via karenswhimsy.com

"This is blood for blood and by the gallon. These are the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days. They’re back! There’s no choice left. And I’m ready for war."

Hello again, you freaky fucks. Everything's set. The T's have been crossed, the I's have been dotted and the roster is set. Despite the best efforts of the diplomats and backroom political fixers, negotiations have come grinding to a standstill. Words have failed and diplomacy has faltered. This leaves only one solution: all out WAR! Mothers are crying, little siblings are giving their older brethren and sistren their favorite toys as endearing yet useless good luck charms while daddy's setting his jaw and lying through his teeth, telling baby that "everything's going to be ok" as he trawls craigslist for good deals on caskets in preparation for the next time they see their child returning from battle.

First item of business, the event of the season: the BECW draft. THE BECW DRAFT WILL TAKE PLACE ON MONDAY. 4/30 AT 7:30 PM EASTERN/STANDARD TIME. Be there, or be Subbevil.

First off, all of us need to thank zakkree and wonderfulspam. I cannot and will not take sole credit for this, as these new ideas are the result of intercontinental email conversations fueled by kilos of blow, ginkgo biloba, non-pretentious space rock, anorexic Swedish chicks addicted to ketamine and self-mutilation and Swiss chocolate. We brainstormed and sent epic email threads back and forth until we came up with the final product seen below.

Now, I realize that creating this post and asking most of you to actually comprehend the information contained herein is about as useful as masturbating on painkillers, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Alright, so here's how it's gonna work, but first, I want to explain the rationale behind the changes and the problems that we were attempting to mitigate (p.s., this is gonna be longer and more drawn out than necessary, but I'm an idiosyncratically verbose mutherfuker. If you don't like it, hit the bricks. I'd rather have Damon O. and moll in the game more than you anyway):

- The biggest problem that I've found over the original format of the BECW was that while basing scoring on overall, cumulative team score may have been the most parsimonious, perhaps accurate metric of overall team performance, if your team got off to a bad start, you could pretty much kiss the rest of the season goodbye, as even modest deficits were nearly impossible to overcome.

- When you're simply judging performance based on overall team scores, you end up in a competition in which you're essentially competing against every team for every event. This results in a watering down of specific rivalries and thus, the overall competitive feel of the entire event. Sure, maybe the team in first and the team in second have some fun talking shit to each other, but what we ended up getting most was the top team building an insurmountable lead rather quickly, then just being blustery and kreally-ish towards no one in particular. Maybe you got some of the individuals going for the top spot getting into it, but for the most part, the sense of competition was reduced by not having enough specific entities to focus your laser like hatred on. This needed to be fixed. Here's how:

STRUCTURE:

* We have 12 teams overall.

* Teams will be divided into 3 divisions, each with 4 teams (see? Only 3 teams to hate. 36 people to loathe. That's doable, right?).

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REGULAR SEASON:

* The regular season will consist of the first 7 events.

* Each team will play their divisional rivals twice, taking us through the first 6 events.

* Standings for the regular season will be based on win/loss records of the head-to-head matchups within the divisions, regardless of each team's cumulative point totals. (side note: any player caught using the word "irregardless" in any BECW-related comment will be perma-banned from the contest and publicly executed, but I digress...)

* The 7th event will be the intra-divisional playoff week, with #1 vs. #2, and #3 vs. #4 teams facing off in a third matchup between those teams and battling for playoff spots and positioning.

END OF REGULAR SEASON

---------------------------------------------

8 TEAM PLAYOFFS, SINGLE ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT (FINAL 3 EVENTS): BECW GRAND PRIX

* The top 2 teams in each division automatically qualify for the playoffs. (6 total)

* The two teams of the remaining field with the highest cumulative point total regardless of W/L records are the wildcard teams.

* Playoff seeding will be based on point totals with: #1 vs. # 8, #2 vs. #7, #3 vs. #6 and #4 vs. #5

* Winners advance until there is only one Highlander, er, Champion.

* Playoff losers will continue playing through the very end to determine finishing positions 3-8.

-------------------------------------------------

CONSOLATION TOURNAMENT: BECW BLAND PRIX

* The 4 teams that did not qualify for the playoffs will play each other once in a round robin league to determine best of the worst and, obviously worst of the worst.

So that's it. What do you guys think? I know there will be question from some of you more slingblade-y dolts, so feel free to excrete them in the comments.

Final roster and captain list after the jump, including a last minute change to the captains.....

