Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The excitement leading up to UFC 178

Words can't describe how excited I am for UFC 178 this Saturday night. The entire card is completely stacked. The preliminary card includes, MMA veteran Brian Ebersole, Patrick Cote who's on three fight winning streak, former Strikeforce lightweight contender and current #14 ranked UFC lightweight fighter, Jorge Masvidal. Along with that, it's also the epic return of former UFC Bantamweight Champion, Dominick Cruz who's been out of the octagon for nearly three years. The #10 ranked bantamweight contender is scheduled to face #5 ranked Japanese fighter Takeya Mizugaki. This just the preliminary card!

Now on the main card, Cat Zingano, who is ranked #1 in the UFC women's bantamweight division, and who many believe including myself, can defeated Ronda Rousey, is expected to start the pay-per-view.  The undefeated MMA fighter will go against former Strikeforce and Invicta FC contender #8 ranked Amanda Nunes in a three rounds contest. Yoel Romero has looked phenomenal in his recent bouts. He will have his biggest challenge in the UFC this Saturday when faces Tim Kennedy. Both fighters are on a four fight winning streak. 

The last three fights of the night features a few of my favorite fighters (sorry Dustin Poirier and Chris Cariaso). Irish mixed martial artist, Conor "The Notorious" McGregor caught many UFC fans attention after his TKO win over Marcus Brimage. Connor has been hyping his upcoming fight against Dustin Poirier. I've been watching Eddie Alvarez since Bellator 33 and wrote my first post about his UFC debut here. He is going to face Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone, who is competing in his fourth UFC bout in this year. Current UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson is making his fifth title defense against #8 ranked flyweight contender, Chris Cariaso. This is by far one of the most epic cards in UFC history. I'm completely stoked!

Main Card Predictions
Winners: 
Cat Zingano
Yoel Romero
Conor McGregor
Eddie Alvarez
Demetrious Johnson


Monday, September 22, 2014

My weekend with Destiny

Since the release of Destiny, there's been a lot of buzz going around on the internet. Based on what I seen in the beta, Destiny looked promising.  I started playing Destiny last week, and from the start it has grabbed my attention. Now I think I'm officially hooked. First, the visual are definitely worth admiring. Everything from the character design to environment design is absolutely beautiful. Other hand the visuals, the controls feels great, and the sound design is well done. Along with that, the music really help captures the feel of this game, especially when you defeated a room full of enemies. Bungie did a great job selecting the right sounds and music, which makes the playing experience even more epic.

The problem with Destiny is that you're going to play through the same levels multiple times, and that gets repetitive. After seeing the same environment over and over again, the game starts to feel less exciting. 

Overall, I really been enjoying this game. I look forward to see what Bungie has in sort for Destiny. I hope to see DLCs in the near future. 

Friday, September 12, 2014

New season, new division, new format...Here we go!!!

UFC's reality show, The Ultimate Fighter premiered their 20th season this past Wednesday. For this season, the UFC decided to change their format, which makes it more exciting. Half of the roster includes fighters from Invicta Fighting Championship, an all female fighting MMA organization. All of the women who advanced into the house are now officially in the UFC organization. Whoever wins this tournament will become the first UFC Women's Strawweight Champion. 

The house is filled with a stack roster with plenty of fighters to keep an eye out. Carla Esparza who competed in Bellator MMA, and was the first Invicta FC Strawweight Champion is ranked #1 in the TUF tournament bracket. There's already a rivalry between #6 ranked Felice Herrig and #11 ranked Heather Clark, who previously meet at Bellator 94. Both fighters had an intense stare down. 

The first fight of the season included #3 ranked Tecia Torres who went against #14 ranked Randa Markos. In the opening round, things went well for Tecia Torres, who was the aggressor both standing up, and even on her back. After the first round, the pace of fight changed with Randa Markos dominating with her takedowns throughout the fight. Markos pulled off the upset by winning via unanimous decision. 

This season looks promising. I'm glad the UFC changed the format for this season, because I was starting to lose interest in The Ultimate Fighter reality show. With the new format, and the great cast of fighters, I think the new season will keep me intrigue throughout.  

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

The Saints Row series returns with "Gat out of Hell"...Sweet :D

(YouTube Screenshot)
The Saints Row franchise has brought nothing but excitement to my PlayStation 3 video game library. With it's over the top open world game play combined with it's bizarre humor, it makes a lot sense why this popular gaming franchise has sold over thirteen million copies. Video game publisher Deep Silver along with video game studios, Volition and High Voltage Software plan on releasing their upcoming standalone DLC, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell on January 27, 2015 for the Microsoft Windows, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, and Xbox One.

Saints Row: Gat out of Hell is a standalone expansion DLC to Saints Row IV. In this game, you play as Johnny Gat as he, along side with Kinzie Kensington, travels to Hell in an attempt to rescue the leader of the Saints from Satan. Already, it's ridiculous plot has grabbed my attention. The previous Saints Row IV game kept the controller in my hands because of it's Matrix-ish world and superpower abilities. To make things interesting, the player has the option to download an already created character from the game's website, instead of creating a character from scratch. I took advantage of this, and played most of the game as Neo from The Matrix. It was pretty awesome!

Each time I completed a Saints Row game, the same question comes to mind: How can the developers out do themselves on the next game? I first asked myself this question after completing Saints Row III, and I was very pleased with it's successor, Saints Row IV. I think the developers are making a wise choice with releasing a standalone DLC. This way the popular franchise can make their debut on the PS4 and Xbox One for a reasonable price (I'm assuming $20). Look out for Saints Row: Gat out of Hell early 2015.
     

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Bellator 123 or UFC Fight Night 50 or both...

Tomorrow night, the mixed martial arts world is in for an absolute treat. At 8pm on Spike TV, Bellator MMA is set to premiere a main card filled with popular fighters. In their season eleven premiere, current TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Bobby Lashley is making his Bellator debut, and  Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal seem more than ready to step back into the cage after suffering a loss by Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. In the co-main event, French MMA veteran Cheick Kongo will go against fellow striker Lavar Johnson. In the main event, the always dangerous, PatrĂ­cio Freire is looking to redeem himself in a rematch against the current Bellator Featherweight Champion, Pat Curran.

At 10pm, the UFC Fight Night 50 main card looks incredibly insane, which is obviously a great thing. Starting off the main card, lightweight submission specialist, Joe Lauzon will go against The Ultimate Fighter 15 winner, Michael Chiesa. Two heavy hitters who are both looking to make a statement in the heavyweight division, Derrick Lewis and Matt Mitrione, will trade blows in bout that I think will end with a knockout. In the co-main event, another heavyweight contest with feature knockout artists, Ben "Big Ben" Rothwell who will battle former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, DREAM Heavyweight Champion, K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, Alistair Overeem. In the main event, two my favorite fighters who I've been following since the Strikeforce days, #7 light heavyweight Dutch fighter, Gegard Mousasi is scheduled to fight #4 Brazilian fighter Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza.

Now, lets not forget, UFC Fight Night 50's prelims will at three hours before their main card. Here is where things get difficulty. Since UFC prelims will conflict with Bellator MMA program, I will have to figure out which event I'm going watch. So I decided to create a schedule below to enjoy the most out of tomorrow night.

7-8pm EST- UFC Prelims
8-10pm EST - Bellator 123
10-12:30 EST - UFC Fight Night 50

Fight on!