MMA News and Discussion Thread

[Fitzy]

UFC's rating was a 2.1.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Which makes it the third-most-watched event in UFC history behind Ortiz/Shamrock and something else. Not a good sign for Affliction.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Wow, nice number to counter Affliction.

I hit up two local bars last Saturday and both were showing UFC and neither were showing Affliction.

I remember nothing about UFC except the KO. I don't even think I was watching it. I haven't rewatched the rest yet. It's been on like three times since too. Fuck, I gotta get my act together.

[Fitzy]

Which makes it the third-most-watched event in UFC history behind Ortiz/Shamrock and something else. Not a good sign for Affliction.

Jackson/Henderson unification fight.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Thinking about it from the perspective of a bar owner, UFC would get them just as much business and save them the ordering cost.

[Enter Blue Guy]

A look at what's on tap for the near future of MMA, stolen from the MMAWeekly rumors section. Some are confirmed, some are just about confirmed, some are rumors. Really, the rumored cards usually come out as such.

ELITE XC: JULY 26, 2008 ON CBS & SHOWTIME

venue: Stockton Arena in Stockton, California

Scheduled to air on CBS:

-Robbie Lawler (#4 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Scott Smith

-Jake Shields (#7 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Nick Thompson

-Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny

-Shayna Baszler vs. Cristiane Cyborg

Scheduled to air on Showtime:

-Antonio Silva vs. Justin Eilers

-Wilson Reis vs. Brian Caraway

-Rafael Feijao Cavalcante vs. Travis Galbraith

Preliminary Bout:

-Anthony Ruiz vs. Jeremy Freitag

WEC 35: AUGUST 3 IN LAS VEGAS

venue: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.

Main Card Bouts:

-Carlos Condit (#9 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Hiromitsu Miura

-Jamie Varner vs. Marcus Hicks

-Brian Stann vs. Steve Cantwell

-Brian Bowles vs. Damacio Page

-Micah Miller vs. Josh Grispi

Preliminary Bouts:

-Cub Swanson vs. Hiroyuki Takaya

-Brock Larson vs. Carlo Prater

-Blas Avena Vs. Dave Terrel

-Kenji Osawa vs. Scott Jorgensen

-Greg McIntyre vs. Mike Budnik

-Todd Moore vs. Alex Karalexis

Main card airs live on Versus

UFC 87: AUGUST 9, 2008 IN MINNEAPOLIS

venue: Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Main Card Bouts:

-Georges St. Pierre (#1 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Jon Fitch (#2 Welterweight in the World)*

-Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta

-Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring

-Demian Maia vs. Jason MacDonald

-Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson

Preliminary Bouts:

-Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen

-Andre Gusmao vs. Tomasz Drwal

-Steve Bruno vs. Chris Wilson

-Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins

WORLD VICTORY ROAD: "SENGOKU 4" ON AUGUST 24, 2008

-Takanori Gomi (#2 Lightweight in the World)* vs. Chris Horodecki

-Frank Trigg vs. Makoto Takimoto

-Peter Graham vs. Moise Rimbon

Lightweight Tournament Participants:

-Duane "Bang" Ludwig

-Eiji Mitsuoka

-Rodrigo Damm

-Kazunori Yokota

-Satoru Kitaoka

UFC 88: SEPTEMBER 6, 2008 IN ATLANTA

venue: Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia

-Anderson Silva (#1 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Patrick Cote

-Chuck Liddell (#4 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Rashad Evans

-Rich Franklin (#3 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Matt Hamill

-Dan Henderson (#8 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Rousimar Palhares

-Karo Parisyan (#10 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida

-Roan Carneiro vs. Ryo Chonan

-James Lee vs. Tim Boetsch

WEC 36: SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

venue: Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida

-Urijah Faber (#1 Featherweight in the World)* vs. Mike Brown (#7 Featherweight in the World)*

-Paulo Filho (#3 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Chael Sonnen

-"Razor" Rob McCullough vs. Donald Cerrone

-Mark Munoz vs. Steve Steinbeiss

-Jake Rosholt vs Danillo Villefort

-Alex Serdyukov vs. Johny Hendricks

-Jens Pulver vs. TBA

-Tim McKenzie vs. TBA

UFC FIGHT NIGHT 15: SEPTEMBER 17, 2008

venue: Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska

-Josh Neer vs. Nate Diaz

-Mac Danzig vs. Clay Guida

-Houston Alexander vs. Eric Schafer

-Ed Herman vs. Alan Belcher

-Joe Lauzon vs. Kyle Bradley

-Wilson Gouveia vs. Jeremy Horn

-Tamden McCrory vs. Luke Cummo

Main card airs live in the United States on Spike TV as the lead-in to the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 8

DREAM 6: SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

venue: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

Dream Welterweight Championship:

-Nick Diaz vs. Hayato Sakurai

Middleweight Grand Prix Finals (16-man tournament):

