jesterx7769
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Posts posted by jesterx7769
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Just read that a bit ago. I hope if they can get a few it will create a sort of landslide effect that will have alot of the top Japanese guys seeing (hopefully) how well the UFC treats them.
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The problem is that without the Showtime deal, they're nothing.Showtime pay around $1,000,000 per show to Strikeforce at the moment. That's the only way they can afford to cover the contracts of guys like Diaz, Fedor, Hendo...basically anyone with any value.in relative terms, nobody knows who they are.
Doesn't this explain their problem though and how their business plan makes no sense? I knew that Showtime gave them money and while it is not "you" that is wrong, its them.
This and they basically say they exist because of Showtime, it allows them to pay "big names" (that aren't that big) for no one to see. How is that a competent business plan? To me its a big slap in the face that our business model is awful and since we cannot afford these big names maybe we shouldn't have them and should actually try building up a promotion. Paying Hendo lots of money makes no sense if 300,000 people watch while 2 million watch TUF finale.
If they can't pay the big guys too bad, don't sign them, thats any survival of the fittest or business plan. Instead of having guys like Hendo/Fedor/Nick that ask for alot of money stick to your cross promotion and own guys like King Mo, Rogers, JC, Mayhem, Shields (instead of throwing him under the bus) while building up some of new guys.
That's why I love Bellator. They seem to actually have a building block plan. Do they draw millions upon millions and swim in cash? No. But maybe one day they will and they understand that.
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Well no one knew it would be stacked with loads of exciting KO's before hand, but hopefully this will help them on their next card.
Their Showtime deal is awful IMO, I would have watched but I don't get Showtime! Way to try to build pop/rep by having your shows on a premium network. I know they are negotiating with a main network again but not every show has to be on primetime CBS either, just go the Bellator route with a low basic cable channel that lots of house holds have. Having big names doesn't matter if people don't even have the channel to watch.
The TUF card wasn't a very good one either though, even for an TUF show. As was previously discussed Bonnar is somewhat mainstream popular (they had him MMA Live on ESPN since he guest hosts which helps) but its clear he is not in title contention which makes it hard to tune in for him especially when his opponent is unkown. Then Maia is a former title contender but with zero charisma or mainstream popularity, which I guess Grove may have a little but he goes back to not being an immediate contender.
Strikeforce is jacked up, plain and simple. People hate Dana and his negative comments on other promotions but he is right about Strikeforce. 2010 has been a very dissapointing year for them. 2009 was a coming out and everyone thought okay now lets see what they can do. But just look...
- Fedor losses in quick fashion...then doesn't fight again this year
- The man who beat him is a foregin non U.S. popular UFC dump off (compared to if Brett Rogers won)...who hasn't fought again this year..
- Hendo loses to Shields...
- Then Shields leaves...
- The post fight brawl which many believe and have posted some evidence it was somewhat rigged hasn't boosted pop like they may have hoped and is still more of a black eye
- Haven't returend to main network since, only one main network show when they anticipated atleast 3/4
- Walker just had to pull out, one of their main draws
- Signed Arlovski...who lost (again)
- HW Champ once again barely competed only fighting once
- The WW tournament that was supposed to be big was a major flop
- Signed Barnett...who hasn't fought and his CSAC thing is still jumbled
- Their charismatic and growing mainstream popular LHW champ King Mo loses
- No Diaz vs. Mayhem, which would have been a huge draw
- No return of Carano
- Only one fight for Melendez and no rumored Aoki rematch
Props for them for staying around but they really are nothing more than their Strikeforce Challengers series right now and business/promotion wise have been awful.
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Wow I'm a little shocked you were critical of him since I know you liked him from his time at Wolfslair, I expected a defense.
