Did This Really Happen Last Night?

Or “Makes You Wonder Why Randy Couture Divorced This Woman…” Kim Couture’s the one on the right in this photo at the Strikeforce Challengers Weigh-Ins last night (event’s tonight):
One of the very few times I would bet against Randy Couture. That’s his wife Kim sporting a rather nice outfit to the weigh-ins. Will she wear it out for the fight? Most likely not…but how awesome would it be? The girl she’s facing on the left? Kerry Vera, who happens to be the wife of fellow UFC fighter Brandon Vera, who Randy just beat last weekend. Vengeance tonight, perhaps? Should be fun. (But Daaaaamn, we’ve been making all this fuss over that Carano girl and look what we’re missing…)

Confuseyus: UFC 106 Quick Predictions

Confuseyus

Normally a little “home cookin’” is welcomed when one has been on the road a long time. But in UFC’s case as they return to the mothership-Las Vegas-for tomorrow night’s UFC 106 the cooking hasn’t gone down well. Injuries, illnesses and other issues have decimated what once was an outstanding-looking card (the main event was to have been Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin for the UFC Heavyweight Championship) and it’s now rather pedestrian. The latest blow came just yesterday (Thursday) when Karo Parisyan pulled out of the card and is probably done in UFC, costing Dustin Hazelett a fight. He’ll still get paid though. So now the event is headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin 2 in a match which one thing is guaranteed-someone or something will run. Click below for quick predictions of what’s left of the card.

UFC 105 Medical Suspensions

It’s that time again! The medical suspensions for UFC 105 have been handed out by UFC, which served as the sanctioning body since there isn’t one for MMA in England. Click below for the long list.

Funny MMA Photo Of The Day: No Disintegrations!

Apparently Boba Fett is an MMA fan, as he was spotted in Shane Roller’s corner at WEC 44 last night:

OK, it was really Marc Laimon, but from a die-hard Star Wars fan major props on the getup. Had to share it…I guess they were expecting Han Solo in Danny Castillo’s corner.

UFC 105 Post-Show News

A lot of news came out of the UFC 105 press conference. Unfortunately, most of it was bad. Very bad…
First the good:
The Bonus Of The Night winners, each gets $40K:
Fight-Bisping vs. Kang
KO-Siver
Sub-Etim (Default, he had the only submission finish)
Attendance: They claimed 16,693 paid for a live gate of $2 million. Attendance-wise, that’s probably a record for England.
If the plan from before 105 holds, Dan Hardy gets the next shot at GSP. I’m thinking spring 2010.
The return date for England is probably 2nd quarter of 2010, meaning between April-June.

The bad and very bad:
UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is out indefinitely, and that’s going to be perhaps a long time. Hospitalized after collapsing while at some property he owns in Canada, unknown what happened but word is it’s serious. Not known yet if it’s career or even life-threatening, but just the thought of it’s scary. Hopefully Brock can fully recover and soon.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is off UFC 108. Severe staph infection, probably will need antibiotics via IV as it’s in the bloodstream. That sounds just as bad.
Shane Carwin, who was mentioned as a replacement for 108, won’t be available. He just had knee surgery.
This all leaves Cain Velasquez without an opponent yet again  in a fight to perhaps determine the challenger for Lesnar-Carwin had all gone as planned. The only worthy name left I can think of to face Cain now is Junior dos Santos (Cain just beat Ben Rothwell, Stefan Struve is rising fast but probably needs one more fight, Pat Barry is out a while with injuries, don’t even start thinking about Mirko Cro Crap-and besides, word is he’s got Rothwell in February). No word on the title picture yet, it’s going to depend on once Dana White finds out more about Lesnar’s condition. The most likely scenario would seem to be creating another interim title, as stripping Lesnar would seem to be a last resort. We’ll see what happens but, through no fault of UFC’s, it’s all starting to fall apart again in the HW division just as it was all coming back together and looking outstanding.

