Jay Glazer is a great ambassador for MMA. There is no more mainstream sport than that of the National Football League & the NFL is how Glazer earns his wage. He was on our show last week to update us on Fat Albert Haynesworth. I had a chance to not only ask him if mixed martial arts training would benefit Haynesworth & his failed physicals, but get some skinnny on Randy Couture’s upcoming bout with the constantly obnoxious James Toney. That was a run on sentence.

Hey friendos.  Brad Fukes here.  As you know I am a big time MMA fan and a supporter of Mixed Martial Arts in all forms.  I am especially proud of how far the DC area has come as an MMA friendly community.  I have attended dozens of fights locally. From Operation Octagon & The UWC to the UFC fight night at the Patriot Center.  You have to have a tremendous amount of respect for the athletes that compete in this sport which is what makes this all very exiting for me personally.

I am going to be doing play by play for “The Battle of the Legends” presented by Washington Combat. I will be joining an old friend as Luke Thomas from MMA Nation & Bloody Elbow will be covering the color commentary duties.  He is an expert, I am a fan.  It should be a fun evening as something new is attempted by Ol’ Thad.  I have to thank my friends Mario & Fernando Yamasaki who need no introduction to any mixed martial arts fans for the opportunity.

If you are in the area, the card looks pretty damn good and some big names are scheduled to be there.  Hopefully you’ll come check it out, or at the very least wish me luck.  Thanks for you support in all my various endeavor’s, it’s what opens up the path to new destinations.

Click HERE to check out the official site for the fight. (Best part is the lower left hand side, if you ask me.)

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Anderson Silva should be proud of himself. Being a sports fan for my whole life and covering various sports professionally on and off again for nearly 7 years, he accomplished something that I have never seen. He disrespected every aspect of this sport and profession in one night. Sure there have been tons of guys that have tested positive for PED’s, guys that have flipped off fans & guys the have gotten arrested. Very few instances include prolonged disrespect for 25 minutes while the sporting event is occuring. Combine that with Silva’s belief that he owes no one an apology for these actions & his assertion that his opponent Demian Maia disrespected HIM in someway, makes this a doozy.

To start with, there is the line of thinking that Anderson Silva is being paid to fight. He signed a contract to fight Maia for which he will be rewarded handsomely. A title belt is on the line in the best organization in the world for his craft. He owes it to his employers who invested capital in him to go out there and ply his trade. I think most of us have had jobs that were not to our liking at some point in our lives. If that check keeps coming, we keep showing up and keeping our mouths shut. Or you get a different job. You don’t urinate on your bosses desk and curse out your customers on the phone. At bare minimum, Silva owes the UFC that. Do your job to the best of your abilities and clearly that dog and pony show we saw on Saturday was not the best The Spider had to offer.

Then there’s the disrespect to people like me. People that forked over 50 dollars to watch this thing in HD. To see a title fight where both parties gave it their all. I despise people that steal PPV’s on the internet. They are scum that lack the balls to walk into a 7-11 with a ski mask on, but will STEAL a tremendous production like a UFC pay per view. They have no right to be upset by ANYTHING that happens during one of these cards, much as a jewel thief can’t curse imperfections in the diamonds he lifted. But people like me got the shaft from Anderson Silva. I work hard for my money and I chose to spend a good chunk of it on mixed martial arts and the UFC specifically. Why? Because they have proven themselves time and time again. I don’t blame the UFC at all for that crappy main event. I blame the freakishly talented, weirdo that wasted 2 minutes or so of my time, and thunderously applaud Maia for making the last round viewable.

Speaking of applauding people, respect needs to be given to the crowd in Abu Dhabi. I spend a lot of time trashing Mixed Marital Arts fans and for good reason. Booing, cursing and general lewdness seems to plague most MMA crowds, but that was not the case in Abu Dhabi. Kudos to them for getting overtly behind Demian Maia as that abortion of a fight progressed. That was the right thing to to in a very embarrassing and awkward situation for everyone watching.

