brashleyholland

OMGZ wat a N00b!!!1! Heh...I was really enjoying the event up until the Silva fight, which killed it for me. Absolutely disgraceful performance, which isn't something I say lightly about a professional fighter. Showboat if you want, talk trash if you must...but please, make a determined effort to finish the fight afterwards. I really don't know what kind of point Anderson was trying to prove against a late replacement, but he's put the UFC in a very awkward position in terms of promoting him in the future. He was already the worst drawing champion of the modern era, then you had the Cote and Leites fights that killed Anderson as a viable card-carrying main event attraction. The UFC wasn't expecting decent numbers for the Abu Dhabi PPV, yet they still had to put BJ Penn (who did 700,000 for his last PPV) in a co-feature. I'm interested to see how the relationship between Silva's management and the UFC goes after this. They've not been on the best of terms recently, but Soares had an army of top-shelf talent under his wing. There was a time last year when Little Nog was about to debut, Silva was comming off an incredible performance at 205, Machida was still the untouchable champ and Big Nog was a fight away from the heavyweight championship. Now you have Silva coming off a universally derided performance (again), Nogueira getting iced by Velasquez and a very real possibility that the Karate Kid won't hold the 205 title in a few weeks time...should be interesting to see how much leverage they have over Silva's next opponent now that Dana has officially (and publicly) put him in the dog house.

You're thinking of my good buddy Tom 'Kong' Watson. He's training at Jackson's now with GSP and co. and fighting in MFC, where he won his last fight with a sick head-kick KO. His next fight is back in the UK though against psudo-celeb Alex Reid, A.K.A. Jordan's boyfriend.

In some sad or amusing news, depending on how you look at it...The UFC has just done Ken Shamrock for another $175,000 in legal fee's following his ridiculous court case against them that was thrown out earlier this year....ouch! Kenny better hope he can get those grudge matches with Tank and Frank back on the agenda...

What's everyone thinking of TUF so far? Very 'same old, same old' so far for me. I hate reality TV, especially stuff as low brow as TUF...but in terms of doing it's job, I don't think they could do much better with it. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I know the finalists already...suffice to say there should be some good fights to watch. Still quite interested to see how the whole Liddell/Tito plays out. Chuck was very 'company man' when we asked him about it recently, but (POTENTIAL SPOILER IN WHITE!!!) I know people who have spoken to both Liddell and Franklin's camps and am hearing the same stuff that MMATurf broke earlier this week...namely that Franklin/Liddell is a go for the end of the season. That said, I do have a slight suspicion that the UFC might be trying to pull a fast one...

Watched the gimmick battle royal from WM17 recently. Even for that, which was little more than a big joke to cool the crowd, Heenan was amazing. His wit is so quick and he must have hours worth of one-liners saved up. Had me in stitches. There was a bit when the Repo Man came out and he said something like... Heenan: This guy repo'd his own car, he's nuts! Mean Gene: About 5 years ago he got my mother in law... Heenan: About 6 years ago everyone got your mother in law. ...perfect timing.

In my mind, the only way Anderson gets beaten by one of the current crop of middleweights is if he gets caught on the feet. It's an old cliche, but with these little gloves, anyone can get knocked out. We're all human after all. Except Minowa Man, who is clearly a superhero. I used to think that a great wrestler like Mo Lawal, Henderson or Sonnen would have the best chance of beating him by holding him down and working him over for five rounds...but following the Hendo fight my mind was changed. I don't think there is a wrestler in MMA (near Anderson's weight) that could pull off that strategy for 25 minutes. If Silva loses anytime soon, I think it's going to be a wild punch from a Belfort or someone of that ilk. I don't think there is anyone who can outstrike him, so actually landing that punch is another matter entirely. I hate to say it but right now, it might have to be a 'lucky' punch that topples the Spider.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="pate" data-cite="pate" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>CHRISTOPHER DANIELS UPDATE<p> By Mike Johnson on 2010-04-04 13:18:34</p><p> Since a few readers have asked, Christopher Daniels was indeed released from TNA this past Wednesday. He immediately contacted Ring of Honor and made the deal to debut at last night's Big Bang PPV.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Say whaaaaaaat? What a huge, huge waste! Still, at least they have a guy peddling a bi-sexual gimmick that will go down just great, and a dude who could very well end up in court on a moments notice, and his buddy who has never managed to make people care about him for the past 10 years, right?</p>

