Mixed Martial Arts Discussion

[Sewer Socialist]

(There was an old thread from 2011, I'm under the impression that resurrecting it would be confusing?)

I'm looking forward to UFC 185 this weekend. They still aren't putting Invicta on TV, but there's a little women's fighting in UFC now. The strawweight championship between Carla Esparza and Joanna Jedrzejczyk should be pretty good. I really like the lighter weight classes better, and Jedrzejczyk has good Muay Thai skills.

Anthony Pettis is good too, but he's probably going to KO Dos Anjos in the first round.

Also, we need a leftist martial artist to beat up the wannabe cop, Phoenix Jones.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/3/11/8193921/wsof-20-phoenix-jones-mma-fight-ben-fodor-seattle-superhero-news

http://mynorthwest.com/75/670701/Superhero-Phoenix-Jones-stands-guard-at-Seattle-May-Day-protest

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

To this day, my favorite MMA fighter will always be Genki Sudo.

Genki Sudo was a grappler and a complete fucking loon. The difference is that, unlike some of the other lunatics the sport seems to attract, Sudo has the skills to back it up. This guy could utterly confuse his opponent with his strange, whimsical antics....and then completely destroy them.

What's he do now? He's a musician in a dance group called World Order. (He's the one in front)

_mkiGMtbrPM

[Sewer Socialist]

There are def some flashy Japanese MMA fighters. There's really not a lot of flashiness in UFC. Also, I wish they still allowed more varied outfits.

[motion denied]

Strawweight was actually a good add to the ufc. First TUF to get me pumped for a while, good fights and exciting fighters (Namajunas, Aisling Daly, Esparza, Markos etc). Also because the other division is being cleaned by Ronda, she has no competition.


I'm excited to see Überreem get ko'd. Sympathies to Johnny Hendricks, the anti-Fitch.

[Cliff Paul]

My internet connections is too poor for me to enjoy watching a stream but I watched the preliminary card and I have to say I was pretty impressed with Elias Theodorou.

Anyways, I'm really looking forward too UFC 187. The first fight I ever saw was Belfort vs. Jones which was like 2 and a half years ago, and so I'll always have a soft-spot for Belfort, and I'm excited to see him get another title shot. I can't really see him beating Weidman though...

Also, can we talk about the upcoming Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice fight on bellator and how ridiculous it is...

[motion denied]

that butt kick tho

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

I can't wait for Dillashaw v Barao re-match. Hope Barao actually turns up and Dillashaw beats him into next week.

Also Ronda Rousey - what a hero. 14 second submission - who does that???

[Cliff Paul]

Also Ronda Rousey - what a hero. 14 second submission - who does that???

It happens... generally not in title matches though. I can't believe UFC booked another match for her so quickly after the last one - she must have pulled in some good money from the last fight.

[Sewer Socialist]

Rousey made $180,000 after bonuses for that fight. This actually seems a bit low to me.

For comparison, Anderson Silva was contracted at $800,000 to defeat Nick Diaz in a non-championship fight, who was contracted at $500,000.

I'm not saying she's impoverished, but I think she's especially profitable for the UFC and seemingly underpaid.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/3/5/8153227/early-ufc-184-ppv-estimates-very-strong-could-prove-ronda-rousey-as

At any rate, Jedrzejczyk and Dos Anjos dominated at UFC 185; those reality show winners don't really seem to be very impressive champions. Dos Anjos - Nurmagomedov should be a good match, assuming the latter dispatches Cerrone. I wonder if they're working on setting up Jedrzejczyk with Jessica Aguilar.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

It happens... generally not in title matches though. I can't believe UFC booked another match for her so quickly after the last one - she must have pulled in some good money from the last fight.

Yeah she's definitely a draw because she's got massive mainstream appeal due to her Olympics connections and modelling/acting stuff.

And she's a bit of a looker, to be honest.

That and she's the best in the business.

I would love to get all the 'pound for pound' UFC best fighters in a ring together - Jones, Dillashaw, Johnson, Rousey etc., and see what happens. I reckon Johnson v Jones would be epic.

[Cliff Paul]

I reckon Johnson v Jones would be epic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_187

My money is on Jones but it will definitely be a good fight.

[Sewer Socialist]

It's weird that the UFC scheduled their event in Virginia a couple weeks ago to avoid conflict with the NCAA basketball tournament, but they'll overlap with Klitchko's heavyweight boxing title defense.

