UFC 168: Weidman vs Silva 2

[ColinBollocks]

I'm a sucker for star power and the aforementioned big fight atmosphere, though. The UFC has shown with GSP that they can do a grand job of making fights seem more even and bigger than they actually are (so long as there is a proper star involved).

 

I can see my interest in the MW division dropping in the same way it has with the Lightweight division since BJ Penn got kicked off the top of the mountain. Of course, that all depends how much of an attraction Weidman can become, if he comes out of the fight as champion.

[Gooner]

Will see how good Anderson really is after this fight. It's hard to judge the first fight as he was being far too cocky with how he was acting and Weidman for sure got the best of the first round. The first punch that Weidman connected barely caught Silva, but he was off balance and the second done the job. I have felt for a while that Silva should have moved up to 205lbs and faced Jones, it's easy to become stale or slack a little bit if you have been dominant for so long in one weight division. His manager didn't want the Weidman fight, now was that because Silva couldn't be motivated or he knew he was a dangerous treat and financially wise it wouldn't draw anywhere near Silva could get for fighting and beating guys easier, who knows. A lot of people inside MMA seem to rate Weidman highly and that was before the first fight, he is good all-round, never suffered a defeat and his confidence couldn't be any higher at this present moment in time. I gotta go with Silva via stoppage, say round 2.

[David]

I wouldn't put it past Silva winning then dumping the title in order to chase the marquee fights he always goes on about.

[wandshogun09]

When the fuck is this Primetime? The UFC definitely announced that there'd be Primetime specials for UFC 166, 167 and 168. Surely episode 1 for Weidman vs Silva should've been this week, with episode 2 next week and then the last one on fight week. But there's been nothing, not even a mention anywhere.

 

While I'm here, some UFC 168-based artwork;

 

 

 

[lambyUK]

God knows what going on with primetime. The problem with trying to do a primetime series with Anderson Silva is the that guy simply doesn't like to do media. I remember the last primetime with Silva was his rematch with Sonnen. What a waste that was. They only ended up doing one episode rather than the standard 3.

 

Perhaps Silva only agrees to single part primetime shows?

[wandshogun09]

That's a point, I forgot there even was a Primetime for Silva vs Sonnen 2 until you just mentioned it. Think it was just one 30 minute episode wasn't it? Maybe that's what they'll do here then. Bit shit.

 

Sod it, they should've still done three episodes and just filled it with Serra and Longo talking up the fight and being awesome. Just have Serra and Longo be Serra and Longo, then show Anderson wrecking people and training, interspersed with a sprinkling of Weidman KOing Anderson, a splash of training footage and the usual family stuff, and more Serra and Longo. You could easily fill three, 20-25 minute episodes and make it good TV.

[wandshogun09]

From listening to Dana's FOX media scrum it sounds like we're not getting Primetime after all for this show now

 

Also, they've added an extra $5 to the PPV charge for this one. Just as a one off, it'll be back down to normal price for UFC 169. Despite what Dana was predicting, this was already unlikely to beat UFC 100's record. Adding extra onto the PPV charge won't help matters, even if it's just $5. Especially around Christmas when people aren't exactly flush with spare cash. I'm sure it will do very well still, but charging more could hurt buys. Add to that there's no Primetime now which might have added some extra last minute PPV orders. Whatever numbers 168 does, you'd have to think it could do even better if they kept PPV price at the normal level, and done Primetime.

 

That's what was weird with Dana's comments during the scrum. One minute he was talking about sponsors, saying the economy is still fucked and there's not as much money flying around. Then he's saying 'yeah we put the PPV price up this time.'

 

Whatever. Can't wait for this. Not long now.

[jimufctna24]

I can stress enough how much I want Anderson to win this fight, I do not dislike Weidman, but he is faceless drone to me, no connection to him at all as a fan. I have grown to really like Anderson over the years. People say there is a great thrill when a great champion loses, and it is true that I got that when Werdum beat Fedor, but seeing Anderson lose in July was just depressing.

 

Same watching GSP up against it a month back, or Penn faltering against Edgar a few years back. So I am not just slagging Fedor, I got no thrill when he lost to Hendo and Big Foot, I was rooting for him at that stage, there is nothing worse than watching a great fighter lose to a guy who would have schooled in his prime, which happened to Penn and Fedor in my opinion.

