UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski - May 8th

[herbie747]

Silva always confuses me. When watching him fight, I always think he's just toying with his opponent and he can just finish at any second when he decides to - because he's that much better and after 2 or 3 mins he has their movement & reflexes sussed - like he did with Bonnar & Forest & Sonnen 2.

But most of the time he doesn't do it - like with Diaz & Bisping & Maia & Weidman 1. But all throughout those fights, the second he started showboating, I kept thinking "ah, here we go - he's had enough now and is going to finish!"

 

Last night I kept thinking he could finish Bisping any time he wanted - but he ended up losing!

[jimufctna24]

Last night I kept thinking he could finish Bisping any time he wanted - but he ended up losing!

I got that feeling. 

 

Bisping contended before the fight that others have been dazzled by his clowning, and that led to their downfall. Obviously, this hasn't always been the case throughout his career - there have been times where Anderson has put away opponents with relative ease.

 

However, recently, Bispings words have some merit. Anderson's is/was a master of his craft, not just in terms of skill, but also the mental game. Sadly for him, in recent years his mental ploys have been part of his undoing. They have not had the desired effect of forcing his opponents to curl up into a shell or make errors out of frustration. The likes of Bisping and Weidman respected him, but they weren't in awe of him.  

[seanz25]

Worthwhile notes from press conference btw:
 

• Biggest Live Event by a long mile on Fight Pass. *Non-Press Conference note but the whole time last night they kept noting they're revamping Fight Pass so may well include a network type stream like we've mentioned in one of the other threads. Coincides with all the added content.
• Spoke about BBC Deal - But didn't really elaborate on what it actually covers or the long term plans. (Worth noting they did live coverage with loads of video highlights and interviews last night)
• Record breaking gate for UFC in London. Made 2 Million $ in gate.
• Someone asked about the UK TV deal ending, they're shopping it mass market. Hope to announce stuff in "coming weeks and months"
• Someone also mentioned PPV over here and they didn't outright say it wouldn't happen yet which is probably worthwhile taking note of.

[seanz25]

DOUBLE POST*

[wandshogun09]

March 19th, the UFC is back in Brisbane, Australia.

 

 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD

Mark Hunt vs Frank Mir

Hector Lombard vs Neil Magny

Jake Matthews vs Johnny Case

Antonio Carlos Junior vs Dan Kelly

James Te Huna vs Steve Bosse

Bec Rawlings vs Seo Hee Ham

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS

Alan Jouban vs Brendan O'Reilly

Justin Scoggins vs Ben Nguyen

Richard Walsh vs Viscardi Andrade

Chad Laprise vs Alan Patrick

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Ross Pearson vs Abel Trujillo

Rin Nakai vs Leslie Smith

Dan Hooker vs Mark Eddiva

 

Not a bad little Fight Night really. As usual, the fight order is likely to change yet. Got a feeling they're going to shove something good like Pearson vs Trujillo on the Fight Pass bit.

 

 

Hunt vs Mir headlines. No surprises who I'm pulling for in this one. Love Hunt, loathe Mir. I've said this before but if I had to narrow down my favourite MMA heavyweights of all-time to just four it'd be Big Nog, Cro Cop, JDS and Mark Hunt. Of the four, the only one Mir is yet to face is Hunt. Obviously that's about to change. Mir's done well against my Fantastic Four as well. The cunt. He's gone 3-1 against them so far. He's already beat Nog (twice) and Cro Cop. Needless to say, I'll be fucking gutted if he beats Hunt as well.

 

 

Just look at the smug prick.

 

He's coming into this fight off a decision loss against Andrei Arlovski in September. It was probably the worst UFC fight of 2015. Just abysmal stuff. In fairness, before that he was riding a whopping two fight win streak where he'd KO'd Todd Duffee and Bigfoot Silva in the first round. Still, Duffee's never been much cop and Bigfoot's on his last legs. Hunt's last fight was also a sort of hollow first round KO over the empty shell of Bigfoot in their rematch. A totally different fight to their five round all-time classic in 2013.

 

Still, it's heavyweight MMA. That division seems to exist completely separately to the other weight classes and, no matter how bad a loss you're coming off, you're always basically just two wins away from a title shot. So if Hunt wins this, especially if he's able to KO Mir, he's probably looking at a #1 contender fight next.

