You guys don't know just how excited I am about the early turnout for the Bloody Elbow Tournament of Bad. We have just under 1200 ballots for the first part of the Jon Hess Region Round of 64, and we're already past 350 ballots for part two in just over an hour. Brent and I had no idea what kind of reaction this would get, but so far it's been nothing but overwhelming. It's all in good fun, and we're glad you guys are rolling with it. You've still got a couple hours before the polls close on yesterday's matchups, so get your ballots in before time runs out.
- You know things are slow when news of positive Bellator ratings is the biggest item of the day. It's also good to know that MTV2 peaked in 2006 when it aired 8 Mile. Great job, guys.
- Former Bloody Elbow staff member Jonathan Snowden opined about sports ratings climbing over the last five years, while ratings for UFC events on Spike TV and Versus have remained stagnant. While I disagree with some of his conclusions, he's spot on about the UFC's television production. The UFC's obsession with controlling the narrative puts them in line more with professional wrestling than legitimate sport.
- Matt Mitrione explained his altercation with Tito Ortiz at the UFC fighter summit. Then he fired Malki Kawa for a second time.
- Leland Roling discussed Hatsu Hioki jumping to the UFC. I want to know when this kid is going to jump to America from the Land of the Rising Sun.
- This really was a slow day.
- Shane Carwin talked about returning from surgery at age 36. I found this line amusing (emphasis mine): "Instead of trying to blow himself up into a 280-pound beast with the help of creatine and power-lifting." We wouldn't want to link Carwin to steroids or anything.
- If you don't think there's a rift between the UFC and Spike TV, I implore you to check this video out.
- Another indirect result of the new UFC Twitter policy? Poorly staged public fight negotiations.
- It looks like Strikeforce picked up Maximo Blanco, who has one of the best names in MMA.
- In one of the odder stories we've seen, Antonio Silva spit venom at Josh Barnett and Brock Lesnar, calling the former a "filthy person" and accusing the latter of pulling out of his fight because of Junior dos Santos' punching power. Reports of Bobby Heenan's presence could not be confirmed.