1464 replies to this topic

[raychild]

Will anyone be watching UFC 65: Bad Intentions

Aside from the cheesy name tonight’s fight card features several exciting matchups. Welterweights Matt Hughes and George St.Pierre will fight for there respective weight classes championship title. Hughes is regarded as the most dominant 170 pound fighter in the world. GSP is with out contention Hughes stiffest competition. The co-main event will be for the heavy weight belt as my fellow Maine brethren Tim Sylvia fights Jeff Monson. There are also some great under cards to compliment the two main event fights. So I implore any and all who have the slightest interest in this incredibly exciting and astonishingly cerebral sport to check this evenings scrumfest.

[Mr Weebles]

I ordered it.

Monson-Sylvia should be interesting. Monson's ridiculously strong and if gets Sylvia to the ground he might take the belt.

[raychild]

Yeah I hope he has worked on his sprawl. Sylvia is surround by world class grappling talent in the Militich camp, doubt any of them are as big/strong as Monson.

[Mr Weebles]

Wow, Vera just dismantled Mir in a little over a minute.

[Mr Weebles]

Holy crap.

GSP just kicked the living shit out of Hughes.

[raychild]

WTF. I never thought it would go down like that... complete destruction. That wasn't quite as bad as Rich Franklin getting his face rearranged by Anderson (Pee Pee Pants), but still pretty bad.

[raychild]

The Sylvia fight was gay, toward the end I found it hard to even cheer for Tim. I realize he was playing it safe but I just hate that coy shit.

[pdaj]

Ray -- He fought the same way in his previous title defense. It's painstaking to watch, but until someone forces him to flat-out brawl .. he'll win and the fans will have to deal with it. I think the youngin' that will face him next can do just that, though.

I was never a big fan of GSP - perhaps it was just the accent - but, man, did he look good last night. He's super quick, powerful .. and best of all? HUNGRY. Last night, it was obvious he wanted it more. MUCH more. I was disappointed with Huges' effort .. as he didn't come close to matching GSP's energy. MH looked flat .. but maybe last night's loss will get him goin' again. If he had managed to get GSP on the mat last night, the story may have ended differently. That'll have to be his plan for the rematch. There's no way he can beat GSP standing up.

[raychild]

Hughes next fight will be a rematch with GSP. This should give him plenlty of time to prepare as GSP's next bout should match him up with Matt Serra. MH has had several fights this year with 2 in 2 months, GSP could not of been more fresh going into this weekends fight where his last match against Bj Penn was months ago.

Next month looks to be rather exciting with Liddell V. Ortiz II and under cards featuring Forest Griffin and Andrei Arlovski, good stuff!!!

[burstnbloom]

Next month looks to be rather exciting with Liddell V. Ortiz II and under cards featuring Forest Griffin and Andrei Arlovski, good stuff!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good fights last night. Predictibly Liddell was victorious again, though Ortiz showed some balls after being cut badly in round 1. Forest Griffin got worked by Keith Jardine and Canadian Jason Mcdonald put Leben in a submission and squeezed the life ouf of him. Im not a huge fan of these things but they are good entertainment and I was not at all disappointed by the purchase.

[mpl6993]

Wait until the first couple fights of 2007. With the UFC getting Mirco Cro Cop and Rampage Jackson they now have someone that can truly challenge Liddell(jackson). Not to mention that no one in the heavyweight division will be able to hold a candle to Cro Cop.

They set up a couple gimme fights for these guys in January to let them get their UFC legs and accustomed to the new rules since they both come from Pride Fighting but I am guessing in March or April Cro Cop will fight Sylvia and the Jackson will fight the Iceman.

This is gonna be a great year for the UFC.

[Vinho Tinto]

Is UFC leaving Spike TV? I noticed ads for a UFC network on Direct TV today.

Regarding last night: Seeing the Brazilian heavyweight list my hometown (Ludlow) as his residence was pretty random.

