1. Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez proved some things about the bantam weight division. They proved that, although it is very exciting and the scrambles in the lower weight classes are worth the admission price, they really aren't developed yet with a talent base akin to the upper regions. The quality of striking at 135 the other night was wretched. It is kind of sad when the little guys, who are supposed to be so technical and really have a much easier time achieving a more technical base, are much less technically sound than the bigger boys. The quality of striking at 205 far exceeds anything Cruz and Benavidez brought to the table. I was still entertained and, for the record, thought the split decision was justified. Cruz won but not by much and one could actually make a legit case for Benavidez, who is actually a 120-125 lb guy if there was such a division. It was nice to watch but it wasn't something that could blow a guy away. Cruz dancing in and out and changing angles even though he neglected to actually put appropriate combinations together while doing so and was defensively poor and Benavidez stalking Cruz with loopy punches and poorly timed shots. It would have been better if they both had more of an interest in the grappling, which was actually very good and entertaining, while it happened.
2. Tim Kennedy was robbed in a decision against the over rated, and very underwhelming Ronaldo "Jacare" de Souza last night. I don't really feel sorry for the guy though. He didn't do much anyways. Of course, Jacare did significantly less, and I don't see how anyone could argue that he won more than just the first round, but it was a boring, drab, worthless 25 minutes of MMA that I am disappointed in myself for sitting through. I clambered on about the 135 lb weight division having poor striking and these guys made Cruz and Benavidez look like Mauricio Shogun and Anderson Silva in there. Kennedy is just so flat footed. He landed much more considerable strikes but he lost because he looked so awkward in doing so. He lost on the cards due to style points. A, sort of, artistic impression thing, like in figure skating. That being said, he did impress with his wrestling. He put on a clinic with his take down defense. The winner, and latest illegitimate black house champion, Jacare, looked like he always does. He is a magnificent athlete. You can train him to do anything, throw any punch or kick, and shoot any take down from any angle. The problem with that guy is he has no fighting instincts or intellect. He doesn't know when to throw that kick, punch, or to shoot for that take down. He just does stuff. When it works out, usually in the first round only because that's as far as he can script his fights in camp, he looks brilliant but when it doesn't end the fight and he has to do more stuff he looks like a tomato can and was just out classed by a sub top 15 middle weight. Jacare took another step in the wrong direction last night. Two pathetic fights in a row and now the cherry is off the over hyped sundae.
3. I must confess that I am a King Mo fan. He was beaten fairly, and actually the point needs to be made about what a tremendous stoppage that was by the best in the business (big John) by not ending it too soon but not allowing Mo to take too much. Lawal is just not big enough for light heavy weight. I thought his amazing wrestling would allow him to thrive there anyways but he was just not strong enough for a beast fighter like Feijao, who appeared to have 15-20 lbs on Lawal on fight night. Mo wrestled in the 190s (I believe) and really shouldn't have much difficulty making 185 and that's where he should be. As for Cavalcante, in spite of being a black house guy, I actually like him. He looks like he's taking the sport seriously now, and although he did lose the first two rounds, he didn't lose by much and provided himself the opportunities he needed to finish the fight and then succeeded in doing so. Full marks to a guy who looks like he's a lower end top ten 205 now. He has holes in his game, the most significant of those being his hand speed, but he's pretty well rounded and has monster power. He'll be exciting to watch going forward from here.
4. I was disturbed by the news of Shane Carwin's "alleged" steroid usage and the way most of the MMA media seem to be covering it. Most of the media seem to think that Shane is a nice person and good ambassador for the sport. I'm not saying he is or isn't but he is being let off the hook for actions because he has time for people to give interviews and because he converses with fans on line. That has no bearing on whether he is or isn't a cheating no good rat that should be black listed in the sport. The media portrayed Lesnar like he was a jerk, because he mostly wanted them to think that. I happen to know people that regularly converse with the man, in real life with no cameras and microphones, and he is certainly not a jerk. Frank Mir also has a different persona in the media than in real life. These guys use the media to make themselves look like bad guys to sell fights. Carwin uses the media to look like an orphan saving, cancer curing, door holding ogre with a heart of gold. I'm not saying he is or isn't all or any of those things but whether the media thinks he is or isn't sure as hell isn't a barometer for the truth on the matter. They pretend Lesnar and Mir are dinks when they actually aren't so it's not out of the question to assume they paint Carwin with an over exaggerated hero brush too. Either way, it has no bearing on whether he did it or not.
I agree that he most likely won't test for positive for it, unless he's really really stupid, and I agree that he won't ever be prosecuted legally. The chances of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the guy cheated when all you have is his name on a list is ridiculously low. That being said, any disingenuous slimy wiener that tells somebody that "innocent until proven guilty" is the standard can eat a giant bag of dicks. I guess, by that standard, OJ Simpson is a wonderful hall of fame role model still then, eh? I guess we are better off to not be realistic people that can discern for ourselves when something walks like a duck, talks like a duck and beads water off of it's ass. Whether it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Carwin cheated has nothing to with whether he cheated or not or whether it's completely laughably stupid to deny that he has or hasn't cheated. Shane Carwin was a nobody when his name was on this list. He was less than nothing and not even remotely in a spot light of any kind when this convicted steroid dealer happened to have him on a buyer's list. The chances that he was put there erroneously are actually less than the snow ball's chance in hell chance that somebody could convict him of it. Of course he cheated. Of course he was on the juice. There is no plausible explanation as to why he is on this list other than that he is a dirty rotten scoundrel. Anybody denying that is delusional. Anybody that can't get past their nut hugging love for the only celebrity that actually talks to them and still feels he is being wrongly accused is not somebody intelligent enough to converse with. If Carwin actually is a man, and not a selfish worthless pathetic little coward boy, he will come clean and admit guilt, explain the circumstance (possible injury etc.), tell the kids not to do it because it made him gas to Lesnar (that one's a joke) and get on with his life instead of being considered a pariah for the rest of his career. I'm David Vaessen and this is my point of view.
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