MMA: Should Dan Henderson retire?

You can find countless forum posts, editorials, comments, articles, and twitter posts, etc out there on the internet in regards to what happened to Dan "Hendo" Henderson and his recent loss to Vitor Belfort at the UFC Fight Night in Goiana, Brazil less than a week ago.

I think there's some good points around that retirement is a fine option for him. As well as a few at least in his mind saying that he shouldn't retire but keep going.

First let's go over a little history of Hendo. You can obviously wiki him and see details of him, what he's accomplished in the past in both wrestling and MMA. He's a rugged veteran who was a former Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler. He's accomplished something very few in MMA have done and that is being a champion in 2 different weight classes in an organization as prestigious as PRIDE. Woefully, when he did come over to the UFC, he gave up both titles as they were unified in his losses to Anderson Silva and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. He sort of come back into resurgence especially after his brutal KO win over Michael Bisping, then left the UFC shortly after to go to Strikeforce and establishing his name there as he defeated thelikes of Renato Sobral, Rafael Cavalcante (this win was for their Light Heavyweight title). Next he fought the enigmatic Fedor Emelianenko and he was the first person to actually and truly legitimately knock out The Last Emperor as he finished his contract with Strikeforce. From there, Zuffa LLC(owners of the FC) bought out Strikeforce, Dan returned to the UFC and had a less than stellar run in regards to record. But we'll go over that too.

In the start of his career, Dan was a person who was known as an Olympic caliber wrestler. He was a person who could use it there and there. But as he advanced later on his career, he used his wrestling the same way Wanderlei Silva uses his BJJ Black Belt - defensively. Hendo was predominantly known for his powerful Right Hook or Overhand Right punch with Mauro Renallo later coined as the H-Bomb - it was a bit predictable, but most fighters if were hit by it would be knocked out cold or at the very least potentially knocked down. More and more as he advanced in his career, his wrestling become an afterthought and many wondered how can someone with his wrestling just completely forego it or even ignore it. He did use it a little bit, but mainly for the clinch. Even back when he faced Rampage Jackson to unify the UFC and PRIDE LHW/MW titles as one, Hendo was getting taken down by the seemingly more 1 dimensional Boxer in Jackson. Dan lost that fight via decision sadly. I will go into a list as to why I think Dan should hang it up and call it quits.

• First and foremost, the man is 43. He's quite old in MMA fighting age, and many consider mid to late 30's already practically senior citizen level. He's beyond that and outside of legends like Dan Severn and Randy Couture, Hendo is among the oldest ever who's fought.
• TRT - The elephant in the room. Whatever you may or may not think of Testosterone Replacement Therapy. It's basically a way to keep some fighters more relevant whether people like it or not. The Vitor Belfort fight was funnily praised as Brazilian TRT vs. American TRT. And in a way, it was quite true, both Vitor and Dan both take TRT, although it's probably not as "life-threatening" to Dan as VItor may need is - it's still an odd note that this is legalized for a select few fighters. That isn't to say those who take TRT are all cheaters, they may have their reasons, but a large majority of other fighters aren't allowed to exploit the usage of it.
• He's sort of easy to prepare for. Let's be honest, when was the last time Dan really, and I mean really - used that wrestling of his? Not a long while. He's the type of guy to just work over fighters with his slow but powerful strikes, he can be telegraphed at times, but still dangerous. His right hand is something many fighters prepare for and always have their left hand near their face in an effort to block it. Dan rarely throws kicks, and even worse, takedowns as well. Factor in his age too with it all.
• He's fought for a very long time. His career in MMA is 17 years, that's quite astounding as very few men have fought that long and still stayed to that level of relevance. His very first UFC event was at UFC 17 showing that he's been around in the early days, not quite at the start of the UFC, but still fairly close. 
• Dan has a gym too obviously. His team/camp formerly was a part of Team Quest in Murrieta, California is well renowned for their work in fostering fighters who can wrestle. Chael Sonnen recently went training at Dan's gym in preparation for his fight with Rashad Evans, usually Chael trains over at Team Quest over in Portland, Oregon. Even if Dan retired, he can spend the rest of his days simply acting as a Head Coach role of some sort and still be a great leader for the next generation of fighters and wrestlers - that is if he wanted. Who's to say he won't do this when he does retire?
• Dan's fight with Vitor was last of his current UFC contract. As of the time this article was written, he is a free agent - that means he can go to whatever organization offers a contract for him. He could return to the UFC - he has good name value there despite his current string of losses. Or go to the smaller but growing organizations of Bellator or World Series of Fighting. He could possibly go overseas to One FC and try to regain some of his Asian fanbase back, but he was never quite as popular with Asians (mainly Japanese due to his history with PRIDE and RINGS) as say Wanderlei Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Cro Cop, and others. 
• A storied career with a man who fought from 177lbs to 220lbs. He's almost done it all, multiple weight class champion, competed at the Olympics twice, fought in some of the biggest MMA orgs around and been in countless headliner matchups. Even if he were to retire tomorrow, there's no shame in it. The contract issue can make things a lot easier as he is looking for a contract now that his current run with the UFC is over (as I said before, he can always re-sign with the UFC though). But if he retired, I'm sure the UFC would put him in their Hall of Fame. That sickeningly nasty KO of Bisping alone is worth it. 
• Tough chin, in his long career his first ever real TKO/KO loss was to Vitor Belfort(his most recent fight). I mean, of all the fighters he's fought over the years with power, the likes of Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Rampage Jackson, Mauricio Rua, and the list goes on, those capable of KO'ing others. Dan only lost once by KO from Vitor, it goes to show you even at his "old" age of 43 in MMA, he can take a beating from some of the best. His epic 5 round war with Shogun showed both men's grit and tenacity. 

So will Dan retire? Or keep fighting. If you saw him post fight after Belfort KO, he did say he was simply caught. The uppercut that landed on him hurt him, but he claimed he was still in it, Dan desperately fought on and tried to get into a better position, but a following headkick changed all of that as Dan was clearly done. There's no shame in losing to Vitor Belfort, especially via headkick as of late as it seems that is now Vitor's weapon of choice. Dan can still fight some opponents and still have some really exciting matchups, even if they're not the most recognizable names out there. But I do think he should just retire though. He's already done quite a lot for this sport, and outside of trying to earn money as a fighter, I don't see why he should do it any more. I am aware he is a serious competitor, but he really doesn't need this in his life does he? Only Dan himself can answer that.

