d0ublestr0ker0ll

Hmm. He is the boss, he is trying to catipult the UFC in to the mainstream. I like his no bull**** approach. It isn't talking smack. Some Germans could have beat up F.D.R., and he told us that they weren't anything to fear what-so-ever. So what if you're physical fortitude is elite? That doesn't mean anything. They can take it, they aren't panzies. Dana has been doing well. His assumptions for this year's outcomes have been off, along with MANY of the fans' predictions. Ruining many potentially terrific storylines. If he signed Fedor, everybody would have had a man-crush on Dana. But the ultimate failure of doing so has sent the UFC in a tailspin. I think Dana can regain control. As far as the inside stuff, I cannot make a judgment so far. Couture deserved one of the fairest shares in the business, sure. But he's 44. Would you sign Brett Favre in 7 years to figures the best in the BIZ are making? Would you load him up for commentating one game every month? I dunno. On the flip side, was it Dana or FEDOR that choked on the contract? Sure Fedor wanted to fight in Sambo tournies, but is it deeper than that? Injuries from Sambo tournies might have been a $5 million dollar year-long break for Fedor. The guy has a mess of scar tissue on his face. Are we ready for punks to sit on titles for a year straight? Or do we want to see warriors like Houston Alexander and Forrest Griffin fight every 2 months? I'd take the second choice. If ST played 6 games a year for a European League team, would you trust his health when it came to the 16+ game run in America? Would you sign him to the biggest contract ever? Well, sign Fedor and it's like the NFL paying him a record contract risking injury in ANOTHER LEAGUE! So as I'm kind of skeptical of Dana, I want to make it known that none of the descriptive details are out now. People are rushing to judgment. Randy is so nice, you'd think nothing could be wrong with what he thinks. Couture > Abe Lincoln. BUT, the bottom line is - Couture is a face to recognize and definitely admire. Pay the man for that, if anything. Couture is also 44, if you need an excuse to cut his pay, there it is. But I cannot see how you can't pay a champion who takes abuse like any other fighter at least $1 mil a fight. I mean goodness, people are wacking golf balls around making several million dollars, and Randy looks like he's taken a few Tiger Woods drivers to his left ear - and doesn't make **** compared to them. It's sad, but contracts are contracts, if you don't like them, don't sign them.

He doesn't. He's unprofessional, volitile, he carries around an ora that your typical pissed off UFC fighter retains. I actually like his style of personality. Yet, it's not something a focused and organized PRESIDENT should carry around with him. He needs to focus more of that 'tude towards forseeing the future. This is a mess. I cannot make a judgment now. But one would TEND to take Couture's word.

Might be the same story, but this was on the front page of Yahoo with Dana White's face on the cover picture. http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=ki-white101107&prov=yhoo&type=lgns Unreal.

