[MMA] UFC Japan

[Lance Uppercut]

http://i43.tinypic.com/zjh4yq.jpg

Great news! Next week's PPV, UFC 144, is going to be 4 hours and 7 fights long, instead of the usual 3 hours and 5 fights. And this card is absolutely epic.

Main card:

Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson
Quinton Jackson vs. Ryan Bader
Cheick Kongo vs. Mark Hunt
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields
Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski
Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon

FX Prelims:

Takanori Gomi vs. Eiji Mitsuoka
Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee
Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso

Facebook Prelim:

Zhang Tiequan vs. Issei Tamura

Even the FX prelims are stacked. This is one of the best cards on paper we've seen in a while. Edgar vs. Bendo has all the potential in the world to be a great title fight, while Pettis vs. Lauzon is a fight of the year contender in the making. Can't wait.

[Khrymsyn]

Shame they couldn't have just called it Pride and went with Pride rules.
;-)

Wonder if Crazy Pride lady could do the intros instead of Buffer.
haha









*looks around*
PRIDE
=P

[Lance Uppercut]

Or at least bring back the entrance ramp. But yes, Crazy Pride Lady would just make my night.

nD9T7uv-Gts

[CES]

I think PRIDE has too much Puro influence in its style for the UFC to bring anything of it back in their PPV's any time soon. Still, it doesn't matter with a card like that.

[Wackman3000]

I think PRIDE has too much Puro influence in its style for the UFC to bring anything of it back in their PPV's any time soon. Still, it doesn't matter with a card like that.

I think the biggest concern is the health and safety of the fighters. Not to mention 90% of them have never fought with those style of rules. Most are used to the strict ruling of the NASC. I think if the UFC ever opted for Pride style rules you'd see some really scary KO's.

[Khrymsyn]

I think if the UFC ever opted for Pride style rules you'd see some really scary KO's.

Ain't that the truth.


speaking of "other rule sets" than the unified MMA set... I watched UFC1 this past weekend.

Holy crap. Talk about a completely different sport. First off, only 2 fighters in the original UFC PPC looked anything like a modern MMA fighter, and that was Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock. But just how.... brutal and technically sloppy a lot of it looked was remarkable. It is amazing just how far MMA has come since those days. Even in the "smaller" promotions, the fighters now just look far more skilled and technical.

[Lance Uppercut]

WsJihB3Qyl0

[Crowe]

Going back to watch old Pride events puts a smile on my face for how awesome they were. The presentation was spectacular and there were some truly awesome fights/ko's. The matchmaking may have been shoddy as hell but it resulted in some truly awesome moments.

And the crowd...no one does it better than the Japenese. Hearing the oohh's and ahhh's followed by cheers when a fan favorite done anything.

[Wackman3000]

Going back to watch old Pride events puts a smile on my face for how awesome they were. The presentation was spectacular and there were some truly awesome fights/ko's. The matchmaking may have been shoddy as hell but it resulted in some truly awesome moments.

And the crowd...no one does it better than the Japenese. Hearing the oohh's and ahhh's followed by cheers when a fan favorite done anything.

I agree. Watching some of those old Pride events were awesome, especially the tournaments. Seeing your favorite fighter fight THREE times in a night was just insane.

What I find shocking about the crowd is how there can be 60,000+ in that Saitama Super Arena, yet during certain parts of a fight you could hear a coin drop because of how respectful and into the match they are. I don't think I've ever heard a Japanese crowd boo before.

[Karak]

I agree. Watching some of those old Pride events were awesome, especially the tournaments. Seeing your favorite fighter fight THREE times in a night was just insane.

What I find shocking about the crowd is how there can be 60,000+ in that Saitama Super Arena, yet during certain parts of a fight you could hear a coin drop because of how respectful and into the match they are. I don't think I've ever heard a Japanese crowd boo before.

Rowdy Roddy Piper. They booed him:) And bad.
It is a surprise the dude is alive.

But I agree. Totally different mindset.

As for UFC 1. I am all for returning to random draw no weight limits. But I would also love for it to be totally real and throw the fighters into a bar or nightclub and have them hammer each other:) I still remember Keith Hacknard knocking out the Sumo, and the Glorious Maned Canadian doing a somersault kick...and just laying in the ring after missing:)

God beautiful times I adored that. Then again if it had stayed that way we would have surly had a death. Not that I care much, but the sport would have suffered terrible losses by now. Someone 330 would have ended up getting matched up with a 130 pound newbie on their UFC debut only to be smashed like Arnold in Terminator 2.

Holy Shit at seeing Donald Frye. Blast from the past. I got to meet him on 3 separate occasions...uhm sort of an ass to be honest but we weren't in the fan area. But I still remember them stating he knew Severn and seeing them come out with duel mustaches. God damn good memories! Love that dude.

Oh my lord his commercials. I didn't even know he did any.

About this UFC. I know that the world has erupted in pure hate for the Bader/Japanese Journalist humper fight, but I am excited. Always get stoked for a Rampage battle.

