Royce Gracie | Randy Couture | MMA Fighters | UFC Fighters

MMANEWSLEAK Exclusive:

Here at MMANewsLeak we are happy to celebrate the holidays by opening the doors for the minions and letting out of their cubicles to go visit their families.  Before everyone made a mad dash of the door to go to Coco Fuego’s house for turkey dinner, we polled everyone to find out what they are most thankful for (in the world of MMA).  We’ve compiled a list and in no particular order, we present to y0u, our valued and loyal readers, MMANewsLeak’s things that we are thankful for:

1.  Jose Aldo and his legs kicks:  For years the WEC was looked upon as the UFC’s minor league.  That was until a man by the name of Jose Aldo stepped up against the best the WEC had to offer in the way of Urjiah Faber.   Aldo kicked Faber’s leg until he turned Faber’s leg into a rasin.  The fight was the first (and only) Pay Per View event put on by the WEC and it opened up a conversation about a merger between the two Zuffa companies.

2. The UFC/WEC merger:  It’s about time that the boys over at Zuffa added the two smaller weight classes to the UFC.  It couldn’t have happened at a better time too.  The UFC need an influx of new blood that is hungry to prove themselves, as the old guard moves out and makes way for the new fighters.  Fighters like Jose Aldo, Manny Gamburyan, Urijah Faber,  Dominick Cruz and Chris Horodecki will help us forget about the older fighters like Hughes, Penn, Chuck Liddel, and Tito Ortiz.

3. Cain Velasquez: Velasquez single handedly destroyed the myth that was Brock Lesnar and claimed the UFC heavyweight championship. Lesnar was toppled end over end by a stiff shot from Velasquez and cut badly.  To steal a line from 300, “Even a god can bleed.”

4. Twitter: Twitter is the best and worst thing to ever happen to professional sports (in general).  This gives every athlete a direct voice for the public,  it also make journalists jobs much easier and lastly it makes it so people can over react wildly to anything and everything.  I would like to thank those who have said stupid stuff on Twitter.  (i.e Shane Carwin)

5.  The feud between Josh Koscheck and George St. Pierre:  The feud is fueling the flames of MMA fans while the UFC went through a small slump of bad fights and injures.  Koscheck and GSP have been getting everyone ready for the end of the year blowout and the beginning of the next fight season.  The feud is fueled by Koscheck’s eternal doucebaggery and GSP’s ability to smile through it like a man.  No one is more well liked than GSP in MMA and no one is more hated than Koscheck (everywhere).

6. Arianny Celeste: There is no way we could go a thanksgiving season without acknowleding Arianny Celeste and of course, the photo spread in the November 2010 issue of Playboy.  The beauty that Arianny brings to a sport of ugly men with nasty deformed ears, balances the world on it’s axis.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!