It has been a whirlwind of activity lately for the world’s largest Mixed Martial Arts promotion. The UFC continues to start 2012 with a roar of activity this weekend with their return to network television as the UFC presents UFC on FOX 2 from Chicago, Illinois. The main card features a trio of fights, capped off by Light Heavyweight and Middleweight title eliminator bouts. A late injury to former main event fighter Mark Munoz caused some card-shuffling, but many would argue that this has only made the card more exciting with more marketable bouts.

In the main event of the evening “Sugar” Rashad Evans continues his never-ending quest towards former teammate and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones when he takes on Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis. The co-main event of the evening sees a battle between two trash talking experts as Chael Sonnen battles Michael “The Count” Bisping. The final scheduled bout for the main card features former Middleweight contender Demian Maia taking on fast-rising prospect Chris Weidman. The undercard broadcast on Fuel TV features eight more bouts, several of which have serious potential for fireworks. But enough talking about it, let’s get right into breaking down these fights.

Preliminary Card Bout (Facebook): Middleweight Bout: Chris Camozzi vs. Dustin Jacoby

Chris “Kamikaze” Camozzi is a 25-year-old fighter from the Factory X Muay Thai and MMA Gym in Lakewood, Colorado. Camozzi is a former competitor on the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter. Camozzi is a well-rounded fighter whose best strength is probably his grit and determination. Camozzi is a very workmanlike fighter, his striking is technically sound, but he doesn’t really possess KO power, relying instead on damage accumulation and point scoring in his strikes. On the ground he’s a capable grappler, but isn’t exactly a submission aficionado. Camozzi holds a professional MMA record of 15-5.

Dustin Jacoby is a young up-and-coming fighter from Fort Morgan, Colorado. The 23-year-old is a member of the HIT Squad Gym in Springfield, Illinois, so he should have some hometown support as he searches for his first Octagon victory in his second try. Undefeated at 6-0, he was given his first shot at the UFC at 137 where he suffered a decision loss to the also debuting Clifford Starks. At 6’4” with five first-round stoppages on his resume, Jacoby looked to be a hot prospect but his wrestling defense and grappling skills were severely exposed in the bout against Starks. He’ll need to have shored up some of those deficiencies if he’s going to have any chance against Camozzi in this one. Jacoby enters the fight with a career record of 6-1.

Analysis and Prediction: Camozzi may not be great at anything, but he is well-rounded enough to win this fight. In his UFC debut Jacoby looked absolutely terrible on the ground and was unable to mount any offense whatsoever from guard. At 6’4” with decent striking, Jacoby definitely has the physical tools to control this bout, if he can effectively control the range. But it’s more likely that Camozzi closes the distance searches out a takedown and completely outworks Jacoby for three rounds. Chris Camozzi via Unanimous Decision

Preliminary Card Bout (Fuel TV): Heavyweight Bout: Joey Beltran vs. Lavar Johnson

Joey “The Mexecutioner” Beltran is a Mexican-American fighter from San Diego, California. Despite his relatively mediocre record inside the octagon (3-3) he is probably one of the fighters who enjoys the most job-security due to his fan-friendly brawling style. Beltran is a straight up brawler, who relies on his iron chin and his heavy-handed stand up style. He is a member of the Alliance MMA gym and also a member of the Blackline Fight Group. Beltran’s biggest weapons are by far his hands, as he constantly pushes forward, no matter what his opponents throw at him. His 11 victories by way of knockout or TKO prove that fact. Overall Beltran owns a professional record of 13-6.

Lavar “Big” Johnson has one of the most impressive stories of anybody in professional MMA today. During a family reunion in 2009, he was shot twice only to survive and return to the cage a year later. Johnson is an extremely powerful puncher who owns 13 wins by way of KO or TKO. However, he is severely lacking in the ground game department, as in his past two fights he was somewhat exploited on the ground by superior grapplers. Nevertheless, he remains dangerous as he can end the fight at any time that the fight remains upright. Johnson also owns a rare statistic that he has never had a fight go to a decision, win or lose this guy comes to fight. He owns a professional record of 15-5.

Analysis and Prediction: My early prediction is that this fight is a serious contender for Fight of the Night. This has all the makings of a potential brawl and it’s likely that fans are going to be treated to a Heavyweight slugfest. Johnson is absolutely terrible on the ground, but unless he is getting completely smashed on the feet, Beltran is unlikely to search for a takedown to exploit it. In a stand up game, Beltran’s defense is horrible and he’s never met a punch he didn’t mind taking on the chin, luckily for him however, that chin is made of granite. However, that poses a big liability for him as Johnson is likely going to be the most powerful puncher that he has ever faced. If Beltran is smart he’d take this fight to the mat, it’s more likely he goes out there and brawls for the fans. He’s never been KO’ed but he’s never fought a power puncher like Johnson. In a brawl, I like the upset here. Lavar Johnson via KO in Round Two

Preliminary Card Bout (Fuel TV): Lightweight Bout: Michael Johnson vs. Shane Roller

Michael “The Menace” Johnson is a former cast member of The Ultimate Fighter: GSP vs. Koscheck, he finished the season as the runner-up, losing at the live finale to champion Jonathan Brookins. Johnson is primarily a wrestler, who relies on his takedowns and top control to win him fights. Johnson is a 25-year-old from St. Louis, Missouri, he now however trains out of Boca Raton, Florida with the Imperial Athletics Team. Johnson has been working to improve his boxing skills, but he still is a fairly rudimentary striker, who uses his punches simply to set up takedowns and close distances. Johnson owns a career record of 9-6.

Shane Roller is a 32-year-old fighter from Bixby, Oklahoma. He has a very decorated background as a collegiate wrestler for Oklahoma State University where he was a three-time All-American. Roller is a member of the Team Takedown Gym based out of Las Vegas, Nevada, where he is continually working on his stand up skills to compliment his strong wrestling. Roller has transitioned his wrestling skills well to MMA, as he is a very competent grappler, who uses ground and pound to search for submission opportunities and has actually won most of his fights by Submission. Roller has struggled in his past few bouts, going 1-2 during the stretch and is in need of a win, still he does own a solid professional resume with a 10-5 record with most losses coming to some very high-level 155-pounders.

Analysis and Prediction: These two men are very likely fighting for their jobs, because anything other than impressive performances from both will likely earn the loser a pink-slip. Unfortunately, both fighters’ backgrounds are rooted in wrestling so a brawl isn’t likely in the cards. Roller is a big power puncher who can end the fight any time that he connects with that big right hand and he’s too good of a wrestler to be taken down and controlled by Johnson. Without the takedown Johnson doesn’t have a solid path to victory and it’s likely he gets controlled on the mat by a superior wrestler in Roller. Expect Roller to use ground and pound to set up a submission late in the second round. Shane Roller via Submission in Round Two

Preliminary Card Bout (Fuel TV): Featherweight Bout: Charles Oliveira vs. Eric Wisely

Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira is a Brazilian fighter and was a highly touted prospect when he entered the UFC. He has since struggled slightly, but at only 22-years old and having recently dropped to the Featherweight division he is looking to get his career back on track and has plenty of time to do so. Oliveira like most of his Brazilian counter-parts is a Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter, who owns a brown belt in BJJ. Oliveira is a very aggressive fighter who is constantly pushing the pace against his opponents and is always looking for a finish. In 17 career bouts, he has gone to a decision only once. He has a professional record of 14-2, with 1 No Contest.

Eric “Little Lee” Wisely is a 27-year-old fighter from the Team Conquest camp in Clinton, Iowa. A decent striker with a solid grappling acumen he most recently fought at a Strikeforce event where he gave top Lightweight prospect Pat Healy all he could handle on the mat. Wisely owns career victories over former UFC fighters Matt Veach and Hermes Franca, outworking both fighters on the mat using his submission savvy style. Wisely is also making the drop to Featherweight for this bout as well as it being his UFC debut, he gets a stiff test though in Oliveira. Wisely’s career record stands at 19-6.

