Jimmo was talking a lot of shit about the Reebok deal, not a good idea if you've lost two in a row and is 3-3 overall.
Jimmo was talking a lot of shit about the Reebok deal, not a good idea if you've lost two in a row and is 3-3 overall.
There are very very few Japanese fighters who have ever made a splash in the UFC. Some were coming in after they'd peaked such as Gomi but regardless you could probably say the only guy from Japan to ever do anything worth talking about is Okami.
Hioki has to go down as one of the biggest ponces going. Actually turned down a shot at the title. Gimp. Absolute bottle job, the writing was on the wall there - if you can't believe in yourself against the best you're never going to believe you can beat him. Good fighter, but didn't have the minerals to be a great one.
Jimmo was the very definition of bipolar. Either he'd knock his man out early doors or he'd shit the bed in "fights" that have less action than trying to get dressed on a hangover. You can't get away with slagging off the company you work for when you are verging on being not only pretty much unknown, but actually being a negative asset with his shitty fights.
Perelta's unlucky to get cut. He lost to horrible match-ups against tough veterans in Guida and Tavares, before that he got a very decent win against Rony Jason and a couple impressive stoppages. Sampo as well lost to some good guys and is quite unfortunate - goes to show that it's all about luck in the matchmaking really - Ed Herman for example has managed to stay around for years because they throw him a tommy can every now and again, whereas good fighters can get cut because they just happen to always get matched with tough outs.
Jimmo deserved to get cut after that last fight he had, that fight sucked.
Released from the UFC:
Light Heavyweight: Hans Stringer
Middleweight: Dan Miller, Ildemar Alcantara, Tom Watson
Welterweight: Andrew Craig, Igor Araujo
Lightweight: Anthony Christodoulou, Yosdenis Cedeno
Featherweight: Niklas Backstrom, Aaron Phillips
Bantamweight: Cody Gibson, Royston Wee
Flyweight: Darrell Montague
Kind of strange that Dan Miller has been kept for so long, he's won three fights since February 2009 (lost seven).
Watched that Christodoulou guy here in Sweden and he was absolutely terrible.
I think Dan Miller has been kept out of sympathy because he is a good guy and has had a lot of bad luck with his children.
I remember when I thought his brother would be the next big thing at LW, and was so deserving of a title shot but never got one. Then he lost to Bendo, and then just got picked apart by Nate Diaz.
I had genuinely big hopes for Andrew Craig when I called that headkick KO over Natal.
LW champ Will Brooks (17-1) has been released from his Bellator contract.
I just saw that! He's been saying for a long time he's not happy being in Bellator and his contract was up July 15th so I guess they cut to the chase here.Originally Posted by OD50
Michael Chandler v. Pitbull for the vacant LW title.
Ben Saunders is out of the UFC again. Sorry Nash.
Man that's some bullshit. 3-1 since his return and gets cut? Fucking dude is super exciting to watch. They keep Frank Murr around, they keep Jake Ellenberger-who fights at the same fucking weight class and has only won 2 out of like 8 fights, Murr is on a 5 fight losing streak, still has a job....wtf.
Now to be fair Frank Mir is actively seeking his release from the UFC in hopes of pursuing other broadcasting opportunities while he is serving his USADA ban. But I do understand the sentiment.
Well and to be fair to him even more I looked up his record and he's only on a 2 fight losing streak but shit he's lost like 6 out of his last 8 fights.
Just sucks because I'm a big Killa B fan and I think he didn't get a fair shake the first time around and now he gets cut going 3-1. Possibly more to the story, maybe his contract was up, he wanted more money. I can't imagine the UFC were paying him a shit load of money to where they didn't see the upside financially.....
Ben Saunders speaks on his departure from the UFC. Makes me feel better that it wasn't a matter of them releasing him. Cliff notes, he basically waited too long to re-sign his contract as it was only for 4 fights. He had personal and professional situations going on the last few months.
http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/8/9/...the-ufc-roster
I don't understand the sentiment at all tbh. Frank Mir is a former UFC champ and minor UFC/MMA legend. Ben Saunders is Ben Saunders.
He was the champ for five minutes twelve years ago. He got that title shot by beating Wes Sims...
