This event was held in Sydney Australia on date. This event did not have a title fight and seemed to be one of those events that keeps the legends busy and gives everyone a fight. However, Cain Velazquez fought on this card and we know he won his fight to climb to the top at UFC 121.

Crocop vs Perosh – this was a good match-up for the location Perosh looking for an opportunity at 37 years old and it seemed we needed to see where Crocop was at this point in his career. It was evident from the start Perosh wanted to bring this fight to the ground and CC wanted to stand and bang. In Perosh’s attempts for the take down he took several shots. Round 1 was all CC as the only time the fight went to the ground. Mirko was just landing some heavy ground N pound. From the beginning of round two we could see that Perosh wasn’t even close to the conditioning as CC. Whenever you see fighters who are so one dimensional, or that one fighter is so much better standing or on the ground you see the ground fighter just laying on the ground hoping the striker will just lay down on them. Perosh took a big cut near the end of the second and chose to continue. Crocop turned it up at the end of the round and then when the bell sounded Herb dean stopped it. The former K1 fighter put on a solid performance and was obviously a step above Perosh.

Jardine vs Bader – Jardine playing the gate keeper for Ryan Bader. The Dean of Mean had lost his last two fights and desperately needed a win. I like Ryan Bader a lot, he has a good attitude but he fights really weird to me. It kind of reminds me of the way Tim Silvia used to fight. Bader took octagon control early. Bader landed a few shots and took Keith down earlier in the round. Bader controlled him and issued some strict ground N pound but ref. Josh Rosenthal stood them up due to lack of action. Bader takes Rnd1 10-9 IMO

Bader looked tired in the second round, but he scored a big take down at the end of the round. You could score it either way.

The third round looked like it was going to be more of the same but Bader rocked him, kneed him and KO’d Jardine with a big left. This was the final fight for him in the UFC as it was his third loss. He was released the following Monday. Bader went on to defeat Minotauro Nogueira and has a top 5 fight coming up in early 2011.

Lytle vs Foster – the start of the fight was pretty exciting. Foster looked good with the fancy kicks. I was impressed with his technique and speed. I don’t like Lytle a lot and was hoping Foster would win. Foster went for Lytle’s back in a sprawl and ended up in a leg lock and Lytle just ripped up his knee.

Stevenson vs Sotiropolos

Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg were talking about the opportunity of George with a fighter like Joe Daddy. I think Joe came into the fight with momentum. He had won his last two fights after losing his title shot vs BJ Penn. George was able to get Joe down to the Ground and begin working him from the top. We really saw some of George’s ground game getting the mount and making a big submission attempt. 10-9 to George heading into rnd2.

They began striking in rnd2 and it looked like George was getting the better of the exchanges. Joe decided to take him down but George was obviously superior on the ground. It was a much closer round but I would still give it to George 10-9

Both fighters looked tired in the 3rd but George just seemed to be to much on the feet and on the ground. The later part of the 3rd was evenly matched as Joe was able to work on top but the Judges saw it as I did and George takes the victory.

Silva vs Bisping – This was Bispings first fight after his big loss to Dan Henderson. Bisping looked good early with two take downs and and starts landing some punches. Silva landed a few of his own with some leg kicks. Silva ended the round strong. I give the rnd to the Count. 10-9.

After letting Silva land a few shots in the second Bisping decided to take it to the ground but Silva was quick to get it back to the feet. In the end Silva had a big sub attempt per guillotine choke. Silva 10-9

The fight was so close till the final seconds. Silva got a big over the top right hand that sent Bisping to the mat that seals the round for me 10-9 for Silva with 29-28 Silva FTW and the judges agreed. I know this was a big setback for the Count being his second loss in a row. However he did come back at UFC 122 for a win.

Big Nog vs Velazquez – This was Nog’s next fight after his win over Randy Couture. From the start of the first we see Cain’s system of technique, leg kicks and combos doing damage to Big Nog. There isn’t much more to say here as within a few exchanges Cain KOks him hard. We watch later as Cain has taken the Heavy Weight title. He just seems to be a few notches above the other heavyweights. I also feel like Cain is showing Nog the door here for his career. He put on a great performance against Couture but we’re talking about a guy who has all but announced his retirement. We will see Big Nog fall more into the gate keeper position until he realizes he’s finished. We still don’t know who can take out Cain. When he took the title many were talking about the era of Cain.