Finally, the person Anderson Silva boned more than anyone in this debacle is New Jersey’s own Frankie Edgar. I met Frankie when the UFC was here for their fight night at the Patriot Center. You couldn’t ask for a nicer, more humble person to dethrone the greatest lightweight of a generation. Edgar’s speed, combinations and elusiveness against the much larger and more decorated Penn was a pleasure to watch. As a fan, I couldn’t wait to delve into twitter & the blogosphere to read people’s takes on how monumental an upset that fight truly was. Unfortunately, that fervor was short lived as “SpiderGate” was about to unfold in front of my very eyes. Silva’s bullshit dwarfed what was one of the better stories in 2010 in Edgar, and one of the more entertaining come from behind victories in the Munoz/Grove fight earlier in the card.

Silva screwed over his boss, his profession, the fans and his co-workers. Short of sodomizing my mother on Thanksgiving day or feeding my dog a ground up lightbulb, I can’t think of much more he could have done wrong. My solution is give this egomaniac what he wants. Competition and pay-per-view buys (which he can’t seem to generate himself.) How to do that? Give him Brock Lesnar. I am not learned enough in the ways off MMA match making to figure out how that would work, but it would solve three issues. I advocated cutting The Spider the moment the match ended. I think he’s a headache the UFC doesn’t need and cutting him would not only free up their middleweight division, but most likely bankrupt Strikeforce. They would throw a pile of money at Silva, who doesn’t bring eyes to the sport and doesn’t try very hard so would not reward the acquisition with revenue.   Apparently that isn’t plausible as he might be the pound for pound best fighter in the world. So what’s left? In professional wrestling terms, I think a squash match is next.

You would see Lesnar close the distance on Silva, pin his chest to the mat and hammerfist his bald head into unconsciousness. Reap the benefits of humbling this boob in front of what would most likely be the largest MMA pay per viewership ever. Hold the thing in Jerry Jones Strip Club/football stadium that Dana seems to love so much. It doesn’t matter if Lesnar defeates Shane Carwin or not to retain his title, Brock and Silva fighting each other is work a million buys alone.  You kill all birds with one stone.  You give Silva “competition,” you most likely humble his arrogant ass, you fatten your own pockets and you punish this brazilian rube for making you look bad.  Do it Dana, for all of us that were shit on by this clown this past Saturday.  Put him in the cage with the monster and see how much dancing around he does with 290 pounds on top of his chest

A lot is being made about these comments by HBO’s Mark Taffet in regards to the overlap of Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts fans. Steve Cofield from the Cagewriter blog on Yahoo seems to think Mark is wrong. I know that Luke Thomas from Bloody Elbow is a HUGE fan of the “Sweet Science,” but he is what I would call a combat sports zealot.  Does the average MMA fan like boxing & vice versa?  My answer is unequivocally no. Not just because I love MMA and find boxing to be dull and monotonous.  Not just because I personally know dozens of people that are fans of one or the other, but not both.  I draw on my experience of planning out afternoon drive sports talk radio programs in both Baltimore and Washington DC and another show in Phoenix.  Humor me…

Hockey is a violent sport.  It’s played at high speeds with plenty of action, hitting,  & athleticism.  Those adjectives can be used to describe NFL football but is there massive crossover for those two sports?  Not judging by the callers to my various radio programs.   That’s a pretty large sample, maybe even larger than the one HBO used for their comparison.  We have hockey callers & football callers.  It is VERY rare to have both.  These are your average fans, not your hard-cores/maniacs.  Is it really so hard to believe that run of the mill MMA fans would be bored by boxing?

Take the corruption, big ego fighters and slow, dull decisions that dominate that sport out of the equation. Most MMA fans start booing if fighters inside the cage circle for more than 20 seconds or if the fight is taken to the mat for longer than a minute.  These ADHD animals are going to sit through 2 arrogant millionaires jabbing one another for 12 rounds?  Of course there are exceptions (Manny Pacquiao being a great one) but that doesn’t make up for what I like to call the “Zab Judah effect.”  I don’t like pricks & the pricks in MMA tend to be more exciting in my opinion.

