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2015 Non-Event General MMA Talk Thread


Elsalvajeloco

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If it is indeed true, this at least shows that the UFC isn't waffling on whether or not their priority is to have a worthy main event on 12/10. They could have easily went with PVZ vs. some girl as if it were the middle of the PPV prelims.

 

Also, if someone is gonna beat VanZant, let it be someone you're also willing to invest in. Rose is coming off a good win. So what better time to do it even if this might not have been the ideal means for it to come together? The person who wins the fight is someone they're gonna put all their weight into.

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It's a particularly deft bit of matchmaking. Rose was obviously the one they wanted to win TUF - if she wins, they get their previous golden girl (and outright better fighter) in line for a title shot. If PvZ pulls off the upset then UFC brass will start doing cartwheels, if she loses it's a completely understandable growing pain and might serve to humanize her a bit.

 

The only downside is that they're running a championship squash match in Jedrzejczyk/Letourneau. I understood it when it was announced - Joanna gets to do her rendering-plant-routine on poor Valerie's face in front of millions of Rousey fans - but you've got the Gadhela rematch likely happening after it. I don't want to see the division get backlogged. I suppose they'll match the winner of PvZ/Rose with the winner of Tecia Torres/Michelle Waterson.

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Dana just confirmed the change on Twitter.

 

It's a particularly deft bit of matchmaking. Rose was obviously the one they wanted to win TUF - if she wins, they get their previous golden girl (and outright better fighter) in line for a title shot. If PvZ pulls off the upset then UFC brass will start doing cartwheels, if she loses it's a completely understandable growing pain and might serve to humanize her a bit.

 

The only downside is that they're running a championship squash match in Jedrzejczyk/Letourneau. I understood it when it was announced - Joanna gets to do her rendering-plant-routine on poor Valerie's face in front of millions of Rousey fans - but you've got the Gadhela rematch likely happening after it. I don't want to see the division get backlogged. I suppose they'll match the winner of PvZ/Rose with the winner of Tecia Torres/Michelle Waterson.

 

I think it comes down to if the UFC understands that even if PVZ is talented for her age, she is no world beater by any means. I think someone can look at it as a "high risk, high reward" (from a business standpoint) fight like several fights that week, but I think this gives them more of a realistic view of what PVZ can do. You can also say the same for Rose about a year removed from the show now.

 

They could have booked PVZ against an Alex Chambers type that was just gonna take a beating and send the fans home happy. However, when you're doing an online show that you want to get the spotlight on, it's best to at least take some sort of a risk to get those viewers. That is something Bellator is having a tough time pulling the trigger with, which has really hurt their ability to create stars. People want star power, but you cannot create that star power if you don't make the necessary fights. Stylistically, this is a good choice because they get someone who is a tough, all action fighter with flaws in her game as well.

 

I think we already understand that the best case scenario is VanZant winning. However, looking the other scenarios does not really make believe the UFC should start dreading this matchup. As stated above, with prospects, you got to understand there will be growing pains. Best case scenario with VanZant losing is that we get a fight of the night contender and no one gives a shit that she lost because the fight was great. Look at Dalby vs. Till this past weekend. You had two really good prospects who had an amazing fight. It ultimately ended up in a draw, but I don't think the stock would drop dramatically for the loser if the judges decided to give it to the other guy.

 

On the other hand, you had something like Nelson vs. Thatch at UFC 189 where one prospect decisively beat another and further exposed a skill deficiency. Here is where the growing pains part rolls in. It's really easy to go, "Brandon Thatch, learn Jiu-Jitsu NOW!" However, cutting bait on Thatch because two clearly superior grapplers submitted him is a bit weird at this point. Maybe Thatch might wash out, but it's on the UFC to understand that the jury is still out. As much as MMA fans always go worst case scenario, you still have the completely opposite end of the spectrum. Everyone brings up Robbie Lawler as the best example of that, but I think that ignores some of the crazy shit that went down in MMA since Robbie was a young prospect. All former prospects don't need to be champion because that's clearly not possible at all. However, you can still use those fighters once the prospect phase over to fill all the areas you need. You need journeymen who people recognize. You need gatekeepers who can show how good a rising fighter is. You need mid-carders who can round out a card and give you at least a watchable effort. You also need people at the top of the card who might not ever win a belt, but make people tune in to watch. If you can effortlessly slide people into those vital roles, you can be a successful MMA promotion.

 

Paige VanZant can be a successful MMA fighter without doing the Dim mak death touch on everyone because she has qualities that go beyond what happens horn to horn. If she was a lower level faceless signee whose best outlook was 3-5 over 3 years and going back to whatever rathole promotion, then I would understand all the backlash. However, this is a fighter who does have skills, the look, and intangibles where you can put the marketing and hype machine behind her. In addition, she's at a point in her career where you don't have to worry about whether or not her winning every fight.

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UFC Tonight ‏@UFCTonight 11m11 minutes ago

DC: "Tomorrow I'm going to Vegas to talk to Dana/Lorenzo to talk about the future. If it's going to be Jones, where's it going to be, etc."

 

UFC Tonight ‏@UFCTonight 2m2 minutes ago

Dustin Poirier vs. Joseph Duffy has been rescheduled for Jan 2nd at #UFC195.

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Marc Raimondi's first question for Ronda Rousey today on the UFC 193 media conference call was if she was ready for Travis Browne to announce they were dating.  Rousey's line was promptly "disconnected."  More than likely she hung up and left.  

 

Thanks for leading the conference call with that Raimondi.

