Bad Left Hook: All Posts by Brent Brookhouse

NSAC's Keith Kizer defends Steve Mazzagatti's handling of Fitch vs. Burkman following Dana White's criticism

2013-06-17T13:30:04Z

Dana White was not thrilled with the actions of Steve Mazzagatti after the events of the World Series of Fighting 3 main event. Josh Burkman caught Jon Fitch in a guillotine choke and put him to sleep, having to let go on his own when he realized Fitch was out as Mazzagatti seemed out of position.

The UFC president blasted Mazzagatti on Twitter and then again at the media scrum for this past weekend's UFC 161. MMA Fighting had the quotes from the scrum:

"Does anyone disagree with me that Mazzagatti's a f***ing toolbox?," asked White at a media scrum after the press conference in Winnipeg. "I mean, he literally did nothing. Fitch is out cold. And I saw some people talking s*** on the Internet today, like, well B.J. Penn held the choke for five more seconds (against Jens Pulver) and somebody else, I can't remember who it was. Those were rear naked chokes.

"Anyone who has ever done Jiu Jitsu, that thing (the guillotine) does f***ing damage," said White. "It hurts, and a guy is unconscious. You're squeezing his neck as hard as you can. You're a f***ing idiot that a rear naked choke is the same as that front choke. When he (Fitch) goes out, then he (Burkman) rolls him f***ing over, let's his head flop to the thing. He's standing over him before Mazzagatti gets in there.

"The Nevada State Athletic Commission will keep this guy around until he seriously hurts somebody," said White. "That guy is dangerous."

Keith Kizer, Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) executive director, defended Mazzagatti:

"It as neither a positive or a negative on the referee," said Kizer. "All of us in the arena, and the commentators who know their stuff, were really shocked Jon was out. Steve was right there. He had to walk two steps. He walked two steps and waved off the fight. It was very easy for him, and every easy for Josh as well. It was a weird ending to the fight, but good for Josh."

...

"The guy went out and Josh immediately released the hold," said Kizer. "What's weird is he flipped Fitch over, away from the ref. When Josh had the hold, he (Mazzagatti) was one step away. He had a perfect view. Josh flipped him away from the ref, then stood up. I would praise the referee if he did a good job. But here, there's nothing to talk about the ref. It wasn't a good job or a bad job. He had no job. I think most people thought Jon was going to get out. Bas and I both thought he was letting go of the hold and transitioning to another hold."

...

"The story should be about Josh getting an amazing win, doing the right thing, and releasing the hold," said Kizer. "This isn't about the ref."

White would later go on to claim that the NSAC doesn't take action due to "ego" and that he expected them to assign Mazzagatti to work the Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman main event at UFC 162.

UFC 161: Evans vs. Henderson results and post-fight analysis

2013-06-16T04:43:46Z

Rashad Evans outworked and outlasted Dan Henderson in the UFC 161 main event tonight to move one step closer to a rematch with Jon Jones that I'm not sure anyone is all that interested in seeing.

Henderson was able to land some hard shots in the first round and come close to finishing Evans, but he did something he has done in the past and started to overswing once he hand Rashad hurt. Henderson was slipping and off balance because he was throwing absolute bombs to try and get the knockout. That he didn't size up Rashad and throw with a little more accuracy probably cost him the fight.

It was a decent fight between two veterans but didn't feel like it was really a battle to see which of the two deserved to be closer to a shot at the 205 pound title. Both guys seemed kind of...old.

Still, it wasn't a bad fight, and given the rest of the card not exactly being a thrill-a-minute, it came off as pretty decent.

