Dai

3 hours ago, WeeAl said:

Has Lee done anything of note since he left?

He was on that Khabib show last year, where he had (if I remember it correctly) an instantly forgetable fight with Diego Sanchez. Crazy to think that its around 5-6 years since the Lee hype train was running at its maximum, when he subbed Chiesa in Round 1. Its been a real decline since then, and I dont think even the biggest of his fans will talk about him being a future champ any more. I know that Wand has never bought into his hype at any point! Hes only 30, but it already seems like his best days are behind him.

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

Yeah, imagine betting your annual business on Jon Jones fighting and Conor McGregor reliably attending the recording of a TV show. Will be astonished if either happens. Dana need a Powerslap.

To be fair to McGregor, he has done that in the past, even when he was already a megastar. I cant recall any issues with his last spell on TUF. And as Wand says, the guy has never pulled out of a fight, for injury or stupidity reasons. Bones Jones, on the other hand...

Just now, wandshogun09 said:

I’m telling you it’s the old Roy Nelson effect. Fucker’s been catfishing us for weeks. 

Haha true! Has he ever mentioned cutting to 265 in the past? He looks slightly better than usual, so maybe he's just not cutting weight any more. 

After seeing those pics of Lewis in this thread, he's surprisingly still weighed in at 265 for this one. Couldn't see a huge difference in his physique either on the scales. 

Great video, and really highlights just how special Fedor was. That Pride run, and even those few matches in Affliction, holds a special place in my heart. It was truely a special occasion every time he stepped into the ring back then. Off the top of my head, I can only think of Anderson Silva and Jon Jones in their primes that get close to Fedor's aura of invincibility (Khabib too, but on a much smaller sample). Even against the likes of Nog and Cro Cop, you wouldnt even really think much at all about Fedor losing, it just seemed far beyind the realm of possibility. The fact that the he was always fighting in Japan, and you had no way of watching his fights without spending countless hours waiting for your 700mb download chunks to finish, that just all added to the mystique.

Adding to what Ebb says, Mayweather/McGregor this aint. Suggesting a world tour for this fight makes him sound like his ego has gotten way out of control. As good as these guys are, Volk and Islam are not going to set the PPV world on fire with this one. The added 'draw' of Champ vs Champ means nothing these days either. Theres going to plenty of 'bigger' fights (in terms of interest) in the coming year, so have no issues with the lack of promotion so far.

4 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

I fancy Arnold to win that all day (please dont be at the Apex).

Really? This is a massive step up for him, and Max has only lost to Volk in the last few years. As good as Allen has looked, I cant see the reason for being that confident. No doubt Max will be the bookies fav too.

2 hours ago, Silky Kisser said:

 I'm just wondering how it could ultimately effect him.

 

Being in the scummy world of MMA, it won't affect him in the slightest. 

6 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Well fuck…this one was originally the plan for the London show but Allen was injured.

 

This is a huge step up for Allen. Should be a belting fight. Max is somehow only 31, but I think all of these wars will soon catch up to him. Will be very interesting to see if he deals with Allen convincingly. 

An ad for a 'Sports podcast convention' is always playing on my Spotify for the last few days. When giving the dates for the event, the voice over says "From eighth to twelfth of February". Every time I hear it, it sounds so unnatural that they don't put a "the" before each date. It annoys me that no one producing/editing this did not pick up on it. 

I made it up to the Lynne phone call and switched it off. Will give it a second chance, but doubt I'll be a le to watch until the end in one go. 

Duffee was always game for a scrap from what I can remember. He was a more talented James Thompson, with the mad rush at the beginning of the fight. What a strange career he had, though, as credited from Wiki:

- Wins UFC debut in 7 seconds KO

- Loses next fight with a famous KO to Mike Russow

- Shockingly released from UFC. In a suprise to no-one, Dana threw his toys out of the pram when Duffee complained about money. Duffee even says at this point he needed a second job to pay for training. He needed knee surgery too, and couldnt afford it and the UFC wouldnt pay for it. Then Dana sacks him. Proper scummy.

- Bizarrely ends up fighting Dream champ Overeem on the big NYE show, on a weeks notice.

- Ends up back in the UFC a few years later and KO's De Fries

- Another two years off, but flattens Antony Hamilton when he returns.

- Everyones favourate, Frank Mir, KO's him into another dimension (sorry Wand).

- Four year layoff, with both knees and a shoulder being injured. Gets MRSA. Somehow hes still contracted with the UFC through all of this.

- Fights after these four years off (in 2019), but ends in eye poke. No more figths as he gets more injuries. Fighting again on 2023 for KSW, and still only 37!

Was that original Mayweather poster an official one? Seems very interesting to me that if it was, his opponent hadnt even recieved, let alone signed, a contract to fight him. Do Mayweather's people just assume that these opponents are not going to turn down the big payday?

Fedor still has that power and explosiveness, judging from that Johnson fight. Would be sweet if he could land something in the first minute to finish the fight, otherwise I think Bader will win comfortably.

Just checked, and that Nowinski vid has had tens of millions of views (cant figure out if its 17 million or 25 million). I wonder if it will actually have the opposite effect that he wants, and the ratings for the next episode will actually be higher.

