To me BJ vs. GSP will be the highpoint of the night. Both of these guys are massively talented. I think it all depends on if BJ shows up motivated and in shape. If he is then GSP is in for a long night. Or a short one as the case may be.
BJ recently fought and nearly beat heavyweight Lyoto Machida, who knocked out 185lb champ Rich Franklin.
Rich vs. Loiseau is too close to call. Both smart, skilled, explosive fighters that can do it all. If Rich can figure a way to get Loiseau on his back I think he can ground & pound out a victory. But if Loiseau gets Rich where he wants him then it's death by a thousand elbows.
Nice card. Once again, I'll be seeing this in about 3 months when they show it on the hi-def channel. Saw a lesser known circuit the other night, and it had Lambert in one of the fights. These guys seemed to have more movement and action than the UFC fights, if less skill.
It might have seemed like more action be because they had lighter weights. The last UFC was mostly heavyweights, and slow ones at that, but finally they are bringing back the 155lb division. I love to watch those guys!
I hope they get Genki Sudo back, though he is making 10x as much in K-1 now. He'd be a great matchup against Yves Edwards, who's fighting tonight.
I enjoy watching, but don't really keep up with it. Probably won't buy it tonight because I forgot about it until I saw your post, and didn't have time to get anyone else rounded up to come over.
Kaiser, you have to ge me a heads up when the HD cannel is showing it - who is your provider, which HD: inHD, HDNet, comcast, dish, direct?
We broke tradition by not making pizza (never order) cuz Aya is sick. Turkey chili, falafels, and green tea did the trick though.
What a great night of fights!
Nate Marquardt looked solid in a decision win. Mark Hominick slapped on a tight triangle choke for the win. Mike Swick guillotined Vigneault,
and
A bloody GSP won a split decision over BJ! BJ beat him up pretty good in the 1st round. Dominated St. Pierre really. But GSP scored some good takedowns in rounds 2 & 3. It was close but that did it for GSP. BJ looked like he was going for the KO the whole time and not using a point strategy.
Once again Rich Franklin proved he's the best. Loiseau was tentative at first and it cost him, getting busted up. By the end of the 4th round I don't know how he could see with both eyes almost totally shut.
Nevertheless Loiseau knocked down Franklin with a clean left hook and had him hurt in the third.
Rich broke his left hand in the 2nd round and had to fight 3 more rounds with one hand. And he still won. Damn.
Franklin has limping and had one hand. Loiseau's face was puffed up like the Pillsbury doughboy.
They fought hard for 25 minutes yet neither looked winded. That's some serious conditioning.
That was a war.
I'll post links to the fights on google video or youtube.com when people post them in a day or two.
Kuri, thanks alot man. I've seen GSP fight several times and was always impressed but never seen anybody bust him up like Penn did in that first round.
Finally saw it....Liked the Canadian Kick boxer at the start and Franklin - he seems to be quality...thought the Penn/Acronym boy fight was messy and had it been longer would have had a better outcome.
__________________
Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. -- Sidney J. Harris
I thought the two main events Franklin vs. Loiseau and Penn vs. GSP were very good. I can't wait to see GSP go against Matt Hughes. I just wish the silly Gracie bout weren't in the way.
Unfortunately, the UFC has great champions but a thin field of contenders. Who's going to challenge Franklin now? Who's really going to give a fight to Arlovsky or Liddell?
If the UFC is really going to go to the next level, they need to bring in some more real fighters.
__________________
If warped values are the price of a vicarious thrill, so be it! - Calvin and Hobbes
Matt Lindland and Ivan Salaverry could come in and put up a great fight against Franklin, maybe even win. In fact I'd put money on Lindland.
One problem is that Dana White got rid of both these guys probably because they aren't the "stand and bang" kinda fighters.
The UFC could also bring in Rampage Jackson, who has beaten Lidell by TKO, if only they'd loosen the purse strings a bit. Jackson will be a free agent very soon and has expressed interest in the UFC.
But the UFC won't do that. Franklin made $30k his last fight. 30k for a main draw champ defending his belt while the UFC pulled in something like 3 million at the gate and $12-14 million in PPV buys. Now that is a joke.
Wanderlei Silva pockets over half a million for each fight in Pride. Yoshida and Sakuraba reportedly rake in a million per fight.
My question is why would Chuck, Arlovski, and Franklin stay with the UFC?
I say the level of competition in Pride has alot to do with it.
__________________
Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
So I read an article where MMA matches, like the ones put on by the UFC, are eating the lunch of traditional boxing. It's not hard to see why.
That being said, on Saturday night I was surprised to see Showtime show up on my cable as I was clicking through. It was a free preview (and Hi-Def too!). I saw the entire 12 round heavyweight championship affair between Lamon Brewster and Sergei Liakhovich. The utter slugfest (both men have very strong chins) ended up going the distance. I don't think I have ever seen two heavyweights throw and land that many punches in a fight since Ali-Frazier. Liakhovich's hands were lightning quick and Bewster's reputation for having the most dangerous single punch in the game today was evident. So while the sweet science may be down, it hasn't quite yet been KO'd by MMA. The fact that I sat enraptured by this contest showed that to me.
I love a good boxing match too Kaiser. Problem is that it seems there are fewer quality fighters these days. Or I'm not paying enough attention.
I've never seen Laikhovich so will keep an eye out for his next fight.
Personally I enjoy watching the lighter fighters with their speed and crisp technique.
As to what you said about MMA I agree it's getting much more popular. I was talking to my dad over the phone last night and even he was watching the UFC on Spike, something I couldn't imagine a couple years ago. He's always liked boxing but never paid much attention to MMA until recently. The emergence of MMA on free TV has really changed things.
__________________
Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
The thing that caught my eye about this boxing match vis a vis the UFC heavyweight fights was the speed and action. Not to knock the UFC heavyweights, but often, when it gets to the ground, the action grinds to a halt (pun intended). I know, a lot of it is me not appreciating the holds and moves, but if I am indicative of the average (read 'non-martial arts experienced') viewer, it tends to get boring in that weight division when it hits the mat. Ground and pound = my grabbing my remote to switch channels.
This fight was so fast, so much wall-to-wall action, that you would have guessed it was bantamweights in the ring. I've never seen heavyweights that were that active (think 2 Muhammad Ali's in the ring - back when Ali fought Ernie Terrel). Liakhovich's hands were scarily fast - he landed punches almost quicker than you could see them. Of course, that was part of his trainer, the great Kenny Waldon's, strategy.
You need to watch more Fedor and Nogeira matches Kaiser. Fedor's ground n pound is extremely fast and deadly. Never a dull moment.
I agree with you, however, about UFC heavyweights. By and large they are pathetic compared with Pride's stable.
Speaking of pathetic next weekend we will again get to witness Tim "The Mainiac" Silvia (who does hold the UFC belt for worst nickname) get murdered by Arlovski.
I'll check Showtime for replays of that fight, since I'm getting it free for another month. Thanks for the info
__________________
Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
UFC 58 March 4
Linear Mode