This event was held on Dec. 11th 2010  in Montreal-Quebec Canada . A long awaited event and return of the welterweight Champion in Georges St. Pierre.   We’re just going to look at a few of the main bouts on the card.

Alves vs Howard – Alves is back! After all the trouble making weight and dealing with disappointing fights Alves came out and dominated. He had great hands and mixed things up with leg kicks. I was really surprised at how Howard handled the punishment. The few times the fight went to the ground Alves dominated there as well. I think its also important to mention the sheer conditioning of Alves in this fight.  It looked like Howard was taking so much damage, I was surprised to see him hang in there the entire fight.  Again, I think Alves had something to prove and it was his most impressive performance in a long time.  Joe Rogan mentioned during the broadcast that it was the most pumped he had seen Alves since the Matt Hughes fight.

Miller vs Oliveria – I feel like Joe Silva had over estimated Oliveria for this match-up. He was not ready for Miller. We saw gaping holes in his jujitsu and he was submitted quickly. After the fight, Miller started calling for a title shot. I don’t really get that. He hasn’t finished a top level fighter yet.   Hes won several fights against low level guys. He had a chance and lost to Gray Maynard and that’s why he is in the position he is in.  Yes he is a good fighter and yes he deserves to face the top of the division but not a title shot.  

Riddle vs Pierson – I really like Matt Riddle. I watched him all through his run on TUF. He got smashed in this fight though. His conditioning saved him but he was getting drilled in the face  the whole fight. He was able to press Pierson because he was getting tired. They went T2T but Piersons experience and much superior striking helped him soar to a win.  I have to say Matt Riddle kind of bothered me in this fight though.   He seemed like he was just a brawler.  It didn’t look like he any skill at all.  If he was getting jacked standing up he should have taken it to the ground and tried there but there was none of that and it kind of suprised me.  Sometimes I think we as fans have a tendency to make guys better than they really are because we like them, and that’s what I think I was doing to Riddle.  He needs to get deep in his camp and start getting some skills because he isn’t going to go anywhere with the performance he put on. 

Struve vs McCorkle – I thought Stefan “Sky Scraper” Struve had a big advantage in this fight. After the first minute or to Mccorkle came out strong with that big slam and a quick sub attempt. However, The longer the fight went on though it was a matter of time. Struve used a great move for the mount to close out the fight on “big sexy’s” face. You have to wonder if all the trash talking did McCorkle any good. It could have very well given the advantage to
Struve. After the fight, McCorkle blamed his performance on the pressure but wouldn’t that be mostly his fault? I don’t see him being in a Co-main event for a long time.  During his interview on the MMA Hour he was stated as saying that Dana came up to him and told him that this was his big chance.  It looks like he blew it. However, he will be set to 

GSP vs Koscheck – I was so pumped for this fight and I hated this event fell into the time period when I would be in India. As soon as I got back I began working to get a copy. I had to stay off my own twitter feed for nearly three days until I could see this fight. I didn’t watch TUF this season but I’m engulfed enough in MMA media and I know Koscheck’s personality well enough to know there was some trash talking going on before this fight. I knew Koscheck was a better fighter than he was before when he faced GSP. Of course we all knew GSP had gotten better as well. I think stylistically Kos had a chance and I still think that Kos was right about one thing and that is that GSP has never really had his chin tested. The last time was the Matt Serra fight. I don’t think GSP can really take a lot of damage but he takes such little damage in his fights no one really knows. Rush certainly put on a performance that night. He neutralized Kos’s right hand and pummeled him over and over with a jab and double jab. He didn’t go for many takedowns but I believe that was all part of his strategy. The one thing that bothers me about this fight after I watched it twice is just the lack luster striking of Koscheck in this fight. It was if all he had was that overhand right and he kept trying it over and over. There was nothing from his left hand at all. It really didn’t seem like he was doing anything. It looked like he was helping GSP look good. As Dana White eluded to after the fight GSP has cleaned out the division. Hopefully we will see him go up to middleweight and fight Anderson Silva.

This event was held in Aniheim CA on October 23rd 2010. I considered this a stacked card. Some of my favorite fighters.

