RingofHonorGuard

You're misunderstanding what I'm saying, man. I'm talking about a Wrestlemania Rubber Match, as in a Rock/Austin style trilogy. I don't care about the other PPVs, Undertaker loses on those, and it's no big deal. Austin himself said "Sure, you can beat him, but not at Wrestlemania." So it would do nothing for Michaels to win at Summerslam... You're telling me you wouldn't have sat there in absolute awe if Shawn Michaels ended the streak and then went on a monster win streak afterwards leading to one more title run? The WWE needs a monster surprise like this to happen to re-ignite the fire in the IWC and casual fans alike.

Rogan's probably taking a "t-break". And yeah, it was mostly the positioning on the kimura, but if you watch Hardy's face when St. Pierre torques, it would have most likely broken after a torque or two more, regardless of technique. He asked Hardy if he was double-jointed after the fight too, which was funny. Regardless of the reason, it just follows up my point that St. Pierre's jiu jitsu is very overrated, but wow... If he ever figures out how to apply submissions properly there's no one that will stop him, Anderson Silva or otherwise. I found myself getting pissed off at Greg Jackson during the fight for telling St. Pierre not to finish/pass. It's okay to want your fighter to work on things, but let him do that in the gym in intense sparring... Don't use a main event fight to work on your skill set, that's annoying. How annoying would it have been if Michael Jordan simply layed the ball up into the square for an easy two every time? We need a dunk from time to time, George... Make it happen.

Yeah, I get that... And part of me -is- glad that Taker won... But I'm saying in terms of business, WWE really could have used a big twist with HBK winning. The biggest downside to pro wrestling these days is the predictability of it. Everyone pretty much expected/knew Undertaker was going to keep the streak, so watching the match was kind of meh... The lack of surprise is driving away the older wrestling fans... Who wants to tune in week in and week out when nothing interesting is happening? Instead of mixing it up and trying to build their product, they're taking the easy way out and regressing back to the mid 90s for a bit of kiddie time. It won't be long until we start seeing Evan Bourne dressed in a chicken outfit.

This weekend as a whole was a fairly big letdown as far as ppv's go. After the UFC's deduction of my bank account, I felt a little stiffed... But after Wrestlemania, wow... It's like I got held at gunpoint. I can't remember a Wrestlemania this bad since WM11. Jack Swagger winning the MiTB seemed underwhelming, especially how he's been booked in the past half-year. They couldn't decide if they wanted to make him the next Kurt Angle/Brock Lesnar or if he was a jobber. I guess they've chosen the "Next Big Thing" approach finally, but I hope it's not too late for anyone to take him serious. All of the title matches pretty much sucked, especially Cena and Batista. The only people who could have really enjoyed this match are various unattractive 30-40 something moms and their children. Anyone with any understanding of proper flow and wrestling would be taking a big crap all over this match. This match was barely above a RAW calibur match, aside from the top rope antics... Nothing really amazing, aside from the fact that with all the failed moves one of them isn't injured, especially Hurtista. I am kinda glad that Jericho retained, and maybe we can see a real classic between Edge and Jericho at the next PPV. The Punk/Mysterio match was waaaay too rushed. For a guy who was constantly putting on exciting 30-60 minute matches on the independents they sure don't want to let Punk do what brought him to the dance. Bret Hart proved he has no business in the ring outside of managing the Hart Dynasty(which needs to happen, Bret Hart was an -awesome- heel at the end of his WWF run). WWE really dropped the ball on the Undertaker/HBK II... Hasn't anyone at WWE taken notice of how popular "rubber matches" are? Forget the streak, it's nice and all... But Taker's legacy is already carved out, it wouldn't have hurt him too bad to lose, imo... And it would have given Shawn Michaels so much momentum that they would have absolutely burned buildings down on his "I'm going for the title one last time" campaign. HBK vs. Taker III at next year's Wrestlemania would have been epic... missed opportunity in my opinion.

