Sorry for the lack of updates. It’s been a crazy week for the Boneman in his other realm, minor league hockey.

If you have any interest in all, just follow the last week of blog posts for the Oklahoma City hockey scene right here.

If not, hey, it’s time for UFC 100 this weekend in Las Vegas. After a quiet couple of weeks in the fight game, good to be excited about something once again.

The card is anchored by three major fights: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves and Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping. And I’ll get to those fights later in the week.

But today is about one of the prelim fighters, Matt Grice from Harrah. Grice will take on Shannon Gugerty in a pre-PPV bout at the event and left for Las Vegas yesterday.

I had a chance to do a phone interview with Grice and his trainer/workout partner, Shawnee High assistant coach Jason Merrell, about how everything is going.

Grice said he is feeling great right now. Asked if this is a must-win, “they’re all must-wins in the UFC, especially in this loaded division (lightweight).”

Grice lost his last bout in February, returning from a two-year hiatus to become an Oklahoma City police officer.

But the love of the fight brought him back. Merrell said Grice has had one of his best camps and is coming into this one with no excuses and is ready to showcase what he can do.

Grice has an extrememly interesting story. A four-time state champion at Harrah, his college career was derailed by a nasty car accident. Yeah, that’s a tease. You can read more about Grice in Saturday’s paper, looking forward to writing this one.

While Grice will be in “full preparation” mode, wondered what it will be like for Merrell.

He said it’s a once in a lifetime experience to go to something like this. He’s very interested to work out with some of the other camps and see what he can learn.

There won’t be much sight-seeing. Merrell said that may have drained Grice for his UFC bout in England. This time, “there will be a lot of looking out the window, but that’s about it.”

UFC also came out with an official magazine that I picked up Monday. Because of all the hockey stuff, haven’t had a chance to read it yet but will soon.

And despite taking almost a week off, I didn’t miss much, thankfully. Nothing earth-shattering to report in MMA or boxing at this point. Vic Darchinyan returns on Showtime on Saturday, so that should be good.

The biggest fight of the last week was the epic Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. Federer won 16-14 in the fifth set in the most amount of games ever in a championship final.

Happy to be back and expect more UFC 100 thoughts and links the rest of the way.

Wow, what a weekend. Back home in Ohio. I didn’t plan on writing too much. But wham, 1) Kendall Holt scored the
KOs of the year on Ricardo Torres in 61 seconds. The first with his head, the second with a picture perfect right hand. 2) The Fight Doctor’s pride takes a hit as Forrest Griffin earns a unanimous decision over Rampage Jackson.

So I was all set, knew what I would write about until…wait for it, Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal.

If you follow the Boneman’s writing, you know I was the tennis nut for the last high school season (and hopefully the upcoming one). What I love about all of the MMA, boxing and tennis events: it’s mano a mano. There’s just you and your opponent. No teammates to bail you out. No him against the field garbage in golf. It’s you on one side and your opponent on the other.

Now I admit I love James Blake and Andy Roddick to no end, but right now, the Americans are not getting the job done.

But what I saw Sunday was pure beauty, the perpetual poetry in motion. And I parked my rear end on my old couch back home and watched nearly every last single minute of it. I missed the first set because I was still tired from my flights and losing the extra hour for Eastern time.

However, from the second set on, I was just enjoying myself. I cheered and applauded both men too many times to mention. It was jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring stuff. If you missed it, shame on you.

I knew it would be tough to match last year’s five-set epic, but it did just that.

Nadal comes out strong and takes the first. Federer seemingly regains his footing but loses the last five games of the second set. Down 0-40 in the third set and seeing his chances for an unprecedented sixth

Wimbledon title going down the drain, Roger pulls it out.

And then the rain.

And we’re back and Fed wins in the tiebreak. And the fourth set is glittered with even more brilliance. At this point, I’m calling the few tennis friends I have to make sure they’re watching this not just instant classic, but all-time epic classic.

And then we get the fourth set tiebreak. Rafa has two championship points, Fed keeps coming back with clutch serves. It’s insane.

And then we get more rain.

And after nearly five hours of playing and seven and a half hours from when it was first supposed to start, wow, Rafa did it.

Minor gripe about how it was an unforced error by Fed to decide the championship. And the class by both men was incredible.

So what’s next? The only logical place for them to go. Let’s get them in a cage or a ring and let them duke it out. I know there’s no animosity at all b/w the two, but I believe it’s time we find out who’s got the machismo?

All joking aside, hope you caught the highlights. Hope you record it on ESPN Classic tonight. Do what you can to get your hands on this one. They’ll be talking about this one for a LONG time.

I never thought the greatest bout I’d see this weekend was on a grass tennis court in

England. But sure enough, it was. I don’t feel too bad about it.

They went five hours and you know what? I think they could have gone another five. The conditioning was unreal.

We’re having a special year, and it’s only going to get better with the Olympics (I hope). Back to boxing and MMA next entry. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity with another one of my favorite (and so-called dying) sports.