MMA 2009

[GSP]

Sounds brutal Bj. If I get a chance to see it I'll have to check out the commentary for the comic value as well. From what I hear Mizu was a very, very game opponent, the fight was very close and a full out war.

[Ser Barry]

[quote name='Ken Stone' post='1749437' date='Apr 8 2009, 15.32']Was he the pro rassler-esq "Reid-a-nator"?[/quote]

Indeed :|

[Stego]

Barry, that guy was awesome.

It's always great to see a European being as much of a jackass as a typical American. :D

[Ser Barry]

[quote name='Stego' post='1749700' date='Apr 8 2009, 18.55']Barry, that guy was awesome.

It's always great to see a European being as much of a jackass as a typical American. :D[/quote]

He explained to me how the fight went while sawing away at his arse with a towel after a shower. Awesome is not the word to be used.

Jackasses? We have them but we usually manage to keep them in the pantry while we have guests.

[GSP]

TUF was pretty cool tonight. Some hard chins and wicked come backs. And one of the worst transitional fuck ups I've ever seen. That fighter who's been fighting out of Thailand for three years went for a takedown and managed to pull the other dude on top of him in a high mount which lead to a quick demise. Crazy.

[Ken Stone]

[quote name='GSP' post='1750231' date='Apr 9 2009, 02.19']TUF was pretty cool tonight. Some hard chins and wicked come backs. And one of the worst transitional fuck ups I've ever seen. That fighter who's been fighting out of Thailand for three years went for a takedown and managed to pull the other dude on top of him in a high mount which lead to a quick demise. Crazy.[/quote]

There were some good fights. I don't know about that fight where the guy got taken down and turtled for 4 and a half minutes while getting elbowed to the head. I thought it should have been stopped. If you employee the "hands over face while laying on the ground" defense for over a minute that's as good as tapping IMO.

[Oorag]

Yeah, I was surprised the ref didn't stop that fight. The guy on top should have been punching faster, even if he wasn't hitting anything, to force the stoppage.

[Stego]

I also blame the fighter on top. Had he given at least the appearance of 15 seconds of furious elbows, the ref would have stopped it at any point during that.

[GSP]

Yeah, that was one of those crazy come backs I mentioned. I thought the fight was a second away from being stopped for the last minute or so and was shocked the guy even came out the next round, let alone that he turned it around.

[Ser Barry]

Cyborg weighed in at 152lbs for her 145lb fight :rolleyes: It beggars belief sometimes.

[Horus Ex Machina]

I didn't realize how big Nick Diaz has become. He was playing with Shamrock tonight. Best fight of the night obviously Radach and Smith. Radach had two rounds in the bag and was winning the third and couldn't take it home. Smith had his kids there for motivation and he just couldn't go home with an L.

Motivating bro's! I gotta get back in the gym, I gotta fight this summer. Love this shit.

Cyborg, she was outta shape, shocking considering that she was making 140 in Elite XC. Get her in the ring against Gina and they'll both make weight, I think that they're just getting tired of fighting these lower-level fighters. That fight should be for a belt. They are the best at 145, noone else I can see that's better. The sweet and sexy Erin Toughill fights at 165. Tara LaRosa is at 135, so lets make a belt for these women. I can't see myself ever settling down with a woman who can't fight, won't train, etc. She's gotta do MMA, Karate, Kung Fu, whatever. I'm a man for fighting ladies. [i] (or women who play soccer or do gymnastics; Marta or Brandy)[/i]

Good show tonight! Happy Easter!

Big ups wit all da Nigerian Massif, Jamaican Massif, and European Massif. Big ups to da USA baby!

[GSP]

Yeah, I had Diaz taking this fight but I had no idea it would be so one sided. He's a bad ass, for sure. Personally, I love his attitude despite the hordes of internet warriors who despise him. I mean, it's obvious to me he gets into trash talk mode before fights because he is one of those fighters that needs to be angry at his opponent to smash him in the cage. I usually hate the trash talkers, but he cracks me up. Oh, and he's a fellow pot head.

Smith is quickly becoming one of those fighters that, win or lose, I'm excited to see his fight go down. He's also becoming somewhat of a comeback king.

Good card all around for Strikeforce. I hope they stick around for the long haul.

[Ken Stone]

TUF was rough last night. Steve Mazagatti is a horrible ref who should not me in the Octagon, IMO. The dude was clearly KO'd and Mazagatti allowed his arm to get torqued into awful angles before realizing it. Everyone else seemed to know, except Mazagatti. Now watch for it, next time Mazagatti refs he will stop a fight the next time there is an armbar that looks even a little bit deep. That is how he does it. He screws up bad one way then over corrects the other way on the next fight.

