Official UFC/PRIDE Fighting/MMA Thread

[DarkKnight81]

franklin over lutter via unanimous decision


Franklin vs Lutter is UFC 83

[the saw is family]

Franklin vs Lutter is UFC 83

you are correct, i'm getting my cards all screwed up.

[DarkKnight81]

Brandon Vera has said on his myspace that his next fight is against Fabricio Werdum in June at UFC 85. Could this mean that Frank Mir will be getting the next title shot? I hope so, if he's not fighting Sylvia that makes it very likely we'll see Sylvia vs. Lesnar. It's been a great start to the year and it only seems to be getting better.

UFC 84 rumored main card:
Penn vs Sherk (LW title)
Jardine vs Wand Silva
Machida vs Ortiz
Evans vs Thiago Silva

UFC 85 rumored main card:
Nogeuira vs TBD (HW title) Possibly Mir, Kongo, Arlovski
Shogun vs Liddell
Werdum vs Vera
Lesnar vs TBD, possibly Sylvia, Kongo, Arlovski

UFC 86
Rampage vs Griffin (LHW title)

The UFC also just cut a ton of guys, here's the list:
Gleison Tibau
Joe Veres
Colin Robinson
Soa Palelei
Jordan Radev
Tony DeSouza
Doug Evans
Luke Caudillo
Billy Miles
Dan Barrera
Richie Hightower
John Kolosci
Dorian Price
Paul Georgieff
Ryan Jensen
Forrest Petz
Diego Saraiva
Junior Assuncao
Edilberto Crocota
Mirko Cro Cop
Naoyuki Kotani
Anthony Torres
Renato Sobral
Hermes Franca
Mike Nickels
Jason Gilliam
Brandon Melendez
Andy Wang
Allen Berube
Brian Geraghty
Rob MacDonald
Yuki Sasaki
Jason Von Flue
Scott Smith
Stevie Lynch
Pete Spratt
Sean Salmon
Carmelo Marrero
Brad Imes
Josh Haynes
Dokonjonosuke Mishima
Drew Fickett
Seth Petruzelli
Rex Holman
Jason Dent
Sam Hoger
Chris Price
Ross Pointon
Marcio Cruz
Victor Valimaki
Shonie Carter
Dave Menne
Jeff Monson
Nick Diaz
Josh Schockman
Edwin Dewees
Jeremy Jackson
Gideon Ray
Dan Lauzon
Justin James
David Loiseau
Crafton Wallace
Gabe Ruediger
Mario Neto
David Lee
Wes Combs
Cory Walmsley

Some of these guys have been gone for a while and some were just TUFers on one fight contracts but I'm glad their trimming away some of their excess, i've been thinking for a while they had too many fighters and should focus more on having the top talent fighting more often.

[the saw is family]

yeah most of those cuts were warranted, little suprised to see tibau get cut, he didn't always win but i thought he had some exciting fights in his ufc stay. what i've heard with Lesnar is that the ufc is looking to give him a gimme fight and they are in talks with Justin McCully to fight him next. if that happens brock wins by domination. can't wait to see the bj/sherk fight.

[DarkKnight81]

I think Brock could beat Timmay, we all know he has questionable takedown defense and nothing on the ground. I dont see how Brock couldnt take him down and pound away. But if he wants a gimme fight then I hope the UFC gives him a paycut.

[the saw is family]

I think Brock could beat Timmay, we all know he has questionable takedown defense and nothing on the ground. I dont see how Brock couldnt take him down and pound away. But if he wants a gimme fight then I hope the UFC gives him a paycut.

i actually think the UFC wants to give him the gimme fight, i think they don't want their huge investment to drop 2 in a row. i honestly think the UFC is gonna match sylvia up against mir and they are really hoping arlovski ko's o'brien and they re-sign him with the promise of a title shot.

[bourahioro]

i actually think the UFC wants to give him the gimme fight, i think they don't want their huge investment to drop 2 in a row. i honestly think the UFC is gonna match sylvia up against mir and they are really hoping arlovski ko's o'brien and they re-sign him with the promise of a title shot.


That'd be awesome, I really like Arlovski.

[DarkKnight81]

The best possible scenario would be Arlovski winning impressively, getting resigned and a title shot against Nog. The problem is his fight is on the undercard, so the UFC apparently has no intention of selling him as a contender if his fight wont even be shown on PPV. I'm afraid that bridge has long been burned.

[DarkKnight81]

i actually think the UFC wants to give him the gimme fight, i think they don't want their huge investment to drop 2 in a row. i honestly think the UFC is gonna match sylvia up against mir and they are really hoping arlovski ko's o'brien and they re-sign him with the promise of a title shot.

If thats true I dont understand that thinking. Lesnar already lost quickly, his stock is down and matching him against a can will not help his reputation win or lose. McCully will have been out of the cage for over a year at that point and was insignificant in the division to begin with. It'd be fun to watch Brock crush somebody but its not going to help sell PPVs. A matchup with Sylvia would sell and would actually matter. If it does end up being Lesnar vs McCully it better end up on the undercard because neither fighter is main card material at this point.

[unspoken]

The best possible scenario would be Arlovski winning impressively, getting resigned and a title shot against Nog. The problem is his fight is on the undercard, so the UFC apparently has no intention of selling him as a contender if his fight wont even be shown on PPV. I'm afraid that bridge has long been burned.

Even if he wins impressively, if the rumour posted previously is true (the one about him wanting 500K a fight), there's no way he gets re-signed. There's only one guy who gets that much, and that's Chuck, who puts way more butts in the seats than AA has or will.

[yorrick brown]

http://www.cagepotato.com/2008/02/26/the-seven-nastiest-illegal-knockouts-of-all-time/

seven illegal knockouts
ouch :D

[the saw is family]

saw that illegal knockouts, the rampage one and huerta one weren't illegal though. mike kyle is a complete piece of shit though, glad to see he hasn't gotten a fight since that incident. well the new rumored addition to the ufc 84 card is soukoudjou vs. nakamura, if all the matches hold up for that card it's going to be one of the best cards the ufc has put together in years. oh who all is ordering the pay per view saturday? i am for sure.

[DarkKnight81]

Both Nak and Sok were both dissapointing in their debuts so I dont know what to think of that fight, hopefully one of them will show us something.
As for the KO video, I think if Okami decisively beats Tanner we could see the rematch with Anderson Silva. Herb Dean is the WORST ref I've ever seen, period. Huerta's knee clearly hit the shoulder. Rampage's headbutt was unintentional. How could they leave out Wes Sims stomping Frank Mir? I hardly ever order the PPVs, I have a bar nearby with no cover charge and cheap beer that has them every month. I prefer watching them at home but $40 a month is too expensive.

[bourahioro]

I hear ya - I got every UFC pay per view for like a year, and realized I'd spent $480.00 when I could have gone to a sportsbar, and spent far less - hindsight and all that;)

Predictions for UFC 81 anyone?

I have: Hendo beating Silva
Kongo beating Herring
Sakara beating Leben
Arlovski beating O'Brien
Okami beating Tanner
Fitch beating Wilson (I really don't like Fitch)
Koscheck beating Hazelett
Sanchez beating Bielkheden


I'm not sure who'll win in the Cummo fight, but one thing's for certain - Gurgel will still be a can after his fight.

[DarkKnight81]

Here's my picks.

Silva, Sakara, Okami, Kongo, Fitch, Arlovski, Cummo, Sanchez, Hazlett, Gurgel.

I like Hendo but Anderson just seems unstoppable right now. I think Sakara will outclass Leben. I dont know much about Herring and I'm a closet Kongo fan. Jon Fitch is my favorite WW and will be fighting GSP in 2008. I hate Josh Koscheck so I'm rooting big time for Hazlett, and while Gurgel is a can, Halverson looked like an idiot against Huerta and I cant root for a guy who fakes a KO from a supposed illegal knee that after review was very legal.

[the saw is family]

well today the ufc announced that bud light will become their official beer sponsor. this is huge for the ufc. having them as a sponsor will bring in so much more revenue, which will increase fighter pay. also elite xc has made a deal with cbs to air fights on cbs, so two huge deals in the past two days moving mma more towards legitimacy in the mainstream.

[DarkKnight81]

Good for the UFC but I'm sticking with Coors light.

[Darth Kenshin]

I like this MMA contract on basic cable. Great move to get more exposure. Hopefully it'll push MMA beyond having a cult following. Kudos for doing what boxing should have done a decade ago.

[DarkKnight81]

It's network television on a primetime slot, not cable. CBS is one of the largest networks with abc and nbc and they are going to air the shows Saturday nights. That means anyone who owns a TV will be able to watch it. I like the idea and I'll surely watch it but EliteXC seems like a joke at this point. Hopefully they can get Kimbo vs Ken Shamrock put together for their first show.

[DarkKnight81]

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/23396671/

I know Dana says a lot but doesnt always come through but this sounds somewhat promising. I dont see how Andrei could get what he's asking for from any mma org, maybe boxing. Hopefully his heart is still in the UFC and he'll be back.

[the saw is family]

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/23396671/

I know Dana says a lot but doesnt always come through but this sounds somewhat promising. I dont see how Andrei could get what he's asking for from any mma org, maybe boxing. Hopefully his heart is still in the UFC and he'll be back.

i think they will re-sign andrei, the ufc's heavyweight division is just too thin right now to lose a guy of his caliber. as far as i know i never saw any confirmation that he was asking for 500,000 a fight so i think that was just a rumor, he'd have to be nuts to expect that. he just better have a good showing saturday night and not let o'brien lay and pray him to a victory.

[Criminal Rock]

I'm busy right now so I can't say much, but all that NEEDS to be said is that tomorrow is going to be fucking ridiculously badass.

[the saw is family]

I'm busy right now so I can't say much, but all that NEEDS to be said is that tomorrow is going to be fucking ridiculously badass.

agreed i can't wait to watch the event. just got done re-watching critical countdown 2004, to get my mma fix.

[DarkKnight81]

I dont know what it is but I'm incredibly stoked for tomorrow's fights. UFC.com has the prefight press conferences and Dan Henderson has got to be the most confident fighter i've ever seen. The next 3-4 PPVs are already shaping up to be epic. WAR FITCH!!!!!!

[the saw is family]

yeah can't wait to watch the weigh-ins at 4. dan is confident but he's going down!!!!(well in all actuality he has a damn good chance) darkknight is dead on about the next pay per views plus the best fight night the ufc has ever put together thrown in the middle.

[the saw is family]

well everyone made weight, nice staredown between the spider and hendo, anderson looking intense and dan smiling the whole time. can't wait for tomorrow night.

[DarkKnight81]

I like Henderson and Silva, I just want to see a 5 round battle with a clear winner. I'm still waiting for the weigh in video to show up on UFC.com

[the saw is family]

I like Henderson and Silva, I just want to see a 5 round battle with a clear winner. I'm still waiting for the weigh in video to show up on UFC.com

yeah i watched the weigh-ins on yahoo, the ufc link wasnt working.

[yorrick brown]

silva gonna kick ass.

his last 9 fights he`s had like 7 tko and 1 sub.apart from the dq yushin(?) he`s prime steak to henderson bacon lol.

[bourahioro]

I dunno - I think Hendo is gonna teach Silva a thing or two about toughness. I see the fight being really even, but in the end Henderson is gonna plow through him. Silva is a great fighter, don't misread me - I like Silva, but Henderson is tough as nails, and will not give anyone an easy win (5 rounds with Rampage anyone?), set aside that, Henderson is so laid back, that it almost fuels his ferocity in the octagon/ring.

[DarkKnight81]

It's definitely going to be a test for both fighters. Hendo's going to have his legendary chin tested to the max, he's going to get hit a lot win or lose. And Silva's going to have his toughness tested, all of his fights in the UFC, even against Rich Franklin, have been cakewalks for him and we've yet to see his stamina or heart tested in the UFC. I still see Silva being a little too much for Hendo.

[Darth Kenshin]

Henderson/Silva. It has to happen. It's obvious Henderson isn't a natural light heavyweight. He can easily drop down to middle, and that would be the 2008 fight of the year. MMA always prides itself on getting the best fighters against each other with little hassle. Make it happen.

This is why I love MMA in general. I was calling for this fight in November (along with every one else) because it was just too logical NOT to happen. Now, we're getting it. As long as they keep making the logical fights that fans want to see, I think we're in good shape.

It's network television on a primetime slot, not cable. CBS is one of the largest networks with abc and nbc and they are going to air the shows Saturday nights. That means anyone who owns a TV will be able to watch it. I like the idea and I'll surely watch it but EliteXC seems like a joke at this point. Hopefully they can get Kimbo vs Ken Shamrock put together for their first show.

haha yeah, that's what I meant. Don't know why I said basic cable.
Brain fart I suppose

[unspoken]

A few things to remember:

1. Silva's weakest part of his game is his takedown defense.

2. Hendo has never been KO'd

3. The only two guys to sub Hendo are named Nogueira (both Big and Lil), who's BJJ is on a far higher level than Silva's.

Silva can win, no doubt, but I honestly see Hendo taking him down repeatedly, staying in Silva's guard trying to do as much damage as he can from there en route to a 5 round decision.

[DarkKnight81]

A few things to remember:

1. Silva's weakest part of his game is his takedown defense.

2. Hendo has never been KO'd

3. The only two guys to sub Hendo are named Nogueira (both Big and Lil), who's BJJ is on a far higher level than Silva's.

Silva can win, no doubt, but I honestly see Hendo taking him down repeatedly, staying in Silva's guard trying to do as much damage as he can from there en route to a 5 round decision.

These are all great points and I'll be rooting for Hendo the whole time, I just think Silva is on a roll and its going to be hard to stop him. I cant wait.

[yorrick brown]

A few things to remember:


2. Hendo has never been KO'd

.



untill this fight :p

[the saw is family]

A few things to remember:

1. Silva's weakest part of his game is his takedown defense.

2. Hendo has never been KO'd

3. The only two guys to sub Hendo are named Nogueira (both Big and Lil), who's BJJ is on a far higher level than Silva's.

Silva can win, no doubt, but I honestly see Hendo taking him down repeatedly, staying in Silva's guard trying to do as much damage as he can from there en route to a 5 round decision.

his takedown defense is probably his weakest point but it's better than people give him credit for. people always bring up the lutter fight in regards to this, but what people don't realize is silva was coming off of having both knees being scoped a couple month prior. also dans takedowns come from the clinch, he doesn't do many shoot takedowns, and if he is able to get anderson down from the clinch he will take punishment for his efforts. also anderson has a very active guard, i don't think dan will just be able to stay in guard and pound away. anderson is hard to keep down and his legs are very active on the ground. sure anderson's bjj is not on the level of the nog bros, but those are his training partners and he's no slouch on the ground. i'm not ruling dan out, but i think for him to win he's gonna have to land a huge shot like he did against wanderlei in their second fight.

[DarkKnight81]

Wow. Anderson Silva is on a tear. I dont know what else to say. Who can give this guy a challenge at 185 lbs. Anybody...hello? No? Didnt think so.

[DarkKnight81]

Yushin Okami looked good, I guess if he wants to get squashed he can step in there with Anderson.

[DarkKnight81]

Brock Lesnar vs Mark Coleman in August. While I was a big Hammer fan back in the day, Lesnar is just a bigger, stronger, and younger version. Hammer 2.0 will smash the original Hammer.

