Thread: The Official MMA Thread

Originally Posted by Crapgame13

this is why I'm miffed Vera is on his way out, because adding another HW to the mix would be something

He's rolled with Randy. He'd be a good match for either AA or CroCop, and I think he'd dominate Tim as well

Instead we're going to get AA, Sylvia and probably CroCop in a love triangle unless Liddell moves up in weight

Yea, sucks about Vera. He's a very solid talent, but the UFC made him a good offer. Vera's just content to be a big fish in a small pond.

Originally Posted by ASUcruz

Yea, sucks about Vera. He's a very solid talent, but the UFC made him a good offer. Vera's just content to be a big fish in a small pond.

I heard somewhere that Cro Cop had asked to fight Vera next, but the UFC ssaid no because of the contract BS.

Originally Posted by Crapgame13

this is why I'm miffed Vera is on his way out, because adding another HW to the mix would be something

He's rolled with Randy. He'd be a good match for either AA or CroCop, and I think he'd dominate Tim as well

Instead we're going to get AA, Sylvia and probably CroCop in a love triangle unless Liddell moves up in weight

Dana said that Liddell wants to fight HW so he can fight CC. Not a good decision by the LHW Champ if you ask me.

Originally Posted by OvertimeHero

I heard somewhere that Cro Cop had asked to fight Vera next, but the UFC ssaid no because of the contract BS.

Right. It's not smart business for the UFC to give a guy a title shot without having him locked up.

Originally Posted by ibleedkngs

Dana said that Liddell wants to fight HW so he can fight CC. Not a good decision by the LHW Champ if you ask me.

We'll see, there's still a fight with Rampage pending. If Chuck can avenge that loss there are some up and coming LHWs that he can fight(Evans, Jardine).

I'd pay to watch Chuck fight Cro-Cop though.

ASU, what are your thoughts on Pride? I watched my first Pride card a few weeks back, and while I liked that they offered more on their PPV (not as much time wasted between fights), I didn't think the fights had any flow to them. IMO, they get stood up WAY too much because of the ropes. That's one of the things I like about the cage, is there really is no place to run to when you get in trouble, whereas with Pride, all you need to do is scurry over to the ropes and the ref will come save you. The fights were entertaining enough, just kinda got frustrating to watch.

Originally Posted by OvertimeHero

ASU, what are your thoughts on Pride? I watched my first Pride card a few weeks back, and while I liked that they offered more on their PPV (not as much time wasted between fights), I didn't think the fights had any flow to them. IMO, they get stood up WAY too much because of the ropes. That's one of the things I like about the cage, is there really is no place to run to when you get in trouble, whereas with Pride, all you need to do is scurry over to the ropes and the ref will come save you. The fights were entertaining enough, just kinda got frustrating to watch.

I will chime in here because I am a HUUUUGGGE PRIDE mark.

PRIDE does the right thing and stands everyone up if there is no action, and they tend to do it quicker than UFC. However, it is not true that they stand the fighters up if they get too close to the ropes. They will pause the action and move them to the middle and continue. UFC tends to have a lot of guys from a wrestling background who can take guys down and can only finish via GroundNPound. That is why I don't like guys like Diego Sanchez because his game plan is to GnP a guy when he can end a fight earlier when the guy sticks his arm out and all he has to do is armbar him like any white-belt BJJ student would do.

What I absolutely love about PRIDE is the no elbows to the face and (on shows in Japan) the soccer kicks, knees on the ground and stomps. I hate when fights are stopped because of a cut from an elbow. It is a cheap way to win, and lets down the fans. Also, the soccer kicks and stomps are awesome because it keeps the fights exciting. I remember the last Liddell/Ortiz fight when Ortiz went diving at Chuck's feet with the worst takedowns EVER and couldn't do crap. I was commenting to my friends if he tried that on a Japanese PRIDE show, he would get killed with a soccer kick. Seeing Shogun Rua stomping and kicking the crap out of people is awesome! I would love to see a Shogun/Liddell fight.

