UFC 102 has some interesting fights, but I’m not sure exactly what they mean in the long run. Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva is a fight that could be very entertaining, but both guys recently lost to top fighters in the light heavyweight division and a win or a loss for either guy probably doesn’t mean a whole lot in the whole scheme of things. Chris Leben and Jake Rosholt will more than likely be entertaining in the striker vs. wrestler sort of way. And Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brandon Vera has a chance to be exciting because Krzysztof will force Vera to mix it up.

But there are only two real fights that seem to feel special. Demian Maia and Nate Marquardt is the one fight, other than the main event that has true implications in title standings. It’s also going to be a great contrast of styles with Maia who is a demon on the ground, with the more well-rounded and battle tested Marquardt. And of course, our main event, which would’ve been a better fight 5 years ago, but should still be legendary once the two veterans lock up.

Big D, Alan, Duan, and myself are back with our thoughts on the two big fights, and Stevie J from AngryMarks.com and loyal reader JP from WeAreSC.com drop by with their thoughts as well.

Demian Maia vs. Nate Marquardt

Big D: Maia by 2nd round submission
Alan: Marquardt
Duan: Marquardt by 3rd round TKO
GG: Maia by 2nd round submission
Stevie J: Marquardt by 3rd round submission
JP: Maia by 2nd round submission

Big D says:

I think this will be close, but I gotta go with Maia with the 2nd round submission. I think Nate will get caught by the master.

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WWE announced on their site that Rey Mysterio will be suspended for 30 days due to a violation of the wellness program.

In accordance with WWE’s Wellness Program, effective Wednesday, September 2, Oscar Gutierrez (Rey Mysterio) is suspended for 30 days for a violation of the company’s policy.

This is a real pity because Mysterio has been great recently. He has looked completely rejuvenated in his role as IC champion. Rey is coming off an excellent match with Ziggler at SummerSlam, and that feud was developing nicely. Hopefully this doesn’t completely kill off that momentum.
I’m sure we will hear plenty more on this story in the coming days regarding the seriousness of the violation, and what direction WWE will go from here.

Big D and I returned last night for FGB Radio. We were talked the Paulie Malignaggi vs. Juan Diaz decision, were joined by Eddy Zucko to discuss SummerSlam and how the Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk angle played out, Bryan Danielson, talked the UFC 101 buyrate, the Fedor vs. Brett Rogers fight, and ended it by previewing the top two matches at UFC 102.

Listen below.

Right click to download.

The show is Twitter interactive, so follow us on Twitter @fightgameblog. You can also follow Big D @EmperorBigD, and Stevie J (who hosts our shows for us) @Angrymarks.

Fox 5 News in Las Vegas is reporting that the home of Floyd Mayweather Jr. was raided and searched by authorities in the Las Vegas area today after his vehicle was found in the vicinity of an incident involving gunfire at a location called the Crystal Palace Skating Center.

The authorities obtained a search warrant for Mayweather’s home prior to arriving. Mayweather is not a suspect for any crime thus-far and there is no proof of any connection between Money May and the shootings.

Mayweather is scheduled to come out of retirement and make his big return against Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 19th. In addition, Floyd is scheduled to be the guest host on tonight’s edition of WWE Raw. I am not sure as of yet if this writing if anything has changed with regard to that and he is still scheduled to appear.

The Fox 5 Story can be read here.

First a quick look at the Warriors-5 Produce Infinity 140. I haven’t watched the Mochi Produce 141 yet, but there’s no real rush on that.

The W-5 show was bags of fun.

-Rocker/Wrassler Ricky Fuji did an awesome concert with all the wrestlers at ringside and Great Sasuke doing awesome air guitar and air drums.

-Pretty solid tag with KAGE and Susumu taking on some of the M-Pro guys.

-Main event was one of the funniest matches of the year. I had a smile on my face the whole time. Good action too! I really like OMEGA.

142

Susumu Yokosuka & KAGETORA vs. CIMA & Gamma

Teammates collide in wonderful wonderful gear!!!! Seriously CIMA and Gamma’s get-up needs to be seen to be believed. Fun brawling, and plenty of W-5 antics which have really grown on me. “OOOOOO!”. Nice action down the stretch, CIMA was going for the kill on KAGE and he got caught with an AWESOME cradle that I’ve never seen before. Good match.

