Mixed Martial Arts - U.F.C., Pride fighting, ect.

[Paul Mann III]

First off, I have to eat my hat for telling Duncan that UFC sucks a few years ago...

So I'm a victim of the recent marketing campaign for UFC and their products. I used to loathe MMA, but it has grown on me during the past three years. As a student of a few martial arts myself, I guess the interest was always there, but the revamped version of UFC that has developed has really grabbed me.

I'm curious where the other members stand on the sport. It comes in many forms, Sportd fight, Bellator, Strike Force, K-1, and so on, but UFC and Pride are the frontline that most are exposed to.

In particular, I'm curious what fighters the other members are watching... I'm a Randy Couture fan myself, I own most of his fights. He's true Northwest, like me, and a veteran as well as an Olympic-class athlete, but most important, he's older than dirt and he's still beating people up.

His fight with Lesner, while a loss, was a tribute to the fighting spirit of America, taking on a bigger, stronger, faster opponent and fighting to the bitter end. And his recent smackdown on boxing legend James Toney proved that you have to be a well-rounded fighter to compete in the UFC of today.

In short, UFC has come a long way since pulling hair was legal, since there were no weight classes, since shoes were legal... hell, since the decided to have rounds instead of just running a clock for our edification.\

Now that UFC has bought the WEC, it seems that Dana White will be the most powerful name in fight promoting, so I guess I'll be the one to raise the topic here at ACG...

[Legate]

So you take all the gay jokes back that you made about the sport?

A few corrections are necessary concerning your post:

Pride Fighting Championships no longer exists. It was bought by UFC and was disolved a few years ago.

UFC has owned WEC for afew years now. They only just decided to merge the two operations.

Now as for the best weight class,it has to be Lightweight (155 lbs).

This is the most stacked division not only in UFC but throughout MMA.

A partial list of top lightweights;

Frankie Edgar-UFC
BJ Penn-UFC
Shinya Aoki-Dream(Japan)
Eddie Alvarez-Bellator
Gilbert Melendez-Strikeforce

Glad to have another fan of MMA around!!

[Paul Mann III]

Yeah, no more cracks about man humping...

I figured that UFC owned WEC, but I didn't know they bought Pride. Makes sense though with all the reruns on Spike.

I always saw WEC as the minor league MMA, but also the mini-MMA (someof them are tiny).

I like the heavyweights. It's more exciting because you don't have long reigns at the top, no GSP or Anderson Silva-type runs, a chance to lose in every fight.

But I watcg the middleweight-welterweights pretty close because that's my size, and I like to see what's practical for my height/reach.

Hard to believe it took so long to get into it. I started with Karate in '92 and moved to Kung Fu in '95 and Aikido in '96, but I didn't but MMA gloves until last year.

And now I have 30 gigs of fights on my PS3 and a whole shelf of the DVDs.

Dana is a genius. He sold me what I refused to buy. Damn...

[Paul Mann III]

James Toney was acting like a fool... Randy gave him what he deserved...

[The Ibis]

Best match ever Sakuraba-Gracie I

[Paul Mann III]

I dunno... Royce was the man for a while... But I've seen better fights since I started watching closely.

It was funny to watch Matt Hughes whup the family's ass... I like to watch wrestling versus the Jits... America versus foreigner-fighting.

How about Sell vs. Smith... Not the best fight, but certainly the coolest finish I've ever seen...



And that was after a pretty great fight, too. They went full-blast the whole time...

I couldn't find the whole fight, but it only costs two or three bucks at Playstation Store.

[Legate]

Sell vs Smith was pretty awesome. You can find it on the season 4 dvds of The Ultimate Fighter.

Greatest fight in UFC is Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonner I. This was TUF season 1 finale. This is the fight that is credited with bringing MMA into the mainsteam.

[The Ibis]

I dunno... Royce was the man for a while... But I've seen better fights since I started watching closely.

Royce is who peaked my interest in MMA. As for what is the best fight, of course its all a matter of opinion. Unlike boxing, where everyone knows the best fights were the Gatti v. Ward trilogy.

It was funny to watch Matt Hughes whup the family's ass... I like to watch wrestling versus the Jits... America versus foreigner-fighting.

I like Hughes's fights too. What do you think of Georges St-Pierre?

How about Sell vs. Smith... Not the best fight, but certainly the coolest finish I've ever seen...



And that was after a pretty great fight, too. They went full-blast the whole time...

Didn't see the whole thing, but the finish is a good one.

[Paul Mann III]

Sell vs Smith was pretty awesome. You can find it on the season 4 dvds of The Ultimate Fighter.

I have the Smith vs. Sell fight on my PS3. I need to learn how to do it using my PS3, but I should be able to upload it to my You Tube account and then embed a link here. I know the function is there, I just haven't tried it before.

That raises an interesting copyright question of course... Would it be legit to post the whole fight, considering the restrictions on posting whole articles and such?

Greatest fight in UFC is Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonner I. This was TUF season 1 finale. This is the fight that is credited with bringing MMA into the mainsteam.

Certainly the most important fight in terms of the popularization of the sport, but not the greatest, in my opinion. I'd put it in the top five or ten though...

Mir vs. Nogueira was pretty dynamite... And the first Penn vs. Edgar had my whole house shaking, full standing ovation from the crowd at the end of every round.

We thought Sonnen had Silva dead to rights too, but that bastard pulled it out... I hate Anderson Silva...

