David Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I'd love to see Condit vs Diaz 2. But the MMA Beat lot were on about that a while ago when Diaz was sitting out spending his GSP fight money. Apparently the UFC offered Diaz a rematch with Condit and he's not interested. I think it was Luke Thomas who said that he'd heard that Diaz had no interest in fighting Condit again as he expected Condit to fight the same way as last time. I love Diaz but that's typical Diaz shite. He won't fight me how I want him to and play to my strengths so I'm not interested. To be fair to Nick, he's simply being smart. I think he realises that he's rather limited as a fighter, especially at the top level of todays game. Why would he want to use up whatever drawing power he has in a fight with someone who's going to most likely beat him, and also make him look bad? He's only 31, so he can afford to pick his moments. Time isn't exactly running out for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 5, 2015 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 5, 2015 This is tomorrow then. Weigh ins are done. FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD Tim Boetsch (185.5) vs Dan Henderson (186) Matt Mitrione (255) vs Ben Rothwell (265) Yancy Medeiros (159.5)* vs Dustin Poirier (156) Brian Ortega (146) vs Thiago Tavares (146) Anthony Birchak (136) vs Joe Soto (136) Alex Caceres (136) vs Francisco Rivera (136) FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS Derrick Lewis (264.5) vs Shawn Jordan (263.5) Omari Akhmedov (171) vs Brian Ebersole (170.5) Christos Giagos (155.5) vs Chris Wade (155.5) Justin Edwards (156) vs Joe Proctor (156) FIGHT PASS PRELIMS Ricardo Abreu (183) vs Jake Collier (185.5) Leonardo Morales (140)** vs Jose Quinonez (135) * Medeiros was given two hours to make the lightweight max of 156 pounds. ** Morales was given two hours to make the bantamweight max of 136 pounds. Got a feeling Hendo's getting stopped again. It's not an unwinnable fight for him but my confidence is pretty shot on his ability to absorb punishment like he used to. And it might be even more apparent now he's cutting weight as well. Mousasi dropped him within a minute in his middleweight return in January. Early stoppage or not he was definitely hurt. He was getting rocked fairly often at 205 over the last couple of years, the weight cut will likely make him even more susceptible to the KO. I think Boetsch summed it up in the pre-weigh in video when he said something like - "my ability to take punishment and come back is better than his at this point in time". That's what this fight will probably come down to IMO. Loved Dominick Cruz's little dig at Urijah Faber when Bruce Leeroy was weighing in. Karyn Bryant mentioned Leeroy's loss to Faber and said "but no shame in that, a lot of people lose to Urijah Faber." To which Cruz replied with something along the lines of "...unless they're fighting for the title." Ha. The bastard. Alpha Fails. Cruz vs Faber 3 still needs to happen at some point. Some good fights on this card to be fair. Caceres vs Rivera, Tavares vs Ortega and Poirier vs Medeiros in particular stand out. And even Hendo vs Boetsch could be a slugfest, I suppose. I just don't see Hendo's chin holding up in that kind of fight anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I recall feeling uncomfortable watching the D.C vs Hendo fight. It was a needless slaughter, and in retrospect, terrible match-making. If Hendo gets mauled by Boetsch it will be even more unfortunate. At least D.C is a stand-out fighter who will probably be inducted into the Hall Of Fame one day. Boetsch is a steady journeyman, who has never been top 5 in his weightclass. Watching Hendo lose to a fighter who 5-10 years ago would not be considered suitable to be a showcase opponent for him is pretty dire. Whilst it's just the nature of combat sport, it's rarely entertaining to see legendary fighters go out with a whimper, regardless of the opponent. Hendo's chin has probably gone the same way as Liddell's. The second it got cracked, there was no going back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 6, 2015 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 6, 2015 Yeah and at least when Liddell's chin went he was losing to top names and former champions like Shogun and Franklin. No disrespect to Boetsch because I like him but Hendo losing to him would be sad. It'd have been like Chuck Liddell losing to someone like James Irvin in 2009. Just doesn't sound right, does it? Hendo's chin is weird. I remember him getting dropped in fights as far back as the Pride days but he always bounced back and usually found a way to come out on top. He was never really a guy who just ate big shots like we've seen Nelson, Hunt and JDS do. He'd get knocked down but he seemed to recover very quickly. That's what seems to be fading now. You look back over his last bunch of fights and he's been dropped in nearly every one of them. Jan 2015 - Mousasi stopped him in a minute and decked him on pretty much the first proper exchange. May 2014 - Cormier mostly grappled so didn't drop him. Mar 2014 - Past-it Shogun dropped him twice before Hendo came back. Nov 2013 - Belfort dropped him twice and KO'd him. Before that, I can't remember if Rashad and/or Machida dropped him too. They might've done. Shogun knocked him down in their first fight. Memory is murky but he's definitely been floored five times in his last four fights. Not good. Maybe six. Didn't Mousasi drop him twice? The most noticeable thing now for me is that he's not as offensive as he used to be. He throws one shot at a time and he hangs back a lot just waiting for his chance. But when he does that, faster opponents can close the gap quicker and crack him. And if the Mousasi and Belfort fights are anything to go on, it seems his recovery powers are slipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 it seems his recovery powers are slipping. I think that is the crux of it. Hendo used to get dropped, but he never seemed delicate. You knew his chin could take serious shots, and he could recover with relative ease. That is not the case these days. The Vitor fight was the turning point, before that I don't think Hendo had been stopped on strikes. I think Mousasi only dropped him once, but I could be wrong. As good as Mousasi is, I don't think he would have stopped Hendo 5 years ago, or even come that close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Caught the last few fights. It was nice to see Hendo win. The whole show is meant to have delivered big time. However, after this evening, it is safe to say that McGregor, D.C and Weidman are all irrelevant. MMA is all about one man. https://vine.co/v/eMTYZUq5Wg7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
