Eye Pokes and Broken Bones

I went to a UFC fight and a medical drama broke out. In one of the strangest cards in history, two fights ended early due to accidental eye pokes, one ended early due to a grotesquely injured thumb, but thankfully the main even reached a natural conclusion despite a disgusting bloody broken toe.

But let's start at the beginning. Tickets for previous UFC events had been so expensive and so hard to come by that TON and I didn't even think of attending UFC 159 until the last minute. We got our tickets for $120 and we got DaveBern and off we went.

The Prudential Center is a pretty nice arena, with a good location for most Jerseyites, the only problem is parking. For me it was easy, I literally made one left turn, drove 20 miles, then made a right and was at the Rock. I parked in a lot right across the street, a steal at $20.

I tried again to get a table at Dinosaur BBQ which didn't work out so well last time. This time we still had to wait about an hour, but the Nets-Bulls 3OT game kept us entertained and it didn't seem that long until I got the text saying our table was ready, right as the third overtime was nearing conclusion. We were taken to a table in the back, but we complained so we were relocated to a table right near the TV, but too late, the game was already over.

The food of course was delicious



and we got to our seats in plenty of time to see the first fight.



There were two on the Facebook undercard, 4 on the FX undercard and 5 more on the main card. 11 fights, 5 1/2 hours, not bad when you compare it to a baseball or basketball game that lasts 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The first two fights were boring, the next two fights, including the women's match were pretty good, and that's when the craziness started.

A pretty boring fight between Ovince St. Preux and Gian Villante had one of the most controversial endings you'll ever see. OSP hit Villante with a thumb to the eye, an accidental foul that is quite common in MMA. The referee saw the poke and almost immediately called off the fight. In the arena we had no idea what happened (though I did guess correctly) and no idea how the fight would be decided. Because it was the third round, it went to the referees' scorecards. They all scored the 3rd round (all 33 seconds of it) 10-10, so OSP won the fight by winning the first two rounds on two of the judges' scorecards.

When I watched the fight back later on TV, you could clearly hear referee Kevin Mulhall ask Villante if he could see. He said "no" and Mulhall waved off the fight. Horrible refereeing. Of course he couldn't see, he'd just been poked in the eye. But vision can return quickly in those situations. Give him a minute, call in the doctor, don't just wave off the fight. Stupid incompetent referee. Even Villante was pleading with him to let the fight continue.



But that was just the beginning, the next fight ended in a similarly disappointing way. Rustam Khabilow was suplexing Yancy Medeiros all over the octagon. On one of the throws Medeiros put his hand down, and broke or dislocated his thumb.
Not as gruesome as it could have been. But bad enough so that Medeiros could not continue.



So that fight had to end early also, but Khabilow won due to TKO, which was unsatisfying, but at least fair, because the injury came out of something Khabilow was doing.

That marked the end of the free card and on to PPV we went. If you ever watch the live prelims you know Dana White and Joe Rogan scream at each other while the "Teenage Wasteland" plays and the crowd screams. What is the crowd reacting to? An awesome montage of the best fighters and moments in UFC plays on the jumbotron while Joe and Dana preview the upcoming card.

It was kind of a lull after that while Mike Goldberg and Rogan introduce the card. And they actually used "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston during that interval. Strange.

To keep the weirdness going, we had the first ever Bruce Buffer fuckup. In his normal overdramatic scream he announced the winner of the first fight, "Jiiiimmmmmmmmm Millllllllerrrrrrrrrrrr." Unfortunately, Pat Healy won, and Buffer quickly corrected himself.

Phil Davis and Vinny Magalhaes was a boring fight.

But then came what I think was the fight of the night. Roy Nelson vs. Cheick Kongo. This is what they looked like at the beginning of the fight (roughly)



And this is what they looked like at the end of the fight when Nelson KTFOed Kongo, pretty much with one punch.



You can't judge a book by its cover in MMA. If it were a body-building contest, Kongo would win. If it were an eating contest, Nelson would win. But it's a fight, and the worst physique in the UFC beat the best.

And yes, I understand all that, and it's all true. But if Roy Nelson dedicated himself to getting in better shape, losing 10 pounds of fat, he'd be a much better fighter. He'd have better endurance and he'd be quicker. He wouldn't be as funny but he might be a much more serious fighter.

Up next was Alan Belcher vs Michael Bisping. Another pretty boring fight. Belcher did absolutely nothing, so Bisping decided he only need to do a little more to win. He threw jabs, a couple of combinations but nothing too damaging. But then he accidentally poked Belcher in the eye. This time Herb Dean called the doctor in, who said Belcher could not continue because his eyelid was lacerated. Again, for the second time we went to technical decision. Bisping won easily.



And finally it was time for the main event.



