The Canadian Invasion: UFC 50

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Nakamura has better hands than Newton. Technically - in terms of form and throwing his shots - he is a better boxer and has better kicks too. You're not going to knock Hendo out, but standing is very important in this when it comes to controlling Hendos wild punches. If Nakamura keeps form (which he will), he could rock Hendo when Dan rushes in and then throw him and control him. If Nakamura gets on top of Henderson, he _will_ control him. He's bigger, and as shown against Arona and Silva, Dan has a hard time - especially when the fight gets long (and Dan won't finish Nakamura) - getting the bigger guy off of him. And Nakamura trains with Yoshida, he has a grip unlike any Dan has met. Training with Lindland and Couture will help him, but it's not the same.

 

Bringing up Babalus accomplishments in 2003 doesn't reflect on him as a fighter in 2000. His biggest accomplishments to that point was a win over Tamura.

 

Nakamura dominated Bustamante for 3 straight rounds and still doesn't get any respect. That will change.

I'd just like to point out that Nog was beaten by Dan as well, and considering the size advantage in their second fight, the fact that he slipped out of all the crazy subs Nog was trying till the third round even whil giving up 35 lbs or so leads me to believe that Nak won't come close to subbing him this time around. I like Nak, he's a crazy little bastard, but Hendo is too much at this point.

[AboveAverage484 0]

I thought Nog actually deserved to win their first meeting.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I am not expecting Nakamura to tap or knock out Dan, I expect him to get the decision win. He already has the advantage of being Japanese and his size will really come into play during the 3rd round - which will be the round that will decide this fight.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

A really good interview with Frank Trigg from MMAweekly....

 

The one fight on the UFC 50 card that people had the hardest time picking a winner in was Frank "Twinkle Toes" Trigg verses Renato "Charuto" Verissimo. Strong cases were made for each fighter to come away with the win and the fight lived up to it's hype.

 

Verissimo nearly finished Trigg with a triangle choke, eerily similar to the Verissimo and Matt Hughes fight. Trigg got out of the submission and finished Charuto. "Twinkle Toes" put his MMAWeekly SoundOff Radio co-host job on the back burner and became the featured guest on Monday's show. Frank discussed his fight with Verissimo as well as the possible rematch with Matt Hughes for the UFC Welterweight Championship.

 

It was a hard fought fight against Verissimo Friday night. In fact, Trigg said, "It was probably the toughest fight I've had, to date. Tougher than Hughes' fight. Tougher than Jean Jacques Machado. Tougher than Iha. Tougher than Sakurai. It was absolutely one of the toughest fights I've been in in my entire life. It was actually the toughest fight, for sure."

 

When Charuto had Trigg in the triangle choke, the fight looked like it was about to be over. Frank was able to get loose and spoke about his thought process during the time he was in the submission hold. "How I got out of it, I've got no idea. I really have no clue how I got out of that thing," stated Trigg. "I wasn't going to tap," he added.

 

While locked into Verissimo's triangle, Trigg was thinking, "I'm in there, I'm in this triangle and I'm like, oh crap, I'm in this triangle. OK, don't worry about it, just relax, be patient, keep your posture. Then I'm like damn it just got tighter. OK, relax, keep your patience and keep your posture. Then I'm like, damn he didn't tap Matt [Hughes] in this thing. He's not tapping me in this thing. I'm a better fighter than Matt is..."

 

In the second round of the fight, Frank was "exhausted," but he felt, as his corner did, that Verisimmo had less in his reserve tank than he did. A testament of how tough Verissimo was, Frank Trigg commented, "There was no time in that fight where I thought for a minute that Charuto was going to tap out or was going to pass out. I mean, I'm going to have to beat this guy, beat him within an inch of his life for the rest of this round and then the ref's going to have to stop it." That's basically what happened. Further commenting on Charuto, Trigg said, "You can't find a guy slicker on the ground. You can't find a guy that's more willing to throw punches and you can't find a guy more willing to come at you."

 

I said at the beginning, a possible rematch with Matt Hughes because Frank Trigg is no longer under contract with the UFC. The bout with Charuto was the final fight on Trigg's contract and he is, as of now, a free agent. Speculating that he will be re-signed by Zuffa, Frank doesn't expect a rematch with Hughes to happen before April. Dana White, UFC President, said on MMAWeekly Radio recently that if Trigg beat Charuto that he would probably be in line to fight Matt Hughes next.

 

Comparing Matt Hughes to Verissimo, even though Hughes beat Charuto, Trigg said, "I've fought both guys. I've fought both Hughes and Charuto and I'm telling you, Charuto's a better fighter. That's my opinion. You guys may not agree with it but, I'm telling you, my personal opinion for sure, 100%, Charuto's the better fighter. He is a better fighter than Matt Hughes."

 

When he and Matt Hughes fought the first time, Hughes beat Trigg with a Rear Naked Choke. If they were to fight again, Trigg said, "I'm not worried about anything that he has." Frank went on to say, "I really don't think when Matt and I meet again it's going to be much of a war." I've watched Matt fight again. I watched him fight me, BJ, Charuto and I watched him fight St.Pierre," stated Trigg. Looking back on his first fight with Matt Hughes, Frank said, "I hadn't fought in a year. Like I said, I panicked when I got caught in the choke. I completely panicked when he got my back. I completely panicked."

 

If they were to fight today, Trigg said, "Right now, I'll give him my back and we'll start right from there. There's no way in hell he'll catch me in that submission. He's not catching me in any submission. It's not going to happen..."

 

Frank Trigg was not at a loss of words about Matt Hughes. He looks to be in position to fight Hughes in a rematch. We all know he wants the fight with Matt and that Hughes fights whoever they put in front of him. The only question is will the UFC put this fight together? I'd pay to see it.

[Styles 0]

Neat. So looking ahead to February, we probably have...

 

Tito Ortiz vs. Vitor Belfort

Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg (Welterweight Title)

Evan Tanner vs. Matt Lindland (Middleweight Title)

 

And in April probably...

 

Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddel (Light Heavyweight Title)

Frank Mir vs. Adrei Arlovsky (Heavyweight Title)

 

and we'll probably get returns from Guy Mezger and Tim Sylvia somewhere in there. Looks like things are mapped out nicely (that is until the inevitable week before the show cancellations that will happen.)

[AboveAverage484 0]

I don't expect Tanner to fight Lindland, seeing as how they are on the same team.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

They won't have to.

 

Rich will though, seeing as how he'll be MW Champ

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

They would have fought each other had Lindland won. He didn't. Me thinks Franklin/Terrell and Tanner/Murray setting up the title fight would be acceptible Have Baroni/Lawler as a make-or-break fight between the two, and Lindland can lick his wounds for a while.

[Styles 0]

I don't expect Tanner to fight Lindland, seeing as how they are on the same team.

Shoot, I meant David Terrell not Lindland. Got confused there for a second, forgetting who beat who.