Insignificant strikes

There's been a whole lot written about last Saturday's UFC welterweight championship match in which Georges St. Pierre "defended" his title against Johny Hendricks.  First, I want to make it completely clear that I am a GSP fan.  We're both karate guys.  He's always come off as a classy fellow and a great champion.  There's a serious problem with last Saturday's fight.  I watched it, and I had this fight scored 49-46 for Hendricks.  GSP looked like he'd been through a meat grinder by the end of the match.  Hendricks looked like he'd maybe gone for a jog.  This had been the foughest fight the champ had been in for a quite a while.  Yet, the judges gave GSP the win in a split decision.

There's some serious problems going on here.  This is the second title fight I've seen recently with some really questionable judges decisions.  Last fight was Jon Jones' defense again Alexander Gusstafson.  That fight was incredibly close and two judges giving it to Jones 48-47.  The last judge gave it to Jones 49-46, which was complerely nuts and spawned jokes that the judge in question was paid off by either Gatoraide or Nike (who both sponsor Jones).

That match raised a few eyebrows, but it was understandable that Jones had done enought to keep the belt.  The GSP/Hendricks fight is a completely different story.  This raises a lot of troubling questions, mainly, was this rigged?

The problem here was not GSP.  He fought with everything he had, and doesn't control the judges.  He seemed surprised as well with the decision.

The problem is not with the UFC and Dana White, because they do not get to pick the judges.  MMA walks a fine line.  They have to stay sanctioned with the athletic commisions of various states so they can keep holding events in them.  They don't dare rig or work a fight because White knows full well that's one of things that screwed boxing.  Yes, things are set up to make a bit of drama, but once those two fighter get in that cage there is no script.  If people get the very notion that this is rigged then the whole franchise is doomed.

The problem lies squarely with the judges, and the UFC has no control over them.  They don't get to pick them.  White doesn't seem to trust many of them, especially in Nevada where the fight took place.  I've seen some of these score card and have watched the fights they go with.  One of the things that fighters are scored on is "significant strikes".  I've been in martial arts since I was kid.  I've put on the gloves.  I've gotten concussions and cracked ribs.  I know what a significant strike is.  A significant strike does something.  It causes damage and/or knocks the other person back a bit.  Judges are declaring strikes significant that fighters are moving away from avoiding the brunt of the blow and sometimes the strike is completely blocked.  As mean as it sounds, many of these judges really need to get punched in the face just so they know what a significant strike is.

Dana White has said he's really hesitant about holding any more matches in Vegas after this.  That should be enough for the Nevada athletic commission to get the hint and look into this, but I doubt they will.  The only thing governments like better than money and power is red tape.  Fortunately, there's many other states that sanction UFC events.  Love to have them come to Norfolk.  That's the smartest move right now for the UFC.  The judges in that state are bad, so stay out of that state.

Other sports have their own referees and judges.  What would be best is if the UFC could get a bunch of judges that they know are going to be solid and get them sanctioned in the states they're holding fights.  I don't know how difficult that is going to be though.

There's been so much drama and speculation around this fight, and much of that is around the decision.  There's the "Hendricks tapped" dopes who must be really new to the sport to think Hendricks tapped in the first round.  There's rumors that UFC wanted GSP to remain champ because he's more marketable and will be in the upcoming CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER movie.  There's GSP's remarks about him needing some time away from the sport.  Its a whole big mess.

One thing is completely clear though: the scoring system in MMA needs to get a good hard look and things need to change.  Johny Hendricks got completely screwed over, and that shouldn't happen in any title fight.

Pound for Pound Champ!!

BONZAI!! Its Sunday, May 1, 2011, I'm sore and tired in a good way, and this is The Side. We had a workout at Sandbridge beach yesterday with folks from three different dojo's coming out to have fun and participate. I test three of my students out there. Two kids going for brown belt. One's kinda goofy and like to play around a bit. The other is kinda reserved and a pretty nice kid. Another student is just entering the horrendous years of being a teenager and is a funny guy. All three of them fought out there on the sand like a bunch of absolute studs. I couldn't be any prouder of them.

The workout was good. Lunch at Red Robin afterward was great. Then came last night. That's right. Its was FIGHT NIGHT!!

BEATIN'S!!!

UFC 129 was last night. Very stacked card. There were two title fights both with game challengers, but both defending champions, Georges St. Pierre and Jose Aldo, retained their titles. There was a third match of interest. UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture was fighting former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida. Couture is a hero to the sport and bases his fighting style off of Greco-Roman Wrestling. Machida is a very humble and respectable man who uses his family's style of Shotokan Karate as his base style. I'm a life long Karate man, but still I had to root for Randy.

There was trouble on the horizon because while Machida was heading to the ring we spotted Steven Seagal with him. I even yelled to my cousin, "Scott! Randy's doomed! Machida's got Steven Seagal with him! There's no hope now!" Yes, this is the same man who started in OUT FOR JUSTICE, ABOVE THE LAW, and UNDER SIEGE. The same guy who recently was featured as a deputy in a reality TV show. The Aikido stylist very noted for his pony tail. That guy.

But he's been to these evens before. He was in the corner of Anderson Silva when he fought the very dangerous Vitor Blfort. Silva stopped Belfort in round one was a front kick right to the face that knocked the challenger out. Silva credited Seagal with helping him work on stuff like that kick. This had us fight fans all scratching out heads asking ourselves, "Really?"

But there we were last night, watching Machida be very elusive and striking while Couture was looking to get a hold of his opponent. It was still anybody's fight when out of freaking nowhere Machida hits Couture with the Crane Technique and knocked him right out! Yes, that Crane Technique! Right out of THE KARATE KID "If done right, no can defend" Crane Technique! Hands went out to the side for a split second, and Machida went airborne and delivered a kick right to Randy's face.

OSCAR MIKE GOLF! WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT!!

And in the post fight interview, Machida was incredibly gracious to Couture referring to him as a "hero". Very classy as always. Then he credits Seagal for helping him work on that kick.

What the hell is going on here? Is Jean-Claude Van Damme going to come out with Frankie Edgar next month having taught him special techniques to let him finally defeat his nemesis, Gray Maynard? I know Seagal is a legitimate Aikido stylist and instructor but I'm stunned when I'm seeing him getting the credit for adding dynamic and devastating new elements to fighters game plans.

My world is rocked.

EATIN'S!!

I have a new eating disorder: Adult Selective Eating. Due to this horrible affliction I can only eat cheeseburgers and pizza forever and ever. That's right. Being a picky eater is now an eating disorder. I've seen quite a few kids with this. You've seen them. The ones that will only eat chicken nuggets and french fries even under the threat of no Nintendo. It seems like some people haven't grown out of that.

I'm a picky eater. I know what I like and what I don't. I don't like a lot of vegetables. Its the texture. Those things just feel weird in my mouth. I also don't eat seafood, be cause its freakin' seafood. I ain't eatin' anything that came out of the ocean. Screw that.

Yeah, I've got my dietary hang-ups. Fortunately I'm active and love things like fruit that're pretty healthy. However, I've been known to overcome my picky eating when push comes to shove. If I'm in serious need of calories and I don't have many options, like at training camps and the like, I go into survival mode and the foods that I do like become a luxury and I eat because I have to. According to the studies some people can't overcome it. If there's nothing on their "personal menu" they won't eat.

I get that some people have a serious problem with this. I'm not one of them. What I really don't want to see is people eating like morons and blaming it on this eating disorder. Kinda like how some people act like complete asshats and say they have Aspergers.

"I can't help but eat nothing but cheesecake! I am Adult Selective Eating Disorder!"

Yeesh. Hopefully, things won't come to that. I always raise an eyebrow whenever there's some new disorder. Its like we can't rest until everyone has something wrong with them.

