UFC 156 had a ton of hype going into Saturday.

Blackhouse was represented by Jose Aldo, Antonio Silva, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Jose Aldo defended his title, and made a great case for being the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. The only person that might have a higher P4P ranking would be his teammate, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Antonio Rogerio “Little Nog” Nogueira grabbed a couple of upsets at UFC 156 for the Black House camp, as well. A win over Alistair Overeem gets Antonio Silva into the UFC Heavyweight Title Conversation. Little Nog, meanwhile, got one step closer to a title shot as well.

2013 Looks grand for the lads at Black House so far!

It was another big weekend in mixed martial arts, with UFC 156 providing a highlight reel of upsets, and Bellator drawing nice numbers on Thursday as they continue to settle into their new Spike TV slot.

Bellator 87

Bellator 87 drew over 1 million viewers in its two Spike runs on Thursday night, according to Sherdog.

The original run drew in over 700k viewers – a fairly large number, but the second straight decline, in their third week on the newer and bigger network.

To put the million first-night viewers into perspective, if the event were a UFC pay-per-view, it would have been in the top-10 all-time for viewership.

It’s important for MMA fans, especially those in the key demos advertisers look for (looking at you, 18-34-year-old males with poor fiscal discipline), to watch shows like this where they get the chance – more support for MMA means more exposure for MMA which means more support for MMA which means PERPETUAL MOTION OMG LOLZ!!1!!

UFC 156

First of all, if you’ve never had the chance to watch a UFC with Chris, you’re missing out. He vehemently denies that he goes into fights with biases, but let’s recap an average exchange from the main event –

On screen, Frankie flies in to Aldo’s range with a couple of jabs, 1 of which gets through and clips Aldo’s chin. In the process, Aldo hits Frankie with a left that snaps his head around, and kicks the legs out from under Frankie on the way out.

Chris: Frankie’s got it going now! Aldo is hurt and tired, Frankie’s turning this thing around.
Me: Frankie’s eyeball is hanging out. He just tried to make a collect call to Irving Berlin.
Chris: Yeah, but he hit Aldo, and Aldo is tired.
Joe Rogan screams on television “Aldo’s mouth is open! Frankie’s winning!”
Me: Is Rogan blind? I mean, Frankie is right now, but is Rogan?
Chris: Look! Look! Frankie! He’s about to start levitating, and his face is converting into a crew-served weapons platform! This is the era of the Frankietron!
Me: Frankie just spit out 2 teeth. And 3 ribs.
Chris: Well, that’s it, I think you can call this one. 52-43 Edgar.
Me: That’s not a real score. And it’s the 2nd round.

According to the Chrismetrics, Frankie won the stare-down 30-25

On to other matters, how awesome was that right by Tyron Woodley? I mean, seriously?

Facebook source material – be sure to attribute in your bibliography, fool.

If you missed the Woodley punch, you clearly aren’t aren’t Jay Hieron’s chin. All gif-ified -

If you watch it enough times that your eyes relax, Hieron’s head turns into a flaming eagle. A flaming eagle which gets the crapped punched out of it.

As far as submissions go, Bobby Green impressed me a ton with his rear-naked victory over HUGE favorite Jacob Volkmann. Volkmann is no pushover for a UFC debut, and Green largely pushed him over (after losing the first, anyway).

The biggest story in this fight, to me, was Kim Winslow standing the fighters up when they were unquestionably working, and a dominant position had been established. I’m of the opinion that MMA refereeing is about 10 years behind everything else in MMA, but I haven’t had that many issues with the work of Winslow. I consider her the second-best consistent ref in the big promotions, behind Big John himself. Object lesson? Even the second-best ref sucks when it comes to standing up fights.

Of course, she might have been less inclined to stand the fighters up if her annoying neighbor hadn’t kept her from sleeping the night before with his incessant, obtrusive science experiments.

A young Bernard Oliver expresses his opinion on the stand-up

I said there were some great upsets earlier in this piece, and Green weren’t the only one. When it comes to who I thought would win this heavyweight tilt, on a scale of 1-10, I gave Antonio “Bigfoot’ Silva a moldy pineapple with worms. Worms with AIDS. For two rounds, it appeared as though I was right (the way it’s appeared for 33 years), but the third saw something I LOVE in MMA.

I’m going to start with the presumption that most of you have seen Glengarry Glen Ross. I will proceed from that point to insult and mock those of you who haven’t, and graciously educate you, to allow you to catch up with the rest of the class, so we can stop waiting on your un-cultured monkey butt.

