July 31 – Aug 1 Weekend: Boxing and MMA

BOXING: On Friday, July 30, 2010 Miami, Okla. (ESPN2), Delvin Rodriguez (23-3-2, 14 KOs) vs. Ashley Theophane (26-4-1, 7 KOs) for 10 Rounds  in the Welterweight Division.

Also on Friday, in Cancun, Mexico (Telefutura) Danny Garcia (16-0-0, 10 KOs) vs. Jorge Romero (17-2-0, 15 KOs) for 10 Rounds in the Jr. Welterweight Division and in Philadelphia (http://www.gofightlive.tv/), Derek Ennis (21-2-1, 13 KOs) vs. Gabriel Rosado (12-3-0, 7 KOs).

BOXING: This Saturday, July 31, Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz (35-3, 17KO) will challenge 36 year old, Juan “Dinamita” Marquez (50-5-1, 37KO) for the lightweight title in Las Vegas. This will be their second meeting. The first contest, in February 2009, ended in a ninth round stoppage for Marquez and was tabbed the fight of the year by Ring magazine.  PLUS in the Diaz-Marquez undercard, Jorge Linares looks to rebuild a  damaged reputation after suffering a first round KO loss to Juan Carlos Salgado.  Linares is fighting Rocky Juarez in a lightweight bout.

MMA:  SUNDAY, Aug. 2, Jon Jones takes on Vladimir Matyushenko for UFC Live 2 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Communication break-in thanks to no/low oversight

 

The intelligence analyst accused of leaking the Iraq helicopter video as well as the 91,000 U.S. documents (!) that make up the Afghan War Diary files is a PRIVATE!

It is amazing that a private, even if he has top-secret clearance, has such direct access to so much intelligence. It’s like a mailroom attendant whose job it is to bring the CEO her mail was also able to access the company’s financial records and negotiations memos.

What’s up with the oversight here?!?  Can we do something about this to prevent some far-sighted terrorist recruiting a double-agent to enlist as a private in our military’s intelligence unit and gain access to similar documents, etc?

“Make every shot count. Be deliberate and precise.”

Women of USPSA interview 2010 USPSA Single Stack National Champion – Rob Leatham (24-Time USPSA National Champion, 5-Time IPSC World Champion):

WoU – If there is one thing you can attribute to your success as a shooter, what would it be?

Rob - Tenacity and drive.  I love to shoot and hate to lose.  Winning isn’t all that important most of the time – it is just the result of a good performance. Failing to shoot well, on the other hand, feels TERRIBLE and almost always ends up in defeat. I hate to shoot poorly.  Since I have the means and time to train, I have no excuse to shoot poorly.  I may get slower on the move with my knees, but I should always shoot the best. I might get beat, but I should never loose because of lack of preparation.

Afghan Diary Wikileak backlash

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen

Katherine Tiedeman at Foreign Policy reports:

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the FBI has been called in to help with the investigation, and criticized the disclosures, saying, “The battlefield consequences of the release of these documents are potentially severe and dangerous for our troops, our allies and Afghan partners, and may well damage our relationships and reputation in that key part of the world.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen asserted that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange “can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.”

UPDATE: WikiLeaks responded to the remarks in a Twitter post early Friday: “Gates, who killed thousands in Iraq, Afg and Iran-Contra says we might have ‘blood on our hands.’”

Afghan War Diary 2004-2010 – Ambinder’s summary

U.S. Special Forces soldier confronts villager during operation

Marc Ambinder has a succint summary of the different types of operations and players in the Wikileaks Afghan War Diary, particularly about special operations like Taskforce 2-2 and CIA paramilitary ”OGA” units. 

“On a tactical level, did Wikileaks reveal anything that compromises the mission? There are lots of details and names that, out of context, provide no help for an enemy, but Wikileaks published data about numerous base names, call signs, and even soldier identities.

The failed special forces attempt to kill Abu Layth Ali Libi, which resulted in the deaths of civilians, suggests the willingness of some provisional governors to collude with the official storyline:

    – Governor Khapalwak has had no success yet in reaching President Karzai (due to the Presidents busy schedule today) but expects to reach him within the hour (PoA reached later in the afternoon ~ 1400Z)

    – The Governor conducted a Shura this morning, in attendance were locals from both the Yahya Yosof Khail & Khail Districts

    — He pressed the Talking Points given to him and added a few of his own that followed in line with our current story

    – The atmospherics of the local populous is that they are in shock, but understand it was caused ultimately by the presence of hoodlums

WIkiLeaks has given journalists and researchers a road map to begin tracking Afghan detainees and the activities of special forces units.” 

I haven’t had a chance to look at the data yet and I imagine that it’s a fascinating read even though written in shorthand and acronyms.  I can’t jump the gun and say that this leak is plain wrong because we live in a democracy where the people should be able to keep tabs on the actions of the government and the military.  But I’m also not comfortable with revealing the names of troops or locations of bases and things like that, although, I’m not sure the revelations will compromise anyone right now.  The possibility of war crimes is unsettling however.  So, so far, the diary confirms what many have suspected about the difficulties of “winning” this war, about Pakistan and Taliban behind-the-scenes cooperations, about civilians that have been mistakenly killed and about soldiers attempts to save them (at times).  Curious to see what kind of effects this revelation will have on the American people.

Simple advice that bears repeating and repeating and repeating and…

BJJ Blackbelt and coach James Foster blogs some good pointers applicable to all martial arts not just BJJ:

“I explained that you should only try moves that you know during a tournament, it’s not a time to try things that you don’t know or haven’t had much practice with in training or live rolling. All of this ties into the importance of repetition, whether during drilling of technique, or perfecting a specific technique during live rolling.

Repetition is the only way you will develop your technique to the point that a specific movement can be recalled without thinking. That’s why I believe it’s especially important for beginners to focus on a specific long term goal. That goal is to know and be able to apply one technique from each situation that may arise in a sparring session or match. The only way that will ever happen is with dedication, repetition, and patience! Beginners, set a goal to not move on to a new technique until the other technique has been perfected.”

Die Antwoord – Enter The Ninja

I don’t know wtf is going on here but it’s got a ninja with a ninja sword and ninja stars? Maybe it’s about identifying with bad-ass ninjas to feel and be a bad-ass yourself… y’know have confidence, defy the odds and get the girl… or something like that.

Remembering Sijo Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee died today 37 years ago and his impact is still being felt.  It’s already accepted fact that he revolutionized martial arts filmmaking, martial arts sports and martial arts training.  He did it because not only was he a gifted charismatic martial arts prodigy but because he was also a thinker.

RIP Bruce Lee, 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973

Full interview after the jump

Now I wonder what’s Almeida’s training and nutrition regimen…

Matt Hughes

Matt Hughes, fighting Ricardo Almeida on August 7, 2010 for UFC 117, reveals his training regimen and his nutrition program.  His training is composed of two parts: one when training in Hillsboro and one when training in Granite City.  You can’t argue that this is not a regimen for a champion, although you can argue that it’s only specific to Hughes. Either way, this looks legit… definitely things to pick up here. 

 Hillsboro:
6:00 AM – run for 30-45 minutes (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
6:45 AM – eat breakfast, take son to school, work on farm, miscellaneous errands
10:00 AM – eat a snack, good carbs and protein (NO SUGAR)
12:30 PM – eat lunch (usually a chicken breast sandwich and salad)
4:00 PM – lift weights, no more than 1 hr:

Nutritox Supplement Schedule:
Pre Run – 10grams of Whey protein, 1 scoop FREE, 3 Heart Beat Complete
Breakfast – 2 Athletic Multi Vitamin, 2 Joint Renew
Lunch – 2 Athletic Multi Vitamin
Pre Workout – 10grams of Whey protein, 1 scoop FREE, 3 Heart Beat Complete
Post Workout – Protein Drink*, 1 scoop FREE, 2 Athletic Multi Vitamin, 2 Joint Renew

Monday – chest
(I hate chest workouts and if I don’t start the week with chest I won’t do it)
Tuesday – back
Wednesday – might take the day off (lift saturday if I do), maybe arms
Thursday – shoulders
(always separate shoulders and chest as much as possible because they are both push muscles)
Friday – arms
Saturday – legs

Sets:
1st: 15 reps
2nd: 10-12 reps
3rd: no more than 6
4th: 10-12 reps

4 exercises per body part

5:00 PM – 30 minute run on treadmill, start at 6 mph and every five minutes go up 1/2 mile per hour
5:30 PM – stretch for 15-20 minutes after workouts take Cytosport Musclemilk (my post-workout meal)

Matt Hughes’s Training in Granite City, views on Diet & Nutrition after the jump.

Walk like a Warrior

“…Keep your guard up 24/7 on the street like you’re doin’ hard time on the yard
What you know about heart?
Can you assemble your heat in the dark
Take it apart, and clean all the parts?
Life is a journey, a course, like learning a martial art
You can’t have partial heart
Gotta get your own, if you drop the bone, dog, we all fall
It ain’t over til the problem solved
Get your back up off the wall.”