(The following entry appeared first at MMARated.com)

Anyone who’s listened to my appearances on Fight Network Radio knows that I am an unabashed Mauro Ranallo supporter. I have no problems saying that I think he’s the best play-by-play man in the combat sports world. Just my opinion, don’t get all worked up.

So, today’s news that Mauro has been (finally!) tabbed to call the 5/31 Elite XC on CBS card alongside longtime CBS Sports announcer, Gus Johnson, is probably the best thing I have heard all month.

Johnson gets his feet wet in the MMA world while the rest of the world is exposed to Ranallo. Sounds like a good deal. Johnson will handle the play-by-play duties alongside Ranallo, Frank Shamrock and Showtime boxing reporter Karyn Bryant.

As a longtime New York Knicks supporter (please hold the comments), I am well aware of Johnson’s wizardry on the mic. Someway, somehow he’s always calling the most exciting games and his reactions throughout said games are always tremendous.

Ranallo and Johnson might be two of the most easily-excited broadcasters in sports so this pairing will probably end up being the ultimate match or a colossal clash. I’m thinking, given the talent we’re dealing with here, it will be the former.

One thing to watch out for is how Ranallo handles being in the Stephen Quadros analyst role. This is certainly new territory for him.

For those who are somehow unaware of Johnson’s fantastic abilities, please take a look at the following video and then join me in getting really excited.

Update: I contacted Ranallo to get his thoughts on the announcement and this is what he had to say:

Oh that Mauro, always a jokester. Of course, he was kidding about the whole Kellerman thing. Everyone knows Max is the fairest of them all.

It’s a busy morning at MMARated.com (and FOXSports.com too) because we’ve got dueling BJ Penn and Sean Sherk interviews.

Some of the highlights include:

Ariel Helwani: Penn has been very outspoken when the topic of your suspension, your appeals and steroids in MMA has come up. Basically, he’s not very happy with you right now. What do you think about all the stuff he has said leading up to the fight?

Sean Sherk: To be honest with you, I don’t even know what he’s talking about. I don’t really read up or follow any interviews online or anything, so I don’t know what kind of comments he’s made as far as him having a beef with the way I handled my situation. I didn’t take Nandrolone so I mean everything I did was pretty much all innocent. I’ve passed three lie detectors tests and then explaining all the mistakes that the California (State Athletic) Commission made in the process and the testing facility, I felt like there was plenty of evidence there to prove that I hadn’t taken anything. To be honest with you, I think BJ wants to keep bringing up that steroid stuff because maybe he feels like that’s what brings legitimacy to the belt that he’s got. I don’t think he deserves it. I think that if you want to be the champion, you’ve got to beat the champ. (That) belt was taken from me for something that I didn’t do. He wants to keep sticking the steroid stuff in my face, but for him to be talking about me like that, it’s kind of a hypocritical because I know he’s got some habits, some professional habits that professional fighters shouldn’t have. And he knows it just as well as I do, so he should maybe take a look in the mirror and think before he speaks.

AND

Ariel Helwani: I recently spoke to Sean Sherk and he’s still very adamant that everything he did was kosher. Obviously, you don’t believe him, right?

BJ Penn: Well, I asked him (on a conference call last week), ‘did you do steroids?’ He said no. I said, ‘did you do growth hormone?’ he didn’t answer. I said, ‘did you blood dope?’ He didn’t answer. Then somebody asked me, ‘so do you think he did steroids when he fought Hermes (Franca)? I said ‘well, if he didn’t do steroids then his test should come out the same way with his Nandrolone and testosterone level.’ The same thing because I’m sure he trained just as hard for this fight as he did for the Hermes fight. So, if he didn’t do anything, he should be exactly the same as last time. So, we’ll see. We know there’s more people than just him on performance enhancement drugs in the UFC. (But) you know what? It’s time to just focus on myself. A lot of smack talk has been going back and forth but come Saturday it’s all going to end the next time I get in the ring.

Pretty solid stuff from both combatants. Check out the Penn interview here and the Sherk interview here.

(The following post also appeared on MMARated.com)

As a long-time boxing enthusiast, I’m well aware of the ugly side of the sport. Mainly what happens to the guys who stick around a little too long. Brain damage, impaired speech…that kind of thing.

One of the worst examples of this is what has become of former Olympic Gold Medalist and welterweight champion, Meldrick Taylor. Take a look at the following clip courtesy of HBO Sports’ “Legendary Nights” series (fast forward to 4:42 of the clip):

Since MMA is fairly new to the sports scene (especially compared to boxing) we have yet to witness such effects on the sports’ top stars. However, that might be changing sooner rather than later.

I recently came across a startling interview featuring Chuck Liddell on “Last Call with Carson Daly” from 2004. Listen closely to how he sounds:

So, what’s so special about that? He sounds normal, right? Right. Now, take a listen to this recent interview with the UK’s “Daily Telegraph”:

Read the rest of this entry »

Another week is about to be put in the official record books so it’s time, once again, to look at the week that was and the weekend ahead in the world of mixed martial arts. It’s little thing we like to call “The Week’s End Update.”

Today, we welcome the editor-in-chief of the new-and-improved bloodyelbow.com, Luke Thomas, to help make sense of everything.

Some of the topics we delved into it were:

* Tonight’s IFL event

* How would Luke help revamp the IFL

* Roy Nelson vs. Brad Imes

* World Victory Road’s growth

* Sengoku match-making

* Roger Gracie vs. Yuki Kondo

* This week’s TUF 8 announcement

* The problems with TUF

* Will Andrei Arlovski sign with Affliction?

* Affliction’s future

And that’s just a taste so check ‘er out.

LISTEN TO THE LUKE THOMAS INTERVIEW AT MMARATED.COM

The majority of boxing fans are excited about David Haye making the move to the heavyweight division. Is he good enough to hang with the big boys? Well, we’ll see about that.

However, one thing’s for certain, the man is doing a great job of selling himself as well as a potential showdown against Wladimir Klitschko.

Case in point: The following video of Haye confronting Wladi. The former cruiserweight champ has yet to fight in the heavyweight ranks but he is already my favorite big man out there. Screw building him, give us Haye vs. Klitschko now!

I am not even sure what to say about this “shoot” video featuring Teddy Hart (record date unknown but given the content discussed it appears to be fairly new). It’s one of the greatest pieces of media I have ever witnessed in my life.

Actually, in all seriousness, it’s kind of sad. Teddy Hart is a wonderful talent when he wants to be. Unfortunately, a lot of other issues keep halting him from truly realizing that talent. In a nutshell, this video highlights some of these issues.

A few years ago, I worked on a wrestling story for HBO Sports’ Real Sports with Bryant Gumble (made famous due to this altercation between Vince McMahon and reporter Armen Keteyian). That piece also featured an interview with a young Canadian wrestler named Teddy Hart.

Hart wasn’t featured all that much in the story except for one quote where he basically said that he would do whatever it took to make it to the top (WWE) and that included taking performance-enhancing drugs. Yup, he said that.

I don’t have a copy of the story so I can’t quote him exactly but, trust me, that’s what he said. None of the producers working on the story really knew who Teddy Hart (other than the fact that he had a famous wrestling last name) but everyone definitely thought it was strange to hear a person in his position, with his family history, say something like that.

Anyhow, from the looks of this video, it appears as though that was just Teddy being Teddy.

by Alan Counihan, JarryPark.com contributor

On May 5th, the Dragon Gate promotion in Japan ran one of their biggest shows of the year in Aichi. The promotion drew a crowd of 8,000 which is extremely impressive considering Dragon Gate is not one of the “major” Japanese wrestling organizations.

Now, even though most fans don’t consider them a top tier promotion, I would beg to differ. They’re certainly one of the most successful and profitable, that’s for sure. One week prior to the 5/5 event, New Japan ran a show headlined by IWGP champion Shinsuke Nakamura against puroresu legend Keiji Muto. Guess what? They drew 2,000 less than the Dragon Gate show.

Perhaps more glaring a fact is that All Japan, a company with years of tradition and big names, ran an event last week too, in the same building as Dragon Gate no less, and only drew 3,200 spectators (less than half the Dragon Gate attendance).

Admittedly, All Japan is not the company it once was but this was definitely a big show for them. That said, Dragon Gate out-performing them so drastically is startling to say the least.

For the last couple of years, Dragon Gate’s attendance has been impressive, both at the big show level (their Kobe World Hall show has approached 10,000 consistently) and the small touring show level. They have a good TV deal on Gaora and they make an absolute killing on merchandise. Most Japanese promotions have difficulty generating good business outside of Tokyo, Dragon Gate, on the other hand, excels when it spreads it wings outside of Tokyo.

A lot of fans may not realize that Dragon Gate runs more shows than any other company in Japan, approaching the 200-date range each year. That is only slightly less than WWE and their shows are split across two touring brands. Therefore, the average Dragon Gate wrestler actually work a lot more dates than the average WWE wrestler.