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<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>Just for the record Machida's last, like, four fights have all been decent to very good while Rampage's last four fights include two boring decisions and almost losing to Keith Jardine.<p> </p><p> Rampage is a remarkable physical specimen with an iron chin, pretty good wrestling, solid boxing fundamentals when he wants to and massive KO power. After having the best performances of his life against Hendo and Chuck he promptly replaced his trainer with a cadre of stupid yes-men after losing against Forrest and then decided to stop doing silly things like setting up his punches or wrestle. Instead he's going to plod forwards while missing hooks and then whine about his opponent's not coming to fight if they do anything else than headbutt his hands.</p><p> </p><p> This is why I don't like Rampage!</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> lol I was typing my not liking Rampage when you were</p>
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<p>Rampage has been somewhat boring and just utilizing his "stand and wait" strategy of counter punching (the equivalent of lay and praying) so honestly I've lost respect for him for all the trash he's been talking about boring his last couple fights. He criticized Rashad and how many punches did Rampage even throw in that fight? 30? Sorry your opponent didn't stand throw wild punches with you like you wanted, maybe you should ask him to lay flat so you can just get down and choke him out. Sure this works against aggressive guys i.e. the Liddell, Wanderlei, and Jardine fight but if Jardine wasn't so aggressive at the end continuing to stand and trade he wouldn't have been knocked down which one judge said is why he gave that round (and fight) to Rampage. but against disciplined guys like Rashad, Forrest (who relied on leg kicks instead of standing and trading punches the whole time) and now Machida, I just don't see it playing in his favor as I see Machida jumping in and out with the fight looking much more like Machida vs. Shogun 1 waiting to catch him when Rampage should be aggressive and put the pressure on like Machida vs. Shogun 2.</p><p> </p><p>
Now I would love to see Rampage come out aggressive, go for a takedown, work some serious GnP maybe setting up a big KO on the feet but thats just not how he's been fighting, he talks like he's an all out predator KO king ala Chuck but his style has been much more of a powerful counter puncher, and if thats what he wants to be fine, just dont pretend to be something youre not and criticize others for not standing and trading since that big counter punch hook has been your only weapon you've been utilizing.</p><p> </p><p>
Machida wasn't boring at all against Rashad either, he put on some pretty impressive striking and Shogun 2 was good, but I will grant their first fight was boring but I think Lyoto was waiting for Shogun to be super aggressive and it just never came.</p><p> </p><p>
Hughes and Penn, I've gone back and forth and just can't pick a winner. Yes Hughes has been on a role which I thought may be a plus but maybe that will make him overconfident and not train as hard thinking "well i've been winning" where BJ being down could be a negative but maybe he's desperate.</p><p> </p><p>
It won't happen but if he loses I would like to see him take the effort to cut to 145 and become champion so he could be champion in 3 weight classes, but if he loses he'll probably go back to 155 picking up his big paychecks fighting a contender or two before he goes after the title again</p>
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<p>I think its a bit odd there hasn't been much solid talk about who the coaches will be. It seems with past seasons the coaches were known well in advance but right now so many top guys are set to fight and such its hard to imagine who will be coaches.</p><p> </p><p>
LW title fight has a set date, WW clearly wont be done again as coach, MW date is set, LHW date is "set", HW's aren't perhaps Cain and JDS will be coaches, but I don't think they would want to have two coaches that could be hard to understand and need some subtitles</p><p> </p><p>
Faber/Torres def. makes sense from that stand point, idk if they'd want smaller guys coaching WW/MWs though</p>
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<p>I was just looking up the 124 card for the date to request off work and the card is kinda disappointing to me, I guess thats what they do when they have GSP as the main event. </p><p> </p><p>
-Struve vs. McCorkle is the Co and while I think its interesting to see its so far off from Hughes/Penn or even being a main event on a free Spike card which I think is a good definition of a co main event ATLEAST(that it could headline on free tv) </p><p> </p><p>
- Miller vs. Olivera, once again, its interesting as I want to see Olivera submit someone but nothing super special.</p><p> </p><p>
- Stephenson vs. Danzig, will probably be entertaining but both coming off losses so it doesnt have alot of steam.</p><p> </p><p>
- Alves vs. Howard, which is actually the second most match I want to see on the card and is just fine.</p><p> </p><p>
Prelims are pretty decent, hopefully Bocek/Hazelett makes it to the main card</p><p> </p><p>
However what really got me going was how AWESOME 125 looks.</p><p> </p><p>
- Edgar vs. Maynard, I know these two aren't popular but it will most likely be a war, I don't see Maynard just sitting back like he did against Diaz and Edgar has been aggressive anyways. You know Maynard wants to show him beating Edgar before wasn't a fluke</p><p> </p><p>
- Aldo vs. Grispi, had me at Aldo, hope he just destroys him like he did Faber's leg.</p><p> </p><p>
- Guida vs. Gomi, umm awesome?</p><p> </p><p>
- Diaz vs. Kim, umm awesome? (like Nate Diaz)</p><p> </p><p>
- Leben vs. Stann, umm awesome? (for being the opener) I watched Stann back when he was in the WEC and he is a guy that brings it and we know Leben is aggressive so this should be great.</p><p> </p><p>
BUT look at the undercard as well!</p><p> </p><p>
- Vera vs. Silva- why is this an undercard! put it on 124 I love Thiago!</p><p>
-Davis vs. Stephens- once again two guys who always bring it, awesome and could be a main card fight</p><p>
- then Mike Brown! WTF!? He's on the undercard come on! </p><p> </p><p>
UFC 125 is total kick ass card</p>
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Seems like a very cool way to make a modern Sumo sport.
