RavishingRickRudo

If Chuck can KO Overeem, Shogun will go through him like a hot knife through butter.

Clearly, my publicist hasn't been doing her job.

I just finished watching Gomi/Hansen, and _at best_ I'd call it a draw with a 10-9, 8-10, 10-9. Gomi won the first and third round, and controlled all but 3 minutes of that fight. Was Hansen getting Gomis back and sinking in the (unsuccessful) choke all he needed for the win? I don't know SHOOTO rules, but "winning" 20% of the fight doesn't seem all that fair. Gomis takedown defense in that fight was very good. He reversed Hansens attempts several times, he won the fight standing, and certainly chose where the fight was going. I think out of all of the top 5, Gomi is the most well rounded - or at the very least, has shown me the most well rounded skills. I think his win over Jens Pulver is getting over looked, as Jens still should be considered a top fighter and the fight was decided standing. "Undersized" shouldn't really qualify in this case. Gomi showed excellent technique in that win, yet what he does in a fight tends to get over-looked. His fight with Jean Silva, for example, Gomi looked amazing in it, but that doesn't get factored in. So Gomis only real loss was to BJ Penn - and if you want to talk about size, here ya go. BJ muscled around Hughes at a higher weight class and competes at middleweight as well. I'd like to see Kawajiri or Shaolin or Hansen take on BJ and see how well they'd do.

Tanner/Terrell is fantastic. Terrell actually dominated most of the fight and the story is tremendous. Terrell, the young, brash, cocky, favourite. Tanner, the weathered underdog. Terrell gets the early advantage, but when Tanner takes Terrells best and gets through it, Terrell is FUCKED and gets his ass stomped by the vet.

See, I FREAKED OUT when watching Jackson/Shogun, since Jackson is much better than Inoue and Yatsu, so I include it. Milage may vary.

Joe/Raven up here last month had Joe working very loose (and very crappy ).

Just finished watching Tokoro/Lil Nogueira. Another FOTYC. Goddamn, 2005 is turning out just fine. Half-way through and there's a sick amount of great matches (going by WON standards, including Dec 04) Hansen/Uno Trigg/Hughes St. Pierre/Miller Franklin/Tanner Tanner/Terrell Tokoro/Nog Pulver/Gomi Gomi/Silva Shogun/Nog Fedor/Nog Hunt/Silva Bonnar/Griffin Shogun/Jackson I know a lot of those could be disputed as FOTYC, but -to me- those are all awesome matches. I didn't even count Sanchez/Koscheck or Bonnar/Southworth, because I wasn't sure of the date and I'm not sure if those are sanctioned.

The conclusion to Benjmanin/Carlito is something with no Dq's or no Countouts - a street fight fits that. But then again, so does a steel cage and a bunch of other gimmicks.

Oh, and where can I find some SHOOTO tapes/dvds?? I may be horrifically uninformed here

I wouldn't mind hearing your reasoning for your top five lightweights and why Gomi should be number 5. The guy gave the best performance of the night at Bushido - better than Kawajiri and Hansen, and has been tearing it up lately. I hope it's not a "well, Hansen beat Gomi, and Shaolin beat Hansen, and Kawajiri beat Shaolin". I buy Hansen - that guy has been very impressive - I can see maybe Kawajiri, but Shaolin is a bit of a puzzle.

Comic-Con 2005: Lost DVD Details New clips and information showcased at the event. July 16, 2005 - At ABC's special Lost panel this morning at Comic-Con, producer Shawn Cassidy revealed some new details about the seven disc boxed set that is scheduled to be released September 6th. Over eight hours of bonus features are promised, including deleted scenes, featurettes, cast auditions, and audio commentary. We got an opportunity to see a couple of the features during the panel, and they should please fans of the show. "Genesis of Lost" talks about how the series came together. Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams spend the lion's share of the time on camera revealing the near-magical way everything came together. Fast-tracked by ABC, the show was picked up on an outline alone, and the pilot was written in five days. This feature discusses the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the show's genesis. The second feature, "Welcome to Oahu," showcases and explains the special effects used in the pilot's dramatic crash sequence. Unlike many other FX making-of sequences, this one talks as much to the actors involved as it does to those responsible for the effects. The result is a funny, intriguing look at one of the most amazing sequences of the first season. Two deleted scenes were also shown at the panel. The first takes place between Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) on the beach. Sawyer is smoking next to the plane and Charlie comments that it's dangerous. When Sawyer refuses, Charlie then asks for a smoke, and walks away once he gets it. In the second scene, Sawyer and Kate are watching Locke, Jack and Sayid talking island politics. They compare the proceedings to C-SPAN and Sawyer asks why Kate isn't over. She responds, "I don't like C-SPAN." The producers seem quite happy with the DVDs and extras offered. In addition to the features already discussed, tons of cast audition footage (pretty much the only cast member who didn't audition was Terry O'Quinn), and many hours of commentary. We'll bring you more details as we discover them. -- Chris Carle

