Mixed Martial Arts - the Official Discussion & General Info

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Frustrating that both the UFC and Pride claim to want to work together... yet I still dont have my Wanderlei vs Liddel fight.

Sigh...
 
Some news bits:

The final matchups and brackets have been announced for the Pride Lightweight and Welterweight tournaments:

http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=3365

Bracket A
Takanori Gomi vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Luiz Azeredo vs. Naoyuki Kotani

Bracket B
Hayato Sakurai vs. Jens Pulver
Yves Edwards vs. Joachim Hansen

Reserve Fight
Dokonjonosuke Mishima vs. Charles Bennett

Once again: DAMN, this is one stacked tournament! Everybody is surprised at Pride pitting Gomi and Kawajiri together in the first round, since both of them have a great chance at winning the tournament for Japan. I don't even know who to pick to win this tourney, almost all of them have a shot.


In other news, the UFC has released Matt Lindland on a technicality (he wore an online sportsbook shirt into the ring, which was forbidden). Although Lindland is often boring, this precedent bothers me, since it suggests the UFC doesn't care about having the best fighters, only those who can provide flashy KO's and TV personality. Lindland is one of the best in the world at 185lbs, and has more than earned a title shot. And yet he gets booted out of the UFC instead. Way to go Dana :-/
 
Fighters in both tournaments will need to win twice on Sept. 25 in order move onto the finals, meaning including the reserve bouts there will be 14 fights on the card.
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This is just crazy!

Boogie said:
In other news, the UFC has released Matt Lindland on a technicality (he wore an online sportsbook shirt into the ring, which was forbidden). Although Lindland is often boring, this precedent bothers me, since it suggests the UFC doesn't care about having the best fighters, only those who can provide flashy KO's and TV personality. Lindland is one of the best in the world at 185lbs, and has more than earned a title shot. And yet he gets booted out of the UFC instead. Way to go Dana :-/
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This is just stupid. Lindland is boring but it's more important to me to see Rich prove that he is the best at his weight class. Keep your promise Dana. Give Lindland the title shot. At least Lindland believes he'll still get one.
 
14 fights? Insane.

Okay, this event is marked for download, because there's no way all those fights will make it on the NA PPV.
 
BTW, just read that Ian "The Machine" Freeman has retired.

Apparently Forrest Griffin is to fight Elvis S. in the upcoming UFC event.
 
Boogie said:
14 fights? Insane.

Okay, this event is marked for download, because there's no way all those fights will make it on the NA PPV.
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Well it's 12 if you take away the reserve matches. EAch fight will only be 2 rounds given the tournament rules and I also expect any boring decisions will be edited down or we'll get the highlights.

I think the live Japanese broadcast could go on for close to 5 hours!

I wish someone would stream this event on PPlive. That would be the fucking shit.
 
http://www.insidefighting.com/betweenRoundsDisp.aspx?uid=2232
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=604&zoneid=2

Oct 3rd card on Spike
- Evan Tanner vs David Loiseau
- Stephan Bonnar vs James Irvin
- Josh Koscheck vs Drew Fickett
- Chris Leben vs Edwin Dewees
- Thiago "Pitbull" Alves vs Spencer Fisher
- Brandon Vera vs Fabiano Scherner
- Brock Larson vs John Fitch
- Pierre Guillet vs TBA

Well, this looks to be about confirmed now. Nice card. If Tanner/Loiseau isn't exciting, UFN main events are jinxed.

I hope that Quarry getting a title shot stays a rumor. I like the guy but that's a slap in the face to all the MW contenders.

Sherk vs GSP rumor though.. damn, dangerous but I guess why not. If GSP is ready to be champ, he can clean out the division.
 
Asbel said:
http://www.insidefighting.com/betweenRoundsDisp.aspx?uid=2232
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=604&zoneid=2

Oct 3rd card on Spike
- Evan Tanner vs David Loiseau
- Stephan Bonnar vs James Irvin
- Josh Koscheck vs Drew Fickett
- Chris Leben vs Edwin Dewees
- Thiago "Pitbull" Alves vs Spencer Fisher
- Brandon Vera vs Fabiano Scherner
- Brock Larson vs John Fitch
- Pierre Guillet vs TBA

Well, this looks to be about confirmed now. Nice card. If Tanner/Loiseau isn't exciting, UFN main events are jinxed.

I hope that Quarry getting a title shot stays a rumor. I like the guy but that's a slap in the face to all the MW contenders.

Sherk vs GSP rumor though.. damn, dangerous but I guess why not. If GSP is ready to be champ, he can clean out the division.
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hmm, interesting card. The UFC does look like it will be using its live Spike shows as a feeder program, which is fine with me. I thought Tanner/Loiseau was going to be on UFC 55, though. If this news is true, it makes the rumoured UFC 55 card a lot weaker, although I guess GSP/Sherk would make up for it.

