bolleje

Did you mean Brock Lesnar's celery?

I would love to see Pat Barry fight Pat Barry though... I see it ending in split decision.

His (last three) decision wins were all unanimous, that's better then split or majority. That probably helped his ranking... But indeed... it's a bit strange that he still makes it into the top-10. However, have you actually taken the effort of checking out the rankings before you defined them as 'poor'? Have you read the goal and the matrix used to rank the fighters? I think there is not one better mathematical (and thus objective) ranking available for MMA now... so I kind of use that one as my basis to rank fighters. Sure, some things need adjustments but ok... If you find a better one, please share with the rest of us!

As I said, it's a purely mathematical ranking, so I didn't "choose" anyone. He's just ranked in their mathematical top-10, probably because his last three losses were two split decisions and one majority decision (which don't have so much impact on the rankings as KO or submissions). As he's 3-4 in his last 7 fights, you're right that he probably won't be picked up by UFC anytime soon...

- Otsuka is ranked #9 in the FightMatrix bantamweight top 10... (purely mathematical ranking so has from time to time some stranger results... Zach Machovsky of Bellator is ranked #8). (haven't seen him actually fight though). Bantamweight is still pretty thin btw... you have Cruz, Benavidez, Faber, Bowles, Torres and Jorgensen... I think most others are a bit lower... - Tyson Griffin & Kenny Florian to the featherweight ranks: woow! Aldo-Florian could be a nice fight! - Rashad Evans to middleweight would be nice too as light heavyweight is really stacked (in UFC). Middleweight contenders are less common (Okami is pretty much the only one who hasn't been destroyed by Silva yet). Evans vs Silva would be a good fight as Evans is a very good wrestler (something Anderson has struggled with...see Sonnen) and has good striking too... (well, Belfort has very good striking too and see where it brought him).

Wrestling won't save you if you get front-kicked on the chin... (not saying Anderson Silva will win btw... I just think it's a fight that could go both ways! Oh god, I sound like Goldberg & Rogan hyping up a UFC-event :-) ). My thoughts on UFC 126: - Anderson Silva is still a great fighter... In the first (as many touted as boring) minutes you could really feel the tension. Anything could happen at any time... don't blink! I like these kind of fights a lot more than the typical Chris Lyttle or Leonard Garcia-fights in which two guys kick each other 500+ times but you allready know after 2 minutes nobody is gonna knocked out... Fights like Silva-Belfort, Velasquez-Lesnar or Jones-Bader are the true fights of the night in my opinion... - Jon Jones... wow. I thought he was the favorite but I expected a lot closer fight from Bader. Especially surprised that Jones was even dominating in the wrestling-aspect. Bader is a world-class wrestler but he looked like a high-school kid... I see Jones as a favorite against Rua, allthough Shogun has a lot more experience and perhaps could find some holes he can exploit... - Also impressed with Kyle Kingsbury (that guy needs stronger competition) and Donald Cerrone. - Miguel Torres... very strange that some of the former WEC-stars have fallen so low. Mike Thomas Brown... 2-4 in last 6 fights...ouch :-(. And now Miguel Angel Torres looking like... well, an average fighter. I hope at least Brian Bowles, Urijah Faber and Ben Henderson don't end up the same way. - Japanese fighters in UFC: Both Omigawa and Yamamoto lost their debuts (or re-debuts). That's sad for Japanese MMA. I think the only Japanese guy to make it last years is Yushin Okami. I can see him fighting for the title (against St-Pierre, Silva or someone else if Silva vacates) in the rumored UFC event in Japan. Curious if this means the influx of other Japanese fighters will stall... Hioki, Kitaoka, Kikuno, Takaya, Miyata, Imanari, Otsuka... are all supposed to be top-10 guys... - And the judging for Ellenberger-Rocha... no way Rocha won that last round, allthough I had it 29-28 for Rocha. Another example that the judging in MMA can improve.

The upcoming UFC 126 isn't bad either: Silva Vs Belfort (perhaps the best fighter ever vs a worthy contender), Griffin Vs Franklin (two still relevant former champions), Torres vs Banuelos (another ex-champ) and Bader Vs Jones (the two brightest UFC Light Heavyweight prospects). And then there's UFC 129: St-Pierre vs Shields (dominant UFC champ vs Strikeforce champ) Aldo Vs Hominick (another very dominant UFC champ) Hamill Vs Davis Couture vs Machida (a multi-time champ/legend vs an ex-champ) Bocek Vs Henderson (another champion)

