[quote]futuredave wrote:
analog_kid wrote:
I’m still calling Gonzaga a fluke. Just because he ko’s CroCop doesn’t make him the #1 contender.
He didn’t just ko cro cop, he dominated him in every aspect of the fight. The reason he was able to kick cro cop’s head off is because cro cop was dazed from the beating he took on the ground.
Remember, Randy picked Gonzaga to win and said Cro Cop was a much better matchup for him. I respect Randy, but Tim Silvia is no where near the fighter Gonzaga is.
If Randy’s not a bloody pulp at the end of this fight, it will be a miracle.[/quote]
Sometimes…unfortunately…that’s just how Mirko rolls. Depending on what’s going on in his head, he is deadly, or far from it. The CroCop from round one of his fight against Fedor was not the guy that fought Gonzaga. I say round one because after the first round(hell, after the first 3 mins)Fedor just shut him down mentally. That’s how you beat a guy like Mirko. Pining him against the cage and pummeling him with elbows is helpful too, but his biggest vulnerability is his mental game.
I can’t say I’m too interested in marketing fights or the money side of MMA. What I am interested in is seeing Fedor fight the guys with the best chance of maybe making things difficult for him. Those guys aren’t in K-1.
[quote]futuredave wrote:
analog_kid wrote:
I’m still calling Gonzaga a fluke. Just because he ko’s CroCop doesn’t make him the #1 contender.
He didn’t just ko cro cop, he dominated him in every aspect of the fight. The reason he was able to kick cro cop’s head off is because cro cop was dazed from the beating he took on the ground.
Remember, Randy picked Gonzaga to win and said Cro Cop was a much better matchup for him. I respect Randy, but Tim Silvia is no where near the fighter Gonzaga is.
If Randy’s not a bloody pulp at the end of this fight, it will be a miracle.[/quote]
Mirko clearly didn’t look focused for his fight with GG and that is why he got caught. He didn’t train in a cage and thought he would just run Gonzaga on his way to the title. Hopefully, he comes back with the same focus and aggressiveness he had when he won the OWGP.
In the end, they are all competing for 2nd place given Fedor is the undisputed HW champ regardless of affiliation.
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
Donut62 wrote:
analog_kid wrote:
Whoever does come out on top I don’t expect to hold onto the belt for very long with Nog and possibly Fedor in the mix.
Fedor, who knows what he will do. Chances are he will go to K-1 Hero’s. Nog just about got knocked out by Heath fucking Herring and looked soft as hell, so I’m not sure he has enough left. I honestly think a refocused Mirko is still the most dangerous fighter in that division. I guess we will see in September.
From a marketing stand point the UFC has to bring in these other heavyweights slowly.
Let Gonzaga/Couture and Cro-Cop sort it out for the rest of the year.
Yeah, I totally agree. Right now it looks like if Mirko wins against Kongo he will either face Nog or go right to fighting for the HW title this winter, probably at the New Year’s Eve “supercard” they are planning. Obviously the hope is that Mirko gets his crap together. He has the biggest base salary of anyone I know of in the UFC (350k to show, 350k to win, plus all the PPV money and bonuses they don’t publish), and Kongo is about as close to a “give me” they are going to let him have for that kind of dough.
Further sorting out the HW mess, it has been confirmed that Brandon Vera is returning to the UFC and will fight Tim Sylvia, probably at the October UFC 77 card in Cinncinnatti (which I won’t be missing for the world). If Kongo knocks out Mirko, the winner of these two would be a likely title contendor.[/quote]
I am still waiting to see where Josh Barnett is going to end up. He would be a tough man to beat in the cage. I assume that he won’t be offered anything until next year.
Did anyone else see the UFC All Access on Capt. America? I didn’t think that it was possible, but I have more respect for Couture than ever before now. I try to avoid hero worship, but I was literally blown away by his work capacity. His training intensity makes Tabata training look like a walk in the park. 12 mile x-country run in the hills outside Vegas? That’s “active rest” for Couture.
It made me nauseous to just watch his training. I don’t know if it will change the final outcome, but I think his ridiculous work capacity will keep it from ending early, puncher’s/kicker’s chance aside (read-CroCop ending).
I think he looks more mobile than ever on his feet, and it looks like his hands got a lot heavier than most people give him credit for. Man, I really hope he wins.
It was certainly interesting. Gonzaga seemed really, really confident, which I don’t know if I like or not. Randy of course is a beast, but they are going out of their way as usual to make him the good guy in the fight. And Jesus Christ, Forrest is gigantic right now.
I saw that all access show, which was really cool. Couture’s training looks un-fucking-believably hard, just from an endurance perspective. I wouldn’t even want to contemplate it, and I’m only 33! For him to be doing that at forty-freaking-four is just . . . unbelievable.
In watching Gonzaga’s training, though, he just looks like a huge, HUGE dude. Not buff like a bodybuilder, but just a BIG, strong guy. Kinda’ scary.