As for GSP/Sherk, I say bring it on. Dangerous fight for GSP? Definitely. But if he's going to be the best, he'll have to take dangerous fights. I have faith in my boy :D
 
Asbel said:
You've all probably read it already but I think it's important enough for noone to miss.

Sherdog's interview with Pride President Sakakibara:
http://www.sherdog.com/news/interviews.asp?n_id=3317
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Sakakibara: We don’t test for steroids or we don't have a third party to test for steroids. But we don't think that always the steroid user has an advantage over a fighter who’s not using steroids. And we don’t know who is using steroids and who is not using steroids. But we don’t know if always the steroid users are winning over the non-steroid users.
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WTF? Yeah, that`s the way to become a more mainstream and respected sport. I knew they didn`t do drug testing but this is just ridiculous.

Hmm, I wonder why Phil Baroni suddenly showed up in Pride big and bulky again after those embarrassing losses in the UFC ? Pride is a fucking joke.
 
I know, some of those quotes are maddening.

"And we don’t know who is using steroids and who is not using steroids"

Well of course you don't! You don't test for them! :lol
 
Just in from Insidefighting
The 185-lb winner of The Ultiamte Fighter, Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez, recently agreed to face Nick Diaz in his next bout, according to sources. The exact date of the fight is unknown.
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Wow, I figured they would try to build Diego up more. IIRC, Diaz called out Diego publically a while back. Diego's limits should be tested in this fight and that's something I'd like to see.
 
Wow I feel like such a dunce... I was posting in some general martial arts thread by mistake instead of this one. Oops. =x

genki-and-norifumi.jpg


Knowing all that you guys know, I'm really interested to hear what your thoughts are of the upcoming fight between Genki and Norifumi on December 31st. I am rooting for Genki after seeing his fight with Takaya; Genki getting Takaya into that triangle choke right after he slipped out of the armbar was just beautiful. I'm a bit bias, but Genki is like a master of submissions in my eyes right now. Kid has the superior standup from what I have seen though and those knockout punches of his are pretty brutal, so it should be interesting to see how the fight will turn out and whether it will stay standing or go to the ground.
 
I think KID is going to win by decision. Don't get me wrong, Sudo is a submission wizard but he's probably no better than Caol Uno or Royler Gracie--neither of which gave KID much trouble at all. Granted, Sudo is unpredictable and his standup is better than both of the aforementioned fighters. Still, I see KID taking it. He probably won't be able to finish though.

Either way, should be a really solid fight and K-1 really couldn't have asked for a better final...as far as ratings go at least. Goddamn teenage girls. ;)
 
I thought there was a thread for TUF, but couildn't find it anymore. This is the closest I found.. the HW matchup tonight was pretty boring, but it sounds like next week is gonna be crazy. They hinted that Matt finally goades Jorge into fighting
 
The heavyweights look horrible. Luckily there seems to be some really good talent on the welterweights, and they're the most exciting to watch anyway.
 
SyNapSe said:
I thought there was a thread for TUF, but couildn't find it anymore. This is the closest I found.. the HW matchup tonight was pretty boring, but it sounds like next week is gonna be crazy. They hinted that Matt finally goades Jorge into fighting
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http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=60271&highlight=Ultimate+Figher

Typo in the thread title.

Anyhow, yeah, that fight was atrocious. Tom did absolutely nothing. And Rashad, well, he had great takedown defence, and it was obvious that his stand up was superior, he just didn't use it. Nothing frustrates me more than seeing fighters with good skills not use them.
 
http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=3425

Pride 30 (October 23rd), official:

Quinton Jackson vs. Hirotaka Yokoi
Makoto Takimoto vs. Yoon Dong Sik
Sergei Kharitonov vs TBA
Mark Hunt vs TBA
Kazushi Sakuraba vs TBA
Mirko Filipovic vs TBA
Josh Barnett vs TBA



Quinton Jackson is back in the pride ring, which is a little surprising (he said some stuff on sherdog about how a pride exec disrespected him and that he was leaving the organization). And he's not facing a dreaded chute box team member. Hopefully he does well. We'll see if Saku starts brutalizing people from the thai clinch now too ;b (that would be funny, btw...Quinton Jackson vs Saku #2, with saku's new quintonite in hand?)

The two current matchups are meh, but if those 4 heavyweights become 2 fights then I'll be one happy guy.

Edit: Oh, and yeah, looks like Kharitonov isn't leaving, at least not just yet.
 
Sheesh, I know that TBA guy gets booked for a lot of fights, but five in one night?! I think that'll be too much for him.

But seriously folks, yeah, get rid of those TBAs and put Sergei/Hunt and Mirko/Barnett, and that card will have me salivating.

Rampage/Yokoi does nothing for me though. If Rampage has anything left, he should get through him.
 
Post-fight interview (translated from tatame magazine, full interview here):

wanderlei: "now that the grand prix has finished i can speak. if both of us would have reached the final, we would have accomplished our goal. everyone at chuteboxe agreed that in this situation, the title should be for me."


Shogun and Wandy would've worked it if they met it the finals. Wonderful.
 
Bushido: The Tournament. Unbelievable. 14 fights and not a boring one anywhere.

Gomi *raped* Kawajiri. Raped. Bas went falsetto. And then Gomi had one of the most memorable standup fights ever with Azeredo...again (this time, instead of Azeredo getting brutally KOed he loses several teeth...). Too bad we can't see Gomi vs Hansen 2 in the finals so Gomi can tool him, but Mach really stepped up to the occasion here and they'll probably have a more exciting fight than Gomi vs Yves or Joachim.
 
EviLore said:
Bushido: The Tournament. Unbelievable. 14 fights and not a boring one anywhere.

Gomi *raped* Kawajiri. Raped. Bas went falsetto. And then Gomi had one of the most memorable standup fights ever with Azeredo...again (this time, instead of Azeredo getting brutally KOed he loses several teeth...). Too bad we can't see Gomi vs Hansen 2 in the finals so Gomi can tool him, but Mach really stepped up to the occasion here and they'll probably have a more exciting fight than Gomi vs Yves or Joachim.
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Phenomenal.
Each time I think Pride can't top their last great show they just go out and do it. Bushido: The Tournament is MUST SEE! If you can find it. ;-) WATCH IT!

Gomi is just devestating. I thought Kawajiri stood a chance but not after Gomi got dialed in. He was automatic after that. Sakurai really impressed with his matches. He's like a brand new fighter the way he's fighting now. I'm really looking forward to that match as Sakurai is proving to be more of the technical fighter while Gomi's stand up skills are unmatched at his weight class. I was hoping for an announcement that Genki Sudo would be fighting in Pride, but darn, no dice!
 
Why the spoiler tags? Oh well..

You know, in hindsight, Kawajiri wasn't gonna takedown a bigger wrestler and he sure wasn't gonna knock Gomi out. Bad style match-up for The Crusher but I respect him for staying in it as long as he could. As for Azeredo, these smaller LWs need to see that they can't stand with Gomi even if they are technically the better striker. Looks like the LW will be like most of the other weight classes where the biggest guys in the weight class is gonna dominate. Mach vs Gomi should be good.

And not suprising that Hendo and Busta made it to the finals but poor Chonan. Should have fought a can to get himself back on the winning side.

Some news,

CRO COP VS BARNETT, KHARITONOV VS WERDUM ANNOUNCED
Great title contender matches.

Tito offered Pride contract
I'd like to see this simply cuz I like cross promotion fights.

RUMOR? Nog vs Fedor IV
A little too soon. Nog has really improved his boxing but without significant changes to his style, it'll just repeat their last fight.
 
FINALLY got to watch the tournament. I hate being at school and not having access to the PPVs. And this tournament is amazing.

Some thoughts, and screw the spoiler tags, guys ;)

Gomi is devastating. Clear #1 at 155--err, 160 right now.

Pulver/Sakurai was an awesome fight, and one of the best uses of kicks I've seen outside of a Crocop I think I've ever seen. I think Pulver is just too small for a 160 weight limit, but that might not have mattered here. Sakurai looked amazing in both of his bouts.

Yves/Hansen: amazing fight, but I disagree with the decision. I felt Yves did more to win, but it was a close fight.

I am eagerly looking forward to the finale of this tournament. I think out of all the fighters in this tournament, only Sakurai and Yves have the potential to beat Gomi standing, but it's no sure thing, and Gomi can always elect to take things to the ground. I can't wait.

As for the 183lbs tournament, well, that pretty much ended up as anyone could have predicted, but the fights were still exciting. Henderson and Bustamante both looked great, and again, can't wait for this rematch.

RE: Barnett/Cro Cop 1.5 & Werdum/Kharitonov....I'm speechless. Can't wait. Pride has reduced me to the mindless repetition of adjectives of praise. How the hell do they keep doing this?

Oh wait, rumoured Fedor/Nog 4? No thanks. No reason for that for quite a while, in my opinion. Have Nog clear out the division again before he gets another shot at Fedor. I'd like to see him have to go through Werdum, Barnett and Cro Cop again, or at least two of them, before he gets another chance.
 
Ultimate Fight Night 2 tonight on Spike.