Dana White is blaming a Holywood agent for, get this, brainwashing maybe the smartest martial artist in the world. Hey, who knows? http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=8241 Dana White on the Retirement of Randy Couture UFC President Dana White sat down with UFC.com editor Thomas Gerbasi to discuss Randy Couture's retirement. TG – Were you surprised when the fax came into your office with Randy Couture’s resignation? Dana White – No, I wasn’t surprised. I met with Randy several weeks ago and he said that the only thing he had left to prove in his career and the only challenge left out there for him was Fedor (Emelianenko) because everybody thinks that Fedor is the best. And Fedor has that mystique where people think he’s number one, which I don’t agree with. I think that Fedor is completely overrated – he’s fought Mark Coleman and Matt Lindland in the last year, with Mark Hunt being his only legitimate opponent - and I actually think that Randy Couture would have smashed Fedor. TG – So this wasn’t a surprise, but were you at least surprised at the way he went about it, via fax? DW – He is shooting a movie right now in South Africa, but yes, I am very surprised by the way he did it. I consider Randy Couture a friend and still do. He hooked up with some Hollywood agent that I ***** slapped about a month ago, and these Hollywood agents are parasites, so unfortunately this guy is probably in Randy’s ear right now. But, that’s the world Randy wants to be in; Randy wants to be in the movie world now, that’s what he’s working for and that’s his guy right now. TG – What were the contents of the fax from Randy? DW – It was just a letter saying that he resigned from his positions at the UFC. He was a color commentator and he was going to do some legislative work with us, helping Marc Ratner and going and talking to other States that we were trying to get sanctioned in. TG – Some are saying that the timing is funny on this announcement given Fedor’s recent signing to another organization the day before… DW – Yeah, but Randy is still under contract with the UFC. Apparently Randy’s upset about something, and the timing of this thing is a typical Hollywood agent move while Randy’s out of town. But he told me he wanted to retire anyway if he didn’t fight Fedor, and he can’t fight Fedor in another organization because he’s under contract to me. I’m very confident though that once Randy gets back in town, if we see each other we’ll work this thing out. Not saying that Randy wouldn’t stay retired, because that’s what he wants to do - he wants to act, he wants to be on TV shows, that’s his goal - but I’m sure Randy Couture and I are gonna be friends for a long time. TG – What kind of efforts were made by the UFC to get Fedor in the organization? DW – The thing that I’ve been trying to do for years is get the two best organizations in the world together. And the only two organizations that matter are PRIDE and the UFC. All these other ones are minor leagues, full of guys trying to fight their way up. What I wanted to do for years is get the best in every weight class together and let’s find out who is the number one fighter in the world. That has been my goal for the last five years and we wanted to make that happen. And I was extremely confident that Randy Couture would win against Fedor, and I still am. But we weren’t able to get that fight, we weren’t able to get Fedor, and I had to deal with these crazy reps he had – everything they said made no sense and the whole deal was crazy. It seemed like it was all about their managers and not about Fedor. So the deal didn’t happen and Couture let me and Lorenzo (Fertitta) know that without that, there was nothing really to accomplish anymore. In mixed martial arts he had accomplished everything, and I didn’t disagree with him. I said I completely agree, and I think Randy is looking right now at moving on and accomplishing his goals in acting. TG – There have been reports that Couture’s fight contract with the UFC will expire in nine months; is there truth to those reports? DW – Absolutely not. TG – Were you hurt by some of the comments Couture has made regarding a perceived lack of respect from the organization? DW – Of course we’re hurt by that. Randy Couture is a guy who I’ve said publicly a million times and I’ll say publicly right now who I feel is one of the guys who helped us get here. If you want to call me a liar, people think a lot of bad stuff about me ad anyway, but to call Lorenzo Fertitta a liar, the reason the sport exists right now is because of him and his brother (Frank). They’ve done nothing but good things for this sport, and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him and his brother. You ask anybody in Las Vegas about the reputation of the Fertitta family; they aren’t liars, they are great people. So for him to say that about Lorenzo, it’s not like Randy Couture. It’s not like him. TG – Had he brought some of his concerns to your attention before, or was today the first time you had heard them? DW – We had a breakfast a few weeks ago and he told me that he was upset about things and he felt like other fighters were getting paid more than he was and that he didn’t have the best contract in the UFC. And I assured him that he had the second best contract in the UFC with Chuck Liddell having the best. TG – He negotiated this contract, correct? DW – He did. It was the contract that he negotiated and that he was very happy with once we were done negotiating it. TG – Until he perceived that someone else was making more money. DW – Right. He thought that other guys were making more money than him, and we assured him that he had the second best contract in the UFC. TG – How does Randy’s departure hurt the UFC heavyweight division? DW – I don’t think it affects the division at all because after what we’ve seen over the last couple of years, anybody can win or lose on any given night. It’s what makes this sport so exciting. And now it’s like this big shocking news that Randy Couture retired. He’s 44 years old, he’s not 24. Is everybody really that shocked that Randy retired? Randy Couture has had an amazing career, he’s an incredible athlete, he’s pulled off more upsets, and has been the underdog so many times, what’s really left out there for him? I think he would have put a stone cold beating on Fedor, and he would have walked away with the same thing that he’s walking away with now. He’s walking out on top, and walking out on top is a smart thing to do. And it’s perfect for his acting career. TG – Randy, to a lot of people, is the face of the UFC. How does this affect the organization? DW – People were saying to me four months ago that Chuck Liddell was the face of the UFC. Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell are two of many faces of the UFC. The UFC has the greatest fighters in the world, and Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell might be two of the best known fighters in the UFC, but everybody pulls their weight in this company and everybody works hard for it. Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, Rich Franklin, Joe Rogan, these are guys who were with us early on who I credit for helping us get to where we are today. Is Randy Couture the face of the UFC? No, he’s one of many faces of the UFC, but he is one of the guys who helped us get here. I love him, I respect him, I still consider him my friend and just like any friendship, we don’t see eye to eye all the time, but if you’re true friends, you work it out, and I consider Randy Couture a true friend, and I honestly believe that when he comes home from filming, and when his scumbag Hollywood agent isn’t around, we’ll talk and we’ll square away our friendship. And as far as his retirement and him wanting to retire, I have nothing but respect for him and I don’t disagree with his decision.