[BGrif21125]

I don't watch UFC, but I saw this article linked on a boxing site and thought you guys would want to know.
Looks like HBO has signed a contract with UFC and will start airing fight cards in 2007.
Link

Edited by BGrif21125, 09 January 2007 - 08:08 AM.

[Gene Conleys Plane Ticket]

I don't watch UFC, but I saw this article linked on a boxing site and thought you guys would want to know.
Looks like HBO has signed a contract with UFC and will start airing fight cards in 2007.
Link

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Interestingly, accoring to Thomas Hauser's fascinating article about HBO's boxing program on the web site SecondsOut.com, the UFC contract was ordered by HBO's chairman Chris Albrecht over the objections of HBO sports chairman Ross Greenburg. That's significant because traditionally at HBO, the sports department has run autonomously, without interference from the higher-ups. Boxing has been HBO Sports' crown jewel for over 30 years, and the fear is that adding the UFC will "tarnish" the boxing franchise.

[drleather2001]

Boxing has been in the shitter for years. UFC is the future of ring sports. Part of the problem with boxing (PPV boxing, anyway) is that most of the fights are between people who are non-household names, and those that do involve recognizable names are frequesntly rematches. Consumers end up feeling cheated.
UFC is engaging in a huge marketing push in 2007. Shit will be huge.

[Vinho Tinto]

Boxing has been in the shitter for years.  UFC is the future of ring sports.  Part of the problem with boxing (PPV boxing, anyway) is that most of the fights are between people who are non-household names, and those that do involve recognizable names are frequesntly rematches.  Consumers end up feeling cheated. 
UFC is engaging in a huge marketing push in 2007.  Shit will be huge.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with you on the UFC's future. However, I can understand the concern by some people at HBO. Boxing has been good to HBO for decades. They pretty much have a lock up on all the major fights in the US. If they can include UFC, without degrading Boxing, then it's great for HBO.

But, UFC is suspect to market changes like any sport. If HBO lose their grasp on boxing, in order to get a portion of UFC's broadcasts, it could be something they regret. Too early to tell. We'll have to see how this plays out.

One other thing: I'm concerned with UFC's apparent downgrading of thier relationship with Spike. I scrolled through my cable programming list for the next week on Spike. I didn't see much of anything listed for UFC.

One reason why UFC has surged is, as you noted, people have become familair with the fighters thanks to the Spike relationship. If they start moving more fights to PPV, their own network, or HBO- that could lead to some people getting out fo the habit of watching.

Edited by Vinho Tinto, 12 January 2007 - 10:30 AM.

[BGrif21125]

Boxing has been in the shitter for years.  UFC is the future of ring sports.  Part of the problem with boxing (PPV boxing, anyway) is that most of the fights are between people who are non-household names, and those that do involve recognizable names are frequesntly rematches.  Consumers end up feeling cheated. 
UFC is engaging in a huge marketing push in 2007.  Shit will be huge.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Boxing certainly suffers from chronic corruption and mismanagement, and UFC made a very smart move by hiring Marc Ratner away from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. He is by all accounts a very bright guy.
I think UFC does have a bright future, but I still don't see it ever matching or replacing boxing in terms of popularity (even as limited as boxing's current popularity may be).
While boxing suffers from a lack of "big" fights, the few big boxing fights will still garner more attention than the biggest UFC cards ever will. I just can't see a UFC card ever drawing the numbers that Mayweather-De La Hoya will likely get in May, or that fights such as Lewis-Tyson or De La Hoya-Trinidad have drawn in recent times.
I don't watch UFC, but I certainly don't have anything against the sport and have no reason to not want it to do well. But to large portions of the viewing public, UFC will always just be gratuitous violence. Look how much criticism boxing has gotten over the years. Once UFC suffers a ring death (like boxing has), there will be plenty of criticism aimed at it, attempts to ban the sport, etc.

