MMA News and Discussion Thread

[Gene Kiniski]

The card is pretty solid to me, especially for an overseas event.

Spoilers: Hardy/Davis:

Spoiler: Click here to view

Fight pretty much went the way I expected it to go. Glad Hardy pulled it out.

[ACCBiggz]

Spoiler: Click here to view

Hardy vs. Davis was alright, shame Davis couldn't pull it out. Second round was really close in my eyes, but I scored it 29-28 Hardy as well. Davis could have even stolen the third round but just couldn't do it. Hardy will get his once he moves up in competition more.

Uno/Fisher went as expected outside of the final result. Uno just needed to do what he did at the end more and he'd have taken it. I was confused that Rogan sounded like he thought Uno won... first two rounds were clearly Fisher. Although under PRIDE scoring I'd have given it to Uno most likely.

Saunders/Swick - As expected. Almost to the tee.

CroCop/al Turk is another that went about as I expected it too. Cro Cop should have used his kick more to the legs of al Turk and then went in. Shame about the poke.

Cain/Kongo as I expected too. Kongo has no ground game, and sadly he could have finished had he been able to seperate against Cain and picked his shots instead of throwing wildly like he did allowing Cain inside for the takedown.

Main event was excellent. Thought Rich needed to use his leg kick more to create distance and then counter when Wandy moved in. But it was still an excellent fight. Would love to see Rich face someone for the right to fight Machida as I would like to see Rich vs. Lyoto II. I don't expect the result to be different, but its a better match-up than most the division.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Spoiler: Click here to view

I didn't even realise this event was in fucking Europe, thought it was on late tonight as usual, so I'm gutted I've missed it.

I'll try to catch it later tonight or sometime tomorrow if possible. Happy to hear Franklin won and I'm really interested to see where things go from here. I've not seen his performance from tonight yet, but I still think he's got a lot more to offer and I really agree with what Biggz said about Machida/Franklin II, on the condition Franklin can take out one of the top guys in the division first and earn the shot.

And CroCop winning =

[Gene Kiniski]

And Cro Cop is gone:

COLOGNE, Germany – Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic's return to the UFC was a short one.

Not long after stopping Mostapha Al-Turk in the first round of UFC 99 on Saturday at Lanxess Arena in his first fight in the UFC since back-to-back losses in 2007, Filipovic informed UFC president Dana White that he had signed a three-fight contract with the Japanese-based DREAM organization.

White had signed Filipovic less than a month ago to a one-fight deal, the first time in more than nine years that he'd done that. He had worked out terms on two additional fights, but said he'd only put pen to paper for Saturday's bout.

He brought Filipovic back because he knew the Croat is still very popular, and Filipovic insisted he wanted to make a run for the title.

That proved not to be the truth. After turning down much tougher opposition, including Cain Velasquez, who defeated Cheick Kongo later on the card, he wound up with the lightly regarded Al-Turk.

But instead of getting a shot at big names like Randy Couture or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and fighting his way into title contention, Filipovic opted to bolt for Japan.

"Isn't that a dirty [expletive] thing to do?" White asked rhetorically after being queried about Filipovic's deal with DREAM. "He [expletived] me. The first time in the history of the company I do one over the phone. He promised me a three-fight deal and he [expletived] me."

Filipovic looked unsteady and hardly impressive in defeating Al-Turk, who is winless in the UFC. He never landed one of his vaunted kicks and the fight ended not from a punch but when he poked Al-Turk in the eye with his finger.

Referee Dan Miragliotta didn't see the poke, so it was regarded as a clean blow and Filipovic won by stoppage.

Filipovic was fighting five months to the day after knee surgery, one of several injuries he said kept him from performing at his best in his first stint in the UFC. Before the fight, he called his 1-2 UFC record "the black spot" on his career.

While speaking with reporters on a prefight conference call, Filipovic seemed enthused about his return and said he was gunning for a title shot. All the while, he apparently knew he was in it for a one-fight deal.

He texted White on the UFC exec's cellular phone and told him he wanted to return. White said Filipovic declined numerous opponents.

Apparently, Filipovic, who is from Croatia, wanted to fight in Germany and use the UFC bout as a tuneup. He did and is now DREAM bound, but he'll almost certainly never fight in the UFC again.

