UFC 108: Thiago Silva Nearly Makes Rashad Evans' Sugar Turn Sour

Evans decisions Silva with superior wrestling (and takedowns)

(Photo from sherdog.com)

The fact of Rashad Evans being a top-class wrestler is inevitably mentioned whenever he fights. But aside from clinching his opponents in between episodes of striking, Evans has been more of a striker than a wrestler/grappler. Not anymore. Evans rediscovered his roots and used this to his full advantage in eking out a unanimous decision victory over Thiago Silva last Sunday.

Evans stuck to his game plan and almost got plastered because of it. Evans was quite successful in taking down Silva, unwilling to trade strikes with the taller Chute Boxe specialist and Brazilian Jiujitsu black belt (they both are, Evans earning his rank on the day of their match).

It was clear a minute into round one that Evans was not too confident standing up against Silva, who has a two-inch height and half-an-inch reach advantage over him. Evans thrived in rushing towards Silva, going for a single-leg takedown. Silva was smart enough to use the Octagon fence at times to get back up on his feet. But even after being taken down away from the fence, he didn’t have much difficulty getting right back up.

Clearly, due to his aggression and numerous successful TD attempts, Evans won both the first two rounds. But Silva’s striking finally caught up with Evans in the final two minutes.

Round 1 was typical of the way Evans fought. Not 10 seconds after the horn sounded to start the main event, Evans clinched Silva with a right underhook with the latter’s back on the fence. Silva temporarily had a Thai plum on Evans, pulled him down looking for a Kimura on Evan’s right arm.

Evans then transitioned to a double-leg takedown and slammed Silva to the ground. But almost just as quickly, Silva was able to stand up.

At the 4:09 mark, Evans again slammed Silva with double-leg TD, moving to side control. Evans got full mount to the excited howl of the crowd. Silva, finally getting lots of chances to show his jiujitsu skills, shrimped out grabbing Evans’ left ankle, using that for leverage to get back up on his feet.

They again got into a clinch until the 2:57 mark. Evans landed a weak left elbow to Silva’s head. They separated and traded punches at an even rate while moving towards the middle of the Octagon.

Evans walked in to a Silva left knee, but he took down Silva again and got side control. Evans went for north-south. Silva turned, grabbed Evans’ right leg, got on his knees before standing up. Excellent escapes were shown by Silva all throughout the fight, recalling another Thiago (Alves) who was taken down more than 10 times in his championship bout with welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre in UFC 100, but had no trouble getting vertical again.

It is safe to say that a very good wrestler constantly going for a takedown can neutralize the superior striking skills of a kickboxer or muay Thai specialist. Evans was an NCAA division 1 wrestler, while St. Pierre may not have had as stellar a college sports career, but his wrestling is just as good as Evans’.

For an awkward stretch (from 2:12 to 1:48), Evans and Silva simply stood in front of each other doing nothing until Silva initiated some striking with jabs and inside leg kicks. Predictably, Evans rushed in with punches then clinched Silva who was walking back to the fence. Evans got a right arm underhook, maneuvering for position. Silva got hold of Evans' neck, but the former light-heavyweight champion pulled out with 35 seconds left on the clock, exploding with punches.

Evans stepped back and hit Silva with a right hook to the body, immediately going for a double-leg TD. Silva fell but had both arms wrapped around the torso of Evans, landing in a sitting position, his back to the fence. In the final 21 seconds, Silva got back on his feet, but Evans pushed him to the fence. With eight seconds remaining, they disengaged, went to Octagon center. Silva ended the round with a left roundhouse to Evans head that fell short.

The rest of the three-round fight went practically the same except for the last two minutes of Round 3 when Silva tagged Evans on the jaw with a left hook and an overhand right, wobbling him. Silva landed one more punch before Evans fell on his hands and knees near the fence. Silva hit Evans on the head with another punch, before the latter somehow got back up on his feet.

Silva took his sweet time punching Evans. He landed two uppercuts and showboated by spreading his arms, pushing his head forward, baiting Evans to counter. The takedowns and the struggle to get out from under in the early part of the match took their toll. Silva gassed out and he stood in the middle of the Octagon, hands on his hips, looking spent.

With less than a minute left, Silva threw a half-hearted lunging left jab. A few seconds later Evans pinned Silva to the fence in a clinch and they stayed there until the end of the match when Silva pushed off Evans just as the horn sounded.

Silva looked frustrated with his business unfinished. He could have knocked out Evans if only there was enough gas left in his tank.

The judges were unanimous in handing the victory to Evans on similar 29-28 scores.

Evans said in the post-fight interview that he wants Quinton “Rampage” Jackson next. Evans is not careful with what he wishes for. Jackson is potentially more dangerous than Silva and definitely stronger. Evans' wrestling could not be enough to beat Rampage.

UFC 107: Nightmare’s End, Prodigy on the Mend

BJ Penn powers past Diego Sanchez

(Photo from sherdog.com)

Apparently, BJ Penn has gotten over the humiliating defeat he suffered at the hands of Georges St. Pierre almost a year ago. Penn has accepted the fact that he is a natural lightweight and that the super fight with St. Pierre at welterweight was at a distinct disadvantage to him and he better put up stakes exclusively at 155 pounds.

In UFC 107, Penn legitimized his stranglehold with a just-as-dominant win over Diego Sanchez, the same way St. Pierre put Penn in his place in UFC 94.

Just when Jo Rogan finished saying: “Freddie Roach once said that B.J. Penn has the best boxing in MMA,” Penn knocked down Sanchez with an overhand right to the jaw in 4:33 of the first round. Sanchez got up quickly, but Penn had him in a muay Thai plum and kneed him on his mean-face contest-winning mug for another fall. With his left arm around Sanchez’s waist, Penn pummeled Sanchez with fists while “Nightmare’ stayed semi-conscious on all fours probably thinking to himself the punishment he was undergoing wasn’t for real – that it was just a terrible dream he was to wake up from.

Sanchez rolled and sought a full guard with his back to the ground. Penn was too smart to get caught in a guard, and too frenzied to knock Sanchez out. Penn stepped to Sanchez’s left and kept striking. Penn wanted to get side control but Sanchez’s butterfly prevented him.

At 4:01, the two fighters found themselves on the fence in a north-south position. Sanchez pushed with both feet on the fence while trying to escape, but Penn pushed him back. Sanchez was able to get back on his feet at 3:43 when Penn let go of his hold as he went for punches to the head of Sanchez, who seemingly did not sustain much damage despite the barrage of blows.

Penn got back to stalking Sanchez. The challenger’s left roundhouse kick missed Penn by at least a foot, proving that he hadn’t fully recovered yet.

At 2:54, Sanchez rushed Penn with hand strikes and a half-assed flying knee, pushing the champion to the fence, getting hold of his right leg but was unable to take Penn down. They disengaged as Sanchez landed a left elbow on Penn’s head.

The rest of the first round had Sanchez surviving, but not before getting hit with another right to the head before the bell rang.

Rounds 2 to the fateful 5 was more of the same, as Sanchez was intent on getting a takedown and perhaps grounding and pounding or submitting Penn with a choke or armbar or something. Something is the right word for Sanchez, because that’s all he could hope for as Penn clearly showed his superiority.

A kick to the head of Sanchez inside the last three minutes of Round 5 produced an obscenely huge cut on the left side of Sanchez’s forehead. It was a good thing referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the beating that Penn was dealing Sanchez to have the latter’s wound checked by the ring doctor who decided Sanchez had enough for the night. Penn by TKO in the 5th.

Mir vs. Kongo

In the undercard, Cheick Kongo paid dearly by keeping his hands down as he ate a left overhand punch to the right jaw that dropped him in only 4:18 of the first round. Mir followed Kongo to the ground where the French kickboxer hit Mir on the rib with a rather weak shin kick followed by a right single-leg takedown attempt.

