Quick UFC on FX 8 Predictions:

Vitor Belfort via KO round 2                     
Ronaldo Souza     by RNC   round 1          
Rafael dos Anjos by 3rd round stoppage on cuts                     
Rafael Natal b/c I don't know (*&^ about the other guy.                     

Nik Lentz  b/c I know nothing about the other guy.

Francisto Trinaldo due to his massive frame.

Gleison Tibau via close decisions

Paulo Thiago b/c his opponent I've never heard of

Yuri Alcantara b/c his name is more familiar than the other guy.

Fabio Maldonado via boxing and grit.
Cariaso b/c his name is more familiar than Formiga.

Asamat Gashimov b/c those guys coming over here are the dark horses in their respective weight classes.                    

Where Are They Now? Paul Kelly's Heroin Trafficking Conviction

Big credit if you remember this weak GI Joe Villain from our youth during the "Just Say No!" years of the war on drugs and Saturday morning cartoons -

Wow. First a referee popped for owning a warehouse full of marijuana, now a former UFC fighter popped for running a heroin courier ring.
It's been a raucous year for the world of MMA as it pertains to banned substances, unless it's TRT which gets a pass.

Performance enhancing?

Who can know such things?

Graciemag's 10 Biggest Questions for the Mundials

Check it out over there:
"
1. Who’s the new king of Jiu-Jitsu? Buchecha or Rodolfo?
Rodolfo finished Buchecha in 2011 in the open class semifinal, but in 2012 Buchecha defeated Rodolfo in the absolute quarterfinals. This year they will probably meet again to break that tie for the title of current king of competition Jiu-Jitsu. Is Buchecha in a better position? Can Rodolfo come up with a strategy to reclaim his crown?

Rodolfo Vieira and Marcus Buchecha in the 2012 Worlds"

 

Tournament Self-Review: US Grappling Virginia Beach

First, I'd like to say US Grappling rocks. They put on a great tournament, that runs on time, the owners, bracketeers (sp?), referees, and in general, everyone involved is great.

That being said, despite my fears that like Sampson I'd lose my power/mojo/technique/whatever by cutting my hair, I did well in my first points tournament after surgery AND cutting off my luscious locks.

US Grappling Virginia Beach was my first points tournament back post op ACL reconstruction roughly 10 months ago. I was a bit nervous about losing by advantage or maybe a sweep b/c my flex and bust out jiu-jitsu is rusty from the recovery from ACL surgery.
The month before I competed at the US Grappling Submission Only tournament in Greensboro, NC. I blogged about it HERE with some breakdowns of what I'd been drilling and what I used in each match to win. I won the 30+ and adult blue belt under 149 lb weight class.
The short of it is I utilized the Bernardo Faria sweep and a combination of Terrere's pass/leg weave, and/or knee through passing to get to knee on belly where I would finish with a lapel choke or variation thereof.

The biggest change in my game between then and the US Grappling Virginia Beach tournament was adding in the over/under pass (another version NoGi HERE) following the Bernardo Faria sweep, though you won't see that pass in these two videos. They will be the subject of a forthcoming post. Stay tuned. In fact, I don't even Bernardo Faria sweep the second opponent b/c he passes postures up nearly standing.

This was my first match of the day:
I quickly sit to guard and get to deep half guard and begin feeding the lapel for my Bernardo Faria sweep. I come up into the double underhooks position b/c he turns the opposite direction from the normal counter, and we stalemate for a bit as I force the pass.
I ride him out in knee on belly until he gives me the brabo choke from top position.

Second match of the day: The choke that got away....

He does a good job of being aggressive with his knee through to guard pass and I adjust by hitting the De La Riva sweep Kurt Osiander shows HERE (I hit this sweep ALL the time).

My opponent keeps me from setting my underhook so I switch off to the Paulista pass (Kurt Osiander shows HERE - seeing a motif?) which I also use virtually any time I don't get the underhook (and it was one of the first guard passes I learned in Judo). I lose pressure/fail to keep him flat on his back and he turtles and I lose the position in the restart by the referee. This guy is physically stronger than me, as was the first opponent of the day. I make a note in my mind to start lifting weights again.

At 2:13 I'm lazy and go to turtle rather than pummel to fight and regain my underhook which leads to a near back take, a near choke set up, and only in the scramble do I manage to dive back into half-guard to again force the pass. I felt confident with him on my back and with my escapes but I should not have been in that position in the first place.
I try to force the cross grip/Paulista pass again when I should be doing the Terrere/leg weave pass as I'm too high/far above him-disrupting my base which allows him to get perpendicular to the mat then he picks up a single leg. I'm forced to abandon the position b/c of how deep on my leg/knee he is and give up 2 points for the sweep in the process. Again, an error on my part. Fortunately I hit my kimura grip sweep, but lose position, he comes up and nearly mounts me and I again gain top position in the scramble.
At 4:30 I finally use the correct tool and Terrere/leg weave pass into sidemount, but time runs out b/c it's 30+ with 5 minute time limits just as I set up a collar choke.

Go Train/Drill.

Bellator Doing Big Things: Bellator 96 Card Update

I have to say, Bellator comes to play ball and play ball as close to the big leagues as they possibly can and NOT be the UFC.

They've added the start of a heavyweight 4 man tournament to bolster their first Summertime card, Bellator 96, headlined by Dave Jansen vs Michael Chandler.
I highlighted the card HERE earlier, but this really just spruce it up quite a bit.



"Bellator MMA Main Card:

Bellator Lightweight Title Fight: Michael Chandler (11-0) vs. Dave Jansen (19-2)
Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament: King Mo Lawal (9-2) vs. Seth Petruzelli (14-7)
Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament: Renato "Babalu" Sobral (37-10) vs. Jacob Noe (11-2)
Bellator Heavyweight Tournament: Vinicius "Spartan" Queiroz (6-3) vs. Rich Hale (21-5)
Bellator Heavyweight Tournament: Vitaly Minakov (10-0) vs. Ron Sparks (8-1)
Welterweight Feature Fight: War Machine (12-4) vs. Blas Avena (8-6)"

 

 

The Next Chapter in the UFC's "War on Drugs": WADA to the Rescue (?)

From Over at MMAJunkie.com:
"The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) raised the threshold for a positive test for marijuana from 15 nanograms per milliliter to 150 nanograms per milliliter, significantly reducing the likelihood of detection for athletes who use the drug.
“We wanted to focus on the athletes that abuse the substance in competition,” said Julie Masse, WADA’s director of communications. “This should exclude cases where marijuana is not used in competition.”
Although marijuana is not considered a performance-enhancing drug, WADA included it on its initial list of prohibited substances in 2003 after caving in to pressure from U.S. sports officials."

Pat Healy's $130k Marijuana Fallout Continues - Meet Bryan Caraway: The UFC's Drug Czar

In light of Pat Healy's $130,000 drug test, Bryan Caraway (Yes, the guy more famous for dating Miesha Tate than being, y'know, like, a UFC fighter) had this enlightening gem to add to the discourse:
"I hate weed. I cannot stand it. I’ve never tried it. I’ve never smoked a drug in my life. So I have absolutely zero tolerance for people that do it. I don’t care if it’s legal in some places or not. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. Whether it’s legal in real life or not, they tell you to follow the rules. You need to follow the rules."
    - Bryan Caraway

Here's to you Bryan Carraway, Mr. Missing the Big Picture with your "Anti-Drug" Stance on MMA Fighters.

Nate Diaz non-politicallycorrect and hilariously enough had this to say regarding Bryan Carraway for which he got suspended in short order: