The UFC Fight Pass Events General Thread

[Fanny Batter]

As they are being promoted as tier 4 events (behind PPV, FOX and FS1), I think it makes sense to have one thread for every fight card held exclusively (in America) on Fight Pass.

The morning/afternoon card from Macao has come and gone, and was a reasonably enjoyable affair. There was the usual issues with the local cards - guys with padded records looking as dangerous as spoons, mismatches designed to promote said fighters to mixed success, and a severe lack of relevance throughout the card. What it did give us, however, was a tremendous knockout by Dong Hyun Kim on John Hathaway, wiping him out cold on the counter with a spinning back elbow. Kim is now at the point where he's earned a big fight by opening his style up and taking a risk. His name's out there, people are talking about him. He can get a top 10 guy next, and I fully expect (and would encourage him) to revert back to his strength of incredible top control and stifling grappling. He can beat most fighters on the planet like that, he's not going to escape unscathed if he continues to brawl like this. BUT it's made him in the fan's eyes, so he can now afford to play it safe as he'll be doing so in relevant fights that can put him on the verge of contention.

Elsewhere, Matt Mitrione looked solid against Shawn Jordan - Mitrione's career can probably be rejuvenated if they care to promote him, big finisher and a lot of personality. He's getting on though and will never beat anybody great. Hatsu Hioki survived fading late AGAIN, putting points in the bank before struggling late against Ivan bloody Menjivar. His top control is great but he just doesn't look for openings for the finish and it's costing him. Good fighter, not great. The Finale of TUF China was a load of shite I barely watched. Finally, good little scrap between Nam and Tokudome - 4 knockdowns Tok survived and nearly came through on points but faded late.


Next card is this Saturday from England. It's on Channel 5 over here, terrestrial TV, so more eyes than ever should be on a live fight in the UK. Main event is Gustafsson vs. Manuwa, a fine fight even though Gustafsson should be fighting Jon Jones in an immediate rematch. Manuwa's a local boy in the 02 should be a great atmosphere. Rest of the card is the usual mix of Brit's/Europeans fighting American's coming off losses, and a solid co-main between Michael Johnson and Melvin Guillard - Johnson with another finish could catapult up the rankings. Also of note is Brad Pickett's flyweight debut (against replacement Neil Seery) and undefeated Gunnar Nelson returning from a year's layoff.

Following that, Abu Dhabi in April with Nelson/Nog and Guida/Kawajiri. TUF Nations Finale promises good prelims as well. It's consumerism at it's finest this Fight Pass, but it's not bad for £5.99 a month. I'd be slightly more irritated if I was paying $60 for a PPV every month and still having to subscribe to this to get all the coverage, but we get it pretty good over here for UFC.

[Mark Hammer]

Crazy that DHK of all people is riding a two fight KO streak. I didn't catch the Hathaway fight but he was well on his way to Fitching Erick Silva to death before swinging wildly and landing a perfect (imo lucky) counter.

[Fanny Batter]

They've announced shows for Dublin, Istanbul, Berlin and Stockholm for later in the year, presumably Fight Pass events. The Dublin event should be particularly lairy if McGregor, as expected, headlines. He's the kind of guy that can talk a tenner a month out of peoples pockets, shame they couldn't use him on launch instead of John Hathaway! It'll be interesting to see if these localized events work in building the brand, there's certainly positives happening (main card is on Channel 5 here), but it's whether people want this format or want the American-centric product. I don't think American football is big over here, the Birmingham Bullets vs. the Swansea Shithouses couldn't fill a Wetherspoon's, but when they bring the proper boys over they sell out Wembley. I wonder if the UFC brand has already got to that point, or they genuinely do see a place for big local events like boxing does. Perhaps a big help would be to acquire broadcasting rights for local shows in the EMEA areas, so fans can watch the future UFC fighters on Fight Pass. It'll be pretty hard making a star in England if they're only fighting twice a year.

[Fanny Batter]

Big Alex just tore through Manuwa, landed a big knee and showed huge finishing instincts as usual with savage uppercuts. Jones vs. Gustafsson II is the fight to look forward to this year, going to be amazing. I like Glover but I think I have to cheer on Jones in that fight because that's Alex's title fight, and I think he's every chance of taking it to Jones and putting him out. He's so much more confident coming out of that title fight, that may be the difference. No shame for Manuwa, he looked capable defensively on the ground, showed a decent scramble and landed a few decent shots. Just didn't have anything for Gus. He can still put on good fights with the rest of the division.

Michael Johnson looked OK against a massively hesitant Melvin Guillard. Johnson may have the ultimate gatekeeper resume over the last year - Lauzon, Tibau and Guillard are possibly the most tenured lightweights on the roster and he's beaten all three back-to-back-to-back. Johnson vs. Trujillo would be absolute chaos, though he should probably get a ranked name opponent like Maynard or Diaz. Melvin is done as somebody to have any hope for, will probably still knock enough of the Danny Castillo's and Vinc Pinchel's out to stay on the roster but he's got nothing for the top guys.

Brad Pickett didn't look too impressive in his flyweight debut, grinding out a decision with takedowns in a closely contested striking match. Don't think he has much for Johnson, Benavidez and Dodson, though his heart, chin and big set of bollocks will make it fun to see him try. Would probably match him up with McCall again, there's a bit of bad blood there and you could argue a title shot (or contender's bout) for the winner. I think Pickett knows the wars are catching up to him, he maybe stands a slight chance against Mighty Mouse now, give it a year and a couple more grueling fights and he gets stomped, and I think he knows it. Smart to campaign for a shot, doubt he gets it.

Gunnar Nelson is a beast. A year off and he murders a guy, flawless victory style. Between Nelson, Thatch, LaFlare, Garcia, Cabral, Amagov and Gastelum, some monsters coming through at welterweight right now. Be interesting to see if the old lads can hold ground as this lot gain experience.

Luke Barnett looked solid. Bit of a talker, 3-0 in the UFC, I think he'll be a staple for a few years like Terry Etim. That season of TUF has produced a few solid fighters.

[OD50]

Gus. :yes:

[OD50]

http://giant.gfycat.com/AggressiveFlickeringButterfly.gif

This was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen. Like two four-year olds trying to recreate Takayama/Frye or something.

[Mik]

Its amusing how quickly they gassed.

[MikeHunt]

Dan hardy is absolutely the worst commentator I've ever heard

[Mik]

Oh yeah? I havent seen it yet, but I heard that he got pretty positive feedback.

[MikeHunt]

I thought he was shocking. He added absolutely no insight at all just blabbed on and on.

[Mik]

I havent found Hardy too bad, but the ring announcer is AWFUL.

[MikeHunt]

Aye he was pure shite.

[Mik]

Beaaauuuuuutiful shot, beauuuuuutiful takedown, beauuuuutiful kick.

Yeah, you're right, Hardy does need work. More just some annoying traits that particularly poor though.

[Seanny One Ball]

Yeah did not enjoy the commentary at all. I hated the guy chatting to Forrest too he was useless. Picket looked awful againt the Irish boy striking wise. Manuwa looked dangerous but completely wild, every punch and kick winging away full throttle. He will beast anyone without a gameplan if they let him but Gus was absolutely on top. I can see him beating Jon Jones someday.
Guillard looked like shit, Nelson secured the best off the back guillotine I've ever seen.

[Mik]

Nelson looked like he just decided to guillotine him...then did.

[Mark Hammer]

Did this air on television for you wacky Brits? Because surely you haven't all subscribed to Fight Pass?

[MikeHunt]

Aye it was in council telly

[OD50]

It was on free television over here too, TV4 Sport.

[Nash Diesel]

Anybody check out the TUF Brazil Wanderlai/Chael season yet? Debuted last night on Fight Pass. I'm not one for shit talk, but these 2 legit hate each other so I didn't know if it came across that way last night or not.

[Seanny One Ball]

Nelson looked like he just decided to guillotine him...then did.

He did look rather relaxed for being on his back, like Randy Couture on fight science.

[Fanny Batter]

Shall we change this to an all round Fight Night thread? Not many have gathered the buzz that events have in the past so no need for separate threads for all of them, unless one has a particularly epic card. There doesn't appear to be any on the horizon outside of Sonnen vs. Wanderlei after all. Main events upcoming are Nog/Nelson, Bisping/Kennedy, Browne/Silva, Munoz/Mousasi and Swanson/Stephens, good fights but certainly no blockbusters.

Coming tomorrow is Shogun vs. Henderson 2. Anybody who watched the first fight between the two can't help but want to see these shopworn tough bastards tearing fuck out of each other again. Last fight was Henderson beating Shogun like a stuck pig for the better part of 3 rounds until Rua landed a disgusting uppercut in round 4 that stopped Dan in his tracks and had him in survival mode for the sensational, tense finish as Shogun punched with his depleted strength in full mount trying to take him out. It was amazing. Henderson hung on but it was close. Since then, Shogun has struggled against Brandon Vera and looked flat against Gustafsson and Sonnen, before starching James Te Huna last December. It's been worse for Hendo, falling out of his scheduled title fight against Jon Jones, having his reputation take a hammering due to the lack of professionalism, dropped 2 close verdicts to Evans and Machida, got flattened for the first time by Vitor Belfort and became embroiled in the TRT row. He's had a shitter. This is his last chance pretty much - win this and maybe he gets matched with Lil Nog, a winnable fight, then he's back in the hunt. Lose and he's taken 4 on the bounce and, depending on how he loses, could leave him pretty much valueless to the company. It's big for him. However, I see Shogun being the quicker fighter and taking him out with a counter in 2 or 3, maybe climbing off the canvas to do so. It can't possibly be as epic as the first, but as long as we get flashes of it I'll be happy.

The rest of the card is very Brazil TUF heavy. Winner of Season 1 at middleweight, Cezar Ferriera, takes on CB Dolloway in the co-main. Cezar has the look of a potential superstar in Brazil, built like a brick shithouse with an entertaining style. Dolloway as been a hidden highlight lately, having several back and forth scraps. But he's a curly lipped prick. Look at his face. Can't help but want to see it punched. Gibbon. Hopefully Cezar can get the win but Dolloway is a live dog, and it should be a great fight.

Leonardo Santos, season 2 winner, faces TUF Smashes winner Norman Parke. What Parke lacks in the spectacular he makes up for in fundamentals, barely putting a foot wrong so far against middling to fair opposition. Santos is getting on a bit and apparently has poor cardio, but I can't see Joe Silva having purposefully set a Brazilian lad with TV backing to lose straight off the bat, so maybe he sees something we don't. I'm going Parke by decision as he continues to roll, can't see him challenging the top 10 but he can be a solid Tibau/Dunham level scrapper.

TUF 1 lightweight winner Rony Jason returns after a violent knockout loss against the entertaining Steven Siler. I like this undercard fight, both come to scrap and leave it out there, both have limited ceilings but should be a good close fight with Jason winning, possibly by submission.

Fabio Maldonado against Gian Villante. Maldonado is fun to watch but is so incredibly nonathletic that I can't see him taking anybody out above a certain level. His wins are against Beltran, McSweeney and Roger Hollett, three dreadful light heavyweights. He's looked brain damaged lately as well after the Glover fight. Gian Villante should win quite comfortably, Maldonado is already toast in my opinion.

TUF 14 winner Diego Brandao returns from a loss to fight Will Chope. Brandao is offensively talented but very flawed defensively. He should clean up the scrutters of the division though, including Chope.

Scott Jorgenson vs. Jussier Formiga is a big bout for the flyweight division, as Jorgenson may still have potential to be a threat if he gets the cut right. Formiga came in with a big reputation but he's looked undersized and inadequate on the feet so far in the UFC, you'd fancy he might get beaten up here in a bit of a statement victory for Scotty.

Other fights include a squash match for Ronny Markes, a good match up for Russian sophomore Taisumov, the debut of touted unbeaten Noad Lahat and a light heavyweight debutants scrap. Hopefully it'll be solid event.

[Mark Hammer]

Those Fight Night main events lumped together would have made for a nice lineup to support a less popular division's title fight. But what do I know. Make each a main event to a shit card and air them all on Fight Pass for tens of fans to enjoy.

[Fanny Batter]

The concept works better when PPV cards don't feature TJ Waldburger or Abel Trujillo. You could understand having events on TV/internet without marquee names providing PPV's are full of them, and a card like 170 certainly came around at the wrong time. Pretty rough for the live crowds though, UFC comes around once every few years and you get a Mark Munoz main event. Maybe they should have the Fight Night series return to a smallish venue in Vegas and take the PPV's on the road more? When half of your PPV's are either in Vegas or Canada, it's taking big fights away from other places. I think the UFC need to be careful not to televise completely shit fights, since somebody flicking over could see a shithouse, uninteresting fight and never give it a second look. That FOX card earlier in the year had some piss televised prelims for example. If it's pointless on paper, put it on the internet for the hardcores, then if it's a good fight you air it. Ronny Markes vs. Thiago Santos tomorrow for example - mismatch, the favourite is deathly boring, the fight completely irrelevant. I'll be making a sandwich through that and I love me some MMA, not a chance a randomer is going to sit through that shit.

Injuries, and no clear contenders, has harmed the match making for the start of the year. Pettis and Velasquez out til fall, no contenders at flyweight or bantamweight that could put an arse in a seat, St-Pierre retired, Anderson, Rashad injured, Vitor on TRT shelf - I'd like to think if those guys are available we'd have been getting, say, Condit vs. Woodley or Aldo vs. Lamas as TV main events, but it hasn't happened. So they've been picking them out the air. Swanson vs. Stephens and Brown vs. Silva can't possibly be boring, but who the fuck dreamt them up?!

[Nash Diesel]

My apologies I just posted in the UFC thread about the lack of conversation and here it is in this thread....I didnt think to look here since its on Fox Sports 1 and not an exclusive to Fight Pass event like the Gus fight.

As I said in the other thread, Im going with Shogun in this fight. 2nd round finish, just not sure if itll be submission or a knockout.

[Fanny Batter]

Mad prelims here - Formiga nutting Jorgenson and choking him out, flying knee KO by fucking Pepey, and 1/8 favourite Ronny Markes weighing in at 190 and getting stopped by a liver kick in under a minute. Something in the water!

[Lagom]

And now a veeeeeeeeeery premature stoppage. Crazy night so far.

[Mark Hammer]

The shady Brazilian ref just screwed Norman Parke out of a win.

[Mark Hammer]

Dolloway just fucked that boy up. Screw the haters, I like the lip.

[Fanny Batter]

This has been a strange as hell card. Gian Villante dying on his arse and letting zombie Fabio light him up late, an abysmal draw, double points deductions, Brazil's most popular prospext getting starched in a minute by CB Dolloway. Hendo by front choke now I am guessing.

[Mark Hammer]

Holy fuck Hendo!

[Fanny Batter]

Massive win for Henderson. How he got up off the canvas after those knockdowns is ridiculous. Shogun fucked up by not getting him out of there when he had the chance but Hendo weathered it and dropped the bomb. Entertaining follow up to a great fight. Shogun should consider hanging them up but I guess there's legend fights with Anderson and Lil Nog that make sense, as well as Rashad if he drops his next fight. Hendo should get Lil Nog next, a fight I feel he could win and inexplicably get him back in contention. Or drop to 185 for Bisping. Rubber match with Wand. There's loads of options for him now.

