brashleyholland

Well yeah, but that wasn't the comparison I made. The Shamrock comparison was based on a few things: -They both went on to be the poster child of their generation after being humbled by 'better' fighters in the cage (Gracie for Ken and Frank Shamrock for Tito) -They both opted to high-tail it to B-movies/wrestling in the prime of their careers/popularity in the face of stiffer competition (Coleman/Frye for Ken and Liddell for Ortiz). -They were both damaged goods when they returned to fighting. -They both opted to continue taking losses to more capable fighters instead of calling it quits, tarnishing their legacy in the process. (Franklin and the second two Tito fights for Ken, Machida, Forrest and Hamill for Tito). In fact I think I specifically mentioned that with regards to opponents, Tito's fall from grace was much slower and less humiliating than Ken's. The point of that particular parallel wasn't to make a direct comparison of the relative quality of their opponents. The fact is this: People would have fonder memories of both had Tito retired after the Machida fight and Ken after the first Tito fight.

My post UFC 132 thoughts on Tito Ortiz and the respect he does/doesn't deserve: http://www.mmabay.co.uk/2011/07/06/blog-o-plata-tito-ortiz-a-matter-of-respect/

...and just like that it's all change again. Oliveira will now replace Paul Taylor against Donald Cerrone at UFC on Versus 5. Also a good fight.

I didn't think for a second that the Machida bout would come good, but I must admit, I didn't see this one coming. Will be interesting to see what kind of angle Chael goes for with the trash talk. Seconded...this fight has every reason to be awesome.

Siyar Bahadurzada.

http://prommanow.com/index.php/2011/07/05/the-ulysses-gomez-experiment-its-a-balancing-act/? Awesome must-read blog by highly regarded flyweight (and one of the best nicknames in MMA) Ulysses 'Useless' Gomez. Fantastic short look at a week in the life of a fighter outside of the UFC.

I like your style.

I think Forrest will end up facing Rampage after the later loses to Jon Jones later this year. I don't think Forrest will ever be let go from the UFC (Dana has said repeatedly that he'll let both him and Bonnar walk away on their own terms, and that they'll both have a job after they retire anyway), but like you say, he's a difficult guy to match up. Not elite, but far too good to be a gatekeeper like Bonnar.

His back will always be against the wall now. He's 36, his body is falling to bits and he's in a pay bracket normally reserved for champions despite a five year gap between his last two wins...he's an expensive hobby for the UFC. In reality, there are only two types of fight he can take; 'blockbuster' fights against the likes of Liddell, Nogueira, Franklin etc that will draw interest as supporting bouts on a PPV or big ratings on TV, or bouts against the Ryan Bader's of the world, up-and-comers who need there mettle testing. I'm sure if Tito were fit as a 20 year old and would fight for $30,000, the UFC would give him all manner of favourable fights to build him back up for a title shot. Unfortunately he's making a ton of guaranteed money and probably only has a handful of dances left in him, won or lose.

Good point...I hear he also had three broken legs, a dislocated lung, four gunshot wounds and ticklish throat going into that fight. Who knows what a fully fit Tito could do? Seriously though I'm with you on this one - Tito wants that fight because he thinks he's on a winner, and even if he isn't, Forrest has proven twice now that he isn't going to smash Tito into retirement. It's the smart option from Tito's point of view for sure.

Except he beat Ortiz in his very next fight after the Silva loss

I'd watch it, if only because I've seen Tito fight Forrest twice before and I didn't really enjoy either of them. I don't know that a Franklin fight would be any better, but at least it'd be new.

I've wanted to see Tito vs Nogueira for about 6 years, so I've got my fingers crossed for that one. The winner of that fight definitely makes sense. Tito apparently wants Forrest though, whether he wins or loses his rematch with Shogun. Here's an interesting thought though - if Shogun beats Forrest and the UFC offers him that fight...would he take it. Seeing Tito and Shogun throw down would be different and pretty cool, and it's not like fans are clamouring for a Griffin/Ortiz trilogy fight.

Sounds good to me. Either that or someone like Bonnar, Pokrajac, Brilz, Gustafson or Matyushenko. Hamill makes the most sense though.

That's exactly it - the guy has been doing it the right way since he was a kid, and his early success has allowed him to invest in the best physical care money can buy while he's been doing it. He's always done the Big Bear thing and had his diet taken care of - I don't think anyone has ever questioned his fitness. I think with Tito it's partly genetic as well. One of the reasons he was so successful back in the day was that he was piling 20+lbs back on in 24 hours, which was unheard of then (and is still massively impressive now) - not just in and of itself, but for the fact that he can still be effective after putting his body through that amount of strain. Tito is HUGE...the original plan when he was supposed to fight Chuck at UFC 43 was that he'd move up to heavyweight with a win, as there simply wasn't anyone left for him to beat at 205 (this was before Randy dropped down to fill in for him). Crazy huh?

The UFC pad records with all the ammy, semi-pro and exhibition fights they can find with certain guys. There's no pattern to it.

