UFC/MMA Q4 Thread 2013

[Turd Ferguson]

So it's been a while since a new thread. Quarterly threads will be the case going forward unless participation picks up.

Calendar (Wonder how many main events we lose between now and the end of the year)

Oh also Bellator will be putting on the dream fight of 2005 between Rampage and Tito.

Essential Websites:
http://www.mma.ly
http://www.ufc.com

Visit At Your Own Peril:
http://www.sherdog.com
http://www.sherdog.net
The Underground

Useful Links:
Sherdog Fight Finder
Unified rules of MMA
http://www.fightmetric.com

Noteworthy/Discussion Topics:
WANDERLEI SILVA IS A COWARD AND A FRAUD

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Oh good going Rothwell, you fat sack of garbage, apparently Brandon Vera will be saved by an errant drug test again!

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/...spends-ben-rothwell-for-elevated-testosterone

 

[Da Prophet]

Rousimar Palhares was back and now he's gone!

Let this be a lesson to every that when the bell rings at the end of the round you should stop fighting. Doesn't bother me that he was released since Palhares hadn't been setting the world on fire before the release.

They shouldn't have released Yushin, that still hurts.

 

[jmt225]

Well, the difference between Palhares and other fighters is that 99% of the other fighters on the UFC roster, if they hold on to a submission after their opponent has tapped out, then they did it to truly cause them serious harm and injury. Palhares, on the other hand, is just a big dummy who simply doesn't know any better. He doesn't mean to do what he does; he's just "special."

That said, of course you can't have a liability like him on your roster. It's just not a good look for the UFC.

I still hope Palhares can land a job in Bellator though. Palhares vs. War Machine for 2014. Psycho vs. Psycho.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

At the rate they are going Bellator won't be around in 2014. Their recent event that was headlined by Cup Check Kongo only drew a gate of 73k, Kongo's salary for that fight was 60k. In total that night they lost approximately 250k on that event after fighter salaries came out of the gate.

Their upcoming PPV isn't selling well either. Only twenty days out and they have only sold roughly seventeen hundred tickets. The arena holds thirteen thousand people. They are having three title fights on the PPV, as well as some of their more well known names on the undercard. Their TV line up will be pretty poor the next few months as a result. Plus the timing is horrible. You have Cain/JDS 3 in a few days, GSP/Hendricks in November, Wiedman/Silva 2 in December, and a Pacquiao fight in November. I'm not even a huge boxing fan so I won't watch the fight, but that is $180 to spend on MMA PPVs in the next two and a half months, on top of the upcoming holidays. People just aren't going to pay to see two has beens, no matter how many buys they used to do.

 

[Da Prophet]

Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen coaching the Ultimate Fighter in Brazil. Surely this means they'll fight in Brazil which would be awesome. I was sick of Wanderlei just talking but not accepting the fight, now that the deal is done it's going to be good to see this fight. I don't think this should be five rounds since it will be 25 minutes of Wanderlei on his back while Sonnen punches him in the face. Keep it at three rounds and give Sonnen his win over Wanderlei to end this feud.

If Sonnen is able to win his fight against Evans and then defeat Wanderlei, he will be on a solid winning streak. Only good things can follow that.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

This is real, but I wish it wasn't. Sweet Jesus, its like Bellator is trying to go bankrupt.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

So Ben Askren is released from Bellator unconditionally and can go wherever he wants.

So, who do you guys want to see him fight in the UFC first? I think a Jake Shields fight would be right up his alley. I'm kind of glad he's probably UFC bound. They need a new heel, badly, with Sonnen really toning down his schtick. Askren is naturally a dick so it works out perfect, and he'd be a great foil to GSP or Hendricks.

Speaking of which, how do you guys see GSP/Hendricks going down? Sure, GSP has to watch out for the power shot but really, people thought Koscheck had a chance to KO GSP too based off of that. I really see Hendricks as really, a redneck Koscheck. Furthermore, I think he really wants to get a finish. I think GSP takes that same route that he took vs. Kos, gets jabby, gasses out Hendricks, and submits him late.

 

[Fizzy]

How sad is it that a company cannot even keep their own fucking champions under contract? Pathetic. Good on Askren for getting out while he can. I wish I could say the same for Chandler and Alvarez. Just a pathetic company all around and it always has been. People always say competition is good, but this isn't competition, it's plain naive ignorance regarding running an MMA organization. I'm not even surprised by this. I mean, after watching their champions get brutally KOed and fight in non title fights, and "matching" Eddie Alvarez's UFC offer through a promised PPV share even though they cancelled their PPV and don't have any happening in sight, this isn't even that bad. What a joke.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Nate Diaz just knocked Gray Maynard out like 10 times in 45 seconds as Yves was looking for brain damage. Maynard's chin is completely gone, which is a shame.

Diaz fights are always the best and Nate is straight up sounding Tyson-esque with that lisp.

Glad that Nate is back with a win though. He always brings it and I really want to see him fight Khabib.

 

[jmt225]

Diaz fights are always the best and Nate is straight up sounding Tyson-esque with that lisp.

Lol I saw someone on Twitter say Nate's promo sounded like he was challenging Anthony Pettis and Josh Thomson to a tag team match against he and Gilbert Melendez.

Glad that Nate is back with a win though. He always brings it and I really want to see him fight Khabib.

I too was stoked for Nate tonight. It was a spectacular performance on his part.

