On the heels of a cyber-attack on UFC.com, Dana White is making the rounds, puffing out his chest and telling reporters that he's "not afraid of the Internet."  In an interview with Maruo Ranallo, Dana compares hackers to the terrorists who brought down New York's World Trade Center on September 11.   This analogy is insulting to victims, survivors and families who suffered through America's worst terrorist attack in history.  To compare the maniacs who killed 3000 American citizens to the people who redirected UFC.com's URL is ridiculous, and does nothing to help Dana make his case against illegal streamers.

As usual, Dana is histrionic and hysterical.  The hacking issue is just another subject that he can claim ownership of, since all the big decisions in the company now fall almost exclusively to Lorenzo Ferttitta.  Issues like Miguel Torres' poor sense of humor and the SOPA hackers are all that's left for Dana, and he goes after those issues with the tenacity of a miniature pit bull, leaving the big issues, such as the deal with Fox, for Lorenzo.

In two separate interviews I've seen, including the one above, Dana tells the reporter that Internet journalists are afraid of the Internet--like it's some sort of major revelation.  When Ariel Helwani heard that, he reacted the same way that Mauro did--by giving Dana a perplexed look as they tied to make sense of his twisted logic.  And speaking of not being afraid of the Net, it sure seemed like Dana was peeing his own pants after his mother released a tell all book about him.  He acted like a distraught, hysterical child upon the book's release, and banned people from his Twitter account if they dared to mention that book that cannot be mentioned.   Where was his bravado then?

For all his tough talk, Dana is only making things worse.  Anonymous, the collection of hackers from around the world, is known to not only knock down websites, but to order vast amounts of pizza to the homes of people who piss them off.  But judging by Dana's bloated countenance and sagging chicken neck lately, maybe those pizzas is exactly what he's angling for.

Go get em, Dana!

The Miller brothers, Jim and Dan, have the best chins in MMA.  Neither one of these two New Jersey fighters has ever been knocked out, and neither has been submitted in a fight.  That's quite impressive considering they have a combined total of 43 fights between them, many of those against the top fighters in the world.  Last night, Jim's "hard head," as he calls it, was on full display as he absorbed some big shots from Melvin Guillard before taking him down and finishing him with a rear naked choke late in the first round.  It was a great performance by Miller, and he earned a fat check for winning not only the fight, but Submission of the Night honors as well.

In my analysis before the fight, I predicted that Jim would hang with Melvin on the feet, take him down and submit him, and that's exactly what happened. Miller is a beast, and this win puts him right back into title contention.  Yes, he lost to Ben Henderson, but at the time he was unaware of a kidney infection that he had, and you could tell there was something wrong that night.  He made amends last night, and will likely face a top contender next time out.

Jim trains out of the AMA Fight Club in Whippany, New Jersey.  He's trained by Mike Constantino, who runs a great camp.  In addition to Jim, there were two other AMA fighters on the card last night, Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman, who beat Daniel Roberts by unanimous decision, and Khabib "The Eagle" Nurmagomedov, who submitted Kamal Shalorus with a rear naked choke. A fine showing by one of the sport's top fight camps.

After the fight Miller gave a shout out to his nephew, Dan Miller's son, who is battling kidney disease.  He thanked the fans for all their support of Danny Jr., and was emotional as I'd ever seen.  It was really a special moment for Jim and his family, and he made New Jersey very proud last night.

The entire card was excellent, and it was a great debut show by the UFC on FX.  Here are the complete results:

Move over Jon Jones.  There's a new crime fighting UFC veteran in town and his name is Guy Mezger.  Guy, who is the president of HDNet fights, and a former world champion kickboxer and UFC and Pride veteran (and the only man to submit Tito Ortiz), saved a woman from her deranged, knife-wielding boyfriend recently.

Guy explained the story on the Carson's Corner radio show yesterday.  He was out shopping for a bike for his daughter when he came upon a guy beating up his girlfriend.  Guy got in between the two and was attacked by the man.  Mezger threw the guy, who landed on his head and was knocked out briefly. When he came to, he attacked Guy again, this time with a knife, and cut Guy on the hand.  Guy then knocked him out again, but once again the guy came to and attacked.  So Guy did what Guy does best and put a Jason Fairn style beatdown on his ass.  In the midst of all this, the cops showed up and almost tasered Mezger, but soon realized that he was the hero.  They then hauled the beaten and bloodied attacker off the big house, where hopefully he will be dropping his soap and biting his pillow for years to come.

Great job, Guy Mezger!

After the jump, check out this excellent highlight reel of Guy in action.

Imagine walking around with a shark chomped down on your elbow.  That must be how Mark Munoz felt with those giant bone spurs ripping at his right elbow, the spurs that caused him to pull out of tonight's fight with Chael Sonnen.  Take a look at this pic and try to imagine the pain that Munoz must have gutted through in previous fights.  The surgery to remove the spurs was successful and now Mark is looking at a recovery period of a month or two.  It also appears that he's keeping the spurs as a souvenir.  Hopefully he won't have a Jaws sequel thing going on in the future.  The last thing we want to here is: Just when you thought it was safe to back in the Octagon.

