Five reasons to tune into ‘The Ultimate Fighter’

I'll admit it. Thirteen seasons into the UFC's reality show on Spike, and I'm feeling a little bit of "The Ultimate Fighter" fatigue. The show has been on since 2005, and it's hard to keep any TV show fresh for six years. (Except "Law and Order." How dare they take Jack McCoy off the air?)

But then I thought about the specifics of this season, and realizing that the fatigue I'm feeling can be easily squashed by the time the show debuts at 9 p.m. ET on Spike Wednesday night. Why should you tune in?

5. New start time: Just in time for the UFC to change the start time of the pay-per-view events, TUF is bumping its start time up an hour. The change may seem small, but now you'll have that much more time to return to Cagewriter and discuss the show before heading to bed.

4. A closer look at some of the best coaches in MMA: No, I'm not talking about Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos. Their assistant coaches are some of the best in the business, but relatively unknown by fight fans. Erik Paulson, Marty Morgan, Luiz Dorea and Billy Scheibe will all get a chance to show how they helped Lesnar and dos Santos reach elite levels of MMA.

3. Guest coach potential is off the charts: With dos Santos and Lesnar's connections and training partners, there is good reason to hope for fun cameos throughout the season. Jose Aldo, Anderson Silva, Pat Barry and the Nogueira brothers could all stop in. I really want Lesnar to pull in his buddies from the WWE days to teach his team about the fine art of selling a fight.

2. Watch dos Santos figure out how to be a star: Dos Santos has said that he just followed Lesnar's lead in dealing with the cameras. An interesting storyline throughout the season will be seeing if dos Santos is comfortable as not just a fighter, but a star in MMA.

1. Lesnar's response to a loss will be televised: With his out-of-the-way training camp and surly attitude, outsiders don't often get a close look at the former champ. When they do, it's quite often posturing. But with cameras following Lesnar for several weeks, it's likely they will capture his true response to losing his championship belt to Cain Velasquez. That will be riveting television.

Are you planning to tune in tonight? Tell us about it in the comments or on Facebook.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Five-reasons-to-tune-into-The-Ultimate-Fighter-?urn=mma-wp777

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The completely confusing UFC lightweight title picture

Joe Silva is the UFC matchmaker, the man who is in charge of deciding fights, title shots and the like. He is also a man whose job I don't want, as it's his job to sort out the ridiculously confusing lightweight title picture.

Ready for the confusion? OK. Start with the fact that the title will already be tested on May 30. Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard have a rematch scheduled that should finally decide who is the better fighter among the two.

It's a title shot that was promised to WEC champ Anthony Pettis. Before Maynard and Edgar fought to a draw in January, Pettis was told that if he won the WEC belt in his last fight for the promotion, he would get a chance to unify the championships. A wrench was thrown into that plan because of the Edgar/Maynard draw, and now Pettis will fight Clay Guida in June for his first UFC bout.

And what of Jim Miller? He won his seventh straight bout on Saturday with a TKO of Kamal Shalorus. Four of those seven wins have been by stoppage. That resume reads like that of a title contender, but Miller has flown under the radar.

To make things even more confusing, consider what will happen if in the future, the UFC absorbs Strikeforce's roster of lightweights. Would Gilbert Melendez -- or whoever holds the belt at that point -- get an immediate title shot?

It's enough to make you dizzy. But if you had Joe Silva's job, how would you map out the UFC lightweight title? Does Pettis, Miller or someone else get a title shot next? Tell us in the comments or on Facebook.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/The-completely-confusing-UFC-lightweight-title-p?urn=mma-wp488

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Trash talk is gone for humbled Hardy

Dan Hardy's a savvy guy. Heading into each one his fights, the British bomber usually provides us with some awesome promotional fodder. Not this time. Coming off a rough knockout loss against Carlos Condit and facing a guy he actually respects, Hardy refused to unleash his customary verbal warfare.

"I guess you could say I was humbled. I was more angered than humbled, though. I got annoyed at myself, I was like you wasted an opportunity there, you let a guy take it away from you and you never deserved it.� And that was the talking I got for myself," Hardy said on the Ultimate Fight Night 24 conference call.

Hardy, a 28-year-old Brit who splits his training time between the U.K. and U.S., is slated to faced Anthony Johnson at Ultimate Fight Night 24 (Spike 10 p.m. ET/PT) in Seattle on Saturday.

Hardy (23-8, 4-2 UFC) fell victim to a nasty left hook from Carlos Condit, dropping his second straight fight in just 4:27. The mohawked-Brit was too relaxed heading into that fight at UFC 120.