[the saw is family]

really good event last night. fitch looked like he was lacking the killer instinct last night, but chris wilson is a tough opponent and fitch picked up the win and thats all that counts, give him the title shot already. it sucked to see tanner come back and look that way, i figured he would be rusty, and i picked him to lose but he had absolutely nothing out there last night. hopefully he sticks with it trains harder and gives it another shot. it was nice seeing okami get a finish though.

sakara vs. leben was what it was. a nice quick little war with two strikers, i honestly thought leben would try a little more takedowns/ground fighting before finishing sakara but he got the job done standing, nice win for him, maybe a rematch with cote next? kongo/herring was a real suprise. i picked heath to win, but kongo developed something of a ground game out of nowhere. it still isn't very good but it's much much better than the last time we saw him in the octagon. heath used his ability to position and top control nicely and ground out the decision solid win by him. i think herring winning will put even more pressure on the ufc to re-sign arlovski, they can't give heath another crack at nog they've already fought 3 times.

silva vs. hendo. first round hendo employed his game plan nearly to perfection. he neutralized silva's muay thai clinch with his greco clinch, he secured the takedown and controlled anderson on the ground. i would have liked to have seen hendo be a little more active when he was in the guard those little hammer fists weren't doing any damage. then in the second when dan couldn't get the takedown you could see the tide starting to turn, anderson was getting the best of the standup and landed a nice knee that rocked hendo, then anderson just went to work on the ground. his bjj is extremely underrated, the body triangle and transitions were slick. he cannot be stopped right now at 185, there isn't one man in the ufc or anywhere else who can beat him at 185. within a years time hopefully gsp will move up to 185 for a superfight. or if wanderlei does move down that would make a good fight but i think they both lose to anderson.

[DarkKnight81]

Fitch looked a bit surprised in the first round at Wilson's ability but came back to dominate the last two rounds. He's one of my favorite fighters and I hope he gets a title shot. I think he'd have a good chance against Serra but GSP would destroy him. His standup is far better and his sprawl is the best in the UFC. That Kongo fight was one of the strangest I've ever seen. He did show improved takedowns but that was it. Once he had Heath on the ground he couldnt do anything and when Heath had Kongo on his back it was like a fish out of water. Tanner got an ass whooping, kind of sad to watch. I think Wandy would get destroyed by Anderson at 185. Same with GSP. Anderson said after the fight he'd rather move down to 170 than move up to 205. I think Okami will get the next shot, after that I dont know whats possibly next for him unless the UFC gets Lindland.

[the saw is family]

yeah i think okami gets the next shot and anderson gets to avenge his dq loss. i don't think the ufc is gonna sign lindland. when he beats okami he really will have cleared out the division. maybe they throw bisping at him, or if he can win another 1 or 2 fights almeida, but he would run roughshod over both of those guys. too bad the ufc didn't sign denis kang that would be a decent fight.

[DarkKnight81]

I forgot about Bisping, I wouldnt mind seeing Anderson knock him down a peg or two.

[DarkKnight81]

CRAP! Shogun has retorn his recently healed ACL and will be out for at least another 6 months. That means Chuck Liddell needs an opponent for UFC 85 but the LHW division contenders are all matched up.

Tito Ortiz vs Lyoto Machida
Sok vs Nak
Thiago Silva vs Rashad Evans
Wand Silva vs Keith Jardine
Wilson Gouveia vs Goran Relijic
Houston Alexander vs James Irvin
Matt Hammill vs Tim Boestch
Bonnar, Rua injured

So who does that leave for the Iceman?....Jason Lambert, Eric Shaefer, James Lee, David Heath, Tomasz Drwal, Luiz Cane...all coming off losses and have done nothing in the UFC. Dana White really needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat this time....Vitor Belfort anyone?

[the saw is family]

this is just complete unwarranted wild speculation on my part. shogun's hurt,and i read via sherdog that dana said he has something big for anderson silva planned. so could we possibly see a chuck vs. anderson fight at 205 or maybe a catch weight fight at 198-200. in all honesty i don't think this will happen but just decided to throw it out there. in all reality there really isn't anyone legit for chuck to fight if shogun is out, unless they bring in someone new. filho said this upcoming fight will be his last at 185 then he's moving to 205, bring him up and have him fight chuck. who knows really.

[bourahioro]

Silva would destroy Chuck - Chuck's a striker, and will try no matter what to keep the fight on their feet, Silva will walk through him - There's no way Chuck would beat Hendo, and Silva proved me wrong when I said Hendo would trash his ass.

[the saw is family]

Silva would destroy Chuck - Chuck's a striker, and will try no matter what to keep the fight on their feet, Silva will walk through him - There's no way Chuck would beat Hendo, and Silva proved me wrong when I said Hendo would trash his ass.

i do think hendo and anderson would beat chuck but there's no way i would say chuck has no chance. chuck has the power to put anyone's lights out. out of the two chuck probably has the better chance against hendo. chuck has great takedown defense, he's hard to clinch up, and hendo's striking tends to be wild and not very technical. anderson is too precise and accurate with his strikes and would batter chuck, most likely for a unanimous decision or a late tko.

[DarkKnight81]

I personally think Chuck would beat Hendo, Anderson is hard to say but it would be a hell of a fight. Also a little off topic but did anyone else notice Anderson not touching Hendo's glove when he extended it at the start of the first round? What the hell was that about? Very unlike Silva.

[the saw is family]

I personally think Chuck would beat Hendo, Anderson is hard to say but it would be a hell of a fight. Also a little off topic but did anyone else notice Anderson not touching Hendo's glove when he extended it at the start of the first round? What the hell was that about? Very unlike Silva.

yeah i saw that. i don't think it was intentional, i just think he was in the zone and ready to fight. or maybe dan repeatedly saying he was going to kick ass in the all the pre fight stuff got under his skin.

[DarkKnight81]

or maybe dan repeatedly saying he was going to kick ass in the all the pre fight stuff got under his skin.

Thats what I was thinking. Dan seemed overly confident prior to the fight.

[the saw is family]

well via sherdog chuck will be fighting rashad evans for the june event. it's an ok matchup, we all know how well chuck does against wrestlers, and rashad hasn't even come close to facing a striker of chuck's caliber. i got chuck by mid second rd tko.

[DarkKnight81]

That sucks for two reasons. For one Rashad has already proven he's not main event material and from what I've heard Chuck vs Rashad is the main event. Secondly, who does that leave for Thiago Silva? Nobody. So basically he's going to fight a can that wont help elevate him to the next level. I'd be pissed if they took a high profile fight and gave it to Dana's buddy just so he could get another title shot. Bullshit. But for the record, Chuck via KO rd 1.

[the saw is family]

That sucks for two reasons. For one Rashad has already proven he's not main event material and from what I've heard Chuck vs Rashad is the main event. Secondly, who does that leave for Thiago Silva? Nobody. So basically he's going to fight a can that wont help elevate him to the next level. I'd be pissed if they took a high profile fight and gave it to Dana's buddy just so he could get another title shot. Bullshit. But for the record, Chuck via KO rd 1.

i can understand being irritated with the matchup, but it makes sense from a business stand point. thiago is still being brought up, and chuck is still one of if not the face of the ufc. so securing an opponent for chuck is probably a little more important business wise for the ufc. maybe they give thiago someone like jason lambert. it does kinda suck though, shogun getting re-injured really fucked up plans.

[yorrick brown]

rashad has to prove himself,not only as a fighter but as a NAME .been a NAME sells tickets.

i think he`s gonna come out guns blazing on chuck,he has to.

[DarkKnight81]

i can understand being irritated with the matchup, but it makes sense from a business stand point. thiago is still being brought up, and chuck is still one of if not the face of the ufc. so securing an opponent for chuck is probably a little more important business wise for the ufc. maybe they give thiago someone like jason lambert. it does kinda suck though, shogun getting re-injured really fucked up plans.

I see what you're saying but Rashad isnt that guy. The guy is boring, I dont care if he is undefeated, he has to be the worst undefeated fighter in the world.

[unspoken]

rashad has to prove himself,not only as a fighter but as a NAME .been a NAME sells tickets.

i think he`s gonna come out guns blazing on chuck,he has to.

This will sell tickets and pay-per-views because of Chuck. He could be fighting a monkey with no arms and still draw 500,000 buys. And as much as it kills me to say it, it's a better business decision to go with Rashad, he's a bigger name with casual fans than Shogun or Thiago is.


And in other news, M-1 is pretty much done without even putting on a show:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3280383

[DarkKnight81]

Yeah I heard about M-1, I think Fedor will end up in Dream. No way after all the shit Dana talked about him will he come to the UFC. 'm beginning to hate Dana White more and more. He was recently quoted as saying, "Fedor is only ranked as the best fighter in the world is due to the hatred of me!" This guy has bought into his own overblown hype so much its unbelievable. Its not because of what Fedor has accomplished, its in spite of you that people love Fedor. My God, get over yourself and stop showing your smug face all over TV. People come to see and hear the fighters, not your stupid ass.

[unspoken]

The whole Dana/Fedor thing is a promoter being a promoter. If Fedor signed with him tomorrow, Dana be going around saying he's undisputedly the best heavyweight in the world. Although I do agree that he'll likely end up with Dream (although Elite XC wouldn't surprise me now that they've got CBS on board, or HD Net fights since Randy's already got a contract with them), I could definitely see them trying to negotiate again. It's not actually Fedor that Dana has the problem with, it's his management (who, in fairness, Dana's not the only one who has complained about how difficult they are to negotiate with).

The really funny thing though is Dana's defense about Fedor not being that great, saying that he hasn't fought anybody that's any good since Cro Cop. And he kept saying that AGAIN at the UFC 82 press conference. Now, lets take a look at a list of Fedor's opponents since Cro Cop.

Zulu Jr Dec 31, 2005
Mark Coleman Oct 21, 2006
Mark Hunt Dec 31, 2006

etc etc...

Wonder if Dana needs any help pulling his foot from his mouth on this one.

[DarkKnight81]

Yeah Dana also said Mark Coleman is washed up...while true, how do ou bring a guy in like that after you talk shit about him? Promoter or not the guy needs to shut the F up because he sounds like an idiot every time he opens his mouth. I personally would like to see Fedor keep his options open and not sign multiple fight deals with anyone. Let him fight the best heavys in Dream, EliteXC, HDNets, and Strikeforce.

[bourahioro]

Bleh, I think that Dana gave Rashad to Chuck because he wanted to end "no talent" Rashad his first defeat, and by the hands of a big name, and not a newcomer. Rashad will come out and swing....for 35.2 seconds, and then be gassed, at which point Chuck will smash Rashad in the face 4 or 5 times, and it'll be over.

Liddell by KO, in Rd.1 WITHIN the first 3.5 minutes.

[DarkKnight81]

Rashad=Tito. Same wrestling, striking, grappling skills. Chuck will destroy Rashad the same way he did Tito by blocking takedowns and answering with punches right down the middle.

[the saw is family]

well as for the fedor/dana thing. i think there's no way in hell he'll end up in the ufc. both sides are just too stubborn. hopefully fedor will end up in Dream. the good thing about that is that most japanese org's don't have you sign exclusive contracts, so fedor if the opportunity arose could go fight in EXC or maybe face josh barnett in a cross promotion with WVR. hopefully we'll see bigger fights from fedor this year. chuck/rashad i think was just born out of necessity. i actually think in the first round rashad is not going to come out with his usual takedown's. he trains at greg jackson's camp with keith jardine and i think at first he's gonna try and emulate what jardine did to defeat chuck. stay outside the pocket throw lot's of leg and body kicks. he won't be able to to hurt chuck though, as rashad is not anywhere near the striker jardine is. i think it'll be enough to let rashad survive the first round. i think he'll realize it's not affective and go back to wrestling in the second, chuck will stuff his takedowns, hit him with a shot that rocks him and finish with a flurry of punches. also i've been reading that there's a chance that this card may air for free on spike, i hope thats true.

[bourahioro]

Fuck, I hope so - I was bummed when the last UFC that was in the UK was a PPV....AND that I missed the motherfucker because it was on at 4pm, NOT 11pm, as is the norm.

[DarkKnight81]

I agree that Evans will try to use the same strategy as Jardine to beat Chuck but he doesnt have the range or skills that Keith has on his feet. If he decides not to shoot and take Chuck down and wants to stand and fight with him he's not going to last long. If thats the main event it better be free.

[chasingbanky]

I feel like we're missing out as fans when this shit with Fedor constantly rolls on... If the best fighter in the world beats someone up, and nobody sees it, is he the best fighter in the world?

[the saw is family]

Fuck, I hope so - I was bummed when the last UFC that was in the UK was a PPV....AND that I missed the motherfucker because it was on at 4pm, NOT 11pm, as is the norm.

helpful hint, if they do have a uk pay per view and you want to order it, they always run a taped replay on ppv at the usual time that night, just stay away from mma sites because they always have the results up.

[DarkKnight81]

Ken Shamrock got KO'd in the first round in his Cage Rage debut. The Worlds Most Dangerous Man has officially only become a danger to himself.

[the saw is family]

Ken Shamrock got KO'd in the first round in his Cage Rage debut. The Worlds Most Dangerous Man has officially only become a danger to himself.

yeah just saw the replay of that on showtime. sad really. the guy was a legend in his own time. the sport has passed him by, his best years as an athlete were probably unfortunately spent in the wwf. there was no money in mma at the time though. i'm not excited for it, but if he does want to fight one more time he should fight his brother, and collect himself one big payday. hopefully he realizes it's time to move on before he ends up getting himself seriously hurt.

[DarkKnight81]

I'd like to see him fight Frank but I wish it would have been 5-10 years ago, when Frank was in his prime and Ken was still legit. Unfortunately neither is in their prime but Frank is still pretty good and will lay an ass whooping on his big brother.

[bourahioro]

Cro Cop -vs- Tatsuya Mizuno (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoW1SsMtTbc)

[the saw is family]

Cro Cop -vs- Tatsuya Mizuno (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoW1SsMtTbc)

yeah saw that and the whole dream card. cro cop's fight was what it was, the guy he fought was a can and cro cop kicked his ass accordingly. he really needs to fight someone stronger next fight. the event itself was pretty solid. really fucking disappointed that aoki/jz ended in a no-contest that was my most anticipated fight on the card and one of my most anticipated fights of recent memory. the only other thing i was kind of hoping was that it would look alot more like a pride show, but it really just seemed like a hero's show. was looking for more of a pride production. overall though it was pretty good for their first show.

[bourahioro]

Agreed - I think they gave Cro Cop a "gimme" to boost his ego a little, and maybe regain his PRIDE confidence.

[the saw is family]

just a heads up guys. pride dvds are going to start being released again starting in may. it's been months since a new pride event has been released so this is great news me thinks. may 6th-shockwave 2006 (fedor vs. mark hunt, big nog vs. josh barnett 2) june 3rd-pride 34 kamikaze(kind of a lackluster event but it was the final pride card, monson vs. fujita, james thompson vs. don frye, aoki also on this card) july 1st pride 33 second coming(arguably the best event pride ever put on. lil nog vs. sokoudjou, gomi vs. diaz, henderson vs. silva, shogun vs. overeem 2, just a stacked event)

[bourahioro]

Awesome, I'm gonna grab these for sure!

[unspoken]

yeah saw that and the whole dream card. cro cop's fight was what it was, the guy he fought was a can and cro cop kicked his ass accordingly. he really needs to fight someone stronger next fight.

Rumor has it his next fight will be against Sergei Kharitonov.

[the saw is family]

Rumor has it his next fight will be against Sergei Kharitonov.

yeah i've been hearing that too. hopefully that's what happens, that would make for a pretty good fight. i'd probably lean slightly toward sergei in that one. i recently read an interview with cro cop and he mentioned fighting jerome le banner as well.

[yorrick brown]

Rumor has it his next fight will be against Sergei Kharitonov.


cool.

wasn`t kharitonov last fight was a win when he took on mike rusow,1st round i think?.

[bourahioro]

TUF 7 in 2 weeks, kids! That and another Ultimate Fight Night Live (3 hours)!

I heard that Spike was only going to air 2 hours of UFNL, and due to an wealth of emails from Sherdoggers (I emailed too;)), they decided to air the show in it's entirety. Awesome news for all of us; It's gonna be a killer night with 3 hours of UFNL and TUF 7 airing immediately afterwards.


