brashleyholland

Mark Hunt fighting at UFC 119!???!?!?!!!???? Say Whaaaaaat? :-p Oh, and Rodrigo Nogueira vs Frank Mir in the main event....possibly.

Lots to catch up on! Japan: Organised crime has, is and always will be a huge part of MMA, boxing, sumo (there was very recently a big betting scandal in Sumo actually), live music...the list goes on. Anything gambling related, ticket related...all sorts. Comparing Japan and China business wise is apples and oranges. Completely different attitudes and cultures in business. As for proof, I think I've posted some stuff way back in this thread about Yakuza involvement in the fight game...suffice to say it's 100% *NOT* rumour and speculation. Pride/K-1's links to organised crime were well publicised by the print press and TV in Japan, people have been arrested and convicted. Very important Yakuza can often be seen in special reserved seating at Pride and K-1 events. Look for a crazy old dude in a baseball cap who shakes hands with a lot of the fighters. Point being, it's all well documented and beyond speculation. I speak to Enson Inoue a fair bit, a former Pride fighter who is *very* well in with the Yakuza. The only reason he isn't sworn in to the Yakuza himself is that he's not actually Japanese...but he's basically as close as you'd get to being a Yakuza. I saw a picture a couple of weeks ago of him burning a 'family crest' tattoo off a guys palm with a lighter...seriously. Point being, I've seen lots of pictures of him at Yakuza meals/banquets etc that he is expected to attend. He snaps pics with his phone. The man is nuts. Zuffa can't be seen to do business with these people, because of the other business interests the brothers Fertitta have. It makes things very difficult for them. Funny really, considering their past and the current trade union allegations being made against them in the US (violence against members of staff who aren't 'playing along') :-p It's one thing to show your events in Japan, that's just like showing a TV show. But you can't just walk into Japan and 'do business'. You can't book buildings, distribute tickets, get TV/advertising contracts etc without the right people on your side. Who knows, maybe it'll happen one day...nothing is impossible when money is involved. Strikeforce/Fedor: They don't currently have a champion's clause, but the shoe is on the other foot now with regards to SF and M1. This time, M-1 are happy to proceed with the current contract and are asking for Werdum. Strikeforce want a renegotiation with a champion's clause for a fight with Overeem. M-1 will refuse to extend the contract and it will reach an impasse...it'll be Strikeforce's move from there. Could end up with Fedor vs Silva as there is apparently some kind of time limit on the contract...M1 are saying the fight will be October or November. Multiple UFC's on one night: As I understand it, you'd have one event in Australia on Sunday afternoon, one very late Saturday evening in the UK/EU and a regular/slightly earlier one in the US. Lets say for example; Sotiropoulos vs Kenny Florian as the main event in OZ, Bisping vs Marquardt as the main event in the UK and Rampage vs Shogun as the main event in the US. Then maybe Cro Cop vs Schaub, Hardy vs Fitch and Lil Nog vs Jon Jones as co-main events on the respective cards. The main events would be staggered by an hour, the PPV supercard you would by would be: Main: Rampage vs Shogun Co-Main: Bisping vs Marquardt Undercard: Florian vs Sotiropoulos, Jones vs Lil Nog, Cro Cop vs Schaub, Hardy vs Fitch It's ambitious, but they know they can sell out the UK and OZ with 'weaker' cards for a seven-figure gate...add three good gates to a big PPV buyrate for the 'supercard' (I know my examples aren't exactly a supercard) and hey-presto LOADS-A-MONEY!

My lasting memory of the Jaguar was that it had a joypad that looked like a phone.

Already happens. The infamous 'Locker Room Bonuses'. If you finish, or fight your ass off, you get taken care of. Keith Jardine made $14,000 ($7k/$7k) for beating Chuck Liddell, who made $500,000 disclosed, plus a cut of PPV's. Jardine was taken care of in the locker room to the tune of six-figures.

That was the one with the Mask talking head, right? That was pretty awful if memory serves, and waaay too long. I can't think of a tackier one, but the 'Koscheck Rap' from UFC has to be up there in awfulness. Note, that's a rap about Kos, not Kos rapping.

I'm struggling to get excited by anything Gomi-related at the moment. I'd talked myself into thinking that he might have refocused prior to the Florian fight, but watching Kenny neutralise him so effectively pretty much sealed the deal. It's a good match-up though, certainly has more potential than the original bout. Hopefully Gomi will bring everything he has and make a war out of it.