Mir missed with two hooks but trapped Kongo’s neck in a guillotine choke in a half guard. Kongo got back on his feet, but Mir took him down to the ground holding on tight while falling on his back. Referee Herb Dean lifted Kongo's right arm which went limp as he called a stop to the fight at 3:49 of the round.

Other results:
Jon Fitch over Mike Pierce via Unanimous Decision in 3 rounds; Kenny Florian over Clay Guida, Submission (choke) R2 (2:19); Stefan Struve over Paul Buentello, Majority Decision 3R; Alan Belcher over Wilson Gouveia, Technical Knockout, R1 (3:03); Matt Wiman over Shane Nelson, UD 3R; Johny Hendricks over Ricardo Funch, UD, 3R; Rousimar Palhares over Lucio Linhares, Submission (leglock), 2R (3:21); DaMarques Johnson over Edgar Garcia, Submission (choke) 1R (4:03); TJ Grant over Kevin Burns, TKO, 1R (1:57).

Petruzelli's Turn At 15 Minutes Of Infamy

After Kimbo Sliced Off In 14 seconds

Four million three hundred thousand TV viewers saw Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson humiliated in 14 seconds. Talk about 15 minutes of fame and all that transitory glory certain individuals enjoy or suffer from. Mr. Slice had his temporal anomaly, his chance at disproving naysayers and he blew it. But not before cashing in on whatever amount of fame and glory that was available to him...and poor cash-strapped EliteXC. Slice reportedly got $500,000 for his troubles, $200,000 more than what Fedor Emelianenko supposedly got for battering Tim Sylvia in the more credible newbie promotion Affliction MMA's Affliction: Banned heavyweight championship bout.

OK, a bit of recent history. Ken Shamrock, once tagged as the World's Most Dangerous Man, was another in a series of tomato cans thrown Slice's way to add to the illusion of his being one of the, if not the, toughest banger out there. Shamrock, is not exactly a worthy opponent to who is supposedly the meanest mother in existence. Shamrock is a mixed martial arts pioneer who helped make the Ultimate Fighting Championship what is today the most lucrative MMA organization in the world with reported assets of at least a billion dollars. But having lost all of his last four fights since April 9, 2005, Shamrock at 44, is no spring chicken with everything to gain and nothing to lose in the MMA arena. But, yes, Shamrock had a lot to profit from with a win over Slice. But it wasn't meant to be, as Shamrock was deemed unfit by Florida state fight officials to go up against Slice as Shamrock suffered a cut on his eye during training. His adoptive brother, Frank Shamrock, a former UFC champion who is part of the EliteXC commentators pool, said that he was offered and agreed to take his brother's place but EXC brass realized that Frank was too dangerous an opponent. EXC said that Florida state fight officials did not clear Frank to fight. Frank said it was EXC promoters who blocked the proposal.

Whatever the truth of the matter, what is true is that the honor of exposing Slice as purely a product of Internet (particularly YouTube.com) hype went to Seth Petruzelli, a cast member of The Ultimate Fighter 2 who was dropped by the UFC after losing to Wilson Gouveia in 39 seconds of Round 2 by submission via guillotine choke in Fight Night 9 on April 5, 2007.

PINK SPOTS AND STREAKS. As the bell for Round 1 rang, Slice, pumped up by three wins in his short MMA career and at the sight from across the cage of a white boy with bright pink spots and a streak on his hair, rushed to his doom. A weak left jab by Slice at nothing was met by Seth (much easier to type and spell and it alliterates with Kimbo's faux last name) with a right-hand parry and right push-kick and a short right mestiza jab/overhand that missed, even as Seth backed off while maintaining balance. Slice kept on charging, letting go of a right straight that got nowhere. Seth kept him at a distance with another right push kick and the short right jab that landed on the face of Slice, felling him. With Slice down on all fours, Seth hit him on the back of the head with hammer fist.

Probably realizing he just did an illegal blow, Seth's next strike was on the right side of Slice's head. Hitting Slice on the shoulder with the next two punches, Seth kept on delivering power punches that made Slice turn and roll on his back, maybe seeking to get Seth in his guard, but Seth was relentlessly striking, forcing referee Troy Waugh to step in between the two fighters, pushing Seth away as a dazed Slice grabbed Waugh's left leg, thinking it was Seth's.

It was all right hands. Seth could have fought Slice with his left hand tied behind his back and still knock him out. He was that dominating and he deserved to celebrate like he had just sank a last-second 3-pointer to edge out the other team by a single point in the last game of a best-of-seven basketball championship game, or hit a game-ending home run in the bottom of the ninth.

No, Seth Petruzelli (no e) did not make like Ralph Macchio (no a) in Karate Kid with a crane stance after referee Troy Waugh stopped the punishment. Seth merely threw away his mouth guard and threw his arms up in celebration as he ran around the cage while Kimbo, half out of his mind, grappled with the referee. And, yes, one of the guys in the commentary booth was right to dig up a Rocky analogy. Seth Petruzelli was indeed Rocky-like in earning a win over the Apollo Creed-like Kimbo Slice. Not many expected white-boy Seth to pound out black-dude Slice. To distinguish MMA Seth from the Hollywood Rocky, it didn't take Petruzelli 15 minutes of pounding and a bucketful of blood to have the crowd rise to its feet and roar in unison. Fourteen frigging seconds...That's all it took. Even the fading power kicker and puncher Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic might have needed 30 seconds to take out Slice.

EXCITING COMMENTARY. If the outcome of the match didn't excite you enough, the fight commentary might have:

“And it's about to get serious. Slice quickly across...the fight is over...”

“Slice goes down. Slice in trouble. Oh, my goodness. Slice gets pounded out and they stopped it. Rocky, Rocky is here! Seth Petruzelli shocks the world!...Kimbo Slice is shooting on the referee. He is trying to get the referee down...The most incredible victory in the history of mixed martial arts. Seth Petruzelli!!!...It can happen! Believe!...This is what mixed martial arts is all about. If you have a dream. If you're willing to step into a cage and fight for your life, you!, can be anything you want...Kimbo Slice battered, bruised, bloodied...Seth Petruzelli, a young man from Fort Myers, Florida. His nickname is The Silverback. He came here tonight, found out that he would be the main event. And he has shocked the entire world of mixed martial arts!”

Well, shocked is not exactly the word for it. Try, amused. The casual fight fan, brainwashed by EliteXC and CBS' hype machine on the awesomeness of Slice would be stunned immobile on his/her feet or seat at the sight of the largely unknown Petruzelli taking out Slice in less than 20 seconds of the very first round. Who wouldn't, if you had figured out Slice to be the best thing in the fight game since Mike Tyson? Thirty pounds heavier, two inches taller, and with a reach four inches longer, the then undefeated Slice (now 3-1, 2 KOs, 1 submission), on paper, looked like an overmatch for Seth (now 11-4, 9 KOs, 1 submission).

Anyone skeptical of Petruzelli's KO win over Slice should be allayed that the former can really hit and hit hard. His MMA win-loss record is rather middling, unimpressive from a Western boxing fan's perspective. But in MMA, a winning record like 11-4 is a badge of honor and respect. Considering that Petruzelli's nine wins before the Slice fight included eight victories by KO and a lone submission, while his four losses were by way of three submissions and a decision, Petruzelli is a decent MMA fighter.

TRADITIONAL. Like traditional karatekas Lyoto Machida (Shotokan) who looks so cool in the Octagon he makes cool hot, and Georges St. Pierre (Kyokushinkai), Petruzelli (Shito-Ryu) didn't get stuck in his traditional base and explored other avenues of martial arts. Machida has done sumo and Brazilian Jiujitsu, St. Pierre wrestling, Petruzelli kickboxing, all of them are mixed martial artists.

