UFC 168: Weidman vs Silva 2

[Supremo]

Personally speaking, I certainly care more about the women's 135 division than I do some of the smaller men's divisions. Mighty Mouse vs. Some prelims guy I've never hard of? Bore off. Regardless though, reading that quote back, you can probably substitute, "promotion," for the word, "division." That would better describe how vital she currently is. She's legitimately the brightest star and most valuable asset they have, hence why they're bringing her back so soon in February. They need her to keep winning and winning if they want anything resembling a successful year.

 

They better be ready to throw millions at Nick Diaz, too.

[jimufctna24]

Personally speaking, I certainly care more about the women's 135 division than I do some of the smaller men's divisions. Mighty Mouse vs. Some prelims guy I've never hard of? Bore off.

If you change that to care more about "Rousey" than the entire 125lbs class, then I can totally agree.

 

Rousey is probably my favorite UFC Champ other than Pettis.

[David]

Personally speaking, I certainly care more about the women's 135 division than I do some of the smaller men's divisions. Mighty Mouse vs. Some prelims guy I've never hard of? Bore off. Regardless though, reading that quote back, you can probably substitute, "promotion," for the word, "division." That would better describe how vital she currently is. She's legitimately the brightest star and most valuable asset they have, hence why they're bringing her back so soon in February. They need her to keep winning and winning if they want anything resembling a successful year.

Oh yeah, she's certainly popular, but the overall standard of female MMA is shite. It doesn't belong on UFC television.

[wandshogun09]

It's truly amazing how similar Ronda and Brock are. She's essentially becoming the female version of him. Just like Brock, she's charismatic to an almost ridiculous degree, knows how to play her role perfectly, doesn't give a fuck if fans boo or cheer her and isn't going to partake in that ridiculous charade wherein you pretend to hate each other, then shake hands after the fight and admit it was all an act. Fuck that. They'll hate you for real, beat the shit out of you, then still hate you afterwards. Of course, this results in MMA purists crying their faces off. Boo hoo.

 

Yeah, and even with how dominant she is, there's always that element of danger where anytime she's striking you half expect her to get decked. Just like Brock. Proper edge of the seat atmosphere.

 

The bold bit - another thing I hate is when a fighter wins and starts talking to Rogan, the crowd are booing them for whatever reason so they start sucking up about the city they're in.

 

Crowd: BOOOOOOOO

Fighter: I know you're all booing but I love San Jose. It's an awesome city and the people are so cool.

Crowd cheers

 

Fuck off. I don't know which I find more pathetic - the fighter's desperation or the crowd for changing their tune just because their hometown was mentioned.

 

Right now, she's never been more needed. With everything that's happened, she's genuinely one of the biggest stars they have left.

 

Yeah, even if you don't follow the womens fights or you don't like her, I don't get why anyone who actually wants the UFC to keep being successful would want her to fuck off to Hollywood. I can't fucking stand Frank Mir but I wouldn't have wanted him gone because he added to the sport.

 

I think it's telling that the UFC have already lined up her next fight and it's less than two months away. Part of it was Ronda wanting to stay active after being sidelined with TUF this year, but a big part of it must be that the UFC need her back in there right now. It could backfire though if they rely on her too much and keep throwing her out there. She could burn out or overtrain and lose a fight she should've won.

 

Who would've ever thought this time last year, that by Dec 2013 we'd see possibly the last ever fights of GSP and Anderson, and Jon Jones get made to look human? All were inevitable to happen at some point but they happened all in the space of three months. Madness.

[Supremo]

I understand that people think women's MMA is sloppy and nowhere near as developed as the men's, but you know what? I don't care. I don't measure my entertainment or enjoyment on how crisp something looks. If something is exciting then it's exciting. If it's entertaining then it's entertaining. And of all the fights I've seen this year, Rousey vs. Carmouche, Rousey vs. Tate and Tate vs. Zingano are some of my favourites. Proper gripping, edge-of-your-seat, balls-to-the wall awesomeness. Long may it continue and develop.

[Egg Shen]

im with Supremo on that.

 

I'm not a massive Women's MMA fan, one fight per card is enough for me really, but 9/10 the women's fight is amongst the best of the night. They go at it.

 

Speaking on Dave's point about people getting almost 'cheap pops' during post fight interviews, i loved Travis Browne's post-fight interview Saturday night, he stuck it to the rich guys up front

[David]

There are plenty of organisations that offer sub-standard but exciting fare though, isn't there? When I watch the UFC I sort of expect to see exciting and technically proficient fighters & fights. You figure that when fighters are recruited by the top promotion and given a PPV slot that they're at least well versed in MMA.

 

Saying that, it's not difficult for me to fast forward through it if I don't like it, which is what I do. It's obviously popular so I wouldn't say that they should get rid of it.

[Supremo]

I forgot to mention; the introduction of the women was a massive benefit to The Ultimate Fighter, too. Invariably the women's fights were far more exciting and enjoyable than the men's, and the added drama that came with them was a huge shot in the arm for what is an otherwise stale, dead format.

 

EDIT: I think it was Anthony Kiedis on that, "20 Years..." documentary who summed up the women's division the best. He described it as, "a different flavour of fighting," and he's absolutely spot on. It might be sloppier, and it might be a bit of a throw back to the early days of the men's divisions, but that's half of the appeal. At a time when they're pumping out so much product that they have to create their own Network to handle it all, the last thing you need is more faceless blokes having more technically impressive, yet ultimately boring and inconsequential fights. You need, "different flavours," to freshen the cards up and offer something different. That's exactly what the women do. The perfect example is that Machida vs. Henderson fight that got semi-main event billing to Ronda vs. Carmouche. Remember how outraged everyone was? And then how hilarious it was when the women delivered one of the most dramatic fights in years, whereas the men stunk up the joint? That's the perfect example as to why skilled, technical fights are never what's best for the UFC or my own personal enjoyment.

