Random Josh

Biologists recently found a strange monkey in the Amazon. They didn’t know this unusual creature with its bright red beard and tail even existed. Researchers also found what they believe to be a massive river running 6,000 kilometres underneath the Amazon River. The underground Hamza River is 200 to 400 kilometres wide, though, whereas the Amazon ranges from one to 100 kilometres wide.

These are just two examples of how much we have yet to learn about our planet. As for the plants and animals that share our home, a recent study – “How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean?” – suggests that of the estimated 8.7 million species on Earth, 86 per cent on land and 91 per cent in the oceans have not been described by scientists. And describing just means identifying and naming. It doesn’t mean we know anything about population numbers, geographic distribution, what they eat, how they reproduce, or their relationship with other species.

Authors of the study, published in the scientific journal PLoS Biology, argue that understanding the range of biodiversity in our world is crucial to conservation. In many cases, plants and animals are going extinct before we even know of their existence. “We know we are losing species because of human activity, but we can’t really appreciate the magnitude of species lost until we know what species are there,” study co-author Camilo Mora said.

As well as the titi monkey, other animals recently discovered include a small African antelope, a bacterium that consumes iron-oxide on the sunken Titanic, an underwater mushroom, a jumping cockroach, and a “prehistoric” eel found in a cave in the Pacific Ocean. The eel has so many unusual features, including a second upper jaw, that it has been classified as a new species belonging to a new genus and family.

And, several species that were thought to have been extinct have since been rediscovered. However, researchers say this doesn’t mean they have recovered. Pretty much all of them are still at risk of extinction. In fact, 92 per cent of all amphibians and 86 per cent of all birds and mammals are believed to be facing extinction, and tens of thousands of species are being wiped out every year.

Many factors are at play in this biodiversity crisis, but most are related to human activity. Habitat destruction and conversion of land for agriculture and development are big ones. The spread of invasive species, overexploitation of natural resources, pollution, and climate change are also major contributors to what some scientists are calling the sixth great extinction.

Unlike the previous mass extinctions, this one is human-caused. But the history of these extinctions should also tell us something. Nature and the planet are resilient. They bounce back after major crises, but – and this is crucial – not until the cause of the extinction or crisis has dissipated. This means we humans are putting ourselves on a path to extinction. The way out is to recognize that we are a part of the natural world and not something that stands outside of it. We absolutely depend on all that nature provides for our existence.

Bringing about necessary changes won’t be easy. It will require stabilizing and reducing global population, reevaluating our economic systems to reduce the pressures of consumerism, addressing climate change and pollution, protecting large swaths of terrestrial, marine, and freshwater habitat, and learning more about the natural world. Conservation efforts are essential. These will help plants and animals become more resilient to climate change, but they can also help slow climate change. For example, forests absorb and store carbon, so protecting them not only helps the plants and animals that live in them, it also helps reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Of course, as the species study makes clear, we must address the massive knowledge gaps about our world. Unfortunately, economic pressures, antipathy toward science, and the fact that we often spend more money to learn about other planets than our own mean that we have a long way to go to avoid catastrophe.

We can’t and needn’t give up hope, though. Thanks to the work of scientists and other thinkers, we learn more about our world every day. Above all, we really need to learn how crucial this knowledge is to our future.

Dr. David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation editorial and communications specialist Ian Hanington.

Learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.

Hopefully everyone had a nice little Saturday. Maybe you went to Home Depot to pick out some wallpaper, or maybe you hit Bed Bath and Beyond with your significant other if you had enough time. Chances are you didn’t do anything too crazy like take your kids to skate with Tony Hawk and Shaun White or go to the Rage Against the Machine concert for your birthday.

Well, Dana White did, and proves he isn’t afraid to brag about his good fortune a little bit in his most recent video blog. His mom isn’t going to like this one bit.

Judging by some of the rants we’ve heard him spout over the years, I’m guessing it was no accident that the video of the exchange between The Baldfather and the ticket agent he had to deal with when getting his replacement seats was left out of the blog. It’s also likely no coincidence that they refunded his money. I wish my threats wielded as much power.

On a side note, how trippy wold it have been to lok up in the pit and see DW moshing along beside you?

Not sure what any of this has to do with UFC 133, but if the goal was to make everyone else’s lives seem pitiful in comparison, then mission accomplished you big jerk.

*turns on Netflix and eats a bowl of Cap’n Crunch for dinner in bed*

Just a friendly reminder that Spike TV will be running the Countdown to UFC 133 show tonight at 11:00 pm ET. If you don’t have Spike and are in Canada, you can check it out tomorrow night at 8:00 pm ET on Sportsnet or you can have a look back here and I’m sure we’ll have other resources available for you to check out the show.

The card has undergone a lot of changes, which also force the UFC to reshoot portions of the preview episode, so hopefully it isn’t noticeable. The first time we catch them overdubbing the audio of Rashad talking about Phil Davis with a clip of him saying “Tito Ortiz,” we’re tuning out.

Here’s a clip of Vitor Belfort doing some filming on the set of the show ahead of his fight with Yoshihiro Akiyama Saturday night to give you something to watch while you’re waiting.

You like NickTheFace. We know you like NickTheFace. We like NickTheFace, too. So here’s something we can all like together: the latest hype video from one of the masters of hype video, reminding us all what we’re in for next month when Rampage takes on Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title at UFC 135.

Regardless of what your prediction is for this fight, studies indicate that this little clip will increase your excitement by about 30%. That may not sound like much, but we are told that 30% is a “measurable gain” that is “significant”. That comes from an “educated person” and their “college classes”. Gah. Don’t you just hate people that, like, know stuff?

Anyways, here’s something we don’t hate. Enjoy it now before someone get injured and pulls out.

If you watch MMA long enough, every fight, knockout, and submission begins to look familiar. Which makes these classic bouts that much more special…

Wanderlei Silva Wins Via Choke
vs. Bob Schrijber @ Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round, 1/30/00

Though he has two other submission victories on his record due to strikes, Wanderlei Silva has only ended one fight in his 15-year career with a legit, bonafide submission hold. It went down during his third PRIDE appearance against renowned kickboxer Bob Schrijber, in a reserve bout for the 2000 PRIDE GP. After some standup brawling, Wandy secures a takedown, immediately lands in mount, and slugs “Dirty Bob” until the Dutchman is forced to roll. From there, Silva sets up a rear-naked choke — you can tell that grappling’s not really his strong-suit — and eventually gets the tap.

Tito Ortiz Fights Outside of the UFC
vs. Jeremy Screeton @ West Coast NHB Championships 1, 12/8/98

After going 1-1 in his Octagon debut at UFC 13, Tito Ortiz took a tune-up fight at an NHB tournament in Los Angeles. The result was a fast, gnarly, PRIDE-style victory for the future superstar. Screeton shoots in on Ortiz, but the Huntington Beach Bad Boy uses his own formidable wrestling skills to reverse his opponent onto the mat. Two brutal knees to the head later, and Screeton was tapping out the morse code to “get me the fuck out of here.” Ortiz was invited back to the UFC the following month, and has never left. Seriously, we can’t get rid of this guy.

Cris Cyborg Loses a Fight
vs. Erica Paes @ Show Fight 2

Even at 19 years old, with just a few months of training under her belt, you could tell that Cristiane Santos was going to grow up to be a badass. A former competitive handball player discovered by Chute Boxe’s Rudimar Fedrigo, Santos made her MMA debut in Curitiba, Brazil, against a fellow rookie named Erica Paes. Santos comes out as the aggressive beast we all know and love, but Paes manages to grab a leg and crank a kneebar until Santos taps. (It’s basically Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir 1, as performed by Brazilian women.) Fortunately, Santos got back up on the horse and won her next ten fights, eight by brutal KO/TKO. Now she’s “Cris Cyborg,” a champion so dominant that logical challengers don’t even exist anymore. Say, what’s Erica Paes up to these days?
See also: Jose Aldo loses a fight

A 32-Man One-Day Tournament? Seriously?
Ricardo Morais vs. Alex Andrade, Onassis Parungao, Maxim Tarasov, Victor Yerohin, and Mikhail Illoukhine @ Absolute Fighting Championship 1, 11/25/95
Ricardo Morais AFC 1 video
(Click the image to see the video.)

Old-school Potato readers know that this is one of my favorite MMA moments ever. Though UFC 2 introduced the concept of the 16-man tournament the previous year, the AFC decided to go even bigger for their debut event, setting up a massive 32-fighter bracket in Moscow. Unsurprisingly, the biggest dude won — a 6’7″ Brazilian monolith named Ricardo Morais. Later known as “The Mutant,” Morais beat down his first four opponents in less than two minutes apiece, before choking out Russian MMA pioneer Mikhail Illoukhine in a ten-minute battle of attrition. Morais slowly faded into obscurity after that night — his most well-known fights are his PRIDE losses to Mark Coleman and Aleksander Emelianenko — and luckily, no fight promotion was crazy enough to hold a 32-man single-night tournament ever again.

Demian Maia Wins Via TKO
vs. Raul Sosa @ Tormenta en el Ring, 9/21/01

Think of it as the inverse of the Wanderlei Silva fight at the beginning of this list. Maia began his UFC career with five straight submission victories — and is now riding a much-less-exciting five-fight decision streak. But the jiu-jitsu ace actually ended a fight with his fists once, and it came in his pro debut, which took place in some sort of gymnasium in Venezuela. Maia immediately drags Raul Sosa to the ground, scores back-control, and slugs his prey in the head until the fight ends at the 0:48 mark.

Kazushi Sakuraba Fights Outside of Japan
vs. Royce Gracie @ K-1 Dynamite!! USA, 6/2/07

Kazushi Sakuraba’s controversial rematch with Royce Gracie took place in Los Angeles, and it was the only time that Saku fought outside of his home country. The fight came seven years after Sakuraba and Gracie’s legendary 90-minute meeting at the PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals, and while Saku seemed to have the edge again thanks to his takedowns and submission attempts, the judges unanimously ruled in favor of Gracie, who later tested positive for steroids. Anybody in the mood for a rubber match?

Note: I searched the Internet for Josh Barnett vs. Gan McGee at UFC 28 (the UFC’s only super-heavyweight fight) and Elvis Sinosic vs. Jeremy Horn at UFC 30 (Sinosic’s only victory in the UFC), but came up short.