Frank Mir is the least legendary legend in the history of MMA.
Most wins at HW in the UFC, first guy to ever finish Big Nog via strikes AND "submission"-technically Nog didn't submit he just had his broken lol. The 2 fights with Lesnar, he was one of the first agile HW's that had more to offer than just being a HW. I don't know if I would call him a legend like I would Fedor, Big Nog, Couture, but I would put him up there in the top 10-15 of best HW's of all time.
Big Nog has simply not been up to scratch in the UFC because he's long past it. Everyone from Mir's era is a legend because there were very few of them back then. I suppose technically he is but realistically I'd leave him out of any lists of top HW's because he hasn't done anything for so long. He's on a Tito-esque run these days. I think he'd be found out quickly if he was just starting today.
Well yeah I mean he's not exactly winning too many fights but would you take away legend status from Chuck Liddell because he lost to Keith Jardine and went 1-5 the last couple years of his career? A lot of fighters would be found out quickly if they put in a more evolved era.
Going back to my point about Saunders and Mir, I made that comment before I knew the story and it was all about Ben not signing his contract in time. Had it been that he was legit released, then my original statement would still be about a guy losing 1 fight versus a guy losing the last 5 out of 7.
Chuck didn't go on a Tito run though his were all tough dudes and he was actually winning a couple of them until his jaw gave up. Plus Chuck was a fighting champ whereas Mir got hurt and vacated pretty quickly.
I dunno maybe I'm being harsh because he annoys me nowadays.
Eh, I love Chuck but his title defenses were subpar.
I don't think I've ever heard that claim before. Chuck was sup par at defending his title...
Ah fuck let me word that better as I typed that with the quickness.
I'm saying the quality of opponents were subpar, for the most part. Couture still had a little left in the tank, he pulled off some good wins like Tim Sylvia, Gonzaga, controversial but still a win over Brandon Vera. But Liddell was allowed to cherry pick and yeah you could say it was the era but that's irrelevant. He was allowed to try and get his wins back such as Couture and Jeremy Horn, then he had the rematch with Babalu before losing to Rampage.
Tito fought tough dudes, his Bellator run isn't anything to brag about but he didn't lose to scrubs. Even Matt Hamill was a tough dude at that time.
Chuck fought the best guys available in the UFC at the time. I don't think he was ever the best LHW in the world.
From 1999-2007 in my mind it was always:
Wanderlei Silva
Shogun
Rampage
Chuck Liddell
Randy Couture
Tito Ortiz
In that order
Last edited by Spedizzo; August 19th, 2016 at 1:30 PM.
Haha Nash there's actually a quote of Dana white saying virtually the exact opposite of that post. Something like "Tito's who we gave the scrubs to and Chuck we gave the tough fights" or something similar.
In fact I need to look that up because it's so appropriate.
I actually disagree with his statement anyway but I'm interested that you consider Chuck to have coasted and cherry picked his defences.
First off, I'm not even questioning the tough fighters that Chuck fought. Next to BJ Penn, there isn't a fighter I respect or love more than the Iceman.
Second, look at his title defenses. Why on Earth do you think Jeremy Horn was given a title shot? Even Chuck said after he beat him "He really should be fighting at 185".....The whole build up to his fights with Horn and Rampage were about how they beat Chuck. But I mean context is everyting. In Tito and Chuck's era, fuck any era of LHW, there hasn't been this laundry list of killers in the UFC. When the UFC got the top Pride LHW's, they were beaten and battered to the point where Shogun fucking struggled like a mug to beat old ass Mark fuckin Coleman. Lil Nog has been hurt 90% of the time, Rampage was 50/50, Wandy was done. So Tito and Chuck had to make due with what they had on the roster.
Dana White talking shit about Tito and praising Chuck, nothing new there at all, it's what you would expect from someone who has that kind of heat with Tito and that kind of love for Chuck. And again Chuck was my guy before I saw BJ Penn, not taking a damn thing away from him but if you dont' think he wasn't going "Let me get that win back against Jeremy Horn, let me get that win back against Rampage", then I don't know what to tell you. Rampage comes in, beats Marvin, says he's not really ready for a title shot just yet and the next thing you know he's put in there with Chuck and he wins. The UFC weren't expecting that, Rampage has talked about this in depth about how the UFC saw his "lackluster" performance against Matt Lindland, his alright finish of Marvin, and they thought Chuck would be able to get that win back like he did with Couture and Horn. Sadly it wasn't meant to be.
