« Mike Fagan: The fifth anniversary of PRIDE 33 | Home | UFC Japan: A wonderful show & a pyrrhic victory? »
UFC Japan 2012 card at Saitama Super Arena: Hallmark, historic event
By Zach Arnold | February 25, 2012
Event & venue: UFC Japan 2012 (US air time – Saturday, February 25th, Japan show time – Sunday, February 26th at 10 AM at Saitama Super Arena)
TV: PPV (sold show series w/ Dentsu)
Dark matches
- Featherweights: Issei Tamura defeated Tiequan Zhang in R2 in 32 seconds by KO.
- Bantamweights: Chris Cariaso defeated Takeya Mizugaki after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Middleweights: Riki Fukuda defeated Steve Cantwell after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Bantamweights: Vaughan Lee defeated Kid Yamamoto in R1 in 4’29 by submission.
- Lightweights: Takanori Gomi defeated Eiji Mitsuoka in R2 in 2’21 by TKO.
Main card
- Lightweights: Anthony Pettis defeated Joe Lauzon in R1 in 81 seconds by KO.
- Featherweights: Hatsu Hioki defeated Bart Palaszewski after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Middleweights: Tim Boetsch defeated Yushin Okami in R3 in 54 seconds by TKO.
- Welterweights: Jake Shields defeated Yoshihiro Akiyama after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Heavyweights: Mark Hunt defeated Cheick Kongo in R1 in 2’11 by TKO.
- Light Heavyweights: Ryan Bader defeated Rampage Jackson after 3R by unanimous decision.
- UFC Lightweight title match: Ben Henderson defeated Frankie Edgar after 5R by unanimous decision to win the title.
February 2012 events
Event & venue: UFC 143 (Saturday, February 4th in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay Events Center)
TV: PPV
Dark matches
- Middleweights: Rafael Natal defeated Michael Kuiper after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Welterweights: Stephen Thompson defeated Dan Stittgen in R1 in 4’13 by KO.
- Welterweights: Matt Brown defeated Chris Cope in R2 in 1’19 by TKO (punches).
- Bantamweights: Edwin Figueroa defeated Bruce Leeroy after 3R by split decision.
- Welterweights: Matt Riddle defeated Henry Martinez after 3R by split decision.
- Featherweights: Dustin Poirier defeated Max Holloway in R1 in 3’23 with a triangle armbar.
Main card
- Middleweights: Ed Herman (-250, 5 to 2 favorite) defeated Cliff Starks in R2 in 1’43 with a choke.
- Bantamweights: Renan Barao (-250, 5 to 2 favorite) defeated Scott Jorgensen after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Welterweights: Josh Koscheck (-260, 13 to 5 favorite) defeatedMike Pierce after 3R by split decision.
- Heavyweights: Fabricio Werdum (PICK ‘EM) defeated Roy Nelson after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Welterweight eliminator (interim championship): Carlos Condit (+150) defeated Nick Diaz after 5R by unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46 twice).
***
“Once they lock that door, it’s battle mode. I know he’s going in there to knock my head off and I got to go in there and try to knock his head off, too. We’re going to do what we do. We’re true, true warriors and we’re going to bring a dogfight that you didn’t get to see at the last PPV.”
Event & venue: UFC on Fuel 1 (Wednesday, February 15th in Omaha, Nebraska at CenturyLink Center)
TV: Fuel TV
Dark matches
- Lightweights: Tim Means (-110) defeated Bernardo Magalhaes after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Lightweights: Justin Salas (-150, 3 to 2 favorite) defeated Anton Kuivanen after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Featherweights: Jonathan Brookins (-220, 11 to 5 favorite) defeated Vagner Rocha in R1 in 92 seconds by KO.
- Bantamweights: Ivan Menjivar (-250, 5 to 2 favorite) defeated John Albert in R1 in 3’45 by choke.
- Bantamweights: TJ Dillashaw defeated Walel Watson after 3R by unanimous decision.
Main card
- Heavyweights: Stipe Miocic (-500, 5 to 1 favorite) defeated Phil De Fries in R1 in 43 seconds by KO.
- Middleweights: Ronny Markes (-115) defeated Aaron Simpson after 3R by split decision.
- Heavyweights: Stefan Struve (+120) defeated Dave Herman in R2 in 3’52 by TKO (punches).
- Welterweights: Jake Ellenberger (-350, 7 to 2 favorite) defeated Diego Sanchez after 3R by unanimous decision.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 122 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
For PPV’s, are they doing a 1 hour prelim show on FX and then the rest of the prelims on Fuel TV? Should be interesting to see how that works out. And I assume the prelims for the Fuel TV cards will be on Facebook…. Unless they just do a 5 hour chunk on Fuel TV. Here are my thoughts on each cards:
UFC 143 – The prelims are a big collective who cares. The main card is solid. Nothing outstanding. I don’t care for the Herman PPV fight. The rest interest me.
FUEL TV 1 – Another who cares prelims. The main card should actually be really exciting. This could be one of the better free televised cards of the year.
UFC 144 – Really solid prelim card. I think Boetsch will beat Okami. Hioki/Bart should be fun, and I could see Bart actually winning that one. The main card is great. The best PPV card of the first 3 of the year. And the main event could be an absolute barn burner. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Henderson win.
I think the plan is to air 4 live prelims on FX over 2 hours and the 1 or 2 extra fights will air live on facebook.
They should will be able to air the few extra fights on TV/PPV, considering they will have 5 hours.
UFC FX 1 show got 1.3 Million viewers. The Fuel TV Prelims got 148,000.
For Fuel TV…. If they can increase the number of households (including HD)… Along with the awareness…. I can see those types of shows doing around 500,000 viewers. Still, a good start considering UFC Tonight was considered a success with 50k range. But this channel will never be a huge ratings grab. It’s supplemental for the more devoted fans.
As for the FX ratings…. It’s already up by about 400,000 from the UFC 142 prelims. Something tells me within 3 to 6 months, the ratings will be right where the SpikeTV show ratings were. Which is the sub 2 Million per show range. Plus, the main event was not marketable at all.
