UFC Ongoing Thread - Page 8

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Then he said that he won already because he got to punch Hughes in the face.


After I tell you this story, you are going to feel as though you've been out of touch this whole time. I'll explain my reasons further down, but lets just say I envy that feeling. Truth be told I'd rather not know this whole story. But, you did ask...so here you go.

The fight never took place. It was scheduled to take place on 03/25, the day after the World Extreme Cagefighting show in Vegas. The weigh-in was scheduled, Dana showed up weighed in and then...nothing happened. Tito Ortiz no-showed the weigh-in, and that pissed off the Nevada State Athletic commission.

The NSAC had to be convinced to sanction the fight in the first place and when Tito no showed they told Dana not to bother rescheduling. Tito Ortiz reportedly left Dana several cell-phone messages prior to the fight telling him that this was no joke and it was real. Then the day of the fight, he left him a message saying he'd let him off of the hook.

Tito was at the WEC show later that night but did not offer comment. However, SpikeTV did film all of this from beginning to end, and they aired a documentary building up the fight on 4/12. It is a good show, if you can somehow obtain a copy.

Tito Ortiz has made several claims for why he did what he did since that date on his MySpace and in other venues. He once said he didn't do it because he was unaware that the fight would be for charity, this is false. He also claimed that he backed out because `they did not have a contract for the fight. However, this fight came about because when Tito negotiated his return to UFC he had it stipulated in his contract.

The backstory is that Dana was a good ameture boxer and used to train with and school Tito. The fact is that this was a lose-lose situation for Tito. If he won but had a hard time with Dana he'd look bad and if he lost it would damage his rep.

So, now you are all caught up. I kind of wish I didn't know how this all went down because I wrote about it for my blog more times than I care to remember. It all seemed like a silly thing to me in the first place, and I'm on record (though I can't point to a specific place where you can find my words because I can't remember) but I did say I never thought it would take place.

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A look at Gabriel Gonzaga

After reading about what he went through leading up to his first fight in UFC back at UFC 56 it is hard not to route for this man.

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Thanks, Casey. At least that explains why I didn't see the fight. I wonder what Tito plans for his future, or if it will impact his standing with the UFC. It isn't like he can just run to PRIDE now. And where else can MMA fighters make the big bucks? Dana White doesn't seem like the right person to piss off if you're a MMA fighter. Anyway, if I'm hearing you right, originally Tito was the one who really wanted the chance to "have at" Dana White, so maybe Dana isn't too upset about the whole thing. I think business ultimately trumps personal issues, but if it's close...

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Tito is set to face Rashad Evans at UFC 73 on July 7. I'm not sure what Dana thinks of the whole thing. I think Dana is one of those guys who will hold a grudge, but if he can make some money he's quick to do what's right for business as well.

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UFC News and Notes: Match officially announced for UFC 71, fighter apologizes for boring fight at UFC 70, Tito Ortiz does Don Imus impression, L.A. Times looks at Upsets in MMA

And that Times piece has a section that looks like something I've seen somewhere before but just can't place it.

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The MMAWeekly.com world MMA rankings have been Updated and it is worth a look.

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A few notes from posts I made today.

1.2 was the rating for the most recent episode of TUF. This bothers me because it is a trend down but also because this is an awesome season.

No fighter on UFC 69 or 70 were tested for drugs. Melvin Guillard just had the misfortune of fighting 2 days too early.

Ed Herman and Scott Smith will meet in a Middleweight bout at UFC 72 on 6/16.

A rumor is going around that UFC 74 could be in Albuquerque, NM.

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UFC adds another event to June schedule

If you are a fan of MMA then June could be a fun month. If you also like Pro Wrestling then June is death.

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Upcoming UFC fights and other articles of note

Nothing too earth shattering accept that the debut of Antonio Rodrigo Minatoro Nogueira might be on free TV instead of PPV.

3 UFC shows in June, none of which we here in the states will have to pay for, it doesn't get much better than that.

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Quite the episode of the Ultimate Fighter last night. I don't want to get too much in to it in case some of you are planning to watch it as part of the mini marathon on Saturday, but this was a good show that illustrated the reality of the difficulty of cutting weight.

I highly recommend this season to anyone if you've had dobuts about whether to watch I say go for it.

