UFC Fight Night #???

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I by no means think that what Rashad did was wrong but if you watch the tape he stops for a second before pouncing with the first punch. He knew Salmon was out but like benoitrulz said he was pissed and wanted to make sure.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Rashad was doing what fighters are told to do; keep fighting until the referee actually stops the fight.

 

And that might just be the most devastating KO in UFC history. Watch the replay, and on the third angle you see every jaw at cageside drop all the way to the floor. The guy next to Rogan even jumps into the air as well. And let's not forget that poor Japanese woman who looks terrified.

[vivalaultra 0]

Rashad wasn't dirty fighting. He didn't even contact with substantially with the two, maybe three jabs he threw after Salmon was down. As said before, it's just a fighter's instinct to keep going at it till the ref steps in. As soon as the ref got between them, Rashad backed off immediately. Now, if after he knocked Salmon out, he woulda jumped on him and started ground and pounding, that mighta been a different story, but I don't see that he did anything that I haven't seen countless other fighters do.

[starvenger 0]

Rashad wasn't dirty fighting. He didn't even contact with substantially with the two, maybe three jabs he threw after Salmon was down. As said before, it's just a fighter's instinct to keep going at it till the ref steps in. As soon as the ref got between them, Rashad backed off immediately. Now, if after he knocked Salmon out, he woulda jumped on him and started ground and pounding, that mighta been a different story, but I don't see that he did anything that I haven't seen countless other fighters do.

It's an issue that's unique to MMA, I think. My feeling is that the fighters "know" that their opponent is either out or close to it, but again the instinct is to keep going until the ref stops the fight. As noted, Rashad's followup punches were more for show than to inflict punishment, and the ref was perhaps a half second too slow to react to the kick.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

vivalultra was watching a different fight then everybody else it seems. Rashad connected, hard, with the giant right hook he swung from over the top. No jabs here. And I don't think they were for show.

[vivalaultra 0]

Well, I was on the phone when the fight was on originally and not 100% watching intently (Yeah, like anybody was expecting Rashad to finish in the 2nd round by KO...), and the only footage of the fight that I've seen since was the youtube video, which isn't of the best quality, so just judging from that it didn't look like he was really throwing fists or anything, but, if you say he was, I'll agree with you because you probably saw it more closely than I did. Still, even if he did connect, I don't think he was fighting dirty. How did he know Salmon wasn't gonna pop back up? I guess that even Rashad underestimates his ability to finish.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Everybody and their mom knew that Salmon wasn't getting back up. Like I said before, Rashad didn't do anything wrong but it's clear that he could've shown restraint but didn't.

[Youth N Asia 0]

You're supposed to keep going till the ref tells you to stop. GRANTED, Rashad knew he was over with. Like when Franklin knocked out Nate Quary. He knows he didn't need to do it, but wasn't in the wrong either

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I'd keep hitting him.

[AmericanDragon 0]

Salmon deserved it for this bullshit.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Who does Salmon think he is, the karate kid?

[starvenger 0]

Who does Salmon think he is, the karate kid?

He's lucky that Rashad doesn't know how to sweep the leg...

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

UFN brings in the numbers:

 

ONE-TWO PUNCH OF SPIKE TV’S “PROS VS. JOES” AND “UFC FIGHT NIGHT” KNOCKS OUT THE COMPETITION ON JANUARY 25

 

More Men 18-34 Tune Into Season Premiere of “Pros vs. Joes” Than Anything Else on Television From 10:00-11:00pm

 

Second Most Watched UFC Fight Night Ever With 2.3 Million Viewers

 

New York, NY, January 29, 2007 - Spike TV’s original programming one-two combo of the season premiere of “Pros vs. Joes” (10:00-11:00pm ET/PT) and a live “UFC Fight Night” (8:00-10:00pm) on Thursday, January 25 was a knockout victory for the network. “Pros vs. Joes” drew 900,000 Men 18-34 (3.3 rating) more than anything else on television (broadcast or cable) in the timeslot. The premiere tallied a total of 2.4 million viewers, the third most watched original series premiere in network history behind “Blade” and “The Ultimate Fighter 3″ last year.

 

“Spike TV originals bring the kind of distinctive hard-hitting action that resonates with our young male audience, as evidenced by the ratings from Thursday,” said Kevin Kay, General Manager, Spike TV.

 

Overall, “Pros vs. Joes” drew 1.89 HH rating, with a 2.57 in M18-49, a 1.63 in P18-49, a 3.32 in M18-34, and a 3.73 in M25-34. Compared to the timeslot last year, the show was up triple digits in every key demo including +340% in HH, +498% in M18-49, +462% in P18-49, +849% in M18-34, +767% in M25-34 and +374% in average audience.

 

Along with Men 18-34, the telecast was #1 in its 10:00-11:00pm timeslot in all of television in M18-24 and was #2 behind NBC in M25-34 and #3 in M18-49. The telecast was easily #1 in its timeslot vs. all cable competition in all male demos.

 

Leading into “Pros vs. Joes” was a hard-hitting “UFC Fight Night” that featured exciting victories by two of the sports’ rising stars - light heavyweight Rashad Evans and lightweight Hermes Franca. The fight card drew 2.3 million viewers, the second highest “UFC Fight Night” ever behind Tito Ortiz-Ken Shamrock III last October. As usual, the UFC fight defeated the NBA (Mavericks vs. Bulls) on TNT (1.4 million viewers) and NCAA College basketball (Duke vs. Clemson) which tallied 1.5 million viewers on Thursday night. Also by comparison, the NHL’s star-studded All-Star Game the night before on Versus drew 691,000 viewers, less than a third of Spike TV’s UFC fight card audience.

 

The telecast was #1 in its 8:00-10:00pm timeslot in cable in the key demos of M18-34, M18-49, M25-34, and M18-24.

 

Overall “UFC Fight Night” drew a 1.70 HH rating, with a 2.00 in M18-49, a 2.25 in M18-34, and a 2.73 in M25-34. Compared to the timeslot last year, the event was up +43% in HH, +122% in M18-49, +181% in M18-34, +190% in M25-34 and +58% in average audience.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Heath Herring needs to go back to Japan where the compition is easier.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

You're on fire lately. Herring with a torn MCL isn't much of a fighter at all.

 

(This is where Lei Tong comes in and says that Herring at 100% isn't much of a fighter either).

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

He isn't. At 100% he's still gonna lose to O'Brien. I called this back when it was announced and I stand by it. If he's so interested in only striking let him go to K-1.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I don't disagree but if O'Brien is only interesting in wrestling he should go back to Purdue.

[AboveAverage484 0]

I'm willing to give Heath the benefit of the doubt for that fight, but if he loses again I say he's done with the UFC.

[vivalaultra 0]

I think the main problem with the fight was that it was a horrible mismatch. Herring's a sloppy striker and O'Brien can take people down like a mofo but can't do anything when he gets em down. I have no idea why they would've put somebody like Herring against somebody like Irish if they were trying to actually make Herring look like an exciting and credible fighter. I can think of about 5 or so fighters that Herring would've matched up better against and put on a more exciting fight. Stick him in there against Frank Mir or Christian Wellisch or Hell, stick Cheick Kongo in there against him or something. All Heath wanted to do after O'Brien showed that he could take him down at will was stand up and strike. After Irish kept taking him down and showing that he couldn't do anything on the ground, Herring knew that he couldn't get in close or else he'd just lose the match by decision and Irish knew he didn't have a shot standing up so he just kept taking him down and laying on him. It was a shitty fight, but I'm sure that Herring can do better than that.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Yeah but going in to the match nobody predicted Heath would get taken down like he did. I mean he has a background in wrestling so I don't think it's completely out of the question that most people thought Heath should have been able to dictate the fight.

[vivalaultra 0]

Yeah, I think, despite what he said, Heath underestimated Irish and, as a result, left himself open to takedowns and after the first couple lost his confidence a little bit.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

You're on fire lately. Herring with a torn MCL isn't much of a fighter at all.

 

(This is where Lei Tong comes in and says that Herring at 100% isn't much of a fighter either).

 

Relax, it's a joke.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

And a funny one at that I thought. Curry as we all know is just too racist to give you the benefit of the doubt.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I can't see how anybody ripping off a lame-ass line from Chris Leben can be considered humorous but whatever.

 

And given Carlito's history of retarded statements it's not at all implausible to think that he was serious.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I can't see how anybody ripping off a lame-ass line from Chris Leben can be considered humorous but whatever.

 

And given Carlito's history of retarded statements it's not at all implausible to think that he was serious.

 

More retarded then you dickriding a mediorce fighter like Heath Herring?

[Lei Tong 0]

I don't disagree but if O'Brien is only interesting in wrestling he should go back to Purdue.

 

Considering O'Brien showed more overall skill than a 40 fight veteran, I think it's safe to say he's already shown interest in more than wrestling, and will likely continue to do so.

[Lei Tong 0]

Also, O'Brien/Herring is proof positive that people don't actually watch non-UFC fights, because what we saw was vintage Heath Herring. The same Herring who(se)...

 

- got put on his ass by Enson Inoue

- has been utterly schooled by every top flight HW he's ever faced

- was largely dominated for 2 rounds by Yoshihisa Yamamoto

- shit himself in an epic struggle with Giant Silva

- last win was a semi-lucky, come from behind KO over Gary Goodridge

- blew out his own knee throwing a high kick

 

Herring has always been an overrated fighter (FACT: at no point in his career would Herring had ever been a Top 5 UFC HW), and in a day and age where being a big, semi-agile, jack-of-all-trades style HW is no longer enough to fool the ignorant masses of MMA fans that you're worth half a shit.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I wont deny I thought Herring was going to beat O'Brien by desicion, but I wasn't shocked to see O'Brien win.

 

I never thought Herring was going to be a force in the HW divison, Arlovski and Sylvia would KO him easily, PDP, Gonzaga, and Monson would submit him, Assuerio Silva and Vera would beat him, etc.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I don't know if those guys could submit him, but other than Monson they could probably ride out a decision at the very least. For all his faults, Herring is pretty slippery on the ground. Wouldn't surprise me though, considering during the O'Brien fight he didn't understand the concept of a guard.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I don't know if those guys could submit him, but other than Monson they could probably ride out a decision at the very least. For all his faults, Herring is pretty slippery on the ground. Wouldn't surprise me though, considering during the O'Brien fight he didn't understand the concept of a guard.

 

Gonzaga maybe not, but if PDP gets him down, espically in the positions O'Brien had, he would've submitted him easily.