TUF

The Ultimate Fighter is a reality show held by the UFC to discover the up and coming talents in the world of MMA. The show started in the spring of 05 and it airs on Spike TV. Here is a preview of the show I wrote a while ago for TV.com:

Sixteen of best unsigned MMA fighters make their way to Vegas to the UFC mansion and training center. These fighters will spend the next 6 weeks training, eating and drinking. They are going to be divided into two teams and would compete against one another. All fighters will fight each other and the losers are eliminated. There is only on place on the top of the fighters pyramid. Who will climb their way up and be THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER!!

I watched season 1 while studying in the United States, but now I’m watching season 6 at home, Yemen, in the Middle East. I fell in love with the Ultimate Fighter from the very first episode and I influenced most of my friends into watching it and making it their favorite show. The show stands out due to a number of factors such as, its genuineness, excitement and action packed contents and pace. Some people mistake it for propaganda for what they call “blood sport” and it really is not. The UFC has been the best ambassador and representative of MMA. The show is about competition and to set the record straight, this sport is far safer than boxing, which inflicts greater damage to its practitioners, particularly brain damage due to receiving thousands of punches mainly the to head throughout their careers.

Anyways, the Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs Team Serra or season 6 is the latest edition of the Ultimate Fighter। In this season the two teams are coached by former welterweight Champion Matt Hughes and his assistant coaches, Fiore and the former UFC welterweight fighter “ruthless” Robbie Lawler। The other team, however, is coached by the current UFC welterweight Matt “the terror” Serra and his assistant coaches, striking coach Ray Longo and UFC middleweight fighter Pete Sell.

This season is heated because of the mutual dislike the coaches have. Matt Hughes believes that Serra is not a great fighter not even a top ten welterweight fighter in the world. Now, Serra is the champion and he thinks Hughes is “an ego maniac” and acts in an unacceptable manner with everybody. Hughes says Serra has been “bad-mouthing” him whenever he appears on TV. Both coaches get to compete in the show but with 8 warriors on both sides and then fight each other for the title in the Ultimate Fighter Finale in Dec.

So here is what has happened so far in the Ultimate Fighter 6: Matt Hughes’s team is trailing 4-1। Team Serra lost their first fight but then won the last 4 consecutive fights. This has been driving Hughes crazy; he is desperate for a win. Many attribute his losses to his harsh style and his bad fight picks so far. When Hughes shows his desperation for a win, he puts his team indirectly under a lot of pressure. Moreover, he takes his frustration on his team members and this got to put them down. On top of that, I think his misreading his fighters at times is another reason of his losses on the show i.e. in episode 6; Paul was in no mode for fighting though he said he was. The kid just received the devastating news of his cousin’s death. He was offered to leave the show for good or fight then attend the wake and make it back to the show; surely enough he picked the latter. I could tell Paul was messed up mentally, which is pretty normal when you lose a family member, when he walked to the octagon he took the wrong turn and was pulled back by one his coaches. This reflects how his mind was wandering all over the place; he lacked concentration which was vital. Although Paul’s the superior ground fighting, he lost by a knock out because he opted to stand and trade punches with Serra’s fighter, Troy Mandaloniz who threw a devastating right hook to Paul’s jaw ending the fight in an impressive fashion.

Hughes is more pissed than ever and Serra is enjoying every single fraction of a second of it. We are going to plunge into this season with more details after each episode, so stay tuned in for more of the Ultimate Fighter.

Sarah

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UFC, the Gateway to MMA’s Universe

Friends and readers alike, behold the sport of the future that hath risen. I know this may sound like some Shakespearean passage but this piece is completely about something else, the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). There are a lot of people who are probably wondering what MMA is. The answer is simple: it is the future sport that is currently knocking boxing off its throne as the most exciting and intense sport on the planet.
The firs time I watched an MMA event was back in 2004 and believe me I fell in love with that sport from the very first look. I got the chance to move to the USA in 2005 and there I watched all the UFC’s events. Quite a number of this article’s readers are probably wondering what the heck the UFC really is! The UFC is the biggest MMA organization in the whole world. The UFC was based on Horion Gracie’s idea who in 1993 established a mixed-martial art openweight tournament to answer conventional questions like, “who would win? The boxer or Judo practitioner? The Kung fu practitioner or Karate one?” This idea was a hit and for the first three events Gracie Jiu Jitsu (A martial art discipline) dominated through Horion’s younger brother Royce Gracie who grew to be a legend and a UFC hall of fame inductee.
Many spectators in the Middle East are being familiarized with MMA through the International Fight League (IFL) events which are usually aired on MBC Action. IFL is exciting but when compared with the UFC, UFC has got the best MMA fighters of all of the five weight categories in MMA. The heavyweight category 220lbs-260lbs has got the ageless reigning heavyweight champion of the world Randy Couture who at the age of 44 is dominating and overwhelming his tough challengers. Next to Couture, there are the giant 6’8 Tim Sylvia, Nougira, Jeff Manson, Andrei Arlovski and many more. In the light heavyweight, 205lbs-206 lbs the current champion Quentin “rampage” Jackson just shocked the world after knocking out the former and most dominant light heveyweight champion Chuck “the Iceman” Liddill in UFC 71 back in July. He also has unified the titles after beating Pride FC’s light heavyweight champion Dan Hendrson in UFC 75. This weight class has many of the most talented and charismatic fighters in the world such as Forrest Griffin, Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evens, Stephen Bonnar, Mauricio Shogun Rua and the list goes on. The middleweight class 185 lbs got the current champion Anderson “the spider” Silva who has been beating his contenders in a decisive manner. He finished the former champion Rich “Ace” Franklin utilizing knee strikes from a Thai-clinch then submitted Travis Lutter via a triangle choke. He followed that with a TKO (technical knock out) win over Nate “Rock” Markuardt. Anderson is set for rematch with Rich Franklin in October. Jumping down to a lower class, it is time to examine the welterweight category 170 lbs. This category is packed with superstars. There is the new champion Matt “the Terror” Serra who literally upset the world defeating the former champion and the most dynamic fighter in the UFC George “Rush” Saint-Pierre. There is also Matt Hughes who was the most dominant champion ever in the UFC. The last category is the 155 lbs category also known as the lightweight and it has a bunch of stars like the champion Sean “the Muscle Shark” Shirk, the prodigy BJ Penn, Kenny Florian, Din Thomas. This category is well-known for the incredible speed and pace. By and large, all UFC fighters are famous for their great technical skills, heart, physical intensity, speed and power. In other words, everything an MMA fan wants to watch, enjoy and learn is available through the UFC events.
This is an invitation to go ahead and explore the amazing world of MMA and there is no better doorway to this world than the UFC. Try it, watch it and I promise you to be an experience of a pure thrill, excitement and enjoyment. Don’t be stuck in the past with the dull and one dimensional sport of boxing but be in the future because the future is already here.

Knowledge & Tolerance Vs Ignorance & Extremism

The other day I was in a barbershop waiting for my turn to get a haircut. While waiting, quite a number of people, who were not there to get a haircut, were in the shop watching the West of Asia soccer tournament's finale featuring Iraq vs. Iran. As a person who loves sports, particularly soccer and MMA (mixed Martial Arts), I started watching the game like everybody else. It was an interesting match but in the half-time break, people were talking about politics not sports. What is funnier is that when the game ended with the Iranian team on top, the discussion totally shifted gears into religion. It was an interesting yet sad experience to see how narrow-minded most of discussion participants were. I heard many of what I thought are outrageous claims. It was the first time I hear that the Shiite Muslims got their own Mecca in Iraq and others interrupt "no,noo,nnnooooo, it is Iran." Another odd and shocking fact is spilled into the raging discussion; Shiites do their Haj or pilgrimage in Muharam, which is the first month of the Islamic Hijri Calendar not on Thu Al Hija which is the 12th and last month of Islamic calendar.
Up to that point, I had heard enough to be fueled up to take part in the discussion, so I started by pretending to be in the dark as to Shiites Muslims and Sunni Muslims. This strategy got things worse because everybody started exaggerating and cursing Shiites, the thing that pushed me to asking questions to those narrow-minded people. One of the questions I asked was whether Shiites are considered Muslims or not? Answers varied here some said they were but not good ones but the others totally said that Shiites are not Muslims and should not be dealt with, greeted, eaten with or even talked to. I wondered and asked how they would know the Shiites when they are totally not interacting with them. I really wanted to know the source of their ideas about Shiite Muslims. Some said they read books others heard imams in mosques speak such nonsense, some others watched some Shiite rituals on TV and started interpreting them however they want, and the rest have learned about Shiites through online forums. I laughed a bit then asked one of the participants what his Islamic subgroup was? He said, "I'm Zaidi." I told him if you really are why are cursing yourself then. He said he was not but he was cursing out Shiites. So I said don't you know that Zaidism is a part of Shiite Islam. He accused me of ignorance and stupidity. Things were about to turn ugly when they started asking in a threatening tone what I thought of Shiites. I simply answered telling them all Shiites and Sunnis are Muslims and it is ok to have differences.
Disagreement is inevitable and it does not mean we have to kill each other and hate on each other. I told them to use logic and take a good look at how Sunnis have many different denominations and Shiites as well. Differences exist everywhere and in everything. You should learn to accept the other and the other should do the same thing. I told them there are a billion and half Muslims in the whole world if not more. However, if we think the same way they, discussion participants, do Muslims would be much less and things would lead to a bottomless abyss. Finally I recited a verse from the holy Quran, "Let there be no compulsion in religion'' (2/256). Then I recited two other verses that are on the mark:" And hold fast, all together, by the Rope which God (stretches out for you) and be not divided among yourselves." (3/103) Also: “And obey God and His Apostle; and fall into no disputes lest you lose heart and your power depart.”(8/46). I said that Shiites plus Sunnis equals Islam and this how it should perceived. I felt so good about it but they chased out of the shop and I never got the haircut I was there for in the first place.

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Tragedy strikes an innocent!!!!

I’m writing this piece with a tear rolling down my check. This tear left my eye to fall and die when I heard how one of my best friends, Jalal Jarmah, met his doom. Jalal was hit by a car while walking on the sidewalk holding his little daughter and watching his four nephews and nieces after leaving the Berlin Park in Sana’a. Jalal threw his little daughter away when he saw the car driving insanely towards him; he saved his little girl’s life but couldn’t spare his own. Jalal suffered two severely broken legs and an internal bleeding caused by the impact of the car’s front leading to a smashed liver. This car was driven by a young reckless kid who was given the green light by his lousy irresponsible father. This all leads me to wonder about law enforcement in my country. This kid was driving in the middle of the day without license. The ugliest part is the offender family’s attitude. They don’t want to bear the accountability for their mistake and we all know denial is not the way out. They want to convince everybody that their kid is just a young nice innocent boy who shouldn’t be held accountable for what happened. A question pops in my mind, where the heck were the innocence and responsibility when the kid was exceeding the speed limit and hitting a pedestrian way off the road??! Some have suggested that this could have been a murder! It is no accident when a car chases the victim to the sidewalk and into the trap of death. Finally, may Jalal rest in peace and I just wrote this to vent my sadness and speak up for my dead friend who is incapable of saying anything for himself now!!

The 2006 World Cup...Zizo's incident and the outstanding teams!!

Zidane rocks there is not doubt about it but he should've been a bit more patient. When such a huge star acts in such unsportsmanlike manner, then it is just sad. This is the third time Zidane behaves in such a way, the first was in the 1998 world cup hosted by France when he stomped Fuad Anwar the Saudi midfielder, then he head-butted another play in the champions league when playing for Real Madrid.
England did not impress me and Rooney was stupid enough to step on a Portuguese player and deserved to be sent off. Ironically, Rooney was extremely mad at his fellow Manchester United winger, Christiano Ronaldo for defending the injured Portuguese player. Rooney totally forgot that Ronaldo was playing for the national Portuguese team in the world cup not in a premier league game.
France started slow but they really caught up later and played great soccer they, however, lacked the destroying offense ability. Playing with a single forward is not a very good idea particularly if the striker got skills and always moves around instead of positioning smartly in the 18 yard box to snipe chances.
Argentina did a great job as a whole team but their coach was not that good. How can a coach not invite Javier Zaniti and Walter Samuel to his roster? They are two of the best players in Europe and they got plenty of experience. Players like Lional Messi and Carlos Teves, who got crucial skills and insights, were sitting on the bench all the time and when they had the chance they showed everybody what they can do and actually did to Serbia and Montenegro. Jose Beckerman is widely famous for winning world cups but for the under 21 teams not the first teams. I really wanted to see the Tango dancers make it to the finale but next
Brazil no doubt was the worst; Ronaldinho sucked big time but that could be due to the long season he had with Barcelona. The only bright star in the samba roster was Kaka who is really one of the best midfielders in the world. Choppy Ronaldo did manage to be the top scorer of all world cups but it was in a very flat and unimpressive way.
Italy played ok but they won it with there steel-like defense and this proves that the calcio is the best soccer league; the 23 Italian players are all playing in the calcio. Top players like Cassano were not invited to the Italian roster for the mere fact of playing outside Italy, even if they were playing for big teams like Real Madrid as in Cassano’s case. What distinguished Italy is their team work. They had fewer stars than Brazil had but they played better collectively.


Mohammad H. Al-Hamdani

Ac Milan made sure history does not repeat itself as it is commonly said!!!

I was really nervous about this finale, for i love Italian soccer more than the English one though i love Stephen Gerrard. Two goals for the famous sniper Insaghi were more than enough to avange the 2005 finale loss. I think one of the main factors is what coach Carl Ancelotti talked about, the physical condition of Ac Milan players'. They were rested more than the 2005 finale plus they were more than happy to make it to the finale in such harsh circumstances especially with the scandle of the 05/06 season. Anyways, I believe the better team won very deservingly. Finally, I say congrats to the roseneri and better luck to Liverpool.

Mohammad H. Al-Hamdani