Saturday Fights

The UFC has a big fight card coming up on Saturday.

The preliminary and early preliminary fights look OK, but it's the main card that shines.

In the first couple of these bouts, the #3 and #5 Light-Heavyweights fight, as do the #3 and #7 Welterweights. Nobody is getting and easy fight here.

After that the most feared female fighter on the planet, Chris Cyborg is up. This is only her second fight in the UFC, but her overall record is 17-1-1. Her only loss was her very first fight. She is a bit of a physical freak, looking much like a white Mike Tyson, and fights with shocking brutality. The only thing that seems to be holding back her career is Christine herself. She is forever making unrealistic demands of the UFC and her prospective opponents.

This time out the Womens 145 pound Championship is up for grabs between Cyborg and a respectable opponent in Tonya Evinger (19-5-0).

After the women, the Mens 145 pound World Champion, Tyron Woodley faces #1 contender Demian Maia. It will be a classic striker versus grappler match-up, although both have strong skills in every aspect of the game. This fight alone could easily highlight and headline the card.

However, it does not. The premier bout will be Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier facing #1 challenger Jon Jones. Cormier's record is 19-1, with his only loss being by decision to Jon Jones back in 2015.

Jon Jones' record is 22-1, with his only loss being by disqualification in a fight he was easily winning.

The interest comes not just in it being a re-match, but in speculation over Jones' deteriorated skills. You see, he has had a number of run ins with the law and sport regulators over criminal offences, alcohol, and failed drug tests. Since beating Daniel Cormier, he has only fought once, as opposed to Cormier's four victorious outings. Has Jones ability eroded away due to neglect and inactivity? We shall see.

The great news is that even if the Cormier-Jones bout gets cancelled at the last moment, or is boring, or has a fluke ending, there is still more than enough on the card to make a great event.

Fires

This year is a time of disaster for my Canadian province. British Columbia is being ravaged by wildfires through the central regions.

The danger is so bad that approximately 30,000 residents have been evacuated. Several towns have been largely abandoned. It being a largely rural area, thousands of animals have also been pulled out.

About 10,000 have been accommodated in the city of Kamloops. Others have been been directed to various centres as far away as Chilliwack.

This is as it should be. These refugees are people, and need our help. The hosting communities have been bending over backward to handle the influx, and the government is trying to provide sufficient support, and to even provide direct funding to those displaced.

This is all as it should be. I have not heard a single call for the refugees to be turned away, or for the host communities to, “look after their own first.”

To do so would be heartless, and unthinkable.

This is how it should be. We are one. We are the same. No tribes exist.

Looters have been caught, and there have even been arsonists.

Nobody has said that our refugees should be kept out, as looters and arsonists could be hiding in their midst. To do so would be ridiculous. Even if this were true, banning the vast majority of people needing refuge to keep out some hypothetical threat would not occur to anybody.

The refugees are us, and we are them.

Cancelled but Not

Here in Canada it is a long weekend right now. July 1^st is the anniversary of Canada's birth as a nation. That this year the day off of work is on Monday.

Friday is the start of the weekend, and there is an open mat Jiu-Jitsu time. Normally, I'd work with Tawha on polishing up the second-level testing technique, but this time she was away. Often nobody else shows up, but this Friday was different. Our chief instructor, Shawn Phillips needed a partner to work with on the third level testing stuff. It is important to get this done, as the level four stuff has just been released, and we don't get access until he completes testing for level three. I was free, and so we jumped right in to all of that.

Saturday morning is another open mat time, and I always go. Usually somebody shows up, but I was sceptical of anybody else being there on a long weekend, so I posted that I would only be there if somebody let me know beforehand. Nobody did, and I bailed on doing open mat. Luckily, my friend Koko is back from university for the holiday, and wanted to get together to train. We met on the mat at 4pm, and drilled a huge range of technique. We were at it for two solid hours.

Sunday is a day of complete shut down at the school, and this weekend was no different.

Monday isn't even normally part of the weekend, but it is this time around. Usually, I head into the city to train at Marc Marins' school, but they are closed for the holiday. This doesn't matter, as Shawn wants to get together again to work on his third-level test stuff. No reason not to jump right in on this task again.

So in summation, my three usual sessions on Friday, Saturday, and Monday, have all been cancelled. Each has been replaced with other training that is at just as good, and all of it just dropped into my lap.