The argument that I have used in the pass to defend my obvious disdain for boxing in regards to MMA is that by watching MMA, you get boxing.  Why would I watch a Field Goal kicking contest?  Field Goals are a part of football.  I imagine if field goal kicking was it’s own sport the kicking would be of a MUCH higher caliber than the kicking in actual football.  Much like the hand throwing in Boxing is generally thought of as much better that it’s counterpart in MMA.  That alone does not a sport make.  I love all the “mixed” parts of mixed martial arts.  Boxing, takedowns, jiu-jitsu, grappling, wrestling, kickboxing, the works.  Why would I sacrafice “The Works” on my burger for a burger with really good mustard?  I wouldn’t.

I’ll leave you with a few words from Steve Austin. A man that knows a thing or selling pay per views  He tweeted this yesterday in regards to the most recent boxing PPV:

“my respect goes out to all fighters on the card. wasnt worth the price of the ppv.”

Agreed Stone Cold.  These athletes get all of my respect, but none of my dollars.  I’ll stick with the sport that has phenomenal athletes and more often than not manages to put on an entertaining show as well.

Big weekend for The RodKast and for afternoon show. We had our HUGE event at Afterlife 360 for the WEC fight. A shitload of fighters showed up and we packed the joint. Shaky knee put together a little video (featured below) of reactions from people that were in attendance if you were not able to make it out. Keep in mind, the only promotion this event got was on this very site. Goes to show the drawing power of the Fukerton and how badass RodKast listeners are.

The video above is from the interview Lavar and I did with UFC president Dana White. I included it because it was such an amazing experience. I say this with all humility, I have interviewed a lot of famous people in lots of different walks of life. Dana is tied for the biggest thrill thus far in my life. Jim Norton is the other. There is something very different about having the man sitting across from you when you are speaking to him as opposed to on the phone. Dana was beyond accommodating and a tremendous interview. It was a very special day. Thanks to everyone that came out and helped out.

Creepy Justin was able to get an interview with The Natural. They not only discussed fighting, but Randy’s roll in the “The Expendables.” Special thanks to Legend Cage Fighting for helping set it up.

***UPDATE!!! Seth Petruzelli (The man who knocked out Kimbo) and Tom Lawlor (The man that choked out CB Dollaway) are both coming out for the RodKast WEC viewing party.  Lawlor is fighting the next night at UFC FIght Night in Fairfax, Petruzelli is fighting Ken Shamrock in a few weeks.  Both will be at Afterlife 360.  Creepy justin is a juggernaut!***

Let’s be honest, Direct TV and Versus had kind of boned a lot of people.  Not to worry.  Our friends at Afterlife 360 in Manassas have stepped up again! This Sunday night, January 10th. Come out and watch the fight for free with the Kast of the RodKast. We had a blast on Monday night. The place has great service and unreal specials. Bartie Lang had three meals by himself last time.

Henderson vs Varner should be a war and also our boy Urijah Faber returns to the cage as well. We will have prizes and shit to give away and drinks will be flowing.   Here at The Fukerton we do free radio shows, free kick ass events and give away free shit.  All we ask YOU for is your company.   See you there Sunday night, try and get there early!

Afterlife 360 is located at 8090 Sudley Road, Manassas Virginia, 20109. To follow them on twitter (as you should, they are good people) click HERE.

*UPDATE*
Team Ranger Up will be on site with gear give aways. Check out their sweet as gear on their site by clicking HERE.

Gotta give an extra plug to the bar that stepped up to the plate.  January 2nd, 2010.  The first appearance of the new decade.  Join Ol’ Thad out at Grevey’s in Falls Church Virginia for UFC 108: Evans vs Silva. This joint is perfect for our needs. They have good food, no cover and reasonably priced drinks. It’s the perfect place for us to watch the fights.

I’m gonna be very honest though. We have to make it worth their while to have us back. Come out and watch the fights for free and show Grevey’s that Ol’ Thad and his friendos come out to watch the UFC.  We all know what we have been through trying to find a place to watch these fights together.  This is a GREAT opportunity to find a home base to watch the UFC.

We will have tickets to give away to the UFC Fight Night in Fairfax that is taking place January 11th at the Patriot Center. Just another reason for you to saunter your silly ass down to Grevey’s.