Highlights

Naruki Doi, Naoki Tanisaki{W} (6:52 Implant) Akira Tozawa{L}, Dragon Kid

Yasushi Kanda, Kenichiro Arai{W} (10:03 Low Blow->Samson Clutch) Masato Yoshino{L}, BxB Hulk

Two fun looking matches here. Would have like to see non-clipped versions. Points of note include Naoki de-pantsing himself for the finish (his unique way of debuting new gear) and Araken attacking a BxB dancer (which is a first to my knowledge).

YAMATO & Shingo Takagi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Katsuhiko Nakajima

This is like as saliva inducing a match as I could have fathomed. And it lived up to the hype. Awesome, hard hitting match. Really great chemistry between the teams and they busted out lots of cool stuff like the TOPÉ MASAAKI (which I adore). Came down to Shingo and Kats with the time limit ticking down. Great finishing stretch, with brutal forearms from Takagi and kicks from Nakajima. Big pull apart after the time limit expired.

Funny skit with Speed Muscle in Philadelphia trying to rent a car closed the show.

Overall a really fun episode. One of the best of the year.

Infinity 142 – 8.5/10

WWE’s annual summer showcase show is in the books and while WWE TV didn’t do much to build up the show, it seems like our staff enjoyed it for the most part.

GG

Thumbs slightly up
Best match: Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk
Worst match: The Great Khali vs. Kane (yep, worse than the ten second match)

This should generally be a show that I would say that I really enjoyed. However, there was something missing. It’s simply the “it” that’s missing from wrestling today. Everything generically worked in the ring and the main event was a truly special because of how hard both guys worked to make it a great send off for Jeff Hardy. I even enjoyed DX vs. Legacy, which went way too long and was entirely predictable, but I enjoyed because everyone worked hard. Rey Rey vs. Ziggler was a very good opener and set the tone for the night.

But Cena vs. Orton was booked horribly. It made wrestling in general and Cena as well, look like a complete joke. Cena had Mr. McMahon, the referees, a crazed planted fan, and everyone else in the world behind him trying to help him win the title, and he didn’t. And if he had, he’d have won it with the deck stacked against Orton. I didn’t get it at all.

While MMA and boxing come off as huge events that you can’t miss, this came off as nothing more than a regular monthly PPV to me. Enjoyable, but I don’t feel like anything other than the main event was special or was even booked to be.

Alan

Thumbs up
Best Match: tie between Hardy/Punk and Ziggler/Rey
Worst match: Khali/Kane

Very solid show, bookened by two very good matches. The opener was a great back and forth match, and I thought Dolph hung pretty darn well. Main event was a typical TLC singles match, intense brawly type stuff leading to a couple of big spots. The Superplex and the Swanton were just nuts. My favourite thing on the match (and probably the show) was after Jeff blocked the second chair into ring post spot and just went apeshit beating the holy hell out of Punk with strikes and chair shots.

Rest of the show was a mix of decent, poor and average matches. Thought Cryme Tyme did very well for themselves. They had a better showing than all the other “young guys” (MVP, Swagger, Rhodes, DiBiase) in those matches.

Big D

Thumbs WAY Up
Best Match – Hardy/Punk
Worst Match – Khali/Kane

Summerslam far exceeded my expectations and was either the #1 or #2 best WWE PPV of the year. Every single match delivered quality in one way or another other than one and it was the one that we all expected (Kane/Khali). The snobby smark in me would’ve hated the Christian/Regal deal, but I didn’t mind the finish because it made sense that Christian take advantage of Regal while he’s removing his clothes (no homo to that). It reminded me of a fight in PRIDE between Wanderlei Silva and Kazuhiro Nakamura where this happened and that was real. The feud continues.

DX had a Wrestlemania-styled entrance and actually gave Legacy tons of offense. Swagger/MVP, Rey/Ziggler, and the tag title match were also very solid bouts with clean finishes, which is something I am loving about WWE PPVs nowadays. While Orton/Cena may have been a liiiiiiiiittle bit too much of a cluster with all the false-finishes, it was the best worked match between the two that I can remember seeing. The RKO at the end got the biggest pop of the night.

My prediction/idea about Undertaker coming back at the end of the show proved right and it was cool how he did it. Prior to, Hardy and Punk gave career performances in an absolutely sick and painful-looking TLC match. If you had told me months ago that Punk would headling three major WWE PPVs in a row including one of the big four, I’d have called you a fanboy. Well fanboys rejoice! Overall, if you missed this show, 100% worth the replay and DVD.

P.S. WWE needs to run Los Angeles for at least one PPV a year. The crowd was incredibly hot and the production values were stellar, and that made the show feel even MORE important than Wrestlemania this year.

We’ll see you after UFC 102!