[Sewer Socialist]

I love guillotines!

(http://gfycat.com/AdmiredHotEider)
http://giant.gfycat.com/AdmiredHotEider.gif


"Prompt, severe and inflexible. It is then an emanation of virtue." -Robespierre

[motion denied]

Werdum outclassed Cain. Whoa.

[Sewer Socialist]

A lot of the fighters looked pretty outclassed; I wonder if it was really all maladjustment to altitude like the commenters said. If so, that's a pretty sloppy mistake for several professional fighters to make. They had months to prepare, and there's no reason a professional shouldn't be travelling well ahead of a fight. Sloppy.

Also, I love Werdum's technique. Glad he's the new champ! :wub:

[Sewer Socialist]

I thought I already wrote this post, but I don't know what happened to it. :confused:

Anyway, Joanna Jedrzejczyk's strawweight title defense was impeccable. She needs a better challenger, which is why I'm more excited about the Jessica Aguilar - Claudia Gadelha fight at UFC 190 than I am about the headlining, and sure to be lopsided, Correia - Rousey match.

Aguilar was the WSOF strawweight champ, has a ten fight win streak, and has defeated Carla Esparza (the champ dethroned by Jedzrejczyk). Gadelha is the only fighter so far who has given Jedzrejczyk any trouble, when the latter won a controversial split decision over the former - Gadelha's only loss to date.

There a lot of undefeated fighters at strawweight; it's a new division that's still sorting itself out, so I find it pretty exciting.

As far as last night, Romero made it hard to remember Machida was once champion, and showed much better striking than I expected from a wrestler - KOing Machida is serious shit. Middleweight's also a supercompetitive division these days.

[Sewer Socialist]

That Lawler - MacDonald fight was amazing! MacDonald looked like he had it all wrapped up; going into the 5th round, he had already won 3 rounds of 5. A disappointing finish - not a knockout, but MacDonald having to give up after one strike to the nose too many. I wanted to see MacDonald take it - he was so close last time, too. At least he's young, and hopefully many more years to accomplish the task.

I also don't understand why that wasn't the main event - the fighters are ranked #1 and #2, and it's for the real title, not an interim title. It must be all the hype the UFC has been trying to work up. Oh well, I'll see if I believe the hype.

edit - I guess they booked Sinead O'Connor and some country singer to perform instead of having recorded music for the walks, so it has to be the main event. It'll still be a fight between the #3 and #4 fighters, though.

edit2: I don't know if stopping that fight was necessary with 3 seconds left in the round; Mendes wasn't defending himself well, but he might have recovered during the time between rounds. :/

[Sewer Socialist]

That Lawler - MacDonald fight was amazing! MacDonald looked like he had it all wrapped up; going into the 5th round, he had already won 3 rounds of 5. A disappointing finish - not a knockout, but MacDonald having to give up after one strike to the nose too many. I wanted to see MacDonald take it - he was so close last time, too. At least he's young, and hopefully many more years to accomplish the task.

I also don't understand why that wasn't the main event - the fighters are ranked #1 and #2, and it's for the real title, not an interim title. It must be all the hype the UFC has been trying to work up. Oh well, I'll see if I believe the hype.

edit - I guess they booked Sinead O'Connor and some country singer to perform instead of having recorded music for the walks, so it has to be the main event. It'll still be a fight between the #3 and #4 fighters, though.

edit2: I don't know if stopping that fight was necessary with 3 seconds left in the round; Mendes wasn't defending himself well, but he might have recovered during the time between rounds. :/

Okay, I'm downloading that fight just to watch Lawler - MacDonald again. It was so back and forth, just when one looked like they had the upper hand and the fight nearly over, the other one would unleash a devastating combination and take the momentum of the fight. That was the best UFC bout I've seen since Gustafsson - Jones. Very likely fight of the year. Can't wait for Lawler - MacDonald III!

Also, they really, really fucked each other up.


https://i.imgur.com/XYeX7YN.jpg


Rory MacDonald:

https://usatmmajunkie.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/rory-macdonald-ufc-189-nose1.jpg (https://usatmmajunkie.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/rory-macdonald-ufc-189-nose1.jpg)



http://giant.gfycat.com/FakeExaltedIchthyostega.gif

^This poor guy was contracted for a tenth of MacGregor or Mendes earned, despite fighting for an actual championship title, and not an interim one.

