The MMA Thread

[Kenno]

Any idea who Dos Santos fighting next ?

whoever it is better watch out!

 

[xivex]

I think most likely it will be Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez. At least thats what I'm hearing. Both guys are outstanding and easily the top couple contenders in the HW division outside of Carwin. If/when they make the Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez fight, the winner will most likely get the title shot after the Lesnar vs. Carwin fight.

As much as I like Dos Santos, I love Cain Velasquez. Awesome standup, great pedigree'd wrestling, outstanding cardio, does not know the meaning of quit. I think Cain is fabulous and would love to see him fight Dos Santos and hopefully win! Cain absolutely destroyed Antonio Nogeuiera if you caught the bought....and this is someone that even Randy Couture couldn't finish after 3 rounds. Cain KO'd him in like 1-2 minutes. It was ridiculous. Cain is a beast!

X

 

[SRock]

i could see that happening. It seems to me that when you are easily taking opponents like Silva does, then you may actually start to lose skill because you are not being challenged.
Topic - lack of challenge for top fighters causes a skill loss.
Discuss.

I think there could be SOME truth to this, but I think it also dependent on the caliber of sparring/training partners these champs surround themselves with. When you look at GSP's training regime its clear that he treats every fighter like the one that is going to dethrone him. What I think may be a bit more dangerous from a mental standpoint is when you train like GSP and then have a fight end in the first round that looked all too easy like Silva frequently does. I mean work your backside of for 45 seconds of 'this was just easy'. How long would you continue to train like every fight was your last? Would you get complacent?

I like Gsp but the weight might be a disadvantage to him against silva. GSP's frame already looks to be maxed out?

I think this totally depends on how he goes about it. I think if he took 6-9 months to legitimately gain the additional lean muscle he'd certainly have a chance. At his last fight he said he added 8lbs of muscle and was still able to cut to 170 so he's still finding room on that frame to add power.

(soapbox)

Man, do I hate to hear "I won't fight my friend" line. These guys are professionals. They do not fight out of hatred but for many other reasons- money, pride, money. If professional fighters are choosing to not fight other professional fighters than there should be consequences.

(/soapbox)

Dude, check out Junior Dos Santos record some time. That dude fought family! I think its one thing for an up and comer to avoid fighting a training partner but its another thing entirely to do it when you are the champ. That said, I have no problem whatsoever with a fighter refusing to fight a close friend out of his weight class. Its when a dude won't challenge the champ or the champ won't accept a challenge within his own weight class "because they are friends" that ticks me off! I think once you reach that level your obligation is to both the organization and the fans. Either fight or surrender the belt.

I just read the PPV is showing live at 1pm EDT, while at 10 is the replay. Now I've got to decide which one to go see.

Its airing here at 4pm on Monday so I'll be leaving work early on Monday to catch the PPV!!!

Any idea who Dos Santos fighting next ?

I wouldn't be surprised to see Dos Santos/Velasquez. Could be a great match up.

whoever it is better watch out!

+1

I think most likely it will be Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez. At least thats what I'm hearing.

This is what I've heard as well.

 

[outclass]

To be honest , I think Velasquez is a little bit too over hyped at this moment

Other than a win against a completely washed up Nogueira , he really did not looked very impressive so far

He couldn't even finish Kongo , a guy with arguably the worst ground game in the HW division , even after he landed something like 500 power punches on him
That fight also make me wonder if the guy have any submission skills whatsoever
I mean he had Kongo in some ridiculously bad positions and he did not even try to go for submission


Dos Santos on the other hand , definitely deserve his hype , in my opinion
Just his KO over Werdum alone is far more impressive than anything Cain ever done so far

 

[Mejnoon]

And in terms of Lesner's takedown style...im glad to see his WWF skills paid off with his "Goldberg Spear." MMA is just not the place for perfect technique. There are too many different styles that can counter everything else. If Brock were to go in for a true double leg (back straight face looking at the wall behind the person) he's get punched in the face and knocked out. So his spear works because its explosive and when he lands on someone they will catch his shoulder in their diaphragm. Now with no breath and a huge mother trucker on top of you his stupid little hammer taps will make you tap to strikes bc you can't breathe.

You've got it backwards. His "goldberg spear" is whats gonna get him knocked out...a proper double leg, with an elevation change, puts him safely out of punching distance. There are two concerns with a proper double in an mma match...eating a knee on the way in and leaving your head out and getting guillotined. That knee is very hard to time, and kind of a desperation move for the guy getting taken down...if the opponent knows how to defend the takedown properly chances are he'll opt to do that rather than take his chances with the knee and give up the takedown. The guillotine can be defended by either keeping your head inside or just up.

 

[Mejnoon]

To be honest , I think Velasquez is a little bit too over hyped at this moment

Other than a win against a completely washed up Nogueira , he really did not looked very impressive so far

He couldn't even finish Kongo , a guy with arguably the worst ground game in the HW division , even after he landed something like 500 power punches on him
That fight also make me wonder if the guy have any submission skills whatsoever
I mean he had Kongo in some ridiculously bad positions and he did not even try to go for submission


Dos Santos on the other hand , definitely deserve his hype , in my opinion
Just his KO over Werdum alone is far more impressive than anything Cain ever done so far

IMO Cain's KO of Nogueira was far more impressive than JDS starching Werdum. Werdum is strictly a BJJ guy...his striking is rudimentary at best. Nogueira, on the other hand, can box. He's technically very proficient and his chin is proven. Cain knocking him out like he did was shocking.

