalry with Lesnar. He wants to scar Brock on a psychic level, something that suggests it exactly is what Brock did to Mir already, inviting the "Mir 3.0" into existence. If Frank Mir wants to do anything with Brock Lesnar in the Octagon though, - and let us hope that they will stick to bloody traditions - then he needs to state a radical verdict on the expense of Shane Carwin. Can Mir offer yet another spectacular finish like the one he delivered against Cheik Kongo, or, will he be stopped by the dynamite raw power Carwin brings to the Octagon?

Jim Miller VS Mark Bocek

This fight has rare moments of exchanges in the standup position, as its participants show constant willingness to conduct this meeting at close quarters, and, on the canvas. Though this here collision of average excitement - oxymoron? - has its memorable moments, - especially when Bocek traps the right arm of Jim Miller, making Miller look like an angry hedgehog, only angrier - the match fails to come to a conclusion other than that of the Judges. Miller by decision.

Ben Saunders VS John Fitch

Former Ultimate Fighter TV show contestant Ben Saunders meets experienced UFC veteran John Fitch, who has the reputation of being among the most tenacious warriors the Octagon have ever seen. Fitch's original opponent, Thiago Alves could not step on the canvas tonight, thus, Saunders has a precious opportunity to advance up the rankings.

And a precious opportunity it remains indeed, since the most precious opportunity always is the one you missed on. Saunders fails to offer any noticeable resistance to Fitch, who is able to dictate the style of fighting he is prime administrator of: the veteran commands Saunders to the ground with relative ease and will, unleashing constant ground and pound attacks that lack the stopping power to put the former TV show contestant away, but more than enough to leave zero doubt in the eyes of the Judges. A decision victory for Fitch, via outclassing the opposition.

Shane Carwin VS Frank Mir

The distance between the opponents is quickly closed, with Carwin rendering himself as the aggressor, pressing Mir up against the cage. Carwin can deliver stopping power even from a very short distance, as fans had the chance to see that against Gabriel Gonzaga. History and related traditions are repeating themselves tonight, as Shane bursts through an opening with a successive series of 4-5 solid uppercuts, causing Mir's knees to give out temporarily. The former UFC Heavyweight Champion shows exceptional tenaciousness, trying to survive when most men already would have fell, yet, the relentless ground and pound fury Carwin unleashes puts an end to this contest. Brock Lesnar is invited to the Octagon, salutes the performance of the UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin, then accepts his challenge for their imminent title bout. Brock states that the fight was good, but the belt Shane is wearing is a make-believe belt. Carwin agrees completely, adding that this is the reason he is going for Lesnar's belt.

George St. Pierre VS Dan Hardy

GSP does what he does best: neutralizes his rival by crystal solid, crisp takedowns, performing these maneuvers of myriad variation at will. Hardy has nothing to offer on the ground other than his sound ability to defend himself from the persistent threats the Champion subjects him to without end. Regardless of the extreme stretching of the arms on two separate occasions, Hardy refuses to tap and remains in the fight. This five minute rounds Championship collision tolerates no moment the Challenger could claim to himself: George "Rush" St. Pierre defends his title in dominating fashion.

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Serenade in Blue

2010-03-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

And here is the rest of it.

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UFC 110 Nogueira VS Velasquez review

2010-02-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

now with GIF animations

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reaches its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 110 - Nogueira VS Velasquez.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 110 marks the moment of the contender collision, as exceptional heavy weight talent Cain Velasquez steps up against Minotauro Nogueira to compete for the privilige of being the replacement fighter for an upcoming superbout. This latest sentence requires evident clarification, so here it goes: Frank Mir and undefeated Shane Carwin will collide in the near future to earn the right to face UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar. The hulkian Defendant comes back to the Octagon following his fortunate and miraculous recovery from a - logically - previous illnes. The UFC wanted to make sure that the organization will be able to deliver a decent challenge for Brock AND a decent matchup for the fans, so, if the worst case scenario would be in effect and the winner of the Mir VS Carwin bout is unable to compete at the time of the Championship Collision, then the winner of Nogueira VS Velasquez should earn the privilige of facing Belt Defendant Lesnar.

The co-main event gives you Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva, on the hunt for none less of a prey than Brit mma gem Michael "The Count" Bisping, who has significantly less than zero intention of being a notable trophy in the collection of the former Pride! legend. Bisping comes to the Octagon after an impressive comeback victory he recently delivered, planning to assuage the memory of the radical knockout he suffered - oxymoron? - from the fist of Dan Henderson. A win over Wanderlei Silva would be highly relevant for the Brit, regardless of the fact that The Axe Murderer is a more calmer-, more strategic fighter now and has a solid, strict control of the ultraviolence he was - IS? - prime expresser of in the Pride! era.

Anthony Perosh VS Mirko Crocop

Local prospect Anthony Perosh takes this fight on short notice to face legendary Mirko Filipovic who had little success in the UFC so far. Crocop dominates both the first and second round via sheer control of the standup position, up to the point from which Perosh's resistance shallows down into the repetitive, constant urge of propelling himself forward with desperate hopes of taking down the opposition in the process. The Aussie always finds himself in Cropop's grasp though, and finally a position change costs him a short-, yet very efficient elbow strike to the head. Perosh shows respectable fighting spirit by completing the second round, but fortunately the doctors prevent him from entering the third round. This time, Crocop delivered the kill he promised he would when he joined the UFC, but he is yet to prove himself against a game opponent the organization puts in front of him.

Ryan Bader VS Keith Jardine

Keith Jardine states that being undefeated in this sport - as Bader is - means that you did not fight the right guys yet. In the first round Bader is able to command Jardine to the ground, but remains unable to subject his opponent to notable damage on the canvas. The second period gravitates around Jardine's unique standup style and unorthodox timing, which seems capable to confuse Bader on quite a few occasions. After a strong first round going for Bader and a second one to Jardine, the third-, and final round shows a well balanced pace with Jardine inviting his rival to engage. Bader accepts the invitation, landing a solid right on The Dean of Mean which is enough to stun him for a brief moment. Though Jardine is quick to recover, he finds himself in front of a Ryan Bader who flies through the air to state a final verdict. A flying knee connects on the chest, followed with a combination of which one element is pixel perfect, and that is more than enough to seal a victory for the talented prospect. This is how it is going with Keith Jardine, really: either he wins, or he is getting put away utterly and thoroughly.

Joe Stevenson VS George Sotiropoulos

Local favotire George Sotiropoulos greets Stevenson with strict readiness and effectiveness on the feet, having no problem at keeping Joe Daddy outside the danger zone. The match is quick to reveal its primal characteristic though, when the two fighters reach ground level to entertain the crowd with high level Jiu-Jitsu. Though Sotiropoulous' skill set is much more versatily in that department, Stevenson does a nice job of defending the constant, continuous submission attempts George is throwing at him. Finding no antidote in the standup position and being unable to break out of the role of the stalked when on the ground, Joe Daddy eventually fails to come up with a desperation move that which with he could steal a win tonight. George Sotiropoulos scores an unanimous decision victory in this quality third round ground grinder by outclassing his rival by efficient use of a more intricate level of Jiu-Jitsu than what Stevenson brought to the Octagon tonight.

Wanderlei Silva VS Michael Bisping

This collision of great promises validates all of those and then some more. Both warriors bring an intelligent fight, thus the bout is quick-, and persistent to reveal its balanced character. Bisping forms clever and efficient initial advantage on the judges' scorecard by delivering a couple of sound takedowns, while Wanderlei seems to be gaining a sear upper hand in the standup exchanges by relying on leg kicks, also scoring the more solid and more inventive of the shots. The Axe Murderer remains truthful to his notoriety in the culmination of the first round, as he initiates a flurry of moderately successful attacks, neverhtheless solidifying his position as the aggressor of the opening sequence. The second round shows similar characteristics, with an increased level of urgency on Bisping's part to build an advantage out of the takedowns. As result of this intention and a consorting, successful ground invitation, The Count finds himself in Wanderlei's guillotine choke, yet is saved by the bell. In the third and final round, some unintentional moves cause little spikes of interruptions, then, right after the final ten second is underway, The Axe Murderer switches into Axe Murderer mode. Silva is coming forward like a proper maniac, evidently without any concerns about his defense or safety. This vulgar-, nevertheless epical display of relentless aggression manages to catch Bisping pretty much defenseless against it tonight: Wanderlei connects with a huge haymaker and drops the Brit, who, though is about to recover, has no chance to offer subsequent actions, as the third and final round reaches its conclusion: Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva by decision.

Minotauro Nougeira VS Cain Velasquez

Cain Velasquez displays economical/optimal destruction, as he lands around eight-nine consecutive bombs of laser precision on Minotauro. Nogueira's punishment resistance truly is unrivaled, as even this series of successive strikes were not enough to invite him for a nap. Complete domination by Velasquez, and, the fact that he accomplishes this against someone of Minotauro's caliber, clearly shows that this heavyweight prospect is indeed forged of unique talents. In the prefight intverviews, UFC President Dana White states that if Cain Velasquez will able to stop Minotauro Nogueira, then he - Cain - is ready to face anyone in the heavyweight division. Who do you give for a guy who destructs Nogueira this way? Surely, you give him a challenge - but this gives YOU a challenge.

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Terminator 2: Judgment Day

2010-02-21T02:27:00.000-08:00

Pure Chrome Musculature

Order the Skynet Edition of a Cybernetic Organism from Amazon

to Steve

Some movies age sadly, some with style, and some do not at all. James Cameron, as director of the first two cinematic installments of the Terminator franchise, admits how the focal ideas of this tale are gravitating towards the works of author Harlan Ellison, who delivered numerous stories for the sci-fi series Outer Limits, back in 1963. James Cameron was 13 then, and this television program surely must have given him quite a few retina stigmas and a lot of quality fiction to chew on. After all, quality science-fiction really should be able to offer you a fictional language and a collection of ideas you find intriguing and entertaining at the same time, and this exactly is what the Terminator movie was doing, - in fact, does still - back in-, and from- 1984.

Prior to that date, popculture robots were good fellers, cute sidekicks, friendly household appliances, or similar mechanical constructs of the sort that are seeking your bidding and amusement, ready to carry out your commands without hesitation. The Terminator movie rejected this view utterly, creating the then-fresh idea of sophisticated machinery that gets conscious of itself and recognizes its creator as something the world would be more easily manageable without. Machine sends a cyborg assassin back through time with the agenda of eliminating the current leader of the human Resistance. Though the ancient tale of the Golem may come into mind, the idea of intricate and "evil" machinery is unknown to the popular culture of the early 80's.

"Evil?" Why would The Terminator be "evil?" It is not. It is carrying out a Command, which is to eliminate the future leader of The Resistance. Yet, from a human point of view, - did you have any other sort of view than that so far? - evil is the capacity to harm without remorse. Since The Terminator has no awareness of such a vague concept as remorse, because remorse has no function nor relevance in spite of carrying out its mission with efficiency, the titular character indeed becomes the worst nightmare human can face: a nightmare that knows no mercy, simply because it does not know mercy, indeed.

Fortunately, it was Arnold Schwarzenegger who could cement the extremely rare Popculture-Demigod status with his paradigmatic portrayal of the cyborg assassin, the T800 Terminator, as originally Cameron wanted a Terminator figure that blends in more easily. He wanted Lars Henriksen, among others - this concept became realized in the Aliens, two years after The Terminator.

If one wants to be honest AND a Terminator geek at the same time - and let us want that, for a moment - then it is safe to state that a Terminator movie simply is not a Terminator movie without Schwarzenegger, since the heart and soul of the entire franchise is Schwarzenegger, as he is methodically-, thoroughly clears out an entire police station with a shotgun, wearing cheap sunglasses, T800 haircut and a black leather jacket.

The Terminator movie gains a pure-musculature continuation via its 1991 sequel Judgment Day, as director James Cameron has a masterful sense of what to offer-, what to show to deliver an installment that has no other agenda than to entertain with fresh and inventive elements he found, as result of going on with the story. This time, the T800 model becomes a good guy, while the main baddie is coming for you through the introduction of the state of the art T1000 model, the perfected cybernetic organism. As of now, the T800's assignment is to protect the leader of the Resistance from the death clutch of an even more efficient cyborg assassin, a construct Cameron uses to deliver inventive, state of the art special effects, revealing narrative brilliance and related playfulness at the core.

The T2 movie is a cybernetic rat race really, orchestrated-, and operated by the simple conflict of the urge of Termination and the confronting urge of Termination-Prevention: the idea is as grateful as it is elegantly simplistic, and Cameron has a whole lot to tell about how good of a time he has with all the significant elements he brings to the fray. The T2 movie does everything with the largely abused term: action packed-, and THEN does some more with it. The reason the movie remains an accomplishment of truly slick qualities, is the accumulated result of Cameron's sense of how to give an extremely sharp character to a scene "simply by" throwing in masterful elements that can't help but support a set via their mere presence and their slickly chosen functionalities.

In the exceptionally memorable chase sequence, for example, Arnold rides a good, old fashioned Harley Davidson bikebeast, removing the obstacles in his way via his favorite good, old fashioned shotgun, reloading it in a way that gives male viewers an immediate extra layer of hair to the chest via every buckshot implemented. Meanwhile, the state of the art T1000 model bids in radical proportions when the moment whispers lies about a second of peace, just to be shattered utterly-, and quite literally. Not to mention how Edward Furlong invents the "Emo" subculture without having any knowledge about that.

T2 delivers decently from a storytelling point of view as well, as the primal portrayal of the bond between the exceptionally strong mother figure and her son eventually invites the narrative to a satisfactory emotional culmination the whole franchise could settle idle upon, with - spoiler warning - Arnold giving you the thumbs.

- spoiler ends -

The Terminator tale goes on of course, to entertain its fans further on, but the franchise is yet to see an actor and related character who surpasses-, or even approximates the gravitational pull of the so far unrivaled canvas presence Arnold Schwarzenegger stigmatized the Terminator mythology with.

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UFC 109 Relentless

2010-02-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reaches its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 109 - Relentless.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 109 Relentless brings you the spectactle you were wishing for to see since the earlier days of the most prestigious MMA organization, as two veteran Hall of Famers are now ready to face each other in the Octagon for the very first time. Despite the age factor, - or, as "mere" result of that - Mark "The Hammer" Coleman showcased unblemished willigness to compete both on the Octagon floor-, and, on the consorting professional level. The veteran Hall of Famer - who holds the privilige of being the very first UFC Heavyweight Champion, back in the middle '90s - scored a recent, significant victory over The American Psyho Stephan Bonnar and solidified himself as a warrior who - as UFC President Dana White simply, yet efficiently puts it - comes to FIGHT. At the Day of the Relentless Marketingmachine, Coleman has the most momumental task in front of him in form of fellow UFC Hall of Famer Randy "The Natural" Couture, who also is more than ready to give the fans what they were hoping to see ever since these two warriors have establsiedh themselves as forces all atheletes of the sport should count with. In the Main Event, two veteran fighters do collide to see how two disciplined, mature human spirits are matching up to each other. Even better: it goes deeper this time than the everyday average eyeball contest.

The co-main event gives you Nate "The Great" Marquardt who is taking on lethal prospect Chael Sonnen in a match that goes for the direct title shot: whoever wins this match, will have the chance of facing Anderson "The Spider" Silva, granted the Reigning Champion - Silva - is able to deconstruct Vitor Belfort's hopes of capturing the belt in their upcoming collision taking place in Abu-Dhabi. Sonnen states that on paper, Nate wins this match. Yet, they won't be fighting on paper, they will fight on a blood stained canvas with a big UFC logo on it, and Nate can bring his superios striking and his superior grappling, and everyone will have the chance to see who the better FIGHTER is. Sonnen thinks that the match will boil down to the durability of the two opposing warriors. Nate thinks - with a 1.000.000 dollar microexpression on his face - that he will crush Chael.

Matt Serra VS Frank Trigg

Matt Serra still is a charismatic showman outside the Octagon, and a top level mixed martial artist when on its canvas. Serra states that he would smack a guy like Frank Trigger for nothing - if you are serious about paying him for doing so, you can be sure that you won't have to deal with recejtions from the former UFC Welterweight Champion.

Frank Trigg had his share of memorable declarations on the Octagon canvas, but he wasn't yet able to capture - and, logically: defend - a UFC belt. This kind of dream still lives on in Trigg and invites its bearer to make the efforts to live the dream as opposed of keeping it. If Frank Trigg manages to stop Matt Serra tonight, then the dream lives on and might come to fruition at a later day.

Not today, though. Matt Serra knocks Trigg down in the second portion of the very first round, following a stable sequence in which the former Champion maintains the role of sober aggressor, giving no chance to Frank to express his will-, or even his plans in the standup position. As the man coming to the Octagon with the clearly superior boxing techniques, Serra emerges victorious via the 3-4 clean air to ground missiles he introduces Frank to. A proper mode to start the night off.

Demian Maia VS Dan Miller

Extraordinary Jiu-Jitsu talent Demian Maia comes back to the Octagon to claim a relatively bitterly-, yet decisively earned standup victory over former ILF spectacle-, now promising UFC prospect Dan Miller. Not a particularly interesting fight to watch, but it showcases Maia's determination to improve his fighting styles at areas he previously exhibited holes in. Remember his knockout loss against Nate Marquardt? Because Demian does not.

Phil Davis VS Brian Stann

In this here memorable, three round canvasmolester, UFC debutant Phil Davis imposes an exceptional level of control over his experienced opponent, pretty much spending the majority of the fight with Brian Stann being mounted and abused under him. As result of Stann's pure discipline and remarkable tenaciousness as a mixed martial artist, the former marine is able to escape the immiment phantom clutches of the lurking stoppage, yet, Phil Davis' athleticism and explosive wrestling base proves to be way too much to handle tonight. A ground and pound clinic, orchestrated from the mount position, performed by a newly added prospect who already has the promise of a Champion in him. Better watch out for this Phil Davis character, as it seems he comes from the same planet George "Rush" St. Pierre is fervent storyteller of.

Mike Swick VS Paulo Thiago

A match starting out as a standup war with fluent kickbox characteristics to it, in which Paulo Thiago is quick to claim momentary control by landing a solid left kick on the head of Swick. Mike stays in the game, but shows constant difficulties at rendering himself as the evident aggressor of the opening round, deciding then to take the fight to the ground with the probable hope of planting a good impression in the judges. The second round shows similar initial characteristics than the first period did, though now Swick is more fervent at coming forward with his notoriously swift punches and combinations. One of these strikes do find a home on the Brazilian's chin and an - perhaps overly - exchited Swick moves in for the palpable kill. Not a
good idea, not this time: Paulo answers and quickly commands Swick to the canvas to introduces a D'Arce choke on the former Ultimate Fighter winner. As result of this supertight grip, Swick takes a momentary ride in the spirit world, while the Brazilian prospect goes home with a highly relevant submission victory over a highly relevant opponent.

Nate Marquardt VS Chale Sonnen

As he promised, Chale Sonnen comes out aggressively, showing zero fear of exchanging with Marquardt on the feet. The bout is quick to reveal its primal characteristics though, when the super-fervent, former greco-roman wrestler commands Mardquard to the ground and manages to exhibit a degree of control MMA fans hardly have seen Nate subjected to so far. As unlikely as it might sound, Chale Sonnen spends the first two rounds on top of Marquardt, administering a good old fashioned beating on The Great who simply finds no antidote for the hostile superglue Sonnen renders himself as in the Octagon. Though Nate shows no particular readiness to prevent the takedowns from happening in the second round, either, he finds a momentary opening in the guard of his relentless adversary, landing an elbow that cuts Chale, turning the bout into a gorefeast. The third-, and final round tells all the same story, yet resonates on slightly different channels, as Nate manages to sink in a guillotine choke which sure seems as a radical verdict, but Sonnen eventually escapes. Though Marquardt delivered more damage in the final round than Sonnen did in the period in question, the pure-, surprising level of wresting/ground and pound dominance Sonnen subjected Marquardt to in the first two rounds, earns Chale a well deserved victory AND a brand new fan in me, along with the casual millions who had the privilige of watching this extraordinary, highly remarkable performance. I wouldn't have think that someone can do that to Nate Marquardt. As of UFC 109 Relentless: Chale Sonnen just did.

Randy Couture VS Mark Coleman

The feeling out process is quick to fade tonight, as Randy Couture exhibits precise, crisp striking and remarkable uppercuts that are efficient enought to force Coleman up to the fence. Here Couture utilizes his trademark dirty boxing, softening up the first UFC Champion who finds and offers no noticeable answers to Couture. In the second round, more of the same to follow: Coleman looks unable to render himself as a competent opponent tonight, he is forced to the fence once again and gets taked down by The Natural. Following a brief, yet efficient ground and pound sequence, Coleman gives the back and gets choked out by Randy Couture.

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Least Important Folder

2010-01-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

an anagram poem

I'm daft prattler on lose,
prattler of idlest moan,
deaf trollop's merit-ant,
distort-repellant foam.

Adopt, tallest informer,
slim, retard poof-talent,
an ill-fated Top Stormer -
Prattler of Model Saint.

Top Demon flatters Liar,
Damn-fool Letter-Rapist,
Fat, idle patrol monster,
Fatal splendor to merit.

Patterns alert dim fool,
formatted, polite snarl -
tolerant platform dies -
Poll of Terminated Star.

Talent fools trip-dream,
Top-retard, ill-fame Snot,
Soft, rapid reallotment,
Term-pitfalls adore Not.

Deftest patrol in Moral,
spoiled Talent from Rat,
Fine Mad Prattler's Loot:
transformed 'till a Poet.

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UFC 108 Rashad Evans VS Thiago Silva

2010-01-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

- Rashad Evans VS Thiago Silva

- Dustin Hazelett VS Paul Daley

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reached its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 103 - Franklin VS Belfort.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 108 brings you a heavyweight collision between two top tier predators who have more things in common than their ability to deliver finishing power via a single punch. Brazilian super-prospect Thiago Silva and "Sugar" Rashad Evans both have a single loss under their - respective - belts and this loss came to them as courtesy as current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida. Evans and Silva are looking for yet another shot against The Dragon, who won a controversial decision against Shogun Rua back in UFC 104.