Now, the bad news. In an interview, Seth Petruzelli claimed that EliteXC offered him money to stand up and trade punches with Kimbo Slice; meaning, if Seth had any plans of going to the ground to cancel out Slice's assumed advantage on strikes standing up, he better give up that notion for an x amount of cash. As it turned out, Seth did say that he planned to shoot or take down Slice.

On The Monsters in Orlando radio show, Seth said: “The promoters kind of hinted to me, and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him. They didn’t want me to take him down, let’s just put it that way. It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him.”

That is exactly the kind of dubiousness that EliteXC and mixed martial arts in general do not need. Growing by leaps and bounds after the novelty early years of the UFC in the 1990s, MMA has gained fight fans' interest, if not loyalty, for its brutal mystique and general reputation for reality, as opposed to the fantasy of the WWE nee WWF, the UFC of professional wrestling.

Critics (read: boxing purists and loyalists) are waiting on the wings to descend on every perceived weakness and fakeness of MMA. Slice-Seth I was hardly rigged: neither did Slice take a dive nor did Seth put a horseshoe in his glove, but that kind of talk plants the seed of distrust in the minds of fight fans.

Petruzelli did explain himself right after, saying that he didn't mean to say what people heard on the The Monsters in Orlando. He told yahoo.com MMA writer Dan Wetzel in a phone interview: “What that meant was they offer a Knockout bonus, Submission bonuses, Fight of the Night bonuses. I think it just got misconstrued.

“I wanted to have an exciting fight and I wanted the Knockout bonus, so I wanted to keep it standing...They just said, ‘We want to see an exciting fight no matter what happens.’ I took it as I wanted the Knockout bonus.”

This suspiciously sounds like backtracking and spin control by a professional fighter pressured by management to turn bull shit into chocolate cake.

This is bad news for MMA. But, if bad publicity is good, this is the kind of bad that is very good for MMA. Bad seed can grow into a twisted tree that bears edible sour fruit. Tamarind* anyone?

* Tamarindus indica (from the Arabic: تمر هندي tamar hindi = Indian date) is in the family Fabaceae.

UFC 88: Breakjaw

Breakthrough for Rashad Evans; maybe Chuck Liddell's career is through

Polled by sherdog.com on UFC 88: Breakthrough's main-event match of Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, MMA pros Randy Couture and Jaime Fletcher proved to be the most prescient. Couture said pre-fight: “Tough one to pick! Can make a case for either guy, but in my mind, it depends on Evans. We know what Chuck is gonna try to do. Can Evans pull the trigger and push himself and Chuck? That’s the question.” While Fletcher had this to say: “Liddell by KO. Rashad is a good fighter, but Chuck takes chances, is hard to take down and looping punches from weird angles are hard to deal with.”

Both were non-committal but came closest to making good predictions. Could Evans pull the trigger and push himself and Chuck? Yes, Evans did pull the trigger and push himself and The Iceman. And what result did this create? Fletcher provides the rest of the answer: Chuck takes chances, is hard to take down and looping punches from weird angles are hard to deal with. Only that it was Evans' looping punches from weird angles that were hard to deal with, giving Liddell possibly the most devastating knockout he ever suffered.

Ironically, or prophetically, Liddell had his two-cents' worth: “I don’t tend to take any shots, so he won’t have to show his takedown defense with me. I am planning on striking. We’ll see how he responds.”

And boy, did Evans, respond.

Evans jabbed, missed, jabbed and missed again. Liddell's jab missed too and almost simultaneously both fighters loaded – Evans with a looping right hand and Liddell with a right uppercut. Evans' punch landed, Liddell's didn't. With full force and his stance perfect for a strong strike, Evans hammered Liddell on the left jaw. The slow-motion replay shows Liddell's head bearing the brunt of what might as well have been a rock on a fist. Liddell fell backward unconscious. Any more strikes after that would have been overkill.

Evans tried that particular punch a few times before striking the motherload and mother of all knockouts – the kind where the victim is asleep even before hitting the deck without a pillow and a good-night lullabye. Evans faked with a short left jab and quickly followed with that arcing right bolo punch which found its mark on Liddell's jaw.

“Age won’t be a factor in this fight. I feel sharp and I’m ready for Rashad.” Liddell was right on the first one, he indeed looked fit and moved well for a 38-year-old, sadly for him, he was wrong on his second statement. He was sharp but he wasn't ready for that looping right by Evans. Call it a lucky shot, call it carelessness but luck had nothing to do with it. Evans obviously practiced that shot knowing Liddell is a sucker for a quick strong strike. It helped that Evans had Keith Jardine, who knocked down Liddell 12 UFCs ago, giving him tips on how to deal with The Iceman. It helped that Greg Jackson trained Evans. It helped that Liddell is 10 years older than Evans and has taken a lot more damage in a decade of fighting in the UFC.

Good punch. Liddell always had a problem with standing up to a good punch. When Quinton “Rampage” Jackson kayoed him in UFC 71, Rampage's right hook didn't look much but it knocked down The Iceman and eventually he was knocked out with a few more shots on the ground. Rampage's strike is nothing compared to the one-punch bomb that Evans almost decapitated Liddell with.

Yes, maybe encroaching middle age and all those knocks on the head in mixed martial arts have something to do with it. That is not to count the time Liddell spent fighting as a kickboxer.

The main co-event of the night was the Rich Franklin-Matt Mitchell encounter. It didn't have the fireworks of Liddell-Evans but it had its moments. Strangely, some will remember this fight not for the rare kidney shot that took down Mitchell in Round 3, but for the hearing-impaired (this politically-correct thing can be difficult) Mitchell looking at his cornermen asking for instructions with Franklin just a few feet away ready to pounce on him. Ironically, Franklin won but he looked like he lost with that huge cut under his right eyebrow.

This is one of those fights where you start rooting for one fighter but gradually is impressed by the other fighter and end up wishing no one gets hurt. If only a draw could be had for all fights like this.

This fight is a breath of fresh air especially with the memory of the bad aftertaste of Mitchell's bout with Michael Bisping in UFC 75, the calling out in the traditional media and in the Internet. This time, Mitchell let his fists do the fighting for him, not his mouth and his manual sign-language skills. After he lost, there was no rancor evident, Mitchell took it like the man that he really is, while Franklin, gentlemanly and a sport that he has always been, consoled his former training partner and said: “Thanks to God I don't have any serious injuries, and thanks to God my opponent doesn't have any serious injuries.”

I am not sure, though, if God approves of two grown men fighting for the entertainment (and edification) of thousands of people live in the arena and millions more on TV, while adding to the hundreds of millions in the bank accounts of Dana White and the Fertita brothers.

Anyway...we love MMA. Call it a sport, call it sports entertainment like its distant cousin professional wrestling, but one thing millions of God's creatures in hundreds of countries will agree on – this is one fragging bloody affair we don't tire watching month after month if White and the F Bros. had their way. And watch out for Affliction 2! Dang! Randy Couture is back in the UFC! Looks like there won't be a Fedor-Couture I at least until the year ends. The
Emelianenko will have to content himself with fighting lesser lights in his chosen organization and for lesser money, we think.

Hollywood Dangerous. Oh, before we forget, another of MMA's greatest fighters ever – Dan Henderson – call him Dangerous or Hollywood but one thing's for sure, he will deliver win or lose. He lost both his Pride welterweight and middleweight belts after he made the jump back to the UFC after it bought out Pride FC, but judging by the way Henderson fought a very game but less experienced, less-gifted (meaning, he doesn't have the striking ability of Henderson) and shorter by five inches, Rousimar Palhares, Henderson still has a lot of fight left in him.

