LOL, ok the video is crystal-clear. DC was pushing the towel, no doubt about it. He cleverly set it up on the 2nd attempt by coming out with his own towel as they carried in the UFC towel, held it in front of him, so in the audience's mind its established that its not weird for him to hold something (but of course its weird, he doesn't want clothes on, so why the hell would he hold a towel?), then while holding his towel he grabs the UFC towel and you can see him looking down at the scale pushing, letting off, then pushing again as if he was adjusting to get right on 205. (weighing in at 204.5 would be too suspicious, even though losing 1.2 pounds in a couple minutes is already a red flag)

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DC doesn't seem like the confident guy we're used to seeing. I wouldn't be shocked if he lost tomorrow.

The line moved a lot after weigh-in, with many books taking the fight off the board for a while.

Last I checked Cormier was even and Rumble was a -130 small favorite.

All right, fine. I'm a fan now. I won't be mad to see Cynthia Calvillo on a PPV again.

So Anthony Johnson is retiring.

That was the weirdest PPV I've ever seen. Co-main was a total cluster****. People are blaming the ref, but honestly the doctors screwed him, it definitely looked like a foul at full speed and the ref was going to restart it.

Before the last fight, Dana was probably hoping Rumble would win. Now he's probably thinking "oh thank God DC won, at least we still have another big fight to sell"

That Weidman/Mousassi thing was bizarre. I don't get why the doctor stopped it. OTOH if Weidman hadn't tried to milk it, the fight would have continued. He was winning too. I was way wrong about DC, Rumble seemed to just not give a ****, why the hell was he pushing the grappling?

He simply threw the fight. The dude knew he was going to retire and didn't want to get into a brawl so he turned it into a wresting match.

The UFC post-fight press conference is a must-watch, compelling beginning to end. Lots of honesty and candid talk, Dana White was steller and ansered a ton of questions, Mousasi's interview was awesome, Rumble and DC both gave great interviews.

Dana White also made it clear that the UFC is going to give Cynthia Calvillo a lot of push, and it makes sense. They tried it with PVZ and its not working out. She's a pretty girl, but she's just OK as a fighter. By contrast, Cynthia has a fantastic jiu-jitsu ground game and is an aggressive pressuring brawler on the feet, so hard-core MMA fans are on board. She's not a model so someone in the UFC probably told her to try to be like some kind of a female Diaz brother and she's playing that angle up.

Its a very complicated, unfortunate situation, there is a lot of understanding and blame on all parties (except Mousasi who is totally blameless but gets all the hate). I have a lot of thoughts on this because its not simple at all.

Just the facts: New York adopted the new rules, so you need two hands (or fingertips) down to be grounded. Mousasi and Weidman are clinched and Weidman is trying to play the hands-down game (even though the new rule is trying to discourage it) and trying to get both hands down. Mousasi launches 2 brutal knees at Weidman's face. In real time at full speed the 1st knee looked iffy and the 2nd knee looked illegal. The referee Dan Miragliotta halted action, called time, announced an illegal knee, put Mousasi in a neutral corner, told Weidman he had 5 minutes and brought in the doctor.

As the doctor is examining Weidman, Miragliotta is talking to John McCarthy outside the cage. Meanwhile on the PPV broadcast, Joe Rogan correctly determines from replay that both knees were legal. It was not reasonable to expect the ref to know they were legal, the 2nd knee looked illegal at real time, but on slo-mo replay you can see Mousasi lifted Weidman up, bringing his fingers off the mat, before the 2nd knee landed. McCarthy also saw the replay and told Miragliotta that the knees were legal.

We're in a gray area now because there is no replay for fouls in new york, but Miragliotta is convinced by the greatest ref in the world that he was wrong, so he decides to try and correct his mistake. He goes to Weidman, tells him hey those knees were legal, so its time to get everyone out and restart the fight. Everything would have been fine except.... at this point, the stupid god damn New York doctors inexplicably decide to **** the poor ref. Even though Weidman says he's OK, and though rocked, he's better off than many fighters who were allowed to continue in prior events, these two inexperienced doctors, in this situation, decide Weidman is done. They insist to Miragliotta that the fight is over. Part of their determination may have been influenced by Weidman taking the time to sit for several minutes, which of course he is gonna do after the ref told him he had time.

At that point, the ref can either insist that the fight was stopped by an illegal knee and call it a no contest, or say the fight was stopped by doctors after a legal blow, in which case it was a TKO. Since he was now convinced the knees were legal and the doctors won't let the fight continue, he has no choice. TKO. It sucks. Mousasi is unfairly boo'd. Weidman is confused and upset, and the ref has to bear the humiliation of Joe Rogan telling the arena he made a mistake. No one really blames the doctors for anything.

