UFC 132 Predictions

June 30, 2011 by [Fight Pastor]

It seems like the UFC has a fight card every weekend now. It is hard to keep up. This Saturday’s UFC 132 event is debatably the most stacked card this year. Great fights from top to bottom. Several intriguing subplots, not the least of which is Tito Ortiz. Are we about to witness Tito’s last UFC fight or will he pull off a Rocky Balboa type comeback? We find out on Saturday!

So with a diet Cherry Coke in hand and Escape From L.A. as ambient noise in the background. (By the way, the events in Escape From L.A. take place in 2013. Be prepared like my mom and have a bottle of water and a can of food in the trunk of your car, just in case.) My picks for UFC 132.

Jeff Hougland by 3rd round submission over Donny Walker

Anthony Njokuani by decision over Andre Winner

Aaron Simpson by decision over Brad Tavares

Brian Bowles by 2nd round submission over Takeya Mizugaki

George Sotiropoulos by 1st round submission over Rafael dos Anjos

Melvin Guillard by 2nd round TKO over Shane Roller

Dennis Siver by 2nd round KO over Matt Wiman

Carlos Condit by 2nd round KO over Dong Hyun Kim

Ryan Bader by 3rd round TKO over Tito Ortiz

Chris Leben by 2nd round KO over Wanderlei Silva

And in the main event, for the bantamweight championship….

Urijah Faber by 5 round decision over Dominick Cruz

So what do you think? Let me know if you agree or disagree.

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Nate Marquardt Cut from UFC

June 26, 2011 by [Kermit]

I just got home from watching the Seattle Sounders 2-1 win against the New England Revolution. I was in good spirits and excited to sit down and watch some great fights on Versus.

The headlining fight of Nate Marquartd vs. Rick Story has been changed to Rick Story vs. Charlie Brenneman. Marquardt was not allowed to fight by the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission. Dana White said that Nate was cut from the UFC and would never fight in the Octagon again. With no explanition as to why Marquardt was not cleared to fight I have been left to use my imagination.

Here are my top ten reasons as to why Nate Marquardt was cut from the fight.

1. He was running an elaborate dog fighting ring;     Lets face it, Michael Vick pretty much ruined this time honored tradition by putting it in the spotlight. Now my uncle Leo has to hold his events in secret like some sort of criminal.

2. DVD Piracy;      Rumor has it that he was caught selling pirated versions of Disney movies out of his trunk.

3. Space Pox;     Much worse that chicken pox or even monkey pox, space pox comes from space so that makes it scarier.

4. Dysmenorrhea;       It’s gross. enough said

5. Vampirism;      He got bit by a vampire and now he sparkles under bright lights like one of the guys from Twilight, the commission felt that would be too distracting.

6. German flu;      Just like the regular flu, it just sounds dirtier.

7. I think I’m going to leave it at 6 reasons, anything else I would write from here could be taken as rude and inappropriate, and I really don’t want a Nate Marquardt with recently acquired extra time to come looking for me.

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Looking ahead to UFC 132

June 21, 2011 by [Kermit]

I have been unable to watch any of the latest fights, but there really haven’t been any that were able to draw my attention away from my newest hobby; I am the newest member of a scooter gang in the greater Seattle area. We call ourselves the Seagullz (you can tell how dangerous we are because we spell it with a “z”) and we ride around on our scooters loitering in front of signs that clearly say “No Loitering”.

With that being said, here are my thoughts on the fights coming up on July 2, 2011.

Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber. I’ve seen Urijah take heaps of punishment in the ring and he never gives up. Unless Cruz is able to chop Faber’s legs the way Jose Aldo did back in April of 2010. I’m picking Urijah to win.

