It's still not clear on what the deal is with Fedor's contract because he was signed with M-1 Global in conjunction with Affliction, and Affliction is now history but M-1 Global is still afloat. Their next show is scheduled for August 28th. I wonder if Fedor'll fight someone there or if he's free to go to the UFC right now or what the deal is.
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As much as I want to see Fedor/Lesnar, I'm sad that Affliction, Pride, and Elite are no more. I think its good that there are more than 1 mma organization. So many good fighters out there, yet Dana won't sign them all and not everyone likes fighting in a cage.
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posted
That's too bad, I was really looking forward to that fight too. Hell, the whole card was pretty stacked, and one dumbass move kills an entire promotion. Fucking Barnett....
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First Overeem drops out of his title defence with Werdum. Kimo dies and comes back to life...Barnett test positive to steriods and blows the biggest oppertunity of his life. Then the whole Affliction show is canceled killing the highly anticipated Mousasi vs. Soberal fight and Vitor's middleweight battle with Jorge Santiago. So Affliction is off, done, folded and history. Strikeforce has lost 2 out of it's 3 main events now with Overeem out with the injured hand and now Riggs out against Diaz. The way things are going Carano probably won't make weight or something to fuck the whole card and put them out of business too.
What could be a silver linging in all of this is that Dana White and the UFC should be scooping up all these free agents, as GSP and Silva have sort of distanced themselves from the pack in their respective divisions, and although Lesnar has only one defence under his belt and some competition in the UFC in Carwin, Vasquez, Cro Cop, Gonzaga, Kongo and Big Nog, without a doubt his biggest challenge and the fight everyone wants to see would come in the form of Fedor. It's the perfect time for them to have an influx of free agents at their disposal.
I was always in favor of competeing organizations but since Pride went under these other organizations aren't true competition, they're a joke who end up writing checks they ultimately can't cash and making promises they ultimately can't deliver on. Fedor should say enough is enough and go to the UFC. The time is right. In Pride that organization was an equal rival, and arguably a better product than the UFC so being the champion there was creadable and it gave the organization creadability. Affliction was paved with good intentions but they simply cannot survive in a world where their main events self distruct 10 days before fight night and if it gets the few exceptional fighters absent from the UFC to go there and fight the fights everyone wants to see, it may be the best case scenario afterall.
Fedor's obviously the best possible challenge for Lesnar, as he'd probably beat him and remain undisputed champion, finally silencing all of his critics by defeating the UFC champion and taking over the heavyweight division in the only market he's basically left untapped up to this point.
At light heavyweight, the UFC is still stacked and Machida has a scheduled fight with Rua and then the winner of Rampage-Evans would likely be next in line. Forrest is lurking around and depending on the outcome of his fight with Silva you may see more of him, or more of Anderson at 205. Chuck Liddell is still lurking around as well, and Franklin, Wanderli Silva and Dan Henderson can all appear at 205 if they want to. However I think Machida will beat all of those guys realitively easily with the exception of Rampage, I think he'd beat Jackson too, but I wouldn't be so quick to put money down on that one and I think Jackson's wrestling ability and strength could pose problems for Machida. In a 5 round fight though I think Machida would eventually find a way to win, leg kicks early could pay dividends late and I think Loyto would beat Rampage as well as anyone else the UFC has at 205 in the process of establishing himself the next dominant champion at light heavyweight and etching his name into most pound 4 pound lists.
That being said, if the UFC could add Gegard Mousasi at 205 that would be huge. He's a very exciting fighter and already mentioned as one of the best in the business pound for pound. He'd be an instant contender in the light heavyweight division and a super exciting dude to watch try and earn a title shot. I think he would cut his way through some of the best at 205 to earn a title shot and ultimately end up posing the biggest threat to Machida's title reign in the most compelling of all the awesome fights that could be made at 205 pounds these days.
Vitor Belfort would provide the most exciting and explosive challenge for Anderson Silva that's out there. That's a fight I'd love to see. My money would be on Silva but I'd be cheering for Belfort and I think he'd have a very good chance of winning that fight.