Robbie Lawler:

https://usatmmajunkie.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/robbie-lawler-ufc-189-lip1.jpg



HH43gz5664M


Next day:


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJuqlqiUkAAYEeR.jpg



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJsLH06UAAAwaYU.png


And indeed, MacDonald was leading 39-37 on all three judges' scorecards after round 4.
https://twitter.com/MMAFighting/status/620084741107118082

[Sewer Socialist]

Claudia Gadelha just put on a show against former Invicta champ Jessica Aguilar, showing superior striking, defense, and grappling over a strong opponent.

Very excited for Jedzrejczyk - Gadelha 2! With it now being a title fight at 5 rounds, they should be able to produce a more decisive victor than last time.

[Proletarius]

Nice to see an MMA discussion here.

Anybody felt bad seeing the Nog brothers? Dear me. The guys are legends but that was hard to watch. It's sad to see the PRIDE legends come to the end of their careers. I'd like to say I'd like to see them retire but knowing the ongoing pay issues and the overall shit pay these guys get, it's probably not possible.

Shogun appears to be losing his chin too though he's clearly not been at his best overall for a good few years.

[Sewer Socialist]

Well, they had fights because they were coaches of that silly MMA reality show. I really hope they were paid well for it. I also think that one or both of them (I can never remember which is which; identical twins with nearly identical given names and even more nearly identical nicknames is super frustrating) does pretty good business coaching fighters.

There's definitely a new generation coming up. On the other hand, Werdum is champ finally, much to my delight. In the back of my mind, PEDs are a likely reason for his late improvement, though.

[Proletarius]

Well, they had fights because they were coaches of that silly MMA reality show. I really hope they were paid well for it. I also think that one or both of them (I can never remember which is which; identical twins with nearly identical given names and even more nearly identical nicknames is super frustrating) does pretty good business coaching fighters.

There's definitely a new generation coming up. On the other hand, Werdum is champ finally, much to my delight. In the back of my mind, PEDs are a likely reason for his late improvement, though.

I didn't even know. I haven't watched TUF for so long now.

I was such a big MMA fan in 2010-2013. I don't know what happened, whether my tastes changed or the cards got worse. It seemed that the cards got worse since the UFC has had to ration out their fights due to the FOX deal. I follow it still but nowhere near as much.

The next generation is great actually. A few years ago it looked like the sport was heading towards point fighting, lay and pray, wall and stall. Now it seems that we're entering an era of striking. The grappling is equal and now it's who is the best striker. We now have exciting warriors like Lawler as champ. Though I suspect Condit would beat him given the chance.

Werdum is great though his rise is a bit suspicious.

How do you feel about Fedor's return? I hope he signs with the UFC but I suspect he goes to Bellator.

[Sewer Socialist]

I've never actually watched TUF at all - the entire concept sounds silly. All I want from fighters is cool walk out music, a little strutting, and some good old-fashioned fighting. In a similar way, I hate that the UFC is really going for this trash talk thing, Ronda Rousey's shit talk on twitter, millions of dollars spent promoting Conor MacGregor for some reason, hyping a fight for months (never mind that it never even happened), etc.

I think what happened is that the UFC has gotten bigger and bigger, signed more fighters, etc. I think they have more preliminary fights now, and more often.

I really enjoy grappling, and it's too bad that the fence helps people avoid it so much. There must be some way around that...

I don't really know if Fedor will end up doing anything interesting. He had a great career, maybe he's too old, maybe he'll KO Werdum. I guess I'm more interested in the new.

What happened with all the Japanese fighters? There are very few in the UFC, and I get that Japan is an insular country, but is there a Japanese fight promotion nowadays? PRIDE was more entertaining than the UFC ever was or could be.

[Proletarius]

I've never actually watched TUF at all - the entire concept sounds silly. All I want from fighters is cool walk out music, a little strutting, and some good old-fashioned fighting. In a similar way, I hate that the UFC is really going for this trash talk thing, Ronda Rousey's shit talk on twitter, millions of dollars spent promoting Conor MacGregor for some reason, hyping a fight for months (never mind that it never even happened), etc.

I think what happened is that the UFC has gotten bigger and bigger, signed more fighters, etc. I think they have more preliminary fights now, and more often.

I really enjoy grappling, and it's too bad that the fence helps people avoid it so much. There must be some way around that...

I don't really know if Fedor will end up doing anything interesting. He had a great career, maybe he's too old, maybe he'll KO Werdum. I guess I'm more interested in the new.

