Tag Archives: George St. Pierre

Entertainment Wrap #17

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Summer keeps chugging along, with yet another batch of new releases. There are also big things going down in the world of MMA this weekend. Looks to be another great week, here’s a look…

THEATERS

New movies hitting theaters this week are: Bruno, I Love You Beth Cooper, and Blood: the Last Vampire.  Bruno is the latest from Sacha Baron Cohen, who is best known for Borat and Da Ali G Show.  Bruno follows the exploits of a gay fashionista from Austria who comes to the US. This is one of Cohen’s funnier characters and it seems ready for the transition to the big screen. Some of his humor falls flat, but when he is funny I find him to be flat out hilarious. While his brand of humor relies heavily on shock value, I feel that Cohen is perhaps the ballsiest comic in the game right now with all of the risks he takes.  I actually really want to check this movie out since it is almost guaranteed to shock you with some craziness you have never seen before and nobody pushes the envelope of controversy more than Cohen.

I Love You Beth Cooper is another high school comedy starring Hayden Panetierre (TV’s Heroes) and some other people. It looks like your typical HS flick.  While it doesn’t really promise anything new or original, it looks like it may be good for a few laughs and might be worth checking out.  Blood: the Last Vampire is a live action movie based on the popular anime of the same name. The story is about a young Vampire girl in post WWII Japan who is enlisted by a government agency to help them hunt down and destroy demons.  The movie has had some pretty bad reviews, mainly citing the poor special effects and the noticeable lack of blood from the comic.  I’m still interested in checking this out, but I have a feeling it won’t be until it hits video.

Then there is the movie whose name we dare not mention…but I will anyway- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, which comes out later this coming week.  This flick looks to be the best Potter yet. I’ve never read an HP book before, but I’ve been following the movies since the start, and they’ve definitely grown on me with each film getting better and better (with the exception of the last one). The latest movie seems to have the darkest themes so far and I can’t wait to check it out.

DVD

New DVDs this week are Knowing, Push, and The Unborn. I’ve written reviews for all three of these, so for more in depth info definitely go check those out. I will take time to talk about the Unborn briefly. I was tricked in watching this because, like a few other people, I mistakenly thought that the lead character was played by Megan Fox of Transformers hotness. Don’t be fooled, she is NOT Megan Fox.  On the plus side, she is very hot also and the movie is pretty good.

GAMING

Nothing going on in the gaming world this week really worth noting. There is a re-release of Bio-Shock/ElderScrolls Oblivion in a bundle pack for the price of one game. This is a pretty solid deal for Bioshock alone. While the game doesnt have a multiplayer component, the SP is worth the price alone as it is one of the best games to come out in 2007. As far as Oblivion, I really know nothing about how good it is, since I dont really play serious RPGs like this. However, the game got a few Game of the Year nods, not to mention the fact that it comes with Bioshock in this bundle so it should be well worth trying out.

MMA

It seems like only yesterday I was a young teen watching a scrawny guy in a gi submit numerous opponents in a No Holds Barred fighting tournament. That man was Royce Gracie and that tournament was the Ultimate Fighting Championship I. At the time it seemed like a real life Bloodsport, but it was so amazing to watch Royce overcome such adversity using a lion’s heart and superior technique.  Back then they didn’t even wear gloves, there were no weight classes, hell you could even pull hair! Here we are a whopping 99 events later and MMA has most certainly evolved to a high level of sophistication. This brings us to the appropriately titled UFC 100: Making History, which features one of the best fight cards to date.

The card has a triple main event and you’d be hard pressed to pick the most exciting matchup out of the three, as they all have the potential to be dynamite. The rest of the card is no slouch either, but here I’ll just look at the big three and give my picks.

