#98QBKiller

Damn, RIP Warrior 

Jake's done

 

http://www.mmamania.com/2014/4/7/5590078/ufc-cuts-jake-shields-following-ufc-171-loss-to-hector-lombard-mma

Nice

Why was I not aware of this? Wow.

I would've predicted that outcome. Bravo is still such a jiu jitsu nerd, and Royler has sort of been out of the scene, prolly enjoying retirement. I really enjoy watching his fight with Sakuraba.

Yeah, Bravo gets a lot of flak but his first win was legit. Royler has been saying that it was a fluke since it happened. 

I should clarify that the match was technically a draw, but it appears that if no submission occurs then they default to a draw. As all matches last night were draws except for the Gui Mendes and Keenan Cornelius matches which ended in subs. However, Eddie dominated the match, especially with his HG (electric chair) sweeps. He also had some calf slicer/neck crank attempts that looked deep..

Eddie Bravo just dominated Royler Gracie at their Metamoris rematch. 

eh the lay n pray at the end soured that fight but you do what you gotta do.

Agreed.

I had Lawler winning that fight. I think the Hendricks takedown in round 5 w/ the lay & pray won it for him w/ the judges. Kind of lame but that's how it goes these days. 

Condit should've been fighting him for the title over Lawler anyway, so I was bitter with this main event from the beginning. Why have a ranking system if you don't use it? 

Damn I didn't even know about the Ellenberger fight. Gotta watch that. Shields is the new smoke break, but he has a knack for pulling off victories. It's a lot like Fitch, except he's a tad more dynamic on the ground. Just as boring though.

Edit: Just watched it. Ellenberger is a machine when he lets loose. Hendo couldn't even finish Shields when he had him totally rocked. This is a huge fight for him. Being a boring fighter gives you less room to **** up. Lombard can KO him in to obscurity here.

The thing with Shields is, he had a stretch from 2006-2009 where he finished 8 straight fights (including Robbie Lawler, Mike Pyle, and Paul Daley) but he hasn't been that guy in the UFC. Maybe it's him aging, maybe it's the level of competition, could be the thing with his father. I'm not sure. 

I don't wanna make excuses, but his father passed away like a week before the Ellenberger fight. He wasn't there imo and I can't blame him for it. Ellenberger was/is a tough match up though, but so was Woodley. 

Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that. I can't really hate on him for losing under those circumstances. 

I haven't been impressed with Jake Shields at all. His last two fights were questionable split decision wins (especially the Woodley win), the boring Ed Herman win was overturned, he was KO'd by Ellenberger, got beat up by GSP, nearly got finished by Dan Henderson etc. 

And every single fight is boring as ****. I think his last exciting fight was actually the Henderson fight. 

Damn, can't wait for this Saturday's event.

This whole card is LOA-DED !

Fortunately for you guys, it's on American soil, so you won't have to worry about missing this thing, from the crazy time zones.

Who you got for Hendricks and Lawler ?

This is going to be a great card. I'm going back and forth but right now I'm leaning toward Hendricks. Also, Condit/Woodley should be fireworks and we all know that Diego Sanchez brings it every time. 

Speaking of Diego, I just rewatched his fight with Melendez and that 3rd round is seriously one of the greatest rounds I've ever seen in MMA. 

Grrr...I have a friend coming in town this weekend, and I am trying to figure out how I can watch it. I have been looking forward to this card for months. Either I "turn in early" and go home and watch it, or I steer him to a bar that will be showing it. Decisions, decisions.

Drag him out to see it somewhere! Every time this happens to me, I end up missing the PPV and it turns out to be some kind of epic card. 

I also just saw that Lombard/Shields is on this card. I really hope Lombard goes ballistic and makes Shields fight. I'm getting kind of tired of his boring performances. 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/442061/Jones-Are-Cormier-and-Gustafsson-afraid-to-fight-each-other/

 

 

"Why not give the winner of Alexander and [Daniel Cormier] the winner of myself and Glover??" asked Jones on Twitter. "Call me what you want but I can't be the only person who thinks that makes perfect sense. I see DC congratulating Alexander and making comments about waiting his turn now. I wonder if they're afraid to fight each other? People who don't like to think are quick to call me afraid. Think about it, I'm asking for the meanest of the two would you face winner of Phil vs Anthony?"

lol

Yep thought it was tonight too until I saw that Gus won on facebook. 

It's supposed to also give you access to the UFC's fight library, with all of their fights, all of Pride, Strikeforce, WEC, etc. I'm skeptical about it, but like I mentioned earlier I may just do the free trial to see the Gus fight tonight then cancel it. 

I haven't been impressed with Fight Pass enough to order it yet. I'm most intrigued by the Guillard/Johnson fight, the rest of that card is full of meh.

 

With so many cards, the standard of "UFC Caliber" has been watered down. Some of these guys on UFC cards should have been left in the regional circuits.