Should be interesting to see what FOX does for ratings. It won’t hit the peak the Title fight did… But with more fighting it might do decent…. Who knows really….
SpikeTV did 700,000 for the counter programming. Which I expect to slowly go down to about 500,000 over the next few months.
Which means about 2 Million fans still watched the UFC on Friday night. While I’m sure FX isn’t pleased…. I doubt Dana White minds.
These PPV cards are getting worse and worse.
I’m not talking about the FX and Fuel cards. Those are UFC’s version of Friday Night Fights and that’s cool. Great idea for the company to run those types of shows.
The Brazil PPV was a ridiculous card for $50. If you put the Condit/Diaz and Edgar/Hendo fights on the same card it would make a good PPV. Separated with the garbage supporting fights it’s not worth it.
The Japan card is the first solid ppv card they have offered up in quite some time. It will be the first one I will order in many months. I’ve lately taken to heading to the casino to watch the ppv shows and spending my money on beer and I don’t see that changing until the cards get back some depth.
You are 100% correct. The Japan card has good fights from top to bottom.
Dana/SOPA hates me. I’m one of the many who will watch a sub-par PPV for free, but I’ll give my $$$ for this show and others (VERY few) that deserve it. I’m about as a hardcore fan as you get as I’ve seen every Dream/Pride/UFC event but I’m currently on disability and can’t afford to support them on every PPV even though I want to. That’s just the reality of my situation and I’m sure others are like me.
Honestly, who would pay for any of this? Jesus.
I love Nick Diaz and I can’t justify paying for that card.
I’m really curious to see how Condit performs in this fight, I think he should be able to stop Nick Diaz if he fights a smart and technical fight.
But as of late aside from Bones, alot of Jackson’s top guys have performed like crap in big matches. Guida, Guillard, Cerrone all came into their fights and fought with very questionable gameplans and lacking any strategy. Something that Jackson’s guys aside from Garcia aren’t known for, alot of his guys haven’t looked prepared the right way and I wonder how that will affect Condit.
To me that is the only thing that stops me from being a 100% behind Condit in this fight. I don’t know what’s going on with Jackson but it seems that things might finally have gotten to him because he’s got too many high profile fighters and he doesn’t seem to be able to work with each guy as close as he has in the past.
I’m in the same boat as you Dave.
Right now, Nick Diaz is my absolute fav combat sports athlete. Period. And, I want to see this fight badly. VERY badly.
But, I still haven’t paid off the Overeem vs Lesner PPV on my Dish bill yet & finances are awfully tight at the moment. So, I just can not justify shelling out $60.00 for this card. As much as I’d like to see the main event & wouldn’t mind catching Nelson – Werdum, I have just about no interest in the rest of the show. Hell, the undercard on FX even looks like it might be a CHORE to sit through. So, there’s just no way I’m paying to watch this show.
I’m considering going out to catch it at the local Buffalo Wild Wings, but sadly, even that might be beyond my means at the moment considering the check at the end of a night out there runs to well over half of what the PPV would cost.
Jim
Off topic but this sucks: Gabriel Montoya of Max Boxing is tweeting that Andre Berto suffered a ruptured bicep. Andre Berto is currently undergoing surgery to fix the tear. It should go without saying that the Februray bout between Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto is off.
Weird.
The fuel card is almost as good as the PPV.
3 interesting fights (at best) on each.
On one hand its nice that UFC is giving away something equal to the PPV for free, but I would imagine that it would be smarter to expect people to pay for something that is better than what your giving away.
I would have left one headliner on the fuel card and switched PeeWee, Menjivar and Miocic with some of the fluff on the PPV.
That japan card is pretty decent.
But I dont think it will make a bit of difference.
It will be shunned out of national pride like the curious case of Satoshi Ishii.
I really liked the new opening that replaced the gladiator sequence. But the transition to the interviews with the black backgrounds was really bad. They need to change everything in the beginning to make it flow better. But it was a nice start.
2-0 Condit.
Diaz seems kind of lost when somebody actually brings a gameplan for him.
4-0 Condit.
Gave the last round to Diaz, but it was close. So 49-46 for Condit.
Diaz’s kicks looked horrible. Heck, his entire gameplan looked horrible. When a fighter wasn’t willing to stand and bang with him, he looked absolutely lost.
“When a fighter wasn’t willing to stand and bang with him, he looked absolutely lost.”
^^
And thats the crux of the situation.
Kind of like the Werdum/maia buttflop, all that skill Diaz has for walking a guy down to the fence and then flurrying with their back to the wall is neutralized if he cant force his opponent to comply with it.
Now Diaz is a much more rounded fighter than that, but he has been getting away with that one strategy for so long that he forgot that he was until the last 30 seconds.
Diaz could easily adjust his next training camp to fix that.
But I guess he’s going to mope instead.
Oh well.
Half the strength of a great fighter is in the mind.
The new clock is much better then that huge obstruction that they were using.
Still to far to the middle IMO.
This being MMA I want to see what they guys are doing with their arms AND legs.
Great Main.
Thank goodness this matchup was a 5!
I like fights like this when the guys are so even that its a high tension almost stalemate.
Both guys slick enough that neither had their way with the other, but they never stopped trying either.
You could tell that Diaz was getting frustrated by the way he kept chasing, arguing and holding onto Condit after the bell in rnds 2,3,4 AND 5!
Great fight for both, no big loser in that one.
Shame Diaz is to big of a snotbutt to see that.
Werdum is so frustrating.
Capable of great things when he tries, but doesn’t always try.
Hence give aways to Reem and AA in between smoking Junior and Fedor.
I guess Dana finally got his wish after throwing almost every top guy in the org at country.
Uh……JDS knocked Werdum out. What fight are you talking about?
Diaz won that fight. Same BS behavior Machida did against Rampage costed Machida a win. Running in circles and throwing kicks. Condit did not win that fight. Cowardly fight right there…
You’re wrong.
