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MMA: Past Fight Discussion


Egg Shen

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I did not even own a computer at home during 2006! I used to go on the internet twice a week at the local library, always on MMA Weekly and Sherdog, before I found this place for my MMA fix

 

I agree it was easy enough to get into, and Hughes vs GSP added some spice later on. Hughes was a great character in 2005-2006. Only Chael at his cutting best in 2010 rivals him as a rogue. Pro Wrestling could not have booked anything like the Hughes at his best. By the time GSP sparked him at UFC 65 I was almost in tears of joy. He was the ultimate in "pay to see me get my ass beat". I love Chael, but around 2012 he became so much of a parody I could not take him seriously, not cutting enough for my tastes. Hughes did not need to ham it up or be edited to a great degree, he was a smug and unlikable man. An ex-Girlfriend used to cheer for him to wind me up, good job we split up before the Gracie fight.

 

I actually miss Hughes now, those were the days.

 

I think TUF 4 was ahead of its time, for reasons mentioned, they could not dip into the SEG days. I forget Burnett was on the show, he was a bit of a fix for nostalgia fix, did he not sue for some reason?. He was hidden away in UFC's darkest days. Shonie was a guy I knew, as he seemed to be a fixture on ever UFC Dvd I bought when Tito was Champ. 

 

Overall, it was a good season and probably holds up now better than it did at the time. It was just ill-timed. 

 

A close friend of mine loves the Tito vs Chuck season from 2010, which I never really sunk my teeth into, despite being a fan of both involved. 

Edited by jimufctna24
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Early casting rumors suggested they might bring in Keith Hackney, which would have given it a real nostalgia feel. Instead we got a bunch of fighters who has been beaten a few times on UFC cards in the years previous. Given the standard of the time, the cast was rich in talent though. Far beyond the talent we would have to deal with in subsequent seasons.

 

Mark Weir was another who was rumoured for this season.

 

  

I think TUF 4 was ahead of its time, for reasons mentioned, they could not dip into the SEG days. I forget Burnett was on the show, he was a bit of a fix for nostalgia fix, did he not sue for some reason?. He was hidden away in UFC's darkest days. Shonie was a guy I knew, as he seemed to be a fixture on ever UFC Dvd I bought when Tito was Champ. 

 

I'm sure Burnett sueing them related to some injury to his neck.  I can't remember how it ended up, but he is shown running head first into a wall as hard as he can on several occarions (wearing a helmet) during one episode of the show, so doubt that did him any favours in the slightest.

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I've watched TUF since the beginning, back in the early seasons it was still in that primitive downloading stage so it was always a pretty slow process in getting hold of the episodes..exciting times though.

 

Just getting a hold of MMA in them days was pretty painful, i used to get up early on a sunday morning stick it on to download and just pray id have the show for 7-8pm at night :) i usually got them but there was times when stuff wouldn't download on time...i was a on a one man mission to watch as much MMA as i could. Wouldn't have it any other way.

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I thought Chuck vs Tito was one of the worst seasons myself. Not as bad as Carwin vs Nelson, Faber vs Cruz or Lesnar vs JDS, but not far behind. The Chuck vs Tito feud just didn't have any legs by that point for me. Even though Tito was trying to rekindle it with his dickish and unnecessary comments about Dana having to save Chuck from his demons or whatever. It was just lifeless. We'd seen Chuck twat him twice already and they'd both declined badly since the heyday. Then to top it all off Tito pulled out.

 

I was actually chuffed when it got changed to Liddell vs Franklin.

 

One of the biggest 'I wish we got that' feelings with TUF for me is TUF 13. The UFC actually wanted to do a Lesnar vs Mir season, didn't they? Leading to a rubber match between the two. I can't even remember exactly why it didn't happen. But when it became Lesnar vs JDS, it just died. And I love JDS. He's my favourite heavyweight since Big Nog. But it just didn't work. I still think JDS on TUF could work. Yeah, he's too nice but so was Nog and that worked on TUF 8. JDS just needs a dickhead to coach against, like Nog had with Mir. A JDS vs Overeem TUF would be good, I reckon. But yeah, Arsey Brock couldn't even bring himself to be a dick to JDS. I honestly can't remember anything of TUF 13 except Brock banging on about chicken salad and chicken shit. One of the most forgettable TUFs ever. And again, the Brock vs JDS fight didn't even happen in the end.

 

If it had been Lesnar vs Mir though...

 

lesnar-mir-afterwards.jpg

 

Actually, Lesnar vs Mir 3 would've fallen through as well anyway, wouldn't it? Brock pulled out of the JDS fight sick, so he'd still have had to cancel the Mir fight. And that would've been even worse after an awesome season of them goading each other on TUF. Maybe it was for the best.

 

Still, even if the UFC somehow booked TUF: Lesnar vs Mir now, I'd still be all over it. Even with where they both are now.

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The thing about Lesnar is that he's a big draw with the right dynamic, but that invariably involves him being a bit of a dick to his opponent, and he doesn't do that unless the other guy pushes his buttons or he simply doesn't like them. JDS wasn't going to push his buttons and Lesnar didn't dislike JDS at all, so I think their fight, even had it happened, would have done a lot of business. Lesnar vs. Mir, even know, would mean something because Lesnar really doesn't like Mir and you'd get the 'money' Lesnar.