Was it right for EA to bypass QA on Battlefield 4 to beat Call of Duty for releasing their AAA title earlier?

As the title asks, was it the right move for EA to forego QA testing in Battlefield 4 just so they can release their big AAA shooter title before Activision could release Call of Duty: Ghosts? That's a difficult question to ask, and by no do I have a horse in either camp's race of Activision or EA. There has to be some logical decision-making behind it to indicate why it was a move worth doing.

It's easy for a leman to just go for the anti-corporatist sentiment and say both are bad/evil/greedy/monopolizing and all indy game devs/publishers/companies are saints compared to them. You'd be preaching to the choir if you told me that. For years we've had watered down games alone from EA or those that greatly destroyed whatever expectations we had (SimCity) for a very influential series/intellectual property. Battlefield is no exception, starting from it's humble roots of Battlefield 1942, the game was iconic. It had a very memorable multiplayer experience as infantry, aircraft, and land vehicles were merged into an outstanding title that also was moddable and lead to the start of the series. The community themselves were able to create Desert Combat which was a modern twist using the same engine and some aspects of BF1942 but gave new life to a strong FPS game. Then came Battlefield 2, 2142, even the divergent Bad Company sub-series, 1943, Heroes, Free To Play, 3, and now 4.

The Battlefield series is ripe with history, but the core gameplay mechanics has always maintained of a FPS shooter that was unlike you'd see back in the old days of Quake where it took a time period, weaponry, and abilities of the players to be placed in a more relatable timezone. The same can be said of the Call of Duty series, but I'm going off topic, this isn't about the BF or COD series and their origins, but why I think despite what I do think of EA, it was sadly the lesser or 2 evil choices in regards to the release of Battlefield 4.

There could have been a huge list of reasons as to why EA chose to order DICE to forego QA testing. But I'll just list any off the top of my head that may or may not have been reasonable choices, while seemingly not that many though.

• Obviously, release dates is a key factor. They knew COD: Ghosts was coming out well before Thanksgiving, so they had to get something in earlier. 
• Timing in regards to the next gen consoles of the PS4/Xbox One. That can go through a huge number of issues as well. BF4 is a constant work in progress but they can work with Microsoft, Sony, and AMD to get things ironed out as fast as possible to make the games run nice and fast by launch. AMD is important to note since they actually provide the key hardware in the APU inside both Xbox One and PS4, as well as the upcoming Mantle API AMD will use in their first related release of Battlefield 4 for the PC. 
• EA and Activision have a rivalry going on as to which AAA title is better one would assume. But truth be told, not really. COD has always been a top seller due to it's accessibility not just by platforms, but it's rather ease of gameplay. Constant back and forth wars between the platforms of "dirty console peasants" and the glories "pc gaming master race" have yet to abate with the rise of the XB1(yes I'm gonna acronym this that)/PS4 as well as Battlefield Series (more specifically BF3, and BC2 to a lesser extent) to the current generation of the COD series.
• The beta for BF4 despite initial teething issues in it's barely 2 week lifespan did iron out key issues like client crashes, FPS drops/stuttering, and seemingly overall stability. Though other issues like netcode which still exists is something that existed in beta and is quite prevalent today. Many customers are very upset over the current netcode and hope that DICE will work that out to a level where it's more in tune to what Battlefield 3 had.
• A minor money grab in regards to the older console generation. If you haven't noticed, BF4 is obviously playable but slightly scaled back like BF3 was to both 360/PS3 in offering a much smaller cap of max players in multiplayer, smaller maps, obvious simpler graphics, but still maintains the same overall gameplay. So what EA decided to do was offer up a one time $10 payment "upgrade" to let a 360/PS3 account have dual access to the subsequent next gen console. Even if $10 may not seem like enough, you can tell this move reeked and was clearly a money grab. Let's be honest, EA is not exactly that kind-hearted and philanthropic here. 

Whatever their intentions for this reason may be, whether it was for money, just trying to beat Activision out, or whatever else. It's sad that the consumer has to pay in so many ways, and DICE probably got screwed in the pooch as much as we did, if not far worse. Now that BF4 is released, however big their dev team is, is now shrunken down and I would consider quite a few members are moved to other games/intellectual properties under EA's banner. A fraction of DICE's core team with the BF series will stick around as they iron out patches, and work on the future DLC's for the series. It must hurt to be them right now as they knew the BF4 beta yield a similar but different product, and they had no choice but to follow orders from EA in charging the consumers $60 to do yet another beta test for them, now their marginalized staff has to work potentially unpaid overtime to fix the kinks and other game-breaking issues just so EA can pat themselves on the back and their FPS AAA title went gold, sold big numbers, will have compatibility with XB1/PS4 (well, we'll see ), and so on.. 

This mandatory corporate policy of the rich get richer, and the greedy get greedier is abhorrent, but such is the way of business these days (especially for the big dogs, IE: 99.9999% of Fortune 500 Companies and the like), and it can be quite appalling to watch. We as normal people can only comment and foment about it, but really can't do much else. Sure we can "vote with our wallet", but truth be told, unless it was a massive scale grassroots campaign to really tell off Corporation A or B and the see massive losses due to their own recklessly bad decision making go down the gutter. Not much else we can do. 

Talking World Of Tanks: Why does the 113 even exist in game?

This is a question I've asked myself many times over. To those that have seen me play under the name xrt0 in the North America server for World of Tanks. You'll notice I have a fair number of Chinese tanks played. I admit I used Free XP and rushed my way around and my first ever Chinese Tank was actually the Tier 7 IS-2. From there I kept going and got the 110, the WZ-111 model 1-4, and last but not least, the Tier 10 Chinese "Heavy" tank simply known as the 113.

For all intents and purposes. I want to compare the 113 to it's smaller more mobile cousin also in the Chinese Tech Tree as the medium tank known as the 121 later in this article, I will even add a few interesting notes on other tanks like the 112, IS-4, and the non existing WZ 111 model 5-A.

