My Thoughts On UFC 154

Wow!  I absolutely loved that fight card!  Granted, I had to eat a lot of my words, but it was still a fun night!  Here are my thoughts on each of the matches:

Hominick vs. Garza: Despite Hominick getting busted open early on, the first round seemed pretty even, with Garza almost getting an armbar and Hominick rocking him with a right hand and nailing him on the ground with a knee.  However, in the last two rounds, Garza dominated Hominick with ground-and-pound and easily defended against his omoplata attempts en route to getting the unanimous decison.

Bocek vs. Dos Anjos: Again, I though the first round was even.  Nonetheless, in later rounds, Dos Anjos seized control with numerous takedowns and better striking.  At the end of the third round, he was simply toying with Bocek, who was discouraged and gassed, before getting the decison.

Carmont vs. Lawlor: This is the only fight in which I successfully predicted the winner.  However, this is due to a really poor split decision in favor of Carmont.  Lawlor got two guillotine chokes locked in and controlled most of the fight with better wrestling.  Granted, it wasn't the most exciting match of the night, but I still thought that it was better than a lot of people give it credit for.  The fact is that there is a difference between two closely matched grapplers straining for an advantage and a couple of bums just laying on each other.  I think that the more serious MMA fans will understand that difference.  Then again, I also thought that the judges' would understand the difference between the winner and loser of this match and look how that turned out. 

Hendricks vs. Kampmann:  I was so stunned by Hendricks' flash KO of Kampmann that I did CM Punk's "Go To Sleep" gesture!  I was skeptical of Hendricks at first.  His KO of Jon Fitch was impressive, but he had a lot of trouble with Koscheck (whom I personally thought was the true winner of their UFC on Fox brawl).  For that reason, I didn't think that Hendricks would be more than an elite gatekeeper like Ryan Bader.  That being said, I had to eat those words last night!  I think that Hendricks has earned his title shot and that Dana White should drop the stupid Silva vs. GSP angle.

GSP vs. Condit: This fight was definitely the best match of the night!  Again, I had to eat my words, because GSP looked better than ever and dominated Condit.  That being said, Condit refused to give up, even after his face was split open with an elbow.  He even knocked GSP down with a roundhouse to the head in the third round.  I heard that the champion hasn't been knocked down since he was upset by Matt Serra.  At any rate, Condit had heart and tenacity, but GSP was just on another level, controlling the fight with takedowns and ground-and-pound while being careful to defend against all of Condit's submission attempts from the guard.  GSP even told Condit that he was his toughest opponent so far.  That in and of itself shows just how tough the "Natural Born Killer" was. 

That being said, while GSP has supplanted Matt Hughes as the best welterweight of all time and is probably the third best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, I don't think putting him against Anderson Silva is a superfight.  Silva is much bigger and more innovative and GSP would be a heavy underdog.  If Condit was able to rock him with a roundhouse, how would GSP handle Silva's striking?  Not to mention that GSP hasn't cleaned out his division.  He still has Hendricks and Nick Diaz left.  Silva, on the other hand, only has Weidman and Bisping.  Those two are definitely the top of the heap when it comes to the middleweight division, but are not even in the same stratosphere as Silva when it comes to fighting ability.  So I stand by my belief that the true superfight should be Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones.  They have a more similar build and size than Silva and GSP, not to mention the fact that they are comparable in their raw athleticism and talent.  They are also extremely creative and innovative fighters who aren't afraid to take high risks to put on a show, although Silva overdoes it sometimes.  Come on, Dana! Make it happen! 
 

My UFC 154 Predictions

Hominick vs. Garza: Hominick KOs Garza in Round 2.

Bocek vs. Dos Anjos: Bocek submits Dos Anjos in Round 3.

Carmont vs. Lawlor: Carmont KOs Lawlor in Round 2.

Kampmann vs. Hendricks: Kampmann wins by split decision after an all-out war.

St-Pierre vs. Condit: Condit wins by unanimous decision. 

Reliving Essex For NaNoWritMo!

Today, I wrote the first two pages of my Essex memoir: "King Johnson of Essex."  I lived in England for 6 months while studying abroad and absolutely loved it!  My brother, Rogelio, is getting married this month and that made me nostalgic, because I met him, Peter, T.J., Kathrine, Dmitry and Tom over a the University of Essex.  It's the one place where I've truly felt at home.  Even when I came back to the college campus in Colchester two years ago, once I got over the fact that all my friends were gone, it still felt like home.  So now, I've decided to commit my memories to paper and temporarily put "Black Swan Origins: Nineveh" on the shelf.  It's about time that people heard about the events that led me to recommit my life to Christ. 

"La Llorona" Hits Me Between The Eyes!

