UFC 76 - knockout

[presto]

Though no belts on the line, UFC 76 is looking a pretty dam good card.

MAIN CARD

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Forrest Griffin
it's great to see shogun in the UFC in what is a fantastic 205lbs division, forrest griffen actually requested to fight the 'pride' elite fighter - a move he may regret after his recent dissapointments. This should be a great fight, shogun is a fast paced non stop fighter with excelent versitility and well rounded skills. Fans favourite forrest griffen is primaraly a stand up fighter - though has other skills besides, but will want to keep the fight standing.
As for the fight - i just think shogun is better all round than griffen and should win this fight comfortably, though i won't overlook griffen as having a punchers chance.

VERDICT - shogun


Keith Jardine vs. Chuck Liddell
both fighters comming off dissapointing 1st round KO's - chuck losing his belt to rampage, and jardine losing to the impressive 'new boy' houston alexander.
This will be a stand up war, that won't last a round - both men are known for there punching power and stand up. Jardine has the better all round game, however chuck just dosn't need anything other than his stand up. It could be said that chuck has the stronger punching power so jardine should go for a takedown - however this simply wouldn't work, not only is chuck likely to catch you on the way in with a big punch but he is also dam near impossible to keep on his back, with possibly the best sprawl in MMA. Another thing that edges the fight chucks way is that jardin likes to fight on the front foot wheras chuck is awsome on the back foot. I feel that chuck will get back to winning ways with this fight.

VERDICT - chuck liddell


Jon Fitch vs. Diego Sanchez
A very tough fight to call this one, and a fight that will have a major effect on the welterweight division. Though i feel that finch may have the better stand up, combined with his superior wrestling may stifle sanches for a points win.

VERDICT - jon finch


Lyoto Machida vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
pride veteran nakamura has a tough UFC debut taking on machida, this could be a chess match of a fight, with machida having the stand up and ground advantage. However nakamura is no pushover having taken on some great fighters in his carear, nakamura is a strong fighter who will look to the clinch, something that machida will will try and avoid. This fight i can see going the distance with machida getting a points decision.

VERDICT - machida


Tyson Griffin vs. Thiago Tavares
The lightweight bouts have been fantastic fights since the re-introduction of the division in the UFC and i feel that this fight will be just as good, and one i am looking forward to. Tavares is 13-0 primaraly BJJ fighter wheras tyson griffen is a fantastic wrestler. I give the stand up advantage to Griffen, and doupt that tavares will be able to submit him due to his supreme wrestling ability and power.

VERDICT - griffen

[yerotsluap]

Hopefully the Machida fight wont be as boring as the one at ufc 70

[presto]

Hopefully the Machida fight wont be as boring as the one at ufc 70

:laugh - that was something that i didn't want to say, but to be honnest expect :ermmm

[presto]

starting on bravo now.

[presto]

quality fight to start it - and the LW division has another quality fight. - hard fight to call.

[presto]

tyson griffen gets the decision, 29-28, 27-30, 29-28
- WTF was the 27-30 judge watching in the 2nd round :doh

[presto]

other big news - wanderlei silva to face chuck in december - thats a huge fight. (if chuck beats jardine)

[yerotsluap]

A couple of big shocks shaking up the light heavyweight division

[presto]

ye - shogun looked awfull :ermmm, i wonder what is wrong with pride fighters in the UFC. chuck didn't look that great either, i wonder if he now cares more about the 'rockstar lifestyle' than the LHW belt.
as expected the Machida was apparently awfull - so was cut from bravo.

[glynners]

Didnt watch the one last night but I've been very dissapointed with a lot of the pride fighters in the UFC so far. I've seen many of them fight in pride and they looked awesome, maybe something fishy going on??

I hope not

[glynners]

also what did you think of the Bisping decision last time out, I thought it was awful tbh. Bit of a homer from the judges I think

[yerotsluap]

Didnt watch the one last night but I've been very dissapointed with a lot of the pride fighters in the UFC so far. I've seen many of them fight in pride and they looked awesome, maybe something fishy going on??

I hope not


Not sure whats happened to the pride fighters unless they're taking a leaf out of cro cops book who after two fights in the UFC and following on from that knockout from Gonzaga still didn't train in a cage for the Kongo fight at UFC 75. Utter madness surely

[presto]

cro-cop has been talking about retirement :ermmm and about being more involved as an MP, he also apparently broke a rib in the kongo fight.

the bisping decision was a discrace - anyone could see that hammil won the fight - dana has said there will be a re-match, but hammil tore his ACL - a bad injury so is out for about 6 months.

it's pretty well known that pride and other organisations don't have stringent 'doping' rules compared to the UFC - so some rumors have been spreading about that as why pride fighters don't do too well in the UFC. pride fights have a 10min first round and shogun is renown for his cardio - so why couldn't he last 7 mins with a rest period :doh without gassing.

