mmaweekly says: -Chuck Liddell (#4 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Wanderlei Silva (#5 Light Heavyweight in the World)* -Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (#6 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Lyoto Machida -Dean Lister vs. Jordan Radev -Manny Gamburyan vs. Nate Mohr -Rich Clementi vs. Melvin Guillard -Roan Carneiro vs. Tony DeSouza -Doug Evans vs. Mark Bocek -Eddie Sanchez vs. Soa Palalei -James Irvin vs. Luis Cane
Tut tut for forgetting GSP vs Hughes I'm surprised Guillard is fighting as I thought he had an 8 month ban from fighting for taking cocaine, he shouldn't allowed to fight until January 2008 if I read everythin correctly.
Better be better than UFC 78! Wonder what UFC will do when they get past the 100 mark, UFC 101, 102..............UFC 753.
tell me about it. i couldn't believe i paid money to watch that terrible horse-manure. thiago silva vs houston alexader was the only semi-interesting fight of the night...
I really want to see Manny and Nate go at it again. Manny was clearly winning that fight (points wise) before his shoulder popped out.
I am suprised this isn't being talked about a little more considering the event has been touted so much. Any predictions for the fights?
I think a lot of people just don't care. Serra's out and Lidell hasn't been up to form. I just read an interview with him, and he's clueless about how to approach this fight.
Oh that is a shame. I have been waiting for the fight for sometime. I guess we'll just have to see if this card works out. Personally I don't care much for Serra so that was no loss to me. But here are my pics just for giggles. Silva GSP Sokoudjo Clementi Manny Sanchez Irvin Lister DeSouza Bocek I am liklely wrong on a bunch but hey good for discussion
My picks- GSP by (T)KO, R2. Manny by UD. Dude's crazy strong w/good grappling. I'd like to see Lister and DeSouza win, just 'cause I know who they are. Machida vs. Sokoudjou is tough to call. Machida's got an awkward style, and I haven't seen that much of Sok. I saw Machida's experience and game planning takes it by UD, but of Sok scores a KO it won't be a surprise. And finally, the main event! I don't care, I'm still psyched about this one, even though it's supposedly two years too late. Some say that Silva's relentless forward pressure plays right into Chuck's hands. However, if he can get inside the Ice Man's reach, I don't think Liddell will have any answer for his clinch. I just think Silva's got more tools here, so I'll give him a R1 KO. I hope they have some good undercard bouts, 'cause there's a bunch of these fights that have the potential to end pretty early. The rest? Don't know or don't care.
Results - please keep the spoiler tags in until tomorrow [EXPAND="Spoilers"] -Mark Bocek def. Doug Evans by unanimous decision -Roan Carneiro def. Tony DeSouza by TKO, R2. -Dean Lister def. Jordan Radev by Unanimous Decision -Manny Gamburyan def. Nate Mohr by submission (ankle lock) at 1:31, R1 -James Irvin def. Luis Cane by Disqualification (illegal strike to downed opponent) at 1:51, R1 -Rich Clementi def. Melvin Guillard by Submission (rear naked choke) at 4:40, R1 -Lyoto Machida def. Sokoudjou by Submission (head and arm triangle choke) at 4:20, R2 -Eddie Sanchez def. Soa Palelei by TKO (referee's stoppage due to strikes) at 3:24, R3 -Chuck Liddell def. Wanderlei Silva by unanimous decision -Georges St. Pierre def. Matt Hughes by Submission (armbar) at 1:54, R2 Liddell/ Silva was a pretty good fight; maybe not as good as I was hoping (frankly, I was hoping for a Silva win), but far from the borefest I was fearing. St Pierre just DOMINATED Hughes bell-to-bell and it's a kinda fitting end to the trilogy that GSP won by armbar (which is how Hughes won the first bout). The Machida/ Sokoujou fight was pretty cool too All-in-all, a good end to the year for the UFC. They've not had the greatest of years IMO - most of their events haven't been that good, they've made what I consider to be some bad calls (putting titles on hold for their crappy reality show, buying then killing Pride, missing some big signings, Randy drama etc), but this event was pretty solid. Roll on Yarennoka[/EXPAND]