This is terrible news. It would be one thing if he was leaving in order to chase Fedor, it's another when he's pissed about what's going on behind the scenes. Randy is (was) the most gentile personality in the UFC. Nobody will be able to replace the adrenalin we get when we see him join the ringside announcers for the main events. And he's provided two of the best memories this year...a year FULL of memorable events. It's too bad. Maybe things will get settled in time. But this certainly bums me out to the max. I wish the best for him.

Report: Fedor Emelianenko to M-1 Thursday, October 11, 2007 by Sherdog.com Staff Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) has committed to the Russian-based promotion M-1, according to a report published by The Fight Network. Speculation has abounded regarding Emelianenko (26-1-1), the man most pundits see as the top mixed martial artist in the world, since the implosion of his former home, PRIDE. The UFC and K-1 had been grabbing most of the headlines in the Emelianenko sweepstakes. Citing an anonymous source, the Fight Network report claims that M-1, an organization formerly run by Emelianenko's manager, Vadim Finkelstein, has been purchased by a company with ties to the American entertainment industry, and its first order of business was inking Emelianenko to a deal. Sherdog.com has learned the new organization will run under the M-1 Global moniker and plans to promote shows in Russia, Japan and the United States with the first event possibly coming to fruition as soon as New Year's Eve. A news conference has been tentatively scheduled for Oct. 23 in New York City to announce the signing as well as to introduce the new promotion to the media. __________________ Anybody else smell the notion, "I need to get used to these roids being out of my body?" I dunno, is he SCARED of 44 year old Couture? Does he see Shogun get beat handily by a good prospect and say to himself, "I'm not ruining my reputation going in there against guys that know what I came from.?" Something is VERY fishy here. God Dammit. No, I'm not going to beat around any bush here. The UFC is where it's at, not M-freakin-1.

Hell yeah. He's 35, but a very stout prospect. I wouldn't be suprised if we see him as champ one day. The guy is a maniac with technical skills to the moon. The one thing I saw in his fight against Jardine was that Jardine did put him to the canvas. Nobody talks about it because Jardine attacked and got counter-chinned. About 4 times, at that. But even though Houston said he "slipped", it wasn't the case. So while I do think Houston may get caught, the guy has an offense up there with the best in the weight class.

Exactly right. That said, Rich Franklin has one of the hardest training regiments I've seen. It's a wonder how he has time to recover from those workouts. Running from exercise machine to exercise machine, no breaks. The guy is a machine. He is the epitome of living the hard working MMA lifestyle.

It's weird, the adaptation to fighting in the octagon, in the U.S.A., seems to be incredibly smooth for some fighters, and really devistating for a couple of them, so far. Although, in the back of my mind I've always known Cro Cop was overrated. Shogun from 2005 < Rampage 2007

I dunno about that. The bash on Forrest's ground game ends tonight. He is Couture's main student. You can see it in Randy's eyes that Forrest is his project. Forrest is all game now. I would take Forrest if he ever faught Rashad.

My policy has always been that records mean nothing. Sakuraba (20-10), Couture (16-8). It's who you fight and when you fight them that counts, in my book. Rashad has tied a dwindling Tito, Machida has beaten nobody, and Houston beat up Jardine when Jardine's only claim to fame was beating a un-educated Forrest Griffin. Houston beat Sakara handily, and in quick and devistating fashion. Give him fighters that have clawed their way to the top...let's not play hop scotch because of records. PS. Houston is 7-1

I felt like tonight Shogun was in essance fighting Randy Couture just as much as he was fighting Forrest Griffin. Forrest found the right guy to work his game. That much is obvious. I agree with Samuels. Shogun has looked a little tubby for the past 4 months. Every interview, picture, and training session I saw of him made me think, "wow he looks different." He is very young though. Expect him to realize this flaw. He was hanging his hands down in the middle of the second round.

