MMA: Past Fight Discussion

[The Cum Doctor]

PRIDE 21: Demolition

 

Bob Sapp vs. Kiyoshi Tamura

 

Tamura couldn't do much about Wandy, so what the fuck was he going to do about Bob Sapp? Nothing much is your answer as Sapp runs right through a right hand and unloads on Tamura for the win. Unfair on Tamura having such a fight, and again there's not much I can say about Bob Sapp really.

 

Labazanov Arhmed vs. Gary Goodridge

 

Arhmed seemed to almost completely give up on the idea of locking in a submission in the first round when Goodridge powered out of a couple of attempts with ease. Arhmed dominated large portions of the fight on the ground, but never really did much after the aformentioned attempts. Which was probably a good idea given the reason why he decided against it. Gary Goodridge wins the fight in the end thanks to a strong turnaround, but I honestly didn't think that he did enough here. It was reasonably close though, so hardly a robbery.

 

Alex Stiebling vs. Anderson Silva

 

Aww fuck. Just when I was beginning to like Stiebling as well. The fight is ended by a cut which is made by a horrendous head kick by Silva. I mean "horrendous" in the best way possible. Silva just looked like the guy we know and love right now.

 

Jeremy Horn vs. Gilbert Yvel

 

What's worth noting here is the much improved abilities of Yvel on the ground. Horn still found it far to easy to get him down to the ground, but while Yvel offered little resistance on the floor before, his defence was terrific here, and even showed some good counters and switches of position. Horn took some big shots from Yvel through the fight and had no interest in standing and fighting, and ate a LOT of knees going for the takedowns as a result. It was a tactic that worked mostly as even when he ate those knees, he managed to take Gilbert down and it earned him the decision. Intriguing fun fight.

 

Shungo Ohyama vs. Renzo Gracie

 

As the fight goes on, there is a lot more intent from the striking of both men. In the first round it all just looked like a bunch of posturing and grandstanding and it led to the fight not being the most interesting, but into the second round, both guys came forward and really decided to try and have a go at it. It was at this point that Shungo really started to dominate the fight, both on the ground with some belting ground and pound, and on the feet. Not a good fight it was to be said.

 

Emelianenko Fedor vs. Semmy Schilt

 

Ah, time for some proper Fedor, and I'd say that proper Fedor just about covers it. Semmy suffers what can only be described as a total ground masterclass, as Fedor goes for anything you could think of on the ground. I thought he might have even had it with the Neck Crank as he had it in horribly. He also threw some horrible shots when he was mounted on Semmy. Just a total domination and obviously Fedor gets the decision.

 

Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama

 

"That mouse has turned into a rat under his eye, and pretty soon it's going to turn into an elephant." Takayama is just a complete and utter machine. Can you imagine that thing coming towards you constantly while you punch it in the face? "What the fuck?!" Takayama's face at the end is just utterly disturbing. You can't help but love the heart of Takayama but in the end, there was only going to be one result here as Frye just unloaded holy hell on him. He played his own part in what was a truly magnificent fight while it lasted.

 

I actually enjoyed the Yvel/Horn fight a lot so that was a good point to the undercard, as was seeing Anderson Silva doing what he does best. Fuck people up. But the main event is the place to be here. Absolutely top notch.

[wandshogun09]

 

Takayama was a fucking nutter. He had no MMA skill whatsoever he just went in and swung like a pisshead outside a pub. But you've gotta hand it to him he had balls to go in there and not quit against the likes of Frye, Schilt and Fujita.

Edited October 2, 2011 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

PRIDE 21: DemolitionBob Sapp vs. Kiyoshi TamuraTamura couldn't do much about Wandy, so what the fuck was he going to do about Bob Sapp? Nothing much is your answer as Sapp runs right through a right hand and unloads on Tamura for the win. Unfair on Tamura having such a fight, and again there's not much I can say about Bob Sapp really.

yeh, what you have to understand is though that this was only his 2nd fight. People genuinely thought he was unstoppable at the time. The guys they were making him fight was ridiculous, the Japanese guys fighting him had to be genuinely bricking it. Bob Sapp for a time was predicted to be the best heavyweight in MMA. You've got the Minotauro Nogueira/Sapp fight coming up which is a legit. classic. but it wasn't really until Crocop knocked Sapp out in K-1 that people realised that to beat Bob Sapp all you had to do was crack him in the face once and he was done.

