One fighter should be riding off into the sunset, one fighter has the biggest fight of her career coming up, and one fighter was taken from us too soon. It's a mixed bag of news in today's roundup, so come, grab your cup of joe (or java, or mud, or whatever it is you coffee drinkers imbibe) and join me. I brought bagels!
- UFC president Dana White says that Wanderlei Silva — the legendary Brazilian fighter and PRIDE FC champ — will fight again. Hooray… I guess? Look, I love the "Axe Murderer" as much as the next guy, and watching some of his old fights is akin to watching a snuff film where the participants wear four-ounce gloves and fight shorts. But it's an undeniable fact that the man has gotten old and is nowhere near the killer he once was. Remember what happened when he fought Quinton Jackson? Or Chris Leben? I don't want to see something like that again. Do you? I say give him an executive position in the UFC's Brazil office and let him smile and shake hands and stuff.
- Female bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey is headlining a Strikeforce this weekend, and of course you're going to be inundated with all sorts of things pertaining to her (she is the "new" face of women's MMA, after all). So, for the sake of balance and yin and yang and whatnot, here's some Sarah Kaufman stuff. She is challenging Rousey for her belt, you know.
- As I hinted at yesterday, a fighter died at an amateur MMA event in South Carolina on Saturday night. His name was Tyrone Mims. This was Mims' first fight, and it was fully-sanctioned and under the auspices of South Carolina State Athletic Commission. The cause of death won't be known until an autopsy is performed (one is scheduled), but according to onsite accounts, it didn't appear as if Mims took an inordinate amount of damage in his bout, which has led to speculation that a pre-existing condition could've been a contributing factor. What sort of medical screening do amateur fighters go through? It varies by state — in New York or South Dakota, a person can step into the cage after signing a waiver and maybe getting a quick look-over by a doctor, while in South Carolina you need the standard bloodwork done (HIV, Hepatitis B and C), an eye exam and the thumbs-up from a physician. Regardless of what pre-fight screening Mims went through, though, it's still a tragedy that he lost his life. He stepped into the cage and took part in a sport we all love; let's honor him by never forgetting and by striving to make our sport better.
That's all for now. Today's the last day of my temp gig here at Cagewriter, but you can expect at least one more post from me, so you can post your parting insults there.
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