The Ultimate Fighting Championship decided to end this year of 2008 with a grand finale of fights.  Two belts will be at stake tonight.  On one hand we Light Heavy weight Champion Forest Griffon taking on #1 contender Rasha Evans for the Light Heavy Weight Title.  Then we have the two Ultimate Fighter show coaches battling it out for the Heavy Weight Title.

Rashad has shown well rounded and impressive skills against some of the top fighters in the light heavy weight title and should give Forest a run for his money.  although Forest is tough he should play it safe and try to take Rashad down and pound or submit him.  I think Forest has superior ground skills.

For the heavy weight title, if Frank Mir wants to battle it out on the ground The Minotaur, then he better bring his “A” game.  The Minotuar has shown he is tough anyway you fight him.  This will fight should be a long fight if not then a fast knock out by The Minotaur.

The real reason I am interested in this fight is because of the fight between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva.  Wanderlei is my #1 all time favorite fighter of MMA.  He is a brutal standup fighter that has never and will never bring a boring fight to the table.  He has fought Rampage two other times before this fight and both were knockouts of ugly fashion and I am confident that Wanderlei will do it again in this fight.

I also happen to like Rampage as a fighter as well.  He is also an exciting and tough fighter to watch and I have been a fan for awhile.  The problem is, when he faces my favorite fighter I can’t be on his side on this one.  It usually sucks to watch two fighters you like because deep down you want them both to win.  However, not in this case.  I want to see Wanderlei back on top where he belongs.

I don’t want to get into the details of the other fights happening tonight.  You can simply go to the UFC’s homepage to see the card and the weigh-ins.

This will no doubt be an exciting night for fight fans out there and I wish all the fighters the best of lcuk in their up and coming fight.  It takes a lot of sacrifice and courage to step in the octogon or ring for an MMA match and my hat goes off to all these brave souls.

The following two highlight videos you are about to see were taken from YouTube users.  They are an artistic depiction of the renowned MMA fighter, Zakushi Sakuraba.

He is a Japanese submission fighter who brings one of the most exciting and unique fighting styles to the light.  I have always been impressed with this man.

Note:  His nickname is, “The Gracie Hunter.”  Watch these videos maximized, and with the volume up for the full effect.

These are two of most impressive highlight videos I have ever watched.  Props goes out to the creators of these videos.  Make sure to visit their Youtube profiles and comment, etc.

Ok, I could have took more time on this picture but you get the point. This was very surprising to me when I first heard about it. It was not surprising that Shamrock took the fight it was just that he would be the next to fight Kimbo.

It’s as simple as this folks. Ken will most definitely get knocked out if he tries to stand with Kimbo. On the other hand if he does what he is good at and takes him down for the submissions we could see Kimbo in trouble.

It really all depends on how Ken reacts in my opinion. I still can’t wait to see this fight though!

Update: Ken was not fit to fight Kimbo due to cut over eye during training.  Then the substitute fighter knocked Kimbo out!!

The champ is here! Well, the UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Forest Griffen of the UFC is here in California and he did an interview on the KROQ radio station.

They started the interview off by asking him questions about how he broke his left arm during a fight and he replied with,

“It felt like a shock, and I was like, What is this all about? Then I just kept on fighting.”

They went into how he started his career. Kevin asked him how he came to be a MMA fighter and he said he first wanted to be an NBA player but ended up becoming a UFC fighter.
They asked him about the fight with Rampage and what was going through his mind after that punch that hurt him. He said he was making the mistake of ducking his head and when he went back to the corner they told him, “Don’t duck your head!”.

Then Forest told them, “Ya, I kind of figured that out guys.”.

Next Forest talked about the philosophy of live for the moment. Next they told him how he looked like he got angry during the fight but he said he was just frustrated with himself.
Forest talked about his reaction when they announced the winner of the fight. He said they messed with the words when they announced the winner of the fight and he thought he lost.

At this point they took a small commercial break and when they returned they took some callers and asked about Anderson Silva. Forest says Anderson Silva is an an illusive fighter and is good at not getting hit and he should learn from him on how not to get hit.

Next they went into to asking him about the incident with Quinton Jackson and he said he would rather not comment on something that he doesn’t know too much about. He hopes Rampage doesn’t get into too much trouble. They asked what he thinks about Rampage’s truck with the big picture of him on it. Forest said he made fun of Rampage for having the picture and Rampage told him if he got a free truck with your picture on it for FREE would he take it and he said, “yes”.

At this point they took a few callers questions. One guy called in and and asked him about conditioning and he went into detail about his conditioning techniques. One technique of note was when wrestling you should always wrestle with a fresh guy each round. This really improves your conditioning. Forest also mentioned that he has been doing a lot of interviews lately instead of training and he loves it.