Gotta say, you were spot on Daff, and I give you credit. You called the Fitch over Saunders(which wasn't too much of a prediction). But I really thought Saunders size would make it weird for Fitch. I just expected Saunders to come out guns blazing like a man with nothing to lose... Instead he just ended up looking like... yep, you guessed it... Jon Fitch when he fought GSP. Credit to Fitch, though.. Jake Rossen on Sherdog pretty much called it spot on when he said the only difference between GSP and Fitch is a Gatorade sponorship. I'm just overly disappointed in Saunders... I would have expected more out of someone that absolutely had nothing to lose against Fitch. It's easy to say "Well, I would have done this if I was in there"... But Saunders could have at least taken some chances out there and attempted a sub or two.. Fitch wasn't riding him that closely, and he was able to effectively use an unorthodox butterfly guard... Maybe the pressure of Fitch's wrestling just boggled his brain, but it seemed like a wasted opportunity to me. Saunders came away looking like a tough guy, and Fitch is probably back in the UFC dog house... He'll probably be fighting on the prelimsof the next TUF Finale. Major Annoyances of the Night: -MMA judging; very poor decision on Miller/Bocek, biggest robbery this year in my opinion. -referees; Forget suspending Palhares, fire that referee who stood there like an idiot and allowed a fighter's knee to be torn. It's THEIR job to stop the fight. There's been too many instances lately of referees taking a "fan's" view and watching the fight from that angle, instead of being right up on the action and seeing the inside workings. These are supposed to be trained professionals. They should be familiar with all the submissions, positions, and everything associated with them. They should know that leg submissions are by far the most dangerous long-term submissions(barring a choke to the death). And how many punches did Mir eat when he wasn't even facing the fist that was blasting him? That was ridiculous. If you're a referee and a fighter isn't squirming to avoid impact, there's a good chance he's out and it's time to stop the fight; don't allow a dude that looks like he just sprung out of the final step of the evolutionary chain to bash Mir's brains in when he isn't defending himself. He wasn't even putting his hand up to say "No, don't hit me, sir"... he was just laying there, taking punch after punch after punch. Somewhere Jesse Ventura is writing a conspiracy blog on Lesnar putting a few hundreds in the ref's pocket to "let Mir take a few extra if the option arose". Surprise of the Night: I gained a lot of respect for St. Pierre, and actually enjoyed watching him fight for the first time since his second fight with Serra. It wasn't his unstoppable takedowns, or his guard passing that impressed me... It was his respect for another human being. After seeing Palhares rip Drwal's leg apart, I don't think the UFC could have handled another one, especially in such a highly marketed fight. St. Pierre took a decision by choice this time, not because he couldn't finish. I don't care what he said to ham up to the cameras in the post-fight presser, he chose not to snap Hardy's arm with the kimura. The armbar was a technical error, and Hardy's recent training with Bravo shined in the escape. But, as someone who's trained in BJJ, that kimura was nasty. It was deep, and St. Pierre torqued it once hard to tell Hardy to tap, and when he didn't, he realized he had a choice to make.... Snap his arm, and get bad press for the UFC or Let it go. He chose to let it go, and it was the right choice. There's no way "sweat" or "his arms being tired" factored into that kimura. It was hooked up, and Hardy had no escape other than letting St. Pierre end the fight by breaking it. If you watch it again he looks at his corner, smiles a few times, almost laughing and a few seconds later he just lets it go. St. Pierre was asking him about it right after the fight too, asking him why he didn't tap... and he sounded a little agitated. But he's a real class act, as he made Hardy look golden in the post-fight interview and the press conference.

Yeah because Swick's wrestling has to be so terrible... you know.. working with two of the four best wrestlers in the welterweight division and all... Swick's wrestling isn't great, but it's good enough to make him comfortable and there's no shame in being held down by him. Swick is top ten in the UFC, notice I said UFC, and not MMA. Furthermore, Swick held him down for a round, and then knocked him out... Fitch is a pillowpuncher, he's not going to have that luxury unfortunately. Show me a fight where Saunders gets held down for three rounds to a decision, and I'll give you your dues... Oh, that's right, he's only lost to Swick. Hmm...