The Brazilian jiujitsu black-belt Palhares was surprisingly adept with his striking especially with his kicks (marvel at those wheel kicks!) but he was simply outsized (outreached?) by Henderson, who landed the more solid blows while escaping from Palhares' submission attempts. Henderson deserved the Unanimous Decision victory. Palhares may have lost but he proved he deserves to be in the big leagues by lasting three rounds with a future hall of famer.

Other results:
Nate Marquardt over Martin Kampmann by TKO in 1:22 of Round 1. Marquardt overpowered the muay Thai specialist from Sweden with a surprise roundhouse to the side of the head followed up with punches to the head and body, a knee to the head. All Kampmann could do was cover up and wait to be knocked out or for the referee to put a stop to his suffering. The Referee Stoppage came first.

Dong Hyung Kim over Matt Brown, Split Decision in 3 rounds. This one was an injustice. Except for a late takedown in the 3rd round by Kim, Brown dominated the fight. An SD is always controversial. “I don't fight for the judges, I fight for a submission and the fans,” Brown took a shot at the men on the table. Kim had his say too: “I will be different next time.” This was a translation, so maybe he meant something else, because if he means he will win decisively next time, we sure hope so.

Tim Boetsch over Michael Platt, TKO 2:03 R1. Boetsch misses with a left hook to the head but his right straight/overhand lands squarely on Platt's chin. Platt falls on his back, Boetsch follows up with more strikes. Referee Herb Dean steps in to stop the punishment.

“I would like to thank God, without Him none of this is possible,” Boetsch said. A brawler after my own heart, someone who flashes the website nosubmit.com (Jesus Didn't Tap).

Kurt Pellegrino over Thiago Tavares, UD. Tavares almost gets armbarred but improbably escapes the hold of Pellegrino. Pellegrino though gets all the judges' nod.

Jason “The Athlete” Macdonald over Jason Lambert, Submission Rear-naked choke R2 1:20. Both very good grapplers with Macdonald with the edge on striking but he wins this with a real tight rear-naked choke. The Athlete was in Lambert's guillotine choke twice in the first round but survived with great stamina and high pain-threshold level.

Was Kung-Fu Panda the Olympics mascot?

2008 Beijing Summer Games a success, yes!

Fittingly enough, the only sporting event I saw in the just-concluded Summer Olympics in Beijing was the US-Spain basketball game in the elimination round -- all 5 minutes or so of the game.

I'm not sure why I ignored the games (the way it ignored me, I guess). About three years ago, when Cebu hosted several events in the Southeast Asian Games, I was still with the print media. I had a 4 by 3 inch (thereabouts) official ID with all the trimmings, signatures and photo, but I did not once use it or had someone else use it (substituted photo or not) to enter the games venues, not even the Cebu Coliseum for the pentjak silat martial arts competition.

After working for the sports section of a community newspaper for almost a decade, it seemed I reached a saturation point. Or maybe I was just bored. It was too predictable. Only two things could happen (three if you counted a draw), one contestant or team would win and another would lose.

Surely, China either made billions or lost a corresponding number of money on the games. What the heck! They were the hosts, and for almost a month, China was the focus of the world stage despite more pressing issues elsewhere in the world -- the never-ending war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the melodrama and comedy of the US presidential campaign, the MILF war in Mindanao, the price of gasoline and pirated DVDs.

So, London gets to host the next Summer Olympics. Congratulations and all the luck to you, mates! May you have fewer pseudo-terroristic events and more gold medals (Wow! Britain placed fourth overall this time with 19 golds!) May the notorious but romantic London drizzles and downpours not rain on your parade.

Bayan kong Pilipinas? Hey, why not send more than a 15-person contingent to the 2112 Games? Medal or no medal (again), what does it matter? It's how you play the game, right? Wrong! Junket anyone? That's one Filipino sport we always excel in.

P.S. John Pages, hey, partner, let's have that beer again sometime, OK?!
P.P.S. Sadly, I never got to read much of your colored-page correspondent-in-Beijing columns (no newsprint budget and laziness) but I'm sure you had lots of fun; next time we have beer (light for you, and on you :) naturally, pilsen or Red Horse for me, maybe) you could tell me some of your escapades, er, experiences (place smiley here).

UFC 87: Sought and Destroyed

KenFlo’s even flow, Hard Brock’s afternoon café, GSP’s Fitch Festival

Florian was very smart and surprising. Lesnar was huge and unrelenting. St. Pierre was just being himself.

I take it back. Kenny Florian is a stud. I’ve always thought he was too soft to be successful in MMA. He wasn’t particularly tough against Roger Huerta two Sundays ago, but he used as much brain cells as muscles in carving a win in three fun (for Florian and fair-minded fight fans -- alliteration can be fun too) rounds.

Staying away most of the time from Huerta’s Superman punch and a toe-to-toe stand-up battle, Florian circled, stepped back, kept his distance from Huerta except when he struck, took down and tried to submit No Conquistador, er, El Matador (lo siento mucho, Rogelio).

In honor of Florian’s well-deserved victory over Huerta, I hereby name my new puppy KenFlo. (Wipe that smile/smirk off your mug! Or I’ll have “KenFlo” bull rush you for a quadruple leg takedown and lick your lips. She hasn’t had her shots yet.)

While Brock Lesnar was just sheer size, power, and determination against Heath Herring. Getting in the first shot attempt (a flying knee, of all things), then a right straight that landed on Herring’s chin, dropping him, Lesnar charged into Herring with what looked like a spear against a stunned horse who reverse rolled. Lesnar got caught in a left standing guillotine. He escaped and kept the fight on the ground for most of the three rounds of 15 minutes. Herring did get in licks of his own a few times, but these were few and far between, hardly fazing the hard Brock.

At 3:39 of Round 1, Herring was already bleeding below the left eye. Lesnar controlled Herring’s back with a little over two minutes left, Herring fell back to get Lesnar in his guard but Lesnar pushed him away and kneed Herring on the body, three times before the bell rang. Herring’s left eye was obviously damaged. Lesnar’s speed was amazing.

The next two rounds were almost picture-perfect copies of the opening round. It was Lesnar all the way. He fully deserved the unanimous-decision victory.

As to Georges “Rush” St. Pierre, what can you say about the cool GSP? With talk focused on Fedor Emelianenko and Anderson Silva as to who is mixed martial arts’ pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, GSP tends to get left out in the mix. Rush is as well-rounded as Fedor and Silva, maybe even more so than “Spider” Silva, and definitely at par with “The Last Emperor.” The trouble is GSP has his two losses to two former welterweight champions, the two Matts -- Hughes and Serra. But he did win in the rematches, decisively at that.

That’s similar to what GSP did to No.1 challenger Jon Fitch in UFC 87. Judging by the way GSP manhandled a game and durable Fitch, GSP has no plans of letting go of his belt, not even to Mickey-Mouse-voiced but Mighty-Mouse-muscled BJ Penn.

After Fitch had lifted GSP on his shoulders as Rush was declared the winner by an all-too obvious Unanimous Decision, Penn entered the Octagon and declared on the microphone Joe Rogan was holding: “Let’s do it! Let’s put the fight together.” Penn, looking manic as usual, spoke in a squeaky voice that sounded funny. But him and GSP in the Octagon is not funny at all. And yes, GSP-Penn would be an explosive match. Let the UFC grant Penn’s wish!

The other results:

(Middleweights)
Demian Maia over Jason McDonald (by Submission/Tapout Rear-Naked Choke in 2:24 of the 3rd Round) -- Great technical ground game with some strikes.

(Lightweights)
Robert Emerson over Manuel Gamburyan (KO R1 12 seconds) -- Emerson’s right straight overhand to Gamburyan’s chin and left hook to the head when Gamburyan was already on the ground did in the latter. Referee Yves Lavigne caught Emerson’s right hook to prevent more punishment.

