Other MMA Shows

[jimufctna24]

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

 

Few brief thoughts.

 

Yeah, you guys are right. Chandler is a beast.

 

Askren is so dominant with his wrestling, very impressive. I think he could do very well in the UFC. Mo looked good, just a commanding and measured performance. That Pitbull guy is a bit vicious, very impressed.

 

Minakov I was not sold on, Martinez tagged him a few times. Minakov needs to keep his hands up more and refine his striking. Decent stoppage though.

 

 

 

[Egg Shen]

it was far from a great show in terms of fights, but if you viewed that as a showcase for some of Bellator's biggest names it delivered.

 

* It's only a matter of time before people start really calling Michael Chandler to go to the UFC, the guys a little friggin' machine. This was a scary, scary knockout. He KO'd Rickels and hit him about 4 times before the ref. hand any chance to step in, frightening speed, power and accuracy. Bjork's statement that he's the best lightweight in MMA may be correct but i don't think you can put officially put him on that pedestal whilst he's fighting lower level opposition in Bellator than the UFC provides.

 

* Ben Askren is definitely unique, his ability to just make people look completely uselss on the ground is just insane. He's been pretty lucky in that he's never really matches up with a top grappler in Bellator and i'll be interested to see what happens when he does but i have no reason to believe he won't just do exactly the same thing that he did to Koreshkov. Personally i enjoy watching his grappling, it's just so loose and he allows people to move around but just ends up tying his oppnent up whatever they try and do, Jimmy Smith did a great job of explaining it on the commentary.

 

If Askren was all polite and apologetic for not being exciting he's be boring but i love his confidence and his defiance of the audience's contempt, i love the guy.

 

Interestingly his Bellator contract is now up, im not sure if the UFC will want anything to do with Askren and maybe Bjorn see's it as an oppurtunity to bring in a more exciting crowd pleasing champion? regardless where he ends up, i'll be watching.

 

* I had a feeling Mo was gonna take the safety first route against Noe, he did and he put a fucking hurting on him. I'd love to somehow see a Mo/Newton re-match materialse before the title fight with Vegh. Newton/Mo 2 on PPV would be nice.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, Rampage vs Tito, Chandler vs Alvarez 2 and Mo vs Newton 2 would be good. A bit of something for everyone. It won't draw what they'd probably like it to, but as a fan I'd be all over Chandler vs Alvarez and Mo vs Newton rematches and they'd be piss easy to hype up with the footage they have.

[Egg Shen]

yep:

 

Tito Ortiz vs. Rampage Jackson

Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez II

Emmanuel Newton vs. King Mo II

 

that would make me fork out my money straight off, add a little Pitbull, Joe Warren & Shlemenko to the mix

[jimufctna24]

Tito vs Rampage could exceed 100k, both were draws years back and both are more well known than 95% of the UFC roster. It would seem Bellator is putting a lot of stock into with Tito turning up in TNA.

 

However, the PPV Market is oversaturated by the UFC, even in the PPV Boom of 2008-2010, shows like Affliction could barley do 100k. Yes, Rampage and Tito maybe bigger draws to the American audience than the likes of Fedor and Arlovski, but the market may not be there for it. The promotion on TNA is needless, TNA fans do not even purchase TNA PPV's, so why would they pay to see two MMA Fighters just because they appear on TNA TV.

 

Like Affliction and K1 2007, Bellator will produce a stacked and entertaining show that I will probably end up watching. Tito/Page is better than Page/Jones, why would you take your star signing and feed him to a has-been boxer who last drew of the back of Felix Trinidad over 5 years ago? Makes no sense.

