Official Mixed Martial Arts Thread

[angel]

http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/10/12/13261766/julianna-pena-furious-spoiled-brat-ronda-rousey-gets-title-shot-may

 

Again demonstrating spectacularly how little she understands the sport, Pena is threatening to leave because of Rondas title shot.  That's 5th ranked Pena who no one cares about particularly (public wise, im not saying shes not good), who knew it was happening because Dana has said it for 10 months now, is now threatening to...what, sue the UFC? And even if she got out, which she wouldn't (ask Wanderlei how long that takes, and he is a real name), shes going to One, or Bellator for peanuts?

 

It's embarrassing, she's either dim or getting bad advice, or both. Sit tight, fight the winner, get a hefty PPV bonus if you can. Conor shows these people the template and they continually ignore it. I know he's my go to example, it's not from a particular love for him, but he's handing the ideas to these people on a plate. But all they can do is piss and moan and annoy Dana. Fine then, Pena...no title shot even after this, you might even be fed to Cyborg.  What a dopey mare, the UFC don't forget dissent. They're copying the wrong thing from Conor, copying the attitude but without his leeway, that they think they have his power. He made 40 million this year and even he doesn't 100% call his shots, who does Pena think she is?

 

dana on fs1, cormier clearly fed lines about rousey being number 1 and so on..

 

 

 

[glb]

Some strong words from Pena, and I kind of agree with some of them, in that Rousey getting an immediate title shot must be galling, but on the flipside, as the UFC's poster girl, Ronda was only ever coming back if it meant being straight back in the title picture.

 

If Pena was a bit smarter, she could have been a little less vitriolic, instead either positioning herself for a fight on the same card (with the increased exposure that brings) or as the person to fight the winner (although suspect if Ronda wins she'll be handed a rematch with Holly)

 

While I don't particularly like Ronda, although hugely respect the exposure she's given women's MMA, that Cyborg fight is one of the biggest UFC could make in 2017, so hope the machine works its way towards that match-up. Sadly a Ronda title win makes the match even more unlikely - she's said she's not going to fight catchweight and Cyborg is not making 135 unless she loses an arm. Even then she'd probably run through most of the roster. Scary, scary fighter.

[Yobo Ahoy]

I must admit I never thought we'd see Rousey come back. The Holm KO is still one of my favourite ever, it had been a long time coming and didn't disappoint.

 

Holm vs Cyborg at 140-ish while we wait now please. 

[V3zna]

It's good to see Rousey back. She's a genuine star and always worth a watch. The UFC has a real lack of star power currently and they need her to win. If she was to lose, Conor to take a year off and Jon Jones not get his shit together I think there will be some very dark times ahead for the UFC. I'm all for watching Damian Maia crush everyone with elite ju jitsu but the average joe needs a Rousey or McGregor to cheer or boo a few times a year. 

 

I've discounted Lesnar as I'm guessing he's gone for good. 

[angel]

1 hour ago, Yobo Ahoy said:

I must admit I never thought we'd see Rousey come back. The Holm KO is still one of my favourite ever, it had been a long time coming and didn't disappoint.

 

Holm vs Cyborg at 140-ish while we wait now please. 

 

Is it just me or does anyone else have a small selection of UFCs they dip back into as a treat, I watch some of them a couple of times a month., like the Holly/Ronda KO and love it each time, skip the preamble, just watch the fight and aftermath. I do the same with Conor Aldo, Bisping Rockhold 2, Joanna savaging Esparza and a few others, pop em on every few weeks just to soak it up again. I never fail to laugh at Rockhold getting cracked and finished, and poor Aldo with his head in his hands looks more gutted every time.

 

I do enjoy that inbetween the self promo stuff, when big John is about to raise Conor's arm, he taps aldo on the arm, gives him the thumbs up and says something like unlucky man. It's a tiny, almost hidden show of his true feelings towards Aldo before he starts the marketing machine again. You often miss that stuff on the broadcast. My ultimate fave is watching Ronda dismantled over 2 rounds though, how Holly just merks her repeatedly then BAM headkick, always leaves me beaming with a smile.

