UFC 100

[MetalBlade]

Splendid news for UK viewers... IT'S ON! After the demise of Setanta, I thought the only way I would get to see this monstrous card would be a jerky, pixelated live stream, or downloading it from a torrent site the day after, but no...
Dana White has apparently spied an open slot, and the show will be broadcast live, free of charge to Sky viewers on the RACING WORLD channel 433. Strange channel to show the biggest martial arts extravaganza since Enter The Dragon, but it's free so I'm over the moon right now.
If you don't have access to this channel then UFC.com will also stream the show live and free of charge here in the UK.
Dana gets loads of stick from fans worldwide, but this is a real philanthropist move by him in my opinion. My guess is all future shows will be on Sky Box Office, but what an opportunity to attract new fans this is.
Tune into Sky channel 433 from 9pm UK time on Saturday night, where RACING WORLD is showing six hours of UFC programming prior to the live main event at 3am UK time.
Come on Brock!

[MetalBlade]

Right... Predictions. Brock will win by ground and pound. Frank cannot withstand Brock's weight on top of him as hammer fists and crushing elbows rain down upon his face. Sure, Mir can take some heavy punishment, but Brock has learned from his mistake in their first match. This will be Brock's proudest victory as he seeks to silence all the doubters who dismiss him as a fake wrestler.
Georges St. Pierre will be retain his crown as the pound-for-pound king.
Seriously, nobody is better than this mat genius. The proposed face off with Anderson Silva can't come quick enough for me. I need to know for sure that my admiration of the French- Canadian is justified.
Bisping is a hero to me. A true man of the people. He's as common as muck and doesn't fuck about in the octagon. He does the business like a proper worker and is to me the British equivalent of Chuck Liddell. Dan Henderson is his most fearsome opponent to date, but Bisping can only be one fight away from a dream encounter with Anderson Silva.
So he must - and will - overcome the former Pride champion.
On the undercard, I also predict wins for Stephan Bonnar over the legendary-but quite-honestly over-the-hill Mark Coleman.
Bonnar has the heart of a champion and surely will be one in future, whereas Coleman is like the Kevin Nash of UFC. He's been the king and had some classic matches with the likes of Don Frye, but he is becoming a journeyman who serves only as a stepping stone for younger, hungrier athletes like Bonnar.
Also, Mac Danzig, as much as he showed himself to be a true twat on The Ultimate Fighter show, really is as good as he says he is and I predict a comfortable KO win.
Finally, I see wins for CB Dollaway, who despite losing on The Ultimate Fighter show, has shown the skills necessary to make waves. And Jon Fitch, always languishing in mid-card, has the opportunity to show Dana he's got what it takes on this WrestleMania-sized stage. And I reckon he'll rise to the occasion tonight. I believe some of these undercard fights have the potential to trump even the three main events and make the late-comers wish they'd ordered earlier limousines.
Yes this means you, Kurt, cos I know you'll be there just for Mr. Lesnar.

[Steala]

I'll just pick the main card since I'm pretty sure the undercard is underway already anyhow.

Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir - Lesnar will fight like an angry moose and he'll either win or lose based on that. If he can control Mir on the ground instead of walking into submissions, he'll win.

Georges St-Pierre vs. Thiago Alves - Alves is on the verge but GSP is on a roll and in his prime and so damn slippery. Obviously we haven't seen Alves go 5 rounds in the UFC, so I reckon the longer this fight goes, the better GSP's chances get.

Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping - Henderson will knock the clown nose right off Bisping's face. He will then go on to get systematically destroyed by Anderson Silva (but hey, he's the only one to ever have won a round vs. Silva in the UFC, so maybe he'll put up a fight).

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher - I'm really not that familiar with either, but I'm not choosing someone named Belcher. His name alone makes him sound like he has a terrible worth ethic and no manners.

Jon Fitch vs. Paulo Thiago - Fitch as he begins his rise to another title shot.

[MetalBlade]

Bisping has successfully got under the skin of Dan Henderson, something I thought no man could ever do.
Henderson is a naturally cool calm and collected and laid back character, so to see him act so offended and whining about being disrespected all the time, shows an emotional weakness I never realised he possessed. And the Englishman knows this.
This could be the fight of the night. I hope it lives up to the hype.
Steala, you're still my hero, but on this occasion the spoils are coming this side of the pond.
Oh, and I also cannot put my faith in a guy called BELCHER. I reckon he'll "gas" after half a round.

[MetalBlade]

Well so much for my predictions so far. On The undercard both Stephan Bonnar and Mac Danzig lost on points and Dollaway tapped like a bitch in less than a minute.
Jesus Christ, I hope Bisping reverses this dismal run of predictions by yours truly...
...so far so bad.

For fuck's sake, Bisping's still unconscious.
I'm rapidly looking like a right penis.
That was a splendid right hand in all honesty, and my boy walked right into it.
I'm hanging my head right now. So disappointing.

[Steala]

I'm so happy for Henderson right now. Honestly, on a card with two massive title fights, that fight was the one I was most interested in. I suppose that speaks well for Bisping's drawing power, if not for his likability (outside of the UK, of course).

God, I hope Hendo makes the Silva fight interesting. I really don't want to have to root for GSP to do it. Not that I don't want to see a St-Pierre-Silva fight, but I'm not much of a St-Pierre fan. "I'm not impressed with your performance" still makes me laugh, however.

