The Official MMA thread - Page 349

Jones just shook Anderson's hand before Anderson kissed Steven Segal and then stepped into the checkpoint.

holy fuck

Silva... too beast. Chael should've left those elbows to jon jones lmao, instead looked like an idiot and got raped

Spinning back fist, WTF? Possibly the worst in-fight decision ever.

Silva ftw. That spinning backfist cost sonnen dearly.

Did anyone watch the Mike Easton Fight and could you send it my way. Mike is a friend and an training partner of mine. I read about the fight and heard its wasn't the firework show it was suppose to be. I am sure Mike did his job well or Lloyd would never let him hear the end of it.

Well, you look pretty smart right now, don't you.

The weird thing about that spinning back fist is much off balance Sonnen was. It literally caused him to stumble into the fence and then onto the ground.

BTW, does anybody know that the hell that was all about when Griffin took off after the conclusion of the match but before the announcement of the judge's decision?

He a nut job and was pissed about his performance in the cage.

I know some of Forrest's training partners, and from everything I know about him through them, he is a great guy, very down to earth, funny, but a very sore loser, and he thought that he'd lost the fight, a fight into which he'd put a lot of heart, and that he also wasn't happy with his performance.

Re. Sonnen's spinning bak fist. He tripped because 1) he was leaning forward too much without his feet under him, something aggressive and untalented strikers tend to do, and 2) He actually got his right foot caught but Anderson Silva's left. (Always watch the feet, that's where most of the fight takes place) That's the foot that needs to plant directly after a spinning back fist. He caught it before his momentum stopped, and it landed him on his ass. This is why any good striking coach will plant into your head. Keep your center of gravity under control. Some guys who are super orthodox boxing coaches will tell you to never cross your feet, never bring your feet together, etc... but that's BS, especially in MMA, where the distancing is completely different. The important thing is to not lose control of your momentum. Or else you'll end up like Chuck Liddell in his fight with Franklin - KO'ed throwing yourself into a punch. Watch the footwork of say, Junior dos Santos, who is a large ass man who can get out of the way of counterpunches very quickly. His feet come together all of the time. He will actually throw, draw his lead leg back, then reposition his back leg. This would give a boxing coach a conniption, but It's a useful way of moving out of range when you are not just avoiding punches, but also kicks and takedowns.

I'm going to get on my soapbox for a bit. MMA is not just a combination of wrestling, BJJ, Thai boxing, and boxing. It can incorporate anything that will get the job done. Karate, Sumo, Kung Fu, whatever. It surprises and dismays me when fans, and even top guys, say "this will never work". MMA was built on trying new things. In UFC 1, now one knew wtf Royce was doing. Until Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida KO'ed 2 top fighters with front snap kicks, everyone was dismissing them. Stupid. There should be more thinking, and less hewing to the Orthodoxy, which was what MMA was against to begin with.

That's also what's so damned fun to watch about MMA: seeing something unexpected explode on the cage.

nobody watched strikeforce last night?
vicious finish by nate on twood lol. shut woodley`s mom for the night

I like woodley but cant stand his mom. Nate looked impressive.

I take that back, if she wants to support her son with that much enthusiasm, go for it, hes lucky to have that kind of support. Maybe just tone it down a notch or two!

Anyone watch UFC 149? I missed it, but heard it was one of the worst UFC PPVs ever. Looks like the UFC is having a few too many events.

Caught the highlights. They are having too many guys with too much to lose (Kongo, anyone?) in the main cards. That dude has been KO'd or nearly KO'd many times, and his strength is GnP. You put him up against a guy with good counter wrestling and one punch KOs, what do you expect, realistically. Terrible matchups. You put in a power puncher against a guy who is tough, but coming off a really tough comeback (Tim Boetsch), and what, you think that he is going to go in there and slug it out? Fighters like to fight, but they really hate to lose (speaking from personal experience and from knowing a lot of decent to good fighters).

For established fighters, there is no incentive to go out there and get KTFO. None. You lose brain cells, you don't get a huge bonus, and you get cut anyway (see Joey Beltrane, who had to drop a weight category to get back into the mix). And your prospects outside the UFC diminish. They need to throw in young, hungry, fighters (see, the prelims) with something to prove, back in the main card mix, if they want interesting fights for next to free.

The game is changing. Dana has to look at his reward and disincentive structure if he wants more exciting fights. Put it this way - as it stands, a bad win is better than a good loss. So, who the fuck is going to fight for a good loss? It's pretty simple game theory.