MMA: Past Fight Discussion

[Egg Shen]

Chris Leben vs. Kalib Starnes

 

it's a shame Kalib Starnes went on to do the Nate Quarry fight (which remains one of the weirdest fights in history), Starnes will forever be laughed about and called a pussy and whatever but if anyone goes and watches his earlier stuff the guy could f'n scrap.

 

He's never going to shake off that Quarry fight though.

[The Cum Doctor]

I knew that's how I knew that name ! I can't wait to see that fight. Anyways, I watched UFC 72 : Victory which is just such a shit name for a UFC show.

 

Great at the start when Bruce Buffer has to check his card just to see what city he's in.

 

Ed Herman vs. Scott Smith

 

Not got much of a memory of either guy, but I do remember that I've liked Smith, so there you are. Real domination from Herman in the first four minutes, and he was just not entertaining the idea of standing up, and quite right. Scott Smith did well at the end of the round, escaping two submission attempts from Herman. Smith had a good start to the second, but it didn't stop the fight going the exact same way, but this time Herman got the choke he was looking for in the first, and it was bye-bye Smith. Good stuff while it lasted, and I can see why I liked Smith.

 

Tyson Griffin vs. Clay Guida

 

Clay Guida's entrance music always makes me wanna move about. Fucking brilliant first round. Both guys putting on a hell of a grappling show. Griffin seemed to have the number of Guida on the ground in the first round though and then did the same on the feet. Hilarious moment as Griffin drops Guida on his face to get him off. The second round continues this absolutely amazing battle on the ground. All sorts of great great stuff going on. The fourth round is again mainly on the ground, but it's mainly strikes down there rather than the submission based battle they had in the first two. It's an absolute stunner of a fight from start to finish which had the arena rumbling.

 

Jason MacDonald vs. Rory Singer

 

Rory Singer was in defence mode for much of the first round, but he still managed to land some major strikes and ended up getting down MacDonald and getting position for a short time, even coming close to a finish at the end of the round. The second round was much better for MacDonald as he passed guard and then punched the shit out of poor Singer untill the ref had seen enough. Can't say this fight did much to capture the imagination at any point.

 

Forrest Griffin vs. Hector Ramirez

 

Place went NUCLEAR when Forrest appeared. First round was a bit of a war, wasn't it ? Ramirez hit some right cracking shots in the first half but Griffin just picked him apart and then hit a couple of BRUTAL leg kicks. The shot that seemed to land most was the big uppercut when he had Ramirez on the back foot. In the second round, Griffin just mauled poor Ramirez, rushing in and throwing the rights and lefts at will and Ramirez just didn't seem to have an answer and it was just more of the same in the third. As far as one sided dominations go, this was pretty fun.

 

Yushin Okami vs. Rich Franklin

 

Not the best first round ever, and Franklin seemed to have the number of Okami at all points, and even landed a couple of big shots. Not the best second round either and you can understand the impatience of the audience. Okami wasn't nearly ambitious enough and Franklin came forward at will, although a little credit to Okami as he managed to keep Franklin at bay for the majority. He just didn't do enough himself. A good third round in which Okami seemed to realise a little too late that he had to do something to win the fight and he even had Franklin in trouble on the ground and I was SURE he'd tap to the Kimura, but he hung on big time. Great final round, but felt like going through hell to get to heaven.

 

Marcus Davis vs. Jason Tan

 

Awesome knockout from NOWHERE from Davis here, as Tan was doing some good kicking and striking, then all of a sudden ... POW ! Right in the kisser ! Incidentally, that is the most packed I've seen a prelim fight.

 

There was a couple of fights that were a bit of a chore to go through but there's too much goodness on this show and it has one AWESOME fight on it.

[Egg Shen]

i remember watching UFC 72 live on TV, i was absolutely hammered when that show was going on. I do need to re-visit it.

 

I've seen Griffin/Guida since and it's a brilliant fight, Guida's entrance that night was probably my favorite in MMA ever, so much energy. This was the time when Forrest was just coming off TUF, they were kind of protecting him at this point, now he just gets fed to the lions.

[The Cum Doctor]

The gap between this and the finale for season 4 seems much bigger than the gap between the previous two. Anyways, yeah, it's The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale.

 

Roger Huerta vs. Doug Evans

 

Evans really didn't want to get into a striking battle and did well early, but Huerta almost dragged him into the brawl that he wanted, but Evans composed himself and went back for the submission again. Evans actually did not bad on the feet as well come to think of it. Much better from Huerta in the second as he seemed UBER pissed at what was going on in the first and he just handed out the beating. I can't believe how long the referee ( guess what fucking plank it was ? ) waited so long to call the fight. I should believe it really, but it really did go on for an eternity. It was a fun one and a bit rounds though.

