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If there is one part of MMA that is never going to go away, it’s the trash talking. In fact, that’s half the fun. It helps build the tension between the two fighters, which makes a great fight even more enjoyable. However, there are a couple of fighters that sometimes just don’t know when to pull it back a bit. The general rule of thumb is that when the match is over, that’s usually the end of the drama because differences are settled in the ring. Brock Lesnar and Shinya Aoki sort of took this rule and threw it out the window in their most recent fights. So the question is which fighter had the worst post fight antic? Brock or Aoki? Let’s break it down.

First, Brock. The match was 100% clean. Since there was nothing dirty done we don’t have to mark any points off him yet. His immediate celebration may have been a bit much but nothing to yell at him for. He did go straight to Mir while Mir was recovering to rub the win in this face. This was a classless move. Your opponent just took a brutal loss and is trying to pick himself back up, you don’t need to tear him back apart. Or at least not right away. The flicking off of the crowd was of course unacceptable. These are the people that are writing your paycheck, so it’s not smart to piss them off. Throw in the fact that Brock then slammed the main sponsor and gave us WAY too much information on what he wanted to do to his wife and you had a pretty bad post fight antic. However he did apologize the next day and although that didn’t take away what he did, it at least felt genuine.

Next we have Aoki. I am not going to count the breaking of Hirota’s arm against Aoki. Hirota did not tap, plain and simple. if you don’t want to tap and go all Renzo Gracie, fine, but then you accept what that will mean for your limbs. The flicking off in Hirota’s face is absolutely horrible. I thought that getting in Mir’s face after he lost was bad, but at least Mir was WALKING. Hirota was on the mat motionless with his freaking arm broken. It’s like the ultimate insult to injury. Followed up with a little flicking off of the crowd and Aoki is definitely on the same plane if not worse than Brock at this point. Aoki saves himself a little bit by not continuing to dig himself deeper in a hole like Brock did. His apology though was a bit half-a**ed. He said that he did something rude that he should apologize for, but that it was just because of his excitement over the win. I mean, sure excitement is one thing, but middle fingering a guy you just broke, literally, I would say is a bit malicious.

Final vote? I am going to go with Aoki. Though Brock’s antic was longer, Aoki’s was more malicious. When you have broken someone’s arm I think it’s far to say that your opponent has gotten the point. Especially if what Hirota was bashing you on was your ground game. At that point there is no need to keep going. Couple that with the fact that Brock made better amends and you have Aoki with the worse post-fight antic.

Wow. Just wow. I don’t even know where to start on this awards show. Everything from the set, to the host, to the writing, to the research was absolutely terrible. Now granted I’m sure that MMA in general doesn’t give a crap about award shows so the bar was most likely set pretty low. That being said even going in with my expectations not that high, the show still management to blow my mind at how awful it was. So if you missed it, don’t be sad because you didn’t miss much, but go ahead and read on if you are curious as to how bad this awards show actually was.

First, the host. Ok I’m sure that John Heffron is very funny when he does stand-up. However he is NOT funny when he hosts. All of his jokes fell 100% flat. Sure there were some chuckles now and then from the audience but overall you could hear crickets. One question to UFC, did you guys forget about the comedian that you ALREADY have on your payroll? Not to mention Joe Rogan has hosted a television show before, which leads me to believe that he would be able to pull this off better than Heffron. Also who the hell was in charge of writing? Seriously, I want to know who in their right mind thought that the material put out there was even remotely close to witty or funny. It wasn’t. I’m willing to give the fighters slack because well, they were never meant to be presenters, but everything was just so forced and delivered so badly that it just amplified the crappiness.

Oh and who the heck is working the research department? Some of the categories they put up were just plain stupid. No offense but I don’t REALLY care about what the best GLOVE of the year is. How about UFC Ring Girl of the year? I mean WTF? THERE’S ONLY ONE LEFT! How can any other girl BESIDES Arianny win? Plus they may as well just have called this the UFC awards show because that’s the only program that won any award (unless you count Hendo winning KO of the year in which NOW he’s SF but I digress). It is no surprise that with all of this I turned it off about 60% of the way through.