To those coming into the Chinese Heavy Tech tree, the 113 is a very unceremonious and quite disappointing end to a fairly well performing tech tree of Russian design copies for the Chinese. The IS-2 is quite self explanatory as it's an IS-2 exported post-WW2 from Russia to China. The 110 has many similarities to the IS-3, but is a modified variant of the IS-2U. 110 is arguably one of the best if not strongest tanks in it's tier and/or class as some people see it as an alternative to the IS-3. Considering the IS-3 is a very popular if not mandatory Heavy Tank used in competitive play, the 110 could see similar levels of viability with it's similar armor design, solid mobility, and more accurate, but slightly less damaging gun. Moving on to the Tier 9 Chinese Heavy Tank is the WZ 111 1-4. The 1-4 is an all around solid performer, it's upper front glacis of the hull has a pike design seen on the IS-8 although not quite as refined. The lower front plate is quite flat and doesn't mirror the upper's making it far easier to penetrate leaving it as an obvious weak-spot. The turret is sufficiently protected and sloped so it can bounce various forms of shells as long as it's facing forward. What defines the WZ 111 1-4 best though is the last gun to unlock. It has a Tier 10 gun seen on the IS-7. A gun with 490 average damage, decent accuracy, aim time, and reload with moderate gun depression (for Chinese tank standards in game) of -5. The gun is quite deadly, and quite respectable for a heavy tank.

Now we come to the black sheep of the tree. The infamous 113. The 113 takes a big departure from all the other Chinese Heavy Tank designs. As the past 3 tanks all borrowed something from the Russians. The 113 is it's own unique design, and was design as an alternative to the seemingly modular WZ 111. Do note 3 actual WZ 111 type tanks exist in this game, 1 exists as an accessible Tier 9 heavy (WZ 111 1-4), The WZ 111 model 5-A was tested as a Tier 10 heavy, the base WZ 111 is a Tier 8 premium heavy tank for China possibly even players in China who may buy it like the Type 59 or Type 59 Gold. Videos of the 5A can be see on YouTube. It's performance seems to be akin to the 111 1-4, but balanced to be quite efficient in Tier 10. It's a shame it was removed and replaced with the 113. The 113 as previously stated is unique and actually borrows parts from both heavies and mediums of Chinese tank design - it's represented in game quite well seeing as it has the same exact gun also shown on the 121 and the final unlock of the WZ-120. Although a few soft stats separate the 121 and the 113's guns, make no mistake. At it's core, they are the same gun.

So why should the 113 exist when WarGaming had a perfectly nice tank they had in test, then decided to ditch it and put the 113 as their Tier10 Chinese Heavy? It's hard to say, maybe they were considering bringing the WZ 111 5A far into the future when the ability to change hulls is possible. The 113 is easily comparable to the WZ 111 1-4. Both are lengthy tanks, they have the ability to do quite good speeds on flat ground reaching as high as 50km/h. But from there, it gets weird and seemingly disappointing to the 113. 113's gun is a 122mm that's capable of 440 average damage with a respectable rate of fire of 5.5 rounds per min. But put that in comparison to the 121 which has the same gun with an ROF of 6.25 RPM. Why does the medium have a better ROF? Both have the same aim time of 2.7 seconds, though the accuracy of the 113 is worse by 0.1m to the 121 of 0.36 to 0.35. A very minor difference, one last difference which may help differentiate the 121's gun to the 113's is that it has less gun depression giving the 113 a slight edge. 4 degrees of gun depression exists on the 113, and 3 degrees to the 121. While it's only 1 whole degree off, numbers that low make either of these tanks quite hard to really use and require a person to master their tank and taking as much possible advantage of the terrain to fare well with. But still, why is the 113 lackluster or disappointing? Although it does have a good health pool of 2300 health. Reasonable mobility, and a decent but not exactly a noteworthy gun for a Tier 10 Heavy, it's frontal armor can be seen as a blessing or a curse.

The frontal plate of the 113 is exactly seen from the 112. The 112/113 both have a 120mm thick armor sloped at about 68 degrees. When the tank is slightly turned left or right to increase angling, it can bounce various shots exceptionally well. Now this 68 degrees can mean quite a lot in regards to the game. At 70 degrees, all AP or APCR shots basically auto bounce. OK while it's not quite as absolute at that, getting as close to 70 degrees can negate even 300mm+ penetration rounds of any sort assuming it is AP or APCR, so simply turning the tank a few degrees when facing an opponent who isn't using HEAT rounds and firing at the upper front plate of the 113 will have a difficult time. Though due to the length of the tank, if this is turned or angled a little bit too much and exposing the sides or even the engine compartment of the tank, it can lead to quite a lot of trouble. The 121 also has a similar frontal armor design, but if I recall the actual slope of that armor is 60 degrees - it's still quite bouncy nonetheless and can use the same common tactic of turning anywhere from 10-30 degrees while trying to not expose too much of a side or rear to help deflect incoming shots. Although offering less protection from the 113, it is logical as the Tier 10 medium shouldn't have the same level of protection as it's heavy counterpart. At this point, I was going to mention the IS-4, but it is only in passing. The IS-4 is another tank that seems to be under used and finds itself in the same position as the 113. A Tier 10 Heavy Tank largely ignored since other tanks can do what it does much better. The IS-7 may have less health, but has a decent gun, and it's frontal hull armor has some great sloping making it hard to penetrate the front unless it's a shot at the lower front plate of the glacis (which can be hidden fairly easily). The IS-4 has identical health, same engine horse power (750HP), a similar 122mm gun that has minor differences to the 113 and 121 to establish itself as unique with far more depression of 6 degrees. It's frontal armor is different though as it's a 140mm thick but has the same armor design as the ST-1 (at least in visible comparison). It could be argued the IS-4 is a minor upgrade over the ST-1, the tier 9 Russian heavy tank that precedes the IS-4.

