Official Mixed Martial Arts Thread

[angel]

The embeddeds are so funny, Mike's son ALWAYS picks against him, it's become tradition. It's like he's a mini troll, you'd expect nothing less of the Bisping gene.

 

Predictions, well I think Mike gets it done by TKO 2nd round, Dans tough as a sherman tank but 10 years older..I just can't see it. His last fight was rock em sock em robots, I don't think Mike will be silly enough to do that and should wear him down to a finish. Gotta weather that first 5 mins though and stop circling to his right hand for gods sake.

 

Mike TKO rnd 2

 

I think Mousasi takes Vitor out in a round, 2 at most, either TKO or straight KO. There's a chance he gets lazy and gets caught but it's unlikely.

 

Gegard TKO rnd 1.

 

Also Manuwa KO rnd 2, I think OSP doesn't have enough for him on home turf.

 

I know nothing about Omielanczuk but I find Struve very hit and miss, so I'll go with Omielanczuk 2nd round TKO.

 

I'll also take Pickett majority decision but I don't know enough about the rest of the card to go any deeper.

[Doomguy]

Bisping via decision. 

 

Moose via decision. 

 

OSP via decision. 

 

 

[angel]

Some sweet Dan Hardy analysis of 204

 

 

[glb]

On 10/5/2016 at 07:23, Hellcock said:

Predictions for the weekend?

 

Henderson swing and a miss, Bisping counter to TKO. I hope. Although  at Bisping's kid saying Henderson will win by KO.

 

Gegard in 2, OSP via decision.

[Doomguy]

Watched some of the prefight stuff. Hendo looks frail (reminds me of Randy when he fought Machida) but I guess appearances can be deceiving. I've heard it mentioned a few times (rogan podcast, chael sonnen, coleman) that Hendo is carved out of iron (like the muscle on his body is unusually dense) which I assume is why the guy is still a wrecking machine into his late 40's. He also has the strangest heritage I think I've ever seen. 

[angel]

1 hour ago, Stevedave said:

Watched some of the prefight stuff. Hendo looks frail (reminds me of Randy when he fought Machida) but I guess appearances can be deceiving. I've heard it mentioned a few times (rogan podcast, chael sonnen, coleman) that Hendo is carved out of iron (like the muscle on his body is unusually dense) which I assume is why the guy is still a wrecking machine into his late 40's. He also has the strangest heritage I think I've ever seen. 

 

Don't forget he's cutting weight.

[angel]

Bisping is being a real nob to Hendo in the pre fight stuff, saying things like 'no TRT now eh old man'. I know he's building hype but it'll be very difficult to shake hands afterwards coming from that. God forbid Mike fucks up and loses to him twice, he'd never ever live that down.  I can't see it though, Dan's not even top 15 officially (I don't think) and he does look awfully small...I thought he was 44 not 46.  5 years older than me and still fighting for a UFC title, surely he has no chance.

 

My ideal scenario would be a Mike KO win, followed by a handshake and some praise for Hendo on the mic from Bisping.  My ultimate disaster is a Hendo win, a smug gloating speech, a booing crowd, a pointless retiring of the champ or a silly negotiation to get him to stay. Hendo gets paid a ridiculous amount, he got something like 800,000 dollars show money for his last fight against Lombard, he might even get more than the Belt holder for this one, Bisping only got 250,000 on the same card, and 320,000 against Silva before that.  He'll be on PPV points now as champ but still...the money will be very close.

 

[Gotters]

I often find the embedded vids totally fascinating as a lot of the fighters look quite frail, and things like simply walking or bending over and picking something up seem very difficult for them. I usually put it down to the rigours of very hard training camps and the vids often being filmed in that period.

 

In this 3rd embedded Hendo looks like his whole upper torso is fused from the waist up and he can't turn his neck at all, he has to rotate his whole upper body to look to one side.

 

The Nogs look like they can hardly move and have to be hoisted into the ring.

