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Mik

Japanese MMA Thread

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Okay, so what's the deal with spoilers for this? I came by looking to drop the link and I'm sure many others here wouldn't mind checking it out, and all the discussion is killing the suspense for the few fights I want to see (Hari vs. Overeem, Aoki vs. Alvarez)

 

Don't we have rules about that shit? It's pretty annoying. I figured I"d be safe for at least a day or two, when this airs Stateside.

 

When DREAM started we made a rule that the Japanese threads are enter at your own risk. I don't think you were around at that time. Sorry for the confusion.

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Overall, a good show despite having to wait till two fucking AM for the TBS broadcast to begin. Some thoughts below:

 

The biggest shock of the night was Overeem. The short build for that fight was genius. Overeem did not approve of Hari's actions against Bonjasky. He also did not approve of Hari bad mouthing MMA. And thus, he took the fight to make him pay. This got the crowd into the fight big time, given how the fans don't like Hari, and overeem is..."meh" to them, it made it into an epic fight for the crowd.

 

And pay he did.

 

Overeem destroyed Hari. Very tight, controlled striking too. It'd be one thing if he had simply been flailing and got lucky, but that was all very technical. I always knew Overeem had great stand up, but not to that level. If Overeem isn't thinking that he can make a run at the K-1 WGP right now, I'd be amazed. That's where the money would be right now for him.

 

The other major shock was Manhoef. Even a chin like Hunt can't take charging into someone and getting nailed like that. Melvin is the scariest one-dimensional fighter in the game today. Oh, you'll beat him on the ground, but if you don't get him down you will eventually get battered and murdered.

 

The best fight of the night by far was Tokoro/Nakamura. That almost looked like a work given how they didn't strike each other, went into high level and quick exchanges on the ground, and Tokoro ended up caught in a wicked and strange armbar. I lubs Nakamura.

 

There's not much you can say about Sakuraba/Tamura...Tamura fought to win the fight. Sakuraba looked the worst I've ever seen him, and I've seen him at his worst previously. He didn't throw punches, he had litterally zero speed, his grappling strength was gone. It was sad. Very much like the Nog/Mir fight, only differences is Sakuraba's been falling dramatically for awhile, and Mir wanted to finish Nog. Tamura here was so obviously afraid to make any mistakes and give Sakuraba any possibility for the win that he just did what he had to do to win. I think it's pretty obvious given their career's and resumes that Sakuraba in his prime would have beaten Tamura...but Tamura, as douche as he is, picked his battle and got it when he could win. So, credit in a way to Tamura for that.

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So K-1 level strikers means jack shit now.

 

That pro wrestler guy's intro with the little chubby kid was pretty awesome.

 

Bob Sapp is hilariously bad.

 

Aoki is still the king of LW Jap MMA though, regardless of the Hansen loss. Bad style matchup for Alvarez though, as his ground game has always been pretty weak and his bullrush style only allows him to make even more mistakes than he normally would. Against a grappler as technically tight as Aoki, well, yeah.

 

Dude K-1 strikers really suck. They all got pwned to the max. I still can't get over that TK flying knee.

 

Mirko looked out of shape, he's taking six months off, and he will probably get even more out of shape. Oh well.

 

Oh and Alistair looks like he gained at least thirty pounds since the LHW tournament way back when. He looks so damn stocky, not even considering that he's fucking 6'4.

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I fail to see how Sakuraba would have "obviously" beat Tamura in their primes. Tamura has always been the better striker, and while Sakuraba is a better wrestler and submission artist, his style often relied on his opponents aggressively grappling; Tamura is an anti-grappler, more than content to simply survive on the mat. Minotauro threw everything he had at Tamura in their first bout, and still took the much larger grappler a round and a half to catch him.

 

Oh, and seriously: RodFav. Manhoef needs to rematch him at this point. It's the only "neither guy will go for a takedown" fight out there that needs to happen.

 

 

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Oh and Alistair looks like he gained at least thirty pounds since the LHW tournament way back when. He looks so damn stocky, not even considering that he's fucking 6'4.

 

overeempt1.jpg

 

From Gutsy at BK.

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Oh and Alistair looks like he gained at least thirty pounds since the LHW tournament way back when. He looks so damn stocky, not even considering that he's fucking 6'4.

 

overeempt1.jpg

 

From Gutsy at BK.

 

I'm pretty sure Overeem is like 19-20 in the picture on the left.

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Oh and Alistair looks like he gained at least thirty pounds since the LHW tournament way back when. He looks so damn stocky, not even considering that he's fucking 6'4.

 

overeempt1.jpg

 

From Gutsy at BK.

 

I'm pretty sure Overeem is like 19-20 in the picture on the left.

