Official Mixed Martial Arts Thread

[Nathan Wind]

Up until that kick I really thought Weidman would eventually turn the table, Rockhold was visibly wincing from the kicks to the left side and had slowed down considerably from the first couple of rounds. He admitted later that he had gassed at that point due to the infection and all.

To pull off a spinning back kick you've got to be both really, really good at it, and totally committed to it. That had neither and it was a crazy thing to try from the range he was in. Weidmans head movement was non existent either. The whole time he was striking his head stayed right in front of Rockholds and was there for the taking. Look at Rockhold and every strike he threw, he was getting his head off the centre-line and getting his body into the shots. Technically, he was leagues ahead.

[Stig]

Just caught up with the Weidman and Rockhold fight. WTF is Herb Dean thinking not stopping it near the end of the 3rd. So dangerous.

[Gotters]

I thought Herb Dean did OK, it reminded me of when Lesnar fought Carwin (and came back from similar ground and pound from a total monster to submit him) and in a big championship bought you shouldn't stop it too quickly. He was never out cold, was still defending strongly with his arms, and whilst taking damage never looked rocked or had his head bouncing off the canvas.

He wasn't in great shape but I thought not stopping it was the right thing.

[Doomguy]

Weidman's dad, so embarrassing. 'He's still got his fans' Lol. No he doesn't.

It really was.

*grabs mic off Joe*

"He's still my boy!!!!!!!!"

Oh I'm sorry chris weidmans dad, we were all under the impression you were going to disown him for losing to Rockhold.

[Yobo Ahoy]

Yeah that was horrible. That was the second time he said it, I heard it off camera before the decision. Absolute prick, trying to make it about him. Hope Jr. gave him a proper dressing down.

As for the Rd2 non-stoppage, I'm also in the 'juuuuust about OK' camp. Weidman's arms never left his face apart from to try and fling a few token punches just to keep Herb at bay. He was getting the shit beaten out of him but he was clearly still with it.

Been catching up on Friday's TUF finale today, damn Ferguson/Barboza was stunning. I really don't agree with McGregor immediately getting a stab at the lightweight belt ... I know superfights and dual weight champs are a bit of a throwback and it would be interesting in a way, but LW in the UFC is so stacked at the mo - would be a shame to waste it.

[schmojo]

As for the Rd2 non-stoppage, I'm also in the 'juuuuust about OK' camp. Weidman's arms never left his face apart from to try and fling a few token punches just to keep Herb at bay. He was getting the shit beaten out of him but he was clearly still with it.

He wasn't unconscious, but he was definitely just turtling and covering his face which, in 90% of other fights, is seen as inactivity leading to a TKO. It's not qualified as 'intelligent defense'. Fightmetric have Rockhold as landing 55 ground strikes in Rd 3, which were unanswered. Real bad stuff, probably saved only from worse judgement by Weidman having an unfortunately good chin.

The Carwin-Lesnar one's another great example of a bad (or, at the very least, woefully inconsistent) reffing call.

[Gotters]

Interesting discussion on Rogan's latest podcast with Schaub, a follow up fightcast thing.

Apparently there was leaked audio of Rogan in commentary (off air) saying he though Aldo looked deflated in terms of physique, Schaub claimed the Aldo camp is 1-7 or 0-8 since the new drug regime kicked in. Rogan also mentioned Aldo's camp calling police on drug testers for an in camp test and then allegations of Aldo tripping and spilling his pee.

This is reminding me of the tour de france now.

[Gotters]

Schaub is saying that in 8 fights since the PED testing came in that the team Aldo trains in have only won 1 (or possibly none) of their 8 fights.

He's very clearly claiming its a team that is founded on PEDs, and now they are having to cut that stuff out they simply aren't winning any more.

[Corrogate]

I hope Conor moves up, just got the Joe Rogan podcast on and they're talking about Conor vs another wrestler. Fascinated to see him get wrestled again.

