MMA June PPV Double-Shot II~!

[Styles 0]

Man, why do UFC shows have to be so weird whenever I order them. What a strange night.

 

-Tanner def. Baroni via unanimous decision. This was a fun match because Tanner was just owning Baroni with stiff strikes and hard takedowns. I'm surpised Baroni wasn't knocked out. Baroni spent so much time dancing before his match that he had nothing for the fight. Both looked gassed at various points. Overall a fun, mostly standup beating.

 

-Hughes def. Verissimo via unanimous decision. Ok, the first round was just fucking awesome. I was so pumped for the rest of the right thinking it was gonna steal the show. Charuto was just going crazy trying all they submissions and I was sure he had Hughes tapped when he aplied the triangle and then the armbar, but Hughes is a strong dude to get out of it. They were both rolling on top of each other and countering their every move. Great round, but the next 2 were basically boring. Round 2 was less intense with Charuto more cautious and Hughes throwing only sporadic forearms. Round 3 was just both of them laying on the ground mostly Hughes controlling. It's bullshit that Hughes got a unanimous decision though. First round has to go to Charuto, 3rd to Hughes and the 2nd is more a matter of a opinion. Could have gone either way but it should have been split.

 

-Mir def. Sylvia via TKO to win the Heavyweight Championship. This was pretty shocking. Mir took him down just like he said he would, and had his arm tight, so tight that Sylvia's forearm snapped. When the ref stopped it was kind of weird because no one knew what was going on and Sylvia was adament about being ok and wanting to continue fighting

Mir: We'll fight again.

Sylvia: It aint over, let's fight now.

*marks out* but it was a smart decision when after evaluating the replay and hearing from the doctor that his arm was indeed broken. It's a shame the fans were booing Mir like it was the Belfort thing when there shouldn't have been any controversy. I'd like to see them hook up again.

 

-Trigg def. Hallman via KO. Well this was pretty one sided. I wasn't familiar with these guys but I guess it's the conclusion to the "you kicked me in the balls" "no I didn't, you're just a pussy" feud. Hallman took some strong shots to the face, but it wasn't too classy by Trigg to flip him off after he was knocked out.

 

-St. Pierre def. Hieron via KO. Awesome! St. Pierre is tremendous. His knockout and then rapid fire shots to finish reminded me of old Vitor Belfort matches. This guy is gonna be a star, especially with the spinaroonie action at the end!

 

-Shamrock def. Kimo via KO. Diappointed that this one was so short, since I really wasn't into the match but got myself pumped for Shammy and it was less than 2 minutes of mostly all clinch. That knee to Kimo's chin was brutal though. Ken looked good, hopefully we get him and Tito again so we can see what Shammy has really got. Kind of sad about Kimo though, he was so distraught he refused a post match interview.

 

Overall it was a good but not blowaway show. Nothing to go out of your way to see the replay but it was an entertaining 2 and half hours.

Best match goes to Mir/Sylvia, Worst match Shamrock/Kimo (only because it was so short), while best round goes to that balls out 1st round of Verissimo/Hughes. St. Pierre and Shamrock share KO of the night.

[Guest NaturalBornThriller4:20]

Shite.

 

I forgot. The replay just started, so i'm good.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Awesome stuff Pin and Slap, are you guys going to get the PRIDE show as well???

 

Goddamn, I want to see a St. Pierre UFC fight! The guy is awesome, let's hope they don't fuck it up by giving him Hughes so soon. Build up the wins, get him on the main draw, and have the match next year.

[Styles 0]

Yes I am, the Pride show looked like the better of the two cards anyway. Damn my cable bill is gonna be huge between UFC, Pride and 3 or 4 weeks of TNA. Just imagine if I didn't go to the sports bar for Badd Blood and actually gave a shit about Great American Bash!

[Styles 0]

Meltzer's report:

 

UFC 48 round-by-round coverage

 

 

 

by Dave Meltzer

 

[email protected]

 

If you're watching, we're looking for your thoughts on tonight's show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle and a best and worst match to [email protected].

 

Welcome to our coverage of UFC 48 from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

 

The scheduled opener is Evan Tanner vs. Phil Baroni, so they're opening with the grudge match. Tanner won the first round with some takedowns, elbows pinning Baroni against the fence. Baroni got up and they did some stand-up. Baroni hasn't thrown any strong punches while Tanner hit some knees. Tanner looks more tired tho.