Uh... Because I've watched videos of GSP competing in grappling competitions where... get this(and you'll be shocked)... the fights take place in different positions on the ground! I hope this site doesn't continue collecting MMA fighter fanheads who get offended everytime someone makes an unbiased statement about their favorite. I don't recall saying St. Pierre didn't know -any- submissions, I was basically stating that he didn't know how to FINISH a fight with a basic armlock against Hughes in their second fight. He also got finished by Hughes in their first fight, but you'll argue that was "so long ago", so what's the point. Go do some research, and if you still can't understand why I said what I did then you're obviously blinded by your adoration for GSP. Also, Hardy isn't -that- big of an underdog. He's got a lot of ground to make up, and his ground game most likely isn't at the level it needs to pull off a submission against St. Pierre once he starts his "level changing lay and pray" that he so enjoys. But Hardy has a lot of heart, and he's tough to finish which means he's most likely going to Jon Fitch it out there, but I hope he beats St. Pierre with something retarded like a flying knee or a flying triangle, and part of me hopes Eddie Bravo is on commentary as it's been rumored so I can hear him yelling "10th Planet Jiu Jitsu, BITCHES!" over Goldie's "biggest upset ever" yells.

I can't stand GSP, but I wouldn't really call his chin weak. He got hit by Matt Serra, who has been doing nothing but strength & conditioning training... If you look at Matt Serra's body, you will understand why his punches are so powerful. And he also hit St. Pierre in the back of the head with the punch that "stumbled him" even though it was St. Pierre's fault that it hit there, which is why there was no foul called. It's not like he's Big Noggin' it up out there and getting dropped 2-3 times in every fight. St. Pierre hardly ever gets hit, and this is coming from a guy who roots against him every time he's out. I've got money on Hardy, just out of spite, even though Hardy's chances are less than Serra's in my view. Also, St. Pierre's wrestling is better than Shields for sure... But jiu jitsu wise, it's not even close... St. Pierre didn't know how to properly apply basic jiu jitsu armlocks in the heat of battle up until he trained with Jackson Camp, and that's pretty much from the mouth of Greg Jackson himself, when St. Pierre was failing to apply an armlock to Hughes during their second or third(can't remember which one it was). St. Pierre isn't very good off of his back, Shields is.. and the top game isn't even close. If Shields got St. Pierre down and passed his guard, it would be over within minutes, regardless of how big St. Pierre's godhood is. Shields is a finisher on the ground. GSP would want that fight on the feet And before anyone even brings up GSP/Penn or Serra II.. Size makes a difference. If he's able to do that to a decorated BJJ black belt of the same size as he is, I'll be impressed... So yeah, if he was able to take Shields down for five rounds and lay on him, I would be impressed.

Before I talk about the Saunders situation.. I have no interest whatsoever in seeing Fitch in the title picture. Yeah, he survived St. Pierre's assault for five rounds. He's a tough guy, but St. Pierre hasn't exactly been a world beater on his feet(in terms of rocking/KO'ing people), aside from when he kicked Hughes in the face. The first GSP/Fitch fight, for as much damage that was done, was boring as hell. It wasn't the worst fight I've ever seen, but I haven't seen anything out of Fitch recently that at all makes me believe he could beat St. Pierre this time around... So why pad St. Pierre's record on a fight that probably wouldn't sell as many buys as Kimbo Slice vs. The Bunny Bread Vendor. That being said... Saunders wins this fight. Huh, you say? Yeah, I said it. Saunders will win this fight, by TKO. I don't see Fitch dealing with the frame of Saunders very well when he's been pounding the training for a stocky 5'8" for several weeks now. Saunders has some ridiculously quick knees and he knows how to put all of his weight behind them. Beautiful Muay Thai(obviously not on the level of Fitch's original opponent)... The key difference I see is Saunders is always attacking when he's on his back. Alves is much more prone to just trying to get back up, and considering how much weight he cuts, that's taxing when you get into later rounds. Saunders isn't going to have that issue, because he'll be able to push Fitch back and scramble more easily, or if he feels comfortable, attack from the bottom and maybe catch a sweep. We'll see, I'm more excited for this fight than I was an Alves/Fitch rematch.

Truth is only the Yakuza and Dreamstage know how far involved they were. It's no real surprise, as Yakuza probably made a lot of underground gambling money off of the fights, especially when they had the muscle to fix certain ones.

