the MMA thread

[ditch.trilogy]

Condit drops Hardy!!  KO in the 1st!!  God I love this sport.

[adamarchy]

Yeah, I picked Condit to win this (you don't become reigning WEC champ for nothing) but no way did I ever imagine by knock out.

Despite that, the Kongo/Browne fight had me so livid, I was about to put my fist through my screen. Cheick's official nickname henceforth should be "Cheap" Kongo.

And I can't help but feel they hand pick opponents for Bisping to fight. Of Leben, Henderson, Silva and Akiyama, who all employed the exact same strategy, only Hendo got lucky and knocked him out. Not to say I think Bisping has a great chin, but his fighting style suits it well. I kept hoping for Akiyama to grab him and use that Judo but it never happened.

At this point, I'd usually drop the "Akiyama needs to go to 170" line, but it's never going to happen. Akiyama is too busy being a super star and this fight thing is only a hobby for him. He's like a Japanese Mickey Rourke. He'll likely lose another fight and then go back to his local Japanese promotion, content to have flashed his mug in America for an extended amount of time, and beat up whatever crippled schemps they throw at him while he focuses more on his celebrity.

[adamarchy]

Just a reminder that Eddie Alvarez will be fighting Roger Huerta tomorrow (10/21) on the Bellator main card.

[Detroitbootybass]

Just a reminder that Eddie Alvarez will be fighting Roger Huerta tomorrow (10/21) on the Bellator main card.

Oh... I forgot about that. Thanks!

[adamarchy]

HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!!!

[BeatJunkie]

The Honda Center was, to use an overused cliche, electric.

Was up in the cheap seats, and it still rawked.  They have tons of huge projection screens for viewing, and even at that, the ring aint' that far away...  The Diego slam was awwwwwwesome.  And the reception and support for Cain was crazy loud.

Affliction wearing meathead factor wasn't as bad as I thought.  I mean, 85% of the place was those guys, but they were relatively civil, all things considered.  Was a first though -- most of the place is dudes, so there was a bathroom freakin' line.  The chick I rolled with was laughing 'cos it was a first for her too -- she could just walk right in to the women's restroom.

Recommend you guys check out a show if you get a chance.  If you have some flexibility and aren't super picky, wait til the very last minute, day of the event and snag 'em on Stubhub as vendors dump them on the cheap at that point -- pick 'em up en route to the event at their last minute pickup spot, and you're set.

[John_Fu**ing_Overfiend]

Doesnt matter ... Velasquez is on a vision quest.  He is going to get there, and when he does I believe he will have the power to stay there.  Unless Brock cheats and rubs some sort of vision blocker in his eyes during the fight ... like in all the boxing/fighting movies. 

Eehhh hehhhmm .... hate to say I told ya so ... guess Brock should have used that vision blocker stuff like they do in all the boxing/fighting movies   

[ditch.trilogy]

Yeah.. epic heavyweight blowout.  Upset my pick, but it was honestly amazing to watch - something I will never forget.  I think Velasquez will make pretty short work of Dos Santos too.  It's unfortunate that Carwin had to pull out of his upcoming bout against Big Country.... I had Roy by submission in the first.  The UFC's heavyweight division is flying higher than it ever has and the fans are enjoying it right now, but the UFC is risking a traffic jam at the top (as per usual).  

Lesnar will be back, btw - I don't foresee any monumental layoff for that guy... his pride is overwhelming, and he's never going to find another sport that will satisfy his competitive nature like MMA does.  Look at how he rebounded after his submission loss to Mir; he's a quick learner.  Now imagine Lesnar after 365 days of solid Boxing and Muay Thai training.  He's still learning how to use his body as a weapon of technique, rather than just brute force.  If nothing else, Cain's ability to spring up immediately after the take-down should cause Lesnar to realize that his wrestling base alone will not see him through this.  He's as able-bodied as humans come, and yet.. it was not enough.  The "not enough" part is year-round training, dedicated camps, and LISTENING to people that are smaller and smarter than he is.  He'll listen closer now, I think.

I also want to comment on how much more humble and refined that Lesnar seemed in pre-fight interviews, and how much more gracious and realistic he was in defeat (and no, it wasn't just the beard).  That's a good sign.  The man has only seven MMA fights in his lifetime, and five of them were victories.  Two of those victories were in defense of the HW Championship belt.  That is a crazy fucking record, which might still hold strong in the Hall of Fame a hundred years from now. He's not going anywhere.  I'm still terrified of Brock Lesnar, even if Cain Velasquez isn't.

And yet... the words "Fedor" and "Emelianenko" seem less and less relevant with each passing day.  Man, did M-1 screw that shit up.




