MMA (UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Invicta, etc.) Discussion Thread -- Version II

No money, I just thought those two were going to win. It's sad about Mike Goldberg especially after seeing how professional he was on the air. Goldberg wasn't the best but he was there with the UFC for a long time.

 
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Dokstarr said:
At least we can stop hearing about how Ronda is the greatest combat athlete of all time and how she is a "once ever" athlete.
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What's sad is she probably could have been (at least for women anyway). She had such a tremendous head start over almost every other female in the sport because of her background and natural ability. But she pissed it all away and let everybody else catch up (and surpass) her because of her desire to stay at a shit camp.

Had she gone to Kings MMA...or AMC Pankration...or Tristar...or Jackson's...or almost freaking anywhere else, she could have easily gained the tools needed to stay on top. Could Cordeiro/Hume/Zahabi/Jackson have turned her into an elite striker? Probably not. But I damn well guarantee you they could have taught her footwork, head movement, and avoiding punishment. And she'd at least be competent with a jab...and might even throw a kick every once in a while.

Remember when the story broke that Ronda brought in the Olympic boxer to help her? Seriously...what did they do??? Word is she did no sparring for this camp and was only hitting pads. If that's true...it's no wonder Edmond can't get a win with any of his fighters (I'm sure Browne will get smashed next). I just don't get it. Why even come back if you can't see where you went wrong and do everything imaginable to fix it?

It's just sad, man. I don't think Ronda was overrated...I don't think she was a fraud like some people online are saying. She just rested on her laurels and is now paying a heavy, heavy price for it. And obviously, getting arrogant and overconfident only made things worse.

And just when I thought Ronda's fight was going to be the most embarrassing thing from this past weekend...did anybody see this freakshow?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Ha52ONRNI[/youtube]

I get that it's an easy paycheck...but damn...shame on you, Gabi Garcia. That's messed up.

 
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TheN8torious said:
This is why Cris Cyborg is a joke.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/12/6/13854316/dana-white-cris-cyborg-ufc-featherweight-title-fights

She might as well be cheating at this point. She turned down her own division because she couldn't get down to 145 with 2+ months notice. I don't care what the state of Rousey's career is. If she ever takes a fight with Cyborg, she's a damn fool. Cyborg doesn't fight unless the deck is so insanely stacked in her favor that it is essentially impossible for her to lose. It's like she's playing tic-tac-toe and she gets to go first every time.

She's a 170+ lb fighter fighting a bunch of girls who are tiny compared to her and have a tremendous strength disadvantage. Even fighting at 140...she's done nothing different. She's no smaller at all. She's just cutting more weight. If she gave a damn at all about serious competition, she'd lose a little mass and make things easier on herself. But the only thing she wants easy is her opponents.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the actual reason is she can't pass a drug test with 2 months notice. Complete fraud.
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Also, bumping my own post from a month ago to pat myself on the back, haha. Listening to the most recent JRE, they actually said that Cyborg turning down the three title fights is what prompted USADA to test her. At this point, you have to assume she's been cheating her entire career.

 
The biggest problem with the Ronda fiasco is her attitude. If she lost both of these fights she should've gracefully retired or talked about how they were the better women that night and she would be back.

Dom is kind of a douche, but he went out there after and talked about how Cody was the better man that night. He said he was 100% and felt great, but Cody just had his number and beat him. It has to be tough going out there when people call you one of the top p4p and try to explain what the hell happened.

The first time Ronda lost I could accept the no post fight stuff because "supposedly" her jaw was broken, but this time Herb saved her from being knocked the fuck out. At least later on discuss it. It is an insult to all her fans and the people who supported her to just disappear with no explanation or discussion. Griffin after he was destroyed by Silva (and seemed pretty emotional about it right after) laughs about it later. In one interview he says 'I tried to punch him and he literally moved his head out of the way and looked at me like I was stupid"

Then there are the guys who lose, and then come back better than ever. GSP lost to Matt Serra. One of the biggest upsets ever, then he came back to be one of the top 3 greatest of all time.

Either way - I think we don't see Ronda back. She was the perfect storm of people being one dimensional, people buying into hype, luck and women currently having horrible fight IQ. I believe some of the people she beat could beat her if they didn't have the DUMBEST gameplans of all time. Miesha was doing well and outstriking Ronda (like pretty much everyone can) and instead of using her wrestling defensively shoots for take downs multiple times. Every time she did Ronda hip tosses her. It is the first lesson you learn in competitive Judo to combat the high-school and college wrestlers. On my college Judo team we spent months drilling this to make it instinct. Even now in BJJ I hit it most of the time because most people have somesort of wrestling background. Miesha should've known this and instead just kept doing the same mistakes multiple times over multiple fights.