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Two big announcements for the price of one... well done Mr White, you have excelled yourself
The network was just rumored thats what the press conference, that isn't happening (as of now) just the UFC/WEC merger was part of the announcement.
Here is a problem I have though, unless I am just reading the articles and media wrong, I haven't read any quotes but White actually say Aldo IS the first FW UFC champion now? Because it seems to me the winner of the Jan. 1st bout would be the first UFC FW champ, not the WEC guy. Just a little peved if they bill him as that instead of the winner will be the first champ.
However LOVE the decision like most, ratings and buy rates have showed the sport is not over saturated and it means more good guys to plug onto the cards, I am surprised they didn't do this before when Urijah was huge or try to get him up to 155 (i know he was small anyways hence the now 145)
BTW love Ben Henderson, lots of energy, gotta love that.
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Oh Snap a UFC tv network? Man, talk about lots of possibilities. The biggest thing in my mind is what package they would be a part of. If it was the standard package like the Big 10 network finally got that would be awesome, if it was stuck into some upgraded packaged I dont know.
The first thing I thought was, do they really have enough footage/shows to make a real network out of it. I guess they do actually have a lot when you figure each of these that are usually 30 minutes could be an hour long
- Best of Pride
- Ultimate KO's
- Ultimate Submissions
- Best of a certain year
- Best of a certain fighter
- All Access for a certain fighter
- Every single actual PPV, different one each week?
- Each of those same categories for the WEC
- Interview type show like MMA Live
- You would be able to see all prelims
- weigh ins
- event documentaries i.e. footage of travel to the UK
- they want to do TUF in many countries so throw those on here
- give a fighter his own weekly show that would want it
- Ring Girl specials
- new TUF could be 3 hours long, one hour preshow recap and interview, new show, then post show interviews/analyzing
- Sponsor shows, i.e. the tapout one, or any other program your sponsor wants to come up with
more and more
Plus new PPV's could be all day live coverage talking to people through out the day and showing people hitting the pads and working out all sorts of bull to make it a whole day event
then from like 2-7 all infomercials like most other networks do
Then I thought, well sure they have all that footage but it would be all gone in a year. WRONG! They can just customize those shows for the current card and fighters giving them basically all sorts of hype for the upcoming PPV, screw all Access of just Brock, follow Shields and Kampmann around.
While I don't think this will be MINDBLOWING, I can actually see it working and have people tune into stuff that aren't watching the things on Spike right now, after all aren't those some of Spike's highest rated shows?
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edited to other thread.
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The reason why I ask is... well, I saw a recent clip of a Bellator match, where a Judo user does a defensive judo throw out of nowhere, almost. The guy was knocked down, and his opponent almost got his back... then BAM, a Judo Throw. It was quite nice thing to see. I've seen them before in MMA, but they always looked obvious and the opponents seem to recover quickly from it. Not this time. It got the other good.
Watch Karo Parysian's UFC fights. Also Maia had a pretty nice throw against Sonnen which set up the triangle so he def. has some judo in his arsenal. Jone Jones also uses them occasionally. I would also say Judo throws aren't used as much since it cannot alone finish a fight. You learn Jiu-Jitsu so you can choke, arm bar, and escape those moves, you learn boxing and muay thai so you can attack someone, a pure judo person who hasn't trained w/o a gui doesn't really have any significant advantage in a fight. Same reason alot of pure BJJ guys havent done well since they havent trained no gui that long and are used to the gui for their techniques. While a throw may look look cool and give you good position a quick double leg shoot and good positioning and accomplish the same thing.
Lets see..good card overall and I was excited for it eventhough I wasn't excited for Cain/Lesnar.
Lawlor vs. Cote= boring and usually those types of wins don't escalate a fighter so I expect the same type of undercard fight for Lawlor. Dissapointed in Cote's back to back losses since returning, if they dont cut him I expect him to fight a pure stand up fighter.
