Anderson Silva v. James Irvin

[Mr. Zhu]

Serra was GSP's most difficult opponent: a highly experienced and undaunted submission artist with heavy hands. And the first punch that rocked GSP wasn't even a "punch" per se, it was actually a forearm that caught him in the back of the head which is an illegal strike. That's luck if only because the ref didn't call a time-out so GSP could recover. And this isn't comparable to the Liddel v Evans fight because Liddell is the superior fighter and he's Rashad's worst nightmare skill-wise.

Umm, no he wasn't. Not to take anything away from Serra, but no, GSP's most difficult opponent was not Serra. Hughes definitely graces number one on that chart, and besides, the forearm did not catch Pierre on the back of the head, no, it caught GSP on the side of the forehead. There would have been much more controversy if it was indeed the back of the head, but no... BAM it was there, cold and hard, Matt Serra clean knocked out GSP. It's actually not luck that Serra hit GSP with that punch, if you look at the fight type, Serra set the punch up with a small jab first, it was not like he was falling back and he hit some weird back kick that rocked GSP, no.. It was a hard hook, and although he may not have used his knuckles on the contact, he intended to hit GSP at that time, with his right hook.

That's an oversimplification. There are rock-paper-scissor style movements, but individual ability (strength, speed, accuracy, timing, confidence, reach, endurance - and Liddell takes the advantage in them all) is also key.

Actually, if you analyze it correctly, Strength and Reach are both on Rashad's side. Don't forget that Rashad was a heavyweight, yeah, a heavyweight, I've yet to see him completely outpowered by someone his own weightclass, less to say someone from a weightclass that was a stepdown to his own. Although Rashad may lose in Speed, Accuracy and Endurance due to cutting so much weight, but he definitely has Reach advantage, and he displays versatility. Personally I've rarely see the Iceman on the ground, and I've never seen him excel at ground work, except for avoiding takedown. If I was Rashad, I'd use my size advantage and strength advantage, and try to take the fight on the ground.

Your coach is only telling you that to keep you from over-thinking things. I understand that certain mental limitations help keep a fighter sharp, but you must realize that it's essentially a Jedi mentality and shouldn't be taken to the extreme (I hope that you don't believe blowing out your ACL or breaking your hand during a punch is a conscious mistake). Also, besides a title shot there's not a lot of room left for Machida to climb.

No actually, discipline in the octagon is one thing, but I know for a fact that there is no room for mistakes in a competition. I've never done straight up fighting, but I've sparred with many local fighters up here in Canada, and I know that playing against someone, even at the local stage, making a mistake = letting them captilize. It was a simple spar, we had like shin guards and everything, and even in a spar a mistake can be fatal. A backfist against a skill ground grappler will end you up on your back, and entering his game. There's a lot to go through for Lyoto, Tito was just a testing stage for him, besides, Tito's mentality in that fight was bad. After losing by a rough KO to Chuck Liddell, and then drawing up with someone that was said to be "out of his league." Usually when a fighter loses, their mind shuts down until the next fight, and if they lose again, or fail to finish an "easy" opponent, you can practically imagine how hard they are on themselves, and how that could fuck up someone's mentality. If Lyoto does finish Thiago Silva and very decisively like how Anderson Silva does to his opponents. If you look at Thiago Silva, I'm pretty sure Lyoto's got his hands full, Thiago have finished all but one fight and he also displays wide versatility. For me, Thiago is more a favorite to win than Lyoto.

TUF is an amateur tournament designed to pick at least one guy in the selected weight class(es) to join the UFC at the bottom rung. Rashad won the only heavyweight competition they've ever had on the show, which is a particularly unimpressive division. His performances so far have been mediocre, including that split decision that won him the TUF2 finale. It's funny that you say being undefeated isn't enough to be champion, because that's the only thing Rashad has going for him. His best attribute is LUCK due to his winning so many split decisions and that silly Tito thing. But, as long as a piano doesn't fall on Chuck's head it looks like his luck has run out.

Winning split decisions are not luck, obviously, if you wanted to put any decision under contest, you can just about make any decision controversial. If you've actually seen Rashad fight, and not just blankly look at his records, you'd know he's more than someone that only picks up decision wins.

I know a bit about fight sports myself and Rashad's abilities are insufficient for this match, which is what I've been pointing out this entire time.

Having knowledge about fight sports entertainments does not mean you have knowledge about the art. Of course, as an artist I respect both Rashad and Liddell's abilities. I've never said that Rashad is going to PWN Chuck Liddell, I'm just saying that there is no for sure in a sport, and many people is skeptical about Rashad, but it doesn't mean Chuck will win. In fact, I like Chuck as an entertainer and an artist more than Rashad, but to be non-biased while watching a fight is more fun than thinking one sided. Rashad has what it takes to beat Chuck, and Chuck has what it takes to beat Rashad, so we'll just see.

Maybe this was true five or six years ago, but MMA fans in general and UFC fans in particular have become much more refined. When fighters scramble for submission locks and reverse position on the ground there's as much cheering as during an exchange. Lyoto has garnered himself a nice fanbase for having only five fights in the UFC and it's getting bigger.

Maybe coming from different parts of the world you have seen people who actually like the ground arts, but from where I am, everybody wants to see a brawl. I particularly like both, there are many things you can learn from both aspects and I just love being entertained by people that are professional fighters. Also I'd like to point out that many people like to take their opponent down, and just stay there and rest, which of course gets booed. But when standing up, there's basically no choice but to exchange, and thats the beauty of stand up, by doing nothing, you can't achieve anything. But on the ground, by doing nothing, you're securing your victory with takedown points and resting yourself. From the looks of it, you're a Lyoto die-hard fan, and I wouldn't count him out, but I'd to like see him do more in the UFC. What's counted in the UFC is what's seen in it, so even though Lyoto defeated well known fighters elsewhere, it doesn't mean he had done so in the UFC. I wouldn't go as far to say the Tito fight was a fluke, but he has to do more to prove he deserves a title shot.

Evans has finished two fights as a UFC fighter (which is only one more than Lyoto...) and TUF tournaments are full of low-level fighters. You seem to have a very unrealistic view of Rashad's ability and his record. I don't know if you're just obsessed with him as a fan or if you're full blown gay for him, but you should prepare yourself for disappointment come UFC88

Honestly, I'm not a hardcore fan of Rashad. I've seen his style, it's good, I liked it, but I'm not as crazy about him as I am Anderson Silva. He's a good fighter over all, and let me just tell you that Keith Jardine is not a low-level fighter. Just because his style is unorthadox doesn't mean he sucks dick, if you would just open your eyes and see that. I don't think I will be disappointed, because either way the fight goes in UFC 88, it's going to be exciting. The upcoming title fight for the LHW title will be exciting, and it's because that if Chuck Liddell wins, we can expect to see a fight with a great finish. If Rashad wins, we can expect to see a contest of two tough guys with iron chins, and who falls down first. Which is more than I can say for Machida, he doesn't have a hard chin, nor has he ever proved to be able to deliver a ridiculously great finish.