There are some good points that are worth mentioning though. We got to see that Heath Herring was still alive although he had no clue how to talk into a microphone, Greg Jackson and his gym won some much deserved awards for coach and gym of the year, and Chris Cyborg got female fighter of the year. However, the best part was when we got to see a drunk Diego Sanchez accept his award for fight of the year against Clay Guida. For a good minute, you couldn’t understand a word that Diego was saying. It was hilarious. He sounded like a stuck tape deck repeating the same thing over and over. It gets even better when in the background you can see Hendo trying so hard not to crack up. I would say that little moment saved the award show. Don’t get me wrong though, it was still pretty bad.

2009 was an interesting year to say the least. While there are countless lists of what the top matches, knockouts, and submissions are for the year, I decided to take a slightly different approach. This list takes a look at the 5 biggest questions that have gone unanswered in the UFC. The events that allowed us to speculate all we want about the truth. While we may never know the answers to these questions, you can’t help but admit that they created some fun mystery buzz:

5. Did Josh Koscheck fake his eye injury? – No one likes to question the heart of UFC fighters especially when they are seasoned veterans like Koscheck, but when Josh went up against Rumble Johnson at UFC 106 we couldn’t help but wonder about his reaction to a knee from Johnson. Even Joe Rogan himself said that the injury didn’t make sense when he looked at the video. Others say that if you observe it carefully you can see Rumble’s hand graze Josh’s eye. However, even if you watched it in slow motion 100 times you still would never know for sure if Johnson ever hit Kos’s eye, leaving us all to make our own conclusions.

4. Why were Natasha Wicks and Logan Stanton fired? – Since this one was very recent, we may end up getting the answer to this question sometime in 2010, but for now it remains quite a mystery. Shortly after UFC 107 it was reported that Natasha and Logan were cut as ring girls from the UFC. Fans were shocked and clamoring to find reasons. Some speculate it had to do with the post UFC 106 interview they gave accusing Kosheck of faking while others think that Arianny had influence. Whatever the reason, the answer to the question unfortunately won’t bring these beauties back.

3. Did GSP know he was greasing? – Unless BJ Penn had kicked up a storm about GSP greasing you may have never noticed it before. I know I didn’t. After BJ’s loss at UFC 94 to GSP for the second time, we couldn’t hear enough about how GSP had cheated, including greasing himself up with Vaseline during the match. Looking back on it it seemed to most as an honest mistake and it most likely was. However that still doesn’t prevent us from asking if GSP knew about it. Certainly if there is someone who would notice a substance on his body it would be him? Maybe he didn’t know the rule, maybe he didn’t think it was significant, hell maybe BJ and his camp are just bitter losers. Until we can read minds, this mystery is just going to have to go in the unsolved box.

2. How involved was UFC in the Affliction collapse? – The majority opinion on this topic is that if you are proposing that there was a conspiracy to collapse affliction that you are more than likely off your rocker. I happen to agree which is why I am not posing that it was a conspiracy, but the involvement that the UFC DID have has been quite cleared up. We do know that within 5 hours of the cancellation announcement that Dana white had sealed the deal with Affliction to come back. While it is possible that deals could close in such a short window it certainly raises eyebrows. Just how much was UFC involved? Did they just happen to be at the right place at the right time? Were they in talks with Affliction before it’s collapse? At this point it may just be better to NOT know the answer.

1. What was the actual offer to Fedor by the UFC? – If there was one question that topped the rest in 09 it was this one. A $30 million contract, an instant title shot, a cut of UFC 103 earnings, and permissions to continue Sambo were just some of the things speculated to have been in the offer. UFC maintains that they never made such a luxurious offer. They said it was a lot of money, but certainly not that much. I am willing to bet that a good 90% of MMA fans would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at that meeting. I know I would have. No one knows for sure what was in the official offer. It could be that UFC just wanted to save face and not want to admit that they stuck so much of their neck out only to get cut. It would be nice closure to know what was in the offer but some things in life are destined to be mysteries and this, unfortunately, is one of them.