That's my favourite MMA urban legend ever.

I'd say there is as much chance of it happening as there is of Nate Marquardt and Dana White jointly endorsing a UFC-branded Testosterone replacement cream. :-D UFC will always win out if push comes to shove. A UFC weekend in the UK brings 18,000 fans to a city - hotels, shops restaurants, bars...it's a nice little boost to local economies. Money wins out in the end.

Interesting fact of the day: I don't know if they are still doing it, and haven't heard much about it for about a year, but in 2010 (possibly as early as 2009 actually), the UFC started reaching out to the governments of nations they wished to expand into with an interesting proposal. They approached sports/athletic wings of various governments in countries that did not regulate MMA. Their proposal was to ban mixed martial arts, but legalise 'Ultimate Fighting'. The UFC would then have become a regulatory body (or would have overseen a locally appointed regulatory body) in the area. Think about that for a second. They would have enforced 'UFC rules' - Unified Rules of MMA, Octagon only etc...Strikeforce, Sengoku and Dream/K-1 would have effectively been unable to run their shows. The end game would have been to completely run MMA in those countries by pricing domestic shows out of the market with expensive regulatory procedures. They would then have licensed the UFC brand and select fighters to one or two select promoters and had a big hand in the running of those events. So you'd have had UFC Philippines, UFC Sweeden, UFC China etc. It seems like this was dialled down with the financial collapse of FEG (Dream/K-1) and Sengoku, and the purchase of Strikeforce. What's really funny though is that while they were doing this, one of their strongest international markets (as far as demand goes, at least) almost beat them to the punch. Dave O'Donnell, former owner of Cage Rage and current owner of UCMMA (Ultimate Challenge) was (and kinda still is) busy putting together a UK MMA regulatory body. This was mostly to protect fighters who were getting screwed on the domestic scene. It would have meant that promoters would have to put up a cash bond before a card could go ahead so that everyone would get paid (which is a huge issue in the UK) and enforced blood testing (for disease and PED's). He was going to seek government backing/funding, and eventually getting a law passed that would have given the government (through the body) powers similar to US Athletic Commissions. Here are the fun parts though - Dave's shows ban elbows completely. He feels that fighters don't get paid enough to get cut up, and that it looks bad for TV. Similarly, he only does three round title fights, the theory being that guys in the UK aren't making tens of thousands like their international counterparts, and as such shouldn't have to put themselves through the extra expense and grind of training for a 25 minute fight. So the UFC would have been screwed. The body would also have generated additional funding by taxing big shows that sold over a certain number of tickets. So even if the UFC altered it's rules for UK shows, they'd be landed with a massive tax bill. Gotta love Dave O'Donnell. More of an epic tale than a fact of the day, but meh, I'm feeling generous :-p

I'm a veritable goldmine of useless knowledge. What do you want to know? :-p Here's a good one - If Rampage had beaten Rashad and gone on to take the title from Shogun, he would have been earning nearly $8million dollars per fight, PPV shares, merchandising and sponsorships included.

GET OUT OF MY MMA THREAD WITH YOUR QUEENSBERRY RULES!!!!!! I joke, I joke, I kid, I kid.... Can't wait for the boxing tomorrow - I actually pulled out of cornering someone to watch it :-p Haye will need a miracle shot in the early stages if he is going to do this, otherwise Klitschko will batter him to a late stoppage, if you ask me (which you should). Crazy to think that this is the most significant heavyweight fight since Lewis fought Vitali Klitschko EIGHT years ago. And unless Haye wins and goes after Vitali himself, it'll be the last significant heavyweight fight until who knows when.

Interesting fact of the day - UFC fighters who licence their image rights to Zuffa do not get royalties for things like action figures.

There is. Nate has already had his three strikes for example, maybe more. Strike 1: He popped hot once after a main event (the first ever Fight Night on Spike TV, no less), which was a huge no-no. Strike 2: He had his issue in NJ, which was an issue with the UFC, whether he got an exemption or not. Strike 3: He massively, massively screwed up last weekend - that was nobodies fault but his own. Then you have to factor in that he was on treatment for the Palhares and Okami bouts. The Palhares bout was in Texas, where you can (almost literally) get away with anything. The Okami bout was in Germany, where the UFC do their own testing - lets just say they test, but they're not as rigorous as some commissions. Chael did something stupid and got caught...once. He gets a second chance, Nate doesn't get a fourth, or sixth, depending on how you look at it. So there's that. Now I'll give you the honest answer. Chael Sonnen makes the UFC a ton of money and is a promoter's dream. Nate Marquardt never made them a cent. Zuffa are running a business, not a charity. They don't owe anyone a job, or a second chance. They don't have to be 'fair' when it comes to who they hire and fire. Being fair is the commission's job, Zuffa's is making money.

Any woman that doesn't know her way around a large portion of fish and chips or a donner kebab just isn't going to get along with me.

That blond one (Angelina? Yeah, Angelina) is disgusting....like, eating disorder thin. Yuck.