Again, I think Tito fought tough guys. When he was champion, there weren't a lot of guys to fight. He ducked Chuck no fucking question but he did say he'd fight Chuck for the right $$$ and we hear that even to this day.
All of the big name LHWs went to shit when UFC bought Pride
Tito was like 0-4-1 afterwards
Chuck started getting knocked out left and right
Rampage was going on OJ Simpson like high speed car chases because he couldn't handle a loss
Keith Jardine was tweaking his nipples
Forrest Griffin was considered a legitimate threat
No one knew if Shogun was lazy or really had a bum knee
No one knew if Wanderlei's chin was forever broken or if it was the lack of steroids
It wasn't solely because those guys were getting old either. The sport was passing them by as the money, training, etc went up. The Carlos Condit type hybrid fighter was becoming the norm
The current foursome below Jones of Tex/Gus/Johnson/Cormier is just as good as the LHWs of yesteryear
Jon Jones is the P4P goat of any era
Last edited by Spedizzo; August 19th, 2016 at 3:04 PM.
Well and look at LHW in general. Sure Jon Jones is the GOAT, but there's a serious lack of depth. There's always been only like 4 or 5 really elite dudes at 205 and the rest were alright. Same with 185. They just lack depth and they don't have the unpredictable nature of HW where one shot could take out anyone.
Rory Macdonald has signed with Bellator. Good for Bellator, the roster is looking real nice. The signings of Benson, Phil Davis, and Rory are HUGE for this company as those 3 are all top 5 fighters, very exciting fighters as well. You know, I think that while the UFC is obviously the place to be due to their name value, Bellator is going to benefit greatly from this Reebok bullshit. I think it seems that is what is drawing these fighters away and again, yes the UFC will be looked at as the Mecca, but in due time, look out for Bellator.
It sucks that the company with the best roster lost one of the best fighters at Welterweight. But MVP vs. Rory should be booked and will be the real test to see where MVP is really at skill wise.
I'll be honest, too big of a test for MVP. We know his ground game isn't that great, look at the Cyborg fight, I believe Cyborg took him down with ease and Cyborg isn't even that good of a ground fighter compared to some of the younger guys out there. Rory is a superior ground fighter that would have his way with MVP. BUT WITH THAT SAID, there's not a lot of options for Rory at 170 either unless he walks in and gets an immediate title shot. Might as well book it, Rory could very well get knocked the fuck out and have a crushed forehead for his welcoming gift lol.
Aye, a bit too big of a step up for MVP. Who is a beast by the way, I just want to see him built up slowly. Benson vs Rory is the fight I want to see.
Wow! This is huge! I think it's the best signing Bellator has landed ever. The dude is legit top 5 and maybe even top 3 in the world.
Not a better signing than Benson, Davis, or even Rampage.
I'd put it, as a signing, a hair below Rampage, a hair above Davis, and roughly on par with Bendo.
Rory was never a defending UFC champ.
Never said he was.
Neither was Davis....
So, Marlon Moraes did end up in the UFC. He'll fight Raphael Assuancao in his debut at UFC 212.
Moraes, one of my favorites from WSOF
Yeah, he's a damn exciting fighter and probably my favorite in WSOF as well (Gaethje is usually fireworks too). Assuncao is a very tough out for your UFC debut though, either they are looking to fast track him to title contention or they are looking to humble a champion from a "rival" organization. Moraes is clearly good but the jury is still out on if he is "good" or "world class", his biggest name win is still a split decision over washed up Miguel Torres. He's beat some decent fighters like Tyson Nam and Carson Bebee but that's nothing compared to what he'll get in the UFC, i.e. Assuncao.
Fun fact; Moraes is the lineal WSOF and Bellator BW champion, so if he should make it to fight TJ or Garbrandt it would be for the lineal UFC/WSOF/Bellator BW titles. Tyson Nam KO'd Eduardo Dantas outside of Bellator while Dantas was the Bellator BW champion, in his next fight Nam got head kick KO'd by WSOF champion Marlon Moraes. I'm sure Bjorn Rebney was happy about that..