As for Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin - I'm expecting Forrest to get cut down in a big bad way. Yeah Forrest is resilient, and a workhorse, but he barely beat Shogun (I still say that was luck), and Rampage has destroyed eveyone put un front of him in the UFC thus far.

and of course, if you bother with MMAth: Rampage beat Chuck, Chuck got beat by Keith Jardine, Keith Jardine beat Forrest. So Rampage should have an easy time with Forrest.

I mean, Forrest barely made it through 3 rounds with Shogun - Rampage did 5 HARD rounds with Hendo, and didn't look bothered or out of gas. The fight is NOT going to go the full 5, and Forrest won't be able to swing with Rampage.


Rampage in rd.2 by KO (I'd say rd.1, but I'm gonna give Forrest the benefit of the doubt.)

[unspoken]

TUF 7 in 2 weeks, kids! That and another Ultimate Fight Night Live (3 hours)!

I heard that Spike was only going to air 2 hours of UFNL, and due to an wealth of emails from Sherdoggers (I emailed too;)), they decided to air the show in it's entirety. Awesome news for all of us; It's gonna be a killer night with 3 hours of UFNL and TUF 7 airing immediately afterwards.


As for Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin - I'm expecting Forrest to get cut down in a big bad way. Yeah Forrest is resilient, and a workhorse, but he barely beat Shogun (I still say that was luck), and Rampage has destroyed eveyone put un front of him in the UFC thus far.

and of course, if you bother with MMAth: Rampage beat Chuck, Chuck got beat by Keith Jardine, Keith Jardine beat Forrest. So Rampage should have an easy time with Forrest.

I mean, Forrest barely made it through 3 rounds with Shogun - Rampage did 5 HARD rounds with Hendo, and didn't look bothered or out of gas. The fight is NOT going to go the full 5, and Forrest won't be able to swing with Rampage.


Rampage in rd.2 by KO (I'd say rd.1, but I'm gonna give Forrest the benefit of the doubt.)

MMAth works the other way though too... Forrest beat Shogun ( :( I fucking hate having to admit that), but Shogun ragdolled Rampage.

[bourahioro]

That is indeed true, but let's be honest here - Is Forrest gonna beat the Rampage we're seeing now in the UFC? I doubt it. Hell, I don't think Shogun could do it now.

[DarkKnight81]

I think Rampage was the most improved fighter of 2007, he just looked so much better than he ever had. Hopefully he can carry that into 2008 but I think Forrest has a legitimate chance. The guy is tough and wont go down without a good fight but I still think Page will be too much for him. Rampage by KO round 3. I'm stoked for the new TUF also, should be a good time with those two as coaches.

[the saw is family]

yeah i'm thinking rampage by thrid or fourth round stoppage. i like rampage alot, but i'm also a huge forrest fan. rampage just has every advantage, with the exception of jujitsu. it's gonna be a tough fight and forrest won't roll over for anyone. i just hope it's a knock down drag out war.

[the saw is family]

cool.

wasn`t kharitonov last fight was a win when he took on mike rusow,1st round i think?.

yep that was his last fight, kharitonov is a tough fight for anyone.

[bourahioro]

yeah i'm thinking rampage by thrid or fourth round stoppage. i like rampage alot, but i'm also a huge forrest fan. rampage just has every advantage, with the exception of jujitsu. it's gonna be a tough fight and forrest won't roll over for anyone. i just hope it's a knock down drag out war.


Actually, you should check out UFC ALL ACCESS: Rampage Jackson - Juanito say right out that Rampage has a really good ground game, and jiu jitsu, but Rampage doesn't like going to the ground because he finds it boring. Rampage also explains that one of the reasons he likes to strike better than he does work the ground is that if you knock someone out, you won the fight, no dispute - BUT if you win a fight via submission, then the losing combatant can always say that they simply made a mistake and got caught.
Hence, my sig;)

[unspoken]

cool.

wasn`t kharitonov last fight was a win when he took on mike rusow,1st round i think?.

That wasn't his last fight. He beat the hell out of Alistair Overeem on the K-1 Hero's event where JZ Calvancanti demolished Shaolin and Dida on the way to the Grand Prix championship. I believe it was in September.

[unspoken]

Also, just another Cro Cop tidbit. Sources say that now that it has been revealed that Fedor actually never had a contract with M-1, DREAM officials are trying to set up CC vs. Fedor 2 for New Years Eve 2008.

[DarkKnight81]

Fedor says he's fighting Barnett, Randy, and Crocop this year. I don't know what to make of the guy sometimes. This whole M-1 debacle has got to be embarrasing for all of them. They hold a big press conference announcing M-1and Fedor as their first signing and now they get in financial trouble and they say they never signed him so he doesnt get his signing bonus. Sounds like a cop out on both sides hoping that the whole thing can be forgotten. I love MMA but I'm starting to get sick of all the bullshit. Randy and Crocop quitting the UFC are the best examples, you signed a fucking contract, live up to it.

[bourahioro]

I agree - where's the fucking loyalty nowadays? I can kinda see Cro cop leaving the UFC, because he couldn't hang with anyone there; But Couture was made a star by the UFC, and they paid him tons of money; It's not like Couture was losing often. I think Cro Cop's glory days are behind him, and am not really disappointed by his absense in the UFC. Couture however, was a great fighter, and with monickers like "Captain America" You'd think that he'd be the kinda stand-up guy to stick it out, and fight til his contract was up. Hell, Even Arlovski is sticking it out (or stuck it out), fighting in undercard matches for fuck sakes.

[the saw is family]

That wasn't his last fight. He beat the hell out of Alistair Overeem on the K-1 Hero's event where JZ Calvancanti demolished Shaolin and Dida on the way to the Grand Prix championship. I believe it was in September.

yeah you're right i completely forgot about that event, that fight was typical overeem. holding his own, fighting fairly well, gasses and gets demolished. i'm not suprised about m-1 at all. that didn't sit right with me from the start. they never made a serious push to put together an event, they never tried to find fedor an opponent. not suprised they are folding up before they ever left the ground. as for the loyalty thing, when it comes to cro cop i honestly think the ufc was glad to see him go. he was drawing a huge salary and was pretty much unmarketable to the u.s. audience. that was a burden i'm sure the ufc was happy to see go, sucks for the fans but that's business. as for randy i have mixed feelings. it was weird just to see him want to up and go like that. i guess when the rumors of fedor signing with the ufc were floating he wanted to secure his piece. i honestly think those last two fights really aged him too. two fights against a couple of big guys, and then getting his arm broken against gonzaga hurt also. i think his tank was limited when he came back and he kind of aged overnight. i do believe him when he says he only has one fight left.

[the saw is family]

Actually, you should check out UFC ALL ACCESS: Rampage Jackson - Juanito say right out that Rampage has a really good ground game, and jiu jitsu, but Rampage doesn't like going to the ground because he finds it boring. Rampage also explains that one of the reasons he likes to strike better than he does work the ground is that if you knock someone out, you won the fight, no dispute - BUT if you win a fight via submission, then the losing combatant can always say that they simply made a mistake and got caught.
Hence, my sig;)

i don't know about that. i've seen that all access and i honestly think it was just juanito hyping his guy. rampage has good wrestling and ground control but i've never been sold on his jiujitsu. whie i think forrest's jiujitsu is actually underrated. i don't think he's some bjj whiz, but he's solid. that said rampage should still take that fight, barring any strange occurences.

[DarkKnight81]

i do believe him when he says he only has one fight left.
If he really does only have one fight left, then its under UFC contract. He signed his name on the dotted line and I would bet my next paycheck nowhere in the contract did it say, "the third fight will be only against Fedor Emilianeko, no ifs ands or buts." Couture is a legend, a UFC hall of famer but when did he fucking decide that he's on some conquest to fight Fedor and thats the only fighter that deserves to fight him. The guy is 16-8 in his career, that's only a 66% winning percentage. Fedor is 27-1 with the one loss from a cut. So what the fuck makes Couture "the one" to fight Fedor. Dont take me the wrong way, I'd love to see the fight. But shit Randy, fight Nog and your contract will be up and you can do whatever you want.

[the saw is family]

anyone watching the WEC event tonight? kind of has a bit of a damper being that the sonnen/filho rematch was postponed. good that sonnen is still fighting. marshall vs. stann with the lhw belt on the line, should be a slug fest. also was kind of surprised that the alession/larson fight isn't scheduled to be televised.

[bourahioro]

I might check it out...I'm not 100% sure yet.

[DarkKnight81]

I'll be DVR'ing is since I'll be on a plane all night but I hope Stann beats the shit out of Doug Marshall.

[the saw is family]

I'll be DVR'ing is since I'll be on a plane all night but I hope Stann beats the shit out of Doug Marshall.

same here i hate doug marshall.

[the saw is family]

BOOM!!! stann by first rd tko again. damn that was great to see that idiot marshall get ktfo!! huge left from stann, dude has heavy fucking hands. sonnen was completely dominant. i haven't seen someone get dominated like baker did in a long time. wec comes through again with another awesome free event.

[unspoken]

Pretty solid event with some good finishes, but still no contenders to my pick for Fight Of The Year so far. Marcus Hicks looked pretty good, hope to see him again soon.

Sonnen vs. Filho 2 should be awesome. Hopefully Sonnen wins and proves once and for all what I've been saying for quite some time. Filho is overranked big time.

[the saw is family]

Pretty solid event with some good finishes, but still no contenders to my pick for Fight Of The Year so far. Marcus Hicks looked pretty good, hope to see him again soon.

Sonnen vs. Filho 2 should be awesome. Hopefully Sonnen wins and proves once and for all what I've been saying for quite some time. Filho is overranked big time.

agree completely about filho, he is overrated. if he faces a good striker with even halfway decent takedown defense he'll get tko'd or will lose a decision. i'm not sure sonnen is the man to do it though. i know baker isn't that great in the bjj department but sonnen didn't do a good enough job protecting his limbs on the ground last night, if he did that against filho he will get subbed again.

[unspoken]

His manager said in an interview about a month ago that the rematch with Sonnen was going to be his last fight at 185 anyways because he has trouble making the weight. He originally fought at 205 but stepped down because at the time, he was training some with BTT and they already had both Lil Nog and Arona fighting at 205 in PRIDE, so Filho stepped down.

The problem with it is that fighting at 205 is the U.S. is very different than fighting at 205 in Japan. The guys are so much bigger in the US, and Filho's already a pretty small guy (5'8-5'10 range) and would be giving up an enormous amount of reach to pretty much every guy he fights.

[yorrick brown]

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2008/03/27/the-ultimate-fighter-vs-the-ultimate-blogger-in-which-the-ufc-champion-nearly-kills-me/

[the saw is family]

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2008/03/27/the-ultimate-fighter-vs-the-ultimate-blogger-in-which-the-ufc-champion-nearly-kills-me/

ha, that was pretty good. rampage looked huge in that video.

[bourahioro]

That WAS funny - good shit, Rampage is a funny motherfucker anyway, but this other cat, saying "never give up" and shit the whole time he's getting thrown around and slapped at like a little kid bugging their uncle - gold, all over.

[bourahioro]

TUF 7 this week kids! What team do you think will win this year? And better yet, who do you think will win as far as the title fight goes? Rampage or Forrest?


I got Rampage all the way.

[yorrick brown]

rampage

[the saw is family]

rampage should win, but i'm not going to ever count forrest out. he's a tough cat and he'll be a hard fight for anyone. i see on sherdog alot of people are already counting him out like they did before he fought shogun, forrest might not be the best fighter but he won't roll over for anyone. that said i have rampage by 3rd round tko.

[chasingbanky]

Forest
over
Rampage

Then Rampage will win the title back, and then go on to beat Chucky L again, while everyone forgets about the Dean of Mean.

[the saw is family]

anyone watch the elite xc/strikeforce event tonight on showtime? pretty solid event. lot's of nice stoppages. joey villasenor vs. ryan jensen was a brutal ko. it was great to see that piece of shit mike kyle get armbarred. gilbert melendez was dominant again. fickett won easy. main event with cung le and frank shamrock was pretty good. nice back and forth stand up war. le was dominant again and wore frank down with kicks, with frank not being able to answer the bell for the fourth rd due to a broken arm suffered at the end of the third rd due to another cung le kick. really good main event.

[chasingbanky]

Only caught the main event, and boy was it fucking amazing. When my dad showed me Cung Le a couple years ago I had no idea he'd be able to make the transition to MMA so smoothly. Motherfucker throws everything and the goddamn kitchen sink at you. Oh you think my back is turned because I missed a kick? WRONG, spinning backfist in YOW DOME! Seriously, he fights like he's in a god damn Van Damme movie and everyone in front of him is a nameless actor you'll never see again.

Frank who? Man did he take his beating like a man. Way to man up and snap your arm into position so you can stick around to give Cung his props. Finally some class out of a usually classless douche.

[funny bunny]

Rampage easy :p.

[yorrick brown]

is there a female reality show?.and gina is a coach/mentor????

[the saw is family]

is there a female reality show?.and gina is a coach/mentor????

not that i am aware of, she was a gladiator on this past season of american gladiators.

[DarkKnight81]

Fight Night Time: here's my picks

Speer over Johnson
Roman over Georgey boy
Guida over Schiavo
Gamburyan over Cox
Aurelio over Roberts
Din Thomas over Josh Neer
Alexander over Irvin
Diaz over Pellengrino
Hamill over Boetsch
Thiago over Karo
The Answer over Gray
Lauzon over Florian....I fucking hate Florian. The guy thinks he's more than he is. He talks shit about a guy that kicked his ass(Sherk), then his bullshit stance at the weigh ins. Fuck this guy, I hope Lauzon knocks his lights out.

[the saw is family]

well the ultimate fight night is tomorrow night get your predictions in.

florian over lauzon by decision

parisyan over alves by decision

boetsch over hamill not sure how but i don't see it going the distance

diaz over pellegrino via second rd sub

alexander over irvin early tko (first two minutes)

edgar over gray by decision

sotiropoulus over mitchyan via sub (choke)

guida over schiavo by tko

gamburyan over cox by sub

thomas over neer in a hard fought decision (hardest fight to call imo)

aurelio over roberts sub (choke)

speer over johnson by decision.

[the saw is family]

all i have to say is nate diaz is the fucking man... war diaz bros!!! first ever pre-finish celebration.

[DarkKnight81]

Gotta love those Diaz boys, that was fucking awesome.

[DarkKnight81]

Fedor vs Sylvia is on. Here's the headline: "Tim Sylvia gets the biggest payout and beatdown of his life...on the same night!"

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=12220

[the saw is family]

Fedor vs Sylvia is on. Here's the headline: "Tim Sylvia gets the biggest payout and beatdown of his life...on the same night!"

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=12220

yeah i just saw that. fedor by armbar rd 2. some other rumored fights for that night are arlovski vs. ben rothwell and josh barnett vs. pedro rizzo, if all those pan out should be a pretty solid event.

[unspoken]

Anybody else catch that YAMMA event tonight? That was quite honestly the most painful card I've ever had the misfortune to watch. Almost enough to make me ashamed to be an MMA fan.

Hopefully they did dismal pay-per-view numbers and lost so much money they won't be able to afford to put on another show.

[the saw is family]

i didn't watch it, i couldn't justify spending $35 on a card full of over the hill fighters when there is an event next weekend. i kept up with play by play on sherdog. i think the one thing that i really took away from the event is that ricco rodriguez is officially done. he will never beat top competition or hold a belt in any legitimate org ever again. obviously he hasn't been the same for quite some time, but this tournament was his death knell. this tournament should have been easily won by him and he folded. anyway yeah from what i've heard it was horrible, but i also heard that they have yamma 2 planned for june with a middleweight tourney and masters fights in female and male divisions.