Analysis and Prediction: Oliveira may look like he’s getting thrown a softball here, but really he has a lot to lose. He came into the UFC with a lot of hype and while he deserved most of it, he didn’t deliver. He’s being given an opponent with zero name value, but who can provide a stern and scrappy test by turning this fight ugly on Oliveira. What the Brazilian needs to do is use his strong boxing skills to control the distance that this fight gets fought at. Using leg kicks will slow down Wisely and allow him to control the pace. From there in the second and third rounds he can open up a bit, and use takedowns to set up an eventual win via Submission. Charles Oliveira via Submission in Round Three

Preliminary Card Bout (Fuel TV): Featherweight Bout: Cub Swanson vs. George Roop

Cub Swanson is a 28-year-old fighter from Palm Springs, California. A veteran of the WEC, Swanson is a Jackson’s MMA disciple with a strong background in kickboxing and decent grappling skills to compliment. Swanson is best known as the victim of Jose Aldo’s flying knee KO which is the feature of almost every Aldo highlight reel, however, he is a very fan-friendly fighter who prefers to stand and trade with his opponents and is always fighting at a high pace. Swanson is really not great in any particular area, but is solid in all aspects of the fight game, however, he has proven to be a bit to happy to exchange in brawls where it does not suit him. Nonetheless he has enjoyed some success in his career and holds a record of 15-5 as a professional.

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George Roop has been one of the most surprising comeback stories in UFC history. He is a former cast member of the Ultimate Fighter who made his debut in the stacked 155-Pound class. After going 1-2 in the UFC he was promptly released which caused him to return to his natural weight of 145-pounds. At 6’1” Roop is the largest Featherweight fighter on the UFC’s payroll and provides a stylistic mismatch for any striker in the division due to his long limbs and range. Roop is a Team Tompkins striker whose expertise lies in the striking department. He uses kicks well to establish range and then picks his opponents apart from the outside utilizing his massive reach. Despite early struggles in the UFC, Roop has shown rapid improvement in his overall MMA game as of late. He holds a pro record of 12-8.

Analysis and Prediction: If you asked me who would win this fight when both men were still in the WEC, I would have picked Swanson in a heartbeat, however Roop has shown a lot of improvement lately. Many people felt that he actually defeated Hatsu Hioki, and while I scored that bout 29-28 in favor of Hioki, the fight was a lot closer than I expected. Roop’s biggest strength is his size and he has finally learned to use his height to his advantage. Instead of fighting crunched up, he now stands tall and throws tons of kicks to keep his opponents at bay. Swanson is well rounded enough to stick with Roop every step of the way, but I think he’ll struggle getting inside on Roop, which could lead to him taking a few knees and elbows from a clinch. It’ll be close but it’ll be Unanimous for Roop. George Roop via Unanimous Decision

Preliminary Card Bout (Fuel TV): Heavyweight Bout: Mike Russow vs. John-Olav Einemo

Mike Russow is a 35-year-old fighter from Chicago, Illinois who will be fighting in front of some hometown fans for this bout. He is a former NCAA Division 1 Wrestler and is a former member of Brock Lesnar‘s DeathClutch Gym in Minnesota. Russow has decent wrestling skills, but is best known for his ability to take punishment and brawl his heart out. Most fans would recognize Russow from his fight against Todd Duffee where he absorbed nearly 13 minutes of punishment and was well on his way to losing a decision before blasting Duffee with a huge overhand right that knocked the massive Heavyweight out cold. Russow holds a pro record of 14-1 with 1 no contest and is currently riding a ten fight winning streak.

John-Olav “The Viking” Einemo is a fighter from Oslo, Norway. Despite being 36-years-old he is one of the Heavyweight divisions best grapplers and one of the top BJJ practitioners in the world. He is the 2003 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Champion in the 98 KG weight-class and holds the distinction of being the only man to defeat Roger Gracie in the Abu Dhabi tournament. He is a black belt in BJJ and is a member of the Golden Glory Gym, the former home of Alistair Overeem. Despite taking a five year break he gave Dave Herman all he could handle in his last bout at UFC 131, and will be looking for his first octagon victory in this bout. He holds a pro record of 6-2.

Analysis and Prediction: Despite his somewhat impressive record, I’ve never been overly impressed by Russow. His striking is decent, loaded with power, but it’s often slow and sloppy. He’s also shown a propensity to gas slightly in the later rounds of fights, which could come back to haunt him in a bout against a solid grappler like Einemo. Einemo is a very large Heavyweight, who will enjoy a four inch height advantage and a fifteen or so pound weight advantage. Russow has strong wrestling, but like most wrestlers is very poor fighting from his back. If Einemo can hold his own boxing long enough to snatch a takedown he can easily win this bout by out-grappling the American. I smell an upset. John-Olav Einemo via Submission in Round Three

Preliminary Card Bout (Fuel TV): Lightweight Bout: Evan Dunham vs. Nik Lentz

Evan “3-D” Dunham is a 30-year-old fighter from Eugene, Oregon who now trains at the Throwdown Training Center and Xtreme Couture Gym in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dunham is a solid striker who throws combinations well but can be somewhat poor defensively. However, when the fight hits the mat is when he excels. He has strong wrestling with good takedowns and is a black belt in BJJ. Dunham is an aggressive fighter who constantly pressures opponents, oftentimes forcing them into mistakes where he can take advantage with power punches or by searching for submissions. Dunham was one of the top prospects of the Lightweight class before a Knockout loss to Melvin Guillard, he will be looking to put the hype train back in full gear with a big win in this bout. He enters the bout with a pro record of 12-2.

Nik “The Carnie” Lentz is actually a late-replacement for Paul Sass, taking this fight on just over a month’s notice. The 27-year-old from El Paso, Texas recently lost one of the most impressive winning streaks in MMA after going 15 fights without a loss, he was recently out-grappled and out-worked by Canadian Mark Bocek at UFC 140. Lentz is a former NCAA Division 1 wrestler from the University of Minnesota. A member of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy, he relies heavily on his wrestling base to win him fights. He often struggles against fighters that he cannot overwhelm with wrestling as he lacks a strong striking game to back up his grappling prowess. Lentz holds a pro record of 21-4-2 with 1 no contest.

Analysis and Prediction: While some people are impressed by Lentz’s long unbeaten streak, I think it had a lot to do with luck and circumstance. He was being completely demolished by Charles Oliveira before an Illegal Knee turned an eventual TKO loss into a No Contest. The biggest factor in this fight is Lentz’s last bout against Mark Bocek. Bocek was able to overpower him with wrestling and superior grappling positioning. Dunham is a better wrestler with just as much positional awareness as Bocek and more aggression. However, Lentz is still incredibly tough to finish having been stopped only twice in his career. As it is, I expect an almost exact replica of the Bocek fight for Lentz but with more damage taken. However, he’ll likely make it to the final bell. Evan Dunham via Unanimous Decision

Main Card Bout (FOX): Middleweight Bout: Demian Maia vs. Chris Weidman

Demian Maia is a 34-year-old fighter from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is among the best pure grapplers in the UFC’s Middleweight division and is adding strong technical boxing to back up his impressive BJJ skills. A 4th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Maia is a former winner of the acclaimed ADCC Submission Fighting World Championships. To improve his striking skills Maia has recently joined the Wand Fight Team. He is a former title challenger for the UFC’s Middleweight title and also has decent Judo skills which he often uses in lieu of straight wrestling takedowns to get the fight to the mat. Maia is an aggressive grappler who is always searching for submission opportunities, but he fares much better when he is in top position as opposed to fighting from his back. Maia owns a career record of 15-3 with 8 wins via Submission.