[Karak]

Talking to Chuck Liddel on his lifestream. Hahaha. The dude is a cool cat! Sad to hear about how much he misses fighting.

[Karak]

HOLY SHIT at the comeback! OH my lord.

[Karak]

One of the most enjoyable UFC's I have seen in years.

[Entropy]

My thoughts...

Okami looked amazing up until...

Boetsch with an INCREDIBLE comeback!!!

Rampage got old in front of our eyes

Bader is a legit contender at 205

Akiyama looked good

Shields looked good

Edgar got robbed

Henderson lost

[Karak]

My thoughts...

Okami looked amazing up until...

Boetsch with an INCREDIBLE comeback!!!

Rampage got old in front of our eyes

Bader is a legit contender at 205

Akiyama looked good

Shields looked good

Edgar got robbed

Henderson lost

That pretty much sums it up for me.

[CES]

For all his posturing, I don't think Rampage's mind was in the fight. The guy was overweight, lethargic and just wasn't concentrating. That's not taking anything away from Bader though, that slam was insane and Bader was lucky not to get his arm snapped like a twig. To come back from that and win convincingly speaks well of him.

The main event needs a rematch before the summer.

[Dualshotty23]

Yeah definitely think that fight will be a turning point in his career, he got old. he is gonna be the guy that people fight 2 fights before title. i dont disagree with the title fight decision, edgar started great but he wasnt doing too much against benson to me. sure more strikes but ill get hit by a feather a million times over a brick once.

[Lance Uppercut]

I was rooting for Frankie, but he lost that fight. He took a sustained beating over the course of five rounds, and was thoroughly outmuscled by Bendo. I say bring on Pettis vs. Bendo 2.

Great night of fights though. I can't believe Mark Hunt has strung 3 in a row in the UFC.

[Entropy]

I had Edgar winning 3 if not 4 of the 5 rounds.

I never look at physical damage. Some guys cut easier than others and a single cut can make someone look like they got their ass kicked (GSP vs Penn 1)

Edgar landed more strikes...was more aggressive...went for more takedowns.

I read that both Dana White and the Fertitas had Edgar winning...wouldn't be surprised if there's a rematch soon.

[Dualshotty23]

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/387664/FIghtMetric-supports-Henderson-decision/

henderson had more significant strikes (87 - 68), total strikes (100-81), head strikes (59-40), body strikes (28-23). Edgar won leg strikes (18-13) and takedowns (but had 7 of 12 attempts stuffed). not to mention hendeson was in the center of that ring as the aggressor a lot.

EDIT: better link http://blog.fightmetric.com/2012/02/henderson-vs-edgar-official-ufc.html

you can click on the rounds, edgar never won more striking categories than henderson in any round. Edgar only had 3 rounds with more take downs but and the first two round were really his only successful takedown rounds, 3rd and 5th round were 1 of 4 landed. and the 4th he was 0 for 1.

[Entropy]

People endlessly debate the accuracy and validity of stats like that. I had Edgar cleanly winning the first three rounds based off of the strikes he landed, his takedown attempts and his overall aggression. That's enough for me to declare him the winner no matter what happened in the last 2.

Have there been far worse decisions? Yes. Am I gonna lose any sleep over this? No. I'm sure they will fight again someday and I think Edgar will win.

[Dualshotty23]

well that was tweeted by dana white so must be accurate enough for him, but i see your point. i could see it going either way. I had edgar first two and benson last two with the third being a toss up, i think that kick gave the judges a wow factor that swung it.

[Karak]

People endlessly debate the accuracy and validity of stats like that. I had Edgar cleanly winning the first three rounds based off of the strikes he landed, his takedown attempts and his overall aggression. That's enough for me to declare him the winner no matter what happened in the last 2.

Have there been far worse decisions? Yes. Am I gonna lose any sleep over this? No. I'm sure they will fight again someday and I think Edgar will win.

I also have to say how happy I was seeing the return of more and more classical moves leech back into MMA. Man it made me happy to see.

As for the Edgar thing. I also had Edgar winning in clear fashion. Not by a large amount but enough to be clear. Eh, each to their own. The judges felt different. I also ignore damage, not the stats for punching and so forth, but the appearance. The number of fights that would be completely broken if judges went purely on what someone looks like would be astronomical. But there is a wow factor some people who don't know much will always get caught up in. Its just the way it has always been. Right or wrong.

[Dualshotty23]

i dont go off damage of how someone looks either, any comments i made were simply that i felt that bensons punches had more of an impact on edgars game and slowing him downs than edgars punches did to affect bensons game.

[roboninja]

I cannot believe people think Edgar won that fight. I hate Henderson, but he beat on Edgar for 85% of that fight. Catching kicks does not win fights.

Great fight though, along with the Barbarian comeback.

[Lance Uppercut]

The real star of the night:

http://i40.tinypic.com/2vmx7jq.jpg

[Karak]

The real star of the night:

http://i40.tinypic.com/2vmx7jq.jpg

Gawd damn that's colorful.