Misc. - Page 5

Perhaps the greatest aspect of being a celebrity — you know, other than the money, women, coke parties, etc. — is the ability to profoundly impact a fan’s life with the simplest of gestures. Take UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, for instance, who recently surprised a twelve year-old Jiu-Jitsu practitioner and Silva megafan suffering from Epiphysiolysis (the loosening or separation, either partial or complete, of an epiphysis from the shaft of a bone) in a Brazilian hospital.

The fan’s name is Joao Pedro; he has been wheelchair bound for 9 months and has already undergone two surgeries in an attempt to combat his condition. Despite this, doctors are still unsure if he will ever walk again. However, after Joao found out that his doctor also catered to the likes of Silva and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (who probably financed the guy’s second and third houses over the years), Pedro requested an autograph from the pound-for-pound great. Being the stand up guy that Anderson is, he decided to step it up a notch and show up in person with an armful of autographed gifts for the little dude.

The heartwarming video and transcription are after the jump. 

(Why would she be afraid of a snake? I mean, it’s basically just a really long arm. / Photo via @RondaRousey)

Uriah Hall‘s ferocity on TUF 17 has already resulted in a legendary head-kick knockout and an upcoming nervous breakdown for Bubba McDaniel. And yet in a straight grappling match, the 185-pounder was still out-gunned by UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey. Hall put his ego aside in an interview with the New York Post, and discussed what really happened the day Rousey visited the Ultimate Fighter set:

Hall, who fights at 185 pounds – 50 more than Rousey, underestimated the former judo Olympic medalist intitially. He found that to be a terrible mistake.

“I said to myself, ‘I can get out of this,’” Hall told The Post. “Then she caught me and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this [expletive] is real.’”

Hall, a Queens resident, said Rousey got him in two armbars while grappling – and he couldn’t get out. He compared it to rolling with an anaconda or a cat…”You can’t grab her and if you do grab her, you’re [expletive],” Hall said with a laugh…

(Video by Budo Videos)

Last week, UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson was just one month away from a nationally televised title defense against Gilbert Melendez, but he still managed to get in a couple Jiu Jitsu matches in one of the world’s most prestigious grappling tournaments. Henderson competed in the brown belt ability division of the BJJ Pan-Am Championships last week and, though he was eventually eliminated and did not place, he showed that he could hang with guys who spend all of their time training in BJJ’s weird set of gi rules, despite doing it just as a hobby.

In the above match, Henderson takes on Brazilian Pedro Alcantara in the middleweight division. The action comes in spurts but the match is very closely contested with Alcantara threatening with omo-plata shoulder locks and sweeps off of his back, and Henderson defending, working for take downs and passing guard.

The two start the match feinting with shot attempts before Alcantara pulls full guard. It doesn’t take him long to pull in Henderson’s right shoulder and work for triangle chokes, which the fighter shrugs off, and then shoulder locks. Initially, Alcantara is able to use the lock to sweep Henderson, earning points.

Henderson hangs tough and refuses to let Alcantara pass his guard. Eventually, Henderson is able to stand up and score a take down. On the ground, he proves better at passing than Alcantara was and pressures and angles until he secures the side mount and earns more points.

Recovering his guard, Alcantara threatens more with the shoulder lock, but this time Henderson will not be moved, and effectively stops both the submission and sweep attempts. The match ends and Henderson has won on points.

(Props: 1inchBoom. Felice appears at 1:10, and bullrushes Clark at 1:53.)

Bellator is at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa tonight with an event that will decide the Season 8 Lightweight and Light-Heavyweight tournament winners. The fighters weighed-in yesterday, and if you’re reading this, it’s probably not because you care that David Rickels came in 0.1 pound heavier than Saad Awad. (Although he totally did; results are at the end of this post, via Sherdog.)

No, you probably just want to see how Felice Herrig looked in her latest scale-appearance. Never one to disappoint (see here and here), Herrig transformed into Supergirl on stage, then got directly up in the face of her much-taller opponent, Heather Clark, who was herself wearing a tiny bikini and high heels in an attempt to win the evening’s swimwear competition. Clearly, this enraged Herrig, and the two women had to be separated by Bjorn Rebney.

Check out a couple photos of Felice in her superhero outfit below, and watch her fight during the Bellator 94 prelims on Spike.com or Bellator.com beginning at 8 p.m. / 7 p.m. CT.

(Nick Diaz just released footage of a pretty sketchy situation that he encountered before the UFC 158 weigh-ins. Read more about the so-called “Canadian loophole” right here.)

Marcus Davis Claims Waachiim Spiritwolf Suffered a Panic Attack and Was Never Kneed in the Groin (MiddleEasy)

UFC VP Marc Ratner Asks Commission to Revisit Rules Concerning Marijuana Usage (BleacherReport)

Matt Riddle Says Dana White Is ‘Just a Juice Monkey Who’s Bald, Who Doesn’t Know Sh** About Business’ (stephaniejoplin.com)

Another Team Lloyd Irvin Member Was Charged With Rape in 2008 (BloodyElbow)

Promoters Say MMA Fighter Charles Rowan Faked Death (ESPN)

Does Bigger Mean Better for Anthony Johnson? (MMAFighting)

A Complete History of Players Who Won Both NCAA and NBA Championships (Complex)

March Madness: The 10 Best NCAA Tournament Upsets in History (MensFitness)

Terrible Non-Rap Stuff Made by Rappers (EgoTV)

The Most Amazing Real Life Wilderness Survival Stories (DoubleViking)

The 50 Funniest TV News Captions Ever (WorldWideInterweb)

Ranking The ‘Air Bud’ Films By Plausibility (FilmDrunk)

RIP Black Lululemon Yoga Pants (Break.com)

(“You see, Georges? THIS is how you dominate someone for five full rounds without ever coming close to finishing them!”) 

