SATURDAY NIGHT: UFC on FOX 2 Live Blog

You saw the test run for UFC on FOX, and it only lasted 61 seconds, but it was totally awesome to see a heavyweight title fight on free TV, wasn’t it? Well this time where is no Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos show, in fact there will be three fights on FOX this Saturday night and all are highly relevant bouts. This weekend there will be a live-blog of all of those fights.

Here’s the full card:

Main Card (FOX)

Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis (205 lbs, 5 round main event)
Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping (185 lbs)
Demian Maia vs. Chris Weidman (185 lbs)

Preliminary Card (FUEL TV and Facebook)

Evan Dunham vs. Nik Lentz (155 lbs)
Jon Olav Einemo vs. Mike Russow (265 lbs)
Shane Roller vs. Michael Johnson (155 lbs)
Cub Swanson vs. George Roop (145 lbs)
Joey Beltran vs. Levar Johnson (265 lbs)
Charles Oliveira vs. Eric Wisely (145 lbs)
Chris Camozzi vs. Dustin Jacoby (185 lbs, Facebook stream)

What’s at stake on the FOX broadcast you ask? Well Evans vs. Davis will essentially determine the #1 contender for current UFC LHW Champion Jon Jones, Evans in particular has been guaranteed a title shot should he win and avoid serious injury. Phil Davis is trying to have a Jon Jones-esque rise to the top, having just entered the UFC in 2010 and beaten high-quality opposition like Brian Stann and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. It’s a non-title fight scheduled for five and it should be a good battle between two quality wrestlers.

Chael Sonnen was originally scheduled to fight Mark Munoz before Munoz pulled out due to injury. In steps Michael Bisping, originally scheduled for Demian Maia on this card, and these two middleweight trash-talkers are now fighting for a shot at Anderson Silva’s middleweight belt. Sonnen fought Silva in August 2010 and as every MMA fan knows, Chael took steroids, dominated the fight, and still got choked out with 2 mins left in the final round. Bisping hasn’t beaten a single top 10 middleweight so this is his chance to get past his stumbles against Dan Henderson (well…hardly a stumble, more a deep sleep) and Wanderlei Silva, and get his chance to be viciously knocked out by Anderson Silva. Sonnen is a relentless wrestler but Bisping is the better boxer and isn’t a slouch on the ground. I expect Sonnen to dominate this fight but we could be in a for a surprise.

Chris Weidman is stepping in on short notice to take on former title challenger Demian Maia. Weidman joined the UFC as a late replacement for Rafael Natal in March 2011 against Alessio Sakara, and the Hofstra All-American wrestling standout scored a convincing unanimous decision win. Since then he’s recorded dominant choke finishes against Jesse Bongfeldt and Tom Lawlor. A win against Maia could vault him into the top 10 of the middleweight division in phenomenally short time. But Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Maia is one of the best submission artists in the sport. He hasn’t shown it lately, with his last submission win coming against Chael Sonnen in 2009. He has spent his recent bouts improving his stand-up skills, particularly after Nate Marquardt sent him flying inside 20 seconds. Maia has everything to lose and little to gain here, whereas Weidman could announce himself on a nationally televised stage.

It’s going to be a great card filled with title implications this Saturday, so be here at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT for the main card broadcasts.

NFL Playoffs Fun With Numbers: Some Crazy Statistics That Will Frighten You

To deflect attention away from my healthy 0-2 record from yesterday, I’m going to give you a brief post of two incredibly eerie statistics.

John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens: Team trailed at halftime by 3 pts and led by 4 at the end of the quarter, only to lose by 3 pts. Starting QB (Joe Flacco) threw for two touchdowns.

Later that day….

Jim Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers: Team trailed at halftime by 3 pts and led by 4 at the end of the 3rd quarter, but lost by 3 pts. Starting QB (Alex Smith) threw for two touchdowns.

I guess the Harbaugh brothers really are close to each other.

And as for the New York Giants’ phenomenal run to this year’s Super Bowl? Maybe it’s a little bit too close to 2008.

2008 New York Giants Playoff Run: Def. NFC South team (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) in #4 vs. #5 matchup, #1 seed (Dallas Cowboys), #2 seed (Green Bay Packers), played New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Previously played the Patriots in the regular season. Held the Green Bay Packers to 20 pts in playoff game. Won the NFC Championship Game in overtime on the road, with the winning points coming off a turnover.

2012 New York Giants Playoff Run: Def. NFC South team (Atlanta Falcons) in #4 vs. #5 matchup, #1 seed (Green Bay Packers), #2 seed (San Francisco 49ers), play New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Previously played the Patriots in the regular season. Held the Green Bay Packers to 20 pts in playoff game. Won the NFC Championship Game in overtime on the road, with the winning points coming off a turnover.