Justin Eilers Update: 15 Years For Killer

In what likely is the conclusion of a tragic MMA-related story I’ve been following for nearly a year, the killer of MMA fighter Justin Eilers was sentenced yesterday on voluntary manslaughter charges. James Malec, Eilers’ stepfather, received a sentence of 15 years in jail and must serve at least 6 1/2 years of that sentence. That was the maximum he could get. Prosecutors wanted charges of second-degree murder initially, which likely would’ve meant anywhere from 20 years to life.
Eilers was killed following a domestic dispute in which Malec’s defense attorney claimed the professional fighter threatened to kill his stepfather. Moore testified that she did not hear the threats, and that Eilers was backing away from Malec when the single shot responsible for his death on the scene was fired.
Eilers had a career MMA record of 19-7-1, including a 1-3 mark in UFC. One of those 3 losses, which were all in a row, came in a UFC Heavyweight Title fight. Following that losing streak he went 10-2 over the rest of his career, including 7 straight wins after his UFC release until he lost to Pedro Rizzo in March ‘07. He would win his next 3 then lose his final fight, a 2nd round TKO by Antonio Silva in EliteXC in July ‘08. Eilers then planned to drop from Heavyweight to Light Heavyweight.
Perhaps the outcome is best summed up by comments from Malec’s wife, Gwen Moore, following sentencing: “Jim will get to live his life again one day,” Moore said. “Justin never will.” That is probably true. Thus it’s really hard to call this closure right now, but it’s time to move on nonetheless.

Confuseyus: UFC 105 Results (Spoilers)

Confuseyus

Click the link below for results from today’s UFC 105 event in England.
WARNING: This will contain SPOILERS for those in the US as the event does not air until 8 PM ET tonight. Click below at your own risk!

Random MMA Video Of The Day: Pre-UFC Photoshooting

Not sure just how recent this video is, but I came across this promo clip for MusclePharm, a nutrition supplement company that features a couple of current/former UFC ring girls as models for their product. One of them, the lovely Arianny, is the reason I post this clip…and it’s been too long since we’ve been able to get our Arianny fix (excluding TUF). If you don’t care much for Ali Sonoma (I don’t), skip to the 1 minute mark of this clip and jump around a bit at times for more of Arianny posing and looking good (almost too good, especially in those tight-fitting shorts that seem to love her) in that fitness outfit. Enjoy.

UFC 105 Weigh-Ins Results

The weigh-ins for tomorrow’s UFC 105 event have just ended. Click below for full results.

Confuseyus: UFC 105 Quick Predictions

Confuseyus

Continuing it’s worldwide fall road trip, UFC is back on the other side of the Atlantic for it’s latest England event, UFC 105 this Saturday. There’s been a lot of shuffling of the top matches but ultimately they’ve settled for UFC legend Randy Couture returning to Light Heavyweight to face rising star Brandon Vera in a match with a fun twist-this weekend the guys fight, next weekend their wives fight each other! OK, ex-wife in Randy’s case. Of course top England fighter Michael Bisping is in action as he looks to bounce back from his being highlight-reel KO’d at UFC 100 against Denis “Liu” Kang and the official debuts of the Ultimate Fighter 9 winners among others. Click below for quick predictions.

Confuseyus: Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers Results (Updated)

Confuseyus

Click the link below for results from tonight’s Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers event from Hoffman Estates, IL.

Confuseyus: Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers & World Victory Road Sengoku 11 Predictions

Confuseyus

Saturday night’s all right for fightin’ once again, then again so is Saturday morning! It’s another big double-shot for MMA fans this Saturday-the big story is Strikeforce debuting on network TV with the long-awaited US TV debut of Fedor Emelianenko taking on top SF Heavyweight contender Brett Rogers. But before that, the early morning brings us World Victory Road Sengoku 11 from Tokyo, Japan. Since both events are only a few hours apart, quick predictions for both events are in this post, so read on and get ready for another busy MMA Saturday!

UFC 104 Paydays, Suspensions

My favorite post-MMA event time. Click below to see the disclosed fighter payouts and the medical suspensions coming out of last week’s UFC 104 event.

Brock Lesnar Is Beatable!

But that’s bad news for the rest of us. Word broke a short time ago that the UFC Heavyweight Champion is off UFC 106 due to illness. Something he’s been fighting for 3+ weeks and it’s kept him from training. UFC president Dana White doesn’t think it’s that pig flu going around. From my past experience, this sounds like some kind of infection. We’re waiting to hear what happens now-either they reschedule Lesnar-Shane Carwni for the title or they roll the dice and give Carwin someone else. Geez, and this not long after Carwin went on record saying his first defense after he won the title would be Cain Velasquez. Shane vs. Cain again now, perhaps? We’ll see what happens but major bummer. I was looking forward to this.

More when it becomes available.

UFC 104 Quick Results

Click below for quick results from tonight’s UFC 104 event in Los Angeles. (Confuseyus is on the DL with injuries)