 

Well, so much for that. Tanner totally dominated the round. Baroni did nothing and most of it was standing. Baroni just isn't himself. His new training doesn't look to have paid off. Tanner connected with punches and knees from the clinch.

 

Baroni rocked Tanner a few times with punches early in the round but couldn't follow up. He wasn't himself. Tanner smothered Baroni on the fence to ride the time, and eventually took Baroni down and hit punches and elbows in the last minute. 30-27, 29-28, 30-27 unanimous decision for Tanner. Baroni's stock took a major hit.

 

Matt Hughes vs. Renato Verissimo is up next. First round was interesting. Hughes was on top most of the round, but Verissimo run the round with a near armbar and a triangle that Hughes backdoored out of. Hughes has to be spooked by the submission skill.

 

Second round was boring. Hughes had him down almost the entire round and did almost no damage. I call the round even. Fans hated it.

 

Third round was the same. Hughes on top. He did cut Verissimo over the eye with an elbow. I've got it 29-29. Wow, they had is 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 for Hughes, which meant two judges gave Hughes the first round. They felt being on top and nothing happening meant more than I did. Terrible fight.

 

Tim Sylvia vs. Frank Mir for the heavyweight title is up next. Sylvia took Mir down, which was nuts. Mir armbarred him and the ref stopped it. They may re-start this. It visually look like it was broken. Fans are really upset but looking from the ref's position, it looked like a good stoppage. Mir is officially the winner and champion.

 

Dennis Hallman vs. Frank Trigg is up next. This show needs a good fight and I'm not sure these two are the guys for the job. Trigg won late in the first round by punches from the top. Hallman kept going for submissions on the ground. An interesting fight to watch.

 

George St. Pierre vs. Jay Hieron is next. St.Pierre is the real deal. He decked Hieron with crisp punches and was destroying him on the ground with punches and elbows before it was stopped very quickly.

 

It's confirmed that Sylvia suffered a fractured forearm and possible torn tendon as well.

 

Ken Shamrock vs. Kimo is next. The show needs a strong main event. This saved the show as Shamrock knocked him out with a knee to the chin very quickly.

[Lei Tong 0]

Quick thoughts:

 

- Tanner's still chinny, though he protected it much better this time around. Baroni was simply blah.

 

-Charuto got screwed. At closest, IMO, this fight was a draw. He dominates the first, the 2nd was him atempting submissions and Matt throwing a couple of elbows and punches, and the third Matt finally gets some meaningful G&P going and a decent kimura attempt. How anyone gives the first to Hughes is beyond me.

 

- I'll give Mir all the credit, he got the fight to the groudn (although it was a reactionary takedown from Sylvia, though possibly he also wanted to prove he could ebat Mir there), and that's all it took. I first thought i would've liked to see the fight go a couple seconds more (I was glad the ref didn't stop Semenov/Salaverry from the triangle armbar), but after realizing it was his damned forearm that popped as opposed to his elbow, I guess it makes it that much more serious. Bring on Mir/Arlovski.

 

- I knew St. Pierre had some really good G&P, but his stand up looks really sharp, too. All credit to Heiron for staying conscience longer than he should have, but this was never in doubt.

 

- Shamrock looked suprisingly storng vs. Kimo, though Kimo didn't seem to be going about things to intelligently. Great knee by Ken, and I would mind seeing him get beat by a good HW and giving them the rub on the way out.

 

(Quick note: Was anyone else suprised at how toned down Tito and especially Ken were in their self promotion? I think Tito was way too nervous on the stick to get anything much of value out anyways, but Ken really suprised me with his humbleness).

 

Undercard highlights:

 

Prangley takes longer than expected vs. Stout. Stout got in a few good shots in as well, but he's taken some good ones in the past, so he hangs on to get the second round scarf hold submission.

 

Menjivar seemed to be the aggressor agaisnt Serra, looking like he was even coming close on a Kimura. I imagine this may have been Nog/Ricco-esque, which then wouldn't suprise me with the JD going to Serra.

[the pinjockey 0]

OH MY GOD!

 

MOTHERFUCKING POWERBOMB~!

[Styles 0]

Not that anyone cares, but I got in late tonight so Im taping Pride and will likely watch it tommorow at which point I'll have my thoughts...carry on!

