Kick to Face Hurts

Last weekend's UFC was excellent. Silva and Belfort danced around for 2.5 minutes, and when it looked like Belfort took Silva down, he climbed out from underneath using a freakish flurry of athleticism, then got up and delivered a straight kick (below) to Belfort's right cheek that basically ended it. Strangely, Steven Seagal was in Silva's corner, and told an interviewer he taught Silva the kick. Go here quick to see a neat animated gif of the knockout before it gets removed.


While ESPN and Sports Illustrated continue to emphasize boxing, all the excitement in combat sports is in mixed martial arts. After all, in a real fight takedowns, kicks, and chokes happen, so boxing seem pretty lame in comparison. A fight without take downs is like Greco compared to freestyle wrestling, not very impressive because you are constraining so many real options.

Jon Jones continues to dominate his opponents, thoroughly thrashing previously undefeated Ryan Bader. Interestingly, Jones weighed in at 205, and by Saturday morning tweeted his fans he weighed 221. Vitor Belfort lost 30 pounds to get to 185. They should make them weigh in an hour or two before the match, because these guys all figure they can lose a ton and feel normal within 24 hours, which actually works well as long as you don't cross that line into permanent renal failure. It's a very nonlinear result, and I suspect athletes will be tempted to push until someone gets seriously hurt. It's a dangerous game. American wrestler Dan Cormier (now an MMA fighter) could not compete in the Beijing olympics because he lost so much weight he was hospitalized.