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Well, he’s back. After 3 months of sickness and 40 pounds of weight loss, Brock Lesnar has recovered and is ready to start kicking ass and taking names again. It turns out Brock was suffering from diverticulitism, which is swelling (inflammation) of an abnormal pouch (diverticulum) in the intestinal wall. These pouches are usually found in the large intestine (colon).

After months of medication and a recommendation to have his colon removed, Brock has now recovered, is pain free and has put back 30 pounds of muscle. His illness forced him to cancel his bout in November 2009 with Shane Carwin. Carwin is now scheduled to fight Frank Mir in March and UFC President Dana White has hinted the winner will face Lesnar in the Summer.

Neither of the two will produce any type of huge interest in facing Lesnar. Brock destroyed Mir in their last fight and was on his way to destroying him in their first fight, pounding Mir for a couple of straight minutes, when he got a hold of Lesnar’s leg and was able to submit him. Carwin does not have the name in MMA yet to draw any fans, so most of the interest with either opponent will be because Lesnar is fighting, not because of who he is fighting.

Nonetheless, it will be great for MMA fans to see him back in the octagon and not so great for heavyweight fighters. Aside from a lucky punch or a surprising submission, there is nobody that can compete with Lesnar right now. Brock Lesnar is too big and too strong and has just enough skills on the ground to dominate the division for a few more years. He knows his talent lies in taking someone down and pounding them from a side mount. It’s almost impossible to get knocked out from that position and unlike if you are in someones guard, it’s tough to get submitted with an arm bar or choke from the side position.

Look for Lesnar to beat Carwin or Mir pretty easily in the summer and then look for Dana White to find a bigger name to fight him in his next fight. The fighter will probably be lan older fighter that seen his better days, but be a bigger draw. I could see it being Randy Couture or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira .

In any scenario, MMA and UFC fans win with the recovery of Lesnar. Hang on for a wild ride over the next year watching Brock dismantle the entire division.

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Transcript:
At the ad agency … I don’t need you anyway … … My CD of Tiger Woods jokes practically markets itself! Listen … Nike won’t drop Tiger Woods even after learning about all his hot, steamy extramarital affairs. That ain’t surprising. After all … It’s not like this is Nike’s first experience with sweatshops! OUT. Too political?

To some people, it’s just another fight.  To those that have watched the UFC since UFC 1 like I have and have watched boxing for the past 30 years religiously, you know the Brock Lesnar vs Randy Couture fight has a chance to be the biggest fight in UFC and MMA history.

When I say big, I don’t mean money-wise.  I also don’t mean attendance or pay per view buys, although I think all 3 records could be broken.  When I say big, I mean big like HUGE for the growth of the sport.  This could be the single most important event for UFC and MMA since Dana White and Zuffa LLC took over the UFC and brought it to new levels.

At 45 years old, Couture is heading down the backstretch of his career.  He might not be the best Heavyweight in the world anymore, but then again he just might be.

Randy Couture

Nobody really knows at what age you lose that final step that knocks you down from great to good.  For most people it’s well before age 45, but there are athletic freaks, like George Foreman in boxing or even Julio Franco in baseball, who in 2006 batted .273 for the Mets at age 48!

At age 31, Brock Lesnar might be at the peak of his career.  He is a monster of a man at 6 foot 3 inches and 275 pounds.  And you won’t find much fat on that 275 pound frame

Brock Lesnar

So why, you ask, is this going to be the biggest fight in UFC and MMA history?  My answer…  If Brock Lesnar wins this match, especially with dominance, he becomes the Mike Tyson of the late 1980’s.  Lesnar will bring hundreds of thousands, if not millions of WWE fans with him.  People will wonder and watch to see if anyone can beat him.  The answer to that is, of course someone can.  Frank Mir did it.  But it was only after getting pounded un-mercifully for the first few minutes and then taking advantage of a dumb mistake by Lesnar to submit him.  Lesnar should continue to get better and better and should learn to not get caught in a careless position.  What if in the next year, he learns and starts to master the ground game and submissions?  Then what?  You can’t stand and trade punches with him.  You can’t out wrestle him.  If you can’t out submit him, he then might be unbeatable!

So who is going to win this fight?  Maybe I’m jumping on the Brock Lesnar bandwagon too early, but I think Lesnar in the first round.  I think he will take Couture down, get on top of him, and pound him into submission.  I could be wrong.  But, if I’m right, we are about to see a new MMA world.  A world where Lesnar is King.  A world where, if he is committed to being the best, Lesnar could dominate for the next few years, make millions and millions of dollars in fight income and advertising deals.  A world where the next fight that he fights, fills an arena to capacity, fills up sports bars and casinos and is the talk of the weekend, even if there are other sporting events going on.