[Nash Diesel]

Hendo-Shogun 2 is another example of why you don't count someone out just because they get dropped or lose a previous round. You never know what might happen as the fight progresses. Big win for Hendo, he was slipping there, had some setbacks, and showed that he still has enough juice left to hang with top 10 guys. Too bad for Shogun, I love watching him fight, and I thought he was about to demolish the dude especially after the 1st round and then when he cracked hendo with that uppercut that fucked him up in the first fight.....Brutal finish.

Honestly a very good free card, hopefully not too many missed out because of the poor promotion backing it.

[Mik]

I dont think that Shogun needs to retire. He almost knocked out the guy with the granite chin and then suffered his first career knockout against the guy with the granite hands.

I do think that he needs to drop a division though. Look at what it did for Machida. He's been podgy his whole career.

[Nash Diesel]

And he wasn't even KNOCKED OUT, just took a brutal shot and couldn't get his composure. If he dropped to 185 it'd give MW a huge shot of star power, especially now that Machida is there as well (Machida-Rua part 3 at 185? hmmmm). But 205 could use him and he's still a threat imo, it was just a tough break when he had both round 1 and 2 in the bag.

[Nash Diesel]

So Scotty Jorg wants an immediate rematch after getting choked out last night, but we all know what really set the tone was the accidental headbutt he encountered. It was unfortunate, and damn there were a couple piss poor stoppages, especially that Siler fight, holy shit that was one of the worst stoppages in years. People talk about Faber-Barao, go check Siler's fight, that's a REAL early stoppage.

Thoughts on Jorgensen wanting a rematch? Should he get one and should his fight be changed to a NC? I think yes for both.

[Olympus]

Damn, Nelson just stiffed Big Nog. Oof...

[Mik]

I think its fair to say that Nog should hang them up.

[Nash Diesel]

Yeah he honestly should've called it a day when he blasted Schaub but you know sometimes those "big wins" make a fighter think they can still go and they get smacked back to reality pretty violently.

[Fanny Batter]

Nogueira got himself in good shape, but that man shouldn't have been entered into a prize fight this evening. He's been as slow and immobile as any fighter the last 5 years and was put in there against a man with breezeblocks for fists. Of course there was a chance that Nelson would fade before he could level Nog, but when he's as slow as that he's always going to get clipped (like he has even in victory as far back as we can remember), and he just doesn't have the resistance to get over it anymore. Watching him go stiff as a board was tough to watch, but it's yet another story of a fighter that goes on too long and goes out on his back against a guy he likely handles in his physical prime. Roy gets a big win, I can't see him being much for anybody good with a decent gameplan and athleticism, but he's always got that punch in him. There's fresh fights waiting for him against Hunt, Bigfoot, Barnett, Overeem and Gonzaga, all big names. He can beat any of those guys on his day, given his power and chin and considering they are not nimble, fleet footed strikers.

Clay Guida looked the best he has in a while against Kawajiri. Good thing about Guida is that you know the sport is slowly passing him by, he's going to get a raping one of these days against a guy like Poirier or Swanson, I can feel it. He's wise to call out McGregor, I think Conor should get an easier out considering the layoff and lack of UFC experience though, the Miller fight sounds about right. Guida vs. Poirier would suit me.

Elsewhere, John Howard got his nuts fucked up, Thales Leites looked impressive and Ramsey Nijem tried to claim he was the best fighter on the planet. Solid card. 26 fights between Wednesday and Friday, stock up on coffee gentlemen.

[Mark Hammer]

Lol Nog and his excuses. Link is in Portuguese but apparently Nog had to ride to Abu Dabi coach class, so his back was sore and he didn't get to train properly in the days leading to the fight.

http://sportv.globo.com/site/combate/noticia/2014/04/minotauro-relata-constrangimento-em-aviao-e-planeja-processar-empresa.html

[Fanny Batter]

Big Nog only loses fairly to Brazilian fighters!

[Fanny Batter]

TUF Nations Finale on Wednesday. Not going to pretend that I've watched it the TV show (I don't watch TUF unless there's a decent coach dynamic like Rousey vs. Tate), so am clueless as to who's involved. Three of the four finalists are undefeated and one once beaten so they should at least be decent, and there's notables scattered throughout.

Main event is Michael Bisping vs. Tim Kennedy. The winner will probably find themselves in a top contenders match, presumably against Jacare. Both are marketable names, Bisping being a Northern nobhead and Kennedy being an Army Ranger. It's a pick em fight, Bisping is the quicker fighter and should be the one scoring points on the feet, but Kennedy has more power and should be the physically stronger man. I fancy it going five rounds with Bisping surviving a few scary moments to pull away on the stretch and take a close points verdict. I don't think Kennedy will match his out-put and while he will almost certainly hurt Bisping and maybe trouble him on the mat, Mike will rack up points with his stick and move kickboxing. I hope he wins anyway, I'd like to see him get that elusive title shot. He's great value.

Dustin Poirier has been given a squash match against Akira Corassani. It looks the sort anyway, Dustin is developing into a high quality TV fighter, offence for days and a willingness to put himself in danger to hunt for the finish. I fancy he gets Akira out of there within 2 and move himself on to a big fight. Him and Lamas would be a quality scrap.

Kyle Noke fights Patrick Cote in the bizarre coaches fight. I don't get the Canada vs. Straylya competition, is there a history of sporting rivalry there? Either way, both guys have been about a bit and at least come to fight, with a lot of stoppages between them. I like Noke to be the fresher fighter, Cote is on the luckiest winning streak of all time - DQ win against Sakara and a (in my opinion) stinker of a decision against Bobby Voelker. He doesn't look like he has much left, will always keep his power though. I'd go Noke in a slight upset, probably on points but maybe by submission if Cote tires down the stretch.

Stout vs. Noons. 2 overrated fighters in terms of entertainment as they're primarily strikers. Stout in particular has bored me for years. I'm hoping Noons and his very solid haircut can put it together and beat him, ending his UFC career finally. The man couldn't finish Cody MacKenzie! I think Stout will steal it with takedowns that he does nothing with though, again.

Sarah Kaufman returns to fight Leslie Smith, who comes in on massively short notice. Apparently there first scrap in Invicta was a bit of a classic. Looking forward to 2 game birds coming for a scrap, Kaufman should have enough and get back in the win column. Very solid fighter.

Ryan Jimmo and Mark Bocek both face newcomers. Jimmo is a strange one, is never purely average. Stinks up the joint or scores big shots and excites. Bocek is underrated, good grappler, 7-5 in the UFC but only losing to former champions (Edgar and Henderson), perennial top tenners (RDA and Jimmy Miller) and Mac Danzig after he got cut up. Doubt he cracks the top 10 but won't lose to many outside of it. Both guys should win.

George Roop vs. Dustin Kimura. Roop is always in entertaining fights too, and is incredibly inconsistent. He's 5-5-1 since he started fighting below 155, and 2-2 at bantamweight. That says it all really. He's lost to some very good fighters but beat some too. Kimura is a step below guys like Bowles and Wineland but unproven. Roop mainly struggles with big punchers and Kimura is a grappler. Roop most likely boxes him up and gets the TKO.

Some solid, some shit - a FS1 level show really.

[OD50]

Definitely have Bisping outpointing Kennedy via standard dance like a butterfly and sting like a... Uh, butterfly style.

Hoping DDP squashes Corassani. Even though he fights out of Sweden it's very, very hard to find anyone actually liking the guy. Me included.

[Mark Hammer]

Definitely have Bisping outpointing Kennedy via standard dance like a butterfly and sting like a... Uh, butterfly style.


I love this line.

This is actually a pretty good card. FS1 am I correct? I might make a thread. I'm pulling for Mean Mike and I think he'll take the UD. Agree with OD about Corassani; he's a cunt and I'll always remember him for getting mad and throwing napkins at Bruce Leeroy. Thankfully Poirier should crush him, which will be nice to watch.

[Nash Diesel]

If Bisping loses he'll never see a title shot at 185 for the rest of his career. Tim Kennedy hasn't beaten a top guy, the only wins Bisping has in the UFC are against guys who don't even fucking fight there anymore (seriously think about that for a minute, not a single guy he's beat fights in the UFC anymore...some don't even fight period.) I think Bisping was someone who people kept going "oh he'll bring in all these fans from the European market" but the way people from across the pond talk about him in various countries, they seem to hate this guy too.

IMHO, the guy is about 3 fights away from being a true contender. If he beats Kennedy, he has to fight at least 2 more guys that are top guys whether it's Jacare, Machida, Weidman, a rematch with Vitor, Luke Rockhold, having a resume where your win column has no top 10 guys and no current UFC/MMA fighters, that's not going to do much.

[Nash Diesel]

Judging by the lack of Silva-Sonnen TUF Brazil talk I'm assuming either nobody around here subscribes to Fight Pass or they haven't seen the altercation between Chael, Wanderlai, and Wanderlai's coach. There's something going on, because now we have Chael requesting a fight with RICH FRANKLIN lol. No clue WHY he would call out Ace and keep saying that the fight with Wanderlai isn't going down if something wasn't up behind the scenes.

[Olympus]

I've been watching it. I want to believe it wasn't a work, but it was just weird either way.

[Mark Hammer]

Holy shit what a knockout from KJ Noons.

[Fanny Batter]

YES KJ Noons. Stout has bored me for ages, great knockout. Good hair on him as well.

[Mark Hammer]

What a fucking round! Probably the best MMA round I've seen so far this year.

[Fanny Batter]

Poirier might be the most exciting fighter in the sport. So attack minded and creative with the vulnerability that keeps his fights edge-of-your-seat stuff. He's going to have some classics in the next few years.

[Mark Hammer]

Tim Kennedy is stinking this joint up.

[Fanny Batter]

Worst main event in a long time. Dull as shit. Kennedy did what he had to do and Bisping had nothing for him. Not a stock grower for either, and Bisping needs a big performance next to stay remotely relevant.

[Mik]

Surprised to see Kennedy holding Bisping down when Sonnen couldnt.

[Mark Hammer]

Unfortunate snoozer of a main event when the rest of the card was damn entertaining.

Mik keep in mind that Bisping is 35 years old and just returned from over a year lay-off. A combination of ring rust and Father Time left us with a much shittier version of Bisping last night than the one who showed up against Sonnen. As much as Kennedy is to blame for that cringeworty 15-20 minute display of LnP, Bisping looked horrible even when the tide was going his way. He was so apprehensive, I kept wanting to scream at him to do something.

[Mik]

Maybe its time for Bisping to start considering retirement. That title shot he's always wanted it way too far out of his grasp now.

[Nash Diesel]

He would probably have to beat 2 top 5 guys in his next 2 fights to even be considered for a title shot.

[Kimura Kid]

Poirier might be the most exciting fighter in the sport. So attack minded and creative with the vulnerability that keeps his fights edge-of-your-seat stuff. He's going to have some classics in the next few years.

I've always loved watching Poirier fight. He's one of my favorite fighters I always root for the guy! I would say him and Mcgregor are my favorite fighters.

[Nash Diesel]

McGregor???? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO!! lol. Has the dude been so impressive on twitter it's convinced others that he's actually as good as he posts? His name is just sour ballsack to me ever since Joe Rogen said nobody since Lesnar has came into the UFC with as much hype as this dude. But I love Poirier, and the documentary they've been showing on Showtime that was shot a couple years ago before he got his big break where he's training down in Louisiana with Tim Credeur.

[OD50]

Well, KK didn't say McGregor was great or anything, just one of his his favorite fighters. People probably dig his style and swag just as much as his actual fighting skills.

[Nash Diesel]

Oh I was just giving my brother KK shit as it seems like Connor is somehow labeled the next big thing yet he hasn't really shown us jack shit other than he can talk some good trash on twitter. Sucks he's out with an injury, as I would have liked to have seen him live up to the hype sooner than later. I mean shit he called out the entire top 10 and already has quite a few fans and DW on his nuts, let's see what this boy can do when he has to face Cole Miller.

[Fanny Batter]

Interesting event tomorrow night, with nothing hugely relevant but well matched fights with a few prospects and veterans on the rebound scattered about.

Brown vs. Silva can't not be awesome. 2 offensive minded scrappers with huge vulnerabilities colliding with one of them on the fringes of contention and the other in need of putting a string of wins together. Brown just brings it every time he fights, he has no real right to be the kind of guy to put a streak together because his defensive grappling isn't great and he gets hit a lot, but he's done it and fair play to him. Anybody who doesn't like watching him fight probably doesn't like this sport too much, he is value. Then there's Silva who always comes out like a house of fire, either getting early finishes with his explosive striking and great ground game or getting involved in wars and coming out on the losing end. Always entertaining. This could be one of those fights where Silva starts strong but fades and Brown takes over, or Silva clips him and submits him early. I prefer Brown and would like a journeyman guy like that to end up challenging for the title, but I think Silva is too much for him. Both men will have crackers with the Lawler's and Condit's of the division which is exciting.

Philippou vs. Larkin doesn't really get my interest, Costa is a fighter who never really has good fights, not boring but technically strong with nothing outstanding. Larkin has potential to be a highlight reel but is usually too passive. It's going to points I think, and it depends on who does the most work. Larkin is the better fighter so I lean towards him but he's too relaxed to have faith in.

Koch vs. Cruickshank is another guaranteed slice of violence, Koch is a genuine top tier featherweight who has moved up after a couple of tough defeats. No shame in losing to Lamas or Poirier, two elite fighters. Cruickshank is unpredictable, he's not made the step up yet but when he's fighting lower level fighters he's very entertaining. That head kick he did to a guy on FOX 5 I think it was was incredible. BUT when he does step up he can go in to his shell and under perform. This is certainly a step up. Koch wins and looks spectacular doing so, putting him around the top 20. Him and Noons sounds like a fun time.

Magny vs. Means. Strange main card fight. Really strange. Means is entertaining though. Hopefully he crushes Magny, who has never really impressed me.

THE HULK vs. Ruan Potts. Hulk really isn't very good but he hits hard and has a solid top game, I think he'll beat most middling heavyweights and get rinsed once he starts fighting the top 10. Potts isn't top 10. Hulk in one.

Cariaso vs. Smolka is a great fight at flyweight, a division that is starting to develop prospects well. Smolka is one of those, he looked really good against Ozkelic in a back and forth fight. Cariaso is an odd one in the division though, he only loses to great fighters (usually before we know how good they are), overachieving in defeat and looking pretty ordinary against mid tier talent. He fights up a level when he goes up in level, but still comes up short. Smolka is a wild card, we don't know how good he is. I lean towards Cariaso in a tight one, he should have enough experience to take the rounds.

Herman vs. Natal is surely loser leaves town, 2 guys who have been around forever and showing no signs of stepping up to the top 20. Natal is the better fighter but can be flaky, his knockout loss to Andrew Craig was his career highlight. Herman doesn't hit hard enough to bother him though I don't think, Natal wins on points or maybe late by submission.

