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 | »

Moments of truth coming out of the UFC 114 event

By Zach Arnold | May 29, 2010

Print Friendly and PDF

“Moments away from the biggest fight in UFC history.” Stop it, Mike Goldberg. If the FCC opened up a Hall of Shameless for television personalities, Mike Goldberg would join Kevin Trudeau, Donald Barrett, Victor Davis Hanson, and Klee Irwin for “Most Hyperbolic television personality.”

Then, Joe Rogan kept saying that 9,000 people showed up at yesterday’s weigh-ins when most media reports claimed half the number at 4,500. Seriously?

Of course, every bit of anecdotal evidence suggests a monster buy rate. Jordan Breen:

Sidenote: lot of emailers saying they’ve called to order PPV, and their cable providers have remarked that they’re being swamped for UFC.

Dong Hyun Kim’s choke on Amir Sadollah using Amir’s own elbow was one of those moves you watch and you say, “How humiliating and torturous.” That would have been a forever-lasting image if Sadollah had been choked out that way in the fight. Why was Kim a +140 underdog going into this fight?

How can Diego Sanchez’s career be rescued?

Mike Tyson at an UFC event just begs for him to do a completely random run-in and say something goofy. Oh, if only he had been the special guest referee for Rampage vs. Rashad…

The conspiracy theorists are going to have a field day with the scoring for the Antonio Rogerio Nogueira/Jason Brilz fight. Holy $&$! Jason Brilz and Mike Russow as trending topics on Twitter proves the enormous branding power of UFC. This would never happen in any other fight promotion.

Everyone started doing their best Steve Cofield impersonation by crapping on Mike Russow for being “a bad body” and then, a funny thing happened… Josh Gross:

For those of you saying the punch was weak or Duffee has no chin, take a perfect shot on the temple from a 253 pound man & see how you fair.

And Dana White’s response: “Holy [expletive] [expletive]!!!!!”

Joey Odessa picking Dan Miller to beat Michael Bisping — stupid pick or brilliant work to get fish to put money on a losing proposition? If it’s the latter, should Jordan Breen be bringing him onto his show?

Speaking of Jordan, am I going to have to endure more “grown men fight five round fights” talk?

Rampage is going to win this round and we’re gonna get a lame decision. This is why grown men fight five rounds.

You know what all five-round MMA fights would get you? What you got on the CBS card last April in Nashville, that’s what. I can accept arguments for the PRIDE-style time set-up with a 10 minute round and 5 each after because a 10- minute round changes the dynamics for submission artists who can take advantage of the longer time frame. But the idea of every fight under Unified rules being five rounds? No thanks.

Tomas Rios actually scored round three of Rampage vs. Rashad a 10-10 round. Dave Meltzer treatment says no 10-10 scores! Rashad Evans won the main event with two judges giving him a 30-27 score? Hey, what was that again about people who want judges ‘who know the sport’ being ‘fricking retarded’? Just checking.

Rashad Evans is going to get massacred by Mauricio Shogun in the upcoming UFC Light Heavyweight title fight.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 49 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

49 Responses to “Moments of truth coming out of the UFC 114 event”

  1. Phil says:

    I agree with Jordan on the 5 rounds.

    Every fight shouldn’t be 5 rounds. 2 former world champions still ranked in the top 5 should be able to fight 5 rounds.

    In boxing your skill level and experience determines how many rounds the fight is, not if the promoter can find a shiny belt to give to the winner. I don’t get why mma isn’t the same way.

  2. Michaelthebox says:

    I hope Duffee keeps going, works a bit more on his gas tank, and diversifies his game. He showed a ton of talent.

    “How can Diego Sanchez’s career be rescued?”

    Go back to Jackson’s. He inexplicably turned into a mediocre kickboxer when he went to train with the Ribeiros.

    “Rashad Evans is going to get massacred by Mauricio Shogun in the upcoming UFC Light Heavyweight title fight.”

    Probably, but after tonight I hesitate to say any quality fighter is certain to lose.

  3. Chief says:

    What is the “Dave Meltzer treatment”?

    Ed — Click the link below that sentence and you’ll find out the answer.

  4. Michaelthebox says:

    On another note, anybody else interested by the crowd’s reaction to Rashad tonight? They booed him coming in, and I thought they’d boo the hell out of him after he won, just because of his gameplan. He got a ton of cheers though.

