Cage Fighting/MMA

[Peekay]

I personally think that Griffin will take him at UFC 101.

Griffin is made for Silva to destroy. Sorry. Silva's whole style is based around countering unfocused aggression. Griffin will bring it to him, there's no doubt about that, and there's no doubt that the fight will end with Forest lying on the ground. Should be good to watch, though.

Who's watching Evans/Machida this weekend?

[merf]

already got it sky plussed on Setanta 2 for a relaxed sunday viewing

with this and the UFC game dropping thru my letterbox today I'm going for a UFC blowout in the next few days.

interesting article about Machida on the yahoo link I posted above.

[Peekay]

already got it sky plussed on Setanta 2 for a relaxed sunday viewing

I don't have a telly so I need to track down a live feed...

[Kit]

I think the way the sport is handled is the best at the moment. No need for rankings etc, though that would go towards legitimising the sport in eyes of 'proper' sports fans, it would serve to provide bad matchups.

Yeah, I?m happy with the way the sport is atm. I?d hate to see it turn into boxing with managers getting involved, fighters ducking each other, and 20-0 records that mean nothing.

The only thing that?s still missing (and I hope happens eventually) is Fedor joining the UFC: the guy has wins over all the top heavyweights (Crocop, Nog, Arlovski, Sylvia) and in all of his 30-0 fights, he?s never lost a round. Even top UFC guys like Anderson Silva, Mir, Couture etc? consider him the best P4P fighter - the blokes a machine.

[Peekay]

The only thing that?s still missing (and I hope happens eventually) is Fedor joining the UFC: the guy has wins over all the top heavyweights (Crocop, Nog, Arlovski, Sylvia) and in all of his 30-0 fights, he?s never lost a round. Even top UFC guys like Anderson Silva, Mir, Couture etc? consider him the best P4P fighter - the blokes a machine.

I don't think it will ever happen, unfortunately. I always thought that it would come about eventually - that (say) Fedor vs Lesnar would be an unmissable opportunity for the UFC to cash in on. I read an article, though (can't find it at the moment) which said it won't happen as:

1) Fedor can make more money as a free agent than the UFC could realistically pay him to keep him on as part of their roster. Of course they could bring him in for one-offs - which is point 2...

2) Say they bring him in for a one-off for a lot of money. Either they effectively pay him a lot of money to make one of their champions look bad (imagine he knocks Lesnar out inside the first round) or they pay him a lot of money to lose and walk away; from the UFC's point of view, there's really no benefit to bringing Fedor in unless it's as a permanent part of their roster, and he can command such massive money elsewhere that it's not feasible.

It's a pity that money issues (on both sides) mean we'll probably never see the greatest MMA fighter so far in the UFC (it's a bit like George Best never having played in a world cup). Dana White often tries to discredit Fedor's superiority, which is laughable.

[cutmymilk]

UFC are the top fighting brand in the world and Fedor is supposedly the best fighter. The fact that he won't sign with them says a lot more about him than UFC. Surely he can take a bit fo a pay cut to prove his superiority?!

I'm with Dana on this - last thing the sport needs is for one fighter to be paid much more than the others. UFC salaries seem more than fair (for main eventers, at least). Fedor wanting to only commit for one fight is also a joke. Just sign a 1 year, 3 fight deal. He must just be afraid of losing on a world stage to someone like Lesnar.

[merf]

just found a brilliant Fox documentary called 'Fedor, The Baddest Man on the Planet'

lots of behind the scenes footage of his training and talking heads (like Randy Couture, Big John McCarthy et al) saying how great he is.

really interesting prog, he trains like Rocky did for the Drago fight !

[Peekay]

UFC are the top fighting brand in the world and Fedor is supposedly the best fighter. The fact that he won't sign with them says a lot more about him than UFC. Surely he can take a bit fo a pay cut to prove his superiority?!

I'm with Dana on this - last thing the sport needs is for one fighter to be paid much more than the others. UFC salaries seem more than fair (for main eventers, at least). Fedor wanting to only commit for one fight is also a joke. Just sign a 1 year, 3 fight deal. He must just be afraid of losing on a world stage to someone like Lesnar.

You're so wrong... you're nearly right again.

Fedor is supposedly the best fighter

His dominance is absolutely indisputable. No-one comes close to him.

The fact that he won't sign with them says a lot more about him than UFC.

Firstly, it's not about the money. The UFC offered Fedor a lot of money. He didn't sign because the contract they offered was far too restrictive. Fedor competes in sambo, a Russian hybrid of judo, boxing and other martial arts. He competes as an amateur - for free (which says everything about what kind of person he is). He's world champion, and represents Russia. The prospective UFC contract would have prohibited him from entering sambo competitions. Fedor has such a love for sambo that he was unwilling to accept those conditions. He also expressed disappointment that Dana White didn't even feel the need to conduct the contract negotiations himself - he's never even met Fedor. The contract would have committed Fedor to eight fights in two years; that's too heavy a workload considering the intensity of training and the recovery period needed when fighting at this high a level. Basically, the offer they made really showed no respect for Fedor or what he's accomplished.

