I just wanted to start a general MMA thread, I didn’t see one anywhere else on this forum. I am not a fighter, (I took Kung Fu and Tae Kwon Do lessons when I was younger) and I am in no way qualified to speak on this subject but I am a huuuge UFC/MMA fan. I just wanted a place, right here on my favourite forum to talk smack about MMA, all in good fun of course. Hopefully there are some more fans on this forum.
UFC 59 took place last night and there were a couple of upsets. Andrei Arlovski, loses his title at last! I am pleasantly surprised. Andrei beat Tim Sylvia so easily in their first match, I didn’t think Tim would take him in the re-match. Tim was apparently in the best shape of his life and that was the lighest I have ever seen him fight (253lbs). Arlovski made a fatal mistake by not pouncing on Tim after he had rocked him (overconfidence?) Tim’s return punch put Andrei down and he did not hesitate and pounced on Andrei for the referee stoppage. You’ve all heard trainers say it for ages, PROTECT YOURSELF AT ALL TIMES! If you throw a right hook, what are you leaving yourself open to? A right hook counter-punch. Even the great ones get caught sometimes, but with guys like Sylvia and Chuck Liddell the results are devastating! I have nothing against Arlovski, but it’s boring when you have just one guy dominating for so long. It’s no secret the UFC was having trouble finding quality heavyweights to fight Arlovski, but ironically, his loss to Tim Sylvia may make it worse for them. After all, who wants to fight the guy who beat up Andrei Arlovski? Anyway, until he loses, Fedor Emelianko will be the number 1 ranked heavyweight in the world. Tim Sylvia should move up to number 2 in my opinion. Now if only the UFC could put up enough money to entice Fedor to come over and fight for the title! Maybe a superfight like the old days?
Hopefully, they will replay UFC 59 on regular TV soon, I would really like to see the Karo Parisyan fight. I think he will beat Matt Hughes if he ever gets a title shot. Why? Well look at the facts: The standup is probably a tie. Matt’s standup is decent but he’s no Rich Franklin. Karo just swings for the fences but his standup has vastly improved since he first appeared in the UFC, and he has the speed, strength and ferocity to knock Hughes out (and has a knockout victory to his credit). Matt is a ‘ground and pound’ guy with decent submissions but that won’t work on a submission expert like Karo. Karo will apply submission holds relentlessly. Anyway it might be a moot point anyway, Matt could even lose his title before that to Royce Gracie! I know, I know Gracie is old but he is also a submission expert. Matt Hughes knows some submissions but he will never tap out Royce Gracie. The ground and pound will probably get Matt the victory by decision but look at the other people who have tried to ground and pound Royce Gracie: Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Kimo (at 280lbs), Akebono (484lbs!). Endurance should not be a problem as Royce has fought three times in one night, all victories!
Smack talking you say? OK . . .Royce won’t make it through the first round against Matt Hughes. The rules are different now and so are the fighters. Royce can’t just go to the guard and hang out like he did against Shamrock --they’ll stand them up now after too long with nothing happening. Plus, BJJ was a new thing to most guys back then. Now everyone knows the basics, granted Royce knows a whole lot more than the basics, but his edge there is nowhere near what it used to be since everyone else has much more jits then they did back then. Hughes is better at standup, a very good wrestler who also has some jits so no advantage there for Royce, and Hughes is younger, stronger, and used to fighting a new generation of fighters who have more knowledge than was common in Royce’s day.
Good points Juggler, Hughes is a more well-rounded fighter but I still think Royce has the edge in submissions. Hughes has the obvious strength advantage, maybe he’ll just knock him out with a body slam like he did to Carlos Newton. Can’t wait until May!
Local Winnipeg fighter Joe “El Dirte” Doerksen also won his match last night at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. Joe got the full mount and started to rain punches down. Good stoppage by the referee.
Royce definitely is much better in submissions and will not lose standing. The problem for Royce is the 3 rounds at 5 minutes. If you went back to the old rules Royce would win hands down the new guys have nothing on him. However, if Matt takes him down and just throws punches then they stand them up and then repeat, he will have the advantage in the judges decision. Since Royce will not have the time catch him or the ability to wear him down.
For Royce to win with the new rules he has to take Matt down and submit or pound him from the top.
The Gracies adapted jujitsu to bralizian jujitsu. Don’t be suprised if Royce has adapted to the new rules and you may also see some more jujitsu adaptations!