Dan Miragliotta: Can't blame him for the stop, it looked illegal to almost everyone in real time. Things break down for him when he's trying to get people to tell him what the replay showed in a state that has no replay. He should have said "nope, I called it illegal, if I'm wrong I'll apologize later, and if the doctors won't let me restart, its a no contest." Unfortunately, once he was convinced he was wrong, then its a TKO if the doctors stop the fight. An appeal would be interesting.

NYSAC Doctors: They ****ed up, hung the poor ref out to dry, and should get most of the blame. Its the co-main of a major event, and the guy they are examining is nowhere near hurt enough to stop the fight given UFC history. But those doctors are not experienced with MMA, the sport is new in the state.

Chris Weidman: None of this would have happened if he didn't play the game. One hand down is no longer good enough, ah-hah, fine I'll put both hands down then, and if I get kneed maybe my opponent loses a point or is disqualified. Except, you are opened up to getting ****ed by the refs and an incompetent AC if it doesn't work out. He should have just fought, we changed the rule to get fighters to stop playing the hands-down game, maybe they'll listen after this. Also, if Weidman would have stayed on his feet, insisted he was fine, and didn't milk the time, the doctors probably would have let it go. But, he was told he was hit by an illegal blow and had 5 minutes, and its his right to take that time. Anyway, Weidman did not deserve to get screwed. At worst, this should have been a no contest, not a loss. And if the doctors were competent, the ref should have been allowed to reset what was to that point a great fight.

Gegard Mousasi: Utterly blameless, he did nothing wrong. He knew what he was doing, he lifted his opponent before throwing the knee. Weidman is playing the game with me, that wont work, eat this, etc.

Won free tix today to the show this weekend....can't wait.

Looks to be an awesome card....

Good for you man!

The doctor's decision makes a little more sense now. They asked Weidman what day it was, and he gave them some date in February.

If I'm the doctor, I'm like "if you said April 9th instead of April 8th I might let it slide, but you are off by 2 ****ing months."

I guess that makes sense. I guarantee Weidman won't try to play that game again. He was winning the fight too.

NYSAC just stated that replay is legal in New York, and the ref can consult replay and other refs to change his mind on a foul. Once again, Marc Ratner was wrong. I won't trust him on anything in the rules anymore.

So, Weidman's appeal is probably doomed, this is going to remain a TKO loss.

Ooops, I bet they are wondering what the hell they pay Ratner for. Too bad Mike DaMone wasn't there to set him straight.

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Hahaaa great reference

Wherever you are, act like thats the place to be... "isnt this great?"

Most of us probably know this already, but this is going to be a really good weekend.

Friday

3pm - (Spike) - Bellator 177

This is a very good card by Bellator standards, with some world top-25 fighters. Early time because its in Europe, and I think they are following the card with kickboxing again.

8pm - (Fightpass) - VFC 56

Local promotion, quality of the card is average compared to most local promotions. No world top-100 fighters, but several local top-10's.

Saturday

5pm TV - (3pm Fightpass/5pm FOX) - UFC on FOX 24: Johnson vs Reis

This could end up being the best free card all year, and for some reason they decided to give it to us in Kansas City.

This card is so strong it could have been a PPV (but it probably would not have had a lot of buys, which is why the UFC let FOX have it, probably to make sure they hit some kind of contractually guaranteed annual TV rating in their TV deals with FOX) The prelims are really good, it could have been a main card (though a below-average main card). People would have tuned in just to watch Big Country. Then we get to THIS main card, and good lord, just.... I'm really glad I'll get to watch that in the Sprint Center.

I'm shocked Louis Smolka/ Tim Elliot aren't on the main card. They're buried on the first broadcast prelim. That has potential to be an outstanding fight

Half hour in to weigh ins and no drama so far. Everyone on the main card is weighed in except Jeremy Stephens. Everyone on the tv prelims are weighed in except the two heavyweights that probably havent even gotten out of bed yet.

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Stephhens is in. The heavyweights and a few early prelim fighters all that are left

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Volkov finally woke up and weighed in. Everyone made weight

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What an awesome show that was to watch in person....

MM is incredible....didn't even shift out of 2nd gear and still completely dominated.

I had a great time in KC last night. I hope the UFC comes back.

Incredibly entertaining card. Only 2 fights that were just meh (well 2.5, the Nelson fight was ok). DJ just anhilated Reis. Just crazy how dominant he is. Rose is gonna get a title shot next, though I think she should wait a couple more fights, shes just now becoming polished, and Joanna is gonna beat her, but think another year under her belt and she'd have what it takes.

