UFC and MMA Thread

Very entertaining night of fights. Sucks we have wait until April for the other bracket. One thing that bothers me is they keep saying they're the 8 best HW's in the world and the winner will be the best HW MMA fighter in the world totally ignoring that the UFC has some of, if not THE best, HW's.

Arlovski needs to get out before he winds up a vegetable. I don't see Fedor going down to LHW. For what? He doesn't give a **** about the belt, he fights once a year at best and his best days are well behind him. Not to mention he's genetically a pudgy guy and has never been ripped. Any fight the fans really want to see him in are all HW's and they've all gotten bigger, stronger and more schooled since when he was the dominant HW. I'd retire too given his situation.

 

+1 - he's got nothing left to prove. He could continue doing Sambo, but give up the MMA.

 

LOL, what great MMA fighter was defeated by Overeem ? This guys is 1 million times more overrated than Fedor.

Obviously Velasquez, Carwin, Dos Santos, even Brock and Mir are way above any HW from Strikefarse

 

I 100% agree with you about Fedor being overrated for YEARS!!! But give the man respect. He was THE BEST for years and his time has come. The careers of GREAT MMA fighter are usually short and when its time, IT'S TIME (Liddell). I hope he does retire from MMA and go down as one of the best fighters of all time. (I Hope)!

 

+1 - Werdum - a UFC castoff - already beat him (granted, years ago), but let's see how he does this time.

 

Fedor is sort of a conundrum to me - I always felt he was overrated, but he beat everyone put in front of him, including Minotauro a few times.

Time changes both the man and the game. Even in his prime, my thinking is Fedor is too focused to beat the fighter of today (e.g, look at someone like GSP - he's a complete fighter - striking, wrestling, submission, etc).

 

Out of curiosity, what exactly has Carwin done to be considered better than any Strikeforce HW? Or Lesnar, or JDS, or heck even Velasquez?

The Strikeforce guys all have 30+ fights under their belt. You can't even compare these vets to the new crop of HW fighters in the UFC who weren't even fighting when Pride was around.

 

They don`t need 1 million plus fights to prove themsleves, look at Fedor, great record against (mostly but there are a few exceptions) weaker guys.


Velasquez - amazing stand up (punching and kicking) takedown and ground fight abilitites (from the back and from above) the guy is unparalleled and taking down Big Nog and Lesnar the way he did it is beyond impressive, Cain it is in a class of his own (disclaimer - haters gonna hate)

Carwin - the boxing part is absolutely amazing (he probably punches harder than any other MMA fighter) remember Gonzaga and Mir fights ?

Lesnar may not be the most technical guy out there, but he can move easily for his size and take amazing punishment, he is a freak athlete

JDS is proving as we speak, he will be one of the strongest HW fighter in the near future, trust me on this

 

Unless the UFC and Strikeforce get together to put on a Grand Prix, all comparisons are speculation. The SF guys have much more experience, and very impressive resumes, no doubt, and are certainly in the upper echelon of the world's HWs. Most of the UFC guys have incredible skills that can easily match up with SF's best. Overall, I think SF's HW division is deeper, that is when you are comparing one's top 10 versus the other's. As far as the very best HW in the world, just based on what I've seen in their fights, I would give the nod to Velasquez right now.

 

Don't match up Carwin's 2 KO's with punching power or you have to recognize(?) Fedor's KO's over Undefeated Rogers and Former UFC champ Arlovski. So that's equeal power! Mir was a former UFC champ also. All i'm saying is Fedor was THE best of his time. the sport is forever changing! Just like any other sport. There were no such think of 300lb. lineman in the NFL in the 70's but they still consider the '72 Dolphins one of the best teams of all time. So give the guy a little credit.

 

To MMA fans, Fedor will go down as one the best HW's of all time. To UFC fans, he will go down as one of the most overrated HW's of all time.

 

Fedor was a great HW, whether he fought in the UFC or not. He has certainly fought top guys in his Pride days. He has the fastest delivery of an overhead right that I have ever seen on any HW.....explosive delivery that comes out of nowhere that 99.9% of the time, puts his opponent to sleep. He delivered a few to Silva, who just seemed to brush them off with that enormous head of his. Also, Fedor's level of Sambo was easily as effective as the BJJ of the top BJJ guys.

I remember when I first got into MMA, watching some of the Pride fights. Here's this stubby small HW going against the likes of a CroCop, or another much bigger guy, and Fedor always came out on top. This was before anyone knew who he was.

 

Ok. Good point, But are there actually a difference between MMA fans and UFC fans (OVERALL)? Maybe some people don't watch other MMA (i have no clue why not) I love it all. Actualy I see It like this: MMA fighter outside the UFC fight to win. And that's why you see exciting fight. UFC fighter fight not to lose. Dana's excuse to that is (other) MMA has poor matchmaking. I don't believe that one bit. Or Maybe there ALL trying to get to the UFC????? Now I can believe that.

 

The difference is that UFC fans buy into Dana White's hype, whereas MMA fans dont. At least that's how I see it. Dana White could probably convince most MMA fighters that Kongo would destory Fedor in a fight if he really wanted to.

 

True, That is how Dana works.

 

Where I'm from, that's called good business. I don't give a hoot about fan boys and the like, I want to see fights, watch the industry grow, and see fighters benefit.

Call Dana what you want, but MMA would be far worse off without him.