"He didn't keep his word," White said, who said he'd had a two-hour talk with Filipovic on the day "Cro Cop" texted and asked to be able to return. "He talked about honor and all this other [expletive] and he [expletived] me.

"He fed me this bull [expletive] about wanting to take a run for the title, and what I think he did was, he went out and did this. He turned down every other [expletive] fighter I offered him, because I needed him to fight Cain. He didn't just poke Al-Turk; he poked me, too."

As is his custom, Filipovic skipped the postfight news conference and could not be reached to comment on the DREAM deal.

Credit: MMAJunkie.com

Dana doesn't seem too happy.

Edited June 14, 2009 by Gene Kiniski

[Plubby]

Boy i'm glad I caught that fight on replay before I came in here

[ACCBiggz]

I find it slightly funny, but it's nothing monumental for a couple reasons:

Cro Cop didn't look good against Overeem in DREAM, and he didn't look great today against al Turk. And the lasting image of him in the UFC will be the Gonzaga fight. Not only that, but, his fight ended somewhat controversially off the eye poke and it wasn't against a star in the UFC. So they didn't have any damage done, just bad business to not have a contract and bad integrity from Cro Cop.

Chances are he'll eventually fight Overeem again and get worked like their first bout. And if by chance they don't meet, it's not like there is another top tier heavyweight there.

[Typical Phenom]

Outside of Slice I've seen:

Marcus Jones (4-2) - Trains at Gracie Tampa under Rob Kahn, has solid ground game, no fight has last over 2:37. Likes to bang, has a suspect chin, should use his jits more. Not terrible though, former NFL player, good athlete.

Roy Nelson (13-4) - Former top ranked HW. Heavy hands, heavy... everything, decent ground game, and don't let his size fool you. He's the favorite... think of it sort of like Mac Danzig, not in talent, but on the show. Experienced, decent guy who's game is far superior right now. At least a semi-finalist and quite possibly the winner. Did well against Arlovski, his loss to Monson was somewhat controversial (I scored it for Monson too).

Wes Sims (20-11) - Former UFC contender, but he's not all that great. Has more mental problems than physical... although he has the HammerHouse cardio aka next to none. His experience should carry him early in the competition at least past the first round of fights.

Scott Junk (6-2) - Been in the UFC before, only losses are to Christian Wellisch and Ricco Rodriguez.

Mike Wessel (6-1) - Former pro football player, been in the UFC and got TKO'd by Hardonk.

Jim York (10-2) - Fought James Thompson at Sengoku shortly after Thompson's bout with Slice on CBS. Heavy hitter. Has to cut down to 265, only saw his bout with Thompson.

Haven't Seen:

Zak Jensen (7-3) - Pulled out of a fight against fellow cast membe Justin Wren for TUF Tryouts. Rematch.

Matt Mitrione (0-0) - Former NFL player, good athlete. Has to cut weight. Trains with Jake O'Brien.

Brendan Schaub (4-0) - Another ex-football player. Trains out of Greg Jackson's camp - training partner of Shane Carwin. 2008 Colorado golden gloves champion and 2008 Colorado BJJ Absolute Advanced Grand Champion.

Darrill Schoonover (9-0; 12-0 as amatuer) - Formerly held some random promotions' HW and LHW titles, so seems he'll be the smallest guy against a talented group of huge men. Probably see him cut to 205 in the UFC if he shows promise against the big guys.

Wes Shivers (0-1; 6-0 amatuer) - Supposedly took Rex Richards' spot on the cast. Shame, Richards would have been excellent on the cast.

Abe Wagner (6-1; 0-2 amatuer) - Apprently idolizes Cro Cop. Not quite sure what that means.

Justin Wren (10-1) - Greco wrestler who turned to MMA after injury against former #1 Greco Champion. Lived at the Olympic training center. Went to Iowa State to wrestle under Sanderson. Trains with Lutter.

Jon Madsen (2-0; trains out of the HIT Squad)

I like Schaub. He played football out here too, I think he made it to the NFL at one point. Started under Marquardt and pretty much learned everything real quick. Last fight I saw was in Ring of Fire, very impressive though.

[EddieG]

Nice spoiler Gene

[ACCBiggz]

Quit being a douche. Cro Cop over al Turk is hardly a spoiler, besides this is a news thread and that's breaking news, it's much bigger news than a win over al Turk.