Unrelated note:

I just watched one of the many Bellator's that are sitting on my DVR, and was mildly amused by the concept of Roger Huerta fighting the champion Eddie Alvarez, without the belt on the line.  I mean, I know that challenger Pat Curran is injured.. but what do you expect after a tournament competition?  Just the idea that a promotion's Champion would be set up for a non-title fight against a "Sports Illustrated Cover Boy", billed as a Super-Fight?  Can you imagine a UFC Champion taking a non-title fight within his own weight class?  Yeah, it's just absurd. Strikeforce does that shit too. What do you do if the champ loses, but the belt was not on the line?  I mean, what do you do - he still goes home with the belt?!?  But hats off to Roger for hanging in there and shaking off Hollywood for a minute.  Too bad Alvarez is one of the best LW in the world.  Unless M-1 steps into the mix, he should be signing with the UFC when his Bellator contract is up.  Although Strikeforce is already looking to book Alvarez/Melendez.  I guess the UFC will just cherry-pick the winner of that bout.

Tickets are in hand for UFC-123.  I've been calling for Machida/Rampage for years now, and I'm finally going to bear witness to the outcome - live, in person.  Machida 3rd Round TKO.  Machida will be wearing the LHW belt again before the end of 2011.  Here's to overcoming obstacles!  The scary thing is imagining where Jon Jones will be at the end of 2011.  Man, what a year in MMA can do... I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I fucking love this sport.

[adamarchy]

So true Trav, so true.

I think Lesnar is going to need more than a good striking coach, though. I think his diet has to be a major consideration going forward, as well as how he works out. Everything he's done has been to feed his size and muscle mass and adding good striking to his repetoire and the endurance required to maintain a diverse mma fighting style will likely require him to drop a little weight, permanently - not just before fights.

What makes Velasquez so good is that he's fighting his fight at his true weight. He was able to move around without concerted effort. The way he looked out there, and how coordinated he looked, I wouldn't bet on anyone taking his belt for a long while.



Now as far as Huerta/Alvarez, I totally agree and also think Hector Lombard (fighting tonight - and this will be a title fight; Megumi Fujii will also be fighting in the tournament finale, did I mention how much I love that girl?) will also be an inevitable defection from Bellator - providing Shlemenko doesn't pull off a miraculous upset. Bellator's belt holders are miles above all of their competition. It was so bad last week, that first leg kick hobbled Huerta so badly, the "boy is this guy completely outclassed" light went on less than a minute into the fight. I was surprised Roger hung on as long as he did.

[exponent]

No sure if y'all have seen this shit...but I thought it was HILARIOUS! Gettin called out by ol' Undertaker, immediately after gettin your ass handed to you. Insult to injury? Abso-fuckin-lutely. 

  [[ no lurker link viewing ]]
[[ please clone up or clone in ]]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjHtxPew5Os

[BeatJunkie]

In conjunction with improved stand-up training, Lesnar needs to borrow GSP's sports psychiatrist... Can you teach one fight instead of flight???  Cos Lesnar sure don't look composed when he gets hit.  He should fly his azz to Holland and train with Mike's Gym for 6 months... getting smashed up by the likes of Badr Hari and Manhoef might help that chin of his ;p

Velasquez appears to be too well-rounded for the rest of the HW division imo.  Does leave himself a bit open at times striking, so I suppose JDS could land a nite-nite on him, but everyone knows Cain is gonna take that one to the mat, unless JDS has Aldo-like TDD.

Fujii ftw.

[adamarchy]

Well he's from Minnesota, so I think if he looks to anyone to work out his striking with, it would be someone like Brett Rogers and some of the guys from his camp. Or maybe over to Milwaukee to train at the Duke Roufus gym. I just don't see Lesnar as the kind of guy to go far from his base to train.

[BeatJunkie]

Well he's from Minnesota, so I think if he looks to anyone to work out his striking with, it would be someone like Brett Rogers and some of the guys from his camp. Or maybe over to Milwaukee to train at the Duke Roufus gym. I just don't see Lesnar as the kind of guy to go far from his base to train.

I agree with this... and that will potentially be his downfall if he is too stubborn to realize he needs an evolution within or (preferably) outside of his camp, 'cos rolling with a bunch of mammoth grappling buddies (no matter how qualified their wrestling credentials) just isn't gonna cut the mustard any longer.  Though a commitment with the Roufus gym would be about as close to Holland as he'll get.  Granted he did spar with Pat Barry in prepping for Velasquez and we see how well that worked out, but he needs a full-time striking camp, not a few weeks with Barry.

[Detroitbootybass]

It's about time that the UFC absorbes the WEC. It was silly to have the same weight classes duplicated and it's high-time that the UFC have some of the lower weight classes as they tend to be quite exciting.

[ditch.trilogy]

Yeah - this is exciting news.  Hopefully the UFC brand can turn more people on to the lighter weight classes, and perhaps we'll see the addition of Flyweight down the road.  This has been a long-time coming, but the news caught me by surprise today.  I'm glad to see it happening, but part of me will miss the WEC/Versus production quality.