World: Meet Constantinos Philippou.

Sometimes we can be surprised when we find out that some guys are fighters. If you had a conversation with someone like Kenny Florian for example, you might be surprised to hear that he fights in a cage for a living. The same could be said for guys like Amir Sadollah,  Stephan Bonnar and even Georges St Pierre. Constantantinos Philippou is not one of these guys.

I first saw Philippou fight on the UFC 133 card in August, when he beat fellow middleweight Jorge Rivera by split decision. This was a big win for Philippou, but mostly I was just taken by what a tough, intimidating looking figure he cut in the Octagon. When people think of cage fighting they think of guys that look like Philippou and Nick Diaz, guys you can just look at and tell straight away "They get punched in the face for a living".

In this budding era of Jon Jones type super athletes, this type of fighter is changing from the norm to the exception. It has existed in guys Rich Franklin for years, the guy who can throw down but also be an ambassador for the sport, and now the image that a fighter will present to the public seems to be nearly as important as the fighting for the UFC.

When I saw Philippou fighting Jared Hamman on the UFC 140 card, I saw this as a matchup of old vs. new. Philippou had made the transition from local hard man in his native Cyprus, to fighting in the biggest MMA organisation in the world. Not only this, but he was fighting a guy like Jared Hamman, a respectable, normal looking guy sporting an impressive professional record, and an even more impressive bushy moustache. When Philippou proceeded to punch the moustache off the face of Hamman, I got a pleasant flashback to the days before modern MMA, when the guy who looked like a tough guy, more often than not, actually was a tough guy.

MMA needs athletes that can build bridges, garner positive publicity, and generally present a positive image of the sport to its potential fan and sponsorship targets. It also needs guys like Philippou, who can be relied on to look tough, and go out and throw hands when the occasion calls for it. Mixed Martial Arts has evolved as an art form over the years, and come to be respected as such to some extent, though there is work to be done in this area. It is still fighting however, and as long as we have athletes like Constantinos Philippou in the UFC, we won't be allowed to forget this.

Why I don't want to see Lesnar/Mir III.

With former UFC champ Brock Lesnar due to face former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem in just over two weeks, the rumour mill is working overtime with news of potential cancellations on either side. There has been speculation that Overeem might not pass the required drug tests to fight in the UFC, with one of his drug tests not having been accepted because it was taken by his personal doctor and shipped to Germany from the Netherlands.

Alistair Overeem - Middleweight

Alistair Overeem - 100 pounds or so later

Considering that the current 260 pounder fought in the Pride middleweight division as recently as 2005, it seems reasonable to expect him to be tested more than other athletes in the run up to UFC 141 on December 30th in Las Vegas. This was brought up in the post-fight press conference for UFC 140 last weekend, and heavyweight notable Frank Mir instantly offered to take Overeem's place should he not be allowed to compete.

While Mir deserves a big fight after his great performance at UFC 140, Lesnar is not the opponent that I would like to see him face. Lesnar has been competing in MMA since 2007, and due to illnesses and a couple of serious surgeries, he has still only fought 7 times, with a professional record of 5-2. One of these wins and one loss were both against Mir, the loss in 2008 and win in 2009. For a fighter of Lesnar's potential and high profile going for only his eighth bout, the idea that three of these would be against the same opponent is really not an appealing one.

When you add this to the fact that Mir only managed to beat Lesnar because Lesnar's lack of experience let him get caught in a kneebar while giving Mir an over enthusiastic beatdown, there is little reason for him to be granted another shot. I was all for Mir/Lesnar two, and Lesnar showed that he had grown since they first met in his second ever fight, by giving Mir a more drawn out, painful looking beating the second time they faced each other. As far as i'm concerned, this is the end of it.

I respect the tenacity of Mir, in being so eager to jump in the Octagon with Lesnar again, but I think they both need some new opponents, and with so many available there seems no reason to throw these two together once again. Lesnar is trying to get back into the title scene, and Mir is coming off a big win, so in my opinion he should next be put up against dethroned champ Cain Velasquez, or given a chance to avenge his 2010 loss against former title contender Shane Carwin. Either way, these two squaring off is old news, and should not be bothered with until Mir gives us reason to believe he won't end up getting his face smashed up at the hands of Lesnar for a third time.

Need a party trick? Choke out your friends!

As MMA fans, we should always be prepared for our friends to jump us and catch us in one of those submissions that we have seen done a million times, but don't really know how to apply. The guillotine is one of the simplest and most straightforward submissions available, and plenty of us get into situations in real life where we would find it useful. This is an instructional video from YouTube that demonstrates how to properly apply it, so choke away!

Dennis Hallman: Habitual Line Stepper.

If you have never heard of Dennis Hallman then i'm sure you could be forgiven. He isn't the most well known fighter, not ranking on many top 10 lists, competing for major titles or embarking on any record breaking win streaks. He has been around for a long time however, with a professional career beginning in 1996, and having had a whopper 68 fights, with 51 wins, 14 losses, 2 draws and one no-contest. He also holds the first two wins ever over UFC welterweight hall of famer Matt hughes, with one win taking him 17 seconds, and the other 20, both by submission. The reason that Dennis Hallman has captured my attention lately however, is that he just can't seem to do anything right.

At UFC 133 in August I was watching in a friends house, and we all got a big laugh when a fighter I had never seen before, Dennis "Superman" Hallman, fought in skimpier Y-fronts than most fighter usually wear to weigh ins. It later emerged that he did this due to losing a bet, but at the time it just seemed like he was doing it as a joke, and one that Dana White and the UFC really seemed to miss the punchline on. He lost the bout to his opponent Brian Ebersole, who afterwards received a bonus for having managed to TKO him within the first round. He supposedly exposed himself inadvertantly during the fight, and Dana White was allegedly furious backstage that his staff had allowed a fighter to compete wearing such little clothes.

Fastforward to the weigh ins the day before Saturdays UFC 140 event. Hallman was fighting undefeated prospect John Makdessi at lightweight. Hallman however, missed weight, coming in at 158.5, which is over the limit of 156 pounds. As soon as this happened Dana White came over to Hallman and appeared to chew him out onstage over this, though it was impossible to hear what was said. Hallman also appeared very unapologetic, seemingly shrugging off the extra weight and the 20% pay cut that he would have to take from his fight purse. The fight was changed to a catchweight bout, and Hallman dominated Makdessi and submitted him with a rear-naked choke.

This was a stroke of luck for Hallman, as it really seems like he isn't on Dana White's list of favourite fighters since the Y-fronts incident. At a current run of 3-2 in the UFC, I have no doubt that Hallman would have been cut if he had lost his second fight in a row in the Octagon last night. Job security is a wonderful thing, and if Hallman values it he would do well not to lose any of his next few bouts. It's not often you hear of wardrobe choices being more important than win-loss records for fighters, but it just might be for Hallman, so for his sake he better stick to shorts for the time being.

UFC 140 Aftermath: It's all about Jones.

Last night was the UFC 140 event in Toronto, Canada. Jon Jones successfully defended his Light Heavyweight Championship for the second time, this one against Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida. Going into this event I looked back at the three opponents that both of these competitors had faced, and made the prediction that Jones was going to win the bout by TKO. Jones did win, but by submission, with a standing guillotine choke that Cody Mckenzie himself would have been proud of.

This win has closed off 2011 for Jones, and I think it is beyond argument that this year Jones has had the greatest year of any fighter ever in the UFC. Most UFC fighters at Jones' level don't fight as many as four times in a year, but the fact that Jones not only did, but also beat Ryan Bader, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Rampage Jackson and now Lyoto Machida in the space of one year is nothing less than astounding. I said previously that if Jones beat Machida then his rapid rise would become the stuff of legend, and I think it is safe to say that now is really has.

The event overall was a huge success, and the main card delivered on all fronts. Featherweight Mark Hominick came into his fight against "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung the favourite, but Jung ended up scoring a KO victory only seven seconds in. This was shocking to see, as the last time Hominick fought he was contending for the title against Jose Aldo, and though he lost he really showed the crowd that he could take a beating and keep moving. Welterweights Brian Ebersole and Claude Patrick brought the tempo down with a lacklustre fight that went to decision, but the three bouts that followed this and ended the show all delivered action in abundance.

It looks as if UFC light heavyweight legend Tito Ortiz has had his final fight, after losing to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Lil Nog) by TKO at 3:15 in the first round. Tito started out aggressively but was taken down and succumbed to vicious body shots, with it looking like he might have broken or fractured at least one rib. This is probably one beating too many for Tito in the eyes of Dana White, and though he expressed a wish for one more fight, it remains to be seen whether he will actually get it.

Heavyweight Frank Mir was a shoe in for Submission of the Night after when he viciously snapped the arm of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Big Nog) by Kimura. This came at 3:38 of round one in a very exciting fight, just after Big Nog knocked Mir to the ground with strikes and looked about to finish the fight, but Mir pulled off a fantastic switch, and then rolled Nog over to not only secure the tap out, but also break the arm of Nogueira. With this impressive showing, expect a big match for Mir next, maybe even against former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who has yet to be booked for his next fight.

It was a great event overall, and though the submission by Mir will have alot of people talking, the topic of conversation will always end up coming back to Jon Jones. He really does seem to be unstoppable, and it seems like the only way he could lose is if he starts to believe his own hype and gets cocky or complacent. Though he has plenty of detractors, I think he seems like a decent guy, and if he comes across as cocky or self assured, bear in mind that he has every reason to be. He said after the fight that he is looking to take about five months off after this, so expect to see him back in the Octagon around April.

Jones next opponent could be either Dan Henderson, or the winner of the January bout between Rashad Evans and Phil Davis. Barring very unforseen circumstances I expect one of these men to face Jones next year, and they better start working on their gameplan. The main advantage that opponents of 24 year old Jones have claimed is experience, but after this year, I don't think that many can claim even that.