MMA/UFC/PRIDE/K-1 discussion thread

I think its a good idea to dedicate a thread to the daily goings on in MMA which we can just update about the daily news regarding upcoming fights etc.

Today Dana said that the PRIDE takeover was complete and that they were looking to get ALL the PRIDE guys over to the UFC. This goes against what was originally said which was that they were gonna co-exist as they always have and that the likes of Fedor/Shogun/Aoki/Hunt etc etc were gonna be staying over in PRIDE except for the "Superbowl" shows once a year. Personally Im disappointed because this means no more Grand Prixs, big show production, PRIDE Theme music and wailing ring announcer!!! i also like the way PRIDE have the pre fight announcements done in around a minute whereas Bruce Buffer likes to drag it out over 5-10 minutes!!!



Also has anyone heard if Saku is gonna get medical clearance to fight Royce on Saturday??

Pride Fighter

I hope you are wrong. Pride rules. It makes no business sense to amalgamate them as Pride has the Japanese and Korean PPV market sewn up. UFC is nothing in Asian MMA just like Pride is nothing in North America (in terms of exposure and revenue). I dont think it will happen.

The Sparrow

For what its worth, Id definitely support a new MMA forum...

On the Pride thing, it looks now like they have given up running two seperate promotions because they are bringing most of the fighters over to UFC. Noguiera, Dan Henderson and now Mauricio Shogun Rua looks to be signed (and may debut in Belfast apparently:D )

My hunch is that they will use the Pride name to market UFC's tours to Japan in the future and have one or two big shows in Tokyo a year with the UFC belts defended under the Pride name. Its a shame because I liked the Pride shows.

Pride Fighter

Pride Fighter wrote:

I hope you are wrong. Pride rules. It makes no business sense to amalgamate them as Pride has the Japanese and Korean PPV market sewn up. UFC is nothing in Asian MMA just like Pride is nothing in North America (in terms of exposure and revenue). I dont think it will happen.

They already said before that the rules were gonna be unified to UFC rules...i.e no soccer kicks or knees on the ground.


I agree, shutting PRIDE down is a stupid move since its an established brand name and the leading MMA brand in Asia. Shutting it down completely makes no sense at all.

woooo232

woooo232 wrote:

For what its worth, Id definitely support a new MMA forum...

On the Pride thing, it looks now like they have given up running two seperate promotions because they are bringing most of the fighters over to UFC. Noguiera, Dan Henderson and now Mauricio Shogun Rua looks to be signed (and may debut in Belfast apparently:D )

My hunch is that they will use the Pride name to market UFC's tours to Japan in the future and have one or two big shows in Tokyo a year with the UFC belts defended under the Pride name. Its a shame because I liked the Pride shows.

I doubt Shogun is gonna debut in Belfats unless theyre planning another Belfast show soon. The card for Belfast is finalised and theyd definitely have announced someone like Shogun by now.

Shogun is on of my favourite fighters though so Id love to see him in the UFC.

UFC are back in London in September and Mirko is on the card again so will be going to that!!!

This news is a few days old but apparently Frank Trigg is offering himself as a wrestling coach for the next series of the Ultimate Fighter. He did it on MMAweekly radio!! He said his motive was to beat Matt Hughes (since he seems incapable of doin that in the ring!!:D ) Should be a good series, genuine heat between Hughes and Serra and both guys are pretty good coaches. UFC must be pretty happy to have the fans hate Hughes though, since he became hugely unpopular after the last series and I cant see them rescuing his image since that does appear to be his personality.

Dragan

Hmmmm. I don't hate Hughes, to be honest. I like him. He is good, and he knows he's good, and there is nothing wrong with that. Does he talk ****? Sure does. Does he back it up? Pretty much everytime.

Evil_Clown

Good idea for the thread Neil

Whats the story with that K1 Dynamite this weekend
Is Lesnar facing Choi or is someone else Lined up ?
Also is it on tv or will I have to download it after ?