Lost, but not alone: Fans show up by thousands to see show's stars July 16, 2005 Viewers of ABC's hit show Lost will learn what's inside the infamous hatch in the first episode of the second season, "and it's not just another hatch," promised executive producer Damon Lindelof. But that's about the only tidbit about the serial mystery show that he and other executive producers gave out during a panel discussion of the show with fans at Comic-Con on Saturday, other than the second season will answer many of the first season's unresolved questions about the island and what's going on -- but that those answers will raise new questions of their own. "Basically, we mean to put you in a Mobius loop of confusion," writer Javier Grillo-Marxauch said. Roughly 4,000 people packed the massive Room 20 of the San Diego Convention Center for ABC's presentations on Lost and two new serial mystery shows: Invasion, about what may be an alien invasion of a hurricane-struck Florida town; and Night Stalker, a "reimagining" of the 1970s cult classic Kolchak: The Night Stalker. After showing video clips from the upcoming Sept. 6 first-season DVD set -- interviews on the making of the show and some deleted scenes featuring bad-boy loner James "Sawyer" Ford -- Lindelof, Grillo-Marxauch and other executives were joined by stars Josh Holloway, who plays Sawyer, and Maggie Grace, who plays the demanding Shannon Rutherford. Fans shouted "I love you" to both actors before asking such questions as whether it was true Holloway enjoyed swimming in the nude. "Well, I think we all like to return to nature," Holloway joked. "I don't do it very often. Occasionally." Asked later about the benefits of taping the show in Hawaii, "skinny-dipping would probably rate pretty high," Grace said. "Polar bears also swim in the nude," executive producer Carlton Cuse said, riffing on one fan's question about the plausibility of having had polar bears menace characters on the show's tropical island. The actors began taping the show with only a little background about who they were playing and their relationships with the other characters, Grace said. "It was pretty much on a need-to-know basis," Grace said. Holloway said the creators gave cast members the freedom to develop their characters and that he shared some exagerrated similarities with the Sawyer fans see on screen. "I think there is a part of us that wants to say what we think all the time, but we don't do that or we'd wind up in jail," Holloway said. One fan asked Holloway about the meaning of the comic book once possessed by the show's Walt Lloyd character, saying the comic appeared to depict both aliens and polar bears. Holloway gamely tried to answer the question. "I believe the comic book was in Spanish, but Sawyer barely speaks English," he said. "He looked at the pictures." Lindelof stepped in. "There could not possibly be aliens because, as everyone knows, this is not a science fiction show," he said, tongue apparently firmly in cheek. The creators mapped out a a possible long-term storyline for the show, but the uncertain nature of any television series means they can't depend on carrying out a long-term plan, Lindelof said. "We know what the end of the show is, and when that happens depends on you," Lindelof told the audience of fans. "Hopefully that will be four, five, six seasons." http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/weblogs...ves/001810.html http://www.lostlinks.net/

More thoughts: SPOILERS!!! Ryo Chonan vs. Phil Baroni - Chonan, good job on keeping your hands down and totally underestimating Baronis punching power. I think the fight was stopped a lil early, but I can see how it may have delayed the inevitable. Takanori Gomi vs. Jean Silva - Fight of the Night. Fight of the Year Candidate IMO. Impressive performance by Gomi - who should get some respect from this board but doesn't. Gomi dominated all around, he kept the pressure on throughout the 15 minutes and there was never a dull moment. Awesome, awesome, awesome. There should be more hype on this. The armbar at the end was tragic. Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luis Buscape - A big 9 minutes of nothin from Kawajiri, but the other 6 minutes was good. By the end he was punishing Buscape.

