Last Saturday night Renan Barao defeated his 3rd straight opponent in the UFC. It was his 5th straight victory under the Zuffa banner including his WEC appearances. In fact, it was Barao's 18th straight victory after a no contest that interrupted a 10 fight win streak he already had going. Renan Barao has not tasted defeat since his first professional fight in 2005 and that is a grand total of a 29 fight undefeated streak. Now much has been said about the level of some of his competition in those fights, but to go roughly 7 years without a loss given the crazy things that can happen in MMA is astounding. The last time Renan Barao lost a fight Richard Pryor was alive, 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" was the #1 song in America and Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture were cutting weight for their rematch held at UFC 52.

Even after all this, the next step in his career is very much up in the air. There are a few options and all of them have their risks and rewards.

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I'm not going to accept the fact that this was a loss. I've lost fights before, where, uh, ya know, like, I'm not going to accept that either. That ain't right. I pushed him back the whole fight. I walked him down. I got the take down. I'm the guy who went out on top. Had I thought I wasn't ahead, I'd have chinned in and finished that arm lock. Hey Carlos is a great guy, I'm happy for him and his family. I think I'm done with this MMA. It's been great out here. I've had a good career.........But I don't think I'm going to get enough to keep going in this. It's been a good time. You know Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Good job Carlos, you're the man, bro.

Well, well, well.....No, I'm not going to gloat or even say "I told you so". The hissy fit that Nick Diaz threw in the cage after he was defeated by Carlos Condit was downright embarrassing for himself, Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu, the UFC and Mixed Martial Arts. It was petulant. It was bratty. It was a complete justification of every single thing that every single critic has ever said about him.

Carlos Condit followed an absolutely masterful gameplan to perfection. He did not get sucked in to a Nick Diaz fight. He made Nick Diaz fight his fight. Nick Diaz wanted to do what he does which is back his opponent into the cage and swarm them with punches. Condit exited perfectly every time Nick tried to back into the cage and he exited with strikes. It was an incredibly risky strategy given how much weight is put on the person who is moving forward in judging. Carlos outlanded Nick and that is something that cannot be disputed and the kicks are what sealed the deal for him. If you scored this fight for Nick Diaz, you probably also scored Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine for "The Iceman". Plodding forward does not and should not win you a mixed martial arts fight.

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In the lead up to the first episode of UFC Primetime, Dana White continuously referred to Nick Diaz as an "intriguing, mysterious character". This really had me wondering what the footage could be that would compel Dana to make such a statement. I had never found anything about Diaz to be particularly intriguing or mysterious so I was very curious to see what prompted such comments from the boss.

When I saw the episode, "intriguing and mysterious" were not the adjectives that came to my mind to describe Nick Diaz. The words I thought of were "petulant" and "immature".

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As reported by MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani, Nate Marquardt has cut ties with UK-based BAMMA and, in so doing, has stepped away from his fight with fellow UFC veteran Yoshiyuki Yoshida. The bout would have served as Marquardt's first with the organization.

Marquardt and Yoshida were slated to face off at a BAMMA event this February 11. However, with news that the event would be pushed back to March, organization officials and Marquardt, whose promotional debut was already once delayed, have decided that free agency would be in the best interest of the perennial contender. From Helwani's piece, BAMMA CEO David Green gives comment:

"It is important to note that the decision to remove Nate from the BAMMA 8 card and to reschedule BAMMA 9 in no way is a result of any actions taken by him. Nate was originally to feature on the BAMMA 8 card in December and with this current date change it is only fair for us at this stage to honor Nate's contract agreement and allow him to look for fights outside of the BAMMA promotion.

"I cannot speak highly enough of the professional manner in which Nate Marquardt and his team have conducted themselves. They have been an absolute pleasure to work with and we are just disappointed that we have not been able to work out a way to seeing Nate take his place on the BAMMA 9 card."

Marquardt last fought in March of 2011, earning a unanimous decision over Dan Miller. An anticipated welterweight debut last year ended in disaster when he was cited by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission for abnormally high testosterone levels. As a result, Marquardt was removed from his headlining spot at the eleventh hour and dismissed from the UFC. He hasn't fought since the release.

With BAMMA off the agenda, and Strikeforce now a Zuffa promotion that isn't likely to recruit the embattled Marquardt, there aren't too many more options for the former UFC title challenger. At this point, it seems that Bellator is Marquardt's best option. Between the likes of Hector Lombard, Alexander Schlemenko, and Bryan Baker at 185, and Ben Askren, Jay Hieron, and Douglas Lima at 170, I'd say the organization plays host to a strong cast of both middleweight and welterweight opposition, and it likely offers the best chance for Marquardt to regain his relevancy in the sport.

As this is a bit of a slow news day in the week leading up to UFC 127 in Australia, I think it's a good time to give an update on Kazuyuki Miyata. I received a press release from his publicist at Fortuna PR with details about the Nike Deal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FORTUNA PUBLIC RELATIONS

Japanese MMA sensation signs sponsorship deal with NIKE.

Fortuna PR are pleased to announce that former Olympian and current Japanese MMA star Kazuyuki Miyata has signed a groundbreaking mma sponsorship deal with Nike. As the world’s leading supplier of Athletic footwear and apparel, Miyata is proud to join an illustrious list of sponsored athletes that compiles a who’s who of sports leading figures. With Miyata closing in on the Dream Featherweight title the relationship appears to have arrived with perfect timing.

Japanese mma fighter, freestyle wrestler and former Olympian; Miyata represented Japan at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Now an accomplished MMA fighter Miyata is renowned for his amazing suplex attacks. He is currently on a 7 fight winning streak which puts him firmly in the Dream promotions title picture.

Miyata discusses the deal: "I'm stoked! Nike is a world renowned and widely respected sporting company. I'm very honoured Nike decided to contact me and asked me to represent the label. It's the history and what Nike represents, not only the sporting world, but also in the overall promotion and encouragement of health and fitness lifestyles for all people.

I have agreed to work alongside Nike to encourage a level of excellence in the sporting arena, as well as promote health and fitness lifestyle in general. As an example, Nike and I have decided to forward the brand to my children’s wrestling team. We have incentives and prizes presented to children who are advancing and achieving goals. Nike will be working together with me to ensure this programs success, and offer their full support.

In regards to myself and Nike, once again, I am truly honoured to be approached by such a large well established and well respected company as Nike.

Having Nike's interest and support inspires me to train to my best ability, and perform in the sporting arena at the highest level of excellence, There's nothing else to say now, except "Just Do it!" and I will"!

Miyata is one of the few Japanese featherweights that I believe has the ability and potential to be successful in North American MMA as he has a world class wrestling pedigree. The cage environment may lead to more dominance for the Japanese wrestler which could potentially lead to finishes. The fact that he has a sponsorship with a major brand speaks volumes to his potential in the Japanese market. 

A highlight video is after the jump. 

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I finally got some down time and was catching up on the last few episodes of "The Reem" and stopped to think about just how big of a following Alistair Overeem has gained over the past few years. Alistair Overeem went from one of the fighters in PRIDE that was notable but not mentioned in the same breath of fighers like Cro Cop, Fedor Emilianenko, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Kazushi Sakuraba. It is partially because Overeem was still developing when all of those fighters were in their primes dominating PRIDE, and partially because at the time, Overeem was less-than-impressive at Middleweight (Light Heavyweight elsewhere). It has been discussed to death that Overeem was making a crazy weight cut and was unable to do any sort of weight training which might bulk him up.

The decision to bulk up to Heavyweight has taken his career and shot it into the stellarsphere. Overeem dipped his toe into the Heavyweight world first in 2006, with moderate success, but he still moved between Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight. Finally he decided in 2007 to commit to being a Heavyweight full time and when Paul Buentello taps out due to knee strikes in Strikeforce you can see the momentum in Alistair Overeem's career finally begin to move in not only a positive direction, but a turbo-bolstered rocket is strapped to his back to bring him there.

If you look through his wins at Heavyweight, you'd be hard-pressed to be blown away from the level of competition. This has been, to this day, the main criticism launched against Overeem. Since his move to Heavyweight, his most impressive wins are over Paul Buentello and Brett Rogers, both in Strikeforce for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Title. His bout against Mirko Cro Cop was a dominating affair until an unintentional low blow rendered Mirko unable to continue and the fight was ruled a no contest.

Where Overeem has really began to show his polish has been in K-1 competition. FEG knew early on that they had an absolute ace in Alistair Overeem for DREAM and pushed for him to fight K-1 badboy Badr Hari. They each challenged each other publicly, with a verbal agreement to fight each other. Overeem had assumed that it was going to be in DREAM and much to his surprise, when FEG contacted him to fight Badr Hari, it was in K-1 rules at Dynamite!! 2008. Alistair had not stepped into a K-1 ring since 2004 where he was knocked out by Glaube Feitosa. Upon entering into his fight with Badr Hari, Alistair was 2-2 in kickboxing competition. To say he seemed outmatched was an understatement.

The moment Overeem's hand connected on Badr Hari's jaw was the exact moment where you can pinpoint his career taking off. Badr Hari isn't known to be unbeatable by any means, as he is an emotional fighter who has been knocked down and out before, but in the world of K-1 there were no better outside of Schilt and Bonjasky at the time. The kickboxing world was in shock, and the shock continued on to when Overeem squared off with K-1 World Grand Prix Champion Remy Bonjasky in 2009 and was manhandling Bonjasky, able to trip and block most of his strikes. Bonjasky was able to pull off the decision win, in a decision that Overeem and his camp still discuss as a "stolen" victory to this day. It was enough to show that the win over Badr Hari was anything but a fluke, that Alistair Overeem is for real and his stand up is world class.

Overeem entered into the World Grand Prix following this, being voted in by the fans in their annual poll as a wildcare in the tournament. Overeem then took the fight to Peter Aerts in Seoul for the Final 16, knocking Aerts out of his first K-1 World Grand Prix in history. In the Final 8 Overeem crushed Ewerton Teixeira with a knee that left him out cold. He was then on a collision course with Badr Hari while both men were looking unstoppable. Overeem made a brief mistake against Hari and got caught, being knocked down. He pulled himself up and continue to bring it to Badr, but Badr was a man on fire, as he scored a high kick that sent Overeem stumbling into the ropes, where the ref called it a down and ruled the fight over. Staunch Alistair Overeem supporters will argue that it was a bad call, but many concede that the ref was looking out for Overeem's best interests in stopping the fight.

We are now entering into World Grand Prix season again, with Overeem holding two K-1 wins this year, one over Ben Edwards in the Final 16 which qualifies him for the Final 8. Overeem will enter into the Final 8 taking on a much smaller Tyrone Spong. This year Overeem also defended his Strikeforce Heavyweight title against Brett Rogers and is lined up to defend the belt against Fabricio Werdum in 2011. Through all of this, Alistair Overeem's name has become cemented in the industry, with him always being a hot topic when it comes to rankings in both K-1 and MMA. The online documentary series, "The Reem" has always helped to raise his profile by keeping his name in the public's view and showing a more human side to a vicious and talented fighter.

It is almost unreal how Overeem went from a struggling Light Heavyweight MMA fighter to one of the elite Heavyweights in the world in just a matter of years, and how his popularity has skyrocketed, also bringing the Golden Glory name with him. Many still doubt him, but as he continues to fight the top in the division in MMA, he will be able to prove what he is made of once and for all.

It has been reported today that Jan Plas, the founder of the Mejiro Gym in the Netherlands has passed away in his jail cell at the age of 65. Jan Plas is best known for being the trainer of Peter Aerts, who went on to be one of the most successful kickboxers on an international level. Plas founded the Mejiro Gym in 1978 after numerous trips to Japan to study kickboxing with Kenji Kurosaki. In many ways, Plas is seen as one of the godfathers of kickboxing for the Dutch.

The first way is, obviously, that the Mejiro Gym is one of the most famous and accomplished kickboxing gyms in the world. Plas founded the Mejiro Gym to bring Japanese Kyokushin style kickboxing mixed with Muay Thai to the Netherlands. Plas was also instrumental in the formation of the NKBB, The Dutch Kickboxing Association.

Plas found himself in prison after being tied in with the Netherlands' notorious underworld, which came at a high price. He was involved in drug trafficking as well as money laundering, which turned into a family business of sorts, with his two children, who served as Dutch police officers, helping him. Plas found himself in a sticky situation, where he would have to betray his family or hardened criminals to save himself, and either one could end in pain. His death was reported as a suicide without any real details yet.

Regardless of his criminal connections, the kickboxing world has lost a true legend.