(Heavyweights)
Cheick Kongo over Dan “The Viking” Evensen (TKO R1 4:55) -- Thrice Kongo got Evensen on the ground, twice ref Lavigne stood them up. Kongo hit Evensen on the chin with a right straight, knocking him down, pounded him some more before the fight was Stopped for a TKO win by Kongo.

Joe Rogan tried to interview Kongo post-fight but was brushed off with an I-am-wasting-my-time-I-am-one-¬of-the-best-fighters-in-the-world-give-me-a-title-shot!

(Lightheavyweights)
Jon Jones over Andre Gusmao (UD 3 rounds) – Jones dominated a stand-up and ground match that was marred by capoiera stylist Gusmao acting as if he got hit in his groin but the crowd disagreed and expressed its displeasure with boos. The judges seemed to agree and awarded Jones the victory after three rather uneventful rounds.

(Welterweights)
Tamdan McRory over Luke Cummo (UD 3 rounds) -- McRory had several submission attempts, while Cummo tried to strike quite successfully but not consistently enough to lose by unanimous decision.

Addendum: Looking at the UFC 87 poster, you will notice that all the fighters to the left won. Perhaps for UFC 88, managers should do everything in their power, including bribery and grave threats, to have their clients take the left spot. There’s a thin line between superstition and faith. Another reason those who subscribe to this dictum can be excommunicated by the Church.

UFC 87: Destroyer and Destroyee

UFC 87: Seek And Destroy -- Who'll do the seeking, who'll do the destroying?

Aug. 10, 2008; Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota)

UFC 87 topbills Georges “Rush” St. Pierre and Jon Fitch, but might as well have Brock Lesnar and Heath Herring as the main event. The Roger Huerta-Kenny Florian tussle is not bad either.

The only reason the GSP-Fitch fight headlines is because there is a welterweight title at stake. Defending champ Rush still seems strong and fast enough to run over Fitch, and Huerta also looks to roll over Florian. The iffier scenario is that of Lesnar and Herring.

With the most-anticipated pairing that of the supporting bout, this makes UFC 87 the most highly-stacked UFC main card since UFC 84 – a mere three promotions ago. Which is not exactly in the previous century, but it’s hard to beat a promotion which has five matches in the main card that includes Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes, Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida, Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic, Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine, and B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk.

Brock Lesnar is a giant by any standards. But this 6-foot-2 265-pound behemoth has a soft side. Just by looking at those big gray-blue eyes (they seem gray-blue on TV) one can almost see the pain and joy, defeats and victories, not limited to thousands of hours on the wrestling mat and the World Wrestling Entertainment ring and cage. Lesnar is a huge teddy bear a child could cuddle up to, but is also strong enough to smother opponents in the mixed martial arts arena.

His opponent, Herring, is no slouch in the fighting department. Nicknamed “The Texas Crazy Horse” in Pride FC, Herring holds a 28-13-0 fight record and an enviable roster of past opponents, including: Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Noguiera, Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko, Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic, and Vitor Belfort. To all whom he lost, by the way (thrice to Minotauro). And how! He fought his ass off in losing but he could take solace in the thought that he gave all of them and many others a fight they will never forget, win or lose.

Herring is strong, fast, smart, aggressive, and very seasoned. Losing to such high-quality fighters can be read as a testament to his toughness. At 30, Herring is still one of the most dangerous heavyweights in MMA.

Lesnar, on the other hand, is a generally untested entity in MMA. After making a living in “sports entertainment” in Vince McMahon’s pro-wrestling circus called WWE, which was once called WWF but was finally renamed due to a clash of acronyms with the World Wildlife Fund, “Brock” Lesnar is trying his hand at real fighting as opposed to “fake” wrestling.

A former NCAA Division 1 wrestling champion, Lesnar has the prerequisite ground skills and the size and power for a fruitful MMA career. (Think Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, Mark Kerr, Kevin Randleman, and Mall Lindland.) Lesnar’s MMA record is a middling 1-1-0 and this could be his last chance for a contract extension with the UFC. He loses and his novelty practically wears off. If the UFC hadn’t swallowed Japan’s defunct premier MMA promotion, Pride, Lesnar and others could have another option for career advancement. But as of now, the one-billion-dollar megalith that is the UFC is the only game in town that really matters.

This could go either way. Neither Lesnar nor Herring have any distinct advantage over the other. Herring is faster but Lesnar is more powerful. Herring can take a punch but Lesnar still has to prove that he can. With his solid wrestling credentials, though, plus his bulk, he can create huge problems for Herring if the fight goes to the ground and Lesnar gets on top.

If Herring successfully keeps the fight on their feet, he just might earn a knockout win. The native South Dakotan Lesnar needs all the support he can get from his fans in Minnesota, where he currently fights out of.

Roger “Matador” Huerta, like Lesnar, might find his UFC career on its last legs if he loses to Kenny Florian. But that is unlikely. Huerta has the edge over Florian in just about all departments: speed, power, skills, and marketing. The good-looking Huerta has the enviable distinction of being the very first MMA fighter to make the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Huerta is like night to Florian’s day. Coming from a hardscrabble background in his native Mexico, physically and psychologically abused as a child by both his biological parents and his stepmother, Huerta earned a living on the streets before his teens. Huerta has a lot of demons to exorcise. Fighting in the Octagon gives him an opportunity to expel those demons, while beating up on someone he might visualize as those who have wronged him. “Anger can be power/Don’t you know that you can use it,” The Clash sings in their debut record.

In Kenny Florian’s case, the Bee Gees “Staying Alive” might be apropos. That is what the middle-class Massachusetts native has to do against El Matador. When someone nicknamed The Slayer goes up against someone saddled with the rather gayish nickname “KenFlo,” it’s much easier to believe that The Slayer (Murderer, Killer, Assassin) will have KenFlo for breakfast and lunch, not counting snacks in between.

In the main event, Georges St. Pierre gets another opportunity to add to his growing legend. The soft-spoken French Canadian has only lost twice in 18 MMA fights, once by submission to his “idol’ Matt Hughes and once to Matt Serra by strikes. In MMA, unlike in boxing, a 16-2 record is a mark of excellence not a questionable record. GSP is at the top of his game right now, his confidence soaring. He avenged both his losses to Hughes and Serra and fittingly in the same way he lost.

Jon Fitch has earned the right to challenge GSP. Losing two of his first four MMA fights, Fitch has gradually gotten stronger and better and amassed 15 straight wins since a No Contest result against Solomon Hutcherson in HookNShoot -- Boot Camp on March 8, 2003.

Like GSP, Fitch is on a roll, only longer. Whose winning roll will be stopped today? That remains to be seen.

The Truth Ducks The Dragon…For Now

Brandon Vera refuses to fight Lyoto Machida

Brandon “The Truth” Vera, despite two straight losses in less than 10 months, is still one of the most marketable UFC fighters. Vera has the power, speed, skills, and length, to beat most of the top fighters in the heavyweight division. With his move to go down to light-heavyweight, has only added more fuel to the furnace that is the 205-pound division.

Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, on the other hand, is a fast-rising star in the 205lb category. By virtue of a five-fight win streak in the UFC, Machida could be the most promising warrior in the arena.

Put Vera and Machida in the Octagon and you get a surefire hit in so many ways. Both excellent strikers with respectable ground skills, these two mestizos will have blood pumping in their cool veins and temperatures rising in the fight venue. Machida-Vera I (the Japanese-Brazilian’s name gets top billing over the Filipino-American by virtue of a superior fight record) might just set records for pay-per-view and gate receipts.

