Upcoming fights for the UFC this Fall

I apologize first and foremost for my lack posts but it's go time and I would like to share some big fights that are coming to the UFC this fall and winter.

UFC Fight Night
Welterweight bout: Jake Shields vs. Jake Ellenberger

UFC 135
Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Jon Jones (c) vs. Quinton Jackson
Welterweight bout: Matt Hughes vs. Diego Sanchez

UFC 136
Lightweight Championship bout: Frankie Edgar (c) vs. Gray Maynard
Featherweight Championship bout: José Aldo (c) vs. Kenny Florian
Middleweight bout: United States Chael Sonnen vs. Brian Stann

UFC 137
Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre (c) vs. Nick Diaz
Heavyweight bout: France Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione
Heavyweight bout: Mirko Filipović vs. Roy Nelson

UFC 139
Heavyweight Championship bout: Cain Velasquez (c) vs. Junior Dos Santos
Bantamweight bout: Brian Bowles vs. Urijah Faber

Also on November 12th UFC will have it's debut show on FOX which will be live. Also the coaches from the Ultimate Fighter will be fighting on the finale and not a pay-per-view. The fight will be a Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Jason Miller. Keep checking back for more UFC fights and news as it happens.

Is the NFL Becoming Too Soft?

With the NFL season on the horizon and with all the the rule changes it will be interesting to see how the new rule changes will effect the game. Here are some of the rule changes that have taken place during the offseason.

- They were Changes made in regards to the kickoffs to limit injuries. The first is kickoffs will be moved from the 30 yard line back up to the 35 yard line, changing the rule from 1994. Also players on the kickoff coverage team can not line up more than 5 yards behind the kickoff line, which will minimize running starts and helping reduce the speed of collisions.

-All of the replay reviews of questionable scoring plays during the entire game can now be initiated by a replay booth official at anytime. Coaches will no longer have to use one of their red flag challenges if a questionable scoring play occurs outside of the two-minute warning

-Hits to the head of the quarterback by an opponent’s hands, arms or other parts of the body will not be penalties unless they are obvious forcible blows, which changed the existing rule that any contact to the quarterbacks head, no matter what the reason was, was penalized as a personal foul (15 yards).

-Players will be not allowed to do a launching maneuver to level a defenseless player, and will not be allowed to forcibly hit the neck or head area with any part of their body regardless of whether the defensive player also uses his arms to tackle the offensive player by wrapping him up, and lowering the head to make forcible contact with the top or forehead parts of the helmet against any part of the offensive player’s body. Any player who breaks this rule will be penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness and will be ejected from the game if the contact is obviously flagrant.

With these new rules in place, it definitely favors the offense. The way I see it you mine as well as take the defense out of football and make it flag football. I have a feeling a lot of these rules are changing because of all the lawsuits against the NFL from former players due to concussions. As far as I am concerned, players past and present have no case to sue the NFL because they knew full well that the sport they were getting into was brutal.

We will see how defenses like the Lions, and Steelers who have headhunters are their teams respond to these rule changes. I have a feeling you're going to see a lot of fines and ejections this year so stay tuned for more on this very touchy subject.

UFC and FOX Reach TV Deal

It was announced today that the UFC has a reached a brand new TV deal with Fox. This is really huge for the UFC because it would be the first time in their history it would be on network television. The deal from what sources are saying is going to last seven to eight years and all programming that was on Spike TV or Versus will move to the FX Network. They will also four live specials on Fox in 2012.

This huge for Fox because they already have the Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and I believe the World Series. This is huge for the UFC because it now gives them a larger audience and allows them to partner up with other shows and sports shown on that station. This coming year in 2012 expect some big things with the UFC because of this new deal. I see the live fight cards, the Ultimate Fighter and the other specials being so much better.

Keep staying tune for more on the UFC and this new deal. I believe it will shake a lot of things up so keep checking back on an official date for when they debut with Fox. Right now it looks the time-frame is January but make sure you keep checking back for more on this new deal.

