Hey everyone! I just wanted to update BE on how my training is going. I have been working on my striking five days a week and wrestling two days a week, although that is just to tune things up, although from an MMA stance, sprawling is a bit different, but I still have my double leg.

The first week or so my hands were awful, although it was mostly my hip rotation that was the problem with it. The coordination and flexibility problems from cerebral palsy have made moving on the balls of my feet for all of my right handed strikes and muay thai kicks a little tough but I am starting to get the hang of it.

My jab is getting to its full extension and my cross is getting better as well, and tonight I finally am getting the hang of sitting back on my rear leg and not leaning forward during my strikes. My Muay Thai kru has me focusing on a lead leg defensive style with a lot of jab kicks to try and compensate for the CP on the right side of my body.

I will update you all next week with more, as I start gi BJJ on Wednesday! I am super amped as I am good with movement on the ground but lost as far as submission defense and offense are concerned. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask and I will be happy to answer them!

LETS MUTHERFUKERS!!!!

Hello the wonderful bloody elbow community.

This would be my first post after about a year of reading the sometimes great sometimes terrible fan posts on here. I've decided to join up and create a post myself to talk about my introduction to mma and to ask about mma camps in Thailand

I live in a small town in Western Australia, I first discovered mma when I went to a mates house because he wanted to show me in his words "something awesome on tv" the date was April 2, 2008, and I watched Nate Diaz choke out Pellegrino with his legs while he flexed to the crowd. At this time in my life I had watched probably 2 boxing fights in my life and thought it was really the only fighting style out there besides karate. So watching a guy choke someone out with his legs was pretty radical at the time. The next day I immediately searched for a mma gym close by without luck, not even a boxing or kickboxing class. However I discovered a BJJ class which was running 3 days a week just up the road so I went and checked it out loved it and have since won a state championship in the blue belt 57 kg division.

However I have no striking game whatsoever so I plan on taking month trip to Thailand for my first lesson. I have read previously some reviews of Thai camps and this is basically asking the readers preferably those who have been to thailand to provide there thoughts on which camp I should sign up to?

A second important question, for those with general kickboxing experience. If you could have your first lesson over. What would be the most important thing to learn? Good footwork? Controlling distance? Something different? Any help will be greatly appreciated

Also just for fun, fuck Carlos, long live Diaz :)

We’ve all heard Joe Rogan say it over and over (and over) again: Wrestling is the best base for MMA. By the sheer numbers of top level fighters that were previously top level wrestlers, this seems to be the case. As professional MMA is becoming a more attractive option for top collegiate wrestlers, I think we can see trend of how these All-Americans develop into mixed martial artists.

Generally speaking (of course, there’s always outliers), we’re seeing wrestlers go down one of two paths of development as fighters, and which path they choose can be predicted by looking at their wrestling style. Top level wrestlers, at least for the first several years into fighting, tend to develop either their striking, throwing powerful punches that knockout their foe, or their jiu jitsu, using their already strong takedowns to submit opponents. "Duh," you might be thinking. Of course fighters develop striking or jiu jitsu. The key is, though, that I think whichever path the wrestler chooses depends on their wrestling style. The best way to explain my point is with real examples. A few videos after the jump…

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Hey guys, off topic here but just wanted to share that a short film I worked on that is on the verge of reaching the Finals of the 2012 Tropfest Short Film Festival - which is the words largest short film festival and I need support.

Basically we're in the running against 9 other films to secure the last remaining spot in the Final 16 (Just like K-1)

If you feel like helping out all you need to do is go to www.youtube.com/tropfest, click on the VOTE button, scroll over and find the film called 'Clarences Kite', watch it and if you like it press the VOTE UP button.

Promoted from the fan posts by Kid Nate.

Dana’s dream of having a big UFC show in a stadium in Brazil appears to be dead, at least for the city of Sao Paulo, which would host the return of the UFC to Brazil in June and would showcase the TUF Brazil finals, a rematch between Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva and would have as its main event the long awaited rematch between UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and challenger Chael Sonnen.

A non-profit organization called Viva Pacaembu has taken action to prevent the UFC from hosting its show in the Pacaembu stadium. A judicial decision was made yesterday that would prevent the organization from occupying the stadium after 12AM, claiming that after that specific time slot the loudest the noise can reach would be at 45 decibels.

"First was the difficulty with the noise. (Then) the Viva Pacaembu organization demanded that the law of noise ordinance would have the limit of 45 decibels, which is impossible. I even bought a noise measurer and took it to the Mayor’s office, and it measured 60 decibels" said the Secretary of Sports, Bebeto Haddad.