The way this clip relates (if indeed it does) to this fight is this – my theory on good fighting is ABF – Always Be Fighting. What that means is, even if you aren’t swinging wildly or exposing yourself, even if you’re just standing at range or holding side control for the moment, always be thinking about how you will win the fight, and always be advancing toward that goal. In this fight, Bigfoot sort of let the fight come to him for 2 rounds, with Overeem completely dominating the fight in all aspects. At the time, I assumed it was simply a guy who was outclassed, but I now think Bigfoot was ABFing. I think he rope-a-doped his incredibly talented Dutch opponent for 2 rounds, with the expectation that he could win against a tired and open-mouthed striker in the third. Bigfoot CLEARLY had a different mindset in the final round of this fight – too many times, you see a guy come out for the last round, with zero chance of winning a decision, and they keep looking for their spot as the final five minutes of a life-long regret piss away.

Bigfoot was having none of that. Bigfoot was fighting, and he was closing. Overeem walked around with his hands down for most of this fight, and when he needed those hands up the most, Bigfoot put him to sleep, before standing Over Reem’s (SWIDT? IWHS,IWLIOPT [if you remember the 1990's, you might get that {this isn't even real notation at this point}])) lifeless body to curse it in what I can only assume was some supernaturally thick-tongued and guttural Portuguese. It was a fantastic fight, and a huge statement from a somewhat forgotten giant piece of the Heavyweight puzzle. I’m not exactly ready to see Bigfoot and Cain again after the demolition of the first fight, but he certainly improved his position on the ladder with a completely, totally, all-encompassingly-and-eclipsingly-and-hiccupingly shocking standing knockout of the man with the best stand-up in the class.

I would give Overeem to Junior, and then start looking for a way to phase him out if he fails there, as well.

Also in the “upset” column, Rashad Evans caught Little Nog’s lead hand mid-paw 392 times en route to a rousing, stirring decision loss. And what I mean there is that the fight roused me from my interest in the event, and I stirred some more whiskey into my Dr. Pepper (that’s right, Dr. Pepper, I ain’t no communist).

Perhaps the guy who did himself the most good over the weekend was Demian Maia. Maia completely out-Fitched Jon Fitch, controlling position for about 800 of the 900 seconds in this fight. Maia has been markedly different (improved) on his feet in the years that have passed since Anderson Silva made a fool of him for the Middleweight title, and the drop to Welterweight seems to have been a positive and natural one for the Brasilian (I spells it different because I gots culture, son). While a victory over Fitch is somewhat diminished since his chin went, this wasn’t a simple “hit the spot, turn out the lights” finish. Maia walked into Fitch’s world, at the weight Fitch has been near the top of the world in for half a decade, and just ran things. 10 seconds into the fight, Maia had Fitch’s back, and that was it. This fight was over when they closed the doors.

If GSP beats Diaz (even as a HUGE Diaz fan and supporter, I think he will), I hope his next fight will be Maia. Obviously, Maia won’t stand still until that potentiality comes to pass, but I have trouble seeing very many challenges for him, shy of that elite crust of the class. What appeared to be a cleaned-out class just 2 years ago now has a nice crop of established and up-and-coming talent that will challenge the final years of the GSP welternasty.

Do I look like a man with donkey brains to you?

All in all, on the whole, UFC 156 hit the spot, and lived up to a well-deserved billing as a card full of close and personal bouts. Now we look forward to UFC 157, and Ronda Rousey breaking another poor woman’s arm while we wait for the deer antler cocktail to wash out of Cyborg’s titanium-coated veins. Someone get Ray Lewis’s number, he knows what I’m talking about (like a stab in the dark, baby).

Drink deeply, the bitter tears of disappointment. It’s an unpalatable drought but it has to be swallowed with manly determination. If I sound a little melodramatic, then you’re paying the correct amount of attention. Saturday night was a humbling experience for my fight picking skills, as I was wrong about nearly everything, except for the main event, which I really would have rather been wrong about.

Frankie “the Answer” Edgar was apparently in response to the question: “which MMA fighter can most consistently break your heart?” Unfortunately, the one underdog with what seemed like the most aptitude for an upset couldn’t quite get it done Saturday night. Not for lack of trying though. In what will most likely go down as one of the greatest fights of all time, and a certain early candidate for fight of the year, Jose Aldo put together more damaging offense to take home a closely contested 5 round decision.

I’ll be honest; it was a long shot from the beginning. After the first two rounds, in which Aldo dominated, Edgar put on an incredible point-fighting performance through the last three that left the judge’s ruling in doubt. But in the end, I think the correct decision was made. There’s definitely an argument for giving Edgar the final three rounds, but rounds 3 and 5 were close enough that you have to give leeway for the judge’s decisions. Personally though, I have a hard time granting the 49 to 46 score that two of the judges put out.

