disappointing draw on Saturday at UFC 120, as Kongo won two rounds, Browne won one and a point deduction against Kongo turned decisive.
Bellingham, WA (October 18, 2010) -- Every now and then, a snowboard movie comes along which changes our perception about what is possible on a snowboard—TB5 and Subject Haakonsen come to mind in this regard. And while the usual subjects make their yearly contributions to progression in all realms of the shred world—one need only look as far as the yearly offerings from Absinthe, Think Thank, Standard and beyond to find new inspirational nuggets year after year—Jeremy Jones’ two year TGR project, Deeper, was high on my list of films to see this fall.
Climbing and riding unexplored zones—an approach first showcased in principal cinematographer Chris Edmands’ 2008 offering, My Own Two Feet—Deeper was the result of two years of total dedication to a new approach from Jones and company. So when it came to Bellingham this past Friday night, to a mountain community with a deep appreciation for backcountry exploration, it also came in carrying big expectations for the several-hundred riders in attendance.
At close to 80 minutes in length, Deeper took a decidedly documentarian approach. With so many down days in the storms of Alaska, the riding that was accomplished is admirable. A new level of big line spine shredding, hopping from rib to rib over serious exposure brought the pucker-level to a new high. The fact that they were doing it sixty miles from the middle of nowhere and climbing the lines made it all the more gripping, but also added a perspective on how a mountaineering approach can enhance access to previously unrideable lines—an intimate knowledge of conditions and terrain undoubtedly allowed the riders to step to lines that may not have been approachable via heli drop. The same goes for the sections from Chamonix, Antarctica and beyond—sometimes climbing a serious line is the only way to ride it.
My only caveat may have been the seemingly mellow approach with which Jones and crew approached a new level of gnar—to the uninitiated, it may seem like they were too laid back, but those who have spent time with mountaineers and backcountry guides will realize the calm is only a result of countless days in the mountains and that there is a constant process of calculation taking place behind the relaxed demeanor of Jones, De Le Rue, Rice, Dirksen, Burt, DeBari and their companions. And in an industry used to half hour action dumps, the pace may seem slow to some—this, however, reflects the reality of what it takes to bag just one keeper line given all the variables of exploring unknown mountains by foot. Indeed, Deeper feels like a strong first step in a new direction, and showcases some of the best big mountain riding to ever grace the big screen--all achieved through largely human-powered means--and opens the door to endless possibilities for exploration. Undoubtedly, we are going to see more from Jones and company in the near future.
Beyond the exotic locales, seeing what was available as close to home as the Tahoe backcountry (see our visit to Tahoe this January) proved that with a little commitment, even previously-blow-out zones offer much to be explored—it just takes a little more dedication, a heap of knowledge earned through multiple seasons of self-ascent, and a symbiotic relationship with the mountains.
Ultimtely, Deeper cracked open the door for serious mountaineering as a legitimate pursuit in the snowboard world—a new approach to an old phenomenon, and an important contribution to snowboard media that will endure for years to come.
The previously undefeated young British fighter John Hathaway was all ready to put on a show in front of the British fans Saturday at UFC 120. But Mike Pyle had other ideas.
A UFC Hall-of-Famer, an elite welterweight and a drunk Muay Thai aficionado all stop by during this week's episode of "The Ultimate Fighter." All that, and weak pranks, too! Read on for spoilers and a recap of TUF.
Contemplative moment of the week: Koscheck is frustrated with his winless team, and you can't blame him. He's a fighter who is where he is because he took advantage of being on "The Ultimate Fighter," then moved to the elite of the UFC's welterweight division because he found a good team at American Kickboxing Academy. In both scenarios, he has been utterly coachable, listening to everything his coaches -- from Chuck Liddell to Bob Cook -- had to say. To light a fire under his fighters, he brings Jon Fitch in to work with his team.
Weak prank of the week: Alex "Bruce LeeRoy" Caceres continued pranking people, this time by putting bleach in Nam Pham's fabric softener, which Michael Johnson used. Is that even considered a prank, or just vandalism?
Crazy coach of the week: Koscheck is not the only one who brought in a new trainer this week. GSP brought in Muay Thai expert and "uh, what you call him, a free thinker" Jean Charles Skabowsky. Coach John Danaher told the team, "This is either going to be the best experience of your life or the worst." Skabowsky showed up wearing just Muay Thai shorts and beat the hell out of Team GSP while drunk. No, really.
Death threat of the week: Cody McKenzie, a Team GSP member, talked some smack to Koscheck as he walked out of practice. After Koscheck yelled, "You're not in Alaska any more!" McKenzie replied, "No, because if it was, I'd drown you." I'd need to check through the unified rules again, but I'm pretty sure drowning is not permissible in the Octagon.
Hall-of-Famer Cameo of the week: Yes, Fitch and the drunken Skabowsky were impressive, but Chuck Liddell trumped them all. The Iceman (and Koscheck's coach when he was on TUF) stopped in not long after he was knocked out by Rich Franklin at UFC 115. Still sporting a black eye from the fight, Liddell spends a few minutes talking with the fighters, telling them, "Don't forget to enjoy what you do. This is a hell of a lot better than a real job." He also says that it's hard to walk away from, saying that he was having fun even when he lost to Franklin.