"I was just little overly confident. That's all it was. I was, you know ? I let the moment get to me and let myself confidence get to me up.� I didn't have any respect for the guy. I just kind of let myself open, not thinking that I'd pay the price," Hardy said. "That was all what it was really. It was a silly mistake and it was regrettable, but, you know, I wouldn't take it back because, you know, it's got me where I'm at right now. And I'm in a much better place now than I was then."

With two straight losses and one of the deepest divisions in all of MMA at 170 pounds, Hardy knows the heat is on.

"I've kind of put myself in a situation and mindset where I'm fighting for my job and, you know, that's the worst place that I could possibly be in for my opponent because they're going to get everything that I've got a little bit more," said Hardy.

Aside from not wanting to look like an out-of-touch blowhard coming off an bad knockout loss, Hardy didn't think Johnson was the right guy to try and rattle with a barrage of prefight trash talk.

"You know, one, myself and Anthony are friendly and we've always gotten along well. So there was no point in fabricating something because, you know, the fans just see through that kind of thing. So it was just, you know, I don't want to waste my energy doing that," Hardy said. "And the second thing is, you know, Anthony never bites to that kind of stuff.� He's a pretty chilled guy.� So, you know, I've just invested the energy into the training camp instead and, you know, I'll just do my talking on Saturday night."

Johnson (8-3, 5-3 UFC) is the perfect opponent for Hardy. He loves to stand and bang. The 26-year-old from Georgia is not a great wrestler and rarely looks for the takedown.

He's also coming off a 16-month layoff where he battled a ton of injuries. Johnson injured his knee three years ago and said he tried to fight through it, but kept doing more damage. He finally had it operated on last April. Johnson admits that he gained a ton of weight during the down time. He's been back in the gym since the summer, but how likely is it Johnson is at his best? This is a must-win fight for Hardy.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Trash-talk-is-gone-for-humbled-Hardy?urn=mma-wp486

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Walk on.

Late Fall Hiking in the Canadian Rockies Today is November 9, 2010. In our last blog post, we said that upon returning from northeast Italy and the French island of Corsica, we?d offer you whatever practical info we could about climbing the via ferrata in the Dolomiti and hiking the GR20. Well, we?re back?early. After [...]

Source: http://www.hikingcamping.com/blog/2010/11/walk-on/

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Chan Sung Jung Submits Leonard Garcia With a Twister

by Michael David Smith
In a rematch of one of the wildest, craziest slugfests in mixed martial arts history, Chan Sung Jung forced Leonard Garcia to tap out with just one second remaining in the second round of their fight Saturday at UFC Fight Night 24.

Although this fight wasn't quite the memorable battle that their first fight was, it was entertaining. And the result was more satisfying: In their last bout, Garcia won a highly questionable split decision. But this time around Jung took it out of the judges' hands, using a nifty twister submission on Garcia to secure the submission victory.

It was the first twister submission in UFC history.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/26/chan-sung-jung-submits-leonard-garcia-with-a-twister/

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MMA Top 10 Bantamweights: Cruz, Faber on a Collision Course

by Michael David SmithThe two best 135-pound fighters in the world will square off some time later this year for the first ever UFC bantamweight title match in what should be a great showcase for what has quietly become one of the UFC's most talented weight classes.

Before the UFC absorbed World Extreme Cagefighting, the smaller guys were largely overlooked by casual MMA fans. But now that the UFC has added the WEC's bantamweights -- and also snapped up some 135-pounders from other promotions -- the bantamweight class is stacked. In fact, as I put together my latest ranking of the Top 10 bantamweights in mixed martial arts, all 10 of them are now under contract to the UFC.

The top two, as you probably suspect, are bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and the only man to defeat him, Urijah Faber. Those two will square off at UFC 132. But the rest of the bantamweight division includes several talented fighters who could become worthy challengers to the bantamweight title in the years ahead.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/27/mma-top-10-bantamweights-cruz-faber-on-a-collision-course/

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Almeida graciously walks away from MMA

Ricardo Almeida announced through his Facebook account that after his loss at UFC 128, he was ready to hang up the gloves.

During these almost four years it has been a personal struggle to find balance between my fighting career, caring for my son who was diagnosed with autism soon after I signed a six-fight deal with the UFC, teaching at my growing Jiu Jitsu Academy and the family duties we all have. MMA is a great sport but also physically and mentally unforgiving. It is a dangerous task to step in the octagon, specially if your focus is not at 100%.

After much deliberation since my fight at UFC 128 I have decided to step away from the sport as a fighter.

