UFC 81: Breaking Point

[Guest cheetoe]

I don't watch alot of MMA but why was Lesnar just standing there holding onto his ankles right before Mir put him in the hold? I looked like he really didn't know what to do in that situation. He seemed to setting himself up for some kind of takedown. Not to smart for a former NCAA champ.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Fuck you, Nog. Don't do that to me ever again. Such a good show.

 

- Protect ya neck

 

- BIG DOG. Cool finish.

 

- Tim Boetsch is the greatest thing in MMA. That was an insane beatdown and the head-toss was the icing.

 

- Marquardt looked great against Horn and I'm digging the jew-fro.

 

- Lesnar had our entire place freaking out when he was just pounding the shit out of Mir. Bullshit point deduction, btw. It was clear that Mir was rolling when Brock threw it down. Lesnar looked good enough with the crowd accepting him in defeat that he's got potential. Don't think Mir is ready for Nog yet but they might strike while the iron is hot. Props to Mir for sticking it out when he was getting mashed but let's not jizz over the fact that he subbed a man in only his second fight.

 

- Sean Carter meet Geisas Cavalcante. Jay-Z, JZ. Under one roof.

 

- TIMMAY DOWN. Whenever Nog drops dead (which could be any day now) we need to freeze his body and study it.

 

- Lytle drops the gloves and goes hockey fight on Terrible Tattoo Guy.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

?

 

He was trying to punch him, but Mir swung his legs around, pushed Brock to the ground and put a kneebar in.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

No fight as great as either of the two top fights from December, but there was also nothing bad on the show, either. I was disappointed Lesnar lost quickly, but at the same time he looked ferocious out there, and once he learns to defend against submissions, Lesnar is going to be very hard to bear. Speaking of submissions, it was great to see Sylvia tap out, especially to a guillotine choke. Sylvia had Nogueira rocked, and it looked bad for a while, but never count out Nogueira. The prelims were good too, with Tim Boetsch really making an impression with his crazy throwdown of David Heath, and Chris Lytle living up to his nickname. All in all, UFC 81 was another great show from the UFC, and very well worth it.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

Don't know if it's already posted.

 

 

How much is the former WWE star set to get?

 

- Dave Meltzer of yahoo.com is reporting Brock Lesnar is due to get $250,000 guaranteed with a $200,000 win bonus, making him the highest paid athlete on the card even over the main eventers fighting for the UFC Heavyweight Title. His opponent Frank Mir has $40,000 guaranteed with a $40,000 win bonus.

 

- Another interesting tidbit as Brock Lesnar is only the second man in Nevada combat sport history to require 4XL fighting gloves. The other man is 7'2 K-1 kickboxing champion Hong Man Choi.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

I think part of it was Brock freaked out. He's never been in that position. It's a totally different beast from training to having someone actually apply a knee bar like that.

 

He probably thought "I don't know what to do!" and then realized that he could have a broken leg if he stayed in it, and just tapped out.

 

You could tell Mir had been in one hell of a two minute beating though.

[Guest cheetoe]

?

 

He was trying to punch him, but Mir swung his legs around, pushed Brock to the ground and put a kneebar in.

 

from 3:44 to 3:39 he's just standing there holding onto Mir's ankles basically letting Mir set him up for a take down. Thats almost 5 seconds. Lesnar isn't making any move at all that looks like he is tryin to punch. It's almost like he was looking to put him in the figure four lol.

 

Mir also seems real cocky for a guy who spent 90 percent of the match on his back eating fists to the face. I'd like to see a rematch.

 

edit: I take it back, He wasn't being cocky. I just watched the post fight interview again. Still would like to see a rematch though

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

He was waiting and looking for an opening.

[Cuban Linx 0]

Very enjoyable show, probably helped by the fact that i had talked myself into expecting everything other than the Griffin fight would turn out boring as hell.

 

I had the opener 30-27 for Girffin, Tibau had the takedowns but Tyson was getting back up immediately every time and was practically tagging him at will on their feet.