Thanks for the summaries! Overall I thought it was a pretty good show! [EXPAND="Spoilers"] -Manny Gamburyan def. Nate Mohr by submission (ankle lock) at 1:31, R1 I liked the match... I like Manny and hope his shoulder holds out. His submission was realy cool! -Rich Clementi def. Melvin Guillard by Submission (rear naked choke) at 4:40, R1 Ugggghh - what I didn't like was all the WWE-like and juvenile posing and talking crap and swearing and such. I don't like it as a fan and think all it does is encourage the "thug" mentality and image of MMA. If you can't act professional, don't be a professional, I'm sure there are young hungry professionals who would love that spot on a PPV. -Lyoto Machida def. Sokoudjou by Submission (head and arm triangle choke) at 4:20, R2 I hate to say it but when they mentioned that Sokoudjou was an ex-PRIDE guy who hadn't been in the UFC yet, I didn't have high expectations at all. Maybe they should have the ex-PRIDE guys do a few non-televised matches to see if they compete at their expected levels... -Eddie Sanchez def. Soa Palelei by TKO (referee's stoppage due to strikes) at 3:24, R3 Heh heh heh... I sort of like Eddie (excpet for his smack talking after the match was stopped). I get the impression he is supposed to be used like those WWE "jobbers" who put the other over by getting beat up. Seeing him win was great over the guy who was "supposed" to win. -Chuck Liddell def. Wanderlei Silva by unanimous decision I was worried about how Silva would fight... the whole ex-PRIDE thing and all but I was pretty happy with the match, it was exciting (although didn't have much aside from some boxing in it). This was a good match though! -Georges St. Pierre def. Matt Hughes by Submission (armbar) at 1:54, R2 I loved this - I was hoping GSP would win becuase I like his attitude, class, and style. At the same time, I really wanted to see Hughes win so he could face Serra. Great match! [/EXPAND]
[EXPAND="Spoilers"]I didn't see the PPV itself, but saw some of the matches on the 'net today. It took some restraint not to read any spoilers before seeing the matches, though. Was there really a lot of smack-talk going on? Doesn't sound too good, but I suppose it sells tickets. Climente impressed me with his kicks and guard work (armbar-omaplata-sweep to side control... nice!), and I was surprised he took down Guillard. Granted that Guillard isn't really at the top of the 155lbs division, but maybe this is a revival of Rich's career? Machida continues to impress me with his technical, methodical, and somewhat unexciting style. That said, after seeing two of his fights on PPV I'm not sure why people describe him as "boring". It was also nice to see him finish a fight. Sokoudjou, I think, has the potential to be a great GNP fighter, with his Judo sweeps/takedowns and his natural power, and while Team Quest might help him refine that style, I'd like to see him train with some good BJJ guys so he doesn't flounder on his back anymore. And his lack of sub defense... I mean, Machida telegraphed that choke, if you could call a sub telegraphed. Soko had about a minute to defend against it, but really had nothing. I think he's got tons of potential, but his glaring weakness right now is his BJJ/sub/bottom game. The match also left me wondering who they'll match Machida against next? He's a tough fight for anyone, it looks like. GSP vs. Hughes... wow. It was like their second fight, only on the ground. To see Hughes get "Matt Hughes'ed" was a sight to behold. Nice transitions by GSP, especially gaining the sprawl possition when Hughes tried to turn into his guard (gotta be seen to be believed, folks), and in the final submission sequence. As for Liddell-Silva, it was one hell of a fight, and I'm surprised, but not really disappointed, that nobody got KO'd. The second round was one of the best rounds in MMA I think I've seen. Both guys looked like they were wobbled at different points in the fight, Silva more so. I've gotta give it to him, he showed some heart in staying in there and surviving against Chuck's onslaughts. I also underestimated Liddell's ability to avoid the clinch, and his reach advantage really came into play, with him scoring in exchanges where Silva barely missed. Chuck also showed some of his forgotten wrestling background, and smartly took Silva down for about the last 20 seconds of R3. He showed greater variety in his strikes, too, with spinning backfists, elbows, and even front kicks coming into play. This was probably the best and smartest Liddell I've seen, certainly since he became champ. Overall, some very exciting fights, of the ones that I saw.[/EXPAND]