In my UFC game on WMMA2 I run a Sportman Division for fighters 34+ in a 206-230 weightclass.. it helps me keep good name fighters creating hype while keeping them from being destroyed by younger monsters. Plus its quite fun seeing Tito Ortiz vs. Minotauro Nogueira

At this point I'd really like to see the UFC open a Sportman's Division of sorts... Fighters that still want to compete but have no business in serious divisional battles. I mean a division featuring guys like Nogueira, Couture, Cro Cop, Herring.. You catch my drift... A throwback to the old days and fights we never got to see that could still be competitive today. Plus it would give them a reason to bring in Dan Severn for a few fights, and maybe Shamrock as well, even though they are at ends. Not suggesting we start seeing old retirement fights filling UFC PPV cards either... But I know a lot of older fans would tune in to see Randy Couture fight against Cro Cop on pay per view, and a lot of people would tune in on TV to see another boring battle between Shamrock and Severn.

Wand was counterstriking and beating Bisping to the punch the majority of the time. Bisping was throwing tappy-tap punches and keeping Wand on the end of his punches, as he was backing up... That's dumb. Bisping should have been taking advantage of that, and he might have stole a couple of rounds in the eyes of the judges. Bisping scored with a couple of takedowns, but did absolutely nothing with them. Most of the time that doesn't register well with judges, and they don't think much of it. It's when a guy gets a takedown and has some considerable amount of control, which is how it should be. That's been the problem with MMA these past few years.... People put too much stock in takedowns alone... The takedowns aren't doing any damage unless they're impact slams. It's what you do with it once it's there. Landing a takedown and doing nothing with it is probably comparable to landing a clean punch or kick in the eyes of the judges. Furthermore, the arm in guillotine was applied, it just wasn't as nasty as it would have been if Wand pressed down instead of falling back. When you look at how red Bisping is starting to get as that choke is sunk in, it tells all the stories. When the arm is in, pushing down turns it into a blood and air choke, cutting off all chances for survival. When he was pulling back, it was still very much a blood choke, but Bisping was still able to breath a bit.. so yeah, he was most likely in no danger of being finished, but the fact is, the choke served its purpose which was disorienting Bisping. Wand threw leg kicks throughout the fight, landed solid counters(which believe it or not garner praise in the eyes of these Boxing Judges Turned MMA Judges. In the third round Bisping kind of seemed to fade out and Wand turned it up, coming forward and winging punches. I give a lot of credit to Mike, regardless. Everyone expected him to get rape choked and destroyed similar to how Hendo did it, but props to him for not only surviving but actually winning the fight in some eyes... And hey, I'd be more than happy to say Bisping won if you guys can talk to the commission about overturning Wand's loss to Franklin -------- As far as Bisping's next opponent... I'd like to see him fight Nate Marquardt, as I think that will truly gauge where Bisping stands in the middleweight division. Wand will fight Akiyama, that's pretty much a guarentee, as that's a fight that will sell in Japan for them. I don't know much about UFC's overseas PPV relations, but I noticed a "WOWOW" advertisement and a Wand/Akiyama fight would for sure bring out some fans in Japan.

As a fan of jiu jitsu I really enjoyed Sotiropolous and Stevenson going the distance. It told us a lot more about where George stands skill wise, and he looked incredible. Children everywhere are now picking up bongs and heading down yonder to Eddie Bravo's House of Peace, Love, and Jiu Jitsu. Could it have been proportionate to Aqua's one hit wonder "Barbie Girl"? Who knows. We'll see, I think George should fight Kenny Florian next and if he steam rolls Florian like he did Joe Daddy, then perhaps Eddie Bravo may yet trump King Penn. Sometimes long, epic battles can tell a better story than a 30 second highlight reel KO. To be fair, I could have done with Cro Cop disposing of Perosh a little bit faster, and maybe a bit more devastating than a gaping wound. This pay per view served it's purpose though, because now Cain Velasquez is officially a threat in the division(most of us already knew this). This means the UFC Heavyweight division is that much more stacked, so they can send gatekeepers like Heath Herring to pasture in DREAM or WVR to farm more talent.

Bisping was literally saved by the bell from being destroyed on two different occasions, the major one being the third round where I thought Wand was going to finish him only to have the horn blow. Several people scored the final round 10-8 for Wand. Edit: I watched the fight again today and I can see where some people may have thought Bisping won. The third round was a lot closer than I previously thought too, though I still feel Wand won it at the end with his flurry and near finish. Bisping looked solid and came out ahead.

