StillUnknown

Alexander's knees, I know you saw them

Sakara did :laugh:

Two funny pictures I found of the most badass man in the world....

The man knows how to attack some ice cream too

And he loves animals

when you see Fedor outside of competition, its hard to believe that this is the same monster that walks through people once the bell rings. its like he has two personalities almost.

my picks for tonights card:

Rampage vs. Henderson:

i see this fight being extremely close, both fighters are in great condition, and have some weaknesses the other can exploit. I think Rampage will get the better of the standup as he is better from a technical standpoint, Dan has that wild duck his head and unload the right hook, but Rampage's defense should be able to combat that

Rampage by UD.

CroCop vs. Kongo:

dangerous fight for CroCop as Kongo is a beast with his striking, but CroCop sounded extremely focused in the countdown show. I think he knows how critical it is for him to win and win in an impressive fashion. Kongo will test him, but this is a must win for CroCop.

CroCop via late 1st or early 2nd round KO

Bisping vs. Hamill:

If it stays on the feet Hamill will be KO'd. that being said i don't think Bisping can stop Hamill's takedowns. Bisping has chin is still suspect and Hamill does have power. I think Hamill will take Bisping down and manage to avoid his submission attempts to grind out a decision victory.

Hamill by SD.

Alexander vs. Sakara:

I don't think Alexander is a fluke, but he is unproven. Sakara is a much more technical striker which should present problems for Alexander, but Sakara doesn't have the strongest heart in the game and if things go bad he'll fold. I expect Alexander to survive and initial rush by Sakara to knock out Sakara in the 2nd.

Alexander 2nd round KO.

Paul Taylor vs. Marcus Davis:

Davis has been a roll lately and will continue, he'll be tested, but he has alot of power in his hands. I see a flash KO in the 2nd round

Davis by 2nd Round KO

sopcast channel 24267 will show the event live around 3pm (est) for those interested. Just try to hide the spoilers if you post them for those who are waiting for the spike tv showing at 9pm

I didn't really think about that, but you're right. However, I could see Dana giving Hendo a shot at the MW belt even if he is the LHW champion. He'd be the first to hold a belt in two different weight divisions simultaneously, and on top of being the first to do that in two different org's. It'd be a good promotional tool.

its good promotional tool in theory, but its not practical. lets say that dan beat rampage then dropped down to mw and beat silva, it would be great for Hendo. in the mean time you would have two division virtually being held hostage because neither title would be able to be defended on a regular basis. Too much talent at at LHW especially to hold the not defend a title because he wants to fight in both divisions. Not to mention that Hendo isn't exactly the youngest fighter in the world, and unless he's another Couture, he doesn't have many more years at the top of the sport.

i think i want Rampage to win more because i would rather see Hendo fighting at MW. I would rather see Hendo fight Anderson Silva than anyone at LHW at the moment. Besides, UFC's MW division is in serious need of a serious challenger to Anderson Silva. The gap between Anderson Silva and the rest of the MW division is the widest of any other division right now.

My calls for saturday night:

Hamill over Bisping - "upset" submission

The Count is a real good stand-up fighter. If he does win, it'll be on a kick. Matt is already known to be an amazing grappler with freakish strength but he also has heavy hands. (Bisping seems to not handle the home crowd pressure well. Elvis almost submitted him in London.)

Cro Cop over Kongo - KO

If Mirko doesn't get right after Kongo, he'll regret it. I'm expecting Kongo to surprise us and take this fight to the ground where his size will rule and Cro Cop's kicks won't. I have to believe CC is desperate enough to win this one.

Henderson over Jackson - late KO

Rampage looks unbeatable right now, but in Pride he was indeed beatable. Hendo must overcome the Pride-to-UFC jinx but I think he's all about business.

I have no clue who's going to win any of these fights but I figure we'll have some fun with predictions. Got any?

i was with you until you mentioned Kongo taking the fight to the ground:laugh: . He has no ground game, and CroCop's sprawl is actually pretty good (gonzaga only took him down after catching a kick to the gut.) CroCop should win, but it will be an exciting standup fight for however long it lasts, Kongo is a dangerous striker and could very well pull off the upset

i see Jackson winning by decision or late ref stoppage. i think Rampage will be too strong for Henderson who usually fights at middleweight. Dan has the devastating right hand, but Rampage can take a punch pretty well (knees are his kryptonite). I think his new team will have a good gameplan for Dan.

