The MMA/UFC Thread

[chalky]

Big Nog apparantly out of UFC 119.

Fighters Only Magazine - The World's Greatest MMA Magazine - News - breaking: Nogueira out of Mir fight, UFC has "big name" replacement ready


Fighters Only has also been told the UFC has already secured a replacement and it will be “a really big name opponent”, although the source we spoke to did not provide a name.

The only big name who can think of who's free to fight would be Cro Cop

Brock & Cain are tied up, JDS & Big Country just fought. I don't think the UFC will risk using Carwin until the steriod issues have died down a bit. Overeem, Fedor & Werdum are all signed with Strikeforce.

[Majin]

Next fight has to be Vitor/Sonnen imho, only fight that makes sense in the MW division. Anderson is out, Sonnen wants to fight, Vitor needs to fight, Sonnen deserves another shot at getting to Anderson, Vitor still needs to prove to many fans that he deserves the middleweight shot having only had one fight at Franklinweight before getting the shot and there's no one better he could fight for that right now than Sonnen. If Sonnen wins he proves he can take out top level Brazilians, if Vitor beats the man who caned Anderson for 23 minutes he earns the right to fight for the title.

also yeah Cro Cop confirmed as the replacement, and I hope and pray that he wins because if he doesn't there will be nothing sacred left in this world. It was bad enough when Mir beat Nog the first time, but to beat Nog and Cro Cop, jesus please don't let that happen. Mir is the biggest **** in the history of the universe.

[duffer]

Jesus this card is going to be pretty fun imo. Love all 5 fights on the Main Card for different reasons.

Saw Strikeforce Houston and my oh my did the King Mo bubble burst. Heh, was hilarious. Shocked Jacare didn't bother shooting on Kennedy once and mincing him on the ground but he convincingly won the standup. Thought it was a good opportunity for Strikeforce to have a tournament or something for the vacant title. This fight wasn't anywhere near what it could've been for them. The KJ Noons vs Gurgel fight was nutty though. Just insane.

[Majin]

Houston event was a joke, the reffing was consistently diabolical. Noons/Gurgel fight was particularly dire, as was the Lashley fight. Although yeah it was pretty much worth it to see Queen Mo get smashed up, that was a fun fight.

Looking forward to tomorrow, will be the greatest thing ever if James Toney somehow manages to smash Couture.

[chalky]

Couldn't believe Gurgel is a world champion BJJ yet decides to stand with a pro boxer insane. He did get caught with a shot way after the bell though should have been a DQ/no contest at the best. As for the reffing in the Lashley fight standing a guy up when he has a full mount then restarting on their feet

Found the strikeforce card fun though hopefully they can get Fedor v Overeem soon probably the biggest match they have.

[King Pietersen]

Strikeforce are hilarious. They've got the fighters and the potential to be a serious competitor to the UFC but continue to shoot themselves in the foot by trying to add hype to a fighter by putting them in fights they expect them to win, and then giving them the large majority of the marketing in the build-up to the fight. Look at the way they buried Jake Shields in the pre-fight marketing for the Henderson fight. They wanted Henderson to win that fight. They knew Shields only had 1 fight left on his deal, and they needed him to lose that fight to add hype to their new big money signing in Henderson.

Then they did it again with Fedor-Werdum. That fight was clearly seen as a warm-up fight for Fedor, with a devastating win over Werdum adding hype to a future Overeem-Fedor fight. Guess what, it back-fired on them again. Then here, Mo received the large majority of the hype, and I firmly believe SF were stacking their chips on a Mo win, to hype the fact they've got one of the top LHW's in the world. Again, it didn't happen, and now they've been left with a vacated title, a pretty significant drop in Fedor and Henderson's stock and a 205lb champion that's largely unknown, been barely hyped and that has lost to Mike Kyle in the last year or so. Then there's Bobby Lashley, another guy they were pinning their hopes on as a golden boy. He refuses to fight a big name, so they stick him in with another guy they consider to be a grub to boost Lashley's record, but it backfires on them again, when it turns out Griggs could actually fight. It's hilarious how these things continue to backfire on them.

I hope Strikeforce are here to stay, they're putting on some decent fights that we wouldn't have the chance to see elsewhere. However, they're still run by the morons at Showtime, it appears to me and many others that they're hitching their bets on certain fighters winning fights and the production values are still sub-standard, though improving. If they're going to be long-term competitors for the UFC they need to make smarter decisions, fairly hype both fighters in the build-up for cards and therefore not set themselves up to look like morons. They've got the raw potential to be a big time company in MMA, but there are some definite issues they need to sort out, and they need to sort them out quickly or they'll be on the scrapheap with Elite XC and Affliction.

