Anything MMA, except thumb wrestling

[Cooked Crack]

Damn. Oh yeah the stream was alright. There was some hiccups because it got hammered. I got to enjoy most of it others weren't so lucky.

Here's the fight card for Pride which is coming this Saturday.

[herrmag]

The fights on Saturday should be pretty good. I enjoy PRIDE a lot more than I do UFC. The quality of talent overall in PRIDE is unmatched (although I think Chuck are pound for pound as good as anyone in PRIDE, except of course for Fedor).

The PPV wasn't too bad. There were some good fights. The main event was a little disappointing, as we didn't really see anything from Franklin. I was hoping to at least make it to the 2nd round. Unfortunately, once Franklin's nose got broke from the knee, it was obvious he couldn't really even stand up without wobbly legs.

[Cooked Crack]

Okay Eastman is out of the fight. And Hunt-Butterbean aint happening. Here's the card

Emilianenko Fedor vs. Mark Coleman

Mauricio Rua vs. Kevin Randleman

Josh Barnett vs. Pawel Nastula

Dan Henderson vs. Vitor Belfort

Joey Villasenor vs. Robbie Lawler

Phil Baroni vs. Yousuke Nishijima

Eric "Butterbean" Esch vs. Sean O'Haire

Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Travis Galbraith

[Baculus]

Aw man, Butterbean and Mark Hunt would have been awesome. I really dig Mark Hunt, especially in K-1.

Some pretty good matches - what is the current status of CroCop? How come he isn't on this ticket? I assume they'd really want the Fedor vs CropCop fight, after all. Coleman is a pretty good fighter, but Mirko is a much better opponent for Fedor. I guess that is perhaps for the New Year's ticket.

[Cooked Crack]

Aw man, Butterbean and Mark Hunt would have been awesome. I really dig Mark Hunt, especially in K-1.

Some pretty good matches - what is the current status of CroCop? How come he isn't on this ticket? I assume they'd really want the Fedor vs CropCop fight, after all. Coleman is a pretty good fighter, but Mirko is a much better opponent for Fedor. I guess that is perhaps for the New Year's ticket.

CroCop is too banged up. He's getting surgery on his foot on the 26th.

[ZoEd]

I'm going to the fight tonight, I'll give you all a summary when I get back. Peace!

[Cooked Crack]

I'm going to the fight tonight, I'll give you all a summary when I get back. Peace!

Damn that's some sweet ish. Hope you have fun.

[Sebowski]

Emilianenko Fedor vs. Mark Coleman - Fedor by sub

Mauricio Rua vs. Kevin Randleman - Upset here. Randleman wins a lay and pray decision

Josh Barnett vs. Pawel Nastula - Barnett by sub

Dan Henderson vs. Vitor Belfort - Vitor can beat anybody when he is on. Should be good. I'm going with Hendo by decison

Joey Villasenor vs. Robbie Lawler - Robbie, but Joey is good. I've seen him in KOC. I won't be too suprised if Lawler is upset here.

Phil Baroni vs. Yousuke Nishijima - Baroni by KO

Eric "Butterbean" Esch vs. Sean O'Haire - O'Haire by KO

Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Travis Galbraith - Nakamura (don't know these guys).

[Cooked Crack]

WTF @ Baroni winning by submission.

[Cooked Crack]

Barnett avoids the upset with a sub. Nastula might have lost but I want to see more from the guy.

[SUNSTONE]

It was a pretty good night.

Randleman vs Rua sucked, but all the others were good.

Fedor dominated Mark, but who didn't know that was going to happen.

You thought Chuck was hard to take down, Fedor is near impossible.

That Russian is sooo emotionless that it's scarey! Even when he wins, he didn't show any emotion.

The only time he cracked a smile was when Mark had his two girls with him to meet Fedor.

It's looking like Chuch and Wandy might fight after all.

Hopefully in Feb.

[SUNSTONE]

Aw man, Butterbean and Mark Hunt would have been awesome. I really dig Mark Hunt, especially in K-1.

Some pretty good matches - what is the current status of CroCop? How come he isn't on this ticket? I assume they'd really want the Fedor vs CropCop fight, after all. Coleman is a pretty good fighter, but Mirko is a much better opponent for Fedor. I guess that is perhaps for the New Year's ticket.

Crocop vs Fedor would be the biggest hyped fight of all time, in my opinion, even bigger than Chuck vs Wandy

[SUNSTONE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHENkD1yg1o

At the end of the video it shows the two men standing in the ring saying that Crocop is next for the title match.

It would be a hard decision to pick, but I'm going to say Crocop.