Shame, I find Conor funny, think he's amazing stylistic on his feet, but still irked by the lack of respect. Would love to see his mash Cerrone though.

[V3zna]

McGregor was overheard referring to Aldo as a juicehead before during a private conversation with Frankie Edgar.

If Conor does go for a lightweight fight next then Edgar vs Aldo could be interesting.

[Corrogate]

That was Mendes at the end of their fight.

No idea on that uppercut, by far Chad's cleanest shot of that fight. The steroid story is very compelling.

[angel]

what does this mean?

it means there are loads of factors youre not looking at, aldos camp has very carefully been messing about with testing, refusing, and there are rumours that the brazilian testers are such fans that they allow them to get away with it, one tester very specifically got aldos autograph after a test. brazilians routinely use steroids, organisations like pride basically mandated it, wanderlei and henderson etc were basically told to do it, thats why you have them on TRT now and so on. loads of great fighters are just not clean, minotauro, anderson, theyve all been users at various times. the thing is..PEDs are complicated, a substance allowed 15 years ago could easily be banned now. basically everything can be considered a drug, ibruprofen is a drug and so on, there are just specific ones that are ruled out. chael sonnen talks a lot about this, PEDs are basically substances that make you feel better and help you train better. now....thats basically every medicine known to man.

secondly, the IV ban hit aldo as much as mcregor, it was aldos 1st fight on it, and he even said many times that he would still use one in his hotel, he probably didnt but this shows how much it meant. conor is just a better cutter and has a better (read: more expensive) camp and team.

so yeah..basically a quick tldr is that fans are sort of not realising, but brazilian mma is noticably depleted since the testing..the ultimate example being that idiot eric silva, who instaltly lost his entire physique once testing came in...gleisan tibau just popped..etc... brazilian mma is basically organised cheating. the thing is, so is american football...the whole world of physical sport is people skirting the rules, but the media want a black and white goodie and baddie situation.

ultimately, i think aldo is less of a fighter since the testing, since the IV ban, his days are over now, he may even retire because hes going to tarnish his legacy. I think edgar beats aldo fairly handily now too, and mcregor beats edgar.

heres dadbod silva:

http://www.bjpenn.com/mmanews/ufc-fighters-react-to-erick-silvas-new-soft-physique/

McGregor was overheard referring to Aldo as a juicehead before during a private conversation with Frankie Edgar.

If Conor does go for a lightweight fight next then Edgar vs Aldo could be interesting.

where was this reported, i'd like to read it, are you sure youre not referring to what he said after he fought mendez, where he said aldo was a juicehead pussy

[Nathan Wind]

I know quite a few BJJers that have trained in Brazil and they've all said steroid use is endemic and seen as just being a part of the fighting culture out there, even in straight-up grappling, let alone MMA. One of them was telling me it's practically as easy as walking into a chemist's and asking for a shot of juice. I don't know how much truth there is to that but I can't imagine it being too far off.

[angel]

perfect timing

http://www.mmafighting.com/2015/12/15/10214358/cabmma-discovers-series-of-frauds-by-mma-fighters-during-secret

[Doomguy]

From the current crop I reckon Dos Anjos, Jacare, Cezar Ferreira (this is the guy Vitor said would be the next middleweight champ), and (even though I hate to say it) Dos Santos - though I think he only did it for a short time to gain mass.

[angel]

they all have, its an open secret, dos anjos in particular abused HGH hence his head increasing in size, its laughable really.

i mean come on

[schmojo]

Looks like Nova Uniao (Aldo's team), are actually 3-8 since the start of USADA, and several of those losses are entirely explicable (Bisping beating Leites, Formiga losing to Cejudo).

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/12/16/10345392/coach-replies-to-rogan-schaub-claims-of-different-deflated-aldo-physique-ufc-news

According to the article, Jackson-Winkeljohn are 7-11 since the start of USADA. They also talked about Rogan/Schaub discussing Aldo's 'changed' physique, but there are photos from his last 4 outings showing negligible difference in his muscle mass. Worth a quick look.