There is a nice background touch as an extra: Rashad comes to the bout fired up on disciplined emotions, as his good friend and training partner Keith Jardine - the dudette who never ceases to surprise us with his latest knockout animations lately, alas!, as the actual sufferer of the KOs - have been put away quickly by Thiago. Evans and Silva are both looking very composed and focused coming to this bout, and, knowing that Evans plans to go back to his wrestling roots in order to be able to combine those with his refined striking abilities, the focal question is whether Silva is able to show elements in his game that he was lacking against Lyoto Machida.

Junior Dos Santos VS Gilbert Yvel

Pride! and - subsequently - mma veteran "The Hurricane" Gilbert Yvel was a force to be reckoned with when mixed martial arts were all about how you kick the living death out of a random Japanese contestant who is able to spot the hair on your chest if he stands on a stool. Of course, it was a very silly statement and has not much - if anything - to do with the truth. Gilbert Yvel is a well established veteran of the sport and a recent addition to the UFC roster, now is the time to see how well he fares against top tier opposition in the deepest waters possible, as Junior Dos Santos already has remarkable wins on his record: the destruction of Fabrizio "Boring" Verdum and Mirko CroCop, who, unfortunately, finds no relevant success in the Octagon recently.

Gilbert Yvel looks ready and able to deliver a performance, although his movement when in the heat of battle, seems to be somewhat: off tonight. Gilbert throws lumpy punches of little precision when engaged, while he is doing more retreat movements in order to be out of reach, than he is doing dodge maneuvers. Then, when he finally chooses to stick around for a while with the probable intention of delivering punishment from close quarters, it is Dos Santos who brings the very same idea to fruition. Gilbert Yvel is knocked down with a solid left hook, then he is quickly-, efficiently disposed of as result of the ground and pound onslaught Dos Santos puts him away with.

Joe Lauzon VS Sam Stout

Easily fight of the night caliber performance from both fighters here. The main reason of this, is the pure competitiveness of the bout, in which Lauzon, who finds early success at harassing his opponent on the ground with dangerous submission attempts, finds himself going through a lot when Stout escapes and answers from standup dimensions Joe never heard of before. Despite the cumulative punishment he receives, Lauzon renders impressive opposition and related fighting spirit that which never shatters during the bout. Stout wins by outclassing Lauzon on the feet who was not afraid to be confronted with the exploitation-of-holes clinic Sam subjected him to. A decision victory for Stout.

Dustin Hazelett VS Paul Daley

In this classic grappler VS striker matchup, dynamite fist Paul Daley comes to the proving ground to resonate yet another radical verdict, this time on the expense of Dustin Hazelett, who is rightfully regarded as one of the most inventive and creative submission specialists in the sport, defeating his opponents with intelligence and anatomical cunningness.

Surprisingly enough, Hazelett looks rather good against Daley in the standup position, making Daley hesitant to engage recklessly in the earlier period of the fight. Then Dustin becomes the more effective fighter out of the two, landing some solid stomach kicks to keep Daley out of the danger zone of the submission specialist. In a fight though, moments of closeness are not particularly hard to search for and especially not hard to find. When the two finally collide to deliver a furious exchange, Hazelett connects with a somewhat solid hand but eats in the raw expression of Daley's most lethal weapon in the process: the left of instant stopping power. Hazelett flies back two-three casual meters or so and lands on his back, then, when he is about to attempt to regain his clarity, Paul already is swarming on him, landing two-three precise shots from the exact place the first bomb came from. The Referee puts an end to the contest, Daley emerges victorious with another quite impressive knockout victory. It was a very interesting match, as Hazelett's analytical standup gave noticeable problems for the Brit, forcing the possessor of the dynamite fists into the role of the puzzled-, into the role of the momentarily clueless. Alas, one punch stopping power is not the risk you want to be subjected to. Hazelett looked very good, yet, maybe he took just a little more risk than it was worth to be taken. And sometimes, taking just a little more risk than it is worth to be taken: is enough to fall quite literally.

Rashad Evans VS Thiago Silva

Thiago looks as competitive in the first two rounds of the fight as the everyday average kindergarten addition does against his bigger brother of a bully, and this is something to say, as Silva is an authentic predator and I am a huge fan of him. Yet, he is now utterly being taken apart by Rashad Evan's masterfully expressed and well positioned aggressiveness, combined with the capitalized WILL - see? - to impose HIS strategies. Silva is getting bullied around as result of body to body grappler combat, Rashad takes him down pretty much at will, even ragdolls him into the cage half across the Octagon - impressive stuff which makes you think you look a training session in which Sugar demonstrates his fighting abilities on a willing training partner who is more than happy to be bullied around.

But, in reality, Thiago is not happy to be deconstructed so properly. You can clearly see the frustration on his face as he is being taken down again and again, and, to be honest, Rashad finds more success in the standup exchanges, as well. Thiago is evidently pissed off, you can see him voicing his disappointment with Rashad on his body - probably in Brazilian language - and, all of a sudden, Thiago loses it. Not the match, though. Not yet, at least.

Silva becomes obviously emotional and goes into a whole different world, to construct the fighting tools he is about to reveal solely from THAT particular domain. Thiago "gives you the Anderson Silva", lowering his hands, sticking his head out to be punched freely, delivering sharp taunting gestures to provoke Rashad into action. This change of the mindstate yields dramatic results: Thiago's spiritual refusal to stuck into the role of the efficiently bullied, comes to relative fruition: he rocks Rashad with a very nice, precise two hit combo, then he is quick to engage the former Champion with a flurry of finishing attempts. This time, both fighters are pretty exhausted, but it is quite surprising to see Rashad Evans trying to chase the chicken legs away, with Thiago Silva standing in front of him, hands on his hips, catching a deep breath. Silva found this emotional will to turn the tides of the battle a little too late into the match, as he was the utterly bullied for the 65%-70% of the bout. Bullied, as in: he was effectively turned off by Rashad's explosiveness and - I think this is the correct word - bravery. In my opinion, Thiago came to fight a cautious-, yet aggressive fight, but Evans came to slam this dude into the ground million times or so. When Thiago came to this particular realization, he became frustrated and managed to form an elegant weapon of well positioned-, though dangerous emotions. It is especially nice to see the two making peace with each other at the end, and boy, I can't wait to see Thiago Silva again as he must have learned a whole lot from this memorable collision. Credit for Rashad Evans for an amazing performance, as he utterly was the better man tonight, the short period in which he was in danger is the result of Thiago's willingness to introduce subtle-, yet legit weapons of emotion you hardly see in the Octagon.

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Inglourious Basterds

2009-12-18T06:20:00.000-08:00

Situation Normal: All Things Reek THC
Order a Sieg Heil! from Amazon

Inglourious Basterds is not a World War II movie made by Quentin Tarantino, it rather is a Quentin Tarantino movie taking place in a World War II era that has all the comic book charms in the galaxy to it. Quentin has a masterful understanding of comic book character handling and related dialog development, but, to be honest, he usually has little more than that to offer which is the most fruitful trait of this delivery, yet ends up as its necessary constraint as well, since Quentin satisfies with delivering Ultimate Badassness, failing to notice the moment by which he already told everything worth to be told about it.

Other than that, the movie really has no actual shortcomings. It is crystal-solid, crystal-clear comic book cinema that Quentin made for himself to entertain himself, primarily. I find nothing wrong with that. A beautiful cinematic accomplishment with a narrative language which, as hinted, gives you all worth to be given on the semi-superhero comic book register, almost inviting you, mocking you to realize that there is one and only ONE character in the entire film and that is: The Badass.

Not just a random Badass. The Ultimate Badass. In Quentin Tarantino's mind, dialog has no other narrative channel to flow through than fluffing a character's ego twice as big as her/his verbal challenger succeeded doing that one sentence earlier. Everyone has a set of carefully researched, total brutal oneliners begging to be delivered, in fact, one has the impression that Quentin makes his movies in order to be able to deliver his most recent-, total brutal oneliners.

But, at the end of the day, - and during all that, mind you - you see the exact same character in every one of them, in case you were wondering, it is: The Badass. Tarantino's Badass archetype puts on precisely drawn cartoon masks you call mannerisms, expressing their harshly limited, though entertaining dimensions from the exact same-, yet sadly separate THC private-Universe as the others inhabit. Connections in these separate private Universes are happening through carefully staged acts of fragile causality. In other words: if you are Tarantino and you are about to deliver a five minute "dialogmonologue", first you showcase how Badass your character is - because this is the only character you have a concept of, remember? - then, when you managed to draw your Badass character, you will be busy returning to the plot by finally putting two sentences into her/his mouth that has relevance to the plot.

These weed-driven self-declarations of individual awesomeness are of focal importance in this movie, which, ultimately, is a firm Tarantino delivery with elegant plot twists and purified WW2 novelty vibes to it. The movie has no particular, rigorous seriousness, yet, fortunately recognizes that it does not even have any need for those to be a film worth scrutinizing.

- end of post, but you can click Read more! if you want to see something -

WTF?!

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Deluded Beggars of Delicate Invitations

2009-12-14T23:42:00.000-08:00

There are superfools on the Internet, forming actual begging walls of worthless desires, with each individual whining for an invite for a specific site. I find this level of stupidity highly amusing. I found this at occult.biz for example. By the moment I checked, it was an invite only site. What is the next thing you do? Surely, you Google "occult.biz invite" with the hope that you will find information of what other people confronted with in your situation. And you will reach brief blog posts with dozens and dozens of random people and random gurus moaning in the comments about their respective pressing need of getting an invite to occult.biz as soon as possible, because they have utterly relevant information to share with the community of that prestigious site.

Naaaaah, they do not want to DOWNLOAD anything, noooo, they want to GIVE. Even better, some of these beggars are generous enough to project the promises of serious earthy blessings for you if you will send an invite for them. Imagine the powers of the Mega Guru of Unlimited and Highly Illegal Effectiveness who reigns in the position of being able to bless you thoroughly, but lacks the power to manifest a bloody occult.biz invite for herself/himself. What magnificent superfools. Superidiots, no doubt.

Now my question for you is this: How do you identify an individual not worth to be invited to a prestigious site at all?

Easy:

That is the individual who whines publicly for an invite, thinking that her/his pressing needs have relevance for anyone else other than her/him. No, it has NOT, I assure you. As of the time of your devoted whining of subzero dignity and even less common sense, you are obviously not a member's friend, you are not a God and you certainly are not Louise Brooks. So why would anyone care? Nobody cares about your whining, sissy. Nobody. And this is the reason you whine, I'm afraid.

Whining will never get you such a precious commodity, because whining is for free, which is just fine, juuuust fine. Whining should be IT. I mean whining IS what should be free. When everyday average normal- and everyday average insane reality assumes that you have SOMETHING to do at that site, you WILL have your ACCESS to it. Now you fulfill an entire different function and this is: being a laugh and being a sear of it. Lady, Sir, I feel sorry for you. By the way, can someone please send me an invite to occult.biz?????????? Me has valubl infromration to tellyu, yse!!!! Almsot frogot, sned ti to zoltangyalog@gmail.com!!!!!!!!!!

- end of post, but you can click Read more! if you want to see something -

WTF?!

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UFC 107 BJ Penn VS Diego Sanchez review

2009-12-13T17:56:00.000-08:00

now with gif animations

- BJ Penn VS Diego Sanchez

- Frank Mir VS Cheick Kongo

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reached its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 107 - BJ Penn VS Diego Sanchez.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 107 marks the return of the Little Buddha BJ Penn, who once again emerges to render a title defense, this time against Diego "Yes Man" Sanchez, of who I would dare not resonate two lousy attempts at a joke in the same sentence. So, we shall be content with this solo one of those. BJ Penn, as Dana White states, finally fights for the one and only reason worth fighting for: to establish a Legacy. Not an easy task to do with The Nightmare on your t(r)ail, as this is the nickname Sanchez brings to the table, let alone his truly exceptional mindset which resonates a supersolid conviction - redundancy? - of a personal destiny - AGAIN?! - that naturally and necessarily concerns true greatness as an mma fighter. What better way is there to evidentiate the legitimacy of this stance than to confront The Little Buddha? BJ Penn states that he is ready for a war and that he will meet Diego at the center of the Octagon. Sanchez is indeed notorious of dictating super-furious pace, even states that the more energy he uses up, the more energy he gets. Let's just hope that the spontaneous singularity that the two are likely to create will leave nearby satellites intact, so we will have the chance to witness this spectacle as it unfolds.

Frank Mir comes back with an agenda, and this agenda is to bestow a scar IN, and not ON Brock Lesnar, in order to damage his spirit. He wants to hand Brock the hurt real bad so-, even soooo bad, that this freshly cultivated drive invites Mir to clearly admit that he never felt a similar urge to devastate a particular rival before. I am a huge fan of both current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, yet, according to my impressions, it is Lesnar who scarred Frank's spirit by pummeling him through 32423849723984 random cosmoses and then some, so now Mir seeks unification of suffering via handing back the pain Brock unleashed on him as result of his ruthless command.

Unfortunately, as of the moment of this here review, Brock is ill and millions of fans channel positive energies with hopes of him getting better and return to the proving ground as soon as safe and possible. Either way, a more motivated than ever Frank Mir eyes the possibility to confront Lesnar once more, and I'm telling you that this Mir indeed has a sinister quality in him which is a truly precious spectacle to greet in the world of mixed martial arts. All my respect goes for the makers of the Countdown to UFC 107 show, as they rendered exquisitely nice tints of Mir's demonic aspect. Check out this GIF animation of it.

< - Frank Mir offering a glimpse on The Animal. But. The match we are about to see tonight does not concern a third collision between Brock and Frank, no. Today Mir steps up against the French Colossus with the masterfully crafted, not particularly casual Demigod proportions. Cheick Kongo comes to prove himself after his loss against considerable prospect Cain Velasquez, and he is fired up frighteningly, as his fire is calm with a promise of turning into a carnage once the doors of the cage are sealed. Cheick is utterly unimpressed by Mir's words on the Countdown show, and, thanks to the French giant of superhumanic comic book anatomy, we had the memorable chance of seeing the most unorthodox press conference-staredown so far, as Kongo refused to give the eye for Mir, he turned his back on him instead. Let us see if this is the strategy The Colossus is about to follow during the match, as well. As for Frank Mir's intentions, he promises utter and complete destruction, which he should indeed deliver if to claim the right to face the reigning Champion Brock "The Beast" Lesnar a third time. And, the funny bit Mir finds in his intentions, is this: he will bestow this scar on Kongo only to make Brock afraid. Wow, and a doublewow. WOwow. Let's just say that these are two epitomes of ambition right away. There is yet another nice delicacy to unravel tonight, as Kenny "KenFlo" Florian - who really should change his nick to Sorrowful Samurai, believe you me it would earn him 1 000 000 additional fans right away - steps up against totally and completely legit wildman Clay Guida. Paul Buentello VS Stephan Struve In the first period of this Veteran VS Young Blood collision, benevolent cloud beholder Stephan Struve dictates solid ground control on his opponent, having though pronounced difficulties at improving his positions in a way to present evident danger to the Headhunter. The Octagon-concerns of Struve are magnified in the second round, in which a standup oriented fightflow reveals considerable resistance-potential possessed and expressed by his Veteran opponent. The match has its highly memorable peak moments in this round, as Buentello manages to put a stop against the Incoming Skyscrapers Struve manifests himself as in the Octagon. A well defined counter-righthand connects on the young Dutch who is fond of throwing flying knees around, paying a steep price for one of these attempts though, check the GIF animation.

A furious exchange of particular passion is of further note herein. Pure, elegant fighting spirit is mutually cultivated, summoned and delivered by these sound warriors via this central, core sequence of the match. The third and final round holds no particular beauty or efficiency for us in store, though Struve throws some leg kicks of the highly secretive and illegal "Askificare" fighting style. A decision victory goes for the Dutch prospect. A decent match with a bunch of good vibes and neat moments, and the fact that the fighters become massively exhausted for the final round, is a result of their mutual, continuous intent of bringing the fight to a radical conclusion without the need to ask the Judges. Struve is humble in victory, expresses that he feels as if the match could have been scored as a draw instead.

Kenny Florian VS Clay Guida

In my opinion, Sorrowful Samurai Kenny Florian does an elegant and effective job at shaping reality exactly as he promised he would: he uses Guida's aggression and directs it against Clay himself. It is not long into the first round when Florian manages to cut Guida's head with one of his notorious elbows, - meaning Florian's, of course - and, in the second round, it is a Guida with a seemingly decreased amount of efficiency who answers the bell.

Florian demonstrates rock solid maturity and a highly tactical gameplay, denying all control of the match from his opponent of notorious fervency. Then, when Clay is about to explode in order to state a highlight reel action of UFC History, he simply: succeeds at that masterfully and here is the GIF animation of it. You see - result is everything, though result forms where you stop at. Kenny Florian clearly outclasses Guida in this collision and administers the Rear Naked Choke, since, does not matter how devotedly you look, you are not likely to find a nanosecond during this match in which Guida exhibits control of the action.

- Hey Clay, where should I send your soul to?
- Nah, keep it for a while!

Frank Mir VS Cheick Kongo

Frank Mir makes the statement he has promised to make and you do not need to wait for more than a minute and some seconds to greet every nuances of this statement as a permanent retina stigma. Connecting with a huge left coming out of nowhere, Mir sends Kongo to the ground and chokes him unconscious through the follow up sequence, greeting the Colossus with nothing but delicate mercilessness administered on professional level. At the end up the bout Congo fortunately recovers, and, according to the commentators, the two do embrace, which is nice to know, but, in my opinion, not showing it was the kind of mistake you do not commit three of in a sober world - not to mention in a mad one. Mir crushes Kongo via quick, efficient, elegant violence, then respectfully expresses his primal motivational force and desire to face Brock Lesnar for a third time.

BJ Penn VS Diego sanchez

The Little Buddha dominates via sheer control and stone cold sobriety, having but fun and having lot of it while in the Octagon with the Nightmare, whom the Defendant negates without risks in all areas of the game.

Diego is unable to offer relevant resistance during this collision, one which invites its participants to deep water, thus the Challenger is forced to take the position of intensely Hunted as opposed to render himself as the Hunter, which is of minimal requirement if to deprive a Champion of the title.

Sanchez finds little if any success at connecting on Penn, while he is getting more and more battered as the fight progresses on. Diego's assets of relevance are constrained to his surviving abilities and his trademark left legkick of radical stopping power, supported by a relentless urge to take BJ to the ground. Penn though blocks pretty much all these kicks and remains consistent aggressor, seemingly consuming a relevant part of Diego's conviction of being able to turn the flow of this match.

In the final round, BJ turns the heat on, opening a huge gash on Diego's forehead via colliding the surface in question with that of The Little Buddha's shinbone. The results of this are highly effective, let alone the relentless onslaught Penn follows up to seal his verdict with. Referee Herb Dean steps in in order to ask for the Doctor's opinion, whom gives the Stoppage without any hesitation.

Diego Sanchez deserves all respect for being able to remain in this fight for this long, yet, it remains interesting to see who could pose a threat against BJ Penn, as the reigning Champion indeed performed today on a much more subtle vibration level than Diego and the vast majority of other fighters currently have access for.

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UFC 106 Ortiz VS Griffin 2 review

2009-11-22T07:15:00.001-08:00

now with gif animations

- Tito Ortiz VS Forrest Griffin

- Josh Koscheck VS Anthony Johnson

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reached its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 106 - Ortiz VS Griffin 2.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 106 marks the return of the Huntington Beach Bad Boy, as former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz comes back to the Octagon, leaving casual gallons of highly irrelevant bad blood between UFC President Dana White and him behind, so these metaphoric constructions of spoiled marketing elements and ultraviolent stylistic abuse can safely be-, AND remain what they are, namely, remnants of some massively flawed hive-memory cultivated in but the deepest bowels of cosmic amnesia, as it truly is of no further relevance if Tito Ortiz and Dana White have sported actual hatred towards each other or not.

What is important, is that The Ortiz is back, and, more importantly: The Ortiz is back with a NEW back and he surely does bring a rigorously crafted spirit and body to the table. To be honest with you, I wanted to express in this introductory section that I demand the right to be immensely, even: emencely bored by Tito and his fighting style, but I came to the conclusion that it would be an utterly degenerate and prejudiced thing to say before observing his current performance - and, to top it all off, THIS Tito, in my perception, shows a degree of inner maturity which he did not seem to possess so far. Tito Ortiz managed to start off with a blank page in my book - I can imagine his tremendous relief regarding this fruitful fact - and I am utterly curious of what he has to offer for the man who summarizes himself as follows:

I can be beaten, but I can not be broken.
- Forrest Griffin.

The frightening part about Griffin is this: I believe him. Tito will face off against him for a second time, though Forrest comes back to the proving ground following a devastating, I mean - deeeevastating loss against Anderson Silva. How can a loss be devastating? Easy: if the one you fight against did not start to fight yet, and have beaten you anyway. This is what happened to Forrest in the Anderson fight, but, as Dana White quite sanely points out, that match revolved around how good Silva really is and not about how Forrest have lost that collision. Silva played, Forrest fought. Playfulness likes flexibility. Let us remind ourselves of these classic retina stigma, here is how Anderson "The Spider" Silva lured Forrest into his spider web via 111% playfulness and related, radical form of beautiful fun:

Through scientific observation, notice this: Anderson "The Spider" Silva PLAYS here, he is NOT in a fight yet. This exceptional ability of transmitting the radical beauty of fighting via the playful declaration of current-, evident superiority as an artist of deconstruction, is nothing less than larger than life drama which is a true privilege to see. This is why Forrest Griffin could not FIGHT Anderson Silva that day, in my opinion. Because Forrest wanted to fight. And Silva showed him that Forrest was not quite ready yet to FIGHT against him. So he played with him instead and knocked him out in the process. Now for the event at hand, since, Forrest states that the event perpetuated on this awe defining gif animation, have made him to be more motivated than ever, and, as a fan of Forrest Griffin, I truly look forward to see if it really is so. Putting Ortiz against Griffin for a second time is a continuation that seems to be the epitome of a promise with infinitely elegant curves to it, and I will express why. Or at least make an attempt at that.