Continue reading this post »

As the majority of us know Hector Lombard the MW Champion of Bellator finally sign a UFC contract. Lombard is currently on a 24 fight winning streak that dates back to 2007. Now a lot of mma fan's question this record saying is full of can's. While it is true there is a lot of can's that have been severely crushed by Hector. His record also contains wins over very tough opponents that are currently in the UFC, would make a very good run in the UFC, or were ex UFC fighters

Here some fights of Lombard vs none can's.

Enjoy :)

Lombard vs James Te Huna

Lombard vs Brian Ebersole

Lombard vs Jay Silva

Lombard vs Jesse Taylor

With his victory over Che Mills at UFC 145, Rory MacDonald has now reached five fights in his Ultimate Fighting Championship career. In those fights, he holds a record of four wins and one loss, the sole defeat coming via a final minute stoppage at the hands of current interim champion Carlos Condit (a stoppage Condit had to have in order to win the fight).

Macdonald will turn 23 this summer and his success at a young age has fans anticipating great things for him in the future. According to the consensus rankings he's the twelfth ranked fighter in the division. He's been ranked in the top 15 for the last eight months, since his first round stoppage of Mike Pyle in the fight before this one. His first opponent since entering the top 15, Mills, was unranked; MacDonald made fairly quick work of him. This makes it fairly likely that his next fight will be against someone else in the top 15.

As I did with Mark Hunt after his most recent victory moved him into the upper echelon of the UFC Heavyweight division, I have set out to compare Rory with the top 11 fighters ranked around him.

They are: Georges St. Pierre, Jake Ellenberger, Nick Diaz, Josh Koscheck, Johny Hendricks, Jon Fitch, B.J. Penn, Martin Kampmann, Diego Sanchez, Rick Story and Thiago Alves.

Carlos Condit will not be included, as we have seen them fight recently enough to have a good idea of how it would go. Neither will Jake Shields, as he is returning to middleweight.

1. Georges St. Pierre

Strengths: Offensive and Defensive Wrestling, Standing Striking, Ground Striking, Athleticism, Speed, Fight IQ. The champion truly has it all, combining unparalleled physical attributes with one of the sharpest mental games in the sports world. He attacks his opponents where they are weakest, relying on his wrestling to dictate where the fight takes place. We haven't seen much of GSP's guard game from his back but since he never gets put there, it really doesn't matter.

Weaknesses: Aggression. The only knock on GSP is his tendency to play it safe. He has looked like a far better fighter than his past few opponents, yet he has only defeated them via five round decision. The thought is that he could go for the finish a little more but adding an unnecessary element of risk is not something that appeals to the very cerebral and calculated champion. Until someone forces him to fight their fight, expect him to continue to win in dominating but not particularly brutal fashion.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: Both men are from Canada, Rory has drawn favorable comparisons to St. Pierre and they train together, so its not very likely that we'd ever see them face off. If they did fight, St. Pierre would almost surely keep the fight standing and out-strike his young teammate, as Macdonald has shown himself to be a competent striker but he has yet to really do any damage to one of his opponents on the feet. He prefers to strike as a means to achieve a takedown, which would be all but impossible to get against St. Pierre.

2. Jake Ellenberger

Strengths: Power, Clinch Striking, Boxing, Footwork, Offensive wrestling. Ellenberger is generally thought of as an overpowering striker but for someone with one punch power he does have good technical boxing to go with it. He generally uses his wrestling to establish to the clinch, but he mostly uses the position as a place to strike from rather than to attempt takedowns. Like most good wrestlers, once he gets on top he has good striking and control but he seems to prefer fighting on his feet.

Weaknesses: Cardio, Distance Striking, Defensive Jiu Jitsu. His primary weakness is his tendency to get tired. He slowed down considerably in the third rounds of his fights with Carlos Condit, Carlos Rocha and Diego Sanchez. Part of this is because of the energy that he expends looking for the finish in the early going but part of it has to be his training and/or his genetic predisposition to having a shorter wind. He doesn't kick very often and his reliance on a powerful inside game makes him vulnerable to lengthy and accurate strikers. He could stand to sharpen up his defensive jiu jitsu game, but then again, he's only been in bad positions when tired, so cardio is almost surely the key to avoiding those positions.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: Macdonald is lengthy and does have a pretty varied attack on the feet in terms of mixing up punches and kicks, which could serve to keep Ellenberger off balance in a potential match-up. I don't think Rory is as powerful as Ellenberger and he definitely doesn't have the strength in the clinch that Ellenberger has. Che Mills stung Rory in the early going of their fight and Rory took him down right away. Could he take down a solid wrestler like Ellenberger? If he wasn't able to do that, could he adapt his game to defeat a powerful but one-dimensional striker? This would be a good fight to answer those questions.