I didn’t really watch the first two seasons much, I just tuned in for the finals both years. But when I heard who the coaches were this year, I couldn’t wait. I have been glued to the T.V. every Thursday since. I hope Ken Shamrock and Tito scrap soon. I have never liked either of them. I always thought Ken Shamrock wan an a-hole and I heard he has ended many young fighters’ careers. Tito always seemed like a mouthpiece but I have to admit, I’m starting to like Tito now. He is obviously the better coach and doesn’t seem arrogant at all when he coaches. His team has the hammer and the better fighters. The only wildcard that I can see is Ed Herman. He comes from a good camp (Randy Couture). I, like many people, are anxious to see if he has the skills to back up all that talk.
On the Hughes/Gracie front the trash talk is heating up! Hughes says he’s going ‘punch Royce square in the face’ and Royce says he will ‘make him quit’. I’m not sure I like Hughes’ strategy, punch him in the face? That’s it? Does he think Royce has never fought a striker before? Royce fought for 90 min against Sakuraba, part of that with a broken leg. Maybe he wants to do the Chuck Liddell thing, stuff all the takedown attempts and get a knockout.
I too am thinking more of Tito and less of Ken Shamrock. Tito seems really determined to make his guys better. I don’t generally pay much attention to the drama on the show but I do want to see Tito and Ken get into it.
The PRIDE show on FSN re-played Fedor vs Crocop. If you get a chance to see it it’s a must. Sometimes a top fight won’t live up to it’s billing, but this one did.
Just saw The Iceman vs. Jeremy Horn. Chuck majorly blew it strategically. He caught Jeremy with some good shots and had him seeing Elmer Fudd and failed to GnP him. He could have mounted and ended it, either there or again in the 2nd round. It was finally stopped, but Chuck could have gotten his bell rung keeping it on the feet.
Jeremy is a good striker and a dangerous fighter. He had beaten Chuck before so that probably affected Chuck’s strategy.
Saw another good episode of TUF last night. Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz almost got into it at the gym, Ken had his shoes off and looked ready to ‘roll’ with Tito right then and there. Too bad everyone broke it up. I was surprised to hear Ken say he did it partly to fire up his team “If fighting Tito now is what it takes…” I don’t think it will work but I think Ken’s intentions were good in this case. He has to do something to keep his team motivated, a win would be best of course. But when it comes to mind games, Tito showed once again he is the master, his fake made Ken go ballistic. Best of all Tito is neutralizing Ken’s best weapon, Ed Herman. Ed may be so mad when he finally enters the ring that he might make a costly mistake.
Well it’s been two weeks in a row with awesome episodes of the Ultimate Fighter. To recap, light heavyweightTate lost in a split decision to Josh Haynes. It was a great fight, lots of blows by Josh and some good clinching, knees and groundwork by Tate. I am disappointed it did not go to a third round. I don’t see how the judges had Josh ahead by so many points? Sure he landed some big shots but Tate tagged him good. Josh’s face was a bloody mess! Tate controlled the action on the fence and on the ground and almost won with a triangle choke at the end! I guess Josh’s knockdown in the second round clinched it for him, even though I don’t think Tate was hurt badly. On the bright side, Josh seems like a good guy fighting for his family so I am glad he won.
This week’s fight wasn’t nearly as close as Ed Herman dominated Danny Abbadi, winning with the armbar in the first round. This was expected but Ed was not very impressive in my opinion. After all his talk, he did not really beat Danny up that bad. He looked slow to me. Where is the explosiveness? (Maybe he should pick up a copy of CFTS!) He would get beat down in the real UFC. Plus, he was calling out Tito? I think Tito would destroy him. Maybe we haven’t seen Ed’s best yet but some of the other guys looked tougher, like Kalib and Kendall for example.
At last, May 27 is almost here. I watched the UFC 60 countdown this week and got a sneak peek into Matt Hughes’ and Royce Gracie’s training. Matt really does not believe Royce has a chance against him. Like Dana White said, I hope Matt isn’t underestimating him. Matt did have a good point though, he said there are six world champions in his gym to spare against, among others, so he is constantly learning. He thinks Royce is the best fighter in his gym in California so he won’t learn anything there. Royce looks like he has made the transition to modern-day MMA fighter. He was working out with weights, medicine balls, doing plyometrics and running as well as lots of stand-up work. Lots of current MMA fighters were interviewed and they all to a man, said Royce does not have a chance. The only person who gives him a chance in hell is Dana White. Matt Hughes knows Jiu-Jitsu but he’s never seen Jiu-Jitsu like Royce will use on him! I can’t call this one.
FWIW, Sportsbook.com has Hughes at -270 so the bettors are confident too.
Watching old fight footage I hadn’t seen, I come to the conclusion that Royce is a thug, at best. There were three!!! guys who he hurt AFTER they tapped. I’ve lost all respect for him after seeing that.
