RingofHonorGuard

<p>TNA is a joke right now, quite honestly.</p><p> </p><p> Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle are probably having the most embarrassing angle in pro wrestling history; and not because of the "controversy" of it... But because it's just a bastardized version of what Heyman created with Raven and Sandman years and years behind us. And the matches between Jeff/Angle don't even have any real hate vibes or over-the-top violence that makes you think "Wow, maybe this is real."</p><p> </p><p> Abyss sucks one week, the next week he's burying the X-Division. If having a monster that gets his teeth knocked out and continues to work reward is killing a division that people strongly want to see more of... then you really have to question what these people are doing. I think Katt Williams of stand-up fame could run this company better than Carter and company.</p><p> </p><p> Christopher Daniels is just randomly running around. Some weeks he's great, some weeks they just book him to suck. Either give the guy a push and see if he can cut it or let him go back to Ring of Honor full time... They're always taking half of a dump with him and they can just never quite finish the product and wipe.</p><p> </p><p> Bischoff is on TV way too much, and his charisma is NOT what it used to be. He just sounds like a rich guy who pulled one over when he's out there, and to me really seems apathetic(and why shouldn't he?) </p><p> </p><p> And if the rumors are true and we're going to see a Ric Flair/Sting feud as the main event on TNA PPV.... Wow, just wow... Think back to the last real match they had on the very last Nitro... Talk about tarnishing a legacy of matches. Think about how bad that's going to be 10 years later.</p><p> </p><p> I loved TNA. But now I almost think it's just a company that's around to make WWE look less horrid.</p>

No doubt, but you're comparing a Brazilian boxing machine to Rashad Evans. Little Nog is a way more balanced fighter than Rashad will likely ever be. The fact is Little Nog is a great puncher and he was never able to land anything of substance.. What makes you think someone who's much more uncoordinated and never had any long-length boxing training can? People are basing Rashad's punching power and countering ability over one punch, and that's his highlight over Liddell... Taking nothing away from Chuck but how many times did he get laid out at the end? Regardless, I stand by initial argument... Little Nog hit Davis with a couple of light counters and never landed anything with power not because he didn't try, but because he couldn't. Rashad is going to get roughed against the fence in the first, finally taken down in the second, and then subbed in the third after Evans gets frustrated and makes a dumb mistake.

Phil Davis could wrestle his way to a decision over Rashad. The guy has ridiculous youth reflexes and athletic ability, something the older and more battle-scarred Rashad can't 100% say. His jiu jitsu is way ahead of Rashad's offensively. But, find me a clip of someone hitting Davis flush and I'll buy into him mugging Phil. Rashad loads up his big punches for days and Davis has some of the best head movement in the division, so it seems to me if anyone has an advantage it's Mr. Wonderful.

So much for the Gomi/Barboza rumor... Barboza's next task if Ross Pearson. That sounds like a fight Barboza should be able to win, but Pearson is always a threat.

Anyone that talks about Rua and Jones fight, and compares it to Rua's future fights obviously missed the biggest ordeal with that fight: The massive size difference. Rua looked like a 155 pounder next to Jones. I'm looking for Rua to dispatch Forrest just as easily as Anderson did.

Ricardo Arona is pretty much what you just described ampulator, or at least could have been. If MMA would have came to the peak it has now back when he was getting started, he'd probably be one of the best in the world with his wrestling ability topped with his jiu jitsu. Unfortunately having great wrestling and jiu jitsu isn't all the battle. Eventually you're going to run into someone who has the ability to defend the takedown and you're going to have to worry about getting hit in the face. Matt Hughes was the best American example of having great wrestling with good jiu jitsu, and the days of only that working have passed. Of course, fighters like Jon Jones are quickly reformulating new molds.

Barboza better work on his striking defense if that match does get signed. If Gomi hits him cleanly as many times as Anthony did, it's lights out for that prospect. Barboza is fun as hell to watch, but very green. I really think Gomi would be a steep climb for him at this point, but we'll see.