-Gegard Mousasi (#9 Middleweight in the World)*

-Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza

-Melvin Manhoef

-Zelg Galesic

[semi-Finals and Finals will take place on the same night]

Main card airs live in the United States on HDNet

UFC 89: OCTOBER 18, 2008 IN ENGLAND

venue: The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England

-Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben

-Lyoto Machida (#5 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Thiago Silva (#10 Light Heavyweight in the World)*

-Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (#7 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Luiz Cane

-Paul Kelly vs. Marcus Davis

-Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden

-Sammy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund

-Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim

-Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono

-Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain

-Paul Taylor vs. Chris Lytle

-David Barron vs. TBA

UFC 90: OCTOBER 25, 2008 IN CHICAGO

venue: Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois

-Thiago Alves (#3 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Diego Sanchez (#8 Welterweight in the World)*

How did Gomi vs. Horodecki slip under my radar?!? Jesus. I have to mark that one down in my calender. Nick Diaz vs. Sakurai? Yes please. I think that's a good match for Nick. I'd take him against Mach. I'm liking Danzig/Guida and Neer/Nate headlining Fight Night as well. I have huge interest in MacDonald/Maia too, which has made UFC 87 a must watch for me... like it wasn't already. Maia has been rolling through the competition with his superior BJJ, but MacDonald is the best fighter he has faced yet. MacDonald is also quite the dandy grappler. Not on Maia levels, but hopefully it's enough to keep him out of danger.

Edited July 23, 2008 by Enter Blue Guy

[Gabriel]

I just finished watching the Affliction show, and I've got to say... it was a damn good card of fights. I only caught the PPV fights, so I didn't see anything that happened prior to that.

Hopefully they come up with a second card sometime soon, and drop Michael Buffer... he just seems totally uninterested by what's going on. Like I said though, I was thoroughly entertained by all of the fights, and some of them rank up there with the best the UFC has put out the last year.

I'm thinking a second card will likely feature the debut of Tito Ortiz, as well as Randy Vs Fedor if they can settle everything. If not, they may settle for Tito Vs Babalu or another exciting 205 guy, and co-main event with a contenders match between

Spoiler: Click here to view

Arlovski and Barnett in the Heavyweight division.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Thanks for that, EBG. I'm definitely watching EXC on Saturday, and I'll make every possible effort to catch UFC shows, but other than that, I barely follow WEC or any of the Japanese companies.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Yeah, the only reason I posted the Japanese shows were because of Horodecki vs. Gomi and the possibility of Diaz vs. Sakurai. I've only really payed attention to the LWGP.

Edited July 23, 2008 by Enter Blue Guy

[KCC]

Does anyone else think that UFC 89 card looks pretty darn weak for a PPV? I hope it's on Spike instead. I'm super excited for UFC 87, however, and I may actually buy it. Every single fight on the main card looks interesting to me, a rarity.

As for the EliteXC show, it could probably be very good, and I am looking forward to Smith/Lawler II, but I seriously doubt this will get anywhere near the ratings of the first one from looking at the line-up. If it gets low ratings, I really hope CBS knows that not every show is going to get as good a rating as the first one did.

Edited July 23, 2008 by KCC

[Maxx]

That can't be right, how is Machida not #1 contender?

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

The British shows always get low buyrates because of the timing anyhow, why should UFC waste a great card on one of those?

[Gabriel]

That can't be right, how is Machida not #1 contender?

The UFC wants Forrest Vs Chuck for the Title... so Chuck/Rashad is a contenders fight... but the problem there is that they are vastly underestimating the ability of Rashad Evans. His wrestling is tremendous, and his striking has improved vastly over his short career. I honestly think Rashad will beat Chuck and face Forrest.

Then maybe Machida will get his chance... to face Chuck in a contenders fight...

[KCC]

The British shows always get low buyrates because of the timing anyhow, why should UFC waste a great card on one of those?

I'm sure if they delivered a card worth watching, people would buy. Not that many would be scouring the internet for spoilers, and I know for the England shows that there are replays at the regular time for a UFC PPV.

[rocksta]

I thought Bisping's card was confirmed for Spike tv?

[IAceI]

Here's my big conundrum, Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring.

I want to see Brock Lesnar do well in the UFC, and I think he could really use this win because I don't want him starting badly when he has the potential to be pretty powerful in his division. But at the same time, I don't know if I can bring myself to cheer against the Texas Crazy Horse.

Also the next couple of months look stacked. I haven't been on the ball lately so I'm trying to catch up on fights. I've just watched the Fedor vs. Tim match, and it was a pretty impressive display from Fedor. Being pretty new to MMA in general, and stuff outside UFC (I've watched UFC on off for a year and a bit maybe), then this was good to see Fedor in action rather than highlight reels. I'm sure that match will go onto one of his reels too. His speed for his size is unreal, and he's humble too - great to see.

