MMA News and Discussion Thread

[Toe]

Wow.

Spoiler: Click here to view

Randy Couture took a clean head kick from Gonzaga and wasn't even phased - he dominated him just like he dominated Vitor Belfort and Tito Ortiz.

[Fitzy]

UFC 74 was a very good show. I knew I shouldn't have changed from Cote to Grove winning. Very good fight between Stevenson and Pellegrino. That German Suplex spot from Stevenson where he had an excellent bridge and rolled over to a guillotine was greatness. Huerta beating Crane was good, especially the way he used the big screen to find out where to land those back elbows. Awesome stuff right there. GSP out wrestling the wrestler Kos was great. And what can you say about Couture doing it again and beating Gonzago? Couture is awesome. Him taking that brutal head kick at the end and not getting phased? Awesome. Couture is just the man. Who's next for him? The winner of Mirko Cro Cop vs. Kongo? Nogueira? Maybe Fedor if they can ever sign him?

Moving onto the prelims, Sobral is a piece of shit. What an asshole he is for keeping that choke on way too long. Good decision on the NSAC to take $25,000 away from him. He bloodied Heath up badly here and when he had the choke on, you could see the blood just pour out of it. It was gross. Apparently he tossed his hat into the crowd when Josh Barnett told him to because Barnett loved the heat he was getting and Manny Gamburyan tossed it back. Looks like UFC has another heel on their hands with the way he got booed out of the building here. Mir winning was good to see.

So yeah, if I just had picked Cote like I first did I would've went 9-0 but oh well. Getting the "hot match" in Guida vs. Aurelio exactly right got me 22 points which helped me out to come in second place in the MMAplayground EWB fight camp for this event right behind Gabriel. I liked earning $972 to put me in first place in the wagers category. Overall though I am in third place in points due to Biggz start several shows before us so he will be in the lead until the end of the season I am sure.

Our fight camp ranking puts us at number 51 out of 54 in the Middleweight division.

Division Rank: 51 out of 54

Season Record 73% / 84-31

Avg Bankroll: $1149

---

Did anyone catch EliteXC's ShoXC event? It was okay. The Heavyweight match was actually quite good in my opinion. Fight of the night. And Bennett taping out was great.

September is going to be a busy month for MMA once again. We got WEC 30 on September 5, UFC 75 on the 8th, EliteXC on the 15th, UFC Fight Night on the 19th, Ultimate Fighter 6 starts on September 19 as well, and UFC 76 on the 22nd.

And there are the Bodog Season 5 episodes on Tuesdays and two IFL Semi-Finals on FSN on September 9 and September 16 as well as the finals on the 23 as if anyone watches Bodog or IFL though.

Edited August 26, 2007 by Fitzy

[ACCBiggz]

It's ok though, if we can put together a couple good events in September we should shoot up because that'll make a big effect on your guys' percents. Sadly I'm still at only like 73% thanks to PRIDE early in the year.

[LL!]

I did horrible in the undercard. Bad start for me.

[Gabriel]

Bah!

I changed one pick between here and MMAPlayground... I get a perfect run in terms of fighters over there, but I just had to take Pellegrino on the EWB one... stupid me! Stupid! I'm so stupid!

[Enter Blue Guy]

I've been off and on the net the last few days, so I missed some news. All big news from yesterday and Sunday, just in case anybody else missed any news as well.

All stolen from MMA News, credit to them and those they stole from...

PRIDE Fighting Championships is dead.

The following is an except from an article on FOX Sports:

PRIDE isn't back

Even though he purchased PRIDE earlier this year, White insinuated the Japanese-based promotion is essentially history. White said the PRIDE brand was "tainted," referring to the alleged mob involvement of its previous ownership group that cost the promotion its television outlet in Japan.

"(The Japanese) don't want another (mixed martial arts) organization over there," White said. "That company was in trouble. We went in and bought it out with every intention of keeping PRIDE alive. (Japan) is a very tricky place to do business.

"The problem is PRIDE was never a big company in the United States and I'm not going to drop another $44 million to try and straighten it out. We kept running the Japanese offices over there and it didn't work out."

While such an investment seems frivolous on the surface, UFC's purchase of PRIDE allowed White to pick and choose which competitors he wanted to re-sign and essentially kept those fighters off the market from other promoters looking to gain a foothold in the MMA world. Two of PRIDE's biggest stars Dan Henderson and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will headline UFC's next major show September 8 in London, England.

Edited August 28, 2007 by Enter Blue Guy

[ACCBiggz]

Poor poor Shibata!

[Enter Blue Guy]

If Nino Schembri can do it, anybody can. Well, as long as Shibata can land an accidental, short range head butt that is.

[ACCBiggz]

Ryo Chonan signs with the UFC

My guess is after Silva vs. Franklin, regardless of outcome, that we'll see these two face off. However, the other wrench in the plan could be if Silva wins and Henderson loses to Rampage and the UFC unifying the 185 titles. But anyway, I expect to see Chonan vs. Silva again.

