UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski - May 8th

[Egg Shen]

9 underdogs won on the card, really was a crazy night for results and shock finishes. I'll talk about it more tomorrow when i got time but that right hook that dropped Shogun was fucking sickening, it was all on the nose too, the quietness of the crowd just amplified the sound of it too, harsh.

[Jaffa]

Yamasaki was a bit trigger happy with the point deductions as well in the Prazeres/Taisumov fight.

Disagree - I thought Mario was too lenient and should have DQ'd Taisumov for being a cheating cunt.

 

During the course of the fight he poked the eye twice, grabbed shorts for leverage twice and grabbed the cage four times.

 

What a cheating cunt.

[wandshogun09]

There were definitely grounds for point deductions but he seemed very quick with them to me. Did he warn Taisumov at all? I'm sure Jon Anik said he did so maybe I'm being harsh.

 

There's no consistency with point deductions. Jose Aldo vs Chad Mendes for example, Aldo grabbed the cage a few times in that fight and you could argue it really changed the course of the fight. I don't think the ref even warned Aldo for the cage grabbing there, much less took a point. And Aldo wound up knocking out Mendes with a knee shortly after. Anderson Silva grabbed Chael Sonnen's shorts a whole bunch of times in their second fight, to fuck all punishment from the ref.

 

Of course, none of this means someone else should get away with it but it's all so inconsistent. Take punches to the back of the head for instance. Hendo landed a bunch of them on Shogun at the finish last night (this isn't me making excuses for Shogun by the way, he was done by that point anyway). Not a word from the ref. Travis Browne battered the back of Gonzaga's head with elbows last year as well, and it was scored a TKO for Browne. On the flipside you have Yamasaki outright DQing Erick Silva for a couple of stray punches to the back of the head, and Mazzagatti taking a point from Lesnar against Mir for the same thing.

 

It's very, very rare points are taken for eyepokes in MMA as well. Nine times out of ten that's an accident. It's a hazard of the sport and with fingerless gloves it's always going to happen. Same with groin shots. There might be some who do it deliberately but I'd say it's accidental most of the time. It happens at least once pretty much every show unfortunately.

 

Either way I might be mixing it up with the Parke/Santos point deduction. And I rush-typed that half asleep at 3am or something. I didn't have a huge gripe with the call, just seemed like a lot more point deductions last night than usual.

 

Shogun's nose

 

Dan Henderson @danhendo

I hope that fight lived up to everyone's expectations! Thanks for supporting me. Much respect to @ShogunRua, I'll always be a fan.

 

Shogun Rua @ShogunRua

Thanks to all the fans and my sponsors for the support, and to @danhendo for the fight. He is a legend. I did my best. I guess that's what makes MMA exciting, but losing hurts a lot. Now I want to enjoy my wife and daughters for a while. Tks for all the msgs!

 

Two class acts.

 

I saw a post-fight interview with Hendo earlier and he still reckons he's making one last run at the title. At either 205 or 185. There's no way I see him coping with Jones or Weidman, or for that matter Gustafsson, Cormier, 185 Machida or Jacare. I'd love to see him pull it off and finally get that UFC belt before he retires but it's just not happening, is it. He even mentioned possibly fighting Anderson Silva again. Can't see it happening myself.

 

Who do we reckon Hendo fights next? No-one really jumps out as obvious. Maybe a rematch with Little Nog? If he drops to 185 I'd love to see him vs Cung Le. Or maybe even do the Wanderlei rubber match after Chael/Wand plays out?

 

I could see Shogun fighting Jimi Manuwa next. Unless they try again to book Shogun vs Nog 2.

 

Oh yeah, Brian Stann was great again wasn't he? After Thiago Santos' crushing body kick on Ronny Markes;

 

"You just see the soul of Ronny Markes exit his mouth."

 

Edited for a less massive picture of Shogun's broken face.

[The Cum Doctor]

Yamasaki definitely should have thrown the fight out. I've never seen someone so blatantly break the rules so many times in the same fight. Wasn't quite as embarrassing as the Villante/Maldonado fight though, which I just stopped watching completely midway through the third round.

[Jaffa]

There were definitely grounds for point deductions but he seemed very quick with them to me. Did he warn Taisumov at all? I'm sure Jon Anik said he did so maybe I'm being harsh.

 

I think Mario told him twice he was on his last warning. However, i've only been watching MMA for a few months so i'm not entirely sure what i'm talking about.

 

There's no consistency with point deductions.

 

That's my complaint with football referees as well. I agree that the manner in which Mario and Oddjob both dealt with the penalty deductions was inconsistent. I know Mario has been around a while - is the other bloke new? Perhaps he was trying to assert himself a bit?

[wandshogun09]

Haha I might have to rewatch the Taisumov vs Prazeres fight. I can't say I was exactly engrossed in it or paying super close attention. I was half watching that, half changing a shitty nappy so I don't know much better than you in this instance. Oddjob was new yeah. I saw a lot of complaining on twitter about him, mostly from fans but also the odd MMA journalist and Dana White himself.

 

I wish Herb Dean and John McCarthy could ref every fight. Everyone makes the odd cock up but those two are generally the safest bet to officiate fights for me. Especially McCarthy. Josh Rosenthal was pretty consistently great as well (save for the Weidman vs Munoz horribly late stoppage). But he's in legal shit because he was found to be running a weed factory in his spare time, which was said to be worth over $1 million.

 

Why was Maldonado vs Villante embarrassing, Mr Cum? Villante gassing? I think Maldonado's body battering style is a joy to behold personally. He should steal the nickname 'The Body Snatcher' from the boxer Mike McCallum, who was also a terrific body puncher.

 

I actually thought the ref should've stepped in in the third round of that fight though. Villante was completely fucked, any defences he had were gone and he was taking a lot of shots to the head and body. He was out on his feet. A beating like that could potentially do more damage than a straight KO because of the sheer amount of punches he was taking. There seems to be a reluctance from refs to step in if a fighter is still on his feet but in cases like this a stoppage is warranted IMO. I thought the Diaz vs Maynard fight from November was stopped late as well actually.

[Jaffa]

I'm with you on Big John and 'Erb. I've also been impressed with Keith Peterson (lovingly known as Manchild in my house).

 

The fight is worth rewatching - good pace and perfect octagon control from Prazeres. He's got the Belfort physique hasn't he?

[The Cum Doctor]

Why was Maldonado vs Villante embarrassing, Mr Cum? Villante gassing? I think Maldonado's body battering style is a joy to behold personally. He should steal the nickname 'The Body Snatcher' from the boxer Mike McCallum, who was also a terrific body puncher.

 

Maldonado was actually good to watch. He just kept Villante in reach and punched the shit out of him. But you might as well just have put a punching bag in front of him after a while. Fair enough Villante showed a fair bit of heart in there, but I got the feeling Maldonado really should have finished him. He was there for the taking.

[wandshogun09]

Ah right. I think that was down to a mixture of Villante's toughness, Maldonado's slight lack of one punch power and the ref's reluctance to step in. There was a point where Maldonado cracked him and his legs went as he backed off into the fence and it was just blatantly clear he was finished. I really think the ref should've stopped it. It's often said that if a fighter isn't intelligently defending themself the fight should be over, and basically that whole third round was Villante just getting beat up with no defence and no fighting back. It was over. There was an uppercut in there that was scary as well. Maldonado couldn't find that finishing touch and Villante was doing just enough wobbling about to stay vertical, but was taking a bad beating. At that point it's up to the ref and the guy's corner to save the fighter from himself.

 

Shogun needs to never wear this shirt again;

 

He's 0-2 in fights where he walked in with this on. It's a curse. Burn them all. Should stick with the black version he wore when he murdered Te Huna.