Both are very similar in how they fight, but Crocop has far better kicks.

[herrmag]

Crocop vs Fedor would be the biggest hyped fight of all time, in my opinion, even bigger than Chuck vs Wandy

Ummmmm......That fight happened. And if memory serves, Cro Cop ran for his life. Cro Cop is a bad dude, but Fedor is on another level. Mark coleman, even with LOCKED hands between Fedor's legs, couldn't throw him. There is nobody like Fedor. The man will take your style and turn it against you. Until he gets older, he's unbeatable. He's the best pound for pound fighter in the world. He'd make Rickson Gracie look like a *****.

[Baculus]

CropCop is a better fighter than in the first fight, and I also think he is a smarter fighter, too. He was in great form in the last PRIDE GP, and if Fedor was in the building that night, I truly believe he would have had a real run for his money.

Just because two opponents have fought before does not mean it will be the same fight with the same results in the next fight!

I do think, though, Fedor is incredible - I think CroCop is one of the few that have a chance to beat him. Both men are great fighters.

[herrmag]

CropCop is a better fighter than in the first fight, and I also think he is a smarter fighter, too. He was in great form in the last PRIDE GP, and if Fedor was in the building that night, I truly believe he would have had a real run for his money.

Just because two opponents have fought before does not mean it will be the same fight with the same results in the next fight!

I do think, though, Fedor is incredible - I think CroCop is one of the few that have a chance to beat him. Both men are great fighters.

I understand that CroCop is a better fighter now, but he was no slouch then. Regardless, Fedor is just ridiculous. He ate ALMOST the same left kick that made Wandy dead....Almost the same kick, not as solid, but he didn't even flinch. He has better hands than Cro Cop, and he has a better ground game. Cro Cop, of course has the better kicks, which I would expect him to use much, much more (although he did use them quite a bit in the first fight).

All that being said, what makes you think Fedor isn't a better fighter now than when they fought the first time?

[ZoEd]

Sorry I didn't get back to ya'll after the fight but I've been pretty busy. So here's my take.

First of all the production was off the hook. It was like WWF meets MMA. Fire, lights, techno, the place was jumping. Not to mention the fact their were half naked girls walking around handing out fliers. I saw Andrei Arlovski standing outside like an ordinary Joe. People were walking up taking pictures and shaking his hand. I forgot about having a damn camera on my phone so I missed my shot. The MC was a female and man was she annoying. So now for the fights.

I'm not going to lie to you the fights were pretty disappointing mainly because of the Nevada rules imposed on the fighters. No knees when on the ground, no elbows above the neck, no stomping. I'm dumbfounded about the no elbows things. WTF? You can do that in UFC why not Pride? Anyway I've watched Pride a bunch on TV so I was expecting a lot of brawling instead everything went to the ground for the most part. No toe to toe fighting, a bit disappointing. I was expecting a sanctioned bar fight. Butterbean knocked the snot out of the Goliath he was fighting but other than that, submissions or submission attempts. Pretty boring.

What was exciting though was Silva calling out Lidell. He made it sound like Chuck was ducking him. I thought it was a contract thing with Pride but apparently not, or so Silva eluded. I think a best of Pride best of UFC fight would be great. Don't know that it would ever happen but man would it be sweet.

So that's my take on Pride, a little disappointing. Frankly the recent UFC fight had a lot more action IMO.

[herrmag]

Sorry I didn't get back to ya'll after the fight but I've been pretty busy. So here's my take.

First of all the production was off the hook. It was like WWF meets MMA. Fire, lights, techno, the place was jumping. Not to mention the fact their were half naked girls walking around handing out fliers. I saw Andrei Arlovski standing outside like an ordinary Joe. People were walking up taking pictures and shaking his hand. I forgot about having a damn camera on my phone so I missed my shot. The MC was a female and man was she annoying. So now for the fights.

I'm not going to lie to you the fights were pretty disappointing mainly because of the Nevada rules imposed on the fighters. No knees when on the ground, no elbows above the neck, no stomping. I'm dumbfounded about the no elbows things. WTF? You can do that in UFC why not Pride? Anyway I've watched Pride a bunch on TV so I was expecting a lot of brawling instead everything went to the ground for the most part. No toe to toe fighting, a bit disappointing. I was expecting a sanctioned bar fight. Butterbean knocked the snot out of the Goliath he was fighting but other than that, submissions or submission attempts. Pretty boring.

What was exciting though was Silva calling out Lidell. He made it sound like Chuck was ducking him. I thought it was a contract thing with Pride but apparently not, or so Silva eluded. I think a best of Pride best of UFC fight would be great. Don't know that it would ever happen but man would it be sweet.

