Anyone here watch UFC?

[Dynamyk]

Some names (some more well known than others) to keep an eye on in future events, and that I'm particularly excited to see:

Wanderlei Silva (former UFC, held Pride LHW title for 5 something years.. lost his belt to Dan Henderson at the last Pride event.. supposed to fight Chuck next)
Paul Filho (reports that Rich Franklin turned down an offer to fight him at UFC 72, chose Okami instead)
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (teammate of Wanderlei, some say the best LHW in the world)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (I think he's already signed to fight in UFC 73)
...and continually rumored by Dana himself: Fedor Emelianenko

As well you gotta watch out for their lightweights. They have by FAR the best 160 pound division, the problem I see is that some guys might not want to cut the extra few pounds because fighters generally are stubborn. But Takanori Gomi, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri and guys like Joachim Noah are STUDS at lightweight. The lightweights you guys are seeing now aren't really in their league par BJ and arguably Joe Daddy.

Also, heavyweights Mark Hunt and Alexander Emelienko would shake up the now pretty deep HW division.

In the middleweight (205) division, the above poster mentioned a couple of 205ers but in addition you gotta add Ricardo Arona and Sokoudjou to that list, yes I know Soko is new, but when you knock out 2 top 5 LW in your first 2 major fights you gotta be mentioned .

In their welterweight division (185) they have some solid solid fighters, like Dennis Kang (mentioned at the last UFC) and Kazuo Misaki.

PRIDE was wayyy deeper than the UFC just a few years ago.

Personally I feel like the UFC is doing this merger wayy to quickly, we're all going to get the big matches very soon and as good and exciting as it is in the short term, in the long run it seems like it's only going to be UFC.

I don't think it was such an upset. Gonzaga is good.. just seems nobody knew much about him before that fight I guess

Gonzaga was a STUD, always has been. I hope he gets a rematch with Werdum.

UFC fan since the start. Still remember watching UFC I and thinking, "Whoa, this is cool s%^t!" My friends and I ordered the PPVs every few months and I still remember questioning the change from the tournament format back around UFC 18 - but obviously it was all for the best! I'm glad Zuffa took over from SEG and kept UFC alive - I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my UFC today!

Enjoyed all the fights in UFC 71 - they were all solid. Looking forward to seeing Ace again in N. Ireland next month and then the line-up for Stacked is, well, stacked.

Nice to see another long-time fan.

 

[~Shard~]

Nice to see another long-time fan.

Ditto my friend. Thanks for your comments, I agree with what you've said in relation to Pride, the merger, etc.

 

[VoodooDaddy]

I just started watching UFC 2-3yrs ago maybe.

One thing I dont understand, since UFC bought Pride, it seems the Pride fighters dont have to do a thing to get a title shot. Rampage had 1 fight before he got a title shot. This new guy, the one that has 2 titles in Pride, is next in line for a title shot against Rampage!

Another example is the Cro-cop/Gonzaga fight. The winner of that (everyone thought it would be Cro-cop) was to get a title shot against Coture. Why doesnt Sylvia get a re-match first? Their fight went 5, even though Randy clearly dominated the entire fight.

I personally think its a bit of an insult to the guys who have been with UFC for a long time.

 

[~Shard~]

I just started watching UFC 2-3yrs ago maybe.

One thing I dont understand, since UFC bought Pride, it seems the Pride fighters dont have to do a thing to get a title shot. Rampage had 1 fight before he got a title shot. This new guy, the one that has 2 titles in Pride, is next in line for a title shot against Rampage!

Another example is the Cro-cop/Gonzalez fight. The winner of that (everyone thought it would be Cro-cop) was to get a title shot against Coture. Why doesnt Sylvia get a re-match first? Their fight went 5, even though Randy clearly dominated the entire fight.

I personally think its a bit of an insult to the guys who have been with UFC for a long time.

I hear what you're saying, but the UFC has gotta do what it's gotta do, and it does shake things up and spice things up when new talent is introduced like that, as opposed to seeing the same old fighters go at it time after time again. The Sylvia/Arlovski fights are a good example, where for that 3rd match people were like, "Not again... " and it was a boring match. It might be more of a marketing strategy than anything, but you have to remember the UFC is a business just like any other business.

 

[Dynamyk]

I just started watching UFC 2-3yrs ago maybe.