Chris “The All-American” Weidman is a highly touted prospect from Baldwin, New York. He is a former NCAA Division 1 Wrestler from Hofstra University where he was a two-time Division 1 All-American. Weidman has continued to add to his wrestling base and is rapidly improving his submission grappling skills under the tutelage of coach Matt Serra. Weidman is part of the Serra-Long Fight Team in Long Island, New York. Weidman like his opponent for this bout does not possess great striking skills, however he has been consistently improving his stand up skills as he matures as a fighter. Weidman is a late-replacement for Michael Bisping who received a promotion to the co-main event, Weidman accepted this fight on less than three weeks notice. Currently undefeated as a professional, Weidman owns a record of 7-0 with 5 wins via stoppage in the first round.

Analysis and Prediction: This is a very interesting bout with a lot of angles that could play out. I actually like this bout more than Maia and original opponent Michael Bisping. Let’s breakdown some of the areas of the fight. Strength and athleticism edge has to go to Weidman, although he has gassed in the later rounds of previous fights, while Maia is usually able to go the full three rounds at top speed. The grappling edge is pretty much a toss-up, Maia has better grappling skills, but will spend most of this fight on his back, which is not somewhere that he excels at submission offense. Weidman holds the clear wrestling edge, which will likely be the key path to victory for him. Standing, both have shown raw but improving stand up and have good coaches in their corners, again I’d say this one is a toss up, with Maia having a slight edge.

So where does that take us? Weidman is likely going to shoot for takedowns early and often, and if they get stuffed, he’s likely going to throw a couple of punches and then shoot again and again until he earns a takedown. He’ll need to have improved his cardio, because if he slows down in the third round it’s very likely that Maia will be able to latch onto a limb for a submission. However, it’s more likely that Weidman uses his strong wrestling base to control Maia on the mat and negate his grappling edge. Maia is too smart positionally to be caught in any intricate submissions by Weidman, so the only likely way Weidman wins by Submission is by a guillotine or Rear naked choke. The most likely outcome is that Weidman uses his wrestling to control the bout on the mat, using a lot of ground and pound to wear out Maia en-route to a Unanimous Decision victory

Main Card Bout (FOX): Middleweight Bout: Michael Bisping vs. Chael Sonnen

Michael “The Count” Bisping is an English fighter from Manchester, England. He is a member of the Wolfslair MMA Academy in the UK. Bisping is best known to fans for his brash and cocky attitude and his trash-talking skills, but has legit fighting skills to go along with all his talking. Bisping was the Light heavyweight winner of the third season of The Ultimate Fighter. Bisping lacks strong wrestling skills, however, he has solid takedown defense and strong defensive BJJ, although his main focus is creating sweeps to get back to his feet as opposed to searching for takedowns. His striking is technically sound and although he doesn’t strike with power, he is an expert at using his quick footwork to dart in and out against opponents, landing in combinations and retreating before taking too much damage. Bisping owns a career record of 22-3 with his lone losses coming from the elite fighters of the sport Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson and Rashad Evans.

Chael Sonnen is quite possibly the most hated fighter in the UFC. He will continue his quest for a rematch with Middleweight champion Anderson Silva on network television and if he gets a microphone after this fight, look out, because sparks will surely fly. Sonnen is a 34-year-old fighter from West Linn, Oregon. Sonnen is a former NCAA Division 1 Wrestler from the University of Oregon, and was also a USA Olympic team alternate for Greco-Roman Wrestling. Sonnen is a member of the Portland, Oregon chapter of Team Quest. His striking skills are fairly mediocre, however, his wrestling is top notch. He uses strong wrestling and top control to grind away at and pound away at his opponents. He is best known to casual fans for his bout against Anderson Silva, where he controlled the champion on the mat for nearly five full rounds, before being submitted in the last minute of the fight. Submission defense has always been Sonnen’s Achilles heel, as he has eight career losses by way of Submission. Sonnen enters this fight with a career record of 26-11-1.

Analysis and Prediction: A lot of people seem to be hyping a Michael Bisping upset special, but I think many gamblers are being lured by the long-shot odds currently being offered by bookies to Bisping supporters. Bisping has earned the nickname “Pillowfists” on the internet, and while I don’t necessarily agree with the criticism, it’s hard to argue as Bisping relies on cumulative damage as opposed to one-punch KO’s. Nevertheless, he will still hold the stand up edge against Sonnen whose striking game is fairly rudimentary and used only as a means to close distance and shoot for a takedown.

The question for Bisping will be how good is his takedown defense? How long can he sprawl-and-brawl and keep himself upright before Sonnen drags him to the mat. Everyone knows Sonnen’s game plan, it’s not hard to figure out, the hard thing is stopping his constant takedowns from eventually getting you to your back. Bisping must constantly change angles and stay away from Sonnen if he is going to have any chance at stealing this fight. However, I think the more likely outcome is three rounds of Sonnen takedowns followed by grinding ground and pound all the way to a clear cut devision victory. Sonnen’s submission defense is basically non-existent and there is always the chance that Bisping throws up a hail mary triangle choke from guard, but his grappling is more focussed on getting himself to his feet than searching for submissions from his back, so I think the likelihood of that happening is relatively slim. Chael Sonnen via Unanimous Decision

Main Card Bout (FOX): Light Heavyweight Bout: Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis

“Sugar” Rashad Evans is a 32-year-old fighter from Niagara Falls, New York. Evans was the winner of the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighter 2 and is also a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Evans has a background in wrestling as he was a former NCAA Division 1 Wrestler from Michigan State University. However, Evans has continually improved his overall game and has some extremely slick boxing skills to go along with his excellent wrestling base. Evans is a former Team Jackson fighter who after a public feud with current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion (and current Greg Jackson Fighter) Jon Jones, he left the camp to join the Imperial Athletics Gym in Boca Raton, Florida. Earlier in his career Evans received a reputation as a lay and pray fighter who used wrestling to control his opponents, but could do little else. His knockout victories over Sean Salmon, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell have definitely changed that assumption. He possesses great hand speed and some of the best footwork in the Light Heavyweight division. Evans owns a professional record of 16-1-1.

Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis is a 27-year-old fighter from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Undefeated as a professional, Davis is a former NCAA Division 1 Wrestler from the Penn State University. Now fighting out of San Diego, California he is a member of the Alliance MMA Team where he trains regularly with fights such as Dominick Cruz, Brandon Vera and Alexander Gustafsson. Davis mostly utilizes his wrestling skills to search for takedowns and top control to earn points on the judge’s scorecards. However, he has continued to improve his striking skills and has rapidly improved his submission offense from top control. Davis holds a career record of 9-0.

Analysis and Prediction: This is yet another intriguing bout and is one of the main reasons why I’m looking so forward to this weekends card, (that and the fact that it’s on free TV.) Wrestlers have a constant criticism that follows them wherever they go, that they can’t fight off of their backs and it is almost universally true. The question here will be, which fighter is more likely to impose his game plan on his opponent and actually what will each fighter’s game plan be? Let’s breakdown each fighter’s most likely path to victory.

For Phil Davis to win this fight, he’s going to need to rely on his ground game. Rashad has constantly improved his stand up game and while working with Dominick Cruz and Alexander Gustafsson is sure to have improved Davis’ skills, he’s likely still far behind Evans in terms of striking abilities. However, Evans has never really been put on his back against a strong wrestler and Davis is the superior grappler of the two men, so should the fight hit the mat with him on top it will be interesting to see what he does with it. His long limbs allow him to throw ground and pound, while still being able to control his opponents on the mat, and those limbs also allow him a strong ability to latch onto chokes while on the ground, if he can get Evans to the mat, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him snatch a submission if Evans gets careless. There is also the issue of Evans’ less-than-stellar chin. Rashad has been rocked in fights before, but that was against big name strikers like Thiago Silva, Rampage Jackson and Lyoto Machida, so while it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that Davis rocks Rashad with strikes, it’s more likely that the key to his victory comes on the ground.