Not standing still in front of Diaz so that he can unload flurries is not cowardly, that would be stupidity.
Maybe you should be watching bumfights instead of MMA.
Apparently its okay to run around in circle and pepper someone with little leg kicks and make zero effort to fight as you usually do. He fought Diaz as if he was afraid of the man. He fought him knowing Diaz was a better striker.
Had nothing to do with watching bumfight. It was a poor fight and a horrible decision. Its a proponent to whats wrong with judging and NM fighters.
1) Carlos Condit landed the most leg kicks in a UFC Fight.
2) Check most of the websites scoring the card. They all had it for Carlos Condit.
3) What did Nick Diaz do? Outside of 1 decent flurry and getting back control with a minute left in the fight, he basically did nothing.
4) Condit hit Diaz with more and harder strikers throughout the fight.
It was a clear cut decision for Carlos Condit. There was nothing wrong with the judging.
Something tells me you are a Nick Diaz fan. Go to The Underground. You will fit in well there. There are about 50 of them complaining to each other. It’s comical.
Sorry huddle, not a Diaz fan…calling it like I see it. Try again, queen. Of course you will probably say something stupid after this with your history of questionable comments.
Horrible fight, poor decision. End of story. It was embarrassing to watch. Condit running around in fear and making very little effort to fight in this one, rather unusual.
Eh, once again your wrong.
Hyperbole and slandering NM aside, apparently Diaz WASN”T a better striker if he cant get his hands on his opponent to strike.
Although I would swap out “striker” for “fighter” in that sentence.
And once again I suggest that you go rent bumfights.
You’ll enjoy it much better.
No cowardly fighting there…
Not just people who loved Diaz scored this fight for him. A lot didn’t like they way he fought.
However, this is coming from one of the biggest diaz nuthuggers on the internet, he lost. He could have lost 49-46, or 48-47 (what I had). Either way Condit definitely won.
Dana with the great pull with Leonard-Hagler.
A lot didn’t like they way he fought.
Condit.
MMA Junkie: 49-46 Condit
MMA Fighting: 48-47 Condit
Bloody Elbow: 49-46 Condit
Wrestling Observer: 48-47 Condit
Sherdog doesn’t have the 5th round posted yet, but 2 of the 3 guys already had 3 of the 1st 4 rounds for Condit.
And so did all 3 judges had it for Diaz.
So everybody who was scoring this fighting without an agenda must be in on this….
“Diaz WASN”T a better striker if he cant get his hands on his opponent to strike.”
^ This
Diaz is a two-point striker in an eight-point sport. Not only that, he is a two-point striker with mediocre footwork. The guy has excellent hands, but he can’t cut off the ring. The really great strikers in MMA don’t just follow guys around when they run. They use their footwork to cut their opponent off and impose their will. Diaz proved incapable of doing that last night.
Some people are speculating that Nick’s “retirement” from MMA is a ploy to dip his toe into boxing. Assuming Zuffa lets that happen (they won’t), he is in for a rude awakening. High level boxers will show him what ‘point fighting’ really looks like. If he thinks boxers are just going to stand in front of him he has another thing coming. They will dance around him all night and pepper him with shots on their way to a lopsided decision. Nick just doesn’t have the footwork to make it as a championship caliber boxer.
I too had it 48-47 and the two rounds Diaz won were so close they legit could have swung Condit’s way as well. It was a close fight but there was one guy who was clearly landing more strikes consistently and that was Condit. Diaz can whine about pushing Condit back but if you’re not landing strikes while walking someone back and the other guy is hitting you the whole time, you weren’t being successful in your gameplan.
Diaz needs to grow up and mature (might be too late for that) but he always acts like such an immature baby after losses or in situations with fighters he doesn’t like. It’s really getting old and he couldn’t have come off worse.
Now personally I would prefer if GSP did what some boxers do in this situation and gave up his belt to forego Condit next so he can fight Diaz. There’s way too much heat there not to make that fight. Then they can have a Condit defense on another show (maybe against Koscheck to have another face-heel dynamic?) and the winners can face off on show afterward. That gives UFC three PPV headliners over the next 6-9 months to play with rather than one.
Give up the belt to fight a guy who the #1 contender just clearly beat?
That would be a terrible idea.
lots of outage over the ME decision, greatly unfounded. snowden is trying to make condit out to be kalib stanes.
why is it wrong to evade strikes where your opponent is strong, and make them when you have the advantage?
I don’t know who’s crying more, Dana White or Dave Meltzer. I love Dave to death, don’t get me wrong, but the GSP/Diaz would have been the best count down show ever plus the promos would be the best that we’ve ever seen with legit heat in ???? (Maybe Tyson vs Lennox Lewis)
I guess they have no choice now but to do Johny Hendricks/Diaz for the winner of Condit/GSP.
“…GSP/Diaz would have been the best count down show ever…”
I suppose its true that Diaz/GSP would have been the more popular fight.
But I’m happy that one of the best aspects of this sport is that with fair matchmaking its not always the more popular fighter who wins, but usually the better one.
I’ll also admit that I felt that Condit deserved the title shot more than Diaz.
I like Diaz and would have been okay with it if he won (he would have then earned it), but I’m also okay with not rewarding Diaz’ bad attitudes or Ceasar’s manipultive BS with a spot at the top of the food chain.
I dont care as much about popular money fights as I do good fights between good fighters and rewarding people who’ve earned it.
I also thought the fight was closer than the 49-46’s.
48-47 does seem more appropriate.
But the right guy still won.
Dave and Snowden are guys who are huge on the showbiz aspect of MMA, so this is to be expected. Condit, despite his forced “I’M SO CRAZY I NAMED MYSELF AFTER AN OVERRATED OLIVER STONE MOVIE!!!!” aspect, isn’t going to provide a 10th of the showbiz aspect Nick Diaz would. And as MMA fans hate to admit, the showbiz is what draws in the casuals to get those monster PPV numbers. So, shame on them for wishing UFC could have made a lot more money?
