MMA/UFC/PRIDE/K-1 discussion thread

Katto

I love K-1 Max!!! Badr Hari in heavy weight is ultra quick though!

cletus

Did anybody see the headbutt thrown at Baroni after his fight. I'm not a big fan of the badass, but I thought he was pretty reserved in his handling of it. IMO this is the problem that stems from how UK mma (specifically cage rage) is marketed

Dragan

Baroni on the incident.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6686&zoneid=13

Nothingcompares

Baroni's stock price has gone way up in my opinion. Firstly for not making a mountain out a mole hill and secondly for taking a loaf on the jaw and barely taking a step back. WAR BARONI

Dragan

Nothingcompares wrote: »

Baroni's stock price has gone way up in my opinion. Firstly for not making a mountain out a mole hill and secondly for taking a loaf on the jaw and barely taking a step back. WAR BARONI

I agree 100%. Two fighters who have really impressed me lately are Baroni and Big Tim. Baroni dealt with that whole thing incredibly well....Big Tim has really come across strong in his interviews representing Affliction.

I'm starting to see why they put him in their with Fedor. He can give him a fight and he is building both it and the brand well in interviews.

dunkamania

I agree with both points, Baroni looked classy for once, also after the "nutting" Jensen's Girlfriend/manager walked over and gave him some abuse.

Big Tim has been fairly classy too since he lost to Big Nog, different attitude, no longer acts like a spoiled baby

dunkamania

Some back tracking on the unified rules alterations. Rules changes now advisory, with a specific MMA council to be setup to analyse necessary changes to Unified Rules. Council will include reps from NSAC and CSAC arguably the two most important of the regional bodies, but who were not present at the last meeting.


The main issue is the weight classes, as far as I can see. The other rules changes are all overdue, would like to see knees to head on ground though.

Fozzy

dunkamania wrote: »

Some back tracking on the unified rules alterations. Rules changes now advisory, with a specific MMA council to be setup to analyse necessary changes to Unified Rules. Council will include reps from NSAC and CSAC arguably the two most important of the regional bodies, but who were not present at the last meeting.

The rule changes were always advisory, the ABC doesn't have any actual power over the individual commissions. California have reviewed the advised new rules though and released a statement. They say that they're still going by the "headphone" rule for the back of the head and downward elbows will still be illegal. They're making smothering a foul though. And they're not changing the weight clases. Full story here: http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6690&zoneid=13

The problem now is that California have set out their stall. So now we're going to have other states coming up with different rules, or more likely I think is that they'll just follow California's lead

Fozzy

Thiago Silva vs Lyoto Machida is official for the UFC show in Birmingham. Interesting fight, although I think every Machida fight is going to be interesting now. I think his opponents need to put more effort into figuring out how to fight against him than they would for other fighters. Brandon Vera pretty much said that himself

Dragan

Fozzy wrote: »

Thiago Silva vs Lyoto Machida is official for the UFC show in Birmingham. Interesting fight, although I think every Machida fight is going to be interesting now. I think his opponents need to put more effort into figuring out how to fight against him than they would for other fighters. Brandon Vera pretty much said that himself

I liked the Vera quote about Machida, he flat out wasn't afraid to say you can't fight the guy on short notice because you need to pick his game apart to beat him.

I thought Wandy was going to take on Thiago myself. Wonder who is going to end up fighting now?

dunkamania

Thiago vs Machida is the UFC's way of stalling Machidas shot at the title. A win doesnt bring him closer to a title shot unless in very dominant fashion, and there is always the chance he will lose, even if unlikely.

Fozzy

dunkamania wrote: »

Thiago vs Machida is the UFC's way of stalling Machidas shot at the title. A win doesnt bring him closer to a title shot unless in very dominant fashion, and there is always the chance he will lose, even if unlikely.

If Chuck beats Rashad and is fit then it should be Chuck vs Forrest in December. But if Chuck loses or wins and isn't fit, then they may be stuck for an opponent for Forrest. I don't think that Rampage will be getting his rematch that soon after what's happened. If Wanderlei wins another fight in the meantime, then he's going to be the top contender if Chuck loses or can't fight

It's just interesting because the UFC wants to make their December show the biggest event of the year and they had their perceived biggest fight lined up for it, Chuck vs Rampage

Dragan

Fozzy wrote: »

It's just interesting because the UFC wants to make their December show the biggest event of the year and they had their perceived biggest fight lined up for it, Chuck vs Rampage

I don't think that is the biggest fight at 205 right now in terms of possible numbers. If i was UFC brass i would be eyeing Chuck Vs Forrest as a legitimate record breaking fight.

You can sell that fight on so many levels it's not even funny. Student and Trainer and have become Champion and Challenger respectively.