 

Thales Leites vs. Floyd Sword

 

That is an awesome name. Sword, unfortunately, didn't look as if he had half a chance from Leites. Before he got the choke for the win, I was thinking "this must be heading to a 10-8 round for Leites" and about 10 seconds later, the tap out came. Impressive showing.

 

Gray Maynard vs. Rob Emerson

 

Much like that last fight, this was a domination and it came from Maynard, but unlike the last fight, Emerson actually did a great job of making sure that Maynard couldn't finish the job and while he wasn't in a great position for pretty much the whole round, I don't think he looked in any real danger. Maynard lands a fucking CRAZY takedown to win the fight. Both men were hurt badly from that takedown. That is fucking INSANE. A great great showing from Maynard here. The fight is called a draw. Well, second replay seems to show that he was completely out. Maynard says he rolled off himself, but he started rolling as soon as the takedown hit. He was out. Draw is unfair to Maynard, but there you go.

 

Joe Lauzon vs. Brandon Melendez

 

I seen the name Melendez and got a bit excited and then seen the first name and was like "och". Melendez didn't look bad on his feet, but Lauzon took him down for the most part. Melendez seemed to make life too easy for Lauzon on the ground, basically moving into perfect positions for submission attempts and Melendez was lucky to escape the round. There's only so long you can survive if you don't learn from your mistakes though and Lauzon gets the tap out with the Triangle in the second. This fight just seemed a bit too easy for Lauzon when it went to the ground.

 

Manny Gamburyan vs. Nate Diaz

 

So this is the final then. Pretty dominant display from Manny in every single way, certainly close to being 10-8 levels of dominant, as he battered him on feet and then on the mat. He must have been horrified when he had to come out of the fight as he dislocated his shoulder. That's two unlucky losses on this show now.

 

Cole Miller vs. Andy Wang

 

We go from an unfortunate ending to a plain shit ending as Miller kicks down Wang and lays a beatdown, but not once did Wang not look like he was intelligently defending himself or look even close to being KOed. Just a dumb dumb unexplainable stoppage. Belter of a kick though.

 

BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver

 

This is a HUGE fight for a TUF Finale is it not ? Then again, the first one had Shamrock vs. Franklin, so what do I know ? BJ Penn is just amazing to watch when he's on this kind of form. He was all over Pulver like a bad rash in the first round and Pulver did brilliantly to get away from Penn when BJ had the arm. Even on the feet, Pulver really didn't look like he had a chance. In the second round, things don't get much better for Pulver as BJ just completely mauls him and that's all she wrote when Penn gets the choke. What a glorious domination to watch.

[Magnum Milano]

The 'fucking plank of an official', I am guessing it has to be one of Miragliotta or Mazzagatti. I'll opt for Big Dan, as standing around with his thumb up his ass sounds more like him.

[The Cum Doctor]

The 'fucking plank of an official', I am guessing it has to be one of Miragliotta or Mazzagatti. I'll opt for Big Dan, as standing around with his thumb up his ass sounds more like him.

 

Mazzagatti is yer man in this case.

[wandshogun09]

Cole Miller vs. Andy Wang

 

We go from an unfortunate ending to a plain shit ending as Miller kicks down Wang and lays a beatdown, but not once did Wang not look like he was intelligently defending himself or look even close to being KOed. Just a dumb dumb unexplainable stoppage. Belter of a kick though.

 

BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver

 

This is a HUGE fight for a TUF Finale is it not ? Then again, the first one had Shamrock vs. Franklin, so what do I know ? BJ Penn is just amazing to watch when he's on this kind of form. He was all over Pulver like a bad rash in the first round and Pulver did brilliantly to get away from Penn when BJ had the arm. Even on the feet, Pulver really didn't look like he had a chance. In the second round, things don't get much better for Pulver as BJ just completely mauls him and that's all she wrote when Penn gets the choke. What a glorious domination to watch.

 

Andy Wang forgot about him.And BJ Penn shouting 'take him down Andy,take him down,take him down....Andy take him down' but the boy just wouldn't listen,seemed to think he was some elite K-1 striker for some reason.

 

I loved season 5 of TUF including Gabe 'Fatty' Ruediger trying to cut weight.

 

I think Serra-Lytle being a let down at the TUF 4 finals may have been one of the reasons they decided to put Penn-Pulver 2 on the finale of season 5.Good job they did cause otherwise Diaz-Manny would've probably main evented and with the way it ended the show would have felt kinda flat.