There are some stories that are so visceral and intense that they grab ahold of your mind and won't let go.  I heard one of these stories from an episode of "Grimm", titled "La Llorona."  The show blew my mind, and is going to be the only modern television show that I am going to follow because most TV is junk.  It also introduced me to a Spanish myth that I want to include in my book series.  In it, a woman named Maria drowns her children in a rage after her husband ditches her, only to regret it later and drown herself as well.  She then haunts rivers and lakes as a malevolent ghost named "La Llorona", which means, "the Weeping Woman."  Late at night, she captures and drowns children.  After doing some digging, I was pleased to find out that "Grimm" was pretty faithful to the myth.  The only real difference is that, in the show, she had three children instead of two, which was a change made for plot-related reasons.  At any rate, the story is still haunting me, which is why I am going to include the myth in my own book series.  Even though my series is biblically-based, I am a huge lover of mythology and include those tales as well.  This one will be used for the most dangerous human character whom I have ever created.  After encountering her, I want my readers to feel the same chills which I was given by the "La Llorona" myth.  Now, obviously, I am going to take some artistic liberty with the tale so that it will fit better into my world.  At the same time, the core, creepy spirit of it will stay the same, so that it will still hit my readers between the eyes!

Ronda Rousey "Submits" Dana White! Women Are Coming To The UFC!

I found out earlier today that Dana White is going to create a women's division in the UFC!  In an article on Sports Illustrated's website (which I saw through a link on Twitter), Dana White said that he was definitely going to have a women's division.  He was dead set against it until he met Ronda Rousey, the coolest girl in MMA.  She has slowly been changing his mind, even to the point where he put the preview to her match against Sarah Kaufman on UFC's official site.  It seems now that he has finally "submitted", so to speak, and has agreed to bring women into the octagon!  Thank goodness!  I thought he was going to make us wait until he had a 115 lbs. division, a 105 lbs. division, a super heavyweight division, and a bunch of other divisions which we don't need.  Although, now that I think about it, a super heavyweight division would be kind of cool (Tubby thunder!!!!).  But I digress.  Women are coming to the UFC!  I know everyone is demanding a Rousey-Santos superfight, but I personally think that, without the drugs, Santos is doomed.  What I am more interested in seeing is a "Battle of the Olympians."  In other words, I want to see Rousey go toe-to-toe with Sara McMann!  Sara will probably have to earn a couple of more wins before that happens, but, as an Olympic silver medalist in wrestling, I think that she can pull it off.  At any rate, I am glad that I will finally be able to see the fairer sex open up a can of whoop-tushy in the cage without having to buy premium cable. 

You can read the article for yourself below:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/mma/10/23/ronda-rousey-ufc/index.html

More Setting Details...

I decided to also hunt through my "Tales of Nineveh" drafts, to see if there are any locales which belong in "Black Swan Origins: Nineveh."  There are 31 total, one for each day of January.  I just finished going through Story 7 today.  I can't wait until I am done so that I can draw the map.  I've toyed with the idea of having the events of the novel reflect an MMA fight, since the school is going to be in the shape of an octagon.  However, I decided that that would be going a bit overboard.  I do, however, need to have a dueling arena for the boys.  I have developed a place where the girls fight to the death to settle personal scores and since this is an extremely patriarchal society, the boys need to have one, too.  I will create one for them as soon as I finish compiling what I already have. 

Jones Vs. Sonnen For TUF Season 17?!

Looks like I can't call the light heavyweight champ "Chicken Bones" Jones anymore!  I just read an article on MMAFighting.com which says that he and Chael Sonnen will be opposing coaches on the next season of "The Ultimate Fighter."  At the end, they will fight for the title.  I want to say that I am freaking stoked for this!  At the same time, there are some drawbacks:

1) Sonnen has not done enough to earn this opportunity, so it cheapens the light heavyweight title.  The UFC 151 situation was different.  Sonnen deserved a shot because he was the only one willing to take it.  Everyone else got their turn in line, so to speak, and wimped out at the prospect of fighting the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.  He became the man for the job because he was the only man willing to do it.  However, at this point, to shove him to the front of the line before the winners of Henderson vs. Machida and Shogun vs. Gustafsson doesn't make much sense, other than as a "thank you" for being a company man. 

2)  Sonnen is going to be rusty as heck coming in to this fight, since he is not going to have his December match against Forrest Griffin.  The match would have not only kept him sharp, but would also be a confidence booster if he managed to avenge his previous loss to the former light heavyweight champ.  Ring rust is not something that you want against a man of Jon Jones' caliber. 

On the one hand, there are some major pros to this decision:

1) Jon Jones gets to redeem himself in the eyes of the fans.  This is good because, once Anderson Silva retires, he's the one who's going to be carrying the torch. 

2) The UFC will make a ton of money because this match has a built-in, WWE-esque storyline.  The fallen hero, Jon Jones, who had his name dragged through the mud because of the UFC 151 cancellation, gets to regain his honor by fighting the biggest MMA villain of all time.  Also, Sonnen, the man who almost beat Anderson Silva, gets one final chance to prove that he can earn UFC gold before he succumbs to every fighter's nemesis: age. 

3) People will actually start watching "The Ultimate Fighter" again.  Nelson and Carwin simply don't have the same kind of star appeal that Jones and Sonnen have. 

In other words, this is a high-risk move by Dana White that can either blow up in his face, or take the UFC to new heights.  Either way, I can't wait to see what happens!

You can read more about this turn of events at the link below:

http://www.mmafighting.com/ufc/2012/10/16/3512914/ufc-bombshell-jon-jones-and-chael-sonnen-to-coach-tuf-fight-in-april