Torres put a nice triangle choke on Bedard to win that fight.

WEC on Versus tonight:

Main Card Bouts:

-"Razor" Rob McCullough vs. Rich Crunkilton

-Chase Beebe vs. Rani Yahya

-John Alessio vs. Marcelo Brito

-Jeff Bedard vs. Miguel Torres

-Brian Stann vs. Jeremiah Billington

sucks that pulver got hurt and had to postpone his match with Cub Swanson.

should be a decent card tho, the last WEC cards have been pretty good events

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=4636&zoneid=13

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has taken over the worldwide mixed martial arts landscape, signing a majority of the premier fighters in the sport. But there are still a few notable fighters out there that have yet to call the UFC, or anyone else for that matter, home. Chief among them is Fedor Emelianenko, nearly universally regarded as the #1 heavyweight fighter in the world.

That situation isn’t likely to remain so for much longer though, as speculation has swirled around Fedor’s contract status, or lack thereof, as of late. The hot rumor over the past few days has been that he has inked a deal with the UFC.

Not so says Reed Wallace, President of White Chocolate Management, who represents Fedor Emelianenko's interests in the United States.

“Not to my knowledge,” replied Wallace when asked directly if Fedor had signed a contract with the UFC. “He’s going to do something soon. They can’t negotiate forever.”

Fedor’s managers, Vadim Finkelstein and Apy Echteld, met with the UFC late last week, but a signed contract has yet to materialize. “UFC discussions went very well according to Apy,” said Wallace in reference to the meeting. Initially it seemed the UFC was unwilling to make any modifications to their contract, but it now appears there has been some movement.

“I can say that they are very close to a deal, but some last minute players have stepped up as well,” he said.

i'm becoming slighty optimistic that Fedor will be in the UFC sooner rather than later

If UFC wants to be the best organization out there, then they will break the bank and sign Fedor. Their heavyweight division, which basically consisted of just Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski about 10 months ago, is now very deep and very interesting.

Fedor would have the most competition in the UFC and if he's thrown in the mix there are so many scenarios that can happen.

I do think that Fedor's people want to see some events in Russia, and while the UFC are planning on going worldwide (starting in about a week actually, it's only London, but that's a start in going international) I don't see them having events in Russia anytime soon.

Fedor's management is being a little unreasonable in my opinion. Asking for the UFC to take on other fighters associated with Fedor's camp is asking a bit much, the fighting in russia thing can be worked out, as i don't think the ufc would mine expanding out. Fedor's team has to be willing to meet Dana part of the way to get the contract done.

Fedor is the best out, but he hasn't fought a legit heavyweight in a while now, time for him to fight the best of best (including Barnett, which i would love to see happen).

Me too but they'd be turning down a HUGE opportunity if they don't sign him for some dumb reason like not wanting him to participate in his sambo tournaments. I wouldn't be concerned about injury with a guy like him.

i would, he has a history of having somewhat brittle hands (has had to reschedule fights because of it)

i blame Dana White for alot of things, but if they're going to break the bank to sign him, then i can understand their concern of him being injured. anything can happen (remeber Randleman's suplexing him, an inch or two to either way, and Fedor could've easily been paralyzed.)

Fedor to meet with UFC officials today

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=8793

If they pick up Fedor, the UFC will be the hands-down dominant MMA organization probably for good.

i'll believe it when he's actually signed only

I also enjoyed UFC 75 - the event had some good fights. I am a bit confused about UFC75, though: I've heard it is being broadcast on-air for free, but I've also seen the event advertised as a pay-per-view event.

the free version will be shown at 8pm or sometime close to that hour on spike tv, but it won't be live. it will simply be a tape-delay.

the live version will be available on ppv or *cough* streams *cough* around 3pm(est) when it is happening live in London

Penn did admit to it. He admitted to it with a smile on his face and chuckled about it. My point is that they do know more than us, and Heath was never really in danger. If someone gets hurt because of something similar down the line it will have nothing to do with Babalu, Penn, Gracie, or anyone else that held on after a tap. It will be strictly the responsibility of the fighter who inflicted the damage.

