UFC VEGAS 11 is in the Books: A night of star making victories and crushing defeats

I don’t follow sports, with the exception of MMA and occasionally Boxing. Saturday night was an impressive card of fights,  that ended for some with crushing defeats.

Two of the most talked up fights was Woodley vs Covington and Meerschaert vs Chimaev, and in both cases the old lions lost to the rising tigers. With Meerschaert losing in 17 seconds of the 1st round, and Woodley getting TKO’d (rib injury) in the 5th round.

Here is the thing, there is no shame in losing. It is a competition and victories and defeats come to all. Anyone who has the guts to get in there and compete with the best in the world, by default deserves the respect of us mere mortals, who are not doing that. Now that said, sometimes your mouth can talk you into embarrassment and ridicule.

And I get it, to get hit in the face for a living, to go in there and take abuse and give abuse, and be successful at it, takes a certain mentality. It is a belief in your own invincibility, bordering on delusion. And when that delusion… you make into fact, you are a hero. When you don’t, you leave yourself open to what Shakespeare called “being faced out of your way”.  In short bragging, and falling on your face rather than delivering.

That is the corner both Meerschaert and Woodley talked themselves into.

Woodley, coming off back to back defeats, and even before that victories that seemed lacking in ‘convincing style’ or ‘killer instinct’, spent the whole build up to the fight talking about how he couldn’t lose to his opponent, and making what should be a competition about two fighters, instead becomes about everything except the fight.  Woodley bringing a little bit of the circus Colby brings into his fight. 

However, Colby for all his trumpian “heel act”, to court controversy (a detestable thing to do for any reason, people will emulate your poison, not knowing you are doing it for the dollars– and the whole quagmire that is the world, sinks a little more because of it— but each to their own conscience answer), at the end of the day he is a top notch fighter, always bringing his ‘A’ game.

And Colby, even in defeat, has something I have not seen in any of Woodley’s recent fights, he has a killer instinct, he has the desire and pace to get his opponent out of there.

Woodley in his last few fights– no so much.

So coming into this fight and guaranteeing victory, and saying you ‘CAN’T’ lose to your opponent, it sets you up to be embarrassed. Especially against an opponent that has been fighting well and convincingly.

Do your talking in the ring. And then win or lose, you have not promised and failed to deliver. But this way, it is just a forever soundbyte of you claiming you are  not going to lose, followed by a clip of you, definitely losing. Again there is no shame in losing, but you cause shame for yourself in bragging and failing to deliver.

And honestly I think even Woodley’s comments to the media indicated a man who was talking about why he couldn’t lose, or perceived non-germane social media statements/stances, rather than a fighter who was working on how he will win. And while I would have liked for Woodley to win, there is nothing in his recent performances, or in his build-up to this one, that would lead one to believe he would beat Colby.

That to the side, congrats to both men for bringing what they had.

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Moving on Chimaev and Meerschert, again a build up filled with a lot of talking, mostly on Meershaert’s end about feeling disrespected, and derailing Chimaev, and win or lose leaving him in no condition for another quick turnaround fight. Again, no shame in losing. But to do all this talking about taking the new guy into the deep water, and instead getting ended in 17 seconds— you have created a ready made meme.

Do your talking in the ring.

Because only God can truly guarantee the fates of men.

All in all, another exciting UFC card, and I’m looking forward to the upcoming Adesanya/Costa fight, this coming Saturday! Both fighters have been talking much smack, the difference here being, both fighters have winning records, and have recently shown the heart and the victories to back up that talk. That should be a must watch fight!

 

Streaming Roku VOD Youtube Videos TV Guide of the Day!

 

 

 

Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury 2 fight : Prefight Pick and the Last Word!

Have 20 minutes before this fight starts.

 

My prediction? To quote Mr. T in ROCKY III…. PAIN!

All joking aside, while I do not have a dog in this fight, I am one of those who thought the decision of the first fight, a draw was a good decision.

I also think Wilder proved, even being outweighed by 50lbs, he is the harder puncher and the stronger man. Fury proved he is the quicker, more effective boxer.

