MMA Melee: "The Week In MMA"

Showtime Challengers 13 Results
Tyron Woodley defeated a very tenacious Tarec Saffiedine by Unanimous Decision. "T-Wood" upped his record to 8-0 and now finds himself very close to title contention. It was not all roses though as Tyron looked very beatable on the feet though his elite wrestling smothered the Team Quest opponent. In the final round however, you could tell Woodley's gas tank was on empty but he still gutted out the win.

Ovince St. Preux defeated Ron Humphrey by Unanimous Decision. Ovince (love that name!) now has a 7 fight winning streak going and has taken many in the MMA world by surprise. There are so few Light Heavyweights in Strikeforce that this kid is going to move up fast at this rate. Perhaps a meeting with Renato Sobral will tell us where this kid lands in the rankings.

Daniel Cormier defeated Devin Cole via Unanimous Decision in a route. Give Cole credit. Devin's wrestling and toughness were quite adept to hang with Daniel though his striking was not. Cormier can transition so fluidly from anywhere that it is a thing of beauty to watch. I still don't believe the super-star wrestler should be at Heavyweight with his short size. A move to Light Heavyweight will have to come when Cormier gets to the top tier of the Heavyweight division.

The UFC Cut List has grown longer with Brandon Vera (7-6 in the UFC), Antonio McKee, and Marcus Davis (9-5 in the UFC) all being shown the door. The Vera axe is long overdue and Antonio should not have even been in the UFC but I'm sad to see the "Irish Hand Grenade" go. He was so 1 dimensional when he started and morphed into a true mixed martial artist. All of these guys will surely get picked up and we just wait to see where they all land.

MMA legend Jens Pulver (22-14-1) has not yet retired and will fight for the Chicago Cagefighting Championship as the main event of a March 5 fight card against the ever present fighter, "TBA."

"Lil Evil" has only tasted victory twice in his last 10 outings but has been training with former rival BJ Penn.

Anthony Pettis will take a fight in the meanwhile since Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar are going to settle things with the Lightweight title 1st. “Anthony was obviously disappointed in not getting the title shot, but he also understands why Dana made that decision,” said Mike Roberts (of Anthony's Management team). “After consulting with Anthony and Duke Roufus, we collectively decided that it would be in Anthony’s best interest to take a fight in the meantime. A 10-month or possible year layoff was just too long. We believe with a win against a top lightweight contender Anthony will still get the title shot later in the year." "Showtime" continues to impress me with his maturity and talent in the fight game.

Jacob Volkmann got a visit from the Secret Service after some ignorant comments he made about President Barack Obama post UFC 125. The Secret Service acted as though it was not a big deal and just something they had to do because some lady filed a formal complaint. My complaint is that watching "X-Mas" fight is as interesting as watching another "Fockers" movie.

Chael Sonnen is getting his comeuppances as he has now plead guilty in a mortgage fraud case involving a wire fraud scheme. The Team Quest fighter was forced to give up his realtor's license and will probably be put on some sort of probation in Oregon. The UFC has "frozen" Chael's contract and replaced him in the bout with Yoshihiro Akiyama with Nate Marquardt at UFC 128. How far can this guy fall?