Shaquille O'Neal - Image: JR Davis via Newscom

Below you can see Shaq boxing it up with Oscar De La Hoya for an episode that will air on ABC September 8th. The week after, he’ll try to outswim lazy pothead Michael Phelps and then after that: unknown. I guess ABC wants to make sure the show doesn’t tank before ordering more episodes.

Still, if the thing doesn’t end up immediately banished to whatever hell contains Shaq-Fu and Kazaam, there’s a very good chance Shaq will do something MMA related on there. He’s been dicking around with training for a while and my bet is that his recent ‘call out’ of Brock Lesnar was an attempt to rope him onto the show.

But until he finds someone in the UFC willing to take on one of his rigged challenges, we’ll just have to settle with UFC commentator Mike Goldberg being on the show. He’s the co-host of Shaq VS, and yes! He does repeat half the same lines from UFC shows. It’s kinda surreal.

Post from: EveryJoe

Shaq beats on Oscar de la Hoya

Shane Carwin - Image: Fight! Magazine

Carwin made the cut, and Cain Velasquez gets thrown back for more seasoning: He’ll be fighting Ben Rothwell at UFC 104 now. In a way, this works out nicely. Carwin is a better stylistic match against Lesnar … he knocks people out in thunderous fashion and Brock Lesnar’s chin is still a mystery – at least in mixed martial arts. We’ve all seen him land on his head in pro wrestling and eat steel chairs, but we’ll see how that translates into taking a punch to the maw and still staying in a fight.

Shane Carwin also took the time and effort to slam Brock Lesnar for his UFC 100 tirade, saying via his website:

“The flipping off of the fans that just lined your pocket with millions of dollars is just LAME. He may be a Champion but he has a long ways to go before he earns the respect of a Champion. The fans are why we do this Brock, this sport is not about fat paychecks and drama it is about hard work and sacrifice for a shot to do what you did last night. It doesn’t matter how much money you make if you can’t earn your peers respect and the respect and love of the greatest sporting fans in the world. We have no scripts in this sport, no pre-determined earning amount and no pre-determined outcomes. It doesn’t matter if you win or loose it matters how you win or loose.”

While Shane Carwin isn’t the best known heavyweight in the UFC, he’s 11-0 with all wins by knockout, with his longest fight lasting 2 minutes 11 seconds. In his last fight against Gabriel Gonzaga, he took an incoming bomb that shattered his nose but still managed to quickly shake it off and finish Gonzaga. He’s MMA’s best hope at toppling the pro wrestling usurper Brock Lesnar from his heavyweight throne, so this should be an exciting fight!

Post from: EveryJoe

Shane Carwin is next for Brock Lesnar

Fedor Emelianenko - Image: Zuma Press

Who is Fedor? He’s a portly looking Russian who looks more like a window washer than a cage champion. But for nearly a decade he has fought in Japan, beating out a huge amount of the world’s best heavyweights. His record currently stands at 30-1, with the only loss coming via a cut from an illegal elbow that many claim should have been ruled a no contest. Simply put, Fedor is without a doubt the best heavyweight in the world, and many hardcore mixed martial arts fans have a total boner for the idea of him coming to the UFC and destroying Brock Lesnar.

The problem? Fedor and the UFC don’t get along. His management claims that restrictive contract clauses make joining the UFC impossible. The UFC responds that Fedor wants to have his cake and eat it too – to get paid an estimated 2 million dollars per fight without having to fight exclusively for the UFC. While Fedor is correct in his claim that UFC contracts are more restrictive than a straight jacket, the UFC also ain’t joking when they say Fedor’s demands are unreasonable. Long story short, even with UFC president Dana White declaring he’d make Brock vs Fedor happen somehow, it could be a while before these two groups see eye to eye.

In the meantime, next up for Brock Lesnar seems to be the winner of Cain Velasquez vs Shane Carwin in late October. Unless Randy Couture has anything to say about it … the Natural has been quite vocal about wanting a rematch against Lesnar, and he feels like a strong win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira would put him back on the path to another title shot. He’s also made it clear that if Fedor comes to the UFC, he should get first crack at him. Back in 2008 Couture tried to break his UFC contract to arrange a fight against Fedor, but a lengthy legal battle resulted in Randy’s return to the octagon with a new contract promising the UFC would make a reasonable effort to set up a Couture vs Fedor fight.

