Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted December 24, 2005 (edited) Meh. Yanagisawa sucks, and watching Fedor spin around on top of him for 15 minutes was hardly entertaining to me. By the time Fedor slowed down in the second, I was praying Evan Tanner would materialize and side choke Yanagisawa and end it. I could say the same thing about the Arona fight (who Fedor was a bit reticent to throw against for fear of the takedown), with Fedor basically headlocking Arona for 10 minutes while he gets mounted like an old whore, afterwhich Arona gasses a bit in OT and Fedor finally gets some offense in. On Marquardt, in spite of whatever the reasons for the underwhelming fight, I think it's a bit harsh to demand that almost any fighter, much less a world class, often-entertaining one, be completely shut out from the big leagues based on one performance. Edited December 28, 2005 by Lei Tong Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted December 24, 2005 Good point about it not being fair, as people constantly harp on the UFC for releasing fighters after one bad loss. Both arguments are the same; one bad performance, whether for entertainment purposes or for win/loss reasons, are not fair excuses to drop a fighter. I hope to see Ivan back as well, it seems like bullshit to do it to him when he's a borderline top five guy. Although your criticisms of Fedor's entertaining RINGS battles are unfair since RINGS MMA is different. When you take away his favourite weapon, the GnP, it takes away from what makes most of his matches entertaining. That just showed his impact in PRIDE was more devastating since he essentially made a name for himself doing something that no one had really seen from him before. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted December 24, 2005 Another point, is that the crowd made the match seem worse than it was. If Arona/Silva happened in the UFC, most would be pegging it as the worst fight of the year, or at least a contender. There was lots of staring on the feet, one good low kick, than lots of staring on the ground. The only part that was exciting other than the low kick was after the fight when Arona basically stared Wand down in his guard and made Wand whine. Of course, he then was hammerfisted to all hell but that's a different story. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
I like Forums 0 Report post Posted December 25, 2005 I found Fedor/Babalu pretty boring as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted December 27, 2005 (edited) Speaking of Babalu... IFC: Global Domination on-going review... COMMENCE! Alright, Marquardt vs. Gomm to start. "How about a lil more ring girl touchin each other and stuff?" This ring announcer is a douche... which has been a prerequisite for all US MMA ring announcers since the sports inception. Jens Pulver, Ryan Bennett, and.. Big Poppa Schnake? The fight was pretty short, good hands by Marquardt as well as good positioning skills, the size difference was too much for Gomm and there ya have it. Not a very impressive performance by Marquardt, but a good one nonetheless. Given the way Gomm would just cover up whenever Marquardt feinted, I am still left questioning Nates explosiveness even if he did dominate. A little more aggression and him vs. Franklin would be a good fight and the supreme battle of crackers. BPS is very annoying. UNGODLY annoying, even. I'd still put him miles ahead of the ROH guys... Babalu vs. Prangley is up next. Jens, on the other hand, kicks the ass announcing. Wow. The first round of this sucks the ass. The majority of it is Babalu in Prangleys guard doin some lacklustre GnP. The ref should have stood them up. The bell rings when the clock says 4:51. The second round starts MUCH better, with Prangley comin in throwin leather and Babalu feelin game. Babalu tags him a few times while Prangley is throwing wild and not landing at all. Sobral gets Prangleys back and BOOYAKAKAKAKA, German Suplex~! GODDAMN that was a pretty suplex. Prangley gets up and looks to be on rubber legs. The action soon stops as Babalu has Prangley on his back and it's more of the same from Rd1. God this ref sucks. He FINALLY stands them up, after the crowd has been yelling "STAND THEM UP!!". A few seconds after the stand-up and Babalu gets a nice doubleleg and puts Prangley down again. The Ref STOPS the fight because of a fucking mouthpiece and Prangley has a look of "The fuck?" on his face and he and Babalu wait there on the ground. Babalu hits some nice shots from the guard occasionally, but I wouldn't exactly call this exciting. Effective GnP? Yes. But at no point does it look like Babalu is going to finish it with those strikes from inside the guard. Prangley SWEEPS Babalu from guard and that fucking ruled. The round ends with Babalu throwing elbows from his back, trying for an armbar, and Prangley finally landing a good shot. Trevor looks TIRED and banged up, Babalu looks like he's out for a stroll. 