brashleyholland

A great reflection of the 'average' American MMA fan last night at Bellator: The loudest the crowd got was when Lisa Ward and Ais Daly ended up in the a-hem, 69 (c'mon, there's no other word for it) position. That's not meant as a jab at American's by the way...the average Japanese fans are silent all the time anyway and the average British MMA fan has popped out for a smoke and a pint and a fight when the female fighters are introduced. :-p Other than that, Vega-Tims was a decent scrap and Carl-Stinson provided a couple more moments for the 'Bellator Highlight-Reel of Awesome'. Girls fight was dull (please, please will some fighters from GB/Ireland learn how to defend a takedown?) and the heavyweight fight was...a low level heavyweight fight. The UFC learned with TUF 10 that putting unprepared, low-level heavyweights in a tourney situation, where they know they're going to have to fight multiple times in a shorter-than-usual time-frame (hence they don't go as hard as they could), makes for mostly bad fights. Still, more hits than misses for Bellator so far.

With all due respect, you can't tell how fit someone is from a video, and any video that gets released of a guy training is released because that person wants it to be released. I couldn't tell you how many times I personally have been told to stop filming when someone starts getting tired, or doesn't look great. When I visited a gym in the US (that shall remain nameless) I was threatened with a blackball from the UFC unless I wiped the memory card on my phone camera, after filming somone walk out on a session through lack of gas (I had been asked and given permission to film the session, I wasn't prying). Most of the 'training vids' you see online are taken before training starts, after warm up. Then you get the 'cut-aways' halfway through a session when someone talks to the camera, covered in sweat. Point being, anything you see (especially from guys in the UFC's spotlight) is very, very carefully managed. Toney has dropped a bit of chub, sure, but burning your belly off and getting in the kind of shape that someone who has never grappled before needs to be in to survive more than five minutes with a grappler are two different things. Now none of this means anything if Randy stands in front of Toney for a few seconds and gets caught...but from what I hear, this one will be on the floor faster than you can say UFC > Boxing :-p

Pfft, he finished WES EFFING SIMMS, n00b. Haha, nice

Sooo, Strikeforce tonight...who's everyone got? Mo Lawal, (T)KO, 2nd round. Tim Kennedy...Kennedy, (T)KO, 3rd round KJ Noons, decision Lashley, submission, 1st round Dunno if it's on the show, but Cormier, (T)KO, 1st round.

They're using him to drill wrestling and try to tire Lesnar by all accounts. Brock's last and next opponents were and are wrestlers, guys they didn't want Brock on his back against. Lets say Brock beats Cain, he's going to have to start dealing with guys like JDS...they're going to need to bring some different sparring partners in for him. Also he'll have had a decent amount of cage time one would hope, so conditioning is going to be a lot easier for him. Hopefully when that happens Cole will have some time free'd up to actually develop as a mixed martial artist, instead of being used as a training tool for the big man. He could definitely use a couple of months on the Joe Riggs diet as well.

A Jan date would be ideal if they can get it. They have a date at the Rogers Centre on hold for March...will be interesting to see if they hold off on Kos vs GSP for that long, especially as the last two seasons of TUF have ended without the originally planned coach fight. They really can't do that card without GSP in the main event though. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Yup. On the cover no less. In other news...Bellator!!!!

Ryan is fighting on Friday (his pro debut) so I'm hoping it goes well so that I can avoid any awkward "Yeah, so your boy got trounced at the weekend..." moments :-p

I'm calling a certain Mr Couture on Monday evening for an interview on all things James Toney, UFC 118 and The Expendables. Anyone have an interesting questions they want to throw out there?

That's an insane number. I'd assumed something like 600K, with anything above that being a major success, based on Anderson's track record. I sure hope that Chael Sonnen gets a piece of that pie. ...and to give that further context, that event was UFC 101, which benefited HUGELY from the spillover from 100, making this even more impressive. I'm not sure if it will have done a whole lot for Silva on his own, but a rematch between the two should be a big earner for both of them. Absolutely correct, the biggest earners are always the best (American) talkers. I can only imagine we'll be seeing more of it from this point on...not sure if that's something I'm looking forward to or not though. You knows it. A rematch, plus a Primetime series could easily see them do another 1m, if that number is indeed correct. What I'd like to see: Sonnen kept on the shelf until Silva gets back. Maia vs Belfort, winners fight, losers fight.

