MMA: Past Fight Discussion

[wandshogun09]

my jaw hit the floor when it happened.

So did Hunt's.

 

I was in shock as well. I remember streaming that live and sitting at my computer with my quilt wrapped around me, with an absolute cunt of a hangover. I was dying. Just got up and sat there with a big mug of hot chocolate streaming the NYE show all morning. The Hunt vs Manhoef fight was must-see for me, being two of my all-time favourites. I soon livened up when they said that fight was coming up next, about 12 hours into the stream.

 

Then Melvin wipes him out in 18 seconds! I couldn't believe my eyes. I was still half pissed and thought I was dreaming. Considering heavyweight killers like Cro Cop and Le Banner couldn't KO Hunt, seeing a 185er in Manhoef do it was mental.

Edited September 19, 2014 by wandshogun09

[Carbomb]

On the topic of Jade Bryce, I looked her up when you mentioned her in the Other MMA thread, wand, and there's a very NSFW pic of her straddling a motorcycle, arse facing the camera with her balloon-knot clearly on show. First thing I thought was "Scott Malbranque would lose his shit if he saw this."

[Egg Shen]

Jade Bryce being let go by Bellator was one of the low-points of last year

[Egg Shen]

Bumping this thread cause i've been watching some old K-1 shit, im pretty sure this got linked here a long time ago but K-1's official channel has uploaded a bunch of classic K-1 stuff to their Youtube channel:

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsi0z_jnwLfxC__REGvKN9Q

 

It's all in pretty mint quality, and they've stripped away all the commentary from the fights, it makes everything sound brutal. I wish there was an option to mute commentary on fights sometimes, i don't think people watching realise just how much impact some of these shots have. Get on the channel and fill your boots....

[jimufctna24]

To mark the 10th anniversary of the TUF 1 Finale, Jordan Breen and Chuck Mindehall meet to discuss the early years of TUF. Mindehall was the reporter who tracked down Jason Thacker, and wrote that excellent article on him a few weeks back.

 

http://www.sherdog.com/blog/Chuck-Mindenhall-Joins-Press-Row-84461

 

About 15 mins in so far, and it's pretty good. Breen recalling his reaction to hearing the TUF 2 results before it aired is priceless. 

Edited April 9, 2015 by jimufctna24

[Egg Shen]

Oh nice, ill check that. Been thinking of re-watching Season 1.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah cheers for that, Jim.

 

I'd heard Mindenhall had tracked down Strangebrew but forgot to look out for it. Can't believe TUF 1 was ten years ago already. Pretty scary how quickly that decade's gone.

 

This month also marks ten years since the epic 2005 Pride GP kicked off. Total Elimination with the first round matches was in April 2005. Ten years since Shogun made Rampage his bitch.

 

 

Quite the month for MMA.

[Chunk]

This'll reveal my MMA newb status, but kicks to a downed opponent like that are pretty shocking to watch. Glad that shit doesn't happen anymore.

[wandshogun09]

Fuck that. If those kicks were still legal Shogun would probably be the UFC champion.

 

Bring them back!

 

Aldo was fucking ruthless with them in his early fights in Shooto Brazil as well. Just scarily merciless with them. The videos and gifs should be easy to find. Have a look.

 

On a serious note, I'm glad they're banned as well. I would like to see knees to grounded opponents brought back though. That would make things interesting and would also put that retarded 'I've put my pinky finger on the mat so you can't knee my face' shit to bed. I hate that one hand down loophole. The 'bitch hand', King Mo calls it.

[jimufctna24]

I won't give much away about the podcast, but they do not mention that there was a "Jason Thacker" sort on TUF 2.

 

I forget his name, and I'm not going to cheat by looking it up. It was one of the Heavyweights, who was clearly out of his depth. Sadly, they could not exploit him, as he quit early on, claiming the cameras freaked him out.

 

Thacker was not an exception in 2005. They brought in some right dross that were bound to fail. They fed a one-dimensional Karate guy to Sam Hoger at one PPV. They also matched journeyman Brandon Lee-Hinkle with that guy who knocked out Kimbo. Even though Lee-Hinkle was never world-class, and used to spend training smoking cigarettes, it was still a serious miss-match. They even tried digging up Keith Hackney for TUF 3 as well. 

 

Thacker will always be the most famous example though. Nice guy, but you just had to look at him to know he was out of depth. Looks can be deceiving in MMA, but not in that case. Again, not to give much away on the podcast, but there is an interesting observation in relation to why Josh Rafferty was cast. I only vaguely recalled Rafferty's name when they mentioned him, but after a brief discussion, I remembered him, and his inclusion made a bit more sense. 

[Egg Shen]

Hmmm, cant think who that heavyweight is?