With his highly anticipated Rematch with Joe Riggs, the second of Strikeforces triple main event July 15th show now off, I would love to see Nick Diaz come into the UFC and challenge George St. Pierre at 170. I think he's the biggest, and perhaps the only challenge left for GSP at 170. He's on a 5 fight winning streak and looked tremendous in his wins over Scott Smith and Frank Shammrock who are both middleweights, but Nick's a natural Welterweight, or even a possible lightweight. I think GSP would beat him, but I definatly think Diaz would give him a tougher challenge than anyone else out there at 170, and the fight would be one of the most exciting and entertaining bouts ever because Diaz simply does not have boring fights. Diaz is probably the only person in the world who can match, perhaps even exceed GSP's level of conditioning and cardio. He also has great BJJ skills which would make him dangerous from the bottom even if St. Peirre gets the takedown and his standup has looked ever improving and more powerful than ever in his last couple of fights. GSP is the more powerful and explosive striker, but Diaz chin is legendary and he is the kind of fighter that would take GSP's best shots, withstand his best takedowns and keep pushing him till the final bell. In a 5 round fight between these two amazing athletes it would be a war of attrition. Diaz would probably lose in a simlar fashion to Jon Fitch, by surviving like a game warrior but taking a tremendous beating in the process, but you just don't know. He's a fair bit quicker than Fitch and he has such an unorthodox style that it could cross up GSP and give him problems. I would love to see this fight take place. Right now, I think it's the only fight for GSP I could get excited about at 170.
Diaz could actually make 155 if he wanted to and take on Penn there. I don't think he wants to be in the lightweight division and welter is the most comfortable fit for him but for a superfight with Penn he could take a shot. I think he could beat Penn in a 5 rounder, depending on how smoothly he's able to make the weight cut. In a 3 rounder it'd be very close and could go either way but I'd be leaning towards Penn. However if BJ's the champion it would be 5 rounds and another great matchup.
So as much as it sucks that these cards and these fights are being cancelled, if these fighters end up in the UFC it makes for some very interesting possibilites. I would have loved to see Fedor vs. Barnett but I'm also dying to see Fedor vs. Lesnar. I was really looking forward to Mousasi vs. Babalu but I can't deny that the thought of a possible Mousasi-Machida fight is something pretty freakin' awesome. I'm a huge Vitor fan and was looking forward to seeing him unleash the violence again at 185 next weekend, then when he was going to have to jump in to face Fedor, I was a little worried for him, but slightly curious as to how he could fare...however to see him in the UFC at 185 challenging Anderson Silva is something I'd be far more excited about. I couldn't wait to see Diaz Riggs II as it would have been a very exciting fight, and I think this time around Nick would've take Riggs apart. As great a fight as that was sure to be, it wouldn't be have as awesome as the throught of a Diaz vs. GSP showdown in the Welterweight division, or even Diaz Penn at Lightweight. If the UFC can capitalize on some of these free agents there's a possiblity to create a better fight in every division than their current roster would allow for so as much as it sucks for MMA fans this August as fights are falling through left, right and center, in the long run all of these shenanigans might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
posted
What are you guys picks for tomorrow? Mine: Penn Almeida Neer Griffin/Silva: I don't know. Just for the hell of it, I'll pick Griffin. But Silva is more than likely going to pick Griffin apart.
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posted
Penn is going to destroy Florian. Alot of people are giving Kenny a good chance here because of the way Penn was dominated by GSP and how awesome Florian's looked in his last few fights. I am not one of those people. I've been impressed by Florian's improvement, but at 155 nobody is going to touch Penn. He's going to be highly motivated to get back on track, and I think he'll turn in one of the best performances of his career and really hammer Florian. I fucking hate Penn, so I'd love to see Florian pull it off but I just don't see any way for Kenny to win this fight. Florian's been consistantly improving and becomming more well rounded as a mixed martial artist but BJ is still better than him in every area. His only chance is to survive a terrible beating and hope Penn gases in the 4th or 5th round, but I honestly can't see KenFlo making it that far.
