The Jones vs Rampage Fight was a waste of Money

I can't believe how setup this fight was.  Jones basically choked out Rampage after Rampage basically layed down and gave up his back.  Totally a stupid fight that made no sense - Rampage didn't deserve the shot.

Mayweather and Pacquiao getting closer now

Now that Manny Pacquiao has accepted the drug testing it looks like the Mayweather fight will be close to coming to fruition.  After the very strange Ortiz fight where both Ortiz and the ref made some really stupid decisions.  Let's hope Mayweather is okay with Pacquiao's acceptance of drug testing.

According to ESPN, Mayweather has told Richard Scheafer of HBO that he is ready to fight both Amir Khan and Pacquiao in the next 18 months.  If he beats Pacquiao, I would be very interested in seeing Mayweather fight Khan.

Haye vs Klitschko is 99 Percent Done According to Manager

It looks like Wlad Klitschko and David Haye may actually fight on June 25th or July 2nd according to Wlad's manager.  The two sides have negotiated a fight with a 50-50 split after Wlad dropped out of his fight with Dereck Chisora due to an injury.  If Wlad is still injured his brother Vitali may step in and take the fight with Haye as both are in the contract.  After some pretty crazy trash talking between both sides this heavyweight superfight looks to be ready to go.  It could be the biggest fight in boxing outside of Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather.  Since the contract isn't signed anything is possible but lets keep our fingers crossed that this fight happens asap.

Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Negotiations Starting Up Again

According to Floyd's uncle Jeff Mayweather, the camps of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd are going to get a letter of intent for a fight later in 2011.  If they sign the letter they should probably enter negotiations to set up the fight and if everything goes well we'll have a fight near the end of the year.  It seems Mayweather finally needs the money and has probably seen holes in Pacquiao's armor over recent fights.  Maybe he's hoping Shane Mosley will further break him down.

Penn and Fitch fight to Draw

BJ Penn looked great in the first two rounds but couldn't sustain in the third as Fitch came back with a big round to earn the draw with BJ.  It was a tough draw for BJ who should have won the fight as he was controlling it soundly.  The potential for a rematch is high although Dana White thought Penn clearly won.  If Jake Shields beats GSP then Penn might get the shot at Jake for the title and GSP vs Fitch for top contendor.  If GSP wins then maybe Fitch vs Penn for the title and GSP moves up to 185.  Lots of possibilities for Penn and Fitch at welterweight.  I think ultimately Penn should move back down to lightweight or even down further to 145 for a fight with Jose Aldo and a chance to become the first 3 division champion in UFC history.  I think the Aldo fight would be the biggest motivation for Penn and that's what he needs right now is a challenge.

Fedor Beaten Again and Dana White goes Ballistic on Twitter

Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva battered Fedor Emelianenko's eye in round two of their heavyweight tilt last night causing the doctor to stop it before the start of round 3.  This was Fedor's second loss in a row after phenomenally going undefeated basically his entire career.  The greatest heavyweight of all time is now contemplating retirement.  The bitter fued between M1 Global and Dana White came to fruition last night when White ran his twitter mouth rampant on M1 Management and Fedor with some shocking expletives (doesn't he have a corporate communications group to monitor / filter him??).  Dana thinks that Fedor isn't that great in the last 4 years and was mismanaged.  I don't think that's way off in terms of the mismanagement but in terms of his greatness - I think he has been the best.  He was mismanaged in that he didn't get to perform enough during those years.  He's still a great heavyweight.

The best thing here is that Silva now moves on and a fight between Overeem and Silva is possible which would be quite exciting.  The loser between Overeem and Werdum could likely get a shot at Emelianenko which would be great as well.  For Strikeforce, this is a big win since they have a great amount of talent in their organization (especially at heavyweight).  It propels the young Silva into the top ten heavyweights in the world meaning Strikeforce now has Overeem, Werdum and Silva in the top ten on most lists (I would also add Barnett, Fedor and Kharitonov).  In the UFC, you've got Cain and JDS.  That's pretty much it (maybe Lesnar at the bottom).

Strikeforce Farm System

It looks like Strikeforce is becoming a true talent development machine similar to the UFC.  With talent like Tyrone Woodley and Daniel Cormier among many others they are proving they can develop top flight talent and not just pick up UFC left overs.  Brendan Vera is a free agent now that he has been cut from the UFC but Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said they don't need to sign UFC cuts exactly because of this talent development capability they now have.  I do think that Brendan Vera would be a good signing at least for a couple of fights since he helps beef up their light heavyweight division and could act as a gate keeper for future talent.  Mousasi, Feijao and King Mo give them a strong core of light heavyweights that I think could compete at the top levels of the UFC but they need someone to test their up and comers and I think Brendan Vera could do that.  It's important to note that Strikeforce didn't bother signing big names Keith Jardine, Kimbo Slice and Mark Coleman after they were released from the UFC.  In fact, they haven't even signed former top prospect Todd Duffee who at least has future potential.  This is a good sign for Strikeforce and indicates that they may be ready to compete long term at the top levels with the UFC.

Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament set to Determine the Best

The best MMA heavyweight in the world will be determined at the end of the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament which starts in Feb.  It's an eight man tournament that features fights with Fedor Emelianenko against Antonio "bigfoot" Silva and Alistair Overeem against Fabricio Werdum.  Josh Barnett, Brett Rogers and Andrei Arlovski are also in the tournament.  Once the tournament ends we'll definitely have the best heavyweight in the world determined (regardless of what the UFC/MMA Live family says!).  The UFC is struggling with injuries right now.  Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos are the only top ranked heavyweights in the UFC.  Brock Lesnar is and always was over rated.  Frank Mir is also over rated.  Shane Carwin (like Josh Barnett) has already been busted for PED use and there really isn't much else from a heavyweight perspective in the UFC.

GSP to Face Jake Shields and Fedor Comes Back

Fedor Emeianenko will face Antonio Silva on a Feb. 12th Strikeforce card that will also feature Andrei Arlovski versus Josh Barnett.  It looks like Fabricio Werdum will take on Brett Rogers in March as well.  This is setting up a heavyweight tournament between the best heavyweights in the world (outside of maybe one or two in the UFC).  I'm assuming Alistair Overeem will also be fighting in there somewhere early next year (defending his title).

In other fight action, GSP will get arguably his greatest challenge against Jake Shields at UFC 129 in Toronto.  That one should be an amazing fight between two top pound for pound fighters.  That fight will be happening on April 30th and be sure to expect an interesting tactical fight.