pretty freakin accurate. what do you guys think of Jackson/forrest?

To be honest, I can't honestly say I know exactly what you're referring to since this thread covers two+ years (and the entirety of my MMA fan life, including my new-fan days with TUF 3, as I literally started following the sport a week before the show began after learning my sister's then-boyfriend had fought twice with his brother, and that my suitemate loved it) but if I had to guess, it's probably in regards to the Guillard-Reudigar KO, and if so, I stand by what I imagine I likely said (I don't want to re-read the whole thread to find it... I did search for posts by me including "stomach" to verify, but no dice.) I fully appreciate the pain of a body shot.  I'm an admitted sports junkie, who also hopes one day (once it's viable) to, as a graduating journalism student, make a living writing about it, with extremely close connections to three good fighters, and as a result I've taken full advantage in talking about the sport with them as often as I can, because I just genuinely love it, and want any extra insight I can get.  So, while I don't have personal experience, I have been told how much it sucks to be hit and don't doubt it in the slightest.  That being said, a body-punch KO is still damn impressive, and I stand by it being the only one I can recall seeing in my life, which encompasses every UFC since 45ish (Netflix is great for catching up on missed fights) a handful of Pride's and 15 or so local/IFL cards.

Also, in regards to present MMA, my brother-in-law Jim's replacement got tapped in 16 seconds by Aurelio at the last Fight Night, and Jim beet Bart Palaszewski in the IFL last night, which apparently moves him high up the title-shot ladder.  Of course, the guy challenging for it on the next card is another Renzo Gracie fighter, and being that he's really good, likely going to win, in which case Jim won't fight for it regardless of where he stands.  Oh well, the Palaszewski win is still the best of his career in terms of opponent prestige. 

In light of all that, and his brother's middleweight title shot on the next card, I was curious if anyone else watches the IFL.  I know that regardless their respective IFL fights are still the biggest in their careers, but I also know I was a passive follower (knew Palaszewski, Horodecki and Rothwell essentially) at best before Dan got involved, so even though it had a cable deal, and solid media coverage, I still am not sure just how known it is.  Admittedly, the PWoT MMA community is a small sample to pull from, but does anyone else here follow the IFL?

Also, I love clearly love parenthetical commenting when moderately inebriated.

The team aspect is essentially gone.  Technically, Jim was representing Renzo Gracie Academy in one of three bouts against Midwest Combat, but there's no longer (to my knowledge, based on the IFL web site) any team standings or playoffs, nor are there bonuses tied to team victory any more, so it's essentially just an attempt to save a little face and pretend the team thing wasn't a complete failure.

The Rampage-Forrest season should be awesome.  I read Forrest's blog on the first week, and he said he realized after awhile early on that Rampage was being much funnier than him, and that upset him, so he tried to turn it up.

I'd imagine the gassing had to do with the cut (though Forrest mentioned that the guys were told to come in at 190, so they should have known something was up,) especially with the guy that came down from 202.  That has to be a brutal cut to make, especially if you haven't already been doing a pre-fight camp in the preceding weeks.

This is a match I've been hoping for, even more than Couture/Fedor.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=12220

Big Tim vs. Fedor on July 19.

My prediction:  Fedor by arm breakage in 1st round.

Looks like you'll never have a cold scalp.

On a related note, what do you guys think about Serra/St. Pierre? Seeing St. Pierre's last fight, I have a hard time imagining what Serra could do to take him out. St. Pierre is looking fierce these days.

St. Pierre is in my mind probably the best fighter in the world and will easily destroy Serra...it's in his fricking country for crying out loud. St. Pierre is one of the fighters that could easily fight and dominate 2 different weight classes like Dan Henderson - also his speed is unbelievable. Watch all of his fights he's got insane power,speed and ground skills. St. Pierre is the definitive MMA fighter he can beat you with nearly every single fighting style.