Gaberial Gonzaga vs Brendan Schaub

I think we saw in this fight that Gonzaga’s best days could be behind him. His gameplan was completely flawed. If something doesn’t work in the first round, why keep doing it? Brendan showed that he’s got some great striking and earned a big win. I found out laer that after this fight Gonzaga was released by the UFC.  After seeing someone that was a former top contender he just didn’t have what it takes in the end.  He’ll probably sign with Strikeforce and continue fighting for some time. As for Schuab of course things are looking good.  He’s looked good in his past several fights and I think the win here wil put him in the mix in the heavyweight division.

Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Tiiego

I love Diego. I think he’s a great Christian fighter with a ton of heart and a fighters spirit. It looked like after the first round that Diego could lose this fight, but he turned it up in the later rounds. Paulo ran out of gas and Diego was just relentless and started swarming all over him. I think this says a lot about where Diego is right now; he mentioned in  the post fight press conference that he has his ind straight and his goals realigned.  He said that he hasn’t always trained as hard as he could have and that he’s refocused now.  @danawhite has said that he looks good and he loves to see him fight. He mentioned he loves his attitude and the fighting spirit he brings to the table.

Jake Shields vs Martin Kampmann

I was so glad when I heard that Shiields had signed with UFC early this year. He’s been taking out guys left and right in the other orgs and he needed to come to the UFC and plug-in to see where he matches up. I didn’t know till I saw this fight that he was competing at Welterweight!   I heard Joe Rogan say how bad he looked at the weigh-ins and that the weight cut had been hard for him. Kampmann looked like a good matchup for him though. Kamp’s been around a long time and was good test. I would like to see Shields develop some striking. Even though we saw him get tired and gas early he was able to display some great grappling and ju-jitsu. He’s been promised a title shot now that he’s won the fight. I don’t see him posing any threat to Georges St. Pierre though.

Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez

I really didn’t know what was going to happen in this fight.  I realy think a lot of people didn’t know.  I mean Cain has been going through guys and knocking them out and submitting him.  We know he has conditioning unlike Shane Carwin.  We saw him pick his shots and not go crazy like the Carwin fight.  Then again BL ia BL He’s this giant of a human being and you wonder if he’s been training his striking or has he improved.  It seemed like he was able to take a punch from his lat fight so how does that apply to Cain?  Well, what we saw is that Lesnar cannot tae a punch.  We did see this  alittle in the Carwin fight but to be honest to be such a big guy when Cain starts punching him in the face he has no idea what to do and we saw him ball up in the fetal position like a six year old.   Now me personally, I would have done the same thing, but then again I’m not the UFC Heavy weight Champion that runs my mouth. Cain was able to get back up after Brock’s take downs; he was able to defend take downs and really put in some damage.

So where does leave the heavy weight division? Joe Rogan mentioned that this very well could be the era of Cain. He is 11-0 and has been finishing guys. Some are saying he could be the “Anderson Silva” of the heavy weights.  I think we will have to see  as his first title defense will be quite a test in Junior dos Santos.  Jr is probably his biggest challenge to date as I do not believe we have seen anyone fight like him before.  One thing you have to consider is how Junior could not put away Roy Nelson in there last fight.  It seems that if it wasn’t for conditioning that Nelson could have won it and I really don’t see Nalson beating Cain any time soon. having said this I would submit that we will see Velasquez defeat dos Santos and Roy Nelson in the future. I think Cain is here to say but then again this is the sport of MMA and you never know.  It will be a different fight and Jr has a lot to bring to the table.

Are you afraid of brothels and bars? Don’t fret.  Now is the time to make a difference.  Invite people to church, minister to those in need, and lead people to Christ.  People can’t be in a bar if they are all in church.  People won’t search in alcohol what they can find in the arms of Jesus.  Influence your community today for Christ and don’t complain because the government isn’t doing it.

I originally saw this event live. I must admit I didn’t remember what a great card this was until a recent review. This event was held on July 5, 2008, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Corey Hill vs Justin Buchholz

Hill was known as the tallest lightweight in the UFC. With the height came a seven inch reach advantage. He came out strong in the early rounds showing off his cardio and solid striking. It looked like early in the fight Hill was going to take it with ease. Buchholz has a wrestling base and had been training with then WEC Champ Uriajiah Faber. Even though Justin had been punched in the face several times but started to land a lot of good leg kicks. Later in the first round he started to look a lot more comfortable. Even so Hill kept bring superior striking and killer uppercuts. Justin was rocked more than once to finish the first.