[the saw is family]

well ufc 83 is this weekend, let's get the predictions in. who's ordering it this weekend, i know i will be.

gsp vs. serra-gsp via ground and pound tko rd 3.

franklin vs. lutter-franklin via dominating unanimous decision.

nate quarry vs. kalib starnes-hard one to call, i'll go quarry by 3rd rd tko.

bisping vs. charles mccarthy-bisping by 2nd rd tko unfortunately.

mac danzing vs. mark bocek-danzig via submission (rear naked choke) rd 2.

joe doerkson vs. jason mcdonald-doerkson by split decision

alan belcher vs. jason day-belcher by tko rd 1.

ed herman vs. demian maia-maia via submission (armbar) rd 2

rich clementi vs. sam stout-clementi via sub (rear naked choke) rd 2

brad morris vs. cain velasquez-velasquez via tko rd 1

kuniyoshi hironoka vs. jonathan goulet-hironoka via ground and pound tko rd 2.

[DarkKnight81]

GSP vs Serra: GSP by UD
Franklin vs Lutter: Franklin by TKO RD 2
Quarry vs Starnes: Quarry by UD
Bisping vs McCarthy: Bisping by TKO RD 3
Danzig vs Bocek: Danzig by TKO RD 1
McDonald vs Dorkson: McDonald by UD
Belcher vs Day: Belcher by TKO RD 2
Herman vs Maia: Maia by Sub RD 3
Clementi vs Stout: Stout by TKO RD 3
Morris vs Velasquez: Velasquez by UD
Hironoka vs Goulet: Goulet by UD

One of the worst cards the UFC has ever put together, hopefully it pans out well.

[DarkKnight81]

For the record, I hope Serra wins but I wouldn't put money on it. I like the guy and I'm sort of tired of GSP's robotic ways. The guy is disrespectful, both of his losses he has considered a fluke and said he will prove his superiority in the second fight. I know he proved it by destroying Hughes two times in a row but I think he'll have a tough time with Serra. Serra's got solid standup and we know he's not going to get submitted. I'm excited for this fight and I hope Matt can pull it off but I think GSP will outpoint him much like he did BJ Penn.

[the saw is family]

For the record, I hope Serra wins but I wouldn't put money on it. I like the guy and I'm sort of tired of GSP's robotic ways. The guy is disrespectful, both of his losses he has considered a fluke and said he will prove his superiority in the second fight. I know he proved it by destroying Hughes two times in a row but I think he'll have a tough time with Serra. Serra's got solid standup and we know he's not going to get submitted. I'm excited for this fight and I hope Matt can pull it off but I think GSP will outpoint him much like he did BJ Penn.

i like gsp alot, don't hate serra but i'm definitely rooting for gsp. i think gsp is gonna use his wrestling alot in the fight. i can see gsp getting multiple takedowns and using alot of side control. i think he'll have serra worn down by the third rd and will eventually pound him out. if serra does win i think we're looking at a chuck/rampage sort of situation where someone just has your number. i just hope it turns out to be a good fight, as this match up is really the only saving grace of this pay per view.

[DarkKnight81]

i like gsp alot, don't hate serra but i'm definitely rooting for gsp. i think gsp is gonna use his wrestling alot in the fight. i can see gsp getting multiple takedowns and using alot of side control. i think he'll have serra worn down by the third rd and will eventually pound him out. if serra does win i think we're looking at a chuck/rampage sort of situation where someone just has your number. i just hope it turns out to be a good fight, as this match up is really the only saving grace of this pay per view.

I think GSP is the superior fighter but I think Serra is just a bad matchup for him, I guess we'll find out tonight. Serra's standup is 1000% better than Hughes so GSP won't be able to wear him out on his feet and soften him up. GSP will have to take him down, overpower him, and perhaps get a TKO with GnP or eak out a decision. I see the latter because Serra is a wizard on the ground. GSP is bigger, faster, stronger, more well rounded but Serra has KO power in both hands and could catch GSP in a submission on the ground. I think GSP will be more cautious and wont get KO'd again but I don't see him finishing Serra. And by the way, I hope Franklin "Quarrys" Lutter into retirement.http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd220/Fighter-Boyz9-17/_ufc-1.gif

[the saw is family]

I think GSP is the superior fighter but I think Serra is just a bad matchup for him, I guess we'll find out tonight. Serra's standup is 1000% better than Hughes so GSP won't be able to wear him out on his feet and soften him up. GSP will have to take him down, overpower him, and perhaps get a TKO with GnP or eak out a decision. I see the latter because Serra is a wizard on the ground. GSP is bigger, faster, stronger, more well rounded but Serra has KO power in both hands and could catch GSP in a submission on the ground. I think GSP will be more cautious and wont get KO'd again but I don't see him finishing Serra. And by the way, I hope Franklin "Quarrys" Lutter into retirement.http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd220/Fighter-Boyz9-17/_ufc-1.gif

i think franklin will put a pretty serious beatdown on lutter, but i think lutter is slick and seasoned enough to survive it and lose a decisive ud.

[the saw is family]

well it's all over, at first i though the stoppage was a bit early but i'm reading now that serra may have verbally tapped, either way serra had nothing for gsp and he's not a top ten welterweight, he never was and he never will be again, he was lucky in the first fight and it was proven tonight. they could fight ten more times and gsp would win them all. nice pick darknight on the franklin/lutter fight. lutter is a disgrace, guy needs to move back up to 205 since he obviously doesn't have the conditioning or training to hang at 185. please don't let kalib starnes fight in the ufc or wec ever again, he was completely embarassing, sickening even. bisping as much as i don't like him looked good, he would lose to franklin, henderson and obviously silva though. danzig showed his toughness, bocek is a tough fight for almost anyone, but mac can hang, he will probably never be champion at 155 but he'll be a tough fight for almost anyone in that weight class. also nice job by florian filling in for rogan, he got too excited a few times, but overall not too bad by kenny.

[DarkKnight81]

I wasn't all that impressed by GSP's performance. I think he was a coward not to at least test out Serra on the feet. I know GSP has better standup so why was he afraid to use it? We knew the guy was bigger and stronger than Serra, I guess he knew that too and just took him down. Crappy fight, crappy finish. I hope at least Serra and Hughes fight now. I think Serra should drop to 155 again, he's only 5'6". Lutter has got to be the biggest piece of shit I've ever seen. He talks all this shit, lays on Rich for a round, then in the second round hangs onto a foot and looks like he's begging for his life. I just wish Rich would have been able to put his lights out. I hate Lutter, I hate his style and I wouldnt care if I never saw him fight again. Kalib Starnes embarrassed himself and Nate Quarry mocking him was the best moment of the night. Bisping looked good even though Charles McCarthy was a gimme fight. I hope Bisping and Rich fight next, that would be one exciting fight. Danzig was over confident, I don't see him being a force in that stacked division.

[the saw is family]

I wasn't all that impressed by GSP's performance. I think he was a coward not to at least test out Serra on the feet. I know GSP has better standup so why was he afraid to use it? We knew the guy was bigger and stronger than Serra, I guess he knew that too and just took him down. Crappy fight, crappy finish. I hope at least Serra and Hughes fight now. I think Serra should drop to 155 again, he's only 5'6". Lutter has got to be the biggest piece of shit I've ever seen. He talks all this shit, lays on Rich for a round, then in the second round hangs onto a foot and looks like he's begging for his life. I just wish Rich would have been able to put his lights out. I hate Lutter, I hate his style and I wouldnt care if I never saw him fight again. Kalib Starnes embarrassed himself and Nate Quarry mocking him was the best moment of the night. Bisping looked good even though Charles McCarthy was a gimme fight. I hope Bisping and Rich fight next, that would be one exciting fight. Danzig was over confident, I don't see him being a force in that stacked division.

i don't think gsp was a coward, he fought a smart fight and used his strengths to pull out the victory, he didn't take the chance of a fluke ko again and pounded serra out, i do agree the stoppage was a touch iffy. i definitely think serra/hughes will be up next. i actually hope rich fights hendo next i think that would be an awesome fight, i'd like to see bisping fight patrick cote.

[the saw is family]

was just reading the sherdog boards and someone posted a link to an article saying chuck is out of ufc 85 due to injury. nothing official yet but it seems legit. most likely there will not be a new opponent for rashad, the fight will be moved back. hopefully they can find a new main event.

[TheHutch23]

Depending on who you listen to, Starnes either asked to be released from his UFC contract or was let go. Starnes himself didn't want to go into details, but Dana White's been quoted as saying that the man should find a new line of work.

On that note, Run Hard: The Kalib Starnes story!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LifrupArheM

[DarkKnight81]

I heard about Kalib and Chuck. Kalib for one deserves to be out of the UFC, whether he quit or got fired the guy made a mockery of the sport during a broadcast fight. I didn't want to jump on the Chuck news until I heard for sure, that would suck if it's true. I would love to see them throw Bisping vs Spider Silva together for the English fans but they'd probably be pissed after he gets KO'd in the first round. I don't see any reason why Big Nog can't fight, he'll have a four month layoff by June. Let Mir fight him instead of McCully.

[DarkKnight81]

Well Chuck is officially out of UFC 85 and his replacement is....(drumroll).....JAMES Irvin!? Wow, I seriously hope that's not the main event. Since it's taking place in the UK they should put it on SpikeTV for free.

[DarkKnight81]

And if anybody has any doubts about Chuck's injury, check this out. Nasty!
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=11489

[DarkKnight81]

Here are some rumored bouts:

Bisping vs Leben @ UFC85 London: Bisping says he's healthy and ready to fight again. This could become the main event.

Florian vs Huerta @ UFC87: Winner likely gets the LW champ whether its Sherk or Penn.

GSP vs Fitch @ UFC 87 or 88: Dana has confirmed Fitch as the number one contender, question is when?

All look great to me. I'm hoping Silva vs Okami is at UFC 87 and then GSP/Fitch at 88. I'd still like to see Nog fight at 85, I dont want to see him take another 7 month layoff.

[the saw is family]

Here are some rumored bouts:

Bisping vs Leben @ UFC85 London: Bisping says he's healthy and ready to fight again. This could become the main event.

Florian vs Huerta @ UFC87: Winner likely gets the LW champ whether its Sherk or Penn.

GSP vs Fitch @ UFC 87 or 88: Dana has confirmed Fitch as the number one contender, question is when?

All look great to me. I'm hoping Silva vs Okami is at UFC 87 and then GSP/Fitch at 88. I'd still like to see Nog fight at 85, I dont want to see him take another 7 month layoff.

bisping/leben could be interesting, leben could get a flash ko but most likely bisping ud, by quickness and gas tank.

florian vs. huerta would be great, i'll take florian by a close ud or a split decision.

gsp/fitch, gsp by pretty much whatever he wants, but most likely a ko or a 2nd or thrid rd gnp stoppage.

[DarkKnight81]

I like Fitch but he was very unimpressive in his last fight. I don't think he'd stand much of a chance against GSP. Fitch is essentially a slightly more athletic Matt Hughes, same lack of standup and well roundedness. GSP would dominate him on the feet and probably out wrestle him too. I see GSP going on a long run, I think he realizes that when he wants to be, he is faster, stronger, and better than anyone in that division.

[the saw is family]

I like Fitch but he was very unimpressive in his last fight. I don't think he'd stand much of a chance against GSP. Fitch is essentially a slightly more athletic Matt Hughes, same lack of standup and well roundedness. GSP would dominate him on the feet and probably out wrestle him too. I see GSP going on a long run, I think he realizes that when he wants to be, he is faster, stronger, and better than anyone in that division.

completely agree with you on gsp. he's the best wrestler in that division and he's never had a history as a wrestler. i like fitch too and i agree with your sentiments on him as well, i would give him more of a chance but he seemed so hesitant and lacked killer instinct in his last fight.

[unspoken]

Although it wasn't great, Fitch's performance against Wilson wasn't that bad either. Anybody who was familiar with Wilson's previous fights in the IFL knew that he was an underrated guy, and that Fitch was favoured more heavily than he should have been because Wilson wasn't that familiar to most of the public. It was a tough fight for Fitch from the get-go. Plus, his original opponent was supposed to be Gono, and when it got changed to Wilson on relatively short notice, the entire gameplan had to be changed since he was now going to face a more striking-oriented fighter instead of a grappling-oriented fighter.

However, I do agree that he won't get by GSP. He doesn't have much in terms of power when it comes to striking and he'll end up on his back just like the rest of them. The announcers hype his jiu jitsu but from what we've seen, it's only effective if he's on top (much like Serra's).

[DarkKnight81]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6160&zoneid=2
They're calling this the main event? Give me a break.

UPDATE: Looks like Bisping vs Leben is official now too
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=EventDetail.FightCard&eid=1109

[the saw is family]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6160&zoneid=2
They're calling this the main event? Give me a break.

UPDATE: Looks like Bisping vs Leben is official now too
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=EventDetail.FightCard&eid=1109

yeah if this stays as a pay per view i'll definitely just watch this one online for free.

[Criminal Rock]

HDnet and Dream/K-1 have recently announced partnership.

Source VIA http://www.hdnetfights.com/

Good fucking news... I love you Mark Cuban...

[DarkKnight81]

Too bad Comcast doesn't get HDNet. I'll never be a fan of Japanese MMA as long as its not on American cable. Out of sight out of mind.

[the saw is family]

Too bad Comcast doesn't get HDNet. I'll never be a fan of Japanese MMA as long as its not on American cable. Out of sight out of mind.

yeah i don't have hdnet either i'll do what i did for the first show and when hero's was still around, just find the fights online. i hope calvancante murders aoki in the rematch.

[Criminal Rock]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6183&zoneid=13

By July, Randy hopes to be free of his oppressive UFC contract which will then allow him to set up a fight with Emelianenko Fedor. Apparently, he's expecting to hear the news by next month.

And It's about fucking time to... the guy deserves it.

[DarkKnight81]

[url]
And It's about fucking time to... the guy deserves it.

I must say I completely disagree. He's ducking Nog, who's lost to Fedor twice. Randy just wants a bigger paycheck than he's getting now.

[Mopar Fanatic]

Guys I don't want to see in the UFC again.

These were taken from the UFC's current roster on their website. I know some of them have already been released or likely aren't coming back. I could do an individual analysis of each fighter, but in general they're probably boring or annoying.

Bonnar Stephan
Burkman Josh
Doerksen Joe
Eilers Justin
Evans Rashad
Gamburyan Manny
Grove Kendall
Gurgel Jorge
Hamill Matt
Herman Ed
Hill Corey
Koscheck Josh
Lister Dean
Lutter Travis
Lytle Chris
MacDonald Jason
Marquardt Nate
McCarthy Charles
Ortiz Tito
Quarry Nate
Sakara Alessio
Salaverry Ivan
Sell Pete
Stevenson Joe
Stout Sam
Wiman Matt

Anybody agree?

[bourahioro]

Some of these guys are good, but even those on this list that I don't like are still gonna be around in the UFC for awhile - I wish to fuck they'd get rid of
Evans Rashad

Grove Kendall
Hamill Matt
Koscheck Josh
Lutter Travis
MacDonald Jason
Ortiz Tito
Quarry Nate
Sakara Alessio
Salaverry Ivan
Stevenson Joe

The rest aren't that bad, or are young and will be staying.

[DarkKnight81]

Are we talking about fighters we want gone just because we hate them or fighters we think should be gone because they suck? Because that's two totally different questions.

Rashad: Hate him but he's not going anywhere because he's undefeated.
Koscheck: Just signed a new contract
Charles McCarthy: Retired
Tito: Gone after UFC 85

I like Stephan Bonnar, the guy always has exciting standup fights and is a tough fight for anybody in that division.

The UFC holds onto or brings back fighters too often. I mean they cut loose that little gangster wannabe Melvin Guillard who made death threats to Rich Clementi. He wins one fight out of the UFC and they resign him?? I've said it before but they need to focus on having the best fighters and not every decent fighter in the world.

[Mopar Fanatic]

Are we talking about fighters we want gone just because we hate them or fighters we think should be gone because they suck? Because that's two totally different questions.

Rashad: Hate him but he's not going anywhere because he's undefeated.
Koscheck: Just signed a new contract
Charles McCarthy: Retired
Tito: Gone after UFC 85

I like Stephan Bonnar, the guy always has exciting standup fights and is a tough fight for anybody in that division.

