UFC 168 Main Card Picks

Merry Xmas and holiday joy to everyone out there in Rabbit Punch Nation!  Tis the season for giving, and the UFC has left us something very special under the tree this year with one of the most anticipated fight cards of the season.  No one, not even our crack staff of MMA divinators and prognosticators knows which way this fight is going to go.  If Silva can’t knock down Weidman with his pinpoint strikes, I think that Weidman’s power is going to carry his through this one, but either way, I’m pretty sure that someone is going to get knocked out.  So on that note, stuff these Rabbit Punch Main Card Picks down your stocking!

Poirier by TKO, Miller by decision, Barnett by ‘Roid Rage, Rousey by submission, and . . . Weidman, maybe, by KO.

TUF 18 / UFC 167 Reaction - GSP Hangs Up His Gloves

It’s official.  GSP and MMA are on a break.

The biggest news post-UFC 167 has been the recently announced not-quite-retirement of perennial welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre , who has held the belt consistently since 2007.

Ever since I saw his trilogy against Matt Hughes, I knew that GSP was something special.  At the time, it looked like we were getting a new wrestling king, but what we got was so much more.  A complete mixed martial artist, GSP blended his standup and ground games, showing a mental and technical flexibility that only great champions possess.  Not only an athletic superman, GSP was also possessed of a true martial artist’s spirit, displaying grace, respect, and moral courage in his professional life, whatever his private issues.

I, for one, think that this is the right time for GSP to move on with his life.  Repeated head trauma has already started to wear on the 32-year-old St. Pierre, who has reported losing time both in and out of the ring.  There are also indications that St. Pierre’s perfectionist nature may have developed into a legitimate disorder over the course of his training camps.  It is my hope that this man can find a sense of balance and peace in his new life, after having given so much to the fans and to the sport.  It would be upsetting to see what happened to Brett Favre happen to GSP.

So, no matter how much Dana or anyone else flap their gums, the entire staff over here at Rabbit Punch wishes Georges St. Pierre a fond (i)au revoir, along with our heartfelt gratitude for more than a decade spent in the fight game.

Of course, we couldn’t bring up UFC 167 with flapping our own gums about the bru-ha-ha over GSP’s split decision win over Johny Hendricks.

I am sick and tired of all the BS and belly-aching that we’ve seen in the wake of this fight.  When in the world did fight fans become such big ‘effin crybabies?

Judging is subjective.  This cannot be escaped.  But your view is also subjective, and the certainty with which people are labeling this a “robbery” irks me more than anything.  For all the talk of better judges, better refs, better commissions, I’m starting to think that MMA needs better fans.

“But Kevin!  St, Pierre’s face wuz more jacked up than Johny’s!”

But douchebag, that’s not how we score MMA!  If you want to have a conversation about how we score fights, then let’s have that conversation, but don’t sit around bitching to me because the judges didn’t use your own personal fantasy criteria.

I do think that we need to revise the judging and scoring system, and I’d love it if someone came up with something better than the 10-point-must system.  Not being up to the task myself, I’ll settle with rehashing the obvious flaws in the current system.

10-9 has become the default score, with razor-thin rounds scored the same as virtual blow-outs.  10-8 rounds are rarely glimpsed, and a 10-7 round would surely get someone fired.  I say we use the tools we already have, and show a little more discrimination in scoring.  A close round should be scored a 10-9, a clear round 10-8, and a blow-out round, what currently would draw a 10-8, should be scored 10-7.

While this would make a little more sense than the current judging regime, it would not solve the inherent subjectivity of judging, nor would it take the emphasis off winning rounds as opposed to fights.  In a 3 or 5 round bout, each round counts so much that .  More discrimination in the judging would slightly reduce the ?discrepancy? between what happens in the cage and what happens on the scorecards.  We need to be more explicit about how and what we score, and damage needs to be returned to the criteria.  After all, damage is the name of the game.

As for the now vacant welterweight title, I would be happy to see either Hendricks or Lawler make a run of it for a while.  Both are exciting fighters with heavy hands, and always a joy to watch.

Well, ENUFF about that, it’s time to talk TUF!

That’s right, the 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter is in the books, the main event card is behind us, and the coaches are preparing to square off on the 28th for the Women’s bantamweight championship, bragging rights, and so much more.

The TUF series has been tapering in popularity for a while now.  With so many paths to the UFC, TUF is no longer where the next big thing is going to come from.  It’s questionable just how much of a market there is for a MMA reality show, in general.

The 18th season was the UFC’s attempt to jump-start the series with the addition of the women’s 135lbs division, making this the first co-ed season.  Response was moderate, but good enough to convince the UFC to make season 20 an all-female affair at 115lbs.

This season was also a bit calmer than others.  The competitors seemed more professional, and came off as more likable.  I think that the UFC recognized that all of the nut flexing on previous seasons had started to turn people off.  Maybe the guys were just better behaved with the chicks around.

One notable exception was Team Rousey coach and UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, who got absolutely bushwhacked.  It was pretty clear who’s side the producers were on this season, and if the UFC keeps doing her dirty like this, Rousey may be on her way to joining Tito’s MMA Expendables.

Meisha showed a bit more media-savy, and was portrayed well on camera.  To me, she came off as manipulative and dishonest as ever.  It’s not that she’s not being a bitch, it’s just that Ronda is being straight-up about being a bitch, while Meisha is playing the victim (again).  And it’s working; Meisha Tate just scored a narrow victory over Ronda Rousey in the UFC video game cover tournament fan vote.  If Tate beats Rousey on Saturday, it will be because she successfully got in her head.

I’m just going to put it out there, I’m not a very big fan of Meisha Tate.  Never have been, from when I saw her knocked out by Caitlyn Young in HOOKnSHOOT, right up to when she got her arm broke by Rousey in Strikeforce.

More recently, Tate lost squarely to Cat Zingano in what was supposed to be a “gift” fight, and should have been bumped down to fight Carmouche while Zingano should have coached TUF.  Unfortunately, a training injury forced Zingano to drop out, and Meisha was thrust into a title fight and a rematch with Rousey that she did not earn.

We got one good thing out of Tate’s undeserved return to #1 contender; we got to see 21 year old prospect Jessica Andrade make a very good account of herself in her debut against Liz Carmouche, filling in what would have been Tate’s spot.

Hopefully we’ll get another one when Ronda’s armbar catches Tate’s other arm and shuts her mouth for good. 

Place a small bet on Meisha if you can still find +600 or better, but don’t expect her to come through.

Hands up, protect yourself at all times, this had been the Rabbit Punch!