UFC 162: 'Silva vs Weidman'

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Yeah, Belfort got embarrassed by Anderson. He's more than earned his rematch. He knocked out Bisping (who was being lined up for a title shot if he won). Then he did a spin kick KO on Luke Rockhold, the Strikeforce champ and top UFC contender, in round 1. He knocks out 2 top contenders back to back, hasn't lost at 185 since 2010 when Anderson beat him, yet he still doesn't get the shot?

 

Who deserves it more at 185 than Belfort? If Weidman wins Saturday, fair enough, Anderson deserves his rematch. But if Anderson wins, who is ahead of Belfort at 185? Don't tell me Bisping is one win away again.

 

Now I'm reading that Rockhold wants a "contenders fight" on the Cain vs JDS 3 PPV. Eh? Contender? He just got spin kicked into oblivion in the first round. Why would he be in a contender fight next?

Rockhold's always seemed like a bit of a knob to me. I can't put my finger on exactly why, but he seems kinda smug and has one of those "punchable" faces. You know what I mean.

 

My counter-argument to Dana: Cain/JDS II. Cain lost in a minute, won one fight, then dominated JDS for 5 rounds. You could say that part of it was due to a lack of viable contenders in the division, but the same could be said about the middleweights, the fact that Weidman is getting a title shot after a year of inactivity shows a lack of depth.

[wandshogun09]

Re Jim - idiot or troll?

 

I used to think the latter but recently I'm thinking he must have taken leave of his senses. Seriously, since the FOX deal and the meneires disease he seems to be losing his marbles. He says the busier schedule hasn't effected him but it must be to some degree. Look at his face there in that picture on the last page. He's losing it.

 

I mean, the Sonnen title shot at Jones I understood. The other contenders turned it down or were hurt and Chael stepped up. GSP vs Diaz wasn't as justified, Johny Hendricks earned his shot. But from a business perspective I get it, the proof is in the pudding, GSP vs Diaz was the biggest PPV so far this year and in the top 5 or thereabouts all-time in company history. Fair enough.

 

Anderson vs Hendo 2 is crackers to me. At this point it is. If Dana was saying this after Hendo beat Shogun then fair enough. But Hendo has lost two on the bounce and not looked too good of late. He's coming off losses at 205 and 185. There's no reason to think it would do better business than Anderson vs Belfort 2 either. Do that rematch in Brazil and you're looking at potential for monster numbers in Brazil. I dare say it would do better in the US right now as well after Belfort's last two performances.

 

Dana's been sampling Josh Rosenthal's hash stash I reckon.

[jimufctna24]

You may have a point with his medical problems.

 

My viewpoint is this, I do not think Dana is as hands on these days. Helwani asked him the other week about some Swedish fighter who won on a prelim a few months back, the guy had just be arrested for I want to say armed robbery. Dana was dumbfounded and had no idea that had happened despite it being reported in MMA Media sites.

 

He probably forgets that Hendo lost the Machida fight, or forgets how impressive Belfort has been. I do like Dana in general, but he does not half make a tit of himself at times.

 

Edit: It kinda works hand in hand, his medical problems could be affecting his memory.

 

Re Jim - idiot or troll?

I would say I am more of an idiot, if I was trolling I would have a excuse

[wandshogun09]

That was Reza Madadi. Yeah that was odd that he didn't know. You'd think if it was plastered all over the MMA news sites then the boss of the UFC would have known before.

 

Shane O, I'm with you on Rockhold. He's a smarmy twat. He's got almost a Mir level smugness to him.

 

On your point on Cain and JDS, I'm going off topic here but sod it - that's another thing Dana said recently that I think is bollocks. First he said something like 'if Cain beats JDS like he did last time, it would be hard to sell a fourth fight'. Fair do's. But then he said something like 'but if JDS wins, maybe they'll fight a fourth time'.

