The Official MMA thread

[Saigon]

http://www.cagepotato.com/dream-blow...ly-scumbag-now

S'up now?

Regarding the UFC HW's, although Velasquez and Carwin are both being touted as the fastest-rising stars in the HW division, I can't see Velasquez being able to deal with Carwin if they met. Carwin can surely out-wrestle him (neutralizing Cains best weapon) and, as displayed in the Gonzaga fight, has the Chuck Liddell-esqe ability to be able to knock guys out from an awkward stance or even moving backwards.

I would love to see Carwin-Lesnar sometime in the future, though.

 

[somatoform]

"If [cro-cop] reevaluated his situation after beating a practically hand-picked opponent and decided he'd be better off fighting in Japanese freak shows than facing the UFC's crop of legitimate monsters, then he's just a joke of a fighter who we should never again take seriously."

I don't know, Japan has some great fighters. But, speaking of freak shows:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cag...urn=mma,170558

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Wait... Didn't we just get finished having a discussion about how relatively weak UFC's heavyweight division is? Isn't that why TUF 10 is supposed to bring new HW fighters into the fold? Now all of a sudden Cro is getting grief because he's ditched the chance to fight "the best of the best" to take a paycheck in Japan?

 

[Brian SD]

The only thing wrong is that his fans don't get the joy of vindication, were he to climb the ladder in the UFC. He signed a one-fight deal to the UFC and there's nothing scumbag about him signing a deal that he and his camp thought was better. Dana is a drama whore and will blow up everything that doesn't go his way into "hes a traitor," etc.

Still, I'm disappointed because I want to see where Cro Cop stands these days among the UFC heavyweights.

 

[Invicta]

Originally Posted by Saigon

Regarding the UFC HW's, although Velasquez and Carwin are both being touted as the fastest-rising stars in the HW division, I can't see Velasquez being able to deal with Carwin if they met. Carwin can surely out-wrestle him (neutralizing Cains best weapon) and, as displayed in the Gonzaga fight, has the Chuck Liddell-esqe ability to be able to knock guys out from an awkward stance or even moving backwards.

I would love to see Carwin-Lesnar sometime in the future, though.

Carwin is a monster. He would treat Cain like a Gitmo detainee. A Lesnar-Carwin matchup would be interesting only from the standpoint that Lesnar might have the ability to be the first guy to last longer than 90 seconds in the ring against Carwin. A Mir-Carwin match up would be much better...so I can see Carwin take the belt from Mir.

 

[Teacher]

Originally Posted by Invicta

Carwin is a monster.

You got that right, bra.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

I would like to see the Unified Rules legalize knees and soccer kicks to the head of a downed opponent. These additions would (1) allow a striker to punish a wrestler for a failed shoot, thus evening the playing field, which currently favors wrestlers quite heavily, and (2) punish turtling. I don't want to see head stomps legalized as I think they're very dangerous in a cage -- witness the first fight between Frank Mir and Wes Sims.

(I just realized this post is supposed to be in the MMA thread in DTs, but I'll leave it here because it's a general topic.)

 

[Oxnard]

In reference to the heavy weights, I hope Gonzaga comes back into the fold, he was dominating Carwin up until that sudden knockout. Always had fun watching his fights, but I am really looking forward to TUF 10.
-Speaking of TUF, am I the only one who thought that TUF 9:Team US vs Team UK was a pretty weak season overall? Compared to the last few seasons, the American team especially had some very poor fights. All-heavyweight TUF 10 should be good, but I am definitely still watching Ultimate Finale 9 this weekend, Stevenson vs. Diaz should be an interesting fight as Stevenson needs a win bad.
-Also really looking forward to Sanchez vs. Guida, Guida always puts up great fights, and Sanchez can be a very dominant fighter in proper form too, really not sure which way to call it.
-UFC 100: Bisping or Henderson?

 

[somatoform]

A simple question:

How can boxing afford the greater payouts over mma? I'm not sure how much mma superstars get paid but surely can't be as much as the multi-million dollar payouts in boxing (the 12 million or whatever that Paquiao gets).

Does the question naively overestimate how popular mma is? Is mma still too controversial/young/underappreciated to attract major endorsements/advertising, etc?

Or maybe I'm underestimating how popular boxing remains?