McGee won by triangle, big surprise, glad he won though on Spike to actually follow some TUF hype, curious what they will do next with him opponent wise.
Schaub vs. Gonzalez, I think most thought Schaub would win, it was a little slow but glad Schaub won since I dont like Gonzalez, don't agree with him calling out Mir as I think Mir beats him without too much trouble.
Ortiz Hammill, it seemed not alot on boards cared about this fight. I used to be a big Ortiz fan but he's plain and simple out and done unless he's fighting Shamrock. Don't really buy Hammill as a 205 contender either so lets see what they do with him, most of the 205 is booked right now so we'll probably have to wait awhile.
Diego/Paulo, REALLY glad Diego won as I said in my predictions and he looked good. I felt bad for him for losing to Hathaway, the Penn loss wasn't a big deal to me, I just thought Diego was waaay to cautious in that fight. Then he got dominated. Glad he is back and we will see who he fights next.
as one article mentioned he has 3 FOTN's in his last 5 fights, if he chooses to fight at 170 how about a Dan Hardy match up? That would at least be entertaining.
Shields/Kampmann: So wow, this fight was won of the best grappling fights I have seen that I can remember. Most ground fights go like Cote/lawlor but these guys were very active and made all sorts of great transitions and reversals. I def. thought it would be 29-28 for someone and UFC got their wish with Shields. Kampann is very very good MMA wrestler though, he did a great job securing hooks and maintaining position when people thought he would get dominated there. Shields said he cut 20 lbs in 24 hours which he admits was dumb and won't be doing that anymore. I thought it was an entertaining fight that actually rose Kampmann's status more than Shields so we'll see what happens with Shields.
Lesnar vs Cain: I was one of the many who said Lesnar would dominate but Cain's MMA wrestling proved to be great. Brock got rocked a little bit and I think he was totally dazed when he was on the ground as he wasn't trying to close guard or improve his position just laying there. Some can argue the stoppage was a bit premature but I dont think Brock would last much longer.
Whoever said Brock has a weak chin is seriously pulling that out of his rear end, how does he have a weak chin? Carwin didn't KO him and Cain didn't either, losing by TKO because someone is on top of you throwing 50 punches doesn't mean you have a weak chin, it means you are human since the human head isn't meant to get hit 50 times in 60 seconds. He got hit, tried running away a little dazed and fell which as we saw leads to more shots raining down. Its like when people say GSP has poor submission defense and a weak chin since he's been sub'd once and lost once to a TKO out of all those fights. What I do agree with and what others are saying he doesn't like to get hit and Dana somewhat admitted this when saying his defensive boxing isn't there. His strength is his power and he knows it and basis his gameplan for all his fights around it. Once you start clipping him he has panicked his last two fights since those were the only times he has actually had to deal with being punched (Herring didn't land squat, Couture didn't, and Mir didn't in either fight). One big question I have for Lesnar though is his wrestling now since being a successful MMA wrestler means taking shots and successful striking , example GSP vs. Alves as he would lead him to exchange taking a fews hots then shoot. Carwin stuffed him in round 1 but admitted the acid build up in his legs totally made him dead for round two. versus Cain Lesnar took him down twice only to get back up so they def. need to work on something since this "ultimate double leg" doesn't seem to be cutting it against better and bigger HW's. No clue what is next for him. I see a long lay off due to the cut, him not needing money, and a lack of a real stand out opponent, although I do think whooping Kongo's ass would be most entertaining and deserved.
I am looking forward to Dos Santos vs. Cain though more than this past fight. I've liked watching Dos Santos and his quick striking and KO's. While either could knock each other out in round 1 I hope its a high action packed fight leading to a decision or a 5th round KO, but only one HW's title fight I can recall has gone 5 rounds in the UFC
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I would rather see him go against Marquardt/Okami loser or Maia if he wins, while the Wanderlei rematch might satisfy him personally I just dont see the gains from it, Wanderlei isn't considered a top 10 fighter anymore and everyones kind of accepted that by now. Of course since he did lose to him Bispings chances of losing to Wanderlei are quite possible which would throw him off the "title track" that he's on...13 fights and five years later... I just don't think the gains outweight the losses. If he wins its "yeah well you really should have won the first fight as well and Wanderlei's far from his prime" if he loses its an i told you so and push the reset on the title run. Wish there was a legit top guy for him to fight right now to test himself. I guess there's also Anthony Johnson if he decides to fight at 185 when he returns.