Royce is who peaked my interest in MMA. As for what is the best fight, of course its all a matter of opinion. Unlike boxing, where everyone knows the best fights were the Gatti v. Ward trilogy.

Yeah, alot of people thought Royce was awesome, me too... Taking on huge dudes and all that. But for me, it was Couture who really got me into it.

Gatti vs.Ward? Hell yeah... I've liked boxing alot longer than MMA, but I wanted more bloodshed, and those little glove do the trick. I bought a pair, they ain't made of nuthin'...

I like Hughes's fights too. What do you think of Georges St-Pierre?

GSP is a super athlete for sure. I hated on him when I started watching, but I recognized his superior skills, and from what I've read his work ethic is tireless. I hope he kills Anderson Silva some day...

[Pirateship1982]

I still maintain my dislike for the sport, if only for the fact that it is boring. In boxing, if the two boxers clinch the ref seperates them. If you get a clinch in UFC it's called grappling and nothing happens for the next five minutes. In boxing you actually have to fight your opponent.

[Legate]

In MMA if the ref feels there is no movement in the grappeling he will stand the fighters up.


Cody-GSP wants no part of Anderson Silva who is rated the worlds p4p fighter for a reason. Granted Anderson has been acting like an ass for the last 18 months but it looks as if he has come back to earth.

[Paul Mann III]

I still maintain my dislike for the sport, if only for the fact that it is boring. In boxing, if the two boxers clinch the ref seperates them. If you get a clinch in UFC it's called grappling and nothing happens for the next five minutes. In boxing you actually have to fight your opponent.

And yet boxers still waste all that time grabbing each other in every round of every fight. I watch alot of boxing, bro. You know they give hugs to thugs all night long. Greasy titty rubs...

Besides, I think it's a five or an eight count before a stand up/seperation in most MMA... That's not a long time for a man humping session, you gotta work.

I suspect you're exaggerating a bit... Or you haven't actually seen any recent fights... Say in the last 10 or 12 years....

In MMA if the ref feels there is no movement in the grappeling he will stand the fighters up.

For sure. That's one change I've really enjoyed. If there is no advancement of position or striking, they have to get up.

Of course, some referees take a bit longer, and some stand them up too fast, but either way it happens. In the old days they could lay there all night. I hated that.

GSP wants no part of Anderson Silva who is rated the worlds p4p fighter for a reason. Granted Anderson has been acting like an ass for the last 18 months but it looks as if he has come back to earth.

The only real advantage Silva has is a bigger skeletal structure. He could fight heavyweight if he wanted to I bet.

One thing is for sure... Koscheck hasn't got a prayer. He can wrestle, but his striking can't compete with GSP, and really if he goes to the ground he'll get stuffed. He's boned.

What's up with him man-handling that fat black medic though? It reminded me of the cop and the ambulance driver who had the drama. Stunt you think? Orchestrated?

[Legate]

What fat black medic?

[Pirateship1982]

And yet boxers still waste all that time grabbing each other in every round of every fight. I watch alot of boxing, bro. You know they give hugs to thugs all night long. Greasy titty rubs...

Besides, I think it's a five or an eight count before a stand up/seperation in most MMA... That's not a long time for a man humping session, you gotta work.

I suspect you're exaggerating a bit... Or you haven't actually seen any recent fights... Say in the last 10 or 12 years....

That's one long eight count then. I have seen some recent fights. Every so often I get curious and watch some UFC. On the rare instances I tune it when they AREN'T rolling on the floor it gets a little interesting. But sooner or later down they go and after checking my watch several times waiting for them to get up I change the channel.

There's boxing and then there's wrestling and by themselves both are fine but as far as my observations go "mixed martial arts" means sucking at multiple skills.

<Dodges anticipated thrown beer bottle by Paul Mann>

Just calling it like I see it.

[Paul Mann III]

What fat black medic?

On the TV show... Koscheck was picking on GSP's medic, reminded me of that stuff in the news when the cop choked the paramedic in the road.

That's one long eight count then. I have seen some recent fights. Every so often I get curious and watch some UFC. On the rare instances I tune it when they AREN'T rolling on the floor it gets a little interesting. But sooner or later down they go and after checking my watch several times waiting for them to get up I change the channel.

If you aren't familiar with grappling, it can be hard to see what is going on in the way of advancing positions. It's taken my half a life of classes to see what little I see before the announcers call it out.

A little more experience with the ground aspects might make it more entertaining to you...

There's boxing and then there's wrestling and by themselves both are fine but as far as my observations go "mixed martial arts" means sucking at multiple skills.

That's just ignorant, dude. Many of the guys at the top levels are World-class (and sometimes former world champions) in boxing, kickboxing, karate, and myriad of other traditional striking competitions.

I know how you feel, ignorance is bliss. But when a champion-level striker adds world class grappling to their fight game, it makes for a more exciting fight. Boxing is great, but it takes patience to wait that long for a knockout or a cut, those gloves are just too safe...

As far as the multiple sucking goes... You can't make it to the UFC and suck too bad, there's alot fighting the leads up to that, and it sorts out alot of losers.

Too bad it sort out James Toney... What a fool to think he could fight a Olympic-level wrestler who has trained in boxing. Fights start standing, but the tend to end on the ground, only a complete fighter can survive in MMA.

Boxing is just too one-dimensional. Too easy...