This has been the most tortuous and long-delayed Judo Chop yet. When I saw Demian Maia take down Nate Quarry at UFC 91, I knew immediately that I would have to write about it. Almost four months later I'm finally getting down to it.

We've been delayed by legal threats, gif-making troubles and most of all by the fact that I had no understanding of what Maia was doing. Reading Eddie Bravo's Mastering the Rubber Guard explained what I was seeing.

First off, the gif on the right is possibly the least cool part of the move but the gif of the whole sequence is way too big to post on the home page so I chose the culmination of the move: the take down.

But the cool part of the move was the way Maia pulled half-guard on Nate Quarry, entangled his legs, got up on his feet, fended off Quarry's whizzer and ended up on top. It was like Maia was some sort of human superglue, all he needed was a brief contact to ensnare Quarry in a fatal grappling bout. There are more gifs in the full entry so you can see for yourself.

What reading Eddie Bravo's book explained to me -- and let me say that my guess is that Maia developed this move entirely independent of Bravo -- was the way Maia did it.

First off he shoots in, gets stuffed by Quarry. Quarry did everything right, slid his hips back and got double underhooks, but it couldn't stop Maia. Then Maia pulled half guard. At first this baffled me, why half-guard rather than full guard? But reading Bravo I realized that pulling half-guard allowed Maia to wrap his legs around Quarry's (Bravo calls this the lock down) and then get up to his knees (Bravo calls this the dogfight) and work for a takedown.

Quarry has a whizzer on Maia's right arm, but its not enough to stop the takedown, even though he stopped Maia once, Maia just kept coming until he is on top.

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1. Boxing: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao, Dec. 6, 1,250,000

2. UFC: Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture, Nov. 15, 1,010,000

3. Wrestling: WrestleMania, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Paul "Big Show" Wight, March 30, 670,000

4. UFC: Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch/Lesnar vs. Heath Herring, Aug. 9, 625,000

5. UFC: Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, Feb. 2, 600,000

6. UFC: Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin, July 5, 540,000

7. UFC: St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra, April 19, 530,000

8. Boxing: Felix Trinidad vs. Roy Jones Jr., Jan. 19, 500,000

9. UFC: Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, Sept. 6, 480,000

10. UFC: B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk/Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida, May 24, 475,000

I had the great honor of being on 106.7 WJFK's "Big O & Dukes" to talk UFC 91. We discussed the impact of Brock Lesnar's win, what's next for him, what impact this will have on the careers of amateur and professional wrestlers and much more. Click here to listen to the entire interview.

"Big O & Dukes" show page here.

My new opinion piece on Sherdog.com is up and Brock Lesnar is easily one of the "winners":

Having tremendous athletic gifts yet being unable to use them professionally must be exceedingly frustrating. Throughout his undulating career, Brock Lesnar has suffered through failed efforts and missed opportunities that would be difficult to swallow for any aspiring athlete, particularly for one with such unparalleled promise.

On Saturday night, Lesnar finally put a nail in the coffin of the vagabond career that prevented him from pursuing his true dream: to make a living and reach the most elevated heights attainable as a professional athlete. By capturing the most coveted position in the UFC's heavyweight class, Lesnar has more than secured himself a place as a true competitor in this league and sport. And to do so at 31 years of age after abandoning a previous career and failing to jump-start another is utterly remarkable. Lesnar, then, is an Horatio Alger story and the prodigal son wrapped into one. Wayward and confused, but forever determined to follow his nagging internal compass, Lesnar gutted through upheaval and career turmoil to once again find professional balance and personal serenity. And now he can add the UFC heavyweight championship belt to that peace of mind. Not too shabby, Brock.

Courtesy of MMA Mania:

Brock Lesnar — $450,000 ($250,000 to show, $200,000 to win)
Randy Couture — $250,000
Brock Lesnar defeated Randy Couture via technical knockout (strikes) in round two

Kenny Florian — $80,000 ($ 40,000 to show, $40,000 to win)
Joe Stevenson — $35,000
Kenny Florian defeated Joe Stevenson via submission (rear naked choke) in round one

Dustin Hazelett — $28,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 to win)
Tamdan McCrory — $10,000
Dustin Hazelett defeated Tamdan McCrory via submission (armbar) in round one

Gabriel Gonzaga — $110,000 ($55,000 to show, $55,000 to win)
Josh Hendricks — $8,000
Gabriel Gonzaga defeated Josh Hendricks via technical knockout (strikes) in round one

Demian Maia — $40,000 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 to win)
Nate Quarry — $25,000
Demian Maia defeated Nate Quarry via submission (rear naked choke) in round one

Aaron Riley — $8,000 ($4,000 to show, $4,000 to win)
Jorge Gurgel — $10,000
Aaron Riley defeated Jorge Gurgel via unanimous decision

Jeremy Stephens — $16,000 ($8.000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Rafael dos Anjos — $4,000
Jeremy Stephens defeated Rafael dos Anjos via knockout in round three

Mark Bocek — $18,000 ($9,000 to show, $9,000 to win)
Alvin Robinson — $7,000
Mark Bocek defeated Alvin Robinson via submission (rear naked choke) in round three

Matt Brown — $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Ryan Thomas — $3,000
Matt Brown defeated Ryan Thomas via submission (armbar) in round two

The base fighter payroll for the event was $1,118,000, and the 14,272 attendees yielded a gate of $4.8 million.  Submission of the Night and Knockout of the Night bonuses were awarded the Dustin Hazelett and Jeremy Stephens, respectively.  Jorge Gurgel and Aaron Riley received bonuses for Fight of the Night.  Each bonus was worth $60,000.

I attended UFC 91 in Las Vegas this past weekend, and before I discuss the show, I just want to say that very little can match the live experience of a big UFC main event.  The tension and excitement in the crowd absolutely blew away anything I've ever been a part of.

I loudly predicted Randy Couture would defeat Brock Lesnar, and obviously I have to eat humble pie.  For the first round, the fight went as I expected.  Lesnar took him down, but Randy was able to fight his way back up.  After the round, I still believed Randy could win.  He essentially stuffed Brock's wrestling, an ominous sign for Brock's future against guys like Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez.

What I didn't expect was Brock beating Couture in standing exchanges.  I didn't expect such effective knees out of the clinch and that brutal elbow.  I also didn't know if he could take a clean, straight punch--but he did, and appeared completely unfazed.

I don't think the fight necessarily says anything bad about Randy.  His work getting up against Lesnar was extraordinary, but Lesnar's power was just too much.  I got the feeling Randy trained so hard for wrestling and just assumed he'd pick Brock apart standing, and it just didn't happen.

Going forward, Nogueira-Lesnar is a classic match.  The story is perfect for Nogueira, and if they hype it right it is a gigantic fight.  I'm also very interested to see what is next for Randy.  Despite reports to the contrary, I am hearing that they want to hold Chuck off until June to fight Randy in Germany.  If I was Joe Silva for a day, I'd do that fight at heavyweight and give the winner a shot against the tournament winner.  Brock-Randy II would be even bigger, but Chuck-Brock would probably be the biggest fight in UFC history.  And of course either of them vs. Nogueira would be great too.  If they insist on moving Randy back to 205 to end his career, fights against Chuck and Anderson would be big ones and a good way to go out.

One other note: the UFC does a terrible job with sound.  Now that I've seen the broadcast, it just doesn't even come close to conveying the emotion in the audience.  The crowd just absolutely went berserk for everything Randy did, and they really need a sound upgrade to capture that emotion for television.