Also I can't stand Matt Hughes I think he is really smug
He is a really good fighter but still smug
The guy loves the smell of his own farts

Dragan

Dragan wrote:

Hmmmm. I don't hate Hughes, to be honest. I like him. He is good, and he knows he's good, and there is nothing wrong with that. Does he talk ****? Sure does. Does he back it up? Pretty much everytime.

I do admire him as he fighter but u cant deny he behaves like an ass. he is a great fighter, his 2nd fight with Trigg showed that hes hard as nails! He is also a hypocrite. He took a dislike to Jason von Flue out of nowhere for no particular reason when he was supposed to be coaching him and helping him prepare for fights. He then gave out to Rashad for showboating even though Rashad wasnt on his team. He then came in as a guest coach last year and just tried to rag on GSP the whole time. If u read his blogs about God etc etc he is one of those "holier than thou" type of people who I personally cant stand.

I didnt like the way he ran his mouth about BJ after their fight even though it was clear as day who the better fighter is. He then got offended by GSP saying he wasnt impressed with his performance!!!! GSP was just doin exactly what Hughes does!!

Therefore it was just great to see GSP whip his ass after all the crap he talked about GSP before the fight.

If u go on any of the mma forums u will notice just how unpopular he is, most of my friends are of the same opinion, I just find him very hard to like.

Evil_Clown

Evil_Clown wrote:

Good idea for the thread Neil

Whats the story with that K1 Dynamite this weekend
Is Lesnar facing Choi or is someone else Lined up ?
Also is it on tv or will I have to download it after ?

Also I can't stand Matt Hughes I think he is really smug
He is a really good fighter but still smug
The guy loves the smell of his own farts

To the best of my knowledge Lesnar vs Choi is still on along with Saku vs Royce but Im worried Saku wont get medical clearence to fight. Not only that but K-1 said that they have no alternate in case of this.


Its gonna have to be a download job Id say, Eurosport will probably show it but not for a few months! Such a pain this downloading business..... btw will ya pm me the site u use for this?


I agree about Hughes, great fighter, horrible person.

cletus

choi is not fighting, he has ben replaced by min soo him

MMAWeekly updated their world rankingsa today:

HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (over 205 pounds)

#1 Heavyweight Fighter in the World: Fedor Emelianenko

2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

3. Mirko Cro Cop

4. Josh Barnett

5. Randy Couture

6. Gabriel Gonzaga

7. Tim Sylvia

8. Andrei Arlovski

9. Fabricio Werdum

10. Aleksander Emelianenko

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)

#1 Light Heavyweight Fighter in the World: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

2. Quinton Jackson

3. Chuck Liddell

4. Dan Henderson

5. Wanderlei Silva

6. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou

7. Ricardo Arona

8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

9. Tito Ortiz

10. Kazuhiro Nakamura

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (185-pound limit)

#1 Middleweight Fighter in the World: Matt Lindland

2. Anderson Silva

3. Paulo Filho

4. Rich Franklin

5. Dan Henderson

6. Denis Kang

7. Nathan Marquardt

8. Robbie Lawler

9. Kazuo Misaki

10. Frank Trigg

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION (170-pound limit)

#1 Welterweight Fighter in the World: Matt Serra

2. Georges St. Pierre

3. Matt Hughes

4. Josh Koscheck

5. Karo Parisyan

6. BJ Penn

7. Diego Sanchez

8. Jon Fitch

9. Jake Shields

10. Akira Kikuchi

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION (160 pounds and lower)

#1 Lightweight Fighter in the World: Takanori Gomi

2. Hayato Sakurai

3. Gilbert Melendez

4. Tatsuya Kawajiri

5. Shinya Aoki

6. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro

7. Joachim Hansen

8. Mitsuhiro Ishida

9. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto

10. Sean Sherk






I agree about Shogun, how Kid is onyl 9 i dunno, Matt Serra wasnt even ranked before he fought GSP (cant argue tho, be the best - beat the best and all that), the big one for me is why Lindland is #1 MW.......hes great and all but his record in the last few years isnt #1

cletus

cletus wrote:

choi is not fighting, he has ben replaced by min soo him

-Brock Lesnar vs. Min Soo Kim
-Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba [pending Sakuraba's medical clearance]
-Melvin Manhoef vs. Yoon Dong Sik
-"Mighty" Mo Siliga vs. Choi Mu Bae
-Johnnie Morton vs. Bernard Ackah
[Note: Marvin Eastman vs. Ray Sefo is off]