I have Arlovski/Rothwell, Silva/Irvin, Griffin/Rampage matches to watch. And I'll fancy watching CB Dollaway versus Jesse Taylor from Fight Night and I also will need to get my hands on the Dream 5 Semi-Finals and Final match. As I love me some Joachim Hansen and his match with Eddie Alvarez was great fun. It's a shame the GP couldn't conclude in typical fashion but I guess that's what happens when you want to have multiple fights on the same night.

In summary, there's going to be a hell of a lot of fights I want to see in the future. So I think I need to get these watched and get ready for an onslaught of awesome MMA. Good to see MMA on the rise world-wide too. I also have a hankering to go back and get TUF5 - the first TUF I watched (and the only one other than this latest one) and I remember I really enjoyed it and the standard was high - and it was the stepping stone for one of my now favourite fighters Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon.

EDIT: Just watched the Silva fight. And would like to say the beating he gave Irvin was worse than the beating Fedor gave Tim in my eyes. Also Mike Goldberg summed it all up very well with; "Anderson Silva's precision is very.. precise" I think that was a pretty well thought out statement. It's odd how I rate him and Rogan as possibly my favourite sport commentators on the go.

Edited July 23, 2008 by IAceI

[Enter Blue Guy]

My favorite Mike Goldberg gem was at the TUF 2 finale during Imes vs. Rashad. The fight is standing, Imes throws a backfist and Goldy goes "spinning backfist... without the spin." So basically just a regular backfist then?

Joe and Mike have amazing chemistry together, which has been lacking from all other MMA announce teams. They are complete opposites, but it works. People honestly think Goldy knows nothing about the sport. That's bullshit. Mike Goldberg has been around forever, he has seen more MMA than most fans could ever dream of. He knows his shit. He dumbs it down to go into enthusiastic play by play mode and leaves it up to Joe to do the job of going in depth to describe the action. I love how Mike plays giddy, sometimes corny, announce man, and you got Joe who can suddenly become a really good straight man to balance it out. Neither will win awards for their commentary talents on their own, as a team, it works amazingly. Even in the worst situations, you can always laugh off the awkwardness and they go back to making a great team. You got most of these MMA and boxing broadcasts where you have a three man announce team all trying to steal the show and you get this three headed announcer type feel. Instead, Mike and Joe know their roles and complement each other, instead of competing against each other.

Joe does tend to get a little preachy sometimes, which annoys me at first, but then you just got to realize how huge of a fan and practitioner of MMA Joe is and how passionate he is about the sport. He does a great job sifting through BS from fans and critics and setting shit straight.

Also, if anybody wants to check out three really great fights, check out Eddie Alvarez LWGP run.

Eddie vs. Dida

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/searc...ez-dream1_sport

Eddie vs. Hansen

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/searc...varez-dre_sport

Eddie vs. Kawajiri

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/searc...atsuya-ka_sport

The commentary is Japanese, which folks either love or hate.

Edited July 23, 2008 by Enter Blue Guy

[Fitzy]

Some great looking fights coming up in the near future. Lawler/Smith II, Sheidls/Thompson, WEC usually always has some solid fights and Cthis one features Candit and Stann so that's good, GSP/Fitch, Florian/Huerta, Lesnar/Herring, Gomi/Hordecki, UFC 88 is looking like a solid card all around, Faber/Brown, Pulver/Garcia, UFC Fight Night 15 looks like a great card especially Neer/Diaz and Danzig/Guida, Diaz/Sakurai, and UFC 89 looks like a good card with Bisping/Leben, Kelly/Davis, and Taylor/Lytle, and it's nearly a done deal for it to be on Spike as well.

Speaking of UFC 89, Brandon Vera vs. Keith Jardine is rumored to be added to that which could be a great fight but Vera hasn't exactly been involved in exciting fights lately. UFC 89.

Affliction claims to have done "well over 100,000 buys" for their show. I am sure Meltzer will find an accurate number in the coming months.

Edited July 23, 2008 by Fitzy

[crazedfan]

Fedor is supposedly fighting Arlovski at the next Affliction show.

Which is also supposedly going to be happening on October 11th at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. It was originally planned to happen in November sometime, but Fedor was petitioning for the next Affliction show to be moved up so he can fight in Japan on New Year's Eve.

Edited July 24, 2008 by crazedfan

[Gabriel]

Fedor is supposedly fighting Arlovski at the next Affliction show.

While I'm all for Andrei getting a title shot... I'm not looking forward to this fight. I like both men. I don't want to see one dominate the other.

100% it'll be quick.

Only 15% it'll be Arlovski coming out with the belt...and that's only if he shows up ready to finish it right away. He'd have to throw some quick bombs and hope either he knocks Fedor out, or that he can grab hold of a leglock within the first minute.