So...everyone sucks? :-p

I see your point. I'm just a firm believer in 'winning your way in'. I think he managed that in 2007 when he beat a still-hot Cro Cop, dropped out with back to back stoppage losses to Couture and Werdum, and hasn't beaten anyone in the top ten since. I certainly didn't have him in my top ten prior to the JDS fight, can't remember with the Carwin one. I just cant justify ranking someone who is 3-4 (all stoppages) in the top ten above the other contenders. That's always tricky. If someone loses a close decision, I try to avoid moving them down. I didn't move Shogun down after his 1st fight with Machida, for example. I treat any stoppage or submission the same though. If I beat you up for 24 mins and 59 seconds, then you knock me out with the final punch of the fight, you still found a way to beat me. There's no 'right' or 'wrong' way of doing it though; it's largely down to opinion.

He got knocked out by both of them in the first round. You can't move up based on losses. He didn't really get into gear at all against JDS. I just watched that fight funnily enough, he landed one good low kick and got a takedown which Dos Santos popped up from before he could establish control. He was winning the round against Carwin, but he got put to sleep the first time Shane landed anything significant. You don't get into my top ten by getting stopped by practically every top ten fighter you face. Since April 2007 he's beaten Justin McCully, Josh Hendricks and Chris Tuchscherer (in a fight that really shouldn't have been allowed to continue after the nut shot). AA was just hanging in the top 10 before the Silva fight IMO (which really speaks for the lack of depth at HW). Silva beat him and took his spot.

Erm....I heartily endorse that event or product! As it stands, these are the ones I'm in the process of writing up for the site. 1 Lesnar 2 Carwin 3 Velasquez 4 Dos Santos 5 Werdum 6 Fedor 7 Overeem 8 Mir 9 Nogueira 10 'Bigfoot' Silva Assuming Lesnar wins: 1 Lesnar 2 Velasquez 3 Carwin 4 JDS 5 Werdum 6 Fedor 7 Overeem 8 Mir 9 Nogueira 10 Silva Notes: Lesnar in the top spot after beating Carwin and Fedor losing. - JDS above Werdum due to recent win over him (well, recent in MMA terms) - Werdum above Fedor after beating him - Overeem in 7th purely because 8 and 9 have two very decisive losses from their last few fights - Silva at 10 almost by default after beating AA. He'll get bumped if Nelson beats JDS and enters the top 10.

Did you just discover the internet last year or something?

I know the one Salaverry did...wouldn't that compress the spine? I was thinking of these.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP4q7fWpAYg

I've only met him once myself and I didn't really speak to him outside of 'hello' because A) He was drunk and B) My Russian is limited to "Da", "Nostrovia" and "Stolichnaya" :-p But, I do know a couple of guys who shared a house with him when he was training at Golden Glory, and the truth is (without being disrespectful) that he is a very, very simple man. He's not educated, doesn't understand business...he went from literally growing up in poverty (real poverty - his entire family lived in one room of an appartment shared with four others), living on bread and potatoes, to the army, then the national Judo and Sambo teams, through to being picked up as a pro. At the time when he turned pro, he was essentially an employee of the state (as all Russian athletes were), and the state was in such a mess at the time (thanks to Yeltsin) that he was still essentially still in poverty. He was forced to go pro, and someone within the Govt hooked his coach up with Vadim Finkelstien through his brother, who is a big concert promoter in Russia. Point being, he's always been 'looked after'. From his coach, to the Army, to sport, all he's done is work, while others have taken care of the logistics. Think about it; the guy has no internet, can't read or speak English...If I was his manager I could tell him *anything*. It happens alot in football/soccer. Players are poached from education at 15/16 and do nothing but train and play football. They have managers, agents and club staff that take care of everything. I remember seeing an interview with Rio Ferdinand where he said that he didn't know how to change a tire, change a fuse or fit a washer to a leaky tap because they have a phone number given to them by their club that they call and someone takes care of it. It's a similar situation with Fedor, only he doesn't have the means/language/desire to know any better. In all fairness, they've secured a comfortable future for his family, which is all he ever wanted. That's just "what-if's" though. He's beat Buentello, Lee Tae-Hyun, Hunt, Goodridge, Tony Sylvester, James Thompson, Fujita and Rogers at HW. No matter what you think of Fedor's recent record, it's better than that. I see your point. You could say the same thing about JDS and Cro Cop though. Personally I'd put wins over Kongo, Rothwell and Nog over Cro Cop, Yvel and Gonzaga right now. The more I think about it, the less difference I see though. Doesn't matter if I think they would or not, I try to avoid hypotheticals as much as is possible. The way I see it, Josh dropped out when he pee'd hot. He needs to beat a top ten guy to get back in. Even without the steriod stuff, he's only fought once since Jan 2009, against Mighty Mo. I did have him pretty high (top five) before the drug test thing though, probably too high.