One thing I dont understand, since UFC bought Pride, it seems the Pride fighters dont have to do a thing to get a title shot. Rampage had 1 fight before he got a title shot. This new guy, the one that has 2 titles in Pride, is next in line for a title shot against Rampage!

Another example is the Cro-cop/Gonzaga fight. The winner of that (everyone thought it would be Cro-cop) was to get a title shot against Coture. Why doesnt Sylvia get a re-match first? Their fight went 5, even though Randy clearly dominated the entire fight.

I personally think its a bit of an insult to the guys who have been with UFC for a long time.

UFC had absolutely nobody to fight Chuck, why not give him a chance to avenge his only loss. Jeremy Horn didn't "deserve" the shot either, but at that time as well they just didn't have anyone for him to fight.

Same goes with Timmy, after the Monson fight they needed someone to step in, apparently someone was offered a shot but they turned it down.

Hendo deserves a shot wherever he goes. The guy is a stud and has been beating top competition for years. Just like Anderson Silva, although the UFC has a lot of talent, guys wins outside the UFC need to count for something.

As for Gonzaga/Cro Cop. Cro Cop was the unanimous number 2 ranked HW in the world and he fits the mold for someone the UFC wants to be champion. Hard hitting guy who finishes fights.

Most of the the top guys in PRIDE deserve shots, when Shogun comes over, he is now, without a doubt the number 1 ranked lightheavyweight in the world and I would expect nothing less that a title shot when he comes over. He's lonnngg overdue.

 

[~Shard~]

Yep - interesting, exciting times ahead for the UFC as I see it. The old favorites are great to watch, but the UFC needs new blood and I think bringing in the Pride fighters and continuing with the Ultimate Fighter are excellent vehicles by which the UFC can ensure it stays at the top of its game.

 

[Mpulsive81]

Ya know, i've been watching since UFC 1. Back in the days when Shamrock, Gracie, & Severn were dominating it all. I've seen some things I've loved, and some things I didn't.

While I wasn't thrilled to see Rampage get a title shot after 1 fight, it's a good point someone made about "who's next in line for Chuck?" God was I pissed to see him lose the title, especially given the fact that he fought tooth and nail to get to the top. Rampage fights once in the UFC, then fights Chuck and is now LHW champ. In my opinion, he didn't earn squat.

But bottom line it's all about the mighty dollar. It's about what's gonna put fans in the stands and branch the UFC to become more mainstream.

Jackson/Liddell & Gonzaga/Cro-Cop are two of the biggest upsets I've seen. Another one up there is Forrest Griffin's last fight with Keith Jardine. I'm glad i'm not a betting man or i'd be SOL.

 

[~Shard~]

Agreed, but the upsets do keep things interesting!

 

[Dynamyk]

Ya know, i've been watching since UFC 1. Back in the days when Shamrock, Gracie, & Severn were dominating it all. I've seen some things I've loved, and some things I didn't.

While I wasn't thrilled to see Rampage get a title shot after 1 fight, it's a good point someone made about "who's next in line for Chuck?" God was I pissed to see him lose the title, especially given the fact that he fought tooth and nail to get to the top. Rampage fights once in the UFC, then fights Chuck and is now LHW champ. In my opinion, he didn't earn squat.

But bottom line it's all about the mighty dollar. It's about what's gonna put fans in the stands and branch the UFC to become more mainstream.

Jackson/Liddell & Gonzaga/Cro-Cop are two of the biggest upsets I've seen. Another one up there is Forrest Griffin's last fight with Keith Jardine. I'm glad i'm not a betting man or i'd be SOL.

I don't think anything surprised me more than when Jens beat BJ.

As for the Rampage title shot thing, if peoples accomplishments and path in other strong organizations don't matter then the UFC would be very boring, since theres so few people who can make a good title fight. If Rampage didn't get a shot it would end up being Jardine, if Houston Alexander did that to him imagine what Chuck would have done, it's not competitive. Tito he's already faught twice.

Rampage has fought the best in the world, and I think the UFC owe's it to their champs to give them the absolute best competition possible so they can legitimize themselves as the "best".

 

[zero2dash]

I've been following it for about a year now.

Did you guys see Cro Cop's match against Gonzaga? That was such a crazy upset.

I don't consider it an upset; I've said that Cro Cop was overrated and one-dimensional since he came to the UFC. He has great knockout skills and nothing else. It'd be no different if Floyd Mayweather did come and fight in the UFC.

