NoCalMike

Nick Diaz vs. GSP is a fight I would like to see. Nick Diaz is banned in Vegas for prior positive weed tests (lame) so Canada would be the likely choice. Honestly, Dana lucked out here, cause if by some tiny chance Jake Shields beats GSP...and holds onto the title for any significant time, then Diaz vs. Shields is a compelling match as well cause Diaz can play up the whole "you ran from me to the UFC" stuff hahahaha.

Well we also need judges who understand the actual sport. Most judges seem to only understand MMA at it's very basic level "ok that guy connected with a punch, POINT' "Takedown, POINT" The problem is, because you are dealing with such diverse forms of martial arts, it is hard to reward/punish fighters in such black & white ways.

Yeah I would agree that even in defeat, Penn looked good at 170 for the first time in a long time, and also kind of exposed Fitch for what he is, and basically took another step in showing the world that as long as GSP it at 170 a fighter like Fitch really has no chance to ever be champion. I scored the fight a draw, because even though the first two rounds might have been close, I think Penn spend way more time being an effective fighter in those rounds. Penn had Fitch in trouble both rounds, and even though Fitch reversed position, he didn't do much with it. The third round, ended up going how I thought the entire fight was going to go, with Fitch, the bigger man, on top landing a large quantity of shots, but never a single blow that was considered a fight-ending shot. It really looked like Penn had little left to offer by round three, expending all his energy in the first two rounds grappling with the bigger man. Sometimes the commentators of fights annoy me. Their constant goal to have to make everything sound even. Just because Fitch reversed position on Penn, doesn't mean all of the sudden the round should be even, it also has a lot to do with what you do with your dominant position. Round 3, there was no dispute, Fitch laid the wood, but I would say in the first couple of rounds, Fitch merely reversing position, doesn't mean he made the rounds even, because he didn't do much with the top position.

BJ sounded like Fedor sounded after his latest loss. Almost acknowledging it is time to retire, but not quite sure if they will. BJ sounded more convinced though. I mean he basically said he felt he lost the fight, and thought Fitch won the decision, and said if he would have got the loss he would have had to "consider things" but since the gods were blessed him with a draw he would give Fitch a rematch if that is what is in the cards.

I have it a draw 2 Rounds for Penn, 3rd round 10-8 Fitch..... Lets see!

Ok here we go....Let's go Penn...please show us you still have some gas left in the tank. A win over a bigger guy, who is a grinder would go a long way to show the doubters. ---------- Post added February-27th-2011 at 05:02 AM ---------- Try www.channelsurf.eu or www.atdhenet..tv "so I've heard" *wink*

So Bisping climbs the ranks a bit, even though he just fought an obvious inferior opponent. So....hmm where does this leave 185......Silva vs. GSP is assumed if GSP beats Shields. Will Sonnen be back and ready in time? Is Dana giving him an automatic rematch when he is ready? I say he should get penalized for his BS, and at least have to maybe fight Bisping for a #1 contenders match first. What say you guys?

Nice how Bisping is all about talking trash to..............Jorge Rivera........!?! He didn't have much to say against two over the hill fighters in Henderson & W. Silva.

Wow...Arianni....my gawd. She looks so good in a bikini, I am not sure if I can handle seeing her in anything less.

As far as raw skill-sets go, I'd take BJ over Fitch any day of the week, even the BJ we have seen recently, however I still question how well Penn is going to handle moving up to the 170 lb division, especially against a grinder like Fitch who will probably look to do nothing but take Penn down and grind his way to a decision win.

Fedor being done or not, to me depends on his willingness to adapt his training. It was said on MMA Live and Inside MMA, when he was preparing for the CroCop fight back in the day, he actually changed up his training and went to holland to train with people who actually could help him train specifically for CroCop. It wasn't his usual, "Sambo is superior fighting system, it is all that I need" style of training. Franklin McNeil(I think that is his name) on MMA Live made the best point. Now that Fedor has taken a legit that there can be no excuse for, it wasn't a "I made a mistake and got subbed" type of fight. It was a legit pounding. Now it has become painfully obvious Fedor must adapt and evolve his training if he plans to continue fighting. I think Fedor's next fight (as long as it is against top competition) will be the real indication of whether he is still in this thing or not.