And if you really want to talk about scary, neither the Patriots nor the Giants won a playoff game after Super Bowl XLII. Furthermore, both the Giants and Pats lost their subsequent postseason games prior to 2012 in front of their home fans.

You scared yet? Hopefully the pattern continues and the Giants win the Super Bowl by 3, only this time Stephen Gostkowski shanks a 21 yard FG with 2 seconds left in regulation.

Super Bowl Predictions: It’s Harbaugh Bowl II

That’s right folks. Today is going to be the first time two brothers have ever faced off in the Super Bowl as head coaches. I’m going with the Baltimore Ravens to upset the New England Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers to win an ugly slopfest at Candlestick over the New York Giants.

Honestly I 99% expect the Patriots to win, but way back in September I picked Baltimore to make it to the Super Bowl. So by default I have to stick with them and not bail on half of my preseason SB prediction. Baltimore better get a semblance of a pass-rush going against Tom Brady or else he might as well throw for 6 touchdowns again. This game will be a lot closer than people think, and Baltimore’s rushing attack is a bad matchup stylistically for the Patriots D. Joe Flacco is miles better than Tim Tebow and if they can get a balanced attack going, they will march onto Indianapolis. This is my only rationale for the Ravens winning so please let it happen.

It’s very sloppy weather in San Francisco and that favors the 49ers’ generally conservative passing attack. Their offense isn’t magically brilliant, in my opinion. The Saints are just pathetically bad on defense and are better without Gregg Williams as defensive coordinator. New York will have to rely on the arm of Eli Manning, which has been excellent in the last two weeks, throwing 6 touchdowns to just 1 interception. The 49ers defense is almost impossible to run on, and I don’t expect the Giants to change that anytime soon. If New York can somehow establish the run I give them a greater than 50% chance to pull off the W. Otherwise, I’m thinking the Niners control the clock through Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter, short pass plays to Michael Crabtree, Vernon Davis, and Kyle Williams, win the field position battle, and kick a ton of field goals in a 19-17 struggle.

For what it’s worth, I know I’ll probably whiff on one game, but I’ll say the winner of Giants/49ers will win the Super Bowl.

Enjoy Conference Championship Sunday!

UFC ON FX GIF OF THE NIGHT: Pat Barry Crushes Christian Morecraft

The first ever UFC show on FX took place tonight in Nashville, Tennessee, headlined by lightweights Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller. Guillard was swiftly choked out like he normally does against a top-level fighter, but before all of that the televised main card started off with a bang.

Pat Barry needed a win against Christian Morecraft to keep his UFC career safe. Some of the biggest criticisms of Barry were his lack of killer instinct and a poor ground game. Well not only did he show great defensive grappling, stifling several submissions against Morecraft, he certainly showed killer instinct in this monster KO.

GIF via Zombie Prophet from Iron Forges Iron

Huge left hook followed up with several shots that Herb Dean should’ve never allowed to happen. Doesn’t take away from the fact that this was a huge win for Barry and a great KO. Morecraft meanwhile almost certainly has no UFC future, dropping to 1-3 with the promotion and all losses via KO.

Barry vs. Morecraft somehow won Fight of the Night when Mike Easton vs. Jared Pepazian was miles better. But I guess the UFC likes it when heavyweights slug it out and it ends in a KO, don’t they?

SOPA is Dead!

Score one for Team World. Following global protests on Wednesday against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its partner Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), and then the epic set of hackings from An0nymous on several government websites plus the MPAA on Thursday, bill creator Lamar Smith (R-Tex) has pulled the plug on SOPA!

Yielding to strong opposition from the high tech community, Senate and House leaders said Friday they will put off further action on legislation to combat online piracy.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was postponing a test vote set for Tuesday “in light of recent events.” Those events included a petition drive by Google that attracted more than 7 million participants and a one-day blackout by the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, quickly followed suit, saying consideration of a similar House bill would be postponed “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

The Senate’s Protect Intellectual Property Act and the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act have strong support from the entertainment industry and other businesses that lose billions of dollars annually to intellectual property theft and online sales of counterfeit products. But they also have strong opposition from Internet-related companies that argue the bill would lead to over-regulation and censorship of the Internet.

Reid has also seen at least a half-dozen senators who sponsored the bill announce they now oppose it.

Rejoice! SOPA is dead and PIPA is off the table. Just a hunch, I think the government had to cave in after An0nymous hacked several of their websites like it was nothing. That more than anything probably forced them to kill these two wretched bills once and for all.

I know I don’t talk politics on this site, but maybe one way to get people to stop heading towards pirated content is to…well…you know, not charge a King’s Ransom for a music album or a movie. But I don’t expect either the music or movie industry to actually do that. It is virtually impossible to erase all pirated content off the internet and I’m sure our politicians will try and create another bill that would still lead to over-regulation and censorship of the web. It’s not that I am pro-piracy, but I can totally understand why people, especially in an economic recession, want cheaper alternatives to what they want to consume… regardless of its legality. I’m also anti-stupidity, and SOPA fits the bill (no pun intended).