And then no one will be normal like me.

MUSIC!!!

Hate to say it, but Randy should have swept the leg.



That's it for me today. Got some more training to do. See y'all Wednesday.

Edgar versus Batman to Save Children!

Happy New Year! Its Sunday, January 2, 2012, half my resolutions are already toast, and this is The Side. Bouncing around the intarwub like it was new toy I found a nifty little new story about Scareware. Well, well, looks like what hit my comp last week has a name and its bouncing around Facebook, which the Missus has been spending quite a bit of time on.

Look, Facebook sucks, but half the planet seems to use it. Nothing I write is going to make it go away our make people stop putting way too much information about themselves or their friends on there. Its a Wikileaks for people, but unfortunately Mark Zuckerburg has enough pull to keep his ass out of the frying pan.

That said, if you're going to make just one New year's resolution involving the internet, make it this one: don't be stupid. This is a hostile environment, and don't you forget it. If you put it on the internet count on everyone on the planet seeing it. Nothing is fully secure on here, and if you don't believe me, just ask Haley Williams.

BEATIN'S!!

UFC 125 was last night and a lot of people were pretty down on this card due to lack of big star power. I think people thank big stars as in size. The heavyweight division lit up once Brock Lesnar hit the scene. For a while it was pretty thin, but now its exploded with a lot of giant powerhouses, which made Lesnar's days as champion numbered and which will give him a hard road back to the championship. Now the opposite end of the weight spectrum is getting a huge push. The UFC has added a featherweight and bantamweight division. Their roster has increased with the acquisition of the WEC. I was incredibly excited to hear that Anthony Pettis was next in line for a lightweight title shot, because that guys is exactly what the division needs, an incredibly exciting fighter who can bring the crowd to its feet.

But can the lightweight division offer the same excitement that the heavyweights can? Frankie Edgar is determined to prove it can.

The champ managed a feat that no one else has: he beat BJ Penn twice as a lightweight, and he did so convincingly. He goes under the radar because he's not a big trash talker. Still, last night's title match had my full attention because because Edgar's first defense now that he's sent Penn back up to welterweight was against the only guy who has ever beaten him. Round one looked like history was going to repeat itself as Gray Maynard beat the living hell out of Edgar. The guy threw 93 strikes in round one and many of use were shocked that the fight wasn't stopped. We were more shocked that Edgar survived the round. We were even more shocked when Edgar came out in round two as if round one had never happened and won the round. Edgar battled like a true champion but Maynard is a tough fighter and always dangerous. The fight went the distance. Edgar had one three of the five rounds including the fifth. However the judges don't always agree with me and Maynard's dominance in the first round gave him a lead of points that Edgar was forced to catch up to, and he did resulting in draw. A rematch is is up next for the two fighters, with Pettis waiting to take on who ever is left standing.

So the naysayers can say whatever they want about the lighter weight classes in mixed martial arts, but the UFC has one gutsy champ to be proud of. Most guys fight matches. This guy fights wars.

COMIX!!

Yes there is indeed a second set of comic reviews because i had two weeks worth of books at the shop and ten bucks to my name. At least until I got paid. Here's the rundown on the rest.

I had a lot of Batman related stuff last go around. Grant Morrison continues to give us a Batman that is awesome. David Finch is attempting to drag the Batman from the 90s back. But that's Bruce Wayne Batman. What about Dick Grayson Batman? He's being awesome right now in DETECTIVE COMICS #872. Scott Snyder writes a helluva Dick Grayson Batman. His interactions with Barbara and Tim were great. The story is moving along in an interesting direction. The banquet hall scene was legitimately creepy and nerve rattling. There's also the back up story with Commissioner Gordon that's running parallel to the Dick Grayson story. I know DC is cutting back-up stories to get their books down to the $2.99 price point, but Detective Comics was the first comic i read regularly and it always had a back-up story. At the time it featured green Arrow. So the nostalgic part of me will miss them. That aside, its a really creepy mystery story going on there and I'm dying to see how it turns out. I know the last time I reviewed this title I said I wasn't a fan of Jock, but I like what he's doing on this book. Ditto here. He can set up camp here with Snyder for the long haul and I'll keep right on reading if it continues being this good.