I don't think the card is worth it's own thread though. Hell, it's not even worth giving a full breakdown :P

I'm going to say Leben and Koscheck win. And I'm although Tanner's got to be the favourite against Loiseau, I'm going to go for the underdog on this one and hope that the Crow pulls out something amazing to get the W.

Also:

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=3475

This is ridiculous. Sure, there are a lot of unprofessional MMA sites out there, but pulling the credentials from sites like Sherdog and FCFighter is just unacceptable.

Especially after Loretta Hunt and Josh Gross both contributed to the UFC's Liddell/Horn pre-fight documentary. If you think they're worth bringing in to give commentary on your own documentary, why don't they deserve to be issued press credentials, Dana?
 
We're only guaranteed 3 fights so this is like a mini-event. Other than the Tanner/Crow fight which I think everyone should tune in for, I could take my time getting around to watch these fights if they weren't so easily accessible in the first place. I really hope they show the Heavyweight Vera/Pega-Leve fight because I am interested in the new heavy's the ufc is gathering with supposedly really good ground games. My picks will be Crow by decision, Leben by KO, Koscheck by decision and Pega-Leve by guillotine. Will also be interested to see if ufc can hold a +1.5 rating against wwe raw and monday night football.
 
Hey Boogie, if you have digital cable, there's a new channel called "FIGHT" which is 417 I believe. They show old Pride and K1 matches and even some backyard wrestling things. It's quite good except for the EXXXXTREEEEEEME announcers during commercial breaks.
 
rastex said:
Hey Boogie, if you have digital cable, there's a new channel called "FIGHT" which is 417 I believe. They show old Pride and K1 matches and even some backyard wrestling things. It's quite good except for the EXXXXTREEEEEEME announcers during commercial breaks.
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Yes, I've heard of it (and seen the commercials for it)

Alas, no digital cable for me :(
 
To be specific, they aren't granted into the UFC as part of the press. They won't get the press seats and won't get the back stage passes. They can still purchase tickets and write about it as much as you and I can. I do enjoy Sherdog articles and news from MMAWeekly so I hope they get press credentials soon. Right now, it looks like UFC has hired people to do pre-fight video interviews instead of letting mma websites do them.

http://www.ufc.tv/articles/news/allNews.asp
 
Strike East said:
So wich media outlets were granted credentials for UFC 55?
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There was a rumour that Insidefighting.com was going to be the only internet news site granted credentials. But that was in a thread filled with so much lies, deceit and accusations that I couldn't figure out what was true and what wasn't.

truffleshuffle83 said:
i met matt hughes yesterday at a GNC event. i bet i could take him
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Totally. You should have gone for it ;P


edit: Dana speaking at the UFC 52 press conference: http://mercury.walagata.com/w/mackdaddyflexxx/dana.mp3

:lol
 
I came home and turned it to the channel the UFC events are on and they are pre-showing taped matches i think. There was just a fight between Arlovski and Matschuchenko (sp). This is neat because I've never seen any of the matches outside of what Spike TV has shown stemming from the ultimate fighter TV show. It's really exciting stuff I wish it was more accessible to the average person.

edit: they just had a fight where Buentello won and then a Arlovski vs Buentello match at the next UFC event, so I guess it was just for promotion of their upcoming event.
 
dem said:
Holy crap!
A TUF guy finally lost
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Josh just made a terrible mistake.. Upon being stood up he had almost-instantly went for that diving two-legged takedown. The last time he got nailed with a knee but followed through and fell on the guy and held on for a bit.. He got stood up and immediately dove at him again.

Drew Fickett did a nice job defending from the ground for a lot of the fight though.
 
oooh great defense by loiseau.. strange.. he gave up his back everytime and just defended the choke. Then he finally got top side at the end and dropped some big shots. 1st round down
 
Is anyone more exciting than Loiseau? Maybe GSP... but my god those elbows are VICIOUS. What are they feeding these guys up in Montreal?
 
Those were some good fights. Some suprises but the biggest being Leben pulling out an armbar. Pega-Leve dissappointed though. And most people will find the Kosheck fight boring since there wasn't many strikes and Kos did some lay and pray but for the most part, he was advancing position pretty well and Fickett swept the mount well so I liked that fight too.

Now Loiseau. Patiently defends then explodes with his offense. He gave his back because defending the choke is preferable to defending punches when Tanner gets mount. Loiseau proved his great ground defense with this match and with his superior striking and deadly elbows from guard, I can only see Franklin as a slight favorite when they fight. :D
 
The truth did pretty good, he had a good Thai clinch thats what won him the fight. But i gottta be honest i thought the other guy was going to unload on him, he was a big specimen. As for Tanner and Louisau(sp?) Great choke defence by the crow, he waited for his opening and took it. I think Tanner was mismatched against this powerful and smart striker
 
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