Horiguchi vs. Montague is another class flyweight fight. Horiguchi looked good in his debut, smashing an overmatched bantamweight to bits. He's down at a more natural weight class for him against a guy who was ranked highly before the UFC implemented the division. Close fight. Horiguchi has power for days though and I like him to pick up a stoppage win.

Cabral vs. Cummings. Cabral is a grappling beast, Cummings' one skillset is grappling so he shouldn't give Cabral many issues. Cabral comfortably on points I think, but hopefully he can pick up a submission.

Eddie Wineland tenth fight down(?!) against Johny Eduardo. No idea why Wineland is slumming it so far down the card when Neil Magny is on the main show, but there we are. Get to see it all so no worries, just bizarre. Wineland beats him down, Eduardo is experienced but Wineland can beat anybody on his day and it wouldn't surprise me if he gets on track for another title shot, I'd favour him against anybody but Faber, Cruz and Barao, and he could beat the first 2 on a good day I think. He's really good. Eddie by knockout.

Nik Lentz vs. Manny Gamburyan on Fight Pass. Lentz is a top ten featherweight, Manny is a former title contender on a three fight unbeaten run (thanks to Dennis Siver turtle HGH). Good fight. Lentz is a really relentless grappler and a hardcase, I think he tires Manny out and wins by decision, he has the power to hurt Manny though.

Salas vs. Wall. No fucks given. Salas I guess.

Lapsey vs. Tumenov. Money to be made on Lapsey, Tumenov is overrated because he's Russian, Lapsey looked very solid against Jason High.

[Nash Diesel]

Mega excited for tonights card. Brown/Silva and Koch/Cruickshank are going to be memorable.

[Mark Hammer]

Brown is currently a 2-1 underdog. Pretty laughable imo; he's beaten better competition and is ranked quite a bit higher. Plus he's fighting at home. I think there's some easy money to be made here because it looks like all the betters have swallowed the Silva hype.

[Nash Diesel]

The only thing I question is Browns chin. Hes been subbed but he reminds me of a modern day Nate Quarry where he eats some wicked shots, almost gets finished, then comes out of nowhere with the big win. I hope Brown wins and we eventually get the Condit fight.

[Dream-Evil]

Eduardo!

[Mark Hammer]

Brown is currently a 2-1 underdog. Pretty laughable imo; he's beaten better competition and is ranked quite a bit higher. Plus he's fighting at home. I think there's some easy money to be made here because it looks like all the betters have swallowed the Silva hype.

Like I said. I'm still trying to wrap my head around Brown being such a heavy underdog, he should have been a considerable favorite.

[Nash Diesel]

The liver shots/midsection hits will be his demise against the likes of Condit, Hendricks, Lawler, butttttttt he showed why hes a top 10 guy and why you cant sleep on him. Got out of a deep choke, multiple kill shots to the body, and the receipt he gave Silva for those shots made this a classic we will remember for years.

Another great win was Cruikshank over Koch, beautiful finish.

[Fanny Batter]

Matt Brown is some man. Hard cunt. Great whiskers and a hell of a survivor. 2 fights in his last 3 now he's been hurt badly to the body and somehow recovered, and considering he has proven his toughness I feel he'll be given longer rope to recover. Erick Silva is a tough lad too, he can take a shot and it took a lot to get him to wilt. Brown vs. the winner of Ellenberger/Lawler is a must and is guaranteed awesomeness. Match the two judokas DHK and Lombard, winner of Rory/Woodley meets Hendricks and the winner of the Ellenberger/Lawler/Brown fiasco (providing they're good fights of course... !), and match Maia with Saffiedine if he wins his next one. Welterweight is great without GSP.

Costa Philippou put the beatdown on. Great knockout. That's a big win for him and if he improves his TDD he could hover around the top 15 for a while. Larkin is a solid fighter but lacks that x factor.

Darren Cruickshank will kick your head off. Glad to see him win, surprised me that he raised his game and went for it, and Koch crumbled under pressure like he has in the past. Spectacular knockout. Cruickshank vs. Barboza is next I hope, maybe get him back in there earlier and build up to it though, he's a dangerous man.

Magny vs. Means sucked donkey dick. Magny is a boring prick, Means was a passive spaz.

HULK SMASH. Good run he's on. Looking forward to making money when he faces a top 10 opponent though, he's not particularly special.

Chris Cariaso is a solid little fighter. Little being the operative term. He has close fights but finds ways to win. His two losses at flyweight don't tell the whole story either, he put a beatdown on Formiga in round 3 yet got stopped by Moraga in the third in a fight he was winning. He has a chance with anybody outside Benavidez, Mighty Mouse, Dodson and McCall I think.

Prelims were an odd bunch. Nik Lentz had a close one with fucking Manny Gamburyan and proceeded to say he was the third best featherweight in the world. Ed Herman waded through treacle and won a fight. Horiguchi looked great against a very game opponent. Eddie Wineland got smashed by Johnny Eduaro in a big shocker, maybe Eddie is on the downswing of a good career. Yan Cabral looked clueless and shit after the first round and basically beat himself.

Good event.

[Fanny Batter]

Didn't really focus a whole lot on the fights yesterday, with Froch/Groves being my chosen viewing. Strange to see C.B. Dolloway turn it around and becoming a very solid middleweight after losing to Jared Hamman of all people. Carmont got overrated quite considerably, his win streak was deceptive and he's no top 10 calibre fighter. Mousasi won as expected, Munoz has suffered some heavy defeats in his career and should probably call it a day. Mouse is a contender at middleweight, very capable of stringing some wins together providing he stays more active. Yuri Alcantara continued his climb at bantamweight, get him against the top 10 now please. Fell asleep before the Brazil card. Glad Maldonado didn't take a prolonged beating. Good for Miocic to pick up another win, can see the JDS fight getting rescheduled, or Overeem in a contender's fight.

Next week's event is more like it. Henderson/Khabilov, Pearson/Sanchez, Dodson/Moraga, RDA/High and Carraway/Perez are all very solid fights.

[Fanny Batter]

Solid event coming up Saturday.

Benson Henderson has always come off as a cock to me, but he is an excellent mixed martial artist. Quick, powerful, explosive, he can win fights on the ground and standing against the majority of the division. His beatdown of Nate Diaz is his best performance, just a tactical decimation of a talented-but-unintelligent world class fighter. The problem with Henderson is that he isn't much of a fighter. He doesn't have much success when he gets into a scrap, and his best performances are when he can dissect his opponent at his own pace. He's suffered flash knockdowns in exchanges, he just isn't a fighter who will succeed in many brawls. Rustam Khabilov is unproven but a talented fighter, and his success in this fight will be dictated by whether he can push his own pace on Henderson before Benson gets into his irritating groove. Khabilov has one of my favourite knockouts ever against Vinc Pichel (who, it turns out, isn't a bad fighter at all), suplexing him onto his head over and over. It was class. Doubt he can do that to a big man like Henderson though. His striking isn't bad, nearly taking Masvidal's head off last time out. He trains at Jackson's. Henderson should have enough to take (yet another) relatively close decision, but I'm hopeful Khabilov can surprise us and smash him to bits early.

Diego Sanchez is a nutcase. Ross Pearson doesn't have the chin and defensive skills that past opponents of Diego's nuts style have had, which makes it interesting. Pearson is a good enough offensive fighter to put marks all over Diego, but I doubt he can put him away. Then Diego comes strong. No doubt if Pearson catches a punch like Melendez did he's getting finished. I fancy that in one of those crazy come from behind finishes that Sanchez has come so close to many times. This is going to be good. Sanchez late or Pearson survives to take a disputed points verdict. A Sanchez win, setting him up for a nuts fight in Mexico would be ideal.

Dodson vs. Moraga. Dodson is really, really good. I want to see him and Mighty Mouse fight again after the trouble he put him in the first 2 rounds last time out. John Moraga stands in his way to that, and I can't see him beating Dodson at peak form. Moraga's UFC record is somewhat deceptive, he was losing against Cariaso and arguably lost to Dustin Ortiz last time. He's good but not great. I can see him lasting the distance because he's very tough, but it won't be close. Dodson vs. Johnson 2 would be an ideal fight for Canada in September, nobody else is available and Johnson will build some fans there after beating Bagautinov next week.

dos Anjos vs. High. RDA is really good. Jason High is a journeyman coming down in weight for the first time. I've got dos Anjos clipping a fading High late in round 2 or 3 and finishing him with a submission. BIG opportunity for High here, and undeserved too really. I'd have matched RDA with Myles Jury.

Edwards vs. Hallman. Edwards is toast I think. Hallman should have enough to beat the old man.

Caraway vs. Perez is such an excellent fight. Both are ranked in the top 15 of the division and it's shallow enough, and the top lads have been losing enough, to be a good 4 fight win streak away from a title shot. Perez is great to watch, constant aggression both on the feet and on the ground. Caraway's tough with a very good ground game. This will be a scrap. I'd favour Perez because of the power difference. Get him a big fight in Mexico and he could become the star they wanted him to be before (stupidly) matching him against Mizugaki.

Sergio Pettis on the prelims. Pettis has a lot of potential. Meza is a sacrificial lamb, and rightfully so, Pettis is worth building slowly as he's only a young lad. Pettis in one.

Voelker vs. Benoist. I guess every fight card needs a blood and guts scrap. This is it. It'll be slow and unspectacular, and you flip a coin as to who wins the decision. I'd go with Benoist, Voelker fights like he's in treacle sometimes.

Scotty Jorgenson gets his sacrificial lamb in Danny Martinez. It's over for Scott if he loses. Martinez is not particularly good so Jorgenson should win comfortably, but fancy him to take a conservative points win. I still think he might do alright at flyweight, the loss to Formiga was off a freak occurrence and we don't know Machovsky's ceiling at flyweight yet.

Lindsay vs. Tuck. I've got Lindsay, seems to be a finisher and has won all his pro and amateur fights. Tuck hasn't looked good in his fights in the UFC so far.

PATTY CUMMINS gets his lamb too. Both lads are for all intents and purposes undefeated since Cummins had no business being in a paid fight against Daniel Cormier at this stage. I imagine he must be pretty good if it was sanctioned though, I'd like to think if he's crap then that fight wouldn't have been made. Somebody knows something. Cummins by knockout.

[Nash Diesel]

I keep forgetting this thread is also the Fight NIGHT thread.

Who's ready for Fight Night this weekend?

Great fight headlining between Smooth Henderson and Tiger Khabilov. Tiger has to be next in line for a title shot with this win or pretty damn close. Very few have beaten Henderson, possibly the best fighter at 155 next to Pettis. I have to go with Henderson, hopefully he gets a finish, but more than likely he'll get the UD nod.

Nightmare Sanchez v. Ross Pearson, probably going to be a banger with Diego finally getting a real win after some time.

Dodson/Moraga will be a great fight, not sure who to pick but Dodson is just great to watch.

The rest of the card looks bad ass, can't wait!

[Mark Hammer]

Excellent finish by Benson.

[OD50]

Diego Sanchez.. Wtf?

That dude should be on a (at least) 6 fight losing streak right now, Kampmann, Gomi and Pearson were robbed blind. The new Leonard Garcia right there.

I have no memory whatsoever of Sanches/Paulo Thiago, maybe it should be a 9 fight losing streak?

[Mark Hammer]

His win over Paulo Thiago was legit, I remember him looking really good in that fight. But I agree regarding the Kampmann, Gomi, and Pearson fights. Judges seem to love Sanchez.

[Dream-Evil]

Gotta wonder if he'd have won if they weren't fighting in Albequerque

[OD50]

His win over Paulo Thiago was legit, I remember him looking really good in that fight. But I agree regarding the Kampmann, Gomi, and Pearson fights. Judges seem to love Sanchez.

They love that shitty bum rush he always does when there's ten seconds left. He didn't even connect with anything, just flailed like a retard. And honest to god, when I was watching the fight I was thinking ''The judges just can't be stupid enough to fall for that shit..''. Well, of course they were.

Pissed. :mad:

[Nash Diesel]

I was more surprised with how lackluster the fight was in general as opposed to the decision. Watching it the first time I saw it going either way but I was leaning toward Pearson because it looked like he connected with more shots. Diego is one lucky bastard. Now he wants Nate Diaz. That'd be a good scrap.

Benson with the finish, very impressive, seemed like Tiger was ready to call it in during the 3rd round so I could tell he was going to struggle in the later rounds.

Caraway had a nice submission, Dos Anjos looked good, just a solid night of fights for the most part.

[OD50]

As I expected, Pearson got his 30k win bonus despite "losing''.

/And..


Diego lost that fight. The judge who judged that fight should never be judging fights again. He never should be judging fights of this caliber, he needs to go back down into the amateurs and really learn how to judge a fight," White told ufc.com. "First of all, you gave every round to Diego, who got dropped in the second round. It was a knockdown, how does Diego win that round? It's not possible. I don't know how you can vote against him, but it goes to show that you're never safe. That's as bad as it gets.

//And:

LAS VEGAS -- There will be no rematch between Diego Sanchez and Ross Pearson.

UFC president Dana White called Sanchez's controversial split decision over Pearson last weekend "insanity" and said the promotion will move forward as if Pearson won the fight.

The lightweight bout, which took place in Sanchez's hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Saturday, was widely denounced as one of the worst decisions in UFC history.

Judges Jeff Collins and Chris Tellez each scored the bout for Sanchez, 30-27 and 29-28, respectively. Judge Marcos Rosales had it 30-27 in Pearson's favor, along with an overwhelming majority of media.

White was not in attendance, but viewed the fight from his vacation home in Bangor, Maine.

"It was horrible," White told ESPN.com. "In the second round, Diego got dropped and one judge still gave him that round. Insanity, man. Pearson got robbed. Pearson won that fight clearly. He easily won that fight. We have to treat Pearson like he won and give him that next level fight.

"The thing about our sport is there's never any of that hometown advantage bulls---. Yeah, more people are going to be cheering for you than the other guy, but it's not like the judges are all from that town. Usually, athletic commissions pull the best from around the country. Whoever gave that fight all three rounds to Sanchez should never judge a fight again."

[Fanny Batter]

2 fight cards next Saturday, one in the early hours from New Zealand and one on America time.

The first has possibly the least important main event the company has put on since the early days. At least DHK and Saffiedine were ranked for their main event fights. This is Te Huna vs. Marquardt. A combined 1-5 in their last 3 each, with Te Huna losing 2 straight (to 2 top 10 lightheavyweights in Glover and Shogun), while Marquardt on a 3 fight skid (at welterweight against top tenners Tarec, Ellenberger and Lombard). Needless to say, neither were relevant in those divisions, and they're not relevant at middleweight. Main event for fuck's sake! That being said, it should be entertaining - both men can be cracked, both are offensive first, and we don't know how the weight will go for either. It'll end by stoppage. I think Marquardt's chin is toast and Te Huna blasts him out. I don't really care.