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Here's the problem. Competitively speaking, there should be a split in the Heavyweight Division. The problem is... well, there isn't enough talent to do it. I bet we will see a filler division between Welterweight and Middleweight, and between Middleweight and Light-Heavyweight, before we ever will see a split in the Heavyweight division. There's simple not enough people, especially talented people, to make a division.
While I was totally opposed to a "cruiserweight" division before and I think White is opposed to it, I actually can see one coming to in the next say 5-10 years with MMA's growth. The reason being that long is right now like you said the talent isn't there from the big guy standpoint at least, Lesnar was really the first big 265 lb man of his kind that wasn't a big slouch like Syliva or a big fat guy that could be easily out done technically by a smaller guy: see Fedor vs. Choi. However with MMA's popularity growing college HW wrestlers can now make the career choice to go into MMA, so instead of hearing how Aaron Simpson is such a great Arizona State wrestler...13 years ago... we will be hearing how X just won the HW NCAA a year or two ago. Also I imagine a lot of huge football players that do not make it in the NFL will now transition to MMA after college.
A good example I think for this would be Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He was a starting DE who hurt his knee leaving out any possibility of an NFL draft prospect, played in the CFL then decided to go into wrestling simply because of his family. What if a big athletic 6'4 255 guy like that had MMA to go into where he could make millions? So I really believe the future holds a breeding ground for Lesnar/Carwin HW's instead of the 225 Couture mold and we will either see A) No HW's under 230/240 and they all just cut to 205, or there will be so many 230ish guys they create a division.
Edit: 20 more minutes to kill at work so figured I would try to estimate the CW and HW divisions
Cruiserweight, lets say 230/235 limit
Werdum,
Fedor,
Dos Santos
Nog
Arlovski
Cain
Couture
Yvel
Kongo
Pat Berry
Cro Cop
Coleman
Heavyweight
Lesnar
Carwin
Mir
Overeem
Big Foot
Barnett
Nelson
Rogers
Rothwell
Schaub
Gonzalez
Madsen
Travis Browne
Sylvia
Buentello
Hardonik
This was just my quick run down of who I could think of in my head and I threw a few guys in at CW that I think would cut to it or prefer to fight at that weight instead of 205 since they were small HW's before.
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Big fights on Bellator tonight...actually its on now. But my post has to do with the Olympics. Just read something about Dana White talking about MMA as a olympic sport and how he wants it to happen. But if it was it seemed he would not want his fighters fighting in it against other fighters in orgs like Strikeforce and such. Unless he would never intend for his big name fighters to be in it? dunno how all that would work.
I think it would work just fine without big names since there is no way you could consistently have big names fighting in it and also the Olympics isn't really about star power at all unlike the UFC. The big names would have to clear their schedules like a year in advance to guarantee perfect health. I think it would work just fine with amateurs or even pros that are not tied to contracts i.e. take an Olympic contract instead. I think this would also help the sport grow because then organizations like the UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Dream, could sign Gold medal winners and they would instantly gain recognition.
I def. think the talent is there for a really good turn out, the problem I have with it is the injury factor. The Olympics are only about two to three weeks, the 2012 games run from July 27th to August 12th. So how many times are you going to have guys fight in that short of time frame? What if it is an all out war and someone cannot fight? I think this would have to be like a year long process and only display the finals for the weight classes during the actual Olympics live (you of course could show the qualifying matches that were recorded earlier in the year), after all other sports do similar elimination type things for seedings and what not. But still, injuries become the biggest problem since its such a dangerous sport but I think its worth a try even with toned down rules.
edit: I think a good trial run approach would be to try and do something like the Goodwill games or a world cup of MMA between a select group of countries. For example take Japan, Canada, US, and UK since those seems to be the most popular areas, maybe France/Germany/Netherlands/ Korea as well, Name a coach for each country who would pick one fighter for each weight class be represented and run the mini-tournament over the next six months to a year aka Bellator style. I think this would be similar to the format the Olympics would need but it would be a slow injection with room for trial and error.
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I'm actually not really excited for Lesnar/Cain at all as I don't see what Cain is really bringing that is all that different and it isn't as if he has been bulldozing people to get here, while he has beaten some quality names he hasn't even really beaten a top 10 HW, Kongo is def. not (already addressed my displeasure of him earlier) and Nog is def. not himself, I think it was BH who said he fought in Australia because they didnt know if the US would sanction b/c of his eye, so unfortunately I see Lesnar eventually taking him down and I'll say he goes for another submission. I can see Cain maybe outstriking Brock with his quickness here and there but I dont think it will be enough to catch him standing with a quick KO and that Lesnar will eventually take him down. I will be rooting for Cain not out of Brock hate but just b/c I like the idea of a dominate champ losing so he can build himself back up.