[Enter Blue Guy]

I like Chonan, so it will be really cool to see him in the UFC. Come hype time for Chonan/Silva (because that will most likely be the plan) we'll all see Chonan's cream of submission crop finish against Anderson about a zillions times. Nothing wrong with that, it's an awesome clip.

[Toe]

I see that Dana White is looking for a place for the UFC to hold a show in Quebec. Wouldn't Quebec City be a viable option for them? I know the Bell Centre is booked for Saturday's until the hockey season is over, so I think they should look at Quebec City instead.

[DanLowth]

I feel compelled to post this image of Diego during X-Kos/GSP:

He looks like X-Kos fucked his mother.

[Gabriel]

Diego's pissed that Kos made him look like a bitch when they fought. Sanchez IS a bitch, if he honestly believed that he did anything at all during that fifteen minutes to make anyone think that Josh shouldn't have won.

Diego Sanchez is an amazing fighter... but he's got an ego the size of Texas, which seems easily bruised.

[ACCBiggz]

He left Jackson's as well for those that didn't know. I have no idea where he is training now. The big story around Diego/Kos's last fight was that Diego had something with his leg, I think it was staph, and he thought it was something else that would end his career and he was going to announce his retirement at the end of the fight. If that had anything to do with the outcome or his just standing there and doing nothing... I don't know, and I personally doubt it. But I'd be interested to see Kos whoop him again.

Ladies and Gentlemen... Josh Barnett

Let's get straight to it and say that Randy did a phenomenal job at UFC 74 in defending his title. As a fan and a fellow Washingtonian I was happy to see him win. But as for the title itself -- it still sits in my house. No one in UFC ever beat me for it, and as far as I am concerned, no one in the UFC can be the heavyweight champion until they take that belt off of me in the cage.

At the post fight press conference, Dana White said "there isn't anyone in the world that can beat this guy" in reference to Randy. All this because Randy beat a guy that had less than ten fights and only one noteworthy win? That's not even a world championship level fight, let alone reason to proclaim the winner as "unbeatable". This comment was made even more ridiculous by the fact that I was standing right there, living proof that Randy Couture is definitely beatable.

"Unbeatable", Dana says. If he actually believes that, I'm more than willing to step into the cage and prove him wrong. It wouldn't even have to be for the belt. I already got the real belt. They can keep their pile of brass they purport as the UFC Heavyweight Title and put it on their next paper champ.

Edited August 29, 2007 by ACCBiggz

[Enter Blue Guy]

Diego's training at University of Jiu Jitsu (UNIJJ) in San Diego, which is run by grappling icon Saulo Ribeiro. I don't know how long his plans are to train there, but as long as GSP is associated with Jackson's Submission, Diego doesn't want to train alongside of him. Nothing personal, Diego has stated he doesn't want to become friends and training partners with somebody he may have to fight in the not to distance future, possibly for a belt. And I've heard rumors about a falling out with Greg Jackson and teammates, that his attitude was too much or whatever as well.

As for Josh... He says that UFC hasn't made any offers for him and I haven't heard of him being in discussion with anybody else either. He's just fishing for a nice, beefy contract.

Edited August 29, 2007 by Enter Blue Guy

[ACCBiggz]

Matt Hughes leaves MFS

Going to open his own gym in Illinois. Robbie Lawler and Corey Hill are two of the people coming along for the ride. His split from MFS was supposedly on good terms, not that I'd expect anything less.

Joey Villasenor on the WEC card for September. When did his EXC contract run out? They were building him up until the Ninja fight, but still thought they'd try and keep him around.

[ACCBiggz]

UFC 75 Media Conference Notes

- Sept. 5 is open workouts for UFC 75, the press conference is Sept. 6 at noon, the weigh-ins are Sept. 7, and the event is Sept. 8. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. local time. The undercard starts at 6 p.m., and the main card starts at 8 p.m.

- White said that he’s been meeting with Fedor’s people for months and that he hopes to have an announcement soon, but he seemed to downplay a report that said a deal could be reached today.

- Henderson said that he needs to watch out for Jackson’s knockout power and that fans should expect a war.

- Bisping said that there’s not really bad blood between him and Hamill, but that he’s not definitely “not keen on the guy.” Hamill is participating in the call through an interpreter.

- White said that UFC 75 is on cable TV because he doesn’t want to be like boxing where only the good fights are available at a cost on pay-per-view. He specifically mentioned ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” as a model to showcase some top UFC talent.

- White said he “fu*ked up” by showing UFC 72 live on pay-per-view during the afternoon because people tuned in later that night expecting to see the event. (The event took place in Northern Ireland.)

- Henderson said that Jackson is going to be tough all-around and that he expects to go the full 25 minutes for the fight. He said he understand Jackson is explosive and a little bit bigger than him. Someone talked over Jackson, but I think he said he’s a whole lot “prettier” than Henderson too.

- Henderson said he hasn’t thought much about what weight class to fight in after this fight. He said he’s only thought about his upcoming fight but that he doesn’t like fighting bigger guys.