There's a running gag in FTR about the 113. Basically posting comments mentioning the 113 probably results in a warning or even a temporary ban. Why? I'll be honest, I don't know the EXACT reason why. But I have a good assumption.. Because the 113 is a running joke. It's not even desired for competitive play, it's one of the rarest seen tanks here in the North American servers and probably ties or beats the Object 263 as rarest Tier 10 vehicle to encounter either as an ally or enemy tank in game for Random Battles. Right now, a multitude of medium and heavy tanks can outperform the 113 at Tier 10, and even Tier 9! That's not even considering it's cousin the 121. The IS-4 is already a potential superior despite being under-utilized and a somewhat rarity in game (at least in NA). IS-7 is miles above better in defense, and it's DPM is seemingly worse, but offers far more versatility for only 150 less health. The FV215b (heavy tank not TD) while rare in it's own right is still a usable tank overall as it has an excellent sniping gun, and since the turret is rear mounted, it can side scrape/reverse angle far better than the center mounted turret of the 113. Don't even bother to mention the T57 Heavy as that's already seen as one of the top competition tanks due to it's fast reload for the auto-loader and excellent mobility. The E-100 is a completely different animal that while slow is still manageable and seen as a somewhat TD due to the sheer alpha damage of it's massive 15CM gun, mixed with it's high health and armor. The Maus exists but that is a stark contrast in regards to a heavy to the 113 like the E-100 is, but it still exists as a Tier 10 Heavy just for the sake of argument. Even the often overlooked AMX50B which gets overshadowed by the T57 Heavy still seemingly has better utility and good mobility like the 113. It's armor as a heavy is underwhelming, but as a magazine fed auto-loading tank, it can burst enemies down just like the T57 heavy.

In the end, the 113 is a niche tank that requires players to master every aspect of it and attempt to negate it's weak spots as much as humanly possible to make it perform as a good tank just to match up with the other heavy tanks in game which can out perform it in their own different ways. I've personally used the 113 and got 56 games on it played. For those 56 games, my win rate is 48%, quite low all things considering. Why? Mainly since I felt like dead weight for my team. I tried to play it the best I could with what knowledge I knew. Coming into the 113, I already know about it's 4 degrees of gun depression, it's 120mm thick, but highly sloped frontal armor which really doesn't make it too think if dealt with at the proper angle. It's long frame and center mounted turret to somewhat be able to side scrape/reverse angle if need be, it's decent gun - but having said all of that. I still played the tank poorly and couldn't get a single game in those 56 games to warrant anything special, not a single game/replay was worthy to put on a youtube video. This tank is a waste of space for a Tier10 tank, and I really wonder why the first non Russian design based/inspired Chinese Heavy tank in game had to be so awful. I guess WG had to make a point, go Russian (or Russian inspired) or go home.

How would have history treated Fedor Emelianenko if he went to the UFC before signing with Strikeforce?

In the world of sports, there's a constant stream of "What-If's" poised. What if Kobe and Shaq stayed lovers forever and never quarrelled? What if Tiger Woods didn't have to sleep with a bunch of women and kept his marriage stable? What if Michael Jordan decided to retire rather than try to play Baseball? What if Anderson Silva decided not to clown with Chris Weidman? There are endless questions like these, but one I want to talk about is MMA related in regards to a simple but seemingly complicated man known as The Last Emperor in Fedor Emelianenko.

In order to know Fedor, you'd have to look back at his history. Upon first glance, you see a Russian man who looks fairly pudgy and doesn't necessarily look to be your modern nearly chiseled body of a normal MMA fighter, journeyman or champion. But looks can be deceiving and during his heyday, Fedor was THE MAN. Not just any man, but the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion of the world. he took on men bigger, stronger, more skilled, even tougher than him who could be considered masters of their respective martial arts, and he would beat them. He defeated Mark Coleman who was an outstanding and very powerful looking wrestler, the infamous picture of Coleman's bruised and battered face as he was console his daughters ringside after the fight is testament to Fedor's skill. Or Kevin Randleman, a teammate and fellow collegiate wrestler of Coleman who suplexed Fedor astoundingly on his own head. A move of that caliber and the landing of a person's own head can have catastrophic effects, at worse possible paralysis or a broken neck. But Fedor shook it off like it was nothing, and later on in the fight, Fedor submits him with a Kimura. He faced Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, the elder of 2 well known Nogueira brothers who established themselves as top class talent in PRIDE Fighting Championships, known for their toughness and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skill. Fedor was the first to dethrone then champion Rodrigo Noguiera showing that his ground skills is enough to survive and defeat whatever "Big Nog" threw at him. Then came Fedor's next big test, skilled striker and the man who is beloved for his headkicks across MMA and even a bit in kickboxing, the man who headkicked Fedor's own brother Alexander - Mirko "Cro Cop" Flipovic. Cro Cop was an enigma, here was a man who was seemingly 1 dimensional, and outstanding striker with the power to finish practically anyone he could. Fedor wasn't daunted, if anything Fedor was motivated and angry that Mirko hurt his own brother. In a rare glimpse seen, we see the usual stoic Fedor Emelianenko backstage angrily talking to someone in regards to what happened to Alexsander, most likely in the context of what Mirko did. During that time, this was a fight to build up plenty of hype upon. It did just that, both men fought with ferocity. But Mirko was getting outstruck in his own domain - the standup game. From there, Fedor went to prove, even someone as dangerous as Cro Cop, even he can defeat. Fedor earned the decision and retained his title. Further cementing his legacy as possibly greatest P4P ever, and at that time, easily best Heavyweight MMA fighter ever.

From here, Fedor would fight in the now defunct Bodog Fight against light heavyweight UFC veteran Matt "The Law" Lindland and would get a decision win. Of course Fedor had fights in between that and Cro Cop, and even fights after, but his reputation took a hit as he faced "freakshow' opponents like the 500+ lbs Zuluzino, or the 7'2 tall Hong Man Choi, who he still easily defeated. These fights were seemingly just fights to keep Fedor busy and to give him a paycheck as the Japanese loved their Russian champion. But Fedor moved on to another now defunct MMA organization that got it's start in selling clothes, especially on UFC's advertising - Affliciton. Fedor fought and defeated 2 former UFC heavyweight champions in Affliction before they eventually closed down. They couldn't keep up the costs of paying fighters huge amounts of money. Tim Sylvia who Fedor defeated in about 36 seconds in round 1 was paid anywhere from $766,000 to nearly a million depending on your source. Fedor probably got paid in similar amount if not more as well. But that business plan was not sustainable whatsoever, it was intriguing to see a company that made their money with help from the UFC originally, go out on their own, sign 2 former UFC Heavyweight Champions to fight PRIDE's Heavyweight Champion. Fedor was able to prove once again that he at that time was the best HW in the world bar none. The mystique and aura of Fedor was at it's apex, and despite Andrei Arlovski looking like he was doing well in the fight, his flying knee attempt to Fedor opened up a huge opportunity for Fedor to swing a massive right hook as Arlovski was in the air, that landed flush. Arlovski ate the punch, and was subsequently knocked out.