That being said, the action in PRIDE is a helluva lot more exciting than UFC. If you watch a lot of Japanese MMA and even Japanese pro-wrestling, you will find out that they believe it is better to lose an exciting fight than to win a boring one. Take this fight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http:...?v=cDYDPButKqk
Takayama is a freakin LEGEND because of this fight and he lost SOUNDLY. He is everything Tim Sylvia isn't.

Plus, the Japanese are big fans of what I call the "freakshow" bouts. Like Fedor vs Zuluzinho or Cro-Cop vs Dos Caras Jr. Or those Giant Silva fights. Entertaining as hell!

Oh, and here is another one of my favorite fights from PRIDE, and my all-time favorite fighter, Kazushi Sakuraba. It is kinda hard to explain Sakuraba because he has deteriorated BADLY these past few years (ever since Wanderlei killed him for the 3rd time), but Saku was a middleweight who fought EVERYONE, and became a legend for beating every Gracie he faced. I highly recommend watching the Saku/Royce Gracie fight because it is a legendary fight that Saku won even though Royce requested and received several rule changes that favored him. But anyways, here is the Saku/Carlos Newton fight that got me into MMA.

Part 1 http://youtube.com/watch?v=aR7r95bU6Ls (kinda boring in the beginning with an interview in Japanese)

Part 2 http://youtube.com/watch?v=50OWLkI5jWs

Originally Posted by OvertimeHero

ASU, what are your thoughts on Pride? I watched my first Pride card a few weeks back, and while I liked that they offered more on their PPV (not as much time wasted between fights), I didn't think the fights had any flow to them. IMO, they get stood up WAY too much because of the ropes. That's one of the things I like about the cage, is there really is no place to run to when you get in trouble, whereas with Pride, all you need to do is scurry over to the ropes and the ref will come save you. The fights were entertaining enough, just kinda got frustrating to watch.

I love the fact that Pride shows their entire card on a PPV. You definitley get your money's worth that way. The promotional stuff UFC does gets annoying after while.

Regarding the actual fights, I'm not a big fan of the ring. I think its a lot easier to stall. I agree that sometimes the flow gets ruined by constant repositioning and stopping. I prefer the the cage because you can't hide in the Octagon. Plus it makes guys work to get out of bad positioning instead of lucking out. For example if Matt Hughes puts you into the fence, you have to get out yourself. None of the touch the ropes stuff and be put back into the middle of the ring.

Originally Posted by Roody

PRIDE does the right thing and stands everyone up if there is no action, and they tend to do it quicker than UFC. However, it is not true that they stand the fighters up if they get too close to the ropes. They will pause the action and move them to the middle and continue. UFC tends to have a lot of guys from a wrestling background who can take guys down and can only finish via GroundNPound. That is why I don't like guys like Diego Sanchez because his game plan is to GnP a guy when he can end a fight earlier when the guy sticks his arm out and all he has to do is armbar him like any white-belt BJJ student would do.

See I don't like the constant stand ups. It's not very fair to the grapplers. My thing is if somebody takes you down then its your job to get the job standing again. If you don't want to get taken down, drill your take down defense. It takes a LOT out of a wrestler to take a man down and control his weight. I don't like lay and pray either but if you don't want that to happen to you don't get taken down. Simple as that.

Originally Posted by Roody

What I absolutely love about PRIDE is the no elbows to the face and (on shows in Japan) the soccer kicks, knees on the ground and stomps. I hate when fights are stopped because of a cut from an elbow. It is a cheap way to win, and lets down the fans. Also, the soccer kicks and stomps are awesome because it keeps the fights exciting

See, I am of the opinion that elbows should be allowed as well as stops, as well as knees on the ground. I don't like early stoppeges from being cut from an elbow but again, if you don't want that to happen to you don't get taken out and pounded out.