Grappling and MMA Links for your Tuesday Evening

The guy who made me want to be a fighter. The one and only Axe Murderer....Wanderlei Silva.

 The linkage has been MMA heavy this week as with the passage of the Mundials and the Pans and the Pro Trials, the hotbed of the Jiu-Jitsu season is slow for a bit. That, and there are some great MMA fights coming up over the next few weeks.
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Dana White Offered Shogun a fight with a Brazilian that no one other than a hardcore MMA fan would have heard of (other than his steamrolling ONE GUY in his UFC debut) and White put Shogun on blast for not taking the fight.

Shogun wants a belt. Fighting and beating a dangerous guy with one UFC fight does nothing for that. So Dana threw Shogun under the bus despite Shogun's impressive resume, great fights with Machida, Henderson, et cetera. Shogun fought Machida weeks after surgery, rushed his UFC debut only to drop a fight to Forest Griffin....for once, Shogun is being smart. Which is good. He only has so many training camps left him it after his mileage from fighting in Pride and numerous knee surgeries.

Why waste it on a fight that does nothing to move him closer to a fight for the belt.

The IBJJF and the Copa Podio are finally getting some legit competition for bragging rights and recognition: the IBJJ is promising a black belt only set of 3 divisions with pay out money as well. I can only assume this is good for the sport as has been the Pro Trials with some competitors who shall remain nameless (rhymes with Modolfo Sieira) choosing to do the Pro Trials rather than the Pan Ams (and who can blame you with money on the line rather than just winning the Pans.

Recreational and even semi-competitive grapplers like most of us don't know shit about having a black belt but barely making ends meet after years of training and sacrifice. I'm glad higher end players have done just what this Modolfo Sieira did and went with the paid event rather than the name IBJJF event. (Though, I will admit, Bochecha's time on the mat under IBJJF rules probably got him the win as the Pans proved a better warm-up for the Mundials than did the Pro Trials with it's 6 minute rule setting, but that is another debate.

Braulio says it takes about 7 years to get good. And by that, he means his definition of good. Hmm, mysterious as always. Get an answer in Jiu-Jitsu...and you get a few more questions to accompany it.

A quick summary of the Brazilian Heavy main card and under card for UFC 147 this weekend.

Dana White says exactly what I've said about Chael Sonnen since before the first time they fought: Chael legitimately believes he is the best in the world and that he will talk down/through/past/whatever Anderson Silva. You watch Belfort, Okami, Leites, Maia....those guys were afraid of Anderson. Cote did the best of anyone other than Chael until he blew out his ACL during their fight. And part of it was, he came at Anderson. Chael, like him, find him entertaining, or absolutely loathe him....believes in himself, his ability, his will to win...and it carried him through 4 1/2 rounds against the Spider. Anderson had perhaps, only lost one round in the UFC prior to that, when he was mounted by Travis Lutter. Say what you will, but it's the old Mike Tyson Buster Douglass scenario, where a fighter has grown used to preying on the fear of opponents...and when the man comes along who stares him directly down, and completely lacks fear, he struggles as was the case for 33 1/2 minutes of fighting the first time around. Chael, a guy who has always had middling stand-up, knocked down Anderson Silva. Rewatch the fight. You can't call anything other than the triangle the moments where the Spider even won rounds or part of rounds minus an occasional elbow from the back or an upkick or a leg kick hit moments before being taken down.

And for the gamblers out there, or the fantasy MMA league gamblers out there, the UFC 147 Main Card Betting lines :)