Babalu does not deserve a fine or suspension.

And no disrespect taken or inteded here. Its all good. Its nice to have a place to discuss mma other than the mma boards that are flooded with trolls and pointless posts.

i see where you're coming from, but i'll simply agree to disagree with you :laugh:

i would however fine or suspend him if i was the UFC, although i would assum the athletic commission will beat them to the punch.

My point is that everyone seems to be freaking out over this when no one ever freaked out about it before. I am wondering where some of you guys get your opinions. Is it a big deal now because you heard it on tv and read about it on the internet, or because you think it really is a big deal? If you think it is a big deal now, where were you a couple months ago when BJ did it on the main event of a cable broadcast? If your argument is that it makes the sport look bad then you should have been scraming about it back then. Babalu was on the undercard of a ppv. Not that many people saw it. A lot of people saw BJ vs. Pulver and no one cared about the extra time on the choke. Only Destino was upset about it in this thread back then. If Babalu gets punished for it is worse than hypocritical.

two wrongs don't make a right, doesn't matter what the reactions were to BJ Penn's choke (and for the record i said he was wrong then), the fact is that its inexcusable and he should be punished for it point blank.

It does look like he did it on purpose.

But, I remember when I was wrestling a friend I got him in a choke hold and I was concentrating so hard to not let him get out that I didn't realize he was tapping.

I had my eyes closed and my other friends had to tap me hard and scream at me to let go. lol

He said he was going to kill me for that, but he was too exhausted to do it at the time.

it was definitely on purpose, in the post fight interview Babalu admitted he held on the choke for a while longer because he felt Heath "disrespected" him in the lead up to the fight. He was promptly boo'd out of the cage after saying that.

I don't know where all this outrage is coming from. Did any of you see BJ Penn do the same thing to Pulver? I've seen it other times as well. The max the choke was on after the tap was 3 seconds. Not a big deal.

it was wrong when Penn did it the same as its wrong now that Babalu has done it. **** like that will only give credibility to people who say this sport is nothing more than street fighting and stuff like that

once the refs lays hands on you, you break the hold, plain and simple. it can take less than 3 seconds to put somebody unconscious, just remember that

Chuck punched Rampage countered, no luck in that. Chuck going down with one punch, to me that's luck. I think Chucks chin is more dangerous than his overhand right. Chuck isn't afraid to obsorb some blows if it enables him to get off with that right. IMO he's taken better shots than the one Rampage hit him with and was still able to regain composure.

Defense? Rampage's defense is his hands. Most guys are afraid to try and take him down because if they miss he'll most likely knock them out. He's a good wrestler, so they say. I've never seen him grapple so I don't know. If it goes to the ground Henderson will win and I think he's smart enough to save himself for fight that goes to later rounds. I know Rampage is training at big bear but that doesn't prepare you for the mental aspect of the game. Like I said previously, Henderson is smart; look for him to bait Rampage and get him on his back. Once there, Rampage is like a fish out of water.

Don't underestimate Chucks fan base. UFC is a business and the people buying the PPV and paying thousands for Tix to see them live love Chuck Liddel. Dana won't make him wait long. Did he make Couture wait for a title shot against Silvia? Face it, no matter how you look at it, it's still a business.

Chuck's chin is good, but Rampage tested in their first fight, he had chuck stunned long enough to get a couple of takedowns in that fight. Rampage wasn't "lucky" that Chuck dropped after the first shot. To say it was luck takes away from Rampages ability.

its not that they are afraid of getting knocked out by rampage on a takedown attempt, its the fact that Rampage is extremely strong for 205 and that people generally have hard time getting him down period, Rampage was on the ground for most of his fight with Matt Lindland who is much better wrestler than Rampage and Rampage still won that fight. Henderson while good, is not some bjj specialist that will force Rampage to work on decisions. Quite honestly, i don't see either fighter keeping the other fighter down on the ground for very long, i expect this fight to be fought on the feet for the majority of the fight.

