The UFC champ versus the Pride champ. This will be awesome. The only other Pride fighter I’d love to see in a UFC bout is Fedor Emelianenko.
Well, maybe there are a few more, but damn Wanderlei Silva in a UFC fight?
I’m surprised that Dana allowed him to wear his Pride shirt at the announcement. Since they are “competing” MMA franchises and all.
Also, The Ortiz/Shamrock fight was stopped a little bit early for my taste (by 10 seconds or so, but still, a ton of people were pissed, as Dana mentioned). Tito is still an asshole. I won $10 on that fight, but I was pulling for Shamrock. I think Shamrock was robbed. I understand why Herb called it, but it was the first round, there was a lot more fighting to be had.
The Silvia/Arlovski fight was a huge disappointment. It should never have gone that long, there was no ground work, and it was relatively boring. Apart from a couple dozen leg kicks, it was a boxing match. A boring boxing match.
Frank Mir looked like crap, so did Dan Cristison, a weak victory no matter which way it went.
Bad fight night overall, except for the announcement. Any thought on Liddell V. Babalu?
Definitely an early stoppage in the Ortiz/Shamrock fight. Tito seems to genuinely want to do it again and we all KNOW that Ken would do it again, but will Dana let them? Shamrock has lost 5 of his last 6 fights.
Arlovski/Sylvia was a HUGE dissapointment. I knew Arlovski wasn’t going to be swining for the fences right out of the gate because that’s how he got caught last time, but damn, what a boring fight. Tim Sylvia is a boring fighter anyway and I hate to say it but Arlovski was scared. He lost that fight in his mind before he ever stepped into the cage.
I can’t wait for someone to knock Sylvia out. He’s a boring fighter, a juicer, and an asshole.
Haven’t seen last night’s fights yet (family was in town and I didn’t want to spend $40 on Ortiz-Shamrock) but I should get to see them soon.
Liddell-Silva is going to be a huge fight. I will be paying to see that one for sure. Let’s hope that if it goes well, we get to see some of the other big-name PRIDE fighters come over.
Chuck better work on his conditioning and get rid of that beer-gut.
Up until 3 months ago I was pretty sure we’d be seeing an Arlovski/Emeliananko fight this year, but it looks like the Pit Bull is going to have to work his way through the ranks again. I bet it’s at least a year before he gets another title shot.
OP: I don’t think Babalu stands a chance against the Iceman. Chuck is way better on the ground than most people think, and that’ll only matter if Sobral manages to get the fight to the ground. I predict a 2nd or 3rd round knockout win for Liddell.
A year before Arlovski gets another shot? Are you kidding? Who else does Sylvia have to fight, besides Monson? The Pit Bull will be back in the title hunt by February at the latest (gotta space it out some to prevent PPV fatigue.)
Arlovski-Fedor would be a sick fight. I’m not even sure you could pick a winner in that one, even if half the Internet thinks Fedor is 10x better than any UFC fighter.
Babalu is getting drilled by Liddell. I think you’re right in that it only goes 2 rounds.
So, this year we’ve gotten Hughes-Gracie, Ortiz-Shamrock and now Liddell-Silva. What matchups are really left as “dream fights?”
Really depends on who you ask. Guys have left the UFC for PRIDE and had huge success, guys have left PRIDE to have success in the UFC and guys have sucked in both (Tank Abbott, I’m looking at you here.)
Josh Barnett is the best example of an ex-UFC fighter who’s done well in PRIDE (then again, if he hadn’t failed that steroid test, he’d probably still be in the UFC.)
I think Liddell-Silva is going to come down to whether or not Silva can adjust to the different rules and wear the Iceman down. Liddell doesn’t have fantastic conditioning, but Silva’s not going to have his entire arsenal available to him.
I haven’t watched a UFC bout since the Ken Shamrock/Dan Severn debacle*. My friends and I was so psyched to see these two go at it, and it was an hour of the two of them circling each other, each looking for an opening. The single most boring thing I’ve ever seen televised.
*Moving out of my buddy’s house – the one with the box that got us all the PPV stuff for free – probably had more to do with that than the general suckieness of that bout, however.