[Yobo Ahoy]

Werdum vs Velasquez springs to mind. I don't dislike Cain that much really, but I was extremely sick of his inactivity by that point so it was nice to see him absolutely ruined. Another reason I rewatch it is Werdum and his crew dancing around the ring and chanting during the post fight interviews. Stay classy...!

[Orion]

Yobo's post reminded me of Stipe knocking Werdum the fuck out. I like Werdum but his obsession with pulling his "funny" face non stop, handing out masks of said stupid face and over looking Stipe made it hilarious.

 

Classic ones I like looking back on are usaually cocky idiots getting their comeuppance. Chuck finally getting his hands on Tito, GSP getting his revenge on Hughes, Hendo ending Wand's title reign in Pride. Watched Anderson Silva vs Leben to many times. Love Leben trashing Silva and calling all Pride fighters bums in the build up then getting so outclassed its savage, its my favourite one sided beatdown in MMA history.

[Doomguy]

1 hour ago, angel said:

 

Is it just me or does anyone else have a small selection of UFCs they dip back into as a treat, I watch some of them a couple of times a month., like the Holly/Ronda KO and love it each time, skip the preamble, just watch the fight and aftermath. I do the same with Conor Aldo, Bisping Rockhold 2, Joanna savaging Esparza and a few others, pop em on every few weeks just to soak it up again. I never fail to laugh at Rockhold getting cracked and finished, and poor Aldo with his head in his hands looks more gutted every time.

 

I rewatch Vitor vs Franklin as it has the best promo they've ever done in the UFC. 

 

The Rousey vs Holms fight is a bit special. Ronda showed her true colours (classless diva) and Holm destroyed her. I'm surprised she's come back after that too. Especially considering who we now now she surrounds herself with. 

[angel]

Some great shouts, I loved Cain losing when he wouldn't acclimatise to above sea level, and I also enjoyed Miocic cracking him in Brazil after those masks...he thought he just had to turn up, and was so sloppy it was embarrassing. The pure silence of a Brazilian crowd seeing it's fighter lose is super satisfying too, they are so utterly classless over there...which is strange as they are really knowledgable, but their crowds do irritate me. I enjoyed Jones taking out Shogun effortlessly, Machida front kick KOing Couture, Liddell of course teeing off on Tito.  The sweetest fight is the one where someone's arrogant bubble is burst, I just love a good story of fight justice.

[Doomguy]

37 minutes ago, angel said:

I enjoyed Jones taking out Shogun effortlessly, Machida front kick KOing Couture.

 

Machida front kicking Couture has to be one of the best KO's in mma history. Better than Anderson vs Vitor even as the technique was perfect. 

 

Shogun Jones is something I'll never watch again. I was all up for that fight until the weigh ins and then I was just like... this is going to go bad. These guys don't belong in the same weight class. 

[Kingpin]

I will watch Nick Diaz and Paul Daley in Strikeforce every now and again. Just a barn burner, could have ended with either of them knocked out.

 

That reminds me to check out Pat Barry/Cheik Kongo again. That was a real WTF knockout from nowhere. 

 

I also like like going back to Frank Mir's submission highlights. No one at HW has been the same submission threat as prime Frank in a long time. 

[schmojo]

For therapeutic reasons, I love rewatching Browne/Arlovski.

 

For comedy reasons, I love watching Frye/Takayama. Also Sakuraba vs any Gracie.

 

For pure violence, Igor Vovchanchyn vs Enson Inoue. Also Igor Vovchancyhn vs Francisco Bueno. Also Fedor/Nog 1.

 

For the best finishing combo I can remember, Marquardt vs WIlson Gouveia.

 

 

[schmojo]

33 minutes ago, Kingpin said:

I also like like going back to Frank Mir's submission highlights. No one at HW has been the same submission threat as prime Frank in a long time. 

 

I reckon Werdum's sub skillset is up there with prime Mir's. Maybe better. He just also worked on his Muay Thai loads too, and rounded himself out.

