[Zanth13]

Some good fights tomorrow for free too...

Bones Jones is always fun to watch and he has a tough fight ahead of him... The Janitor is no pushover like a lot of people are saying (if Jones makes him look silly then he is for sure ready for top 10 level comp)

Okami vs Munoz is an awesome match up and i cant wait to see it, no clue who takes it... Munoz is on a good streak and okami has been out of it for a while so i guess i would give the slight edge to Munoz...

[amphibian]

Picking -

MAIN CARD
Jones, KO Round 1 - Normally, I would pick a decision, but I think the Janitor's a bit too slow to go up against Jones and will get overwhelmed.
Okami, decision - I don't think Munoz is fast enough to put Okami down and Okami's standup is good enough to get that decision win.
Ellenberger, KO Round 2 - This fight is going to be dynamite. Someone's going down.
Gomi, decision - Hoping Gomi comes up with a win. I'd hate to see him fall into ignomity after his stellar career in PRIDE.

PRELIMINARY CARD
Volkmann, decision - I think Volkmann is better at 155 and he seems to have the better wrestling.
Riddle, decision - Riddle's big, strong and fast. He'll take this one easy, I think.
Irvin, KO Round 2 - Here's hoping Irvin finally breaks the curse, gets back on track and can make a true showing.
Massenzio, decision - Stann's weak against wrestlers, despite training with higher end ones.
Oliveira, sub Round 2
Kimmons, sub Round 3

[Bonesaw85]

Quick picks for tonights main card:



Jones - tko, Rd2

Okami - Decision or late tko

Ellenberger - Decision

Griffin - Decision

[Bonesaw85]

Awesome win for Gomi..... He needed this bad. hopefully we'll see the Gomi of old now that he has these Americans figured out.

On the flip side, shitty loss for Tyson.





Bones needs a top 10 fight at least now........

[amphibian]

Bonesaw85, on 02 August 2010 - 03:33 AM, said:

Awesome win for Gomi..... He needed this bad. hopefully we'll see the Gomi of old now that he has these Americans figured out.

On the flip side, shitty loss for Tyson.

I believe that "figuring out how to fight American" is some kind of code for "finally got in a gym and trained my ass off for a change". Watching the gif clip of his KO, I'm surprised by how much faster he was throwing his punches. That right hand accelerated so fast once it got to his hip. Griffin never had a chance. If Gomi can keep or build upon that speed, he's still in the upper echelons of 155.

I think Griffin would do much better at 145, as he's on the small side for 155. However, the pay is better in the UFC, so he'll stick around and be average when he could be a title threat inside two years at 145 (wouldn't beat Aldo, but he'd beat almost everybody else right now).

That triangle from Oliveira was siiiiick. Elkins isn't a great fighter, but the speed and technique Oliveira displayed would have gotten just about anyone. He was lucky to come out from the slam uninjured though.

Howard sucks. He'd be much more dangerous if he had Okami-like footwork and technique. All that raw power and he blunders around.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 02 August 2010 - 09:46 AM

[Zanth13]

Jones is sick, his reach mixed in with his striking, he looked like anderson Silva out there but has awesome wrestling... if he keeps improving the sky is the limit...

crazy... he is only 23?

I need to see someone put him in danger... any way, amazing...

[Bonesaw85]

Picks for tonight


Almeida, UD - unless he gasses, otherwise Hughes might get the decision. I think Hughes' JJ is good enough to avoid a submission.

Guida, UD - dos Anjos has a few good wins lately, but Guidas gonna be too good and put too much preassure on him.

JDS, t/ko RD 2 - Big countrys last few wins where pretty impressive, but I just think JDS is too good. I see JDS being a bigger threat to Lesnar than Cain.

Fitch/Alves - a toss up for me right now. Fitch dominated Alves the first fight, but Alves is MUCH better this time around. Alves finished 6 out of his last 7 fights by tko, where Fitch has been grinding everybody out to decision. Alves also had a much more competitive fight with GSP, Fitch just got beat the fuck up. And since Alves was able to get up after the takedown from GSP, I wouldn't see it as too big a problem against Fitch.

