Monday, September 8, 2008

Worst weekend for Free MMA Ever

On Friday, it was announced that Thiago Silva had to withdraw from his UFC 89 match with Machida.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/injured-silva-withdraws-from-ufc-89-14296

So, much for getting to watch 2 of the top 5 light heavyweights in the world fight for free, and probably fight for a title show.

But, that's ok because there's a free WEC event coming up this week, right? Wrong, that event had to be delayed until November.

http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2008/09/06/wecs-sept-10-event-postponed-until-nov-5/

In two days, we lost one of the best free MMA fights of all time and had a WEC event pushed back 2 months. Fuck

Saturday, September 6, 2008

I didn't see that coming...

Damn, apparently Evans knocked Liddell way the fuck out of the title picture, or at least as out of the title picture as one of MMA's biggest names can be, and knocked himself off the "I won't pay to watch" list by Sean Salmon'ing Liddell.

Who now fights Forrest Griffin for the light heavyweight belt in December?

Liddell's out of contention, Machida has no name recognition & can't finish, Thiago Silva's injured (fuck, and more on that in a latter post), and Jackson isn't a viable champ until his criminal trial is over.

I'd say that leaves 3 people:

Evans who has the record and just gave himself some serious name recognition (fight could be billed as "UFC: Ultimate Ultimate Fighter")

Wanderlei has the history & is a decently sized name in the US (fight could be billed as "UFC: Generations")

Silva, assuming he beats Cote & doesn't get a medical suspension, has name recognition in the US & has the credentials. And, it is the easiest of these fights to sell, "UFC: Champion vs Champion."

Enjoy the real start of the NFL season tomorrow (1 game on Thursday night doesn't count as the start). Hopefully, it'll help ease the pain of today being the worst day in the history of free MMA (more on that later this week).

Thursday, September 4, 2008

September PPV Battle: UFC 88 vs $45

Do you like lay & pray fighting? Do you think the most thrilling thing in MMA is watching a wrestler lay on top of someone for 3 rounds? If so, you'll love UFC 88. Otherwise, save your money.

Main Event:

Liddell vs Evans

The counter-punching face of the UFC vs an "I won't pay to watch" wrestler. If Liddell's sprawl holds up, he'll most likely KO Evans eventually. If not, Evans will lay on top of Liddell for the whole fight.

Main Card:

Frankln vs Hamill

Hamill is Evans, only slower, deaf, and white. Franklin is a guy other than Penn or Silva that's trying to fight above his weight class. Franklin's screwed. I doubt he's strong enough to keep Hamill off him, and he most likely doesn't have the power to stop a light-heavyweight. So, Hamill's going to lay on Franklin, early & often.

Parisyan vs Yoshida

Parisyan hasn't been the same since an injury forced him to withdraw from his title shot against Hughes. He's still a decision machine, they're no longer entertaining decisions. They're slow, uneventful decisions.

Henderson vs Palhares

Henderson was one of the best in the world. Is his 2 fight losing streak the result of him being over the hill or is it because he was fighting two of the best in the world (Jackson & Silva)?

But, more importantly, why the hell isn't he fighting Franklin? Henderson and Franklin are the 2nd & 3rd best 185 lb'ers in the world. Why the hell aren't they fighting each other?

If Henderson beats Palhares, he's probably 1 fight away from a rematch against Silva. If Henderson loses, he should consider hanging it up.

Kampmann vs Marquardt

Best fight on the card. Kampmann has looked fantastc lately & Marquardt is extremely talented. Winner of this could easily get to lose to Silva next.

Hmmm... lay & pray vs counter punch, lay & pray vs undersized, boring decision machine vs I forget who, finding out if some one has anything left, & a good fight. That equals save your money. Besides there's enough free MMA coming this month (WEC, Ultimate Fight Night, and a new season of the Ultimate Fighter) that there's no need to waste cash on this one.