supremebve Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 Duane Ludwig seemed to be a guy who should have been a much better fighter. He had crazy knockout power, was a really skilled striker, but somehow still got his block knocked off fairly often. Then again, that seems to be the exact type of athlete who becomes a great coach. Someone who has all of the skills, knows exactly what he should be doing at any given time, but somehow couldn't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 6, 2017 Author Share Posted December 6, 2017 Just now, supremebve said: Duane Ludwig seemed to be a guy who should have been a much better fighter. He had crazy knockout power, was a really skilled striker, but somehow still got his block knocked off fairly often. Then again, that seems to be the exact type of athlete who becomes a great coach. Someone who has all of the skills, knows exactly what he should be doing at any given time, but somehow couldn't do it. Din Thomas was a decent fighter but a much better coach given that he helped turned Woodley into a much more efficient fighter. I am also delighted anytime Dewey Cooper shows up cornering someone who is training in Vegas like Kevin Lee and Francis Ngannou. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 6, 2017 Author Share Posted December 6, 2017 Unless they get it in writing that GSP faces the eventual winner, there is no way it shouldn't be for the actual championship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 6, 2017 Author Share Posted December 6, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiztor Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 this WME era of big money fights and interim titles is playing hell with the title lineages and rankings. Yes, i know it is a less than perfect system and flawed from the outset, but this propensity toward marquee matchups only highlights the flaws. Fighters who win championships should be held to a higher standard, not rewarded for taking extended breaks and/or defending against the top contender(s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 2 hours ago, twiztor said: this WME era of big money fights and interim titles is playing hell with the title lineages and rankings. Yes, i know it is a less than perfect system and flawed from the outset, but this propensity toward marquee matchups only highlights the flaws. Fighters who win championships should be held to a higher standard, not rewarded for taking extended breaks and/or defending against the top contender(s). The thing is once you get to a certain level (at least in terms of money), you're afforded being able to pick and choose fights which comes with its own headaches. On the news front, HW prospect Marcelo Golm is replacing Luis "KLB" Henrique against Timothy Johnson on the Belem card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 Stipe is my favorite fighter today and he's probably been my favorite fighter for years now. It's been a fucking fun ride watching all of his matches from his first in the UFC to winning the title and then defending it. That said, Stipe fighting Ngannou reminds me of a fight that devastated me years ago: Rich Franklin vs Anderson Silva 1. I was a big fan of Franklin's at the time. I didn't really give much of a shit about the creationism crap and I just liked watching the guy fight. I thought he would beat Silva because I didn't know much about Silva. Watching that fight was like watching Apollo vs Drago. Stipe is awesome, but I'm really worried about him defending the title against Ngannou. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 38 minutes ago, Craig H said: Stipe is my favorite fighter today and he's probably been my favorite fighter for years now. It's been a fucking fun ride watching all of his matches from his first in the UFC to winning the title and then defending it. That said, Stipe fighting Ngannou reminds me of a fight that devastated me years ago: Rich Franklin vs Anderson Silva 1. I was a big fan of Franklin's at the time. I didn't really give much of a shit about the creationism crap and I just liked watching the guy fight. I thought he would beat Silva because I didn't know much about Silva. Watching that fight was like watching Apollo vs Drago. Stipe is awesome, but I'm really worried about him defending the title against Ngannou. On the last WOR that was put out this morning, Meltzer compared this to Shogun vs. Jones where it was basically anointing the next big superstar which is why they announced it in the cage right after the Bader fight he was replacing Rashad against Shogun. I can definitely see that and personally I felt sympathetic to Shogun at the time because people had already given the belt to Jon Jones. I remember Eduardo Alonso, Shogun's manager, being so mad that people were so dismissive of Shogun retaining the belt. That's the first and really only time I've seen something like that happen where people gave the champion absolutely no shot. I've seen some 55-45 or 60-40 maybe 70-30 but not straight up 90% or more that the challenger is going to win. The reason why I gave Shogun an outside chance of beating Jon at the time was because we had basically put him out to pasture and buried his career after looking so horrendous against Mark Coleman. Then, he opened his own camp where his homeboys like Andre Dida were training him. It looked like a wrap. Then he looked like a reborn fighter in the Machida fights. We never saw Jon Jones take a good punch and I felt Shogun had the ability to catch people. As we saw at UFC 128, it didn't matter at all. Jon never gave him that chance. To be honest, I don't see Miocic-Ngannou going any better for the champion and I trust Stipe's consistency way more than Shogun's over the span of several knee surgeries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 To a lesser extent, Rampage vs Chuck comes to mind as well. I'm not sure about others, but to me it felt like a foregone conclusion that Rampage was going to dethrone Chuck and be the next champion. I felt so sure that I was watching that fight just waiting for when Rampage would win. Anyway though, yeah, this likely doesn't go well for Stipe. On the positive side, hey, it's another great fighter at heavyweight and more matchups for everybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supremebve Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 12 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said: On the last WOR that was put out this morning, Meltzer compared this to Shogun vs. Jones where it was basically anointing the next big superstar which is why they announced it in the cage right after the Bader fight he was replacing Rashad against Shogun. I can definitely see that and personally I felt sympathetic to Shogun at the time because people had already given the belt to Jon Jones. I remember Eduardo Alonso, Shogun's manager, being so mad that people were so dismissive of Shogun retaining the belt. That's the first and really only time I've seen something like that happen where people gave the champion absolutely no shot. I've seen some 55-45 or 60-40 maybe 70-30 but not straight up 90% or more that the challenger is going to win. The reason why I gave Shogun an outside chance of beating Jon at the time was because we had basically put him out to pasture and buried his career after looking so horrendous against Mark Coleman. Then, he opened his own camp where his homeboys like Andre Dida were training him. It looked like a wrap. Then he looked like a reborn fighter in the Machida fights. We never saw Jon Jones take a good punch and I felt Shogun had the ability to catch people. As we saw at UFC 128, it didn't matter at all. Jon never gave him that chance. To be honest, I don't see Miocic-Ngannou going any better for the champion and I trust Stipe's consistency way more than Shogun's over the span of several knee surgeries. I brought this one up yesterday, but GSP vs. Matt Hughes 2 was pretty much a foregone conclusion. Matt Hughes was a one dimensional wrestler, and was standing in the way of someone who seemed like a different species as far as skill level goes. I remember that moment when GSP got on his knees and begged for a title shot, and me and my friends pretty much knew he was the champion whether he held the belt or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 8, 2017 Author Share Posted December 8, 2017 GSP has officially vacated to focus on his health and Whittaker vs. Rockhold at UFC 221 for the full middleweight title is now official as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
username Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 On 11/2/2017 at 11:31 PM, username said: I wouldn't take either GSP or Bisping against anyone else in the top 5 at middleweight assuming they were at their best, and I sorta suspect that neither are actually at their best. I also think that both of them would retire before facing someone from the top 5. So basically... I guess this starts the countdown to Whittaker being announced as the "real" champ. I am shocked! Shocked by this completely unexpected turn of events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 5 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said: GSP has officially vacated to focus on his health and Whittaker vs. Rockhold at UFC 221 for the full middleweight title is now official as well. Health trumps everything. If GSP comes back, great and if not, to return after a four year break and become the fourth fighter to win UFC championships in two weight classes is a way to go out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 GSP is going to take another extensive break (18 months - 24 months?) and most likely comeback for the big Conor money fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 8, 2017 Author Share Posted December 8, 2017 15 minutes ago, Edwin said: GSP is going to take another extensive break (18 months - 24 months?) and most likely comeback for the big Conor money fight. Based on Conor's erratic behavior and how they tried to give him everything on the last round of negotiations only for him to come back and ask for something else, jumping on a possible McGregor fight would need to happen well within that period and not afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 9 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said: Based on Conor's erratic behavior and how they tried to give him everything on the last round of negotiations only for him to come back and ask for something else, jumping on a possible McGregor fight would need to happen well within that period and not afterwards. I could see GSP coming back at 170 lbs. and fighting Woodley for the title. If he wins, then I can def. see the UFC making the Conor fight. Conor gets a chance at a third title in a division he's fought before against the best fighter in the history of that division and one of the greatest of all time. Arguably the biggest fight the UFC has to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 8, 2017 Author Share Posted December 8, 2017 27 minutes ago, Edwin said: I could see GSP coming back at 170 lbs. and fighting Woodley for the title. If he wins, then I can def. see the UFC making the Conor fight. Conor gets a chance at a third title in a division he's fought before against the best fighter in the history of that division and one of the greatest of all time. Arguably the biggest fight the UFC has to make. That's hinging on many things going incredibly right because not only would GSP have to take the Woodley fight and win but the UFC also wants Conor to defend against Ferguson. I can see many things holding both of those fights up just because a lot of things have held them already. As time goes on, I don't know how the UFC can remove those obstacles when you have Conor creating more obstacles. On the other hand, just making a superfight without the title implications or narratives is a lot easier (still going to be hard but relative to the other options) to make but you're just going to have more pissed off fighters. I mean several folks missed out on De La Hoya and Mayweather paydays, but there wasn't necessarily one party to blame for everything since the political landscape and players were much different and not under one banner. I think part of the reason why the UFC tried to make the Ferguson fight at UFC 219 is not only to get a big PPV main event, but they need to create opportunities to make other fighters superstars. The interim titles or the importance of the titles is always going to be a hot debate, but they haven't really discarded the people actually holding the belts like Bellator did for much of their existence. They need fighters like Woodley, Tony Ferguson, and others to be sellable on PPV for the time being or unless until they get that new TV deal. Ok you get a megafight in GSP and Conor and it makes tons of money. Okay, what next? Three or four years ago, I might have said something different. However, I feel it might be worth the headache to make McGregor vs. Ferguson or Woodley vs. GSP because you do indeed get those narratives. Hell, you might even be able to run one of those fights back like a McGregor vs. Diaz and make even more money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 9, 2017 Author Share Posted December 9, 2017 Two notable things on the newsfront: - The Edmonton city council has announced a one year moratorium (effective tomorrow until 12/31/2018) on combat sports after the death of Tim Hague and seriously looking into the practices of the Edmonton Combative Sports Commission. - In the wake of the Ray Borg UFC 215 debacle, Perfecting Athletes has lost their biggest client: Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Just like the Borg split, this one was far from amicable as Joanna sounds pretty pissed about happened in the leadup to the fight with Rose at UFC 217. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 10, 2017 Author Share Posted December 10, 2017 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 11, 2017 Author Share Posted December 11, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 On the UFC show, they showed a graphic of Cormier defending 205 as a semi-final (to Miocic vs Ngannou), but they didn't announce it out loud, and I forgot who the opponent was. Did they screw up and pre-announce a fight before it's official unveiling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamBroken Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Cormier vs Volkan Oezdemir had already been announced a couple weeks back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 12, 2017 Author Share Posted December 12, 2017 Herb Dean will be the ref for Cyborg vs. Holm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted December 13, 2017 Author Share Posted December 13, 2017 Going from Lauren Murphy to Valentina is a big step up. Either they want a win for Valentina in her flyweight debut or they have some confidence in Cachoeira given her style is very similar to her teammate Jessica Andrade and that could present a really entertaining fight. FWIW Polyana Viana is also fighting Maia Stevenson on the same card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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