[Merlin]

Not into this guys....but is this all showbiz stuff....or is it serious s.hit....?

[glynners]

It's all serious. Pay per view events in the states are consistantly out grossing major boxing events.

Nothing like the WWE, the fights are real and can be pretty tasty at times

[glynners]

the bisping decision was a discrace - anyone could see that hammil won the fight

Pretty much what I thought, had a few mates round watching it and we all said that he'd be lucky to get a draw from it. When he got given the decision we where gobsmacked.

[presto]

Pretty much what I thought, had a few mates round watching it and we all said that he'd be lucky to get a draw from it. When he got given the decision we where gobsmacked.

to be honnest it's probably the only 'wrong' decision that i can recall in the UFC, i found it an easy fight to judge.
R1 - hammil dominated the stand up, landed the more punches - easy hammil 10-9
R2 - much closer round, arguably bisping 10-9
R3 - pretty even on the feet, but hammil got 2 takedowns - hammil 10-9

there could be no other result than 29-28 hammil.


Jeff Mullen explains his scoring of Hammil v Bisping

"Hello to everyone on the Underground. I have been reading the underground for years. I used to post quite a bit. Then I decided it would be better for me to stay out of all the arguments. I want to thank all of you guys for being so nice to me through the years. I have seen almost no negative posts about me here until now. I first started judging the UFC in 1996. I have been judging UFC almost twice as long as any other active judge. I am a former kick boxer and have been training grappling for 13 years. I am not here to argue with any of you or tell you that your opinion is wrong. I am only going to tell you why I judged the fight the way I did. Watch the fight again and turn off the sound. Commentary can color what you see. No doubt Hamill dominated the 1st. He hurt Bisping with a right hand right off the bat and again near the end of the round. He out scored Bisping and busted him up. It was a very impressive round for Hamill but still a 10-9 round. Not dominant enough for a 10-8. Watch the beginning of the second round closely. When Hamill throws the jab, Bisping slips the punch and hits him with his own counter jab. It is hard to see on camera because Hamill's back is to the camera. His back was also to Goldie who was talking like the beginning of this round was like a continuation of the 1st. If you look you will see that Hamill is facing me giving me a clear view of what is landing. Bisping was landing the jab again and again and not getting hit. Hamill got 2 takedowns in rounds 2 and 3 but did very little with them. Bisping is using an active guard trying to turn for armbars and sweeps, Hamill is doing very little on top. Bisping is keeping him from scoring or improving his position. In the 3rd round Bisping actually lands more punchesd from the bottom than Hamill does from the top. In both the 2nd and 3rd rounds Bisping does more scoring. Striking. Under pride style scoring Hamill would have won. He did more damage, but it was all in the 1st round. By 10 point must system Bisping won the fight 2 rounds to 1 . 29-28 Bisping. Sometime the angle you see the fight effects your decision. That is why they put the judges on 3 different sides. BY THE WAY MARIO YAMASAKI THOUGHT BISPING WON ROUNDS 2 AND 3 ALSO. MARIO WAS THE REF AND HAD A BETTER VIEW THAN ANY OF US. I have never taken a payoff as some of you have suggested and never will. You may not agree with my decision but please don't question my honesty."

[presto]

bisping could even consider dropping down to 185lbs (he could make it) as the 205lbs is stacked at the moment and the 185 gives him a better shot at the belt - wouldn't mind seeing him face forrest griffen though.

- he also acted like a :icon_tong at the end of the fight which wasn't on at all.

[yerotsluap]

To be fair to Bisping he has since apologised for the way he acted after the fight.

Seem to recall Bisping saying that he pretty much stays at 205 all year round rather than just getting to that weight for the weigh ins so should be easily able to make 185

Only other wrong decision I can think of in this incarnation of the UFC would be Forrest Griffins loss to Tito Ortiz. Ortiz didn't deserve to win the fight and Griffin was the more active of the fighters. I remember hearing the decision and thinking it was just wrong.

[glynners]

He was abit ott but I'm guessing the way he acted was more down to pure relief than anything.

i have watched the fight again after reading that post presto and I see where the guy is coming from. I dont overly agree but I suppose he has had a lot more experience watching UFC fights than me :laugh