Middleweight fight: Michael “The Count” Bisping vs. Dan Henderson

Standup: Bisping’s strikes are crisp and he has excellent footwork to go with his boxing. He is very technical on his feet and he picks his shots well. Compared to Henderson, he is definitely the more refined and technical of the two.  Henderson has a crushing overhand right that he has used to change the tide of many of his fights, but he also has a ton of power in his left. Not to mention his titanium chin. He has stood and banged with some of the hardest hitters in the world, and to date he has never been knocked out and I highly doubt Bisping will be the first to do so. If he can trick Bisping into standing and exchanging with him, chances are Bisping will pepper him with a lot more shots, but all Hendo needs to do is withstand the barrage and connect flush one time and its lights out.  Edge: Henderson

Grappling: Bisping has gotten better at his ground and clinch game.  In previous fights, good wrestlers like Matt Hamill and Rashad Evans were able to give him trouble with their superior wrestling. Henderson’s wrestling pedigree speaks for itself. An Olympic wrestler, Henderson will definitely use this to his advantage to clinch and pin Bisping against the cage or hold him down on the ground and just grind the life out of him. While Bisping has improved in this aspect, he has never faced a wrestler of Hedo’s caliber in the octagon. Edge: Henderson

Cardio: Bisping is always well conditioned in all of his fights. He’s been in a few wars, but never showed signs of fatigue or slow down. Bisping is also a lot younger than Henderson, so that may work to his advantage cardio-wise. Henderson is usually incredible for the first couple of rounds, but tends to slow a bit as the fight goes on. This has hurt him in close fights like the Rampage fight or the time he fought Anderson Silva. He was doing good in both of those fights, but was noticably more and more slow towards the later rounds, not to mention the fact that the guy is getting old. If Bisping can withstand Hendo through the initial rounds, he may be able to take advantage of this later in the fight. Edge: Bisping

While it is pretty close to call, I’m going to go with Henderson. Both men are great fighters, but I think that Hendo’s wrestling and experience will prove too much for bisping.

Prediction: Henderson via TKO Round 3

Welterweight Title Fight: Georges “Rush” St. Pierre vs. Thiago “The Pitbull” Alves

Standup: Both of these guys are very well rounded strikers. St. Pierre likes to utilize his karate background throwing a lot of kicks, following up with punches. GSP has a bit of a reach advantage in this fight and can utilize that to stay outside of Alves’ range while landing shots of his own. Alves is just devastating on the feet. St.Pierre can definitely hurt you standing up, but Alves’ strikes just destroy people. His Muay Thai pedigree is evident in his devastating kicks and knees. Thiago has already stated that he is going to knock out GSP, so look for him to come out guns blazing. Edge: Alves

Grappling: GSP is the best wreslter in MMA. Everytime he has faced a bad ass wreslter (Hughes, Koscheck, Fitch, Trigg, etc) he has outwrestled them and imposed his will on them. Even BJ Penn, who’s takedown defense is from another planet, couldn’t stop GSP’s shots. Alves has improved tremendously in his grappling and ground game, as he has shown in his previous fights, most recently when he pinned Hughes to the mat like a tail on a donkey.  But his bread and butter is his ability to get back to his feet after being on the ground. Alves is definitely the stronger of the two fighters, but I don’t see him denying GSP’s wrestling…unless of course its with a killer knee to the face. Edge: GSP

Cardio: Both fighters are cardio machines. I see them as pretty evenly matched in this department and capable of going the full 5 rounds. I will give a slight edge to GSP as I feel he has the ability to just sap the energy out of his opponents. St. Pierre will most likely use his wrestling to pin Alves against the cage or the ground and just drain the energy out of him. Edge: GSP

This fight is a bit too close to call. GSP is the more rounded of the two, but Alves has devstating KO power and accuracy. I’m really hesitant to pick one, but I’m going to go with GSP. I love Alves’ style and his hunger, but I think St. Pierre is just too complete.