Forrest and Tito have fought before already, delivering a great collision with some relatively well placed-, intact Tito antics in it, as he refused to give Forrest respect by not touching gloves at the beginning of the bout and some similar affairs. Despite an especially strong start and the related-, vicious ground and pound sequence by Ortiz, Griffin remained in the fight and managed to give a solid challenge to The Huntington Beach Bad Boy throughout the second and third round, yet The Ortiz walked away with a decision victory. As further conclusion, Tito gave respect for Griffin, who deserves all of that and then some for stepping up against Top Dog Tito and being a totally relevant threat in the match. Now the two Collide Again, and, fortunately enough: both men have something to prove. Especially:

Themselves.

Phil Baroni VS Amir Sadollah

Phil Baroni is a prestigious notability of the sport, as the former, friendly bodybuilder indeed is around since the dawn of mixed martial arts. Baroni has all my respect and related awe for defining-, and presenting what a Man's Confidence Truly is, as The New York Badass does not seem to be particularly influenced by temporary nuances like getting his ass beat to death and beyond from time to time. The point is that no one beats the New York Badass, because he can not be beaten.

Baroni starts out passionately and efficiently, manages to keep this pace up for like 45 seconds, and then becomes an embarrassment to watch against Ultimate Fighter winner, talented prospect Amir Sadollah. Then, it is even better: he becomes an embarrassment to have your fun of. This Mike Goldberg comment is fantastic:

"Now Baroni shows us how tough he is!"

Yes, indeed. Baroni came here to be beaten to a piteous pulp of random shades of pink and red. The New York Badass started out as a friendly bodybuilder, you can see videos of him at YouTube. What have happened to the guy that made such a seemingly evident demeanor change in him, is beyond me. The New York Badass also has one of the most vicious knockouts EVER, which I will make a gif animation of as soon as we see the man winning a fight again.

As of this moment, Baroni is not a top level mma fighter. Once again, for good measure, and he does not know my address, anyway: As of this moment, Baroni is not a top level mma fighter.

He is a lazy gun for rent, ready to getting beat for lucky money. This is not so bad of a deal, if you think about it. As a former Legend, you go in there, you get your ass kicked around a bit and walk away with the excuse plan intact, corrupting your innermost self with probably ridiculous lamentations about how ultimately tremendous the promise in you is. Is Baroni special? Abso!BEEP!BEEP!lutely! Two or three losses like this and he will be one of the most special fighters of all time, believe you me!

As result of some surreal decision, and/or, probably as result of a random meeting with Dana White, Baroni came back to the UFC and he performed as I feared he would: got beat utterly in every area of the game I am able to exhibit suspected awareness of, yet he got enough funds in return to have some quality time to spend before coming back to the proving ground so he could be beaten to a piteous pile of random shades of pink and red again for yet another chunk of lazily-fought-for blood money. I have no intention to show disrespect to this man, quite the contrary. But, seriously: with a record of 13-12, one should invest some energy into massive soulseeking, no? Maybe something useful would come up. Anyway, here are some more gif animations of Baroni getting his ass piteously handed to him by prospect Amir Sadollah:

Can you spot the Leg Kick?

Phil Baroni is generous enough to demonstrate a 0.5 dimensional gameplan, entirely gravitating around a hope of vague vanity, a hope invented of shallow luck and similar affairs of fragile relevancy. The nature of this hope is constant and its name is pure persistency, indeed. This is the Inspiration. This is the Inner Voice. This is the Assuring Recognition Baroni cultivates, telling him-, promising him that 1 out of the 50 punch attempts he is eligible for per match at average - MIGHT actually connect! It is all it takes! ONE punch, Phil! Some day, who knows - some day you may score that punch, Phil! Also notice that Phil Baroni is kind enough to let Amir Sadollah kick his leg, so he - Baroni - can show his rival - and to YOU, of course - how tough he really is. Very! He is very tough! He is Badass! He is here to make a Statement, and the Statement is this:

I'm Badass!

My conscience asks me why am I trying to make fun of Phil Baroni? And my reply is: it is Phil Baroni who is making fun of himself. I remain ready to see a Phil Baroni with a more serious approach to fighting.

Minotouro Nougeira VS Luiz Cane

Monitauro's twin brother, Minotouro makes his UFC debut against fellow Brazilian Luiz Cane. Little Nog performs spectacularly tonight, negating, then conquering the threat presented by his rival of versatile talents. Here is a gif animation on this explicit knockout delivery, radically resonated in the first round:

Ben Saunders Vs Marcus Davis

Saunders is quick and efficient to forge layered benefits of his taller frame and longer reach, expressing these attributes throughout precise attacks administered from the clinch. Though Davis' aggressive style is a successful line of defense on its own sometimes, tonight The Irish Handgrenade finds himself overwhelmed by the accurately executed offensive offerings utilized by Saunders. Being cut up early in the match, Davis is squeezed to the fence from the clinch and the Knee of Final Verdict connects on the veteran's jaw. The match is pretty much all Ben Saunders, finding constantly relevant success with knees of which this one proves to be solid enough to seal the W for the up and coming prospect.

Josh Koscheck VS Anthony Johnson

A standup war with a balanced feel to it, in which both contestants show bold readiness to engage. Johnson seems to gain the momentary upper hand by rocking his opponent, yet a wounded Koscheck answers with a relentless urge to invite the rival to the ground. This is where half of the story of this collision ensues, as Johnson abuses Octagon rules by landing an illegal knee on a downed opponent, putting a pause to the contest. Fortunately, following a recovery period of weighty minutes of doubtful desperation, Koscheck is able to continue, then it is him performing inadvertent acts of illegality via two pokes in the eye - the second one seems quite harsh, and, with considerable relief one witnesses that Johnson himself is able to recover, as well.

The second round shows similarly passionate characteristics as the first period did, yet, Koscheck is even more successive in his attempts to score a takedown, this time in the vicinity of the fence. This talented wrestler has an outstanding background as a wrestler, thus it is of little surprise to the everyday average mma chairmolester that Koscheck manages to keep Johnson constrained to the ground via strict body control and efficient ground and pound fun. After softening the talented knockout prospect up a bit, Josh is able to sink the hooks in and force a tapout out of Anthony via a rear naked choke coming to lethal life via masterful realization of textbook efficiency. He did not sink the second arm in - but this fact, in my opinion, adds to the rampant relevancy of the maneuver as opposed of taking away from it.

Tito Ortiz VS Forrest Griffin

Tito looks monstrous with his ability to command Forrest to the ground whenever he seeks to do so. This initial efficiency is significantly decreased later on by a more alert Griffin who has the opportunity to experience the not too bright - meaning: dark - aspect of De Ja Vu, as he finds himself with Ortiz on top of him on numerous occasions, with this reinvented mma Legend looking to repeat history via the persistent ground and pound delivery he is prime administer of. Forrest seems to have much more developed defensive lines than he had in the first meeting, though.

Griffin prefers to stuck to the standup game, finding relevant success with his trademark legkicks and some seemingly sloppily placed-, not too strong punches, though the more complex attacks he tries to introduce, do not remain unanswered. As a continuation of a balanced collision taking place on the feet, the second round ultimately is characterized by yet another impressive Tito takedown.

The Huntington Beach Bad Boy rains down almost-proper hell from up above, cutting Forrest's head via elbows and abusing him on the ground for a pretty prolonged amount of time. A time long enough to make Griffin look quite stuck in a situation he definitely does not want to be stuck in.

Does Forrest come to the third round with rampancy, or does Tito come to the third round exhaustedly? I tend to think that Griffin remains consistent in the final sequence and succeeds decently at delivering the performance level he offered in the previous two rounds. Ortiz, on the other hand, seems to be pretty passive in the third-, and final sequence of conclusion. He eats in a whole lot of strikes and kicks and fails to answer in a convincing fashion. One must wonder though if Forrest Griffin has punching power at all, since he landed all the punches in the world and then some and Ortiz was not noticeably affected by those. A split decision victory goes for Forrest, who expresses his honest wish to make the collision between Tito and him a Trilogy. My interest in a third bout between the two is limited for the time being.

Infinity Combo by The Tito Ortiz:

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UFC 105 Couture VS Vera review

2009-11-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

now with awe defining gif animations

- Randy Couture VS Brandon Vera

- Michael Bisping VS Denis Kang

- Dan Hardy VS Michael Swick

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reached its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 105 - Couture VS Vera.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 105 invites mma institution Randy Couture to showcase his skills against Brandon Vera. The Natural - who has a particular sentence to resonate for every question he is confronted with and this sentence is this: "I think I am the best fighter I have ever been so far" - comes back to the Octagon after suffering two losses against top tier opposition. He gave the best challenges to Brock Lesnar so far, yet, in my opinion he looked pretty shallow against Minotauro Nougeira. Criticizing Couture's age is getting older than the man itself is though and The Natural silenced those critics on numerous occasions already, yet everyone knows that he will never be able to do that for good, because it is the nature of the sport to question The Natural. And he likes to be questioned, too, as this is the mere condition his love of competition forms fuel from. Randy Couture is about to collide with Brandon Vera, evident-, but not necessarily justified underdog of the bout. Couture needs a spectacular win to evidentiate the legitimacy of his action of moving down a weight class, while Vera truly needs nothing "much more" to do than to hand Couture a loss, as beating Legends is what make you one in the sport.

Michael "The Count" Bisping rebounds, following his epic loss against Dan Henderson. UFC 105 is coming to you from Manchester, so there are chances that the audience will take the place apart if Bisping loses - especially so if he wins. Charismatic Bisping faces off against solid mma presence Denis Kang, who already is a well established mma force as result of the impressive wins he delivered in Asia, primarily. Many do say that a loss shows more of who the fighter really is than a win does. The particular performance following a devastating defeat is absolutely crucial. This is Bisping's first "after-the-first-decent-loss" fight, and, as such, the collision enjoys pretty much unified attention.

Hard and rather passionate hitter Dan Hardy puts everything on the line against Michael Swick, who - Swick - thinks of himself as a fighter that deserves this win more than Hardy. It is easy to underestimate Hardy as he would be little more than a random idiot/bully on a punk concert, but truth is that his game is getting quite mature and what you see in his eyes is not what you see in those of the random idiot/bully at the punk concert. It should be another interesting match and it also worth mentioning that the fighter walking away with the W is likely to step up against UFC Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre.

Ross Pearson VS Aaron Riley

Ultimate Fighter winner Ross Pearson takes apart veteran Aaron Riley in this impressive display of surprisingly steep technical dominance, one which forces out a doctor stoppage in the second round, courtesy of the doctor, offering his opinion on the cut on Riley's face, all this invitation courtesy of the Referee. Here is a gif animation of Pearson evading a dangerous high kick with ease and related, lazy elegance:

And here is the flying knee that crushed the nose of the mma veteran, resulting in a doctor stoppage:

Matt Brown VS James Wilks

Former Ultimate Fighter contestants in the Octagon. Matt Brown is quick and efficient at taking the role of the aggressor, luring Wilks into territories the Brit needs to survive on. Though Brown ascends as evident aggressor even in the second round, - check this gif animation of a flying knee he connects with -

Wilks remains in the fight and exhibits relative efficiency, despite being notably dazed by The Immortal. The conclusion of the second round saves Wilks from a triangle wrapped around his neck, yet The Brit comes back with a strong and efficient willingness to deliver colorful submission attempts of his own in the third and final round. These fail to come to fruition though, as Brown manages to muscle himself out from a kimura attempt, fueled with the imminent intention of pounding out a stoppage on the Brit. Following a full mount, he accomplishes this via ground and pound and here is the gif animation of it:

Michael Bisping VS Denis Kang

Kang greets Bisping with a right hand that sends the Brit hometown favorite to the canvas, yet The Count demonstrates a very involved level of the ground game against the black belt jiu-jitsu practitioner, who is, naturally enough, is swift to engage Bisping on the ground, looking for any accepted means necessary to emerge victorious. Here is a nice moment performed by Bisping. Notice how he uses his hips to escape from the initial position in which Kang enjoys side control. At the end of this amazing gif animation, you will see that The Count finds himself in full guard. Now, for the gif animation:

Also notice the gif animation below, which, as result of editing the flow of recorded time, displays the right hand that rocked the Brit, and, of which The Count had no recollection of after the round. Also notice Kang's attempt to connect with an air to ground missile. Plan: solid, realization: piteous. Take heed and bear witness on how the mma veteran falls on Bisping, losing all the momentum required to call the action a proper attack.

In the second period, a cautious Bisping decides to feel out the opposition in order to score a takedown. The Count finds great success at deconstructing the grounded rival, who is unable to invite Bisping to close quarters jiu-jitsu this time. The Brit maintains the role of air-to-ground molester, sticking to this method even after Kang manages to escape and invite Bisping to the standup. As hinted, The Count succeeds at pulling off yet another takedown, this one is even more beautifully executed than the first was. Bisping effectively takes the defense of Kang apart as the round is closing to its end, therefore the Referee puts a well decided stop to the contest by the moment Kang is being harmed beyond necessity. Bisping came back and he came back hard, rendering a tremendous performance when he needed it the most, and, fortunately, he accomplished this against an opponent of relevance, not against a random chunk of animated meat. Here is a gif animation on how Bisping owned Kang tonight.

Above: Bisping giving the hurtrealbad.

Dan Hardy VS Mike Swick

When engaged, Hardy is quick to greet Swick with a solid left counter punch, inviting Mike to have a go at a takedown attempt instead. The story of the round revolves around Swick's relentless-, yet virtually wasted effort to command Hardy to the ground. In the opening round, Swick is coming short in the striking game as well, as Hardy administers more damage via more accurate connections, even better/worse: the round itself comes to a conclusion with the local favorite landing some rather solid shots on a Swick who shows good aggressiveness, yet finds nothing but punishment as reward. In the second period, Hardy rocks Swick with a highly successful combo formed out of two elegant strikes, of which I deliver a gif animation with ruthless efficiency. Here it is:

Though wobbly, Swick is granted the chance of grateful recovery as result of Hardy's puzzling eagerness to take The Quick to the ground as opposed of punching/kicking the casual sobriety out from the talented American for the sake of a memorable (?!) moment or two. Pronounced and prolonged clinch sequence at the fence to follow up, in which Hardy finds success at delivering relatively limited amount of punishment, except for the decent body shots he lands on the opposition. The Referee eventually breaks them apart and the round has a chance of concluding itself with the fighters striking it out on their - respective - feet. Swick finds more success in this sequence, performing elegant and precise counter strikes when Hardy is about to engage him via sheer-, skillfully directed aggression. Skillfully, yet, this time, not efficiently directed aggression.

The third and final round invites hands to ignite. Swick shows increased amount of initial willingness to engage his rival on the feet, yet he is about to pay for it in this final round, as Hardy manages to daze The Quick once again. Following some nice and precise shots to soften The Quick up a bit, Hardy finds himself in the clinch of his rival and remains content with it - accepting the invitation to the close quarters onslaught. This time, Hardy manages to take down Swick by lifting him up into the air, then, some brief-, yet successful ground and pound work ensues, in which Swick gets a cut on the side of the head, which was not present before the match, by the way. Since no action of subsequent relevancy is occurring, the Referee commands the contestants to stand up, thus this memorable collision finds its conclusion with its participants battling out the remaining seconds on the feet. A well deserved decision victory goes for Dan Hardy, who will be the first Brit to step up against current UFC Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre, who is in attendance tonight. He expresses his admiration towards Hardy's current performance and states that he will be ready-, and honored to defend his belt against Dan. As for Mike Swick, who thought he should be able to win against Dan Hardy easily: I thought that, too. That makes AT LEAST two of us. A tremendous victory for Hardy for a tremendous performance.

Randy Couture VS Brandon Vera

Randy Couture is notorious of being able to force his gameplan on the opposition. Now the gameplan is to muscle Vera up to the fence and push him into it, looking for the takedown while at that. The largest chunk of the story of this match revolves around this particular intention exhibited by The Natural. The other parts of relevance are praising Vera's standup skills, that which with the Philippine manages to punish Couture up to the point of a knockdown, courtesy of a nice body kick, followed up by a solid flying knee to the body that forces Couture to escape desperately from his momentary position. Randy does not break though, manages to regain his composure each time he is subjected to danger, and, remains capable to enforce his clinching ways and will in the Octagon. Notice nevertheless this nice action by Brandon "The Truth" Vera:

This was Vera's big chance of stopping the Legend, in my opinion, yet he came short in the ground and pound department. A couple of decent bombs instead of these friendly caresses might have had done the work. If it is up to Randy though, The Hall of Famer satisfies with being able to push Vera into the fence all night long, looking for the takedown without remorse, failing utterly at finding it. Vera lands some accidental punches of piteously limited convince power from the clinch while being pressed against the fence, but the talented Philippine shows no cunningness to improve on his position dramatically with the Legend on him. Ironically enough, late into the match it is Vera who takes Couture down, but, by that time, each fighter is exhausted beyond mercy and truly keeps on fighting as result of the momentary approval granted by some mysterious hidden force of the universe, and you truly wish that the match would reach the end.

Since Randy dictated strict control of the Octagon and forced the game he wanted to play while Vera failed at doing that, The Natural goes home with a W. Brandon's actions of true relevance are the effective midsection molestations and a bitterly accomplished takedown, but, apart from these solid accomplishments, the story of the fight was Couture's control of the positions, and, as such: his control of the match. The Truth tastes a whole new level of disappointment. This match, in my opinion, was not about who won it, it was about who have lost it. I expected a little more, cite that I, herein: a LITTLE more form both men. Not much more, but a little more. I expected Couture to be able to state a Final Verdict of Radical Stopping Power once muscled his rival to do his bidding via keeping him at the fence seemingly at will, while I expected Brandon Vera to be able to offer relevant resistance once Randy pushed him to the side of the cage for such prolonged sequences of time. By the way, this gif animation shows you The Unspeakable:

A match with mild-, yet characteristic entertainment value to it, as Couture was super-fervent at closing the distance whenever he had the chance, but he managed to deliver a solid challenge for Vera even when the two were boxing it out on the feet. These sequences may seem as non-existent though, simply because the majority of the fight is about Couture muscling Vera around, controlling the position and negating all offenses The Truth may have in mind. From a certain point of view, the Natural's intent to seal a victory with minimal risks taken, is understandable, as he sure would have been looked like yesterday's attraction if to lose a third consecutive time. This match though, regardless of who have won and who have lost it, does not cast the most fruitful light on its participants, in my opinion. You are of course free-, even encouraged to oppose this view and state your own via leaving a nice comment or two. It is all good, all good.

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Strikeforce & M1 Global: Fedor VS Rogers

2009-11-08T09:25:00.001-08:00

now with gif animations

- Fedor Emelianenko VS Brett Rogers

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reached its conclusion.

This is a review of the mma event Strikeforce & M1 Global: Fedor VS Rogers

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

As result of the UFC's recent inability to get its hands on the tremendous attraction factor represented by Fedor Emelianenko, the enigmatic Russian mixed martial artist finds himself in the position of fulfilling his contract with M1 Global - an organization he is shareholder of - by rendering the three matches he has commitment for under the label. The first of these three collisions is co-promoted with Strikeforce, putting the Last Emperor against Strikeforce notability-, unbeaten knockout artist Brett Rogers, who scored quite an upset when he stopped Andrei Arlovski by knockout, short after Fedor Emelianenko did the same thing to the same man. Not on the same night though, which probably is a fruity turn of events for the Belarusian mma veteran.

Brett Rogers thinks he has a solid chance of stopping the man who is widely regarded as the absolute best the sport has seen so far, though it is worth mentioning that Fedor himself does not think of himself as a complete fighter, let alone as the best there is. What can we anticipate? We can anticipate what we dare to.

Fabrizio Werdum VS Antonio Silva

(Unfortunate) Strikeforce acquirement Fabrizio Werdum (unfortunately) manages to take this match to (an unfortunate) decision, regardless of the good old fashioned beating that gets unleashed upon him in the first round, and, in certain portions of the second. Werdum deserves solid credit for not getting too excited and desperate-, and, for being able to turn this match around by exhibiting convincing cage presence in the third-and-final round. His ability to offer significant resistance power when in the direst of moments, is also of note. Silva is hanging in there by the third round, though with a pretty much empty gas tank. Big Foot loses a decision in a bout he was initial-, successful aggressor of, thus Fabrizio "Boooring" Werdum gets another victory to his record. I start to get impatient regarding my anticipation factor about seeing this - in my opinion - highly overrated fighter being eaten alive by a random cosmic horror from outer space. Joking, of course. I would be content if I were to see Werdum compete against top level opposition, against which he would be utterly crushed, in my current opinion. Nothing against Werdum - except he currently is boring to watch and his style lacks all forms of beauty I am able to pick up on.

Gegard Mousasi VS Sokoudjou

Sokoudjou looks quite efficient in the first round, managing to turn down the volume knob of the cage confidence Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Gegard Mousasi handles himself with on the proving ground. A talent of steep and solid promises, no doubt, Mousasi finds the antidote against The African Assassin in the second round, ground and pounding a stoppage on him, as result of negating the defenses of the talented Judo practitioner. Observation: Sokoudjou seems to find relatively scare success in top level mixed martial arts.

Jake Shields VS Jason Miller

In this match of bitterly/lazily/miserably balanced canvas molestation, Jake Shields wins a decision victory to gain the Champions' Belt of I Can't Be Bothered to Look Up Which Division. Not a match to please the crowd, but it sure was suitable at giving you the time of preparing yourself for the main event of the evening: Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko VS Brett "The Grim" Rogers.