Silva will probably knock Griffin out, although I'll be cheering for Forrest, and I think he might have a shance to win a decision if he comes in with a solid gameplan, looks to take the fight to the ground and contain and control Silva, scoring some points along the way. The worse the fight is, the better chance Forrest has. Anderson could win by knockout, submission or decision. I think Forrest will be right in it after 1, but there'll come a point in the second where an exchange breaks out and Forrest will get rocked, try to stay up and keep going on heart, but then Silva will get him in the clinch and three or four knees later it's game over.
In other action, I think Sadollah will take Hendricks. Almeida will beat that goffy bastard Grove and hopefully put him out of the UFC for good. Neer vs. Pellegrino should be good. I'm going with Neer. Hopefully Sakara will knock out Leites but that one could go either way.
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Oh man! I really feel bad for Forrest Griffin. That was just a horrible and embarrassing way to lose. He couldn't even stay in the ring in the end.
As for Anderson Silva. Who is this guy? Is he a mutant or something? That was just the best display of striking and head movement. Maybe he should just stay at 205 and run through that division.
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posted
Holy Fuck! Anderson Silva is a freakin' machine! If there was any doubt after his last couple of fights if he still had any passion for fighting, he squashed that big time with one of the most dominant performances I've ever seen. The knockout did look bad as it was a back peddeling jab, but the only reason Forrest had a chance to lose in that embarassing fashion was because he got up for a couple of prior knockdowns where most other men would have stayed down. Griffin was definatly out on his feet when he got tagged with that last one. You can tell because he was loading up a punch when he walked into the jab, but that punch was poised to be aiming about 2 and a half feet to the left of where Silva actually was. What a clinic Anderson put on. His accuracy is that of a sniper and his handspeed appears to multiply his power a great deal because guys with great chins just crumple often times from a single shot or a combination where they were hit with two or 3 more strikes before they'd even have the chance to complete their fall from their feet to the mat after the first one. This performance by Anderson makes me think that as awesome the hype would be, GSP wouldn't be able to handle a matchup with him. Vitor & Hendo, Maia and Marquart aren't going to pose much of a threat against him either I don't think. Vitor can match his handspeed and he's got knockout power but if he doesn't catch him in the initial exchange, an exchange Silva monitors with caution, he'll be in trouble. Same with Henderson, Hendo would have to get him down and wrestle and hope for a decision. He won't be able to knock him out because he'll never land that big looping right hand. Silva gets in there for the exchange and doesn't even want to throw, he just uses head movement and watches you from a distance where he can avoid your inital flurry as well as take note of how you threw it at him. Then your done because he's just going to hit you extremely hard with such percision and accuracy there's basically no way to defend against it.
The way he measures you up in the first 30 seconds or so it's almost like he's loading your data into a machine programmed to quickly process it and then execute your assassination. I've reserved the "He's not even Human, the guy's a machine" comments for Fedor and Fedor only up to this point but Silva was like a machine tonight. He could definatly win the title at 205 and what a dream fight it would be to see him take on Machida who's perhaps the only guy elusive enough not to get caught with those strikes, but I can't see it, in a 5 round fight, I think Anderson would get to him eventually. Apparently they're real close and don't want to fight one another but Silva's at the point where he's basically too good for the Middleweight division. Rampage might have a chance at getting him to the ground, but if it stays standing, Anderson would beat him the exact same way Wanderli Silva did. Other than those two, I think he'd run through everyone else at 205 and I think he'd probably beat both of those guys as well. Forrest didn't stand a chance. Wow.
BJ and Florian went pretty much as I expected. A solid effort from Kenny, he was good, he is good, but Penn's just a little bit better than him in all aspects of MMA and it showed as BJ won each round and then finally tapped him out pulling the rear naked choke out of the slighest little opening when Kenny let go of his hand for not even a second, he sinched it in there. It was a gallon effort by Florian but like Silva at 185 and GSP at 170, BJ Penn is simply on another level at 155 pounds. Nobody is going to touch him at lightweight as long as he wants to be there and remains motivated by being the Lightweight Champion. I hate Penn and was rooting for Florian but I knew he didn't have much of a chance. The good thing for me is that next up for him will be Deigo Sanchez who I hate even more than BJ, so when that one goes down I'll not only get to appreciate BJ's ability but enjoy it as he'll kick the shit out of Sanchez in a similar fashion, but the fact that it'll be Deigo Sanchez getting beat up will make it that much more fun to watch.
