TUF: Brazil / UFC 147: 'Wanderlei vs Franklin 2' *TUF SPOILERS

[wandshogun09]

Countdown to UFC 147 for anyone interested, soz could only find it in 3 parts

 

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pIQnIHvVPo

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWnNLPqsmCc

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZNwzw7YlEI

[Herne's Son]

Just finished the last episode and couldn't believe it when I read about the injury in the middleweight final, seriously pissed that would of been a hell of a fight.

 

The 4 finalists are pretty much who I expected, I enjoyed the season a lot, it was incredibly emotional, much more then the usual seasons of TUF. As said before the fighters mostly seemed to come from poor backgrounds so you could really feel how much they wanted to win. The situations some of them talked about were quite heartbreaking and the times when fighters and coaches cried felt real and not staged at all. Several moments really had me close to tears, Bodao's loss and his crying with the other fighters made me feel so bad, same with Serginhio's loss...the moment when Bodao was calling for Massaranduba to get up for the third round and to "think of his family" was unbelievable.

 

Mutante had an incredible journey too, going from being considered Vitor's friend and no one really thinking he was that good to having Wanderlei say to his face he had earnt his respect was great. So much good stuff and I really hope the UFC offer a lot of contracts out as there are some very hot prospects.

 

Anyone know why Bodao is not fighting on the PPV? Was hoping he'd get another shot.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I was surprised Bodao wasn't on the final aswell. Probably an injury or something. I'm sure he'll get another shot, he fought well on the show, got to the semis, seems a good guy and he's got an incredible story. The UFC love that stuff as seen with Brian Stann's military exploits and Ben Henderson and the stuff with his mom in the UFC 144 Countdown.

 

So yeah I reckon we'll defo be seeing Bodao in the UFC again. It's already been reported that Rene Forte is getting a shot and he went out the competition quite early on so Bodao should be a shoe-in.

[David]

It appears that the first Ultimate Fighter in Brazil was a resounding success, and that there'll be another on the way soon;

 

Brazil long has been considered the spiritual birthplace of MMA, and now it's suddenly becoming one of the UFC's top markets.

 

UFC executive Marshall Zelaznik today declared the debut season of "The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil," which concludes at Saturday's UFC 147 event in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a resounding success and said the promotion is already planning on a second edition of the series.

 

"We do anticipate another season," Zelaznik today told MMAjunkie.com. "It's certain that we'll do it."

 

Zelaznik said the second edition of the series will likely take place in 2013, with the show following a similar schedule to this season's debut, which featured Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort as coaches of 32 prospective UFC fighters.

 

"We don't have coaches identified or weight classes yet," Zelaznik said. "You can expect that 'The Ultimate Fighter' season will come back, and we'll do more tryouts. The timing of that is probably just like this season, so we'll start filming around January and be on air in March."

 

Zelaznik said the series is likely to continue in its Sunday-night timeslot in Brazil, where the series proved one of the country's most-successful events and drew massive ratings for broadcast partner Globo.

 

"Brazil is quickly becoming the No. 1 market for the UFC when it comes to fan support," Zelaznik said. "You're talking about 10 million people watching each week. We're No. 1 in the timeslot. The AB demographic is the most upscale demographic, and we're the highest-rated reality show in Brazil (in that demographic).

 

"When you start looking at the data, you could almost lump the U.S., Canada and the U.K. together, and it wouldn't be as many fans as there are here in Brazil. The country has adopted the sport."

 

Zelaznik said "TUF: Brazil 2" will be one of as many as five versions of "The Ultimate Fighter" produced in 2013. The debut season streamed online in the U.S., and Zelaznik said the episodes drew as many as 100,000 viewers per episode. The series is now also airing on FUEL TV, but only two episodes will have aired in the U.S. before Saturday's "TUF" tournament finals.

 

Zelaznik said he's not sure what the future holds for U.S. audiences when it comes to international versions of the show.

 

"They have limited shelf space," Zelaznik said. "I think next year we have five versions of 'The Ultimate Fighter' that probably get produced. We're staffing up now. We're trying to figure out how to support all those. Will FUEL TV have the shelf space for all those? I don't know. The good news is we're working hard to get the product distributed online.

