MMA training, Thoughts on Frank vs Cung, tomorrow's Ultimate Fight Night; and TUF
First things first. I am feeling better now. I had a great weekend where I could forget not getting the Sister Cities program job. I finally talked Derrick into coming to Arizona Combat Sports with me. The guy is a better natural for the sport than I could ever be and I thought he deserved a chance of checking the place out and we could roll in the cage or ring.

Anyway, the moment we show up. We're filming an audition video for one of the guy's at the gym for the next TUF. A guy from AZ Combat Sports, CB Dollaway is going to be on this season's TUF and I encourage you to watch it. He has a style that makes Rampage proud. So I just stood by and helped the guys out and I know the guy we're helping out (not going to say his name for protection reasons) can not only get into the Ultimate Fighter, but win it. I also know CB can win the whole thing. He's explosive and strong. But I heard Forrest Griffin's team won a certain majority of the fights, so who knows. I'll try and get tickets to the finale.

Then Derrick and I finally got around to training. Derrick trained with another guy and Derrick got beat, but he did well. If he had more formal training, he could have beaten his opponent. He exhausted Derrick. Eventually we got to rolling with the cage and it was a lot of fun. He worked on his take downs and he got me down in the cage a few times. It was quite a fun experience for him. After that, we went to a Chinese buffet to eat dinner and I just thanked Derrick for coming and it really helped me feel better to show up after all.

Anyway, my thoughts on the Cung Le vs Frank Shamrock fight. I thought it was too much like an exhibition/sparring session. Cung Le just picks apart his opponents. I think Frank could have used his left hook more to score up the points, set up for a knock out, or use it to set up his take downs. I think Frank could have won if he was also more aggressive at certain points. But I hope Frank gets well soon. Anyway, I don't see Cung beating Akiyama, Kang, Filho, or Silva. But anyway, I say Frank will win a rematch.

And tomorrow is Ultimate Fight Night. I'll give my predictions on the main card.

Irvin vs Alexander
-Irvin needs to initiate. Alexander fights with one game plan. Go in there and whoop that ass. Alexander is ground tested, it's all about getting the mount and defeating him. Just initiate and initiate. If you're fighting Alexander, it's all it is.

Maynard vs Edger
-I say Maynard will win this by either late round submission or UD

Boetsch vs Hammill
-Hammill by 1st round TKO

Diaz vs Pellergrino
-I say Diaz by submission in round 2 or 3, or UD

Karo vs Alves
-Karo by an impressive UD

Florian vs Lauzon
-Florian by UD or late round submission

I'd give deeper thoughts but just way too busy right now

Anyway, yesterday I finally took up Jamie Varner's MMA class. I've been meaning to do it for sometimes now, but just really couldn't find the time to do so. I figure it now fits my schedule. Unfortunately, I can't go tomorrow to help out my family, but I hope to come back on Friday. Yesterday we worked on armbar and triangle defense. It was more active defense in comparison to other classes and I really liked Jamie's class because of how active his lesson plans are. All I know is just posturing and stalling which can only work for so long.

So basically it was like a no gi bjj class but more for mma context. I asked certain questions in relations to posting and posturing and it really helped me a lot. Then we did rolling. We did it for 2 minutes in comparison to 7 minutes. I felt the 2 minutes was way more demanding because people are looking to finish you ASAP and you're trying to defend. Thankfully my defenses were working to a certain extent. I'm learning to flip out of gulliotines, etc. so it's working out for me. With my other partners, I used twister side control to get to the mount but we were so sweaty (and I was so tired that) my opponents easily escaped my mount to half guard =(. I even go to roll with the champ =D. But I was tired by then and was only at like 10%. Man do I need to lose fucking 50 pound!!! I tried using twister side control on him but I was too tired to put any weight into it and coordinate myself. Thankfully he gave me opportunities to use the arm bar escapes against him. Somehow I had him in my rubber guard and I tried to transition to a triangle but he used the triangle defense against me as well which he taught. Thankfully I was not submitted =D.

So yeah, that's it for this entry. I'm no longer that depressed over not getting the job and I'm glad I got AZ Combat Sports helping me out indirectly where I can forget all my troubles.