Rest of card:
Want shields but I'm in agreement that I can see Kampann winning.
I say Diego gets back on track, hopefully or I will feel bad for him since he had the dominate string of fights.
Schaub just b/c I don't like Gonzaga
Hammill, I think Ortiz is done and has been and I am a believer in ring rust and while Hammill has been out Ortiz has been out forever.
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No, there WERE three judges. They all judged it 28-28, as did I.
You're right, I looked up a play by play. I thought I heard Buffer say "Both judges scored the fight.." but I just misheard.
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Since there's a lot of UK'ers, who all do you want Bisping to fight next? The MW division is pretty booked up at the moment so he may be waiting until the UFC goes back to the UK in the spring once the upcoming matches play out (that is just me guessing they will go to the UK 3 times next year)
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Kongo vs. Browne is messed up. Does the UK really only use two judges? Did no one stop to think "hey we might need a tie breaker", is it that way for boxing as well over there since most places just use local boxing judges? I've never been a believer in Kongo and I dont really see how the judge had him winning that fight. He didn't land anything on Browne except for severely messing up his left leg. However Browne wasnt much better after round 1 which I was amazed he didnt go in and KO him. I dont think he gassed so much like someone said but rather it was his leg. Had a feeling Kongo would lose after the way he talked about Browne in his prefight interview. Also loved how they said his Buentello win was impressive when that was a sad win as well.
Hathaway dissapointed all, Pyle was really strong. Dissapointed he didnt finish in the second though.
Hardy and Condit, I know there are a lot of UK'ers on here so I am prepared for the hate but can we all please just step back and realize how over rated Hardy is and that he is not a top WW? I was a fan of his when he first started fighting for the UFC and was curious to see him grow then they just kicked on the hype machine and threw him into the title fight and haven't liked him since. Being charismatic while Buffer introduces doesn't make you a top fighter, especially when you've never beat a top 10 fighter.Can we also stop talking about him being a one hit KO artist as Rogan kept saying as he now only has 1 KO in his 6 UFC fights? Sure he has a lot of other KO's but that wasn't in the UFC and if he really is such a dangerous striker why has the power only come out once? Good KO highlight reel for Condit even though I don't have a whole lot of faith in him becoming champion.
Bisping clearly out struck Akiyama, I really do think the game plan was to use his judo but after Akiyama clipped him early on he just went into "I'm gonna KO him with my right" mode. And it looked really bad to me. He pretty much abandoned all combos or anything else and just started throwing the right out. He caught numerous kicks from Bisping only to try to throw that right instead of taking him down. Bisping was able to duck in and out quite easily and avoid most shots so good for him for getting a win. We'll see where Bisping goes from here and if he finally starts competing in the top 10, a Silva rematch might seem pleasing to him and another good brawl but I dont see it really helping him rise the ladder. Maybe Marquard/Okami loser or the winner if they arent getting the title shot like speculated.
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I want to see GSP vs. Shields because I think it has potential to be good, depending how good Shields is. Shields dominated Hendo so the question to me is Shields really that good or was Hendo off? I partly question him because he wasn't stellar against Daley which was the first time I watched him live and I kept thinking why cant he finish him and felt the same about the Miller fight as he didnt look dominant.
if his wrestling and BJJ is that good, it won't be a pure wrestling clinic between the two, they will have to mix in their striking and lots of people have forgotten GSP came in as a striker and has since evolved into a conservative wrestler. Also if you watch the Alves fight, he was landing lots of 3 strike combos on Alves when they were on their feet.
However I am worried Kampman will win and spoil it since Kampman probably wont get the title shot.
