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

Faber was rocked...no question. But Herb Dean is a fucking idiot. For as much as people say he's a "great referee", I've seen him fuck up more times than most of the other refs the UFC uses. And he's more susceptible to that garbage gorilla striking (it wouldn't surprise me if Barao planned for that if he had the opportunity. You would think Faber was getting stabbed or something by the way Dean jumped in there. He always panics like the guy is getting murdered.

And I 100% agree with Urijah. When you've got one arm hooking the guy's leg, making sure he doesn't improve his position even more...and you're blocking the strikes with your other arm, what in the hell else are you supposed to do? It's obvious he was hoping Barao would gas (much like Shane Carwin gassed when he had Brock Lesnar in a similar position...but we all know how that ended). I guess he just should have started screaming "I'M FINE!!!" Although, then good ole Herb probably would have heard that as "I'M DONE!!!"

Seriously the worst possible outcome for Faber though. Takes the fight on 3 weeks notice, and then loses due to a quick stoppage. fuck the rest of the division. Immediate rematch with full camps needs to happen. Faber is 34. If you make him work his way back up again, he might as well just retire.

I don't usually cry about quick stoppages because normally, the logic is "Well, he saved him from eating 3-4 more clean punches". But when the guy is covering up (and not flattened out with no counter strategy), and it's questionable how many of those strikes are even doing anything, how can you not let it go? If the shots were landing clean and rocking Faber's world, I'd feel differently...but to me that's not a decisive win.

 
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Had a whole nice paragraph written, but somehow closed the fucking tab.  God damnit.  Anyways.

Bad stoppage, worse after seeing replays.

Instant rematch would be fine due to weakness of division, but I doubt it happens.

Haha at Joe Rogan calling himself a retard.

I think Jose Aldo lacks motivation, similar to the Bendo convo we had earlier.  Great striking and countering the first 2 rounds, coasts through the rest of the fight.  Maybe a move to 155 will help with the weight cuts he makes and improves his clearly lacking endurance. I think Aldo has 0 or 1 fights left at 145.  One final showdown with Mendes, though I'd be fine if he moves to 155 now.  

The Varner fight was definitely the most enjoyable of the night, I wish he won though.

 
blueweltall said:
I want Aldo to fight Pettis that is all.
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Supposedly Dana has said it's already booked. I'm looking forward to it. If there's a stoppage I say Pettis wins and if it goes the distance I think Aldo takes it. Definitely pulling for Aldo.

This is, of course, assuming the two of them can actually be healthy at the same time.

 
gunnm said:
time for faber to be feed to anderson
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Nobody knows what the hell you're talking about. When I hear "Anderson", I think Silva...and a 135lb guy is not going to be "feed" to a 185lb guy. Unless you had a stroke or are in a perpetual state of drunkenness, could you enlighten us on what your comment is supposed to infer?

 
In other news, Dana said at the press conference that Herb Dean made a mistake...and Faber clearly could have continued. And yet, it doesn't really seem like anybody is pushing for Faber to get a rematch. Even Urijah himself just said something about getting "back on the horse" and working for his next opportunity. I don't know...maybe he's just content to be a company guy and take the paydays.

He obviously cares much more about the outcome of his fights than say a Frank Mir or Chael Sonnen, but he still seems ok with just doing whatever is asked of him. If Cruz ever comes back, I'm guessing that's who they'll match him up with.

 
The highlight of Saturday was Frank Mir walking out of the ring under his own power. I was really convinced he was going to be steamrolled the first round and laid out like he was in the Carwin fight. Was it Overeem trying to conserve energy, just trying to play it safe to not get cut, or a combination of both? I don't care, just happy.

I've always liked Mir. Seeing a HW who is dangerous off his back is always a rarity. Time has just passed him by. Time to hang it up before he takes too much damage. I'm sure he could still walk through the Roy Nelson's of the world, but the Top 10 aren't for him.

When I heard his walkout theme. I was really convinced he was done for. It just seemed like a bad omen. It would be a good song to play for a video tribute to a deceased fighter.