Trash talk guessing game of the week -- Guess which fighter said:
1. I don't look like a martial artist or a fighter whatsoever.
2. I'm scared. That's the main feeling that's going through me.
3. A switch flips, and it's like, showtime.
4. I think to myself, maybe I should have listened to my Dad and become a businessman.
Bad attempt at humor for the week: Koscheck continued to try to get under GSP's skin, saying before the weigh-in,"If you kiss me now, I'll leave MMA," and other similarly dumb things. GSP says in the interview that it does bother him, but he doesn't let it show when sitting with his team.
Fight of the Week -- Spencer Paige vs. Nam Phan:
Round one: Sparring with the drunken Skabowsky paid off, because Paige landed kicks left and right, knocking Phan to the ground on a few leg kicks. Phan kept up with Paige by moving forward and matching each kick with a punch. With a minute and a half left in the round, Phan knocked Paige to the ground and followed up with ground and pound, then tried to finish him with a kimura. Paige didn't tap, and the round ended.
Round two: Phan started the round aggressively, landing strikes and shaking off a Paige takedown attempt. Paige jumped around the cage to avoid Phan's strikes. Phan wins, giving Team Kos their first win.
After the fight, Paige said that he hurt his hand somewhere in the fight. That explained why he was acting so oddly in the second round.
Team Kos acted completely gracefully in victory ... No, wait. They didn't. Koscheck pointed out to GSP how much fun the first win was. Then, they pounded on the wall of Paige's locker room. Classy.
Josh Koscheck has brought in plenty of familiar names to assist his team on Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter" while Georges St. Pierre has surprised us each week. Wednesday night's episode took the cake when GSP introduced something called Jean Charles Skarbowsky. He was touted as a master of Muay Thai. But things got weird when St. Pierre, almost sounding fearful that Skarbowsky may go all Mel Gibson on one of the cast members, warned everyone about being respectful. From there, it only got more odd as they were told that Skarbowsky is drunk most of the time and only sleeps three hours a day.
At least he looked the part. Skarbowsky was sporting a good-sized beer belly, scrawny arms and was in need of some manscaping.
Skarbowsky was a topic during UFC.com's "TUF 12: The Aftermath". GSP confirmed that the drinking story was true (11:00 mark). Apparently Scarbowsky took a 14-hour flight from France to Las Vegas, got off the plane, went partying at The Rehab pool party at The Hard Rock and then came into the gym to work with the young guys.
"He reeked of vodka. I guess he mixes it with a little cranberry. I'm guessing it was a lot of vodka and a very little amount of cranberry," joked TUF 12 fighter Spencer Paige.
But Paige said working with JCS was no joke.
"From him, I got an insight into elite talent," said Paige.
With a little research, you'll find that he's a legitimate high-level Muay Thai fighter. Scarbowsky has over 100 pro fights with 80-plus wins. Good thing for Koscheck that Scarbowsky may have been battling a hangover when the UFC fighter tried to bust his chops. Kos could've learned the hard way to not judge a book by its cover.
In this video, a much-thinner and younger Scarbowsky is shown laying the lumber. Check out the 1:25 mark when he front kicks a dude into the ropes. GSP said he brought in Skarbowsky to teach his team about attitude and efficiency.
Strikeforce: Noons vs. Diaz 2 is in the books, and it had none of the craziness we expected. It did feature three standout performances.
No. 1 star -- Marloes Coenen: The Dutch fighter dropped down a weight class after losing Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos and came away with the women's 135-lb. championship belt. Coenen took advantage of Sarah Kaufman's mistake and turned an armbar. Next up for Coenen: Miesha Tate, a fighter on a five-fight win streak.
No. 2 star -- Nick Diaz: Not only did he win a five-round stand-up battle with K.J. Noons, but Diaz and his corner were kind and humble in victory. No post-fight melee, no taunting that spurned catchphrases, nary a middle finger was thrown. Is this a kinder, gentler Nick? Probably not, especially if Strikeforce grants Jason "Mayhem" Miller's wish and matches the pair up for their next bout.
No. 3 star -- Tyron Woodley: In his first fight on the Strikeforce main card, T-Wood showed that he belonged there. Not only did he win quickly, he did it convincingly. He went seven-for-seven in landing ground strikes. In his nine wins, only two have gotten past the first round.
Dishonorable mention -- Noons' hair: By Cagewriter's unofficial count, Noons pushed his hair out of the way 564 times. Take Randy Moss' advice for Tom Brady, and get your hair out of your eyes.
Filed under: MMA Videos, UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, Videos
LOS ANGELES -- MMA Fighting spoke to Dana White at the UFC 121 press conference about spending time with Vice President Joe Biden, the way the UFC 121 main event has been promoted, Jake Shields' UFC debut, whether Tito Ortiz still has what it takes to be a player at 205 and his thoughts on Frank Shamrock's recent comments about him.As the southern hemi season winds down, the crew makes it out to Fox Glacier and heli drops into Pioneer Hut on the west coast of New Zealand.
