Video of the Day - Cro Cop v. Suzukawa

Here is Mirko Cro Cop fighting former sumo wrestler and current pro wrestler Shinichi Suzukawa at IGF Inoki Bom Ba Ye 2012 which took place on 12/31/12 in Tokyo, Japan. The fight was Cro Cop's first since an October 29, 2011 loss to Roy Nelson.

This is one of the odder fights to come out of Japan in recent memory.

Video of the Day - Aoki v. McKee

Here is Shinya Aoki fighting Antonio McKee at the Saitama Super Arena on 12/31/12 in the Dream Glory NYE special. A replay of the event will air tonight on CBS Sports Net.

Goldberg Messes Up Rashad Evans' Name

Here is Mike Goldberg messing up Rashad Evans' name during a transition from Facebook to FX prelims at UFC 145. There is some solid cursing in this one.

Video of the Day - Aoki v. Black

Here is Shinya Aoki fighting UFC and Pride fighter Jason Black at Pride Bushido 12 which took place on 8/26/06 in the Nagoya Rainbow Hall in Japan.

Aoki will fight smothering wrestler Antonio McKee at Dream and Glory's New Years Eve event at the Saitama Super Arena on Monday. Jason Black, 23-4, appears to be retired last fighting at UFC 77, losing a decision to Matt Grice.

Below is the fight line-up for Dream 18 - New Years Special. Glory will hold a kickboxing event as well. No broadcast details for the United States have been offered.

Shinya Aoki v. Antonio McKee
Bibiano Fernandes v. Yoshiro Maeda
Denis Kang v. Melvin Manhoef
Georgi Karakhanyan v. Hiroyuki Takaya
Phil Baroni v. Hayato Sakurai
Will Brooks v. Satoru Kitaoka
Tatsuya Kawajiri v. Michihiro Omigawa

Big Country Goes Big

I have gotten a couple questions emailed to me lately inquiring about my thoughts on Roy "Big Country" Nelson's fighting skills, coaching job on TUF 16, his rankings among UFC heavyweights and a potential drop down in weight. Here are my thoughts:

Roy Nelson is an elite martial artist and gifted athlete. That has been evidenced several times, including KO's over Brendan Schaub, Stefan Struve, Cro Cop, Dave Herman and now Matt Mitrione. He has a legit BJJ black belt and has defeated Frank Mir in a grappling match. He can impose his will in fights, possesses an iron chin, and has excellent punching power combined with hand eye coordination.

I don't think Roy will ever drop to 205 pounds and have the prototypical UFC body. At 250 plus, I just don't see Roy wanting to lose that weight. Most fighters at 205 are faster than Nelson. There are some grapplers at 205 that could take Nelson down every round and stay away from his power.


Roy is at his best striking when he is able to counter and avoid power punches from big guys with reach on him. Long strikers should be peppering Roy with the jab and hitting him with kicks at distance. As far as his ranking, I'd guess Roy has a few more years left around number 10 with wins still left in the tank.

As evidenced by his championship TUF 10 run, Roy doesn't really like people telling him what to do. He knows what works for him and wants to do that. As a coach on TUF 16, it seemed like the fighters on Team Nelson wanted more instruction and harder practices. Roy deflected that sentiment by saying he couldn't teach heart, but really Roy probably just thought that's how his fighters should be trained to win the tournament.

Roy wasn't the best TUF coach, but look at the results. His fighters won 8 out of the 15 fights in the TUF tournament. His fighter Colton Smith emerged the champion of the show fighting the same way throughout the tourney. Smith imposed his will, got takedowns, threw elbows and attempted submissions. It wasn't the most pretty tournament run, but it was effective.

In the very first episode of TUF 16, Roy did say that the show is a marathon, not a sprint, and fighters should do anything they could to win. The goal is to win 3 fights in 6 weeks in the house to make the finale. The two worst things a TUF coach can do is burn his fighters out and pushing them too hard right before a fight or having a fighter get hurt during a practice. Neither happened under Roy's watch.

(Nelson was the first and only IFL HW Champ)

Video of the Day - Arlovski v. Nelson

Here is Roy "Big Country" Nelson fighting Andrei Arlovski at Elite XC - Heat, which took place on 10/4/08 in Sunrise, Florida.

Arlovski is currently riding a 3 fight win streak with one NC against Tim Sylvia in One FC, a fight which Arlovski would have won if not for a non "signaled" soccer kick. Nelson is coming off a KO win over Matt Mitrione, his second straight UFC win.

Video of the Day - Le v. Altman

Here is Cung Le's mma debut against Mike Altman which occured at Strikeforce - "Shamrock v. Gracie" on 3/10/06 in San Jose, California.

Le recently knocked out Rich Franklin at the headliner of UFC on Fuel 6, for his second straight UFC win. Le also has wins over Pat Cote, Frank Shamrock, Scott Smith and Tony Frykland.

Video of the Day - Khalidov v. Grove

Here is Mamed Khalidov fighting Kendall Grove at KSW 21 - Final Resolution which took place on December 1, 2012 in Warsaw, Poland.

Video of the Day - Horwich v. Martin

Here is Matt Horwich fighting Terry Martin at KSW 21 - Final Resolution which took place on December 1, 2012 in Warsaw, Poland.

Horwich's hair is exceptional for this fight.