[the pinjockey 0]

Overall thoughts:

 

Saku/Schembri - Decent enough fight. Saku was doing well standing, but he would throw a combo and then back off instead of following up when Elvis got stunned. I don't recall Schembri doing anything of note other than a couple of flurries thinking back on it.

 

Arona/Jackson - MOTHERFUCKING POWERBOMB~! I was worried when the fight went to the ground, since everyone says that Arona is usually boring. But he seemed to stay pretty active and was in position for the triangle. Maybe Jackson saw the Hughes slam from last night and played a game of can you top this. Arona was bitching about the accidental headbutt (I would assume), but it was his own fault he got slammed so fuck him.

 

Sergei/Schilt - I was surprised at how well Sergei was able to do while in standup. Schilt won the standup part, but Sergei did a respectable job of countering and limiting big damage. I was very impressed with Sergei's ability to break Schilt's grip and ground and pound. And his ability to stay on top was amazing. To keep his balance through all of Schilt's attempts to buck was very impressive.

 

Ogawa/Silva - Well, Silva lasted a little longer then I thought he would. The fact he didn't get caught in a sub was impressive to me, but he still appears to be lost in regards to escaping. Baby steps though.

 

Hunt/Yoshida - I was disappointed in the fact Hunt didn't really try to strike at all standing up. But his ability to escape the subs was very impressive. And I loved the defense to the toe hold.

 

Herring/Nog - It is funny how Herring can look so pedestrian against everyone else, but when he gets in there with Nog he turns into this much more impressive fighter. Maybe one of these days he will get some meaningful offense in (instead of just escaping everything), but still entertaining none the less. And it has to be scary for future opponents to know that there is another position from which Nog can sub you from.

 

Fedor/Randleman - How the fuck is Fedor still standing after that slam? Dropped on his god damn head and he turns it into sidemount. I had it all set in my head , after that slam, that it was going to be a strange final four with Nog, Sergei, Ogawa, and Randleman. Then boom, Fedor shows me I am a fool.

 

Overall thoughts: I was pleased with the show. A couple of huge slams to get the juices flowing, Sergei with the classic teabag ground and pound, an impressive debut for Hunt and thirty odd Bushido 4 adds. I did think they got a little carried away with all of their animations. The Saku animation was bad fucking ass, but the rest seemed unnecessary (except the dancing green thing of Ogawa).

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Saku/Schembri

 

Saku did look really tentative, as opposed to his usual brashness. Even though he was landing the better strikes, it was Schembri who was keeping the action moving, which was a dissapointment. Sakuraba looked broken down and tired the entire fight, which was sad to see. He could take Schembri down with ease but got zero done in the guard and always ended up standing over a lying Schembri. It was frustrating how he could do next to nothing to get past Schembri's defenses there, until the end when he got desperate and went for two of those famous flying stomp attacks. It's definitely a good thing that he's retiring.

 

Arona/Jackson

 

The only other Arona fight I've seen is vs. Henderson, which, as Rudo pointed out in his preview, was a great fight, so I can't speak on Arona's "boring" rep. I do think he was winning this fight up until Jackson killed him with the powerbomb, though. The only thing that had me worried was that Jackson had been KO'ed by Arona's heel kick from Arona's guard. Had Arona started pounding on Jackson with punches instead of yelling at the ref to stop the fight, he might have won.

 

But thank God he didn't, because that Powerbomb was the coolest thing I've ever seen in MMA. Everyone talking about how Jackson couldn't slam Arona are eating crow now, because that was the highest I've ever seen Jackson lift someone, and the impact looked like it should have killed Arona. Not much of a fight up until the finish, but jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, what a finish.

 

Sergei/Schilt

 

Agreed on the tea bag mount being awesome. Schilt was doing very well standing but once Sergei took him down it was pretty much just a collasal beat down. The shot of Schilt's face just before the ref stopped it drew a big gasp from the live crowd just from all the blood.

 

Ogawa/Silva

 

I'm really not getting the lack of HUSTLE/PRIDE continuity on this show. Ogawa comes out in his "I'm Chicken" shirt, beats a member of Takada's heel stable, and Takada doesn't even shoot him a dirty look at the end of the show as he announces him for the final four? WUSSUPWIDAT!?!?

 

Hunt/Yoshida

 

Hunt seemed pensive to throw strikes standing for fear of being taken down, which might have been justified, as Yoshidad did take him down several times. His escape of the armbar and counter to the toe hold were impressive, though, and if he worked on a better sprawl, he might be able to be the next Vovchanchyn.

