i was gonna say the same thing,royler.....i understand hardcore wanting to kick this around...some of the linesmakers check these forums out....why give them an early indication what people are thinking....
i may see something on this card myself....and that`s scary,lol...
the lines should be up in a week or so...
i may see something on this card myself....and that`s scary,lol...
the lines should be up in a week or so...
Here are the lines from Pinny.
Tra Telligman -125
John Marsh +115
Marivn Eastman -135
Patrick Cote +125
Rich Franklin -285
Jorge Rivera +265
Trevor Prangley -130
Ivan Salvaerry +120
Matt Hughes -270
Georges St. Pierre +250
Tito Ortiz -200
Guy Metzger +180
Evan Tanner -165
Robbie Lawler +155
Renato Verissimo -135
Frank Trigg +125
Very hard card to cap. I think St. Pierre is a live dog at +250, but all things being equal Hughes should win the fight. Like most cards I'll probably lay off the wagering. Royler, it will be interesting to see your picks and analysis. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you hit at least 80%. These things have a way of evening out and considering your last results I have a hunch you're due. Nice thing about this card is that Telligman is gonna get to fight. It is kind of a weak card overall (IMO), especially for a milestone 50th. There are some interesting fights and some good fighters on the card, I would just like to have seen the Zuffa's go all out for the anniversary show.
Tra Telligman -125
John Marsh +115
Marivn Eastman -135
Patrick Cote +125
Rich Franklin -285
Jorge Rivera +265
Trevor Prangley -130
Ivan Salvaerry +120
Matt Hughes -270
Georges St. Pierre +250
Tito Ortiz -200
Guy Metzger +180
Evan Tanner -165
Robbie Lawler +155
Renato Verissimo -135
Frank Trigg +125
Very hard card to cap. I think St. Pierre is a live dog at +250, but all things being equal Hughes should win the fight. Like most cards I'll probably lay off the wagering. Royler, it will be interesting to see your picks and analysis. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you hit at least 80%. These things have a way of evening out and considering your last results I have a hunch you're due. Nice thing about this card is that Telligman is gonna get to fight. It is kind of a weak card overall (IMO), especially for a milestone 50th. There are some interesting fights and some good fighters on the card, I would just like to have seen the Zuffa's go all out for the anniversary show.
Last edited:
Marsh and Prangley are out - Tony Fryklund is replacing Trevor against Salaverry. Telligman could be dropped from the card altogether.
This is technically the UFC's 55th show, counting the trips to Japan, Brazil, 37.5, and the two "Ultimate Ultimate" programs.
Still going to wait to weigh in. I will say that St. Pierre is indeed a good value: he's a very good striker - maybe the best Hughes has faced since Sakurai. The problem is that Matt will very rarely give you room on the feet to have a chance at him. He doesn't give in to the bravado/macho thing that lures a lot of incompetent strikers to stand up when they should be on the mat. He's only been KOed once in 40+ fights.
This is a tremendous step up in competiton for Georges. The fact that Hughes is just not that into fighting could balance the scales a bit, but even a Hughes at 70% is still enough to beat most fighters. I don't know if St. Pierre is good enough to catch him in a sub.
This is technically the UFC's 55th show, counting the trips to Japan, Brazil, 37.5, and the two "Ultimate Ultimate" programs.
Still going to wait to weigh in. I will say that St. Pierre is indeed a good value: he's a very good striker - maybe the best Hughes has faced since Sakurai. The problem is that Matt will very rarely give you room on the feet to have a chance at him. He doesn't give in to the bravado/macho thing that lures a lot of incompetent strikers to stand up when they should be on the mat. He's only been KOed once in 40+ fights.
This is a tremendous step up in competiton for Georges. The fact that Hughes is just not that into fighting could balance the scales a bit, but even a Hughes at 70% is still enough to beat most fighters. I don't know if St. Pierre is good enough to catch him in a sub.
Mezger is out of the Ortiz fight due to discomfort and potential brain complications. I don't think it's anything serious.