 

Come on Hunt, you fat god of the walk-away KO.

 

 

Lombard vs Magny is a solid co-main event. This is Lombard's return to the cage after a suspension for PED use. He's riding a three fight win streak since dropping to 170 (although his last win over Josh Burkman was overturned to a No Contest because of the test failure). He's looked scary at 170. Wrecked Nate Marquardt in a round, completely ragdolled Jake Shields to a shutout decision then battered Burkman for three rounds (then got popped for steroids). It'll be interesting to see how he looks coming off the suspension. Performance-wise and physique-wise.

 

And Neil Magny is the perfect opponent to ask some serious questions of him. I'm not the biggest fan of Magny, always found him a bit bland. But he's a good fighter, he's got skills and he's coming off back-to-back wins over Kelvin Gastelum and Erick Silva.

 

 

Te Huna vs Bosse should be a fun one. Te Huna comes across as one of the nicest guys on the roster to me. He's had a shit run though. He hasn't fought since June 2014, he's been plagued with injuries all that time. And he's on a three fight losing streak where he was stopped in all three fights (Marquardt, Shogun, Teixeira). The only thing that's probably saved his job is that he's an exciting fighter. If he loses this one though, I can't see him staying around.

 

Steve Bosse is a guy I know very little about. The pic I've used above is all I remember him for, being on the wrong end of a brutal headkick KO from Thiago Santos. Bit harsh but that's the first thing I think of when I see the bloke's name.

 

 

Shoeface returns to the octagon. Antonio Carlos Junior there with JDS. Shoeface! I love the Brazilian nicknames. To be fair, that is quite a lot of face, isn't it?

 

Shoeface is a decent fighter in all seriousness. Excellent BJJ. He won TUF Brazil 3. Seems a likable guy as well. I don't think I've ever seen him without a smile on his face outside the cage. The crowd will be firmly in Dan Kelly's corner here though. He's Aussie and has a legit judo background and repped Australia in the Olympics. Could be a good BJJ vs Judo grappling battle this.

 

Rawlings vs Ham could be alright. Rawlings is Aussie so the crowd will be into it. She was a fucking twat on TUF 20 but she's got an aggressive style so I expect a good fight. Ham had a good fight against Joanne Calderwood a while back. She's tiny though. I remember thinking she's too small even for strawweight.

 

I hope she wins though.

 

 

If for no other reason than her dog being awesome.

 

 

Pearson vs Trujillo is going to be all kinds of chaos and violence. Doesn't exactly make sense with Pearson coming off a loss and Trujillo coming off a win but who gives a fuck? This is just one of those fan friendly matchups that must've taken all of two seconds for everyone to agree on when Joe Silva probably floated the idea. Hope Pearson wins. He's been on a win one/lose one run for ages now, I'd love to see him string together a bit of a streak. Trujillo gives off a proper arsehole vibe to me as well.

 

 

Nakai vs Smith is not going to be pretty but I actually am looking forward to it. What a combination this is.

 

Leslie Smith is a scrapper. The photo I've used there is from her fight with Jessica Eye where she nearly lost her ear. Almost got proper Mick Foley'd. And she wanted to carry on. She trains with Team Cesar Gracie which is the same gym the Diaz brothers, Gilbert Melendez etc train. She seems cool but a bit of a nutter.

 

Nakai is one of the weirdest fighters in MMA. Her record in Japan is full of cans, where Pancrase often stacked the odds in her favour. Then there's the YouTube stuff. Proper odd videos of her sitting eating in her underwear and getting beetles put on her and stuff. Seriously. In Japan this is probably on morning telly but it's weird as fuck. She doesn't look like she's enjoying it either. Best of all, I read a while back that apparently it's her husband filming the videos. It's a strange way of promoting a fighter but...yeah, Japan.

 

She's got a unique style of trash talking as well...

 

 

Tate beat her by decision but she didn't look very impressive. I don't know if that was Miesha having an off day or a credit to Nakai being an awkward opponent. That was in September 2014, don't know what's kept Nakai out of action so long.

 

What else?

 

- Alan Jouban is a good prospect and was looking promising before running into Albert Tumenov.