So what are the reasons behind the success? I think the main reason is that they provide an alternative. A Dragon Gate show is unlike any other wrestling show. They have a different in-ring style which has evolved from the training of Ultimo Dragon and the Toryumon and T2P promotions. They also present a unique (based on Japanese standards) style of booking. Their presentation, from the TV production values to the setups at the arenas, is top notch, as well. All of these factors have led to the promotion creating a very loyal fanbase who seem to be exclusively Dragon Gate fans, a unique phenomenon in today’s current wrestling climate. It’s no secret that they have a huge following in the female and gay community and there’s no doubt that they cater to this sector of society on occasion, a tactic that certainly pays off in terms of making money.

A lesson other wrestling/MMA promotions can learn from Dragon Gate is that if you want to challenge the big boys you have to deliver something different out there. You can’t settle by becoming WWE-light or a second rate UFC. Sure, it’s important to have a similar foundation, but you need your own flavor to set you apart from not only the big companies but also the hoards of companies that are attempting to copy them.

I hope everyone will soon realize that Dragon Gate is not just “that small promotion in Japan that has guys come to ROH every year.” No, they’re actually an extremely successful promotion with a large and loyal following to whom wrestlers like CIMA, BxB Hulk, Shingo Takagi and Dragon Kid are big-time stars. If you get a chance to check out Dragon Gate, I cannot recommend doing so enough. This is actually a great time to start watching them as they just re-shuffled a lot of their main factions and there are a ton of new storylines starting up. Bottom line, though, is that their in-ring product will blow you away the first time you see it.

It’s been a fairly unpredictable season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” thus far, but no result was more unexpected (in my mind at least) than Amir Sadollah’s victory over Gerald Harris on last night’s episode of the show.

Sadollah seemed to be lacking confidence going into the bout while Harris, well, he appeared to be feeling quite good about the whole situation. Oh, how we were wrong…

Of course, as is the case in many MMA fights, things can change in a flash and that’s kind of what happened when Sadollah nailed the former IFL fighter with a nice knee to the head.

Following the loss, Harris showed a ton of emotion and, really, who can blame him? He lost to a guy with an 0-0 record (1-0 if you consider the qualifying match to get on the show).

On a side note, how weird would it be if Sadollah makes it all the way to the finals with a 0-0 record? That would certainly be a first.

Anyways, we caught up with Harris to talk about last night’s fight and some other stuff:

* What was it like watching the fight with all his family and friends knowing that he was about to lose (also chronicled on Cagepotato.com quite well).

* Their reaction after the loss

* His feelings after the loss

* In hindsight, should he have done anything differently in the fight?

* Did he underestimate Amir?

* How hard was it to look at Amir at the house?

* His time in the IFL All that and much more from Harris…

LISTEN TO THE HARRIS INTERVIEW HERE 

There’s just something about those ring girls. Everyone loves them and we here at mmarated.com are no different. So, with that in mind, I present a most enlightening interview with one of Strikeforce’s exquisite ring girls, the lovely Nicole Craner.

Nicole is actually one of the friendlier ring girls I’ve come across lately . Heck, she’s even an mmarated.com member! So, it was no surprise when she answered all my stupid questions in an honest, sincere and fun manner.

Some of the topics we discussed included:

* How she got involved with Strikeforce

* Her MMA knowledge (quite impressive I must say)

* Sitting cageside for Le vs. Shamrock

* Her desire to someday work for the UFC

* Does she like any fighter out there like, you know, more than a friend

* Have any fighters ever hit on her?

Oh, and we also played a quick little round of my favorite dinner party game: F, Marry, Kill. Some of the candidates involved were Scott Coker, Rachelle Leah, Gilbert Melendez, Dana White and Urijah Faber. Good times indeed.

LISTEN TO THE NICOLE CRANER INTERVIEW HERE

Over at my home away from home, MMARated.com, I’ve got some quasi-interesting shots of Roger Huerta training with GSP in preparation for his fight against Kenny Florian in August.

What a great pairing these two are: Down-to-earth, humble, good-looking and, most importantly, great ambassadors for the sport. Oh, and they are also two of the best fighters in the UFC.

I don’t really think anyone is subscribing to the whole ‘Roger Huerta ain’t for real’ notion anymore but, if they are, training with the likes of St. Pierre will help shut all the critics up soon enough.

Anyhow, enough from me, check out the pics here.