Silva is the current middleweight champ of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he remains undefeated.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, however, silenced the skeptics.

Here’s an excerpt from Kevin Iole’s Yahoo! Sports article.

Prior to the card, UFC president Dana White vigorously defended the quality of the show and went on the offensive against those who were critical of the matches.

Much is made on Internet bulletin boards of a perceived lack of respect that White shows fighters, but White got the last laugh Saturday. He wound up turning the critics’ words against them.

In the main event, Rashad Evans defeated Thiago Silva via unanimous decision to set up a long-delayed showdown with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

I used to like Rampage actually, but after his antics on The Ultimate Fighter 10, I can’t wait for Rashad to get his hands on Jackson.

For the complete UFC 108 results, click here.

By the way, congratulations to The Filipino Wrecking Machine Fil-American Mark Muñoz, who defeated Ryan Jensen in the first round.

Mainly that’s because what I really would have wanted to see was Evans versus Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, but Rampage scuttled that much anticipated encounter when he bailed on the Ultimate Fighting Championship to play B.A. Baracus in the A-Team movie.

Still, there’s no denying the skills of Evans and Silva, and it’s not really the UFC’s fault that the UFC 108 card seems jinxed, with different fights being scuttled due to injuries, notably the serious illness that has sidelined UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. Lesnar’s championship defense against Shane Carwin was originally supposed to headline UFC 106 but was postponed to UFC 108 after Lesnar’s illness, only to be scrapped again.

Here are some UFC 108 promotional clips posted on the official UFC YouTube channel.

Who’s your pick?

By the way, Fil-American Mark Muñoz a.k.a. The Filipino Wrecking Machine will be going up against Ryan Jensen in one of the undercard fights.

Visit the UFC page on Facebook or follow @UFC on Twitter.

Griffin practically ran out of the building after losing to Silva, and has not issued any statement on the incident as of this writing. Silva, the reigning UFC middleweight champion, had moved up a weight class for the second time in the UFC to face Griffin, the former light heavyweight champion.

Here’s what Jackson, whose Twitter account is @rampage4real, tweeted after Griffin’s loss, including the photo he posted on Twitpic.

I feel so bad for Forrest. I don’t even want a rematch anymore. LOSER!! http://twitpic.com/d8tn2

Jackson lost the UFC light heavyweight championship to Griffin last year in a unanimous decision, hence the “rematch” comment. The fact that he was calling the fighter who beat him (although some still believe Jackson should have gotten the decision) a loser obviously rubbed many fans the wrong way. Some even brought up the fact that after his loss to Griffin, Jackson was arrested on July 15, 2008 for a hit and run incident, in which Jackson sideswiped an SUV being driven by a pregnant woman. The woman suffered minor injuries and a month later had a miscarriage. Jackson’s apparent meltdown was attributed to delirium caused by lack of sleep and too many energy drinks. Jackson hit two cars and attempted to evade the cops, resulting in a high-speed car chase in which he weaved in and out of traffic and drove on the sidewalk, endangering pedestrians.

Here’s what Jackson tweeted after the negative comments to his comment on Griffin’s loss.

To THE HATERS.. Don’t say nothing on the internet that you wouldn’t say in person. Cowards..

Later, he tweeted that the comment on Griffin was made in jest.

Relax guys! It’s just humor. Damn! If you can’t laugh go follow someone else. Yeah that just happened.. I just said that!

Of course, that didn’t stop him from posting this latest tweet.

I’m in Hollywood minding my own business & I look over.. & I see Forrest… he’s still running!

The thing is, Jackson’s known for trash talking, but I can see why some people would be offended. I’m just amazed, however, to what extent Griffin’s fans will defend his actions after his loss to Silva. You would have expected Griffin to stay around for the official decision and congratulate Silva in a show of sportsmanship, instead of running out like that.

Then again, Griffin did cry after losing to Keith Jardine, so maybe UFC president Dana White is right in attributing the running incident to Griffin being an emotional fighter who doesn’t deal well with losing. Still, White couldn’t resist making a joke: “He might be in Georgia by now, he ran out and I haven’t seen him since.” White then went on to say, “He’s an emotional guy. We’ve seen that from Forrest before when he’s lost a big fight that he thought he was going to win.”

It’s been days now, and we still haven’t heard anything from Griffin regarding the incident. In the meantime, his coach Ron Frazier spoke up since Griffin was remaining silent.

Here’s an excerpt from the 5thRound.com article.

“He wasn’t injured,” Frazier said.