3rd round begins unlike the others - with a touch of the gloves. Prangley needs to improve his foot work, because it looks like he's wearing concrete shoes out there. A lil flurry of punches before a low blow. Pranley apologizes. Babalu is like "no problem". The ref is like "HUH?!", Trevor is like "Dude, I low blowed him", and the ref says "YOU DID?!". Wow, this guy is the white Cecil Peoples. The ref calls for a time out, though its clear Babalu doesn't want it because that just gives Prangley time to recover and rest. I am LOVING Babalu's punches right now, quick and straight, just hows I likes the lovins. Sobral goes for a shoot, Prangley sprawls, but Babalu manages to duck under and get a front face lock much to Pulvers enjoyment. Prangley gets guard and he looks really banged up and the cut around his eye should be checked. Instead of doing that, the ref slaps his leg away from the fence while trying for a sub... apparently you can't do that. Ref stands them up a lot quicker this time and Babalu lands a Luke Cummo front kick to the face. Prangley ties Sobral up with a whizzer before Babalu slips to the mat after trying for a knee (the third time someone has slipped on the canvas so far). On his back, Babalu shows an impressive guard, managing to get his hips up high, putting his arm under Prangleys leg and securing an armbar a few seconds after Prangley got him down. Trevor quickly gets out of the armbar but then just as quickly falls prey to a leglock -falls back- and Babalu goes into his guard. The ref stands them up again pretty fast -to clean a fallen mouthpiece- and keeps them standing. The fight stops shortly after. The announcers loved the match, I liked it but it was more of a fight with great moments than a great fight. It was largely contested in Prangleys guard, and most of that time kinda sucked. Everything else was really good, though. That Cummo Kick was actually better than Lukes version. The fight goes to a decision and Babalu wins. Bennett talks about both guys giving it their all - that might have been Prangley, but Babalu was holding back and that's shown while he's waiting for the decision as he doesn't look tired at all. Nevertheless, he showed very well-rounded skills... I just wish he was more active in Prangleys guard (I don't think he ever looked to improve his position during the numberous times he was in there. A solid ***, maybe ***1/4. SHOGUN is up next! A few notes about his introduction... MAN he looks skinny here. Bennett talks about Shogun having No Fear. And they say he's a KyokushinKai fighter which is just... is this the new hot style? Both Shogun and GSP are Kyokushin, that's fucking nuts. Could this be the new Judo in MMA? Shogun is from Curabita, Brazil, apparently. And he is fighting under one name here. I dunno if that was his choice or theirs. A few notes about Erik Wanderleis introduction, he is Big Poppa Schnakes saucy saucy lover. The fight begins and Shogun comes out Shoguns-a-blazing (HHHHHHA!) and knocks Wanderlei down twice in short succession. He's a fucking killer. On the ground, Erik very nicely gets Shoguns leg, but Shogun blocks by triangling his legs. Shogun defends well and eventually gets out of it, stands up, kicks Wanderlei's legs, and then surprisingly goes for a kneebar. Erik gets the better of the situation and tries for a toe hold which Shogun gets out of it and gets Wanderleis back from the side. Shnacke annoys me with his constant shjuh-shjitsu.. IT'S JUH JIT SOO YOU FRENCH FAGGOT! Wanderlei impressively spins over and puts Shogun on his back. Rua likes his guard like he likes his relationships... Open. Bah-zing. The round closes with Erik in Shoguns half-guard, which he likes like he likes his women... triangled. Uh... Bah-zing? Very exciting, very fun first round. Second round opens with Shogun throwing and Wanderlei shooting. Erik has his nuts in Shoguns face for a good portion of the second round as he tries to escape from Shoguns (rather crappy) half guard. He successfully gets full mount and looks to be going for a mounted triangle. I've tried that before. He, unlike me, rolls to his back to get the more traditional triangle but Shogun breaks free but gets put in a quick omoplata which is unsuccessful and Shogun gets to his feet and is all like "TS'ON NAH" and Wanderlei is like "NAH TSNAHT" and takes Shogun down with a single leg trip and apparently Shogun smacks his head on the fall. Wanderlei tries for mount again but Shogun "tilts" as Jens says (or as Schnake would say "Shju-ens") over and gets up and is all like "TS'ON NAH AGEEN" and Wanderlei is like "NINJA PLEASE!" and Shogun is like "NINJA?! I'M SHOGUN!" *boop* and he smacks Wanderlei with an upper-cut / right straight combo that puts him down and the ref stops it shortly afterwards. Poor conditioning (he took the fight on 3 days notice) and a shitty chin let that happen for Erik Wanderlei. Really fun fight. ***1/2, maybe ***3/4. Edited December 27, 2005 by RavishingRickRudo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted December 27, 2005 (edited) Horn vs. Mikhail Avetisyan HOLEE SHIT. This was 5 minutes of pure fucking awesomeness. How come I've never heard this fight pimped? JEEEEESUS. Constant reversals and sweet ass grappling. Too much to even write about. The finish was SICK. I'm gathering from the fact that the Russian Dude never fought again that Horn fucked his arm up somethin fierce. SHIT. **** at least. Forrest vs. Sonnen. Ooooh Forrest has a nice guard, I liked the way he'd move and pivot on his hips throughout, not letting Sonnen get full control on the ground. A nifty triangle as well, I loved the way he