TV

I have to admit that I've become more of a TV person lately. The new
season has started and my TIVO is filling up fast. I was pretty
resistant to reality TV at first because it is stupid. I guess it just
took a while to get the right type of stupid people for me to watch,
namely sports and food. My guilty pleasures? Golf Channel's Big Break,
Spike's The Ultimate Fighter, Travel Channel's Man v Food & MTV's
Nitro Circus. I don't want to see people dance, sing, race, get
punk'd, or survive. But I will watch people golf, fight in a cage, eat
food in a contest, and do insane stunts.

Specifically, there are several highlights this week, mostly UFC
related. Tonight is the countdown to UFC 103. All these shows are the
same, yet I still watch them. Wednesday is big. Fight Night: Nate Diaz
vs. Melvin Guillard. Followed by TUF 10 w Kimbo. Saturday is UFC 103.

Fight Night also features Gray Maynard vs. Roger Huerta, Carlos Condit
vs. Jake Ellenberger, Nate Quarry vs. Tim Credeur. A lot of these
Fight Night cards are better than the UFC PPVs and they are free.
Could be a good one. I like to watch Diaz, Maynard, Huerta, & Condit.

UFC 103 is a "meh" card to me. It features a catchweight (195 lb) bout
with Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort, and Mirko "Cro Cop" vs. Junior
dos Santos. Franklin always brings it. And dos Santos is a heavyweight
up and comer. But non-championship cards are hard to really get into.
Also featured are: Kampmann vs. Daley, Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg,
Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca. Will be intersting to see how Trigg
does and I'm a Griffin fan. More than anything it's my monthly excuse
to hit a sportsbar.

TUF 10

I'm pretty stoked about UFC 100. Two title fights and TUF 9 coaches going at it. But lost in the shuffle was the TUF 10 roster. It's very interesting. A bunch of monsters. Almost all of the guys have college/NFL experience. There's Nelson and Kimbo and a couple of other 1-2 fight UFC guys. I think that shows the lack of talent in heavyweight. But hopefully, this will re-stock the monster division. Going purely by the bios, the muay thai kickboxer dude that trains with Greg Jackson has to be my favorite. I've always thought that you can be athletic and teach wrestling to a point; but born and bred martial artists will hold the respective weight class belts the longest.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=Amag236BTpSIVTeJXmIKK8g9Eo14?slug=mmajunkie-TUF10_fighters_officially_unveiled&prov=mmajunkie&type=lgns

TUF Finale

Wow. I had heard plenty of reaction about the Ultimate Fighter Finale, but didn't actually watch it until last night. I gotta say that it was one of the better fight cards I've seen lately. I think I'm getting spoiled, since the last WEC card was extremely good as well. This puts quite a bit of pressure on UFC 100.

 

I have respected Clay Guida for his stamina and wrestling. You can't argue that he brings energy to the ring. But, I've always felt that he got the benefit of the doubt with inactivity on the ground and ultimately some lay & pray action. This fight showed me something else. That Guida is one tough dude. Sanchez had him bloodied and battered, with an arguable two-point first round. Guida kept coming. A great fight.

 

I had heard that there were three Fight of the Night awards. Shouldn't there be only one Fight of the Night? But it's great that 6 fighters got paid for putting on a show. Maybe this is a good idea after all. It will gives positive reinforcement for putting it all out there and that's what people want to see. The UFC has had a few too many duds on PPV. Nothing motivates better than money?