Arena Let's get it on!: The Mixed Martial Arts Discussion Thread

Couple of idiots and to be the oldest in the house, Marlon had to be the most immature and reality-challenged. I found it hilarious that he said he did not like street fights after bragging about being in 300 of them.

 

They just made the UFC look bad. I'm sure audience viewers, me included, liked seeing two people kick the crap out of eachother, getting their heads "popped on the concrete," but deifinitely made the sport look bad. The UFC is so hot right now, and the future of ALL FIGHTING, and it's not a fly by night fad either. Boxing's on the way out IMO. Boring. MMA is the evolution, and I'm absolutely addicted. My brother is a jui-jitsu artist who fights in tourneys around the South and my partner at the Ambulance Service I work at is a Muay Thai fighter that fights in the South as well. I love it. Can't get enough.

Btw, my hero, Bruce Lee was preaching this philosphy 35 years ago. Just goes to show how great he was. Not only a master of Martial Arts, but truly a visionary.

Note to ESPN: Wake up and realize MMA isn't going anywhere. Better start showing highlight reels of the PPVs.

 

The publicity for this UFC match is about the most I've ever seen for a UFC event.

 

Did anyone see that Joe Rogan and that Lou something debate on Sportscenter yesterday? Joe Rogan made that dude look bad, and by the end that Lou guy was resorting to pathetic ad hominem attacks on Rogan.

 

Well Rampage did exactly what he's been saying he was going to do - he whipped Chuck's @ss. He didn't even throw 10 punches the entire fight. Whatta knockout.

 

That was a heck of a punch.

I'm glad Karo won, I'd love to see him get a title shot. Although Hughes-Serra won't be until late this year since they'll be coaches on the next TUF. So Karo probably will have to win one more, unless he wants like 10 months off.

And so much for Jardine's little run.

 

I just browsed over an article in an ESPN magazine and the point made at the end is that the MMA fighters today are not just big sluggers but are top notch athletes who use those athletics to support their fighting skills. Boxing today really is boring because many of the fighters are just not fun to watch and their are no real great rivalries and even when there is a great match up the fight doesn't live up to the hype(See mayweather vs Oscar).

 

It's offical: Pride is now offically owned by UFC.

 

Karo will have to wait even longer than that, GSP/Koscheck at UFC 74 is a number one contenders fight.

I'm still amazed at the number of people that thought Chuck was going to run right thru Page, Chuck's style is tailor made for Chuck. Chuck will have it easier in his next rumored fight though, because Wanderlei Silva's style is tailor made for Chuck.

 

Poor Chuck. Although I was rooting for him, I put it at 50/50. Just didn't think he'd go out like that!
That punch could not have landed any more cleanly. Too bad we were robbed of a war. The odds were clearly in favor of them going at it for a while before either Chuck gassed or caught Page with something serious.

I do see Chuck KO'ing Silva. Coming off two huge knockouts in a row just seems like Wandy's chin is getting downgraded these days. Plus, the fight would be in the U.S. and Wandy seems a little heavier and more sluggish when fighting over here. I don't want to guess why because that would lead to an unfound accusation but... you know... guys' heads don't grow to that size for no reason.

Rampage vs. Henderson is an interesting fight. Henderson is freakishly strong and a much more skilled wrestler so he should be able to give Rampage some trouble.

 

Hendo/Page is going to be razor close, it will most likely be a carbon copy of Lindland/Rampage, my FOTY for 2006, and that was a close split decision.

 

I thought the same thing (that it should mirror Lindland/Page). Plus Hendo is a better srtiker than Matt. This one could go either way and should be a nice, long fight.

 

Here is Brock Lesner formerly of the WWE and formerly a football player, now he's into MMA.

Brock

I recall that there is a former pro football player who got knocked out in less than a minute recently.

 

Lesnar also wrestled for University of Minnesota and was NCAA heavyweight champion.

A few months ago I heard that Brock was doing some training with Pat Miletich.

 

I think they'll eventually want to set up that Lesnar/Kurt Angle fight. I don't really know how good that would be for MMA though. I liken it to when wrestling fans and wrestlers get disenfranchised with promoters who bring in celebrities for big money one-time shots, sacrificing real workers in the process. I would think MMA fighters and fans would not be thrilled with Lesnar/Angle getting giant paydays based on their history as pro wrestlers. There obviously would be some legitimacy to it as you're looking at NCAA and Olympic champions, but there's already some backlash against some of the pushes TUF guys get. I can't imagine Lesnar/Angle would go over much better in-house. I'm not saying it wouldn't be a huge buyrate; I'm just curious if the MMA community could stomach it for the shot of publicity.

