Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 5, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 (edited) I love Fedor vs Cro Cop. That was a huge fight. I think a lot of new fans wouldn't get just how huge in light of Fedor and Cro Cop's slumps the last few years. But like you say, at that time they were the two best heavyweights in the sport. Well two of the best along with Nog. Them three were gods back then. I actually remember Cro Cop doing pretty good in round 1 of that fight. He caught Fedor coming in a few times and I thought the stand up was fairly even, which in itself is an achievement for Fedor because Cro Cop was on fire at that time. Fedor did a good job tying Mirko up in the exchanges though and once he was able to put Cro Cop on the ground he dominated. Classic fight. Shogun was great in that GP. He was the darkhorse of the whole thing, up until the GP he'd been fighting mid-level guys on the Bushido shows and no-one really expected him to beat Rampage in the first round much less win the whole thing. He had a rough time with Reem but found a way to win, the war with Little Nog and totally wrecked Rampage and Arona. Seeing Shogun and Wand celebrating that win was a great moment. Shogun's had a rollercoaster of a career but he should go down as one of the greats no question in my opinion. Injuries have fucked him but no matter what shape he comes into a fight in you no there won't be a lack of effort. Even the second Coleman fight where he was in awful shape, he was always giving it 100%. It's amazing when you think, a lot of people consider the Shogun/Hendo fight the best fight in UFC history, and the Shogun/Little Nog fight the best fight in Pride history. That's a hell of an accomplishment. Add to that the fact that Shogun is a former UFC champion, Pride GP winner, the man that solved the Machida puzzle and has first round stoppage wins over Chuck Liddell, Rampage, Machida, Forrest, Reem twice and Arona. He has to go down as one of the best ever. His war with Brandon Vera last night just adds to his legacy. Say what you want about Vera but he came to fight and when Vera comes to fight he's as dangerous as anyone. Yet another great fight in Shogun's career. The man's a legend. I don't think he'll fight many more years so enjoy this fucker while you can Edited August 5, 2012 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 (edited) For me Shogun defined his legacy as a great fighter on two nights the past two years. The Machida KO, made you forget and forgive the injuries and layoffs as well as the piss poor performances against Coleman and Griffin. The other is the Hendo classic for obvious reasons. After the 2005 GP, he struggled to build on his hype, it took him 3 years to finally avoid being one of the biggest wastes of talent in MMA history Those three years due to injuries and other problems he was a shadow of the great fighter he was in 2005. The first Coleman fight was bad luck mind. His UFC debut was a debacle, losing to a fighter I believe he was vastly more talented than. There were wins over Randleman and Liddel, but he was expected to win the former and the latter, well from what we know now he should have been expected to win that also with Liddels decline. The Machida fights helped him back and lose the underachiever tag, despite losing the first when many thought he won, he had to win the second and he did so in the most perfect way possible. That and the GP were the pinnacle of his career and in many ways the highest I think a MMA fighter can feel, to have two moments like that in a career is very special. Jones battering him does him no harm, as Jones is maybe the best MMA fighter of all time. The Hendo fight will be viewed as a classic, this generation will hold it up as I believe like boxing fans do Ali vs Frasier and Ward vs Gatti, who won that night does not matter, it was the action and drama it added another dimension to Shogun's legacy, as he was not just a great fighter he was one with heart and determination that no one could question. The Vera fight is another great fight to add to a list of great wars, this one also exposed Shogun to the American public more than any other fight. So yeah, I love Shogun as well Edited August 5, 2012 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 19, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 (edited) busted out the old UFC - Ultimate Knockouts 4 DVD last night with forum hash fan Silky Kisser...hadn't seen a lot of that stuff in years, few quick thoughts: * GSP busting up Jay Hieron, fantastic. I know most people have soured on GSP over the years with his conservative style but when he throws his hands and feet he's brilliant to watch, Hieron got smashed. * Paul Buentello reminded me that at one point he had some pretty good hands, surprisingly fast and much better than the journeyman he became and most people see him as these days. The UFC heavyweight division at that time whilst it gets stick was pretty entertaining. Pride had the starts but the UFC's division was fun to watch at the time. * Wes Sims getting smashed, always good. * Some horrendous stoppages, Steve Mazzagatti on particuarly poor form....Herb Dean allowing Chris Leben to lay into Piss Break for an age, poor show from Herb. * Travis Lutter knocking out Marvin Eastman out cold with a phantom punch. * Frank Trigg being a dick. * Chuck Liddell-Vernon White being far more enteraining than i ever remember it being, Vernon gets some stick from the MMA community but fair play to him he went at Chuck. fun way to spend an hour with a beer in hand. Edited August 19, 2012 by Ebb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 * Chuck Liddell-Vernon White being far more enteraining than i ever remember it being, Vernon gets some stick from the MMA community but fair play to him he went at Chuck. For a long time this was my favorite UFC fight when I first became a fan, its just a all-action shootout and the bad blood and growing popularity of Chuck at the time helps as well. The finish is sick and Chuck himself displays his granite chin as he took a good few flush of Vernon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 19, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 Yeah it's often forgotten that Chuck had a great chin until Rashad shattered it. He got KO'd by Rampage but he could still take a shot after that. After Rashad though, his punch resistance decreased drastically. Before the Rashad fight he took pretty flush shots off Wand, Overeem, Mezger, White, Suloev and Belfort . All dangerous strikers. Not to mention going 