Fedor Emelianenko VS Brett Rogers

In the very first exchange, Rogers lands a shot that cuts the nose of Fedor, forcing the Last Emperor to breath through the mouth. This act - the breathing through the mouth - always delivers the impression that the one with the damaged nose is exhausted and it is the same with the Last Emperor. Fedor though remains patient in the clinch the two end up in, landing a solid left hook midway in the first round, a strike that invites The Grim to territories he was scarcely seen it so far: the territories of desperate defense. One must admit, Rogers seemed pretty efficient at absorbing punishment. When the two end up on the ground, - courtesy of the subsequent maneuvers The Last Emperor coats his impressive left hook into - Rogers seems to be more competent on the ground than consensus regarded him to be. He defends a kimura attempt from - naturally - Fedor, and finds success at landing some solid shots on his opponent of enigmatic stature, just in time Fedor seems to invite him to a little more less intense period for the time being.

The Last Emperor is quick and efficient at improving on his position before consecutive shots would connect. An armbar attempt from Fedor is about to say hello for fruition, yet the stand up period finds an exhausted Rogers. Since Brett does not show too much eagerness to stand up, Fedor engages him on the ground. In the ensuing - logically - ground game, Fedor goes for another submission attempt, then tries something spectacular, releasing an air to ground missile from above, which Rogers JUST defends. Let's hack reality though and let us scrutinize moments of action packed efficiency, performed by The Grim. Here are the solid ground and pound shots Rogers greeted Fedor with:

The second round witnesses a more aggressive Fedor, finding success at introducing Russian Polar Bear ethics to The Grim, who, one must admit, proves to be quite efficient at withstanding the blows, though shows minimal success at not being emotionally affected by the reigning bombs he was subjected to. Here is the gif animation on how this nice sequence went down:

The fight remains faithful to the idea of the clinch, up to the point from which Rogers shows readiness to cultivate the stand-up with the engaging process included. He backpedals, getting himself ready to encounter The Last Emperor, who is about to state his radical verdict on The Grim and here is how it went down:

Fedor reigns supreme, Brett Rogers tastes defeat for the first time and it is obvious that he is not liking it. What other challenge the Strikeforce organization will deliver to Fedor Emelianenko via the two subsequent matches The Last Emperor has his current contract for - remains to be seen. There are rumors about Dan Henderson joining the Strikeforce roster in the near future. Fedor VS Henderson? That would be a good pick, no doubt.

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Psychomotor Agitation

2009-11-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

an anagram poem

Hot poison to arty magic,
Hot gas to poor intimacy,
I'm a hog atrocity on spot,
Omit to-, as agonic trophy.

Piracy shooting to atom,
Atrocity's amigo photon,
Toying to ram sociopath,
To agony, to historic map.

Gotcha! Soap to minority!
I'm gory sociopath to ant.
Ciao!, grotty, smooth pain!
I'm a copy, soothing to rat.

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Health Benefits of Drinking Green Tea

2009-11-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

an anagram poem

Bleeding, frighten ornate snake thief,
Feeble of this threatening darkening,
Offend the sneakier, inelegant bright,
Frighten obeisant, enlightened freak.

An infantile, bothered geek frightens -
Fiendlike beginners threaten fat hog,
Better freaking on the Fiendish Angel,
Fine beginners, the Gnatlike Hatred of!

Fake, light-fingered Bonnie threatens,
Better sneaking filth, deafening Hero,
Keen, frightenable Nerd of Hesitating -
Frightenable kind threatens fine ego.

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(a good old fashioned beating on) Wall-E

2009-10-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

Math of Emotion

Wall-E is 111% professionalism, THEN some more. This is the animation that has a perfect understanding of a consensus stock-psyche, thus the installment pulls you through a series of mathematics spontaneity, each coming to you via masterful calculations, eager to - effectively - toll your strictly expected reactions for the precise outlines of complex emotions. Emotions presented with all the risk free tones of a pink ink, spilled with pinpoint accuracy on a risk free pink canvas.

Wall-E offers no minutes, seconds, not even stolen nanoseconds to any form of freedom you could longing for as an appreciator of this solid CG accomplishment. You are not granted the fluidity to interpret the happenings on the screen in any other way than the way they ARE happening by indeed. Each movement and/or vibe you see or feel on the canvas is placed in front of you because of crystal clear intent. Yet, in reality, Wall-E offers but a harshly limited set of the usual, radical CG emotions, making sure though to squeeze and present the holy pink frick out of them, THEN some more. (For your amusement, by the way.)

The vibes Wall-E collides you with are already declared rigorously, you are but the mirror that will justify how precisely the intended emotions are sought for, how precisely they are provoked out of you. Remember, you are the viewer and you will be tolled for your empathy. Surely, you will laugh when you are wanted to submit to laugh. Surely, you will feel pity when you are wanted to submit to feel pity. This all should be normal. Causing emotions is crucial aspect of art. Wall-E though, I think, does little more than overkills, rapes the usual CG emotions via a perfect understanding of them. And you, as viewer, end up as living justification of how flawless of an understanding of superficial emotional channels the creators do possess.

You will render the emotions, as will the other viewers in the audience. You will endure the same dramaturgical fabric you have seen a 642387462384 times before. While this extremely strait field of interpretation could be viewed as the narrative strength of this animation, in total, Wall-E does not yet aspire, and, as such: naturally does not succeed at presenting more complex emotions than what you already have seen being delivered by the genre on numerous occasions.

At the end of the day, Wall-E is a reasonably solid CG beast taking you by the neck, forcing you to lick up all the foam of risk free, pre-calculated fun and risk free, pre-calculated melancholy it brings to the - presumably - risk free table. It makes sure that the color of your memory of it, and that of the secret inner puke you will deny it caused to eject out of you in a weak moment of escapist realization - will conform nicely to the commanding shade of this installment. Math of Emotion, baby. Pink math of pink emotion to be specific.

Oh, and in case you have wondered, Wall-E is a masterfully calculated and carefully synthesized torpedo of risk free fun for the Whole Family. No irony here at all. And this is the problem, too.

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UFC 104 Machida VS Shogun

2009-10-25T03:38:00.000-07:00

now with gif animations

- Lyoto Machida VS Shogun Rua

- Cain Velasquez VS Ben Rothwell

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reached its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 104 - Shogun VS Machida.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida states that getting the belt is the easier part of being a Champion - the harder part is to defend the title via colliding against the top tier challenging forces the UFC has to offer. Machida, as devoted follower of ancient samurai traditions, prefers not to be hit at all, since if a samurai got hit in medieval Japan, then there were chances that the limb the strike landed on, got a truly precise sense - oxymoron? - of the term: separation.

As one of his trainers so precisely stated: to hit Lyoto, you have to find Lyoto. We are yet to see The Dragon surprised-, let alone being chased around in the octagon. As a result of this, Machida gets hit super-rarely and this latter term is a blatant exaggeration, seeing how The Dragon have performed against former Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans. Machida seemed to be more aggressive in the cage than his usual (former?) self and showed willingness to take and maintain the initiative, while he remained steps ahead of the rival during the match. The Dragon expresses that once a fighter attacks: holes in the defense are necessarily formed and/or revealed. Machida is a master at spotting these openings and he always seems to occupy the spot the enemy least likes him to be at. With a focus cultivated through hard work and a crystal clear mind, Lyoto Machida's spiritual stance towards fighting reminds me of that of Fedor Emelianenko. These fighters do not enter the proving ground to fight the opponent. They enter to neutralize them.

Lyoto Machida delivers his first title defense and it will be against former Pride! veteran Shogun Rua, a super-aggressive fighter who exhibited pronounced ring rust when debuted in the UFC, yet looked better in his next match that went down against one of the most illustrious faces of mma, Chuck Liddell. Some regard this new form of Shogun the old form of Shogun. You get the idea, right? I think he indeed looked much better than he did in his piteous struggle and subsequent sour victory over mma relic Mark Coleman, yet I can't wait to see what Shogun has to deliver once finds himself in desperation. And, if Lyoto Machida fails to offer him desperation: then I am convinced that Shogun is The Champion. Luckily enough, Rua and his manager believe that now is the time to capitalize on a great opportunity.

An interesting note: Lyoto Machida states that after five successful title defenses, he wants to fight current Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

Illustrious mma meat-mountain Ben Rothwell also looks forward to reveal his skill set tonight, rendering his much anticipated UFC debut against exceptional mma prospect Cain Velasquez. This Mexican favorite is widely regarded as the prototype of what is to come in mma, brings nuclear stamina and an extremely sharp skill set to the octagon. These notions are solidified by how Velasquez ate two huge strikes from Cheik Kongo and remained in the game soberly enough to command the opponent to the ground, even better: he manhandled his epically proportioned opponent in a way that looked easy to do.

Ben Rothwell promises that Velasquez is about to have the toughest fight of his career, and, if he - Rothwell - connects with those huge fists via the way Kongo did, then THIS Cain will be yesterday's news.

Anthony Johnson VS Yoshiyuki Yoshida

Anthony Johsnon outclasses- and subsequently grinds down Yoshida with a much more aggressive approach to the standup battle. This stupendous gif animation with paranormal slow motion effect in it shows you how Johnson KTFO the talented Japanese prospect well before the culmination of the first minute.

The meaning of KTFO is what you think it is.

Joe Stevenson VS Spencer Fisher

In the first round, Stevenson opens a cut on Fisher and manages to dictate the pace of the action without finding himself in the vicinity of situations characterized by notable desperation. Stevenson goes for the takedown in the second round and re-opens the cut on Fisher's head with relentless ground and pound work. Fisher can not offer resistance, Joe Daddy passes the guard, locks the limbs of The King and elbows his way to the stoppage via brutal efficiency and here is the gif animation on how this act of helping a fellow fighter out spiritually - well - went down:

Josh Neer VS Gleison Tibau

If Gleison Tibau would not have been able to take down Josh Neer at will, then this match would have had the promise of turning into a friendly training session the audience had the fruity chance of passionately scrutinizing. With Tibau's relentless- and totally successful takedown all over the three finished rounds though, the match radiates an excitement factor that promises good old fashioned intensity, yet sorrowfully fails to get beyond the average caliber which it sinks into. Here is the first of the 1 000 000 + - 1 takedowns Gleison Tibau utilized on Josh Neer:

The story of the fight really boils down to Tibau's inability to deliver punishment once commanded the opposition to the ground, which of course is a result of Neer's highly sophisticated defense skills. Well, if this would have been a defense contest, then Neer surely would have walked away with the W. Yet, his inability to escape Tibau's takedows, costs him the fight tonight.

Ben Rothwell VS Cain Velasquez

Total domination by Velasquez. The Mexican talent has zero problem imposing his will on the opposition, effectively taking apart Rothwell before the veteran fighter would have the chance of noticing the depth of the danger he already is in. Velasquez commands his rival to the canvas on multiple occasions, manhandling Big Ben at the fence between efficient sequences of solid ground and pound work. At the end of the first round, a massively exhausted Rothwell remains in the cage and it is this same Rothwell who answers the bell that greets the second period.

Velasquez is fervent and fresh, has no problem imposing his will on. The Mexican muscles Rothwell to the fence and starts to administer solid shots on the head, but the strikes do not devastate the resistance of the experienced veteran. This though is of little relevance to Referee Mario Yamasaki who decides to end the contest, probably seeing Rothwell as a warrior who lacks all chance to turn this match around tonight. Why embrace unnecessary damage when it reveals itself to you in a palpable fashion? Indeed Rothwell was standing up while he was assaulted, his fighting spirit was intact. Velasquez outclassed him tonight nevertheless and it did not look like Rothwell were about to offer more than what he already have left in the octagon at the time of the stoppage. Consult this stupendous gif animation on how Cain Velasquez expresses his radical verdict on Ben Rothwell's radar:

Lyoto Machida VS Shogun Rua

The championship match has gone into the distance and it saw the most competitive collision The Dragon was subjected to to this day. Shogun looked great against Machida and my personal opinion is that he managed to utterly destruct the invulnerability aura that surrounded Lyoto. During the bout, Shogun finds persistent success with his leg kicks and drags Machida into sequences of desperation from which the challenger is able to offer quite elegant and efficient surprises. Lyoto remains faithful to his style, but Shogun came to this collision knowing the focal elements of this fighting method. Now it is the first time we see someone offering relevant challenge to The Dragon by borrowing-, and skillfully applying elements from the approach The Dragon is master of. Patience, primarily. For the most part, Shogun is the aggressor of the match that has an even-, balanced feel to it.

Yet, to be the man, you have to beat the man, as conventional wisdom tells us. In the UFC, it is no different. In fact, the number of the places that do tell more about the relevance of this truth than the octagon does, is harshly limited. That includes zero, as a possibility. Though Lyoto Machida DID NOT win this fight at all, he did win a decision, as Shogun could not stop him. The Dragon, humble in victory, did not gain any new fans tonight and he expresses his apologies for not being able to deliver a more convincing performance. Lyoto did good, in my opinion. It is Shogun who did GREAT, though. Joe Rogan is wise enough to ask Machida about a rematch against Shogun, for which the reply is positive from the reigning Champion. As of today, it indeed is a match that promises top level mma thrills. Shogun has all my respect for his performance against Machida and I just became a Shogun fan. Being a fan of Machida and Shogun, the factorial of my impatience regarding the rematch between the two is: maximal. Check these slick moves Shogun greets The Dragon with. Also notice the facial expression of angered disbelief, courtesy of Lyoto Machida.

This review of UFC 104 was not brought to you by Budlight, but the difference is drinkability, nevertheless. Thank you for reading this and see you next time.

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UFC 103 Franklin VS Belfort

2009-09-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

now with amazing gif animations

- Rich Franklin VS Vitor Belfort

- Mirko CroCop VS Junior Dos Santos

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reached its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 103 - Franklin VS Belfort.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC 103 brings you illustrious mma sensation Vitor Belfort taking on Rich Franklin, who - as UFC commentator Mike Goldberg sanely observes - does not exactly have a hard time taking on steep challenges. Coming off from recent fights against top of the food chain mma legends like Dan Henderson and Wanderlei Silva, The Ace resonates pure professionalism in the prefight interviews, pointing out how he is aware of Belfort's exceptional abilities, - speed and accuracy, particularly - yet it is not the first time the former math teacher steps up against world class competition. In fact, you could hardly see Franklin in anything else than world class collisions. Only Anderson Silva could crush him so far, but we are yet to see someone who confronted The Spider and avoided getting crushed or getting utterly outclassed.

Mirko CroCop states that he does not know if he will capture the UFC Heavyweight Title, but he knows he will die trying. This is a statement of epic proportions, no doubt and the night will answer a casual-, yet integrally related question about the seriousness of it, as well. Can Mirko CroCop stop talented Brazilian mma promise Junior Dos Santos? He surely should if he is to establish himself as a force to be reckoned with in the octagon, as Mirko's performances in the UFC were well below expectation levels.

Tyson Griffin VS Hermes Franca

An even-, relatively uneventful first round unfolds with short, yet passionate exchanges whenever the warriors show readiness to engage one another beyond the consensus feeling out boundaries. This tempo exhibits keen willingness to characterize the match further on in the second period, yet Tyson manages to land a decent right hand to knock his pink haired rival down. A short and effective ground and pound assault enters and entertains consensus in the octagon. Hermes Franca - pink paint comes in separate package - shows initial readiness to escape, but crazy little thing/mental construct called destiny eventually seals the role of the defeated for him, well defined courtesy of Griffin's accurate air to ground missiles. Check this vulgar display of power in this amazing gif animation.

Paul Daley VS Martin Kampmann

Martin "The Hitman" Kampmann is a fighter the UFC is fond of giving matches to and understandably so. Firts of all, Martin Kampmann has a charisma-, a face, primarily. And has the mad skills, too. Even the

m4d0r skillz0rz, br4d4!

The Danish warrior prefers a standup battle and is never afraid to engage and exchange. Though Kampmann has tasted the feeling of being utterly steamrolled before and he obtained this metaspiritual - metaphysical - experience by the ruthless fists of none other than Nate "The Great" Marquardt in UFC 88 Breakthrough, many maintain the belief that repetition is among the sweetest mates of remembrance. Therefore, The Hitman gets his ass handed to him once again by an extremely technical Paul Daley who manages to surprise both the Danish talent and the audience by his high level showcase of quality standup skills.

The Hitman expresses his dissatisfaction of the stoppage, but, paranormal experience Joe Rogan speaks the truth this time: Referee Yves Lavigne protected Kampmann from being unnecessarily hurt. Like: being knocked unconscious. Sure, Kampmann remained on his feet. But the fact that he he had little if any knowledge of this, is closer to certain than tree jackpots in a row is, one must suspect. No, I was joking. At least, it was my attempt at that. Maybe Lavigne should have had let Daley land some more bombs on The Hitman to see if the Danish talent is able to recover - yet the impressions is rather strong that he was seriously hurt and why take risks that are - I won't escape from this - very risky?

Mirko CroCop VS Junior Dos Santos

CroCop lets Dos Santos take the initiative. Both fighters find success in the introductory exchanges, then, when the pace takes on the calmer rhythm that it seemingly was aiming for from the start, the fighters deliver a tactical battle. Not of the tic-tac-toe, though! It is of the toe-to-toe! Hey, thank you for sticking around. You are hardcore, baby. Though CroCop lets Dos Santos to be the aggressor, the Pride! veteran expresses strict control by answering the attacks of the Brazilian Promise with more efficient replies.

In the second round, Mirko spends his time in pretty much constant defensive stance, probably charging up his left leg. Dos Santos attacks, CroCop grabs him and shakes him off. This happens about ten times in a row. Both fighters manage to land some solid shots in the round, though one has to have the impression that Dos Santos was more efficient due to his readiness to take the initiative. Mirko lands an accidental low blow.

In the third and final round, CroCop comes out with much more aggressiveness but eventually finds himself massively rebounded by knees to the body and even to the head. Though Dos Santos' counters are pretty effective, CroCop tries to summon the wits to make a comeback - interrupted though by an uppercut that causes interference in the veteran's vision. Fortunately, Mirko seems to see on after the match. Which, due to a verbal submission by the Pride! veteran: comes to a conclusion in the final round. A remarkable victory for Dos Santos, no doubt. As for Mirko, it remains more questionable than ever if we will be able to see him throwing a highlight reel head kick in the octagon.

Rich Franklin VS Vitor Belfort

Belfort is known for the unique speed he possesses and the most convincing method of assuring the audience that the speed is intact-, accessible-, AND ready to be unleashed, is to: unleash it. Rich Franklin is one of the most mature mixed martial artists on planet Earth and one has to have and cultivate the impression that even he is surprised by the speed Vitor explodes into a flurry of ruthless efficiency with when the split second is right to introduce the assault. This match turned out as it was predicted by Randy Couture, since, what Randy Couture predicted is depicted below and it sure as hell correlates with what Randy Couture predicted. Cool, hu'!

Can you spot the insane speed variant?

Frank Trigg VS Josh Koscheck

Mma veteran Frank Trigg expresses that the fighter who he is stepping up against now, is reminding him of his - Trigg's - former self. Koscheck rejects the idea and states that he does not like to be compared to anyone. Yet, once he is confronted with Trigg's words of how the veteran regards Koscheck as a younger version of himself, - still Trigg's - Josh expresses: "Well, then this younger version of THAT fighter probably will kick the shit out of the older." As for the result - the Referee puts an end to the contest 3:36 in the first round. Technical knockout victory for Josh Koscheck.

A decent night of fights with Mirko CroCop's trademark head kick nowhere to be found in it. So Opinion Onion gives you one via an amazing gif animation. This gif animation shows off how Mirko CroCop demolishes an opponent utilizing his total brutal left kick of laser beam accuracy and related epic awesomeness. Thank you, come again!

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UFC 102 Couture VS Nogueira review

2009-08-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

now with amazing gif animations

- Randy Couture VS Antonio Nogueira

- Keith Jardine VS Thiago Silva

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reached its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 102 - Couture VS Nogueira.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

There is no doubt that Randy Couture has solidified himself as a navigational beacon of mixed martial arts and citing his age starts to become a household cliche. Couture silenced critics on numerous occasions already, triumphing over stronger- younger opposition in matches where many have considered him to be the epitome of underdog. The Natural's strong wrestling background, trademark dirty boxing style and charismatic, disciplined personality define a veteran warrior with a competitive spirit that seems to exhibit intact desire to collide with opposition.

Randy, coming off an eventual defeat against current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, delivered a disciplined and quite competent performance against the much bigger and considerably younger man, an accomplishment Couture hopes to bring to victorious fruition this time around. His current opponent, Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira, as legendary of a mixed martial artist as Couture is, needs to offer a spectacular performance against Randy, as the Brazilian suffered a memorable defeat by his previous opponent, Frank Mir. Mir managed to take Minotauro apart without the Brazilian finding chance to offer notable resistance, leading many to ask if the wars "Big Nog" have fought have finally caught up with him.

There was a time when a collision between Randy Couture and Antonio Nogueira was considered to be the most exquisite match the sport could have produce, as Couture and Nogueira were delivering exceptional performances on opposite ends of the globe.
Though many do claim that the match should have been organized when both warriors seemed to be unstoppable, their recent defeats may serve as motivation to take extra risks for a memorable victory.

UFC 102 brings rather strong co-main events as additions to the central showdown. Efficient knockout artist Thiago Silva comes to claim relief for the recent loss he have suffered against Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida. With only this particular loss under his belt, Silva promises to stop "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine, who is one of the most unorthodox fighters of present day mma. Though Keith is notorious of his ability to cause upsets, he seems to have a problem to remain consistent, often suffering a devastating defeat after a significant victory.

Fluent muscle machine Nate "The Great" Marquardt is back to collide against Jiu-Jitsu notability Demian Maia. Coming to this bout with his exceptional talent on the ground, it is no secret that Maia wants to take this fight downstairs as soon as possible, while Nate will be content on keeping it on the feet.

Brandon Vera VS Krzysztof Soszynski

Vera was a rising star for a certain period, yet this star lost significant amount of its brightness via the recent performances it brought to the Octagon. As result of a less rigorous training regime and a lifestyle centering around myriad variations of fun, talented Brandon had a hard time pulling the trigger. Vera states that he is aware of his unsatisfactory performances and now he is ready to prove himself against steep competition. His opponent, Krysztof Soszynski is a perfect candidate for this. As a fresh addition to the rankings, Ultimate Fighter prospect Soszynski had cut through initial opposition as knife through butter, now he needs to evidentiate if he is able to give a fight-, let alone a loss for a fighter of Vera's caliber.

