Friend of our site


MMA Headlines


UFC HP


Bleacher Report


MMA Fighting


MMA Torch


MMA Weekly


Sherdog (News)


Sherdog (Articles)


Liver Kick


MMA Junkie


MMA Mania


MMA Ratings


Rating Fights


Yahoo MMA Blog


MMA Betting


Search this site



Latest Articles


News Corner


MMA Rising


Audio Corner


Oddscast


Sherdog Radio


Video Corner


Fight Hub


Special thanks to...

Link Rolodex

Site Index


To access our list of posting topics and archives, click here.

Friend of our site


Buy and sell MMA photos at MMA Prints

Site feedback


Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

« | Home | »

Open UFC thread

By Zach Arnold | December 30, 2006

Print Friendly and PDF

Have at it in the comments section. Talk about the ongoing UFC 66 show taking place in Las Vegas, or discuss the entry of Rampage and Mirko into UFC.

Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

15 Responses to “Open UFC thread”

  1. Tomer Chen says:

    So, with Chuck’s latest TKO victory over Tito Ortiz, that makes 4 successful MW/LHW title defenses (ties Frank Shamrock and is 1 short of Tito’s record). Given that the Forrest Griffin potential money fight just went out the window with his loss to Keith Jardine, who will UFC place Chuck with next? Maybe Rampage (after 1-2 fights for him), but other than that, I think the LHW is pretty shallow.

    And Leben losing sends him further down the MW food chain. So, two of the guys that the UFC has been trying to build/hype up losing pretty decisively in one night. Not a great thing, but that’s the breaks when the fights aren’t predetermined.

  2. PizzaChef says:

    I think the CroCop and Rampage announcements were kind of….anti-climatic if that’s the proper term. Just no big huge hyped up announcement, they were just announced in a commercial for UFC 67.

  3. Tomer Chen says:

    I guess Bisping and Evans would be two other guys, but both of them have a while to go before they’d be deserving of a title shot at Chuck.

  4. Zach Arnold says:

    Pizza – the reality is that as much as we know Mirko and Rampage to be elite fighters, that casual UFC audience barely knows them if at all. Hence why they probably chose to go low-key. They’re going to have to “market them” up, as they say, to a new audience. That will take some time.

    Jardine is a tough, tough fighter. Paid only $7,000 base for his fight, yet he’s given enormous trouble to Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin now. Really training with a good camp as well.

  5. iain says:

    I loved the blurry WFA footage of rampage and lindland.

    Rampage’s addition saves the LHW picture on the short term. Let’s hope he can get back to the form he was on before his post accident slump.

    Mirko might be THE star for the HW div. Still though THE premiere hw fight is him and Fedor. I’m bummed we won’t see the best fight. And holy crap imagine the Sylvia hate there would be if Tim beats him? oh man. Unlikely though, leg kicks will bring the giant down.

    I agree with pizzachef, they could of put page on the mic!

  6. PizzaChef says:

    Zach: I agree but the same could of been said about BJ Penn yet they brought him out to the octagon to introduce him and such.

  7. JThue says:

    Yeah, the presentation of Rampage and Cro Cop was just fine. No one has entered from outside with that much hype in recent memory, and hype or not, they’ll both have to make their names almost from scratch anyway. Besides, Rogan creaming his pants was great stuff :). Rampage needs to be on one of them there All Access or whatever shows ASAP.

    Goldberg: “MIRKO CRO COP …… againsteddiesanchez.”

    😀

    Good to see Arlovski and Gonzaga step up.

  8. JThue says:

    Pizza: BJ was coming BACK. Big difference.

  9. Oltmann says:

    I think the UFC HW division will be nothing but Mirko kicking cans in the head for the next two years, and that will be a HUGE improvement.

    UFC fans will fall in love with him after the first head kick, he will reign over the division as long as he wants, then he will become a popular action movie star, and governor of California by 2022.

    Still, after this amazing life, on his deathbed his last agonized word will be “Fedor!”

