Anderson Silva v. James Irvin

[Mr. Zhu]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ETa3k4-uoe4

You can actually see the moment of contact if you pause it at the very end of the 0:08th second in the video. Serra's bicep is closer to GSP's face than his hand during the impact frame, George's face is down because he's trying to duck the strike, and the forearm is right there on the back of his head. It doesn't knock him down, but it leaves him stunned which is what sets up Serra's following attacks.

And after the last two fights between GSP and Hughes it's comical to think that Hughes has been George's toughest opponent. Fat Penn gave George more trouble than Hughes did in their last two fights put together. George has become an anti-wrestler specialist, and his most difficult fights have been against the BJJ blackbelts that swing with heavy hands.

I've seen that clip many times, and I've studied it. The angle of the filming is not the greatest, and you cannot one sidedly decide that it was indeed a forearm to the back of the head. I mean, it's understandable that you would assume it was at that angle, but you know what. John McCarthy 'The Best Referee in the Business' was right there, there was no way he could have missed something like that. He was right there, he had the perfect sight of view, the camera angle doesn't do any justice.

GSP's evolution is non-stop, he evolves after every fight. While Matt Hughes had already hit the peak of his career, and is now on a recession stage. But during the first fight that Matt Hughes and GSP fought, when Matt was still in prime and he presented huge trouble for GSP.

Even though Liddell has lazy posture he's still visibly taller than Rashad and he has those long monkey arms, so I don't know why you'd think that Evans has superior reach. Chuck's opponents talk about how unusually hard he hits, and Chuck has said that he usually breaks one of his hands because he punches so hard. All of the top LHW fighters walk around at 215-235 so Rashad isn't cutting any more weight than the rest of them. Rashad's skillset is limited to basic striking and sitting on top of people in the guard position; I can't think of a single time when he's kicked at anyone's head or tried to pull a submission off and I could probably use one hand to count the number of successful position advances he's made on the ground, so the versatility he's shown is that of the average fighter. See, when you post these kinds of things it just reinforces my belief that you're gay for Rashad.

Okay, I have restudied both men, indeed Chuck is taller and has more reach haha.. That was a bad miscalculation on my part. I must correct you however, all of the top LHW fighters walk around at 205-220, even though they might be weighing higher than that usually, but before a fight, they try to have the least amount of pounds hanging on them. However, Rashad dropped from Heavyweight which is of course, 265+ lbs.

I'll refer you to this video when Rashad proved that he could land a head kick, and it wasn't some "lucky" head kick that you think happens in the MMA world. Rashad's also an all-american wrestler, although I must admit that Chuck Liddell is a bitch to take down and have fought stronger grapplers than Rashad. However, that doesn't mean Rashad is completely counted out. Is Rashad the underdog in this fight? Yes, I would say so.

It's funny that the points you bring up about mistakes should convince you that Thiago is the underdog in the coming match with Machida. Thiago's recent fight against Mendes started off with him trying to shrug off a head kick and he ended up on his ass, while Lyoto's mistakes are few and far between. Thiago's just another good striker while Lyoto has fought and finished a more impressive striker Sokoudjou, a more seasoned fighter Nakamura, and a much stronger freestyle fighter Tito - and he beat them in that order. I don't know what you call "versatility" but Thiago has shown very little other than that he's aggressive to a fault.

Every fighter gets caught, Lyoto have not yet BEEN caught but he will one day. And it is then when you see how a fighter will try to get out of that situation and recuperate himself is quite impressive. Actually if you know anything about Thiago is the fact that he is indeed a BJJ blackbelt, with exceptional striking. Kinda reminds me of Anderson Silva. He may not be on the ground often, but when he is on the ground, he can execute. Not taking anything away from Machida, who is quite a good fighter in my eyes, but I don't think Lyoto have faced a striker like Silva in the UFC. Obviously Lyoto's fighting style is very elusive, and is focused on dodging and staying out of trouble, which of course, he used to frustrate Tito in the fight. A memorable moment too, when Tito just dropped his stance, and was like "Come and fucking fight!", and Lyoto did follow up with a jab. Hilarious. Against a fighter like Silva though, all I can say is that's going to be a good fucking fight.

I've seen all of Rashad's fights, and the only non-decision wins he's had are against fighters that are not and never will be contenders. All of his decision wins are split decisions, and split decisions in the UFC are notorious for being unpredictable (might as well be a coin-toss), so yes, the fact that he's won every split decision he's had is very lucky.

Funny you'd mention that because by the looks of the things you are talking about, you are not giving Rashad the credits he deserves. Now I know you're gonna say I'm all gay for him and shit, but I can really give two shits about what you think of me. But right now, I see you for the little prick you are that can't handle a debate without taking cheapshots like "Oh you're gay for Rashad."Also, you always say that the scoring system is fucked sideways, then isn't that disproving almost ALL of Lyoto's UFC fights. Although I'm not gonna be stupid like that, cuz I've seen all his fights, and I would have scored those fights to him unanimously.

And being a bottom-rung member of some gym owned by a guy who knows a guy doesn't give you superior insight on fight sports. You've been pretty arrogant about your status as an "artist" throughout this whole thread, so now I'm going to have to tell you that if you don't have first-hand experience being a professional fighter than you're going to have to stop patting yourself on the back. Your opinion here is anything but unbiased: you've consistently exaggerated Rashad's abilities and record while acting as if Chuck's abilities and record aren't as impressive as they actually are.