3. Nick Diaz

Strengths: Boxing, Offensive Guard, Cardio, Aggression, Toughness. Some people don't really consider Nick to be a boxer, as he tends to just crowd his opponent against the cage and unleash flurry after flurry, something that looks like boxing but doesn't incorporate the nuanced movement that a true practitioner of the sweet science would have. Either way, he's beaten a bunch of noted strikers with that strategy, so whatever you call it, he's good at it. He has one of the most dangerous guards in the division, although he hasn't used it too much recently, preferring to keep fights standing. He never gets tired, can take a helluva shot and his gameness is pretty much unquestioned.

Weaknesses: Strength, Wrestling, Fight IQ. In his first stint with the UFC, Diaz had a tough time keeping his fights standing, although he has said on multiple occasions that he would not have taken the bottom and played from his guard so readily if he had known the judges would treat the top guy as having the advantage, despite it being something he probably should have been aware of. In his fights since, no one has succeeded in taking him down and keeping him there but he also hasn't fought a vaunted take down and top control fighter of the calibre found in the upper echelon of the UFC`s welterweight division. He admits to not being as strong as his peers, but he also doesn't want to be, preferring to rely on his superior cardio and a volume striking approach to win his fights.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: Rory rag-dolled Nick`s younger brother Nathan en route to a three round decision in his biggest UFC victory to date. He landed three suplexes in the final round against Nathan, showcasing a decided strength advantage that he would also hold on Nick. Rory also out-struck Nathan for a good portion of their fight, but it wouldn't be a good idea to try to stand up with Nick, so this fight would likely come down to how much damage Rory could do from inside Nick's guard. It seems likely that this fight would go into the third round and if Rory ran out of gas in the same way he did against Condit that would spell trouble against Nick.

4. Josh Koscheck

Strengths: Offensive and Defensive wrestling, Athleticism, Power. I was going to list striking as a strength here, but it has been a long time since Koscheck out-struck anyone in the cage. Matt Hughes was actually beating him to the punch in the early going of their bout and Koscheck failed so miserably at generating any success on the feet against GSP in his title fight that I just can't do it. He does have one of the best double leg takedowns in the sport and he was quickly able to get back to his feet when GSP took him down, so he would do well to go back to using wrestling as his bread and butter, the way he did early in his career. He does have good power when he does land though.

Weaknesses: Fight IQ, Striking defense. Koscheck actually doesn't have that many weaknesses, in fact, his biggest problem is just that he doesn't fight to his strengths. If he did, he'd be shooting takedowns from the get go and using an aggressive top game mixing submission attempts with heavy ground and pound to attack his foes. He got stopped by Paulo Thiago, not a dynamic striker by any stretch of the imagination, he had no answers for GSP`s jab, and has been hit hard by Hughes and Mike Pierce in recent fights, so he definitely could shore up his standing defenses.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: Koscheck would probably come out looking to strike, and that would be good for Macdonald, who has the smarts to avoid the big shots and the length to keep Koscheck outside of his range. He might not be able to beat Koscheck on the feet, but if Koscheck wanted to get Rory down, he easily could, and would likely win a pretty clear cut decision but I'm not sure that he'd even try to. This would probably be a closely contested striking match.

5. Johny Hendricks

Strengths: Offensive and Defensive Wrestling, Boxing, Power. Hendricks is a two time NCAA Division 1 wrestling champion, so his biggest strength is definitely his ability to dictate where the fight takes place. He is actually pretty similar to Koscheck in the sense that he has great wrestling but prefers to use his hands to do his damage. He is a southpaw, which can cause some trouble for his opponents. He has won two KO of the night bonuses in his last three fights.

Weaknesses: Clinch striking, Jiu Jitsu, One-dimensional attack. Hendricks is 7-1 in his UFC career, so there isn`t much to pick out as a weakness. He was over-powered by Rick Story in the clinch in his only loss, so there is some work he could do there. He hasn`t shown much offensive jiu jitsu in his fights, although he does have a submission victory by d`arce choke on his pre-UFC record, and as a champion wrestler he surely has the background to be successful in that area of the game if he put his mind to it.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: Like a fight between Macdonald and Koscheck, a bout between Macdonald and Hendricks might be a striking match when it should be the division 1 wrestling champ coming in taking the fight to the ground and going to work from the top. As a southpaw, Hendricks would present a difficult challenge to Rory but not one that he couldn`t handle with some strategic consideration. I`ve seen a couple members of the MMA media suggest that Rory should face the winner of Hendricks/Koscheck but I don't think Rory is quite ready for it, despite the fact that he has a pretty decent shot at beating either of them.