[Chunk]

On a serious note, I'm glad they're banned as well. I would like to see knees to grounded opponents brought back though. That would make things interesting and would also put that retarded 'I've put my pinky finger on the mat so you can't knee my face' shit to bed. I hate that one hand down loophole. The 'bitch hand', King Mo calls it.

 

Yeah that loophole always comes over as a bit ridiculous when it's exploited. I'm OK with the concept of banning knees to a downed opponent though. It makes sense to me that it's possible to get a lot more power behind a knee to the face or head when an opponent is down - you can take a run up, your target is only 3 feet off the ground not 6 and you don't lose any power in upward momentum, it's all forward. Following up a knock down with a running knee to the face from half way across the cage sounds like it would most often be unnecessarily dangerous - a few follow up (much lighter!) punches would more often than not lead to the same ref stoppage.

 

The rule change I'd like to see is foot stomps. They seem like a hangover from days gone by rather than something that has been given a lot of thought and then the green light. They hardly ever seem to have any real impact, they feel like a shitty, skill-less tactic and who really wants to see a fight stopped because someone gets their big toe broken? Imagine Aldo drop his title half way through round one due to a broken toe from a foot stomp.

[wandshogun09]

I remembered his first name but not his surname. Had to cheat. It was bugging me.

 

Eli Joslin.

 

Prat didn't expect there to be cameras on a reality TV show, I guess.

 

If we're talking someone who could rival 'Brew's shiteness though, it's got to be Wayne Weems from TUF 5.

 

 

So insignificant you'd forgotten he existed, didn't you? TUF 5 was pretty loaded with talent as well. Nate Diaz, Gray Maynard, Joe Lauzon, Manny Gamburyan, Matt Wiman and Cole Miller all came through that season. All still in the UFC eight years later. Weems, the poor prick, couldn't hack it from day one. The training alone was killing him to the point he made getting out of the van look like climbing Everest when they got back after their first training session. He was fucked. Then when it was his turn to fight, they threw him at Maynard. Unsurprisingly, Weems got crushed.

 

I think in the early days of TUF they deliberately let some no-hopers on for two reasons;

 

1) To show how tough MMA and MMA training is and that your 'average' person won't be able to do it.

2) For a laugh to provide some good telly. Like when they let some absolutely rotten singers through the auditions on shows like the X Factor.

 

I read that Frankie Edgar and Clay Guida both tried out for TUF 5 as well, so it wasn't a case of Weems getting in because there wasn't enough talent about. But the UFC opted to sign Edgar and Guida to contracts outright instead.

 

Still, at least Weems hung in there and never bricked it over a few cameras or left over a girl or something...

 

TUF 3's Noah Inhofer;

 

 

Remember this Egon from Ghostbusters looking sod? Left the show because he missed his girlfriend. Who he'd been with a whopping six weeks or something.

 

I wonder if this is the girl in question?...

 

 

Not bad. Certainly hit above his weight. But to throw away a chance like TUF?

 

The best bit about that was Dana's reaction;

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=5tKgWRwgERU

[jimufctna24]

Eli Joshlin, that's the fucker.

 

I remember Weems now you mention him.

 

If I recall rightly, Noah won his opening fight, and still left. TUF 3 was great, but it had some right shite on it. Tait Fletcher anyone? 

 

I think in the early days of TUF they deliberately let some no-hopers on for two reasons;

1) To show how tough MMA and MMA training is and that your 'average' person won't be able to do it.
2) For a laugh to provide some good telly. Like when they let some absolutely rotten singers through the auditions on shows like the X Factor.

Pretty much.

 

Some of the choices were counter-productive. As I mentioned above, bringing in the guy who beat Kimbo in 2005. What a waste of time that was. It was just pandering to a small section of internet fans. Kimbo only really became an internet sensation around 2006/2007 when Youtube emerged properly, so it was jumping on a bandwagon that had not left the station. TUF/Spike was the UFC's main star maker in 2005. 

 

It didn't achieve either of the above. As the guy's fight did not happen in TUF, nor was he billed as an average joe (if I recall rightly they talked about his legitimate skills on air, and his time as a police officer). 

 

Once again, the guys name escapes me. 

[wandshogun09]

Sean Gannon.

 

Tait Fletcher's still about. Not fighting, I don't think, but he's been on Rogan's podcast a few times fairly recently. He's a mate of Rogan's. He was shite though, yeah.

 

Team Dagger were my pet hate on TUF 3. I've never liked Kendall Grove since then. That little girly noise they kept doing was so fucking annoying.

 

TUF 3 shouldn't have been as good as it was really when you look at some of the absolute dross they had on there. And it was a great season. Mostly because of the Tito and Ken stuff, admittedly, but it wasn't all down to them.