If Alves didn't have such a long layoff since his last fight, and didn't have problems making weight again, I would easily pick Alves by tko or decision, but I just don't know what to think now.......... I'll go with Alves tko, RD 2




Now for the main event........ After all of Sonnens rediculous trash talk (which I found entertaining) and Andersons last few lackluster title defences, I think Silva's really going to fight to his full potential and try to knock Sonnen the fuck out.

IMO Sonnen's only chance to win is to take Silva down and pretty much LnP. If he can get a hold of Silva I think he'll be able to take him down, but getting into range to do that is going to be very dangerous. And if he does get Silva down, he's going to have to worry about getting subbed with Andersons long limbs.


I think Sonnen's a total moron, but I really don't like Anderson and would like to see him lose his belt. But I still think he takes this fight by t/ko within the first 3 rounds.

[amphibian]

I'm with you on most of that. I think I'm picking every Brazilian on the card, if I'm not mistaken.

Nelson will push Two Saints (I know it's not the actual translation of his name, but I like it) into the fence for a round. Then he'll get blasted into unconsciousness.

Going with Alves by decision and Dos Anjos by decision. Both Guida and Fitch are very, very tough people to finish, but I think the Brazilians are fast enough and big enough to fight off the takedown attempts.

I bet Silva KOs Sonnen in the third.

Also, picking Hazlett/Story is going to be tough. Story got a gift his last time out and Hazlett's got slick BJJ. Story's bigger and has the big advantage in wrestling, but Hazlett's got a soft spot in my heart for the McLovin nickname and some awesome fights. I guess I'll go with Hazlett, since he's handled some alright wrestlers in the past.

[Zanth13]

Such a good card its hard to pick,

I really expect A. Silva to win, and I hope he does it in devastating fashion... but if he didnt train properly for this fight or maybe even gets to emotional Chael might be able to grind him out... but with BJ Penns loss and Fedors loss it seems to be the year for legends falling, lets just hope that if A. Silva falls this year its not to Chael "d-bag" Sonnen

I expect to see some more Stand up from Hughes, not that he thinks he is a stiker, but he is a better striker than Big Dog and and i think he might want to avoid the ground game unless he has to resort to his wrestling out of trouble... like against Renzo...

Dont count Big Country out completely though, he has that KO power, probably coming straight from the Gods of Burger King.... I expect Dos Santos to win but country is no joke... he has a great ground game and KO power, that is the perfect combination to beat anyone... the only person to finish Roy Nelson out of his 4 losses is Andrei Arlovski

but I think Dos Santos has the potential to be the Champ...and he hits probably just as hard as Andre...

really really stacked card, has great potential...

[amphibian]

Zanth13, on 07 August 2010 - 04:55 PM, said:

really really stacked card, has great potential...

That was one of the best cards of the decade. Holy fuckballs. Hoooooollllyyyyy fuuuuuckballs.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Holy fuckballs indeed. Wow. Just, just wow.

[Zanth13]

Great card, and wow, much respect for the ability of Chael Sonnen, very impressive, also Anderson showed true championship drive by being able to pull out that
triangle arm bar (ill have to watch but i think attacking the arm is what made Chael tap... but Anderson has never had that happen to him before... he was a minute and some change from being dethroned... WOW....

Look at Hughes choking big dog out cold... amazing...

Thiago Alvez might do better at 185, i think 170 takes to much of his pep out... also he doesnt seem to have an answer against hardcore take down artist...
I dont knock fitch at all for how he fights, he kept it active, looked good and stayed safe,

How tough is Roy Nelson? He ate some horrible upercuts and stayed in there and swung back hard, no one else has been able to have to survive a stand up war with JDS before... pretty fucking amazing, He needs to work on his cardio and maybe improve his takedowns some more,

I am a little worried for JDS, he looked like he was punching himself out, he needs to fix that problem because it will be even harder against either Cain or Brock...

Awesome card though...

oh wait look at Struve, he had a bad ass come back as well, he was getting beat up bad and barely survived and got the KO...

I havent watched Hazelets fight yet but i read he lost by TKO, that sucks im a big fan of his...

[KalamMekhar]

all i have to say about silva is he got his ass beat...... just from watching the first round, he was getting rocked. I would love to see a rematch of this, its too bad sonnen got caught like he did, with so little time left.

