jimufctna24 Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 On 11/08/2017 at 7:01 PM, wandshogun09 said: Shocking. Gomi was once one of the best fighters on the planet. Gomi was someone who passed me by a bit. I never really cared that much about Pride's 160lbs division. I was much more invested in the UFC's 170lbs division. At the time, the UFC's 155lbs weightclass was on hiatus, and Pride didn't have a 170lbs class from what I remember. In retrospect, I probably should have viewed Pride's 160lbs division as the home of the best Lightweights in the world, and paid a bit more attention to it. My first exposure to Gomi was watching highlights of him taking apart Pulver. Looking at this record, he also had stoppage wins over Sakurai (who famously made a mess out of Frank Trigg), Kawajiri, and Ishida; all of whom were top Lightweights for that time. He never really topped the P4P list though. He was in Fedor and Shogun's shadow in that regard, and eventually GSP's (although Sherdog did award him joint fighter of the year in 2005 with Shogun) The Diaz fight is probably what I remember him best for. Diaz and Hendo upset the odds that evening. I remember being shocked after reading the results. It was that fight that turned me into a full-fledged Diaz fanboy. That's a shame in a way, because I probably should have appreciated Gomi a little bit more than I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 22, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2017 It didn't help Gomi that he got massacred by BJ Penn before he really took off. So all through his peak run in Pride, it was basically like 'Yeah, so what? BJ battered him into oblivion last year'. His run as a top fighter was fairly short as well. Still, I loved him at his best. There weren't many little guys with that kind of venom in their hands back then. His KOs over Pulver, Sakurai, Ralph Gracie, Luiz Azeredo etc were vicious. And his slugfest with Kawajiri at Bushido 9 would easily make my Top 10 Pride fights ever. Maybe Top 5. And his fight with Diaz is probably my #3 behind Shogun vs Nogueira and Frye vs Takayama. Gomi was the shit. Even in the UFC he's had his moments. The Tyson Griffin KO was classic Gomi. That was the only time he really looked like Pride Gomi in the UFC. He had a corker of a forgotten brawl with Isaac Vallie-Flagg somewhere in there also. Seems it over now though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingofSports Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 Syuri came up through Meiko Satomura’s Sendai Girls promotion & subsequently freelanced, working for; Tajiri’s SMASH, REINA, WAVE, OZ Academy, CMLL, Makai Rentoukai & others. By 2011, she was one of the few joshi workers that could give Kana (Asuka) a run for her money and the pair had a few genuinely cracking matches between 2012-14. I know she was involved in kickboxing as well, working odd shows for KRUSH. More recently, I’ve been following her Pancrase career. The pedigree of some of her opponents has been somewhat questionable, but you can only beat what’s put in front of you and she’s bossed most of them thus far. She’s ‘over’, with a decent fan-base and brings a bit of pro-wrestling razzamataz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 22, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2017 Cheers for that info. I haven't followed Japanese wrestling in a good decade or so, so I was going on bits and pieces. Hopefully she ends up being good. It's a shame the Japanese aren't the force they used to be in MMA. They seem to have dropped off and it seems like it's the European fighters who have really stepped up their game over the last few years. It'd be nice to see a few Japanese fighters come through and get in the title shot conversations though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 22, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2017 Yeh, Gomi's UFC run is arguably the most disappointing of any of the fighters who moved over from Pride. It's a shame because the UFC has matched him up well, it's not like he's been fed wrestlers who would grapple him, he's been given the right dance partners it just never really came together for him other than a few glimpes. Crazy to think he's had 12 UFC fights though (going 4-8). Still his place in MMA history is secure, one of the most exciting lightweight fighters ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 23, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 23, 2017 Gomi's so done in his last 5 fights he's been finished 5 times. All in the first round. All in less than 3 minutes. He's 39 years old, just had his 50th fight and there's zero reason to think it's going to get any better for him. The UFC will surely let him go after this. But I hope he stops fighting now. I hope he's not getting battered in Rizin on New Year's Eve by a Japanese comedian or ex baseball player or something. It's over. I think even 2017 version BJ Penn would look good against this Gomi. It was his fucking birthday last night as well. I hope he at least got a good cake. With that out of the way... OSP with the Von Flue again! Seen people saying it should be renamed the Von Preux choke now. It probably should. Nobody has made a submission their own like OSP and the Von Flue, except Rousey and the armbar. Shame to see Okami lose like that but no doubt he'll get another shot after stepping in on short notice and kind of saving the UFC's main event after Shogun dropped out. He was fighting above his normal weight as well. Really enjoyed Andrade vs Gadelha. Slightly surprised Andrade won but she looked pretty great here, I thought. Thoroughly deserved the decision. Just further muddies the pecking order at 115 though. You get the sense that Andrade, Gadelha and Kowalkiewicz are all capable of beating each other and trading wins back and forth on their respective days. But I can't see any of them beating Joanna. They've