In the second round it looked it was only a natter of time before Hill’s striking finished the fight. However, Justin came out with a strong leg kick and rocked Hill followed by a flurry of punches. As they went to the ground, Hill tried to seperate Justin’s arm and jumped to side control but as Justin rolled his able to get to Hill’s back and sink in a huge rear naked choke FTW.

Melvin Guilliard vs Dennis Siver

One of the best performances of Guillard’s career. He came out and almost instantly caught the German with an overhand right that knocked him to the ground. Siver survived the initial on slaught and they both stood-up. In only a few seconds though Melvin caught him again and then just reigned down a flurry of punches that reminded me of a Vitor Belfort finish. Currently he doesn’t look like Guillard has come very far. He still isn’t a well known lightweight and isn’t considered in the top five.

Jorge Gurgel – Cole Miller

Both of these guys opened with decent striking, clinche and working their opponent. Later in the 1st Miller got rocked. He was able to regain his composure in the clinche. After a few leg kicks round one was in the books.

After almost two rounds of back and forth striking with less than a minute when the fight went to the ground Jorge left his arm in the guard and Miller slipped in a nice triangle. This was an amazing submission of a long-time jujitsu black belt.

Gaberial Gonzaga vs Justin Mccully

Mccully had been working his way up the heavyweight ranks and caught Gonzaga on his way down. Geberial, once a title contender became a gate keeper and tested Mccully. This fight was all Gonzaga as he dropped Mccully early with a tremendous Leg Kick. This put Gonzaga on top and he was just to much. With the mount he easily put on an Americana.

Tyson Griffin vs Marcus Aurelio

Griffin basically dominated the entire fight. Oddly enough he hasn’t done a whole lot in his career since then. Griffin is one of those guys that’s hard to match up with the fighters currently in the division. It has yet to be seen whether or not Aurelio has since developed. After watching this fight it’s obvious that he needs to work pretty much everything except jujitsu.

Patrick Cote vs Ricardo Almeida

This was a really close fight. Usually even when the judges have a close decision I still have a clear winner in my head. It looked like Almedia ground n pounded the first round, but Cote scrapped out the second. The third round was extremely close. I believe this fight really gives props to Almedia though.

Looking back cote had a title shot against Anderson Silva because he beating and finishing guys and the fact he couldn’t do anything with Ricardo is kind of amazing. Cote has the Split decision. Watching this fight it’s easy to see how Almedia lost a fight to Matt Hughes.

Jackson vs Griffin:

Well, I certainly remember this fight quite vividly. All I can think about is leg kicks and Forrest taking Rampage’s belt. Jackson did do more damage in the first round than what I remember. Forrest had already worn that leg out in the 2nd and Rampage dropped so he could get elbows for the rest of the round.  I enjoyed this fight more the second time around. It’s kind of funny how irrelevant both of these guys seem now at the light-weight division has taken on a completely new form.

Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk:This bout was probably the most entertaining of the whole night. Evan Dunham is a young kid who I consider a phenom in the sport. He came into this bout undefeated, 11-0 MMA and 5-0 UFC. He has got striking and a very strong ground game. Sean Sherk proved to be a formidable opponent being a former lightweight champion and a seasoned veteran of the UFC. Sherk won the split decision in this fight because of his wrestling and power. In the first two rounds we saw Sherk control Evan and pin him on the ground and use some vicious Ground n Pound to open him up. The truth is it I still believe Evan won the fight. He showed his youth and a warrior heart. He had clearly not faced anyone as strong and powerful as Sherk at 155 but he almost submitted him several times. He showed superior footwork and head movement standing up, and destroyed Sherk during the 3rd round when he wasn’t able to take him down. During the third round he dropped the “Shark” more tha once with striaght jabs and uppercuts. This bout proved once again that the judging in the sport still has a long way to come. I would have given the 3rd round to Evan by three points and by one point in the second. Sean had the first round by one point. Sean the Shark is a long time veteran of the sport and seems to be a great guy as well, but he should not have one this fight. I look forward to seeing the effect the loss will have on Dunham and I expect him to come back even stronger next time. I definitely see him racking up more wins in the UFC and could potentially be a title contender as early as next year. I would like to see him in some catch weight bouts at welterweight with John Hathaway or perhaps Carlos Condit. I can see him facing Roray Macdonald for a good bout. More realistically at lightweight I would like to see him fight Sam Stout

Chris Lytle vs. Matt Serra:

This bout of two long-time UFC veterans seemed more reminiscent of two old friends having a sparring session in front of a bunch of people. While a lot of fans are saying this fight lived up to its hype, it’s really just because it was refreshing to see a stand-up battle like this. Lytle just seemed to be getting the better of the exchanges. Hence, fifteen minutes later a decision win.