I'm not sure that I agree. For me, it seems that Silva, like so many other fighters before and since, came into the UFC, was put on a pedestal and lauded as the best thing since sliced bread. It just so happens that Silva might actually be the best thing since sliced bread, but my point is that everybody's time comes; Silva's is just lasting longer than most. I don't think Silva has lost the fire...certainly not to the point whereby he's phoning-in his performances in the Octagon on purpose, I just think he's faced a couple of guys that he couldn't treat the same way that he treated Rich Franklin, Chris Leben and Forest Griffin. People said he'd lost the passion after Leites, only for him to come out and wreck Forest. Belfort is tailor-made for Anderson to annihilate; who's to say we won't see a similar performance to the ones that put him on the map in the UFC in that fight? Another theory I have, which is a bit tinfoil hat I'll freely admit, is that Silva's management are having a detrimental impact on his career. Ed Soares runs a pretty tight ship with those guys by all accounts, and on more than one occasion, particularly with Anderson, I've got the sense that he's looking out for his own best interests as a 'super-agent' and a conduit for Brazilian fighters to the UFC. First there was the whole 'phantom elbow injury' that kept appearing when the UFC threw around opponents that Soares didn't like, trying to get the UFC to match up middleweights for a chance to fight Silva while pursuing big money fights at 205 and heavyweight. Then he doesn't want Anderson to fight Vitor, and the elbow injury pops up again. Chael comes within two minutes of wiping the floor with him, and as soon as an immediate rematch is mentioned, Silva is (instantly) out until 2011 (with a bruised/cracked rib, seriously?) and all of a sudden Belfort is the fight they're after, or Belfort vs Sonnen, with Silva fighting the winner. Hmm. As memory serves, Anderson seemed alot more enthusiastic back in the day when he was fighting all comers as and when he pleased.

That was my first thought in the moment too, that the ref had moved and stopped it early, then hesitated, then stopped the fight without a tap. There was a room full of very annoyed, very upset (but mostly very drunk) people screaming "NOOOOOO!" at the TV. But yeah, on the replays, you can see him slap the leg once. There isn't a provision for refs to restart a fight once they've stopped it...I was meaning that I've see a few instances of refs moving in and disturbing/halting proceedings, only to order the fighters to continue when he realises that he's made a mistake.

All the confusion was down to the referee...he moved in to break the fighters then seemingly got confused. Chael tapped the leg once, thats all that matters...thankfull the ref went through with his stoppage, because if he'd let that go (it's happened before) it would have ruined one off the all-time classic UFC title fights.

It's nothing to do with the UFC per se, although if it gets down to negotiations they do get involved as mediators between fighters/managers and the commission. As ROHG said, you're usually allowed one pound over, but that is pretty much uniformly for non-title bouts. Title bouts require the contacted weight to be made if the belt is to be on the line. Something at the back of my mind is telling me that some states allow you to be within half a pound for title fights, but I've not had my morning coffee yet so I've no idea if that's true or not! :-p As for how far over/under you can come in and actually fight, it varies between states and weight classes. For example in Nevada, the weight difference between fighters can be... 135 lbs-147 lbs = not more than 9 lbs. 147 lbs-160 lbs = not more than 11 lbs. 160 lbs-175 lbs = not more than 12 lbs. 175 lbs-195 lbs = not more than 20 lbs. 195 lbs and over = no limit ...where the initial range is the contracted weight. So for a fight contracted at 146lbs, the difference can be 9lbs, but if the fight is at 148lbs it can be 11lbs.