Though Aldo had the big front kick in round three, (wow) Edgar walked right through it (higher pitched and more enthusiastic: wow) and continued getting the better of almost every exchange over 5 minutes. The fourth was more of the same, with Aldo getting in on or two hard shots for every 5 or 6 of Edgar’s less powerful strikes. Round five was closer, with Aldo stealing the momentum in the last 15 seconds. I had the last three scored for Edgar, but I can see an argument for taking rounds 3 and 5 from him. I don’t agree with that argument, but I’m bringing in a heavy personal bias.
This was the one fight I just did not want to go as it was supposed to. Aldo proved once again to be one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. He took out his biggest challenge to date, and further solidified his dominance in the featherweight division. Looking at the fight from a pure damage standpoint, he was clearly the victor.

In other news on the same card, upsets abound as Rashad Evans put the audience to sleep in a lackluster decision loss to Rogerio Nogeira. Evans seemed to have forgotten that he can throw an explosive right hand or use his left for punches, feints, and all sorts of techniques other than playing patty-cake with his opponent. His lazy openhanded jab block left an opportunistic Little Nog free to set up a consistent straight left that didn’t do much damage, but did steal two out of three rounds from Rashad in one of the biggest upsets to rock the light heavyweight division in a long time.

This dashes any potential for Rashad to drop down to middleweight to challenge Anderson Silva for the belt, and I for one am glad to hear it. Because if the same fighter that showed up in Las Vegas on Saturday tried to make a stand against the Spider, Evans career would be reduced to a series of high profile losses against superior strikers.

A happier upset victory came to Bigfoot Silva as he decided to go super saiyan in the third round against Alistair Overeem, shocking the hulking Holland native (along with the rest of the world) with a well-timed head kick and a furious flurry of strikes against the cage. Herb Dean made the right call and put a halt to the onslaught, making for a very murky body of water in the heavyweight title picture. This is an upset with a couple of bright sides though, as Bigfoot moves up the ranks, and Overeem will almost assuredly be awarded a grudge match against Junior Dos Santos.

Demien Maia started out the upset momentum on the main card with a dominant grappling performance of “Jon Fitchian” proportions. Plain and simple, he out-Fitched Fitch. He took Jon down and gained dominant positions, seemingly at will. His progress was only paused while looking for submissions, which caused me a brief moment of longing for the far off days of the 10-minute first period back in the Pride fighting championships. Gone, gone are the days of my youth.

And thank God something went right, with Benavidez surviving a bad spot in the second to take a clear decision over Ian McCall. At least I can count on the little guys to fight with some damn consistency. This sets up Benavidez for another title shot against Mighty Mouse. And I hope he can game plan up a storm for it – having just watched DJ trounce John Dodson with inhuman speed and pressure one week prior, I can’t help but think Joe has his work cut out for him.

Other standout moments from the prelims were Tyron Woodley’s insane sprinting right hand knock out over Jay Heiron, which will have plenty of people talking about his new spot in the welterweight division. There was also an awesome submission victory from Bobby Green over Jacob Volkmann. All in all, a good night for the Strikeforce alumni (Overeem excluded, of course.)
The moral of the story? Expect the unexpected. Big names don’t always equal big wins, but when they do, it’s because you were rooting for the underdog and you jinxed it.

Damn you Jose Aldo, DAMN YOOOOOUUUUU!

And we are live with UFC 156: Aldo vs. Edgar. Feel free to comment on the fights below.

Joseph Benavidez vs. Ian McCall

Uncle Creepy, sir. I said Uncle Creepy, sir!

Round 1

After early feeling out, Creepy goes for the takedown, but Bena defends admirably, and lands on the separation.

McCall coming straight down the pipe. Big body kicks landing.

They’re slugging a bit. No advantage early, but Bena lands a huge left, and Creepy is wobbly. Nut shot by Bena, time out, and a quick restart.

Replay shows knee to the gunt.

Bena starting to look very comfy. Tight shots, lands a right and a left hook in tight.

Bena rocking the hooks. Has the timing all sorts of down.

McCall has taken some groin shots, and his left leg is getting raked.

Leg kick lands for Creepy, Bena hits a hook to the body on the way out. He’s dominating Creepy early with the counters.

Bena setting up with leg kicks, then coming down the pipe on the exchange. McCall catches a right hand and counters. Bena bleeding from the forehead. The round ends with measuring, after McCall lands the last strike of the round, a kick.

I have it 10-9 Benavidez after 1

Round 2

On 1st Round replay, Bena’s punches look light, very pawing. No reason not to judge a fight by one 5 second highlight.