Zigano states in an interview that she bull rushed RR and tried to throw her because she thought she would catch her off guard since she wouldn't expect her to out-Judo a Judo Olympic medalist. I'm sure she was right, it was a surprising tactic but Ronda's muscle memory kicked in and she reversed the throw and arm barred in about 15 seconds. Zigano has decent striking and knock out power. She knocked out Miesha Tate and then Amanda Nunes for a title shot. It is crazy that these people don't make game plans.

Many of these girls need to start sitting down and making game plans and tailoring their fights for each opponent (along with their coach or get a better coach/team). That is one of the biggest weaknesses of WMMA. It reminds me of some of the other guys who waste their talent. I'm a big fan of Gabriel Gonzaga but I think you could be top 10 consistently if he had better set up (he pretty much runs his own gym out here in western MA). GSP was pretty much the best ever at this. He fought each guy differently depending on their strengths.

At least no more talk of RR fighting Floyd Mayweather.

 
Was sad seeing BJ Penn. He looked like he took it seriously and didn't have that crazy tippy-toe stance, but the 20 years of fighting, jiu-jitsu and just being 40 were too much. Also being at featherweight probably didn't help since Yair seemed twice as fast at Penn.

Yair was just throwing a million different headkicks from all different angles - it was a tough way for Penn to go out. He should've stayed retired after he bowed out against the shlacking he got from Rory way. At that point he had a pretty good run at the title, lost to Frankie, beat Hughes, had a draw with Fitch (who was considered top 3 in WW division), lost to Diaz (in a fight where he dominated the first round but ran out of steam and got beat round 2 and 3). 

But now he has come back and had that crazy Frankie fight and got his head kicked off by Yair. I think he is someone who just doesn't know what to with himself and wants to be a star forever. He comes from a rich family and has been able to spend his life competing and was a star in Hawaii. It reminds me of how Chuck Liddell couldn't let it got and ended up getting blasted multiple time in a row. Some of these guys spend  there whole adult life just competing and being a star. Must be tough going from minor celebrity to just a guy people don't recognize.

And speaking of people who should've retired a long time ago - tomorrow night is Tito Ortiz for Chael Sonnen at Bellator. I feel bad that Tito is kind of looked at like a joke these days, but he will probably get stomped pretty hard by Chael. Tito had gone 3-8-1 in his last twelve fights. That is rough - though him finishing Bader in the first round was one of the few times I ever jumped up during a fight. That was crazy,

 
Well, at least one legend did his last fight the right way. Tito actually looked ready to fight last night. He was in great shape and seemed like he really cared about going out with a win. Obviously, it helped that he was fighting a completely out of shape Chael Sonnen who hasn't fought in 3 years. But honestly, it's what BJ should have done too. Fighting a young up and comer did him no favors at all.

I've never been a big Tito fan, but he is definitely a legend in the sport, and it was nice to see him go out like that.

 
I originally thought Chael was going to stomp him but after seeing the weigh-in's I changed it to a 50-50. Chael looked very out of shape, and now that I think about it - he is probably off the juice for the first time in a looooong time. Being on steroids that long means that his body can't function without them so he was probably a shell of himself.

Good on Tito though. Just stay away now. Don't come back and tarnish the moment.

I am definitely not excited for Rampage vs King Mo 2. That was one of the worst fights I've seen in a long time, we don't need a sequel.

For this weekend we have some good fights. Cerrone vs Masvidal and Arlovski vs Ngannou. Arlovski is the better fighter technically, but I believe  there is a good chance he will be put to sleep.

 
Damn, Valentina Shevchenko is a bad bitch, haha. I mean, she's got a glock tattooed on her stomach, she witnessed a freaking shootout in a restaurant in Peru, and now she's beating chicks at their own game in the UFC. I'd really love to see her fuck up Nunes. Their first fight was close, and Nunes was lucky to escape with how badly she was being beaten at the end. Hoping Valentina can make the adjustments to change the outcome next time.

And Cowboy...dammit, man. I don't know what it is, but he just seems to crumble on any kind of "big stage". I think he sets himself up for it though. Annik and Stann were saying that Cowboy didn't even study anything about Masvidal...and just trusted his coaches to know what to tell him to do. I don't get that. Yes, you're a bad ass...but you're a professional. This is your job. Take it seriously and stop having these stupid underachieving setbacks. He could be so good if he actually gave a shit. As it was, Masvidal just looked like he wanted it more...and in Denver no less. Cowboy's fans deserved better than that.

 
I feel bad for Arlovski.  He so close to title shots twice since his return, but his chin is just shot. He is better of riding into the sunset. He is a better technical striker than nearly all the guys in the division, but if they touch him he goes down hard. Even in the Travis Browne - Arlovski was unloading on a nearly out on his feat Travis when one stray shot from Travis dropped Arlovski. If Travis wasn't almost unconscious himself, he would've finished Arlovski. Ngannou at least adds a new name to that top 5 which should make things interesting.