While I am a GSP fan, I actually would kinda like to see Shields win (or Kos I guess but I dont really like him, dangit Johnson why did you lose!) just to shake things up and give us either GSP/ SHields 2, or Kos/GSP 3 just because the WW division has been stagnant as everyone has said. Because of the lack of top contenders people have gotten fed to GSP before they are really ready and dont have as much hype as they should forcing the UFC to hype hype hype the title match i.e. Alves and Hardy and now even Kos who sticks out as getting KO'd by Thiago in my mind and I couldnt really except as an elite top P4P fighter
As for MW, while a Silva/GSP match of course appeals to me, I just think Silva would def. win once again despite being a GSP fan. Could he beat the likes of Bisping, Leben, and Belcher? I would def. say yes. Its Sonnen, Vitor, Nate, and Maia that worry me since you are looking at guys that are naturally bigger and that have cut down from 205 so you are basically trying to fight a person with similar skills/style but who naturally outweighs you by alot, I just dont know if he could do it consistently. However if he could win the belt off Silva (hypothetically he's the champ) and can defend it even say twice, it would be hard not to pencil him in as the best fighter of all time.
BTW I agree the Hughes record is somewhat of a factor, especially considering their relationship I think he would like to say he beat his record.
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While I agree he may overexagerrating with the 5 going on in the same night, what he means is truely going international. He doesn't mean he will have BJ defending in the U.S., Silva defending in the UK, GSP in Canada, he means having entirely different "brands" going on at once.
They are getting closer to expanding TUF around the world which he has said is a major goal, so what they could do is have the Japan/China/India/UK/Germany TUF finale all going on at once. I imagine that yes they would be smaller shows because you are not going to have your top stars appearing on the card in Vegas and then smaller shows around the world (b/c who would watch those just for local guys?)
by doing things like that you could establish foreign stars faster instead of putting them on undercard after undercard and of course they would sell lots in their home market where the US wouldn't really care about them (see Bisping and Hardy). Once they are established in their home region you could then put them on major UFC events as you would then have for example the China TUF winner vs. the German TUF winner, something that could actually draw global interest. It also isn't like you would "miss out" on anything as the UFC could also put matches on TV the next week or online. The doing it all on one night might seem crazy, but it may easier than running events 5 days in a row at the end of every month.
They also now have offices in Canada, China, and their working relationship with the Middle Eastern country which essentially counts as an office since they organize those events, and they said an India office is likely next.
Also Dustin, Wand vs. Leben has been publicly scratched due to Wands injuries and time he will need to recover.
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If you want to not like Fedor that is fine but one argument you cannot make is his level of competition. Who has fought better competition than him? In ANY weight class? He has beat boxers, wrestlers, jits guys, big and small.
Going backwards...
-Arlovski: Former UFC champ- You can't say he was a bad champ and the UFC HW division was light b/c that is who Fedor would have been fighting at the time, negating the comp argument.
- Sylvia: Same.
-Choi: beat a big man
-Lindland: Beat a top wrestler
-Hunt: top kickboxer
- Coleman: top wrestler, UFC accolades
-Mirko: who was at his prime
-Nog: clear top guy for years
- Randleman: Top wrestler
- Herring: TKO'd, which brock didn't do
-Schilt: giant kickboxer
- Babalu
those are just the popular names. So how is that not top comp? Its too late to check the facts beyond my immediate knowledge but hes beaten at least 3 UFC champs, 3 K1 champs, olympic wrestlers, 3 pride champs. Besides Couture and Lesnar who else would you have wanted him to face? I'm not even comparing him to any other fighter, just looking at his fight log is a who's who of MMA's best.