[Oracle]

I imagine they are going to be fairly beaten up, sore and generally feeling like shit in the run up to the event.

[skittles]

Anyone want to buy some shares in Alliance MMA??

 

https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AAMMA&ei=wW33V_mqOMGdUMu8jWg

[schmojo]

Picking between Bisping and Hendo is so pointless that it's one of my favourite kind of fights to watch.

 

I don't think that there's anybody in the sport that Hendo can't KO, and very few that have been able to do the same in return. Two maybe? So, even though he's deteriorated a lot as a fighter, it's impossible to truly count him out of any fight.

 

There are so many interesting outcomes for the fight:

 

1) I hope this happens: Bisping's magical 'lightning strikes' year continues and, as his KO power seemingly improves, Hendo's jaw deterioriates and meets it in the middle. Boom, KO's Hendo, gets redemption, and retires into a cushy behind the scenes job. He's mega-trolled Rockhold and Weidman and, if he chooses, can come back for a mega-fight.

 

2) Bisping plays his usual game of keeping the fight on the feet for as long as possible, and Hendo clatters him. Hendo retires a 3 (is it 4? Did he win in Rings?) company champ. Maybe both retire? Even if he didn't retire, Rockhold and Weidman are fresh matches that would keep him rich. If not unscathed.

 

3) Bisping wins a decision. I can only imagine this fight looking quite sad from Hendo's side if he can't land a solid right over 25 mins.

 

4) Anything else. Not so likely. But hey! What if someone went for a sub? That'd be crazy.

 

Can't wait.

 

 

[Tofu]

Got weigh in tickets...hooray

 

 

[Gotters]

Rumours coming out that after 205 Conor is taking a year out as his girlfriend is pregnant

[Tofu]

So, does he...

 

1) give up one (or maybe both) belts?

2) not give them up and you have an interim champ for a year?

3) give them up and gets an immediate title match when he comes back?

4) other?

[glb]

Think a reasonably fair option would be to vacate belt(s), and a have a number 1 contender match in his chosen division when back.

 

Fan of McGregor, but interim belt(s) during a prolonged absence would be farcical (or even more farcical than the current 145 situation)

 

His power should rightly extend to negotiating better pay but allowing further logjamming of divisions makes UFC's top brass look weak. Of course, hypothetical until anything's announced but there's plenty of smoke to speculate on the size of the fire.

[Doomguy]

5 hours ago, Tofu said:

Got weigh in tickets...hooray

 

 

 

Woah at Hendo getting booed so much. I live down the road from where Bisping used to train but booing Hendo (pride vet) seems a bit twatish. The guy is rightfully a legend, love or hate him. 

[Yobo Ahoy]

And they hate him. If it was in Hendo's backyard Bisping would be getting pelters too. 

[Doomguy]

Bisping seems to get pelters everywhere tbh ha

[angel]

YES

 

what a fight.

 

good respect, cracking

[Tofu]

What a fight. What a career. Hendo is arguably the most decorated mma fighter of all time, to retire this way was amazing, even if he didn't get the judges nod. He died as he lived: punching Michael Bisping.

[angel]

but bisping won. but still ace fight.

[pinholestar]

Great fight & nothing but respect for two legitimate veterans of the sport putting on a show.

 

Spoiler

Relieved that Bisping got the decision obviously but it seemed like the occasion got to him a little & he seemed slightly tentative in there. Understandable considering Henderson's huge right hand that hung ominous over every second of the fight but when Bisping was dropped in the first I feared the worst. That was a nasty cut that he opened up but he hung in there & took it 3-2.

 

[Gotters]

much better fight than I expected and what a game fighter Bisping is. Amazing job by Hendo but clearly his gas tank not up to fighting 5 rounders

 

Exactly how I had the scoring with it being 3-2 to Bisping, agreeing with 2 of the judges.

 

Other than sentimentality a Hendo win wouldn't have done much for the division.

