This is probably the most important MMA card of the year as it pertains to the sport as a whole and it has nothing to do with the UFC. Strikeforce has an opportunity to become a player, but only with the success of this CBS card. By doing a good rating in the demos that CBS wants, we’ll see more of these. After the stench of EXC, I imagine CBS won’t be too lenient with a bad rating.

So now the question is, does Brett Rogers have a chance to upset Fedor Emelianenko. Let us know with your vote!

Vote on the right hand side of this page. And if you want to add some color commentary to your vote, do so in the comment section of this post.

It’s preview time again at FGB.

MMA is back on broadcast television. CBS is giving Strikeforce a shot to provide MMA on their network, and Strikeforce chose Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers to be their hook to make the biggest splash possible. For one weekend, all of MMA’s eyes will be on Strikeforce and I know that all of us here hope that they pull off a great show because major acceptance of MMA in the eyes of the public will only be good for the sport as a whole.

The FGB crew, along with Stevie J from AngryMarks, break down the top three fights on the show.

Gegard Mousasi vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou

Big D: Mousasi by 1st round TKO
Duan: Mousasi by 1st round submission
GG: Mousasi by 1st round TKO
Stevie J: Mousasi by 3rd round TKO
Cactus Jim: Mousasi by 1st round TKO

Big D says:

Oooo…. Sokoudjou is gonna get obliterated, annihilated, ripped apart, torn to bits, and all of that stuff. Mousassi kills this man.

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WWE corporate issued a very interesting memo to all cable providers this morning in regard to some major changes in the PPV Schedule.

After catching a lot of flack from fans, stockholders, workers, and even creative team members, WWE has dropped the number of total PPVs now from 14 to 13, now going the traditional one show per month route, with the exception of October which has two shows.

The catch though is that starting with January 2010’s Royal Rumble, all non-Wrestlemania PPV events will now be 44.95 SRP and 49.95 for HD. Wrestlemania will remain 54.95 and 59.95 for HD. This is the first price increase since 2006. In addition, WWE is moving several PPVs around, most notably DROPPING Judgment Day (which we reported here) and Breaking Point after only one show. This is most likely due to the fact that the worldwide buyrate for September’s Breaking Point came in at an embarrassing 169,000 buys. In addition, Extreme Rules and Night of Champions have been moved around.

The current 2010 WWE PPV Schedule looks like this:
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Why does Scott Junk talk like BJ Penn?

They replay Rampage tearing out the door after hearing that Scott Junk lost. My DVR cut this part off the first time, so this is my first time seeing him destroy it.

He says that he hates when he loses his temper because he feels ashamed. He says that he wanted to apologize to the door, but it was too late.

Wes is going to throw Matt a party for winning the fight and Matt is hurt and exhausted. Wes shot him with silly string. Matt was sleeping and told him that his brain was rattled and to stop playing.

Marcus Jones is the last man standing for Team Rampage. Rampage says if Marcus loses, he may annihilate the walls like he did the door.

Mike Wessel’s wife has cancer and being away from her is hard for him. Wessell says he fought Antoni Hardonk last year and he thinks that because he fought hard, that’s what helped him get on the show.

Marcus says that he was good enough to play in the NFL, but he was never a student of the game. He wants to be a student of the game in fighting.

Team Rashad drew pictures of Marcus and Mike wrote, “Sucks balls” at the bottom and Marcus got butt hurt and pouted. Marcus says he’s not holding back and he’s going to take someone’s arm home with him.

Rashad apologized to Titties and said they need to make up. He hugged him, but didn’t stop calling him Titties. Then he squeezed his chest and Titties got mad and tried to measure up on him. I’ve never laughed so hard watching this show.

Marcus Jones vs. Mike Wessel
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Big D and I are back to preview the Fedor vs. Brett Rogers Strikeforce CBS show, talk about the loss of several UFC key main events, discuss Pacquiao/Cotto 24/7, and discuss how pro wrestling makes us sad and angry.

Listen below.

Right click to download.

This is Showtime’s attempt to market Fedor Emelianenko and his fight with Brett Rogers in the same way that HBO markets their big fights with 24/7 or that UFC does it with Countdown or Primetime. How are they going to do it with their main star who doesn’t speak much English? Let’s see.

The show starts with Fedor training in a small gym in Russia where children also train, as to show that he’s not above training with the common folk. His striking coach says they don’t change their training style often, only maybe to tweak it based on the opponent.

Against most of his opponents, Fedor doesn’t look that big. But sparring with his partners, he looks like a huge monster.

In a sense, the training almost makes it look like the Fedor camp is taking Rogers lightly as they are shown laughing after Fedor throws around his partner.

The Rogers camp says that they have to look at Fedor as a man because that makes him beatable. He also says that Rogers does work on the ground as well, but he wasn’t very convincing.

Brett’s wife’s name is Tiuna and I’m not exactly sure how to pronounce that. They show him getting his mohawk tightened and talking about his upbringing. What’s up with hype shows and guys in the barbershop?
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A sold out crowd showed up for the first authentic Dragon Gate show on UK soil, and the final leg of the company’s European tour. Some quick notes first on the non-match related stuff:

-The meet & greet was remarkably well run. Mark Sloan and his crew did a great job organising it and the wrestlers were really great and friendly. Everyone got tons of awesome photos and autographs.

-The venue was very cool and helped in creating a great atmosphere. It’s definitely somewhere I’d love to watch wrestling again.

-Aside from a couple of sound issues, the production was first class. Looked very very sharp.

Dark Match: Stixx vs. The Lion Kid

Lion Kid gimmick got over huge in, what I believe was it’s debut. Total big man vs. little man match and they put together some cool stuff. I particularly liked Stixx’s shoulder block based offence – he hit some big big tackles, including an awesome one to the back of Kid who was sitting on the apron. There was a lot of flying and catching which for the most part looked good, but none of it was as good as the KILLER Boss Man Slam by Stixx towards the finish. Finish played off that, as he went for another and was cradled for three. Fun match!

1. Real Hazard (Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito) vs. Jonny Storm & Marty Scurrl

Went way longer and was way better than I expected (and I was expecting a good match to begin with). Genki was absolutely hilarious throughout – he’s such a fun live act, getting offended at H-A-G-E chants, slipping odff the ropes, selling the twisting of his dreadlocks and repeatedly seeking comfort from Ryo. Both Brits looked right at home in there with the DG vets, and Scurrl in particular with how young he is, could really fit nicely into the roster in a way similar to PAC and The Young Bucks. Dude has tons of potential. The match was real fun interactive babyface/heel stuff for the first two thirds, but then they went nuts down the stretch with some big BIG moves like a German Suplex into the corner, a tope into a tornado DDT, a SWEET brainbuster by Genki and plenty more. Finish after all that was a double low blow by Ryo, but trust me, it worked. His reaction after getting the pin was awesome! Crowd ate this up.

2. KAGETORA vs. Mark Haskins
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The last big fight of the year is nearly upon us. You have two of the best fighters in the world fighting each other and the outcome will trigger tons of potential big fights.

So the question is, who do you think wins?

Do you think Manny Pacquiao will overcome and become even more dominant?

Or will Miguel Cotto shock the public (though not the boxing world) and dethrone the pound for pound champion?

Vote on the right hand side of this page in the poll and if you have thoughts, add them to the comments.

Frankie Gavin
light welterweight
4-0 (4 KO’s)
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