 

I like both men involved, but both are relics of a era that I would at this point, rather forget. Memories of Tito in his prime coming out to sterile Limp Bizkit tones is not something I can get a nostalgia kick out of, Rampage talking about "pulling in the cheese" has lost its appeal also. These things may have been good at the time (not Limp Bizkit they were always shite) but in 2013 they are really lame to me. Both fighters provide me with good memories and would prefer to keep them as just that, memories. Lamby said it best when he described the whole event as "cheesy"

 

Bellator has a lot going for it, Spike TV may be home to the lowest forms of entertainment but they give MMA a good outlet. The commentators are good, they describe the action and do not try to become the star of the show like Rogan does on occasion. They have several thriving and fairly young fighters, like Mo, Pitbull, Chandler and Askren to build blocks with.

 

But with PPV and this needless tribute to 2004, they are running before they can walk.

Edited August 3, 2013 by jimufctna24

[wandshogun09]

* Ben Askren is definitely unique, his ability to just make people look completely uselss on the ground is just insane. He's been pretty lucky in that he's never really matches up with a top grappler in Bellator and i'll be interested to see what happens when he does but i have no reason to believe he won't just do exactly the same thing that he did to Koreshkov. Personally i enjoy watching his grappling, it's just so loose and he allows people to move around but just ends up tying his oppnent up whatever they try and do, Jimmy Smith did a great job of explaining it on the commentary.

 

If Askren was all polite and apologetic for not being exciting he's be boring but i love his confidence and his defiance of the audience's contempt, i love the guy.

 

Interestingly his Bellator contract is now up, im not sure if the UFC will want anything to do with Askren and maybe Bjorn see's it as an oppurtunity to bring in a more exciting crowd pleasing champion? regardless where he ends up, i'll be watching.

 

I doubt it will happen but I'd like to see the UFC bring him in. You never know, with the current bad feeling between the two companies, Dana might see it as an opportunity to swipe one of Bjork's champions.

 

If you look at the UFC 170 division, there's no shortage of top level grapplers. As great as Askren is in the grappling, I find it hard to imagine him being so dominant in a division housing the likes of Georges St Pierre, Josh Koscheck, Johny Hendricks, Jake Shields, Dong Hyun Kim and Demian Maia. I'd be really, really intrigued to see how Askren would handle someone like Demian Maia especially.

 

He's growing on me a bit. He's not exciting but his style is different enough that it's kind of fun to watch in its own way. And his dickhead personality kind of adds to it. I liked his post-fight interview, he really doesn't give a shit about his own popularity, which in some ways might not be a good career move but in other ways it's actually quite refreshing. I hate it when a guy is getting booed and he starts groveling and almost begging for acceptance by saying how much he loves their city and stuff. None of that with Askren, he actually seems to genuinely enjoy pissing people off.

[jimufctna24]

Askren is someone who in theory could present GSP with problems if it turned into a Wrestling match. I mean yeah sure Maia could out-grapple GSP but for that to happen you have to get GSP on his back. Only Askren I believe has a chance to do that with wrestling. Some wrestlers are weird, Jon Fitch and Dan Henderson I believe are better offensive wrestlers than defensive wrestlers for example. GSP is thrives in both departments his offensive and defensive wrestling is top notch which is in part the reason for his tremendous success. However, Askren is maybe the sole Welterweight with such a pedigree to his wrestling that it could threaten GSP.

 

Askren at 29, can afford a few more years in Bellator, this could help his bargaining power as his status grows with Bellator's new deal. It will also offer him a live yet more sheltered environment to refine his complete game. For example, Askren could test his striking game with a War Machine more than he could with say a Jake Ellenberger or Johnny Hendricks.

 

I like Askren, he is a certain style and cartoon villain vibe to him. He may not possess power with his GnP, but he is a Octagon general which goes a long way to high success with the wrestling skills he has. I may not want to re-watch a selection of his fight for a kicks, but he does enough for me to be interested in his career.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I'm hearing Spike's target is to do 200,000 buys on this thing. No way are they getting that. Where are they going to find 200,000 domestic MMA fans to pay to see this thing? Only 19,000 TNA fans paid to see a pay-per-view headlined by Sting and Hulk Hogan. TNA fans dont spend money, so if they are banking on a cross over, that's not happening.

Edited August 3, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[cutch]

It's hilarious to see the apparent role reversal that Ben Askren and Johny Hendricks have done since their amateur wrestling days, Askren was a much loved exciting wrestler with his "funky" style, now he's considered boring and embraced his inner heel. Hendricks was someone who wouldn't mind cheating to win a match and reveled in the fans hatred, now he's well respected quiet man who likes to knock guys out.

 

here's an article about their college days http://win-magazine.net/Archives/v13%20arc...gmancolumn.html

 

It would be interesting to know what percentage of TNA's audience buy WWE PPVs it's got to be much higher than what TNA does.

[jimufctna24]

The theory is that Ortiz has such a loyal following that do better where tan the likes of Affliction. And that Rampage's drawing power will cross over from the UFC.

 

It could do over 100k, maybe on a good weekend with a hell of a lot of promotion. But 200k is mental, if Rashad Evans who is as big a draw as both with the UFC's backing can only do 150k, then this has zero chance. Outside the UFC, no MMA promotion has done anywhere near 200k even when the PPV Market was stronger.

 

I agree on the TNA point and covered it above. I am very skeptical that nostalgia/novelty based MMA can draw at all in 2013, which this fight is drifting towards.

Edited August 3, 2013 by jimufctna24

[IANdrewDiceClay]

--Bellator held a press conference today for its 11/2 PPV debut headlined by Rampage Jackson vs. Tito Ortiz. Bjorn Rebney noted that there will likely be five fights, with plenty of five round title fights but he didn't commit to any specific one. There will plenty of knocks at the other organization. Jackson said he really was going to box Roy Jones Jr., but then when Bellator signed Tito Ortiz in mid-July, it changed. Rebney said that all of Viacom, Spike, CMT, MTV, Comedy Central, will all be promoting and that TNA has a storyline in place to aid in the promotion of the fight. He hinted at something at Bound for Glory but just said to tune in. Jackson and Ortiz both put over being big wrestling fans with Ortiz saying how Hulk Hogan was his idol. A key note is that Ortiz had reconstructive knee surgery to put in a replacement ACL 12 weeks ago. That was scary. It'll be priced from $34.95 to $44.95, depending on the market.

 

I bet they do an enforcer thing or something, where Rampage is in Hulk's corner and Ortiz is in Bully Rays.

Edited August 5, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[Egg Shen]

Decided to add the WSOF to the Bellator MMA thread, mainly because the main MMA thread bobs along quite nicely with news updates and stuff, i thought we could keep discussion on the actual events in here (dunno if you wanna make this a random MMA event thread too (like MFC, KSW etc?) and keep the other thread strictly about news?

 

anyways, World Series of Fighting 4 goes down Saturday night, no UFC this weekend so i recommend you get on it...

 

 

MAIN CARD (NBC Sports Network, 10:30 p.m. ET)

 

Tyrone Spong vs. Angel DeAnda

Brandon Hempleman vs. Marlon Moraes

Dave Huckaba vs. Ray Sefo

Keon Caldwell vs. Nick Newell

Gesias Cavalcante vs. Tyson Griffin

 

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMAjunkie.com, 8 p.m. ET)

 

Gerald Harris vs. Jorge Santiago

Lewis Gonzalez vs. Antonio McKee

Lew Polley vs. Hans Stringer

Jared Papazian vs. John Robles

Isaac Gutierrez vs. Victor Valenzuela

 

now this should be a fun card.

 

WSOF are clearly banking on Tyrone Spong to become one of their main man, he's headlining depsite being 1-0 in the sport but he does have serious star potential, the guy's in a great camp, he's in his prime, he's young and he wants to have a serious crack at MMA, this is some serious shit. He's fighting a guy that's been in 14 fights, 13 of which have ended in a KO on either side...this is gonna be short and violent.

