***spoilers*** UFC News and Discussion Thread

[Vince Russo]

Very glad to see Bader get destroyed. An uninteresting fighter and an uninteresting personality, the prospect of having to see a PPV built around the human Mogadon tablet was worrying. Johnson against Jones is infinitely more interesting and a fight that you can actually get excited about because Johnson can finish anyone, even Jones, especially if he lands bombs, and his fights always have that drama because you know that big shot could come at any time. Rothwell tapping out Barnett was one of those “what the fuck did I just see?” moments. Rothwell is definitely in the title mix now, and I wouldn’t be shocked if the UFC get cold feet on sticking with the idea of Cain getting an instant rematch and go with a Werdum/Miocic and Cain/Rothwell II one-two. Northcutt tapping out was not entirely a shock, nor was the level of envy-filled joy from fighters at how things turned out. I get thinking Northcutt didn’t deserve the breaks he got, and he really didn’t, but he’s not the guy who anyone should hate in this scenario, because all Sage and his people did was what everyone does; negotiate the best deal for themselves they can get. It was the UFC who signed off on it. They’re the ones to hate over Sage’s deal.

 

Sage tapping out in the manner he did said more about his training than it did about Sage, because he reacted like someone who has never trained in defending submissions off his back in his life. Sage made no attempt to defend, reverse, or look for an escape from the choke. Once it was on, he tapped out at the first opportunity. Sage had no clue what to do in that position and for any MMA fighter, even one as young as he is, that is crazy. It’s either that or Sage just lacks heart, and I’d like to not think it was that, because I really want to see Sage succeed in a big way, and not just because he seems like a genuinely nice guy, but because it would be the best success over those who took far too much joy out of his defeat.

[Benjamin]

Bendo has stated that he's signed with Bellator. Their lightweight division is actually pretty fun right now.

[Draevyn]

5 hours ago, Benkid Nada said:

Bendo has stated that he's signed with Bellator. Their lightweight division is actually pretty fun right now.

I need to watch more Bellator. I'm not sure why I don't to be honest since it's on free tv but I've just never been able to remember when it's on.

[Rich]

Bendo will face koreshkov for the 170 belt in April.

On 2 February 2016 at 01:17, Forky Fork's Forky Bunch said:

I need to watch more Bellator. I'm not sure why I don't to be honest since it's on free tv but I've just never been able to remember when it's on.

In about 2 and a half weeks we have Royce Gracie vs Ken Shamrock. No joke on nothing. 

[Draevyn]

Oh that is...something I still have to watch. That's gonna be worse than Kimbo/Shamrock was.

[Rich]

Kimbo is fighting DaDa5000 too

[Thrilla]

Was he in the Black Eyed Peas?

[The Lusophone]

I hope he's actually a robot of some kind and not some douchebag who thinks putting numbers in a name is cool.

[EddieG]

Kimbo Slice vs Dada Life 5000 is the street fight that apparently had years of build before Kimbo started doing actual MMA.

[Draevyn]

16 hours ago, Thrilla said:

Was he in the Black Eyed Peas?

Nah, that's Outcast man!

[Vince Russo]

Things really are different in the post-USADA era of the UFC. Johny Hendricks looked and fought like a completely different fighter than the one who went to war with Robbie Lawler and came one judge away from taking the title from GSP. And while that isn’t in itself a sign of anything, given the fact that Hendricks kicked up a fuss and ultimately refused to take part in WADA testing ahead of his fight with GSP, it isn’t exactly a reach to say that Hendricks is likely another fighter who isn’t going to look as good as he did now that the drug testing has been ramped up. It won’t catch everyone, and no testing will, but it’s pretty clear, and has been for a while, that more active testing and the threat of a two-year suspension is causing a lot of people to taper down or completely halt their drug use.

 

That still shouldn’t take anything away from Stephen Thompson, who showed great takedown defence against a top level wrestler, which, added to his excellent striking, makes him very dangerous in the welterweight division. It also creates an interesting dilemma because it’s exactly the kind of performance, against a top fighter as well, that should, in theory, be rewarded with a title shot, but the top of the welterweight division in the UFC is pretty stacked and more than one fighter can make claim to a title shot. I’d like to see Thompson get the next shot and I think he’s earned it with this performance. If the GSP negotiations don’t pan out, I would expect to see Lawler defend against Thompson with Condit vs. Woodley in the co-main event spot, so that if Lawler or Thompson has to pull out, either Condit or Woodley can be moved up into the main event. And as well as those four, if Demian Maia finishes Matt Brown, he’d also have a case for a title fight as he’d have won five in a row at that point. Whatever happens, whoever the champion is at welterweight will have no shortage of contenders for quite some time.

 

Apart from the main event, there wasn’t a lot of positive to take away from the night, other than Diego Rivas delivering a highlight reel KO and the confirmation of CM Punk’s opponent in this UFC debut.

[Skummy]

I could get behind Kimbo Slice vs. Actual Robot.