McCall is throwing a nice left on the counter. If he lands that and follows up, this fight could turn quick-like.

Bena’s right is just living up in Creepy’s grill.

Creepy with an attempt at a single with a trip, Bena not having it, goes chest to chest and ends it before it starts.

I like guys who bring their punches from the hips, all in tight. Both these fellers do so.

A lot of feeling out, but it still feels likes Bena is winning the exchanges with his timing.

Bena steps under a McCall punch for a takedown, McCall just jumps on him. GnPing the poo out of Bena on the ground, Bena trying to scramble out, every scramble seems to end with him in a worse spot. He gets up to his feet, but Creepy pushes him to the cage. Round ends with McCall holding Bena by his back up against the fence. That might have changed the round. I did on my card, and I’m smart as hell.

I have it 10-9 McCall 19-19 after 2

Round 3

Bena opens the third blasting against the cage, McCall smiles through and works his way out with counters.

Body kick lands for Bena.

Creepy lands a body kick, but drops off of it, gets hit in the clinch, and Bena continues to land on the way out.

Big right Creepy, big left Bena. Simultaneously and errythang.

Leg kick lands for Bena, followed by left. Creepy ducks under and gets the huge double. Bena back up fairly quickly.

Exchanging leg kicks at range.

Bena catches a kick, and they trade from there before quickly separating.

Minute to go, and the difference in this fight may be the punches on separation. Bena has won getting out almost every time in this fight.

Body kick lands for Bena.

MCall stuffed on the takedown attempt. Lands a right. Lands a leg kick. Finishes the fight throwing. Game.

I have it 10-9 29-28 Benavidez after 3

The judges score it 29-28 29-28 29-28 for the winner, Joseph Benavidez defeats Ian McCall by Unanimous Decision

Toldcha.

Jon Fitch vs. Demian Maia

Round 1

Maia goes STRAIGHT for the takedown..and gets it. Already has back, 20 seconds in. Wow.

Maia on Fitch’s back standing up, halfway between grapevine and body triangle.

Maia’s jits is incredible. Insight!

Maia still on Fitch’s back, with Fitch standing up. For over a minute now. Fitch has an outstanding motor, but damn.

Fitch FINALLY breaks the Maia back position, after a few seconds in the clinch, Maia drags him back down. Fitch gets back up fairly quick, but Maia is just all over him, holding his back. Kneeing his kidneys from back. Fitch being abused in the grappling and positioning. ABUSED.

Maia could be a title contender at 170.

Maia has held dominant position for 290 seconds in the 1st round. 290 seconds.

I have it 10-9 Maia after 1

Round 2

Fitch trying to get comfortable. A lot of leg kicks.

Takes 40 seconds for Maia to get the takedown this round, but get it he does, on a quick double. Fitch creates space and manages to get back up. Impressive.

And Maia grabs his back and rides him back down. One hook in so far, with Fitch to the cage. Second hook in.

Maia has back to the fence, body triangle set on Fitch’s back. I mean, DOMINANCE.

Rear naked in at 2:30ish. Fitch fighting. Maia lets it go around 2:10.

Maia has had Fitch’s back with triangle set for nearly all of this fight. Again, great motor for Fitch, but as far as I know, he IS human. Trouble, said Travis Tritt (and Wayne Newton, but cheesier).

Rear naked back in as the round concludes.

I have it 10-9 20-18 Maia after 2

I saw a lot of ways this fight could go. This wasn’t one of them. Fitch has become a gatekeeper with the loss of his chin, but this is dominance in his world.

Round 3

Maia grabs Fitch in the first 5 seconds. Seriously. Jon Fitch’s mom has this 20-11 Maia after 2.

Guess where Maia is? Fitch’s back? Yep.

Maia is out, only 2 minutes into the round!

Wow, Fitch stops a takedown attempt with a guillotine, and Maia is defending. Fitch gets to Maia’s butterfly guard, and after some fiddlin round, they get back up. Against the cage. Maia on Fitch’s back. It was a good 40 seconds or so for Fitch.

They separate, and after some time, Maia goes double again, gets it on the second effort. Minute to go, and Fitch needs some girls from Fatima. Google it.

30 seconds to go, Maia on back with the triangle.

15 secconds to go, Maia on back with the triangle.

0 seconds to go Maia on back with the triangle, Fitch trying desperately to do anything.

I have it 10-9 30-27 Maia after 3

The judges all have it 30-27 for the winner, Demian Maia defeats Jon Fitch by Unanimous Decision

Alistair Overeem vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva

Round 1

I expect Bigfoot to get put in a freeer here. Our Alabama readers know what I’m talking about here.

After a minute of exchanges with no standout shot, Overeem pushes Bigfoot against the cage.

Overeem landing a lot of knees to the body, the only real landing strikes early.

Overeem looks like he’s setting up an uppercut for that Buick Silva calls a chin.

More body/leg kicks against the cage.

Overeem timing Bigfoot now. Walking in with his hands on his hips.

Overeem pushes Bigfoot to the cage AGAIN. Bigfoot trying to work from the fence, but not much happnin. Overeem feints spinning back kick twice. He lands the uppercut into the clinch. Round ends with Overeem holding Bigfoot to the cage for the 4th or 5th time. 13 of 13 on bosdy shots in the 1st for Overeem.

I have it 10-9 Overeem after 1

Round 2

Overeem clearly crisper on the feet, with pawing jabs and counter rights. And he pancakes Bigfoot off the leg kick. On top in side control, and Bigfoot is punishing with elbows from the bottom.

Overeem working from Bigfoot’s guard, and you can hear the meat getting blistered from Overeem’s ground work.

Overeem stands up, can’t really find a good route to attack, dives back into the guard and continues working.

Overeem’s punches sound like home runs when they land. Thwap! There go your lungs.

Now Overeem can say he’s dominated on the feet and on the ground. Herb Dean stands them up under 0:30, and Bigfoot actually finishes the round with some big shots and a clinch. Nice.

I have it 10-9 29-28 Overeem after 2

Round 3

Bigfoot has a huge sense of urgency in the 3rd. And Overeem is hurt…HOLY HELL Bigfoot is DESTROYING OVEREEM STANDING.

And Overeem drops to the floor. Bigfoot just knocked Overeem the hell out.

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva defeats Alistair Overeem by KO 24 seconds into the 3rd Round

Bigfoot came out gangbusters in the 3rd. Knew he was down on the card. Finished the fight in less than half a minute. Mucho respecto.

I got Evans here. Head, not heart. Spleen undecided.

Rashad Evans vs. Antônio Rogério “Little Nog” Nogueira

Round 1

Not sure I see a finish here. Chris and I agree that if one happens, it will be Rashad doing it.

Some missed kicks, some missed punches. High kick by Shad does nothing.

Nog lands a nice left down the pipe. Nog finding a home for his left. That home? Rashadevansmothville.

Rashad lands a huge right from way wide, Rogan thinks Nog was staggered, I think he was covering.

Rashad goes for the double, lands it, Nog gets right back up.

Rashad lands a right, and ends the first with a head kick that does nothing.

I have it 10-9 Evans after 1

Round 2

Leg kick lands for Shad. Big left lands for Nog.

This fight is like Al-Qaeda flight school. Nothing’s landing. Too soon?

Nog has been better from distance, especially in the 2nd. Definitely has a better feel for range.

Evams goes for the single, Nog defends deep, looked like a takedown, Nog scrambles out.

Now he’s landing on the aftermath of the scramble.

Jabbing wins the round for Nog, and I think Shad’s mouth is bloody. He may just be chewing cherry Bubblicious.

I have it 10-9 Nogueira 19-19 after 2

Round 3

Still nothing happening, really. My dog is whining a lot to go out, but he’s a jerk. He got kicked out of group play at Dog Party USA. How can you not even be a good boy during group play?

Nog gets eye poked pretty good, and it’s time for Joe Rogan’s traditional mid-show open-finger glove complaints.

They restart after a short break, and it doesn’t take them long to get back to not doing much.

I guess Nog is winning this round on low kicks so far. Maybe? He’s landed several to the body in this round, and nothing else has happened.

Rashad working the jab with 80 seconds to go in the fight.

Evans goes for the single, nothing. That could be trouble. Nog looking crisper in the standup in the final 60. Lands a big knee to the stomach.

Nice right lands over the top for Shad, Nog grabs the clinch and hits some uppercuts. Shad hits last, I think Nog hit more.

I have it 10-9 29-28 Nogueira after 3

The judges scores it 29-28 29-28 29-28 after 3 for the winner, Antonio “Little Nog” Nogueira defeats Rashad Evans by Unanimous Decision

Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar

Chris has Frankie by 4th Round KO…I don’t know how this will end, but I expect Aldo to completely out-physical Frankie and own this fight from start to finish. One of us is way wrong.

Round 1

Crowd cheering “Frankie” early. It’s impossible not to like the guy.

Frankie working leg kicks early. Big uppercut lands for Aldo.

Quick jab hurting Frankie. Frankie goes leg kick, eats a straight right. Jose lands again. He has the timing down it seems…uh oh.

Aldo is WAAAY faster than Edgar. Everything Frankie throws, Aldo misses and counters with the jab or a hard right.

