Welcome Maniacs to the 5th Season of the Mania Money Pool!
Last season saw Agar, a lurker, take top prize in impressive fashion by taking an early lead with two top 5 performances to start the season (4th & 2nd respectively), then coming through in the clutch by taking first place in the final event. Congrats Agar, you fuckin lurker!
Just to recap the first 4 Seasons to date:
Season #1 Champion: Violent Mike
Season #2 Champion: BNF
Season #3 Champion: Violent Mike
Season #4 Champion: Agar
Now, before we get started, special thanks to Jay for taking care of the finances for another season. Let's not overlook the time and effort some people put into making this shit happen - thanks Jay!
On to the Bayou!
Last night's free Battle on the Bayou or Battle of the Jakes, was headlined by former Strikeforce Champion and BJJ wonderkid Jake Shields taking on the up and coming hard-hitting welterweight Jake Ellenberger. Also on the card of significance was the return of Alan Belcher taking on the Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald.
In my opinion, the factors in those 2 fights were: "would Jake's fathers death effect his performance?" and "how would Belcher perform after a year layoff from a serious eye injury?" Well, looks like Belcher's recovered just fine and passed the test with flying colours. As for Shields, we're not sure if his head was somewhere else - but it's probably safe to say it was.
I picked Shields in this fight, thinking he'd be able to get Ellenberger down and control him enough to ride out a decision or pull a sub, but from the beginning I knew he would be in trouble. Jake was pretty much just walking into the juggernauts bombs to get the clinch, and it was only a matter of time before something landed - and it took less than a minute.
Onto the scores! Who got gold? You've Got Gold!
YouveGotGold put up some solid rookie numbers by going 10 for 12 and getting full points on 3 fights. What really did it for him was taking Vagner Rocha by 2nd round submission and grabbing 22 points. I actually had that same thing picked and then switched it last second to Rocha by UD, oh well.
Sarah, Lady of Mania, has shocked the Mania world by taking the silver medal. She went 9 for 12, also picking Rocha by 2nd round submission. Has Sarah ditched ANS and AK's advice for another Maniac's? Let the rumours fly!
Trailing Sarah is NNR, also going 9 for 12 with some solid picks, taking Rocha by submission in round #1 and Ellenberger by KO in round #2 - if only you got the rounds right, good pickin tho. NNR also picked Seth Baczynski by 2nd round submission. Impressive.
Underdog Pick of the Night: Jake Ellenberger - Only 8 Maniacs took Ellenberger, while 40 took Shields. I thought it would've been a little more evened out, but looks like Shields' experience was too much for people to overlook. Justin Edwards was victorious over Jorge Lopez, but picked by none of the Maniacs, while his opponent was picked by 46.
Dumbass of the Night: Yan117 - sorry for changing the name of this award Yan, but this is more fitting. While I'd like to award this to those who scored lower than Yan's 5 points - I find it hard to, considering they didn't make any picks (armbar actually made 1 pick), while Yan117 got 5 points and GOT ALL HIS PICKS IN. Yes, this is a record low in all of the Seasons. The only fight Yan got right was Evan Dunham. Yes, he picked Mike Stumpf who took the fight in 1 week notice. Well, thanks for scoring lower than me, I thought I mighta been in this position with my terrible performance, but nothing can be worse than this.