Haddad also showed frustration in trying to explain that the time slot for which the event would take place could not be different; "the UFC is an event broadcasted to 150 countries, we have to adapt to the time zone of many countries. There’s no way we could make this end before midnight" he concluded.

Unfortunately for the UFC, most of the big stadiums are under renovations for the 2014 World Cup, leaving the bigger Morumbi stadium the only other available stadium to host the UFC in Sao Paulo. The Morumbi stadium has its problem though, as they don’t meet all of Zuffa’s demands, such as covering the grass in the case of rain. It also does not have the support of the City Administrators:

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Just my newest piece from HeadKickLegend.com. If you like it, please go over to HKL and check it out!
Cheers,

Jack

Diego Sanchez will forever be remembered as one of the most exciting fighters in early Zuffa years of the UFC, his mix of incredible cardio and borderline fool-hardy grit ensure that almost all of his fights have been a spectacle to behold. Of late though, Sanchez is coming off of two hard losses to John Hathaway and BJ Penn, a journeyman quality win in Paulo Thiago, and an extremely questionable victory over Martin Kampmann which exposed more holes in his game than it did return him to form. So what happened to the Diego Sanchez that swarmed all over Nick Diaz and won our hearts on the Ultimate Fighter with his bizarre personality and real world fighting skills? Diego Sanchez struggles with distance, and it has been picked up on and exploited by three of his last four opponents. Is Jake Ellenberger the kind of fighter to do the same? Probably not, but he has more than enough tools to make Sanchez struggle in other ways.

A quick look through Diego Sanchez's successful fights reveals his modus operandi; the man is an animal, constantly moving forward and swarming on opponents with punches until he gets them to the mat where his effective ground and pound and slick Jiu Jitsu can be utilized. One of Diego's best matches was his defeat of Nick Diaz, in which he would throw some big punches then literally dive at the much taller man's legs. Once he got Diaz to the mat Diego was relentless, stacking Diaz up in guard and dropping from his feet back to his knees with huge elbows. While Diaz was never in danger of being stopped, it is certainly the most ineffectual we have seen his guard look.

However against BJ Penn, Diego Sanchez shot 27 takedowns, succeeded in none, and was pounded on the feet constantly. Now BJ Penn is a marvelous athlete, but to write off his natural abilities as the reason he could do this to Sanchez when other great athletes like Nick Diaz couldn't is just downright moronic. BJ fought the perfect gameplan against Sanchez which from the get go seemed to be about pressure. Throughout the fight BJ Penn backed Diego on to the cage, but instead of leading waited for Diego to charge him. When Diego did charge, BJ would take one or two shuffles back to avoid the first attack, slip the second and counter - and it worked. Every time.

The reason this happened is because Diego relies on swarming opponents to get the takedown, every one of his previous defeated opponents had been distracted by his rushes with his hands and had left their hips exposed for him to shoot on. The thing is that Diego can hit with power, when he's standing still and swinging, but becomes a rigid arm-puncher when he attempts to strike at long distance. Just look at how he pushes his punches at Penn, it's almost Forrest Griffin-esque, and certainly nothing for Penn to worry about. Additionally his straights are slow and predictable - in his fight with BJ, Diego threw the same combination multiple times in every one of the five rounds. BJ continued to either counter it, or move out of the way with ease.

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Hi everyone, wishing you great Sunday.

I have just read the message of War Machine to the fans, on what really happenned and I believe him. So, i have decided to post his message here. If any of you feels so, please support him because this is a total mistreatment and I don't even understand how could anything like this happen. People who change should get a chance and not sent back to prison to waste time there, while they could be working, fighting and living. So, please read it and please support War Machine.

Here is the full letter:

"The reason I am upset with having to do time this time is because this event occurred over 3 years ago and I am not the same person today. I went on a lil' rampage for a few years and made a lot of poor choices...it finally all caught up to me last year and I served a year straight in San Diego County Jail. During that year I had a lot of time to think and realize I needed to change. Upon my release over 6 months I did just that. I have been attending my anger management classes, staying away from the party scene and booze. I have been teaching Kid's MMA Classes and living life the right way. In my professional career I won the biggest fight of my life vs Roger Huerta and became only the 2nd man to ever finish him. I recently signed a contract with @BellatorMMA and had a chance at winning over a 100k in their tournament, a tournament that I will now not be participating in. Of all the things I have ever gotten in trouble for this one is the dumbest one. The person I fought was a coworker of mine 6'2'' and over 300lbs. He instigated the fight, he came after me. I punched him ONCE and then took him down. During the takedown he injured his knee. The reason this case had been dragging on so long in the court system is because the DA's office had a WEAK case and my attorney and him were constantly negotiating for a plea bargain. Upon my release from jail I told my attorney that I wanted to get this case over with and get on with my life, put the bs behind me. I agreed to pay a huge fine of $61,000 for his medical bills and signed an agreement for probation and NO JAIL TIME. The DA and myself were both happy with the agreement. 3 weeks after I plead guilty I returned to be sentenced and the Judge Valerie Adair completely disregarded the DA and I's deal, as well as the progress I have made since being incarcerated and learning my lesson and CHANGING. That was an irresponsible decision on her part. Jail is supposed to be a tool to rehabilitate people and rehabilitation had taken place! WHy would you mess that inertia up? Why not give me a suspended sentence and a chance to continue proving myself? She scolded me and accused me of using steroids, I have NEVER tested positive for them or had an arrest for them in my life! She judged a book by it's cover and that is not just! I deserve to stay free and continue to prove that I am a changed man! Write the Governor and help me! http://gov.nv.gov/contact/governor/"

Updates to previous editions

Jeff Monson signed 3 fight deal with M-1 Global (205) Dec. 28

Stay Gold Ponyboy, Stay Gold

Any updates, additions, suggestions, or Duck Hunts are always greatly appreciated.

Brent tweeted something exactly similar to what I was thinking earlier today.

I live in the Rust Belt, and we absolutely got pounded with snow all day today. Now, when your city is in the Top-10 in the country for snow routinely (as mine is), everyone just comes to an understanding like "Yeah, I don't feel like scraping seven inches off my car, defrosting it, then driving 10 MPH to the bar. Fuck it, I'm in tonight."

Normally, that's awesome, because there's usually fights on. But tonight? Not a damned fight to be found. WHY DOESN'T YOU RAPID EXPANSION SUIT MY SNOW NEEDS, ZUFFA?!

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These aren't the kinds of posts I usually write, but an idea struck me and I thought I'd put it out there for discussion.

Although calls for a superfight between GSP and Anderson or Jon Jones and Anderson have petered out recently, due to GSP's knee injury and the attendant opening of the welterweight division on the one hand and the reemergence of Chael Sonnen as a title challenger on the other, that doesn't mean that there isn't a viable superfight out there. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with Frankie Edgar vs. Jose Aldo.

If there's ever a time to make this fight, it's right now. Is anybody (the UFC brass included) really all that excited about the prospect of seeing Aldo vs. Hioki? Well, assuming he beats Palaszewski, he's just about the only viable option, other than a still-too-green Erik Koch or the KZ-Poirier winner; the last fight is still three months away, and I'd make the argument that the winner still needs another fight after that, not so much for the sake of credibility but because they both desperately need the time to further develop their skills.

The best part of this idea is the fact that it works regardless of whether or not Frankie beats Bendo in two weeks. If he wins, there's no immediate contender for a lightweight shot; the best bet is the Diaz-Miller winner, and again, that fight is still almost three months away. Frankie could easily meet Aldo at a catchweight of 150, given Aldo's firm lack of intention to move to LW in the near future.

Alternatively, if Bendo wins, the calls for Frankie to drop to 145 (which have been voiced by Dana White, the most important opinion of all) will come again. In this scenario, Frankie's status as a former champion with three title defenses under his belt (the Maynard draw still counts as a defense) along with the idea that 145 is a more natural weight class for him could catapult the diminutive fireplug into an immediate title shot at FW.

I don't feel like I need to go into much depth on exactly why this fight would be awesome for the fans. For the UFC, however, it offers a number of benefits. First and foremost, it could draw significant media and casual fan interest to the lighter weight classes overnight. This has been a work in progress since the absorption of the WEC, and while Aldo's doing his part - kneeing Mendes' head into the fifteenth row and then running into the crowd to look for it - it would be tough to sell Hioki as a real challenger. Second, it offers the possibility of significantly increasing the profile of both underappreciated champions. It seems pretty clear after the subpar PPV buy rates of 136 and 142 (both roughly 225,000) that neither Aldo nor Edgar is a proven draw on their own, or even fighting on the same card. This leads directly into the third benefit: this fight, especially with a strong co-main, could finally catapult Aldo, Edgar, or both into real stardom with the attendant financial benefits to the UFC.

In my view, this is a win-win proposition. It gives both LW and FW a chance to sort out the chaff from the real challengers and gives the UFC another big-money fight for the summer, along with the possibility of establishing Aldo, Edgar, or both as real PPV draws. What do you all think?