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MMA is more than just about martial arts and fighting. It’s a culture. It’s a lifestyle. It’s many different things that I won’t bore you to tears listing, but one of the biggest parts to MMA is the fashion. Thanks to Tapout and countless other brands, MMA fans can now feel like they are part of the action by sporting their favorite fighter’s shirt. Along with the countless brands comes countless amounts of designs. However, the trend tends to be the same idea. A typical MMA shirt has skulls, chains, sharp objects, blood stains, and every color of the rainbow muddled together in a full body print. It got to the point where, although the shirt designs were cool, the designs were extremely overwhelming. I think MMA fans have been aching for a change from the complex equation that makes up most MMA shirts today.

Enter in RVCA. This brand brings a refreshing simple look back into the world of MMA. The two pictures show the Fedor walk out shirt for CBS and the Vitor Belfort cornerman shirt from UFC 103. The concept on these shirts cannot get any simpler. First, RVCA uses only two colors. I like this because it gives a great contrast to the shirt. There is nothing hidden. You can clearly see the design because the design is in one color and the shirt is in another. No more hidden pictures, names, or subliminal messages wrapped around a chain link fence. I also like how the shirt truly represents the culture of the fighter. For Vitor the green and yellow just pop Brazilian pride while Fedor’s sharp red design on a black shirt makes us think the cold war is back on.

I really hope that this trend starts picking up more steam because I really like a shirt that I can wear anywhere and looks good anywhere. These shirts aren’t JUST for MMA events. Initial buzz from the MMA community has been very positive to the shirts, and I am definitely looking forward to the designs that RVCA will be coming out with in the near future. For more info on the shirts you can click the links below.

FEDOR CBS WALK OUT T

VITOR BELFORT CONERMANSHIRT

I can’t help but go back in time a little bit and recall Dana’s comments about Strikeforce being a joke and calling it “Strike-farce”. All comedy aside, we really believed Dana when he said this and that Strikeforce would just be another minor league club. However, for a club that Dana claims to not be much of a threat the UFC is certainly acting like it’s one. Just recently it has announced that it will be putting on a two hour special in response to the Fedor/Rogers fight that will be happening on CBS. It is quite clear that UFC does not want to go quietly on this and wants to steal as many viewers away from the Fedor fight as possible. It doesn’t even end there, just yesterday reports have stated that negotiations between the UFC and Henderson have stopped with Dana White citing that Hendo was simply asking for too much money. It’s is very possible now that Hendo may move to Strikeforce if they can afford them. I wouldn’t even put it past CBS to chip in some to help make that deal.

So what does this all mean? The short answer is, the UFC is starting to feel the heat. The long answer is a bit more complicated. The UFC has not been in this position for a long time. While Pride did not officially collapse until 2007, many argue that they were no longer any threat after 2004-2005. So it has been almost 5 years where the UFC has not had to be in a competition mode against any other clubs. They were able to make their deals and air their fights without much concern. However that has all changed since Strikforce got its hands on Fedor. That deal gave Strikeforce a large amount of legitimacy and forced the UFC to start looking at the matches that Strikeforce would be putting on. With Rogers sick knockout of Arlovski, MMA fans are pumped for this match as some think Rogers has the best shot at taking down the last emperor. As a result UFC is trying to throw whatever it can to try and stay in the spotlight. They are already behind in terms of network TV, they know this. Ergo they have to leverage Spike TV as much as they can while they are playing catchup.

It gets even worse when you consider how the deal with Henderson has played out so far. If Hendo can be bought by Strikeforce, this will mark the second major fighter that Strikeforce was able to lure away from UFC. If this trend continues, the UFC may have to start considering paying fighters more than what they are worth. This was something that the UFC did not want to have happen. This is what happens in a world of good competition. In a monopoly the value of something is what it is literally worth since there is no threat of an alternative. However, in a world of competition the value of something is merely the interpretation of what everyone else around it thinks it’s worth. Henderson has a decent following and Strikeforce knows this. They may determine that Hendo is worth the money for the name alone if nothing else.

