AwesomeSauce
MagsMoonshine
Hey what's going on here...
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
MMA-GAF |OT4| BangBros
- Thread starter polyh3dron
- Start date
- Status
Never once was I irritated during that discussion. Trigger happy mods with Androids and maybe you seemed to be though. Funny considering I rarely discuss gaming here at all so thats moot to me.
Heel said:
I already lost you back at Igor being the GOAT and being entertaining is what makes you the best fighter so we're good.
AwesomeSauce
MagsMoonshine
Entertainment and fighting anyone put in front of you >>>>>> ducking fighters
Yup, about as entertaining about you guys arguing about Dante's haircut and little gymnast wet dreams.
AwesomeSauce said:
Fedor hasn't done either of those. What exactly are we arguing?
Lambda Pie
Banned
i feel like i should pick a corner and yell instructions in Portuguese.
"PEGA ELE, PORRA! DA SURRA NO CARA, CARALHO!!!!"
"PEGA ELE, PORRA! DA SURRA NO CARA, CARALHO!!!!"
Where is your budo spirit friend? Your lack of conviction is disappointing.
as some of my mma gaf bros know im not too fond of guy fieri..which makes this thread awesome
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=514267
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=514267
Budo spirit...who gives a fuck about that? I have a win streak to worry about.
After speaking to my manager, I will only accept if Chris Weidman is fighting the always dangerous Cung Le.
GungHo
Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
I liked that Waking Mars game.
Gentlemen, I rest my case.
dream
Member
Flashback time, old friends.
After three matches lasting a total of 49 minutes, Dan Severn emerged $150,000 richer winning the most-hyped mixed style fighting tournament in American history, the Ultimate on 12/16 in Denver.
Severn, the current NWA pro wrestling champion, opened by defeating 6-8, 325-pound Paul Varelans in 1:01 with a neck crank. He then totally dominated crowd favorite Tank Abbott in a surprisingly one-sided 18:00 match winning a unanimous decision so obvious that Abbott, in a great display of sportsmanship, hopped out of octagon and refused to return before the decision was even rendered. In the finals, Severn escaped a few close calls but largely controlled a 30:00 match against Oleg Taktarov, winning a unanimous decision.
Severn, 37, whose payoff rivalled the biggest one-shot payoff any pro wrestler aside from Hulk Hogan and maybe a few others had ever received in the history of the pro wrestling business, learned from his loss to Ken Shamrock in July. This Severn was 100% prepared, trimmed down to 238 pounds with eight weeks of the best consistent training he said he had ever had in his athletic career that goes back to being a teenage national wrestling in freestyle wrestling. Severn had trained and studied videotapes, preparing largely for Patrick Smith, Tank Abbott, and he figured on Marco Ruas in the finals although he was prepared for Taktarov. Severn's eyes were totally focused and confident going into every match and his performance was a noticeable difference from the Shamrock match. While many were calling Ruas the favorite one week before the event, the night before most predicted Severn to take it all, with the idea being that he would take less punishment from Abbott than the Ruas-Taktarov winner would take from the loser, predictions that ended up being accurate.
The day before the event, Severn found out his opponent in the first round was Varelans, a man much larger than Smith with totally different fighting techniques. He and his entourage did an all-night cram course in their hotel room, watching Varelans videotapes to come up with a strategy to shut him down.
The show came off as almost secondary to the incredible amount of media publicity, both locally and nationally, surrounding the event. The publicity was largely negative toward all involved. The fighters were insulted as barbarian palookas. The fans were insulted as the bloodthirsty lowest elements of humanity. The promoters were insulted as being sleazy and deceptive. Politician after politician, reporter after reporter, jumped on a bandwagon that snowballed into creating an illusion about an event, about the participants and about the fans that was nothing even close to what was going to transpire.
But when the dust cleared, the face of the Ultimate Fight had changed once again. Ultimate Fight, with the introduction of judges decisions and the domination of Severn, a man whose riding skill in wrestling was so strong that it negated most of the offensive tactics of his opponents, emerged looking far more like sport than the unrestrained violence many had portrayed it as. In many ways, the show itself, with very little that would quality even under the loosest definitions as brutality and its lack of serious injuries, was the greatest comeback for the politicians and media who had nearly turned given the phrase "human cockfight" into a household word. It's tremendous ammunition for a debate. But what about for business?