[Magnum Milano]

Season Five was definately one of the more entertaining seasons. The constant rivalry of Penn and Pulver which began right at the start of the season at the team selection, with Penn asking all the fighters if they would rather train with him or Jens. There was the backyard fight between Noah Thomas and Marlon Sims, Gabe and his colonic, Nate and Karo Parisyan almost getting into it and there was a great Nate/Emerson (?) fight. And then there was Andy Wang. Completely ignoring BJ's cornering, so Penn kicks him off his team. Dana then goes to Jens to see if he will allow him to train with them, he does, they accept him, but Wang is completely ungrateful and still wants to be on Team Penn. A cracking season.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah it was Diaz vs Emerson,cracking little fight that was.

 

Forgot about Wang's reaction to being offered a spot on Team Pulver.It was either train with a UFC lightweight legend and pioneer or go home and he seriously had to consider it? What a plonker.

 

Parisyan being a cock on TUF5 also slipped my mind.I thought Nate Diaz would come off as much more of a prick than he did but I liked him on that season.Liked Corey Hill aswell.

 

While we're on the subject what happened to Karo Parisyan? He was fucking awesome from the time he entered the UFC until about 2007.The Josh Burkman fight was his last really great fight IMO.His fights with Diego Sanchez,Nick Diaz and Drew Fickett were all quality too.Then after the Burkman fight he seemed to lose something.His fight with Chonan was dull as fuck if I remember right then he got twatted by Alves.The Stun Gun fight was alright but had all that controversy around it then there's all the pullouts and the firing.

 

I haven't saw his last fight with Impact FC but heard he looked good.Hopefully he can get his shit in order cause at one point he was one of the most exciting fighters in MMA.

[The Cum Doctor]

Andy Wang forgot about him.And BJ Penn shouting 'take him down Andy,take him down,take him down....Andy take him down' but the boy just wouldn't listen,seemed to think he was some elite K-1 striker for some reason.

 

That's who was shouting ?! I was considering giving that a mention because it reminded me a little of the guy who kept shouting "PUNCH HIM ! RIGHT HAND ! PUNCH HIM ! RIGHT HAND !" in one of the earlier UFCs with the irritating as hell voice.

[wandshogun09]

Andy Wang forgot about him.And BJ Penn shouting 'take him down Andy,take him down,take him down....Andy take him down' but the boy just wouldn't listen,seemed to think he was some elite K-1 striker for some reason.

 

That's who was shouting ?! I was considering giving that a mention because it reminded me a little of the guy who kept shouting "PUNCH HIM ! RIGHT HAND ! PUNCH HIM ! RIGHT HAND !" in one of the earlier UFCs with the irritating as hell voice.

 

Nah BJ was shouting that in one of the fights Wang had on TUF.Think it was Brandon Melendez he was fighting and despite being a BJJ blackbelt he insisted on standing with Melendez who was the better striker.He'd agreed to take the fight to the ground beforehand but once it started he wanted to show BJ what a 'warrior' he was and lost the fight in the process.

 

You probably did hear someone shouting it at the finale though cause he makes a habit of using the 'Jorge Gurgel' strategy,completely neglecting his ground game to brawl instead.

 

Here's a little clip of BJ after the Wang-Melendez fight

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ76VkRe-gA

 

Waaaah,Waaaaaah.Classic

[The Cum Doctor]

UFC 73 has a hell of a card it has to be said, which I suppose is why it's called Stacked.

 

Minotauro Nogueira vs. Heath Herring

 

This would be the UFC debut of Big Nog. I only really know Herring through the beating that he took from Brock Lesnar. Frustrating to watch Herring for a number of reasons. I thought it was too easy for Big Nog to take Herring down and then pass the guard, but to be fair, Herring did a great job of escaping from the submission attempts. Then there was the BIG head kick from Herring which had Big Nog shook, and he didn't do anything even though Nog was wobbling. It was a good dramatic fight though. I thought Big Nog looked brilliant for the most part.

 

Sean Sherk vs. Hermes Franca

 

Sean Sherk made this look easy which is pretty amazing. Franca got a number of the rounds started really well and he has that knee timed particularly well, but it must have been disheartening when it wasn't having the effect that he was looking for it to have. Sherk just took Franca down and passed guard for fun. Franca had Sherk in REAL trouble on a couple of occaisions, but other than that, this was a complete domination.

 

Can anyone explain why the fans were booing Sherk relentlessly when Rogan started interviewing him ?

 

Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz

 

"If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'."

 

This one has a real big fight feel to it. That's gonna make it much easier for me to love. I can't help but love Tito Ortiz. Not exactly the most exciting fight that I've ever seen. Tito Ortiz did a great job of keeping Evans neurtralized and for the most part it was working, and he probably would have won the fight had he not made the mistake of grabbing the fence, which probably did not make Ortiz feel very good at all. Evans did a great job with a tired Tito Ortiz but it clearly wasn't enough.