So for a guy most people don’t know who isn’t even in the UFC, Fedor Emelianenko sure does have some stiff opposition lined up if he ever chooses to sign on the dotted line. And we haven’t even brought up Fedor’s nemesis Mirko Crocop or the large number of UFC fighters that have called out the Russian fighter over the years. For now, we’ll just have to live with him being a free agent … he fights again on August 1st against former UFC champion Josh Barnett at Affliction: Trilogy.

Post from: EveryJoe

Who Is The Best Heavyweight In MMA?

Brock Lesnar - Image: Zuma Press

The whole situation started with Lesnar getting into the bloodied face of his defeated opponent and telling him to “talk some more poop now.” Note that I replaced Lesnar’s four letter word with one of my own just for those who are rendered morally distraught by swearing. While this act was a little more understandable in the context of three months worth of smack talk from Frank Mir, Lesnar wasn’t done yet.

Amongst Lesnar’s other actions were flipping off the crowd, encouraging them to boo him, expressing disdain for the UFC biggest sponsor Bud Light, and sharing his plans to possibly ‘climb up on top of’ his wife, former WWE diva Sable. All in all, an excellent way to end a Wrestlemania, but this is the UFC, not WWE. Here’s what he told Joe Rogan during post-fight interview in the cage:

“Frank Mir had a horsehoe up his ass. I told him that a year ago. I pulled that son of a bitch out, and I beat him over the head with it. I’m gonna go home tonight and i’m gonna drink a Coors Light … that’s a Coors light because Bud Light won’t pay me nothing. I’m gonna sit down with my friends and family, and hell I might even get up on top of my wife tonight!”

While UFC president Dana White is often getting into trouble himself for being brash and outspoken, that didn’t stop him from dragging Lesnar into his locker room bathroom after the fight and chewing him out. A more collected Lesnar later apologized in full for his theatrics, complete with a bottle of Bud Light in his hand and a promise to throw back a few before the night was over.

Post from: EveryJoe

Brock Lesnar causes controversy at UFC 100

Brock Lesnar made Frank Mir eat his words tonight, taking his opponent down in both the first and second rounds and slipping a number of punches right to the kisser through Mir’s arms. Despite an early leglock attempt in the first and flying knee in the second from Frank Mir, Brock’s size and strength were just too much. The fight ended 1:48 into the second round when Lesnar pinned Mir against the cage and knocked him unconscious.

UFC 100 - Image: UFC

Georges St Pierre dominated Thiago Alves with his wrestling in a fight that was impressive but not exactly the most exciting thing in the world. Alves was unable to get his striking game going and spent the large majority of the fight on his back being smothered by the French Canadian champion. Despite a groin injury in the third, St Pierre kept the pressure on and won the fight via decision, with judges scoring it 50-45, 50-45, and 50-44.

In other action, Michael Bisping looked completely outclassed by Dan Henderson, who spent the entire fight throwing loaded right hands at the nervous looking Brit until one finally caught Bisping flush and knocked him out for a good minute or two at 3:20 of the second round.

Jon Fitch avenged his teammate Josh Koscheck’s loss to Paulo Thiago by grinding out a methodical decision on the ground and avoiding several nice choke attempts from Thiago.

And Yoshihiro Akiyama won what many are considering a bogus split decision over Alan Belcher in what was essentially a stand-up battle. While Belcher seemed to be hitting harder, Akiyama was the more accurate of the two and spent the majority of the night ducking half of Belcher’s blows and countering with two shots landed in return.

Now on to the results of the undercard fights which were not featured on the Pay Per View event:

• Mark Coleman defeated Stephan Bonnar via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jim Miller defeated Mac Danzig via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Jon Jones defeated Jake O’Brien via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:43 of round 2
• Dong Hyun Kim defeated TJ Grant via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
• Tom Lawlor defeated CB Dollaway via submission (guillotine choke) at 0:55 of round 1
• Shannon Gugerty defeated Matt Grice via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:36 of round 1

Post from: EveryJoe

Full UFC 100 Results

Brock Lesnar - Image: Zuma Press

The fun thing about this fight is both guys have weaknesses that the other is easily capable of exploiting. Lesnar has only been training mixed martial arts for a few years and there’s no way his jiu jitsu is even close to Frank Mir’s. On the other hand Brock Lesnar hits harder than a truck, and Mir has never done well against guys who manage to whack him in the face a few times. There’s a very easy way to boil this fight down: if it stays on the feet, Brock will win. If it goes to the ground, that’s Frank’s domain … unless it goes to the ground because that’s where Brock’s fists send Mir.