The UFC holds onto or brings back fighters too often. I mean they cut loose that little gangster wannabe Melvin Guillard who made death threats to Rich Clementi. He wins one fight out of the UFC and they resign him?? I've said it before but they need to focus on having the best fighters and not every decent fighter in the world.

Mainly boring fighters that really aren't marketable but just fill cards. I'm not going to go so far as to say all but I think a Majority of the fighters on the list aren't championship material.

These are my personal picks that should be added

Assuncao, Junior
Bocek, Mark
Cummo, Luke
Dewees, Edwin
From post-season-3 TUF, Anyone
Hardonk, Antoni
Horn, Jeremy
McCully, Justin
Nakamura, Kazuhiro
Neer, Josh
Sanchez, Eddie
Siver, Dennis
Starnes, Kalib

[DarkKnight81]

Kalib Starnes was cut after his last fight. In case you missed it:
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n148/thereal_djJOKeR/810b7e99144aa48cb45ecdc35ed6fa64-1.gif
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i74/Trojnman/hahahaha.gif

[Mopar Fanatic]

Every time I watch that show boating bullshit gif, it's a relief to know that hes been cut. Bullshit like that has no place in the sport. He'll compete in smaller organizations and I'm sure build himself back up, and in the mean time learn to conduct some type of maturity. I can't stand the cock sucker, fuck that ass wipe.

[DarkKnight81]

Kalib Starnes is the one running away, not the one showboating. Nate Quarry's job is safe in the UFC.

[unspoken]

That list on UFC.com is pretty out of date. Some of the guys on it are already gone. Looking at it, here's some that are gone, or in my opinion face the possibility of being gone soon.

Danny Abbadi - already gone

Houston Alexander - came in with a bang but very unimpressive in his last two fights...marketability has decreased, may get one more kick at the can. Gone for sure if he loses that one.

John Alessio - WEC

David Bielkheden - was brought in as a sacrifice to Diego to get back on the winning streak after losing to Koscheck and Fitch. May get one more shot.

Alan Belcher - recently lost a fight he was heavily favoured in to Jason Day, a UFC newcomer. 3-3 in his UFC career, only impressive win being over Jorge Santiago. Another loss may send him packing

Mark Bocek - 1-2 in the UFC with losses to Edgar and Danzig. Win was an unimpressive, boring decision against Doug Evans, who was dropped immediately following their fight.

Tim Boetsch - Probably will get another shot for taking both his UFC fights on short notice, but another poor performance like the one against Hamill and he's done.

Kyle Bradley - unimpressive in his loss to Chris Lytle. Likely done.

Steve Bruno - fighting Chris Wilson on UFC 86 card. Loss and he's likely done.

Josh Burkman - this one is a maybe. He's 5-3, but every time he's been given a step up in competition, he's lost (Fitch, Karo, and Swick). Perhaps a move to the WEC is in store.

Roan Carneiro - mixed results so far in his UFC career. Fighting Ryo Chonan at UFC 85. Loser is likely done.

Ryo Chonan - see above.

Luke Cummo - 3 wins over guys who are no longer with the UFC. Recently lost a relatively boring decision to Luigi Fioravanti. May get one last shot.

Joe Doerksen - released after loss at UFC 83.

Tomas Drwal - released

Justin Eilers - released a long time ago

Terry Etim - fighting Rich Clementi at UFC 84. Likely gone with a loss.

Spencer Fisher - this is a maybe. He's lost 2 of his last 3, but his 2nd fight against Stout was exciting as hell. He's fighting Jeremy Stephens on the TUF 7 Finale. Should be an exciting stand-up war, and they'll keep him around even if he loses, as long as it's exciting.

Kendall Grove - Yes he's a TUF winner, but he's been KO'd in the first round in his last two fights against guys he was supposed to beat. Fighting Evan Tanner on TUF 7 Finale. Loser is likely gone.

Melvin Guillard - left temporarily to get a win on a smaller show. Lost 2 straight in the UFC. Upcoming fight against Dennis Siver, who's 1-2 in the UFC. Loser likely gone (at least temporarily in Guillard's case).

Jorge Gurgel - tough one to call. It's a maybe because all his fights are boring decisions. Another boring fight against Cole Miller at UFC 86 could put him at risk. However, letting him go could piss off Rich Franklin.

Antoni Hardonk - 2-2 with 2 wins over cans, a loss to a can, and a quick submission loss to Mir. Needs to work on takedown defense and submissions (you'd figure he'd be a lot better at them, considering he's Rickson's student). A loss at UFC 85 to Neil Wain could send him out.

Dustin Hazellet - another maybe, also has ties to Gurgel/Franklin. 3-2 overall in the UFC, recently lost to Koscheck.

Ed Herman - 3-3 overall, 2 wins over guys with ZERO ground game and one over a guy who came in out of shape because he took the fight on 2 weeks notice. Needs to learn to defend against a triangle or it's back to the small shows.

Kuniyoshi Hironaka - likely done. He's 1-3 in the UFC with losses to Fitch, Alves and Goulet. Only win was over Forrest Petz.

Jeremy Horn - lost to Marquardt in his return. A loss to Lister at TUF 7 Finale puts him out too until they need a 185 pounder on short notice.

Alex Karalexis - WEC

Jason Lambert - 1-2 in his last 3, and the one win he was on the brink of losing to Babalu in the first round, and basically hit his one shot the whole fight because of a stupid move by Babalu. On the edge. Fighting Luis Cane at 85, with whoever loses likely being shown the door.

James Lee - got injured and lost to Sakara in his debut. Another loss puts him out

Justin Levens - Gone a long time ago, couldn't even cut it in the IFL, going 0-3. Won't be back anytime soon.

Jess Liaudin - 2-1, two wins over cans and a quick KO loss to Marcus Davis. Weak chin to boot. Fighting Paul Taylor at UFC 85, loser likely done.

Dean Lister - another maybe. Although he's 3-1, his fights have been terribly boring.

Travis Lutter - released after UFC 83.

Charles McCarthy - retired after UFC 83.

Tamdan McCrory - on the edge. Was getting dominated by Spratt until Spratt got stupid and pretty much said "here Tamdan, put me in a triangle." Then lost to Gono. His fights have been exciting but winning is important as well. He's on hiatus right now because he's finishing college and supposedly involved with some reality TV show.

Justin McCully - His only UFC fight was a boring ass decision against Hardonk, a guy he should have had ZERO trouble finishing on the ground. Was supposed to fight Mir at 86 but the fight has been pulled without explanation. Also may get the boot out of spite since he's part of Tito's camp.

Drew McFedries - 2-2 with a win over a can who's now gone and Sakara, who was winning the fight, then quit for no reason at all. Got choked out by Kampmann and KO'd by Cote in his last fight, another loss likely puts him out.

Antonio Mendes - maybe. Being brought in as a sacrifice to Thiago Silva at UFC 84.

Cole Miller - maybe. He's a name and is 2-1 so far, but he lost his last one. His wins are against Andy "definition of a can" Wang and Leonard Garcia, who's tough but truly is a 145 pounder and was giving up way too much size. On the edge. Loss to Gurgel at UFC 86 may put him out.

Nate Mohr - possibly already gone, if not, close to it. The guy has no ground game at all, and another quick sub loss will put him out.

Sammy Morgan - Gone for a long time. Recently lost to Semtex and Cung Le before that.

Brad Morris - probably gone. Way too undersized to do anything at heavyweight, and LHW is jam packed already. Was brought in as a sacrifice to the also-debuting Cain Velasquez at UFC 83. Velasquez is a guy with great credentials from college wrestling and they want to market him.

Kazuhiro Nakamura - an unimpressive debut against Machida is his only UFC fight. A loss to Sokoudjou at UFC 84 will put him out for sure. May want out anyways to go to DREAM so he can fight in Japan.

Keita Nakamura - likely done. 0-3 in the UFC, losing to Larson, Fickett, and Emerson.

Rousimar Palhares - we'll see how he does against Salaverry before making any judgements.

Jens Pulver - WEC, fighting Urijah Faber for the WEC 145 pound title on June 1.

Goran Reljic - nice BJJ credentials, but being brought in as a (hopeful) easy win for Wilson Gouveia.

Alvin Robinson - may be gone already, but is 1-2 with the win being a decision over Gurgel. The two losses he got dominated and quickly finished by Florain and Nate Diaz.

Jared Rollins (J-rock) - hell of a fight against War Machine on the TUF 6 finale, but as is the case with other guys, winning is important too. Losing to Ben Saunders at UFC 86 could put him out.

Alessio Sakara - such a hit-and-miss fighter. Needs to fix his chin and put together a win streak starting in his next fight or he's done.

Eric Schafer - already gone.

Samy Schiavo - brought in to put Guida back on the winning path. Likely gone, maybe gets one more shot.

Pete Sell - Hopefully gone. He's 1-4 career in the UFC, and the win is against Baroni, who was killing him for the 1st 2 rounds and then listened to some stupid advice from his corner and got choked in the 3rd. His last 3 fights have all been losses.

Dan Severn - hasn't fought in the UFC for 7 and a half years. Only on the list because he's a hall of famer (along with Royce and Shamrock, Randy and Coleman are still considered active)

Ken Shamrock - on the list because he's a hall of famer, but done with the UFC. Actually, he's suing them right now.

Dennis Siver - so far he's 1-2 in the UFC, a loss to Guillard at UFC 86 might send him out.

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou - looked terrible against Machida. A loss to Nakamura could put him out (can't live off the Lil Nog and Arona wins forever)

Chael Sonnen - WEC. Fighting Filho for the 185 pound title, possibly on the June 1 show (is Filho out of rehab yet?)

Sam Stout - Needs to beat someone of relevance, or get sent back to TKO where he can be a star and hence consistently get matched up with opponents with a favorable style to his.

Mike Swick - Not a cut, but possibly a move to the WEC... why? Because he's now at 170, and he won't fight Koscheck or Fitch (all 3 train at AKA). He's clearly 3rd in that pecking order when it comes to title contention.

Jason Tan - Getting his last shot at UFC 85 against Dong Hyun-Kim, who's been an ass-kicking machine in DEEP and Spirit MC (including an extremely impressive KO win over Hidehiko Hasegawa). Tan loses and he's done.

Evan Tanner - extremely unimpressive loss to Okami. A loss to Kendall Grove at TUF 7 could send him packing or maybe on his way to the WEC.

Paul Taylor - every fight of his has been exciting, but he's 1-2 and has lost 2 straight. A loss at UFC 85 to Jess Liaudin likely sees him get released.

Gleison Tibau - already released if I remember correctly.

Jamie Varner - WEC. Beat Rob McCullough for the WEC Lightweight Championship on Valentine's Day in a fight that, in my opinion, is the 2008 Fight Of The Year so far.

Christian Wellisch - 2-1 with wins over two no-namers no longer with the organization, and a KO loss to Kongo. Fighting Shane Carwin at UFC 84, a highly touted prospect. Wellisch could be gone with a loss here.

Neil Wain - I've heard this guy has very limited skills. Debuting against Hardonk at UFC 85, a loss and he might be out right away.

Chris Wilson - like the guy a lot, impressive debut against Fitch despite the loss. However, as said about other guys, winning is important and if he loses to Bruno at 86, he'll be 0-2 and likely on his way out (or maybe to the WEC).

Rob Yundt - will get another shot because he stepped up to fight Ricardo Almeida on extremely short notice, but a loss there and he could be sent back to his winning ways of beating cans in Alaska.

[Criminal Rock]

I must say I completely disagree. He's ducking Nog, who's lost to Fedor twice. Randy just wants a bigger paycheck than he's getting now.

Randy wasn't happy with the UFC so he gave up his belt and made the decision to leave the company, like any sane person would in his position. Doesn't matter if it's about money, doesn't matter at all. He wasn't happy, so he left. I support the guy 100%.

And he's not "ducking" Nog. That's just a silly term people on the internet like to use to justify their hate on fighters. The fact is, he wants to fight Fedor... the guy who, like you said, beat Nog TWICE. The BEST fucking heavyweight in the world. I'm pretty sure that totally negates any, quote/unquote, "ducking" on Randy's part.

He want's to fight the best. And he deserves to be released of his contract with the UFC so he can before he retires from the sport.

[DarkKnight81]

So you justify signing a contract and just being let out of it whenever you feel like? Randy Couture is 16-8, where does he get off thinking he's "the one" to fight Fedor. I'm not a fighter but I have no problem calling Randy a prick. He doesn't want to fight Nog because he would lose to him, therefore making it less necessary for him to fight Fedor for the paycheck. He'll fight Fedor, get annihilated, and get his money. Good for him for not living up to his obligations and turning on the company that has made him a star.

[unspoken]

Randy wasn't happy with the UFC so he gave up his belt and made the decision to leave the company, like any sane person would in his position. Doesn't matter if it's about money, doesn't matter at all. He wasn't happy, so he left. I support the guy 100%.

And he's not "ducking" Nog. That's just a silly term people on the internet like to use to justify their hate on fighters. The fact is, he wants to fight Fedor... the guy who, like you said, beat Nog TWICE. The BEST fucking heavyweight in the world. I'm pretty sure that totally negates any, quote/unquote, "ducking" on Randy's part.

He want's to fight the best. And he deserves to be released of his contract with the UFC so he can before he retires from the sport.


Randy was proven wrong by Zuffa through the public release of contracts, figures, and cancelled checks. He also has nobody to blame but himself since he negotiated his contract himself.

I agree that he wants to fight the best, but there's no shame in fighting Nog, who is unquestionably #2 right now. For the record, I think he'd beat Nog.

Also, he doesn't deserve to be let out of his contract. In fact, if anything is deserved, it's the UFC's right to protect their investment, considering everything the've done for him, such as:

-Randy still had existing fights left on his old contract when he retired after losing to Chuck. The UFC renogiated his contract out of good faith, even though they were under no obligation to do so.

-They gave him an immediate heavyweight title shot, which he didn't earn whatsoever. He was an established name (thanks to them) that sold a fight.

-Him and his wife complained that the UFC never pushed and marketed Randy, which is complete bullshit. 15 of his 18 UFC fights were main events, he was given the slot to coach TUF 1, which propelled both him, Chuck and the UFC to star status, and he was given more title shots than anyone in the history of the UFC.


Bottom line, he signed a contract, he should live up to it. Hell, without the lawsuit and the problems he caused, he could have had the two existing fights done with by now and have been free to go fight Fedor in whatever org he wants.

[Criminal Rock]

The only obligation Randy has to the UFC had already been met by the years of work and blood he's put into the company. If anything, the UFC owes Randy this fight with Fedor, and with one, or a few, fights left on his contract they couldn't make it happen.

And what do you mean only 16-8? He was the Heavyweight Champion of the UFC when he left. He had every right to call out Fedor.

I still don't understand the logic behind Randy not wanting to fight Nog either... He wants to fight Fedor, a guy BETTER than Nog. Perhaps it's not about him "losing" the fight but rather keeping his personal priorities over the UFC's? Just maybe.

And for the record, I think Randy has a good chance against the dude, if not a better one than he does with Fedor.

The fact is Couture and friends have stated over and again that him leaving the UFC wasn't entirely over money, that it was a very small part of the bigger picture. I'm pretty sure he makes a shitload of bank outside the UFC with other organizations and personal projects. Perhaps more even than what the UFC offers. I can't imagine this solely being over money.

And I agree that it would've been easier for everyone if Randy were to just fight Nog and get it over with. I'm not entirely sure why he didn't do that. It seems he'd rather wait his contract out and fight Fedor later on this year.

It's the fight he wants. It's the fight I want to watch. What more can I say?

[DarkKnight81]

The guy signed a contract with the UFC. Nobody forced his hand. Be a man and live it out. I'm not saying I don't want to see Randy fight Fedor but what makes him think that he's so great that he won't fight anything less than Fedor? The fact is he could have and should have fought Nogeuira in February, which means he would be out of his contract and could be fighting Fedor in June instead of Timmy. And what right does he have to sue the UFC? Explain that to me. He picked up a pen and signed a legal paper saying he will fight for the UFC 3 times in 18 months for a certain amount of money. Of course the UFC isn't going to let him go fight in a different organization. If Randy would have just held out it would be a different situation but the guy is a grade A idiot for trying to sue the UFC when he signed a legal document.