Someone called and asked about what he is going to do after MMA. He said he has no other talents so there is no end for him. It’s fight until he can’t anymore. He wants to keep doing it and hopefully make enough money to live off for the rest of his days.

Forest takes 9 showers a day! He says that he wrestles around with a lot of sweaty dudes so he just likes to be clean. He also mentioned putting a small amount of bleach in the shower?! They had a laugh with this and cracked a bunch of jokes.

They ended the interview with a few wishes of good luck and appreciation for doing the interview and that was about it. Most Kevin and Bean interviews are fast paced like that because they are always on a tight schedule.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has been arrested! Watch the video on TMZ.COM then come back here.

Basically, he crashed into two cars on another freeway, then he drove off. When the police tracked him down (his truck has a giant picture of him on the side!) he attempted to flee the police. The police report says that he was even driving on the opposite side of the road and on the side walk and almost hitting people!

This is very disturbing news for Jackson fans because we know him as always a happy, funny and collective guy. There must have been some substances involved to put him out of his mind like that. Or maybe it was done on purpose to put the spot light back on him instead of Forest Griffen. Just kidding.

Anyway, it is certainly not cool for his career and I can’t help but to see what is going to happen to him. He is out on bail right now.

Last night UFC 86 kicked off with a series of nice long boring fights. Almost every fight went the distance, except the fight between Chris Lytle and Josh Koschek which was a stoppage due to too much blood!

This was a brutal bloody match where Koscheck had Lytle on the ground and pounded him with elbows and forearms which devistated his face and put puddles of blood on the mat.

This was the closest fight to Randy Couture and Vitor Belfort we have seen yet. Lytle had a lot of gashes

Image was taken from http://www.newsday.com/sports/custom/boxing/ny-etufc86,0,7429887.story

across his eyes and forehead which bled profusely.

The fight between Rampage and Griffin went the distance also. The fight was still pretty exciting. You could see the definate power difference between the two and Jackson was able to drop Forest early with a uppercut. Forest still hung in there and ended up winning the fight in a decision.

This was ceretainly not one of the better cards we have seen but it is interesting that we now have a new champ in the light heavy weight division. I’m sure there will be many fighters gunning for the belt now that Forest has it. Regardless it is going to be a tough fight for anyone who steps to Forest as he is a tough guy who can take a shot.

I look forward to UFC 87 where GSP fights again.

I doubt Nick Diaz was actually high during the match but he did test positive for marijuana after a fight. According to MMA Weekly he tested positive to a drug test after his fight with Takanori Gomi. You should read the full article on this site for full details.

I wonder what they were thinking when they saw the test come positive. Do you think they thought he won because he had THC in his system?

Here is a piece taken from MMA Weekly, Regarding the subject of marijuana use among mixed martial artists in general, NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer said to MMAWeekly last month,

“The main issue with marijuana is it slows the reflexes, putting the fighter at much greater risk. We would not let a fighter compete who is coming off arm surgery and has not fully recovered his reflexes, or who is under the influence of alcohol because of the same issue. Additionally, it may also deaden some pain. That could hurt the fighter… he may not tap out when he should and he suffers broken bones or torn ligaments as a result… or that could unfairly help him if he can trade punches more easily with his opponent.” MMA Weekly.

According to another article I read, Marijuana can decrease your performance in sports as timing, movements, and coordination are all affected by the THC in marijuana.

This is certainly a controversial subject but I think it is better to say that no drugs should be allowed to be used in any fighting situation due to the possibility of an unfair advantage or possibility of injury to the fighter. MMA is a great sport and should be regulated as such that it provides the maximum amount of entertainment yet provides regulations which keep fighters in check.

The UFC is rushing to create a last minute event to try and undercut the new Afflication Banned event that is scheduled to take place next month at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. This fight has a great card and I am sure the center will sell out as they did on the previous event.

The UFC was trying to put together a fight between Wanderlei Silva and Brandon Vera to air at the same time as the Afflication event. Now sources say that the fight will not take place.

Brandon Vera is a heavy weight fighter who would be moving down in weight to fight Wanderlei at 205lbs. Wanderlei has had a bad luck streak against heavy weights with losses to Mirco Crocop and Mark Hunt so I can imagine he would want to stay in his weight class because there is already plenty of competition there.

I believe Wanderlei has his eye on the prize again. He knows if he faces Rampage again it should be an easy victory. Although Rampage is a different fighter today, I still don’t think he has what it takes to stop Wanderlei.