If they can't market that to the "new" generation of UFC fans who found the sport through TUF then frankly they deserve to be fired.

Fozzy

Dragan wrote: »

I don't think that is the biggest fight at 205 right now in terms of possible numbers. If i was UFC brass i would be eyeing Chuck Vs Forrest as a legitimate record breaking fight.

You can sell that fight on so many levels it's not even funny. Student and Trainer and have become Champion and Challenger respectively.

If they can't market that to the "new" generation of UFC fans who found the sport through TUF then frankly they deserve to be fired.

Yeah, I think that once Forrest beat Rampage he became a bigger draw than Rampage. Chuck vs Forrest is definitely their biggest fight now

dunkamania

Wanderlai would be me the most marketable opponent for Forrest if Chuck were to drop the ball against Rashad. The more I think about it, UFC would be mad to give Machida a title shot in the next year, there are too many potential big money match ups. If Wandi beats Griffin, then you have Wandi vs Rampage or Chuck with a title on the line.

Dragan

dunkamania wrote: »

Wanderlai would be me the most marketable opponent for Forrest if Chuck were to drop the ball against Rashad. The more I think about it, UFC would be mad to give Machida a title shot in the next year, there are too many potential big money match ups. If Wandi beats Griffin, then you have Wandi vs Rampage or Chuck with a title on the line.

I can already see the black and white lead in to that fight.....Jardine dropping forrest, Wandy rape choking Jardine, Forrest with the belt and cut to Wandy smashing the bag.

dunkamania

Rumours going around that UFC to buy IFL, one of the smarter of the UFC's moves in recent times imo (if true)

Dragan

dunkamania wrote: »

Rumours going around that UFC to buy IFL, one of the smarter of the UFC's moves in recent times imo (if true)

But will the buy it and dump it ala Pride, or buy it and keep it alive?

It's a viable concept to me to be honest. I like it.

dunkamania

Buy it and dump it, market cap of less than a million $, they have an extensive media library and some decent fighters.

Dragan

dunkamania wrote: »

Buy it and dump it, market cap of less than a million $, they have an extensive media library and some decent fighters.

Personally i would love to see Vlady in the Octagon again.

Fozzy

I'm not sure what good buying the IFL would do. They don't have any assets apart from a ring, their tape library and non-exclusive fighter contracts. Their shows never set the world on fire, there have been some good fights there but for the most part it was poor in comparison to the UFC. I'm not sure what way the contracts would work as the IFL fighters can fight wherever they want at the moment. I'd love to see Roy Nelson in the Octagon though! I like his style

Fozzy

The Wrestling Observer reports that the Thiago Alves vs Diego Sanchez fight that was meant to be on the Birmingham show was replaced by the Machida vs Silva fight

dunkamania

Some pics to get people in the mood

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2008/7/17/573556/snapshot-of-the-day-anders

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2008/7/17/573539/affliction-banned-press-c

t-ha

General thoughts, since I've done all my work for the day but still can't leave until 5;

1] Silva does not look 20lbs heavier, or even heavier at all.

2] Vitor looks like Ben Stiller

3] Aleksander vs Tim Sylvia would be a cool fight

4] Matt Lindland needs a nutritionist - he just looks deficient in zinc, or calcium or something?

5] Lil Nog looks pikey chic. Dewees looks like he is either on gear or has high blood pressure.

6] Ben Rothwell looks like he works in a comic/video store or possibly your local IT guy.

That's about all my fashion commentary/ judging for today I think.

Fozzy

t-ha wrote: »

1] Silva does not look 20lbs heavier, or even heavier at all.

I was going to say that those pics are probably a little misleading, as he probably weighs 205 in the first one and 220 in the second one, or something along those lines. I don't think that he'd be cutting the same amount for LHW as he would for MW. He does looks heavier though I think

The Nogueiras look so old, you'd never guess their age if you didn't know them

Fozzy

Kid Yamamoto's off the DREAM show with a torn ACL: http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/6050/105/

That's crap, I was really looking forward to seeing him back. Kid and Cro Cop were the two draws for this show and they're both out

Tokoro might be off the card too, someone rear-ended his car and he had to go the hospital with a back injury

dunkamania

My prediction for Anderson "Spider" Silva vs James "Sandman" Irwin

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/images/2007/04/20/042007spiderman_5.jpg

Fozzy

Mark Hunt vs Alistair Overeem has been added to DREAM 5 to make up for Kid and Cro Cop missing it. It'll be good to see Hunt back fighting, I think he'll win that

Fozzy

Fozzy wrote: »

Mark Hunt vs Alistair Overeem has been added to DREAM 5 to make up for Kid and Cro Cop missing it. It'll be good to see Hunt back fighting, I think he'll win that

Hunt by murder tbh!

dunkamania

Okami broke his hand, Cote gets next crack at Silva