[Criminal Rock]

I guess we're looking at the issue from different perspectives. I'm looking at it from a fighters standpoint, where as you're looking at it from a business standpoint. So i'm pretty sure we're not ever going to see eye to eye on this issue. :p

I get it though, Randy should just live out his contract and then go and do whatever afterwords. That's probably the easiest thing for him to do. And to be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing this happen. Couture vs Nog would be an exciting fight, for sure.

But that's not what Randy wants, to him it's not about the easy way out... he doesn't want anything to do with the UFC anymore, and because of that the UFC probably shouldn't want anything to do with Randy. They won't lose any money if he goes to fight in other orgs, they can always replace a lost fighter (which they already have).

And Randy wasn't the first to file suet, it was the UFC. Randy legally had the choice to opt out from his contract and wait till it expired without any further obligations to the company, but the UFC got butt-hurt and decided to take action against him claiming he must fight the last two fights before he can move on. Full stop.

That's the dispute.

Randy claims he can walk in July, whereas the UFC doesn't think ha can, and they decided to sue him over it. And to clarify, Randy technically didn't sue the UFC back in February. Mark Cuban filed lawsuit against the UFC for contract clarification on behalf of Randy.

But I stress, I'm for the fighter here. If Randy doesn't want to fight for the UFC, then god-dammit, let him wait out the contract so he can move on. Don't take the piss and try to fuck over a guy because he doesn't like the way you're running the company.

[DarkKnight81]

Agree to disagree. I hope he gets his ass kicked.

[Criminal Rock]

Agree to disagree.

For sure, man. For sure...

I hope he gets his ass kicked.

hahaha... that's funny.:p

[DarkKnight81]

Dammit, Chris Leben got tossed in jail for violating his probation and is out of the fight against Bisping at UFC85. I was really looking forward to that fight, Jason Day is the replacement.

[unspoken]

Anybody else stay up late to watch DREAM 3? Alvarez/Hansen is a must see. Diaz/Inoue and Uno/Ishida were also very good.

[Salieri]

Anybody else stay up late to watch DREAM 3? Alvarez/Hansen is a must see. Diaz/Inoue and Uno/Ishida were also very good.

I stayed up through the first 4 fights. I always enjoy watching Jason Miller fight (and actually felt bad for his opponent. That was a brutal beating.) The other two fights with Nakamura and Yamazaki were actually really good. I'll watch the rest of the fights today.

[the saw is family]

just got done watching most of the fights. really solid card, i'd say it was the best of the 3 dream has done so far. alvarez/hansen is fight of the year so far in my opinion. seeing nick diaz get a much needed win was nice, mayhem looked good. was hoping ishida would defeat uno but that was a solid win for caol. dream is a sold org so far, can't wait to see diaz fight sakurai for the title now.

[DarkKnight81]

I wish Nick Diaz and Mayhem were still in the UFC.

[the saw is family]

I wish Nick Diaz and Mayhem were still in the UFC.

yeah so do i, i'm glad they are able to get fights though. if you wanna see the fights go to dailymotion.com and put dream 3 in the search

[DarkKnight81]

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=1190

Nog and Mir are the coaches for TUF8. While I like both of these guys and would love to see this fight, I don't like thid for a few reasons:

1. Nog won't be defending the title until at least December now, another 8+ month hiatus.

2. Mir hasn't exactly proven himself as the number one contender and won't be fighting in July anymore

[Van Buuren]

Is anyone going to watch Fedor fight Silvia? I think it is happening in June?

[the saw is family]

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=1190

Nog and Mir are the coaches for TUF8. While I like both of these guys and would love to see this fight, I don't like thid for a few reasons:

1. Nog won't be defending the title until at least December now, another 8+ month hiatus.

2. Mir hasn't exactly proven himself as the number one contender and won't be fighting in July anymore

yeah i hate to see the title held up for so long as well, i honestly think nog might need these long layoffs though, he's been through so many wars and taken beatings in many of those fights i think he may need the longer time away.

on another note the first affliction card is stacked and on paper is most likely the best card of the year (ufc 84 is pretty damn good too)

affliction card
* Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia
* Josh Barnett vs Pedro Rizzo
* Ben Rothwell vs Andre Arlovski
* Aleksander Emelianenko vs Paul Buentello
* Matt Lindland vs Fabio Negao
* Renato Sobral vs Mike Whitehead
* Savant Young vs Mark Hominick
* Brett Cooper vs Mike Pyle
* Ray Lamaza vs Justin Levens
* JJ Ambrose vs Patrick Speight

can't wait for that, will be ordering the ppv for sure.

[Van Buuren]

yeah i hate to see the title held up for so long as well, i honestly think nog might need these long layoffs though, he's been through so many wars and taken beatings in many of those fights i think he may need the longer time away.

on another note the first affliction card is stacked and on paper is most likely the best card of the year (ufc 84 is pretty damn good too)

affliction card
* Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia
* Josh Barnett vs Pedro Rizzo
* Ben Rothwell vs Andre Arlovski
* Aleksander Emelianenko vs Paul Buentello
* Matt Lindland vs Fabio Negao
* Renato Sobral vs Mike Whitehead
* Savant Young vs Mark Hominick
* Brett Cooper vs Mike Pyle
* Ray Lamaza vs Justin Levens
* JJ Ambrose vs Patrick Speight

can't wait for that, will be ordering the ppv for sure.

When Is the Fedor, Silvia fight? I will be in Vegas when UFC 84 is on, but hopefully I can catch most of it before I hit the club.

[the saw is family]

When Is the Fedor, Silvia fight? I will be in Vegas when UFC 84 is on, but hopefully I can catch most of it before I hit the club.

fedor/sylvia fight is july 19th.

[DarkKnight81]

I just thought about it, Frank Mir never lost the heavyweight title and Nog is the interim champ so what better way to crown an undisputed champion. But this fight should be in August, not December.

[unspoken]

By putting Mir and Nog as coaches, they are really selling themselves short on main events/title fights. Each month has a PPV, and September may have 2 (or one PPV and one big event free on Spike from England).

July - Forrest vs. Rampage
Aug - A. Silva defends (likely against Okami)
Sept - GSP vs. Fitch, ???
Oct - Hope that Rampage/Forrest winner isn't injured so he can fight again on this card (opponent unknown unless Machida beats Tito), or a really quick turnaround for Anderson Silva (not likely)
Nov - Sherk/Penn winner vs. Florian/Huerta winner
Dec - Mir vs. Nog


There's a lot of "hopefullys" in the scenarios once it comes to Oct and Nov.

[DarkKnight81]

I've always said there should be a title fight on every PPV. There are 5 weight divisions with 5 champions. That gives them 4-5 months in between fights.

[bourahioro]

I've always said there should be a title fight on every PPV. There are 5 weight divisions with 5 champions. That gives them 4-5 months in between fights.

Agreed - If 4 - 5 months between fights isn't long enough to recover and train, then maybe some of these fighters should rethink their vocation.

[DarkKnight81]

Injuries are acceptable, shit happens. But this TUF thing is really starting to piss me off. The show has gotten stale, it's the same damn thing every season. And now apparently with every season it means we have to wait 10 months for a title fight. It's fucking bullshit, there are plenty of good fighters out there that can be coaches.

[unspoken]

I've always said there should be a title fight on every PPV. There are 5 weight divisions with 5 champions. That gives them 4-5 months in between fights.

I agree. But my idea would be to bring in 145 to the UFC, and maybe 135 too. Some shows could have multiple title defenses on it, something that hasn't happened in the UFC in quite some time (If I remember correctly, 65 was the last one... Sylvia/Monson and Hughes/GSP 2).

It could work... I'm sure casual fans would really dig the fights of guys like Urijah Faber and Miguel Torres.

[DarkKnight81]

I would like Faber in the UFC as well but really, all the top 145 fighters are from Japan and fight in either Dream or WVR. I don't think the UFC will start a new weight class as long as they know for a fact they won't be able to get the best fighters. Plus if they pulled Faber from the WEC they'd be taking their best fighter.

[the saw is family]

I agree. But my idea would be to bring in 145 to the UFC, and maybe 135 too. Some shows could have multiple title defenses on it, something that hasn't happened in the UFC in quite some time (If I remember correctly, 65 was the last one... Sylvia/Monson and Hughes/GSP 2).

It could work... I'm sure casual fans would really dig the fights of guys like Urijah Faber and Miguel Torres.

i don't think the ufc will be bringing in any new weight classes any time soon if ever. zuffa really wants to develop the WEC as it's own brand and as a showcase for the lighter weights. also ufc 73 was the last card with multiple title fights with sherk/franca and silva/marquardt. tuf is getting stale, this season is the absolute worst there is not one fighter on the show who is a standout or will make any kind of waves in the ufc. the heavyweight division in the ufc is just an absolute disaster right now, it's a shame really considering just a year ago it was stacked.

[unspoken]

i don't think the ufc will be bringing in any new weight classes any time soon if ever. zuffa really wants to develop the WEC as it's own brand and as a showcase for the lighter weights. also ufc 73 was the last card with multiple title fights with sherk/franca and silva/marquardt. tuf is getting stale, this season is the absolute worst there is not one fighter on the show who is a standout or will make any kind of waves in the ufc. the heavyweight division in the ufc is just an absolute disaster right now, it's a shame really considering just a year ago it was stacked.

I don't know about the whole WEC thing. Maybe they do want it to be a strong brand, but it hasn't been drawing the numbers (both TV ratings and live gates, at least in Vegas) that they were expecting. I have heard that they are planning on folding the 205 and 185 divisions of the WEC. If they could develop enough interest in 145 and 135 guys that would help them sell PPV's (which I think Faber and Torres are both capable of), I have not a doubt that they would bring them into the UFC.

Also, there is one guy from TUF this year who could make a splash... CB Dollaway. I'm not saying he's ready to step in and face Anderson Silva immediately, but he is a very good prospect. Also, Amir could be very good with a year or two of ground training under his belt.

[the saw is family]

I don't know about the whole WEC thing. Maybe they do want it to be a strong brand, but it hasn't been drawing the numbers (both TV ratings and live gates, at least in Vegas) that they were expecting. I have heard that they are planning on folding the 205 and 185 divisions of the WEC. If they could develop enough interest in 145 and 135 guys that would help them sell PPV's (which I think Faber and Torres are both capable of), I have not a doubt that they would bring them into the UFC.

Also, there is one guy from TUF this year who could make a splash... CB Dollaway. I'm not saying he's ready to step in and face Anderson Silva immediately, but he is a very good prospect. Also, Amir could be very good with a year or two of ground training under his belt.


as for the WEC i don't really know what zuffa's expectations are for it financially. i know not every cable provider has versus (mine does thankfully) and when they have las vegas shows they are usually at the joint which is small venue so the gate can't be too much to begin with. what i'm kinda hoping for is that the WEC will become like what bushido was for pride.

I almost forgot about CB he does look pretty good, as for amir i think he needs a ton of work. his stand up looks pretty crisp and that was a good win last night but he has zero ground game, I don't think his standup is good enough to make up for his deficiencies on the ground.

[DarkKnight81]

I wouldn't care if Zuffa folded WEC, took its best fighters, put them in the UFC, and released all the others. Make Faber fight at 155.

TUF is horrible this season. Aside from Rampage's occasional antics it's unwatchable. We've seen everything we can see on this show. The fights are sloppy and the fighters are either boring or annoying. The first four seasons were awesome, the last 3 have sucked.

[chasingbanky]

I think this is one of my favorite TUF seasons, and WEC is pretty sweet. I like being able to catch random fights on there, plus Mir's commentary is smooth.

[the saw is family]

I wouldn't care if Zuffa folded WEC, took its best fighters, put them in the UFC, and released all the others. Make Faber fight at 155.

TUF is horrible this season. Aside from Rampage's occasional antics it's unwatchable. We've seen everything we can see on this show. The fights are sloppy and the fighters are either boring or annoying. The first four seasons were awesome, the last 3 have sucked.

I don't think there's anyway that zuffa will fold WEC. as for faber i've been reading that he's considering a cut to 135, he's just not big enough to fight at 155. faber/torres would be insane.

[unspoken]

I don't think there's anyway that zuffa will fold WEC. as for faber i've been reading that he's considering a cut to 135, he's just not big enough to fight at 155. faber/torres would be insane.

I'd love to see that fight, even if it was at a catch weight (140 maybe). I don't know if Faber should go to 135, that would be a pretty steep cut and could definitely affect his performance though. But you are right about him being at 155, he's not big enough. Anybody who's seen his one career loss (to Tyson Griffin) at 155 knows what I mean.

[unspoken]

TUF is horrible this season. Aside from Rampage's occasional antics it's unwatchable. We've seen everything we can see on this show. The fights are sloppy and the fighters are either boring or annoying. The first four seasons were awesome, the last 3 have sucked.

I think TUF is pretty much a no-win situation for the UFC with respect to the hardcore audience.

How many seasons of TUF now have we gone through, where the hardcore audience was all pissy because it's too much drama at the house and not enough training/fighting? So now, they get a season with virtually no house/drama, and they complain about it even more.

Now, they can't control that the fights have been somewhat weak, even with trying to control who got into the house by making them fight their way in. It's a case of bad matchups and still weeding out the top dogs.

Also, many are pissed because they believe that the quality of competitors has gone down from season-to-season. I can actually agree with this to an extent. However, it's important to note a couple things:

1) The only season that the UFC had full control over casting in was Season 1.
2) With orgs like Elite XC, IFL, Strikeforce, HDNet Fights, etc. coming along, the pool of up-and-comers who can be groomed into stars is becoming more and more thin, since many of them are signing with these orgs for a quick buck instead of waiting it out for the big dog to come knocking.

[DarkKnight81]

Alright boys and girls, UFC is this Saturday and it's time to put in your predictions. My first prediction...one badass PPV!

Penn vs Sherk: Penn via RNC rd3
Wand Silva vs Jardine: Silva via KO rd 2
Ortiz vs Machida: Machida via UD
Gouveia vs Reljic: Gouveia via KO rd 1
Thiago Silva vs Mendes: Silva via KO rd 1
Salaverry vs Palhares: Palhares via UD
Sokoudjou vs Nakamura: Nak via UD (Team Quest has been sucking lately)
Clementi vs Etim: Clementia via RNC rd 2
Koppenhaver vs Yoshida: Yoshida via UD
Tan vs Kim: Kim via Triangle RD2
Wellisch vs Carwin: Wellisch via KO rd 3

My question to the UFC is what if Machida, Jardine, and Thiago Silva ALL lose. Who's the 205 contender?

[KingofKings2525]

I'll be in Vegas for UFC 84 this weekend. Going to be a fucking blast!

[the saw is family]

penn over sherk via rear naked choke rnd 2.

silva over jardine via tko rd 3.

gouveia over relijic via ko rd 2

machida over ortiz via ud

silva over mendes via tko rnd 1

palhares over salaverry via ud

soukoudjou over nakamura via ko rnd 1

clementi over etim via rear naked choke rnd 2

yoshida over koppenhaver via tko rnd 3

tan over kim via armbar rnd 2

carwin over wellisch via ud

[the saw is family]

Alright boys and girls, UFC is this Saturday and it's time to put in your predictions. My first prediction...one badass PPV!

