Penick's Take
PENICK: Notebook 12/12 - NSAC and Alistair Overeem; Brock Lesnar; Silva-Sonnen 2 in Brazil potential; uproar over Mir/Jones sportsmanship at UFC 140
Dec 12, 2011 - 11:55:20 PM PENICK: Notebook 12/12 - NSAC and Alistair Overeem; Brock Lesnar; Silva-Sonnen 2 in Brazil potential; uproar over Mir/Jones sportsmanship at UFC 140

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

-The Nevada State Athletic Commission did not come off well during the proceedings for Alistair Overeem's licensing request today. For starters, the fact that communication was being done with an assistant instead of directly with the fighter himself doesn't make sense. If you have something you need someone to do, you don't tell someone else to tell them, you make contact with them yourself. A lot of the confusion over Overeem's timeline came from a massive lack of communication overall on both sides, and he's got a stringent set of tests ahead of him because of that. Ultimately, as long as Overeem is clean and passes all the drug tests that are now required for him, the fight with Brock Lesnar is safe for Dec. 30. Of course, the UFC would be very smart to make sure they have a backup plan prepared in case Overeem has any issues in the next three weeks.

-This situation also doesn't really give a level playing field to Lesnar, as he complied with the NSAC's pre-fight requirements immediately, and passed the test he was asked to take. Overeem ended up taking the wrong test days later than he was supposed to, then finally took the correct one just last week and still has others that he'll need to take before the fight. Provided he passes them there won't be much of an issue, but Lesnar now needs to be prepared for the potential of an opponent change on very short notice. Suffice to say, the NSAC came off as just slightly more competent than California's state commission was during the Chael Sonnen saga last winter.

-If Anderson Silva is returning in May, the UFC may just have a chance to break their attendance record just a year after smashing it in Toronto. If Chael Sonnen defeats Mark Munoz in January and the UFC books that rematch with Silva in a Brazilian soccer stadium in May, the UFC realistically can bring in an audience upwards of 75,000 people, if not more. Sonnen has made himself public enemy #1 to the Brazilian fans of the sport, and Silva is a star in his home country. Even though the pay-per-view numbers in North America were down for UFC 134, Silva sells at home, and a rematch with Chael will be an absolute event if it happens in Brazil.

-Dana White puts Jon Jones at #2 on his pound for pound best fighters list, just behind Anderson Silva, and the only thing that doesn't have me entirely ready to say Jones is the very best fighter in the world is Silva's longevity and tenure as the best in the world. Jones is well on his way, however, and if he adds wins over the likes of Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson to his resume in 2012, then there will be no question that he's the best in the world.

-There's been some uproar over the last couple of days over a lack of sportsmanship or respect displayed by Frank Mir and Jon Jones on Saturday night in their submission wins over Antonio Minotauro Nogueira and Lyoto Machida, respectively. In Mir's case, he's seemed very unaffected by nearly ending Nogueira's career with such a vicious arm break, while Jones has come under fire for allowing Machida's body to just flop to the ground when he let go of his guillotine choke. Look, this isn't a jiu jitsu tournament, these men aren't rolling in the gym. This is fighting at the highest level of fighting, and there's a certain level of violence and brutality that is to be expected. Could Mir have shown a little more concern for Nogueira's health? Sure. But just because he could have doesn't mean he was obligated to or that he's a bad person because he didn't. The same thing goes for Jones. He just clearly established that he's one of the very best in the world, and by locking on that choke he was at the height of his dominance. The ref broke the hold and wanted separation, he gave it to him. Are fans expecting Jones to lay him down carefully and help him slump to the mat? He had just destroyed his face with an elbow and choked him out cold when he had never been submitted before. There's no mercy to be left over in that situation with Jones in full-on fight mode, and it's fans projecting more hatred onto him and trying to fault him for something that 99% of fighters would have done in his spot.