BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest:

Bellator Countdown: Fedor vs Bader Episode 1 & 2

Well, here we are. Bader will face GOAT Fedor for the HW Grand Prix strap this weekend.

Pretty awesome. The tournament format continues to be my linear, makes the most sense format as opposed to the UFC ramshackle who knows if what when how where or if at all who will face who sense of doing title shots.

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest 104 - Gabi-zilla, Rizin, Ryan Hall vs Nicky Ryan?

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Craig Jones, Dillon Danis, Magalhaes to Quintet, Gunnar Nelson Talks Steroids

AND

Shots Fired: Patricky says Chandler Avoids UFC because of USADA

Love it.

BJJ Scout: BJJ Digest 45 - Tonon, Curran Jacobs, McGregor but not Burroughs, et al

Labor Day Weekend News Round-Up- Askren to retire, RDA almost fought Woodley

Surprisingly Busy MMA Newsday Alert!: That Irish Guy" on UFC on FOX 11 in Boston (Shocker!), and Anderson Silva gets "Nick Diaz" Syndrome

More on this below.....













In other news....

The UFC is adroitly and correctly cashing in on its first true Irish as in like, y'know, actually from Ireland *ahem Marcus Davis* fighter, Conor McGregor, for its next foray up to Boston and with a highlight reel style of KO's he'll likely be on free TV though, they'll probably coach him on a post-fight interview to avoid mentioning he was on the government dole leading up to his last fight.

That being said, Akira "phantom tap" Corassani who as much as I hate to admit it has turned in some decent performances post TUF has fired the first salvo in what will hopefully be some relatively high profile trash talk for two non top 10 guy: Like it or not, Akira is doing the right thing for his visibility and ratcheting up the profile of what for him is a reality: this Conor guy has a hype train that is boarding and Akira should ride it as far as he can and turn this into a must-watch fight on the card.
Far too often fighters take the "we're both training hard, I respect him a lot" route that is so blasé and passé to hype a fight that it's like selling pills of narcolepsy.

Fights and fans, like it or not want narratives, something to bite into, a storyline...and beef/rivalry, whatever.....is a sure fire way to go.

 

In other news, Anderson Silva was fined some Anderson Silva type money in the amount of $50,000 for pulling a Nick Diaz no-show set to coincide with tickets going on sale for his hyped? upcoming UFC 162 bout with Chris Weidman.

Because no one ever really dies or retires in the MMA world, apparently Fedor's brother, Aleksander I may or may not have hepatitis brother and is now it sounds like unretired and has signed on to fight Bob Sapp in Russia, suspiciously outside of any real or actual athletic commission. Coincidence?:
Watch this totally awesome promo of his swinging chains like a Titan and punching sand/stone statues to utter bits!:

Surprise to No One: Mayorga comes in 21 pounds overweight for "professional" MMA debut, athletic commission says "meh":

Is this the face of a man who gives a &^% about contractual obligations like weight and other some such nonsense?

Completely Unrelated MMA & Grappling News

Lombard to face Yushin Okami at UFC on Fuel 8.

Yushin hasn't looked the same since his loss to Anderson Silva not that he's the only one with that post traumatic stress.
Lombard will continue to knock off any UFC jitters and look more impressive with each fight I do believe. I am curious to see how/if Anderson Silva will rationalize not wanting to fight an explosive puncher (much the way Anderson ballyhooed and ducked and dived and bitched about fighting Belfort).

Sonnen vs Jon Jones booked for April 27th.

That guy who wrote the book about travelling and doing Jiu-Jitsu around the world has an article up about why competing is good for you (*ahem* Rener and Ryron).


Lex's chosen best unknown BJJ competitor in the world

Jacare to UFC. One of the better transitions over to the UFC for which I'm glad there will be some match-ups other than Fitch not fighting Koscheck, or GSP fighting guys he's already beaten in dominant fashion.

--

If you need some more BJJ/Grappling related news, head on over to BJJNews.com