Scotty makes this drunken post from the Playboy Mansion last night at Strikeforce.

Jeff was grappling some playmates and slipped and fell in! Even in the freezing cold the girls jumped in with him to “save” him!!!  LOL the whole thing turned in to a huge mess. Security came to throw him out and the girls saved him saying it was an acident!!! 

lucky i helped the girls out of the water.

I’m just wondering if he was wearing the same shirt, I literally see him in this everytime he goes out. I KNOW he was wearing the same pair of jeans!

Picture courtesy of our good friends at NapkinNights.com

Here in Las Vegas, and we’ve got word that Randy Couture is in Africa filming the sequel to the Scorpion King/Mummy franchise.  Randy is going to play the lead villan.  Randy Couture as the bad guy.  Now that will take some acting!

I’m going to be in Las Vegas for the Quest for the Best grappling tournament this weekend.  Always a fun time in the bright lights of Vegas.  If you’re competing, know I’ll be there matside with my trusty video camera in hand.  Just saying.  I think you can still get the pre-registration price through tonight over at grapplingtournaments.com

It’s also my birthday (well technically TODAY is my birthday), so I have ever intention of celebrating this weekend in Vegas.  If you see me out (I’m not sure where but you’re all invited) feel free to get me a drink, Jack and Cokes are my favorite.

Diego Sanchez was awarded his blue belt by Saulo Ribeiro.

Now, this may surprise some to think that Diego was technically only a white belt beforehand.  Not only has he had a very successful career in MMA, but he has had a very successful run in the grappling circuit and has defeated (and submitted) many BJJ black belts.

I’m certainly not going to argue belt criteria with Saulo (like many on different forums have).  But I did talk to Saulo about Diego’s rank when we were hanging out in Hawaii, and without revealing any trade secrets, I can tell you that Saulo grades his ranks not just on practical application, but understanding of the concepts and theories as well.  Diego’s natural abilities may have been supernatural, but in terms of Jiu Jitsu knowledge, Saulo felt Diego was a white belt (at the time of our conversation).

I should also mention Saulo was very high on Diego’s abilities and personality, stating he simply “loved the kid to death”.  Obviously Diego doesn’t have an issue with his ranking as well, because he is continuing to train and learn and has readily accepted being a white to blue belt in Saulo’s system. Maybe a lot of people feel threatened in their own ranks knowing full well that there is a blue belt out there that will very likely trounce them in grappling.  But I’d prefer to commend Diego on his commitment to learn more and get better, even though he is at the top of the proverbial food chain, and can only imagine what a dangerous black belt he will one day become.

I see a bit of a parallel between Diego and Jeff Monson in this sense.  Jeff Monson was one of the most accomplished Submission Grapplers in the world before he ever started taking Jiu Jitsu, he was a two time ADCC world champion after all!

Jeff felt he wanted to add more to his overall game and joined American Top Team, and under the direction of Ricardo Liborio, went ahead and advanced through the ranks of white belt onwards.

One of the things that happened when Jeff started doing Jiu Jitsu was that competition game initially suffered as he attempted to make Jiu Jitsu his own style.  He actually suffered a few submission losses including a GQ final against Xande Ribeiro.  But because of Jeff’s open mind and comnittment, he did indeed make Jiu Jitsu into his own style and every tournament you would see Jeff doing new things, showing off more submissions and he eventually game back to avenge his previous losses and take the ADCC championship for the third time.

Bottom line is being an elite grappler doesn’t necessarily equate with a rank in Jiu Jitsu.  But my hat goes off to anyone who is trying to improve their game, especially when they are already successful by anyone’s definition.

Dana White has made comments to the effect that Chuck Liddell will contemplate his next move following his disappointing loss to Keith Jardine this weekend.

Those of us who have been around awhile now what an unusual statement that is to make about Chuck.  Rewind to a few years ago, and the UFC practically had to lock Chuck out of the Octagon.

Let’s get this out of the way right now.  If Chuck Liddell decided to retire tomorrow it will have been well earned.  He has been in this sport for a long time, well before the days there was any kind of money involved and he largely got into this because he likes beating people up.

Not to say Chuck is a thug.  Away from the Cage, Chuck is one of the nicest, most approachable guys in the sport.  He has a degree in accounting for crissake.  Look at the picture of him holding his boy.  Just look at them.

Now, a lot of the media is asking if Chuck has lost it, or if age has finally caught up with the superstar.  Considering he is six years junior to Randy Couture, that seems a little difficult to swallow.  Real insiders are whispering something else.  That the man who used to love to fight has now become known as the man who loves to party.  There isn’t a doorman alive that wouldn’t recognize the Iceman either.

Such are the trapping of fame and fortune.

I for one would hate to see the Iceman go out like this, but such is the nature of our sport.  Very, very few go out on top.  But before Chuck makes his final decision, I would urge him to go out and rent the following movie:

I’m sure if Chuck watches closely, he’ll be able to find a real allegory here to his own life.  We’re just saying….