If they can include UFC, without degrading Boxing, then it's great for HBO.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm very interested to see how much boxing advertising is included during the UFC broadcasts, and vice versa. Will HBO view them as separate fanbases? Or try to sell UFC fans on boxing? It will be interesting to see.

Edited by BGrif21125, 12 January 2007 - 10:55 AM.

[Eagle3]

One area where boxing and UFC are similar is that the retired guys just can't stay retired. I saw an "Inside the UFC" last night where Randy Couture announced he's coming back as a heavyweight to fight Tim Silvia. After losing twice as a light heavyweight its ridiculous that he gets a heavyweight title shot right away. But, it's all about marketing, I suppose. He signed for 2 years, 4 fights, at age 43. I can't imagine he'll fight 4 more times if he gets his ass kicked again.

[Murray Rude]

There's compelling evidence that MMA fighting, in fact, is safer than boxing, despite appearences.

No UFC fighter has ever died, while it seems a boxer dies every year or so. There are, to be sure, many more boxing bouts yearly than MMA matches.

But MMA isn't just a boxing-like display of knocking each other's block off. Quitting is acceptable. There's much more chance for "recovery." Only a fraction of fights end in KO/TKO.

I think the UFC future is enormous. And if boxing continues to so mis-manage itself, UFC will be even bigger.

But they are in no way ready to leave the friendly confines of "free TV," despite the huge PPV numbers.

[Lanternjaw]

Showtime has also tapped into the MMA market. They'll broadcast their first card in February, with the main event a bout between Frank Shamrock and Renzo Gracie.

[NickEsasky]

Any one see fight night live on Spike last night.

The Texas Crazy Horse was a total disappointment in his totally boring fight against O'Brian. O'Brian baiscally just kept taking him down and mounting him while Herring did nothing on the ground. He then bitched and moaned after the fact about wanting to knock O'Brian out for the fans but they spent too much time on the damn ground. Not a good start for the hyped signee.

Rashad Evans knocked the shit out of Salmon with a nasty head kick that Salmon never saw coming. Evans still has a ways to go but he's improving in leaps and bounds quickly becoming a more complete fighter. 205 is a good weight for him as well. He's not ready for a Lidell yet but he's getting there.

Edited by NickEsasky, 26 January 2007 - 09:08 AM.

[Mr Weebles]

Any one see fight night live on Spike last night.

The Texas Crazy Horse was a total disappointment in his totally boring fight against O'Brian. O'Brian baiscally just kept taking him down and mounting him while Herring did nothing on the ground. He then bitched and moaned after the fact about wanting to knock O'Brian out for the fans but they spent too much time on the damn ground. Not a good start for the hyped signee.

Rashad Evans knocked the shit out of Salmon with a nasty head kick that Salmon never saw coming. Evans still has a ways to go but he's improving in leaps and bounds quickly becoming a more complete fighter. 205 is a good weight for him as well. He's not ready for a Lidell yet but he's getting there.

Last night was OK. The free Spike live events are sometimes second-tier cards, but Evans-Salmon was good. I haven't been a fan in the past of Evans' style but he laid out Salmon last night like no tomorrow. I'm not sure Salmon has woken up yet. In fact, that's the first time I remember someone getting carried out of the ring in a long time.

The Herring-O'Brian fight sucked. Boring as hell and Herring was a whiny bitch after the fact. If he wanted to KO O'Brian, he should not have been taken down.

Franca looked impressive, and Herman's armbar was awesome. Great move by him and a good win after losing his last couple of fights.

[NickEsasky]

Watching Salmon twitching on the ground like his namesake was crazy. He got knocked into next week. Didn't they say it was the first high kick Evans has thrown or something? No wonder Salmon never saw it coming.

[Goosewptc]

Awesome card shaping up for UFC 68 on March 3rd:

Sylvia v. Couture
Chris Lytle v. Matt Hughes
Rich Franklin v. TBD
Jason Lamber v. Babalu

And others TBD.

