HIVE HEALTH MEDIA BADGE AND OTHER UPDATES

No, I haven't given up on this blog. I still love to regularly write about health and fitness, but I've been so caught up in a bunch of things that I kind of neglected this blog. So, basically, I'm admitting that I suck at scheduling, hehe.

THE EET FITNESS PLAN

Anyway, the primary reason I haven't been writing more recent articles is because I'm currently trying out EET Fitness, which is a health and fitness plan whose main selling point is that you can eat whatever you love every day and be fitter and healthier than ever. Most people today would find that sort of idea absolutely ludicrous, what with the current conservative health and fitness wisdom stating that junk food, treats, or whatever you want to call them, should be eaten only once a week or month. Some diet plans even forbid such foods flat out entirely. So, I wanted to find out first hand what makes this plan work, if it even works at all, and communicate it  to as many folks as possible.

BEHOLD, MY NEW MARTIAL ARTS BLOG!

When I first started Fitness Philippines, I thought it would be best if I strung together all my interests so I wouldn't ever run out of material. So, the blog was originally about my take on fitness, health, nutrition, and the martial arts. 6 months pass and I find that the topics are extremely skewed, especially considering the blog title. A good majority of the posts were concerned only about martial arts, specifically UFC events. I'm obsessed with the UFC and decided to review every match I saw in great detail. Combine that with the recent explosion in the number of events the UFC holds per month, plus a TV show, and a limited schedule that didn't allow me to post every day, and Fitness Philippines transformed into something misleading. It wasn't about fitness from the point of view of a Filipino any longer, it was just about mixed martial arts (MMA).

UFC 119 PREDICTIONS

Cro Cop vs. Mir! Bader vs. Li'l Nog! Serra vs. Lytle: The Rematch! Plus the return of The Muscle Shark and The Young Assasin! A pretty amazing card, if you ask me.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT: MARQUARDT VS. PALHARES REVIEW PART 2: THE MAIN CARD

COLE MILLER VS. ROSS PEARSON

The first round was a classic stand up brawl, with Cole being the active one, mixing everything up rather well, but with Pearson showing the more refined striking abilities; picking his shots carefully and landing them with crisp precision. Both fighters' game plans were pretty clear late in the round: Pearson wanted to set up Cole for a solid knockout punch, and Cole wanted to get Pearson to the ground and submit him. The first round was rather even, though, and either fighter could have won it.

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER SEASON 12 EPISODE 1 REVIEW PART 2

Only a select few fights were aired in their entirety. Check out the first part of my review of the first episode of the newest season of The Ultimate Fighter to see what occurred there. This article focuses on the fights that were aired with cuts, and were shown as highlights. What was shown was still pretty impressive, though:

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER SEASON 12 EPISODE 1 REVIEW PART 1

The first episode was pretty awesome, as it was literally all about the fights. I'll start by reviewing the fights that were shown on air in their entirety, and then continue with the highlights tomorrow.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT: MARQUARDT VS. PALHARES REVIEW PART 1: THE MAIN EVENT

I've been very excited with this matchup for quite a while. Rousimar Palhares is a relative newcomer in the UFC, but has been quickly climbing the ranks because of his outstanding BJJ finishes. His opponent, however, is Nate "The Great" Marquardt, who has been professionally competing for more than ten years, is a former UFC Middleweight top contender, and King of Pancrase. Nate's one of the top guys in the UFC middleweight division, and if Palhares beats him, it could very well mean a top contender position for him in the near future. On the other hand, if Marquardt wins this one, then he could very well be catapulted into top contender status as well, a position so convincingly taken from him by Chael Sonnen at UFC 109.There's a lot riding on this fight, so both fighters are geared up.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT: MARQUARDT VS. PALHARES PREDICTIONS

Okay, now that I've published all of my reviews for UFC 118, I think it's a good time to post my predictions for the next UFC event coming next week, UFC Fight Night: Marquardt vs. Palhares:

UFC 118 REVIEW PART 5: THE PRELIMS

LAUZON VS. RUEDIGER

Diaz vs. Davis is my favorite fight of the night (and it was awarded as such), but, aside from Couture's performance against Toney, this is another of my favorite bouts of the evening. Joe Lauzon and Gabe Rueidger are both veterans of The Ultimate Fighter Season 5,but Lauzon had the better performance.

UFC 118 REVIEW PART 4: THE MAIN CARD

DIAZ VS. DAVIS

This match is a real treat for those who like straight-up stand up brawls. And I do mean "brawls", and not "fights", especially considering that it's Nate Diaz we're talking about here. Diaz, who normally competes at lightweight, moves up to welterweight for this bout. Will the increased weight be a disadvantage to him, will it be the other way around, or will it just not make a difference? Considering that he looks much larger than Davis, I'd say he still had the advantage in this fight.

UFC 118 REVIEW PART 3: FLORIAN VS. MAYNARD

Kenny "Kenflo" Florian is one of those fighter's who's definitely better every time he gets in the cage, not because the preview specials or commentators tell you so, but because you can visually tell the difference. Literally every time  he steps into the cage, you can see that he's once again sharpened up his already impressive Muay Thai and BJJ skills. He showed incredible stand up skills and footwork against Japanese phenom Takanori Gomi, and I was looking for him to display a comparable, if not much better performance against Gray "The Bully" Maynard.

UFC 118 REVIEW PART 2: COUTURE VS. TONEY

Who honestly thought this was going to go any other way? In an industry first, current boxing champion James Toney fights UFC fighter Randy Couture in order to see if boxing really is better than MMA, and vice versa. Most people accurately predicted the outcome of this fight the moment it was announced.

UFC 118 REVIEW PART 1: EDGAR VS. PENN

Which side were you on when Frankie Edgar beat the man many proclaimed to be the best lightweight in the history of the sport? Did you believe that Edgar truly won that fight decisively or did BJ just have a very bad night? How did you react when Edgar wanted to fight Gray Maynard and avenge a previous loss rather than give BJ an immediate rematch?

UFC 118 THOUGHTS: PENN VS. PACQUIAO?

Watching the August 20, 2010 episode of Inside MMA, I was hit with a rather interesting thought. Maximum Fighting Championship owner and president Mark Pavelich commented that the UFC 118 match between Randy Couture and James Toney, isn't nearly as good representation as it's supposed to be. This is because both fighters are already in their 40's (Couture is 47 and Toney is 41), which is the age range that many fighters retire at, if they actually make it that far. Pavelich proposed that younger, more relevant fighters of their respective sports be the representatives. He specifically names a Clay Guida / Manny Pacquiao fight. 

UFC 118 PREDICTIONS

Here are my predictions for UFC 118. As usual, I'll keep them short and sweet and leave my actual thoughts for my reviews of the fights.

WEC 50 REVIEW PART 2: THE MAIN CARD

As I mentioned in the first part of my review of WEC 50, a good majority of the fights in this organization of lighter-weight warriors are composed of wild, nonstop, brutal action for 3 or 5 rounds straight. This is true for the main event, and this is true for most of the main card as well.

WEC 50 REVIEW PART 1: THE MAIN EVENT

I actually only began watching WEC events less than a year ago, so I'm not nearly as familiar with the fighters as I am with the ones from the UFC. Seeing as the organization has reached the magic number 50, though, I feel that it's high time I threw in my own thoughts about this particular MMA organization.

THE EXPENDABLES MOVIE REVIEW

Expectations. That’s what "The Expendables" is all about. It has an air of hype around it that just builds tremendous expectations in certain audience members. It has to, what with some of the “greatest action heroes of all time” all in the same movie. As such, I believe that this is the film’s greatest accomplishment, as well as its greatest failure.

I’ve read several reviews of the film and most of them are negative. Almost all of them point to the fact that this is a brainless action film that’s more a waste of time than almost anything else. Others were simply tremendously disappointed because they set their expectations too high and this film didn’t deliver.

Me? I loved the living hell out of this thing.

I didn’t come into this movie expecting a good storyline. Not at all. Sly Stallone has gone on record several times before the premiere that this would be just a balls-out action movie with a very simple storyline. He made this out to be the greatest thing ever, but he always alluded to the action, and never the story.

THE TRAILER:

TEKKEN MOVIE REVIEW 2: THE EXTREMELY GEEKY VERSION

You’ve probably already read my general thoughts on the film, but if it not, please check it out first! This review is basically a continuation of the first one, but with added notes that the hardcore Tekken and fighting game fans might want to know. As such, this contains MASSIVE SPOILERS. You have been warned.

MY TEKKEN BACKGROUND

Anyway, as I’ve mentioned, I’m a huge fan of Tekken but I’m not nearly as into the series as I am with Street Fighter, though. I played it religiously from Tekken 1until Tekken Tag Tournament(the fourth installment in the franchise), but then skipped Tekken 4,and came back only for Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection.I actually haven’t even bought and played Tekken 6,but it has nothing to do with my hatred for the Bob character, I swear. If that was the case, then I wouldn’t have bought and played Street Fighter IVas well, right?

Tekken Movie UK DVD Box art

It’s just that I didn’t have the budget when the game first came out, and I just kept putting off buying it. I’m currently a full time graduate student at one of the top universities in my country, blogger, and I still work out and practice martial arts very regularly, so I don’t have that much free time for video games at the moment. When I do buy a video game, I tend to play that for months and months on end. Right now, I’m currently replaying Grandia because it came out on the PSN, which I alternate from time to time with Super Street Fighter IV.

So that’s my Tekken background in a nutshell. Am I any good at the game? Well, I can say that I’m decent, but nowhere near what many would truly qualify as “good”. I just tend to play around and not take it too seriously.

TEKKEN MOVIE REVIEW

I recently had the chance to see “Tekken”, the live action adaptation of the very popular video game franchise. I am a huge fan of fighting games, and of course, I love Tekken as well. As one would expect, this is a martial arts movie. I have to stress, however, that this is a low budget effort, and what many would correctly term a “B Movie”. So, if you completely despise these types of flicks, then you know what to expect, and that’s pretty much all of the pieces of this review that you need to read. If, however, the thought of this being a low budget chop-socky affair doesn’t bother you in the least, then read on!

THE TRAILER: