What the F is wrong with these guys? Do they not understand that the state athletic commission does mandatory, not random, drug testing for each MMA event? Do they think it is easy to fool the system? Have they not read the list of banned substances? I just don’t get it.

Two more MMA fighters have been suspended in California due to testing positive for banned substances. Both Alexander Crispim and Dennis Hallman, who fought in Strikeforce on November 16th, have been suspended for a year and each fined $2,500 by the California State Athletic Commission. 

Let me first start by saying that overall I think Matt Serra has done a great job as a coach on this season’s The Ultimate Fighter. He’s a solid motivator, he’s positive (most of the time), and his team respects him. He is a bit hung up on Matt Hughes and has made this a little more about the coaches rather than the fighters. Yes it sucks to have to lose one of your guys and send him over to team Hughes, but have you ever thought that getting coaching from a wrestler like Hughes could benefit one of your fighters? After all, don’t you want the best for your fighters? It’s not as if sending one of your guys to team Hughes will make him a worse fighter.

But my biggest gripe is Serra’s cornering method. I do appreciate that he is very encouraging, but damn, how many times does he have to tell a fighter, “breathe” and “take your time.” Are these fighters so novice that they don’t remember to breath properly? And what’s up with the constant ”take your time.” There are plenty of times in a fight where you are given an opening that you have to jump on, not hesitate at all. Or if you mount a guy, it isn’t always necessary to slowly and methodically ground and pound. You score mount, what’s wrong with unleashing a flurry of punches?

I guess “taking your time” is why Matt Serra’s previous six fighters (just prior to his win over GSP) all went the distance. 

I have to admit that I lost some respect for Bisping as a fighter after his lackluster performance against Matt Hamill at UFC 75. However, I have regained some respect for “The Count” after checking out his website today. The undefeated MMA fighter posted a story that shows he has a big heart:

My children recently brought a leaflet home from school from the Samaritans, all about operation Christmas child. In a nut shell its basically asking us to send off a small shoe box of inexpensive children’s gifts to be given to the worlds most poorest children. As a father this is something close to my heart and I think everybody should take part and spare a thought for these children as your shoe box could be the first Christmas present they have ever received in their lives.

I know that alot of people think they have it hard, and we complain about day to day things, but in the grand scheme of things these are minor issues. By sparing 10 minutes of your time and just a few pounds we can put a smile on there faces, even if its just temporarily. Your shoe box will make a child feel special and valued, and let them know that someone cares about them. By following the link to the Samaritans homepage it will give you all the details on how you can help. http://www.samaritanspurse.org/OCC.asp?MPGID=1

Come on you cheap sods! get your hand in your pockets, or I’ll be turning up on your doorstep.

Yeah you sods (whatever that means), get you act together and start donating!

UFC commentator Joe Rogan is a long-time, and regular, contributor on one of mixed martial art’s largest communities, The UnderGround forum.  This week Rogan posed a question regarding the notion of adding more weight classes to the UFC (and the MMA sport in general).  His question has evote a lot of opinions from UnderGround members and I thought I’d share Rogan’s complete post.

I think there’s a lot of guys that have to suck too much weight to make one class, but they’re not quite large enough for the next class up. As this sport continues it’s crazy rise in popularity, I keep thinking that there’s going to come a time where we’re going to have to add some weight classes. Maybe go once ever 10 pounds, change 70 to 75, add a 65 and a 95. I think if something like that would be implemented we would get even more exciting championship bouts because we can have guys going up or down to challenge the the dominant guy in the next class.

I think there’s a lot of guys that would prefer to fight closer to their natural weight, and there are some weight class gaps that are just too big in my opinion, especially the gap between 155 to 170 and 170 and 185. That just seems to be a really huge difference to me. A perfect example of the gigantic size difference would be Diego Sanchez and Trevor Prangley. Trevor is fucking HUGE. That guy is a monster, the top end of what a 185 can be, where as Diego is one of the physically smaller guys competing at 170. If you looked at those two next to each other, it seems to me that there’s room for more categories. They seem more than one weight class apart. (more…)

Now that the rumored Oritz vs. Evans rematch is officially scrapped, the UFC has released the official poster for UFC 78 headlined by Michael Bisping vs. Rashad Evans.  What can I say about the poster?  It’s pretty crappy.  The UFC design team has put together some killer event websites, really raising the bar.  This poster is about as basic as they come, Photoshop 101.  Maybe they will put out a revised version as we get closer to the event. 

The latest fight card for UFC 76 Validation
- Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping
- Houston Alexander vs. Thaigo Silva
- David Terrell vs. Ed Herman
- Karo Parisyan vs. Hector Lombard
- Frank Edgar vs. Spencer Fisher

Rich Clemente goes by “No Love,” but at UFC 76 the Honda Event Center crowd gave Clementi plenty of love after he defeated his much heavier opponent Anthony Johnson.  Rich deserves tons of respect for not only winning, but for accepting the fight against the highly regarded up-and-comer Johnson who came into the fight with a 4-0 record and weighed in at 177lbs, seven pounds heavier than Clementi.  There are plenty of MMA fighters who would have called off the fight without anyone thinking less of them, but that is not what Clementi is all about.  Even though Rich has shown over the past year that he’s not able to compete with top level welterweights, he has a champion’s heart.

“This is my last fight at 170,” said ‘No Love’. “I am going down to 155. But when the UFC calls, I answer, no matter what the weight.”

Much love, no love. We’re looking forward to seeing you at light weight and wish there were more MMA fighters like you.