MMA Musings

When I began writing Char Broiled, I wanted to get away from the tired aspect of the grizzled PI who back in the day went five rounds with the heavyweight boxing champ. Mixed martial arts is  one of my loves, and the fastest growing sport in the world. I wasn’t the only artist looking to MMA for inspiration, though -- there are a variety of artists coming out of the woodwork who have mixed martial arts as their muse.

The three founding members of TapouT may have been the first artists to enter the cage, putting their designs on tee shirts and selling them at the events, back when MMA was illegal in many jurisdictions. Of course, TapouT is now a huge, successful clothing company and sponsor of events and fighters. They’ve used their success to benefit the sport and those participating, a lofty goal for any artist.

The UFC 146 main card on May 26^th originally had five heavyweight fights slated. One failed drug test and several injuries resulted in every one of those matches being retooled. The heavyweight belt is now being contested between  champion Junior ‘Cigano’ dos Santos (14-1), one of the most talented boxers  the UFC has ever seen,  and Frank Mir (16-5), a two-time HW champion and submission wizard. Both men possess oodles of character.

The challenger won his first UFC HW belt in 2004 by snapping the arm of 6’8” Tim Sylvia. With his winnings, Mir bought a crotch rocket and got T-boned at an intersection while spinning about Las Vegas. He broke his femur, nearly died, and spent a year and a half hooked on pain killers and alcohol.  A gutsy wife and a serious gut check got him out of that tail spin.

TUF 15 episode 10 featured the quarterfinals tonight, so I’m told. TUF ‘live’ isn’t actually live, and although I have nearly every channel available to mankind, I can’t watch the show till 2 hours after it airs, if then. Last week it was on time, but that faked me out and I wasn’t able to watch it till midnight. This week it follows a baseball game, which will last God only knows how long. The first eight weeks TUF  were on at 7, 8, or 9 o’clock, nobody knew exactly when.  Forget about it now that baseball season is on.

The UFC on FOX 3 was a fire burner from preliminaries to headliners. The featherweights stood and traded like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, and a couple of title contenders emerged in the main card. UFC president Dana White can be sure the UFC came out of this event with a lot more fans than it went in with.

Lightweights Nate Diaz v Jim Miller

Nate Diaz became the first man to finish Jim Miller. The technique was a power guillotine, but what got him there was an overwhelming array of strikes and far superior boxing. Taunts and showboating are all patented tricks of the Diaz brothers, who aren’t satisfied just wining. Arms down, slapping his own head, Diaz goaded Miller to the finish.