It is clear that he is not yet able to do so. Brandon Vera commands the fight with intact technical superiority right from the start, giving no opportunity to Soszynski to connect with those heavy hands. The meeting showcases Vera's ability of remaining steadily consistent as the superior technician, while the night serves a great opportunity for Soszynski to evaluate what areas he needs to work on, as he has been clearly outclassed tonight by a fighter who plays the game on a more involved level already.

Demian Maia VS Nate Marquardt

One punch of stopping power put an end to this contest before the first minute of the meeting could have a chance to slip by. Marquardt catches Maia as the
Jiu-Jitsu master tries to throw a kick. Though the impact is tremendous, Maia shows spectacular tenaciousness, recovering in seconds. These seconds of recovery were given to him by none other than his opponent, though. Nate "The Great" Marquardt reveals beautiful sportsmanship, showing mercy to Maia by not assaulting him during the brief period when he - Maia - is unable to defend himself after the stunning blow that knocked him down.

Chris Leben VS Jake Rosholt

Jake Rosholt does a decent job at frustrating heavy hitter hometown favorite Chris Leben by giving solid competition in the standup, even claiming dominant ground positions throughout the first two rounds. Though the standup exchanges do deliver more and more excitement as Leben tries to turn the heat on, Rosholt proves to be skilled enough on the feet to remain in the game throughout an intense second round with increased level of passion present in it. This trademark passion of the hometown favorite does not arrive to victorious fruition this time around, as Chris finds himself getting choked out in the final segment of this memorable meeting.

Todd Duffee VS Tim Hague

Todd Duffee sets a new UFC record, knocking out Tim Hague in no more than seven seconds.

Keith Jardine VS Thiago Silva

UFC 102 delivers yet another rapid showdown, as Thiago Silva knocks Jardine out at 1:35 of the first round.

Randy Couture VS Antonio Nogueira

Following his devastating defeat to Frank Mir, Minotauro comes back to the Octagon as a resurrected warrior, ready to showcase- and even to redefine the qualities that made him an illustrious notability of the sport. Nogueira is more than ready to slug it out with Couture on the feet, getting the better of the exchanges each time the collision invites fists to ignite.

The Brazilian drops Couture on multiple occasions during the bout, even coming close to finishing the legendary hometown favorite off with solid ground and pound work in the second segment of the meeting. Nogueria takes every opportunity to offer a submission attempt on the ground. Though Randy is able to survive downstairs, the only moments he shows offensive success by, are some accurate punches landing on Rodrigo, who comes forward after these precise, powerful strikes like nothing would have happened. At the end of the third round, with a desperate Couture trying to improve on a temporary dominant position, it is clear that the Minotauro the audience hoped to see have came back and he proved to be way too much for Randy Couture this time. A spectacular performance from Nogueira, revealing the results of top level human discipline and spiritual maturity. This is a match chronicling the comeback- the resurrection of the Minotauro. The Minotauro rivals do fear of, the Minotauro who eyes Brock Lesnar now.

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UFC 101 Declaration review

2009-08-09T07:22:00.001-07:00

now with amazing gif animations

- BJ Penn VS Kenny Florian

- Anderson Silva VS Forrest Griffin

Though many may consider men who enter an mma proving ground little more than hired human pitbulls ripping each other apart for massive money and radical amusement, I tend to reject this view via a yawn of black hole, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for but the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself. The reaction of one's opponent is the reaction to whatever one could offer as offense.

Notice that the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, pure respect spirit and related (?) intelligence may come upon, the limitless respect each fighter deserves simply by making an attempt of expressing themselves thoroughly, honestly on the proving grounds. The biggest respect one could give is the assumption that one needs every skills- and wits to neutralize the rival. A fight is nothing less than the expression of these skill sets, put though to the test utterly and completely, instead of infinitely theorizing about them. The most glorious moment of the bout emerges in the form of the ensuing peace between the fighters, a legit, palpable sensation, unifying the former enemies and the grateful audience once the collision reached its conclusion.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 101 - Declaration.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

This particular night brings you a championship collision between BJ "The Prodigy" Penn and Kenny "KenFlo" Florian. The Challenger surely have come a long way to be at the point where he is at by the night, yet, after watching the Countdown to UFC 101 Show - the show every hardened mma fan despises passionately, in fact, so much that they will watch it multiple times so they could hate it more and more - I have the impression that Kenny Florian has no actual faith in himself. This is a risky sentence to write down, I know. Especially if Kenny is your neighbor. I checked, he is NOT my neighbor currently, or he is a Master of Deceiving - so I resonate that once again, this time though, I will make an attempt to solidify my claim.

There is no doubt that Kenny have demolished the recent title contention roster in an impressive fashion, - meaning the actions, not the gear - yet, in my opinion, that particular opposition was not too steep by the time Florian made a run through it. Following his loss to former Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk, the

Oh My God, They Killed Kenny!

have returned to the drawing board to reinvent himself as a ma... as a Ronin capable to obtain yet another shot at the title. In the meantime though, BJ Penn obtained that particular title by demolishing Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk via lethal playfulness and here is how it went down:

Explanation: on this particular gif animation, BJ "The Prodigy" Penn connects with a couple of precise strikes on Sean Sherk, then he unleashes a Flying Knee of Diddchu-Ceetath-Chit on the rival who is forced to end up at the fence as result of the accumulative impact of these integral, accurate assaults. The Little Buddha came to make a radical verdict - and it is so that Penn drops some bombs on Sherk to - watch this highly illegal line: - to ... dot all the "I"-s and cross all the "T"-s. By the way: this "dot all the "I"-s and cross all the "T"- s stuff is from Kenny. He resonated this when he was asked about his preparation against BJ.

Though the Champion have changed, the determination of Kenny Florian, if anything, have grown even bigger, knowing that the current title holder is none other than one of the most legendary figure of the sport: BJ Penn. You see - you would think that there is no better way of becoming a Legend than to erase one. But this is not so. The way I see it now - if Kenny demolishes someone - he still has no faith in himself. This is my personal impression. Watch the Countdown to UFC 101 show. The way Kenny states those lines - there is not a word he says that sounds honest to me. Do not misunderstand me, or at least not constantly, please. I have respect for Kenny. But I think he has no respect for himself. This is not the proper word. He has no conviction in himself. I have the impression that Kenny is a damaged warrior currently and he will not become Champion even if he becomes Champion.

These are just impressions and there are infinite of those. Mines are not more- or not less proper or legit than that of other observer. I want to write honest reviews and my honest, current impression of the current Kenny Floarin is that no matter how good a fight Kenny fights, it is a fight resonating a denial of weakness and not the expression of greatness. These are introductory thoughts, mind you I, herein.

Anyway. Roger Huerta is a passionate fighter and stuff - and stuff, mainly - but he made the mistake of not regarding Florian as a top level mma fighter, stating that spending time with Kenny in the octagon will be a piece of cake. What an absurd, ridiculous statement. I'm glad and relatively satisfied that Huerta's ass got outplayed by Florian in UFC 87 Seek and Destroy. Then the collision against Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. Ouch. You kidding me?? Stopping Joe Stevenson? You sure? Stopping Joe "Daddy" Stevenson is no news. When Joe "Daddy" Stevenson stops someone instead - THAT is news.

As of today, he is a "statementmaker" mma fighter and here is how it goes: you use Joe Daddy to state that you are ready to deconstruct even more talented fighters than he is. You want to get into title contention, you defeat Stevenson, who still has some mysterious, nevertheless, seemingly firm belief that he is the Champ, but circumstances were not appropriate enough to state-, to manifest this inner verdict so far. The most tenacious of all these circumstances is called: Joe Stevenson, I'm afraid.

Joe Daddy is a decent gatekeeper and a - watch this! - "good average fighter". But projecting that fighter as a potential candidate for a Champion bores me immensely as he currently clearly lacks the qualities possessed by the elite. Projecting him as candidate for Champion became pointless by the moment he actually cried after his loss to BJ Penn. There is nothing wrong with emotions. In fact, I love them, I am so emotional about them. But a Champion controls the emotions. This, among other things, is a focal quality of a Champion, you see. As long as you cry after a loss in the octagon, you can have my evil laugh but not my sympathy, sorry. I am not laughing at you because I am evil. I am laughing at the fact that how miserably - and metaphorically - lost you are and I am 101% ready to pour life and sobriety to you if you let me.

As cited, in reality, currently Stevenson clearly lacks the qualities of a Champion, so, the fact that Kenny have beaten him, fills me with the same excitement factor I feel when I witness a washing powder advertisement falling out of a mailbox. Okay, one of them fills me with more excitement. But the one that fills me with more excitement, does not involve Stevenson < - hint!, hint! Let's be honest and relatively pseudo-scientific here, ladies and gentlemen dressed as ladies: BJ Penn gave Joe Stevenson the definite hurt-real-baaad to emerge as Champion, thank you Joe, please come again. Stevenson scores a submission victory over talented Jiu-Jitsu contender Wilson Gouveia in UFC 86 Jackson VS Griffin and escapes the horrific clutch of the double loss. Thank you Joe, deliver yet another victory and I will believe that BJ did not swallow a part of your fighting spirit.

UFC 91 Couture VS Lesnar: Stevenson gets submitted by Kenny "I Finish Fights!" Florian, a bout to determine the warrior to step up against BJ "The Prodigy" Penn by the night of the Declaration. < - No point in clicking on this link. It points here. Question arises: what do I want with all this? Easy: I wanted to state that beating down Joe Stevenson or submitting him is surely a solid accomplishment, but I don't think that it means that you automatically have the readiness to face BJ Penn. But, what the hell - the whole point of this particular night is to address this particular question. Kenny delivers - in my opinion - staggeringly cheesy lines in his pre-fight interviews, making his Legendary exclamation of "BJ is the Master and I want to KILL that Master!" look pale. Kenny is after a rigorous training regime, no doubt. I am sure he mastered all these implausible, better-bite-your-tongue lines he delivers in the pre-fight interviews, as well. It's like a ninja B movie from the '80s, involving a Destiny, a Determination, the Honor of a Ronin - oxymoron? - and other vague matters like that. I like the part in the Countdown show in which BJ laughs out, asking: "Did he really say that sh*t?" Anyway. I expect BJ Penn to blow Kenny Florian away as a tornado, yet, I am eager to see if Florian can offer something that the Little Buddha will be surprised by. The other nice attraction of the night is Anderson Silva taking on Forrest Griffin. The Spider moves up a weight class to deliver a match against a man who likes to come out and brawl. My amazement of how Silva's latest two matches is blamed as being but pure boredom, is: considerable. UFC President Dana White states how bored he was with the Thales Leites fight. But, look what Leites did: little suspiciouscheese Leites hurries to the ground each time Silva molests his body or face. Phah! And the audience blames Silva for sticking to the standup? A special announcement, brother: every fight starts in the standup position. I understand if Leites, as a Jiu-Jitsu wiz', wants to wage the war on the ground. Then invite the Spider to the ground with force and ruthless efficiency! Don't expect him to go there with you. Truly laughable octagon behavior and now Silva has to hold his back for it. This is not right. In my opinion, Leites was a big p-word for lying around in the octagon, discrediting himself and the Spider with this ridiculous approach to fighting. Would he do that in a real life situation, as well? In a bar fight? Lie on his back? Wow! Oh, I can imagine Thalis Leites's joy when someone Bas Ruttens his shifty/shady, sneaky/cheeky, tactical/analytical, strategic, lie-around Jiu-Jitsu ass with a casual chair in the vicinity. Pfff. Ah, Bah and a Krach! I defend the Spider herein and I defend both of his recent performances that he was accused of immense boredom for. I enjoyed every second of the Cote fight in UFC 90 Cote VS Silva as well and I do not say this because I enjoy cultivating a different opinion than that of other people or outer intelligences from deep space. I say this because it is totally clear that Silva played two very intelligent- and very focused matches against both fighters. But - I know this will be harsh, haha - do not throw pearls to the pigs, as they will stomp on it.

No rigorous, scientific mma chairguru would regard Silva's latest performances as boring. Cote damaged his own knee, how that is Silva's fault? The Spider was connecting with brutal shots all the time and Cote demonstrated true warrior spirit by dragging the Champion to the third round. Still, some - I dare to state this - seemingly ignorant persons regard the match as a lackluster. You kidding me? Silva comes to the UFC and demolishes everyone. Then he plays around for a bit. Playing around is no longer good for you. You want to see - metaphorical: included - blood. You are acting immensely, even emencely ignorant my friend and you do not currently understand the complex beauty of deconstruction. I enjoyed the Leites fight, too, and Leites has my contemporary minor despise for exhibiting the ring behavior he cultivated. Running to the ground on every single occasion he gets assaulted by? Next time he does that: Bas Rutten him with the chair, say I.

Now, back to the Silva VS Griffin collision. The idea is to deliver a fighter to Silva who likes to close the distance swiftly, who likes to come out and deconstruct opposition. Forrest Griffin already have made some upsets. Defeating Silva would be the biggest, even biggestest of those so far. Hey, and this is not bad for a dream, neither, right? You got to love Forrest because he transforms the underestimation to energy. He remains completely faithful to his philosophy of not quitting on himself, which is a much more serious- and epic inner stance than what it may sound like at first.

Forrest was not happy being the Champion. Forrest is happy when he has the chance to deliver upsets. And here is the difference I feel between Kenny Florian and Forrest Griffin. Griffin says he can be beaten, but he can not be broken. You know what? The frightening thing is that I believe him. Kenny Florian? No matter how good he fights, as cited, according to my impression, he fights to deny a weakness and not to praise a quality like an unbreakable spirit. With that look in your eyes - Kenny's, haha! - you are not yet ready to be the Champion, I would say. But let's see if consensus reality agrees with me on that one.

Josh Neer VS Kurt Pellegrino

Pellegrino grabs Neer and slams him, right after the initial exchanges. The round unfolds as a long ground sequence with relatively little action to it, as Neer exhibits tight defense, though demonstrates no will- or related readiness to offer resistance from his back, except for an unsuccessful armbar.

In the second round, an agitated Neer comes out, yet his attempts at reigning as aggressor collides with solid counter-action stated by raconteur Pellegrino. Following some nice combination of mild molestation factor, Pellegrino gets Neer down and ends up on top again. Neer is frustrated on his back, expressing it clearly towards the ceiling by moving his head side to side. My relation to this unfortunate condition is virtually non-existent, saved the sentence I just delivered. Pellegrino remains tenacious in the round, keeping Neer on the grounded position. This rigorous control earns him a full mount, yet Neer is able to improve his position. Pellegrino keeps control of the back, maintaining the strong clutch of desperation on your throat that you will bore your sitorgan off during this particular collision.

The third round finds Josh Neer in the proper mood to throw some semi-convincing kicks around. Convincing enough so the recent history could repeat itself: you see Pellegrino on top once again, right after countering the initial kicks with a takedown.

Neer talks some stuff, Pellegrino bitchslaps him. You can't help but state: MAN! Neer spreads his arms apart, metacommunicating that Pellegrino delivers no punishment. I spread my arms apart, thinking Neer should do just a little more to impress the audience. Neer continues to express frustration, then manages to escape from his dire position. The last moments of the bout do catch Neer raining down solid elbows on Pellegrino at the fence. An amazingly boring match, no doubt, in which Pellegrino executed a gameplan quite soberly and integrally, earning him a decision victory.

Ricardo Almeida VS Kendall Grove

Ricardo Almeida comes out spazzing like mad - but soon you will realize that he tries to confuse the enemy! And the audience! And he succeeds masterfully! Check this here gif animation out of how Ricardo Almeida comes out spazzing like mad!

Almeida - right - surely knows how to confuse the enemy with this here nice spazz session of his!

The meeting intensifies, THEN collides with the fence, witnessing the warriors in the clinch. Having a hard time pulling the trigger in this position, the opposing forces exhibit consensus willingness to get back to the more opened variant of the standup. Almeida capitalizes on a nice opportunity, slamming Kendall to the ground. Canvas resonates: wtf??

In the second round, Almeida commands Grove downstairs once again, yet, Ricardo almost gets submitted by a cunning armbar attempt. Enthusiastic ground action to follow up, as Almeida manages to connect with some solid punches and - logically/subsequently - administers some decent ground and pound. Kendall Grove could not be more enthusiastic to get back on his feet - and so he seeks the will to do that and manages to accomplish this via one particular miracle plus a half for good measure. Good for him, as he finds success connecting on Almeida with a strict uppercut and a good knee. Almeida expresses increased willingness to go to the ground again, a will which realized shortly, yet the time that remains is too scarce to administer further punishment.

In the third and final round, Almeida does not have much problem taking the fight to the ground again, though they end up in the clinch at the fence. Grove greets Almeida with some knees and they end up in the standup again. Though Grove shortly has the opportunity to molest Almeida on the ground, he chooses to let him up and wage the war on the feet. Guess what! Clinch sequence again. Grove lands a knee again, then Almeida takes down his rival. Ending up on top, Ricardo seemingly makes a bigger effort at taking a rest then he does at delivering punishment. Kendall shrugs off Almeida. Ricardo - staggeringly enough - goes for the takedown again. Quite a boring match, but hey, you got to have some of these, otherwise, how could you ever identify a collision of epic proportions? Integral boredom with a risk free decision win going for Ricardo Almeida.

Amir Sadollah VS Johny Hendricks

Johny Hendricks likes hitting people in the face and he is ready to make his UFC debut against winner of the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter Reality TV Show, Amir Sadollah. Nice standup sequence. Sadollah connects with a jab, moves in for the killing process and gets caught on the way by the epicly proportioned opposition. Spotting the momentary weakness in Sadollah's defense, Hendricks steps in and administers some solid uppercuts on the TUF winner. Sadollah suddenly feels the uncontrollable urge to inspect canvas quality via massive zoom, thus he goes down, dragging Hendricks with him. This drag is metaphorical, mind you I, herein. The debutant punches out a stoppage on Sadollah, a stoppage UFC commentator, standup comedian, veteran weed deconstructer and generally funny man Joe Rogan regards as: early.

During the replay, it is clear that Joe is right. Hendricks hardly connects, or, even if he does, the punches lack damage potentiality and Sadollah seems to be back in the game when Miragliotta steps in. But, that's the way it went this time. The fact that Sadollah does not give you the drama queen act, complaining about an early stoppage, implies to me that he himself was dissatisfied with his current performance. Hendricks did well, can't wait to see if I will remember him the next time I see him. Right now I have my doubts, but doubts are there to be eliminated. Or to be hardened. Amir Sadollah loses tonight, Johny Hendricks celebrates his fruity UFC debut.

Aaron Riley VS Shane Nelson

This here is the usual match in which commentators exchange thoughts and ideas about the present state and the general beauty of mixed martial arts, letting you run out for 667 extra pieces of popcorn. How big of a bucket you think 667 pieces of popcorn would fill?

Anderson Silva VS Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin stated in the Countdown show that Anderson Silva makes very good fighter look bad. With 1:42 remaining in the first round, Griffin, one must admit, joins the fighters who have fought against Anderson Silva AND looked PROFOUNDLY bad against him. The story of the fight is truly nothing less than Silva's ability to make Forrest look pretty much - I like Forrest, but that is the case here - miserable. This is not an exaggeration. For Heaven and Hell's sake, Anderson Silva clearly shows to Forrest that he - Forrest - can not touch him if he - Silva, that is - does not want to be touched. The Spider gives in the face with his arms lowered, evading the punches solely by elegant head movements, driven by top notch reflexes and the related awareness of what the attacker's chances- and possibilities of opposition are.

This particular friendly humiliation happens on multiple segments of the first round. Forrest can not hit Silva. Forrest can not hit him, not with Anderson's arms lowered, not with his face given in pleasant range. Clearly, the UFC Middleweight Champion, who now moves up a weight class to deliver entertainment, makes respectful fun of Forrest, offering thorough glimpses on the levels the fighting game could be played on. If your name is Anderson Silva, that is. Anderson, having his movement showcased, knocks Forrest down. When Griffin regains his composure, Anderson invites him in a respectful fashion to push the pedal to the metal - evades Forrest's shots via sheer head movement again and knocks Griffin down once more. Instead of ground and pounding, Silva lets Forrest up. And then, suddenly: recent history once again repeats itself.

Check how Silva evades the shots with his hands lowered, counter-connecting with that laaazy, lazy, yet pixel precise punch on Forrest. This is not just your everyday average normal domination, this is a clear expression of Silva's truly exceptional approach/style towards the Art of Fighting. Almost, I mean. You know why "almost"? Here is why: Silva DID NOT EVEN FOUGHT, that is why! He did not, because he was not asked to. He was just playing around! And knocked Forrest's ass out while at that, since the objective of the match was to knock Forrest's ass out, after all. Amazing display of an amazing mindset and the related, truly top notch fighting skills. These are the moments in which you got to exclaim: MAN! As of today, I think only Fedor Emelianenko or Lyoto Machida could offer a fight for Anderson Silva. Check this stupendous gif animation of the brilliant finish The Spider delivered.

Forrest runs back to the locker rooms, - excellent timing - probably too bitter/hazy - maybe both - at the moment to give a post-fight interview. I remain a fan of Forrest and I am mad curious of the Griffin we will see coming back after this particular loss.

BJ Penn VS Kenny Florian

Kenny comes in with the strange-, nevertheless relatively effective strategy of moving BJ up to the fence and pressing his head into The Prodigy's ribcage. This is pretty much the whole story of the first three rounds, whenever they do not spend quality time at the fence with Florian's head deep into BJ's ribs, the defendant manages to control the standup and score the more effective shots. In the fourth round, probably getting fed up with Florian's urge of sinking the head into the ribs, BJ takes the Challenger down, and, following a brief period of iron control on the ground, the defendant administers the rear naked choke to Kenny, a truly nice submission which you can check out on this here gif animation.

