First bouldering at Stanage Plantation, Derbyshire, UK

Location: Stanage Plantation Date: Sunday 27 July Sunday shone this weekend. A planned trip to the gym was quickly canned and instead we made a trip out to a new bouldering spot. After a recommendation that Stanage plantation had some good climbing (thanks Jonny!) we checked my bouldering guide book and set out. If you’re reading this wondering [...]

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Strikeforce Tournament Goes From Major Success to Major Disappointment

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Antonio Silva ground and pounds Fedor Emelianenko.Think back to how you felt about Strikeforce five months ago. If you're anything like me, you had just been thrilled by the first two fights of the opening round of the promotion's Heavyweight Grand Prix, you were in a lather for the next two fights of the Grand Prix's first round, and you were excited about the potential for this tournament to play out in such a way that it would crown a winner worthy of being called a heavyweight champion.

Fast forward to Monday's news that Alistair Overeem has dropped out of the Heavyweight Grand Prix, and what we're left with is a major disappointment as MMA fans: Strikeforce sold us on a heavyweight tournament it won't be able to deliver.

So much has changed since those first two tournament fights, when Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva upset Fedor Emelianenko and Sergei Kharitonov knocked out Andrei Arlovski. For starters, the next two tournament fights were delayed, killing a lot of the momentum that Strikeforce had built up. We were promised Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers in April, and we ended up having to wait until June.

Then UFC parent company Zuffa bought Strikeforce, and that changed the dynamic around the Heavyweight Grand Prix: The tournament now felt less like an opportunity for Strikeforce's champion to stake his claim as the No.1 heavyweight in the world, and more like an opportunity for Strikeforce's champion to get a shot at the UFC champion. A heavyweight champion vs. heavyweight champion fight would still be great, of course, and I still hope it happens some time in 2012. But the Strikeforce Grand Prix doesn't feel as special when the final will be more like a No. 1 contender fight than a title fight.

Then, when Overeem-Werdum and Barnett-Rogers finally happened, two months too late, both fights were disappointing. Overeem won a unanimous decision in a fight without much action: Overeem didn't look like the devastating fighter we had come to expect, and Werdum didn't look like any kind of fighter at all. Barnett vs. Rogers was even worse: Rogers looked like a white belt and Barnett submitted him while barely breaking a sweat.

And finally, on Monday, Overeem appeared on The MMA Hour and said he wasn't happy with Zuffa and wouldn't agree to their demand that he fight Bigfoot on September 10. Shortly after that, Zuffa said the tournament would move on without Overeem.

I'm not interested in taking sides in what appears to be a dispute between the Zuffa brass and Overeem, but it's hard not to be disappointed in Overeem for declining to fight. One of the reasons I've always liked Overeem as a fighter is he has seemed so willing to fight anyone, at any time, in any place: In 2009 he had four kickboxing fights and three MMA fights, and in 2010 he had five kickboxing fights and two MMA fights. But so far in 2011 he's had zero kickboxing fights and one MMA fight, and now he says he can't be ready to fight Bigfoot by September. What happened to the Overeem who was willing to take seven fights a year?

I hope what has happened to the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix doesn't turn MMA fans off to tournaments entirely. When done right, tournaments can still be a lot of fun. Bellator routinely puts together tournaments that work out well. But Bellator uses hungry young fighters who aren't going to drop out if they don't absolutely have to, and when fighters do drop out, Bellator acts fast to replace them and keep the tournament going. What the problems with the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix should teach us is that tournaments need to be run with precision, not that tournaments can't work.

This week's problems are largely a result of that stupid decision of the pre-Zuffa Strikeforce to move the Overeem-Werdum and Barnett-Rogers fights from April to June. That decision was incredibly unfair to Bigfoot and Kharitonov, as it would force them to wait far too long for the tournament semifinals. (Kharitonov has actually participated in boxing and kickboxing fights overseas while he waits for Barnett, which you can't blame him for, although if he had suffered an injury in one of those fights it would have opened up another can of worms.)

Bigfoot now draws Daniel Cormier in the semifinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. With all due respect to Cormier, who's an excellent wrestler and is becoming a good MMA fighter, he's not in Overeem's league. Bigfoot-Overeem would have been the second-best heavyweight fight of the rest of the year, behind only Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos. Bigfoot-Cormier is an interesting fight, but nothing special.

In fact, there's really nothing special about any of the remaining tournament fights. No matter who wins -- Silva, Cormier, Kharitonov, Barnett or some other replacement fighter who has to fill in when one of those four drops out -- the tournament champion is going to have a major asterisk next to his name.

