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

[Godfatha]

Wasn't there supposed to be a PRIDE fighter fighting in this?

Or maybe I'm mistaken. Maybe I've got the companies reversed and I was thinking of Baroni fighting in the next Bushido.

[Enter Blue Guy]

There were rumors that a PRIDE fighter was going to come in and fight Tim Sylvia, they nothing ever came of it. At one time the rumor was that he might be fighting Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but that was quickly dismissed a day or two after the story broke.

Also, you may be confused because there is a Pancrase fighter on the card, Koji Oishi, who will fight Nick Diaz.

And Baroni fought at Bushido last weekend, but it airs in North America this Friday, the day before UFC 53.

[corygraves]

can't wait for this weekend...full out mma marathon basically, with UFC and Pride both airing...and i'll be watching both. I have to say though, the bushido 7 card is so stacked and awesome looking, it beats out my UFC expectations,but both should be awesome.

Must say, people are doubting Justin Eilers WAY too much in his fight with Arlovski...sure I do think Arlovski will win, but I don't expect it to be such an easy walk for him...

[Enter Blue Guy]

Bushido looks good and was apparently a stellar card, but I won't buy it. First off it's on a Friday night, second I'd rather save my money for UFC the next day. Though the Baroni/Punk fight interests me enough to maybe catch the replay. What I'm really looking forward from PRIDE is Pedro Rizzo's return to the fight game against Sergei Kharitonov on July 1st. That is going to be a killer bout.

Edited May 28, 2005 by Enter Blue Guy

[corygraves]

i'm pumped for the rizzo/sergei fight too, but i see sergei winning in the end... rizzo HAS to have some rust, and you don't go in with any rust against such a fighter as sergei....

i don't however, enjoy how they are feeding this new judo guy to nog...c'mon now, you can't give him some more competition? you know nog is not the type of guy to debut against...

i'm hoping somehow i can see the TKO event thats coming up soon...just for the Pat Cote vs. Joe Riggs fight ( was supposed to be cote/lawler but lawler backed out or such)

[Enter Blue Guy]

Pawel Nastula, the guy Nog is fighting, requested special rules for the bout , specifically that judo gi jackets were to be worn by both fighters. It's under consideration as long as Nog agrees to it as well. Bah, either way Nog will sub him.

There are two reasons why he's getting fed to Nog, at least I think. 1, DSE apparently see dollar signs (or yen signs or whatever) in any Olympic medalist they approach (Yoshida, Gardner, etc.. now Nastula). And 2, Nog hasn't fought in 6 months so this is kind of a tune up bout for him.

And Rizzo punches like a gorilla and kicks like mule. The list of people he's KO'd is impressive to say the least. Tank Abbott (say what you will about Tank, you'd have to throw a piano at the guy to KO him), Andrei Arlovski, hell, he even knocked out Josh Barnett. Rizzo has been training for a return fight for a while now, so he'll be in fighting shape, it just depends how much rust he has and if he can shake it off during the fight. That's an extremely tough, yet very interesting, comeback fight it. It could go either way, but if it stays standing and they trade strikes, I like Rizzo just because I know he can throw and he has a iron chin to back it up. I'm not couting Sergei out one bit, the guy is a beast... He destroyed Semmy Schilt, made Ninja Rua his bitch, and took Nog to the limit, losing in an extremely close JD. I can't wait for the fight.

Oh, and he is the confirmed fight order for UFC 53...

(... I love how Paul Buentello is on the poster, but HW title challenger Justin Eilers doesn't make the cut)

Preliminary Fights - MMAWeekly.com

- Nick Diaz vs Koji Oishi

- David Loiseau vs Charles McCarthy

- Nathan Quarry vs Shonie Carter

UFC 53 MAIN CARD ON PPV -

- Matt Serra vs Karo Parisyan

- Forrest Griffin vs Bill Mahood

- Paul Buentello vs Kevin Jordan

- Evan Tanner vs Rich Franklin - UFC MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT

- Andrei Arlovski vs Justin Eilers - UFC HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT

Credit goes to MMA Weekly yet again.

My favorite fighter on the event doesn't even make the PPV (David Loiseau), neither did Carter vs. Quarry. Oh well, that just gives me more possible reasons to pick up the DVD when it comes out.

Edited May 29, 2005 by Enter Blue Guy

[Fitzy]

How many people from TUF are coming back (besides Sanchez, Griffin, and Bonnar)? I see that Quarry is getting a chance. Is he now under contract, too?

[Enter Blue Guy]

I'm pretty sure it's just a one time deal then they'll go from there based on the result of the fight.

Word is they are giving Sam Hoger the same deal as he was rumored at first to fight at 53, now the rumor is he might be on the UFC 54 card.

[corygraves]

TUF turned into the MMA Tough Enough...only one supposedly can win in each division,but in the end everybody will appear and win.

Hopefully the UFC PPV fights go quick, so we can get a chance to see a preliminary bout or 2...definetly has potential to be that way.