 

Almeida looked very good, surviving the crazy head spike and holding onto the choke, hopefully they reschedule Almeida/Belcher again sometime since that was the fight i was looking forward to the most from this show. Marquardt/Horn delivered a surprisingly entertaining fight, Boetsch looked like a beast with the front kicks, knees and just tossing Heath on his face like he was nothing, and Lytle just destroyed some guy who's name i can't remember in brutal fashion. Always fun when someone gets beaten so bad they end up taking down/pulling guard on the ref.

 

Maybe the UFC decided to crack down on punches to the back of the head, that would be the only explanation for taking a point of Lesnar with no warning for just a single hammerfist, in the past they've let people get away with numerous repeated shots for the back of the head and almost never warned anyone, let alone taken a point away. Mazzagatti being shit would also explain it.

 

As for Lesnar, he looked real good early with the explosive takedown and G&P, he improves his awareness on the ground and gets some good sub defence and Brock will be a force. I'd guess they'll do both Mir/Sylvia 2 and Nogueira/Werdum 2 next, with Brock getting some can with no ground game.

 

After the first round of Sylvia/Nog i was already starting to dread all the 5 round Tim Sylvia borefests we were looking forward to, but thankfully Nogueira saves us all from that fate. Great comeback win for Nog, i just wish he'd do it without getting the shit beaten out of him first all the time.

[Guest Warriorfan]

@!#$, Brock was so close to taking the match. When Lesnar dropped Mir with the right and looked for the mount I swore it was over. Despite the onslaught, Brock only caught Mir clean once if he could've landed a pure forearm, elbow or fist when he had Mir down the fight would've been over. As mentioned it was the best possible outcome for the UFC, Brock looked like a beast and Mir cements his status as legitimate contender.

 

I wished Noguiera would've stretched the fight out to make my prediction come true perfectly. Despite that fact I am happy Noguiera won and I am hoping this may be enough to entice Couture back.

[El Psycho Diablo 0]

That ref stopping and restarting it really saved Mir's ass.

[AmericanDragon 0]

Maybe the UFC decided to crack down on punches to the back of the head, that would be the only explanation for taking a point of Lesnar with no warning for just a single hammerfist, in the past they've let people get away with numerous repeated shots for the back of the head and almost never warned anyone, let alone taken a point away. Mazzagatti being shit would also explain it.

 

...First fight of the night: Griffin vs. Tibau. Tibau was warned multiple times for hitting to the back of the head and the ref kept tapping him on the head to remind him. That ref was Steve Mazzagatti.

 

Mazzagatti being shit would also explain it.

 

I'm pretty sure Mazzagatti was actually stopping the Lesnar/Mir fight but then realized what a huge mistake that would have been so he stood them up and deducted a point to try to cover his ass.

[Ced 0]

That ref stopping and restarting it really saved Mir's ass.

 

I'll contend that the stoppage became a moot point since Lesnar when right back into a dominant GnP right after the match restarted.

 

As for the stoppage and deduction, I don't really like the call since Mir rolled into a position to take a blow to the back to the head while Lesnar was trying to drop it. I would be OK with the stoppage if it were a matter of protecting fighters, but Mazzagatti's inconsistent matchcalling irks me a bit.

[NoCalMike 0]

So does Sopcast ever show replays of the show, or do you pretty much have to catch it live?

[The Niggardly King 0]

Bullshit on Big Dog not winning Sub of the night.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

That to me (an untrained eye) looked like a bullshit point deduction and stand up. He hit Mir on the side of the head, then as he was throwing another hammerfist Mir tried to get off his back and Lesnar got him on the side of the back of his head. Then Mazzagatti didn't even give him a warning or anything, just went straight to the stand up. That gave Mir a chance to collect himself from the quick takedown and the quick series of shots he had taken. I'm not saying it cost Brock the match (him not knowing what to do from the standup with his opponent in guard did that) but it certainly didn't help. Brock still looked pretty good though. Needs to work on his defense of course, but I think that with some more work Brock could be a monster.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

It's pretty interesting how the general public viewed the Lesnar fight. I was on the Skytrain home and someone overheard me and a buddy talking UFC.