In my opinion the next few weeks are a key stage for Strikeforce. They are in a position to gain a severe amount of momentum. If they close the deal with Henderson and the November 7th fight is a success, then they will be able to ride that wave for a good amount of time while they begin to make moves on the UFC. Before we know it, other big name fighters will be able to make similar moves to that of Henderson, and if that happens the UFC will go from just feeling the heat to outright shaking in their boots.

There isn’t a lot that has been able to threaten the UFC in the business of MMA for the past 5 to 6 years. Elite XC was a joke, Pride fell away, and Affliction collapsed under it’s own mismanagement. Fighters from these failed clubs have all flocked to the UFC turning it into the unstoppable juggernaut of MMA competition that it is today. Or so we thought. Strikeforce, arguably UFC’s biggest competitor, has been slowly sneaking under the radar gaining steam bit by bit. At first it seemed just a thorn in the UFC’s side, but with the acquisition of Fedor, deals with CBS, and a women’s division Strikeforce became more than just a thorn. They became a threat. Now all of this you could argue are things UFC can handle no problem, that is until you bring in the one key factor that can change the game. Dan Henderson.

So why is Hendo so special you ask? This is a good question. After all the UFC has plenty of top name fighters. So they lose one of their big names to another club, no big deal right? Wrong! It is a huge deal and here is why. The context and significance of Hendo moving to Strikeforce is much bigger than what we all think. This is because this would officially recognize Strikeforce as THE alternative to the UFC monopoly. Before there was a competitor, the UFC had a stranglehold on the industry. They told you who to fight and when to fight. If you didn’t like it, you could walk. The only problem is there was nowhere to walk to. However, it appears that there now IS a place to walk to. Strikeforce.

The possibility of Hendo walking is the essence of UFC’s ego beginning to hurt it’s bottom line. Everyone and their mother knew that Hendo was the first in line for the title shot against Silva. Worst case, Hendo was to fight Nate and the winner of that fight would get Silva with belt in hand. However, Hendo now has to not only fight Nate, but he was passed over for Vitor Belfort. This is BS for two reasons. One, Vitor had just gotten back into the UFC from a long hiatus from it. Two, his victory against Franklin wasn’t even in the right DIVISION. So I don’t see how Vitor could get to cut in front of Hendo so easily. UFC of course felt they could make these moves knowing their powerful position, but Hendo challenges this in a big way.

No longer can UFC feel safe about their decisions. They will still be able to flex their muscles with young and fresh fighters. These fighters are still building a resume and need the UFC more than the UFC needs them. The seasoned veterans though could pose an interesting problem for the UFC. After all, if Strikeforce is good enough for Hendo and Fedor who’s to say it’s not good enough for them? If Hendo decides to officially switch teams, we could potentially see a slow migration of big name fighters from UFC, disgruntled with management and looking for new opportunity, to Strikeforce. Even if Hendo has no intention of joining Strikeforce and is bluffing, I still like the move. It keeps all organizations on their toes, letting them know that competition is alive and well in all forms of sports, including MMA, and that is something that should be rocking UFC to its very core.

I recently saw Christmas decorations up in a store over the weekend and it hit me. 2009 is almost over. So I’m sitting here at my computer reflecting on how fast 2009 has gone by. In three months we will be entering 2010 when it felt like just yesterday I was at my 2009 new years eve party with my friends. But enough with my nostalgic feelings. What does this have to do with MMA you ask? Well in reflection of the past year, I have realized that so many things have happened in the world of MMA and UFC. There have been epic matches, controversial decisions, and shocking events. 2009 has put us on the biggest roller coaster ride we have ever experienced in MMA and we still have 25% of the year left. With MMA showing no signs of stopping is it possible that 2010 could top 2009? Let’s take a look at the shoes 2010 needs to fill.

