Ned Flanders
Banned
O
M
F
G
So my brother had the Ultimate Fighter final on his DVR box for the last week and a half and had yet to watch it. We were hanging out, sifting through his various recordings and ended up throwing on the final after watching one of the half-hour FSN shows to get us hyped up (featuring an old fight with Matt Hughes choking out a guy standing up with Hughes on his back..awesome).
I don't even remember what happened in the first fight.
Shamrock getting his shit speedbagged against the mat in the marquee fight is a fleeting afterthought.
Bonner vs Forrest was the most amazing mixed martial arts match I have ever witnessed. Absolutely fantastically mezmerizing.
I'd watched little of the actual show itself..only sparse moments at home and a couple of episodes that my brother had recorded over the past couple months of the show. In a way, I think I benefitted from not having the buildup because I had no expectations of either fighter. It allowed me to watch the match free of bias. I will say however that I developed an affection for Bonner when they introduced him...Bruce Buffer trailed off his nickname.."The Ammerrriiccaaaaaannnn..."..at this point I was waiting for some cliched post-911 name like "Hero" or "Patriot"...and then came "Pssssyyyychhhoooooooo!!!" and I FUCKING LOST IT!!! Fricking PRICELESS nickname, especially given that he seemed like a nice unassuming guy with an 80's biffcut. The only thing that could have topped that moment for me was if he rushed the octagon buttass naked while cranking a chainsaw full tilt. Bonner you are my fucking hero.
Anyway..the match begins, and what can I say...standup heavy leather brutality. These guys were fucking warriors. Not only was it an active fight with plenty of trading, but the shots were landing solid and consistent. I think it added some to the impact for them both to have a little moppage, because you knew when somebody caught a square shot because his mop went horizontal as his head snapped back. It was great. Wheel kicks, great jabs, heavy knees, chain-link collisions...and it seemed like every time one of them threw the hands, he had to pay by taking a shot of his own. Both fighters seemed relentless.
Regarding the decision, I didn't agree in the sense that I don't think that Forrest ever clearly had the upper hand in the fight, save for early in the first round. However I do think that he did an amazing job of standing in and making Bonner pay everytime he tried to close out the fight. Bonner clearly had him dinged and winded, and in the process of trying to seal the deal, Forrest consistently fought him off, landed shots, and eventually began to tire him out with the knees and jabs. That to me was amazing, but it wasn't enough for me to say that he had the upper hand. At most I would judge it as a clear reason to call the fight a draw, simply because Bonner had established the edge but couldn't close Forrest out. If the fight would have been judged a slim victory for Bonner I would have understood, as it seemed clear by late in the 2nd round that a good flurry would have carpeted Forrest for good. The redeeming thing is, despite my disagreement with the judgment, UFC did the ultimate class move and gave them both a deal. Not only was it classy and appropriate, it was also a no-brainer money move on their part given that people are going to want to see both of them fight again, and more than likely the rematch would be a huge draw.
The fighters handled themselves with tremendous humility and honesty in the afterfight assessment and I think they both called the fight exactly as I saw it. Forrest didn't know how he won and wished at times that Bonner would just finish him, and Bonner couldn't understand how Forrest was able to stand in and fight so hard despite taking his best shots. Their candor and sense of humor was priceless, and in all it felt like one of the best moments in television that I've experienced in a long time. UFC set this up brilliantly to build up to the Coture/Liddell fight (having them run the 2 teams) and did well to throw in a quality fight to cap the amateur bouts as a freebie. They really did everything right, and it was so nice to see how far the sport has come since the struggling days of the mid/late 90's when they were bleeding money and fans were turning to WCW and Pride. Great television all around..I had a smile from ear to ear.
My bonus question is this: What ever happened to Frank Shamrock? I kind of had a gap in my UFC years during the early 2000's, because I used to rent the PPV's (or if not the videotapes when they rolled around) through much of the late 90's and I seem to remember him being the undefeated golden boy through most of that era. Only in the past year and a half have I picked the sport back up in earnest and I haven't heard a peep about Frank or where he went. Obviously Kenny boy has made a comeback, but what happened to lil brother? And also if anybody has any info on Don Frye, one of my UFC faves from days of old..I'm sure he's been out of the game for a while now.
Hurray for brutality on cable TV!!