Glover is the old guard, so Im always backing (and hoping) for a win. I hope he has enough in his locker to get Hill to the ground for 3 out of the 5 rounds, which is the way I see his path to victory.

As for the Figgy fight, I genuinely have no clue who to pick, or who Id class as the favourate, which is insane as theyve fought three times already.

11 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

 

Cheers for the post! Some of the most violent, crazy, extremely memorable and enjoyable matches of all time are in there, Id say. I cannot fathom how Tanaka is still wrestling today, and (seemingly) is still fairly healthy. All of their singles matches are pretty much the same, but are still all enjoyable.

I just watched their first ECW singles match at the Hammerstein, which was before their famous Heat Wave match. Never seen it before, and may just be even more bat shit crazy than the Heat Wave and ONS matches. In 8 minutes, off the top of my head, Tanaka takes five chair shots to the head, a German Suplex on the back of his head, the outside table Awesome bomb from ring deal, and numerous other big bumps. Madness.

It's probably the best solution for both sides, if not the fans. The UFC train keeps moving along without skipping a beat, and Francis gets the big money he wants elsewhere. Francis needs to make this big cash ASAP though, I'd say. Fans have very short memories, and after a year or two of not being in the UFC, people will soon forget and not care about him. 

The other big issue for Dana will be when Jones pulls out, and the only option at short notice will be the Black Beast, thus shitting all over the PPV

Have been watching Ghosts on the iPlayer, and think its fantastic. A rare show, where theres not one bad character. Every character works perfectly, and is played to perfection. Nearly finished Season 4, and hope it continues, as the standard hasnt dropped at all.

Quick question about an episode in Season 4:

Half Bad: The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself was a fun show. Its fairly standard, by the numbers, in terms of a story, but theres enough here to make it worthwhile.

The Imposter was a really good watch. The whole thing seems so crazy when he talks about how he managed to set this up and make the phone calls, you question how the hell its a true story. Im still undecided on whether it was the family's grief which blinded them into believing he was the real son, or whether they did indeed have a sinister reason to do so. I sort of agree with the daughters point that the case was already cold by the time this happened, so they could have just said, ater the phonecall, that they want proof hes the real deal. When it would come back negative, the case would still be cold and there would be no spotlight on them at all. To go through all this seems a bit silly, when the heat was off them by this point, three years later.

This is surely in the Top 5 worst Apex main events ever, right? Theres been some stinkers with the women headlining them, but at least one of the two fighters is a fairly well known fighter with some previous high profile fights. This has neither the name value, nor the high stakes of winning the match.

That Marenghi line is used all the time in recent botchamanias, which makes much more sense for him to reference 

Agreed about the Bellator/Rizin show. The best part was the nostalgia in the first five minutes, taking me back to the Pride days. The impressive arena, the massive set, the introduction of the fighters (but instead of Big Nog, Cro Cop and Fedor, it was Pitbull and McKee) with the Pride music, the ring announcer, and a light show. They even just cut to the first fight with the fighters already in the ring on a split screen, which was another Pride move I remember.

All the fights were completley forgetable, unfortunately. Just a point on the set, though. I do wish the UFC would do it with a few select shows a year. It makes everything seem more big time and important when you have a giant set with a big screen, pyro and a long aisle. I know it doesnt make sense if its losing you a bunch of premium priced seats, but I think the upside to having a load of footage of the event, with big flashy colours and pyro that you could use for years on promotional stuff is a good compromise for a few events per year.

There seemed to be a very consistent mention by the commentator of this being 'the best match ever', unnaturally so and noticeable (to me anyway). After the fourth or fifth time it was mentioned, I could just picture Hearn being like Vince McMahon on the headset backstage, constantly shouting at the commentator to say it. 

Just been glancing at his Cagematch page, and its crazy how regular he still performs. At 65, hes still out there several times a month, doing the multi man death matches. His last match is one Im curious in..."Current Blast Spider Net & Barbed Wire Barricade Mine Explosion & Current Blast Explosion Bat & Barbed Wire Inside Board Explosion". Something straight out of the mid 90's, and a match name that if you read it on a tape traders website, that would be all the convincing Id need to spend a fiver on buying the VHS. To add to the craziness, Osamu Nishimura, the MUGA guy who was class in NJPW 20 years ago, was one of the participants of said match! I remember the guy who had that NJPW fan site, who went on to work at Silver Vision, was a huge Nishimura fan.

Speaking of AJPW, Onita had this match there a few months back: Atsushi Onita, Masanobu Fuchi & Yuma Anzai defeat Jinsei Shinzaki, Masao Inoue & Ryo Inoue. Shinzaki! Masao Inoue! Masa Fuchi in 2022! He looked ancient 20 years ago, so one can only wonder what he looks like now. I just happened to stumble upon Fuchi beating the shit out of Kikuchi in a match from 1992, so its quite something that hes still about 30 years later.

Whilst Im here, IWA Deep South had another show I watched recently. It took place in the back woods of Alabama (or something similar), and had more pick up trucks there than fans. Proper car crash stuff, and oddly engrossing.

He got paid a handsome sum I assume, and didnt actually get KO'd, so I bet hes not that bothered about losing.