 

Him - Did Lesnar win?

Me - No, he lost in a minute.

Him -

 

The dude literally had his mouth hanging open for a minute. I thought he was going to say something, but he didn't. Finally his girlfriend laughed and made fun of him to snap him out of it. It seems like a lot of wrestling fans knew about the fight and expected Lesnar to kill Mir, or something. I guess it shows that WWE can build guys up fairly well with the general public.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Oh I also love the fact that the cameraman made sure to keep Couture out of as many shots as possible during the Griffin fight. Hilarious quick camera cuts and unusual close-ups.

[Cuban Linx 0]

[mfn 0]

i LOL'd so fucking hard when that happened.

[Scroby 0]

Just watched the fight via youtube (thanks for posting that link), Brock looked really good and I think if Brock was able to stay focused on what he needed to do, he would have done a lot more damage to Mir. It seemed Brock just got lost when he stood up and had Mir's legs, which gave Mir time to think and get that opening he needed.

 

None the less, Brock beat the shit out of Mir very quickly and before the fight was over, Lesnar busted Mir open. If Brock sticks with MMA, he's going to have a big MMA future.

[Mik 0]

It's pretty interesting how the general public viewed the Lesnar fight. I was on the Skytrain home and someone overheard me and a buddy talking UFC.

 

Him - Did Lesnar win?

Me - No, he lost in a minute.

Him -

 

The dude literally had his mouth hanging open for a minute. I thought he was going to say something, but he didn't. Finally his girlfriend laughed and made fun of him to snap him out of it. It seems like a lot of wrestling fans knew about the fight and expected Lesnar to kill Mir, or something. I guess it shows that WWE can build guys up fairly well with the general public.

 

Smartly.

 

In two years Brock will be killing everyone he fights... probably including the top tier (they are getting old after all)

 

Speaking of the top tier: the Randy Couture situation is just plain sad. He's out there to corner Tyson and they won't even mention what camp Griffin is in, let alone mention or focus any bit of attention on Randy.

 

They fucking banned Affliction clothing (notice XC camp was wearing Archaic (an affliction ripoff) tonight) mostly because of Randy... I wonder what GSP thinks.

[Mik 0]

Oh, one more point: anyone complaining about Brock's salary isn't thinking clearly. It's easy to tell by the bonuses that they raked in the cash for this event and will continue to do show for any show he's fighting on. He's worth the money.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

So does Sopcast ever show replays of the show, or do you pretty much have to catch it live?

 

 

They used to show replays, but I don't know what they do anymore.

 

 

Just gotta check.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

KOAB... Your AV will be up in a min.

[Mik 0]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=A9G_...o&type=lgns

 

LAS VEGAS – If you knew ahead of time that former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir would submit former pro wrestling superstar Brock Lesnar in 90 seconds, you’d think Lesnar was a one-time gimmick and would never be heard from again.

 

But after one of the most exciting 90-second fights in UFC history, most of the talk after the match was about Lesnar’s potential to be one of the most dominant heavyweights in mixed martial arts history.

 

Lesnar exploded out of the blocks, with two takedowns, powerful punches on the ground and even a knockdown standing as he dominated all but the closing seconds of the match. But in the end, experience won out as Lesnar powered out of an armbar, but left his leg exposed. Mir, expecting Lesnar’s response, snatched the leg, securing a kneebar and forcing the former NCAA champion to tap out.

 

“I expected him to be strong, but I didn’t expect him to be as fast as he was,” said Mir. “One second he was on my right, then he was on my left. That second armbar I tried works 99 percent of the time in practice except against the most experienced guys.”

