MMA: Past Fight Discussion

[CurryAngel]

If everyone had to pick one fight as the "Best Fight Ever" what would you go for? I'm going to be boring and say Shogun/Lil' Nog. 7 years on and it's still the perfect example of how beautiful MMA can be.

[jimufctna24]

I know its predictable but Shogun vs Hendo. It was fantastic. Defo the best in my view.

 

Favorite fight is another thing.

 

I was more on the edge for Lesnar vs Carwin and Lesnar vs Mir 2 than any other fight. The latter did the best business in U.S MMA history, so we could call that the most successful in the States. I would say that is my favorite, everything from the story behind the fight, the end with Brock going mad and the UFC being at its peak made it something very special.

 

I would say Sonnen vs Silva 1 is one of the most dramatic, and Couture vs Sylvia one of the most emotional (maybe not for me, but the fanbase as whole)

 

It depends on how you judge. I agree with the above Shogun vs Lil Nog is fantastic, it would make my top ten best.

Edited November 21, 2012 by jimufctna24

[Egg Shen]

I always found it weird he split his time between UFC and K1 in his peak, was Pride not a option. I know he had ties with Bas Rutten. Anyone know why, or was it just a case of what was offered.

i aint really sure why he split his time between the two, im pretty sure he was earning way more money in Japan compared to anything he'd get in America at that point. I remember being gutted that his fight with Mike Brown at UFC 47 was on the prelims, this was at the time when the only way to see a prelim was to either hope they squeezed it on the PPV or wait for the DVD. Never found out why the UFC totally severed ties after that?

[wandshogun09]

For me...

 

Best UFC fight ever: Shogun vs Hendo

Best Pride fight ever: Shogun vs Little Nog

 

What we learn from this is that Shogun is an MMA God.

 

I love so many fights for different reasons though....

 

Wandy vs Chuck

Alfonso vs Polakowski 1

Sakuraba vs Newton

Diaz vs Gomi

Edgar vs Maynard 2

Silva vs Sonnen 1

Wandy vs Rampage 2

Diaz vs Daley

Big Nog vs Bob Sapp

Huerta vs Guida

Alvarez vs Hansen

Zombie vs Garcia 1

Sanchez vs Guida

Maia vs MacDonald

Manhoef vs Cyborg

Pettis vs Bendo

 

I could go on all night. But if I had to choose one then it would have to be Shogun vs Hendo. It wasn't the most technical but it was 2 of my favourite fighters giving 100% for 5 rounds, no quit in either of them, both rocked, both out on their feet, both bloody, but still going until the final bell. I don't think I've ever been so caught up in a sporting moment as I was in that 25 mental minutes.

 

It made Rocky vs Drago look like an episode of Hannah Montana by comparison. It was the definition of epic.

Edited November 22, 2012 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

woulda banged this in the main MMA thread but i thought it'd be more appreciated in here by the MMA historians

 

Rich Clementi has hung em up after losing last weekend at Bellator 81, 60+ pro career and a great servant to the sport. I'm pretty sure if break it down ive probably seen more Rich Clementi fights live (or on tape delay you get the idea) than any other fighter, be in Bellator, Dream, the UFC and tons of other regional promotions that he always seemd to turn up on i saw tons of his fights. Whilst he's a guy i never really rooted for his humbling of Melvin Guillard remains one of my favorite moments in MMA...

 

 

He notched up some quality wins over his career and was a tough fight for anyone, definitly a guy you could label a 'real fighter'.

 

[jimufctna24]

I remember him for 2 things.

 

The Guillard feud and being on TUF 4.

 

I liked how Melvin would not let it go, saying if he saw Clementi on the streets of New Orleans there would be trouble, He even speculated Rich missed Mardi Grai to avoid a beating.

 

Melvin is a nutter.

 

I always have a respect when fighters retire fairly young, its a personal preference but I always feel sorry for those who cannot walk away, like the Ken Shamrocks of the world.

Edited November 22, 2012 by jimufctna24

[wandshogun09]

Yeah Clementi had a pretty solid career. There was a spell in about 2007/08 when he was in the UFC and he was kind of like the go-to guy for them when anyone pulled out injured. Sort of like Cerrone became last year. He took a bunch of fights on short notice and often won. That 07/08 run was probably his peak as well. He strung together a 6 fight streak of wins over some solid names.

 

I haven't seen much of him outside the UFC bar his Bellator fights and the Aoki fight but his UFC fights with Terry Etim, Anthony Johnson, Melvin Guillard, Din Thomas and especially the Sam Stout fight from UFC 83 are all well worth your time.

 

I'm still on Team Melvin though. I always sided with him over Clementi even though he was a cocky get at that time.

 

EDIT - seeing as I've mentioned him, where is Din Thomas these days? Looked him up and he had a no contest in May after a spell on the shelf after a car accident. And of course there was that whole thing with Ricardo Mayorga. Anyone know what Thomas is up to now?

