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UFC 76
By Zach Arnold | September 22, 2007
Event reports: MMA Weekly | Sherdog | MMA Junkie | UFC Mania | MMA on Tap | Sprawl ‘n Brawl | Steve Sievert | Observer | Yahoo Sports | Steve Cofield | F4W Online
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Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 123 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
LOL, 45, for once you’re absolutely right.
Jardine by decision… even if he looks like he’s been through a meat grinder.
There should be no ass-covering for Dana White on this matchmaking blunder. None whatsoever.
So does that mean Houston Alexander is the next LHW champion of the world? =)
California has really weird MMA crowds.
One of the best UFCs in a wild. Great fights through and through.
I am really disappointed in the commentary today.
1. They completely botched the Fitch/Sanchez fight. Submission attempts like those mean nothing.
2. They completely favored Forrest throughout the entire fight. It made the HBO Commentators look good in comparison.
3. They NEVER ONCE mentioned that Liddell is getting old. That is a complete shame. He is OLD. Nothing else to it. Yet they refuse to say it.
Jardine vs. Silva instead?
On a high note, we got 10 seconds shy of 75 minutes worth of fighting.
Wanderlei vs Griffin anyone? Who does Rampage fight now?
I have no idea what they do with Jardine, re-match him with Forrest on NYE?
If anyone sees anything on DailyMotion, etc. leave a comment.
UFC’s poster boy has lost two in a row. For some reason, that makes me happy. Not so happy that Shogun lost, but big props to Forrest. And John Fitch, but I wanted him to win. The Year of the Upset is back!
At least Ryoto is still consistent.
How does the UFC match up Forrest, Jardine and Alexander? Forrest/Alexander would be a fresh matchup, but Jardine definitely should be considered. Maybe get a fourth guy and make a 2 event elimination tournament?
Maybe Lyoto as the 4th guy, I dunno.
This is my Light Heavyweight World Top 12…. Feel free to pick it apart….
1. Quinton Jackson
2. Forrest Griffin
3. Mauricio Rua
4. Dan Henderson
5. Keith Jardine
6. Wanderlei Silva
7. Chuck Liddell
8. Sokoudjou
9. Ricardo Arona
10. Tito Ortiz
11. Rashad Evans
12. Houston Alexander
Rashad and Tito are still up there as well, I cant pick who the next guy to fight Rampage should be? Maybe Silva should get the nod based on the two wins he has over him.
I still think you have to keep Henderson at #2 given the tough fight he gave Rampage.
will Jardines Hard Nutriation passes the CSAC test…. I got this email a few hours before the fight.
IMAGINE USING THE SAME SECRET WEAPON….
….that Pro fighter Keith Jardine is using to prepare for his fight against Chuck Liddell this Sept 22!!!
That would be utterly amazing because now you could engorge your muscles with nutrients that you could easily pack on a quick 10 pounds of muscle, and virtually double your strength and endurance!
Keith Jardine has been reportedly using Hard Nutrition’s The Performance Pack to prepare for this upcoming fight for months and now you can use the amazing new supplement that can help you double your reps per set, giving you the most hellacious boosts in strength, power, and recovery your mind can imagine! This stuff flat out works, so please take a few minutes of your time and read about the unbelievable effects of The Performance Pack and its amazing capacity to increase “match endurance” like no other compound on Earth!
I got that e-mail from Sven Bean as well…
I think Rollo and Zach are both correct. Pride was a spectacle, with lighting and camera angles that made the fights seem faster and wilder. Pride also didn’t test for performance enhancers. Both contributed to the perception that Pride fighters were superior.
FF
Yea I’d agree at Henderson at #2 and I would drop Rua a few places and bring Silva up, and bring Alexander up above Jardine and have Griffin below Jardine and Tito should be above Griffin still tho Evans should be near Tito and wheres Bisping, the hell with it Rampage vs Rogan at UFC 80
Hey, I never said my ranking was good…..
Iole had Sanchez winning the fight 29-28… Need I say more about this joke of a guy?
Let me restate that…. He is a joke of a journalist….. I don’t want to personally attack him…
Zach, I’m starting to suspect not just use of steroids but blood doping (whether EPO or not). The extreme way that in recent fights Gomi, Ninja and Shogun are losing gas is a bit surprising.
you have to include Machida at this point.
The more I think about it, beating Shogun really does push Forrest up, I would pay money to see Jackson vs Griffin, if nothing else it would be fun to watch
45, if you really can’t understand these close decisions, you should just go watch boxing. If you don’t understand jiu-jitsu and submission grappling enough to understand and appreciate the submission game, please stop watching MMA.
Zach, they needed Chuck on this ppv to make it anything but a bomb.
Yes, Chuck lost. But Forrest won and that gets them a new star.
This is MMA. anything can happen.
I guess they could have shelved Chuck til Dec, but I don’t think he would have agreed to it.
Better Liddell gets beat by Jardine now then destroted by Silva later, maybe he needed this to readjust his priorities. Liddell does look a touch slower but his gameplan needs to change also. Maybe its time he moved up a weightclass?
No…. I do understand submissions…
How is a missed punch scored? Not for much. It means a fighter is aggresive, but that is it.
A submission attempt is about the same as a missed punch. It doesn’t do anything to the receiving fighter. Only when that fight loses a lot of air or is in pain from a joint lock, should that submission attempt count.
This BJJ-centric viewing of fighting that guys like Rogan have is crap. A submission means nothing is nothing happens with it. And with the exception of one triangle, Sanchez did nothing with the submissions.