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<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>So wait... Chris Leben beats Aaron Simpson(THE HYYYYYPE TRAIN) and he's two fights away from a title shot? Wow...<p> </p><p> Leben has a good chance to get Akiyama, just for the fact that Akiyama seems to have forgotten(or maybe he never learned) how to prevent getting hit in the face, and obviously Leben is one of the heaviest handed dudes in the division. So I don't give Akiyama much more of a chance against Leben as opposed to Wand. Same style, except I might give the chin edge to Leben.</p><p> </p><p> However, once Leben gets past Akiyama I really see no way he's going to beat Belfort. Same strengths, except Belfort is probably twice as fast. Not sure Leben gets knocked out, but I could see him getting TKO'd fairly quick.</p><p> </p><p> Leben made me laugh when he said "I wanted to beat this guy[simpson] because he beat Ed Herman, and Ed is a better fighter than me." No. No he's not.</p><p> </p><p> And how could Leben be top 2 out of those five? It's not plausible due to the fact that Belfort knocked out a former champion and is sitting basically waiting for a title shot. Bisping beat Leben by decision in a fight where I can't even remember Leben landing more than a few punches and basically just chased Bisping and ate counters all evening. So no, the guy isn't even close to being top two. The only thing he has going for him is a Cabbage chin and heavy hands. His defensive jiu jitsu is good enough, but as Jake Rosholt showed it just takes a little bit of patience to get it done with Leben. being 4-4 in your last 8 fights does not = title shot, especially when you got absolutely demolished the first time he fought a top fighter(Anderson).</p><p> </p><p> If Anderson drops the belt, fighters like Nate Marquardt, Sonnen, and others who have failed against Spider would be in the mix before Leben anyway. In Sonnen's case, will fail.</p><p> </p><p> Honestly, I would say if after Spider beats Sonnen and he drops the belt, you would see Belfort vs. Bisping for the title. I just always see Leben being in the UFC as a gatekeeper and nothing more. He doesn't have a fully evolved skillset to hang with everyone.</p><p> </p><p> Also, Akiyama fight aside, Belcher is getting close to a title shot, and I would much rather see him compete than Leben for the fact that at least Belcher has a lot of tools at his expense. I guess if it comes down to it Leben should fight Belcher.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> You've made it pretty clear you plainly don't like Leben and have plugged your ears and logic to any thought that he could be a contender. Did you even look at the contenders listed or just start discounting him right away? I'm not saying he deserves a title shot right now and I also said how I didn't ever see him being a champion and I don't see him beating a top guy to be champion but like BH said he's almost at the door step.</p><p> </p><p> Look at the situation when you actually <strong>look</strong> at what was brought up, him being two wins away, and lets say all the contenders win their upcoming fights to be fiar</p><p> </p><p> Leben: 3 fight win streak if he beats Akiyama</p><p> Marquardt: 1 fight streak if he beats Palhares</p><p> Bisping: 1 fight streak (currently not scheduled to fight, I'm guessing the Octboer UK card since people in the US dont care about him)</p><p> Belfort: 5 win streak, 1 in the UFC</p><p> Maia:1 fight streak if he beats Belcher</p><p> Belcher: 3 fight streak if he beats Maia</p><p> Sonnen: Will have just lost to Silva</p><p> </p><p> So lets look at the situation again with logic. If a #1 contenders fight (or even a title fight) were to happen in the fall/later this year, who would the top two be? </p><p> </p><p> Bisping wouldn't fight Belfort for the title, as you stated, he's only on a 1 fight win streak, how is that deserving? yes he beat Leben but it was two years ago now so who cares? Nate beat Maia before and who got their title shot first? Past is past.</p><p> </p><p> Marquardt would be in the same boat with 1 win</p><p> </p><p> Maia would be in the same boat with 1 win</p><p> </p><p> Belcher hasn't been promoted at all so we know he isn't ready</p><p> </p><p> so if Leben and Belfort aren't the top two this fall who is? Of course Leben can lose to Akiyama, no one said he deserves the shot right now, but when you intelligently look at the division right now if he wins this fight it is surprising how much of a possibility it is for him.</p><p> </p><p> If Silva stays at 185 and they have him fight Belfort Leben would also be primed to fight Nate or Bisping for a #1 contender shot as well, no way both of them edge him out if he's on a KO reel streak.</p><p> </p><p> The only real wrench I could see is if Shields stays at 185, if they did Belfort vs. Shields for #1 contender obviously Leben gets left out. But if they do Silva vs. Belfort for title, a Shields vs. Leben fight in say October could be a good first fight for Shields and could promote it well for a #1 contenders match, former SF champ wrestler taking on long time UFC KO fighter</p><p> </p><p> So there you have it, 2 fights away from a title shot, Akiyama then Bisping/Nate/Shields, whether he wins or not is arguable (i dont think he wins his next two) but its def. in his hands so I would agree with BH</p>
The Official MMA Discussion Thread
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Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a fight like that. Super super pathetic blow to Kos, he wanted a stand up fight and he got it and GSP beat him using a simple job and lead leg kick. Would have liked to see him go for the KO but when you look like you did before the fight and your opponent most likely needs some sort of eye surgery I guess its a good day.
Struve vs. McCorkle= sloppy awkwardness as I expected, no way that deserved Co main event status when last month was Hughes and Penn.
Great job by Thiago, called his leg kicks before the fight and thats what he did. In also interesting news there was a fight at the bar (big surprise) but it happened BEFORE the fights even started which was new to me, apparently one guy started chanting white power to a black guy, presumably over John Howard since the highlight reel was running when the fight broke out, but Alves isn't exactly an American Caucasian so...yeah. At least lots of cops came that's exciting.