[MetalBlade]

Yeah I'm pleased for Dan also. Even though I was begging for Bisping to win, Dan fought with honour and dignity and caught Bisping flush on The jaw, so good on him. The weakness wasn't a weakness after all was it? It was just another dimension to his greatness I guess.
As for Georges, I totally get why you're not a fan. The same reason why I'm not a Floyd Mayweather fan. He's so good I don't wanna jump on the admiration bandwagon. GSP will be the king of this division till he either moves up to Silva's weight (doubtful) or drops down to lightweight (even more doubtful) so I reckon he'll take on all challengers till he's beat. Which could be donkey's years from now.
Georges remains my numero uno fighter - even more so after that dominant five rounder.
Ooh, here's Brock. And he uses Metallica as his intro music. Sweet deal.

Christ, it's daylight where I am. Man, I Hope this is worth it!

[MetalBlade]

Wow, Brock's ground and pound wasx indeed the key. Frank was fucking clueless with Brock on top of him. And the crowd is booing him massively.
Awesome!
Frank talked trash before the fight and Brock talked trash after, but Frank was a gracious loser, and acknowledged his own shortcomings in the match.
I'm so glad Brock laid that ghost to rest, and hope he continues his domination. who's next I wonder? Fedor?
I'd definitely buy that fucker for a dollar, even though Brock would lose...

[Steala]

Brock acted like a petulant child after the fight. I can't tell the difference between Brock the Pro Wrestler and Brock the UFC Fighter. Maybe that's attractive to Dana White, who seems to be enjoying the starpower of Lesnar, but it's not attractive to me. I half-expected Paul Heyman to walk out and insult both Couture and Nogueira, then wave out the Dudley Boyz, who would go on to 3D Frank Mir through a table.

For an organization that has tried to distance itself from pro wrestling as much as possible, even eliminating pyro from the fighters' entrances, they sure do seem to embrace the mentality of it.

Really, how hard is it to be humble in victory? It should be a hell of a lot easier than being humble in defeat. I know - it's natural for there to be rivalries in a sport built upon punching each other in the face and maybe get caught up in the heat of the moment after a fight. And I'll give Brock some credit; I see that he apologized for his behavior during the post-fight press conference. But some fighters act like dickheads before, during, and after the fight. What is the point?

That's the reason I will always root for the Dan Hendersons of the world, who don't speak with the sole intention of being an ass. It is possible to be an entertaining talker and still be humble. Forrest Griffin does it. Rampage Jackson does it. Amir Sadollah does it. [/rant]

Here's Lesnar's and GSP's post-fight press conferences. It's worth watching just to hear GSP explaining the noise that he heard when his adductor snapped. sports.yahoo.com/video/player/mma/UFC/14458660;_ylt=AgbKYQFzkFC4DIBYyL7UqdA5nYcB

[Knoxville]

Man I wish I knew this was on Racing World. Which is oddly a channel owned by Sky... I had to make do with some shitty copy downloaded off of a torrent website. Much like I'm going to do with Victory Raod in a moment.

I watched it last week, Monday infact but only just remembered that we have a MMA board here! I enjoyed the whole PPV but Lesnar was defo on his game that night. His actions after the fight were uncalled for but then Mir had done nothing but run his mouth for weeks prior to the fight.

Interestingly enough now, Bobby Lashley has said he's working towards not only fighting Lesnar but beating him... we'll see.

[Woo]

If Lashley wants to join UFC he shouldn't be wasting his time (or ours) by signing for TNA.

[Steala]

Jul 20, 2009 16:32:42 GMT -1 Woo said:

If Lashley wants to join UFC he shouldn't be wasting his time (or ours) by signing for TNA.

Why not? He could build his reputation by facing Frank Trigg in an MMA style bout like AJ Styles.

Oh wait, Trigg signed a new contract with the UFC. Missed opportunity!

[Steala]

Seeing as we all use only one thread to talk about MMA in here:

Looks like Hendo won't be getting a title shot after all. At least not immediately. He's facing Rich Franklin again at UFC 103. I guess that card was really hurting for a main event, because this fight certainly should have been saved in case Henderson wins the title.

If Hendo beats Franklin again, he has to get a title shot. If Franklin wins, it really muddles up the middleweight contenders. Would they seriously consider Silva-Franklin 3? What a bizarre choice.

www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=21299

[Steala]

Scratch that. Vitor Belfort is returning to the UFC and will now face Franklin at 103.

“When we announced that Rich Franklin was fighting Dan Henderson, there was some backlash, and people didn’t like it,” said White. “So we went out and just signed Vitor Belfort. The fans didn’t like the card, we changed it and it’s now Rich Franklin vs Vitor Belfort headlining in Dallas.”

The article also says:

WHAT ABOUT HENDO – Henderson, who is fresh from a big knockout of Michael Bisping at UFC 100 on July 11th, will be next in line for a shot at UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who submitted Hendo in 2008. Since that bout, Henderson is 3-0, with wins over Rousimar Palhares, Franklin, and Michael Bisping. There is no timetable for the rematch, with the organization keeping an eye on what happens when Silva moves up to the light heavyweight division again to face Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 in Philadelphia on August 8th.

www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=21505

[Steala]

Quadruple post!

For anyone that's interested and gets the channel (so that's like two of us or something), they're showing UFC 100 on Spike TV at 10pm.