[Bonesaw85]

Amazing fights




I feel sick in more than one way

[Zanth13]

Depending on how long it takes Silva to heal maybe they should give him another 205 fight to clear the 185 air... Vitor Belfort does not deserve the title shot, though i would be excited by the fight, if Silva acts like he did against Sonnen in the first he will get (T)KOed... lets see who is left standing after Belcher, W. Silva, Bisping, Leben, and Marquadt have another fight...

they need to sort out the 205 division too, start getting fights set up to see who will challange the winner of Rua vs Rashad (which isnt gonna happen till earlyish 2011 with what the rumors are true)

[amphibian]

Zanth13, on 08 August 2010 - 07:36 PM, said:

Look at Hughes choking big dog out cold... amazing...

Thiago Alvez might do better at 185, i think 170 takes to much of his pep out... also he doesnt seem to have an answer against hardcore take down artist...
I dont knock fitch at all for how he fights, he kept it active, looked good and stayed safe,

I have no idea why Almeida went down to that left. None at all; it must have hit exactly the right spot and spun him dizzy. He could have gotten out of that choke when they were standing, but I think he was still dizzy from the punch and then when they went down, Hughes had both carotids plus top pressure.

Alves looks too small in terms of height and arm length to do well at 185. I would rather him lose about 10 pounds of muscle - especially in the torso - as it doesn't seem to be functional muscle that he can utilize in striking or grappling. If he can get with a better strength and conditioning coach who can mold his body a bit differently, his striking will be faster and he'll make weight every time.

Quote

oh wait look at Struve, he had a bad ass come back as well, he was getting beat up bad and barely survived and got the KO...

Struve really needs more boxing work. He does so badly against people who swarm him that I fear for his career. With his range and height, all he needs to do is learn how to slip punches, sidestep and/or use that jab to stop the rushes as they begin. His jiu jitsu is kinda bad in dealing with people standing. He should have pushed the opponent away and hunted for upkicks instead of being in a strange open guard for most of the punishment that he took.

Zanth13, on 09 August 2010 - 03:21 AM, said:

Depending on how long it takes Silva to heal maybe they should give him another 205 fight to clear the 185 air... Vitor Belfort does not deserve the title shot, though i would be excited by the fight, if Silva acts like he did against Sonnen in the first he will get (T)KOed... lets see who is left standing after Belcher, W. Silva, Bisping, Leben, and Marquadt have another fight...

they need to sort out the 205 division too, start getting fights set up to see who will challange the winner of Rua vs Rashad (which isnt gonna happen till earlyish 2011 with what the rumors are true)

What rumor? Shogun's had knee surgery and is out until next March. Anderson doesn't want to fight at 205, unless there's big money there. Plus, most of the contenders are already tied up or his friends. Possibly the only 205'er that makes sense for Anderson to fight is Thiago Silva - or maybe Hamill, who'd be fresh off a victory over Tito. I'd not like to see Bader, coming off a loss to Lil Nog, go up against Anderson in between title defenses. I like all three fighters and would hate to see them suffer because of Anderson dabbling his toe in the weight class. If Evans or Rampage regained the title or if Jones held the belt, I could see Anderson moving up for that title fight to get the money.

Based on the potential match-up and his demolition of Franklin, a former champion and upper tier fighter, I think that Belfort deserves the shot (assuming he makes weight readily). I'd like to see him against Silva soon, give Sonnen a moneymaking fight against someone like Wanderlei and then look for the rematch.

Bisping will lose to Akiyama. Leben probably won't make a title run. Belcher's got a detached retina, but still needs two good wins to make it to title contention. Maia is probably in the same boat, but should reach contention level sooner than Belcher; I think Maia might get matched up against Okami if Maia wins his next fight in the upcoming cards. Marquardt's got a dangerous fight against Palhares coming up soon and I'm not sure what happens to him after that. Does he sit until it's title defense time or does he fight someone else?

Joe Silva has a tough, but fun job.