No Rampage vs. Shogun, no Silva vs. Liddell, this shit is depressing. Maybe the UFC should start protecting their top guys more. This year alone we’ve lost Hughes vs. St. Pierre 3, Cro Cop vs. Couture, Rampage vs. Shogun and Liddell vs. Silva. No more buffers between big fights, MMA is too unpredictable.
I want to see Forrest fight Wanderlei now. The Chuck fight is useless, I don’t ever want to see Keith Jardine fight ever again in life (I just can’t bring myself to care about that guy or his style either way), and now Forrest can start building a reputation as a Chute Boxe sniper.
I think Alexander still needs a fight or two against real competition before he should get a shot at Griffin or anyone else at the top.
I say Griffin vs. Silva for #1 contender.
I’m predicting Fedor to fight on the NYE card only to be submitted by Brock Lesnar to round the year out.
And instead of waiting until March to get to see St. Pierre fight the winner of Hughes/Serra, I’d like to see Fitch get him first before then. Another #1 contender fight.
Fitch vs. GSP is a dream fight. But it should be saved for a title fight.
What we will likely see at Welterweight:
1. GSP vs. Serra/Hughes in March/April.
2. Fitch vs. Karo Parisyan early in 2008.
3. Winner of those two fights fight each other.
What we will likely see at Light Heavyweight:
1. Forrest Griffin vs. Quinton Jackson
2. Keith Jardine vs. Wanderlei Silva
3. Chuck Liddell should retire
45:
As opposed to Jon Fitch throwing a few arm punches during his LNP? Please.
Under PRIDE rules, Diego would have won without question. Fitch did absolutely NOTHING but defend against Diego’s offense.
Yeah, let’s use Pride rules…. The same one that has screwed so many fighters out of legit decisions.
According to Yahoo Sports….
Fitch hit 47 strikes on the feet compared to 18 for Sanchez.
Fitch hit 38 strikes on the ground compared to 8 for Sanchez.
Overall, that is 85 for Fitch to 26 for Sanchez. And even Sanchez ADMITTED that Fitch won that fight. So your arguement that “Fitch did absolutely NOTHING but defend against Diego’s offense” is thrown out the window.
Give me a break. What fight were you watching?
How about Jardine vs Henderson and Griffin vs Silva and maybe give Jackson um…a rest for a few months?
Yeah, I was pretty shocked to see Rua get so tired so fast.
I mean, it was a bang up first round, but he was mouth breathing when they lined up to start the second round.
How can guys go from a 10-minute first round to two five minute rounds, and be totaled before the end of that 2nd round?
Anyone notice that Silva was not at all happy at the end of the Chuck vs Jardine fight? His world is rocked. Instead of getting gramps, he’s going to have to fight someone who is going to take it to him. I am seriously wondering who is going to be fighting him now.
Incidentally, a guy at the bar that I watched the fights at claimed that Chuck is a coke-fiend. I thought that was pretty ridiculous, but it’s not entirely out of the question, I suppose. You’d think he would have been caught by now with random testing though.
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I went 6 and 3, and two of those featured guys I can’t remember watching fight before, so that’s not bad. The other featured a guy I’d seen fight for 17 seconds 😀
I guess first impressions aren’t always the best ones.
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Of the televised card, FOUR of the five fights were absolutely great. I was really disappointed that Kaz couldn’t get any of his judo to work at all. Every time he went for a trip or a throw, he was foiled. Is there anyone in that division that he would match up better with?
Rabbit punches vs submission attempts? Sorry, my personal preference is for the submission attempts and the guy who actually tries to FINISH rather than eke out a win the way Fitch did.
I agree with the judges and the announcers that it was a close decision according to the 10-pt must system. What fight were YOU watching?
“How can guys go from a 10-minute first round to two five minute rounds, and be totaled before the end of that 2nd round?”
Jeremy: EPO.
The same one that Sanchez was participating in. The same one that said the right guy won.
Using Rogan as a point of reference is pretty lame. Rogan was nut hugging so badly today. He picked a fighter and ran with it.
For the record, I agree with 45 about submissions. It’s a way of finishing the fight. If you don’t finish the fight with it, why should you get bonus credit for a submission attempt over a successfully landed kick or punch?
Are the judges actually counting punches landed etc? I thought that they were rating the fight on the areas outlined in the productions (aggression, octagon control etc), and then giving scores for each round based on those ratings.
I would like to know the actual answer on that, because as of now, I have no idea what’s on those judges scorecards besides three numbers that add up to something between 24 and 30.
Noting irony: No KOs during the entirety of UFC 76: Knockout.
So, uh, Fitch wins for….defending submission attempts and rabbit punches?
Like I said, I’m not arguing the decision according to the rules. It was close, and I can see Fitch winning under those rules.
I don’t understand 45 saying it was a dominant victory. And I doubt I’m the only one thinking this.
Screw it they should do Liddell vs. Silva anyway, they’re both coming off two losses.
My point is that Sanchez basically scored 26 strikes and one semi-close submission during the fight. That was it.
Fitch had over 80 strikes, controlled position, and brought the fight to where he wanted it for the majority of it.
So yes, Fitch didn’t do much, but Sanchez did even less… Much less.
I didn’t watch the show but….Reading the results….Goddamn Dana really did fuck up, allowing the booking of Liddell vs. Jardine.
I think catches should be scored like a strike that wobbles someone, Sanchez had Fitch is two close subs vs. Fitch’s top position, I gave Sanchez the last round. Both Fitch-Sanchez & Griffin-Tavares should of been 5 round fights.
Body_Shots, a loser quits match?