 

Hmm... I'm not getting into a debate about Dana White's affect on MMA as a whole. All I'm saying is that the majority of UFC fans treat his word as the gospel. I understand he's a fight promoter and all, but people dont need to be brainwashed by him into thinking a certain way.

Armen - your point about MMA fighters fighting to win, and UFC fighters fighting not to lose is 100% on point!!

 

Pick 'em.....

UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch
Date: Feb 27, 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia (event airs Feb. 26 in North America)
Venue: Acer Arena
Broadcast: Pay-per-view, ION Television, Facebook.com

MAIN CARD (pay-per-view)

* Jon Fitch vs. B.J. Penn I love Penn, and would love to see him win, but Fitch is a grinder with excellent conditioning.
* Michael Bisping vs. Jorge Rivera Not a huge fan of Bisping, but he's got skills. I actually hope he loses.
* Dennis Siver vs. George Sotiropoulos George will have his hands full if the fight stays on the feet. He needs to get Siver down and submit him.
* Chris Lytle vs. Brian Ebersole How can you not root for Lytle? Such heart.
* Chris Camozzi vs. Kyle Noke Don't even know these guys! WTF are they doing on the main card ahead of Fisher/Pearson???

PRELIMINARY CARD (ION Television)

* Spencer Fisher vs. Ross Pearson Fisher is relentless, but Pearson should win this one.
* Alexander Gustafsson vs. James Te Huna
* Riki ***uda vs. Nick Ring

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)

* Jason Reinhardt vs. Tiequan Zhang
* Tom Blackledge vs. Anthony Perosh

PRELIMINARY CARD

* Mark Hunt vs. Chris Tuchscherer
* Maciej Jewtuszko vs. Curt Warburton

 

SPOILER





Fitch fought really well, and a rematch would be perfect later this year. I was a little on the fence because I'm a big fan of Fitch, but I was rooting for Penn... Being as it was just tit for tat all the way to round three where Fitch clearly rulled, I would have scored it in his favor.

Bisping always has an attitude, and an obviously illegal knee while Rivera was on his knees was BS, and he had to know it and I think it was the reason Bisping won.

Ebersole/Lytle was a very entertaining fight! Loved the personality between the two of them. Lytle completely wore himself out trying all those chokes, and I think using all of that energy lost him the fight. When he slapped Lytle's mouthpiece out and the ref pulled a time out, he wobbled backwards and looked exhausted for the duration of the fight. Ebesole has an interesting way of fighting, but with this for a debut, I'd really like to see more of him.

Siver just took it to Sotiropoulos with those fists pretty relentlessly and showed he was the dominant one. I'm really surprised it was as close score wise, seeing as Sotiropoulos didn't do a thing.

The Noke fight was not much to talk about. Both guys came out with a huge amount of energy from the start, and the fight looked like it wasn't going to be very long. Don't have any interest in either fighter, so it didn't mean much.

I'm really interested in Faber's next one, though!

 

The show was pretty good. I agree with the judges. Penn vs Fitch was a good call. Im happy for Bisbing. Good for him with the knee. Rivera deserved to get his ass kicked. He's the one who called out Bisbing. Siver is a tough MF'er. Id love to see him against Maynard. Another fight I'd love to see is Carwin vs Cain. Think about that 1st. rd. After that, Carwin will gas because of Cain's Cardio. Anyone stuck around after the main event to watch the HEAVIES? Mark Hunt. Now That was entertaining!

 

That Hunt fight was pretty good. Nice and to the point. It's one of the best reactions I've seen as a guy lands the winning punch.

 

I could not believe the judges' decision in the Ring/***uda fight. Terrible. They could not have gotten it more wrong.

WTF was BJ thinking???? Why fight Fitch on the ground? Yes, BJ's a high level BJJ practitioner, but Fitch is just as high a level grappler. I can't believe BJ didn't try to keep it on the feet and use his far superior boxing. I am baffled at BJ's strategy. Can someone please explain to me how this came up a draw? If 2 judges scored it 28-28, and the 3rd one scored it 29-28 Fitch, shouldn't Fitch be declared the winner?

Sotiropoulos needs to work on his takedown skills. He's great on the ground once he gets there, but you have to get your opponent there first. Stuck on your feet with a striker like Siver is a recipe for a loss. Siver is one of the very best strikers in the game at LW.

My favorite fight was the Pearson/Fisher fight. Non stop action! I expect no less from either of those 2 fighters.

 

28-28 two times and one 29-28 is obviously a majority draw. Probably 2 judges had B.J. winning the 1st 2 rds. 10 - 9 and Fitch winning the last 10 - 8. I think that was fair. I felt B.J.'s game plan was pretty good. Don't forget Fitch is way taller and has a longer reach. Plus B.J.'s BJJ is MUCH better than Fitch's. He took his back and controlled it fairly well (while it lasted). It was a tough fight for both. Fitch looked WAY bigger and Stronger.

 

I don't know.....for me, the only fighter chosen as the winner of the fight by any of the 3 judges is Fitch. Yes, the majority of judges called it a draw, but calling a fight a draw because 2 out of the 3 judges couldn't pick a winner should leave the decision to the 1 judge who did pick a winner.

 

Yeah, I don't get the "majority draw" thing. Fitch had more points: he wins. What am I missing? I've never heard of a majority draw before.

Also, the Bisbing knee to the head was fully on purpose; couple that with spitting on the coaches (WTF? talk about classless) and then trying to get in his face after the fight and talking shi t? Man.... That was lame. I was never a Bisbing fan and I'm sure not now...

All in all it was an entertaining fight card.