Dai

Was a strange show, this. With the hype and Khabib behind this, I was expecting a much larger venue. Instead, the place where it was held was tiny, looked awful, and the crowd were dead. Looked really low budget, and they need to work on the sound drastically, as it had a worse atmosphere than the Apex, and it sounded like a Bellator lockdown show. When the Bare Knuckle shows completely smoke you on the production and venue side of things, you have big problems.

Speaking of sounding bad, the commentary was crap I thought. Your 'straight' play by play guy shouldnt be saying stuff like "You dont want to go for a piss break", as it sounds super amatuer. He had another belter for the main event too, "This is what you paid for! Live and free on the app".

I watched the top four matches, which were nothing to write home about. Nobody came out of it looking great, the matches were just there. Somehow the main event disappointed as well. I think the feeling was this could be floating around with Bellator in terms of size and importance, but based on this show they wont get anywhere close.

Great post, and got me thinking about RDA. The whole drug thing is even more baffling in 2022 than it was at the time. Has there ever been a fighter tarnished more by being associated with drugs, despite the fact hes never failed a test? My memory might be off, but wasnt the general opinion of the 'Rogan clan' pretty much "This guy lost to Gleison Tibau not long ago, how'd he get so good?". Again, my memory might be off, but maybe there was an unfortunate timing issue with his Alvarez and Ferguson loses being post USADA? Added fuel to the fire for the idiots, not even factoring in that those two guys are killers.

Youre absolutley right though about him being a forgotten champion. Maybe all the drugs stuff sort of stuck with him in a "no smoke without fire" way. Maybe the fact he wasnt from the US? Maybe because he was a foreigner and beat a lot of fan favourates at the time in Diaz, Benson, Pettis and Cerrone? Maybe because he lost the title quickly? Whatever it was, that run he had on the way to the title was mighty impressive.

1 hour ago, RedRooster said:

I find the obsession with Adam Cole's physique absolutely baffling. Clearly, he doesn't have the worst physique of "someone in his position in the last 30 years", nor is he out of shape. I'm far from his biggest fan, but his body hardly sets him apart from anyone else in AEW. 

Clearly? Care to give some examples of top line talent in the top companies who have looked worse/less threatening? 

I dip in and out of AEW. I watched this week, and a few days ago stumbled on some James Elsworth clips. It's not even an exaggeration to say that Adam Cole and James Elsworth's physiques are almost identical. His back and arms are distractingly bad. Surely the worst physique of someone in his position in the last 30 years? 

Not sure of the timeline as to when both of those did it, but depends on what you class as disastrous. Disastrous for their win/loss reocrd, probably, but in the more important business of cash, they probably made way more cash by getting rid, and the potential benefit such experienced guys would get from having 'proper' coaching at that point in their career is probably open for debate.

Dont the gyms/coaches take a cut of the cash from a fighters purse? Im leaning more down Carbombs thinking that shes setting up her future earnings after shes retired, combined with banking as much cash as possible before she actually does. Her own gym = coaches in her corner which cost nothing/far less than ATT coaches, which in turn equals tens of thousands more cash for however many remaning fights she has.

I had a gander of that Tenta 2001 match on Youtube, which Ill share if people want to see.

I know Tenta is the poster boy for 'Wrestlers in the 90s looking far older than what they are', but its still worth pointing out that he was only 38 here. Considering he was thought of as a has-been half a decade earlier, thats still madness to me.  Theres also a million comparissons you can do which baffle the mind. Hes the same age here as Kenny Omega is now. People like Matt Sydal and Shawn Spears are around this age too. When he was doing his Golga stuff, he was the same age as Moxley, Cody, Penta, Matt Jackson, Orange Cassidy, the list goes on.

Cant see this being the final running order. As you say, Rashad surely would be the semi main here.

Every time I see Barao mentioned I go back and look at his record. Surely in contention for the sharpest fall from grace in the history of the sport. He was always in the mix for P4P best in the world in 2013/14, then a complete after thought in 2016. A few years after that, when only in his early 30's, he was losing on the premlims and early prelims. Crazy stuff.

7 hours ago, David said:

Going by that thinking it would appear that the UFC don't "need" any of their fighters outside of perhaps McGregor then, as he's the only one who really draws monster numbers?

As whats happening here, and with Jon Jones, I think thats very apparent. I think its very clear that the UFC dont want or need any fighter (McGregor aside) who wants to be paid millions of dollars per fight.

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Pie in the sky? You don't think that there would be genuine top level interest from the boxing world if the legit heavyweight champion of the UFC, and by default the entire MMA world, becomes a free agent having never lost his title in the cage?

I think it's clear that he's mentioning boxing as a way to make it known to outside parties that he's very much interested in crossing over. He's being diplomatic with the UFC being part of the equation. He knows they won't entertain it.

I meant Pie in the sky with regards to the UFC actually putting it into their contract, which as you said, is never happening.

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I know much of that is down to the UFC brand, but surely we have to give a little credit to the guys pulling on the gloves as well?

Absolutley, but in terms of MMA, a fighter has no bargaining power at all. No other promotion can pay millions per fight for Francis, so its literally the UFC or nothing for him with regards to MMA. Heres an interesting scenario:

- Francis Ngannou leaves the UFC, and signs for the money he wants/expects for Bellator (the 'millions and millions' of dollars)

- Bellator do a PPV with Ngannou headlining against Bader. Would this PPV make mega money for Bellator, or would it die on its arse? This is where the boxing mega star comparisons dont apply in my opinion. People like Canelo/Fury/Joshua/Wilder etc get huge numbers constantly, whereas in the world of MMA, I dont think a Bellator PPV with Ngannou would even pass a few hundred thousand buys, so the star power is not the same.

When the UFC did Gane/Lewis, that was a big 'actions speak louder than words' moment, which basically said loud and clear that the UFC doesnt need Francis. A PPV main event with a couple of guys on a few hundred grand, and it probably didnt do that much worse than what it would have done with Francis, which makes his demands of wanting millions per fight severley weakened.

The whole boxing thing pie in the sky stuff from him, Im afraid, and something he surely knows the UFC will never accept, unless theres a big cut of the cash going directly to them. "When the UFC is involved, it’s just going to make it bigger". Not sure whether he means it will make the UFC 'bigger'/more popular, or just the actual boxing match. Either way, its a load of shit, and from the UFC perspective (unless they get an insane amount of cash from the fight), why would they allow him to waste time doing that when he could be making the UFC even more cash by fighting in MMA.

21 hours ago, air_raid said:

 

If anyone fancies seeing this, it’s here.

Everyone knows of Piper's rep, but his post match selling of the shock loss is (pardon the pun) perfect.

13 minutes ago, PowerButchi said:

The crowd has been absolutely awful this year though. Anyone not English has been completely eviscerated by the crowd other than Gando, and if it happens again next season I'd probably move it elsewhere. Noticeably tonight on several occasions the crowd noise was turned down. 

 

Yeah the crowd were dire. Its like the worst aspect of a football crowd all turn up to drink and chant, and occasionally look at the darts. There was a moment in this match where Wright was just about to throw a double for an important leg, and the crowd were doing that fucking awful "Stand up if you love the darts" shite. As if they dont really have an interest in the actual game. Between that, and the "Boring, boring tables"/"Shall we sing a song for you" football team rivals crowd chanting, its enough to make you mute it.

Speaking of awful and muting, the Mardle/Part combination is terrible. Not sure how that is the main commentary team now. Can deal with Mardle, but Part should be doing the afternoon games and thats it. Same with Webster.

Wright actually turned out to be a slight favourate, so unfortunately didnt bet on him.

BurningRed, you summed it up perfectly in the last post; Wright has more killer instinct. That was the story of this match. Not much between them in the scoring, but Wright just had more nerve and was more ruthless when on the doubles. Smith, 5-4 in sets up and 2-0 in legs up, with the throw, and not winning the set was the critical part. Great run of legs by Wright from this point, and showed the killer instinct.

Pretty much everything has already been covered by everyone else, so I wont bother duplicating. Lets be honest, theres not even a need to do the fight of the year, and it probably makes sense to make the fighter of the year a two horse race.

Ill just throw one name in the MMA Rising Star catagory, which is Khamzat Chimaev. For someone with the insane hype that he has, he somehow built on that with his only fight in 2021, which is pretty special.

I thought the Usman KO would be the clear winner, but then WeeAl had the belting shout of the Tuivasa/Hardy KO, which I think may be the most satisfying KO of the year (shame on Wand for nominating lovely Frankie getting knocked into another dimension, and not the prick that is Hardy 😛)

Smith dealt with Wade fairly comfortably. Wade couldnt keep up with the scoring, and seemed like he had to keep hitting great finishes just to stay close to Smith.

Wright/Anderson was a belter. Huge scoring from both. Looked like Wright was going to easily win, but Anderson didnt crumble like he usually does, and fought back really well to make it a really fun and tight match. If Wright plays like this in the final, he has a good chance of winning it. I assume he'll be an underdog in the betting, so may have a punt depending on how big of a dog he is.

Couple of belters tonight. Rydz put in a hell of a performance, but Wright just had that tiny bit more class and bottle. His double double finish, at that point in the match, was a thing of beauty.

Thought Price was going to do his usual thing and claw to victory, but it just didnt happen for him. Smith's scoring was incredable, and he was nailing the doubles too. Great stuff.

Is there any other sport in the world where things change so quickly, in terms of results. Case in point, Price has a dart to win the match 5-3, misses it, then within about 3 minutes is 2 legs down in the deciding set. There was a point in the Wright match where Rydz has darts to go 2 sets up but missed them, then it all changes within seconds, and hes level in sets and down in legs. Not much tops watching darts when its like that, as its an emotional rollercoaster .

Finished Guardians of the Galaxy, and thought it was a real slog toward the end. The final chapters were terrible, monotonous fighting, and a story that was just a confusing mess. Glad to finish it.

The three free Tomb Raider games on Epic seems like a phenominal deal. Played the first one years ago and really enjoyed. Going to make my way through them all now that I got them for free.

Anderson/Cross was a fun match. Seemed like Anderson was cruising to a 4-1 win, but somehow bottled it, so Cross won it to make it 3-2. Anderson crumbled at this point, and seemed like he'd lost his head completley. This in turn allowed Cross to really step it up and fight back into the match. When you think Anderson is done, he somehow scrapes enough legs to win the match. Cracking stuff. Im no expert, but why on earth would Cross go for the T19 in the critical leg instead of the 18's, when he was on fire with the T18 scoring through the match. Makes no sense at all, and something he must be regretting now.

Wade looked solid, if unspectacular, Hes made it to the Quarter Finals and not hit a single 180 in the tourney, which is proper mental.

Something else which is proper mental is that I started this thread over THIRTEEN years ago. That seems crazy. Interesting to see some of the names mentioned on that first page. Dobromyslova paving the way for Sherrock. Most players now either retired or well past their prime. People like Anderson/Wade/Merv/Van Gerwin still going strong.

They've smashed it out of the park with the new Spider-Man. Outstanding straight from the start. Lots of credit for them delivering on the huge hype and anticipation its had for all this time.

Dustin did rock Oliveira a few times in the first round, but at no point did I get the strong feeling he was in super danger. He seemed to recover very well from the knockdowns. In the same round, Oliveira was banking some seriously nasty knees and kicks to the mid section of Poirier, which definately had a big impact in the fight. "Clearly had his fingers in his glove" is clearly a bunch of bollocks too, as theres no way you can make it out from the angle they showed it. To me it looks like he adjusts his hand for wrist control. Im not buying into the Rogan bollocks on this point.

We talked about the GSP/Serra fight earlier, and I think in years to come the 2nd round of this will be viewed in the same light as that fight. Pena went toe to toe in a fire fight with Amanda Nunes, and won. Absolutley amazing. Watching it back, when Nunes is cracking Pena with her trademark power punches, but Pena keeps standing there and trading back, you can almost see the energy sap out of Nunes. It was a battle of wills, and Pena had the bigger heart and crushed Nunes. The aura of Nunes never recovers from this. All the credit must go to Pena though, what heart and determination.

The past opponents were probably bigger outsiders, but they all lost, so Panhead's point remains valid.

Pena is only a 6/1 dog at most sites mind. Youd have to be barking mad to bet on her at those odds in my opinion. With regards to it being the biggest title upset, I assume Serra was longer odds, but maybe thats all that would top it.

I'd probably say Felder is my favourate of the three regulars now. A good blend of knowledge and enthusiasm. To be fair, I don't have a problem with either DC or Bisping either. They are both far superior to Cruz. I wonder why during these Apex shows, especially the lower end ones, they haven't tried out anyone new, even if it's just on the prelim part. Must be loads of fighters milling about Vegas, they should freshen it up a bit. 

Agreed with everyone that this was a very fun card, with the highlights being Guida and Aldo. I doubt you could find a fight were it was as close to being stopped as this one, maybe that Pat Barry/Kongo fight from way back. Easily in the top 5 comebacks of all time in the UFC youd have to imagine. Aldo was fantastic too. It seemed from the first 4 minutes that Font was going to overwhelm and gas out and then dominate Also, but that knockdown changed the whole fight. It looks like he never recovered from it, both physically and mentally. Add to that the really nasty looking knockdown, and those changed the whole fight.

Will they ever leave the Apex do we think? I assume they save tens, if not hundreds of thousands in having a pre built arena in Vegas, when you factor transporting and building everything thousands of miles away from their base, and paying the wages and flights for everyone involved in production of an event. I assume the ratings are no different, so they have no motive to go back on the road (assuming the ticket sales dont really make that much cash for them).

19 hours ago, Ironic Indie Lad said:

I've been playing this on PS5 after it got a pretty enthusiastic response.  I have found it to be very glitchy as well. There has been several times where I finish a fight and for whatever reason it doesn't trigger that I have cleared the area. It leaves me trapped in that part of the map with all the characters just repeating battle dialogue even though absolutely nothing is happening. I've also had quite a few occasions where I've just been trapped in the scenery or fallen through the sky into infinity and had to restart.

Even when it does run well, I don't think its a very good game. There are very long sections where you are just walking slowly listening to dialogue and occasionally pressing square to contribute something to the conversation. The combat is ok but you're pretty much just waiting on various meters to fill up to do special moves, command the rest of the team etc. It's like a much less good version of the FFVII remake combat in some ways.

I cant really understand why it was warmly received. I can only assume people love these characters so really, really wanted to like this game.

Yeah, Ive had to reload checkpoints when its glitched after a battle too. Agree on the long walking bits too, there are way too many which go on for way too long. The whole 'choose between two pieces of dialogue' is way overdone too, and has absolutley no bearing on anything. Maybe Im being dull and not paying enough attention, but the whole story is a confusing mess too. Think it would have served them better to make it a much lighter hearted game, with more emphasis on crazy environments/characters. More places like Knowhere, and way less places like that cave, where it looks straight from an N64 game.

Yeah that Grant fight was very good. Shocked me when I saw Grant though, I remember him from what seems like an eternity ago in the Ultimate Fighter, crying because his opponent missed weight. Good to see him still about.