Electro Rock

Sometimes a fighter's abilities go way long before their physical prime is over, Mike Tyson is a good example. That's assuming Shogun is still in his physical prime, some guys just athletically age faster than others.

This is what you call cynical matchmaking, feeding Machida a "name" opponent who's got very little left and is about 3 fights away from being retired by some can. I think Rihanna vs Christ Brown II would be more competitive.

I want to see more of Machida, nice to see a few guys in the game who actually knows how to strike and brings some different style to the table instead of being another Muay Thai/Judo/BJJ/Wrestling/Boxing clone. Evans got knocked out badly but at least he went out like a warrior, he needs to work on his strike dence though.

Dana White is reminding more and more of Don King, a super promoter and businessman, but ridiculously greedy and shortsighted. Among other things King was well known for pumping up undeserving fighters while blackballing ones that should have had a shot.

Actually I think the problem is the UFC's talent pool is so shallow that, no matter what, it only allows for a truly decent start to finish card maybe 1 in 10 UFCs. Until the payouts get upped we'll continue to see all these souped up bouncers fresh from MMA teaching puppy mills with maybe a few real gems throw in.

Everyone below heavyweight cuts to some degree though, while the heavyweight division {of any fight sport, not just MMA} has always attracted plenty of fighters who just don't have the disipline to fight at a lower weight that may be better suited to their frame size.

I think Silva is too big for GSP, just as GSP was too big for Penn, everything else might be close but the size difference will make all the difference.

Leites disgraced himself as much as Kalib Starnes did, Silva should have pushed harder against such a lame duck opponent.

Yeah, there's not many role opportunities for Latin actors outside "Latsploitation" and Training Day type movies. Oh well I wish him luck all the same.

MMA is sportfighting, while I agee that an art that does well there gains credibility, it's a long way from real combat.

There's a LOT more to it than just eye gouges and that sort of stuff, you got a standup arsenal that's basically derived from boxing, Muay Thai, Savate, The Filipino arts and Wing Chun, even limited to octagon legal techniques its going to be crazy. I think the thing with the UFC is that there is only a handful of good strikers in it anyway, let alone anyone bring an advanced standup game like JKD.

It would be extremely hard to get a hold of him though, especially if your standup game is clubfighter grade like most MMA fighters. Those clips were entertaining but choreographed scenes tell us little about how the man would actually handle business. I know from sparring JKD guys and watching them spar others that its all about efficiency and not letting the other guy get into the fight. I agree that Bruce was a work in progress though, we never saw close to best of him and his passing left JKD in limbo.

Don't let the movies fool you. JKD is one of the most efficient, practical and just plain fuqing "cheap" styles out there IMO, the only "weakness" is the lack of emphasis on groundfighting but you've have to be very good to get to that point against a good JKD man, and some clubs are incorporating BJJ and other ground fighting styles into their training to cover that base as well. Those JKD punches have to be felt to be believed, they're not only fast and nontelegraphic but they hurt above any other punch. The kicking is probably the best in martial arts. Bruce Lee knew his stuff, and don't see how anyone in MMA in his weight class could deal with him regardless of his lack of groundfighting skills.

I didn't see the weight ins, did GSP look more filled in at fight time? The other matchups were solid but the main event was even more of a GSP walkover than I was expecting. I didn't believe the hype.

GSP owned but I don't take too much away from Penn considering the size difference, it was like man vs boy.

Thanks, it looks a lot more likely from that angle.

Thanks, that looked a bit different to me, he was leaned over alright but so was his target so it looked like he could more or less see where he was punching, and it landed on the side of the head instead of the chin.

I've never seen that fight, what's "exact same", did Fedor go and throw it while leaning over and staring at the mat and chin Crocop for a KO?

What else do you call it when the guy threw it while bent way over at the waist and was staring at his opponenets knees? Especially when it landed right on the button like that, against an opponent with better boxing skills. That second wild swing he threw after Arlovski was falling suggests that he didn't expect to get his money's worth out of that first punch and didn't know until it was too late where Arlovski's head was actually at.

That was a lucky Hail Mary of a punch if I've ever seen one but you can't argue with the results. Some people {like Freddie Roach} knock Fedor for his seeming lack of boxing skills but don't seem to realize that his awkwardness and ability to get power without a long windup go a long way toward compensating for that.

Until Anderson Silva beats his next can and proclaims otherwise.

I'm far from an MMA expert but from what I can tell the overall talent level in the UFC is lower than any other form of professional fighting, period. Most of these guys are more like souped up bouncers than the highly trained athletes they're billed as.

Couture looked like a little old man out there, he wasn't as toned or active as he usually is and I just had the impression even before the fight started that he's lost a lot of what he had even just since last years fight with Gonzaga.

