UFC on FX 7: 'Belfort vs Bisping'

[jimufctna24]

Bisping is the king of double standards. But to be fair, most fighters like most humans have character flaws.

 

I go back and forth with him, but one thing about him is that I always care what he is doing. He is never a dull that is for sure.

[evets_backwards]

Looking forward to this. Bisping plays the heel so well.

 

Can't see the prelims on ESPN, is this going to be available anywhere?

 

Also what time do we think the Facebook fight is on??

[Swift89]

Looking forward to this. Bisping plays the heel so well.

 

Can't see the prelims on ESPN, is this going to be available anywhere?

 

Also what time do we think the Facebook fight is on??

 

Facebook fight will be around 10:30. Prelims at 11:00 here - http://www.ufc.tv/ufc/event/prelims/1906?s=true

[evets_backwards]

Cheers Swift .

[Tazzmission]

Anyone having a flutter on this tonight....I'm considering a belfort/rothwell double

[Egg Shen]

i was gonna go for a Bisping, CB, Rothwell treble but ive been so far off recently ive decided not to bother.

[wandshogun09]

I am SHIT at betting. I'm not usually too bad at predicting fights but if there's money riding on it, 9 times out of 10 I lose. I am crap. Never been much into betting anyway. Probably because I'm crap.

[godisfoley]

I want bisping to win but can see him getting ko'd tbh

[wandshogun09]

I don't wanna say I told you so and I wouldn't usually but...

 

I actually think Belfort's underrated as a complete striker. As well as his much praised boxing, he has a nice left head kick and good knees (remember what they did to Marvin Eastman?).

 

People will say he hasn't used them lately but it's hard to use the Thai clinch against fighters who are taller than you. You can't get the same leverage. It wouldn't have worked on Jones. And clinching with a wrestler would be a shit idea anyway. Same with kicks. Like I said he does have a good left head kick. I'm sure he threw it in the Sexyama and Liddell fights and more times which I'm forgetting.But against wrestlers throwing kicks is high risk.

 

 

 

Don't know what that outburst after the fight was;

 

"Get out Chael! Get out! Get the cow (?) away. Let me fight Jones"

 

Did I hear right? Cow?

 

EDIT - Ah...clown

 

He won't get Jones obviously. I wouldn't mind a second go around with him and Anderson though. Despite how the last fight ended I think it would still be a good rematch to make. Especially with other contenders like Wiedman on the shelf. Anderson might not be keen on a rematch though. I'd rather see Anderson vs Belfort 2 than Anderson vs Rockhold right now though to be honest. I think Rockhold vs Philippou would be good.

 

Bisping was gracious in defeat.

 

As for the fight, it went how I expected. Like I said, I really do like Bisping as a fighter. He's very good at a lot of things, but I just don't think he's quite got enough about his game to keep him afloat at that higher level. We saw it when he fought Hendo, Wanderlei and now Belfort. And all of them are aging legends. Bisping will still beat the majority of the division but against the top level guys he'll come unstuck time and time again. He was doing pretty well early on but Belfort always takes a bit of time to find his range. Once he did Bisping had no answer.

 

Sarafian vs Dollaway

Aw shit. I expected big things of Sarafian. If you're going to be a big deal you should be beating CB. But I think we'll see better from Sarafian in the future. He looked great tonight for a round and a half. That uppercut he dived into at the end of round 2 was the game changer. And he either gassed or just had a big adrenaline dump midway through.

 

I think he showed a lot of good points though. His sweeps especially, even when he was knackered, were amazing. When CB had him mounted and Sarafian just kind of rolled and stood up, that's ridiculous. To be honest, if he could do it I'd like to see Sarafian test the cut to 170. He looked really short against CB and if he could do it healthily I think he could be a force at 170.

 

Really good fight. I agreed with the decision. It was a close 3rd round but CB had more of the round for me.

 

Gonzaga vs Rothwell

It's great to see Gonzaga going back to his routes. Much like Demian Maia, he got away from what made him a top fighter in the first place for so long. I thought he looked sloppy as fuck on the feet though, he looks to have regressed in the striking a fair bit. But he still tagged Big Ben with some hard shots and his grappling was enough for him tonight.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing Gonzaga vs Roy Nelson actually.

 

Nurmagomedov vs Tavares

Seriously impressive showing from the Russian here. Thiago Tavares is one of those underrated long serving UFC veterans who's been in with pretty much everyone and always gives guys a tough fight. He got battered here though. I was surprised, I thought we'd get a close decision out of this not a 1 round blitz. Easily Nurmagomedov's best performance so far in the UFC.

 

Prelims were pretty hit and miss.

 

*Lentz vs Nunes was disappointing. Not Lentz' fault, it wasn't pretty but he was always trying. Landing shots, advancing position. It was just frustrating as a fan of Nunes that he couldn't get anything going. I had it 30-26 for Lentz. I gave the first round 10-8 because it was a total raping. Nunes got no offence in at all. Really impressive how Lentz shut him down, Nunes usually has solid takedown defence but he got schooled via wrestling tonight.

 

*I enjoyed Trinaldo's submission win. Glad to see him doing pretty well for himself. He was a favourite of mine from TUF Brazil.

 

*And I'm a sucker for leg locks so I loved Ildemar Alcantara's kneebar on Wagner Prado. Gotta think Prado's a gonner now.

