Thanks man. I can sure try and snap off a few pics, but I don't own a camera; you'll just have to suffice with crappy iPhone pics!

I'll try and give a full "report" at some point tomorrow.

So, 9 hours removed from attending my first live MMA show in Fedor vs. Silva and I'm still buzzing. Awesome, awesome show. Was shocked to see Fedor lose, but I'm not too totally surprised. I arrived at 7pm to ensure that I would not miss any of the prelims. I am now 0-2 in my picks for the GP, but I was never too good at picking sports winners (thankfully I'm not a betting man or I'd be broke). Here are some thoughts on each fight:

Featherweight: Jason McClean def. Kevin Roddy via split decision. Decent, somewhat technical scrap from these two Jeresy natives. Only fight to go the distance.

Featherweight: Josh LaBarge def. Anthony Leone via TKO (doctor stoppage) between rounds 1 & 2. LaBarge busted Leone's nose with a knee to the face in the clinch that cause the stoppage. Lots of blood from Leone, but he was actually controlling the round. Retrospectively, it was an eerie foreshadowing for later in the event.

Welterweight: Sam Oropeza def. Don Carlo-Clauss via tap to strikes in round 1. Fun scrap, Carlo-Clauss had nothing for Oropeza, who had a significant reach advantage.

Welterweight: Igor Gracie def. John Salgodo via sub (arm triangle) in round 2. Gracie out grappled Salgodo and finally managed to pull off the sub in round 2.

Lightweight: John Cholish def. Marc Stevens via sub (kneebar) in round 2. You may remember Stevens as that douche-y guy on Team Koscheck from TUF 12; you know the guy who talked a ton of shit but got choked out in 17 seconds, the guy that Dana White himself thought was the likely prospect to win the whole thing, the guy who then got choked out a second time in the wildcard fight? Decent back and forth first round, but Cholish caught Stevens in a nasty kneebar to get the sub victory in round 2.

Heavyweight Grand Prix opening ceremonies. Each fighter was introduced. I don't know how this translates on TV, but Werdum was booed by the heavily Russian, pro-Fedor crowd. Barnett was also booed for what I suppose are obvious reasons. Huge reaction for Fedor, as was to be expected.

Part 2 covering the main card continued below.

In regards to what I think this post is about: I have always wished to never see the day this happened...

Goodbye Fedor. That may have been his retirement bout. I salute you kind Russian warrior.

Fedor "The Loss Emperor" Emelianenko

Continued from above.

From this point all fights are Heavyweight.

Valentijn Overeem def. Ray Sefo via sub (neck crank) in round 1. Some back and forth in the standup, but once Overeem took it to the ground, he twisted the shit out of Sefo's neck and that was all she wrote.

Chad Griggs def. Gianpiero Villante via TKO (strikes) in round 1. Fun bar-room brawl. These guys just threw sloppy bombs. There was noting technical about this fight, but it was entertaining regardless.

Shane Del Rosario def. Lavar Johnson via sub (armbar) in round 1. Close back and forth with Del Rosario leaving the mount to secure the armbar and the sub win.

Sergei Kharnitonov def. Andrei Arlovski via KO in round 1. Arlovski landed some decent shots, but this was ultimately sad to watch once Kharnitonov found his groove. Once Andrei was on the ground it looked as if he wasn't even trying to defend himself; he just took the shots clean to get it overwith. Very impressive pummeling by Kharnitonov.

Antonio Silva def. Fedor Emelianenko via TKO (doctor stoppage) between rounds 2 & 3. Bigfoot surprised and shocked me here. This was an amazing fight that had everything a MMA fan could want in a fight. Everyone had this fight as a lock for Fedor. Bigfoot absolutely manhandled Fedor in round 2. Brutal ground & pound, pressing action and takedowns at will, multiple sub attempts; Fedor had nothing for Bigfoot in this round (except for that halfassed toe hold). Some might say it was a bullshit stoppage, but A) Fedor took such a beating that his right eye was in no shape to continue (it was a good call by the docs) and B) had Fedor survived round 3 to go to the judges, I feel he would've possibly had a decision loss on his hands (I personally gave round 1 narrowly to Bigfoot). Fedor could've very well KO'd or subbed Bigfoot had there been a round three as Bigfoot looked a bit gassed (Fedor looked pretty tired as well). There was nearly a riot from the again heavily Russian crowd; people were pissed! I, as always, cheer for the underdog, so I was thrilled to see Bigfoot take the W, even though I fully expected Fedor to dismantle him.

