The MMA thread (mk1)

[[R_H]]

Why doesn't Silva fight in another weight class? He has fought at 167lb, why doesn't he fight again as a welterweight?

[Chardok]

Sorry - I'm not in the "Silva had a bad fight" camp - this was Leites' fault. Every time it LOOKED like Silva would throw a punch, leties would flop like a fish (I looked for an article this morning just to see if anyone got a count and they did - Leites had to be stood up 17 times(!)). Fuck him (Leites), and fuck Dana White.


HOWEVER - if Silva must move; he should move to light-heavy, IMHO , fight Rampage or Wanderlei Silva - both of those guys are super-aggressive and would be amazing to watch Vs. The Spider.

We'll see.

[aerius]

Sorry - I'm not in the "Silva had a bad fight" camp - this was Leites' fault. Every time it LOOKED like Silva would throw a punch, leties would flop like a fish (I looked for an article this morning just to see if anyone got a count and they did - Leites had to be stood up 17 times(!)). Fuck him (Leites), and fuck Dana White.

Spoiler

It takes 2 people to make a fight suck that hard, yeah Leites was hopeless and did practically nothing for the whole fight, but Anderson had plenty of chances to finish him off for good. It was pretty obvious after the first couple takedowns that Leites wouldn't be able to threaten Silva on the ground, so Silva could've jumped on him when he flopped on his ass, passed guard and beat the snot out of him. I can't remember what round it was, but Silva had him down and was punching him pretty good, then he let him back up. There was no killer instinct, to put it bluntly, he fought like Tim Sylvia, just played it super safe and win on a decision. Leites gets most of the blame for being sucktastic, but Silva wasn't exactly great either.

This is why I miss Pride FC and the yellow cards. Leites would've been yellow carded for stalling and he probably would've gotten enough of them to be disqualified.

[weemadando]

By the 4th and 5th it looked like Silva just wanted to end Leites but couldn't figure out how to.

Personally I think this is WAY less to do with Silva than to do with his opponents. Enough people have gone through the meatgrinder now that people are waking up that you don't get into a fucking stand-up fight with him and most certainly don't fucking clinch with him.

As for Shogun - glad to see that he's turned it around. That was a brilliant showcase for him. I'm still not on the bandwagon, but at least I don't have to post my "LEAVE SHOGUN ALONE!" photoshop to quiet down the fanboy excuse making.

[aerius]

Personally I think this is WAY less to do with Silva than to do with his opponents. Enough people have gone through the meatgrinder now that people are waking up that you don't get into a fucking stand-up fight with him and most certainly don't fucking clinch with him.

On the other hand Silva also has to realize that people are learning to avoid his striking game (starting with Coté) and adjust his style so he can force his striking on his opponents and knock them out anyway. Take GSP for instance, everyone knows you have to avoid getting taken down by him or you're going to get pounded senseless, but no one has figured out a way to do that yet since GSP continues to find better ways to setup takedowns and impose his game. Same thing with Randy Couture to a lesser extent, everyone knows you can't let him get the clinch because he'll get a takedown out of it and do damage on the ground, but only Brock and Chuck have managed to stop it.

The problem is when you stop learning & improving your game, then you end up like Chuck, Cro Cop or Matt Hughes. People figured out ways to counter them and they didn't adjust their style to neutralize those counters. That's why those 3 are nowhere near as dominant as they once were, and the same will happen with Anderson if he keeps dicking around the way he has in the last couple fights.

[weemadando]

I don't think the Cote fight should be used as an example here - obviously Cote didn't want to get KTFO but by the same measure Cote has seriously heavy hands and a good chin and Anderson (not wanting to wade in and get a Matt Serra upset special) was moving around on the outside looking to counter while Cote worked pretty much the exact same gameplan against Silva. And because the two were both looking to counter it wasn't exactly working for either (nor for the crowd).

As for Silva adapting - sure he will, but he's only had one real case of someone using his game against him (the Leites fight) in that Leites didn't go for the clinch, he didn't go for shooting takedowns and was trying, successfully in my opinion to frustrate Silva. I mean the guy spent a what amounted to a whole round's worth of time being stood up while Silva pouted and paced. I can't think of a better gameplan to avoid getting KO'd while maybe suckering an angry and distracted opponent into my world.

Honestly? I think that the problem is not Silva's style or game, but it's his mindset. He wants to be the exciting guy, he wants to dominate and show off. And when he can't he gets upset and loses focus. I think if he has another "disappointing" performance we'll see a reassessment of his gameplan and maybe a move of camp (to Greg Jackson please!)... But the next fight will unfortunately have to be against Yushin Okami, which has the potential to be even more ridiculously "boring" for the beer swilling yob crowd.

[weemadando]

OOOOOOOOOOH YEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

UFC event in Australia in Feb 2010? FUCK YES.

Come on. Don't let this rumour go unsubstantiated!

[weemadando]

Forrest Griffin v Anderson Silva - aka UFC proudly displays it's money hat.

Also announced was BJ Penn v Kenny Florian. Let's hope that BJ gets another reason to go home crying to Hawaii and his legal team. Because I want to see Kenny with the belt.

Now, the question is does this mean that 101 will get a bigger PPV buy than 100?

[Zadius]

What a summer this is going to be.

I can actually see Kenny beating BJ. Kenny has good kicks and footwork, whereas BJ doesn't utilize either of those that much. Kenny might be able to capitalize on that if the fight remains standing.

[Chardok]

Dang dang. I was really hoping for Rampage vs. Silva. Oh well. It'll be a great (if very very short fight) nonetheless. too bad you can't make reservations at Buffalo Wild Wings. I'd be so there.