 

*Barboza looked good bouncing back in style from the Varner loss. He looked huge physically as well. He's hit the weights. The jab leading to the finish was beautiful.

 

Good show overall.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Ha, nice call on the head kick, Wand.

 

Now, I should be happy. Bisping got head kicked into oblivion and I hate that guy. But as the fight began, I decided I really want Bisping to win. Look at the middleweight division now, it's a complete clusterfuck. Ending 2012, it looked as strong as it ever has, but in 3 weeks, Boestch, Belcher and now Bisping have been forced out of contention. Weidman is injured. We have Strikeforce middleweights coming over, but none of them are ready for Anderson as a debut fight. Anderson Silva vs. Luke Rockhold? Anderson Silva vs. Jacare Souza? No thanks, at least not now.

 

I'd like to see Anderson vs. Belfort II happen in Brazil, but UFC don't seem to want that, considering the title shot provision was only for Bisping. Vitor himself didn't help by calling out Jones and Chael. He really needs to pick a division.

 

I wouldn't have said this a few months ago, but the best option for a middleweight title shot seems to be Hector Lombard. He destroyed Palhares in a round, too bad it was on essentially a TUF Finale that probably got low US viewership. I'm thinking his upcoming bout with Okami should be a contendership deal like Belfort vs. Bisping was, because surely no one wants to see Yushin Okami fight Anderson Silva again, not even his parents. Especially his parents.

 

Oh yeah, the FX show. It was good I guess. Nothing bad there really, but nothing that stood out too much, everything was just there. I was also disappointed with the Lentz vs. Nunes fight, smart gameplan and the Lentz of old- highly effective but not very fun to watch.

 

Sarafian vs Dollaway

Aw shit. I expected big things of Sarafian. If you're going to be a big deal you should be beating CB. But I think we'll see better from Sarafian in the future. He looked great tonight for a round and a half. That uppercut he dived into at the end of round 2 was the game changer. And he either gassed or just had a big adrenaline dump midway through.

 

This was the one fight I really enjoyed. Sarafian showed a lot of potential. I'm not the biggest CB fan but the guy's always been tough, and he took some big shots. On Sarafian's part, I don't think he so much gassed or had an adrenaline dump, I think CB quite literally beat the fight out of him with that 2nd round flurry.

 

Decent start to UFC's 2013, although it leaves us with way more questions than answers about the middleweight division.

[wandshogun09]

I wouldn't have said this a few months ago, but the best option for a middleweight title shot seems to be Hector Lombard. He destroyed Palhares in a round, too bad it was on essentially a TUF Finale that probably got low US viewership. I'm thinking his upcoming bout with Okami should be a contendership deal like Belfort vs. Bisping was, because surely no one wants to see Yushin Okami fight Anderson Silva again, not even his parents. Especially his parents.

 

Lombard would be a marketable fight for Anderson based off his last fight but still, he lost his fight before that. I'd love to see it though. But I can see Okami spoiling that party to be honest.

 

On Sarafian's part, I don't think he so much gassed or had an adrenaline dump, I think CB quite literally beat the fight out of him with that 2nd round flurry.

 

Yeah you're probably right. He looked fine cardio wise before that shot that hurt him late in round 2. Might just be a case of him getting caught with a hard shot and never fully recovering.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I wouldn't have said this a few months ago, but the best option for a middleweight title shot seems to be Hector Lombard. He destroyed Palhares in a round, too bad it was on essentially a TUF Finale that probably got low US viewership. I'm thinking his upcoming bout with Okami should be a contendership deal like Belfort vs. Bisping was, because surely no one wants to see Yushin Okami fight Anderson Silva again, not even his parents. Especially his parents.

 

Lombard would be a marketable fight for Anderson based off his last fight but still, he lost his fight before that. I'd love to see it though. But I can see Okami spoiling that party to be honest.

Okami will firmly be in my hated fighters list if that happens. Okami's annoying in the fact that he beats very good guys (Belcher, Marquardt) but looks inept against Anderson. Definition of gatekeeper.

 

Funny that they've just signed Anderson to a 10 fight deal (Heidi Androl called it a 10 year contract, stupid bitch, that'd make Anderson about 48 before he retires), and they can't find fights for him anytime soon.

[wandshogun09]

Chael has responded to Vitor going mental on him after the fight;

 

"Let me be real clear and speak direct with you Vitor: you've been telling the world that you'd like to meet Jesus. I'd be glad to arrange that travel. But, first, I'm going to get rid of Jon Jones. But, you are next. Let me be clear: Vitor, I accept. Don't make any mistake about that. You have called me out twice now, once after I signed a contract to fight Anderson Silva and once when you know I was busy with Jon Jones. I accept."

 

With Belfort seemingly wanting to go back up to 205, this would be an ideal fight to make after Jones wallops Chael.

[The Natural]

Dana White wasn't amused by Dan Miragliotta in the Nurmagomedov/Tavares fight:

 

that is officially the END of Dan M!!!! Guys head is straight up his ass 2 night!!!! 17 vicious strikes!!!! After he was already hurt

 

From Dana White's twitter account

 

I've always said give me an early stoppage over a late one. An early one can be frustrating but a later one can have serious consequences. Who would have ever thought White wants Miragliotta out before Mazzagatti?

[DJM]

Okami's annoying in the fact that he beats very good guys (Belcher, Marquardt) but looks inept against Anderson.

To be fair, nearly everyone looks inept when fighting Anderson Silva.