Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 4, 2025 Paid Members Posted June 4, 2025 Ol' Oliver McCall still doing the damned thing (kind of): Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 8, 2025 Paid Members Posted July 8, 2025 I actually skimmed over a few Ricky Hatton things today not thinking it was related to him announcing he's fighting in again in December. Don't need this. Quote
jimufctna24 Posted July 15, 2025 Posted July 15, 2025 (edited) It's bit surprising they never rematched in MMA. Parts of their Pride stints (1999-2001, 2005-2006) and a large part of their final stints in the UFC (2009-2013) crossed over with one another. Edited July 15, 2025 by jimufctna24 Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 15, 2025 Paid Members Posted July 15, 2025 9 minutes ago, jimufctna24 said: It's bit surprising they never rematched in MMA. They were actually supposed to rematch at UFC 147 in Brazil in June 2012. If you remember they coached the first TUF Brazil leading into that. Belfort ended up pulling out with a broken hand and Rich Franklin stepped in to fight Wandy in a rematch of their fight at UFC 99 in Germany. Wand came mega close to knocking Franklin out in that one but wound up losing a decision. But…Belfort vs Wand 2 in 2025? In Boxing? Quote
jimufctna24 Posted July 15, 2025 Posted July 15, 2025 I had a vague recollection that they were pencilled in to rematch at some point in the UFC. UFC 147 was the show that was initially meant to take place in a huge stadium in Brazil but got moved to a smaller setting after withdrawals iirc. And aye I have no interest in their boxing bout either. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 15, 2025 Paid Members Posted July 15, 2025 Yeah Brazil had a couple of cursed cards like that. UFC 153 originally had an Aldo title defence against Erik Koch scheduled plus Rampage vs Glover and Belfort vs Alan Belcher. It got battered by injuries and we ended up with Anderson Silva vs Stephan Bonnar, Big Nog vs Dave Herman and Glover nearly murdering Fabio Maldonado. They had to completely rebuild that card. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 16, 2025 Paid Members Posted July 16, 2025 I don't recall any of that rematch stuff. I will say though, the original Belfort/Wanderlei fight was about as influential as any other fight in MMA in those early days. When I was getting into the sport pre-youtube and you could download bitesize MMA clips that was one that really stood out. Wanderlei and Vitor individually had great highlights which everyone seemed to know, so sticking them together and seeing Belfort knock him out like that struck a chord in people, no one had ever seen anything like it. Quote
jimufctna24 Posted July 16, 2025 Posted July 16, 2025 (edited) I only started to follow the sport properly in early 2005 when Bravo started showing UFC events on 24 hour delay, and I found a way to watch Pride events on a 5-7 day delay. Before that I had only read snippets about it in PowerSlam and watched a few UFC highlights shows on Bravo. So by the time I started following MMA the fight had little relevance. Wanderlei's stock had never been higher (Pride MW Champ, Pride GP Champ, Rampage conqueror, etc), but Belfort's stock was very low in the mid-2000s (losses in UFC/Pride, shite fight with Overeem in Strikeforce, drug bust, etc). It was like the fight took place in a long lost world. Still, I know what Ebb is getting at. When I worked backwards and watched old UFC shows, their music videos heavily featured the fight. And whenever Belfort fought in the UFC, his portion of the Face The Pain intro also featured footage from the fight. It was a visibly stunning stoppage. Edited July 16, 2025 by jimufctna24 Quote
Dai Posted July 17, 2025 Posted July 17, 2025 Its a bit sad, but I will give both Wanderlei and Vitor a pass to make a nice bit of cash when theyre essentially retired. Cant see it ending well for Wand though. Just seeing those two had me wondering for a good bit of time, and it led me to think that if I had to pick a fighter at a certain time and certain company to be my favourate ever, then I think mine would have to be Wandy in Pride. As good as it will ever get, that, helped by the nostalga of thinking of that time too. Amazing! Quote
Cousin Jim Bob Posted July 17, 2025 Posted July 17, 2025 Tony Ferguson could well lose that fight. Salt Papi isn't bad and takes it seriously for an influencer. If he does, I can see him doing bare knuckle next. He seems one of those who should have packed fighting in years ago but won't quit. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 17, 2025 Paid Members Posted July 17, 2025 I'd pick Papi to beat Ferguson at this point. Quote
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