Interesting to take a look at how former champions have fared in their UFC debuts*, and what level of competition they got..
Dan Henderson (9-9 UFC) was the Pride WW (UFC MW) and MW (UFC LHW) champion: Lost against Rampage Jackson/Anderson Silva in title unification's.
Dan Henderson (9-9 UFC) was the Strikeforce LHW champion: Defeated Shogun Rua in his second UFC return.
Alistair Overeem (7-4 UFC) was the Strikeforce HW champion: Defeated Brock Lesnar.
Mirko Crocop (5-6 UFC) was the PRIDE OWGP champion: Defeated Eddie Sanchez.
Shogun Rua (9-8 UFC) was the PRIDE MWGP champion: Lost to forrest Griffin.
Luke Rockhold (5-2 UFC) was the Strikeforce MW champion: Lost to Vitor Belfort.
Jake Shields (4-3 1 NC UFC) was the Strikeforce MW champion: Defeated Martin Kampmann (at WW).
Nick Diaz (7-6 1 NC UFC) was the Strikeforce WW champion: Defeated BJ Penn.
Tarec Saffiedine (2-3 UFC) was the Strikeforce WW champion: Defeated Hyun Gyu Lim.
Gilbert Melendez (1-4 UFC ) was the Strikeforce LW champion: Lost to Benson Henderson.
Cyborg Justino (2-0 UFC) was the Strikeforce/Invicta womens FW champion: Defeated Leslie Smith.
Ronda Rousey (6-2 UFC) was the Strikeforce womens BW champion: Defeated Liz Carmouche.
Carla Esparza (2-2 UFC) was the Invicta FC womens SW champion: Defeated Rose Namajunas.
Hector Lombard (3-5 1 NC UFC) was the Bellator MW champion: Lost to Tim Boetsch.
Eddie Alvarez (3-2 UFC) was the Bellator LW champion: Lost to Cowboy Cerrone.
Will Brooks (1-2 UFC) was the Bellator LW champion: Defeated Ross Pearson.
Carlos Condit (7-6 UFC) was the WEC WW champion: Lost to Martin Kampmann.
Anthony Pettis (6-5 UFC) was the WEC LW champion: Lost to Clay Guida.
Jose Aldo (8-1 UFC) was the WEC FW champion: Defeated Mark Hominick.
Dominick Cruz (5-1 UFC) was the WEC BW champion: Defeated Uriah Faber.
David Branch (2-2 UFC) is the reigning WSOF MW/LHW champion: Fights Krzysztof Jotko at UFC 211.
Marlon Moraes (0-0 UFC) is the reigning WSOF BW champion: Fights Raphael Assuncao at UFC 212.
*Some guys like Dan Henderson, David Branch and Nick Diaz had fought in the UFC earlier, so it's more of a re-debut, twice in Hendo's case.
@Some titles like the WEC FW/BW and the Strikeforce womens BW were also the inagural UFC version of the title.
Toughest outs? Hendo against Rampage/Anderson. Rockhold against TRT Vitor and Melendez against Benson were rough starts. Alvarez had a tough draw against the surging Cowboy as well. Moraes/Assuncao belongs on the list as well.
Easiest outs? Crocop against Sanches, Cyborg against Smith and Tarec against Lim. Boetsch was supposed to be a showcase for Lombard and Will Brooks barely scraped by Ross Pearson.
Last edited by OD50; April 15th, 2017 at 5:26 AM.
The UFC has also signed Justin Gaethje (17-0). So, now they have WSOF's LHW/MW champion (David Branch), LW champion (Gaethje) and BW champion (Marlon Moraes).
WSOF I think even said that they were in a way a feeder system, like WEC was for the UFC. Great that they've signed Gaethje. Kind of a big fish in a small pond type fighter so I hope he comes in and does some good work .
