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Tim Kennedy Continues to Prove He is Awesome/Terrifying

("The first time I got shot at in a war … I knew I was in the right place," PicProps: CanvasChronicle)
There are both positives and negatives about this weekend’s Strikeforce middleweight title fight. On one hand, it obviously sucks t…

("The first time I got shot at in a war … I knew I was in the right place," PicProps: CanvasChronicle)

There are both positives and negatives about this weekend’s Strikeforce middleweight title fight. On one hand, it obviously sucks that Saturday night’s scrap between BJJ whiz ‘Jacare’ Souza and all-around Awesome Dude Tim Kennedy essentially represents another epic fail by Strikeforce when it bungled plans for its totally-rad-sounding 185-pound title tournament. On the other hand, that this fight gives two seemingly very likable athletes their first chance at a major championship, well, it’s hard to hate on that.

Especially in the case of Kennedy, whose status as what the UFC might call “an elite war fighter” should be well-known to you. The active duty Green Beret not only appeared as the special guest on this week’s Bum Rush podcast (which makes him a prince among men, in our opinions) but he also cut a half-fascinating, half-bone-chilling new interview with Old Dad where he shed some more light on how his experiences “Over There” helped prepare him for a career inside the cage. Essentially, it was kind of like using a cannon ball to train for throwing the shot put.

Enson Inoue’s 750-Mile Vision Quest is Off to a Rocky Start

(Enson Inoue, shown here during a rare outpouring of genuine emotion. PicProps: Tune-In Tokyo)
In case any of you missed the reports this morning that former Pride fighter, weed enthusiast and rumored Yakuza Enson Inoue has embarked on a 1,200-kilomete…

(Enson Inoue, shown here during a rare outpouring of genuine emotion. PicProps: Tune-In Tokyo)

In case any of you missed the reports this morning that former Pride fighter, weed enthusiast and rumored Yakuza Enson Inoue has embarked on a 1,200-kilometer spiritual journey on the Japanese island of Shikoku, here’s the Spark Notes version: Inoue is attempting to complete the island’s celebrated “88 Temples Pilgrimage,” in which travelers don white clothes and sedge hats in order to retrace the steps of a famous Buddhist monk said to have made the journey in the latter stages of the eighth century. Given that it’s now 2010, most people do it by bus, but that’s apparently not old-school enough for Inoue. He plans to walk the nearly 750 miles, even though he’s been warned that he might die from the heat.

Also, since no 21st-Century spiritual journey would be complete without continuous, near real-time commentary from the pilgrim himself, Inoue is going to be updating his blog the whole way. Anyway, it’s now day two of the walk and so far, things don’t seem to be going so well …

Matt Horwich is the New Middleweight Champion of the Multiverse

(“Matt Horwich’s ‘Infinitely Accelerating Current Of Creativity’ is a searing literary masterpiece … an engrossing epic about the triumph of the human spirit.” – New York Times Book Review. VidProps: YouTube/…

Lost in the shuffle of our despair over Jens Pulver’s sixth straight defeat and the tedium of Tim Sylvia slouching all over Paul Buentello at PWP’s War on the Mainland show this weekend was that longtime MMA journeyman and noted insane-iac Matt Horwich won the promotion’s middleweight title with a fourth-round submission over Thales Leites. Long a practitioner of Nogueira-style Zombie Fighting – wherein you take as many punches to the face necessary to get the fight to the ground – Horwich weathered some early bluster from Leites before locking on a rear naked choke with less than a minute left in the first championship round. That’s just how the undead do, playboy.

Also true to form, shit didn’t really start to get weird until the post-fight interview, when MMA Heat’s Karyn Bryant caught up with Horwich to get his thoughts on life, the universe and everything. Horwich was only too happy to oblige, talking about his poetry, the relativity of subatomic particles, string theory and submission grappling. If you want to see a textbook example of a reporter doing the “smile and nod” check out Bryant at the 58-second mark, when Horwich mentions for the first time what a “beautiful multiverse” we live in. Cuz she’s a straight-up pro, Bryant immediately marshals the troops and asks Horwich if he’s “going to write a song” about this win. I mean, of course he is. Later, Bryant says something about a fight being a “unity of two bodies.” Dude, Karyn, inappropriate.