This fight is a lot closer than people are giving it credit for, though. Wanderlei's wrestling is no where near the level of Hendo's, so there's always the possibility that Bisping puts Wand on his ass and keeps him there. Chuck kept him on the ground, after all. But yeah, Bisping certainly has no regard for getting hit it seems... However, I see Bisping imploring the same strategy in this fight that he did against Leben... Back up, counter when you can, if the takedown comes; take it, and then hope for the best.

-Mirko looks a bit pudgy... I hope him turning the reins over to his team didn't entail him working out and eating twinkies instead. -Cain Velasquez has the worst tattoo I've ever seen in my entire life. I've never understood why people turn the other cheek about it, and there hasn't been any sort of real uproar about it... Because I guarentee you if someone like Forrest Griffin got "White Pride" slapped across his chest, someone would be raising a stink. But hey, what's good for me isn't good for you, and so on and so forth. Starting to think people have no idea that his chest even says "Brown Pride" because the N in Brown is so hard to make out. -Wanderlei is SHREDDED. I haven't seen him in that kind of shape since his earlier days in PRIDE. He looks weird without his nose punched in... Hopefully Bisping can fix his face for him before Wand knocks him out lol. The staredown push apart was awesome too. Wand was like "LOL O RLY?" And Bisping was like "YA RLY!" -This is a creepy picture, caption it in your own mind... http://www.cdn.sherdog.com/thumbnail_crop/600/_images/pictures/20100219090839_DGH196242.JPG -I don't think Ryan Bader has combed his hair since he graduated high school... Is that his secret? -Dana White has given Stephan the "You helped build this place, you have a job for life" speech two times now, I believe... Do you think he'll get more of the same if he gets beat by Sos? I think Bonnar's upside loses ground with every poor performance, and to keep him while throwing away others who have more talent is a disservice to the sport, whether him throwing wild haymakers in an unorthodox fight brought all the sows to the slop bucket or not. -Apparently I'm bad at making out tattoos... What the hell is that on Lytle's rib? It looks like a bird, but I'm uncertain. -What the hell is Goran doing? http://www.cdn.sherdog.com/thumbnail_crop/600/_images/pictures/20100219091733_DGH194552.JPG Auditions for the sequel to Dragon Ball are that way -----> ----- Hmm, after watching the actual weigh-ins video, I retract what I said about Cro Cop. He looks really solid, actually. It was just the pics that Sherdog's staff took that made it appear that way.

You're giving a lot of credit to Perosh's punching power to assume he'll bust a stitch, lol. I think the air of resistance pushing back at Mirko as he moves forward has more chance of opening the stitch than Perosh. Last time Mirko was bleeding in the UFC, he got his head kicked off his shoulders... Perosh vs. Lesnar, maybe?

Throwing my predictions out for UFC 110: Nogueira over Velasquez -I can't believe how many people are taking Velasquez over Nogueira. Sure, I will be the first to admit that Velasquez has a bright future, but we're talking about Nogueira here... He has the boxing advantage, the ground advantage, and it goes without saying that Nogueira is going to have no jitters about headlining a show. The only way I see Velasquez winning is if he's able to control a very cunning Nogueira on the ground for 3 rounds... Velasquez is no Fedor, I'm calling a choke submission; end of the second, or beginning of the third. Wand over Bisping -Hard fight to pick... Silva has the experience edge by a mile and a half, and I'd have to give him the advantage in the stand-up. Bisping might be able to put Silva on his ass and pound on him, we'll see... But I'm going with my gut and saying Wand is going to show us another performance like he did against Jardine. Stevenson over Sotiropulous -I don't see either submitting the other, and neither are great on their feet... Boring fight that gives the nod to Joe Stevenson via decision. Bader over Jardine -Bader is going to look strong in a decision against Jardine... As for Jardine? Now that Spike is showing prelims most of the time, he'll be a solid gatekeeper to draw in fans until he builds some wins to start maining again. Cro Cop over Perosh -Cro Cop should smash Perosh by TKO in the first two minutes. Not sure the UFC keeps Cro Cop after this fight unless he smashes the can as expected. How can the UFC keep Cro Cop if he goes to decision with someone that got knocked out by Jeff Monson? Prelim: Soszynski over Bonnar - U. Decision Lytle over Forster - U. Decision Reljic over Dollaway - TKO Pokrajac over Te Huna - TKO

