The MMA thread (mk1)

[Edward Yee]

Note that as weemadando said, he only got hit by Arlovski because of the stand-up, and Roy Nelson's actually the TUF10 winner courtesy of a one-two left-jab-overhand-right KTFO of Brendan Schaub, so there's a lot of power behind those fists too.

[aerius]

And there goes any remaining chance Rampage had of winning his fight against Machida.




A few months ago we saw Steven Seagal training with Anderson Silva, now he's training the Machida brothers. Maybe this is what the Nogueiras need to revive their careers and get back on the winning track. But what would be really awesome would be Junior Dos Santos and Jose Aldo training with Seagal, man, I can't wait to see some videos of that in the future.

[aerius]

See what happens when you don't listen to the great Steven Seagal?
Watch that video again starting at 3:50, Seagal tells him not to wrestle with Rampage and don't get into the clinch. Machida didn't listen, he played the clinch game with Rampage, got pushed around and hit with power punches, and that's where he lost the fight on points. And he came that close to getting slammed.

[Koolaidkirby]

lets ignore the fact that that was the most retarded judging I've ever seen, even rampage was flabbergasted that he won.

[Edward Yee]

lets ignore the fact that that was the most retarded judging I've ever seen, even rampage was flabbergasted that he won.

Machida vs. Shogun I redux... well, except for those who thought Rampage won fair-and-square, like Dana White. Here we go again...

[aerius]

Not even close to Machida-Shogun 1, in that fight Shogun ruined Machida in the striking numbers in every single round and still lost.

Not here. Rampage landed more strikes than Machida in the first 2 rounds by a margin of 2:1, and he got the takedown in round 2. 10-9 rounds to Rampage for both. Machida beat him soundly in the 3rd round but it was nowhere close to a 10-8 round, so 10-9 to Machida and 29-28 overall for Rampage. Nothing wrong with the judging. You might be able to give round 1 to Machida for the leg kicks, but none of them landed solid and they weren't power kicks like the ones Shogun throws.

Now, if you want to do Pride FC style judging where the fight is judged as a whole instead of round by round, then Machida would've won the fight since he did more damage and secured better positions. But it's UFC judging by UFC rules, and by those standards Rampage gets the win. I don't particularly agree with the round by round 10-point must system of scoring but that's what they use.


Moving on to the other fights, Phil Davis pulls off a sub that's seen more in school yard fights than the UFC. He pins the guy to the ground, yanks his arm behind his back and subs him. You don't see that every day. Sotiropoulos got beaten in the first few minutes, then came back and subbed lauzon. Soti has a damn aggressive ground game, he doesn't mind taking a few chances to hit a sub even if he risks losing position. Messing around with him on the ground is a sure way to lose, and with this fight he picks up a win and ties Chris Lytle for most UFC bonuses.

And Karo Parisyan is done. The dude came in with jiggly beer gut and looked completely out of shape, not that it mattered since he got knocked out in under 2 minutes.

[weemadando]

Well that was interesting.

Sots is looking more and more credible, though his boxing needs a lot more work. Anyone would have been able to tell you what was going to happen once it hit the ground though. He's now going to be facing Denis Siver in Sydney. That's an awesome fight that will test his stand-up.

BJ blew Matt Hughes away. The Hughes-Hallman trilogy fight is now almost a certainty and we get BJ-Fitch in Sydney to boot. Pro-tip, Aussies will hate Fitch. If you think Bisping copped it bad, then that was because he was up against Wandy, I have to imagine that Fitch will cop only slightly less than if Josh Koscheck walked to the ring wearing a New Zealand flag.

Phil Davis truly is Mr Wonderful. It's a nice sub and one that I'm going to be practicing tonight as it's a good bit of lock-flow from the side control kimura which is one of my go-to finishers. I've promised Phil Davis that should I win a match by "Mr Wonderful" I'll celebrate with waffles as is only befitting.

Karo being gone is no shocker. Though teh "NOOOO! BROOOOOOO!" was a great line.

Lyoto v Rampage. It was Lyoto's fight to lose and he did. I had it 29-29 with r2 being the draw. 10-10 rounds need to be scored more often, there's been one or two in undercards of UFC events, but Marc Ratner usually blacklists the judges who do that.

Speaking of fighting to lose - Gerald Harris. I've often said it, that at some point you have to realise that you are losing and just go bananas. Then again, the way he was acting after the fight, perhaps he had Nam Phan in his corner?