Anyone listening to Snowden about anything is a fool, the guy is the biggest Nick Diaz fanboy there is on the net.
I gotta say I thought Condit looked better than he’s ever looked tonight, he totally schooled Diaz and it was a masterfull gameplan from Greg Jackson.
This was the worst thing that could happen to GSP, Condit is a killer but alot of times he was too wild and it cost him. If a more technical and smarter Carlos shows up again, GSP will be SOL because Condit won’t let up on him on the feet or on the ground.
Truly it was great seeing Condit reach his potential and expose Nick all in one shot. The best thing is the crying fanboys making excuses for what happened, I haven’t laughed this hard since Fedor got tapped.
“Anyone listening to Snowden about anything is a fool…”
To say the least.
“…the guy is the biggest Nick Diaz fanboy there is on the net.”
And thats not even one of his worst attributes by far.
And what would those be?
I don’t have any problem with the decision in Condit-Diaz. I personally had it 3-2 for Diaz, giving him 1,2,and 5. But some of the rounds were exceptionally close and I can certainly understand other scores.
Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields lost his title fight to GSP.
Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz lost his title fight to Condit.
Henderson will lose to Jones/Evans.
Will Overeem continue the streak?
Only guy from SF who ever had a chance against any of the champs was Gilbert Melendez.
Dude. . . its not Pride v. UFC again.
And I love how you leave out the fact that all of those guys also have quality wins since coming ot the UFC as well. Retiring Penn and Lesnar, beating Shogun, I mean it’s not like the SF champs have not looked like they belong.
I also agree with this.
Amen. This is so laughable. “GUYS WHO USED TO FIGHT IN UFC, WENT TO STRIKEFORCE, THEN CAME BACK TO UFC AREN’T AS GOOD AS GUYS WHO DIRECTLY SIGNED TO UFC BECAUSE THEIR CONTRACT WAS UP!”
The buyout meant you had to retool your baiting, 45.
Now that I think about it, all of your baiting topics are obsolete. Nobody cares about Fedor anymore, everybody has written Japan off for dead, people are used to Dana owning the universe. I guess all you’ve got left is supporting Zuffa’s stance on money.
Retooling my honest opinion? Nope.
A year back, I saw many fans picking 3 to 4 Strikeforce Champions over UFC Champions if those fights ever took place.
And yet the Strikeforce Champion’s record in the UFC so far has been a combined 3-3. These are the same guys who had a collective 34 fight win streak between them before entering the UFC. How do they go from 34 straight wins to a .500 record?
What it comes down to is that fans continue to have a lack of idea of strength of schedule, even within the UFC itself. They see win streaks and they clamour for title shots. To give you a UFC type of example…. Look at Mark Hominick. The guys been a mid tier fighter his entire career with a huge hole in his game. But because he had a 5 fight win streak, fans were okay with him getting a title shot. Never made sense.
Nick Diaz never even deserved to be in the position he was in. His best win in Strikeforce was Paul Daley. And then he comes to the UFC and gets a Lightweight who has 1 win at Welterweight in the last 5 years.
Outside of Heavyweight (which continue to be a crap shoot), there is no reason for a guy to look like a complete amateur like Diaz did in a title fight. It means he wasn’t properly matched up previously to make sure he was worthy of a title shot.
Carlos Condit was physically sick and had no power in his punches throughout most of the fight. And yet he looked like a super hero compared to Diaz.
Who are these fans? The one place they may have made that argument was at heavyweight, and given how Overeem dismissed Lesnar, I see no reason to consider him a disappointment.
Do you ever add anything good to a conversation? Or do you just come to put down other people’s comments? Because I never really see you adding much.
Like I said…. Go check out from a year ago, and there were multiple posts on The UG or Sherdog… or comments on BE…. Where people were picking the majority of the SF champions over UFC fighters.
Well, if you count Fedor even though he wasn’t a Strikeforce champion this is partially true. Partially because it was not a widespread opinion but some people did say it. But more people gave credit to the UFC champions.
1) I’d say online opinion was 50/50 Fedor could beat Lesnar, but maybe 60/40 thinking Lesnar was too big for him. But most people took the Dave Meltzer stance of “I won’t pick against Fedor until he loses.”
2) A small amount of people did believe Overeem could beat Lesnar. Man, that was certainly a crazy opinion that could have never happened, right?
3) Some people did think Gilbert would beat BJ by decision. But is that really so crazy? It’s very possible he could have. I always thought that was a pick ’em fight. Saying Aoki could beat BJ was stupid, but Melendez even before BJ fell off had a chance.
So really only saying Fedor would beat Lesnar looks ridiculous in 2012. One outcome really did happen and the other is a valid possibility. It’s not like they said Robbie Lawler could beat Anderson Silva or something.
People were saying Mousasi could beat the UFC Champion. That Souza could beat Silva. Heck, there was a vocal crowd saying Cung Le could beat Silva.
It goes on and on.
And yet none of them so far have been able to capture a championship.
Condit won but that fight was lame and I’ll never get excited to see him again.
Awww, thats sad.
MMA just hasn’t been exciting to you anymore without Kimbo Slice.
“Condit won but that fight was lame and I’ll never get excited to see him again.”
LOL
Condit has a 95% finish rate and you are done with him because he decided to outpoint a guy for the first time in his career? Your loss.
I stand corrected. I cant wait for the GSP vs Condit out point fest.
Just now seeing the new intro, didn’t care for it.
Gaudy, juvenile and distracting.
Seemed to be squarely directed at actual and intellectual twelve year olds.
Ugh.
UFC fans are rooting for UFC to get some strong business going again. They know Nick Diaz could become one of their biggest stars, at the very least as big of a star as Josh Koscheck was leading up to the GSP fight. That’s all it really is. So doing this “YOU DON’T KNOW MMA IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE FIGHT OUTCOME!!!!!!” is kind of over reacting.