WWE Title John Cena © vs Chris Jericho Unless they can find a way for Cena to catch Jericho on his shoulders after a Lionsault, I don't really see this being very good. I like both wrestlers and think they are capable of putting a **** match together, but Jericho isn't a strong enough wrestler (in terms of how he is presented) to convincingly put Cena on the defensive. I imagine they'll do an injury angle sometime soon to help Jericho out, but no one will buy a potential title change. World Title Batista © vs Hassan Well this is an awful match. Batista squashed Hassan a few months ago - how can Hassan be a threat to Batista? Why is Hassan getting a #1 contenders shot? Who has he beaten??? Wouldn't he be better off with the US title first? Maybe if they pair Hassan and Orton up, and this is just leading to Batista/Orton, I could buy this match existing. Otherwise, they are overvaluing the heat Hassan is getting. HBK vs Hulk Hogan I think this match could be really good with HBK bumping like a freak for Hogan. Both guys have really good pacing, so the crowd heat should be sustained for the entire match. It will be interesting to see where they put this, as given the rest of the card, it should be the main event. Casket Match Undertaker vs Randy Orton Their match at Mania was good, but the Casket stip won't help the match any. This would be better as a HIAC... Taker can't be happy that HHH already played that card this year. Didn't they have a Casket match at the rumble, anyways? There has to be a better gimmick than this. Edge and Snitsky vs Kane and Matt Hardy Awful. If they do this, Hardy shouldn't even show. US Title Chris Benoit © vs JBL Good feud, bad title. This won't elevate the belt, it will just bring both guys down. This is the 4th most important match *ON SMACKDOWN*. How is that good for either guy who, this time last year, was main eventing?? Me thinks creative couldn't think of a single thing for either guy to do and just put them together, OR, they wanted the two to feud but couldn't think of a reason for them to fight. Stupid, stupid, stupid WWE. Bah. This could be match of the night, nevertheless. I echo the Regal sentiment, though. I think Regal/JBL/Benoit could make for an awesome feud - who's the toughest motherfucker on Smackdown. You could carry it on till 2006. IC Title Street Fight Carltio © vs Shelton Benjamin Dear god why? Every match I've seen between the two has been bad, or worse, boring. Big Show vs Kurt Angle Whuh? I assume Big Show will first beat the Masterlock Challenge, and then take Kurts Gold Medals? The Final Match Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio Jr. Who fucking cares? Bad Feud.

I'm about half-way through the BUSHIDO card; thoughts so far: SPOILERS!!!! Masakazu Imanari vs. Joachim Hansen - Hansen. Is. Badass. Imanari was really fun in this - joking around, doing all this whacky stuff. Hansen was business. He hit the knee, but the best part was right after he hit it he walked to his corner without looking back. BADASS. Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Kimo - Kimo sucks. The highlight of this was Minowa working the crowd after his win. Denis Kang vs. Andrei Semenov - Pretty good fight. Some nice standing encounters, Kang has a pretty darn good ground game to go with his pretty darn good stand up. Tough call on the decision, though. Semenov didn't really do much after his takedowns, so I can see that hurting him with the PRIDE judges. I hope they give him another shot in the Bushido ring. Josh Thomson vs. Daisuke Sugie - NICE fight. A kneebar out of an armbar? AWESOME! I hope they bring Daisuke back too. I need some SHOOTO, dammit.

Despite the fact that Arona punished Sakuraba with knees, he still looked very hesitant standing. It will be very interesting to see how he reacts to an aggressive Silva.

There goes the number one heel in Canada... good fucking bye.

Austin is 40. Wow. And he's still doin the same schtick.

--A correction from what we mistakenly had up early yesterday, the brackets for the Pride tournament are Wanderlei Silva vs. Ricardo Arona and Alistair Overeem vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua - Da Meltz Holy Crappin Crap. Shogun might just win this thing

When does RVD return? Because an RVD/Hardy team (not tag team, though that would be fun, but more of a partnership) would be very NWO-ish. They both have expressed distain for the WWE (RVD at the ECW PPV, Hardy on RAW), both have their fanbase, and I think together they could get further up the card than apart.

What are you, some kind of The Wire Mormon ? I will get to it eventually. Infact, LOTC has shown me a lil bit of Deadwood (which I enjoyed), so when I finish that season, The Wire is most likely next... actually, it's probably the only show that's left on the "must see TV DVD" list.

Gaddammit, don't encourage him. I say buy front row tickets to the Smackdown taping and bring a "Undertaker is a Mark" sign.

Blackbelt, Fightsport, Full Contact Fighter.

Sean Astin IS Rudy.

He should grow his hair out, work up a nice five o'clock shadow, and talk in a (more) smooth southern accent. He can be the confidence man. And he can call Maria "Freckles".