Spilled Bag of Fights: Sour Grapes

 Posted by at 6:47 PM  Spilled Bag of Fights  2 Responses »
May 092011
 

So, my Twitter homeboy and friend of the site, Dan “Dannyboy” Downes fought a tune-up fight outside the UFC this Friday. Regarding his opponent, I’m not gonna give this chump any more press by mentioning his name but he has a name that sounds like a supplement you’d get at GNC. Anyway, before this fight I was curious if this dude had a Twitter account. We all know Dannyboy is the tweet zen master so I was curious if this guy had a Twitter and would mention anything about the fight. Well, he did mention it… he also seemed to have no idea how to use Twitter. Seems he had some sort of weird beef with Jens Pulver and kept calling Jens out -but not by using the @Jens_Pulver that would allow Jens to see it but rather just tweeting and,  I guess,  hoping that one of his dozen or so followers would pass it on. What a goof! Continue reading »

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Strikeforce “Fedor vs. Silva”: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

 Posted by at 8:46 PM  Features, MMA News, UFC  1 Response »
Feb 132011
 

Antonio Silva (right) was by far the biggest winner in last night's Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva card, TKOing top heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko (left) in the main event. (Photo courtesy of Esther Lin and Strikeforce)

Strikeforce launched its World Heavyweight Grand Prix last night to the eager cheers of one of the largest crowds it has ever hosted. The night was filled with exciting barn burners including a main card that opened with four straight first round finishes and ended with what many are viewing as the biggest upset in modern MMA history. As a whole the card was an overwhelming success and did its job of hyping the casual fan base for the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix magnificently. It brought all the ingredients of a fan pleasing MMA production to the table with big names against big underdogs, fast paced casual fan-friendly brawls, bouts which displayed that higher level of technical precision that awes the pundits, big finishes and even bigger upsets. However, it is not all wine and roses for the San Jose-based promotion. One of their biggest drawing fighters announced his potential retirement after being knocked out of the tournament along with another fan favorite, there were a few close calls from the referees that could have easily caused a controversy, and their commentary was even more painful than usual. There are always ups and downs with every fight, so to help sort them out MMA Gospel presents The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Continue reading »

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Spilled Bag of Fights: Phoning It In

 Posted by at 9:05 PM  Spilled Bag of Fights  3 Responses »
Jan 102011
 

Okay, Spilled Bag of Fights… here we go… Aesop Rock on the iTunes, coffee, vanilla cream cookie. Wait. Looks like we could use a refill on the coffee – hold on… Okay. Spilled Bag of Fights. Here we go… I’m writing this fucking thing on Notepad. I’m in exile, you see. No, not exile… I’m a refugee. Did I spell that right? I dunno. Fucking Notepad doesn’t have spell-check. I should just write this in e-mail…

Okay, here we are in e-mail. So, anyway, I’ve very specifically avoided writing much about me, the guy behind the bag, and try to keep it pretty focused on MMA. And since this is ostensibly an MMA wrap-up column, what better time or platform to ramble on about things that have nothing to do with MMA? Such as the fact that my room in my apartment in LA is uninhabitable due to a combination of a leaking roof and a week-and-a-half of straight rain. So, I’m in Las Vegas visiting Moms and unsure what to do next since the landlord seems to think I should pay the same amount of rent for an uninhabitable apartment as one that fulfills one of the basic requirements of a shelter – i.e.: fucking SHELTER! My contention is that if I wanted a leaky, moldy shelter, I could probably fashion one from some plastic and a cardboard box behind the auto parts store. Sure, I’d miss some of my favorite TV shows and MMA but no one would expect rent for it. So, as I wait in Vegas to find out what the response is to my “How about I don’t pay for what I’m not getting?” offer, I sit down nonetheless and write a Spilled Bag of Fights, for you, loyal readers. For you. Now, when I call the column “Phoning It In”, it’s partially because I don’t have much to write about but also a clever play on words since I asked you guys on Twitter what to write about and I put your suggestions and my responses at the end of the column… like you were phoning in… heh?! See what I did there?? eh? Continue reading »

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Counting Out Ken: Why “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” is Far From Done

 Posted by at 10:10 PM  MMA News  11 Responses »
Oct 042010
 

Ken Shamrock damages Don Frye's ACL with a heel hook in what was an outstanding performance despite the loss. (file photo)