Oh and Fedor, he also beat Arlovsky & Sylvia when they weren't very far removed from being UFC HW champions. Now you can argue, "sure but they were not up to par with the current crop" but that doesn't really matter since they were the best there was to offer Fedor at the time. If you look at Fedor in his prime, he was head and shoulder above the competition. The sports of MMA is still in the evolution faze. In the next 5-10 years we are going to start seeing MMA fighters that were training to be MMA fighters since being teenagers, (or perhaps in some cases even before then) Right now most fighters come from a specific background and then try and pick up the rest once they decide to go pro. Fedor is from that era. Judging Fedor based on a couple of losses that are coming at the end of his career would be the same as saying Couture is an average fighter because he pretty much trades a win for a loss nowadays. Lots of fighters keep fighting too long an it does damage to their legacy because a lot of fans have a short-sighted view of things. A fighter should be judged for what he did in the prime of his career against the best competition out there. When Fedor was in his prime, there wasn't a Cain or a Lesnar, or Bigfoot, or Carwin, Dos Santos etc etc....There was a Nog, a CroCop, a Sylvia, a Arlovsky, Coleman, Choi, Eastman etc etc tec....and those were the best opponents at the time, Fedor didn't duck any of them, he obliterated them. If that first set of fighters would have been around and in their primes in 2005 and Fedor managed to not fight any of them, then you could make an argument that he was being protected, but there is no way you can tell me that in Fedor's prime he was being held back from fighting anybody. Fedor and hell even Big Nog, remind me of the lightweight boxers. They aren't necessarily "old" by human standards, but they have just been through too many wars. Their bodies have taken brutal assaults over and over again, even in matches they have won. It takes it's toll and eventually catches up. It's fair to say neither one will ever be champion again, but both have "money" fights ahead, if they choose to take them. Hell I'd still love to see Fedor vs. Couture just as a "the fight you wanted to see years ago" billing. Do I think either should be sniffing a title shot as a result? No. When fighters lose "it" It's gone, and it aint coming back. It isn't their fault and too many monday morning qb's try to use it as an excuse to bash and mock. Heavyweight division is not what it used to be. You never used to see guys that topped 255lbs have much skill at all. Times have changed. You have Lesnar who can wrestle, Cain who can wrestle, Carwin who can wrestle, Bigfoot who has legit BJJ skills, Overeem who is legit kickboxer etc etc....It is no surprise that Fedor in 2011 is going to have trouble with guys that much bigger than him who actually have skill. I don't look at that as a knock on Fedor, I look at that as the natural evolution and progression of the sport of MMA as a whole. It's a good thing. I just wish people didn't have to be so either/or about Fedor's career/legacy. You are allowed to think he is a Top 5 GOAT fighter, yet also believe he is done as an elite fighter. Both can be true.

Dana being Dana. Kind of childish but he never misses an opportunity to kick someone when they are down. It's not like you saw Coker take to twitter after Brock's embarrassing showing against Cain and rant about how overrated Brock was and how the media did this/that. As of right now Fedor will go down as best MMA HW of all time, no other heavyweight has had nearly the run he had in his prime. It's just over, that's all. It happens to every fighter. Just because the guy is not what he used to be, doesn't take away from what he accomplished. Dana could be gracious and respect what Fedor has done to bring international attention to the sport, show a little professional courtesy to a fighter who had one of the best runs in the sport ever. Or he can act like msgboard fodder and feed the troll some more.

It's safe to say guys who were peaking in 2005/06, might be older and slower in 2011. Just a fact of nature and life. If M1 is as horrendous to deal with as we have heard, this might actually be a good thing for Strikeforce, as Fedor was never a long term solution for them, but a mere huge name to get them attention in the short term while they try and build up their roster. As a Fedor fan over the years, and fan of the fighters overall, I really hope if he is having doubts, or lack of motivation, he just retires. Nothing worse than seeing guys who were once elite, not be able to pull the trigger when it is time, and then go on to become nearly .500 fighters. His legacy is cemented, IMO. Nothing ahead can tarnish the run he had. Same with guys like GSP and A. Silva , BJ Penn, etc etc One thing I will point out though is, Silva was said to be about 285 at bell time, while Fedor was probably struggling to get up to 230. 55lb weight disadvantage is pretty damn ridiculous and it gives a good explanation as to why Fedor looks like he is in there to throw bombs now, as opposed to looking like the well rounded fighter he was before. What is he going to do with a guy that big on top of him? He was escaping submissions and surviving, but it is pretty hard to give up that much weight. Also, I kind of wish they would have at least let Fedor come out for the third round and give it a shot. If it was obvious he couldn't do anything with the eye like that, then stop it, but it's the final round, let him fight if he feels he can. Fedor has been historically known for taking a lot of punishment and then pulling the fight out late. Not really MAD about the stoppage, I would just say it was slightly questionable only because it was the final round. If it had only been round 2, or round 3 of a 5 round fight, I can see why you don't want to worry about him taking blows to the eye for 2 more rounds. Thanks for the memories Fedor.