 

Herring/Nogueira

 

Hard not to feel bad for Heath in this one as the first round was really back and forth, exciting stuff, but in the second he got caught in Nog's funky Reverse Guillotine Choke finisher right away and had to tap. Then again, Heath probably should have been ready for it after it beat Yokoi. Great fight.

 

Fedor/Randleman

As if there wasn't enough reason to think Fedor is a cyborg, Randleman's German Suplex managed to look even more dangerous than Jackson's Powerbomb, with their combined weight landing on Fedor's head/neck, and yet Fedor looked barely stunned by it and won the fight within a minute by submiting Randleman. Amazing performance by Fedor who continues to prove his versatility might rival Nogueira's. Whether by pure luck or insanely high pain tollerance, Fedor came out of this looking unstoppable. Nog is a more amiable babyface, but Fedor fits the championship mold better.

 

Overall: Great show. Jackson's pre-fight interview and commentary were hilarious and he's probably the most marketable, charasmatic guy they have. They might have to clean up some of his racial refferences, though (at one point, Mauro mixed up Randleman and Jackson's names, and Jackson joked "it's ok, man, all black guys look alike").

 

The video package on Randleman was very well done, as was his promo before the fight. They managed to bring up his near-death car accident and his father dying without sounding too melodramatic, and he came accross as a genuinely passionate, determined guy. He's also a very marketable star for American audiences.

 

On top of that, all of the fights were either a) exciting or b) too short to matter, and all of the "right" guys went over to set up the GP finals and Silva/Jackson II. Plus, they have the Powerbomb and German Suplex to add to their hilight reel, which is nice.

[the pinjockey 0]

The morning after and I am still juiced up from the powerbomb. I just spent about the last 5 minutes watching a gif of it over on at SD.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

[the pinjockey 0]

No matter how many times I have seen those, I still have to watch for at least 2-3 minutes

[Lei Tong 0]

Irony: Moves like that being pulled off in MMA while a fireman's carry is being sold as a legit finisher in WWE (anyone care to inform me how that came about?).

[the pinjockey 0]

God damn how the fuck is Fedor still alive?

[Styles 0]

Thoughts~!:

First of all what was up with the special effects. Were those things holograms or something? It was pretty wild.

 

Sakuraba def. Schembri via unanimous decision: Decent opener. It was kind of stop and start though as they would start throwing down and then kind of stop and Elvis would just lie on his back with Saku kicking at him. Overall good action that Saku totally controlled. Got to love his crazy jump kicks at the end even if they didn't hit.

 

Jackson def. Arona via KO: POWERBOMB~! Oh my god was that awesome. What an electric finish. How strong is Jackson to just lift the guy up dead weight up to head level and drop him down like that? Arona was actually impressive and I think he had Rampage briefly out when he hit those stiff kicks to the face. Fun match.

 

Kharitonov def. Schilt via TKO: Kharo is gonna be a force. This was just a total all out slugfest and I loved it. Both guys were just trading blows and seeing who could hit harder. Kharo literally beat Schilt's face into a bloody pulp at the end for a decisive win.

 

Ogawa def. Silva via TKO: The Japanese sure do love this guy. Silva is just so outclassed on this show. He hung in there a little based purely on his brute strength but couldn't even do anything to stop Ogawa from just mouting him and beating his face to finish.

 

Yoshida def. Hunt via armbar submission: Well the ending isn't a shock but the length of time Hunt stuck in there was impressive. The guy got out of an early armbar that I thought for sure would finish him by smartly grinding his knee onto Yoshida's head, and then escaped a heel hook too. We really didn't see him throw any big shots though but especially considering how nervous he obviously was, this was an impressive debut and with more training on ground skills could become a player.

 

Nogiuera def. Herring via choke submission: New rule, Quinton Jackson does commentarry for every match he's not in. The guy reminds me of when Stevie Ray was doing Thunder (and I mean that in a good way). The fight itself was the fight of the night. One round of all out explosiveness from both, Herring getting out of some tough submissions and both guys really standing up and throwing hard punches. Nog hooked on that crazy rolling choke again and this time it looked more brutal as Herring was turning blue. Great match with hilariously irrelevant commentary with Rampage talking about Herring tight's being too short ("I think I see one of his nuts hanging out"). I laughed also at this exchange:

Rampage: I've never seen him do that choke before

Ranallo: He did it last time, at Total Elimination

Rampage: Oh, I didn't see that one.

