UFC fans rejoice! Best. Fight. Ever.

Cafe Society
21

Did you see his post-fight interview? He spends half the time talking about another rematch with Ken. Tito seems to genuinely want it, and if he gets it he will definitely want to renew his contract so he can get his title shot.

The more I think about it, the more it almost makes sense: there really aren’t any other challengers for him in the next few months* and neither Tito nor Dana want to go from now until Super Bowl Sunday without Tito Ortiz in the octagon.

Then again, maybe I’m over-analyzing . . .
*Which is the real reason Chuck hasn’t fought in 5 months. I don’t buy that he has any real, fight-preventing injuries.

22

Yeah, but do you think that Ortiz has really earned a title shot? 205 is a pretty loaded weight class, compared to the other classes and Ortiz hasn’t decisively beaten anyone who could be considered competition. That split decision against Griffin is his only win since last year, and Tito wasn’t exactly fantastic in that bout.

They’re not going to need Ortiz-Shamrock III to sell PPVs between September and Super Bowl weekend, with Hughes-GSP (UFC 63,) Liddell-Silva (UFC 64) and the rumored Rich Franklin-Anderson Silva fight at UFC 65. Plus, you’ve got to think that they’ll get the lightweight division involved pretty soon, which means Jens Pulver will be fighting before long.

If they could get the contracts signed quickly, they could stick it on the 62 card, because Liddell-Babalu isn’t going to draw PPV buys. Both guys are still in fight shape, they can train for the month-plus (62 is at the end of August) and they can sell it as “a desire for payback just one month removed.”

23

IMO the early fight stoppage was just a bit (like a few seconds, 10 max) too soon. The guys I was watching it with were bitching loudly. They also owed me money, so maybe that had something to do with it. Anyways, I explained Herb’s reasoning like this: Elbows have no padding, they can do a ton of damage in a very short time span. David “The Crow” Loiseau routinely kills people with them. Not really, but you knew that. Many fights have been ref-stopped with fewer undefended punches, let alone unguarded elbows. True, Ken got right up and was not TKO’d per se, but anything more than a few seconds could have ended badly.

I told my roommate that if Mario Yamasaki had done that, there would have been a riot. I can’t remember if the fight pertinent to that point was nationally televised, so that might not make much sense to you. Suffice it to say that he made a very bad call, and ended the fight too early. He called it for the guy breaking the rules (one of the Gracies kneeing to the head of a grounded opp) because it seemed to be “no contest” to him. Gracie was later DQ’d IIRC. I’m sure Sherdog has comments on it.

Arlovski and Shamrock are on losing streaks. I’d love to see both of them fight soon, but I have doubts. They are “name” fighters though.

If GSP beats Hughes, I’ll be as giddy as a schoolgirl, but only if he beats him “fairly squarely”. It’s settled, I’m putting $20 (maybe more given company) on Hughes to win. If he wins, I win $20, if not, it was worth sacrificing $20 to see the “country boy” not survive. That guy’s a dick.

What?!? Fedor is one bad-ass mofo. His brother kicks some major ass too. Have you seen the fight with Fedor Vs Coleman? Coleman does a great job containing Fedor, but when Fedor is in full guard he bucks his hips, and flips into a crazy on-top arm bar in less than 2 seconds. It’s masterfull.

Fedor lost due to a cut on 12/22/2000 and had a No contest due to accidental cut on 08/15/04. He is listed as 23-1-0.

Arlovski is 9-5-0 with 3 KO’s and 2 TKO’s against him. He’s beaten Sylvia (once out of three bouts), Eilers and Buentello. Not a great list of A-list KO’s.

Fedor has beaten Coleman, Cro-cop, Nog (which one is Nog, and which one is little Nog?), Randleman, Goodridge, Babalu and Fujita. It’s Pride, so some n00bs may not recognize the names, but it’s a respectable list. AFAIK, neither fighter has fought a fighter that the other has.

I really want to know what makes you think that Arlovski can take Fedor. It seems that you see the fight as being very evenly matched. How so?

24

I’m not sure if he can take him outright, but I do think it would be a difficult fight to handicap. Arlovski’s a dangerous fighter, his bouts with Sylvia notwithstanding. He’s quick, he’s got heavy hands and he’s got a height and weight advantage. I think that, coupled with the limitations of fighting in the cage (no soccer kicks, no knees to a downed fighter) he could stay alive against Fedor and get a decision.

25

He would need a few more fights under his belt to rebuild his confidence. He looked like he didn’t know what he was capable of on Saturday night.

If this fight ever happens, it won’t be for a long time.

26

Well, I think any other UFC/Pride interpromotional bouts are going to depend on Liddell-Silva. Dana knows that the hardcore MMA fans want to see it, but will the casual fan pay to see it? Silva and all the Pride fighters are largely unknown quantities in the U.S., and for the money Pride’s going to demand, Dana needs to know that he can make it up through PPV buys.

If Liddell-Silva draws on the same level as Hughes-Gracie did, you can bet it’ll be the first in a series of fights. If it draws like some of the lackluster cards the UFC has run in recent months, I wouldn’t expect to see much action on that front in the future.