Patrick Cote moves up to the main event against Ortiz. He's a Canadian KO artist. I would fully expect Tito to clinch, flatten and pummel, but if he's a big enough 'dog I might consider a small play. Tito is still a world-class fighter and has lost only to the best. A KO courtesy of Cote would be a tremendous upset.
Patrick Cote moves up to the main event against Ortiz. He's a Canadian KO artist. I would fully expect Tito to clinch, flatten and pummel, but if he's a big enough 'dog I might consider a small play. Tito is still a world-class fighter and has lost only to the best. A KO courtesy of Cote would be a tremendous upset.
This card is slowly turning out to be a fiasco. This is a shame. I know it's not their fault in this particular instance, but I still fully believe the Zuffa's are slowly killing this great sport in America. IMO it truly deserves the respect and stature of boxing (more so) and it seems that soon it will be trying to survive on a top flight level. I honestly hope they turn it around and prove me wrong.
The Zuffa's are gonna lose big on this promotion (mostly in PPV revenues). Only a week to go and there is now no way they can get together another top notch fight to round out this bill.
I'm glad this card isn't in Vegas or I would probably be b*tching all this coming week on how I wasted money on a hotel room, airline and fight tickets for this thing. Still some good fights (I know I'll be watching on PPV), just not enough to capture the general public's attention to make this card a winner.
I respects anyone's opinion here that still would say this is a good a card. I just personally don't think it is, especially with the recent drops and switches, and I am worried about the future of UFC in America in the long run. It's amazing that a sport this exciting hasn't went through the roof. All the idiots that pay to see fake pro wrestling and spend $50+ to watch PPV boxing should be smart enough to see that this a superior sport by far.
The Zuffa's are gonna lose big on this promotion (mostly in PPV revenues). Only a week to go and there is now no way they can get together another top notch fight to round out this bill.
I'm glad this card isn't in Vegas or I would probably be b*tching all this coming week on how I wasted money on a hotel room, airline and fight tickets for this thing. Still some good fights (I know I'll be watching on PPV), just not enough to capture the general public's attention to make this card a winner.
I respects anyone's opinion here that still would say this is a good a card. I just personally don't think it is, especially with the recent drops and switches, and I am worried about the future of UFC in America in the long run. It's amazing that a sport this exciting hasn't went through the roof. All the idiots that pay to see fake pro wrestling and spend $50+ to watch PPV boxing should be smart enough to see that this a superior sport by far.
So Cal Baseball said:
There's no time to change the advertising. It will get whatever business it was going to get with Mezger/Ortiz headlining the card.
There's really not much to do when you want a marquee fighter to step in on a week's notice to fight Ortiz. They would want a tremendous amount of money or will refuse outright. It really makes no sense to try and go after a big name since there's no time to promote it.
It's not a bad card. They can't all be winners. Who was actually looking forward to Ortiz/Mezger in the first place?
The sport has yet to make any major headway in the States because most people find groundfighting to be boring. That's not likely to change anytime soon.
You do the best you can given the circumstances. It's no one's fault that Mezger's brains are scrambled.
Royler, respect your insights here. I still don't think this card is worth a damn. It was o.k. initially, but now it isn't. I for one never cared for the main event and never understood it. I want to see Trigg/Verissimo and Hughes/St. Pierre, but does it carry a top flight card?... no way. Could have the Zuffa's done something to avoid this catastrophy... YES. Put more money into it. Make the undercards so good that if two or three fights get dropped you have more top notch fighters pared off to carry this thing.
UFC is dying a slow death (IMO) and I think it's a shame. My friends in Vegas who used to run the WFA (World Fighting Alliance) gave me some good insight into the finances of the situation and I feel the sport is dying an unecessary death here in the US (they do too). I don't blame the Zuffa for wanting to make some money, I just wish someone with more money that had the sports long-term future in mind was running the show. I know fully that it is just a wish. It's a shame what is happening to UFC. I think that if the right people got involved they could promote UFC in such a way that it would grow into something special.
To me the UFC is more than just "ground fighting". I do know that all cards can't be winners, but it seems to be getting weaker and weaker every card. This is UFC 50 (wether or not it is the 55th event) and I would think that more effort should have went into it. Bottom line IMO is that the Zuffa simply can't get top notch guys to commit anymore (I mean "top notch", not just "good" or "really good"). They simply aren't getting paid.