  5. David M says:

    LOL at suggesting this shouldn’t be a 5 round fight. Are you even conscious? Nobody is saying every fight should be five rounds, but the main event should. People buy ppvs to see the MAIN EVENT. They don’t care whether a belt is on the line, they just want to see 2 guys they know/care about fight. I can’t even justify how anyone could think that only title fights should be 5 rounds. The public deserved a finish to this fight, and we didn’t get one. Instead, we got Rashad holding Rampage against the fence for 7 minutes, 3 minutes of ground work, 30 seconds of punching, and 4.5 mins of standing around (all rough estimates). The point is, it sucks to spend all that money and not see the guys go into the deep water and fight for the full 25 minutes. This fight had some dramatic moments, and as the fighters would have gotten more tired in the 4th and 5th, the drama would have increased, and there would have likely been a finish or a more decisive end to the fight. In that respect this reminds me of Nog v Couture, which also was robbed of being a 5 rounder despite being the main event. I have no idea why Dana is so fucking dense on the topic of 5 round non-title fights. How can anyone say this is the biggest fight in UFC history if it lasts 3 fucking rounds. What a joke.

    • Michaelthebox says:

      “I have no idea why Dana is so fucking dense on the topic of 5 round non-title fights.”

      What in the world are you talking about.

      • David M says:

        NSAC approved 5 round non-title fights last year, but Dana won’t use them. Tonight’s fight was incredibly anticipated, and embarrassingly the main event lasted only 15 minutes. It robs the fans of a potential finish and takes away lots of drama. Both guys were fine after 3 rounds, and yet they weren’t given more time to show their stuff. If you pay 50 dollars for a fight, you want to see that fight deliver, and this fight didn’t have enough time to do so. Just like Nog v Couture, another non-title main event that only had 3 rounds and should have been 5.

        • Michaelthebox says:

          Wow, I hadn’t heard that.

          Fights where the winner will absolutely be the #1 contender should be 5 rounds. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say Dana is dense about it. Its a complex issue.

    • Mark says:

      Rashad trained for 3 rounds. If the fight was 5 rounds, unless they did a surprise announcement when everybody thought they’d read the decision after 3, he clearly would have used a different strategy. Surely you’re not expecting him to do his “work for 2 and half-ass the last round” deal against Shogun this winter. The fight wasn’t good, I don’t care that it didn’t go another 10 minutes. Just would have been more Rampage against the cage. Most 5 round fights suck anyway. But maybe watching tired guys stand around gasping for air and weakly jabbing and legkicking each other is your bag.

      Who is saying this was the biggest UFC fight of all-time? Unless the PPV does 1.6 million, it won’t be.

      They like to have title fights special by extending the rounds. It’s the MMA version of a 12 rounder. If they made every main event, even the shitty ones, 5 rounds it could lose something unless they’d move title fights to 7 rounds or something. And nobody in their right mind would want to see 35 minute GSP and Anderson Silva fights.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        I remember the guys at Sherdog actually asking for that one time. They wanted 3 round regular UFC fights. 5 round fighters for the better fighters. And 7 round for the champions.

        I thought it was insane.

        For every Melendez/Thomson 2…. There is Lawal/Mousasi, Melendez/Aoki, Shields/Henderson, & GSP/Hardy. No thanks. The score cards for those first 3 rounds determined the winners of the fight anyways.

      • David M says:

        Big boxing matches, whether for a title or not, are 12 rounds. 5 rounds is the appropriate length for a big mma fight. I am not advocating 7 round fights or anything like that. Main event matches, like title fights, deserve the extra 10 minutes.

      • David M says:

        Michaelthebox: What is complex about the issue? Everyone tonight came to see 1 fight and 1 fight only, and it lasted 3 rounds. That fight left everyone wanting more. Why should we not be allowed to see 5 round fights that don’t feature a title?

        • Michaelthebox says:

          I don’t really care to answer in depth, but basing any decision off a single fight is just a bad idea all around.

        • Mark says:

          Everybody I’ve seen hated this fight whether they like Rashad or not. It left them wanting more in the case that they wanted more fighting and less cage leaning, not wanting to see 10 more minutes of boringness.

          And you’re just assuming Evans would have gassed in round 3 if he knew the fight was longer. Realistically fighters train for 5 round endurance and he would have been fine. But instead he trained to make sure he won 2 out of 3 rounds. If it was a 5 rounder he would have trained to win 3 or 4 out of 5 rounds. It would have made no difference. It wasn’t like the Silva fight where he was starting to get in trouble at the end, I had him winning all 3 rounds.