 

"We did, on average, over 100,000 views on 'The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil' online. It was a massive, massive success. People are curious. They're interested. The Brazilians are pretty amazing fighters, and people want to see them."

 

It was, of course, "The Ultimate Figher" that launched in 2005 on Spike TV and propelled the UFC's current popularity boom. Zelaznik said the first Brazilian edition of the show created a similar effect in South America's largest nation.

 

"I think for this market, it was a huge success," Zelaznik said. "I think there may not have been the reality or drama that people may have been expecting. That's been a comment I've heard, but I think what this did

[wandshogun09]

Good to see they're doing another season. It seems MMA, or UFC at least, is really blowing up big time in Brazil. 10 million viewers a week is a ridiculous number. I read somewhere they were actually averaging around 11 million viewers. Crazy. It makes sense though considering how many of the top fighters in the sport are Brazilian.

[pryko]

I can imagine there is gonna be a lot more Brazilian cards. Maybe 2 or 3 a year

[wandshogun09]

Yeah Dana and Lorenzo have said it's becoming a huge market for them and they're looking to increase the number of events there with maybe one big stadium show a year possibly down the line.

 

It helps that the live crowds there are fucking awesome aswell. Can't wait for tomorrow's event.

[The Natural]

When it comes to making predictions we all like to be right but this time I'll make an exception hoping Franklin doesn't KO Silva in two.

[Egg Shen]

its a tough one to call because both guys are at that stage in their careers where you never quite know whether a long lay off is going to be a benefit or a hindrance.

 

Having said that i'm never confident when Wandy steps into the cage these days so i i'll take Franklin via KO.

[wandshogun09]

Ha, balls to you all. Wand's got this. Lloyd Christmas is in trouble tonight and his Richard Hammond hairdo won't save him.

 

Loved the staredown at the weigh in. Wand looked badass. Quick main card predictions I'll go Wand by KO, Serginho by dec, Jason by dec, Werdum sub and Alcantare sub.

[jimufctna24]

Rooting for Wand, think Franklin will win.

 

I can see Wand coming out like a buzzsaw and clips him though, just think it is a bit more likely Franklin will win most of the exchanges and win a lopsied verdict, or a late stoppage.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I can defo see that. Maybe. Franklin's certainly the more technical and varied striker but there's a few things I like in Wandy's favour here;

 

-Wand won't gas this time. He's got his weight cutting sorted unlike last time, he came in at 188 for this and it's a 190 catchweight fight . And he now has a nose he can breathe out of.

 

-It's in Brazil. We've seen how possessed the Brazilians have been on home soil on recent UFCs there.

 

-Franklin's layoff. It's been nearly 18 months since he lost to Forrest. And he's been dealing with some injuries in his off time.

 

-Wandy's been training for lefty's for fucking ages. He was training for Belfort who's southpaw and his 2 previous opponents Leben and Le were southpaw aswell.

 

-It's 5 rounds. If Wand doesn't get caught early then I actually think his chances of catching Franklin increase. Franklin slowed down late last time and Wand was tagging him more as the fight went on. 5 rounds just means Wand has more time to land a bomb.

[The Natural]

SPOILERS FOLLOW!

 

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

Watched Wanderlei Silva/Rich Franklin II and it was a good fight. I was hoping Mario Yamasaki was going to stop the fight in the second round with Silva knocing Franklin down and following it up with strikes on the ground. Franklin just survived. After that the only thing Silva did was swinging for the finish in the final minute of the fight. Franklin got a nice reaction in his post fight interview considering he beat Silva in his home country.

 

[close spoiler]

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[wandshogun09]

I really enjoyed UFC 147, thought it was one of the best cards of the year.

 

Wand vs Franklin 2

Thought this was a really good fight. When I said before Wand wouldn't gas, well I guess I was wrong. I knew he'd be in better shape coming in than the last fight they had but I didn't take into account the possibility of Wand punching himself out. That 2nd round attack was vicious and I really thought Wand had him for a minute there. I was shouting for the ref to stop it but in hindsight he was right not to.

 

After that Wand didn't do enough in any of the rounds. He'd blew his wad and couldn't pressure like he did in the 2nd. Gutted he lost, I really thought he could win this. I still think he could have if he'd composed himself a bit better. Even in the last 2 rounds he was landing almost every time when he did attack, he just didn't do it enough.