 

Great commentary by Brian Stann too saying Bisping couldn't adjust in round 2 to the punch from round 1 as he didn't remember it !

[angel]

All the "pros react" stuff on twitter and the websites is a bunch of bitter asshats whinging about mike. He had that 3-2 clearly on strikes, massively outstruck dan even if hendos were more visible on the face. Yet all the losers like tim kennedy bleat about him, while tim earns 40,000 at best and hardly fights. Weidman I find a bit of a dickhead too..never any credit given. Conor is right, most UFC fighters are hopelessly unable to market themselves and extremely bitter at anyone making money. I mean look at all the callouts tonight, stann asked every single fighter who they want next, and they all said "er, dunno".  Clear platform to market themselves, ignored every time.

[angel]

full presser here, moose is hilarious.

 

 

[Doomguy]

Not doubting Mikes spirit (he arguably has the best recovery in MMA) but it's fights like this that really make me wonder. I mean, his face at the end... man alive.

 

Nick Diaz and Anderson have both mentioned that originally the 'decision win' was supposed to be who would have won if the fight had gone further. Bisping would have been disfigured in that scenario. Also damage done... woah. 

 

OSP didn't seem motivated and paid for it. Considering he's one of only two fighters in the division who are Jon Jones size you'd think he'd be more game. 

 

Nice to see moose finally talking ha!

 

 

[angel]

I don't get Mike sometimes, the less he trains the better he looks. He was phenomenal against Silva and Rockhold, but a bit flat here. I had a feeling the UK crowd pressure, the pointless staging of it in Manchester (they both live in California), and his fear of the H bomb might have made him tentative.  I still say he won on strikes, check the metrics, just Mikes damage was all face, Dan's was all body.

 

OSP was poor, I think Manuwa is on borrowed time as he wouldn't survive a round with someone like Jones, DC or Rumble again and his presser was diabolical. He's a charisma vacuum. I see moose as the biggest threat right now, I think he takes Weidman out, I've no idea why he's calling out Anderson Silva apart from a payday from a declining fighter.

 

Strange event really, Pickett is surely gone now, it seemed more like a fight pass event than a 'real' numbered UFC apart from the main and co main, I'm amazed Dana was there, although I miss the old pressers with him holding court. This newly owned UFC is quite boring without him afterwards, just the vanilla questions and fairly dull Fox post shows.

[Gotters]

other fighters have a lot of sour grapes it seems to me with Bisping, as he's a bit of a british gobshite and seemingly 'just' a good all rounder. its really unfair as he's just gone clear at the top of the table of all time most UFC wins last night and whilst not in the same league as a fighter as the biggest guys, he has incredible cardio and should be seen as a poster child of how far grit, determination and hard work can take somebody.

 

OSP just looks as thick as several short planks to me and whilst obviously an athlete has no instinct for the sport at all, the fact he is regarded as contender level shows how thin LHW is at the moment. Manuwa is a decent puncher but doesn't look like a rounded MMA fighter to me and again may operate at a far higher level than his talent merits as the division is poor.

 

Mousasi is so frustrating, he's a bit like Uriah Hall in that he can look amazing or shockingly bad, and you never really know what version will turn up into the ring.

[Yobo Ahoy]

I dunno, bit harsh on Mousasi. The only times I can recall him getting truly outclassed were vs Jacare and Machida. The Hall fight was a lightning, highlight-reel KO which you can't really account for. He's still young-ish and, as has been mentioned, MW is pretty light beyond the top few so while the other 4 contenders fight in November he may as well beat up Anderson to plump his record up even more. 

 

Agree with Angel and Gotters that Bisping seems to have no respect from the US fighters. That makes it all the funnier really, he's worked his arse off and never sat around moaning about lack of opportunities or wanting to do modeling instead. This is your MW champ, deal with it.

[Orion]

Alot of the moaning about Bisping from other fighters was always about the money he earned. Your typical jealous fighter bullshit.

 

Happy for him last night was a great fight and a great send off for Hendo.