UFC is dying a slow death (IMO) and I think it's a shame. My friends in Vegas who used to run the WFA (World Fighting Alliance) gave me some good insight into the finances of the situation and I feel the sport is dying an unecessary death here in the US (they do too). I don't blame the Zuffa for wanting to make some money, I just wish someone with more money that had the sports long-term future in mind was running the show. I know fully that it is just a wish. It's a shame what is happening to UFC. I think that if the right people got involved they could promote UFC in such a way that it would grow into something special.
To me the UFC is more than just "ground fighting". I do know that all cards can't be winners, but it seems to be getting weaker and weaker every card. This is UFC 50 (wether or not it is the 55th event) and I would think that more effort should have went into it. Bottom line IMO is that the Zuffa simply can't get top notch guys to commit anymore (I mean "top notch", not just "good" or "really good"). They simply aren't getting paid.
So Cal,
Didn't we have this discussion on another forum? Zuffa has done nothing but advance this sport in North America since 2001. They got MMA into Las Vegas, back on PPV, put fighters in the mainstream press, grabbed popular fighters like Belfort and Shamrock, started DVD/VHS production back up, and God knows what else that we don't even know about. It was during SEG's tenure that the sport was on life support, with a few thousand people ordering on satellite and a few hundred showing up to the events.
Saying it's "dying a slow death" is incomprehensible. Packing 10,000 people into an arena and grabbing 150,000 sets of eyeballs on PPV is amazing considering that the sport A). Does not get the thousands of pages of free press boxing does, and B). Does not have the twelve free hours of advertising the WWE gets every week. There is no other PPV-exclusive event out there doing those kinds of numbers and no other sport working with these handicaps.
I think people seriously misunderstand the degree of apathy that exists for MMA among the networks and so-called "mainstream." You and I are desensitized to it, but try to put yourself in the position of an executive: the government is now handing down fines worth millions of dollars for "indecent" content and Zuffa comes and pitches a weekly show with two guys punching each other bloody. Oh, and did I mention they're locked in a cage?
Did you catch Frank Mir on FOX's "Best Damn Sports Show" last night? His was the sixth or seventh appearance by a UFC fighter on that show, and all the hosts still cringed at highlights and looked at him like he was crazy for doing this. That's the reaction 99% of the public has.
It's a f-cking miracle this sport is doing as well as it is. There is no magic recipe for success and no individual that could propel it any faster.
If it were so easy, then your friends in the WFA should have had no problem.
Didn't we have this discussion on another forum? Zuffa has done nothing but advance this sport in North America since 2001. They got MMA into Las Vegas, back on PPV, put fighters in the mainstream press, grabbed popular fighters like Belfort and Shamrock, started DVD/VHS production back up, and God knows what else that we don't even know about. It was during SEG's tenure that the sport was on life support, with a few thousand people ordering on satellite and a few hundred showing up to the events.
Saying it's "dying a slow death" is incomprehensible. Packing 10,000 people into an arena and grabbing 150,000 sets of eyeballs on PPV is amazing considering that the sport A). Does not get the thousands of pages of free press boxing does, and B). Does not have the twelve free hours of advertising the WWE gets every week. There is no other PPV-exclusive event out there doing those kinds of numbers and no other sport working with these handicaps.
I think people seriously misunderstand the degree of apathy that exists for MMA among the networks and so-called "mainstream." You and I are desensitized to it, but try to put yourself in the position of an executive: the government is now handing down fines worth millions of dollars for "indecent" content and Zuffa comes and pitches a weekly show with two guys punching each other bloody. Oh, and did I mention they're locked in a cage?
Did you catch Frank Mir on FOX's "Best Damn Sports Show" last night? His was the sixth or seventh appearance by a UFC fighter on that show, and all the hosts still cringed at highlights and looked at him like he was crazy for doing this. That's the reaction 99% of the public has.
It's a f-cking miracle this sport is doing as well as it is. There is no magic recipe for success and no individual that could propel it any faster.