- White said that Babalu has been cut from his contract because of the episode this past weekend at UFC 74. He said if Babalu had held onto a leg or arm — rather than a choke — extra long that the results could have been a lot worse.

- White said that win or lose, Henderson will be considered one of the top one or two contenders in the middleweight division. He said that he won’t know if he’ll get an immediate title shot with Anderson Silva or Rich Franklin until they have a better idea of the landscape of the division.

- White said that he has “no clue” what he’s going to do with the lightweight division if Sherk’s appeal is denied.

- Jackson said his life hasn’t changed much since winning the title because he’s been so wrapped up in training. He said training in Big Bear was excellent and that he and Bisping were “whoopin’ some ass up there.” He said he was in good shape after the Liddell fight so he was able to start full training immediately.

- Jackson said the time difference in London won’t be a big problem because he’s already been in England for two weeks. He said he’s taking the fight more seriously than any other one of his career.

- White said “Babalu” has been cut from his contract but won’t rule out having him in the organization in the future. “I never say never,” he said.

- Bisping said there’s a benefit fighting in his home country because he has his whole support system there with him.

- Hamill said he doesn’t have too much concern for Bisping other than his kicks.

- White said he doesn’t know what the future of PRIDE will be and that it’s far more complicated than anyone realizes. He called it a “nightmare” and said it went out of business for a reason. He said he’s trying to get the PRIDE fighters fights now until they get the company all figured out. As far as the future of PRIDE coming back someday, White said Japan is a complicated place to do business and that he now knows that better than ever.

- White said that the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter” is just as good, if not better, than last year’s.

- White congratulated Henderson. He and his wife had a baby girl last night.

- White said he wants to keep PRIDE alive. He said, though, that it’s an option to shut it down and just have a couple UFC fights in Japan a couple times per year. He said he has no idea when the PRIDE mess may be figured out.

- White said he hasn’t signed Ryo Chonan.

- Because it’s on free TV and because the guys already beat Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva, White said that the Jackson-Henderson fight is one that fans should be crazy about it.

- Bisping reiterated that he’s fighting Hamill, even though some people think it’s a step down in competition, because it’s what the fans want and what the UFC offered him.

- Couture’s next opponent is not yet known. White said there’s a lot of competition, and since he doesn’t fight until early 2008, there’s always a chance that Fedor gets the fight. He said Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will probably fight before the end of the year, and that he or his opponent could fight Couture.

- White said he doesn’t “give a sh*t” what Josh Barnett says about anything, including his recent comments about Couture being a paper champion.

- White said he doesn’t know who the winner of Jackson/Henderson will fight next.

- White said he’s spoken to Denis Kang but that he’s not one of the biggest fighters to come out of PRIDE.

- Bisping says he looks forward to fighting a world-class wrestler and beating him so he can move on and know he can handle someone of that caliber.

- Hamill said he’s spent the last two years working on his striking and that he’s confident in his striking.

- White said Sobral knows he’s been cut from the organization and that he’s sure that he’s not happy about it. White said that despite the tone of past interviews, he was always planning to cut Babalu from the organization.

Edited August 30, 2007 by ACCBiggz

[Enter Blue Guy]

Fedor's management are asking a lot, but at the same time, they don't want to just abandon the sports celebrity status Fedor has in Russia, as an MMA icon and a top Combat Sambo competitor.

Dana and co. are in a tough spot, they want to sign the biggest free agent in MMA history, but they want him to be as dedicated to the company as possible. And they have to satisfy Fedor and his management, which right now involves letting Fedor continue to be a part of combat sports in Russia, not just an ambassador, but as a physical competitor. The big requests of Fedor's camp have been pretty much known since the serious negotiations became public, so I'd like to know what the UFC have or plan to counter offer to get him to sign, because I don't think there is any way that Fedor's name will be on a contract with as many stips as his he and manager are asking for. I'm very interested to see what is in Fedor's contract if he does sign with the UFC, or any other org for that matter.

I heard rumblings of Fedor's management adding possible future UFC events held in Russia or something like that too. Fuck that, if Russia gets a UFC event before Canada does, I'm going to shoot Dana White in fucking head.

[ACCBiggz]

I think it would be possible for the UFC to counter saying Fedor can do one Sambo competition a year perhaps, but no MMA. And then they could work around that schedule. The only other thing I would do if I were the UFC is saying that he should host the events and be there as an ambassador like you said. The UFC in Russia could work, I mean Putin was at the Bodog event so they can draw there but I'm not sure about who would fight there as they wouldn't put Couture over there again Fedor, and I have no doubt Fedor would be on the Russia card.

I think Fedor needs to look at the big picture and sign personally, without all these stipulations to compete. It just makes more sense for him to compete against the best in the world.

And hey, you can't blame Dana for the Canada situation. Tell the Bell Centre to open a Saturday up.

[Fitzy]

Joey Villasenor on the WEC card for September. When did his EXC contract run out? They were building him up until the Ninja fight, but still thought they'd try and keep him around.