Cerrone is his own worse enemy. I personally think he is fighting too much. That IDGAF attitude is great and all, but he fought 6 times in 13 months. That means he is constantly in training camps, constantly pushing his body 100%, constantly taking shots to the body and head, etc. A professional fighter can't do that much. He had a 3 round war with Matt Brown and then 6 weeks later is fighting Masvidal. Cerrone didn't blow Brown out of the water - they traded hard shots and Cerrone got clipped with some hard punches and knees. Then you throw in whatever hard shots he occasionally eats in sparring.

This weekend Korean Zombie is back which should be interesting.

Week after is a good one. Anderson Silva, Ryan Bader and Jacare all on the same card. 

 
I really don't understand why Anderson Silva is still fighting. It just doesn't seem like he's really trying to win at all. Ever since he lost the belt to Weidman (possibly even before that), he looks so apathetic toward actually trying. It feels like he goes in there just trying to see if he can stop his opponent from hurting him. That's it. Doesn't care about finishing. Doesn't care if he's behind on the scorecard. He just wants to play with them and see if he's still competitive.

Wow...and as I type that...he wins the decision. Damn, NY...that's kind of fucked up...

Yikes...weird freaking fight in the main event. De Randamie was pretty clearly winning the fight...then she starts throwing late shots. Why?...unless she's just that stupid (which judging by her post fight interview...she might be). I guess it doesn't really matter. Assuming Cyborg can pass a drug test, she's going to smash De Randamie anyway.

Also, Holm is an idiot for not listening to her corner at all in the late rounds. They were screaming at her Edmund style to disengage and kickbox...and she just kept laying on De Randamie on the cage trying to wet blanket her way to a championship. She ended up something like 0-9 on takedowns. That's freaking ridiculous.

 
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blueweltall said:
I thought it should have been 3-2 Holmes. Also why is Cybrog getting a chance one she got caught?
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I just can't give Holm points for laying on the cage. The FightMetric numbers really show how much Holm was missing too.

http://www.fightmetric.com/fight-details/252074c8554bf30d

Really, only the first and the third round were close. The other three showed very patient striking from De Randamie, and saw her catching Holly coming in a lot. Now, of course, none of that excuses the bullshit after the bell. But when you've got a fighter ignoring her corner, and attempting 9 completely futile takedowns, how can you feel good about that performance?

As for Cyborg...the division only exists for her. Honestly, this fight kind of highlighted that. I'm guessing the UFC has talked to her and said "Hey, idiot. Look, we created a division in your weight class now. Stop screwing around and fight legit." We'll see if that ever happens though.

 
It was a pretty lackluster event. I bet Miller was pretty upset that he just tried to grapple at the end when Dustin couldn't stand.

Glover did what he was supposed to. Glover and Bader are the ultimate gate keepers. They can't win against the top 3 but seem to stop everyone else from coming up the ranks.

I thought Brunson by a very small amount, but I didn't really care because he put on such a horrible performance. Spent the whole fight mostly diving for takedowns and then when he finally got a few he did absolutely nothing with them and just laid on Anderson. The only success I remember Brunson having is in Anderson's Thai clinch where he rattled off some good strikes. Anderson's clinch is a huge part of his game that he lost. The knees he use to deliver were crazy but Weidman and now Brunson both beat him up when Anderson tried to Thai clinch.

Holly for GDR was also kind of crappy. I had Holly winning by a narrow margin. The most significant strikes of the match came from Holly, she controlled the clinch and pushed her up against the cage and strikes were nearly the exact the same - but at the same time Holly never got a takedown and the whole thing just looked bleh.

Cyborg would likely steam roll both of them, but she may be taking an extended vacation after failing her recent drug test. There was definitely no need for a 145 WMMA division.

 
Oh yeah - on the shots after the bell.

I think the first one was definitely GDR's fault. The ref was between them and she still threw it. Should've lost a point.

The 2nd one I blame mostly on the ref for being out of position. He should've been between them at the bell, but he was out of position which allowed GDR to land a few more shots. 

When that adrenaline is going it can be hard to stop. I had a Judo tournament where the ref yelled at me after the match. I was winning the match but managed to get a bow and arrow choke before the end of the match and didn't hear the referee telling me to stop when time was up. I thought I was going to be DQ'd, but he let me slide.

 
I mean, yeah, I guess Holm and GDR landed about the same...but Holm threw 32 more strikes and landed 3 less. Her striking was less effective and she completely fanned on all takedowns on top of it. She was doing her same old cardio kickboxing bullshit with nothing behind it.

Rogan even called her out on it a couple times commenting on how her kicks were just tapping De Randamie's leg with the end of her foot...whereas De Randamie's kicks were hitting shin on body. Huge difference. Holm is supposed to be one of the top female boxers/kickboxers in the world, and she looks like she's in a damn Tae Bo class.