If it were so easy, then your friends in the WFA should have had no problem.
Royler, again... respect your opinion here. As stated in my other threads "I know it's a "wish". I "wish" some group with more money would take it over. The Zuffa's are going to bail once this thing loses too much money, this is the insiders conception (I have sources here that I respect that makes me say this). I thank and respect them for keeping it alive. Just like you said (and I agree with) they've taken some gambles to kept this thing going. Maybe no one else would take it over and promote it enough to make it what "I" think it could be. The Zuffa's are in it for the money (before you snap at me remember I said that I don't blame them for it).
My wife is Japanese and if you've ever been there you would know just how big MMA is. Pride is huge... K1 is even bigger. As a fan (as I know you are) I just "wish" it would take off here. As a youngster in Iowa (grew up there, proud to say I'm in CA now) I boxed and wrestled since I was 7 years old until I got out of high school. Something like MMA was just a dream for many of us kids who knew that we were gonna be done once high school or college ended. For us wrestling and boxing was what football, basketball, etc. was to the rest of the country. Once the MMA grew in the states we were excited (via UFC, obviously we didn't get to see things like Vale Tudo and UAE events back then in the 70s and early 80s). It's just a matter of loving something so much and not wanting to see it go away.
(IMO) I just see the end coming (at least at a high level) I thought as little as 2 1/2 years ago that the UFC was in a good position to take off, the Zuffa's just didn't make it happen. You seem to have a real good grasp on the whole situation and I respect your opinions and insights regarding this. I also apprecate it when someone like yourself comes into forums like this and gives good insight into the fights. Bottom line here is that I just wish it could survive in the US on a top level (key word here is "wish").
Also, I know that my buddies associated with the WFA were against the ropes, they knew it too.
My wife is Japanese and if you've ever been there you would know just how big MMA is. Pride is huge... K1 is even bigger. As a fan (as I know you are) I just "wish" it would take off here. As a youngster in Iowa (grew up there, proud to say I'm in CA now) I boxed and wrestled since I was 7 years old until I got out of high school. Something like MMA was just a dream for many of us kids who knew that we were gonna be done once high school or college ended. For us wrestling and boxing was what football, basketball, etc. was to the rest of the country. Once the MMA grew in the states we were excited (via UFC, obviously we didn't get to see things like Vale Tudo and UAE events back then in the 70s and early 80s). It's just a matter of loving something so much and not wanting to see it go away.
(IMO) I just see the end coming (at least at a high level) I thought as little as 2 1/2 years ago that the UFC was in a good position to take off, the Zuffa's just didn't make it happen. You seem to have a real good grasp on the whole situation and I respect your opinions and insights regarding this. I also apprecate it when someone like yourself comes into forums like this and gives good insight into the fights. Bottom line here is that I just wish it could survive in the US on a top level (key word here is "wish").
Also, I know that my buddies associated with the WFA were against the ropes, they knew it too.
Last edited:
So Cal,
I also appreciate your contribution here, so let's agree that the discussion is just a friendly debate, nothing more.
FYI: There's no such thing as "The Zuffas." Zuffa is a Limited Liability Company formed by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who are the financial backers of the UFC.
What would more money do in the face of near-worldwide persecution? What would the money be spent on? At a certain point, you're talking about someone like Richard Branson coming in and dropping a hundred million on it for the sheer personal enjoyment. That's not business - that's a charity. No one is going to invest an unreasonable amount of money into this thing without expectation of a return.
I'll speculate what you might say - That Uncle Pennybags could afford Pride fighters, who continue to have a mystique around them. If Zuffa sprang for Fedor, Nogueira, or Silva right now and had them fight in January, it would make not one iota of difference in buyrates. No one in the States knows who these people are. That's like being a concert promoter and booking some obscure band over Bon Jovi. Those guys may be worlds better, but they're not going to sell any tickets.
The fighters that do make a difference in North American business - Shamrock and Tank Abbott - were employed. Tank obviously belongs nowhere near a ring in 2004, but that didn't stop fans from going nuts over him, even after three straight losses. Zuffa has continued to pursue Royce Gracie, but the guy is next to impossible to sign. You'll see him in Japan because they'll bend the rules for him.