[chalky]

To be fair to Strikeforce don't think many people expected Shields to beat Hendo or Werdum to beat Fedor to be honest but yeah seems like every big match has gone against them recently even King Mo beating Mousasi.

Being a Pride loyalist and having an irrational hate for Dana White am rooting for Strikeforce to succeed but they do need to create some stars even Fedor is no where near as big a main stream star as Lesner or Randy, Chuck would probably outdraw him aswell.

[King Pietersen]

Even so, they should have got more press time than Strikeforce gave them, especially Jake Shields. I loved the fact he beat Henderson. Not only did I dislike Henderson in the first place (not entirely sure why) but the way Strikeforce completely buried their champion in the pre-fight build-up was disgraceful. He barely got a mention at all, and he was at the time the face of their Middleweight division. They expected Shields to get demolished by their new overpaid golden boy in the last fight of his deal, which would have made the UFC lose interest in him, and in turn he'd have signed a new deal with them. I'm delighted that it back-fired on them and that Shields won that fight and told them where to stick their title.

UFC 118 Predictions:

Frankie Edgar vs BJ Penn
Randy Couture vs James Toney
Demian Maia vs Mario Miranda
Kenny Florian vs Gray Maynard
Marcus Davis vs Nate Diaz

Andre Winner vs Nik Lentz
Joe Lauzon vs Gabe 'Mr Colonic' Ruediger
John Salter vs Dan Miller
Greg Soto vs Nick Osipczak
Mike Pierce vs Amilcar Alves

[chalky]

Yeah the treatment of Shields was a bit strange especially as Henderson had lost conclusively to Rampage and Anderson fairly recently so having him as their Champion wasn't really a big deal. I can only presume Shields had already indicated that he wasn't going to sign so they were trying to hang him out to dry.

Not as excited about UFC 118 yet it has a lot to live up to as 116 & 117 were awesome events.

Think BJ will get to Edgar this time wear him down and either submit or TKO him in the 3rd.

[duffer]

As much as I wanted to see old school BJ come back this was a stunning performance from Frankie. Seriously accomplished fighter, his ground game was absolutely excellent today (surely his reversals of BJ when he had his back on the ground was black belt level) and complemented his standup brilliantly. Great fight from the little guy, gives me hope of seeing Jose Aldo making the stepup sooner or later.

Loved the Diaz-Davis war and thought Maia was excellent too completely outclassing Miranda. Think Nate looks really sharp at 170, he is a better fighter when not completely shredded. Sucks for Florian but Maynard just imposed himself on him like he's been doing to everyone. Not sure how Frankie is stuffing those td's but I'm looking forward to that fight. Really open LW division now. Love it.

Less said about Toney-Couture the better though.

[chalky]

Was suprised that BJ just couldn't do anything with Edgar with his stand up or on the ground a completely dominating performance by Edgar.

You've got to admire Maynard but his style isn't too pleasing to watch a lot of Lay & Pray skillful but doesn't provide a great deal of excitement.

[duffer]

This season could revive TUF. Really good first two episodes.

[duffer]

KJ vs Diaz was a sick fight. Both guys backed their **** up big time. Bloody hell, they need a rubber fight. Hopefully it happens one day. Respect for both of them went up a fair bit after that.

[chalky]

Been watching the UFC primetime & can't wait for Brock vs Cain (you know it's big when you just use their 1st names) this weekend probably the biggest fight in MMA history, Looking forward to seeing Shields in the UFC also don't think Kampmann will be a pushover but still expect Shields to win. On the Brock vs Cain heart says Cain head says Brock.

[Goughy]

Originally Posted by chalky

Been watching the UFC primetime & can't wait for Brock vs Cain (you know it's big when you just use their 1st names) this weekend probably the biggest fight in MMA history, Looking forward to seeing Shields in the UFC also don't think Kampmann will be a pushover but still expect Shields to win. On the Brock vs Cain heart says Cain head says Brock.

Every fight in the UFC is hyped as the biggest ever. Brock vs Carwin was the biggest ever and the one before that was etc. Brock vs JDS will be hped the same and so on and so forth.

Cain has a moderate record (his step up in class has been against opponenents that have won only 4 of their combined 9 fights since beginning of 2009) and a victory this weekend will say as much about Lesnar as Cain.

This fight isnt a particular relevant fight. It is great to see Lesnar in action as it makes it a big event but, IMO, it isnt a special fight.

I do agree with you about Shields though. Hopefully he pulls off a good performance and casts aside his pillow hands and LnP rep but that remains to be seen.

Should be a decent card.