manipulated Sonnens arm and moved his leg up for the choke. Good stuff. Edited December 27, 2005 by RavishingRickRudo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted December 27, 2005 Horn vs. Mikhail Avetisyan HOLEE SHIT. This was 5 minutes of pure fucking awesomeness. How come I've never heard this fight pimped? JEEEEESUS. Constant reversals and sweet ass grappling. Too much to even write about. The finish was SICK. I'm gathering from the fact that the Russian Dude never fought again that Horn fucked his arm up somethin fierce. SHIT. **** at least. For those who don't know, Horn had an armbar, popped it with like twenty seconds left in the round but the guy refused to tap (Horn even called out to the ref to end it), so Horn just grabbed it under his armpit in twisted until he tapped. I'm guessing he screwed up either the ulnar or anterior nerve in the arm when he twisted, in addition to the breaking and popping. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AboveAverage484 0 Report post Posted December 28, 2005 And they say he's a KyokushinKai fighter which is just... is this the new hot style? Both Shogun and GSP are Kyokushin, that's fucking nuts. Could this be the new Judo in MMA? Well even though karate generally as a rule sucks copious amounts of ass, Kyokushin is actually pretty awesome. Leg kicks, knees to the face; all legal. It's actually better than some forms of kickboxing, although only open handed strikes are allowed, but only to the body. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2005 SHOGUN is up next! A few notes about his introduction... MAN he looks skinny here. He probably hadn't taken advantage of Chute Boxe's special interest drug plan yet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2005 To help build up to NYE: http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=C2ZFaf7Ss1k&search=ufc Pulver vs. Sakurai~! http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=Jkc3JvalbBk&search=gomi Gomi vs. Kawajiri~! http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=x3c6bt7...&search=sakurai http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=xPxtvix...&search=sakurai Sakurai vs. Hansen~! http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=G-56wGyuAlo&search=gomi http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=xVjYZ61XKSY&search=gomi Gomi vs. Azeredo~! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord of The Curry 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2005 So Jeremy Jackson is injured, early rumours are pointing to Duane "Bang" Ludwig as his replacement against Jonathon Goulet on UFN III. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2005 BJ Penn Interview: “There’s a bunch of fights we want to do,” he said excitedly. “We’ll do two for sure. I’m training for an April fight with Georges St. Pierre. I think it will be on one of the Ultimate Fight Nights [on Spike TV]. If I beat Georges and I beat Hughes again, then I want to move up to middleweight and fight [reigning UFC 185-pound champion] Rich Franklin. I talked with the UFC. Everyone thinks it’s a good idea. Now, it’s just up to me to do it.” Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cameron chaos 0 Report post Posted December 29, 2005 And they say he's a KyokushinKai fighter which is just... is this the new hot style? Both Shogun and GSP are Kyokushin, that's fucking nuts. Could this be the new Judo in MMA? Well even though karate generally as a rule sucks copious amounts of ass, Kyokushin is actually pretty awesome. Leg kicks, knees to the face; all legal. It's actually better than some forms of kickboxing, although only open handed strikes are allowed, but only to the body. There are NO STRIKES TO THE FACE in kyokushin karate. No punches, knees, no kicks nothing. It is against the rules. Open handed strikes are not encouraged, punching using your middle knuckle is so all your bones line up is. It's practitioners are known for their body shots and tolerance for abuse but usually have low guards as they are not used to being hit in the head. Aside from GSP, Takanori Gomi, Bas Rutten, Glaube Feitosa and Francisco Filho are probably the most well known people who have studied KK. Gomi took it up about 6 months ago to improve his kicks and body shots in preparation for the LW GP. St Pierre has not trained kyokushin karate since his master died several years ago. He took up BJJ as he didn't want to train KK under anyone else and trains Muay Thai with Dave Loiseau these days although some of his kicks, and indeed Loiseau's as a result of training with GSP, are very KK style, most notably the spinning back push kicks and hook kicks to the body both employ. Loiseau is also a TKD black belt so between the two of them and a MT coach they have a solid camp for their striking. Both the Rua brothers used to do KK but have been with Chute Boxe since their late teens (15 for Shogun and 17 for Ninja I believe) so again like GSP, while their roots are in karate they currently train MT. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted December 30, 2005 BJ Penn Interview: “There’s a bunch of fights we want to do,” he said excitedly. “We’ll do two for sure. I’m training for an April fight with Georges St. Pierre. I think it will be on one of the Ultimate Fight Nights [on Spike TV]. If I beat Georges and I beat Hughes again, then I want to move up to middleweight and fight [reigning UFC 185-pound champion] Rich Franklin. I talked with the UFC. Everyone thinks it’s a good idea. Now, it’s just up to me to do it.” Now I'm very sure they're banking on Pierre to beat him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adam 0 Report post Posted December 30, 2005 I thought for sure they'd put Penn-GSP on PPV. Fair enough, way to spike (heh, heh) ratings. Put the winner of that in a title match at UFC 60. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord of The Curry 0 Report post Posted December 30, 2005 If that match is on free TV.......wow. The UFC are idiots for allowing the match to take place but even bigger morons for giving it away gratis. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted December 30, 2005 Well, look at it this way - they're giving GSP/BJ more exposure by putting it on SPIKE (if it turns out to be true). They probably don't see that match as the money match, they see Hughes vs. Winner as the money match. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted December 30, 2005 Considering they felt it necessary for Rogan to give a history lesson on Penn/Hughes when he was brought out at the last PPV, they're probably not expecting many of the newer, post-TUF fans to know who he is, and thus doubt his ability to draw PPV buys immediately. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adam 0 Report post Posted December 30, 2005 I agree. Hell, I'd only heard the name previously. That's probably because I've only been watching UFC two months, but still. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted December 30, 2005 The UFC would be bigger morons not to put that on free TV. No one knows who BJ is of the new TUF generation, but people will tune in for an introduction on free TV. Like stated earlier, Hughes' title fight is a money match and in my opinion a potential main event. The TV shows are built for matches like this; big contender eliminator bouts, while the PPV's generally should be built around title matches. About GSP doing Karate; he's most dangerous and probably most well known for his great hands due to boxing training. Like someone said before, in KK they don't allow punches to the head (though I thought they allowed kicks to the head/face), so don't expect a KK revival anytime soon. Ditto for Shogun, but think of muay thai rather than boxing. Just because that jumping roundhouse looked cool, I'm not gonna go out and start doing Capoiera or whatever that shit is. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted December 30, 2005 K-1 Hero's LW GP Finals weigh-in results: Genki Sudo: 70kg (154lbs) Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto: 64.5kg (142lbs) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord of The Curry 0 Report post Posted December 31, 2005 Sudo doesn't look too impressed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted December 31, 2005 http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=wREkcFx...%20st.%20pierre Badass GSP HL. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted December 31, 2005 Since we're showing off highlights, I present Chris Leben (starting with his infamous armbar escape): http://www.whoopass.tv/modules.php?name=We...p=visit&lid=772 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adam 0 Report post Posted December 31, 2005 http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=wREkcFx...%20st.%20pierre Badass GSP HL. Awesome Awesome Awesome. Rush>All. Or should that be RUSH~! ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cameron chaos 0 Report post Posted December 31, 2005 Sudo doesn't look too impressed. A mistake on his part considering he got his bell rung and looked up at the lights in round one. YPOV, I train sometimes with a guy who does KK. He comes along to kickboxing because they don't train head strikes at all where he goes. You can kick above the shoulder but not to the head, if that makes sense. So hypothetically he can kick guys in the neck or axe kick them on their collarbone but any strikes to the face result in a caution and repeated offenses end up with the person being DQ'd. Also, the fake low kick to jumping roundhouse is in MT also, I don't think capoeira mestres teach it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
starvenger 0 Report post Posted December 31, 2005 Since we're showing off highlights, I present Chris Leben (starting with his infamous armbar escape): http://www.whoopass.tv/modules.php?name=We...p=visit&lid=772 Man, Fratboy does like the punchfests, doesn't he? Awesome Awesome Awesome. Rush>All. Or should that be RUSH~! ? Isn't all caps for a heel? But yeah, awesome shit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cameron chaos 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2006 Ouch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cuban Linx 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2006 Not "ouch" enough it would seem, Hunt's skull must be indestructible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord of The Curry 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2006 It is. Love that sweat explosion coming off the high kick. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