all been competitive with her, even troubled her in spells, but I don't think they have enough weapons to actually beat her. Gokhan Saki's UFC debut was fun to watch. He's probably not going too far in the UFC but fuck it, should be a fun ride. The KO was ruthless. His left hook has always been lethal when he detonates it. It was a nice introduction of Saki to MMA fans who don't watch kickboxing. At the higher levels though, not many are going to want to stand with him and that's where he's likely to get taken down and schooled. Some exciting matchups to be made along the way though. Wouldn't mind seeing Saki vs Tyson Pedro next. Kickboxing vs Boxing in the UFC. Ishihara vs Dy was what it was. Wasn't bad, wasn't anything special. Those fucking low blows from Dy were horrible though. Especially that last one. Christ. Fair play to Ishihara for seeing out the rest of the fight after that. Formiga looked really sharp running through Sasaki in the main card opener. Wasn't that fussed with any of the prelims but really liked that main card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul2j Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 Awful prelims, fun enough main card. Gadelha vs Andrade really delivered - good to see Gadelha knocked back. It'll be interesting to see what Jedrzejczyk does division-wise as there's a strong argument that by beating Namajunas she will have pretty much cleared out the Strawweight division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 24, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 24, 2017 I can see Jedrzejczyk going up to flyweight to get that belt before too long. As you say, after Namajunas there's really not much there at strawweight for her. She's well and truly conquered that Island. Could see Valentina Shevchenko cutting down to flyweight as well. So maybe Jedrzejczyk vs Shevchenko is on the horizon. Which wouldn't upset me one bit. Would be an easy fight to promote as well given their history with Shevchenko beating her 3 times in their kickboxing days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul2j Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 Flyweight could well end up the best women's division in a very short space of time depending on who moves where. I don't see the winner (whoever it may be) of TUF being anywhere near competitive with some of the rumoured movers into the division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingofSports Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 Only seen glimpses of Syuri's match. I'll probably watch it in full later tonight. As far as I could tell, she didn't try to take her opponent down at all, which surprised me. She must have enough confidence in her striking ability. Jeon's only 20 years old though & presumably still pretty green. Never seen Syuri looking that nervous before a match. Probably glad she's got that one under her belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 On 22/09/2017 at 5:30 PM, wandshogun09 said: It didn't help Gomi that he got massacred by BJ Penn before he really took off. So all through his peak run in Pride, it was basically like 'Yeah, so what? BJ battered him into oblivion last year'. That was something that always weighed on my mind (sadly). It was a shame that Penn was out in the wilderness during the period that Gomi reigned. A rematch between the two in 2005 would have made sense, provided that Penn put the hours in to make the 160lbs weight limit. Then again, it was Pride, so they could have fought at 170lbs or 185lbs; and Penn could have come in looking like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Anyway, I managed to catch the Saki fight live. I know fuck-all about kickboxing other than a bit about K1 in the 90's, but I had heard of Saki previously. It was a fun brawl while it lasted. I doubt Saki is going to become a serious contender at 205lbs, but he could provide quite a bit of entertainment with the right opponents. At least he's already done better than Stefan Leko managed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 29, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted September 29, 2017 only just saw this and yep, incredibly deflating to see Gomi go out like that. What a downfall it's been. He had a pretty one-dimensional style in his prime but his explosiveness, chin and timing are all shot to shit, just a shell of his former self. Saki's left hand was brutal. I'm actually surprised Da Silvatook the punishment he did leading to the KO, he was game, perfect first opponent for Saki. Saki is one of the smallest looking light heayweights ive ever seen though, surely he needs to goto 185. Shame to see Okami's return end so quickly too, he'll no doubt get another shot but St. Preux is lethal in that position. It's about time St. Preux started getting some love. here you go Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 1, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted October 1, 2017 i know discussion has passed but i thought id keep this in here... what would you do next with Gokhan Saki? it's a tricky one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 1, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 1, 2017 Tyson Pedro. Kickboxing vs Boxing in 4oz MMA gloves. Let them bang, bro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 1, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted October 1, 2017 Yeh, im game for that. Gian Villante is another one i'd like to see him in with. Saki's in a strange position because there's certain guys in the division i could see him absolutely mullering despite being just 1-0 (not counting his early loss). Shogun Rua for example, he's still at #5 but i wouldn't fancy his chances against Saki at all at that stage. It's a fight i could see made in Japan or Brazil though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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