Official UFC Thread - Part 2

[Texas Zombie]

As for Anderson Silva not wanting to fight Jon Jones, who could blame him? He's afraid of the takedown and his reach. To be honest, Machida was the only fighter left that could challenge Jones. Shogun is on his way out, Hendo is too old and slow (not to mention his wrestling is not elite), Evans is much too small, Griffin is a broken man, Ortiz is a mid-tier fighter at best, and Davis is well... a disappointment.

The LHW division is nearing the level of the MW division, in my opinion.

1. Anderson Silva fears no man, even a man who has a great chance of beating him, and fighting off his back is no problem for him obviously.

2. Machida never had a chance, even if he started winning the fight he would get taken down and subbed, He has knockout power, but his style of rapid aggressive runs and backaways is terrible, he leaves his arms DOWN.

3. Shogun will probably never beat Jon Jones, but he is great fighter and not too old, he may have many years left in the sport.

4. I don't really know what to say to this one. If olympians don't have elite wrestling than I don't know who does. Also out of all the fighter he still has what boxers call the best "punchers chance", meaning he has a fairly solid chin and can deliver that one shot to end it all consistently.

5. Evans has the best chance of winning I would say, he has clsoe the range, which wont happen tho.

6. All forrest ever had was good god given size, medium gameplans, but more than anything heart.

7. Tito is done, one more fight and he retires.

8. Davis is new he hasn't adapted his wrestling for fighting yet, give it two years and I believe he will be an elite fighter, but not the champ.

Overall: No one is beating Jon Jones, unless Rashad can lay and pray, Hendo gets lucky, or Mr. Wonderful actually becomes a wonderful fighter.

 

[E-Man]

t:

I never realized that the 'D' in Vampire Hunter D stood for Diego.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

1. Anderson Silva fears no man, even a man who has a great chance of beating him, and fighting off his back is no problem for him obviously.

That's a load. Anderson doesn't fear the man, but he fears the mechanics. Jones, possibly, has the best wrestling in the UFC, and Silva is quite aware of what Jon is capable of doing to his shortcomings.

Nogueira is fantastic off his back too. Shame it didn't help him when he faced off against Fedor.

2. Machida never had a chance, even if he started winning the fight he would get taken down and subbed, He has knockout power, but his style of rapid aggressive runs and backaways is terrible, he leaves his arms DOWN.

You're delusional if you believed that Machida never had a chance. Prior to his bout with Jones, Lyoto had some of best TDD in the division. Furthermore, his style was his weakness but it was also his strength. From I can recollect, Machida edged out Jones in the first round, like it or not.

3. Shogun will probably never beat Jon Jones, but he is great fighter and not too old, he may have many years left in the sport.

Shogun is a legend and is still relatively young but two out of his last three outings indicate that he's nearing the end as a title contender. His performance against Hendo was dreadful. Instead of employing head-movement (like he use to in the past), Rua let himself get tagged by those H-Bombs.

4. I don't really know what to say to this one. If olympians don't have elite wrestling than I don't know who does. Also out of all the fighter he still has what boxers call the best "punchers chance", meaning he has a fairly solid chin and can deliver that one shot to end it all consistently.

Olympian Wrestling... point? Jake Shields dominated him and Shogun was able to take Hendo down. How long do you actually think it'll take Jones to takedown Dan? Answer: not long.

The H-Bomb has a low chance of connecting with Jon's chin because of two reasons -- Henderson is slower than Jones and Jon's reach is overwhelming.

5. Evans has the best chance of winning I would say, he has clsoe the range, which wont happen tho.

Based on what I've seen from him recently, don't count on it.

6. All forrest ever had was good god given size, medium gameplans, but more than anything heart.

And yet size and heart were able to push Jones back before. Gavao and O'Brien are journey men and they were still able to outstrike and hurt Jones at certain points in their bouts.

Forrest Griffin from three to four years ago would have gave Jones a hell of a fight, and possibly could have upset the balance.

7. Tito is done, one more fight and he retires.

Agreed.

8. Davis is new he hasn't adapted his wrestling for fighting yet, give it two years and I believe he will be an elite fighter, but not the champ.

