Chachie

I went 7-2 for winners. Didn't do well in the "win by" category.

Anderson Silva's a freak.

Props to Herring for overcoming a more skilled, taller opponent in Kongo. Heath showed some grit.

God I love the Crippler.

Kos looked good but I still don't like him.

All-in-all the card was better than the event but there was good action in the last few fights for sure.

Orlando, I couldn't have picked a winner in our bet so thanks for picking the loser first. I'll PM you Monday.

Hendo wins by ref stoppage in the 2nd, chachie then becomes my *****

This fight better deliver either way. I'm getting JACKED for this fight.

we actually watch the Skins games together at the same bar...

I think my stupidity was the cause of any confusion. :laugh:

I don't wanna miss a thing tonight.

Nevermind. Sebowski's in California. :doh:

The first fight should start pretty soon after 7PT. They will run a storyline loop from in the hours leading up to 7. Then they will give you the same interviews in between the fights.

Hold on a second here...

So if someone is ordering the fights on PPV, do they sit down to watch cagefighting at 7pm eastern time or 10pm eastern time? I hate this vague crap.

http://82.ufc.com/

The website says 7pm PST/10pm EST. "Live on PPV." I'm planning on the actual program beginning at ten 'o' freaking clock in the the state of Maryland.

You guys are screwing me all up with this talk. I am going to a friend's to watch it and about 5-6 people are gonna be there so we don't need any surprises.

I don't think so Mike. I think that is just the ppv preview starting up. They will run about a 20 minute preview on a loop until the fights start at 7.

7:00pm PST

10:00 EST

3 faves:

Randy Couture- C'mon. He's Captain America.

BJ Penn- If that guy had cared about conditioning before now, Matt Hughes and Jens Pulver would be retired.

Nick Diaz- Always exciting, always competitive. Took more tough fights on his way up than anyone else in his age range. I hope he gets another shot at KJ Noone.

I'm leaving out Halverson vs. Gurgel. I just don't care enough to waste a pick.

Luigi Fiorivanti vs. Luke Cummo

Cummo by KO

Diego Sanchez vs. Bielkheden:

Sanchez by TKO

Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett:

Kos by G and P

Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O'Brien:

Andrei wants to exit the UFC with a victory. That's why he'll once again fight conservatively. Why take a chance on getting hurt when he knows he's out the door? O'Brien's a true pitbull but Arlovski by decision.

John Fitch vs. Chris Wilson:

Fitch by Submission.

Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner:

Okami by Decision.

Alessio Sakara vs. Chris Leben:

No idea but I love Chris so Leben by KO.

Heath Herring vs. Chieck Kongo:

Kongo by TKO. Herring will claim the stoppage was short.

Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson:

Wow. What a match-up. I'm stumped. Silva by TKO because I have a sig bet with SkinsOrlando.

huge rubber match tomorrow between Rafael Marquez & Israel Vazquez. its live on Showtime. their first fight was great, their second fight was universally recognized as 2007 Fight of the Year. do not miss this fight tomorrow

allan green headlines friday night fights tonight.

Right in the middle of UFC 82.

I gotta go with the cage tomorrow night and hope Showtime re-airs the Marquez-Vasquez bout during the week.

I'm taking Silva for the sig bet only. I figure if SkinsOrlando was cool enough to keep the sig from our last bet for this long (he only had to do 2 weeks), I should give him a shot at revenge.

However, this is the toughest matchup I ever tried to pick a winner on.

Chachie, I'm still taking Hendo, sig bet redemption time if you're up for it.

Tough matchup. I'll take Silva just for the bet but I cannot truly pick one.

Anyway, we're on.

aight people's, potential Fight of the Year this weekend: Anderson "The Spider" Silva vs. Dan "Hollywood" Henderson

pick your sides, lets get the sig bets goin.

i'm picking Silva to win the match, i'll tell you how after i decide it lol.

and a reminder UFC 82 Countdown tonight on Spike TV at 11pm(est)

I will post predictions for the entire card on friday.

No sig bets for me this time around. I'm feeling lazy this week.

Yep, Bob looked awful. They had a really nice counter-system like they do in boxing after each round.

Strikes

Strikes landed

Takedown attempts

Takedowns

ect.

I don't know if I'd like to see that in the UFC because I like fighters that possess octagon control and whatnot. Relying on the numbers to score a fight may become a little too boxing-like. Nonetheless, Sapp threw 6 strikes with ZERO landing the ENTIRE fight. :laugh: The other guy nailed Sapp with left uppercuts over and over and over while standing up. Sapp basically let him do it, just turning his head and letting the guy pop him. Pretty worthless performance.

Then Sapp complained after the fight about having a bad hammy. I thought to myself, "stop powerlifting and work on actually hitting someone in the octagon, freak show." Sapp did come in to Ric Flair's entrance music, wearing a feathered robe, just like Flair. The only entertaining thing all night. Riggs got hurt, that sucked. I'll be sure to pass on Bodog from now on, Trigg is a good commentator and should find a good job once Bodog tanks.

Sapp is a sap.

