brashleyholland

The dude is just built that way. Short and stocky, little tank-like mo-fo! :-p He's been that way as long as I can remember him...you really can't get an idea of it by seeing him on TV. Huge legs, wide shoulders...a lot of his weight is there. Saying that, I bumped into Shirai on his morning run on the Friday...I remember being shocked that he was in the same weight class as Paul. Tiny dude.

Obviously the higher you go, the easier it is to make the weight. But it's a moot point, the choices he has are 170 or 185. Like I said, Paul is a short, stocky dude; personally, I can't see him being tall enough for 185. Again as I said before though - if there hadn't been a problem with the sauna's at the hotel, then we wouldn't be having this discussion now. Paul has a history of bad cuts...but it's not fair to lay the blame for last weekend on his shoulders. If he had the time in the sauna he'd been promised, he'd have made it.

Even at 175 it's still a big cut for him. Paul is a short, but VERY stocky dude...I tower over him but he's twice as wide :-p He definitely has the thickness for 185, but he might be too short to compete with the 6-footers of that division.

I do want to stick up for Paul a bit here. I literally haven't read a single bit of press about BAMMA 5 yet, so I don't know if people actually know what happened with regards to the weigh-ins yet. I was at the hotel where the presser/weigh-ins was taking place from about 1pm on the Friday (weigh-ins were at 3, press conference at 4). At about 2pm, the sauna's were turned off. Not a problem for most guys on the card, as at that level your typical fighter isn't cutting a ton of weight. Daley and Ricco obviously both do massive cuts. When the sauna's couldn't be turned back on (and there is some confusion as to why) BAMMA had to organise transport to another hotel who had agreed to let the fighters use their facilities. By the time they had got there and got into the sauna, they had 10-15 mins to cut weight; a significant reduction on the hour they thought they'd have. You can't really fault someone in those circumstances. Ricco looked ill from the cut and didn't want to drop anymore weight. Daley (who was competing for the BAMMA title, not the DEEP belt) informed BAMMA before the weigh in that he would be 2lbs over. He only agreed to get on the scales at the 4pm weigh-in on the provision that it would not be his 'official' weigh in. He told them that given an hour in the sauna, he would make the weight no problem. Obviously with the press being there, all the reports were that Daley had missed weight, which he was obviously not happy about. BAMMA didn't inform any of the press of the agreement. Daley was very angry and refused to do the press conference, which had been put back to 5:30. BAMMA eventually cancelled the whole thing. I know Daley has missed weight waaaaay too many times, so I understand why people got on his back for this. This time though...I'd say not 100% his fault. I've literally just got home from a long weekend of fights...will try and post some more interesting 'backstage' BAMMA notes later incase anyone is interested.

MMA fighters don't, but many UFC fighters do. 99.9% of the time it's a scheduling issue. The UFC simple have too many fighters to give everyone three or four fights a year. Not a problem if you're on GSP money, but not so great if you're the new guy on the unaired prelims. There's a huge undercurrent of discontent amongst UFC fighters and agents right now, but of course, they can't say anything. Sure, they will make more money from a fight in the UFC than anywhere else, but if they only fight twice, then taking four fights in a smaller org becomes the more attractive option, both for their career and their bank account. It's not just about getting paid either...a lot of agents are frustrated about the fact that they can't manage their young fighter's careers properly. When you have a prospect, as an agent you want to bring him up the right way; that's just common sense. The UFC have a contractual clause that allows a fighter's agent to turn down one offered fight, but they *must* accept the second. The situation now is that agents are scarred to turn down any fights because they don't want their guys to get shelved for another two months (they get paid when the fighter gets paid). It leads to a lot of young guys taking fights that aren't good for them at that point in their careers. But what can they do, it's a monopoly. The irony is, the bigger other promotions get, the stronger the monopoly becomes. I know for a fact that for some time now, cut UFC fighters or up and coming fighters waiting for their UFC shot have been plainly told that if they show up on a Strikeforce card, not to bother knocking on Zuffa's door again. It's starting to get the same way with Bellator. So guys just plod along, taking their 2-3 fights a year. Ever wonder why the UFC are all of a sudden cramming three fights onto Prelims broadcasts and putting fights on Facebook? To 'give back' to the fans? Nope. Because people tweeted Dana that they wanted to see the fight? Nope. It's simply a way for these undercard fighters to get paid via sponsorships, to make up for the fact that they'll probably only fight 2-3 times that year. RANT OVER.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/brashleyholland/kenny-florian-mugshot.jpg

Can we all at least agree that the dude looks like a bad Ben Stiller impersonator?

