The Fighting Thread

[Pinky]

it's official, coleman should not have come out of retirement. D:

[Pinky]

UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez

Undercard:
James Tehuna vs. Igor Pokrajac
CB Dollaway vs. Goran Reljic
Chris Lytle vs. Brian Foster
Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski

There are a lot of names that I don't know very well. The most interesting to me is Dollaway vs Reljic. Dollaway has talent, but has a habit of choking on important fights (he tore through TUF7, then lost the semi-finals AND finals... to the same guy... by armbar... in both matches). Reljic is an awesome name himself, undefeated in pro matches, signed with UFC back in '08 and he won a great match against a competent opponent... but he's been on injury leave since. Dunno what's going to happen there!

Overcard:
Crocop vs Anthony Perosh
Keith Jardine vs Ryan Bader
Joe Stevenson vs George Sotiropoulos

Calling Crocop over Perosh, since Perosh has only had a few days notice to train (Crocop's original opponent dropped due to injury).

Bader is the TUF8 LHW winner, and currently has an unbeaten pro record. He hasn't really been tested against a good name, though. I'm calling for Bader because I just don't like Jardine, I think he's an inferior fighter, I wish he would get kicked off the UFC promotion.

Stevenson is a highly experienced and retardedly strong at 155lbs, and only the top 5 in the lightweight division have a shot at stopping him. Sotiropoulos is the TUF6 winner and is undefeated in his UFC career, but he's never tangled with the division's top talent before.

Co-main event:
Wanderlei Silva vs Michael Bisping

Bisping is a really good boxer (former Golden Gloves winner), and is doing well enough for himself in the middleweight division. But, he has trouble cutting down a tough and powerful opponent, which is what Wanderlei is. Wanderlei has only been knocked out by four people (one time each) in the last ten years: Quinton Jackson, Dan Henderson, Crocop, and Vitor Belfort--who are all much, much stronger than Bisping will ever be. But, Wanderlei has become very predictable (typically charging in with hooks, and neglecting knees in the clench). Bisping fights just the way a coach would tell you to fight, so if he has a good game plan it could be interesting. Still calling it for Wanderlei, though.

Main event:
Big Nog vs. Velasquez

Neither of these guys are big, in regards to people like Lesner and Mir (Mir was around 250~ but after his loss to Lesner he's bulked up to over 270, and his gains are all muscle). Anyway, these guys are a good fit for each other, size-wise. I respect Cain's physical abilities, but stylistically Big Nog has the advantage here.

[Mr. Zhu]

Actually Sotiropolous was a contender in TUF but never won the contest. The winner of that contest was Mac Danzig, and the other finalist was Tommy Speer.

My predictions:

CB Dollaway vs. Goran Reljic - CB's wrestling is gonna get him this one.
Chris Lytle vs. Brian Foster - Chris Lytle straight up load TNT on those hands. I see him knocking out Foster.
Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski - Bonnar is too high tier for Krzysztof atm.
Crocop vs Anthony Perosh - Cro Cop... Obviously. Right leg hospital Left leg cemetary.
Keith Jardine vs Ryan Bader - The only thing pulling for Bader here is his wrestling and I think Jardine has the ground game to sub him. If the fight is standing, Bader does not nearly have the boxing pedigree needed to take out Jardine. Prob gonna end a split decision in favor of Keith.
Joe Stevenson vs George Sotiropoulos - Both guys have great Jiu-Jitsu but Joe has the edge on wrestling. Striking wise, Sotiropoulos has a glass chin so if Joe lands any of those big shots, it'll be a short night for George.
Wanderlei Silva vs Michael Bisping - Wanderlei, knockout, first round. That's it.
Big Nog vs. Velasquez - Big Nog is teh awesome. Cain doesn't have the tools to roll Big Nog on the ground like he did with Cheick, and he definitely, DEFINITELY does not have the boxing to take out Big Nog. Cheick made Cain look foolish on their feet, so I do not respect Cain's hands at all. They may have power, but Nog is known to not get knocked out...

[Pinky]

the windup has begun.

http://azsportztv.blogspot.com/2010/02/ch1.html
http://vexcast.com/play.action?channel_id=965 (IE only)
http://befooty.blogspot.com/2010/01/channel-1.html
http://canalston5.50webs.com/ch1.html

GONNA B GR8 LET THE DRINKING BEGIN

[Pinky]

sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/29629

that's for anybody smart enough to be using sopcast

[Pinky]

YOSHHHHHH

Crocop and the Jardine fight are over, and I am 2 for 2! FUCK YOU, KEITH.

[Pinky]

wow, stevenson got shut out. that was surprising. i thought that was one of the safer bets tonight. guess that shows me for not keeping a closer eye on the performance from these TUF guys.

[Pinky]

TOMORROW NIGHT UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Hardy

Watch the weigh-ins at ufc.com

MAIN EVENT: GSP vs Dan Hardy. (welterweight)
Dan is one of the dominant contenders in a fairly competitive division and Dan is a great striker, but it's GSP. They're playing lead-up "reality shows" (Wednesday nights for a few weeks before the event) and what I saw from Dan was that he spends a lot of time and mental energy keeping himself positive. On the other hand, GSP spends his time training and preparing so that he simply performs at his best... and that's literally the best thing you can do. I'm calling for a shutout, GSP in the first round.

CO-MAIN EVENT Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin (heavyweight)
Winner gets a title shot, from what I understand. Carwin is a top contender, walks around at 280lbs, with great wrestling background and dangerous striking and a strong chin. Classic fighter. However, Frank has made an explosive comeback since losing to Brock and has really impressed me in every match since. He's no longer down at 240 like he used to be, he's up there walking around at 280 as well, and all his weight gains have been muscle. Scary muscle. He's an Olympian now. Not one of those people who compete in the Olympic Games, I'm saying he looks like he came down from Mount Olympus. I'm calling it for Mir, but it's really up in the air.

Another fight I was interested in was Jon Fitch vs Thiago Alves (welterweight), but Alves had a CAT scan that found an irregularity in his brain so he's being flown out to a specialist. Really sucks. Ben Saunders has stepped in to replace Alves, I expect Fitch to win.

Also, Nate Diaz is going up to welterweight in this one. He always had to keep his muscle mass down to stay in the lightweight division, but now he can do strength training to go with his skill. He's fighting Rory Markham, who I don't know very well, so I'm going to be interested to see how that turns out.

Matt Brown is fighting in this one, he's from my hometown Xenia, Ohio. There's an alarming number of Ohioians in the UFC, guess there's just something in the water, but since I found out that we're both from Xenia I have to root for Brown.

Diaz and Brown are part of the the prelim fights, which are supposed to be aired on the Spike! network starting around 9PM EST on Saturday night.

[Pinky]

SPOILERZ

Aw, the first match is over and Matt lost. I'm bummed already. :[

[Pinky]

moar spoilers

wow, nate looked awesome. absolutely no problem with the upgrade to welterweight, and he was fighting strong. looking forward to him later,.

[Pinky]

http://users3.jabry.com/CanalSton/ch1.html
http://freecric.info/channel1.html

[Pinky]

the fight with fitch went as i expected. the mir/carwin fight can't really be "expected" since it could have gone either way, but carwin did what he wanted to and dropped mir with a flurry of short punches while pressing him against the cage. i've never seen anybody do that before. he's a monster.

gsp vs dan hardy is up next.
http://atdhe.net/7592/watch-ufc-111-st-pierre-vs-hardy

[Pinky]

spoilers.

yeah, gsp took it tonight. it almost ended in the first round like i had expected, but somehow hardy pulled it all the way out to a decision (something like 50-44 avg). george is just so strong and fast and versatile that nobody in the welterweight division can match him. of course, there are still a few names that he hasn't come up against, but i dont think anybody is even close to being an even match for him. hope he goes up to middleweight next year.

[Mr. Zhu]

I think if George went up to Middle he would present a legitimate threat, however, the head of that division is Anderson Silva...

Anyways, I was pretty pleased tonight. Streamed the entire event and it was fuckin' awesome. The guys I wanted to come on top did tonight, Miller, Fitch, GSP. I was disappointed when Carwin landed those five humongous uppercuts, and I guess it'll be awhile until Mir Lesnar III, but it'll be worth the wait, definitely. As for the main event... WOW is all I can say.

GSP's takedowns are just way too lethal, I seriously doubt the chances of anyone avoiding them. On top of that, GSP won virtually every striking exchange and landed more shots than Dan Hardy had thrown. Plus the armbar in the first round and the kimura in the fourth had me grimacing in pain just looking at it. I give Dan Hardy a lot of props for not tapping and even more props to his limbs for not snapping.

This was honestly one of the best events I've seen in awhile.

[Pinky]

The next UFC Fight Night is airing on Spike! tomorrow, Wednesday, starting at 9PM. It will lead into the season premier of TUF11: Liddell vs Ortiz. This is right after last Saturday's UFC event, and the UFC: Live that aired on Versus the Sunday before that. March is the golden month for UFC, apparently. Don't forget that UFC 112 is coming up a week from Saturday!

END PROMO

Anyway, this TUF is going to be so nostalgic. Getting to see Liddell and Ortiz fight again isn't exactly a dream of mine, but whatever. I also like the idea that the coaches get to pick their favorite loser from the prelims to get a second shot during the quarter finals. Should be the most interesting season yet.

[Pinky]

main event is on right now.

kenny florian vs takamori gomi.

gomi is considered the #2 lightweight in the world, and he's aiming for BJ's belt. im syked

[Pinky]

HOLY SHIT THAT WAS BEAUTlFUL

[Josh]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-fighters-w...legendary/

[Pinky]

"he was like a starving man crawling away from food to get to his fake mustache"

aasdf;k;jakdsj

[Celena]

Georges St-Pierre is the greatest. That is all.