UFC 81: Breaking Point

Most of my crafty friends probably don't know that this was me years ago, when I trained with Erik Paulson:

That's me on the right, less 5 years and 20 pounds of soft butter. Anyhoo, I'd love to start training again (or exercising period) but nowadays, my daughter's activities take priority and the commute to north county has worsened tenfold. Plus, truth be told, I'm much slower and softer, so it'd be a bit more painful. In the meantime, I still enjoy watching MMA (mixed martial arts) matches, especially when Erik is coaching, so last Saturday night's UFC 81 (where Erik coached Brock Lesnar) was an exciting one for me.

I won't bother reviewing the fights, play by play, but I do have some observations:

* Where is Big John McCarthy? I haven't seen him in months. I don't hit the MMA boards so if anyone has a clue--I'd love to hear it.

* Best Entrance music goes to Jeremy Horn with AC/DC's "Back in Black". Close second is Nogueira's "Gimme Shelter" by the Stones, though I do give props to Tyson Griffin jogging in with "Eye of the Tiger".

* I still think that the Joe Rogan/Mike Goldberg combo is such a key to UFC's success. Rogan's ability to translate specific fighting locks, strikes, etc. into layman terms combined with his excitement and respectful knowledge of the fighters' skills make for great commentating. Mike Goldberg, with his sports emcee cadence and friendly humor, complements Rogan well. I love/hate how his sportscasting experience won't allow any bout of silence and he'll often break them with comments like, "How good was it to have Rocky at our last UFC?"

* Still love an upset - Tim Boetsch's surprise beatdown of David Heath marked him as a contender, especially considering he took the fight 10 days before Saturday night. Unfortunately, Rob Yundt didn't fare so well taking the fight against Ricardo Almeida 3 days before Saturday (and got choked out in about a minute in the first round).

* Talk about "damning with faint praise": acknowledging prolific fighter Jeremy Horn as "still standing and still relevant" to the UFC. Taking a fight on short notice with Nate Marquardt, Horn came close to a submission via Omo Plata but eventually succumbed to a standing guillotine. Maybe stealing Seth Rogan's hairdo from "Knocked Up" was the lucky move for Marquardt...

* Lesnar's loss to Mir with an ankle lock was a huge surprise to me given that those are Erik's specialty. Erik has a ridiculously encyclopedic knowledge of leg locks... I did giggle when Lesnar referred to Mir as Frank "Murr".

* Poor Kyle Bradley. They are going to be replaying that footage of the ref stopping the fight and Kyle blindly putting the ref in his guard for a while...

* Nogueira. Love the comeback within a fight. Got a little worried when his face was getting puffier than mine gets in the morning after a hard night of beer, anything with more than a grain of salt, and a screening of the Joy Luck Club. But he pulled through...

* Nakamura v. Emerson. Shouldn't lightweights at least be fast? Ugh--fell asleep during the fight! I don't even know who won.

I welcome any feedback--