Almeda looked pretty good against Grove. I hate Grove so it was nice to see him take a beating. I thought he won that third round though, but the Judges gave it to Almeda 30-27. I won't argue it though because Grove's a goofy bastard that I like to see lose.
Sadollah got a raw deal with the quick stoppage by Dan Mergliota. He got rocked with a nice shot but he was trying to get up and definatly wasn't knocked out, he might have gotten caught again trying to get up and lost anyway, but he also could have cleared the cobwebs and comeback to win the fight. He showed great resilance on the show when he won TUF, but we'll never know if he had another comeback in him against Hendricks because the ref pulled the plug on it early.
Neer vs. Pellegrino wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be because almost the entire fight was on the ground without all that much happening. Neer was actually doing more work from the bottom than Pellegrino was doing from the top but the top position usually tells the judges you're controlling the fight, Pellegrino controlled most of the fight and did enough to win a decent battle that wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. Aaron Riley dominated Nelson and Sotiropoulos dominated Emerson in the other fights. It was a decent show overall but not as good as some of the more recent UFC's as a whole, however what the overall card lacked was made up for by the mind boggling perfection of Anderson Silva in his pure destruction of Forrest Griffin. The Spider has got some serious, serious skills and he is one bad motherfucker. I'm not so sure how great the GSP superfight is anymore and I'm not so sure about how legitimate a chance Vitor or Henderson have of getting the strap off him at Middleweight. I think perhaps Anderson should be kept at 205 because he's proved he's a realistic contender there that could likely beat most guys in the division and could very well win the championship there if he would agree to fight Machida.
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one problem is his good friend machida. He has too much respect to fight him and does not want to fight him. I believe there is no one who can touch silva simply amazing is his striking ability. bruce lee once said if you get me to the ground you have a chance but good luck getting me to the ground. Good luck for anyone trying to get silva to the ground because his striking just wont let it happen.
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posted
Hendo managed to do it. We'll see, tonight was definitely impressive. If he beats Henderson, he might as well just take big fights against whoever at 205, because there is no one else at 185 who can beat him.
Same goes for Penn, but at least at 155, there's a good list of guys he hasn't gotten to fight yet. There's no point going to 170, because BJ only cares about titles, and he'll never beat GSP.
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posted
I wish I could see what happened once Forrest got back in the dressing room. See what he was going through. Just so embarrassing and disheartening to go out like that. I really feel bad for him. He's such a good guy that you have to feel bad for him.
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posted
I heard Forrest's jaw was broken which is why they rushed him to the dressing room right after the fight. Even if that is the case, I'm sure the embarressment had something to do with it because he did the exact same thing when Jardine knocked him out that time as well.
quote:Originally posted by FtLckr26: I wish I could see what happened once Forrest got back in the dressing room. See what he was going through. Just so embarrassing and disheartening to go out like that. I really feel bad for him. He's such a good guy that you have to feel bad for him.
Me too. That jab was so sick. As soon as I saw Silva drop his hands and start his Roy Jones Jr. routine I knew it was over for Forrest. It was like Silva just got a huge surge of confidence and Forrest had that "fear" look in his eyes. Like the look guys used have before they fought Tyson.
Going for Carano. I know Cyborg is everyones pick as she is devastating in the cage, but I think and hope Carano will pick her apart and get a ref stoppage.
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No responses on the Carano fight, huh? Well, I thought it was a good ass fight. One that I've been anticipating for a while. Sucks that Carano lost and now that there is a womens title she won't be holding it. The ref stopped the fight right as the bell rang. I hope we don't have to wait long before a rematch.
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