 

- Scoggins vs Nguyen could be the sleeper on the card. Scoggins was thought to be a future flyweight title contender not long ago and he's just got back on track. Nguyen has looked good so far as well, remember him being a solid striker. Nice clash of styles here.

 

 

So there you have it.

[seanz25]

This one starts at 8:30AM for the Aussies. Fuck that.

[Supremo]

We got a couple of face value tickets off Twitter in the end, and boy, that main event may have been the greatest fight I've ever seen live. I've never experienced drama quite like that third round finish.

 

The crowd were going fucking apeshit throughout the main event, something the broadcast didn't convey nearly half as much, so nobody in the crowd heard the buzzer. Pretty much everyone thought the fight was over at the end of the third. People were grabbing their coats. So when the ring card girl started walking around the cage holding up the sign for Round Four it was absolutely magical. First there was a soft buzz as people started to realise, which eventually built to one of the loudest ovations I've ever heard. It was incredible. The crowd exploding when he was announced as the winner was amazing too. A tremendous man event that helped save what was an otherwise disappointing show.

 

I scored it for Bisping, and I'm glad he won. Chuffed for him. Can't believe this is the same guy who used to be my most hated fighter. What a feel-good story.

 

Anderson Silva is a fucking weird guy, isn't he? It's like he lost the fight on purpose. Whenever he stopped clowning and allowed himself to actually fight he looked leagues ahead of Bisping, so it was baffling as to why he didn't just attack for a prolonged period of time. The flying knee and the front kick to the face were both brutal, and whenever he turned it on with punches Mike always looked on the verge of going down. So strange.

 

Also, Scott Askham may have clinched my knock out of the year. The way he stayed calm when his opponent was dancing and wobbling, then smoothly hit the walk away head kick was absolutely phenomenal.

 

So yeah, a good show overall. Bisping and Pickett should have both announced their retirement though. Neither are going to have better opportunities in more perfect circumstances and surroundings.

[kev2050]

The crowd were going fucking apeshit throughout the main event, something the broadcast didn't convey nearly half as much, so nobody in the crowd heard the buzzer. Pretty much everyone thought the fight was over at the end of the third. People were grabbing their coats. So when the ring card girl started walking around the cage holding up the sign for Round Four it was absolutely magical. First there was a soft buzz as people started to realise, which eventually built to one of the loudest ovations I've ever heard. It was incredible. The crowd exploding when he was announced as the winner was amazing too. A tremendous man event that helped save what was an otherwise disappointing show.

 

I was suprised at how quiet the crowd came across on TV too. I really wish they would amplify the crowd noise on TV to try and convey some of that atmosphere. I suppose that's what makes it worth watching live though.

 

I was sat pretty much next to one of the exits, and there were definitely people that left after the 3rd round thinking Silva had won. We were actually stopping people from leaving telling them it wasn't over, one drunk guy we stopped lost his shit when he realised it wasn't over and went rushing back to his seat!

 

We didn't have a clue in the arena until that ring girl went round with the round 4 sign. Like you say, that mass realisation from the crowd, then the noise, all trying to get behind Bisping, what a moment......

[Egg Shen]

I might be in the minority here, but i didn't actually think Anderson looked that much like a fighter in decline. When Anderson chose to attack he looked lethal, his speed, power and range of techniques looked as good as ever to me. I just thought Bisping did a great job of pressuring Anderson without being reckless. Anderson Silva always destroyed people who lunged at him, he was the master counter striker but Bisping did a great job of peppering him with fast accurate shots, not taking the bait and getting out of dodge before Anderson attacked. Anderson may have lost a step timing wise and that's understandable but i don't think the drop off was that much.

 

Anderson was in that super playful mode in there and i agree that you always felt that he could just finish Bisping at will if he chose but that lack of urgency has been something that's littered his career, if you ain't giving Anderson the looks he wants he can get lulled into doing very little, it's a strange thing.

 

What a performance from Bisping though. I had him winning 48-47 and he came very close to a finish which i don't anyone expected, and what a fucking chin. The bout was very entertaining too, i probably enjoyed watching that fight as much as any that i've watched in the past few years. Great stuff.

 

I see Nick Diaz has been having a pop at Bisping...there's the fight. Bisping/Diaz.