 
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blueweltall said:
Someone still bitter that Holm knocked out his girlfriend.
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lol...what? Not even a little. I honestly think it's amusing how Holm always finds herself in the position of irritating the shit out of Dana White. Dana HATED that fight, and he even said the only thing that could have made the night worse was if the fight had been a draw. The last thing he wants is to have to do it over again. And then along comes Holly Holm...trying to force him to do it over again. You don't see how that's funny? Seriously, nothing to do with Ronda...this just feels like the everlasting predicament of Holly Holm.

 
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No, I don't see why it's funny when there are many other fighters, including your boy Conor does it too. The fight was not as bad as you seem to make it be.

Please also tell us why the fight shouldn't be a draw when there were two very late hits after the bell and one where it look like it rocked her? Financially if I was fighter I would want to to be a draw.

 
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Ok, I'll explain it to you. It's funny because Holly has a history of causing Dana White and the UFC brass headaches. First KO'ing their cash cow, then all the branding they did for her only to lose in her first title defense, then sitting on the sideline and demanding an immediate rematch or "only main event fights", and now trying to force an immediate rematch of one of the worst main events in recent history.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE48MNjKW4I[/youtube]

Skip to 2:41 if you haven't seen it. Dana hated the fight. It's that simple.

Honestly, I don't care if she gets the loss overturned or they call it a draw or whatever, but nobody wants to see that fight again. She tried to steal a paper championship by holding her opponent against the cage and doing nothing. Her corner was screaming at her to step back and kickbox, and she wouldn't do it. Nothing about that is championship level fighting. Holm is seriously one of the most overrated fighters in MMA. Go look at her record.

http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Holly-Holm-75125

Other than Ronda...who could have been KO'd by a 4th grader the way she came in that night...Holly hasn't beaten a single significant fighter. She was lucky to get the Pennington split decision. Outside of the Ronda fight (which was a gift), when has she looked even remotely impressive?

 
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She look pretty good against Tate until she got caught and are we watching the same video? Dana was more upset about the ref during the fight and how the whole card was not living up to the hype. I am not even sure what your point is in posting the video when he was clearly upset about the ref and how the whole 208 card did not met his expectation for an event at MSG. You are so biased against Holm that you fail to see why he was unhappy. Yes he did not enjoy the main event but in no way did he said it was the sole reason why the UFC 208 was bad for him. He just hoped it the main event would erased all the bad UFC 208 fights before and it didn't, it just created more controversy. 

 
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blueweltall said:
She look pretty good against Tate until she got caught and are we watching the same video? Dana was more upset about the ref during the fight and how the whole card was not living up to the hype. I am not even sure what your point is in posting the video when he was clearly upset about the ref and how the whole 208 card did not met his expectation for an event at MSG. You are so biased against Holm that you fail to see why he was unhappy. Yes he did not enjoy the main event but in no way did he said it was the sole reason why the UFC 208 was bad for him. He just hoped it the main event would erased all the bad UFC 208 fights before and it didn't, it just created more controversy.
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I guess what I took out of the video was when he indicated that had the referee done his job properly, taken the point away, and made the fight a draw, it would have actually made the night worse. Then later, when Olivi asks him if after 25 minutes of fighting, was he satisfied with the main event, he just stone faced said "No". Then talk immediately shifted to Cyborg being next. I just don't get the sense that he wants to see that fight again.

It also doesn't help that Holm's manager is a complete shithead, and he's still going off saying the only fight they'll consider next is for a title...either at featherweight or bantamweight. 3 straight losses...demands another title shot...

http://mmajunkie.com/2017/02/new-ufc-champ-germaine-de-randamie-calls-for-rematch-with-holly-holm-but-holm-camp-unsure

“Whichever title comes up first, that’s the one we’ll do,” Fresquez said. “She’ll knock out Germaine within three rounds.”
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This guy is almost on Edmund levels of unlikability.

 
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Yeah, I saw that. I've wanted to see GSP fight again for a while. But I hope he didn't wait too long. At 35...I'm hoping he's actually capable of what he thinks he's capable of.

It's crazy looking back on all the things he said about fighters and the sport in general, and how he ended up basically being right. Even look at Johny Hendricks. He's been a complete shell of his former self since USADA testing started. People have commented on how weird it is that his power is even different (which is usually the last thing to go even as a fighter's skills decline).

It'll be interesting to see what fight GSP ends up getting. I've heard both Bisping and Woodley/Thompson winner being thrown around. Not sure that I love him jumping into a title fight after 3 years off...but I guess it depends on if he's actually prepared or just "prepared" like Ronda, lol.

