Indy tipping contest scores

In another lean week top scorers, two names shot ahead from the pack to challenge the leaders – @tailzer and @harleymac1. Pulling off an impressive Brit-centric Minella to gain 6 points, @tailzer took second place in the overall standings. Well done sir! @harleymac1 also made impressive gains with his 6 point Minella. Honorable mention goes [...]

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MotoGPBlog: a change of focus

MotoGPBlog throughout the 2008 and 2009 seasons built a small but active community around news of MotoGP, tipping contests, and reference information, such as track maps and stats. Unfortunately, the amount of time and effort the blog took to maintain simply hasn’t been available to me in the past couple of seasons. Now, however, I [...]

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Recall: Kawasaki Vulcan 900

Kawasaki is recalling certain 2011 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 motorcycles for a possibly pinched inner tire tube, which may have been damaged in the assembly process. The recall affects 436 units of the motorcycle, and if left unattended could result in the tube puncturing, and the tire losing air pressure. If the tire loses air pressure, it could result in a crash, hence the recall. Kawasaki dealers will replace the damaged tubes for free, with the ...

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After 15 Years, Wanderlei Silva Still Trying to Give Fans What They Want

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LAS VEGAS -- Wanderlei Silva made his way into the MGM Grand ballroom and went straight to working the ropeline like an experienced politician during Wednesday afternoon's UFC 132 open workouts. The Brazilian slugger has been around long enough by now that he knows what the fans want, and it isn't to see him hit some pads.

Workouts? Sure, it's a nice photo op. But really they want to shake his hand, maybe get an autograph, but mostly they want to see him. They want to feel like they have something of him that they can take home, because no one knows how much longer this ride is going to last.

If you ask Silva, he'll tell you he wants another five years in the sport, maybe ten more fights total.

"That's my plan," he said. "I don't know what's God's plan."

Silva will turn 35 years old the day after his fight with Chris Leben at UFC 132. Almost 15 of those years have been spent in the fight game, from bare-knuckle Vale Tudo bouts in Brazilian nightclubs to the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo to his current home in the UFC. It's been a long ride for Silva, and with the way he fights, it's also been a rough one.




Despite one recent surgery to repair his injured knee and another to remove some of the copious scar tissue from his face, Silva said he's still feeling healthy a decade and a half into his fight career. He has "regular pains," but nothing serious.

Still, he's suffered progressively frightening knockout losses in three of his last seven bouts, and he's won only two fights in that same span. He might not have come to the end of the road, but he ought to be able to see it from where he's standing now.

But Wanderlei is Wanderlei, and there are expectations that come with that. Fans expect him to brawl. They expect him to fight like there is no greater shame in life than taking a backward step. They expect him to give them a knockout -- his own or someone else's, it doesn't particularly matter.

This comes with a price, but it's one he's used to paying by now. It would be smart to fight a little safer, for the sake of his health and longevity, if nothing else, but as he put it: "We are not machines. We have a lot of things inside."

In other words, there's what would be smart for you to do, and then there's what it is in you to do.

And it's not as if his coaches haven't tried to get him to take it easy in there, Silva said. It's just that, well, he's been doing it this way for a little while now. Even he doesn't seem to know whether he's capable of changing.

"After the fight, I don't know what's happened to me," he said. "I feel crazy. I want to kill the guy. A lot of times my coach says, 'Calm, calm!' That's his instruction for me: 'Calm! Calm! Calm!'"

At the same time, Wanderlei didn't get to be Wanderlei by staying calm. Just like the UFC didn't match him up with fellow slugger Chris Leben because it wanted to see him fight smart and safe.

The fans want what they want, and Silva has always known just how to give it to him. But in giving it to him, he may also be giving up those last few years he hopes to squeeze into an already overflowing body of work.

The question is, can he keep being the same old Wanderlei, and still stick around as the years and the beatings pile up?

"That's a good question," Silva said with a wry smile. "I'll try."

 

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After 15 Years, Wanderlei Silva Still Trying to Give Fans What They Want

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LAS VEGAS -- Wanderlei Silva made his way into the MGM Grand ballroom and went straight to working the ropeline like an experienced politician during Wednesday afternoon's UFC 132 open workouts. The Brazilian slugger has been around long enough by now that he knows what the fans want, and it isn't to see him hit some pads.

