Tag: Opinion

MMA Sexy Video of the Day: Arianny Celeste’s Maxim Magazine Photoshoot

Back in 2008, years before she bared all for us on the pages of Playboy magazine, UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste was a finalist in Maxim’s 2008 Hometown Hotties contest.In the video, Arianny tells everyone about how she was a gymnast for 10 years and a …

Back in 2008, years before she bared all for us on the pages of Playboy magazine, UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste was a finalist in Maxim’s 2008 Hometown Hotties contest.

In the video, Arianny tells everyone about how she was a gymnast for 10 years and a competitive cheerleader for seven years. She then went on to be a cheerleader in college before landing her current gig as a UFC ring girl in 2006.

When she first started working for the UFC, she thought MMA was brutal, mainly due to the fact that she didn’t understand the sport. But after working for the UFC for two years, she started to appreciate the actual art behind the sport.

Arianny also explained that being involved in the UFC inspired her to train, and eventually compete, in muay thai kick boxing. She stated that by training in muay thai, she has become more self confident knowing she can “kick some ass.”

Let’s all be thankful that none of the fights she has been involved in have damaged her lovely face.

Believe it or not, Arianny also confessed to being in a street fight. She said that someone called her “the b-word,” so she punched her in the face a few times before the scuffle got broken up.

Ms. Celeste is officially 1-0 in bare-knuckle contests.

For more background information on the beautiful Arianny, check out the video. You can thank me later.

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Rampage Jackson vs. Matt Hamill: UFC 130 Post-Fight Thoughts

Overall, the show was just OK. The main event and co-main event were not very good fights. Rampage Jackson did enough to earn a title shot against Jon Jones, but not many will pick him to win against Jones. Hamill said he would break Rampage’s will…

Overall, the show was just OK. The main event and co-main event were not very good fights.

Rampage Jackson did enough to earn a title shot against Jon Jones, but not many will pick him to win against Jones.

Hamill said he would break Rampage’s will, but in fact it was Hamil whose will was broken. Hamil was unable to take down Rampage during the fight.

It wasn’t a surprise that Rick Story upset Thiago Alves. Alves has trouble with wrestlers, and Story had a great game plan. Meanwhile, the fans booed Story because they wanted to see Alves deliver a highlight-reel knockout.

Rampage was booed as well because he couldn’t finish Hamill. It was smart of Rampage not to mention the boos during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.

Brian Stann was impressive against Jorge Santiago. It is not a surprise that Santiago lost, as he has not been successful in the UFC and has been knocked out many times in his career.

Meanwhile, Travis Browne’s Superman punch knockout of Stefan Struve was exciting. Browne needed a good win because his last fight against Cheick Kongo was rather boring.

San Francisco’s Chris Cariaso fought well in his decision loss to Modesto’s Michael McDonald. In my opinion, this fight could have gone either way.

Middleweight Tim Boetsch looked great in dominating Kendall Grove. It seemed like he broke Grove’s will during the fight with his ability to take him down.

Perhaps the most controversial fight was that in which Demetrious Johnson’s earned a decision win over Miguel Torres. This was a back-and-forth fight that could have gone either way; the judges gave it to Johnson.

Dana White was critical of Frank Mir and Roy Nelson for their performances, but I don’t know what White expected from them. These are two big heavyweights and it wasn’t a great match-up to begin with.

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UFC 131 Fight Card: Is Donald Cerrone A UFC Lightweight Title Threat?

On several occasions, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone has found himself on the porch of greatness. But for whatever reason, he just can’t seem to get himself through the front door. At UFC 131 on June 11, Cerrone should take an emphatic&n…

On several occasions, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone has found himself on the porch of greatness. But for whatever reason, he just can’t seem to get himself through the front door. 

At UFC 131 on June 11, Cerrone should take an emphatic stride forward in the promotion against unheralded jiu-jitsu black belt Vagner Rocha, who is making his UFC debut as a replacement for the injured Mac Danzig. Predictably, plenty are calling it a quick night’s work for Cerrone.

