Official MMA Thread

[PD77]

Originally posted by 89coupe


BJ Penn is half Korean.

He didn't get the memo.

[Supa Dexta]

okami is jacked!

[Supa Dexta]

Well this card drew lots of attention..

[NightFX2]

Originally posted by Supa Dexta
Well this card drew lots of attention..

Next week will be good.

Okami isn't very exciting but man is he tough to fight, freakishly strong.

[treg50]

I'm glad Okami won. Seeing Marquardt get destroyed again in a title match would be boring (see Marquardt-Silva).

This weekend's UFC 123 is looking soooooo damned good, it's a dream event for me. I wanted to go so bad but 2x the price of UFC 113 tickets in Montreal was enough keep me away. Rampage-Machida is HUGE. The co-main Hughes-Penn 3 is HUGE, it could be a main event in itself! Geez, four of my favourite fighters! It's an early Christmas present from the UFC!

I haven't seen nearly as much promotion for this event as they did for shittier events. F'ing UFC. I wanna see a 3-part Countdown for 123. Rampage's interviews would be gold, he's awesome. Penn and Hughes can also talk good shit too, stupid UFC missed a big train on the promotion of 123.

UFC 123: Rampage interview: "I don't care what Machida says 'Return of the Dragon', return of whatever... 'Enter the Dragon'. He can say whatever he wants to say." I'll do my talking in the ring.


Rampage gets ready to fight the Dragon, in Detroit:
http://modules.ufc.com/live?systemId...2-0a51e61f2748

[TKRIS]

I'm less excited.
As much as I'd love to see it, Rampage is never going to be the wild crazy drop guys on the head fighter he used to be. Part of that is because he isn't the fighter he used to be, but mostly it's because fighters are good enough to not allow that to happen anymore.
This will be a standup fight, and unless the loss to Shogun really fucked with Machida's head, I don't see any way that Rampage wins this. Machida is significantly faster and more technical. All he has to do is find a way through the Crazy Monkey style defense Rampage uses. If Rampage opens up he's going to get wrecked. If he stays tight, his body is going to take a terrible beating.

Penn/Hughes is irrelevant to me. Makes sense for Hughes because he's just in it for "legacy" fights, but Penn could be, and should be, focused on getting back into the title picture at 155. A potentially interesting fight with absolutely no ramifications whatsoever.
If Hughes wins: Meh. Just another illlustration of why Penn should stay at 155.
If Penn wins: Meh. He overcame a weight disadvantage against an aging, but solid, fighter, but he'd still get mauled by the top guys at WW.

I'm picking Penn to win, but that doesn't change the fact that he still belongs at LW.

[treg50]

Ya agree for the most part. Rashad Evans uses the Crazy Monkey technique for defense, Rampage's defense up top is actually pretty intelligent (down low is another story). Rampage is not as trigger happy as he used to be but he now fights more intelligently. Rampage's offense is effective when connecting but it's been kind of sparse. I hope he can bring something different for Machida, that we haven't seen since he's been in the UFC.

In terms of title relevance they may not be the biggest No.1 contender matches. Rampage can't dominate in today's field of fighters with his old style --- if he manages to slam in the UFC I will freak while running through the street naked. Even though I know it probably won't happen at this stage in his career, I keep hoping for him to bring back the full tilt Rampage of old --- standup, takedown, ground, maybe a sub! For me it's the entertainment factor, you just know Rampage will put on a show. Possibly not a title contender but he's a big name, who I like to watch fight. Plus I can't help but want to see a possible Rampage v. Shogun in the UFC should Rampage somehow put a string of successes together. Plus he's a great personality and has a sense of humour.

BJ Penn, I think is in his Randy Couture late-career phase -- even though Penn is relatively not that old yet. He's taking on challenging matches, such as Hughes being a bigger fighter. Randy will probably never beat a Velasquez, Lesnar, or Dos Santos, etc., but he could take guys in similar points in their career. Penn looks to be doing the same, he may never take top WW's or LW's, but he's got skills and will usually put on entertaining matches (his only signif. weakness is the cardio). I like St–Pierre but when he beat Hardy, but it was kind of boring as shit for 5 rounds. Okami v Marquardt, No. 1 contenders, Okami dominates but pretty uneventful. I respect gameplan and scoring points, but it's not the most entertaining. Rampage v. Machida, and Hughes v. Penn have an excellent chances of ending in definitive fashion.

Not sure what the main card is but if I had to setup up the PPV the full card has some good matchups to show:

Quentin Jackson v Lyoto Machida
Matt Hughes v BJ Penn
George Sotiropoulous v Joe Lauzon
Tyson Griffin v Nik Lentz
Aaron Simpson v Mark Munoz
Matt Brown v Brian Foster
Karo Parisyan v Dennis Hallman

Sometimes number one contenders hold back too much and you get a snooze-fest. All the guys above are hungry/ looking to prove themselves/ motivated to solidify a legacy. Fireworks should ensue if they show these matches, it's worth paying for unlike a few of the last several.

