Other MMA Shows

[ColinBollocks]

GLORY Friday! What a GLORY Friday, though!

 

FYI, Verhoeven was on the MMA Hour, this week.

[Egg Shen]

gotta feel a little sorry for Will Brooks as Bellator Lightweight Champion. 9-1 in the promotion (avenging his one defeat), he's beaten most of the top guys in the division and constantly bangs on about getting the respect he deserves... after Josh Thomson's routine win Friday night he gets asked post-fight if he wants to fight the champ next and Thomson replies 'no disrespect to the champ, but Michael Chandler is the guy i want to fight', Brooks can't catch a break

 

I aint complaining though, Thomson/Chandler is a great fight! Bellator need to wangle a way of making that a 5 rounder.

[Chunk]

Breakfast with Fedor:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYJbvJcb0t4

[Egg Shen]

it's a different way promote an MMA show im really looking forward to it though, i hope Spike shows the majority of the shows and doesn't clip it down too much. There's some crazy and strange fights over the two days.

 

This is how it lines up:

 

Day 1 (29th)

Main Event:

Shinya Aoki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round:

Vadim Nemkov vs. Goran Reljic 
Satoshi Ishii vs. Jiri Prochazka
Teodoras Aukstuolis vs. Bruno Cappelozza
Muhammed Lawal vs. Brett McDermott
Valentin Molfovsky vs. Yuta Uchida (reserve bout)

Featured Fights:

A.J. Matthews vs. Anatoly Tokov
Nam Jin Jo vs. Yuki Motoya
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs. James Thompson

 

Day 2 (31st):

 

Main Event:

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jaideep Singh

Heavyweight Grand Prix Final:

TBA vs. TBA

Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinals:

TBA vs. TBA
TBA vs. TBA

Featured Fights:

Gabi Garcia vs. Seini Draughn
Kaido Hoovelson vs. TBA
Rena Kubota vs. Jleana Valentino

 

i think that's the MMA stuff, there's a few other fights on there including the epic Bob Sapp/Akebono rematch.

Edited December 24, 2015 by Ebb

[DJM]

Day 2 (31st):

 

Gabi Garcia vs. Seini Draughn

 

 

I know I have commented on this before, but Seini Draughn is Lei'D Tapa from TNA Wrestling. Can we see any other outcome than a first round finish from Garcia?

 

[wandshogun09]

Just looked up Seini Draughn. She's The Barbarian's niece! I'll be cheering for her then.

 

According to Wiki (I know) she's 5'11" and over 200lbs. So she's a big'un. But with no MMA experience and at 33 years old, yeah, safe to assume she's being brought in as cannon fodder here.

 

For anyone newer to MMA, this is Gabi Garcia dwarfing Wanderlei Silva...

 

 

As Slick said in 'Jive Soul Bro' - "Now that is a biiiiiiiiig woman!"

[Egg Shen]

she's changed a little since that photo was taken:

 

[wandshogun09]

She still looks terrifying. Like a cross between Cyborg and Chyna, with Great Khali's face.

 

I still think her nickname should be 'Alistair Ovaries'.

[jimufctna24]

I watched the Rizin show this afternoon. 

 

- As I have not watched any JMMA in years, the presentation was a breath of fresh air. It really felt like an old Pride show. The entrances, graphics and arena all projected the big event atmosphere that Pride was renowned for. 

 

- A key feature of Pride was obscene yet fun matchmaking. Aoki vs Saku went along with this tradition, but it didn't have the desired effect. I don't take issue with Saku being on the card. If he was matched against another ageing veteran (say Frye or Renzo), his return could have been a welcome slice of nostalgia. However, put against Aoki, he was subjected to a needless slaughter, and one that was impossible to derive any pleasure from viewing. Sakuraba is one of the most beloved fighters in MMA history. I can imagine very few, if any, wanted to see him get butchered in such one-sided fashion. 

 

- The women's bout, Kron Gracie's bout and Andy Souwer's MMA debut, all succeeded in their goal. They provided a diverse yet entertaining undercard. There was little room for boredom or repetitiveness.

 

- Ward vs Hasegawa and Nemkov vs Prochazka were back and forth barnburners.

 

- Lawal looked excellent in his two bouts. Fedor also did what was needed. Provided that Bellator would sign off on it, I wouldn't mind seeing Lawal vs Fedor in the future. 

 

- They did an excellent job in keeping TV viewers on their toes. Whilst showing highlights of the tournament's semi-finals, they really pushed the boat out to present Nembov and Co as being legit. As someone who didn't know much about them beforehand, I found it easy to buy into the hype. Whether the hype was justified or not is irrelevant, I was accustomed to accept that Lawal could very well be beaten.

 

- The same applied for Fedor's bout. They did a sterling job in hyping up Jaideep. The clips of him learning his trade at Chute Boxe, and winning kickboxing bouts made him look like a million bucks (even though he actually wasn't)

Edited January 1, 2016 by jimufctna24

[wandshogun09]

Just caught up on Rizin.

