d0ublestr0ker0ll

Stacked wasn't as exciting as it read on paper, I agree. The championship fights are what hyped it up. Those fights had no bad blood, no ounce of history to them, and the champs were heavily favored. You have even matchups this time. St. Pierre and Hughes in a rubber match for a belt. I see the Chuck/Wandie fight having a hard time not being historic, no matter what happends. Then Soko is fighting a technical master in Machida. Two fighters that questions still revolve around. Yet Soko and Machida seems like a big mismatch. I'm not sold on Soko, but Machida hasn't fought anybody like him yet.

Well, here comes the end of the year event. This weekend has shaped up to be an incredible one for sports, personally. Won't make my predictions now, but I have a few feelings towards who will win their matches. Gonna have to wait 'til the weigh-in to see if Chuck has shed a little bit of that belly.

:doh: What a dope. Saddest thing in the world is wasted talent. His fight against Rollins was a classic. Dumb, dumb move.

Yeah, maybe the UFC and Arlovski's falling out has extended a little ways back. If he's going to leave, why give him a headline fight? It'll only be advertising him for the future when he fights in another org.

Interesting, I wonder what Arlovski's beef with the UFC is. Maybe that the fighting requires you to actually fight? And Randy wants to fight Fedor in what, 7 months? I find it sad that Randy can't find a way to have good communication with the brass of the UFC. He must feel deeply dishonered stemming from a long time period if he can't. A fight like this, if it's great, will make the UFC look foolish. The two best heavyweights in the world will be fighting in Moscow. It's like if the Patriots and Colts decided to play in the CFL.

True, there would be more lower-tier fights in MW, which is much needed. Grove is a long kid with a lot of pride, I just think he's too mopey to survive in middleweight. Young, got a lot of time ahead of him. It's just hard for me to believe a 6'6" guy will be champ at 185 one day. Not enough technique, speed and power for someone who likes to stand and throw. But we'll see in time, could be wrong. I think Rashad will fair better in MW than Bisping will. A guy who can KO people in HW certainly opens my eyes when he moves two weight classes down. Bisping will get ravaged by the ground fighters in MW. Rashad, he can keep up with some of that. Silva, Henderson, Franklin, Marquart, Okami, Evans - is how I'd see it as of now

Yep, not doubting anyone that trains with Randy - but I don't doubt Rampage will punch right through a gameplan like the paper it's written on. Randy got Forrest to kick his way through an injury vs. an unworthy student of Rampage's, and also got Forrest to beat a jellybean Shogun with an ACL. Who else in the UFC does Randy train? (Might be slipping my mind, Koscheck?). We all know Randy wins his own fights with execution and gameplanning, and it has rubbed off on a previously impatient Forrest Griffin. Randy is definitley up there as a guy you'd want in your corner as a gameplanner. But he isn't a stand up specialist. He can show you how to chip at your opponent in order to shoot for a clinch or takedown...but I imagine Randy's fighters are most vunerable when they're toe to toe. Forrest looked fantastic on the ground. IF it goes there, expect Randy's golden boy to be tested to the fullest. I don't care if Bill Belicheat gameplanned for Forrest, fighters of the Henderson/Silva/Rampage ilk are too experienced and shapely to fall in to a finness trap.

Clash of the Titans! Lmao!!

I heard Trigg fights tonight, what channel will that be on?

LMAO

Oh cool, what's your website? Forrest does have to bring together an all-around game. His chin is good, no matter how you judge the Jardine fight. Jardine spanked him with about 4 good hooks to put him down, and Forrest still fought back while he was down. Albeit his jaw may not survive a good Rampage haymaker. My disagreement is with Forrest having to throw knees because of what Wanderlei and Shogun did to Rampage. Rampage has definitely made advancements in his game since those fights happened. He was a brawling, out of shape fighter. Now he's disciplined and in fantastic shape. He has worked on his weaknesses, and is definitely the man at LHW throughout the world. I'd be surprised if Rua of 2005 could take the Rampage of 2007. Forrest's ground game has obviously taken strides. I think you're right that it's where he needs to find himself against Rampage. You know Randy will be preaching the clinch and takedowns throughout Forrest's training. Nonetheless, I think Rampage will still beat Forrest on the ground. However, I will be pleasantly surprised if Forrest wins, even though I really like Rampage, too. These are my two favorite fighters. :doh: :doh:

Wow, I was wondering why Rua looked like a jelly bean before that fight...thanks for the info. How'd you know it was a torn ACL? Forrest doesn't have KO power, the standup goes to Rampage. Forrest stays in the pocket with Rampage, we know who will most likely get clocked harder. On the ground, I'd have to give it to 'Page again, even though Forrest handled Rua really well. Just more experience, against the best fighters in the world, and he won't have a torn ACL. He is a monster wrestler - just watch how methodical and intense he was against Henderson. Impressive. For Forrest to win, he has to take advantage of Randy's teachings and get in the clinch. Limit Rampage against the fence, score points. Otherwise, stay out of the pocket and score with leg kicks and counter pages haymakers. Just stay out of his way.

