Hidehiko Yoshida VS James Thompson

Well well it seems that Hidehiko Yoshida VS James Thompson will be happenning at PRIDE SHOCKWAVE 2006 on Dec. 31st. I realllllllllly hope that Thompson can get a win here because I really like this guy. He just needs to slow down and not go crazy like he usually does. As big as he is (and he is huge) he can't take a punch very well :S He has a tendancy to stand there and slug head shots and usually loses. Of course Yoshida isn't exactly a striker but that don't matter. I think Yoshida has a good chance of winning this fight if he can take Thompson down to the ground and control him and submit him. It should be interesting either way.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and others back in the UFC

Well it looks like the UFC has swooped in and picked up a bunch of fighters from the soon to be defunct WFA.

If you recall a few months back the World Fighting Alliance was dubbing that it had Rampage Jackson and also Bas Rutten.

The guy that was running the WFA sued the owners or something to that degree - the bottom line is that Dana White and Zuffa swooped in and scooped up all their fighters. Jackson was to be paid a % of the pay per view event but only 50,000 people bought it so he barely made any money. There is some deal going down with HBO and some league called the WEC. Bottom line is Zuffa might have two labels now... UFC and WEC and I think WEC is gonna be on HBO. So if they stick Rampage Jackson in the WEC then they can circumvent paying him a % of the pay per view. I really hope they don't do that. I'd like to see him get paid. He used to be one of my favorite fighters. I mean who doesn't love a guy that slams people on their head, howls at the crowd and wears a big thick chain :D Anyhoo I was sad to see him lose to Vanderlei Silva in Pride several times. What pisses me off is the way he allowed himself to get clinched and kneed so bad two fights in a row with him. The latest fights I seen with him since then have been lackluster though he did win. I know he has always had problems with not having enough people to train with. Bottom line is I hope he comes to UFC and I hope he gets with a decent camp. I hope they don't put him against Liddell right away. Though that might happen especially if he loses to Tito.

Pride FC Shockwave 2006

December 31st Pride Fighting Championship will hold an event called Shockwave 2006 and will feature a heavyweight title bout between Fedor Emelianeko and Mark Hunt....

LOL @ Mark Hunt wtf... there is no decent competition in the heavyweight division anymore. Anyhoo here is the fight card:





Fedor Emelianeko vs. Mark Hunt
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Gilbret Melendez
Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen
Mauricio Shogun vs. Nakamura Kazuhiro
Takanori Gomi vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida

Well I haven't posted about PrideFC yet and to be honest I don't remember details about all the fighters - especially the asian ones :s I do know that I can not stand Takanori Gomi. He is arrogant and I don't like his one dimensional fighting style. I hope he gets choked out again. I know that I DO like Mauricio Shogun who is fighting Nakamura Kazuhiro who I have seen fight countless times but for some reason I don't remember his fighting style. I think he is a jiu jitsu guy so he will of course lose to Shogun who is a BJJ master. The main event will be laughable in my opinion. I think that Fedor will do to Hunt what he did to Coleman which was to take his time picking him apart like a noob. I believe he COULD finish the fight very quickly but I think he is getting bored of winning so easily so he delays the inevitable on his opponent to give the crowd a bit of a show. Fedor is my favorite fighter right in the world right now. I don't think there is anyone alive that can beat him at the moment... no one at any weight.

Roger Gracie vs. Fedor Emelianenko coming soon!

Wow I had never heard of Roger Gracie before tonight. Tonight I finally watched the Bodog Fight... man the people in Vancouver are so laid back they were barely cheering lol.

I think the overall production was a bit cheesy but hey its all good. So Roger Gracie beat Ron Waterman easily in the first round with an armbar. He looked like an oversized Royce, same physique, same style, same danagerous guard.

Perhaps he is the one man that will be able to topple Fedor because yes thats right it seems that Fedor is joining the Bodog organization. I guess this means he is leaving Pride?

I will have to figure this out. One day they will inevitably fight and I look forward to it. There was some other good fights on the card but nothing too memorable. I'm not a big fan of the no elbows rule they had along with the no 3 point attack - blah. One thing that really pisses me off is when a fighter makes no attempt to pass guard at least to side control even when he is sitting in a constantly open guard. There were a few fighters I thought would win when I assessed their stats and the intro they showed on each guy and in a few cases I was totally wrong - thats what I love about mixed martial arts. The other thing that still amazes to shock me is how weak some guy's chins are and conversly how solid other fighters are. I'm ranting now so I will stop lawl.