EHK for MMA

[Stego]

Has there ever been a fighter with more undeserved acclaim than Thiago Alves?

He will get decimated by the number two fighter in the world. Decimated. He'll never be the same fighter again.

[Oorag]

Has there ever been a fighter with more undeserved acclaim than Thiago Alves?

Why do you think his acclaim is undeserved?

[Stego]

He hasn't beaten anyone.

He took out Hughes during his decline. He would have gotten crushed by Hughes in his prime, and probably beaten by Hughes had Hughes given it half the attention he did the Serra fight. So, he basically beat Frank Shamrock or Chuck Liddell of today. good for him. Who hasn't?

Otherwise, his career consists of wins over Josh Koscheck (a joke that he needed to go to decision to beat) and Karo Parisian (Don't lock up, he ain't got shit but Judo.) and a loss to Jon Fitch (Undercard for life!!11)

He has barely earned a title shot. GSP will stop him early. And the hype machine will forget all about Mr. Alves. I understand why they built him up -- they had to! GSP doersn't have any competition in that nigh-empty division! He had to go outised the division for his last opponent, and there's been nothing but discussion over him going outside the division again.

[benderschweiz]

If Mir is overrated at this point I think it's more a case of Nog being sick with staff shortly before their fight.

Yeah, I think Nog is overrated at this point as well. Wouldn't be suprised at all if Couture TKOs him. He's carrying more weight than in Pride and has been a walking zombie in the UFC, even before the Staph. I wouldn't favor him over Lesnar, Carwin, Mir, Cain, or even Gonzaga at this point. Hopefully we'll see a different fighter against Randy, because that should be a great fight.

[Ser Barry]

Firstly let's all remember that Kendall Grove is the worst ever winner of TUF and then we can move on.

Mir vs Lesnar

Anything could happen in this fight apart from a Brock sub. I reckon Mir is going to frustrate Lesnar by being long and elusive enough to stick and move. On the ground I think that Mir has enough to stay out of serious trouble and Lesnar gets frustrated. I pick Mir to expose a Lesnar mistake on the feet in the fourth and TKO him.

GSP vs Alves

Whether it is hype or star power around Alves I am caught up in it. He seems to be the worst type of fighter for GSP. Good TD defence and power from all angles on the feet. GSP has not faced a world class kickboxer (in MMA terms) since ever. I see GSP getting hurt and I see him reaching for TDs and getting hurt again. I don't think he can hide that chin against Alves. I would pick GSP for the rematch.

Henderson vs Bisping

Henderson got picked apart by Franklin once Franklin got up to speed. Henderson looked a touch slow and a bit predictable. Bisping is good enough on the feet to beat Evans standing, it was Evans' TDs that won him the fight. Bisping has been firing out of the blocks recently but in this I see him taking his time and slowly gaining the upper hand. Decision and a title shot in Manchester for Bisping.

Fitch vs Tiago

Fitch via beasting. TKO 1.

Akiyama vs Belcher

Akiyama seems to be good at exposing his oppo's weakness. Belcher lost to Jason Day and the worst ever winner of TUF. Akiyama by TKO.

Bonnar vs Coleman

By aneurism.

Jim Miller vs Mac Danzig

Miller to expose Danzig's lack of power again. They keep giving him shitty style match ups.

DH Kim vs TJ Grant

Grant to decision it.

Jon Jones vs Jake O'Brien

Jake O'Brien could make even a Jon Jones fight boring. Jones by whatever the fuck he likes as long as it is quick. Please.

CB and Gugerty to take the other two.

[Cuellar]

Ser Barry's going for the long shot... you should put money on it if you think that'll happen man.

For me:

Lesnar over Mir, without breaking a sweat. Mir looked like shit besides his final leg lock. Listening talk about the fight recap last night was absolutely rediculas. To quote Lesnar, "his face looked like hamburger hill after 1:30". Lesnar is VERY inexperienced.. but at the end of the day he took his loss as a learning point, and seemed humbled by it. If he didn't get the point deducted on the 1 back of the head punch, the fight would have been over.

