I’ve always liked BJ Penn as a fighter. His MMA skills are world-class. His stand up game is pretty solid, just ask George St. Pierre. His ground skills, sick. Endurance? Well, that’s another story.
When I heard that BJ was going to be a coach on The Ultimate Fighter television show, I knew I’d be pulling for his team. However, on the first episode of TUF, BJ pulled a dick move by asking all of the fighters to raise their hands if they wanted to be on his team. Because Penn is so respected in MMA, almost all of the fighters raised their hands. I know this pissed the hell out of Jens Pulver, rightfully so. That’s a total bitch slap to the face. But, Little Evil handled himself fairly well.
The next dick move was when he tried to get one of his fighters to call out Corey Hill before Jens made the next fight match-up announcement. BJ is starting to turn this into WWF instead of a legit sporting contest.
Pulver has been a motivating coach so far and is 2 for 2. I wonder in the end how many of those in BJ’s camp will be a little regretful they dismissed Jens so quickly as a coach.

If you haven’t checked Light Heavyweight fighter Sokoudjou out, he’s legit. He’s young (22 years old) with fast heavy hands and trains with Team Quest. He’s somewhat reminicent of Vitor Belfort (young Belfort). He recent easily dispatched two top fighter in the weight class, Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. He KO’d both of these Pride fighting veterans in the first round (Nogueira in 29 seconds). I have yet to see his ground game, and that might be his weak link. But as of now, no one has been able to take him down, similar to Mirko Cro Cop. Keep your eye on this kid. The UFC would be smart to pick him up and put him in line to take on Chuck Liddell (if Liddell gets past Quinton Jackson.
Check out his most recent fight against Arona.

Like the MMA masses, I was in awe last night when Matt Serra TKO’d George St. Pierre. I have to admit that I never gave “The Terror” much of a chance. If you look at his fight record it’s a bit lack-luster. His last SIX fights have all gone to decision. No look at GSP’s record and you see only two of his last six fights have gone to decision. I’m a fan of those fighters who put on exciting fights. Your record doesn’t have to be flawless, but if you consistently put on a good show then I’m a fan.
To me, GSP represented the next breed of MMA fighters. The complete package. An athlete who was going to be the poster-boy of the UFC and be the champ that became a household name. I think we all desire to see or get behind an athlete who we believe is “unbeatable.” This is what legends are made up. I was already wondering just how many title defense GSP was going to rack up. Was he going to beat Matt Hughes record of defense?
Instead, St. Pierre doesn’t even defend the welterweight title once. He loses to a guy who hasn’t ended a fight in over FIVE YEARS! GSP should really really be disappointed with himself. Hats off to Serra, he put on a great performance and showed all the MMA naysayers. I just wonder why this guy had to wait five years to be aggressive enough to actually finish a fight. I am disappointed not only that GSP lost, but also disappointed that a fighter like Serra now holds the crown. I would have much rather seen someone like Josh Koscheck or Diego Sanchez knock off GSP. We will always have major upsets in mixed martial arts, it’s part of the sport. This one ranks right up there with the biggest.

Fight Card for UFC 69 on Saturday April 7, 2007 - Live on PPV
Welterweight Championship
Georges St. Pierre Vs. Matt Serra
Roger Huerta Vs. Leonard Garcia
Diego Sanchez Vs. Josh Koscheck
Yushin Okami Vs. Mike Swick
Alan Belcher Vs. Kendall Grove
Brad Imes Vs. Heath Herring
Thales Leites Vs. Pete Sell
Marcus Davis Vs. Pete Spratt
Josh Haynes Vs. Luke Cummo

Another installment of UFC’s Fight Night is in the books. It was an interesting night on Spike TV as there wasn’t a single KO/TKO all night long. Of the nine fight, five went to a decision and four end via submissions. I’m guessing Dana White is happy that this wasn’t the outcome of a PPV event where almost all of the fights are televised. Two of the top fighters looked solid as Joe Daddy and Ken-Flo dominated their opponents. Unfortunately Stevenson’s guillotine choke on Melvin Guillard was so quick that the main event was over in 27 seconds.
Official results from UFC Fight Night 9 in Las Vegas.

Joe Stevenson def. Melvin Guillard - 1st round Submission (Guillotine choke)
Kenny Florian def. Dokonjonosuke Mishima - 3rd round Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Justin McCully def. Antoni Hardonk - Decision (Unanimous)
Thiago Tavares def. Naoyuki Kotani - Decision (Unanimous)
Roan Carneiro def. Rich Clementi - Decision (Unanimous)
Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. Forrest Petz - Decision (Unanimous)
Kurt Pellegrino def. Nate Mohr - Submission (Ankle lock)
Drew Fickett def. Keita Nakamura - Decision (Unanimous)
Wilson Gouveia def. Seth Petruzelli - 2nd round Submission (Guillotine choke)

Is it just me or am I the only one not very impressed with tomorrow night’s fight card? A main event of Joe Daddy Stevenson vs. Melvin Guillard doesn’t carry a whole lot of “punch.” Yeah yeah, most will say “hey, at least it is free and I should be happy with any fight card and main event they put together. My response. The SuperBowl is free. Every football game is free to watch. So don’t you all get hung up on the “free” thing. Yeah, that was great when the UFC was still a small niche sport but those days are long gone and as a MMA fan I am starting to expect more in regards to the quality of fights. With the recent Pride acquisition the UFC has picked up a handful of solid fighter I imagine the fight cards will become better, even the free ones.
Joe Stevenson is a very solid fighter as too Melvin Guillard. I’m excited an will of course watch the event. I’m also looking forward to Anthony Hardonk handing Frank Mir an ass whooping.