That very well may be. But that may also be beside the point for the Cowboy. Given that Cerrone (14-3-1) has suffered all three of his losses in the only three fights that happened to be title shots, it’s kind of safe to say that, to this point, the Cowboy has found himself snakebitten on the big stage.

Putting it another way, I am inspired by the wise words of Heavy D from all those years ago (and you’ll pardon my paraphrasing here). The question is not whether Donald Cerrone can find success. The question is what is he gonna do with it.

One question for which we have an answer is whether Cerrone has the tools to contend. He most decidedly does. The 6’0” Cerrone uses his physical blend of Muay Thai and submission grappling to manhandle smaller opponents. With six fight of the night bonuses under his belt buckle, he is clearly not afraid to engage.

Cerrone is also on a three-fight win streak that could be evidence that, at age 28, he is putting it all together. In the first leg of the win streak, Cowboy avenged one of his three losses by outbrawling and ultimately outpointing Jamie Varner in front of a friendly Colorado crowd. In his most recent win, which was also his UFC debut, Cerrone showed very strong ground technique in choking out Paul Kelly in the second round.

In the latter, Cerrone’s influence from Greg Jackson’s Submission Fighting camp appeared particularly strong. Cowboy fans surely hope Jackson doesn’t imbue Cerrone with some of that risk aversion that has proven fairly unpopular in other cases. Something tells me fans won’t have to worry about that with Cerrone.

But I digress. Assuming Cerrone avoids the upset against Rocha, that should bump him up a notch or two in the division. Though it may not happen after UFC 131, Cerrone should eventually find himself in the top 10 and perhaps the top five. That is where the rubber will truly hit the road for the former bullrider from Colorado Springs. Will the Wizard of Albuquerque ultimately help shore up any mental or strategic soft spots that have left Cerrone short in the biggest spots? Can Cerrone rise with the cream of what has thus far proven a very impressive crop of WEC transfers at the lightweight division? 

Donald Cerrone can (and probably will) beat up all the Vagner Rochas he wants to, but until he does it against top competition, his ultimate success will be an open question. This observer is thinking opportunity will knock again for Cerrone. We’ll see if he can answer the door.

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The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale: Should This Season Be Considered A Bust?

This Saturday another season of The Ultimate Fighter will come to a close. The show was started as a way for the UFC to market its product by showcasing what it is like for a fighter to train and to let people get to know fighters on a personal level.A…

This Saturday another season of The Ultimate Fighter will come to a close. The show was started as a way for the UFC to market its product by showcasing what it is like for a fighter to train and to let people get to know fighters on a personal level.

At the same time there was also a house with plenty of drama, the result of having 16 guys trapped in a house with no contact with the outside world and tons of free alcohol.

The first season was very memorable mainly because of an exciting finale and also how well the fighters fared in the UFC, but even without that it was an exciting season to watch.

Let’s look at the pros and cons of this season, starting with the cons.

First, there were no elimination fights. This led to fighters not having to earn their spot in the house, because it was expected that these fighters knew what was required of them. Keon Caldwell, however, was not prepared to spend that much time away from his family and chose to leave the show without even fighting.

Next, there were the injuries. Myles Jury, who came to the show sporting a 9-0 record, was considered one of the better prospects, but he injured his knee in evaluations and was forced to withdraw from the competition. Also, Justin Edwards put on an amazing first fight, but could not get a wild-card slot due to suffering a concussion resulting in a medical suspension.

The final con is all the build up the show is creating for a fight between the coaches, which is no longer happening. As with past seasons it makes the trash talk anti-climatic when there is no longer a fight at the end of the season to settle things.

Now onto the pros.  The first has to be Brock Lesnar.  For someone who is known for being extremely private, spending six weeks on the show with cameras on him had to be rough.  Also, he admitted that he took an interest in his fighters and sometimes seemed very genuine when talking about his experiences fighting.

The second pro is that most of the fights have been above average. There have been a couple duds but many were exciting and kept viewers glued to the television.

