Mike Jurewicz’s Blog

This Saturday is going to be one of the most eagerly anticipated matches in MMA when the UFC Middleweight champion Anderson “the Spider” Silva takes on the Pride 185 lbs Champion Dan Henderson. Last year Zuffa Entertainment, the mother company of UFC, bought out Pride Fighting Championship and with it many of Pride’s fighters signed contracts with the UFC. Henderson is one of those fighters to come aboard to UFC.

Henderson is a decorated Greeco Roman wrestler with a chin of stone and one of the most dangerous right hands in the world. He has fought some of the toughest fighters in the world, many of which out of his weight class. Last year while being the reigning Pride 185 lbs champion he shocked the world when he defeated the practically unstoppable Wanderlai Silva to capture the Pride 205 lbs championship, the equivalent of the UFC’s Lightheavyweight title currently held by Quinton Jackson.

Anderson Silva was a veteran of Pride before making his way to the UFC but had some lackluster performances in many people’s eyes while in Pride. But upon entering the UFC Silva was like a beast unleashed. His deadly striking ability came to the forefront and he quickly put himself into the Middleweight title picture. He took advantage of the opportunity when he knocked out then champion Rich Franklin in very short work. Ever since Silva has laid to waste much of the competition in the Middleweight class including a much anticipated rematch with Franklin.

UFC had the plans of having unification fights between the Pride champions and UFC champions of those particular weight classes. The UFC was unable to sign Pride heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko to a contract so that one was out. Dan Henderson lost in his 205 lbs unification match with Quinton Jackson in a very hard fought match. The UFC requested Henderson to drop down for a unification match with Silva. Henderson at first denied the request stating he wished to continue fighting at 205 lbs and not at 185 lbs, but after a little thought he accepted.

So now we have a great match set. Silva is the dominant, hard striker versus Hendeson the world class wrestler that has never been knocked out in his career. I look very much forward to this and I’m going to be rooting for Dan, not because I don’t like Silva but Henderson has the heart and desire I admire. When i saw him fight Antonio Rodrigo Nougeria in Pride it was unlike any fight I’ve ever seen. He constantly escaped submission attempt after submission attempt from the then Pride Heavyweight champion. He eventually lost in the last round to an armbar submission but he showed then he is the real deal.  So if you watch the fights have fun!

So while I sit here at work on a Sunday the morning after a major server migration I am lucky to have something to keep me entertained.

The Perry Bible Fellowship is an online comic strip that’s name does not represent comics for the Jesus loving variety. There really isn’t any continuity any of the comics but are merely amusing. Some are funny in any normal sense, some take some actual thinking to get the joke and others and just blunt and to the point, maybe even a little mean. There are plenty of them so if you have a lot of time to kill these will help pass the time. I personally like the one entitle Guntron Alliance Force. I didn’t get it at first but after looking at it again I got the joke and it’s great.

Check it out yourself by going to www.pbfcomics.com and enjoy!

It is only February 1st and I believe I have found the album of the year in my opinion already. I haven’t been blown away by anything new in awhile. The last time I can recall being absolutely floored by something was probably when I first listened to Botch or Godspeed You! Black Emperor. As I’ve said to some friends lately I have been dying for something to give me this type of feeling again. I’ve lost so much faith in music. Most of the bands I really like have either gone in different directions that I don’t really like or they are broken up. Yes there are still some bands I like that are putting out quality stuff but nothing that I think I will put down as one of the best of all time.

Today I experienced it again. This Will Destroy You is a quartet from Texas who’s band name is extremely deceiving of the musical style they choose. They put out their debut EP in 2006 entitled Young Mountain through independent label Magic Bullet Records. It was a beautiful, flowing album that included your traditional instrument pieces along with piano, digital drum beats and other ambient noises. The parts that use some electronic elements reminded me a lot of Mogwai’s experimental aspects. Ever since hearing the EP I have been awaiting a full length to see if they continue down that direction. This past Tuesday they released their first full length simply entitled This Will Destroy You again through Magic Bullet Records. The very start of the album is quite with very light guitars mixed with some electronic effects. This album didn’t exactly take the direction that I would have thought but this was very pleasant surprise. Instead the songs are more epic and climatic. With many rises and falls in the song progressions including longer interludes of near nothing ambiance. I was reminded of that first time I listened to GY!BE again. This is an album I am going to be listening to a lot and probably for a long time. It is perfect for when you’re driving or even after a hard day. It will calm you and put you in a better state of mind.

For more information on This Will Destroy You please visit their Myspace profile.