UFC 118

Headlined by Penn vs Edgar II, the promotion was mostly centered instead on MMA vs Boxing as Randy Couture faces Heavyweight Champ James Toney as the co-main event.

I wasn't exactly looking forward for the main event as their first meeting was really disappointing but the co-main event was great! It was a short match and it appeared as if Toney was just standing there and waiting to release one power shot to beat Couture. But Couture just went for an ankle takedown, did some ground and pound and eventually submitted Toney via triangle choke.

This however does not prove or mean MMA will always win against Boxing. The winner is determined by what rule will be applied. If an MMA fighter goes to a boxing match, the boxer would be 99% (if not 100%) win that. What this showed however is that some boxers are getting interested in MMA because of the quality fights being made there. Unlike in boxing nowadays there is almost nothing good to watch. If I recall correctly, Toney himself said that boxing doesn't offer him great fights anymore and since UFC is putting great fights he tried it out. Big credits to Toney for stepping up and backing his words.

As for the main event, it was just painfully boring to watch. Penn looked like he was confused and as if his mind is on another dimension. Edgars style was not that exciting at all even though he dominated Penn for full five rounds. Other than Edgars ability to move in and out fast and take less damage, the other reason why Edgar won again is because Penn clearly has lost that "killer instinct" that he had for so long. If you go back and watch Penns old fights, you'd probably say that Penn of today is just a look-alike. Penn really looked as this was his first MMA fight and Edgar just took him down at will.

Another interesting fight was Diaz vs Davis. Quite ironic that the former boxer (Davis) was out-punched (if not out-boxed) by Diaz. It's just a sad journey for Davis. He had a lot of good fights and wins along the way but everytime he comes close to a title shot, he loses.

Lastly, it's as if fate had this planned all along --- Meynard vs Edgar 2. During their last outing Meynard beat Edgar via decision. And now, Edgar has the chance to avenge that single loss and of course Meynard has his chance to become the next UFC lightweight champion.

TV Series

Here are some of the TV series that I find interesting

High school of the dead

A new anime with great graphics, un-original but good story and lots of sexy women.

I know, this anime is NOT for all and should be at least rated-R due to a number of explicit scenes.  But still a good watch if you want to spend your 23 minute or so on a tv series.

Burn Notice

A story about a "burned" (fired, terminated) spy trying to get back his old (spy) life and using his skills in between.  This is now on it's 4th season and every season is worth watching over and over again.  I like this better than Bond movies because the show tells you the "why" and "how" a spy overcomes situations and some of those can be applied in real life.  It also have Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) as Sam Axe and the sexy Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona.

Bleach

I guess this anime is so popular I don't have to tell you what this show is about.  If you don't know, hmmm then maybe you don't like watching anything with subtitles :)

Others but not currently airing:

Supernatural, Fringe, Chuck, How I met your mother, Knight Rider, Vampire Diaries

Boxing and MMA

So what happened to boxing these days?  Where are those days when we are excited to see a boxing match?  Aside from Pacman vs Mayweather, it's really hard to tune in to boxing even if they have a lot of talented boxers.  Why?  Maybe it's because of how boxing promoters do their job or the lack there of.  In contrast, MMA has been gaining a lot of fans, even boxing fans.

And not only fans, boxers are also having interest in joining MMA (such as James Toney).

One reason that Toney cited was something like "they don't make big fights in boxing anymore, but MMA (UFC in particular) put up the fights that people want to see".

This comment further solidifies what Dana said about boxing promoters that they have "lost" their love for the sport of boxing and only think about money.

If that's true then sooner or later boxing will just die out and be a sport of the past.  I think the boxing promoters should wake up and see what MMA is doing right and incorporate that to boxing.  The pre-fight shows, "road to..."-series and other gimicks that work for MMA should also have an equivalent for boxing.  There are for sure lots of talented boxers but unfortunately people don't know them due to lack of promotions.  So when they have fights, many people don't care to watch at all just because no one knows them and why they are in that fight.

Ali gave fans lots of reason and story why he and Foreman will be fighting back in the days.  That was a great promotion!  But now, what do we see?

MMA cards right now are generally better than boxing cards because in boxing most fans just watch the main card, but in MMA you can watch the undercards.

Come on boxing promoters and boxers, are you just gonna go down like that?

UFC fights

Recent UFC fights have really been magnificent!  Joe Silva has almost always put up great match ups and Dana along with the rest of UFC have been good at promoting fights.

The Sonnen vs Silva was one of the greatest fights in recent memory, in fact it even surpasses the Lesnar vs Carwin fight mainly because of the trash talking of Sonnen.

But Sonnen (unlike all of Silva's opponents)  not only talked, he dominated Silva for almost five (5) rounds and no one has ever done that to Silva so that's a huge accomplishment.

But he was caught in a triangle and lost via tap out.

Nonetheless, at the post fight conference Sonnen was still a sport having hear him say "the better man always wins.  He won tonight so he's the better man".

I just hope all the talkers in UFC can also do the walk as he did we all get to watch a great fight!

Silva on the other hand should try improving his take down defense especially if the mega fight with GSP would happen then he's really gonna need all that defense in place.

Another upcoming fight to look for is the show down between Randy Couture and James Toney.  This is almost like MMA vs Boxing on how it is being promoted and Toney is also in this direction as well, as he said to show that boxing is still the better sport than MMA.

Take note though that this is not the main event.  I think it's just more interesting and easier to market than Penn vs Edgar 2.  The event happens on Aug. 29 Sunday here in the Philippines.