There has been countless amounts of great matches in 2009, especially with all the new talent that has been popping up. However, there are three matches that to me stand out from all the rest. The first is the rematch between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar. This match had been stewing and simmering ever since Mir beat Brock the first time back in 2008. The build up was so intense that it’s climax at UFC 100 was everything an MMA fan could ask for. Millions of people bought PPV to watch this fight. It was one of the few times that we saw MMA pulling in the numbers that boxers boast about. The fighters also gave us a great fight. The second fight wasn’t even on PPV. It was on a reality show on cable. You all know what I’m talking about. Kimbo Slice v.s Roy Nelson. Though the fight itself was lackluster, the fact that over 6 million people tuned in to watch it can’t ignored. It was the most watched event in MMA history. This will be so hard to top. The final match is one that is yet to take place. The match between Brett Rogers and Fedor Emelianenko. Like the Lesnar/Mir fight, this fight is just bursting with anticipation. MMA fans everywhere are dying to see Fedor’s first match since the UFC drama that took place after Affliction had folded and find out if Fedor is the real deal by going up against what many are arguing is his toughest challenge yet. It’s the perfect icing on this cake of fights in 2009.

The fun didn’t stop at just what happened inside the ring. The events that took place outside have rocked us just as much. One key event that stood out was the complete and utter collapse of Affliction and it’s assimilation of fighters by the UFC. However, there were two decisions made by two fighters that were so shocking and so controversial that it had the MMA community buzzing with chatter for days. I am of course talking about Fedor and Rampage. First Fedor’s decision to sign with Strikeforce and not the UFC was a huge rock to the UFC comunnity. Fans everywhere were scratching thier heads trying to figure out why Fedor would not accept such a great deal. They could not understand why he did not want to fight the best in the game right now and cement his legacy. Though an excuse of co-promotion requests was tossed out in hopes of satisfying the masses it simply was not good enough. The second was done by Rampage Jackson. During one of the most build up story arcs of the year the MMA world was 100% blindsided by Rampage’s decision to retire from fighting and pursue his movie career. No one saw it coming. The word spread like a wildfire with everyone trying to understand why Rampage would make such an insane decision on a whim without thinking about how it would affect everything around him. However, what’s done is done. I guess we could assume that Rampage coming back in 2010 and winning the title would be the one thing that could top 2009 easily.

We even had a couple of pleasant surprises. Take a look at Kimbo Slice. Last year this fighter was the world’s most hated man. There was so much crap talked about him it was insane, and in the span of two weeks on TUF Kimbo managed the change a lot of minds in the MMA community. Soon some of the very same people that were bad mouthing him were now cheering him on. Myself included. It was one of the biggest twists I had seen in a long time. Never had I seen the opinion of one man change so quick and so positive, but it was a refreshing experience none the less. There is also Chuck Liddell, who took up a gig on Dancing with the Stars. The apprehension was enormous and plenty of fans were laughing at the idea. However, Chuck has shown that he has what it takes to stick around in that show. He’s representing the sport well and looking good while doing it. It’s a fun experience that is putting a smile on everyone’s face, and that is something that can’t be ignored.

So can 2010 top all the big things from this year? Who knows? It certainly has some hurdles to jump. All I know is if 2010 does top 2009 I can only imagine what 2011 will have pull out its a** to top 2010.

It has been confirmed that Strikeforce will be making their network television debut on CBS on Nov. 7th. The match will be Fedor against Brett Rogers. Though this is by no means a signal that the network will be entering a multi-fight contract with Strikeforce, it really doesn’t matter. The mere fact that CBS agreed to air one fight night for Strikeforce is all SF needs to establish a big jump for their fight club. There is a lot of buzz around Brett Rogers thanks to his recent win, so much so that there is current speculation that he has the true potential to take Fedor down. Throw in the fact that a good majority of the MMA community is on the edge of its seats to see Fedor’s first match since the UFC debacle and Strikefore will have all they need to build up the hype for this match. It is for these reasons that CBS is what will be great equalizer between UFC and Strikeforce.