There are a couple of submission holds refered to the 'back breaker'...I couldn't imagine either of the ones I'm thinking off being possible/useful in MMA....can you describe the one you saw? The Unified Rules only references strikes to the spine as being a no-no, so I guess they'd be legal.

Sucks indeed, but sadly it was always going to happen in this kind of sport. Someone will die in the Octagon one day, unfortunatelly..then we'll see the sport's capacity to recover from a fighter death. That's what, two now, plus Doug Dedge in the Ukraine...that we know of. (There was also a guy in South Korea who died of a heart attack, but not much is known as to whether it was a direct result of the fight he was in). I'd say that's a pretty good safety record for a combat sport, but I hope that some good comes out of this situation with regards to better training for officials. I don't want to seem insensitive about what happened though, it's a sad situation indeed.

Absolutly not..what are you basing that on? If he only cared about the money he'd have taken the UFC's generous offer last year, for which one fight would have earned him more than this entire Strikeforce contract. Have you seen the guy's car, house and gym? He lives in a tiny mining town, has no internet or computer in his house and got his first TV (for his kids) two years ago. He drives an old Toyota that he didn't even buy; it was a present from the state. His home is small, even by a regular person's standards, let alone someone who is a millionaire a couple of times over. His managers, on the other hand, are lying, conniving scumbags who are interesting in little other than money...and I speak from personal experience having had dealings with a couple of them prior to M-1 Global ...and there's nothing wrong with a bit of good ol' Rebublican man love. Remember, it's not gay if you beat the guy up afterwards. How do you get Fedor below Overeem at HW? Or JDS over Velasquez, or Barnett in at all? Serious questions btw, I'm just interested in seeing how you got there

Here's a question...lets say Brock stops Carwin on Saturday...what does the HW ranking picture look like? I'm not a fan of having a top ten fighter ranked higher than someone who has beaten him recently, which make my rankings weird.. Again, this is assuming a solid stoppage victory for Lesnar on Saturday. 1 Lesnar 2 Velasquez 3 Carwin 4 JDS 5 Werdum 6 Fedor or, 1 Lesnar 2 Fedor 3 Carwin 4 Velasquez 5 JDS 6 Werdum

I agree with most of your points, but at the same time, you could look at the records of other 'top' HWs and do similar things. Brock: Couldn't finish Herring, who was a broken-down shell of his former self when they fought, as opposed to the #2-3 HW in the world that Fedor beat. 1-1 against Mir, a very beatable fighter. Couture, a old guy coming off a long lay-off who he outweighed by about 687lbs. Kim Min-Soo...yeah. Carwin: Beat Mir and Gonzaga, two guys who can't take a punch, prior to that was fighting on prelims and getting tagged by the likes of Neil Wain. Velasquez: Beat Kongo, a hugely one-dimentional fighter who trained about four times before the fight. Nogueira, who looks like a shambling Zombie version of his former self and Ben Rothwell, who is struggling past the likes of Gilbert Yvel. Don't get me wrong, I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here...I'm not discrediting any of the above at all. My theory is that you can only beat who is put infront of you, and I'd take Fedor's 32 wins and 10-years undefeated over the record of any other HW ever. Like you said though, the problem with Fedor is that he never fought Barnett of Kharitonov back then, and isn't fighting Brock, Shane and Cain now. For that reason, in my mind, whoever comes out with the most wins from the Brock/Carwin/Velasques/JDS quadrangle over the next few years or so will probably go down in history as 'the greatest' up to that point. Especially if one of them beat all three of the others.