Coming into this rematch, the winner will be the one who can learn from the first fight and adjust. If Wilder puts the fight on Fury’s chest, doesn’t headhunt but just bangs the body, over and over, the body and arms, keep it an inside fight, and negate Fury’s movement, Fury’s hands will drop, and he will be knocked out.

If Fury can keep Wilder at a distance, and exploit Wilder headhunting, he can outpoint him, and potentially open him up for a knockout of his own.

My prediction… I do not bet, however my gut, I like Wilder. He’s the fresher, more exciting fighter, and if he brings the fight to Fury’s body, rather than headhunting, this could be his night.

 

Okay… LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!

 

RESULTS ARE IN: Fury winner by TKO. Looking at the brief clips, it appears to break down to what I thought above, the one who learned and adjusted from the previous fight… won.

From the brief clips it appears Wilder was headhunting, giving Fury the space to dictate and control the fight from the outside, rather than setting up camp inside his guard and attacking the body. And then once he was concussed it looks like he didn’t have a gameplan.

I will say in the clinches Wilder should have headbutted the eff out of Fury, sometimes you have to get a little dirty to get respect. Fury was crossing the line, in one of the more disgusting displays in a boxing ring, Wilder needed to dissuade that kind of behavior, and a good headbutt or low-blow (generally has no place in a boxing ring, but neither did some of Fury’s antics), is always a pretty good dissuader. 🙂

But bottom line, Wilder and his corner appear to not have course corrected and had a plan to negate Fury’s speed and reach. You have to give it to Fury , he executed his game-plan, and he made the puncher, try and box. I’d love to see these guys do it again, which they are going to have to, as both men, particularly Fury, emphasize an issue with the Heavy Weight division.

Which I will get to below, in my rant section.

 

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I’m going to rant here.

Feel free to ignore this part. 🙂

These guys are super heavy weights, not heavy weights.

There is a reason we have weight divisions to make the fight competitive. Generally speaking if you are 15 pounds more than the next guy you are in a different weight class.

Since the days of Ali and Foreman, when Foreman was the real Ivan Drago (Bigger, stronger, meaner than anyone else in the division. An unbeatable man, a monster. Until Ali in the rematch somehow found a way to beat the unbeatable man) the issue of Super Heavyweight was percolating.

Generally when you did have these super heavy weights, with the exception of Foreman, they were not real contenders, real boxers. You get to the age of Lennox Lewis in the 90s, and then Klitschco in the 2000s and you are suddenly in this period of the super-heavy weights. And it is a bit of a stagnant, unexciting period, because legitimate heavy weights, are blowing themselves up trying to match the natural weight of a super-heavy weight, and just can’t match the reach. So you have a period where the few anomalies, 6’8 guys who can box and punch, super-heavy weights, are holding and stagnating the heavy weight division.

Move to today and we have 3 or 4 of these at the time unbeaten talented super heavyweights, so the division is exciting. But with only 3 or 4 of these guys, the same thing starts to occur, the heavy-weight title stagnates due to lack of competition.

If you are over 225lbs you should be fighting in a different weight class, not the heavy-weight division. That allows the age of future Marcianos and Alis and Holyfields to still happen. And you will always have competitive interesting fights and an influx of a lot of new talent, at that weight class. Above that you then have the super heavyweight division, which is where fighters like Fury and Wilder and Butterbean should be in. But not stagnating the heavy-weight division.

That has been boxing’s issue with the heavy weight division since the late 90s, and will continue to be an issue, until we create a distinction between heavy-weight fighters and super heavy-weights.

 

My 2 cents.

 

Anthony Joshua vs Ruiz!!!! BREAKING BOXING NEWS!! & What Others are Not Saying!

WoW!

No one saw that coming.

And everyone will be looking at the above video.

And for a lot of people it will solidify the negative thoughts they had in regards to Anthony Joshua. The questioning thoughts regarding seemingly ducking Wilder, etc. And taking a ‘lesser’ fight with Ruiz. It did that for me, watching the above video.

But I will urge you to watch the below video. In many ways Anthony Joshua has been the most disrespected champion, however this video i think puts into perspective something that one doesn’t often see.