[Don Rosco]

The defining characteristic of almost any sport journalism is taking a statistically insignificant number and thinking it's significant.

[schmojo]

That was almost entirely their point, some links are worth a look.

[Doomguy]

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/12/16/10345392/coach-replies-to-rogan-schaub-claims-of-different-deflated-aldo-physique-ufc-news

According to the article, Jackson-Winkeljohn are 7-11 since the start of USADA. They also talked about Rogan/Schaub discussing Aldo's 'changed' physique, but there are photos from his last 4 outings showing negligible difference in his muscle mass. Worth a quick look.

Best comment on there:

Never thought the perfect male physique could be described with words such as "soft" and "deflated"

Or maybe Rogan has some problems with his eyesight – on top of being a babbling pothead? Can’t be easy

I've never given much weight to what Schaub says either. He's constantly wrong.

Rogan: 'Do you think you could beat Cain Velasquez?'

Schaub: "I think you'd be surprised."

o'rly, schaub?

[Orion]

The Aldo photo proof's of juicing are rather unconvincing. He looks the same to me.

But the upcoming pics of Overeem when he rocks up to weigh in against JDS. That could be pretty interesting.

[Doomguy]

Overeem looks like he did in his Pride days in the Countdown show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yqavPWkqZw

Dos Santos on the other hand still looks like a tank.

[Tourist]

The Aldo photo proof's of juicing are rather unconvincing. He looks the same to me.

Surely at lower weights the use of PEDs is not to build mass but to help with making the cut, no? So it's not like they are going to look much bigger, just slightly more defined maybe.

[Corrogate]

my face when I read Rumble's been in the UFC since 2007.

I know he left for WSOF for a bit, but it's still nuts he went to a weight class 30lbs higher (maybe not considering the weight cut stuff) and started getting paid. if the guy was telling me about his career I would be like cool story bro with much sincerity.

[schmojo]

Surely at lower weights the use of PEDs is not to build mass but to help with making the cut, no? So it's not like they are going to look much bigger, just slightly more defined maybe.

How do you figure that? Diuretics, maybe, but they're categorised differently to PEDs.

PEDs are certainly not likely to be helping anyone hit a lower weight, and definitely won't have magically different effects for smaller fighters.

[whizzo]

Drugs to help make the cut would still result in bigger fighters though. The reason they would take drugs to help with the cut is because they are fighting at a higher weight. These guys aren't taking PED's to make life easier.

[schmojo]

How is any of this helping with a weight cut? If it's helping them fight in a higher weight class, it's doing the opposite.

Anyway, the saga of Fedor's opponent for 2 weeks from now is finally over!

First it was going to be Jaideep Singh, an Indian kickboxer with a 2-0 MMA record.

Then we breathed a (still disappointed) sigh of relief when they suggest Kohsaka. Who handed Fedor his first (now avenged) 'loss' via headbutt cut, and hasn't fought for nearly 10 years himself.

But then that was off the table, as Kohsaka was given James Thompson.

So.....(drum roll).... yeah. It's back to Jaideep Singh.

[Tourist]

PEDs are not just steroids that make your muscles bigger. There is a whole range of substances that improve performance in different ways. At lighter weights I would imagine that fighters are less likely to be using mass-building supplements as fat-stripping ones, and possibly endurance-related ones. Clearly at higher weights (eg. Overmars etc) there is a lot of focus on muscle/mass building PEDs.

[Orion]

Surely at lower weights the use of PEDs is not to build mass but to help with making the cut, no? So it's not like they are going to look much bigger, just slightly more defined maybe.

I've seen plenty of jacked little guys in MMA over the years. Boxing too, its what PAC was accused off.

[schmojo]

There's no obvious correlation between 'lighter weight classes' and use of ephedrine and diuretics rather than steroids. They're smaller guys. It's all about size relative to your class.

Not to mention that drugs to raise metabolism and cut weight would be used during or close to fight week, and picked up on the old testing too.