UFC 137 - Penn Vs. Diaz

October 29, 2011 was the day that Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fans were waiting sometime to see! A few months ago, Dana White, UFC President, announced that Nick Diaz would fight George St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on this day. In order to compliment such a stellar main-event, Dana White added another great fight to be the co-main event of the UFC 137 card - B.J Penn vs. Carlos Condit. Dana White has said on record several times, "if only Nick Diaz would play the game just a little he'd get his shot" at stardom. What Dana meant by that statement is; he will get his UFC Title Shot, only if Nick Diaz would do all the press and attend all the press conferences/telephone calls and other PR events that would promote the fight; hence, the "if only."

L to R: Nick Diaz and Dana White

Then come a month or so before UFC 137, Nick Diaz failed "to play the game just a little" by not attending a press conference; and like Dana White stated clearly - "if only he would play the game a little, he would get his title shot", in which he didn't so Nick Diaz was pulled from the main event against Georges St. Pierre (GSP). Many fans then wondered, who would replace Nick Diaz and give GSP an exciting fight? Dana White answered the question by promoting Carlos Condit to the main event. Then the fans wondered again, what about B.J Penn's opponent? Once again, Dana White answered the call by demoting Nick Diaz to co-main event to fight his 'friend' Nick Diaz. So the UFC 137 Main event is GSP vs. Carlos Condit and the co-main event is B.J Penn vs. Nick Diaz until a few weeks before UFC 137 on October 29, 2011.

UFC 137 had yet another change to its card, when GSP opted out of the event with an injury he sustained during training. So now the question that was asked throughout MMA was - who will Carlos Condit fight? Many people were speculating that John Fitch would fill in the void but that never transpired. Carlos Condit had the option to still fight on the card or wait till GSP heals and fight him then. Carlos opted to wait to fight GSP, so then many asked who will fight in the main event of UFC 137? As always, Dana answered the question by promoting the co-main event of Nick Diaz vs. B.J Penn to the main-event slot and Mirko "Cro Cop" vs. Roy Nelson as co-main event. The main event at UFC 137 was shuffled more times than a deck of cards at a casino; however, after all the setbacks the card has been set in motion for October 29, 2011

B.J. Penn vs. Nick Diaz

Both, Nick Diaz and B.J Penn, are familiar with each other; so much so, that they call each other friends. B.J brought in Nick to train for his fight against Kenny Florian. Even years before this, Nick Diaz has said that he posters of B.J on his wall, when he was going up in the ranks as an amateur cage fighter. So one can imagine the difficulty in creating this match-up. In order for this fight to happen, both fighters talked about it and agreed that it was beneficial for their careers, so the fight was signed and set for UFC 137.

Nick Diaz is known not to fight but to 'scrap.' He belongs to a group of cage fighters known as the 'Scrap Pack' which includes Jake Shield, his brother Nate, Gilbert Melendez and a few others. His fighting style is extremely high pace due to his very high endurance (Nick does triathlons, when he doesn't train) and high punch count. In addition, he has world class Ju-Jitsu under Cesar Gracie. As for, B.J, he too has world class Ju-Jitsu which he learned under Ralph Gracie. B.J is considered to have the best boxing in MMA by many experts and pundits but what people fail to realize that Nick Diaz also has great boxing because he trains his boxing with Olympic Gold Medalist, Andre Ward. In addition, B.J goes by the motto of 'Just Scrap' which is similar to that of Nick Diaz. The only difference between both fighters is the reach advantage and the endurance levels that Nick Diaz has over B.J; all other qualities, both are equal. With everything said and done, this main event will be a very exciting one, in which both fighters will go in the cage and 'scrap it out.' Which fighter has more 'scrap' in them? The bad boy from the "scrap pack", Nick Diaz or will it be B.J living up to his motto of 'Just Scrap?'

Here is the full UFC 137 card:

Pay Per View:

Nick Diaz vs. B.J. Penn

Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs. Roy Nelson

Hatsu Hioki vs. George Roop

Jeff Curran vs. Scott Jorgensen

Spike TV:

Donald Cerrone vs. Dennis Siver

Tyson Griffin vs. Bart Palaszewski

Facebok stream:

Eliot Marshall vs. Brandon Vera

Danny Downes vs. Ramsey Nijem

Chris Camozzi vs. Francis Carmont

Dustin Jacoby vs. Clifford Starks

The Importance of the NFL Draft

National Football League Draft

Look no further than the Detroit Lions draft choices in the past few years that have made a tremendous impact in their 2011 season. In 2007, the Lions drafted Wide-Receiver Calvin Johnson. In 2008, they drafted Quarterback Matthew Stafford. In 2009, they drafted top prospects, Safety Louis Delmas and Tight-End Brandon Pettigrew. In 2010, they drafted an absolute 'monster' at Defensive Tackle from Nebraska, Ndamukong Suh and a speedy Tail Back from Cal-Berkeley, Jahvid Best. In 2011, they drafted yet another 'beast' at defensive tackle from Auburn, Nick Fairley. All these draft choices are panning-out to what was expected from them. All these players have contributed to the 'surprise' success of their team, which so far have them at 5-0. The Detroit Lions have not been 5-0 since 1956!! The impact players are not only comprised of these draft picks but they are a huge reason as to why they have many fans across the nation are thinking something else other than "Why watch the morning Thanksgiving Day game? Everyone knows the Lions are going to lose." These 7 players in their active rosters have been draft picks from coaches and management, which only further solidifies the importance of the NFL Draft every year. It was only a few years ago, when the Lions were the laughing stock of the NFL at 0-16. Now they are serious contenders to challenge the defending Super Bowl Champions, Green Bay Packers (5-0 as well) for the NFL North Division Title, and Conference Title. It is the 2nd time since realignment that 2 teams in the same division are 5-0 (AFC's New York Jets & New England Patriots in '04).

There are many examples of teams having success with their draft picks, as well as teams not being so successful a la Oakland Raiders drafting Jamarcus Russell & San Diego Chargers drafting Ryan Leaf. As for the 2011 1st overall draft pick, Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers, he is off to a tremendous start that still has experts and pundits scratching their head as to how he is having so much success. In his first 2 games of his NFL career, Cam threw for more than 400 yards which makes him the 6th quarterback to ever throw back-to-back 400 yard games in NFL history. Cam brought in the intangibles that were missing in the previous Panther's team. The 2010 Carolina Panthers played with less fervor and intensity and it seemed as if they weren't having fun. However, when management and the coaches deemed Cam Newton as their 'guy', the team in 2011 is now playing with a lot of confidence. Every American Football fan knows the NFL Draft is important but to what extent to do they know, if they don't see immediate results? What Cam Newton and especially the 2011 Detroit Lions team is showing is that patience is key; once the coaches and management have done their due diligence to draft the right players that fit their culture and play schemes, teams will be successful. If you have doubts, one would highly suggest you speak with a true Detroit Lions fan! With all this being said, how are your teams draft picks panning-out?