The Uprising

[Chainsaw318]

Awesome card shaping up for UFC 68 on March 3rd:

Sylvia v. Couture
Chris Lytle v. Matt Hughes
Rich Franklin v. TBD
Jason Lamber v. Babalu

And others TBD.

The Uprising

Rich Franklin is supposed to fight Jason MacDoanld, who's 2 UFC fights (submission defeatof of TUF3 Winner Ed Herman and of Chris Leben were extemeley impressive>

This igood card for causal UFC Fans to get an intro. Hughes and Franklin are former champs on the rebound from losing their belts in their last fights. Sylvia has defended his belt twice since regaining it, and his lackluster effort in his last fight angered UFC legend Randy Couture enough to lure him out of retirement to force Sylvia to really fight like a champion.

Renato "Babalu" Sobral is a great ju-jitsu guy who got stunned and knocked out in his championship shot in his last bout, but can turn people into pretzels.

Also fighting is Matt Hamill, a 3 time NCAA Div 3 wrestling champion who only started MMA training 6 months before appearing on The Ultimate Fighter, and was really impressive. He's very strong and quick to shoot in, and he's fun to root for because he caught a lot of crap on the TUF show for being deaf.

Edit: I don't know if I should be dropping 4-letter words into my posts, just 15 posts into my membership. I'll try to be good, I promise.

Edited by Chainsaw318, 10 February 2007 - 12:35 PM.

[Chainsaw318]

Rich Franklin is supposed to fight Jason MacDoanld, who's 2 UFC fights (submission defeatof of TUF3 Winner Ed Herman and of Chris Leben were extemeley impressive>

This is a good card for causal UFC Fans to get an intro. Hughes and Franklin are former champs on the rebound from losing their belts in their last fights. Sylvia has defended his belt twice since regaining it, and his lackluster effort in his last fight angered UFC legend Randy Couture enough to lure him out of retirement to force Sylvia to really fight like a champion.

Renato "Babalu" Sobral is a great ju-jitsu guy who got stunned and knocked out in his championship shot in his last bout, but can turn people into pretzels.

Also fighting is Matt Hamill, a 3 time NCAA Div 3 wrestling champion who only started MMA training 6 months before appearing on The Ultimate Fighter, and was really impressive. He's very strong and quick to shoot in, and he's fun to root for because he caught a lot of crap on the TUF show for being deaf.

If you are in the Boston Area, and want to check out a UFC card @ a bar, I believe both Hooters near North Station and The Sports Depot in Alston/Brighton are showing the PPV (Link to where the fights are being shown in bars thoughout the country). As I said above, this is a very strong card with a Heavyweight title fight (UFC HOF'er Couture fighting the Champion, 6'9" Maine-iac Tim Sylvia), Two former champions who lost their belts in stunning fashions in their last fights trying to get tile rematches (Franklin and Hughes) and a couple of very strong up-and-comers in Matt Hamill and Jon Fitch, who could be fighting big-time fights within a year.

I've become a huge fan of the UFC, and I encourage people to check it out if you haven't already. If you have questions, I'll be with a decent-sized crew at the sports depot tonight, drinking and yelling at the TV's. If you want to come learn about what's going on, my friends and I would be more than willing to give you a primer on the sport.

[Mr Weebles]

Wow, Jason Lambert just knocked Babalu out with a vicious left. I didn't expect that to happen.



EDIT: And Jason Lambert just thanked Jesus for the win. I didn't realize they trained together.

Edited by Mr Weebles, 03 March 2007 - 10:30 PM.

[Murray Rude]

After some underwhelming cards the past couple months, last night certainly did not disappoint.

Hughes and Franklin both delivered like you thought they might. Lambert just murdered Bablu. And Couture? Pretty amazing. I don't think he'll hold that title for long but that was a pretty amazing performance. That guy has some heart. Sylvia has little - I love when he tried to mention an injury post-fight and the crowd just came down on him so badly, he quickly apologized.