There was even a perfect picture to have flash on the screen at the end.

[attachment=2744:frankmir.jpg]

"Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever? Forever young"

 
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After that walkaway knockout he delivered against Kyle, I too would have signed back Rumble. I imagine he'll be staying at 205. That looks to be the best weight class for him. No idea how he ever made 170.

 
The Great Muta said:
After that walkaway knockout he delivered against Kyle, I too would have signed back Rumble. I imagine he'll be staying at 205. That looks to be the best weight class for him. No idea how he ever made 170.
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I was saying the same thing last night. I know he had a lot of trouble making 170...but God damn. That should have been physically impossible. With a frame to make 205 and not look soft, cutting to 170 is bat shit crazy. He had to have been cutting close to 30 pounds.

Also, I just saw that Ronda Rousey has landed lead roles in 2 more movies. You really have to wonder how long she'll hang around MMA once somebody is finally able to rough her up a bit.

 
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He was cutting more than 30. i wanna say it was closer to 50 or 55, I recall him mentioning in an interview a good while back.

Insane weight cutting. 

Im happy to see him back I just would prefer him against a standup fighter. Its a HUGE opportunity for him though, he wins it puts him right up there.

 
n8rockerasu said:
Also, I just saw that Ronda Rousey has landed lead roles in 2 more movies. You really have to wonder how long she'll hang around MMA once somebody is finally able to rough her up a bit.
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You make a good point that is heightened even more by the fact that Rousey has said that she wants to fight only for a few more years and then retire to have kids.

My only problem with Rousey is that I find her voice very grating for longer than a five minute interview. Very Fran-Drescher-esque.

paz9x said:
He was cutting more than 30. i wanna say it was closer to 50 or 55, I recall him mentioning in an interview a good while back.

Insane weight cutting.

Im happy to see him back I just would prefer him against a standup fighter. Its a HUGE opportunity for him though, he wins it puts him right up there.
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Indeedy. I recall a similar estimate. Something about him walking around at 220. I believe he said he worked with Mike Dolce to get it done.

I think there is more risk for Phil Davis than there is for Anthony Johnson. Davis has a very limited striking game. All Johnson has to do is keep it standing and outpoint (or even finish) Davis on the feet. Davis is no joke and his wrestling is top-tier, but, man, I don't see how he keeps Johnson on the ground for three (or five) rounds. Totally plausible that Davis catches him with a submission, tho.

 
The Great Muta said:
You make a good point that is heightened even more by the fact that Rousey has said that she wants to fight only for a few more years and then retire to have kids.

My only problem with Rousey is that I find her voice very grating for longer than a five minute interview. Very Fran-Drescher-esque.

Indeedy. I recall a similar estimate. Something about him walking around at 220. I believe he said he worked with Mike Dolce to get it done.

I think there is more risk for Phil Davis than there is for Anthony Johnson. Davis has a very limited striking game. All Johnson has to do is keep it standing and outpoint (or even finish) Davis on the feet. Davis is no joke and his wrestling is top-tier, but, man, I don't see how he keeps Johnson on the ground for three (or five) rounds. Totally plausible that Davis catches him with a submission, tho.
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I sorta felt the same and then i remembered the koscheck fight. We'll see lot abotu both guys imo. but yeah, all upside for aj, phil doesnt gain much, big risk for him.

 
So Rashad Evans suffered a knee injury and had to pull out of his fight with Daniel Cormier at next week's UFC 170. Dammit I was really looking forward to that fight too :(
 
All this shit with dana supposedly pissing off fighters and them seeming to have enough (gsp for ex) is getting interesting.

Gil looks like he called danas bluff and is forcing him to match a bellator offer, cesar gracie saying dana needs to watch his shit or all his fighters are going to bellator.

Hes been able to get by without losing these types of fighters for years and now it seems to be moving the other direction.

interesting times.

 
Sooo...Herb Dean stops the Faber fight because of spastic gorilla striking when he's covered up with a leg hook. But lets Mike Pyle just wail on TJ Waldburger with strategic, pinpoint shots that were landing clean... It's like Herb doesn't know what he's doing anymore. WTF??
 