<p>I've said it before and I'll say it again, DVR numbers are meaningless. Ratings are used for one reason and one reason only; advertising sales. What's advertised, when it's advertised and how much they charge for it. They don't take DVR ratings into account for that. </p><p> </p><p> Plus, just because you DVR something doesn't mean you watch it. I have a ton of stuff that DVR's automatically, that I never watch.</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><p> </p><p> On the plus side the cool fights are coming up and if Ignashow's <strong><em>not doused in enough alcohol that he risks combusting should he walk past someone with a lit cigar</em></strong> we might see him knocking out Hari which would be pretty rad.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Fixed <img alt=":D" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

Good night of fights last night. - Pearson is comming on very well. Looked very sharp on the feet and more than comfortable on the ground, which is promising. Not the finished article yet, but one of the better guys to come out of TUF IMO. Not sure whats next for him, maybe Tibau or Sam Stout? I would have said Duane Ludwig had it not been for his recent ankle issue. - Wow, Nate Quarry lost me alot of money. We did an interview with him a few weeks ago and my editor pointed out that he didn't seem as posotive as when we'd spoken to him before and after the Credeur fight. He looked *very* stiff last night, almost robotic. It was a shooting gallery for Rivera, was surprised to see Nate make it out of the first. Will be interesting to see if anything comes out about an injury, but Quarry is the kind of guy to keep those things to himself. Next for Rivera could be someone like Sakara, or maybe even a rematch with Leben. - Nelson taught me where I have been going wrong all these years, hitting the pads when I should have been hitting Burger King. Ok, I have been hitting BK as well, but not to the extent of Big Country. Nelson looked great slipping the jab and folding Struve like an accordion. The Dutchman has a great-looking record, but it's padded with one dimentional kickboxers and brawlers from the European circuit. Not sure where he goes from here, but he's still young. Nelson should get Frank Mir next. Gonzaga or Kongo would make good opponnts too...but I don't see the point in 'building' someone who's already at Nelson's level. - I don't think many expected a different result in the main event, but there's always that part of you that wants guys like Gomi to recapture the magic, even if you don't believe they can. Florian was just too much for him on the night. I think there's still some entertaining fights for Gomi...Guillard, Guida and especially Nate Diaz...but if thats all he can do against Florian, then I dread to think what a Sherk, Griffin, Maynard etc will do to him. - One thing that really stuck out for me...how on earth were Uno and Tibau in the same weightclass? Tibau's arms were almost the size of Uno's waist! I'm not one of these people who calls for guys to drop a weightclass every time they lose, but some of these fighters used to training and fighting in Japan all there lives need to seriously think about fighting at their natural weight (againt guys potentially 20lbs heavier) or making a small cut/losing weight.

I think everybody in the world picked Quarry for that one. Definitely an upset. Quarry looked stiff as anything.

Couple of things... - Sky is a TV provider, not a channel. Bravo (TNA's channel) is available on Sky and Virgin Media, the UK's other big subscription TV provider. - WWE isn't on the regular Sky package, it's on Sky Sports. To get that, you not only have to have pay a monthly subscription for Sky, you have to pay an additional monthly subscription on top of that (which basically doubles your monthly payment for just four sports channels). You cannot just get the sports. Sky Sports is also available on Virgin Media, but is even more expensive. - Bravo is available on the most basic packages on both platforms. - Sky has about over nine million subscribers. Virgin Media has about three and a half to four million. Across both platforms, only about six million have Sky Sports. So realistically, WWE is only available to six million, whereas TNA is available to around 13 million. Also like you said, RAW starts at 3am on a Monday night, so if you have work or school, you're unlikely to watch the initial airing. The only reason that PPV's are 'free' in the UK is that we haven't really been conditioned to pay for our TV at all, at least not as long as folks in the states. We didn't get cable until the late-ish 90's, and 'pay TV' only really kicked off past the turn of the century. PPV simply doesn't sell in the UK. One reason is time, obviously. If you have work or school on Monday morning, you can't stay up until 4am and you're less likely to pay to see something that isn't live. If TNA started putting shows on free TV in the states, they'd have a nightmare getting people to pay for them again in the future. You're assuming that they would get more viewers because the show would be free, but that would be more likely to work the opposite manner. If you pay for a PPV, you're unlikely to turn off after the first hour even if it sucks. It doesn't even matter if you do, because you've already paid. TNA is struggling to get people to watch a 2 hr TV show...if the 'PPV's' are on TV, people will turn off if they suck. So not only wont they be getting PPV revenue, they'd have the potential to lose viewers. People will sit through three hours of 'meh' that they've paid for. They'll turn over after 1 hour of 'meh' on TV.

