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MMA-GAF |OT4| BangBros

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Chamber

love on your sleeve
Personally I want Overeem to get the shot, but beating Browne, even in 30 seconds won't do much convincing. He needs one more fight. Which is why the Werdum vs Nog needs to be a contender fight. If Reem destroys Browne than he should fight Nog if he loses to Werdum, or Nelson or Mir

He doesn't need to do any convincing when the only competition is Nog on a 2 fight win streak.
 

MjFrancis

Member
JDS is the only legit competition Cain has faced.

If you want to convince me otherwise, this thread is going to have to take a 180 degree turn on Big Nog or praise victories over a diverticulitis-stricken stuntman and beating the same Brazillian can within a year.

Anyone coming off a one-fight win can be a contender in this environment. Cain beat a can twice and gave JDS a legendary beatdown. That's one legit win and two bum fights, folks.
 

Vio-Lence

Banned
and who ya'll crapping thinking that deserves got anything to do with title shots in the UFC.

Overeem will get the next shot if he beats Travis B. Uncle Dana and Joe Silver can't risk him fighting again with his porcelain chin.
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
JDS is the only legit competition Cain has faced.

If you want to convince me otherwise, this thread is going to have to take a 180 degree turn on Big Nog or praise victories over a diverticulitis-stricken stuntman and beating the same Brazillian can within a year.

Anyone coming off a one-fight win can be a contender in this environment. Cain beat a can twice and gave JDS a legendary beatdown. That's one legit win and two bum fights, folks.

I've always said the who beat who argument goes straight to hell in the Heavyweight division. Depending on how cynical you want to be, you can say JDS and Cain's only legit victories are over each other.
 

dream

Member
AGREE WITH VIOFRIEND

When Alistair is getting paid what he's getting paid, and has the skill level that he has, it is imperative that you make your money off of him ASAP. Between his tenancy for gormandizing and his shockingly poor fighting ability, he's just too much of a loose cannon to build around in the long term. Feed him to Cain, hope for a decent buyrate, then send him back to Strikefarce.
 

MjFrancis

Member
I've always said the who beat who argument goes straight to hell in the Heavyweight division. Depending on how cynical you want to be, you can say JDS and Cain's only legit victories are over each other.
There's an argument that Cain needs a few more victories over capable opponents, then there's a stupider argument that JDS's only legit victory is a 64 second fight against Velazquez. I know you're not necessarily taking that argument, but JDS, before being picked apart in the most humiliating one-sided fight since Diaz v. Cerrone, had the most impressive heavyweight résumé in the UFC.

I'll agree that Overeem gets a shot because it's the moneymaking fight right now. He either wins his next one and gets a title shot or the UFC loses money hands over fists in their most embarrassing debacle since Kimbo Slice.
 

Keen

Aliens ate my babysitter
There's an argument that Cain needs a few more victories over capable opponents, then there's a stupider argument that JDS's only legit victory is a 64 second fight against Velazquez. I know you're not necessarily taking that argument, but JDS, before being picked apart in the most humiliating one-sided fight since Diaz v. Cerrone, had the most impressive heavyweight résumé in the UFC.

I'll agree that Overeem gets a shot because it's the moneymaking fight right now. He either wins his next one and gets a title shot or the UFC loses money hands over fists in their most embarrassing debacle since Kimbo Slice.

Browne by KO in the first.
 
I don't think HW is shallow at all. Its just that anyone can KO anyone on a single night. TBH, this is the best HW has been since PRIDE.

HW division was only shit in the UFC circa 2003/2006 Tim Sylvia/Arlovski era.
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
I don't think HW is shallow at all. Its just that anyone can KO anyone on a single night. TBH, this is the best HW has been since PRIDE.

HW division was only shit in the UFC circa 2003/2006 Tim Sylvia/Arlovski era.

It's gone from a puddle to a kiddie pool. It's shallow, breh.
 
I dont know that its shallow as far as fighter ability goes but I will say it has the least diversity of offense of any division. Most guys are out there slangin those bungalows, looking for KOs. Not many heavyweights seem to want to grapple, wrestle, or show off jiu-jitsu skills. Look at JDS this past weekend as an example. He's a bjj blackbelt vs an opponent that could get submitted in his bed getting tangled up in the blankets, but did JDS ever even attempt a takedown? Nope.

Actually now that I think of it, I'd be interested in seeing percentages of wins via sub and KO compared across all weight classes. I wonder how HW compares to the rest.
 
I dont know that its shallow as far as fighter ability goes but I will say it has the least diversity of offense of any division. Most guys are out there slangin those bungalows, looking for KOs. Not many heavyweights seem to want to grapple, wrestle, or show off jiu-jitsu skills. Look at JDS this past weekend as an example. He's a bjj blackbelt vs an opponent that could get submitted in his bed getting tangled up in the blankets, but did JDS ever even attempt a takedown? Nope.

Actually now that I think of it, I'd be interested in seeing percentages of wins via sub and KO compared across all weight classes. I wonder how HW compares to the rest.


He actually did in the 2nd when Hunt hurt him
 

dream

Member
UFC is going to starting its own 24 hour network featuring both new and old footage but it is not targeting North America for launch.

The network, set to be up and running before the end of this year, is targeting Mexico, Central and South America (with the exception of Brazil as UFC already has existing contracts in place).

The network would air all UFC events as well as fill out its programming days with regular ancillary programming like exists on Fuel in the U.S.

In addition, the network will feature endless hours of historical programming, which will not only include UFC content but content from Pride, WEC and Strikeforce.

Televisa, the dominant network in Mexico, is partnering with UFC with the project. To help promote the launch, Televisa will be airing UFC events nationally.

Good luck with that.

PS, essays coming soon.
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
People are jaded for the sake of being jaded. The division has more depth than many others in the UFC -- one issue is that there is a clear lack of new talent in the division.

iCGuChkmYIe6j.gif
 

dream

Member
Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos are set up for their third meeting over the UFC heavyweight title coming off UFC 160, where both scored convincing victories in the two big matches.

The champion and former champion have become the two most dominant heavyweights in UFC history. Velasquez (12-1), aside from his one punch knockout loss to Dos Santos on November 12, 2011 on FOX, has never lost a minute of a fight during his career, let alone another round. He signed with UFC after only two fights, with a reputation from training that he was already the best heavyweight in the world.

Dos Santos (16-2), has won 10 of his 11 UFC fights. With the exception of his 12/29 loss to Velasquez, where he lost all five rounds in a lopsided decision, he had never lost a round in UFC competition.

T.J. Grant established himself as the next challenger for lightweight champion Benson Henderson with a first round stoppage of favored Gray Maynard. While Dana White had said that the winner would get the next title shot he later admitted that if the winner didn’t look impressive, that Josh Thomson would have gotten the shot. Until this weekend, fans were more interested in Thomson than any other challenger, but Grant’s win over someone who has been a UFC stalwart for years was more than convincing.

Nothing was said as far as when or where the match will take place. There is an idea floating around to try and put on the biggest show in company history at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas this fall. Several things would have to fall into place for this to happen, the key being Anderson Silva retaining the middleweight title against Chris Weidman, and not being banged up in the process. In addition, Jon Jones would have to be recovered from his own toe injury, and UFC would have to work out a deal to get the two of them to fight. Each has his own reasons, but neither has exactly clamored to fight the other. Having all those things fall into place makes this very much a longshot of actually happening.

The idea would be to have Silva vs. Jon Jones and Velasquez vs. Dos Santos at the stadium, in October, at the same time as the state fair of Texas, perhaps on 10/12 or 10/19. That much is known to be at least something talked about. With Madison Square Garden seeming more and more unlikely for November, this show could be billed as UFC 20th anniversary show, with the idea of trying to repeat the success of UFC 100.

Keep in mind that the 20th anniversary aspect of the show is something that hasn’t been discussed with me, and it’s just that the timing seems right with UFC’s first show being on November 12, 1993. Dana White had talked about plans for a 20th anniversary show in mid-November in Madison Square Garden at a time when they thought this would be the year they would be legalized in New York. Obviously such a lineup would be something that could be pushed as the biggest event in company history and rival UFC 100.

The entire main card saw every winner do so in impressive fashion. Glover Teixeira submitted a tough James Te Huna quickly, and is right near a title shot at light heavyweight. After the fight, his manager, Ed Soares, suggested that Teixeira should next face the winner of the 6/15 Edmonton main event with Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans. Beating a name fighter like whichever of those two wins, should lock the Brazilian up for a title shot.

Donald Cerrone handled K.J. Noons via decision in the PPV opener. With Josh Thomson’s lightweight title hopes being dashed by Grant’s performance, Thomson suggested a fight with Cerrone to be next on his agenda. Cerrone was fine with that.

UFC 160 had a so-so undercard but a very strong main card, where all the winners looked impressive and appear to be set up for major matches later this year.

The show drew 11,089 fans, a few thousand shy of a sellout, to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, for a gate of $2,942,000. It was the smallest crowd for a UFC event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena of the modern era, dating back to the March 22, 2002, show in the building headlined by Randy Couture vs. Josh Barnett, which drew about 10,000 fans. About $2 million worth of tickets were sold to the general public and the rest were casino buys. Even though not close to sold out, the crowd was rabid, with large vocal fan bases coming from Brazil and Canada, as well as a major Mexican-American contingent.

Because of Memorial Day, we don’t have details yet on the prelim ratings, although they did about 1.3 million viewers, down slightly from the 1.38 million number for the 4/27 show. We also don’t have even any preliminary numbers on PPV. However, the usual indicators that are good at predicting numbers were not strong here. All indicators look to be well down from UFC 159 on 4/27, with Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen, as well as well behind Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche.

Velasquez vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva looked to be a tough sell as a main event. The positives were that Velasquez does have strong appeal in the Mexican-American community, and the world heavyweight championship should signify something major. But that was offset by the first meeting between the two fighters, on May 26, 2012, in the same arena, saw Velasquez take Silva down and turn the fight into a bloody horror movie. It was so one-sided and gruesome that few who saw it would have though Silva stood much of a chance in the rematch. And as it turned out, he didn’t stand much of a chance, as Silva lost even more quickly the second time out.

Most saw Dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt in a battle of big punchers as the match with the most interest. But while Hunt has a cult following, to the mainstream, he wasn’t box office, and for all of Dos Santos’ wins and his likeability factor, he’s never connected as a top tier star in the U.S.



Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate, the match on March 3, 2012, that was the key ingredient in women coming to UFC, will be rematched after the two coach the next season of The Ultimate Fighter.

The idea of Rousey vs. Tate II was considered the most marketable plan for the fall season of Ultimate Fighter, but the plans were seemingly spoiled when Cat Zingano finished Tate on 4/13 in Las Vegas in one of the year’s most exciting fights.

However, Zingano suffered a severe right knee injury last week in training. She torn her ACL and her meniscus, requiring reconstructive surgery, which she got on 5/28, where surgeons used an Achilles from a cadaver to reconstruct Zingano’s knee. The surgery was a success. As coincidence would have it, her surgery was on the same day as filming of the new season was to begin.

Captured on camera was Rousey on her first day, seeing Tate show up as her opposite coach instead of Zingano. UFC kept the Zingano injury quiet to get the “real” reaction from Rousey for the first episode of the show, which will air on 9/4 on Fox Sports 1.

Rousey reportedly stormed off the set, thinking that somehow Tate had been brought in to replace her. But after being told, she recognized it was for the best, and cut interviews saying it would make for a better season. Rousey had said before the Tate vs. Zingano fight that she would rather fight Zingano as a new opponent, but that Tate would be better for the marketing aspect of the show and the fight.

Rousey finished Tate with a first round armbar on 3/3 on a Strikeforce show in Columbus, OH, to win the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title. The title was moved over and became the UFC belt when Strikeforce folded.

Tate and Rousey had a very legitimate war of words, and between the heat and crowd excitement that night in Columbus, OH, that sealed the deal on Dana White doing an about-face on women fighting in UFC.