It also came off more like sport than any of its previous shows and incarnations from another companies. The question is, when it comes to the long-term popularity of the event, is that good or bad?
It's a question that is more difficult to answer now than ever before. When it comes to survival of the genre, it is good in a sense that politicians don't try and ban sporting events and this both looked like and its commentary portrayed it as--just a different technical fighting form. But the question has to now be asked, something nobody knows the answer for, is what exactly is drawing most of the viewers?
If the lure is unrestrained violence, and the idea of watching a televised street fight, then you have the catch-22 that turned pro wrestling into what it is today. The most skilled fighters more often than not have the least entertaining fights because they are smart, cautious, and have great defensive skill. And skill, even at its best, can't match up to the lure explosive rage, even when in most cases it's illusory, when it comes to being a drawing card. Look at Mike Tyson. At the same time, when it comes to being a drawing card, in combat or worked combat sports like pro wrestling, personality and name value usually greatly overshadow either skill or rage as drawing components.
If the lure is to see a hybrid sport that has gained a lot of popularity with the public despite being largely shunned by the establishment, that would be another story.
The fact is, kick boxing events, a basically foreign sport brought to America, where boxing has been the king, rarely do any numbers on PPV. Submission wrestling or sport Jiu-Jitsu, the closest sport equivalents to the most recent UFC, have almost no popularity base whatsoever in this country. UFC revolutionized the martial arts world. It changed the way many people look at fighting. It is the closest thing to giving a definite and decisive answer the age old question of what would happen if a boxer fought a wrestler or a judo man fought a karate man. As wrestling people have long maintained, but not as boxing people and martial arts people have taught the public, generally it'll quickly go to the ground and the wrestler would win. But as only shootwrestling and jiu-jitsu aficionados only knew a few years ago, classic wrestling skill in a "true fight" situation as Jeff Blatnick aptly stated during the show, is a means to the end but not an end. Submissions are the end. But buys based on the curiosity of what would happen if you put a black belt karate guys in against a boxer are over.
Ultimately, people are coming to see fights. And people who have watched all the UFCs have a very different idea of what a fight looks like than those who have only seen real fights in the movies or in their wildest imaginations. But will there be enough people, once they know what a real fight looks like, at least among skilled practitioners, that will support a franchise like this on PPV in 1996.
Remember, in 1996, there will be at least two, and probably more, copycat organization form to confuse the mix. And remember also, that even pro boxing, a far more established part of our culture, only really does big numbers on PPV for a scant few marketable names. In every sport or pseudo sport, the hardcore fans want to see the sport performed at its best. No sports, not baseball, not boxing, surely not pro wrestling and not even football or basketball, can survive at anywhere near their current level if they limit their audience to the hardcore fan who knows the stats, the real nuances and really has some genuine working knowledge of the inside of the professions.
The crowd in Denver was very different from the previous UFC shows in Casper, WY and Buffalo, NY. They came to see fights. And while what they saw may not have been exactly what they thought it would be, they were educated enough to enjoy it. The crowd heat and reactions were excellent, and the fans were far more into the matches than at any previous show. In Charlotte, a large percentage of the crowd didn't understand what Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie were doing. The people near ringside who bought the expensive tickets understood and many found it fascinating, but the casual fan no doubt found it boring. There was booing every time they went to the ground. By Buffalo, when Shamrock fought Oleg Taktarov, people knew a little better and accepted it a little more, but still booed when they hit the ground, although not as much. In Denver, the crowd was totally appreciative of the mat work and didn't lose interest in any of the long fights at any point, although they were clearly unhappy with Marco Ruas' performance against Oleg Taktarov. The only real booing, aside from pre-match boos from the Tank Abbott fans directed at his opponent, were directed at Ruas in the closing minutes of the Taktarov match, because Ruas kept backing off and wouldn't go to the ground, resulting in a time limit draw with Taktarov winning a unanimous decision that was controversial only to Ruas and his Brazilian contingent who kept protesting for the rest of the show, and the rest of the night after the show claiming the judges were unqualified. Fans live understood what it was far more than at the previous shows and left on a high note despite three matches going the time limit, and gave both Severn and Taktarov big hands at the end. There was no booing because bouts were going the time limit and the few catcalls from fans reminiscent from earlier shows were largely immediately shouted down. To UFC officials, that has to be taken as a major positive sign that they have educated their audience.
