The MMA thread

[Guts]

Pride was awesome but it was going bankrupt. Shitty PPV buys and shitty reputation(Yakuza ties) made it impossible to salvage. Moving the fighters over to UFC was the only logical thing that could have been done.

I think Arlovski has the second best chance against Fedor in the top 10. The last fight Arlovski was looking like the old Pitbull. His quick sharp jabs can make Fedor hesitant about throwing those hooks and overhands.

When the fuck is Barnett gonna fight Fedor? He's been waiting forever.

[trotsky]

Originally Posted by The Noble Savage

.

I don't know what "could have been" matches you're imagining with current UFC heavyweights. Fedor - Eilers? Fedor - Nog IV? Other than a fight with Randy, I don't see one intriguing fight that isn't already planned.

Pre-Crocop migration, it was Arlovski/Sylvia vs. Crocop/Fedor/Nog; they were undisputedly the top 2/3 in their promotions and the dream matches were the cross promotional ones. Since then we've seen Nog-Sylvia, Fedor-Sylvia and we're about to see Fedor-Arlovski. Fedor will likely fight the winner of Overeem-Crocop on NYE and he's also planning to fight Barnett in the spring. if you don't think these guys are "in his league", I'd like to hear your opinion on HW rankings.

[The Noble Savage]

Maybe I was a bit flippant with Arlovski. I was a fan, then he lost to Tim twice in horrible performances and after getting knocked out by Tim his fighting has become much more hesitant. Maybe that will make him a better fighter (ala Machida) or maybe it won't, I don't know. I missed his last two fights, traveling, but his competition looked pretty weak. But 4 wins in a row is 4 wins, so meh.

However, I still don't think he is in the same caliber as Fedor. But I didn't think Tim was in the same Caliber either. It may end up being a good fight regardless, but Arlovski has been KO'd 4 times now by strikers with a lot less skill than Fedor. I figure Fedor wins by KO.

Overeem, never seen him fight before youtubing him just now and looking over his record on Sherdog, color me not impressed. Watched his "submission strikes" loss to Ricardo Arona and his win over Hunt. Tried to find his towel loss to Nog, no joy. Still, not impressed.

Barnett will probably be a good fight. Three losses to Mirko though (well 2 not counting the injury), but he's 50/50 with nog. Fedor will probably try to keep it standing and just dominate him with strikes.

I want to be excited about a possible Cro Cop rematch. To this day that is one of my favorite fights. But I'm in the "Cro Cop washed up" crowd. When Pride was dismantled there were lots of rumors he was retiring, then he signed with the UFC and had three bad performances where he did nothing but try to setup his head kick. Bad luck with that knockout from Gonzaga, but when you keep choregraphing your signature move you're gonna get rocked. That knockout reminded me a lot of his Randleman loss. --Setup-Setup-Setup-Just as he goes for it he gets rocked in the head-. I just don't think his head is in the game anymore. I hope he proves me wrong, I really do, but I'm not holding my breath.

But question on the Pride buyout. If it was destined to go under, then why even buy it? Why not just wait for it's inevitable death then steal it's fighters? If someone knows the specifics of its financial situation please share. I remember before/during the purchase of Pride White had some PR event where he said he was going to keep Pride intact, then bam it was gone. So I always had the impression it was a buyout to remove the competition, coupled with his public disdain for Pride and the ring.

[jayrebb]

Originally Posted by The Noble Savage

I mean, look at the talent the the UFC is hemorraging. Arlovski (only 2 losses in his last 12 and that was to Tim), Lawler, Diaz, Tim (hate his goofy ugly face but he has a solid record) etc etc. And I won't even mention the huge cash cow that Fedor v.s. Randy could have been. I'm not even interested in the UFC at the moment, with the exception of one or two fighters (Anderson, Pierre maybe Penn) I couldn't give a shit less about any of their cards. I mean wtf seriously @ penis tattoo chest WWF wrestler.


Finally, not signing Fedor will have to go down as the number one worst retard failures of all time.

I agree, the UFC superstars can be counted on one hand these days. I hate the penis tattoo versus Heath Herring matchup. It makes no sense.

Dana White said the UFC never went the freakshow route. Well what the fuck is Lesnar doing fighting former champs and top 10 talent like Herring when he has an MMA record of 2 fights. 2 fights...that should be illegal. The athletic commission is a joke. Holy shit. I mean Herring v lesnar WOW. Just saying it out loud sounds fucking stupid. Total freakshow.

Someone needs to throw a beer at Dana next time the UFC is in Vegas.

I also think Dana's ego got in the way of Fedor signing with the UFC. They couldn't give him a little more money? Why? Whos taking all the fucking money? Not the fighters, thats for sure.

The UFC seems to be in sunset, and I think its best days are behind them. You guys have no idea how rare heavyweight talent is. The UFC royally fucked themselves.

[Grimmlokk]

Originally Posted by The Noble Savage

But question on the Pride buyout. If it was destined to go under, then why even buy it? Why not just wait for it's inevitable death then steal it's fighters?

A very VERY large part of it is owning their video library. Not just the fact that it gives them access to the clips for highlights on anyone they get who has ever fought in Pride, but even more importantly is keeps any competitors from showing those clips. How badly do you think Affliction would like to show Fedor highlights? Or EliteXC would like to show Diaz vs. Gomi? You take that stuff away and casual fans have less to go by.

Fairly positive it's the same reasoning with the IFL.

Also, buying them before they are officially kaput means they get some of the fighter's contracts and can fuck them about however they please for awhile, rather than getting in bidding wars.

[trotsky]

Originally Posted by The Noble Savage

Maybe I was a bit flippant with Arlovski. I was a fan, then he lost to Tim twice in horrible performances and after getting knocked out by Tim his fighting has become much more hesitant. Maybe that will make him a better fighter (ala Machida) or maybe it won't, I don't know. I missed his last two fights, traveling, but his competition looked pretty weak. But 4 wins in a row is 4 wins, so meh.

However, I still don't think he is in the same caliber as Fedor. But I didn't think Tim was in the same Caliber either. It may end up being a good fight regardless, but Arlovski has been KO'd 4 times now by strikers with a lot less skill than Fedor. I figure Fedor wins by KO.

Overeem, never seen him fight before youtubing him just now and looking over his record on Sherdog, color me not impressed. Watched his "submission strikes" loss to Ricardo Arona and his win over Hunt. Tried to find his towel loss to Nog, no joy. Still, not impressed.

Barnett will probably be a good fight. Three losses to Mirko though (well 2 not counting the injury), but he's 50/50 with nog. Fedor will probably try to keep it standing and just dominate him with strikes.

I want to be excited about a possible Cro Cop rematch. To this day that is one of my favorite fights. But I'm in the "Cro Cop washed up" crowd. When Pride was dismantled there were lots of rumors he was retiring, then he signed with the UFC and had three bad performances where he did nothing but try to setup his head kick. Bad luck with that knockout from Gonzaga, but when you keep choregraphing your signature move you're gonna get rocked. That knockout reminded me a lot of his Randleman loss. --Setup-Setup-Setup-Just as he goes for it he gets rocked in the head-. I just don't think his head is in the game anymore. I hope he proves me wrong, I really do, but I'm not holding my breath.

But question on the Pride buyout. If it was destined to go under, then why even buy it? Why not just wait for it's inevitable death then steal it's fighters? If someone knows the specifics of its financial situation please share. I remember before/during the purchase of Pride White had some PR event where he said he was going to keep Pride intact, then bam it was gone. So I always had the impression it was a buyout to remove the competition, coupled with his public disdain for Pride and the ring.

Overeem had serious issues when fighting at 205. He's looked sound in his fights at HW though he's badly overhyped after his win against Hunt. I don't give him much chance against top5 guys but he's an exciting stylistic matchup for Fedor.

I have no doubt Barnett will get mauled on his feet, judging by the Crocop and Aleks fights. If Fedor keeps up his no-dicking-around strategy, there will be no opportunity to see the ground game between the two.

I don't give Arlovski much chance, just the best out of the other HWs. I think with Fedor's gameplan these days the only way to win is to catch him on the way in, and I think AA is the only guy with enough speed and power to do that. He proved a lot to me in the Rothwell fight, he showed his aggressiveness while keeping the recklesness in check.

As for the Pride sale: I think Zuffa had the wrong impression of how the Japanese did business. They thought they could snap up all the exclusive contracts before finding out that very few fighters actually had contracts with DSE. They thought pouring cash into the company would be enough to turn it around without realizing what a seriously tainted brand Pride had become and nobody was willing to do business with them.

[jayrebb]

Originally Posted by trotsky

As for the Pride sale: I think Zuffa had the wrong impression of how the Japanese did business. They thought they could snap up all the exclusive contracts before finding out that very few fighters actually had contracts with DSE. They thought pouring cash into the company would be enough to turn it around without realizing what a seriously tainted brand Pride had become and nobody was willing to do business with them.

Yeah Dana specifically said there was a lot of handshake contracts in Pride, and they hid that fact from the UFC. Hence the lawsuit.

[Celebrindal]

It wasn't just the money issue, I think it was more having the exclusivity of Fedor. Add on the fact that paying so much for Cro Cop wasn't a good idea, so he was playing it smart.

Dismantling Pride was also a smart business decision considering they lost their TV sponsership + all the mafia business going on. I would like to see Barnett vs. Fedor and Cro Cop vs. Aleksander II. NYE

I don't think anyone is on Fedor's level right now, especially intelligence wise. Which is why I wouldn't call Arlovski a B level fighter.

[huh]

Thank Zuffa's incredibly tight, borderline illegal contracts for the failure to sign Fedor. Maybe AA, Tim, Randy would of never have left if Fedor had signed, but as it stands we'll probably going to see all those fights anyway.

We might lose out on Randy/Fedor, but instead we'll get Barnett/Fedor.

[blizzak]

I really hope Affliction does well enough to hand around. We get to see some great fights through Affliction and as a bonus, Dana ends up showing some of his cards for free to try and keep people from noticing another player.
Dana White Announces UFC 89 Will Air For Free On SpikeTV - FightLine.com

[Araxen]

Isn't that the card with Bisping/Leben as the main event? No one was going to buy that shit anyways if so.

[p0wl]

Originally Posted by Araxen

Isn't that the card with Bisping/Leben as the main event? No one was going to buy that shit anyways if so.

I believe it has Lyoto on it, so I'm happy.

[Ameraves Loyalheart]

Originally Posted by Araxen

Isn't that the card with Bisping/Leben as the main event? No one was going to buy that shit anyways if so.

Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luiz Cane
Keith Jardine vs. Brandon Vera
Akihiro Gono vs. Dan Hardy
Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly
Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden
Sammy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund
Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim
Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
Paul Taylor vs. Chris Lytle
David Baron vs. TBA

That is what is currently listed.

[homsar]

Lol yeah that card looks like pure shit . I still think its pretty retarded that Leben and Bisping are headlining that card over Machida/Thiago but whatever. Glad to see the UFC is actually giving a good card for the UK fans as well as being free on spike.

[Araxen]

It's a slap in the face to Machida/Silva to be under Bisping/Leben.