He might not have been hurt physically, but his feelings certainly were, and that is something that takes a lot more time to heal than any broken bone.

This isn’t the first time that Griffin went LeBron James-like and bolted after a loss. He threw the same tantrum after Keith Jardine knocked him out at UFC 66 in December of 2006.

Like that time, Frazier claims that Griffin’s actions are “no big deal” and the media is blowing his poor sportsmanship out of proportion.

Griffin’s lucky that he’s well-liked, because if a hated MMA fighter like Brock Lesnar pulled a stunt like that, you wouldn’t hear anyone justifying his decision to run out of the building.

Frankly, if Griffin is becoming the butt of jokes, it’s because of his running out like that. He was dominated by Silva, and there’s no shame in losing to a superior fighter. I’m sure most fans wouldn’t be joking about Griffin if he had simply said he was beaten by the better man that night and just shook Silva’s hand.

Maybe in the next few days we’ll hear Griffin acknowledge that.

Until then: Run, Forrest, run!

In fact, Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, which will be for the newly created 145-lb women’s championship, is the first fight card from a major MMA promotion to feature a women’s match as the main event. Not only that, but just as in men’s MMA title fights, this championship bout will be scheduled for five 5-minute rounds, instead of the previous 3-minute rounds for women’s MMA bouts. Both women are making a statement that women’s MMA is for real, and that female fighters are just as tough as their male counterparts.

Regardless of who wins, Carano and Santos will be making MMA history. I’m an unabashed Carano fan, so I’m definitely rooting for Gina. I already liked her the first time I saw her as Crush on “American Gladiators,” but I became an even bigger fan when I found out shortly after that she’s a Muay Thai expert and MMA fighter. Carano remains unbeaten in MMA with a record of 7-0 (3 knockouts), while Santos, whose primary styles are Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, has a 7-1 record (her only loss was to fellow Brazilian Erica Paes, who made her submit to a leglock in the first round in a May 17, 2005 fight in Brazil), with 5 KOs.

Here’s a photo of Gina Carano from the Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg press conference.

Get more pictures like this from SHERDOG.COM

And here’s Cris Cyborg.

Get more pictures like this from SHERDOG.COM

Here’s a video from Showtime Sports which shows some of the pre-fight training Carano is undergoing at the Xtreme Couture Gym in Las Vegas. Yup, Carano’s trainer is the Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Famer and five-time UFC champion (two in the light heavyweight division and three as a heavyweight) Randy “The Natural” Couture. The host is another great MMA champion, Frank Shamrock.

Here’s the Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg teaser video.

And here are more videos on this historic clash from the official Showtime Sports YouTube channel.

This is a highly anticipated championship bout between two great fighters, and I just can’t wait to see this historic encounter. Cris Cyborg is awesome, but I firmly believe Gina Carano will stop her and become the first Strikeforce women’s champion.

That’s my conviction.

As I said in my previous post, I’m a big fan of Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champ Anderson Silva and I knew he would beat former light heavyweight king Forrest Griffin, but man, even I didn’t think it would be so easy for Silva!

Silva, who moved up a class again to fight for the second time in the light heavyweight division, made Griffin look like an amateur inside the octagon en route to knocking out the former champ at 3: 23 of the first round.

It was an unbelievable performance by Silva, who about midway in the fight dropped his hands and just evaded Griffin’s punches with head movements.

After the fight, Griffin did not even wait for the official decision and basically ran out of the building. Initial reports have indicated that Griffin ran because he wanted to immediately see a doctor for a dislocated jaw and loss of hearing in one ear. Griffin’s boxing coach, however, has since confirmed that Griffin did not suffer any injuries during the fight.

Here’s a clip of the Silva post-fight interview.

Silva, by the way, has reportedly offered to permanently move up to the light heavyweight division to seek new challenges, even if that means giving up the middleweight crown.

In the co-main event, BJ Penn successfully defended his lightweight crown with a fourth-round rear naked choke on Kenny Florian. Penn started out strong, and at first it actually looked like he would finish the fight in seconds.

Florian, however, is a tough customer, but in the end Penn simply proved too good for him.

Here’s a clip of the Penn post-fight interview.

Here are two pics I tweeted via Twitpic while we were watching the fight.

Here’s a coaster with an amusing message.

All three of us got UFC T-shirts for ordering two Colt 45 4+1 buckets.

Here’s the T-shirt.

By the way, I didn’t tweet the results in real time yesterday because I didn’t want to spoil the results for anyone, especially those who were going to watch the delayed telecast on Studio 23 last night. Click here for the complete UFC 101.