Now at this point, Fedor is riding high off his career, and this is before he signed to Strikeforce. But what if the UFC was able to make an offer Fedor couldn't refuse. This is long before the UFC got a deal with FOX and was still well established having their lower tier cards like Ultimate Fight Nights on SpikeTV here in the United States. Say Dana and the Fertitas did cave to Fedor and his management's terms. Zuffa would build a stadium in Russia, all cards Fedor was in to fight would be labeled M-1 Global/UFC, and probably Fedor himself would get paid as much if not more than what he got from Affliction or PRIDE. While I doubt Fedor is what you'd consider a greedy man, he is a man who is very quiet, keeps to himself, and quite simple. Although very religious, he seems to have put in a huge amount of faith into his management  of Vadim Finklestein and M-1 Global. Even if the Zuffa and the UFC did cave in negotiations and gave Fedor everything he wanted, and a pony to boot. How would  have history treated Fedor? Would his hype finally live up to itself as he will be tested and challenged in MMA's greatest and most powerful organization in the world? It's hard to say. But here's what I think on a wide variety of matchups if he never participated in Strikeforce and went to the UFC instead...

• Fedor would face a similar challenge to what Brock Lesnar had to face in his first fight: Frank Mir. Here was a man who was a former champion as well, but well versed on the ground. Fedor's Sambo and Judo background would make it interesting to see who can assert their will of dominance on the ground, but Fedor's Ground and Pound was more active albeit a bit more reckless for Mir to try to exploit of. I think Mir would eat too much leather and get finished in the 2nd round.
• Up next would be another former UFC HW Champion and a fight many wanted to see, but never came to fruition: Randy Couture. The Natural himself would have a difficult time, but both men who were long established undersized at Heavyweight proved they can still be heavyweight champs. I would side with Fedor's youth, explosiveness, and wellrounded capabilities to overwhelm Randy, but Randy's wrestling, and most especially his clinch game would be able to keep him competitive enough to win. Also Fedor may have a tougher task adjusting to the clinch in the cage as Randy has proven he is quite able there. But Fedor's mastery of Judo and Sambo could nullify Randy's Greco Roman style - both in the ground and on the clinch. Decision for Fedor.
• The next fight would have been huge, and Pay Per View profits probably could have skyrocketted far greater than Lesnar vs. Mir 2 or Lesnar vs. Couture. Who else but Brock? This would assume that Brock wasn't struck with Diverticulitis. Fedor would face another ground type fighter, but this fight may go similarly to what he faced in Coleman or Randleman. Fedor could get ragdolled, Brock has a massive amount of strength simply by looking at his body. But Fedor has been put to the test countless times before, assuming Brock can't get his Ground and Pound in to damage Fedor enough, Fedor will eventually work his way out of it and land some good shot standing on Lesnar. One thing known is that Lesnar doesn't look like he can take a punch all too well. If Brock eats the fast powerful hooks from Fedor standing, he'll go down tumbling and will be eating punches until the ref pulls Fedor off him. Fedor by TKO or KO in the 3rd.

From here, assume it's around mid to late 2010 and the Strikeforce HW Grand Prix ended. There's too many what-if's and X-Factors here, but I'll do a shorter rundown on how I think Fedor will do with Strikeforce fighters entering the UFC.

• Alistair Overeem - Would have been really good to see if it did happen. But it's safe to say, if Overeem can't finish Fedor in the first or 2nd rounds, he'll gas. Could possibly lose a decision if he keeps himself composed.
• Antonio Silva - Let's forget what happened when Fedor and Bigfoot Silva actually did fight. I think the same process may happen again, Silva will find a way to bring it to the ground, and work some devastating GNP to prove he can GNP better than Fedor.
• Fabricio Werdum - Can Fedor win this? It's possible, albeit quite difficult. Werdum has proven to show that he's not to be taken likely many times over. Multiple time world BJJ Champion who's had his fair share as an experienced HW MMA veteran. Werdum can submit Fedor again if need be in this hypothetical situation. But would it be the infamous triangle armbar? Who knows...
• Daniel Cormier - I think we would see something similar to what Fedor vs. Randy might have been, but DC is much younger, hungrier, and in my opinion tougher and faster. Both men are also undersized for HW and could even fight it at Light Heavyweight if they wanted to. But in the end, I see DC getting his hands raised with a 29-28 victory using his wrestling, not necessarily by taking Fedor down, but just overwhelming him with clinches and negating as much offense as possible.
• Josh Barnett - Despite the supposed "Friendship" both men have to each other. This fight can also happen, whether in the UFC or not. It's hard to tell at what point Josh is in this stage of both men's respective careers. Josh is shown to be extremely formidable on the ground with his Catch Wrestling background. Josh can probably cut a really mean intro too due to his pro wrestling stints in Japan as well. Though for the fight itself, it's hard to say. Flip a coin and there's your result. Josh's Catch Wrestling in my opinion could potentially negate Fedor's Judo and Sambo at least for the clinch and ground, I guess what lies left is the striking game standing. Fedor may have the edge there, but Josh is a tough guy. I see an uneventful 3 rounds of clinching, takedowns, ground work, a little GNP, even sub attempts by both men, but nothing so damaging it could warrant a finish.

Lastly we have to consider how Fedor irregardless of him winning or losing will face against the now current generation of UFC's notable Heavyweights. I'll only go over a few people though.