Plus they know Condit/GSP could turn into a really bland fight and it’s much more interesting to see if Diaz could use Jiu Jitsu on GSP when he’s taken down repeatedly. Not being as excited about GSP v Condit doesn’t mean you’re only interested in dumb slugfests.
“…and if ya try sometimes ya just might find….”
No, but it distracts from the biggest point of letting people fight for certain spots in the pecking order. Diaz lost to one of the only top contenders in the UFC that he at least had a decent style match up with. People who still want to see Diaz fight GSP just because of “bad blood” (that was manufactured just a few months ago) aren’t realistic. And that’s coming from a huge Diaz fan.
Nick Diaz is still a great fighter, however he just lost. This is the UFC though. He could have another title shot in three fights. Win over, say, DHK. Then Josh Koscheck, and (insert top contender here). He’s got his shot at GSP.
I don’t think anybody is saying they should give him the shot anyway. A few people want a rematch before the GSP fight is given out, but that’s a tiny fringe opinion.
I’m just saying some people turning this into the 2012 version “If you don’t like Machida you’re a bloodthirsty mook” is a little much. They’re just peeved the match they really wanted isn’t happening. And it doesn’t matter to them if Diaz is really GSP’s best buddy and is faking everything, it’s going to be more entertaining than a fight just built around wondering how GSP’s knee is going to hold up. Yay, we get more Rogan stories about how he couldn’t clean his apartment with his ACL damage.
It’s like people expected Condit to just be a punching bag for Diaz.
He’d circle out and then pepper Diaz with shots. Who was it that was going for takedowns as the fight went along? Is wasn’t Condit, that’s for sure. Condit’s strikes would have knocked out anyone else in the world.
http://i44.tinypic.com/282hrvo.gif
Condit made Diaz look and feel like a fool.
“It’s like people expected Condit to just be a punching bag for Diaz.”
UFC has been refashioning itself to expand its appeal to screeching 12 year olds on twitter.
Its true that there’s a lot of money in that, The Brock, Kimbo Slice and TUF all prove it, but not all money is good money.
Thats the same chasing every last buck attitude that changed actual wrestling into pro-rasslin.
Meanwhile in grown up world:
Diaz flurries 10-15 strike combos against wall pinned opponents using no footwork.
Condit throws heavier 3 strike style combos with movement and range.
Condits technique turned out to be the more effective strategy when Diaz never adjusted his own style to compensate.
Condit adjusted to Diaz, Diaz never adjusted to condit.
It seems to me that after it became apparent that Condit was not going to let Diaz just walk him into the fence and then stand there, that Diaz should have started either shooting in or grabbing Condit when he did get him near the fence by round 2.
Despite the childrens screeching disappointment that they didn’t get to see Diaz perform his trick, the arguably droll spectacle of watching Diaz plod flatfooted from one side of the cage to the other was Diaz’ fault, not Condits for applying the proper response to it.
If they can’t make Mir x Barnett, how about Mir x Werdum? I’d sign up for that.
I would do that and Cain-Bigfoot, Werdum looked the best I have ever seen him, well at least his striking did.
Not a great ppv last night. Not bad, but not great. Fight of the night was probably Werdum/Nelson, even though Werdum pretty much dominated. Man, as tough as Nelson is, he is probably going to end up a vegetable if he keeps taking beatings like he did against JDS and Werdum. I had it 48-47 Condit. Diaz was just exposed as a two-gear striker that he has always been.
One aspect that Diaz sucks at when it comes to striking? High kicks. His high kicks are terrible. No power, no technique, very little speed. It’s almost like he is just relying on his flexibility with his high kicks. Condit’s were much better, and his were only about average. Scott Thompson’s high kicks on the other hand……..a thing of beauty.
Condit gameplan = snoozefest. I have zero interest in paying a cent for GSP v. Condit. Are you kidding me? My doctor should prescribe that for my insomnia.
Professional sports is entertainment. All interest in last night’s fight was due to Diaz. Love or hate him, you have an opinion. Condit or GSP –> couldn’t care less.
May I suggest WWE to you sir.
Its a wonderland of action and excitement were your favorite fighter always wins in dramatic fashion and gets the girl in the end.
No sir, those would be “Hollywood movies”. It’s funny, because two of my favorite wrestlers for almost a decade now (CM Punk and Daniel Bryan aka American Dragon) are the WWE champs (Punk is the WWE world champ, and Bryan the World Heavyweight champ) and I hardly ever watch WWE. Maybe I should finally get a DVR.
“No sir, those would be “Hollywood movies”.”
Well I suppose hollywood movies share some similarities, but hollywood movies aren’t real.
I find anybody who says Diaz was “exposed” last night completely off base.
I mean we all have seen Diaz perform for years right? We saw the fight with Riggs. We saw the fight with Noons (which was a lot closer than anybody like to talk about). We all saw how Cyborg hit him hard with leg kicks for two or three rounds before remembering he was a journeymen. What exactly did all of you expect (the people who thought Diaz was unbeatable standing, or the people who were looking for a reason to discount him)?
I have been a huuuge Diaz fan for years, and I thought Condit would win. Diaz has the best boxing in MMA. However, his kickboxing isn’t the best quality. He has damn near terrible wrestling, and his JJ game gets completely nullified when he’s against a fighter with even decent takedown defense.
It will never happen because he’ll end up staying in MMA. But I hope he moves to boxing soooooooooooooooo bad. Diaz vs. anybody in the 10-20 range at 168 after a scrub or two.
“I find anybody who says Diaz was “exposed” last night completely off base.”
Eh, I wouldn’t say… completely.
I would say that the key to THAT Nick Diaz has been supplied.
The flatfooted self imagined boxer Nick Diaz in an MMA cage.
Although Diaz is a more rounded MMA fighter then that and could close that back door by remembering that fact, if he does insist on being a boxer he would probably benifit from the roped square where it will be much easier to pin a guy in a hard corner and with much less room for an opponent to maneuver.
Whatever.
He should do what he has a passion for if he can.
(And I wouldn’t mind seeing all the twerps complaining about not arranging an undeserved title fight that they preferred rage quitting MMA along with him.)
