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The MMA thread (Affliction, UFC, DREAM, Strikeforce, etc.)
Jan 17, 2009 at 11:04 PM Post #32 of 1,080
Totally forgot this was in Dublin so I caught it late. Started watching during the first round of Shogun vs. Coleman.

Shogun looked awful. He looks like immediate post-motorcycle accident Frank Mir. I never expected him to match his 2005 when he was the fighter of the year (victories over Rampage, lil Nog, Overeem, Arona), but those knee surgeries have been a major setback in his career. Here's hoping that he can get some cardio back because this version of Shogun is not exciting to watch. He looked just as bad as he did when he fought Forrest (which I paid $200 to see live and I want my money back from Shogun), except this time he was lucky to be fighting a 40+ yr old man. It was funny, you could tell every time Coleman was on the ground that Shogun wanted to start kicking him in the head so badly. No one has been more affected by the rules shift from PRIDE to the UFC like Rua. Nearly 100% of his (T)KO's are from knees/kicks to a grounded opponent. He's a very specific kind of striker. As it stands, he gets murdered by nearly every top fighter at 205. It pains me to say this as he was my favorite fighter in the world in 2005-2006.

The decision in the main event was horsecrap. Neither guy was in trouble of being finished, but Franklin was clearly the aggressor the entire fight and he landed more strikes. Hendo had a couple takedowns, but Rich was always able to get back on his feet where he was slightly winning those exchanges. It was definitely close, but I had it 29-28 Rich Franklin.
 
Jan 20, 2009 at 1:47 AM Post #33 of 1,080
One thing to keep in mind is that defending against takedowns the whole time is brutal. Look at Lutter vs. Franklin: Lutter was relentless in the takedowns and even Franklin (who has solid cardio at MW) was sluggish in the second round.

I had Henderson at 29-28 but he did do enough to warrant another W; with his nightmarish defensive wrestling and his right doomfist cocked and ready to go at any time he made Franklin respect it and there were times where Decision Dan had control over him especially in the first two rounds. With that said Franklin found a better pace in the 3rd but by then it was too late.

Franklin is in a tough position since Anderson has his number, looking a littler sluggish at LHW and it being a far deeper division doesn't help. I don't know what's next for him but it's going to be a while before he gets a shot.
 
Jan 20, 2009 at 9:11 PM Post #38 of 1,080
someone flog that man!!(troymadison)^^ lol

Yes Fedor should and most likely will destroy Arlovsky. I hope GSP whips up on old baby J Penn. Penn is great no doubt but I love seeing him get beat for some reason. The last Hughes/Penn fight was great for me. Hughes' swansong I guess. He never did much of nothing after that fight.
 
Jan 26, 2009 at 11:36 PM Post #41 of 1,080
If you look around on the internet, apparently Fedor sucks now. Even though Arlovski was the one who looked like this within the very first round.

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Yes, Arlovski was doing well and was the quicker striker on the feet. I give him all the credit for his excellent standup skills. I am actually an Arlovski fan. He is definitely better than Fedor at boxing.

But Fedor is better at winning.

The fact that Fedor has never fallen in 29 fights in simply amazing. Yes, several of those guys were cans, but they were still fighters and the nature of MMA with the tiny 4 oz. gloves always gives you a puncher's chance.

Anderson Silva (the other candidate for best p4p fighter) lost to so-called "cans" in Ryo Chonan and Daiju Takase. They are Japanese guys, too. The kind of fighters Fedor and Wanderlei Silva were made fun of for destroying in PRIDE.

BTW, can we just merge this thread with Dark Angel's old thread because I feel like I'm saying the same stuff over again.
 
Jan 27, 2009 at 1:34 AM Post #42 of 1,080
lol..Fedor was just suffering from ring-rust I think. I saw the fight. Arlovsky was definitely sharper on the boxing but he just can't take a punch. Fedor needs a couple fights to get "lubed". You can't say a man sucks because he looked bad in one fight. Fedor hasn't fought much in the past couple years.
 
Jan 27, 2009 at 2:20 AM Post #43 of 1,080
Quote:

Originally Posted by Fido2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
lol..Fedor was just suffering from ring-rust I think. I saw the fight. Arlovsky was definitely sharper on the boxing but he just can't take a punch. Fedor needs a couple fights to get "lubed". You can't say a man sucks because he looked bad in one fight. Fedor hasn't fought much in the past couple years.


I don't think it was ring rust as the Tim Sylvia fight was just 6 months ago and he looked as dominant as ever in that one. I just think Arlovski is a superb athlete and possesses better hand speed with great footwork/movement. Arlovski is a dangerous opponent for any heavyweight. Also Fedor doesn't throw jabs, only crazy haymaker missiles intended to knock people out or stun them in order to setup a clinch to get the fight to the ground. This leaves him open to getting beat to the punch with quick jabs/kicks like Andrei was throwing. Freddy Roach saw this and intended Andrei to utilize this game plan. But Fedor only needs that little opening and he will capitalize.

But Fedor's trainer Voronov revealed that they were not able to train as usual because Fedor spent a lot of time in Thailand filming some movie and he also had press and commercials to do. I really think Affliction ran him ragged in the week leading up to the fight in New York (press conference and opening bell at NASDAQ) and more stuff in Los Angeles. And none of the other fighters on the card including Andrei were subject to this promotional stuff like he was. It was mostly Fedor, Tito Ortiz (guest commentator), Tom Atencio, and Donald Trump. That was pretty irresponsible of them.

I guess Josh Barnett is next in line, which would be a great fight. But it remains to be seen if Affliction will have another show. One can only assume that they lost a pretty significant amount of money these first two shows. Trump and DLH have deep pockets, but at what point do they decide that they've sunk enough money into MMA without turning profit and that's it.
 
Jan 27, 2009 at 2:17 PM Post #44 of 1,080
This is so ridiculous. You could make the same argument that Kevin Randleman and Hong Man Choi are superior wrestlers and that therefore, Fedor sucks. Even Mark Hunt got top position on Fedor. Everybody knows that Fedor isn't the best boxer, the best wrestler or the best grappler. He just puts everything together so perfectly and dominates in MMA. Arlovskis boxing is is kind of like when Randleman slammed Fedor on his head. Sure, he was ahead on points, but all it takes is one mistake (Arlovski trying a flying knee or Randleman resting for a second when having top position) and Fedor will reverse you and catch you in something. Doesn't matter if he's in trouble: he's so calm, so patient, it's scary.

I really like Barnett, but I don't think he will have any more success than Arlovski. He probably won't be able to take Fedor down, and on their feet, Fedor is too good and punches too hard. However, if Barnett manages to get top position somehow, he could, at least theoretically, catch Fedor in a kimura or americana. But even that feels unlikely considering how Fedor's escaped everything so far in his career.
 
Jan 27, 2009 at 3:49 PM Post #45 of 1,080
Fedor is a bear. There's no way Barnett's submission and/or wrestling is better then Fedor's.

Watching Fedor fight, he did seem like he wasn't in as good a shape as he was with Sylvia, etc. but reading what Borat wrote about the movie filming/promo stuff, it explains it.

Still amusing that even in subpar training shape, and one of Arlovski's best shapes (if not THE best, he looked RIPPED), Fedor took his ass down. Only thing that'll beat Fedor is age.
 
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