Vera set for crucial test against Jardine By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports Brandon Vera is coming off a life-changing experience, but right now he doesn’t have the time to focus on or think about it. On Oct. 4, while at the home of his grappling trainer, Lloyd Irvin, in Accokeek, Md., Irvin’s home was broken into by two gunmen at 4:30 a.m. The gunmen pointed their weapons at Vera, Irvin, along with Irvin’s wife and young son, while demanding cash and jewelry. While one gunmen focused on Vera, the other forced Irvin to go into the bedroom to get the family jewelry. While in the bedroom, feeling he was far enough away that he wouldn’t be putting his family in jeopardy, Irvin made a move and disarmed the gunman. The intruder ran off, screaming to his partner that the guy had got the gun, and his partner then also ran off. But with Vera in the final stages of training, only a few days before leaving for the United Kingdom for his UFC 89 fight on Saturday night with Keith Jardine in Birmingham, he’s tried as best he can to remove it from his mind. “I don’t want to talk about it until after the fight,” Vera said. “We were back training the next day.” There was little choice, as this fight is the proverbial fork in the road for Vera’s career, and he’s facing a fighter in almost the same situation. “If I win, I’m a championship contender, and if I lose, I’m completely out of the picture,” he said about the semifinal of a show headlined by Chris Leben vs. Michael Bisping which airs on a same-day tape-delay on Spike TV. “That’s the sport of MMA.” The match is in the semifinal position, but to a lot of people, it should be the rightful main event except that in the U.K., Bisping, who comes from Liverpool, is the company’s most popular fighter. A win is important as it will put Vera in the hunt for a light heavyweight title shot, along with the winner of a proposed Jan. 31 match with Thiago Silva vs. Lyoto Machida. Vera is also looking to come out of it with momentum, since as a Filipino, he’s the top star in that country where UFC draws big ratings on network television and could potentially become the Philippines’ answer to Bisping when it follows through with its planned expansion. “I could never describe what it’s like over there, and if I did, you wouldn’t believe me,” he said. “This sounds bad to say, but over there, I’m like Elvis.” Just two years ago, Vera (9-2) was looked at by the UFC as the future star of its heavyweight division. With his speed, and combination of strong Muay Thai, submissions and wrestling, he made the bold statement about becoming the first man to win the heavyweight and light heavyweight titles at the same time. After being too fast for Frank Mir, and finishing off his much larger foe in just 1:09 at UFC 65, Vera was promised the next heavyweight title shot at then-champ Tim Sylvia. But a dispute with manager Mark Dion led to him not taking the championship match and his career was on hold for 11 months. After his layoff, he broke his thumb on the first punch of his UFC 77 match against Sylvia, by that time a former champion. He fought most of the fight with one arm against a much bigger foe, looking unimpressive in losing a decision. That was followed by a heartache on June 7, in London, England, when he lost to Fabricio Werdum when he was mounted in the first round and taking punches. Mentally he had told himself that there were 20 seconds left in the round so he’d try and defend until the round was over, and suddenly the match was stopped. “I’m still bitter about it,” he said. “It was (expletive). But you can’t cry about it. It was a terrible decision. I knew he had a strong mount and it was going to be hard to get out of it. I was just waiting for the round to end to start over, and then it was stopped.” With the two losses, the talk was that Vera was too small for the heavyweight division. Vera doesn’t carry a heavyweight frame at 225 pounds, and is actually physically smaller than many of the light heavyweights. And after the loss to Werdum, he wanted back in the cage as soon as possible. That came on July 19, when he was offered his first fight as a light heavyweight. Even though he defeated former three-time All-American wrestler Reese Andy, it was almost like another loss in his string of disappointing performances because he wasn’t himself and couldn’t pull the trigger. “Making the weight wasn’t hard,” he said. “I cut 20 pounds in three weeks. I didn’t even have to go into the steam room. I weighed in at 204, showing I could make it with room to spare. The problem was performing at that weight. The first round I felt good, like a good feeling out round. In the second round, suddenly I felt I was carrying a monkey on my back.” Even tired, his balance was good enough to keep the fight standing, and he was far superior technically as a striker so he was able to stay out of trouble. But in that same condition, he wouldn’t likely be so fortunate against Jardine. Jardine (13-4-1), comes into the fight at a similar point in his career. Among his last four fights, Jardine has wins over former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, and a knockout win over current champion Forrest Griffin. But the other two fights saw him buckle under a furious onslaught in 48 seconds from Houston Alexander, and again in 36 seconds at the hands of Wanderlei Silva. “Every fight at this level can go either way,” said Vera, who is approaching the weight cut differently this time. “Anyone in the top 10 to top 15 in the light heavyweight division can beat anyone else on any given day.” Vera came to the U.K. the middle of last week to get acclimated to the time difference, and expects it to pay off, as he doesn’t think the usual travel four days before a fight would be enough. “I love it here, but the only problem is the U.S. dollar is so weak right now against the pound.” Vera considers himself friends with both Jardine and Rashad Evans (Jardine’s regular training partner and current top contender for the light heavyweight title) and had talked about going to Greg Jackson’s camp in Albuquerque, N.M., to train with them. But the timing never worked out. “They’re both good guys, but that’s our sport. When UFC asked about it, you can’t turn down that match. In the end, it’s a business.” But he did feel that due to Jardine’s unorthodox style, that of all the top light heavyweights, he and Lyoto Machida would be the two fighters in the division he’d have the most difficulty preparing for. The match looks to come down to Vera’s fluid style of Muay Thai, specializing in strong body kicks, against Jardine’s more rigid and uglier looking mechanics of a style, but one that has served him well. Vera’s belief is the fight is going to stay standing. While both have strong wrestling credentials, both usually don’t try and take a fight to the ground. “Wrestling, I think we’re even,” said Vera. “He was at the Olympic training center at the same time I was. He was there for freestyle and I was there for Greco-Roman.” http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-v...o&type=lgns ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nice, too bad he lost his match with Jardine. He made the right move IMI in going for the gunman because a lot of times the victims in the house end up tortured and shot regardless of whether they cooperated or not.

Well he wasn't technically leading but I don't what else to call it when your whole head is dangling in the wind like that just waiting to be hit, especially when throwing a long uppercut from the floorboards against someone who's got his power hand cocked and ready to go like that. For a guy known for his hand game Liddell sure looked pure amature there.