MMA Fans

[Pad]

UFC 173 coming up Sunday - Yeeaaahhhh!!!

Very interesting looking main card. For what it's worth here's my thoughts on the fighters I know something about.

Takeya Mizugaki v. Francisco Rivera. Don't know much about Rivera so I won't make a prediction. But I've never seen a Mizugaki fight I didn't like. I'm a bit of a fan I have to say. Looking foward to it a lot.

Robbie Lawler v. Jake Ellenberger. I think Robbie has got his "ruthless" back. Second round KO or TKO.

Daniel Cormier v. Dan Henderson. On the whole I'm going with Cormier - though Henderson has shown repeatedly that he can never be disconted. I think Cormier will try to smother him and get it to the ground, but there's alway a chance Hendo will land the "H-bomb".

Henan Barao v. TJ Dillashaw. No dobut Dillashaw has earned his shot but I just don't see him winning this match-up. Barao has been so totally dominant and has shown no flaws in his game I can't see him losing. Second round KO or TKO.

[Pad]

Apart from the UFC, and some re-runs of an early naughties Canadian series where I first saw GSP fight, I hadn't seen any other MMA franchises up until now.

I watched Bellator 120 prelims last night. I have to say the standard looked pretty much the same as most UFC events. A couple of fighters I thought were very impressive - in particular Marcine Held was awesome with his jiu-jitsu skills. I'll be watching the main card over the next couple of days.

Just wondering what the common wisdom is with regard to the various MMA franchises now in operation. It seems to me that the UFC is the dominant brand at least in terms of broadcast coverage - but do they really have the best of the best in terms of fighters? Is there any kind of ranking list for the different franchises?

Curious and needing education.

[Fenn]

but do they really have the best of the best in terms of fighters?

Yes. They have by far the best fighters. There are a few fighters outside the UFC who are UFC calibre but none of them would be champions.

[Pad]

Just finished watching UFC173 from last weekend. Goodish night of fights. Some nice submissions in the prelims.

I thought the Hendo Cormier fight was just plain ugly. Ground and pound is my least favorite thing about MMA.

But Wow!!! TJ Dillashaw was just something to behold. He made Barao look ordinary. Presents an interesting situation now with Uriah Faber still looking for a title shot. Wonder if they would ever fight while both are at Alpha Male?

Two Fight nights tonight. I'm going to be exhausted by the time I get through that lot. Big fight of interest for me will be Miocic V. Maldonado. Last time out Maldonado was simply amazing. Should be interesting.

[Fenn]

If they combined both of todays events it would be a fantastic card. Instead we get 2 below average cards.

[Fenn]

I only ended up watching the Berlin card. Really enjoyed it, lots of fun fights. Ive always been a fan of Mousasi but holy shit he completely destroyed Munoz. I expected him to win but he made Munoz look like a 40 year old amateur.

[Pad]

Originally Posted by Fenn

I only ended up watching the Berlin card. Really enjoyed it, lots of fun fights. Ive always been a fan of Mousasi but holy shit he completely destroyed Munoz. I expected him to win but he made Munoz look like a 40 year old amateur.

I've only just finished watching everything from last weekend. So I've been avoiding anything UFC related.

Yep. Berlin card was very good - much better than expected. Mousassi looked animal.

Interested in what you guys thought of the Barnatt/Strickland fight. It was a pretty poor fight - but neverthless I thought there was no question that Barnatt won it. IMO Strickland did absolutely nothing except run away. I couldn't believe that one of the judges gave him a 30-27 score.

The Brazil card was pretty good also. Some very good fights and the TUF Brazil finalists gave a good account of themselves. The Miocic/Maldonado fight was a bit of a let down though. I really think Maldonado is way out of his weight class at heavyweight and Miocic made pretty short work of him.

Tonight's card has some interesting match-ups. I'll be really interested to see if Henderson gets his groove back. Sanchez/Pearson also has the potential to be a great fight as does Dodson/Moraga. It will also be interesting to see the younger Petis bro in action.

[Pad]

Hello!!!

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Damn - very strong echos in this thread - nobody comes here anymore.

Anyway - on the off chance that someone comes in - just wondering if what people though about the Edgar v. Penn fight?

I thought it was really strange. That weird stance BJ had - all upright and twiddling around on his tip toes ballerina style - what on earth was he doing.

Too bad to see a legend go out like that.

[dcisneros]

I have just watched One FC 18 and it is by far much better than last UFC shows. All fights ended by KO or summission and referee let fight go on.

[KnownUnknown]

Originally Posted by Pad

Just wondering what the common wisdom is with regard to the various MMA franchises now in operation. It seems to me that the UFC is the dominant brand at least in terms of broadcast coverage - but do they really have the best of the best in terms of fighters? Is there any kind of ranking list for the different franchises?

Curious and needing education.

Various media outlets have fighter rankings from various promotions but in my opinion all rankings are kind of arbitrary. Good perhaps as a starting point for exploring fighters you've never heard of. Due to the UFC roster talent and size, it's fair to assume most of the top fighters are in that promotion.

The best gauge is probably a fighter's record and more importantly how those fights played out as the result doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. Sherdog has a pretty extensive fighters record database.

Unfortunately for a sport like MMA, there's no real maths behind match-ups and rankings which is both good and bad, I suppose.

Haven't been active here lately so lets start with something recent as a talking point: how impressive were the Irish fighters (and crowd for that matter) on that Dublin card?! Insane. I remember watching live and thinking, "Oh no. Conor just pulled a pretty dirty move." Fortunately it's since become clear that there was no filthiness as Brandao didn't want to touch gloves and the arm out was a gauge on distance.