The measure of a champion.

In adversity you see the true character of a man. And the below video, seeing this after seeing the above video, I think anyone who was an Anthony Joshua dismisser or hater, will come away from that video with a new found respect for him. I did.

I don’t know many men who could have had the night he had, and speak immediately after it with such, no excuses candor.

 

I think in many ways Anthony Joshua now, if he wants it, is poised to be more respected and more dangerous than he has ever been. He is now a man freed of needing to protect perfection, he is a man who can concentrate on just… fighting.

We may rather than seeing the end of a career in the above two videos, be seeing the beginning of one.

Time will tell.

Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury : THE FINAL WORD

Well two undefeated fighters, one Heavy-weight champion (Deontay Wilder) and one returning champion (Tyson Fury), who both have seemingly been stymied in their attempts to get another existing champion, Anthony Joshua (he has three belts [wbo,ibf,wba] and Deontay Wilder holds one of the belts [wbc]), into the ring (In Deontay’s case to unify the belts and in Tyson’s case to regain the belt he relinquished); instead these two met each other last night, Saturday 1 Dec 2018, in a match of unorthodox styles.

Having made the rounds of all the fight analysis, and post fight press conferences to save you the trouble of doing so 🙂 , it seems we have a fight that boiled down to Fury being the slippery, better boxer– being able to make Wilder miss and counter punch, vs Wilder being the aggressive, stronger puncher and able to, when he could reach Fury, knock him to the canvas twice. The last knock down in the twelfth round, that by reports EVERYONE was sure was a knockout, and everyone was amazed by Fury getting up from the canvass and beating the count, to finish the round and take it to the cards.

Where I think (based on all the various takes on the fight) the judges (often second guessed mostly by a bunch of people who have never set foot in a boxing ring) got it right; awarding a decision of a draw. And setting the stage in the future for a rematch.

And like both fighters said (who were very complimentary of each other in the post fight, after being complete bastards to each other in the pre-fight build up) the fans were the winners, getting a great fight,

I think the only loser may have been Anthony Joshua’s camp who hoped two of the dangerous people gunning for him, would have narrowed themselves down to one.

But nope, as of today he still has two undefeated wolves, who have been baying publicly and loudly for his blood. Given the fantastic performance by both men I don’t know how legitimately either one is not your next fight. Perhaps even before a rematch fight.

If I were in either of these men’s camp, I would be pressing for an Anthony Joshua fight next, over a rematch. They both have more to gain, and the rematch is now a guaranteed payday regardless of how they perform against Joshua.

However if they do the rematch first, whoever gets the L is off the table for a Joshua Heavyweight payday fight.

 

It is a great time to be a boxing fan.

 

Thursday’s Thoughts! Vol 1 Issue 2 – Boxing – Wilder vs Joshua?!! WHEN???

“Heart jim, Heart! The whole world’s crying out for a little bit of heart!”

— DETECTIVE STORY

RECOMMENDED DVD/BLU-RAY PURCHASE OF THE DAY

 

DETECTIVE STORY (1951) – See my full review of DETECTIVE STORY in the last installment of Thursday’s Thoughts.

Okay so what is obsessing me this Thursday?

I am catching up with the 4th season of the blade making/competition show, FORGED IN FIRE courtesy of streaming service HULU. Other shows being POWER, AMERICAN PICKERS,

I am finishing up the 6th and last season of the surprisingly good TEEN WOLF series courtesy of AMAZON PRIME. The 6th season is a bit of a misstep, especially the last half, it feels like the writing was definitely on just ‘crank something out mode’, but a weak 1st season and a weak last season aside, it is still must own tv for seasons 2 thru 5.

Definitely along with FARGO season 2, LUKE CAGE season 1, and LEGION season 1, Blu-ray worthy.

Other show on my EXTENSIVE Amazon Prime watch list is THE AMERICANS, BAD LANDS, JACK RYAN, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE to name a few.