Cro Cop has no wrestling skill, no take down skill, no Jiu Jitsu, and no defense in any of the above. Gonzaga took advantage of Cro Cop's weakness and 95% of the fight was on the ground where it should've been. We were pissed when Herb Dean stood them up because Gonzaga was still fighting so they should've been allowed to stay on the ground, but it didn't matter anyway because standing them up allowed Gonzaga to hit that sick kick to the head.

As for Chuck v Rampage - yes, I was rooting for Chuck but I had a feeling Rampage was going to win. I didn't think it'd be over that quick, but nevertheless...I think Rampage was more hungry to beat Chuck again than Chuck was to defeat Rampage and keep the belt.

I can't wait to see Koscheck v St. Pierre, that'll be a great fight.
Serra v Hughes will be great too.
Karo needs to get a title shot too, soon...he's awesome. His Judo skills and throws are just sick.

 

[~Shard~]

I can't wait to see Koscheck v St. Pierre, that'll be a great fight.
Serra v Hughes will be great too.

Yep, looking forward to both of these. Hughes must have had a big sigh of relief when Serra beat St. Pierre. Highes got owned by St. Pierre last time so I bet he's happy that he doesn't have to fight him again. Well, for now at least...

 

[Dynamyk]

I disagree slightly, with the fact Cro Cop doesn't have defense. His sprawl is ranked among the top in the world. His jiu jitsu is actually improved, when Fabiricio Werdum says your jiu jitsu is decent it is. The thing is you can't compare his ground game to an ADCC veteran like GG. His defense and stuff are pretty good but he underestimated the cage and his opponent. His kick got caught it had nothing to do with a lack of takedown defense.

 

[VoodooDaddy]

Ive got a question for you guys that have watched UFC longer than I have. The Koscheck/Sanchez fight was Diegos first loss. What was he, 18-0 before that? Why did he never get a title shot in his weight class? Ive not seen the guy fight but one or two times prior to the Koscheck fight, but he certainly didnt impress me too much in that one.

I just did a search and came across something interesting about Sanchez and that particular fight:

Several weeks after the fight, Dana White announced that Sanchez was sick on the eve of the fight, and almost had to retire when a test came back indicating he had Hepatitis C. Doctors eventually concluded the test results were not correct, but could not diagnose his sickness, so the fight went ahead as planned. The day after the fight Diego had a hole in his thigh the "size of a coffee cup," and his sickness was diagnosed as a Staph infection.

 

[Dynamyk]

Ive got a question for you guys that have watched UFC longer than I have. The Koscheck/Sanchez fight was Diegos first loss. What was he, 18-0 before that? Why did he never get a title shot in his weight class? Ive not seen the guy fight but one or two times prior to the Koscheck fight, but he certainly didnt impress me too much in that one.

I just did a search and came across something interesting about Sanchez and that particular fight:

Several weeks after the fight, Dana White announced that Sanchez was sick on the eve of the fight, and almost had to retire when a test came back indicating he had Hepatitis C. Doctors eventually concluded the test results were not correct, but could not diagnose his sickness, so the fight went ahead as planned. The day after the fight Diego had a hole in his thigh the "size of a coffee cup," and his sickness was diagnosed as a Staph infection.

He didn't get a shot because he said he wasn't ready. Plus, there were quite a few more interesting matchup's at 160. He's a solid fighter but not as good as he says he is.

I heard about the Staph infection too. Honestly, I don't think it would've mattered, Koscheck's style is very bad for him. He really depends on taking down his opponent and Kos is prolly the best wrestler in MMA

 

[wimic]

...Koscheck's style is very bad for him. He really depends on taking down his opponent and Kos is prolly the best wrestler in MMA

I don't agree - Kos has been improving greatly since he was on TUF and his standup has gotten much better.

 

[Dynamyk]

I don't agree - Kos has been improving greatly since he was on TUF and his standup has gotten much better.

I'm talking about Diego, not Kos. Diego depends a lot on his takedowns to really finish a fight, Kos's standup is better than his. And there's no way he's taking Josh down.

 

[nospleen]

Huge fan over here too!

I am really looking forward to the Ortiz v. Evans fight. I love Tito, even though he is an ass, but, that is going to be a tough one. This may be one of the only times he has fought someone who is just as strong, if not stronger than he is...

Any predictions?