6. Jon Fitch

Strengths: Offensive wrestling, Submission defense, Ground control, Cardio, Fight IQ. There is a lot of dislike for Jon Fitch throughout the MMA fanbase and most of it stems from the fact that Fitch knows what he is good at, does it and does not apologize for it. He has excellent takedowns and once he gets you to the mat, the round is practically over for you. He leaves his grounded foes no room for escape and is probably the best grinding fighter in the world. I consider him to be GSP without the athleticism, and this lack of athletic prowess (not a lack of effort) is the primary reason for the lack of finishes on his record

Weaknesses: Athleticism, Striking defense, Striking, Chin. He doesn't have much natural power or speed, so he doesn't have the one punch ability that fellow wrestlers Koscheck, Ellenberger and Hendricks have. He was out-struck badly by Georges St. Pierre in his single title shot and could stand to add a little variety into his striking attack but, as he generally uses it quite efficiently to set up takedowns, he can get by in most fights. Hendricks put him away with a single punch, which could be a sign that the years of fighting have taken their toll on his chin but we can't be sure until he takes another punch.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: BJ Penn took Fitch down at the start of both the first and second rounds of their fight at UFC 127. Macdonald would be smart to do the same thing and I believe that he would. BJ tried to grapple Fitch into submission without first softening him up with strikes and he couldn't get by Fitch's defenses. Ground and pound is one of Macdonald's strongest points and he would surely test the chin of Fitch. If Rory wasn't able to get top position he would surely be in for unanimous decision loss by Fitching.

7. BJ Penn

Strengths: Defensive Wrestling, Boxing, Aggression, Offensive Jiu Jitsu, Speed, Chin. Penn will go down as one of the all time great fighters hailing from a jiu jitsu background. That being said, he generally prefers to use his jiu jitsu to stay on his feet and to finish fights that he is already winning with his striking. It's rare to see Penn take a fight to the ground right off the bat, although he did attempt to use that strategy in his fight against Jon Fitch at UFC 127. He was once called "the best boxer in mixed martial arts" by Freddie Roach due to his hand speed and footwork.

Weaknesses: Cardio, Fight IQ. BJ has a great deal of natural talent and you could say that being blessed with such innate ability has actually worked against him. He has never been one of the best conditioned fighters around and he has spent a considerable amount of time jumping between the lightweight and welterweight divisions. This is partly because of his conditioning issues and partly because he can beat men bigger than he without too much trouble. In his two losses to Frank Edgar, he allowed himself to be out-struck for the better part of both matches and never attempted to bring Edgar to the mat, something that brings into question his ability to make adjustments to his gameplan both on the fly and after the fact.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: GSP pretty much laid out the game plan for beating Penn if you have a size advantage against him: Clinch him up against the cage, wear him down by striking his body and legs, take him to the mat once he's tired, and beat him up inside his guard. Nick Diaz took the first part of the game plan and used it to tire Penn out before beating him up standing. As he is bigger and stronger than BJ, Rory would be able to apply this game plan perfectly in a fight with him. Rory's lack of experience might lead to him getting into trouble inside Penn's guard, but I think this is a good fight for Rory.

8. Martin Kampmann

Strengths: Standing Striking, Defensive Wrestling, Offensive Jiu Jitsu. Kampmann is a very technical striker, though he lacks the one punch stopping power that many of the other top welterweights have. He uses his length to his advantage, keeping his opponents at range and using his technical kickboxing to pick them apart. He has worked very hard on being able to keep fights standing and his takedown defense is one of his strongest attributes. He has a couple of good chokes in his arsenal when the fight does hit the ground.

Weaknesses: Offensive Wrestling, Striking Defense, Fight IQ. I'm not sure that I should list his offensive wrestling as being a weakness, as he rarely looks to take a fight to the ground, but I will include it nonetheless as he would probably benefit from having a couple of go to takedowns in his arsenal. He has a tendency to get hit more than someone with his technical background should, especially early in a fight, and he has a bad habit of fighting in the style that best suits his opponent rather than himself.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: This would be a difficult fight for Rory at this point in his career. Kampmann has become a battle tested veteran and I think he'd be a little too difficult for Rory to take down while at the same time a little too sharp for Rory to beat him on the feet. If Rory did manage to pull him to the mat, Kampmann would definitely offer a lot more from the bottom than either Mike Pyle or Mills did both in terms of getting back to his feet and also in threatening Rory with submissions.