Also, I'm really glad Bellator and the UFC don't have their cards on the same night. I'm curious to see how Fedor does against Mitrione...but I also want to watch Browne get smashed by Lewis. :)

 
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I kind of wish GSP stayed away. He went out on top as the champion. Relinquished the belt after the most dominant welter-weight run of all time. Between age and knee surgeries, I can't see him being the same dominant force he was.

I'm also afraid they will match him up with Bisping. That would be a crime against Romero and Jacare. How long most those two wait around. Romero has KO's Weidman, Machina and Tim Kennedy and won a split against Jacare. Jacare has smashed Okami, Gregard and Vitor and lost that super close fight to Romero. Letting GSP jump them would be a shame on the same levell as Connor jumping over Khabib and Ferguson.

Seems Cyborg is cleared since she got a retroactive exception. That seems pretty fishy in itself - they through the book at Machida and Penn  for doing something that was previously allowed but they didn't pay attention to the rule changes for the new year. Mendes got two years popping. I'm not saying people shouldn't be punished, but it seems Cyborg (an already proven cheater) was popped using a banned diuretic.

She is either using it to drop down to weight classes she shouldn't be in by cheating, or most likely using it as a masking agent for her other steroids. Bodybuilders, athletes and people transitioning male to female use it (to try and get rid of their back acne and bring their hormone and testosterone levels back to that of a natural born woman's). The WMMA scene is a mess anyways. Cyborg is cheating and getting away with, they make a whole new division just for her to fight in (where as most of the previous 135 lb women were already too small), Ronda spiraled out of control, and last month the put Page Van Zant vs the Karate Hottie as the main event over Uriah Faber's retirement match. I can understand having to place the championship matches at the top, but even now post-retirement, Uriah is more relevant.  He retired two fights out of a championship match.

I'm scared about tonight. I just wish Fedor would retire. I don't want to see Meathead lay him out. Maybe old Fedor will return, but I'm worried after that horrible Fabio Maldonaldo fight.

 
I don't really like Mr. Ronda, but Damm the ref was late. No need to let Lewis beat Travis stiff out cold like that. I'm going to need to look up post fight on YouTube later. He says the body shots made it so he "really has to go poo poo" real bad.

Travis looked the best he had looked in a while too. I did love Anik (I think) yell get out of there Travis when Lewis smashing him.

Hendricks looked pretty good, but don't know how far he will be able to go at middle weight.
 
AHAHAHAHA...only Travis Browne could lose a fight like that where he's dominating and picking a guy apart from the outside. Decent coaching doesn't allow that to happen. But Browne is so stupidly predictable, he ends up getting cracked.

I don't even think Lewis looked that impressive. And I definitely don't see him as a threat to Miocic, Werdum, Velasquez, etc (basically anyone with cardio, decent boxing, and a brain). I think Ngannou is a much more likely future champion. Lewis just seems like a modern day Tank Abbott. Big dude, who wings wild punches that can hit hard as hell...but has no gas tank. Any skilled opponent should put him down. And that's the exact reason Travis Browne didn't.

Also, I really don't like the "new UFC". Bruce Buffer not being there just felt wrong. They have Joe Martinez doing intros and his big line is "Are you ready, Canada???" And Jon Anik's replacement is pretty ridiculous. He seems very pro wrestling style and was sensationalizing everything. He even yelled out "Get out of there, Travis!!!" when Lewis was unloading those uppercuts. He also referred to Lewis as a behemoth and made several other over the top remarks. I thought he even made Brian Stann sound dumber (and not just when he yelled out "Derrick Browne is in trouble!!!"), lol.

 
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Dokstarr said:
I don't really like Mr. Ronda, but Damm the ref was late. No need to let Lewis beat Travis stiff out cold like that. I'm going to need to look up post fight on YouTube later. He says the body shots made it so he "really has to go poo poo" real bad.

Travis looked the best he had looked in a while too. I did love Anik (I think) yell get out of there Travis when Lewis smashing him.

Hendricks looked pretty good, but don't know how far he will be able to go at middle weight.
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lol...beat me to it. Yes, Lewis said something like "No, I just really need to go number 2. The kicks didn't hurt me. They just gave me a boo boo."

But yeah, that wasn't Anik. I never heard him say his name, but i think it's that Todd Grisham guy they hired...who did used to work for WWE. I didn't like the "Get out of there, Travis!" line though. Felt way too biased. I half expected him to jump up and toss a steel chair into the octagon, haha.

EDIT - It was indeed Todd Grisham. I think the UFC really botched the great commentator chemistry they had. Should have kept Goldberg and Rogan together until they were ready to part with both of them...then just moved Anik and Stann up to PPVs together. As is, Anik and Rogan are awkward...and now Grisham and Stann are awkward.

http://mmajunkie.com/2017/02/10-reasons-to-watch-ufc-fight-night-105-with-derrick-lewis-and-johny-hendricks-in-key-bouts

 
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Oh - I didn't know who that was with Stann. I saw Stann in the cage multiple times and just assumed Anik.