Frank Mir vs. Mirko Crocop:

I really don’t know what to say other than this fight was really boring. I was waiting for some friends to join me at Buffalo Wild Wings while I was watching this fight and I basically just stopped watching it when they got there it was so boring. It was only after the fact when I saw the replay of Mir’s knee coming up to finish Crocop with a knockout. I really expected more from Frank Mir. I’ve always said if Brock Lesnar wasn’t just a bohemoth of a homosapian that Mir would undoubtably be the Heavyweight champion right now despite his loss to Shane Carwin, but after this fight though I still hae my doubts.

In conlusion, This is a sport that involves some sort of patienece and he can’t buy into the hype machine that is the UFC. Zuffa does a good job of promoting these fights and in a lot of ways they live up their hype a lot of times but we have to accept them for what they are and when you have guys fighting for a paycheck you can’t expect them to just run and do something stupid. That being said, the fighters need to remember why they are there. to be exciting is part of the job. We have seen what the need for ratings has done to professional wrestling. We don’t need that in MMA. Fortunately UFC 120 is right around the corner on OCT 6th. This isn’t a bad card but is being sold similarly as 119. We will see.

So why the rally? What does it mean anyway? For the answer to that question, I rely on my friend Lex Greene.

“Beck is building solidarity and cultural confidence in America, its Constitution, its military heritage, its freedom. This is a vision that is despised by the people who have long held the commanding heights of the culture. But is obviously alive and kicking. Beck is creating positive themes of unity and patriotism and freedom and independence which are above mere political or policy choices, but not irrelevant to them. Political and policy choices rest on a foundation of philosophy, culture, self-image, ideals, religion. Change the foundation, and the rest will flow from that. Defeat the enemy on that plane, and any merely tactical defeat will always be reversible.Beck is unabashed that God can be invoked in public places by citizens, who vote and assemble and speak and freely exercise their religion. They are supposed to be too browbeaten to do this. Gathering hundreds of thousands of them to peaceably assemble shows they are not. But showing that the people who believe in God and practice their religion are fellow-citizens who share political and economic values with majorities of Americans is a critical step. The idea that these people are an American Taliban is laughable, but showing that fact to the world — and to potential political allies who are not religious — is critical. Beck is attacking the enemy at the foundations of their power, their claim to race as a permanent trump card, their claim to the Civil Rights movement as a permanent model to constantly be transforming a perpetually unjust society.
He is nuking out the foundations of the opposition’s moral preeminence, the very thing I proposed in this post. Ronald Reagan said we would not defeat Communism, we would transcend it. Beck is aiming to have America do the same thing to its decaying class of Overlords, transcend them.
Beck is prepping the battlefield for a generation-long battle. He is that very American thing: A practical visionary.

See, simple. Restore pride and confidence to your own side, and win the long game. As Ronald Reagan also said, there are simple solutions, just no easy solutions.God bless America.
One commenter, Richard40 who attended the rally said “As a conservative secular libertarian, I felt a bit left out … .” He said Beck could have included him by having a non-religious person on stage, and by saying “our only requirement is you believe in the founding principles of America, and wish to return to those principles.” He noted further, correctly in my view, that “The key to the Tea Party coalition is to stay unified on issues where conservatives and libertarians agree, like spending, deficit, size of government, and honest government, but allowing a big tent, that respects differences on social issues … .”

I did not go to the rally, I don’t know Glenn Beck, I don’t have a TV so I don’t know watch his show, and I am not a mind reader. So I can only speculate about this event. Other people have been a little bit stumped by it, too. I think that it was expressly not labeled as a Tea Party event. If so, that would make sense. The Tea Party is one circle on the Venn Diagram. The target audience for this event is an overlapping but not identical circle. The goal here seems to have been to encourage and mobilize one very large group of people, a huge segment of the population. No event is going to accomplish everything or appeal to everybody. Since the event included a call for forty days of prayer for the country, it was pretty obviously directed to people who pray. The totality of the coalition which is growing, which I think of as The Insurgency, is made up of several components. The unifying element is exactly the political and economic factors Richard40 mentions. A purely political event would have been a different event. There is room for all kinds of events.

