Monday, February 18, 2008

The MMA Weekly Wrap Up for the week of 2/18/08


Hi and welcome to another edition of the MMA Weekly Wrap Up, brining you the internet highlights from all the big Mixed Martial Arts events. Of course the #1 story is the 'Kimbo Slice' fight that took place this Saturday. This highly anticipated match was so big that we actually need two articles to cover it!

Now, this is important. MMA fans comes in at least two varieties and you need to know which one you are in order to read the correct Kimbo Slice article that follows - so please pay attention.

If you are a casual fan of MMA who loves the sheer violence and brutality that Kimbo brings to the ring, please read article #1.

If you are a die-hard MMA fan who worries that Kimbo's crude fighting style and persona will detract from the athleticism of the MMA as a sport, please read article #2.

ARTICLE #1: KIMBO KICKS BUTT IN MIAMI!!!!

Long time YouTube.com video favorite turned professional Mixed Martial Artist, Kevin “Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson defeated the former UFC Heavyweight Tank Abbott with a glorious hard right punch that sent the “Tank” crashing to the canvas 43 seconds into the first round.

Both fighters came out strong, throwing full-force punches with the aim of ending the night quickly. Abbott attempted a front leg take down but failed and received some shots to the back of his head for his effort. (Ferguson was warned by the referee.)

When the action again started both fighters unleashed a flurry of lefts and rights with Ferguson connecting twice with hard rights and taking Abbot out of the fight.

The crowd went wild as Kimbo Slice silenced his critics, proving once and for all that he was more than a side-show distraction. Kimbo has shown that he is a real Mixed Martial Artist, capable of beating anyone in the world of Combat Sport!


ARTICLE #2 'KIMBO SLICE' FIGHT HOLDS NO SURPRISES

Saturday’s knock-out victory of Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson over Tank Abbott was no surprise to anyone. Ferguson, who has won his last 7 fights, was highly favored to win over Abbott, who has lost his last 7 fights.

Many commentators agree that Abbott is a good 5 to 10 years past his prime.

While ‘Kimbo’ showed impressive punching power in the fight, his techniques were limited to simple left-right combinations. He showed little ring finesse; charging forward rather than moving, no kicks, no take-down attempts, no ground skills, and even was called for illegally striking the back of his opponent’s head. Despite his training with the legendary Bas Rutten, this is not the making of a MMA Champion.

Of course, none of this matters to the scores of fans who cheerfully chant “Kill Em, Kimbo” at his fights. What they like is the mystique, the persona, the image of street-tough brawler getting into the ring and tearing people apart.

Can Ferguson’s incredible strength carry him forward to future wins? It’s hard to tell. We’ve yet to see what he’ll do on the ground.

Can he be choked out? How does he react to leg kicks? What about arm bars?

So far, nobody has been able to get past that left-right combination to find out.

Now that the Abbott fight is over, everyone is wondering who he’ll fight next.

If it was up to me, I’d try to get him a match against former Boxing Heavyweight Champ, Mike Tyson. (At Tito Ortiz birthday party, Tyson claimed that he was through fighting; However, he has previously expressed interest in MMA, he is hanging out with mixed martial artists, and it would be a huge payday for everyone involved)

I say make this match up happen before the ‘Kimbo’ mystique fades… it could be just a choke hold away.


TWO BIG UFC EVENTS COMING SOON

UFC.com announces the next two Ultimate Fighting Championships.



The first, UFC 82, Pride of a Champion, will feature another Pride vs. UFC matchup with the UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson “The Spider” Silva going against the Pride 185lb. Champ Dan Henderson. The Event will take Place in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, March 1st. It will be televised on Pay Per View.



The second event is UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2. The UFC will go north to Canada for the first time host Canadian Interim Welterweight Champ, George St. Pierre as he faces Matt “The Terror” Serra on April 19th.

Serra beat St. Pierre one year ago and was poised to fight Matt Hughes for the Welterwieght title. However, a serious back injury left Serra on the sideline as St. Pierre then defeated Hughes for the title.

UFC 83 will be the next chapter in this long 3 man drama. (But you must know, nothing will be totally resolved on the 19th… If St. Pierre wins; regardless of the belt, they’ll still be tied 1-1. Everyone will want to see a tie breaker. And if Serra wins, fans won’t be satisfied until they see him face Hughes. In fact, even if Serra looses, we still want to see him face Hughes! This thing is shaping up better than a soap opera!)

IN THE MMA POLITICAL CORNER

Some political investigative reporting by Dojo Rat reports that presidential hopeful, the Illinois Senator, Barack Obama is withholding crucial information on his website.

Dojo Rat claims that last year he learned that Obama trained in the art of Tae Kwon Do. His website verified this information.

However, when he recently revisited the site to comment on it, he noticed that the information had been “scrubbed.” Furthermore, a Google search provided no further information.

Dojo Rat further reports that the only other investigator to obtain any confirmation on this reported training is Washington Post gossip columnist, Mary Ann Akers who claims, “Obama took Tae Kwon Do at the swanky East Bank Health Club in Chicago” and also that “his campaign declined to comment on the Senator’s Tae Kwon Do…”

I’m not sure what to make of this report. However, living in the Chicago area, I can confirm that the East Bank Health Club is indeed “Swanky.”

Personally, I smell a cover-up. And I’m thinking it’s Hillary!

Laugh if you want to, but this could be bigger than Watergate; TKD-gate, if you will.
In fact, this could be the answer to the Democratic party’s Candidate dilemma. Forget about Super Delegates and Primaries; I say we have an Olympic Style Tae Kwon Do competition. Three 3-minute rounds - winner take all!

Wait, on second thought, maybe that’s not such a good idea. ‘Kimbo Slice’ might end up our next Vice President.

RANDY & KIM COUTURE APPEAR ON INSIDE MMA

As we reported last week, Kim Couture, the wife of MMA Champ, Randy Couture, will be getting into the ring for a ‘smoker’ fight on February 23rd.

HDNet will be televise the match a week later on Feb. 29th.

We’d like to leave you for this week with a preview of this week’s Inside MMA, where Kim and Randy discuss her training getting into the ring.

American Gladiator,” and popular mixed martial artist, Gina Carano is also featured in this clip.



(Notice how Randy tries to use MMA training as an excuse to get out of house chores… It doesn’t work, but still a valiant attempt!)

That does it for this week. Check back again soon for MMA’s ‘Best of the Web.”

Respectfully,

Rick

 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi guys, just for the record, It wasn't Obama's political website that I initially read, it was merely a martial arts news website. That article was nowhere to be found, or any other on Obama's TKD with the exception of the Wa Po piece by Akers, in which the imbeded link to Obama's training was no longer available.
I do however, believe that for political reasons Obama's TKD was "scrubbed" from these previously available sites.
--D.R.

Anonymous said...

The UFC 82 is going to be awesome. And there are a lot of cool events going on Sunday as well. Hendo will be signing posters @ the Arnold Expo and partying with us @ the Sugar Bar in Columbus with DJ George Acosta.

Check out our events Calendar:
http://eventful.com/calendars/C0-001-000094604-8