:applause: I'm liking that, but I don't know if Forrest should shoot straight up quite that fast. A lot of things were going against Shogun tonight. The LHW division is cluttered with tough questions after tonight. Most anything Dana puts together will probably work out. Houston needs a couple more fights under his belt. He's 35, and basically a prospect. How about he fights Dan Henderson?

It all depends where you are ranked at the given time, and what rank the person is you beat at the given time. Jardine was an up and comer who beat an up and coming Forrest Griffin. Jardine is NOW established, not when he faught Houston. Maybe a rematch against Houston would be nice, but I hate redundancy - they JUST faught it seems like. Maybe Forrest and Jardine should have a rematch, and Houston should fight Wanderlei.

That's true, it's pretty obvious Jardine deserves to fight Wanderlei now. He has earned a fight with a legend, if nothing else. Rampage won't be fighting for a while. He's done in 2007. Forrest likes to fight as much as possible, this might rust him up a little if he expects to go directly to Rampage.

Jardine has displayed his ability to work on fighters with his kicks. Chuck came in to this fight simply thinking he'd drop Jardine with one missile. There was no gameplan. Chuck looked better condition-wise this fight. But when you're a star of MMA, you know people are looking for any way to take you out. Gameplanning is key in this sport. Natural talent won't get you far these days. Ie. Cro Cop, Chuck, Shogun, Georges St. Pierre...Gameplan boys, gameplan and know how to counter a gameplan.

Forrest vs. Wanderlei...winner fights Rampage?

Wanderlei would woop Chuck just as fast as Rampage did nowadays. Chuck is done for a while. He needs to revamp his style because he's getting slow and careless.

Unbelievable night of fights. I was the only one that called the Forrest fight right, anybody pick Jardine?

trying to get on mma-tv...but it says it has too much traffic.

I actually like this card. First of all, it's always fun seeing Chuck knock somebody out. Highlight reel material, if anything. Shogun is fighting, and if that isn't enough, he's fighting Forrest. 'Nuff said. Diego/Fitch is a coin toss, and Taveres/Griffin will be a very fast paced war. I have a feeling this will be an entertaining night.

UFC 76 Predictions: Machida vs. Nak: I see Machida making a mistake in this one. Nak will take advantage and use his aggressiveness to pull out an "upset", if you will. Nak has faught some tough opponents, he has seen better than Machida. Ref stoppage, TKO G&P 2nd round. Tavares vs. Griffin: Tavares is a mean S.O.B. Tyson Griffin impressed me in his last fight with Clay Guida, but whoever saw that fight can't convince me Clay didn't get jipped. Griffin snuck through that one, even though he faught like hell...and now he faces a VERY stout Thiago Tavares. Even though I think this is going the distance, it'll go unanimouosly for Tavares. Sanchez vs. Fitch: I don't want to judge Diego by his last fight, maybe there was an injury or a family problem that made him seem docile. On the other hand, maybe it was Koscheck controlling the fight by establishing the jab that was just too on-point for Diego to try anything risky. Remember, Diego did almost have a choke on Kos at the end of the first round of their last fight. He is a mean dude, and so is Jon Fitch. But I'm gonna go by their track records for this one. Diego has dominated much tougher fighters than Fitch has...I think it's going to be a Split Decision for Diego, Fitch can actually handle Diego's mad-dog grappling mentality...but not enough to win. Rua vs. Forrest: Who doesn't like Forrest Griffin? He dives in to fighting a war and doesn't care if he gets busted up. But as we saw with Forrest in his last fight, he actually showed a lot of patience, and a nice technical gameplan. His kicks chopped his opponent down. Forrest knows that he can't have a trading war with the likes of heavier hitters as he did with Stephan Bonnar. Forrest learned the hard way, against Jardine. Will learning that lesson help him against one of the most fearsome fighters in the world? Probably not. But then again, it's good to see progress out of such an exciting fan favorite. As far as Shogun, he needs to switch up his game. One of the reasons Rampage has done so well in the UFC is because he hasn't had to erase fascets of his style to accomidate the rules...except maybe stomping on the face of his opponent. Anyhow, Shogun is a Chuteboxer. A brutal, "when they're down **** them up" style of fighting. But now, he can't do a Sean Suisham to an opponents head when they are down. None of that brain damaging style anymore, Shogun. But will he really need that against Forrest? No. But! It's because Forrest is going to win by TKO at 0:30 of the first round. Take it to the bank. Liddell vs. Jardine: Chuck is the centerpiece of the MMA revolution. Whether he's the best fighter or not, doesn't matter. It was the mohawk, the soft personality with the dynamite fists. It was the upside-the-head kick he wacked Tito with, it was KO'ing Tito twice. And let's not forget him making Randy Couture retire after giving him a double dose of Nyquil. The Iceman trunks, the tattoo on his temple, Chuck was a really cool champion. But when it comes down to it, the road just got a lot more cluttered for the 37 year old. Motivation is hard to have when you see the likes of Wanderlei, Shogun, Henderson, oh, and Rampage...standing in your way. But Chuck is a lot like Forrest, except he doesn't get hit as much. He just wants to fight. I think if Chuck was fighting somebody tougher than Jardine, it would be harder for him to get motivated. He will want to put on a show tonight. And other than beating a very stubborn Forrest, Jardine has done nothing but get a nice pop on Houston Alexander, before Houston made him say goodnight. I hesitate to say Chuck will win in the first, but the more I think about it...the first counter that connects by him will probably be the end. Chuck, TKO, late first round.

