Bellator's Dufresne missed weight 5th time in a row

Let that sink in. 

Gabi Garcia Circus Continues NYE

It's hard to put into words her MMA "career". That being said, I get a feeling if curiousity and wonder when her fights are announced if only because I want to see what insanely outsized mismatched non-combatant they find to take a roided out ass whipping: up next we have a former professional wrestler whose career includes this gem: 

Full Bellator HW Grand Prix Brackets

Def decided to protect Fedor on his side of the bracket, but I'm not mad. Just entertained AF this is happening. 

Metamoris Challenge Event Full Card - Nov 26

Interesting.....and 

Submission Underground 6 - Dec. 3rd - some wow....some very meh

I don't really know how to process this. Agazarm vs Orchard is a real match. Shields vs Burns also. Wasting Vagner on Taylor seems.....curious. Tim Sylvia is....oddity matchmaking at its finest. 

NYC Kasai Event December 9th: Gordon Ryan Superfightg & 8 Man Bracket

Between the names on the 8 man bracket and the Gordon Ryan Superfight,

I can't wait. Looking forward to seeing this live. 

One Championship & Rich Franklin Amp up TUF.

I don't hate the idea. I'll definitely give it a watch. 

Unwarranted Title Shot Alert: Diaz vs Track Star Woodley

Surprised it took this long: blood doping hits the UFC

Bellator is the Major League (movie) of MMA and I'm not mad...

Soak this in. The analogy doesn't quite match because none of these guys are rookies, but whatever. 

Nelson. Fedor. King Mo. Rampage. Bader. Mir. Sonnen. Mitrione. 

Much akin to Strikeforce's HW tournament, how can this not be entertaining? Seriously? Legitimate question. 

I see a bunch of violent finishes. I see some surprises. I see 1000% entertainment full speed ahead. 

Dillashaw Using Title Leverage to Chase Mighty Mouse Fight

Still no love lost for Cruz and then opines his desire to chase down DJ. We'll see if DJ invents a new reason to duck the biggest money fight possible for him or wants to wait for Cejudo vs Pettis winner.....

Hell Froze Over: Clay Guida got a stoppage win

Well, it happened. I'm kinda still speechless. After the better part of a decade of fights and decisions, it happened. Give the devil his due. 

Anderson Silva Popped (Again) - Coming for Jon Jones Unofficial Title

Hold off on talks of Jon Jones as GOAT all-time fail in MMA....Anderson Silva got popped again by the USADA.

Combat JiuJitsu Worlds Brackets Announced for Sunday

Bellator Announces Badass HeavyWeight Tournament

Let's just hope Mitrione and Fedor don't meet early in the bracket *ahem*

Beginning of the Gypsy Curse? Cruz and Edgar Injured/Out of Fights

BRUH. 

UFC 217 Reebok Payouts

Hilarity. The biggest card of the year (likely at this point)....$300K for something that did near something like 1 Million PPV Buys. Bruh. Highway robbery. 

Combat JiuJitsu Worlds This Weekend

Solid list of competitors at each weight. 

Rizin 8 - Bantamweight Bracket Match-Ups Announced

December 29th folks, then two days later the semis and the final: 

UFC 217: Comeuppance

When you spend most of your lead up making it sound as though you legitimately don't think your opponent has a shot....do you deserve an immediate rematch? Especially after you got emphatically and decisively stopped in violent fashion? If Dominic Cruz didn't get a rematch from Garbrandt, does Garbrandt deserve one from Dillashaw after a stoppage loss? If Rose had lost in the first round how many fights would she need to get a rematch with Joanna? Joanna lost. She lost plainly and clearly. No immediate rematch. Garbrandt despite an insanely out of touch post fight conference Q&A lost by decisive stoppage. Headkick to punches and punches. Same goes for Bisping. I've seen some guys not get a rematch after losing a close decision...I'm simply not able to support rematches for a champ who lost in clear cut, unarguable, emphatic fashion.  