• Junior Dos Santos - A fun brawl I think. But I do think Junior if he can avoid getting clinched or taken down should be able to win this handily. He has the power to even put Fedor down though. Even if JDS lost, he is still quite young and in due time can improve to eventually beat Fedor.
• Cain Velasquez - As close as it gets to being the most well rounded Heavyweight there is and already a future legend in the eyes of many. Honestly I don't think Fedor has much chance here unless he swings hard and does what JDS did in the first fight in the trilogy of JDS vs. Cain. Hit him with a big powerful punch to drop him, then unload until the ref pulls him off. That being said. Cain by endless cardio, and unrelenting pressure for a stoppage, but would be interesting as he is facing a HW smaller than him that isn't his friend and teammate Daniel Cormier.
• Roy Nelson - Maybe if Roy would use his vaunted Renzo Gracie BJJ Black Belt offensively (assuming he takes someone down too). Roy has a small chance to win here against Fedor. But truth be told, Roy has an amazing chin, but he's slower, and is clearly a plodding type of fighter. He'll swing for big hooks and overhands hoping to knock the opponent out. Unless Fedor gets caught, Fedor should win this as well.

So in the end, depending on who Fedor fights and how often he decides to fight in the UFC. I would at least maintain he'd have an even ratio of wins to loses. It's impossible to really know how each and every fight would turn out though, Fedor for all intents and purposes is very well rounded, but rather uncharacteristically calm even mere moments leading up to the fight let alone in the fight. He doesn't show panic, or overreact, his mental game seems to be forged of iron. Yet he's very humble and is always willing to thank God for all the fortune he has acquired in his career as a fighter nearly of myth. It's a sad state of affairs whether it's Dana's fault, or Fedor's management's fault that a deal was never worked out. Neither side seemed willing to compromise to bring forth a fighter who was seen undisputedly as the best heavyweight ever at the time and already went down as a legend. The fans all lost a chance to see if Fedor could be tested in the octagon. And it's likely that Fedor will stay semi retired, he may take a fight here and there against fighters of yester-year, or opponents who are still clearly over-matched. But many fans, pundits, and even other fighters would agree, Fedor in the UFC would have been some very interesting and amazing times for MMA if it happened.

Talking World of Tanks: Am I cursed with AC46 French TD?

To those that don't know, I play World of Tanks. It's a shooter that can be played in first person or third person. I guess it count as a MOBA, but not in the same type you see in DOTA 2 or LoL. I also have a youtube channel I won't bother linking for now.

For the last couple of weeks, I put up a video doing a general commentary and overview of a French Tank Destroyer called the AC46. Usually a video like that would also include replays showing a replay or 2. But my recent results with the tank have been absolutely atrocious. Here's a number of reasons why I personally think I am cursed with this tank.

• Poor game-play by a number of factors. Probably most prevalent is that I absolutely underperform or constantly fail to use this tank.
• Bad RNG (random number generation) luck. Basically means values of whenever I shoot or get shot at eventually turn against me. Meaning I can shoot a tank who I am usually certain my shells will penetrate their through armor and damage them, but I end up bouncing and doing nothing. Or worse, horrible aiming RNG. Even accuracy of a gun has a bit of RNG factored into it. This seems to be one of the biggest issues of RNG I have with this vehicle for the past couple of weeks.
• Poor survivability. It doesn't help the 2 massive tumors at the top of the tank are very easy weakspots that offer lower armor than the standard frontal glacis plate the AC46 has. So most people just aim for either tumor, fire their gun and easy damage. 
• Compared to other Tier 7 Tank Destroyers, outside maybe the T25/2, it's just awful. To be fair to the T25/2, it's basically poorer higher health version of a Hellcat. The AC46 (my own AC46) can get penetrated from a Tier5 light tank across the map, or is arty bait, or countless of other frustrating things.
• Currently my AC46 has all the highest upgraded modules on it, the 100MM gun, the second set of tracks, radio, and engine. I have a Medium Caliber Gun Tank Rammer, a Camo Net, and an Enhanced Gun Laying Drive, these 3 items decreases reloading time, aim time, and when immobile increases it's camouflage value so it can hide easier for ambushes. Having said that, my AC46 still under-performs horridly.
• I won't even blame bad teams on this tank. I can have good teams and I still can barely do 1000 damage (or on average under 4 penetrating damaging hits). I can have awful teams and die before my team gets overwhelmed or outright crushed. So no use in blaming bad players, easier to blame myself. 
• But honestly, I feel like blaming the tank instead. I currently have 2 Tier 7 Tank Destroyers. This AC46 and the Russian Premium SU-122-44. For all intents and purposes, both can be compared since they have quite a lot of similariites. Both have the same shape/size, as with the T25 AT(not T25/2), and the Jagdpanther. Their guns are relatively inaccurate but do good damage with a reasonable reload time. Both have good movement speed when going in a straight line as both can reach up to 50km/h. Both have good camouflague values, but the SU-122-44 probably has better camo values overall since it's much shorter in overall height compared to the seemingly tall AC46.
• What does the AC46 better? I believe it has a slightly higher view range, it's top gun (100MM) has much better overall penetration values and seemingly better accuracy and aim time. But in my opinion, the SU-122-44's accuracy and aim time - while statistically worse. Feels much better. I can fire a shot at long range (400meters or more) with my SU-122-44 and a decent chance I will hit the target even if it doesn't penetrate. Yet the AC46 feels far more unreliable despite the hard coded stats show it to be far more favored.
• The SU-122-44 has better defensive capabilities too due to it's much smaller profile, it's faster traverse speed enabling it to turn tail and run much quicker than the AC46, it's armor is 30mm less thicker, but it's sloped better allowing shots to bounce off easier. There's also no real frontal weak spots on the SU-122-44 unlike the AC46 which has 2 massive tumors at the top of it. Those tumors just scream SHOOT ME!
• A few hard stats to compare SU-122-44 and AC46 (100MM gun):

1. AC46 average penetration:  232/263/50. SU-122-44 average penetration: 175/217/64
2. AC46 Gun Accuracy at 100meters: 0.34, 2.9sec aiming time. SU-122-44 Gun Accuracy: 0.41, 2.9 second aiming time
3. AC46 average damage per shot: 300. SU-122-44 average damage per shot: 390.
4. AC46 shots per minute: 6. SU-122-44 shots per minute: 7.5
5. AC46 armor thickness and slope: 120mm, slope uncertain but I assume at least 47 degrees. SU-122-44 armor thickness: 90mm, slope uncertain, possibly 50 degrees or more.
6. AC46 Tread Traverse: 26 degrees per sec. SU-122-44 Tread Traverse: 42 degrees per sec.