But again, he was never really a middleweight. He just took a couple of fights in that range, then didn't get into shape for TUF because it was at MW. Like I said before though, I don't think Kenny's size is the problem...the problems he has aren't things that will be solved by being the bigger man in the cage. I think his career will go exactly the same way it has at WW and LW. He'll beat some good fighters and lose to some better ones. I do like that it has divided opinion though...will be interesting to see how it plays out!

To be fair, he only competed at middleweight for TUF and the Finale. I don't recall him ever fighting at 205. I'm pretty sure that the fights he had before TUF were fell between the welter-middleweight mark. I think...! Your point stands though; 145 will be the third serious title run that Kenny has made in a new division. Weight isn't the issue....for me, the issue is that he isn't good enough, and that he's had the wrong people (his brother) in charge of his career recently. Now, I don't mean any disrespect to Kenny by saying he's "not good enough"...what I mean by that is that he isn't above the glass ceiling with the elite fighters in any given weightclass. He's the guy that challenges for the title, the guy that weeds out the great fighters from the rest of the pack...but he's not a champion. As people have already said, he's going to have the same kind of problems against the best wrestlers at 145 as he's had before. As for Aldo....Aldo will hurt him baaad.

^^These are the money comments right here ^^ As someone who has devoted his life to MMA in every way possible, from competing, writing, promoting and even getting some sexy 'Vale Tudo' and 'R' (and only a true MMA geek will get know what that means!) tattoos, I'll happily admit that no MMA fighter is going to crack the box office on the back of being an MMA fighter. Same for wrestlers. There are numerous movies to prove the point. Same as there are numerous movies 'staring' wrestlers to prove the point. The Rock is one of those unique talents. It's nothing to do with him being a wrestler, it's everything to do with him being 'The Rock'. One of a kind.

Exactly, so he overshadowed him. No, because Nash didn't go on to be part of the biggest angle in wrestling ever, while HBK languished on the shelf with injuries. I say this in the kindest way possible, but if there is one person that really doesn't need to be using 'Internet Sarcasm', it's you

Oops.... http://liverkick.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=296:hesdy-gerges-arrested-for-drug-trafficking&catid=34:demo-content K-1 and It's Showtime! fighter Hesdy Gerges arrested for drug trafficking.

Towards Silva? I'm not sure it'll affect what they do with him to be honest. Obviously they'll honour the suspension, but I don't see them sh*t-canning the guy for a positive test regardless. He's been around for a while, and he's hovering near the top of the non-elite LHW pile...I think he's safe. If he was a first timer, I could see them saying bye-bye. But they put Leben back on the main card after he was popped for roids and one would assume they'll be putting Sonnen straight into a co-main/main event, so Silva will probably find his way back into the mix.

Well, it gives the debate more moral ambiguity, but by the letter of the law he's still cheating. If he's taking painkillers because he's addicted to them, then they're a drug of abuse. If he's taking them to fight though an injury, they they're performance enhancing - they're allowing him to perform at a level he would not otherwise be able to without them. Even if he has a script for something and discloses it in the pre-fight medical, if it's on the banned list then he can't have it in his system when he fights. For me, it's less of a reason to bring Vera back. Like you said, fans may see it as more of a case of Silva taking something to be able to fight, rather than taking something that helped him beat Vera. By the letter of the law though, he's still cheating. Nevada switched Karo Parisyan's win over Dong Hyun-Kim to a NC when he was popped for painkillers, so I don't see why this would be different.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/brashleyholland/motivator3170bcdd7132e1a9dd4a35045d8a23472d3e2185.jpg

Look, I think it's perfectly clear for all to see that Kobi is not the kind of man to let reaching senior citizenship stop him from doing what he does best. If Kobi gets too old to fight then by god, he isn't going to sit there and take it like a b***h. He's going to build a god damn time machine, go back to the night he was conceived and knock his future father out before he ever gets to take his future mother for that nice seafood dinner. His future old man comes out of the coma 10 years later, realises that his dream girl has been waiting at his bedside the whole time, takes her home to get jiggy and BAM!...we have a ten years younger Kobi! Kobi beats Father Time, every time (well, except for the occasional decision loss) and he cuts awesomely overconfident promo's while doing it. You know that's how he rolls...get to it!

I got into this on our radio show this weekend...it's an interesting one. I don't believe there is a provision for this kind of thing in UFC contracts, none that I've seen anyway, and I've seen the kind of standard ones that I assume Silva would have. The black and white of it is "we can cut you on a loss" so legally speaking, there's likely nothing where his people can say "the termination was invalid, you have to reinstate his contract". But realistically, Vera's people aren't going to take the UFC to court, it doesn't work like that in the fight game. Now, in terms of what's fair, you would say that Vera would not have been cut if he didn't lose. Silva (allegedly) cheated to win. If he'd have gone into the cage with loaded gloves and knocked Vera out, and they found out after the fight, Vera wouldn't have been cut. To me, cheating is cheating and it's the same thing - the fair thing to do is give him a one fight deal: Win = stay, lose = leave. Personally though, I don't see it happening. Like Gatorbait19 said, Vera wasn't fired for losing one fight, he's put on some consistently awful performances and hasn't lived up the early "LHW and HW champion" hype from back in the day. He's a spoiler, they don't want him back.