What happened with all the Japanese fighters? There are very few in the UFC, and I get that Japan is an insular country, but is there a Japanese fight promotion nowadays? PRIDE was more entertaining than the UFC ever was or could be.

I feel the same way. Instead of focusing on interesting match ups, we've ended up turning the sport into some odd reality show where it's about faux-conflicts between individuals for the purpose of pushing up PPV sales.

The Conor stuff was unbelievable. I can't get over it. It's clear they are favouring him for whatever reason. Perhaps because Aldo keeps speaking out against the Reebok shit? Knowing Dana, it wouldn't surprise me.

The cage tends to favour wrestlers too. "Wall and stall" type matches are awful. I'd rather they just went straight to the ground.

I think I'd rather see him stay retired but for sake of nostalgia etc I can't help but be excited even just a little. I suspect he'll end up in Bellator and will likely clear out their divison. No way does he go to the UFC with all the Reebok stuff and the risk of tarnishing his legacy.

I honestly don't know. It's like a curse. Whenever promising Japanese stars went to the UFC they just didn't perform for some reason. Look at Hioki, I thought he'd challenge for the title but he's been awful.

PRIDE did seem better, I do wish we had a return to this theatrical way of producing things, the UFC seems awfully sterile and corporate. It's even worse now with the Reebok deal.

I don't think there is a Japanese promotion anymore. Only thing we have in Asia really, that produces events often is ONE FC. They aren't as theatrical and don't really have much of a roster. They are a Singapore based promotion I believe. They have a modified version of the pride rules, you can soccer kick as long as the ref gives you permission. I've not watched anything from them since their first few events. I don't know who the fighters are for a start.

[Proletarius]

OSP vs Teixeira soon. I'm interested to see how OSP will do against somebody like Teixeira. He's looked pretty promising. Should be a good scrap.

[Hezadukii92]

Is anyone else bored to death of WMMA and wish it stayed with Invicta or Bellator? My god the level of talent is embarrassing. You have a roided out of her mind Cyborg who can't make weight to fight the only other legitimate fighter in WMMA.

The technique is awful, they don't have any fight IQ and while that can lead to fun dumb fights like Mir and Duffee, the women generally don't have the power to even finish the inevitable slugfests that happen.

I tried so hard to get into WMMA because I genuinely want to see female fighters eventually get paid and reach the talent pool that mens MMA has, but there is no one there. When talented male fighters are being cut like Okami and Fitch at the same time absolute awful WMMA fighters are being signed with literally 2 fight careers, it seems incredibly unjust.

Also Reebok suck and bring back stitch. Also as is customary insert generic pride reference here.

[Sewer Socialist]

Oh, to answer my own question from earlier, it turns out that Pancrase is still promoting fights in Japan and has some sort of partnership with World Series of Fighting. I wonder if I can figure watch it over the internet without being able to read Japanese.

http://www.sherdog.com/events/Pancrase-269-44225

This seems less prestigious than it used to be. It seems like the Japanese PRIDE generation retired, and now, there's not the same level of competition.

[BIXX]

Give me good fight videos

Gonna join my gym soon and try to get better, wanna watch more fights.

[Sewer Socialist]

Give me good fight videos

Gonna join my gym soon and try to get better, wanna watch more fights.

Well, what specifically are you looking for? Good striking, good grappling, good guard, good submission, good takedown...? Crazy brawl where both people get badly beat up?

Also, do you grapple at all? I'm surprised someone who used to wrestle isn't more into that. I really prefer rolling to sparring, myself. I get injured too often when I spar, but I can roll every BJJ class and haven't had a major injury yet. :unsure:

Also I'm gonna grapple all winter when it's rainy and I don't feel like being outside much.

[BIXX]

Well, what specifically are you looking for? Good striking, good grappling, good guard, good submission, good takedown...? Crazy brawl where both people get badly beat up?

Also, do you grapple at all? I'm surprised someone who used to wrestle isn't more into that. I really prefer rolling to sparring, myself. I get injured too often when I spar, but I can roll every BJJ class and haven't had a major injury yet. :unsure:

Also I'm gonna grapple all winter when it's rainy and I don't feel like being outside much.

Wrestling burnt me out pretty bad. I'm a good grappler only because most folks can't submit me but I'm not good at knowing actual submissions (I can vaguely pull of a triangle and any amatuer can do the rear naked) so I'm normally making up my own submissions on the fly just using my knowledge of body mechanics.

