Punch Drunk Love 05.21.07: The Hangover Edition
Posted by Bren Oliver on 05.21.2007
Monday has arrived and with it comes the newest installment of the PUNCH DRUNK LOVE: HANGOVER EDITION. This week features Tito talk, a disgruntled UKer, GSP's humilty, and the answer to a 411Mania MMA mystery! Always attempting to deliver a more palatable concoction than raw eggs and tabasco sauce, Bren Oliver responds to reader comments/questions and offers up a "hair of the Nog" to anyone needing a quick MMA fix from the after-effects of this past weekend.
This past weekend was a relatively quiet one on the Mixed Martial Arts front. The IFL put on what sounded to be a good show in Chicago, but it was little more than distant thunder before an impending storm. June is chock full of MMA action and intrigue. This weekend's Rampage vs. Liddell event will act as the first of the rainfall and lead in to a thirty-day period featuring three live UFC cards, the Dynamite show, the live debut of WEC, Robbie Lawler's first ICON title defense, a K-1 Grand Prix, and even a lesser-advertised Art of War card with real potential. Since UFC 71 kicks off the flying fists o' fun I figured I'd start this week with a question involving one of the main event's participants.
Put That Thought on Ice From AJ in San Diego "i am a big tito ortiz fan and am sure he had a good reason for not sparring with dana. iceman should keep his mouth shut and focus on rampage. do you think tito will ever have another chance to show he can beat chuck? have you ever met tito?"
Two strikes, you're out...
No, I have never met, seen, or spoken with Tito Ortiz but I'd certainly welcome the chance to do any of the three. Like you I'm a fan of MMA, so from both that perspective and from a 411Mania standpoint, it would be cool to meet the Huntington Beach Bad Boy. I agree Tito had a good reason to not spar with Dana White. He had nothing to gain. He could never live down the possibility of being out boxed and would have simply done what he would have been expected to do by potentially beating down a 36-year old business executive. As has been the case before, Ortiz's pride and ego got in the way of intellect. Or were you talking about a different "good reason"? Maybe one of Jenna's implants mildly concussed him during a particularly wild night? Actually, that might be the best excuse in history...
I doubt we will see Ortiz vs. Liddell III unless Tito strings together a few wins of notable opponents and the Iceman drops a couple in a row. Chuck clearly had Ortiz's number in their last fight. There's always the possibility of them squaring off down the road in a Shamrock vs. Ortiz III way - i.e. as a free main event or lower tier bout in 4-5 years if both are still fighting. Ortiz needs to worry about Rashad Evans first, which I'm sure he's fully preparing for and not underestimating in the least.
Curious Georges From jp78774 in Canada "I am sure it is no surprise I am a fan of Georges St. Pierre. I was disappointed to hear him speak badly about Matt Hughes, you know? It did not seem like his normal behavior. Why do you think his attitude changed?"
Handling pressure...
Is it wrong of me to wonder if the "jp" in your account stands for "Jean-Pierre"? We Americans know so little about our Northerly neighbors it sometimes surprises me. Regarding your question and subject in general there is somewhat of an update courtesy of GSP himself.
St. Pierre called in to this past Sunday's "Savage Dog Radio Show" (Sherdog) to clarify his position. The first thing "Rush" did was admit he made a mistake. It was clearly weighing on him and he was relieved to get things off his chest. To summarize the conversation, he said he has constantly been asked by people in his life about losing to Serra and how much he felt he's let people down. GSP said he was tired during the interview in Toronto, the pressure was getting to him, and he had been dealing with some private things in his personal life, a "bad time" as he called it. The young Canadian apologized a number of times to Matt Serra for the disrespect and was disappointed in himself for his unprofessional behavior. He also apologized to all his fans and recognized it was a stupid thing to say. To close he said he wanted to clear his conscience so he could "sleep well" and "apologize like a man".
To anyone who lost a shred of respect for GSP or feels like he's not a genuine, humble person I suggest you download the entire interview and listen to it. The sincerity is crystal clear. I wonder though if St. Pierre has the A-Rod problem of "overthinking". He still apologizes for his English when it's actually very good comparably to other foreigners in the UFC. Regardless, he's a class act, so I look forward to him fighting (and hopefully beating) Josh Koscheck this August.
Fish and Chips From Mike F. in London "The UFC are exploiting the goodwill of the British and it will only go so far before people start demanding more. There are a finite number of MMA fans right now and by putting on an insulting card, they're quickly using up the goodwill. We don't want British or European fighters, we want stars."
No "Ace" in the hole?
Okay, okay...so I stole this from last week's "Fact or Fiction" where Mike Farrow and myself discussed a few points. Mike writes an excellent column Farrow on MMA and it's one I make sure to check out. I'd advise any of my readers to do the same.
I want to touch again on why I think UFC is actually smart in the way they've handled their foray into Europe thus far. Imagine if you will Dana White casting a hook out into the Atlantic Ocean. On the end he's baited it with a worm. A few smaller fish bite while the scent of blood is now in the water. White takes one of the smaller fish, re-casts the reel, and the next time he catches a medium-sized fish. Repeat and rinse enough times and he might catch a Great White. My fishing analogy ties into UFC's booking of new markets. And trust me, as someone who was at the Houston show, we didn't get half the name-value UFC 70 delivered....yet the show was still very entertaining. UFC starts out small in a new market, like Belfast, and gets the buzz...the scent of blood in the water...going. When they go back they'll deliver a larger event.
From a PPV standpoint I think any dip in buyrate will be supplemented by UFC 73. Two title fights, Tito Ortiz, and some of the other rumored participants should deliver.
And come on...I've never known a Brit who didn't love to root for his or her countrymen. We Texans are similar in that regard, but not even the Red River Shootout can match the intensity of a local soccer match in the U.K.
Not to be Rued From swickatine42 in Memphis "I can tell from your column that you like watching the Ultimate Fighter. What do you think about this season so far? I also noticed you clowned Gabe Ruediger some the other week and his re-caps aren't appearing on here anymore. What happened or is that a corporate secret? And how's the BBQ down there in Austin?"
Can Lauzon defeat Team Pulver?
I think this season of Ultimate Fighter has been a solid one so far. BJ Penn shows a lot more personality than I would have expected, even though I question his approach at times. Pulver also seems like a good guy and you can see he's learned a lot from Pat Miletich. I like that they're fighting on the finale, which helps compensate for the fact there is only one TUF Championship throwdown. After the first round of fights I've got to say Joe Lauzon looks to be your front-runner and I see either Cole Miller or Nate Diaz across from him at the end.
As far as Gabe's recaps there's not much I can say as I wasn't directly involved with the process, and I don't want to feed into negativity, but let's just say the "exclusive" re-caps he agreed to do for our site weren't so exclusive. Fortunately he DOES provide a segway into your final question on food.
The BBQ here is VERY good, though different than what you have in Tennessee. More spice, less sweetness. Been through Memphis one time and had some really great rib tips and brisket. If anyone ever heads Austin way, let me know and I'll gladly make some recommendations.
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