MMA: Past Fight Discussion

[Egg Shen]

yeh i think i need to air it again.

[dopper]

And as much as I loathe Koscheck, the bit when he's telling a drunk Diego Sanchez that 'the aliens are coming for him' is great.

 

Credit where it's due, that was tremendous. Kenny Florian had to forcibly hold Diego down on his bed because he was freaking out at what Koscheck was saying.

[jimufctna24]

Sam would be Sam Hoger...that guy took endless stick on message boards after TUF aired, he will forever be known as sausage tits.

I remember some of those tragically.

 

One he compared his career to Randy Couture, saying his losses were just part of a process to come back a legend. In another he bragged about having a girlfriend, sadly for Sam people who knew him from High School called him out for being a erm chubby chaser shall we say.

 

He was also sadly not very funny, calling Forrest Griffin fans, "Gump fans"

 

I love Mid 00's - 2010 Amercian MMA when it was more a spectacle than sport, the characters were bloody great.

 

Nate Quarry really annoyed me for some reason. He almost seemed too nice. And him playing peacekeeper and do-gooder all the time got a bit irritating for me. They should've nicknamed him 'Oprah' or something. He seemed to know everything about life. And he nicked Roddy Piper's 'I have come here to kick ass and chew bubblegum...' line. And passed it off as his own. Balls to him.

 

I know what you mean.

 

Leben was the star of the show and using wrestling terminology became more of a babyface as the show went on, Koscheck and Southworth were presented as the real bad eggs. Forrest is actually quite low-key as are the coaches, the show is mainly based around Leben/Koscheck/Southworth.

Edited October 14, 2013 by jimufctna24

[wandshogun09]

In fairness to Sam Hoger, he had a really fun fight with Stephan Bonnar on the first ever UFC Fight Night. Bonnar won pretty clear cut but Hoger gave him a few scares. He ran Rashad Evans to a pretty close decision around that time as well if I'm recalling right. Rashad wasn't as good as he was going to become back then but still, old Sausage Tits gave a good account of himself in those fights.

 

But this before the fight with Bonnar...

 

"If it ends in the first, Stephan's going home in a hearse,

If it goes to the second, you know Sam came wreckin,

And if it goes to the third...in that ring...I know from Stephan Bonnar we'll never have heard"

 

Is unforgivable.

 

I didn't catch TUF 1 as it aired, I'd only just got into MMA with UFC 52. I caught up shortly after though and I remember, like dopper, thinking Chris Leben was a total cockend in the early episodes. But gradually he grew on me as the series went on. The 'fatherless bastard' episode was a big part of it but after that he genuinely did seem more likeable all-round IMO. I think the occasion probably got to him at the start. Being on TV, house full of fighters and a fridge full of beer. He settled down later in the series and he came across well.

 

Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar were my favourites on the show by far at the time though. Especially Bonnar. I thought they both seemed like proper down to earth, hard working types and they were both were pretty funny at times. The rest of the guys were either twats, boring or mental so Griffin and Bonnar stood out to me. It's only later I found Forrest to be a bit of a knob.

 

I thought Florian seemed a bit of a two-faced weasel. He's always had that vibe to him for me. I remember he was slagging Leben off to Koscheck at some point, saying he should be kicked out and all sorts. Then later in the series he's palling up to Leben as if they're best mates. BJ Penn says in his book that Florian was like this as well. Apparently before GSP vs Penn 2, Florian was texting BJ going something like 'I hope you beat that cheater. All those Jackson's guys grease' etc. Because he'd accused Roger Huerta of being too slippery in their fight. Then lo and behold, GSP batters Penn, Florian is suddenly training with GSP at Jackson's and he's challenging Penn for the lightweight title in his next fight. Sneaky bastard.

[jimufctna24]

Sorry Wand, I am no Florian fan, but he did say to Leben's face he was not keen on him to begin with, but as he spent time getting to know him, he grew to like him.

 

Although in general I agree, there is something a bit sneaky about him.

 

The "Fatherless Bastard" episode and the resulting Leben vs Kos fight is what some think really made TUF as a reality show, it made the show grow in the ratings and become a hit. The actually fight between Leben and Kos was dull from what I recall, but there were enough eyeballs engrossed by the two hating one another.

 

Forrest and Bonnar sealed the deal at the Finale, but Leben and Kos were the ones who peaked the viewers for the actual series.

 

Bobby Southworth was a knob by the way, worse than Koscheck and Leben combined. We can partially thank him for provoking Dana White's cringe-worthy hard man act with the stupid "pep talk" argument they had.

[wandshogun09]

Sorry Wand, I am no Florian fan, but he did say to Leben's face he was not keen on him to begin with, but as he spent time getting to know him, he grew to like him.

 

I forgot that. Bollocks to Kenny though. I reserved the right to irrationally hate him ever since he got to roll about with Brittney Palmer.

 

 

Changing the subject - this is probably the place for this. Ricardo Arona (remember him?) is still taking about fighting in the UFC one day.

 

NITEROI, Brazil -- Ricardo Arona was one of the best fighters in Pride history. He didn

[Egg Shen]

which fight on TUF ended with Koscheck recieving oxygen? was it the Sanchez fight? If i recall correctly Koscheck basically held Leben down for 3 rounds.

[dopper]

He did indeed. After the decision Leben left the cage shouting "You're gonna lie on guys for 3 rounds and not hit 'em? Nobody wants to see that!" while Koscheck was saying "Bye bye, got get the bus home, bye bye".

[wandshogun09]

Koscheck vs Sanchez, there's a fight that fell flat (not the one on TUF, the rematch at UFC 69). I remember there was a lot of hype for that, a lot of trash talk, Diego was undefeated still and the weigh in got heated with Diego nearly shoving Kos off the stage. Then Diego came out with the Mariachi band and all that and it felt like a big deal.

 

The fight started and the show was over. Just a boring, 15 minute jabfest from Koscheck. Such a letdown. Especially after seeing Sanchez's epic fights with Parisyan and Diaz and the Joe Riggs KO. I thought we were in for a war and it was just shite.

 

Best part was Koscheck being a massive knob in the Rogan interview. Something like, "Hey Diego, you're not undefeated anymore. You're nineteen and OONNE!" He was shoving Joe Rogan about and all sorts. It was the kind of interview a prick heel in wrestling would do and he kept saying 'thankyou' to the crowd (who were booing the shit out of him), in a really sarcastic way, which was kind of funny.

 

In fairness, Diego is supposed to have had staph pretty bad in the build up, so that would explain why he was so lethargic. Such a disappointing fight though.

Edited October 14, 2013 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

That was a weird fight.

 

Sanchez trained with Oscar De Le Hoya, but only on strength and conditioning, it got a bit of publicity being so close to the now legendary Floyd vs Oscar fight. The initial rumors were that Sanchez would face GSP in Texas, but Serra was given his shot instead .

 

Sanchez was on such a run at this stage, he talked about retiring unbeaten and everything. Dana claims the morning of the Kos fight, Sanchez wanted to retire then and there due to his staph infection, its amazing that such crazy and lofty events were happening around a fighter who now is seen not even top 10 in the world.

 

The UFC and the athletic commission had also kept a positive dope test from Sanchez's prior fight quiet. People generally believe Sanchez was the real deal, even some in the UFC, Randy Couture said he had given up picking against him after he knocked out Joe Riggs. Sanchez almost pushing Kos off the stage at the weigh in could have ended a lot worse than it did. I always thought Sanchez/Kos got on during TUF, but something happened in a nightclub after TUF that created bad blood.

 

The actual fight was uneventful as said, but what was happening around it was not.

[dopper]

Despite having the chance to watch the famous Griffin/Bonnar fight when I unlocked it on the UFC 2010 PS3 game, I've held off until I got round to watching the whole series first.

 

I watched it this morning and loved it.

 

I gave Griffin the first round and Bonnar the second, but they seemed to go punch for punch completely evenly in the third.

I know it would have gone to a fourth, but I think if the judges had it 29-29 it would have been the ideal ending.

 

With the fight being so close I was very surprised the decision was unanimous.

 

Also on the Finale, I laughed at Tito Ortiz in the front row yelling "YOU FUCKING PUSSY!" at Ken Shamrock as Ken was preparing to enter the cage.

[wandshogun09]

I haven't seen Griffin vs Bonnar 1 for ages. It's a great fight though. It's kind of become the in thing to turn your nose up at that type of fight these days. There seems to be an element of snobbery with a lot of fans now, where they look down on wild brawls like Griffin vs Bonnar 1 and Garcia vs Zombie 1. But I love those fights. I love a great technical striking match, a BJJ masterclass, and fights with a bit of everything as much as anyone. But a crazy brawl can be great to watch. Fights like Shogun vs Hendo, Wandy vs Stann and the two fights I've mentioned above, really get the blood pumping.

[jimufctna24]

I always found Griffin vs Bonnar 1 overrated, its a decent brawl, but nothing out of the ordinary.

 

I actually thought Grove vs Herman on the TUF 3 Finale was the better fight, much more drama and near finishes.

[Egg Shen]

yeh, there's been better fights but at the time it really felt like something special. It was the circumstances too, it was such a great payoff to the 1st season of TUF. Dana always says that the fight saved the UFC and that's why he always holds in such high regard.

 

I'm pretty sure they'll go into depth on that fight during the new documentary.

[jimufctna24]

Yeah I can compromise with that, the value of the fight given the circumstances are not overrated.

 

I still think Leben vs Kos played a big part as well, as that cemented TUF as a hit, but no doubt that fight made Spike get behind the UFC outside the reality TV setting.