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A-Dale Matthews                                                                                             April 29, 2011

The latest newsletter was a satisfying project since it allowed me to show my blog in a way. The arrangement of the pages allowed the reader to see the link between the two topics MMA and poetry, showing that they were both art forms, even though one was more brutal than the other.

Page 1 displays the main focus of my blog, the UFC, which is a MMA organization. It also tells readers about a reality show series of the fighters currently going on. That way they can get a glimpse of the life a UFC fighter lives. Page 2 & 3 is a bit more diverse. Dwelling on the topics of poetry, MMA and natural disasters. The purpose of this page was more to show the different sides of my personality when it came to blogging. Page 4 talks about the merger between two big MMA organizations the UFC and WEC. It shows the potential benefits of these two organizations coming together.

My development on a writer/blogger was more on the expanding of topics that I covered. While still specializing in two main topics poetry and MMA.  The weakness that I need to overcome is probably showing more of my personal feelings in articles, so readers gain a connection with me. The blogs I write demonstrate my open mind to new topics. While showing an unbiased review. 

Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva is like in the top 3 p4p fighters in the UFC and MMA to date. He's currently the Middleweight Champion. Ever since he won the title he has been on a 12 fight win streak Only one person came close to taking his belt and that was Chael Sonnen who later tested positive for drugs. Anderson won at the end of the 5th round by triangle choke.


His record is currently 28-4. Those 4 losses came at the early stage of his development. Along with his superb striking he holds a blackbelt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His striking art of choice is Muay Thai, where he makes good use of the Muay Thai clinch. This can be seen in his bout against Rich Franklin, where he devastated Rich with knees. The most recent fight with Vitor Belfort solidified his position as champion. Showing that he is ever evolving and you don't know what might come next. He defeated Vitor by landing a front kick right on his chin, and then finished off with punches once Vitor dropped. This shocked everyone who watched the fight.  There aren't many competitors for Anderson to go against next. The UFC will probably need to sign some new fighters to challenge him for the title. Right now Anderson and GSP are at the top in the UFC. People want a catch-weight fight between the two. The chances of that happening are slim though, since GSP has yet to move up in weight and he has no reason to. Since he still has a few competitors to dispose of before challenging the Middleweight class.

Diaz vs Daley Strikeforce

The recent Strikeforce event on April 9th, was a good event. Nick Diaz and Paul Daley headlined the event. Their fight only lasted until 1 round. Nick won by stoppage with 10 seconds left to go. At first the fight was going at a fast pace that mimicked the speed of 3 rounds passing by with how much went on. Nick dominated the fight the whole time though, standing up and on the ground. There were times when Daley got a couple shots off, but Nick's iron chin came to the rescue.

Doesn't seem like much competition is left for Diaz at this point. He has won his last 10 fights, with 9 of them by stoppage. The merger with UFC might change that though. Once its official someone in the UFC welterweight might have what it takes to be the next champ. Diaz needs a long hard fight though, that goes the distance of 5 rounds and ends either by KO/TKO/Sub. That way it has an interesting ending. Basically he needs to just go to war with someone for a long time and have the fight end by a decisive victory, no leaving it up to the judges. As we've all seen the judges cant be trusted to make the right decision at times. As shown in previous fights concerning The Korean Zombie in which he should have won all 3 of his fights not 1 out of 3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strikeforce:_Diaz_vs._Daley

UFC 129

There is an upcoming event this month April 30th. Headlining the card is a match between Georges St-Pierre and  Jake Shields. It will be a welterweight match. The co-main event will be Jose Aldo vs Mark Hominick at featherweight. Both events are 5 rounds, 3 minute championship bouts. St-Pierre seems to have the advantage when it comes to stand-up. He's been working with Freddie Roach recently, a famous boxing coach who trains Manny Pacquiao. St-Pierre displayed good use of the jab, which is underused in MMA. It results show in his bout against Josh Koscheck when you look at his swollen shut eye. St-Pierre's record is 21-2. 8 knockouts and 5 submissions, the rest decision wins. On a 8 fight win streak.

Jose Aldo is just a pure monster when it comes to MMA. His ground game is good and his Muay Thai is superb. Being proficient in both Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jutsu allows him to dictate where the fight will go. Wrestlers might have a chance against him if they can take him down and stay on top. If they're not careful he will will pull off a submission off his back. Aldo's record is 18-1 with 12 wins by knockout and 2 by submission. He's currently on a 11 fight win streak.