Prediction: GSP via submission Rd 3

Heavyweight Title Unification Fight: Brock Lesnar v. Frank Mir

Standup: Mir is definitely the more technical of the two fighters and his improvement was demonstrated in his most recent bout against Nogueira. It will take a hell of a lot for him to really hurt Lesnar, and the outcome of an exchange does not favor him at all. Lesnar only needs to connect once or twice to put Mir on his back or knock him out, so Mir would be smart to employ a stick and move strategy and try to point his way to a victory.   Lesnar is just too strong to be damaged by Mir, unless he connects with something serious. Edge: Lesnar

Grappling: The same problems Mir faces on the feet, he faces on the ground. While he has way more submissions than Lesnar, Lesnar is a lot stronger than Mir. Lesnar will look to use his NCAA wrestling champion pedigree to hold Mir down and just ground and pound the life out of him. As crafty as Mir is, his only real hope on the groud is to set Lesnar up for a submission. Since their last meeting, Lesnar will be very cautious against any submission attempts and will most likely just hold Mir in place and pound him out rather than risk getting submitted by trying to advance his position. Edge: Lesnar

Cardio:  Mir has had gas problems in the past, however he seems to have a new found focus on MMA and should show up game and ready for 5 rounds. Lesnar has never really been pushed to 5 full rounds, but his wrestling pedigree indicates that he is more than capable of going the distance. I have to give the slight edge to Lesnar, seeing that Mir will expend way more energy trying to control a beast of Lesnar’s stature. Edge: Lesnar

I’d like to see Mir somehow pull this one out, but all signs point to Lesnar taking this fight. Physically, Lesnar is a specimen the type of which has yet to be seen in the UFC.

Prediction: Lesnar via TKO Rd 3.

There you have it. My picks aren’t always the best, and this UFC looks to be one of the closest as far as match ups go (at least on paper). Regardless of who wins, the event looks to be a killer with three action packed events that promise to deliver.

That’s the week in entertainment and that’s a wrap.

Entertainment Wrap #2

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New in theaters this week are three pretty high profile releases: Taken, New in Town, and The Uninvited.  Taken is a thriller starring the always great Liam Neeson as a former spy whose daughter is abducted.  He then goes on a bloody rampage trying to get her back. At least judging from what the previews have led me to believe, that is what I am hoping goes down.   The movie looks like it has the same type of raw intensity as another abduction film, 2004′s Man on Fire starring Denzel Washington.  So far the movie has received mixed reviews but I’m still looking forward to checking it out.

New in Town is a romantic comedy starring Renee Zellwegger. Judging from the previews, she moves to a small town from the city. She doesn’t fit in with the townspeople. She meets a guy she’s attracted to. Hilarity may or may not ensue (my money is on “not”). The two of them wind up together in the end. I’m not really a fan of cookie cutter romantic comedies in general but there are a few that manage to bring elements that are new or hilarious that I have enjoyed quite a bit. Sadly, this does not look like one of them. Hopefully I wind up being forced to watch this movie and it surprises me by being far better than expected. Until that time, it’s not worth risking the $8.50.

The Uninvited is a remake of a Korean horror film about two sisters who must cope with not only a new stepmother but supernatural occurrences that are suddenly plaguing the family. This remake has big shoes to fill as the original is the highest grossing Korean horror film to date. Luckily this means that unless Hollywood has seriously screwed up the plot, the story should be quite good as millions of Korean moviegoers can’t be wrong.  Supposedly the film remains faithful to the original with a few minor tweaks. While I am interested in seeing this movie, the hit or miss rate for Hollywood asian horror remakes has been low lately so I will wait for video or a dead box office week to check this one out.

VIDEOS

New DVDs coming out this week are: Lakeview Terrace, Pride and Glory, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Rock and Rollah.  For more info on Lakeview Terrace or Pride and Glory, check the site as I have posted reviews for both films.  Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a Woody Allen romantic comedy about two women vacationing in Spain who fall for the same man, a local artist. Things become even more complicated when the man’s ex wife reenters the picture.  The film has a great cast with Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson playing the vacationing young women. the ex-wife is played by the stunning Penelope Cruz. Finally, the role of the artist is played by Javier Bardem of “No Country for Old Men” fame. I for one am interested to see whether he uses his infamous coin flip as a method of getting women to go out with him. All jokes aside, the movie has gotten great reviews and I’m interested in checking it out.