          I don’t have a problem with 5 round non-title fights, but I also don’t have a problem if they don’t do it (and the UFC seems apathetic on it.) I don’t see how it’s a make or break issue to a fight’s success. This show probably did close to a million buys, it’s not like the promise of 2 more rounds would have added to it. And if it went 20 rounds Evans was still going to win because Evans was better prepared and Jackson hadn’t fought in forever.

          You also need to take into account for #1 contender fights they’re going to want the title fight to happen as soon as possible, and you’re risking a further chance of an injury to the winner delaying things. Evans has momentum now, if he broke his hand or threw out his back in the championship rounds the UFC would be screwed because they have no other LHW title contender anybody wants to see outside of Grandpa Randy getting murdered by Shogun.

  6. Zach Arnold says:

    LOL at suggesting this shouldn’t be a 5 round fight. Are you even conscious? Nobody is saying every fight should be five rounds, but the main event should.

    No, there’s definitely a belief that all fights should be five rounds.

    So, you want to change the Unified rules so that all main events on MMA cards across the country should be five rounds? (That would be an interesting debate.)

    I can’t even justify how anyone could think that only title fights should be 5 rounds. The public deserved a finish to this fight, and we didn’t get one.

    If you want to make an argument that the Unified rules should state that #1 contender’s matches and title bouts have five rounds, be my guest. That’s not how it is right now.

    Let me pose a question to you — what would increase finishes for fights, allowing knee strikes to a downed opponent (PRIDE-style) or having fights go five rounds?

    This fight had some dramatic moments, and as the fighters would have gotten more tired in the 4th and 5th, the drama would have increased, and there would have likely been a finish or a more decisive end to the fight.

    The three rounds we saw tonight were a microcosm of what a five round fight would be.

    Give me a % increase of a finish in MMA fights if the fights were five rounds instead of three. Let’s hear some numbers and arguments for this.

    How can anyone say this is the biggest fight in UFC history if it lasts 3 fucking rounds. What a joke.

    Well, you’re right, it was a joke to see Mike Goldberg push this as the biggest fight in MMA history.

    • David M says:

      “No, there’s definitely a belief that all fights should be five rounds.
      So, you want to change the Unified rules so that all main events on MMA cards across the country should be five rounds? (That would be an interesting debate.)”

      The NSAC has already approved 5 round non-title fights. http://www.watchkalibrun.com/2009/8/19/995561/nsac-approve-5-round-non-title

      They should be used for fights like the one tonite (the main event, of course), and future matches to determine #1 contender or other matches that are going to be main events of ppvs.

      “Let me pose a question to you — what would increase finishes for fights, allowing knee strikes to a downed opponent (PRIDE-style) or having fights go five rounds?”

      Both. Both should be utilized in the UFC.

      “The three rounds we saw tonight were a microcosm of what a five round fight would be.
      Give me a % increase of a finish in MMA fights if the fights were five rounds instead of three. Let’s hear some numbers and arguments for this.”

      First of all, as I stated, I think 5 round non-title fights should be used for main events of shows, and probably for #1 contender matches. Having the extra 2 rounds gives a fight an extra air of gravitas that is sorely lacking from a 3 round fight. 3 rounds! That is absurd. People paid 45 dollars for 15 minutes of fighting, half of which was clinching.

      In terms of why a main event should be 5 rounds, besides the fact that it is embarrassing that a fight that the public cares so much about should be so short, the last 2 rounds test a fighter’s stamina and conditioning and heart. Cuts accumulate, damage accumulates, fatigue accumulates, the crowd grows more frenzied, and as people get more tired, they make more mistakes/have less resistance. As you know, I can’t tell you what the % increase is that there will be a finish in a 5 round fight (a ridiculous question), but I can tell you that as a fan who talks with and watches lots of fights with both hardcore and casual fans, the general consensus after a fight like this was “that was it? 3 round fights are less likely to produce a satisfactory ending.

      When a crowd doesn’t care about a fight, 5 rounds is way too long, but when the match in question is the reason thousands of people came to see the show live and hundreds of thousands more paid 50 bucks to see it, it is preposterous that said fight should be as long as Todd Duffee vs Mike Russow.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        The facts do not support your opinion on what can happen in a 5 round fight. Most of the time if a fight makes it past the 3rd round, it’s going to a decision.

        Actually, in 29 UFC & Strikeforce title fights since the start of 2009….. 26 of the fights either ended by the 3rd round…. Or went to a decision. And all 3 of those fights included BJ Penn…..

        So this idea that “the last 2 rounds test a fighter’s stamina and conditioning and heart.”….. It’s really a bogus made up concept by you. What it really delivers us is 2 more boring rounds typically….

  7. 45 Huddle says:

    1) Sherdog is a bunch of trolls. They know that the judges don’t score it 10-10. Yet about 10% of the rounds they score are 10-10. I’m sure their logic is that 10-10 is possible by the rules… but who cares. What matters is how the rules are used. So they should stop putting 10-10 rounds in their play-by-play’s and start giving legit scores like they could happen in THE REAL WORLD!!

    2) I was a believer of Amir Sadalloh until about 4 hours ago. And now I’m a believer that he will be nothing more then a random gatekeeper at best.

    3) Rashad Evans is going to beat Mauricio Rua. Just like I predicted Evans over Rampage. Just like I predicted Edgar over Penn. And I also predicted Hathaway over Sanchez for this card. Rua struggles with wrestlers. He looked like garbage against Coleman. A fighter with the ability to take him down and control him wears on him and makes him an average fighter. I really don’t think Rua has a chance in that fight.

    4) I thought Brilz won the fight. Either way, Nogueira ain’t getting close to a title shot for a long time now.

    5) Please no 5 round non-title fights. When a fight goes the distance for 5 rounds, it is typically boring more times then not. Putting more of those fights in the rotation just hurts the sport. Sure, people can complain about this fight not being 5 rounds…. But Quinton Jackson literally did nothing for 10 minutes….. So what makes you think he would have done something for that extra 10 minutes? Fighters need to fight. Jackson didn’t come to fight. He deserved to lose no matter what length the fight was.

    • David M says:

      Rampage almost finished Rashad in the third round. How does that somehow suggest that he would have done nothing in the 4th and 5th rounds. Regardless, you are missing the forest in spite of the trees, as the reason a main event should be five rounds IS THAT IT IS THE MAIN EVENT. People buy ppvs and buy tickets to see the main event. It should be special.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        Who cares if it is the main event or the 1st fight on the card. 5 round fights are not good. Look at my lists below. When fights are scheduled 5 rounds… Most of the time they end in the first 3 rounds or they are boring 5 round fights. Outside of BJ Penn fights, no fight title fight in the last 17 months had ended in the “championship rounds”. And the majority of the decision fights have ended as snorefests that have put the crowd to sleep.

        • David M says:

          If a fight ends early, it doesn’t matter whether it is 3 rounds or 5 rounds. The point is, when there is a big fight, the fans and fighters deserve to get to see it go all the way through. Certain fights deserve more time to develop based on the combatants.

          Tonight, for example, there was a lot of violence we did not get to witness because the main event was only 3 rounds. Both Rampage and Rashad had been hurt, and it is likely that the last 2 rounds would have gotten increasingly compelling. We didn’t get to find out however.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          You didn’t see a lot of violence becauase Quinton decided not to fight for 10 of the scheduled 15 minutes. Making a fight longer wouldn’t have changed that. He was out of shape and flat footed. And outside of Evans banging into his knee and getting a decent shot to the head…. Quinton did nothing for 15 minutes….

          Why that deserves an extra 10 minutes is beyond me.

  8. Mark says:

    Well, you’re right, it was a joke to see Mike Goldberg push this as the biggest fight in MMA history.

    He’s said that or “most anticipated fight in UFC history” about 80 fights (GSP-Penn, Ortiz-Frank, Ortiz-Ken, Liddell-Ortiz II, Couture-Sylvia, Lesnar-Mir II, Liddell-Silva, Griffin-Bonnar II) nobody pays any attention to him. He’s just a less talented Tony Schiavone at the end of the day.

  9. EJ says:

    “Rashad Evans is going to get massacred by Mauricio Shogun in the upcoming UFC Light Heavyweight title fight.”

    Ridiculous statement Shogun has no takedown defense and he is going to get worked by Rashad until he gasses and gets TKO’d. People need to stop living in the fantasy Pride world where their fighters are unbeatable and the TUFers aren’t legit. Newsflash the myth has alredy been exposed guys came over from Pride and got beat badly in alot of cases, Rashad was the clear pick tonight and he’ll be the favorite against Shogun.