27

The casual fan will pay to see whatever Dana tells them to pay to see.

He won’t bring Fedor over until he has a dominant champ that he feels confident could beat him or at least give him a run for his money. Could be Arlovski in a couple years, but like I said, he needs to work his way through a few more people and regain his confidence. It’s going to be a long road back to the belt for the Pit Bull.

Of course, by that time someone may have already dethroned Fedor and this will all be a moot point.

The chances of FE ever stepping into the UFC octagon are ridiculously low IMHO.

28

I just watched the Ortiz/Shamrock fight again and, if you listen closely, you can hear Randy Couture say as soon as Herb stops the fight, ":confused: I’m not sure why he stepped in so soon? :confused: "

It was an early stoppage, I don’t think anyone can argue that it wasn’t. Tito hit him with one good elbow and 4 or 5 glancing ones, and Ken was fine.

That’s not to say that Ken could’ve come back and won, or even that he would fare any better in a rematch, but when you’re dealing with seasoned veterans who know what they’re doing in possibly the biggest and most anticipated grudge match in MMA history, you should use a little restraint and let them beat each other a little longer than you normally would, just so everyone is sure.

29

I was impressed with the job Randy did filling in for Joe Rogan (on assignment my ass. Someone had a stand-up date booked and didn’t want to cancel.) I’d like to see The Natural as the full-time second/third guy alongside Goldberg and Rogan.

30

Wow. Breaking news from MMAnews.com:

Kazuyuki Fujita and Phil Baroni are all but confirmed for November’s PPV, meaning that we may have a full-on UFC vs. Pride card in the works.\

http://www.mmanews.com/article/154559910.php

31

Oh, sweet. I love watch Fujita and that extra thick skull of his fight. I’m thinking Arlovski/Fujita and Baroni/Loiseau.

Who else does the UFC have besides Arlovski for him to fight? They’re not going to risk Sylvia and after Arlovski they don’t have any names at heavyweight. Unless they want to get Frank Mir booed out of the UFC.

They’re not going to pair Baroni up with Franklin since he’s the champ. Evan Tanner’s already beaten him twice. Anderson Silva is a possibility but I feel he’s going to be groomed for the title shot. Loiseau makes the most sense to me.

32

Not to mention that Franklin’s still recovering from his broken hand and probably won’t be back until December. I agree that Anderson Silva is getting groomed for a title shot (it’s the rumored main event for UFC 65.)

Frank Mir is just sad to watch now. He either needs to hang it up or seriously devote himself to getting back to where he was.

33

I agree, and if AA really walks through him he will probably get the next title shot after Monson.

Of course, if he loses, he’d be a “washup” in a lot of people’s eyes.

34

It’s awesome to read an actual intelligent conversation about MMA on a message board. On certain other sites, the ratio of white noise to actual information is so low that it’s just not worth trying to talk to people.

35

Just checked Sherdog, and apparently Arlovski’s knee/ankle/leg got messed up pretty bad by Sylvia, and that’s why he quit trying to go to the ground. Makes a little sense.

I am curious as to why the NSAC suspended him for 60 days, though.

And Kid_A, I’m impressed that there are other MMA fans on the boards. I’ve thought about starting a thread for a while now, but didn’t think it would get much interest.

Then again, I haven’t been watching MMA for a really long time. I’ve always had a little interest in it, but it wasn’t until FSN and Spike starting carrying fights semi-regularly that I really got interested. I’ve been able to borrow some tapes/DVDs and catch up on a lot of older fights, luckily.

36

I’ve been starting threads for most of the pay per views and ultimate fight nights for the last year or so, but they usually get very little or no response. I bet, with the way the sport is growing, another year from now each pay-per-view thread will be 5 pages long.
AA got suspended? Who is the NSAC?

37

It’s the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Fighters getting suspended after a fight is a very common occurance and it’s done for their safety. Arlovski was suspended for 60 days, Shamrock 30 days, Edwards 45 days. It’s nothing to be worried about.
You can see all the suspensions here . (Warning: pdf)

38

I’ve been watching since UFC #1. I rewatched a bunch of old UFC bouts recently, and you can really see the evolution of the fighters over the years. It’s cool.

I agree with Kid_A’s sentiment. It’s great to be able to converse in an intelligent manner about Pride and UFC. Sherdog is a good source of information, but the forums can be a bit trying. Most threads devolve into shouting matches involving repeated assertions of imminent ass-kickings.

39

And heaven forbid you disagree with anyone, or else you’re a “nuthugger” and an idiot.

I can’t even look at Sherdog’s forums for longer than 5 minutes now.

40

My dad had tickets to UFC 4 (or whichever one was in Charlotte, might’ve been 3 or 5) and I refused to go because all the news outlets at the time were saying it was only a matter or time before someone was “brutally murdered” in the octagon, etc. Him and my brother came back that night and said it was fairly boring so I more or less ignored the sport until I saw TUF last year (yes, I admit it :).) My wife and I have seen every UFC event, most Pride events, and almost every DVD in print since then.

Jacob C. “Tito” Ortiz? :eek: