jimufctna24 Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Bisping has turned down the Belfort fight, citing he doesn't want to go out talking trash, which would inevitably happen against Belfort, such is Bisping's lack of respect for him. Bisping is also on the fence whether he will fight again at all - https://www.mmafighting.com/2018/1/17/16900154/morning-report-michael-bisping-no-vitor-belfort-bout-i-dont-want-to-be-remembered-for-being-a-d-ck Bisping's reasons won't be accepted by some. Personally, I can kinda understand where he is coming from. I have mixed feelings about Belfort's MMA career myself. I can't fault his win over Wanderlei in the late 90's, his stoppage win over Franklin, the win over Rumble, and a handful of other performances that Belfort had over the years. He also showed a lot of character by not withdrawing from his first clash with Couture in early 2004 after his sister had tragically gone missing. However, there has always been something a bit hard to respect about him; at least in comparison with other fighters. The TRT thing will obviously be cited, but there's more to it than that. You can read quite a bit more about Belfort and his questionable tests here - https://deadspin.com/a-sketchy-drug-test-didn-t-stop-vitor-belfort-from-figh-1717739475 If you take Couture's observations seriously, the positive test result in Pride where he blamed the doctor, and then add in the sketchy tests later on in the UFC, then there wasn't a phase of his career where he wasn't under suspicion after drug testing was introduced in MMA in 2002. I get that Belfort isn't anything exceptional in this regard. He competed in eras where PED use was rife. However, he serves as one of the most blatant and frequent examples of a MMA drug cheat. You get the feeling that he went further than most others to bend the rules. I don't doubt that he had a lot of talent, and was a very good fighter in his own right on his day, but there were too many shortcuts along the way for me to consider him amongst the greats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bono Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 I really hope the London card is more or less finalised for when the tickets going on sale in 3 weeks . Bisping v BelforT,till v nelson, Pettis v Mairbek Taisumov Manuela v Jan Błachowicz . That would have made a great main card. If they can get and Pettis and Till on the card that's decent enough, Bisping being on the card would be the cherry on the top. At the minute it's looking poor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted January 18, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 18, 2018 https://www.mmafighting.com/2018/1/17/16901502/tony-ferguson-scheduled-to-fight-khabib-nurmagomedov-at-ufc-223-in-brooklyn I hope this right is for the official title, and not the interim, and that way things can continue to move on rather than be stuck in limbo land. Then McGregor will be free to right Nate Diaz without the title involved, or held up any longer. A hell of a fight if it managed to happen this time. I have Khabib as the winner if it makes it to the cage. Ferguson won't be put away easily and will likely be dangerous off of his back, but I struggle to see Ferguson managing to win more rounds than Khabib, whilst fighting off of his back for about 80% of the fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted January 18, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 18, 2018 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 Great news about Ferguson and Khabib. Namajunas vs Jędrzejczyk 2 is also in the works for UFC 223. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted January 18, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 18, 2018 Another instant rematch? That's ridiculous, especially given how decisively Jędrzejczyk lost. Joanna Exchampion needs to re-build with a couple more wins, and Namajunas needs to defend against someone else if her reign is going to be established. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 I wouldn't have batted an eyelid if they went in another direction, but I don't mind this instant rematch so much. Jędrzejczyk was unbeaten before being stopped by Namajunas, and had racked up 5 successful title defences. She was on the verge of cleaning out the entire division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 18, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 18, 2018 That's one immediate rematch I don't mind, to be honest. One, just because I'm a huge Joanna Jedrzejczyk fan and I want to see her get the belt back ASAP. Two, her previous dominance in the division kind of warrants it. This is no Luke Rockhold losing the belt on his first defence, in a first round KO loss to Bisping, then acting like he deserved an immediate rematch. And three, there aren't that many other contenders who make sense timing wise. Andrade, Gadelha and Kowalkiewicz are all in a sort of rebuilding phase. There's the Tecia Torres rubber match but apart from that, not much else right now. Saying that, in the big picture you're probably right. I honestly think Joanna is the superior fighter to Rose. But doing the fight over straight away might not be the best idea. I'm a big believer that immediate rematches favour the fighter who won the first fight, because the fighter who lost really doesn't get the chance to take time to make the necessary adjustments to their game and rebuild their confidence. In the long run it'd probably be better to do Rose vs Torres 3 next. It won't be as big or as easy to promote as Rose vs Joanna 2 but it's probably what's best for Joanna and we'd probably get a better rematch as a result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted January 19, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 19, 2018 4 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: I'm a big believer that immediate rematches favour the fighter who won the first fight, because the fighter who lost really doesn't get the chance to take time to make the necessary adjustments to their game and rebuild their confidence. In the long run it'd probably be better to do Rose vs Torres 3 next. It won't be as big or as easy to promote as Rose vs Joanna 2 but it's probably what's best for Joanna and we'd probably get a better rematch as a result. This is my main reason for not wanting immediate rematches, really. There's no time to develop and thus give us fans any reason to think it might end differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members mim731 Posted January 19, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 19, 2018 When was the last time an immediate rematch yielded a different result? I know it wasn't for a belt but I suppose you could argue McGregor/Diaz, but it was at a different weight class, so there was intrigue there. I agree, immediate rematches don't offer much for me, unless it's a lucky punch against the run of things, I don't see where the interest lies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted January 19, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 19, 2018 It's the Rousey situation, innit. A dominant champion loses convincingly, but returns for an immediate title shot because, despite losing convincingly, they were so dominant prior to it. I have no issue with it too. It's the most compelling match in the division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted January 19, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 19, 2018 same here, if you had another clear cut contender waiting i might feel differently, but theres so few fights in any female division that warrants any real attention or creates anticipation that when one does show up, im all for it...Rose/JJ is one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted January 19, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 19, 2018 https://www.mmafighting.com/2018/1/19/16908382/jeremy-stephens-vs-josh-emmett-to-headline-ufc-on-fox-28 Jeremy Stephens is wasting no time when it comes to getting back on the horse. Another win here would leave him in a very interesting position, a win here would possibly mean a number one contenders fight for the winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Bus Surfer Posted January 19, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 19, 2018 It appears Conor has been stripped of the title. Dana just announced that Khabib/Tony is for the big belt during the presser. Edit - Dana won't actually confirm he's been stripped but insists the winner gets the Undisputed title. Carny as fuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members GlennCullen Posted January 19, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 19, 2018 A ploy to get Conor to commit to a date then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.