UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar isn’t doing so hot. After being misdiagnosed with mono–which led to the cancellation of his fight with Shane Carwin in UFC 106–Lesnar’s career seems to be in jeopardy as UFC boss Dana White tries to get Lesnar transferred to the Mayo Clinic, which I understand is totally different from the Miracle Whip clinic.

White tells us Lesnar — the UFC heavyweight champ — is “very, very sick” with some sort of intestinal disorder, although listening to White, it sounds a lot more serious than that. White says the condition will require “major surgery.” –TMZ

Camel Clutch Blog reports that Lesnar was in Canada when he collapsed. And I’m sure that other UFC fighters are upset that Lesnar is getting his shot at the Mayo Clinic so much faster than the guys that paid their dues. It’s not a caste system, fellas. I was talking about the pecking order in UFC, not Canadian health care. That actually is a caste system.

Manny Pacquiao might be the only bow arrow in the quiver for people that defend boxing today. The latest fighter to be adorned with the mythical “pound-for-pound” title disposed of Miguel Cotto in a fight so anticipated that it liberated certain corners of the world.

For about five rounds, this was a sensational action fight as both men gave as good as they took. It had the sold-out MGM Grand Garden Arena crowd of more than 16,200 surging with electricity. We already knew Pacquiao had great speed and power, but what he showed against Cotto was a tremendous chin. Make no mistake: Cotto got in a lot of heavy punches, but Pacquiao weathered the storm like a champ. After the fight was over, Pacquiao’s face was marked up, cut and bruised, and his right ear was a mess. –Dan Rafael, ESPN.com

ASYLUM POLL: Does Manny Pacquiao have to save boxing?

Could someone even consider making the claim that MMA was better than boxing if all of boxing’s fights were as exciting as Pacquiao’s? Maybe; you might see a good pay-per-view once or twice a year, whereas some MMA outfit seems to be airing a card once or twice a month, sometimes on free TV. MMA, whether it’s better or not, is immensely more accessible right now, which makes the argument a bit of an unfair fight. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the entire fight, and it was a good one; Rogers managed to gussy up Fedor’s nose with one of his first jabs of the night, busting the Russian’s nose wide open. They punched each other, and whenever Fedor seemed to have Rogers caught in a potential submission hold, the wily American would escape. Rogers eventually got out of the first round; he was the first Fedor opponent since 2006 to do so, according to the broadcast.

Both fighters were winded in round two, and with neither man taking initiative, Fedor fired a lunging right hand that caught Rogers in the jaw, and put him on the mat. Just like that, it was over.

The fight card was unimpressive in the ratings, but delivered a good night for MMA, and possibly another rising star in Rogers. Fedor proves to be a terrific import, and this fight is probably the best that we’ll see before the new year.

The punchy American is an 11-2 underdog going into his fight tonight against Fedor, but everyone seems to be wondering if Brett Rogers has any chance at all. To be fair, neither fighter seems to be getting his due of late, as Fedor Emelianenko has drawn the ire and disappointment of the MMA faithful since turning down UFC to fight for Strikeforce, generally considered to be the CFL of MMA. LOL…They’re even calling Fedor fat now.

If Rogers can get this fight out of the first round–and he seems to have the tools to do so–the grief will only mount for the pudgy Russian. His career choices aside, Fedor is widely considered to be the class of MMA, the fat white Rouskie whale that somebody will have to conquer to make his own name in the sport. It could happen tonight. Full rundown of the card here.

This is old as hell, but Gimp just put it back in my inbox and really, how do I ever say no to Gina Carano. The MMA star (starlet?) did this photoshoot for that ESPN The Body issue, which is like SI’s swimsuit issue. Only the former has no swimsuits. Or models, apparently. And Gina seems to be making this look like a one-girl slumber party. I’m sure that later in the shoot she and the punching bag talked about boys and the perils of math homework. Awesome.

I had a dream a few nights ago that I was riding around with ESPN’s Colin Cowherd on Segways. Every few blocks we’d see a homeless person on the sidewalk and Colin and I would do something cruel to the guy, like pretend to run off with his shoes or scald him with hot coffee. And then we’d high-five and segway around until we found some more coffee. We did this for like an hour and then this cop pulled us over. It was a lady cop, and maybe that’s not the proper jargon, but just bear with me.

So she’s wagging her nightstick at us, saying condescending cop stuff like “You boys better be careful,” and that’s when one of the homeless people transformed into a rhinoceros and trampled her. And then the rhinoceros looked at us and we looked at it. And then the rhino asked us for change.

All I had was credit cards.

I guess the moral of the story is that the homeless aren’t really people, but they’re actually rhinoceroses in disguise, just waiting for the right moment to trample somebody. Think about that the next time you see one of them peeing at a bus stop. Thanks, Gimp