Give Dillashaw His Due

I still keenly remember Dillashaw's first fight with Barao. He was one of the biggest underdogs in UFC history at the time if I recall correctly. I had him in my mind as a skilled wrestler with sloppy kickboxing who wouldn't be stymied by the nova uniao vaunted takedown defense aka Jose Aldo and it was the best we could do with Dom Cruz sidelined by serious injury. What happened was a masterful performance so dominated and so off what was expected it almost seemed like a fluke - the after effect where people invent narrative of bad weight cuts, the flu, off night, anything, to justify the assumed reality being so thoroughly flipped. 

Fast forward to a second equally convincing battering of Barao. Barao's subsequent lackluster performances let people sort of not quite shine to Dillashaw's wins over him as might have been deserved, but, his razor thin loss to Dominic Cruz showed he was and is among the elite bantamweights of all time as Dominic Cruz currently is the greatest of all time. His loss of the sent him off to dispatch top tiered guys in Assuncao and Lineker. The drama unfolding his leaving Team Alpha Male also distracted from him adding impressive notches to his bedpost while biding time to face Cody or rematch Cruz. 

Last night, his decisive stoppage to regain the belt, overcoming a late first round knockdown, and the fact that Garbrandt himself blazed through solid contenders toward his title shot solidifies TJ as what he his: top 2 bantamweight discussion of all time. Cruz has those title defenses and the inaugural belt but Dillashaw has a stoppage win over a guy Cruz lost the belt to. MMA math is what it is and styles make fights, but if Dillashaw can defend the belt as many times as Cruz or more then he becomes the best bantamweight of all time. 

Gotta give the man his due, I never placed stock in him early in his career. It's hard to argue with his choose to leave Team Alpha Male in retrospect. His poise, movement, wrestling, whole package has truly revolutionized since before he left TAM and in the interim. I

UFC 217 - Main/Co-Main Event Picks: Bisping vs GSP & Garbrandt vs Dillashaw

Quick shots: 

Unlike the conventional mma pundit agreement, I think Bisping gets taken down and stays there 3 out of 5 rounds. The hittable GSP in his last few fights I honestly attribute to the burnout he described. One thing I'm banking on, GSP wouldn't come back to lose. Period. His wrestling and jab, people have forgotten how ridiculously effective it was. He trounced guys at will with his tools. Hendricks spent the majority of the fight against the cage, largely unable to do much, and Bisping will get level changed and dumped or taken down against the cage. GSP takes a unanimous decision 4 rounds to one on 2 of the scorecards. 

Garbrandt was insanely economical in his fight with Cruz in later rounds. He scored knockedowns, showboated, and won rounds with minimal output. If he hurts Dillashaw I think he puts him away. I also think Garbandt is right in his physical prime and his hips are good enough to fight off a good portion of Dillshaw's shots...but was the Cruz fight a masterful culmination of a team of guys game planning for Cruz's skill set? Has the benefit of 5 teammates fighting Cruz just culminated in Garbrandt and he won't look as great against not Dom Cruz? I'm kinda leaning toward this actually. It's hard to break down Dillashaw's trouncing of Barao twice to Garbrandt's trouncing of Cruz.....this is a tough, tough fight for me to call. I'm gonna go with a tough, close split decision for Dillashaw 3 rounds to two. 

Polaris Dishes Details of Belts/XShips

You're Welcome: I Watched ACB JJ NoGi GrandPrix (so you don't have to)

Basically Miyao and Moizinho won their first round matches thanks to some panic taps from their less than well known opponents. I didn't watch much of the the heavier bracket other than Gaudio's matches. Chantre looked like he would rather be watching TV than competing. It was a lackluster result as a whole. 

UFC 218 Finalized for Dec. 2nd

Some serious heat closing out the year for the UFC: the MSG triple title fight card is this weekend, this card is a month later and there's still the year end card coming up which traditionally gets some high profile names on it. The Alvarez/Gaethje fight is borderline a title fight in my mind, Holloway vs Edgar is bonkers, and Pettis vs Cejudo is basically a title eliminator. The undercard will feature some fireworks with the likes of Felder vs Smaller Oliveira and then Medeiros vs the bigger Oliveira.