As far as mentally, Rampage has been fine since he got with his new trainers, and him being only 28 years old, leaves room for him to improve dramatically, which is quite scary. Before now, Rampage basically trained against amateur fighters, now he's training with world-class fighters, which cannot be underestimated. I don't think Henderson will be able to keep Rampage down long enough to do any considerable damage even if he does get a takedown.

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=4178621&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

CLEARWATER - Police are investigating a car crash on Court Street approaching downtown. There are reports pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan's son was in the car and is hurt.

Witnesses say the yellow sports car careened out of control and hit a palm tree in the raised median of the four-lane road.

The wreck has shut down all traffic in both directions.

Paramedics and firefighters had to cut both occupants of the car from the wreckage. The car was destroyed by the impact.

The car reportedly belongs to Nicholas Alan Bollea, also known as Nick Hogan. He's one of the stars of the reality show Hogan Knows Best.

Nick is also a professional driver and is signed with Dodge on the professional drift circuit. He got his Formual Drift license in 2006

damn

By the way, I watched Henderson fight the Ax Murderer and he'll win over Rampage, he easily neutralizes heavy hands. Don't let Rampage's win over Liddel cloud your judgement, he got lucky and Chuck was way too ****y. Henderson is probably one of the smartest most calculating fighters I've seen in the ring. Seldom does he make mistakes and he seems to be getting better with age. Look to see Henderson and Chuck in the ring soon after Chuck dismanltes Jardine's sorry ass and Henderson holds the belt. :2cents:

how do you figure Rampage got "lucky" against Chuck? Chuck threw a punch, and Rampage responded with a perfect counter shot, not luck, skill.

Rampage has more to his game than just heavy hands, his defense is alot more sound than Silva's so Henderson won't have as easy a time hitting him as he did with Silva. Rampage is a different fighter with his new camp, his trainer Juanito is very good at gameplanning for fighters. Rampage will win a decision against Henderson.

As far as Chuck is concerned, Dana himself has stated that it will take more than a victory over Jardine to get a title shot. Expect Shogun to receive a title shot after he murders Forrest @ UFC 76.

I know this was a dark match, but did they show this fight on the PPV? I was not able to watch last night, but I am wondering WTF was up with this. I have always been a Babalu fan, and I was just curious to see what, if anything, is behind this.

its not as bad as everybody made it seem, before i saw it, they made it seem like he held it for like 10secs past the tapout

that being said it was still a ***** move on his part, i wouldn't be surprised if the UFC doesn't resign him because of that (that was the last fight on his current contract with the ufc)

I got Rampage winning that one too, but I don't think it will be an easy win, I think people are underestimating Henderson.

I see Chuck coming out very focused and I see both guys fighting with chips on their shoulders after coming off of big loses. I do see Chuck knocking out Jardine though and hushing everyone who's saying he's overrated and whatnot because of the loss to Rampage.

Chuck has to be careful in this fight though, because Jardine is a big-time striker too and he could KO Chuck with a few heavy hits.

Whoever loses this fight is going to have to climb a long way up the rankings considering everything that happened in UFC 71.

i too have rampage winning, simply because i think he will be too big for Henderson. Rampage can take a punch, just not knees. i think Rampage has good enough striking defense to give dan some problems, i won't be surprised at all if henderson wins, but i'm goin with Page in this fight.

If Chuck KO's Jardine, i don't see it hushing up anyone, because he's supposed to knock out Jardine. Jardine has no business in the main event of a ppv after being knocked on his ass by Houston Alexander of all people. He underestimated Alexander, got knocked out, and his reward is being in the main event of a ppv, makes no sense.

Liddell has to knock out Jardine in my opinion, anything less is a disappointment in my eyes for chuck. Jardine is a good fighter, but he ain't even top 10 lhw. Too much talent at LHW for this match to even be taking place, i would've preferred to see Chuck fight Machida

So who's next for Randy? Big Nog?

if i was matchmaker, i would have Arvolski fight Big Nog, and have the winner fight for the title

rumors are stating however that if CroCop beats Kongo, he will then fight Big Nog to determine the #1 contender

DAMN! How did Randy not go down there?!??!?

Vitamin S?????? :laugh: