Cage Fighting/MMA

[cutmymilk]

In a few months Lesnar's skillset will be even bigger. He has been training with Couture,and you could see him going for a bit of greco roman before taking Carwin down last weekend. Couture broke great fighters with his smothering. Brock's will be even worse. Also, I can't see Velasquez being nearly as hard to tame and take down so I agree with the ground and pound stoppage.

[merf]

agree I just can't see Velasquez possessing any tools to hurt Lesnar, all I see have going for him is his stamina, but Lesnar, whilst not being taken that far recently, doesn't seem to be lacking there. He should be in better shape next time out following his illness last year too.

more than anything though he's just a bit too small, Lesnar cuts to 265lbs so comes in way above that, whereas Velasquz looks to me like a smallish guy who bulks up to heavyweight.

not sure who comes next, been impressed with Dos Santos when I've seen him but not sure he's up at title level. The fat bloke who won TUF isn't a candidate. Cro Cop isn't title level I suspect anymore & Pat Barry blew his chance against Cro-Cop when he didn't seem to want to hit his hero and ran out of gas.

[cutmymilk]

Theres still a small chance of Fedor of course, especially now that he's lost and has lost a lot of leverage. Not nearly as big a draw as he could have been but UFC will still make him out to be a big deal and present him as one.

Roy Nelson, yeah he won't have a chance of winning but I'd like to see him given one. A likeable dude who cuts a decent interview. The build up will probably be more interesting than the fight.

I can see a rematch for Carwin myself. He'll win his next fight and get another go against Brock.

[Super Grover]

UFC 117 tonight (tomorrow morn) 8/8.

Silva v Sonnen
Nelson v Dos Santos

Being the fights for me.

[merf]

I hope dos Santos smashes the chubster and would like to see silva in a proper fight after that last disaster, can't see Sonnen having enough to get near a win

[Super Grover]

Well I'm a fan of 'Big country' so I'll be rooting for him. Apparently the winner will fight the victor of the Lesnar V Velasquez match up!

Silva seems the favourite for the win, hopefully Sonnen can impose his high tempo ground and pound to at least make the fight enjoyable.

[Stoppy2000]

Big Country is a throwback to the tank abbott days. Not good. They have just shown MC Hammer!!

[merf]

Wow, won't say anything yet but we've been given back to back stellar main events.

[Super Grover]

Wow, won't say anything yet but we've been given back to back stellar main events.

Good shout.

Won't post anything myself yet either.

Probably the best show I've seen on the UFC (being watching since early UFC 90's).

[cutmymilk]

Yeah freaking awesome. Really felt for Sonnen, and I was also surprised that he backed up his substantial trash talk.

[Super Grover]

Really gutted for Sonnen.

I said a few pages back that I thought Chael would give Silva a run for his money and for 4.5 rounds, he pretty much dominated him.

Kudos to Silva for hanging in there and having the skills to submit Sonnen, but for me, I think this fight proves that Silva has a weakness. A high level wrestler with an intense ground game will pose all sorts of problems for him. The question is, in Silva's weight class, is there anyone else, other than Sonnen? Its a pity Jon Fitch is not in the same weight class, as I imagine his smoothering ground game would provide an interesting fight.

Submission of the night for me was Matt Hughes's choke on Almeida. Brutal stuff!

'Big Country' needs to loose some weight. Badly. I could'nt understand why he stayed toe to toe throughout the whole fight. He's supposed to have serious mat skills, and Dos Santos prefers the stand up?!

Finally, hypothetically speaking, I have always wondered how Kurt Angle would have fared in the UFC in his prime? Granted he would have needed to add more to his arsenal than wrestling, but I imagine he would be quite a formidable opponent.

[cutmymilk]

Big Country tried to shoot in a few times but Dos Santos just wasnt going to go down against him. Neither are in Lesnar, Velasquez and Carwin's league at this point anyway. Dos Santos v Lesnar will probably be quite short based on what we've seen (and if Lesnar beats Velasquez of course..)

[merf]

I felt sorry for Sonnen but thought the fight showed perfectly the problem in a championship bout of having an approached based on swarming, containment & for the most part 'arm' punches which are aimed at cumulative rather than KO effect. I feel that approach has a higher % chance of succeeding as you gain a points win over 3 rounds but over 5 against a really live opponent you always run the risk of a late turn round like that as you both tire.

It wasn't a negative approach per se so I'm not saying he deserved it as his performance was brilliant, simply that if you haven't taken out or visibly marked with punches an opponent like Silva and sapped their spirit then you better be on your guard in the championship belt rounds.

On the evidence of the Dos Santos fight I agree with cutmymilk & feel he's over promoted going in with Lesnar, no way that should have been a championship eliminator. I feel for his own good he needs to fight a proper top contender before going in with a beast like that.

Not sure if Roy Nelson cut the gut if he'd still be a heavy or a light-heavy.

[cutmymilk]

Yeah, will probably be the lowest buy rate of any Lesnar fight yet unless they do something amazing to promote it which I doubt. Dos Santos is no Mir when it comes to talking.

[VR46]

Mir is obsessed with Lesnar, beating him seems to rule his life.

Was a great card last weekend, Roy Nelson is like an 80's wrestler, but the guy had balls, going toe to toe, he took a few decent shots as well.

Thought Sonnen was unlucky and a bit stupid in the last right, he didn't need to make any risky moves, he was so far ahead on points, if he couldn't finish Silva in 20+ minutes I can't see he'll get a rematch anytime soon, especially if Silva in out for upto nine months.

Such a shame the card at the 02 in Oct is so poor, would have gone otherwise, it's just a warm up for the main event UFC 121 a week later really.

Can't wait to see GSP show Koscheck how it's done after the Ultimate Fighter 12 season.
He's only beaten by Ortiz in the most annoying stakes.