Tate had claimed that Rousey had used her mouth, for promos, and her looks, to leapfrog ahead of Sarah Kaufman, who had earned the title shot. Tate was against the match, feeling Rousey hadn’t earned it, but was largely forced into it. Rousey had noted how hypocritical it was for Tate to claim that someone unfairly had used their looks to get ahead in the sport, since Tate’s fame was largely based on one of her body parts, although that body part is not how she submitted Marloes Coenen in Chicago and legitimately won the title.

“This is what we really wanted all along,” Rousey told Yahoo! Sports. “Everyone said an Ultimate Fighter between me and Miesha would be the best. We have a personal history with each other and this is a personal show. For some reason, me and Miesha are intertwined in fate like Ali and Frazier or something like that. I think people will look back at this as one of the monumental rivalries and look back at this as one of those things that really cemented women’s MMA.”

But the reality is that a year later, perspective from both makes it hard to really push hatred. Tate recognizes that not only did Rousey beat her for the title, but her mouth, her looks and her ability is what put women’s MMA in the spotlight. The idea what she did was bad for the sport was blown to smithereens.

Similarly, Rousey recognized that, whether she was the best fighter or not, that Tate gets more attention than any other female fighter and is the second biggest star. She was clearly the best person to put in the coaching position will draw bigger numbers against her than anyone except Cris Cyborg.

Tate was pulled from her 7/27 FOX fight with Liz Carmouche. While scheduled as the first match on the FOX show, it appeared to be the most looked forward to match on the show to the public. Carmouche will be given a new opponent.

Rousey vs. Tate will headline the December UFC PPV show in a title match, tentatively set for 12/28. It will continue the pattern this year where the challenger had lost their previous fight headed into a PPV title match. But once again, as far as complaints go, there were no other options. Sara McMann doesn’t have the name, and may not be the right personality to coach TUF. Ultimately, the only choices were Tate or Carmouche for the spot. Tate would have been my pick of those two for right now.

Zingano has been promised a championship shot in 2014 after she recovers from surgery, which with it being major, would likely be close to one year from now.


Reza Madadi, the charismatic former Iranian wrestler who was voted the most popular fighter in Sweden last year, was arrested on 5/24 and charged with aggravated theft and abetting larceny.

Madadi, 32, nicknamed “Mad Dog,” because of an intensity reminiscent of 80s pro wrestler Buzz Sawyer, has a 13-3 record in the UFC’s lightweight division.

According to a story in Expressen, a Stockholm tabloid, Madadi, referred to as “one of Sweden’s most successful star athletes,” was arrested after a car chase following a burglary.

The report said that just before 5 a.m. that morning, the alarm went off at “Bottega Veneta,” in Stockholm, an exclusive handbag store. According to the store’s surveillance cameras, three people were trying to break in, banging on the door with a metal object for approximately five minutes before they were able to get inside.

When the men came inside, they allegedly took the most expensive bags and ran out, stealing goods valued at about $150,000. It appeared they knew what they were looking for.

Police chased the vehicle and stopped them, taking two of the men into custody. Madadi was also arrested in 2009 on allegations of being involved in a cash depot heist, but was acquitted of all charges. He had other offenses years earlier, which may have played a part in his inability to get a visa to fight in the U.S., where he was scheduled to face Michael Chiesa on the 7/27 show in Seattle. He was replaced a few weeks ago by Jorge Masvidal.

Madadi debuted with UFC on the April 14, 2012, show in Stockholm, where he defeated Yoislandy Izquierdo via guillotine submission. He lost a split decision in his second UFC bout on 10/13 in Brazil to Cristiano Marcello, but rebounded with an exciting come-from-behind win over Michael Johnson on 4/6 in Stockholm. Madadi was the most popular fighter on the latter show.

Madadi’s public defender, Ivan Fialdini said, “My client denies the charges against him. I cannot say much more until we see how this evolves.”