[wandshogun09]

Next Fight Night;

 

 

FIGHT PASS MAIN CARD

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Roy Nelson

Clay Guida vs Tatsuya Kawajiri

John Howard vs Ryan LaFlare

Ramsey Nijem vs Beneil Dariush

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Jared Rosholt vs Daniel Omielanczuk

Rani Yahya vs Johnny Bedford

Thales Leites vs Trevor Smith

Alan Omer vs Jim Alers

 

We'll get this on BT Sport no doubt, being that this falls under the EMEA events which BT have the rights to. Also, don't be surprised if this is aired on Channel 5 like the London show was. Abu Dhabi time-wise will line up nicely for the show to air at a good time in the UK. I remember the last Abu Dhabi card (UFC 112) was live at 7pm or something on ESPN. And this show was advertised pretty heavily at the O2, as well as taking up the whole back cover of the UFC London program. I reckon this will be one of 5's six UFC events covered in 2014.

 

It's taken the UFC four years to return to Abu Dhabi. The last show in 2010 was a huge spectacle. A guy named Sheikh Tahnoon and Flash Entertainment in Abu Dhabi bought into the UFC a few years ago and actually own 10% of the company.

 

 

That's Sheikh with Dana White. They actually own one percent more of the company than Dana. But I'm not sure how much of a role Sheikh or Flash Entertainment play. Still, these Abu Dhabi guys have a shitload of money. Stupid amounts of it. So much so that they built an arena on Yas Island specifically for the UFC's debut there, only to pull the thing down the week after the event.

 

Looked awesome as well;

 

So you'd expect the UFC would be feeling kind of obligated to deliver a tremendous show for their new partners to really kick off the relationship with a bang. They stacked the card up. You had two title fights - Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia for the middleweight title, and BJ Penn vs Frankie Edgar for the lightweight title. Then there was a legends match between Renzo Gracie and Matt Hughes.

 

It was expected that Anderson and BJ would score impressive and spectacular wins here. They didn't.

 

First BJ came out as flat as a gymnast's tit and lost his title to the underdog, Edgar. A decision that was disputed and debated but ultimately everyone agrees it wasn't Penn's best showing. So that wasn't good.

 

Then Anderson jived his way around Maia for five rounds en route to a lopsided, albeit fucking bizarre, decision win. A fight Dana was so embarrassed by he actually got up and walked out halfway through.

 

 

Dana after the show

"This was a historic event for us. The arena tonight was incredible. The energy was amazing, and to end it the way that we did was an embarrassment for me, the Fertittas, the UFC and the sport in general.

 

I apologise, and I will - I don't know how yet - but I will make it up to the fans who bought this shit tonight.

 

I'd rather have somebody say, 'Let's not buy the Anderson Silva fight tonight because he knocks people out in two minutes,' rather than, 'He runs around like a jackass for five rounds.'

 

I honestly don't know what to say. I'm so blown away and disgusted and saddened. How do you sell Anderson Silva after tonight? How do you do it? People don't want to see that shit. I don't want to see it.

 

It makes me sick to my stomach."

 

Of course, four months later Anderson submitted Chael Sonnen in an incredible fight and all was forgiven. But yeah, a terrible start to the UFC/Flash Entertainment relationship.

 

To top it off, Renzo Gracie and Matt Hughes stunk the joint out earlier on the card in a fight where it looked like Renzo was fighting in treacle. Matt Hughes won that fight by TKO and battered Renzo with leg kicks. That tells you all you need to know really. Matt Hughes the striker. Just a poor show. There were some good fights. BJ/Frankie wasn't bad, just a bit flat. Mark Munoz vs Kendall Grove was excellent, as was Dos Anjos vs Terry Etim. But the last three fights left everyone deflated. The main event was both hilarious and infuriating to watch in pretty much equal measures.

 

Telling is that it's taken so long for the UFC to return. That experience with UFC 112 really seemed to sour Tahnoon and Flash. Now almost four years to the day later, the UFC returns. Hopefully this one goes more smoothly.

