UFC 155 Post Fight Press Conference: Congrats Cain!

Cain Velasquez: Lighter & Faster for Dos Santos Rematch.

Great Questions: Courtesy of MMA H.E.A.T's Karen Bryant.

Countdown to UFC 155: Dos Santos vs Velasquez

The Rise & Faith of Cain Velasquez 2

"I will get this belt back...for sure." Words uttered in his post fight interview with Joe Rogan after his loss to Junior Dos Santos a year ago.

Cain has trained, meditated & visualized his victory. The moment of truth is at hand.

Has Cain learned from the only loss in his mma career? We'll find out in less than a week's time.

Cain has to find a way to get in on Junior. Keeping his hands up is a start. Deflect all incoming blows like a Spartan phalanx or Gandalf, blocking the way of the Demon Beast, protecting & providing the Hobbits & Aragorn safe passage in The Fellowship of the Rings last scene.

Cain is a Demon Beast himself.  He has to impose his Aztec will on the upstart Brazilian. Easier said than done ofcourse, but if anyone can beat Junior its definitely Cain.

If i was Cain's coach i would have called in the U.K's David Hayes, the Ukraine's Klitchko brothers, Mike Tyson & Lennox Lewis. Heck why not toss in Oscar Dela Hoya, Julio Cesar Chavez & Juan Manuel Marquez for good measure, training and advice on how to neutrilize Junior's boxing. Cain is Mexican afterall. Home to the best boxers on the planet not named Mayweather.

When Cain gets in on Junior it'll be his all american wrestling vs the Brazilians top level takedown defense.
It might take 4 or 5 attempts but if Cain's stays with it, he'll get Junior on the canvas,where he'll have the freedom to apply his talent.

Its scary to think how much better Cain's first ever loss has made him now.

A former training partner, the Brazilian/Japanese, Lyoto Machida, has the secret to how beat Junior. Junior's most dangerous weapons are his hands. Lyoto knows how to keep away from all his opponents by covering distance and space. Lyoto stays out of your reach no matter who you are and how long your reach is. He'll zoom in and out before you know what happened. If Cain can understand and adopt a similiar style plus use his hands and arms as shields to block and perry Junior's incoming blows just enough to get him within range to grab Junior. Well then, the entire complexity of the game changes.

Ofcourse the theory is a good one. Applying it while being under heavy bombardment from real time hard and fast shots from Junior is another story. To Cain's favour, he was injured in his last fight and we didnt get a chance to see the real Cain out there. Watching game tape of the Junior vs Mir fight, the fight after his championship win over Cain, we learned that you can come in on Junior. He'll hesitate throwing that overhand right if you dont flinch and more importantly are prepared to block & evade his punches. Mir was able to push Junior back for the entirety of the first round. Boxing, kicking and trying a few takedowns himself.

Very good Frank Mir. You showed some moxy. Before eventually succumbing to Juniors out of this world boxing and power of course. Dont sweat it, you have company in the infirmary unit.

Cain is still a better all around fighter than Junior. If Cain's harnessed his chi, trained with the best, took a nice vacay with the fam and friends, laughed at his own loss while salsa dancing on the beach with his wife under the popverbial latin moon. Rocking an anonymous donors gleaming fictional 24k cross might not be necessary.

Faith is internal and unseen, much like promises.

Immortal Warriors: A Tribute to Pacquiao and Marquez

Fighters are like dancers & lovers.

Passion feeds their fires and movements. As steel sharpens steel, so too do opponents and rivalries.

The ying and yang of what makes life beautiful. Without one, we couldn't have the other, appreciate the other, and inevitably need the other. Just like love & hate, day & night and life &death. Without the contrast there is no point of reference, gratitude and inevitable joy.

Pacquiao vs Marquez is one such rivalry. Not since the Barring Strait (named after some prehistoric caveman and his mean overhand right no doubt), has the connection between Asians and Latinos/ Indigenous First Nations peoples been so closely contested. One perfect for the modern era of boxing, where its pay per view combat sports dominance, revenue and fan base have decisively diminished the past decade. We can thank less blatant corruption, the realization that real fights use kicks, elbows, wrestling and chokes and last but not least, Dana White and his marketing & personality genius. Tip your Badboy fighters cap out to him next time you see him. Heck even flip it over like a street corner mma busker and tell Dana you're an aspiring ufc fighter that needs some training money. See if he's feeling generous.

Generous as Pacquiao was with his one sided pugilistic punishment. So much so, he was dubbed the "Mexicutioner", for the way he beat the best Mexican boxers.

Pacman and Martinez went to war four times.

Their fights mimicked a masquerade ball. A who's who of Hollywood and sports celebs would show up to watch the fights, and no one would reveal who they were going for. The victor remained anonymous until the very end.  The same way masquerade balls can hold the illusion of mystery by enthralling its revelers in fantasy and magic, so to do colossal fighting events.

The same way ones voice and eyes are always a dead give away. As one eye looks with calculation and the other with intrigue to gauge the identity of the reveler. So to is one quick punch that ends a fighters night in both a fraction of seconds and marrow.

Their first two contests were a boxers dream as the two rivals had the fans on the edge of their seats, going toe to toe by putting on a boxing clinic of epic proportions; extremely close.
"Pacquiao knocked Marquez down four times in their first encounter in the first round so he clearly won".
The other would say "Yes, but Marquez came back and fought a brilliant fight for the rest of the match by cleverly counter punching and going the distance".

The third one the most controversial as many thought Marquez won decisively. That leaves us with the forth, well the fourth..you cant get any more decisive than a knockout. In hindsight, Marquez was the only fighter that could come remotely close to beating Pacquiao. The Filipino boxer had polished off with an A list of fighters from a myriad of divisions. Cotto. Marguarito. Dela Hoya. Morales,  all executed at the hands of Pacquiao.

