MMA: Past Fight Discussion

[wandshogun09]

Jesus Christ, I wish it happened. Fedor vs Wand and Fedor vs Igor are two more that didn't come off.

 

Actually, thinking about the 2006 GP, the Cro Cop vs Barnett final was the least appealing fight out of the possibilities given who the 4 semi-finalists were. We'd already seen it twice and one was a freak injury and the other fight wasn't very good.

 

*Nog vs Cro Cop 2 [would have been a huge rematch at the time between the #2 and #3 HWs in the world)

*Wand vs Nog (would be another chapter in the Chute Boxe vs BTT rivalry and a dream fight between two of the most popular fighters ever in Pride).

*Wand vs Barnett (an intriguing fight although a massive mismatch size wise. Would be interesting and a fresh match up though)

*But we got Cro Cop vs Barnett 3 (for 2 guys so talented this pairing just seemed cursed. Freak injury the first time, both lethargic and disinterested the second fight and ends on an eye poke in the third fight)

 

Looking back I really wish we got Wandy vs Big Nog.

[jimufctna24]

Yeah your right it was the worst scenario, I am shocked they never tried to book Cro Cop vs Nog 2 at some point.

 

I forgot one

 

Frank Shamrock was in talks to fight Sakuraba at some point around 2003

 

Here is a write up of how Jordan Breen felt the fight would have gone - http://www.fightopinion.com/2010/07/02/fra...zushi-sakuraba/

[wandshogun09]

I think he's a little harsh on Frank there. Sure Frank's stand up wasn't K-1 level and he was no Koscheck or Sonnen in the wrestling department but how many guys are that good? Even today. Saying he was no GSP isn't exactly fair imo. MMA had evolved massively between Shamrock stepping away and GSP's rise.

 

He's comparing the Frank Shamrock of the 1990s to guys today who have benefited from not only huge advancement of training, conditioning and nutrition knowledge but also being shown what actually works and what doesn't in the cage by the Shamrock's, Sakuraba's, Gracie's, Ortiz's, Liddell's, Fedor's, Nogs', Couture's and Hughes' of the world.

 

Despite that I actually agree that Sakuraba would have won if they fought in the 90s. People forget just how phenomenal he was in his prime and as good a grappler as Frank was I think Saku was a little more advanced. But I think Shamrock wins a striking match and if they met in 03 I might go with Frank

 

Would have been a classic in 1997 at both their physical peak.

Edited August 21, 2012 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

Yeah good point, Jordan does undersell Frank a bit.

 

Frank actually said he was offered Saku in Vegas at one of the Pride events as well, in 2006/2007 it is still a pick-em.

[Egg Shen]

i need to see some more Frank Shamrock, im only really familiar with his later Strikeforce run, he was great there but in hindsight you can see that Shamrock was gifted some favourable matchups and was a bit of a master marketer (he convinced me he was one of the top 185lb'ers in the world during that period). I need to go back and see some of his other fights though.

[Magnum Milano]

Just because it's bloody great, and I still miss Pride.

 

Been watching this again, and was wondering if anyone knows what Joachim Hansen is up to these days?

 

Wand vs Igor would have been a crazy fight. Igor retired after the 2005 GP though didn't he?

Aged just 32 aswell, whilst according to wiki he had 63 kickboxing fights and then 66 MMA fights. I'm guessing the guy was just riddled with injuries, especially as his MMA career dates back to the mid 90s, and numerous brutal bare knuckle tournaments in Russia and the Ukraine where he was fighting anywhere upto four times in one night depending on how far he advanced (a quick scout of his record shows he fought three times in one night on eight occasions, four times the once).

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I know Igor had a lot of problems with a re-occuring hand injury. Probably a bunch of other nagging injuries as well. Shame, the man was a tank. I'd have liked to have seen a healthy Igor in the UFC after the buyout.

 

Joachim Hansen has been quiet lately, hasn't fought in nearly a year but I don't know why. I haven't heard of injuries or anything. Last I heard of him was an interview a few months back around the time of UFC Sweden and he was talking about Simeon Thoresen's fight. From what I remember he said he was just training and seeing what comes up.

 

He's always seemed against going to the UFC and with DREAM going bust I guess he's limited a bit. I think OneFC will probably get him. I'd love to see him in Bellator though.

[Egg Shen]

im a big Igor fan, man was a friggin' beast and seemed like the nicest, soft-spoken guy outside the cage. He'd have wrecked shop in the early UFC days. One of MMA's true cult figures.

 

Beast.

[Egg Shen]

I think they left it of due to royalties and copyright due to it being a Ramones song covered by Kiss.

 

The version I got was the US PPV, which featured that tosser Bas Rutten hates, Jerry Millen I think his name is talking for 30 mins before the fights start, worse still in the background you could see/hear fights they did not intend to air like the Butterbean fight taking place as he was talking from the balcony, it was a shambles of a presentation and show.

 

They wanted Wanderlai vs Sakuraba and amazingly Wand vs Shogun and Wand vs a returning Igor were rumored, instead we got Gilbert Yvel vs a welterweight and Don Frye getting brain damage.

Jerry Millen is definitly a bit of a scumbag, he was one of the American guys that appears to be leeching off the Fedor name. I ain't sure if he's still involved with M-1 Global these days.

 

Bas talks Millen.

[wandshogun09]

Finally back on the Diaz stuff.

 

 

Right, so picking up where I left off. After his win over Gleison Tibau at UFC 65, Diaz left the UFC to go and look for fights elsewhere. He wound up booked for what would be at the time, probably the biggest fight of his career.