[Kingpin]

You're right, he's undoubtedly a grappling legend and has come on a long way in striking since he was asking Overeem to come into his guard - looking at both their records, Werdum has 10 career subs vs. Frank's 9. I also forgot he tapped Fedor  I'll always be fond of Mir's wins against Tim Sylvia, Brock and Nog though. Werdum did sub Cain but the TD that lead to it was really foolish - his neck was on a plate. 

 

I do love to see subs at HW though. Buchecha says he will start to compete in MMA next year and will train at AKA. Could be interesting but would likely be many years before he has the rounded skillset of a Werdum or Maia. 

[Doomguy]

Neither Mir or Werdum have ever been submitted but I'd say Mir has the more spectacular wins. 

 

Broke the maniacs arm. 

Broke Nogs arm.

Submitted Brock.

 

I think he had some entertaining wins in his early career too - Tank, Pete Williams. 

 

 

[schmojo]

Tapping Nog is clearly Mir's biggest achievement. It had never been done before. Your Sylvias and Brocks had no submission game worth a damn and Brock was green as grass.

 

Werdum has tapped Fedor, a very accomplished submission artist in his own right. He's also subbed Nog. And Overeem. His ADCC, World Championships and Pan-Am wins are also on another level.

 

I reckon it's one of the few situations where deploying MMAth is appropriate. How many people have been collectively tapped by the people they tapped?

[Doomguy]

Has to be Werdum. 

 

Mir started racking up a decent amount of KO's after the bike accident. It'd certainly be a fun fight to watch. 

 

Watching that Dana White interview. 'GSP doesnt have it amymore' . i.e. we aren't willing to pay GSP 10 million when we have Conor and Rousey active. 

 

[Orion]

Thats one of the most twatish things Dana loves to do. Fighter wants more money or is stalling signing a new contract. Dana will publicly declare that they are "afraid to fight", "scared of their opponent" etc. There he is saying the same shit about GSP.

 

The hold up with GSP is he is on a huge deal with Under Armour worth millions every year. He wants to be compensated for giving it up for the Reebok shit. Going from millions to 50k a fight would be daft.

[Gotters]

very interesting interview with Bob Arum on the Lance Armstrong podcast (Bob is amazing for an 80+y old and I could have listened to hours of his stories) - there is something in the states called the Muhammed Ali act which states you can't manage and promote fighters in the same event, apparently it only applies to boxing though and not MMA, something that Arum was quite irritated by.

 

 

[schmojo]

They've been pushing for the Ali act in MMA for quite a while. It's a great idea for the fighters,  but has fallen at the first fence a couple of times. 

 

In this instance,  'they' is anyone not in the UFC brass. 

[Doomguy]

13 hours ago, Orion said:

Thats one of the most twatish things Dana loves to do. Fighter wants more money or is stalling signing a new contract. Dana will publicly declare that they are "afraid to fight", "scared of their opponent" etc. There he is saying the same shit about GSP.

 

The hold up with GSP is he is on a huge deal with Under Armour worth millions every year. He wants to be compensated for giving it up for the Reebok shit. Going from millions to 50k a fight would be daft.

 

The shit Reebok deal fucking things up again. The uniform stuff looks awful too. It's a lose lose for everyone other than the UFC - even Reebok are suffering at this point. 

[angel]

GSP is allowed to keep his UA sponsor, he just can't promote them during fight week

 

I'd argue it's lose-lose-lose, even the UFC suffer at this point, it's a disastrous joke and the kit itself isn't even nice. I like the idea of individual attire, but I would choose (for example) Aldo's Venum tshirt than a horrible reebok one with anderson aldo  on it.

[Tofu]

McGregor is the bigger draw fight wise now I believe. The guy just sells a little bit more and has done it in a shorter amount of time. While Rousey is a more recognizable face because of movies, television and interviews, McGregor is a bigger draw in the octagon itself. UFC 189 is now number 8 all time for PPV buy rates and it set attendance and live gate records as well. The card itself was good, but McGregor was the main draw without question and had Aldo been healthy, I have no doubts it would have done over 1.2 million at the very least, which would have put it at number 2 all time with the potential to be number 1. McGregor is ahead for buy rates and his free televised events have set records as well. 