9. Diego Sanchez

Strengths: Offensive and Defensive Wrestling, Ground Striking, Cardio, Chin. Sanchez is very much a well-known quantity. He has solid wrestling skills, he brings a high pace to the fight and he can take a good deal of punishment without slowing down. He isn't particularly great at any one aspect of mixed martial arts but he brings everything together well and he is a great example of the type of heart and never say die mindset that you need to have to be a champion fighter.

Weaknesses: Standing Striking, Striking Defense. Diego has never been a great striker, although he does have decent power in his left hand. He also gets hit far too often when he comes in, whether it is for takedowns or to exchange strikes. The deficits in his striking game are basically the only thing that held him back from being a champion in my opinion.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: Sanchez is one of the few fighters on this list (along with St. Pierre and Fitch) that would definitely attempt to take Rory down. I have no idea if he'd be able to do it or not, as Rory has rarely had to defend against a shooting opponent. Rory would be well served by trying to beat Sanchez to the punch, (or in this case, the takedown) although he probably could win this fight standing as well. This is one of the few fighters on this list that I think Rory is ready to fight right now, although with Sanchez coming off a loss it's unlikely he'll be the next opponent for Macdonald.

10. Rick Story

Strengths: Offensive Wrestling, Clinch Striking, Aggression, Power. Story is really good at what he's good at, which is bullying his opponents on the cage and in the clinch. He is the only man in the UFC to hold victories over both Jake Ellenberger and Johny Hendricks and he was able to beat those guys by winning the positional battles up against the cage. He always comes forward and is not afraid to get into a brawl, making him a tough fight for anyone in the division.

Weaknesses: Defensive Wrestling, Standing Striking, Fight IQ. While he does hold those victories over Ellenberger and Hendricks, he has losses to Charlie Brenneman and Martin Kampmann, both due to a lack of fight IQ. He should have been better able to stay on his feet against Brenneman (albeit the fight was on short notice and he was preparing to fight a striker in Nate Marquardt) and he should have tried harder to get Kampmann to the mat. He strikes me as the bull-in-a-china-shop type who doesn't pay much attention to his opponent and prefers to impose his game on them, consequences be damned.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: On paper you'd think that Story has the advantage, as he's fought tougher opponents and has the wrestling credentials to avoid being put on his back. In reality, I have no idea how he'd try to fight Macdonald. If Story stuck to his bread and butter, pushed the young Canadian up against the cage and worked his dirty boxing game, he'd probably have a path to victory. If they had a straight kickboxing match, Macdonald gets my vote. And of course, if Story let himself get taken down, he'd be lucky to get the fight to the judges scorecards.

11. Thiago Alves

Strengths: Standing Striking, Defensive Wrestling, Power. Alves is a great striker, both accurate and powerful. When he is on his game he is one of the best defensive wrestlers in the division. He is at his best when he is able to counter strike without fear of being taken down, something that has been rare for him in recent fights. He struggled with his weight in the past, but he seems to have it under control, having made the 170 pound limit for four straight fights.

Weaknesses: Defensive Jiu Jitsu, Fight IQ. Yet another top welterweight who seems unable to fight in the style that best suits them, Alves gave away his last fight to Martin Kampmann after he shot a telegraphed takedown attempt in the last minute of the fight, ended up in a guillotine choke and was forced to tap out. He lost a close decision to Rick Story after spending the first two rounds doing exactly what Story wanted: Grappling against the cage. Once he gets taken down he doesn't have much to offer in terms of submissions, so he looks to avoid the mat at all costs.

How a fight with Macdonald would look: This would be another great fight for Rory right now. Rory would have to be sharp to avoid the power striking game of Alves but since Alves likes to use hard leg kicks Rory would likely get plenty of opportunities for takedowns. And he'd have to work hard for them, because despite using a lot of kicks, Alves does have good takedown defense. Once the fight hits the mat, it would be all Rory, as we've seen next to nothing from Alves once he is trapped on bottom.

And that wraps up this look at the potential opponents for Rory Macdonald in the near future. What do you guys think of any of these match-ups? It seems to me that there aren't many well rounded fighters at the top of the UFC welterweight division right now. There are a bunch of wrestle-boxers that would get destroyed if they ended up on their backs and there are a bunch of dynamic strikers who have a tough time keeping themselves standing, so a lot of these fights seem to hinge on whether or not Rory could get the takedown.

If he truly is the next GSP, he could very well make his way through any of these guys, which means we could be seeing him fight for a title sooner rather than later.