30 minutes straight against Pele with bare knuckles in the IVC promotion in Brazil. On the Lutter/Eastman KO what always springs to mind about that for me is just after the KO you see the medics around a laid out cold Eastman. And you see some alarming, and frankly disturbing, movement in his shorts. Check the DVD. Either his cock always does a dance when he gets battered or one of the ringside physicians took advantage of his unconscious state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 19, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 And you see some alarming, and frankly disturbing, movement in his shorts. Check the DVD. Either his cock always does a dance when he gets battered or one of the ringside physicians took advantage of his unconscious state. haha, we spotted that too "someone's wanking him off?" it's a strange KO. I watched that fight at the time, it aired after the main event as it was a prelim and it featured a lackluster first round, you kinda knew something was coming because they aired it, i think everyone woulda thought that Lutter was getting dropped, it was a shocker. The replays kinda kill though, the punch pretty much missed, it's like Eastman got KO'd by the breeze of the punch. He went down like a rock though. I'm pretty sure ive read about since where Eastman talked about being on some kind of meds during the fight which made him weak as hell, i'll try finding something about it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 19, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 Yeah there must have been some reason like that. Eastman took a fair few hard shots off Rampage in their UFC fight before he got stopped. The Lutter punch barely connected as you say. To be honest it's a bit of a strange one to include on a Best KO's comp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 19, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 (edited) its more the way Eastman goes down, it's pretty spectacular. The replays ruin it though Edited August 19, 2012 by Ebb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 * GSP busting up Jay Hieron, fantastic. I know most people have soured on GSP over the years with his conservative style but when he throws his hands and feet he's brilliant to watch, Hieron got smashed. * Paul Buentello reminded me that at one point he had some pretty good hands, surprisingly fast and much better than the journeyman he became and most people see him as these days. The UFC heavyweight division at that time whilst it gets stick was pretty entertaining. Pride had the starts but the UFC's division was fun to watch at the time. Fun fact, despite seeing bits and pieces elsewhere my first fight I proper watched was UFC 51 with Buentello vs Eilers opening, I was amazed by the knockout and was hooked for the rest of the card, if that would have been a snoozefest chances are I would have never got hooked so credit to Buentello as much as I slagged him of due to coming from the Sylvia era of UFC HW's The Hieron fight GSP looks like a million buck from what I recall, you could tell he was going to be something very special and that he was a cut above the rest of 170lbs at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 20, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 20, 2012 yeh, its easy to slag off that division but it was pretty high on entertainment. Eilers, Buentello, Kyle, Irvin, Mir, Sylvia, Cabbage, Arlovksi...hardly any of those guys ever went the distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 (edited) * Chuck Liddell-Vernon White being far more enteraining than i ever remember it being, Vernon gets some stick from the MMA community but fair play to him he went at Chuck. For a long time this was my favorite UFC fight when I first became a fan, its just a all-action shootout and the bad blood and growing popularity of Chuck at the time helps as well. The finish is sick and Chuck himself displays his granite chin as he took a good few flush of Vernon. UFC 49: Unfinished Business is one of the greatest UFC shows of all time, main card and prelims. The show had Couture/Belfort III, Liddell/White, Terrell/Lindland, Parisyan/Diaz (Nick) and Edwards/Johnson has one of the best ever KO's (amazing to think it was the last UFC Lightweight fight for years). Edited August 20, 2012 by The Natural Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 20, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 20, 2012 Edwards/Johnson has one of the best ever KO's (amazing to think it was the last UFC Lightweight fight for years). Edwards/Thomson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 20, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted August 20, 2012 UFC's Heavyweight division in the early-mid 2000s wasn't exactly elite level but they were fun fights to be fair. I'd be quite happy if Bellator had a HW class like that now actually. It's easy to forget now that Arlovski was a hell of a talent back then. His chin let him down but he was a scary fucker in those days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 20, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 20, 2012 i still wonder if Andrei has one last run in him, he's still only 33. He's always had one of the best skillsets in heavyweight MMA, just lacks that certain quality a fighter needs and that's toughness, it aint like Andrei doesn't have heart, it's his actual body that lets him down, cause when Arlovski gets KO'd he get's KO'd, it aint a case of him giving up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 20, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted August 20, 2012 Yeah it's kind of like Chuck at the end where he can still go, still in great shape but his off switch has been hit too many times he goes out quick now. It's a shame. I've always said if Arlovski had a chin like Mark Hunt he'd still be a force in the UFC. Top 5 probably. Imagine Dos Santos vs Arlovski. Or Overeem vs Arlovski. Speaking of Arlovski, his 4th fight with Tim Sylvia is coming up in a few weeks. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to that. Oh and fuck knows if it's true but I've seen rumours lately of a possible Ken Shamrock vs Dan Severn 3 fight taking place. Apparently Shamrock is meant to be confirming it soon. This is the rumour that never dies though, there's been talk about this for years. It will probably come to nothing like Shamrock vs Toney. Wasn't Shamrock meant to fight Mark Coleman a couple of years back as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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