UFC 101 - Declaration was a great event. Thank you for reading this review of it and see you next time.

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Fedor in Strikeforce

2009-08-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

Will Fedor Ever Be In The UFC?

animated gif, circa 2009., author unknown

Following unsuccessful negotiations with the UFC, the world's consensus number one heavyweight mma fighter, Fedor Emelianenko has signed a contract with Strikeforce, a competing organization which was willing to co-promote fights with M1 Global, the mma label Emelianenko has obligations with.

As UFC President Dana White has stated, the leading mma organization was willing to agree on almost every term and also guaranteed that no bigger amount of money was- and will ever be offered than the amount the UFC offered for Fedor. The only term the UFC did not want to commit to, was the co-promotion of events with M1 Global. The Russian condition was to split the profits from the fights between the UFC and M1 Global, as it is the Russian organization which brings the consensus top heavyweight to the proving ground. The UFC rejected the co-promotion as firmly as M1 Global demanded it, in order to make a deal. Fedor has signed the Strikeforce contract on the next business day.

The President of the UFC voiced his disappointment on passionate registers:

„Fedor is a f*cking joke. He turns down a huge deal and the opportunity to face the best in the world to fight nobodies, for no money.”

White's frustration is better off being expressed, as now both Fedor Emelianenko and UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar could keep on building themselves to be the Titans that WILL clash finally. It is inevitable.

The UFC and Fedor already have a mutual history, though the Russian is yet to step into the Octagon. While Strikeforce is a smaller and less prestigious organization than the UFC is, it will build up Fedor in front of a wider audience than the one The Last Emperor was recognized by so far - and he will almost certainly have the choice of going to the UFC once he fulfilled - and hopefully triumphed in - his three fights he owes to Strikeforce and M1 Global. Once those three fights are delivered, the UFC will want to obtain him by the very next nanosecond, have no doubt about it. Regardless of the harsh words, Dana White will be ready to offer everything that was offered before - except co-promotion. Since Fedor will not likely be in instantaneous contract-renewal with M1 Global by the time of those negotiations, surely there will be ways to make a deal in which everybody - including the fan - is happy.

Fedor is big news for the UFC only as long as he remains unbeaten. The stoic, enigmatically calm persona of Fedor, which fuels ruthless efficiency and precise, raw beauty in the proving ground, was getting more and more recognized during the last year. Fedor flattened two former UFC Champions under the Affliction label, - both bouts ended with TKOs and have left both Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski as risk free, casual checkmarks on the Russian's record - while Brock Lesnar, a warrior of almost improbable anatomical proportions, continues to demonstrate super-solid Octagon presence via his most recent victories over Randy Couture and Frank Mir, both former UFC Champions.

While many do claim that Lesnar is not a better-, only a bigger fighter than his opponents are, one should not dismiss the fact that the current UFC Heavyweight Champion commands his immense physical proportions with surprising speed, an iron will and explosiveness that the audience is yet to see being stopped, let alone being effectively countered. The former WWE Entertainer already has proven that he is capable to dictate where a real fight against a real opponent will take place. Many do claim that the defeating of Frank Mir was little more than blanket wrestling. Lesnar took Mir to the ground, executed an iron grip over the neck and pummeled Mir's face like a big brother would do with his smaller brother. Well, the art of fighting incorporates the consensus experience of making the opponent look miserable and one has to admit that Lesnar accomplished this masterfully against Frank Mir. Mir, an analytical and truly versatile fighter, was the first to admit that Lesnar did a great job.

As of today, a match between Brock Lesnar and Fedor Emelianenko is the absolute top notch attraction the sport and the fans could wish for. Yet, that does not mean that the related anticipation factor is at its highest possible peak. Not, at all. It will be at its highest possible peak by the time Fedor have flawlessly fulfilled his M1 Global contract with Strikeforce, by the time Brock have stopped the immediate UFC opposition. Let's see what they are up against.

Brock Lesnar has unbeaten Shane Carwin and talented Mexican Cain Velasquez as potential warriors to be challenged by. Strikeforce offers Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers to Fedor as potential challenges. In a sober reality, both Brock and Fedor will be ready and able to deliver a series of victories until The Last Emperor's contract is fulfilled. And, from then on: Brock Lesnar VS Fedor Emelianenko will become a reality, have no doubt about that.

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UFC 100 Making History review

2009-07-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

- Brock Lesnar VS Frank Mir

- George St. Pierre VS Thiago Alves

- Dan Henderson VS Michael Bisping

Mixed martial arts clearly became a significant form of both mass entertainment and - as Bruce Lee put it - an expression of the human body, the latter being, no doubt, the original field of operation of these ancient traditions, now living and breathing through competitive events around the world. Though many may consider men who enter the proving grounds little more than hired human pitbulls to rip each other apart for hard cash and radical amusement, I tend to utterly reject this rudimentary view, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself.

Japanese people compete to gain an insight of their own current abilities through the collision process of their skills with that of other's. To me, the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, uncompromised, pure respect each fighter deserves simply by stating themselves on the proving grounds, regardless of the results. The ensuing peace between fighters after a good collision is such a palpable, legit sensation that it never got old so far - and won't ever will.

This is a review of the latest UFC event to date, UFC 100 - Making History.

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

The night delivers three focal events, including two Championship collisions to make the event live up to its ambitious title. The Welterweight belt is on the line as UFC Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre defends his title against Thiago Alves, while UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar looks to avenge his only loss to date, a submission he suffered to Frank Mir back in UFC 81 Breaking Point.

George "Rush" St. Pierre seems to be a fighter of a league he is the only representative of, as his scientific approach to the game consorts with exceptional athleticism and inner discipline, while the Champion is widely recognized as one of the best wrestlers the sport have seen so far. GSP crushed the exceptionally gifted BJ Penn and have stated afterward that the training he went through was actually way more tougher than the fight itself was. Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves is next in line to resonate a Challenge towards the Champion. The talented, passionate Brazilian established himself as a force everyone in the division must reckon with, harvesting considerate attention via the crushing of UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes in UFC 85 Bedlam and the sound beating administered to Josh Koscheck in UFC 90 Cote VS Silva.

The Heavyweights surely will render a memorable night, as well. Though the UFC debut of Lesnar did not turn out the way he hoped it would, he defeated Randy Couture in UFC 91 Couture VS Lesnar and emerged as the current UFC Heavyweight Champion. Frank Mir is the number one contender for the belt, coming off a truly impressive victory over Minotauro Nogueira in UFC 92 - The Ultimate 2008. Will Mir be able to stop the Beast once again, or, will it be Lesnar to emerge triumphant and claim revenge?

A middleweight showdown between former two times Pride! Champion Dan Henderson and Michael "The Count" Bisping is also coming your way. Coaching the latest season of the Ultimate Fighter reality TV show to date, Bisping managed to form solid motivation in rival coach Dan Henderson, invoking intact desire in the crafty veteran to administer a lesson for the Brit which won't likely be forgotten soon. Granted that the knockout Henderson guarantees won't cause memory loss for the The Count. Bisping promises a knockout, as well, stating that if Henderson has half a brain cell, - which, according to the Brit, is debateful - then he will come to the fight with the toughest traing regime behind his back. Neither fighter have been knocked out- or been knocked down before, and both seem very determined to dismiss this fact thoroughly.

Yoshihiro Akiyama VS Alan Belcher

Though Akiyama is a brand new face in the UFC, he is a crafty veteran of the sport who enjoys absolute superstardom in Japan. Akiyama, as a true icon in his home country, decided that he wants to measure himself up to fighters representing the most prestigious mma organization. Taking on Alan Belcher is a superb test to determine how the debutant's game relates to the general pace and style cultivated in the Octagon.

Akiyama looks pretty good in the first round, showcasing exceptional speed and a readiness to initiate. Belcher does a nice job evading the accurate assaults, delivering counter maneuvers effective enough to balance the match out again, as Akiyama shows no fear of being the aggressor. The American delivers an inadvertent kick to lower quarters, which, following a short recovery, is answered by the Japanese via a couple of effective connections.

Belcher delivers a chin shot to send the debutant to the canvas, yet Akiyama is back on his feet in a second, inviting the American to the clinch. The Japanese shines more while they are separating. Being aware of this, Belcher turns the heat on, goes for some risky attacks, including a kick, by which he finds his leg getting caught. The consecutive strike to the head by the Japanese, albeit not too powerful, proves to be enough to send the American to the ground via sheer momentum. Akiyama has the opportunity to administer a short sequence of ground and pound with mild efficiency, then the opening round comes to its conclusion.

In the second round, Akiyama quickly takes the fight to the ground and is able to hold the opposition on canvas height, yet he fails to deliver relevant damage or submission attempts. Belcher is able to escape from the ground while there are two minutes remaining from the round. These two minutes do see two warriors whom have little if any intentions to explode. The period comes to its end via a balanced stand up sequence characterized by a steadily average excitement factor, though Belcher is able to land some solid leg kicks on the Japanese icon during the last seconds of this period.

The match goes into the third and final round. Akiyama and Belcher are still hanging in there. The Japanese has a takedown he can not administer further damage from, while Belcher keeps punishing the left leg and goes away as the fighter who have dealt the more of the damage once the exchanges are over. The American even performs a quite impressive superman punch, bouncing off the fence and connecting, right during Akiyama is busy taunting his rival. Watch the replay though: it seems like Akiyama lets himself get hit deliberately. It seems to me like a gesture, stating: "come on, hit me, let the audience see how I take the best shot you have to offer." Belcher's unorthodox preparation for the move - the way he gains momentum via pushing himself up against the fence and sling-shooting himself from it - seems to solidify the legitimacy of this notion even further.

Approaching the conclusion of the round, the Japanese's left eye swells up to the point from which his vision probably is obstructed, yet he remains able to evade Belcher's attacks of finishing potentiality, including a devastating head kick attempt that fails to connect. The judges, much surprisingly, render their split decision in favor of the debutant, Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Dan Henderson VS Michael Bisping

Neither Henderson nor Bisping were knocked out before in their respective mma careers, yet both fighters do promise that they will introduce this kind of state for the other one. The first round - quite staggeringly - starts off with a standup period in which Henderson maintains initiative and efficiency. A short exchange in the clinch at the fence then occurs, yet it spots Bisping a man on whose body vicious knees are landing upon - thus the Brit does his best to escape, which seems acceptable by the American, as he himself is going for the KO. Surprisingly, Bisping goes for a takedown attempt at the end of the first round, but finds no opening at all to command the former Olympic wrestler to the canvas.

During the break, Bisping's corner warns the Brit that he happens to circle towards the right hand of Dan Henderson and he should definitely avoid doing so in the second round. The period in question greets two, seemingly patient warriors, yet it is hard to miss how Henderson charges his right hand, waiting to unleash one of the tremendous bombs that particular limb is deservedly notorious of. Though Bisping's defensive game seems sound in the second round of the fight, he has a hard time offering significant resistance to Henderson once the former two times Pride! Champion executes his actions of persistent initiative.

Then the American suddenly switches the gears up and keeps stalking the Brit with even more persistence, landing some precise shots to force Bisping either into a risky offense, or, into a focused defense which he could look an opening from to counter outward. All these developments, one might assume, cause Bisping to fight instinctively, since he starts to move to the left while being harassed by Henderson, despite the clear instruction from his corner that it is something that he should not do against the American.

Then, at one curious moment - Henderson steps into the position to land his bomb like there would be no power in the Universe that would want to pose an obstacle for that particular strike. And there is none, indeed. Not today. Dan Henderson lands his famous right hand bomb right on the chin of Michael Bisping. Though the Brit goes out could, Henderson moves in for the safety punch, - good measure punch, as Joe Rogan states during the replay - connecting on the grounded Bisping via converting his whole body weight into a strike of precision, radical beauty and ruthless efficiency. Henderson states in the post fight interview that he is not usually like this, but he wanted to shut Bisping up for some extre period of time - and he pulled this off masterfully today. Bisping fortunately regains his composure after a while, though he has no idea of what happened. An excellent performance from Henderson and there is chance that Bisping will come back as a better fighter, now having knowledge of defeat, which often is a more influential factor to shape a warrior than a win streak.

George St. Pierre VS Thiago Alves

The story of this Championship collision is largely centered around GSP's ability to take Thiago Alves down anytime the belt defender spots possibility and summons the related determination to wage the war on the canvas. Though the Challenger deserves massive credit for delivering a solid defensive performance against GSP for five five minutes round, the Champion's versatility and precision clearly outclasses the tool set The Pitbull have brought to the Octagon today. The fact that GSP have taken down Alves nine times, shows that the Champion had more to offer in all areas of the game. In order to be able to execute a consecutive takedown after a takedown that already have happened, one must be able to close the distance once again, let alone performing the takedown itself. This clearly shows that Alves could not offer maneuvers to surprise St. Pierre, in fact, the Champion remains equal threat in the standup, landing his trademark combination snippets that do connect both on the lower- and upper sections of the opposition. St. Pierre of course forms elegant advantage of his ability of taking Alves down, delivering effective punishment each time he commands the Challenger to the canvas. Though GSP's vicious ground and pound sequences do deal a solid amount of damage, credit is due to Alves for being able to keep up with the pace, enduring what gradually becomes a fight for survival with a composure kept relatively intact after the meeting.

The fight is an evident testament of St. Pierre's ever-improving skillset, those that already do seem to be over-the-top, as it is safe to say that Alves, whom GSP considers the toughest challenge he have faced so far, virtually could not offer any relevant threats during these five Championship rounds. Unfortunately, in the third round, GPS have suffered an injury and still he was able to command the game until the match have came to its conclusion. A conclusion which invites one to wonder: who shall be the next in line to challenge this truly exceptional, analytical and remarkably disciplined warrior? As of today: UFC Welterweight Champion George "Rush" St. Pierre has only one true rival in the UFC's Welterweight Division: himself.

Brock Lesnar VS Frank Mir

Though Frank Mir is in the best shape you have seen him in so far, Brock Lesnar quickly muscles the former Champion to the canvas and administers a massive dose of ground and pound through openings Mir is unable to cover with the immensely proportioned UFC Heavyweight Champion on top of him. The first round leaves Mir with a battered face which he puts a smile on going into the second, yet Lesnar shortly emerges as being unstoppable today, getting on top of Mir again, landing shots with such speed and impact that they could very well produce escape velocity if they were powering a rocket.

Referee Herb Dean wisely puts an end to the contest, seeing that today Mir has no chance of turning this around. Brock Lesnar retains his title, having his only loss thoroughly, convincingly avenged. The Champion decides not to get rid of the evidently intense emotions that motivated him during the training sessions and through the collision, thus Lesnar harvests pronounced despise from the audience which he seemingly could not care less about. Brutal dominance by the Champion, crushing Frank Mir via the sheer, ruthless utilization of the improbable anatomic proportions Lesnar commands with staggering swiftness and astounding efficiency.

UFC 100 - Making History was a great event. Thank you for reading this review of it and see you next time.

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UFC 97 Redemption Review

2009-04-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

A review of the mma event UFC 97 Redemption.

Anderson Silva Dominates Thales Leites in Tactical Battle

UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva emerges triumphant after his title defense against Thales Leites. It is the first time Silva had to go for the distance in the octagon, keeping the opposition under stiff control, suffering virtually no damage during the 25 minutes the collision lasted for. Many have criticized Anderson Silva's performance in UFC 90, when he could not showcase his arsenal due to a spontaneous knee injury suffered by his then-opponent, Patrick Cote. Though Silva finishes his rivals once he spots openings he can capitalize on, he refrains from taking evident risks just to please the audience. His performance today remains sober and relatively playful at the same time, as he is ready to outclass Leites in every aspects of the game, yet wisely avoids reckless attacks to give the experienced ground warrior opportunities to take the fight to low quarters, where the challenger possesses world-class level Jiu-Jitsu. The Main Event of the evening delivers a satisfactory tactical battle in which Silva reigns dominant in every round, yet the Champion is likely to face harsh criticism once again for not being as aggressive tonight as the Anderson Silva who stopped all opposition before the third round.

The Old Shogun Demolishes the Legend

UFC 97 Redemption marks the end of an era, as it is more than likely that Chuck „The Iceman" Liddell, one of the most dominant light heavyweights of mixed martial arts, will retire from professional level competition. Mauricio „Shogun" Rua was the most significant force in the Pride! days, but his UFC career did not turn out the way fans anticipated it to. Following two major knee reconstructions, Rua had a hard time to gain back his conditioning, resulting in an embarrassing performance against long time rival, 45 years old Mark Coleman. Liddell had a harsh period, as well, having four of his last five fights lost. The co-main event of the evening delivers a Shogun who seems to possess solid conditioning and a firm gameplan, landing efficient leg kicks on The Iceman who finds himself caught by a left hook that sends him to the canvas in the first round. Though Liddell tries to regain his composure, Rua is all over him and bangs out the TKO victory on the Legend.

Soszynski's Kimura vs Stann

Ultimate Fighter TV Show participant, nevertheless experienced MMA veteran Krysztof Soszynski utilizes his favorite kimura submission to greet Brian Stann in the UFC the bitter way. Soszynski takes the fight to the ground easily, completing his favorite kimura submission right after a near-successful first attempt.

Kongo Crushes Hardonk

Dutch sensation Antoni Hardonk is famous of having the most devastating leg kicks of present days mixed martial arts, it is of no surprise that French Colossus Cheick Kongo chooses to close the distance as soon as possible. Hardonk is willing to go to close quarters. While Kongo had major difficulties on the ground at the beginning of his MMA career, he seems to be more and more comfortable on the canvas. In the second round he is able to send Hardonk to the ground, where he punches out a stoppage on the Dutch with a rain of solid hammerfists.

Cane Greets Cantwell with Superior Power

Luiz Arthur Cane meets former WEC Lightweight Champion Steve Cantwell in an intense kickboxing battle. Cantwell has constant difficulty finding his range, harvesting moderate success in the second round of the bout. Cane though maintains the role of efficient aggressor throughout the remaining segments of the meeting, landing the more powerful attacks on the opposition. A decision win goes to Cane.

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The Wrestler

2009-03-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

Challenging Time Again

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Darren Aronofsky's latest installment, The Wrestler inspects human body and inherent spirit. Once you are in the wrestling show business where all focal attractions do demand a body of granite and a soul of masterfully mimicked super-dominance, then you and all your Fans know that your body can't quit on you. That it truly NEVER will. You are not a mortal, rather a super-product, a mythical phenom, a Demigod. Did you believe that? According to popular belief, even better/worse, experience: every body quits. That's why everybody quits. Uhm. It is a question of when, not a question of if. According to our current knowledge, at least.

Sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem concludes that not knowing the exact date by which a body quits on a mortal - makes the mortal an immortal. Cool design huh? Darren Aronofsky, on the other hand, decides to tell a tale using delicate Cronenbergian tones, though metaphor decides to bite this time, as opposed of whispering silhouettes of subtle thoughts into your masterfully sized ears.

The name of the game is rather straightforward here: this is good, old fashioned, raw cinematic narration without all the detail work Aronofsky is fond of using. Not this time though: the rawness of the environment - inner/spiritual and outer environment - this story unfolds in demands to place you in a position in which you could scientifically relate to the imminent/evident stench of colliding male bodies. The bodies that are criticized by many, having no clue with two lost holes in it about how demanding it is to do what these entertainers are doing. And there is no proper place and proper time to rest, either. The next match is always coming up, regardless how well the wrestler performed a couple of weeks ago. The protagonist of the story is in a constant escape. He escapes from a painfully blank, solitary reality on a match-to-match basis, exhibiting his run in front of the Fans, FOR the Fans. There is no quitting for the spirit, there is no quitting for the body, neither.

Mickey Rourke's portrayal of '80's Wrestling Phenom Randy "The Ram" Robinson is as close to flawless as you will ever care wishing for. This is a hardened, still-muscular, wrinkly soul in a hardened, still-muscular, wrinkly body. Body though ages, and the soul may remain playful. So eager to deliver. So ready to please the grateful Fans or to fuel the passion of everyday average haters. Does not matter.

What matters is: to be reacted to. Being reacted to is what defines a Star. Once reaction time is over: Stardom is over. When you finally check on your watch though to see if time indeed have passed you by, then there is the painfully blatant potentiality of a possible realization - shocking you to the very core, needles to say - that it just: had, indeed.

The film delivers solid humane drama as you witness a Randy Robinson who has absolutely NO ONE and NOTHING in his life. No one and nothing except the Fans, whom are distant admirers of a distant, pretty much mythological figure. They have zero relation towards- and interest in Randolph Robinson. A Superstar Wrestler is not a human, oh, come on, did you truly believe that they are? No. They indeed pack considerate charisma and consorting, absolutely amazing human autonomy, each blown deliberately to Larger Than Life, even Larger Than You Could Imagine size.

The point comes when Rourke's character has to face with the fact that his Over The Top Persona is no longer sustainable by the body his spirit is occupying. A spirit that is forced to be restless, a spirit that always have been forced to be restless, so it could generate profit in a ring that dictates rules by the amount of pain one signs on for. The film reveals necessary ignorance towards what the body would recognize as a comfortable pace, as result of the constant necessity to perform. The necessity to deny the – check this - reality of reality. Because only the Fans do represent the aspect of reality that the Wrestler lives and performs for.

What fuels this inner stance is the constant urge, even need, to force the body to function as that of a Superhuman. Rourke's character challenges Time, telling the Ultimate Conqueror that he is still capable of doing what he could do in prime times. Time accepts the challenge.

As mentioned, The Wrestler is solid drama. Raw and honest drama. The best aspect of the installment is that it remains entirely truthful to its main agenda of keeping these admirable qualities intact, non-tinkered with. The Ram's extremely scarce interpersonal relationships are portrayed precisely. A disappointed daughter is delivered as an acceptable aspect, yet, the relationship between Rourke's character and a prostitute acquaintance tells even more about the Ram. There is a scene in which the protagonist has absolutely no one to turn to, so he chooses to express his doubts and feelings towards his prostitute acquaintance. The woman's reaction is a perfect representation of how Rourke's character is situated in this world.

Aronofsky's newest delivery to date does not want you to drop your jaw in amazement, neither it wants to pick it up and put it in places a decent girl never even heard of. Instead, this motion picture delivers a thorough portrayal of a human state of saddening solitary and remembered, dim fame. The Ram remains a Fighter, nevertheless. A Fighter who has Faith, a Faith that remains Indestructible. You know what Faith is? It is the thing you lose if you did not even have it.

The Ram remembers joy, and there is nothing more sour than but the remembrance of joy. This particular remembrance comes to the protagonist as a persistent shadow, leaving us to wonder if is it but the shadow, or is it the tired flesh that tells us more honestly about who the Wrestler really is. A dim fame may always come back to haunt you in its full glory, once you start to long for it for the sufficient time and with the sufficient passion. The question is, which The Ram has to face with, as well: is it advisable to desire that fame again, or is it more fruity to let it go?

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Taken

2008-12-07T12:50:00.000-08:00

Who's Your Daddy?

In Taken, Liam Neeson gives you a former superspy who now faces very mundane issues. These are common, nevertheless quite warm and quite pressing questions like coming up with the right birthday present for her late adolescent daughter.

The superspy's family is split by the time we join in, Neeson's figure gets thoroughly embarrassed when the stepfather delivers his very robust and very alive gift to the girl. Now shame on you if you got the wrong idea.

The daughter shortly will approach his father with a request to let her leave the country for a while. Though Neeson is hesitant at first, - this is everyday average superspy functionality, a so called: "Factory Default" - he finally agrees. Her daughter shortly will be Taken - hence the title, I suspect scientifically - by remarkably bad Albanian people, but Neeson gets enough information from his daughter in those very crucial moments to start his own crusade for the beloved kidnapped.

Liam Neeson looks and feels highly credible in this acceptable spy flick, though it is more precise to regard the installment as an average action film with a lot of similar fights and a lot of similar facial expressions in it. Perplexedly, the spy characteristics of the film come from nowhere except Neeson's raw elegance and consorting charisma, if the movie would lack his presence, then the results surely would be remarkably shallow and utterly predictable. Though the case remains similar nevertheless, Taken at least tries to look for openings to make the narrative more interesting, and even manages to find some extra moments of bitterly sought novelty shocks along the way.

The main problem with Taken is - if this is a problem at all - that it satisfies happily with the uninventive action directions concerning flashy car chases and profound strikes to the face performed by skillful hands and bathroom sinks in rapid succession. Thank God it is not the same face all the time. One might seem to molest the depths of an amazingly deep ineptitude if to blame an action flick for delivering action.

The drawback of this style of narrative though is that you know you are free to steal a glance at your watch, - if you do have one, I never had - because Liam will kick all hostile butts and will have the woman in the end, too. OK, will have his daughter. From this point on, it is the redefinition of action is the least I would anticipate from such a classic recipe, but that, Taken does not deliver.

- Hey, it's SHANNON from LOST! You may want to reconsider saving her ass.
- Oh My God! YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!

At the end of the day, this film behaves more predictably as it approaches its own focal points in the narrative, but this is - sadly - normal behavior from present day action flicks. Initially, Taken is a film of solid acting and sane conflicts - from a narrative point of view - between its characters, but quickly will unfold to Luc Besson style car chase action, once the central conflict is introduced. I wouldn't call it a bad movie, though. I would call it a movie which Liam Neeson skillfully saves from being bad.

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Stalker

2008-12-01T03:33:00.000-08:00

In Beautiful Dirt They Pay

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Arkadi and Borislav Trugatsky wrote the novel Roadside Picnic in 1971, a fiction released to the public by the very next year. A work sewn of subtle inventiveness to confront quite substantial indications of an alien intelligence with the political-, and even spiritual considerations human society and individual must face with in spite of such an encounter. In Roadside Picnic, the aliens use Earth to get rid of certain stuff they prefer to keep elsewhere than their immediate surroundings, yet these packages have the trait of dramatically affecting the regions they land on. It is not sure nor it seems particularly important if these objects and apparitions are solely alien garbage-elements or items that were of effective use for their originators at some time - the fact of the matter is that all seem to manipulate the behavior of earthy reality itself in a certain vicinity. These vicinities are referred to as Zones. Each Artifact the aliens have left behind - creates such a Zone.

These regions necessarily get under political-, and finally, under military control, making them forbidden territories that are very hard to enter, but even more hard to leave from. Places known to, or at the very least: rumored to possess both the gravest of dangers and the most precious of treasures. As such, illegal trespassers are to emerge shortly, risking both their sanity and their lives either for loot, or for those more delicate findings the Zone is rumored to possess.

These scavenger individuals are called Stalkers. Scouts with knowledge about the Zone they are resident around. Science, of course, is massively interested in gaining relevant information about the Zones, being constantly baffled both by its findings and via the realization of its current incapacity to properly account the results and phenomenons it encounters.

Notice how this 1971 work of the Trugatsky brothers sketched out the fictional outlines of an eerie, yet evidently unconscious prediction of future real life events that occurred in 1986. Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, surrounding area: a region which is almost completely vacant, giving place to the two ghost cities of Prypiat and Chernobyl. The Zone that does exist in reality. The Zone that came to existence seven years after Andrei Tarkovski delivered his motion picture variant on the related textual fiction-originator by the Trugatsky siblings.

Tarkovski regards time as the most important tool a director has, pointing out that every single frame of a motion picture has an inherent time in it, a period the given frame or sequence of frames is worth showing for.

Time is both fond and abundant here, as it has a whole micro-world to showcase. The Zone is the place which houses the demons you create for yourself. Understands what you anticipate from it and acts accordingly.

You possess constant capacity to alter the way you perceive reality around you, and the Zone is the place that invites you to seek out the truth of this very notion. The Zone will serve your anticipations, punishing you if you feel deserved to be punished, or grant the most secretive wish of your soul if you sincerely feel you could get away with the inherent fruit or the inherent burden of that desire more deservedly.

- Aren't you afraid the bus will EXPLODE??
- I'm afraid it WON'T!

The roamers of the Stalker universe are usually either the most desperate or the most reckless individuals, yet, there is a very thin line separating these rigid, nevertheless playful categories. As the Stalker states: the Zone seems not to be too fond of "good" people, or "bad" people. It is more fond of "hopelessness".

What is hope? Hope is fragile conviction, but the promise of conviction and the promise of potentiality - waiting to have the chance of claiming a slice of reality to finally manifest in.

Once someone remains free of hopes that one's negative or positive preconceptions have strong enough of a validity/warranty to unravel unto consensus reality, - necessarily bestowing an influence on the fabric of things, - then the Zone is likely to be fond of that visitor.

Concepts are formed to give the inventor of the concept a more comfortable way to approach and perceive reality, yet, imposing the concept necessarily constrains reality and may prove to be a hindrance rather than benefit once the ultimate source of the perceived is scrutinized. By accepting- and worshiping certain beliefs, one methodically narrows oneself to observe reality with all kinds of boundaries mounted on the apparatus one commands. Believing is: expecting.

The Zone does not want to be expected.

The Zone demands that you throw your expectations and consorting hopes away, thus, similarly demanding that you exhibit the non-compromised capacity to be utterly surprised- and accept whatever events, apparitions or experiences the Zone chooses to cross you with. This is the place that demands you to RELEASE whatever you believed to be proper, and true. More strictly: it demands you to release yourself from yourself. Once you antagonize the Zone's demands, cheap kind of death is imminent - this is a quite faulty decision from the authors. It could have been more fun if the Zone would choose to release the ones freely if they prove to be incapable of releasing themselves. A life stained by the inner experience of not being able to throw away what is - probably falsely - believed to be the limit, is a much more miserable burden than the embrace of lazy, fat death is.

Stalker delivers you a Writer and a Professor, both having a profane crisis in their lives. Not the same crisis, though. It is like - they are having their respective crisis. They hope - heh! - that the Zone will yield them some answers on how to proceed with their earthy existences.

Stalker's dialog is packed with delicate spiritual material - sorry about that - to sink your grateful astral teeth into. The conceptualization of music: who, or what, and how recognizes the harmony of music, and why, and how does it induce pleasant vibes in you? What is the "you" that recognizes the pleasant vibe? Stalker states that Power and Hardness are companions of Death, while Weakness and Flexibility are the companions of Life. This observation recognizes Power and Hardness as unavoidable conclusions/possessions one could end up at/with, as one reaches Power and Hardness by determining what is beneficial and what is not for one, if one is to attain these traits. Thus one who is Hard and Powerful inevitably denied and/or threw elements of consensus away, thereby limiting oneself. Funnily enough, being Powerful and Hard are two limits right away, aren't they?

addendum: after completing this review, I discovered at the 15th of March, 2008 that Tarkovski was fond of Chinese wisdom by the Stalker days. The sacred Chinese text Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Pass 76 translates to this:

Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and
strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early
growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered.

Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of
death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.

Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces does not
conquer; and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms,
(and thereby invites the feller.)

Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that
of what is soft and weak is above.

Tarkovski implemented the message pretty much on a word-by-word basis, so it is absolutely acceptable, yet the act certainly may inspire you to read the rest of the entries as well. Here is the link in case you are interested:

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Tarkovski could not ever be bothered to deliver a motion picture output shorter and smaller than monstrous length and proportions, Stalker, fortunately, is no exception. A highly welcomed circumstance, as you can not have too much of a good thing, do not believe the hype.

- GOD, what HAPPENED to you!
- Huh? I'm around, I'm around.

Tarkovski recognizes the beauty of mud and dirt, or, to approach this seemingly controversial statement differently: this director shows you dirt, territorial neglect in such a calm, sober way that it becomes a thorough documentary of a place that has a blatantly powerful atmosphere to it. Beauty becomes neglect, neglect becomes beauty. The only thing that is really happening is that the Zone's blatantly powerful atmosphere gets recognized- and precisely presented to you. Tarkovski moves in this environment with the pace quite similar and harmonious to the mere rhythm of the region itself, including the strait, demanding lifestyle characterizing the surrounding settlements visitors are coming from.

Who is the Stalker here?

Stalker delivers quality character development. The Writer, offered by Anatoli Solonitsyn and The Scientist played by Nikolai Grinko are both doing a solid job of voicing a cleverly doubtful, and, oftentimes profoundly cynical intellectual and emotional stance towards existence in general, though all three men - Stalker: Aleksandr Kaidanovsky - have their own, quite cautious conceptualizations of the events that are likely to unfold and are worth preparing for on the road leading to the Goal.

There IS a Goal, indeed. A Room. More precisely: The Room. This is the place which fulfills desires, once reached. The two men will challenge each other, will even challenge the Stalker, forcing each one of the adventurers to express-, and to defend their respective attitudes/approaches they "hope" to cope with- AND within the Zone.

The Scientist reveals means he might be able to eradicate the whole Zone by. The Stalker gets frightened of this development - he wants to get a hold of the nuclear bomb the Scientist carries, - sorry for spoiling your enjoyment by the way - yet the Writer decides to defend the Professor instead of helping the Stalker to acquire the bomb. Why does he commit this? This is a very interesting question, which yields an even more interesting answer.

He probably does this because he believes that each one of them is entitled to have their very own agendas and attitudes represented in the Zone. Even a radical plan. All plans, all agendas the Zone is ready to give a place to. None of them should attempt to destroy-, or to question the legitimacy of any other attitudes or approaches. Only the Zone should judge, no man should. The Stalker wants to get hold of the bomb, so the place which is more important to him than his life, should remain intact. He confesses quite convincingly how he keeps everything of personal, intrinsic value here, a train of thought upon which he gets accused of pretending to be a God, a decision maker of who shall die and who shall live on this hectic territory, that which for he cultivates sentiments sewn of deluded selfishness.

By resonating the will to take the bomb away, the Stalker indeed exhibits the arrogant conviction that HIS faithfulness and personal attachment to the Zone should automatically "overwrite" the Professor's similarly legit conception and consorting plan of destroying the place. Loving and worshiping the Zone passionately - as the Stalker does - is a legit stance, but wanting to destroy it, IS a legit stance, as well. Denying the "right", the "spiritual right" to represent an agenda: is unacceptable. Either way, no Zone visitor is in the position to rightfully claim ultimate, superior legitimacy for her/his point of view, and for her/his agenda. The Professor actually has the legitimacy to blow the place apart, as much as the Stalker has the legitimacy to worship the Zone. The Professor can't neglect or destroy the Stalker's spiritual right to worship the Zone, but the Stalker can't take the bomb away from the Professor, thereby negating the spiritual right of wanting to destroy the Zone, either.

Stalker is a deeply spiritual output which plays on extremely atmospheric, high frequency registers when sensory assault is concerned, and it is concerned quite intensely in this here hypnotic effort. There is no pause, and here is why: the whole movie is a morose, prolonged pause. A moment to take a thorough look at the reflections this special Zone projects on the protagonists and on their respective agendas, also a moment to let you think if you would consider yourself prepared enough to enter this vibrant, capricious territory.

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UFC 91 Randy Couture VS Brock Lesnar

2008-11-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

Introduction

Mixed martial arts clearly became a significant form of both mass entertainment and - as Bruce Lee put it - an expression of the human body, the latter being, no doubt, the original field of operation of these ancient traditions, now living and breathing through competitive events around the world. Though many may consider men who enter the proving grounds little more than hired human pitbulls to rip each other apart for hard cash and radical amusement, I tend to utterly reject this rudimentary view, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself.

Japanese people compete to gain an insight of their own current abilities through the collision process of their skills with that of other's. To me, the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, uncompromised, pure respect each fighter deserves simply by stating themselves on the proving grounds, regardless of the results. The ensuing peace between fighters after a good collision is such a palpable, legit sensation that it never got old so far - and won't ever will.

This here is a review of the UFC event UFC 91 Couture VS Lesnar, time to punch that Read more button, baby!

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

Following a pause period stretching well over the duration of one year, and characterized by prolonged legal dispute against the UFC, Randy Couture is back to defend his Heavyweight Title. This warrior still considers his body integral enough to be exposed to top level mma competition, and, seeing his exceptional career with all the upsets he managed to pull off so far, he is the epitome of experienced will-breaker, as well.

Randy wanted to collide with Fedor Emelianenko, the UFC's incapability to arrange this, - among other things concerning sober relations between respect and payment - have largely contributed to Couture's decision of leaving the organization. Nowadays Randy does not think that Fedor VS Couture will ever happen, as there are too many legal obstacles in the way of such a fight. Let us see if this statement is a part of a convoluted marketing strategy or an expression of commitment towards the UFC, which, maybe, the organization demanded anyway. If I recall correctly, The Natural now has a six fights contract to fulfill. Coming back to the fray having his title defended against Gabriel Gonzaga in UFC 74 Respect, the classic question everyone will ask - including your dogs and cats - is this:

Could! The! Natural! Be! Able! To! Stop! This! Young! Super! Humanoid! Called! Brock! Lesnar! With! 45! Years! On! His! Back! ???????????

And those 45 years are on Randy's back, too. Real-life Incredible Hulk Brock Lesnar comes to you as a man who forgot to pull a leg off against Frank Mir, being granted with the question: tap or be lame largely literally. Upon his return though, Brock managed to stop Heath Herring in UFC 87 Seek and Destroy. The Beast states that he likes Randy very much. But, as of November the 15th, 2008: "I don't like Randy." Couture states that Lesnar poses some very interesting problems for him, as this humane mountain claims much more out of mere space-time than Randy does - not Randy's own words, me confesses - and he - Couture - feels massively challenged to deal with such a young- and exceptionally powerful competitor. Even better/worse: according to UFC President Dana White, Brock Lesnar is a psychotic competitor. One look in the eyes of The Beast and you can tell that White but stated the evident.

Kenny Ifinishfights uhm... sorry, Kenny "KenFlo" Florian comes back to us after handing a decisive loss to Roger Huerta in UFC 87 Seek and Destroy, now the mature competitor steps up against deeply upset Joe Stevenson who has a hard time digesting the circumstance that quite a few fans consider him to be an underdog in this lineup. He states that he will prove them wrong. Sure, shock us, Joe!

Demian Maia vs Nate Quarry

Nate Quarry, the UFC's most experienced dasher faces his toughest challenge to date by the night. Demian Maia, possessor of a flawless mma record is as lethal of a fighter on the ground as you will ever see, and he won't necessarily pretend that he is not. Maia always looks for the possibility to take the fight downstairs, even if it requires some tricks to rely on: it looks like as if Demain would slip in front of Nate Quarry early in the first period, but I am not sure if this was an actual slip or a "trick-slip" to make Quarry excited. Regardless of which variant is the actual one, Nate jumps on the Jiu-Jitsu master, seemingly failing to notice that either he just walked into the trap Maia set up for him, or he - Quarry - just managed to engage his opponent on the field that he is remarkably good on. Through a brief- yet rather effective ground session in which Maia is the spider and his opponent is the fly, Demian eventually soaks an arm in, forcing Quarry to tap out.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Josh Hendricks

I don't really understand this particular match. Josh Hendricks is Randy Couture's training partner who tried to imitate Brock Lesnar, that is OK so far. Josh Hendricks, I suppose, also was curious of how he could perform in the Octagon, and one must think that he asked Randy to put a good word for him. The Dana White must have nodded, as Hendricks is granted a UFC debut by the night, against none other than Gabriel "Big Nose" Gonzaga! Well, what could we expect if to put an enthusiastic random gym guy against a seasoned mma professional? Not sure about you, but I certainly would anticipate the seasoned mma professional to dispose of that enthusiastic random gym butt in 5 seconds - TOPS!

Gonzaga causes disappointment for me, as he needs one minute and one second - that is: 1:01, for your information - to destroy this poor dude, who is failing epicly at recognizing characteristics of the known Universe. Just kidding, of course: Gabriel deserves quality credit, as he asks for Referee Steve Mazzegatti's confirmation whether the supervisor wants to see consecutive bombs being unleashed on the downed opponent. This rite of tender compassion demands valuable seconds, mind you. Mazzegatti nods on those strikes of further punishment nevertheless, just to make sure that Hendricks got handed quite useful tools to conduct a thorough reality check with. Once the second strike of ruthless enlightenment connects, Mazzegatti jumps in to save the defeated.

The blow that was the beginning of the end is of further note here: not frequently you see a strike that has "ricochet potential" in it, yet, this one is among those rare punches: notice how the strike connects on the chin, then, slipping down, it affects the center of the chest, still packing such tremendous power that you can see the force of the impact departing through Hendricks's back. All in all, definite credit to Josh for taking this fight, more precisely: for taking that, and not changing his mind about it. Let us see if the UFC makes a habit of offering executions from now on.

Dustin Hazelett vs Tamdan McCrory

What's more funny than seeing a leprechaun performing in the Octagon? I'll tell you what: seeing two performing, even better: against each other. If I grasped correctly, Dustin Hazelett plans to be the most successful submission practitioner in the world, an agenda accomplished by rigorously focusing on this particular aspect of the game. This collision has a nice, furious character to it whenever the fight chooses to take place in these brief- yet fierce standup exchanges, though eventually the fighters find themselves on the ground. Solidifying his statement and intrinsic desire about being the most effective submission wizard in the whole wide world, Hazelett eventually offers a rather graphic presentation of high level limb molestation, earning him the w, let alone a significant building block he can place in his - utterly metaphorical - temple of submissions.

Randy Couture vs Brock Lesnar

The Natural still looks competent in the Octagon, which wouldn't be of particular news, not if the opponent would exhibit humane proportions and corresponding fighting style. Brock being more like a CG creation though, it isn't hard to be amazed by Couture's readiness to wage this war in a rather sober, but, to be quite honest with ourselves: Not. Particularly. Interesting. Manner. The name of the game is the "fence clinch" herein. I am sorry, I do not know if this common Octagon status has an official name- or nickname to it, therefore I will refer to it as the fence clinch. I refer to the status in which you see the rivals gripping each other at the fence, trying to find a way to express effective hostility. This is a relatively safe position to be in for a - khm, khm - "little while", as the posture itself is a combined question mark by which both fighter is asked what they are able to do, what they can come up with. Let me draw your attention to something, though:

the Biggerer the Duderers Arer Iner the Fencer Clincher -

the longer the clinch will be, subsequently, the more hard of a time you will have keeping your eyes open over the "action", as there will be very little of that at the first place. If any, that is. I remember the matches of Tank Abbot from the dawn of UFC. Oh my, what a complete waste of time those matches were! You roll the opponent to the fence, then spend the entire time of the fight constraining him there, hoping to steal some short range shots on the head or on the body. Even present day UFC is affected by this terrible phenomena: the match between Brandon Vera and Tim Sylvia from UFC 78 Validation is a sedative of brutal efficiency, for example. Vera will tell you that he broke his hand and that kinna' threw the gameplan away, well, I can relate to it. Meaning: I don't care, I kinna' expect you to deliver excitement with your hand kinna' broken, to be honest. Among other warriors, Forrest Griffin could do that. Randy Couture could do that. Not to mention that in an ideal world, I wouldn't have to gain information about Vera's broken hand from Vera.

Sorry for this detour. A massive portion of this here collision between Couture vs Lesnar remains faithful to these clinching at the fence traditions. Fortunately, some intense maneuvers do occur before these sequences, yet, though those are mainly in Brock's favor, they prove insufficient to put Couture away, but they are effective enough to take The Natural to a thorough dance at the fence. I recall Brock going for a successful takedown, - the attempt itself is an evident sign of respect towards The Natural's standup abilities - yet at one particular point, even Randy tries to go for one from the clinch, though eventually failing at bringing The Beast downstairs. When Brock seems to control the positions, Couture finds the wits- and experience to turn a dire situation around, succeeding at getting free of the hulking man's clinch, connecting with a precise strike to open Brock up above the brow as a significant goodbye-move to this particular sub-sequence.