All rankings acquired from Fight Matrix

Pedro Rizzo steps up to face Fedor Emelianenko for M-1 Global on June 21 in St. Petersburg. The Rock hasn't fought in over two years and recently had to pull out of a bout with Tim Sylvia at ProElite 2 due to injury. Both fighters have mentioned the UFC as a desired destination in the last few months with little to derisive response in return. If Rizzo were to pull the upset, Zuffa would most likely allow him to finish his career with the promotion since they've signed all three fighters that have recently beaten Emelianenko and White loves to deride the former PRIDE champ, or more accurately his management. When Rizzo was active he ranked #23 in a thin heavyweight division and could serve the UFC in either gauging new talent or rallying an Army for his own resurgence. A win by Fedor would only open the door a millimeter or so considering Rizzo's layoff and age...and the obvious history with Zuffa.

Jay Hieron signing with Legacy FC seems like a positional move to try to get back into the good graces of a major promotion. Staying active for a freelance fighter is key in making that push. Is he still relevant at 35 and with a boatload of issues with past employers? I'd say yes, since he's still a top 25 welterweight, won the Bellator tournament at his weight class, and tested Ben Askren better than anyone yet in Funky's career. White may not be sold yet on Heiron, but a win or two might bring him back into the Zuffa fold.

Hector Lombard jumps up on the scene with a lean, and a pocket full of green. The UFC nabbed the best middleweight outside the promotion when Lombard outlasted the Bellator champion's clause in his contract. Good move for Lombard and the UFC, not so bad for Bellator since they couldn't find the opponents or the reserve for one of the fighters that basically helped put the promotion on the map. Is Eddie Alvarez next?

Jamie Varner is also staying active by signing on with Legacy and trying get the attention of Zuffa. Varner may not be the most likable person in MMA, but he's attempting to erase the image of a cocky, listless fighter that he has been branded as. On a side note, I've completely given up hope on Strikeforce signing anyone of note from now until they merge with the UFC. There are many quality fighters out there that could have been signed and promoted to face the current stable, but Showtime has shot themselves in foot by not allowing White to offer his input. This is a case where I hope I'm wrong, but the silence is deafening.

Please check out past issues

MMA Transaction Wire: April 12-19

MMA Transaction Wire: April 6-11

MMA Transaction Wire: March 31-April 5

MMA Transaction Wire: March 27-30

MMA Transaction Wire: March 23-26

First off, I’d like to say that joining this community has been one of the wisest decisions I’ve ever made. I feel honored to chat with other MMA enthusiasts, and enjoy the witty comments and incredible insight in regards to the sport. With this being said, I’m coming up on my 1000th comment (eff me I need a life), and I have to say I’m still a little on edge when it comes to the etiquette of posting around these parts. Being a long time lurker, I did notice a lot of the “rules” when it came to commenting, but I’m still curious about a few other things about this site. I’m sure it’s difficult to lay out all of the rules for this, but I would really like to know what’s frowned upon, and what the major no-no’s are.

For example:

• How much cursing can I get away with? Is there a line that shouldn’t be crossed?
• Name calling…I know I’ve been called a few things already that I didn’t agree with, but didn’t want to retaliate for fear of warnings or possibly becoming banned.
• Is it looked down upon to use icon expressions such as… :) ;) :( :D, etc.
• Speaking of looked down upon, is it okay to use expressions such as; lol ,jk, btw, lmao, etc.
• Is there a thing (besides on live threads) as too many images or gifs?

So there are a ton more then I was thinking about but cannot seem to remember off the top of my head right now. Please feel free to post any other do’s and don’ts for the BE-tiquette. Once again, thanks guys for being awesome, I look forward to many more conversations and laughs.

Many moons ago, Anton Tabuena started the Bloody Elbow FunnyBone contest. Basically he took a funny MMA photo and you made a funny caption, the winner is voted on by you and then we repeat the cycle. It's fun, it's entertaining, and Anton stopped it because he joined the staff, and their "behind the scenes" version of fun is too graphic to be shown even on 4Chan.

I'm sorta bringing it back. Basically every Friday I'll post a picture related to MMA, mostly the UFC but other orgs too, make a humorous remark, and the best ones get voted in a poll.

Three basic rules:

1.) No GIF editing or PhotoShops. They aren't captions, they don't count.

2.) Nothing too sexually graphic, although honestly if that's your entry then I suggest you go back to the porn you're watching on the other tab.

3.) No racist, homophobic, or sexist slurs. This disqualifies Dana White from ever winning.

Everything else goes. Movie/TV references, Goldbergisms, you name it. Post as many captions as you please.

Rec the funniest comments and the top 5 in rec totals go into the final poll. The deadline is 10 PM ET. Afterwards the poll goes up and you vote from there. Results are posted the following week.

Got it? Got it.

Without further ado, let's get this party started!

