Months and Months Away

Months away from the blogging game have made me rusty. So much has happened since Fedor was dispatched by Werdum.

At UFc 116 Brock Lesnar showed the will of a true champion, weathering the storm that is Shane Carwin's XXXXL gloves for a full five minutes, from the bottom position, against the cage, with a nasty gash on his forehead after being rattled and dropped with a glancing uppercut. Lesnar came out in the second round and submitted Carwin with a text book side choke...perfect jiu jitsu from the self-described caveman gladiator.

Noteworthy from UFC 116: Chris Leben pulled off a huge come from behind, triangle choke victory as time was about to expire, beating Yoshihiro Akiyama with seconds to spare.

At UFC 117 Anderson Silva put on another classic performance pulling off the come-from-behind triangle choke victory in the fifth round against obnoxious contender, Chael Sonnen. Sonnen dropped Silva early in the fight, stunning all onlookers. He took Silva down in every round, exactly how he said he would. And it looks as though he was on his way to doing the impossible - defeating the UFC champion with the most consecutive title defenses. However, Silva was too resilient and put that "cracker jack" Nogueria black belt to work.

Noteworthy from UFC 117: Dos Santos put on a nice performance, soundly beating "Big Country" to the punch.

More recently, at UFC 118 Frankie Edgar (Jersey, represent!) made it look easy defeating BJ Penn for the second time. Penn has clearly lost a step, or two, or three...but Edgar had clearly improved exponentially as well. His speed and footwork are unmatched and it will take someone very special to knock him off his perch.

Noteworthy from UFC 118: Gray Maynard secured his title shot with a lopsided victory over Kenny Florian. Randy Couture did what was expected by immediately taking down and then submitting the sacrificial lamb that was James Toney. Nate Diaz brutally beat hometown favorite Marcus Davis to a pulp then choked him into unconsciousness...maybe pride is dangerous to your health. And lastly, one hometown favorite made good as Joe Lauzon destroyed Gabe Ruediger.

Back on the train now....so much MMA so little time.

The Ever Changing Business World of MMA

On the celebratory episode for HDNet's "Inside MMA" third anniversary, President Mark Cuban made a big announcement. HDNet, once seen as the prime rival for Dana White and the Ferritta empire, was never able to secure UFC or WEC media access. Weigh-ins, fight footage and all pre and post fight interviews were off limits.

HDNet, who has marketed itself as the one-stop source for all things MMA, was shut out from the largest brand in the industry. But after three long years of bickering between Cuban and White, the two have reached a preliminary agreement allowing HDNet to access UFC events and use footage.

Only time will tell how much Zuffa is permitting but this is a step in the right direction for HDNet. They have been providing some of the best MMA and kickboxing the world has never seen including events from DREAM, World Victory Road, Sengoku and most K-1 events.

VAI CAVALO! VAI CAVALO!

Vai Cavalo is Portugese for "Go Horse."

Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum is probably the happiest man in the world this week. After barely even being discussed in the media week leading up to his clash with Fedor Emelianenko, Werdum shocked everyone with a 69 second submission victory over the once-beaten Russian.

Fedor came in early looking strong and determined to win quickly. Showing no respect for Werdum's stand up, Fedor jumped in throwing caution to the wind and landing a few glancing hooks before Werdum ditched his standing position for a more familiar one, his back on the mat.

Fedor followed Werdum down, defended an armbar nicely, looked to pass to side control, and then...it began. Werdum grabbed hold of an arm, walked his legs up and attacked with an armbar. As Fedor defended, Werdum adjusted his position to lock his legs. He locked in the figure four and worked to tighten the choke while still attacking the arm. "Vai Cavalo!" which the Werdum team described as Fabricio's ability to attack with multiple submissions at once, was the key to victory. Without the armbar, the triangle wouldn't have been enough to force the tap and vice versa.

The stoic Russian tapped a single time on Werdum's leg and Big John saved him from unconsciousness. It was the Russian's first loss in over nine and a half years. It was Werdum's biggest win to date and he happily offered a rematch in Russia.

What a shake up, Lesnar vs Carwin will now determine the top heavyweight in the sport. Buckle up.

Coming Up

Strikeforce

Fedor and Werdum - "The Last Emperor" better bring a special performance to the table with what Zuffa has in store as a rebuttal the following weekend.

Cris Cyborg ought to maul another sacrificial challenger. (Why not let her and her husband sort out marital issues in the cage..it might be more competitive)

Scott "The Comeback Kid" Smith is hoping to put his hands to use against the versatile and fancy-footed Cung Le, for the second time.

UFC 116

Brock and Shane July 3rd. - 600 pounds of muscle and testosterone in a cage with a combined 16 ounces of "protection." Somebody is going down hard.

Chris "The Cat Smasher" Leben takes his second fight in as many weeks, stepping in for an injured Wanderlei Silva to square off with "The Sexy" Akiyama.

WEC 49

What a weekend. Back to back nights of free fights with great action.

Eddie Wineland put on a great performance against Will Campuzano. The end was drawn out but so damn exciting. Will got dropped, recovered, swang for the fences, but in the end a vicious right straight to the plexus put him down for good in Round 2.

Chris Horodecki put on a clinic against Danny Downes in what looked like a "Meet me at the flag pole at 3 o'clock" battle. Horodecki outclassed Danny Boy and ended it with a rear choke in Round 3.

Josh Grispi looked slick against L.C. Davis, locking up a tight guillotine in Round 1. Nice performance.

Mark Hominick and Yves Jabouin put on the fight of the night in this barn-burner. Eventually, Hominick was too much for Yves to handle. The end came midway through Round 2.

Jamie Varner probably cried all night about his Draw with Kamal Shalorus. The Iranian showed a hefty beard throughout the fight, eating everything Varner threw at him. He even broke Varner's hand with his head. Three inside low kicks to the sack and a broken hand later, Varner got taken down in the third. While Shalorus was entertaining and as humble as a man in his profession can possibly be, he deserved to lose that one. Rematch should be fun.

Good fights, confusing main event outcome and another nice production from the Zuffa folks.