[Edward Yee]

Sots is looking more and more credible, though his boxing needs a lot more work. Anyone would have been able to tell you what was going to happen once it hit the ground though. He's now going to be facing Denis Siver in Sydney. That's an awesome fight that will test his stand-up.

Or rather, will it test Siver's grappling?

but Marc Ratner usually blacklists the judges who do that.

And therein lies the problem -- hell, even BE's own "contrarian" (his reputation) Jonathan Snowden responds to the calls for 10-10 rounds and draws with "Are you trying to kill this sport?"

Speaking of fighting to lose - Gerald Harris. I've often said it, that at some point you have to realise that you are losing and just go bananas. Then again, the way he was acting after the fight, perhaps he had Nam Phan in his corner?

Possible that he's one of those who mentally wilts upon being told how things are REALLY going, instead of it lighting a fire under his ass?

[weemadando]

Yet there's all these people who think giving judges half point options will fix it... the problem is the judges, not the system.

As for Sots v Siver - fights start standing.

[aerius]

Yet there's all these people who think giving judges half point options will fix it... the problem is the judges, not the system.

You could fix most of the judging problems by banning Cecil Peoples from all MMA events.

[Edward Yee]

I don't recall him calling Easton vs. Beebe though... that was worse judging-wise than Machida vs. Shogun I or Machida vs. Rampage, Beebe had friggin' back control. Note re: 10-10 round discussion -- my take is "only if there's no must-decide-a-winner rule."

Agreed though that the problem is the unwillingness of judges to call 10-10 or 10-8 rounds, and the UFC/fans (if true) for not being 10-10/draw friendly. Here's Snowden on that... and his idea on why that is. (My interpretation: If the referees and judges don't kill MMA first, the UFC and American fans might!)

[weemadando]

10-10 rounds are unpopular because it doesn't allow them to sell a victory as much as they otherwise might. But the simple fact is that you have fights where rounds are so close that awarding it one way or another is the wrong choice.

It just bums me that at the moment we've got a 10 point system that might as well be a 1pt system for all the use it is in the current judges hands.

And because having a draw is apparently anathema to the average MMA UFC fan you've got two options for how to make it work.

1) The Sengoku style "there must be a winner" decision. Which sort of defeats the whole purpose of allowing a fight to be ruled a draw.

2) Sudden death 4th round. It'd blow your PPV timings out of the water but how good would that be!

Actually, third option:

3) Dana fires you both in the cage/gives you fight of the night bonuses and a rematch depending on what kind of draw it was.

[weemadando]

Anyone else get a nice suntan today from the nuclear meltdown between Rogan and Rios? I was watching my twitter feed burn up with this during the day.

It ends with Rogan calling Rios a faggot and claiming that he's gotten him fired.

Sigh.

MMA. Totally unready for the mainstream.

But I love that part of it (the accessibility), having Mayhem direct message me to thank me for showing people Bully Beatdown highlights is fucking great. That kind of interaction is impossible with just about any other sport.

Anyhow - here's one of the many reasons why I love Tomas Rios, people hate him for being opinionated. Turns out that quite often, his opinions are right:

[aerius]

And because having a draw is apparently anathema to the average MMA UFC fan you've got two options for how to make it work.

1) The Sengoku style "there must be a winner" decision. Which sort of defeats the whole purpose of allowing a fight to be ruled a draw.

2) Sudden death 4th round. It'd blow your PPV timings out of the water but how good would that be!

Oh darn, it just means we don't get to see the prelim fights that half the people don't see anyways because they're using it as a washroom break before the main event. Or they could just cut out those shitty UFC promo ads (why the fuck am I getting half an hour of promo ads in a fucking PPV I paid for?). Actually just kill those promo ads and the timing will be just fine.

Actually, third option:

3) Dana fires you both in the cage/gives you fight of the night bonuses and a rematch depending on what kind of draw it was.

Hell, throw in some live voting from the viewers with Dana White having the final word. They got live voting already for who will win the main events, throw in some live voting for who gets fired or who gets bonuses for each fight. Dana can check the results on his smart phone then get in the cage and deliver his verdict.

[weemadando]

In case anyone has missed it:

Gerald Harris got fired.

Now, I have to say that getting fired after one loss is pretty harsh. But I've also been saying FUCKING EVERYWHERE that at some point in a fight that you are losing, you have to go and try to fucking finish it. And the fact that Harris didn't should pretty much give away why Dana fired him.