Co-main at least has guys on solid streaks at heavyweight, Soa Palelei vs. Jared Rosholt. Rosholt is a deathly boring wrestler, Soa a nonathletic slugger. But it should be entertaining through 5. I'm hoping Soa can land early and set up a shellacking at the hands of somebody decent, but I see Rosholt lying on him and setting up his own shellacking at the hands of somebody decent.

Charles Olivera vs. Hatsu Hioki is a very good crossroads fight at featherweight. Both won last time out to snap losing streaks so the winner here will have some momentum. I think this could be a really fun fight, Olivera's guard is offensive enough to have a really good scrap with Hioki on the deck, and his range should give him a slight advantage on the feet as Hioki doesn't crack like Cowboy or Swanson. Could be a sleeper fight of the year, especially considering Hioki doesn't have to travel far for this fight. I see Olivera taking a close one, though it's a pick em fight.

Robert Whittaker and Neil Magny are the only other notables. Think about that. Can't see me bothering with the prelims since Magny is one of the few I recognise and is dogshit to watch.


Swanson vs. Stephens is the later card and should be excellent. I fucking love that fight. Cub Swanson has been very underrated lately, racking up quality wins against Poirier and Siver, as well as Roop, Olivera and Pearson. He stopped the latter 4. Jeremy Stephens has looked great at featherweight, never really troubled in convincing wins over Payan and ranked Elkins as well as a devastating knockout of (at the time) prospect Rony Jason. He's a bad man. Both great strikers, Stephens has wrestling but Swanson has BJJ. This will be awesome. If Cub gets a big stoppage he's next in line for the title shot so I expect a big performance. Stephens winning would nearly equal Matt Brown's renaissance, he was a middling lightweight towards the end there.

Kelvin Gastelum returns and thankfully they've slowed down his rise after a scare against the very good Rick Story. His opponent has a couple of UFC wins and is no scrub but it's a fight for Gastelum to look good and get him ready for somebody in the top 10/15 for the Mexico card. Would be surprised if Musoke can impose his will on him like he did Sakara, Kelvin's a top prospect.

Cezar Mutante vs. Andrew Craig. Vulnerable stand up fights are always fun, 2 chinny hard hitters. Mutante should be too quick for Craig and look spectacular, but there's a chance he gases and gets stopped.

Ricky Lamas returning from his title shot to fight the underrated Hacran Dias. Hacran dominated Yuri Alcantara a while ago but has hardly fought since, losing to Nik Lentz last year. They've had him on slate to fight Mendes and Kawajiri so they're aware of his talent. Lamas is really good though and should have the wrestling chops to control the fight and maybe stop it with his violent ground and pound.

Hester vs. Neto. Both undefeated in UFC, striker vs. grappler to the very core. Neto is extremely high level at BJJ but Hester a very solid athlete. Looking forward to this one. You'd fancy Neto to get it on the deck and submit Clint but if Hester gets through this he's due a name.

Not the best prelims, Joe Ellenberger, Ray Borg and Anthony Hamilton should be fun though.

[Fanny Batter]

So is Nate Marquardt "back", or was James Te Huna overrated in a shallow division? He whooped that boy pretty good, beating him on the feet, with ground and pound then finishing with a superb armbar. Maybe the drop in weight was a detriment? Apart from the times he shit the bed when near title contention, Nate had looked lethal at 185. Let's see how far he can go, it was only 18 months ago he was being touted as a potential challenger to GSP, he obviously has talent. As for Te Huna, a big drop in competition awaits. He shouldn't be canned since Glover, Shogun and Nate have all been in title fights so are world class. Maybe he can fight a Brad Tavares or somebody? His name has increased with his profile fights so he's one good performance to being in a better position than ever.

Jared Rosholt beat Soa Palelei. Haven't bothered watching it. Non-elite heavyweights fighting for 15 minutes? Fuck that.

Charles Olivera may be my favourite submission specialist. That shit was sublime, against a guy of Hioki's calibre as well. He's always pulling off amazing subs, him taking the back of a standing Escudero was special and the calf slicer. He's really good. If he improves his striking (mainly defense) he'll be top 10, but I don't really want him to because win or lose his fights are always entertaining. 11 UFC fights, one decision (a FOTN loss to Frankie Edgar) - for a sub-170 fighter that is amazing. As for Hioki, his request for a warm up for Aldo (in the form of Ricardo Lamas) will surely go down as one of the all time stupidest career decisions in MMA. He had a title fight and he turned it down because he thought he wasn't ready for it, lost to a no name on a prelim for a shitty TV channel and went downhill from there. What a moron. Aldo slips and breaks his ankle in the cage and you're the World champion, first from Japan, and likely a made man for life. Fucking idiot.

Didn't see the rest.

[Dubya]

I think it's a little bit of both. Nate always looked better at 185 IMO; so that's part of it. Never been a big Te Huna fan, so it wasn't surprising to see him lose again. Oliveira is really fun to watch. I feel like that kid is just getting better and better. Rosholt just manhandled Palelei. Can't be too surprised.. for all the Palelei hype, he really hasn't beaten anyone great. Rosholt was able to neutralize him.

CANNOT WAIT for Swanson vs. Stephens. :panic:

[Fanny Batter]

Swanson vs. Stephens is going to be a donnybrook. Glad that Swanson is getting some main event shine, his last five performances have been excellent. Stephens as well, still somehow only (a young) 28. Mad that he'd have been 22 for his first UFC main event, he feels like part of the furniture.

Looking forward to seeing how Gastelum and Lamas look too, Gastelum has looked very good so far and is a young pup, while Lamas can get himself back in the win column and set up a more intriguing fight with a top 10 featherweight. Rebooking him and Zombie would be great, or Poirier. Love that division.

[Mik]

Anyone else getting very pumped for this weekend's fight night card?

I love both Nelson and McGregor, so this is a good card just for the main events as far as I'm concerned.

[Fanny Batter]

Yeah, both cards this week have loads of interesting fights, looking forward to both.

I'm imagining something great happening in Cerrone/Miller. Not sure if it's going to be a war or if one of them is going to blow the other out early. It's one of those fights. But it's going to be great either way. I'm a big Jim Miller fan, seems a hell of a guy, and for some reason I often support fighters who don't really rely on athletic advantages and persevere on skill and toughness. Not that Cerrone lacks either of those but Miller's just gritty. However, I'm leaning towards a Cerrone victory because not only does he have skill and toughness, he hits a touch harder and should have considerable advantages with reach and speed. I'm seeing him hurting Miller and choking him out. It's a huge fight because it seems a given that the winner will face Khabib, so basically it's a top contender to a top contender fight. Neither match up particularly well with Khabib but both would give him a different angle with their active guards and better striking. Cheering for Miller, leaning towards Cerrone.

Dunham vs. Barboza is basically last chance saloon in terms of possible contendership for both men. Dunham has become tremendously underrated, mainly because how Cowboy Cerrone dealt him his arse last time out. Before that he was the victim of home cooking against top 10 dos Anjos and beat fringe contender Gleison Tibau. Competitive against TJ Grant too. He's good. Barboza is an amazing offensive fighter with such defensive frailties that make his fights must see TV. All his UFC fights have produced something memorable. Based on offense, Barboza wins. But Dunham's only been stopped on strikes once and can certainly hurt Barboza. Should have the better ground game too. Great fight. I think Barboza will beat up Dunham as you have to think Dunham may have lost belief after his last few performances, how many times have we seen good lightweights fade early once things get sticky? Tyson Griffin and Joe Stevenson come to mind.

Rick Story and John Lineker fighting on the main card, usually in good fights. Fucking love body shots and these boys throw with bad intentions. Then a great prospect fight at featherweight between Lucas Martins and Alex Das Wunderkid White. Prelims have the ultimate grinder match in Tibau vs. Healy, guaranteed fireworks in Viana vs. Sterling, and the first women's strawweight fights obscenely buried in the first fight on the card. Should be class.

Dublin has the three top fights that are excellent fights. As Mik said, McGregor and Nelson both have huge potential, not only in the cage but as superstars in Conor's case. He's electric. This Diego Brandao fight is a good test for him and he's a sizeable favourite which is strange considering Brandao has done well lately outside of gassing against Poirier and getting curbstomped. Everybody wants Conor to win. He needs to win really. I think he will but I've got a feeling he'll have to pull through deep waters before putting his man away in a thriller. He needs to show his heart really, that's a gigantic part of what makes a star. Hope he gets tested. Him against Poirier next if he wins, how fucking colossal will that be?!

Nelson vs. Cummings. Nelson is a grappling prodigy. Cummings shut down another grappling prodigy in Yan Cabral last time. If Nelson gets through this guy it will show how dangerous he is on the ground. I feel his stance will give him issues against the box-wrestlers of the division but he's very exciting to watch.

McCall vs. Pickett will be excellent. They don't do boring fights. They don't like each other. Got a feeling McCall takes it though apparently he's not in good physical condition so maybe he's fighting because he needs to get paid rather than because he's in peak form? That being said, Pickett is such an offense based fighter that McCall will be competitive healthy or not as Brad is easy to land shots on. The grappling should be quite even too. Winner likely gets the next title shot, hopefully Brad so they can get a bit of hype over here, popularity was at its peak over here when the Bisping's, Hardy's and Daley's were near contention.

Norman Parke gets another no name in the main card opener. Parke bores me and I personally would have him sink or swim against a Dunham or Trujillo already rather than having 60/40 jab matches with Graham from down the road.

[blackening]

Great night of fights tonight. Great body kicks by Cerone and a beautiful head kick for the finish.

[Pablo Diablo]

Really glad I decided to watch it.

[Mark Hammer]

Yeah, lots and lots of finishes. More than I can remember on one fight card.

The flyweight fight was FOTN for my money's worth. And I like Miller but I was pulling hard for Cerrone after that "groin shot" replay showed a very clear legal body kick dropping Miller in what should have been a stoppage right there. Oh well, karma was just and Cerrone went on to continue battering him and win anyways.

Good night of fights.

[OD50]

Fuck off Jim Miller, faking getting kicked in the nuts. Head kick serves you right.

[Fanny Batter]

Really good night of fights. Everything was really good, even the women's strawweight fight was really good for the ladies, can already tell the talent at 115 will be superior, on average, than the 135ers.

Cowboy Cerrone is a beast. Jim Miller's a tough lad and he just broke him and folded him. Great to see him going to the body more, those teeps were excellent. Vicious knockout. Him and Khabib, give them either 5 rounds in Nova Scotia or have it co-main the Jones/Gustafsson fight. Maybe even have it main that Sweden card in October. Really want somebody at 155 to drop out of an upcoming fight for Cowboy to step in though. Love that guy's desire to fight.

Barboza again with a big finish. Great fighter to watch. Him against Maynard (if he wins his gimme fight) sounds about right. Disappointed in Dunham, as I said some guys just fade when they no longer have belief that they can be champion.

John Lineker is awesome. Great output and cardio this time out as well as ruthless body punches. Get his weight right and he'll be a contender still. Hope they don't rush him into a fight with Benavidez, the winner of McCall/Pickett sounds about right, or Machovsky.

[Bert]

And I like Miller but I was pulling hard for Cerrone after that "groin shot" replay showed a very clear legal body kick dropping Miller in what should have been a stoppage right there. Oh well, karma was just and Cerrone went on to continue battering him and win anyways.

Good night of fights.

So, you're done calling COWBOY an asshole for no reason now?

I just watched through the card. Yeah, some good fights.

[Mark Hammer]

He and Aldo have both grown on me. Half of that jibe was just me giving you a hard time anyways. :cool:

But really, Cerrone can be quite a dickhead when he wants to be. Still a fun fighter to watch.

[Seanny One Ball]

Ach you bastards I had this week off and I've missed the only live UFC I will get a chance to see this year.

[Bert]

You might be able to find it on this thing called the internet.

[Nash Diesel]

I finally got to watch the entire event last night. That finish to the women's fight between Leslie and Duke, holy shit it reminded me of when nate Marquardt went berzerker on Wilson Gouveia years back. Is it bad that I just enjoy seeing that clique get their shit handed to them?

I was skeptical about Miller's claim that it was a low bow, I thought ok, maybe the bottom part of Cerrone's foot caught him and the top half caught him in the stomach, but it seemed clear after a few replays that it was a legal shot. Miller is tough, I really enjoyed the fight and can't wait to see who Cerrone will actually get to fight next.

Evan Dunham, that dude turned into a Brandon Vera. Ton of hype but has fallen off pretty hard, I was actually surprised he went out the way he did, but people are figuring out more and more that hitting that body is almost as effective if not more effective when trying to get the stoppage.

[Mark Hammer]

Upon further review I don't believe Miller actually called a nut shot. I think he genuinely collapsed in pain (again fight should have been stopped) but Miragliotta mis-interpreted it as a low blow. Then I think Miller confirmed that it wasn't a low blow, hence no 5 minutes to regain his composure and the fight being resumed. Quite a brain fart on the ref's end, Miller took an unnecessary beating for about a round afterwards as well as a head kick KO for Big Dan's mistake.

[Nash Diesel]

The thing is though, there were a couple shots Miller threw with all he had that had he been a tad more into it, he would've knocked out Cerrone. I like Cowboy, but I think that he leaves himself open alot more than he should and he's paid the price in the past. But yeah I forgot about that sequence where it was like wait a minute, don't they get up to 5 minutes? So yeah it LOOKED questionable so I can understand why Big Dan stopped it thinking it was a nut shot, sometimes that slap sound can be confusing with crowd noise and shit like that.

[OD50]

Evan Dunham, that dude turned into a Brandon Vera. Ton of hype but has fallen off pretty hard, I was actually surprised he went out the way he did, but people are figuring out more and more that hitting that body is almost as effective if not more effective when trying to get the stoppage.

Yeah, I've added Dunham to my list of guys that once looked like world beaters and surefire stars/champs but fell off big time. Guys like Tyson Griffin, Roger Huerta, Miguel Torres, Brian Bowles, Sokodjou, Chris Horodecki, JZ Calvancante, Rick Story, Jake Ellenberger, Lyman Good, and Mariuz Zaromskiz to name a few.

Not saying all of the guys are washed up and beyond any hope, just that they looked to be on a straight path to super stardom and titles at one point and nose dived.

[Nash Diesel]

Completely agree about your thoughts on those guys. Pretty fuckin sad but like you said, some of them are still salvable fighters.

So Im assuming Connor McGOAT is fighting on the Fight Pass?

[Mik]

You bet, I'm fucking pumped for the card, did anyone watch the weigh ins? Electric!

[OD50]

Hyped for the main event, crowd will be f'n insane. Gunnar Nelson is always intriguing as well, such an odd yet very skilled character. Cummings is kind of a generic, boring dude though.

Sweden's Ilir Latifi is fighting as well which is always interesting, despite me having some personal animosity towards Mr Latifi.

[Seanny One Ball]

Roger Huerta's fall off was pretty much the saddest thing I have seen.

I'm sure the last thing I saw was him getting kicked clean in the face and knocked out.

edit: I looked it up and it was....
I suppose it's a good thing he seems to have given it up.