Penn vs Sherk: Penn via RNC rd3
Wand Silva vs Jardine: Silva via KO rd 2
Ortiz vs Machida: Machida via UD
Gouveia vs Reljic: Gouveia via KO rd 1
Thiago Silva vs Mendes: Silva via KO rd 1
Salaverry vs Palhares: Palhares via UD
Sokoudjou vs Nakamura: Nak via UD (Team Quest has been sucking lately)
Clementi vs Etim: Clementia via RNC rd 2
Koppenhaver vs Yoshida: Yoshida via UD
Tan vs Kim: Kim via Triangle RD2
Wellisch vs Carwin: Wellisch via KO rd 3

My question to the UFC is what if Machida, Jardine, and Thiago Silva ALL lose. Who's the 205 contender?


rashad probably if he beats irvin.

[DarkKnight81]

F that garbage. I hope Machida wins and Jardine loses giving Lyoto the next title shot. But Dana does love Rashart so you never know.

[Salieri]

Penn vs Sherk: Penn via sub
Wand Silva vs Jardine: I hope to god that Silva wins, but Jardine isn't a good matchup for him. Prove me wrong please Wandy!
Ortiz vs Machida: Machida via UD
Gouveia vs Reljic: Gouveia via TKO
Thiago Silva vs Mendes: Silva via TKO
Salaverry vs Palhares: Palhares via sub
Sokoudjou vs Nakamura: Sokoudjou via KO
Clementi vs Etim: Clementi via UD
Koppenhaver vs Yoshida: Koppenhaver via TKO
Tan vs Kim: Kim via sub
Wellisch vs Carwin: Wellisch via sub

[the saw is family]

F that garbage. I hope Machida wins and Jardine loses giving Lyoto the next title shot. But Dana does love Rashart so you never know.

that's what i'm hoping for to, machida deserves his shot.

[unspoken]

rashad probably if he beats irvin.

Irvin's out with a broken foot. Rashad is fighting Luis Cane now.

And I really wouldn't doubt that by some chance that Machida, Jardine, and Thiago all lose, that the next title shot goes to Chuck. It's not just about who's deserving, but who can put asses in the seats, and nobody does that better than Chuck. Hell, he might even get it if just Machida and Jardine lose, Silva isn't a big name and his biggest win so far is over Houston Alexander. That's not saying much.

[DarkKnight81]

Wow, that fight is just cursed. Shogun's torn acl, Chuck's torn hamstring, and now a broken foot for Irvin. Rashad better watch his step.

[unspoken]

They changed it back now. Originally ufc.com said that Cane was stepping in for Irvin, but now Cane is going back to his originally scheduled opponent (Jason Lambert) and Rashad is off the card.

What's even worse was that he was supposed to fight this Saturday against Thiago Silva. Then Shogun got hurt and couldn't fight Chuck, so he took that fight instead, and now he's not getting a fight at all.

[DarkKnight81]

Rashad is off the card.


Not the least bit dissapointing.

[the saw is family]

i really hope they make this card free they'd have to be nuts to try and market it as a pay per view. well i just went to the ufc website and it is going to be a pay per view guess i'll catch this one for free online.

[Salieri]

i really hope they make this card free they'd have to be nuts to try and market it as a pay per view. well i just went to the ufc website and it is going to be a pay per view guess i'll catch this one for free online.

Eh? I think this is one of the better cards they've had.

[the saw is family]

Eh? I think this is one of the better cards they've had.

ufc 85? really. there's some decent match ups on there but for the most part it's not worth paying for imo. hughes/silva for me i could care less i dislike hughes and am neutral on silva he's good but doesn't excite me that much. the swick davis match-up is alright but once again not worth paying for. vera/werdum should be a good fight. bisping/day not a fan of either. marquardt/leites neither one is that exciting to watch for the most part, it's not the worst card they've had but for me the price isn't right. especially with the affliction card coming up in july.

[unspoken]

ufc 85? really. there's some decent match ups on there but for the most part it's not worth paying for imo. hughes/silva for me i could care less i dislike hughes and am neutral on silva he's good but doesn't excite me that much. the swick davis match-up is alright but once again not worth paying for. vera/werdum should be a good fight. bisping/day not a fan of either. marquardt/leites neither one is that exciting to watch for the most part, it's not the worst card they've had but for me the price isn't right. especially with the affliction card coming up in july.

Point form:

-This card is a PPV.

-Hughes is not fighting Silva, he's fighting Alves.

-Don't sleep on Bisping/Day. Bisping's weakest part of his game is his wrestling and takedown defense. I've seen Day fight in the locals many times and his biggest strength is his takedowns, GnP, and jiu-jitsu. This fight could be a lot more competitive than it seems on paper.

-Marquardt/Leites, I'm mixed on. Leites has some really slick JJ but Marquardt could neutralize that with wrestling and turn it into a lay and pray-fest. We'll see how it plays out.

[DarkKnight81]

UFC 85 looks like the worst PPV since Novembers "Validation," maybe worse. There is not one intriguing fight. Shogun vs Liddell and Bisping vs Leben both looked promising but both have been scrapped so were left with a shell of the man formerly known as Matt Hughes against Thiago Alves. Sadly I think the MMA game has left Hughes in the dust and we could possibly see Alves bury him further. But maybe he'll prove me wrong. This is the type of card that could turn out to be great but on paper it looks like garbage. I'll watch it at the bar for free just in case.

[Mopar Fanatic]

UFC 85 looks like the worst PPV since Novembers "Validation," maybe worse. There is not one intriguing fight. Shogun vs Liddell and Bisping vs Leben both looked promising but both have been scrapped so were left with a shell of the man formerly known as Matt Hughes against Thiago Alves. Sadly I think the MMA game has left Hughes in the dust and we could possibly see Alves bury him further. But maybe he'll prove me wrong. This is the type of card that could turn out to be great but on paper it looks like garbage. I'll watch it at the bar for free just in case.

Touche'

at this point, can this card be considered anything besides bad?

Highly debatable right now whether or not it's even worth going to the sport bar to see werdum/vera and chonan.

[the saw is family]

Point form:

-This card is a PPV.

-Hughes is not fighting Silva, he's fighting Alves.

-Don't sleep on Bisping/Day. Bisping's weakest part of his game is his wrestling and takedown defense. I've seen Day fight in the locals many times and his biggest strength is his takedowns, GnP, and jiu-jitsu. This fight could be a lot more competitive than it seems on paper.

-Marquardt/Leites, I'm mixed on. Leites has some really slick JJ but Marquardt could neutralize that with wrestling and turn it into a lay and pray-fest. We'll see how it plays out.

yeah i got alves and silva mixed up, i honestly think hughes will win this with his wrestling and ground control. day is solid as he proved in his last fight, but i think bisping is gonna be able to handle him. i do think that leites/marquardt will just turn into an lnp situation. well fuck 85 for now anyway 84 is a few days away and i can't wait for that card.

[unspoken]

Touche'

at this point, can this card be considered anything besides bad?

Highly debatable right now whether or not it's even worth going to the sport bar to see werdum/vera and chonan.

You likely won't see Chonan anyways. His fight in on the undercard.

[Salieri]

ufc 85? really. there's some decent match ups on there but for the most part it's not worth paying for imo. hughes/silva for me i could care less i dislike hughes and am neutral on silva he's good but doesn't excite me that much. the swick davis match-up is alright but once again not worth paying for. vera/werdum should be a good fight. bisping/day not a fan of either. marquardt/leites neither one is that exciting to watch for the most part, it's not the worst card they've had but for me the price isn't right. especially with the affliction card coming up in july.

Ah, I assumed you were talking about 84. I didn't read that far back.

[DarkKnight81]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6330&zoneid=2

Coleman out, GSP vs Fitch in. I was really looking forward to seeing Coleman and Lesnar hammering each others brains in.

[Mopar Fanatic]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6330&zoneid=2

GSP vs Fitch in.

Much Better


Last minute UFC 84 predictions

Penn will beat Sherk without any trouble, although Sherk holding him down and tying him up on the ground might make it take awhile. Penn won't take much damage though

Silva over Jardine by KO.

Ortiz over Machida.

Thiago over Mendes.

Hmm... the Sokoudjou/Nakamura fight is borderline Main Card material. I'm going with Nakamura.

[the saw is family]

just watched the weigh ins and damn did bj look dehydrated, he might have had a rough cut, i really hope this doesn't affect his energy tomorrow. sean sherk as lw champ=bad for the fans.

[DarkKnight81]

What made you think he looked dehydrated? He didnt look at cut as he did last time.

[the saw is family]

What made you think he looked dehydrated? He didnt look at cut as he did last time.

he looked exhausted to me, and as soon as they were done with the pictures he started sucking water like it was the last bottle on earth which isn't too uncommon but something about it bothered me. then i also read that some people were saying that he needed an iv after the weigh in, but that was online so there's no way to prove the validity of that. i think i'm just nervous about the fight because i'm a huge penn fan and a major sherk hater, plus i won't know the outcome until tomorrow morning, because i'll be at the tigers game tonight so i'll have to order the a.m. replay tomorrow, so it's kind of driving me nuts.

[DarkKnight81]

Heath Herring has stepped up to face Brock Lesnar at UFC 87. I'm gonna have to take the Texas Crazy Horse in this one. Will the UFc cut Brock after he's 0-2?

[Salieri]

That was a fantastic card and I think every single fight went the way I was hoping they would. I was giggling and jumping up and down like a little school girl when Wandy dropped Jardine.

Lyoto is amazing. He's going to be a horrible matchup for anyone he faces. I don't quite get the hate he receives. His style of fighting is so much more exciting to me than Tito's or any of those wrestlers. Before anyone compares him to Starnes, they were NOTHING alike.

I didn't really agree with Sherk's strategy there. He said his original plan was to strike a little and then go for the takedown but thought he was doing fine with the striking so he stayed with it, but still, there's no reason to only go for 1 takedown the entire fight when you're Sean fucking Sherk.

I'd rather see Penn fight the winner of Huerta/Florian first and then go up and fight GSP again.

[DarkKnight81]

:D Wow, that was probably the most satisfying UFC event I've ever seen. Sherk was just trying to wear BJ down and when BJ landed that knee I jumped out my seat. It was good to see Wand get a decisive devastating KO in the first round. Thiago Silva looked good as usual. The only dissapointment was Machida-Ortiz. Now I'm a Machida fan but I have to say I was getting a little irritated with his gameplan. I think he and Thiago need to fight for the next title shot. A lot of upsets and good debuts, excellent card!

[DunlopolnuD]

I thought it was hilarious that Ortiz could not hit Machida for shit, if it weren't for the round ending, I think Machida would have had Ortiz done at the end of that first round... and the right-left kick combos and that triangle escape were nothing short of awesome.

The whole event was really good, much better than the last PPV.

[the saw is family]

awesome card, they showed almost every fight. wand was just sheer brutality i loved it, jardine cannot handle aggressive brawlers. if forrest loses to rampage i'd like to see a forrest/jardine rematch. machida is just amazing to watch, he cannot and will not be touched if he doesn't want to be. i remember watching his fights online against bj penn and rich franklin then when he signed with the ufc i wondered how he would fair, and it's clear he is the future of the lhw division and when he gets his title shot he will become champ, imo there isn't anyone in the ufc lhw division who will beat him.

soukoudjou picked up a much needed win, called out shogun too that would be a good fight. thiago looked good, his mount is killer, he did show some holes getting rocked by those kicks, but he's solid. rushimar palhares was a beast would love to see him fight ricardo almeida. as for sherk/ penn, wtf was sherk thinking? he's gonna take his little stubby arms and try to strike with bj penn?? i mean seriously who the hell came up with that gameplan. bj just abused him, sherks face looked like a tenderized steak after, that knee was brutal sherk was done. i can just hope that sherk loses his next couple of fights and maybe he'll be removed from the ufc, i cannot stand him and was overjoyed to see him lose.

[Mopar Fanatic]

I really felt like that was a do or die for wand. Four losses in a row and it was either please retire or drop to 185. I don't know how you guys are when you're watching the fights, but I'm not exaggerating. I lose it.

I felt embarrassed for Tito btw. He looked awful. Yes, Machida makes his opponents look bad, that does not account for a complete whiff on a takedown attempt. His explosiveness is completely gone. Time to do something else.

[Mopar Fanatic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB_6OlK-LR8

Tito wasn't allowed to the press conference...typical

[the saw is family]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB_6OlK-LR8

Tito wasn't allowed to the press conference...typical

tito is such a fucking idiot, why in the hell is he letting this washed up cum receptacle talk in his fucking interviews??? this makes him look absolutely ridiculous, his fucking girlfriend running her gums in his interview, unreal.

[Mopar Fanatic]

just watched the weigh ins and damn did bj look dehydrated, he might have had a rough cut, i really hope this doesn't affect his energy tomorrow. sean sherk as lw champ=bad for the fans.

Maybe, but bj's cardio didn't seem to be an issue at all.

Anyways, the first half of rounds 1 and 2, he was landing some hard jabs and a few leg kicks. BJ took over the second half of both rounds.

In the third, BJ took control. He was landing that jab seemingly at will and Sherk was hitting mostly air. I had it 3-0 for BJ had it gone on.

I was wondering did I imagine BJ running over to find a spot on the mat that had Sherk's blood on it, then wiping it off the disgusting ground and licking it?

and is anybody else getting damn sick of Rogan's commentary? Rogan underplayed Sherk's effectiveness the entire time. Rogan is bad and getting worse.

[DarkKnight81]

I really felt like that was a do or die for wand. Four losses in a row and it was either please retire or drop to 185.

He said after the fight that if he lost he would probably retire. I think he'll make one last push for the belt but if he gets beat before then he'll drop to 185.

[the saw is family]

Maybe, but bj's cardio didn't seem to be an issue at all.

Anyways, the first half of rounds 1 and 2, he was landing some hard jabs and a few leg kicks. BJ took over the second half of both rounds.

In the third, BJ took control. He was landing that jab seemingly at will and Sherk was hitting mostly air. I had it 3-0 for BJ had it gone on.

I was wondering did I imagine BJ running over to find a spot on the mat that had Sherk's blood on it, then wiping it off the disgusting ground and licking it?

and is anybody else getting damn sick of Rogan's commentary? Rogan underplayed Sherk's effectiveness the entire time. Rogan is bad and getting worse.

no you didn't imagine that bj actually did it, kinda nasty but it didn't bother me it's part of his schtick. rogan definitely plays favorites but imo sherk wasn't very effective at all in that fight. he landed a couple of good combos, but never had bj anywhere near trouble. for the life of me i'll never understand his gameplan, bj is hard to takedown, damn near impossible but hell sherk if he really wanted to win should have tried at least 4 or 5 more shots, i still can't wrap my head around his thinking that he would outstrike bj.

[the saw is family]

He said after the fight that if he lost he would probably retire. I think he'll make one last push for the belt but if he gets beat before then he'll drop to 185.

i actually kind of felt sorry for jardine wandy damn near killed him. that's the third time in jardines career though that he's been ko'd in the first minute he's very susceptible to a striker who comes out guns blazing.

[DarkKnight81]

Sherk's a tough competitor and he'll be back in the mix but he had the wrong idea to turn this into a boxing match. I just kept waiting for him to throw a jab and then shoot but he only did one time. I think BJ's head and shoulders above everyone else at 155 but Sherk can beat just about everyone else.

[Mopar Fanatic]

Looks like Silva's flurry was a counter to Jardine's leg kick strategy he used to beat Liddell.

http://i31.tinypic.com/29z5sg4.gif

His future opponents are going to be looking to counter that awkward off-balance leg kick. Just watched the first round of Liddell-Jardine and Chuck had plenty of opportunities to counter that kick and KTFO Jardine.

One step closer to Jackson

Were Silva and Jackson to fight again, it's got to be in his head that he would be going up against a guy who put him away twice in the most brutal fashion MMA has witnessed.

[DarkKnight81]

Silva's a bad matchup for Quinton as we've seen twice already. Quinton will stand there and box with you and he doesn't have a ton of reach. We know Wand can take some punches and he's going to swing wildly, even if he doesn't get the better of the exchanges he can take more than most people. I think Rampage would have to use the cage, his wrestling, and GnP Silva. He has to get past Forrest first and I'm sure Wand needs to win at least one more fight.

