**All things Mixed Martial Arts**

[Obiwanshinobi]

Inspired by the pro wrestling thread over in TV & Media, I decided to start an MMA thread over here as there doesn't seem to be one. As the title says its all things MMA or other mediums of martial arts like boxing, amateur wrestling, kickboxing, etc. Pretty much anything goes.

We can talk about some of the big fights coming up like GSP/Shields, possibly Fedor/Henderson at 205lbs, and the UFC in Rio De janeiro, Brazil in August.

A lot has happened in the MMA landscape over the past few years and one of the biggest news to date, which actually happened a month ago, is the merger of the #1 promotion UFC and the #2 promotion Strikeforce. Do you guys think this is good for the sport or not? Sure it opens up a whole plethora of potential super fights down the line (probably 1 1/2 years to 2 years after the Showtime contract expires) but at the same time diminishes the options for a fighter to go to make a somewhat better than average salary and stay in the limelight. Unless they go to the smaller organizations in North America like Bellator or MFC or overseas to the Japanese organizations like Dream, which I think are on the way out, where does that leave them?



How say you?

 

[Roger Wilco]

For some reason I always hated Strikeforce so it doesn't bother me much that they lost their independence; whether it's good for MMA remains to be seen but imo it's very questionable considering how personal White takes his business. Bellator is pretty cool though, would be a shame if they got bought too (doesn't seem likely though).

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I think it will be good for the sport and I'd rather actually see Strikeforce fold into the UFC like they did Pride. I think one of the things that killed any chance kickboxing had in this country was the proliferation of organizations early in its life that just confused the fans. To be taken seriously as a sport the best fighters have to be in competition with one another.

Some thoughts about the horizon: after GSP spends five rounds beating the hell out of Shields he'll have no choice but to move up to middleweight, the next four ranked fighters are guys he has already beaten; Brock Lesnar is in bad need of a good performance against Dos Santos or he risks becoming a second tier fighter in the heavyweight division.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Some thoughts about the horizon: after GSP spends five rounds beating the hell out of Shields he'll have no choice but to move up to middleweight, the next four ranked fighters are guys he has already beaten

Except possibly Nick Diaz. Oh how I would love to see GSP beat him up, or just lie on top of him for five rounds (no homo ), driving him completely mad.

If I were GSP's manager I wouldn't advise him to move up though, imo he has a lot to lose and not really much to gain. He also would be very small for a middleweight, which I guess he could overcome against most fighters, but against the likes of Silva or Sonnen? I don't know...

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

I hear Nate Marquardt might be moving down to 170 lbs. Considering he trains with GSP from time to time, not sure if that will be problematic or not, but look at Jones and Rashad and see how that turned out. Ok maybe that's not the best example as where GSP doesn't just train at Jacksons or Grudge. Maybe they'll just switch places, if GSP beats Shields that is. Fitch will be at the top in GSP's place if and when he leaves and I see Fitch doing the same thing to Nate that Sonnen did.

I would still really love to see the GSP/Silva fight, but not as much as a Jones/Silva fight. Other than Jones there are so many other matchups for him. Shogun, Rampage, maybe not Lyoto, Phill Davis, maybe eventually Gegard Mousasi or Mo Lawal.

At MW, there's really not a whole lot of opposition for him except for rematches with Okami and Sonnen. I guess you have Wanderlei or Michael Bisping and then maybe eventually Jacare. Anderson has said he doesn't want to move up to 205 anymore, so I guess so much for that. Only time will tell.

Personally, I don't really see Brock getting past Dos Santos, unless he really has improved since that shellacking he took from Cain.

Do you guys have any speculations on what the card in Brazil will be? Given the time table for upcoming fights.

Shogun is the only one I've heard so far being considered right now. Although sort of unclear who he'd fight considering Rampage has Matt Hamill coming up and Rashad's got Jones next. So I'm thinking maybe Ryan Bader or Forrest Griffin part II.

I'd like to see Jose Aldo on that card too which could line up if he gets passed Mark Hominick, unscathed.