Stipe Miocic beat the tar off Roy Nelson and it wasn't because Nelson came in on late notice. Sure, the late notice didn't do him any favors, but it's not as though Nelson's cardio has ever really held up in a fight like he was in tonight. Miocic knew what he wanted to avoid and fought in a way that avoided it. He wanted to move, make Nelson move in,out and side to side to wear him out, and mix in combinations. And those combinations were crisp, and even came off feinting takedown attempts. Miocic was simply too good tonight.
Ryan Jimmo fought like Ryan Jimmo tonight in beating Igor Pokrajac. Jimmo was known as an incredibly boring fighter in MFC and it was for much of the reasons he built that rep that tonight's bout was so far away from being entertaining. Jimmo fought looking to hold Pokrajac against the cage for the most part and even when he knocked down Igor he ended up engaging on the ground instead of opening up hard for the finish. Jimmo knew his performance wasn't going to win him any fans by the way he handled his post fight interview. But he did win, and that's the important thing.
I'm not sure I fully understood some of the hate for Alexis Davis' win over Rosi Sexton. On Twitter there were people really running the fight down as boring. I thought it was very compelling for two rounds and even the third was pretty interesting. No, it wasn't the show stealing war that people seem to think WMMA delivers 100% of the time, but it was still one of the better fights this evening.
Pat Barry getting blown up in under a minute wasn't something I saw coming. I figured a crushing loss was a distinct possibility, but not quite the way it went down. Shawn Jordan just went out, put it on him and went home. I don't know how much upside Jordan has, but fights like that will keep him around a long time, especially in the ultra-shallow heavyweight division.
Dana White was tweeting that he felt Tyron Woodley was robbed in his fight with Jake Shields, but I simply don't see what T-Wood did that would earn him the win. Shields didn't ever really get a takedown despite many attempts, but he was the one pushing the action and the one pushing more offense, even if the offense wasn't really all that impressive. Woodley was far too hesitant considering how little danger he was in from Shields' striking and power -- or lack thereof.
James Krause looked very impressive in beating Sam Stout. Stout couldn't deal with Krause's ability to control distance. Stout would throw punches but they were consistently a few inches short while Krause could actually land. He's on an eight fight win streak and was one of the guys who left me feeling like I wanted to see more after a fairly lackluster evening of fights.
Roland Delorme and Edwin Figueroa put on a good fight. Figueroa is like what the UFC wanted Leonard Garcia to be. He fights very hard, is an aggressive brawler and is a very, very tough out. He simply got outworked.
Fun fact as betting favorites went 5-6 on the night. They should have been 4-7, but Yves Jabouin was gifted a hometown decision win.

Roy Nelson says Daniel Cormier pulled an 'Uncle Tom move'

2013-06-14T00:38:58Z

UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson calls Daniel Cormier an "Uncle Tom" for saying he wanted to beat Nelson up "for Dana White." The UFC will likely have to deal with Nelson's use of a vile, racist term in very quick fashion.

Thomson's latest statements on gay marriage are weak blame shifting

2013-06-13T22:30:05Z

Context:

noun

1. the parts of a written or spoken statement that precede or follow a specific word or passage, usually influencing its meaning or effect. (ex. You have misinterpreted my remark because you took it out of context.)

2. the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc.

3. Mycology . the fleshy fibrous body of the pileus in mushrooms.

Josh Thomson's "PR team" went to an old stand-by today when releasing a statement on his clearly anti-gay marriage posts on Twitter and Facebook, the dastardly media had taken his comments "out of context."

Of course, that only holds weight if the comments were actually taken out of context. Instead, -- at least here at Bloody Elbow -- his words were presented fully in context. His initial post was presented not only in full, but as an embedded tweet. In the tweet, Thomson stated "Should you be allowed to marry whoever [sic] you want? Before you answer that, should u [sic] be allowed to have more than 1 wife?"

When Thomson later expanded on this, adding "men/women trying to marry young kids, siblings marrying eachother [sic]" to the list of "if/then" consequences of gay marriage, that quote was also presented as written. Thomson even added "You have to think all of these things are okay otherwise your [sic] stopping them from being happy as well which is hypocrisy. Equality doesn't stop with gay marriage, it just starts with it."

What context were the statements taken out of? Thomson was the one who presented these "thought provoking questions."

Were they taken and twisted in a way that removed the rest of his surrounding statements, thus changing the meaning?

No, they weren't. It's simply that "out of context" is a weak way of trying to blame others for what came out of your own mouth. Effectively, the meaning of "out of context" here is "I didn't think people would report it."

Thomson also drifted into the realm of complete BS in his statement, saying "I am not against gay rights or gay marriage in anyway."

That's an awfully difficult position to defend when previously stating that you "are smart enough to know" that gay marriage "opens a gateway" to adults trying to marry kids, also stating that it's not like interracial marriage while bringing up the idea of R. Kelly "trying to marry lil [sic] girls."

The context was given to all of this, his words directly quoted.

Blaming the media for changing the meaning of his words while also pretending that deleting the posts and acting as though there were no anti-gay marriage undertones is nothing more than damage control.