Mousasi really needs to learn the unified rules. This happens to him all too much. He would have won the decision if not for that mistake. Hope they don't try to call this fight something more than it was and make a rematch, because that would be a waste of Mousasi's talent. He's still young, and yes, his TD Defense is pretty awful, but he's still working on that facet of his game(albeit slowly). The judging criteria in MMA really needs to score less highly for takedowns when absolutely nothing is done with them/they're neutralized with good guard work. Aoki reaffirmed his ridiculously slick jiu jitsu, though Beerbohm isn't exactly a world beater in any regard. I thought Kawajiri would fight smarter than that... He literally got crushed. That elbow that Melendez hit him with toward the end was brutal, and probably somewhat unexpected. Melendez(and everyone in the CGJJ camp) are looking like absolute beasts lately. Which brings me to Diaz... That fight was really close to being stopped in favor of Daley, and no one could have complained. The fact is Nick went fetal for three unanswered punches before he "recovered". I wanted Nick to win, and it was awesome to see him pull the come-from-behind win. But I feel it could have just as easily been stopped in favor of Daley when Diaz ate the canvas face first early.

Been away for a while... Looking forward to the Strikeforce show this weekend even though it's pretty one-sided in all of the main card matches. The only fight I see being even remotely close is El Nino and Crusher. And I see Kawajiri pulling out the decision win this time, setting up the inevitable rubber match later in the year or next year. Jardine is going to be absolutely steamrolled by Mousasi(and hopefully that leads to Gegard moving to the UFC as it's time for him to face some real challenges). Aoki shouldn't have any real issue with the untested Beerbohm. And as much as people are talking about Diaz losing and not "standing up with Daley", I actually see this fight being the biggest mismatch of them all. Daley's ground game is garbage. Always has been, always will be. He has no desire to learn anything on the ground and translate it to the cage. I can see Diaz taking a few solid punches but Daley isn't going to put him away. Diaz will probably stand with him until it's unwise then take it to the ground for a fairly quick submission. Pretty decent first card for Zuffa to put under their belt under the Strikeforce banner.

<p>Chael Sonnen's apparently in a heap of trouble now... and it's not just steroids that are biting him his time. He's apparently facing up to 20 years in prison for money laundering unless he cooperates with authorities and gives up some helpful information on the others involved.</p><p> </p><p> Tough year for the ® so far... and it just started. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>3 fights into UFC125 and my flatmate and I are taking a break from it. Not awful, but nothing to get us excited for more just now. I thought the Opener was awful. Guida moved around a lot, but that didn't disguise the fact it was two guys moving around each other, not fighting. I wanted Gomi to win, but was just glad when it was over. If I had to sit through another round of that tripe I would have just turned it off.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Really? I thought Guida/Gomi was awesome. Sure, it could have been more of a war like Sanchez/Guida was... But the fact is Guida is learning. While he might have looked like Donkey Kong jumping around and using erratic head movement, it was enough to throw Gomi off. That didn't stop me from enjoying the one punch knockout winging punches that Gomi nearly landed time and again. That in itself made for an exciting fight, PLUS... Guida actually FINISHED a guy that wasn't a can. I too wanted Gomi to win. But I think you're being a little too hard on this fight just because it wasn't balls-to-the-wall rock'em'sock'em. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> Thiago Silva bitch-slapping Brandon Vera around while he was on top of him had to be the hilarious moment of the night though, by far.</p>

Duffee/Overeem goin' down... I say Overeem in under three minutes. Although there would be a fair bit of comedic relief if Duffee somehow managed to beat Overeem, especially by KO or TKO.

Okay, seriously... Seriously... The Miz, for as much flack as I've given him over the years... He just cut the absolute greatest promo I've witnessed in some time. I was in near tears laughing at that skit. He can definitely control a crowd well on the mic. I'm impressed.

Wow... What a ridiculous decision...