At 13 and 0 against Vera’s 8-2-0, Machida naturally will become the odds-on favorite in both Vegas betting and fan polls. But an immaculate record is no guarantee of another victory over an inferior slate. We could do a rundown of their strengths and weaknesses:

Speed:
Machida is not only fast, he is slippery. Rich Franklin and Michael McDonald found out about this the hard way. So did Tito Ortiz and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. You want to keep Machida right in front of you so you could hit him, but he almost always stays a safe distance from a punch or leg strike, while moving just enough to hit you with one of his rather unorthodox karate-flavored snap kicks and hand strikes. Grapplers may want to take him down, first distracting him with a punch or fake before lowering for a single or double-leg takedown, but the Shotokan and Brazilian Jiujitsu black-belt Machida is wise to the ways of the ground and pound, or ground and submit. While Vera is more of a striker, a muay Thai stylist who tries to capitalize on his substantial reach to land a blow. Vera has respectable talent on the ground, but it is doubtful if he could escape from a tight triangle the same way Machida did against Tito Ortiz.
Advantage: Machida

Power:
Machida only has three victories by way of knockout (all TKOs) and eight triumphs by decision in his 13-fight win run. That is testament to his reliance on speed and under-reliance on power. Machida will not only wear opponents out by evading their strikes, clinches, and takedowns, he will add on to his foes’ frustrations by hitting them almost at will, but almost never engaging them in an all-out brawl. He will hit and pull out, dance away, then come back for more when he sees an opening. Vera is a kickboxer more than a feint-hit-and-backout artist. Vera will try to pound the man in front of him with a straight punch, a roundhouse or lower kick, and go for the kill if he sees an opening or if his foe is hurt enough. Vera is a tiger shark with the tendency to go on a feeding frenzy if he as much as smells a milliliter of blood. Machida, on the other hand, is a mite, sucking blood in small degrees until he is bloated enough to let go and come back for more at a later time. By then, he will be big enough as a great white shark to munch a huge mouthful.
Advantage: Even

Stamina:
Vera has only gone the distance once in 10 MMA fights. Machida has finished the maximum allotted rounds nine out of 13 times, including eight in the last nine. Vera evidently was on the verge of gassing out against Tim Sylvia in UFC 77, one of the reasons he lost by decision to the “Maine-niac.” Machida comes prepared for his fights, with a cardiovascular conditioning comparable to that of Olympic long-distance runners. Vera, we hazard to guess, doesn’t as much care for jogging and sparring for periods of time longer than five minutes.
Advantage: Machida

Guile:
Hands down, Machida bags this one. The poker face, the cool demeanor, even his ever-polite language that refuses to trash talk, even complimenting his opponents, are hallmarks of an honorable warrior with the calculating powers of an assassin who waits and waits before delivering the death blow. In sharp contrast, Vera is a loudmouth, a loveable one, though, much like his paisan Hulk “Terry Gene Bollea” Hogan. Vera plays to the crowd and the media, generating enough interest for his fights. He gets the attention and the amused smiles, but Machida earns the respect and perhaps the fear.
Advantage: Machida

Machida 4, Vera 1

All these comparisons might ultimately be in vain. Vera just refused to take on Machida for Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 14. For reasons of being unprepared, the usually game Vera did admit that a month’s notice isn’t the best way to get ready for a formidable fighter like Machida. He did not rule out, though, a future pairing with Machida.

Vera told www.mmajunkie.com, “For sure, I turned down the fight with Machida. Don’t get me wrong. I’m down to fight Machida but not in my first time cutting down to 205 on four weeks’ notice.”

The MMA fighter cut in the mold of Tito Ortiz in the trash-talk department did pay tribute to Machida by admitting that he can’t simply jump into the ring or Octagon with a supreme athlete like The Dragon: “I want to be ready for Machida. That bastard’s good. I want to make sure I’ve got good sparring and a good game plan for Machida.

“Machida’s not somebody you can just jump in the cage with and fight. I don’t care who you are; if you think you can just beat Machida because you’re tougher than him, he’s probably going to whoop your ass.

“He doesn’t go in to destroy people and finish them. Man, you can’t hit him, and he just keeps touching you. People just get frustrated and pissed off. So, I did turn down the fight with Machida, but I’m down for sure to fight Machida, given good time.”

In the Garden lurks the inevitable

KG, KJ; Kobe, from mediocre to great

Don't know which is worse, watching the Celtics come so close to finishing off the Lakers or listening (forced to listen, more like it) to the encyclopedic babbler Quinito Henson and carabao-English proponent Chino Trinidad doing their best to make it interesting watching an NBA game, trying to convince those with access to cable TV that they are better off tuning in to Crime/Suspense/RPN 9’s coverage instead of at Basketball TV.

Stil (i.e. steal) by Kobi Bryant…Kobi. Kobi. KOBI MIKS A TREEEEE!!!!

It’s not funny anymore listening to Trinidad mangle the Queen’s English, the King’s English, and Tayshaun Prince’s English in two hours it regularly takes an NBA game to run its course.

HISTORY AGAIN. There they went again, repeating themselves.
The Lakers went on to leave the Celtics behind in their first-quarter dust, 39-22, and, as if on cue, the Celtics pursued them with road detritus in their mouths, to come closer, 52-55, at the end of the first half.

Kevin Garnett, as aggressive (read: passionate) as ever, committed his third (unearned) foul on Pau Gasol, a mere 13 seconds after relieving P.J. Brown, who himself committed his third foul earlier. Brown was exemplary, in his first-half stint, putting up not much on the stats sheet with just four points and three rebounds, but his defense helped the Celtics get back. Without the hulking Kendrick Perkins, out on a shoulder injury, Brown filled the lanes well.

Smiling, the 15-year-veteran Brown came back to give Garnett another unnecessary breather. Sure, Garnett didn’t really commit a foul, slapping his hand on the hand of Gasol holding the ball. According to NBA rules, the hand holding the ball, being part of the ball, if it is hit, no call is to be called. But we all know how the rules don’t always work, or how the referees don’t always see or choose not to see.

“One bucket at a time,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers exhorted his players in a timeout. Indeed, as the Celtics racked up 15 straight points to the Lakers' zero for a stretch, it seemed the Celtics were well on their way to ending the series at the Staples Center, thousands of miles away from the TD Banknorth Garden.

In the minds of many fans, both pro-Boston and pro-Lakers, the Lakers were too spent on excessive expectations and unexpected defeats to put up a fight in Game 5. Entering Staples Center locker room, the cameras zoomed in on Paul Pierce and Perkins, in dark suits and darker glasses, looking like they were on their way instead to audition for Men In Black 3 at a Columbia Pictures soundstage. Call it confidence, or call it conceit, but surely, many Celtics must have already felt some of the euphoria of grabbing the Larry O’Brien trophy Sunday night. Overconfidence is never a good thing.

GREEN GRIT. But Boston did play with a lot grit and confidence yesterday. After they were only four points down, 86-90, after James Posey’s three, time down to 5:48 in the fourth, you could almost feel the cold go up the collective spine of the Staples Center crowd, and cold sweat start to pour from Jack Nicholson’s bald spot to his shades.

They call it the Boston run. Garnett’s 14-foot jumper tied the game, 90-90. Shine the trophy, boys! But it wasn’t to be. Pau Gasol’s baby hook regained the lead for the Lakers, which they kept until the final buzzer, 103-98.

A lot of drama went down from 90-all to 103-98, and Bryant contributed to it. He will undoubtedly be acclaimed as one of the greatest players in the NBA, right up there in the basketball firmament with Bill Russell, Jerry West, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and…drum roll…Michael Jordan.

With less than a minute left in the final quarter, Bryant showed his greatness and his weakness. He attempted a three at 1:15 when they didn’t need it, causing Lamar Odom to foul Pierce, who went to the stripe but made only one of two shots. Bryant could have used his one-on-one superiority to slash to the paint and make a two or get fouled to earn two free throws. Instead, he missed his jumper, the Celtics got the rebound, Pierce’s 1-of-2 cut LA’s lead to just three, 97-94.

