The ladies of Maryland’s own Baltimore Charm pulled out a 12-6 win over the Omaha Heart last night, ending a dominant 3-1 season with their third straight victory and securing the Conference Championship.
Legacy quarterback Angela Rypien, daughter of Washington Redskins great Mark Rypien, continues to rack up the passing yards as she leads the team into the 2013 post season. I say that if any city can win both the Superbowl and Legends Cup (formerly Lingerie Bowl) in the same year, it’s Baltimore, hon.
Be sure to follow the post season, starting on August 17th. Although I think that, as Eastern Conference Champions, Baltimore gets a by week until the 24th.
Anyway, on to my, again, very partial recap of UFC 163, broadcast live from Rio. The UFC is doing this new thing where some fights are on Facebook, some fights are on FX, and some are PPV, so I was able to either watch most of these fights live, follow them online, or watch them later, depending on the location on the card. I usually like to put some more time between myself and what I’m writing about, but I'm just going to kick this one out right here and now.
Let’s start with the main event, with Brazilian Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo putting away Chan Sung Jung the Korean Zombie 17 minutes into the fight at 2:00 of the 4th round by strikes following a dislocated right shoulder.
Zombie, who took this fight after Anthony Pettis was sidelined with a training injury, looked good last night, despite his loss. While we saw a less aggressive Zombie, we also saw a more calculating, more defensive Zombie. Both his striking and his ground game were on display, and the fact that Aldo beat him at both takes nothing away from Chan’s performance. When that guy tried to roll his dislocated shoulder back into socket right before the fight was ended, you knew you were watching the heart of a champion. I think that the Zombie could have used a bit more of his characteristic aggression last night, but I also think that this fight showed growth as much as it showed a healthy respect for Jose Aldo’s striking. Zombie is on an upward trend, and while he may have been thrown into a title match before he was really ready, I am confident that Chan Sung Jung will continue to grow and advance from here, and will probably fight for the belt again at some point down the road.
In the end, Zombie was simply outclassed by Jose Aldo, who’s superior speed and power could not be overcome. There’s not really a lot for Aldo at 145, especially if Pettis stays at 155, and there has been loose talk of Aldo moving up to Lightweight. While that would further depopluate the Featherweight weight class, Jose Aldo needs to think about Jose Aldo's career first, and if the UFC can't provide exciting fights at 145, Lightweight may be a better move.
Other than that, we got to see Amanda Nunes show that she truly is a rising star at women's 135, a division which is finally starting to develop a little depth. We also got to see Tom Watson walk out to the Backstreet Boys’ Everybody before going to war for 3 rounds against Thelas Leitis (who walked out to Bob Marley’s Every Little Thing). An exciting fight that went the distance, but am I the only one who finds these two fighters' musical choices to be somewhat puzzling? Every Little Thing doesn’t really say “cage fighting” to me, and the Backstreet Boys haven’t psyched anybody up since 1999.
I tweeted (@kevjmahon) during the event that UFC 163 did not suffer from the same judging abnormalities that FOX 8 had (although sadly, “abnormalities” seem to be the norm sometimes). Just so that I don’t look like I’m taking sides, I’d like to point out that this was before the Phil Davis / Lyoto Machida fight. Davis pulled out the unanimous decision (with 29-28 across the board), but I’ve heard a lot of people saying that Machida got absolutely robbed here. Not having seen the fight, I cannot comment one way or the other, but people are up in arms over this one, depending on who they support.
So maybe the reason why we didn’t see as many controversial scorecards last night is that more fights ended in a KO/TKO or submission. Maybe it’s part of Dana White’s master plan to make fighters so afraid of leaving it to the judges that they go harder for the finish?
That would certainly explain the continued presence of Mr. Sal D’Amato at nearly every UFC event. Not that I know jack shit about MMA judging, but the hip community seems to be pretty well agreed that he’s a perennial bad scorer, and his scorecards tend to provoke the most controversy.
Looking ahead to UFC 164 at the end of this month, we’ve got Anthony Pettis, who was replaced by Zombie on last night’s card, taking the place of TJ Grant and getting a title shot at Lightweight instead against Benson Henderson. Pettis defeated Henderson at WEC 53 to win the WEC Lightweight title 3 years ago, but a lot changes in 3 years, and I’m not familiar enough with these two fighters to venture a pick on this one.
Also on the card is a bout between two former UFC Heavyweight Champions, Frank Mir (who was a veteran when I first started watching UFC back in college) and Josh Barnett. This is almost the more interesting fight for me, and I look forward to seeing what these two greats can still do.
Ryan Couture is also on the card that night against TUF veteran Al Iaquinta, as Randy seems determine to get his entire family work as professional fighters. Don’t know much about Ryan, so I don’t know whether or not I should expect his career to be more successful than the last Couture family member spin-off, Randy’s third ex-wife Kim.
Not to take anything away from Kim, but she lost twice as many as she won, and the field has grown by leaps and bounds since then. Ryan has already racked up a 6-2 professional record, although not against anyone impressive, and I think that Iaquinta is a decent gatekeeper for the younger Couture. Ryan has already lost to Ross Pearson on UFC on Fuel TV, so I'd think this would be do-or-die for him. You never know with a Couture.
Also on the horizon is Bellator 106: Rampage vs Tito.
Wait, huh? Yeah, that’s right, Rampage vs. Tito.
I’ve never been a fan of Tito. I smiled for a week every time that drunk redneck Chuck Liddell knocked him out. Although more recently, Tito has had great success as a coach, training the most talented and dominant female fighter in professional mixed martial arts today, Chris Cyborg (who has her own name tattooed across her forearm, so that you know who’s dropping elbows on your dome as you black out and bleed everywhere).
So not being a big fan of Tito, his big mouth, or his even bigger ego, I naturally have mixed feelings about the Huntington Beach Bad Boy making a comeback. "Rampage" Jackson, a contemporary of Tito’s from his earlier career, feels like a good choice for his re-debut, although this would have been a much better and more relevant fight about 5 or 6 years ago. Back then, Rampage would have Rampaged all over Tito without question, but now it might just come down to who's least washed-up. Tito looks and sounds like he’s got some fight in him, and no one has ever questioned his strength or raw athleticism.
I guess I should be at least as excited for this fight as for Mir/Barnett, but honestly, while I’m interested in both, I’m not all that “excited” about either. I’d just rather not endure another Tito Ortiz run.
If fact, I’m getting weary just thinking about this fight.
Anyway, you people keep your hands up, defend yourselves at all times, and this has been the Rabbit Punch.
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