UFC on FX 6/ TUF: The Smashes (Aus vs. UK) Discussion Thread

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

On top of that, Freakshow can actually fight. That's the essential part of MMA. In pro wrestling, all the character and style in the world can mask the fact that they can't go in the ring. In MMA, if you can't back the schtick up by fighting, then it's worthless. Seeing Sots and Wall underestimate him due to all those factors and then getting beat made a great story.

 

This past week's of the Smashes was a bit of a weird one. The fighters seemed to bond over the wasabi/peri peri challenge, so that whole segment was decent entertainment. Despite all the UK guys saying that they respect Ben Wall and are treating him differently, he still seems like a grumpy bastard. I've hardly seen him crack a smile yet.

 

The Aussies continued the prank wars by doctoring Pearson's photo a bit. Funny thing about that, is that Sots did a Q&A on his Facebook, and was asked about his thoughts on Freakshow tampering with his picture. He said that he found it extremely disrespectful, that the walls of a gym were like the walls of a church, and that such behaviour had never occurred on TUF. That kinda soured me, as it seemed pretty douchey, especially after seeing his retaliation this week, but also that's happened on TUF a few times IIRC, definitely did last season with Faber and Cruz.

 

The fight was what it was. Definitely lived up to the billing of being "explosive", all 19 seconds of it. Wasn't really enough to judge the skills of either guy, other than Whittaker can take a punch and respond in kind, but not kindly. So, another Aussie win, but was hoping for a better scrap.

[David]

On top of that, Freakshow can actually fight. That's the essential part of MMA. In pro wrestling, all the character and style in the world can mask the fact that they can't go in the ring. In MMA, if you can't back the schtick up by fighting, then it's worthless.

That's the key point in all of this, isn't it? It's all fine & good having the look, the personality and all that jazz, but if you're not a good MMA fighter you'll sink pretty quick (like Kimbo did).

 

Seeing Sots and Wall underestimate him due to all those factors and then getting beat made a great story.

You think they underestimated him? I don't think they did really. Sure, they made comment on his appearance, and were trying to encourage their fighter, but they weren't any more confident than both sides usually are every week in my opinion.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

They mentioned in training that he was just a clown and had only beaten guys with bad records or something. Think it filled Wall with false confidence.

 

I have a dilemma I wasn't able to pay my bill on time for Foxtel and will miss the Smashes for about 2 weeks. Any chance someone can direct me on how to change my proxy temporarily to a US one?

[Egg Shen]

yeh, the false confidence thing is something i mentioned in my lil write up. You tell someone that your opponent isn't on your level and has never beaten anyone any good, only in reality to go in and find that guy you're fighting is much better than you've been told must mess with your head, like 'who the fuck is this guy!?'

 

Fletcher is the man.

[wandshogun09]

Enjoyed episode 3. The fight was too short to really guage much on, but they both really went for it. And Whittaker did well to come back. Of all the Aussies, I kind of like Whittaker so far. You can tell he's got a bit of a nasty streak to him.

 

The wasabi challenge was good fun. I'm liking Freakshow more every week.

 

G-Sot again came off a bit of a div I thought. Even moreso in light of what Shane O said about him giving it the "walls of the TUF gym are sacred" sort of stuff. The doctoring of Pearson's photo was quite funny though and Pearson took it as a joke, as it should be taken.

 

Good show. I'm still liking it more than TUF 16 so far. The country thing adds to it, the show feels different, they have Freakshow who is a breath of fresh air for TUF in my opinion and there's already needle between the coaches which I didn't really expect much of going in.

[METAL ON METAL]

Week behind there Wand?

 

 

Anyway, this weeks ep was pretty good. Some more in house stuff being focused on, which is a good thing imo. As has been the case for every episode so far, Freakshow just stole the show - the guy is just pure fun and the life of any party. Told you he'd make this season good.

 

Again I thought the Aussies came across as humourless arses, especially George, his assistant coach and that Xavier (who tends to think he's American a lot of the time). How unoriginal can they get? Brits deface poster, Aussies deface poster. Brits ruin dressing room, Aussies ruin dressing room. George tries to bait them with exactly the same comments as the previous weigh-in. Sots really isn't coming off great on the show so far, a real charisma vacuum. Also found it odd that Sots wore those strange leg/knee tights he wears in fights just for the sand sprints.

 

A grinding fight but had some good elbow strikes from Parke though. Strange selection from Sots given the size difference.

[wandshogun09]

Ha, yeah I'm playing catch up. This having 2 seasons of TUF going at once is tough to keep on top of at times. Especially when you have almost weekly events going at the same time.

 

Planning to watch this week's episode tomorrow so I haven't read past the first bit of your post.

[David]

The fight pick by the Australian team in that last episode was highly questionable. Vaculik is fucking tiny for a lightweight, standing only 5'6 or thereabouts. Sotiropoulos kept banging on about his speed and agility, but I didn't see any of that from him. He looks like an overweight featherweight, or perhaps even a bantamweight. Parke is pretty big for the weight, and from the first bell it looked as though it was a bit of a mismatch.As for the Australians, I think they're taking it as all business. Would I be right in saying that on average their guys are older though? Maybe that explains their lack of antics.

[wandshogun09]

Finally got around to watching episode 4. Good stuff again.

 

Again I thought the Aussies came across as humourless arses, especially George, his assistant coach and that Xavier (who tends to think he's American a lot of the time). How unoriginal can they get? Brits deface poster, Aussies deface poster. Brits ruin dressing room, Aussies ruin dressing room. George tries to bait them with exactly the same comments as the previous weigh-in. Sots really isn't coming off great on the show so far, a real charisma vacuum.

 

On the bold bit, the best bit was when Sot went "how unoriginal" after the UK bucket prank. Then they pretty much copied it

 

I've really soured on G-Sot this season so far. I liked him going in but he just seems so up his own arse and miserable. He's trying to be smart with his trash talk but it's coming off crap.

 

I'm all for the coaches having a bit of needle but was there any real need for him to have a dig at Luke Newman with the "you're welcome to train with us, we have good striking coaches" line? That didn't show him in a good light in my opinion, especially knowing that him and Luke trained together before TUF. Seemed a bit of a prickish thing to say to someone who'd just lost and who was a training partner of his previously.

 

And it's not like G-Sot's one to talk is it? Remember this...

 

 

Georgy got sparked in a minute by Rafael Dos Anjos, a fighter I'm very high on but he'd never KO'd anyone before that, I don't think.

 

Vaculik is fucking tiny for a lightweight, standing only 5'6 or thereabouts. Sotiropoulos kept banging on about his speed and agility, but I didn't see any of that from him. He looks like an overweight featherweight, or perhaps even a bantamweight.

 

Yeah I'm sure Parke actually said before the fight that Richie fought mostly at 145 and even 135 prior to coming on the show. It's a common thing with TUF, there's always guys dropping weight classes after the show. Was a very strange choice from Sot though.

 

Few other thoughts;

 

*The pranks were childish but it was entertaining enough. I wish that bucket of coffee and stuff would have landed on Xavier's stupid twatty head and soaked the div. My hopes were raised when I saw it was him approaching the door. I thought it couldn't happen to a nicer twat. But he avoided it mostly

 

*The Team Aus striking coach is an absolute irritating pillock. He's been slowly getting on my tits since the first or second episode but now he's dancing on them. I don't like him. Might be a nice bloke but from the little bits I've seen he seems really fucking annoying.

 

*Norman 'Pick Me' Parke looks good. He won in dominant fashion and aside from that brief early attack from Richie, he didn't take much damage at all. That's the way you want to win a fight early in the season. Well, any fight but especially early on TUF when you will have another fight coming shortly.

 

*What is it with Sot saying all the Team UK guys have fought no-one? He said it about Freakshow and he said it again about Parke. It's not all about who you've fought, his team haven't exactly been world beaters either. That's 2 UK fighters he's seemed to underestimate now and both times his guy lost.

