Jon Fitch posts on his MySpace:

“If you missed my last bulletin I am fighting at UFC 68 on March 3rd in Columbus Ohio. I have a little bad news that I recieved today, I will not be a main event. I will be a PRELIM once again for some reason unknown to me. I am very dissapointed about this as you can imagine. If you dont know what a prelim is, it is one of the fights that is not on the live PPV brodcast. It is pre-taped and only shown after all the live fights, if and only if there is enough time to air it. So unfortunately there is a very good chance that you will NOT see my fight on the PPV. So if you can, I encourage you to try and come to the live event and see me fight in person. You can also all write to the UFC and express how dissapointed you are that you will not get to see me give someone a beatdown live on the PPV.” 

Keep in mind PPV status means more money for the fight card, potential for sponsors, etc.  He’s currently 4-0 in the UFC right now, and the buzz about him is that he is one of the more solid contenders.

I’m more than a bit biased, because Fitch is a friend, and I’ve been pegging him as the next big thing at the welterweight class for years.  His work ethic is incredible, and he is one of the most skilled all around fighters as well.  I think his post shows an enormous amount of class to be honest, you would be frustrated to if a) your own teammate in the division Josh Koscheck is pulling down the bigger paydays and sponsorship deals, b) you defeated another TUF alumni, Josh Burkman, by RNC and he got to be second from the top on the next PPV while you had to go to work that night (true story), and c) you were supposed to be on the first season of TUF anyway, only to get a phone call while you were on the plane to Vegas!

Hey UFC, I want to see Fitch fight too!

My good friend Misho Ceko (who got his black belt from Ralph Gracie while training in Mountain View, for some reason decided to leave the cushiest job in the world (which essentially let him train and travel as much as he wanted), to get up to his eyeballs in debt in graduate school.  Silly Misho.  He’s almost out of school, and still travelling around the world.  See him get his butt kicked by a girl on his own travel blog, which I’m certain he updates more than I update my blog.

http://www.crimsontraveler.com/ 

I see he’s going for the Ashton Kutcher look again, judging from the photos.

I got back to the Bay Area late Monday night, had a day or two to unwind and chill out with my girl, and at the very, very last second have booked a flight to Portugal for the CBJJ European Championships!  I was sitting on the fence, but Poppa John really convinced me to go.  Funny thing is, I am ethnically Portuguese, but I don’t speak a word of it (as was the big joke when I went down to Brazil).  I am not sure what my internet status will be for the next few days, but I’ll update here when I can (in addition to results from the Euros)

Bud Cup Weekend, pt 1

I’m sitting in my hotel in Charlotte, just trying to get a quick note off before my flight.  A lot to say about this weekend, as always it is one of my favorite tournaments to go to and the trip was almost one of the best I’ve had.

I say almost, because in the finals of the middleweight pro division, two of my favorite grapplers and people, Chris Moriarty and Rafael Lovato Jr. met in in a classic match up between two of the top American competitors in the sport today.  In overtime, Rafael attempted a foot sweep and Chris stepped backwards , shifting his weight in a weird way and collapsing in a heap.  Long story short, Chris wound up breaking his leg just above the ankle, and seeing his anguish at both the injury and the realization that Abu Dhabai is a few months away was a very hard thing to watch.  It was no easier to watch Rafael’s reaction as he definitely felt awful about the situation.

Hopefully it was a clean break (which is theoretically easier to rebound from than ligament damage) and Chris will be back on the mat quickly.  I’ll post more details on Chris recovery when I know, but in the meantime God bless and we wish Chris a speedy recovery.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu wasn’t my first choice you know.

I really wanted to learn Tae Kwon Leep.

Listen here to see what I mean:  The Frantics

So the big rumor floating around the net on various sites right now is that Randy Couture is set to announce a comeback to the Octagon, and his return bout will be for the heavyweight title against Tim Sylvia.

I’m a huge Randy Couture fan, and in awe of his abilities, but I HATE this match up, for several reasons.