This issue isn’t going to go away just because the bills have been killed off, but it’s good to know that there’s a little bit of push-back against these types of proposals.

The ribbon that says “Stop Censorship” is still going to hang around these here parts until Jan. 24th as I stated on Wednesday, though. It would be foolish to just drop this issue.

Stop SOPA: Introducing The Stop Censorship Ribbon

From today until January 24th this site will be one of the thousands around the world protesting the American government’s two proposals, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), both of which would lead to a total collapse of the internet as we  know it. There is a ribbon on the top-right corner of your screen that will direct you to americancensorship.org, which will further explain why you need to act immediately and try and stop this madness. SOPA was proposed way back in October 2011 by Texas Representative Lamar Smith, and the goal of the bill was to basically allow American District Attorneys and/or copyright holders to shut down websites displaying or linking to counterfeited goods or copyrighted property. To avoid all of the legalese, it basically means that the millions of GIFs, videos, and images that are used on blogs like this one, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. would all result in the websites I’ve listed to be in violation of SOPA and PIPA. Any site that is believed to be directing traffic towards pirated content would be subject to their domain being seized and internet service providers such as Verizon (along with search engines like Google) to “police” the issue by simply blocking access to the offending websites or removing links to the site from search engine results.

The biggest backers of SOPA and PIPA are not only media conglomerates such as CBS and NBCUniversal, but Hollywood and the music industry. While i somewhat understand their want to crackdown on illegally streaming movies, it’s really hard not to want to do it when it costs $20 to go to a theater. Why would I want to buy a hip-hop album when I can get the singles on iTunes for cheap or even for free on Youtube?  If the government had the ability to shut down websites that even occasionally link to content infringing upon copyright, then it would be virtually impossible for blogs, social media, Wikipedia, and forums to exist. The internet would basically be stripped of what makes it so great and make it so that WordPress blogs go bye-bye but CNN and ESPN.com are a-okay. So it’s no surprise that there has been a distinct lack of media coverage on this story, even though both bills are up for a vote next Tuesday. CBS, Viacom, NBCUniversal, ESPN, FOX, etc. are frothing at the mouth that they aren’t making money at every single opportunity to the point where they back disgusting pieces of legislation such as SOPA. The reason ABC, NBC, and other news networks brush upon SOPA is as supporters of this act, the public’s lack of knowledge on the subject is to their benefit. It’s a gross form of internet censorship, an overreach of corporate and political power and a direct attempt by the USA government to globally control the world wide web. This bill is in no way trying to simply “eliminate piracy”, it’s a form of governmental censorship supported by big businesses within this country to police everything you as an internet user do on a daily basis.

My issue with SOPA is the arbitrary nature of a very big issue like copyright infringement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement already got one case public wrong back in 2011, so what is to stop them from mistakenly shutting down a small online business because of “suspicion of counterfeited goods”?

What could be the worst possible penalty for suspected piracy? According to this:

Several of the provisions in SOPA force American Internet service providers or ISPs hosting websites to remove a site from the Internet if there’s a claim it’s infringing against copyright, even if it has not been fully proved in court. The argument is that this would make it easy for someone to make false or weak claims to take a website offline while the case makes its way through the courts.

Additionally, it would force ISPs to block non-U.S. websites accused of having infringing material, meaning sites from other countries might not be available in the United States. Opponents say this might destabilize the Internet and allow loopholes for hackers to exploit.

Bold emphasis mine. Basically it’s exactly what American government has long criticized China for, but on a near-global scale, as they would attempt to seize foreign domains (something they cannot do unless it’s within their jurisdiction) and block you from accessing supposed infringing sites.

Do yourself a favor and read about SOPA and PIPA, and bombard your local congressperson to voice your displeasure about these bills. It could be potentially catastrophic if SOPA and PIPA are ever enacted and it would affect internet users on a global scale.

The ribbon stays, it’s there for you to click on, and please research for yourself and it will better inform you on the biggest drawbacks of SOPA and PIPA passing. There’s a link below giving you the actual details of the bill, for your information and understanding.

STOP SOPA/PIPA.

Stop Online Piracy Act – H.R 3261

Several of the provisions in SOPA force American Internet service providers or ISPs hosting websites to remove a site from the Internet if there’s a claim it’s infringing against copyright, even if it has not been fully proved in court. The argument is that this would make it easy for someone to make false or weak claims to take a website offline while the case makes its way through the courts.

Additionally, it would force ISPs to block non-U.S. websites accused of having infringing material, meaning sites from other countries might not be available in the United States. Opponents say this might destabilize the Internet and allow loopholes for hackers to exploit.