Okay, so we’ve been down this road before with what used to be called “Bloody Wraps” but I’m bringing it back with a new name. This feature will be a wrap-up of the day’s combat sports news, both what we covered here on Bloody Elbow and some of the stuff we missed with a little analysis and personality. I’d be lying if I said we won’t miss a day, sometimes life gets in the way, but I’ll try my damndest to get it up every weekday. I will be playing around with the format the first few times out, so let me know what you do and don’t like.
Everyone made weight for tomorrow night’s UFC on Fox card. Lyoto Machida came in at 201, a full five pounds lighter than he could have weighed in by the rules of the game, but that’s not really a factor for the fight. Machida is coming in looking to be quick, avoid the plodding attack of Bader and work his angles.
But what is interesting is this little tidbit:
Machida just said “could be” when he was asked by
@arielhelwani if he was going to go to 185— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) August 3, 2012
So, Machida is in line for a light heavyweight title shot if he’s the “most impressive winner” tomorrow night but he’s also hinting at dropping to middleweight? It’s just another layer of weirdness in the story of tomorrow night.
In Olympic boxing news, the USA’s last men’s fighter was bounced today as Rau’Shee Warren gave his fight away early in the day’s schedule, losing to Nordine Oubaali of France. Then, later in the afternoon’s fights, American welterweight Errol Spence was blatantly robbed by the judges against India’s Krishan Vikas. There was very little case to be made for a Vikas win, but bad judging has been a standard part of Olympic boxing this year (2016 will see the elimination of headgear and implementation of the 10-point must).
Some big name boxers didn’t want Warren to get too down after his third straight Olympic trip without ever winning a bout, so they offered a strange bit of advice:
But, in the Spence situation, yet another protest was filed, but this time the result was overturned and Spence now moves on. It was a trainwreck of a situation, but the right guy is moving on and the USA does have a single hope alive for a boxing medal. But some weren’t too happy with the way the result was overturned, as Scott Christ of BadLeftHook tweeted:
I gotta say, guys, I just laughed my ass off at how they’ve done this. +4 on warnings. Not that he landed more punches or anything. God…
— Scott Christ (@badlefthook) August 4, 2012
It’s like they wanted to go “OK OK fine you’re right” but make it as weak and cheap as they possibly could. What a grotesque organization.
— Scott Christ (@badlefthook) August 4, 2012
In the other interesting boxing tidbit of the day, Floyd Mayweather got out of jail this morning and tweeted this picture:
Yeah, that’s the same Floyd Mayweather who looked to get out of jail early because he was wasting away to nothing, unable to eat right and keep in shape…looking massive.
Floyd showed up in the headlines yesterday as well with Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole writing an article about Mayweather not forgetting his girlfriend’s birthday which included this rather incredible bit about the world’s pound-for-pound best boxer:
What may not be as well known is what a romantic he is. Even as he was finishing his sentence in the Clark County Detention Center, Mayweather didn’t forget girlfriend Shantel Jackson’s birthday.
The “romantic” Mayweather was in jail for domestic violence charges, at least the second time such charges had been brought against the big ol’ cuddlebug.
We found out today that Tim Sylvia and Andre Arlovski will meet for a fourth time at the next ONE FC event. It really is the fight the world has been waiting to see. After all, their third fight left us all craving more and wasn’t at all the worst title fight in UFC history. With them both older, Arlovski’s chin made of paper and Sylvia just now returning from the land of the super heavyweights it’s all the more compelling.
With Sylvia returning to the news, KJ Gould took to the keyboard to lay out the case for Sylvia’s return to the UFC…or at least the case for Dana White to give a better reason why he doesn’t want Sylvia back.
Dana did address the near signing of Sylvia for Strikeforce in a video, however. He also called Roy Nelson a “pain in the ass,” so that’s fun.
We got a few guys wishing for things that they probably won’t get as Dana White voiced his desire for Forrest Griffin to retire and Cesar Gracie wants the UFC to give Nick Diaz an overseas fight and draw the ire of the NSAC.
White claimed that Forrest is no longer “in the mix” for a title shot, and if you’re not going to get a title shot…why keep fighting?
The obvious issues here being that Forrest is 3-1 in his last four, much better than anyone fighting for a title shot on tomorrow’s Fox show and two of those wins came over Tito Ortiz who quickly defeated Bader (one of the four men fighting for said title shot) and the other was over Rich Franklin, who just won a main event fight and is a former world champion. So why is he erased from “the mix?” His losses since 2008 came to Shogun Rua, Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva all were top ranked fighters (or the best fighter in the history of the sport in the case of Silva). You can add a title win over Quinton Jackson during that same time for Griffin…yet he’s officially out of “the mix?”
Also, if one is supposed to retire because they have no realistic chance at a title shot, about 75% of the UFC roster should retire before Forrest, even if the guy is a giant doof.
As for Gracie, he’s pretending the UFC lets suspended fighters compete overseas all the time instead of never. State athletic commissions don’t view fighters they suspended competing very kindly and it could impact Diaz’s application for a new license in February. It’s not going to happen, so he should just move on and get Nick ready for 2013.
The staff gave their UFC on Fox predictions with eight of the nine staffers who offered up their picks choosing Shogun to top Vera in the main event. Dallas Winston also wrote up one of his great dissections of the clash between Lyoto Machida and Ryan Bader, so there’s plenty of analysis out there for you to soak in. Maybe you can even make some ill advised gambling decisions based on our breakdowns.
While Shogun is my “official” pick for the main event winner, I explained today that I’m rooting for a little bit of chaos tomorrow by way of a big Vera win. After all, what fun is a “guaranteed title shot” with the possibility of an undeserving title challenger if that guy doesn’t pull off the upset?
But hey, even if Vera loses, he’s main eventing a Fox show. That should be enough for him to hold his head.
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