 

This rematch is going to be a thrill ride, if you are not looking forward to it, I do not know what in MMA will make you happy. Its the 2 best outright 185'ers in the world, with one hell of a backstory. It should have gotten a Primetime.

 

I hope Anderson comes out loose, creates distance and avoids clinches like the plague. Anderson has more weapons than Weidman, and can counter like a mother fucker. Weidman would be better suited for a boxing match, but luckily for Anderson he can mix it up with leg kicks,

 

Me being a cynical wanker, is thinking Weidman will win, I have seen this situation before in MMA, look at Penn vs Edgar and countless boxing examples of when the young upstart beat the aging Champ, and then won the rematch to prove it was no fluke. That said, I do think Anderson is the more skillful fighter in general, and the bookies have Anderson a slight favorite still.

[wandshogun09]

More on why there's no Primetime for this, and there's none planned for the foreseeable future either;

 

A big surprise, given the high-profile nature of the main event, is that UFC is not doing a three-week Primetime series. "It's on hiatus," White said, noting at this point there are no plans to do the shows for the time being.

 

"They are so expensive to produce," he said, noting the limited viewership the shows have been getting since moving to Fox Sports 1 have made the shows no longer cost-effective. The Primetime shows were generally doing more than 500,000 viewers per episode when they aired on FX, and years ago during the biggest grudge matches in company history, like Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir and Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans, they did more than double that figure on Spike. But the shows building up Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos and St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendicks were generally doing less than 150,000 viewers since they are on a less established network.

 

Shame because Primetime has been some of the best TV the UFC has produced over the years. The Diaz vs Condit and Rousey vs Carmouche specials in particular were brilliant.

 

Bog standard Countdowns for a bit from here on in then.

[jimufctna24]

That is a crying shame, the Rampage vs Rashad one is the most acclaimed, but I loved the first one with GSP vs Penn, and Hardy vs GSP did its job a lot better than it had any right to (Hardy having a chance?)

 

The Diaz vs Condit one is indeed up there, the buzz around Diaz after those specials was awesome.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah the GSP vs Penn and Hardy ones were great. They've got that wrong in the bit I quoted above, there was no Lesnar vs Mir Primetime was there?

 

For anyone interested (I think) this is all the Primetimes they've done;

 

GSP vs Penn 2

GSP vs Hardy

Rampage vs Rashad

Lesnar vs Velasquez

GSP vs Shields

Velasquez vs Dos Santos 1 - 1 episode

Diaz vs Condit

Jones vs Rashad

Dos Santos vs Mir

Silva vs Sonnen 2 - 1 episode

GSP vs Condit

Rousey vs Carmouche

Velasquez vs Dos Santos 3

GSP vs Hendricks

 

More than I thought. I might have missed one or two.

[jimufctna24]

Yeah the GSP vs Penn and Hardy ones were great. They've got that wrong in the bit I quoted above, there was no Lesnar vs Mir Primetime was there?

Nope, that was standard Primetime.

 

I think they got mixed up with Lesnar/Reem.

[wandshogun09]

Eh? They didn't do Primetime for either Lesnar vs Mir or Overeem did they?

 

JDS vs Overeem was going to get the Primetime treatment though. Back when it was originally booked for UFC 146 in 2012. I think that would've been interesting because despite JDS being probably the nicest fucker in MMA, even he disliked Overeem. We might have seen a different side to big Junior there. But then Reem got chased around a car park and tested positive. That's when they threw Mir in and they stuck with Primetime for that.

 

Chael vs Wandy would've been good for Primetime. I'd have loved to see a Josh Barnett or Conor McGregor eventually on there also. Maybe they'll resurrect it at some point.

[jimufctna24]

My head is going, yeah Lesnar vs Reem was not primetime either. For some reason I had it in my head that was a hour long version like Chael vs Silva 2.

[pryko]

I can stress enough how much I want Anderson to win this fight, I do not dislike Weidman, but he is faceless drone to me, no connection to him at all as a fan. I have grown to really like Anderson over the years. People say there is a great thrill when a great champion loses, and it is true that I got that when Werdum beat Fedor, but seeing Anderson lose in July was just depressing.

When did Fedor beat Overeem to become champion? Must have missed that one