Sure, BJ Penn was dismantling Diego Sanchez. Sure, Frank Mir was making Cheick Kongo black out quicker than local coverage of a Jacksonville Jaguars game. Sure, Kenny Florian was choking out Clay Guida. Those were all great things for the UFC. But they weren’t the only great things going on.

Earlier in the evening on Spike TV, The 2009 Video Game Awards (VGA’s) were taking place. It’s a fairly entertaining show for the fastest growing entertainment medium in the world. The plight of gamers and MMA fans are very similar. Both are growing in popularity and very profitable, but are still fighting for seats at the table in the mainstream. The UFC took another small step towards that on Saturday night.

To start, they had good presence at the event. Kimbo Slice was there to present the trailer for “UFC Undisputed 2010″ which is featured above what you are reading now. He received a very good reaction from the crowd and was instantly recognizable. Forrest Griffen was also in attendance as “UFC Undisputed 2009″ was up for Best Individual Sports Game. There was stiff competition from some very established franchises. “Tiger Woods PGA Tour” by gaming juggernaut EA was nominated.  EA also had “Fight Night Round 4″ (draw your own MMA vs Boxing parallels here) nominated while Nintendo offered the wildly popular “Wii Sports Resort.”

Keep in mind this was the very first “Undisputed” title and really the first all encompassing MMA game of it’s kind.  It ended up winning the category.  This is a much larger deal than most people realize.  The gaming universe is very stratified.  Sports gamers are usually a very different breed than your traditional nerd gamer.  It is very rare when one game can motivate both to make a purchase.  ”Madden” has that.  ”Modern Warfare” seems to have it.  ”Undisputed” looks to be following in that mold.

You don’t have to be a geeky gamer or mixed martial arts fan to be drawn to the game’s  deceptive simplicity. You want to button mash your opponent to death?  Ok, you can do that.  Say you are a more seasoned fan and you want to try your hand at the takedowns and submissions?  You can do that too.  The key is “Undisputed” harkens back to the golden years of “Street Fighter 2″ and “Mortal Kombat.”  It has something that those games didn’t have though.  Credibility with sports fans.

Guys that just but “Madden,” “NBA 2K” and “Tiger Woods” are more likely to give “Undisputed” a try than, lets say “Dragon Age”.  Nerdy gamers don’t have to be put off by their aversion sports sims though because of the similarities the UFC game has to “Tekken,” “Marvel vs Capcom” or “Soul Caliber.”  It’s a tremendous opportunity to bridge the gap between the two factions of gamers and it could be a very profitable bridge that THQ and the UFC have built.  Video game developers and Zuffa are going after the same demographics in potential fans and customers.  It’s good to see they appear to be aware of that and are working together.

Audio quality is a little suspect, but CJ is everywhere! It was pretty funny that the guy with the biggest belly was the guy with the best cardio in the house. All the guys with abs were gassing while Roy Nelson was winning the show. Thanks to Justin for participating in The Ultimate Fighter conference call.

Tracy Lee with the sweet pic.

Saw this over on Bloody Elbow. In addition to being right about everything he says in regard Josh Koscheck’s personality, Hardy is right about him professionally as well. You can’t beat Frank Trigg, then fake an injury, poke Rumble Johnson in the eye that he almost lost and then think you’ve earned the right to lose to GSP. Again. Kos is a good fighter and has had some exciting fights, but I’m tired of his hair, tired of his act and tired of his shit. Koscheck shit on his OWN TEAMMATE that Dan Hardy has just picked apart, why doesn’t he go fight John Fitch?

A Testy one for sure.  We have some spirited discussion of relationships, grocery stores, a road trip to Atlanta and Othello trying to sabotage the show.  We are also joined by former UFC champion and legend: Tito Ortiz.  He was great as always, check out Tito’s merch HERE and make sure to check out his fight with Forrest Griffen this Saturday on pay per view. Details HERE.

Click these: Segment 1(hand), Segment 2 (Tito Ortiz), Segment 3 (Loooong segment)

Drab, Othello, Brad,  Beau, Back Ass, Ryan from Traffic and Tias all contribute.  Gotta thank our buddy Stephen Ball 2 for helping screen calls, er… CALL, rather. Now that we have the ability to interact with the audience, We’re gonna need you guys to step up with your listening live.