textonly Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Man, I loved Brian Ortega vs. Thiago Tavares. It was one of those "this is what MMA is about for me" kinda fights. While maybe lacking in a little polish, Ortega looked excellent off his back, did a crapload of horrible damage and yet you still thought he could lose the fight until he wrenched it from the judges hands. A couple of the sweeps and transitions he pulled off were as exciting as some of the finishes on an already excellent card. Beautiful performance. Jon Anik completely no-sold Ben Rothwell. Brutal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Bifkin Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Man, I loved Brian Ortega vs. Thiago Tavares. It was one of those "this is what MMA is about for me" kinda fights. While maybe lacking in a little polish, Ortega looked excellent off his back, did a crapload of horrible damage and yet you still thought he could lose the fight until he wrenched it from the judges hands. A couple of the sweeps and transitions he pulled off were as exciting as some of the finishes on an already excellent card. Beautiful performance. Yeah completely agree with everything you've said there, it was a brilliant fight and what a performance from Ortega. As you say, I think he might well have lost the match if it went to the judges. What a pleasant surprise this card was. I had very little interest going in but they delivered a really fun show with lots of good finishes. For anyone still on the fence about watching it, give it a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted June 7, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2015 Given how many events they put on these days I probably won't remember anything about this show in a month or two, which is a shame, because it was absolutely awesome. Loads of exciting fights, great finishes, and one of the very best feel-good stories in the main event. Jon Anik going ballistic when Henderson won was one of the best calls I've heard in ages. His screaming perfectly captured how awesome it was for Dan to win by knock out when pretty much everyone (myself included) expected him to end up unconscious. It's frustrating though, because instead of recognising this as the best way to wrap up his career and walk off into the sunset, you can almost garauntee that Dan will keep going, viewing this as proof that he can still compete with the elite. Realistically, this was the only way he was going to win. He still has power in his shots, so if he manages to connect first then he's got a good chance of winning. The only problem is that most guys won't run at him like Boetsch did, so any fights Dan takes in the future will probably have a very different ending. But yeah; quality show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 The high amount of finishes last night is partially being attributed to the cage being smaller. Interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 7, 2015 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2015 I think the cage being smaller theory might have some merit actually. WEC used a smaller cage as well and they were banging out exciting, finish-heavy cards consistently. It's frustrating though, because instead of recognising this as the best way to wrap up his career and walk off into the sunset, you can almost garauntee that Dan will keep going, viewing this as proof that he can still compete with the elite. That's exactly what I thought. As great as it was to see Hendo get that moment, you just know this will convince him he's got another run at a title in him. Even last year coming off three consecutive losses, he beat Shogun after looking awful and immediately started on about title shots. Guys like him, Big Nog and Shogun will fight until they drop. It's scary. On the plus side as a stand-alone moment, I was chuffed to see a vintage Hendo KO. It's a shame it had to be Boetsch on the end of it because he seems like a top bloke, but happy for Hendo. Can't echo enough the praise for Ortega vs Tavares. I had a good feeling about that one going in but it even surpassed my expectations. I envisioned a fun ground war, it was at points but it had pretty much everything else you could want in a fight also. Great, great fight. Off the top of my head, maybe my FOTY so far actually. Nothing else is jumping out except for Arlovski vs Browne. Jon Anik's been kind of growing on me in recent months. I used to think he was shit and too dull but I don't really mind him now. As said, his call of Hendo's KO last night was perfect. Very pleasantly surprised by this show. The fights I expected to deliver did, but so did the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted June 7, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2015 I like Anik on commentary, but what a fucking goof at the end of the Rothwell promo - first the awkward interruption, then making him break character when eh had clearly finished with an evil laugh, and go into details on the fight. FFS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted June 7, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2015 I ended up fast forwarding through the Rothwell promo. Even for me, it was too awkward and embarrassing to sit through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted June 7, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2015 I ended up fast forwarding through the Rothwell promo. Even for me, it was too awkward and embarrassing to sit through. Yeah, the promo was the shits. He put effort into it, but it was fucking bad. It's as if he knows what he should do (be charismatic, cut promos, ask for a title shot, be OTT, etc) - but has no idea how to do it. He sees it work for other people, but doesn't know why it works. Like when Ricardo Llamas tried to do impressions so he could show everyone the 'fun' side of his personality - my favourite impression is of his Dad, who of course everyone knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted June 7, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2015 It reminded me of the Dungeon of Doom-era Giant cutting a promo on Nitro. Not good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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