God I hate it. I grew up only learning boxing techniques but now I fiind it limited and foolish. Hopefully more boxers make it in to MMA. A boxer won a fight tonight in strikeforce.

I love punching, fainting, dodging, weaving, parrying, tire-clinching...but god damnit....boxing is getting weak. Too bad...it's lost the luster it used to have for me. I was watching some ESPN classic fights and couldn't get in to it at all. WTF is up with boxing?

I was on IM with my cousin and a friend while watching the bout and I have to admit that the common thread of our conversation was that it was getting harder and harder to really enjoy a boxing match now that MMA is on the map. I understood and respected Klitschko's gameplan perfectly. As a fan I was frustrated and impatient for action. The matchups are getting better in boxing and the best fighters are getting forced into the ring with each other which is good, but it may be too late.

So? How did Bob Sapp do tonight?

unless another great heavyweight comes down the line soon, i don't see Wlad making an impact. dominance over weak division isn't good enough in today's time.

Sadly, tonight's bout proves you right, Still. Wlad dominated in a virtual shutout but never took chances, even fighting timidly against a man much smaller with less talent. His jab is enough to win any fight and he relies too heavily on just winning. Shame. I think he's classy and much better than he's willing to push himself to.

Wlad better win this one. He's got a chance to really make an impact on the sport and give some respect back to the HW division if he can win and defend the undisputed for a couple years. I personally think he's amazing. He got KOed a couple times from bad conditioning but I hope he's learned that lesson. Lennox Lewis got flattened a couple times before becoming a solid champ. I think Klitschko is offensively better than Lewis was when his game is on. Don't know how his chin will prove itself in the long run though. I guess that starts tonight against a fast and game Ibragimov.

Sapp's always a show. I'm gonna do the Klitschko-Ibragimov fight on HBO for free.

Wandy better start fast. Jardine's leg kicks are getting better by the fight. He takes his opponents out of their gameplan by the end of the 1st round with those kicks.

If you guys don't have HDNet, it's freakin' awesome. I watched that show Randy was on last week. Here it is, all one hour of it:

http://www.sherdog.com/videos/videos.asp?v_id=1451

Bas is the co-host. They had Kim Couture (Randy's wife) on and she apparently has a fight this coming weekend. Muay Thai fight in Randy's gym (I think it's being televised somewhere). Gina Carano (that hot fighter who's "Crush" on American Gladiators) was on at the same time as Randy and Kim.

Anyway, Randy and the host talked a lot about the court cases.

Bas is absolutely hilarious. :rotflmao:

I'll check this out when I get home tonight. Thanks, Str0kes.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-cubanufc021808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Cuban enters Couture tug-of-war

By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports

February 18, 2008

The likely promoter of a potential Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emelianenko match was revealed last week when Mark Cuban's HDNet Fights filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Dallas against Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The suit is an attempt to get a court ruling on when Couture's contract expires and when he can fight for Cuban, who is best known as the billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, or another non-UFC promoter.

The suit comes on the heels of Zuffa’s attempt through the Nevada courts to get an injunction to bar Couture from appearing on rival MMA shows, citing a non-compete clause in Couture's employment contract. Couture’s employment contract is separate from the fighting contract, which is the basis for Cuban’s suit.

"Obviously we're going to address the lawsuit that was filed in Dallas, Texas, in a timely and very direct fashion," said Zuffa attorney Don Campbell. "Our point is that Couture is still obligated to the requirements of the terms of the contract, which are unambiguous."

Cuban’s HDNet, a television station available in only a small percentage of U.S. homes, has heavily focused on building around MMA programming. Cuban previously made headlines by engaging in talks with Floyd Mayweather Jr., the pound-for-pound boxing king, about potential participation in MMA.

A Couture-Emelianenko match would likely have more business potential on pay-per-view than any MMA fight not promoted by the UFC. Not only would it possibly put another promotion on the map as a genuine, significant rival to UFC, something many groups have tried to be but none have really succeeded at, but it would answer probably the most important question regarding the future of the sport:

Is MMA popular, or just the UFC?

UFC has run numerous pay-per-view cards that have drawn from 600,000-1.05 million buys. No non-UFC promotion has ever done more than 75,000 buys.

Emelianenko, in particular, has been a pay-per-view flop in North America as a headliner for Pride and Bodog Fight. The Russian fighter, who was long considered the world’s pound-for-pound best, did an anemic 13,000 buys for his lone 2007 match, against Matt Lindland.

Couture topped 500,000 buys on both of his 2007 UFC matches. A match with Emelianenko will likely show the upper limits of what the best fight possible, without UFC backing, could draw on pay-per-view.

The 44-year old Couture signed a four-fight, 18-month contract, on January 19, 2007, with UFC. This included a $500,000 signing bonus, half of which was paid upon the signing of the contract and the other half upon the completion of the first fight, the March 2 match where he defeated Tim Sylvia to win the UFC heavyweight title in Columbus, Ohio.

Between all monies, which included guarantees and a sliding percentage of pay-per-view revenue, as well as a second employment contract, Couture earned about $3 million in his two fights during 2007, along with some other outside work with the company. This includes money from a secondary contract as a company employee, paying him $200,000 per year, which included a one-year non-compete provision.