[OD50]

Nope, he will fight again, on the next One FC card I believe. And yeah, his last fight where he got demolished by soccer kicks was pretty brutal.

http://www.thefightnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/tumblr_m638rsKwth1qaa8d1o1_500.gif

[Nash Diesel]

See Im not a fan of them putting events on Fight Pass. Totally get why they do it, just sucks when you have some decent fighters and you cant watch it without dropping x amount a month. Damn WWE network!

[OD50]

Some good fights from Ireland. Latifi looked pretty beastly. He has always reminded me of one of these..

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/7615/sargb1h.png

I'm honestly thinking that he could be the strongest guy in the UFC, including HW's. Who of them could pull this off?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvYPgeTtc9A

200 kg/440 lbs x 33 reps..

[Mik]

Connor mcgregor is going to be a star!

Love Gunnar Nelson too, but sooner or later he's going to drop a decision to someone he is much better than.

[OD50]

I wonder who he will fight next. He wants to fight Poirier or Swanson, but many say they are too highly ranked for him right now. Nicklas Bäckström has called out McGregor but he might be too unproven yet. Who else? Nick Lentz, Clay Guida, Cole Miller, Jeremy Stephens, Frankie Edgar or maybe Dennis Bermudez?

Why not do..

Aldo/Mendes
Swanson/Edgar
McGregor/Poirier

McGregor/Poirier would be a really nice grudge match, might be worth letting Connor leapfrog some guys in the rankings to do it?

[Mik]

I don't think that it would be too much if a leapfrog at this stage and am pretty sure that porier will be his next fight.

[OD50]

The UFC has Poirier at #6 and McGregor at #12. Between them are Bermudez (#11), Stephens (#10), Lentz (#9), Siver (#8) and Guida (#7). But yeah, I feel there's been too much shit talk and call outs for Poirier and McGregor not to happen. Very good stylistic fight as well.

[OD50]

And wtf is up with Swedes and those wonky celebrations?

http://i.imgur.com/T3gpSaw.gif

[Fanny Batter]

I wonder who he will fight next. He wants to fight Poirier or Swanson, but many say they are too highly ranked for him right now. Nicklas Bäckström has called out McGregor but he might be too unproven yet. Who else? Nick Lentz, Clay Guida, Cole Miller, Jeremy Stephens, Frankie Edgar or maybe Dennis Bermudez?

Why not do..

Aldo/Mendes
Swanson/Edgar
McGregor/Poirier

McGregor/Poirier would be a really nice grudge match, might be worth letting Connor leapfrog some guys in the rankings to do it?

That sounds about right. Maybe Swanson sits and waits for the title shot, but I don't see it being a ticket seller since A: he doesn't have a marquee win, and B: his fight with Stephens was competitive to the point where you can't see him challenging Aldo or Mendes. So Edgar would give him a massive opportunity for A, and B is irrelevant since just to beat Edgar would be a hell of an achievement.

McGregor vs. Poirier is definitely next and makes tremendous sense considering the trash talk as well as how great the styles clash. It'll be fucking mental.

Lentz is fighting Olivera in CT which is a great fight. I guess you match the Guida/Bermudez winner with Lamas. Siver and Zombie fight when they're ready to return. What a division.

Conor McGregor was ridiculous last night. Such an electric event, all generated by that man. He's magnetic. He's in a division where he can rise the ranks and get a title shot within 2 fights, 3 at a push. Obviously the Swanson/Edgar winner would get the Aldo/Mendes winner. Maybe the McGregor/Poirier winner fights the Guida/Bermudez/Lamas winner for a title shot. Looking at that, it's possible for McGregor to look spectacular because Poirier and Bermudez in particular leave openings on the feet, Guida should be too slow to get a hold of him and Lamas' chin isn't great.

[OD50]

Man, what if they brain fart and match Connor with Guida just to see if he can "handle a wrestler'', and he gets snuggled to death like Pettis did.. Not thinking/expecting that, but how shitty would that be.

Poirier/McGregor should be a given though. I like Poirier suggesting they do it at UFC 178, wouldn't mind seeing that one live. :cool:

/Just read that Dana said "Conor's next fight is definitely not going to be in Ireland and probably not in Europe. He's probably going to fight in Vegas."

Please let it be vs Poirier and at 178, please, please.

[Fanny Batter]

McGregor will want on that card, that'll have the most eyeballs on it than any event until New Year's, and he's certainly not waiting until then to fight again. I loved the Cowboy/Nurmagamedov fight, but if the main card for this is Jones/Gustafsson, McGregor/Poirier, Cruz/Mizugaki, Romero/Kennedy and Zingano/Nunes then it's the card of the year. Look at it. Rematch of one of the best fights ever, and you'd fancy every other winner on the main card to be at most 1 more fight away from a title shot.

[OD50]

Shit, that card looks pretty damn awesome. I've been to lots of UFC events (99, 103, 105, 120, FUEL 2, FUEL 9) but this will be my first in Las Vegas (FIGHT CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!), pretty excited for it. :hyper:

[Nash Diesel]

I still think it was dumb and IS dumb to put live events on Fight Pass. I guess it's mainly an issue because I have the WWE Network already, and I don't want to be paying an extra 10-15 or whatever it is for Fight Pass when I'd be the only one watching it as opposed to the Network where myself and my 2 sons watch it quite often.

I would love to see Connor v. Poirer, I think most of the guys in the top 15 match up pretty well and can deliver some exciting fights. It seems the UFC has a lot of faith in McGregor but I would hate for him to fall off like so many who have taken his approach or had a lot of hype. Coming in claiming you're going to demolish the entire division, that guys like Aldo, Mendes, etc. are beneath you, that's ballsy and usually blows up in their face so fingers crossed it works for him because he has a lot going for him so far. I still think what bothers me the most though about him is Joe Rogen claiming nobody has had the hype he's had since Brock Lesnar.....That's saying a lot, considering Lesnar was a mega draw for the UFC and I don't think McGregor is anywhere near his level of popularity.

[Mark Hammer]

While he is being hyped to the moon Conor McGregor is quite likeable and I genuinely hope he lives up to everyone's expectations. He's well on his way: finishes most of his fights in the first couple of rounds, one of the few European fighters who is both marketable and genuinely good, fantastic interview presence and never at a loss for words. UFC (MMA in general really) desperately needs a guy like him. With a marquee win or two under his belt a bout vs Aldo could do ridiculous numbers for a featherweight title fight. I just hope they book him carefully; while I'm sure everybody would love to see him vs say Frankie Edgar a fight like that would be a huge risk and could do great harm to his hype.

[Nash Diesel]

Yeah, he needs a slow burn to the top.

[Fanny Batter]

August is the month of the kinda shitty fight cards, with a few decent scraps surrounded by a load of guff really.

Next Saturday is Bader vs. OSP on FS1. That fight is a perfectly fine 4th fight down on a PPV. It's not a headliner. For me, tiers should be:

PPV main event
PPV co-main event = FOX main event
PPV third fight = FOX co-main = FS1 main event
PPV main card fight = FOX main card fight = FS1 co-main = Fight Pass main event
Featured PPV prelim = featured FOX prelim = FS1 main card = Fight Pass co-main


Bader/OSP would not co-main FOX nor get the third spot on any PPV worth a salt, so I don't see how it's a main event here. But it is, and it's a fight I don't have a great deal of excitement for because both men have limited ceilings. Bader shits the bed in big fights, OSP has glaring holes in his game and has flattered to deceive thus far in his UFC tenure, beating a couple shitty fighters in Krylov and Donovan while scraping past the marginally better Villante and Jimmo. I'm not an OSP guy. I'm not a Bader guy. Winner probably fights Anthony Johnson which I can't see amounting to anything more than a keep-busy fight for the fresh challenger in AJ.

I like Maynard vs. Pearson. It's a solid co-main with a former title challenger fighting a TUF winner, both with stellar UFC records and only really losing (by losing I mean actually losing) to good fighters outside of Ross' slip up against Cole Miller years ago. Gray has looked shaky at best lately but Pearson struggles for consistency and can be hurt. Maynard himself is chinny. I think Pearson wins as he's the least faded of the two.

Elsewhere, the main card is chock full of nothing fighters. Irritatingly so. You've got an almost comically mediocre fight at middleweight between Boetsch and Tavares, 1-3 in his last 4 Baszcjffjkg against some ham-and-egger, 2 non-top 15 heavyweights fighting (and look how bad the lower reaches of the top 15 are nowadays!), with only a solid fight between Tavares and Peralta belonging on the channel. Even stranger because former title challenger Sara McMann fights undefeated Invicta champion Lauren Murphy on the prelims, as well as 2 top 10 flyweights in Makovsky and Formiga fighting. And these guys are expected to draw when they fight the bigger names how? A frustratingly put together show.

Bisping vs. Le the week after, and that's a much better main event. Both have name value and it's a good fight on paper, with Bisping's pressure and faulty chin coming up against Cung Le's power, unorthodox striking and flagging cardio. It can only go two ways, but will be interesting to see whether Le can land something before Bisping takes over. The winner will be in a decent position for big fights, maybe against Machida or Rockhold if they're not matched. The other fight of note is Woodley vs. The Dong, the battle of the lads who have transformed from blankets to highlight reel knockout artists. Both men know they're on the shortlist of contenders with a spectacular win so hopefully they'll bring their explosiveness rather than the stalling.

The Henderson vs. dos Anjos card is pretty good. Ben Henderson fights are hard to get excited for considering he's so good yet so unspectacular, as well as being a card carrying bellend. dos Anjos likewise is a good, efficient fighter who lacks a certain dynamism to stand out, and isn't quite good enough to reach the top tier. Yet, anyway. This is a big opportunity because Henderson's takedowns may not work on RDA, who should have a small but significant advantage on the feet, specifically if he can work the legs early. You'd favour Henderson by being Ben Henderson and pressuring him and outscoring, but it'll be close.

Mein vs. Pyle is a good fight. Perfect fight for both at this time. In fact, it was quite a curious booking originally with Pyle vs. Maia and Thatch vs. Mein because the former 2 by no means will be contenders again, and the latter 2 have potential if built right, particularly Thatch. Pyle vs. Mein and Maia vs. Alves (morphing into Thatch due to the injury) would have made more sense completely. Ah well, it's fixed as this and I think it'll be a pretty dramatic scrap, both will get hurt (as long as Pyle doesn't fold early), and it should end inside the distance.

Rest of the card has guys on the verge of top 10 of middleweight (Leites vs. Carmont), good prospect scrap at featherweight (Holloway vs. Bektic) and 2 streaking fighters at welterweight (Magny vs. Garcia). I like Reis (who should have beat Alcantara) vs. Elliot as well. Niminaki vs. Skelly looks good too.

UFC 177 isn't actually that bad a card. It's dreadful for a PPV (paying for Bayzler/Correia... dafuq), but there's some good fights outside the main events. Just not really PPV worthy. If the women's fight, Nigem/Ferreira, Larkin/Brunson and Jorgenson/Cejudo were the FS1 prelims there'd be no problem at all. Ferguson/Castillo's a solid main card opener, then have Rothwell/Overeem third fight down and Lentz vs. Olivera 2 and it's a good card. Mad that there's a stacked free card 6 days later after this, such poor planning. Sure makes September appealing mind.

[Mik]

Poor Bisping. Knocked out twice, to a ridiculous Hendo Bomb (knocked out Shogun and Fedor among many others) and a sweet Belfort headkick which didnt even knock him out and his chin has forever been in doubt despite having fought against numerous other heavy hitters in his division.

[Dubya]

It's pretty crazy to think that 4 of his 5 career losses were to fighters on TRT

[Mark Hammer]

Not sure what sort of brain fart he was suffering from at the time but Hendo looked foolish vs TRT Belfort, hesitating before diving face-first into a kick. Remember that was also Hendo's first fight in a while naturally whereas the same couldn't be said about Belfort. I bet off the juice Hendo clobbers mini-Vitor into next week. We'll never know though. On that note Wanderlei Silva has called him out for a rubber match, to which Hendo has accepted.

Out of curiosity was Hendo on TRT for the Bisping fight?

[Nash Diesel]

Is Bisping v. Cung Lee on Fight Pass? If so, fuck the UFC lol. Love Cung Le, hate the fact that they're putting cards exclusively on Fight Pass with solid draws like Bisping and Cung Le for fuck's sake.

[Fanny Batter]

Those prelims were some shit. They should swap Formiga in for Cariaso, at least the Brazilians would be up for it. He beat Cariaso. He might be the fifth best flyweight in the world, just unfortunate he's fought and lost against 2, 3 and 4.

[Mark Hammer]

I remember when people argued that TKO'ing Gray Maynard put TJ Grant ahead of Anthony Pettis on the contender's list. Lol.

[Mark Hammer]

Moving on to another fight, I've never been a big fan of Barbarian Boats but what a satisfying knockout. Brad Tavares is one boring fucker and adequately stunk the joint up prior to getting clobbered.

[Mik]

I remember when people argued that TKO'ing Gray Maynard put TJ Grant ahead of Anthony Pettis on the contender's list. Lol.

I remember when knocking Maynard out meant that the UFC should pay Nate Diaz anything he wants.

[Fanny Batter]

Bit of a ridiculous comparison there Hammer, considering Maynard had only lost to Frankie Edgar at that point, in a fight where he was seconds away from finishing the job and becoming lightweight champion. Then Grant curbstomped Maynard in about 2 minutes. He had beaten Edgar, Florian, Guida, Huerta, Diaz, Siver and Miller before fighting Grant too. Maynard was a great fighter at the peak of his powers, the wars with Frankie obviously took a lot out of him (fighting at the pace those 2 scrapped at for nearly 9 rounds, after those weight cuts too, must have done a number on his body), but beating him clearly meant a great deal when T.J. did it. Also, T.J. was only getting the title shot because Pettis signed on to fight Aldo, I'd imagine in a purely hypothetical world he'd have fought somebody else after Gray had they not advertised that as the contender's fight due to Pettis' plans for 145.

I bet Clay Guida's absolutely fucking gutted looking back. He should have just stood in the pocket with Maynard, he'd have out-chinned him eventually. What a moron.

[OD50]

Pretty sure that both Hendo and Vitor were on TRT when they fought the second time. And yeah, Hendo was on TRT vs. Bisping. The Count has been making a fuss about losing because his opponents were on TRT (Hendo, Sonnen, Vitor).

[OD50]

Not sure what sort of brain fart he was suffering from at the time but Hendo looked foolish vs TRT Belfort, hesitating before diving face-first into a kick. Remember that was also Hendo's first fight in a while naturally whereas the same couldn't be said about Belfort. I bet off the juice Hendo clobbers mini-Vitor into next week. We'll never know though. On that note Wanderlei Silva has called him out for a rubber match, to which Hendo has accepted.

Haven't watched the fight since it aired but I believe Hendo stumbled into that kick because Vitor dropped him with an uppercut right before.

[Mark Hammer]

Haven't watched the fight since it aired but I believe Hendo stumbled into that kick because Vitor dropped him with an uppercut right before.

Before the uppercut (that lifted Hendo into the air lol) Hendo feinted like he was going to throw his overhand right, then feinted again, then got clobbered. It was unusual.

