Mayweather had been running his mouth. I love Floyd. He talks trash because he is the shit and because without exception, every single time, he backs it up. He is a badass. Here is a quote, “There’s a blueprint on Shane, he has five losses. Nobody has beaten Floyd Mayweather. The ultimate goal is try to build a fight that can beat Mayweather.” The quote is quintessential Floyd. Love the guy. Oh by the way, Sugar Shane has promised to knock Floyd out.

Miguel Cotto is in training for a fight on June 5 against Yuri Foreman. Who the fuck is Yuri Foreman? When a fighter loses big fights and his career is on the blink, there is no saying what his tomato can strewn attempt at a return to glory might look like. More importantly he has now hired legendary trainer Emanuel Steward. Was Emanuel really that legendary or did he train great fighters?

I ran into a news item touting the return of Peter Manfredo. Who?

Oh by the way, while we were away, Evander Holyfield became world champion again at age 47. Evander Holyfield is still fighting?

Velasquez v Nogueira: Coming into this fight, I distinctly thought that Velasquez had the speed and overall fighting skill advantage. Granted, Nogueira has good submission skills and heavy enough hands (heck, any heavyweight should have heavy enough power to knock the other guy out). But I have never thought he combined his skills sufficiently to create a fearsome arsenal. I have made this point about MMA fighters in general in the past.

On the other hand, Velasquez seemed to me to have put together the combination of fighting skills much better even as he was faster. I thought he was badasser, with more badassitude. And it showed. He hit Nogueira with more stuff – kicks, punches – and with more variety and technique than Nogueira could muster. I am not surprised this fight ended in the first. It was a mismatch. Having said, despite his bluster, I do not think Velasquez has enough to take Lesnar. It is another conversation but to beat Lesnar, you have to have the ability to counter his explosiveness or the explosiveness to surprise him. He can be beat, Lesnar, but only by a fighter who truly understands martial arts and how to use all the arrows in one’s quiver.

Bisping v Silva: I will confess a little bias here. I like Bisping. He is a badass. There are not too many fighters with the kind of badassitude that he has and there are not too many fighters who try to put together the combination of skills such as he does. I was a little disappointed in this fight because I thought it should have been an easy fight for Michael. He should have moved a little better after the first round and anticipated those leg kicks better. And he fell victim to the oldest of cagy veteran tricks – he did not anticipate the end-of-round bursts that Wanderlei used to steal rounds.

Bisping, one could argue, won on volume while others would argue that Silva won on effectiveness. It was probably that flurry at the end of the fight that tipped the scales for Silva. Depending on your point of view, you could reasonably have concluded that Bisping was saved by the bell. A good case could be made either way and the judges saw it for Silva. I think that verdict was fair enough.

Stevenson v Sotiropoulos: This one was a surprise to me. At some point when the story of Stevenson is all told, it will be one of great but unfulfilled potential. Stevenson has always had the potential of being very highly explosive badass fighter. He has the potential ability to overwhelm opponents with very badass shock and awe. Yet for some reason, he just never seems to have enough badassitude to get him there.

I didn’t know very much about Sotiropoulos other than the fact that he had a pretty good record. He is a badass. Period. He imposed his badassitude on Stevenson all the way around. Standing up, he kicked Stevenson’s ass. On the ground, he dominated and this was the real big surprise to me because I thought Stevenson would own him on the ground. It was a unanimous decision and you will not find a single Stevenson fan willing to debate that decision.

Bader v Jardine – Jardine is a badass. I doubt that anyone would argue his badassitude. The result in this fight is testament to the truth that any big man will put another big man to sleep with a clean powerful shot. Bader caught Jardine with a clean shot and the fight ended. Enough said.

I will not dignify the Cro Cop fight with more than this: Perosh was a tomato can that was dispatched deservingly.