But despite more publicity than ever before in the weeks leading to the event and the toughest field of competitors to date, it doesn't appear the show will be the giant PPV success many who thought the nationwide debate about banning something would turn it into. It appears in that vein similar to the Lawrence Taylor Wrestlemania show.
Although the day after the event is usually far too soon to get any kind of an accurate reading, Campbell McLaren of SEG said it looked as though the show would fall short of a 1.0 buy rate. He blamed it on being the same night as the Tyson fight.
"I'd rather have gone up against the finals of the NBA playoffs. I definitely would have rather gone up against the World Series. At least a World Series game, but maybe not the final game," he said. "This (going against a Tyson fight) was the worst case scenario."
SEG moved the event back so the Tyson fight would end before the regular PPV would begin so the events weren't going head-to-head. There was little doubt going in the Tyson fight was going to have a negative effect on the buy rate, but the question was how negative. Many felt all the publicity would more than offset the damage on bucking Tyson.
He considered what the preliminary indications were as being okay but not great, and with the price raise to $24.95, it may draw more money than any previous UFC show, but will probably far short of some of the recent events when it comes to total buys.
The show drew a turnaway crowd of 2,800 at the Mammoth Events Center.
A. Joe Charles beat Scott Bessac (Pancrase) in 4:38 in what was actually the only back-and-forth match on the entire show. The two traded the advantage during the match before Charles won with a top wristlock.
B. Mark Hall beat Trent Jenkins in 5:29 when Jenkins tapped out after elbows and punches from on top. Jenkins, from Denver, was a last minute sub for Varelans, who was moved into the tournament when Smith canceled. He managed to avoid being taken down for several minutes by hanging onto the cage, and the prelim match ref didn't call for a re-start. Once Jenkins was forced to let go, it was quick work by Hall. Jenkins after quitting ran to the cage and went to leap over the cage, but didn't clear it and fell back in, before getting out of there and storming off.
1. Abbott beat Steve Jennum in 1:15 when Abbott took Jennum down and maneuvered him to the cage, and used a unique tactic of forcing his head into the cage with his neck twisted at a bad angle and using his own head to trap Jennum's head and put more pressure. Both men had trimmed down a lot from their previous appearances. Abbott was down from 280 to 250 because he felt conditioning was his only weakness, while Jennum was down from 210 to 190.
2. Severn beat Varelans in 1:01 with a neck crank. Severn took him down right away and put the pressure on. Varelans waited too long to tap and was laid out in the ring for a while after the match.
3. Taktarov, who was announced at 225 pounds but looked to be about 215, beat David Benetau in 1:15 with an ankle lock. Benetau trimmed down from 255 to an announced 235 but he looked more like 225 and was according to those around him, the most aerobically fit he had ever been in his life. Beneteau trained with famed boxing trainer Emmanuel Steward and with a bodybuilding nutritionalist with the strategy to keep the fight on his feet and use boxing skills, but in fact, he didn't even get an opening to land a punch. All his conditioning work was for not as Taktarov once again caught him in a quick trap.
4. Ruas beat Keith Hackney in 2:43 with a choke. The only reason it took that long was because the two circled each other like boxers before Ruas took him down and turned him. Ruas pounded on him with punches to the back before choking him out.
5. Severn beat Abbott by a unanimous decision from the three judges after dominating him for the entire 18:00. Severn quickly took Abbott down and rode him, throwing punches, knees, palm blows, forearms and elbows on him while Abbott was down using his hands to cover up. Severn held him down and kept pounding him, but was unable to finish him. Abbott finally used the cage to pull himself to his feet and tried a few offensive moves at the end although he was being totally controlled by Severn, and none were effective. He actually broke free in the last minute before hopping the fence before awaiting the obvious judges decision. Abbott was the crowd favorite and his most ardent supporters, a very rowdy group of stripper/biker types, all walked out when he was beaten.