 

[Dynamyk]

Brock Lesnar debuts in MMA tonight, I'm actually very excited to see how he does. He has better wrestling credentials than most Ground and Pounders.

 

[wimic]

Huge fan over here too!

I am really looking forward to the Ortiz v. Evans fight. I love Tito, even though he is an ass, but, that is going to be a tough one. This may be one of the only times he has fought someone who is just as strong, if not stronger than he is...

Any predictions?

I think Rashad sucks. I think Tito will mop the floor with him.

 

[nospleen]

I think Rashad sucks. I think Tito will mop the floor with him.

I hope so, but I can't stop seeing that high kick he put on Sean Salmon!

 

[stonyc]

I think Rashad sucks. I think Tito will mop the floor with him.

I love/hate Tito.. so I'm somewhat conflicted for this matchup. I want Tito to win, but I wouldn't mind seeing some more of the new-blood step up.

Next PPV is going to absolutely -stink-... Franklin vs. Okami as the headliner and no title matches? *yawn* Might have to pass on that one.. ugh. Not that this next PPV couldn't surprise and have some great fights up and down the card.. but to not have a title on the line kind of lessens the impact I think. UFC matchmakers should really try to aim for one and one only title match on each PPV... space them out a little more equally so you don't have potential duds like this next one.

 

[~Shard~]

Yeah, I agree. In contrast though, the fight card for Stacked is truly stacked! And after that I can only assume we'll see Hughes vs. Serra and Gonzaga vs. Couture, so lots of great fights coming up...

 

[zero2dash]

I disagree slightly, with the fact Cro Cop doesn't have defense. His sprawl is ranked among the top in the world. His jiu jitsu is actually improved, when Fabiricio Werdum says your jiu jitsu is decent it is. The thing is you can't compare his ground game to an ADCC veteran like GG. His defense and stuff are pretty good but he underestimated the cage and his opponent. His kick got caught it had nothing to do with a lack of takedown defense.

Cro Cop didn't get himself off the mat, did he? No, because he has no defense (and Herb Dean made them get up, otherwise the round would've ended on the ground). All these fight videos I see of him are all the same...him kicking (primarily) or punching (sometimes) his opponent for the KO. I've never seen a ground game Cro Cop video or a wrestling/throw Cro Cop video because all he has is KO offense/ability and that's it. He went from an overnight hype sensation to a complete bust; Gonzaga OWNED HIM (and showed his weakness) about as bad as when Randy (Couture) beat the sleeves off of Tim Sylvia at his own game despite the obvious size advantage in Sylvia's favor. Who will Cro Cop fight next...seriously? I'm sure they'll throw him in there with somebody to earn some buy rates but in terms of the big picture - most of the UFC guys of a similar weight with balanced skill could probably take Cro Cop out IF they a) take him down to the mat or b) stay close to him or to the side like Gonzaga did where he can't do that much damage to them.

Onto other things -
I'm starting to like Rampage. I think everyone was ticked off at him for beating Chuck, but he is a talented fighter. Same with Tito - I've started liking Tito as well. I've hated Tito since I started watching UFC since I knew he basically talked trash and ducked fighting Chuck, but man oh man would I love to see a Tito/Rampage fight...I can't imagine all the trash talking that would go on before that fight. Make it happen, Dana, make it happen!!! Although I also want to see a rematch between Forest Griffin and Tito because Tito should've lost their earlier fight.

 

[Dynamyk]

Cro Cop didn't get himself off the mat, did he? No, because he has no defense (and Herb Dean made them get up, otherwise the round would've ended on the ground). All these fight videos I see of him are all the same...him kicking (primarily) or punching (sometimes) his opponent for the KO. I've never seen a ground game Cro Cop video or a wrestling/throw Cro Cop video because all he has is KO offense/ability and that's it. He went from an overnight hype sensation to a complete bust; Gonzaga OWNED HIM (and showed his weakness) about as bad as when Randy (Couture) beat the sleeves off of Tim Sylvia at his own game despite the obvious size advantage in Sylvia's favor. Who will Cro Cop fight next...seriously? I'm sure they'll throw him in there with somebody to earn some buy rates but in terms of the big picture - most of the UFC guys of a similar weight with balanced skill could probably take Cro Cop out IF they a) take him down to the mat or b) stay close to him or to the side like Gonzaga did where he can't do that much damage to them.