[Zanth13]

amphibian, on 09 August 2010 - 04:23 AM, said:

I have no idea why Almeida went down to that left. None at all; it must have hit exactly the right spot and spun him dizzy. He could have gotten out of that choke when they were standing, but I think he was still dizzy from the punch and then when they went down, Hughes had both carotids plus top pressure.

he got hit hard right in the chin while it was up and not tucked... its just the human bodies way of reacting... and it hurt him, he went out within a few seconds of the choke being applied, mainly im sure because of the power of Matt's squeeze, such little time to react added on to being stunned already mean he never had a chance in that particular scenario

Quote

Alves looks too small in terms of height and arm length to do well at 185. I would rather him lose about 10 pounds of muscle - especially in the torso - as it doesn't seem to be functional muscle that he can utilize in striking or grappling. If he can get with a better strength and conditioning coach who can mold his body a bit differently, his striking will be faster and he'll make weight every time.

i agree to a point but Dana White basically said he was done at 170lb, and I think he has the talent to take it to the tob 185ers.. his body shape/size is just unfortunate, you could make the argue if he loss the muscle mass he could even make 155, but he chooses not too, he chose to drop 20% of his purse rather than try and drop that half a pound (probably less than that even as the scales round up)he is hurting himself at this weight class right now... The UFC has given him chances at 170 and he dropped the ball on making weight twice now,

Quote

Struve really needs more boxing work. He does so badly against people who swarm him that I fear for his career. With his range and height, all he needs to do is learn how to slip punches, sidestep and/or use that jab to stop the rushes as they begin. His jiu jitsu is kinda bad in dealing with people standing. He should have pushed the opponent away and hunted for upkicks instead of being in a strange open guard for most of the punishment that he took.

I agree, he has such good reach with his arms and legs he should be able to keep any other HW at distance with jabs and kicks... but he is young and still doing really well, imagine him over the next few years when he is more skilled and 30lbs or so heavier with muscle, someone to keep an eye on...

up kicks are great especially in an emergency but if you can get up you should, trying for multiple upkicks can get you passed, but guard is useless if you let yourself get beat to a pulp and get the lip of death

Quote

What rumor? Shogun's had knee surgery and is out until next March. Anderson doesn't want to fight at 205, unless there's big money there. Plus, most of the contenders are already tied up or his friends. Possibly the only 205'er that makes sense for Anderson to fight is Thiago Silva - or maybe Hamill, who'd be fresh off a victory over Tito. I'd not like to see Bader, coming off a loss to Lil Nog, go up against Anderson in between title defenses. I like all three fighters and would hate to see them suffer because of Anderson dabbling his toe in the weight class. If Evans or Rampage regained the title or if Jones held the belt, I could see Anderson moving up for that title fight to get the money.

There have been other reports that Shogun has been healing faster than expected, but Ihaven’t been paying to much attention to his condition, its to far in the future to excite me at this point...

Anderson is an enigma at times, a few months ago he said in an interview that he wanted to fight at several weight classes, he even said some craziness about 170 and all the way up to heavyweight... then just a few weeks ago he said he was happy staying at his own weight class and wanted to retire as a 185er when the time came, its just an idea and the UFC has done it before, because i still think the 185 lb division is in chaos...

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Based on the potential match-up and his demolition of Franklin, a former champion and upper tier fighter, I think that Belfort deserves the shot (assuming he makes weight readily). I'd like to see him against Silva soon, give Sonnen a moneymaking fight against someone like Wanderlei and then look for the rematch.

Bisping will lose to Akiyama. Leben probably won't make a title run. Belcher's got a detached retina, but still needs two good wins to make it to title contention. Maia is probably in the same boat, but should reach contention level sooner than Belcher; I think Maia might get matched up against Okami if Maia wins his next fight in the upcoming cards. Marquardt's got a dangerous fight against Palhares coming up soon and I'm not sure what happens to him after that. Does he sit until it's title defense time or does he fight someone else?

see I agree Belfort makes sense but he has no fights in the UFC this time around at 185, he fought Franklin at 195 , at least test him against Wandy or Belcher or feed him Bisping, Maia will probably never get another shot at A. Silva because of that debacle, Belcher wont be out to long with the injury, the surgery went well,

Belfort also has not fought in almost a year because of injury and other factors, putting him in a title fight after a year out of the cage doesnt help his chances, he has the tools to win (possibly) but should get a tough tune up type fight before being thrown to Anderson Silva, someone like Belcher who is begging for big names.

I think we need 6 – 9 months to establish a real contender at 185 (and get a fight that can be hyped up properly) Now if Anderson is injured and unable to fight then that works out, but if he recovers fast and wants a fight, or the UFC needs the PPV then give him a 205er, i am sure there is someone in that Weight Class that makes sense or that can be exciting.

