UFC Ongoing Thread (1 Viewer)

[Casey Trowbridg]

Considering that's the UFC 80 main event, there's no way it doesn't take place. As for whether it will be for an interim title or not, we'll wait and see. Sherk will be able to fight in January (but he won't fight until much later).

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Three new bouts have been added to upcoming UFC shows.

Two have been inked for UFC 81 and a third completes the card for UFC 79

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

So the TUF Finals are set and it is Mac Vs. Tommy. I think this fight could go either way. Tommy has this way of escaping trouble. Mac's technique is better but Tommy's strength can't be discounted, just ask George.

If you're looking for something to follow on Thursday around 7 ET, we'll have live coverage of Fury Fighting Championships 5 all the way from Sao Paulo Brazil at this link http://combat-hooligans.com/2007/12/...ound-coverage/

Back to TUF for a second. Season 5 was way better, there I said it.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

So any of you guys have HDnet on your cable system?

 

[Jeffrey Johnson]

I do. Is something good going to be on?

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

HDNet will be televising 3 MMA cards this month. Dec. 15 they'll televise Reckless Abandon from their own promotion HDNet Fights.

On Dec. 29 they'll televise the Finals of the IFL Grand Prix.

On Dec. 31 they're going to televise Yarennoka from Japan which will feature Fedor Emelianenko and an under card that includes Gesias Calvancanti and Shinya Aoki in what should be a heck of a contest.

I asked if anyone had the channel because I don't and would love a copy of these shows especially Yarennoka. Also if anyone would like to try their hand at doing a writeup of the events, I'd publish them with credit.

 

[JoshRas]

Yeah, I have it. It comes with my Directv package. Shortly it goes to a new HD package where its $5 month. Ya also get Universal HD and a bunch of other smaller HD channels. Was considering not getting it but with HD Net carrying a lot of MMA fights, and Inside MMA being one of my new favorite shows, I will be keeping it. Totally stoked to see Fedor fighting for free against that giant guy. It will be my first tiime ever seeing Fedor fight live, have seen him on tv and dvds before but never live.

Any predictions for this weekend? I am going Tommy and Huerta. I read where Danzig is dropping down to lightweight after this fight and Bisping is dropping down to MW for his next fight. Both seem to be the right weights for those guys.

 

[JoshRas]

One other thing, on Inside MMA a week or 2 ago, they took a little shot at the UFC mentioning how the UFC wont let them show clips of their shows. Which seems sort of petty on the part of the UFC. Probably about 75% of the specific organization talk is UFC. They really dont push their own promotion that much. With more clips, people might be more inclined to get into the UFC and not want to miss the next PPV.

No matter what they do, HD Net fights will never be on the same level as the UFC. They would have to get Fedor, Randy, Liddell, and at least a couple of other top guys before they would ever be in the same league as far as popularity. They will probably eventually get 1 or 2 big stars, but I think the more MMA is out there, its good for the UFC.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Danzig and Guida are my picks.

In all I've got: Goulet, Mitichyan, Arroyo, Hightower, Saunders, Rollins, Sotiropoulos, Danzig (it could go either way and not surprise me) and Guida.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

TUF 6 Finale live coverage in case someone is unable to watch the show and just can't wait to find results.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Seriously, if you somehow didn't see J-ROC Vs. Koppenhaver, fix this grave injustice in your life immediately. The show replays for sure this Friday night, do not miss this bloody war.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Let the record show that Guida-Huerta, like Koppenhaver-Rollins was awesome.

Josh I guess you and I end up splitting on the night.

 

[Brett_M]

What was Dana White's big announcement at the TUF finale last night? Damn DVR stopped recording at midnight and I missed it.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

His big announcement was that Forrest Griffin whom he has referred to as the #1 contender for the Light Heavyweight title will be a TUF 7 coach and the show is experiencing some format changes.

Tonight at the VGA's we'll find out who the other coach is and they'll fight at the end of the season.

Of course, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who the #1 contender for the Light Heavyweight championship might face in his next bout.

 

[JoshRas]

These Fight Nights are turning into the best fights the UFC puts out there. I dont know if these guys just bring it so much more because they are "lower tier" guys, but WOW, what a night! Koppenhaver-J-Roc was a great battle. Both guys going back and forth, Koppenhaver looking like he was gonna get TKO'd then reversing it and winning it himself.

The Huerta/Guida has to be one of the best fights you will ever see. Has to be for sure in the top 10 of the year, if not top 5. Too bad the Best of 2007 show already aired. Whats amazing, is that this is his 5th fight of the year! Huerta looked like he was gonna get TKO'd in the 2nd round, then he came out the BEAST in the 3rd. The rest of the card was great as well.