So that's my take on Pride, a little disappointing. Frankly the recent UFC fight had a lot more action IMO.

First, there are no elbows to the face/head in Pride because it's too easy to cut someone. That's just the way it is, and honestly, it makes sense if you've seen a lot of MMA.

Secondly, there's no reason to "call out Chuck". Chuck CAN'T fight Wandy even if he wanted to. Blame Dana White for not seeing the match. He's the one that cancelled the possibility after Silva got DEAD from Cro Cop.

But, you are right. PRIDE puts on a better "show". Well, besides the "show", IMO, they have better fighters, so even without the fireworks and introductions, it's just a better organization. It's a shame they have ties to the "Yakuza" (sp?). Lost their TV deal, and might end up folding. Instead of Pride coming here, UFC SHOULD be trying to go to Japan. Then again, Dana White is a moron, and so are the Zuffa's.

[SUNSTONE]

I understand that CroCop is a better fighter now, but he was no slouch then. Regardless, Fedor is just ridiculous. He ate ALMOST the same left kick that made Wandy dead....Almost the same kick, not as solid, but he didn't even flinch. He has better hands than Cro Cop, and he has a better ground game. Cro Cop, of course has the better kicks, which I would expect him to use much, much more (although he did use them quite a bit in the first fight).

All that being said, what makes you think Fedor isn't a better fighter now than when they fought the first time?

The fight went the distance.

Crocop vs Fedor is the best match up.

[Cooked Crack]

Bushido 13 is coming this weekend. It should be great. Not really sure when the English PPV is airing though. (Enlish PPV is airing NOV 12)

I got Kang and Filho meating in the final with Kang taking it.

[ZoEd]

First, there are no elbows to the face/head in Pride because it's too easy to cut someone. That's just the way it is, and honestly, it makes sense if you've seen a lot of MMA.

Secondly, there's no reason to "call out Chuck". Chuck CAN'T fight Wandy even if he wanted to. Blame Dana White for not seeing the match. He's the one that cancelled the possibility after Silva got DEAD from Cro Cop.

But, you are right. PRIDE puts on a better "show". Well, besides the "show", IMO, they have better fighters, so even without the fireworks and introductions, it's just a better organization. It's a shame they have ties to the "Yakuza" (sp?). Lost their TV deal, and might end up folding. Instead of Pride coming here, UFC SHOULD be trying to go to Japan. Then again, Dana White is a moron, and so are the Zuffa's.

So you can knee to the head in Pride while on the ground but elbows make it too easy to cut someone? Now that makes a lot of sense. Still doesn't negate the fact the fights were relatively boring compared to the UFC fight I attended a couple weeks before. I love a great submission fight as much as the next guy but even the heavy handed Baroni went to the ground and submitted his apponent. You see what I'm saying, it wasn't what I expected to see out of a Pride event.

I didn't say there was a reason for Wandy to call out Chuck but he sure as hell did. He stood in the middle of the ring and said here I am Chuck in America, come and get me. I'm not going anywhere. If that's not a call out nothing is. I'm sure if these two guys want to bang bad enough they'll find a way to get it done.

As far as Pride having better fighters, I'm not sold on that. A lot of UFC has beens go to Pride and succeed, like Coleman. I will say that Prides Champions are better than UFC's, possibly. However, I know for a fact there isn't a fighter in either Pride or UFC that can beat Fedor right now. The guy is a freaking beast.

[herrmag]

So you can knee to the head in Pride while on the ground but elbows make it too easy to cut someone? Now that makes a lot of sense. Still doesn't negate the fact the fights were relatively boring compared to the UFC fight I attended a couple weeks before. I love a great submission fight as much as the next guy but even the heavy handed Baroni went to the ground and submitted his apponent. You see what I'm saying, it wasn't what I expected to see out of a Pride event.

I didn't say there was a reason for Wandy to call out Chuck but he sure as hell did. He stood in the middle of the ring and said here I am Chuck in America, come and get me. I'm not going anywhere. If that's not a call out nothing is. I'm sure if these two guys want to bang bad enough they'll find a way to get it done.

As far as Pride having better fighters, I'm not sold on that. A lot of UFC has beens go to Pride and succeed, like Coleman. I will say that Prides Champions are better than UFC's, possibly. However, I know for a fact there isn't a fighter in either Pride or UFC that can beat Fedor right now. The guy is a freaking beast.