[Rich]

Pictured: Actual Robot

[Benjamin]

1 hour ago, Vince Russo said:

 

Things really are different in the post-USADA era of the UFC. Johny Hendricks looked and fought like a completely different fighter than the one who went to war with Robbie Lawler and came one judge away from taking the title from GSP. And while that isn’t in itself a sign of anything, given the fact that Hendricks kicked up a fuss and ultimately refused to take part in WADA testing ahead of his fight with GSP, it isn’t exactly a reach to say that Hendricks is likely another fighter who isn’t going to look as good as he did now that the drug testing has been ramped up. It won’t catch everyone, and no testing will, but it’s pretty clear, and has been for a while, that more active testing and the threat of a two-year suspension is causing a lot of people to taper down or completely halt their drug use.

 

That still shouldn’t take anything away from Stephen Thompson, who showed great takedown defence against a top level wrestler, which, added to his excellent striking, makes him very dangerous in the welterweight division. It also creates an interesting dilemma because it’s exactly the kind of performance, against a top fighter as well, that should, in theory, be rewarded with a title shot, but the top of the welterweight division in the UFC is pretty stacked and more than one fighter can make claim to a title shot. I’d like to see Thompson get the next shot and I think he’s earned it with this performance. If the GSP negotiations don’t pan out, I would expect to see Lawler defend against Thompson with Condit vs. Woodley in the co-main event spot, so that if Lawler or Thompson has to pull out, either Condit or Woodley can be moved up into the main event. And as well as those four, if Demian Maia finishes Matt Brown, he’d also have a case for a title fight as he’d have won five in a row at that point. Whatever happens, whoever the champion is at welterweight will have no shortage of contenders for quite some time.

 

Apart from the main event, there wasn’t a lot of positive to take away from the night, other than Diego Rivas delivering a highlight reel KO and the confirmation of CM Punk’s opponent in this UFC debut.

There is no evidence whatsoever to indicate that Hendricks' loss is attributed to the USADA testing, when he both changed camp and severely changed his lifestyle. 

Also, JDS versus Rothwell is going to headline UFC Zagreb, because the UFC does not see Rothwell in any way as a viable draw as a title contender. 

Also also, this is how Werdum responded to McGregor talking trash about him at the WMMA Awards:

 

[Vince Russo]

Whilst it’s true that there is no direct of evidence of anything, there’s enough circumstantial evidence, that goes beyond what happened Saturday night, that you’d have to be incredibly naive not to have at least raised an eyebrow over Hendricks’ performance Saturday night. Sure, it might be a one-off and maybe it really was down to bad training and whatever else Hendricks blamed for getting walked through, but if Hendricks looks and fights like this the next time out, you’d have to more than naive to still think something wasn’t up.

[Rich]

Oh come off it, there are plenty of former champions who have had bad performances against up and comers in the past, or have even fallen off the cliff performance wise more permanently

[Gazz]

He got outstruck from range by a former undefeated world champion kickboxer. I think a lot of people underestimated Thompson as still the one dimensional striker who got mauled by Matt Brown nearly three years ago. Hendricks couldn't get inside Thompson's range to work his superior wrestling, the longer the fight stayed standing, the more it favoured Thompson. This fight was nowhere near the one sided grinding beatdown that a lot of the 'experts' predicted.

Fighting at this level, it's easy to 'fall off a cliff' as you age, lose motivation, acculmulate damage etc. Look at someone like Gray Maynard, could have and probably should have beaten Frankie Edgar for the LW belt, lost the rematch, squeaked a decision over a rapidly declining Clay Guida, got easily finished twice and then dropped a decision to someone coming off a decision loss to Nico Musoke.

[Benjamin]

18 hours ago, Vince Russo said:

 

Whilst it’s true that there is no direct of evidence of anything, there’s enough circumstantial evidence, that goes beyond what happened Saturday night, that you’d have to be incredibly naive not to have at least raised an eyebrow over Hendricks’ performance Saturday night. Sure, it might be a one-off and maybe it really was down to bad training and whatever else Hendricks blamed for getting walked through, but if Hendricks looks and fights like this the next time out, you’d have to more than naive to still think something wasn’t up.

1 bad performance does not mean he is on anything. 2 bad performances won't mean he's on anything. Unless there's any evidence that proves that he is on anything, you're incorrect to say that he is.

[Vince Russo]

17 hours ago, Rich said:

Oh come off it, there are plenty of former champions who have had bad performances against up and comers in the past, or have even fallen off the cliff performance wise more permanently

How many of them bitched about being asked to undertake enhanced drug testing for a fight and ultimately refused to do so? How many of them did that and then, in their first fight in an era of more rigorous drug testing, look and fight like they were a completely different fighter?

 

Again, and let me make it clear so that people don't continue to misunderstand, if Hendricks had not done any of that, I would be more than happy to put his performance down as being one of those things that can happen to everyone. But he did kick up a fuss and refuse enhanced drug testing and he did join the ranks of fighters to look and fight different in the era of USADA testing. You can give him the benefit of the doubt if you want. I'm just stating that I'm raising an eyebrow at how things went down and his history.

[Rich]

There were plenty of fighters against the USADA enhanced testing due to a perceived lack of trust and the invasion of privacy in that you have to make disclosures of you location at all times. And you can't just judge Hendricks on a less than 5 minutes performance where he is being thoroughly out fought by a world class striker, there could be a myriad of other reasons he didn't fight well, he had major changes to his camp and regimen for this fight, just to point at it as "well he was probably doping for this singular reason" is just too simple an argument.