  10. CapnHulk says:

    And a snowglobe comes crashing to the floor?

  11. Mr. Roadblock says:

    Where is MMA Critic today? Maybe he’s hiding somewhere. I really wanted him to educate me about clean crisp striking. You know, the type of striking you don’t see in IFL, that you only see in UFC. I need him to smarten me up, because what I saw in Chuck v Tito was two counterpunchers not engaging and then I saw Chuck lobbing wild left hooks as he came in and following up with an arm punch wiht his right. I also saw Chuck breathing through his mouth and holding his hands by his waist for the entire 2nd and 3rd rounds, and the finish saw one punch landed to Tito’s face, 3 to his shoulder, 2 to his chest and one to the back of his head. It also looked like Tito was trying to get up when Mario stopped it. I was very unimpressed by Chuck. He looked out of shape. He better get dedicated to training or Jackson is going to demolish him.

    Also Arlovski/PDP was the fishiest end to a fight I’ve seen in a long time. Herb stops the fight for what really appeard to be an incidental kick to the face. One of the best ways to get out of a heel hook in that position is to slam your free heel in the opp’s chest and pull your own out. That’s what he was trying to do. Herb stops the fight then walks away and yells “GO” instead of being over them and motioning with his hands while saying “go”. But that’s not even my problem, Andrei held the fence with his left hand and rabbit punched PDP with his right. That was disgusting. I know Andrei is good for business and I’ve been a huge fan of his, but now I hope he gets crippled next time out.

  12. iain says:

    Thats true, roadblock! The arlovski ending was shady as hell. A fence grab finish, TONS of punches to the back of the head and a break due to an illegal kick!

    I really can’t wait for chuck rampage 2. Because I’m not sure if these kids are at the top of their game and it’s got huge hype on it!

    QUESTION: what’s next for tito?

  13. Zeus says:

    While I think it’s unfair to say that the card is all no namers…UFC 66 is FAR from star studded. For the most part it was the better of TUF fighters and a sprinkling of “who’s that”? Liddell vs. Ortiz was ELECTRIC though…I gotta think huge buys for that – but the result wasn’t a surprise at all, though I think Liddell didn’t really look at his best as he let Tito hang around too long and proved again that his gas tank isn’t too hot.

    UFC 67 however looks like it might blow the roof off the joint. However for those who LOVED criticizing the “Real Deal”…Cro Cop vs. Sanchez and Rampage vs. Eastman….Hopefully we’ll hear the fair and balanced opinion on that one (I’m not holding my breath – and I’m waiting for the same argument that was shot down in favour of PFC: “showcasing the fighters”).

  14. jondoe554 says:

    I must say I agree on Liddell being a bit lackluster – although a win is a win. What was Tito’s deal not attempting to shoot/take down Liddell? His home gameplan went down the tube – must have been either a mental block or pride issue as his standup is really not that great. He did catch Liddell with a few overheadrights – with Liddell’s wide open laid back stance, it is the best method/punch to take him out. Point in case his loss to Jackson. Watch the fight – Jackson continually cracked him with overhead looping roundhouse rights.

    UFC 67 will be mark my words the start of a new ERA in the UFC. It will be a incredible show and will showcase how talented Cro Cop really is. He brings what NO ONE in the current UFC utilizes well besides Pierre – the leg kick. No one in the UFC is used to it and will be able to stop it at first. I think he is going to face more of a challenge than most think in regards to Tim Silv due to his physical attributes, but nevertheless, he will be the next heavyweight champ. With Pierre being out it puts a slight damper on the UFC only educated fans, but once they see Jackson and Cro Cop fight all will be well 🙂

  15. paul says:

    we all know sylviawill get ko’d fast and he’s shitting bricks right now and cro cop will destroy anyone in ufc. so will rampage beet liddell? probably. then what? tuf wanna bees dont stand a chance.except for jardine and andre. more depth needed

Comments to Zach Arnold

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-spam image