 

 

Pride had been bigger than the UFC for a long time in terms of attendance and the spectacle of their events. But by early 2007 they were on their last legs after the Yakuza scandal which meant TV stations in Japan wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

 

Pride 33 ended up being the last great Pride event held by the promotion and Nick Diaz was booked on the card to fight one of Pride's biggest stars and one of the best Lightweight fighters in MMA history.

 

 

Takanori Gomi was 27-3 in MMA at the time of this fight and considered the favourite going in by most. He was known as one of the hardest pound for pound punchers in MMA and had fought and beat most of the best Lightweights around in that era.

 

Diaz started the mind games right away on weigh in day, getting in Gomi's face. Gomi really doesn't look into it as you can see;

 

 

Nick Diaz vs Takanori Gomi

24.02.2007 - Pride 33: 'The Second Coming'

They come out for round one and Gomi surprises Diaz right off the bat with a takedown where he manages to stay out of submissions and lands some pretty hard punches on Diaz. Gomi for whatever reason, I guess not wanting to take too many risks in Diaz's guard, let's him up. Diaz immediately starts to land his peppering punches and looks to be getting the better of the situation when...

 

 

Gomi cracks him. Absolutely belts him with a looping right hook putting Diaz on his arse;

 

 

Gomi again decides to let him up rather than go to the ground with him and Diaz recovers and starts to take over. By now Gomi was starting to noticably fade. Just three minutes into the first round and he was gassing. Not good news if you're fighting a Diaz. Gomi was still dangerous and throwing bombs in spurts but Diaz sensed what was up and started picking him apart while taunting him.

 

 

Diaz backs Gomi onto the ropes with about a minute left of the round and starts to throw more hurtful shots. Both connected on some flush punches late in the round but despite his gameness Gomi was fucked cardio wise. He just wilted under the constant pressure and the pace Diaz set. Diaz lands a few good shots as the round ends and Gomi staggers back to his corner.

 

Diaz looks well up for round 2...

 

 

Diaz jumps right on Gomi at the start of round 2 but his aggression costs him because he gets two cuts in the exchanges. One cut over one eye and a huge horrible gash under the other. Gomi still threatens with big power punches and still is obviously dangerous but Diaz keeps up the attack and Gomi can't cope with it. He shoots a sloppy takedown and Diaz slaps on a gogoplata forcing Gomi to tap.

 

 

Awesome, crazy fight. One of my favourite fights in Pride and MMA history.

 

Post fight now infamous Diaz interview

 

"That fucker hit me with a Hadukan"

 

 

That's the destruction the 'Gomi Hadukan' wreaked on his eye.

 

I think that was the first gogoplata finish in MMA history as well. Could be wrong on that. Excellent fight and the gogoplata just topped it off perfectly.

 

A finish so good some fucker got it tattooed on his tit;

 

 

 

So Diaz wins by submission. But then a few weeks later it was revealed Diaz had tested positive for marijuana in the pre-fight drug tests and the fight was overturned to a No Contest and Diaz was given a fine and and 6 month suspension.

 

The suspension was just the start of the Diaz/Weed/MMA dramas to come over the years. This would be far from the last on that subject. And if you're not down with that, Nick Diaz has two words for ya...

 

 

..."Gotta Light?"

 

Here's Diaz's thoughts on the whole ordeal;

 

Jesse Holland (UFCmania): A lot of critics say that pot gave you an unfair advantage in the Gomi fight because it may have dulled your sense of pain and allowed you to continue after getting knocked down.

 

Nick Diaz: That

Edited August 29, 2012 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

Another good read mate

 

The Aina fight I actually a few months after it happened as a got copied DVD's sent to me of Elite XC. Anyway I remember it being very close, coming of the Gomi fight I felt Diaz would walk it having not heard of Aina and Diaz being Elite XC's top new signing.

 

Aina is actually undefeated since that fight, but has not fought in 2 years.

 

KJ Noons was always a bad-matchup for Diaz, one of the few strikers he would have problems against. As Noons had zero wrestling chops and fairly reasonable takedown defense, Diaz never had a sniff of a submission either. I will leave it to you to describe the 2nd fight they had and how much Diaz improved.

 

It was around after the first fight he got his scar tissue fixed I believe, the Noons vs Diaz feud is forgotten as one of the most heated feuds in MMA history.

[Egg Shen]

can't remember if ive ever seen the Aina fight, i'll dig it out.

[jimufctna24]

In a recent interview in Brazil, Anderson admitted he carried Leites for 5 rounds as he did not want to finish him as they were friends.

 

"There’s no such thing as holding back. I want to finish as soon as possible. The only time I did it was because he was a friend of mine. It was against Thales Leites. We went until the last round because he’s a friend of mine and I respect him"

 

Now couple that with the fact he could have finished Maia if he choose to (he wanted to humble Maia after he said he would break his arm which lead to him playing with him for 25 mins) than no one has gone the distance with Anderson on their free will in over 6 years of being in the UFC.

 

That my friends is very impressive.

Edited August 30, 2012 by jimufctna24

[lightningxlock]

Look forward to reading that, Wand. If I could put a suggestion in...could you do one for Dan Henderson next? I've not long got a Hendo career comp so it'd be cool to see what fights to check out even though I know the answer is probably 'all of them'.

[Magnum Milano]

Cheers for the read Wand. Looking forward to the next part, especially as you should reach the Wildman Denny fight in your recap.