The MMA thread (mk1)

[Zadius]

I was thinking Seth would pose a greater danger than Ken anyway, so I was kind of happy about the change up. After the beating, the camera followed Seth as he ran around the cage celebrating, and in the background you could see Kimbo trying to tackle the ref.

[Big Phil]

Seems like in both Kimbo's fight and the Arlovski's fight were ended prematurely. While Both Petruzelli and Arlovski probably would have won in another five seconds or so anyway, Kimbo and Nelson should have been given the chance to either fight their way out of the beating, or get properly knocked out.

[aerius]

Yeah, I think I would've let Kimbo eat a few more punches since Petruzelli isn't a big power puncher and a few more shots wouldn't have put Slice in the hospital. It would however make the stoppage clear and free of controversy. The Arlovski fight on the other hand was a good stoppage, Nelson flopped face first to the ground bouncing off the cage on the way down and rolled flat on his back. He was done, no question, and letting Arlovski get a couple more shots in with his brutal punching power would've put Nelson in the hospital with brain damage.

[weemadando]

Oh dear lord that was hilarious.

Kimbo loses to someone who is a mediocre light-heavyweight. And then tries to bodyslam the ref.

But where's that bad-street-rep now? Knocked down by a JAB?

The only thing funnier in that lineup was Roy "Not quite Butterbean yet" Nelson thinking that getting stood up from lying on Arlovski for half the round was somehow "not justified" and that he certainly was not in any danger, no sirree from getting further punishment from Arlovski despite being completely shattered...

[Solauren]

I don't know why anyone is surprised that Kembo Slice went down like a sack of potatoes falling of the truck.

He's a street brawler that got up on You-Tube. Nothing more. And that was painfully obvious in this fight.

He's used to beating up punks and "I'm a tough guy" types. And he's kinda 'scary' looking. So what? Big deal.

He finally faced a well trained fighter, and he got knocked on his ass faster then the sack falling off the truck.

And unless something changes, no matter how much money Elite XC tossed on this guy, it's going to keep happening.

[Edward Yee]

For my first post in a long time... considering that Kimbo had a 2-0 pro record (not including Ray Mercer) before Shamrock-then-Petruzelli, why was it considered a good idea to put him against a fighter who was 9-4 (8 T/KOs) at the time? Unless he really was the only fighter, good or bad, available to stand in for Shamrock.

I don't know what to think of Petruzelli's claim (on 104.1 FM in Orlando) that "the promoters kind of hinted to me and gave me the money to stand and trade with him. They didn’t want me to take him down -- let’s just put it that way" (later denied/retracted at FiveOuncesOfPain.com) or of EliteXC's denials... oh wait, I do!

If true... then they paid him to go against Kimbo's strength instead of exposing his weaknesses, only for that to be "exposed." Dear.

[weemadando]

Well Jared Shaw has been giving interviews saying that Petrozelli should have been fouled out because "he hit the back of the head". Sure, if by back of the head you mean the ear. So, Elite XC is really working to cheapen it as much as they can. But lets face it. Your big draw card got demolished by a UFC cast-off and you haven't been promoting some genuine MMA talent (lets put a freakshow on top of the card instead of giving it to some guys actually fighting for a title), Affliction guys came in and stole your thunder by putting on some of the best shows of the night and having ads all through your broadcast.

Pretty much Elite XC did everything wrong that they could have. I mean, surely they could have flown Butterbean from Alabama to Florida in the 4 or so before the show. It's not like he would turn down a chance to be paid a disproportionate amount to play the tomato can.

[Meest]

I haven't seen any of Kimbo Slice's other fights, just the comments that he's really crappy. So has he taken a punch before? That was a sorry ass jab to be downed by, the other guy was literally on his back foot and leaning backwards and just pushed a jab out into his face. Did he put up any defence previously? Even after being stunned he had nothing, his instinct and defense was non-existent.

[Solauren]

Kembo Slice couldn't even defend against a straight thrust kick.

Come on, I've seen kids in grade school defend against that. You back off or bring up a knee to intercept (I'm a fan of backing off).

He's a joke. A fat, bad looking joke.