We can play the "If" game all day, but I'll tell you this: "If" someone besides the Fertittas had purchased the UFC, things would be very, very different. It was Lorenzo who served for several years on the Nevada Athletic Commission. SEG had gone to the board years before and were not met with a warm reception. A few months after Lorenzo bought the promotion, they had clearance in Nevada. That's not a coincidence.
No Nevada = no PPV. No Nevada = very few states stepping up to sanction. No Nevada = continuing to run in the pool halls of Bumblef-ck, Alabama.
MMA's success in the States centers around one thing now, and that's television. Without it, the sport will continue to scrape by, barely turning a profit or simply losing money. That's it. And it's the most difficult thing to accomplish due to the reasons noted above. The UFC will have a reality show on SpikeTV in January, and are now replaying older fights on Fox Sports Net starting tomorrow. If and when a deal for live fights is struck, you will see the wheels turning more rapidly.
What would you have done differently? What wasn't done that should have been?
I also appreciate your contribution here, so let's agree that the discussion is just a friendly debate, nothing more.
FYI: There's no such thing as "The Zuffas." Zuffa is a Limited Liability Company formed by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who are the financial backers of the UFC.
What would more money do in the face of near-worldwide persecution? What would the money be spent on? At a certain point, you're talking about someone like Richard Branson coming in and dropping a hundred million on it for the sheer personal enjoyment. That's not business - that's a charity. No one is going to invest an unreasonable amount of money into this thing without expectation of a return.
I'll speculate what you might say - That Uncle Pennybags could afford Pride fighters, who continue to have a mystique around them. If Zuffa sprang for Fedor, Nogueira, or Silva right now and had them fight in January, it would make not one iota of difference in buyrates. No one in the States knows who these people are. That's like being a concert promoter and booking some obscure band over Bon Jovi. Those guys may be worlds better, but they're not going to sell any tickets.
The fighters that do make a difference in North American business - Shamrock and Tank Abbott - were employed. Tank obviously belongs nowhere near a ring in 2004, but that didn't stop fans from going nuts over him, even after three straight losses. Zuffa has continued to pursue Royce Gracie, but the guy is next to impossible to sign. You'll see him in Japan because they'll bend the rules for him.
We can play the "If" game all day, but I'll tell you this: "If" someone besides the Fertittas had purchased the UFC, things would be very, very different. It was Lorenzo who served for several years on the Nevada Athletic Commission. SEG had gone to the board years before and were not met with a warm reception. A few months after Lorenzo bought the promotion, they had clearance in Nevada. That's not a coincidence.
No Nevada = no PPV. No Nevada = very few states stepping up to sanction. No Nevada = continuing to run in the pool halls of Bumblef-ck, Alabama.
MMA's success in the States centers around one thing now, and that's television. Without it, the sport will continue to scrape by, barely turning a profit or simply losing money. That's it. And it's the most difficult thing to accomplish due to the reasons noted above. The UFC will have a reality show on SpikeTV in January, and are now replaying older fights on Fox Sports Net starting tomorrow. If and when a deal for live fights is struck, you will see the wheels turning more rapidly.
What would you have done differently? What wasn't done that should have been?
Royler, I think you are absolutely correct on every count here. Well put. It does come down to a bunch of if's and wishes (just for the record many people including myself refer to the Zuffa group as "The Zuffa's": hence the way I refer to them. Your clarification is still respected here).
I like your point about how someone like Richard Branson would have to come in and it would be more like a charity. I certainly couldn't disagree with you there.
My only addition to this would be that at a time (going back to UFC 36, where I was in attendance at the MGM) The place was nearly packed. It was the card coming one of the greatest cards they ever had IMO. Also, the PPVs were doing well and by all accounts the Zuffa's were actually in the black. After that card something happened. The Zuffa's started budgeting a little more. Started to strip fighters of belts, refused to pay certain fighters, etc.
No matter what is reported I can tell you this (and others in attendance can also attest). The attendance has seem to drop slowly but surely. I've heard reports that the PPV has also not been doing as well as they would hope (again, this is info I get from people in the field, I happened to work and be associated with).