Yes... sorry, I was probably a bit too quick to judge. My apologies :-). I'm from Belgium btw. I guess seeing a lot of attention for military personnel is a bit strange for us Europeans (or at least Belgians). Having a 'sports' event tributed to 'our troops' is highly unlikely and would likely result in negative reactions faster than positive. But... supporting the war in Iraq, Afghanistan or somewhere else or not... I guess treating people with serious injuries and trauma's is allways a nice thing. :-). So I stand corrected ;-). However... still hate Pat Barry's speech :-D

Wow... also impressed by Mark Hominick, Matt Mitrione and Melvin Guillard. Very nice wins for all of them. Although Aldo is still very much the favorite, at least Hominick now looks as somewhat of a dangerous contender. (Something Josh Grispi didn't look like)... I also agree Guillard should face someone like Sotiropoulos next (or maybe Sean Sherk?). Mitrione was impressive but let's not go too quick. I don't want to see him lose against Carwin or Lesnar now. Problem is, there are not that many recognisable heavyweight-gatekeepers in the UFC. Perhaps Pat Barry would be ok. Really hated his (Barry's) speech though. How fake can one go... I also don't like the 'Fight for the Troops'-concept btw. A country which has a military budget as huge as the US has should at least take care of its injured soldiers itself instead of letting the citizens raise fundings...

To be fair... Strikeforce wás hoping to make it for the title but then all tournament matches had to be 5 rounds (to make it fair for Overeem). The brackets did make sense at that point (and also don't forget that the fighters do have a say in their matches too... what does Werdum have to win in a match against Kharitonov or Arlovski at the time?) However, the 5-rounds plan didn't go through so they decided to not make it for the title... They still could've chosen to 'strip' Overeem of the title and crown the winner of the GP the new champ... but ok. Perhaps next time they'll need to plan more ahead and check if the 5-round thing is possible first... it's small things like that that make the UFC still a much more professional organisation then Strikeforce. But the most important thing is that we shouldn't let a small negative thing ruin the huge positives: we'll finally get to see Strikeforce (and the non-UFC-world's) best heavyweights battle it out :-). Fedor! Overeem! Werdum! Barnett! Can't wait :-) !!

If that happens, Toronto is gonna be a HUGE show! Two UFC title fights (St-Pierre vs Shields & Aldo Vs Hominick), the legend Randy Couture vs former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, former WEC lightweight champ Ben Henderson vs submission ace Mark Bocek and top prospect Phil Davis vs Matt Hamill...

Some more details I found in an interview with Coker: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/01/05/scott-coker-discusses-heavyweight-tourney-re-signing-emelianenk/ Lavar vs Del Rosario is the first alternate bout and will determine the first reserve fighter. Sefo Vs Overeem determines a next reserve and there could potentially be a third reserve bout (Cormier anyone?). As some people mentioned, the reason for the one-side stacked brackets is indeed that every fight with the champ will be for the title. Furthermore, Coker apparently wants all tournament matches to be 5 rounds (a bit strange, but ok...) Anyway, really stacked tournament. The FightMatrix Heavyweight ranking has 4 guys out of the top 10 NOT in UFC: Werdum (#3 after Velasquez & Lesnar), Emelianenko (#4), Overeem (#8) and Barnett (#10). Silva is #11, Rogers #12, Arlovski #13. So that's the top 7-non-UFC heavyweights according to these mathematical rankings. The only exception in the tournament is Kharitonov who is ranked #23 (mainly due to recent lesser opponents I guess). Better ranked non-UFC fighters are Cole Konrad (the Bellator Champ), Pedro Rizzo, Tim Sylvia (remembering, rankings are mathematical!) and Shamil Abdurahimov (beat Monson & Soukoudjou in Abu Dhabi).

http://mmajunkie.com/news/21972/strikeforce-tourney-takes-shape-with-overeem-vs-werdum-barnett-vs-rogers.mma Apparently it's: Fedor Emelianenko Vs Antonio Silva Andrei Arlovski Vs Sergei Kharitonov Alistair Overeem Vs Fabricio Werdum Josh Barnett Vs Brett Rogers I think those are a bit weird brackets. If I'd have to give those eight a 'seed' I'd probably rank them: 1. Overeem 2. Werdum 3. Emelianenko 4. Silva 5. Barnett 6. Rogers 7. Kharitonov 8. Arlovski (lost to Rogers, Emelianenko & Silva in his last 3 matches so definitaly an underdog) That would mean my brackets were 1vs2, 3vs4, 5vs6 and 7vs8... that makes in a tournament absolutely no sense at all :-D However, that's only a small negative note compared to the huge positives in that we'll finally get to see the top 8 heavyweights battle it out. Plus, we get Overeem-Werdum (the match to make after Werdum beat Emelianenko), we get Emelianenko against decent competition (Silva), we get a nice battle between the hard-hitting Rogers and the returning Barnett (who was after all a top-ranked heavyweight before the suspension) and Kharitonov-Arlovski isn't bad either.