 

Big Nog vs Big Country is an intriguing main event. But I hope to God it doesn't go five rounds. I can't see any way this is as bad as Silva vs Maia, but I can't even begin to imagine how fucked Roy Nelson will look in rounds four and five, should it go that long. He's routinely gassed to fuck by the second round these days. The third he's usually wheezing and sweating like a fat kid in PE. Twenty five minutes of that could be hard to watch. I don't see it going that long but you never know.

 

Nogueira is probably my favourite heavyweight in MMA history. A proper legend, one of the greatest heavyweights of all-time. A career full of amazing fights. Maybe more heart and toughness than anyone in the sport when you look at the shit his body has gone through over the years. From getting ran over by a truck as a kid which nearly killed him and left him in a coma to his MMA injuries - Mir snapping his arm, the knee injuries, the staph infection, the double hip surgery. It's amazing he's still going at a decent level. He's clearly on the way out but he kind of surprised everyone with how good he looked, physically and in his performance even in defeat, against Werdum last year.

 

I've said a few times that I've got a bad feeling about this though. In his prime I'd pick Nog all day. On pure skills, Nog is the superior fighter in my opinion. But he's older, slower, his chin isn't what it was, he can't move like he used to. He's got a lot of miles on the clock. Looking at him you find it hard to believe he's actually younger than Anderson Silva. He's had a rough career. Roy does fade so if Nog can get through rounds one and two, I could easily see him outworking him. But ever since the fight was announced I haven't been able to see past Roy catching Nog early with that big overhand right or an uppercut. Nog isn't knocking him out, he's unlikely to submit him, and his takedowns aren't great these days either. It's hard to see a route to victory. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

Nog's looking in much better condition recently though, so that gives me some hope. This is how he looked in October 2012 after an injury layoff;

 

 

And this is how he looked a month or so ago during camp for Nelson;

 

 

He got in really good shape for the Werdum fight last June, and it looks like he's stayed in shape for this one. That could serve him well if this fight reaches the later rounds, especially against Fat Roy.

 

Could be a very fun fight, or could be a bit of an embarrassment. Nelson is weird like that, and indeed in general.

 

 

Guida vs Kawajiri is another fight that could go two very different ways. I do love this fight on paper but you never know which Clay Guida you're getting. Still, pretty cool that all these years later and we're still getting these UFC vs Pride fights.

 

Clay Guida has been involved in some of my very favourite fights in MMA history. His wars with Diego Sanchez, Roger Huerta and Tyson Griffin were all classics and I'd recommend anyone new to MMA who hasn't seen those fights to seek them out. Kawajiri had his share of fantastic fights himself in Japan against Takanori Gomi and Gilbert Melendez in Pride, and Eddie Alvarez in DREAM. When these two are on they are so much fun to watch.

 

But...

 

There's a risk with this as well. As great as Clay Guida can be, he's also had some really cack fights. And in recent years we've seen more of that Clay than the Crazy Caveman Clay of old. He has fights where he just doesn't engage and just bounces around doing very little. The Gray Maynard fight in particular was painful to watch.

 

If that Clay turns up here, we might be in for a very frustrating and uneventful fight. It seems like these days it takes the other guy really pushing Clay to drag something out of him. I think Kawajiri might be able to do that. And with Kawajiri's wrestling background, Clay shouldn't be able to just stifle him. Usually when Clay can't do that it turns into a real battle.

 

 

So yeah, I think this will be good. But there is a outside chance that Clay dances for 15 minutes, and Nelson gasses in the main event. The Abu Dhabi curse could rear its ugly head once again.

 

Rest of the card isn't any great shakes really. So all the more reason to hope the two top fights deliver. It's not an awful undercard but nothing stands out too much.

 

I like John Howard, I can see Nijem vs Dariush being a lively main card opener. Jared Rosholt is apparently a huge Hulk Hogan fan and his nickname is 'Big Show'. Yahya vs Bedford should be enjoyable. I think Yahya is one of the more under appreciated guys on the roster, his grappling is great to watch. Thales Leites is 2-0 since returning to the UFC so he's looking to keep the ball rolling. Hopefully we'll get a few submissions out of these guys, that should go over big in Abu Dhabi, being the home of the ADCC's.