6. Taktarov beat Ruas via a unanimous decision in a less one-sided, but nearly actionless disappointing match in 18:00. Ruas opened Taktarov up when he got on top of him. Taktarov ended up catching Ruas in a near choke, although Ruas was locked up but wasn't in danger of submitting. Taktarov bled pretty bad. John McCarthy, seeing the extent of Taktarov's bleeding, ordered a re-start to check the cut. The doctor ruled the cut wasn't bad and the match continued. Fans were really upset because they thought that it was going to be stopped as there was a decent amount of blood, but at the time Taktarov was in a dominant position. The rest of the match was mainly Ruas dancing away from Taktarov, mainly throwing leg kicks, which Taktarov would answer. Taktarov went down once and Ruas backed away. It appeared Ruas wanted nothing to do with Taktarov on the ground and was even the least aggressive on the feet, where one would have thought he'd have the advantage.
7. Severn won a unanimous decision over Taktarov after a 27:00 match and 3:00 overtime period. Taktarov nearly won right away as he made the same move for the ankle that beat Beneteau, and even though Severn knew it was coming and expected it, he came dangerously close to being locked two, or maybe three times before getting away. Severn regrouped and got on top but Taktarov was in the guard. Severn opened him with head-butts. After a re-start, Severn took him down and started riding him. McCarthy called for another re-start and after some time on their feet, Severn took Taktarov down and began head-butting him. That was basically the story of the match, with Severn clearly dominant and the decision very clear-cut, even though Taktarov actually had the best near finish in the opening moments.
This was a very good live show and an easy thumbs up from me from that aspect. The crowd, which was rowdier than a traditional pro wrestling crowd but not nearly as rowdy as an ECW crowd, for the most part seemed appreciative of the competitors. For those who wanted memorable knockouts or high spots, or even back-and-forth evenly fought matches, they didn't materialize. I noted complaints from readers who have grown used to submission finishes and were disappointed with winners chosen by judges, but the reality is that this tournament would have been an absolute disaster if it wasn't for the judges as all four semifinalist would have been eliminated by the old rules that in a draw, both men are out. It was disappointing in the sense that all the matches in the tournament turned out to be one-sided and there were no toe-to-toe slugfests. Severn's combination of skills, strength and conditioning were far superior to the rest of the field. He also seemed to get a rep from this show as being unable to finish, although he finished Varelans right away, and nobody else has been able to finish Taktarov. Abbott, who was probably the group's biggest drawing card and people saw him as a bad-ass monster, was exposed by Severn. Severn said after the matches that he expected going in that Abbott would be able to go the distance because he was so powerful and his strategy was to keep him off his feet, but said Taktarov was a tougher and more dangerous fighter.
Although nothing is official, the probable future when it comes to PPV events are, provided Shamrock beats Kimo in February, is for a Shamrock-Severn main event on the May PPV. However, after all the training, Severn's immediate plans were to enjoy the win and the holidays and sift through the various doors this victory should open both here and in Japan.
"I don't have any grudges," he said. "I had a life before UFC and I'll have a life after UFC. I'm just waiting to see what will materialize. Right now I just want to enjoy the holidays with my family."
After three matches lasting a total of 49 minutes, Dan Severn emerged $150,000 richer winning the most-hyped mixed style fighting tournament in American history, the Ultimate on 12/16 in Denver.
Severn, the current NWA pro wrestling champion, opened by defeating 6-8, 325-pound Paul Varelans in 1:01 with a neck crank. He then totally dominated crowd favorite Tank Abbott in a surprisingly one-sided 18:00 match winning a unanimous decision so obvious that Abbott, in a great display of sportsmanship, hopped out of octagon and refused to return before the decision was even rendered. In the finals, Severn escaped a few close calls but largely controlled a 30:00 match against Oleg Taktarov, winning a unanimous decision.
Severn, 37, whose payoff rivalled the biggest one-shot payoff any pro wrestler aside from Hulk Hogan and maybe a few others had ever received in the history of the pro wrestling business, learned from his loss to Ken Shamrock in July. This Severn was 100% prepared, trimmed down to 238 pounds with eight weeks of the best consistent training he said he had ever had in his athletic career that goes back to being a teenage national wrestling in freestyle wrestling. Severn had trained and studied videotapes, preparing largely for Patrick Smith, Tank Abbott, and he figured on Marco Ruas in the finals although he was prepared for Taktarov. Severn's eyes were totally focused and confident going into every match and his performance was a noticeable difference from the Shamrock match. While many were calling Ruas the favorite one week before the event, the night before most predicted Severn to take it all, with the idea being that he would take less punishment from Abbott than the Ruas-Taktarov winner would take from the loser, predictions that ended up being accurate.
The day before the event, Severn found out his opponent in the first round was Varelans, a man much larger than Smith with totally different fighting techniques. He and his entourage did an all-night cram course in their hotel room, watching Varelans videotapes to come up with a strategy to shut him down.
The show came off as almost secondary to the incredible amount of media publicity, both locally and nationally, surrounding the event. The publicity was largely negative toward all involved. The fighters were insulted as barbarian palookas. The fans were insulted as the bloodthirsty lowest elements of humanity. The promoters were insulted as being sleazy and deceptive. Politician after politician, reporter after reporter, jumped on a bandwagon that snowballed into creating an illusion about an event, about the participants and about the fans that was nothing even close to what was going to transpire.
But when the dust cleared, the face of the Ultimate Fight had changed once again. Ultimate Fight, with the introduction of judges decisions and the domination of Severn, a man whose riding skill in wrestling was so strong that it negated most of the offensive tactics of his opponents, emerged looking far more like sport than the unrestrained violence many had portrayed it as. In many ways, the show itself, with very little that would quality even under the loosest definitions as brutality and its lack of serious injuries, was the greatest comeback for the politicians and media who had nearly turned given the phrase "human cockfight" into a household word. It's tremendous ammunition for a debate. But what about for business?
It also came off more like sport than any of its previous shows and incarnations from another companies. The question is, when it comes to the long-term popularity of the event, is that good or bad?
It's a question that is more difficult to answer now than ever before. When it comes to survival of the genre, it is good in a sense that politicians don't try and ban sporting events and this both looked like and its commentary portrayed it as--just a different technical fighting form. But the question has to now be asked, something nobody knows the answer for, is what exactly is drawing most of the viewers?
If the lure is unrestrained violence, and the idea of watching a televised street fight, then you have the catch-22 that turned pro wrestling into what it is today. The most skilled fighters more often than not have the least entertaining fights because they are smart, cautious, and have great defensive skill. And skill, even at its best, can't match up to the lure explosive rage, even when in most cases it's illusory, when it comes to being a drawing card. Look at Mike Tyson. At the same time, when it comes to being a drawing card, in combat or worked combat sports like pro wrestling, personality and name value usually greatly overshadow either skill or rage as drawing components.
If the lure is to see a hybrid sport that has gained a lot of popularity with the public despite being largely shunned by the establishment, that would be another story.
The fact is, kick boxing events, a basically foreign sport brought to America, where boxing has been the king, rarely do any numbers on PPV. Submission wrestling or sport Jiu-Jitsu, the closest sport equivalents to the most recent UFC, have almost no popularity base whatsoever in this country. UFC revolutionized the martial arts world. It changed the way many people look at fighting. It is the closest thing to giving a definite and decisive answer the age old question of what would happen if a boxer fought a wrestler or a judo man fought a karate man. As wrestling people have long maintained, but not as boxing people and martial arts people have taught the public, generally it'll quickly go to the ground and the wrestler would win. But as only shootwrestling and jiu-jitsu aficionados only knew a few years ago, classic wrestling skill in a "true fight" situation as Jeff Blatnick aptly stated during the show, is a means to the end but not an end. Submissions are the end. But buys based on the curiosity of what would happen if you put a black belt karate guys in against a boxer are over.
Ultimately, people are coming to see fights. And people who have watched all the UFCs have a very different idea of what a fight looks like than those who have only seen real fights in the movies or in their wildest imaginations. But will there be enough people, once they know what a real fight looks like, at least among skilled practitioners, that will support a franchise like this on PPV in 1996.
Remember, in 1996, there will be at least two, and probably more, copycat organization form to confuse the mix. And remember also, that even pro boxing, a far more established part of our culture, only really does big numbers on PPV for a scant few marketable names. In every sport or pseudo sport, the hardcore fans want to see the sport performed at its best. No sports, not baseball, not boxing, surely not pro wrestling and not even football or basketball, can survive at anywhere near their current level if they limit their audience to the hardcore fan who knows the stats, the real nuances and really has some genuine working knowledge of the inside of the professions.
The crowd in Denver was very different from the previous UFC shows in Casper, WY and Buffalo, NY. They came to see fights. And while what they saw may not have been exactly what they thought it would be, they were educated enough to enjoy it. The crowd heat and reactions were excellent, and the fans were far more into the matches than at any previous show. In Charlotte, a large percentage of the crowd didn't understand what Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie were doing. The people near ringside who bought the expensive tickets understood and many found it fascinating, but the casual fan no doubt found it boring. There was booing every time they went to the ground. By Buffalo, when Shamrock fought Oleg Taktarov, people knew a little better and accepted it a little more, but still booed when they hit the ground, although not as much. In Denver, the crowd was totally appreciative of the mat work and didn't lose interest in any of the long fights at any point, although they were clearly unhappy with Marco Ruas' performance against Oleg Taktarov. The only real booing, aside from pre-match boos from the Tank Abbott fans directed at his opponent, were directed at Ruas in the closing minutes of the Taktarov match, because Ruas kept backing off and wouldn't go to the ground, resulting in a time limit draw with Taktarov winning a unanimous decision that was controversial only to Ruas and his Brazilian contingent who kept protesting for the rest of the show, and the rest of the night after the show claiming the judges were unqualified. Fans live understood what it was far more than at the previous shows and left on a high note despite three matches going the time limit, and gave both Severn and Taktarov big hands at the end. There was no booing because bouts were going the time limit and the few catcalls from fans reminiscent from earlier shows were largely immediately shouted down. To UFC officials, that has to be taken as a major positive sign that they have educated their audience.
But despite more publicity than ever before in the weeks leading to the event and the toughest field of competitors to date, it doesn't appear the show will be the giant PPV success many who thought the nationwide debate about banning something would turn it into. It appears in that vein similar to the Lawrence Taylor Wrestlemania show.
Although the day after the event is usually far too soon to get any kind of an accurate reading, Campbell McLaren of SEG said it looked as though the show would fall short of a 1.0 buy rate. He blamed it on being the same night as the Tyson fight.
"I'd rather have gone up against the finals of the NBA playoffs. I definitely would have rather gone up against the World Series. At least a World Series game, but maybe not the final game," he said. "This (going against a Tyson fight) was the worst case scenario."
SEG moved the event back so the Tyson fight would end before the regular PPV would begin so the events weren't going head-to-head. There was little doubt going in the Tyson fight was going to have a negative effect on the buy rate, but the question was how negative. Many felt all the publicity would more than offset the damage on bucking Tyson.
He considered what the preliminary indications were as being okay but not great, and with the price raise to $24.95, it may draw more money than any previous UFC show, but will probably far short of some of the recent events when it comes to total buys.
The show drew a turnaway crowd of 2,800 at the Mammoth Events Center.
A. Joe Charles beat Scott Bessac (Pancrase) in 4:38 in what was actually the only back-and-forth match on the entire show. The two traded the advantage during the match before Charles won with a top wristlock.
B. Mark Hall beat Trent Jenkins in 5:29 when Jenkins tapped out after elbows and punches from on top. Jenkins, from Denver, was a last minute sub for Varelans, who was moved into the tournament when Smith canceled. He managed to avoid being taken down for several minutes by hanging onto the cage, and the prelim match ref didn't call for a re-start. Once Jenkins was forced to let go, it was quick work by Hall. Jenkins after quitting ran to the cage and went to leap over the cage, but didn't clear it and fell back in, before getting out of there and storming off.
