Other MMA Shows

[Egg Shen]

nah, i missed it in the end, i was busy all weekend and i couldn't squeeze it in...didnt help that the Askren was all but spoiled by following the UFC 177 coverage.

 

...i read that there were some horribly late stoppages. I saw the Askren fight though, total domination. This UFC move has to happen.

[Egg Shen]

Bellator's new season kicks off Friday night, it's the first proper show of the Coker-era and they've had a bit of a makeover advertising wise. There's 2 promo shows being put put for the show, so it might be worth getting on them if you plan on watching this season...

 

the first is called 'The Birth of a Rivalry' and documents the first Pitbull/Curran fight, it's availble online now if you know where to look The other is a standard 'Countdown to Bellator 123' style show. Think it airs sometime between today and friday.

 

GET ON IT!

 

 

main card:

Patricio Pitbull (21-2) vs. Pat Curran (20-5) - Featherweight Title Fight
King Mo Lawal (12-4) vs. Tom DeBlass (9-2)
Josh Burns (8-7) vs. Bobby Lashley (10-2)
Lavar Johnson (18-9) vs. Cheick Kongo (21-9-2)

 

prelims:

Marvin Maldonado (1-1) vs. Rico Disciullo (2-0)
Steve Garcia (4-0) vs. Kin Moy (4-0)
Mike Wessel (14-7) v s. Josh Diekmann (14-5)
Tamdan McCrory (11-3) vs. Brennan Ward (9-2)
Perry Filkins (8-1) vs. Dan Cramer (10-4)
Mike Mucitelli (6-1) vs. Mark Griffin (3-3-1)
Phillipe Martins (0-1) vs. Pete Rogers Jr. (1-1)
Brandon Fleming (3-2) vs. Blair Tugman (5-5)
Lucas Cruz (7-2) vs. Andrew Calandrelli (6-4)
Scott Cleve (14-4) vs. Matt Bessette (13-5)

 

main card's a bit of a must-see for me, main event is top rate, Mo/Jacoby could be interesting (Jacoby transitioned to Glory recently), I'll always have a strange interest in Lashley and Kongo/Johnson is guaranteed to be short and sweet.

 

Undercard's way too big but i'll cherry pick a few fights from there. Filkins/Cramer and McCrory/Ward sound good to me.

[kev2050]

Is Viva done with Bellator now? If they are that's a shame. There's a lot of MMA on now, so having to download the show before I can watch it often means I don't bother.

[Noah Southworth]

 

 

...i read that there were some horribly late stoppages. I saw the Askren fight though, total domination. This UFC move has to happen.

Every stoppage was horribly late, but that's what you get with a promotion whose announcer says he would rather see a fight stopped one second late than early and have there be controversy over the finish. It was bad enough watching fighters get hammered for far too long when common sense and basic human decency says you should jump in and stop the fight, but when the announcer says with great pride that he'd rather see a late stoppage than an early one, it makes you question whether you want to keep watching the promotion at all.

 

As for Askren, it was total domination, but that was more down to his opponent being nowhere near his level. Askren should be in the UFC but if he fights at welterweight then, regardless of his wrestling, he will struggle and get hurt a lot because he is very small for a welterweight by UFC standards, and it's clear he'll be giving up a lot of weight against most UFC welterweights. He looked more like Frankie Edgar than GSP in terms of size.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah Kev, that's the boat I find myself in these days as well. In the Strikeforce, WEC, Affliction days I could be arsed to download that stuff because a) I had more free time back then and b) there wasn't so much UFC on then. These days if it's not on TV I generally can't be arsed. I just don't have time to chase shit down online. There's exceptions but the season format in Bellator makes it hard for me to keep up with shows every week. From what I've heard Coker is going to eventually scrap the season format and just do shows when they can fill out the cards better. So it should be easier to follow then. But yeah, my torrenting days are mostly over. If I can find it on YouTube I'll give it a watch though.

 

Saying that, I think I'll have to watch this. Curran vs Pitbull 2 is just too good a fight to miss. The first one was great and I expect no different this time. Kongo vs Lavar will either be a slugfest or Cagehump Kongo will sap the life out of him, the crowd and anyone watching. Lashley adds a bit of intrigue.