Heavyweight division just got a lot more interesting.

Edited by Murray Rude, 04 March 2007 - 11:10 AM.

[Chainsaw318]

After some underwhelming cards the past couple months, last night certainly did not disappoint.

Hughes and Franklin both delivered like you thought they might. Lambert just murdered Bablu. And Couture? Pretty amazing. I don't think he'll hold that title for long but that was a pretty amazing performance. That guy has some heart.

Randy Couture brought the house down.

Watched the fights with a big crew at the Sports Depot in Allston. When Randy popped Sylvia at the beginning of the first round and then took his back, the place went nuts. People were yelling a cheering the whole fight (mostly for Couture). A 43-year old man cam out and dominated the younger, bigger, stronger champion. Just owned him the enitre fight with guile and technique.

A defining fight in UFC history. Show that fight to some fans who were trying to watch boxing on HBO last night, and you'll have some converts, believe me.

[Myt1]

Randy Couture brought the house down.

Watched the fights with a big crew at the Sports Depot in Allston. When Randy popped Sylvia at the beginning of the first round and then took his back, the place went nuts. People were yelling a cheering the whole fight (mostly for Couture). A 43-year old man cam out and dominated the younger, bigger, stronger champion. Just owned him the enitre fight with guile and technique.

A defining fight in UFC history. Show that fight to some fans who were trying to watch boxing on HBO last night, and you'll have some converts, believe me.

Vazquez-Marquez was a great fight. I was flipping to it during breaks in the UFC action.

Sylvia seemd so tentative all fight long. Look, even after going to ground, the guy's simple girth makes him incredibly difficult to submit. Why not let it all hang out on your strikes, hope for the KO, and deal with Couture's ground game when it happens. It happened all night, anyway. As great as it was to see Couture's win, the match itself looked like a fixed fight thrown by a poor actor. I don't think it would win many converts.

Kampmann's win over McFedries was frigging magical. That was simply incredible.

Edited by Myt1, 04 March 2007 - 02:47 PM.

[Chainsaw318]

Vazquez-Marquez was a great fight. I was flipping to it during breaks in the UFC action.

Sylvia seemd so tentative all fight long. Look, even after going to ground, the guy's simple girth makes him incredibly difficult to submit. Why not let it all hang out on your strikes, hope for the KO, and deal with Couture's ground game when it happens. It happened all night, anyway. As great as it was to see Couture's win, the match itself looked like a fixed fight thrown by a poor actor. I don't think it would win many converts.

Kampmann's win over McFedries was frigging magical. That was simply incredible.

Alledging fixing is a bit much.

The great thing about MMA is how much the "Styles make fights" axiom becomes true. Sylvia is a monster, but he was not prepared for the way Couture went about the fight, using his stand-up more effectively than I have ever seen, and then jumping inside the big reach and powering into the takedowns. Sylvia realy seemed to be preparing for a different kind of fight than the one Couture brought to him.

I won a quick $1 on Kampmann, and it looked real bad in the early par of the 1st round. This is the second time I've seen Kampmann and he was impressive against the better puncher.

The UFC did a good job with this card, and it delivered. The next event has some promising fights as well. Mike Swick and Diego Sanchez are promising fighters coming out of TUF season 1 who can really catapult themselves to Championship-level fighters with wins of Okami and Koscheck respectively. It will be nice to see both guys thoroughly tested.