To all the people asking if these will go up on itunes.  The answer is no:  I want to drive traffic to THIS site, not to Apple.  I know it’s a little more work this way but trust me, these will transition over to your ipod just fine. We are working on building a media player for The Fukerton so that we are constantly playing the show.  In the mean time, thank  Barther for editing these segments and uploading them. We appreciate you listening, as always Thank you for the support.  God Bless.

Segment 1, Segment 2, Segment 3.

What a great show tonight.  Segment one we had our interview with Big Boi from OutKast.  He was promoting his new album “Sir Luscious Left Foot the Son of Chico Dusty” which drops first quarter 2010.  He was beyond cool.  Very knowledgeable about music, very friendly and a lot of fun to talk too.  As a life long OutKast fan it was thrill to be able to pick the brain of one of the world’s best MC’s.  To follow Daddy Fat Sacks on twitter click HERE.

The rest of the show went great.  We talked MMA with Steve Cofield from Cagewriter Blog on Yahoo.com and exposed some huge gaps in the personal conduct of both Blue Shorts and Othello B.  More and more people are listening live on HD channel.  Keep it up and spread the word on the biggest show on HD Radio. For info on how to listen live click HERE.

To download the newest RodKast, feel free to click away: Segment 1 . Segment 2 , Segment 3, Segment 4.

I don’t pretend to be an expert in the complex world of mixed martial arts.  There are too many subtle nuances within the sport; no one should claim to understand unless they have trained for years.  Anyone who has seen me knows there have not been years of training involved in any aspect of my life.  All that being said, you don’t have to be an expert to know what you saw.  I can’t speak to what you laid eyes on last evening, but mine saw robbery.  Worse yet, robbery that is being half heartedly endorsed on the blogosphere.   I think I can tell you why and how it is happening.  It’s just as shitty as Shogun having no gold around his waist.

Sports fans are generally just that.  One group.  There are baseball fans that know more than others.  Football fans that are more informed than other football fans.  Basketball nerds and guys that just enjoy watching the game and so on. For the most part these groups get along with one another. That is not the case in MMA.  Uninformed MMA fans are some of the worst people on the planet.  These are jerkoffs drawn to the raw violence of the sport, do not appreciate its complex nature, and do everything to ruin it for everyone else around them  These are people that scream “…get him in the headlock!” or better yet “…rip his arm off and beat him with it!”  Both of those I heard at the last UWC fight at the Patriot center.  These are the homo habilis, drunken baffoons that file into every hooters one Saturday a month in their Beatdown shirts to ruin it for everyone.

Those people annoy me, but I  wear no a white wig and hold no gavel here.  I know people watch NASCAR for the crashes, hockey for the fights and MMA for the blood.  I’m not judging those people.  I am just acknowledging they exist to set up my next point.   The MMA elitists are almost as bad for the sport as the aforementioned meatheads.    These are bloggers, message board nerds and their ilk that let their narcissism blind them in their support for the UFC and mixed martial arts.  The first group of assholes discussed in this post are a necessary evil for this sport.  It’s means the sport is growing and becoming more popular.  Not all of these Affliction T-shirt wearing douches stays a douche.  They learn the sport the more they watch, they appreciate the sport the more they watch and they become living, breathing, walking soundboards for the sport.  They start telling their friends about it, and their friends, and their friends.  That’s growth, people.  That’s the goal of any business.

Some of snooty blogging sect doesn’t want that.  For one reason or another they feel reluctant to expansion.  To the point where they use their power of the public forum to not only speak down to fans that they deem “unworthy,” but they actually endorse shitty decisions like the one we saw last night.  How, do you ask?  I’d be MORE than happy to tell you.

We ALL know Shogun won the fight last night.  He was more aggressive, did more damage and executed the perfect game plan against MMA’s great enigma: Lyoto Machida.  For Rua’s efforts he was handed a unanimous decision for the other guy.  That was crime in itself.  The bigger crime was the passive aggressive defense of the judges cards by the blogs that cover the sport. The terms “truly beat the champion” and “don’t let it go to the cards” are flying around the internet.  BULL SHIT.  Then why have judges at all.  Let the challenger know that if he doesn’t knock out or sub the champion in the allotted time,  he loses.  I don’t by that shit for a minute.

