2023 Non-Event General MMA Talk Thread

[SirFozzie]

15 hours ago, The Natural said:

Strickland vs. DDP at UFC 297, Volkanovski vs Topuria at UFC 298 and O'Malley vs. Chito at UFC 299.

I was like "Wait, Dallas Page vs Swerve Strickland? That's random, even for Coach Tony!".. then I realized we're in the Boxing/MMA folder.

 

Speaking of UFC, ESPN.com has a front page article about one of the fighters from UFC 1, Art Jimmerson, for years mocked because he thought that he could fight Royce Gracie with one boxing glove (protect his jabbing hand to keep the fight at a distance, and then throw the ungloved hand for the knockout blow when set up). He was  apparently a top 10 boxer at the time, and was inline for some bigger money fights, but his boxing career was basically glass ceilinged by his UFC 1 loss (he admits in the interview he had no idea of what he was getting into, so much so that Big John McCarthy, who was travelling with the Gracie camp, actually showed him how outclassed he was backstage in a sparring session, taking him down. But I don't think anyone could really blame him, as at the time no one understood that UFC 1 was basically the Gracie's showing the world that no one who hadn't specifically trained to defeat Brazilian jiu-jitsu could compete with it in the UFC ruleset (such as it was at the time). Good to see he's had a good life and has no bitterness about what happened in UFC 1.

edit: Link to article: https://www.espn.com/mma/ufc/story/_/id/38827608/art-jimmerson-one-glove-ufc-1

Oh, and speaking of early UFC's and people outclassed, myself and a few friends actually ordered the UFC 2 pay per view, and one of my friends (eric), who is a ninja-fanatic, had his eyes light up when he heard that Scott Norris's style of fighting was listed as "American Ninjitsu". He confidently turned to us and said "This guy knows ninjitsu. He'll beat this kickboxer (Pat Smith) easily!".

Note: He did not win easily.He did not win. Instead, he got the ever loving CRAP knocked out of him, including quite possibly the most vicious elbow strike to a downed opponent I've ever seen (one of those where you hit the guy so hard that his head bounced off the mat back up into the elbow). I actually rewatched that fight just now and yeah, it's... eek.

Needless to say, we teased Eric for YEARS after that

 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by SirFozzie

[Elsalvajeloco]

Jimmerson was one of those boxers who was competing in that 168-190 pound range (he was more on the upper end of that range) where you won't making any money really. Moreover, the amount of coverage on those divisions in America wasn't that heavy. Don King's stable at the time was huge so he did have some cruiserweights and less known light heavyweights fight on Showtime. I believe you also had guys like Bobby Czyz, Virgil Hill, Orlin Norris (who Jimmerson fought), and late career, belt hunting Thomas Hearns. You also had Michael Moorer for a good while. However, definitely not the glamour divisions in boxing. So you had a whole bunch of guys too small to make waves at heavyweight (many did move up but most with very so so results) thus didn't have a chance to net any consistent paydays. I think Jimmerson was more hunted by that than the UFC loss. He still had a solid career notwithstanding.

[SirFozzie]

The story mentioned his camp was lining up a fight with Hearns, so he wasn't going to make life changing money, but he was going to be in the picture.. then UFC 1 happened

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

Yeah, a lot of guys were in the Tommy Hearns sweepstakes. He was the best known guy in terms of name recognition in the states easily in that weight range and had the vulnerability of not having the best chin to say the least. It was some risk but major reward. Problem is once the IBF and then WBO came around to appease boxing politics and bunch of others new fly by night orgs (WBU, IBA, IBO, etc.), some of the promoters overseas basically saw those divisions as a way to get a lot of their guys over. So not only were those divisions bustling in the UK, but the rest of Western Europe used those divisions to get world recognition. So many of the world titles (new and old orgs) for the next three decades plus were basically held captive elsewhere. So your choices were basically be a road warrior and fight Germans in Germany, Italians in Italy, and British fighters in Britain etc OR take minor paydays stateside. Even name guys like Virgil Hill and Michael Nunn late in his career had to go across the pond. So if you couldn't become a mandatory somehow against one of those few name fighters or you were not connected to a Don King or Main Events/Monitor or Top Rank, you weren't really going anywhere. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

