TRB is happy to welcome their newest MMA Blogger, the Supreme Knight, Adrian Wilkins!

The past few weeks have been quite eventful in the world of Mixed Martial Arts.  We’ve seen a new UFC Lightweight champion of the world be crowned at UFC 112. We’ve seen one of the most popular fighters in the world, and arguably the top pound for pound fighter in the world, go from having people cheering and chanting his name to booing him HEAVILY in a matter of minutes due to his antics in the Octagon at that same UFC 112 event.   At a nationally televised MMA card we see a new Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion be crowned and in that same card we see a brawl break out after the Dan Henderson/Jake Shields fight with Jake’s camp fighting Mayhem Miller, and Miller had nothing to do with the fight.  Then there was this past weekend with WEC and the brilliance of Ben “Smooth” Henderson in retaining his 155 lb title against Donald Cerrone and the total decimation of Uriah Faber’s left leg by Jose Aldo Jr. in their main event Featherweight Championship Fight in Sacramento, California.  Then there’s the biggest thing that could have topped off an eventful month of MMA…No, not the “hiring” of Supreme Knight to be a blogger on things MMA for Top Rope Belts…Although, that is a big deal, but the biggest thing that happened to pretty much cap off the month of April has to be the stunning news of Tito Ortiz being arrested for allegedly beating on his wife and mother of his kids, Jenna Jameson.

So where do I begin?

Frankie Edgar.  This is old news, I’m sure, but his fight with BJ Penn was masterful and even at best I had this match a draw.  When I heard that one judge’s score card of 50-45, I wondered if something strong was in the air over in Abu Dhabi.  No way was that fight that lopsided.  Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that he did win the championship as BJ was close to cleaning the division out, and now we get to see other fights happen. At least I hope.  Last I heard, BJ’s camp was trying to vie for an instant rematch for the championship. I know a lot of other fans would love to see Edgar and Florian fight for the 155 crown.

Anderson Silva.  I’m still in shock at how he carried himself in this match. I mean, after watching it over and over again, I’m sure Silva could have ended this fight in the first round with ease. I mean, Maia showed a lot of heart as that fight ensued, but he’s no Forrest Griffin and Griffin was handled quite easily by Anderson Silva.  Many feel that Silva is getting bored in his fights. Can’t wait to see how bored he gets when he finally have to face off against Chael Sonnen who has been trying to get his hands on Anderson Silva for the better part of four years.

Brawl after CBS Strikeforce: Nashville. Never mind that it was a pretty good card with three championship fights.  Never mind the fact that it had Dan Henderson make his debut with the company and was heavily favored in his fight against Jake Shields. But what everyone will remember will forever be the fight between Mayhem Miller and Jake Shields’ camp. I get that they felt that Miller was disrespecting Jake Shields, but let’s think about this for a moment.  Mayhem Miller for the most part is a comedian that just happens to make his money as a fighter. OK, maybe not a comedian, but a court jester.  Many have said that this is the “death” of MMA. Don’t think so. It has people that don’t watch MMA talking about it. So to me, even though I think this was a childish move on everyone’s part, it will only make MMA more appealing for the simple fact this was on network television. Trust me, I know TV, I work on a popular ESPN show.

WEC 48. That show was AWESOME from top to bottom.  I will pick up with the two championship fights.  Going into this fight, a lot of people actually had Cerrone coming out on top against Ben “Smooth” Henderson, who was defending his Lightweight Championship.  The fight started out good and quickly got one-sided as Henderson nailed Cerrone with knees and then locked in that guillotine.  The same one that he used on Jaimie Varner to unify the two WEC Lightweight titles.  These two warriors have much respect for each other and that was evident by the way they were smiling and laughing together after the match. People probably see Henderson as a “Jesus Freak”, but one thing that he is other than that is humble.  Follow him on Twitter and if you ask him something, he gets back to you as soon as he can if he’s not playing video games, training or reading comic books. I actually asked him a few times what’s on his pull list…That’s comic book talk. LOL.

Uriah Faber. He was handled WELL by Jose Aldo Jr. Aldo is going to be a champion for a very long time in the WEC Featherweight Division.  I mean, this guy changed his usual explosive strategy and took Uriah Faber’s legs out. Doing that kept Faber from being explosive and kept him from launching his powerful attacks.  So this is the third time Faber has lost in a title match.  Where does this leave him?  Some have talked about him moving down a class to the 135 lb. division which is getting stacked as well.  Some have said that maybe he can move up to 155 lbs since that is probably the weight he walks around at.  Where ever he goes, though, he will be immensely successful.

Tito Ortiz.  I know a lot of people are talking about this, and I don’t want to express my views on this until all the facts are laid out.  I have read that people are hoping that the UFC cut Ortiz immediately.  Doing so could be a PR nightmare for all involved. I just hope that everyone waits till all the facts are laid out and see what happens.

Wow…That was a lot for my first blog entry for Top Rope Belts. I hope all of you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have any opinions on what I wrote, feel free to email me at douglasawilkins@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to answer you in a very timely manner! And these are my opinions and not that of Top Rope Belts! Y’all have a wonderful day!