[Daily Conundrum]

If you guys are interested in MMA, catch some PRIDE fights when you get a chance. PRIDE fighters are a million times better than those in the UFC. Example: watch Liddel get absolutely owned by a PRIDE fighter

[Chainsaw318]

If you guys are interested in MMA, catch some PRIDE fights when you get a chance. PRIDE fighters are a million times better than those in the UFC. Example: watch Liddel get absolutely owned by a PRIDE fighter

PRIDE is in serious financial trouble, from some rumblings I hear, and from the recent trend of PRIDE pros ending up fighting elsewhere (Cro Cop and Jackson to the UFC. Fedor, the PRIDE Heavyweight Champ, just signed a contract with another organization as well) you will find more than a few people who will debate the difference in talent level between PRIDE and UFC. Funny quote from UFC president Dana White in this article:

"A lot of people think that the mystique over in Japan, they're bigger, better, making more money. All of it's bull----. It's all a big myth and now we're in a place where we can prove it. Look at Nick Diaz… Diaz was cut by us because he lost so many times and he just beat Gomi who everyone thought was unstoppable and the best guy in that weight division. Not only did Nick Diaz beat him, but BJ Penn destroyed him."

That Lidell loss is to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, I would suspect (I didn't click on the link), and is Lidell's only unavenged loss to date. Jackson now fights in the UFC and they may have that rematch as soon as May, so to see the "PRIDE fighter" again, you'll havde to watch UFC.

Not saying "PRIDE SUX, UFC RULEZ!", but it looks like UFC is making a serious move to be the Major League of MMA fighting, not just in the US, but worldwide.

[Myt1]

Alledging fixing is a bit much.

The great thing about MMA is how much the "Styles make fights" axiom becomes true. Sylvia is a monster, but he was not prepared for the way Couture went about the fight, using his stand-up more effectively than I have ever seen, and then jumping inside the big reach and powering into the takedowns. Sylvia realy seemed to be preparing for a different kind of fight than the one Couture brought to him.

I won a quick $1 on Kampmann, and it looked real bad in the early par of the 1st round. This is the second time I've seen Kampmann and he was impressive against the better puncher.

The UFC did a good job with this card, and it delivered. The next event has some promising fights as well. Mike Swick and Diego Sanchez are promising fighters coming out of TUF season 1 who can really catapult themselves to Championship-level fighters with wins of Okami and Koscheck respectively. It will be nice to see both guys thoroughly tested.

I wasn't alleging a fix at all. I was commenting on the quality of the fight. it was so bad that it looked like a poorly thrown match.

I understand the emotion involved for a hardcore UFC fan with regard to Couture, and why they loved that match, but to me it appeared to be exactly the type of match that wouldn't win any converts. It was incredibly one-sided, and Sylvia made no adjustments at all. A UFC novice would not be turned on by that kind of fight.

By contrast, the Kampmann fight involved a guy who was getting trounced at what he typically does best, who made a quick-thinking adjustment, and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a stunning submission that put hi opponent out in a matter of seconds. The fight involved some great stand-up, and then an amazing submission.

[Daily Conundrum]

That Lidell loss is to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, I would suspect (I didn't click on the link), and is Lidell's only unavenged loss to date. Jackson now fights in the UFC and they may have that rematch as soon as May, so to see the "PRIDE fighter" again, you'll havde to watch UFC.

Not saying "PRIDE SUX, UFC RULEZ!", but it looks like UFC is making a serious move to be the Major League of MMA fighting, not just in the US, but worldwide.

Rampage Jackson moved to the UFC because he couldn't cut it anymore in PRIDE. This is not even debatable - PRIDE fighters are clearly superior to UFC ones, and it's not even close. Maybe the tide will change, as eventually the US (UFC) will be able to pay more to the fighters.

[Chainsaw318]

Rampage Jackson moved to the UFC because he couldn't cut it anymore in PRIDE. This is not even debatable - PRIDE fighters are clearly superior to UFC ones, and it's not even close. Maybe the tide will change, as eventually the US (UFC) will be able to pay more to the fighters.

I was just stating what was fact about that video, and the possible upcoming rematch. I'm not going to get into a debate about who's fighters are better, b/c it probably doesn't go anywhere.

I would love to be able to match up the top guys from each league against each other, and it may happen if UFC specifically gets airtime on a big cable network like HBO and the UK event spawns more international (as opposed to US buzz). As far as the business of the sport goes, it looks like UFC may end up the big dog in the market, and thusly, steal the big fighters.