A note on some MMA fans: some people cannot be satisfied. Assholes are quick to boo within seconds of a clinch, guard, or even circling in the stand up as they feel each other out. Some people cannot be happy unless dudes are swinging for the fences from 0:00-5:00 of every round. One guy a row or two behind me kept calling for the ref to stand them up the moment someone was in the guard; before anything remotely resembling action could even have happened, this guy wanted the ref to stand them up. If you just wanna see people scrap with no regard to technicality, go watch boxing or something. Or I'm sure there was a bar in the greater East Rutherford area where dudes throw down.

Anyways, it was an awesome night. The fights were all spectacular, some were shocking, and I may have personally witnessed MMA history (Fedor's second consecutive loss and him hinting at retirement). And we got "treated" to two smoking hot Russian chicks dancing sexily on the concourse between fights. All in all, not a bad show for my first one.

Here are some sub-fecal quality pics taken with my phone's shitty camera.

The view from my seat

Kharnitonov/Arlovski

Boy was i wrong on the two Grand Prix matches. The Griggs vs. Villante was good fight also.

Gina "Monster Tits" Carano is coming back and she still hasn't let the monsters out of there cages. Dammit! Show them already!

Gina for Playboy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW, lol at Marc Stevens being Kos' first pick. Spike likely got him because they heard he and Kos were friendly acquaintances before. Dude is bad.

Yeah. I got a chuckle about this when he got kneebarred the other night. Even Dana White was high on the guy for whatever fucking reason during TUF 12. Too bad he's been subbed with relative ease in every fight I've seen him in.

That kneebar he got caught in looked absolutely brutal, by the way. He tapped instantly when it was locked in.

UFC purchases Strikeforce

http://mmajunkie.com/news/22807/ufc-pur ... eforce.mma
http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/12/z ... rikeforce/

Damn! I wonder how this'll affect the roster of fighters they have. If everything is going to merge(negative on dana's part but let's see how things unfold)

yeah, holy shit.

I heard someone propose that there won't be any merging until Showtime's deal with Strikeforce is up, ~2 years?

I really, really want Shogun to win tomorrow.

Damn. Jones picked him apart in brutal fashion. I don't see him carrying the belt for long though. Shogun lost the fight before it started I believe, he just didn't seem into it before or during.

I'm pissed. Jones is a faggot.

Whatever, Shogun will be back.

Nevertheless, that "faggot" almost made Shogun tap to strikes. I'm a Shogun fan and really wanted him to win but Jones handed him his ass last night.

Looks like the Shogun that fought Forrest and Coleman showed up.

Exactly, no excuses, but Shogun looked like shit. Taking nothing away from Jones, he is certainly talented, but still, I absolutely cannot stand the dude.

How come?

How come what?

He was getting beaten up from the first second. Getting your ass beat tends to make you look "out of it".

There's more interesting match up's for Shogun outside of top contenders at the moment anyway. Rua vs Thiago Silva, please.

Shogun vs Page,
Shogun vs Machida 3 (make it 3-0 amirite)
Shogun vs Andy. If its true that GSP is getting cold feet about facing Silva, of course.
Shogun vs Lil Nog 2.
Shogun vs Forrest 2.

That's all I can think of now.

If Shogun had fucking beat that hipster like I hoped he would, then we could've seen Shogun vs Hendo for the unified LHW title, once SF merges.

He's comes across as a douchey, Bruce Lee quoting (how original, amirite) hipster. The dude made a movie about himself going up to the fight, he was signing shit as Champion before he was champ, he kinda fucked Rashad over (not that I care, but it's still shitty). He fucking snitched on his friends smoking weed, who the fuck does that? Plus he beat Shogun. And the UFC hype behind is retarded, derp, I heard he leg kicked some cracked out thief in a park while meditating, not his fault automatically, but he certainly doesn't mind the hype.

Fuck that guy, I really hope Machida, Page, Rashad, or Anderson can beat him.

I doubt you'd ultimately enjoy a Hendo v. Rua fight. Almost every serious grappler that Shogun has fought, he has struggled with or lost to, and Henderson of course is a serious grinder.

