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.

[Pinky]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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'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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[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.

[Pinky]

Just rezzing the old thread in anticipation of Saturday's fight.

Correction on the Heavyweight class. It's 205-265 pounds, not 265 and over. According to the rules there has to be a weight limit. The old UFC used to be no-limit but that didn't fly well with the sporting commission.

Machida doesn't get caught because he doesn't let it happen. It's part of the whole "only engage when you have the advantage" that's kept him from losing, drawing, or even having split decisions in the UFC. Also, Lyoto is Anderson's sparring partner, they came out of Brazil together, so comparing Thiago to Silva pretty much cinches that Lyoto should be well prepared for the fight.

Yes, you are gay for Rashad. Super gay, actually. Lyoto's wins in the UFC have never been split decisions. In every match he's clearly been the dominant fighter even in the minds of those loopy UFC judges.

I still don't see how you can say that even though Lyoto clearly won every fight he's been in including against former LHW champ Ortiz that he's not in title contention. Wanderlei lost to Chuck so he's not in contention; Rua lost to the current champ and has yet to win a major match in the UFC; Jackson just lost the title so he's on the way down; Anderson Silva still needs another fight or two, even though he's a title holder of another class there's too many other fighters for him to just bypass them all; Chuck might be the #1 contender after beating Rashad, and Rashad can't be #1 contender once he loses to Liddell, but if Chuck's not then it's definitely Lyoto.

Fine, Jardine doesn't completely suck, that is strong language, but his performances are all over the place. I can't really say anything about him because he doesn't give any kind of a consistent performance, which leads me to believe that he depends on his opponents being lazy or making rookie mistakes as much as he depends on his skills. He might be good in the gym but to me that is nothing to write home about.

I'm only a fan of Machida because he consistently gives dominant performances. They might not be as flashy as other top-tier names, but his fighting style is rooted in some ancient wisdom and as such his caution is to be expected. Watching Machida climb through the ranks is like watching a flower bloom. Once he gets the title I see him keeping it for a very long time, because there's nobody in the UFC other than his sparring partner Anderson Silva that's shown the kind of top-level performance required to beat him.

Two days left. You can admit that Rashad is going to lose now, or I can make an obnoxious post after it happens. It's up to you!

[Mr. Zhu]

Evans Knocked Chuck Out... End Of Story.. I Win!

To recap, Evan's rolled Chuck with a overhand right hook, and caught Chuck straight on the jaw. Chuck just froze, and fell dead like a brick... Guess theres a new reason to call him "The Iceman" now. Rashad is now number two in line for a crack at Forrest Griffin now, I believe.

I know you would have posted something obnoxious, but I won't.

[Pinky]

Was Rashad playing with his nipples during the announcements? D:

This was not the Chuck that fought Wanderlei. It's like the same Chuck that went into the Jackson fight. That was the last thing I imaged he'd do again. Maybe there's a clause in his contract that requires him to keep his chin out, hands low, and throw a looping right hand whenever he fights a black guy. Lame.

I assume you're not gloating, and it's the same reason that Evans wasn't gloating himself after the match, because he was losing all the way up until the very end: Chuck was winning most of the exchanges, kept the center of the ring for most of the match, and was advancing most of the time. Then, apparently due to the surprise lobotomy Chuck had that removed the part of his brain that contained his fight vs Jackson, he throws a power punch with the right and dropped his left while Rashad is in the pocket. And Rashad's game plan was essentially what Lyoto does: back away when the opponent charges, pick away with light strikes at long range, and counter with a cross. Or, as you've called it, "boring."

[Mr. Zhu]

Was Rashad playing with his nipples during the announcements? D:

This was not the Chuck that fought Wanderlei. It's like the same Chuck that went into the Jackson fight. That was the last thing I imaged he'd do again. Maybe there's a clause in his contract that requires him to keep his chin out, hands low, and throw a looping right hand whenever he fights a black guy. Lame.

I assume you're not gloating, and it's the same reason that Evans wasn't gloating himself after the match, because he was losing all the way up until the very end: Chuck was winning most of the exchanges, kept the center of the ring for most of the match, and was advancing most of the time. Then, apparently due to the surprise lobotomy Chuck had that removed the part of his brain that contained his fight vs Jackson, he throws a power punch with the right and dropped his left while Rashad is in the pocket. And Rashad's game plan was essentially what Lyoto does: back away when the opponent charges, pick away with light strikes at long range, and counter with a cross. Or, as you've called it, "boring."

He was rubbing his nipples before the fight, and during the official decision..

That fight was kind of boring, right up until the second round. Of course, what stole the show for me was the Rich Franklin vs Matt Hammill fight. That was the fight I enjoyed the most in the whole event. And Dong won against Matt Brown, LOL.

[Pinky]

I thought the Franklin-Hamill fight was kinda dumb, even though I was more excited about it than the headlining event. Matt gases in round two, takes a kick to the liver. Somebody has to kidnap that kid and take him to a conditioning camp for six months.

[Mr. Zhu]

Rashad does the most stupid things in his fights, which is also why most of his fights go into decision... He wastes a whole fucking round just dancing around testing the waters, which throws away an entire round... That fucking tard needs to learn something.

Chris Leben vs Michael Bisping, that's going to be somethin' ain't it? I think the winner of that fight will move up to be #3 in the middleweight division? Anyways, what do you guys think? Who will win?