Then Bryant redeemed himself. Pierce had ball possession, Bryant sneaked from behind to tap the ball to Odom, who in turn passed it to Bryant for a fastbreak dunk, 99-95. In a span of 38 seconds, the Lakers superstar showed two sides of his basketball personality: middling and great.

The Game 5 win wasn’t as ugly as the Lakers’ Game 3 victory, but they did live to play another day. Boston, on the other hand, was just a bit too predictable: Let the Lakers take the early lead, let’s do catch-up. Catsup on meat patty tastes good, but patty alone tastes good, too, our neighborhood burger-store owner always says.

When Doc Rivers sat down Garnett for Rondo with nine seconds left, all Celtics on court were guards/forwards, all capable of shooting threes. And for that reason, they should have taken care of the ball much better, not having James Posey casually pass the inbound to a waiting Derek Fisher who dribbled the precious seconds away to secure the win for his team.

Bryant was waving to the crowd, clapping his hands, while the sidecourt lady was waiting to interview him. Odom was being interviewed by another person himself a few feet away, while their teammates walked past them not looking like they had just won. The Lakers had the look of the defeated (which, in many ways they still are), or the defeated who are merely suspending the inevitable.

Like this very game that they had numerically won by five points. It was a scrambling triumph at best, forging a Game 6 back in…wait, don’t let Los Angeles hear it…Boston, where the Celtics are 2-0 against the Lakers in this series. It is now, 3-2, for the Celtics. Just one more game. Just one more win. The Celtics have two chances to end it. And it will be another championship banner hanging from the rafters.

Yes, home is indeed sweet, especially if you are primed to let the balloons, confetti, and buntings fall in celebration.

This is it. Game 6. The buck stops here.

FFA myNOTES:
If there were any Cebuano-speaking members of the audience at the SC in Game 5, they would have sported knowing smiles listening to the “LO LO LO…” chant of the nervous crowd.

It ain’t easy being Celtics green in Lala land

-- Sasha, get your goat; Ray of light; God; Fear of the unknown --

Game 3:

“He lost a goat…no big deal.”

There are seemingly inconsequential things in this world that reinforces my hardened belief (faith, if you will) that there is a God. Watching a Los Angeles Laker dribbling the ball while waiting for the final buzzer, and the Boston Celtics losing, 81-87, I pressed the TV remote jump button and saw the caption text of the quote above by a grizzled old man in a National Geographic feature on Iranian nomadic goat herders.

The Celtics lost Game 3. Big deal. They were expected to. Some quarters might even expect the Lakers to win Games 4 and 5 after the euphoria of that victory. I have publicly (to friends and colleagues, at least) spoken that I would love to see a Game 7 at the TD Banknorth Garden/Fleet Center.

But that was a troubling win for the Lakers. Even in their homecourt, even with naysayers earlier declaring that the Celtics were overmatched (despite a 2-0 regular-season record against the Lakers, despite having the best regular-season record at 66-16), Mr. Kobe “Ballhog turned passing superstar now MVP” Bryant and Co. had a tough time earning that win.

Now we have a Finals.

Game 4:

If by some unjust quirk of the cosmic forces, and saintly Ray Allen is sent to hell, the Boston Celtics shooting guard will still stay cool.

This game will forever be entrenched in the minds of basketball fans and conspiracy theorists. Comebacks from 20-plus points in any quarter in an NBA Finals are not just rare but heroic. Did the referees swallow their whistles to give the Celtics the edge?

This game will forever be remembered for Allen’s superheroic moves: an up-and-under reverse lay-up from the left wing past the defense of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, and a one-on-one cha-cha-cha lefty lay-up past a hapless Sasha Vujacic to up the Celtics’ lead to five, 96-91. Allen’s expression didn’t even change after those baskets. His Big 3 teammates Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and the Celtics on the court and on the bench, and the whole of Massachusetts, were whooping it up as if they had already won the series. Who could blame them? By the looks of it, with 16 seconds left, they had. Eddie House sank 1-of-2 free throws for the final score, 97-91.

History is on the Celtics’ side. No team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals. The Celtics are 30-0 after winning the first two games in the playoffs.

By some quirk of the cosmos, as I was writing this piece, Steely Dan’s Change Of The Guard was playing on my PC. It is the second to the last song on the band’s classic 1972 debut album, Can’t Buy A Thrill. (Plug time: check out steelydanfanmach3.blogspot.com and poetasterix.blogspot.com for more of this blogger’s follies). Lakers head coach Phil Jackson should have changed the guard on Allen. There is no way jump-shooting self-declared “machine” hair-farm Vujacic can take on the bald-headed brilliance of playground-maestro Allen one-on-one. Don’t argue. You saw what happened.

Leon Powe’s (him again, Mr. Jackson) jumper tied the score at 73-all not two minutes into the fourth quarter. After coming back from 24 points down in the second, 21-45, the Celtics took the lead, 84-83, for the first time on Eddie House’s basket in the final 4:07. They kept it until the final buzzer.

OK, it’s not over ’til it’s over, the fat lady hasn’t been sited yet on stage…provide your own cliché here. All right, let’s wait and see. But as always, Free-For-All is sticking to the Boston Stranglers.

Until Larry Bird flips the bird on Red Auerbach, make mine Celtics.

Game 5 is still at Lakers territory. A lot of good it will do the Lakers. They may win Game 5 but they will still be a game down with the last two games in Boston. No more stats! Just figure the odds yourself, and more importantly, whether you are for the Lakers or for the Celtics, to enjoy the games.

It will be fun.

Especially if you are not green-eyed with envy. Apologies to The Bard. Smirk.

Game 5:

I have openly said that I would love to watch a Game 7 of this series. After that historic Game 4 turnaround by the Celtics in enemy territory, I don’t relish the thought of a for-all-the-marbles encounter anymore.

Being three games up over one in an NBA Finals series is something to crow about, yes, but it is not an impregnable advantage. As Sasha the hairy goat said, “This should be a good test for us if we are ready to win the championship,” citing that the Phoenix Suns did it in the 2006 playoffs.

Mr. Vujacic is right. The Suns did it. The Phoenix Suns, Sasha, sir. Who did the Suns beat the stuffings out of to earn that distinction? Your team, Sasha. The Suns with slippery smart eel point-guard genius Steve Nash and a motley support crew of Boris Diaw, Leandro Barbosa, Raja Bell, Tim and Kurt Thomas, and the now sorely-missed Shawn Marion. Amare Stoudemire was recovering from an injury at the time but the Thomases, Marion, and Diaw, filled the vacuum down low admirably.

Who do you have with you in this playoffs, Sasha? You as a sniper from the wings (.522 FG% and .545 3P% against the Celtics in the Finals) and regular season MVP Kobe “Still a Michael Jordan wannabe but never will be” Bryant, a great one-on-one player but just good in this Finals. You have late-season addition Pau Gasol, inconsistent Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum on sick bay (shades of Amare Stoudemire). I am biased, admittedly, but the only players in the present crop of Lakers, after Bryant, that I admire are Luke Walton and the seemingly ageless and very resilient Derek Fisher. Fisher never gives up. His high-arching 3-point shot is thing of beauty and grace. Walton doesn’t have the height and skills of his father, Bill, one of the 50 Greatest NBA Players of All Time and future Hall Of Famer, but Luke has inherited the fighting genes of his dad. Bryant, Fisher, and Walton will never give up, even if two points down with a second to go in the game, even with a two-game deficit in a seven-game series.

They are the Lakers' Big 3 (Gasol and Odom are playing like bench players at this time), in my estimation. They can make things turn around for their team. Getting out of a deep hole they have dug for themselves is a daunting task. It is not impossible but highly improbable. Only one sure way to find out if the Lakers can do a Lazarus -- let’s see them play in Game 5. If they force a Game 6, let’s see if they can force a Game 7.

This is one of those times when I wish I were more careful with what I wished for. I just might get it. Get it?

