Official UFC Thread - Part 5

[TheVileOne]

He should've been fired after the first domestic incident with his wife.

Anyway, Rashad Evans is injured and out of the UFC 170 fight. The good news is that Daniel Cormier is still fighting, though he's fighting a late change opponent in Patrick Cummins making his UFC debut. Fought in Strikeforce before and a former NCAA All-American in wrestling. He wrestled Cormier at the amateur level.

 

[E-Man]

Damn! Damn! DAMN! Just when I keep thinking that the 155 is closer and closer to some unifying all the top guys this happens. Alvarez is on his way to the UFC as soon as he finishes his last fight with Bellator, and the only compelling match up for Gil is to fight Chandler. I don't know all the details of why the contract fell through since I'm not there during negotiations, but I really wanted to see Gil make his mark in the UFC while Alvarez makes his way over there.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Be...ee-to-Terms-Pending-UFCs-Right-to-Match-63717

Bellator MMA has come to terms with former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title contender Gilbert Melendez, though the UFC still has the right to match Bellator’s offer and retain Melendez’s services.

The Viacom-owned promotion announced the news Friday afternoon, revealing Bellator’s intention to sign the onetime Strikeforce champion. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed, though it is a multi-fight and multi-year deal, according to Bellator’s release.

 

[TheVileOne]

Well we still don't know all the terms of Alvarez's current deal. If he loses he might not be able to get a UFC deal.

UFC should fight to keep Melendez, even if they don't like his manager.

 

[E-Man]

From what I understand about Alvarez's deal is that he has a two fight commitment with no matching clause. That's why a lot of people think it's forgone that he's gone to the UFC after Chandler/Alvarez 3 later this year.

 

[Perfect Cell]

Good win for Rousey, showing some diversity in her attack with the clinch strikes. But man, Herb Dean had a rough night. First the late stoppage in the Pyle/Waldburger fight, and then the fairly early stoppage in the main event. Refs have a tough job. Constantly have to skate that edge and get things exactly right, and when they don't, they get crucified.

Edit: I don't have a particular issue with the main event stoppage (the Pyle/Waldburger fight is a different story. That was awful), but I feel the bigger issue is a lack of consistency on the part of the refs. Dean lets Waldburger take a bunch of unnecessary shots, but stops the main event after only a few. It leaves people with the sense that it's all a crapshoot. Which, it kind of is, since stopping a fight is entirely subjective. But alas. Decent card, overall.

 

[TheVileOne]

I have no problem with that stoppage in the main event. McMann was doubled over and on her knees.

 

[Perfect Cell]

But compare it to the Pyle/Waldburger fight. Same referee, yet completely different allowances given to fighters. Waldburger was allowed to take a brutally unnecessary amount of shots while out, yet McMann only took a few while still on her knees. And Dean himself knew it. He was seen walking out of the cage, shaking his head. I don't really mind the main event stoppage too much, but the lack of consistency is the issue.

 

[TheVileOne]

It happens. Referees are very inconsistent sometimes.

Steve Mazzagatti does this a lot.

 

[Perfect Cell]

It's just a jarring thing, when you put two fights from the same night against each other. Couple that with Dean's call in the Faber/Barao fight (I agreed with that stoppage, but many felt it was premature), and it's a weird trend. I almost thought Dean had the Waldburger stoppage in the back of his mind during the main event, and didn't want to let that happen again, so he jumped in on the side of caution. It's tough.

 

[B]

I have no problem with that stoppage in the main event. McMann was doubled over and on her knees.

The stoppage was both a bad stoppage & a good stoppage, it showed how difficult it is to referee at times. It was bad in the sense that Dean jumped straight in & didn't really give McMann any time at all to see if she could have come back into the fight.. the way she sat up after Dean had called off Rousey made me think he should have let it run for a few seconds longer. However it was a good stoppage because he saved McMann from Rousey who looked like she was about to start unloading some hard blows on her.

It's preference though, I like fights that are stopped to be beyond doubt. A few fights I always think off is the Carwin/Lesnar fight or the Edgar/Maynard fight(s). In either of those you couldn't have said much if the referee had stopped those fights when both Edgar/Lesnar were hurt, however because they weren't stopped it proved that the fights weren't over because of how all 3 of them ended.

Fights should only be stopped when a fighter taps or is beyond doubt unable to continue.

 

[TheVileOne]

The UFC has matched Gilbert Melendez's contract offer from Bellator.

Melendez will coach TUF 20 against Anthony Pettis and will fight him for the title next.