Dana on Fedor is one little sliver in the grand puzzle though. Forget what he says about Fedor. I expect him to call fighters not working for him lesser quality. It is his hypocrisy. He said the same thing about Mark Coleman after Fedor beat him up, which he was actually right about, that Coleman was an over-the-hill has been....only problem? Five years later he is main eventing a UFC PPV. And I am sure the co-promotion was much more of a sticking point with the Fedor negotiations than the raw money. I am not a Dana hater. I am not sure how much more I can make it clear. He has done a lot of good for the sport. He is an ambassador for UFC, I just don't know much how he cares about the sport outside of the the specific UFC brand, that is all. I have no issue with UFC being the biggest and best MMA promotion forever, that's fine, and anytime they put on good fight cards I will be there watching, however in the competitive sports world you need other promotions that are at least capable of putting on intriguing fights as well. I don't see how it does the sport justice to degrade and call other fighters from other promotions bums. Act like a professional for gawd sakes. It's all part of the game I suppose, and like I said, I like what Dana has to say 90% of the time, I just usually put my sarcasm hat on once he is asked about anything non-UFC related. In general promoters usually end up coming off pretty sleazy in certain business practices. If Boxing is any indication of where MMA will be once it grows to be bigger where there are 20 champions in every weight division, etc etc.

Inside MMA on HDNet is a hell of a lot better than MMA Live on ESPN. Much more informative and company neutral. Also HDNet as a whole is probably the best network for MMA right now period. They cover just about every MMA company from as big as UFC to as small as "EXTREME FIGHTS in Nowhereville, Nowhere" They also offer a lot more analysis on the fights and fighters, rather then just making everything into a "hype" show. Also, HDNet shows so many kickass MMA shows, you really get a good perspective of the sport as a whole, on every level of the sport. Speaking of which, Strikeforce HW tourny starts this Saturday....WHOOOOO! Also, no one has an issue with MMA getting bigger, but when you listen to Dana White speak on the sport, he really comes off as a guy who would be content with UFC growing and everything else staying a regional bush league promotion. I remember back in the day he had good things to say about Scot Coker, until he signed Fedor, and then it was all the usual bad-mouthing s-talking he is known for. I am not anti-Dana either. Most of the time I think the guy is genuine and pretty cool, but I can't stand the guy when he is asked about anything non-UFC, because he is pretty abrasive and ridiculous and you pretty much know he is just being full of *****.

Sonnen outstruck Silva in volume only, but all you have to do is look at both faces post-fight, and see who took more punishment. Silva barely looked like he was in a fight, and Sonnen was busted up, bruised and bloody. This is what happens when you take Silva down, and don't make something happen fast, you will be taking lots of abuse from Silva, even if Silva is on his back. As far as Silva's torn muscle in the Sonnen fight, if you listen to the commentary, you clearly hear Rogan and Goldberg bring up the fact that Silva is not moving like usual, looking tentative. This was before anyone even knew about the injury. Takedowns are fastly becoming the most overrated move in all of MMA, because people pretty much are ignoring what happens after the takedown, it is just "oh wow he took him down....he is dominating" You are already seeing fighters try to get a meaningless takedown with :10 left in a round because of how the judges score a takedown, regardless if the fighter can do absolutely nothing once he takes his opponent down. BJJ black belts spend at least 75% of their training on working from their backs. It isn't surprising to see at least 50% of subs take place when the BJJ guy is working off their back. There is a reason for this. If anything it is the shorter rounds that help wrestlers, because in theory it is easy to take someone down, and hold them down giving off the "dominating" position, than it is to try and sub someone in the same amount of time. I think we would see more subs if wrestlers had to try and pull the same strategy off in a 10 minute round. GSP is not going to outstrike Silva. His strategy is going to be to close the distance and go for take downs. Or he can try jabbing again, but this time the reach difference is going to be pretty huge. If GSP takes Silva down, he is going to be trying to control a guy that is much bigger, naturally strong, and a wizard at BJJ. People really underrate Silva's ground game, merely because he finishes most of his fights with a devastating KO.

I think a lot of people had a case of watching Belfort highlights from ten years ago and applying them to today's Vitor Belfort.