Nick’s teammate Dan Black has posted the following on a few forums, including MMA.tv and GracieFighter.com

Nick has been in the hospital for about 6 days now from a fucked up staph infection that got into the cut over his eye and turned into orbital cellulites or some shit. He got some funky infection on his knees and face training right before the fight but didn’t know what it was and didn’t think it would affect him because he had been training so hard..said when he felt like shit he thought it was just over-trained or something..

the guy doesn’t sleep after the fights either so combine that with the shitty Mexican food Jake gave him and that probably shot his immune system to shit.. the plane must have caused something with the pressure because it swelled up like he had a tennis ball under his eyelid and shit.. dude was having shakes/chills with his eyeball about to pop out of his head and when he first went to the hospital they send him home with an icepack, he comes back later and as soon as the specialist saw him they put him on antibiotics and pain meds 24/7..

said Mike Aina is a tough motherfucker, dude decided to stand there with busted ribs and take bodyshots and get punched in the face instead of getting taken down.. Nick busted his ribs up good dude was in the hospital with ice packs on them and shit.. said he should have tried to crack those fuckers more but whatever what can ya do it was good to get the ring time in to work the rust off.. the boxing wasn’t as sharp as usual cuz he hadn’t really been working with his boxing coach Richard Perez as much as normal..

anyway he’s gonna be cool, the guy is already talking about doing the Xterra Sierra Neveda on the 29th and getting back to the gym to stay in shape for the next fight..

oh yeah Nick wanted me to post this a message out:

Nick Diaz needs professional boxers to come spar with him in Stockton, CA and will pay.. if you are a professional boxer or train with professional boxers that are interested leave your email or contact info on this thread and we’ll have somebody contact you..

One of the reasons we love Nick is that’s he’s not one to make excuses, he simply tells it like it is.  When we saw him immediately after the fight the first words out of his mouth were “what did you think of my incredibly shitty performance?” and we talked frankly about what went down in the cage.

Get better soon Nick!

I missed last nights UFC, but I have a very good reason.

Congratulations to Dave Camarillo and Shumei Wu on their wedding yesterday!  Despite Dave’s frequent referrals to Shumei as “his wife”, and the fact they have been together for nearly 10 years, they finally made it official yesterday.  Congrats to you two!

I’ll catch up on my blog type stuff later.

Diego Sanchez vs Jon Fitch

Two of the top 10 170 pounders in the world set to collide tomorrow at UFC 76.  While this is one of the most intriguing fights on paper in sometime, I have to admit I’m more than a little torn to see this match, as I am long time friends with both fighters.  We’ve been following the careers of both Diego and Jon for a long time now and if I may say so myself, we’ve been saying that these two are the future of the 170 pound division for years now.  Diego we’ve been following very, very early in his career, in fact searching through our archive of footage we found we’ve been following him since he was competing in the intermediate divisions of GQ.  The instant Fitch walked into AKA we pegged him to be something special.  I remember standing ringside for his bout against Shonie Carter in 2003 explaining to the rest of the assembled MMA press they were about to see someone special.  Now these two fighters are about to clash and we have to admit that is bittersweet.

I consider both to be good friends and have more than a few crazy stories involving each.  Fitch is usually the more quiet, dignified everyman and we really admire his work ethic around here.  Diego is a bit more out there (as you may have guessed), but he has a huge heart and is a loyal friend.  As a fan I can’t wait to see this fight.  As a friend I’m more than a little torn.  Knowing so many people in the fight game, I often just root for them to put on a good show without getting hurt.  But this one is tough.

Even taking friendship out of the equation, I’m having a tough time making a call on this fight.  I don’t think anyone would dispute that Fitch is the brightest star of a very bright program at AKA (including AKA themselves).  His work ethic is unparelled, and he’s gone from being “just a wrestler” and beyond a true mixed martial artist to someone who actually excels at each of the disciplines including the striking and jiu jitsu aspect.  Diego on the other hand is one of the most naturally talented MMA’ers out there and yet he is very eager to learn more.  Here is a guy who has been submitting black belts in grappling competition for years, and he goes and joins Saulo’s team and puts on a black belt.  Plus you will never, ever beat this kid on heart.  Fitch is on a 13 fight win streak, Diego is on the rebound after dropping his first bout in 19 to Josh Koshcheck (a really snoozer of a bout that we’re more likely to blame on Koschek’s style than Diego).

So I’m going to be a chicken and not pick the winner in this bout.  But if a rematch happens involving a title, I wouldn’t be at all surprised either.

You may recall there was a bit of a furor earlier when Tito Ortiz was invited to a USO dinner to honor the work he’s done with the troops.  When he asked if he could bring his girlfriend, world’s most famous porn star Jenna Jameson to the event, it was politely suggested he leave her at home.  That obviously didn’t sit well with Tito, who offered to not show up as well.  Obviously everything has been smoothed over.

For those of you who have only watched MMA since the beginning of The Ultimate Fighter, and (even if you’ve been around longer) you should realize that despite his nickname “the Huntington Beach Bad Boy”, Tito Ortiz is actually one of the good guys in the sport.  While he was champion (in the days when Zuffa was building itself into the powerhouse it is now) no one ran the publicity circuit and put MMA forward quite like Tito Ortiz did.  On the flip side, no other champion to this point has also used their position to do charity work quite like Tito Ortiz did as well.

Renzo Gracie’s PitBulls are taking on Miletech’s Silverbacks for the overall title.  The most intriguing thing to me is the return of Ricco Rodriguez

Ricco hasn’t looked this in shape in years (if ever!)  We’re happy for him, because in person Ricco is a nice guy who has had some battles in and out of the ring.  Not to play long distance psychoanalyst but I’ve had my suspicions that Rico’s problems may have stemmed because he was/is the kid no one liked growing up who worked his ass off (literally) to get where he was, sat on top of the world for awhile, didn’t quite now how to handle it, and then had it all taken away from him.  The thing is he really has had to work to get to where he is, and had to work even harder to come back.  Ricco is old school as well, having been a fixture on the grappling circuit for over a decade now (and if there is anyone we like supporting in the world of MMA here at OTM, it is those who came up through Jiu Jitsu).

Not that Ricco wasn’t highly skilled and dangerous at any size.  Here is a clip of Ricco battling a pre-Crossfit Garth Taylor back when both were Purple Belts (and over 600 pounds combined).  You’d never know they were so big watching the way the move.

Go Ricco, and we’re glad to see you back!

Photo courtesy of our friends at Sherdog.com