PFL is starting to get real UFC like with these moves:

 

[The Natural]

On 11/7/2023 at 5:00 AM, The Natural said:

Strickland vs. DDP at UFC 297, Volkanovski vs Topuria at UFC 298 and O'Malley vs. Chito at UFC 299.

Feels like UFC 300 will be a main event or co-main event with Conor McGregor as the other names listed are out unless those fights are rearranged through injuries. McGregor hasn't won a fight in years.  Islam Makhachev defending the UFC Lightweight Championship vs. Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje? Hope UFC 300 is more UFC 100 than UFC 200. UFC 200 was a hot mess thanks to Jon Jones pissing hot. 

[twiztor]

2 hours ago, The Natural said:

Feels like UFC 300 will be a main event or co-main event with Conor McGregor as the other names listed are out unless those fights are rearranged through injuries. McGregor hasn't won a fight in years.  Islam Makhachev defending the UFC Lightweight Championship vs. Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje? Hope UFC 300 is more UFC 100 than UFC 200. UFC 200 was a hot mess thanks to Jon Jones pissing hot. 

i've been curious about UFC 300 since this past spring, wondering what will get booked and if it will be some sort of super show. still curious. i currently watch all of the numbered events (live if possible, but definitely on Sunday if live isn't an option). i think once we slide past UFC 300 and Rizin 50 (which should happen around the same time, maybe mid summer), i'll probably get even more lax about watching and paying attention. I'm already to the point that i only really have name recognition with about half of the main card fighters, and prelims drop that percentage sharply. i just can't follow it with the same fervor that i used to.

[zendragon]

 

[A.M.B.]

On 11/11/2023 at 11:21 AM, The Natural said:

Feels like UFC 300 will be a main event or co-main event with Conor McGregor as the other names listed are out unless those fights are rearranged through injuries. McGregor hasn't won a fight in years.  Islam Makhachev defending the UFC Lightweight Championship vs. Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje? Hope UFC 300 is more UFC 100 than UFC 200. UFC 200 was a hot mess thanks to Jon Jones pissing hot. 

Got to take things from Conor’s camp with a grain of salt, but it sounds like they want him to fight in the summer instead. Makes sense since he’s a draw on his own, and the UFC would have to put his fight above title fights on 300. Conor on the undercard won’t work, best to give him his own PPV to headline.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I expect the UFC to probably let sleeping dogs lie especially since no one got seriously hurt. However, if they decided to handle this, this could result in at least one person getting cut or both getting cut.

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

[Elsalvajeloco]

Two replacement fights announced: Jalin Turner is stepping for Dan Hooker vs. Bobby Green and Anthony Smith is stepping in for Azamat Murzakanov who has pneumonia to fight Khalil Rountree.

 

[twiztor]

23 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Two replacement fights announced: Jalin Turner is stepping for Dan Hooker vs. Bobby Green and Anthony Smith is stepping in for Azamat Murzakanov who has pneumonia to fight Khalil Rountree.

those are both pretty great fights and get my official *twiztor seal of approval

[The Natural]

If you could meet five MMA fighters dead or alive, whom? 

• Georges St-Pierre. The GOAT to me.
• Randy Couture.
• Dominick Cruz.
• Amanda Nunes. Female GOAT.
• Evan Tanner.

Edited November 28, 2023 by The Natural

[twiztor]

6 hours ago, The Natural said:

If you could meet five MMA fighters dead or alive, whom? 

interesting question, and good callout of Evan Tanner. That dude was the only self-trained UFC champion and just seemed like a motivated, interesting dude all around. gone too soon.

