Monday Afternoon Notes

A slow news day gives everyone the opportunity to reflect on the week that was. Last week had a little bit of everything including MMA’s favorite Strongman competitor, someone who actually likes Chael Sonnen and a former Pride FC star hanging up the gloves.

Marika The Mouthpiece
After speaking up on behalf of Chael Sonnen during his California State Athletic Commission hearing, Marika Taylor decided to try to drum up some support for the fallen star. Most of the comments she made during her appearance on Mauro Ranallo’s radio show were simply complaining that the world does not work the way she wants. However, she made it a point to go after veteran journalist Josh Gross.

“[u]nfortunately, a man by the name of Josh Gross who calls himself a journalist…texts the private cell phone of Kizer and asks him point blank, ‘Have you ever spoken to Chael Sonnen about or his management about Testosterone Replacement Therapy?’ of course he replied, ‘Uh, no.’ Well, okay.”

Apparently the process of reporting and doing research is offensive to Taylor. I guess she thinks a writer’s only job is writing 500-word fluff pieces that say things like, “this fighter is looking for the knockout!” It is clear from following Gross’ work over the years that performance enhancers in sports is an issue that he really cares about. If the process of properly doing his job exposes a fighter’s lies, he is not out of bounds. Someone who hosts a so-called “documentary style” show should know that.

Managers Behaving Badly
First, I need to start by saying that I have never actually met Ken Pavia. I have seen him chowing down on a hot dog, but that does not really count. Last week, Pavia and UFC fighter Anthony Johnson had a seriously heated Twitter discussion over some money. I know we are in the information age, but there is no place for this nonsense in the public eye. There are conflicts between managers and athletes in all sports, but public disputes like this only exists in lower-tier sports like MMA and Slamball.

“Ninja” Retires
After a knockout loss to Tom “Kong” Watson, Murilo “Ninja” Rua has decided to call it quits. After some of the devastating knockouts he has adsorbed over the course of his career, it is probably for the best. It is a shame that Rua was never able to really pick up a signature win in his career, but he did capture the Elite XC middleweight title. However, think about how differently we would remember him if the judges got it right after his fights with Dan Henderson and Quinton “Ramapage” Jackson.

Pudzian falls at KSW 16
Anyone who had any hope that Mariusz Pudzianowski would turn into a great MMA fighter is probably waking up from a serious bender. James Thompson has an impressive list of losses on his record, but he may be entering the “Jonathan Goulet Chin All Stars.” When he does not get caught on the chin early, he can seriously hurt the reputation of a freak show fighter. I do hope that Pudzian keeps fighting, because he brings a lot of eyeballs to KSW and those shows are too hillarious to miss.