I don't understand German, so all I can say is the latest montage from Melange Skateboarding is good.
With the French- and English-speaking media in attendance, some of the discussion at Tuesday's UFC 124 press conference in Montreal turned a bit nationalistic. Josh Koscheck was asked if he was racist after he made comments on a recent episode of "The Ultimate Fighter" about not wanting to lose to Georges St. Pierre because he was French. That dust up lasted a few seconds as Kos sidestepped the question by saying the comment was simply made to promote the fight. Then Dana White was asked why he keeps coming back to Canada. In December, Montreal is going to host its fourth UFC event with GSP and Koscheck squaring off in the main event.
"Canada is the second-biggest market for the UFC," said White. "It's crazy up here. I'd come here every weekend if I could."
The French-Canadian St. Pierre being on the card also helps the cause. White knows how popular his welterweight champ is but still wonders why GSP isn't making big money in his home country.
"I don't know how he doesn't have every blue-chip sponsor in Canada," said White. "I had this debate the other day, this is the most popular athete to ever come out of Canada. Ever!"
Of course, hockey players first come to mind when you're talking about superstars from Canada.
"Some guy started to argue with me about Gretzky and all these others ... do people care about Gretzky when he shows up in the Philippines or the U.K. or all the other countries?"
It's an interesting debate. I'm not sure using GSP's popularity in a fight-rabid country like the Philippines is a fair fight for an all-time great hockey player. White's argument seems a little flawed since he himself admits all of Canada hasn't really latched on. Of course, that could also mean the advertisers don't know what they're doing and are missing the boat.
The guys at Shred Or Die are doing Gear 4 A Year again and are really looking for more East Coast submissions, so all you east coasters should get on it. Also they are giving away one of those GoPro mini HD cameras every day for the next two weeks to the most interesting video uploaded each day, so even if you aren't gnarly you can get some goods.
Michael Bisping spoke with the media following his UFC 120 win over Akiyama and discusses where he is in the title picture.
House drama! Iron Mike! Josh Koscheck doing the robot and more on this week's episode of "The Ultimate Fighter." Read on for spoilers, a recap and ten tons of fun.
-- Mike Tyson is still around after the fight, extolling the virtues of confidence to Team GSP, saying, "Confidence breeds success, and success breeds confidence." What does jail time breed, Mike?
-- Koscheck is not happy about being 0-2, and punishes the team for it. He puts them through a hellish training session. He also continued his quest to get under St. Pierre's skin, calling him a robot, doing the robot dance and making fun of the tight shorts Georges wears in every fight.
-- In training, GSP put Watson through a full fight simulation, complete with walk-in, announcers, cornering between rounds and getting his hand raised. He also made Watson visualize the bout and tell GSP every move he would make in the bout.
Drama of the Week: The yellow team is annoyed that Alex "Bruce LeeRoy" Caceres was yelling "[Profane] him up!" during the Michael Johnson fight. No, really. How have these guys gotten through any fights with such thin skins? Sevak Magakian takes particular offense, and then LeeRoy and Magakian exchange what I assume are words, but are all bleeped out. Nam Phan comes between them, saving Magakian from throwing a punch and possibly getting thrown out of the house.
Fight of the Week: Kyle Watson (Team GSP) vs. Andy Main (Team Kos)
Watson survived several submission attempts from Main in the first round. Main tried taking Watson's back from a standing position, standing armbars and an armbar on the ground, but Watson survived through them all. In the second, he earned a quick takedown, ground and pounded for a while before taking Main's back and sinking in a rear nake choke. Winner winner chicken dinner.
Koscheck is now 0-3. It won't be pretty at their upcoming practices.
Quote of the Week: "I don't like losing to anyone, but especially that guy. Especially a French guy." -- Koscheck. Don't tell him that Georges is French-Canadian.
It's no shocker that UFC 120 in London features a British-heavy card. In fact, the top three fights to air on Spike television tomorrow night (8 p.m. ET/PT in the U.S.) have a Brit favored pretty heavily to win their fight. Yahoo! Sports' lead MMA writer Kevin Iole joined us to give his picks, analysis and thoughts on the fact that Michael Bisping, Dan Hardy or John Hathaway may be a little overhyped.
UFC 120 weigh-in (Courtesy MMAjunkie):
SPIKE (8 p.m. ET/PT)
Yoshihiro Akiyama (185) v. Michael Bisping (185)
Carlos Condit (170) v. Dan Hardy (171)
John Hathaway (171) v. Mike Pyle (170)
Travis Browne (251) v. Cheick Kongo (228)
Claude Patrick (171) v. James Wilks (170)
UNTELEVISED
Cyrille Diabate (204) v. Alexander Gustafsson (204)
Rob Broughton (257) v. Vinicius Kappke de Quieroz (239)
Mark Holst (155) v. Paul Sass (155)
Spencer Fisher (155) v. Kurt Warburton (154)
Fabio Maldonado (204) v. James McSweeney (205)