 

Gus is definitely getting the shaft in this one. Its almost a no win situation for him. I hope he handles business early and gets out with no injuries so we get that rematch sometime this year. Gus needs to be careful, Manuwa's last few opponents have had something happen to them that essentially forced them to retire mid-match.

Yeah I feel like the quality of cards has diminished since they have them so frequently now. However, UFC 171 has a lot of potential. Agreed about the Guillard/Johnson fight, although I am pretty excited to see Gunnar Nelson make his return too. 

I might do the Fight Pass free trial then cancel it after the fights tonight, but I'm not ready to spend $10 a month on it to have it regularly just yet. 

Also Rampage KO'd some fighter I've never heard of in Bellator last night:

Then he and King Mo got into it post-fight:

btw, there's more action in that gif than in King Mo's entire match yesterday

As much as I love Hendo and Vitor, I do feel like they've been cheating mother nature and their opponents for a while. If you age out of the game, you age out. That's how it should be. 

 

I'm wondering now if Fedor was ever considering TRT and valiantly decided against it.

Just judging by Fedor's body I'm guessing he was clean. 

I blame the refs somewhat too. A lot of refs are quick to stand up fighters, even if they're actively working on the ground. If a guy on the bottom knows he can just hold on for a few seconds and get stood back up, he really doesn't have much of an incentive to try and play a guard game.

Also, most guys know that MMA judges don't understand BJJ for the most part and tend to favor the guy on top regardless of the situation, so that leaves the fighter little reason to stay and work their guard game. Not to mention the unified rules don't really favor BJJ guys. You can't kick someone sitting in your guard, no 10-minute first round to work someone into a bad spot and submit them, etc. 

Plus nearly all top guys are purple belts or higher and if not, they are usually some kind of stellar wrestler and/or super athlete. A lot of guys are great wrestlers AND purple/brown/black belts in BJJ. 

I was actually thinkin of the most recent Faber fight, vs Barao, but that one too

I was referring to the Barao fight too, I think you saw the gif in my sig and thought I meant the McDonald fight. 

No Aldo vs. Pettis, we can't have nice things in MMA. Aldo should move up regardless, there is nothing left for him at 145lbs.

 

Pettis won the belt in August of 2013, won't defend it until late 2014. How is that possible?

Sucks ass. We get no super fights in MMA. I wish TUF would just go away. 

Was this in regards to the submission part, or Macdonald winning at all?  Just curious if that vow of chastity is in your life.

I'm sure he meant the submission part. If Macdonald got back control on Maia and submitted him hell would've definitely frozen over. 

Yep, Faber's last fight comes to mind, as well.

Yeah between this and the Faber fight he has been off. 

lol @ the touchback comment 

Yeah man, if you can kick someone in the head when you're both standing or when just one opponent is standing then why not from your guard when they're kneeling? It's not the same as head-stomping someone...which I don't mind btw 

Great fight by both guys, Machida definitely earned that UD though. 

Also, this fight reminded me why upkicks from the guard to an opponent on his knees should be legal. Mousasi KO'd Jacare with this in Japan in 2008. Jacare looked dominant again tonight btw. Honestly, if Weidman/Belfort isn't happening until May, there's still plenty of time for Machida/Jacare to happen for a #1 contender fight. 

Machida vs. Mousasi is free on FS1 in two Saturdays (the 15th). Jacare vs. Carmont is co-main. Kinda seems like a couple quarterfinal fights. Winners could fight each other for a shot at Weidman/Belfort.

 

I'm more excited for these fights than I was for anything on the last PPV card. I didn't like the Faber stoppage but I assumed he wouldn't beat Barao going into it, and Jose Aldo is the most boring champ in the UFC now IMO. 

I'm also pretty excited for the Rousey/McMann and Evans/Cormier fights. I really want to see how Cormier looks at 205. He could be an absolute monster in that division.

Well at least there are only two Brazilian champs now and the rest are American. 

I think Overeem would've won his last two fights if he were as composed as he was tonight. 

Judges love them some Benson Henderson.

 

I thought Thomson won 3-2 at the worst. Rogan & Goldie were horrible with their commentary. 49-46 for Bendo is disgusting.

Yeah, that was a terrible decision IMO. Judges really do seem to love some Bendo. I thought he lost to Gilbert Melendez in their fight too. 

Also, someone just turned all of Bendo's fights to losses on Wikipedia lol

And maybe this guy too, depending on what weight class he decides to reside in:

 

Almost forgot about him. Definitely and exciting addition to 185 if that's where he decides to stay.

Now, seemingly all of a sudden, the middleweight division is the most exciting division in the UFC. Weidman, Belfort, Rockhold, Jacare, Machida, Bisping, Tim Kennedy, Alan Belcher...and likely Anderson Silva again one day. It seems like just yesterday the division was stale with Anderson sitting at the top and no real threats to him.

The only other division I would put above it right now is 170.