If Royce - Saku is off then theyre in trouble

judas101

interesting how Dan Henderson is considered to be the 4th best heavyweight and 5th best middleweight. does this not seem odd?
i've never seen him fight but am aware he's the current pride champ in both.

hardCopy

Saku is apparently cleared and will fight

Marathon Man

Pride now caught in a RNC by UFC. Enough to make a grown man cry. Hopefully Pride won't tap out just yet.

The Sparrow

Deleted User wrote:

I doubt Shogun is gonna debut in Belfats unless theyre planning another Belfast show soon. The card for Belfast is finalised and theyd definitely have announced someone like Shogun by now.

Shogun is on of my favourite fighters though so Id love to see him in the UFC.

UFC are back in London in September and Mirko is on the card again so will be going to that!!!

Well they couldnt announce anything until he was all signed up... he might not fight, but it looks like he will definitely debut in belfast

http://ufcmania.com/2007/05/22/chuteboxecom-mauricio-shogun-rua-added-to-ufc-roster/

judas101

judas101 wrote:

interesting how Dan Henderson is considered to be the 4th best heavyweight and 5th best middleweight. does this not seem odd?
i've never seen him fight but am aware he's the current pride champ in both.

Those rankings are very flawed but still MMAWeekly remains the most highly regarded of all of the rankings out there.


I think dan is the number 2 MW behind Paulo Filho and I think he's the number 3 LHW behind Shogun and Rampage.

I had Chuck at number 2 before the Quinton fight for his sloppy gassed out performance against Tito so this loss IMO drops him behind Dan but no lower.

hardCopy

hardCopy wrote:

Saku is apparently cleared and will fight

Great stuff, I cant wait for that! Ill be up early on Sunday morning now!!

woooo232

woooo232 wrote:

Well they couldnt announce anything until he was all signed up... he might not fight, but it looks like he will definitely debut in belfast

http://ufcmania.com/2007/05/22/chuteboxecom-mauricio-shogun-rua-added-to-ufc-roster/

Oh man, i hope that if thats true we give him the big reception that he deserves unlike those drunk fools in Vegas who didnt know who Dan or Minotauro or Crocop or Rampage or any of the new guys were before they came.

Fozzy

Deleted User wrote:

I agree, shutting PRIDE down is a stupid move since its an established brand name and the leading MMA brand in Asia. Shutting it down completely makes no sense at all.

PRIDE were losing money until the UFC bought them, weren't they? I think Dana was commenting on how badly PRIDE were run in one interview, so maybe it makes perfect sense that they wouldn't want to continue PRIDE in the same format as it was

Sakuraba has been cleared for K-1 and Ruben Villareal has replaced Mu Bae Choi against Mighty Mo. Bernard Ackah hasn't been cleared yet. Sakuraba was actually cleared for the show before Royce was

Wanderlei Silva vs Chuck Liddell is being talked about for London in September

Fozzy

Fozzy wrote:

PRIDE were losing money until the UFC bought them, weren't they? I think Dana was commenting on how badly PRIDE were run in one interview, so maybe it makes perfect sense that they wouldn't want to continue PRIDE in the same format as it was

Sakuraba has been cleared for K-1 and Ruben Villareal has replaced Mu Bae Choi against Mighty Mo. Bernard Ackah hasn't been cleared yet. Sakuraba was actually cleared for the show before Royce was

Wanderlei Silva vs Chuck Liddell is being talked about for London in September

Mighty Mo SHOULD whoop Villareal. Looking forward to that now.

PRIDE were losin money cos they lost their TV deal due to ties with the Yakuza (Jap mafia). Now that the Fertittas had control that shouldnt have been a problem, the Japanese fans love all that big production and lights etc etc. Most fans of PRIDE will be gutted to lose the GP and the 10 card fights packed with quality fighters.


Where did u hear that? Ill be on the first flight over if thats true.

Evil_Clown

Silva vs Liddell
That would be sweet
If anyone hears any more about this could they please post it, cheers

Strong rumour goin around that UFC 75 in London will feature Arlovski vs Crocop.

If the RUMOURS are true and the other main fight is Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva then taht would be pretty sweet!! And well worth the trip!!

Kazooie

Deleted User wrote:

Strong rumour goin around that UFC 75 in London will feature Arlovski vs Crocop.

If the RUMOURS are true and the other main fight is Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva then taht would be pretty sweet!! And well worth the trip!!

As much as I'd love to see Crocop V Arlovski, I'd prefer it happened when one of them was champ. Whoever loses will have a hard time gettin back to the top.

Although he probably doesn't deserve it after his recent displays, I thought Arlovski was already the Number 1 contender to face the winner of Randy Gonzaga?

Kazooie

Kazooie wrote:

As much as I'd love to see Crocop V Arlovski, I'd prefer it happened when one of them was champ. Whoever loses will have a hard time gettin back to the top.

Although he probably doesn't deserve it after his recent displays, I thought Arlovski was already the Number 1 contender to face the winner of Randy Gonzaga?

id imagine theyre gonna see how Vera comes back along with the outcome of Mir/ Sylvia.


It makes sense in so far as Mirko was higher up the ladder than AA before UFC 70. So we'll see. Mirko is DEFINITELY fighting in London. Ill post the source 2moro when im at home cos i have limited web access here. Its also on mmaweekly under the rumours section. As for the AA fight thats still a rumour but a strong one at that.

Kazooie

Kazooie wrote:

As much as I'd love to see Crocop V Arlovski, I'd prefer it happened when one of them was champ. Whoever loses will have a hard time gettin back to the top.

Although he probably doesn't deserve it after his recent displays, I thought Arlovski was already the Number 1 contender to face the winner of Randy Gonzaga?

id imagine theyre gonna see how Vera comes back along with the outcome of Mir/ Sylvia.


It makes sense in so far as Mirko was higher up the ladder than AA before UFC 70. So we'll see. Mirko is DEFINITELY fighting in London. Ill post the source 2moro when im at home cos i have limited web access here. Its also on mmaweekly under the rumours section. As for the AA fight thats still a rumour but a strong one at that.

Fozzy

K-1 have changed the Lesnar vs Kim Min-soo and Sakuraba vs Royce fights from 5 rounds to 3 rounds. Doesn't really make sense for Saku/Gracie, given how long their first fight was. Apparently the promoters want every fight to be the same rules

If Lesnar wins, you can almost be certain that he'll be signed up by the UFC pretty quick

Fozzy

Fozzy wrote:

K-1 have changed the Lesnar vs Kim Min-soo and Sakuraba vs Royce fights from 5 rounds to 3 rounds. Doesn't really make sense for Saku/Gracie, given how long their first fight was. Apparently the promoters want every fight to be the same rules

If Lesnar wins, you can almost be certain that he'll be signed up by the UFC pretty quick

I think Lesnar is on a multi fight exclusive contract so i doubt he's goin anywhere. He looked like he'd learned how how box or at least his stance and footwork looked better than I thought itd be!!! He needs some fights and work his way into MMA first.


The Royce saku fight was dire, there was no winner imo, they should both have been docked pay and sent home!!

So the rumour going around now is that NSAC arent gonna let Mir fight Sylvia due to his low level of performance in the past few fights hes had. Dunno how legit this is but thats the word. Seems strange since he beat him before!

Fozzy

Deleted User wrote:

I think Lesnar is on a multi fight exclusive contract so i doubt he's goin anywhere.

He said in an interview no more than 2 months ago that it was a one-fight deal: http://www.mmanews.com/other/Exclusive:-In-Depth-Interview-w-Brock-Lesnar-%5BPt.-1%5D.html. I think we'll be seeing Brock in the UFC very soon