Solid, clear points put simply and reasonably and with plenty of visual evidence. Not bad.

Tony Blair has posted a video message on his youtube channel to congratulate Nicholas Sarkozy on the election win.

Blair is the first world leader to have his own channel on youtube.

Nice one, on both accounts.

See the video here.

I was on my way to work this morning and when I walked out of the tunnel between Central Station and Railway Square John Butler was just setting up for a short impromptu performance. He sat up as a busker, and people dropped coins in front of him, but there was a camera crew there also. He played a couple of songs on his acoustic and said at the end the money from “busking” was going to charity. I didn’t catch what they were recording this for. For a video clip or a TV program, I assume.

I recorded it on my phone camera, so the video quality is quite poor. The sound is ok though.

And a couple of photos:

A friend of mine has put together this Google Earth mashup, together with the guys from the Australian rock band Vespers. The nude Dutch sunbather, the Chinese model of the Indian border, that floating car in Perth – all are in there. The soundtrack is the new song from Vespers, so the video is a bit of a plug for them, but it is actually pretty good song too. And its a great promotion idea, so check it out.

Here it is. Watch it before it gets taken down.

You’d be forgiven for thinking you’re watching Ortiz Vs Shamrock 2 all over again.

Check out this video of the Sydney local up and coming MMA fighter
James Te Huna taking on Takahiro Oba at X-plosion. The event was held at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on August 18th.

Way to make a comeback!

Here are some Te Huna highlights from the last couple of years.

Not only is their coming bout this Saturday night a title fight (UFC Light Heavyweight), but it is also a long-awaited rematch between the two, punctuating Sobral’s 10 fight winning streak, since he was last beaten by Liddell back in 2002. In that bout Sobral was knocked down by a left high hook in the first round. Liddell has also had a long run of wins, his last loss being back in 2003 to “Rampage” Jackson.

Sobral (27-5-0) seems to have the fitness edge over Liddell (18-3-0); he’s been working hard developing his stamina with sand and hill sprints, among other things. He’d be planning on using that edge to wait til Liddell tires and perhaps slips up, allowing himself to be taken down. At 30, the Brazilian is also 7 years Liddell’s junior. Sobral is masterful on the ground, while The Iceman prefers to end his fights standing and is known to stubbornly resist being taken down and do so very effectively. As time wears on in the fight it is likely to shift more and more in Sobral’s favour, if he can hold his defence together in the first two rounds, and I think that is what will happen. I am going with a Sobral victory in this one.

The Forrest Griffin (12-3-0) vs. Stephan “American Psycho” Bonnar (also 12-3-0) is another long awaited rematch. Both fighters are coming off a loss, Griffin a close one to Ortiz and Bonnar to Rashad Evans. Their last fight, in the finals of the first UItimate Fighter reality TV show, is considered one of the best in UFC history. That fight is haled with bringing UFC into the mainstream, after their three round toe-to-toe battle reportedly drew 10 million viewers at the peak of the show, up from an audience of 2 million at the start. My money is on Griffin, who has gotten much better since their first encounter, to win again.

The third fight is between the French kickboxer Cheick Kongo and the wrestler Christian Wellisch, known as “The Hungarian Nightmare”. Don’t know much about these guys, or the next pair Hermes Franca and Jamie Varner. In my ignorance I am going with Kongo and Varner respectively. The last fight on the televised card is Nick Diaz (who is replacing Thiago Alves, unable to fight due to illness) versus Josh “The Dentist” Neer. I am going with Neer for that one.

Here’s the full card:

Live PPV Fight Card:

Chuck Liddell (c) vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral (BRA)
Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar
Cheick Kongo (FRA) vs. Christian Wellisch (HUN)
Hermes Franca (BRA) vs. Jamie Varner
Nick Diaz vs. Josh Neer

Pre-PPV Preliminary Card:

Wes Combs vs. Wilson Gouveia (BRA)
Cory Walmsley vs. David Heath
Rob MacDonald (CAN) vs. Eric Schafer
Yushin Okami (JAP) vs. Alan Belcher

And now for some bad news – the fight between the current PRIDE champ Vanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva and Liddell (current UFC champ) that was announced at UFC 61 for November has been called off. The reason given was “negotiation issues” between PRIDE and UFC management.

Here are a couple of videos to refresh your memory.

Stiffman1 has made a “Bonnar Griffin tribute”, in anticipation of their rematch. Check it out, it shows their previous three round stoic battle.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Read the rest of this entry »

Grandmaster Ma Yue Liang was the son-in-law and the best known disciple of Wu Chien Chuan, the founder of Wu style taiji. He truely was one of the last remaining great Chinese martial arts masters of old. Master Ma was jailed by the Maoists during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, but continued to teach tai chi in Shanghai, China, right up until his death at the age of 97, in 1998. The following video shows Master Ma giving a pushing hands demonstration when he was already 93 years old.

So apparently there is a documentary coming out next week about the long running feud between Tito and Ken. It is called “Relentless: Tito Ortiz -vs- Ken Shamrock: The Untold Truth Behind UFC’s Legendary Feud” and the release date is this Tuesday, the 18th of July.

All I’ve been able to find out about is this bit of promo:

This DVD is a high impact, no holds barred, behind the scenes look at how the blood feud between Tito Ortiz and the Lion’s Den got started.

– What did Tito’s shirt really say?
– Did it spark a riot thrown down between some of the best fighters in the UFC?
– Why does the Ortiz/Mezger war continue even today?

You’ll find rare, exclusive video, photos, and candid, revealing interviews with Tito Ortiz’s former manager, Sal Garcia, amongst others.

You’d hope this has their fights in full and its coming out next week because they are throwing something together that includes last week’s fight. Guy Metzger is listed as “starring” as well. So is this going to be good? I have no idea. For me it comes down to how much actual fight footage is in the 105 minutes which this video goes for and they are not giving much away on that front. If anyone finds a review, point me in the right direction.

Click the ad link on the sidebar to order from Amazon or get more info.

I completely missed this before, because, to be honest, I did not look that far down the Fight Card, but it has now come to my attention that there is an Aussie fighter on the card – Anthony Perosh, from Sydney will be making his UFC debut. Anthony is the training partner of Elvis Sinosic, who had a great debut back in UFC 32, submitting the No. 1 light heavyweight contender Jeremy Horn, but has not done so well since. Together they run the Sinosic Perosh Martial Arts school in Sydney.

Anthony will be fighting Jeff Monson, who has much more MMA experience, having fought several times in the UFC, with a couple of wins under his belt. Monson is by far the favourite in this fight, with Perosh seen as pretty much an unknown newcomer.

Anthony’s last MMA fight was at Warriors Realm 5, on the 25th of February, on the Sunshine Coast, when he beat Ross Dallow by submission. He has won the Australian BJJ Championships many times and has been making his way up in the world of MMA for several years.

Here’s a video you can dowload of his MMA highlights.

While looking up some info on Anthony Perosh I just came across 2 petitions to get the UFC back on Australian Pay-per-View. It used to be shown here a couple of years, but I guess did not get enough support. Surely its time to reconsider!

Sign the petitions here:

UFC Pay Per Views in Australia at Petition Online.

UFC on Foxtel at Petition Spot.

Best of butt-kicking luck to Anthony Perosh tonight. And I’ll just say it one more time – damn, I wish this event was being broadcast in Australia.