Surely he can take a bit fo a pay cut to prove his superiority?!

As I said, it's not really about the money. But let's look at it the other way round; if the UFC is truly interested in finding out who the "ultimate fighter" really is, surely they should do whatever it takes to bring Fedor into their organisation? He said they displayed absolutely no flexibility - it was a take-it-or-leave-it offer. The truth is that the UFC doesn't really care about MMA; it cares about making money. They approach things in a completely cold-hearted way, as a business. Why shouldn't Fedor do the same thing?

I'm with Dana on this - last thing the sport needs is for one fighter to be paid much more than the others.

The UFC already pays wildly disproportionate salaries. For example, at UFC 96 Quinton Jackson got $325,000. His opponent Keith Jardine got $55,000.

He must just be afraid of losing on a world stage to someone like Lesnar.

Fedor has defeated former UFC heavyweight champions - Nogueira, Arlovski and Sylvia. He put Arlovski to sleep for over five minutes inside the first round. He KO'd Sylvia in 36 seconds. He's not scared of Lesnar, trust me.

[merf]

bloody hell, just watch Evans get destroyed in the main event, what an amazing style Machida has. He's going to dominate the light heavy divison for a while

shame that the cera hughes fight never exploded and stayed on the ground a lot.

interesting comments on Fedor peekay

[Ajay1986]

Brilliant main event last night i agree that Machida could potentially hold the belt for a long long time, he really is an amazing fighter.

[phillai]

GO LYOTO!!! ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS BREW UP YOUR CHI AND...

[Kit]

Good grief, Evans didn’t even land a punch. I was expecting Machida to win, but that was a complete domination.

Apparently Rampage is next in line for a title shot; should be a cracker.

shame that the cera hughes fight never exploded and stayed on the ground a lot.

I felt sorry for Serra. He battered Hughes standing up, and Hughes did absolutely nothing on the ground. Hope Serra decides to drop to 155; sure he’ll have more success there.

[merf]

what I like about Machida is his style isn't just defence, like say Silva, its a weird thing to say but its hyper-aggressive defence. the commentators noted on how he leans back in his stance to leave his head out of range

think I read it on sherdog.com that Evans landed 4 blows all fight and Machida still not lost a round in the UFC.

the unknown element with machida is what are his whiskers like if he does get clocked, would love to see him in a fight where somebody gets thru then we'll know more about him, that said it won't be that easy as his defence is so unique.

i watched a preview show on friday night and thought he looked just like Ryu, even down to the square blocky feet.

[phillai]

I've just spent last night watching this new MMA inspired film called Never Surrender which has guest appearances from Georges "Rush" St-Pierre, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Anderson "The Spider" Silva, BJ "The Prodigy" Penn, Heath "The Texas Crazy Horse" Herring from the UFC.

I can honestly say this is the worst film ever! It's about a successful MMA star who's forced to do illegal cage fighting. To cut a long story short, the film changes to a soft porn film cause everytime he win's, he gets to shag a new bird just for winning!?

Even the acting is really, really bad? They even dubbed GSP's voice to what seems like another GSP voice over!!! Check the crap dubbing here...



Go on... I dare you all to waste your time and watch this crap film!!!

http://www.neversurrenderdvd.com/

[Kit]

Ouch, reminded me of the old Van Damme films.

the unknown element with machida is what are his whiskers like if he does get clocked, would love to see him in a fight where somebody gets thru then we'll know more about him, that said it won't be that easy as his defence is so unique.

Yeah, he could have a glass chin for all we know; which would be a real testament to his training methods if he gets knocked out the first time someone connects.

That being said, they?re aren?t many top fighters out there he hasn?t already beat: Rampage is a great striker but I just see him as stronger version of Rashad; Forrest would run in throwing bombs and get dropped; the only fighter I see giving him a real challenge is Shogun, but there?s still question marks surrounding whether he?s back to his best.

Fedor has defeated former UFC heavyweight champions - Nogueira, Arlovski and Sylvia. He put Arlovski to sleep for over five minutes inside the first round. He KO'd Sylvia in 36 seconds. He's not scared of Lesnar, trust me.

Lesnar looks intimidating, but to a guy that regularly beats opponents taller and heavier - sometimes by ridiculous amounts - it?s hard to imagine him losing.

He'll be fighting Josh Barnett next:

http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/05/21/fedor-emelianenko-josh-barnett-verbally-agree-to-match-announc/

Should be a great fight.