Unfortunately it wasn't much of a fight. Jones dominated Sonnen, knocking him out in the first round in what wasn't even much of a fight.

The most exciting part took place afterwards when Joe Rogan noticed (because Bones hadn't) that Bones had broken his toe during the fight.



He had to do the postfight interview while sitting on a stool.

Luckily he got the first round KO and didn't have to either continue with a broken toe, or lose the fight because of it. A fourth medical stoppage would have ruined the night completely. But because Bones knocked out that loudmouth Chael Sonnen I got what I came to see, so the night was a success.

From Champ to Chump

For years my go-to argument about why MMA is better than boxing is because one central body makes the fights, always pitting the champion against the best contender. Until now. Light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones refused to fight Chael Sonnen after his scheduled opponent, Dan Henderson hurt his knee and pulled out of their title fight at UFC 151. As a result, UFC had to cancel the entire event, the first time in 11 years that has happened.
Dana White and UFC fans are furious at Jon Jones over this. Jones, on the advice of his trainer Greg Jackson, declined to fight Sonnen with little more than a week’s notice. Even though Sonnen normally fights at 185 lbs instead of 205, and wasn’t even in training for a fight.
I understand why Jones wants to protect himself from a loss against an opponent he is not ready for. But this happens quite often, fighters get hurt weeks or days before the fight, and the code of honor in the UFC dictates that you just take on the next challenger, especially since he’s usually someone less threatening than the original opponent.
But I think this is an instance where the UFC has become a victim of its own success. Because there is so much more at stake financially with being a top fighter, and especially a champion, those fighters are less willing to take risks. This is one example, Jones not willing to risk his title. We have recently seen a big increase in the number of fighters pulling out of fights due to injury. Dan Henderson probably could have fought with this injury but wouldn’t be able to perform at his absolute best. And he didn’t want to take that chance in such a crucial fight. I believe other fighters who recently pulled out of fights for injuries, may have ignored those same injuries 5 or 10 years ago.
I also think this is manifesting itself in individual fights. I have detected a big increase in the number of decisions, and boring fights. Fighters seem a lot less willing to “stand and bang,” knowing a loss, especially one by knockout would hurt their careers.
But I don’t think Jon Bones Jones realizes the damage he has done to his reputation. Just a year ago he was a great young fighter, the rising star of the UFC with strong mainstream possibilities. First, he got drunk and wrapped his Bentley around a pole which hurt him with the mainstream audience. And now he did this which has totally turned off serious MMA fans.
I still think he will have a long and successful MMA career, he just has too much talent for it not to happen. But he will never again be a fan favorite. He will be the Floyd Mayweather of MMA.

If Possible, I Like Jon Jones Even More Now

Jon Bones Jones is a UFC champion and a world champion nice guy.

First of all, when I went to meet him and his PR flak he was standing off to the side texting with the championship belt over his shoulder. But because it was raining he had a belt cover. A black cloth cover for the belt. And not just a big black cloth, it was cut perfectly to cover the belt and protect it from the weather.

He was in a bit of a rush and his PR guy was quite chatty so I didn't get to talk to him very much until after his interview. I did tell him that I'm a big fan and had been since I first read about him as Arthur Jones's brother. He seemed impressed that I was a Syracuse grad and nodded in recognition when I told him how many SU people are in the industry.

I've seen a lot of famous people in these circumstances and you can tell a lot about a person watching them interact with strangers for five minutes. Other than his PR guy he had no entourage. There is an direct correlation between number of people in the entourage and how friendly the celebrity is.

It's hard for me to explain in this post, but you know it when you see it. You could just tell he was a good guy by the way he was smiling and really listening to what people were saying to him, even though "you're the greatest" "congratulations champ" and "can I suck your dick?" must get old after a while.


After the interview I explained a little about the control room and how I was talking to the anchor during it. He seemed impressed that someone could talk to him and listen to someone else without getting distracted.

And even though he was in a rush to get on a plane to do Leno tomorrow night, he posed for pictures with about 8 or 10 employees who had waited outside the studio for him. And one annoying person (not me) was chewing his ear off about a seminar Jones is teaching to MMA beginners. Instead of rushing past him, Jones put his arm around the guy and guided him in the direction he was going so they could walk and talk.



Just being around the guy for even just a few minutes you could tell he is very appreciative of everything he has, and very kind and gracious to all his fans.

God bless the Champ. Long may he reign.

Jon Bones Jones is a Superhero

The Jon Bones Jones era has officially begun.



At the end of 2009, I stated on the record that he was my favorite fighter. That appears to be my first mention of him on the Poop. I'm sure I mentioned it to TON and Gunn (heheh rhymes) earlier than that. I remember seeing his fight against Bonnar and loving his energy level and creative strikes. And then I read he was the brother of Syracuse football players Arthur and Chandler Jones. That sold me.

Two new things happened this weekend that made me love him a little more. I'll start with the fight. Jones lucked into a title shot (on 6 weeks rest) when his teammate Rashad Evans got hurt in training.

"When opportunity knocks you better let him in and sit him on down and try to be his friend."

I would say Jones did that and much more. I could go through the entire fight minute by minute, but Bloody Elbow has already done it, spectacularly.

I'll just say he started with a flying knee, ended with a knee as Shogun was dropping to the floor and this is the damage he inflicted in between.



I honestly have no idea how anyone will ever beat this guy. As TON has stated before, he has the perfect build for MMA. He is tall (6'4") and lanky (84.5" reach, longer than any heavyweight even) and he doesn't sacrifice strength. Usually a guy that skinny, gets taken down and outwrestled. But even against thicker opponents (Ryan Bader), Jones does the taking down and the outwrestling. Opponents can't get close enough to punch him, so the theory was Shogun would kick him in his spindly legs. I don't think he did it even once. It may be a very, very, very long time before I have to write about Jon Jones losing his title.

And when he's not fighting light heavyweights, he's fighting crime.

Before the fight on Saturday Jones was visiting a park in Paterson to do some meditation. Here's what happened next according to Jones, via twitter:

"So while we were at the park today a crack head smashed this old lady's car window and took off running with her GPS just as we were pulling up. right away. Coach Wink goes after this guy. Without hesitation, Coach Jackson went after him. I was shocked and stood there for a second. Then I threw my phone down and went with my coaches. Before you know it, we're sprinting up a steep hill chasing after him.
I turned the jets on, we caught the guy. We got the lady's gps back.
Our driver took a picture of Coach Jackson and I subduing the criminal.
I caught him, Coach Jackson finished him."



The legend of Jon Jones keeps growing, and it's only going to get bigger.

Predictions for 2011

1. Mrs. Poop and I will not have a single fight all year. So far, so good
2. Julian will learn to walk and talk
3. His first word will be "Chase"
4. He'll probably say something like "Chay" but Mrs. Bates will tell us it still counts
5. This is the year Chase finally starts to take interest in the Mets
6. The Mets will trade Jose Reyes
7. The Patriots, Phillies and Heat will win the Super Bowl, World Series and NBA Finals
8. The Super Bowl will be the last NFL game played in 2011
9. Unemployment will fall to 8.4% in December
10. The Dow will hit 13,000
11. When Sirius-XM shares hit $2 I will e-mail TON "when your stock is up, your cock is up"
12. Razor will experience great personal growth when she ceases working from home and moves to a real office, surrounded by real people instead of cats
13. Razor will no longer have time to scour her computer to send me pictures of GauntSkott from back when he was FatScat and tipping the scales at nearly 3 bills
14. Nails will scream "DIE!" at the TV while watching a sporting event
15. The Concierge will reply to a bbm within two days of it being sent
16. Billie and Alison will have a very hard time deciding which of them their new baby resembles most
17. I'll blame Coach Boeheim for Syracuse's eventual loss in the NCAA Tournament
18. JLeary will remain my favorite Poophead as TON and Billie get too busy with parenthood to read this blog
19. Cain Velazquez will beat Junior Dos Santos but lose the UFC Heavyweight belt to Shane Carwin
20. Jonny Bones Jones will be UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
21. Reissberg will spill food on his shirt
22. Juice will propose but he won't get down on one knee because he can't stay still that long

Where Does the UFC Go From Here?

BJ Penn's total destruction of Diego Sanchez exposed 2 things:

1) Sanchez's skull

Here's a couple pictures of Diego Sanchez's nasty cut:




2) A major problem in the UFC right now

The champions in all five weight classes are just too good, no one can touch them.

Lightweight: BJ Penn (five straight wins as a lightweight) didn't just beat Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian he dominated them. As the great Joe Rogan pointed out, who at 155 now can be expected to challenge Penn? No one. So what's next for him? Maybe a third shot at GSP? If Rogan is right and Penn is better conditioned now then maybe I could see it. If not, will Penn keep busting his ass in training to fight guys he can beat in his sleep?

Welterweight: While there are no questions about Georges St. Pierre's (6 straight wins) training habits he faces the same questions about upcoming opponents. Dan Hardy is a good striker but I don't like his chances against GSP's wrestling. GSP has a way of taking on guys who have built reputations as pit bulls and completely taking away their will to fight.

Middleweight: That's the same thing Anderson Silva (10-0 in the UFC) has done to the middleweight division. He's even had to move up to 205 to find challengers and he's embarrassed them too. But he doesn't want to fight for the title at 205 because he considers Lyoto Machida a brother.