JDS is very promising, don't get me wrong, but I think Cain is clearly the more complete fighter. His wrestling is atleast on par with anyone in the division, with the exception of Lesnar and Carwin. His BJJ, though we haven't seen much of it, is purported to be excellent, and I'd believe it based on the camp he trains out of. And as evidenced by his KO of Nogueira, dude can box...his movement, his timing, and his hand speed all looked excellent, and his hands are heavy. Contrast that with how he looked standing with Kongo and a scary learning curve is revealed...he picks up new skills extremely fast.

I think he beats JDS easily. I think that if he were Lesnar or Carwin's size, he'd beat either of them easily. Dude is legit...his only weakness is his size in what seems to be the era of behemoth heavyweights.

 

[outclass]

IMO Cain's KO of Nogueira was far more impressive than JDS starching Werdum. Werdum is strictly a BJJ guy...his striking is rudimentary at best. Nogueira, on the other hand, can box. He's technically very proficient and his chin is proven. Cain knocking him out like he did was shocking.
.

Cain didn't knocked out healthy prime Nogueira , he knocked out extremely washed up , half blind Nogueira

Don't get me wrong , I love Nogueira , but he was done before he even joined the UFC .
Go back 4 years ago and watch his OWGP fight against Barnett , even back than you could have already see it's no longer the same Nogueira .
His chin was gone long time ago , so does his recovery , his speed , and reflexes .

Cain beating him isn't nearly as impressive or significant as people makes it .

 

[SRock]

You've got it backwards. His "goldberg spear" is whats gonna get him knocked out...a proper double leg, with an elevation change, puts him safely out of punching distance. There are two concerns with a proper double in an mma match...eating a knee on the way in and leaving your head out and getting guillotined. That knee is very hard to time, and kind of a desperation move for the guy getting taken down...if the opponent knows how to defend the takedown properly chances are he'll opt to do that rather than take his chances with the knee and give up the takedown. The guillotine can be defended by either keeping your head inside or just up.

I agree with you Chris, that WWE style crap is only going to get him KTFO. It may have worked once but it isn't a move I'd plan on using too often. He'll end up eating a knee for sure.

 

[Kenno]

Cain didn't knocked out healthy prime Nogueira , he knocked out extremely washed up , half blind Nogueira

Don't get me wrong , I love Nogueira , but he was done before he even joined the UFC .
Go back 4 years ago and watch his OWGP fight against Barnett , even back than you could have already see it's no longer the same Nogueira .
His chin was gone long time ago , so does his recovery , his speed , and reflexes .

Cain beating him isn't nearly as impressive or significant as people makes it .

+1. Noggy was nowhere near his prime when he fought cain!

Noggy can't box either! He eats leather for a livin, took a lot of punches in his fights. Junior boxes in my opinion the best in the heavy's by far! If he had 20-25 pounds on him he would be hard to beat! I wouldn't coun't him out against brock or carwin. i'd pick him to beat carwin, brock that's a tough call!

Gonzaga landed a few on Carwin and stunned him, if it was junior, lights out for carwin.

I like noggy, showed what a great man he is after the cain fight, a great man.

 

[Kenno]

I think this totally depends on how he goes about it. I think if he took 6-9 months to legitimately gain the additional lean muscle he'd certainly have a chance. At his last fight he said he added 8lbs of muscle and was still able to cut to 170 so he's still finding room on that frame to add power.


.

i dunno robbo, for his frame he is maxed out i reckon. look at his legs and hips, totally out of proportion to the upper half. i reckon his muscles look a little light/filled with air, the look you get when you want a quick fix, he might be on the juice. looking at his last fight to previous ones i reckon he has done something?

and i'm no pj fan either.lol.
__________________

 

[Kenno]

I agree with you Chris, that WWE style crap is only going to get him KTFO. It may have worked once but it isn't a move I'd plan on using too often. He'll end up eating a knee for sure.

thing is for his size brock is explosive and he times his tackles well and so far it works for him.

 

[The Nid Hog]

thing is for his size brock is explosive and he times his tackles well and so far it works for him.

So far. It's only a matter of time before he gets into the cage with somebody who has been watching his tapes and has figured out how to time him. Then he gets clocked. I'm curious to see what happens after that.

 

[The Nid Hog]

Anybody watching UFC 112? Grove v. Munoz is on now. I won't spoil anything for anybody. It is pretty amazing that Joe Rogan is doing all the color coverage in Arabic!

 

[SmoovD]

I had to take a break from yard work to watch me a little UFC 112.

 

[TimmyBoston]

It is pretty amazing that Joe Rogan is doing all the color coverage in Arabic!

Seriously?

 

[SmoovD]

Seriously?

I wish Goldie would.

 

[The Nid Hog]

Seriously?

No--just kidding.

 

[Mejnoon]

Anybody watching UFC 112? Grove v. Munoz is on now. I won't spoil anything for anybody. It is pretty amazing that Joe Rogan is doing all the color coverage in Arabic!

Just watched it. Without spoiling anything, WOW.

 

[The Nid Hog]

Just watched it. Without spoiling anything, WOW.

I agree. I was watching it live on my laptop and the image was pretty shaky during the last couple of fights. Because of that, I can't swear by my own round scoring. Can't wait to watch this again with better video.

 

[thunderball]

Just saw the UFC 112 report...sounded quite 'interesting'. I've gotta go find it now...