Eduardo

I just subscribed to Dave again, haven't had time to look through everything, did he write anything about Sigfried Stanke when he passed?

He had a "World Champion vs Lower card gimmick, babyface vs babyface match" with Festus, and it was actually a really good, back and forth TV match. 'Taker did a good job selling for Festus.

Awesome, awesome post Dylan. I just recently saw this Funk work with Brown, Lawler from 1990. I've seen Lawler take some epic beatings from great heels, but this beating by Funk is up there with the best. The match isn't as great as the early 1980's Lawler-Funk matches. But Funk's is incredible, he looks like the scariest pro wrestler alive and Lawler takes a nasty stiff beating. Funk is nailing some brutal looking punches, and even does a running punch on Lawler that looks like something you would see in a reckless bar fight.

Great match. Also, the mini-Royal Rumble that set up Lawler as the number one contender was really good. Super fun match.

I hope Del Rio grows a Pedro Armendariz mustache and gets inspiration from the leading men of the época de oro del cine Mexicano. Maybe study some Ignacio López Tarso to help get more sympathy when he's selling.

Santiago Jimenez Sr., one of the most influential and beloved composers of conjunto piezas, worked for decades as a janitor. At schools, clinics, centers, etc. Being one of the most important figures in the history of the genre and one of the most imitated (I see kids today playing pieces Jimenez Sr. composed 70 years ago) wasn't enough money wise, so he supported his family by being a janitor. Great man, great musician. I still remember how nice Zack Morris was by putting some money in the payphone for the homeless father to get.

Did the 24/7's ever get any votes when Dave was super into the Mayweather-De La Hoya hype back in 2007? He seems pretty high on Showtime's "All Access", will be amusing if that gets any votes.

Definitely love Jon Fitch vs Erick Silva, you're right it should be in consideration, I missed that one. Joe Lauzon vs Jamie Varner is also a good pick, especially with that great submission from Lauzon at the end. I remember you loving Tate vs Kedzie on twitter Bix, but I honestly prefer Kaufman vs Davis and McMann vs Baszler, think they are better picks for WMMA FOTYC. TJ Grant vs Evan Dunham was a great brawl and Louis Gaudinot vs John Lineker was one of my favorites of the year too. Honestly, now that I think about it, maybe Gaudinot vs Lineker is a better pick over McCall vs Johnson I. Matt Wiman vs Paul Sass was my favorite one round fight of the year (which should earn the "Sakuraba vs Newton Memorial Grappling MMA Match of the Year"). Henderson vs Edgar had the epic upkick (saved by the bell ending to that round), enziguri attempt, guillotine choke (no idea how close it was, but Henderson being a master at the choke made it feel dramatic), the knockdown from Edgar in the fifth. Close and tight rounds for the title of the deepest division in MMA. Josh Thomson vs Gilbert Melendez had everyone's favorite insane nutty conservative giving Melendez the toughest fight he's had since the last time they fought. Thomson taking Melendez's back, and also getting Melendez down with slick trips was beautiful stuff. I would probably put Erick Silva vs Jon Fitch right behind Henderson vs Edgar I, Melendez vs Thomson III, and Zombie vs Poirier.

I haven't subscribed in a few months, will probably subscribe again. Don't know what, if any, thoughts are being shared about this right now amongst WON readers. Fights I think should be in consideration are Frankie Edgar vs Benson Henderson I, Ian McCall vs Demetrious Johnson I, Gilbert Melendez vs Josh Thomson III, The Korean Zombie vs Dustin Poirier, Nate Marquardt vs Tyron Woodley, Diego Sanchez vs Jake Ellenberger. Knowing how much attention Rousey gets, some will probably vote for Ronda Rousey vs Miesha Tate and maybe Sarah Kaufman vs Alexis Davis (if anyone actually remembers it). My favorite fight in this time frame is Nathan Diaz vs Donald Cerrone, but that's just because it was awesome seeing a one sided, FightMetric record breaking, beatdown by Nathan. So that's not really FOTYC type fight. I would probably rank mine 1. Frankie Edgar vs Benson Henderson I, 2. Gilbert Melendez vs Josh Thomson III, and 3. The Korean Zombie vs Dustin Poirier. Boxing-wise, for me it's totally Mike Alvarado vs Brandon Rios, although I haven't seen Salido-Lopez II.

I remember in the Romanian film "Police, Adjective", having a wall with graffiti. One of the things written on the wall, in big clear letters was "John Cena". That was amusing. In the French film "La Haine", I remember during a scene in a bedroom, there was a poster of Bret Hart.

Looks like a 2nd accuser is now accusing Kevin Clash of inappropriate behavior. Kevin Clash, Elmo Puppeteer Resigns

Tom Lawlor also used to post on DVDVR back in the day. His Dan Severn, Harold Howard and Genki Sudo tributes have all been pretty neat too. Hope he wins tomorrow night.

So does BBC airing a tribute show to Jimmy Savile, knowing that he molested and raped so many children for decades, trump WWE airing a Chris Benoit tribute show? As far as "pro wrestlers that have done horrifying things" go, Savile might be number one in that category. EDIT: Jimmy Savile 'engineered' his TV show to abuse children. That's so fucked up.

As far as commentators go, Dr. Alfonso Morales is pretty great play-by-play guy, both in lucha libre and boxing. So smooth, great professional. Has such an authoritative voice, when I'm watching boxing with my friends, they all love him too. Arturo Rivera has a lot of schtick but overall it's not really my cup of tea. If Asian wrestlers are working, expect the word "Chino" (longtime Mexican slur that started as an insult for half-indian/half black and indians but eventually became a slur for any Asian). Mexican culture has a weird attitude towards Asians, and I've heard Rivera say uncomfortable stuff like "how can this guy see with those eyes". I haven't put too much thought about Leobardo Magadan. I think tomk has put over Javier Llanes before in his writings, he is really great too. Back in the day, sometimes going to the top rope in a title match was put over as a huge deal. Wrestlers would sometimes turn to the fans, large portions of fans would usually urge the wrestler not to take such a huge risk. It was put over as really high risk. Good example would be Panther vs Astro, where Panther ignores the fans and goes up, crashes. Another good example is Casas vs Dragon, where Casas either legitimately slips or takes the best looking worked slip I've ever seen.

So it's being reported now that Ronda Rousey is joining the UFC by multiple sources, here's one. Also in that report is that Strikeforce is closing shop in January, after their final event in January. The good is that Gilbert Melendez will finally fight better competition, but if Nate Diaz wins the title in December, he'll never fight for the UFC lightweight title if it's against Nate. Maybe Gilbert will drop down to 145 lbs (he's fought at 145 lbs many, many years ago) to face Jose Aldo. This effectively makes Bellator the number 2 promotion, it will be interesting to see how well they do when they make their move to Spike TV in January. Another interesting rumor is that Showtime still wants to have MMA programming. They got Strikeforce cheaply, but what promotion could they possible get now? WSOF had a decent first show, but it was headlined by an aging glass jawed Arlovski KOing a rapist (horrifying story there). MFC, Shark Fights, Legacy, OneFC, none of these promotions really fit for one reason or another. Also, with UFC now having women's MMA, Invicta's future may be in trouble. Showtime's doing good right now with boxing, they are having a really strong year under Espinoza. The budget they now have for boxing is higher than HBO's budget. Canelo's fight in September did great, and it was against a big Chavez Jr. vs Martinez showdown. I really feel they don't need regional MMA at this point and it would be better to just invest in boxing. EDIT: Could a moderator edit the title. I misspelled Ronda Rousey's name.

Awesome, awesome spot.

In the first sentence to the match, Dave at least says it was "a very good match". Totally loved the match. I need to go back and rewatch it. The false finishes all actually really felt like actual finishes that could have ended the bout.

I missed the first 8 minutes of the Show-Sheamus bout, but the rest was awesome. Agreed with Will, the KO punch at the end was beautiful. Great rough action, felt like a heavyweight title fight, really hard hitting. Sheamus looked like a total badass, even though Sheamus lost, he came away looking like one of the toughest guys around. Great match.

Damn those hipsters from the mafia!

If you're on twitter, El Hijo Del Santo has a pretty neat account: https://twitter.com/ElHijodelSanto

Great article on MMAFighting from Dave: http://www.mmafighting.com/2012/10/24/3550...u-jeff-blatnick

+1 Another sad part is today is supposedly it is Dave's birthday. He sounded particularly upset on the audio update he did. I haven't heard the audio yet but that is pretty sad. Blatnick really was such a genuinely well liked guy, all around classy man.

I really hope Dave does a lengthy obit on Jeff Blatnick. Such an important figure in MMA and Greco Roman wrestling, I would really like to see one. Sad that he passed away so young.

As you briefly mentioned, UFC wanting to get the ratings up from the abysmal TUF ratings is the obvious reason Sonnen is on TUF. Not because they are worried about Sonnen losing to Griffin, I mean, most in the media thought it was a mismatch as soon as Sonnen-Griffin was announced. If Chael were to fight in late December, he wouldn't be able to coach TUF as they start filming in 2 weeks, and the tapings would end in mid December. Agreed that they do need a good semi for that card to do a good buyrate.

Griffin's looked really awful in the last three years, Griffin wouldn't beat Sonnen in this rematch or be favored in any serious way. Griffin's last fight with Ortiz had Griffin getting rocked and taken down by Ortiz, he still won but looked horrible in that fight.