 

Full credit to Franklin though, he defo deserved the win. I had it 49-46 for him like the judges. I don't think the second was a 10-8 and even that last flurry in the 5th, Wand was aggressive but he missed a lot and came out of it worse off. Franklin looked very sharp (2nd round aside), his movement was good, his counter striking was on point and his toughness to come back was amazing. Best showing he's had in a while.

 

Them fruity pink shorts were horrible though. Only Phil Davis can pull that look off.

 

Mutante vs Serginho

This was a tremendous fight. I had this all wrong, I thought the FW finals would be the war but the 185ers brought it. Great stuff. I underrated Mutante as Vitor's pal for most of the season. He was clearly skilled but I wasn't that impressed with him until late in the season. Cracking fight.

 

Still think Sarafian would have beat him though. That would be a logical fight to make next I reckon, Mutante vs Sarafian.

 

Rony Jason vs Pepey

Glad Jason won. I liked him on TUF and was never too keen on Pepey despite him having my favourite fight of the season. This was more one sided than I expected, I didn't think it was that close like Rogan and Goldberg were saying. I had Jason winning every round. Decent fight but I thought it would be a real back and forth type battle. Pepey seemed to kind of choke to me.

 

Nice to see Team Wand take one of the finals though.

 

Werdum vs Russow

Werdum looked great. He's been steadily improving his standup for years now and stopping a durable guy like Russow that quick is really impressive. Todd Duffee clobbered Russow with haymakers for 2 and a half rounds to no joy and Werdum put him out quick. Not bad for a BJJ guy.

 

I like that they're playing up Werdum as a future challenger for JDS and playing off the first fight. It would be a good rematch to make considering where they both are now. I think Werdum needs a big name win first though. Dunno who they match him with next.

 

Massaranduba vs Pe De Chumbo

This was a massacre. If Heleno could have made it to the later rounds I think he'd have had a shot because Massaranduba's gas tank was his weakness on the show. Massa wrecked him though, Heleno had no chance to even get going. Brilliant performance.

 

I was glad to hear him say he's dropping to 170 after the fight. He was always an undersized 185. Infact it's hard to believe but most of his career he's fought at Lightweight.

 

Bodao vs Macarrao

When did this fight get added? Must have been a last minute thing. Glad they did though cos it was a really fun fight. I really liked Bodao so I'm pleased he got the win and the big finish. Exciting fight aswell, and the crowd really added to it. Loved that fight.

 

Rest of the card was pretty good aswell. Rodrigo Damm vs Gaspar was short and sweet, Damm put in an impressive performance. Vina vs Campos was good too. Great come from behind KO for Vina after losing the first two rounds. And Wolverine nicking a tight fight too, Wolverine was another one I liked on the season. I hope he drops to 135 now. It's would be the perfect division for him. Alcantara vs Dias was alright, it didn't deserve the boos, wasn't the most fast paced fight but a good technical ground fight. Dias looks good.

 

Tremendous card top to bottom. I think we could see guys like Massaranduba, Wolverine and Bodao go on to have pretty good careers in the UFC. The 2 TUF winners aswell and I really think Daniel Sarafian will be one to keep an eye on in the next couple of years.

 

edit

 

Just seen the bonuses

 

Fight Of The Night - Wand vs Franklin

KO Of The Night - Marcos Vina

Sub Of The Night - Rodrigo Damm

 

I'll be honest, I liked the main event but I wouldn't have given it FOTN personally. I thought the 3rd and 4th were pretty slow. I thought Mutante vs Serginho was the FOTN myself. I hope them guys and Bodao and Macarrao get some extra coin for their efforts cos them two fights were great fun.

[David]

Good news! We'll still be getting the Vitor/Wanderlei fight!

 

The long-awaited Vitor Belfort-Wanderlei Silva rematch didn't happen on Saturday, but the UFC still has its sights on the two meeting again.

 

A broken hand suffered last month by Belfort knocked him out of the UFC 147 main event against Silva, whom he had coached against in the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil." Rich Franklin took his place and won a unanimous decision.

 

But the UFC is targeting its next event in Brazil