On the second contract, it appears both sides agree that when Couture quit the company on Oct. 11, he couldn't work for a rival promotion until that date this year.

But the fight contract is what is under dispute in the lawsuit filed by Cuban's company. Couture is claiming when the 18-month period expires on July 19, the contract is over, although he has done interviews in the past stating he'll honor the non-compete from the employment contract and feels he can fight again in October.

Zuffa is claiming that Couture didn't fulfill his contract, and that he owes them two more fights. There is a specific clause in the contract that stated in the event Couture retired, the 18-month time frame is frozen in that he's still bound to the company to fulfill the time frame if he decides to fight again. Couture has never used the term retirement, but used the term resignation. UFC president Dana White has stated that he believes you can't just resign in the middle of a valid contract, and has publicly offered him title defenses.

Couture is the currently recognized UFC heavyweight champion, although he personally claims he has not been champion since he quit the company. Zuffa has since created an interim heavyweight championship, which Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira won on Feb. 2 in Las Vegas in a match with Sylvia. Immediately after the match, White talked of trying to get Couture back for a match with Nogueira. Couture has been adamant that he is done with UFC unless UFC agrees to do a co-promotion with the M-1 Global promotion, which owns Emelianenko's contract.

White last year attempted to sign Emelianenko, an offer which included a seven-figure signing bonus and $1.5 million per fight, but the Russian's management turned it down, claiming it was too restrictive. Couture then announced he was leaving UFC, citing his goal was to fight Emelianenko to determine who was the top heavyweight in the world. Ironically, Couture felt disrespected by those terms, because Emelianenko's offered UFC guarantee was much higher than his, and Couture helped build the company and was, at the time of his resignation, the company's most popular fighter.

Couture was on Cuban's Inside MMA TV show on HDNet on Friday night, where both the lawsuit filed by HDNet Fights and UFC's attempt to file an injunction against Couture appearing for rival groups were discussed.

He said the fight with Emelianenko was the one the public wants to see and that the sport has to evolve to where the top fighters face each other, regardless of promotional affiliation. He noted that in boxing the rival promotions work together to promote major fights.

Emelianenko, who is 27-1, is generally considered the best heavyweight MMA fighter. Until recently, he was ranked No. 1 pound-for-pound in the Yahoo! Sports rankings, a ranking he would likely have retained if he had fought even one match against top heavyweight competition in 2007.

He was the champion of the Pride organization when it was sold to Zuffa last year, and then subsequently was folded. But to some, his stock as the true king and best fighter has dropped because he hasn't faced a legitimate top contender since an August 28, 2005, match in Japan against Mirko Cro Cop. Cro Cop, who was just dropped from his contract by UFC after consecutive losses to Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo, is being talked about in Japan as an opponent for Emelianenko in a proposed summer match.

Zuffa sued Couture and then filed an injunction against him, claiming he has violated the non-compete clause by appearing on rival promotion's television shows to do interviews, in specific shows on Cuban's HDNet.

They also are claiming it's a violation because the International Fight League has a new team for the 2008 season called Team Xtreme Couture, featuring fighters from his Las Vegas gym. Couture's argument is that the gym, which bears his name, is separate from himself, and that he is not the coach of the team.

However, the IFL did put a photo of Couture on its web site, briefly, to promote its Feb. 29 show in Las Vegas where Team Xtreme Couture debuts.

The photo was quickly taken down, but Zuffa lawyers captured a screen image and then filed for an injunction to ban Couture from having anything to do with any rival shows.

The request for an injunction, filed in Las Vegas, stated, "If Couture is permitted to terminate his employment and promptly take his well-known name and likeness during the restricted period to one, or more, of Zuffa's competitors so that it can be used to promote upcoming events in other MMA leagues, the harm to Zuffa's business goodwill cannot be calculated."

It has been common knowledge and never a source of conflict in the past when fighters under contract to one organization corner fighters on different shows. Couture has seconded fighters from his gym on shows all over the world, both during his tenure with Zuffa and since his resignation. He was planning on seconding the fighters from his gym at the IFL show, which the injunction is attempting to prevent.

on a sidenote, Bill Goldberg should not be allowed anywhere near an MMA cage in a commentary capacity.:doh:

Haaaarible.

In the end I felt Taylor just ran out of gas again. He tried to fight a little more cautiously in the early rounds and wound up taking some shots for it. That one body blow in the second half (don't remember which round) of the fight did him in.

Pavlik hit Taylor with a body shot at the end of the 11th round that easily won him the 12th as well.

Babalu is serving his suspension for the lengthy rear naked choke he pulled a little while ago. I dunno if he's coming back to the UFC or not, that's the last I heard about him. I think Kimbo should be 2 fights away from the EliteXC belt. One fight for #1 contender, the next for the title.

He will probably get a shot that quickly, but he has NOT been tested yet at all.

i gave pavlik the last two rounds as well, still had it a draw overall. even though no belt was on the line, taylor defintely should've been more aggressive in those final frames.

I scored it 115-113 for Kelly just like Lederman did. He was the champ. Jermain looked good but didn't beat the champion tonight.