Derrick's post fight got even weirder when he talked about how all the sex he has makes him gas out, but he would be okay with Ronda and then he said something about where that fine ass at.

I agree that there is a pretty hard ceiling above him. I can't see Stipe, Werdum, JDS or Cain getting caught like that. They are better wrestlers and more mobile than Travis - they also will fight smarter. I think Mark Hunt would also beat him, but he would probably beat Arlovski and maybe Overeem due to how broken their chins are.

 
Blah and the UFC fuckery continues. I love GSP but he has no business coming back from a multi-year retirement to move up a weight class and fight for the titile (unless it was some craziness like Romero was injured and Jacare wasn't ready).  This is pretty much Bisping's only chance to defend the title again since everyone else would destroy him. This is also probably GSP's best chance to win the title and be on the Conor, Penn, Couture level of winning to different titles.

Bisping is also lucky he won that title and defended it before the new rule change. Since now they are into 10-8, 10-7 rounds Bisping would've certainly lost to both Silva and Henderson. He barely beat them as it is (because Silva wanted to play on not fight and Henderson I thought won).

GSP was starting to slow down even before left - knee surgeries, wear and tear, etc.

Now if GSP wins they can do Anderson Silva fight, Hendricks rematch, and all types of other stupid shit. This is all types of stupid. Just like Conor. Since his Aldo fight he has just down freakshow stuff skipping around rankings. Frankie never got his title shot and eventually lost so he got knocked down the rankings, even though he more than deserved it. Aldo and Holloway have to fight next and they both deserved title shots by now. I'm guessing whoever wins that will be the champ though since Connor won't fight that weight class anymore. He's also screwed Ferguson and Khabib out of their title shots by leap frogging everyone for getting stopped by Diaz and getting a close decision in the 2nd fight and then refusing to fights as champ. Next he will probably call out Diaz for a third fight if he Diaz actually wins a fight something.

I feel like UFC wants to become Bellator. Maybe Chael can come back with a greatest ever promo.

Thank God the welterweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight division don't have any of the big personalities demanding fights and ruining the division. McGregor beat Aldo in 2015 for fucks sake and still has no plan to defend "his" title. He is the definition of a paper champion. He has been pretty much giftwrapped two title belt shots after beating weak competition.

 
I agree with some of what you're saying. But the fact that GSP, after 3+ years of being retired, is STILL a bigger draw than other Middleweight contenders is a serious problem. Maybe if Romero wasn't pissing hot or acting like he doesn't know the round is supposed to begin, he'd be a big draw. I actually like the guy, but for that one, I feel like it's a "no honor among thieves" type of thing. He deserves a title shot, for sure...but he's screwed people over too.

As for Jacare...I don't know. I think people just don't care. Maybe it's the language barrier, but there's probably a lot of people who don't even know who he is. So, again...if somebody who hasn't fought in 3 years can outdraw you, you're doing something wrong.

Now, of course, that begs the argument that it "shouldn't be about who sells the most tickets". But unless the UFC becomes like the NFL/NBA/etc. where it abandons PPV and is only on network/cable TV with large enough deals to pay all of its fighters contracts, I don't see how that happens. I've said for a while the UFC needs to spend more time building new stars, but I honestly don't know how you make people care about a fighter. I don't think McGregor has a huge following BECAUSE the UFC pushed him hard. I think the UFC pushed him hard because he had a huge following. He was dynamic and full of personality well before he ever started jawing with Aldo.

And I always go back to blaming the fighters who allowed the monster to be created in the first place. I just can't blame the guys who took advantage of it. Both with McGregor and Bisping. If Aldo hadn't allowed himself to get dropped like a ton of bricks, none of this would have ever happened. If Silva and Rockhold hadn't played around with Bisping like he was a damn child, there WOULD be a legitimate champion with legitimate challengers atop the division. I don't think it's right for the fighters to dick around themselves and then cry foul when the UFC tries to capitalize on it.

Cause one thing is for certain, like them or not, neither McGregor or Bisping stole those belts. They won them fair and square.

 
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Case in point...Ferguson vs Khabib canceled...because Khabib fucked up his weight cut. Khabib spends a bunch of time talking shit to Conor...then can't even make his fight to get to Conor. So, how can you blame McGregor, or the UFC, or anybody for going full speed ahead at the almighty dollar when these alleged "legitimate fighters" can't get their shit together?

This is why the UFC ends up doing "freakshow" fights. They want people who are going to show up and not be a promotional nightmare. Same with Cain Velasquez (and sadly, probably Jon Jones now too) at this point. It doesn't matter how good you are if you're unreliable and can't make it to the fight.