 

The rest of the card was pretty enjoyable, i thought a flat sounding audience harmed it a little. The Mousasi/Leites fight wasn't terrible but the crowd just wasn't into it and that can sometimes harm a fan's view of a fight. Mr Finland/Wilkinson, Vera/Grant and Pickett/Rivera were all good fights. Pickett's win fucked up my acca too, the amount of time's ive lost on a single fight that went to a split decision is just ridiculous now (happened with Saturday's boxing too). Oh, gotta mention Askham's KO too, boink.

[Chunk]

The rest of the card was pretty enjoyable, i thought a flat sounding audience harmed it a little. The Mousasi/Leites fight wasn't terrible but the crowd just wasn't into it and that can sometimes harm a fan's view of a fight.

 

Yeah, that was annoying. Everyone in my row was remarking on how stupid the general reaction to that fight was. It's MMA, not a street fight. Anyone who knows even a bit about the sport is silly to expect every fight to end in a knock out after a wild brawl - which might say something about who was in attendance on the night. I say fair play to Mousasi. He took some risks against Hall and paid for it. He seemed a bit pissed off in the build up to be fighting someone ranked under him. He went in there and got the job done without getting hurt. Smart.

[seanz25]

I'd be looking at Bisping/Diaz for UFC 200 if Bisping's cleared to fight by then. Although might be a push, there's a horrendous interview with him and Helwani post fight, Bisping's dressed in his press conference gear and he has to receive a towel half way through as the cuts just keep opening up and dripping down his face.

 

I agree with what you said about Silva, Ebb. He did look pretty good still, although his chin like others have mentioned looks more suspect than it has in the past and that might lead to his downfall against other opponents. He also looks like he needs his coach to tell him to stop fucking about and go win the bout on points if he's not managing to hit a KO.

[Egg Shen]

 

The rest of the card was pretty enjoyable, i thought a flat sounding audience harmed it a little. The Mousasi/Leites fight wasn't terrible but the crowd just wasn't into it and that can sometimes harm a fan's view of a fight.

 

Yeah, that was annoying. Everyone in my row was remarking on how stupid the general reaction to that fight was. It's MMA, not a street fight. Anyone who knows even a bit about the sport is silly to expect every fight to end in a knock out after a wild brawl - which might say something about who was in attendance on the night. I say fair play to Mousasi. He took some risks against Hall and paid for it. He seemed a bit pissed off in the build up to be fighting someone ranked under him. He went in there and got the job done without getting hurt. Smart.

 

did you see Mousasi's post-fight interview with Helwani? He was still pretty pissed off and spoke his mind a little, had a right pop at Lyoto Machida too.

[Chunk]

 

 

The rest of the card was pretty enjoyable, i thought a flat sounding audience harmed it a little. The Mousasi/Leites fight wasn't terrible but the crowd just wasn't into it and that can sometimes harm a fan's view of a fight.

 

Yeah, that was annoying. Everyone in my row was remarking on how stupid the general reaction to that fight was. It's MMA, not a street fight. Anyone who knows even a bit about the sport is silly to expect every fight to end in a knock out after a wild brawl - which might say something about who was in attendance on the night. I say fair play to Mousasi. He took some risks against Hall and paid for it. He seemed a bit pissed off in the build up to be fighting someone ranked under him. He went in there and got the job done without getting hurt. Smart.

 

did you see Mousasi's post-fight interview with Helwani? He was still pretty pissed off and spoke his mind a little, had a right pop at Lyoto Machida too.

 

 

Nah, didn't see that. Not sure how smart that is though. Complaining too much might not be the way to ensure you get booked in a fight you want ...

[Supremo]

 

I'm a much bigger fan of this idea than I am of Bisping getting murdered by Rockhold. When is Nick's suspension up? Bisping vs. Diaz feels like the perfect fight to make for both guys.

[seanz25]

 

I'm a much bigger fan of this idea than I am of Bisping getting murdered by Rockhold. When is Nick's suspension up? Bisping vs. Diaz feels like the perfect fight to make for both guys.

July 12th. Like 3 day's after UFC 200. So they have a few options, this is a solid co-headline for a PPV if they're looking to get the ball rolling with a strong card following 200, don't think it's strong enough as a main on it's own to charge $50, suppose could probably by with it on the next DJ fight that never sell well presuming he wins at 197. Or they stick it as a main on Fox/Another FP exclusive show.