M
F
G
So my brother had the Ultimate Fighter final on his DVR box for the last week and a half and had yet to watch it. We were hanging out, sifting through his various recordings and ended up throwing on the final after watching one of the half-hour FSN shows to get us hyped up (featuring an old fight with Matt Hughes choking out a guy standing up with Hughes on his back..awesome).
I don't even remember what happened in the first fight.
Shamrock getting his shit speedbagged against the mat in the marquee fight is a fleeting afterthought.
Bonner vs Forrest was the most amazing mixed martial arts match I have ever witnessed. Absolutely fantastically mezmerizing.
I'd watched little of the actual show itself..only sparse moments at home and a couple of episodes that my brother had recorded over the past couple months of the show. In a way, I think I benefitted from not having the buildup because I had no expectations of either fighter. It allowed me to watch the match free of bias. I will say however that I developed an affection for Bonner when they introduced him...Bruce Buffer trailed off his nickname.."The Ammerrriiccaaaaaannnn..."..at this point I was waiting for some cliched post-911 name like "Hero" or "Patriot"...and then came "Pssssyyyychhhoooooooo!!!" and I FUCKING LOST IT!!! Fricking PRICELESS nickname, especially given that he seemed like a nice unassuming guy with an 80's biffcut. The only thing that could have topped that moment for me was if he rushed the octagon buttass naked while cranking a chainsaw full tilt. Bonner you are my fucking hero.
Anyway..the match begins, and what can I say...standup heavy leather brutality. These guys were fucking warriors. Not only was it an active fight with plenty of trading, but the shots were landing solid and consistent. I think it added some to the impact for them both to have a little moppage, because you knew when somebody caught a square shot because his mop went horizontal as his head snapped back. It was great. Wheel kicks, great jabs, heavy knees, chain-link collisions...and it seemed like every time one of them threw the hands, he had to pay by taking a shot of his own. Both fighters seemed relentless.
Regarding the decision, I didn't agree in the sense that I don't think that Forrest ever clearly had the upper hand in the fight, save for early in the first round. However I do think that he did an amazing job of standing in and making Bonner pay everytime he tried to close out the fight. Bonner clearly had him dinged and winded, and in the process of trying to seal the deal, Forrest consistently fought him off, landed shots, and eventually began to tire him out with the knees and jabs. That to me was amazing, but it wasn't enough for me to say that he had the upper hand. At most I would judge it as a clear reason to call the fight a draw, simply because Bonner had established the edge but couldn't close Forrest out. If the fight would have been judged a slim victory for Bonner I would have understood, as it seemed clear by late in the 2nd round that a good flurry would have carpeted Forrest for good. The redeeming thing is, despite my disagreement with the judgment, UFC did the ultimate class move and gave them both a deal. Not only was it classy and appropriate, it was also a no-brainer money move on their part given that people are going to want to see both of them fight again, and more than likely the rematch would be a huge draw.
The fighters handled themselves with tremendous humility and honesty in the afterfight assessment and I think they both called the fight exactly as I saw it. Forrest didn't know how he won and wished at times that Bonner would just finish him, and Bonner couldn't understand how Forrest was able to stand in and fight so hard despite taking his best shots. Their candor and sense of humor was priceless, and in all it felt like one of the best moments in television that I've experienced in a long time. UFC set this up brilliantly to build up to the Coture/Liddell fight (having them run the 2 teams) and did well to throw in a quality fight to cap the amateur bouts as a freebie. They really did everything right, and it was so nice to see how far the sport has come since the struggling days of the mid/late 90's when they were bleeding money and fans were turning to WCW and Pride. Great television all around..I had a smile from ear to ear.
My bonus question is this: What ever happened to Frank Shamrock? I kind of had a gap in my UFC years during the early 2000's, because I used to rent the PPV's (or if not the videotapes when they rolled around) through much of the late 90's and I seem to remember him being the undefeated golden boy through most of that era. Only in the past year and a half have I picked the sport back up in earnest and I haven't heard a peep about Frank or where he went. Obviously Kenny boy has made a comeback, but what happened to lil brother? And also if anybody has any info on Don Frye, one of my UFC faves from days of old..I'm sure he's been out of the game for a while now.
Hurray for brutality on cable TV!!
