The Superbowl is now passed, and congratulations are due to the Saints on winning, and for breaking their franchise draught on superbowl appearances.  This weekend was also marked in the sporting world by the inaugural event of the Nascar season, the Budweiser Shootout.  However, though the weekend was rich with events long established in the American tradition, the real entertainment was found in the blossoming sport of the mixed martial arts.

Yes, in a weekend traditionally dominated by the non fighting arts, the MMA community was treated to an explosive and fully entertaining weekend.  From the Victory Challenge in Omaha Nebraska, to the premier event of the UFC, many developments took place in our fast growing community.

First off I would like to mention the Victory matchup in Omaha Nebraska where, as predicted by Pastor Bob of fightpros.com, the Triumph United fighter Travis “Hapa” Browne knocked out Abe Wagner of The Ultimate Fighter fame for the Victory Challenge Championship belt.  Travis, an imposing fighter at 6′7 and 260lbs, knocked out Abe Wagner in a staggering 8 seconds!  Browne’s last two fights have ended by knockout in less than 9 combined seconds.  Next up for Browne is a matchup in Southern California in two weeks for the Gladiator Challenge belt.  Watch this one called Mr.Browne!  We have not seen the last of this fighter!!

In addition to the Browne Vs. Wagner matchup, another match was called by fightpros.com and Pastor Bob, and that was for Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran.

Joey had his introductory bout in the UFC this weekend against none other than Rolles Gracie of the famous Gracie Clan.  Joey had speculated prior to the match that he did not believe Rolles’s heart was in the match. Beltran’s predictions would appear to be true as half way through the second round Rolles fell to his knees with no percievable reason as to why.  Rolles followed up this activity by quickly surrendering his back to “The Mexicutioner.”  Joey dominated this match and walked away from his UFC introduction with a TKO over one of the legendary Gracies.  Congratulations Mr. Beltran!  The MMA community looks forward to your next victory!

In other developments, Matt Serra took on Frank Trigg in a match that was promoted as, “The loser goes home,” meaning out of the UFC.  Serra and Trigg moved around the mat for a brief time with trigg landing small jab combinations to the head of Serra, and Serra following up with hard blows to the body of Trigg.  Shortly after these exchanges, Serra landed an uppercut that rocked Frank Trigg which ultimately spelled the end for Trigg.

The matchup between Mike Swick and Paulo Thiago was truly exciting.  After multiple exchanges and flurries being launched by both competitors, Thiago ultimately landed a telling blow that rocks Swick which allowed Thiago to render a perfectly executed choke on Swick for the win!  This win now gives Thiago a 2-0 record over the fighters of the American Kickboxing Academy.

Nate “The Great” Marquardt unfortunately did not live up to his name sake against up and comer Chael Sonnen.  Though nate nearly locked in a choke in the third round, and though he managed to cause Chale to bleed profusely through a cut on his head, otherwise Chael dominated and pushed the pace of the entire fight.  This match truly belonged to Chale.  Sonnen is now looking forward to a potential match up with Anderson Silva.

Finally in a matchup 15 years in the making Mark “The Hammer” Coleman was set to take on the legendary Randy Couture!  I was one of the fight fans who dropped money to watch Coleman fight 15 years ago, and have long been a fan of the inventor of ‘ground and pound.’  However, father time is an enemy of all fighters, and as an adversary he was kinder to Couture than Coleman.  Coleman did himself proud to exchange blows with the living legend, but in the end was outclassed.  It appeared from the opening moments of the fight, if not from just the walk in, that this was a match that should not have taken place.  One can only hope that perhaps Coleman could train at Couture’s training camp so that his next appearance will be a stronger one.  Here is hoping that Coleman can find some of the fountain of youth that apparently Randy has tapped into as frequently as his heart desires.

Superbowl?  Nascar’s Budweiser Shoot Out?  Premier sporting events that can be envied the world over.  However, it is MMA that is truly growing, and one can only wonder how many more weekends such as this one will be necessary, before MMA becomes known as a national past time.

As always, what say you?

~Pastor Bob

You can follow fightpros.com contributor Pastor Bob on twitter at @pastorbobmma