HUGE leg kick by Aldo, followed by a right that lands. He is in charge.

Another leg kick lands. Feints low, goes high.

I have it 10-9 Aldo after 1

Round 2

Every time Frankie comes forward, which has been a lot, he’s getting beat up.

Aldo hitting the jab over and over. NASTY leg kick buckles Frankie for a second.

Another. And another. Aldo hits the flying knee after Frankie tries unsuccessfully to get inside.

Another leg kick, but Frankie hits Aldo with a huge right in the process, and gets the takedown. Aldo is back up after a second.

Aldo tries a spinning back kick, Frankie hits him with a left at the end of the spin.

I have it 10-9 20-18 Aldo after 2

Round 3

Frankie goes for the double early, kind of gets it, Aldo back on his feet as soon as his butt hits the canvas.

Front kick lands to Frankie’s face, didn’t seem to hurt him too much, but he’s bleeding harder from the nose.

Frankie starting to make a real dent with the leg kicks to Aldo’s left thigh.

Frankie with a nice combo. Huge right lands for Frankie. This round quickly turning his way.

Aldo throws off the takedown attempt like it’s a joke.

Lots of kick late, and Frankie has the momentum.

I have it 10-9 Edgar 29-28 Aldo after 3

Round 4

Aldo landing the jab. Edgar still trying the low kicks. Spinning back kick by…you know.

Ok, now Frankie lands a spinning back kick. Aldo holding Frankie at bay with the jab. Frankie goes hard for the takedown, gets natsing.

Frankie goes for the takedown, ends up getting Aldo’s back, picks him up and throws him, Aldo gets back up, but with Frankie on his back.

Frankie tries to throw Aldo again, Aldo uses his legs to stay grounded, and they separate after a bit.

Aldo misses with a flying knee. I think Aldo outstruck him there, but the throw may be the difference.

I have it 10-9 Edgar 38-38 after 4

Round 5

Aldo pushing the pace in the 5th. Misses a flying knee, follows with a punch.

Right lands for Frankie. Another takedown attempt for Frankie, Aldo lands a shot as he pulls back.

Aldo looking at the clock, he’s winning this round, but it’s close.

Frankie trying a bevy of combos and low kicks, but it may be too late. Aldo jumps off the fence with a punch.

I have it 10-9 48-47 Aldo after 5

The judges score it 49-46 49-46 48-47 for the winner, Jose Aldo defeats by Frankie Edgar by Unanimous Decision

Chris vehemently disagrees with the decision. I honestly don’t see where anyone finds 3 rounds for Frankie.

IIIIIIIIT’SS TIIIIIIME!

If you read that in Michael Buffer’s voice, give yourself a pat on the back. If you read it in your own boring inner-monologue voice, then slap yourself on the wrist.

Either way, strap yourself to the edge of your damn seat! Because the first and possibly biggest pay-per-view fight card of 2013 is right around the bend. UFC 156 is headlined by a featherweight superfight that I’ve personally been frothing at the mouth over for almost six months.

Frankie Edgar is challenging the undisputed featherweight king: Jose Aldo.

This match looks good. This match looks like the girl that just turned down every one of your friends at the bar, and is now giving you a bemused once over. I don’t think I can overstate how excited I am for this Saturday, and if you thought I was going to let you sit there and wonder “why?” well, brother, you’ve got another thing coming.

Jose Aldo looks invincible. He moves like a tiny, slightly less matrix-y, Anderson Silva. His fights have an ominous impending feeling of doom for his opponents. Even when Chad Mendez was landing some effective offense early in their abbreviated meeting, his pitter-patter leg kicks seemed to have been thrown with an air of futility about them. The fight was almost a countdown to a brutal knee-to-the-head knockout. Perfect ring generalship, perfect awareness, and precision striking make for one scary short Brazilian.

His record is terrifying. He’s finished four of his last seven, and during his fight with Mark Hominick, he won while suffering from the after effects of a staph infection. But a deadly disease neither prevented him from defending his belt nor planting a softball sized hematoma on top of Hominick’s dome.

Have you ever seen anything so nasty? Not even Edgar’s mug looks that bad at the end of his fights. That’s right up there with the Dos Santos duck face after UFC 155.

Needless to say, Jose Aldo could teach a graduate course on face-breaking. His reign has been a lesson in dominance, and there are very few men who can claim to be anywhere near his level of skill.

Enter the Truth.

Frankie Edgar is the exact opposite: an undersized champion who’s had to scrape and scrap to hold onto his title, only to have it withheld from him by some very controversial judge’s rulings. His title reign was marked by hair-thin, nail-biting, sphincter-clinching decisions that never disappointed. Six battles with three opponents convinced me that Edgar is the most incredible undersized lightweight to ever step into the Octagon.