[Mopar Fanatic]

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9491/ufc85bedlampostertq7.jpg

Pretty shitty card although I can't really say that I blame the UFC.

First Shogun got injured, then Liddell, then James Irvin, then Leben goes to jail and in the end Evans is forced to drop off the card :( (Neil Wain is also injured and replaced with Eddie Sanchez, but who cares about that)

http://85.ufc.com/


Main Card

Welterweight bout:
Matt Hughes (42-6-0) -210 vs. Thiago Alves (14-3-0) 160

Middleweight bout:
Michael Bisping (15-1-0) -350 vs. Jason Day (17-5-0) 250

Welterweight bout:
Mike Swick (11-2-0) -115 vs. Marcus Davis (19-4-0) -115

Middleweight bout:
Nathan Marquardt (29-7-1) -145 vs. Thales Leites (12-1-0) 115

Heavyweight bout:
Fabricio Werdum (10-3-1) 100 vs. Brandon Vera (8-1-0) -130



Preliminary Card


Middleweight bout:
Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera

Lightweight bout:
Matt Wiman vs. Thiago Tavares

Light Heavyweight bout:
Jason Lambert vs. Luis Cane

Welterweight bout:
Paul Taylor Vs. Jess Liaudin

Heavyweight bout:
Antoni Hardonk vs. Eddie Sanchez


Odds from:
http://www.betus.com/ufc-betting/odds-lines

[DarkKnight81]

It is the UFC's fault, there is no reason Rampage vs Forrest shouldn't have been on this card...except for a reality show of course. Any non title fight is not a main event in my mind. Even if Chuck vs Shogun was still on this card instead of Hughes-Alves, it would only be one match better. UFC 84 was an example that a stacked card makes a great card.

[Mopar Fanatic]

Feeling is mutual as far as the card goes, I'm actually more of anything looking past this card and onto Rampage and Forrest.

Vera-Werdum is the only fight I'm liking. The winner should be the #1 contender and so I hope it's Vera wince Werdum-Nog I was god awful. I don't think Werdum can take him down which means a Vera win.

[Mopar Fanatic]

This is fucking lovely

http://mmajunkie.com/news/4435/kevin-burns-expected-to-replace-ryo-chonan-at-ufc-85.mma

[DarkKnight81]

The winner should be the #1 contender

You'd think so, too bad Nog won't be fighting again until at least December and it will be against Frank Mir. Death to the Ultimate Fighter.

They should just change the name of UFC 85 from Bedlam to Cursed.

[the saw is family]

for me post 84 i'm mostly excited for the affliction card more than any upcoming ufc card. forrest and rampage i just hope turns out to be a war, as the rest of that card isn't too spectacular, not ufc 85 bad but nowhere near 84.

[Mopar Fanatic]

tito is such a fucking idiot, why in the hell is he letting this washed up cum receptacle talk in his fucking interviews??? this makes him look absolutely ridiculous, his fucking girlfriend running her gums in his interview, unreal.

Damn this one slipped under the radar somehow.

I agree ... this is like the third interview I've seen where it's a mma media guy trying to ask Tito questions, and she keeps butting in. She just can't STAND not being the center of attention, which is why she was in porn, I guess. Jenna, if someone wants to know the proper way to take a stranger's load to the face, they'll ask you, otherwise, stfu.

Tito makes some good points, but i gotta wonder how much of this is just to be a pain in the ass to Dana.

[the saw is family]

so a couple of non-ufc cards this weekend both being free. the exc card tomorrow on tbs and the wec card sunday night. who's watching? i'll take kimbo over jt by early ko, lawler over scott smith in what i hope is a slugfest. carano by split decision i think kaitlin young is gonna give her a very tough fight, and i'll take brett rogers by ko, dude is huge and has really heavy hands. the wec card should be solid, i have faber over pulver in what i'm hoping is just a drawn out war that goes at least 3 or 4 rounds. i think torres keeps his title by sub late first early second round, torres for me is one of the most entertaining fighters out there right now. should be a damn good mma weekend.

[unspoken]

for me post 84 i'm mostly excited for the affliction card more than any upcoming ufc card. forrest and rampage i just hope turns out to be a war, as the rest of that card isn't too spectacular, not ufc 85 bad but nowhere near 84.

I'm definitely in the minority amongst hardcore MMA fans about my feelings on the Affliction card. Yes, they've got a ton of big names on that card. But look at the matchups on paper... they are all completely one-sided. The most competitive matchup according to the gambling lines is the Babalu/Whitehead fight, and Babalu opened at -275 on that. You know that if the UFC did the same style of card, putting all their biggest stars against no-namers and has-beens, that the hardcore MMA circles would be pissing all over it. But since Affliction is a new promotion, not the top dog, and may provide competition to the UFC, they eat it up.

I'll still watch the Affliction card, but the card I'm most excited for is UFC 87. I might even go see it live. A lot of big names on that card and the matchups are way more competitive.

[the saw is family]

I'm definitely in the minority amongst hardcore MMA fans about my feelings on the Affliction card. Yes, they've got a ton of big names on that card. But look at the matchups on paper... they are all completely one-sided. The most competitive matchup according to the gambling lines is the Babalu/Whitehead fight, and Babalu opened at -275 on that. You know that if the UFC did the same style of card, putting all their biggest stars against no-namers and has-beens, that the hardcore MMA circles would be pissing all over it. But since Affliction is a new promotion, not the top dog, and may provide competition to the UFC, they eat it up.

I'll still watch the Affliction card, but the card I'm most excited for is UFC 87. I might even go see it live. A lot of big names on that card and the matchups are way more competitive.

i'm excited to see babalu fight again no matter who the opponent seems like he's been gone forever, he had that pfp fight but that wasn't readily available. the barnett/rizzo match up should be pretty good too i think, i know rizzo isn't what he was when he beat barnett the first time but it still should be a solid fight. i havent heard yet whether arlovski/rothwell has been confirmed but once it is that should be a slugfest with hopefully arlovski enjoying a highlight reel ko. i'm not real excited about lindland but i'm rarely excited for lindland. and obviously fedor/sylvia i'm just hoping to see tim get arm barred late first early second.

[the saw is family]

what a fucking disgrace exc was tonight. i'm never one to say this but i really think this hurt the sport, from the half ass production and the dumbass walk ins (i'm looking at you baroni). christ i hate talking works too, but damn that kimbo fight was fishy as hell as much as it pains me to say. i don't know if it was a work but damn another shitty stoppage in a night full of shitty stoppages. elitexc is officially bad for mma.

[DarkKnight81]

I'm going to come across like a UFC homer but EliteXC fucking sucks. Aside from the fact the the fighters are either guys that got the boot from the UFC (Phil Baroni) or guys that could never make it in the UFC(Brett Rogers). Secondly did they really want to portray a big gangster feel with every fighter coming out to rap music, and having their main event star an unproven street fighter? The whole time I was watching I was thinking thank god for the UFC. Watching a show like this makes you really appreciate what we get with the UFC. Commentators. Horrible. Ring announcer. Horrible. Dancing girls. Horrible. Frank Shamrock behind a mic. Horrible. MMA isn't main stream and it doesn't need to be. If anybody was going to do it, it would have been the UFC. And did I see Drago in Scott Smith's corner? Anyway, this just went to show second rate=second rate.

[DunlopolnuD]

I only liked 2 of the fights on that show, both of which ended prematurely. Carano Vs. Young, although it looked like Carano was starting to get gassed I thought she kicked ass, and felt it was a good fight... but seriously, a small cut and decent bruise under the eye and they say Young can't continue, are you serious? Lawler Vs. Smith, that was a damn good stand-up fight, I don't get why everyone was boo'ing, and I was pissed that they stopped it where they did.

The whole thing was over-produced, I felt like I was watching a WWE event. EliteXC really isn't that bad on Showtime, throwing CBS into the mix made the whole thing nearly unwatchable.

[the saw is family]

I'm going to come across like a UFC homer but EliteXC fucking sucks. Aside from the fact the the fighters are either guys that got the boot from the UFC (Phil Baroni) or guys that could never make it in the UFC(Brett Rogers). Secondly did they really want to portray a big gangster feel with every fighter coming out to rap music, and having their main event star an unproven street fighter? The whole time I was watching I was thinking thank god for the UFC. Watching a show like this makes you really appreciate what we get with the UFC. Commentators. Horrible. Ring announcer. Horrible. Dancing girls. Horrible. Frank Shamrock behind a mic. Horrible. MMA isn't main stream and it doesn't need to be. If anybody was going to do it, it would have been the UFC. And did I see Drago in Scott Smith's corner? Anyway, this just went to show second rate=second rate.

i agree pretty much with everything you said, the only thing that will keep me watching exc is some of the fighters they have. i love nick diaz and jake shields could easily be in the ufc and he would probably be a top 3 welterweight in the ufc. yves edwards is always entertaining to watch as well, and robbie lawler has improved ten fold since his days in the ufc, i would love to see him back. so witht he exception of a hand full of fighters, you are right exc is second rate. also on sherdog they have video up of the post event press conference brett rogers called out kimbo and they almost got into it.

[Salieri]

Agreed on EliteXC being garbage (...even though I only caught the last fight!) I am an admitted Gus Johnson fanboy though and really enjoyed his commentary for the Kimbo fight. Speaking of Kimbo, I was so glad that he was finally able to show the world how overhyped he was. I guffawed during the post-fight interview when Kimbo said he didn't expect James Thompson to be so good on the ground. My god, put him against anyone in the top 100 with ANY subs and he'll be done. Thompson has the most disgusting cauliflower ear I've ever seen.

[the saw is family]

Agreed on EliteXC being garbage (...even though I only caught the last fight!) I am an admitted Gus Johnson fanboy though and really enjoyed his commentary for the Kimbo fight. Speaking of Kimbo, I was so glad that he was finally able to show the world how overhyped he was. I guffawed during the post-fight interview when Kimbo said he didn't expect James Thompson to be so good on the ground. My god, put him against anyone in the top 100 with ANY subs and he'll be done. Thompson has the most disgusting cauliflower ear I've ever seen.

why he didn't have that fucking ear drained before the fight is beyond me. Wec goes live in twenty minutes in my time zone, time to watch a legit org.

[DarkKnight81]

I hate conspiracy theories but there is a lot of talk that Kimbo was fixed to win. I hate to ever think this could happen in any mma organization but I watched the fight and it did seem weird. For one, Kimbo was stuck in a deep choke and the camera cuts away to a long camera shot to promote "Lost." When the main event could be near a finish? Secondly James Thompson landed about 50 unanswered punches and elbows for almost 60 consecutive seconds at the end of the second round. Then when the round ended Kimbo could hardly pull himself up off the floor. The stoppage was garbage, Thompson was hurt but he was on his feet and still fighting. It might have been the worst stoppage I've ever seen aside from Arlovski-Cabbage. Whether it was fixed or not, ELITEXC is a joke so it doesn't really even matter. Even the WEC is 10x better than EXC

[the saw is family]

well the WEC event tonight made up for that fiasco yesterday. razor rob really looked like shit, i was hoping he would lose as i can't stand him. he got the win but looked terrible. munoz was pretty vicious that was a nice gnp tko. maeda/torres was a fucking war. what a great fight, easily fight of the year candidate, and rd 2 of that fight was the best rd i've seen this year. torres is just such a complete fighter. if he wins a couple more at 135 i would love to see him bump up to 145 and fight faber. as for faber/pulver, really good fight, faber was just too quick, too athletic for jens. although there was times when jens landed some shots and had urijah up against the fence and he didn't let his hands go, i was waiting for him to release a barrage but it never came. urijah really used his stand up to perfection in the fight. it was nice to see jens last the whole way though, he's a warrior. really a solid event as usual with the WEC they really put on a quality show, and the fights are almost always top notch.

[JJFlamingo]

Tonight's Show:

Match 1: Bullshit split decision, the wrong guy won...

Match 2: Grigsby's a big motherfucker, but once he went on his back he clearly didn't want to fight anymore...

Match 3: The Cowboy is one smooth motherfucker to slip on that armbar and make hometown boy scream like a woman...

Match 4: Unbelievable. Two super warriors going at it and a rematch is necessary...

Match 5: Same as above. Faber outlasted Pulver for sure, but Pulver never backed down and the rematch should be signed for New Years's...

[Donnie_Darko]

Just watched the EliteXC show and... damn... talk about fucking bullshit. CBS obviously wanted to fix the outcomes here. First fight was dull shit, bullshit finish. Second fight see first fight. Third fight was the fight of the night. Every time I see a womens bout, they're always good, and this one was great. Finish seemed quick, but I have a feeling anyone who watches this, should get used to it. Gina is the true poster girl for womens MMA. The Lawler/Smith fight was a fucking disgrace on the finish. I may come across sexist, but that's fine... don't have a fucking woman doctor okay! Smith had 5 min to clear his head, and that fucking cunt had no right to stop it that soon... and Smith was a dummy for saying, "I can't see." He should have just said, "I need my full 5min." Fucking disgrace of a finish. And the Kimbo match... what fucking ever. I love buying into conspiracy theories but... fix felt in on that one. Yea Thomson was getting hammered, but I've seen him fight through worse.

Overall, a huge fucking letdown, sic for one fight. Garbage officiating, and even worse doctor decisions. CBS are going to kill the general non-fan appeal of MMA. :mad:

[the saw is family]

Just watched the EliteXC show and... damn... talk about fucking bullshit. CBS obviously wanted to fix the outcomes here. First fight was dull shit, bullshit finish. Second fight see first fight. Third fight was the fight of the night. Every time I see a womens bout, they're always good, and this one was great. Finish seemed quick, but I have a feeling anyone who watches this, should get used to it. Gina is the true poster girl for womens MMA. The Lawler/Smith fight was a fucking disgrace on the finish. I may come across sexist, but that's fine... don't have a fucking woman doctor okay! Smith had 5 min to clear his head, and that fucking cunt had no right to stop it that soon... and Smith was a dummy for saying, "I can't see." He should have just said, "I need my full 5min." Fucking disgrace of a finish. And the Kimbo match... what fucking ever. I love buying into conspiracy theories but... fix felt in on that one. Yea Thomson was getting hammered, but I've seen him fight through worse.

Overall, a huge fucking letdown, sic for one fight. Garbage officiating, and even worse doctor decisions. CBS are going to kill the general non-fan appeal of MMA. :mad:

while i agree with pretty much everything you said i gotta disagree about gina carano. she may be the most popular woman fighter but she needs to start taking the sport more seriously. her fight was contracted to be at 140 lbs, she weighed in at 144.5. she missed weight by damn near 5 pounds which is completely ridiculous. it's not fair to her opponents and shows a lack of commitment. i know she had a short camp going into the fight but you have to make weight, if that had been a male fighter there would have been a firestorm over that.

[xseanymacx]

The only good thing about that XC card was Lawler/Smith pre-finish. What a solid battle those two had and I can't wait for a rematch. XC, I'm sure though, got exactly what they wanted out of Kimbo for the premiere. I must have had 10-15 friends over for the fight, who aren't heavy into MMA but love the Kimbo Youtube videos and they enjoyed what they say. As much as it pains me to say (because I think Kimbo is garbage in MMA), but to average fans, Kimbo is what they want to see and he'll get more viewers than something legit like UFC, WEC, or Pride. It's just how it is. Bad for the sport? Probably. Good for XC? Yes so as long as the average fan keeps tuning in, I doubt they give a shit if real fans think he's garbage.

The WEC card, on the other hand, loved it top to bottom. Torres is out of this world though I feel if the fight wasn't stopped, Madea would've won. Torres had great defense, but he was rarely on the attack. It was always Madea coming to Torres. What can be said about Faber/Pulver aside from it needing a rematch? What a great fight.

[SpoonMan999]

You guys are being awfully hard on Kimbo, he went from bare knucle street brawls to MMA with no martial arts experience. He's now being trained by Bas Rutten and you can really see how much he's learning, especially in this last fight. If Bas deems him worthy, who are we to judge?