ROC 26 Looking Killer

The preliminary card for Ring of Combat 26 on September 11th is looking pretty killer. Dante Rivera is returning to face human highlight-reel Sean Salmon, while Team Serra/Longo up-and-comers Nabih Barakat and Costa Phillippou are facing old-school vet "Crazy" Chris Schlesinger and Victor O'Donnell - both of which are guaranteed to be frenetic, fast-paced bouts. Meanwhile, ROC heavyweight champ Bret Kohan is going to take on 205-pound champ Ricardo Romero at 210 pounds, and Chris Liguori will test lightweight champ Charles Oliveira da Silva. Yes, it's months away, but so far, so good.

How to Harass MMA Legends 101

Pat Miletich is without question a legend in the sport. Sadly, even legends aren't immune from vindictive dingbats with Internet access. Credit goes to "Sambo Steve" Koepfer for the link and the legwork - http://www.bullshido.org/David_Kujawski_Investigation .

What We've Learned From Bellator FC Season 1

The first season of the Bellator Fighting Championships is one for the books and champs in four weight classes have been crowned. So what have we learned over the course of a dozen shows? (More bullet points! Yay!)

• Toby Imada may not be the best fighter at 155, but the dude is dangerous if you let your guard down.
• Nothing says "viral buzz" like a YouTube clip. Bravo to the Bellator exec who greenlighted putting highlights on the Internet.
• Jared Hess sure can bleed.
• Hector Lombard is a monster. But we knew that, just like we knew Eddie Alvarez and Lyman Good were monsters.
• Joe Soto is one tough featherweight bastard, and he's shown just how beatable Wilson Reis is. Reis barely squeaked by Roberto Vargas, who took a page from Soto's book by out-scrambling the master scrambler.
• If there's a bantamweight tournament in the cards, it has to include Nick Pace.
• There aren't a lot of A-level or even upper B-level Latino fighters. There are, however, a lot of up-and-comers. Give them time and Omar De La Cruz, Hector Urbina, Estavan Payan and Yahir Reyes will be killers.
• Smooth production, professional packaging and decent fights means season two will definitely be worth watching.

Observations From My Couch: TUF 9 Finale

• Based on Joe Rogan's commentary during the Joe Stevenson/Nate Diaz fight, I think I'm going to count that bout as a win for Nick Diaz.
• Ross Pearson and Andre Winner had the kind of battle fans only dream of. Literally. They dream of that kind of fight because they've fallen asleep with the TV on.
• Why does Kevin Burns hate Chris Lytle's nuts so much? Is there history there?
• Did DeMarques Johnson not train for the TUF 9 finale? Did he forget he had one more bout to go to be crowned "The Ultimate Fighter"?
• I don't know what was crazier - the fact that Diego Sanchez beat the hell out of Clay Guida, or the fact that Guida just kept coming and coming. Solid fight.

Observations From My Couch: Strikeforce Challengers "Santos vs. Villasenor"

• Luke Rockhold vs. Corey Devela had all the makings of a grappling suckfest. Thank God for Rockhold's right hand.
• What the hell happened to Shayna Baszler? She used to be a submission badass. Now she just stands around and gets punched in the face.
• Leaving the UFC was the best thing Jorge Gurgel ever did. "Wahoo!" to the king of slugfests!
• Given Tim Kennedy's months spent in Afghanistan calling in air strikes and going on patrols, maybe Nick Thompson sporting a Taliban beard wasn't such a good idea.
• Good effort by Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos against Joey Villasenor, but I have no doubt his wife Cristiane would've won that fight.

TUF 9 Finale to Feature... Er, Um... Someone

The finale for the ninth season of "The Ultimate Fighter" is Saturday night on SpikeTV, and the Diego Sanchez/Clay Guida-headlined event will see two lightweights and two welterweights compete for the eponymous title and some sort of faux-lucrative contract. So, um, who exactly is fighting? In case you watched all 12 episodes of TUF 9 and still don't know (which is likely), MMA Journalist has put all the pertinent facts in one place. Your latest batch of potential Ultimate Fighters are:

• Ross Pearson - A lightweight Brit with the kind of accent reserved for London vagrants and chimney sweeps, Pearson is a wrestling anomaly capable of taking opponents down and pounding on them but incapable of holding in a mouthpiece. Don't ask.
• Andre Winner - Sorry, no clue. I think he's a Brit who hates chicken curry and likes flour, though.
• DeMarques Johnson - The cream of this season's American crop, which is like saying one toothless Atlantic City hooker is better than another. I think he can strike well, but not well enough that any other 170 pounders currently on the UFC's roster have to worry.
• James Wilks - This Brit made it into the finale by beating the same dude twice. And it was a closer fight the second time around. Really, that says it all there.

June 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings

June 19, 2009: We are proud to announce the launch of the Independent World MMA Rankings. Some of the best and most knowledgeable MMA writers from across the MMA media landscape have come together to form one independent voting panel.