I miss PRIDE.
I think that the 10-point must system, the judges and their subjective criteria should all be thrown out.
HOWEVER, not because of this fight. I think this is a rare instance where they actually got it right!
I think it was Nick’s corner that screwed it for him. On the same week that Angelo Dundee died, it’s ironic that his famous “you’re blowing it son” speech is what Nick needed.
I would be surprised if Diego Sanchez won. He hasn’t looked good since getting wrecked by BJ Penn. That fight seemed to have ruin him. I had him beating Kampmann in a close fight, but that had to do more with another horrible Kampmann gameplan.
I also think Hendricks will beat Koscheck in May…. Giving GSP at least 3 fresh new challengers.
I enjoyed how PeeWee and Struve were consistently respectful of each other.
I dont mean just respecting the danger, but waiting to straighten a glove, etc.
Thats good to see.
Struve looked real improved.
I expected PeeWee to walk through him.
People kept saying that Struve was going to grow into himself, maybe they were right.
I like the Announcer team also.
I dont know who they are (John Anik?) but they sound good IMO.
Is PeeWee with Xtreme couture now?
His wrestling was real lacking, he needs to fix that.
Diego’s hands are not as good as he seems to think they are.
He needs to get back to wrestling and GNPing IMO.
His hands just aren’t fast enough to win standing against a good striker, like the Penn fight, but if he would use his wrestling to pin his opponent first, like he used to, than the speed difference wouldn’t matter as much.
Fighting smart>Brawling to impress 12 year olds.
At least if you value your W colummn.
Anik and Kenny Florian announced. And I agree, I will take them any day of the week over Goldberg and Rogan. Goldberg can’t stop his cliches and Rogan’s need to constantly get himself over as the MMA purist genius and parrot shrieking gets on my nerves. Go get any random Underground troll and they’ll do the same job as Rogan. Or if you want a comedian with an annoying voice, go get Gilbert Gottfried, at least his comedy has made people laugh once or twice. Unlike “Marijuana is awesome! My ballhairs are gray now! Tigers are crazy amiright!”
And I love how Herman has combined the excessive bodyhair of a young Andrei Arlovski with Kimbo Slice’s hobo beard. That guy is a license to print money. 🙂
1) Anik is getting better. Florian is getting much worse. I think they need to replace him soon.
2) I like how the Glazier portions of the Fuel TV telecasts feature a different fighter every time. It gives fans a sense of their true personalities.
3) Ellenberger doesn’t have a good gas tank, but boy is he talented.
4) Ellenberger vs. Condit for the FOX 4 Main Event makes a lot of sense.
5) Struve is starting to improve. I saw it somewhat in his loss to Browne a few fights back. But it is obvious that he is making the necessary steps to improve his game and gain the muscle he needs. He is still so young that he could be a future champion if he continues to make improvements. But that is at least a few years away. Either way, I always enjoy his fights.
Overall a fun show. I enjoy the 3 hour format, along with the pre and post fight shows. Perhaps I am still use to the dark ages of barely finding fight footage online weeks after an event. But these FOX telecasts continue to impress me.
And I am really interested in seeing how many viewers this event gets. I could see it getting at low as 150,000. And then again, I could see a small chance of it hitting 400,000 viewers. My guess wil be closer to the 250,000 range.
“Dana White said today that from this point forward, once new contracts are executed, all main events on television shows will be five rounds after the three-round Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Ellenberger fight.”
I thought he said that maybe 7 months ago. Todd Martin is still eating crow as Alvarez won that bet, but it’s about time as round 4/5 Diego had the cardio to win the fight.
So it’s Jake vs Condit to face GSP, but if there’s an injury it will be the winner of Kos/Hendrix.
Everything about the show gets a big thumbs up from me. I loved the format, it was better than any Spike show. The production was slick (not counting the abrupt commercials), the format of having more fights and less jibber jabber about pay-per-views was what they needed, and Anik is much more enjoyable to listen to than Mike Goldberg IMO.
There wasn’t a bad fight on the show, either. So it’s too bad so many people do not get Fuel because they instantly got the correct way to present MMA. Unlike the crappy FOX shows.
And maybe I’m the last person to realize this, but the way Edgar was shot makes him look like Robert DeNiro’s long lost son. But he has the personality of week old Wonderbread, still.
I did not even know that this event had taken place.
How about that fat referee with the fightwear logo tattooed to the back of his skull?
I’d like to buy that man a sarsaparilla!
[…] Fight Opinion breaks down all February fights. […]
I’m not sure how you can figure out the make up of fans attending a show. Did all the PRIDE fans come in PRIDE shirts, all the hardcores in Shooto shirts, the boxing fans in a Pacquiao shirt, with the concert goers donning their Whitney Houston hoodies?
No, based on who’s showing up at weigh-ins, who has tickets, social media, so on and so forth.
For example, there’s quite a bit of chatter in Japanese social media circles from WWE fans there who are going to SSA tomorrow. Lots of anecdotal talk.
It’s going to be a very unique crowd tomorrow.
Quinton Jackson is his own worst enemy. Half of his losses were avoidable. His UFC Title run ended short because of a big under performance to Forrest Griffin. I’m not saying he would have been the best ever in the sport. But he certainly would have a better legacy.
Not to mention he knows so little about the sport he participates in. Ariel Helwani has an interview with him on MMA Fighting where they are discussing the fall of MMA in Japan. Quinton is rather clueless as to why it happened.
He did seem up-to-date on his video games, though 😉
Zach,
I’m very interested and curious, maybe even intrigued, about the show tonight and I’m looking forward to all the posts with analysis here. Please keep’em coming. Would like to hear the impression people in Japan are getting. I might be totally off base here and buying PR, but so far I’m a bit impressed as things are turning out a bit better than I expected, and Im happy for it.
Judging by the fan noise for the Facebook prelim…. This is not the typical Pride type of crowd. Already much louder then normal for a Japanese MMA crowd. It was actually loser to American noise.