Of all the DVD releases this week, perhaps the one with the most potential IMHO is the Guy Ritchie directed RockNRollah.  I am a huge fan of Guy Ritchie’s work. Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch are two of my favorite movies.  He seemed to fall off a bit with Swept Away and Revolver, but buzz about this film is that is a true return to form for Ritchie, which is great news. RockNRollah is a tale of a scam gone wrong, leaving millions up for grabs, attracting every criminal and scumbag in London’s underworld attempting to get the prize. Perhaps Ritchie’s greatest strength is that he brilliantly captures the voice and feel of the London underworld like no other.  As evident in Revolver, despite the movie’s confusing and convoluted plot, you couldn’t help but admire the style and presentation in which the story was told.  Another major plus for RockNRolla is that it stars Gerard Butler, Leonidas from 300, in the title role.  While Butler’s post 300 work has been mainly limited to chick flicks and kiddie movies, it will be nice to see him get back to true ass kicking form.  Look for a review of this film as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.

GAMING

There is nothing coming out for a few weeks for any platform right now.  Worth noting for Xbox360 owners is the long awaited release of the demo of Resident Evil 5.  Having spent a bit of time with the demo, I can honestly say the game looks amazing. The graphics showcase some of the most detailed zombie models ever. The gameplay is farily fast paced for a resident Evil title and the controls are quite smooth once you get used to them.  The game also features a co-op mode which is a blast to pick up and play with a friend. The demo is definitely worth checking out as it is free and if you don’t like it, simply delete it.  Not much else going on gaming wise, but I expect it to start ramping up in the next few weeks with some high profile releases on the horizon for February and March.

Mixed Martial Arts

This weekend is the much anticipated rematch between UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre and UFC Lightweight champ BJ “The Prodigy” Penn. You’d be hard pressed to find an MMA fan that isn’t looking forward to this rematch.  St. Pierre won a controversial split decision in their first meeting and now both fighters are looking to win decisively this time to clear up any previous doubts.  This has the potential to be one of, if not the, greatest MMA showdowns ever. For those of you who aren’t ordering this one from pay per view, I suggest you get to your nearest computer on fight night and find someone uploading a feed of the fight. You won’t be disappointed.

SPORTS

There is also another minor sporting event this weekend that may have slipped under everyone’s radar. A little game called the Superbowl. For fans of football AND MMA this is truly a great weekend. The Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet at Superbowl XLIII on Sunday to determine who will be this year’s championship team.  Steelers are the favorites to win based on their bone crushing defense and well balanced offense.  However don’t count out the Cards who are red hot behind the amazing play of receiver Larry Fitzgerald and veteran quarterback Kurt Warner. Personally, I think the Steelers will win but I would like for the Cardinals to take this. Like most people, my team was already eliminated in the playoffs (Ravens, R.I.P.) and I am more excited to see a close and exciting game than to see a particular team win.  Regardless, the Superbowl is always a good time no matter who is playing and I can’t wait for kickoff.  No matter what your plans are for the big game, have fun and stay safe out there.

There’s the week in entertainment so until next week- that’s a wrap!

BJ Penn versus George St. Pierre Predictions

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Call me crazy, but I sort of miss the earlier days of MMA when all we had were one or two fights to really look forward to. In today’s world, we get bombarded with so many dream fights, it literally becomes mentally exhausting. There is just so much to think about. We have win/loss percentages, grappling improvements, striking improvements, training partners, and coaching staff to consider. These are truly tougher times. However, we now have one fight that stands above the rest so much so, that it brings about a sense of nostalgia in more ways than one.

The next two UFC events will feature Forest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans for the Light Heavyweight belt, Nogueira will take on Mir for the interim Heavyweight belt, and two wrecking machines with aliases such as “The Axe Murderer” and “Rampage” will put it all on the line in UFC 92. UFC 93 is already making some fans salivate with possible match ups between Rich Franklin taking on Dan Henderson, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua pitted against Mark Coleman, Jeremy Horn fighting Rouismar Palhares, and the long awaited UFC debut of Dennis Kang.