If Brock Lesnar were a stock, I’d buy it.  If he were a business, I’d invest in it.  Just like any investment, you can win or you can lose, but I’ll take my chances with this one.  With risk, there is reward.  And the reward for Lesnar winning this fight is going to be as big as it gets!

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09/20/08

In just a few weeks, MMA fans will be starting one of the best few weeks in MMA history.  The month starts out on October 3rd with Strikeforce: Payback on HDnet and gets better and better as the month moves on.  Below are the highlights of each of the 4 major shows during the month.

Oct. 3rd, 2008 – Strikeforce: Payback (HDnet) – This show is probably the weakest of the months shows, but still has some really good talent.  Phil “The New York Badass” Beroni is always entertaining.  He will take on a fighter TBA.  Frank Trigg (17-6) tries to prove he belongs in the elite class of 170  – 185 pounders after losses to Robbie Lawler, George St Pierre,  and Matt Hughes twice, when he faces Faliniko Vitale (26-8), a submission specialist from Hawaii.  And, Duane Ludwig (16-8), coming off of a loss to Takanori Gomi, will face Sam Morgan (19-11), another tough submission artist coming off 3 straight losses.

October 4th, 2008 – Elite XC: Heat (CBS) -  This card features 4 good fights.  Murilo “Ninja” Rua (16-8) faces Benji Radach (18-4).  The girls getting going with superstar Gina Carano (6-0) fighting Kelly Kobold-Gavin.  We then have Jake Shields (21-4) defending his Welterweight Championship against Paul Daley (18-6).  And finally, the fight everyone wants to see.  Kevin (Kimbo Slice) Ferguson (3-0) takes on the man once known as “The Most Dangerous Man in the World”, Ken Shamrock (26-13).

October 18th, 2008 – UFC 89 (Spike TV) – Michael Bisping (16-1), with his only loss being to the undefeated Rashad Evans, takes on Chris Leban (18-4) .  Ketih Jardine (13-4), “The Dean of Mean”, tries to comback after a tough loss to Wanderlei Silva, facing the hard hitting Brandon Vera (9-2).

October 25th, 2008 – UFC 90 (PPV) – A card so good, Spencer Fisher, Gray Maynard, Josh Burkman don’t even make the televised matches.  Tyson Griffin (12-1) fights Sean “Muscle Shark” Sherk (32-3), Fabrico Werdum (11-3), coming off back to back wins over Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera, takes on Junior Dos Santos (6-1),  Thales Leites (13-1) battles Goran Reljic (8-0), a submission specialist from the Gracie camp. Thiago “The Pitbull” Alves (15-3), coming off a KO of Matt Hughes, fights Diego Sanchez (19-2) and Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva (22-4), with 8 straight wins by stoppage, goes at it with Patrick Cote (13-4), who’s on a 5 fight win streak.

Hang on to your hats, it’s going to be a great ride in October!

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09/12/08

Recently Lance Armstrong, the winner of 7 straight Tour De France races, announced a comeback.  Lance has decided to come back for the 2009 Tour De France, but this time, without a sponsor so he can raise money for Cancer awareness.  While this is a great cause, it got me thinking.

Previous to his retirement, Lance raced for the U.S. Postal Service team.  This team is funded by the USPS and they sported the USPS logo on their uniforms, vans, equipment, etc.  I’ve also seen the USPS advertise as a major sponsor to the Olympics, NASCAR and more.

How is it that a Goverment Agency can spend so much of OUR money advertising sporting events and competing with private delivery companies?  Should we have to pay an increased amount for postage every year because the USPS blows millions of dollars a year sponsoring sporting events and trying to compete with UPS, DHL and other delivery companies.  Is that even a fair to private business? 

It seems the USPS would have an almost unlimited budget.  All they have to do if they start running out of sponsorship or advertising money is raise the price of a stamp a few cents and just like that, instant money from a product that the public really can’t get anywhere else.  You can’t decide to send a first class letter with a different company… it’s the USPS or nothing.

Somehow this seems really unfair to me and seems like we are getting ripped off at the same time.  Would the price of a first class stamp be only $0.25 still if the USPS didn’t spend millions and millions of dollars advertising during sports and competing for services against private business?  You would think this has to have some sort of effect on our mailing prices.

So, what can we do about this?  Probably nothing.  How do you stop a runaway Government from waisting your money?  Should we even care?  I do.

JAC

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