These voting panel members are, in alphabetical order: Zach Arnold (FightOpinion); Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jared Barnes (Houston Chronicle); Jordan Breen (Sherdog); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter, MMA Memories, and MMA Journalist Blog); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (MMA Payout); Todd Martin (CBS Sportsline); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA; Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Jonathan Snowden (Author of "Total MMA: Inside Ultimate Fighting"); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion), Ivan Trembow (Freelance); and Dave Walsh (Total MMA).

These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple web sites. The rankings are tabulated on a monthly basis in each of the top seven weight classes of MMA, from heavyweight to bantamweight, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on.

The rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody's vote counting more than anybody else's vote, and no computerized voting. The voters are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters' actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they've actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win fantasy match-ups.

Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Zach Arnold, and Joshua Stein for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.

Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight.

Disciplinary Suspensions: Fighters who are currently serving disciplinary suspensions are not eligible to be ranked.

Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that he is leaving one weight class in order to fight in another weight class, the fighter is not eligible to be ranked in the new weight class until he has his first fight in the new weight class.

Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class.

June 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings
Heavyweight Rankings (206 to 265 lbs.)
1. Fedor Emelianenko (30-1, 1 No Contest)
2. Frank Mir (12-3)
3. Josh Barnett (24-5)
4. Brock Lesnar (3-1)
5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1, 1 No Contest)
6. Randy Couture (16-9)
7. Alistair Overeem (29-11, 1 No Contest)
8. Shane Carwin (11-0)
9. Brett Rogers (10-0)
10. Andrei Arlovski (15-7)

Light Heavyweight Rankings (186 to 205 lbs.)
1. Lyoto Machida (15-0)
2. Rashad Evans (13-1-1)
3. Quinton Jackson (30-7)
4. Forrest Griffin (16-5)
5. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (18-3)
6. Rich Franklin (25-4, 1 No Contest)
7. Keith Jardine (14-5-1)
8. Dan Henderson (24-7)
9. Renato "Babalu" Sobral (32-8)
10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3)

Middleweight Rankings (171 to 185 lbs.)
1. Anderson Silva (24-4)
2. Yushin Okami 23-4)
3. Nathan Marquardt (28-8-2)
4. Demian Maia (10-0)
5. Dan Henderson (24-7)
6. Jorge Santiago (21-7)
7. Gegard Mousasi (25-2-1)
8. Robbie Lawler (16-5, 1 No Contest)
9. Vitor Belfort (18-8)
10. Thales Leites (14-2)

Welterweight Rankings (156 to 170 lbs.)
1. Georges St. Pierre (18-2)
2. Thiago Alves (16-3)
3. Jon Fitch (18-3, 1 No Contest)
4. Jake Shields (23-4-1)
5. Matt Hughes (43-7)
6. Josh Koscheck (12-4)
7. Martin Kampmann (15-2)
8. Mike Swick (14-2)
9. Carlos Condit (22-5)
10. Paulo Thiago (11-0)

Lightweight Rankings (146 to 155 lbs.)
1. B.J. Penn (13-5-1)
2. Kenny Florian (11-3)
3. Shinya Aoki (20-4, 1 No Contest)
4. Eddie Alvarez (17-2)
5. Joachim Hansen (19-7-1)
6. Tatsuya Kawajiri (24-5-2)
7. Frankie Edgar (10-1)
8. Josh Thomson (16-2)
9. Satoru Kitaoka (25-8-9)
10. Gray Maynard (7-0, 1 No Contest)

Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Mike Brown (22-4)
2. Urijah Faber (22-3)
3. Wagnney Fabiano (12-1)
4. Jose Aldo (15-1)
5. Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2)
6. Leonard Garcia (12-4)
7. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (16-3)
8. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (17-2)
9. Dokonjonosuke Mishima (19-6-2)
10. Raphael Assuncao (13-1)

Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
1. Miguel Torres (37-1)
2. Brian Bowles (7-0)
3. Takeya Mizugaki (11-3-2)
4. Masakatsu Ueda (9-0-2)
5. Joseph Benavidez (10-0)
6. Akitoshi Tamura (14-7-2)
7. Will Ribeiro (10-2)
8. Rani Yahya (14-4)
9. Damacio Page (11-4)
10. Manny Tapia (10-2-1)

Mitch the Intern's TUF 9 Recap: Episode 12

*Editor's note: Mitch the Intern is an NYU undergrad whose favorite Wednesday night pastime includes the TV in his dorm room, a green beanbag chair and two hits of acid. Enjoy.*

The last episode of season nine and it's all about Frank Loser and his impending rematch with Team UK's James Wilks. Due to some editing miscalculation, all the drama was used up in the previous eleven episodes, so tonight we're treated to the TUF equivalent of a night at the theater in London, where things like eating a bowl of cereal and sitting in a sauna are made to seem as important as the assassination of Julius Caesar or Hamlet talking to a skull.

Enter, stage left: the Queen of England, who strides into the TUF House with an air of authority and the aura of a cartoon character who's been shot with the dart from a tranquilizer gun and now moves in comical slow-motion. The Queen is here to dine with her Team America: World Police subjects, and over finely barbecued ribs and steamed asparagus that's been in Frank Loser's ears, she says to him, "You don't need teeth to beat your opponent." Of course, the words take forever to come out, but you knew that.