I don't believe any fighter who says they're back to their best etc without proving it. I call it the 'Brandon Vera Rule'. Gomi has been all talk for nearly five years now; but we've seen *nothing* to suggest that he's recaptured he old form or old motivation. Here's the Gomi situation as I see it: Five years ago he was the 'ace' of Japanese MMA. He was cheaper and a hell of a lot more competitive than Yoshida/Ogawa, but still could pretty much write his own cheques in Pride. When Pride went bump he was the centre of a bidding war between SRC and FEG. He probably went to the wrong side, but that's retrospect. SRC now can't get the money together that he wants and FEG don't want him. There is such little faith in Gomi in Japan right now that a Gomi/Aoki superfight isn't considered a viable fight. That tells you how much Gomi has fallen. He's now in a tough situation in an organisation that has no vested interest in protecting him, letting him come in heavy, not suspending him when he assaults fighters after the bell while being dragged away by officials and refs etc... The UFC has such little faith in Gomi that they can't afford to give him a warm-up match in case he loses. It's 'go big or go home'. On the plus side, he's parleyed the situation into an immediate title shot if he puts Kenny away, but I wouldn't put $$$ on it. I'm thinking that Gomi might do a little better than most expect, but ultimately Kenny works him for three rounds for a decision. My picks are here (cheap plug): http://www.mmabay.co.uk/2010/03/30/mmabay%E2%80%99s-ufc-fight-night-21-florian-vs-gomi-pre-event-preview-predictions/

I'll say this for it...having a half naked 240lb bisexual wrapped in yellow tape up in the rafters makes me more wary of going up there than Sting ever did...

It doesn't matter what we can glean from that because DVR figures mean nothing. The only reason people talk about things like DVR numbers is because their live numbers aren't good enough. It's classic spin. People have been recording things since the 80's, all of a sudden DVR numbers count? Nah, not having that. Spike TV isn't interested in DVR numbers because they can't use them to sell advertising. It wouldn't matter to them, or TNA, if 10 million people DVR'd it every week. They're not watching live, which is the whole point of ratings in the first place. If people are aware of it and making an informed decision not to watch, then that's even worse than not being aware of it in the first place.

According to ratings, it isn't working...

No, we probably have very similar expectations of what they can do in the ring - not a whole lot. My expectations were regarding the 'segment' rather than the match. Hart getting his revenge on Vince should have been an epic moment, instead it was an overly long, awkward mess. The Hart lumberjacks thing was stupid. Out of the blue, made no sense at all. Brett clearly is in no condition to perform, which is fine - it's not his fault. But then why have him perform at all? Why not have Brett and Vince as managers for Cena and Batista? You can do the 'Brett beats down Vince and puts him in the Sharpshooter' spot during the match when the principles are laid out or otherwise occupied. It would have gotten the same, if not more pop and would have added something to Cena/Batista. Even as a stand-alone match, they could have done so much better. Brett roughs Vince up, throws him to the lumberjacks, gets him back, hits him with the chair, puts him in the Sharpshooter. All done in a couple of minutes. Brett kinda looked like a bad guys at some points during that needlessly long beatdown...

I was expecting a little more than that...

Was it just me, or was the Hart/Vince 'bout' absolute garbage?

Spot on. I think we're going to end up seeing a lot more of that as time goes by and more money is involved. With guys like GSP, it pays not to lose. Lol, I can't remember off the top of my head...Doofus or something?