[The Cum Doctor]

yeh, what you have to understand is though that this was only his 2nd fight. People genuinely thought he was unstoppable at the time. The guys they were making him fight was ridiculous, the Japanese guys fighting him had to be genuinely bricking it.

No wonder they were bricking it. You could tell just looking at them that they didn't have a chance. It's the MMA equivalent of a Sid Justice vs. Glen Ruth match. PRIDE FC Shockwave 2002PRIDE's biggest show to date. Really been looking forward to seeing this show and it's a magnificent spectacle.Wanderlei Silva vs. Tatsuya IwasakiWanderlei Silva does yet another good and quick performance by just kneeing, punching and kicking the fuck out of his opponent. Iwasaki took the fight on short notice so I suppose you can't say much about him here, so lets just settle for saying a good outing for Silva. Daijiro Matsui vs. Jerrel Venetiaan"Due to time constraints we move to action in the third round."That is not pleasing me even in the slightest. Obviously I can't judge the fight, because I didn't actually see it. Although even though we miss two rounds, we still manage to see Matsui attempt a Dropkick. I suppose you're never going to be able to go a while Matsui fight without seeing that. Gary Goodridge vs. Lloyd Van DamsGary Goodridge gets Van Dams down and just punches the shit out of him and that, as they say, is that. I thought when they were in the clinch trying to take each other down, it was a fascinating sight. Goodridge really does have some brutal ground and pound though. His mocking before the final load of shots was brilliant. Semmy Schilt vs. Ernesto HoostShould be noted that this fight is under K-1 rules. I couldn't really call it either. I guess I'm just not used to this kind of thing. Hoost slowly but surely found his way through the reach of Semmy with some good body shots and hit some good lefts and rights, but Semmy always had an answer and used some good knees as well. If I had to guess I'd say Semmy Schilt won the fight. They call the fight a draw. Seems fair enough. Don Frye vs. Jerome Le BannerMore K-1 stuff going down here. Absolutely terrific show of striking from Le Banner here, and Quadros sums it up by saying "that was brutal". Frye looked in danger early and Banner just landed huge combos one after the other. Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera vs. Bob SappI can't ever remember going this mental watching a fight this old. Fuck me sideways. I was writing off Big Nog every which way here in the first round because of the ease at which Sapp was getting away from the bad positions because of his power, but then in the second round, things started to change a bit and you could feel it. The beating that Sapp laid on in the first round was vile and credit to Big Nog for not only getting out, but starting to look excellent in the second round and catching Sapp a few times in bad positions. LOVE the reaction of Rutten when he realises it's only a matter of time. Royce Gracie vs. Hirihiko YoshidaDid I get that right? Went all funny when the names came up but I'm sure that's what the name was. Well, that's... erm... interesting. Royce Gracie is upset and quite rightly so. I'll be fair to Yoshida and say that he looked very good here, as did Gracie with his persistance go at the leg of Yoshida. However, it's the hilarious decision of the referee that takes centre stage here.Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Mirko Cro CopSakuraba doesn't have much luck with injuries stopping fights, does he? This time it's the eye that does the damage. Well, it was Cro Cop that did damage to the eye, but you know what I mean. Cro Cop fought a good smart fight by using leg kicks on Sakuraba in order to stop the shoot. I actually thought that they would wind up leading to a stoppage. It was a shame that it ended when it did from the perspective that Sakuraba was beginning to come into things more and more, but it's a good thing that it was stopped because of the injury.

[wandshogun09]

Nog vs Sapp is an all time classic. I fucking love that fight. Agree with Ebb on Sapp, at this time he was considered to be unbeatable. If you could have somehow put Mark Hunt's chin, Schilt's striking and Cain's wrestling on Sapp he probably would have been. Amazing comeback though. Nog himself said it's one of his favourite fights of his career along with the Cro Cop, Kharitonov and Herring fights. Guessing the Couture and Schaub fights are on that list now aswell.Le Banner's KO of Frye was scary, Frye looked dead slumped in the corner. Le Banner was a beast in his day. Oh and it's Hidehiko Yoshida that fought Royce. Not a bad guess though

[Egg Shen]

Le Banner was meant to return the favour and fight Frye in MMA, for whatever reason though it never happened. Around the time of this, and the Takayama fight Frye was gassed off his tits, he was fn huge. I think it probably hindered his fighting ability overall, but Frye still had tons of memorable fights.