Would be cool if they did Gaethje against some action fighter for his debut, something like Gaethje/Iaquinta would be nice. Being the reigning WSOF champion and 17-0 I think they will debut him against someone fairly highly ranked. You never know though, Hector Lombard was the reigning Bellator MW champion and Will Brooks the reigning Bellator LW champion, and they got Tim Boetsch and Ross Pearson for their respective debuts
Gaethje will definitely get someone in the top ten though, Edson Barboza, Al Iaquinta and Kevin Lee would make interesting fights, but he could probaly just as well get someone like Michael Johnson.
Marlon Moraes will make his UFC debut against #3 BW Raphael Assuncao so it should be a given Gaethje gets someone ranked at least #5-10, the top guys at LW (Conor, Ferguson, Khabib, Alvarez) are kind of tied up, not sure what's going down with Ferguson/Nurmagomedov though.
Gaethje vs. the winner of Poirier/Alvarez would be the balls out action fight we'd want. Well, that fight itself should be wild. He might not want to stay out that long though. Barboza I see fighting the Chiesa/Lee winner. I wouldn't be opposed to Justin fighting Joe Lauzon or Diego Sanchez first to be honest.
Yeah, the Poirier/Alvarez winner struck my mind, I have a feeling EA would consider Gaethje a step down though, he'd probably demand Conor/Ferguson/Khabib if he wins, Barbosa is off the table there.
If Poirier wins on the other hand, would be a great fight for sure. Poirier is probably more well rounded but would his somewhat questionable chin hold up? Gaethje is probably as gritty as they come.
Alvarez got so destroyed by Conor that I'm not sure he's got much to bargain with. Absolutely no chance he gets close to a rematch without going on a big run. He's better off taking fights where he can build a nice KO streak.
The Conor situation is a completely unique one. Like I just can't envision somebody like Michael Chiesa getting a shot at him whether he's on a 5 or 10 fight win streak. He's too big of a name to fight guys that haven't built up a considerable fanbase. It's millions of pounds difference for the guy fighting a "name" opposed to just someone at contender level. Khabib has the unbeaten record and fanbase to bring interest to the table for him. Nate for the trilogy fight. I honestly think he only takes those fights or 155, or against the guy that beats one of those 2 in a big fight. It sucks for Tony Ferguson who has more than earned a shot, but it's the numbers game.
Mousasi to Bellator then? Kind of surprising.
A little. You have to think that Coker had a good to great relationship with a lot of fighters from Strikeforce and other organizations over the years. Plus Viacom has massive pockets
Khabib in Russia and Nate are the only potential Conor fights left (unless he wants to give Welterweight a go again, then I can see him vs. GSP or Woodley)
there is no way in hell Conor fights guys like Tony or Holloway anymore, I think Conor could give a shit less about defending the title or his prestige in the history books in that regard. He is just looking to take the biggest name fights possible. Nate 3 would be the biggest possible "TMZ" version of a fight they can put out after Conor fights Floyd, and Conor vs. Khabib in Russia would turn into a nationalism media circus.
I don't think Conor is going to stick around past 30-31. He will probably do a reality show or something by then
a lot is to be scene by how the Floyd fight goes though
It is interesting one of the most unreliable fighters at 155 is the one guy he's mentioned he'd supposedly like to fight according to Dana White. Khabib in Russia would be huge, can that dude even make it to his next fight is the real question.
I'll always understand and respect someone wanting to look out for themselves and their families financially, and especially in a career as roller coaster as mma. But gotta admit as a fan, particularly a fan of Moose, it's a bummer to think of the matchups he's trading for moving over to bellator.
Whittaker
Romero
Rockhold
Bisping
Anderson
for
Carvalho
Bader
Shlemenko
Davis
etc
Ah well. Hope he gets a shot to 3-division it.
Ian McCall has signed with Rizin to compete in their 135 pound GP. He will fight Manel Kape (7-1) in the quarter-finals.
Dennis Siver has left/been released by the UFC and has signed with ABC (Russia). He defeated BJ Penn in his last fight.
Pretty random that. I guess he'd accumulated a good wage based on past wins and they didn't feel he's worth that considering his current trajectory.
Gomi
Hacran Dias
Henrique Da Silva
Adriano Martins
Carlos Felipe
All released by the UFC.
Gomi lost five in a row before getting canned.
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