 

I seem to recall his name cropping up at a TUF tryout not long ago but he obviously never got on. Always really liked Din Thomas. He was one of my favourites on TUF 4 and I thought he was a good fighter as well.

 

And I always loved this celebration after he submitted Jeremy Stephens...

 

 

"Man, I'm slick as a motherfucker ain't I"

 

He followed that up by calling out Floyd Mayweather.

Edited November 23, 2012 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

yeh Thomas has just disappeared, he was making big claims about dropping to 145 and making a run at the UFC a couple of years back but nothing really happened...Thomas is destined to be membered as the guy that got wobbled by a Ricardo Mayorga backhander.

[jimufctna24]

I actually felt Thomas had all the tools to be world champion. Athletic, decent striking and good submissions. He was pretty well rounded.

 

Dana White felt he would win TUF 4 as well, I cannot say I remember was his holes were but I was impressed with his boxing when he fought on the TUF 4 finale (I would Wiki who he faced, but I would feel like I would be cheating)

 

I would have loved him to have subbed Mayorga, who is meant to be a nasty piece of work.

Edited November 24, 2012 by jimufctna24

[wandshogun09]

I actually felt Thomas had all the tools to be world champion. Athletic, decent striking and good submissions. He was pretty well rounded.

 

Yeah he was really solid in all areas. Without looking him up I seem to remember he had a really good reach for his size, especially at 155. He was really good on the ground, especially on bottom and as you say his boxing was very solid. He was one of the first in MMA who really knew how to use the jab effectively. He had an excellent jab.

 

Dana White felt he would win TUF 4 as well, I cannot say I remember was his holes were but I was impressed with his boxing when he fought on the TUF 4 finale (I would Wiki who he faced, but I would feel like I would be cheating)

 

It was Rich Clementi funnily enough. I cheated so you didn't have to. He didn't really show any glaring weakness on the show. From what I recall he lost to Chris Lytle in the semis and it was a close call who would get the judges nod.

 

Thomas was also involved in one of the strangest moments of the early Zuffa UFC era when he fought Matt Serra. It was a disappointing fight given who was involved but Thomas did a good job basically shutting Serra down by sprawling and keeping Serra on the end of his jab. Then after 3 rounds of a pretty obvious Thomas win, Serra was announced the winner.

 

It came out that the judges somehow mixed up the shortarse stocky white guy and the tall lanky black guy and gave Serra the points Thomas should have got. They did reverse the decision and it's officially a win for Thomas but if you watched the DVD you wouldn't know that because it's not mentioned at all.

 

I'll be honest, I'd still be very much up for Thomas vs Mayorga;

 

[Egg Shen]

i love Mayorga, some guys act crazy and hype shit up, Ricardo Mayorga seems genuinely crazy, he's a scary guy.

[The Cum Doctor]

If everyone had to pick one fight as the "Best Fight Ever" what would you go for? I'm going to be boring and say Shogun/Lil' Nog. 7 years on and it's still the perfect example of how beautiful MMA can be.

 

Big Nog vs. Bob Sapp is up there for me. Wasn't even that long ago I seen it, and I was just captivated by it, and the tapout had me like "WHAT THE FUCK?!?!" while laughing my arse off.

 

I love that.

 

Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva is also up there for me due to how mental I was for it. If I'm going purely for the best fight, I'd go Clay Guida vs. Tyson Griffin. That was special.

[The Cum Doctor]

WEC 5: Halloween Havoc

 

Interesting show title. As long as we don't see The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hollywood Hogan, I'll be happy enough. The MC is wearing KISS makeup. What a joke. Needs to be noted I only have 45 minutes of this.

 

Gabe Ruediger vs. Sam Wells

 

Crowd seem right into this here. Gabe was wanting to take the fight to the ground RIGHT away, and late in the first round we can understand why, as Wells just lands combo after combo and winds up getting the KO. Gabe looked absolutely useless when it came to defending the strikes and got punished for that. Wasn't a fan of the fight for four minutes, but that ending was quite good in it's own way.

 

Chris Moody vs. Diallo Baza

 

The crowd are frustrating here. There's lots going on early in this fight, and the audience don't seem to give a shit about it at all. The first round is fun early, as both guys keep exchanging the top position, and are quite aggressive. As it goes on though, you can tell they're getting tired, and as such the round goes downhill pretty rapidly from there. The second round was ALL Baza, as Moody was fucked. Moody DID show some cracking heart by surviving a LONG choke, but Baza let go and just laid in and the referee stopped the fight. The fight went downhill at the start of the first, but mostly this was fun.

 

Tim Kennedy vs. Mack Brewer

 

Brewer gets booed before things get going. This is a HELL of a short scrap as Brewer just goes mental coming out, and then Kennedy matches mental with mental when he escapes Brewer's choke, takes the back and just KILLS with rights and lefts and that's that. Too short to be much of anything, but damned if it wasn't fun.

 

Richard Crunkilton vs. Victor Estrada

 

Another quick stoppage as Estrada is badly hurt in the ankle by the looks of things. Estrada had a cracking guillotine early after a big right hand, but Crunkilton did a great job of getting out and turning it around. He got a big takedown on Estrada and that appears to be where the ankle was damaged. Shame for the fight to be ended that way.