[wandshogun09]

I finally got round to watching the Ultimate Royce Gracie and Ultimate Matt Hughes DVD releases over the last few days. Anyone seen them? I thought they did a great job on both documentaries. Really interesting, there's not really much on there that won't be known by most already but it's really well put together with talking heads from most of the relevant faces.

 

I'd highly recommend both, the Gracie one in particular is excellent. It's as much a documentary on the beginnings of MMA and the UFC as it is Royce and Gracie Jiu Jitsu. I was pleasantly surprised to see they dragged in Dan Severn, Keith Hackney, Art Jimmerson, Jason Delucia and Art Davie for some interviews. No Shamrock though which is a shame but to be expected. Dan Severn is fucking tremendous in describing his fight with Royce and Helio's refusal to throw in the towel to save his son.

 

The Hughes one is a good watch and even Matt Serra brings himself to show respect to Hughes. Some good stuff on the Trigg fights and his rivalries with GSP and BJ.

 

Be interesting to see who they do next. I'm thinking Randy Couture is due with his recent retirement. I think they'll hold off on Chuck and Tito with their feud DVD being so recent. I'd fucking love to see Ultimate Wanderlei Silva or Big Nog.

Edited October 24, 2011 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

i saw the Ortiz/Liddell doc. the other day, it's so anti-Ortiz it's unreal, they bury him.

[wandshogun09]

Really? That's a bit disappointing to hear. I was hoping now that Tito and Dana seem back on good terms we'd get a balanced view. Maybe things aren't as rosy between Tito and Dana as they are showing?

 

I'll still get the doc anyway. Is it good apart from that?

[Egg Shen]

yeh its worth a look.

[jimufctna24]

I felt Tito came across the best.

 

Chuck and Dana just come across as bitter and nasty, where as Tito comes across as a nice guy. I was a bit suprised to hear John Hackleman say he liked Tito.

 

I am a big fan of both Ortiz and Liddel, they are the reason I got into UFC/MMA. The second fight after viewing it again after not seeing it for years is a gem, Tito did a lot better than I remembered in that fight and the tide seemed to be turning his way a bit before Liddel finished him.

 

In their physical prime, Tito and Chuck were in tremendous shape. They are both lean and cut more than ever in their 2004 fight, which is the start of the Liddel era. In terms of getting excited for fights, from 2005-2007, I always looked forward to the Light Heavyweight divison fights the most in the UFC, in addition to Liddel and Ortiz, there was also Belfort, Babulu, Shamrock and Couture making for some great big time fights.

 

It was the weight class along with Welterweight that was always strong in the UFC and well worth watching, if you are a big fan of this era in this weight class or the two fighters this Blu Ray/DVD highlights, I recomend it greatly.

Edited October 26, 2011 by jimufctna24

[chokeout]

Just started re-watching Ultimate Fighter: The comeback. So many great moments. Everything Shonie Carter says and does. "Charles McCarthy, It is not youuuuu" Some amazing talent on this season

[mikey]

I always said that TUF 4 had a bad rap. Some great fights, great personalities and, in the end, the perfect postscript when Serra defeated GSP.

[Magnum Milano]

I always said that TUF 4 had a bad rap. Some great fights, great personalities and, in the end, the perfect postscript when Serra defeated GSP.

Yeah, that season made me a fan of Matt Serra for life, and I don't think there is a fight I have watched more often than his victory over GSP. Never tire of seeing Serra own Marc Laimon either.

[wandshogun09]

Glad to see TUF 4 getting some praise. It was a fun season and I liked the comeback format. I was bumming that season somewhere earlier in this thread myself. Tons of great moments.

 

Everything Shonie did. The 'It is not youuuu', teaching GSP the pimp walk, the bottles in the pool, the stuff he wears and so on. The man is awesome.

 

Serra verbally destroying Marc Lemon. Captain Miserable. Drunk Pete Sell. Drunk Cote. Scott Smith's constant farting in the van. Jeremy Jackson nipping out to shag a girl and getting himself kicked out. A fine season. Plus the finale has the Smith vs Sell slugfest with the Rocky finish. Loved TUF 4, I hope they resurrect the comeback thing for a future season. With the right guys it could be a big hit I reckon.