 

[B]

The UFC has matched Gilbert Melendez's contract offer from Bellator.

Melendez will coach TUF 20 against Anthony Pettis and will fight him for the title next.

Glad they did, after the show he & Sanchez put on in addition to his credible performance against Henderson I can't see why they'd want to let him go to a rival given he's one of the top LW's.

 

[TheVileOne]

I agree. Part of me thinks the UFC wanted to see what Bellator would offer someone like Melendez.

 

[B]

It's a pity though that the Pettis/Aldo fight isn't happening.. at least for now.

 

[B]

Nevada State Athletic Commission bans TRT

About flipping time, lets be real TRT is just for I'd say 99% of the fighters using it, a way of bending the rules to take what is essentially a steroid. This should have been looked into & banned much sooner IMO.

Dana White says UFC will no longer allow TRT

Hopefully this means that they won't allow their fighters to be on TRT regardless of which state is sanctioning their bouts.

 

[Mace Bloodstone]

Nevada State Athletic Commission bans TRT

About flipping time, lets be real TRT is just for I'd say 99% of the fighters using it, a way of bending the rules to take what is essentially a steroid. This should have been looked into & banned much sooner IMO.

Dana White says UFC will no longer allow TRT

Hopefully this means that they won't allow their fighters to be on TRT regardless of which state is sanctioning their bouts.

Lyoto Machida replaces Vitor Belfort in UFC 173 main event against Chris Weidman
http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/2/28/5456028/lyoto-machida-replaces-vitor-belfort-trt-ufc-173-fight-card-chris-weidman

Belfort, a known user of TRT for several years, released the following statement Thursday night.

"The Nevada State Athletic Commission recently altered its policy and no longer will permit testosterone use exemptions, and will not permit a TRT program. As other jurisdictions may follow suit, I am going to drop my TRT program and compete in MMA without it. Given the time constraints involved between now and my proposed next bout in May, I have determined not to apply for a license to fight in Nevada at this time."

 

[TheVileOne]

Honestly, I think Machida is a bigger threat than Belfort to Weidman and probably beats him.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Prefer Machida/Weidman, and I love how horrible Vitor looks here. His entire resurgence has been a fraud.

 

[B]

Lyoto Machida replaces Vitor Belfort in UFC 173 main event against Chris Weidman
http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/2/28/5456028/lyoto-machida-replaces-vitor-belfort-trt-ufc-173-fight-card-chris-weidman

You couldn't make this **** up..

Vitor is ironically one of the few fighters on TRT that I'd suspect is almost certainly abusing the system. I'm sure there maybe are a very, very, very small percentage of fighters that should actually be on some form of TRT for whatever reason, but Vitor certainly isn't one of them.

 

[CrypticOne]

This makes Belfort's entire 2013 worthless, in my opinion.

 

[TheVileOne]

Meh I don't really care.

A lot of fighters that people worship were probably on the gear. Look at Pride FC. Think about it guys, am I honestly supposed to believe that Wanderlei Silva was never juicing at his peak? In a country where they weren't drug tested?

Here are my own feelings. These are the rules. Follow the rules. Violate them at your own risk.

Everyone was on Overeem's jock a few years ago and would throw a fit when Dana White or Chael Sonnen or someone else would downplay his accomplishments. And now we see how protected Overeem was in the US and he was also so successful because he was probably juicing up on testosterone or what have you and not getting drug tested in Japan.

He's challenging Brock Lesnar, who wrestles for WWE again, when not long ago he was saying Junior Dos Santos was scared of him and didn't want to fight him.

 

[B]

I don't think I've ever been as pumped to see a TUF since Rashad/Rampage as I am to see Sonnen/Silva.

[YT]watch?v=QJD6aJXQo0M[/YT]

Anybody know how to see this? It says it premieres March 9th & you can see it UFC/Fightpass. But I just had a look and there's nothing actually listed there about it.

I'd subscribe to it just to see the show as well because being from the UK you usually don't get TUF.

 

[brainchild81]

If you wanna see Tag team MMA, Hip Show Arena Combat is on AXSTV in 15mins

 

[CrypticOne]

Can't wait to watch tonight's card. So stacked! I got Lawler, Woodley, Sanchez, and Lombard.

 

[TheVileOne]

If you wanna see Tag team MMA, Hip Show Arena Combat is on AXSTV in 15mins

Saw that video, very bizarre and weird.

Anyway, despite a weigh-in scare, Johny Hendricks made weight. So Lawler vs. Hendricks is set.