As for fight videos, anything as long as it's highly technical.

[Sewer Socialist]

Wrestling burnt me out pretty bad. I'm a good grappler only because most folks can't submit me but I'm not good at knowing actual submissions (I can vaguely pull of a triangle and any amatuer can do the rear naked) so I'm normally making up my own submissions on the fly just using my knowledge of body mechanics.

As for fight videos, anything as long as it's highly technical.

Hm, Johnson - Dodson (UFC on Fox 6) was a pretty technical fight, and evenly matched enough to last 5 rounds; the rubber match (UFC 191) is tomorrow night. Should be pretty good:

http://m.fightland.vice.com/blog/can-john-dodson-kill-the-king

If you switch stance ever, both fighters do a bit of that; IIRC Dodson favors southpaw and Johnson favors orthodox, Johnson is good at fighting from a longer range, Dodson prefers to bring it in close, has a strong left hook. Really looking forward to it.

[Antiochus]

Ugh so you guys saw Ronda get destroyed? Was pretty shocked. IMO She kinda deserved it for all her shit-talk.

[Zoop]

Ugh so you guys saw Ronda get destroyed? Was pretty shocked. IMO She kinda deserved it for all her shit-talk.

Yes, I've watched it many a time.

Very satisfying.

[BIXX]

Rousey lost and its a good thing for the sport

[Sasha]

Fair win, Rousey should learn not to try an box to a better (kick)boxer, her oponent did what she need to do, use her reach advantage, stay away from the take down attempts and esp stay away from the cage walls.
If it would have gone to a fast takedown all could have gone very differently.

[Sewer Socialist]

Fair win, Rousey should learn not to try an box to a better (kick)boxer, her oponent did what she need to do, use her reach advantage, stay away from the take down attempts and esp stay away from the cage walls.
If it would have gone to a fast takedown all could have gone very differently.

ie, Cat Zingano vs. Rousey, UFC 184. I really think Rousey underestimated Holm, and did not play her strengths. I wonder if Rousey will get an immediate rematch, or if they'll give one of the other contenders a shot first; like Zingano or Tate, who was originally supposed to be fighting Rousey at this fight until the UFC screwed her in changing the fight behind her back. Great fight - the entire time, I couldn't believe how close it was.

The only other time I've watched Holm fight was also at UFC 184, where she fought unimpressively to a narrow decision erin, and one I thought was going to go the other way. Last night, she looked completely different, and her Judo looked very good against a judoka so dominant as Rousey.

[olahsenor]

Rousey lost and its a good thing for the sport

Ya because she is propping up 'economic insecurity' as something 'good' in her stories about 'living in her car'. She 'lived the American dream'. Now what can she say? Two weeks in a hospital. Disabled because of possible brain concussions? I'd rather attend a communist Party meeting or rally.

[Sasha]

really good match analysis with a bunch of insights that i missed completely;
https://www.jiujitsutimes.com/ronda-rousey-vs-holly-holm-fight-analysis-video/

[Antiochus]

I thought this was funny as fuck lol:

https://gfycat.com/FearfulTanFlicker

I felt she tried to humiliate Holms by trying to outbox her, and given that her skills in boxing were mediocre, it was a terrible choice. Though she did manage to grapple her a few times and failed to produce anything so...

[Zoop]

Not long now until the Aldo McGregor fight. I really want Aldo to demolish him.

[Sewer Socialist]

Not long now until the Aldo McGregor fight. I really want Aldo to demolish him.

It'll be a good fight, and I'll watch it, but the UFC hype machine is such a turn-off. It makes me feel like I'm watching pro "wrestling".

[Antiochus]

Eh, McGregor is so funny when he trashtalks lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMXZXdjxw6U]

[Lanfear]

Not long now until the Aldo McGregor fight. I really want Aldo to demolish him.

Oh dear. Sucks to be you doesn't it ;)

[Antiochus]

HAHAHAHAHAAHAH 13 second KO my god.

[motion denied]

Brandão goddamn it

sweet sweet anaconda to triangle though

[motion denied]

Tumenov v Larkin good fight, nice striking by both men

though check the freaking leg kicks ffs

[motion denied]

great event all around

[Sewer Socialist]

AND NEW

...again. What a year.

[Antiochus]

lol yeah I'll say. 2 upsets. And they both lost to a rear naked choke.