Pacquiao was decisively winning in their fourth bout up until the last second when instead of milking the last ten seconds of the round he chose to get overly aggressive and engage Marquez wildly. A decision that would prove his undoing.

Pacquiao got caught with a perfect right hand as he helped the laws of physics by walking right into it.
Unconscious in the air, he fell perfectly and matter of factly like the last domino in a unbalanced game, where the previous pieces had fallen every which way, non symmetrical and unresolved.

What made this affair so closely contested and passionate? Admirers and fans from a distance would say things like "Marquez is the better boxer but Pacquiao is quicker and more explosive". Different fighting styles, the furious pace they both set & chess methodology approach. No one gave an inch.

Immortal warriors.  

The kind that echo throughout eternity doing perpetual battle in diverse timelines and universes as the creator likes to do with so many of his archetypes.

Linked through spirit, the only way fighters are. By fighting and ultimately respecting each other.
and sometimes admiration and friendship like Apollo Creed and Rocky.

Boxing has and always will be a poor mans sport.  A pugilistic one, honed and tested on the streets by immigrants. Closely contested and previously laid claim to in the early days of North American settlers by Irish and Italians and for the past half century, Blacks and Latinos. Who's game is it? The one who plays it the best and one who fate chooses. Not any particular race, ethnicity or culture.

As debates go. This one is over.

We all learned the value of perseverance and cold mathematical calculation. As hard and disappointing as it got with each controversial decision, Marquez never quit trying to definitively beat Pacquiao with both passion and wit. As aggressive as Marquez got he always remained cerebral and patient, looking for that one opening. He waited four fights for one and got it. Like his Nobel prize winning writer counter part by the same name. Marquez and Pacquiao wrote a legendary boxing rivalry.

The ink has dried. Latino boxing fans love Pacquiao. A man who took an entire country on his shoulders and brought them to the Promised Land/ Mecha of boxing glory. Latin Americans and Filipinos, two peoples reunited once again under common Spanish blood and Asiatic ancestral roots to become one nation of boxing enthusiasts under a Manny Pacquiao karaoke groove. Where race and ethnicity dont matter. As long as you can box..its all good.

Please no somber songs for Manny Pacquiao. He isnt dead.  He challenged Mexicans in a sport they hold dear. He made Mexico better.

What's in store for Pacquiao's future? A Mayweather fight is all but out of the question. Pacquiao's place in the history books as one of the all time greats and Boxing Hall of Fame member? Cemented. So too is that of his rival Marquez. Forever written & sealed in the book of boxing legends.

In this pugilistic and passionate dance only giving your absolute best will do. Anything else is fraudulent. Smoke and mirrors, much like a masquerade ball.  Eventually the masks come off, mirrors break and the fog of war subsides.

Heart & Mind overcome all. 

Viva Marquez and Pacquiao! 

UFC Fighter Pays Homage to the Brave & Beautiful Souls of Newtown Connecticut. Well Said Pat Barry!

An Insightful Interview with the U.K's Best Boxer: Amir Khan.

Marquez vs Pacman 4: A Knockout for the Ages. Left More than Pacquiao Breathless.

UFC 155: Nate Diaz vs Ben Henderson. A Stylistic Contrast of Character & Characters.

Its UFC night and Nate Diaz is bringing his high caliber trash talk, vulgarity and 209 hand symbols. More suitable for the mean streets of Los Angeles and gang turf warfare perhaps, but try telling this Stockton, California raised Latino that. "One and the same you %$&%" is what he'd probably tell you.  Mere Semantics, a  fights a fight regardless of where it takes place in Diaz's eyes.

While his opponent Ben Henderson has other plans. He'll look to make his best "300" impersonation as he looks to kick Diaz in the face, pay homage to his korean and taekwondo roots, while battlecrying "this is Octagon!" as Diaz flies into the stands, limp body and lifeless.

Well this isnt a movie or gangwarfare. It's the UFC's world renowned Octagon, less ridiculous hilarity than cinema and in direct contrast to the refereeless bullet riddled battlefields of gang warfare.

This is a UFC Lightweight Championship match, much tougher prospect than both in some peoples eyes, where discipline,talent and faith transcend the prior options. As we prepare for a serious throwdown between Nate Diaz  and Ben Henderson, one thing is certain, this isnt going to be easy for either fighter.

It will be a fight where Nate Diaz looks to exploit his intense gameness, reach advantage, Diaz Brotherz style "gauge & strike" boxing, top level Gracie family taught BJJ game. If there are any chinks in Ben Henderson's armour it would have to be his rudimentary boxing skills and Diaz's superior ground game.

Diaz has been on a tear, beating the likes of Takanori Gomi, Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller in his last three fights.

Ben didnt look good against Frankie in their last outing.  

Considering Ben had a significant size advantage, one he wont have against Diaz, as Diaz stands 2 inches taller at 6'1. Diaz wants the same Bendo to show up Saturday night. The reality is both fighters should show up with their A game.

"Smooth's" key to victory are his leg kicks, athleticism, quickness, versatility and...faith? If faith can be counted as a weapon in the arsenal. God's warrior looks to remain spiritually serene. If he maintains professional in his approach and doesn't allow Diaz to rattle him as he does with almost all his opponents by throwing them off their game ie the way he completly threw Cerrone off his.  

He should employ a similar style Condit used against his older brother, and mix his attack by cleverly counter striking off the back pedal.

As cliche as it sounds, whoever can employ his strategy or will on the other will prevail.  If the way "Smooth" responded to Diaz's trash talk is any sign, "God Bless You Nate Diaz" lol. then we'll be in for a great night of focused fighters.