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That workout jeff monson is doing on the video is stupid imho,never helped him at all in his fight with sylva,yes it was a hard workout,but come on a pole with a glove on it! how you guna simulate a hard long fast jab or cross coming in at you like that? and pushing a car! there is no car in the cage! did anyone see monson pushing sylva across the ring? crazy the whole thing!
[EXPAND="Spoiler"]Wow gsp was amazing, he is very quick and strong and I’m glad he won it as afterwards you could see how happy he was. Matt Hughes was great at what he knows but after one fight I saw I never thought he was actually that good. Monson had no chance against Sylvia and I was impressed with Sylvia to be honest and hope that his next fight will be against Brandon Vera which would be exciting. Mir vs vera was so short but showed how good Vera’s striking can be and Mir is just having no luck at the moment. [/EXPAND]
Impressed with Sylvia!! what the hell, he did a stand up version of Laying 'n' Praying. He was looking to not loose rather than go out there and win. At least Monson tried to win it, I was more impressed with him as it had to be disheartening facing someone so much taller than him that he couldn't even GnP him, but he never gave up and carried on trying. At least Monson tried to make it a fight, Sylvia just tried to not get taken down rather than try and KO Monson out. I think the fight against Vera could show something about Sylvia, I mean he is taking on someone with what seems good stand up, however it will probably end with a decision as Sylvia spends the whole fight just avoiding the Clinch! Makes me annoyed they didn't try to get Herring when they had the chance! Being a massive GSP fan boy I can offically say UFC 65 was the greatest ever UFC But GSP finally shows that against a good striker, Hughes has nothing...against people who try and out grapple him, he is class as it takes someone with the skill like BJ Penn to out grapple him, but against someone with striking skills, he has nothing.
The heavy weight division really sucks. GSP was cool he fought a very good fight and totally out classed Matt Hughes. GSP got some nice kicks in there to spinning back kick and a round kick to the foot, its nice to see some variety and creativity in the UFC.
i think slyvia won because you have to beat the champ and monson did not do that but slyvia, as was mentioned earlier, fought not to win but to survive. the fight sucked and was boring as could be.gsp dominated hughes. i think hughes's ego got the better of him. he sucks at stand up and he should stick to what he does best ground and pound.i have the utmost respect for all of them this is just my oppinion.
Hughes simply couldn't take GSp down...he struggled to get close enough due to GSP's stand up but when he did he wasn't even close, nout to do with ego.
Yeah, GSP did a fantastic job of stuffing his takedown attempts. Hughes's clinchwork seemed halfhearted though, maybe he was in shock from the beating?
What about Rounds 3 and 4? Sylvia managed to get top position, and went for more subs than Monson did. I'm no big Sylvia fan either, but Sylvia's ground game surprised me. He held his own with an ADCC champ. We all thought the moment that Monson took Sylvia down was the moment this fight ends, but when Monson took Sylvia down, Sylvia did quite well. I didn't think Sylvia even knew how to do a triangle from the bottom. Surprisingly, the fight was more exciting on the ground than it was standing. Go figure. I think Sylvia fought to win, but his win strategy revolved around a decision, not a finish. Not very exciting, but a win is a win. Of course, should Sylvia ever lose, he will probably be dropped real quickly by the UFC for putting on so many lackluster fights a la Lindland.
Yeh he went for the subs but nowhere near getting them. The thing is Tim's height was even an advantage on the ground as Monson was just took far away from his head to soften him up for a sub! Thats why I'm not overly impressed. If Sylvia fought to win why didn't he throw more strikes when Monson had clearly gassed and only had one eye...Sylvia clearly fought not to loose IMO.
You weren't impressed when Sylvia rolled out of a submission and secured top position? I know that surprised the heck out of me. After all, Monson is not some two-bit grappler. Why risk it? If you are winning a fight and you know it, why take a chance by being overly aggressive? I know I as a spectator would want him to be aggressive, but as a fighter, well, one mistake could cost him the fight. Sylvia knew it was in the bag, so why take the chance? To me that's smart fighting. It ain't fun for us to watch, but it ain't fun losing either.