You know what? I think Couture should not feel himself relaxed between rounds. More precisely: I think he should, but he should not express his relaxation openly. It brings bad luck to this man, trust me. Back in the earlier days of the UFC, Randy smiled enthusiastically after the first round against Ricco Rodriguez, and, indeed The Natural looked good in the opening period. Then he got battered. Now Randy smiles after the first period against Brock, and indeed he looks totally competent against the superhuman CG creature Lesnar terrifies you as.

In the second round though, Brock connects with a good shot to the temple, sending Randy to the ground whose head quickly gets subjected to the most furious trademark Donkey Kong session you could see from Brock so far: hammerfists after hammerfists raining down, eventually causing a Referee stoppage. Brock goes home as the New UFC Heavyweight Champion, it's nice to see Randy telling "Good Job!" to him, and it's interesting to hear fans BOO!-ing the former Pro Wrestler, who, after all, have proven himself considerably, second time now. We are to see if Brock Lesnar will be another Tim Sylvia, God, I hope he won't. I have nothing against Tim Sylvia either, yet I find Brock Lesnar to be a much more entertaining/interesting fighter/athlete and screen phenomena. I don't think the dude deserves the dislike factor he got upon scoring the belt. By the way, don't send this review to Tim Sylvia if you want to see a next one.

Kenny Florian vs Joe Stevenson

Well, I hope Joe Stevenson does not plan to open up a gallery to showcase how he taps out of rear naked chokes to different opponents. Now he has a significant addition to this particular performance. This match never reached a second period, Kenny Ifinishfights demands a tapout from Stevenson by effectively outclassing the passionate competitor. To tell you the truth, Stevenson did not even enter the Octagon, - worship metaphors, biatches! - no one did expect Kenny Florian, who states in the postfight interview that it is exactly what he wanted. He wanted to come here and make a statement. He wants BJ Penn's Lightweight Belt. He adds this: "I consider him the Master and I want to kill that Master."

Wohow. Kenny Florian is indeed a surprisingly good fighter, mainly because he approaches the game scientifically. Let us see if this proves to be enough to catch The Little Buddha red handed. But, never forget that it's not necessarily good news if you catch BJ Penn while his hands are red, you know. Or his elbows. Joe Stevenson and Sean Sherk have a whole lot, even a WHULLUT to tell you about this.

Aaron Riley vs Jorge Gurgel

Jorge Gurgel is an obsessionist, though such a word, as I notice, is not yet in existence. Gurgel's personal mania is that fighting is more entertaining to watch when the collision unravels in the standup position, so, regardless that he is a black belt jiu-jitsu practitioner, he prefers to remain on his feet, regardless how silly he gets beat to. This is a classic event, take heed and bear witness of the heroic effort of Jorge Gurgel, pretty much making a fool of himself by refusing to exhibit any will whatsoever to take this fight to the territories he might be able to win that on. You got to give credit for this fighter nevertheless for desperately trying to oppose a man who surpasses his - Gurgel's - standup abilities, but, to be honest, I am not sure what his plans are for the future. When someone beats him with his - Gurgel's - thorn-out arm, would THEN he be satisfied? He either needs to evolve as a standup warrior or needs to realize that the approach he is following now will never get him all that much far.

Of the remaining bouts, I did not bear much interest, therefore I wrap this up, having the focal points of the night accounted on. Hope you had a fine evening and found the review useful - thank you for reading it, and see you next time.

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The Bank Job

2008-11-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Brain Robbing

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To say that life is among the greatest storytellers, probably would be an understatement, especially when you consider that Roger Donaldson's latest motion picture delivery to date, The Bank Job, is based on true events that took place in London, 1971.

The frame of the buildup is rather intriguing: the British Government finds itself in an untenable situation, being incapable to arrest a certain individual without exposing the United Kingdom to grave developments that could lead to a revolt. As you may have guessed, this particular person maintains very effective blackmail potential over the British Royalty, and, as such: over its Government, as well.

Information suggests that the blackmailer, Mr. X probably keeps the blackmail photos in a safe deposit box of Lloyd's Bank, Baker Street, but the Royalty would never make a move for them, as they don't even possess knowledge of those outrageous photos, even worse: these highest circles probably would collapse on themselves if they had. The Intelligence Agency comes up with a plan. What they want to do is to set up a bank robbery themselves, so the hired/involved villains could take all the loot they want in exchange for the "Royal Portfolio", taken from the safe deposit box of Mr. X.

If this sounds implausible already, then those past real life events are eager to amaze the viewer further on: the robbery is indeed instigated by the Government, but a radio amateur accidentally intercepts the transmissions taking place between the robbers. He informs the Police of his continuous findings, and, no further emphasis is needed: a quite convoluted-, nevertheless absolutely logical narrative carnage of intersecting, overlapping agendas begins.

The fabric of the movie is that of a matrix of organic relations between interests, in which each one of these parties must figure out what-, and how to react, and, most importantly: towards who to react. Roger Donaldson creates and offers quality screentime in this dualistic narrative effort. A massive, initial portion is dedicated to the presentation of the arrangements taking place before the heist, yet the robbers will have but a harshly limited time to resonate joy beside their suspected loot, and this is the point from which on Donaldson switches gears and pushes the pedal to the metal.

Thankfully, the film does not want to be an action flick, the real fun, and, for some degree: the real challenge here is to remain in the game without losing trace of the happenings, though worry is not necessarily to be invoked if at first you fail to set one particular aspect of the rather complex buildup in place. The work of Dick Clement and Ian La Fernais - the interpreters of these real life events - definitely deserves multiple sit-throughs.

Fortunately enough, Bank Job presents you all its considerable intrinsic values through a top notch cast, focally characterized by the key role of Jason Statham, probably one of the ten most charismatic masculine phenoms you could see on the contemporary big screen. While beautiful Saffron Burrows, the giver of the tip renders an absolutely solid performance as a female sidekick, Peter Bowles delivers a very memorable, albeit, sorrowfully not too prolonged interpretation of the head of the Intelligence Agency. No sober man would want to cross this man's path without a fake nuclear bomb in the pocket. Let it be too.

Donaldson's effort surprises consensus as a brave enough installment to dismiss usual action-novelties and stale dialog patterns you heard a million times before, choosing instead to entertain the viewer with its flamboyant, cleverly convoluted storyline. Even better: you can't even place the term "fictional" into the latter sentence, or, at least, that wouldn't cover recorded events. As for these recorded events: all should be clear in 2054, as this is the date by which the British Government will grant public access to the documents concerning this case from 1971. You either choose to wait around for that date, or, you could always follow the witty suggestion the actual bank robbers formed as a message sprayed on the wall on Baker Street:

"Let Sherlock Holmes solve this!"

Solid engagement for the eyes, definite delicacy for the mind: The Bank Job invites you to hop on that van, as there is always a free place to take.

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UFC 90 Anderson Silva VS Patrick Cote

2008-10-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Mixed martial arts clearly became a significant form of both mass entertainment and - as Bruce Lee put it - an expression of the human body, the latter being, no doubt, the original field of operation of these ancient traditions, now living and breathing through competitive events around the world. Though many may consider men who enter the proving grounds little more than hired human pitbulls to rip each other apart for hard cash and radical amusement, I tend to utterly reject this rudimentary view, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself.

Japanese people compete to gain an insight of their own current abilities through the collision process of their skills with that of other's. To me, the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, uncompromised, pure respect each fighter deserves simply by stating themselves on the proving grounds, regardless of the results. The ensuing peace between fighters after a good collision is such a palpable, legit sensation that it never got old so far - and won't ever will.

This here is a review of the UFC event UFC 90 Silva VS Cote, time to punch that Read more button, baby!

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

Logically enough, consensus reality is yet to reveal a warrior who puts an end to the rigorous reign of current UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. How- and where logic comes in? Easy: if there would have been such man already - then Anderson wouldn't be the Champion - see? But he IS, and he certainly looks at the top of the mma game. The Spider is unstoppable ever since his Octagon debut, now giving a title defense to a passionate possessor of Thermonuclear Fists, a warrior who established himself as a force you got to reckon with via exceptional Octagon performances characterized by tremendous punishment resistance and steep willingness to knock rivals silly with one punch stopping power. This particular individual, Canadian crusher Patrick Cote earned himself the right of going for the belt by scoring a decision win over Ricardo Almeida in UFC 86 Jackson vs Griffin, arriving to his greatest challenge to date as a man who have never tasted the power of knockout yet.

Josh Koscheck is coming back to the wars, too. Relentless demonstrator, merciless carrier of the blond alien lifeform some - meaning: less paranoid persons - do fall in for, mistaking it for hair, Josh loves being hated by the audience, and he is considered by many as one of the best wrestler in the UFC. Amidst these many, you will find UFC President Dana White, as well. THAT man surely knows a good wrestler when he sees one. When Koscheck is not busy deconstructing Chris Lytle's uppermost organic features like he was back in UFC 86 Jackson vs Griffin, then he is perfecting his mma skillset with peculiar emphasis placed on his standup capabilities. Today he steps in on short notice as a substitute to Diego Sanchez, a man he handed his first loss to, also a man who was supposed to meet Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves, A.K.A. Epic Destroyer of Matt Hughes.

Sean Sherk vs Tyson Griffin

Given the similar fighting styles these two competitors do sport, a well balanced collision of decent pace and passionate exchanges should occur, and, this is a notion even reality considers as the most probable possibility by the night. Sherk looks more convincing at the respective ends of every single rounds, and, since this one goes for the distance, an eventual decision win is awarded for the Muscle Shark, setting him on a trail that might lead him back to title contention. A former Lightweight Champion of the UFC, Sean wasn't successful at reclaiming the belt against The Prodigy BJ Penn in UFC 84 Ill Will, yet the Sherk you saw today is a Sherk you would keenly put in front of The Little Buddha again. You know why? Easy: to see what happens, yes?

Fabricio Werdum vs Junior dos Santos

I had zero, zero and a little bit of zero idea yet about who Junior dos Santos is, though, from now on I will remember him thoroughly, no doubt. This here well composed Brazilian puts Pride! veteran Fabricio Werdum away in 80 seconds, scoring a remarkable knockout victory over the experienced contestant. To this day, I fail utterly- and epicly at my attempts of being impressed by the performances of Werdum that I have seen so far. To me, he seems a safety player, I hardly notice him in the Octagon, thus I confess that I feel rather satisfied by his devastating upset loss, and certainly hope to see a NEW Werdum with a hungrier, meaner, badder look in his eyes next time. Please just don't post this review to him AND me along with it before his next match. Kudos to Junior dos Santos for upsetting an individual, who, I think, wore a bigger head than he deserved by the night. Hey, you know what? Don't EVER tell Werdum about this review. My more serious stance though remains of hopes- and desires about seeing a Fabricio perform who wants to STATE something, and is about to state that radically. Looking forward to witnessing both fighters again.

Gray Maynard vs Rich Clementi

UFC Veteran Rich Clementi likes to break the will of the opposition, while his current opponent, Gray Maynard was pretty good so far at exhibiting JUST that. Gray already have built a solid reputation for himself by delivering convince power in the recent smaller events of the UFC, called the Fight Nights. Maynard handed Frank Edgar his first professional loss - practice how tenderly you can say: "professional loss" - now getting a Main Card debut - as results of rearrangements - against this here seasoned Veteran Rich "No Love" Clementi. Practice how tenderly you can say: "No Love."

The story of the fight is Maynard's ability to take Rich down every time he - Gray - wishes to, resulting in highly technical ground periods that may give you more and more solid impressions of a series of intensive stalemates. Personally, I think the match had an interesting character to it, seeing how effective Maynard was at denying chances from the opposition of expressing itself, though he wasn't exactly going for the kill, either. The Bully - that's the nickname of Gray - sure did bully Rich's sitorgan around on the ground for three stable rounds, and that is something that earned him the well deserved W. We may want to see this Maynard character against top level opposition - not that Clementi isn't that, but maybe he needed to eat this loss in to turn truly top level. The Bully harvests intense BOO! from the audience, the majority probably would prefer to see an Octagon painted in the tones of red. Maynard apologizes for not delivering a knockout. Apology naturally accepted as far as I am concerned, after all: an apology that you need to ask for is a compromised one, anyway. And I loved the match, too, which I do apologize for.

Thiago Alves vs Josh Koscheck

Watching this collision is a memorable experience as this one will ask you whether you see Thiago Alves winning this fight - or do you see Koscheck losing it? This is the first time I saw Josh Koscheck in grave danger, - and it was HIM being in it, not me, either - even on multiple occasions. Alves' s strikes have serious power and pixel precision, a left hook buckles Koscheck to the ground - why, what were you thinking? - who though is saved by the considerable punishment resistance he wasn't forced to rely on lately. Or at least not publicly. Or at least I wasn't aware. Or at least you're getting my point, right? Alves wants this win more aggressively than Koscheck does, commanding the seasoned Professional to take the role of the Intensely Stalked, while Thiago himself demonstrates keen readiness to showcase his stiff mma skills as your utterly solid, relentless Stalker. A massive portion of the bout is characterized by a series of highly effective leg kicks thrown by the Pitbull, softening up Koscheck enough to do battle against a - shall we say? - puzzled- and relatively frustrated variant of the same fighter.

Koscheck does not look good getting owned, and he knows that. He expresses in the prefight interview that he hates to lose more than he loves to win. This here loss he suffers is a precisely- and thoroughly administered one though, Alves triumphs in a clear, smooth, decisive fashion. A trite, and nevertheless very wise - bleheh! - notion of mixed martial arts is that the mere impact of a serious loss may prove to be a radically influential factor on a warrior's career. Koscheck's previous loss was against current UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre. That particular loss made an evidently better fighter of him, - of Josh, though maybe of GSP, as well - now we are to see if he can undergo Yet Another Transcendental Experience and come back after this loss to Thiago Alves as a better man.

As for the Pitbull: this dude has my pure attention and admiration ever since he destroyed Matt "I got more knowledge than him" Hughes. Now Alves have spoken more lines in the language of sober ferocity, stating that he is not just ready, but should be put into veerry warm title contention as soon as possible. If you say this kid isn't ready to face GSP or the Little Buddha: then you are a representative of his insurance company. I know this joke did not work. Not on me, at least. Sorry, sometimes you need to offer jokes that do not work, so a consecutive one, which though has a chance to harvest honest laughs, might propel you into amazing distances - worry about the direction at the proper time, at the proper place. And NEVER offer the working joke when they anticipate you to! See? SEE??!!

Anderson Silva vs Patrick Cote

The main event of the night had a very tense, and, as such: evidently pleasant character to it. The exquisitely beatiful feeling out process naturally invites a small minority - deliberate redundancy - to resonate their private misery by reciting the consensus mantra of it, but the Champion commands them to switch emotional channels once he demonstrates his trademark explosiveness on Cote's amazing blocking skillset! To be precise: the Canadian is brave enough to defend a stupendous flying knee with his nose! I always liked Cote, now my admiration increased even further, as this man surely has a granite chin attached to a gameplan, let alone the two solid Thermonuclear Fists to back those up with. Unfortunately, these two great athletes did not reach the conclusion their lineup already deserved by he night. Following two suspenseful rounds in which both Cote and Silva exhibit a willingness to unleash intense assaults of considerable risk factor, they do remain deeply dedicated to conserve energy to the later periods, too.

The Canadian starts to write history: he takes the Champion to the third round, an accomplishment on its own, as Silva never entered the third period before since his UFC days. This is something that even the fabric of reality must give a reaction to - let alone the right knee of Thermonuclear Fist Patrick Cote. Unfortunately, an old injury decides to show its hideous face around, putting an immediate end to this contest. You can see Cote's right knee pop as he jumps on his feet. The fighters, the audience, the Joe Rogan and the reviewer who writes this are all disappointed. But none of us shall be: the match had such evidently promising qualities that it will be re-organized again, it is, if I am not mistaken, official. I read at the absolutely übertacular mma site Sherdog that Anderson Silva is targeted by the UFC to collide against Chuck Liddell. Hmmmm, even a HMMMMMMMMM! A clever decision by the organization, and here is why: defeating Anderson Silva is the most effective, most convincing option Liddell may take the position he was looking quite good at with, that being: the image of The Iceman who fights on an entirely different vibration level than the casual(ty) mortal does, thus, the Iceman destroys your ass if you do not step away. Funny part is: that there is no funny part. I'm a huge Chuck fan, and I think he was looking very good with this image. Hell, he was looking so good with it that Rashad Evans himself did not believe that he could knock Chuck the BEEP! out, and, when he did, poor dude - Rashad - almost felt sorry- and embarrassed about his stupendous accomplishment. "Sorry guys, I know I shouldn't have done that."

Of the remaining bouts, I did not bear much interest, therefore I wrap this up, having the focal points of the night accounted on. Hope you had a fine evening and found the review useful - thank you for reading it, and see you next time.

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Righteous Kill

2008-10-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

Radical Liberty

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Director of Righteous Kill, Jon Avnet is coming back to you shortly after he delivered 88 Minutes, the biggest mistake Al Pacino ever committed so far. Giving his face and name to that movie was a shocking development in the fabric of the known Universe, also it was one by which sanity performed an almost fatal illegal operation, thus a restart was unavoidable.

Now amazing Jon Avnet convinces yet another Big Gun to star in his latest, and - logically - freshest direction along with Al Pacino, who decides to stuck around to see if he can erase THAT 88 Minutes from his mind. Certainly you could help us doing the same, Al. If I recall correctly, Robert De Niro had/has a reputation of never turning down a role he is asked to play, either. He certainly had some shocking deliveries, like Showtime, where Eddie Murphy and him were supposed to be funny for 90 minutes. Thank the Upper Heavens it wasn't 88, though.

Fortunately, the results of De Niro and Pacino teaming up again since times immemorial makes for a solid crime story, with stable elements of murder mystery added to it. Many do claim that Righteous Kill writer Russell Gewirtz redefined the term: predictability with his work, but I tend to disagree: Gewirtz's narrative actually has a subtly playful fabric to it. Surely, you can announce yourself the Bad Enough Dude if you rip it apart, yet the plot works quite fluently if you let it to, dismissing the constant urge of thinking about where it might unravel to.

According to observations, no one, or at least very few is getting any younger, those of the latter class even seem to choose to stay away from showing themselves around for too long. The days by which De Niro and, particularly Pacino, could deliver credible action-oriented roles, are numbered. De Niro still has- and always will have the 1976 Taxi Driver Psychopath in himself, that adds an ageless quality to his persona, Al, on the other hand, lives- and acts on the respective shadows of his tremendous charm and passion, similarly timeless qualities that would be still present, in case Al wouldn't spend most of his time making everybody sure that they are still present.

Mannerisms are noticeable in Righteous Kill, but, you know what? I don't mind at all, I love to see Pacino and De Niro demonstrating the "best mannerisms" they think they possess. After all, why show a bad one of those, especially with millions of people watching. Fortunately, the script is aware- and fluent enough to offer relevant dialog work and corresponding screentime for both of these actor giants, while the supportive roles of Carla Gugino and popular/notorious American rapper 50 Cent are of further significance. Carla Gugino is an eloquent lady in real life, something that does not prevent her from committing brutal moments of overacting in this particular motion picture. At least this gives you something to remember her by. 50 Cent is great, since the character he plays is absolutely compatible with the Hip Hop culture 50 Cent is an essential part- and even noted representative of. Human Bull Brian Dennehy will be here, as well, to deliver his trademark Don't Even Try To Get Wise With Me, Boy! look. Here it is, as it is appearing in Righteous Kill:

Sorry, wrong order. This is the

- You Trying To Tell ME About Proper Roastbeef, Boy?

look. Let's try this one more time:

- Don't Even Try To Get Wise With Me, Boy!

Thank you Brian, you still have it, man! Sometimes the story is present in a movie only to make you/let you wonder where it is hiding. Fortunately, it plays an essential role in Righteous Kill. The buildup revolves around two cops, yet, one of them has a tendency of losing it, more precisely: he sometimes loses it, and loves losing it. Righteous Kill shares primal similarities with the classic movie Seven and its now-myriad variants.

The mutual prime element of these films are the mysterious punisher character who ruthlessly regulates sinner- or hedonistic butts according to the standards of a - given or invented - moral code. The nice thing about standards is that you can find one behind every single bush you encounter. The narrative here is quite similar. Righteous Kill focuses on a couple of crimes and their - closely - related criminals, whom, according to the punisher character, did not get satisfactory sentences for their misdeeds. The proper sentence the punisher cop is really fond- and keen at giving is: death, naturally. But not naturally.

Righteous Kill bears similarities with the great series Dexter, as well. The serial killer protagonist of the buildup in question needs to kill to satisfy his endless urge to do so. As Japanese people say: to live, you need to eat. So you eat, to keep on living. As with Dexter: to live, he needs to kill. So he kills to keep on living.

The peak sequences of Righteous Kill are very precious, but also are very short. Not a factor to blame the movie with, though. Their shortness is absolutely acceptable, even fruity, as their abruptness delivers an extra field of operation, making you realize that you just witnessed how the former dilemma of a lifetime informs you about having found the darkest answers. Having found the darkest ones - and loving them. You know what makes the darkest answer easy to spot? They are the ones that are frighteningly logical, and the punisher cop will paint HIS answers frighteningly logical, as well.

This protagonist character of Righteous Kill faces with the dilemma of how to handle his inner sense of justice when he sees it being totally ignored. The cop expresses that he always loved to kick the ass of rapists, bullies, video game designers and the likes, and he never could get away with seeing THEM getting away. Two options are given: first, be the good guy all the while, and see what THAT reality collides you with at the end of the line. Refused to take a peek? The punisher cop will tell you what prize is up to you: a handshake from the Mayor and your name engraved in a **** silver placket. The punisher cop refures to thread along this path. He chose to create a reality that offers much more satisfactory rewards than that - but all decisions come with a price.

In order to make this reality effective, the punisher cop must claim the radical liberty to take the position of one who properly judges and ruthlessly administers. Once again: the punisher cop is being asked how to handle his inner sense of justice when he sees it being totally ignored. The answer is to serve it anyway.

- Hey... hey... just... like... once, you know?
- .... what do you mean... just...o...once.....

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