That dude who won that fight came off as a loser. The way he was celebrating and talking trash after the fight. I know he was excited to win the fight, but everyone else in the room so so sober and solemn he should have taken some clues. To make it worse he was unable to break the arm of a guy who was KO'd. I don't suspect he will last very long.

It was nice to see Rob Browning get owned. He's like Junie, but without the charm and sense of humor. The house didn't need him.

[Horus Ex Machina]

Ok let's get this started off the right way. I picked UFC 97 to make a return to predictions because of the interest that the card generated to me from top to bottom and even the untelevised card.


Middleweight Championship bout: [b][i]Anderson Silva[/i][/b] vs. Thales Leites - I see Leites getting one or two takedowns in the fight. Silva's never been especially hard to take down, but it's much more difficult to make him pay by damaging or submitting him once the fight goes there. Now early in his career he was very vulnerable to submissions, but through training with the Nogs, he has the competence to, at the very least, stall long enough to get the fight back to standing. And he's proven not to need much at all to finish a fight from there. 3rd Rd TKO for Silva.

Light Heavyweight bout: Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Rua - Oh how I'd love to pick Shogun in this fight! There's two ways that this thing can turn out. A- Shogun is in spectacular shape and blitzes Chuck early in which case he either knocks Chuck out or gets knocked out; either way in spectacular fashion. Or B- he's in terrible shape, goes for terrible takedowns and utilizes terrible stalling tactics prolonging the match to a terribly one-sided decision or a terrible late stoppage. So much is up in the air here. What I do know is that the book has been written now on how to defeat Chuck Liddell. Patience and good defense are the key. His only win in his last four fights was against a slugger like himself. This doesn't bode well for Shogun since, who will he be looking to for advice on Liddell? Not Rampage. Not Jardine or Rashad. Yes Wandy! So with all of these odds against Shogun I call a 3 round decision win for,-[s]Chuck Liddell[/s]..., no-

SPOILER: UFC 97

Shogun Rua!, no wait a minute... :stunned:

Light Heavyweight bout: [i][b]Krzysztof Soszynski[/b][/i] vs. Brian Stann - The deconstruction of the heavier WEC fighters that began when Carlos Conditt lost to Martin Kampmann will continue here. Stann is an athletic and war-tested Marine, so I'll be pulling for him, but I think that he just might drop this one to the more experienced Sosynski. Would have rather seen Kang or Louiseau on the main card, though and I'm sure that the Montreal crowd would have as well. 3 round decision win for Soszynski.

Heavyweight bout: [i][b]Cheick Kongo[/b][/i] vs. Antoni Hardonk - Hardonk, who I didn't realize was still under contract (most likely to fulfill the stand-up war quota), will probably try to stand and bang with Kongo. This will be very entertaining for a round or two but it ends before the third. KO early 2nd for Kongo.

Light Heavyweight bout: Steve Cantwell vs. [b][i]Luiz Arthur Cane[/i][/b] - They really aren't taking it easy on these former WEC boys. There's a possibility that Cantwell might actually die in this fight. Cane should be undefeated if not for the second-dumbest rule in MMA. And here's another fight which could have made way for Louiseau. Cane by vicious PWNING in Rd 1.

[i][b]Preliminary Card[/b][/i]
Light Heavyweight bout: Eliot Marshall vs. [b][i]Vinicius Magalhães[/i][/b] - Don't really care about this one actually, I just like Magalhães' name. Call it a 2nd Rd. sub for the M-Man and be done with it.

Middleweight bout: [b][i]Denis Kang[/i][/b] vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam - Sherdog Radio nailed it! There's a reason why Kang drops so many fights that he seems to be winning and it's because he's all-around a very good offensive fighter and all-around piss-poor defensively. That said, he should have won his last two losses and I'd pick him to win a re-match in both; just as I'm picking him here. But noone will be surprised to see him dominate with gnp or on the feet for two rounds only to be KO'd by an errant punch that slips through or caught in a kimura while trying to end the fight. This thing finishes early in the 2nd Rd by TKO for Kang.

Middleweight bout: [i][b] Jason MacDonald[/b][/i] vs. Nate Quarry - Career Canadian foil Quarry one again invades Canada to exact, blah, blah, blah.... So I guess I'm supposed to root for the Canadian guy? Cuz it's Canada, right? Okay MacDonald in a decision.