It is my personal opinion that some, and even most MMA bloggers are obsessed with being contrarian when it comes to the meathead MMA  fans.  These meatheads are the bane of the existance of the bloggers and it affects their opinions and coverage.  What happened every time the crowd booed last night?  Joe Rogan would say something to the effect of “…I don’t know what they are booing, this is a great fight.”  Well, sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn’t, Joe.  Sometimes it was two guys trying to slap leg locks on one another who looked like they didn’t know what they were doing.  The people booing at Staples Center annoyed the piss out of me too.  That doesn’t mean they weren’t right at times.

The point here is that it is irresponsible for bloggers/messageboard members to play down the crime that happened last night in LA.  The masses think it was highway robbery and the MMA snobs don’t want to play to the masses.  They want to show how smart they are.  They want to show how much more they know about MMA than you are I.  That’s the only explanation.  Here is a comment on a blog I read on a regular basis:

The only time Machida was in any danger was when he slipped on the mat, and he didn’t even get taken down then. At no other point in the fight did I feel like Machida was in trouble.

There were multiple times where Machida had Rua in trouble but his excessive caution made him back off. But that is why Machida won; he put Rua in danger. Rua did a lot of leg kicks and impressive looking misses, but never really put the champ in danger. In that situation, the challenger should not win a decision.

It’s a disappointing performance by Machida—- he needs to be willing to take more chances to be a great champion. But he still won the fight. I firmly believe the compustrike stats will bear that out. The CSAC judges made the right call.

This poster is an idiot and clearly wrong. From Bloody Elbow FightMetric scored the bout 49-46 for Mauricio “Shogun” Rua over Lyoto Machida.  This douche just wanted to disagree with everyone and make it all about himself.  This is one of the more glaring examples but, the passive aggressive nature of some coverage of this horrendous decision is even more damaging.  The hardcore fans and bloggers need to realize that  it is more important to watch the sport and enjoy it than it is to separate themselves from fans they think are beneath them.  The goal of all MMA fans should be the growth of the sport.  We want this thing to be the NFL.  It won’t be if awful decisions that cost men championships are not discussed honestly and openly.  It won’t be the NFL, then it will be boxing.  And nobody wants that.

That is the very reason that it’s a great fight for Kimbo.  If he wins, or even goes to a decision with Nelson, he should achieve instant credibility with skeptical MMA fans.  It will also give the UFC an excuse to book Slice for a pay per view which win, lose or draw would definitely financially benefit both parties.

The fact that this fight is free on Spike TV is a credit to not only Slice, but Dana White and the UFC.  It took balls for Slice to walk into this house knowing the bullseye that would be placed on his back and knowing that he would face fighters like Big Country.  It also takes balls by White to do business with Kimbo, knowing what the reaction would be from the MMA hard cores.  I don’ t want to make any predictions, save one.  This will be a record night for The Ultimate Fighter, Spike TV and in all likelyhood, cable television.

Last year I had a chance to catch up with Roy Nelson after his Elite XC fight against the Pitbull.  He spoke on fighting Kimbo even back then.  It’s worth a listen if I do say so myself.  Check it out by clicking HERE.

The following is a scene from one of my favorite movies: Troy.  It applies directly to the video above.

Messenger Boy: Are the stories true? They say your mother was an immortal godess. They say you can’t be killed. 
Achilles: I wouldn’t be bothering with the shield then, would I? 
Messenger Boy: The Thesselonian you’re fighting… he’s the biggest man i’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t want to fight him. 
Achilles: Thats why no-one will remember your name.