1. Abbott beat Steve Jennum in 1:15 when Abbott took Jennum down and maneuvered him to the cage, and used a unique tactic of forcing his head into the cage with his neck twisted at a bad angle and using his own head to trap Jennum's head and put more pressure. Both men had trimmed down a lot from their previous appearances. Abbott was down from 280 to 250 because he felt conditioning was his only weakness, while Jennum was down from 210 to 190.
2. Severn beat Varelans in 1:01 with a neck crank. Severn took him down right away and put the pressure on. Varelans waited too long to tap and was laid out in the ring for a while after the match.
3. Taktarov, who was announced at 225 pounds but looked to be about 215, beat David Benetau in 1:15 with an ankle lock. Benetau trimmed down from 255 to an announced 235 but he looked more like 225 and was according to those around him, the most aerobically fit he had ever been in his life. Beneteau trained with famed boxing trainer Emmanuel Steward and with a bodybuilding nutritionalist with the strategy to keep the fight on his feet and use boxing skills, but in fact, he didn't even get an opening to land a punch. All his conditioning work was for not as Taktarov once again caught him in a quick trap.
4. Ruas beat Keith Hackney in 2:43 with a choke. The only reason it took that long was because the two circled each other like boxers before Ruas took him down and turned him. Ruas pounded on him with punches to the back before choking him out.
5. Severn beat Abbott by a unanimous decision from the three judges after dominating him for the entire 18:00. Severn quickly took Abbott down and rode him, throwing punches, knees, palm blows, forearms and elbows on him while Abbott was down using his hands to cover up. Severn held him down and kept pounding him, but was unable to finish him. Abbott finally used the cage to pull himself to his feet and tried a few offensive moves at the end although he was being totally controlled by Severn, and none were effective. He actually broke free in the last minute before hopping the fence before awaiting the obvious judges decision. Abbott was the crowd favorite and his most ardent supporters, a very rowdy group of stripper/biker types, all walked out when he was beaten.
6. Taktarov beat Ruas via a unanimous decision in a less one-sided, but nearly actionless disappointing match in 18:00. Ruas opened Taktarov up when he got on top of him. Taktarov ended up catching Ruas in a near choke, although Ruas was locked up but wasn't in danger of submitting. Taktarov bled pretty bad. John McCarthy, seeing the extent of Taktarov's bleeding, ordered a re-start to check the cut. The doctor ruled the cut wasn't bad and the match continued. Fans were really upset because they thought that it was going to be stopped as there was a decent amount of blood, but at the time Taktarov was in a dominant position. The rest of the match was mainly Ruas dancing away from Taktarov, mainly throwing leg kicks, which Taktarov would answer. Taktarov went down once and Ruas backed away. It appeared Ruas wanted nothing to do with Taktarov on the ground and was even the least aggressive on the feet, where one would have thought he'd have the advantage.
7. Severn won a unanimous decision over Taktarov after a 27:00 match and 3:00 overtime period. Taktarov nearly won right away as he made the same move for the ankle that beat Beneteau, and even though Severn knew it was coming and expected it, he came dangerously close to being locked two, or maybe three times before getting away. Severn regrouped and got on top but Taktarov was in the guard. Severn opened him with head-butts. After a re-start, Severn took him down and started riding him. McCarthy called for another re-start and after some time on their feet, Severn took Taktarov down and began head-butting him. That was basically the story of the match, with Severn clearly dominant and the decision very clear-cut, even though Taktarov actually had the best near finish in the opening moments.