 
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There are a few injury prone fighters (especially AKA ala Cain and Khabib) but to compare them or missing weight to being giftwrapped  undeserved titleshots or easy fights is wrong in my opinion.

GSP never fought middle weight and last fought in 2013. He should not be fighting for a title. There is no way to defend it. It is just plain stupid and a money grab and insult to the other fighters. If it was welterweight I could see somehow saying it was okay since he stepped away on top, but he never fought in the division and there are two very deserving number 1 contenders. Couture got a title shot against Sylva coming out of retirement because there was nobody in the division to fight Tim so this is completely different since the top 5 would likely all beat Bisping pretty easily.

I love GSP - one of my favorite fighters of all time, but I  hope he loses. Because if he wins they will do some fuckery of him fighting Silva, Hendricks or something else stupid. If Bisping wins there should be no more way for him to keep hiding from the top 5.

UFC definitely created some of these monsters, but they should just go all out WWF if they are going to keep this up. Bisping's title shot was okay because he stepped in a short notice but he should have to fight a top 10 fighter. Not a number 15 ranked guy and now someone unranked who hasn't fought since 2013.

Jacare should just start calling everyone bitches and spouting off crap like Bisping and Connor. It doesn't matter he is one the most decorated and greatest grapplers of all time and has slaughtered almost everyone put in front of him.

Then you have Romero who smashed Weidman and Machida and is one of the top wrestlers in the world and a silver medalist from the Olympics. Romero also tested positive in an out of competition test and then it was found the supplement was contaminated when the USADA bought and tested their own version of it.

I don't want to see just a bunch of fake trash talk and the fight community be taken over by the likes of Diaz, Conor and Bisping. Or all bignames should get to fight what the way. If Brock comes back in two years should he immediately get a title shot? If CM Punk wins should he fight Nate Diaz for a number 1 contender fight. If Rampage or King Mo comes to UFC should they immediately get a title shot because they are bigger trash talkers than Rampage Jackson? Should Derrick Lewis get a title shot right now because he says he wants to screw Ronda?

Just get rid of all the rankings and make it a carnival sideshow.

 
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Big win for Econoreem. I thought he was going to get finished after he got rocked a few times but he managed to land those two huge knees. I like Econoreem - managed to finish JDS and now Hunt but I just can't see him beating Stipe and Cain. Reem is just always so close to being finished that you are just waiting for it to land.

 
Rashad looks done. I think he is better at 205 - he looked slow and couldn't throw more than one strike at a time. I don't get how a judge gave Rashad two rounds. Rashad only potentially won one round I don't understand why his corner was telling him he had the first two rounds in the bag.

Props to Kelly being out thee with a ruined knee. I've seen more judo guys held together with sports tape than any other sport ever.

 
Dokstarr said:
I don't want to see just a bunch of fake trash talk and the fight community be taken over by the likes of Diaz, Conor and Bisping. Or all bignames should get to fight what the way. If Brock comes back in two years should he immediately get a title shot? If CM Punk wins should he fight Nate Diaz for a number 1 contender fight. If Rampage or King Mo comes to UFC should they immediately get a title shot because they are bigger trash talkers than Rampage Jackson? Should Derrick Lewis get a title shot right now because he says he wants to screw Ronda?

Just get rid of all the rankings and make it a carnival sideshow.
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I agree with you...but you're being a little disingenuous saying Conor didn't earn his title shot...at least at Featherweight. Sure, an argument could be made that he didn't "deserve" it at Lightweight...but I don't think it's crazy for any division champion to call out another champion. It's something that was always talked about (GSP - Silva, Jones - Velasquez)...but Conor was the first one to actually do it. And again, had Alvarez not made it so damn easy for him...this "problem" wouldn't exist.

You want to talk about "WWE shit"? Maybe don't let the biggest star in the company win two belts in two of the easiest fights he's ever had. The real conspiracy theorist McGregor haters could say those fights were "rigged", lol. That's how bad Aldo and Alvarez choked. For that matter, don't forget, McGregor was initially supposed to fight Dos Anjos before ANY of the Diaz nonsense started. But what happened? RDA got hurt. Again, not Conor that created that mess. All Conor did was show up and fight.

But I definitely wish the rankings would mean more. I wish the UFC could just go through a "playoff" like system where the top fighters are always squaring off. But if the UFC isn't making money, they can't pay fighters more, and eventually, there would be no UFC. It's a necessary evil. As for your examples...really only the Brock one is valid. It's not just about talking trash. It's about being a PPV draw (and yeah, Punk is...but he's never winning anything, lol). If Conor lost 5 fights in a row, if he hadn't beaten Aldo, if he hadn't come back and gutted out a very tough win against Diaz, if he didn't completely and utterly outclass Alvarez...he'd be on the undercard. You do still have to have talent.