[Supa Dexta]

Seagal!

[BigDannyCool]

sotiropoulous vs lauzon is gonna be a great fight.

[treg50]

Lauzon put the f'ing Matrix on the last guy he fought (Rudiger). Sotiropoulous is a lot better than Rudiger though.

[LongCity]

Rampage, in the post fight press conference, is as entertaining as always. Praising Machida on his style but saying he would never watch him fight hahah

[treg50]

Rampage CLEARLY won the split. He's way to modest and honourable --- Rampage likes to put the beat down and win that way, he never goes in to outpoint a guy. I like Machida but he did too little too late, I'm glad the judges saw that as well --- the first two rounds was Machida being elusive and Rampage controlling and initiating offense, the Machida took the third.

Rampage coulda given Machida a half-slam (but then I'd have to stick to my word, lol) but he went for the full smash, would've been SWEET --- he's still got that power!

Penn was beyond good and the match was too quick say anything about it.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Machida got robbed IMO. First 2 rounds could have gone either way, and Machida dominated the third. Everyone I was with thought Machida won (so did Rampage lol). I don't really care either way though because we should be seeing a rematch.

Nice to see BJ Penn doing well, he's fighting Fitch next which should be an interesting fight.

So many people want the judging rules changed, I don't know why it hasn't been done yet. The Pride scoring system was far and away the best way to judge MMA IMO. It's just such a crap shoot when it gets into the judges' hands.

[Sal0]

I still don't know why people think Machida won. Rampage clearly won the first two rounds.
Regardless, it was such a boring fight. Machida and Rampage should have both lost!

Quinton said it right: "Lyoto Machida Is So Boring I Go to Sleep"

[95teetee]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt

So many people want the judging rules changed, I don't know why it hasn't been done yet. The Pride scoring system was far and away the best way to judge MMA IMO.

the problem is that then they would have to find judges who know wtf they're doing. Right now, the majority of them are boxing judges. And they score MMA like they're boxing judges.

[projekz]

^ Exactly my thoughts. They should get guys like Couture and other MMA pioneers to judge the fights. It would be a lot better.

[89coupe]

Not sure if this has been posted or not, but I laughed...LOL

[scboss]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
Machida got robbed IMO. First 2 rounds could have gone either way, and Machida dominated the third. Everyone I was with thought Machida won (so did Rampage lol). I don't really care either way though because we should be seeing a rematch.

Nice to see BJ Penn doing well, he's fighting Fitch next which should be an interesting fight.

So many people want the judging rules changed, I don't know why it hasn't been done yet. The Pride scoring system was far and away the best way to judge MMA IMO. It's just such a crap shoot when it gets into the judges' hands.

So wait you thought machida won and you think the judges were bad?? Your friends must really like machida because he didnt press the action once in the first or second. If he came forward he would have won the fight but he tried to counter the whole fight. Could you imagine a match between silva and him they would both just stand there waiting lol.

Its already been said Rampage faces winner of Jon Jones and Ryan Bader. As for Machida I would have to say Forrest Griffen would be a good fight.
See the problem with pride was it was currupt you can say it was better now but i remember when silva faced cro cop and it was a draw even tho crop clearly won. Plus its easy to judge when guys are getting fed alot of guys with no name.
Plain and simple if you dont finish the fight you might get robbed.

[scboss]

Originally posted by projekz
^ Exactly my thoughts. They should get guys like Couture and other MMA pioneers to judge the fights. It would be a lot better.

This would work except that Couture currently trains fighter in the ufc

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by warcaster


So wait you thought machida won and you think the judges were bad?? Your friends must really like machida because he didnt press the action once in the first or second. If he came forward he would have won the fight but he tried to counter the whole fight. Could you imagine a match between silva and him they would both just stand there waiting lol.

Its already been said Rampage faces winner of Jon Jones and Ryan Bader. As for Machida I would have to say Forrest Griffen would be a good fight.
See the problem with pride was it was currupt you can say it was better now but i remember when silva faced cro cop and it was a draw even tho crop clearly won. Plus its easy to judge when guys are getting fed alot of guys with no name.
Plain and simple if you dont finish the fight you might get robbed.

Lots of people thought Machida won, and lots thought Rampage won - and Rampage thought Machida won. Not sure what the problem is, people will always disagree - including the judges as it was a split decision.

I think the judging is terrible in every fight, not just the Machida/Rampage fight. The judges put way too much emphasis on takedowns, and seem to ignore damage dealt. You can beat the other guy within an inch of his life but if he gets on top of you and does nothing, the judges will probably give that guy the win.

It's just incentive not to let it go to the cards, I guess. Neither of their careers is even the least bit hurt by this, so I really don't care about the outcome at all. I'd rather watch a Rampage/Bader fight than Machida/Rampage 2 anyways.