CM Punk defeats John Cena, Alberto Del Rio Cashes in at Summerslam 2011

The biggest match of the years, possibly in the history of WWE took place. It was WWE Champion John Cena vs. WWE Champion CM Punk for the Undisputed WWE Championship. Even before the match started Punk had some choice words for Stephanie McMahon backstage. The match itself was a classic. Both men put on a great match tonight and in the end Triple H's costly mistake as special guest referee allowed CM Punk to become Undisputed WWE Champion.

However the night wasn't over yet. Out of nowhere comes Kevin Nash and blindsides Punk with the Jackknife Powerbomb. This allows Alberto Del Rio to come out and cash his Money in the Bank and become the new Undisputed WWE Champion to end the night.

Other results on on the show include:

-Kofi Kingston,Rey Mysterio and John Morrison defeated Alberto Del Rio, R-Truth and The Miz
-Mark Henry defeated Sheamus by count out
-Kelly Kelly (c) (with Eve) defeated Beth Phoenix (with Natalya)
-Wade Barrett defeated Daniel Bryan
-Randy Orton defeated Christian (c), Orton becomes new World Heavyweight Champion

I really enjoyed the Orton vs. Christian match. It started out with a surprise appearance by Edge telling his best friend that he was a crying whining baby. Christian thought Edge would be in his corner but it wasn't to be. The finish was incredible and I can't even put it into words how brutal it was.

All the matches were solid and we even saw a cameo appearance with Ron Artest and Jimmy Hart. It was a nice solid pay-per-view. There are a lot of questions and storylines that are going to come out of this and I will be curious to see how they play out. What a great summer it has been for WWE, what a great Summerslam that will go down as controversial and shocking.

Sting vs. Ric Flair: One More Time

It was announced on the Impact Wrestling tapings August 18th there would be one final battle between the "Icon" Sting and the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. It is slated to take place at No Surrender on September 11th. These two men have so much history together. It dates back all the way to 20 plus years ago when Flair made Sting a star in the wrestling business.

They wrestled on the first Clash of the Champions to a 45 minute draw. They were teammates against The Great Muta and Terry Funk in a steel cage match. At one point Sting was a member of the Four Horsemen. Whether they have been allies or enemies people have always tuned in to see them in the ring at the same time. People maybe sitting around say what a joke, these two old timers can't go anymore. It's been proven that Sting can go. As for Flair, I remember three years ago when people said the same thing and he had an incredible match with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24.

Even though Flair's matches in TNA have not been great I believe he is training extra hard for this one. I know this one is going to mean a lot to him. Both men have held a lot of titles and have had a lot of classic memories and moments that will last forever. Speaking of memories, one of the more ironic things about Sting and Flair is that they wrestled the first match on the first WCW Nitro and wrestling the last match on the last WCW Nitro. Kind of fitting because these two were the faces of WCW before Hogan, Savage and the others came.

All I am going to say is if this match takes place on September 11th, Sting needs to stop the Insane Icon gimmick and come out like this:

September 11th has become one of the most patriotic days in this country. Obviously he won't come out with blonde hair but come out to the red, white and blue. That would get a great reaction from fans and it would get people talking. No matter when this final match between Sting and Flair takes place, it's going to a great match and as Sting would say, "It's Showtime Folks!"

Summerslam 2011 Predictions

Summerslam is this coming Sunday and the card is pretty solid so far but there is one match that I want to focus on and that's the match everyone is talking about. John Cena vs. CM Punk for the WWE Undisputed Championship. A new twist was thrown into the mix on Raw which turned into Triple H naming himself the special guest referee. I see two scenarios happening at Summerslam.

Scenario one: CM Punk wins the match thus becoming the Undisputed WWE Champion. However after the match he gives Triple H the GTS setting up a match between the two at WWE Night of Champions in September. This would make sense because in my eyes I view Punk-HHH as a new version of Austin-McMahon.

Scenario two: Even the Punk-HHH thing can be played out in this scenario. The other scenario sees Triple H screwing CM Punk of his title and help Cena regain the title. Now if Cena wins the title it could go two ways. Cena could align himself with HHH like the Rock did and form a new Corporation stable or Cena is upset with the help and it turns into John Cena vs. CM Punk vs. Triple H at Night of Champions.

You maybe asking why I am bringing up Triple H and Night of Champions? The latest issue of WWE Magazine has strongly hinted that The Game will make his in-ring return at the PPV. These two scenario's are the only two that make sense. If it were me I would go with scenario one just because if CM Punk loses the title it will kill all the momentum they built with this storyline. Plus if you think about it, a match with Triple for the title could really put Punk at the next level. Only time will to see what happens with this volatile situation.

There are three other matches announced for Sunday and they are:

-Christian (c) vs. Randy Orton:No Holds Barred match for the World Heavyweight Championship
-Kelly Kelly (c) vs. Beth Phoenix: WWE Divas Championship
-Sheamus vs. Mark Henry

Tune in this Sunday to find out who will become the Undisputed WWE Championship! As the old and some often used WWE Motto says, "The World Will Be Watching."

Kurt Angle Wins TNA Heavyweight Title at Hardcore Justice

Last night in an epic battle of two of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Kurt Angle challenged Sting for the TNA Heavyweight Title. Both men said they needed the title for different reasons. Kurt had also made a promise to win the match cleanly but that didn't happen. Hogan came out with a steel chair and was going to hit Sting with it. Instead Angle took the chair away from Hogan and hit Sting with it. This led Angle to victory and leaving everyone shocked and looking for answers.

There really wasn't any other big storylines on the show except for Jerry Lynn costing RVD a match and Abyss possibly getting kicked out of Immortal. Here are the rest of the results from Hardcore Justice

- TNA X Division Title: Kendrick def. Austin Aries and Alex Shelley
- TNA Knockouts Tag Title: Tessmacher & Tara def. Rosita & Sarita
- Bound for Glory Series Match: The Pope def. Devon
- TNA Knockouts Title: Winter def. Mickie James to become the new champion!
- Bound for Glory Series Match: Crimson def. RVD by disqualification
- Six Man Tag Match: Fortune def. Immortal
- Bully Ray def. Mr. Anderson
- TNA Tag Team Title: Beer Money def. Mexican America

Tune in this Thursday to catch the fallout from Hardcore Justice and see the start of Kurt Angle's title reign.

Review of USA's Neccessary Roughness

Earlier this summer the USA Network came out with a new TV series called Necessary Roughness and right away I was intrigued because it had to do with sports. The show stars Callie Thorne who plays the role of Dr. Danielle "Dani" Santino. Her character is a therapist, who is recently divorced with two kids. She's very hard on the athletes she works for and does her best to keep them out of trouble.

The main athlete in the show is Mehcad Brooks who plays Terrence "T.K." King. King is the star athlete of New York and lands himself in a lot situations that get him into trouble. Dr. Santino is very hard on him and sometimes he doesn't want to listen. She also helps other various athletes and entertainers. Her therapy is described as tough love and people love working with her.

So if you like sports or woman telling a man what to do tune in on Wednesday Night's on the USA Network for Necessary Roughness

Review of Quaker Steak and Lube- Grand Rapids, MI

If you like sports, motorcycles, cars, and TV's in the floor Quaker Steak and Lube is your place. I recently ate their with my friend Nate who is a sports fan like myself. Right away we blown away with how nice the place looked especially the floor with a TV inside it. They had a couple of really nice arcade games like Golden Tee and NASCAR. Our host and waitress were really friendly and attentive which made for a positive experience.

I spent sometime talking to a few staff members and asked them what makes them different then other restaurants similar to theirs. They said that the food was better and that they appeal to wide variety of people. They have events like Family Night, Bike Night, Karaoke and more. They also show UFC events during the colder months of the year. The events that I heard about sounded good but the food sounded even better.

I ordered some breaded boneless wings and they were filling. They were some of the best boneless wings I've ever had, if not the best. Nate also enjoyed his food as well and said it was some of the best he's had. We both agreed that will be stopping in their more frequently.