 

Ebb, who's Mo fighting? It says DeBlass in the card you posted but then you're saying Jacoby? Has Jacoby replaced DeBlass?

[Noah Southworth]

Mo is facing Jacoby but no reason seems to have been given as to why.

[wandshogun09]

Ah right, cheers.

 

Speaking of Askren, did anyone catch Dana's scrum over the weekend? Sounds like he's not as anti-Askren as he was. I think it's a combination of Askren finishing more lately and Bjorn Rebney being gone now. I really think part of Dana not wanting Askren was because he didn't want to risk Rebney being able to say 'see I told you' if Askren wound up doing well or winning the UFC title.

 

I think someone might've smartened Dana up on Askren's history with Johny Hendricks as well maybe. Watching Askren's interviews recently, he really reminds me of Chael. He's not as over the top as Chael of course, but the way he talks and his confidence/arrogance in himself is Chael-like.

 

Askren was asked about Hendricks again over the weekend;

 

"Johny Hendricks wants no part of me, that's why he hasn't said anything. He's a little baby. He's hiding behind Uncle Dana. If Uncle Dana said 'Come on over here', I'd grab Johny, throw him on the ground the same way and slap him like a little child."

Replace Hendricks' name with Wanderlei there, it's very Chaely.

[Noah Southworth]

I think a lot of might have been because after releasing guys like Fitch and Okami for being boring wrestlers, in his mind, that if Dana did that and then brought in Ben Askren, who had an ill-deserved rep as being a boring wrestler, that he'd look like a major hypocrite and he wanted to avoid the flack that would come with it.

 

Askren is similar to Chael but I think he's closer to Matt Hughes. With Chael, you know and can tell that he doesn't believe most of what he's saying, but with Askren and Hughes, you get the strong sense that they believe everything they say. They might be intentionally phrasing things provocatively, but you don't get the sense they're not saying anything they don't truly believe.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Noah Southworth

[wandshogun09]

The Hughes comparison is a good one actually, I hadn't thought of that. He's like a mix of the two for me.

 

The UFC 170 division is awesome, probably my favourite division along with 155, but they could really do with someone like Askren in there to stir shit up. There's not enough dickheads at 170. Askren might not be a FOTY type guy but neither was Chael (first Anderson fight aside). But he has the potential to really get people to give a shit about his fights. With the UFC promotion added to that he could be a great addition to the roster for them.

 

The Askren vs Hendricks story writes itself. Then there's a Rory fight, Askren's had pops at him before and even offered to fight him for free. Askren vs Lombard, Woodley, Lawler, GSP if he returns. Imagine Askren vs Nick Diaz? Sure Askren would blanket him to a shut-out 50-45 most likely, but those two could be gold for build up and fight night atmosphere.

[Egg Shen]

Tom DeBlass is injured so Jacoby replaced him.

[Noah Southworth]

There are a lot of fights for Askren at 170, but I think he'd fare better at 155. I think if he comes in at 170, there is a good chance he simply gets overpowered by fighters he's giving up a ton of weight to. Askren probably does beat Nick Diaz with ease, and I think he'd make Diaz's head explode in the build up, but with everyone else, I think he's giving up too much weight.

[Egg Shen]

Askren could probably goto 155 but im yet to see anyone at 170 give him any kind of trouble strength wise...we aint seen him fight a monster 170 yet but i dont think Askren would even consider moving until he faces at least some kind of adversity.

[wandshogun09]

Also, if he does end up in the UFC, I can't see him dropping to 155 while Pettis is champ, being team mates. Tell you what though, Askren vs Nurmagomedov at 155 would be very interesting.

[Egg Shen]

ohh yeh thats a fight id like to see.

[Big Benny HG]

So, this Friday's Bellator isn't on VIVA, then?  Not even the usual day-or-two delay?

 

If that's case, then I'll probably not bother.  There's that much MMA on TV now (mostly from UFC) that if it isn't a case of just pressing ® on Sky+ I'm probably not going to go out of my way to check it out.