Well, that was also 10 years ago, when the UFC was a lot different. Now you couldn’t even have a bout last longer than 25 minutes. The Royce Gracie “UFC Unleashed” special was on Spike the other night, and those fights were almost unwatchable when compared to a current UFC bout.
I was just looking over Chuck’s record and noticed that he’s already fought Babalu. He knocked him out in less than 3 minutes. I wonder if they’ll downplay this or try to bill it as a rematch.
My guess: downplay, since the promos I’ve seen have mentioned his 10-fight winning streak and not that his last loss was when Chuck kicked him in the head and KOed him.
OK, now that I’ve seen Ortiz vs. Shamrock, let me just say: what was Herb Dean doing? Ken didn’t have his hands up, no, but that fight shouldn’t have been stopped when it was. Had that continued another 10 seconds, sure, but with the way Ken popped up right after the stoppage, I don’t think he was out of it enough to warrant calling for the bell.
You’ve probably seen the footage of the knockout; they show it on Chuck’s highlight footage all the time. It was a glorious kick to the head that dropped him like a sack of potatos. I’d love to see another one like that.
I agree that the stoppage was way too early. I think Tito would have taken him eventually anyway, but that was just way too soon. Overall I was kind of disappointed with the fights…Mir and Christison were both gassed really early, Sylvia and Orlovski basically had a boxing match, and Tito and Shamrock goes without saying. The only really good fight of the evening was Edwards and Stevenson, until the gash, which was a shame. I really like Edwards.
The Wanderlei/Chuck announcement was probably the most exciting thing of the night. Did anyone catch his slip of the tongue? “I am going to fuck…fight Chuck Liddell!” Priceless.
I had about 25 people over last night (mostly Ortiz fans) and everyone agreed that this fight was stopped way, way too early.
Tito caught him with one good elbow out of about 6; the rest were grazing the side of his head and Ken was fine. He was working his arms and about to make some kind of move when Herb stepped in.
I would absolutely love to see them go at it again. If Ken could defend or prevent that double-leg takedown I think he would have a good shot, and if he could stun Tito and take him down I think he has an excellent chance of submitting him.
My wife thinks that they’ll be fighting again by the end of the year, but I strongly doubt we’ll ever see Shamrock in the UFC octagon again. Dana knows that they can’t simultaneously bill him as a legend and let him get dominated over and over and over again. He needs to evolve, reinvent himself as a team-leader, and try to make the Lion’s Den relevant again.
Yeah, if Ken’s going to be a UFC Hall of Famer he needs to not lose a bunch of fights.
The problem with Ortiz-Shamrock III is that Tito’s contract is for three fights, and he’s going to want a shot at Liddell (or the title.) If Liddell-Silva is a title bout and Silva wins, does Tito take a revenge fight against Chuck, a title shot and rematch against Silva (UFC 25: Ultimate Japan 3) or another shot at Shamrock? Plus, there’s the question of whether or not a split decision against Forrest Griffin and a too-quick stoppage against an aging Ken Shamrock is enough to warrant a title shot.
The Liddell-Silva fight could change the UFC for a long time. If they make it non-title, or if it’s for the belt and Liddell retains, then they’re still on-track for Liddell vs. Ortiz II at UFC 66 on Super Bowl weekend. If Silva gets the belt, then they have the inevitable rematch and could do Silva vs. Ortiz as well (Silva’s deal is for 3 fights, according to Dana.)
But is there ANY chance that he won’t renew his contract? The UFC is exploding and Tito Ortiz is inarguably one of the biggest names in MMA around the world. I doubt that 6 months from now anyone could offer him enough money to lure him away.
IF Shamrock gets another shot, though, it’s got to be soon. He’s not getting any younger, and Tito seems to be on the upswing again.
Rumor has it that Ortiz was about .05 seconds away from signing with the WFA when Dana White came to him with one last offer (which included the 3 rounds of boxing with Dana.) I could see him trying to hold Zuffa up for a big check if his next fight is Ortiz-Shamrock instead of one of the other possibilities.