[wandshogun09]

Some of the womens fights have been sloppy in the striking but that's probably because most of the top women fighters - Rousey, Tate, Zingano, McMann etc - are from a grappling background. They're still learning the other skills. It's early days still for the women. The mens game has had twenty plus years to evolve. The womens side only really started to take off around 2007/08. It's unrealistic to expect them to be as varied and technical in all areas like a Jon Jones or Anthony Pettis.

 

When you watch a Cyborg or Holly Holm or Joanne Calderwood, there's nothing sloppy about their striking. It's just going to take some time until the women are putting it all together. Now womens MMA is really growing, you'll probably get more young girls learning MMA from scratch rather than coming in with one or two disciplines. It's just they're about a decade or more behind the mens game.

 

And besides we're only a year into the UFC womens division and already we've got a title fight coming up with two Olympic medalists. Outside the UFC you've got Holly Holm who had a long successful boxing career and was a multi-weight champion. Calderwood has Muay Thai experience. There's BJJ black belts. There's a few really skilled fighters already, it's just a case of them putting everything together.

[lambyUK]

Whilst I get the Brock comparisons with Rousey, there's some very big differences in my opinion. Supremo and Wand both say that she doesn't give a fuck about the boos but I couldn't disagree more. Whilst Brock truly couldn't give a shit what the crowd thought, I really get the impression that despite her saying otherwise, deep down she truly wants that acceptance. Rousey is really emotionally delicate and you could see from her stint on TUF that she cared deeply for her fighters. This isn't the demeanour or behaviour of someone who doesn't care what people think of her.

 

Rousey growing up was a very self conscious kid and had self issues with the way she looked. Now you find her in endless magazine shoots and to me this really is someone who is both proud of her body whilst also wanting that acceptance and attention. Brock had none of that. He truly is a cold individual on camera in any format.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I love the woman, she's great. However, I personally feel those boos will bother her deeply.

 

As a fighter, I agree with Wand. She's very much like Lesnar in the respect she's still new to the game and currently only possesses a limited a skill set. But, what a skill she has.

 

In relation to not shaking Tate's hand, who gives a shit? As others have mentioned, in grudge matches no one should expect a hand shake. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if the booing came from a large portion of the Brazilian fans/Silva fans who are obsessed with that bullshit respect spiel constantly batoned around the sport.

[Supremo]

With all this talk of Rousey being their most valuable draw now that GSP and Silva have gone, I was trying to think of who they could possibly rely on to become a star in 2014. Jones is probably as big as he's ever going to be, Weidman looks set to be a taller version of Frankie Edgar and I haven't got much hope for Johnny Hendricks, either.

 

Then I remembered.....

 

 

They need to strap a rocket to this man as soon as he's healthy. None of this prelim shit. Co-main event on PPV or FOX. Seriously.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I can see it. Conor McGregor is awesome. He's apparently returning early next year in Dublin, he's probably a guaranteed main event there. He's willing to fight in multiple weight classes too, so imagine McGregor vs. Sanchez in Dublin for his return. Crazy fight, and boom, mega-star. Killer fighter with a personality. It's really rare to have this extreme level of talent to go with the personality, we talk about Ronda and Brock having the significant flaws, but Conor's good everywhere.

 

145 could be the best division for 2014/15. Aldo, McGregor, Edgar, Poirier, Swanson, possibly Pettis at some point... I could see Jim Miller going down. They'd all deliver the action in the cage, and Conor could bring the sizzle to make the division a draw.

[Mr Tibbs]

I don't see that many similarities between Brock and Rousey. Brock was booed because fans thought he was a fake "roided up" wrestler who was a gimmick. They liked Rousey right up until TUF. It was that series that turned the fans against her. I don't blame her for not shaking Tate's hand. Infact I would rather she stick to her principles than turn into B J Penn.

[jimufctna24]

With all this talk of Rousey being their most valuable draw now that GSP and Silva have gone, I was trying to think of who they could possibly rely on to become a star in 2014. Jones is probably as big as he's ever going to be, Weidman looks set to be a taller version of Frankie Edgar and I haven't got much hope for Johnny Hendricks, either.

You forgot the guy in my sig.

 

Great look and the most exciting fighter on the roster. His demolition job of Cerrone was unreal when you consider that Cerrone is ranked in the top 10, he also managed to take the heart away from Bendo after one striking exchange, with just 2 kicks to turn the tide of the fight.

 

The only downside is that he is injury prone, the guy has superstar written all over him. He is the most exciting thing at sub-170lbs since BJ Penn burst on the scene almost a decade ago.

[jimufctna24]

Some of the womens fights have been sloppy in the striking but that's probably because most of the top women fighters - Rousey, Tate, Zingano, McMann etc - are from a grappling background. They're still learning the other skills. It's early days still for the women. The mens game has had twenty plus years to evolve. The womens side only really started to take off around 2007/08. It's unrealistic to expect them to be as varied and technical in all areas like a Jon Jones or Anthony Pettis.

Good point, as I said I have been spoiled.

 

I will say that on Saturday night Rousey's fight had me hooked than most other Male Champions, including the Heavyweight kingpin. I do not anticipate that Hendricks.s reign will have me hooked either if he beats Lawler.

 

So yeah, I am rooting for Rousey and for that matter McGregor.