Rewatched it this morning after spending yesterday crying to my Fedor t-shirt, drinking gin and listening to The Smiths :-p Very, very fun card, one I'll definitely be recommending to friends who aren't huge MMA fans, but want to see some good fights. I will however be telling them that the Arlovski/Kharitonov was the main event and turning it off at that point, much like Phoebe's mom in Friends stopped her watching Old Yeller before the dog gets shot.

Nothing to do with Nevada. The weight classes recognised by the Unified Rules (and indeed, the rest of the Unified Rules) were drawn up in California, then codified by New Jersey. The first event of note to use the Unified Rules was UFC 28, but they didn't implement any weight class changes at that time. UFC officials worked with the NJSAC to redefine their current weight classes, which were officially used for the first time at UFC 31 in NJ. The UFC didn't promote an event in Nevada until the disaster that was UFC 33.

Amp is right, but there's also another reason...when you get above the 230lbs range, there simply aren't that many exceptional athletes, in relative terms. If I'm 250lbs, fast, fit and athletic, point me to the NFL tryouts. If I'm 6'8 and 265, show me to the basketball court. For the time being at least, there simply isn't enough depth to have a split in the 206-265lb division. Hopefully that will all change in time though, as it becomes easier to make big bucks in MMA.

Which basically means it'll be amazing or total sh*t :-D

Soooooo, just incase anyone forgot...the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time is back in action tonight. I've got my Fedor shirt and my retro Russian Top Team jacket out in preparation, as well as a pair of rubber gloves so that I may maintain optimum purchase on his nuts all evening. Fedor is going to mess Bigfoot up baaaaad. I don't know why people rate that dude so much based on beating a declining AA (and not putting him down despite landing numerous shots on his chin) and...erm...well he hasn't really done much else of note! Fedor will give him the Mike Kyle treatment in the 1st round, with the only difference being that he'll finish the job. Fedor, T(KO) 1st round. Five or six years ago this was one of my heavyweight dream fights...now, not so much. We know the story with Andrei's chin, and Sergei is hitting like a truck these days. Unfortunately what he's gained in power and versatility with his striking, he's lost in speed, and that's the key to beating AA. This is really a pick-em, but I'm going with Kharitonov, decision. Johnson is a beast and has some huge power in his fists. Trouble is, he's never really faced an actual prospect or quality MMAist, just fellow brawlers who haven't been quite as good at brawling as he is. SDR is a prospect, an incredibly technical and versatile striker with a developing ground game. He's also not fought anyone of note, and has been criminally inactive thanks to Strikeforce not getting their act together. Still, this is a striking match, and SDR is the better striker. Del Rosario, (T)KO, 3rd. Griggs is what he is...don't be fooled by the routing of Lashley, he's a part time fighter, a tough guy, but nothing more. Villante...well we don't really know a whole lot about him. Decent record for an up and comer, similar size to Griggs. The one thing on his side is that he's been much more active, and that tips the scales for me. Villante, (T)KO, 1st. Ahh, this is a tough one for me, I've known Valentijn for many years. Back in the day people were talking about him, not Alistair being the Overeem brother that would make it big. His problem is a mental one, and nothing will have changed that at this stage in the game. He's fighting a guy who is at the tail end of his career in Rey Sefo, a guy who is really just dipping his toe into MMA rather than making a serious run. This could be a great brawl, or Valentijn could get it to the ground early. If it's the former, Sefo all day, if it's the latter, we could very well see a submission from 'The Python'. My heart says Valentijn, my head says Sefo (T)KO, 1st

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="ampulator" data-cite="ampulator" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Forrest just fought smart thsi time around. That's all there is to it.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> He broke his foot and pulled his bicep as well though; there's no telling what he'd have done if he'd not picked up those knocks...funny that getting hurt could have been the thing that forced him to fight in a certain way, essentially winnin him the fight.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Daffanka" data-cite="Daffanka" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>... who is that? It looks like a malformed Henderson with hair.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Tom Lawlor. Apparently an allergic reaction to some creatine/glutamine stack! <img alt=":eek:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

<p><span>http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs016.snc6/166685_151938378195321_121721891216970_240283_1180443_n.jpg</span></p><p> </p><p> HEY YOU GUUUUUUUYS!</p>