And I love this new season of TUF because a)Rampage Jackson is hilarious - "this boy don't listen" b)I love the idea of fighting to get into the house c) Jackson - Griffin?? F yea! I've never been a huge Griffin fan but you can't knock his record or his fighting abilities.

I know last season we had the whole Serra and Hughes hate each other but I'm kinda glad to see two coaches who love to fight and also are just plain funny. Plus training under Rampage? I'd kill for that. I'm excited for this season and I hope we get to see some good fights - the prelim fights were pretty good and definetly got the older/less talented guys out of the way.

Another great main event matchup for the UFC tonight. While the undercard can't hold a candle to the best of UFC's undercards (such as UFC 84s), there should still be some competitive match ups. Unfortunately it seems like the undercard fights I am most interested in aren't scheduled to be aired, but hopefully there's some quick fights to free up some time.

On to my picks:

Georges St. Pierre over Matt Serra. TKO 3. I think we're going to see GSP employ the same strategy he used in the Koscheck fight, in that he's going to look to get this fight to the mat as quickly as possible. He'll have to be somewhat comfortable on his feet, but his kneepick has been pretty much unstoppable in getting his opponents to the floor, and I can't see Serra bucking this trend. From the floor his top control will be too much, and Serra's never really showed much from his back in terms of stopping a fight (I think he has one sub from his back in his career). Serra's tough, but St. Pierre pounds him out in the late second or third round.

Rich Franklin over Travis Lutter. TKO 3. While Franklin might not have devastating one-punch power (don't tell Nate Quarry), he usually manages to accumulate a significant amount of damage on his opponent. I expect Lutter to be very game, and while I wouldn't be shocked by an upset, I just have never been too impressed with Travis. Rich dissects Travis standing en route to a late stoppage.

Kalib Starnes over Nate Quarry. DEC 3. It pains me to pick Starnes, it really does. He seems to be one of the more talented flakes in the UFC, which makes picking him all the more appealing. I just think Kalib is more skilled in all facets of the game, and while Quarry might have more power and a lot more heart, it's hard to pick him against an opponent who should be able to beat him standing and on the floor. Not to mention the fact that Quarry was dog tired and getting his ass beat by Pete Sell in his last fight. If Kalib is on, and nothing severe happens (ie, he gets cut...or hit hard for that matter) I think he looks impressive and gets some people back on his bandwagon with a unanimous decision.

Michael Bisping over Charles McCarthy. TKO 2. Bisping looked absolutely shredded at the weigh-ins, whereas McCarthy looked positively fat. Charles has absolutely nothing for Bisping, and I see Mike beating him down over two rounds for an easy stoppage.

Mac Danzing over Marc Bocek. DEC 3. Maybe I won't turn the PPV on until 10:45. Danzig's top control and methodical stand up should wear down Bocek over 3 uneventful rounds.

Other picks:
Alan Belcher over Jason Day. KO of the night.
Demian Maia over Ed Herman. Submission of the night. Maia's BJJ is out of this world.
Rich Clementi over Sam Stout. Fight of the Night. Late submission for Clementi.
Cain Velasquez over Brad Morris.
Kuniyoshi Hironaka over Jonathan Goulet.

Thoughts from UFC 83:

- The 46 or so percent of people who texted in saying they thought Serra would win are retarded. So are the remaining people who voted for GSP. Why would you waste money voting in a poll no one cares about?

- Not only did Kalib lose, but now he's probably never going to be back in the UFC.  You couldn't see it but I was pressing the backspace key for the first 15 minutes I spent on this post.  Atleast Kalib set up the perfect scenario for Nate Quarry to use the Rocky IV quote.

- The alternation between boos and cheers as the cameras switched from shots of Kalib to Nate was the funniest thing I saw all night.

- Travis Lutter was going to update his blog today but he gassed out while booting up his computer.

It's rumoured that Kalib Starnes will be back at UFC 87 in Kenya.

Sherdog has been reporting that.

It reminds me of that philosophical question that asks about having the same axe after replacing the head and handle at seperate times.

Kind of a shit deal, but I guess that's life.