Rousey had a reported 500,000 to 600,000 buy rate (initial Meltzer estimates) for a weak ufc 184 card overall, so there is no denying that she is a PPV draw now, but I don't think it would have broke 900,000 with a stronger line up. The PPV estimate thing is a bit strange because I still haven't talked to anyone who has bought a fight because Rousey is on the card. Not once. It's become interesting to watch her fight, but I certainly don't buy a card because she is on it. I'm only speaking for myself and those I know because obviously there are lots of peeps buying cards because she is on them now. With that said, people lined up around the block just to watch pre fight interviews and press conferences with McGregor and Aldo, and all of their press conference events were like rock concerts and sold out, looking more like full capacity events than your basic pre fight press conferences and weigh ins. Rousey hasn't even come close to generating this much interest yet.

[angel]

Yeah, macgregor is box office, rousey is damaged goods these days. Love his response to the NAC - you want your fine? good luck getting it. They've just cost themselves millions in revenue because he's now said he won't fight there any more. What a shame, I despise the NAC.

[Guest]

Ha, he did? Legend.

[Doomguy]

5 hours ago, angel said:

GSP is allowed to keep his UA sponsor, he just can't promote them during fight week

 

I'd argue it's lose-lose-lose, even the UFC suffer at this point, it's a disastrous joke and the kit itself isn't even nice. I like the idea of individual attire, but I would choose (for example) Aldo's Venum tshirt than a horrible reebok one with anderson aldo  on it.

 

That Anderson Aldo thing is hilarious ha. 

 

There's some quality MMA gear out there. In fact, I ended up buying a fair bit as the shirts fit perfectly  - great for gym/summer. I don't think I've bought anything reebok since maybe 1994?

 

 

[Doomguy]

1 hour ago, angel said:

Yeah, macgregor is box office, rousey is damaged goods these days. Love his response to the NAC - you want your fine? good luck getting it. They've just cost themselves millions in revenue because he's now said he won't fight there any more. What a shame, I despise the NAC.

 

Good that fine is fucking ridiculous. $200,000 for a few thrown cans and water bottles? Have they lost their mind. 

[angel]

I think it's $150,000 but yep, the moronic Pat Lundval (the woman who banned Nick Diaz for life) flexing her muscles. Except that Conors last 2 fights in Nevada brought in upwards of 30 million, Conor is holding all the cards.

[schmojo]

 

17 hours ago, Stevedave said:

 

Good that fine is fucking ridiculous. $200,000 for a few thrown cans and water bottles? Have they lost their mind. 

 

This gets Conor much more than 150k worth of publicity. The whole 'I get fined more than they get paid' story is perfect for him.

 

Him and the NSAC know what they're doing.

[Tofu]

19 hours ago, angel said:

I think it's $150,000 but yep, the moronic Pat Lundval (the woman who banned Nick Diaz for life) flexing her muscles. Except that Conors last 2 fights in Nevada brought in upwards of 30 million, Conor is holding all the cards.

He's going to pay the fine. Stop being naive and taking his words as gospel. If he doesn't pay he's going to get suspended.

 

The NSAC regulation rulebook:

 

Section 45 of this regulation authorizes the Commission to: (1) suspend or revoke the license of a person who has failed to timely pay a fine imposed by the Commission or comply with the terms of a payment plan; or (2) place on a suspension list circulated to other states a person who is not licensed by the Commission but who has failed to timely pay a fine imposed by the Commission or comply with the terms of a payment plan.

 

If he doesn't pay and gets suspended in Nevada, there is all of 0 chance he's going to continue competing in MMA because the UFC isn't about to stake its license on Conor McGregor. . You can argue if it's going to get reduced if he tries to fight it in court, or if the UFC will ultimately just decide to pay it for him (something they've never done before), but one way or another that fine's getting paid.