Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 20, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 20, 2019 2 hours ago, ColinBollocks said: It seems everyone bought into the Pico hype too much. Bellator treating him like young Jon Jones rather than what he is etc. I think Pico can come good but there needs to be a serious adjustments in expectation from everyone involved. Pico maybe does look great in training, but it's yet to matter much come fight night, which is partly because of his inexperience, chin and hubris. Certainly maybe give him a chance to not get sparked out in his next match. Thing is, Pico has looked real good in fights too. His wins were spectacular and even against Boric he had a great first round he just got caught with a crazy flying knee in 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted June 20, 2019 (edited) He’s good, nobody can deny that. And I wouldn’t count him out of going on to have a successful career in MMA. But if he was anything close to being this future face of MMA, world beater that everyone was hyping him up as then he wouldn’t be just getting caught by these guys. It’s true that they weren’t giving him easy fights but that’s kind of the point. If he was as amazing as he was being cracked up to be then he’d have come through. If you’re that good, you’ll find a way to get the W. Look at Cain Velasquez. I know it’s not exactly the same and he did at least have some easy-ish matchups right at the start of his career but within his first 9 fights he’d beaten Cheick Kongo, Ben Rothwell, Big Nog and Brock Lesnar. Pico’s had 7 fights and lost (and been finished in) 3 of them, 2 in the first minute or so. It sounds harsh but I just don’t think he’s as good as he was advertised to be. Pico’s fun to watch but ultimately he’s going to have to get past this ‘wrestler but loves to bang’ thing or he’ll probably end up just being an upgraded version of Jorge Gurgel. At 22 there’s time to make the adjustments but at the end of the day if any other rookie had been stopped in 3 of their first 7 fights there wouldn’t be all this trying to explain it away. Maybe he’s simply just decent but not that great. Saw this from Jimmy Smith on Twitter as well. Nail on the head for me; Edited June 20, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 3 hours ago, jimufctna24 said: Coker isn't perfect. I learnt recently that part of the reason why Strikeforce was sold all those years ago was because Coker overspent on Fedor and Hendo. Jordan Breen also made the point this week that some of Bellator's prospects are under-promoted (the Fortune brothers being the most notable example). However, he does have a lot of qualities as a promoter. For one, he's meant to be easy to deal with. Most fighters have nothing but nice things to say about him. He's also very open to cross-promotion deals, and as Ebb said above, he isn't afraid to experiment with what most would consider to be novelty performers. That's one thing I like about him. He's certainly no pushover, and he doesn't seem to be the type who takes shit, but if you're up front and straight with him, he'll do right by you, unlike cunto over yonder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Bifkin Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 I'd really like Bellator to do well but I must have watched maybe half a dozen of their big events now and it just feels bush league compared to even the most uninspired UFC card, of which we have had plenty recently. From what I've seen I'd love to see Douglas Lima in UFC, but beyond that, it's only fighters that UFC have got rid of that I would like to see back.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 (edited) 9 hours ago, Guy Bifkin said: From what I've seen I'd love to see Douglas Lima in UFC, but beyond that, it's only fighters that UFC have got rid of that I would like to see back. I get your point. If you asked MMA fans at present time which Bellator fighters they would like to see switch to the UFC, they would probably say Mousasi, Bader, Horiguchi (if he counts) and Lima. I would be tempted to add PatrÃcio Freire to that list as well. However, in 18 months time, that list could look very different. Coker does have an eye for talent, and he has a lot of promising home-grown fighters under contract. As examples, Tywan Claxton, Patrick Mix, Juan Archuleta, the Fortune Brothers, Logan Storley, and Costello van Steenis. I also wouldn't entirely rule out Pico turning his career around and winning a title in Bellator. Of course, not all of these prospects will develop into world-level fighters. Some of them will be busts. That's the fight game. But a problem at the moment is that some of these prospects are underexposed and underhyped. Hopefully they will be highlighted more on future Bellator shows as the promotion continues to gather momentum and attracts more eyeballs. And furthermore, hopefully some of them will live up to their early promise. Edited June 21, 2019 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted June 21, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted June 21, 2019 Bear in mind also that Mousasi and MacDonald left the UFC of their own volition; that Reebok deal, coupled with Coker's scouting ability, could end up doing a lot more damage to the UFC's roster in the long run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_the_Lion Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 3 minutes ago, Carbomb said: Bear in mind also that Mousasi and MacDonald left the UFC of their own volition; that Reebok deal, coupled with Coker's scouting ability, could end up doing a lot more damage to the UFC's roster in the long run. They're both second level guys so I don't think the UFC is losing much