And yes Mr. Batter I am aware that Maynard's stock wasn't quite as low then as it is now but Maynard was chinny even before he fought Grant (Frankie Edgar isn't exactly known for knocking people out, not to mention a self-inflicted KO from a takedown lol) and that win, while the best of Grant's career, was still blown out of proportion. People were getting legit fired up over Pettis potentially getting the shot over him, while completely ignoring the fact that Grant was still a relative unknown who had only fought once on a main card. I mean he beat the mighty Gray Maynard after all, who cares if nobody knows who the fuck he is. It was silly is all.

[Nash Diesel]

It was a huge win for Grant for those exact reasons. Grant wasn't a well known guy, still isn't, and Grant beating a top 3 guy in the division in a matter of minutes was extremely impressive. That win elevated Grant's stock, and lowered Gray's but the dude is 34-35, had a string of injuries, who knows where he's at mentally and physically these days. Maybe we're not giving Ross Pearson enough credit, the dude has good hands with power, he's younger, just wasn't Maynard's night at all.

[Fanny Batter]

Anybody pulling the double header tomorrow? Think I'll watch the Henderson card and the top 2 fights from Macao, I can't really comprehend watching the absolutely irrelevant fights on the prelims. None of those guys will get close to contendership. I love the 2 top fights though so am looking forward to watching those. Bisping/Le I really have a feeling Cung wins spectacularly, catapulting him into the top 10 where, conceivably, he'd be a well matched fight (a post-title fight, TRT-less Vitor Belfort) from a title shot. I don't see that coming to fruition though. The UFC really needs Bisping to win, Cung is a draw in Asia but he fights so sparingly that they can't build any momentum with him, and Bisping can at least talk a good fight. If he wins this I'd match him with Hendo if Dan wants to make 185, or Wanderlei if he's not suspended. A rematch against a legend where he SHOULD win considering the mileage on his foes.

Would love to see Stun Gun beat T-Wood. Woodley's stock took a beating against Rory, as he was never in the fight. If he can look spectacular here and beat a Matt Brown or Demian Maia next he'll be right up there. But Stun Gun is coming off two amazing KO wins in entertaining fights, 3 in a row and he has to be up there. Hendricks' injury, and a lot of contenders already facing each other, has created a bit of a logjam. I guess Dong would fight Hector Lombard next with a win.

[OD50]

I'll watch Bisping/Le, DHK/Woodley and RDA/Bendo for sure. Possible Mein/Pyle, Carmont/Leites and Saunder's UFC return as well.

[Fanny Batter]

Both fights delivered. Dong went to the well once too often with the spinny shit and got wiped out by Big Tyrone, and Bisping survived a few rough body kicks to eventually overwhelm Cung Le and score his best stoppage victory in forever. He really needed that. They should forget about that Machida/Rockhold fight and put Bisping against Luke, since it either gives Bisping his first top 5 win or will give Rockhold his marquee career victory. A win over Rockhold wouldn't do a great deal for Machida name-wise, I think he can earn a shot beating up the 6-10 guys, maybe the winner of Kennedy/Romero or even C.B. Dolloway.

Woodley has just made welterweight an utter ballache. Obviously Lawler will get the next shot, and Rory will get a title shot if he beats Tarec. After that there's the other 2 ATT guys in Lombard and Woodley who don't want to fight each other, as well as Lawler. I'm guessing Gastelum will get a ranked foe in Mexico (maybe Maia, since Kelvin should have the skills to keep it on the feet). Brown and Woodley's timelines should match up for an early '15 card I'd imagine. Ellenberger/Lombard?

[Fanny Batter]

Even glorified fire hydrants are boring cunts under the tutelage of Firas Zihabi. Hideous fight. Neil Magny may have 2 of the top 5 worst fights this year, surely the worst fighter to go 4-0 in a UFC calendar year?

[Mik]

Well, new contender created right there.

[Mark Hammer]

Main event stoppage seemed a bit early. Benson definitely got clobbered and lost his legs briefly but he immediately recovered. All that nonsense about "Benson struggling to get up" was because John McCarthy was sitting on top of him.

[Fanny Batter]

I think it was a touch early considering the calibre of fighter Benson is, but still a great finish for RDA. Henderson and Cerrone are both great wins, only the champ has wins over both and only Nate Diaz has beat either in years othet than Pettis and dos Anjos. I would say he gets a title shot with another win, TUF has created a logjam though and he's fought Khabib and Cerrone. Depends who wins Cerrone/Alvarez - Cerrone can get Khabib if he wins, RDA can get Alvarez if he wins.

[JT4104]

Bad stoppage I thought, you give the former champ every benefit of the doubt in that situation. Either way LW is easily the funnest division in mma right now.

[Mik]

I think it was similar to the Fedor stoppage in that if you are knocked out, even if only for a second, you are considered to have lost the fight. Whereas in boxing you can be knocked out for 5 seconds as long as you get up within the next 5.

[Seanny One Ball]

Bad stoppage I thought, you give the former champ every benefit of the doubt in that situation. Either way LW is easily the funnest division in mma right now.

Just because he's a former champ he should get to eat a few more shots before they call it off?

Shhhh

[Percussion]

Great shot following the scramble and nothing should be detracted from Dos Anjos perfromance. That said, early stoppage. I figure Big John for better than that, certainly given the high stakes of this fight. Bendo was caught very cleanly and no question hurt, but he had only just landed and was clearly looking for a way to defend when John stepped in. He may have been mauled in the following seconds, but he should have been given the opportunity to figure that part out.

[Nash Diesel]

I'm on the fence about the stoppage. I see every argument for what they are. I respect the refs looking out for the fighters more these days as it seems they get shit on like no other when they allow a fight to go longer than others thought it should....I respect the fact that Benson is a top guy and maybe it should've went a few seconds longer....so it's a tough call even for a legend like Big John who most consider the best MMA ref today and of all time.

Respect to RDA. He's done a 180 since Jeremy Stephens lit his ass up with an uppercut Ryu style years back.

[Nash Diesel]

A little sad Cung Le lost to Bisping. It was kind of a weird fight to make in the first place as Cung Le imo doesn't really seem to care if he is champion or not and Bisping despite being 35 still has the fire to be champion one day. Sadly, this is ANOTHER non-top 10 win for the guy. To my knowledge, Bisping has never beaten a top 10 guy. Maybe Leben was ranked in the top 10 when they fought, idk, hard to say, but yeah that dude needs a gigantic win one of these days to even be considered. I just don't see him beating the likes of Machida, Rockhold, Jacare, Weidman....

[OD50]

I think I'd match up Cung Le with Dan Henderson next. Bisping/Rockhold doesn't make ton of sense, but they're shit talking each other constantly so I'm thinking it might happen anyways.

[Mark Hammer]

Winner of Bisping vs Rockhold has a solid claim for a title shot. Honestly I think it's a better option than feeding Rockhold to Machida and knocking off a contender.

[OD50]

Trying to think how I would rank the winners of..

Rockhold/Bisping
Kennedy/Romero
Souza/Mousasi

If Kennedy beats Romero for example I guess we'd have to put him above Bisping (even if he should beat Rockhold) since he's already beat The Count.

[Nash Diesel]

Winner of Bisping vs Rockhold has a solid claim for a title shot. Honestly I think it's a better option than feeding Rockhold to Machida and knocking off a contender.

Fuck that, I've said it before 100 times, the best need to fight the best. Bisping needs some pretty big wins to be able to claim anything. I'd say if he came in and whipped Rockhold's ass and finished him, then beat another top 10 guy that was really good, then fuck yeah. But if you look at his win/loss record for the last couple years, it's not that impressive at all. His biggest win of his UFC career just happened, against 40+ Cung Le, a complete non-factor when talking about the title. He's lost 3 of his last 6 fights, he'd need to string a few in a row imo to even be considered.

But I will say this, we need to get Weidman fighting some non-Brazillians because from the looks of things if he gets through Vitor, his next fight will probably be Jacare.

[Mark Hammer]

Fuck that, I've said it before 100 times, the best need to fight the best. Bisping needs some pretty big wins to be able to claim anything. I'd say if he came in and whipped Rockhold's ass and finished him, then beat another top 10 guy that was really good, then fuck yeah. But if you look at his win/loss record for the last couple years, it's not that impressive at all. His biggest win of his UFC career just happened, against 40+ Cung Le, a complete non-factor when talking about the title. He's lost 3 of his last 6 fights, he'd need to string a few in a row imo to even be considered.

I don't care how many times you've said it, it would still be foolish to risk knocking off Rockhold as a contender by feeding him to a guy who just lost to the champ. Bisping vs Rockhold, again, if Bisping wins he's got a top contender in Rockhold on his resume, and if Rockhold wins that very winnable fight it adds a big name and extends his win streak. That way the UFC doesn't shoot itself in the foot by throwing Rockhold away to a guy whose career will not benefit whatsoever by beating him (Machida).

[Nash Diesel]

So because Machida just lost to the champ he shouldn't be fighting top guys? Machida wants to be champion. I could understand if we were talking about Wanderlai or Cung Le, which is why we don't see those guys fighting contenders. But if I'm the UFC, I'd rather have Rockhold beat Machida because what is a win against Bisping going to do? A guy who has never beaten a top 10 fighter in his UFC career, who's 3-3 in his last 6 who hasn't put more than 2 wins together in over 3 years.

It's why I kind of laughed about Gus getting a shot after beating that nobody. You want the champions to be tested but not the challengers? Or just test them enough but keep them away from other top 5-10 guys? I'll say this, I'd rather lose to Machida than Bisping. Machida's an elite fighter with gigantic wins on his resume, Michael Bisping is who? A guy who talks a lot of shit? Wonderful.

And again, so what if Machida beats Rockhold? Machida is a worthy contender and I believe will one day get another crack at the belt. If other top guys can't beat him so be it. Kills the doubt. Not to mention, what if Bisping beats Rockhold and they give Bisping a fucking title shot? That would mean basically Bisping beat unranked Cung Le and Luke Rockhold to get a title shot whereas others have put together more impressive victories get overlooked.....Rockhold's stock would be damaged a lot more if he lost to Bisping than if he did to Machida, or any other top 5 guy on the path to a title shot.

[OD50]

Watching the countdown show for the next Fight Night and damn, Alistair Overeem is looking really small. Will be interesting to see what weight he comes in at.

[OD50]

http://i61.tinypic.com/2n0j9d2.jpg

http://i57.tinypic.com/2yl4sch.jpg

http://i62.tinypic.com/260er1e.jpg

Almost looks like 2005 LHW Reem.

[OD50]

Quite a difference from K-1 Reem..
http://oi44.tinypic.com/2ldk8lv.jpg

http://fcfighter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Alistair-Overeem.jpg

http://www.dekoele.nl/K1/K1%202010%20Alistair%20Overeem.jpg

[Mik]

Apparently he's around 230lbs. So about 30-35 pounds down from his highest weight. Yes everyone will say that it's because he has stopped the trt, but it's undoubtedly true that he has needed to drop weight and work on his conditioning in the modern heavyweight climate.

[Fanny Batter]

Overeem will surely be quicker and have greater cardio now that he's cut a couple of stone. I imagine he'll fluctuate depending on opponent - Rothwell will more than likely be a stand-up fight so it will pay to have the speed advantage on the feet, whereas if he's facing a Velasquez or Barnett I think he'll hit the weights and come in a little heavier to give those guys more mass to have to grapple.

Really liking this card on Friday. Main event is a really good, compelling rematch between 2 well rounded (yet specialist) veterans, The Reem making his return against a snail (who can still hurt Reem), Mitrione vs. Lewis should be a fine stand up fight that may inexplicably launch a run to the top 10 for the winner, Chiesa/Lauzon has mad scrambles written all over it, Lentz/Olivera looks like it's the ticket for the talented Olivera to finally crack the top 10 after faltering against past ranked opponents, and Moraga/Scoggins might be frantic and features a former title contender against a real blue chip talent in Scoggins. They might be rushing him though. It's even got ANOTHER of my favourite revolving door middleweight fights, how generic does Natal/Camozzi sound! This may have already happened a zillion times. Soriano/Skelly is a good prospects fight, Chris Beal has looked solid and Al Iaquanta gets back on the horse. Should be a good 'un.

[Percussion]

I agree losing the unnecessary mass should benefit him. Horse meat Reem only looked to plod forward at a waterhead's pace simply looking for a killshot. Maybe now he'll employ some foot and head movement and take note that his opponents are allowed within the rules to hit him back. I'm afraid though that all the diet and cardio in the world can't do much for someone's fight I.Q., of which Alistair seems to be behind an enormous eightball. Hopefully being at Jackson's has begun to straighten some of that out as well.

[Nash Diesel]

He should take Rothwell. Rothwell is not good, Roid Reem would steamroll this dude. Slim Roid Reem might need a round. Big Ben just has a problem with being too basic and the openings he will leave should be easy for Reem to slice and dice him pretty violently. If not, pair him up with Meathead and call it a day.

[Mik]

I agree losing the unnecessary mass should benefit him. Horse meat Reem only looked to plod forward at a waterhead's pace simply looking for a killshot. Maybe now he'll employ some foot and head movement and take note that his opponents are allowed within the rules to hit him back. I'm afraid though that all the diet and cardio in the world can't do much for someone's fight I.Q., of which Alistair seems to be behind an enormous eightball. Hopefully being at Jackson's has begun to straighten some of that out as well.

This is it. Despite being one of the most well rounded heavyweights his tactical approach to fighting is idiotic at some times, particularly when he gets hit. I'm not sure jacksons will be able to coach him out of a career of that. It doesn't help when his most tactically astute performance gets him slagged off by Dana White though.

[Mark Hammer]

http://www.dekoele.nl/K1/K1%202010%20Alistair%20Overeem.jpg

Front cover of Steroid Junky magazine.

[Mik]

You almost have to feel sorry for overeem in a way. Blessed with all of the offensive tools in the world and none of the defensive ones.

Jacare is a tough fight for anyone, guy is a beast.

[Nash Diesel]

Jacare looked awesome and just outworked Gegard. I feel bad for Gegard fans who are still stuck in 2008 and keep trying to sell this guy as an elite dude in the present day. The UFC keeps putting him in high profile fights which idk if they should for his next fight....if he even gets one.

Overeem....Dude looks like a killer and got stopped by one of the most pathetic looking guys at hw. How Mir didnt beat Reem is beyond me after seeing Big Ben do some work. Ben is a guy who imo isnt that good and will never challenge for the belt but who knows....I say cut Reem and give Ben someone like Meathead or the winner of Bigfoot and Arlovski.

[Mark Hammer]

Rothwell is better than he's given credit.

[Nash Diesel]

Based on what though? He hasnt beaten a single fighter thats good other than Roy and Overeem, 2 fights about 10 years apart.

[Mark Hammer]

Based on going 34-9 in the heavyweight division. And now based on tooling Overeem.

How impressed were you with Mitrione last night? Because Rothwell would knock him out too.

[Nash Diesel]

Meathead looked like God gifted him that win. Hes powerful but Ben could take him. Maybe Im sleeping on him because he looked like he came off the local bar fight circuit. Tough dude and he could beat some top 10 fighters. I would give him a shot against guys like Bigfoot Silva, Arlovski, a rematch with Roy, maybe Barnett?

