I’m happy for the Jersey boys, Miller, Pellegrino, and Almeida. I did think Miller was going to lose a split decision after I watched it, but who knows. Almeida looked strong coming in for his  take downs with much improved striking combinations thanks to Mike Castro from LA Boxing who I have also trained under.

Fitch “fitched” and is now stuck fighting a teammate, which is the right thing to do in this case, or lose his chance to fight. Dana’s comments at the post fight presser were spot on.

GSP was very predictable against Hardy who I found out has joints that are the same as Gumby, That kimura was deep and the fact that he didn’t tap was very impressive. Who is next? TBD, not anytime soon. I just think every fighter in the welterweight division started training their take down defense today in order to stand a chance at taking the belt from GSP.

As far as the crowd goes, the boo’s  stunk but totally expected as with all UFC crowds in the states. So to all my t shirt radio hosts with squeaky voices, don’t single out Jersey, I promise you there are douchebags everywhere. It’s not exactly a Japanese MMA crowd, but from the crowds just a few years ago, we have come along way.

So Toney is training with Juanito Ibarra, Rampage’s former trainer, and could possibly face a real mixed martial artist in his frist fight and not the bearded one. He goes in, gets taken down and either gets pounded out or or more likely submitted, which I want to see and so should you for the benefit of our sport. The much worse outcome is that Joe Silva matches Toney up with a fighter dumb enough to stand up with a boxer who has over 70wins and Toney gets the KO. This makes MMA look bad, something everyone involved in MMA has been trying to fix since the 1990’s. So why did the UFC do this especially after Dana ripped Strikeforce for bringing in Herschel Walker. Your guess is as good as mine, but I could surely do without it.

The other big development I need to speak on is the fact that it looks like the UFC will counter-program the April 17th Strikeforce card with a show of their own and the fact that people are actually complaining about this. Maybe it’s just me but I have been a MMA fan long enough to remember longing for the days when MMA would be on free TV, and now we have more than once a month. I know it’s not always great to watch taped shows, but c’mon people this is great for fans, more free MMA. Invest in a DVR and some caffeine and enjoy back to back shows. That’s what I say. So when the UFC announces a card for April 17th be thankful for some free MMA and get your DVR ready.

Competition is good.

The students at the Fight Factory definitely represented the best, even bringing out their stars. Eddie Alvarez and Tara LaRosa were both in the house even cornering some of their fighters. The MC brought them in the stage to announce they were there, it was the redundant moment of the evening. They didn’t say anything. Sam Oropeza from the Fight Factory had the highlight KO in just 9 seconds. Shin to Jaw. Lights Out, very impressive.

Two TUF alums also were in the cage. Mike Dolce was first up with his 4-8 record. After a brutal elbow to the top of his dome in the first round he poured blood the entire fight before tapping out in the 3rd round to a strong guillotine by Dennis Olson. Let me just say let’s hope his diet works out better than he fought in the cage, very little offense from the TUF alum.

In the main event, cornered by two UFC fighters Frankie Edgar and Ricardo Almeida, Dante Rivera faced off against Herbert Goodman from the Hit Squad. Dante forgot it was an MMA match and that he was allowed to throw punches, so for 15 minutes it was failed takedowns reminiscent of Kenny Florian v. BJ Penn. Goodman easily won the unanimous decision. Considering he had Frankie Edgar in his corner I was very disappointed in his lack of stand up. We know his BJJ is excellent, so hopefully he focuses on those hands for next time. 

In closing I would like to encourage everyone out there to go to yur local MMA shows, the crowd is great, the small venue is always a great place to see any form of entertainment. And who knows maybe some top lightweights in the world will show up like they do in Atlantic City.

Brock, Mir, Shane, Cain, & Dos Santos are all talented enough to be the champ.  Not to mention the youngsters in the division who have yet to been tested like Todd Duffee that will surely get their chance soon enough. So many legit contenders in the UFC can we PLEASE stop with the hypothetical questions about any of these guys taking on Fedor. Now he may not be fighting Werdum in April? Not exactly the stellar match-up, but still its a showing at least. Bye M-1, take your ball and go play elsewhere.

 Enjoy the here and now in the UFC, never has a division been so stacked with such great athletes who can beat each other on any given day. I’m not sure we can say the same for other division in the UFC. Super Hulk tournaments, pass,  A champ who won’t defend his belt , pass. I am officially off the Fedor bandwagon, my sweater is off, I don’t need it. Neither do you. Nothing brings them in like a Heavyweight fight and 2010 will have plenty of the biggest baddest men on the planet fighting  inside the Octagon.

The first card of the PPV is most likely Pride legend Mirko Cro Cop vs. IFL legend Ben Rothwell. Rothwell looked pretty bad against Velasquez and Mirko has changed his training to try and regain that luster from his Pride days. I’m taking Cro Cop with the TKO  in the 1st round.

Next up we got Ryan Bader v. Keith Jardine. Bader all the way, if Greg Jackson can’t teach Jardine not to hold his arms as far apart as possible he will get KO’d again. Greg Jacakson may be able to turn around the career of Melvin Guillard (quite the task) but for some reason can’t teach Keith to keep his hands by his temple instead of doing wax on wax off down by his chest. Bader via TKO in the 2nd by Ground n Pound

Joe Daddy Steven takes on George Sotiropoulos in a battle of guys that choke or joint lock any of us. So guess what? A stand up war it shall be.  Joe Daddy takes the UD winning the stand up game.

In the night’s co-main event, the guy in the picture, no not me, is taking on Michael Bisping. Wanderlei really needs a win at his debut in middleweight. I think I maybe ignoring my head on this one but I’m going with Silva via vicious knee to KO Bisping in the second round.

And in the main event we have another Pride legend Antonio Nogueira takeing on Cain Velasquez, a HW who may have the best cardio ever seen in that division. This one is going the distance people. In a upset I’m going with Cain getting the split decision and earning himself a shot at the heavyweight title possibly toward the end of 2010.

Enjoy the fights!

It’ll go like this once you submit your email you will get a response and question about where you would like to stay. It’s going to be majority rules, no electoral college BS. Once that is decided we will split up the costs of rooms ONLY. Every other expense you are own own, but the fun will grow exponentially if we stay in the same place and can have some extra coin to enjoy the Expo and 114 (Rashad v Rampage!) I can only run this for a month max before we have to book rooms so let’s make it happen people! Once again the email addy is matt@hellandbackmma.com

Every MMA fan needs to get behind this guy and keep encouraging him to show the rest of us that age is no excuse to train like a champion. We may never feel what it is like to step inside the octagon, but like I have said before you are never too old to find the nearest gym and give it a try. So if you ever wondered what is like to face off with father time there is no better way to train some Mixed Martial Arts. Just ask Randy Couture.

So Al Gore this is global warming?

Brock Lesnar has landed on the cover of the upcoming “UFC 2010 Undisputed” video game by THQ. The game is set to be released on May 25, and is the sequel to last years game, which sold 3.5 million copies.