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Whew...I thought MacDonald was going to get steamrolled again in this one. Nice to see him battle back and actually look like a contender. He's still got some areas to improve on, but he's getting there.
 
LOL, hell of an ego boost for Daniel Cormier. Cummins didn't have a chance in that fight. That shows you the difference in a tough guy and a professional fighter right there. He's gotta be next if Jones gets through Teixeira.
 
Yeah Herb blew the Pyle fight, and his stoppage in the Rousey fight was questionable as well, though I was personally OK with it.  

McDonald looked pretty full of life which was nice.  I feel like if he gets the belt he'll become even more conservative than he already is, and we've had an ultra conservative fighter as WW champ for a while now and this is finally the chance for the division to open up.

I don't know who that guy Cormier fought was, seemed like some guy they just picked up off the street.  I mean, Cormier was a -1300 favorite in the fight, and Joe was saying this is the best Cormier has ever looked.  I mean, if I dropped 3 pounds to make weight and jumped in the ring with Cormier it would probably be a similar result to what just happened.

Rousey won, I'm pretty indifferent towards her at this point.  Was cool that it wasn't an armbar at least.

 
DC hype train keeps rollin. Me  n my buddy got into a pretty heated argument about his capabilities. The talent is there but hasn't been tested vs top competition. He belongs at 205, no doubt. But we haven't seen him vs anyone worth while. Mir? Nelson? Barnett? Bigfoot? Notable names but nobody that is going to do anything soon

 
I'm late on this, my friend already got the first round of it but I thought I'd go off here too.

Pettis and Melendez coaching TUF, airs in September:

1) What the hell happened to Melendez signing with Bellator?  I'm happy he's sticking with the UFC but that came out of nowhere.

2) What the hell happened to Pettis/Aldo, which was "already booked" according to Dana after the Aldo/Lamas fight?  It's time for Aldo to move up.

3) The show films in May and starts airing in September, meaning they finale won't be til December or January.  Bendo/Pettis 2 was in August of last year, that is going to make it 16 months between title fights for the lightweight division.  C'mon!  The division is still a mess with plenty of contenders and now it is going to get completely bogged down while we wait for this fight to actually happen.  

4) Pettis was supposed to be healthy and be able to fight in July.  Either he's going to be healthy in July and the UFC is going to risk him re-injuring himself between July and December, which is going to happen since the dude can't walk down the street without hurting himself.  The other option is that Pettis wouldn't have been healthy by July and having him be a coach is the way they're masking that. And if that is true I just absolutely hate that because if you can't defend your title at least once a year you don't deserve to be champ. 16 months after winning the title for your first defense is fucking ridiculous. 

fucking bullshit.  Lightweight is my favorite division and the one I always have my eye on.  This sucks balls.

 
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Yeah, a lot of things about that announcement were big surprises. The Melendez/Bellator thing...the UFC always had the opportunity to match the contract. I guess this announcement was the UFC's way of saying "yeah, we matched it". I'm a little surprised that they cared this much about Melendez leaving (giving him a primetime slot in people's living room's each week and a title shot to boot), but I guess good for them for not turning on a fighter like pretty much everyone expected them to.

I honestly can't keep up with all of the TUF news right now. You've got TUF Nations going on (which, admittedly, is a "who cares" season for me...sorry Canada and Australia). Then, TUF Brazil starts soon...which again...if it wasn't for the Chael drama, would probably fall under "big deal". Then, there was the announcement of Frankie Edgar coaching against BJ Penn for TUF 19. We're not even into that one yet and we've already got coaches lined up (and thus, sidelined) for TUF 20? Is all of this really necessary? Just seems like TUF overload.

 
I think they're rolling out the TUFs just so more countries become exposed to MMA and/or the UFC brand. There is no way Zuffa expects us to actually watch "TUF: Ching Chong(TM)" and "TUF: Kangaroos, Eh?(TM)."

Zuffa sorta had to retain Melendez. Felt like if they let him go that the winds would change and push all associated fighters towards the direction of Bellator/Viacom.