Rashad Evans will likely be looking to strike. Once a feared wrestler known for his controlling lay-and-pray style, Evans has tossed that version of himself aside. Now he instead thinks of himself as the second-coming of Muhammed Ali, preferring to stand and trade with nearly all of his opponents. He will likely have the striking advantage and definitely holds the edge in hand and foot speed, so he should be able to outwork Davis in the stand up department. Davis is also a wrestler, which means he would likely fare poorly from his back. Rashad can still control fighters, look at his first two rounds against Rampage for proof, and if he executes a similar game plan against Davis, it’s unlikely that Davis has the grappling skills to catch a submission from the bottom.

Overall I think Evans just has more ways to win. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either fighter walk out of the main event with their hand raised, but Evans has more ways to accomplish that feat. If he can keep the bout standing it’s likely that he will beat Davis to the punch consistently and accumulate damage against his younger foe. On the mat, I’d give the edge to whoever ends up on top. My best guess is that Davis throws a couple of curveballs to Evans along the way, but Evans earns the Unanimous Decision nod after the dust settles. Rashad Evans via Unanimous Decision

Lee McGregor is the owner and editor-in-chief of Source4MMA.com which will be launching in early 2012.

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The Super Bowl opponents are set. The two teams that will face each other for the Lombardi Trophy at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on February 5, 2012 are the New England Patriots, and the New York Giants. It is a rematch of Super Bowl 42 where the Giants defeated the then undefeated Patriots in a monumental upset.

Through the next two weeks, the so called experts will be debating who is going to win. NFL Network will be showing starting this Saturday, all the Super Bowls. Of course, highlights of Super Bowl 42 will be played, particularly that David Tyree (who is out of the league) catch ad nauseum.

I will do a Super Bowl prediction/preview blog later. This blog is going to be about all the odds and ends coming out of the AFC and NFC Championship games that the national media (Fox Sports, ESPN, Profootballtalk) is making a big fuss over. There is a lot of stuff being said, and mountains being made out of molehills, and now a strangle backlash against one of the QB that is going on that I wanted to put my two cents in.

I will start with some of the complaining by the media, specifically Jason Whitlock who wrote in his Foxsports.com column, that the “best teams didn’t win, ” and “flukey plays decided the outcomes.” http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/AFC-Championship-Game-NFC-Championship-Game-were-big-letdowns-012412 Let’s see, being a horse racing fan, I know that anything can happen once those starting gates spring open. Sometimes the favorite doesn’t win. That is true, but I don’t think that happened here.

In the AFC Championship game, it should not have come to Cundiff’s foot. The Ravens scored only 20 points. The Ravens , much like the 2006 Chargers (14-2) , could not take advantage of a sub par performance by Tom Brady (more on that later). If anyone remembers, in the divisional round at San Diego, Brady was having a bad game, and threw 3 or 4 INTs, and the vaunted Chargers with Marty Schottenheimer as head coach still could not beat the Patriots, a lot of it due to gaffs on the part of the Chargers. The Patriots much maligned defense, led by Vince Wilfork (who had a hell of a game) made crucial plays, particularly Sterling Moore who knocked what would have been the winning TD for the Ravens out of Lee Evans’ hands. Had Lee Evans fought off Moore like he should have, there would not have been this so called “fluke play” when Cundiff missed.

It also didn’t help matters when the FG goal team came on the field running around like chickens with their heads chopped off either. The Patriots’ defense and Special Teams lifting up the offense, and doing what many in the national media saying they couldn’t do is not something I would call a fluke. Patriots were 13-3 and the vaunted Ravens were 12-4. By record, the Patriots were the better team, and they were the better team on that field. The Ravens didn’t deserve to win if they couldn’t outscore a Patriots team with their QB playing a subpar game.

Now with the NFC Championship game, I admit the 49ers were the better team as far as records go with them being 13-3 and the New York Giants being 9-7. However, let’s get real here. Look at the head coach/QB combinations of both teams. It is hardly a contest which team had the better combination. Yes, Alex Smith beat the vaunted Saints. However, all those Saints do defensively is blitz, blitz, and blitz some more. Hardly a great defense. I mean, the Saints’ defensive coordinator at that point, Gregg Williams is no Dick LeBeau by any means. The Giants bring pressure by rushing four guys. Their secondary can be suspect, I admit, but it wasn’t as if the 49ers were playing against some talentless team or something.

Eli Manning did get hit, and knocked down, and all that. Eli could have been picked off a couple of times. That is true.. However, what happened to Alex Smith in the game. There were plays to be made. WR Michael Crabtree pretty much disappeared in the game. What about the lack of third down conversions by the 49ers in the second half? That could not have been a fluke. Yeah, I know about the ref’s call on the forward progress concerning Ahmad Bradshaw, and how some thought it should have been called a fumble. Well, I have yet to read anything from the NFL saying the ref blew the call. As for the two screw ups on special teams by Kyle Williams, well, he took responsibility, and it is hardly his fault that Ted Ginn, the regular punt/kick returner got hurt and could not play in the game. It was unfortunate that during overtime, he got the ball, and got the ball stripped from him. The Giants made the play.

What I am annoyed about is reading columns like Whitlock, and hearing some of the so called experts like Skip Bayless, and Mike and Mike ,etc act like total crybabies.. In my opinion, it seems to me that the media, especially ESPN has some sort of agenda. Mind you, I don’t see this a lot on NFL Network, but there are a couple of them that do this also (Sapp, Deion Sanders, Mike Irvin) If the teams that they are marking out for don’t win, they do one of two things: They make up excuses for why the team/athlete loss, or they will disparage the team/athlete that beat their team. If you don’t believe me, take a listen or watch some of their shows some time. Both Giants and Patriots are being treated as if somehow they got to the Super Bowl by fluke plays or by underhanded means. I say this because I think the national sports media so wanted that “Harbaugh Bowl.” Well, I want to hear about the players, and I don’t want to hear about the coaches for two weeks, and I don’t want to fall asleep during the Super Bowl waiting for someone to score. That is just my opinion.

Now, to discuss some of the other nonsense that I have been reading about. Fans have to put things into perspective. In the long run, it is only a game. No one is going to die because your team lost a big game. There is always next year. However, you always have those numbskulls that take sports way too far. They are in every fanbase, be it the NFL, MLB, WWE, whatever. After the NFC Championship games via his twitter account, Kyle Williams received tweets of support, but also death threats. Fans sending death threats to an athlete are just disgusting lowlifes. They are just idiots. I mean, what kind of person sends a death threat over a game? Williams likely felt terrible as it was (even though they lost as a team), but he didn’t need to see that on his twitter page. Fans then wonder why athletes, celebrities, wrestlers, etc don’t want to stop and sign autographs, or carry bodyguards with them to keep fans away.

A story that has been given unnecessary legs is this wild and false accusation by the Ravens kicking consultant that the Patriots somehow manipulated the scoreboard to reflect that it was 3rd down, instead of 4th down when Billy Cundiff came out for that infamous field goal attempt at the end of the game. Coach John Harbaugh finally put the issue the rest (at least I hope so) when he said it was “nonsense.” http://www.nola.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/ravens-coach-harbaugh-denies-team-was-confused-in-afc-title-game/37947bc359da31129c66a800a9ef00b1 He also denied the team was confused when they went out to try the field goal which would have tied the game. According to the article, it was not uncommon for that scoreboard to be a little behind the action on the field, and BOTH TEAMS knew what down and distance it was.

The only reason this non story was a story was because of the scandal four years ago, and it involved the Patriots. Had the Ravens made this accusation against any other of their AFC rivals (Steelers, Colts, Bengals, Texans, Broncos, etc), they would have been laughed at, but since it is the Patriots, the media made a huge mountain out of a molehill. I mean, seriously, and I meant to make this point earlier, the Ravens knew the deal. They should have taken a time out if they felt something was not right. Ravens have no one to blame but themselves.