[EddieG]

How am I being a douche? Rules are rules for a fucking reason, I ain't seen the show yet, so didn't know the result, and didn't want to fucking know.

[ACCBiggz]

Then here is a tip: Avoid any actual MMA news site, because this is news and its posted places. This is the MMA News Thread. Just because it spoiled a fight, a meaningless predictable one, shouldn't stop him from posting it. I could understand if it ran down the entire card, but it didn't, it's about the more overlying story of Cro Cop ditching the UFC for DREAM.

[Toe]

Spoiler: Click here to view

I don't see why people are saying Cro Cop looked unsteady. He was controlling the pace and had Al-Turk moving back when the poke happened. If it hadn't of ended their, Cro Cop was probably going to finish it soon anyways. I am not bothered by him jumping to DREAM either, since I have HDNet and get to see DREAM cards for free.

Anyways, the Franklin/Silva fight was good. I actually thought Silva was the winner but I like both fighters, so I am not too bothered by the decision. They definitly were both looking to trade, so I am happy with the fight. Cain won over Kongo and dominated on the ground...but it was a bit boring and he definitly did not change opinions. He looked very weak on his feet. Davis/Hardy was a good war, but Fisher/Uno was awful.

[Gene Kiniski]

Adrenaline MMA III Spoilers even though it won't air at all because no one was filming, but in case you want to read it on another website in a full write out without having a fight spoiled or anything of that nature:

(Sylvia/Mercer)

Spoiler: Click here to view

Ray Mercer KO'd Tim Sylvia in 10 seconds.

[Toe]

Adrenaline MMA III Spoilers even though it won't air at all because no one was filming, but in case you want to read it on another website in a full write out without having a fight spoiled or anything of that nature:

(Sylvia/Mercer)

Spoiler: Click here to view

Ray Mercer KO'd Tim Sylvia in 10 seconds.

Spoiler: Click here to view

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAAHHAHHA! Wow. I guess he was still feeling the effects of fighting Fedor? Mercer is certainly not a top ranked heavyweight, so this is a devastating loss for Sylvia.

[ACCBiggz]

Spoiler: Click here to view

It was supposed to be a boxing match and at the last second changed to MMA. Jens even said like two days ago that Tim was taking him lightly. So chances are they had an agreement to keep it standing and with him taking a legit boxer lightly he got clocked.

As for Cro Cop. he didn't look great Toe. He was flat footed, moved heavily, and looked a bit nervous in his return again. If there was someone else in there like his previous UFC losses -- He'd had lost again. He didn't look sharp and was merely fighting an overmatched opponent. I'll agree the eye poke had little effect on the eventual outcome.

[Thrilla]

lol.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Well I really wouldn't want to see him fight Kane now.

[SRN]

I like that Sylvia didn't give a shit about that fight and paid for it. To some extent.

[EddieG]

[Fitzy]

Spoiler: Click here to view

Really enjoyed the night. Davis vs. Hardy was a good fight but disappointed to see Davis not win. I'd like to see Davis take on Condit. Would be a great fight.

Good technical battle between Fisher/Uno. Not the most exciting, though, but I liked it. Nice to see Fisher get the win.

Loved the little exchange of words between Saunders and Swick "Are you just going to fucking hold onto me all night?" from Swick and "I will to get this to stand up, bitch" or something like that from Saunders. Wonderful. Too bad that ate up like 2 or so minutes of the first round so it was dull otherwise. Good finish from Swick to end the night. Saunders is insane if what Rogan said was true about him wanting to go to middleweight and take on Anderson Silva. He is good, but not even close to that good as tonight showed. He should stick to weltweight for now and continue with the lower level fighters and work his way back up to the level Swick is on.

I don't think Swick is ready for the ones he challenged in GSP, Hughes, and Alves. Maybe Hughes ... but probably next for him would be Serra or Parisyan.

The poke to the eye to end the Cro Cop/Al-Turk sucked. Not a good way to win. Didn't look too impressive either and not sad to see him go.

Cain needs to work on his stand up still. He had good ground control but that could be cause Kongo has virtually none...

Good fight with Franklin/Silva. Who do they put Silva in there with at 185? Silva wants a rematch with Franklin and I wouldn't mind that, but I think Franklin is going to want to focus on 205 from now on, so I doubt we'll be seeing that any time soon.

Also, what was up with the not reading scores thing? Little weird.