 
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Pretty interested to see what happens now that TRT is banned in Nevada.

What are Vitor, Frank Mir, Todd Duffee, Ben Rothwell, Chael Sonnen, Henderson, Bigfoot and all the rest going to do? I'm sure there will be lots of blowback against this and lots of vocal supporters. The abuse was pretty rampant or in some cases the guys who do need it are the ones who abused steroids earlier.

The fight that will be the most interesting now will be Vitor vs. Weidman. TRT Vitor is on the biggest roll of his career.

 
Yeah...performance enhancing is performance enhancing, in my opinion. If your body is so devoid of something that it puts you at risk, then maybe you should look for another profession. That's like letting people with bad vision fight with helmets on. If fighting naturally puts you in danger, you shouldn't be fighting. It's even worse that most of these people did this to themselves by abusing steroids.

In other news, apparently, Nate Diaz asked for his release from the UFC. Oh noes...please...don't go. Don't make yourself less relevant. All I'm picturing in my head is "Fine...if you won't give my brother a title shot he didn't earn...then I quit!" Just get yourselves sent to prison and get it over with already.

 
blueweltall said:
Machida is going to replace Belfort for the Middleweight title fight.
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I remember all that talk by Vitor and crew saying that even if he didn't get the TRT exemption he would go out there and win the belt.

Vitor getting an exemption was already up in the air since he was busted for steroids before and previous roid abusers aren't supposed to get exemptions.

I guess Vitor might as well retire. Brazil banned TRT too. So I guess he will only be able to be part of Fight Nights in Asia and other random locations.

 
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n8rockerasu said:
I do think GSP has some OCD tendencies though. I think part of it is what makes him such a great fighter. It makes him a creature of habit, and I don't think he's really comfortable unless he's following a specific routine.
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n8rockerasu said:
Wow...he must really be messed up mentally. I at least give him credit for doing this the right way...and it sets a good precedent for the sport moving forward. If you don't want to defend the belt at least once every 6 months, vacate the belt. If you want to take a year off, fine. Go on vacation. Spend time with your family. Have a great time. But you're not the champion anymore. Being injured is different...but just choosing to not defend, you're screwing with other guys' opportunities.

Maybe GSP just doesn't want to see what happened to Anderson Silva happen to him...to reach such a level of apathy that you basically just allow yourself to get knocked out. Not to discredit Chris Weidman, but I think everyone can agree that wasn't the best Anderson Silva out there.

Seems like a great freaking documentary opportunity here. Call it "Weight of the Crown" or something like that. I can't be the only one seeing a lot of parallels between Silva and GSP...which is especially ironic considering everybody wanted the two of them to fight. Pretty sure that will never happen now.
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Meant to pat myself on the back the other day, but how's that for a proper diagnosis? :D

And I was pretty close on the documentary too, haha.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1973410-georges-st-pierre-admits-he-has-obsessive-compulsive-disorder

 
OCD? Right. Like that's a legitimate reason to vacate a title. We all know you're fingerbanging aliens, GSP. Don't lie to us! 

 
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The Great Muta said:
OCD? Right. Like that's a legitimate reason to vacate a title. We all know you're fingerbanging aliens, GSP. Don't lie to us!
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lol...that's harsh, man. At least he did it the right way. He doesn't owe anybody anything. If he ever wants to fight again...he can prove that he still has it. If he doesn't want to come back, that's his business. Personally, as long as he's happy and healthy, I say good for him.

 
Damn....OSP with a beast choke! That was nice. "Oh, you're trying to do something to me? Well, now you're unconscious." Sick!

Shields fight is next. Can't decide if I want to go take a nap or a shit. Hmm...maybe both, lol.