The more I play my AC46, the more I hate playing World of Tanks - which can be unhealthy. I enjoy this game very much. I'm seriously considering just coughing up some money to buy gold, and using Free XP to just unlock AC48 (the Tier 8 French TD) which doesn't have tumors that large, has a much more bouncier and thicker sloped frontal glacis (I've bounced shots with the ISU-152's BL10 to an AC48's front, aiming down at it too from an elevated slope, so the angle was more in my favor for increased penetration chance).

In conclusion. I really am having a very bad time with the AC46, my win-rate with it is surprisingly good overall of 56%. But my experience in playing with it especially these past 2 weeks have been a horrible nightmare. It's gotten to the point I don't even want to play the thing, but I do want to get a few good rounds played so I can record it and put it in my youtube channel as I originally promised, but I may just forego that altogether and skip this pile of crap and go for the seemingly more reasonable AC48, I don't hear anyone complain about the AC48, but then again I don't see anyone complain about the AC46 either. Maybe my luck will change if I go to the 48, or worst case scenario, it carries over from 46 to 48 or somehow gets worse (which I seriously doubt).

Why Battlefield: Bad Company 2 may have been my favorite FPS game ever

It seems like such a bold statement to have. Bad Company 2 for all intents and purposes was a game that was meant to portray a sense of humor albeit not as silly as what you would see in Team Fortress 2. But at the same time maintained a graphically strong FPS in your atypical modern military shooter environment. Looking back from now all the way to say upwards to 13 years ago in early 2000's. There's obviously been a huge amount of shooters from endless franchises. The COD Series, the BF series, Counterstrike, Crysis, Quake, Team Fortress, Day of Defeat, Arma series, and the list goes on and on. I've played a variety of games in almost all series since I really got into PC gaming in the late 90's. But for some reason BC2 just stuck out.

I have Battlefield 4, Played many hours of Battlefield 3 and even bought premium for BF3 to get all the DLC's. Yet oddly enough my forte in playing BF3 and BF4 currently is purely infantry based games on Team Deathmatch and Domination game modes. Why? I just enjoy playing that way. There's nothing wrong with vehicle combat, but I couldn't fly a heli or a jet worth my salt and would end up crashing myself and any unfortunate soul who was with me in said aerial vehicles. I can work fine as a gunner on those though and that's enough. Ground vehicles I'm OK with, I can use tanks, AA vehicles, LAV's, etc just fine, but I'm no ace due to lack of experience with them.

In Bad Company 2, I think that game was a more modern looking adaptation of what the original Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942 would have been. Since Bad Company 1 never came on PC (it only went to consoles). Here you would your militaristic shooter, but with DICE putting out their engine on the game using Frostbyte 1.5, it looked pretty impressive. The destruction of buildings, and cover set a very dynamic environment where one minute you have a house, and the next minute it's a pile of rubble that barely provides sufficient cover from enemy fire. What I take most about the game is that it streamlined infantry and armor/vehicles well, sure a well driven tank with a great gunner can wreck a team especially when said tank has some engineers to repair it. But even so, it was never the originator as it was around in Battlefield 1942 if recall correctly. That evolved into Battlefield 2 and 2142, then although Bad Company was it's own sub-series just borrowing the Battlefield name, it was still part of the family. From there BC2 in my opinion set a standard that was hard to beat, and gave the ever fledgling and quite powerful Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare something to think about in regards of military shooter competition games.

For all I've mentioned and praised BC2, I never really gave specific reasons as to why I truly consider it the best, was it the destruction? The mix of infantry and vehicle combat? The graphics? The fact it challenged the infamous Call of Duty series as they were gaining massive momentum in the console arena? It might be all of that actually, the gunplay in Bad Company 2 was by no means perfect and balanced, but it was refined to the point almost all the guns had their own identity. Early in the game's lifespan, there were some overpowered weapons easily used and abused for competition such as the AN-94 with it's magnanimous 2-shot burst which was both powerful, accurate, and easily spammable. The Type 88 LMG which sported a 200 round belt fed magazine which had relatively good stopping power, rate of fire, and decent accuracy combined with the fact the LMG carrying class were medics making it all the more easier. The popular but heavily nerfed Carl Gustav AT launcher combined with class specs/perks to increase it's overall effectiveness not only made it great for tearing down cover and buildings, but it's splash, and how easy to aim with it made it way too strong for it's own good. Vehicle balance was similar and asymmetrical, for every M1A2 Abrams tank, there would be a T-90A somewhere else. So one can't really complain about vehicle balance since they were just that, balanced. There was a completely opposite vehicle relative to the other, and this formula carried over to Battlefield 3 and 4.

Now that I am playing Battlefield, the increased level of destruction that was scaled back in Battlefield 3 hearkens me back to the good ol' days of BC2. One of my favorite maps in BC2 was White Pass in Conquest mode. It had 3 points to cap in a snow ridden map with the most potent vehicle in that game being  an Infantry Fighting Vehicle for each side. There were tree filled small forests in the map, some nuanced hills and passes on both sides leading around to the main spawn points of each team. The design while not really symmetrical was still sufficient albeit not exactly balanced as one team would have a large near indestructible factory type building that would house one of the cap points and would be overlooking a team's main spawn point enabling the opposing team to spawn camp the other. But the reverse can also be said though the other side of the map didn't really have any large buildings to use as cover. I had some really fun times playing BC2 and even a little playing the Bad Company 2 Vietnam DLC. I loved rolling around in white pass with an ACOG'ed Uzi headshotting people from 100m+. For some strange reason it worked and I was happy with it. With over 800 hours played in that game, it took a nice chunk out of my life that BF3 couldn't pull off, but I think with Battlefield 4, I may be able to replicate the same level of dedication and fun that BC2 brought. It's a shame this is Battlefield 4 and not Bad Company 3, because right now, it feels like BC3 in it's own weird way.

Rap Talk: Lloyd Banks is a good sleep aid

Here's a subject I didn't consider putting up for a blog post, but decided to do it anyway since I feel if anyone is a fan of hip-hop these days, especially in New York. This should be said.