    • Zach Arnold says:

      Before I personally respond, if anyone hasn’t read the talk radio article about Shogun vs. Evans or Shogun vs. Rampage II, read it first.

      As far as Evans vs. Shogun is concerned, it’s a terrible match-up for Rashad. Shogun is great standing up. Your point about Shogun being easily taken down is exactly right — but that’s a fine spot for him to have the fight to happen to pull off a submission attempt. The Shogun we have seen in UFC lately is more refined and disciplined than his PRIDE days. He’s fighting smarter.

      If you are a Rashad fan, the one hope you have in that fight is that he keeps Shogun on the ground and wears him out for five rounds. In order to believe this, you have to hope that Rashad’s conditioning can last for all five rounds and that he doesn’t get tagged by a far superior striker.

      Shogun is probably a -300 favorite in that fight.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Rashad continues to get no respect.

      Quinton Jackson is the same guy who went 15 minutes with Keith Jardine and basically won the fight in the last 20 seconds. Yet somehow many people thought Evans had no chance.

      Rua is the guy who got abused by Coleman for half their fight. He is the same guy who had a hard time handling the grappling skills of Forrest Griffin.

      And Evans is a guy who is 10-1-1 in the UFC and in a natural born winner.

      • robthom says:

        “Rashad continues to get no respect.”

        I honestly view this as a manifestation of popular aesthetics.

        They’re obviously two almost opposite types of brothers.

        Most people seem to be more enthralled by and prefer the jackson type. Similar to the way people seem endlessly drawn to the tupacs and kim kardashions of the world IMO.

        I expend unreasonable amounts of concentration trying not to think about it.

        • Mark says:

          They’re obviously two almost opposite types of brothers.

          Most people seem to be more enthralled by and prefer the jackson type. Similar to the way people seem endlessly drawn to the tupacs and kim kardashions of the world IMO.

          What in the expletive does Rampage have to do with Kim Kardashian and Tupac Shakur? People don’t like Rashad because he still has the tag, as he proved again last night, of being a boring fighter. Rampage’s fights are usually very entertaining. The fan differences have nothing to do with one allegedly living up to racial stereotypes and the other not. People don’t like Rashad for the same reason they don’t like Machida: he can be very unexciting to a fault when he wants to, and his moments of excitement sometimes appear to be few and far between. And he doesn’t possess GSP’s likability to excuse it.

    • The Gaijin says:

      “Ridiculous statement Shogun has no takedown defense and he is going to get worked by Rashad until he gasses and gets TKO’d.”

      I agree – Rashad will work for some takedowns, do nothing with them when he’s on top until he gasses and then get TKO’d.

      For all the talk about Shogun’s bad gas tank, you seem to be ignoring how shitty Evans’ tank has been.

    • The Gaijin says:

      “People need to stop living in the fantasy Pride world where their fighters are unbeatable and the TUFers aren’t legit. Newsflash the myth has alredy been exposed guys came over from Pride and got beat badly in alot of cases…”

      Oh dear god…I swear you’re probably the only person on this website that still obsesses over the PRIDE/UFC thing.

      Every f&$^in time you find it necessary to bring it back to PRIDE vs. UFC. And rant about how once upon a time PRIDE guys came over, fought under different rulesets and judging criteria/in a different environment/in a different structure and lost some fights.

      For the record Evans will be a ‘dog in the fight with Shogun.

  10. 45 Huddle says:

    UFC/WEC Title Fights of 2009 and 2010 (not including WEC Lightweight, which isn’t a real title)….

    FINISHED FIGHTS
    Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir
    Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir
    Lyoto Machida vs. Rashad Evans
    Mauricio Rua vs. Lyoto Machida 2
    Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn 2 – FINISHED IN 4TH
    BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian – FINISHED IN 4TH
    BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez – FINISHED IN 4th
    Jose Aldo vs. Mike Brown
    Brian Bowles vs. Miguel Torres
    Dominick Cruz vs. Brian Bowles

    DECISION FIGHTS
    Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Rua 1
    Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leitas
    Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia
    Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves
    Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy
    Frank Edgar vs. BJ Penn
    Mike Brown v s. Urijah Faber
    Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber
    Miguel Torres vs. Takeya Mizugaki

    19 Title Fights Total. 10 had a finish. 9 went to a decision.

    Of the 9 that went to a decision…. Most of them were boring fights, outside of Torres/Mizugaki. Of the finished fights, only 30% were finished in the 4th and 5th rounds.