MYT1, I have become a big UFC fan in the last year or so, mostly because of it's availability, but even people watching with us for the first time this weekend could grasp the underdog nature of what Couture was going for (older, the comeback, past champ/HOF'er, smaller guy) and that made it more compelling then the fight itself. I thought for the most part, the fight and the story matched perfectly this time, rather than a lot of hype and a poor, quick fight.

Just a man's opinion though. I also drank enough $2.75 High Life's to kill a pony.

[Myt1]

I was just stating what was fact about that video, and the possible upcoming rematch. I'm not going to get into a debate about who's fighters are better, b/c it probably doesn't go anywhere.

I would love to be able to match up the top guys from each league against each other, and it may happen if UFC specifically gets airtime on a big cable network like HBO and the UK event spawns more international (as opposed to US buzz). As far as the business of the sport goes, it looks like UFC may end up the big dog in the market, and thusly, steal the big fighters.

MYT1, I have become a big UFC fan in the last year or so, mostly because of it's availability, but even people watching with us for the first time this weekend could grasp the underdog nature of what Couture was going for (older, the comeback, past champ/HOF'er, smaller guy) and that made it more compelling then the fight itself. I thought for the most part, the fight and the story matched perfectly this time, rather than a lot of hype and a poor, quick fight.

Just a man's opinion though. I also drank enough $2.75 High Life's to kill a pony.

Highway robbery.

I've started to get into the UFC over the last year or so myself. I can definitely appreciate the story of the Couture fight, and I thought the crowd itself was electric.

I imagine Cro Cop gets a shot soon? That man is just wrong.

[Chainsaw318]

Highway robbery.

I've started to get into the UFC over the last year or so myself. I can definitely appreciate the story of the Couture fight, and I thought the crowd itself was electric.

I imagine Cro Cop gets a shot soon? That man is just wrong.

I think there's a speculative Cro-Cop as heavyweight champ and then Crop Cop vs. Lidell fight speculated on in a column on NBC sports online, which I think I linked to above for that other article.

High life was far better than I recalled. I'd rather drink that then a $2.75 Coors. And I only puked for 2 hours the next day. . .

[asphyxiation]

Pride certainly has talent, but their clear supremacy over UFC is shrinking rapidly Losing Rampage and Crocop is a huge hit. Saying Rampage left Pride because he couldn't "cut it" is ridiculous. His contract was up and he sought the big payday; one that UFC gave him.

I wish there was a way to consolidate the two. Some fighters from pride worth checking out: Josh Barnett (you might remember him from UFC 30? or so and taking a devastating knockout from Pedro Rizzo), Ricardo Arona (not a huge fan of his takedown-rabbit punching until he wins a decision, but he's an absolute monster and has worked on his stand-up), Shogun, Fedor, Minotauro, Hunt, Wand, etc.

Did someone say Fedor signed elsewhere? I haven't been keeping up and I totally missed that. Is it an exclusive contract?

[Chainsaw318]

Pride certainly has talent, but their clear supremacy over UFC is shrinking rapidly Losing Rampage and Crocop is a huge hit. Saying Rampage left Pride because he couldn't "cut it" is ridiculous. His contract was up and he sought the big payday; one that UFC gave him.

I wish there was a way to consolidate the two.

Huge deal. UFC buys PRIDE, will still market events under PRIDE's name, but will allow fighters from PRIDE to fight in UFC megafights.

This is huge for PRIDE, which was hurting financially, and for the UFC, which gains access to some of PRIDE's high-level, high-profile fighters (Fedor, Vanderlai (Pee Pee Pants), etc.)

Another big step up for MMA.

Link

[Bongorific]

Pretty solid PPV tonight.

I'm not sure if we use spoilers in this thread, so the following is a spoiler...