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That was my first live event and it was great. Packed house that seemed pretty knowledgeable from my section anyway. No reason for the UFC not to return.

And from what I saw that paper champion Bisping wants no part of Robert Whitaker

This was the most enjoyable and pride-inspiring part of the night. I ****ing HATE IT when an MMA crowd on TV is ****ing stupid and doesn't appreciate whats going on when it is anything other than dumb, stone-simple striking on the feet. I was hoping KC wouldn't collectively embarrass us on national TV.

I underestimated the crowd, drastically. Maybe its because of the long wrestling tradition in the area between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, Iowa and Iowa State, etc. Whatever it was, this KC crowd just ****ing got it. They knew what was happening, and sat back and were patient and able to see that real action and attempts to advance were happening. There were a few idiots yelling and booing for standups, but they were few, and when someone advanced in position or someone escaped, their achievement was greeted with applause. This was a very smart MMA crowd who collectively knew what was going on, which was a nice surprise.

On the coasts where wrestling isn't as much of a cultural thing, MMA stupidity seems to be more common

I didn't like booing during the Stephens - Moicano fight but other than that, the crowd was amazing.

I could have done without 5 straight hours of Ric Flair "WHOOOOO"-ing

Yeah, WTH?

I texted my buddy who was there and asked him to find that guy and kick his ass

There were like a dozen who kept doing it.

There were several guys on the opposite side of the cage from us who were wooing. That was the most annoying thing all night. As for the booing during Stephens/Moicano, if a fighter turns his back and runs people all over the world will boo that.

Yep, I get it that if you are cornered and need to get out of the pocket ASAP, its most effective to literally turn and run, but no crowd in the country is going to not boo that, especially after the 2nd or 3rd time.

It was happening most at my end of the arena, and it sure seemed like more than a dozen - including two hillbillies right behind me.

If I didn't value my teaching license so highly, I would have said something. Annoying as ****.

There's something on fightpass tonight, so here's the weekend schedule:

Wednesday

10pm - (Fightpass) - AFC 131

Local promotion in Alaska. No world ranked fighters, but it looks fine by local promotion standards.

Friday

8pm - (Spike) - Bellator 178 Straus vs. Pitbull 4

I haven't ever even heard of a 4th fight between fighters. Well, its for their FW belt, and the rest of the card is a bit below average by Bellator standards.

Saturday Night/Sunday Morning

7pm TV - (5:30pm Fightpass/7pm FS2/9pm FS1) - UFC Fight Night Swanson vs Lobov

This is..... well, its the UFC and there will be fights with guys you may have heard of. Its not a great card, but there are a couple interesting matches, and the UFC is not going to have another show until the middle of May.

1am - (Fightpass) - Pancrase 286

If you can't sleep, there's Pancrase in the middle of the night. There are 22 fights on that card which looks nutty, but they tend to run them in and out of there without much of a break.

TUF season 25 started last night. Local boy and current UFC roster member James Krause looks to have a good shot at the 250k prize money. There are some real douches back from previous seasons. Jesse Taylor being chief douche.

Weigh-ins are done. Everyone made weight for Bellator. For the UFC, OSP's opponent missed weight at LHW by 4 pounds, but the fight is still on.

Even the UFC card is kind of a snoozer. I'll DVR it but won't make plans to stay home to watch it.

No one wants to compete with the NFL Draft, so all there is this weekend is Kickboxing in Europe.

Friday

nothing

Saturday

noon - (Fightpass) - Glory 40

Ariel Helwani had Nate Diaz for 90 minutes on a special edition of his show today. It was about as hilarious as you'd expect.

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In other news, the UFC is creating the w125 division.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The UFC just announced in a press release that The Ultimate Fighter 26 will crown first female 125 pound champion</p>&mdash; Jason Floyd (@Jason_Floyd) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jason_Floyd/status/859917690340872193">May 3, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It was previously announced that TUF 26 would be male middleweight and female strawweights. This has been canceled</p>&mdash; Jason Floyd (@Jason_Floyd) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jason_Floyd/status/859918176796258305">May 3, 2017</a></blockquote>
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One more week until the UFC returns

Friday

8pm - (Fightpass) - VFC 57

Looks decent by local promotion standards, main event is a heavyweight title fight

Saturday

3pm - (Fightpass) - Cage Warriors 83

This one is not decent. Very low-ranked fighters by local promotion standards, but there's nothing else.