The perennial underdog will bring his trademark grit, heart, and heavy handed persistence into a lower weight-class where he is still the smaller man, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Edgar has a reputation as a giant slayer. He’s made a career out of beating the odds, and I would love nothing more than to see that trend continue. And here’s the thing…he can do it.

He’s got a powerful wrestling pedigree that shouldn’t be trifled with, and a boxing game that is capable of spectacular KO’s against guys like Gray Maynard, who should, by any intelligent standard, be fighting at welterweight. Dude walks around at like 195. What’s that about? I’ve gotta read Dolce’s book…I digress.

The point is that Edgar’s stand-up, conditioning, and ground game are potent enough to give anyone problems, and if he’s going to beat Aldo on Saturday night, those will be his keys to victory. More specifically, he’ll need to press the action, get the fight to the ground, avoid submissions, and put together some effective offense from the top. He has the ability to keep up with Aldo on their feet as well, so long as he really concentrates on lateral movement, and angling out after he lands his counters.

However, he does eat a lot of leg kicks, and that does not bode well for him in this match-up. Edgar’s boxing is phenomenal, and he will most likely have a speed and cardio advantage. Additionally, his wrestling game should allow him to get Aldo down, but whether he can keep him down or not will be the determining factor of this fight. I don’t see Aldo submitting him, but if he manages to blast Frankie with a few of those leg kicks, it’ll be very difficult for even someone as tough as Frankie to stay light on his feet, much less maintain an explosive element in his takedown attempts. And even if Frankie manages to check a few of those cannon blasts, his uneven weight distribution will greatly decrease the rate at which he’ll be able to effectively counter.

I’d like to think that Benson Henderson kicks harder than Aldo, and that Edgar will be able to shrug off that part of the game as he was able to do in his last bout with the current 155 lb. champ. But as big as Benson’s legs are, I don’t think he ever played professional soccer. Aldo did, and I have to speculate that his kicks can generate a bit more power as a result.

If Edgar wants to win this, he’ll have to use his feints really effectively to make Aldo wary of the takedown, while simultaneously landing hard counter shots after avoiding any of Aldo’s offense. Edgar can take a hard shot, but if he eats a big shot like that flying knee that landed on Cub Swanson, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this one end in a TKO.

This match is only typical in that it makes me pit my brain against my heart once again. I can’t not root for Edgar, but the betting man has to side with Aldo. He’s got too much finishing power, his Muay Thai is too clean, and it offers the perfect counter to the fast paced in-and-out style of Edgar’s stand-up. He’ll slow him down with those crippling leg kicks, and look for the finish before the championship rounds. I’ll give Edgar the credit he deserves though, and say he’ll beat the spread and take it to a close decision, but in the end, I don’t see him doing enough to take it from the champion.

Can Frankie do it? Of course, nobody is invincible, and if Edgar can put Aldo on his back and keep him there it’ll be his fight all night. However, if I’m analyzing this objectively, I’m thinking Aldo’s aggression and assassin-like stand-up is going to carry the day.

I have never hoped to be wrong so hard.

Update: I was right.

As for the rest of the card, here are some quick picks and things to look for:

Evans vs. Little Nog -

Look for Evans to make a statement, and a good excuse for Little Nog to go ahead and retire. Evans wins on the feet, takes the fight to the ground and then gets a TKO early in the 3rd. (Maybe a call out for Anderson Silva? A boy can dream…)

Update: Wrong-Evans put on the single lousy performance on the card and Little Nog surprisingly moves into the mix.

Overeem vs. Bigfoot Silva -

Overeem wins via Dim Mak, and Antonio Silva’s head explodes. He bleeds just a little bit less than he did in his fight with Velasquez.

Update: I am a failure at life, and I owe Bigfoot an apology.

Fitch vs. Maia -

Dark horse for fight of the night. Could go one of two ways, Fitch decides to win it on their feet, or a highly technical ground game chess match with Maia stealing a decision win from Jon via submission late in the 3rd.

Update: I was technically wrong twice here. I liked Fitch for the decision and Maia for the submission, Maia ended up winning a decision. 

Benavidez vs. McCall -

This card is sick. These are two of the top 3 flyweights in the world, and they’ll be putting on a damn show. This one will be a close back and forth battle on the feet, with Benavidez inflicting slightly more damage and winning a unanimous decision.

Update: I’m a fortune teller! Behold: my mystical ability to predict a fight.

Fx Prelims:

Tibau vs. Dunham -

Tibau has slightly more momentum and a lot more experience. He’ll get his hand raised.

