Author: kmowatt

We were extremely disappointed last week when news surfaced that pre-fight testing revealed an irregularity on Thiago Alves’ brain, sidelining his scheduled UFC 111 rematch with Jon Fitch (our response to fight cancellations usually resembles a 3 year old after they drop their 3 scoop ice cream cone, although who wouldn’t cry in that scenario?)

Of course what is more important than our selfish tendencies is that follow up tests revealed that Alves would be fine. This afternoon more good news has surfaced, as TMZ is reporting that Alves has undergone successful surgery to separate an artery from a vein in his brain, and is expected to make a full recovery (Alves apparently decided not to take it up a notch over Miguel Torres and did not have the surgery filmed, at least, not that we’re aware of). The surgery was performed in NYC and took 8 hours.

What’s also damn cool is that according to the report, Dana White informed TMZ that Alves’ first words were:

“When can I start training again?”

Is that an effin fighter or what? White apparently went on to state that Alves can resume training in a couple of weeks…sweet. Now it will be interesting to see when and who the UFC has Alves fight first. Clearly Fitch is chomping at the bit to rematch GSP but….

If you were fighting with the internet and refused to acknowledge its omnipresence yesterday, then you’re immediate reaction to the above headline is likely ‘WTF?’ It was ours as well after reading a report from Heavy.com Tuesday, that said a “source close” to the UFC revealed the promotion is trying to put together a 4^th bout between Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture for July 3^rd. Huh.

The post is the latest in a series of ‘you’ll never guess what happened’ reports that have been firing around the internet recently, speculating that something has happened to Tito Ortiz during the filming of TUF, and thus, he won’t fight Liddell after the season ends.

Well, according to a ‘tweet’ from Sports Illustrated’s Josh Gross, a veteran reporter whose been walking around the MMA block for years, Couture texted him that there is “no word” on a fight with Liddell. Now the Heavy report also states that sources close to Couture haven’t heard anything on the Liddell front, however,  according to Gross, Couture added that a 4^th bout with Liddell doesn’t really interest him (Gross followed that up with his prediction that Couture will fight James Toney in July, because it “makes everyone a lot of money”- yeah, no arguments here).

At this stage of Couture’s career a 4^th bout with Liddell does seem like a weird and unlikely tilt. Then again, who would have predicted Ortiz would fight Ken Shamrock three times?

After taking pot shots at newbie fans who are completely unaware about the accomplishments of Takanori Gomi (the Japanese dude that’s fighting Kenny Florian tomorrow night), we were quick to concede that “The Fireball Kid” hasn’t exactly been a world beater lately (he wasn’t even able to be a Sergey Golaev beater in November, 2008). In other words, although any true MMA fan should hang their head in shame if they don’t know about Gomi’s glory days, the internet certainly hasn’t been riddled with fantastic tales about the lightweight over the last year or so.

So what happened to Gomi you may be asking? Good question. This is a guy that after losing to BJ Penn  in 2003, won 13 of his next 15 fights, several of which came against highly regarded opponents. It was a time when Gomi could tell anyone with a straight face that ‘I’m a pretty big deal.’ Well, in a report from MMA Junkie, Gomi offered this statement when asked about his recent decline.

“I’m lazy,” Gomi admitted with a laugh. “It was hard to stay motivated for fighting for so many years. I knew I should have trained more before the fights. But when I go to the ring now, I want to show an explosive fight.

Well at least he’s being honest. It also sounds like he understands that laziness and fighting in the UFC doesn’t usually lead to success. To bet on tomorrow’s tilt head here.

If upon reading this post’s title your first reaction was ‘these nerds aren’t going on again about that new UFC game are they?’’, well then, yes, it’s probably best if you move along in your rich and complicated life. For those of you who have been touched by the magic of video games, and in particular, UFC Undisputed, please read along.

THQ continues to roll out previews for the soon to be released 2010 version of UFC Undisputed, and as we noted last week, so far, it’s looking pretty, pretty, pretty good. It looks like they’ve upgraded the career mode substantially (which was on the weak side in the original version) and added fighter personalities to the mix (no word yet if there’s a secret code for ‘expletives’).

In this latest preview with the game’s producer Neven Dravinski  and grappling guru Marc Laimon (who you may notice evidently has a posture resembling that of a perfectly straight statue), the two outline some of the improvements for the game’s fight engine. Among the many cool additions, swaying (yes footage of Anderson Silva destroying Forrest Griffin was used to demonstrate this), cage physics and submission transitions in particular caught our eye.

We’re looking forward to wasting hours of potential productive labor starting May 25^th. To check out the full interview head here.

Since Saturday night we’ve eagerly joined the multitude of MMA fans singing the praises of Shane Carwin; prior to UFC 111 people knew he was a beast, but his destruction of Frank Mir just really hit it home. Well, if you still aren’t impressed by Carwin (which could mean you just desperately want to be different), that opinion might change after you read this.

According to Carwin’s official blog (thanks to Cage Potato for the tip), pre-fight testing left the heavyweight feeling ill shortly before his bout with Mir.

Apparently there was concern that one of the vessels in my brain looked as if it was connected on one end but not the other, the Dr. told me it could be that or could be a vessel that was widening or ballooning but they could not really tell and needed a better test. It sounded serious and I wanted to fight so I agreed to the test, which involved CT Angiography (CTA). They had to set up an IV and inject a contrast material in me (containing iodine) and named off some possible side effects, this was all fine, but not when you are less then a couple of days out from a fight. They dye made me pretty sick for about the next 24 hours. I was thankful they were being so thorough but it could not have come at a worse time

Carwin goes on to say that although his weight cutting was difficult, and that he was feeling “pretty drained”, after getting hit by Mir he knew he was “going to be okay.” Yes. Okay is an understatement. Couldn’t really tell that Carwin wasn’t 100% could you?

Just days removed from Frank Mir’s beatdown defeat courtesy Shane ‘What’s the Second Round Like?’’ Carwin, one might think that the hate-hate relationship between the former champion and current king, Brock Lesnar, might just simmer down a little bit. As really, it could be a while before a rubber match fight between Mir and Lesnar materializes, if ever, so, is it time to toss a few pails of water under the bridge?

Well, in a report from Yahoo Sports, it doesn’t sound like Lesnar is expecting to fight Mir anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that Mir will have a new found love for the champ if he reads the following quote.

“I kind of figured Shane was going to win, though I know anything can happen in this sport,” Lesnar said. “I was kind of laying back and I didn’t want to count any chickens before they hatched. Shane’s a tough guy and I just know that Frank’s time is done. This is the new evolution of the heavyweight division. Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, we’re the guys in this division.”

Huh. Yes, clearly Mir will have to put together a few wins to get back in the title mix, but to say Frank’s time is done? Yeah; that’s not going to sit welll with a prideful guy like Mir. After all, this is the same man that after a severe motorcycle accident and getting pounded six ways from Sunday by Brandon Vera, he returned to the top of the division. Not too many people were calling that in 2006. It will be interesting to see if can do it again.