Lol, bottom-rung maybe, but my coach is nothing like you describe. Now I'm not gonna go in and have another arguement about my coach, I'm just gonna let you go ahead and think that. But locally, my coach is quite well known. I haven't been really arrogant, if I was being arrogant I would just be like "Oh I can beat you up with my Jiu-Jitsu.." And just to retalliate to that statement about not having first-hand experience, wrong... I've had competed in Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. Not exactly amazingly succesful, nor is it like the UFC... But I'm pretty sure when it comes to "experience" I can top you just by a tad. My opinion is unbiased, I'm not just speaking on Rashad's side, this fight will be good either way. Whoever wins it will only depend on who is the better fighter that night, and everything will be left in the octagon. However, I have never over-exaggerated on Rashad's ability (except for the reach and height thing). Nor have I understated Chuck's ability. I can describe Chuck easily: Crazy Punch Power; Crazy Striking Speed; Good Wrestler when he does end up on the ground; A complete bitch to take down; Overall one of the top 5 LHW of all time. I've mentioned all of the above elements up there, and so far as I've had mentioned about Rashad, here's a summary: Liable to surprise skeptics; Good Wrestler; Can strike; Great on the ground; Full of surprises; Versatile; Overall great fighter.

This made me laugh. Rashad is one of those people that relies on scoring points via takedowns and tends to do nothing when he gets there (vs Bonnar, Bisping, Ortiz) and his most impressive performances were outside of the UFC. I'm only a fan of The Dragon because he's proven himself to be a strong fighter with a great style - it's not as bloody and flashy as most others; instead, he doesn't waste energy, he gets into an exchange only when he wants to, when he does exchange he wins, and he can instantly become dangerously aggressive at will. He flung Tito down with a judo throw and pounded on him at the end of the first round, in the third round he knocked Tito down with a knee to the liver (he actually threw that kind of knee several times earlier in the fight) and followed it up with some ground and pound from the guard (which is supposed to be Tito's specialty), he neatly slipped out of two successive submission holds when he was dog tired, and he was controlling Tito in the clinch and throwing all kinds of strikes throughout the match. And Tito is a fighter that Rashad would have lost to had the ref not stolen a point. If you want to believe that Lyoto needs to prove anything after that fight then that's fine (if silly), but it's ridiculous that you're quick to downplay Machida but act like Rashad Evans of all people is a serious contender.

Actually, in the fight against Bisping, Bonnar, Ortiz, Rashad wasn't not doing anything, he was trying to control them the whole time. Bisping is as fucking slippery as a snake on the ground, it's a bitch to control him. Tito is fucking strong as a motherfucker, and I can only imagine trying to control someone like him. Now, I don't disagree on any of the things you've listed about Machida. Yes, he is a good fighter, I've seen most of his fights, not completely blown away by them because 2/3 he's dancing around the octagon. Quoted from Dana White, and I don't care if you think he's a retard, but this is what he said: "If that fight went another round, Rashad would have won it." I've never belittled Machida's skill, he's just not yet in the title picture, in fact, he still has to work through many battles. However, Rashad, as "fluky" as he is, he had won enough fights against some top UFC prospects to the point that he hasn't been over looked of a title shot. Hence him headlining UFC events TWICE.

Maybe you should review your posts: you're coming off as being totally gay for Evans.

I'm not the one who's claiming Jardine sucks, he's the one who's making that case. He only wins every other fight, which is the mark of a lesser fighter because high-quality competitors are able to decisively win in streaks. After winning the TUF2, he won his first real UFC fight and then lost the next one. Keith's first noteworthy win was when he fought an as-yet unseasoned Forrest, and then in his next fight he got butt-raped by a very angry black man in a barroom style brawl. He got busted up by Chuck Liddell but took a decision win anyway because the UFC's scoring system is dumb, and following that he was torn apart by Wanderlei who lost a much more impressive fight to Chuck. I wouldn't care if Keith fought while standing on his head, this kind of record does not impress me.

This isn't some 19th century fisticuffs brawl where the competitors simply exchange punches to the face, it's a real fight. It doesn't matter whether or not Machida can take a hook to the chin because he doesn't just stand there and let people hit him: when it comes down to it, Lyoto is the kind of fighter that consistently and decisively wins, and in the coming years I fully expect to see more sport fighters getting hip to the art of evasion.

Now I'm gonna go ahead to ignore that statement you have repeated over and over again.

Jardine may be inconsistent, and his only in-a-row winstreaks in the UFC is a total of two fights. But he had never been overlooked in a fight, nobody thinks he sucks (excluding you) because of the fact that he doesn't win fights in a row. He does win fights though, even though he did get pummeled by that big black guy which I would go ahead and say that Jardine was underestimating him. Jardine's a good fighter, a great fighter actually, and you can't take that from him just because he loses. He's a tough ass guy, although I admit he must take a serious beating before putting up a good fight.

I never said it was, I simply stated that if Machida was indeed in the running for a title shot, we can expect to see ALOT less action than we would see if Chuck or Rashad would have been in there. Although it is a 5 round 5 minute fight, but I would make a bold guess and say that only 1 round in total of that fight is going to be action packed. Machida's a cool dude, he fights with wits, and is hilarious. Especially the Tito thing that really cracked me up. Tito was screaming in his corner after the first round "He doesn't want to fucking fight! He's just running away!" But Machida's style although adored by many, is also resented by many. Now obviously, you are blinded because you are a die-hard fan, but many people boo Lyoto. Not that I don't agree that he's a good fighter, he's a great fighter, smart fighter. But he's often forgetting the 'Entertainment' aspect of Sports 'Entertainments'.



Wow if I was putting this time into RPing, imagine what that could be like LOL... I think we change the thread name into the MMA Thread.