Update: Wrong. Dunham beat the tar out of Tibau for three rounds.

Woodley vs. Heiron -

The former Strikeforce welterweight champion is making his debut against some stiff competition, but I get the feeling he’ll be back to his winning ways in his first fight back from his brutal KO loss to Nate Marquardt. KO in the second.

Update: KO in the first, but that’s good enough for a B+. With the kinda night I had, I’ll take it.

Volkmann vs. Green -

I like Green’s skill set in this fight, but I’m going with my gut, and saying Volkmann grinds out a decision.

Update: Should’ve went with my head. Green via Submission of the night.

Edwards vs. Vallie-Flag -

I sure hope Edwards wins. Never even heard of this other character. He had a couple of wins in Strikeforce over other names I’ve never heard. I expect Yves to win via a very savvy TKO.

Update: Vallie-Flag wins with a split decision. I quit the fortune telling business for good.

Facebook Prelims:

There are only two, and I doubt anyone will watch, but for the sake of totality:

Camus vs. Kimura -

I think Kimura wins by Kimura. Yes I’m lazy, and yes I’m childish.

Update: I was close. Kimura won by rear naked choke, in an impressive come from behind submission.

Figueroa vs. Rivera -

Anybody that can take Michael McDonald to a decision is worth betting for on a Facebook prelim. Figueroa for the win.

Update: Figueroa gets TKO’ed in the second, and Michael Mcdonald’s chances against Renan Barao seem ever more far-fetched.

Hope you found this informative and entertaining! I’ll be updating this post with the results of the fights on Superbowl Sunday.

Alistair Overeem spoke out today about the failed test that cost him his chance at the UFC Heavyweight belt, and a year of his prime. In an interview with “UFC Tonight”, the Dutch superstar, long plagued by rumors of substance abuse concerning his significant muscle groth since his career began, spoke of what happened, how he reacted, and where he wants and expects to go from here.

“Like I explained in front of the commission, this was due to medication I received from a licensed doctor, due to injury,” Overeem said. “This caused a spike in my T-E ratio, and, yeah, I did it, took responsibility for it, stepped away from a title fight, and now I’m slowly building up the confidence with the commission by doing random tests, monthly tests, to show that I am a clean fighter, this is my [chance] to prove that I am legit.”

Read more

| Show Open Featuring Discussion on The Ultimate Fighter Live | UFC 145 Review of the Bocek, Yagin and McDonald Wins | UFC 145 Review of the Rothwell and MacDonald Wins | Review of Jon Jones – Rashad Evans and MMA News | Knockout – Bad Decision for April 28th 2012″ | Fight Stat of the Week for April 28th 2012 | Interview Excerpt of Junior Dos Santos Discussing Frank Mir and UFC Heavyweights |

| Interview Excerpt With Damacio Page | Josh Barnett Versus UFC Heavyweights Audio | Top Light Heavyweights of the Last 7 Years | Show Open With The Ultimate Fighter Live | Fight Stat of The Week 14 April, 2012 | Knockout Bad Decision 14 April, 2012

We speak to TapouT Magazine and MMAWorldwide.com Big Kahuna in Charge Chris Staab about the ramifications of the Alistair Overeem testosterone issue and what not and what for.

Length: 9:40

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In light of the recent drug test failure by Alistair Overeem, and the certain chaos to ensue, we dust off a few minutes of the interview we conducted with Alistair Overeem shortly before his match with Brock Lesnar.

Length: 3:40

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Chris Staab, editor-in-chief of MMAWorldwide.com and TAPOUT Magazine, stops by the show to discuss the goings-on of his busy life, the shocking events of UFC 141, and life as a proud new poppa.

Length: 13:40

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junior dos santos

UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos stopped by the show to talk about the upcoming UFC 141, life as  Champ, replacing Big Nog as top Brazilian heavyweight , and pretty much anything else he wanted to discuss.

Length: 7:00

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We wrap up the show by focusing on the top fights of UFC 141, and have a conversation with one of the main participants of the main event, Strikeforce, DREAM and K-1 Champion Alistair Overeem.

Length: 8:40

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what is mma

Tom Call, the head of Impact Fight Management, throws down some predictions on UFC 141, putting his perfect record at risk (and possibly himself at the risk of roving bands of Diaz brothers).

Length: 10:40

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Tags: Alistair Overeem, BrockLesnar, Donald Cerrone, Fitch, Frank Mir, Johnny Hendricks, Jon Fitch, Junior Dos Santos, Lesnar, Matyushenko, Mixed Martial Arts, mma, MMA Lock-Up, MMA Lockup, MMALOCKUP, Nate Diaz, Overeem, Tom Call, UFC, UFC 141