Gustaffson Finishes Manuwa/Calls Out Jon Jones - Full Video Highlights

In case you don't have Fight Pass (I'm not hardcore enough of a fan to care), Gustaffson punches his ticket to a rematch with Jon Jones by defeating that guy that had the atrocious fight with Ryan Jimmo back in England I think it was awhile ago.
I had the night off and would have gladly watch the fights out somewhere but alas, Fight Pass is not streamed at venues which show sports/serve food on pleasant NC spring afternoons.

Gustaffson had every right to a rematch after taking Jon Jones to the wire and why he needed a rematch after a win when guys like Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn got them in spades is beyond me, but the rematch with Jon Jones will be gangbusters.

 

This Weekend's Massive MMA Multimedia Preview Mailbag

It's a busy weekend folks.
I'll be working at my two other weekend jobs tonight and Saturday night, meaning I'll be furtively checking my phone while checking ID's to see how the fights pan out and Sunday after Olympic lifts and Judo practice I'll find a coffee shop whereby I will hopefully see the highlights.
It's a tough time in the recession, but I'm grateful for any opportunity to make money.
UFC 161 should provide some clarity (I highly emphasize "should" because you know how the baldfather is with title shots and number one contender bouts) as to the LHW title picture.

We've got some clarity in the other divisions. The logjam has temporarily subsided for the 155 lb. class as with TJ Grant decisively stopping Gray, he'll face Ben Henderson August 31st, Frankie Edgar lost enough times in a row he'll seek greener pastures elsewhere and BJ Penn is basically retired.

Alexander Gustaffson will face Jon Jones which I think after Jones figures out the range, he will take down Alexander and tap him (ala how Gustaffson lost in his UFC debut to Phil Davis which people forget during the hype reels of Gustaffson stopping the likes of Matyushenko). Gustaffson has the frame to give Jon Jones problems, but Jon Jones' team and gameplanning should keep him out of any real danger. That being said, I don't see Rashad Evans or Dan Henderson having the style or build to stop Jon Jones, though, I'm interested to see if Machida would do better the 2nd time around as he has the style to frustrate anyone in the division.

As for the other belts, Anderson Silva faces Weidman then Vitor Belfort (this I think will be more competitive this time around. It sounds clichéd, but I think Belfort just simply got caught. I hope, however, he does not attempt too many spinning back heel kicks against the Spider. Trying off the wall stuff did not end well for Chael Sonnen).
Renan Barao and Dominic Cruz are out injured as is Demetrious Johnson.

And Cain is set to rematch JDS relatively soon as well.

At any rate, this weekend we have WSOF and UFC 161. You'll probably recognize 2 of the match-ups on WSOF which is still in that "debatable as to how many meaningful match-ups they can piece meal together with their roster" territory, but fights are fights.

Rashad Evans vs Dan Henderson:




Roy Nelson vs Stipe Miocic:



Stand n' Bang Alert - Pat Barry vs Shawn Jordan:
 

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If you care about the WSOF Countdown video, here's Jon Fitch:
 

Burkman may have the belt, but Fitch beat him before, and Fitch is coming off having only lost to a handful of the world's best people in his weight class:
 

The Year Without a Santa Claus (Or Month without a UFC)

Monday's MMA Multimedia Mailbag again remains lackluster.

We've gone from complaining how many lackluster UFC PPV's and TUF Finale and FX and FuelTV shows were plaguing our drinking coffee and pretend to do work time on mornings in the office to now having gone several weeks/almost a month without a UFC PPV.

I'd bet, simply based on that, the PPV sales for this weekend's card will uptick just a bit.
For some, on the hope that Jon Jones gets his due for opting not to fight Chael Sonnen.
For others, just b/c we damn well miss the UFC.

I think, perhaps, it was a stark reminder that if our worst problem is thin cards, then the sport has come a long way from it's tasteless label as human cockfighting.

Monday's MMA Multimedia Mailbag/Newshour

Remember the good ole media blackout days when Sherdog
was the sole semi-organized source of MMA news on the internet?

Due to the continuing absence of non-regional and/or UFC MMA events, we are short on MMA multimedia for your Monday Morning viewing pleasure.I know it's hard to file TPS reports without some MMA news to peruse on the side, but bear with me as we've found a Decaf substitute.

I've included the best of what passes for MMA news/journalism pieces from the vast internetz.
It's amazing how spoiled we've gotten. When I was a kid I had to slyly trick my mom into renting the first UFC's for me from Blockbuster, even though the man had marked then YRV/Youth Restricted Viewing. I did the same to get her to let me rent Ninja Scroll, the classic samurai manga (and it had nudity!)
At any rate, there is now a dearth of MMA news available with every quasi-journalist out there putting together a show with networks and companies trying to cash in/throw money at MMA to make money. 

Complain if you will about the dearth of events and shows, but it trumps the days of staying up all night to download a Pride event over 56k or combing the internetz for news about whether Sakuraba beat another Gracie or if Nog survived a hellacious beating to armbar a complete and utter mismatch of size.

First up, is the debut episode of a show featuring Ariel Helwani yes, that guy that Nick Diaz threatened to slap Mike Chiappetta, Ariel Helwani and Luke Thomas (who?)



AND, a show I've only recently come across, Fight News Now with split coverage on Boxing and MMA with a Bellator 61 preview included for your passing of time at work in the cubicle, lots of emails to answer this morning, yes we know viewing pleasure.

Monday's Massive MMA Multimedia/News Mailbag

Worthless Apology of the Twitter Day: Jon Jones is sorry to everyone whose weekend, training camp, bank account he royally f&$%#ed. Keep digging that hole, bro. 


Travis Wiuff's Cinderella Man run through Bellator and other regional shows comes to an end via TKO in the first round at Bellator 73. Wiuff holds the unofficial record for fighting more weight classes than anyone else in MMA. Attila (cool name!) Vegh wins a shot at M'Pumbu (yes, the guy Wiuff already beat) to close out the light heavyweight tournament for the year.

In other odd Bellator news but you knew it would happen eventually news, Eduardo Dantas reigning bantamweight champion lost to Team Quest's Tyson Nam down in Brazil (insert reference to the problem of champs fighting outside of their organization).

Shocker of the Day: Rousey says Cyborg can make 135 if she's not juicing/cheating/roiding/whatever.


As I blogged about yesterday, Braulio Estima won his MMA debut:


Sheriff's Deputies say that Chad Mendes sucker punched a man in a bar and have charged Mendes with Battery.
As a witness or otherwise to similar events tells me that just because a cop or a sheriff's deputy says it happens means nothing once everyone heads to court.
It could just have easily been portrayed as a Huerta-esque style event depending on what people said or think they saw after the fact.


AND....Ken Shamrock assaulted a woman while breaking up a fight. The kicker is, he didn't realize it was a woman at the time.

MMA Multimedia Mailbag Part II: Odds & Ends

Renzo assumes b/c Bochecha was World Champion in BJJ he'll be great at MMA (insert Roger Gracie not finishing Keith Jardine reference).



Am I the only person who misses the old school Style vs Style fights?

The One and Only Dan Severn