Because of space limitations, we’ll talk more about this next week, but Forrest Griffin and Matt Serra are both retiring, and Dana White announced that on 7/5, at the Fan Expo, that Griffin and Stephan Bonnar will go into the UFC Hall of Fame together. White announced it after UFC 160, even though he noted he had yet to talk to Bonnar. White pushed Griffin to retire when his body broke down in two straight training camps. He said Griffin has money and a beautiful family and doesn’t need to fight anymore. Griffin balked, but after a couple of injuries while trying to get ready for fights, he said he pretty well made the decision in March. White called him up to publicly announce it to the press at the press conference after UFC 160. White said that he feels B.J. Penn has taken too much punishment and would like to see him retire. As for Rich Franklin, he said Franklin hasn’t taken the level of punishment, even though he was knocked out badly in his last fight. Bonnar going into the Hall of Fame puts the UFC Hall of Fame at the level of the WWE Hall of Fame, in the sense it’s about guys the promotion likes. Bonnar vs. Griffin was an historical fight, but otherwise, Bonnar was a journeyman fighter, who never came close to even challenging for a title, letting alone winning. He only had one PPV main event his entire career, and that was UFC’s attempt to remake Rocky I where he was the lovable loser facing the best fighter on the planet (against Anderson Silva).


Some more detailed notes and a correction on the rating for the 5/18 show in Santa Catarina, Brazil. The final rating was 0.91, with 1.33 million viewers. Viewers per home were higher than any pro wrestling or MMA show in a long time. The show did a 1.08 in Males 18-34, which isn’t good at all for UFC, but a strong 1.60 in Males 35-49.


The advances coming up are not like they have been so far this year. The next show, which is 6/8 in Fortaleza, Brazil, with the finals of the second season of Ultimate Fighter Brazil (ratings were way down compared to the first season) has sold 4,000 tickets for $300,000. That show is headlined by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Fabricio Werdum in the coaches battle. 7/6 for the Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas has sold 5,000 tickets for $2 million. Given how the place was scaled with $1,200 ringside and a $7 million scale, that means all the inexpensive tickets are gone if that many tickets is that gate. That number doesn’t include casino buys, those are tickets sold to the public and it’s really ahead of the usual show pace, although not at the pace of a super hot show. 7/27 in Seattle for the next FOX special has sold 5,000 tickets for $500,000. The two previous Seattle shows sold out immediately. Demetrious Johnson vs. John Moraga is a tough sell as a main event. There’s still two months to go, but Seattle has been such a hot market that I was surprised with this one.


A story in the New York Daily News noted that a scandal that somewhat involved New York state Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver may have doomed MMA being legalized this year. Those in UFC have privately, and in the case of Dana White, even publicly all but acknowledged even before this happened that they weren’t exactly predicting the law would go through this year. It has passed the state senate and would have until the end of June to pass the assembly. The belief is there are enough votes in the assembly but Silver had been keeping the bill from getting voted on in the senate floor, believed to be due to the union politics of the opposition from the Culinary Workers Union. It came out that Silver signed off on a secret settlement with two women who made sexual harassment claims against former Assemblyman Vito Lopez, rather than refer the matter to the ethics committee. Silver is under fire from women’s groups. At first Silver being under fire could have seen a positive, since he was the major block in the assembly passing the bill. But it ended up working in reverse. Key women’s groups in New York, ironically lined up by the Culinary Workers Union, have this year become vocal opponents of legalizing MMA, claiming the sport to be barbaric and sexist. The sexist comes from the Culinary Workers union showing quotes of fighters promos, joke videos, and twitter stupidity, which combined together, didn’t paint a good picture of the fighters. A source close to Silver said allowing a vote on passing MMA could not only upset women’s groups that are already mad at him, but also increase tension between Silver and several assemblywomen that don’t support MMA and are upset with him with how he handled the situation. Lopez resigned from the Assembly last week after two separate investigations accused him of inappropriate conduct toward eight female staff members. The investigations also targeted Silver for signing off on a secret $103,000 settlement to two of the women and not referring Lopez to the ethics committee. An AP story on the subject said quoted Francisco Moya, who sponsored the bill in the Assembly to legalize MMA, saying it has “become an issue that’s raised real concern among the female legislators."
 

dream

Member
Dana White said there are four different matches they have under consideration for the main event of the Boston show. He said one of them was Benson Henderson vs. T.J. Grant for the lightweight title. Obviously, another is Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva. A third, which hasn’t gotten out yet, is Wanderlei Silva vs. Vitor Belfort. Obviously the idea there is that would be a more explosive fight and Belfort can be built for a match with Anderson Silva while Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva can’t. It’s a risk in the sense every fight is, but if they do get a big audience and Belfort does what he did the last two times, it’s a good addition to pushing Anderson Silva vs. Belfort.