 

[Oxnard]

I have wondered about that too, its a pretty gross discrepancy as the absolute top, championship fighters max out between $100,000-$300,000, on the higher end of the scale if they actually win, but man a lot of the guys on the lower end of the circuit make very little money. Rough part about contracts in the UFC or WEC is that you only get to fight a few times a year, and serious injuries can knock you out for 3-6 months at a time.
As an example, with the previous UFC 98:Evans Vs Machida, there were a total of eleven fights, with twenty-two total fighters, and the purse for the entire event was about $950,000.
What this shows more than anything else I think is that a very large amount of the fighters in the professional mma circuit are really doing it out of sheer will and competition, as many of the fighters that you even see on tv are living on wages that often circle the minimum wage line. I really have no idea why this, I am far too ignorant about the financial workings of the industry to make any kind of judgement about the system, but it is interesting none the less. I do think that some of this will change as the sports increasing popularity will continue to rise in the next five to ten years, especially with the surge in pay-per-view sales.

 

[daft]

in boxing, there is no dana white. fighters make their own fights.

 

[Teacher]

Originally Posted by Ambulance Chaser

I would like to see the Unified Rules legalize knees and soccer kicks to the head of a downed opponent. These additions would (1) allow a striker to punish a wrestler for a failed shoot, thus evening the playing field, which currently favors wrestlers quite heavily, and (2) punish turtling. I don't want to see head stomps legalized as I think they're very dangerous in a cage -- witness the first fight between Frank Mir and Wes Sims.


You aren't serious about this, right?

Originally Posted by daft

in boxing, there is no dana white. fighters make their own fights.

Your screen name suits you well. Boxing is notoriously corrupt and poorly managed, being every bit as much about money and showmanship -- if not more so -- as mma.

 

[Saigon]

Originally Posted by somatoform

A simple question:

How can boxing afford the greater payouts over mma? I'm not sure how much mma superstars get paid but surely can't be as much as the multi-million dollar payouts in boxing (the 12 million or whatever that Paquiao gets).

Does the question naively overestimate how popular mma is? Is mma still too controversial/young/underappreciated to attract major endorsements/advertising, etc?

Or maybe I'm underestimating how popular boxing remains?

Definitely, you are underestimating the current popularity of boxing. Despite it being a shadow of its former self compared to in the 30's-70's, due to short-sighted business practices, abundance of sanctioning bodies, etc, it still remains much more popular than MMA on an international level. I mean, just look at the card in Germany as evidence that the rest of the worlds' acceptance of MMA is still very far off from the States, Japan, Brazil and Canada. It is even an olympic sport. Do you think we'll ever see MMA in the olympics?

I actually agree with Ambulance Chaser. Maybe not soccer kicks, but i'd at least like to see knees to a downed opponent allowed. It would definitely make wrestlers think twice about shooting and best of all, keep fighters from dropping intentionally to avoid them (the Cowboy Cerrone fight vs. Varner, for example). This would definitely hurt the UFCs vision of becoming more widely accepted though. I also like the pride/Dream style of a yellow card and 10% purse deduction for inactivity. I mean, I appreciate the ground game, but when you can lay on a guy for 3 rounds and pull out a win, something has to change, imo.

Bisbing vs Hendo, I have to go with Hendo by aforementioned L-n-P.

Alves vs. GSP. Who ya got?

 

[daft]

Originally Posted by Teacher

Your screen name suits you well. Boxing is notoriously corrupt and poorly managed, being every bit as much about money and showmanship -- if not more so -- as mma.


Please tell me where in my post did I state that mma is more corrupt than boxing? It sure seems like that's how you interpreted it. I feel like you made that comment just so you can say something about my screen name

What I am saying is there is no centralized organziaton in boxing, where an organization gets to dictate everything.

 

[Teacher]

Wrestlers already have enough to worry about and do not, as some of you think, have a distinct advantage in organized mma. How many times have you seen a wrestler guillotined into submission from shooting? How many knockouts -- clearly not originating in the domain of wrestling -- have you seen? (A LOT, I'll wager.) There are umpteen ways to deal with wrestling moves, and they are indeed practiced by well-rounded mma fighters. Then there are all those fights that never really make it to the ground in the first place....

But far more importantly, this is a sport, not field combat. Safety -- yes, even in mma -- is paramount. Kicks to downed opponents are some of the best ways to inflict brain damage on an opponent. Just a few months ago, a study was released showing shocking and completely unforseen brain damage cause by minor concussions, damage that never goes away and can build. Boxing is already at a disadvantage in this respect for two reasons: (1.) it consists only of punches, mostly to the head; and (2.) an opponent can be "saved" many, many times when his bell is rung and he can't defend himself. This allows him to continue getting the **** beaten out of him. According to MMA rules, this can't happen. Concussions can and do happen in MMA, but there is absolutely no point in exacerbating the situation, possibly elevating it to dangerous levels.