Comments on: WVR 3/5 Tokyo show rumors

By: Chuck

Chuck — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:40:21 +0000

“Honeslty, many of them do care about the rankings.

I can’t say whether most will admit it, but I have heard some gripe about not getting enough credit.”

Yeah, because many fighters (this also goes to boxers, pro wrestlers, etc.) have egos the size of no less than the state of Montana. But they shouldn’t worry because MMAWeekly, Sherdog, etc. don’t pay their bills, nor do they even give out any sort of title belts (like Ring magazine does). I’ll only take those ratings seriously (than take them at face value as I do now) if they gave out title belts and try to legitamize themselves like Ring magazine does.

I doubt fighters look at the ratings and go “okay, I am ranked number eight, and (so and so) is ranked number three, so I should fight him so I can get at least a ranking of four if I win”. It doesn’t work that way. They fight who promoters tell them to fight, regardless of internet sites’ rankings.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:24:11 +0000

Honeslty, many of them do care about the rankings.

I can’t say whether most will admit it, but I have heard some gripe about not getting enough credit.

By: Dave2

Dave2 — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:01:29 +0000

“You think Barnett cares if he’s on some internet fan’s top 10 list?”

Amen. Professional fighters don’t give a shit about making MMAweekly’s, Sherdog’s or some random internet fan’s top 10 list. Their concern is mostly with earning potential. Professional athletes are mercenaries for the most part and that’s not going to change for MMA. It’s like that in mostly every sport. Live with it. This may seem like a game to you and me but this is a job for them and their window of opportunity to earn money at this job is short.

By: Shaolin

Shaolin — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:54:53 +0000

I dont get why yoshida is trying to run a major show against K-1/pride team now. I think the death of pride shows that mma community in japan should be smart and united, theres not alot room for big stage shows at the moment. I was reading some translation the other day that tanigawa is upset with some fighters like misaki on this card?

By: Croatian Strength

Croatian Strength — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:57:43 +0000

You think Barnett cares if he’s on some internet fan’s top 10 list?

By: robnashville

robnashville — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:42:40 +0000

About the Barnett – Aleks fight, if it doesn’t get made I can’t say it would be much of a loss. Aleks against any well versed sub guy is bad booking. They should match Aleks up with another slugger, say a Mark Hunt. Whenever Barnett does fight again, I don’t see too many scenarios where he would be fighting stateside.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:08:11 +0000

Barnett is hardly blackballed. He has certain demands that the UFC and others have chosen to pass on.

By: The Gaijin

The Gaijin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:57:12 +0000

No, I don’t think he necessarily does…but frankly he’d been fighting a lot of top level guys before PRIDE went on hiatus. It’s tough for him to even fight these so called “top 10″ fighters he’s supposed to be fighting when he’s blackballed from the biggest MMA organization going.

Apparently he *might* fight Aleks or Fedor, which are certainly top level opponents – which with the current state of the UFC’s HW division is a lot more of a test than fighting Cheik Kongo or Heath Herring.

By: 45 Huddle

45 Huddle — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:54:19 +0000

The question is… If Barnett fights, does he automatically go back into the Top 10. He has already not competed for a year. I kind of think that for him to get back into the Top 10, he actually has to fight at least somebody remotely credible at this time.

Honestly, if he wants to do his Pro Wrestling stuff in Japan, that is his choice…. But he should make it known that he is no longer a full time fighter so people can put their efforts on watching fighters who actually care to move up the ranks still.

By: oOkami

oOkami — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:55:35 +0000

@Paul

What do you mean? Their rules are not the same as the unified rules. They allow stomps and knees to the head of a grounded opponent and they do not allow elbows.

But the round times are the same, which I don’t like.

@mmafan

Yeah, he trains grappling. This is from an interview with him from around the time of the rumored Yoshida fight in Pride:

Already training ground?

In fact, since I started in the K-1 and was practicing with the Maurice Smith, now train a little ground. At the time he was at the height of the Vale Tudo and already gave me some touches of ground. Today I have two athletes from my team (Ichigeki), the Great Almeida (64kg) and Pedro Iriê (81kg) who came of Judô and Jiu-Jitsu and are learning the party standing with us. Both have fought MMA.

So your idea would do more or less as the Cro Cop, begin training to avoid the ground and keep the fight on its territory …

Exactly. As you said I have no intention of following career in MMA, but I want to kill this curiosity to climb in the ring fighting in the rules of MMA.