Frank's missing teeth. Gone, courtesy of his first go-around with James Wilks. Gone like a TUF contestant's innocence when he unwittingly bites into a jizz-covered piece of fruit. Gone like a homoerotic sexual innuendo, promoted off-screen by a producer cognizant of ad sales and targeted demographics, and uttered by a TUFer for the paltry sum of a SpikeTV baseball cap and a chunk of dignity. Sure, Frank misses his teeth, but they'll run into each other every now and then, maybe at a party or in a crowded restaurant, Frank slurping from a bowl of chicken soup and his teeth sitting at a booth across the dining room, gnawing on a steak. Maybe they'll acknowledge each other, maybe they won't.

At that moment, the British Mr. T is advising James Wilks that Frank is dangerous - perhaps even more so - now that his teeth are gone. "He's probably hungrier now, seeing that he can't chew things," says British Mr. T. "You've got to bring your 'A' game."

Cut to Frank training, sweat beading upon his brow as an orchestra builds to a crescendo of percussion and horn. "I've fought three times in the last month," he says. "I have scurvy and gout, plus I have no teeth."

"You don't need teeth," says the Queen.

Back at the house again, and Frank and James Wilks are becoming fast friends, with the men autographing each other's underwear and sitting around in the sauna cutting weight. But what price their friendship? Could they have been friends if Frank still had his pearly whites?

Then Team UK has dinner. British Mr. T prepares a dish of chicken curry, the scent of which attracts coach Michael Bisping. Somewhere across town Dana White is dining alone, a forlorn look upon his face and muted profanities on his lips, but Michael is with his team. Laughter abounds, and when Andre the Weiner pelts British Mr. T with chicken they scurry outside, frolicking in and around the pool. As Andre the Weiner is a huge fan "Scarface" starring Al Pacino, he face-plants in a mountain of Bolivian Marching Powder. More laughter. Oh those Brits!

And it's fight time. The two remaining warriors make their way to the Octagon, ready to throw down for the right to face the Marquis de Johnson at the TUF finale and maybe be "The Ultimate Fighter" or something. From cageside the Queen starts to chant, repeating "You don't need teeth, you don't need teeth" over and over, while within the confines of the eight-sided crucible of a combat Frank and James Wilks wage war. For two and a half rounds the Brit picks the American apart on the feet, his crisper, sharper strikes taunting Frank's remaining molars with the promise of a better life in the Land of Tea and Crumpets and Benny Hill reruns. Yet, though Frank crumples from the onslaught in Round 3, his molars are intact. It's a moral victory.

So the finals are set. Two Brits who are extraordinarily hard to understand will clash for the TUF 9 lightweight whatever, and the Marquis de Johnson and James Wilks for fight for the welterweight version of "Jesus, I spent six weeks in the TUF House for that? What a waste."

What of the impending match-up between the coaches? No one cares. Not even the Queen of England's declaration that Michael Bisping is a "douchebag" is going to change that.

The end.

Tiger Schulmann Fighter Declared Ruler of Staten Island

Team Tiger Schulmann bantamweight Nick Pace, whose flying knee KO of Collin Tebo at last weekend's Bellator FC made the rounds on YouTube and countless other Internet highlight reels, has been declared the ruler of Staten Island according to a statement issued by the City of New York. Normally governed by a Borough President who in turn answers to the mayor, Staten Island is the least populated of New York City's Five Boroughs but third largest in square miles. Pace's new role as "Divine and Exhalted Bad Mofo" essentially crowns him as a kind of king with the citizens of Staten Island his serfs and fiefs. "Divine and Exhaled Bad Mofo Nicholas Pace has parlayed a successful kickboxing and amateur MMA record into a very promising pro career," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the statement. "He's just the kind of leader Staten Island needs." Currently, Pace is an instructor at TSMMA's Bay Ridge location. It's unclear at this time if his role as Staten Island's ruler will affect his teaching schedule.

Nick Thompson to File Injunction, Writ and Restraining Order Against Tim Kennedy

Nick Thompson is a well-rounded competitor when the cage door shuts, but when he squares off against IFL veteran Tim Kennedy on Friday's Strikeforce Challengers: "Santos vs. Villasenor" event, his edge may come from his background as an attorney. According to documents filed in the King County Superior Court, the man known as "The Goat" has petitioned a judge to issue an injunction against his opponent that would forbid Kennedy from using strikes. In addition, a Writ of Habeas Corpus has been submitted that would prevent Thompson's unlawful detention (i.e., Kennedy cannot grapple with him), and a temporary restraining order has been filed with the Clerk's Office that would prevent Kennedy from coming within thirty feet of Thompson's person. All of this makes for a very difficult fight for Kennedy. "I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a smart mixed martial artist," says Thompson, who, in lieu of a purse, is instead billing Strikeforce for the hours devoted to training and fighting. "I could defeat Mr. Kennedy with my kickboxing or my submissions game, but why risk physical harm when my license to practice law can get the job done?" Strikeforce Challengers: "Santos vs. Villasenor" will air live on Showtime, and also features someone named Santos fighting someone named Villasenor. I think.