The thing is the company has to have main events for TV’s on 8/28 and 9/4, plus an 8/31 PPV card, during a period when most of the biggest stars aren’t going to be available. Of the champions, Velasquez would be September at the earliest, Jon Jones is up in the air because of his toe but they aren’t going to put him on a TV card, GSP won’t be on a TV card, Henderson should be booked either 8/17 or 8/31, Jose Aldo is fighting 8/3 so he’s out of the picture, Renan Barao may be available but he’s not a draw and Ronda Rousey isn’t fighting until December.


This is not a done deal or anything, but there is work in the direction of Michael Bisping headlining an October show in Manchester, England. A name thrown out as a possible foe is Cung Le. Bisping himself wants to fight earlier because he wanted to get four fights in this year (he’s had two so far, with Belfort and Alan Belcher).

Luke Rockhold took to Twitter to challenge Bisping. Rockhold has had major heat since Bisping went on UFC Tonight and claimed he got the better of Rockhold in training. Rockhold challenged that viewpoint, and most in UFC thought it broke protocol since training isn’t a fight and you’re never supposed to say that you beat a star up in training. Bisping responded to the challenge by telling Rockhold to get a win in UFC before challenging him.

That resulted in Costa Philippou, noting he had several wins in UFC, challenging Bisping.


When Ed Soares was approached about the possibility of Belfort vs. Anderson Silva for the title, he was very strongly against the idea. Silva didn’t want to fight Chael Sonnen with TRT, but in the end did because it was so big of a fight. It’s the weird thing because Silva vs. Belfort is the obvious “sports” fight and the obvious “business” fight for whoever wins between Silva and Chris Weidman based on all usual standards. Yet for anyone who really follows it, it’s really the worst “sports” fight of all, in the sense the deal with Belfort is if you look like a duck and walk like a duck, no matter how many times people insist you’re a swan, and that it’s unfair to call you anything but a swan, deep down everyone knows you’re a duck.

Dana White was defensive of Belfort, noting that while he’s against TRT, as long as the commissions rule it’s legal, and they approve Belfort and he stays within the allowable limits, it’s fine. White said they tested Belfort throughout camp and at the show, but didn’t have the results back yet.

Here’s the flaw with the TRT issue, besides the idea of allowing someone who used steroids in the past to then use it later, and it’s why more research is needed. The first is the concept of muscle memory. If the body has previously built up a certain level of muscle, if something happens and you stop training, or cease steroid use, once you go back, it usually takes little time to rebuild to very close to your former level. It’s why if you take a guy who is 35 who did bodybuilding at 25 but is now out of shape, and take another guy who is in better shape at 35 but never did bodybuilding, and start them on the same program, the bodybuilder will make gains far faster even though he started out of shape. Not all the gains you make on steroids go away upon ceasing use, and if you go back, even on small doses, you’ll get some of those gains back. The second is stacking, which so many athletes do, using undetectable HGH with TRT. The TRT magnifies the gains of HGH at well above the level the HGH by itself would deliver. I’m not saying Belfort is doing this, just that when you see major changes and are aware there are fighters doing this, it’s another reason why the problems with approving TRT to those with low testosterone isn’t so simple because of the needs of the very few who do need it for a legitimate medical issue, and the fact that there is no way to determine whether the need is because someone has a legitimate issue or someone burned out their system from prior steroid use. In addition, many if most doctors, at least in Las Vegas, who prescribe TRT, also prescribe HCG to go along with it. As an example, Alistair Overeem absolutely medically needs TRT based on the results of a number of tests he’s submitted which have consistently shown him to have dangerously low testosterone, and when that came out, that was hardly a shock. But should he be cleared for it because he’s now competing with such a low testosterone level that it had to significantly negatively affect his performance in the Bigfoot Silva fight as compared to the Brock Lesnar fight?