Moving on over to things Teen Titans. We had TEEN TITANS #90 where I am uncharacteristically just there for the art. No secret, I love Nicola Scott. She's one of my favorite artists working today. She totally delivered here. As for the story itself, its moving right along. J.T. Krul was responsible for writing one to the worst book in 2010, but he seems to be looking to atone for that with a solid story and good character interactions. The interactions with Rose and Damien were very well done. I was off this book for while, but I'm back gain and enjoying it. That wasn't the only Teen Titans book out, and here's where it gets weird. TEEN TITANS: COLD CASE was there waiting for me, so I grabbed it and I don't know why this book was published. Its not that its not particularly very good, because frankly, it is pretty lame. Its that the book is set five years ago our time and has nothing to do with the characters as they currently stand. It features the One Year later Teen Titans line-up complete with Tim Drake as Robin and still dealing with his father's murder and Kid Devil, who I liked and thought it was pretty crappy that he got bumped off. I don't know why this book is coming out now. Did someone at DC find the script in a drawer from 2005 and say, "Hey, look what I found, let's publish this!" Weird, and skippable. Save your money. The dumb thing is $4.99. For that you can get a copy of TINY TITANS #35 and some doughnuts. This month we have fun with parallel dimensions and color schemes. Great stuff as always and it gave me a chuckle.

HELLBOY: THE SLEEPING AND THE DEAD #1 features Mike Mignola and Scott Hampton teaming up to give us another really fun and creepy title. Hellboy takes on vampires, and this is all straight from the Mignola handbook. Give us a grabber of an introduction and pull us right into the heart of the mystery along with Hellboy. This takes me back to stories like "The Wolves of St. August" and "The Chained Coffin". Its a short story that is super creepy and entertaining. Lovely work.

Rounding for home we get to the favorite comic of The Mighty Missus Nozz: ZATANNA #8. Paul Dini is back and dealing with Zee's fear of Puppets. I absolutely love the cover as it has has nods to some pretty famous puppets. The book itself is really good. One thing that bugs me is that everything in Zatanna's life seems to go back to something involving her father. And I know that this is the basis of the character, but I want to see things move beyond that. This story is a step in that direction. Yes, it does involve her father, but the story is about Zee. The threat is one that is specifically targeting her. The writing is great as expected from Dini. Cliff Chang handles the art, and its top notch. I know Supergirl will be in good hands when he takes over for Jamal Igle. He manages to make Zee look attractive and sexy without crossing over into making her look slutty. The Missus has good taste.

"WE GOTTA SAVE THE CHIL'REN!!"

We all worry about kids. We worry about the world that they are going to inherit and we worry about what they're going to do with it when we're old. When you're a parent you have two jobs: protect your kids and teach them to fend for themselves. More and more we worry about them at younger ages.



Some of it is pretty common sense. You need to keep an eye on what they're exposed to. If I brought home a magazine that my dad wasn't familiar with, he'd give it a flip through to check it out. Its trickery now, especially with music. My dad and stepmom thought their was nothing wrong with their granddaughter, who was at the time a pre-teen, being into the Spice Girls. I did warn them because I had actually listened to some of their music, but they blew it off. After all, the Spice Girls were marketed directly at pre-teen and early teenage girls. They thought I was blowing things out of proportion until they finally heard some of the music. Things like this don't change. Of course I was 12 when "Licence to Ill" hit and me and the guys wore that album out. So the battle is an eternal one and it does go on. Like recently when a CD marketed to kids was found to have profanity on it. Sometimes things slip through the cracks. Wal-Mart didn't know there was profanity on those CDs and as soon as they did, they pulled them from the shelves. Wal-Mart slipped up, but ultimately its not Wal-Mart's job to protect your kids.