Bonnar over Igor by tko - If Bonnar doesn't win this one he should really consider just going into promo work full time. Maia over Grove by submission - Freakishly large frame of Grove meets ridiculously good jiu jitsu guy = Grove gets submitted. Grove isn't realistically going to finish Maia. A decision seems possible, but I just can't see Maia not subbing him if the fight hits the ground with any amount of working time. Hendricks over Story - Think I might be looking forward to this fight more than any other on the Finale card. I think it's a split decision, probably for Hendricks. The final is too hard for me to predict. I want Brookins to win, but could just as easily see Johnson winning. Either way I think it'll go to a decision unless Johnson exhibits sloppy wrestling and gets caught in a sub. Nam Phan and Leonard Garcia should be an exciting card opener. I don't really care who wins. ------ Strikeforce: Henderson over Babalu - I wonder if Babalu has learned how to parry strikes yet? Hoping for a knock out of Babalu. Lawler over Lindland - Lindland's age and durability are both withering day by day, decent pay day for him I'm sure. But he's getting knocked out. Daley over Smith - This is the fight of the weekend for me. What an awesome fight. If there was a guy to FURTHER test Scott Smith's chin, it's Paul Daley. I don't think Daley will straight up knock him out, but I think he'll drop Smith after a beating and lay a few on for a TKO. Also, well played Daffanka on the golem analogy for Antonio Silva. It's fitting.

How hilarious would it be if Akebono won?

The judging last night was absolutely awful. Was it comprised of people who actually liked Severn/Shammy 2? Seriously, how does Tyson Griffin lose that fight? That was ten times the robbery than what Quinton pulled off. I can AT LEAST see why Quinton won. He was extremely aggressive at times, and when he landed it was mostly meaningful. The judges just don't seem all that into the effectiveness of leg kicks still. I thought the match was tied up going into the third, but Machida absolutely owned him in the third. I don't want to see this rematch, unless it's for a title down the road.

<p>It's not Rampage hate so much as it's... Rampage is already frustrated by the fact that he knows he's going to be playing "wish I could hit this guy" for potentially 15 minutes. </p><p> </p><p> If this was Rampage in the old days when his body wasn't tired I'd be like... Rampage by Stoppage, but Rampage is too slow at this point to really land anything significant on Machida. Unless Machida makes a mistake and ends up on the fence. He ends up on the fence and Rampage might be able to uppercut him a couple of times, and take it to the floor. </p><p> </p><p> It's not going to be a pretty fight. Probably a lot uglier of a fight than Rashad/Page, honestly. I'm going to a bar to watch it.</p><p> </p><p> Also, the real main event of this pay per view for some people is Penn/Hughes 3. I know for me it is.</p>

I'm giving Edgar the edge based on the fact that he's got two fights in the five round distance range under his belt. That's something you can't really prepare that well for, no matter how hard you train or spar. It comes with the experience of doing it. Edgar also has the burning pain of the first loss on his side. He's probably went back to that footage a million times or more to see what he did, where he needed to improve. I actually strongly feel like Frankie Edgar will decision Gray Maynard, be it split or not. Also I can't wait to see the Faber/Torres inevitable super fight down the road. All of your spirited talks of the lighter weight classes have had me really thinking about that fight a lot.

<p>Well, this season's TUF is almost in the books. I have to say I really didn't give a crap about St. Pierre vs. Koscheck 2 until I just got done watching this week's episode. I think Koscheck has a chance in this fight, although I still lean more toward St. Pierre. </p><p> </p><p> Koscheck isn't going to be caught off guard by the element of surprise of St. Pierre's wrestling anymore... So he has that going for him plus the somewhat improved stand-up he brings to the table. I'd say he and St. Pierre are probably on par in the striking at this point. The wrestling is where this fight is going to make it or break it for Koscheck... Plus anytime Koscheck seems to have a personal vendetta against someone he just straight up embarrasses them. Completely shut down Diego Sanchez offensively and then confuddled Paul Daley to the point that Daley punched him post-fight. Koscheck motivated is dangerous. I'm looking forward to this fight, though I realize the chances of a five round control fest from St. Pierre is extremely possible.</p><p> </p><p> ----</p><p> </p><p> Moving on;</p><p> </p><p> Picks for this weekend's show</p><p> </p><p> Machida over Rampage - Think Machida will tag Rampage on the counter for 3 rounds to a U. Decision. I guess it all depends on just how much power Machida has, and if he's at all willing to commit to anything he throws. Rampage could easily score a split-decision victory, but I don't think he'll be able to win every round. </p><p> </p><p> Hughes over BJ - Nothing has really changed much in-between their last bout and now skill-wise, at least from my perspective. Sure Hughes has aged a bit, but he's still good enough to keep an undersized and probably-bored BJ Penn down for a unanimous or stoppage like last outing.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> The rest of the card is pretty exciting too. I got Harris over Falcão, Davis over Boetsch, and in a very tough fight to pick; Sotiropolous over Lauzon.</p><p> </p><p> I'm hoping Karo wins, and that Tyson Griffin brings down some much needed punishment on Nik Lentz' soul.</p>