I think a fight with TJ Grant makes the most sense next, although I'd be down for Nate vs. Khabib as well.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

One of you fine gents care to do me a favor? I'm not going to pretend I watch TUF anymore, I don't. I haven't watched with serious interest since GSP/Kos. I've caught a few episodes when a talked about guy like Dodson or Uriah Hall had a fight, but you get the point. I was hoping you could fill me on this whole Ronda backlash that seems to have taken place in the last few weeks. At first it was just the typical trash talk from Tate that I heard about Ronda being a stuck up bitch and that her true colors were going to be revealed on the show, but it seems like something did actually happen and she isn't being painted in a positive light.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

Been a while since I've slithered around these parts... Hunt/Bigfoot was like watching a slow motion car wreck toward the end. It was a hell of a fight, I'd put it right up there with Chandler/Alvarez II in terms of downright ass beating all the way through. Definitely made a late statement for Fight of the Year in my book on the first watch. Going to try and give it another watch this afternoon.

Shogun is "back", hooray! I figured he would starch Te Huna but I didn't expect it to end that quickly. Te Huna is always going to be a great gatekeeper though, sort of like a Leben in the LHW division. Hoping Shogun drops down to middleweight because I think these rangy fighters in the top 5 of the LHW are just too much for him.

Only other thought I have is it sucks to see Julie Kedzie hang up the gloves but she's been through some wars over the years. I remember watching her fight several times for the HookNShoot promotion in Evansville. Always a game fighter, and a real pioneer for women's MMA. Sport took a lot more away from her than she has gained, but hopefully she enjoys her new career training Greg Jackson's female upstarts.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Shogun is "back", hooray! I figured he would starch Te Huna but I didn't expect it to end that quickly. Te Huna is always going to be a great gatekeeper though, sort of like a Leben in the LHW division. Hoping Shogun drops down to middleweight because I think these rangy fighters in the top 5 of the LHW are just too much for him.

I think a good fight for Te Huna to take next would be vs. Perosh, as they hate each other. Glad Shogun is back. As much as I am a Sonnen mark, I really felt bad for Shogun when he was submitted by him. A good fight for Shogun to take next I feel would be at Franklinweight vs. Franklin. It would be a great fight, especially where it would be Rich's last, and it would be a good way for Shogun to ease his way down to 185... Where he would likely revitalize his career.

So depressed over the fact that the Condit vs Brown fight is off. I was really looking forward to that one.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Jake Shields vs Hector Lombard is on for UFC 171.

Can't wait for him to get Shields'ed for 15 minutes and become irate afterwards

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

Jake Shields vs Hector Lombard is on for UFC 171.

Can't wait for him to get Shields'ed for 15 minutes and become irate afterwards

I dunno, I actually favor Lombard in this fight. Lombard is a lot quicker at 170 than he was carrying all the extra mass at 185. Plus he's got a lot of confidence riding behind him. Shields has always seemed kind of drained at 170. If he doesn't get a good weight cut and Lombard comes in the shape he was for his first outing at 170 then Shields may take a mat nap quick.

I saw a different side of Lombard during his post-fight press conference interview. He was very humble, and put Dana White over for convincing him to move to 170. We'll see, it's going to be a good fight either way... I want to see Lombard vs. Lawler though.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

I just read this news, today is a sad day in MMA. Shane del Rosario passed away last night. A few weeks ago he suffered a heart attack, the second such one in a fairly short span. He had a heart condition, which is part of the reason he had to pull out of so many fights after signing with the UFC, and after this most recent one he fell into a coma, where he had been since the heart attack. He was on life support until November 29th.

Losing anyone is a tragedy, but it seems like a lot of the good guys who die while still competing in MMA are the truly good guys. Evan Tanner immediately springs to mind. I'm not afraid to admit that while watching the video below I teared up a little. RIP big man.

[YOUTUBE]9pNozANG8SU[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I thought Del Rosario had major potential in Strikeforce... He was never the same after that car accident, and then the poor guy has a double heart attack. He was a straight up FIGHTER though, between coming back from that car accident and holding on after the double heart attack. It's a real shame. RIP.

On a lighter note, TUF is going to be interesting. The women's strawweight division is officially going to be A Thing and Invicta has transferred a bunch of Strawweights to the UFC. They will all compete on TUF to earn a chance at the title on the finale. I am so ridiculously looking forward To a season of TUF again and there is so much real talent that got transferred from Invicta too.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

I'm glad Invicta and UFC were able to come to a working agreement a while back. I'll actually watch TUF for this. I just hope they don't run it like a normal season of TUF. Hopefully they go with the format from TUF 4, where instead of an actual coach for each time, they had a series of coaches come in to work with the contestants. I'd also be okay if they used guys like Hughes, Griffin, Bonnar, and Chuck to work with them. Guys who aren't going to fight at the end. I think the focus needs to be on the contestants to help build a new division.

 

[Da Prophet]

Georges St-Pierre is no longer a UFC Champion.

Hendricks and Lawler will fight at UFC 171 to crown a new welterweight champion. I hope Lawler wins this fight to finally silence Hendricks. I'm not surprised with GSP's decision to leave and it's going to be a little weird seeing a welterweight title fight without GSP.

 

[Da Prophet]

Rousey will face off with Sara McMann at UFC 170 on February 22, 2014.

It's going to be very interesting to see how the ground game goes for both of these women. I can't pick against Ronda Rousey but Sara McMann should give her a strong challenge on the ground. Good to see that Evans/Cormier has been pulled back to a three round fight. I think the shorter fight will make for a much more exciting fight.