DYWBAFF

Bam.

[Edward Yee]

I wonder if this at all has to do with him taking some of the fall over "several seconds gate," since that cost his opponent a possible eighth consecutive first-round victory, possible Submission of the Night and a relatively exciting/successful UFC debut. This is what I was talking about speculating about guys who DON'T keep wanting it if they think that they're behind, and why some end up being told that they're winning -- because if they got told the truth, they'd just quit.

I do believe the speculation though that it's also tied to absorbing the WEC and the greater influx of fighters, some of whom would probably be ready for main card slots just as soon as the UFC's had more time to puts its promotional muscle behind the "new" fighters. (Speaking of which, they had better not rush Jose Aldo back before he's fully healed! Though this sucks even worse for Josh Grispi, since he has to risk his title shot now against someone else.)

By the way, here's the Judo Chop for the "Mr. Wonderful" (according to his BJJ coach Lloyd Irvin, previously aka "The One Armed Bandit"), and the third round of Machida vs. Rampage, showing Machida's flurry, takedown, guard passes and the armbar attempt, but also why Rampage was able to escape by threatening the slam -- or rather, how he was able to threaten the slam.

EDIT: In retrospect, after seeing Fightlinker's crowing, this round may have also saved Machida's employment.

[weemadando]

I've decided to shuffle out some more MMA blogging, I'll be doing a weekly MMA related blog in the future just to rail against the perceived injustices of the world. Or something.

[aerius]

So from what I'm reading, Chael Sonnen is on some kind of testosterone replacement therapy, and there was claimed to be some fuckups in the paperwork & communication between the doctors and the commissions. Sonnen got his suspension chopped in half so he can start fighting again next March.

[weemadando]

I've said it in a few places and most others have said it too. CSAC is a piece of shit.

Chael Sonnen - Lied repeatedly to CSAC about his case and then makes a transparently false claim (as it relied on all his previously disproven lies being true). Sentence halved.

Sean Sherk - Claims that a forensic pathology laboratory is incompetent and that if there were any steroids found it was because they reused a dirty test-tube. Sentence halved.

James Toney - Rages out at CSAC and acts like a petulant child. CSAC gives him the benefit of the doubt. Sentence halved.

Hermes France - Busted for the same fight as Sherk. Admits wrongdoing, shows contrition and explains why he felt he had to use PEDs. Has sentence doubled.

CSAC need to sack up and not let themselves get browbeaten by fuckwads.

[aerius]

Damn, all that was CSAC? Well it's pretty obvious then, if someone's fighting in California he could roid up and take as many PEDs as he wants, then claim some bullshit excuse and get his suspension halved. Most of the UFC guys don't fight more than 2-3 times a year anyway so it's not like they're missing out on much, and apparently Dana White doesn't care enough to fire their asses either.

[Edward Yee]

The only "good" out of all of this was Chael Sonnen declaring under oath that he has defective testicles and that he didn't hit puberty until early adulthood.

[weemadando]

[aerius]

Holy fuck, just when I think the judging couldn't get any worse, it did. My god, it made Bisping vs. Hamill look good.
Joe Rogan fucking ripped them hard.

[weemadando]

At least Strikeforce had 4 KOs in a row. No chance to have a judge rob anyone.

However, given that it's Leonard Garcia, everyone should have been expecting this. If you go to decision with him, even if you have not been hit a single time the whole fight and he's looking like he went 15 rounds with a grizzly, YOU WILL LOSE.

[aerius]

Just finished watching Strikeforce on my DVR, I can't deny that watching people get knocked the fuck out is pretty entertaining, but you gotta admit that there were some pretty sad mismatches in the fights. Scott "I get punched 100 times in the face and get a miracle KO" Smith against Paul Daley? What the hell was that? Smith's had the shit beaten out of him in every one of his last 10 fights before he somehow pulled a miracle KO out of his ass to steal a few wins and they put him in against Daley who is at least 2-3 levels above him in striking skills.

Then you have Robbie Lawler against a washed up Matt Lindland who had his soul eaten by Vitor Belfort. Gee, I wonder what's going to happen there?

Babalu vs. Hendo was about as bad of a matchup as Babalu vs. Liddell, probably worse since Babalu isn't as good as he was back then. There's no way he can take Hendo down or threaten him in the standup so you know what's going to happen.