I saw the fights at Buffalo Wild Wings here in Sacramento. I recorded the Main Event on my phone, but mainly to record the crowd reaction for when the inevitable happened. Here it is I am waiting for the Anderson Silva/Dhaslim mashup gif, cause that front kick reminded me of a Dhaslim kick from Street Fighter 2. RE: GSP, again we'll see. Moving up in weight is easier in theory than in reality. I am not ready to say that GSP can manhandle Silva on the ground just because he scores a takedown. Look at Sonnen's face after his fight with Silva, it was beat up and bruised and bloodied. While Silva's face looked virtually unscathed at all, despite us seeing him take some punches while on the bottom. For a guy that was on top in a dominant position, he sure came out of the fight worse for wear. Anderson Silva is a legit black belt in BJJ, not sure if has fought anyone with ground skills like that besides Matt Hughes, who was pretty much an over the hill fighter by the time they fought for the second time. Silva isn't John Fitch or Thiago Alves on the ground. He is going to just be taken down and laid on. He might be on the bottom, but he will be serving you up punishment the entire time you are trying to work for a sub or some GnP. I still think GSP could have some success at 185, there are plenty of mid-level overhyped fighters in that weight division that I think he could beat *cough*Bisping*cough, but Anderson Silva...nope.

I think too many people are using the Chael Sonnen fight as a justification of why they think GSP will win. Reasons I disagree, GSP moving up will not nearly be as strong as true 185ers. He will also be at an extreme reach disadvantage. Remember how GSP jabbed Kosceck to death? I could see Silva winning the fight doing the exact thing to GSP if he wanted to. Secondly, lets say GSP does get some take downs....then what? Silva is so long and lean, I could see him being too much on the ground for GSP to overcome, and easily getting back to his feet, or a sub. Thirdly, we see how GSP reacts to getting hit squarely. There is a reason that ever since Serra KO'd him, he doesn't want to take contact. For good reason. While that is a perfectly acceptable strategy I don't see GSP being able to avoid contact against Silva. In order to get takedowns GSP is going to have to shoot in from pretty far away. He might have to be willing to eat some shots in order to get inside on Silva. Also, after Sonnen tested positive for roids, and it was revealed Silva fought the fight injured, I am calling somewhat shenanigans on the fight. Or at least shenanigans that Sonnen was that dominating for most of the fight. Will be interesting to see if Sonnen gets back into position to challenge Silva again. If Shogun gets past Bones (I think he will) I would be much more interested in seeing Silva go to LHW, and fight Shogun, or maybe have a couple fights at LHW and then fight Shogun, than Silva vs. GSP. On the Jon Bones Jones note. Dude is for real, and I think he is the future of the LHW division, however I think it is a little bit early to hot shot him to the title shot. Why is a guy like Machida fighting Couture? With Rampage, Machida, Thiago Silva etc etc in the LHW division, why is Ryan f'n Bader a barometer of how good a fighter is? I don't think Bader sucks or anything, but I think when you look at Bones vs. Bader, I think it is a clear example of one guy being the real deal future prospect vs the "I am under UFC contract, so I must be overhyped way too early to draw in the crowds" type fighter. Ryan Bader is certainly not on the level of a Machida or Rampage or even T. Silva at this point. Those are three guys I think would give Bones a better fight, and would be a better barometer of exactly where he is at, before giving him title shot. But hey, it is a business, right? I guess the dollars and cents make sense to to Bones v. Shogun. I think right now Shogun wins the fight. Bones, like I said is the future, but you still see in his fights he gets away with playing fast and loose sometimes because of the caliber of opponents he has face so far, which is why I think he should face a Top 5 contender before getting a title shot, but hey I could be way off here, right? Thoughts?

The thing is, the way Nick Diaz fights, is entertaining, but probably a little to his own dis-service. He is willing to put himself into harm's way in order to make the fight interesting, or to fight the type of fight he wants to. Contrast this with a lot of other guys, who simply are content with a takedown, and holding their guy down for the entire round in order to win the judges favor of being "dominant" I've always said, and will stick to it, that the shorter rounds favor strikers and wrestlers and hurt BJJ guys who can work comfortably from their backs. With the Pride style, 10 minute and 5 minute rounds, it is much harder for a pure wrestler to simply take his guy down, and avoid being put in danger of being submitted, but with three minute rounds it takes a lot of that danger away.

Everyone see this old Pride video of Mirko punkin' Mauro (current Strikeforce PBP guy) Pretty awesome.....hell, I'd be scared too.

Nick Diaz shows what studying an opponent can do to your chin. Punches always hurt less and have less effect when you know they are coming, or thrown by an opponent slightly out of their range. It's a shame we'll never see Nick Diaz vs. GSP....or if it does happen, one or both fighters will be beyond their prime. I am really interested to see what would happen if GSP took Diaz down. If Diaz could use his legit BJJ black belt to work from the bottom. Nick Diaz has a longer range and would prob try to keep GSP at a distance for as long as he could. I am sure GSP would be looking or a takedown. Not trying to say Nick Diaz is the better fighter at this point, not at all, just saying I think it would be an interesting matchup.

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