And the seats were almost blacked out. Either they are doing this now on to shade the empty seats for the prelims…. Or it’s just the SSA is going to look due to it being a 15,000 crowd instead of a 50,000 crowd.
FWIW my pics are – Mizugaki, Fukuda, Gomi, KID, Boetsch, J-Lau, Bart, Akiyama, Hunt, Rampage, Edgar.
Bet against them all and retire a rich man/woman!
Lee vs Yamamoto is the reason why I watch MMA
I wonder how Zuffa is going to handle the fan backlash when Akiyama enters the arena. Akiyama hasn’t been a fan favorite for years after his infamous match with Sakuraba.
Why this has me puzzled? They’ve been promoting Akiyama as a national hero in their broadcasts. Which he is not.
War Gomi!
Haha…I never thought that I would be able to see Gomi throwing arm punches at a downed opponent looking at the ref and saying that the opponent was out. Vintage stoppage…he outlasted his opponent.
Man I miss this kind of JMMA.
Hatsu Hioki deserves the next title shot against Jose Aldo. I don’t see any other way around it.
Perhaps put it as a co-main event on one of the upcoming PPV’s to strengthen the card.
As much as I would love to say Hioki would get wrecked, I think i might actually be a closer fight. Hioki has never been finished in his career.
I picked Boetsch to win, and it looked like a bad pic for 2 rounds. Great comeback….
Akiyama is the Korean Snooki. Lay off the tanning beds….
I was thinking the Japanese Donald Trump.
Went well IMO.
Crowd seemed a decent size.
Nowhere near prides heyday, but bigger then I expected.
It stretched out there a little bit into the darkness.
But lol @ 1/4 the size of a Pride card and 4 times as loud.
I guess every rowdy no-goodnick embarrassment to their family in Japan must have showed up.
I actually forgot is was Japan for a sec and was feeling my usual background irritation at the ole MMA drunk fratboy ambiance, until I saw their faces and then I remembered we were in Japan.
And then I remembered to close my mouth.
They screamed, chanted, whistled, made crazy faces at the camera,
they even booed!
UFC made their inner obnoxious murikans come out.
UFC did well that pretty much all the Japanese guys looked good.
Plus a few snazzy finish’s by the Gaijins.
We knew the card looked good, but I think the matchmaking may have been even slicker than it seemed.
Kind of sad for Okami though.
First he was just unknown in Japan, I was hoping this could fix that, then to lose that way.
I wonder if they’ll remember how well he did before the end?
Akiyama lost, but looked great doing it IMO.
Looked better then shields did winning.
Happy for Hunt, I always am.
Although I did think the stop was fast.
Yeah Kongo looked like he was going to parts down there, but he wasn’t going to actually die if Dean gave him once last chance to scramble.
He was trying to move but he sure wasn’t going to be able to scramble out with Hunt AND Dean climbing all over him.
Bader looked good and I’m glad.
That Tito KO might have just been one of those lucky flashes that hit you harder because your not expecting it.
Jackson also looked pretty good… for 2 minutes.
His body looked terrible.
That was the one big flub on the card for UFC’s POV.
They should know by know what a flake he is and should probably have given him something much simpler just for the Japanese crowd.
Wow, Henderson looked possessed!
And big!
But if he can weigh in then its fair.
The last fight I saw by him in in the WEC I thought he was terribly boring.
This didn’t look like the same guy at all!
And man Frankie is tough.
That deserves another go round one day.
Great main for a great card IMO.
I wonder if the Japanese liked it.
I see some people who called the fight for Edgar. I just don’t see it. I am an Edgar fan…. but he got beat up and lost at least 3 rounds. Personally, I had Henderson winning 4 rounds with 1 of them being close.
This is the big problem I see with the UFC using these stats during their telecasts now. Fans look at it as point fighting, which it is not. A fighter can land 100 punches from the bottom and yet all of those strikes together wouldn’t mean as much as a punch that almost KO’s a fighter.
I had Edgar winning every round except for the second because of the upkick. He landed more flush shots, and got more takedowns by a lot.
If this isn’t point fighting then Condit should have lost to Diaz (which he didn’t), and Edgar should have lost to Gray and BJ in their first fights respectively.
Great fight. I have a sneaking suspicion that if the same judges who scored the Shields fight scored the Edgar fight they would have Edgar winning but I could be totally wrong.
More flush shots? Point fighting?
Did you see Edgar’s face?
Henderson hit him with the harder more effective strikes throughout the fight. Edgar’s kicks had zero impact. His punches barely did anything. Henderson was constantly effecting Edgar with his strikes.
He was swelled up after the first round. It was gonna swell up the rest of the fight no matter what. He was landing right hands, and counter hooks at will on Ben not to mention taking him down whenever he wanted.
Again, if we’re going with the “look at his face” or “the other guy’s shots were definitely harder” then he probably would never be champ (because I doubt BJ gives him a rematch after the first fight if he wins). And definitely loses to Maynard in their first fight no question.
Comparing this fight with several that have happened recently (especially the one that happened earlier on this same card between akiyama and Shieds), i see very little consistency in judging fights. We are either going to count things that score points or not.
Shields and Akiyama each got 2 takedowns and Shields outstruck him 119 to 52. Despite Akiyama hitting him harder, the number of strikes was such a difference that it was an easy decision for Shields. Fightmetric had it for Shields.
Now that fight is nothing like Henderson/Edgar.
Henderson landed MORE strikes…. Which were harder as well. 100 to 81. And the takedowns Edgar landed (5 to 1)…. In which he barely kept him down at all.
By Fightmetric stats, Henderson won 4 rounds to 1.
Now compare that to Condit/Diaz…. Where Condit also oustruck his opponent. And they had him winning 48-47.
There is ZERO inconsistency.
And I have been one of the most vocal people about the fight numbers. But I am using them here ONLY to show by at least one way…. The judges are doing it right each time.
The only bad decision on the card as Mizugaki getting robbed.
fight metric said it was more. Compus trike has it as right at about even, and Frankie’s power punches landed about 15 more. Add in the takedowns and Edgar had more points.