And kids consume more than just entertainment. A current study shows that a lot of infants are overweight or obese. This is a big problem because overweight people are among the last group you can make fun of and have politically correct hippies come after you with torches and pitchforks, so we can't let our kids fall into that group. The study says that straight breastfeeding is the best way to keep your infant from becoming overweight.

This study is complete bullshit.

First off: babies need calories. Second: there's plenty of calories in breast milk. My kids were had only breast milk for their first three months of life and quadrupled in weight. The Missus worked with children and babies for years. The overweight ones were often the ones that were breastfed. There's nothing wrong with formula. What parents need to do is listen to what they're kid's doctors tell them about their diets. You don't just shove a bottle in their mouths whenever they cry. I've got twins. If you don't have a good schedule with twin babies, you are screwed. They got a certain amount of formula at specific feeding times. If they didn't eat it all, no problem. If they did eat it all cool. They were well fed, and because of that they rested well. And resting well leads to eating well. So, my girls who were about three pounds each when they were delivered two months early quickly grew in little girls who are now mistaken as being older than they are. They're the tallest in their preschool class and healthy as horses.



Good eating is common sense. Yes, I eat horribly, but my kids eat pretty well. They love veggies and fruit. They eat plenty. Yes they had a period when they were squishy little butterballs, but now they're lean, mean, mess-making machines. And that's not me saying that I'm dad of the year. I'm a horrible parent by the standards all these studies put out, yet my kids are thriving.

It really doesn't take much to raise great kids and its no big mystery has to how to keep them healthy. But the one thing it does take above everything else: PAY ATTENTION! Pay attention to what they eat and what they're exposed to. You'll be amazed what a bit of vigilance pays off into.

MUSIC!!

Since I mentioned "License to Ill" by the Beastie Boys...



Alright, that's how we kick off the New year 'round here. Be back on Wednesday. I plan on pissin' some people off. That's about the only resolution I'll probably keep.

GSP is #4?

Its Sunday, December 12, 2010, I over slept, and this is The Side. I hate over sleeping. Its a pet peeve of mine. Its one thing if I wake up utterly exhausted and decide that I need another hour of shut eye. Its another if I wake up to discover that the kids have been playing with the volume on the clock radio and we forgot to check it before hitting the sheets.

I did probably need an extra hour of rest since I was up late watching George St. Pierre punch Josh Koscheck in the face about two hundred times. I was hoping for a broken face for Koscheck to the point of him not being able to talk, but after the whuppin' he was surprisingly incredibly gracious.

In Karate I preach to my students that if someone comes after you with circular techniques, use straight line techniques. Koschecks biggest weapon is his right hand which he always throws in a circular motion. Its devestating and has knocked plenty of guys out. So, what does the Kyokushinkai Karate Black Belt GSP do? Straight jab and repeated as necessary. I sat at my cousin's house, watching the clinic on "how to defend you welterweight title belt" smiling not just becauseone of my favorite fighters won, but because good Karate tactics got validated yet again.

MOVIES!!

A trailer for I AM NUMBER FOUR got featured on YouTube the other day and i checked it out. This was my first time seeing anything about this.



On YouTube, for those of you who have never been there (I heard you exist), there's a place to comment about the videos. Browsing through the comment I saw that many were comparing this movie with TWILIGHT. So I obviously had to read every TWILIGHT book and watch every movie to see if this comparison is accurate.

Yeah. Right.

Many people prefer to compare then describe. Maybe it stems from not being able to accurately describe what we've witnessed so we revert to using well known experiences as a shorthand to give a representation of what this new experience input made us feel. Maybe some folks have an inability to use adjectives. I don't know.

Both properties stem from books aimed at teenagers. Both feature protagonists that try to hide in high schools. Both have the protagonists fall in love with someone they met in that high school. But after that, they seem to both go on very different paths. I'm not sure how vampire struggling not to eat his loved one equates to alien guy trying not to get ganked by other aliens, but there we have it.

So, the comparison has a little merit, but is flimsy at best. That said, I AM NUMBER FOUR looks like a fun flick and one I wouldn't mind checking out.

MUSIC!!

These fellows bear consideration.



Yeah, I know it was a short one this go around. I'll try harder next time, coach! See y'all Wednesday.

MMA is just Thuper, thanks for asking!

Had to go with an old South Park joke for the title because I'm typing about a critism that is an old joke. I love the fights. I love watching it on TV and going to live shows when I get the chance. I love watching mixed martial arts (MMA) and have been to a few small local events. I also love chatting about MMA as long as it doesn't devolve into the "this guy could totally beat up this guy" idiocy. Even though we are talking about fighting, there's no need to fight over it.

So I brought up the subject in an online forum and after a few intelligent and pretty cool response this popped up:

I feel the same way about MMA that I do about pro wrestling: gay porn for closet cases who want to watch muscular guys with groomed body hair get sweaty and roll around.

Now, this is normally the beginning of the end of these discussions and the start of nasty flame wars, but I wanted to keep a lid on it. I've seen this criticism before and it usually comes from people who have never actually watched any MMA. I inquired if the person who made the comment had indeed watched any MMA, and got the response:

Yes, and it’s exactly like watching gay wrestling pornos with bigger budgets. And no c***sucking.

Having myself, my students and much of my family called a bunch of "closet cases" was nearly worth it to have this guy admit his expertise in the area of "gay wrestling pornos" and I do wonder if his biggest beef with MMA is the lack of c***sucking. Still, I did have someone say on my now deactivated Facebook account that the sport was homoerotic, which is ridiculous of course, but had me thinking about the argument.

MMA is fightsport, pure and simple. So why do people consider it homo-erotic? I think there's a few reasons.

First, pure ignorance. Some people may hear about it or see a picture and see two guys with no shirts, and that's all they can come up with. This is where a lot of the comparisons with professional wrestling comes from, but to be fair there have been crossovers between MMA and professional wrestling with various wrestlers either giving the sport a shot (like Dan Severn, Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley) or fighters making some money on the pro-wrestling circuit (like Ken Shamrock, Paul Varlens and Tank Abbott). There's also some confusion about the ground game, which was quite common in the early days of Ultimate Fighting Championships. Those notions and confusion are quickly dispelled once these people get a better understanding of MMA.

Second, there are people who view everything in some sort of sexual manner. I had a professor for a crime and violence in literature class back in college who was seeing sexual elements in some of the stories we read that had the majority of class wondering what on earth she was talking about. Nice lady, but she got quite a few odd stares from me. Its the same here. Good old Freud. If he only knew how much comedy who come from his theories.

Third, there are people who are just turned on by two guys fighting. Not my thing, and I don't think it needs anymore explanation, so let's move along.

Lastly, there are people who feel threatened by it's existence. I see it in pseudo-intellectuals who like be elitist and use there smarts to try to set themselves above the masses. Along comes MMA. Its primal, physical and often brutal. The pseudo-intellectual elitist has no purchase. His reason and vaunted supposed brainpower can't compare in popularity with what is now one of the most popular sports in the world. He feels above it, so he can't dignify himself with actual understanding of this base thing. He must decry it. He must bring it low to show the thug masses that they are fools for liking it. As such he goes for the insult of choice for middle schoolers: "its gay". A pathetic attack really, but it strikes at testosterone driven love of fighting, so it occasionally gets a rise out of fans. More mature fans of the sport can just look at these fools and laugh. Smart folks know that they don't know everything and there's a lot of very intelligent people among the fans of MMA.

I'm not going to say that MMA is for everyone. There's plenty of people who have a hard time watching fights and fightsport. Still, if it's not your bag, or you don't really understand it, that's fine. No one's going to judge you. You don't have to slander it. And if you're trying to slander it by calling it "gay", really, who's the homophobe in that equation?