I completely sympathize with the Messenger Boy.  Brock Lesnar is the Thesselonian.  Make sure you take notice of the part of the video where Brock is practicing his hammerfists from the mount.  Even with 16 ounce gloves and a pillow I wouldn’t want him doing that to me.  If he wanted to have a kuuurrs light, I said a kuuuuuuuurs light. I might be ok with that.

source: Bloody Elbow

Today, EA’s mixed martial arts game pinned down another high-profile fighter unfazed by lifetime ban threats made by UFC organizers. Electronic Arts has announced that former five-time UFC middleweight champion Frank Shamrock has joined the roster of EA Sports MMA, due out next year for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Not to be confused with his adoptive brother, UFC hall of famer Ken Shamrock, the 5-foot-10-inch, 185-pound Frank Shamrock has a record of 23-10-2 and specializes in catch wrestling and kickboxing. He is currently a fighter for UFC rival Strikeforce, where he began fighting in 2006.

In 2007, Shamrock became Strikeforce middleweight champion after a submission win over Phil Baroni. However, he lost his crown the following year to Cung Le, who broke Shamrock’s arm with a series of kicks. This past April, he lost to jujitsu expert Nick Diaz in another Strikeforce title fight.

Shamrock will share the EA MMA roster with Fedor Emelianenko, who just joined Strikeforce in August. Randy Couture, a current UFC fighter who lost a tough bout with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira last month at UFC 102, will also appear in the game.

Clearly Shamrock’s vest fighting days are behind him, but he is still a very big name to add to a small group of great fighters already added to the roster of EA’s upcoming title.  As much as I am inclined to take Dana White at this word about EA’s intentions, I still am looking forward to picking up the sticks for Couture vs Fedor.  As a straight man, I find it gay for you to still be wearing pants after reading that last line.

Of course you do.  Saturday, September 12th at the Prince William County Fairground.  Our old buddy Muay Tai/Shiny Face Chris is putting on his very first live Mixed Martial Arts show.  Not only that, Kyda Pro Wrestling will be there doing a show before hand.  The Mafia will be there in full force.  So should you.  

The wrestling starts @ 5pm, hosted by none other than Booker T Shirt, Kurt Schembechler, Nash Dukes and Othello Pappa Pump.  The Legand Cage Fighting kicks off right after hosted by none other than Oscar “Happy Feet” Santana.  Come out and support local wrestling and local MMA and have a great time.  

Tickets can be acquired one of two ways.  You can either purchase them as Uncle Sam would want you to by clicking HERE,  or you can win them.  ”How do I do that, Brad Fukes?”  I’m glad you asked.  Next Wednesday night, 9/9/09, the Mafia will be hanging out up at Hard Times Cafe in Fairfax @ 630pm.  The first 10 Fukerton readers that come up to us with the password win a free pair of tickets.  The password is: “Othello eats sand.”  THERE!  How easy is that???  Should be a great time, and we hope to see you there. You can can RSVP on facebook. Tell them the Mafia sent you.  Spread the word!  Click HERE for the official event website.

You can argue about the stratification of boxing with all their divisions and promotions. You can talk about arrogant, boring fighters the jab their opponents to death. Fighters that fight not to lose. Fighters that want to take it to the cards. The lack of big name heavyweights. The rise in popularity of mixed martial arts. All of those are valid reasons for boxing’s waning appeal. The one thing that people will not stomach is fixed fights. Corrupt judges and fallty scoring can end the sport. And when you have talented athletes like Paul Malignaggi screaming at Max Kellerman that the sport is shit, you have a problem. From the good folks at Bloody Elbow:

What’s worse: incompetent MMA judges or corrupt boxing judges? Scott Christ explains what happened last night:

From my view, Malignaggi (26-3, 5 KO) largely dominated the fight defensively and with speed. He looked like the vintage Malignaggi that was a legit contender at 140 pounds. Diaz (35-2, 17 KO) did survive a bad cut this time around, and didn’t fight badly. But he had a horrible time closing distance on the longer, taller, quicker Malignaggi, and it was Paulie that made much of the fight go.

It was also, it should be noted, a highly-entertaining style collision between two guys that came to mix it up and win. They both needed it badly, and fought like it. But it was Malignaggi, in my opinion, that won the bout. And I’m not alone. Bad Left Hook scored it 116-112 for Paulie. HBO’s Harold Lederman scored it 115-113 for Malignaggi.”