<p>What baffles me about the whole Hogan-Bicsh-Sting-Nash thing from Impact is the way they set it up. </p><p> </p><p> Hogan gives Nash a talking to about how it's their time to step aside and let the new generation have the limelight, and that their time has passed...</p><p> </p><p> ...before the whole thing devolves into Nash and Sting fighting Hogan and Eric, presumably setting up a programme between them like it's 1998 all over again. </p><p> </p><p> What made it worse/funny was that Hogan's comments seemed to get a genuine round of applause from the fans.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Zoloftjunkie" data-cite="Zoloftjunkie" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I get that. I don't need it to get excited for a fight but I do understand. I guess my problem with this is he is just <strong><em>talking out of his butt and making up stuff</em></strong>. And mainly he is using hype to make up for his lack of chance against Silva. </div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That's really what's made it funny to me, the bare-faced lies (I've never lost) the ridiculous comments (When Anderson Silva walks into a room, you can hear a rat p**s on cotton). He almost reminds me of a slightly toned-down Kenny Powers from Eastbound and Down. <img alt=":D" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> Like I said above, it's not the fight I'm looking forward to in itself. There's a very good chance it'll be either very boring or over before it's begun. For me it's a case of this being the first time in a long time that we've seen something a little different. The "Chael Sonnen: Most Interesting Man in the World" skits are original. Original is good. </p><p> </p><p> The way I see it is that the more a fight is hyped, the more chance of new fans tuning in and adding to the growth of the sport. As someone who watched it grow from nothing, that's great to see. From a selfish point of view, the bigger it gets, the greater the chances of me retiring before 60 :-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>The fights and fighters you mentioned were exciting on their own and the hype just added to it. <strong><em>In this it is so lopsided</em></strong> it only has hype. Silva doesn't need to talk trash cause his skills speak for him while sonen only has his mouth really. Basicly what I am saying just because he has talked all this trash it doesn't get me excited as I view him being <em><strong>greatley outmatched</strong></em>. I know there is a chance he could win.</div></blockquote> <p> </p><p> We know that, most serious MMA fans know that, but your average TapouT/Affliction-sporting UFC PPV viewer probably doesn't...especially with Silva's last performance. Chael is doing his job; should the PPV buyrates reflect the hype, I'm sure there will be a tidy bonus in it for him. </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>Another thing is his heartless comments about Lance Armstrong. He can deny that he said them all he wants like he has been but I heard the interview myself where he said them.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> He's been doing things like this for years...he says outrageous things on purpose because he knows that everyone is hanging off his every word. He denies all sorts of things...He denied having the Twitter account, he denied every fighting in Bodog...he once denied that Twitter itself actually exists, in a Tweet. It's all a big joke. </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>Editing to post a few questions.<p> 1. Is there any truth at all to the comments sonen made about Silva being fired after the fight? He has said win, lose, or draw he is gone.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> No, not really. Dana said that he would fire Anderson Silva if he pulled another "Maia" on us after UFC 112. I think at the time it was 33.3% truth, 33.3% spur of the moment and 33.3% playing the politics game with Ed Soares. </p><p> </p><p> At the time, Blackhouse had Machida with the LHW title, Rodrigo Nogueira, one of the biggest names in the sport, Rogerio Nogueira, who's stock hadn't yet dropped from the Brilz fight and Anderson, arguably the best fighter in the world. Soares had been using his clout for a long time, at one point having three divisions pretty much tied up near the title picture. Dana didn't like this...there had already been a chink in the armour when Big Nog got waxed by Velasquez, so the belief was that Dana was playing Silva's poor performance to his advantage and hammering home the point to Soares that his fighters were dispensable. With Machida getting smashed and Lil' Nog looking horrible last time out, Blackhouse's position is massively weaker when it comes to renegotiations. </p><p> </p><p> Will Dana fire Silva after this fight...almost certainly not. Even if he pulls another Maia and wins, I'd still only give him the slimmest of chances of being show the door, with than increasing slightly if he loses. Still, only Dana knows for sure, and Chael's comments certainly aren't based in fact. </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>2. Anyone know anything about the tattoos on the back of Brandon Vera? They look like some occult type symbols to me.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I believe there is a Stargate on his back.</p>

<p>Staredown of the century. </p><p> </p><p> <span>http://www.mmabay.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/AS2-1.jpg</span></p>

Absolutely fantastic. This is the first time in a long time that I have genuinely been sucked-in by the pre-fight hype. I really want to see what happens on Saturday and it's 99% because of Chael Sonnen's overtime on the hype machine. I see so many fights, read and write so many interviews...it's easy to get jaded. A couple of months ago I did 14 interviews in a week, asking the standard "What are you thoughts on your opponent and how do you see the fight going?" question and getting the "He's a tough fighter, I've got a lot of respect for him, but I'm going to do my best to win the fight" answer. It was probably my least enjoyable week in recent memory, for the sheer monotony of it. Chael is different, at least he has been for this fight. My honest oppinion is that it's about 75% put-on, 25% truth (if you read/watch EVERYTHING he's said then he has a lot of genuinely respectful things to say about Anderson)...but that doesn't matter. He's contractually oblidged to hype the fight and he's about as far from phoning it in as you can get. There's a very good chance that this fight is going to be one or more of the following; boring, over in a minute or uncompetetive. But I don't care, and it's pretty much all down to Chael. Can't wait.

Another reminder of just how big/important 'Brand UFC' is. I wonder how many autographs Mauro and Coker sign at the average event... I can't remember for the life of me where I read it, but there was a funny story from the Fedor vs Rogers weigh-ins. Some local press guy was seen telling a tubby dude about all the fighters they wanted to interview and that if they had time, they might try and have a word with "that Coker guy, y'know, their Dana White". To which the tubby dude replied, "Well you're talking to him".