Workouts? Sure, it's a nice photo op. But really they want to shake his hand, maybe get an autograph, but mostly they want to see him. They want to feel like they have something of him that they can take home, because no one knows how much longer this ride is going to last.

If you ask Silva, he'll tell you he wants another five years in the sport, maybe ten more fights total.

"That's my plan," he said. "I don't know what's God's plan."

Silva will turn 35 years old the day after his fight with Chris Leben at UFC 132. Almost 15 of those years have been spent in the fight game, from bare-knuckle Vale Tudo bouts in Brazilian nightclubs to the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo to his current home in the UFC. It's been a long ride for Silva, and with the way he fights, it's also been a rough one.




Despite one recent surgery to repair his injured knee and another to remove some of the copious scar tissue from his face, Silva said he's still feeling healthy a decade and a half into his fight career. He has "regular pains," but nothing serious.

Still, he's suffered progressively frightening knockout losses in three of his last seven bouts, and he's won only two fights in that same span. He might not have come to the end of the road, but he ought to be able to see it from where he's standing now.

But Wanderlei is Wanderlei, and there are expectations that come with that. Fans expect him to brawl. They expect him to fight like there is no greater shame in life than taking a backward step. They expect him to give them a knockout -- his own or someone else's, it doesn't particularly matter.

This comes with a price, but it's one he's used to paying by now. It would be smart to fight a little safer, for the sake of his health and longevity, if nothing else, but as he put it: "We are not machines. We have a lot of things inside."

In other words, there's what would be smart for you to do, and then there's what it is in you to do.

And it's not as if his coaches haven't tried to get him to take it easy in there, Silva said. It's just that, well, he's been doing it this way for a little while now. Even he doesn't seem to know whether he's capable of changing.

"After the fight, I don't know what's happened to me," he said. "I feel crazy. I want to kill the guy. A lot of times my coach says, 'Calm, calm!' That's his instruction for me: 'Calm! Calm! Calm!'"

At the same time, Wanderlei didn't get to be Wanderlei by staying calm. Just like the UFC didn't match him up with fellow slugger Chris Leben because it wanted to see him fight smart and safe.

The fans want what they want, and Silva has always known just how to give it to him. But in giving it to him, he may also be giving up those last few years he hopes to squeeze into an already overflowing body of work.

The question is, can he keep being the same old Wanderlei, and still stick around as the years and the beatings pile up?

"That's a good question," Silva said with a wry smile. "I'll try."

 

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Dana White Understands Recent Spike TV Moves, but Warns 'I Owe You One'

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LAS VEGAS -- UFC president Dana White isn't known as a man who suffers slings and arrows gladly, but Spike TV's recent slights against his organization are so brazen that even White has to smile with begrudging admiration when the topic comes up.

"I said last time I did an interview and we were talking about it, negotiating is never fun. ...And even though you're negotiating in good faith and doing all this stuff, you know, you're still giving some kicks to the balls here and there," White said with a wry smile.

For Spike, those kicks have come in the form of some not-so-subtle recent programming decisions.

Once the UFC's most valued TV partner, Spike's contract with the UFC is now coming to an end. Judging by its decision to counter-program last Sunday's UFC Live event on Versus and then premiere the UFC 132 "Countdown" show at the conspicuously unhelpful time of 1:12 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Spike seems to be firmly in the process of waving goodbye to the UFC and slamming the door shut behind it.

"I see Spike's side," White said when asked to comment on the network's recent moves. "That's what I would do too, and you guys know I would do that."

At the same time, White insisted that the UFC has no new TV deal as of yet, despite reports that it's looking to essentially have its own cable channel by purchasing an ownership stake in the G4 channel, and said that the UFC has not yet ruled out the possibility of staying with Spike in the end.

"Again, what The Wall Street Journal put out and what everyone is saying, none of that stuff is true. People are out there speculating about what's going on. We have no deal with anybody. We're out there talking to everybody. So I don't buy into that stuff, but when deals are done and everybody does what they're going to do, then we'll see what happens."

But a source at Spike, speaking on the condition of anonymity, indicated that the company has essentially abandoned any notion of a new deal with the UFC, since it believes the UFC is "very close to a deal with G4."

"They want their own channel, and this is an opportunity for their own channel," the source said.

