Earlier this week, Herschel Walker, former NFL running back, withdrew from his second MMA fight due to a serious cut under his eye requiring stitches.   I’m not really ashamed to admit that I didn’t even know Walker was pursuing an MMA career.  I thought to myself, Herschel Walker?  Isn’t he like 50?  Close, he’s 48.  Starting an MMA career at 48? At least he is a black belt in taekwondo, but at 48? At least he admits he isn’t going to have a long career in the sport, stating “I can’t do this for a long period of time,  I know that, and I’m not ever going to fight for a belt. I just started this, and I got into it too late. I just want to have fun and keep getting better for as long as I can.”  How about stop now. I think the cut is a sign.  This prompted me to think about some of the older, higher profile athletes trying to make a transition to MMA.   Read More

UFC 123’s main event featuring Quinton “Rampage” Jackson versus Lyoto Machida, two former light-heavyweight champions, had a surprising outcome for many UFC fans who, like myself, expected a Machida win by decision.  It was also a more entertaining fight than I feared we might see.

Jackson was quoted in the days leading up to the fight saying he likes to entertain people and put on exciting fights, admitting his last performance wasn’t exciting.  Based on his last couple of trips into the octagon, I wondered how much entertainment ability Jackson had left . And given his opponent was Machida, who has never been one to bring a lot of excitement to a fight by virtue of his elusive fighting style, I expected this main event to fail to impress and go down as another boring, less than should be expected of a main event performance.  Fortunately, I was mostly wrong. Read More

Overall, the UFC 98 card was decent. While the co-main event between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra didn’t quite live up to the hype created by the seeming hatred between the fighters, the main event between Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida did not disappoint – a much needed result following the awful UFC 97 main event between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites. Here’s how it went down:
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Brandon “The Truth” Vera is set to face Michael Patt on the UFC 96 undercard. An unusual spot for Vera who has to his credit a number of highlight real finishes, but not surprising given his recent woes. Winner of his first six fights, Vera has gone 1-3 in his last four. And that lone win, a decision against Reese Andy at UFC Fight Night 14, was by no means impressive or entertaining to watch.

A year-and-a-half ago, Vera was an undefeated heavyweight in the UFC, with notable wins over Justin Read More

Everyone loves the knockout. Even those who may feel the sport of MMA is too violent for their liking. Admit it. There is nothing wrong with getting excited by a highlight reel KO. So let’s take a look at a possible top 6 list of the most powerful strikers in the UFC. Why 6? Because, as you will see, Chuck Liddell did not quite make the cut for top 5, but as a legendary striker he had to make this list and going beyond 6 seemed like too much work.

6. Chuck Liddell

UFC Record: 17-5, 10 KO’s/TKO’s (59% of wins in UFC) Read More