Nastula requesting special rules is so lame...if you join UFC, fight by their rules, if you fight for Pride, same...

[Enter Blue Guy]

TUF turned into the MMA Tough Enough...only one supposedly can win in each division,but in the end everybody will appear and win.

←

Edited May 30, 2005 by Enter Blue Guy

[Troy Maskell]

Some predicitions from me.

Nick Diaz.

Don't know a lot about Oishi due to my hatred of all Pancrase fighters not named Bas Rutten. Still Diaz is a machine damnit.

David Loiseau

McCarthy hasn't really blipped on the radar where I'm from. Better the devil you know.

Nathan Quarry

Again due to my hatred of Pancrase fighters. But Quarry's got mad skills

Now to the PPV

Karo Parisyan

Something tells me he's gonna stop the Terror. It'll probably be a boring fight on paper but Parisyan could definately get a stop here.

Forrest Griffin.

Although I'd love to see Mahood do a Jeremy Horn and kick Forrest's head into the tenth row ringside.

Paul Buentello

Rich Franklin

Ace is king. That is all

Andrei Arlovski

I won't hide it. I like Justin Eilers, like I like most of the IFC fighters (Being the only thing we in Australia got till last year). Can he beat Arlovski though? I will certainly be going for him. But my head says Andrei

[Enter Blue Guy]

I'm too tired and lazy to write up some long ass predictions, so straight up predictions only, except for the two main events.

- Nick Diaz vs Koji Oishi

Nick Diaz by submission in the 1st round

- David Loiseau vs Charles McCarthy

David Loiseau by TKO via mounted strikes in the 2nd round

- Nathan Quarry vs Shonie Carter

Shonie Carter by judges decision after 3 rounds

- Matt Serra vs Karo Parisyan

Karo Parisyan by judges decision after 3 rounds

- Forrest Griffin vs Bill Mahood (predicted FOTN on the PPV card)

Forrest Griffin by submission in the 2nd round

- Paul Buentello vs Kevin Jordan

Paul Buentello by KO in the 2nd round

- Evan Tanner vs Rich Franklin - UFC MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT

Evan Tanner by TKO via mounted strikes in the 3rd round

(The hardest fight to call for sure... But Tanner is my pick. Rich is a great fighter and has a win over Evan already, but I can never seem to pick against Tanner. Evan impresses me like very few others can. First off, he seemingly gets better with every fight. Possess lethal knees from the clinch, has a great submission game, and his ground n' pound is some of the best out there. But what makes Evan even more dangerous is the mental side of his game. The man always seems so calm and relaxed that you never see his offense coming. I love how on the attack, Tanner is constantly calm... vicious, yet calm. Even on the defensive he never loses his cool, always composed... very hard to rattle. He is also a very smart fighter, very quick thinking. It's Tanner's mental strength and stability, coupled with his physical dominance that makes him one of the best all around fighters in the UFC.)

- Andrei Arlovski vs Justin Eilers - UFC HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT

Andrei Arloski by KO in the 1st round

(Not knocking Justin, but you know that they'll be trading shots right off the bat and Andrei's fists are just too quick and too accurate. Add that speed and accuracy with his power, as well as his reach advantage, and say Arlovski puts Eilers to sleep within the initial 5 minutes. Should be a good slugfest while it lasts, though)

Edited May 31, 2005 by Enter Blue Guy

[Guest CompletePlayer]

TUF turned into the MMA Tough Enough...only one supposedly can win in each division,but in the end everybody will appear and win.

[corygraves]

thats true,but me being a fan of UFC way before they hit mainstream its a bit annoying. But i'm happy they're getting sucess, hope they stick to the way its been...

[Enter Blue Guy]

Spike TV will be airing Ultimate Knockouts 3 this Friday (tomorrow) at 10 pm EST.

Meh, I have it on DVD and there are a few killer KO's that didn't make the cut, some of which that are a few of the ones that did, like Diaz/Lawler or Liddell/Ortiz. Still, it's pretty fun to watch.

Here is a listing of the KO's on Ultimate KO's 3 (between UFC 40-48), just for reference...

1. Robbie Lawler vs. Tiki Ghosn (UFC 40)

2. Andrei Arlovski vs. Ian Freeman (UFC 40)

3. Chuck Liddell vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral (UFC 40)

4. Gan McGee vs. Alexandre Dantas (UFC 41)

5. Tim Sylvia vs. Ricco Rodriguez (UFC 41)

6. David Loiseau vs. Mark Weir (UFC 42)

7. Rich Franklin vs. Evan Tanner (UFC 42)

8. Wesley Correira vs. Sean Alvarez (UFC 42)

9. Falaniko Vitale vs. Matt Lindland (UFC 43)

10. Vitor Belfort vs. Marvin Eastman (UFC 43)

11. Hermes Franca vs. Caol Uno (UFC 44)

12. Josh Thomson vs. Gerald Strebendt (UFC 44)

13. Rich Franklin vs. Edwin DeWees (UFC 44)

14. Tim Sylvia vs. Gan McGee (UFC 44)

15. Andrei Arlovski vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (UFC 44)

16. Yves Edwards vs. Nick Agallar (UFC 45)

17. Frank Mir vs. Wes Sims (UFC 46)

18. Ken Shamrock vs. Kimo (UFC 48)

[Enter Blue Guy]

Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell will defend his UFC LHW title against Jeremy Horn on August 20th at UFC 54.  Horn holds a win over Liddell and Chuck's going to try to get that one back.