Davis may be new, but I severely doubt he'll ever be an elite fighter. His striking is as awkward as Jones (very rudimentary) but, at least, Jon had his excellent wrestling skills to carry him. Davis' wrestling hasn't carried him past the top competition. Phil barely got through Lil Nog, in fact.

Overall: No one is beating Jon Jones, unless Rashad can lay and pray, Hendo gets lucky, or Mr. Wonderful actually becomes a wonderful fighter.

Eh, I wouldn't go that far. If Gegard improves his TDD (which he's doing as we speak by finally joining a gym) then he'd obliterate Jones.

Alexander Gustafsson might be someone to watch out for too. His TDD and JJ still need work, but he's a strong and long lanky fighter like Jones.

 

[Project862006]

if only there was fighter with :

striking,timing,footwork of machida
power and chin of hendo
TDD of Rampage - page stuffed 4 of JJ Takedowns
BJJ and active guard off his back of Anderson

 

[Texas Zombie]

That's a load. Anderson doesn't fear the man, but he fears the mechanics. Jones, possibly, has the best wrestling in the UFC, and Silva is quite aware of what Jon is capable of doing to his shortcomings.

Nogueira is fantastic off his back too. Shame it didn't help him when he faced off against Fedor.



You're delusional if you believed that Machida never had a chance. Prior to his bout with Jones, Lyoto had some of best TDD in the division. Furthermore, his style was his weakness but it was also his strength. From I can recollect, Machida edged out Jones in the first round, like it or not.



Shogun is a legend and is still relatively young but two out of his last three outings indicate that he's nearing the end as a title contender. His performance against Hendo was dreadful. Instead of employing head-movement (like he use to in the past), Rua let himself get tagged by those H-Bombs.



Olympian Wrestling... point? Jake Shields dominated him and Shogun was able to take Hendo down. How long do you actually think it'll take Jones to takedown Dan? Answer: not long.

The H-Bomb has a low chance of connecting with Jon's chin because of two reasons -- Henderson is slower than Jones and Jon's reach is overwhelming.



Based on what I've seen from him recently, don't count on it.



And yet size and heart were able to push Jones back before. Gavao and O'Brien are journey men and they were still able to outstrike and hurt Jones at certain points in their bouts.

Forrest Griffin from three to four years ago would have gave Jones a hell of a fight, and possibly could have upset the balance.



Agreed.



Davis may be new, but I severely doubt he'll ever be an elite fighter. His striking is as awkward as Jones (very rudimentary) but, at least, Jon had his excellent wrestling skills to carry him. Davis' wrestling hasn't carried him past the top competition. Phil barely got through Lil Nog, in fact.



Eh, I wouldn't go that far. If Gegard improves his TDD (which he's doing as we speak by finally joining a gym) then he'd obliterate Jones.

Alexander Gustafsson might be someone to watch out for too. His TDD and JJ still need work, but he's a strong and long lanky fighter like Jones.

Dan Henderson was out of shape for the Shields fight, he said post fight, and he nearly TKO'd him.
Hendo was throwing bombs against shogun who has possibly the greatest chin I have ever seen, besides roy nelson.

The only people who have a chance of beating jon jones I would say are Rashad(if he can out wrestle jon, and get into the range, footwork and headmovement will be key), Henderson has to just cover and headhunt, and Phil Davis in three years.

 

[TheVileOne]

Shogun's problem is his training and his former coach Rafael Cordeiro said as much. He doesn't like to train to train or work hard. He needs to be training with the guys at Kings MMA to bring up his stamina and conditioning and if he has that he's much more in the fight.

I think it was his conditioning that cost him against Henderson. The only reason he almost pulled that fight out was because Hendo got tired beating his ass for the first 3 rounds.

 

[Mace Bloodstone]

Any heavyweight title news, any date set for it?

 

[TheVileOne]

Overeem/JDS is currently set for the Memorial Day Weekend show, I think that's UFC 146.

 

[CrypticOne]

My picks for UFC 144:

Lauzon over Pettis via decision
Palaszewski over Hioki via KO
Okami over Boetsch via decision
Akiyama over Shields via TKO
Kongo over Hunt via TKO
Rampage over Bader via KO
Edgar over Bendo via decision

Awesome card. Can't wait to see this thing unfold.