 

Why? I paraphrased there because I can't be arsed to find the interview but that was the gist. Why is it one rule for some fighters and another for the rest? I completely agree with him that if Cain wrecks JDS again, a fourth fight is almost pointless. But say JDS comes out and sparks Cain in a minute again? What, Cain gets another go despite JDS beating him twice in 2 minutes? Dana baffles me sometimes. It shouldn't shock me though. It's clear Zuffa want Cain to be the main man at heavyweight. You only have to listen to Rogan verbally wanking him for the whole 25 minutes of Cain vs JDS 2 to know what's up.

 

Nothing against Cain. He's great, and he's just doing what he's supposed to do. But you can tell when Dana and the boys are rooting one way or the other and it grates on me for some reason.

[jimufctna24]

It does reek of clear double standards that, but I get his logic.

 

It goes back what is seen more of a victory and sign of superiority in MMA, a one shot Knockout or beating your opponent at every aspect of the game for 25 minutes. I think the latter is seen more as a sign of superiority as the former can be dismissed as "oh well he just got caught and made one mistake" Whereas over 25 minutes people tend to see that as a definitive representation.

 

It is a double standard, because different fighters have different styles and win in different ways, but that is the nature of the beast.

 

Its still stupid that Dana would come out and say it though.

[wandshogun09]

I get that logic but a decisive win is a decisive win at the end if the day. And it doesn't get much more decisive than a knockout. Dana's always banging on about finishing fights and "don't leave it in the hands of the judges", so JDS's win should count for more in his logic, right? If Cain had knocked JDS out in a minute I doubt people would be dismissing it as JDS 'getting caught'.

 

And if JDS beat Cain again by knockout, how many times can you just 'get caught'? I know what you're saying but I've always hated that phrase in MMA and boxing. To me, you get caught because you're opponent caught you. He deserves the credit. That's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Dana and Zuffa are really shooting themselves in the foot with this mentality. I get that they want Cain to be a big star to help crack the market in Mexico, what with wanting to have a TUF there and all that, but making Cain a star doesn't have to be at the expense of JDS. Look at the light heavy stars of the 2000s. Liddell, Ortiz, Shamrock and Couture (as well as Vitor). Liddell was the main man, but those 4/5 guys all carried a fair amount of star power. Dana shouldn't be playing favourites, he should be maximising the star potential of all his talent, that's what a real good promoter does.

 

I think Dana sees the domination of GSP at WW, Anderson at MW and Jones at LHW, and wants a champion of that mold at HW. However, the "dominant champion" model isn't the only successful business model there is.

[jimufctna24]

I get that logic but a decisive win is a decisive win at the end if the day. And it doesn't get much more decisive than a knockout. Dana's always banging on about finishing fights and "don't leave it in the hands of the judges", so JDS's win should count for more in his logic, right? If Cain had knocked JDS out in a minute I doubt people would be dismissing it as JDS 'getting caught'.

 

And if JDS beat Cain again by knockout, how many times can you just 'get caught'? I know what you're saying but I've always hated that phrase in MMA and boxing. To me, you get caught because you're opponent caught you. He deserves the credit. That's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

In principle I agree with everything you are saying. But I did feel that the second fight between Cain vs JDS was more representative than the first. We learnt a lot more from it than we did the first fight in relation to the strengths and weaknesses both fighters have.

 

If JDS knocks him out again, then the second fight will mean less to me and further change my opinion. The "just get caught" thing annoys me as well at times and I think Dana is tying himself in knots as because as you said he is the king of "do not leave it to the judges"

[lambyUK]

Dana is obviously a fucking idiot here with his comments regarding Vitor Belfort. The simple fact is that Belfort is probably Silva's biggest fight outside of Jones or GSP after Chris Weidman.

 

Belfort 100% deserves this shot. However, for me, Belfort isn't vocal enough about wanting this rematch. I mean after he knocked out Bisping he started rambling on about a rematch with bloody Jon Jones? WTF?

 

He's just beaten a fighter in the middleweight division to the call out Jones who decimated him? I know recently he's been politely sort of asking for Silva, but the guy should be doing what he did after that Bisping fight but directing it to Silva.