 

It wasn't Pride but they had a good stab at it. Pride will never be recaptured anyway so it's pointless holding them, or any Japanese promotion that pops up down the line, to that standard. Pride was a moment in time, a time when the sport was still developing and in the 'wild west' days, the Japanese market was white hot and they had an insane roster.

 

Rizin, and DREAM before them, are just doing the best they can with what they have. And if you look at it like that, this was a fun show. Definitely a welcome change of pace from the feel of the US MMA shows. Really enjoyed it. Mostly.

 

- As I have not watched any JMMA in years, the presentation was a breath of fresh air. It really felt like an old Pride show. The entrances, graphics and arena all projected the big event atmosphere that Pride was renowned for.

They even used the music Pride used to play between rounds and post-fight.

 

Day one was decent. Lots of finishes.

 

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs James Thompson was sloppy and ugly as fuck. Just looked like a pub fight that no-one bothered to split up. It looked a bit like a fight of that Knuckle documentary actually, but with gloves. Both were knackered after about two minutes and they just brawled on. Kohsaka, in fairness, is 45 years old. And his last fight before this was the incredible war with Mark Hunt during the Pride Openweight GP in 2006. The fact Thompson still got knocked out by him just makes it even more clear Thompson is done. He's been on the receiving end of some really bad knockouts over the years and this was another one. He wasn't put out cold but this actually seemed worse because of the prolonged abuse he took. Seemed to take the ref ages to step in at the finish as well. I hope they both retire now. But Rizin will probably bring them back if they're up for it.

 

Enjoyed Felipe Efrain vs Yuki Motoya a lot despite not being familiar with either guy. Fun back and forth short fight. Nice comeback KO from Efrain after a rocky start.

 

I read that they overturned it to a No Contest though because Efrain missed weight. Seems a bit bullshit that. I know missing weight is unprofessional but overturning the win seems stupid. Just slap a fine on him or something. Everyone saw him KO Motoya whether they call it a NC or not. I wonder if roles were reversed and it was the Japanese fighter who missed weight, would they do the same thing?

 

Kiril 'Baby Fedor' Sidelnikov looked pretty good. Performance wise, I mean. Physically he looked a right flabby mess.

 

Hideo Tokoro vs Kizaemon Saiga was a good little squash match. I've always really liked watching Tokoro. He's definitely no world beater but he's so exciting to watch. He's had some great fights over the years in DREAM, HERO'S etc but he never really gets much love, I guess because he's never had that UFC/Pride exposure. He looked good here, nice submission too, but I know nothing of Saiga.

 

Who was that woman constantly screaming though during this fight? Fucking hell, she did my head in. I'm guessing she's Saiga's missus because she was crying when he lost. Her incessant screaming actually kind of ruined an otherwise fun fight. It wasn't even like she was shouting support either. She just kept going 'AAAAHHHH. AAAAHHH. WAAAAAAAAHHHH' every two seconds. Now I don't know Japanese but I don't think they are words. Silly tart.

 

King Mo vs Brett McDermott was alright. Mo looked good. McDermott was a bit of a can though, to be fair. He's a former Rugby player who had a 5-2 record coming in. Mo should've beat him comfortably like he did.

 

Vadim Nedkov vs Goran Reljic was short and brutal. Wasn't familiar with Nedkov but he looks like someone worth keeping an eye on. Reljic isn't a killer but he's a good striker, for Nedkov to stop him that quick was quite impressive.

 

Jiri Prochazka vs Satoshi Ishii was another short and sweet mugging. Never heard of this Prochazka bloke before. I like the look of him though. Big lanky fucker with dangerous striking.

 

Ishii's floundering. He was supposed to be the next big thing after the 2008 Olympics. He's just never fulfilled his potential.

 

Sakuraba vs Aoki...fuck's sake.

 

I said this the other day...

 

I'm morbidly curious about the Sakuraba vs Aoki fight. Sakuraba's one of my favourite fighters ever. I hope he stops for good after this, he's been done for fucking years. But at the same time, at least he's not fighting some big monster or someone who's likely to put him unconscious. This should be a nice grappling match.

Boy was I wrong?

 

Completely agree with Jim, it was hard to watch and I found zero enjoyment or entertainment value in it.

 

I wish Sakuraba had never taken this fight. He really does need to stop. And the Japanese promoters need to stop offering him money to fight. I know that's not how they roll over there and they're all for freakshow shit, but they're going to kill this bloke or put him in a coma or something. And that's not even an exaggeration or me being overly dramatic. How many beatings like this can the poor bastard take before something gives? He was taking brutal batterings well over a decade ago from Wanderlei and Cro Cop. He got his face destroyed by Ricardo Arona in 2005. Then there was the Manhoef destruction. Losing half his ear against Zaromskis. The Galesic and Smirnovas fights were the worst beatings IMO, I still don't know how the shit he won those fights. The Smirnovas fight especially was horrific. And in 2015 he's still getting in there and the fucking refs are STILL not stopping his fights in the hope that he'll make a comeback. The comeback's are over. He's fucking DONE! Jesus. This has to be it for Saku, doesn't it? Doesn't it?