 

[Garak]

I travelled to Montreal to see the last GSP fight when he beat the living daylights out of that silly twat Koschek and at the airport on the way home I met Jake Shields, really nice guy who flat out told me he's chomping at the bit to fight GSP.

Having only been to mainstream live sporting events previously, I have to say I was VERY impressed with the live show the UFC puts on, I didn't know what to expect going in and came out estatic about the whole thing. Had pretty decent seats too:

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Lucky, I went to the last UFN in Seattle few weeks back where Korean Zombie pulled
off that Twister. That was my first UFC event.

 

[KJbushway]

I wanted to see Rashad Evans Vs. Rampage Jackson.
Wow I wish I had seen the boxing part of the title my Alexander Berto Vs. Victor Oritz would have fit.
Not the best match.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Dana White announced this morning that Brock Lesnar is out of the fight with Junior Dos Santos at UFC 131 due to a flair up of the diverticulitis that sidelined Brock awhile back. Shane Carwin will replace him. Still be a good fight, but another strike against Lesnar in ever being considered a top fighter again.

http://www.ufc.com/news/Lesnar-Out-of-UFC-131-Carwin-to-face-dos-Santos

 

[Roger Wilco]

The UFC is not having a lot of luck with its main events lately - Edgar v Maynard draw, Penn v Fitch draw, GSP v Shields sort of boring, Edgar v Maynard cancelled, Lesnar out; although with two spectacular face kicks in between.

 

[Indy]

UFC is thanking their lucky stars that Carwin was available to step in for Lesnar and have a legit heavyweight main event. Before Brock stepped down Carwin was fighting a UFC newbie. Kind of seems like he was an insurance policy just in case Lesnar couldn't fight.

 

[Roger Wilco]

GSP vs Diaz is now definitively confirmed for UFC 137. Should be fun. Not that I have any doubt GSP will smash Diaz's face in, but there's a perfect good vs evil hype storyline and maybe Diaz is a decent challenge.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I wonder if they are going to play up the brawl from Strikeforce to make Diaz a bigger heel. Would kind of fly in the face of how Dana usually likes to present the UFC to the public.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

I doubt it. Maybe reference it, but I'm sure the UFC will want to stay as far away from that as possible. After all they are still trying to make MMA mainstream and something like that could hinder that. Besides that was between Nick Diaz and Jason Miller. Miller's got Bisping and Diaz has GSP.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Überreem vs Werdum today. I'm pretty excited about this, can the Reem hold up to the hype or is he all air and slick marketing? I hope he's for real, would be great for the sport.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I'd like to say Overeem. His striking is probably the best in MMA outside of Silva. His record against BJJ is not good however. He has lost to Werdum, Arona, Rua, and little Nog twice. I am curious what Strikeforce's drug testing policy was like though and if it will change under the new ownership. Alistair is a monster compared to what he used to be, and there has always been suspicions.

I am more interested in seeing Josh Barnett. He has never been submitted in his career, and only Pedro Rizzo in the old days and Crocop have been able stop him. If it wasn't for his unfortunate pharmaceutical habits he would be considered one of the great fighters ever. It'll be interesting to see if he can still step up.

 

[Roger Wilco]

^^
Well, yes on both counts I guess. Barnett won more impressively, although against the inferior opponent. But still, big wins for both, this tournament is far more interesting than I thought it would be at first.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Holy fuck, the UFC just announced Lesnar vs Overeem for december 30th - can't wait.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Holy fuck, the UFC just announced Lesnar vs Overeem for december 30th - can't wait.

This is why the UFC is blowing away boxing these days. Mayweather v. Pacquio has been in the works since the Truman administration, but Dana is able to throw out a fight like this at random. This is a really intriguing match-up. Lesnar is a monster wrestler with a suspect chin. Overeem is a monster striker with suspect takedown defense. Not to mention these guys are two huge MF'ers. Things are only getting better and better for the UFC.

 

[Itachi]

Anyone here who doesn't watch UFC and is a martial artist besides me?? I mean don't get me wrong the guys in UFC are good but MMA is much more than that.