I don't get this move at all. Their aren't enough relevant female contenders at 115 or 135 as it is. This additional weight class will only serve to water down the talent in both of the existing weight classes.

They gonna kill the 145 title, or try and roll out 4 belts?

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It's one or the other, I'd imagine with Cyborg (Wandelei Silva in drag) being out for a while we won't see another 145lb fight for a long time.

Yeah, this is getting out of hand.

The gap is too large, I think they had to do it and just wait for the talent to develop. They aren't obligated to sign a ton of women, if they keep the roster small and have between 0 and 2 w125 or w135 fights per card, then its probably fine. They should have introduced 125 instead of strawweight but they can't do that now because Joanna champion is awesome. They are probably hoping Joanna can become a 2-division champ, they are desperate for another draw now that Ronda is out, Conor is doing stupid shit, and the Diaz brothers are busy racing bikes.

Creating 145 just for cyborg was a boneheaded move that they now obviously regret, but it looks like they'll just leave that division open for like 2 or 3 people, so at least thats not watering anything down.

UFC is back after a pretty long break

Wednesday

10pm - (Fightpass) - AFC 132

Alaska continues their middle of the week gimmick. I haven't checked, I assume the card is garbage, but there's obviously nothing else.

Friday

4:30 pm - (Fightpass, youtube, etc) - UFC Summer Press Conference

They do this 2 or 3 times a year. A lot of news and fight announcements will probably be revealed, followed by trash talking and Q&A. Expect a lot of "OMG I can't believe (fighter 1) said (something nutty) to (fighter 2)" reactions and video clips afterwards.

Saturday

7pm TV - (5pm Fightpass/7pm FX/9pm PPV) - UFC 211 Miocic vs Dos Santos 2

The prelims are OK, but the feature prelim and the PPV is excellent. If everyone stays healthy and makes weight, this could be one of the best PPV's this year, but who knows. Reminder that the prelims are on FX for some weird reason.

I'm looking forward to that heavyweight fight. Has anyone heard when Cain Velasquez will be cleared to fight again?

A couple months ago he said he couldn't give a definitive timeline, but he's waiting until he's 100% sure he can get through a training camp healthy.

He could have been one of the best HW ever, but injuries and stupidity (I don't need to train at altitude, I can just fly into Mexico City the week of the fight np) has cut into his potential.

Just noticed that the feature prelim and the entire PPV, all 12 fighters, are ranked top 10 in their division. I don't think thats ever happened since rankings became a thing.

Alvarez/Poirer has the potential to be a slugfest.

Conor says he's signed the contract to fight Floyd.

I really can't see Conor doing anything better than Floyd in a boxing ring.

Thats the easy part. Now Dana has to get an agreement from TMT

Yeah, I just caught the headline before. Dana is silly

Pretty good article from Iole. Even though both guys want it, they have a very long way to go.

Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather is nowhere close to happening

There is no UFC this weekend, but there are still a ton of fights scheduled.

Friday

6pm - (Fightpass) - Titan FC 44

Titan is one of the best B-leagues and this is no exception. Looking at tapology, this card is good by local promotion standards, with two title fights.

8pm - (Spike) - Bellator 179 Daley vs. MacDonald

oh hey, a couple of fights I actually want to see on Bellator. Thats rare. Judging by Tapology, its a very top-heavy card but if you only care about the last 2 or 3 fights, then its above average by Bellator standards. It will say live on your TV listings, but its in London (and going on right now) so it'll be tape delay. If you can't avoid spoilers, then watch Titan instead.

Saturday

Bellator is also doing something stupid on Saturday afternoon. They tried to work out a deal with NASCAR to have fights in the middle of the racetrack before the flag drops, but because of conflicts with FS1 and NASCAR, they are putting up 4 fights on Saturday that will not be televised at all, only seen by confused race fans at the track. Whatever, the card was total garbage anyway.

2:30pm - (Fightpass) - Glory 41

Its kickboxing. If you like that sport and you have nothing else to do, you should watch it. Its better than mowing your lawn.

7pm - (Fightpass) - Invicta FC 23

This one is below average by Invicta standards. (You aren't fooling me Invicta, you can't convince me that Roxanne Modafferi is worth a shit by matching her up against someone who is older than hell. I'm sure she'll win, and I won't care)

It is what it is, their families will probably be watching, and so will UFC matchmakers. If a couple fighters do really well, you'll probably them in the UFC later this year. By the way, what's up with Invicta and Kansas City? Invicta loves the city I guess, its literally the 4th or 5th time in a row they had their fights in KC.