I guess when you ask "What would you have done differently? What wasn't done that should have been?" My answer would have been: Don't cost cut now when things are on the rise (a basic economic principal). Wait until you hit the ceiling, when supply doesn't meet demand. I feel the Zuffa's neglected to do that. I think they started cutting back on the sport when it was showing signs of econmic growth.
Everything you said could be exactally right, there is no way of proving or disproving it at this point. I also like your prognosis on the possibility of the other TV avenues helping the sport out (reality shows, Fox Sports, etc.). In all honesty in this respect I hope you are right. This is certainly one time I would like to be wrong about something.
Getting back to the fights. Are you still backing Rampage on the Holloween Pride show? I've personally have always felt that Silva will do better and win more convincingly in this one. I also like Barnett to upset CroCop. Now THAT card is going to be great!
I like your point about how someone like Richard Branson would have to come in and it would be more like a charity. I certainly couldn't disagree with you there.
My only addition to this would be that at a time (going back to UFC 36, where I was in attendance at the MGM) The place was nearly packed. It was the card coming one of the greatest cards they ever had IMO. Also, the PPVs were doing well and by all accounts the Zuffa's were actually in the black. After that card something happened. The Zuffa's started budgeting a little more. Started to strip fighters of belts, refused to pay certain fighters, etc.
No matter what is reported I can tell you this (and others in attendance can also attest). The attendance has seem to drop slowly but surely. I've heard reports that the PPV has also not been doing as well as they would hope (again, this is info I get from people in the field, I happened to work and be associated with).
I guess when you ask "What would you have done differently? What wasn't done that should have been?" My answer would have been: Don't cost cut now when things are on the rise (a basic economic principal). Wait until you hit the ceiling, when supply doesn't meet demand. I feel the Zuffa's neglected to do that. I think they started cutting back on the sport when it was showing signs of econmic growth.
Everything you said could be exactally right, there is no way of proving or disproving it at this point. I also like your prognosis on the possibility of the other TV avenues helping the sport out (reality shows, Fox Sports, etc.). In all honesty in this respect I hope you are right. This is certainly one time I would like to be wrong about something.
Getting back to the fights. Are you still backing Rampage on the Holloween Pride show? I've personally have always felt that Silva will do better and win more convincingly in this one. I also like Barnett to upset CroCop. Now THAT card is going to be great!
Last edited:
One more comment I neglected to speak about. You made a really good point about how they brought back fighters like Abbott and Shamrock to bolster the show (even though they are both shells of their former selves). That being true (and unfortuante), don't you believe it would have been in the best economic intrest of the sport to have fed a shill to Abbott on his comeback fight rather than Mir? What were the Zuffa's thinking there? Now that is something I would have done differently. Economically from a personal standpoint it was great, as I personally made some sweet coin maxing Mir from every angle I could find. IMO that was one of the worst economic decisions they have made to date.
So Cal Baseball said:
No one was stripped without provocation. Foolishly, the UFC had Barnett fight for the heavyweight title without signing him to a new contract. He had them under the gun and demanded a sum of money that would make you laugh out loud. Ask around. He wanted nothing to do with the UFC.
Bustamante was made a fantastic offer and decided to shop around. He wound up sitting out for a year and then saw his career totally implode in Japan. The UFC has had some spectacularly bad luck with their champions, but it's not a coincidence. Fighters have the erroneous supposition that owning a title means their box office drawing power has gone up, and therefore, so should their paycheck. It always come down to money.
In terms of live gate, UFC events see-saw rather dramatically depending on who is headlining the show. UFC 49 (Couture/Belfort III), the most recent event, drew 8,597 fans and $1.3 million in total ticket sales. It's the third-largest in the company's history. There's no need to speculate or question the attendance numbers: the Nevada Commission holds it as a matter of public record. (And have no motivation to fudge the numbers - in fact, it was the UFC who originally announced a gate of $2 million on fight night.)
Oddly, UFC 43, which had the UFC's biggest stars on a single card (Shamrock, Abbott, Kimo, Liddell, Belfort, Couture) had the second-lowest Vegas ticket revenue since Zuffa took over - $645,000. It's inexplicable.