It seems we're gonna get that Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament after all! http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Emelianenko-Silva-HW-Tourney-Slated-for-Feb-12-29152 quarter finals: Emelianenko - Silva (february) Arlovski - Barnett (february) Werdum - Rogers (march) (and I guess Overeem-Kharitonov will be added) If it is indeed true, that would be great! Finally we'd see the top Strikeforce-heavyweights fight each other. Emelianko-Silva & Barnett-Arlovski are a good start...

And a bit more information about the WEC lightweights and their possible UFC careers: Horodecki & Varner won't get a contract, Shalorus & Palaszewski will fight in the UFC! (various sources)

For the interested in what the WEC/UFC merger means for the lightweight division, the (btw excellent) rankings site FightMatrix has a nice article about upcoming matches and where the new (WEC) fighters rank in the UFC rankings (mathematically calculated by a complex algorithm...). You can find it here: http://www.fightmatrix.com/2010/12/28/ufcs-new-improved-lightweight-division/ I visit the website weekly as it updates the rankings every sunday and it's a good resource to check where certain guys are ranked...

Basketball: Lebron James, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant MMA: Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, Jose Aldo Cycling: Philippe Gilbert, Fabian Cancelara, Mark Cavendish Car racing: Sebastian Loeb Tennis: Kim Clijsters, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal Pro Wrestling: Wade Barrett, John Cena, Edge

They should do the tournament without Fedor (if he doesn't want in)... They could even do it without Overeem. It's proven that Emelianenko isn't a top draw... Strikeforce has some good heavyweight prospects that could use some spotlight (Shane Del Rosario comes to mind). They can find 8 guys that do the Grand Prix... then the winner gets to fight Overeem for the title (if it isn't vacated by then). At that point they can still have Fedor to fight...

Well... let's add another name: It has been twitter'd by Alistair Overeem's Management, that Overeem would like to face Mariusz Pudzianowski for the Dream Heavyweight Title. Lashley, Kharitonov, Pudzianowski, Coleman... This is why Overeem should go to the UFC. To face Velasquez, Dos Santos, Carwin, Lesnar, Mir and Noguira...

Probably a Brazilian. Ricardo Almeida?

Kampmann vs Sanchez rumored as the main-event for an upcoming UFC on Versus-show (in march). Nice fight. With the 'Versus'-audience knowing the WEC-guys, do you think a lot of these guys will be on the card? Could Faber be?

I think the main reason for Sotiropoulos vs Siver (and not vs someone with a more well-known name) is simply that they absolutely want him to fight in Australia. Siver was probably the best guy available... and like someone said before: he's close to title contention too. If Sotiropoulos wins, they can still give him a n°1 contenders fight against one of the other top guys..., if Siver would win, they have a guy who can co-main-event in the next German card... (against a top-level opponent). Btw: I read somewhere that Tyson Griffin can't make 145 anymore, but is also not fired... he's 0-3 in his last matches and lost against Nik Lentz (not really a title contender). So, what are they gonna do with him? Gatekeeper?? Also... who of the UFC lightweights cán make 145? (except the current champ that is)

What about Ladder matches? Hell in cell? Falls count anywhere? 14-man elimination-style tag-team turmoil flag on a pole tables match inside a cage? Please? Anyway, other rumored matches: Dan Miller vs Joe Doerken and Jim Miller vs Charles Oliveira at UFC 124 --> Nice to see Oliveira so soon again. Was impressed with his first two wins! Jim Miller should make an excellent matchup (guy that also likes to grapple). Nate Diaz Vs Dong Hyun Kim --> Nice matchup. Winner is a title contender imo... I would like to see Aldo vs Edgar but I think 'in return' WEC should get a couple of lightweights from UFC. I'm thinking the likes of Diego Sanchez, Clay Guida or Joe Stevenson. Exciting guys that are just beneath the title picture but could seriously challenge Ben Henderson at 155 in WEC (and provide some fast-paced WEC-style action). The UFC lightweight roster is big enough anyway...

Just a small 'noob' question, as this is my first NBA free agent period I'll really follow closely. (I'm Belgian, restarted to play basketball about a year ago and tried to follow the NBA season... big Lebron James fan (and Bosh fan too) so looking forward to see what'll happen). Thursday is the opening of the trade window. In competitions and sports I know well (for example soccer) the start of the trade window doesn't really bring anything big to the table. The big transfers are made during the whole transfer time and a little bit more at the end. But what I understand from the anticipation to thursday... people expect Wade, Bosh & Lebron to sign with a team thursday allready?? Can I expect the big trades to be done in a week or will this also take months?