wow akira kikuchi retired from mma, what a shame

Definitely.

Rumors that the UFC is banning Affliction. God, the UFC pisses me off (and I hate Affliction shirts).

MP,

Yeah, I've watched a ton of stuff on BJPenn.com - it's definitely worth mentioning for everyone to check out. The funniest videos to me are when BJ is in some basic position like full guard and then says something like "OK, as soon as he shifts his weight this way, pull your leg around the front of his head and over and trap him in a triangle just like this" and then twists and spins his leg around in ways that seem pretty much impossible for a normal human, haha.

MP,

UFC definitely seems to have engaged in many questionable business practices. But if it's true that Affliction is starting/sponsoring their own (or another) organization, it doesn't seem like an unreasonable decision to ban them.

I suppose the UFC would know more than I would, but until they actual are involved with something, I don't see any reason to ban them. It unfairly punishes a lot of fighters who rely on that extra sponsorship money.

I just started listening to the Sherdog radio shows, and it sounds like Affliction is getting involved with promoting fights and Josh Barnett might be one of their first signings. Interesting stuff.

Hey guys, thanks so much for the advice earlier about just joining a gym. There's a local ATT place here, so I'm going with that. $100/mo is pretty standard, right?

Yeah, from everything I've heard $100/month is a pretty standard deal.

How many times/week and hours/session?

Unlimited classes. They have about 20 class times per week split up between wrestling, boxing/muy thai, bjj, and "applied grappling". 1-2 hours each.

Yeah that's about what everyone pays. Even a little on the cheap side for getting everything.

Yeah, I'd be real pumped on that deal. Ni han.

From a Yahoo article about the UFC 81 conference call:

Anyone watching the ShoXC card on Showtime?

Harold Howard from UFC 3 is my favorite fighter of all time.

Haha yeah, he was awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt0UIuGnSdw

I love that.

lesnar promo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwozg9Djlak

Jon Hess and SAFTA > HH

I really want Brock to beat the **** out of Frank Murrrrr. If Brock has to lose, I really hope it's after a very good showing and to some quick submission. Just a loss where if he keeps working on submission defense + improving his abilities in general he should be able to dominate his next fights.

I'm on the Brock bandwagon.

EDF, choose the final 2 fights for the UFC 82 main card!

Confirmed main card:

# Anderson Silva Vs. Dan Henderson
# Heath Herring Vs. Cheick Kongo
# Yushin Okami Vs. Evan Tanner

And the rest of the card:

# Jon Fitch vs. Chris Wilson
# Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O'Brien
# Diego Sanchez vs. David Bielkheden
# Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett
# Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fioravanti
# Jorge Gurgel vs. John Halverson

I pick Fitch/Wilson and Koscheck/Hazelett. Fitch seems like the easy choice. He's on a huge winning streak, his last fight was on the main card (which he won), and as evidence by the video.ufc.com site, he's one of the guys they're trying to push.

The second fight is the harder to pick. You have three big stars in Arlovski, Sanchez, and Koscheck. I think if Arlovski signs a contract extension before the card, he'll be on the main card. I also think if they put him on the main card and there's been no report that he's signed, there's been some sort of verbal agreement that he will resign afterwards (maybe depending on whether he wins or loses). Unfortunately, I don't believe he will sign before March.

Sanchez and Koscheck are relative equals all things considered, but I think they'll go with Koscheck.

does it really matter? i mean do you expect any of those fights to be the slightest bit competitive? also, i am as paranoid as anyone, but if you think arlovski is somehow not gonna be on the main card you're crazy

"does it really matter?"

Excuse me for bringing up a topic for discussion.

"i mean do you expect any of those fights to be the slightest bit competitive?"

What does that have to do with what I asked?

"also, i am as paranoid as anyone, but if you think arlovski is somehow not gonna be on the main card you're crazy"

If the UFC isn't going to have Arlovski after 81, why wouldn't they bury him in the prelims? If it was such a 100% no-brainer, he'd be confirmed on the main card already.

Edit: UFC.com already has Koscheck/Hazelett as "May not be broadcast. Click for details." So much for that.

I really hope bielkheden - sanchez will be on the main card, it would be the first time in history a swedish fighter fights on the main card of the UFC

Go Bielkheden!

my comments about it not mattering and the fights being uncompetitive were simply me expressing my lack of enthusiasm for the matchups, as for arlovski, despite how unentertaining his fight with werdum was, he is still one of the biggest names on this card and in the UFC, and he still has a big enough fan base to sell some tickets/ppv buys

an easy way to demostrate this is to compare his popularity to Herring or Kongo, who are already "confirmed for the main card". while their fight is an obviously much more compelling matchup to me or you, there is no way you could say that either one of them have more name recognition than arlovski

Random Thing I heard Floyd Mayweather is considering fighting in UFC. Is that one of those things like Toronto will get an NFL team where it realisitically will never happen byt ppl talk about it.
Second how would he do?
Personally I think he'd do incredibly well. His punching is just so much better than everyone else in UFC and hes a a better all around athelte than anyone in UFC.

Woah Woah Woah Eagles relax here a bit, are we talking mayweather after 1-2 years of MMA training or right now?

Because right now there are people in Cage Rage who would beat him in MMA, his whole game and stance is so counter-productive in defending takedowns that he would get taken down, flip out when he has no idea what to do to defend all the different things on the ground and tap or get his **** pushed in.