[quote]Reef wrote:
LOL @ Kos calling out Hardy. He’s totally right too. There should be fight for #1 contender between Kos and Hardy. Then again GSP is due to fight soon.[/quote]
Koscheck’s loss to Paulo Thiago kind of set him back. Beating Frank Trigg didn’t really help him either,imo. Johnson has been his most notable win since either Chris Lytle or Hazlett. I don’t think he has earned a shot at #1 contender again.
BUT there are still welterweight match-ups that really should happen to prove a clear #1 WW contender. Nobody truly stands out. The #1 contender is someone who can get past Koscheck,Alves,and Fitch,IMO.
I would have wanted to see Hardy get past at least one of those guys before a shot at GSP. Dan Hardy vs. Alves would have been awesome…as would him vs. Koscheck.
I would have wanted to see Hardy get past at least one of those guys before a shot at GSP. Dan Hardy vs. Alves would have been awesome…as would him vs. Koscheck. [/quote]
Exactly, I thought Hardy should face one of those guys. Fitch probably does deserve it more than Kos. He’s beaten Paulo and Gono since losing to GSP.
[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
Reef wrote:
LOL @ Kos calling out Hardy. He’s totally right too. There should be fight for #1 contender between Kos and Hardy. Then again GSP is due to fight soon.
Koscheck’s loss to Paulo Thiago kind of set him back. Beating Frank Trigg didn’t really help him either,imo. Johnson has been his most notable win since either Chris Lytle or Hazlett. I don’t think he has earned a shot at #1 contender again.
BUT there are still welterweight match-ups that really should happen to prove a clear #1 WW contender. Nobody truly stands out. The #1 contender is someone who can get past Koscheck,Alves,and Fitch,IMO.
I would have wanted to see Hardy get past at least one of those guys before a shot at GSP. Dan Hardy vs. Alves would have been awesome…as would him vs. Koscheck. [/quote]
Agree. Hardy needs at least one more fight with a top WW contender to truly determine a #1. But if Alves beat Hardy, would Alves be the true #1 WW contender? That would mean GSP would fight him back to back, and Alves would fight for the title two out of three matches. This fight won’t happen but just saying…
Didn’t Kos call out Matt Hughes in his last fight?
[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
Big_Boss wrote:
Reef wrote:
LOL @ Kos calling out Hardy. He’s totally right too. There should be fight for #1 contender between Kos and Hardy. Then again GSP is due to fight soon.
Koscheck’s loss to Paulo Thiago kind of set him back. Beating Frank Trigg didn’t really help him either,imo. Johnson has been his most notable win since either Chris Lytle or Hazlett. I don’t think he has earned a shot at #1 contender again.
BUT there are still welterweight match-ups that really should happen to prove a clear #1 WW contender. Nobody truly stands out. The #1 contender is someone who can get past Koscheck,Alves,and Fitch,IMO.
I would have wanted to see Hardy get past at least one of those guys before a shot at GSP. Dan Hardy vs. Alves would have been awesome…as would him vs. Koscheck.
Agree. Hardy needs at least one more fight with a top WW contender to truly determine a #1. But if Alves beat Hardy, would Alves be the true #1 WW contender? That would mean GSP would fight him back to back, and Alves would fight for the title two out of three matches. This fight won’t happen but just saying…
Didn’t Kos call out Matt Hughes in his last fight?[/quote]
I think that they should have Alves fight Fitch again (see if he’s truly improved since his earlier loss) and Kos fight Hardy. Then let both of the winners have shots at GSP. Or, Alves vs Hardy and Kos vs Fitch (though honestly I prefer the other match-ups better from a stylistic perspective).
As far as Kos vs Hughes, I’d personally like to see that fight purely for posterity’s sake (and I think it might make an entertaining fight), but I don’t think that Hughes is gonna be taking another run at the title tbh, so even if he won it would really be kind of pointless.
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
tmoney1 wrote:
Big_Boss wrote:
Reef wrote:
LOL @ Kos calling out Hardy. He’s totally right too. There should be fight for #1 contender between Kos and Hardy. Then again GSP is due to fight soon.
Koscheck’s loss to Paulo Thiago kind of set him back. Beating Frank Trigg didn’t really help him either,imo. Johnson has been his most notable win since either Chris Lytle or Hazlett. I don’t think he has earned a shot at #1 contender again.
BUT there are still welterweight match-ups that really should happen to prove a clear #1 WW contender. Nobody truly stands out. The #1 contender is someone who can get past Koscheck,Alves,and Fitch,IMO.
I would have wanted to see Hardy get past at least one of those guys before a shot at GSP. Dan Hardy vs. Alves would have been awesome…as would him vs. Koscheck.
Agree. Hardy needs at least one more fight with a top WW contender to truly determine a #1. But if Alves beat Hardy, would Alves be the true #1 WW contender? That would mean GSP would fight him back to back, and Alves would fight for the title two out of three matches. This fight won’t happen but just saying…
Didn’t Kos call out Matt Hughes in his last fight?
I think that they should have Alves fight Fitch again (see if he’s truly improved since his earlier loss) and Kos fight Hardy. Then let both of the winners have shots at GSP. Or, Alves vs Hardy and Kos vs Fitch (though honestly I prefer the other match-ups better from a stylistic perspective).
As far as Kos vs Hughes, I’d personally like to see that fight purely for posterity’s sake (and I think it might make an entertaining fight), but I don’t think that Hughes is gonna be taking another run at the title tbh, so even if he won it would really be kind of pointless.
[/quote]
HHMMM two #1 WW contenders? Interesting proposition. And yeah, Kos/Hughes would be more of a novelty fight than anything.
As for the other fights, Baroni gassed really bad at the end of the first round and the rest of the fight. I’m surprised he made it the distance. Funny how Baroni put his shades on before the decision.
I had Small Nog winning, but didn’t think he would knock out Cane. Was thinking a submission. That’s a sick camp with his brother and Anderson Silva in your corner.
Paulo doin work on Volkmann. Volkmann actually stayed in the match, but Paulo had an answer for everything. Nice knockdown at the end of round one by Thiago.
Kos/Rumble good fight. Sucks about the eye pokes, especially for Rumble, as he had gone through eye surgery. Kos legit on the ground. Was thinking Rumble would knock him out, and they did exchange blows, but Kos with a nice RNC.
I think the judges got the call right on Tito/Forrest. Forrest did work in round 3, which I think won him the fight. Tito had nice takedowns, and made Forrest bleed really bad in round 2, but Forrest did a nice job escaping and also good takedown defense.
[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
Sentoguy wrote:
tmoney1 wrote:
Big_Boss wrote:
Reef wrote:
LOL @ Kos calling out Hardy. He’s totally right too. There should be fight for #1 contender between Kos and Hardy. Then again GSP is due to fight soon.
Koscheck’s loss to Paulo Thiago kind of set him back. Beating Frank Trigg didn’t really help him either,imo. Johnson has been his most notable win since either Chris Lytle or Hazlett. I don’t think he has earned a shot at #1 contender again.
BUT there are still welterweight match-ups that really should happen to prove a clear #1 WW contender. Nobody truly stands out. The #1 contender is someone who can get past Koscheck,Alves,and Fitch,IMO.
I would have wanted to see Hardy get past at least one of those guys before a shot at GSP. Dan Hardy vs. Alves would have been awesome…as would him vs. Koscheck.
Agree. Hardy needs at least one more fight with a top WW contender to truly determine a #1. But if Alves beat Hardy, would Alves be the true #1 WW contender? That would mean GSP would fight him back to back, and Alves would fight for the title two out of three matches. This fight won’t happen but just saying…
Didn’t Kos call out Matt Hughes in his last fight?
I think that they should have Alves fight Fitch again (see if he’s truly improved since his earlier loss) and Kos fight Hardy. Then let both of the winners have shots at GSP. Or, Alves vs Hardy and Kos vs Fitch (though honestly I prefer the other match-ups better from a stylistic perspective).
As far as Kos vs Hughes, I’d personally like to see that fight purely for posterity’s sake (and I think it might make an entertaining fight), but I don’t think that Hughes is gonna be taking another run at the title tbh, so even if he won it would really be kind of pointless.
HHMMM two #1 WW contenders? Interesting proposition. And yeah, Kos/Hughes would be more of a novelty fight than anything.
As for the other fights, Baroni gassed really bad at the end of the first round and the rest of the fight. I’m surprised he made it the distance. Funny how Baroni put his shades on before the decision.
[/quote]
Yeah, he may not be the best fighter at WW, but there is no questioning Baroni’s heart.
Yeah, impressive win for little Nog. Too bad he’s yet one more fighter who, if he starts moving up the ranks, would prevent Anderson from taking a serious run at the title (supposing that he had to go through little Nog to get there).
At time Volkmann looked really sharp, at others he was extremely sloppy (he looked like a fish out of water on his feet). Kudo to Paulo for the victory.
Both fighters took and gave their fare share of “cheap” shots. I was glad to see Kos remember that he’s a wrestler and actually use it in this fight.
[quote]
I think the judges got the call right on Tito/Forrest. Forrest did work in round 3, which I think won him the fight. Tito had nice takedowns, and made Forrest bleed really bad in round 2, but Forrest did a nice job escaping and also good takedown defense.[/quote]
I could have seen giving the first two rounds to Tito honestly. But I think you’re right, Forrest stole the fight (or maybe more appropriately Tito gave it away) in that last round. The judge who scored it 30-27 for Griffin was smokin something though.
[quote]Aussie Davo wrote:
If forrest is recovered mentally from his fight (or lack thereof) with Silva, then I’d place money on him giving a fucking beating to Tito.
It was a war last time, and narrowly tito’s decision, Forrest is improved now, and I think he’ll take it via decision, or possibly TKO.[/quote]
As far as Kos vs Hughes, I’d personally like to see that fight purely for posterity’s sake (and I think it might make an entertaining fight), but I don’t think that Hughes is gonna be taking another run at the title tbh, so even if he won it would really be kind of pointless.
[/quote]
I agree, but there was a time when Hughes could have turned it around had he trained with good people and actually learned to strike. The game has now passed him by.
[quote]Aussie Davo wrote:
If forrest is recovered mentally from his fight (or lack thereof) with Silva, then I’d place money on him giving a fucking beating to Tito.
It was a war last time, and narrowly tito’s decision, Forrest is improved now, and I think he’ll take it via decision, or possibly TKO.[/quote]
Now if you had said this BEFORE the fight actually took place, I’d have been impressed.
I could have seen giving the first two rounds to Tito honestly. But I think you’re right, Forrest stole the fight (or maybe more appropriately Tito gave it away) in that last round. The judge who scored it 30-27 for Griffin was smokin something though.[/quote]
How did Tito win two rounds, or that matter even the one round? Griffin nullified Tito’s game on the ground, and won convincingly on the feet, which was very impressive. Griffin really only took a couple of nasty elbows (on the ground) and as you know he cuts easy anyway. The most impressive part of the fight was when Griffin actually reversed Tito on the ground and began a ground and pound attack of his own.
I could see all three rounds going to Griffin. How did one judge actually have Tito winning the fight? No really, it makes me think that this judge is either stupid, doesn’t know the game, or was bought and paid for.
Tito lost that fight with no question, none at all. For him to say that he was robbed just speaks to his immaturity, which has always been a hallmark of his.
“I’d like to see you guys fight with a cracked skull and a ruptured C6 vertabra”.
Um, shut up Tito.
But, the over all UFC judging is very questionable as of late.
I would throw Paulo Thiago in the mix for top contenders at WW as well. Yes,he lost to Fitch…but Thiago gave him a fight that caused an unimpressive victory,imo. Plus,the TKO of Koscheck that I mentioned earlier. He’s looked pretty good so far.
Sucks that Fitch vs. Alves II won’t happen as planned for UFC 107.
As for Tito…come on,dude. Kudos for getting back in there,but damn…lets not get all “Mitrione” on us with excuses. I think he should just hang it up for good…he’s gonna make a fool of himself. His “dysfunctional relationship” with UFC is bad enough.
Oh,and did Saunders give it to Marcus Davis or what. I didn’t catch that fight until today.
Sidenote: It still amazes me that some of these guys don’t know how to defend a thai plum/clinch. I’d rather attempt to get hips in and risk getting taken down that eat knees like that. Or get “lucky” by countering with some kind of body lock and take them down…dirty boxing…anything other than backing up and trying to block with arms.
I’m not saying that all of that is easy…but some of these experienced UFC fighters should be doing better than what they display.
I could have seen giving the first two rounds to Tito honestly. But I think you’re right, Forrest stole the fight (or maybe more appropriately Tito gave it away) in that last round. The judge who scored it 30-27 for Griffin was smokin something though.
How did Tito win two rounds, or that matter even the one round? Griffin nullified Tito’s game on the ground, and won convincingly on the feet, which was very impressive. Griffin really only took a couple of nasty elbows (on the ground) and as you know he cuts easy anyway. The most impressive part of the fight was when Griffin actually reversed Tito on the ground and began a ground and pound attack of his own.
I could see all three rounds going to Griffin. How did one judge actually have Tito winning the fight? No really, it makes me think that this judge is either stupid, doesn’t know the game, or was bought and paid for.
Tito lost that fight with no question, none at all. For him to say that he was robbed just speaks to his immaturity, which has always been a hallmark of his.
“I’d like to see you guys fight with a cracked skull and a ruptured C6 vertabra”.
Um, shut up Tito.
But, the over all UFC judging is very questionable as of late.[/quote]
Yeah, I agree that he didn’t win the fight. I can honestly see possibly giving him round 1 as it was a pretty even round. But, I’d say he definitely won the second round. No question that Forrest won the third round. Like I said giving all three rounds to Forrest is what I don’t get.
Now, had he not just stood there in the third round and actually tried to win the fight, I could see his protest. But IMO the judges are generally not going to award a decision to someone who chooses to just stand there for the entire final round (well until maybe 10 seconds are left) and not try to finish the fight, or really even engage at all.
[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
Oh,and did Saunders give it to Marcus Davis or what. I didn’t catch that fight until today.
[/quote]
Yeah, Davis just seems to have problems with taller opponents in general. But damn, Saunders tuned him up with those knees.
It either speaks to the quality their MMA coaches’ understanding of MT, or that these guys just aren’t spending enough time working on it.
The thing is that they don’t even block with the arms correctly. It is possible to block knees with the arms, and pretty much “convince” your opponent that they don’t want to keep throwing knees (actually does more damage to the knee thrower than the blocker if done right). But I never see anyone doing it right.
I’d agree though that trying to get the hips in and take away the space to knee would be better than what Davis did. Or dirty boxing (like Baroni did).
[quote]
I’m not saying that all of that is easy…but some of these experienced UFC fighters should be doing better than what they display.[/quote]
The thing is that they don’t even block with the arms correctly. It is possible to block knees with the arms, and pretty much “convince” your opponent that they don’t want to keep throwing knees (actually does more damage to the knee thrower than the blocker if done right). But I never see anyone doing it right.
[/quote]
Yeah…I was taught to basically just put your forearms together(straight up/down) to protect your chin and so that knees would hit forearms/elbows if you get caught in deep plum. I have never really tried that in competition/sparring. I put more focus on not giving space to begin with. Or I will counter with knee/shin across their hips to keep them from throwing knees…but that’s not optimal for nature of mma.
Preliminary Card:
Brock Larson
Jake Rosholt
Marcus Davis
Main Card:
Amir Sadollah
Luiz Cane
Josh Koscheck
Tito Ortiz
[/quote]
Wow…2 out of 7. Good thing I didn’t put any $ down.
Brock Larson got manhandled
Roshalt made a mistake and got caught.
Saunders looked really good. Wouldn’t mind seeing him against Sadollah.
Sadollah looked good. Baroni looked like he usually does. Not sure who else they can put him in against that would be interesting.
Lil Nog looked really good. Can’t wait to see who he gets next.
Koscheck appears to have quite a bit of confidense in his chin. He seems to take shots he could probably avoid. Other than that he looked pretty strong. Man is Rumble huge for 170.
Ortiz looked like shit, but that was a pretty tough fight for his first one back. That’s the worst I can recall him performing. Coleman would have been a better choice to knock the ring rust off a bit.
He really needs to work his striking if he is going to go anywhere in the LHW div. His work in the clinch looked really bad as well. He essentially has a double/single and GnP. Shouldn’t be too hard to game plan against.