[OD50]

Reem is about as durable as a paper bag these days..

[OD50]

But at least he somehow gets to be the "Pride Grand Prix middle-weight champion''. Here I was thinking that he got KO'd by Chuck in the 2003 GP and by Shogun in 2005. Must be my memory getting bad these days..

[Nash Diesel]

yeah I heard that and I was like shit, was this one of those GP's that happened at the end of Pride's run that I didn't know about lol.....

It's pretty incredible that nobody gives a shit about his accomplishments like they used to. Like someone said, not sure if it was here or on Facebook, but Overeem wasn't built for MMA, he was built for K-1. Not sure if I agree 100% with that considering his record has a lot of submission victories, maybe they meant Heavyweight Overeem.

[Drake]

Quick question. Do you guys think King Mo can make it in the UFC at the LHW Division? He's one of my favorite MMA fighters so i was just wondering what you guys thought.

[Nash Diesel]

It's possible. He has solid wrestling, he's powerful, and can be entertaining with his entrances and trash talk. I'll always consider him Rampage Jr. I wouldn't mind seeing him in the UFC one day.

[Drake]

I don't agree with him being a Rampage Jr. But i get what you're trying to say.

[Nash Diesel]

He reminds me a lot of Rampage in Pride. Especially his fighting style.

[Mark Hammer]

Poor man's Rampage.

[Fanny Batter]

So it's pretty much a heavyweight double header on Fight Pass the next couple of weeks, ahead of the big 178 card on the 27th.

Arlovski vs. Bigfoot 2 is super strange match making. Not quite sure what the point is giving Bigfoot the big home crowd and (on paper) gimme opponent in a main event situation, he's lost to Velasquez emphatically twice already so won't be getting a title shot, and from memory he won't fight JDS either. AND he's having surgery to fix his giantism or something in a couple of months so it's not even clear whether he'll fight again after that considering how invasive the surgery is. Not only that but he's already beat Arlovski so won't really gain anything from beating him again. On the other hand, I guess they're giving Andrei one chance against a top 5 competitor in the division to see if there's mileage for one more run to the title. Bigfoot theoretically should be at his weakest since he's off TRT and coming off a hellacious brawl with Hunto. Maybe, just maybe, Arlovski can pull this off, catch somebody else on a bad day too and get a shitle tot? Maybe that's a ridiculous prospect considering how shit he is nowadays. I guess it's one last fight before they retire him to the legends division - I don't know about anybody else but I'd be perfectly fine with Arlovski, Barnett, Mir, Nog and Hunt winding their careers down against each other, maybe throw Gonzaga in as well. Bigfoot wins this in one for me, and we forget all about it by Monday.

But what if Arlovski pulls it off?!

The rest of the card is a Brazil undercard. A step up from the last one (the Miocic/Maldonado card), nothing worth getting excited about but should produce some good scraps. Tibau vs. Hallman is a good fight at lightweight, Hallman is a pretty solid prospect at lightweight with good stoppage wins over Yves Edwards and Francisco Trinaldo anchoring his resume. Tibau, of course, is one of the more active fighters in the UFC and despite never really having good fights, is a good staple on a card due to his borderline top 15 status and toughness. This is a Gleison Tibau fight, forget about what Hallman can do offensively, if he can't defend the takedown in the first 2 rounds he will lose the fight. Looking at Tibau's fight history is surprising, I have this vision of him beating scrubs and faltering against the top 15 but he's beat some good fighters - Etim, Stephens, Varner, Neer and even Rafa dos Anjos. I think he wins here, depending on how his weight cut has gone like always.

The other fights of note are Iuri Alactanta vs. Russell Doane and Rani Yahya vs. Johnny Bedford 2. The former pits two bantamweights on win streaks against each other, considering the 4 other streaking fighters (Cruz, Mizugaki, Assauncao, Caraway) are matched against each other, the winner could be in a very good spot indeed. Iuri is a great offensive fighter but can he keep Doane off him. Then Yahya/Bedford is a rematch from a fight earlier this year where Bedford knocked out Yahya with illegal blows then proceeded to piss and moan, got the rematch, Yahya pulled out injured then Bedford got knocked out by the replacement. Hopefully Yahya taps him out and sends him packing, cunt. Elsewhere, the ghost of Paulo Thiago fights Sean Spencer, the worst TUF vs. TUF winner fight in history (Escudero vs. Santos), and the debut of the youngest female bantamweight against #10 ranked Jessica Andrade.

Then the week after, we've got a card that I like a lot, and could be a surprise hit like that great card in Sydney at the tail end of last year with a lot of potential fireworks on paper. In Japan as well, a historic venue at the Saitama.

Roy Nelson vs. Mark Hunt. Fucking hell. Two cinder block throwing fat lads with titanium heads clashing in a fight with surprisingly high stakes considering the lack of depth in the division. I've got to favour Nelson slightly because not only does he have the better ground game but I see no sign of his chin giving out whereas Hunt has been hurt badly in his two recent fights, and of course finished by JDS. But if anybody can crack Roy hard enough in the right place it's Hunto. He won't be able to walk away from Roy though, he's like the Terminator. This is going to be so good. I think they have a wild first round, Nelson gases in the second, Hunt gases trying to finish then Nelson finishes him in the third from the crucifix position. Looking forward to this one a lot.

Jury vs. Gomi is smart matchmaking for me. It's a good resume builder for Jury against a man that has seen better days, yet it gives the name fighter in Gomi a chance to get a top ten win in front of a partisan crowd. The likelihood is Jury keeps Gomi at range, peppers him with leg kicks and takes him down when the opportunity presents itself. For Jury, I feel he needs to try to finish Gomi and get that signature win to really make progress in the division, but feel he's too intelligent to risk anything and will coast to a decision. Gomi is susceptible to submissions though.

THE SEX is back. He's been gone nearly as long as Cruz! And finally he's drawn somebody that's a shithouse. Mad that they took somebody with the drawing potential of Akiyama and just fed him the toughest out's possible. What on earth was he doing fighting a grinder like Shields in his welterweight debut?! Amir Sadollah isn't very good, he might be able to beat Akiyama if he stays at range but hopefully Yoshi judo tosses the fuck out of him all night. Sex by rear naked choke.

Tate vs. Nakai. Nakai is built like a fucking outhouse. Jesus Christ. A gaudy and presumably padded 16-0 record. Apparently a fetish model. Good grappler. Tate of course is one of the best women in the division still, I'd expect her to prevail and get a fight with a top 10 girl next time out. If Nakai wins though, new contender because Tate is very good for a shallow division.

Elsewhere, flyweight prospect Kyoji Horiguchi is back after nearly a year out, he was meant to be fighting Chris Cariaso. He'd probably have beaten him too, yet Cariaso is getting a title fight next instead! He's got the definition of a record padder really, a dude who's 0-1 in the UFC and 7-3 overall. Hyun Gyu Lim returns after a gutsy and underrated main event performance against Tarec Saffiedine in January, he's massive and I look forward to seeing him fight because he'll crush people outside the elite and look good doing it. Bruce Leeroy is fighting Kanehara. Kiichi Kunimoto is looking to build on his good UFC streak. Tanaka vs. Kang in a battle of solid Asians. It's a good card.

[Nash Diesel]

I'm not too excited about tomorrow night's card. Arlovski was one of the first fighters I latched on to after I started watching MMA again after Tito Ortiz v. Ken Shamrock 1. AA isn't TERRIBLE, but I think his stock dropped quite a bit when Rogers killed him in 10 seconds and his chin has been suspect even though he has withstood some heavy handed dudes like Rumble Johnson and Bigfoot in their first fight. It'll be interesting to see how much of a factor TRT was for a guy like Silva. I'll be pulling for Arlovski, but I think Silva will finish him.

I would take the Japan card over this card any day, so fuck the Fight Pass!! Hunt/Nelson will be killer, and Tate is one of my favorite fighters. Just a solid card top to bottom.

[Fanny Batter]

I want Arlovski to do well. Would be a great story, coming back from relative obscurity to earn a spot in the top 10 back in the UFC. I don't think the journey would take him any further, but if he can catch lightning in a bottle tomorrow it will be a good time. It's easy to forget how good Arlovski was looking pre-Fedor, especially when you consider the chins Rothwell and Nelson have displayed. He nuked the pair of them and they eat punches from the heavy hitters of the division for breakfast. It wasn't as if Fedor broke him because he was vulnerable before that in stoppage defeats to Rizzo, Ricco and Big Tim, but it killed his confidence as I don't think he's let his hands go the same since. He must have nightmares about the flying knee attempt every night. MUST. NOT. TAKE. RISKS.

[OD50]

Big Foot got KTFO, love it.

[Mark Hammer]

Yep and it couldn't have happened to a more deserving fighter. Hate Bigfoot. I can't wait to hear his inevitable excuse about why it wasn't his fault.

[Mark Hammer]

Arlovski's line to the awful Brazilian crowd: "You boo? F You" was classic and has made him one of my new favorite fighters.

[Mik]

Loved it.

[Seanny One Ball]

Ahahahaha I haven't seen that bit but the KO was sweet.

[Mark Hammer]

What a stunning resurgence if you think about it. Arlovski was on a knocked the fuck out streak just a few years ago, and now look at him. One win away from a UFC world title shot in a very shallow division.

Also crazy to think that his last loss was to Rumble Johnson. You have to wonder just how well other 205ers would fare vs heavyweights. I think they'd fare well enough to be honest.

[Seanny One Ball]

I think he would match up well with Stipe

[Fanny Batter]

Great to see Arlovski pull it off. This reminded me of Nog/Schaub - even if he never reaches the heights of his prime, he still had that one moment in him to put away a very credible opponent. As has been said, Bigfoot is a serial cheat and a whinging victim, always good to see those lads get knocked out. Amazing to think that Andrei Arlovski has got himself back into title contention after that slide, it's an even more dramatic story than Robbie Lawler's really. Great stuff. I think that's the end of Bigfoot, he's having an operation on his head soon so surely he can't be fucking about getting smashed about every six months.

Didn't really concentrate on much of the card. Paulo Thiago looked awful, I know that much. He's lucky to have got another fight and he stunk it up. Shame because his offensive skillset used to be great. Iuri Alcantara got quite lucky from what I saw, similar to that Wilson Reis fight. They may as well throw him in to sink or swim because he gets crushed by the top 5 I think. Then Gleison Tibau who had his most Gleison Tibau fight to date, 29-28'ing it after dropping the last round comfortably. I don't know why but I always root for the dull bastard, possibly because I think it would be funny if somebody like him ended up beating loads of records primarily based on an astounding consistency to just about win two rounds. 40 fight career, 23 in the UFC, and only once dropped back to back fights. Only 3 fighters in history have had more UFC fights than Gleison Tibau. Only 5 have won more fights in the UFC than him. Tito Ortiz. Matt Hughes. Randy Couture. Anderson Silva. Georges St Pierre. Chuck Liddell. Gleison Tibau. That's the company he enters with his next win. Fucking mad.

[Nash Diesel]

I'm glad that AA is starting off on the good foot. I've been wanting to see him return to the UFC and I'm glad it wasn't just to see him get destroyed and put over a younger talent. I think we might see him face the winner of Hunt-Nelson and I know there are some hardcore fans who would love to see Big Roy get a rematch due to their first fight and the questionable stand up that happened when Roy was on AA like white on rice.

[Percussion]

Tate vs. Nakai. Nakai is built like a fucking outhouse. Jesus Christ. A gaudy and presumably padded 16-0 record. Apparently a fetish model. Good grappler. Tate of course is one of the best women in the division still, I'd expect her to prevail and get a fight with a top 10 girl next time out. If Nakai wins though, new contender because Tate is very good for a shallow division.

So I just got a look at this gal aannnd ...

http://www.girlswithmuscle.com/images/full/512246663.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XQ70DGJxOEM/UYTKnlvxd5I/AAAAAAABjv0/P8nfOJBtAkI/s1600/rin+nakai_d3kk189.jpg

... in the interest of all things ridiculous and interesting I will firmly be rooting for the love child of Sean Serk and a Pride ring girl.

[Mark Hammer]

She is disgusting. Tate all the way.

[OD50]

Nakai has an impressive record (16-0) but it seems very padded. Only ''name'' on there is Tara LaRosa who is probably 45 or something by now. Cup Cake for the W. :yesyes:

[Mik]

Nakai for me. If she batters her, it'll be the start of establishing a new contender, of which we dont really have many at the moment. Cant see it happening though. Those muscles are going to get real tired real quick.

[Nash Diesel]

Tate's going to take her down and choke her out. I'm sorry, love the Asian fighters, but the majority of them just can't hang with the rest of the world...

[OD50]

The new generation of Japanese and Korean fighters are doing pretty well, remember that KID, Gomi, Kawajiri and others are damaged goods and getting up in there in age. China, The Philippines and other Asian countries are years behind right now. The TUF China fighters sucked smelly rice balls.

[Nash Diesel]

Yeah not all of them are terrible. There are a few in the UFC that are pretty good.

[Mark Hammer]

Mark Hunt vs Big Country tonight lads. I signed up for the free trial of Fight Pass for this fight.

[Mark Hammer]

Also Miesha Tate (fit bird) vs Rin Nakai (transexual).

[Nash Diesel]

I'm honestly thinking about signing up for the free pass specifically for this event. Top to bottom it looks really fucking good.

[OD50]

One of the better Fight Pass shows for sure.

If Hunto get's KTFO I will likely shed a tear fellas..

[Nash Diesel]

Last I heard dude was 20lbs overweight, then he was supposedly at weight but he said "I Think". Supposedly he came into camp weighing 340lbs!!! How the fuck do you gain 80lbs that quick? Dude must love living the lazy life.

[Fanny Batter]

Horiguchi vs. John Lineker please. Christ what a fight that would be.

[Fanny Batter]

Miesha Tate's fights are so bipolar - the Zingano and Rousey fights were two of 2013's best (as well as the first Rousey fight and the Kedzie/Coenen scraps in Strikeforce), but her last 2 fights have sucked a massive dick. Good job her tits grew so at least there's something to pay attention to I guess.

Sexyama looked class. Good cardio, hit hard, and that judo throw was absolutely delicious. Sure it was only Amir Sadollah, but good to see the sexy bastard get the big win.

Two emphatic performances to close. One of the sport's legendary chins finally cracked, Gomi losing by TKO for the first time. Jury looks good, this year has been solid in letting him build his name off of faded stars. Then Big Mark rinsed Big Roy. He fucking walk offed him. Unbelievable.

[Percussion]

HUNTO! HUNTO! HUNTO!

So Mark wants to turn around and be on the FN 55 card in Sydney. Most of the top 10 HW's are tied up though. Arlovski dispatched of Bigfoot rather cleanly it appeared. :dunno:

[OD50]

HUNTO!!

SEXYAMA!!

HAPPY DAY!!

:panic:

[OD50]

HUNTO! HUNTO! HUNTO!