How anyone can criticise Slyvia's ability after that fight is amazing, he has proven he can knock out the best strikers in the world and get a 4 round decision off one of the best wrestler GnP jujitsu guys in the world. He showed really well rounded skills with an excellent sprawl and a competent ground game. He landed shots from the bottom and managed to avoid almost all punches and elbows aswel as submissions. He showed he is very calm under pressure and that he does know a few submissions aswel as reversals and escapes (beautiful roll out of the choke). He showed he is an intelligent fighter and executed the perfect gameplan against Monson which was few punches at a time, keep him at a distant and sprawl like crazy. Sylvia can beat both extremes in the heavyweight division, great strikers and wrestlers/jujitsu guys. He will kill Brandon Vera. Dont get me wrong i think Brandon Vera is an excellent and very exciting fighter but i doubt he can knee a 6"8 Tim Sylvia in the face. He wont be able to out strike, out wrestle or over power Sylvia. Im assuming Vera will have a more thorough ground game than Sylvia but as weve seen Sylvia's ground game is no joke. Vera wont be able to get it to the ground or out striker Sylvia. Still it will be an interesting fight, Vera cant be counted out yet. GSP dominated Hughes bad. No one can touch GSP now, he's gunna have that belt for a long long time.
I think you are being too hard on Sylvia like what has already been said he showed he can beat a world class grappler and was quite good when he was on the floor. It was not the most exciting fight but he had a game plan, stuck to it and won and that is what a Champion must do. I do think that Vera can beat Sylvia as his striking is great and very good on the ground. I felt in the Sylvia/monson fight monson had on 1 game plan and he lost because of it, Vera can strike and grapple, I think that will make him harder to fight against and use his striking to set up to take Sylvia to floor if needed and when on the ground get the win there if he has to.
i want Arlovski to get his head back together & beat Sylvia again. i really think he's the best heavyweight in the UFC, just that he was demoralized by his loss.
Yer i want to see Arlowski back as well, problem is people get bored of seeing the same fighters over and over again, especially when its a foreign ex champ who's been beaten twice by the current champ. Monson could beat Arlowski and i think he'd be able to take him down and GnP him (despite Arlowski's sambo background). The UFC needs to recruit some new talent in the heavyweight division soon ( i am aware theyve signed Aleksander Emilianenko (excuse speeling) ), cos if they dont the divisions gunna be very boring. If Vera loses to Slyvia and its not a close fight i reckon Vera will drop down to 205 and climb that ladder. If it is a close fight or Vera manages to beat Sylvia (unlikely) then they'll probably get a Sylvia vs Vera trilogy going. If Vera does drop down to 205 i doubt he'll manage to beat Chuck or Tito, (unless he manages to put his knee through chucks face) but he'll probs fight Forest Griffin and destroy him.
They haven't signed AE, its just rumours and its highly unlikely due to the fact he'd struggle to get a VISA into the US. I think your underestimating Vera, he would beat Tito and I think a fight against Chuck is too hard to call personally. Anyways: Okay maybe I was being a little harsh on Big Tim, maybe it was fuelled by the emotion that he made what could have been a great fight into a less said about the better one. His roll out of the choke was good, however I know Monson is a ADCC champions but I just feel that he did nout to Tim on the ground is because of Tim's size. I mean Monson couldn't even hit the guy in the face, whilst Tim could still land little strikes on him. As for Tim not wanting to risk it when Monson had gassed and only had one eye, it proves that he isn't truely a world-class striker only a good one. Maybe I am being harsh but I dont want to sit through that fight again to find out!! But maybe I will. But once again WAR GSP!!! 5 wins away from becoming the most dominatant WW of all time
No, you're right. If a fighter doesn't want to engage, he's not fighting to win, he's fighting not to lose. It puts the UFC in a bad position, to be honest, from a marketing perspective: the heavyweight division's supposed to be the marquee for all combat sports and not only is their division shallower than a redneck's genepool, they've got someone who should be a really exciting, marketable champion (a 6'8, American striker) and most fans can't stand him because he puts on fights like this
I watched the ppv, but something came up and I havn't been able to awe you with my incredible insights... James Irvin vs. Hector Ramirez - Didn't like it, I don't think Ramirez is ready for the UFC yet, but I think the UFC is trying to push Latino fighters. Was a sloppy fight, looked like something you might see in the street outside a bar. Antoni Hardonk vs. Sherman Pendergarst- Antoni is a bit impressive, has good striking and apparently has worked on his gound game so he shouldn't be a striker that falls apart if you get him down. Not sure about either fighter though, Sherman took the fight on short notice and was not in fighting shape so for all I know he could destroy Antoni with a full tank of gas. Joe Stevenson vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima- Stevenson is good, a threat to Sean Sherk with a little more experience. Mishima was fun, showed heart and some good takedowns, wouldn't mind seeing him again. Brandon Vera vs. Frank Mir- Vera looks good, I think he can be a serious threat to Sylvia and or the LW belt. He has great striking, better than Sylvia and I would say technically better than Chuck.(Of course until we see them fight, we will never know if he has better striking, just a guess). Mir needs to leave the UFC and fight in some smaller shows to regain his form. I don't want to call him done as he is so young and I love a good come back story. Alessio Sakara vs. Drew McFedries- Was a good striking bout, McFedries should have a good future as he seems to be an exciting fighter. Sakara needs to work on his MMA striking as opposed to his boxing, he leaves himself wide open to knees and uppercuts. Anyone know why he just fell over like he was shot, even though Drew hadn't landed a punch in the 2-3 second sprior to his fall? Tim Sylvia vs. Jeff Monson --Boring fight, Tim Sylvia is the UFC's worst nightmare... He is the boring, has no personality, no marketability, is hated by 95% of the fans and did I mention he is boring? Tim showed a good sprawl, he also showed a nice ground game and a jab....I think Monson lost this fight as opposed to Sylvia winning it. I fell into the ADCC champ hype, but forgot to do my homework on him..apparently he wins in those tournaments by way of position points.. In other words, he doesn't go for submissions often. Instead he is at his best when he is able to get a takedown and then use his weight and strength to hold his opponent down. I have no idea what Monson was thinking, presumably he knows subs(aside from chokes) and after he found out very early that he is NOT going to be hitting Sylvia from inside his guard..Why did he not go for a leg submission? Josh Barnett was in his corner, and he is a great submission fighter so I would have expected him to be drilling Monson on leg locks since Tim's legs are a wide open target just sitting there for the taking... Then Monson passes guard, and again does not try for submissions...if I was in his corner I would have slapped him in the face and told him go for subs. I also do not understand his takedown methods, he kept going for a shoot but he could just as easily have pressed Sylvia into the cage and then dragged him down Overall a **** poor fight and both fighters should decide whether they want to be fighters, or to dance in an octagon. Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre--Domination by GSP..I think Hughes messed up badly and his arrogance got the best of him. He went for what, 2 half hearted takedowns? He didn't want to bring the fight down to the ground for some reason, and thus he ended up getting knocked out and made to look like a B level fighter. GSP is sitting at the top of a stacked division, and I think the only serious threats are BJ and Hughes but those two have serious flaws. BJ- Work ethic, if he can get in shape then he can win..But will he be in shape on any given day? No idea. Hughes- Will his ego dominate him again, or will his common sense dictate that he goes to his very successful ground game. Your critique of his workout, specifically his pushing the car is moronic. It is a very effective workout for maximal strength and strength endurance... Might as well critique a fighter for lifting weights. The UFC NEEDS to fix their heavyweight division..if I had watched that PPV with a newcomer to MMA I have no doubt they would have seen the Sylvia-Monson fight and demanded I apologize for wasting their time on a borefest.
You are aware the BJ Penn broke a rib against Hughes? That could have been part of the reason why he gassed, a broken rib aint to be sniffed at. Glad GSP won, lost a lot of respect for Hughes after watching TUF 2, he was a complete ass. What's this i've heard about racist comments? Don't know the story but i've heard rumours. Sylvia needs to be knocked off, as said he's the boring and has no personality and i hope he gets knocked tf out by Vera. Vera's a character, just the man to bring the heavyweight divison around a bit, but i couldn;t imagin him being able to deal with Monson's power.
Yea I know he broke a rib, I was speaking of his performance against GSP and previous performances. He seemed to have good cardio against Hughes, which is a good sign and I hope he keeps that up.