GSP over Alves. I'm more on the fence on this and would agree with Ser Barry. Could have another Serra repeat, but I think GSP is going to come out hungry, and overpower Alves before he gets a chance, then just GnP his shit.

Henderson over Bisping. Henderson for sure, and I think Bisping is overrated.

Also, I'm glad Nick Diaz got his ass beat. I hate that kid, and besides his BJJ, he's got nothing. He has no power, no gameplan, no nothing... just great flexibility and limbs that can trap you quickly. I knew he was going to get his shit ruined the minute he saw decent competition.

[Stego]

I agree that Groves is the worst TUF winner. By far. He's sort of a joke. Anyone reading this thread think there's a chance he could be you in a fight? That entire season soured me on TUF. The resident 'badass' was Ed Herman who turned out to be all talk. At least Kendall wasn't a complete douche like him.

But Barry, the 3 main fights.... I think you got all 3 wrong. The only one I would not put money on is Bisping-Henderson, simply because Henderson is getting to a certain point in age. But as a Bisping fan, I really hope he doesn't get any sort of title shot. There's not a champ in any division that would not wipe the floor with him. He can't even jump up or down for an easier fight.

[Stego]

Thiago Alves lost to Spencer Fisher. Just sayin.'

[Ser Barry]

If there is one thing I have learned from documenting my picks in these threads, and for money with my mates, it is that I absolutely suck at picking fights. Just saying.

Bisping in a title fight would be awesome. It would be crazy huge over here and with the possibility of UFC moving to terrestrial tv it could be the event which pushes UFC into mainstream over here. I actually think that he goes three rounds or so with Silva. Anyhoo, that's all jumping the gun a wee bit.

No tv deal for this weekend in the UK btw. Cosmic!

[Ser Barry]

90/1 on an accumulator on my picks :)

[ljkeane]

No tv deal for this weekend in the UK btw. Cosmic!

Do you know what's happening with that, is it just not on or will it be on Bravo or something like that?

[Ser Barry]

Do you know what's happening with that, is it just not on or will it be on Bravo or something like that?

No news at all. They are cutting it a bit fine. It is available in other countries via stream on Yahoo for $45 but currently blocked here. I am guessing they will unblock that as a last minute thing if nothing else comes through. The deadline they had set themselves for an announcement came and went on Monday.

[Ken Stone]

Thiago Alves lost to Spencer Fisher. Just sayin.'

Alves was 21 years old when he lost to Fisher. He wasn't even done growing, let alone close to reaching his potential as a fighter. That was 6 years ago. The Alves of today would slaughter Fisher.

Here's how I see it. You look down GSP list of victims and they are all grapplers. GSP has not ever faced a striker that is the caliber of Alves. Ever. Serra KO'd GSP and he isn't even close to Alves level.

[Oorag]

He hasn't beaten anyone.

He took out Hughes during his decline. He would have gotten crushed by Hughes in his prime, and probably beaten by Hughes had Hughes given it half the attention he did the Serra fight. So, he basically beat Frank Shamrock or Chuck Liddell of today. good for him. Who hasn't?

Otherwise, his career consists of wins over Josh Koscheck (a joke that he needed to go to decision to beat) and Karo Parisian (Don't lock up, he ain't got shit but Judo.) and a loss to Jon Fitch (Undercard for life!!11)

Well two can play at this game. Lets look at GSP's record:

A win over BJ Penn, a natural lightweight who beat Pulver and Stevenson to get his LW belt, neither of whom are exactly on career hot streaks. Before that there's Fitch (Undercard for Life), whom he couldn't put away after five whole rounds. And before that there's Serra, another natural lightweight with no notable wins on his record unless you count GSP himself. Before that was Old Man Hughes, the dinosaur of MMA. And then Koscheck, who also took him to a decision. Then the humiliating loss to Serra. Then a win over Old Man Hughes again...

Anyway, the real point is that you can nitpick the fighters' records all you want, but you should really pay more attention to what they show in the ring. Alves is a hulking WW with great stand-up, knockout power, and enough wrestling to stop NCAA I champions like Hughes and Koscheck in their tracks. I still give it to GSP, but Alves is no joke.