One aspect that falls in the middle is the personalities of the fighters. Some do an excellent job of displaying the type of people most want identified with MMA. Others embody the street brawler image that many try to distance the sport from by talking about how castmates would be killed on the streets they are from.

Overall, the fights and Brock Lesnar make this season watchable television, but not must-see TV. The weaknesses create a series of what ifs and a feeling that this season is lacking compared to other seasons.

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Roy Nelson’s Problem Is Not Pneumonia

According to Cagewriter, Roy Nelson was suffering from pneumonia days before his bout with Frank Mir.There’s no reason to doubt Nelson, and if he says he had pneumonia, his word is to be believed.That said, pneumonia is not Nelson’s problem, and I hope…

According to Cagewriter, Roy Nelson was suffering from pneumonia days before his bout with Frank Mir.

There’s no reason to doubt Nelson, and if he says he had pneumonia, his word is to be believed.

That said, pneumonia is not Nelson’s problem, and I hope that he doesn’t use it as an excuse going forward.

While it’s true that pneumonia could have been a factor in his poor physical condition last weekend, that doesn’t explain how tired he looked last summer against Junior Dos Santos.

During the Dos Santos fight, Nelson was breathing heavily, dropping his hands and often staggered backwards without having been hit. That’s called being tired.

The reason he wasn’t as tired in that fight as he was against Mir is because the Mir fight last week was a far more grueling wrestling match.

If the Dos Santos fight was a wrestling match, Nelson would have looked just as exhausted, and if he ever has to fight Brock Lesnar, Nelson is going to look even more exhausted if he survives longer than a round.

While Nelson’s explanations are legitimate, this isn’t the time for excuses.

If Nelson stays fat, he’ll look fine if he’s winning and able to control the pace, and he’ll look exhausted when he’s getting wrestled, beaten up and struggling to get off his back.

Losing weight can only help with his conditioning, and any excuse that stops Nelson from losing weight is a roadblock to his possible future success as a fighter.

 

Roy Nelson: Mike Dolce is calling.

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Joe Rogan and the Leg Kick

If there are two things that I’ve learned from years of UFC fight commentary, they are as follows:1. Mike Goldberg could be replaced by a soundboard with almost no noticeable difference on the PPV broadcast.2. Joe Rogan loves leg kicks.It is the latter…

If there are two things that I’ve learned from years of UFC fight commentary, they are as follows:

1. Mike Goldberg could be replaced by a soundboard with almost no noticeable difference on the PPV broadcast.

2. Joe Rogan loves leg kicks.

It is the latter observation that I will be writing about today.

If you happened to be watching the Facebook prelims last Saturday, you might have caught a glimpse of the fight between Michael McDonald and Chris Cariaso.

The fight was a close and competitive one that could easily have been scored either way, but what was most obvious to me was that Rogan called a ton of leg kicks by Cariaso, but made a much smaller deal of the right-hand counters landed by McDonald.

This is nothing new.

Forrest Griffin‘s fight with Rashad Evans comes to mind as good example of a fight where Rogan was quick to give credit for Griffin’s leg kicks, but gave almost no credit for hand counters.

Admittedly, Evans deserved to lose the first two rounds of his fight with Forrest, but if you were listening to the commentary without video, you would have thought it was a blowout, which it clearly wasn’t.

Another notable example is the first fight between Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua.

While once again, Rua’s kicks played a big factor, the hand counters by Machida went largely uncalled for much of the fight.

In the picture above you’ll clearly see Machida clearly landing a strong blow to Rua’s chin, but during the fight commentary, it was Rua’s body kick that received the Rogan call.

Unfortunately, Mike Goldberg pretty much acts as a Joe Rogan thermometer, so when Rogan isn’t calling the counter punches, those punches remain uncalled.

I don’t know what it is exactly that makes Rogan so quick to call leg kicks, but trust me, it’s apparent.

Perhaps the best example came when Anderson Silva fought James Irvin.

Irvin threw a leg kick and Anderson destroyed him with a killshot to the face.

“Nice leg kick.”

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