And as a Roman Catholic, I will extend my hand to Richard40 and all other non-religious fellow citizens who share the same civic, political, economic and Constitutional principles I do. For the small number of doctrinaire libertarians who cannot stand dealing with someone who goes to church, I can only say, wake up, look hard at what is happening, and see who your real opponents are. We can have a civil discussion about the issues we disagree about when this current menace has been beaten back. We are in this thing together.”

In telling of my experience at the Lincoln Memorial its important to notice that this was a personal and non-political event. When most people hear that I was going and now that I went the question is why? If it’s not political what could the event be about? It was obvious from the small amount of progressive protesters at the event that they had absolutely no idea.

Glenn Beck was one of the first people to realize that before we can fix what’s economically and politcally wrong with America we need to adjust ourselves, its people. Conservatives and Patriots ask why don’t we have a Grorge Washington or a Thomas Jefferson today? Where are the strong political leaders we need? The answer is we aren’t raising them at home. We need to restore ourselves and our families – return to God and the principles we hold most dear like faith, hope and charity.

We arrived just after the rally started at 1000 EST. I can’t explain my excitement, not only to be part of such a honorable and historic event but also to be in my nation’s capitol and such a historic place. The crowd count was said to be around 500,000 but it seemed like more. There were people on the opposite side of the Washington monument sitting in chairs just listening hundreds of yards from the platform where Sarah Palin was speaking at the time. I knew then that that wasn’t going to be enough for me. I had to see with my own eyes who was speaking. I knew it was going to be tough but I was essentially going to have to go through the entire audience to get to where I could see the platform and Glenn make his speech. While the other speakers continued I started making my way through the masses. All being said it was easy. I was among some of the best Americans this country has to offer and that was evident. For the next two hours I was shoulder to shoulder with people from all over the country trying to get a glimpse of the platform. Thousands of people trying to get where they needed to be all being very patient. Not one person push or shoved in that time. No one got trampled or knocked down. There was a lot of apologizing when someone would accidentally step on a toe or graze a check. Then a lot of resolving and smiles. I can’t describe it. Most people there were not moving they were just enjoying the excellent sound system that was setup and the large LCD screens setup every few hundred yards. It was like when people saw myself and several others always pressing forward it was like they understood. ‘Those are the people who just have to see for themselves’. When I finally made it close enough to the stage where I just absolutely could not go forward any more I could see GB as he was just a few statements into his speech. I would have never thought that so many people could be so reverent, respectable and quiet. Glenn spoke about America. Who we are and what we can do to restore ourselves for the America we know of in history. An America of God and faith. An America of honor and strength. There were so many faucets to his speech its easy to get lost in all of them as you could easily expand into each cavuet. At one point he presented Amazing Grace and the crowd broke into singing the words as it was played on the bag pipes.

When it was  over I rested for several minutes after walking and standing so long. I knew the Lincoln memorial was just a short walk away. It was very crowded there of course because everyone had the same idea. The Vietnam memorial was next. There was a lot of stuff around. I had walked past the WWII memorial and all the people around it at the rally to get where I was but I really wanted to know where Arlington National Cemetery was. I have dreamed about going there if I ever made it to DC. I checked Google Maps on the blackberry and it wasn’t that far!

I say it wasn’t that far but the truth is it was probably at least two miles to just get to the gates. The one thing I had to see was the ceremony of the changing of the guard. I first watched a video of the ceremony when I was in a high school. It was amazing! I was completely captivated. I stayed long enough to watch the ceremony three times! Just by chance I was watching the Sargent of the guard disappear into the guard quarters after the ceremony. When suddenly they reappeared this time. This hadn’t happened before so I didn’t understand what was about to happen. There was a third guard with them. They started marching out towards the cemetery by themselves! No one seemed to notice or act like they cared but I knew one thing was for sure. I had to follow them! After a quick nod of approval from the Dept of interior officer I ran after them and what I realized is that they were about to begin the Cemetery Ceremony of lowering the flag. It was 500PM! It was fantastic and an added bonus.