 

What I’m Listening to:

I’m now on the fourth audio book of the 8 book men’s adventure series from the 1970s BLACK SAMURAI. Titled PEARL this 4th entry of the series the stakes are a little more street level, but no less dire. Robert Sands, the Black Samurai, instead of averting the revenge massacre of an American town, or stopping the utilization of mass murders and global conflict to increase stock prices, or a terrorist nuclear detonation in America; must this time out save one young girl from prostitution.

Unfortunately his opposition is no less deranged, and the collateral damage… runs just as red. About 11 chapters in and simply stupendous writing. Kevin Kennerly has quickly risen into my rankings of best audio book performers.

If you have not picked up all eight MP3 Audio books on Amazon Prime, now is the time to do so. Previous experience informs that they will not be in stock long.

I pop the cd in on my way to and from work, yes I insist on having a CD player in my car 🙂 and the audio book is SO FRIGGING GOOD! Each book is a writer, the late, great Marc Olden just at the height of his gifts. As a fan of all these men’s adventure books of the 70s, from BOND, to NICK CARTER, to THD EXECUTIONER MAC BOLAN to REMO WILLIAMS THE DESTROYER, Olden’s BLACK SAMURAI is the best of the best.

 

What I’m watching:

Youtube.

I am watching a lot of great Youtube channels. I watch, via Roku, Youtube on my big screen. The Youtube shows are overall more interesting than regular TV.

This week I have in addition to my plethora of comic book shows, gotten on a boxing kick.

The heavy-weight division, after a period of stagnation in the Klitschko years, now has some really exciting champions and contenders and matchups. First and foremost you have two true undisputed champions, Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua.

Anthony Joshua holds the WBO,IBF, AND WBA belts. Deontay Wilder holds the WBC belt.

Both of these fighters are in the mold of Super Heavyweights, the first such Super-Heavyweight being George Forman back in the 1960s. Being well over 6 feet, and over 200 Lbs, Foreman dwarfed his heavy weight competition of the day. And only the brilliance that was Ali was able to figure out how to beat, the unbeatable George Foreman, a man who had not only height and weight but true boxing skill.

Foreman’s return to the heavy weight circuit in the 90s, in a boxing scene absent of an Ali to oppose him, saw the elder Stateman shake the world becoming decades after his expected prime, the undisputed heavy weight champion of the world… and set the mold for the champion of the future.

Someone 6’4 or above and 250lbs. That today has become the average size of the heavyweight division. Which effectively redefines the heavyweight division as a super-heavy weight division.

And redefines what has historically been the heavy weight division, as the cruiser weight division.

The domino effect of this skewing of traditional division definitions, is people who would perform far better and more competitively in the cruiserweight division, are bulking up to pursue the historic prestige of the heavy weight division. Not realizing the heavy weight champions of the 20th century would now all be cruiserweights, not heavyweights.

This new boom of super heavyweights in the heavyweight division, is part of the stagnation of the last few years. Talented fighters are putting on weight beyond their frame to compete with these new super heavyweights, to their detriment. And the detriment of the sport.

A lot of these boxers would be stunning at cruiser weight, but ‘cruiserweight champion of the world’ does not garner the respect or interest, as having the title heavyweight champion. That is why no one even knows who the cruiser weight champions are. I looked them up for this article, never heard of any of them.

There are two ways to solve this,

1/ either create a superheavy weight division, say avyone above 225lbs. And that keeps traditional heavyweights from being outmatched by someone substantially heavier than them, with a greater reach. This is perhaps the most satisfying way, in that it allows for another Jack Johnson, or Joe Louis, or Rocky Marciano to in the future become the heavy weight champion, to keep it not too far out of the scope of a regular guy. And the supersized anomalies such as Klitschko, Fury, Joshua etc, get moved to the Super Heavy Weight division. or..

2/The 2nd way would be to redefine the cruiserweight division as the most prestigious weight division. But that would likely be a hard sell as the history of what is considered the best in boxing is that heavyweight division.

So the 1st option is the one that offers the most competitive heavyweight division.

Currently in 2018 we are very blessed to have a few talented 6’6 heavy weights to compete against each other rather than just outjabbing what amounts to overweight cruserweights, but that beneficial status quo won’t last. And then we will be back to a stagnant heavyweright scene.