As for the programming moves, it's "pretty obvious why we're doing what we're doing," the source said, but it hasn't resulted in any animosity between UFC and Spike employees.

"We're all just doing our jobs," said the source.

But just because the UFC may be moving on, that doesn't mean Spike will be content to get out of the MMA business altogether. It has reportedly shown interest in a deal with Bellator, which currently airs on MTV2 and is thus, as the Spike source pointed out, already "in the Viacom family."

White downplayed those rumors in conversations with reporters this week, but it's no secret that the UFC president is known to go after competitors with a gusto. With Spike sending the UFC out on a sour note amid talk that it might partner with Bellator down the road, does that mean the cable channel has just picked a fight with the UFC?

"They might've," White shrugged. "We'll see. ...I owe you one, Spike."

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Curran finishes Peruvian with Peruvian necktie; Sandro survives tough one at Bellator 46

Marlon Sandro was expected to be the guy producing a flashy finish, instead it was the usually workmanlike Pat Curran who did so during the back end of the Bellator featherweight tournament quarterfinals in Hollywood, Fla.

Sandro, a huge free agent signing for Bellator, had to go the distance with Genair da Silva Jr. to pull out a split decision win. Curran, back down at 145 after a lot of success at lightweight. finished Luis Palomino with a very uncommon submission, the Peruvian necktie at 3:49 of the first round.

Both fighters move into the tournament semifinals in July. Bellator announced that Sandro will face Nazareno Malegarie while Curran takes on Ronnie Mann. Also on that card is Bellator's featherweight champ Joe Warren, who'll battle the Season 4 tournament winner, Patricio "Pitbull" Freire at Bellator 47 in Rama, Canada.

Warren (7-1) hasn't fought at featherweight since he beat Joe Soto last September. The division has added so much talent and developed so quickly, Warren may not even be amongst the top five 145 pounders on the current Bellator roster.

Pat Curran (14-4) would certainly give the smallish Warren a run for his money. Curran was very competitive during his lightweight fights with Bellator. He upset Roger Huerta last May and began the former UFC star's demise. Then he went the distance with top six lightweight Eddie Alvarez.

Tonight in Florida, he looked awesome at featherweight. Possessing heavy hands, Curran dropped Palomino with a huge right, just over two minutes into the fight. A stunned Palomino tried to secure a takedown, but the scramble resulted in Curran eventually scoring his own along the cage and gaining top control.

With his cousin Jeff, a former WEC champ and jiu-jitsu black belt, in his corner, Curran began to show off his quickly improving submission. The 23-year-old worked a d'arce choke. When that wasn't working, he transitioned to highly unusual Peruvian necktie. The pressure of cranking back with hands, hips and legs made it impossible for Palomino to survive.

"Once I just sunk it in, I went for it. I practice it all the time in the gym," Curran told MTV2's Jimmy Smith. "I was glad I got a chance to show it off. I rocked him with the right hand. He felt a little weak while he was still getting his mind back together."

It wasn't as easy for Sandro, No. 5 in the USA Today/Bloody Elbow 145-pound rankings, against the fellow Brazilian da Silva.

The former Sengoku featherweight champ started strong. Just over two minutes into the fight, Sandro dropped da Silva with a nasty left. He jumped on top and pounded away, but the referee Jorge Alonso wisely let da Silva scramble his way out of trouble. Sandro, 34, tried a guillotine choke, but da Silva eventually got his head free.

In the second, Sandro (18-2) continued to land solid shots with front leg kicks and by getting off first with his hands. Da Silva tried to counterpunch, but was way too wild. The pace slowed in the third and da Silva landed his best punch of the fight, a right hand with 3:55 left. Da Silva tried two takedowns against a tiring Sandro and whiffed on both. Sandro made good on 1-of-2 down the stretch.

Cagewriter scored it 30-27 for Sandro, but the judges were split. The Florida trio scored it 30-27, 29-28 and 28-29 for Sandro.

The pressure's on Sandro, the highest-ranked fighter remaining in the field. Frankly, it looks like he might be a little overrated. His only losses are against new UFC signee Hatsu Hioki, and Michihiro Omigawa.

Omigawa lost a disputed decision at UFC 131, but he's been less than impressive in his second chance with the promotion.

We'll find out what Sandro has in North American fight No. 2. The Bellator semis should be explosive. This is an excellent group.

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