 
Good freaking God Shields is terrible. Send him to Bellator already. He's worse than Frank Mir. Mir can't strike or shoot takedowns for shit either but at least he takes chances. Shields fights like a women's self defense instructor. All he does is make the other guy look boring too. Most overrated fighter EVER. 

 
damn all my friends are so pro-shields and saying Lombard is equally boring. theres no way, sure hes not extremely well rounded but at least he has a couple interesting aspects to his game. I have no idea what the fascination with shields is. dude is boring as fuck. glad im not the only one who thinks this way.
 
tylerh1701 said:
damn all my friends are so pro-shields and saying Lombard is equally boring. theres no way, sure hes not extremely well rounded but at least he has a couple interesting aspects to his game. I have no idea what the fascination with shields is. dude is boring as fuck. glad im not the only one who thinks this way.
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Yeah, I've hated Shields for several years. He has no offensive game. He used to be a decent wrestler, but now he can't even take anybody down. His best case scenario for a fight is negating his opponent's weapons. Translation: make the fight boring as shit. Jon Fitch was cut for much less.

 
Geez...both gassed by the 3rd round. Pathetic. I don't need to see the Kimbo Slice welterweight division. People can say what they want about GSP not finishing people, but he was always in shape and put on a clinic.

EDIT - I will say, good for Johny Hendricks. You could tell how bad he wanted it. He came off a little smug after the GSP fight, but I guess when you really feel like you won, being humble is difficult. Hopefully the cardio was the old "adrenaline dump" problem though because personally, I don't think he looked as good in this fight as he did against GSP. Maybe that weight cut was harder on him than he let on. He's definitely a good fighter, but if GSP comes back refreshed and refocused, Hendricks needs to up his game.

 
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n8rockerasu said:
Geez...both gassed by the 3rd round. Pathetic. I don't need to see the Kimbo Slice welterweight division. People can say what they want about GSP not finishing people, but he was always in shape and put on a clinic.

EDIT - I will say, good for Johny Hendricks. You could tell how bad he wanted it. He came off a little smug after the GSP fight, but I guess when you really feel like you won, being humble is difficult. Hopefully the cardio was the old "adrenaline dump" problem though because personally, I don't think he looked as good in this fight as he did against GSP. Maybe that weight cut was harder on him than he let on. He's definitely a good fighter, but if GSP comes back refreshed and refocused, Hendricks needs to up his game.
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Hendricks looked better to me in the GSP fight. It felt like Hendricks played right into Lawler's strength by trying to stand there in bang. Hendricks definitely won 1,2, and 5 in my opinion, but he didn't look as dynamic as before. I was hoping to see Condit challenge for the belt soon, but that won't be happening for a while.

 
Dokstarr said:
Hendricks looked better to me in the GSP fight. It felt like Hendricks played right into Lawler's strength by trying to stand there in bang. Hendricks definitely won 1,2, and 5 in my opinion, but he didn't look as dynamic as before. I was hoping to see Condit challenge for the belt soon, but that won't be happening for a while.
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100% agree. I also thought it was funny that the negative things that were always said about GSP applied to Hendricks almost immediately with this fight. He couldn't finish, he totally played it safe in the 5th round to secure the win, and his face was busted up way more than Lawler's. It ain't easy being the champ, haha.

 
Man, I couldn't put my finger on it Saturday night when I was watching Johny Hendricks at the post fight press conference...but he kept reminding me of somebody. Today, it finally dawned on me. Daniel Stern's character in Rookie of the Year, lol.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEFcUkR0KCM[/youtube]

Anybody else see it? haha :lol:

 
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I go to Sherdog and Bloody Elbow. Sometimes to mmaweekly.

Late but Hendricks-Lawler was a great fight. I was rooting for Lawler after having a career resurgence. He put up a hell of a fight and I thought he was going to put Hendricks out in the fourth but Henricks should incredible toughness to get the win. I scored it for Johny 48-47. I love GSP but with him gone, the welterweight division is wide open. You have Robbie Lawler, Tyron Woodley, Rory Macdonald, Matt Brown, Carlos Condit, Jake Ellenberger, Dong Hyun Kim, Demian Maia, Tarec Saffiedine etc. that can all be the champion imo. I could see any of these guys beating the other on any given night.

Shogun-Dan Henderson 2 this Sunday in Brazil. Who you got?

 
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