Known as a BJJ ace, Almeida put together a 13-5 record in MMA. He started fighting in 2000, but took a break from MMA in the middle of the decade and returned in 2008.

What's impressive about Almeida's retirement is that he did it. This isn't an easy thing for fighters to do, especially those going out on a loss. Almeida is setting an example for other fighters, saying, "Look. This isn't easy. We need to realize that." For that measure of grace, Almeida deserves a ton of respect.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Almeida-graciously-walks-away-from-MMA?urn=mma-wp805

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Scubapro MK25/S600 Regulator Review

Scubapro MK25/S600 Regulator The Scubapro MK25/S600 has been rated to be one of the best diving regulators that are available in the market in the modern times. This product when teamed up with the first stage MK25 becomes a deadly combination to the technical diver no matter the sea depth and coldness. This regulator is [...]

Source: http://www.dailyscubadiving.com/scubapro-mk25s600-regulator-review/

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MMA Top 10 Light Heavyweights: Any Stopping Jon Jones?

by Michael David SmithThe Jon Jones Era, as you've surely heard, has begun: Jones is the new UFC light heavyweight champion, and everyone who follows MMA agrees that he's going to be the champion for a long, long time.

However, the light heavyweight division is so talented that it's been nearly impossible for anyone to hold the belt for long: Chuck Liddell lost it to Rampage Jackson, who lost it to Forrest Griffin, who lost it to Rashad Evans, who lost it to Lyoto Machida, who lost it to Shogun Rua, who lost it to Jones. We've had seven different champions in the last four years, so why is everyone so sure that Jones is going to hold onto the belt for so long?

The biggest reason, I think, is Jones' age. With the exception of Evans losing to Machida, every champion I mentioned above lost the belt to someone younger than him. But there aren't any contenders on the horizon younger than the 23-year-old Jones. Not only is Jones already the best, but he's going to keep getting better as the rest of the Top 10 light heavyweights in mixed martial arts get older.

So as I list the Top 10 light heavyweights below, I'll talk about how I'd like their chances against Jones -- even though I expect Jones to reign over all of them for a long time.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/24/mma-top-10-light-heavyweights-any-stopping-jon-jones/

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Quick California Flow Update

This just in from HQ!� As of early March, we are at 126% of normal for water content/snowpack in California.� This is pretty cool news–especially because it seems we are still looking at a fairly wet and cool spring, conditions which will either add to the solid base, or will preserve all the good stuff [...]

Source: http://blog.aorafting.com/quick-california-flow-update/

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UFC 132: Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber 2

by Michael David SmithA bantamweight title fight between champion Dominick Cruz and top contender Urijah Faber will take place at UFC 132, July 2 in Las Vegas.

The UFC announced Saturday that Cruz vs. Faber is set for the fight card, which as the traditional Fourth of July weekend event is usually one of the biggest of the year for the UFC. The fight will likely be the main event, with a Jon Fitch-B.J. Penn rematch serving as the co-main event.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/26/ufc-132-dominick-cruz-vs-urijah-faber-2/

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Source: http://snowboardaction.net/exhibit-b-video/

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Brendan Shaub Pre Fight vs Mirko Cro Cop - UFC 128

Brendan Shaub gets ready to take on Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 128.

Source: http://mmalice.com/ufc-128/brendan-shaub-pre-fight-vs-mirko-cro-cop-video_22be6a739.html

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Nine Ways of Looking at UFC 128

Filed under: UFC

From predictions to aimless questions to mild concerns, here's some food for thought with UFC 128 just around the corner.

I. The best thing Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has going for him in his first fight back after a long injury layoff? Practice. He already found out the hard way what happens when you try to push it too far, too fast after surgery. He barely had enough gas in the tank to put away an aged Mark Coleman, who showed up to the fight with his own tank already on E. If Rua makes the same mistake again, and against a much better fighter in Jones, he deserves to wake up without the title on Sunday morning.

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/17/nine-ways-of-looking-at-ufc-128/

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Flipper Jumps Into Boat, Injures Woman, Is Freed

Source: http://www.getoutdoors.com/goblog/index.php?/archives/4093-Flipper-Jumps-Into-Boat,-Injures-Woman,-Is-Freed.html

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UFC 127: Fighters, Octagon Girls Invade Bondi Beach - Octagon Girls

UFC 127: Fighters, Octagon Girls Invade Bondi Beach Video by Octagon Girls

Source: http://mmalice.com/octagon-girls/ufc-127-fighters-octagon-girls-invade-bondi-beach-video_a575ebf4f.html

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