[GSP]

Alves is absolutely a legit challenge and no joke at all. My biggest fear is that he misses weight and we get a non title charade (nobody is ever happy with those). People are horribly underestimating GSP's stand up abilities in this one. But clearly, he's going to take the path that has the greatest possible chance of assuring victory, and that would be to put Alves on his back and keep him there. I'm confident GSP takes this one.

And for the record, there is nothing 'chinny' about GSP. A guy gets dinged once in a pro fight and all of a sudden he's Mr. Glass jaw. I hate that shit. Believe it or not, Serra actually has knock out power if he can get into range, and he managed to do so on GSP. It was impressive and I actually knew it was going to happen ( a strange gut intuition that started nagging me as the fight neared and nobody would shut up about how Serra posed no threat at all and was absolutely undeserving of a title shot). Personally, I thought GSP's chin well proven in his first match with BJ Penn (who's had the one punch power to knock some other WW champs silly recall). At the end of the day most MMA fighters don't hit the canvas sleeping because they are glass jawed. Usually, they make the signature mistake of allowing a pro fighter who's been training obsessively for months to beat them to hit them on the button with 5 oz gloves. Your not supposed to let that happen.

Everyone seems so positive there is no way Bisping could ever knock out Henderson because Wanderlei didn't, and Rampage didn't etc. By that measure, how is it even reasonably possible that it would be Mir that would knock a hole in Noguera's iron chin? Anything can and does happen in MMA. Just like MMA math doesn't work for who can beat who, I imagine it's even less useful in talks of who can possibly knock out who. It'd be sweat if Bisping steps up and underscores my point. I thought he was pretty talented on TUF, was impressed with some of his Cage Rage work, and have seen him steadily improve in ability and competition since hitting the big show. Henderson's his biggest challenge to date but we've seen up and comers shine in this situation countless times before and I just think he will this time.

Oh, and Cuellar, it was Nate Diaz you were talking about. Nick Diaz hasn't dropped a match in quite a while, and hasn't had his ass beaten in far, far longer.

[TheHalfman]

He hasn't beaten anyone.

He took out Hughes during his decline. He would have gotten crushed by Hughes in his prime, and probably beaten by Hughes had Hughes given it half the attention he did the Serra fight. So, he basically beat Frank Shamrock or Chuck Liddell of today. good for him. Who hasn't?

Otherwise, his career consists of wins over Josh Koscheck (a joke that he needed to go to decision to beat) and Karo Parisian (Don't lock up, he ain't got shit but Judo.) and a loss to Jon Fitch (Undercard for life!!11)

He has barely earned a title shot. GSP will stop him early. And the hype machine will forget all about Mr. Alves. I understand why they built him up -- they had to! GSP doersn't have any competition in that nigh-empty division! He had to go outised the division for his last opponent, and there's been nothing but discussion over him going outside the division again.

Koscheck and Fitch are no jokes man, that's some talent right there. GSP couldn't finish Kos either. Plus the Fitch fight was so long ago, you have to realize people get better with time, especially a fighter like Alves who is so young. Plus, Karo had NEVER been stopped and Alves stopped him. Hughes on his way down and out I won't argue with, besides, Hughes even fought at a weight disadvantage since Alves couldn't make weight. (Larger than it should have been at least)

[Ser Barry]

UFC 100 is going to be live on Sky Channel 433.

http://uk.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=21058

[ljkeane]

UFC 100 is going to be live on Sky Channel 433.

That channel appears to be called Racing World. That's a bit of a strange choice, I would have thought the UFC would have attracted attention from a more widely recognisable channel.

[Ser Barry]

That channel appears to be called Racing World. That's a bit of a strange choice, I would have thought the UFC would have attracted attention from a more widely recognisable channel.

Apparently that channel doesn't broadcast anymore. UFC are broadcasting on it for 9 hours as a one off only and this does not affect which channel it will finally end up on. Whatever, I am just glad it is on.

[GSP]

http://mmajunkie.com/news/15448/order-ufc-...ts-for-free.mma

Apparently, if you buy your ppv by Friday night you get access to the entire undercard this sime around.