Looking at the numbers, it's obvious there was a struggle in the summer and fall of 2003. with numbers picking up once Couture/Ortiz met. UFC 45 delivered a paltry 40,000 in buyrates - UFC 47 and UFC 48 shot up to over 100,000.
It's a sticky issue. For one, Zuffa and the UFC are no longer promoting shark/fish bouts. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with that decision, but they simply don't do it, partially because they feel the sport deserves more respect than that, and partially because they have so few slots available each year that there's not any room for squash matches. A lot of these guys are guaranteed a certain number of fights within a certain period of time and as a result, you see a lot of marquee-type matchups happen right out of the gate.
In this specific case, Mir was coming off of a brutal KO loss to Ian Freeman and displayed horrific stand-up ability in that fight. Furthermore, Mir had never shown any spectacular takedown ability. In a lot of ways, Frank was actually custom-made for Tank: He couldn't strike and his shots were bad.
Naturally, Tank decides to flop inside Mir's guard the first chance he gets, which ranks among the stupidest things any fighter has ever done. And now we see that Zuffa would have had to match Tank with a quadriplegic, as he had so little left to give that it was comical.
Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for Jackson's chances dimmed when he announced his newfound commitment to Christianity. I'm certainly not anti-religion, and faithful fighters have performed well over the years, but Quinton was really passing along some odd comments - how a voice on the radio had threatened him and how "mist" had come out of his mouth during his conversion. That is not the talk of a rational individual. The fight has turned into either a play on Silva or a pass. I'm not sure yet. I just know I can't back the guy without knowing how this will affect his style.
Barnett/CroCop should be a terrific fight. It seems so easy to advise Josh to avoid the high kick, but people keep falling into it. I see him using his strength and horsepower to execute an effective bullrush. If Cro Cop winds up on his back in this fight, he will be pounded out or armbarred very quickly. What's bothersome is that Barnett had a lot of trouble putting away Yuki Kondo, and that's inexcusable when you're 60 lbs. heavier than he is.
Yeah, that "found christianity" interview with Jackson was bizarre to say the least. My main reason for liking Silva so much is that he seems to be the type of fighter that learns from previous fights. I think he'll improve on his last outing and make this one less controversial. He has great people behind him and I expect him to be prepared. Jackson has the skills to beat him on any given day, I just don't see it happening here, especially in this questionable state of mind he's in. I don't think it's a lock by any stretch of the imagination.
CroCop has shown he is the master of the high kick, but I contend to agree with your analysis here. Barnett is a double-tough guy and I expect him to find a way to take him to the ground where I too think he'll take control of the fight. Randleman also showed what a nice punch can do to Mirko.
By the way on the integrity issue as far as giving Abbott a guy like Mir for his return fight. Wasn't just bringing him back and making him main event status showing a lack of integrity to begin with? Sure it was a good financial move, but Abbott really wasn't that good of a fighter to begin with (IMO), he's was simply the kind of guy people like to see. Sure he had a few good results, but overall I never thought much of him and I tend to think a lot of fight people would tend to agree with me on this. With this in mind I would just tend to think they should "milk" him for all he was worth, thus getting him a fight he could win and generating more interest in the next two he was guaranteed. Just a thought.
CroCop has shown he is the master of the high kick, but I contend to agree with your analysis here. Barnett is a double-tough guy and I expect him to find a way to take him to the ground where I too think he'll take control of the fight. Randleman also showed what a nice punch can do to Mirko.
By the way on the integrity issue as far as giving Abbott a guy like Mir for his return fight. Wasn't just bringing him back and making him main event status showing a lack of integrity to begin with? Sure it was a good financial move, but Abbott really wasn't that good of a fighter to begin with (IMO), he's was simply the kind of guy people like to see. Sure he had a few good results, but overall I never thought much of him and I tend to think a lot of fight people would tend to agree with me on this. With this in mind I would just tend to think they should "milk" him for all he was worth, thus getting him a fight he could win and generating more interest in the next two he was guaranteed. Just a thought.