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="RingofHonorGuard" data-cite="RingofHonorGuard" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Yeah, 120 is really shaping up to be a letdown... I mean, Hardy vs. Condit still sells it for me in the sense that I'll watch it. <p> </p><p> But I'm a lot less enthusiastic about seeing Akiyama fight, especially against Bisping... The whole card has this feel of UFC 120: Stepdown. I know MMAth is stupid in most cases but isn't it sort of pointless to book Akiyama against Bisping, when Bisping pretty handily beat Leben's ass in England already? You know the UFC is going to want to push Bisping as a future title contender, and they'll probably say something to the like in his promos going toward 120... So what sense does it make to put him against Akiyama? Yeesh, would have made more sense to snag Maia from his bout with Belcher.</p><p> </p><p> I will say that Condit and Hardy is probably the most relevant fight on the card so far, and with the right build up I could easily see them flipping it over to the main event, especially if Hardy starts overselling it and Condit makes plenty of mean scowly faces at the camera.</p><p> </p><p> Overall, I'm not really complaining at all considering I'm getting it for free and it's still a long way from October. Maybe a more favorable fight will get added, still a ways out.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I've been reliably informed that there is absolutely ZERO chance of another 'headline' bout being added to the card as things stand. I think the only chance we'd have is if Bisping/Hardy got injured in the very near future. Rumours of banana skins being left laying around the Wolfslair and Rough House are unfounded...</p><p> </p><p> On a serious note, the fights look good from top to bottom in terms of action. I'm looking forward to it...but then I don't have to pay for my ticket. I think if I did, I'd be very reluctant to fork out nearly £300 of my own money for my ticket. I'd still go, probably just sit a bit further back. </p><p> </p><p> I think Marshal Zelaznik hit the nail on the head though...the majority of fans complaining about the card on the internet are the hardcore fans...they'll buy a ticket anyway. The UFC do fantastic gates in the UK; until that changes in a big way, we're not going to get anything better. </p><p> </p><p> It is a slap in the face to see the increasingly stacked UFC 121 a week later and that Germany are getting Machida vs Rampage in November. I supposed 'Page's media profile will be a good lubricant for getting things done over there, what with the problems they're having.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="RingofHonorGuard" data-cite="RingofHonorGuard" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>If you had posted that video without all the betting information, I'd have given the benefit of the doubt to him just for the fact that when he got tagged in the gut, his reaction was very on course. Then he very unnaturally threw himself to the ground after getting "tagged" with a less-than-pillow punch. -If- he threw his career away then it had to be worth it to him... Dunno too many people who are successful(or even semi-successful) that would throw his trade away for a less-than-great statistical chance that they're making some bank.<p> </p><p> If that KO was legit though.... Gabe Ruediger called, and he wants his stomach back.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That's the thing...the dude is supposedly a bum...hasn't fought for three years or thereabouts. Knowing that and seeing the vid, you could say that he was just a flake and looked for the quickest way out after getting hurt/tagged. </p><p> </p><p> But when you know about the betting stuff...puts a whole new slant on it :-p</p>

WOW...not exactly MMA, but this is too bad/incredible to miss.... Danny Green, the fairly run-of-the-mill Australian boxer who upset Roy Jones Jr recently, fought last night against the largely insignificant Paul Briggs. Strangely, in the run up to the fight a huge number of bets were placed on Green to win by first-round (T)KO, one of the more uncommon results in boxing, especially when the fighters have winning records and more than 50 fights between them. According to one bookie, they recieved more bets on a 1st round KO for that fight than nearly every Australian boxing match they'd offered a market on combined in the last 20 years. Apparently at one point, bets were being put down at a rate of one every 30 seconds, some as high as $20,000USD. Then this happened... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EdbKsVIAk4 You can't really here it on the video, but Green was screaming "You dog, you're a dog!"...profanity obviously removed. He then grabbed a mic and said that Briggs what Briggs did was criminal, that he was a canine and he wouldn't be paid a cent. That has to be one of the worst, if not the worst, thrown fight I've ever seen. Briggs career is likely over is the word out of Australia...major bookmakers are considering not offering markets on Green's future fights either. Ahh, boxing. As sleazy as MMA can be, boxing always wins out in the dirtbag stakes...for now

I can't hate those guys, especially Flair. That crazy old man can do no wrong in my eyes :-p

Not really, no. He was using Sean Salmon for a long time. (In fact, that whole controversy about Salmon throwing a fight was because the Wolfy had him on a retainer to come and coach wrestling with them). There are some decent Iranian guys who do wrestling at the UK, some good English guys and some good Eastern Europeans too. But they have nothing on the quality of wrestling in the US as far as wrestling for MMA is concerned. Besides, he might have brought some guys in for a few days, but the majority of his non-stand-up coaching staff came from the states, with guys based in the UK coming in to spar. He brought Lance Gibson and Mike Dolce over with him. Besides, it's not uncommon for fighters to pay people to come in for 4 or five days.

I'm not really 'in to' wrestling as most here, but if Triple H isn't the best bag guy I've ever seen in wrestling then I don't know who is.