When I first started training I got the chance to meet Chris Leben. This was the same time the first season of The Ultimate Fighter was airing.  I have enjoyed watching his career with the UFC, especially within the last year.  On the other hand, Wanderlei Silva was plowing through opponents like Kristy Alley going through a plate of cupcakes. The guy has 33 wins, most of which were against tough opponents, but they were quite a while ago, and MMA is a young man’s game. There is a reason Michael Jordan no longer plays basketball, no one wants to see their hero jump up to snag a rebound and come crashing to the floor like Jeff Conaway after a night on the town. I am hoping to watch Leben climb to the top and fight for the championship, but he is coming off a knockout loss. I’m going to stick with my gut and say Leben pulls the win by 2nd round KO.

Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader, I truly believe that Tito will somehow get injured and have to be pulled from the fight.  If not I will root for Tito, only because I bet $7.00 on Ryan Bader to win at UFC 126. I don’t normally risk that much money on a single fight, but i had a hot tip from a one-eyed man I met in the men’s room.

He was a kind old soul who said he once fought in UFC 200 back in the 80’s, and then he asked me for a dollar.

Melvin Guillard, Carlos Condit, and George Sotiropoulos will all win their fights by arm bar at the 2:34 mark of the second round.

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Fighters Who Love Jesus

June 6, 2011 by [Fight Pastor]

This past Sunday at Canyon Creek Church we baptized 25 people. People ask me often how we evaluate the health of our church. We have been in existence for 7 years and during that time have grown to average over 800 every Sunday. We have seen hundreds of people commit their lives to Christ. Have given tens of thousands of dollars to missions. Have sent people out into full-time ministry. Seen lives radically changed. Marriages miraculously restored. But ultimately we evaluate the health of our church by the baptisms.

Getting water baptized is that moment when people are willing to go public with their faith. They have gone beyond raising a hand or checking a box. They are willing to make a public declaration of their faith in Jesus Christ. I read a status update on Facebook recently from someone who was quoting Alice Cooper. It stated, “Drinking beer and trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that is tough. That’s real rebellion.” When I was a Youth Pastor I used to dare students to carry their Bibles around school. I would always tell them if you want to prove you have guts carry your Bible around.

Baptism is that opportunity to go public about your rebellion against what everyone else is doing. It is your opportunity to declare, “how you live your life is your own business but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord!” It takes some serious guts!

I was especially proud this set of baptisms because several of the MMA fighters in our church got baptized. The MMA world around Western Washington is small and close knit. Fighters all know each other. They look out for each other and they keep an eye on each other. Seeing Tim, Kale, and Jonny stand up and make a bold, public profession of their faith made me proud. This was their opportunity to declare to the world of MMA, we fight but we fight for something greater than our reputations, we represent Jesus every time we enter the cage.

So with the local MMA community watching, some fighters showed some serious guts and made a bold stand for Jesus and their faith.

Proud of you guys!

Tim Abell

Tim Abell

Kale Bradford

Jonny Gilbertson

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Here Comes Jonny!

April 30, 2011 by [Kermit]

Instead of watching GSP lay on top of Jake Shields for 25 minutes, I went to Everett Community College to watch CageWars.

Even though the UFC card was supposed to be the biggest fight ever, I somehow knew that GSP would give a performance that would be even more boring than the Royal Wedding.

Many of the fights ended early with either ref stoppage or a knock out which I believe happened in the first 12 seconds.

I was there to support Jonny Gilbertson who has been coming to Canyon Creek Church for a few months now. Over these last few months I have had the chance to get to know him a little bit, he is an amazing guy. I was at the gym last week and he was there getting ready for his fight. We grappled for a few rounds, and I stood about as much chance of getting a submission as Bethany Hamilton has of winning a clapping contest.

After watching a chick fight, a 115lb Youth MMA fight, and a 300lb Kickboxing match, I was getting excited to watch Jonny in action. I went back to pray for him just after the 11th fight. Fight twelve was Jeff Sweeny’s 12 second knock out which I didn’t see, but heard the cheers from the locker room.

Jonny came out to the loudest cheering I have heard since watching a WWF fight in the Key Arena, people even made signs.

Jonny worked for a quick single leg take-down and was able to maintain the top position throughout the fight, winning by decision after 3 rounds of dominating the fight.

Congratulations Jonny, I’m proud of you.

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