 

When Arlovski was the same age, he was approximately 235lbs. Against Nelson, he was 240lbs..

 

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Oh and Alistair looks like he gained at least thirty pounds since the LHW tournament way back when. He looks so damn stocky, not even considering that he's fucking 6'4.

 

overeempt1.jpg

 

From Gutsy at BK.

 

I'm pretty sure Overeem is like 19-20 in the picture on the left.

 

When Arlovski was the same age, he was approximately 235lbs. Against Nelson, he was 240lbs..

 

So you're saying people can grow bigger with age? Fuck you Lei Tong, I may be hungover but you need to stop being an uppity cunt.

 

I guess Anderson is juicing as well right? Fuck youuuuuuuu

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He's definitely huge these days... either he spends more time lifting then training or he's got a little help.

 

Him coming to the UFC is probably the only way to know for sure. That may/may not ever happen.

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So you're saying people can grow bigger with age? Fuck you Lei Tong, I may be hungover but you need to stop being an uppity cunt.

 

I'm saying that in general, guys in the early-mid 20's don't put on 30 pounds of pure muscle onto already athletic frames.

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So you're saying people can grow bigger with age? Fuck you Lei Tong, I may be hungover but you need to stop being an uppity cunt.

 

I'm saying that in general, guys in the early-mid 20's don't put on 30 pounds of pure muscle onto already athletic frames.

 

He isn't in his mid 20's, he's pretty much 30.

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I don't think it's out of the question that Overeem has naturally gotten bigger. At LHW he always looked like a stick figure.

 

However, I don't think there's any question that Overeem's on some heavy gas. There is no way a man with that kind of build should be able to get down to 205 like he was doing. He's fighting at 240 to 250 right now. He'd have to cut thirty five fucking pounds as he is to fight at LHW. It's impossible.

 

However, lets not play "moral demonize" here. Overeem's in an unregulated region, which means he never has to cycle. A large portion of the fighters in MMA use something. Most are just smart enough to cycle off properly. There probably isn't a top level fighter in UFC that isn't doing SOMETHING. It's the name of the game, just like how most professional athletes are doing something.

 

Just because you're smart enough to avoid getting caught, doesn't mean you don't do it. And just because Overeem makes it blatantly obvious he's doing something doesn't make him worse either.

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Fuck, look at Overeem's fucking head... it's not natural.

 

Well, one of the signs of steroid usage is abnormal shaping of the bones, especially when the jaw becomes "squared," or to put it more bluntly, becomes more "cave man" like. As much as I love Andy Hug, and as much as I respected him in life and death, he was a good example of this, as you could see his jaw structure slowly change from the beginning of his K-1 career up until the end.

 

Granted, some of it was due to the surgery he had done on his jaw and teeth, but it's still fairly evident.

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Sengoku tonight/tomorrow with no real hype behind it especially with Gomi being upset last month and still fighting for a title. The only two big stories, at least IMO on the card is if Kazuo Misaki can derail the red-hot Jorge Santiago and make up for his absolute shitfest of a showing against Joe Riggs in StrikeForce and promising HW's in Dave Herman, Mo Lawal and Antonio Silva all hoping for an impact.

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However, Overeem said that his most immediate move will be to go on vacation during the month of January before returning to the gym in February. Part of his vacation plans included attenting UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland on January 17. It’s possible he could speak with UFC officials at that time about a contract but the promotion is unlikely to sign him if he cannot remain exclusive to them.

 

fiveouncesofpain.com

 

Well, that could be interesting.

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I probably like Mu Bai Choi more than any sane person has the right to, but seriously... how desperate are orgs. for HW prospects that guys like Herman come off like promising wunderkinds?

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Looks like the Gomi hype train has fallen off the tracks.

 

Santiago and King Mo on the other hand, full steam ahead.

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Looks like the Gomi hype train has fallen off the tracks.

 

Santiago and King Mo on the other hand, full steam ahead.

 

From what I can recall, Santiago didn't really look that good, as he was consistently outstruck and outworked between decent grappling attempts. Also, it may have been the quality of the stream, but it looked like Misaki did almost nothing to avoid the choke until Santiago already locked it on, instead simply using his arms to post and leaving his neck completely exposed.

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Looks like the Gomi hype train has fallen off the tracks.

 

Santiago and King Mo on the other hand, full steam ahead.

 

From what I can recall, Santiago didn't really look that good, as he was consistently outstruck and outworked between decent grappling attempts. Also, it may have been the quality of the stream, but it looked like Misaki did almost nothing to avoid the choke until Santiago already locked it on, instead simply using his arms to post and leaving his neck completely exposed.

 

Misaki is a hard fighter to look great against...

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