An okay fight with Rothwell has turned into a lose/lose fight for Cro Cop. Rothwell has at least by some people's rankings been a top ten heavyweight a couple of different times. Now Cro Cop's in with a second-degree BJJ black belt with no standup offense or defense. So if Cro Cop wins, he just beat a can in the octagon, and if he loses all the Cro Cop detractors are going to be waving torches and pitchforks calling for his retirement. The sad thing about it... Most fans of CC still put so much faith in the high kicks... He can't do it as often anymore... He's older, he's not as quick, and his legs are beat up. I'm not ashamed to admit that Mirko has been one of my favorite fighters, and stll remains so to this day. I just hope that he's being serious about cross training into more Muay Thai, and letting his coaches dictate what goes on whether than him just bringing in sloppy strikers to beat on in his camps. Regardless, I see Cro Cop taking the can out with punches similar to the way he beat Sanchez in his UFC debut. ---- I guess I never really paid attention to the Bisping/Kang fight, but last night when I was watching the Countdown show I noticed Bisping fought with longer hair in that fight. I'd just like to say that man looks absolutely strange with hair on his head, and the weird paste mustache he's got going on. He looks more like he belongs in Deadwood, South Dakota more than an MMA fight. That being said, I am looking forward to Silva/Bisping more than any fight this year so far. Wand's got some of his old Chute Boxe crew back together, so we'll see if he can "keep moving forward, forward, forward" or if he's got a case of "Cro-Copitis". Either way, I hope win or lose it's a positive showing for Bisping. Bisping challenging for the title in the UK would be absolutely ridiculous as far as fan reaction is concerned, and I'd actually bet on Bisping in that one if he gets there.

That's pretty much what they've been doing here recently. That's where guys like Phil Davis and the like are coming from. Bellator, Strikeforce, King of the Cage, and other smaller shows are always going to be the UFC's main source for talent. Bellator is looking like the main source right now... They've got so many prospects it's almost like the gold rush is happening all over again. UFC is simply waiting for the contracts to come up and they'll make their offers.

Been a while since I've seen that. Yeah, Faber should have probably tried -looking- at his opponent when he was throwing it. He looked like a goofball just blindly throwing an elbow and then getting dropped.

Or try a stupid sliding elbow that only works in Mortal Combat or Amateur Muay Thai.

You also have to take into consideration that the talent pool in WEC is lesser, which means it takes less wins to get a title shot. Faber was already a champion, and the most dominant champion yet at 145. So in my eyes he's proven himself as a title contender. The problem is, if Aldo beats Faber they're pretty much out of big contenders, aside from the Brown/Aldo rematch. It won't be long until they're forced to start putting super fights together if they don't grab some more relevant challengers.

My logic is fine... Rampage is the more experienced and skilled fighter. Rashad is developing really well, and he's finally starting to come into his own, however he still hasn't learned how to deal with getting hit. His immediate reaction is to regress back to his wrestling, and that's going to get him eaten by Rampage. There's no place in this fight that Rashad has an advantage, aside from maybe quickness. Rashad won't take Rampage down, don't believe me? Check out Rampage's fight with Dan Henderson, and you'll learn quite a bit about Jackson's wrestling. You can't judge how good or bad a fighter is by their wins. Jardine is considered a solid fighter in the light heavies, and he's always a dark horse. He's a lot like Brad Blackburn, he'll beat guys he isn't expected to beat, and then lose to guys he should steamroll. Jardine is game whenever he's facing a top opponent. By your own logic I could say "Oh yeah? Well Rampage beat Chuck twice, and KO'd him faster in the UFC." The fact is: Just because X beats Y doesn't mean X beats Z. Styles make fights, and Rashad's style is pretty much tailor made to lose to Rampage. Doesn't mean he won't win, but technically Rampage is a superior fighter. Also by your logic I could point out that if anyone should be criticized for going to decisions it should be Rashad considering he was classified as a "blanket" for laying on top of people early in his career. He went to a decision with Bisping, who got destroyed by Henderson, who Rampage beat by dominant decision... See how your logic doesn't work very well when it's turned around. I respect and appreciate the fact that you like Rashad. He's one of my favorites too.. But from an unbiased perspective, he should really have no chance at beating Rampage when their resumes are shown side by side... Again... As Matt Serra, Gabriel Gonzaga, and a heap of underdogs have shown us: anything can happen in a fight.