In an article posted on TheSweetScience.com, Mayweather talked trash about his next opponent, Oscar De La Hoya. This should be somewhat expected, but then Mayweather went a little further and had a few things to say about UFC champion Chuck “Ice Man” Liddell. To quote Floyd, “UFC ain’t shit,” he said. “It ain’t but a fad. Anyone can put a tattoo on their head and get in a street fight.” He singled out UFC poster boy Chuck Liddell for an extra overhand right. “We should put Liddell against a good heavyweight, under Mayweather Promotions, and if Chuck wins, then I’ll give him a million dollars out of my own pocket.” PBF then shoe-shined all MMA fighters. “These are guys who couldn’t make it in boxing,” he said. “So they do (MMA). Boxing is the best sport in the world and it’s here to stay.”

Wow, this guy has taken a few too many punches to the head. It’s kind of sad to see, but the inevitiable is happening, boxing is beginning its downfall. Unless you’re oblivious, you can avoid all of the coverage and hype that the UFC is now getting for its fight cards and expecially when they put together a main event with top fighters. All those sponsors who have backed boxing for so long (Budweiser) will eventually be sponsoring UFC events. But that is for another blog post somewhere down the road.

To check the Mayweather article in its entirety you can here:
http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/5017/floyd-mayweather-rips-oscar-liddell-mma/

Officially announced yesterday, The Ultimate Fighting Championship (Zuffa to be exact) has purchased the Pride Fighting Championship (DSE to be exact). The news is huge to the mixed martial arts community and will ultimately be the impetus that will officially make the UFC a household name. I know that most of the MMA world is celebrating this major acquisition but there are some drawbacks that come to mind.

The good of UFC and Pride coming together is pretty obvious. The match making and the fights that will result should be amazing. Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell vs Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Dan Henderson vs Anderson Silva, Gomi vs. GSP, and possibly Fedor vs. “The Natural” Couture. MMA wet dream right there. These stellar fights will only bring in more and more fans and the UFC will continue to grow. And maybe, just maybe we’ll see a UFC section on ESPN.com. I can’t believe those morons have a boxing category but still do not have a MMA section. For god sake, they have a section devoted to Bassmaster Tournaments (no lie, http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/index). I’ll save this particular rant for another day.

On the flip side, there are a few negatives that result from the UFC / Pride deal.
MMA fans lose the Pride. The ring will forever be replaced by the cage. I liked having different fighting environments because it altered fight styles. Also, say goodbye to the beloved soccer kick and knees to the head. Some are not a fan of those rules but I for one liked that about Pride. That added element of attacked really upped the intensity of a fight. I also appreciated the fact that the refs in Pride fights tend to let the fight go on a little longer before they step in and end the fight. The UFC is overly cautious (yeah, yeah, they need to protect the fighter..i get that). Allowing a couple of extra strikes to ensure that there is a clear cut need to stop a fight is appropriate. You get stuck with UFC ref Herb Dean who may stop the fight because you call the other fighter a bad name. One of the other important things to consider is that one man, Dana White, will be king of the MMA game. If you are a hungry upcoming fighter, but get on his bad side, you’re fucked when it come to a career in MMA.

Lots of MMA action coming our way next week. Are you kidding me? UFC Ultimate Fight Night, the kick off of The Ultimate Fighter TV show on Spike, AND UFC 69! I wonder if people will actually get a little burnt out on all of the mixed martial arts or if it will only make demand stronger. Let’s take them one at a time.

Here is the official fight card for the UFC Ultimate Fight Night on April 5th.

Joe “Daddy” Sevenson Vs. Melvin Guillard

Justin McCully Vs. Antoni Hardonk

Dokonjonosuke Mishima Vs. Kenny Florian

Keita Nakamura Vs. Drew Fickett

Kurt Pellegrino Vs. Sum Gi (TBD)

Forrest Petz Vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka

Seth Petruzelli Vs. Wilson Gouveia

Roan Carneiro Vs. Rich Clementi

Naoyuki Kotani Vs. Thiago Tavares

The UFC fight poll currently has Joe Stevenson and Melvin Guillard at even odds. Who do you think will win in this highly competive match-up?

At UFC 67 in Las Vegas, I sat behind UFC Lightweight contender Joe “Daddy’ Stevenson. He was with a couple other guys and had a pretty nice looking lady at his side. One of the guys in his group must have been 6′ 2″ and approximately 235lbs. Well, he and Joe Daddy decided to see who could drink an entire beer the fastest. No f-ing contest. Stevenson blew this guy out of the water. Not once, but twice. Joe continued to drink all night and was pretty hammered but was only slightly belligerant. For someone of his size, it was a pretty impressive site. However, I hope his beer-drinking prowes hasn’t been part of his training routine over the last couple of weeks or he’l really have his hands full with Melvin Guillard at the UFC Ultimate Fight Night April 5th in Vegas. Cheers to you Joe Daddy Stevenson, Lightweight Beer Drinking Champion of the World.

Former UFC Welterweight Champion and future Ultimate Fighting hall of famer, Matt Hughes has some encouraging words as to how to become a better person and how to fight of the temptations of evil:

Gilbert Aldana died in a water-skiing accident at Lake Pleasant this passed Sunday. Aldana was a heavyweight MMA fighter who had two appearances in the UFC and several fights in Arizona’s Rage in the Cage events. Gilbert was just 29 years old. Our sympathy to Aldana’s friends and family.