A Look at Topps UFC 2011

By: Clay

Here's a glimpse of the first release from Topps and the UFC for 2011. I know this is a little dated, as this set has been out for sometime...enjoy. By the way, I did pull a Matt Hamill relic which was promptly sold on EBAY as well as two patch cards of Machida and Matt Hughes. As you can see below, the Couture base card photo is from the fight with James "Mush Mouth" Toney and the Hughes photo was taken probably seconds before BJ Penn knocked him out.

Don't Blink

In case you missed Lyoto Machida sending Randy Couture into retirement, here it is. If you happen to see any of the UFC 129 post fight interviews with Machida, he mentions that Steven Seagal taught him that kick. The same as Anderson Silva on Vitor Belfort. Whatever. Seagal doesn't teach shit.

Clay's UFC 129 Picks

Welterweight bout: Sean Pierson vs. Jake Ellenberger
Welterweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald
Lightweight bout: Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson
Light Heavyweight bout: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Jason Brilz
Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida
Featherweight Championship bout: José Aldo vs. Mark Hominick
Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields


Ellenberger over Pierson. Diaz over MacDonald. Henderson over Bocek. Brilz over Matyushenko. Couture over Machida. Aldo over Hominick. St-Pierre over Shields

UFC 129 Weigh-in Highlights

MMA News April 21 2011

By: Clay

-Vitor Belfort and Yoshihiro Akiyama will lock horns in August at UFC 133 in Philly.
-Randy Couture has announced that his upcoming April 29 fight vs Lyoto Machida at UFC 128 will be his last.

"I believe this is my last fight," "I know the UFC is probably going to have other ideas, especially with acquiring Strikeforce and all that. They're probably going to try to draw me into another fight but I don't think that's going to happen. I want to stick to my guns and this is the last one."
"I will miss the competition immensely but I want to go out on my terms I want to go out when I think it's time to go out and not because I lost this fight or lost that fight or because I had an injury that precludes me from training the way I want to train.
"I want to make the decision on my own."

-Chris Leben will finally get his wish to fight Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132 on July 2.
-Nick Diaz claims his next fight will be a boxing match unless he sees more money.

-Here's the trailer for the Anderson Silva doc.

Fedor's Status

By: Clay

I had the opportunity to watch the StrikeForce event on showtime the other night. Boy, does Fedor look slow. Maybe he looks that way because I haven't seen him fight anyone worth a crap over the past few years and now that he has, he just doesn't look right. Does that make since.

I don't think he should retire though. He should test himself in his training and his next fight. He needs to prove that he is the best fighter and that he has just fallen victim to his own hype and his management setting up easy fights for him.

His management team is his biggest downfall. A couple years ago, Fedor could have been in the UFC fighting the best fighters in the world AND all the while being exposed to the American fanbase, many of which don't know anything past what the UFC shows them. He could have made himself more money behind UFC Fights and UFC marketing. He could have gotten paid just to show up at various fight cards that he wouldn't have been scheduled to fight on. Not to mention the UFC fan expos.

Fedor could have made himself a legend 10 times over. Now, we'll just look at his fight record and wonder what might have been. Even if he came to the UFC and didn't win a fight, those losses would still be crediable and respectable losses. Look at Randy Couture. His record isn't all that great but due to the fact that he has fought the best fighters in the world, won some and lost some, Randy is still considered a legend in MMA.

I'm not saying that Fedor isn't and won't remain a legend. He COULD have been a god.