It’s been a long hard road for “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock (27-14-2).  From his first appearance against Masakatsu Funaki (39-12-1) at Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 1 in September of 1993 to his recent dismantlement by “The Rock” Pedro Rizzo (18-9) at Impact FC 2: The Uprising in July of this year, Ken Shamrock has faced 31 separate opponents ranging from the legendary Royce Gracie (14-3-3) and “El Guapo” Bas Rutten (28-4-1) to modern era superstars “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz (15-7-1) and ”Ace” Rich Franklin (27-5).  He has recently fallen on hard times, however, dropping five of his last six outings and posting a meager 3-8 record since the turn of the century.  This has led many fans and journalists to implore the UFC hall-of-famer to hang up his four-ounce gloves for good.  Shamrock sees it differently. In fact he believes the exact opposite.  He doesn’t believe that he should stop fighting, he told Sherdog.com that he should fight more…and I, for one, believe him. Continue reading »

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Wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, and the Lack of Solid Striking in MMA Part 2

 Posted by at 10:25 PM  MMA News  2 Responses »
Sep 192010
 

In part one of this article, I explained the basic errors in the current stand-up training of the vast majority of MMA strikers.  In part two I will cover how it is a direct result of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Olympic wrestling.  It’s no news to anyone that the first four American MMA events, UFCs 1-4,  were basically an advertisement for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  Royce Gracie (14-3-3) faced a group of hand picked opponents, many of whom had no business being in the ring at all.  The result was Royce winning several fights by submission, fights that couldn’t be stopped by the referee until UFC 3.  Starting with Kimo Leopoldo (10-7-1) in UFC 3, “The Giant Killer” Keith Hackney (2-2) and “The Beast” Dan Severn (95-16-7) in UFC 4 and finally “The Worlds Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock (27-14-2) in UFC 5, the way to defeat Gracie Jiu-Jitsu became apparent.  Either keep it standing as Hackney and Kimo tried (Kimo tried to stand out of the guard the entire bout but Royce kept a death grip on his hair to prevent it) or smother it with solid top game and game and small ground ‘n’ pound as Severn and Shamrock (successfully) tried.  It is also important to note that though Royce defeated Kimo, Keith, and Dan, he failed to finish any of them quickly enough to avoid the end of a round in the modern rules.  UFC 5 started the reign of the wrestler in full as Dan Severn dominated the entire field and Ken Shamrock shut Gracie down a beat him to a pulp for 36 minutes.  Over the next several tournaments, we saw it continue as strong collegiate wrestlers like  “The Predator” Don Frye (20-8-1), “The Hammer” Mark Coleman (16-10), and “The Smashing Machine” Mark Kerr (15-11).  Successful skilled strikers like “Mo” Maurice Smith (13-13) and “The King of the Streets” Marco Ruas (9-4-1) got lost in the mix, with the only credit for being a dangerous striker being given to one punch brawlers like “Tank” David Abbot (10-14) and “The Polar Bear” Paul Varelans (10-9) neither of whom managed to win a title in any organization or put together winning streaks of more than two fights in their careers.  Let’s explore why this happened. Continue reading »

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The Legend of Ken Shamrock: 5 Fights Every Fan Should See Before Running Their Mouth

 Posted by at 9:50 PM  MMA News  No Responses »
Jul 222010
 
Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock

Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock post-fight

Let’s all get together for MMA story time:

In the beginning, four men sat in the locker room of a Japanese pro-wrestling show contemplating the validity of Japanese shoot fighting’s oldest principle: nobody will ever pay to see real fights; they come for entertainment, not reality.  A year later, on September 21, 1993, they formed a promotion to test this principle.  The result was an organization where the best kick boxers, catch wrestlers, and shoot fighters of the day would meet in a bout that followed the rules of worked shoot fighting but an actual combative competition.  They called it Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling.  The four men were Masakatsu Funaki (39-12-1), Minoru Suzuki (27-20-1), Yusuke Fuke (16-29-3), and “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock (27-14-2).  This was the birth of what we call mixed martial arts today.  Three months later, just four days after competing in the third Pancrase show, Ken Shamrock became arguably the biggest star of the first UFC.  Despite a loss in the semi-finals to Royce Gracie the fans were drawn to the chiseled features and movie star persona of “The Worlds Most Dangerous Man.”  This is just a small piece of the history of the man who was arguably the most important fighter in history of MMA. Continue reading »

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