Light Heavyweight: Machida (16-0, 8-0 in UFC) right now rules (tenuously) the deepst weight class in the UFC right now. The old veterans who just won't quit (Liddell, Ortiz, Coleman, Couture and Wanderlei) are there along with some guys who've still got it (Henderson, Evans, Shogun and maybe Griffin) as well as some young guns (Darth Bader and my personal favorite Bones Jones). But I really don't think any of them will beat Machida because if they go after him aggressively he'll counter and kill them, and if they are too patient Machida will do enough to outpoint them because he can't be hit.

Heavyweight: This is why Brock Lesnar's illness may be the best thing to happen to the UFC. No one can beat Lesnar. No one can stop his takedowns and no one can get up once he's on top of them. And because he lost that first fight to Mir by submission when he got sloppy, he is so patient and so cautious so as not to get caught again. A winning strategy, but a boring one. But without him around there are some intriguing heavyweight fighters who could put together some big bouts (Nogueira, Mir, Carwin, Velazquez) and in time maybe Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve too.

A string of uninspiring main events will likely continue into the new year and I really don't know what fight they could book to really get fans excited again.

Miserable Weekend Update

Two footnotes to the weekend of my discontent when Nebraska, Bones Jones and the Redskins all suffered heartbreaking losses.

I watched the Ultimate Fighter Finale a couple hours late because I was watching Nebraska, and by the time I got to his Facebook page there were about 100 comments on his wall, yet mine stood out enough in his mind for him to respond.



The Redskins cut their awful kicker Shaun Suisham and replaced him with Graham Gano.

What Did I Do to Deserve This?

I try really hard to be a good person, and for the most part I get rewarded, except when it comes to sports. Not only do my teams never win, they usually lose in heartbreaking fashion. There were three such examples this week of people I was rooting for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

It all started with Nebraska. The Cornhuskers played one of the best defensive games ever, completely shutting down a normally potent Texas offense. Unfortunately, this coincided with an historically bad performance by their offense – totaling only 106 yards. But on the last drive the much-maligned Zac Lee ran for 17 yards, and threw a 16 yard pass setting up what should have been the game-winning field goal. But here’s where they cost themselves the game. Adi Kunalic booted the ensuing kickoff out of bounds giving Texas the ball at the 40. The next play was 19 yard pass with a 15 yard horse collar tacked on, putting Texas at the 26. And despite Colt McCoy’s brain cramp that almost let time run out, Nebraska ended up losing a very winnable game.



And then I watched The Ultimate Fighter Finale. Earlier this year I declared Jon Bones Jones my favorite UFC fighter. In part because I like his style, in part because I think he’s really awesome and I got on the train early. I also like the fact that two of his brothers play football at Syracuse including the great defensive lineman Arthur Jones. And not the least of it, I friended Bones and his babymama on Facebook. When Bones was booked to fight Matt Hammill I even asked her if it was ok to make fun of a deaf guy. She didn’t answer so I didn’t make fun of Hammill. Saturday night Hammill was getting completely dominated by Jones. Jones had the mount and was raining down blows. It turns out Hammill hurt his shoulder during Jones’s ridiculous slam and couldn’t defend himself from the punches. So here’s what you’ve got, Jones pummeling a near defenseless Hammill while ref Steve Mazzagatti watches. Twice Jones pleads with him to stop the fight. Then he went into “what do I need to do to get this guy to stop the fight” mode. So he delivered 2 or 3 vicious elbows to Hammill’s face. Unfortunately, dropping an elbow straight down (from 12 to 6) is illegal in MMA (side to side elbows are ok) so Jones had a point deducted. Here’s when things got weird. Mazzagatti twice asked Hammill if he could continue. He got not answer. Hammill couldn’t hear him, and he couldn’t read his lips because his eyes were bloody and damn near swollen shut. He probably would have said no had he been able to hear because he’d been beaten so badly and had a shoulder injury. But because the fight had to be stopped after an illegal blow (Mazzagatti used video replay to review the blows, believed to be the first use of replay in MMA history), the ref had no choice but to disqualify him, costing Jones a fight he should have won.



Then came the Redskins game, in a lost season the Redskins have been surprisingly frisky the last two weeks before blowing leads to the Cowboys and Eagles. Despite mistakes (a huge fumble after an interception that allowed the Saints to tie it before the half) the Redskins hung tough and had second half leads of 27-17, 30-20 and were poised to make it 33-23 when Shaun Suisham missed a 23-yard field goal. That gave the Saints another chance, which they used to throw a 53-yard bomb to send the game into OT. There Mike Sellers fumbled on the third play, a play so close it should not have been overturned on review. The Saints kicked the game-winning field goal giving the Redskins a loss in a game they should have won.



To sum up the weekend of my discontent I will be putting flaming bags of dog poop on the doorsteps of Shaun Suisham, Steve Mazzagatti and the entire Nebraska offense.