It's a huge fight, especially following Fedor's loss. It'll be the first time in a long time that we can say "This guy is the current best HW in the world, fact". For me this fight is all about answering questions, because there are a lot of questionmarks surrounding both guys. - Can Brock take a punch? Conventional wisdom says yes purely based on his physical make-up, but he's never been hit so we don't know. - Can Brock operate off his back? Again, you'd think so given his credentials, but until we see someone put him there and keep him there, who knows? Is Carwin the man to do it? I guess we'll find out. One other thing to note on credentials; it's been a loooong time since Brock wrestled...it's not like he's Ben Askren. Does that matter? Again, we'll see... - Can Carwin last more than five minutes? He says 25 is no problem, but then he would. Until we see it in practise, we can only speculate. - Can Carwin deal with Brock's wrestling? I don't know much about the tallent gap between D1 and D2 wrestlers, but I'm told it's pretty sizable. Carwin is going to have to take the innitiative against Brock, and that will leave him open for the shot...can he deal with it, or will he end up on his back getting hammered into oblivion? - Is Brock healthy? I never back a guy coming of a year-plus layoff if they're in an even remotely even fight. That said, Carwin hasn't exactly been busy, and Brock's 'rookie' status means more time to train could actually benefit him. He's been training full time since Jan, FYI. Here's the interesting part though...last week someone on the UG posted something about Lesnar getting hurt in training and potentially pulling out of the fight. Typical troll stuff, but apparently this guy had been on the money a couple of times before, so my boss checked it out. He put a call in to somone in Brock's camp - a sparring partner - to see if there was any truth to it. Now, for full disclosure, this guy is a sparring partner, not a full time training partner, so he's not there all the time (or even most of the time) and is likely not privvy to all the inner-wrokings of the camp. It could be that he is literally brought in for two days at a time to spar, then leaves for a week etc. This guy said that Brock had picked up a knock, and there was talk of pulling him out from his trainers/coaches. We also contacted Brock's manager, but the official word there was that Brock would be 100% come fight time, which isn't really a confirmation or denial. When my boss contacted the source again (the next day, I believe) he said that there was a knock, but it was "Getting better by the hour". Take that for what it's worth...

Sorry, I've been busy crying into my Russian vokda while watching old Pride DVD's Two fights left for Werdum I believe, will try and find out for certain. I think Fedor thought Werdum was more hurt than he actually was, hence leaving the arm in such a bad possition. Lovely submission though, can't take a single thing away from him.

I've not seen any evidence of his career winding down at all. He's lost one, whats the big deal?

I don't even have it in me to get up and wipe.

It was going to happen one day. Bad game plan and he paid the price. I can't see how losing once in over 30 fights is in any way a letdown though...

I feel sorry for Goran Reljic, who will be losing out on a TON of sponsorship money after Spike! TV had his fight with Kendall Grove demoted to the unaired prelims after Grove made some unpleasent comments in the press about Spike's manipulation of TUF. As an FYI, fighters make much, much more money from their sponsors when their fight is broadcast on PPV as opposed to an unaired prelim. They make much, much more again if they are on a Spike! TV broadcast. So Kendall and Goran have basically gone from prime sponsorship real estate to a cursory payment. Usually if something happens that will affect a fighter's pay, the UFC takes care of them. For example, if a fighter is hurt at the last minute and they can't find a replacement, they pay the fighters anyway, as well as compensating them for lost sponsorship money. They also give fighters who come out on the wrong side of close, hard-fought decisions their 'win' money. You'd hope they are taking care of Goran, as it was Spike that dug their heels in and refused to feature his bout. Will be interesting to see what happens if the Spike fights end early and they need to fill time...

I'm with you on the Fedor/Werdum outcome...Werdum is just all kinds of wrong as an opponent for Fedor. If he doesn't get iced early on, Fedor will sit/stand in his guard and bounce his head off the mat for a couple of rounds. Cyborg is going to destroy this poor woman...she's what, one loss away from being a .500 fighter? Silly match up. Thompsom by submission in the first half of the fight I rekon. He can't afford to lose here, but at the same time he's more the type of the guy that will go all-out to finish this kind of fight than ride out a 'safe' decision (if there is such a thing). I'm taking Le over Smith. Absolutly agree that the first fight was no fluke; we know Smith can take a good kicking and come back throwing heavy leather, and Le looked like a strong breaze would have put him down towards the end of that fight. That said, I think Marshal Law is going to play it safe and keep his distance, especially in the third, and take a decision. Smith has said he's been prommissed a rubber match should he lose...good luck with that. Although this reminds me of the ugly conspiricy theories that were bubbling around the Le/Shamrock fight. Tinfoil hat time!