sleep about them. The ESPN deal and the way in which the UFC are hoarding earnings in order to go public has more chance of causing the kind of damage that would hurt them. But until they see top level fighters walking like they were in the days of Shamrock, Couture, Penn etc nothing is going to make them change course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted June 21, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted June 21, 2019 6 minutes ago, Joe_the_Lion said: They're both second level guys so I don't think the UFC is losing much sleep about them. The ESPN deal and the way in which the UFC are hoarding earnings in order to go public has more chance of causing the kind of damage that would hurt them. But until they see top level fighters walking like they were in the days of Shamrock, Couture, Penn etc nothing is going to make them change course. Is Mousasi still considered 2nd level, though? Despite the last loss to Jacare, he's 2-1 in that series, he avenged his loss to Uriah Hall fairly convincingly, and he's probably about to destroy Machida. Everyone else he's faced in the UFC, he's beaten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_the_Lion Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 I meant from a business perspective rather than any reflection on his abilities as a fighter. The people running the fighting side of the business would have been sad to see Mousasi and MacDonald go but I doubt the marketing department even noticed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted June 21, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted June 21, 2019 Ah, I see. Yeah, I guess that's a fair assessment. Annoying though - I reckon this current incarnation of Mousasi would have as good a chance of taking the MW belt as anyone currently in the UFC, and that's taking into account that 185 is a shark tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 16 minutes ago, Joe_the_Lion said: I meant from a business perspective rather than any reflection on his abilities as a fighter. The people running the fighting side of the business would have been sad to see Mousasi and MacDonald go but I doubt the marketing department even noticed. But how many fighters are there who are active today who can actively make that much of a difference business-wise? McG is on his way out, his stock will never be as high as it once was, and the shift to ESPN has begun the process that will dilute the need for a hotshot name on PPV's to draw numbers. It's slowly turning into a volume game, with more and more fight cards needing a number of decent fights to keep the ESPN executives happy and satisfied that they've not paid for a bunch of shit. The likes of Mousasi and MacDonald may never have been PPV-selling superstars, but you need guys for your top talent and champions to fight, don't you? Without the MacDonald's and Mousasi's you're left with a roster that it increasingly thin on actual talent. It's like back in the day, your Earthquake's, Rick Rude's, Jake Roberts, British Bulldog etc weren't exactly pulling in the numbers that the Hogans and Warriors were, but without those guys to pit them against you'd just have squash matches, and no cunt is paying to see that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 Mousasi divides opinions as a fighter. Both among fans and pundits. There are those who believe he is the best Middleweight in the world, or at least close to it. However, there are others who think he's a notch below the likes of Whittaker, Romero, and perhaps a few others. Mousasi has changed quite a bit since 2014. He didn't train properly before he debuted in the UFC, and he didn't train as efficiently as he should have in his early UFC fights. That was all down to him. The introduction of USADA also changed things, at least in the UFC. USADA testing is not perfect by any means, but its implementation did somewhat help the careers of clean fighters such as Mousasi and Bisping. I personally believe that with proper drug testing, the two best middleweights at the moment are Whittaker and Mousasi. Especially now Rockhold has moved up to 205lbs. As for the business perspective, it's true that Mousasi is not much of a draw. But he's still relevant enough and popular enough to where Bellator can headline cards with him. The same applies for Rory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_the_Lion Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 28 minutes ago, David said: But how many fighters are there who are active today who can actively make that much of a difference business-wise? I think it's a perspective thing, the UFC will only worry when it looks to the casual fan that they are losing fighters to the competition despite wanting to hold onto them. There were plenty of guys that WCW poached who weren't dial movers for the WWF but the effect of losing talent to the opposition has a corrosive effect on the brand as a whole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 You know what I think hinders Mousasi? The distinct lack of fucks he seems to give. Honestly, he can be walking to the cage for a title fight in a packed arena and he looks like a student shuffling down the hall to go and get the mail. This photo sums him up: I know it's not the most exciting of tasks, but he can't even be fucked holding the pen properly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 Just now, David said: You know what I think hinders Mousasi? The distinct lack of fucks he seems to give. Genuine quote from earlier this week: Quote (I’m) just killing time waiting for the fight. I want to get done with it and go home.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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