As far as Filho's opponent (Chael Sonnen), he was winning that fight easily. The only thing that could have killed him was a submission or KO. He was winning the stand up battle by far, but he kept taking Filho down and Filho was getting several opportunities at a submission. It was dumb on the part of Sonnen, who got caught in a nasty armbar. He looked to be yelling not to stop the fight - but the strain on his arm made it simply look like he was screaming in agony. Not a real iffy call, that armbar was locked in hard. The Clay Guida/Roger Huerta fight was the best fight I've seen in a while. My boy Clay just dove in without any setup and got caught with a knee. Until then, he was throwing Huerta around and had the edge in the (awesome) striking battle. I must have yelled "Ohhhh!" every 10 seconds in that fight. Everyone that was over at my place were just going crazy. What a fight! Too bad Clay got clocked with a lucky shot, but credit Roger - he stuck it to a guy with a real strong chin.

^ ^ Jens manhandled that guy last night when I thought Jens might have had a little trouble. Dude was lookin mean and 11-1. Quick, overwhelming fight my Jens.

Thanks for the update man. I'll record this on the DVR for later watching.

LMFAO

It's official, Rampage and Forrest are the next TUF coaches. I think it may be a decent fight because of the way Randy talks about Forrest's work ethic. Forrest seems to be making strides every time we see him. Even if Shogun was out of shape, it was Shogun. There's no way in hell Forrest will have a chance standing against Rampage, he has to take him down. And if that happens, watch out for Rampage to throw his first UFC powerbombs against a fighter that's just learning greco roman.

Oh, right, only images I remember from that fight is Chuck getting leg kicked about 25 times and the right hand that put him to the floor. Jardine's fist was about 1 mph from putting Chuck to bed in the 2nd. Otherwise, blindly believing Shogun was going to rip **** in the LHW division looking like Butterbean is a little foolish. Not as impressive as I thought it would be before I saw Shogun at the weigh in.

Plus Jardine knocked out Chuck, the previous title holder. I think the image of Jardine getting KTFO is etched in peoples' minds and Dana doesn't want him fighting for the title until that is an afterthought. Forrest beat some stepping stone guy and an out of shape Shogun. But, it will be a fan favorite vs. a popular champion. Pretty good marketing. I think it could also be Tito.

What do you guys think about Forrest being a coach for the next Ultimate Fighter? Dana said he was changing the format up, also. The other coach is being named tonight. Who do you think it could be? Rampage?

Wow, awesome pics Dance04. Did you ask GSP about his fight with Hughes? Tonight was a GREAT card. It seems the less talented the fighters, the better the fights. Every TUF Finale is great. The fight of the night goes to Huerta vs. Guida, sorry boys. They duked it out hardcore, and I thought Guida had him a couple of times. Huerta just knows how to defend when he falls. Perfect display of a "punchers chance". As Huerta snuck a knee right in to Guida's jaw. If Guida ever learned a tad of patience, he could find himself challenging for the championship. Rollins and War Machine was a close second. Blood everywhere, but a repetitive fight. A few elbows from the bottom, and a big one from the top. Rollins seemed comfortable on his back, which is a good thing, yet being on your back isn't going to be fun against better fighters. Bloody, and entertaining. Good fight. Otherwise, I loved seeing Hightower get blown away. And George has very impressive jui jitsu. Danzig is a monster, he needs to be faster as a Lightweight however. Technically sound, powerful, but lacks the intense speed that these guys throw down with. He'll see his share of haymakers in to his face in Lightweight. We'll see if he has a good jaw. He needs to intensify everything if he expects to climb the ladder in that weight class.

Predictions for TUF Finale: Ben Saunders vs. Dan Barrera: I think Ben Saunders has this one, he can match Dan with the striking and has a better ground game. Sub round 3. Billy Miles vs. George Sotiropoulos: Is it just me, or was George completely overrated during the show? When he fought Tommy it looked like a terrible mismatch. George was slow, even before the eye poke. I dunno, maybe he'll surprise me tonight, but I wouldn't bet on it. Billy by KO, round 2. Jared Rollins vs. Jon Koppenhaver: Talk about an even matchup. This fight reminds me of Henderson vs. Rampage. Good grapplers, intense strikers. I think Rollins will pull out a split decision. Tommy Speer vs. Mac Danzig: Mac is a natural Lightweight, but he is technically fearsome even among these Welterweights. Tommy got busted up and has surged since, but I think it stops here. G&P TKO round 3. Roger Heurta vs. Clay Guida: Clay is my boy, and I think this will end up being another exciting fight with a close decision. But this time, the split decision will go to Clay.