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Marc Raimondi's first question for Ronda Rousey today on the UFC 193 media conference call was if she was ready for Travis Browne to announce they were dating.  Rousey's line was promptly "disconnected."  More than likely she hung up and left.  

 

Thanks for leading the conference call with that Raimondi.

 

If she did hang up...

 

She has got to be ready for those questions since it is public knowledge. Second, it is her job to do these engagements even if a lot of these questions aren't relevant to the event. Plead the fifth and move on. Not that hard.

 

I don't think the question is good especially considering the original source of that information. Yeah, I don't think the former significant other  In addition, people generally don't want their personal life just out there. So I would say that would be a no.

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Just saying, Marc Raimondi's the first guy in the queue, and that's the question he leads with for Rousey.  It was not a smart move.  Yes, obviously those questions get asked for public figures in the public eye.  But I still don't think that was the right setting for that question.  Sometimes you got to read the room.  Leave that to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour or TMZ.    

 

And yes she did hang up.  UFC operatives promised they were getting her back on, but she never did.  There is no other logical explanation.  Happens at about 6:40 here, if you want to know what I'm talking about.

 

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Just saying, Marc Raimondi's the first guy in the queue, and that's the question he leads with for Rousey.  It was not a smart move.  Yes, obviously those questions get asked for public figures in the public eye.  But I still don't think that was the right setting for that question.  Sometimes you got to read the room.  Leave that to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour or TMZ.    

 

And yes she did hang up.  UFC operatives promised they were getting her back on, but she never did.  There is no other logical explanation.  Happens at about 6:40 here, if you want to know what I'm talking about.

 

 

Not that I disagree with you or personally give a shit who she dates, I think that she was gonna get asked that anyway. So whether or not it is was the right setting is kinda irrelevant. It just turns out that Raimondi was the one who asked it. It's not like what Vitor has been dealing with the past month and a half after the UFC 152 stuff came out. People would understand if she just said no comment or said, "I would rather keep that between me and Travis". That would have been perfectly fine. Sometimes, you just got to plow through stupid shit like that especially as someone fielding questions from the media.

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In hilarious news, Meltzer believes RIZIN offered Alberto Del Rio a quarter of a million dollars....to fight Fedor. Between that and Gabi Garcia fighting Barbarian's niece, I believe we are looking at the Japanese Affliction. Oooof.

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In hilarious news, Meltzer believes RIZIN offered Alberto Del Rio a quarter of a million dollars....to fight Fedor. Between that and Gabi Garcia fighting Barbarian's niece, I believe we are looking at the Japanese Affliction. Oooof.

i read once that PRIDE was in talks to have a tag team MMA match before they went under. maybe RIZIN will resurrect that idea and really confuse everyone.

 

Stop training with bears in Russia Nurmagomedov.  You're ruining your career.

seconded.

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Anybody heard anything on the November show for Invicta? So far I haven't seen any bouts officially announced (other than then tentative strawweight title fight) and Cyborg doesn't have an official opponent yet (I'm assuming Dandois). Plus, I haven't heard a date or a venue. If they're still running in November, they better get on it fast.

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Anybody heard anything on the November show for Invicta? So far I haven't seen any bouts officially announced (other than then tentative strawweight title fight) and Cyborg doesn't have an official opponent yet (I'm assuming Dandois). Plus, I haven't heard a date or a venue. If they're still running in November, they better get on it fast.

 

I think it was a recent Cyborg interview that said it was being pushed back to December. Still no other confirmed fights though.

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Anybody heard anything on the November show for Invicta? So far I haven't seen any bouts officially announced (other than then tentative strawweight title fight) and Cyborg doesn't have an official opponent yet (I'm assuming Dandois). Plus, I haven't heard a date or a venue. If they're still running in November, they better get on it fast.

 

I think it was a recent Cyborg interview that said it was being pushed back to December. Still no other confirmed fights though.

 

 

Yeah, I would have to think it would be in December. If there was a show two weeks from now, we would know. Plus, I don't think they would run the Friday after Thanksgiving either. 

 

So I believe it would be the week after Thanksgiving or they slide it back to the week of the UFC on Fox card in Orlando. Maybe there is an off chance they do the Wednesday at the Cosmopolitan before the 3 straight UFC events in LV.

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i read once that PRIDE was in talks to have a tag team MMA match before they went under. maybe RIZIN will resurrect that idea and really confuse everyone.

Tag Team MMA is quite normal for ZST in Japan who actually has MMA Tag Team champions.

 

Here's an example with WEC vet Jeff Curran and UFC vet Rich Clementi teaming together:

 

 

I wrote a ton of notes from the PRIDE Secret Files on Sherdog a while ago. I believe I posted the link on here, if not, here it is in case you're interested in reading about some of the wild ideas Sakakibara had for PRIDE before the Zuffa buyout: http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f2/pride-secret-files-2631733/

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RIZIN will have led lights underneath the ropes I believe and the only fight so far confirmed is Sakuraba vs. Aoki on the December 29th card.

Fedor, Gabi Garcia, Japanese kickboxer Rena, former sumo Kaido Hoovelson, Jungle Fight heavyweight champ Bruno Cappelozza, DEEP flyweight champ Yuki Motoya and Tsuyoshi Kosaka are the fighters confirmed for the RIZIN cards.

There's talk among MMA fans about Angle actually having signed to fight on the RIZIN NYE card in Japan sinceSakakibara tweeted a photo of a fighter from behind with a caption "Do you know him?" and Angle tweeting about the Bellator announcement. People quickly jumped to Fedor vs. Angle, but yeah, no.

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