I’m no fan of boxing.  I find it slow and dull compared to the multifaceted mixed martial arts.  That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t LIKE to have another combat sport to pay attention to.  Until they dispel the phantom impropriety that haunts the sport. it will continue to be difficult to draw in fans like me looking for a reason to be interested.

The whole episode is good, but if you want to hear my tiny mention, fast forward to about the 26 minute mark. Slowly but surely weasling my way into the MMA world like an unwanted guest or a chick with the clap. Word. Click HERE to see the video.  

Sidebar: It’s funny that ESPN makes sure that they got their source right, but Jake Rossen of Sherdog can’t be bothered.  I emailed Rossen about a correction and did receive a response.  This was after Jake took THIS unprovoked shot at me as well in another post he made off news I broke.  I have been critical of ESPN in the past things, but at least they give credit where credit is due.  You may not know who I am Jake Rossen, but you will in time.  Until then, try and make sure you give credit to the right parties in your posts from now on.

Just a few thoughts the week after Gina Carano was pounded out by Chris “Cyborg” Santos. Some people have been very critical of women in this brutal sport. I take exception to that.

When Electronic Arts announced that it was developing a mixed martial arts game, many fans were skeptical. After all, THQ had just released the very successfulUFC Undisputed, and EA was attempting to compete with an unlicensed product. Things looked worse when UFC president Dana White threatened to blacklist any fighter who chose to appear in EA’s game. But now EA Sports MMA finally has some good news, as EA has revealed three fighters who will be appearing in the game.

The big get for EA is Russian fighter Fedor Emelianenko, the current WAMMA Heavyweight champion, who sports a 30-1 record. “I have fought all over the world and I am excited to be in EA Sports MMA because this game is going to show the global appeal of mixed martial arts,” Emelianenko said. “I know MMA fans have been wanting to play as me and pitting me against any opponent. Now they will have their opportunity.”

Two other fighters were announced as well: former Dream Middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi and Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion Renato Sobral.

Fedor is the White Whale.  If you are not going to have Chuck Liddell and Brock Lesnar and Rampage Jackson, you better get Fedor.  And EA did.  Fedor is one of the most underutilized athletes in the world and the more exposure he can get the better.  Two MMA games will force both to work harder and that means a better product for those of us that stuff rash guards up our asses.  Word.  

Source: Opposable Thumbs Thanks to SIlent Bob for sending it over.

If they were smart they would make this the headliner for UFC 103 with Franklin vs Ortiz as the lead in. That would turn one of the potentially weakest cards in UFC history into the biggest heavyweight fight in MMA history with, coupled with Ortiz’s return against a worth opponent. 250,000 pay per view buys would turn into a million plus.  Call me Joe Silva Fukerton.

Source: Bloody Elbow

This from Mr. President’s Twitter account:

“Yes tito and I made up.” 4:03 PM Jul 17th from TwitterBerry

“Doesn’t mean he’s back it means we aren’t smashing each other anymore and we don’t hate each other.” 4:11 PM Jul 17th from TwitterBerry

As you can see from the time stamp, this happened almost a week ago.  The only reason I am reporting it here is because the three MMA sites I check daily had no mention of it and I think it is certainly news worthy.  Tito Ortiz immediately becomes a top contender in the light heavyweight division if he rejoins the UFC.  It what looked to be a fuck you, squash match, Ortiz nearly triangle choked the now champion Lyoto Machida.  Machida has looked unstoppable since against some very stiff competition, making Tito’s performance look all the more admirable.  Ortiz is still one of the most recognizable faces in the sport and the match ups he could generate with a return to the UFC could be very intriguing. 

Wikipedia has been updated with the advent of White and Ortiz burying the hatchet.  You can see that here.  The only other move that could be as large for Tito is if he moved up in weight to replace Josh Barnett against Fedor at the the upcoming Affliction: Trinity.  What would the point? All roads lead to the UFC. Fedor will ultimately fight there in my opinion, so if that was something the Huntington Beach Bad Boy was really interested in, it could still happen within the confines of the octagon. Point being, if you are a fan of compelling MMA on the biggest stage in the world: Dana White and Tito Ortiz playing nice is a good thing.