If you're in the Grand Rapids area and enjoy a class sports bar, Quaker Steak and Lube is the place to be. It's friendly, fun and the food is delicious. Be sure to check their website out http://www.quakersteakandlube.com/Kentwood_MI/

Located at:
4515 28th Street
Kentwood, MI 49512

616-285-9464

Tues - Thurs: 11am - Midnight
Fri and Sat: 11am - 1am
Sun and Mon: 11am - 11pm

Are the Philadelphia Eagles a Dream Team?

Over the last couple of days, the media has labeled the Eagles the Dream Team. There are a lot of people who don't like the way Philly did their business and the how the made their signings. Business is business and Philly wants to win one finally. If you look at their depth chart you'd be amazed. Here are just some of things NFL teams have to look forward to this year.

QB- Michael Vick and Vince Young
RB- LeSean McCoy and Ronnie Brown
WR- Jeremy Maclin, DeSean Jackson, and Jason Avant
TE- Brent Celek and Donald Lee
DE- Cullen Jenkins
LB- Casey Matthews
CB- Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

I am sure I have left off a couple of names but look at these names. They got so much talent that it's ridiculous. Here is what the regular season schedule for the Eagles looks like this year:

1. Sun, Sep 11 @ St. Louis
2. Sun, Sep 18 @ Atlanta
3. Sun, Sep 25 vs. New York Giants
4. Sun, Oct 2 vs. San Francisco
5. Sun, Oct 9 @ Buffalo
6. Sun, Oct 16 @ Washington
7 BYE WEEK
8. Sun, Oct 30 vs.Dallas
9. Mon, Nov 7 vs. Chicago
10. Sun, Nov 13 vs. Arizona
11. Sun, Nov 20 @ New York Giants
12. Sun, Nov 27 vs. New England
13. Thu, Dec 1 @ Seattle
14. Sun, Dec 11 @ Miami
15. Sun, Dec 18 vs. New York Jets
16. Sat, Dec 24 @ Dallas
17. Sun, Jan 1 vs. Washington

They got a pretty tough schedule this year but with all of the talent they will probably get through a few these games rather easily. One final thought and that is Rex Ryan you shouldn't be asking other teams to beat the Patriots. You should be asking everyone to beat the Eagles because on paper they have the best team. Only time will tell to see they will fail like the Miami Heat in basketball. Stay tuned for more folks. Are you ready for some football?

NFL Free Agent Frenzy 2011 Part 4

The free agent frenzy continues as more names are signed, released and traded. Here is another round of moves over the last two days.

-Bears agreed to terms with TE Desmond Clark.
-Packers re-signed WR James Jones.
-Eagles agreed to terms with RB Ronnie Brown
-Jets signed LB David Harris to a four-year contract. Also re-signed CB Antonio Cromartie to a four-year contract
-Rams agreed to terms with RB Jerious Norwood on a one-year contract.

The biggest news of the last couple of days is that Randy Moss announced his retirement which to me is kind of a shock but then again really isn't. Moss hasn't gotten any offers he liked so I think he is just playing the waiting game to see if a contender comes his way. As always keep checking back for more on Randy Moss and other players who don't have a team quite yet.

NFL Free Agent Frenzy 2011 Part 3

A lot more big signings took place yesterday and it's starting to slow down just a little bit but here are all the official signings from Sunday

-Cardinals signed TE Todd Heap to a two-year contract.
-Bills agreed to terms with LB Nick Barnett on a three-year contract.
-Bengals agreed to terms with RB Cedric Benson on a one-year contract.
-Packers agreed to terms with WR James Jones and RB John Kuhn on three-year contracts.
-New York Jets agreed to terms with WR Plaxico Burress on a one-year contract.
-Redskins acquired RB Tim Hightower from Arizona for DL Vonnie Holliday and an undisclosed draft pick.
-Bears agreed to terms with RB Marion Barber on a two-year contract.

Some of the big names that have not found a home yet include Atari Bigby, Kevin Boss, Ahmad Bradshaw, Ronnie Brown, Braylon Edwards, Donald Lee, and Terrell Owens. There are so many more out there but these are the ones who stick out to me. Keep checking back to see who will be signed next.