Another take on the brilliance of MMA.

"Training in the field of Martial arts has really shaped my life. I have been training since the age of 10 at Universal Defense Systems which covers the arts of Filipino Arnis, Muay Thai kick boxing, Kung-Fu, Judo, Jeet June Do and Savate. For the last 8 years, I have been studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I have been fighting professional mixed martial arts since 2003.

Martial art literally means the art of war. Martial Arts is the ancient means of military training whether it is with empty hand or with weapons. Today's warfare has been altered with technological advancements through the use of projectile weapons or missiles. Although modified to fit with the development of human body and mind, the use of ancient martial arts remains necessary. A punch will always be a punch and a kick will always be a kick.

Cross training in the Ancient arts is similar to stepping into the past, into the minds of sword to sword and hand to hand combatants. Therefore, every true martial artist is a historian in there own rite. Martial arts not only has endless history, but it also contains the most precise physics. The body movement for a sweep or punch must be so particular with its angle, timing, distance, and dimensions. Therefore, a true martial artist must have basic knowledge of physics to perform a move successfully.

When the public watches hand to hand combat on television in venues such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship most Americans are unaware of the skills and techniques that require such mastery by the fighters. These fighters are the true Olympians of the world. So much is sacrificed into becoming a champion. So many hard hours of training, studying the history, the techniques, the angles, the strategies, and most of all yourself.

Fighting in the octagon may appear to violent, and some might even view it as barbaric. However, if you appreciate the human body and it's history, you will begin to see that this really is the first and the best sport on earth

— Phillipe Nover"

From his website: http://www.phillipenover.com/

Philippe Nover was the first runner up in The Ultimate Fighter Series during "Noguiera VS Mir" He is a Filipino American who lives in New York and is a registered nurse. Healer by day, fighter by night. His nickname is the Filipino Assassin. Unfortunately his UFC debut suffered an idiotic call made by the notorious referee, Yves Lavigne, who has been known to make early stoppages from past fights. He stopped the fight too early because he "thought" that Nover was KO'd but he instantly rolled into a defensive position on the ground. Lavigne was later seen and heard apologizing to Nover.

Terrible call made by Lavigne:




Don't worry Philippe, Dana White is a reasonable and smart guy, he knew that the call was made much too early.

Keep fighting Nover,

Alan

MMA is not for pussies.

I honestly am pretty annoyed by everyone (people who don't know crap about the sport, which is unfortunately, a whole lot of people) calling this sport a homo-fest. At the most visceral level, humans desire to test out their physical ability to inflict pain on another human to the best of their ability. UFC and its Octagon (and any other organized MMA groups out there) allows for that to happen in a controlled environment with spectators who are paying good money to see how skilled these men are. Each and everyone of them has trained as hard as any athlete for any sport out there and it's about time they get the recognition they deserve. This is their life, this is what they're about, fighting. I can't imagine any other type of athletes that are more dedicated than professional fighters. Fighting, training and discipline is all part of their life. They do it all for several different reasons, none more justifiable than the other and what it comes down to in the end is an extremely visceral and satisfying test of human physical ability. Whether it be strength, speed, mental quickness or spirituality, it all gets tested to their limits when the referee gives you the green light. You wanna call these guys homosexual or gay? Put your money where your damn mouth is. Put up or shutup.

MMA is one of, if not, the greatest sport on Earth and UFC is probably the best orginization out there for the sport. Let this picture speak for all the MMA fans out there,


Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida giving the "dragon punch" in text-book Karate form. Afterall, MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts, and it takes a variety of different fighting disciplines to be a true warrior, that's what true warriors strive for. These are truly the modern day galdiators.

Keep fighting MMA athletes, the day will come when you recognition will be world-wide,
Alan

After All These Years, I Finally Watch Battle Royale, so what do I think?

WTF just happened?!

Full review sometime when I don't feel so lazy to type big words,

Alan

Music and Chat BOX!