But to answer your question, my list:

• Bas Rutten
• Ken Shamrock
• Kazushi Sakuraba
• Jiri Prochazka
• Chris Leben

[zendragon]

Bader vs. Ngannou  is probably the biggest fight PFL could do at the moment

Warrior Spirit (2021) - UFC Champ Nicco Montano Documentary - Official Teaser - YouTube

just watched this on TUBI , really worth a watch goes into her disastrous weight cut and extreme weight cutting in general

[The Natural]

On 11/28/2023 at 9:21 PM, twiztor said:

interesting question, and good callout of Evan Tanner. That dude was the only self-trained UFC champion and just seemed like a motivated, interesting dude all around. gone too soon.

But to answer your question, my list:

• Bas Rutten
• Ken Shamrock
• Kazushi Sakuraba
• Jiri Prochazka
• Chris Leben

Thanks on both counts, bud. Evan Tanner went way too soon. Amazing how he self taught himself to become a UFC Champion. Good picks by you too.

[Elsalvajeloco]

On 9/24/2023 at 10:28 PM, Elsalvajeloco said:

If he wasn't already 35 (which TBH isn't old by HW standards), he would be the hottest prospect in MMA.

FWIW His last three fights haven't went a combined thirty seconds.

[waffle]

From what I've seen Despaigne uses no kicks, which is pretty funny for Taekwondo. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

8 minutes ago, waffle said:

From what I've seen Despaigne uses no kicks, which is pretty funny for Taekwondo. 

I would imagine if his fights lasted longer than 20 seconds, we might see some. Also, the caliber of opponent he is fighting doesn't exactly force him to do more than throw counter shots.

The video in the quoted tweet mind you is a head kick KO.

[Elsalvajeloco]

For UFC 299 in March, Curtis Blaydes vs. Jailton Almeida and Rafael dos Anjos vs. Mateusz Gamrot have been added.

[jaedmc]

So ready for this Colby/Edwards fight to be over. I don't even care about the outcome(I mean I know what I'd prefer...). I just want to be on the other side of it, so some other contenders can get their shot.

[A.M.B.]

When Leon said there’s nothing exciting in his division it really made me fear for another Tyron Woodley situation. There’s so many great potential fights at 170 now, I’d even love to see Wonderboy get a shot if he can somehow stop Shavkat’s hype train. I’m one of the few who really wants to see Belal get what he’s earned. Ian Garry is almost there as well. Della Madelina just needs a few wins. A champ like Israel would have been hyping up who’s next, instead we have Leon talking about going for a second belt he’d likely never defend. Colby is everything I hate about the UFC so I’m definitely invested in this main event going a certain way, but man do I want to see some turnover at welterweight.
 

The whole Ian Garry situation lately has been weird, but him no showing the press conference is a pretty good move if he’s trying to go full heel. Don’t give the haters what they wanted, which was to see dudes like Colby go after him.

 

 

EDIT: Well apparently he missed it because of pneumonia and the fight is off. Damn.

Edited December 14, 2023 by A.M.B.

[jaedmc]

2 hours ago, A.M.B. said:

There’s so many great potential fights at 170 now, I’d even love to see Wonderboy get a shot if he can somehow stop Shavkat’s hype train. I’m one of the few who really wants to see Belal get what he’s earned.

 

I'm pro Belal getting his title fight.
Colby Covington last fought on March 5th, 2022. Beating Jorge Masvidal.

In the time since that fight Belal Muhammad has beaten Vincente Luque in April '22, then undefeated Sean Brady in Oct '22, and Gilbert Fucking Burns this past May.

I get that Colby sells tickets(I mean I assume he does), but if we're going by work in the cage, this weekend should've been Belal's fight, and there's no one in the division that is close.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I am guessing this is going to be based on the infamous doc of the same name.

I do know that Rock has been trying to get this off the ground for probably a few years now. I guess the impending success of The Iron Claw for A24 is helping out.