Pretty surprised St. Pierre lost. One left hook really knocked him off balance at that was all over. I'm guessing Hughes is the first contender, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

More importantly, UFC 70 is on Spike for free in 3 weeks. I can't wait to see Cro Cop again. He is vicious.

[Murray Rude]

I didn't buy the event b/c I, like most, was pretty sure GSP would walk all over Serra. I guess, after he defended so many times, Hughes should get another shot (although all he's done since he lost the belt was beat some tomato can). Koscheck maybe? I could see them giving some top PRIDE fighter a shot.

Serra vs. PRIDE fighter
Kos vs. Hughes (with winner getting title shot)
Sanchez vs. GSP

Edited by Murray Rude, 08 April 2007 - 09:59 AM.

[Bongorific]

Tonight's UFC 70 is free on Spike TV tonight. It's listed as going from 9pm-12:30. Maybe they're alloting the extra half hour because they aren't sure how long some of the fights will take. While I don't follow MMA that much, I'm excited to see Cro Cop fight again tonight.

[SoxFanInCali]

Holy crap. Gonzaga nearly kicked Cro Cop's head clean off. I still don't know how Cro Cop got up and walked out of the cage. When he went down it looked like his knee and ankle twisted totally backwards. I can't believe he didn't tear something.

The KO made up for the boring Arlovski fight. The Bisping fight was fun to watch, too, especially with the crowd totally into it.

[Bongorific]

The Arlovski fight was really boring. I kind of lost interest during parts and was talking with friends. After the 3rd round I just asked, "it's over already? Did anything even happen?"

Just before Cro Cop got kicked silly, as the round was winding down, I said I wanted to see a sweet Cro Cop kick. Well, there was a sweet kick, except Cro Cop was on the receiving end. I'm not sure what he was thinking. In slow-mo he just sort of grinned as the kick was coming and and was blocking around his shoulder. He either didn't think Gonzaga was going to throw a kick with 9 seconds left in the first round, or he didn't think Gonzaga could kick that high. Either way, that was the most devistating strike I've seen live. His leg looked terrible too. He was knocked cold so fast his leg and foot just twisted totally backwards as he fell. I'm not sure why the ref pushed his leg out from underneath his body, he could have had serious ligament damage.

[DanoRedSox]

I've so happy I've landed tickets for UFC 71 in Belfast, I can't wait.

Has anyone been to a UFC event before, what can I expect?

I can see Rich being taken out I must say, I hope it happens too.

[JeffFryesStartingJob]

espn and sherdog have come to an agreement to cross promote in some fashion, i'm sure anything worthwhile will be insider content

koscheck is next for gsp

[Chainsaw318]

espn and sherdog have come to an agreement to cross promote in some fashion, i'm sure anything worthwhile will be insider content

koscheck is next for gsp

Link to this info somewhere? I don't see anything immediate on Sherdog.

EDIT: nm, found it here.

Edited by Chainsaw318, 16 May 2007 - 01:04 PM.

[Mr Weebles]

Who else is ordering Lidell-Jackson tonight? I admire Chuck to no end for avenging all of his losses so far, but I think he's gonna have his hands full with Rampage.

[Chainsaw318]

Gonna try and catch it. I love Chuck, and I think that if he was going to lose a fight, this may be it, as Jackson isn't scared of him like Oritz is and is an excellent power shot-and-pound kind of fighter.

That being said, I'm rooting for Chuck and I think he pulls it off again. I've been watching him for a couple years now and I still can't believe how much power he gets on such unorthodox punches. Lidell also has a very underrated takedown defense and scrambling ability, which has helped him against jujitsu practioners and wrestlers.

Nice to see Lidell on ESPN news and that the sport is getting some play nationally. I'm a huge fan, and I'm hardly disappointed by a PPV, even if the main event isn't all it's cut out to be. The # of undercard fights almost guarantees you a couple good ones.

The Josh Burkman/Karo Parisyan fight should be a good one tonight, as should the fight with Keith Jardine, who is pretty damned good.