Dana White said that if the McGregor-Mayweather fight happens, it'll just be a boxing show with no MMA on the undercard. Previously he suggested it might be the main event after a card of MMA fights, but he's moved off that. He'll begin negotiations with TMT next week.

He also said that win, lose, or draw, Conor wants to get back into the cage and defend his LW belt before the end of the year.

lol

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/TWooodley">@TWooodley</a> is getting his <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UFC?src=hash">#UFC</a> Welterweight Championship defense started early. 😂😂😂 <a href="https://t.co/u7jwl1eQZA">pic.twitter.com/u7jwl1eQZA</a></p>&mdash; FOX Sports: PROcast (@PROcast) <a href="https://twitter.com/PROcast/status/866056957001580544">May 20, 2017</a></blockquote>
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I ****ing love Demian Maia.

Dillashaw: "99% chance that the fight with Cody is off"

Why?

The rumor is that if this fight is off then he may try to cut to 125 and fight Mighty Mouse.

Garbrandt hurt his back. The UFC is trying some kind of stem cell injection therapy to save the fight, but its not going well.

Nice.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dana White also tells me Cody Garbrandt is officially off UFC 213 and that plan is to have TJ Dillashaw fight Demetrious Johnson in August.</p>&mdash; Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/bokamotoESPN/status/867168491794608129">May 24, 2017</a></blockquote>
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In other news, Neil Degrasse Tyson was on the UFC unfiltered podcast. One little-known fact is that Dr. Tyson was an undefeated state champ as a high school wrestler, and then wrestled for Harvard while studying astrophysics. So naturally Neil wanted to show off one of his favorite pinning moves on Matt Serra, and then Matt Serra demonstrated a Kimura. This clip also has a pretty good story about when someone pulled a knife on Tyson in high school.

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More news on UFC 213

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Per <a href="https://twitter.com/danawhite">@danawhite</a>, UFC 213 headliner is Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko. Romero, Whittaker co-main. Second July in a row Nunes headlines.</p>&mdash; Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/bokamotoESPN/status/867168978774261760">May 24, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: <a href="https://twitter.com/danawhite">@danawhite</a> tells me interim middleweight title fight between <a href="https://twitter.com/YoelRomeroMMA">@YoelRomeroMMA</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/RJWhittaker1990">@RJWhittaker1990</a> will co-headline UFC 213.</p>&mdash; Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/bokamotoESPN/status/867167983205883904">May 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Mighty Mouse isn't thrilled about it. On twitter, he basically said he wants TJ to prove that he can actually cut to 125 and win at 125. He wants TJ to beat someone else at 125 then fight for the title.

This is probably a negotiating ploy. DJ is basically saying that if the UFC wants him to take a really hard fight for his record-breaking attempt, then they will have to pay him for it. And I'm fine with it, DJ is drastically underpaid, he might have a little leverage here, so write the big check and then they can promote the hell out of this.

LOL, seriously Sage? You are going to sit in front of a whole row of UFC female fighters? You gotta know they are gonna **** with you right? So naive.

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Fight news: Ricardo Lamas will fight the Korean Zombie at UFC 214

We got the UFC and not much else this weekend

Friday/Saturday

nothing

Sunday

1am Sunday - (Fightpass) - Pancrase 287

If you are awake in the middle of the night for some weird reason, this looks average by local promotion standards and they tend to squeeze in a lot of fights without a lot of waiting around.

10am TV - (9am Fightpass/10am FS1) - UFC Fight Night Morning Gustaffson vs. Teixeira

Note thats am, not pm. Main card starts at noon. Obviously the fights are in Europe, but its about average by UFC standards for free TV which is unusual for an overseas card. The last 3 fights are all good. You don't need to wake up early, but you should probably turn on the TV at least after 1pm.

Oops, correction: UFC is Sunday morning, not Saturday morning

An executive for Showtime, who Mayweather is contracted to fight for, said that if the UFC is "reasonable" then Mayweather-McGregor could happen in the early Fall. If they aren't reasonable and it drags on, then it could be closer to the end of the year or early next year.

This translates to "If Dana acts like he's never acted before at anytime ever"

ROFL exactly.

If "reason" is involved we are looking at a couple years at least.

Roy "Big Country" Nelson signed with Bellator

GSP revealed why he needs so much time to fight. He has a minor eye injury that is healing, and the doctors told him that he shouldn't even spar until September. He also said the UFC knew about it when he signed, and he thought they shouldn't do the press conference with Bisping yet because the timeline for the fight would be so long, but the UFC insisted on it anyway, then tried to pressure him to fight in July. After the UFC pulled the fight, GSP decided to go public with what was happening.