And when you bring up NAMBLA to try and support your point? It's not just damage control. It's really, really poor damage control.

UFC's Josh Thomson says legalizing gay marriage 'opens a gateway to men/women trying to marry young kids'

2013-06-12T23:30:04Z

Josh Thomson has spent his career being a thrilling competitor from bell to bell. His fights with Gilbert Melendez are among the most entertaining bouts you're likely to see and his knockout win over Nate Diaz in his return to the UFC was a reminder of how brilliant he can be when "on his game."

Thomson also has a nasty habit of trying to "push the envelope" at times on social media. And that happened again today when he tweeted out the following:

Should you be allowed to marry whoever you want? Before you answer that, should u be allowed to have more than 1 wife?
— Josh Thomson (@THEREALPUNK) June 11, 2013

Of course, things couldn't stop there. As fans got a little heated over his "logic," Thomson took it further on his Facebook, stating:

My next question is, should siblings be allowed to marry siblings? My point is, where do you draw the line? I personally don't care who you marry but I also am smart enough to know that it opens a gateway to men/women trying to marry young kids, siblings marrying eachother and people having multiple husbands an wives. You have to think all of these things are okay otherwise your stopping them from being happy as well which is hypocrisy. Equality doesn't stop with gay marriage, it just starts with it.

He continued when someone brought up interracial marriage, stating that it was "nothing like this" and then, again, bringing up adults marrying children:

Blacks an whites getting married is nothing like this. So your okay with R. Kelly trying To marry lil girls? People trying to marry their brother or sister? Animals? Etc? Those people want the same exact thing, to be happy. Are you gonna tell them no?

At this point, I am going to stop and say two important things that I want you to think over in your head before commenting on the article:

First, I know a segment of readers will wonder "why is this news?" And it's news because a highly ranked fighter in the UFC said it. Also because...let's just be honest for a second. The UFC doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to fighters (and executives) and the LGBT community. Be it Dana White calling an anonymous source a "faggot," fighters using that same word with regularity and without remorse (see Diaz, Nathan) or Matt Mitrione's bizarre tirade in which he called transgender fighter Fallon Fox a "disgusting freak" while attributing his own bizarre motivations to her fighting career (she is a man who wants to beat up women because she is a sociopath, you see?).

The regularity of these instances has given movements like the ridiculous Culinary Union lent "Unfit for Children" campaign far too much legitimate ammo. Thomson's statements may simply be the ignorant ramblings of someone who watches too much Fox News, but combined with the unfortunate regularity of the other instances it paints an ugly picture. Fair or unfair, that's simply how it is.

Second, I'm writing about this because it's my job to have an opinion about things said and done in the world of mixed martial arts. So anything said here is simply my opinion. It is not the opinion of Bloody Elbow as a whole or anything more than my response to Thomson's nonsensical line of questioning.

Thomson's line of thinking is off in several areas:

We can throw "adults marrying children" and "marrying animals" right out of the discussion. Children and animals are not consenting adult humans. So yes, there is a pretty clear line that can be drawn there. And, while Thomson stated in his Facebook posts at one point that he "wasn't comparing homosexuals to animals and children" he actually is. When you create a line of logic that says gay marriage has some similarity on a moral level to pedophilia, bestiality and incest, that is exactly what you're doing.
There are some valid lines of thinking that polygamy should be legalized based on the fact that the government shouldn't regulate marriage. Again, the consenting adult card could be played here. And, it's worth remembering that much of the initial decision to outlaw the practice was based on nothing more than moral objections. However, there are some issues with the practice that complicate the 'should it be legalized?' discussion. Such as the fact that in most cases the societies which embrace the practice actually only embrace polygyny (one man, multiple wives) and not the reverse. Or they allow for restrictions on who can marry, in many communities restricting the ability to marry to "high status" individuals while lower status individuals are not allowed to marry. There's also the fact that, in many cases, the polygamy results in men marrying underage girls. But, there is still some valid lines of thinking to allowing consenting adults to engage in a "multiple marriage."

Pat Miletich joined the party on Thomson's Facebook as well -- though it appears now to have been deleted it was captured by other sites including Bleacher Report -- adding a bit more wood to the ignorance bonfire:

Josh is spot on. It may seem extreme to use some of his examples of 'where does it end' but I guarantee someone will want to marry their 1st cousin or even sibling. At what point does lack of civil liberty put this nation at risk? It's already happened and will only get worse.

If someone wants to marry their first cousin, he or she is legally allowed to in almost half of the states in America. So, if they really want to pursue such a life, they have plenty of states to move to.

There are larger ethical concerns with sibling marriage. One of the largest -- and this is at play with first cousins as well -- being genetic diseases. I'm not a smart enough man to explain it all, but Eccentric Scientist explained a lot about the probability of genetic issues while also pointing out the availability of genetic screening. One large issue with sibling marriage is that a sexual bond formed between siblings would seem highly likely to have developed in an abusive household.

There are major concerns with such types of incestuous relationships that need far more investigation to understand, let alone make legal determinations on.

Those concerns simply do not exist with "gay marriage." To argue that they do is purely ignorant.

But I also wonder what Miletich is referring to with a lack of civil liberties putting the nation at risk. Suggesting that civil liberties are under attack because you think rights should be restricted is a little...ass backwards.

Pretty funny coming from a guy who claimed to be thinking about running for office while stating that the government was getting too involved with individual rights.

Anderson Silva would rather fight Roy Jones Jr. than Jon Jones

2013-05-31T14:00:08Z

For a period of time there were concerns that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva wanted to take time off from mixed martial arts and pursue a boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. That bit of nonsense eventually died down, Silva signed a new UFC deal and it appeared to have been forgotten.

Except that Silva is bringing up wanting to fight Jones again, stating that he's more interested in that then a superfight with Jon Jones:

"I think everyone’s got something they’re focused on and that’s my own desire, something I’d like to do," Silva said through a translator. "Maybe one day when I’m done my UFC career I will box Roy Jones."

Silva said he’d be interested in taking on Jones Jr. twice – once in a bout with MMA rules and another in a boxing ring. He said he knows Jones Jr. and calls him "a great champion."

When the potential crossover matchup was first proposed back in 2009, Jones Jr. was coming off a win over Jeff Lacy in a WBO NABO light heavyweight title bout. Now, Jones Jr. is 44 years old and has lost three of his past five fights. He’s well past his prime.

"Past his prime" is some generous phrasing.

I've been a huge fan of Roy since I was a kid, he's a large part of cementing me as a massive combat sports fan. But he is shot. In 2009 I'd have still said that Jones would have boxed circles around Silva -- something I stand by -- but at this point Jones has nothing left.

Jones' official losses haven't come to bad competition, but his recent two fight win streak came over Max Alexander -- who was on a 0-5-1 run coming into the fight -- and a controversial split decision over Pawel Glazewski -- who probably should have won the fight.

I get that it's something Silva has thought about for a long time, but he'd be well served to just drop it as it's simply a sad idea at this point.

Dana White responds to Nick Diaz's fight promoter aspirations: 'Welcome to the losing money business'

2013-05-29T19:30:05Z

Dana White says that he has no problem with Nick Diaz attempting to become a fight promoter, but sent the simple message that it was "the losing money business."

Source tells New York Daily News that MMA legalization in state is 'unlikely' in 2013

2013-05-28T17:00:04Z

The long fight to get mixed martial arts legalized in New York may not be as close to over as many thought earlier this year. The New York Daily News is reporting that the handling of sexual harassment complaints by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has upset a number of women's groups which also oppose the legalization of MMA. The theory is that this, in turn, will mean that Silver and the assembly may decide against legalizing the sport, an action that could further upset those groups.

Here's a bit from the article:

Women’s groups that have long opposed the sport, calling it sexist and barbaric, are upset at Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for his mishandling of sexual harassment complaints against [Vito] Lopez.

A source close to Silver said passing a mixed martial arts law now might further inflame the women’s groups — as well as exacerbate tensions between Silver and several assemblywomen that have developed since the scandal.

"I don’t think this is the year," the source said. "I think it’s unlikely."

There is a lot of maneuvering politically that is constantly happening in these scenarios, so it's always hard to totally get a read on the situation.

It could be the case that MMA's legalization is delayed as a defensive maneuver against these "women's groups." It could be that it's a situation that the assembly just generally isn't in the mood to deal with and found a good excuse to delay legalization because they simply don't want to legalize the sport. Or, maybe nothing comes of it and MMA ends up regulated in New York because it is eventually going to happen either way.

This is merely one more chapter in the long running saga.