Spilled Bag of Fights: SCC 4!

 Posted by at 1:05 AM  Spilled Bag of Fights  No Responses »
Feb 192012
 

Dominique “Fallen Angel” Robinson is the man. We’ve had him and his friend and training partner, fighter James “9 Knuckles” Chaney on the radio show and they were both awesome cats. I’ve kept in touch with them on Twitter and when I heard they’d be out here in Vegas for Dom’s fight with Anderson Silva’s student Paulo Bananada at Superior Cage Combat 4, I had to go. The rest of the card had some impressive names too – like UFC vets Kendall Grove vs. Jay Silva in the main event.

Anyway, the kind folks at SCC gave me a press pass, despite my frequent assertions that I’m not a journalist. Hey, I’m better than a journalist; I’m a social media juggernaut. In fact, to their immense credit, when I offhandedly suggested via Twitter that they give a ticket to my Twitter friend and ammy fighter Jeff Wright, they did! All he had to do was live tweet the event and keep me company… and buy me a beer. Those last two were my stipulations. And for the record, he only lived up to the first two. He still owes me a beer. Continue reading »

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Spilled Bag of Fights: Guys that WAR!!!

 Posted by at 6:17 PM  Spilled Bag of Fights  2 Responses »
Aug 152011
 

So, here it is. Monday. I sit down to write a “Spilled Bag of Fights”. Black coffee, Black Sabbath and my pup by my side. Deep breath. Man, what a roller coaster of a weekend for MMA… for me at least.

First off, I’d be remiss if I didn’t pay condolences to coach Shawn Tompkins. I didn’t know him personally but he’s obviously had a great impact on his students and the sport and his death comes way too young. Sad for his friends, family, and MMA.

Let’s start with Friday when I was unexpectedly given a ticket to Strikeforce Challengers: Gurgel vs. Duarte. When I showed up I was surprised to be sitting next to MMA Valor’s own Dylan Horner. I also went to UFC 125: Edgar vs. Maynard with him. For some reason whenever I sit next to Dylan there’s a drunken moron yelling really dumb shit. Last time it was the guy who was yelling “Flip ‘em over!”, “Don’t take that bullshit!” and insisting that Asians can fly and that Clay Guida looks like Dog the Bounty Hunter. This time it was a guy who looked like John Denver with a mustache. He looked like he stepped out of his time machine from 1978 and sat down in front of us. Some of his gems included: “Kick ‘em in the balls!”, “You hit like a girl!” and as soon as the fight went to the ground, “C’mon ref, Stand ‘em up!” and “Kick ‘em in the head!”. Clearly, this gentleman that people in our section dubbed “Shaggy” had a less-than-educated understanding of the rules of mixed martial arts. 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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WEC 50 Narrowly Escaped the Officiating Demons of MMA, We Need an Exorcism

 Posted by at 6:40 PM  MMA News  No Responses »
Aug 192010
 

We face two major predicaments in the MMA world today.  Both of these problems reared their ugly heads during the action packed WEC 50 fight card and, luckily, did no damage.  Yet the what ifs of WEC 50 brought to light again the two things that keep fighters up at night in a cold sweat: bad judging and bad refereeing.  On WEC 50, everyone who should have won, won but ask this: What if judge Nelson Hamilton, who scored the main event between champ Dominick Cruz (15-1) and Joseph Benavidez (9-2) a 48-47 for the challenger, had passed whatever he had smoked prior to the bout to his fellow judges?  Even the judge who scored the bout 48-47 Cruz was far from on point as Cruz clearly won no less than four of the five rounds with the only round in question being realistically more a draw than a round for Benavidez.  The second issue, involving the officiating of the bouts themselves, came in the form of Steve Mazzagatti’s stoppage of the Zachary Micklewright (10-2) “Bartimus” Bart Palaszewski (34-13) fight.  This stoppage was a good stoppage, Micklewright was done; but even with Zach mechanically working his guard against an imaginary opponent while ordering a happy meal from the ring doctor, some people in the MMA community still felt the need to cry foul about the fight being stopped early.  Had Micklewright still been coherent, this stoppage would have been a disaster.   Unfortunately, it is more likely that this stoppage was a just one by luck rather than design.  Let’s explore these issues one at a time. Continue reading »

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