Event primer - UFC 168

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that's quicker with an excuse than a defeated Brazilian.

Prelims (Facebook, YouTube)

Featherweight - Robbie "Problems" Peralta vs Estevan "El Terible" Payan

• Peralta's Style - Striking
• Payan's Style - Boxing
• Prediction - Payan by KO

Welterweight - William "Patolino" Macario vs Bobby "Vicious" Voelker

• Macario's Style - Striking
• Voelker's Style - Striking
• Prediction - Voelker by TKO
• Thoughts - Macario has a bit of a Doug Yuma thing going on, which usually never works out in MMA.

Prelims (Fox Sports 1)

Welterweight - John "Doomsday" Howard vs. Siyar "The Great" Bahadurzada

• Howard's Style - Muay Thai
• Bahaduzada's Style - Kickboxing
• Prediction - Bahadurzada by TKO

Featherweight - Dennis "The Menace" Siver vs Manvel "The Anvil" Gamburyan

• Siver's Style - Kickboxing
• Gamburyan's Style - Judo
• Prediction - Siver by TKO

Lightweight - Gleison Tibau vs Michael "The Menace" Johnson

• Tibau's Style - Wrestling, cutting weight
• Johnson's Style - Wrestling, sprinting
• Prediction - Tibau by decision
• Thoughts - Glacier Tebow will weigh 500 pounds on fight day. Also, Johnson is probably the only non-Dennis to have the nickname "The Menace"

Middleweight - Chris "The Crippler" Leben vs Uriah "Prime Time" Hall

• Leben's Style - Boxing, Zombie boxing, smashing cats
• Hall's Style - Kickboxing, malapropisms
• Prediction - Hall by TKO

Main Card (PPV)

Featherweight - Dustin "The Diamond" Poirier vs Diego "DB" Brandao

• Poirier's Style - Grappling
• Brandao's Style - Muay Thai, BJJ
• Prediction - Poirier by decision

Lightweight - Jim Miller vs Fabricios "Morango" Camoes

• Miller's Style - Grappling
• Camoes' Style - Grappling
• Prediction - Miller by decision

Heavyweight - Josh "The Warmaster" Barnett vs Travis "Hapa" Browne

• Barnett's Style - Catch wrestling, anime, tabletop role playing games
• Browne's Style - Kickboxing
• Prediction - Barnett by submission
• Thoughts - I think Browne might be too big, but I really want to see Barnett break out the Torture Rack.

Women's Bantamweight - "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey vs Miesha "Cupcake" Tate

• Rousey's Style - Judo
• Tate's Style - Wrestling
• Prediction - Rousey by submission
• Thoughts - I would not be surprised if Ronda goes full Toquinho and keeps cranking the armbar until she has actually removed the limb from Tate's body.

Middleweight - Chris "The All-American" Weidman vs Anderson "The Spider" Silva

• Weidman's Style - Wrestling, boxing
• Silva's Style - Muay Thai, BJJ
• Prediction - Weidman by KO
• Thoughts - Last time, I said anyone that picked Weidman to win was pretty dumb. This is why I will never be a respected blogger.

Event primer - UFC 164

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that's eagerly anticipating the day when Tito and Rampage take over Bellator's commentary booth.

Prelim Card (Facebook/YouTube)

Middleweight - Jared "The Messenger" Hamman vs Magnus "Jycken" Cedenblad

• Hamman's Style - Striking
• Cedenblad's Style - Striking
• Prediction - Hamman by TKO

Lightweight - Ryan Couture vs Al Iaquinta

• Couture's Style - BJJ
• Iaquinta's Style - Striking, BJJ
• Prediction - Iaquinta by KO
• Thoughts - I still don't care for Randy's dumb wiener kid.

Heavyweight - Soa "The Hulk" Palelei vs Nikita "Al Capone" Krylov

• Palelei's Style - Striking
• Krylov's Style - Grappling
• Prediction - Palelei by KO
• Thoughts - Krylov looks like a total dorkus malorkus.

Prelim Card (Fox Sports 1)

Bantamweight - Chico "The King" Camus vs Kyung Ho "Mr. Perfect" Kang

• Camus's Style - Kickboxing
• Kang's Style - Grappling
• Prediction - Camus by TKO

Welterweight - Pascal "Panzer" Krauss vs Hyun Gyu "The Ace" Lim

• Krauss's Style - Grappling
• Lim's Style - Striking
• Prediction - Krauss by decision

Flyweight - Louis "Goodnight" Gaudinot vs Tim Elliott

• Gaudinot's Style - BJJ, kickboxing
• Elliott's Style - Muay thai, wrestling
• Prediction - Elliott by decision

Lightweight - Jamie Varner vs Gleison Tibau

• Varner's Style - Wrestling, excuses
• Tibau's Style - Grappling, cutting weight
• Prediction - Tibau by decision

Main Card (PPV)

Featherweight - Erik "New Breed" Koch vs Dustin "The Diamond" Poirier

• Koch's Style - Kickboxing
• Poirier's Style - BJJ
• Prediction - Koch by KO
• Thoughts - Does Poirier have a new contract that says he can only fight similar-looking bald headed white guys? Also, this fight should be really fun.

Heayvweight - "Big" Ben Rothwell vs Brandon "The Truth" Vera

• Rothwell's Style - Kickboxing
• Vera's Style - Muay Thai, BJJ
• Prediction - Rothwell by KO

Featherweight - Chad "Money" Mendes vs Clay "The Carpenter" Guida

• Mendes's Style - Wrestling, Brozilian Jiu Jitsu
• Guida's Style - Wrestling, hopping
• Prediction - Mendes by TKO
• Thoughts - Post-fight, Mendes should Dougie.

Heavyweight - Frank Mir vs Josh "The Warmaster" Barnett

• Mir's Style - BJJ, SMUG MUG
• Barnett's Style - Catch wrestling
• Prediction - Barnett by submission
• Thoughts - I hope this fight is a fun grapple-fest and not a tedious kickboxing match.

Lightweight - Benson "Smooth" Henderson vs Anthony "Showtime" Pettis

• Henderson's Style - Grappling
• Alternate Henderson Nicknames - Benson "And Hedges" Henderson, Benson "Bendo" Henderson, "Robert Guillaume" Benson Henderson
• Pettis's Style - Kickboxing, BJJ
• Prediction - Henderson by submission
• Thoughts - The first fight was pretty much the best thing ever, and the greatest way to cap off the amazing radness that was WEC. This fight has a lot to live up to, but I think it's going to be AWESOME.

Technique Appreciation Station - German suplex

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that's never met an opponent it didn't try to duck.

Well lookie here, a new article category that I'm sure will be used once or twice and then forgotten or ignored! This time, instead of talking about dudes what do cool moves, I'm just going to focus on cool moves done by a bunch of different guys, because screw analysis, let's just look at GIFs!

There are a lot of different grappling arts at play in mixed martial arts, and since every fight starts standing (Wheelchair karate bouts notwithstanding), they all include various methods of getting an opponent to the ground. The cooler arts include throws, because the ancient masters knew that hucking some dorkus through the air and onto his face looked pretty sweet. Wrestling has some exceptional throws, which makes sense since it was devloped initially by thick-necked farmhands as a means of transporting livestock. The raddest of all wrestling throws is the suplex, and at the top of the suplex list is the German variant (Or belly to back if you want to be a lame pedant about things)

Soup-Flex, You Say? Do Go On!

First of all, this ain't no portmanteau, it's a dang suplex, so get it right, or pay the price. Second of all, fake dumb reader I constantly berate, I think we should watch a brief tutorial on how to properly suplex some jamoke out his (Or her!) shoes.

Now that proper suplexery has been explained to us, it's time to see the German in action for real. Check out a plethora of GIFs and videos after the jump because I don't want to explode anyone's browsers or however that works.

Event Primer: Strikeforce - Marquardt vs Saffiedine

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that marches to the beat of Nobuhiko Takada's drum.

Welp, it's time for everyone to grab their best black finery and get out the vigil candles, Strikeforce is on its deathbed.  The last ever event is set for tomorrow night, and after the initial promise of multiple title defenses, everyone ended up getting hurt so now the card is a shambles of random folk fighting established names.  Strikeforce isn't going down with a fight, it's curling up in a ditch, belly full of turpentine and anti-freeze, and hoping to go peacefully in its sleep.

Farewell, Strikeforce, you had some cool fights!

Preliminary Card - Unaired (I'm not sure if Showtime or Strikeforce is to be blamed, but they are both A Bad)

Lightweight - Michael Bravo vs Estevan "El Terrible" Payan

• Bravo's Style - Striking
• Payan's Style - Freestyle
• Prediction - Payan, I guess.  I don't know anything about these guys.

Lightweight - Jorge Gurgel vs Adriano Martins

• Gurgel's Style - Not using jiu-jitsu
• Martins's Style - Striking
• Prediction - If Gurgel tries to Stand and also Bang, he'll probably lose by KO.  He does that a lot, so that's my pick.
• Thoughts - I wonder how long until Jorge is the third-best fighter in his family (Behind wife Zoila and sister-in-law Stephanie Frausto)

Preliminary Card - Showtime Extreme

Lightweight - Ryan Couture vs "King" KJ Noons

• Couture's Style - BJJ, wrestling
• Noons's Style - Striking, hair adjustments
• Prediction - Couture will do a bunch of grapples and Noons will flip his hair over his ears a lot.
• Thoughts - Randy's dumb weiner kid versus a fellow dumb weiner?  Blugh at this fight.

Middleweight - Tim Kennedy vs Trevor "Hot Sauce" Smith

• Kennedy's Style - Army
• Smith's Style - BJJ
• Prediction - Kennedy by TKO.
• Thoughts - Kennedy is a cool dude.

Middleweight - Roger Gracie vs Anthony "Lionheart" Smith

• Gracie's Style - BJJ
• Smith's Style - Freestyle
• Prediction - Gracie by submission

Lightweight - Pat "Bam Bam" Healy vs Kurt Holobaugh

• Healy's Style - Submissions
• Holobaugh's Style - Submissions
• Prediction - Healy by decision

Main Card - Showtime

Catchweight (194)/Franklinweight - Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs Ed "Short Fuse" Herman

• Souza's Style - BJJ
• Herman's Style - BJJ
• Prediction - Souza by submission

Light Heavyweight - Gegard "The Dreamcatcher" Mousasi vs Mike "MAK" Kyle

• Mousasi's Style - Kickboxing
• Kyle's Style - Striking
• Prediction - Mousasi by decision
• Thoughts - Fuck Mike Kyle

Heavyweight - Josh "The Warmaster" Barnett vs Nandor "The Hun" Guelmino

• Barnett's Style - Catch wrestling, pro wrestling
• Guelmino's Style - Submissions
• Prediction - Barnett by Bow and Arrow hold
• Thoughts - Barnett is awesome at open workouts and promos

Heavyweight - Daniel "DC" Cormier vs Dion "Soldier" Staring

• Cormier's Style - Wrestling
• Staring's Style - Kickboxing
• Prediction - Cormier by TKO
• Thoughts - Here are two Dion Staring facts: 1. He lost to a man named Can and 2. He has defeated one current UFC fighter, Featherweight Akira Corassani.

Welterweight Title - Nate "The Great" Marquardt vs Tarrec "Sponge" Saffiedine

• Marquardt's Style - Punch-kicks, kick-punches
• Saffiedine's Style - Karate
• Prediction - Marquardt by crazy-ass KO.