One interesting factor in all this is whether Frank Mir has managed to get under the skin of Brock Lesnar. Mir has spent the last three months talking smack about Lesnar and the former WWE star has been acting extra dour lately, walking out on interviews and press conferences. Who knows if this is the real Brock or just pro wrestling style theatrics. But it adds another dimension to the fight … with all his physical tools, this is Lesnar’s fight to lose but because of Mir’s submission skills all it takes is one hot headed mistake and Lesnar will find himself sans heavyweight belt.

This isn’t the only huge fight on the UFC 100 card. Fighting for the welterweight belt is Georges St Pierre versus Thiago Alves, and the coaches from season 9 of the Ultimate Fighter, Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping, will also face off to see who’s next in line for the middleweight belt. The show starts at 10pm on Pay Per View and is guaranteed to be an amazing and historic night of fights, so don’t miss out!

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 100 Preview: Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir

Both have unreal muscle bound bodies with Ronnie Coleman at 5′11” and 296-325 lbs (depends on the season). Brock Lesnar’s height and weight vary depending on where you look but he’s real close to 6′1/2” and 260 lbs. The difference is Brock is far more athletic and actually may have overall strength despite being the smaller of the two. Checkout the footage of these two working out:

Ronnie is lifting a ton of weight but he’s not lifting for strength or purpose beyond looks (huge mass + ripped). Brock is training to fight and has a lot of built in muscle from his collegiate wrestling days.

Both of these guys are freaks of nature and definitely make you want to get in the gym and pound out some reps.

Post from: EveryJoe

Brock Lesnar vs. Ronnie Coleman

UFC 100 Logo

Here are some details as reported by UFC.com

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – With the mega-card UFC® 100 already sold out, the Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization will hold a closed-circuit screening of this historic pay-per-view at Mandalay Bay Beach Saturday, July 11. Don’t miss your chance to watch all the action on a LED Video Wall under the stars at the UFC 100 viewing party.

For ticket sales and information visit UFC.com. UFC President Dana White commented “I started hearing about UFC 100 around UFC 90. I am blown away by how excited fans were for this event,” said UFC President Dana White. “So I made sure to stack this card with the greatest fights and greatest fighters in the world, and keep ticket prices consistent with our other big events. Once again, our fans responded with a record sellout. This is another great milestone for the UFC, and July 11 is going to be an amazing event.”

Here is the confirmed fight card.
Main Card

Brock Lesnar Vs. Frank Mir
Georges St-Pierre Vs. Thiago Alves
Jon Fitch Vs. Paulo Thiago
Dan Henderson Vs. Michael Bisping
Yoshihiro Akiyama Vs. Alan Belcher
Mark Coleman Vs. Stephan Bonnar

Undercard
Jon Jones Vs. Jake O’Brien
Dong Hyun Kim Vs. Jonathan Goulet
Mac Danzig Vs. Jim Miller
CB Dollaway Vs. Tom Lawlor
Matt Grice Vs. Shannon Gugerty

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 100 Viewing Party On Sale Now

Prior to the July 11th event at Mandalay Bay in Nevada, UFC will premiere UFC Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights starting on July 5th. Fans can vote on which fights they think deserve to be in the 100 Greatest Fights. That starts on May 1st at http://ultimate100.spike.com/. That show will start airing on July 5th at 9pm EST and will continue every evening that week, with the exception of Friday July 10th.

UFC Logo

Here is the current fight card as published on UFC.com.

Main Card

• Brock Lesnar Vs. Frank Mir (for the Hw Title)
• Georges St. Pierre Vs. Thiago Alves
• Dan Henderson Vs. Michale Bisping
• Yoshihiro Akiyama Vs. Alan Belcher

Preliminary Card

• Jon Jones Vs. Jake O’Brien
• Dong Hyun Kim Vs. Jonathan Goulet
• CB Dollaway Vs. Tom Lawlor
• Matt Grice Vs. Shannon Gugerty

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 100 Building With 5 New Fights Carded

Post from: EveryJoe

Brock Lesnar’s First Professional MMA Fight