 
I admit he won his fights - but even his Aldo title shot he was rocketed up to very quickly. A win over Dennis Siver doesn't earn a title shot.  Yeah the RDA fight was scrapped but then he was lit up and finished by Diaz. Diaz is not championship material and stopped him. Conor then came back and beat him, but should've had to fight someone else to get back into contention for a title shot.

I know it has become about PPV numbers - but that is the problem. It shouldn't be the top deciding factor on the big fights. Who the best fighter is - especially when you have killers in the division. It isn't like Jacare and Romero are boring wrestlers they are destroying people in crazy big wins. I love GSP, but out of all this he is the more boring fighter by always fighting safe.

Sad that the last fight of the night was such a snoozefest. I thought Wonderboy likely squeaked it out or it was a draw. I didn't see how Woodley got 3 rounds, but it was so bad who cares. Hopefully Maia gets the next shot and chokes Woodley out.

 
What's funny is the main event tonight kind of serves as another point for the "Conor Situation". Matching up the two best ranked fighters doesn't always give you the best fight. I totally get the logic behind both of them being cautious. But I feel like the scoring then has to reflect that. I really don't like the concept of nitpicking a round to figure out who barely sort of won. If you're literally down to "who moved forward" as your barometer for the round...then score it 10-10 and acknowledge that both fighters gave away the round to "feel each other out".

The only truly significant things to happen in that fight were Woodley taking Thompson down and beating on him...and then Woodley knocking Thompson down in the 5th round and almost finishing him. Sure, Thompson mostly "controlled the striking" for the rest of the fight, but very, very little was done with it. I did half expect the fight to be a draw again, but in honesty, I would have been fine with the rounds being scored 10-10, 10-10, 10-10, 10-10, and 10-9 (Woodley). When both fighters put off actively trying to win the fight, it SHOULD come down to the final round.

 
Rashad has been done for like 4 years. 

As for that main event, if there has to be a winner for each round, I don't see how Wonderboy loses. I really can't explain or justify any of the judges scorecards, but i'm happy for them. I don't think Wonderboy did nearly enough to take the belt, and the only two mildly interesting or aggressive moves of the night both belonged to Woodley. 

 
I don't agree that one boring fight giving legitimacy to paper champions - especially where WonderBoy and Woodley had a very exciting match previously.. These are the guys that should've fought and they did. Sadly it didn't live up to expectations and now they will have to live with the consequences - in this case WonderBoy goes back down the ladder. Hopefully Maia gets his shot now which he has more than earned by trouncing both Matt Brown and Condit with ease (that is if he beats Masvidal).

Matching up the best ranked fighters is the entire point of the sport. It is to see who the best is - that is the whole point of modern mixed martial arts. It is the basis of the Gracie Challenge that eventually led to the UFC (since the first UFC's were pretty much a set up to show off Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu).

Back onto tonight's fight - sucks that something could've been so good crapped out. Rory really put a beating on Woodley when they fought and I thought both time WonderBoy would be able to follow that game plan but it seems like he couldn't just put it together. This fight made me miss Robbie Lawler though - but with all the wars he has been in recently his body may now be shot.

 
Dokstarr said:
Matching up the best ranked fighters is the entire point of the sport. It is to see who the best is - that is the whole point of modern mixed martial arts. It is the basis of the Gracie Challenge that eventually led to the UFC (since the first UFC's were pretty much a set up to show off Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu).
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I totally agree with this. I just meant from a ratings and PPV buys standpoint. I think fights like this make some fans gun shy about putting money down again (though the co-main was outstanding)...which in turn, makes the UFC go "hmm....GSP vs Bisping sounds good". Not getting the payoff you'd like to see makes circus fights more enticing. That's all I meant.

 
Looks like Big Ben Rothwell may be taking a long vacation for failing a test. A shame since he was one of the old top 10 HW's who hadn't been in the top 10 forever. I never understood why his Brandon Vera fight wasn't overturned to a NC after he failed the post-fight, so this really isn't a surprise.

 
Mayweather have officially announced that he's coming out of retirement to fight Conor McGregor.  The fight is still not official yet. I'm not even sure how McGregor can get out of his UFC contract or get permission from the UFC to do this fight.

 
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So, Nurmagomedov might actually be done.

http://www.mmamania.com/2017/3/10/14881326/coach-khabib-nurmagomedov-early-retirement-potentially-happening-following-ufc-209-mma

I saw the crap about his dad wanting him to retire within 2 years...but this is just crazy. If you're so concerned about your son's well-being, maybe don't have him wrestling bears when he's 9 years old.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZvCgSmV9JA&t=119s[/youtube]

I guess he's just that much of a god in Russia that he doesn't need UFC fame, but it makes no sense to me to dedicate your life to something, get all the way to the pinnacle, and then call it a day before ever actually accomplishing anything. Dumb.

 
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