UFC 54: Boiling Point

[Lei Tong 0]

As said elsewhere:

 

7-1, with only the horseshoe/jetpack combination Irvin had hidden up his ass preventing me from a perfect night.

 

- I was one of the few people who seemed to think GSP would push Trigg's shit in without much problem. It also makes me look like a genius for ranking GSP ahead of Trigg and putting him on P4P list. YOU KNOW!!!

 

- Diego sucks, Gassaway just happens to suck even moreso. Look for Koscheck to leave Diego in dust in terms of skill by next year.

 

- As I hoped (and echoing Blue here), MVA/COuture made for one of the most entertaining wrestler vs. wrestler style match-ups you're ever likely to see. MVA looked good early, but once his explosiveness left, it quickly became the Randy Show once again.

 

- Sylvia looked more mobile and a bit quicker this time around, but the way he pulled straight back whenever Tra would come at him makes me think he's begging to get dropped by Andrei again. Like seemingly everyone else, it was a bit disconcerting to see a competitor have to leave on a stretcher, but hey, "this ain't hopscotch!"[/stupidfuckingrogancomment]

 

- Hah, Horn lost. Now I don't have to see him on any LHW OR MW rankings.

 

- Blue is right: I have a thing for overachieving wrestlers with weak G&P. Lindland is giving Henderson a run for his money for the spot of "Olympic Wrestler Who Gets Taken Down the Most," and may be getting a bit too high on his own submission prowess (repeated viewings of his ADCC matches should be required viewing at his next training camp).

 

- Martin looked decent for a negro Oompa-Loompa, and I can see how he could've beaten Moore & Sonnen. Irvin still doesn't impress me much, though him flying trhough Martin on the flying knee and simply walking away immediately afterwards gave the finish a certain something.

 

- I like Prangley, but though he thoroughly dominated Lutter, it's a bit dissapointing he couldn't put him away. I'll simply convince myself that his former Lion's Den ties made him give a little less than 100%.

[Guest Brian]

Who should Diego face next? Maybe Diaz?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

--Tra Telligman is okay, as far as talking and moving and there didn't appear to be any serious damage. That was one scary knockout from Tim Sylvia's high kick. He was kept overnight at the hospital for precautionary measures. Terry Martin was out of the hospital quickly and walking around at the show before it was over. Mike Van Arsdale was also taken to the hospital last night but didn't appear to have any serious injuries.

 

-Wo.com

 

Whew.

 

I think in terms of contenders for Matt Hughes in the UFC, it's like this (not necessarily ranking fighters, just their proximity to Hughes and based on the past few years in the UFC):

 

1. Georges St. Pierre

2. Karo Parisyan

3. Nick Diaz

4. Frank Trigg

5. Chris Lytle

6. Diego Sanchez

7. Renato Verissimo

8. Jason Miller

9. Dennis Hallman

10. Carlos Newton

 

Carlos Newton, Hallman, Miller, Lytle would be interesting matches for Sanchez - they're good enough and recognizable enough to be a notable "win" for him, and he has a chance to beat them. Charuto, Trigg, Pariyan, and GSP would be throwing him to the lions. Diaz is an interesting one because the guy has the ground skills to neutralize Sanchezes attack and also threaten Sanchez on his feet. It would be a nice "contenders" fight for both men down the road, but not right now.

[Guest CurryMan]

I just watched the show, thought it was good enough. But in my mind only the preview until the next Pride show.

 

Some thoughts about the show:

GSP looked awesome a rematch between him and Hughes must be next in line. I find Couture one of the more boring fighters in UFC but the first round in this fight was great. Sylvias kick was nasty. Liddell dominated the fight against Horn, bad gameplane to think he could outbox him perhaps. ohh and

 

FLYING KNEEEEE!~

 

Another thing, I went to sherdog now and its funny to see like 5 threads about Liddel poking Horn in the eye, the only thing that was there was Liddels whole fist. But I am impressed that he didn´t get knock out earlier.

[AmericanDragon 0]

Off topic

 

I don't get FSN but I'm reading that they're censoring the Pride fights that they're showing. Fedor vs Fujita, they cut to the crowd before the soccer kick. Rampage vs Liddell, they cut the entire ground and pound finish, and instead of showing Silva vs Rampage, they're showing Silva vs Sakuraba 3 which really didn't have any action at all besides the ko punch at the end.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

For the record, Chuck never poked him in the eye. He just had blurred vision from getting knocked silly. Just had to throw that out to stop the haters, though I doubt anything will

 

Also, Horn had blurred vision and could not see after Round 1, which would lend more credence to what I said above, in addition to showing that even though he was outmatched, that he's one tough SOB and that the choker label is one that is undeserved. Choking to me is failing to perform to your potential on the big stage and cowering back at any slight sign of damage due to nerves. Fighting with blurred vision is insanely tough, especially when you're getting knocked around like he was.

 

Can someone gimme a PBP on the interviews before/after the Trigg fight? I heard he was practically crying after. I'd like to hear what he said before the fight to make a nice little contrast.

[Guest Brian]

Are they going to release Horn, or drop him into 185?

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Neither I think, right now I'm hearing that he's gonna stay at 205 to fill that division with some new blood, as in the past twenty four hours we've pretty much had three new guys in Irvin, Horn and MVA. With the guys they already have, throw Rampage in there, and you've pretty much rebuilt their division, which before TUF was sagging with only Couture and Liddell realistically, as Tito and Vitor was already on the outs.

[Guest Big_Jay101]

MVA isn't new he has fought in UFC before, 52 was his last appearance.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

He's a new addition to the LHW ranks.