 

Jeff Bedard vs. Antonio Banuelos

 

Bedard with an impressive showing. The fight was all Bedard right from the word go. Takedown and then a bit of a beating, and then the choke and then done. Banuelos didn't offer anything whatsoever.

 

Philip Perez vs. Cole Escovedo

 

There isn't long on this video so I'd imagine this fight is going to be the same as the rest. This is a damn fine fight here while it lasts. Perez clearly wants to stand with Escovedo here, but it's Escovedo that winds up getting the better of those exchanges, and then he's vastly superior when it comes to the ground game as well. When it went to the mat, it was a matter of time before he got the tapout if it stayed there, and so it proved to be the case. This was a cracking round to watch.

 

Was weird to watch thanks to the shitty atmosphere. Was a lot of fun though thanks to the load of finishes.

[jimufctna24]

I remember being gutted that his fight with Mike Brown at UFC 47 was on the prelims, this was at the time when the only way to see a prelim was to either hope they squeezed it on the PPV or wait for the DVD. Never found out why the UFC totally severed ties after that?

I am going to guess it was because Lightweight was not a priority for the UFC until 2006, maybe he had one fight left on a deal so they shoved him on a prelim. In 2004 the UFC had major problems, and getting the LW class on track was not high on the agenda.

 

2004 was a weird period in UFC, just before TUF took of and if you watched the product you would think it was on the rise, the production was not bad and the odd celeb turned up. Tito and Chuck felt liked megastars. UFC was pretty easy to find online as well, I only became a proper fan in 2005, but I remember checking on who won between Chuck vs Tito after it happened, god that makes me feel old 8 years back ago.

 

But they did only 5 shows that year, and relied on Chuck/Tito/Randy for 4. Shamrock carried the June show. The company was bleeding money and Pride had most of the top talent, only the cluster I just mentioned and Matt Hughes saved them. GSP and Franklin had only just emerged.

 

UFC 49 that year is fantastic though, still one of my faves to do this day.

 

Thank fuck for TUF, it may be stagnant and a chore to watch now, but it really did save the UFC.

Edited November 27, 2012 by jimufctna24

[wandshogun09]

WEC 5 sounds like fun. I need to see more early WEC. Gabe Ruediger never really got the hang of dealing with power strikers did he...

 

 

...or diets if his stint on TUF 5 is anything to go by.

 

Thank fuck for TUF, it may be stagnant and a chore to watch now, but it really did save the UFC.

 

Yeah it also helps that TUF felt like a completely fresh idea at that time. Of course it really wasn't given the obscene amount of reality shows around, especially back then. But for MMA it was something original and at least there's a point to TUF. If you do well on TUF you find yourself in the UFC. Unlike Big Brother where you get 'famous' for having no skill other than for sitting in a house and arguing over shopping lists or whatever.

 

Of the first 10 TUFs, I thought a good 8 were excellent. Wasn't that keen on season 2 (although I loved Luke Cummo) and can't remember much of 7. After 10 though it's been very hit and miss. Seasons 12 (GSP/Kos), 14 (Bisping/Mayhem), TUF Brazil and The Smashes have been great but the Chuck/Tito, JDS/Brock, Cruz/Faber were cack I thought. TUF 16 has been pretty dull as well.

 

I think it would be good to give the show a break for a bit to be honest. Or at least scale it back to one season a year, and maybe one international season. This year we've had 4 fucking seasons (TUF 15, 16, Brazil & Smashes). It's overkill and it's not helping the stagnant feel of the format at all. Too much.

 

But yeah, no doubt it saved the UFC. Around the early 2000s I think the biggest things to save the UFC from failing were TUF obviously, and the Tito/Shamrock feud. I read somewhere, can't remember if it was a book or an interview online, but I'm sure Lorenzo was even saying that if Tito vs Ken 1 wasn't as successful as it was they were at the point where they might have had to sell up.

 

I've never been a fan of Tito but this is one reason why I think Dana is too harsh on him. Especially that time he was saying Tito's done more to harm the UFC than help it. Bollocks. Dana downplays it now because he doesn't like Ken and he's had his difficulties with Tito, he credits TUF 1 almost solely for the UFC's survival. But if it wasn't for Tito vs Ken catching on how it did they might not even have lasted until 2004 when TUF was made. Tito kept the UFC afloat pretty much in the early 2000s, he was their biggest star. And the Ortiz/Shamrock rivalry was a massive success all round, from the first fight, the PPV numbers to TUF 3.

 

UFC 49 that year is fantastic though, still one of my faves to do this day.

 

The actual shows in 2004 were pretty good. UFC 46 was a fun show (barring the Belfort/Randy eyepoke fiasco of a main event). 49 as you say was fantastic top to bottom, and 47 was also an incredible show. UFC 47 and 49 are still 2 of my favourite UFC shows 8 years on.

 

 

Classic.