 

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Lesnar is a former NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion and a former World Wrestling Entertainment superstar. To the near sellout crowd of 10,583 fans at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, it was almost like one of the story lines from Lesnar's WWE days.

 

Lesnar was the outsider, representing pro wrestling. Mir, a Las Vegas native who had never been more popular, and to the fans in the arena, the defender of the UFC. Lesnar entered the building to jeers. But after losing, his performance won the fans over and he was heavily cheered, gaining what appeared to be full acceptance in a new sport.

 

Mir said he thought Lesnar would use his wrestling to keep the fight standing, and avoiding Mir’s strength, which is submissions while on his back. But in throwing a kick, he got Lesnar to revert to his natural instincts and take him to the ground.

 

That strategy didn’t look so smart at first. Lesnar began pounding Mir with rapid and scary sledgehammer-like blows to the head, and quickly moving position so Mir couldn’t put up a defense. In what may have been a key moment, while being pounded, Mir turned his head, the natural response to avoid being punched in the face. Lesnar, in his inexperience, continued his aggressive punching. With a blow to the back of the head, referee Steve Mazzagatti stopped the fight, and took a point away from Lesnar for the foul, giving Mir a needed reprieve.

 

Mir was taking such a beating that when he raised Lesnar’s hand, to point to the judges for the foul, most fans thought the match was being stopped and Lesnar was the winner.

 

When it was restarted, Lesnar scored with a hard right that put Lesnar down. As he kept punching, Mir started moving for a submission. Lesnar allowed Mir to get to his feet, but then took him down again. As Mir tried for a second armbar, Lesnar escaped and left his foot behind. Mir grabbed it with everything he had, forcing the huge wrestler to tap out.

 

Lesnar was frustrated, noting much of his training was based on cardio, which never came into play in such a short fight, and in defending against submissions.

 

“I just stepped out a little too late,” he said.

 

Lesnar, 1-1, noted that he’s spent so much time building his cardio for his two fights, and between the two, still hasn’t had three minutes of total ring time.

 

“There’s no shame in losing,” he said. “I lost my first amateur wrestling match as a kid. My coach told me when I was wanting to quit, that you first have to lose before you learn how not to lose. I don’t like to lose so I have to learn not to lose in this sport.”

 

Some of the biggest modern pro wrestling stars were ringside for the fight, including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker and John “Bradshaw” Layfield. While Lesnar was aware the fans saw him as the outsider representing pro wrestling against MMA, he never saw it that way.

 

“Obviously I’m disappointed, but it was a great experience,” he said. "I must have worked on defending that leglock 1,000 times maybe. I thought I was going to get out."

 

UFC officials were thrilled by the match and buzzing over Lesnar’s potential in the sport.

 

“I’m here for as long as I can fight here,” Lesnar said. “I love what I’m doing. The company has been great.”

 

UFC fans got the outcome they wanted, as UFC is based on the idea that a smaller man can beat a stronger foe through superior skill and technique. But when it was over, they accepted Lesnar based on the potential he showed. Mir, 11-3, with the win is back in the mix with the group’s top heavyweights, revitalizing a career that just a few months ago appeared on its last legs as he hadn’t made a full recovery from a broken leg in a motorcycle accident.

 

Mir said when he was on the back, he kept thinking about movement, figuring as long as he kept moving, the match wouldn’t be stopped even though he was the recipient of heavy punches.

 

Lesnar earned $250,000 as his base pay. Mir got $140,000, a combination of both his contracted pay and a $60,000 bonus for the night’s best submission.

[AmericanDragon 0]

slower gif

[Lord of The Curry 0]

This was a dope night for music as well. The Pixies, Motley Crue, Nas and of course Nog coming out to "Gimme Shelter".

[NoCalMike 0]

Kimbo Slice vs. Brock Lesnar could be money in a couple of years.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Dude gained internet fame with organized street fights on Youtube. His MMA record is 1-0 with a Tank Abbot fight coming up