The MMA thread

[robmlufc]

Here we go!!

[Don1]

Finale of the TUF 16 - pity on the winner, a really boring career awaits. Big country can punch....

[davey68]

I enjoyed the smashes card, so so pleased Ross battered George! The TUF16 finale wasn't too bad, wanted Ricci to win as Colton is the type of fighter (style wise) I least enjoy watching. He executed his gameplan though. One thing, I'm on virgin cable, and set the V+ box to record the TUF16 prelims (on 12 to 2am). When I came to watch it sunday it hadn't recorded, saying that channel wasnt subscribed or some such rubbish. Yet the main card was fine. Was it taken off ESPN and on another channel? Did you guy's get to see the prelims ok? Pi**ed me off a bit to be honest. Oh and what's GSP's beef with Diaz? seems an odd matchup when there are other good welterweights out there?

[Don1]

Diaz lost to Condit, so naturally he's straight in line for a title shot after his suspension for drugs..

[Stu R]

Don1 said:

Diaz lost to Condit, so naturally he's straight in line for a title shot after his suspension for drugs..

Yeah, that sucks. On the plus side, we get to see Diaz getting beaten up.

[MPowerMark]

It's a real shame the UFC keeps doing this. Giving people who have not earned the right to have a title shot a chance. It's not good for the sport and you can't help but feel for Johnny Hendricks. He has looked amazing in his last 3 fights against world class opponents. The thing is Hendricks will give GSP more of a fight than Diaz will. The Diaz fight will go just like the Condit fight. GSP will control the fight and take Diaz down at will. Yes Diaz is very capable off his back but i expect GSP to grind out another decisive points victory by using alot of wrestling and GnP.
Diaz doesn't really have much knockout power and his best chance is to keep the fight standing and use his pitter patter boxing style and relentless pressure to win a poi9nts decision. GSP won't allow that to happen. Hendricks however could knock GSP out with one punch and what makes this fight more exciting is GSP might have abit of a hard time getting Hendricks down which means he is always staring at a potential knockout. Makes the fight far more appealing!

Oh well.

[robmlufc]

Not sure who the other contenders would be? Hendricks has a punchers chance and thats it, take his big punch away and he is no better wrestler than Koscheck or anyone else GSP has coped with like that in the past. MacDonald has said he won't fight GSP.

Shields would probably have been happy fighting GSP off his back but never got the chance, at least Diaz knows what hes doing in a boxing contest or a BJJ contest.

[Don1]

Oh, I don't know. How about some Brazilian? Like.... hmmmm.... SILVA?

[robmlufc]

Well I meant at welterweight! Do you think Silva - Jones is more likely?

[tim2100]

I don't think GSP should fight Silvia. Personally I think they should forget all this superfight nonsense.

If a fighter , including champions, want to try their hand at a different division then fair enough. But to get a catchweight fight between champions is ludicrous. Think about the options.

If GSP & Silvia want to fight at say 177/8 If GSP wins then he is P4P king and then goes back to 170 after another 6 months to lose his weight. Silvia then goes back to 185 with a non perfect record and beaten by a smaller guy so he must be crap. HE looks lean as hell at 185 so any less than that he will struggle to keep any strength. This could have a bad impact on his remaining 185 fights. It will take him that much closer to retirement.
Meanwhile if he wins, which he as the larger stronger fighter is expected to, then he carries on being king and GSP goes back to 170 with his tail between his legs and then larger 170lb fighters will have a blueprint of how to beat him.

It is an unnecessary Lose scenario for the loser in these fights which solve nothing in the divisions. They have weight divisions for a reason. leave them at that.

[Stu R]

153 is interesting because it puts pretty much all the top contenders on the same schedule / cycle. Bodes well I think, and should do something about the table below before the year's out.

Table below shows who's fought who (Y = Have fought, N= Not Fought) - think it's right anyway

	Condit	Diaz	Hendricks	Ellenberger	GSP	Macdonald
Condit	-	Y	N	Y	Y	Scheduled
Diaz	Y	-	N	N	Scheduled	N
Hendricks	N	N	-	Scheduled	N	N
Ellenberger	N	N	Scheduled	-	N	N
GSP	Y	Scheduled	N	N	-	Won't Fight
Macdonald	Scheduled	N	N	N	Won't fight	-

Lots of N's in there.

Hendricks and Ellenberger is pretty much filler to keep Hendricks on his toes while he waits in the wings, IMO. GSP messed it up by requesting Diaz, and Macdonald won't face GSP, so realistically we're probably looking at the end of the summer before Hendricks gets a title shot. In the mean time they'll probably want to do something about all those 'N's in the table above.

I'd venture that GSP will beat Diaz, Macdonald will beat Condit, Condit will then go on to fight Diaz, Ellenberger will probably get Kampmann again. Hendricks gets GSP, and 2014 approaches.

As for Silva vs GSP. I really can't see it happening unless there's crazy, crazy money on the table. As much as Dana loves to hype the potential, I'll be more surprised if it happens, than doesn't.

Edited by Stu R on Tuesday 18th December 11:54

[robmlufc]

I imagine there will be really silly money on the table for GSP vs Silva but agree with Tim, its a no win situation for anyone apart from Dana. Silva is more likely to move up a class shirley? He has already dabbled at LHW, something like this needs to happen..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKgrIi8mcOw

[Lost_BMW]

Last week I linked as heads ups some mma profile shows on Trace Sports - too late for some, sorry. Probably done the same tonight as I've just spotted one on Shogun tonight at 10.44pm

[robmlufc]

Todd Duffee is back this weekend, has it taken him two years to recover from being Reemed?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hAFWHXK7ps

Fight starts at 7:45, fight ends at 8:15

Edited by robmlufc on Thursday 20th December 12:19

[Don1]

So, 155 predictions.

JDS (KO).
Lauzon
Boesh

[davey68]

I'd like to see Cain take JDS into the later rounds to see how JDS handles his wrestling/ground 'n pound. However, I just can't see passed a first or second round KO by JDS.

[LostBMW]

Just watching the Countdown show and really looking forward to this bill.

What a story Philippou has had - fails to get into series 11 of UFC show losing in the initial fight outs then improves his game bit by bit and beats McGee the series winner!

Edited by LostBMW on Saturday 29th December 13:31

[Stu R]

Gotta be a JDS knock-out really, hasn't it? I like Cain though, certainly won't complain if he gets it back.

Should be a good night, the card is certainly one of the better ones recently.

[bridgdav]

Philippou wins his fight easily.. The sooner we get the undercard over we have...

Junior dos Santos who puts his title on the line against Cain Velasquez in Las Vegas. Dos Santos knocked Velasquez out in 64 seconds when they met last year.

[Stu R]

3 fantastic fights there...