 

Sefo/Huckaba is a similar situation but Sefo's coming in on the tail end of his career. He aint making no serious runs at MMA, i think this is purely about fun for him and he's given himself (Sefo's the promoter) an opponent who's not gonna be afraid to come in and have a tear up with him. Sefo looked awful in his last MMA bout but i think Huckaba is gonna be willing to stand and trade.

 

Marlon Moraes has looked spectacular in WSOF so far, and im pretty sure if he wins Saturday they are gonna try setting up some kind of 135lb title shot for him, super exciting fightre.

 

Then there's JZ/Griffin. Seriously, if this fight had taken place 4-5 years ago people would have put money on it being a FOTY contender. Both guys have fallen on hard times but im hoping for something abit special, hopefully they can roll back the years.

 

Who's watching?

[wandshogun09]

I'll definitely be watching. I've really enjoyed WSOF so far. The shows have a nice mix of veterans, new faces and everything in between.

 

I really like what I've seen of Marlon Moraes and I've been a bit of a Ray Sefo bummer ever since I saw his mad K-1 fight with Mark Hunt years ago. This show is all about Tyson vs JZ for me though. Always liked both and I'm rooting for a bit of a career resurrection for both of them. Especially Tyson Griffin though, he was on fire a few years ago and one of the legit most exciting fighters in MMA. He seemed to just fall off inexplicably overnight around 2009. I hope he can get his shit together now he's back at 155 and training at AKA.

[Egg Shen]

yeh, Griffin's still young enough to really get back on track, ive read he's moved to AKA and taken time off to let himself recover properly so im expecting to see him firing on all cylinders come Saturday.

[bono]

Decided to add the WSOF to the Bellator MMA thread, mainly because the main MMA thread bobs along quite nicely with news updates and stuff, i thought we could keep discussion on the actual events in here (dunno if you wanna make this a random MMA event thread too (like MFC, KSW etc?) and keep the other thread strictly about news?

 

anyways, World Series of Fighting 4 goes down Saturday night, no UFC this weekend so i recommend you get on it...

 

 

MAIN CARD (NBC Sports Network, 10:30 p.m. ET)

 

Tyrone Spong vs. Angel DeAnda

Brandon Hempleman vs. Marlon Moraes

Dave Huckaba vs. Ray Sefo

Keon Caldwell vs. Nick Newell

Gesias Cavalcante vs. Tyson Griffin

 

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMAjunkie.com, 8 p.m. ET)

 

Gerald Harris vs. Jorge Santiago

Lewis Gonzalez vs. Antonio McKee

Lew Polley vs. Hans Stringer

Jared Papazian vs. John Robles

Isaac Gutierrez vs. Victor Valenzuela

 

now this should be a fun card.

 

WSOF are clearly banking on Tyrone Spong to become one of their main man, he's headlining depsite being 1-0 in the sport but he does have serious star potential, the guy's in a great camp, he's in his prime, he's young and he wants to have a serious crack at MMA, this is some serious shit. He's fighting a guy that's been in 14 fights, 13 of which have ended in a KO on either side...this is gonna be short and violent.

 

Sefo/Huckaba is a similar situation but Sefo's coming in on the tail end of his career. He aint making no serious runs at MMA, i think this is purely about fun for him and he's given himself (Sefo's the promoter) an opponent who's not gonna be afraid to come in and have a tear up with him. Sefo looked awful in his last MMA bout but i think Huckaba is gonna be willing to stand and trade.

 

Marlon Moraes has looked spectacular in WSOF so far, and im pretty sure if he wins Saturday they are gonna try setting up some kind of 135lb title shot for him, super exciting fightre.

 

Then there's JZ/Griffin. Seriously, if this fight had taken place 4-5 years ago people would have put money on it being a FOTY contender. Both guys have fallen on hard times but im hoping for something abit special, hopefully they can roll back the years.

 

Who's watching?

 

Is this on viva over here?