This whole thing keeps getting stranger.  According to SOHH.com, Coolio will replace DMX in the upcoming Alabama Pride mixed martial arts fight scheduled to take place on December 12 at Alabama's Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex.  The bottom line is that DMX could not come to an agreement with the event's promoter.

No one knew if DMX had any real MMA training before almost jumping into the cage here.  Word is that Coolio has begun training. .  . But hopefully this isn't the first time he's been involved in martial arts.

Peculiar stuff.

MMAWeekly.com is reporting that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will take on Cain Velazquez at UFC 108.  Three words: What a matchup!

To date, Velazquez has demonstrated awesome cardio and wrestling.  But Nogueira, a man that's extremely comfortable off of his back, will offer a much different problem for the up and coming UFC fighter.  Namely, great submissions from the guard.

Kongo had almost no chance of submitting Velazquez when they fought and everyone saw the result.  The same thing with Ben Rothwell.  In other words, we're either about to find out how good Velazquez's submission defense is or how good his striking skills are.  In this fight, it's going to be pick your poison.

Looking forward to it.

Fedor Emelianenko was widely considered to be the greatest heavyweight MMA fighter in the world before he took on Brett Rogers at the Sears Centre for Strikeforce on November 7.  Guess what?  He's still considered the best heavyweight fighter in the world today.

The first round saw Emelianenko immediately get hit with a jab that left a cut on his nose which bled terribly throughout the fight (his nose may have been broken).  What's more, after an Emelianenko takedown following a very hard left hand, Rogers managed to take the top position and rain down some significant ground and pound on him.  After the first round was over, it could be said that Fedor took the stanza but his opponent gained some respect.

But in the second, Fedor did what Fedor does.  In other words, he nailed Rogers with a rocket right hand that dropped him hard.  A few more strikes on the ground later and it was all over.

Fedor Emelianenko defeats Brett Rogers by TKO at 1:48 of round two.  This guy is just amazing. 

Every round of tonight's Strikeforce Middleweight Championship bout between Jake Shields and Jason "Mayhem" Miller pretty much had the same feel to it.  Miller wanted to strike, attempting to throwdown hard every brief chance he got.  That said, the keyword was brief.  In other words, Shields pretty much took his opponent down and moved from side control, to mount, to taking his back at will.  Did he do much damage with ground and pound?  Not really.  Did he nearly pull off any submissions?  No.  In fact, he seemed caught dead to rights by a Miller rear naked choke attempt in the third round before the bell saved him.  That said, I gave Miller the first round for the more spectacular takedowns and harder ground and pound, and the third round because of that submission attempt.  The rest of the fight, Shields clearly controlled.

Jake Shields defeats Jason "Mayhem" Miller by unanimous decision.

More Articles

Gegard Mousasi TKO's Sokoudjou

Fabricio Werdum Defeats Antonio Silva By Decision

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers Results