 

Anderson Silva vs. Nate Marquardt

 

Anderson Silva shows his awesome striking in this fight. He got it going early when Nate wanted to strike with him ( idiot ) and got tagged big time, so Nate takes him down. I thought he was keeping busy enough so I thought he was doing enough for the ref not to stand them up, but he did, and it didn't turn out well for the challenger. Silva actually did well to reverse the position and take him out. I enjoyed that.

 

Kenny Florian vs. Alvin Robinson

 

The last couple of shows with a fight after the main event have seen awesome finishes. I want more of the same ! Well, I suppose it was. Robinson looked to the referee, and Florian put him out of his misery by punching his mouthpiece out. Robinson looked good on the feet, even shaking Florian a couple of times but Florian found it very easy to take Robinson down and when he got down there he dominated the fight, and it was the ground and pound that did the job in the end. Impressive stuff from Florian.

[wandshogun09]

UFC 73 has a hell of a card it has to be said, which I suppose is why it's called Stacked.

 

Minotauro Nogueira vs. Heath Herring

 

This would be the UFC debut of Big Nog. I only really know Herring through the beating that he took from Brock Lesnar. Frustrating to watch Herring for a number of reasons. I thought it was too easy for Big Nog to take Herring down and then pass the guard, but to be fair, Herring did a great job of escaping from the submission attempts. Then there was the BIG head kick from Herring which had Big Nog shook, and he didn't do anything even though Nog was wobbling. It was a good dramatic fight though. I thought Big Nog looked brilliant for the most part.

 

Sean Sherk vs. Hermes Franca

 

Sean Sherk made this look easy which is pretty amazing. Franca got a number of the rounds started really well and he has that knee timed particularly well, but it must have been disheartening when it wasn't having the effect that he was looking for it to have. Sherk just took Franca down and passed guard for fun. Franca had Sherk in REAL trouble on a couple of occaisions, but other than that, this was a complete domination.

 

Can anyone explain why the fans were booing Sherk relentlessly when Rogan started interviewing him ?

 

Haven't seen that fight in ages but they were probably one of them crowds that just boos pretty much any grappling.Saying that I can't remember the fight much...was Sherk making it boring? All I remember really was that he totally dominated the fight and that Franca caught him with some really nasty knees while he shot for takedowns.I was really impressed with Sherk's recovery from them knees.He must have a hell of a chin on him.

 

Incidentally wasn't this the fight where Sherk was popped for steroids? I think Hermes Franca was also suspended for testing positive for some banned substance aswell.

 

The Nog/Herring fight was pretty good from what I remember.I recall Nog absolutely handling Herring for like 14 of the 15 minutes but that headkick should have been the end of the fight.I still don't get why Herring never pulled the trigger once he hurt him.All I can think is that having been submitted by Nog before and knowing Nog's legendary recovery powers (up to that point at least) he didn't wanna risk jumping into his guard.I think Nog could have done fuck all though if Heath decided to go for the kill...he was totally fucked for a few minutes after that.

[Magnum Milano]

Re: Sherk/Franca

I personally couldn't remember this fight (although my memory is lousy), unlike Nogueira/Herring, so went back to see what was written in the Observer about it.

 

In the Observer fight poll, Sherk/Franca finished second for Best Fight (behind Nog/Herring), but also finished second for Worst Fight (behind Tito/Rashad), so it was clearly a very divisive fight. Meltzer couldn't believe why the crowd were booing after such an impressive showing from Sherk, but if the Observer readership was split, that is probably what it was like in the Arena aswell. As Wand mentioned, both fighters tested positive for steroids after the fight and were suspended for a year.

 

An interesting note is that Rashad's official pay for fighting Ortiz was just $16,000 (still on a TUF winners contract), whilst Tito's base was $210,000 then he got a PPV percentage bonus on top. I am guessing they bonused Rashad up mind.

[The Cum Doctor]

The Nog/Herring fight was pretty good from what I remember.I recall Nog absolutely handling Herring for like 14 of the 15 minutes but that headkick should have been the end of the fight.

 

Herring had a full minute at the start of the second half where Big Nog was still rocked where he could have gone in and possibly finished the fight, but he never took the chance and allowed Big Nog the chance to recover. I was sitting here thinking "get in there and knock him out ya dick !".

 

Haven't seen that fight in ages but they were probably one of them crowds that just boos pretty much any grappling.Saying that I can't remember the fight much...was Sherk making it boring?

 

I wouldn't say he was making it boring. He kept it on the ground mostly aye, but he was always looking to finish and always busy and it was never boring.