 

On current form Belfort has a massive opportunity against Anderson despite what happened in the first fight. It's says a lot that most of the MMA public want the rematch.

 

White truly has lost the plot.

[wandshogun09]

Ha, yeah Belfort was off his rocker after the Bisping fight. I think you're right though, he might need to really be more vocal about wanting the shot to convince Dana. It's one of the reasons Machida still hasn't had the Jones rematch, whenever it's brought up Dana says he doesn't really push for it like Sonnen did and Gustafsson has. I think Vitor needs to James Toney Dana follow him about, keep nagging him, get fans to bombard his twitter etc. Maybe then he'd take notice. You'd think doing a Ryu on Rockhold's head would have done the trick but I guess not.

 

Of course all this could be a moot point if Weidman pulls it off tomorrow night. Then we'd be getting Silva vs Weidman 2.

 

Jim, I defo agree on Cain vs JDS 2 answering more questions. I do actually think Cain is the more complete fighter and I'm picking him to go 2-1. But the question JDS answered in the first fight was that he has the power to put Cain out. If it happened once it can always happen again. I think JDS will come back better in the third fight but I still have Cain winning on points. I've got a feeling it will be a lot more competitive than the first two though.

 

Wonder if Bifkin's going to the Expo?

[Dead Mike]

It might be worth considering how much control Anderson has over who he fights. We know he's just signed a new contract & at this stage of his career for him to sign up for 10 more fights he must've got some element of control? Whilst I totally agree that Belfort's earned his shot & talk of Hendo is ridiculous, if the UFC tell Silva they want him to fight Belfort again & he says 'no, been there done that' what can they do?

[wandshogun09]

That's true. Dana was hinting that Anderson might not be up for covering old ground again with Belfort, and said he thinks Anderson wants the big money legacy fights. GSP and Jones I suppose. Might be more wishful thinking on Dana's part though.

 

Anderson does want to fight Jones soon. Roy Jones. He's still banging on about that and Dana said Roy Jones will be in attendance tomorrow and that they've "been talking". Fuck knows. If it somehow happens it will be more to appease Anderson than anything else, because he wants to fight his idol.

 

Maybe Dana'll Fix It will try to make a deal with Anderson that if he can grant Anderson's wish to fight Roy Jones somehow, then Anderson agrees to fight the other Jones?

[Dead Mike]

Yeah, I totally don't see it as Anderson trying to duck certain/tough fights or anything like that otherwise he would've instantly dismissed Jones who's a far tougher prospect. I always saw it as him wanting fresh challenges, be it Weidman, Bisping, GSP or Jones.

[wandshogun09]

The more I think about it, I really think Dana might try to make this Anderson Silva vs Roy Jones fight, as mad as it sounds. He's never wanted to do it before so why does he suddenly seem open to it now? He said no for years, now it's "we'll see" and they've "been talking" and he's the UFC's 'guest' tomorrow.

 

I think he'll try to make it as a favour so that Anderson owes him one. I think we're going to have to get through the farce that is Silva vs Roy Jones to get the megafight that is Silva vs Jon Jones. It's the only reason I can think why Dana's suddenly open to the RJJ fight. This way Anderson gets to tick 'fight my idol' off his bucket list, and Dana cashes in on Spider vs Bones.

 

Sounds mental but I wouldn't be surprised if this is what Dana is cooking up. The Rock smells it.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I hope Weidman's been working on his striking in his time out of the Octagon. Just been watching some of his past fights, and while he's a killer on the ground/in grappling situations, he has nowhere near that comfort level striking. He caught Munoz with a sweet elbow, but his bread and butter is primarily the grappling and submissions. Given how Silva has made capable strikers like Griffin, Okami and Vitor look, Weidman needs to make sure that aspect of his game is super tight. Sure, he may be able to give Anderson fits on the ground, but if he can't get it there quickly, what then?

 

Really hope Jones is the next challenge for Anderson. Pity it won't be in November at MSG for the 20th anniversary, but it works equally well for New Year's or the Superbowl weekend.