The rumors are true: MMA’s undisputed #1 heavyweight and Japan’s top lightweight will square off in a special exhibition match at next Wednesday’s DEEP/M-1 Challenge event.

Emphasis mine. So no he would not hold two belts

This is an exhibition match, probably just grappling, no need to get riled up. Save your steam for when they announce Fedor/Monson.

At least one of the announced “fights” is pretty cool. I remember thinking as I was watching that bout, “Holy shit…Jacare can’t submit him?!”

Yeah, most likely grappling or Sambo.

The comedy blog approves. What does that tell us?

before you pointed this out I hadn’t thought about it but it is a very valid point. And honestly makes it more exciting in that context.

You are of course right, Luke. Thank goodness you were here to tell us kids to stop bellyaching. Thanks, dad! :-)

In the meantime, please explain how two of the top professional fighters in the world behaving like amateurs is cool.

I mean, if Fedor snaps Shinya’s arm, can we bellyache then? A nasty leglock can destroy a career – how will you feel if Fedor refuses to tap to tiny little Shinya and misses the rest of 2009? Will I be allowed to bellyache then? Or do you think nobody ever gets hurt in tournaments and freak shows?

Playing around like this is probably not going to hurt anyone – I admit that. But Fedor has spent the last few years tarnishing his image among the tiny fraction of people who have actually heard of him by fighting:

• 2 fat guys,
• a pituitary giant,
• a middleweight,
• an old man, and
• two wash-outs from the UFC (and those are the only two fights that even his fans claim meant anything).

Before that he fought a guy who should be cutting to 205 that can only win in unregulated fights unless he’s put up against Eddie Sanchez (who?). I think I have a right to bellyache all I want when the fighter I’d like to see more than any other is wasting his time, risking his health, and tarnishing his legacy to continue engaging in amateurish bullshit fights.

[And don’t get me started on disco-pants trying to fight up at welterweight – I think somebody started believing his own WAMMA press releases.]

I’m no Christian, but I like what Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways.”

It’s time for Fedor to give up the Sambo, give up the exhibitions, give up the freak matches, and just take fights that matter. And I’m going to keep bellyaching until he does.

And thank you for finding the silver lining in this dogshit. You get a rainbow sticker! :-)

Im pretty sure no one here would be complaining about an exhibition wrestling match between GSP and ManBearPig Lesner… or a submission exhibition between Big Nog and BJ Penn.

I would be. But I’m a killjoy.

Im pretty sure no one here would be complaining about an exhibition wrestling match between GSP and ManBearPig Lesner… or a submission exhibition between Big Nog and BJ Penn.

Really? I think people would go nuts asking what the hell the UFC is doing if the UFC put together goofy ridiculous and meaningless bullshit exhibition grappling matches like that. I’m shocked BJ hasn’t thought of it yet as another way to avoid actually defending his belt, come to think of it.

I guess I just don’t quite what “the point” of the alleged p4p best fighter in the world doing exhibition matches with giants and midgets is … feels pretty “circus side-show” to me. But some of you seem to think this is the greatest thing to ever happen, so …

… Ill come to your hometown and cut your grass for a month.

You’re gonna regret that – I have a small lawn, but I use a reel mower. :-)

When will you finally understand that Fedor is not concerned with what you or anyone else thinks about him.

a) I understand that. It’s his life. But I’m allowed to bitch all I like, whether Luke thinks I should or not. :-)

b) When he’s an old broke man who could be living off the money he’d earn by having made a name for himself as a fighter, he might care. I know he’s supposedly getting big money from M-1 right now, but if they’re fucking everyone else, I have no reason to think they’re not fucking him. But how much cash will exhibition matches and sambo crowns bring in over the long haul compared with real fights?

I know, right? This is what happens when you marry an environmental economist: you get somebody who doesn’t want to waste money on increasing her carbon footprint.

Did I mention it needs sharpening too? :-P

All caps is lame.

dude…I…don’t…know what to say to that

It’s a story…with a mention of WAMMA and I’m not upset. I think the world may collapse in on itself any time

Wasn’t that when Couture couldn’t fight?

“Where were all these outraged souls when Couture took on Jacare in an exhibition grappling match?”

See, this is why the “no personal attacks” comment policy sucks. Now would be the perfect time to come back with a “your momma” joke. AMIRITE?!?

Double rec’d since you double posted!

Seriously many thanks for these (Aoki and Chris). They made me smile a braggarts smile.

(loosely translated and obviously tongue-in-cheek)

That or his near death experience with Sakurai has eliminated any sense of fear/self-preservation.