Georges St-Pierre is almost surely facing Johny Hendricks next. Dana White finally spoke to him this past week. St-Pierre told White that he wanted Hendricks and not to wait until July to start putting the match together. He told White he was 100% convinced that Chris Weidman (who he has trained with) will beat Anderson Silva, so that will take the bloom off the rose of GSP vs. Silva. White said GSP would not be fighting on 9/21 in Toronto. He had previously said they wanted the next GSP fight in Las Vegas but that was months ago.


(Look at this chickenshit motherfucker.)


Jones and Alexander Gustafsson seem like they want to fight each other next and Dana White sounded on board with it. They were both in Russia over the weekend on non-UFC business and were at the show in Moscow headlined by Bob Sapp vs. Alexander Emelianenko. They were introduced and did a staredown, after which Gustafsson claimed he saw in his eyes that Jones was afraid. The two had been going back-and-forth on Twitter. White said that he didn’t sense a lot of interest in Jones vs. Lyoto Machida (the other alternative for the next title fight). Jones has said he doesn’t want another fight with Machida, noting he’s a difficult opponent to train for, already beat him, and the first fight didn’t draw well. My thoughts are a rematch would likely do the same or worse, although I honestly don’t think there would be an appreciable difference with Gustafsson as an opponent but it’s a chance for Jones to deliver a more exciting fight.


Fallon Fox, the transgender fighter, who had a sex change operation at the age of 30, had her first nationally televised fight on 5/24, stopping Allana Jones in the third round of a boring fight. The fight, from the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, FL, promoted by the Championship Fighting Alliance, had only sold about 600 tickets going into the final day even with all the publicity generated. Mark Cuban, part-owner of AXS, claimed there would be 500,000 to 1 million viewers watching the show, a figure that sounds completely ridiculous on the surface given AXS’ limited penetration. Fox passed all the ABC requirements to get licensed, as well as requirements that would allow her to compete in the Olympics. But it was still very controversial Florida approved her. Pretty much everyone, whether it be commissions or promoters who have women’s fighting, are uncomfortable. Nobody wants to be accused of discrimination or come on the wrong side of powerful lobbying groups. At the same time, I don’t think many are comfortable with her fighting against other women. In a sense, with Fox not doing a lot of damage early, then blowing up, before winning via submission with a knee across the throat, she may have made things better for herself than if she had scored a quick first round knockout. The feeling watching the fight is that she wasn’t a very good fighter, and thus, it wouldn’t be unfair to put her against other women. The problem to me here is the same if it looks like a duck issue. Fox has the bone structure and upper body of a male athlete with boobs, in particular the hips and back. She looked a lot like the East German swimmers of the 70s who it later came out were doping heavily. Even tired, she had physical strength far beyond that of Jones. It’s one thing to license her to play in a sport, but it was uncomfortable watching her fighting a woman. But legally, that’s a whole different can of worms. For right now, I’d think the major promotions will avoid using her, but if she keeps winning, there will be pressure to change that. Fox has said her goal is to fight in UFC. Right now UFC can say that she doesn’t have enough fights, plus, she fights at 145 and UFC only has a 135-pound division. Ultimately, it’s going to end up being an issue with commissions. But the issue is Jones may very well meet established sports criteria for being a female athlete, and whether she’s particularly skilled as a fighter or not, there are very significant advantages of being born a man and being one until the age of 30 that remain with her in a fighting situation, no matter what hormone therapy she may be taking today. And some day, whether it is with Fox, who is now 37, or a younger fighter (and Shannon Knapp, the promoter of Invicta said that she is aware of at least one other transgender fighter who has not been publicly revealed who is out there), it is an issue that will have to be dealt with.


