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Why 2013 Kicked this MMA Fan’s @ss Part 11: November: "1-3-5 and STILL"

Note: To those who care Part 10 can be found here:

Why 2013 Kicked this MMA Fan's @ss Part 10: October: We have Science!

***

It's Thanksgiving month and we fight fans have a plethora of free events to be thankful for and a sick 20th anniversary card headlined by Georges St-Pierre putting his title on the line against Johny Hendricks.

We start off the first Saturday of the month with what was supposed to be Bellator's first pay per view event that finally ended up airing free on Spike due to Tito injuring his neck (while sticking it up his own ass) and pulling out.

Result

Alvarez beats Chandler and wins the Bellator Lightweight Championship by split decision to even the score 1-1.
He would never defend his belt and has since defected to the UFC.

Emmanuel Newton beats King Mo by unanimous decision.

Daniel Strauss defeats Pat Curran by unanimous decision to win the Bellator Featherweight championship,

To sum it up: a solid showing by the number 2 promotion.

Perhaps the main event being cancelled was the best thing to happen to them after all.

***

Six days later it's time for UFC Fight for the troops 3 - Kennedy versus Natal Live and free on Fox.

The main event was supposed to feature Tim Kennedy vs Lyoto Machida.

However, Machida was pulled from the bout in favor of a matchup with Mark Muñoz the week prior at UFC Fight Night 30, after Mark's original opponent, Michael Bisping was forced out of their bout with an eye injury.

Result

For a card that looked okay on paper, this one overachieved.

Here are the highlights:

Tim Kennedy defeats Rafael Natal by KO (punch) 4:40 of the first round.

Alexis Davis defeats Liz Carmouche by unanimous decision.

Yoel Romero defeats Ronny Markes by TKO (punches) a minute and a half into the third.

Rustam Khabilov defeats Jorge Masvidal Decision

In the feel good moment of the night Michael Chiesa chokes the fuck out boring, diaper-wearing, sponsor-ignoring,deceitful, cheap shot artist and military disgrace Colton Smith.

Bobby Green defeats James Krause by TKO (body kick)

Francisco Rivera defeats Georges Roop TKO (punches)

Amanda Nunes defeats Germaine de Randamie four minutes into 4th round TKO (elbows)

An entertaining night for the troops to say the least.

***

3 days later it's time for Vitor Belfort Versus Henderson live and free from Brazil.

Vitor decided the mullet-muhawk was too conservative and opted to shave a cross (or a sideway T) on the left side of his head (because nothing says "Christian love" like shaved body parts):

And whatever the fuck this is supposed to be on the right side:

Result

After an undercard with nothing but KO's and Submission, we move on to the main card where:

To the tune of Vai Morrer and in a move that would eclipse everything else that occurred in every other fight, Lionosaurus Rex hits Dan Henderson with an uppercut so fucking hard and majestic it literally lifts Hendo off his feet (and knocks the TRT right out of him and into the air).

He would then finish him by murder death kill.

****
1 week later it's time for the 20th anniversary show in the form of UFC 167: GSP vs Hendricks.

One of my friends volunteered to host the event at his place and the turnout was great: a nice mix of both hardcore and casual fans as well as neophytes.

So with undoubtedly an entire province watching...

Here we go (GIHYG)

Result

Sergio Pettis wins his UFC debut by Unanimous decision over Will Campuzano.

Rick Story defeats Brian Ebersole by unanimous decisions.

Donald Cerrone defeats Evan Dunham via slick triangle choke.

Tyrone Woodly defeats Josh Koscheck by KO at the end of the first.

Robbie Lawler defeats Rory MacDonald by split decision.

Rory got owned. He looked terrible. His jab and run did not work against someone that can hit like Lawler.

He used the same game plan as he did against Ellenberger. Also, Christ Rory... if you need to think 3 seconds before each action... you need to be an accountant, not a fighter.

In the co-main event of the evening, after candidly predicting his own demise and saying that:

"he has moved past Plan A and is now looking for Plan B and C. He is humble and quiet. It feels as though he has no idea how to beat Evans, and has come to terms with the idea of losing."

Chael Sonnen would lose in a one sided beating. Seriously Chael? The possibility that he might try to take you down did not occur to you? Many props to the West Lin gangster who will fight anyone, anyplace, anytime. It will unfortunately be his last UFC fight.

And in the main event of the evening Georges St-Pierre retains his welterweight title in a "controversial" decision.

For the record I still think the Jones vs Gustafsson decision is more controversial than this one.

All 3 judges decided that GSP won rounds 3-5 and lost 2-4. I concur with that 100%.

Georges got hammered in round 2. He could easily have been finished by Bearded Bastard (BB), but for some reason, the hillbilly decided to throw at only 70% power. Georges won round 3 and lost 4.

Going into the 5th round, I had it as a tie and Johny did nothing in that round.

Overall FightMetric (and myself) saw Georges land more power shots, although Georges seemed more fazed and dazed when BB hit him.

The scoring system is done round by round. Not at the end of the fight. Cosmetic damage also isn't taken into account. If it were, Diego, Wanderlei and such would always lose and...

In Round 1 - the only iffy round - Georges landed 2 high head kicks vs BB's couple elbows to his head.

Each fighter had 1 takedown. The difference was the submission attempt.

Did no one see the choke and the tentative tap?

Fuck. That scores more points than a couple elbows by far.

This is not a travesty. This isn't bad judging. It's a close fight that could have gone either way. End of story.

As for the postfight, It left a bitter taste in my mouth and changed my outlook on the UFC and MMA as a whole.

First off, Joe Rogan: You don't tell a fighter right after a fight this close: "A lot of people here, myself included, thought you won the fight."

Ditto for GSP. Considering English is your second language, perhaps right after the toughest fight of your career isn't the best time to make an announcement like:

A lot is going on in my life. I have to step away. Right now I have to go away for a little bit."

Run that by your bosses first.

Then, at the post fight press conference, you have Dana White telling the press: "GSP was rushed to the hospital and will not be joining us",

Only to have Georges show up 10 minutes later and say: "Hi guys! Sorry I'm late! I got the stitches on my head."

Before the champ showed up, Dana basically went on a tirade on his original cash cow, role model and probably the only fighter who has done ONLY positive things for the UFC (on top of putting, evidently, a lot of food on his table).

As a promoter, you do not put the media on the spot and ask them: "Raise your hand those of you who think Johny won the fight." at the post-fight press conference. What a classless move.

Instead of publicly chastising him, Dana White should have asked GSP privately: "What's up?".

Ask him how the UFC can help him. Ask him what he needs so that he fixes his issues and gets back into the Octagon better and more focused. Don't say he: "owes you, the UFC, the fans and BB a rematch".

You talk about how Rebney treats his fighters?

He's your biggest draw. You longest tenured champ. His remarks would stir up quite the media backlash.

He almost gives some credence to Tito's slavery remarks.

Then, to hear the hillbilly say he: "only went 70% and that was enough" between spitting tobacco in his water bottle...

I gotta give credit to Dana for cutting him off during that retarded statement and telling him: "No, no it wasn't. If it was you would have the belt in front of you and we would not be having this discussion".

GSP would close off the conference by refusing to answer questions on his next move or current state of affairs.

24 hours later TMZ would shed some light on the mystery:

Unplanned pregnancy and father's ill health are GSP's personal issues.

This whole mess left a bad taste in my mouth.

***

We close off the month with The Ultimate Fighter Finale: Tate versus Rousey where, after seeing the weigh-ins, I bet the house on Pennington because I thought Modaferri would be the first death in the Octagon.

Result

Nate Diaz defeats Gray Maynard TKO (punches) in the very first round (and demands a a title shot!).

Nate hasn't fought since. He was sitting out for a better contract and ended up with the very same contract. Maynard continued the trend of getting his brain rattled in 2014.

Julianna Peña defeats Rakoczy by TKO (punches & elbows) with one second left in the first round to become the first female ultimate fighter.

Chris Holdsworth defeats Davey Grant via rear-naked choke to win the trophy

On the undercard:

After winning the Oscar for best actor, Akira Corassani defeats Maximo Blanco by disqualification 0:25 seconds into the first round. Yes, the knee broke his nose in 5 places, but it should have been a No contest.

No intent. First shot. Not clearly blatant. Stupid hand on the ground rule.

Rousey and Miesha Tate joined the TUF Finale post-fight show on UFC on FOX with broadcasters Jon Anik, Kenny Florian and Ariel Helwani. To say the experience was awkward would be the understatement of the year.

***

November Folklore and Tidbits

UFC Quick Quote: Pat Barry not thrilled about making two-day flight to Australia to fight Soa Palelei December 7th. In hindsight, flying should have been the least of his worries.

In boxing news, Manny is broke and it's about to get worse.

Ben Askren calls out Rousimar Palhares. (I'd love to see that fight)

On the Ultimate Fighter Tate vs Rousey: After getting a free ride to the semi-finals because his opponent failed to make weight and was expelled, Anthony Gutierrez binges on Armenian BBQ, fails to make weight and is expelled from the show, giving David Grant a by to the finals. I wish I could make this shit up.

The next day, Ronda Rousey goes insane and cuts 17 pounds in 24 hours to prove a point.

An injury forces Antonio Rogerio Nogueira out of his bout with Alexander Gustafsson. (The headline should actually read: "Upcoming fight forces Nogueira out of his bout...")

Vitor Belfort announces he will stop using TRT to fight the winner of Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman rematch

GSP's Coach would go on record and say Dana White apologized to Georges-St. Pierre after UFC 167, saying after rewatch he thought the champ won

Ben Askren meets with UFC Brass and the meeting goes nowhere. Rumor has it he was handed a TUF application form at some point during the meeting.

Nick Diaz claims Dana White offered UFC fight to a manager who doesn't exist (God I miss this man).

Quote of the Month

"Seriously think about this. This is the 20th anniversary of the UFC and it would be hard to debate that this hasn't been the greatest year of fights in the UFC. Anderson Silva-Weidman 1 and we're gonna get two in the same year. We had Dan Henderson and Shogun. We had Melendez and Sanchez, one of the sickest things I've ever seen. The Dos Santos fights with Cain, the last two. The Jones-Gustafsson fight. The Henderson-Pettis fight. That entire card in Houston. The fight for the troops was awesome. The list goes on and on. It's probably been the greatest year, at least in the history of Zuffa."

Dana White, acquiescing 2013 is the greatest year of all time.

And these words were said before Mark Hunt vs Antonio Silva.

***

That does it for November. Thank you for reading. Coming up next (GIHYG): Why 2013 Kicked this MMA Fan's @ss Part 12: December Disaster

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