 

Fedor def. Randleman via armbar submission: OK, between his knockout of Cro Crop and his effort on this show I've become a Kevin Randleman fan. The guy must have had so much on his mind with his dad passing and having to fight on Father's Day no less when he basically admitted he couldn't train properly. Nevertheless he stuck it out and OH MY GOD WHAT A HEAD DROP. How is Fedor still alive after that!? He was dropped right on his head and it just proves that Fedor is not human that he basically shrugged off that potentially crippling suplex. Just a real "holy shit" moment, when I didn't think the powerbomb could be topped. Like Quinton Jackson said Randleman was upstaging him "I wanted to be the only token black guy." Oh man another great exchange:

Ranallo calls Randleman Jackson

Jackson: That's ok, all us black folks look alike

Ranallo: Oh, no no no.....

Bas Rutten: It's like the Japanese they all look alike too!

Jackson: That's right.

Fedor got control of the arm and there wasn't much Randleman could do from there.

 

Overall an all around good night, that takes the edge over UFC to win the weekend battle.

Fight of the night is Herring/Nog, worst fight of the night was Silva/Ogawa. KO of the night goes to THE RAMPAGE POWERBOMB~! of Arona, while the "holy shit" "spot" of the night is Randleman suplexing Fedor on his head. Nog's rolling choke V.2 gets submission of the night.

 

Ranallo predicts Fedor vs. Nog and Ogawa vs. Kharo and Bas predicts Fedor vs. Ogawa and Kharo vs. Nog but I disagree with both and think we'll see Ogawa vs. Nog and Fedor vs. Kharo.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

BUMPS OF THE YEAR.

[AboveAverage484 0]

I never said it about Royce, never said it about Saku, and never said it about Nogueira, but I will say it about Fedor: he is unbeatable under Pride rules. His only loss was under Rings rules and was from an illegal, albeit unintentional, move (elbow). I'm sure he would demolish TK ten times out of ten, now.

 

Jackson still won't beat Silva.

 

Shamrock and Mir, though still far on the horizon, would be a great match, between two fighters with very similar styles, though Shamrock's boxing is light years ahead of Mir's.

 

Until he proves otherwise, Ogawa sucks.

 

It's still too early to pass judgment on Hunt, but as he proved in K-1, he has a huge heart.

 

I see Saku fighting one more time against a B level fighter (or possibly Bustamante) and then finishing his career with a final match against Silva or the long anticipated match against Frank Shamrock.

 

It sucks that Ogawa is in the final four, because Heath so deserves it more than him. Herring looked vastly improved in his rematch with Nog.

 

Hughes better thank the gods that he escaped with a win over Charuto.

 

Baroni is not done, because someone with his charisma and striking power will always have a place on a card.

[Guest CurryMan]

I can´t understand how Fedor survived that slam from Randleman, he is a surtified monster. If anyone can beat him it will be Nog but I really can´t see it.

[Lei Tong 0]

Shamrock and Mir, though both primarily submission fighters, are not similar. Ken's submission game is still horribly limited, resembling many early Pancrase fighters by diving for the legs at any given moment. His stand-up is definitely improved over what is was early in his career, but the Kimo fight doesn't really change my opinion that he's going to get taken to school by the first top 20 HW he faces.

[AboveAverage484 0]

I guess that explains why 22 of his 26 victories have come by submission, huh? And there's a reason he dives for the legs so often, he has the best leg locks in MMA, shit, he submitted Bas twice with them and broke Don Frye's ankle in their match.

[Lei Tong 0]

Couple of important points:

 

- A good chunk of his early Pancrase matches were works, like many other matches in the company. Pancrase moved to mostly shoots in 1996, then full MMA in 1999, both long after Shamrock's departure. Also, in terms of grappling ability, very few Pancrase fighters of the era could compete with the best grapplers elsewhere.

 

- Both Pancrase Dojo training and shinguard/boot combinations lead to Pancrase being very leglock happy in it's early days, with normally non-submission oriented guys getting their fare share of heel hook and toehold victories (though many of these can also be traced back to works).