It was our first time to go to a UFC viewing party, and we’ll most likely go again to Outback Libis for UFC 102: Randy “The Natural” Couture and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira on August 30 (August 29 in the US).

Silva was once considered by some as the best pound for pound mixed martial arts fighter in the world. The UFC middleweight champ, however, has gotten a lot of flak after two title defenses where he seemed bored by the challengers and turned it what critics felt where lackluster performances, particularly his most recent fight against Thales Leites.

Silva is now expected to be motivated since Griffin is a former light heavyweight champ. While I’ve never been a fan of Griffin and some MMA aficionados still don’t consider him an elite fighter, you’ve got to give him his due as he’s beaten the likes of Maurico “Shogun” Rua and, of course, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson — the man Griffin dethroned to become the light heavyweight champ, before losing in his first title defense against Rashad Evans.

I’m confident Silva will beat Griffin and prove himself a legitimate threat in the light heavyweight division, but then again I never thought Griffin could beat Rua or Jackson. Still, I’m rooting for the much more talented Silva, who has said that he will knock out Griffin.

Here’s the UFC 101: Declaration teaser video from SkyCable’s Balls Channel, the home of the UFC in the Philippines. UFC 101 will be aired live on Balls this Sunday, August 9 at 10 a.m., with replays on August 9 on Balls at 5 p.m. and at 10:30 p.m. on Studio 23; 7 p.m. on Balls on August 10; and 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Balls on August 11.

Here’s a video of Silva’s “X-Men moves” while training from UFC’s official YouTube channel.

And here’s Griffin showing off his own moves.

The main event will have UFC lightweight champ BJ “The Prodigy” Penn defending his title against Kenny “KenFlo” Florian. OK, just a disclaimer, Penn is a very talented athlete and is certainly one of the best pound for pound MMA fighters in the world, but I’ve never been a fan. I don’t think Florian can beat him, but I’ll definitely be rooting for KenFlo.

For the full UFC 101: Declaration fight card, click here.

My buddy Don and I might watch UFC 101 at the Balls and Colt 45 viewing party tomorrow, Sunday at 10 a.m. at Outback Steakhouse in Libis or Makati, so stay tuned.

Left scrambling for an opponent for World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko after Josh Barnett failed a drug test, Affliction has announced that it is canceling its Aug. 1 Affliction: Trilogy pay-per-view.

Worse, Affliction, which while losing money has put two great pay-per-view cards built around Fedor, who is widely recognized as the world’s best MMA fighter, has decided to shut down its MMA promotion business. Instead, the company’s clothing division will once again become a sponsor of Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Talk about coming full circle.

Here’s an excerpt from Kevin Iole’s Yahoo! Sports article that broke the story.

The company and the Ultimate Fighting Championship are expected to release a statement sometime on Friday in which it is announced that Affliction will cease operations as a promoter and that its clothing division will become a UFC sponsor.

Affliction had a card slated for Aug. 1 with a main event of Fedor Emelianenko, the No. 2 fighter in the Yahoo! Sports mixed martial arts rankings, against former UFC champion Josh Barnett at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

With the demise of Affliction as a promotion, will we finally see Fedor in the UFC?

Let’s hope so. You know you want to see Fedor Emelianenko vs Brock Lesnar.

With the Affliction: Trilogy pay-per-view on Aug. 1 just around the corner, Josh Barnett, who is challenging World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko in the main event, has been removed from the card after he failed a drug test.

Here’s an excerpt from the Yahoo! Sports article.

Barnett said he wanted to keep quiet as he prepares an appeal, and had nothing negative to say about the testing procedure.

“It’s not a big conspiracy,” said Barnett, who had a previous positive banned substance test result on his record.

Atencio said the show will go on as scheduled, and that Emelianenko has agreed to face any potential opponent. Yahoo! Sports has been able to confirm the company has had talks over the past day with Brett Rogers, Vitor Belfort and Bobby Lashley.

MMAJunkie.com is reporting that Vitor has verbally committed to fighting Fedor, though negotiations are still ongoing.

Now, I’m a big fan of Vitor, even though The Phenom never really lived up to the huge expectations that resulted from his success as a young prodigy in the early days of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Still, as a middleweight, he’ll be a huge underdog against the heavyweight champ, apart of course from Fedor being widely considered the best mixed martial arts fighter in the world.

Let’s see if this match will push through, and if it does, I’ll be rooting for Vitor, against all odds.

Visit the Wrestling and MMA Headlines section of my blog for the latest updates.

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