Cecil Peoples Made a Bit of an Ass Out of Himself at King of the Cage this Weekend, You Guys

(Reached for comment, Peoples stood by his assertion that the MagnaFlow Exhaust Products corner is the most prestigious corner in the world. VidProps: YouTube/ZombieProphetMMA)
Man, is it really too much to ask that Cecil motherfucking Peoples just re…

(Reached for comment, Peoples stood by his assertion that the MagnaFlow Exhaust Products corner is the most prestigious corner in the world. VidProps: YouTube/ZombieProphetMMA)

Man, is it really too much to ask that Cecil motherfucking Peoples just referees and/or judges one fight without doing or saying something ridiculous to make himself the center of attention? Apparently yes, it is. Witness this video, in which MMA’s favorite head-in-the-clouds official puts on a command performance of his own tenuous grasp of reality prior to Friday night’s King of the Cage heavyweight title match. Not only does Peoples mutter something into the microphone about the KOTC championship being “the most prestigious belt in the world” during his prefight instructions to Daniel Cormier and Tony Johnson Jr., but then he does some kind of weirdo karate chop bullshit to start the bout. I swear, this guy.

Thankfully Peoples — who ends his comments to the fighters by saying “Let’s dance!” — doesn’t do anything to screw up the actual fight. You have to consider that a cut above his average appearance as an MMA judge/ref. Seriously though, what’s it gonna take before state athletic commissions start looking at Sensei Cecil and thinking, “Do we really want this jackass representing us in any way?”

Sylvia Smothers Buentello, Pulver Drops Sixth Straight at ‘War on the Mainland’

(The first round of the fight, and nearly the last chapter in these two guys’ character arcs. All vids from: YouTube/ZombieProphetMMA)
For the first minute, 10 seconds or so Tim Sylvia and Paul Buentello actually have a decent little fight g…

(The first round of the fight, and nearly the last chapter in these two guys’ character arcs. All vids from: YouTube/ZombieProphetMMA)

For the first minute, 10 seconds or so Tim Sylvia and Paul Buentello actually have a decent little fight going at Powerhouse World Promotions’ War on the Mainland show from Saturday night. After that it’s pretty much a clinch-fest, with Sylvia leaning his 274-pounds on Buentello in the corner so relentlessly he’s able to draw five separate restarts from referee Big John McCarthy in just under two full rounds. While still looking as awkward as ever on the feet, Sylvia at least mixes some good punching combination with a few kicks and knees when the two fighters exchange at range. Buentello lands a couple of shots too, but for the most part appears overwhelmed by Sylvia’s size.

Round two is after the jump. Also, just in case you weren’t feeling melancholy enough on this Sunday morning, Jens Pulver’s sad, sad loss to Diego Garijo from the same event is there as well …

Ontario Facepalms BC Docs, Votes to Sanction MMA

(Nine out of 10 British Columbian doctors were astonished to learn Dan Hardy is actually alive and well. PicProps: Examiner.com)
Just a few days after a bunch of those crazy, socialist Canadian doctors – probably the same lot who tried to kill B…

(Nine out of 10 British Columbian doctors were astonished to learn Dan Hardy is actually alive and well. PicProps: Examiner.com)

Just a few days after a bunch of those crazy, socialist Canadian doctors – probably the same lot who tried to kill Brock Lesnar – called for a nationwide ban on MMA, the Ontario government announced on Saturday it will sanction the sport beginning in 2011. Take that, quacks! (OK fine, the two stories are probably unrelated, but still …)

Ontario and its capital city of Toronto opening their doors to MMA is being regarded as kind of a big deal and the news touched off some fairly hilarious quotes among the local politicians north of the border. The Canadian Press is also asserting that the UFC might hold off on Georges St. Pierre’s rematch with Josh Koscheck until the new year so it can stage that “blockbuster bout” at the Air Canada Centre or Rogers Centre. Oh Canada, so adorable with your funny spellings, earnest political discourse and relentless optimism.