 

I think it has the potential to be very, very good for MMA. As a growing sport with a growing following, the best thing they can do is keep making headlines (for non-negative reasons) and keep bringing in casual viewers, or people with a passing interest. When you already know a name or two, it's a lot easier to get into the rest of the event. And if you can showcase other top-notch fighters around those big name(s), it makes it a lot easier to sell your brand and grow your sport.

 

Actually, Brock only trained at MFS for about a month, and since then he's been training in Minnesota with Sean Sherk, Brock Larson, and Nick Thompson, a very good camp.

Kurt Angle means nothing to MMA in the states, so no, they won't be trying to set up Brock/Kurt anytime soon. It could possibly be set up over in Japan because Kurt and Brock are still big names over there, but in the states Brock and Kurt are nobodies as far as drawing power. That being said, Brock is looked at as a fighter with a lot of potential, and he's now a free agent. It would be smart for him to take around 5-6 fights for a smaller org like King of the Cage so he can work on his game more, but he wants to get paid so he'll probably end up with either BoDog or EXC. The UFC isn't really an option, it could happen but I don't think so, because their HW division is deep enough that they don't need him.

 

Kurt Angle was on Conan O'Brin some time ago when he was still with the WWE and the subject of real wrestling matches backstage came up. He said Paul White challenged him and despite the weight difference he handled him easily. Lesner made a challenge and Angle admitted to being a bit scared but went through with it and beat him too. How things would go in a match where strikes are allowed is anyone's guess.

 

Just thought folks might like this.

Bruce Lee youtube

Some Kato stuff would have been nice but oh well.

 

An Angle/Lesnar match probably wouldn't even be marketed too heavily to the MMA crowd as much as the pro wrestling crowd. Even though Kurt means nothing to MMA in the states, he'd still be a huge draw for a wrestling audience who has no problem throwing their money at the crap that is WWE. They'd easily throw their change at a UFC PPV for the chance to see Angle/Lesnar. Then if UFC was smart, they'd have a real main with two huge MMA names and then stack the card deep and really show everyone what MMA is about and try to hook some of those wrestling fans also. My only fear with something like Angle/Lesnar would be if it did really well, I'd hope they wouldn't start pulling every ex-wrestler, ex-football player, ex-boxer, etc. that thinks they can fight in the cage out of the woodwork.

 

I remember that. Kurt mentioned that, given his size, if Paul White had any amateur wrestling experience he'd be almost impossible to beat.

Beating Lesnar was what got Kurt, for a while, thinking about the Olympics again, but he soon realized that it's be almost impossible given the number if injuries he's racked up in his amateur and pro wrestling career.

 

Speaking as somebody who is a WWE fan, and got hooked on UFC by chance watching the first UF finale (I was literally going like "holy **** when I watched the Bonner/Griffin match), I think luring in the wrestling audience is easier than ever given that most of us are getting sick at some of the antics going on with the WWE's current product. Just give those with passing interest good strong fights and they'll slowly come around.

 

Kinda surprised by both fights on TUF this week. Though I expected Diaz to win his fight, I was totally surprised by how Hill came out in this fight. There definitely must've been some nerves in his first fight because he came out guns a'blazin' in this one. As for the other fight, I thought Wiman should've been able to handle Manny. He fought a bit scared and he seemed a bit gassed at the end. That seems to be a common thread with some of those Penn guys. It definitely seems like a more lax team when it comes to cardio, but maybe they're just not showing it all.

 

Hill is raw talent personified, he's too green to stay with guys like Diaz for long, but he has all the physical tools to give them problems until he gets caught. Now that he's in Iowa training full time with MFS he should be able to fully realize that raw potential.

What made you think Wiman was going to run right thru Manny? I'm a big Wiman fan, and even I had his chances at 50/50. Wiman has the ability to beat Manny, but Manny is a beast on the ground, throws hard leather, and is super aggressive, always pushing the pace. Manny and Nate are winning next week, no matter who they get matched up with, because I don't believe they will end up doing teammate versus teammate.

 

I hardly thought Wiman would run through him, but I thought he would poised enough to overcome Manny's wild striking style and eventually catch him. Granted, this is all based on the one fight I've seen each of them in, so . . .