    So even for title fights, the last 2 rounds feel unnecessary. Of course they should keep them 5 rounds because those fighters should be given the extra time. But why would they extend 5 rounds to more fights when it’s not even that great of a thing for title fights?

    They shouldn’t. No more 5 round fights.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      And more of an example. The Men’s Strikeforce title fights since they got onto Showtime….

      Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers
      Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato Sobral
      Cung Le vs. Frank Shamrock
      Nick Diaz vs. Marius Zaromskis
      Golbert Melendez vs. Rodrigo Damm

      DECISIONS
      Jake Shields vs. Jason Miller
      Jake Shields vs. Dan Henderson
      Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson 2
      Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki
      King Mo vs. Gegard Mousasi

      None of the finished fights went into the “championship rounds”. Of the 4 decision fights, only 1 was fun to watch…. Melendez vs. Thomson 2.

      Once again showing that 5 rounds fights are not what worth they hype.

    • David M says:

      That is one of the most absurd posts I’ve ever seen on this site.

      The 3 BJ Penn title matches that ended in the last 2 rounds were all memorable for the finishes/accumulation of punishment/increased drama. You are quite possibly the most jaded person on the internet as a whole. Why do you even watch mma if not to see fighters get tested in the later rounds and pushed to the limits and struggle to overcome?

      Maybe there should only be 1 round fights. That way, if a round is boring, 45 Huddle won’t have to suffer through any more pain.

      • David M says:

        My post was in re: your first post, not your Strikeforce post, for the record.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        My post is a bunch of facts with a little bit of my opinion sprinkled in. But I believe the facts speak very loudly. The majority of 5 round fights either don’t make it to the championship rounds or they go the distance and are very boring.

        I was at the Penn/Florian fight. It put the crowd to sleep until the ending. It wasn’t a great fight.

        And I’m not recommending that title fights go 3 rounds. I think they need to stay at 5 rounds. But I also know that the FACTS show that most of these fights do not benefit much for it being 2 extra rounds….. Which means there is absolutely no purpose in making non-title fights longer.

        • David M says:

          You actually did recommend that there be no 5 round fights.

          What do you mean they do not benefit? You mean you do not enjoy them, that is a different thing entirely. You can say people boo boring 5 round fights, but guess what, they paid to see those fights. People go to shows/buy shows to see the main event, and it blows my mind that anyone wouldn’t want to see a main event get the time it deserves by its status atop the card.

          Furthermore, mma crowds boo everything. Unless there is a drunken brawl and nonstop action, mma “fans” boo. That is not a barometer for the quality of the fight nor the interest in the fight. The barometers are ticket sales and ppv numbers. Rampage-Rashad did almost a 4 million dollar gate; clearly there was a lot of interest in the fight, and it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that people want to see a main event that has the potential to be longer than fights amongst undercard jobbers.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          It did a $4 Million gate based on people knowing it was a 3 round fight.

          Plus, you are using the wrong fight to make your point. This fight was a snoozer for 2 rounds. There is a statistical probability based on past results that it would have just been mire of a snoozer if it was a longer fight. No thanks.

          The sport would suffer.

  11. MK says:

    Its so ridiculous to have a ton of hype for a 15 minute fight. Major MMA fights should always be minimum 25 minutes, and 35 minutes for for all title fights or other big fights.

  12. robthom says:

    I love Shad but he wont beat Shogun IMO.
    If he makes it to the bell conscious I’ll be happy for him.

    No one will beat Shogun soon other than Lyoto in a rematch.

    Diego hasn’t been the same since leaving Jackson’s.
    Too bad he somewhat burned that bridge because going back might gave been his best option.

    I’m guessing that maybe he needs another gym with the cohesive team dynamic like Jacksons had that will give him that extra support and confidence in himself again.
    Cesar’s and AKA would seem to be off limits. Extreme Couture seems relatively impersonal to me.
    Maybe ATT?

    Brilz made a major statement IMO. Reminds me of when Forrest lost the dec to tito the first time and proved that the tuf guys where actually real fighters and contenders.

    I think his name being bandied around now is legitimate and deserved.

  13. EJ says:

    “As far as Evans vs. Shogun is concerned, it’s a terrible match-up for Rashad. Shogun is great standing up. Your point about Shogun being easily taken down is exactly right — but that’s a fine spot for him to have the fight to happen to pull off a submission attempt. The Shogun we have seen in UFC lately is more refined and disciplined than his PRIDE days. He’s fighting smarter.”

