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.
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.
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.
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!
Some good fights from Ireland. Latifi looked pretty beastly. He has always reminded me of one of these..
I'm honestly thinking that he could be the strongest guy in the UFC, including HW's. Who of them could pull this off?
200 kg/440 lbs x 33 reps..
Last edited by OD50; July 20th, 2014 at 8:54 AM.
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.
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?
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.
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.
And wtf is up with Swedes and those wonky celebrations?
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.Originally Posted by OD50
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.
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.
/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.
Last edited by OD50; July 20th, 2014 at 3:34 PM.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Last edited by Mark Hammer; July 21st, 2014 at 2:52 PM.
Yeah, he needs a slow burn to the top.
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.
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.
It's pretty crazy to think that 4 of his 5 career losses were to fighters on TRT
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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?
Last edited by Mark Hammer; August 8th, 2014 at 6:00 AM.
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.
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.
I remember when people argued that TKO'ing Gray Maynard put TJ Grant ahead of Anthony Pettis on the contender's list. Lol.
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.
I remember when knocking Maynard out meant that the UFC should pay Nate Diaz anything he wants.
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.
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).
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.
Last edited by Mark Hammer; August 18th, 2014 at 2:14 PM.
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.
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.
I'll watch Bisping/Le, DHK/Woodley and RDA/Bendo for sure. Possible Mein/Pyle, Carmont/Leites and Saunder's UFC return as well.
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?
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?
Well, new contender created right there.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Just because he's a former champ he should get to eat a few more shots before they call it off?
Shhhh
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.
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.
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....
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Almost looks like 2005 LHW Reem.
Last edited by OD50; September 2nd, 2014 at 5:03 AM.
Quite a difference from K-1 Reem..
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Front cover of Steroid Junky magazine.
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.
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.
Rothwell is better than he's given credit.
Based on what though? He hasnt beaten a single fighter thats good other than Roy and Overeem, 2 fights about 10 years apart.
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.
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?
Reem is about as durable as a paper bag these days..
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..
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.
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.
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.
I don't agree with him being a Rampage Jr. But i get what you're trying to say.
He reminds me a lot of Rampage in Pride. Especially his fighting style.
Poor man's Rampage.
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.
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.
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.
Big Foot got KTFO, love it.
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.
Arlovski's line to the awful Brazilian crowd: "You boo? F You" was classic and has made him one of my new favorite fighters.
Loved it.
Ahahahaha I haven't seen that bit but the KO was sweet.
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.
I think he would match up well with Stipe
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.
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.
So I just got a look at this gal aannnd ...
... 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.
She is disgusting. Tate all the way.
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.
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.
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...
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.
Yeah not all of them are terrible. There are a few in the UFC that are pretty good.
Mark Hunt vs Big Country tonight lads. I signed up for the free trial of Fight Pass for this fight.
Also Miesha Tate (fit bird) vs Rin Nakai (transexual).
I'm honestly thinking about signing up for the free pass specifically for this event. Top to bottom it looks really fucking good.
One of the better Fight Pass shows for sure.
If Hunto get's KTFO I will likely shed a tear fellas..
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.
Horiguchi vs. John Lineker please. Christ what a fight that would be.
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.
Last edited by Fanny Batter; September 20th, 2014 at 5:39 AM.
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.
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