Middleweight bout: [b][i] David Loiseau[/i][/b] vs. Ed Herman - Sucks that it took Loiseau so long to get back to the UFC bc this could have gone on the main card. Oh well, a few more victories and he might be back in Montreal to be Anderson Silva's 13th consecutive victory in a title challenge. Until then I see this being a 2nd Rd. TKO win for Loiseau.

Lightweight bout: [i][b]Mark Bocek[/b][/i] vs. David Bielkheden - At least you can actually call Bocek a prospect. 3 round dec. for Bocek.

Welterweight bout: Ryo Chonan vs. [b][i] TJ Grant[/i][/b] - Anderson Silva and the UFC would have loved for Chonan to have given them a reason to stick him in front of Anderson to get knocked out once-and-for-all, but Chonan nipped that in the bud by staying at WW. Then he proceeded to drop a fight with Blackburn which served no other purpose but to help ease him back into main-card status. So here comes the win or you're out fight. This is TJ Grant's first time in the octagon, but he's no stranger to bigger promotions with his KOTC experience. Plus he seems like a submission machine. Looks like it's time for Chonan to break the ol' flying scissor heel hook out of ice. Grant wins by 2nd Rd. sub.

Lightweight bout: Sam Stout vs. [b][i] Matt Wiman[/i][/b] - So hard to care enough to make a pick. Wiman has taken Roger Huerta to dec and did KO Thiago Tavares, by contrast Stout's UFC career has seen alot of tough fights, but mostly losses. Add one more to that list as I see Wiman taking this one by split decision.

As for my pick on the Shogun-Liddell battle, let's just say that while I'm still unable to pull the trigger on this one, it should be obvious what my eventual pick would have been.

[benderschweiz]

Amazing how the UFC countdown shows can make you doubt what you know will happen. They showed a clip of Travis Lutter getting full mount on Silva and I actually began to think Alves has a chance. I'm coming to my senses though and predicting Silva to win this fight early, but I think he'll lose one of his next three to one of Maia, Marquardt, Hendo, or GSP.

I still think Liddell is a top 5 LHW who can compete with any of the other guys in the division, especially since he brought in a defensive boxing coach and may actually keep his hands up now. Neither Shogun or Ninja have looked good for quite some time and they need a good camp. Liddell by TKO in the third once Shogun tires out.

Kongo will win...Cane and Soszynski

[Analu]

[quote name='Horus-SpiderObama' post='1757586' date='Apr 16 2009, 12.02']Would have rather seen Kang or Louiseau on the main card, though and I'm sure that the Montreal crowd would have as well.[/quote]
I'm seriously pissed that Kang and the Crow, two of my favorite fighters, are on the undercard while the UFC tries to promote former WEC and TUF fighters like Stann, Cantwell, Krystof, etc. It's because of things like this that I've gotten sick of TUF and don't watch it anymore.


Bout time we got UFC 97. Seems like it's been forever since 96. I still don't understand how Leites deserves a title shot after that bogus win against Marquardt, but I'm just happy to see the Spider back in action. Hopefully he stops fucking around and takes care of business.

I'm almost dreading to see which Shogun shows up. The fight against Coleman was a joke. Am praying he'll come in and show everyone what he can do, but after touting how great he was to anyone who would listen to me and seeing him get humiliated in his two UFC fights, I'm not gonna say another peep about him until he shows he can get back to his former self without juicing.


And kinda late to talk about the Strikeforce card, but that was a quality show. 5 fights, 5 KO/TKOs. Cyborg looked 2-3 weight classes heavier than that little Japanese judoka and should be ashamed of herself. Pulling the "I missed weight because of woman issues" is garbage. Nice right by Smith. I've always thought Radach could've been a champion if it wasn't for that shaky chin of his. IIRC, he got flash KOed 4-5 years ago against some random, dumpy looking dude who'd never fought MMA over some girl. Never thought he'd live that one down. Diaz rocks.

[Oorag]

[quote name='BJ Penn' post='1757729' date='Apr 16 2009, 17.34']I'm seriously pissed that Kang and the Crow, two of my favorite fighters, are on the undercard while the UFC tries to promote former WEC and TUF fighters like Stann, Cantwell, Krystof, etc. It's because of things like this that I've gotten sick of TUF and don't watch it anymore.[/quote]
To be fair, Kang hasn't won a fight in a major promotion since 2006, and Loiseau since 2005. Stann and Cantwell, on the other hand, are both recent WEC champs and are considered by some to be up-and-coming prospects. WEC championships aren't worth what they used to be in the UFC, though. I'd much rather see the Kang or MacDonald/Quarry fights instead of the Stann/Soszynski fight.