I hope Randy can pull it off. It sounded like one of his trainers was making him work more on his basic power lifts (compound movements), so hopefully that’ll help him develop a little more punching power, which he could use.
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
It was certainly interesting. Gonzaga seemed really, really confident, which I don’t know if I like or not. Randy of course is a beast, but they are going out of their way as usual to make him the good guy in the fight. And Jesus Christ, Forrest is gigantic right now.[/quote]
No crap about Forrest. I think Randy said that Forrest was walking around at around 240 during the time that stuff was filmed. That’s huge for a LHW.
Gonzaga is a scary-lookin’ dude. There’s a couple of big guys in my gym that I roll with but I don’t think I’d want any part of Gonzaga in my BJJ class.
I thought GSP was training more with Greg Jackson’s camp? No mention of that in the show last night. I still contend that if GSP shows up ready to go, he’s going to walk through Koscheck. I think Kos has a bright future, but I just don’t see him being at the level of GSP or Hughes at this point.
[quote]RagingBull wrote:
The only hope Koschek has of beating GSP is in his traditional lay and pray style. He won’t have any problems getting GSP down, either.
Unfortunately, I don’t see Couture making it out of round one either.[/quote]
I agree with you that Koscheck’s only chance of winning is lay-and-pray. However, I don’t think he’ll have an easy time taking GSP down. GSP is so athletic and has a good sprawl and good strength for a WW.
Everyone thought Matt Hughes would take GSP down at will and that didn’t happen. Sure Koscheck has a better amateur wrestling background than Hughes, but Hughes has more raw strength and is no slouch in the grappling department, either, so if he couldn’t take GSP down with ease, I don’t think Koscheck will just be able to fall back on that in this fight.
Watched all access and the countdown last nite…I wonder to what extend editing contributed to it but I was intrigued by what appeared to be, IMO overconfidence on Gonzaga’s approach and a mentality expressed by his trainers of basically trying to round him out and not really emphasizing anything.
In the meantime there is Couture saying he’s not the first to think I have things he can exploit and I’m dying to find out what they are.
I call Couture by decision. Regardless of the outcome he is a great athlete and worthy of much respect.
I call Couture by decision. Regardless of the outcome he is a great athlete and worthy of much respect.[/quote]
I’m not makin’ any calls, b/c all my fighters lose when I do that. And I really, really want Randy to win. He’s got the classic warrior mentality, trains like a beast, and is such a nice standup guy to boot. “Capt. America is my hero.”
I’m scared for him on the ground, b/c as great a wrestler as he is he is not a submission man; Gonzaga is a submission specialist and I dunno if he can keep himself well defended the whole fight.
[quote]apwsearch wrote:
In the meantime there is Couture saying he’s not the first to think I have things he can exploit and I’m dying to find out what they are.[/quote]
It was obviously edited to portray a certain image. Gonzaga works his fucking ass off, make no mistake about it. As for Couture “I don’t have weaknesses to exploit” comment I was laughing a little as I recalled the image of big, strong submission grapplers like Ricco and Barnett pounding him out from top position.
Randy is as helpless as a turtle on his back. The fact that Gonzaga came in heavier and more muscled up seems to indicate that he plans to do exactly that.
I can’t wait for tonight. Should be a good show.
I really hope Randy pulls it off, for some reason I really don’t want to see him get his ass beat. Maybe it is because he is such a nice guy, or at least appears that way. It kinda make me feel bad when he gets hit… double standard i know…
I also really hope GSP wins, that guy has so much talent but he just seems to have the potential for bad luck. It also worries me that he said he changed everything in is training. A little change is good…but everything? I never understand why an athlete becomes a super star and then has a setback and changes “everything”. It isn’t like the old way failed, it got them to where they are, why not just tweak the training? Maybe it was just an exaggeration, who knows.
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
I want Randy to win, but everytime I have picked him to win he loses, and vice versa, so hopefully I pumped up Napao enough to gaurantee Couture victory :)[/quote]
I guess that did trick! Jesus, Randy is a stud. Gonzaga broke mentally and physically with that nose, he might be heading for being the next Belfort.
“I really see no way Randy will win this fight, but then again that is when he is at his best. The fight ends with Gonzaga smashing Randy curled up against the fence. TKO Round 3.”
Seriously, that was fucking unbelievable, he seems to get better and better, so whos next? Will Cro Cop go straight to a title fight if he beats Kongo?
Couture owned Gonzaga. Best fight I have seen since Chuck TKO’d Tito.
WTF was up with Gonzaga basically trying to quit in round 2? No shit you can’t breathe,scooter - your fucking nose is broke.
Never fuck with an old guy - you aren’t smart enough to deal with him.
Second best fight of the night - Kendall the fuck face Grove getting his punk ass KTFO’d by a damn Canuck.
I hope this will shut his bitch ass up for a week or so. Wanna be a tough guy sparky? Try gaining some fucking wait and fighting someone you don’t out reach by 18 inches - and stay away from Canadians that can punch.
Great night of fights. All the money fights delivered, and restored my faith in the PPV.