Elbows DO cut. The sharp point of your elbow grazing someone's forehead cuts badly, and some fighters (the Crow, for one) use that to their advantage. I think eventually even the UFC will ban it. It sucks seeing a fight end because of a cut.

I wasn't directing the "why would Wandy call out Chuck" specifically at you. This is more a ploy to punk Dana into doing the match. Chuck, I'm sure, would do it in a heartbeat, and I for one would love to see it. A lot of people think Silva will kill Chuck, but Silva's fighting style plays right into Lidell's strenghts. Silva loves to throw, and loves to charge. Lidell is a counterpuncher (probably the best in MMA history). It'd be a great match.

There is so much more depth in Pride, particularly in the HW division. As far as Coleman/Baroni go, they sucked in UFC because they had to lay off the juice. Just like Josh Barnett (although he did fight the last PPV steroid free, apparently ). I think there's 2-3 (minimum) HW's that could take the title from Sylvia. In addition, Anderson Silva was a MEDIOCRE fighter in Pride, but destroyed Franklin. Granted, he's probably much improved since his days of Pride, but the same could be said about Coleman/Baroni/Barnett/etc.

[ZoEd]

There is so much more depth in Pride, particularly in the HW division. As far as Coleman/Baroni go, they sucked in UFC because they had to lay off the juice. Just like Josh Barnett (although he did fight the last PPV steroid free, apparently ). I think there's 2-3 (minimum) HW's that could take the title from Sylvia. In addition, Anderson Silva was a MEDIOCRE fighter in Pride, but destroyed Franklin. Granted, he's probably much improved since his days of Pride, but the same could be said about Coleman/Baroni/Barnett/etc.

Elbows definitely cut, I think when you're up close and personal it's probably the most dangerous weapon a fighter has.

Funny you mention steroids. I was talking to a buddy of mine about that the other day. I noticed on the Ultimate Fighter when they showed the flashbacks of contestants previous UFC fights most of them were cut the "F" up. Now these guys have been on this show doing nothing but training for months and none of them are even close to having the same physique. When did UFC crack down on the juice because it was obvious a lot of these guys were juicing before.

[Baculus]

I understand that CroCop is a better fighter now, but he was no slouch then. Regardless, Fedor is just ridiculous. He ate ALMOST the same left kick that made Wandy dead....Almost the same kick, not as solid, but he didn't even flinch. He has better hands than Cro Cop, and he has a better ground game. Cro Cop, of course has the better kicks, which I would expect him to use much, much more (although he did use them quite a bit in the first fight).

All that being said, what makes you think Fedor isn't a better fighter now than when they fought the first time?

I do agree that, either way, the Fedor match will be tough for CroCop, partially because Fedor is such a well-rounded fighter, and CroCop has had to improve his ground game this year to match up with some of the better, well-rounded fighters. But, as exhibited by his last Grand Prix fight, he is a better ground and pounder then previously and seems to have a better sprawl as well, so his take down defense has improved. That is an added plus to his matchup with Fedor, where he previously ended up more on his back in the last fight.

I think Fedor's hands are good, not simply because of technique, where he is solid, but because he just throws such hard punches. CroCop has very good hands, but he doesn't throw the same hard delivery such as Fedor.

I'd like to actually see Josh Barnett fight Fedor. Barnett is one of the better balanced fighters in Pride and has beat some good fighters, showing the ability to at least challenge Fedor.

[herrmag]

I do agree that, either way, the Fedor match will be tough for CroCop, partially because Fedor is such a well-rounded fighter, and CroCop has had to improve his ground game this year to match up with some of the better, well-rounded fighters. But, as exhibited by his last Grand Prix fight, he is a better ground and pounder then previously and seems to have a better sprawl as well, so his take down defense has improved. That is an added plus to his matchup with Fedor, where he previously ended up more on his back in the last fight.

I think Fedor's hands are good, not simply because of technique, where he is solid, but because he just throws such hard punches. CroCop has very good hands, but he doesn't throw the same hard delivery such as Fedor.

I'd like to actually see Josh Barnett fight Fedor. Barnett is one of the better balanced fighters in Pride and has beat some good fighters, showing the ability to at least challenge Fedor.

I may be wrong (I'll have to look it up), but didn't Cro Cop give Barnett a beatdown on multiple occasions (not just the OWGP??

That being said, I think Cro Cop has a better chance. Barnett's chin is suspect at best. He was only able to beat Fedor's brother Aleksander because Aleks gassed and got sub'd. He was knocking Barnett around the ring before that. Had that been Fedor, BArnett would've gone down. Don't get me wrong though, Barnett is one of my favorite fighters. I just don't want to see him get beat up too badly.