I watched M-1 from Russia. They have a season going. Ten teams from 9 different countries including the U.S.. Mike Dolce is on the U.S. team. There are two teams from Russia. None from Brazil. They have Japan, France, Spain, I forgot the others. You see some mismatches because every team has to put up somebody in each of 5 weight divisions, so if Russia has a great 170 pounder and Spain's 170 pounder sucks, you see a mismatch. You can often tell who is going to win by just looking at the won-lost records. When a guy who is 10-0 is up against a guy who is 1-2 you have a pretty good idea who's going to win.

The fights were mostly technical ground fighting. It wasn't boring though. You see one guy constantly trying to sink in a kimura or a triangle choke, and the other guy trying to stay out of it, and it really is pretty interesting, not slow moving at all. It's not rock em sock em robots but it is fun to watch.

One series of moves was a pleasure to see. It was right out of a judo book. One guy flipped the opponent with a hip throw, held on to his arm, and snapped on an instant armlock, just exactly like they show you in the book. I never saw such a clean and efficient move before. MMA fights are usually a lot messier. It was right by the book, right by the numbers, exactly the way you practice it in the gym. Flip him, hold onto his arm, sink in the arm bar, you're done. It was just that fast too. Judo 101.

I also watched the new episode of Inside MMA with Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice. One of their three panelists was Renzo Gracie. He's a lot of fun. One of the questions they asked the panel was who is the greatest Gracie fighter. Of course the other two panelists said Renzo, and gave the usual cliche reason, because he actually fights everyone, as opposed to someone who hasn't fought in years but enjoys the big reputation. Then they asked Renzo, and he answered honestly, as he always does. He said "my brother Rickson is the best Gracie fighter." Just that simple, just that honest. It is not false modesty. Despite all the dislike that Rickson attracts, the passion to be an iconoclast and tear him down, the simple fact is that Rickson Gracie is the best Gracie fighter, always was, and the fact that he's about 50 now would make it pretty insane for him to get back in the ring. He's not Randy Couture. The guy got old, what do you want. He was old ten years ago, in MMA terms. He peaked in the 80s. Go dig up your Rickson Gracie of the 80s, there's the best of the Gracie fighters, and there's no argument about it, no good argument anyway. The guy was IT.

As much as MMA has advanced in the past few decades, if you could transplant Rickson Gracie at age 30 to today's world I know you would have a guy who could give Spider Silva a run for his money and the 185 pound title. I'd make Rickson the favorite, because Travis Lutter almost beat Spider, the way to beat Spider is on the ground, and Travis Lutter is a joke next to Rickson friggin Gracie. I'd go with Rickson by armbar over Spider Silva. As for today's Rickson, well, he'd kick Grandma Moses's ass.