That's because Overeem was the real marquee star in this tournament, the Strikeforce heavyweight champion and the guy who had the best chance to make a real claim that he's the best heavyweight in all of MMA. Now Overeem is out, and the rest of the tournament feels like a letdown.

 

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VX-2000 For Sale $1200

I am selling my video camera because I haven't used it in a long time and I figure someone else can get a lot more use out of it than I can. Everything is listed below. All the Mostly Skateboarding montages where filmed with this camera. there are a few scratches on the camera and lens body, but the glass is perfect and everything with the camera is in fine working order. I had the camera serviced back in 2007 by Video Electronics and have probably only shot three tapes since. I have taken good care of this camera. I have all the original packaging for the Century .3X fisheye. It is a good camera with a lot of life left in it. I'm asking $1200 for it. Listed below is everything included. email me if you are interested. (templeton.elliott (at) gmail.com)


Sony VX-2000
Century .3X Fisheye
NP-F960 Battery
NP-F750 Battery
Bescor Video Light and Battary
1 Sony Premium Tape
1 Dynex Head Cleaner
1 Sony 4-pin to 4-pin Firewire cable
1 Lowepro Phototrekker Classic bag.
Battery Charger (attaches to camera)
Battery Charger (separate)
Remote






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Inside the Numbers: Tito Ortiz Will Become First to 25 UFC Fights

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By agreeing to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 133 on August 6, Tito Ortiz is set to become the first fighter ever to participate in 25 UFC fights -- narrowly beating Matt Hughes to that milestone, as Hughes is scheduled to have his 25th UFC fight in September at UFC 135.

Ortiz is obviously on the down side of his career, and until his stunning upset of Ryan Bader at UFC 132 he was treated as something of a punchline. But no one can deny that he's among the great fighters in the history of the UFC.

We'll take a closer look at Ortiz's 24 previous UFC fights below.

First fight: Ortiz made his debut at UFC 13 on May 30, 1997, beating Wes Albritton in his first fight. He then lost to Guy Mezger a couple hours later as part of a one-night tournament.

Wins: 15, including eight by knockout or TKO, two by submission and five by decision. With 15 victories, Ortiz is in fifth place in UFC history. If he earns his 16th victory by beating Evans, he'll move into a tie for second place with Georges St. Pierre (16-2), Chuck Liddell (16-7) and Randy Couture (16-8). The all-time record holder for most UFC victories is Matt Hughes, with 18.

Losses: 8, including two by knockout or TKO, two by submission and four by decision.


Draw: 1, in his previous fight with Evans at UFC 73. In the first Ortiz-Evans fight, Ortiz won two rounds and Evans won one, but Ortiz was penalized a point for grabbing the fence in the second round, leading all three judges to score the fight 28-28.

Longest winning streak: Ortiz won six straight fights from 2000 to 2002, beating Wanderlei Silva, Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Ken Shamrock.

Longest losing streak: Prior to beating Ryan Bader at UFC 132, Ortiz was in the worst streak of his career: He had lost three in a row (to Matt Hamill, Forrest Griffin and Lyoto Machida) and was on a five-fight winless streak, counting the draw with Evans and a loss to Chuck Liddell before that.

Quickest turnaround: Other than fighting both Albritton and Mezger at UFC 13, the five weeks between fighting Ryan Bader at UFC 132 and fighting Evans at UFC 133 will be Ortiz's quickest turnaround in the UFC.

Longest layoff: Ortiz was off for 545 days between his UFC 84 loss to Machida (May 24, 2008) and his UFC 106 loss to Griffin (November 21, 2009). That was one of three different layoffs of more than a year for Ortiz, who also sat out from September 28, 2001 to November 22, 2002 and from February 5, 2005 to April 15, 2006.

Strikes landed: Ortiz has landed 1,185 strikes in his career, eighth most in UFC history, according to FightMetric.

Total time fought: Ortiz has spent a grand total of 4 hours, 33 minutes, 50 seconds fighting inside the Octagon.

Longest fight: Ortiz has been in three 25-minute fights: He beat Wanderlei Silva by unanimous decision in a five-round fight at UFC 25, beat Vladimir Matyushenko by unanimous decision in a five-round fight at UFC 33 and lost to Randy Couture by unanimous decision in a five-round fight at UFC 44.

Shortest fight: Lasting just 31 seconds, the Albritton fight was Ortiz's shortest in the UFC -- one second shorter than his victory over Evan Tanner at UFC 30.

Only non-UFC fight: Ortiz defeated someone named Jeremy Screeton at something called the West Coast No-Holds Barred Championships on December 8, 1998. It was the only time in Ortiz's MMA career that he fought outside the UFC.

Multiple opponents: Evans will be the fifth opponent Ortiz has faced more than once: He fought Guy Mezger twice (losing to him at UFC 13 and beating him at UFC 19), Chuck Liddell twice (losing to him at both UFC 47 and UFC 66), Forrest Griffin twice (beating him at UFC 59 and losing to him at UFC 106) and Ken Shamrock three times (beating him at UFC 40, UFC 61 and at Ortiz vs. Shamrock: The Final Chapter).

Title fights: The UFC light heavyweight title has been on the line in nine of Ortiz's fights. He was beaten by Frank Shamrock in his first title fight at UFC 22, then beat Wanderlei Silva for the vacant light heavyweight belt at UFC 25. He then defended his title five times before losing it to Randy Couture at UFC 44. He earned one more title fight, but lost to the champion, Chuck Liddell, at UFC 66. Ortiz's six wins in UFC title fights are the fifth-most in UFC history, behind Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, Randy Couture and Matt Hughes, all of whom have won nine title fights.

 

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Dana White on music heartthrobs: Thumbs up on Bieber, big thumbs down on Timberlake

When you meet the fans, you have to always have on your game face. At least, that's what we hear. That 15 second brush with the average Joe can leave an impression for a lifetime.

It might be the motivation behind the way Dana White treats his fans at autograph signings, ticket giveaways and most importantly live events. But it's not easy to be on your game at all times, that's why White was super-impressed with teenage Justin Bieber when he came to UFC 132.

"I love Justin Bieber. He's such a good kid," White said on XM's Opie and Anthony Show (7:00 mark - NSFW video). "The kid deserves everything he's got."

White talked about first meeting Bieber a few months back and the teen superstar was down to earth and attentive. Justin Timberlake was last generation's Bieber, according to White, now he's not such a great guy.

"He couldn't have been a more arrogant prick," White said of the 30-year-old singer. "So you want to hate somebody, hate Justin Timberlake, not Bieber."

White described the encounter with the former lead singer of N'Sync.

"I know how I am with people who love the UFC ... listen I'm not buying any [expletive] Justin Timberlake records, you know what I mean? The kids are.  When you see people treat kids like that and I've met them all. [Expletive] Justin Timberlake, he's a douchebag."

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Dana White on music heartthrobs: Thumbs up on Bieber, big thumbs down on Timberlake

When you meet the fans, you have to always have on your game face. At least, that's what we hear. That 15 second brush with the average Joe can leave an impression for a lifetime.

It might be the motivation behind the way Dana White treats his fans at autograph signings, ticket giveaways and most importantly live events. But it's not easy to be on your game at all times, that's why White was super-impressed with teenage Justin Bieber when he came to UFC 132.

"I love Justin Bieber. He's such a good kid," White said on XM's Opie and Anthony Show (7:00 mark - NSFW video). "The kid deserves everything he's got."

White talked about first meeting Bieber a few months back and the teen superstar was down to earth and attentive. Justin Timberlake was last generation's Bieber, according to White, now he's not such a great guy.

"He couldn't have been a more arrogant prick," White said of the 30-year-old singer. "So you want to hate somebody, hate Justin Timberlake, not Bieber."

White described the encounter with the former lead singer of N'Sync.

"I know how I am with people who love the UFC ... listen I'm not buying any [expletive] Justin Timberlake records, you know what I mean? The kids are.  When you see people treat kids like that and I've met them all. [Expletive] Justin Timberlake, he's a douchebag."

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Video you need to see: Jose Aldo on the best slip and slide ever

Fair readers, sometimes we come across MMA videos that we don't understand. Videos that are in Portuguese, but soundtracked by a terrible song in English with nonsensical lyrics. Videos that involve women in bikinis and men in boardshorts cheering on the UFC featherweight champ.

But if we have one rule at Cagewriter, it's that when we see a video of Jose Aldo jumping in a giant slip and slide, we share it.

According to the video's title, he beat Demian Maia in drowning the goose. His next opponent is Kenny Florian. The two will face each other in the co-main event at UFC 136 in Houston. Hopefully, they will both incorporate slip and slides into their training.

Thanks to MMA Mania.

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Free clips for Chris Sharma ?King Lines? climbing video?

Interested in downloading high-quality clips of Chris Sharma climbing? Today I checked out the website for Chris Sharma’s King Lines movie - and there’s a new addition! Early versions of the DVD didn’t feature all of the extras properly, so the website features downloadable clips from the extras. This won’t replace the need to buy the DVD, but [...]

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