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brashleyholland

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Was it really lackluster? I've seen a few people online call it that and I really didn't think it was. Masvidal was a tough opponent who has really good striking - he took out KJ Noons with it last time out - yet Melendez decisively won the stand up. He was aggressive yet controlled, throwing constant combinations. This wasn't Melendez squeezing out a win, pointing his way to victory, and doing the minimum. The champion fought to his opponent's strength and still won clearly and decisively. A finish would have been nice, but again, Masvidal is tough.

 

Completely agree. Melendez is a wrestler first and foremost, yet he outboxed a very competent, bigger striker. This is a guy who Paul Daley couldn't land many shots on too - he's a very slippery customer. Melendez continues to evolve.

 

It seems that Masvidal had a broken hand, which is why he only threw jabs and didn't shoot. Would love to see him get a win or two then rematch Gil at some point.

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Completely agree. Melendez is a wrestler first and foremost, yet he outboxed a very competent, bigger striker. This is a guy who Paul Daley couldn't land many shots on too - he's a very slippery customer. Melendez continues to evolve.

 

It seems that Masvidal had a broken hand, which is why he only threw jabs and didn't shoot. Would love to see him get a win or two then rematch Gil at some point.

When did he break his hand? In any case, what do you think is next for Cyborg? It's not clear that she can even make 135. There's no other 145 like her. A lot of 145'ers are either A) not as good as her or B) people that should cut to 135.

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When did he break his hand? In any case, what do you think is next for Cyborg? It's not clear that she can even make 135. There's no other 145 like her. A lot of 145'ers are either A) not as good as her or B) people that should cut to 135.

 

Off the top of my head I think it was about three weeks before the fight, then he aggravated it again in the 1st round.

 

Looks like Strikeforce want Rousey vs Cyborg to happen. Would be interesting to see if the major AC's would sanction that fight at this stage in Rousey's career though, as her last few opponents were 0-0, 2-1 and 4-1 at the time they fought her. 11-1 (9 stoppages) Cyborg might be a little too much.

 

135 would be a big change for her, but if they're paying her enough money to do it properly, I can't see her not dominating in that division too. I just don't see anyone with the skill set to match her.

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Hey Brash do you know w/e happend to Gina that stopped her from fighting this year? Do you think she will fight again or is she pretty much done?

 

I've got a pretty good idea but there are all sorts of crazy rumours and I don't know for certain.

 

I think a lot of it depends on how well Haywire does at the box office. If she starts getting offered silly money to do movies, I can't see her coming back. Even if she does return to the cage, I can't see it being for anything more than a marquee fight or two.

 

The only money fight is a rematch with Cyborg, but after the first fight ended in the first round with a brutal beating and Gina hasn't fought since, who really wants to see that? Maybe a one off Carano vs Cyborg/Rousey fight on Fox somewhere down the line?

 

There's the problem though...Carano will want top dollar to fight now that she's famous - is she worth the money if she's only going to stick around for one fight? They paid Cung Le three hundred grand, so who knows?

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already sold out.

 

dang that stinks, glad I did it before work instead of waiting until after. The free is this one time but the apps "permanent" going forward. The idea is for more user interaction, you can make picks before the fight, participate in live polls, and do a group invite with your friends so you can all watch from various locations but chat about it together. It has potential as I thought when they first announced it but we'll see what they do with it.

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As far as the women's talk, I have no problem with Rousey fighting for any titles or getting hype. The 4 fights is a joke argument for numerous reasons. Tate who has blasted her has 14 fights, Kaufman who has blasted her as well has 15, which while respectable, is by no means the 30-50 fights which you see a lot in established UFC male fighters. Santos, has a whopping 12. Hiroko also has 14.

 

Then throw in amateur fights (I believe Rousey said 6 but wiki is telling me 3), and ALL her judo matches, which while not MMA are still a lot closer to MMA than most peoples experience, I think she's ready and her skills have shown it. Now if she was just some hot young barbie doll who is winning decision against bums (looking at you Hiroko), then I would be against it. Plus there aren't any other established women even close, where's Kyra Gracie when you need her? :) Hopefully in two years you start seeing more women from judo/bjj competitions make the transition as women's wrestling (non-existent) won't be pumping them out like the men.

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The 4 fights is a joke argument for numerous reasons.

 

Really? What are you basing that on? Because I was basing it on the FACT that there are special licencing considerations for fighters with less than 5 pro MMA bouts and/or less than half the number of pro fights of their opponent under nearly all AC's. There are also special considerations when fighters have vastly different levels of recent opposition. Sometimes these are just a formality, sometimes they're not.

 

For example, a few years back a promotion in Ohio was denied permission to put on a fight between Wes Simms (22-13-1-2) and Tim Sylvia (25-6 at the time) because of the difference in quality of their recent opposition. That's when Simms had 38 fights on his record, 7 MORE than Tim.

 

Hint: Don't tell someone that what they're saying is a joke when you're basing your argument on your own opinion, which might not always be right.

 

and ALL her judo matches, which while not MMA are still a lot closer to MMA than most peoples experience.

 

Competition Judo is about as close to MMA as point karate in comparison with other combat sports. Commissions don't weight experience in sports like judo as highly as they do say, boxing, wrestling, kickboxing and BJJ/grappling.

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Really? What are you basing that on? Because I was basing it on the FACT that there are special licencing considerations for fighters with less than 5 pro MMA bouts and/or less than half the number of pro fights of their opponent under nearly all AC's. There are also special considerations when fighters have vastly different levels of recent opposition. Sometimes these are just a formality, sometimes they're not.