Lol... reminds me of 'Bloodsport'

I'm actually one of the few people that think Lesnar is going to absolutely maul Velasquez. Think Brock is going to come into this one feeling like he has something to prove due to how the early round of his fight with Carwin went. I think this one is going to the ground and Cain is going to get "Brock/Mir II'd". I think Shields wins a decision over Kampmann. Hamill with a TKO over Ortiz. Paulo Thiago with a decision over Sanchez. Schaub by TKO

People on other message boards have been mocking Carlos Condit for his staredowns(or his facial expression in general) as of late. I've seen like a million fighters pull off intense staredowns, and most of their eyes just don't have any real intensity to it. There's Wanderlei Silva/Carlos Condit, then everyone else in my opinion. Condit's moniker couldn't be any more fitting because his eyes look piercing as hell.

The Lethal Lockdown sucked, especially the stuff on top of the cage. That just sucked, botching something that you knew was going to happen anyway. I kept sitting there going "Someone is definitely going to fall off that cage, they're being so sloppy up there." Thankfully no one did. I was cool with EV2.0 winning, because aside from AJ Styles and James Storm, I think the entire Fortune stable sucks talent wise. Sabu looks so unintimidating without his crazy Arabian style hair though... lol The only match that really was enjoyable to watch was the tag match. Team 3d's promo was lame, as they already did this once in the WWF days where they split up and went singles. It sucked then, it's going to suck now. "They" looks awful. I mean I was hoping that it would be Paul Heyman coming in after all the denying, but no... Nope, it was what everyone thought... Adding Hardy just makes it stupid. Hardy has no mic skills. Bischoff can only take him so far. I'm not really ready to call this an "nWo ripoff" just yet, because we haven't seen what direction they're going to take it in. But as it stands right now, it's pretty awful.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Gabbo" data-cite="Gabbo" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I've recently added WEC to my MMA diet and I'm just curious to the worth of WEC's LW division. I don't quite understand how it works so could someone fill me in.<p> </p><p> Just a pile of thoughts going through my head, probably silly questions but here goes. How good are guys like Henderson, Cerrone, Varner compared to Florian, Edgar, Penn and Maynard? Is WEC's division generally regarded as a 2nd rate LW division? Do the LW guys in the UFC respect them much? Why don't the top guys in WEC want to test themselves in the more prestigious UFC LW division? Why don't the mid-level guys in UFC drop to WEC, guys like Griffin, Guida, Diaz etc, and become champions? When LW fighters are approached are they given the choice of joining the UFC or WEC, or is it a separate scouting system? Does the UFC consider WEC's LW's as equals to the UFC's? Is it used as a developmental division or just for never-will-be's?</p><p> </p><p> Probably more in my head but I just need to unload and get an idea of the point of this division and where it stands in relation to industry respect.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Zuffa tries to keep WEC as a separate promotion as much as possible, thus why it features 135, 145, and 155 lb fighters. Out of all the divisions in the UFC, the lightweight roster is the biggest by far. A lot of the WEC's talent could easily be in the UFC but there's just not space. I think Donald Cerrone would do the best out of any of the WEC's lightweights in the UFC, as I truly believe he's the most polished guy they've got. Varner is wasting away his career staying with Arizona Combat, who focus primarily on wrestling. Henderson is like a lightweight version of Joe Warren, with more polished striking. But yeah, WEC does come off as a minor league to UFC in a lot of ways.</p>

I always forget about Grispi, for some reason. That could be a good fight. I would personally rather see him move up in weight, as that's going to be more of a challenge as opposed to moving down. I guess I'm just one of those people who sees moving down as a "career revitalizer" and moving up as "taking a bigger challenge". As exciting as some of the fights at 135 could be, do you realistically see any of them challenging Aldo? I mean, he's already a monster in his own weight class... If you put him against guys that are significantly smaller it just gives him that much more of an edge. I'm ready to see him against guys like Edgar, Maynard, and maybe even Penn. Or at the very least someone like Cerronne or Bendo Hendo.