Credit: MMA Weekly forums for the breaking news and confirmed by a UFC rep shortly after.

[Fitzy]

Like I said after the Ultimate Fighter ended, I was hoping for Matt Hughes to be the coach for the second season. I like him. He's a good fighter. So that's good news.

[naiwf]

Here are the results so far for those of you who won't be watching.

UFC 53 FIGHT CARD*

1 - Heavyweight Division - Paul Buentello def. Kevin Jordan with a one arm neck crank late in the R1.

It was a pretty solid match with some nice bombs landed by both men. They were both gassing at the time of the finish.

2 - Light Heavyweight Division - Forrest Griffin def. Bill Mahood via RNC in R1.

I don't believe Griffin took a punch in this fight as he caught a Mahood kick attempt, took him down and then worked him from the ground to the EASY victory. Forrest impressed me with his ground skills here.

3 - Middleweight Championship Match - Rich 'Ace' Franklin def. Evan Tanner © via doctor stoppage in R4 to become the NEW champion.

Awesome fight. Tanner knocked Ace down at the end of R1, but couldn't finish him. Franklin came back to take round 2, then DOMINATED R3 where he was making Tanner's face look like hamburger. Franklin eventually finished him via numerous and massive cuts above the left eyebrow. After the fight Franklin said he didn't even remember getting knocked out, and between the 3rd and 4th round he thought that they had already fought 4, so I'm guessing he was pretty well rocked there. When the fight was over, Tanner's face made it look like he was in a minor car accident.

Note: As a result of his win, Franklin will be the second trainer on TUF 2, with Matt Hughes being the other. Goldy & Joe didn't know if they would end up fighting each other afterwards since they're friends, but that was the plan had Tanner been victorious.

4 - Welterweight Division - Karo Parisyan def. Matt Serra via unanimous decision

Serra knocked Karo down within the first 15 seconds, but Parisyan survived and came back to take R2, and dominate # 3. Serra nearly got submitted a couple of times, but showed excellent defense/BJJ skills. The action was good, but I just couldn't really get into it. It was one of those deals where you knew it was going the distance, and who was going to win once Serra couldn't finish the job in the opening moments.

5- Interim Heavyweight Championship Match - Andrei Arlovski © def. Justin Eilers via R1 ref's stoppage to RETAIN the title.

Apparently Eilers blew out his right ACL late in the 1st round, and Arlovski finished him right afterwards. Eilers was already bleeding, and had no hope of winning the round (and likely the fight), but the ending of that match was pretty sick as you could see Eilers' lower leg partially disconnected from his upper leg The result was never in doubt though, so don't think that 'The Pitbull' only won because of the injury.

6 - Nate 'Rock' Quarry def. 'Mr. International' Shonie Carter via R1 ref stoppage

Carter came out with a pimp cane, a pimp cup, and a pimp style jacket Unfortunately Carter's intro may have lasted longer than the 2 1/2 mins it took for Nate to put him down. Quarry was eating him up though, and showed some impressive skills during his brief stint in the cage.

7 - David Loiseau def. Charles McCarthy via R2 ref's stoppage

'The Crow' finished the fight with a SICK spinning back kick to the abdomen. McCarthy had Loiseau in position to finish him in the 1st, but once again when someone didn't finish it early they paid for it. Loiseau showed good skill escaping from the bottom in R1, got some shots off before the bell, and then pummeled McCarthy throughout the 2nd. The kick did all the work, from there McCarthy took a few more bombs and the fight was finally stopped.

8 - Nick Diaz KO R1 Koji Oishi

The Japanese dude was a complete fucking joke. His stance was basically to keep his hands shoulders width apart and try to block punches with his arms. His head stood still as though he was doing reps on a butterfly machine, and I sincerely think ANYONE over 140 pounds on EWB could have knocked him out. How the fuck did he get a chance to fight in the UFC?

Edited June 5, 2005 by naiwf

[Toe]

I wanted to see this, but my friends were all busy, and I don't have the money to order it myself. Oh well.

Franklin winning is actually a shock to me, Tanner was really solid and Franklin just hadn't really impressed me. I can't wait to get this on DVD to see this.

[naiwf]

The show is over, and I've updated all of the finishes and a couple of upcoming events. If you're considering buying the replay or DVD, I'd say it's well worth a look despite the lack of "big names" or a blockbuster fight.