 

For example, a few years back a promotion in Ohio was denied permission to put on a fight between Wes Simms (22-13-1-2) and Tim Sylvia (25-6 at the time) because of the difference in quality of their recent opposition. That's when Simms had 38 fights on his record, 7 MORE than Tim.

 

Hint: Don't tell someone that what they're saying is a joke when you're basing your argument on your own opinion, which might not always be right.

 

 

 

Competition Judo is about as close to MMA as point karate in comparison with other combat sports. Commissions don't weight experience in sports like judo as highly as they do say, boxing, wrestling, kickboxing and BJJ/grappling.

I have a question about then-Because you just put forth a good explanation why they might have a chance of blocking Rousey/Cyborg, are you saying the commissions are also likely to block Rousey/Tate or Rousey/Kaufman?

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I have a question about then-Because you just put forth a good explanation why they might have a chance of blocking Rousey/Cyborg, are you saying the commissions are also likely to block Rousey/Tate or Rousey/Kaufman?

 

I'm not saying that they're likely to block anything, just that the idea that they might for those reasons is anything but a 'joke', as was suggested by Jester.

 

For the purposes of your question though, I don't think that a 145lb Rousey moving down to 135 to fight Tate or Kaufman would be seen as as big a mismatch as Rousey vs Cyborg at 145. If Rousey gets a couple more wins under her belt, it'll probably cease to be a consideration.

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In terms of talent, I think there's few left for Cyborg at 145. There's a couple they can hire to fight her, but I'm not sure they can beat her, and they really don't have the name or record to be intriguing. But she's barely able to make 145 as it is...

 

There are a couple of girls coming that might give her a decent fight. Germaine De Randamie is/was the Cyborg of women's kickboxing. Her grappling is awful though, and it might be too late to pick up all the tools needed for MMA. In a kickboxing match, it's anyone's game...I guess it'd come down to whether Cyborg would stand with her if she wasn't dominating.

 

Holly Holm is one of the best female boxers (30-2) in the world, although she got knocked out quite badly earlier this month. She's taken up MMA and is 2-0, obviously way to green to fight Cyborg at the moment. Again though, maybe she's someone who could stand with her given a little work and experience. She's certainly not gonna fold like a card house when she gets hit.

 

Then you have this Sara McMann girl who debuted this year and went 4-0, including a win over Tonya Evinger. She got silver at the 2004 Olympics and the 2003 world championships, and bronze at the 2005 and 2007 world championships in freestyle wrestling. I think she fights at 135, but she wrestled at 139.

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In her last fight, Germaine De Randamie lost to Julia Budd. According to Sherdog, her last fight was at 135, too.

 

Did you see Holm's getting KOed? She wasn't necessarily totally shell-shocked against the shots, but Holms was clearly getting clobbered pretty bad all over the match. A lot of her wins in Boxing are by decision as well, so I'm not too sure he has the power advantage either. She also fights at 135 in MMA.

 

It's not that I disagree, it's just... well, a lot of these women, unlike Cyborg, can and do fight at 135. Cyborg's a much bigger woman, with way more muscle. I'm just a bit annoyed the whole situation, that's all. if Kickboxing or its variants were more popular... *sigh*

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Off the top of my head I think it was about three weeks before the fight, then he aggravated it again in the 1st round.

 

Looks like Strikeforce want Rousey vs Cyborg to happen. Would be interesting to see if the major AC's would sanction that fight at this stage in Rousey's career though, as her last few opponents were 0-0, 2-1 and 4-1 at the time they fought her. 11-1 (9 stoppages) Cyborg might be a little too much.

 

135 would be a big change for her, but if they're paying her enough money to do it properly, I can't see her not dominating in that division too. I just don't see anyone with the skill set to match her.

 

If they are going to wait until Rousey is properly build up, Cyborg will have to retire before another credible contender arises. I mean, they had to go all the way to Japan to find someone. There really isn't anyone else here apart from Rousey atm, though indeed De Randamie might get her shot if she's given another win soon. McMann (lol, I first typed McMahon) could definately take her on, but we don't really have an idea whether her chin can take a punch, so go figure. My problem with the division is that their complete and utter disregard for the flow of the division. Right now, there are, what, 6 women's fights a year in each division? Must be close. You can't keep a division alive like that. Blocking the Rousey fight would be downright rediculous, seeing her dominate like that. If they'd do that, they might as well block Cyborg from fighting ever again, to protect every woman in the MMA world. Fighter records only say so much, especially in the women's circles, where getting fights is the hardest thing. There might indeed be more cross-over stars, as MMA is 'hip' in the wrestling circles, so also the women's freestyle one. Ok, granted it will not be as lively as the men, but I've heard of some cases that showed interest in MMA. McMann only got to MMA because she was pissed off at the refereeing in wrestling. Oh, the irony. She'll be in for a treat in MMA.

 

Perhaps I overreacted a little too much as far as the event was concerned. I don't know why, but lately I've become incredibly annoyed by TNA and Strikeforce (since Zuffa takeover) management, as there is so much potential for awesomeness, yet it never gets realized, which is too bad.

 

I agree on Melendez' fine performance but, like I said, from a viewer's standpoint, I was not exited. Exiting fights was Strikeforce's main selling point, and from that standpoint it failed. Mousasi who doesn't really seem to care and imo lost his 'mojo', Cyborg who didn't really give us a fight at all, and Melendez who did what he had to, but at the cost of a boring fight. Referees don't have anything to do with SF, I know that, but obviously I was just looking for extra reasons to bash them, as I was slightly pissed off after the event. My apologies. :p

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