Will probably get to speak to him once he's back in Nottingham and back in the gym. Hopefully get an interview with him and link it here. Totally agree. I think it's partly down to sour grapes, partly due to people wanting to see GSP get hurt, beaten or just put in a bad position. I wouldn't call what he did lay and pray, he was very active. His positioning was great as well; if you know your positions and set ups you could see him setting up shoulder and arm locks quite a few times without actually going for them. Could he have done more? Maybe, but he's in a fight - why take risks against a guy who is there to hurt you? Again, totally agree. You don't stop punching, kicking, cranking or squeezing until the ref stops the fight. It's not the fighter's responsibility - it's the refs. Now if you hold on after the ref stops it (which Palhares did) then you pay the price. Babalu got the can, but I doubt this will go any further. It was a split second thing and he was in the heat of the moment, whereas Babalu admitted that he was trying to put the guy out.

Question: Did you feel ripped off, or was it value for money. I think we're far too kind to the UFC here in the UK simply because we don't have to drop $55 on each card...

Fitch is in that awkward possition whereby if he loses, he'll be busted down to the bottom of the pile by virture of the fact that he's such a grinder. It's the Yushin Okami rule :-p There's simply no incentive to go all out (even against guys he should be able to blow right through) when he can take a comfortable decision. At this point the only fight I'm interested in seeing is Fitch vs Kos, just to see those two fight each other. Maybe Penn could give him a good scrap too....just no more middle of the road welterweights. That was a really fun fight. Good to see 'Batman' sticking to the plan as well; wear him out in the first and go for the finish when he's tired. Interesting fact: Anderson Silva was forced to change his nickname from 'Spiderman' to the Spider when he signed with the UFC...yet Kurt gets to keep 'Batman'...I guess DC are more liberal :-p Weight cutting doesn't come into it really...by the time you fight you have alot of the weight you have 'cut' back on you, it's just any mass you've dieted off in the preceeding weeks. That can't acount for how big Lesnar looked. He's 280 right now, excactly the same as Carwin walks around at...the man is a freak of nature. Agreed about the ref too...when Mir was sprawled at the end, the ref should have called it after the first shot. Thankfully the others weren't as clean, but still, ref gave Mir too much respect there. I think they've run the course of finding opponants who can beat GSP now; they know they aren't going to find any at 170 just yet. Especially with Alves and Hardy, it's become a case of finding opponants that the public will get behind. Most 'casual' fans here in the UK were predicting a Hardy KO lat night...anyone with a passing knowledge of the fighters didn't give him a chance in hell. Still, they built a good image around him, got people to buy into the 'mouthy, trash-talking punk' image. Dan is absolutly nothing like the above in 'real life'...he's quite reserved, chilled out and loves the ninja turtles cartoon. Thats why the Mohawk is red btw, Raphael...seriously. Moving forward, they're going to have to find another guy who they can promote like that. Daley *is* as mouthy as he comes accross on camera, Paulo Thiago has the whole 'Brazilian SWAT team' thing going on, so maybe that would work...I guess people could get into a second Kos fight, moreso that a second Fitch fight anyway. One last thing...Hardy looked a lot bigger than GSP last night. Dan is 190+ come belltime...with all this talk of GSP to middleweight, you have to wonder how he'd do against someone like Sonnen, Silva etc who will dwarf him *and* know how to use their size.

Sorry, explain again how he's overrated? Overrated means people view him as being significantly better than he actually is, which isn't the case with Mir at all. People view him as one of the best heavyweight grapplers in the world, who struggles when he gets hit. He was a slight favourite going in to this one, but I didn't see the world and his wife writing Carwin of as a formality. Most of the sports books reflected that. In fact, I think one of the only people touting the 'new and improved Mir' was Mir himself; most people have just questioned how much he added weight is going to hamper him against naturally bigger men. So no, I wouldn't say that Mir was overrated at all.

Exactly...most of them wont go to the WWE, because the have everyone they need/want. So they'll go overseas, do the indy thing...if TNA needs to pick them up again in 6 months or a year, most of them would still be availible.