It was a wild – and for the first time in recent memory – a fun, thrilling night of fights almost from top to bottom. Sure, some fight cards have been good recently, but UFC on FOX 4 was great. The fights were competitive, the action was there in almost every bout and there were several contenders for bonuses after the night was over. When you aren’t sure who is going to get Fight of the Night because there’s a queue, that’s never a bad thing.
It wasn’t all positive news, though. Rory MacDonald is out of his fight with B.J. Penn (for now) and if you’re Cain Velasquez, you may have just lost your shot at the title. It seems UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos isn’t particularly fond of Alistair Overeem and has a score to settle.
There’s lots more news than that, too. In today’s Morning Report, we’ve got Olympic wrestling coverage, fight announcements, videos recapping the weekend and so much more. Enjoy.
FIVE MUST-READ STORIES
UFC on FOX 4 Ratings: Approximately 2.36 Million Tune In for Vera vs. Shogun. The Olympics that night outdrew everything else by a mile, so while these numbers aren’t impressive by any stretch, they aren’t bad either.
UFC on FOX 4 Judo Chop: Is Lyoto Machida Ready for Jon Jones? Take a closer look at Machida’s stand-up techniques to see if he’s made the proper adjustments.
Olympics 2012 Results: Greco-Roman 55kg and 74kg Results. Wrestling has officially kicked off in the Olympics. Stay up to date with this handy live blog from yesterday’s action.
Rory MacDonald Withdraws From UFC 152 Due to Cut, Wants to Fight B.J. Penn at UFC 154. And we’ve got a picture of the cut, too.
Dana White Says Junior dos Santos Wants to Fight Alistair Overeem Next. The normally mild-mannered UFC champion seems to be riled up by Overeem and wants to settle a personal score.
Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado Rematch Possible for UFC on FX 5 on October 5th. The only fight of UFC on FOX 4 that wasn’t good at all will get a chance to get things right in October…if both parties agree to the proposed terms.
MEDIA STEW
The two most caffeinated jiu-jitsu instructors on the web do their famous Gracie Breakdown of Joe Lauzon’s triangle submission victory over Jamie Varner:
This site had wall-to-wall coverage of the fights Saturday night, including on the video platform. Don’t miss any of our interviews by perusing the playlist featured below:
Mike Swick’s KO at UFC on FOX 4 was a thing of beauty in terms of scoring in transition. Relive the spectacular KO here:
One-armed fighter Nick Newell won again on Friday night, this time by TKO. If you missed it, catch up here:
OVEREEM KILLING HIMSELF
Kill yourself in training so you don’t die fighting instagr.am/p/N9bFTfxQw7/
— Alistair Overeem (@Alistairovereem) August 5, 2012
SWICK & JOHNSON = BFFS
@officialswick welcome home in the@ufcsir. You where the better man last night. As a fan I’m glad back. Can we be twitter friends now?— DaMarques Johnson (@DaMarques_UFC) August 5, 2012
@officialswick your welcome ;)! My lips look like two watermelons sitting on top each other. : []— DaMarques Johnson (@DaMarques_UFC) August 5, 2012
ALL APOLOGIES
Well guys sorry about that… Hopefully I will be back in the
@ufc octagon soon— Phil Davis (@PhilMrWonderful) August 5, 2012
LESSONS FROM DIN THOMAS
Dear fans. Most fights thats go to a decision are not on purpose.The other guy just refused to give in.
— Din Thomas (@DinThomas) August 5, 2012
HE’S TOTALLY RIGHT
Olympic boxing scoring system and judges are a complete joke. Done watching this garbage.
— Pat Miletich (@patmiletich) August 5, 2012
JDS KEEPING IT 100
Just to clarify: I will fight whoever UFC puts in front of me.But when people talk to much I feel anxious to shut them up
— juniorcigano (@junior_cigano) August 5, 2012
POSITIVE OUTLOOK
Life is good! So gr8ful to have all of u in my life win, lose or draw. Check out my view from my room in Laguna
@ufc twitter.com/jamievarner/st…— Jamie Varner (@jamievarner) August 5, 2012
BJ VS RORY: TWITTER EDITION
(part-1) 2day i was cut at sparring i needed 3 layers of stitching In total i needed 38 stitches Im very sad right now that i willl not
— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) August 5, 2012
(part-2) be healed in time to fight sept 22 i am hoping that
@bjpenndotcom will agree to have the fight on a instagr.am/p/N7xPkCw0vQ/— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) August 5, 2012
(part-3) later date in november
— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) August 5, 2012
“
@rory_macdonald , with all due respect you challenged me to come out of retirement and I accepted. Then, you (cont) tl.gd/immjqc— BJ PENN (@bjpenndotcom) August 5, 2012
ANNOUNCED FIGHTS
BJ Penn vs. Rory MacDonald, UFC 152, cancelled
Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos, Bellator 75
Brett Rogers vs. Ruslan Magomedov, Bellator 75
Cung Le vs. Rich Franklin, UFC on FUEL TV 6
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s FanPost of the Day is brought to you by ‘fightmedicine’ who goes in-depth into the illness that plagued Mike Swick the last two and a half years:
One possible cause (or possibly a consequence) of these unregulated contractions is that the smooth muscle of the esophagus hypertrophies, that is, it grows bigger and stronger. Another problem that may be the cause of this condition is the inability of the esophagus to recognize compounds that tell it to relax, such as nitric oxide (NO). The effects of NO are famous as being enhanced by Viagra-like medications in that these medications help relax the blood vessels and allow more blood-flow (which was ironically discovered as a side effect for a completely unrelated medication study). Some researchers have speculated that DES can progress to an even more debilitating disease known as achalasia, where you have trouble swallowing food – first solids and then eventually liquids.
Since the cause of DE is poorly understood, treatments become even harder to find. Treatments range from pills (NO, Viagra-type medications, and calcium channel blockers) to botox injections to surgery. For Mike Swick, this means he can never really defeat this elusive opponent. Even if he gets the symptoms under control, his treatments may have side effects that affect his ability to train and perform. NO and Viagra-type medications can relax blood vessels that go to the brain and heart and thus drop his blood pressure when he tries to exercise. Calcium-channel blockers seem to have little effect on chest pain. Botox is unpredictable. And surgery carries the risk all surgeries carry which can have long-lasting consequences. In addition, Mike will likely have to follow a very strict diet as not to exacerbate any symptoms of pain or indigestion. Since Mike will have to continue to cut weight for future fights, this may end up being very tricky for him.
What is perhaps the scariest thing for Mike is that this disease is not like tearing your ACL which can be reconstructed. This is something that Mike has to live with whether he continues to fight or not. But, if Mike has shown us anything, it is that he is a fighter and certainly no stranger to comeback victories!