As it's been the most popular image amongst sports fans all week, we'll kick things off with Brendan Schaub.

Good luck mutherfukers.

UPDATE: Contest is closed. I've chosen the top 5 rec'd captions and put them up for voting. Results will be revealed next week but I'll probably close the poll once this disappears from the promoted fanposts.

via www.thebettermom.com

So recently I've been sitting at my computer....alone.....drowning in Brendan Schaub's Infinite Sadness....wondering.....where are my gamers at? While MMA is a comparatively recent addiction, gaming has been with me for as long as I can remember. More often than not, if I wasn't in school, I was gaming. The rising sun would notify me that I should probably sleep at some point.

In adult life, married with kids, obviously my habits and tastes have changed a bit. But really, I still love me some gaming. Singleplayer is definitely more practical these days, as I don't like being a jerkface having to step-away in the middle of a multiplayer game to attend to unimportant things like dirty diapers or general parenting. Still, I love multiplayer gaming and do it whenever I can.

Personally, I'm mostly playing Starcraft 2 and Diablo 2(3 is so close!) right now. My on-and-off MMO-crack of choice is Final Fantasy XI, though I'm currently 2 months clean and not looking back(yet). So who are my gamers and what are you playing?

Just in case....NO SPOILERZZZZZ!!!1

Well, well, well. We meet again you crazy mutherfukers. It's been awhile since I've come down from my ivory tower to communicate directly with you all regarding this crazy contest. There are a few reasons for this, including being amazingly busy at work and having a new, nymphomaniac special lady friend, but even more significantly I finally completed lengthy negotiations with the Classified Military Science Division of the Danish government and fully purchased their brand new, cutting edge analytic cyborg- Codename: wonderfulspam and as you guys have no doubt noticed, I've been putting him to work. Here's a top secret, insider photo of Denmark's top mind completing construction of our new asset, whom I affectionately refer to as "Emil:"

via i496.photobucket.com

So here's the deal- we have 6 spots left to get to our ideal roster number of 132 players- 12 teams of 11. Now read this and read it good- we've had so many problems with some of you simple fucks being unable to comprehend very simple instructions as laid out in previous fanposts, so read this twice, even three times if needs-be so as to cogitate the information contained herein: The first 6 BE commenters WITH 500 OR MORE COMMENTS to send an email to becivilwar@gmail.com WITH YOUR BE AND PG SCREENAMES IN THE SUBJECT LINE OF THE EMAIL will be in season 3. EMAILS MUST BE SENT IN BY 11:00 pm EST ON FRIDAY, APRIL 27.

If you are interested, but are not a member of MMA Playground, simply go to mmaplayground.com, create an account using a screename as close as possible to your BE name and send the email to becivilwar@gmail.com.

ALSO, WE HAVE 1 CAPTAIN SPOT OPEN FOR ANYONE WHO HAS PARTICIPATED IN AT LEAST ONE FULL BECW SEASON. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED, SEND AN EMAIL TO BECIVILWAR@GMAIL.COM. Seriously, someone needs to step up. If you've been considering it but are unsure, just do it! It's easy, requires minimal effort and is just a great fucking time. Let me put it to you this way: if someone doesn't step up, kreally will be the 12th captain. Need I say more? So someone please do us a solid and step up.

Now, this is also important: if we cannot get 6 more people to join by 11pm EST, then we will be forced to cut the number of participants to 120 (12 teams of 10). In the event that we must do this, those of you who are Tier 3 entrants (BE commenters with 500+ posts and no previous BECW participation) and those in Tier 1 who have missed picks EVER will be eligible to be cut. If you are cut, you are free to join the prospect camp and will be eligible to be drafted at the mid-season waiver wire and will definitely be drafted in Season 4. If this goes down, I apologize in advance, but it's a necessary evil to allow the game to continue.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below.

I love you all (except Sam Cupitt and subbevil).

~JDH

Fighting without fanfare is just a brawl between two guys in a back alleyway fighting for twenty bucks and a round of free drinks at the local bar, or in the words of Bernard Hopkins two construction workers after work fighting each other for a sandwich. Fighting by itself is immoral, violent, unnecessary, and utterly barbaric. Over the years we've sought to civilize the art of fighting with theatrical presentation, a poetic ensemble of trash talk, character study, and the ever present narrative. Big bucks are made in this business of brutality laden Broadway shows held in rings and cages. Strip a man down to his core self and he's as much an animal as the family dog when you take away his ability to remain house broken and his adherence to commands, "Sit", "Stay", "Fetch".

