WEC Review, from a 'Pancakes' prospective

Since I reviewed the EliteXC event, I guess I should review the WEC event that took place on Sunday.

First, excellent production value. Normally, the WEC holds events in a small arena, however for this event; they had it at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, which was a big leap for them. I thought that they did a good job on that front.

Another thing, Frank Mir is really stepping his commentary game up and I enjoy listening to him. I honestly learn more about the sport from watching him. Since he’s an active fighter and an excellent jui jitsu practitioner, he knows all of the moves on the ground and is spot on when telling the viewers what’s happening and is going to happen. I honestly like him more than Joe Rogan, which is hard to say because I’m a big fan of Rogan, so that should tell you how much I respect Mir. I just hope that they allow Mir to keep doing the commentary while his own fight career revitalizes.

First, Rob McCullough, where have you gone. You need to find that fire again because you looked unimpressive in your win.

I see you Clay Guida and Tito Ortiz!

On to the fights, it was a good card overall. The Torres/Maeda Bantamweight title match is probably the Fight of the Year so far. Also, that second round was incredible, one of the best ones that I’ve seen in a while. Double leg submission attempts at the same time, sick. Torres is a bad man and Maeda is going to be a force in the division as well. I would like to see these guys go at it again.

The main event was great. This is what I want fans to see of the sport. Not the Kimbo Slice crap. Pulver and Faber each brought their best effort and it was a good fight. Urijah showed some excellent standup and if he’s going to get like that, I don’t know who’s going to beat him. The bloggers and forum posters out there are wondering when Jens was going to let his hands go, in other words, start being more aggressive with his boxing. The problem is that Faber was so quick with his hands and his boxing that Pulver couldn’t catch up. I would like to see these two guys go at it again as well.

It was a good fight night overall and I’m looking forward to the next event.

I was listening to some Minus the Bear while making this post and you should enjoy this band as well. Have a good night peeps.

B.J. Penn reaches his potential, I need to do the same

I was unable to see the latest UFC pay-per-view event because I was in Florida, however, my boy, B.J. Penn won his lightweight title fight against steroid boy Sean Shrek and rightfully claimed his title as the best lightweight in the world and arguably the top pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world. Actually, B.J., GSP, Anderson Silva or Uriah Faber can make this claim, but that’s another post for another day.

For those not familiar with B.J., he’s considered the most talented MMA fighter in the world, maybe ever. When he’s focused and in top condition, there isn’t anyone who can beat him. He was the youngest and fastest guy to ever earn a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. To put that in prospective, it takes guys close to 10 years or more to achieve what B.J. did in only a few years. He’s been the first American to win international jiu-jitsu tournaments, including the Mundials in Brazil, which is like the Super Bowl of the sport. That’s why his nickname is the Prodigy, which is the most apt nickname for any fighter I know. He’s the only guy besides Couture to hold a UFC belt in two separate weight classes, welterweight and now lightweight. He also has wins over Gomi, Renzo Gracie, Matt Hughes and many others. He was just a beast in every weight class.

The problem with B.J. in the past was that he knew he was talented and didn’t have to train as hard as other guys to achieve his goals. He would get lazy and not come into fights in shape and lose focus. This caused him to lose a lot of fights he shouldn’t have and even balloon himself up to fight in the heavyweight division, which is not his natural weight class.

The key to B.J.’s new focus was two things. Actually it was one thing merged into two. Penn was fighting as a welterweight and just getting by until Dana White and the UFC told him that he had to move to lightweight to stay relevant. Furthermore, he was given the chance to become a coach on the Ultimate Fighter, a reality show that trains future MMA fighters in a competition to gain a contract with the UFC. The coach on the opposite team was Jen Pulver, someone that Penn lost to earlier in his career and the two didn’t like each other.

So, Penn was forced to move out of the 170-pound division and train hard to make lightweight, which is 155 pounds. He would have to watch his diet, stay in peak condition longer and become a more mature fighter.

Penn becomes an excellent coach, beats Jens in their fight, defeats Joe Stevenson for the interim lightweight title and finally beats Shrek for the true lightweight title.

It’s just happy to see someone finally realize his talent and focus on becoming the best fighter that he could. Even though it took him being in his late-20’s to have the light come of and focus, at least he found it.

It makes me realize that I need to fulfill my potential in all aspects of my life, professionally, personally, physically and everything in between. I have to improve every aspect of my life if I want reach my goals.

I have a lot of God-given abilities that I must utilize and not waste. Sometimes I feel that I don’t do that, but after seeing B.J. do his thing, its time for me to do mine.