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I feel sorry for the guy with one exception -- he should have been serious about cutting weight before that point. He let down his team and there are many other MMA fighters who'd love to be on TUF. He shouldn't have taken a spot if he wasn't serious.

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I don't feel sorry for him at all...if he was serious, he wouldn't have eaten the ice cream cake. I need to find Gabe's quotes from yesterday on the show itself, he still hasn't realized how dumb he came across.

Dana White put it best, he knew for months he was going to be on a show where you have to weigh 155 and he came in at 176.

That's 2 guys in 2 weeks that screwed their own chances. Andy Wang wouldn't listen to his corner the week before and he lost when he should've been going for takedowns. B.J. was right to make fun of him for that.

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In all honesty, the guy who didn't listen to his corner didn't bother me as much for the simple reason that I have no idea how I'd listen to a corner when getting punched in the face. Over the years, I've seen lots of fighters not "listen to the corner," and I've just always attributed it to getting punched in the face making it a bit difficult to listen. I mean, it's not as if you can say, "hold on a sec", turn to the corner, say "what?", nod your head, turn back around and say, "OK, let's continue." Yes, a bit of exaggeration, but you get my point. I've wrestled a bit, done karate a bit, and done some boxing, but never really competitively. I do know when I was getting hit with a flurry by someone trying to take my head off, the world became exceedingly small (essentially limited to the guy trying to take my head off) and I couldn't see or hear much else. Maybe pros are better at it, but I don't know. Thus, I have more tolerance for something like that. But not meeting weight as a fighter? I've no real sympathy for that.

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Mikah, I still don't buy it. The reason is that his corner told him what he needed to do before the fight ever got in the Octagon. Sure, listening in the Octagon is one thing, but they told him to go for takedowns and not stand and trade practically from the minute the fight was announced. Gabe even said that Andy's flaw was that he liked to stand and trade when his strength is Jiu-jitsu. So when I say he should've listened to his corner, I'm not just referring to the fight itself because I don't imagine it is easy to listen as you're getting hammered...but he pretty much ignored them going in and so was screwed over by his lack of a desire to play to his strength.

Other impressions I have on this show. I love Jens Pulver as a coach. I think back to episode 1 when 10 guys said they wanted nothing to do with team Pulver...and then I fast forward past five episodes. Jens knows exactly what he's doing and his methods of strategizing and training seem to be paying off.

I'm looking forward to seeing Corey Hill fight more than I've looked forward to anything. Mark it down, because of his personality and given that he does have a lot of potential, Corey Hill will be a star no matter how he finishes in this show. He's got money written all over him.

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OK, I had to go look and I found http://coreyhillmma.com/. I was about to say I want to see the "barking" guy fight since he seems to certainly have the trash talking part down. I've no idea if he can actually compete at this level.

I agree on the coaching. I watch the show in fits and starts (save them up for when I can watch) and I recently noted to myself how team Yellow was winning when most of the fighters initially wanted to be on Team Blue (Penn).

Listening before the fight is certainly a lot easier than listening during the fight, but even then, getting punched in the face has an effect. I agree with you he should have done better, but I just relate more to why he may not have. I've seen pro fighters (mostly boxers) say before, "Everyone has a plan until he gets hit." As I've said, these guys are pros, so we'd like to think they should be used to getting hit by now, but I think when you're rattled, you tend to revert to instinct over training. Maybe he just hadn't been training long enough to overcome his instinct when the going got tough.

Have you continued watching IFL? I dropped out when Heroes came back as I'd have Heroes, "24", and IFL at the same time. I'm still interested in it on some level since it's still MMA, but I just haven't kept up with it. I'm not sure I've really digested the team approach, either.

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Mikah, let me first say that I'm enjoying our dialog here and that in general I think we agree but are just looking at the same side from 2 different angles. I would definitely agree with this line that I've quoted, but here's how it looks to my way of thinking. Wang is a blackbelt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and that means that he must have been training in it for quite some time. I think that given that his jiu-jitsu training should almost be instinctual at this point. An average person with no formal training might instinctually stand and throw because they've got nothing else they can do, but I wouldn't think that to be the case for a Jiu-jitsu blackbelt. Again, its not really a question of whom is right or wrong because the only way you can really know that is to go inside the man's head.