[Big Phil]

I haven't seen any of Kimbo Slice's other fights, just the comments that he's really crappy. So has he taken a punch before? That was a sorry ass jab to be downed by, the other guy was literally on his back foot and leaning backwards and just pushed a jab out into his face. Did he put up any defence previously? Even after being stunned he had nothing, his instinct and defense was non-existent.

Kimbo's a boxer; he can dish out and take punches pretty well, but has no ground game. Kimbo was unlucky and Petruzelli did everything right; that doesn't mean Kimbo sucks at everything or is a joke (Solauren, I'm looking at you); it just means he's overrated and got beaten by a better, luckier fighter.

[Zadius]

OK, to (sort of) defend Kimbo, because my gripe is mostly with EliteXC anyway. Kimbo is not that bad for a guy who has only 5 fights. His boxing is actually pretty decent, it's his ground game which needs a lot of work. I would actually say he has some potential if he was 20 years old instead of 34. He's just got no experience and should not be fighting in the main event on CBS! Kimbo doesn't suck by the standards of fighters with 5 fights, but he does suck compared to main event fighters.

His reputation of being a great fighter comes entirely from his youtube fights and EliteXC hype (mostly the latter).

[Edward Yee]

Well Jared Shaw has been giving interviews saying that Petrozelli should have been fouled out because "he hit the back of the head".

Basically DQ/NC?? I saw what kinda looked like a hit to the back of the head, but I think it was just the first hit (after Petruzelli realized "oh shit I downed Kimbo Slice!!!") and from then on he started throwing perfectly legal strikes to Kimbo's front. At worst, make like Lesnar vs. Mir and stand them back up. (The fight might have turned on this, but perhaps the referee expected Kimbo to defend after the knockdown... somehow.)

Kembo Slice couldn't even defend against a straight thrust kick.

Come on, I've seen kids in grade school defend against that. You back off or bring up a knee to intercept (I'm a fan of backing off).

If I recall Petruzelli said that it was a push kick to create physical space/range, not exactly a serious strike. From what I saw though, he was charging in -- couldn't have defended against anything, except possibly if Petruzelli had "overly" wound up and thus telegraphed an impending power punch.

[weemadando]

And having now seen the fight I can say that that the Roy Nelson stand-up was stupid. Half the time leading up to it a standup or some warnings would have been more than acceptable. But a standup while he's going after the kimura?

[note - my previous reference was based on live-blogging of the fights and some of the immediate news posts]

[Solauren]

Kimbo's a boxer; he can dish out and take punches pretty well, but has no ground game. Kimbo was unlucky and Petruzelli did everything right; that doesn't mean Kimbo sucks at everything or is a joke (Solauren, I'm looking at you); it just means he's overrated and got beaten by a better, luckier fighter.

As of right now, with all the hype, he's a joke, at least as far as MMA goes. Since he's in MMA, his boxing skills are examined under that perspective. And right now, again, he's a joke. Straight punching will only get you so far in MMA.

That being said, if he improves for his next match, I'll change my opinion to 'he was a joke, but he's gotten better'.

[Big Phil]

Kimbo's a boxer; he can dish out and take punches pretty well, but has no ground game. Kimbo was unlucky and Petruzelli did everything right; that doesn't mean Kimbo sucks at everything or is a joke (Solauren, I'm looking at you); it just means he's overrated and got beaten by a better, luckier fighter.

As of right now, with all the hype, he's a joke, at least as far as MMA goes. Since he's in MMA, his boxing skills are examined under that perspective. And right now, again, he's a joke. Straight punching will only get you so far in MMA.

That being said, if he improves for his next match, I'll change my opinion to 'he was a joke, but he's gotten better'.

Butterbean is a joke

Kimbo, like Brock Lesnar, is overrated; now they've both been shown up as being mostly hype, and now they either learn how to fight properly or they fade away.

[Edward Yee]

I think that Lesnar will survive, if only because he's got a mix of gifts (having the wrestling background unlike Kimbo) and can at least get decision wins, so it'll be longer before Dana would drop him. In contrast for Kimbo (but also Gina Carano, Christiane Santos, Nick Diaz... and whadya know, Seth Petruzelli too)...