The last issue I want to address is the discussion of the two quarterbacks in the Super Bowl. I’ll start with Eli Manning. ESPN in particular is something else. The “experts” have very weird criteria for deciding who is an “elite” QB and who is not, especially when it comes to Eli Manning. One mistake, in my opinion, they keep making is that they constantly compare him to his older brother Peyton. Why is this necessary? Peyton has been in the NFL longer. Peyton is more experienced, and has played with different players. Peyton plays (at least for now) on a dome team. Eli is on a team that plays outside with swirling winds, and in the cold. I really think it is unfair to compare the two. Eli Manning should be judged on his OWN MERIT.. In other words, he should be judged on his own body of work.

Doug Stewart of the “Two Live Stews” who appear on ESPN’s “First Take” said some of the most ridiculous things about Eli Manning this past week. He said Eli was not elite because of his demeanor. I have heard that from other “experts.” What does that have to do with anything? So Eli doesn’t jump in his offensive lineman’s arms after a first down like Brett Farve did, or does that “belt” taunt like Aaron Rodgers does. And? So he is more quiet on the field.

I never thought you had to be so over the top to be considered “elite.” I also heard that Eli isn’t a winner. Eli has 15 fourth quarter comebacks which is more than anyone. He has beaten Brady, Big Ben, Rodgers, Romo, and other very good (Romo) to elite (the rest I listed) head to head. He has lead the Giants to two Super Bowls in four years. I know people knock him for having a high INT number in some of his years, but so has Big Ben (2006). No matter the outcome of Super Bowl 46, Eli Manning is elite.. He is playing the best football of his career at this point.

Now, I will address the Tom Brady backlash. Yeah, I said it. It goes back to that “agenda” bit I was talking about earlier. All season long, the national media, namely ESPN, has gone nuts over Aaron Rodgers, calling him the greatest of all time (NOT), and later in the season , embraced Tebowmania, and then when Drew Brees was close to breaking Dan Marino’s record for most passing yards in a season, all you heard was Brees and Rodgers. In the meantime, Brady was having yet another great season. However, since Rodgers and Brees aren’t in the Super Bowl this year because their respective teams got their ass handed to them in the playoffs, I guess ESPN has to create some sort of a storyline , so they decide to try to tear down Brady who only threw a little over 5200 yards, and had 39 TDs and 12 INTs.

I mean, ESPN was going nuts about Brady’s subpar game in the AFC Championship game against the Ravens. Heck, even Tom admitted he “sucked.” However, people can bring up the stats, and all of that. Sure, numbers don’t lie, but stats don’t tell the whole story. Tom played well. People who are going nuts over the performance, especially over at the World Wide Leader (especially people who have played the game and should know better) should realize that the Patriots were playing the Ravens defense, one of the top defenses in the NFL. Tom put the ball where his guy could get it. This is playoff football which is way different than regular season. I don’t know if ESPN got that message or not.

On ESPN’s First Take, they were going to debate whether Tom Brady is overrated. Seriously? Tom Brady is on the precipice of breaking Joe Montana’s playoff wins record, and Skip Bayless and the gang are thinking that Brady might be overrated? Seriously? I know there is a lot of Brady hate, but that is just plain stupid.

It also seems to me that ESPN and even some people on NFLN (cough *Warren Sapp* cough) can’t seem to believe that despite their 13-3 record during the regular season, the Patriots made the Super Bowl. They can’t believe their media darlings, the Ravens, or the Broncos didn’t make it. Every week, especially during the latter part of the season, and into the playoffs, the Patriots were supposed to lose to some team every week. They were supposed to lose to the Dolphins because the Dolphins were on a roll. Patriots won. They were supposed to lose to the Bills because the Bills won (talk about a fluke) earlier, and Brady had a banged up left shoulder. Patriots won, and Tom did a great job. Patriots were then expected to be bowled over by Tim Tebow who the media labeled as God in a David vs Goliath type of game. Patriots annihilated the Broncos. ESPN said the Patriots will be beaten by the “best team in the AFC,” the vaunted Baltimore Ravens. Patriots beat them and are on to the Super Bowl to face the Giants. I guess ESPN is not as smart as they thought they were.

Hope you enjoyed the blog.

Terri Bey currently blogs for CamelClutchBlog.com about Wrestling, NFL, and other sports/pop culture related subjects. Her work has appeared in BleacherReport and for F4WOnline.com. Terri can be found here at Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/TerriBey and at Twitter- http://www.twitter.com/missedgehead

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There is a revolution going on right now in the NFL and it will affect your fantasy football draft. The tight end position has been redefined and if you are planning on waiting until the later rounds to draft your tight end, you will be left in the dust.

It is one thing for one team to take a position or formation and surprise opponents with a new wrinkle or two in the playbook. Some savvy fantasy players will see through the smoke screen and recognize it for the fad that it is. Others will jump all over it in next year’s draft only to realize that defenses have adjusted and defenses have solved last year’s puzzle. In my opinion, the evolution of the tight end in 2011 is no fad and can’t be ignored in next season’s draft.

I have been playing fantasy football for six years, (a rookie in some veteran’s eyes) and it has become something of a sick obsession. I start preparing for next year’s draft the day after the season ends, sometimes even in mid-season. So it should be of no surprise to you that I have been preparing next season’s draft for two weeks and one position that I keep wrestling with is tight end.

I played in three leagues last season, went to the championship game in all three, and won two of the Super Bowls. As excited as I was to win, it quickly dawned on me that I will be drafting last next season in two of those leagues, second to last in another. That is certainly not an advantageous season to say the least.

So I started mapping out my drafts and I immediately recognized a familiar dilemma, the tight end. Anytime I have taken a tight end I have been burnt. This year I targeted and drafted Jimmy Graham in the tenth round. In another league I took Jason Witten in the fifth, while taking Antonio Gates in the fourth in another. I wound up grabbing Rob Gronkowski off of waivers in the league in which I owned Gates. Witten finished 4th among TEs in my PPR league which sounds great, but the difference between #4 and #1was 181 points while the difference between the #4 TE and the #10 TE was less than 60 points. In other words, the #4 TE may as well have been the #10 as far as I am concerned.

That is why the 2012 fantasy football draft is critical when it comes to choosing the right tight end. I think you will see less of a drop off with TEs like Jimmy Graham and Gronk than you normally would when you have a QB, RB, or WR break out. Teams just can’t all of the sudden start stopping these big war machines. I think it will be more of a “can’t beat them join them” situation with teams drafting big, athletic tight ends to play a significant part of the offense as opposed to teams drafting defensive players to stop them. Those kinds of defensive players just don’t exist!

This puts the tight end position at a premium. Take a look at the numbers I ran out earlier on the #4 and #1 TE. You can take the #4 WR or #4 RB and have a shot at putting up competitive numbers with the top players in those positions. The difference in 100 points is much different in the tight end position. Taking the #4 TE early is a waste of time, but taking #1-3 is critical to success. To know that you will have a position practically guaranteed to outscore every other team makes you almost unbeatable.

Counting on those double digits from the TE helped me beat teams that had Aaron Rodgers, Ray Rice, or Calvin Johnson go off. Say your opponent has a RB or WR that just goes off against you. Unless they have a top tight end, you can make up those points with the TE. That is why I would recommend taking the right tight end as early as the second round.

A tight end in the second round sounds outrageous, but the numbers make sense. Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham are young, big, and have developed a comfort with their Pro Bowl quarterbacks. That is huge! The head coaches are the same but for Gronkowski there is a red flag. The Patriots will have a new offensive coordinator. Fantasy players are all too familiar with the difference a year can make for a stud that goes from hero to zero in a new offense. Would I take Gronk in the second round? I probably wouldn’t for that reason. Would I take Jimmy Graham in the second round? In a heartbeat!

