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It could have been one of the biggest sporting events of the year, but thanks to Dana White it’ll never happen. Anderson Silva’s dream boxing match against Roy Jones Jr. has been deaded, because White “didn’t want to embarrass the UFC”, if Silva got knocked out in the first round. Dana White understandably realized that if Silva stepped into Jones’ realm he would lose badly, much like Jones would lose badly in an MMA cage.
I think this proves that MMA and boxing are NOT competitors, and shouldn’t be viewed as such. On every boxing/MMA website online, you’ll inevitably find fans comparing the two sports and pitting them against each other in some form or fashion.
I’m in the minority that believes that these two sports don’t have to cannibalize each other to achieve success. Boxing can survive on it’s own regardless of MMA, and vice versa. There is no need to pit any UFC fighter against a boxer to prove anything.
With all of that said…. It would have been damned entertaining.
You know how every major sport has crazy statistical breakdowns of every game that’s ever been played? Somewhere in this country, some guy knows what Carney Lansford’s career batting average is, or Brett Favre’s winning percentage when it’s below 40 degrees.
Those kind of hard statistics don’t exist for MMA yet, butFightMetric is beginning to put data together. Right now, they face the huge task of creating a backlog of thousands of fights that have already taken place. However, creating meaningful statistics on MMA won’t be as easy, due to the unpredictable nature of a fight…. check out what Fight Metric founder Rami Genauer has to say.
“The issue is that MMA is a mess in terms of creating comparable data sets. For example, every major professional baseball game is nine innings long and the way to beat your opponent is by scoring more runs than they do. MMA has variable match lengths; some last 20 minutes, some last 20 seconds but result in the same outcome. MMA has variable rules and judging criteria; what won fights in Pride wouldn’t work in the UFC. To make things worse, MMA has multiple victory methods or differing quality; you can dominate your opponent or score a lucky cut stoppage or eke out a bogus decision and they all equal a win on your record. Some would look at those factors and say MMA and stats are incompatible. I think it means we have to think more creatively.”
After looking over stats for the Cung Le / Frank Shamrock match, I can definitely say this is going to take some getting used to. But I’m down….
If you missed UFC Fight Night 13 on Tuesday, then you haven’t seen this 8 second knockout. James Irvin laid Houston Alexander out in the opening moments of the fight and the ref called everything off. There was a little bit of controversy, because Houston claimed that he was fine. If you look at his arms right after he receives the second clean punch, his arms go limp.
(rss subscribers may have to click over to view the video below)
BALCO founder Victor Conte is finally ready to tell his side of the story regarding “the steroid era” and the role he played in it. Conte will release BALCO: The Straight Dope on Barry Bonds, Marion Jones and What We Can Do To Save Sports this fall under Skyhorse publishing
This is significant because unlike most of the Mitchell Report, Conte will be able to give first hand accounts of what did and didn’t happen with many athletes. For the last few years, Conte has been proven to be truthful when calling out athletes for taking drugs (namely Marion Jones) so unlike Jose Canseco, we can rest assured there is no ulterior motive for this book.
Conte, in conjunction with co-author Nathan Jendrick, promises to share “the dirt, the drugs, the doses, the names, dates and places, and a ‘prescription’ for a brighter future.”
He promises the “complete truth in its honest, unadulterated and raw form” and says he is “ready to tell the world everything.”
I’ve seen Victor Conte give interviews here on local Bay Area TV stations, and he’s always seemed extremely candid and confident in what he says. Unlike most people involved with steroids and performance enhancing drugs, he doesnt stutter, stammer, and give long pauses when faced with tough questions. Lastly, Victor Conte isn’t scared to speak his mind about how the U.S. gov’t is full of sh-t and plans to do so in ‘the straight dope’.
Tonights fight with Cung Le and Frank Shamrock was one of the most entertaining MMA displays I’ve seen this year. Both guys rep San Jose, California and were fighting in front of their home town fans, the crowd was going crazy the entire time (or gettin’ hyphy if you’re from this area).
There were 3 exciting rounds, but Shamrock failed to answer the bell to come out for the 4th. Cung Le broke Shamrock’s arm, which was most likely the result of accumulating kicks. The downright ARROGANCE of Frank Shamrock is what ultimately did him in. He refused to take Cung Le to the mat (where Frank has the advantage), and insisted on trying to knock Le out in the stand up.
Instead of knocking Cung out, he was systematically broken down until his body couldn’t take it anymore, all because he wanted to prove a point.
It could have been one of the biggest sporting events of the year, but thanks to Dana White it’ll never happen. Anderson Silva’s dream boxing match against Roy Jones Jr. has been deaded, because White “didn’t want to embarrass the UFC”, if Silva got knocked out in the first round. Dana White understandably realized that if Silva stepped into Jones’ realm he would lose badly, much like Jones would lose badly in an MMA cage.
You know how every major sport has crazy statistical breakdowns of every game that’s ever been played? Somewhere in this country, some guy knows what Carney Lansford’s career batting average is, or Brett Favre’s winning percentage when it’s below 40 degrees. 
BALCO founder Victor Conte is finally ready to