Monday, June 29 6:26 pm PT: An interesting essay from Ron Borges of TheSweetScience.com fame reared up over the weekend. In it, Borges vilifies boxer Victor Ortiz for quitting against Marcos Maidana during an HBO telecast Saturday, admonishing the 22-year-old for “not going out on his shield.”
“He made a wise choice if he was in any profession but prize fighting,” Borges wrote. “It is what separates real fighters from those guys in MMA who flail away with their elbows when they get a guy down but are allowed to quit without recrimination by using a more sanitized phrase when they can’t take it any more. In MMA they say he tapped out. Tap out in boxing and they say you quit … which is what happened Saturday night.”
Monday, June 29 3:01 pm PT: Physically, it was one third the size of the Bobby Lashley-Bob Sapp bout Saturday in Biloxi, but this weekend's real marquee bout unfolded Sunday in the unlikely city of Toyama, Japan.
In a locale more famous for cadmium poisoning than prizefighting, hometown favorite and Deep 106-pound champion Miku Matsumoto avenged the last outstanding loss of her career by dominating American Lisa Ward en route to a third-round submission victory at Deep's "Toyama Impact" at the Toyama Techno Hall.
Monday, June 29 1:00 pm PT: UFC castaway Rich Clementi suffered a broken collarbone in a technical knockout defeat to Kyle Jensen in the main event at Ultimate Cage Fighting Challenge “Rumble on the Rivers” on Saturday at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.
The injury, suffered 45 seconds into the match, brought a premature end to the first regulated mixed martial arts event in the city’s history. Fighting for the second time in three weeks, Clementi injured himself while attempting a takedown against the WEC veteran. The bout was stopped immediately.
Monday, June 29 11:45 am PT: An island that’s long had a tradition of prizefighting -- with some accompanying crowd melodrama that’s sometimes turned public officials cool to the idea -- Hawaii has put up with MMA in the same manner as a neighbor might put up with a nuisance kid. Effective Wednesday, the sport will be a sanctioned, licensed event with rules and regulations that mirror Nevada’s.
Fighters, judges, referees and promoters will now undergo a licensing application; blood and drug testing will be instituted; gate and pay-per-view receipts will be taxed.
All good news for the physical well being of athletes, obviously -- and a likely boon for the UFC, which could see a B.J. Penn-headlined show in Hawaii become a tsunami of cash.
Monday, June 29 10:55 am PT: Though Renzo Gracie has made some sporadic appearances in fight promotions over the years, no promotion has had the ambition -- or the funds -- to groom anyone in the family’s next-generation lineage. In the states, the name seemed to go into hibernation on billboards with Royce Gracie’s exit from the UFC in 1995.
Strikeforce’s corrective measure: signing multiple-time world champion Roger Graciefor its Aug. 15 Showtime event. Roger’s credentials extend far, far beyond his inherited name tag: There are many observers who believe he might be the most talented and dangerous man on the mat in the world right now.
Monday, June 29 8:42 am PT: Talking is not Tito Ortiz’s great gift in life, but he insists on doing a lot of it. Since losing a decision to Lyoto Machida in May 2008, the 34-year-old has made recurring appearances in press that hinted he was “close” to deals with Affliction, Strikeforce and ProElite. But to date, the only deal he’s signed is with PETA.
Playing promotions against each other in media is smart business, but it does grow tiresome. Now comes word Ortiz is -- wouldn’t you guess? -- “close” to aligning with Strikeforce for a four-fight deal that would begin in October. Ortiz allegedly told a gathered crowd in Pittsburgh that he’d welcome a bout with manufactured nemesis Renato Sobral first, and then work his way into a catch fight with Fedor Emelianenko. Because, after all, the semi-retired light heavyweight has certainly earned a shot at the consensus No. 1 heavyweight.
Marcus Aurelio’s comeback trail continued on Saturday as he confronted Joey Gorczynski on 5150 Combat League's "Rumble at the Rally" card in Sparks, Okla.
Monday, June 29 12:00 am PT: Full disclosure: With my local Time-Warner cable provider having found Saturday’s “Ultimate Chaos” card unfit for broadcast -- preferring to instead fill up their pay-per-view stations with an HBO boxing event and several specials featuring college girls in various stages of undress -- I was unable to soak up the televised atmosphere.
The disappointment is almost too much to bear. From all accounts, I didn’t miss much, including an underwhelming main event between rising Bobby Lashley/descending Bob Sapp and a sad display from an aging Pedro Rizzo
