The Monday Morning Reverie: Unbelievable

I never had anything against former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia (Pictures) and I probably never will. He took his defeat to Randy Couture (Pictures) like a true champ and his post-fight speech was a perfect look into how a real man, a real champion, takes a loss. It was refreshing to see Sylvia speak humbly about losing his title and give Couture all the credit he deserved. It was terrific seeing Sylvia make absolutely no excuses for the loss …

… until he claimed to have been injured going into the fight. The crowd, of course, angrily booed him and rightfully so. I, along with everybody else under the sun, am just sick and tired of fighters making excuses for losses. How many times do we have to be insulted by fighters claiming injuries; pre-fight distractions; illness; they beat themselves; etc. If you are injured going into a fight, be smart and do what GSP does and pull out. My solution to this epidemic of fighters who lose making more excuses than a pregnant nun is to fine them. Plain and simple. Fine them because nobody likes excuses. It makes the loser sound like a blubbering crybaby. …

What a terrific win that was for the underappreciated Jason Lambert (Pictures). He certainly looks like a viable contender after bludgeoning former title challenger Renato Sobral (Pictures), but, like all contenders, the jury is still out. My only question is which statement is more truthful: Lambert a legitimate threat or "Babalu" is more hype than substance? …

There is a local pub in Las Vegas called Screwballs. It's a nice little joint and I'd know because I've been there a few times. I'm not sure how many there are in town but they had a peculiar AM radio commercial that ran for at least a day or two that promoted their fun and free UFC 68 party. The commercial had this wacky Vaudeville circus music in the background that almost drowned out the voiceover actor. The funnier part is, however, it said in the commercial on two separate occasions to "come down to screwballs to watch UFC 68 featuring Sylvia vs. Couture and Franklin vs. Hughes!" What? Get your facts straight, guys. …

I didn't understand referee John McCarthy standing up Couture and Sylvia several times from rounds two-through five when there was actually some action taking place. What was more puzzling was the fact that McCarthy let Sylvia lay on Couture in rear-naked defense mode for four and a half minutes with literally no action. I wonder if McCarthy heard Joe Rogan complaining that he hates stand-ups. Wait, isn't Rogan a stand-up comedian? (cue the pies) …

Maybe I was the only viewer who had this problem, but my pay-per-view telecast (yes, I actually bought a UFC PPV for the first time in well over a year) had screwy sound. The sound was about a second or two early than the actual video feed, making it even better to watch. It was like watching an old Super Samurai Sunday flick, except it had Joe Rogan, Mike Goldberg and some guy named Randy Couture (Pictures). …

My wife thinks Andrei Arlovski (Pictures) is a good-looking guy. So do quite a bit of other women I know and have met who enjoy the UFC. But what was up with that shirt on Saturday? His chest was exposed because the top three or four buttons were unbuttoned and it was fluffy. All "The Pitbull" needed was a thick handlebar mustache, a pool and two women to go along with his ‘70's porn attire. …

When Mike Goldberg was pumping up Mark Wahlberg's new movie, Shooters, he called him "Marky Mark." Oh, bad move, Goldie, you best be looking out! Don't you know that Wahlberg be droppin' suckas who call him Marky Mark? …

What was up with the 19,000-plus fans booing UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva when he stepped into the Octagon to respectfully great former champ Rich Franklin (Pictures)? Knowing that was ill-advised and being one of the classiest guys on the planet, "Ace" reprimanded the crowd for booing his conqueror. They boo one of the best fighters in the game for doing nothing but winning without cheating? And people wonder why American fans make this proud American sick to his stomach. …

In between the Vic Darchinyan-Victor Burgos and Rafael Marquez-Israel Vazquez boxing matches on Showtime, the Showtime telecast crew interviewed female MMA fighter Gina Carano (Pictures). I've been saying this for a few years now, but she is very easy on the eyes! She will be pretty huge in the coming years, mark my words. …

After watching how Couture dismantled Sylvia, I couldn't help but chuckle thinking back to when Sylvia said in his pre-fight monologue that Couture had problems with heavyweights and strikers and that Sylvia is the best at both. Does that now make Couture better than both "Cro Cop" and Fedor? …

Now that Couture is the UFC heavyweight champion again, how much of a chance do you give him to beat "Cro Cop"? Or better yet: How much of a chance do you now give the Croatian of beating Couture?

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