LLOYD BANKS IS THE MOST BORING-EST RAPPER ALIVE ... in terms of voice...

I mean that with no disrespect even if it sounds like it is. But truth be told, Banks is just that. I will acknowledge he has to be one of the most lyrical rappers around and clearly one of the most underrated rappers in the scene today, most especially for a mainstream rapper who's attached to 50 Cent's G-Unit.

I should elaborate by what I mean by "boring" before someone thinks I'm a hater. Banks has a voice and flow that works good for spitting lyrics, but the pacing and actual emotion behind it was awful. It basically looks like he's just reading lyrics he wrote on his book and reciting it out loud while recording a track. Where's the effort in that? That's not to say Banks is doing that exact process. Yet each and every time I listen to his latest mixtape or joint, it's the same thing - he lacks any energy, any charisma, any emotion! That has to be my biggest flaw to him. I can literally download his latest mixtape and listen to it for an hour and probably fall asleep since he just carries himself over like it was another day at the office.

Wanna know why 50 isn't promoting your ass Lloyd? It's because you got no energy, no heat. Even though you got DJ Drama on your latest mixtape, and somewhat rather mediocre beats (didn't help matters much), you put in another atypical Lloyd Banks performance if nothing but your bars carrying the entire damn mixtape. Where's the fun in that? There's hardly any variation, no other substance than good lyrics with a very dull monotonous voice lacking any passion as if Lloyd himself was ready to just give up rapping altogether, he shows very little to no personality outside your regular east coast lyrical MC.

I'm not asking Lloyd Banks to suddenly turn into Lil Wayne (god help us if he did). But it would be probably a step up in the vocals and energy/flow department. Wayne can spit some good metaphors and one-liners, his lyrical skill not quite on Banks level, but can hold his own. I guess what you could consider the polar opposite or antithesis of Banks may be Kanye West or even Drake. They put quite a lot of emotion into their songs and while Drake can easily be seen as an emotional wreck of a wannabe R&B singer who has issues trying to figure out whether he goes emo on a track, or wants to rap. He's still carrying a certain level of depth into him. Kanye the unstable artist who thinks he's a god of some sort who loves to get people talking carries his niche well, and at times Kanye can show decent lyrical skills but sadly in my opinion can fall to Lloyd.

You'd probably ask what was the last Banks track that he actually brought some energy to make me not fall asleep?  Officer Down. That Rick Ross diss track was amazing, probably the best diss track I've heard that year when it came out in 2009. Even if the barbs of that tracks were somewhat generic and not exactly focused on Ross, a fair share of it was and it was enough to put Ross away. Banks came at that track with a vengeance and a level of fire I don't think I've really seen of him in possibly.. EVER.

That being said, while his latest mixtape of FNO (Failure's No Option) is pretty good and it feels like a few tracks like The Plague, Lead The Blind, and House Pride do feel like he is putting some emotion into his music. While an improvement from his last mixtape in that field, it still is rather lacking. It does feel like some of the beats on some tracks carry Banks flow and energy (ie: Failures No Option). This blog post isn't so much to talking about his latest mixtape, but at least citing some examples of what he could improve upon, though it's not like he would read this insignificant blog post either.

A PC Gamer who would consider getting a PS4

I'm sure you've all heard the news as of late regarding the ongoing console war between the Xbox One and the PS4. It's no surprise that Sony's console is smashing Microsoft's in regards to just raw horsepower. Call of Duty: Ghosts will be playable at 720P at 60FPS on the Xbox Bone, while the same title for the PS4 will do 1080P also at 60FPS. It's not really a big surprise, but a rather funny and almost ironic twist that the more favored console/platform for Acitivision's huge AAA title will look less "awesome" on their more favored platform. Or at least I would like to think that Activision likes Microsoft/Xbox a ton more seeing as for the past several years now they've given seemingly exclusive rights at least ahead of time for DLC's and other things. The COD franchise imo has almost been analogous to the Xbox, and while it exists in the Playstation and PC platforms, it's never quite as prevalent or dominating of a title to platform synergistical relationship.

But back to the question, why would I bother even getting a PS4? I am a PC Gamer and have been for countless years now. There's really no simple answer. I've been playing PC games at 1080P now for awhile, and have been accustomed to the traditional Keyboard+Mouse control scheme that is around for your normal PC games. I don't have a joystick, or a racing wheel, or any other type of peripheral for games that may require flying an aircraft or anything like that. Though I do think they have their uses, I've always stuck to the most basic of basics in KB+Mouse even if it means flying a copter or jet in Battlefield is gonna be tougher or less intuitive. But I'm still ducking the question. Well I'll just answer it straight out. Why wouldn't I consider a PS4? Simply put, 4K gaming for PC may rise to be worth investing some high end hardware as well as a monitor/TV for usage of it in the future, but for now, it's not exactly mandatory, 1080P is a standard, and a console that can sport 1080P at 60frames average (or max) for most games wouldn't be that much of an issue. I would have to get used to the controller again, but it's not my first time. I've had a PS2 in the past as well as a PS3 and it may take a little bit of familiarization to reacquaint myself with it. To be honest, even when I got GTA 4 off of a Steam sale around 2 years ago and played it for the first time in my PC. It felt very foreign to be playing it on a KB+Mouse. I originally bought the game on my PS3, and eventually worked around my way to using my PS3 controller to control my character in GTA 4. In regards to GTA 5 whenever that comes around to PC, I probably may attempt the same thing.

The way I see it in the end. The PS4 is at least worth a look at as a gamer whether or not you love your PC to death. Maybe my reasons seem rather weak and flawed, but I'm still heavily favoring on at least considering getting one next year. It may end up having a weaker launch line up than the Xbox One, but the horsepower of the PS4 at least in the long run will make Microsoft really work hard on their API's and more closely into developer relationships to realize that despite the similar hardware and architectures both the PS4 and Xbox One present, Sony clearly has a massive lead here. It's not good when one of Xbox One's lead titles will not fully take advantage of 1080P at 60 Frames Per Sec out the game. If it's gonna be like that now? How do you think it will look 3-4 years down the line when the Xbox One has matured? And constant developments in game engines will be out?