If there is one thing that is left on Dana White’s Christmas list it’s the ability to take UFC to network television. Dana’s theory is that by being able to put less financial strain on the audience by giving free fight nights he will be able to not only keep his fan base loyal to him but also believes it will get more fans into UFC as well. This point holds true, back in the days when boxing was on network TV it was able to draw in more fans. Dana has guaranteed that UFC will begin making network TV debuts by Sept 15th of next year. The only problem is, it’s not soon enough.

I talked about this before in one of my older blogs where I put the two organizations head to head and I said very clearly that the two things that would close the gap between Strikeforce and UFC would be the woman’s division and CBS broadcasting. UFC may be bigger, better, and badder but they are lacking one key thing and that is mainstream exposure. If Strikeforce did not have the Fedor/Rogers match then I would say that this network television fight would most likely not hold its weight in water, but this match is a big one. UFC fans WILL be turning into this fight and the first MMA exposure that some new fans will be getting when they see this fight on TV will NOT be UFC. This is something that is probably driving Dana White nuts. His organization has been around so long grinding it’s way back to survival and eventually to stardom. Now his biggest competitor will get to have first crack at a new fresh audience with the biggest guns they got.

Nov. 7th will be a very important day for MMA. It will show first hand whether or not Strikeforce has what it takes to compete with the MMA market share that UFC currently has a total stranglehold on. If they put on a great show with Fedor/Rogers (which I think they will) it is probable that CBS will want to continue offering deals which could potentially get Strikeforce a fan base large enough to set up a similar system to that of the NFL with an AFC and NFC division like structure. If not, then Strikeforce will have blown their biggest opportunity to close the gap with UFC. With 52 days to go, let the anticipation begin.

So the lovely Gina Carano has finally given a statement about her loss to Cyborg…

“For people who have supported me this far, I wanted to take time to collect my thoughts and speak from the heart rather than spew out some cliché anecdote about a tough loss. I know I am a better fighter than the way I performed that night and was heartbroken to not give more to those who have been inspired. However, I find some relief in knowing that this has never been only about me, and now more than ever I feel freedom to learn and grow at my own pace. I make it a point to constantly remind myself throughout this journey who I am, what I am doing, and why. Life is the most amazing gift and I want to live it for the right reasons. To my family, coaches, management… thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing in me, loving and encouraging me. Also a special thanks to the fans who support me from their computers at home, watch me on television and scream for me in the stadiums. Because of you, barriers have been broken down and you have inspired me to believe in a larger dream. Congratulations to Cris Cyborg and the women of MMA who have a great platform to shine. I am more excited than ever for female fighters and this amazing sport which has transformed my life. God Bless.”

However, what are fighters REALLY saying when they give their statement? If you have ever wondered then this is the place for you, let’s break it down bit by bit.

“For people who have supported me this far, I wanted to take time to collect my thoughts and speak from the heart rather than spew out some cliché anecdote about a tough loss”

TRANSLATION: Yea I know I messed up by going AWOL after the fight, so I’m gonna try to cover it up as best as possible.

“I find some relief in knowing that this has never been only about me, and now more than ever I feel freedom to learn and grow at my own pace.”

TRANSLATION: This sucks! I’m not the only big name is women’s MMA anymore and I can’t just skate by on my looks!

“I make it a point to constantly remind myself throughout this journey who I am, what I am doing, and why. Life is the most amazing gift and I want to live it for the right reasons.”

TRANSLATION: I may now have to rethink my career decision.

“Also a special thanks to the fans who support me from their computers at home”

TRANSLATION: I really hope their pants are up.

“Because of you, barriers have been broken down and you have inspired me to believe in a larger dream.”

TRANSLATION: Playboy here I come!!!!

“Congratulations to Cris Cyborg and the women of MMA who have a great platform to shine.”

TRANSLATION: I hate you.

Stay tuned for more MMA translated statements as they come out.