Less than two years following the formation of ProElite, Inc., the group notified employees and fighters Monday it was shutting its doors effective immediately, multiple sources confirmed to SI.com.

[Big Phil]

What makes you think UFC wouldn't pick up Gina Carano (or Nick Diaz, Christiane Santos, etc.)? In spite fugly Tara LaRosa's constant whining, Carano can a) fight, and is b) marketable.

[aerius]

UFC president Dana White is on record for saying that women won't be fighting in the UFC, so Gina & Christiane are out of luck. Nick Diaz has some serious issues with Dana as well so I doubt he'll be getting another UFC contract.

[Big Phil]

UFC president Dana White is on record for saying that women won't be fighting in the UFC, so Gina & Christiane are out of luck. Nick Diaz has some serious issues with Dana as well so I doubt he'll be getting another UFC contract.

I'd forgotten that UFC didn't have any women fighters. Oh well, I guess they're back to the minor leagues for a little while.

[aerius]

Man, what the hell happened last night? It's like Anderson Silva went to break out his dance moves instead of fighting last night, I saw at least 2-3 chances where he could've easily finished off Cote but he didn't move in for the kill. To me it looked like Silva was just toying with him for most of the fight, and didn't get serious till the 2nd round was almost over. Then Cote blew his own knee out in 3rd round in some kind of freak accident.

Koscheck got the shit kicked out of his leg by Alves, who still can't really make weight. He was a pound over the limit, that's 2 fights in a row where he's been over, but at least it's not 5 pounds or whatever it was like last time. I think Alves is just too big to be a welterweight, Koscheck is a pretty big guy and Alves made him look small, the guy is huge.

[Zadius]

Yeah, the main event was a bummer. Silva has gotten cocky and didn't fight like usual, and then to top it off Cote falls down in the 3rd with an injury. But the rest of the night was good. Sherk vs. Griffen was awesome.

Koscheck got the shit kicked out of his leg by Alves, who still can't really make weight. He was a pound over the limit, that's 2 fights in a row where he's been over, but at least it's not 5 pounds or whatever it was like last time.

They have a one pound leeway, so Alves made the required weight this time.

[aerius]

They have a one pound leeway, so Alves made the required weight this time.

Yeah, and lucky for Alves that they do have the 1 pound fudge factor. Good fight, but I'd like to see him show that he can make 170, not 174 or 171.


Sherk vs. Griffen was definitely the highlight of the night, either that or the massive uppercut by Junior dos Santos on Werdum, made even worse by Werdum leaning into the punch when he got nailed.

Silva better get his head on straight cause if he does this again he's going going down. Maybe this is why he's retiring, he didn't seem motivated & serious anymore and we pretty much taking the win for granted. Maybe he needs a loss like GSP to get him refocused so he can start tooling people again.

[weemadando]

I'm not understanding all the hate for Silva...

He's up against a guy who has the best shot against him (pure power shots) and decides to keep his distance, work with his reach and try and frustrate Cote while going for point-scoring shots where they appear?

What he and Cote both did, was come to the cage with a gameplan that wasn't "I'm going to stand and trade with this guy who's got a big streak of wins (mostly by KO)." And they both stuck with that gameplan.

It pisses me off, because people have the same criticism of Lyoto Machida, who if you ask me should EASILY be the no.1 contender in LHW by now, but because people don't think he's exciting (and those people are idiots), he's not getting the big fights.

[Sriad]

Ka-bump:

Reminder that UFC 91 happens tonight at 7pm PT. Sports Bars showing the event can be seen here: http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=EventDe ... s&eid=1645

[TheFeniX]

So, Brock Lesner is now the UFC HW champ. Let's see if he can handle Big Nog. I mean, the winner of Nog vs Mir. No, I'll stick with Nog.

Anyways, Gina Carano is looking to be picked up by the WEC in one-off fights like she did with EliteXC. Hopefully she can start making weight, but either way White can make a buck off her and hopefully (for him, not us) get an actual WEC PPV together. Since Faber got KTFO and lost his title, they've lost a lot of draw.