The point is Strikes were right at about even, because few people actually agree with what fight metric has to say about this fight so far (they’re not the only stat counting site).
There is A LOT (Yay capital letters) of inconsistency. Because according to Compustrike Condit didn’t land more than Diaz.
Remember, Fight metric isn’t the only site for stat counting purposes.
COMP is not live at the fights. Fightmetric has a front row seat. I can tell you from my TV screen I can’t tell you half of the punches that land. So COMP is useless.
And I used the same company for all 3 of my examples to show that judges got it right all 3 times.
Edgar/Henderson tied on the number of strikes for the first round. Henderson outstruck him the last 4 rounds. And Henderson hit him with the HARDER strikes all night long.
Edgar is a Featherweight and was hitting with FEATHWEIGHT strength. Henderson was hitting with LIGHTWEIGHT strength. It was obvious the entire fight.
And for comparison purposes Sherdog, MMAfighting, bloodyelbow, and prommanow have the fight for Frankie Edgar (either 48-47 or 49-46). MMAweekly has it for Ben. Can’t get to Junkie for some reason.
That’s a complete moot point because being at the fight is a hindrance half the time. Because of angles, there is always talk about getting judges monitors. Being there isn’t terrible, but it is no means everything.
I’m not saying Bens shots didn’t hurt more. What I’m saying is Edgar’s shots landed flush more often, and coupled with the takedowns that is more points scored.
Meltzer and Junkie had it for Henderson. What’s your point?
Goldie and Rogan were talking like Henderson was winning. All 3 judges had it for Henderson.
Plus, a lot of the guys who usually go to the events were not there. So there was very little live perspective from the guys online keeping score this time around.
Besides, you continue to ignore my point. Which is that you are saying things are inconsistent…. And yet there is a stat tracker website that is there live at the events that says by the numbers alone…. The judges were right on all 3.
You can quote another stat tracker that watches a TV screen all you want. The fact remains that you are wrong. There is no inconsistency going on.
The point was that I thought edgar won, many other places (more places than not) agreed with me, and that there was a feeling of inconsistency. Just because you keep pointing to the fact that “hey fight metric has this”, doesn’t add any relevancy because there is another stat checking website that completely disagrees.
Being there as we’ve seen in the past does not make a point any more relevant than one closely watching on a monitor.
And Rogan wasn’t talking like Henderson was winning. He was toeing the line with everything he said just so he could go to certain talking points after the fight for whoever won.
So the fact remain, you are wrong. There is a great amount of inconsistency.
Joe Silva had Ben Henderson winning by a “landslide” according to Dana White. Silva is the premiere mind of MMA. I highly doubt he was wrong on this one.
The facts are there. Condit and Henderson both landed the more strikes. Heck, they landed the best shots of their respective fights. There is zero inconsistency.
Heck, I was cheering for Condit and Edgar in their respective fights. And yet I thought one won and the other lost.
The judges were clear cut on both fights. In fact, they both got the same scores I basically had. So is my scoring inconsistent as well, despite cheering for Edgar during the fight. I highly doubt it.
Silva is the premiere mind on MMA? Wow, you gotta be freaking kidding me.
No the stats point to Diaz landing more against Condit actually. And they point to Edgar landing at a rate quite close Ben while landing close to 15 more power shots (non jabs).
Diaz was landing the harder shots in the contest with Condit. His body shots were the hardest of the fight, and he landed quite a few to Condits face that were harder than most condit threw.
Edgar and Condit fought completely different fights because Edgar has the 7 (or 5 if you believe fight metric) takedowns added in.
I shall also point out that Joe Silva looked happy with the Condit/Diaz decision.
Now is Joe Silva inconsistent as well?
Man, this conspiracy runs deep!!
Nope, just the better fighters winning and the judges getting it right….
“No the stats point to Diaz landing more against Condit actually.”
Condit outstruck him 159 to 117. And he outstruck him 4 out of 5 rounds. Significant strikes was even more in Condit’s favor.
And you are seriously going to question Joe Silva here? Now you are grasping at straws. The guy knows the fight game better then anybody else in the world.
I was looking at the wrong fight. Condit did land more than Diaz on compustrike. But it does also have Edgar landing on par with Ben.
Okay, so you are wrong on Diaz/Condit.
And on Edgar/Henderson…. You keep using the stats that help your case…. The ones who watch it on television. Instead of the stats that are from the company that has a front row seat at the event and can see the shots as they happen.
Henderson won. He deserved it. The judges were consistent. And he won by a landslide!!
Good Night.
“And you are seriously going to question Joe Silva here?”
Are you seriously going to point to Silva as some type of MMS god? I know your Zuffa ball sucking runs deep but cmon now.
“Now you are grasping at straws.”
Now I know that’s one of your favorite sayings to use but it doesn’t work here.
“Man, this conspiracy runs deep!!
Nope, just the better fighters winning and the judges getting it right…”
Nobody said anything about a conspiracy theory. It appears you’re just grasping at straws now.
Just like Chris Cariaso against Mizugaki, Josh Koscheck against Pierce, and frankie against Penn 1 were the right decisions too right?
Yes, just like your’e using people being at the fight as a much better view point when you yourself in the past have talked about how much the cage view can obstruct during fights. Plus your stats from the Condit-Diaz fight were not compustrike authentic so that point gets thrown out too.
Plus you have yet to say anything about the 7 takedowns gained by Edgar which apparently just vanish into thin air.
Nice job, the judging is still inconsistent and you have run away. Congratulations.
If you want a good laugh, check out the fightmetric stats of the edgar-henderson fight then go check out compustrike’s. How do two stat counting websites have a fight that just happened completely different.
That sounds weird.
Links?
Found Fightmetric
http://blog.fightmetric.com/2012/02/henderson-vs-edgar-official-ufc.html
Do you have to be logged in for compustrike or something?
Yep very annoying.
Rampage is a bum.
WEC never die.