[weemadando]

After that, the only step left can be the Buffer 360.

[weemadando]

Five Ounces of Pain report that Roy Jones Jr has agreed to fight Anderson Silva in a MMA event. But Dana White is strictly against it, coming out with probably his quote of the year thus far:

I could do it, make it huge, make money,” White began to tell Woods. “But I could have done a fight like this when we were bleeding money (in the early 2000s). The fight would make some money, but it hurts MMA in the long term. We don’t do that because we love the sport. That’s a Pride or K-1 matchup. It’s not what we do.”

[J]

On a totally unrelated note I'm having a hard time deciding who's more stylish in tights, GSP or Shogun?

[weemadando]

On a totally unrelated note I'm having a hard time deciding who's more stylish in tights, GSP or Shogun?

GSP, because he also rocks the suits. Shogun would just look silly in a suit.

[aerius]

I wouldn't bet on it until I see it.

Let's put it this way, can you picture Wanderlei Silva in a tuxedo? Spoiler

[Zadius]

On a totally unrelated note I'm having a hard time deciding who's more stylish in tights, GSP or Shogun?

GSP, because he also rocks the suits. Shogun would just look silly in a suit.

Ah, but neither one could pull off the banana pants like Shinya Aoki.

[weemadando]

On a totally unrelated note I'm having a hard time deciding who's more stylish in tights, GSP or Shogun?

GSP, because he also rocks the suits. Shogun would just look silly in a suit.

Ah, but neither one could pull off the banana pants like Shinya Aoki.

Shinya Aoki - the Evolution of Tights

[Edward Yee]

So, uh... how about that Hong-Man Choi vs. Jose Canseco, eh?

I'm rooting for Minowaman to somehow take the whole thing, and participate in the Kinnikumania 2009 show.

[weemadando]

So, uh... how about that Hong-Man Choi vs. Jose Canseco, eh?

I'm rooting for Minowaman to somehow take the whole thing, and participate in the Kinnikumania 2009 show.

Mousasi will probably walk away with it all, but pray to god that no one in a regulatory capacity anywhere in the world where MMA is not yet legal gets wind of this kind of shit running.

[Edward Yee]

*snicker at the Japanese promo video "mispronouncing" Mousasi as "Musashi," as an excuse for the Miyamoto Musashi comparison... even after showing him beat the K-1 kickboxer Musashi* What's the odds you give him against Mark Hunt With A Stick?

This is worse than Kyle Maynard's MMA debut? At least all eight guys in this have all of their limbs.

[weemadando]

*snicker at the Japanese promo video "mispronouncing" Mousasi as "Musashi," as an excuse for the Miyamoto Musashi comparison... even after showing him beat the K-1 kickboxer Musashi* What's the odds you give him against Mark Hunt With A Stick?

This is worse than Kyle Maynard's MMA debut? At least all eight guys in this have all of their limbs.

OK, Kyle Maynard was bad, but that's a shitty promotion in bum-fuck Alabama or where the fuck ever. This is probably the no.2 promotion worldwide right now that's putting fucking Jose "I'm a juiced-up broke-ass ex-sportsman" Canseco in the ring with a monstrous freak of a Korean. Canseco has admitted that he's doing this because he's broke and needs the money.

Maynard is probably worse than just this fight, but the overall tournament is probably going to be the outright winner on the scales of fail.

[Ericxihn]

I could do it, make it huge, make money,” White began to tell Woods. “But I could have done a fight like this when we were bleeding money (in the early 2000s). The fight would make some money, but it hurts MMA in the long term. We don’t do that because we love the sport. That’s a Pride or K-1 matchup. It’s not what we do.”

Ahem

Even though Roy Jones Junior is a bit washed up, he can still outstrike anybody in MMA right now. Is this any more of a freakshow than a successful amateur wrestler who got famous in the WWE, or some bleached blonde alcoholic reality TV star? How is this bad for MMA in the long term; to go with this guy's point, what could be better for the sport than to have one of the best boxers in recent memory(albeit past his prime) taken down and submitted in less than 2 minutes? It could show people that MMA isn't just redneck-tattooed-guys-flailing-at-each-other-man-humping-WWE-wannabe-caveman-human-cockfighting but rather a sport with legitimate athletes that takes real skill and years of honing them.

Though there is always the chance that Silva gets stupid and tries to keep the fight on their feet.

[Zadius]

Yes, Dana White is scared that Silva would stand and get knocked out. He was all in favor of Sherk vs. Mayweather a couple years ago because Sherk is a wrestler and Mayweather is not a power puncher, so Mayweather would have had no chance. Jones Jr. has much better chances of pulling off a fluke win. Still, I think Dana should do it. It's not a freak show matchup like Choi vs. Canseco.

[Edward Yee]

At least Kyle Maynard has an "inspirational story" behind him... Fortunately re: that bout, it was an amateur fight, although I'm sure it won't help at all towards getting him a license in Georgia where it was first sought.

*dirty chuckles at Lashley vs. Cook*

I’m here and everyone wants to and tries to make fun of the wrestling thing. I’m real. If they want to play around, I’ll knock them out or choke them out. And that’s what I did. I choked him out and made him pay. Now he can go put the mask back on and have fun with himself.

[weemadando]

I think Bobby Lashley can be a real contender, and he at least seems humble enough in his Inside MMA interviews saying that he doesn't expect to go straight to the UFC and thinks that he will have to do his time in the smaller shows and work his way up.

I just hope that he gets drugs tested at some point, because DAMN.