1)  I think this is a bad match up for Randy.  Firstly, Randy is a rather smallish heavyweight, where as Sylvia is a rather large heavyweight.  Furthermore Tim Sylvia is a size and style that has been historically been bad for Randy (big strikers that hit hard and don’t go down easily).  Tim may not be my favorite fighter in the UFC, but he’s definitely earned my respect.  Randy moved down to light heavyweight for a reason, that reason hasn’t really changed , in fact, it’s become more pronounced.

Furthermore, how in shape is a heavyweight Randy going to be.  While I thought he performed marvelously at Submission X recently in his match against Jacare, he didn’t seem to be in the same shape at 230 or so as he did fighting at 205 in the UFC.  The rounds there were two four minute rounds and while he was certainly game, he did look tired afterwards (as would anyone who had to grapple Jacare for any length of time).  A title fight is five (5!) five minute rounds, big difference.

Of course this is Randy Couture, and it’s hard to believe that he would show up any less than 100% for this match.  Even still…

2)  Randy is a legend and all, but what does it say about the UFC heavyweight division to give a title shot to a man who hasn’t won a match at heavyweight since 2001 and who’s last match was a loss?

Honestly, the UFC Heavyweight division is actually looking more interesting than it has in years.  There is a legit, worked their way up the ladder contenders in Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga and Brandon Vera (hopefully the rumors about Zuffa shelving Vera due to a contract dispute are just that -rumors.  Former champion Andrei Arvloski looks hungry again.  And then there’s the little matter of the acquisition of a man known as Cro Cop to the mix.  Not to mention the signing of Heath Herring.  Sure, Randy Couture into the mix makes things more interesting, but should he get to cut to the front of line over the rest of these contenders?

Well, maybe yes, Couture is more of a proven draw than any of the names mentioned (at least until the UFC audience sees what Cro Cop does).  AS i stated, I’m a tremendous fan of Couture’s, which is precisely why I’m not in favor of this bout.  I hope he proves me wrong though.

I thought that Warrior Nation on MSNBC was a really good piece.

Warrior Nation is a four part series on MMA chronicling the stories of two fighters leading up to a fight. In this case it is Uriah Faber and Enoch Wilson. Aside from portraying MMA in a really positive light (and away from the Zuffa hype machine), it did a very good job of making the fighters into very likable characters. I’m not sure not sure you quite knew who to root for in the end.

Of course, I happened to be ringside for their bout at the Malice in the Palace, so I knew exactly who won before they showed it, but I have to say it was a really exciting bout, even more so than they showed in the truncated version.

About the only thing I didn’t like was the intermission to talk about the two lady fighters. Firstly because it interrupted the flow of the story from Uriah and Enoch, which I was really getting into (despite knowing the ending) but more importantly because the level of those particular girls was very low. Nothing personal against them, but it was obvious at least one of them was very under trained/skilled and it didn’t jive well with showing the hard work, talent and sacrifice that fighters really have to undergo to excel in this sport. Next week’s episode will feature Erin Toughill, so the show will hopefully cast women’s MMA in a better light.

I’m sure MSNBC will rebroadcast the show at least a few more times, so I highly recommend checking it out. Check your local listings I guess.

So I should probably begin by explaining this, which I frequently post on any forum thread involving Chris Moriarty:

An inside joke between us, this is a screen from the otherwise horrible movie “Date Movie”.  The scene above was a pretty funny one parodying “Meet the Parents”.  A group of us were at Scotty’s house watching Date Movie, and although the scene was a funny one and got us to laugh, it was even funnier watching Chris laughing so hard he could barely breath and nearly crap himself.

Speaking of which, Chris has a special talent he’s all to happy to perform for people.  I’m not going to tell you what it is, you just have to ask him to find out for yourself, but I will say I saw a similar thing on the Howard Stern show once and Chris does it way better.

I’m proud of how far Chris has come in such a short time.  Talent wise I believe he is the complete package on the mat and he is extremely confident and mat savvy now as well, and the sky is literally the limit for him in this sport.  I’ll confess in that while I’ve seen the  potential in him for awhile and he’s exceeded every expectation I’ve had of him, the initial reason he caught my attention was that he told him the one of the funniest/saddest stories in the sport.  You’ll have to ask him for his version of it however, it still has me in tears every time he tells it however.  In fact, I would place it #2 in the list of Backstage stories that will NEVER get published.  Matt Serra holds the #1 spot, with his tale of his return from Abu Dhabi (that story may never even be told again unfortunately, but it’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard in my life).  Bas Rutten, Kevin Randleman, and Mark Coleman on the bus from Pride is #3 (you’ll have to ask Jeff Sherwood for that one), and places #4-#10 all involve Jeff Monson in some way.

Why not get yourself a Lucky gi?

Gi Care

Always wash your gi before you wear it the first time.  If you throw in about half a cup of vinegar it will help the dye set (especially useful if you have a colored gi, not so much a white gi), but this benefit will be lost if you wear it first as your sweat and various acid responses on your body will nullify this effect.  Vinegar does nothing for the smell of the gi.  (This was a trick I learned well before I even got into jiu jitsu)

Subsequent washings I user the normal amount of detergent, maybe a little extra detergent rubbed into the collar and thick places where sweat is likely to have collected.  I ALWAYS add a scoop of baking soda to the wash for it’s odor eating properties as well.

Drying, I usually set my dryer to air dry or no heat and the “damp” setting, then hang dry the rest of the way.  (With my odd proportions I’m screwed if my gi shrinks).  When hang drying, I spray my gi down with Antimicrobial Febreeze and let air in a dry place (usually my garage).

I don’t wash my gi after every use, (I either don’t sweat as much as some, or I usually have a habit of showering before I go to practice), but I always hang in a dry place and spray down with Antimicrobial Febreeze after each use. Some of you definitely need to wash your gi after each use.

Skip the fabric softener, chemically these work by loosening the bonds and tightness of the fabric, thus you will really shorten the lifespan of your gi by using it.

I’ve never tried freezing my gi, it sounds like a sound idea.  (Freezing kills the bacteria that cause odors). I would suggest that you make certain the gi is dry when you put it in the freezer, as water would turn to ice and might potentially damage your gi.

Because you never know exactly how long it will be before I take another extended hiatus from my own blog.

Most of these I lifted directly from Caleb’s (Fightworks/OTM Podcast) page which you should be checking out on a regular basis anyway.  The marriage of OTM and Fightworks has been a very successful one, and I’m extremely pleased to have Caleb on board.

From Caleb:

Aesopian’s Totally Awesome Journal
Probably my favorite of the new offerings this year, as much for the emphasis on the demonstration of techniques as how whiz-bang cool he’s rigged things for sharing the content on social media sites like Digg and Technorati. I will be watching this one closely in 2007.

It’s Not Ballet
Written by Southern California brown belt Andreh Anderson, this one hasn’t been around very long but I like reading about other’s training experiences. Thank you Andreh.

Got Jits?
Jason Stoll started this blog as a white belt and has been writing about his newfound addiction with Brazilian jiu-jitsu since the beginning. He recently received his blue belt (congrats!), and I look forward to reading how things go for him in 2007. The one bit of constructive criticism for Jason is I think his site needs an RSS feed.

Gracie Barra BH Marbella
Though this blog doesn’t update as regularly as my curiosity would like, this one hit me with two of my real passions, Spain (I used to live there) and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, so it made the list. It’s always cool to see how BJJ is spreading outside Brazil and North America.

One more I think you should check out:

Felicia Oh’s Blog 

Felicia Oh is a black belt under Jean Jacques Machado, kettlebell instructor, all around swell gal.  I find her visual representation of the belts to be especially amusing.

I’ll probably get around to adding permanent links on the right hand column soon….