I imagine Evans was planning to do the same thing, and likely would have succeeded.

I'd actually really like to see a Rua v. Bonnar fight. Bonnar hasn't really earned a top fight as of late, but that would be a classic.

A 100 percent Shogun beats Bonnar in like 3 minutes, come on.

All those potential matchups assume Shogun coming to the fight healthy.

another one, Shogun vs Roger.

Bonnar's never been finished outside of cuts and he has exactly the kind of style to make for a good fight.

People emphasize skill gaps between certain fighters way too much. Is Rua good? Of course. Is he quickly becoming middle tier in light of the constantly evolving LHW division? Possibly, a lot of fighters are.

Come on. he lost to one guy in the last 3 years, and that being the dude (Jones) who everyone has been saying is the future of the division. Look at the other guys in the LHW top 5, Machida, Page, and Rashad, he's already beat two of them. Rashad could beat him, but who else is going to beat a healthy Shogun.

Also Bonnar has been about as close to finished as it gets, and regardless, he has nothing on Shogun.

Bonnar can take more of a beating than Shogun. I say Bonnar with the upset victory.

Whatever, its timely to underestimate Shogun, but he'll be back. Not in a million years though would I even want to see Bonnar vs him, so we'll agree to disagree. Fuck, I'd rather watch Rua vs Jardine even.

I think that Shogun either gets the winner of Dragon vs Randy (ie, machida) or Rampage.

You mean the Jardine who gets knocked out by virtually every good striker he fights? I prefer watching competitive fights.

It has nothing to do with underestimating Rua, by the way. Styles make fights, and Bonnar happens to have all the skills and the style to make for a hell of a fight.

Agree to disagree. *shrug*

Your first suggestion was better imo, T. Silva vs Rua.

Tonight, I'll be going to check this out this amateur fight card.

I then have this and this to look forward to next weekend. Sweetness.

NEXT DAY EDIT: I had fun, but it was an ultimately frustrating night of fights. Turns out that there is in fact a slightly different rule set for "amateur" fights (supposedly mandated by the NJSAC). It breaks down like this:

-3 three minute rounds even for "amateur championship" fights
-slightly larger gloves
-padded shin guards from the sole of the foot to just under the knee (read: softer kicks)
-absolutely no strikes to the head on the ground (including elbows and punches)

That last rule truly ruined some otherwise excellent fights. There were a few knockouts on the feet, but if a fight went to the ground, it was basically going to the decision if no subs were successful. Lots of positional grappling and body shots. During the second fight (the first to go to the ground), the dominant fighter got the full mount and beat on this guy for the duration of the round. I'm thinking to myself, "damn, this guy's taking a ton of punishment, why isn't the ref stopping it?". I then look closer and he's actually striking his arms and shoulders. I said out loud "what the fuck is he doing? why isn't he hitting him on the head?" and the guy next to me said "NJ amateur rules, no head shots on the ground". Fucking bogus. Had there been full rules, every fight that went to the judges (something like 10 out of 16 fights) would've very likely been a first round TKO; a lot of momentum was lost.

Credit where it's due, these guys all fought hard and there wasn't any apparent intentional stalling. Plus there was some great knockout/submission finishes. And there were two very, very, very hot ring girls. But I'm now very, very hesitant to spend my money on amateur cards again, especially cause this show was a touch pricey ($40 for GA). The UCC card next weekend is a pro card, so there should be full unified rules in effect. I might have to take a pass on the EFC card, as all signs point to it being an amateur card (I'm gonna contact the promoter before I consider going). I'm not one to normally complain about the alleged "lay n pray" or boring fights in general, but I ain't shelling out any money to watch a dude pound on another's shoulder from the full mount when they can just as easily secure a TKO by raining down on their head just because of some fairly needlessly uber-conservative (not in the political sense) rules.

Any Canadians attending the event this weekened?

It's already this weekend? I haven't heard anything about it and I live in Quebec. What a shame

Indeed, since 55 thousand people are going to be at The Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Looking forward to the entire card with special interest in bend0 and aldo's fights.

The GSP-Shields fight was quite boring ugh but at least GSP won

A good, relaxing and satisfactorious Mixed Martial Art its a Polinesium Martial art called "Lima-Lama".
Its easy to confuse it with the kick-boxing because the technique(fighting) its too similar, but defense techniques are another asian martial arts; so the polinesiums mixed them and created Lima-Lama.

I dunno... This fight has officialy marked the beginnings of a crack in my respect for GSP. Shield had literally nothing on GSP, yet still - 5 rounds. A bummer.

The rest of the fights were quite spectacular. It's always sad to see Couture lose, but hell, it was a nice kick.

That kick that Machida pulled off was a thing of beauty. Absolutely amazing and fluid in movement. Full of power also. No wonder Couture folded after that. As for the GSP-Shields fight after I saw that Shields could not take GSP to the ground (the only place he had even a remote chance of winning) I knew it was going to go to a GSP decision.

UFC 131 just got a lot more interesting. Too bad at the cost of Lesnar's health though.

UFC Announces Brock Lesnar Suffering From Diverticulitis Again, Junior dos Santos to Face Shane Carwin at UFC 131

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/5/12/21 ... dos-santos

Carwin/JDS is a more than suitable replacement bout, and a preferable one for me-I still don't see Lesnar as a worthy contender outside of a PPV selling point. I can't imagine a Lsenar/Velasquez rematch to be any more competitive than the first bout (I had JDS over Lesnar anyways). Carwin/JDS should theoretically not leave the first round, as these two are known knockout artists. And either one up against Velasquez should make for a short night as well (I see JDS as more competitive against Cain than Carwin, but I don't see either one beating him). The 131 card overall looks decent, but not outstanding (Florian at FW should be interesting).

While I'm not a fan of Lesnar both as a fighter and a personality, I hope for a speedy recovery, as the disease he's up against is no joke.

And the very next week we get round two of the Strikeforce HWGP; I'm way more excited for this card-I have Overeem destroying Werdum and Barnett subbing Rogers. And Gina Carano. Honestly, she's an outstandingly hot woman, but a decent fighter at best who has nothing for the top of her division (i.e. Cyborg). She's the Lesnar of WMMA; a recognizable face to be used as a selling point.

Since I haven't been in this thread in some time, here's my brief take on some of the more notable MMA items from the last couple of weeks:

-GSP/Shields; I just don't see GSP finishing anyone again, and he's admitted to fighting as safely as possible since the Serra TKO. I don't mind the lack of finishes so long as the fights are competitive. I understand that Shields injured him with a questionable (in the sense of whether it was intentional or not) eyepoke, so I'll cut GSP some slack on this one. But, if the rumored unification bout with Nick Diaz takes place, GSP had better be aggressive as possible, cause Diaz has a real shot of finishing him (the argument of Diaz ducking top wrestlers notwithstanding).

-Edgar/Maynard injured; what a weird coincidence. 130 seems to be a "cursed" card as there have been 5 injuries linked to this card. All in all, it lloks to be a decent card, with Nelson/Mir looking to be the standout bout (I have Nelson taking it). And I have Edgar over Maynard by UD when they do eventually face off (rumored to be at 133 in Philly, which I'm planning on attending).

-Jones destroys Shogun; fantastic showing from Jones, and a well deserved win. Shogun basically tapped to strikes (albeit immediately after the ref called it), which was shocking to say the least. I just don't see anyone at LHW right now having anything for Jones. He'll get beat eventually (everyone does), but not for the foreseeable future.

-Jones apparently not injured; Jones' injury is not as bad as it seems, and he's rumored to be back on with Evans at 133 in Philly. Hopefully this happens, as it would make the card sweeter for me (I would love to see Jones pummel Rashad).

-Fedor/Henderson; Hendo's got a real shot at winning this, now that some flaws in Fedor's armor have been exposed. Should be a slugfest.

-Zuffa buys Strikeforce; I was shocked when this was announced, but it's a good thing overall. Eventually we will see some dream fights when Strikeforce is inevitably folded into the UFC after all of the Showtime contracts expire. It's crazy to think that some fights that were off limits will happen sooner or later (in particular, anything with Melendez, Diaz, or Overeem vs. top UFC competition is intriguing). The only thing I don't see happening is Fedor in the UFC, and that's due to the scumbag parasitic leeches that are M1-Global. Which is all for the better, as I truly don't see Fedor having anything for the top UFC heavies, even Brock.

Looking forward to the next couple of months, and especially to UFC 133 in Philly!