I think its hard for anyone to know when to quit. When the feeling of a KO is still fresh in your mind it can be very hard to admit its over. If you look at Michael Jordan he had the hardest time out of almost any athlete to know when to quit. There is one person however that Chuck Liddell sees in his dreams. One person that the Iceman just can’t let go of No, I’m not talking about Tito Ortiz. I’m talking about the Natural. Yes Randy Couture. Couture was not only the biggest obstacle to Liddell winning the Light Heavyweight title but he has also been the most successful fighter over the age of 40 and at this age he defeated Liddell more than once. The question Liddell is asking himself is. Why not me? Why can’t Liddell be a factor in the UFC as long as Couture has? The reason is Couture is a master game planner. Couture knows how to take his age, his strengths and his weaknesses as well as his opponents and turn then into a master game plan. Liddell on the other hand simply does not. The Iceman reminds me of a quote I hard in a movie once. “He comes from a much earlier version of the Matrix.” And Chuck’s fighting style comes from a much earlier earlier version of the UFC. Chuck is simply unable to adapt his fighting style to adapt for a glass chin.

I still believe he has one fight left though and as I foreshadowed earlier his last fight just might be Tito Ortiz. If this is the case, it will be a complete 180 degree turn from what Dana White has already said. If we have seen the last of the Iceman:

Chuck, you are and will always be a champion. Thank you for everything you have done and everything you will do for the sport.

The fastest sell out in UFC history came in a mere thirty minutes as Canadian UFC fans wanted their chance to see the “Iceman” in his final performance on June 12th in British Columbia. Before I get into why it was his last fight and the performance speech we’ll start with the welterweight fight.

Carlos Condit vs Rory Macdonald – I love fights like this. Two very technical lighter weight phenoms going toe to toe. In the end however, A classic example of a more established and experienced fighter teaching the younger guy how it’s done. Condit started methodically picking Macdonald apart in the second and third rounds and you could see him slowly being overwhelmed. Now I say the later rounds because in the first round Macdonald came out to win it. He came out to finish the this fight like he had finished all the others. His energy was apparent and he landed more shots on Condit than in any other round. For Macdonald this fight could catapult his career if takes what he learned from this fight and apply it. For Condit, a significant victory like this (TKO due to strikes) solidify’s his position in the division and he will most likely enter the gateway to be a top player in the division.

Barry vs Crocop –  Pat Barry has a future in the UFC. He is one of the strongest and hard hitting heavy weights the division has ever seen. We seen this during his fight as he knocked Crocop on his head twice during the match. However, he has much work to do in controlling his emotions. He lost this fight via to much hero worship in the 1st. I could see this coming when I watched the countdown video and Pat talked about his mother and how much she meant to him. When you saw the replay of him crying in front of the cam after his last win. Even to how much he was talking about how much he respected Crocop. To be fair to Pat he was literally fighting his childhood hero. It looked much like the GSP vs Hughes 1 fight where GSP couldn’t even stare him in the eyes he was so intimidated. I must admit the mutual respect for both fighters was refreshing but when you step into that octagon as a professional fighter you must be a fighter. This performance by Barry did not impress me, the fans or @danawhite. Unfortunately for Crocop it does a disservice to his victory as well. Since Barry was the heavy favorite for this fight was his win to solely to Barry’s lack Crocop’s assertion? I think PB will learn from this experience and come back stronger than before. As for Crocop I think we still see him hanging in there. It was rumored after this fight that he may retire so go out in style and not let a string of losses affect his legacy.

Carlos Condit

Liddell vs Franklin:

I had a tweet leading up to this fight insinuating that this would be Liddell’s last only because @danawhite said himself that if Chuck lost it would be time for him to retire. I have seen every Chuck Liddell fight in the past several years and did not see any change in his abilities for methodology towards fighting nor would I want to. When I saw him come out to the octagon I saw a much leaner and meaner Chuck than we have seen in a long time. He looked great and came out hungry. When the fight started he came out hard like he meant business. The high kick that broke Rich’s arm looked devastating. I believe I read his arm was broken in two places. I’m really an Iceman fan I would have loved to see him come out with a win. However, The Iceman lost this fight and several of his past fights for one reason: At his age, he has a glass chin. The very short jab that shut him off that night sealed the coffin to his fighting career. With this sport you have got to be able to take punches and as we have seen on multiple occasions Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell can no longer do that. I don’t want to take away from Rich Franklin on this fight. Rich looked fantastic after such a long layoff. He may not be able to beat Anderson Silva but I think he’s a great fighter and a great guy. I’m eager to see what he can accomplish in the new weight class.