So Mark wants to turn around and be on the FN 55 card in Sydney. Most of the top 10 HW's are tied up though. Arlovski dispatched of Bigfoot rather cleanly it appeared. :dunno:

Nah, he broke his hand or some shit. He's out for 6 months I believe.

Maybe Barnett? Old school PRIDE tussle right there. Pretty bad stylistic fight for Hunt though.

[Percussion]

Bummer that.

Hunt/Barnett does have the revenge angle from PRIDE. Maybe Josh would be so distracted with thinking about his LEGENDARY metamoris title he'll want to display his standup in MMA and get Super-Samoan'ed for it. Looks glorious in my head.

[OD50]

It's an intriguing fight for sure.. Next to Cain I feel Barnett is Hunt's worst opponent stylistically though.

[OD50]

And wtf was up with Sexyama? He looked brilliant.

[Percussion]

Either he spent the last two and a half years in a Japanese Lazarus Pit or there's something to be said for fighting a Sadollah-level opponent in one's proper weight class. Somewhere between the two I'd imagine.

He was clearly stronger than Amir and seemed very ready for his kicks. The first two takedowns he used the same bear-paw technique after catching a kick. The third was countering a kick as well but he just rushed Amir with a straight. Was great to see Sexy in form in Saitama.

[Mik]

Fucking love Hunt. Walk off knockout of Roy Nelson of all people. Hardest chin in mma no more. Shame hunt's next fight will likely be Barnett who is a stylistic nightmare for him. Still hunt has made the last couple of years his quest to prove people wrong.

[Mark Hammer]

Couldn't help but lol at the Rin Nakai supporters. She got worked, "we need a new contender" my buttocks.

[Mark Hammer]

Miesha Tate's fights are so bipolar - the Zingano and Rousey fights were two of 2013's best (as well as the first Rousey fight and the Kedzie/Coenen scraps in Strikeforce), but her last 2 fights have sucked a massive dick. Good job her tits grew so at least there's something to pay attention to I guess.

Zingano and Rousey were capable of offering Tate resisistence. Nakai was in well over her head, good on Miesha for a deserved 30-27 and silencing her critics. :lol: at Rousey vs Nakai.

[Bert]

Miesha Tate's fights are so bipolar - the Zingano and Rousey fights were two of 2013's best (as well as the first Rousey fight and the Kedzie/Coenen scraps in Strikeforce), but her last 2 fights have sucked a massive dick. Good job her tits grew so at least there's something to pay attention to I guess.

I'll never get over brits saying "good job" instead of "good thing", it sounds so weird.

[thetony]

Does sound kind of strange. First time seeing that.

And I usually love british vernacular.

[Fanny Batter]

So, Rick Story's still a relevant fighter guys. Just beat Gunner Nelson quite comfortably. Story's a guy who has probably been written off a little too early due to a bit of tough luck, he's the skin of his bollocks away from being on another six fight win streak since he lost to Maia. The Gastelum and Pyle fights were the definition of razor thin. Shame Nelson lost because he's an interesting fighter but hopefully he'll learn from it and make a run at lightweight, a much more suited division for his technique-over-strength style.

Elsewhere, Swedish people got beat the fuck up. Can we get a health update on OD50 because all his compatriots got whooped. Max Holloway is starting to look the real deal.

Two quasi-contender fights tonight in Canada. You'd feel Rory will get a title shot if he beats Saffiedine. Three fight win streak over top 10 opponents, only lost to Condit and Lawler. Tarec would probably have to nuke Rory to make a contender statement, but he can put himself in the mix. For Canada's sake, you feel this is a must win as Rory is their guy now that GSP is shelved and they could do with a big fight returning there. Raphael Assuncao will surely choose to wait if he beats Caraway, it'll be a seven fight win streak and undefeated at the weight. Give him a seat for Cruz/Dillashaw and let him scout. If Caraway wins, there's Urijah Faber's next fight.

[Nash Diesel]

Rory with a nice win. Assuncao could probably afford to sit out 6-8 months and challenge for the belt. Have they announced when Cruz-Dillashaw is expected to go down? A guy with a 7 fight winning streak at 135 is pretty damn impressive, and he's beaten the champion. Caraway just looked like he couldn't get his rhythm going after the first round, it was kind of a boring fight tbh, maybe Assuncao was playing it safe knowing full well he's the guy after Cruz to get a shot.

[OD50]

Elsewhere, Swedish people got beat the fuck up. Can we get a health update on OD50 because all his compatriots got whooped. Max Holloway is starting to look the real deal.

I'm ok. Almost felt like I was the only Swede not getting KTFO on Saturday.. :lol:

Holloway merking Akira was great, nobody likes that fucker. The stoppage was insanely shit though, and the ref was actually Swedish.. Wtf.

[Mark Hammer]

The co-main slot and postfight interview helped Assuncao's case for a title shot imo. It was the first time I had ever personally heard him talk but he speaks good English. That goes a long way with regards to Brazilian fighters' careers fought predominantly in the US.

Rory MacDonald is a machine. I think he had on off night vs Lawler.

[Nash Diesel]

Lawler's just that good, no shame in losing to him these days. 5 years ago, that might've been a bad loss for Rory. WW is such a stacked diviision, love it.

[OD50]

Tarec's not that well known to casuals, but finishing Sponge is really impressive. He's one of those guys that just doesn't get finished.

[Nash Diesel]

And Rory's not really a guy that you see finish people. But he's also fought some really tough dudes like Nate Diaz, BJ Penn, Jake Ellenberger. So it was definitely an impressive win.

[Fanny Batter]

Rory is talented enough to finish all of those guys. Frankie Edgar stopped BJ. Josh Thomson stopped Nate Diaz. He just doesn't throw with a lot of power, very light on his feet and therefore doesn't generate the pop in his shots a lot of the time to put people down. His ground and pound is nasty too, if he drops somebody they're going out, but it's just a rare thing as the welterweight division is A: full of good beards (look at that top 10 and count the knockout losses) and B: full of heavy hitters who Rory can outpace by staying on the outside and at range. But the way he stopped Tarec was excellent and really made him a title contender in my eyes, he needed a finish to get interest in the title fight, and he got it.

Assauncao didn't. He's kind of chugged along to his #1 Contender role this year really, he was ready on a 5 fight streak and his 2 fights this year haven't really added any luster to his eventual challenge. I think he's an excellent fighter who will give Dillashaw or Cruz all they can handle, but he won't do anything spectacular. Particularly after Cruz's 60 second nuking of Mizugaki, Rafa fell off the pace. His challenge is surely July FOX bound.

[Nash Diesel]

Yeah I was just basically backing up that even though Rory doesn't finish a lot of guys he's fighting really tough dudes who rarely get finished. Took almost 15 years for someone to finish BJ Penn (towel thrown in doesn't count as a finish in my book GSP). And Rory was actually close to doing so but it felt like he was holding back. Gotta be that Tri Star gym, GSP, Rory, that big roided up looking dude Francis Carmont, they just seem to be content with doing enough on the scorecards and if they get a finish sweet if not oh well they've done enough. Rory did finish Che Mills, not exactly IMPRESSIVE, but shit he almost finished Condit a couple times in their fight if I remember correctly.

[Mark Hammer]

7 wins via KO
6 wins via Submission
5 wins via Decision

I think Rory Mac's finishing ability is fine.

[Nash Diesel]

Again, just backing up what OD50 originally said about how Tarec doesnt get finished and Im saying how impressive it was that Rory, a guy with 11 fights in the UFC, 7 decisions, 4 finishes over 4 years and 10+ months...that says alot about that win for Rory. A decision heavy fighter in the UFC getting a tko win against a top 10 WW is something to applaud.

[Mark Hammer]

But he isn't decision-heavy. 13 finishes out of 18 wins is a 72% finishing rate.

[Nash Diesel]

But he isn't decision-heavy. 13 finishes out of 18 wins is a 72% finishing rate.

I'm specifically talking about the UFC Mark. He's had 11 fights, 7 out of 11 were decisions. That's a decision heavy fighter. What he did prior in those bush leagues, doesn't really matter to me.

[Mark Hammer]

Nope, not decision heavy. He's shown plenty of finishing ability throughout his career, you are simply wrong here.

[Nash Diesel]

In terms of his UFC career, yes he is lol. How do you figure he's not if 7 out of 11 fights are decisions? That's almost double his finishing victories. 4 finishes in 5 years doesn't scream "finisher". We're talking more than half of his fights in the UFC went the distance, less than half were finishes=decision heavy UFC fighter. Again, taking into consideration his entire career, yes you are correct. But that's out of context son.

[Mark Hammer]

You continue to argue that Rory is not a proven finisher. Laughable.

[Nash Diesel]

Ok Mark. You're right.

[Mik]

I'm not arguing one way or the other, but Rory's finishing rate is actually 4 in 9 in the UFC. He can't finish opponents in fights that he loses.

In the interests of equality though, I would say that Rory's UFC finishing rate is not hugely dissimilar to aldo's with the difference being that Aldo was a lot more lethal finisher before the UFC than Rory and Aldo has arguably fought tougher competition by taking on the number one contenders in almost all of his fights. Would mark hammer argue that Aldo is a proven finisher?

[Nash Diesel]

Probably, because Aldo is from Brazil and apparently if you're a Chris Weidman fan, you have to shit on everything from that country.

[Mark Hammer]

I'm not arguing one way or the other, but Rory's finishing rate is actually 4 in 9 in the UFC. He can't finish opponents in fights that he loses.

In the interests of equality though, I would say that Rory's UFC finishing rate is not hugely dissimilar to aldo's with the difference being that Aldo was a lot more lethal finisher before the UFC than Rory and Aldo has arguably fought tougher competition by taking on the number one contenders in almost all of his fights. Would mark hammer argue that Aldo is a proven finisher?

Of course I wouldn't.

Nash Diesel is dumb. When he hates he fucking hates.

[Mik]

You wouldnt say that Aldo is a proven finisher, or you wouldnt argue with me if I said he was?

[Mark Hammer]

You wouldnt say that Aldo is a proven finisher, or you wouldnt argue with me if I said he was?

.

[Nash Diesel]

Show me where I hated on Rory and I'll show the previous 5 posts where I praise his work.

[Fanny Batter]

The case with Rory is that he's clearly a capable finisher, despite not having overwhelmingly positive statistics. No doubt he could have stopped BJ Penn if he wanted to, and against Ellenberger he took the path of least resistance and refused to commit to his shots to limit Jake's chances of landing the knockout shot. Likewise against Woodley. If you have a crisp jab and can beat those guys on the outside, you don't stand in the pocket and generate power with your shots. Out of all the top flight opposition he's faced, the only person I think he absolutely should have stopped is Maia, who was flagging in the third and vastly inferior stand up. But who knows, maybe if Rory had committed more he'd have been taken down and grinded out? He didn't take the risk, and that's fair enough. It doesn't win fans but it's smart and he won.

MacDonald would probably have a Condit-esque finishing rate if he ramped up the aggression like Carlos does. He'd also probably lose more. It's not like he's Bruno Santos and has little ability to finish a fight, he can, but won't risk victory for a finish.

[Percussion]

The New Breed.

[Nash Diesel]

Yeah he does have the ability, most fighters do, but Rory seems to hold back and there were a few fights like Maia and Penn where had he gone for it, he wouldve finished them. What happened against Tarec is pretty amazing for 2 reasons: 1. Tarec doesnt get finished and 2. Rory isnt a guy who is koing top dudes, usuaully the tougher the fighter the more reserved he is. Hes definitely more like GSP than Condit, and sure maybe thats why hes rarely lost and is next in line for a title shot.

[OD50]

I'd definitely factor Firas Zahabi as one of the reasons for Rory's "lack'' of killer instinct, definitely a safety first kind of coach. Look at GSP's dramatic change after the Serra fight.

[Seanny One Ball]

The New Breed.

Plenty of fighters like that over the years, it's hardly a new mentality.

Dana has actively encouraged fighters via bonuses but has now removed distinct incentives like KO/Sub of the night so if people try for exciting full-length fights it has more or less the same result as it did before, only now less focus has been put on the KO and sub artists. It's all about performance if you want a bonus now.

[Fanny Batter]

That's not really true, it's just that the old award titles weren't very PR friendly. The lads who get the best knockouts usually still get the bonus money, it just doesn't celebrate the act of causing somebody concussive damage by name now.

[Seanny One Ball]

It is true

[Mik]

That's not really true, it's just that the old award titles weren't very PR friendly. The lads who get the best knockouts usually still get the bonus money, it just doesn't celebrate the act of causing somebody concussive damage by name now.

Thats exactly right. It was very much a PR exercise in wanting to sell the sport as a discipline rather than 'knock this guy out and get a bonus'.

[Nash Diesel]

Weak. Next thing you know they will be required to wear a uniform and it will look like the MMA version of American Gladiators.

Cub Swanson or Frank Edgar? Im honestly seeing Edgar getting capped and within 2 rounds. You gotta put that boy out early and it is possible. Maynard almost did and whos he knocked out? Himself and some nobody. Swanson is brutal and looks real good, relaxed, def not the turd who got smoked by Jens of all people (RIP Jens).

Also, heard Brock might come back. Would the UFC ever put a fight of his on Fight Pass to get subscribers? Air it on Fight Pass for half the ppv price? Who would he even fight?? Meathead? Schaub? Big Nog? Mir 3? Arlovski? Any of those seem possible. I always wanted Cro Cop v Lesnar.

[OD50]

IFthat was to happen, maybe the Frank Mir trilogy would be an easy sell.

[Nash Diesel]

Yeah last time the fan backlash was brutal, never seen anything like it before or since when it comes to a fight that was PROPOSED and the fans quickly shit on it enough to take both men on a different route. Against the lesser talent at HW, I think Lesnar could still be a threat. He'll never improve his striking, but if he could clean up his ability to take a punch and just pray his beast power crushes the opponent, he could be entertaining. I would just hate to see him come back and get rinsed by a top guy because you know Lesnar wouldn't want to fight a guy in the bottom 20. He'd probably come back and fight Roy Nelson and get cracked within a minute and be out cold.

[Mark Hammer]

Before his retirement I would have called Brock over Nelson all day long.

[Nash Diesel]

I'd say 50/50. Nelson hits hard and has a very good ground game, Lesnar has the size, power, and wrestling. Would've been a really good fight to see.

[Seanny One Ball]

Yeah I'd watch that. Roy was one of my favourites purely because of his heart but over the last while I have fallen out of love with him. No work ethic, no desire to improve.

Lesnar would win.

[Nash Diesel]

All finishes last night with a big win for Rockhold. I def see him and Jacare as the next challengers, I bet we see them have a rematch for the next shot.

Rooting for one of my faves Shogun Rua and Des Moines Iowa native Tim Goman is about to throw down. This dude fought my close friend Al Ichelson back in the day and we thought Al died it was one the most brutal ko finishes Ive seen. Hit my boy so hard that he bounced his head off the cage and split him open looking like Marvin after Vitor split him haha.

[Seanny One Ball]

Am I reading wrongly or did OSP fucking smash Shogun in 34 seconds last night?