Didn't get to see tonights fights. I think there's a replay Saturday at 3 P.M. Can't wait for the Saturday night event. Chuck Liddell vs. Jardine & Shogun vs. Forrest. I already have a feel how the three main fights will pan out in my opinion. I'll have my picks up soon. Spoilers for tonight (September 20th) * * * Quarry knocked out Pete Sell early in the third. Sell lasted longer than the last time they faught, but Quarry is just too talented for Sell, I guess. Diaz won by submission late in the first. I was thinking Diaz would suprise Assuncao with his boxing skills...but it was more of a hunch than what the majority would expect with these two fighting. Good job Nate. In the biggest suprise, Leben KNOCKED OUT Terry Martin. Last time I saw Martin he was throwing haymakers galore. Good for Leben...anybody know if he dropped the ****y attitude and the "look, you better fear me" hair? Florian choked out Thomas late in the first. Florian seems to be on a mission. I say give him Sherk in 4 months, so Sherk can lose the 'roids in his system. Flo is focused as hell and he really has my attention. But I don't know if he could ever survive the Sherk I saw last time. Maybe losing the 'roids will make Sherk slower, at least, Florian better hope so.

Florian took this fight out of nowhere, and coming off a recent fight, he might be a little TOO psyched about earning a fight with (Sherk?) for the title. Din Thomas is one of those sleepy fighters who will out of nowhere end the fight. He picks his spots well, but Florian will probably neutrilize that by pressing with his muay thai. Kenny actually impresses me more on the ground than standing up. Stoppage from G&P in the second. Terry Martin vs. Chris Leben is interesting. Terry has mega-haymaking hooks...but his arms are about as long as Big Nog's fingers. That said, he will easily get in on Leben. Leben has a nice jaw, but Martin will blow through it if he connects. As said before, Leben hasn't been showing up for fights lately. He thinks his hair and the evil curl in his eyebrows is going to win him a fight. Nope, gotta do it in the octagon, baby. Martin by TKO in the third. As far as Nate Diaz, he's fighting a submission guy. Should be another step on the staircase for him. Assuncao is a decent opponent, but I don't see him being better than Diaz in any fascet. I see Diaz actually popping him while standing up before TKOing him on the ground. I'll say a late round 1 TKO. Quarry has already wiped the floor with Pete Sell. Sell has a puncher's chance...he kind of reminds me of a Phil Baroni. Works on his muscles and haymakers more than technical prowess. Quarry doesn't run in to anything, he should be fine. Quarry by KO in the second. No subs tonight boys! Keep the fists a flyin!!

After going through the whole thread, I have concluded that this thread should run on for the rest of Eli's career. And if Eli has an Archie Manning II, thy thread shall run on for another generation.