Thanks to http://2pr0w.blogspot.com/, I added some kick-ass music and a chat box to my blogger. It' a tad bit better now, lol.

Thoroughly enjoying UFC 2009: Undisputed,

Alan

Hand out the punishment

U.S. gets Forest Griffin on their title cover, we get GSP.

I got UFC 2009 Undisputed yesterday from Zellers. Normally it would cost 69.99, but Zellers actually has a good game deal this week. 20% off ALL regular priced software and accesories for any PlayStation platform and XBOX 360. Therefore, I got it for 55 bucks + tax. So if you wanted to get a game that was too expensive, now's the time to get it.

UFC 2009 Undisputed is a blast so far. The career mode is cool and it feels great everytime you win a match. You watch your fighter get stronger each time and get more popular. I'll probably give a full-out review after I've gone through career mode and some other stuff as well. But I can tell you now, I highly reccomend it.

Still jobless,

Alan

And the fight is OVER!!! Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida is the new UFC Light Heavy Weight Champion!!

Top left: Machida with a text-book Karate punch landing it perfect on Evan's face!
Top right: Evans goes down, looking limp as hell.
Bottom left: His crew attends to Evans ASAP!
Bottom right: The new Light Heavy Weight UFC Champion, LYOTO MACHIDA!!!! (Doning his Karate Gi no less.) Karate is back with a vengeance!

Wow, what a spectacular fight. Thank God for free online streaming. I was actually scared cuz it kept going on and off, but in the end, I saw that beautiful KO by The Dragon.

First round was about getting a feel for each other's styles, it was obvious Evans had an extremely difficult time figuring out Machida. Machida continues to maintain his "elusiveness", a word that has been so popularized by Joe Rogen due to continuous usage.

Second round, was all Machida. Once Machida knocked him down once, his punches kept coming and coming and he basically did not give Evans a chance to recover. He then finally lands a powerful straight left in Karate form. With Machida's hard rock fist and immovable determination and with the spirit of a true martial artist and a true warrior, he has earned his Light Heavy Weight belt and title of the UFC. I pray that he continues to keep his title and defend it with all he's got. Looking forward to his most likely bout with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, another awesome match waiting to happen.

Kudos to "Sugar" Rashad Evans, even after receiving a loss, he is still an extremely formidable fighter and a force to definitely be reckoned with.

One more thing:

Karate is back in the MMA! Keep it burning Lyoto, you're Karate's role model now!
Alan

Machida VS Evans

I am too psyched beyond words for UFC 98 tomorow. Machida has to win man, he's the advocate for all other traditional martial artists out there. Bring back traditional martial arts!!!!! But he really has to be on top of his game because Evans is one strong dude, it won't be an easy fight, that much I can tell, for either fighters. I'm still voting for Machida though, his style is toooo efficient.


Lyoto "Ryu" or "The Dragon" Machida. Whoever did this Ryu poster did an excellent job :D



Bakbakan na!
Alan

GG Shaolin

Deadliest Warrior: Shaolin Monk VS The New Zealand Maori

Winner: Shaolin Monk

I had no doubt in my mind. Well-meaning and peaceful monks VS savages who have no reason to fight other than simply to kill rivals (not to mention their cannibalism), Shaolin FTW. Maori's did have some interesting weapons, but nothing beats the Keyblades (Twin Hooks, lol)

Maori guy: I'll guarantee I'll rip your head off!

Still LOLing at the doctor.
Alan

What do you think Jason Bourne will be like at 56?

Honestly, that quote alone will get any guy who wants to see a kick-ass film watch it.

Well, he'll be a lot like Bryan Mills, an ex-spy in the movie Taken which was released in Europe much earlier than in North America. Here is the cast:

• Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills
• Maggie Grace as Kim Mills
• Famke Janssen as Lenore
• Xander Berkeley as Stuart
• Katie Cassidy as Amanda
• Olivier Rabourdin as Jean-Claude
• Holly Valance as Sheerah
• Jon Gries as Casey
• David Warshofsky as Bernie
• Nathan Rippy as Victor
• Camille Japy as Isabelle
• Nicolas Giraud as Peter
• Gérard Watkins as Saint Clair

So what did I think of the movie?

Story: Story is pretty standard, but they've done a few things with it. Kim Mills, who is the daughter of Bryan Mills is kidnapped while on vacation in France with her friend and was sold as a prostitute. Bryan is deeply attached to his daughter, especially now that he and his wife. Lenore, are divorced. Bryan basically does everything he can (and that's a hell of a lot of things) to retrieve his daughter. There's always something between the bond of daughters and their daddies, something insanely strong enough to make the father do anything. It brings up a good topic to debate over by the public, prostitution and ethics. I don't want to say too much anymore, but that's the gist of it, if you wanna know more, you should watch the movie. (7.5/10)

Characters: None of the characters were too special. There are some characters that were a bit interesting, but the only character that did stick out was Liam Neeson's character, Bryan Mills. Where do I begin? Bryan is just a total bad ass. He will be one of the toughest and hardest to beat, if not already the #1, "action-daddy" on the big screen. I was really shocked to see how his character was played out. He was completely cold and basically did not have any disregard towards the value of human life. You can't kill this man either, he will find a way to escape and punish the hell out of you. In many ways, he's like Jason Bourne, a super spy that is extremely well versed with close quarter combat and gun fire. He also uses obscure items as weapons, such as wine bottles and metal serving trays. His attitiude, however, is more like Marvel's The Punisher, as he does not have any mercy for those who have done him or "the good" any wrong. He constantly moves from one orginization to the next, from the Albanian gang, to some rich Quatarian business men. No matter what group, if you were affiliated in offending his daughter in any way, he will find you and he will kill you. (8/10)

The Film: The actions scenes were very well done, almost comparable to the bourne series, in that it was visceral and satisfying. Liam has definitely learned some moves for this movie and proved that being 56 doesn't stop you from being a bad ass. He was untouchable in the film, to the point where he barely had any injuries. The style of filming is very much like the Bourne series also: tight spaces in hand to hand moments, wide open areas in which a meeting is supposed to be held etc. The chase scenes were pretty awesome, but it's pretty much A grade hollywood car chase scenes. Since we're on hollywood, I think you guys would be interested to know that this was more of a European film (Hence the reason it was first released in Europe). It was directed by Pierre Morel, a fairly young director who is probably very happy with the way it was received by the general masses. (8.5/10)

The Final Word: This film costed €19,000,000 ($25,000,000) to produce, guess how much it reeled in? $220,429,550, almost a 200mil surplus! If that wasn't enough, it was also well received by professional and amateur (like me) critics. It currently holds an 8/10 in IMDB. A franchise can definitely come out of this, although there are going to have to be some very creative minds to put Bryan Mills in a new situation that he needs to fight through. There has been a sequel confirmed, details lack at the moment, however. One time I thought to myself, what if Bourne had a child and had retired, what would he do with all his super soldier skills? Taken has finally answered me, he'd pretty much be like Bryan Mills.

Final Rating: 8/10

Watch Taken,

Alan

*Tumbleweed Passes By The Screen*

Yea, I haven't blogged in a couple of days, basically because there is essentially nothing to blog about. Still hooked on SNSD.

Oh, I took up jogging to be healthier this summer. I hope I go through with that, I've lost 7 lbs. so far, which is a very good sign in my opinion. I hope to be able to jog considerable distances before getting winded, kudos to Josh for sticking with it for 3 weeks straight and losing 13 lbs. He can run so far now without being tired, awesome man, just awesome. For Sunny!!! Yesterday caused my leg aches today lol. I hope there's still a lot of fun stuff in store for the summer.

I'll blog some more tomorow. I'll part with some words of wisdom:

http://img123.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sunnyenglishel0.swf

Not only is she adorable, she's also a philosopher xD.

Blog ya later,

Alan

Lunch Time!

Or rather, I'm waiting for it to be cooked. So I need patience. Patience is a great virtue, but do virtues truly exist? Or were they just fabricated by man's need to stay civilized? Do we really need them? Just some questions to think about.

Hmm, sure is a short post.

Good-bye,

Alan



snsd

Room Clean Up

I decided to clean up and rearranged my room and I found a bunch of old mini figures, so I decided to make a display.

It's a crazy mix between Gundams, Disney, random creatures, Fistful of Power mini warrior figures, Hardee's restaurant clown, Godzilla universe and last but not least, Marvel. I think it would make for an aweoms fighting game.


They stare down each other. (That's my Grad
folder by the way, beneath the Pioneer DVD
player.) Right off the bat, the big guys: God-
zilla, Megalon, Venom and Gundam Blastor
on Godzilla's back.


The Heroes.


Here, you can see the Hardees clown, Squirt
from Finding Nemo, That rat guy from Ratt-
atouile (forgot his name), the brachiosaurus
from Dinosaurs, Rex from Toy Story and some
small Fistful of Power figure. Let's not forget
Iron Man and Mickey Mouse.


Another angle. Some random cop, some dal-
matians and the nanny from 101 Dalmatians,
some random creatures, more Fistful guys,
Pumbaa and Rafiki from Lion King.


Another one. There's Rabbit from Pooh, Sti-
tch from Lilo and Stitch, another Fistful of
Power guy and a.....random dog?


The Villains.


There's Hades from Hercules, some more Fis-
tful of Power guys and Dr. Doom.


Syndrome from The Incredibes and Dr. Octo-
pus.


Venom and Juggernaut and some
other Fistful of Power guys.

So who will win? It's your call guys.

The Abundant Hero team with random cute animals and Disney thrown with a couple of heroes and monsters for good measure or the Dark Evil Team with master minds and crazy monsters?

The battle commences and the war cries are heard!


"HULK AND HEROES SMASH!!!"

VS


"I'M THE JUGGERNAUT WITH THE VILLAINS BITCH!"

My display vehicles that I got when I turned 7. Some Mercedes Bike and a Toyota Land Cruiser:





My 2 guitars, Lyon and Silver. I named them based on their heads.
Lyon cuz it can roar like a lion in terms of the volume it can emit and Silver cuz it needs wires or whatever. It's lame I know, but those names kick ass.


Silver & Lyon

Well that's it for now. Summer is going well and all that usual stuff. Still can't get that damn song out of my mind. Gee....z.

geegeegeegeegee,

Alan

Summer FTW!!!

OK, so summer is turning out to be awesome slowly.


First, I stumbled upon these cute Korean girls from Girl's Generation (Despite being months late in the discovery)


"Thanks God!"

Second, I PASSED FIRST YEAR OFFICIALLLY ZOMGGGGGG. Thanks God. I'm not parodying Pacquiao, seriously.


What started out as a rumour, is now turning to reality xD. (Yes I'm still a pokenerd.)

Lastly, Silver and Gold remakes for the Pokemon franchise are confirmed! Japanese version will be released in the fall and NA version 2010. Silver and Gold are the best in the series! Info here: http://bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Nintendo_confirms_Generation_II_remakes

I hope the good stuff keeps coming!

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Alan

SNSD (So Nyeo Shi Dae Gee)

Nothing much to say for this post, other than these are the cutest 9 Korean girls ever put on T.V., not to mention their song is catchy as hell. But seriously, they're sooo damn cute, especially Taeyeon and Sunny <3



Summer is really uneventful atm, so far all I've been doing is house chores and playing GTA4 and MGO online with Alex and Alvin.

Your blogger,

Alan

Pacquiao delivers the goods. Hatton, on the other hand forgot his shipment.

Photo Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Manny Pacquiao celebrates his knockout of Ricky Hatton on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao delivers an impressive performance once again, with a baby face no less....so what's new?

Man, before the Pacquiao V.S. Hatton fight, all we did, along with our family friends, was talk and play some COD4. When we heard that the fight was starting, I immediately dropped my joy-sticks and ran upstairs. It was pretty packed with very patriotic parents, although I was very patriotic myself. It's exciting to see a fellow Filipino who started out in the slums become so successful, all that while being very humble and God-fearing, he prays all the time. As the anthem started, I couldn't help but feel a strong sense in my home country, where I was born, where my heritage belongs.

So, I know you wanna know how the fight went down right? Honestly, there's not much to say. The first round was electrifying, 2 knock downs. Ever since the pac-man's last bout, his right hand has gotten loads stronger while retaining its lightning speed. Around 2 minutes and 20 seconds, pac-man catches him with a right and falls on his knees and hands. Then, around 10-15 seconds left or so, in round one, the pac-man lands another whopping blow, with his power hand, his left hook. Hatton naturally falls on his back. Round 1 over. Round 2 starts and nothing really happens for a couple of minutes (2-3). Hatton is known for being overly aggressive, but he takes things too far. He lacks the finesse that Pacquiao has and almost always tries to "hug" or clinch. There were several occasions where he attempted to throw strikes that were dangerously close to being an elbow. The referee warned him about his "tactics" though, which serves him right. Then out of no where, Pacquiao fakes a right, Hatton falls for it and Pacquiao unleashes the fury of his ultimate weapon, at full force: his left hook. Hatton gets hit, hard. He falls square on his back. The referee goes in for a look and throws his hands up. The fight was over at that very moment. Pacquiao is and continues to be the best pound for pound boxer or fighter, as they say, in the world. There was concern for Hatton's condition, as he could not move and was clearly out of it with his eyes rolled back. Some thought he was paralysed. But he was fine after a few minutes; he was down a lot more than he was up. As usual, Pacquiao comes out of the fight woundless, bruiseless and lack of any apparent injuries. AND as usual, he gives his hilarious F.O.B. speech in the end, although it was dissapointing not to hear him say"Thanks, God." Hatton walked away and at the same time his crew was trying to block the cameras, he took now interviews at that time.

Now I know some people complained about how the fight should've been longer and that they were dissapointed. They don't see the obvious reason here. Pacquiao is a well honed fighter who has put all his heart and soul into this. He does not mindlessly throw punches and does everything for a reason. Look at his punch accuracy percentage, 57% against Hatton's 23%. Hatton has no technique, what so ever. He relies on his brute strength, pushing power and the ability to "absorb" punches, and he might have just absorbed Pacquiao's hook a little too well. Great boxers have great technique and not just wild force, just look at Ali. So the result was not a surprise, his amazing coach Roach predicted three rounds, I'm pretty sure he's not upset after winning in only 2. When asked about the Mayweather Jr. dream fight, Roach said it was a possibility. That would make for an interesting bout as Mayweather Jr. has never lost once. Although Hatton has lost only once, so everyone automatically thought he was gonna be hard to beat, just goes to show you that win to loss ratios don't prove a thing.

The atmospher I felt at the fight was insane. It unites us all as a Filipino people and for one night, almost all of us are watching the same thing. A Filipino man who has carried all our burning spirits into the ring, and unleashed it. I honestly can't wait for the next one.

After the fight we watched "30 Days of Night" which was an OK movie. It was the low point of the party, I guess you can say, haha.

Well that's it for today's blog. And if you're a Filipino and you're reading this, patronize our countries' products, animals etc.

Live on Pacquiao,

Alan

P.S. Did you know her fourth daughter's name is Queen Elizabeth? That is literally her name. No wonder Hatton couldn't beat him, how could he beat up his queen's father. It's a lame joke, but I had to say it.