Throughout the complex history of fighting we've enjoyed both sides of the character within the story. Whether its the early days of professional wrestling with the likes of Gorgeous George with his flamboyance and arrogance. Muhammad Ali, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Mike Tyson made for great anti-heroes. Those were the guys you couldn't help but to root for even though they went against every traditional layout we've ever known in our society and our culture. They were the middle finger to a buttoned up society that made the rules. Then you had the heroes like Hulk Hogan, Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Manny Pacquiao to name a few. These were the guys who could do no wrong. People liked De La Hoya and Ray Leonard because they were charming, had great smiles and were harmless to the perception of minority sports stars by white America.

Then you have the villains, guys who just don't care whether you hate them or not because the know you can't help but to watch them every time they put on a show. Guys like Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, and the biggest sports villain of them all Floyd Mayweather embrace their inner antagonist because they realize bigger fame, the bigger stage, and bigger paychecks goes to those who are bad, because today's culture rewards the art of bad behavior.

Jon Jones ought to take a page from the Mayweather handbook and embrace his inner or outer depending how you feel about him, his inner villain. He needs to drop the good guy friendly neighborhood fighter act and just go with what most feel is the real Jon Jones. Most people feel the real Jon Jones is brash, cocky, aloof, and utterly unstoppable in the cage and he knows it. People hate him because he's too good to be stopped right now, and he's the wrong person to be this good, someone more genuine deserves what he has right now.

The thing that works best in regards to Floyd Mayweather is his ability to say and do whatever he wants, have people hate him, and then shut the haters up by winning a fight without breaking a sweat. His talent and his current invulnerability to defeat is what people hate most about him. If he were the same exact person but with one loss on his record we wouldn't care much about his actions in and outside the ring. But because he's been undefeated for 16 years it drives us crazy that he seemingly gets away with the cash before the train reaches the bank.

Mayweather is the greatest villain we've ever seen in combat sports. He might be the greatest villain we've seen in sports period. Jon Jones could be that next great antagonist if he realizes that more people hold a sense of distrust when he's trying to be good than they do when he every so often lets his true self out in public. He's the perfect Mayweather figure in a sport still young and in need of crossover stars. The UFC has anti-heroes, heroes, and the closest they've had to a villain was Tito Ortiz but Tito was never this dominate and was never projected to be this good so soon in his career. Jon Jones is and will go light years beyond what Tito did in his prime when he reigned as UFC light heavyweight champion.

A comment in the post about the Business Insider story on the evils of the UFC got me thinking about what is my most successful recruitment effort where I turned someone into an MMA fan. I have a few recruits of whom I am particularly proud and I was wondering if any other BE folks had success stories they'd like to share. I know that not everyone is out to win people over as fans, and I really don't feel like I am on a mission to do that, either, but when I see an opportunity to introduce an open-minded friend to MMA, I usually take it. My target demographic is generally women who are friends of mine (for obvious reasons) but I certainly won't discriminate.

I went to UFC 145 last weekend with two friends who I recently recruited (one male, one female). Both were known to be fans of other sports and had previously watched televised UFC events with me (he had watched UFC 139 with me and she had watched UFC 143). The event on Saturday only strengthened their fandom, especially for her (she was already talking about how we should go to Vegas for another event soon).

Despite how well things went with those two, I'm especially proud of my efforts with a different friend this past weekend at UFC 145. I have a very good friend who is always open to new and different things, but had never even watched MMA. She hates sports, in general, so I figured she would be a hard sell. But, I also knew that she was available during the day on Friday and that she likes to take pictures, so I invited her to go to the weigh-ins with me. She was game for it even though I couldn't really tell her what to expect since I had never been to weigh-ins before, either.

I warned her about Chael Sonnen before we got there. I basically told her she'd probably hate him but that she could leave if it was too terrible. And, amazingly, she didn't hate Chael at all. She actually said she could tell that he was just talking trash and didn't really mean it all because he kept smiling and laughing after he said anything (and then he was super nice with fans after the Q&A so that sealed the deal - she wanted a pic with him but we missed out on that). When the weigh-ins finally started, she was totally into it. I love weigh-ins and I was glad she got why I liked it, too. She was very fired up after Jon Jones and Rashad Evans had their staredown, and then she wanted to go and see the fighters outside when they were leaving (which we did - that's her photo of GSP above). After everything was done, we went for tacos and tequila drinks and she told me that she had to see the fights on Saturday because she had to see who won. She ordered the pay-per-view at her house and was tweeting about the fights while she was watching! I was so proud! I can't wait to make her watch more fights with me.

So, that's one of my favorite conversion stories. I'd love to hear if y'all have some, too!