    I respect your opinion Zach but you’re out of your mind here, Shogun was taken down and controlled by Lil’ Nog and Coleman he never came close to subbing either guy. Rashad is on another level with his wrestling than both guys and his speed is going to keep Shogun guessing and gun shy.

    “If you are a Rashad fan, the one hope you have in that fight is that he keeps Shogun on the ground and wears him out for five rounds. In order to believe this, you have to hope that Rashad’s conditioning can last for all five rounds and that he doesn’t get tagged by a far superior striker.

    Shogun is probably a -300 favorite in that fight.”

    Except that Rashad doesn’t have to go for 5 rounds he’s shown he can wear out guys in 3 round fights. And with Shogun’s suspect cardio it won’t take long for him to gas out and get TKO. This fight will look just like the Forrest fight, Shogun might even win a round or 2 but by the third he’ll be on empty and get stopped.

    • Steve says:

      Shogun’s suspect cardio? How many of his fights have you watched?

      • The Gaijin says:

        Apparently 2. The two right after his knee surgeries.

        I remember that 5 round fight he had with Machida, what a shitty gas tank…

    • The Gaijin says:

      “Shogun was taken down and controlled by Lil’ Nog…”

      Uh…no. The wrestling and ground game were what won the fight for Shogun.

  14. liger05 says:

    Have only watched the main event. jackson looked awful!!

    Didnt get up to watch it live and I dodnt really do that these days but with boxing I do. I still love MMA but I dont get excited as I used to.

  15. Mr. Roadblock says:

    Brillz got screwed.  MMA judging is crisis level bad right now. 

    Duffee did not get hit on the button. He gor hit on the side of the jaw. He has a body carved from granite and a chin made of Waterford crystal. He should go to the WWE. If he cant take that shot he has no chance at heavyweight. 

    Lol at all the hate talk from Rashad and Rampage, then they go out and hold each other on the cage for all but two minutes. 

  16. Jeremy (Not that Jeremy) says:

    I definitely don’t want seven round MMA fights. The five rounders are interminable much of the time.

    Five rounds make sense in a title fight, but I think that the overall environment of a title fight often means that it’s more likely to be a boring fight to start (the price of losing is higher, so fighters fight not to lose instead of to win, you might be able to fix that by doubling the win bonus in title fights, but that’s another topic).

    I can agree that each card SHOULD have a main event scheduled for five rounds, but I won’t agree that any non-title fight should be scheduled for five rounds. Wherever possible, cards should have a title fight headlining.

  17. klown says:

    When it comes to Rua vs Evans, right now I’m leaning towards Rua.

    It’s true that Rua struggles with being taken down, even if we take into account the fact that he wasn’t 100% against Griffin and Coleman. This ostensibly gives Evans a chance to control Rua on the ground and win a decision.

    But let’s take a look at Evans’s last 2 fights. He executed the takedown-based gameplan perfectly in the first 2 rounds against Silva and Rampage. But in both cases, he got rocked in the 3rd round and narrowly escaped being finished.

    Furthermore, I think he was visibly exhausted going into the the 3rd round in both cases. He managed to keep it together for the duration of the final round – but how would he fare in the championship rounds?

    Rua is more than capable of scoring a TKO against Evans in rounds 3 and 4 if he survives the Evans onslaught in rounds 1 and 2. This leaves one final question – can Evans finish Rua inside of two rounds? I’ve no reason to believe it.

    Rua by TKO, round 3 or 4.

  18. sammyscaff says:

    45Huddle has really gone off the deep end this time.

    This is why I stopped posting. Just inane nonsense. And logical people (like myself) feel the need to respond. Its not worth it.

  19. bluerosekiller says:

    I TOTALLY agree with those that want their main event MMA bouts to be five rounds. At the very least those of the importance of last night’s affair.

    Sorry, I don’t care what Huddle’s statistics purport to show, the fact of the matter is that charging what the UFC does for it’s tickets & PPVs is robbery for a three round main event.

    Sure, there’s a good chance that we’d have just witnessed more of the same in those hypothetical fourth & fifth rounds, but so be it. There’s also a chance that things COULD have gotten a whole lot better as well. No matter what someone’s percentages say.
    And, for the price we pay, we deserved the opportunity to see if that was the case.

Comments to The Gaijin

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