Unfortunately after Jimmy Graham and Gronk, you are playing a guessing game from there. The prospects are there like Jared Cook and Lance Kendricks, but there are way too many question marks around either to take them early. Cook could have a new QB while Kendricks will playing in Jeff Fisher’s running back heavy offense. However, there are two rookie tight ends that I would put on your radar screen before I take them. Rookies Dwayne Allen and Coby Fleener could be next season’s Gronk and Graham.

The reason I’d look to take the rookies over the returning tight ends is simple. Teams taking those guys will be looking to repeat the same success that the Patriots and Saints had with their tight ends. Nobody is taking these guys to be blockers. Allen has the potential to be an absolute beast in the right offense while Fleener is not as much of a lock, but also has big potential at 6’6 248. Josh Chichester at 6’8 240 could be a dark horse as well if you are looking for a late reach in your draft.

The point of this mindless rambling about tight ends is that the game has changed. Fantasy football has changed and your draft strategy will change. You can do fine grabbing your wide receiver or running backs later in the draft (Marshawn Lynch, Fred Jackson, Steve Smith & A.J. Green) or even off of waivers (CJ Spiller, Antonio Brown, DeMarco Murray) but you will have to be reach to lock up a solid tight end.

Is it worth it? I think so. Having the top tight end will make a difference and have the championships in 2011 to prove it.

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I’ll preface this post with a full disclosure that I am about as diehard a Yankee fan as there is. I live and die by this team, so yes, I may be a bit biased over the course of this entry. Sue me. I’ll show up to court with my Yankee tie on.

On January 24th, a storied career finally came to a close. Jorge Posada is finally stepping away from the game he loves after 17 seasons at the ripe old age of 39. For Yankee fans, he joins a list of catchers rich in history. Names such as Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey, Thurman Munson, and Elston Howard come to the forefront of any baseball historian’s mind when it comes to great Yankee catchers. You can easily rank Jorge Posada among them.

While Jorge may not sport the number of All Star Appearances that Yogi Berra or Bill Dickey did, and he certainly didn’t win Yogi’s 3 MVP awards, and definitely didn’t have Dickeys lifetime .313 BA, Jorge brought one of those famed “intangibles” that Yankee fans love to use when defending a player. It’s hard to argue for an intangible, as there is no real clear cut way to explain what your eyes see and your brain appreciates. You just watch him take a field and you knew there was no one on that field more proud to wear the pinstripes with the interlocking NY. Now, I know that’s certainly good enough to get a bronze statue in monument park, and your number retired by your team, but it just isn’t good enough to get you into the Hall of Fame.

So let’s talk numbers. Jorge had a lifetime batting average of .273, with an OBP 100 points higher at .374. In comparison, Yogi Berra batted .285 lifetime, with an OBP of .348. Jorge was also a much more patient hitter, which sometimes came to haunt him, as he had a significant number of strikeouts, but he notched 230 more walks than Yogi did. And 260 more than Bill Dickey. He also had 73 more homeruns than Bill Dickey. In fact, short of the difference in batting average, Jorge has very similar numbers to Bill Dickey in 8 offensive categories. He also walked away as a slightly better fielder than Yogi, with a higher fielding percentage, less errors, and more putouts.

Sabermatricians rejoice, as I know you’re pulling out your hair at the mention of these categories. I’ll throw a bone your way too. Jorge’s Range Factor per 9 is much higher than Yogi’s (compare Jorge’s 7.49 to Yogi’s 5.56). While the numbers are much higher overall at the catcher’s position in the present day, it’s hard to argue that a stat is meaningless while at the same time comparing a player to Hall of Famers who played in different eras. You can’t have it both way, gents.

Getting away from actual stats, as those can get boring very quickly, I present another argument. Jorge Posada should have been an MVP winner in 2003, if not for Alex Rodriguez and his season of steroids. Okay, maybe Carlos Delgado would have won, but Jorge was not far behind Delgado in the voting, and both men shared the same number of first place votes. I contend that if A-Rod wasn’t cheating to be the MVP, Posada would have won that MVP in 2003, and we would have a significantly different argument about the guy. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and this is the closest Jorge ever came to the MVP trophy. However, this is as close as Bill Dickey ever came, as he never won the trophy either. Yogi won three, but it’s hard not to win the MVP at least once when your team is winning 10 World Series rings, and you go to the All Star Game every year you played as a starter.

Jorge has an award that neither Bill Dickey nor Yogi Berra ever won, and that is the Silver Slugger. Granted, the Silver Slugger only started to be awarded in 1980, you can’t fault someone for being a victim of when they were born. An award is an award, and Jorge won five of them. The only two players to win more in the American League were Ivan Rodriguez and Lance Parish. Also, Jorge has something that of the Yankee catcher Hall of Famers, only Yogi has under his belt: A victory in a perfect game. Not many other players have the honor to call a perfect game, and even fewer have actually been elected to the Hall of Fame after catching one. Currently, only 2 catchers have been elected. A few others are still active. Of them, only Ivan Rodriguez is the only surefire Hall of Famer.

An interesting stat I heard from the MLB network relates to that power of Jorge’s. During his time as an active catcher, from 1998 to 2010, no player hit more than 240 homeruns. This is 11 more than Mike Piazza’s 229 and 24 more than Ivan Rodriguez’s 216. I think this stat alone supports my theory that Jorge deserves his mantle on the wall in Cooperstown, as those are two of the best power hitting catchers of all time.

Sadly, this is where I digress, as I know what will happen with Jorge’s ballot. It will become a replica of Elston Howard, who happens to have many similar numbers to Jorge Posada in both offense and defensive categories. Howard, the first African-American to play for the Yankees is a two time Gold Glove winner, and a recipient of the MVP award. He took over for Yogi after his retirement, and won himself four World Series rings. He never made it to the Hall of Fame. He was an above average fielder, just like Jorge, but his numbers weren’t quite there. It looks a lot like Jorge’s line, to be honest, with the exception of a few stats. Jorge had over 110 more homeruns, 200 more hits, 100 more doubles, 300 more RBIs, and his OBP was 50 points higher than Elston’s. One could use these stats as an argument had Elston been elected, but he never was.

Had it been a list of the best Yankee catchers of all time, of course Jorge would be ranked above Elston Howard. As much as it pains me to do it, I’d probably rank him above Thurman Munson too, but that is only because Jorge played longer, and had a couple of more World Series rings than Thurman did. However, Jorge played the same game, with the same intensity. Jorge lived and died by the pinstripes the same way I, as a fan, do so from April-late October every year. It’s hard as a fan to not like that. It’s almost the same reason why Yankee fans don’t like A-Rod. He just doesn’t bring that intensity that a guy like Jorge does. I want my players to be angry after a game. I want them to feel like they let down the entire city of New York, because the next time they take the field, they’re going to tear the cover off of the ball. Jorge, for 17 seasons, was that guy.

I’ll never forget when the Yankees were suffering a tremendous loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in early 2009, and Girardi didn’t want to waste a pitcher, so he put Nick Swisher on the mound. Swisher recorded a strike out, laughed on the mound, and rolled the ball to the dugout for his trophy case. The team found humor in the embarrassing situation, as Swisher could then retire with a 0.00 ERA. Everyone except Jorge Posada. When asked after the game about it, Posada wasn’t so amused. “Nobody was laughing,” Posada said. “I think today was embarrassing, and it’s just one of those days that everything went for them and nothing went for us. We didn’t pitch, we didn’t do the things we were supposed to do.”

In a nut shell, that was Jorge Posada, in the middle of a World Series winning season. There was no humor about the game. He brought 100% of himself to every game he played. While some people may harp on when he “quit the team,” against the Red Sox in the middle of the 2011 season, I took a step back after my initial angry outburst. I thought about it, and remembered that this is the same player for the 16 previous seasons who brought a fire to the field every time he crouched behind the plate. I can’t honestly sit back and get angry at him for being insulted the way he was for being put in the 9th spot. Maybe it was what Jorge needed, as seemingly, it turned his final season around.