Likely because he has failed to stir up any interest in the cage with his fighting style, which often feels like watching The English Patient at half speed, Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren has become quite the prominent Twitter troll over the years. And honestly, his Twitter beefs and troll tactics have quickly become the most entertaining part of his mixed martial arts career.

Just last week, for instance, Askren lashed out at Michael Bisping — who is scheduled to face Askren’s friend/training partner Alan Belcher at UFC 159 – via one hilariously xenophobic and self-deprecating rant. And now, he’s got his sights set on UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, who apparently did not do enough in his title defense against Nick Diaz at UFC 158 to earn Askren’s much sought after hespect. Via Askren’s Twitter:

Have we seen GSPs dark side yet? Or is he saving it for rounds 4 & 5?? I saw more viscous things happen at the youth wrestling tourney!

After tonight I am 100% sure I could beat GSP… GSP is no longer an aggressive striker. He will not out wrestle or grapple me. He gets tired. Simple enough.

Fightweets: What if Nick Diaz Wins at UFC 158? (MMAFighting)

UFC 158 Gifathon: GSP, Diaz, Condit, and More! (BloodyElbow)

Nick Diaz and the Ten Most Disrespectful Fighters Ever (BleacherReport)

UFC on FUEL TV 10 Fight Card for Nogueira vs. Werdum II (FightDay)

Dana White wants athletic commission to ban TRT (Reddit_MMA)

If He Beats Aaron Simpson, Josh Burkman Wants WSOF Title Shot (Sherdog)

10 Vintage Pics of Pure “WTF?!” (Break)

Athletes Who Joined Their Sworn Enemy (Complex)

Killer Fries In Association With VH1′s “Wicked Single” Is Giving Away Free T-Shirts (KillerFries)

Eastern Practices to Boost Your Western Workout (MensFitness)

11 Videos of Children Stoned After Anesthesia (EgoTV)

Man Life: The Relationship Cash and Fulfillment (DoubleViking)

The Ultimate Skateboarding Fails Compilation (WorldWideInterweb)

(Major props to MiddleEasy for the find.) 

Typically, a Monday morning at the CagePotato offices starts with cake. Lots of cake. There’s a staff meeting after that, again, typically held in the context of an underground cockfight or at the very least a back alley dice game. The rest of the day is as you’d expect: team-building medicine ball dodgeball at 11, lunch at Matsuhisa at 1, a full two-hour break to “research” WMMA videos at 3, and finally, Mr. Pibbs and a staff-voted episode of The Wire at 5. The writing usually happens after dodgeball.

But alas, not everyone’s Mondays can be as exhilarating or PCP-laced as ours. That’s where this video of a 14-second double knockout from last Saturday’s Galaxy Fight Night IV comes into play. Because, as you watch Aaron Britt and Brandon Alexander trade right hands and simultaneously topple over like a pair of felled oaks, you will experience nearly one-eighteenth of the life-affirming invigoration that fills the average CagePotato employee on a daily basis. It’s not something most people get to experience in the span of their measly, infinitesimal lives, let alone on a Monday morning at work. So enjoy this, you guys.

After the jump: Nick Diaz, hitting a speed bag, for 23 straight minutes. It is the lethargic, insomnia-inducing yin to this video’s captivating yang, and it will break you.

It’s sometimes easy to forget that the cultures of our professional sports are not isolated from the rest of society, and that the two affect each other. This is easy to spot when looking at the issue of LGBT rights: the same way that professional athletes are still hesitant to accept a gay teammate, a person can still be fired for being gay in twenty-nine states. Progress is slowly being made on both fronts, as last week, NFL athletes Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo filed a Supreme Court brief arguing that not only is California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional, but also that professional athletes have an important role in promoting tolerance in society.

The outspoken equal rights advocates [Author Note: By the way, if you haven't read Kluwe's rebuttal to Maryland state delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr., who tried to persuade the Baltimore Ravens to stop Ayanbadejo from voicing his stance on gay marriage, go read that now.] have recently caught the attention of one of our sport’s most popular fighters, Rashad Evans. Evans has not only signed their brief, but he also issued a strong statement in support of gay marriage. As he told Outsports:

“I’ve never been a homophobe, never understood what that is all about. I knew some people who were gay and never cared about their sexuality. But at the same time, I didn’t fully understand the issues around gay people until my friend BA started telling me about his full public support for gay marriage. We talked about the issue and I decided its not enough to not be against a minority, if you want things to go better for them you have to speak up with them.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, yet when we stumbled upon this poster for Invicta FC 5 – which goes down on April 5th from Kansas City – we were left with only questions. A few of the most pertinent being:

- At what point during her steroid suspension did Cris Cyborg become the world’s biggest Sons of Anarchy fan? Is Tito the one who convinced her to start emulating Gemma Morrow? [Author's note: I tremble at night thinking what will happen once she stumbles upon Batlestar Galactica.]

- Have DreamWorks and Invicta partnered up? Because the only logical explanation for the amount of Photoshop on this poster is that it is part of a subtle cross-promotion for The Croods. 

- Why does everyone’s stomach look like Earthworm Jim? Also, does anyone have a copy of Earthworm Jim 3D I can borrow?

- Gun to your head: Cris Cyborg or Fallon Fox?

- Gun to Lloyd Irvin’s head…that’s it.

We’d like to get a little poll going in the comments section, Nation. Which promotion’s poster reigns supreme: The sepia-hued disaster above or King of the Cage’s glorious “Fighting Legends” ad?

-J. Jones