By Ross Everett

When golf legend Jack Nicklaus was still a young upstart in the sport and only starting to tear up PGA courses, legend Bobby Jones commented following 'The Golden Bear's''65 Masters win that "he plays a game with which I am not familiar". Following his absolute destruction of Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 98, there's likely a few MMA fighters saying the same thing about the new light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida who made it look easy en route to a 2nd round TKO victory.

The fight started slowly, with each man trying to get a feel for his opponent and wait him out to see who blinked first. Late in the first round, Machida went on offense with frightening suddenness, flooring Evans with a nice straight right hand. Evans was able to recover and survive, but it only delayed the inevitable as Machida used another right hand to send his opponent down again. Evans gamely tried to fight back, but a final right hand from the Shotokan Karate master left him out cold.

After the fight UFC announcer Joe Rogan proclaimed the start of the Machida era and this is not just mere hyperbole. Machida is unlike any fighter before him, rooted in mastery of traditional martial arts but with the versatility of a modern MMA competitor. He's essentially a Mortal Kombat character come to life--in a more realistic cross disciplinary comparison he shares many of the same characteristics as boxing great Floyd Mayweather, Jr. as he combines insane handspeed, underrated stopping power and nearly impenetrable defense into an unorthodox and extremely lethal package. Like Mayweather, hes a tough opponent to prepare for as there's simply no way to replicate his skill set in sparring.

The comparisons with the insanely talented but equally insanely arrogant Mayweather end when the final bell sounds. Outside of the cage, Machida is a modest and respectful gentleman who is quick to give credit to his father and his karate teachers for his MMA success. He spent most of his UFC 98 postfight interview not singing his own praises, but imploring others to strive to realize their dreams.

An odd trivia note about Machida serves as further repudiation for MMA neophytes who think that the sports kinship with pro wrestling began with Brock Lesnar: Machida was discovered by Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki, and became something of his protege. He trained for some time at the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo in Tokyo and made his MMA debut on a NJPW card in 2003, defeating Pancrase veteran Kengo Watanabe.

Perhaps the most frightening thing about Machida is that hes only now reaching his full potential as an MMA fighter. In other words, hes only going to get better which is a scary prospect for opponents given the fact that hes never lost in MMA competition. Early in his UFC career he had a reputation as a boring fighter, but in his recent bouts hes shown a downright lethal ability to end fights.

Machida will very likely face Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson at some point and its difficult to see him faring much differently than Evans did. One thing working in 'Rampage's' favor is his greater experience and a resume filled with high level opponents of various fighting styles. Still, everyone comes back to the fundamental reality that no one has ever really seen a fighter quite like Machida before.

In the co-main event of the evening, Matt Hughes defeated Matt Serra by unanimous decision to gain the upperhand in their long running feud. It was a surprisingly entertaining fight, with Serra taking the first round with his power punching before Hughes used his takedown and ground control abilities to win rounds two and three. The two men embraced after the fight so, for now at least, their well known dislike for one another that began during their stint as rival coaches on The Ultimate Fighter may have ebbed. After the fight, Hughes backed off his previous talk of retirement after this matchup and clearly indicated that hed like to keep competing in the UFC.

About the Author:

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on soccer betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

By Adam Mulholland

Everyone loves a good joke, the funnier the better. If you have mastered the art of joke telling, you can pull it off easily. However, if you have not, you can ruin a good joke quickly. The art of telling funny jokes is all about setting it up, pulling off the punchline, and being confident in your skill.

Your audience is very important. It determines whether your joke will come off as funny or obnoxious. So you have to study your audience carefully before deciding on which joke to tell. There are four basic types to fit most audiences: the politically incorrect joke, the clean joke, the best joke ever heard, and the blond joke.

Build up anticipation with your set-up. The set-up is where you hook the crowd, grab their attention, and then lead them down a totally expected path. To do the perfect set-up, you have to memorize the joke and know it forwards and backwards so that it flows naturally. Keep in mind not to laugh during the set-up, which kills anticipation and ruins everything.

Now you want to kill them with the punchline. A good punchline is one that is totally unexpected and hits them from out of the blue. During the set-up, you took them in an expected direction. Then you hit them with a complete change of direction with the punchline, taking them off guard and that is where the laughs come in.

Timing is everything. After you set-up the perfect joke, you do not want to ruin your perfect punchline by getting your timing off. The best comics pause before they deliver a punchline. That keeps the anticipation in the air and the crowd on edge. Then they eye up one person in particular and throw the punchline out before looking at everyone else. If the timing is right, the joke is even better.

Be relaxed and confident when telling your joke. When you stumble over your words or fidget around, you make the audience a bit nervous and they are likely to lose interest. So you have to be relaxed when you tell the joke, it should be as if you are talking about everyday things and not telling a joke, that is how relaxed you should be. Then the joke will just come out naturally.

Think about the length of your joke, the shorter the better. The faster you can get through set-up and to the punchline, the easier it is to hold your audience's attention. Cut out all the unnecessary details, they are irrelevant, and stick the basics. The longer and more detailed a joke is, the harder it is to memorize, which can make it harder to set up.

The ability to tell funny jokes is a gift for some and a learned skill for others. It is the perfect skill to have in breaking the ice, cutting the tension, and meeting people. Always keep in mind though that you do not laugh at your own joke, at least not at first. You have to let the audience laugh first and then join in on the fun, before throwing another joke at them.

About the Author:

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