In Andy's case I've got to wonder if this wasn't an ego thing. I don't know and so won't speculate on how well he listened to B.J. during their training sessions but the outcome was foreshadowed by Gabe when he said that this has been a problem for Wang in the past.

Wang's fight record shows a record of 5-6-0 (the TUF bout not included as it is an exhibition). Of his 5 victories, 4 have been via decision with 1 submission. I wonder if he wasn't out on a quest to get that first knockout on TV? I mean wouldn't that make for the nice moment on the highlight video? I again don't know because I'm not in his head but he wouldn't be the first guy to fall for the desire to get that first KO victory. I also find it interesting that he's never submitted or been Knocked Out losing all 6 fights by decision.

As for Corey, time will tell if he's got the skills but I'm going to bet on him to be a star anyway. His personality alone almost guarantees it, though he will need to win some fights or it won't matter how entertaining a guy that he is. I wonder once he's done on this show, if he will continue to fight at 155 in UFC? He's a big man for 155, I wonder if 170 isn't more natural for him?

As for IFL, I've not watched a lot recently due to other things, but I still keep up on the happenings and they do have a Saturday Night replay. I intend to watch tomorrow though because since I last watched, they have apparently revamped the show in to something that mirrors many of the suggestions I made after watching the first few.

The team concept is interesting, kind of like a wrestling meet but I don't know that it has been exploited to its fullest potential.

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Mikah, you asked me about IFL, and partially because of that but also because I've been slacking on it IFL recap for 05/07 I must say that this show is vastly better than it was the last time I recapped it, which I explain at the end of the report. Definitely worth a look or a taping if you are an MMA fan.

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I especially appreciate the recap because I just wasn't able to do anything more than catch moments of the show... which probably means moments of moments of the fights (that's a clips reference). There was just too much going on Monday night with Heroes, "24", Chicago Bulls vs. Detroit Pistons in the NBA playoffs, and IFL Battleground. I did the best I could with a VCR and PiP, which means I didn't see much of IFL Battleground, especially the 2nd hour.

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Mikah, they do replay the show on Saturday night I believe, so you can always snag the whole thing then.

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A programming note, it looks like UFC 72 will air live on SpikeTV instead of tape delay. What that means is that it will start around 3 PM ET on June 16.

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I also loved how his first plan was to go back to the house and take a nap. Everyone in the van had a WTF! look on their face after that response.

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While we're talking about weight loss, I want to comment while I'm thinking of it.

In my experience, losing a lot of weight in a short period of time leaves one extremely drained. I think it's possible to lose, for instance, 10 lbs of water weight in a day (depending on how much you weight). However, if you do it, even if you drink back those 10 lbs of water, you'll still be drained.

To me, it didn't much matter if he lost the weight or not because it was so last minute and he was so drained, he'd have lost the fight anyway. It wouldn't be a true competitive fight I'd be interested in seeing. Better to move on to another fighter. Comments?

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First let me deliver some bad news, as now it looks like UFC 72 will be a PPV

Mikah is right, when you cut a drastic amount of weight like that then it pretty much does drain you and it can be bad news in a fight. Most guys start to cut the weight about a week out so they're not doing it all at once. I think the people with the greatest advantage would be those guys that fight at their natural weight. These are rare fighters, BTW.

But Gabe is a tool. I had forgotten all about the I'm going to take a nap strategy.

How'd you like to be like the 17th fighter? You lost out to a guy who couldn't make the weight. That's I think why Dana was so pissed off at him.

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Well, you could buy the UFC 63 DVD and watch him get knocked out by Melvin Guillard with a punch to the body.

That's definitely something you don't see every day. UFC 63 features another TUF 5 connection as it features Joe Lauzon Vs. Jens Pulver.

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Melvin Guillard suspended 8 months for testing positive for cocaine

Check out the link for his excuse, it is classic.

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I wanted to recommend this interview with Karo "The Heat" Parisyan.
He's a very entertaining fighter and if you've not seen him fight before you're in for a real treat at UFC 71. I also recommend tracking down the fight night with Parisyan vs. Diego Sanchez which was 2006 fight of the year in many publications.

He actually talks about why he specifically doesn't gameplan for any opponent and it ties in to the discussion Mikah and I had regarding Andy Wang, so I thought I'd make you aware of this one.