 

Sad to watch. Even Rickson looked gutted after the fight was finally stopped.

 

Day Two was good. It's a small thing but I liked that they changed the ring canvas for this one. Day one had a white canvas, day two had a yellowy and grey canvas. We've said before that the UFC shows often look identical, little touches like this freshen things up to me.

 

Prochazka vs Nedkov was really good. Not sure just how good these two really are until we see more of them against fighters we know, but they seemed pretty evenly matched with each other and that made for a good seesaw battle.

 

Brennan Ward vs Ken Hasegawa was a cracking fight. Some excellent grappling transitions, the action was non-stop and the finish was quality. This was my favourite fight of the two shows.

 

Gabrielle Garcia vs The Barbarian's niece was a weird little fight. I nearly shat my pants when Draughn tagged her in the opening exchanges and dropped her. Fair play to Garcia for not just turtling up, she came right at Draughn after that which is a good sign, but...fuck me how awful was Garcia's striking? I know she's a BJJ artist but those 'punches' were woeful. Even when she hurt Draughn you could tell it was all raw power and brute strength. Sloppy as fuck. I don't know why she didn't initiate the grappling. That's her bread and butter plus that's where her size advantage would've been maximised. As soon as they hit the deck she finished it within a few seconds as expected.

 

Bob Sapp vs Akebono was the mess we all expected and, let's be honest, hoped for. It was a proper throwback to the SEG era UFC days and early Pride days. I'll be honest, I enjoyed the shit out of it. As freakshow brawls go, this was good fun.

 

What was the deal with the finish though? I get why the ref stopped it, Akebono was getting battered. But why did they call it a 'technical decision' for Sapp instead of a 'technical knock out'? Apologies if it was explained on the show, I was watching a version with Russian commentary and, well, I don't understand Russian.

 

Andy Souwer's MMA debut did the job. Souwer's a badass striker. I've watched a fair few of his kickboxing fights over the years. He's the shit. This was a decent debut fight for him. He got to shine at his strengths but he also got taken down and had to escape some submission attempts. It's early days but he passed the tests in this fight at least.

 

Kron Gracie vs Asen Yamamoto was another good one rounder. Asen Yamamoto is KID Yamamoto's nephew. From bits I've read he sounds like he could be good down the road. He was dwarved in there with Gracie though. I'd like to see him fight some guys his own size. His escape of Kron's armbar was fantastic. Kron just proved too strong a grappler in the end though.

 

Fedor smashing up Jaideep Singh wasn't a surprise at all. Still nice to see Fedor crushing fuckers all the same. Even if it was a mismatch.

 

They're going to have to put Fedor against someone from Bellator next, aren't they? Either King Mo, Kimbo, Tito? That's assuming Fedor continues fighting. Rizin have no-one for him to fight. Or do they finally do Fedor vs Sapp?

 

King Mo vs Prochazka was a good tournament final. Nothing special but Mo's knockout was highlight reel stuff and ended the show with a bang.

 

So yeah, aside from Sakuraba vs Aoki, I really enjoyed Rizin.

 

Apparently their next show is in April. We'll see how long this thing lasts. I'd love to see it do well but I'm always skeptical when it comes to Japanese MMA companies' shelf lives. Enjoy it while it lasts, I guess.

[martyngnr]

I assumed the stoppage in the Sapp/Akebono fight was because of the cut?

It came from nowhere and they spent so long patching it up even Sapp was getting pissed at the waiting time.

Not that I'm suggesting the cut was there already and was Akebonos way of avoiding an ass kicking. Oh no.

[Egg Shen]

just watched the Spike TV broadcast. Going forward i really hope Spike! hang on to Rizin and keep it on a delay because the edited version was chopped up but it was fast paced and they pumped out the fights, Japanese fight shows can be silly long so if they show them again in future i hope they keep the format like this. Like others here i loved the actual Rizin production, bit OTT Pride-esque stuff. Seeing Takada come out greased up to bang a drum made my day, i ain't gonna lie.

 

Fightwise it was what i'd hoped for, lots of fun mis-match type fights but they were all weirdly competitive. Nice that they kept all the Bellator related fighters on display too.

 

Great to see Fedor get it done in style but it didn't really tell us much. Fedor made a career of making mince-meat out of over-matched opponents an he's still got that skill down.

 

Thumbs up from me, i hope RIzin stay somewhat active in 2016. I ain't read how often they are hoping to run shows yet.

[Egg Shen]

next Rizin is scheduled for April 17th, Fedor is expected to headline again.

[Chunk]

Nice little summary of Bellator in 2015:

 

 

Anyone heard anything more about the Bellator event in England? Liam McGeary / Phil Davis doesn't have a date yet. Surely it makes sense to do that as a main event in London.

[Egg Shen]

i was gonna post that up today too, nice one Chunk.

 

Bellator have lots of UK options when putting together a fight card over here. I'm not sure how much any of it draws but a Daley/Koscheck 2 has to be a shoe-in. If they did that as well as McGeary/Davis i'd be well happy, chuck in some Michael Page too. It probably depends if Bellator plan on making the UK show one of it's tent pole events.