 

*I did laugh at Team Aus' Manny Rodriguez impression of Parke. He does a pretty good Irish accent and his "I've spent all day doin' me hair" raised a bit of a chuckle.

 

*Freakshow running bare-arsed through the garden cracked me up (pun intended).

 

*This week's show looks really good. The Team UK party plus someone leaving. Wonder which Brit wants to go? I'm thinking Luke Newman maybe, just because he just lost and his medical suspension means he can't train fully. Can't think who else would want to leave. They all seem happy enough.

 

Oh and on the speculation about what the crazy thing Dana had to deal with was...this was posted on the Cage Warriors forum the other day...

 

OK, so I'll address it. Apparently G-Sots gets pinged by the Team UK boxing coach in a car park that leads to a bit of a melee. I originally heard it was Ross as the pair genuinely dislike each other. Discuss.....

 

The guy who posted it has a link to Your MMA in his sig and most likely works for them. It isn't a bullshit site so maybe he's been given some info?

 

It sounds bad but if it's just a scuffle in the car park then I don't see why this would be the big thing they couldn't air on the show and had to have Dana flying out. Maybe it's worse than it sounds and George gets proper lamped or something. Fuck knows?

[METAL ON METAL]

Interested to see if that's the case, sounds pretty mental. Did Dana say that crazy thing wasn't going to be shown?

 

 

I've heard some rumours about what happens with the fights (in the octagon, not car park), not sure whether to spoiler tag or just keep quiet as I don't wanna potentially ruin things for some on here.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah Dana said that they won't be airing whatever it was that happened. Has to be something pretty serious for them to not want to try to get ratings out of it.

 

He also said he underestimated the UK vs Aussie rivalry and was saying it was the craziest season they've ever done.

[Egg Shen]

it aint really living upto the expectation yet in terms of craziness, some time to go though.

 

glad wand. pointed out that Sotiropolous has twice sent his guys into fight by telling them that the Brit has never fought anyone good, or with a winning record and twice it's backfired on him...i dont think it's a wise thing to tell someone before going into a fight.

 

And i think i mentioned it before, but i recenently rewatched the TUF season that featured George and it surprised me that since the show and until now so many people warmed to Sotiropulous as a person, he came off as a bit of a prize dick on that show as well, not so much for the sake of it but he's all business and doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor. Until i rewatched i myself had him down as a this happy Australian guy but it aint the case. I'm still a fan as far as his fighting ability goes though.

[jimufctna24]

I am going to guess the Boxing coach story to be true, and Dana had to fly out to try and get some people out of jail or smooth things over. If it was a riot in the car park you have to remember they all had to live with each after that.

 

Lots of footage from TUF gets left out, there was a clip of a guy smacking another guy in a garden a few years back that they showed in the show preview that got left out, and Matt Mitrione claimes James McSweeney was even worse than the footage shown.

 

You would think they would put this stuff in but for various reasons they don't.

 

This season is nothing revolutionary, but it is good for what it is. I have enjoyed it more than Carwin vs Nelson that I given up on after a few weeks. At least country vs country has not been done to death, but the TUF format is so old now I do not think even Jones vs Sonnen can bring much additional interest in if they keep the regular formula like they have for Carwin vs Nelson.

[1SinN6]

The one thing he's been using to hype the season, and they are not gonna air it. LOL

[wandshogun09]

And i think i mentioned it before, but i recenently rewatched the TUF season that featured George and it surprised me that since the show and until now so many people warmed to Sotiropulous as a person, he came off as a bit of a prize dick on that show as well, not so much for the sake of it but he's all business and doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor. Until i rewatched i myself had him down as a this happy Australian guy but it aint the case. I'm still a fan as far as his fighting ability goes though.

Yeah wasn't he being a big tart about something to do with Ben Saunders? I think Saunders wanted him to call him if he woke up first or something and George was being a right grumpy shit about it. I love watching him fight but he's never seemed a very likeable bloke really has he. If you want a likeable fighter from that part of the world you can't go far wrong with these two fuckers...New Zealand has Aus beat for top blokes in MMA. Ray Sefo was fucking quality as well...