Ricardo Mayorga, 39, maybe the biggest name boxer to do MMA of late, as a two-time world champion (Mayorga as a boxer was a big enough name to lose to Shane Mosley, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Felix Trinidad, but also beat Vernon Forrest twice and Fernando Vargas), fought and defeated Wesley Tiffer on 5/3 in Managua, Nicaragua. Mayorga may have set a record as he missed weight by 15 pounds. He weighed in at 175.9 pounds in a fight originally contracted at 155 and the changed to 160, although his opponent only weighed 153. Tiffer, an unknown from Canada who hadn’t fought in more than three years, took Mayorga down and mounted him multiple times but never could finish him. Mayorga was able to reverse a few times and throw some punches from the top. Late in the second round, Mayorga delivered what appeared to be an illegal knee to the spine, which wasn’t called and won when Tiffer couldn’t answer the bell for the third round. Ten days later, because it was an illegal blow that led to the finish, the result was overturned and the match was ruled a no contest. It was pretty sad when they put a boxing world champion with a big weight advantage (as much because Mayorga came in way out of shape), and the entire fight ended up on the ground. It was pretty clear that Mayorga against any decent MMA fighter would have been finished in short order when he was mounted in seconds by a guy 23 pounds lighter than he was, but who also seemed to have no submission skill or finishing ability. Boxing and MMA are two different sports with different skill sets. While many aspects of boxing skills are transferable to part of MMA, the idea a top tier boxer, whether Mayorga fits that bill or not (Mayorga in boxing was more a good heel who the top guys thought would help sell a fight and not be a real threat to them, his titles notwithstanding), would walk into MMA just using boxing skill to dominate is a fallacy that has been disproved time and time again. It’s no different than a good MMA striker going into boxing against a top-tier boxer in his weight class would be torn up.
 

Vio-Lence

Banned
When Alistair is getting paid what he's getting paid, and has the skill level that he has, it is imperative that you make your money off of him ASAP. Between his tenancy for gormandizing and his shockingly poor fighting ability, he's just too much of a loose cannon to build around in the long term. Feed him to Cain, hope for a decent buyrate, then send him back to Strikefarce.

Well said friend, Overeem is destined for a UFC career arc similar to Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic minus the huge pops from Pride Fanboys.
 

Vio-Lence

Banned
Easy money will be made if and when JDS vs Reem happens.

One guy has a granite chin + explosive power. Other guy has the chin of a porcelain doll and no gas tank.
 
One thing I noticed in the Hunt/JDS fight is that JDS likes to move straight back. Cain exploited that in the second fight and he will do it again. Reem could win if he moves him against the cage and doesn't let him escape like Hunt did.


I'm really bummed about Cat. She just had that killer instinct in the 3rd round vs. Fartface that you rarely see in fighters these days.

Same.
 

muddream

Banned
Reem isn't as fast as Cain, doesn't carry a constant takedown threat and his high guard won't save his china chin from MMA gloves. JDS-Reem is the archetypal squash match.
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
A year from now when Reem is champ, we can just pretend like you guys knew it was going to happen all along per typical MMA-GAF hindsight.
 

Vio-Lence

Banned
Reem isn't as fast as Cain, doesn't carry a constant takedown threat and his high guard won't save his china chin from MMA gloves. JDS-Reem is the archetypal squash match.

exactly. these guys watched too many reem videos and bought the hype. probably thought Freddy Lenko was the baddest man on the planet too :)
 
streroids and pain pills for Huntington Beach Bad Boy?

Dude's always been a worker, man. He's more of a natural worker than 2/3rds of the WWE roster.

Tito's had more back surgeries than most, so some pain pills and roids are expected.

I think its hilarious that Jenna seems shocked that Tito is now living in a house she paid for, driving a car she paid for, and cashing those child support checks. She may be a former hooker, but nobody outworks a worker like Tito. What other outcome could possible have occurred?
 

muddream

Banned
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Hahahaha yeah right Ariel. Must've realized he was being too serpentine for his own good and deleted that shit quicker than the healing process of a Brazilian rib injury.
 

Gr1mLock

Passing metallic gas
Dude's always been a worker, man. He's more of a natural worker than 2/3rds of the WWE roster.

Tito's had more back surgeries than most, so some pain pills and roids are expected.

I think its hilarious that Jenna seems shocked that Tito is now living in a house she paid for, driving a car she paid for, and cashing those child support checks. She may be a former hooker, but nobody outworks a worker like Tito. What other outcome could possible have occurred?

Dude dont know know Cheeto fathered those kids with a cracked pelvis and a bad knee?
 
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