I saw an article on East Side Boxing which talked about the fight between 48 year old Ray Mercer, and 300+ pound Tim “The Maniac” Sylvia. The fight only lasted 9 seconds before Mercer knocked Sylvia down like he was felling a tree.  Of course I am a fan of MMA, and not that much of boxing, but this does not make the MMA world look like the best of the best.  The fight is posted on YouTube, and you can check it out here.  It’s only 12 seconds, so it’s worth checking out.  Pretty pathetic performance by Sylvia (if you ask me).

There must be an election coming up because Bob Reilly seems to be pulling out all of the stops to make sure that he does everything possible to make sure Mixed Martial Arts does not come to New York.  Bloody Elbow quotes Reilly as saying:

“There is overwhelming, widespread opposition to [MMA],” Reilly says. “Many of my constituents come up to say, ‘You’re doing the right thing. How can we have this?’ It’s a violent sport that is harmful and damaging. Violence begets violence. It helps create a culture in our society of domestic violence, of bullying, of violence against gays, of illegal gun use. It’s the job of state legislatures to pass laws against that sort of stuff, and then we put something like ultimate fighting as our form of entertainment?”

Reilly has made weak comparisons to violence begetting violence and MMA in the past, and he continues to do so.  In an article written by Ben Fowlkes for Sports Illustrated Fowlkes asks Reilly, “…harming your opponent to the point of unconsciousness is one of the ways you win a boxing match, isn’t it?”  Reilly’s reply is, “It’s not a stated goal, though.”

Again, I repeat from a previous post, one of boxing’s stated goals is harming your opponent to the point of unconciousness.  I am not understanding how Mixed Martial Arts has anything to do with domestic violence, bullying, violence against gays, or illegal gun use.  This guy is a joke.  He must have a weak agenda because he can’t find anything better to fight for.

In an article written by the Associated Press’ Jim Armstrong and found on Google News, Armstrong reports on Jose Canseco’s fight against the Korean giant Hong Man Choi.  Canseco was very unimpressive in I guess what would be called a debut pro fight.   In some ways I can’t believe that anybody even wants to watch Canseco fight, unless it is just to see someone beat the crap out of him.  In the article Armstrong reports that Canseco admitted he “needs the money.”  If you are interested in the video, you can watch it here:

What kind of joke is it when you are so stupid you ruin your career over steroids, drag everybody you know into the mix, spend the enormous amount of money that you made as a pro baseball player, and then make a weak attempt at fighting cause you “need the money.”  In some ways I feel like I shouldn’t even be blogging about this because Canseco is such a fool, and to write about it just gives him more credibility, but it does feel good to verbally abuse him, in some odd way.  What is the saying, “the pen (or keypad in this case) is mightier than the sword.” 

One thing that gives me solace is the fact that on May 8, reports were made that Canseco called a press conference to gloat about Manny Ramirez being suspended for 50 games over something that Canseco was probably illegally involved in, and nobody showed up!  Well, I should give him some credit, one reporter did show up.

In a great fight between “Sugar” Rashad Evans and Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, Machida was able to again win both rounds of the fight, and take the belt from Evans, who was defending it for the first time. Machida was on his game tonight. He is definitely showing the Karate (at least Shotokan) is nothing to sneeze at. Machida dominated both rounds. Round one was basically slow for the first half, Machida throwing a couple of really solid kicks to the body of Evans, but when Machida decided that he had found his opening, get out of the way, cause he was like a raging bull going through Evans. He would strike Evans in the face with viciously fast blows, and it seemed like he had “The Force” when Evans would punch or kick, because Machida would just move out of the way, and continue his domination.

Round two proved to be the greatest part of the fight. Machida saw his opening, and when he struck he rattled Evans, knocked him down, and unlike many fighters who throw and couple more punches, and their opponent is able to back off and recover, Machida kept coming. He saw the opening and kept pushing, finally landing several punishing blows, one of which caught Evans in the jaw with his mouth open: Lights Out!

Machida is beginning to appear to be like one of these guys that is invincible. His fighting stance is very strange, he does not lean forward at all like most fighters, but almost leans back, making it harder to judge the distance and get in on him. He is also very fast. His head movement, and his striking with both his fists and feet are lighting fast. It’s as though he knows what his opponent is going to do, and is ready to react before they are able to do it. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has said that Machida is a boring fighter, but tonight he proved to be very exciting, and he is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

The Hughes vs Serra saga is finally over. After 3 rounds in the octagon, I think we finally know who the better fighter is, although it was hard to tell from round to round. I will admit that I picked Hughes as the winner from the beginning and when in round one, Serra headbutted Hughes on the right side of his jaw, and appeared to have knocked Hughes out. He fell to the ground and Serra attacked, but Hughes was able to fend off his blows, get back to his feet and recover. The second part of round one gave Hughes a chance to pull his head together and get back in the game. Hughes definitely took the second round with a great take down, and dominating from the top. The third round was again a close one, with Serra surprisingly taking Hughes down in the last part of the round, and was able to keep him on his back until the last 10 or 15 seconds of the fight. Both Hughes and Serra were gracious to each other at the end of the fight, including giving each other a hug, and Hughes raising Serra’s hand into the air. Serra obviously thought he had won the fight, getting ready to raise his hand at the decision, but Hughes was able to take home the win.

I found this 10 minute promo video for UFC 98. The fight between Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans is going to be a great matchup. Both undefeated fighters, Evans defending his belt, Lyoto wanting the belt so bad he can taste it like his own urine. Although it is going to be a great fight, the one to watch is Hughes vs Serra. This shows a little of the bad blood. The entire promo on Spike which was shown tonight, really shows the bad blood between the two. This weekend’s UFC is going to be a great one!

What is the deal with Matt Hughes and Matt Serra! UFC showed the UFC 98 Countdown: Evans vs Machida tonight on Spike. I think it is interesting to hear Serra say how Hughes is so arrogant, and rude to other people around him, when he is the one talking so much trash on the UFC 98 Countdown. What is up with that guy. He talks about Hughes being so arrogant, but his attitude is the same thing. What a hypocrite.

I don’t know either guy, but Hughes is much more classy (at least on the things that I have seen) than Serra. Serra says in the preview that he believes he is the better fighter. Well, he can believe he is the better fighter all he wants, but his record and experience don’t show that. He acts like Hughes is some sort of slouch, and he is going to put the beat down on him. Hughes is 43-7-0, has been in the UFC for 10 years, and is a world champion wrestler. Serra is 16-5-0, has held the belt one time, and could not defend it. Isn’t there a saying: “You’re not a champion, until you defend the belt.” Well he could not defend the belt. For as much trash as Serra talks you would think he is the reigning champion.

There is no love lost between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. Talk about two guys who like to talk trash about each other. As I have said before, this is like high school where two guys really just despise each other, and decide that they have had enough, and it’s time to show who is best. This is going to be a great fight!

Although I think that Serra (16-5-0) is a good fighter, especially to get in the UFC where he is at, and to have fought some of the best fighters in the world, I don’t think he is of the caliber of Matt Hughes. How is it said, “you are not the champion, until you are able to defend the belt.” Serra was never able to defend the belt.

Hughes has a phenomenal record (43-7-0), has competed at the very top levels in wrestling and MMA, and was able to hold the belt for more than one fight, against tight competition. This video shows the bad blood, and although Serra makes attempts to show that Hughes is arrogant and cocky, the same could easily be said of Serra. Isn’t that part of the fight game, the mind tricks and the arrogance prior to a fight.