Oddly enough, it was Jorge who clinched the Yankees AL East title in 2011. It was a season of accomplishments, from Jeter’s 3000th hit, to Mariano Rivera’s 602nd save. It was very appropriate that Jorge Posada got an achievement of his own. One that stood for everything he stood for. He launched the team into the playoffs. Pinch hitting for a hot-hitting Jesus Montero, Jorge drove a single into right field, scoring two runs, and sending the Yankees to the playoffs.

I realize that this is supposed to be about the career of the man, and why he should be in the Hall of Fame, but I firmly believe that clinching game is a microcosm of Jorge the player. He didn’t have to hit a home run with the bases loaded and two outs in the 8th. He just had to make contact, and score a run to take the lead. He gave the Yankees two. He was always giving a bit more than they asked, but never hogged the spotlight or the glory. If the team was winning, he was winning. The epitome of a team player is Jorge Posada.

While I personally gave Posada a lot of grief for not being a clutch player, he was also the man who caught Jeter’s famous “Flip Play” in Oakland in the 2001 ALDS. He sent Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS into extra innings with his double in the bottom of the 9th. While the Yankees have found a suitable replacement behind the plate in the form of Russel Martin, I just feel as though the Yankees are missing that extra bit of intensity that Jorge brought to the table. Not to knock Martin, as he had a fantastic first year for the Yankees, but there is no player quite like Posada.

We watched him grow up and mature as a player, and become a leader of the Yankees. He became a general on the field and did everything a fan could ever wish for in their player. Posada deserves to have his name added to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York when his balloting begins in five years. While I am fairly sure the Baseball Writers do not agree with me, and won’t vote Jorge in, I hold out hope that they will let go of this gate keeper mentality, where some vote “No” on the first ballot, just because. Jorge’s numbers are right there with other Hall of Fame catchers.

It’s time for him to get his fair shake, and his own individual accomplishment that every player dreams about. In five years, I hope to be in Cooperstown with other Yankee fans on the grass chanting “Hip-Hip-Jorge” one final time. I just wish the Writers would see it my way for once. But this would mean Mattingly and Munson would be in too. But that’s an argument for another day.

Erik Espenberg is a native New Yorker who is an avid fan of the Yankees, Rangers, and Jets. When not writing for Camel Clutch, he can be found killing his brain cells playing assorted video games. He can be contacted at camelclutcherik@gmail.com.

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I have been critical at times at Bobby Lashley’s choice of opponent but his next one offers no room for criticism. Lashley is reportedly in talks to fight Fedor Emelianenko on an M-1 Global event. This would undoubtedly be the biggest test for the former WWE star gone MMA fighter yet.

Fighters Only Magazine broke the news with quotes from Lashley. According to the article, M-1 are currently in talks with several potential opponents for Fedor’s next fight. However, it is the name of the former WrestleMania star that has people talking.

Lashley left the WWE and entered the MMA business a few years back. Since making his fight debut in 2008, Lashley has gone 8-1. While the record may seem impressive, Lashley has been criticiszed for taking easy opponents (on paper anyway) and not evolving his fight game. Lashley is coming off a first round submission over Karl Knothe which wrangled him Shark Fights heavyweight championship.

Lashley is no fool and is fully aware of the leap he will be taking from fighting Knothe to Fedor. Lashley thinks his amateur wrestling background and skills give him the edge over the Last Emperor.

“I think that my wrestling would trump some of the things that he has. I know he’s a great fighter, but if I fought him then of course I’m going to try and wrestle him down… If it was Dave [Bautista], I’m standing and banging with him. I’ve been doing a lot of boxing.”

Lashley also understands that the time is now to start testing himself against better opponents and squash any criticism that speculates Lashley isn’t taking his MMA career seriously.

“I wanna fight the best, so if I have an opportunity to fight Fedor, let’s do it. If I have an opportunity to fight anyone right now let’s just damn do it.”

Lashley would certainly not be an easy mark for Fedor. Fedor would be coming into the fight on his first two-win fight strike since 2009. Fedor made easy work of Satoshi Ishii via KO back on New Year’s Eve. However, his previous win over Jeff Monson was what I would describe as alarming. Fedor dominated Monson for 3 full rounds but could not put him away, thus going to a decision. The old Fedor would have clocked Monson but the older Fedor looks like he may have lost some of that finishing power.

I look at Lashley as a younger, faster, stronger, inexperienced Monson. Lashley could take this thing if he can ground and pound Fedor in the first round. Unfortunately Lashley’s biggest issue here would be his conditioning. Lashley is a fast starter but is often exhausted by the end of the fight. Someone like Fedor is smart enough to know this and could pick him apart if the fight went past the first round. However, surviving an early-fight onslaught by Lashley may be easier said than done at this stageof the game for Fedor.

Lashley and his team are in the initial stages of talks. He will be a huge underdog going into the fight if it happens but he may just be one of those underdogs worth putitng a couple of bucks on if I were a betting man….which I am not.

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Gamers and UFC fans are getting pumped for Valentine’s Day and it isn’t for the chocolates or roses. UFC Undisputed 3 will be released on that day and a sneak peek at the video game shows big improvement for the MMA franchise.

THQ have released several videos promoting the big day but one in particular has caught my attention. UFC Undisputed 3, “Inside the Octagon” is generating some great buzz for the game. The video points to several improvemets in the franchise with some great in-game action to boot.

The biggest improvement according to the video will come in the Career Mode. Personally, I found the first UFC Undisputed Career Mode a lot more fun than the last one. While THQ certainly achieved their goal in making it more robust, it became a little too robust at times. The new mode promises a more fun experience, allowing the gamer to zoom through the mode at a much faster speed.

One of my biggest pet peeves with the UFC Undisputed games is the inability to move guys into different weight classes. It is a bit of a bummer that you can’t throw Jon Jones into the heavyweight class or move Anderson Silva down to welterweight. Heck, I’d even settle for catch weight fights. UFC Undisputed 3 has solved this and I for one, am really excited.

According the video and several press releases, gamers can take any UFC fighter on the roster and develop their career in another weight class. The downside is that you have to start from scratch, so it isn’t as if you can move GSP up into the middleweight division and fight him competitively with Anderson Silva. However, if you are willing to put the time in, you can get that Dream Fight between Silva vs. GSP after developing GSP’s career as a middleweight. I love it!

The video also goes into great detail about the Pride mode and the difference between the audio in the Pride mode as opposed to the UFC mode. Bas Rutten and Stephen Quadros provide all new commentary for the Pride mode. What I love about this is that THQ have kept Rutten and Quadros as close to their oldselves as possible. Their style of commentary is different than the more talkative Mike Goldbery and Joe Rogan and this is relfected in the commentary. Great job!

These are just a few of the improvements and changes coming to the game. Reportedly, the control scheme will be less complicated. This will allow new gamers to jump right into the action as opposed to sitting through endless tutorials which could delay a casual fan the ability to jump right into the game. For hardcore gamers, your more advanced controls will reportedly be there.

THQ and the UFC are giving away Alistair Overeem as a free DLC prior to the game’s release. All you have to do is like their Facebook page and you will receive a code with download instructions once the game is released. There were some serious issues two years ago with redeeming codes on opening day, so hopefully THQ and the UFC will fix those bugs prior to the release. Regardless, free is free so if I have to wait a day or two to grab Overeem, I’ll happily wait.

UFC Undisputed 3 will be released February 14, 2012.

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Donovan McNabb in a recent interview claims that not only should the Chicago Bears have signed him, but they would have won with him. A pretty bold statement coming from a guy that has been exiled by three teams in two years coming off of a 1-5 record as a starter.

As a Philadelphia Eagles fan I welcome the continued delusional ranting of Donovan McNabb. For years, Philadelphia fans were told how unappreciative we were to have such a great team player lead our football team. In the last two years McNabb has done a fantastic job of exposing himself to the national media and audience as one of the biggest frauds in recent memory.

What always bugged me is how the national media always had his back. No matter how bad of a game he played or how dumb of a thing he said in Philadelphia, Donovan was always the good guy. It was always about how lucky the Eagles were to have Donovan, rather than calling McNabb on his failures as a team leader. Luckily for us Philly fans all too familiar with the real #5, he has gone to two different teams, thrown numerous players and coaches under the bus, and has done a tremendous job of giving disgruntled Eagles fans a little bit of vindication.

McNabb’s latest moment of brilliance came last week in a radio interview. McNabb told ESPN 1000 in Chicago, “I thought the Bears would call, so many people continuously talked about the Mike Martz offense and things of that nature. I personally didn’t care about that. If you want to win and win now, you go out and get a better quarterback and you cater your offense to his strengths, and obviously the strengths of your team. Obviously it didn’t work out well for them. It’s unfortunate. I wish things would have worked out, but it didn’t. We will see what happens from now on.“

Wow! I don’t think it gets any more classless than an NFL quarterback coming out in the media and throwing another starting NFL QB (& an entire team) under the bus. Have you ever noticed that when former NFL head coaches are asked about potential jobs that they never comment on a job that isn’t open? That is because the classy thing to do is not to throw anyone under the bus (although Jimmy Johnson’s sneaky pandering for the Miami Dolphins job when Don Shula was still there may be the exception) who is already in place in coach. It is classless, it is tasteless, and it says a lot about your character. For Donovan McNabb, none of that matters.

The irony here is that this is coming from a guy that has been shipped out of three teams in two years! This is coming from a guy that is 6-13 in his two seasons, 1-5 this season. This is a guy that is having a hard time living outside of the protective Philadelphia Eagles bubble. Donovan McNabb is a man that can’t take criticism and has made every excuse in the book for his last two seasons except taking any personal responsibility for his failures. Only a self-absorbed egomaniac would have the gall to tell someone in the media that he after a 1-5 record could have taken another NFL team into the postseason.

Newsflash! You had your shot the last two seasons and you didn’t even finish the season as a starter. And now you think you can come in with a handful of games to go and play better than the team’s current starting QB? Talk about a man that is living in another world.

I said it once and I said it again. This is a man that quit on his football team this season. He was demoted after six games to being a backup in Minnesota. Rumor has it that when the team wanted to demote him to third behind Joe Webb, he asked for his release. Now why would a team suddenly wish to promote Joe Webb ahead of McNabb? That is easy to figure out and instead of looking into the mirror, McNabb quit on the team. There is your team player.

I feel like a broken record when it comes to McNabb but people need to be reminded about what a cancer this guy has become in the last few years to his teams. In Philadelphia he blamed the youth of the team after getting blown out in Dallas. He blamed the defense for losing the NFL championship game in Arizona. In Washington he and his agent waged a public relations war with the coaching staff in mid-season. In Minnesota he quit on his team. The night after he was released from the Vikings he went on ESPN radio and told the host that in order to turn his play around that he needed better players, throwing his entire Minnesota offense under the bus. So according to McNabb, he would have been played better handing the ball off to Marion Barber and throwing to Roy Williams than playing in an offense with arguably the best running back in the NFL and one of the most explosive weapons at wide receiver currently in the game. For God’s sakes he was playing Adrian freaking Peterson! Does that make any sense to you?

Well it didn’t make any sense to the Chicago Bears or 30 other teams that had the opportunity to pick McNabb up after he was released. It was both funny and sad that you had McNabb telling Kurt Warner on the NFL Network that he expected 31 teams to call and in the end, he stayed at home. This is a man that is living in another universe! Shockingly not one NFL team felt that the great team leader would be an asset to their team. Shocking!

Thanks to my blogging I have gotten to know some NFL insiders over the last couple of years. The buzz is that McNabb has been lazy and uninspired in the last three years. According to many sources he was out of shape and did his best to stay that way. Remember when Mike Shanahan pulled him in overtime last year because Mike Shanahan said McNabb was not in good enough shape to run a two-minute drill? This is nothing new, yet Shanahan was the first coach that McNabb had to call him out on it. Remember when word broke from Washington that McNabb still had not learned the team’s playbook?

“The reason why Donovan McNabb is not in Washington right now is because he was lazy,” reported a former NFL player. “He didn’t spend the time. Mike Shanahan likes guys who will work really hard. I narrow it down to two things. He’s either lazy, or he’s not very bright to pick up the offense. One or the other. I think he’s bright enough, I just think he was lazy.”

There were similar reports in Minnesota that he didn’t know the playbook and was late for practices (which he disputes of course). The man was spotted after all hanging out a Lingerie Football League game prior to his last start with the Vikings. Is that how you prep for a start when you are struggling to learn the offense? Do you see a trend here? This is not just some random story that popped up online from an unnamed blogger. This is a man with a history of being lazy and selfish.

Keep talking Donovan. You have lost the respect of a lot of fans, media, and former teammates in recent years (Anyone read what DeSean Jackson has had to say about his former QB? He only called him out on national television). Now he may have gone a step too far and lost the respect of your NFL peers. Good luck to any NFL team willing to take a shot on this guy next season. My hunch is that he will be doing more with his Communications degree than his NFL acumen from here on out.

But hey, at least Kurt Warner still has your back.

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The up and down roller coaster of the Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz fight finally has a big up. It appears that UFC fans may get their Super Fight sooner than expected as the UFC president reports that GSP is ahead of schedule in his recovery.

UFC fans were dealt some crushing news a few weeks back when it was not only announced that Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre pulled out of his UFC 143 fight against Nick Diaz, but that the champion would be out until at least 10 months due to injury. The GSP camp has been pretty quiet about his recovery yet Dana White revealed some interesting news on the UFC on FX post-game show.

White talked to the great MMA reporter Ariel Helwani about a number of topics, but it was the bombshell that he dropped on Georges St-Pierre that has everyone talking.

“GSP’s rehab could not be going better,” White said. “Tonight during the fight he was texting me pictures of him kicking, doing everything… I think he’s going to be back sooner than doctors anticipated.”

“He says, ‘I am praying every night when I go to bed that Nick Diaz wins this fight.’ I have never seen Georges St-Pierre hate somebody. He hates Nick Diaz. I’ve never seen him hate somebody. I’ve never seen him so motivated to fight somebody and to beat somebody like Nick Diaz.”

Ariel asks him flat out if he thinks GSP will be back by the summertime and White responds without hesitation, “yes.”

That is huge news! A few weeks ago it was expected that GSP would not be back to fight until October. Now the president is predicting that St-Pierre will be back in the summer, three-four months ahead of schedule. That changes everything as far as I am concerned and gives fans a little bit of hope in seeing what has been one of the most jinxed fights in UFC history.

If St-Pierre comes back in the summer, I still think that the Carlos Condit vs. Nick Diaz would have to fight one more time before fighting GSP. That could be tricky. I could see Condit holding out until the summer but for someone like Diaz, that is asking a lot. Diaz prefers to fight every 3-4 months, so trying to reason with someone like Diaz to stay put for five months could be tough.

There is also the UFC schedule and they are already thin on main-events. Is it in the UFC’s best interests to risk a GSP vs. Diaz or Condit fight? The company already had to postpone a scheduled 2012 pay per view because they didn’t have any quality fights to headline. Could the company fill its schedule without using the Diaz vs. Condit winner until the summer? The reward is certainly more appealing if it is Diaz that wins, but the business may dictate differently.

Regardless, I don’t think anyone will be pulling for Carlos Condit in a few weeks. No disrespect to Condit, but GSP vs. Diaz is shaping up to the grudge fight of the year and knowing that the fight could come sooner than expected only adds to the excitement.

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