As far as Danas announcement...I dont know what to think. It obviously will be Rampage/Forrest as the next two coaches on TUF. If you were watching the VMA commercials during the fights, they showed those two on stage together. Now Dana did say he was getting bored with the concept and they were shaking it up. Hopefully this show will air a little bit more in "real" time. Because if we have to wait til July for a Rampage/Griffin match up, I will be pissed. Not only does that put the whole class on hold, its just sort of lame. Especially since Rampage hasnt fought since september, thats almost 9 months off.

If they are in the house for 6 weeks...I believe they start in Feb. So lets just say they wrap up in mid march. If you give 2 months recover time, then I guess we are talking a may matchup. Which I guess would be ok, but I hope they dont stretch this out like this years.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Josh, one reason for a longer layoff for Quinton Jackson is the fact that he has a hand injury that was pre-existing before his fight with Henderson and made worse during the contest.

The season starts filming in late January.

Your plan doesn't allow for much editing time and they do a lot of editing on TUF. You don't necessarily see things in the sequence that they happen in the house. Your looking at an April return for the show which means late June, first week of July is likely a date of the fight.

 

[JoshRas]

wasnt aware of his injury but I still think it is not advantageous to tie up belts/fighters like this. Even if Rampage could return in April, thats when it should happen. As much as I love the UFC, I think we get some cards that are weaker than they should be. For example, had we not gone though the Serra/Hughes show, they probably would have fought sometime around August, assuming a 4 month layoff for Serra. Then Serra could be defending his title still at UFC 79 or abouts there(assuming his injury doesnt happen).

The Serra/Hughes show was probably a better idea, just because they dont like each other. But I dont think Rampage/Griffin dont have the personalities where they will hate each other. But, I guess it will be better for the sport because they will get to know these two, who probably have 2 of the best personalities in the sport and in its most popular weight class. So as I type this, I think might be flip flopping!! Oh well.


Casey, my buddy and I were talking last night and I mentioned a Ken/Frank Shamrock fight. I thought I saw somewhere that those two dont like each other and want to fight. Any chance? What organization? EliteXC?

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Josh, both Ken and Frank have expressed a desire to fight one another. As to whether or not they get along, apparently they don't but they are also 2 guys who know how to sell a fight.

The only U.S. organization you can rule out for booking that fight would be the UFC.

I'd say EliteXC would have the best shot at it. However, there are some issues that could keep this fight from happening any time soon. Ken Shamrock's contract status and lawsuit against the UFC for one. Another is that Frank has got a match with Cung Le in the future and also a rematch at some point with Renzo Gracie.

So will it happen? Who knows. would it make money for someone? Yes, both guys know how to sell a fight.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Thinking a little bit more about what Josh was saying it occurs to me that in the case of the Light Heavyweight division it is probably a benefit to icing the champion until July.

Forrest Griffin is the #1 contender and is on a 2-fight winning streak and one of those was Hector Ramirez. Sure, the other was Rua and we give him props for that.

Look at the next group, Jardine is on a 1 fight winning streak, Liddell has lost 2 in a row, Tito is 0-1-1 in his last 2 fights and Evans is 2-0-1 in his last 3 but isn't exactly ready for that spot. Vanderlei has lost 2 in a row and is fighting Chuck so one of them is going to pick up a third loss in a row.

Thiago Silva is 3-0 in the UFC but hasn't beaten any top contenders. Houston Alexander was exposed in his last fight so he's out of the title picture. Dan Henderson is dropping to Middleweight at least for 1 fight. Bisping is dropping to middleweight perminently. Shogun Rua is coming off a loss to Forrest and will need another fight or 2 before he can be sold as a contender. Sokoudjou is coming off 2 impressive wins in Pride over top 10 world ranked fighters but he's an unknown to most so he'll need a fight or 2 to see if he's ready for that spot or another Alexander.


So by not having a title fight until July you give the division a chance to sort itself out. Let the next group of challengers fight one another and see if any of them can get on any sort of a role. That way once the July fight is over you have an idea as to who will be there to be that next challenger.

So really, icing the title makes sense. Even if Rampage could fight before July which he absolutely could, assuming you didn't want to do Griffin because of the coming TUF season who could he fight and have it seen as a serious challenger? Plus, you'd also have the problem of him possibly losing.

I'm going to expound on this more on my site tomorrow.

 

[Andres Munoz]

Boy, you ain't kidding. What awesome matches. War machine was on his way to sleep and somehow mustered the extra energy to throw a couple of punches and ended up winning. What a great, bloody battle that was.

Huerta-Guida was amazing as well. That Guida is like a caveman ready to slaughter a buffalo. But that only goes to show you how good Huerta is as well. That guy has a bright future ahead of him. He looks about ready for a title shot, wouldn't you say?

My DVR didn't record the "big announcement" either but Griffin/Rampage sounds good. Let's see what the format changes will be.