Linux is the Word; Ubuntu is the magic word

I don’t know if the South African man that Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers asked to talk to his team uses a Microsoft or Linux operating system on his computer, but when he tried to psyche up the Celtics with the mantra ubuntu (“a philosophy of life that promotes the greater good rather than individual success,” from the “Bantu group of languages” of Africa – thank you, Wikipedia), it was like a schoolmarm teaching a wide-eyed class of fourth graders the wonder word magic (not Earvin Johnson). Rabbit out of a hat drawing smiles and claps, Chris Angel impaled on a fence smiling, drawing disgusted oohs and ahhs. Tells you lots on generation gap on wonder level there.

My computer’s OS used to be Linux Ubuntu, not because I liked it that way. No. I didn’t even know what Ubuntu was until I spent hours struggling over an operating system that was supposed to be “user-friendly.” But for someone who has been using a Microsoft OS for the good part of a decade, shifting, or trying, or better still, forced to try (it came with the laptop I just bought) a Linux OS was like being forced to sleep in the same bed with a woman I had only met an hour ago at an anti-government rally…in Zambia. And she doesn’t even speak the same language (or languages, I know three, one of these is English, as most Filipinos with a high-school education) as I do. OK, the prospect of having a strange woman in your bed is exciting, especially if she keeps saying to you, “Ubuntu! Ubuntu! Ubuntuuuuuu!!!”

In my first language, Ubuntu rhymes with a very sexually-charged word. But we just met! I like my conquests smiling and able to say words to me like: “How about this one, sir…Not too expensive…Thank you, come again.” Who doesn’t like to shop in a store with a very accommodating sales lady?

Ubuntu and the Celtics. From the regular season to now, the Celtics have had remarkable success. Ubuntu rulz! That’s the most important thing …it works. So, no more digs on this Ubuntu thing. I had a friend replace my OS with Windows XP. I am back in familiar surroundings but I kind of miss Ubuntu's quirks and novelty, though. I have an older laptop and I plan to find a place for Linux Ubuntu there.

JACKSON’S MIND GAMES. Lakers head coach Phil Jackson is at it again. Playing mind games is a big part of Jackson’s success as coach in the NBA. Nine Finals championships and counting. But after a heartbreaking Game 2 loss, despite coming back from 24 down in the fourth quarter to just two in the last 7.55 minutes, the Lakers failed to upend the Celtics, 102-108, and Jackson again digs deep into his bag of tricks.

Harping on the 43-17 free-throw disparity, using seldom-used Leon Powe, who had 21 points, more than either Allen or Garnett, as a peg for his criticism of the officiating, Jackson is of course aware that the far-from perfect (and it will never be) refereeing will not always be to his team’s advantage. Jackson doesn’t have to think far back into history for images of the Sacramento Kings complaining of biased officiating (if you saw the game, you might just agree it was horrendous) for the Lakers after the still-notorious Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals, where the referees in their eternal wisdom and fairness, called 27 fouls on the Kings and only nine on the Lakers in the fourth quarter alone, when it was the Kings who were more aggressive going to the basket.

History has a way of biting you on the butt, Mr. Jackson, if you ignore it. Or conveniently forget it. Learn your lessons well.

Celtics head coach Doc Rivers, on the other hand, is right to say that his team was more aggressive (sounds familiar?) in going into the paint. Naturally, they gave the referees a lot more reason to call the fouls. The referees cannot be everywhere all the time. Even God rested on the seventh day. It was a Sunday when Game 2 was played in Boston’s TD Banknorth Garden, so maybe the Supreme Being was watching the game, too, even though it was His day off. Unfortunately, He wasn’t activated to officiate the game, so, sorry, Mr. Jackson. Maybe next time. Games 3, 4, and, “if necessary,” Game 5 will be played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Who knows, the calls might go your team’s way by then.

Where was I? Yes, the Celtics, who at the time of this post are up 2-0 over the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. Retired and semi-retired Celtic fans come out of your shells! Game 3, 4, and 5 may be at the arena that Jack Nicholson built, but if Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and the rest of the Celtics cast steal just one in LA, our beloved green-clad heroes will look like the DC superhero Green Lantern in a cabbage patch. Green, green all the way.

Now, who said the Pau Gasol-reinforced Lakers are too tough for the Garnet-and-Allen-reinforced Celtics? If I remember my math, two is bigger than one. But a basketball team is bigger than the sum of its parts. And an NBA Finals journey doesn’t stop until one team racks up four wins over the other. OK, two to go, Celtics. You do the math.

Of Missed Opportunities And Equestrian Idiocy

UFC 73 – Stacked
July 8, 2007 Arco Arena

THIS one didn’t have the MMA world-shaking upsets of the previous three UFC tournaments or the blank space in my mind of UFC 72 (which I didn’t see) but it sure lived up to its “Stacked” title. Although the main event welterweight championship between Anderson “The Spider” Silva and Nate “The Great” Marquardt was ironically the least exciting of the card.

The Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira-Heath “The Texas Crazy Horse” Herring barnburner is the figurative perfect match to start a martial arts tournament. The legendary heavyweights, picking up from where they left off in Japan’s Pride, exchange punches. Herring falls while Nogueira gets side cradle control and goes for back control but Herring suddenly stands up to escape. On their feet, the Minotaur hits the Horse with a strong left straight that slightly buckles the latter. Later, with about 30 seconds left in the round, Nogueira misses a left straight and Herring counters with a left roundhouse head kick that hurts Nogueira a lot more than he hurt Herring earlier. Nogueira falls to the canvas and Herring follows him to the ground to deliver a pounding.

Inexplicably, Herring disengages, gets back on his feet and motions for Nogueira to do the same. Nogueira does not look a gift horse in the mouth (heh…) and Herring again fells him. With Herring in Nogueira’s guard and punching out Nogueira, the Texas Crazy Horse, true to his moniker, acts crazy and again stands up while motioning with his hands for Nogueira to get back up. Nogueira survives Round 1 with his wits and poise intact. In our scorecard, we give it, of course, to Herring, 10-9.

In Round 2, Nogueira, fully aware that he has to rally, tries several submission holds on Herring, which the strong and patient Herring all escape from. On those failed submission attempts alone, Nogueira wins the round, 10-9.

Herring, in the last round, again does one of his great escapes from Nogueira’s chokes and Kimuras, the most dangerous looking is a rear-naked choke that locks on the lefts side of Herring’s face, Herring bides his time and pulls out of the hold and even manages to reverse into a dominant position while landing on Nogueira’s guard. Herring fights on but is obviously fading, while Nogueira having gone back to boxing Herring, increasingly gets more confident and does enough to win Round 3 to add to his points from Round 2 – no mean feat, considering the dire straits he was on in Round 1. Nogueira, 10-9.

The UFC judges had it officially at 29-28 for Nogueira just like Free-For-All’s. To beat a dead horse (sorry, the pun is irresistible), we have to question Herring’s chivalry, sportsmanship, stupidity, or a combination of all. Although, it’s no big mystery. Even though Herring was on the verge of taking out Nogueira with his striking while the Brazilian was dazed and very vulnerable on the ground, the two previous defeats (a decision and submission by Anaconda choke) he suffered to Nogueira had planted the seeds of fear and respect in his mind. Nogueira can submit anybody anytime when all his resources are locked on predatory mode. Perhaps also flushed with his power, Herring wanted to show the world that he could end the fight on his feet instead of on the ground.

Everyone is welcome to post their opinion on the matter. I used to write a sports column just as long as this one in a local English news daily where I was getting paid a pittance (everything is relative), so you can’t blame this Free-For-Aller for reserving the rest of the card for (no, not three or four days later, as my schedule had it then) next time when I feel like it. Take that, editors of all stripes and egos! No deadlines this time…and no column pay either. Well…c’est la vie.