For the good of boxing we need to create a super heavy weight division, and that will allow exciting matches at the heavy weight division to flourish.

And right now there is one ‘fight of the decade’ match at the ‘Heavyweight’ division, as well as a couple competitive matches.

That fight of the decade is between of course Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua. Both 6’6 , both knockout artists, both undefeated, and both very exciting fighters. Though clearly Deontay Wilder is the more exciting fighter both inside and outside the ring. Quite clearly Joshua’s people are running scared, knowing in a fight with Deontay, the odds favor that Wilder is either going to knock out Joshua and unify the division: and even a grueling battle that ekes out a decision in favor of their champion, will just excelerate what Deontay likes to call ‘a fighter’s expiration date’.

Now I say the odds are good Wilder knocks out Joshua, cause that is where my gut points. But quite frankly they are both proven champions, it can go either way. That is why it would be a great fight, they are both deserving of respect. The only one who seemingly doesn’t know this is Tyson Fury. Tyson Fury also is deserving of respect, but he has been out of the game for three years, and arguably the Klitschko he beat was a shadow of the one that Joshua fought.

So having not had a fight in 3 years he is trying to talk himself into a title (spelt ‘money’) match. That is not how it is done. You have to prove you still have it and are deserving of fighting a champion before anyone is interested in seeing you fight a champion. Both Joshua and Wilder would earn nothing by beating him. He has to earn that contender status again, just like any other fighter. So it is good that he is fighting again, with a 2nd fight slated for August. Though as long as there is a Joshua/Wilder fight on the possible horizon, he might as well consign himself to waiting in line.

Why?

Well, This is part of the problem with this misnamed super-heavy weight division. Outside of fighting over weight cruiser weights there aren’t really a lot of competitive fights for 6’6 250 lb guys who can really box. So Joshua’s people have their hands full trying to duck The couple serious super-heavy weight fighters out there. I think Joshua beats handily a crafty Tyson Fury, but he risks ending his knockout streak, and worse… an injury, which is always a possibility with any fight, and losing out on the real money fight… Deontay Wilder.

The only fight anyone wants to see in the heavyweight/superheavy weight division is Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua. So Joshua people, stop cherry picking fighters and make it happen.

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Ok I did not think I would do that much talking about Boxing. What can I say, after decades of stagnation, there are some really competitive fights out there.

And Boxing, for reasons I stated elsewhere, I like as a spectator sport, far more than MMA.

That is it for this installment.

Leave a comment or like if you enjoy this THURSDAY’S THOUGHTS!!!

 

 

 

Netflix Movie of the Day : CALL ME KING

R.L. Scott’s CALL ME KING- “I quickly outgrew the council of old men, and looked toward the future” Part action, part pulpy western fueled gangster thriller, part quirky and idiosyncratic familial soap opera, director/screen writer RL Scott’s CALL ME KING is an addictive, compulsive watch.

Undeniably low budget, with a weak reverse Cinderella B-storyline that arguably detracts from the stronger main story, but what elevates this gangster film above its missteps is the Multi-lingual, multi-generational, multi-ethnic scope.

It is a film of and for the 21st Century, with fantastic faces, of hard men from hard places. A wonderfully shot and lyrically scripted layered storyline diatribe on the fall and rise of nations, and walkers in dark places. Part mythic western, part poetic treatise on violence.

Other highlights… I love the first shot and last shot of this film, making haunting and foreboding something ordinary. Add to that compelling cinematography, bone crunching martial arts fight choreography, and an addictive score and you have a $100,000 film that is more entertaining than films with a thousand times that budget,

And it is worth noting that R.L. Scott wears half the hats on this production; being not only the Director and Writer, but also the fight choreographer, stunt man, producer, and cinematographer. Wow, simply no end to this guy’s talents. This is a film and a filmmaker to watch.

Currently see it for free on Netflix, but then it is one to own on DVD/Blu-Ray. It’s a film deserving of a great directors commentary, and special features. Highly Recommended.

Grade: B+.

I’m reaching out to the filmmakers to see when we can expect a Blu-Ray with special features and commentary, and will update when ready, but till that is available the DVD can be had at the link below:

Call Me King