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Yep. I'm sure in Brock's book he said something like 'I'd like to punch Frank Mir in the face once a day for the rest of my life'. Something like that, it was either in his book or an interview I read. But I know it was way after Brock retired in 2011. He just hates Mir. It would've been such a perfect pairing for TUF.

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I've watched TUF since the beginning, back in the early seasons it was still in that primitive downloading stage so it was always a pretty slow process in getting hold of the episodes..exciting times though.

 

Just getting a hold of MMA in them days was pretty painful, i used to get up early on a sunday morning stick it on to download and just pray id have the show for 7-8pm at night :) i usually got them but there was times when stuff wouldn't download on time...i was a on a one man mission to watch as much MMA as i could. Wouldn't have it any other way.

I used to get copied DVD's the week after events that were not on Bravo (like fight nights). 2006 was a bit of a nightmare, as I was into Pride at that stage. That WFA event was also must-see.

 

2006 was a great year. Even the shite like UFC 61 and Tim Slyvia's title defenses I can find humor in. Pride was on top of its game in the last year

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oh yeh, i was consuming everything i could back then, i watched the last few years of Pride, EliteXC, Affliction, RFA all of it, god bless torrents thats all i can say.

 

I never picked up much MMA through tape trading, i was big time into wrestling tape trading but my MMA obsession came in at the end of that and it was just at the time when downloading really picked up steam.

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oh yeh, i was consuming everything i could back then, i watched the last few years of Pride, EliteXC, Affliction, RFA all of it, god bless torrents thats all i can say.

 

I never picked up much MMA through tape trading, i was big time into wrestling tape trading but my MMA obsession came in at the end of that and it was just at the time when downloading really picked up steam.

I was never a trader as such either

 

There was store (which will rename nameless) which used to sell copies of Pride and Fight Nights the week after they happened. It was a case of staying off the internet for a week. Which was hard as I was at College at the time.

 

By the time Elite XC emerged I was a torrent man.

Edited by jimufctna24
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I used to just rely on Bravo for UFC. I started watching full-time from UFC 52 so that was the Bravo era. Like I said, I wasn't really an internet MMA fan at all back then and I was busy with other stuff. For Pride, my mate used to torrent that shit and I'd get him to run me off copies. He was as big a fight nerd as any of us back then. He doesn't watch at all now, but he has been pulled back in on occasion (GSP vs Diaz, Weidman vs Silva 2).

 

I remember he copied me the 2005 GP not long after it happened, and I was blown away. Fedor vs Cro Cop, plus Shogun terrorising the middleweight field during the tournament. Crushing Rampage, the war with Nog, making Arona his bitch in about two minutes (sweet revenge after Arona smothered Wand earlier in the night). That was the start of my Shogun fandom.

 

Pride was the shit right up to the end. Wasn't crazy about the last show, Pride 34. Pride 33 was their true last hurrah. Wandy vs Hendo 2, Diaz vs Gomi, Sakurai vs Danzig, Little Nog vs Sokoudjou, Aoki on the undercard etc. Awesome show.

 

I'm seriously going to have to bust out some Pride fights later on. It's been too long.

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Watched the Ultimate Fighter UK vs USA, it was good as some of you said. Great to see how much a team the UK guys were compared to the American team who constantly fought with eachother. I forgot how much i disliked DaMarques Johnson during this season, complaining about everything from Bisping celebrating to hating James Wilks for no reason. Quality season of fights aswell and a great Finale. Top stuff all round!

 
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What I hated about Bravo's UFC coverage was that they would often edit out fights so that the program could fit into the window they had it plugged into. They also always had the main event as the last fight, regardless of whether it was the last fight shown on the PPV broadcast, and because the Bravo shows always lasted the same length, it meant they were giving away how long the main event was going.

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What I hated about Bravo's UFC coverage was that they would often edit out fights so that the program could fit into the window they had it plugged into. They also always had the main event as the last fight, regardless of whether it was the last fight shown on the PPV broadcast, and because the Bravo shows always lasted the same length, it meant they were giving away how long the main event was going.

Someone (not me), timed the adverts on a UFC show on Bravo, and posted his findings on the Bravo UFC forum, and it came to around 40 mins of adverts, with 2 hours 20 mins of action (if I recall rightly).

 

 

Pride was the shit right up to the end. Wasn't crazy about the last show, Pride 34. Pride 33 was their true last hurrah. Wandy vs Hendo 2, Diaz vs Gomi, Sakurai vs Danzig, Little Nog vs Sokoudjou, Aoki on the undercard etc. Awesome show.

 

Yeah, the last show was shit

 

But all the main shows in 2006 and early 2007 were the pinnacle of MMA action for me. I do not want to watch any of them back ever, in case they have not aged well. I was a massive Barnett fan that year. The Open Weight GP was amazing on so many levels, they could never do anything like that in the UFC.

 

2006 was also the start of the Franky Shams comeback tour, and Tito Ortiz's last great run (he was the biggest draw in the UFC that year, and still a decent fighter for the standard of the time).

 

2006 was the juice, the height of my MMA viewing other than maybe the Summer of 2010.

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Pride's matchmaking was amazing, it was just so random but they put together so many great fights, and they also put together a lot of head-scratchers but i never remember thinking 'i don't wanna watch that'.

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