 

- At the time of his two defeats to Shamrock, Bas was still extremely limited in his grappling ability, and even at his grappling was still not much better than roughly BJJ purple belt level in his grappling. As for Frye, he was carrying 30+lbs. than he was at his prime, lowering his overall mobility (not to mention he's not a great submission guy to begin with). Also, in the end, Frye's MMA comeback would be something of a dissapointment with his best competition outside of Shamrock being his DQ win over the limited Gilbert Yvel.

 

- Not even counting overall submission skills, but rather jsut in leglocks, here's just a handful MMA fighters (past and present) with superior leglock skills to Ken's:

 

Naoya Uematsu

Ikuhisa Minowa

Rumina Sato

Mikhail Illoukhine

Valentijn Overeem

Masakazu Imanari

Baret Yoshida

[AboveAverage484 0]

Good point on Overeem, I had forgotten about him. As for most of Pancrase's matches being works in the beginning, some of them may not have been 100% legit because the best fighters in early Pancrase; Funaki, Shamrock, and Suzuki; probably "carried" lesser fighters so as to put on a good show and not just submit them immediately.

 

Of course I'm probably one of the few who thinks Yoshida's match with Silva was a work, so take the above with a grain of salt

[Lei Tong 0]

Hey, I'm with ya on the Silva/Yoshida thing, however unpopular that may be.

 

On the thing of guys being carried in Pancrase, it didn't happen all that as much as total works, IE- both guys being in on it as opposed to one. On a side note, some of the more outright workish things seen in the organization were Ken Shamrock's Northern Lights Suplex/floatover to mount on Matt Hume, Funaki's delayed rear naked choke, Suzuki's win over Shamrock for the KOP title, and the overall ebb-and flow of certain matches, with more guard passes, sweeps and submission exchanges than in the most exciting grappling matches.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Arona wasn't dead weight really, he came up with him (for God knows what reason) sort of like he wanted to continue the choke, as opposed to letting go. It's like he did a sit up while holding the Triangle. Big mistake obviously. He should have kept on beating him down, but meh. There will be a rematch, and I'm glad he showed that he was actually trying to win the fight. It wasn't boring at all. Nice upkicks too.

 

Jackson is gold on commentary, and my avatar is proof of that.

 

Anyone who thought that Fyodor couldn't stay calm in the face of a beating, or that he couldn't take one and hasn't proven it yet should be eating their words now. Unless they're REALLY stubborn. I don't know how else he can prove it, that slam was WORSE than the powerbomb, with about 450 lbs landing on his neck, and he just swept him like it was nothing, and applied the kimura. Beautiful. It's interesting how both his fights against Hammer House fighters had the same dynamic; puts himself in a precarious position, stays calm in face of storm, gets position, applies submission, done.

 

Re: The Hughes Fight; just because it was a uninanimous decision doesn't mean that they didn't think that Hughs won the first round. If you notice, most of the scores were 29-28, meaning they know he lost the first round, but thought he won the fight overall. I thought he was done after the triangle, and with the way he stayed in there I was really impressed with him.

 

I'm laughing at Sylvia now. "I'm the best in the world!" "Mir ain't shit!" "Bring on Fyodor!" "I've never lost so I have no weaknesses!" Okay, that last one was most of his Sherdog Nuthuggers, but the point remains. Everyone should shut the fuck up about him now. He was subbed in thirty seconds by Frank fucking Mir. Arlovski will destroy him since his ground game is much better than Sylvia, as we learned now anyway, and he will pick apart Mir on his feet. Bitchtits can go back to using Cabbage as a punching bag. Seriously, there's so much hypocrisy with this guy I just wanna see him put in the ring with The PRIDE Three. MFS is overrated and he just gave up his arm. Fuck him. He's just a really big guy who uses his size to his advantage. I don't know how he beat Ricco, I haven't seen it, but every time I've seen him the "MAINE-IAC!" has failed to impress. Mediocre standup...and that's it.

 

Is it just me or did they stop the Trigg fight early?

 

I am beginning to think that Noguiera will win the tournament since he will get Ogawa and should get by him easily, while Fyodor will have trouble with Sergei. But with this fight, maybe he can handle fighting both fights in the same night?

 

"All black people look alike."

 

"They all call me Gary Goodridge."

 

"Heath has got some hairy legs."

 

"Heath pull out your shorts man, your ass is showing."

 

"His wife got a big BUTT man, I gotta look after her."

[Guest NCJ]

That powerbomb and leaping belly to back suplex were two of the coolest things that I have ever seen. Pride was worth buying for those two moments alone.

 

I still think Fedor is the favorite, but he will probably draw Sergei while Nog will draw Ogawa so his night definately looks tougher. I think Ogawa might actually be a decent fighter, but even if he is in the best shape of his life and puts on a great performance against Nog he still isn't going to go in there and do any real physical damage. Sergei is going to go in there and put a hurting on whoever he faces win or lose. Whoever draws him will definately have the hardest path to win the title.

 

I'm still not sold on Mir, but he definately fought a good fight against Big Tim. Why Sylvia was letting him constantly bull rush him instead of staying outside and using his reach is beyound me. I only hope that Arlovski dosen't get screwed out of his title shot with a pre-built fued vs Freeman and Shamrock being an intriguing fight for Mir. He will be a better test of Mir, because he actually knows how to use his jab and keep his distance.

 

Hughes got a gift decision. I thought he did okay after the first, but he clearly didn't do enough to deserve a win. Especially two judges giving him every round. I have read that the Judges are commisioned by Nevada and not the UFC. If that is the case I wish they would get some training on how to properly judge an MMA event.

 

I really hope Jackson gets a shot at Silva before he moves up. I want a fresh Rampage vs Wand for the belt incredibly bad right now.

[AboveAverage484 0]

On the thing of guys being carried in Pancrase, it didn't happen all that as much as total works, IE- both guys being in on it as opposed to one. On a side note, some of the more outright workish things seen in the organization were Ken Shamrock's Northern Lights Suplex/floatover to mount on Matt Hume, Funaki's delayed rear naked choke, Suzuki's win over Shamrock for the KOP title, and the overall ebb-and flow of certain matches, with more guard passes, sweeps and submission exchanges than in the most exciting grappling matches.

 

The thing about the Shamrock match is that Shamrock would beat Hume in a shoot, so why would it need to be worked? Hume says it's a work at any rate. Not sure what you're talking about on Funaki, any examples? The KOP match was most definitely a work, because they were afraid Ken would lose to Royce Gracie in the upcoming UFC, so they had him drop the title.

 

That's the first time on a message board I've ever mentioned that opinion on Silva/Yoshida, so I'm glad someone agrees with me. In fact, I believe all of Yoshida's matches have been worked, I'll have to rewatch Hunt's match but it did seem odd how Hunt didn't do much of anything offensively on his feet.

[AboveAverage484 0]

And the picture in Triple R's sig just reminds me of how much I fucking hate Ogawa. Pride will probably tell Nog to take it easy on Ogawa for a round or two before pulling out a submission on the "valient" Ogawa in the third round or so. Ogawa wouldn't last a minute with any of the final three in a real shoot, which makes it all the more dissapointing that he's in the Final 4 rather than Herring, who looked like he'd been training his ass off.

[Lei Tong 0]

The thing about the Shamrock match is that Shamrock would beat Hume in a shoot, so why would it need to be worked?  Hume says it's a work at any rate.  Not sure what you're talking about on Funaki, any examples?  The KOP match was most definitely a work, because they were afraid Ken would lose to Royce Gracie in the upcoming UFC, so they had him drop the title.

Well, given the size difference I don't doubt Shamrock probably could've defeated Hume in a non-worked bout, but Hume's record is deceptive due to the works he lost, and he actually a very good fighter at his own weight, having defeated both Pat Miletich and Erik Paulson.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Just for shits and giggles, here's my new, updated, Pride rankings:

 

(Must have competed in Pride at least once in past year, emphasis is on victories in past year, followed by one year old victories, then two year old victories, any victories older than three years are disregarded; same with losses)

 

Heavyweight Champ: Fedor Emelianenko

 

Middleweight Champ: Wanderlei Silva

 

Interim HW Champ: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

 

Top contenders (p4p):

 

1. Quinton Jackson

 

2. Mirko Filipovic

 

3. Heath Herring

 

4. Sergei Kharitonov

 

5. Rodrigo Gracie

 

6. Gary Goodridge

 

7. Kazushiro Nakamura

 

8. Kazushi Sakuraba

 

9. Daiju Takase

 

10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

 

11. Hidehiko Yoshida

 

12. Mauricio Rua

 

13. Ryan Gracie

 

14. Murilo Rua

 

15. Kevin Randleman

 

16. Dan Henderson

 

17. Aleksander Emelianenko

 

18. Takanori Gomi

 

19. Semmy Schilt

 

20. Igor Vovchanchyn