KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

Let’s start with the recent drama coming from Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Who knows what could happen here. The problem with having a blog when you’re famous is that everything must seem like an announcement. I get the feeling Rampage has yet to make up his mind, and his blog posts have really been more about him working through this decision. The current outlook on the Evans vs. Jackson fight looks good, though, as Rampage seems averse to letting fans down. After all, it’s his MMA fans going to see him in his early movies that will make him seem like a bankable actor in the future.

Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic also seems uncertain on his retirement plans, but it’s looking pretty likely the high kicking Croatian will call it a day. A recent quote in particular suggested it’s really just a matter of time: “I’m entering a cage and thinking about fishing in Privlaka.” If he isn’t retired right now, then he’s certainly in the mindset to move on from fighting. He’ll leave us with plenty of highlight reel footage thanks to his dominant striking in Pride, but not from his UFC fights, unfortunately.

Frank Trigg will likely be released from the UFC shortly, thanks to a terrible performance against Josh Koscheck. Trigg plans to retire if the rumors are true. In his own words: “If the UFC cuts me, I’m done fighting. I don’t have the strength or determination to go fight in the minor leagues anymore. I’ve done it before.” It’s sound thinking. He was preparing for one last shot at glory in the biggest promotion around, and he didn’t make it. Why go back to what you were unsatisfied with?

Some other fighters I think will retire soon are Randy Couture (That’s not a shocking guess, but COME ON! How does the man manage to keep fighting?) and possibly Forrest Griffin. Not in the really near future, but within a year or so. For both I think it all depends on their next fights. If they win, they’ll continue, but Couture must surely be feeling too old by now for this kind of punishment and Griffin seems far too bitter after the Anderson Silva fight. Randy’s eventual retirement is a foregone conclusion, given his contract, but what Forrest will decide to do is harder to gauge. A third loss in a row could just send him overboard, and I don’t know if he’d come back from that.

Well, it’s a long wait until UFC 104, but at least WEC 43 is coming up soon. I have a feeling this could be the event that marks the end of the WEC, as it seems doomed to such spectacular monetary failure that folding it into the UFC will be appear to be the only sound option.

While the preliminary card was apparently filled with decisions, the main card of UFC 103 saw almost every fight ending in a KO or TKO. The only fight that didn’t was due to verbal submission as the result of strikes – which you may as well count as a TKO victory.

The results for the event were:

• Tyson Griffin knocked out Hermes Franca at 3:26 of the second round
• Josh Koscheck demolished Frank Trigg with punches at 1:26 of the first round
• Paul Daley beat Martin Kampmann via TKO at 2:31 of the first round
• Junior dos Santos caused Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic to verbally submit at 2:00 of the third round
• Vitor Belfort put himself on the path to an early title shot by knocking out Rich Franklin at 3:02 of the first round

I am incredibly surprised by the results of three of these fights. The first is that Josh Koscheck had so little trouble beating Frank Trigg. I thought Trigg was better than that, but he is clearly so far past his prime that his talk of a title run was more than ridiculous.

Second is that Cro Cop had to verbally submit, though he had certainly taken more than enough punishment by that point that it’s understandable. Some think it may have been a career ending loss, but it’s always a bad idea to jump to such conclusions after a single bad beating.

Finally, I never thought Vitor Belfort could possibly defeat Rich Franklin so soundly. There’s talk that he’ll be next to fight for the title, and I doubt anyone could say that he doesn’t deserve it. Franklin’s reputation is back to where it was after his loss to Dan Henderson, which seems somewhat unfair given his recent win over Wanderlei Silva. The guy can fight – he’s just unlikely to get another shot at the title unless he becomes an entirely different fighter.

Sadly, there’s a long wait until the next UFC event, but it’s going to be Shogun vs. Machida, so I’m already excited. This will be the first test of Machida as a light heavyweight champion. Will he retain his undefeated record, or will a revitalized Shogun work out the karate master’s bizarre defensive style? I can’t wait for this one, but before that there is the next ShoMMA event on 25 September and WEC 43 on 10 October, which I will obviously make comment on.

It’s been a busy week for the UFC, with Fight Night on Wednesday now over and UFC 103 set to play out on Saturday, 19 September.

The results of the Fight Night were:

· Nate Diaz beat Melvin Guillard at 2:13 of the second round with a guillotine choke

· Gray Maynard beat Roger Huerta in a split decision using his superior wrestling skills

· Carlos Condit beat Jake Ellenberger in a split decision, despite getting knocked down three times in the first round

· Nate Quarry beat Tim Credeur in a unanimous decision, in a close contest

· Brian Stann beat Steve Cantwell in a unanimous decision

· Mike Pyle beat Chris Wilson at 2:15 of the third round with a guillotine choke

· C.B. Dolloway beat Jay Silva in a unanimous decision

· Jeremy Stephens beat Justin Buchholz at 3:23 of the first round with a cut

· Mike Pierce beat Brock Larson in a unanimous decision

· Ryan Jensen beat Steve Steinbeiss at 3:56 of the first round with a guillotine choke

Decisions and guillotine chokes. It’s really surprising that so many guillotine chokes ended fights. I mean, they’re great when you have an opportunity to use them, but how often does someone give up an opportunity to sink in an effective guillotine choke? Odd.

UFC 103 doesn’t have the kind of fights that would draw in a massive casual audience, but there are some pretty interesting match ups. What follows are a few of my picks for the main card, along with some reasoning.

In the headline event, Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort, BetUS has it -150 Franklin and +120 Belfort. I think Belfort would need longer odds than that to be worth supporting in this fight, and even though it would be better if Franklin’s odds were longer, he’s the fighter to support in this bout. While many have discounted him after his losses to Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson, it’s unfair to judge him on those performances alone.

Junior dos Santos vs. Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic is Santos -135 and Cro Cop +105 at BetUS. It’s very frustrating when the lesser-known fighter is the favorite, because the well-known underdog’s odds will tend to be shortened by his fans. I think that’s happened here, and I’d avoid betting on this fight at all. I just can’t see a worthwhile risk in this bout. Cro Cop has a good enough chance of winning, despite dos Santos seeming to have him outmatched in every area. You’d think this would suggest a bet on dos Santos is worthwhile, but Cro Cop just has so much more experience. I think Cro Cop will win, but I don’t think it’s a sure enough thing to bet on him at such short underdog odds.

Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg is -400 Koscheck and +300 Trigg at BetUS. I’d bet on Trigg, as his odds are clearly much longer than they should be. That isn’t to say that I think Trigg has the best chance of winning. I just think that his chances are better than the odds suggest, and that there’s opportunity for a massive upset.

That’s all I have to say for now. I’ll talk about the results of the fights next week, and maybe even a bit about TUF 10.