Onto other things -
I'm starting to like Rampage. I think everyone was ticked off at him for beating Chuck, but he is a talented fighter. Same with Tito - I've started liking Tito as well. I've hated Tito since I started watching UFC since I knew he basically talked trash and ducked fighting Chuck, but man oh man would I love to see a Tito/Rampage fight...I can't imagine all the trash talking that would go on before that fight. Make it happen, Dana, make it happen!!! Although I also want to see a rematch between Forest Griffin and Tito because Tito should've lost their earlier fight.

Have you actually SEEN Cro Cop fight, or are you just going by highlights and videos? Chuck has the same style, sprawl and brawl, but nobody's calling him a bust because he lost to Rampage. Because you're looking at highlights your basing his defense on nothing, his kick got caught, it happens it has no relevance to his defense. I'm not denying he got beat by Gonzaga, Gab is a solid solid fighter. People have seen his 2 UFC fights and are not impressed. I'm not impressed by his UFC performance either. Your argument is completely invalid until you've watched his fights. How can he have no defense when he's defended takedowns from Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Josh Barnett, Ron Waterman, ALL of these guys are light years ahead of Gonzaga in the wrestling department. Cro Cop's sprawl is the best in the business, Joe Rogan has said that as well as any person who's knowledgeable on the sport. A kick getting caught has nothing to do with his sprawl. I guess you may think Forrest has better takedown defense because he sprawled against Tito

Cro Cops resume speaks for itself, he has a better HW resume than ANYONE in the UFC, maybe now Nogeuira's is better since he owns a win over Cro Cop and was the world #1 HW before Fedor came along. As for him getting off the mat, Gonzaga is a world reknowned grappler, you're acting like it's easy for him to get up.

The fact you only have been watching MMA for a year, it explains your point of view and I understand that, but seriously watch some of Cro Cop's fights before you judge him as a fighter. Because he doesn't use his ground game it doesn't mean he doesn't have one. His ground game obviously isn't on Gonzaga's level, but his strategy is to use his biggest asset. You don't see George taking the fight to the ground, he used what he thought would be most effective against Matt Serra and got caught, just like Cro Cop dead, by no means are either of these guys "exposed".

 

[Dynamyk]

New Fedor interview. Doesn't look like he's coming to the UFC

FEDOR

Do you want to collect all the belts in all major promotions?
-No. Unfortunately I learned that it's not possible to agree with every promoter. Pride now demands exclusive contract and wouldn't allow a fighter to perform anywhere else.


Is it true that you trained with Hoost?
-He was injured and only watched and gave me tips as I trained with his coach Vos for 3 weeks prior to Crocop. Vos also developed the game plan.

Did you see Liddell-Jackson?
-Not yet, I will soon, but now I'm in a training camp, we don't even have no cell phone reception here. I'm training a lot now.

How many push-ups can you do?
-I do very fast about 20, break and again another 20 etc. Pull-ups and chin-ups same thing, 30 or so, I mix it with jump-rope.

What motivates you to train?
-I train harder than anyone. that's all I think of and do really. I get in the ring and see what my opponent is all about and make adjustments from there.

You were in attendance with Sergei kharitonov at a mix fight event recently, did you talk?
-I met him in a lobby, I had no desire to talk to him, we said hello and went about our business.

Did you sign any contract yet?
-No. We are in talks with k1 and Pride. UFC is now the biggest promotion, but they are dictating their conditions to us, this is not acceptable to us, their contract is only about what THEY want and not what the fighters need.

Can you do a split?
-(laughs) No, I don't do splits. (laughs)

What happend to Semenov?
-He got star desease, doesn't want to train hard. I told Vadim: "Listen, nothing will come of this guy" I got no desire to work with someone who lets people down like this.

What do you do when you REALLY don't feel like training?
-(laughs) it happens very VERY rarely, but then i just do minimum. I'd suck it up and try and eventually get into the mood.

Training schedule?
-2x a day, grappling and stand-up, I also add GnP in the evening as 3rd training session. before fights I make traning shorter and faster, more speed. After fights I do light cross, no hard training so i can recover good.

What machines you use in gym?
-None. I also eat regular vitamins, Centrum, Vitrum, calcium stuff like that.

What you do in your free time? Any business?
-no business. I coach in Stari Oskol. I read, draw and spent time with family. My daughter is here now, I spent time with her too.