 

[TheVileOne]

Best UFC 144 promo ever:

[YT]WsJihB3Qyl0[/YT]

 

[Project862006]

nate marquardt has been signed by strike force!!!
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/2/21/2815705/nate-marquardt-signs-with-strikeforce-mma-news

 

[B]

Gotta go for Rampage this weekend over Bader. Bader tends to exclusively use boxing when hes striking & throws very little (if any) kicks.. which plays directly into Rampage's boxing style which is, in my opinion the strongest in the LHW division.

Also don't think Bader's wrestling ability has translated well at all into MMA, his takedown attempts in a few fights & in particular the Jon Jones fight looked feeble... then theres the fact that Rampage has one of the best, if not the best TDD in the LHW division.

Going for Rampage via TKO inside the first.

 

[CrypticOne]

Yeah, I don't think Bader will be able to takedown Rampage. And to stand with Rampage?! Not a good idea for him. If Ortiz can out-strike you, nothing against Ortiz' striking, but Rampage is on another level. Bader is going to have to use a lot of distance. Use his speed against Rampage and constantly be moving.

But yeah, in the end, Rampage by KO.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm picking Bader. Rampage has become a one-dimensional fighter. He's in a terrible camp that doesn't get the best out of him. Rampage hasn't knocked out anyone out in over three years. If Bader pushes the clinch and wrestling game he can and will win.

How many times have we heard about seeing THE OLD RAMPAGE again and it never happens? I've lost count.

People said Rampage was going to knock out Jones and make him humble too.

 

[CrypticOne]

I knew Rampage didn't stand a chance against Jones, and I know we won't see the old Rampage. But Bader's chin is suspect. He can win this fight if he plays it smart. But he has to play it smart for 15 minutes.

 

[E-Man]

Rampage should win, but I wouldn't count Bader out at all just because Tito rocked and dropped him. The biggest factor in that fight is if Rampage actually comes in and does more than one thing. As good as his boxing and wrestling is he only uses it to stay standing and throw hooks with a few uppercuts in there. It's sad seeing how predictable he has become because he really is skilled in a variety of areas. Bader could outstrike him simply by using a decent jab and a some takedown attempts. I don't think Bader will do it, but I don't think Rampage will come in and implement the great gameplan that he should to take Bader out.

 

[Project862006]

picking bader too he said his game plan is to mix it up with kicks knees and take downs

 

[TheVileOne]

I knew Rampage didn't stand a chance against Jones, and I know we won't see the old Rampage. But Bader's chin is suspect. He can win this fight if he plays it smart. But he has to play it smart for 15 minutes.

He's never been knocked out. He got dropped by a solid shot by Tito Ortiz who still almost beat Machida with a late submission when they fought.

Bader can do it. He's been to deep waters with the likes of Nogueira and Keith Jardine and he did fine. Even Keith Jardine gave Rampage problems.

 

[TheVileOne]

Rampage weighed in at 211 lbs. So unprofessional. What the **** was he doing?

 

[Mace Bloodstone]

Bader has some crazy ripped abs!

 

[Mace Bloodstone]

Rampage isn't hungry anymore, he has everything.

[YT]HXO1j9KRFns&list[/YT]

 

[Project862006]

you know what this means

if bader pulls off the upset he will get zero credit now

 

[TheVileOne]

Rampage says he got injured before the fight. Here is the cause:

 

[B]

Rampage weighed in at 211 lbs. So unprofessional. What the **** was he doing?

I imagine this is accurate however I've no link or quote to back me up, however I read on Twitter from one of the MMA websites I follow that he reportedly injured himself in training inside the last week which prevented him from doing alot of the running/cardio that he would normally be doing in the final week in order to make the weight. He apparently cut 20lbs but couldn't make the final 6lbs in time.

Which is fair enough, if hes injured himself & is unable to make weight by 6lbs I'd rather have him healing for a week, forfitting 20% of his purse just to keep the fight going rather than have the fight scrubbed. It's not like hes Anthony Johnson or some other fighter with weight issues, Rampage has never had any other weight cutting problems professionally & while this is a black mark on his otherwise perfect weight record, it's only a first strike.. with a credible defense if it's accurate.

 

[E-Man]

My picks for tonight:

Edgar over Bendo by decision.
Rampage over Bader by decision.
Kongo over Hunt by late TKO.
Shields over Akiyama by 3rd round sub.
Okami over Boetsch by decision.