Quote

Joe Silva has a tough, but fun job.

Hell yah! but on a side note i am sick of instant rematches, f* that, if you lose then you should work your way back up regardless, Chael got tapped he should not get another rematch regardless of how much he kicked A.Silva's ass, I dont really agree with Penn and Shogun getting there rematches either, I am huge fans of there and I understand the reason, but dont agree, its to much like UFC trying to crown whatever champ they can sell the best, I agreed to a point with the Stephan Bonnar vs the polish experiment because it was a improper call on the refs part...

[amphibian]

Zanth13, on 09 August 2010 - 05:23 PM, said:

he got hit hard right in the chin while it was up and not tucked... its just the human bodies way of reacting... and it hurt him, he went out within a few seconds of the choke being applied, mainly im sure because of the power of Matt's squeeze, such little time to react added on to being stunned already mean he never had a chance in that particular scenario

Hughes isn't really known for his power in his hands though. It seriously must have been the perfect combination of what you mentioned to get Almeida to go down like that - especially since Almeida has shown that he's got a decent chin in the past.

Quote

I agree, he has such good reach with his arms and legs he should be able to keep any other HW at distance with jabs and kicks... but he is young and still doing really well, imagine him over the next few years when he is more skilled and 30lbs or so heavier with muscle, someone to keep an eye on...

Struve was like 217 pounds a year or two ago. He's now in the 240s and still skinny. At 270, 280 he'd be well-muscled, but a straight beast. That'd be awesome. My thing with getting up and getting out from under the back is that he's got so much lanky body to move around that he'll probably never get out and up that quickly. He's not super-athletic, so I like the upkicks - especially since he's got so much potential range on them.

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Hell yah! but on a side note i am sick of instant rematches, f* that, if you lose then you should work your way back up regardless, Chael got tapped he should not get another rematch regardless of how much he kicked A.Silva's ass, I dont really agree with Penn and Shogun getting there rematches either, I am huge fans of there and I understand the reason, but dont agree, its to much like UFC trying to crown whatever champ they can sell the best, I agreed to a point with the Stephan Bonnar vs the polish experiment because it was a improper call on the refs part...

Penn won that Edgar fight - as the first three rounds were clearly his. Four viewings of that fight and FightMetric bear me out on that. FightMetric scored the first Shogun-Dragon fight as Shogun's 49-47. I think I saw it as Machida getting the edge in two rounds with Shogun taking the last and drawing the others, but it was razor thin and public opinion was clearly in favor of an immediate rematch.

There was another rematch recently - was it Escudero or Nover? One of the TUF little guys had a very premature stoppage like 3 minutes into a fight and then won the rematch rather handily.

[Zanth13]

I would have to watch the Penn Edgar fight again to make an unbiased opinion, a lot of what it might have been is that Penn was just dominating at LW and suddenly one of his weaker challenges to date takes it to him and can hang...i do remember watching the 5th round and saying wow, if Penn doesnt put him away he is going to lose his belt...and he did, but i was caught up in the fight and surprised so that may be why i thought Penn was losing.

By Penn not having to earn the title shot, when he beats Edgar (he probably will) it will completely lessen what Edgar was able to do, and make it seem like a mistake/fluke... i just dont feel its fair to him, Penn is good he should have been able to fight Maynard or something for a title then fight for his belt... its hard enough to win the belt from Penn, how about having to have your first title defense against him...

I had Shogun losing the 1st fight as well and I have watched it again and again... it was a close fight but I dont think Shogun had it won, at best it would have been a draw and Machida kept the belt... and its not exactly fair for him to jump back in line for the title shot... and really hard for Machida who has to fight an opponent who has had 2 back to back chances to figure out a game plan to beat him,

But we are past all that, and now Machida has to work his way back, and with his little spat with Dana I am sure he will need at least 2-3 good solid wins to get a shot..

I just dont want to see instant rematches to stay as common as they are now, UFC has a deep talent pool and they need to work on promoting more up in comers and giving people there shot at tough fights.

[Zanth13]

Update:

Alan Belcher is out till further notice, he only has one good eye at the moment and no promise that the other one will recover

Sucks he was just starting a decent run and had that huge win over cote

This hurts the UFCs 185lb division

maybe eventually he can get better