We wish Mark a speedy recovery and return to action.

 

 

Michael Bisping, expecting to fight Brazilian jiu-jitsu master Demian Maia, was training with Jake Shields recently, brushing up on his own BJJ game.  But now his opponent is Chael Sonnen, who comes from a wrestling background.  Still, training with Shields could be a big plus in the Sonnen fight, because Bisping says he plans on submitting Chael if taken down.  Speaking with Fighters Only Magazing, Bisping said:

"Chael Sonnen can take me down if he likes, because I know I can submit him off my back. I know I can. That’s his big weakness."

He went on to say that he actually hopes Sonnen will take him down:

“Working with these guys recently, these top level jiu-jitsu guys, has really brought on my game and I am so comfortable on my back right now. In the past I have stood fights up a lot but the way I am training right now, I will be delighted if Chael takes me down. If he does, then it will be a short night for him.”

While it's true that Sonnen has been subbed before, it will be in Bisping's best interest to avoid the takedown and pick him apart on the feet.  I just don't see his BJJ skills being at a high enough level to pull off a sub against Sonnen.  If he winds up on his back, it could be a long night for the cocky Brit.  Time will tell.

 

Pat Barry somehow convinced Mirko Crocop to sing California Dreaming with him, and you'd think that nothing could top that, but Pat wants more.  Now he's looking to get Cain Velasquez to tap dance.  Watch as he explains his goal of getting "these badass dudes to do ridiculous, silly stuff."  And speak of silly, this whole interview is just that.  Check it out.

LOS ANGELES, CA. (January 17, 2012) – ProElite MMA (PK:PELE) and DREAM, the largest Japanese MMA organization, have initiated a promotional partnership and fighter exchange program, jointly announced today.  The alliance will foster co-promoted events, both in the United States and in Japan with fighter exchanges featured on the cards of both fight promotions, respectively.

“Our partnership with DREAM forms a promotional bond with the most prominent Japanese MMA organization,” said Billy Kelly, President of ProElite and COO of Stratus Media Group Inc. (SMDI:OTCBB) -- parent company of ProElite. “Dream has developed a stable of great fighters on their roster and a strong team behind the scenes. With this exchange, the two organizations are building a cultural and fight-event bridge that our fans are sure to welcome.

The initial fighter exchange debuts this Saturday, January 21, in Hawaii when DREAM star and Japanese fan favorite Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa takes on Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove in the ProElite main event at the Neal Blaisdell Center.

“I’m really honored to join the partnership with ProElite,” said DREAM Event Producer Keiichi Sasahara.  “It is important for us to exploit Asian or Pan-pacific markets by improving relationships with foreign organizations like ProElite. We would like to make this fighter exchange program a first step to generate synergistic success for both organizations.”

DREAM Light heavyweight tournament runner-up Tatsuya Mizuno will take on Ilima Maiava, also on the Honolulu fight card while the always exciting voice of Japanese MMA, Lenne Hardt, will be joining the shows as the fighter walk out announcer.   The ProElite main fight card will be televised live on HDNet at 10:00 P.M. EST.  Tickets are on sale at the Neal Blaisdell Center box office, all Ticketmaster locations (800-745-3000), www.ticketmaster.com, and www.proelite.com.

 

Hold onto your hats, folks, there are some big changes to the UFC on Fox 2 card, and they are actually changes for the better, in my opinion.  Chael Sonnen was supposed to be fighting Mark Munoz on the upcoming UFC on Fox 2 card, with Michael Bisping taking on Demian Maia.  But Munoz sustained an injury in training, forcing him off the card, which prompted the UFC to put Sonnen in with Bisping in a fight that will determine the number 1 contender for Anderson Silva's title.  On the undercard, Demian Maia will now face rising star Chris Weidman, the undefeated Long Islander.

Originally, Dana White wanted Maia to fight Rusimar Palhares, but Palhares turned the fight down.  I guess he's not quite as crazy as he seems, because Maia is a very dangerous opponent with unmatched BJJ skills.  Weidman, however, in his macho "Strong Island" way, did not hesitate before taking this fight.  It's a big step up for Chris, but it's a fight that I think he can and will win.  And it will definitely raise his profile in the UFC.

The main event between Sonnen and Bisping is a trash-talking dream fight.  These two guys are never at a loss for words, and the next couple of weeks should be very entertaining.  The only drawback is that we'll only have weeks of their smack talk rather than months, what with the fight being made on such short notice and all.

Still, the new matchups are outstanding and I think this card looks better now than it did before Munoz got hurt.  Sucks to be him right now, but that's the fight game.  I'll have more on the fights in the coming days.

Sonnen vs. Bisping: Let the shit talking begin!