 

Not a bad show on paper. Nothing earth shattering but I always look forward to seeing Nog fight. And I'm really hoping Guida vs Kawajiri turns out to be a corker. 145 is pretty wide open after Mendes and Swanson get their shots, so the winner of this might not be too far away from a contenders fight.

 

[jimufctna24]

Whatever I can say about Jon Anik, I find him inoffensive when paired with Stann. I think Stann is a breath of fresh air on commentary, and makes up for the blandness of Anik. Was pissed when Hendo landed big, credit to him for making it through the first two rounds (where Shogun looked better than he has done in years). Two legends delivered a worthy sequal to arguably the greatest MMA fight ever.

 

I kinda hope they make a 3rd fight. I went 2-9 on predictions for this card. That must be my worst for a MMA event ever. I must just be a lazy bastard who picks favorites.

[Egg Shen]

Why was Maldonado vs Villante embarrassing, Mr Cum? Villante gassing? I think Maldonado's body battering style is a joy to behold personally. He should steal the nickname 'The Body Snatcher' from the boxer Mike McCallum, who was also a terrific body puncher.

 

Maldonado was actually good to watch. He just kept Villante in reach and punched the shit out of him. But you might as well just have put a punching bag in front of him after a while. Fair enough Villante showed a fair bit of heart in there, but I got the feeling Maldonado really should have finished him. He was there for the taking.

loved Maldonado's performance, he's one of my favorite fighters in the UFC at the moment, just granite tough and technically so far ahead of most guys in terms of boxing. He's of of the few guys who applies a primarily boxing style and makes it work, he's clearly got massive holes in his game but there's few guys that can stand in front of him and trade punches with him. There was a part in the 3rd round where Maldonado was moving forward putting a beating on Villante when Villante out of nowhere threw a great right hand that cracked Maldonado on the chin, Maldondo pointed at his own chin like 'that was nothing' and just kept going, great moment...gotta give Villante some credit though, he took a 10 minute beating, he could have dropped at any moment.

 

and what about CB Dolloway? holy shit, that guy's taken shit up another gear recently, looking forward to see him taking on a high ranking opponent just to guage how far he's come, hes looking like the finished article now though, goes to show that in MMA you can never write a guy off. This time last year i think most MMA fans would look at CB as a mainstay middle of the pack guy, but he seems to be breaking out of the pack and is making a legit run at the top 10.

[Egg Shen]

Whatever I can say about Jon Anik, I find him inoffensive when paired with Stann. I think Stann is a breath of fresh air on commentary, and makes up for the blandness of Anik. Was pissed when Hendo landed big, credit to him for making it through the first two rounds (where Shogun looked better than he has done in years). Two legends delivered a worthy sequal to arguably the greatest MMA fight ever.

 

I kinda hope they make a 3rd fight. I went 2-9 on predictions for this card. That must be my worst for a MMA event ever. I must just be a lazy bastard who picks favorites.

you wouldn't be alone man, 1 favorite won out of 11 which is crazy when you think about it. If anyone stuck one of them sneaky

[The Cum Doctor]

Was really impressed with CB Dollaway on Sunday. Never thought he lost the Boetsch fight and enjoyed the battle with Sarafian before that.

 

I hope they give him Boetsch again or give him a decent step up. I'd prefer to see him have the chance to rectify that loss though.

[wandshogun09]

I'd like to see Dollaway vs Yoel Romero. That could be all kinds of fun. Or maybe even Dollaway vs Uriah Hall. Most of the top names at 185 are either booked or coming off losses.

 

After the Hendo vs Shogun 2 finish, me and my mate were on about the worst broken noses in MMA. Shogun's was bad but looking back I still think Rich Franklin's nose after the first Anderson Silva fight might be the worst. Brandon Vera's after the Thiago Silva fight and Cung Le's after the Wanderlei Silva fight were pretty gruesome as well. Basically Silvas kill noses.