[quote]Bout time we got UFC 97. Seems like it's been forever since 96. I still don't understand how Leites deserves a title shot after that bogus win against Marquardt, but I'm just happy to see the Spider back in action.[/quote]
Seriously. Okami fought four months ago and will be fighting in the very next event. It might as well have been him. It was supposed to be him before Cote anyway.

[Ken Stone]

[b]Anderson Silva[/b] vs. Thales Leites - Leites most impressive victory is the split decision win over Marquardt that he won because of the two fouls (only one of which was legit). I don't see this fight getting out of the first round. Silva First Round TKO.

Chuck Liddell vs. [b]Mauricio Rua[/b] - When was the last time Chuck KO'd someone? Why would we think he'll find the magic again against Rua? Chuck talks a big game but I don't see him getting this one done. Rua Second Round KO.

Light Heavyweight bout: [b]Eliot Marshall[/b] vs. Vinicius Magalh�ƒ£es - A chin is one of those things that you either have or you don't, and clearly Vince doesn't. This should be the fight that shows beyond a doubt that a fear of being punched in the face pretty much disqualifies you from MMA.

Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs. [b]Nate Quarry[/b] - Is it just me or does it seem like MacDonald is on about every other card?

Middleweight bout: [b] David Loiseau[/b] vs. Ed Herman - Herman has been on quite the losing streak. Seems like he is being set up here to get cut from the UFC. Loiseau, First Round KO.

Sam Stout vs. [b] Matt Wiman[/b] -

[GSP]

"Cane should be undefeated if not for the second-dumbest rule in MMA." Refresh my memory Horus, what are we referring to here?

[b]Anderson Silva[/b] vs. Thales Leites - It just seems stupid to bet against Anderson at this point, and he is my favourite MW champ ever. However, this is one of those contender written off as the wrong guy to do it situations that just screams for a drastic upset.

[b]Chuck Liddell [/b]vs. Mauricio Rua - Maybe I've been reading too much from Liddell's camp, but I just want Chuck to shine for a little while more, again. This is not even close to being a smart pick by me

Light Heavyweight bout: [b]Eliot Marshall[/b] vs. Vinicius Magalh�ƒ£es - If this were a pure bjj match i'd give it to Vinny. If the match remains on the mat I still do. I realize Marchall is a bjj black belt and quite good, but I don't think he is the calibre of blackbelt Vinny is. But this isn't a bjj match and I suspect Marshall is the far more well rounded of the two fighter

Middleweight bout:[b] Jason MacDonald[/b] vs. Nate Quarry - Tough call, but I'll give in to my nationalistic prejudice

Middleweight bout: [b]David Loiseau[/b] vs. Ed Herman - Time for the crow to fly again. Come on David, show us the wrecking machine you were pre Franklin!

[b]Sam Stout[/b] vs. Matt Wiman - Stout is gamer than game and deserves a break on his record. Wiman is no joke. I expect war.

[b]Krzysztof Soszynski [/b]vs. Brian Stann - heart driven pick again. The Polish experiment is a canuck fighting on home soil, and I liked him on TUF, so I couldn't possibly pick against him. Also, Stann has been training at Jackson's camp and may have rounded out but I saw his rematch with Cantwell for the WEC belt and he did appear very one dimensional back then at least.

Cheick Kongo vs. [b]Antoni Hardonk[/b] - Just because everyone and their mom seems to have written off Hardonk and I seem to have forgotten my brain altogether in making this list of calls. Kongo's a beast to be sure.

This will probably be one of my worst picks ever, being highly emotionally driven and more than a little slanted due to the Canadian flavour of the card. I find myself extra excited for the big show's cards on my country's soil. I hope the crowd does it justice again and the fights are to be talked about for a long time (and not for any Kalib Starnes like behaviour, god forbid).

Can't wait to discuss the results in the wee hours of Sunday morning with all present. I don't even waste my breath on the MMA forums, stacked with ignorance and trolls as they are. There is always a wide range of opinions here, but they are all generally well informed, and the discourse usually remains respectful in disagreement.

Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!

[Oorag]

[quote name='GSP' post='1758587' date='Apr 17 2009, 13.26']"Cane should be undefeated if not for the second-dumbest rule in MMA." Refresh my memory Horus, what are we referring to here?[/quote]
According to his record, he lost his first UFC fight due to DQ (illegal knee to face), I'm assuming a knee to the head of a downed opponent.