This was a very good live show and an easy thumbs up from me from that aspect. The crowd, which was rowdier than a traditional pro wrestling crowd but not nearly as rowdy as an ECW crowd, for the most part seemed appreciative of the competitors. For those who wanted memorable knockouts or high spots, or even back-and-forth evenly fought matches, they didn't materialize. I noted complaints from readers who have grown used to submission finishes and were disappointed with winners chosen by judges, but the reality is that this tournament would have been an absolute disaster if it wasn't for the judges as all four semifinalist would have been eliminated by the old rules that in a draw, both men are out. It was disappointing in the sense that all the matches in the tournament turned out to be one-sided and there were no toe-to-toe slugfests. Severn's combination of skills, strength and conditioning were far superior to the rest of the field. He also seemed to get a rep from this show as being unable to finish, although he finished Varelans right away, and nobody else has been able to finish Taktarov. Abbott, who was probably the group's biggest drawing card and people saw him as a bad-ass monster, was exposed by Severn. Severn said after the matches that he expected going in that Abbott would be able to go the distance because he was so powerful and his strategy was to keep him off his feet, but said Taktarov was a tougher and more dangerous fighter.
Although nothing is official, the probable future when it comes to PPV events are, provided Shamrock beats Kimo in February, is for a Shamrock-Severn main event on the May PPV. However, after all the training, Severn's immediate plans were to enjoy the win and the holidays and sift through the various doors this victory should open both here and in Japan.
"I don't have any grudges," he said. "I had a life before UFC and I'll have a life after UFC. I'm just waiting to see what will materialize. Right now I just want to enjoy the holidays with my family."
Lambda Pie
Banned
bros, need your help since i'm going nuts.
gimme a cool name for a progressive metal/rock band, i'm thinking Prognostic but it sounds cheesy as fuck.
gimme a cool name for a progressive metal/rock band, i'm thinking Prognostic but it sounds cheesy as fuck.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Dolphin Rape
It's a Cerrone fight. Win or lose, that shit never disappoints.
Jest Chillin
Member
I'm a Cerrone fan.. but you must be forgetting the Diaz and Pettis fights. Noons at least shouldn't be as much pressure.
Lambda Pie
Banned
band names, not your hobbies.
impotent rage
Diaz and Pettis fights both offered memorable beatdowns. Like Francis said, entertaining fights win or lose
sazabirules
Unconfirmed Member
Glover vs Bader is set for UFC 160.
Lambda Pie
Banned
...Grimlock...
yeah, Grimlock sounds good, a bit grindcore-ish maybe, but kinda cool. thanks Gr1m.
Someone is getting knocked out in that one
Can Crusher
Banned
Call it Can Locker.
1st Album's title -> True Aluminum
1st Album's title -> True Aluminum
Jest Chillin
Member
When he shuts down and gets beat the hell up? Not at all.
I guess you could say that of Pettis, but the Diaz fight was just shameful. He didn't look like the same fighter who fought for the WEC title twice.
don't hate on the guy with nice hair. you're better than that friend.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Bros, I thought I had a week to read Maugham's Razor's Edge but nope. The test is tomorrow so I am reading the novel right now. 136 of 314 out the way. Well break is over back to reading.
Lambda Pie
Banned
Koons has my eternal love for slicing and dicing Diaz's face.
Ninja Scooter
Member
Bros tell me you saw Jon Taffer go HAM on the owner of the bar with roaches in the liquor bottles this past week?
...who?
BigJonsson
Member
ROFL @ Daily Show segment on horse meat.....
Watching right now. The bar owner looks like a cross between Willem Dafoe and Eric Bischoff.
http://www.spike.com/shows/bar-rescue/collections/l0qooh/lahtdm
BigJonsson
Member
ItAintEasyBeinCheesy
it's 4th of July in my asshole
Walking Dead. Head shot zombies n shit no worries, real peeps. Can't aim for shit. Don't even look down sights.
he knows things you guys don't know about her
I just saw this a couple hours ago, head shot zombies with shotguns and shit, face real people and get stormtrooper syndrome.
GungHo
Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
POTUS would give him a North Lawndale slobber-knocking.
ItAintEasyBeinCheesy
it's 4th of July in my asshole
Yeah, totally put me off the episode. If the other guys where taking cover and the shots where getting close would have been fine. But was just so weak.
The last few gun fights have been pretty decent.
Jest Chillin
Member
I imagine nerves would get to you when people are actually firing back and you're not used to that. Though homeboy in the treeline should've definitely been hit.
- Status
Similar threads
- Poll