With all that on our plates, why then is it that fans worldwide are looking past all these great scheduled fights as if these were the under cards? One look through the internet and you will see that as far as MMA is concerned, there is one fight that seems to be the most anticipated match up since Royce Gracie vs. Dan Severn. This fight has caused so many rifts that since the announcement by UFC President Dana White; the divorce rate has gone up! Go ahead and look it up. If it still hasn’t dawn on you that I am referring to Lightweight Champion, BJ Penn, moving up a weight class to challenge Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre for his belt, then it is time for you my friend, to crawl out from that rock you’ve been hiding under. Oh and did I mention that this will be a rematch?

Who will win?

From everything I read and everyone I spoke to, that is a question that is probably better not asked if you do not want to get caught in the crossfire. But I love controversy so what the heck.

I am an island boy through and through so naturally I’m rooting for BJ Penn but for the sake of this article, I will try my best to be neutral and remain objective.

B.J. Penn is pound for pound one of the best in the world. With his new dedication to the sport, this man has the ability to dominate both weight classes. He has respectfully fought at 205, is a legend at age 29, and has beaten some of the best including Matt Hughes, Takanori Gomi, Renzo Gracie, and Sean Sherk. His strengths are his excellent boxing skills and a legendary ground game. He has great flexibility, which allows him to do amazing things from his back. One of his strongest weapons is his timing. His only weakness that everyone loves to point out is his cardio. However, the latest reports indicate that he is no longer relying on pure talent alone and is working hard on his conditioning. I wonder if he has improved on his wrestling and takedown defense as it is the only other missing link I can see.

GSP is one of the most athletically gifted people on the planet. In dismantling Hughes and Fitch in his last few fights, he’s proved he also is one of the pound for pound best. GSP is a master fight technician who finds his opponents’ weaknesses and tailors a fight plan to exploit that weakness. He is a well rounded fighter mainly because he does not train in a true MMA camp per se. Instead he trains at different gyms with professionals of singular arts such as wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, and BJJ. This type of focus oriented training specifically isolates a perceived flaw and works to make improvements. With wins over Josh Koshcheck, Sean Sherk, Karo Parysian, Matt Hughes, Frank Trigg, and of course BJ Penn, he is highly unpredictable and one of a few strikers that likes to shoot. He loves to put grapplers on their backs with his explosiveness. It is very difficult for opponents to find a weakness to exploit however, BJ did dominate him standing up.

How will they win?

The first time these two gladiators met, GSP won a highly controversial decision, but the fact remains that Penn inflicted more damage to GSP. In fact, a bloodied GSP had to be admitted into a hospital immediately after the fight. On the other hand, the loser left without so much as a scratch. Many have argued that if it wasn’t for GSP’s superior and repetitive takedowns of the Hawaii native, the fight would have been in BJ’s favor. In fact GSP never delivered any significant damage once he took Penn down. Without a doubt, Penn dominated the stand up battle however; the judge seemed to have placed a higher value for the takedowns.

What GSP needs to do in order to win is to first understand why he lost the stand up aspect to BJ. And the reason for that is because of BJ’s impeccable timing. BJ timed his jabs to catch GSP in mid-combo. GSP always seemed too focused on putting together his attacks that he never saw a counter attack coming. GSP should fake an attack, wait for BJ to throw his jab and then immediately counter with his speed. Another thing that GSP needs to do, should BJ not find an answer to his takedowns, is to gain a dominant position on the ground and utilize a ground and pound attack. The judges may not be so kind this time around and award GSP a win by putting BJ on his back without capitalizing.

What BJ Penn needs to do in order to secure a victory is to first work on his sprawl. GSP took him down at will and even as a black belt; he could not catch GSP with a submission. He should continue to pick apart GSP with his jabs but this time follow up with a power shot. The jury is still out on whether or not BJ’s conditioning is improved however if it has, he should not only look for timed counter punches, but to also keep the pressure on and strike from inside the pocket.

Prediction: BJ Penn, Split Decision. Dana White, Headache. (But that is for another article.)