Aaaaye..all day. Looking forward to Bones Jones and Rampage getting into the octagon..not to mention whether St Pierre and Silva finally hook up after St Pierre destroys Condit
watching MMA/UFC/WEC is what got me interested in BJJ and MMA training in general. I've been watching UFC since the mid 90s, when they had no rules and dudes were using palm strikes. The fighters were less well-rounded back then, and stuck to a specific style, but you got to see more disciplines instead of the usual wrestling/bjj/muay thai/kickboxing you see now. I keep thinking about the sumo guy who got his ass whopped by a chuck norris looking mofo, using palm strikes to the side of his jaw, lol.
I wonder why you never see any traditional martial artists fighting anymore. I know most fights end up on the ground but they start on your feet and that gives a lot of advantage to known strikers like guys in karate kung fu or something of that nature where they practice hardening the shit out of their strikes
UFC is becoming more regulated now, with many fighters training the same set number of styles. Not many people are willing to deviate from the norm, with the exception of Lyoto Machida who relies heavily on karate and a few other unorthodox strikers. I'd really like to see more styles get matched against other ones, but for the sake of a MMA career, people just won't do anything that's not worthwhile.
I really think Condit has a strong chance of winning. Dude is aggressive, always pushes forward with strikes, active off his back (you know GSP will take bin down), and is tough as nails. All of his wins except for one has been a finish. I don't see GSP just walking over dude unless he lays on him like a blanket for 5 rounds or do like he did with Kos and throw jabs. Not sure how Rampage will do against Jones but he obviously is the underdog here. He might be able to tag Jones and we haven't seen his chin tested so this will be a good title defense. With that said LHW is a sick division. Hell I think Machida would give Jones a good fight. I want to see my boy Shogun back into contention but even as a hardcore Shogun fan I'm not sure if he can be champ again with Jones there but he might put up a more aggressive fight next time around. He has the tools to win but he needs a better gameplan. Oh and Anderson Silva would own GSP.
Traditional Martial Arts is good for distance and timing. You see taekwondo and karate have point sparring tournaments. They are good for those things but don't always translate into mixed martial arts. Also fighters have to be versed in more than one art to be successful.
Can anyone beat silva in his prime? silva's striking is a full generation ahead of current mma striking he represents the next evolution, the same way Gracie did with grappling with that said i find his fights boring because no one can standup with him. Best fight he had was with chael sonnen, who dominated silva
Don't get it twisted sir..in no way did I mean to sell Condit short. He is definitely a beast. I remember how he wrecked shop in the WEC. To be honest, I think a lot of those fighters that came over from WEC had to adjust to the much larger spotlight of the UFC (Aldo, Faber, etc), so we probably haven't seen any of them at their best. I don't see GSP doing anything different than he has the last few years..and i'm not sure that Condit can stop him. Rampage is my dude..as is Bones Jones. But I fully agree with you. Unless Rampage can catch him on the chin..it might end ugly for Rampage. Machida? He has a glass jaw..and that doesn't match well with an elite striker such as Jones. Shogun. I hope to God that he returns to the level he was on when he was in Pride. He used to brutalize cats and look damn near unstoppable. He is still a beast..but I am wondering if the injuries/surgeries have taken their toll I'm not too sure Silva would run through GSP. Look at what Chael Sonnen did to him..and I am fairly certain that GSP is a better wrestler, and a better athlete. I also think people forget that GSP can strike with the best of them because of the way he has fought the last few years. Granted he is no Silva..but he is up there.
I would put Silva as the forerunner..but Bones Jones and Jose Aldo are both young, and not too far behind.
dont know...but i do know i need to see this fight beating a skilled top-tier vet like Rampage will solidify his position as 'the truth'
Nice comments man! Yeah I agree with you about the WEC fighters, also similar to a larger spotlight a much larger octagon so that changes the game a bit. I'm hyped for Condit though. He might just actually be a killer! As far as Machida vs Jones...Machida having a glass jaw? Dude got rocked against a dude that has 17 of his 20 wins by KO/TKO in that of Shogun. I just think Machida matches well against wrestlers and can gauge timing/distance against them quite well. He also has very good TDD against them, unlike Shogun, which I love, but he has trouble against takedowns because he primarily goes for striking. Now I wouldn't exactly expect a KO from Machida (again Jones chin hasn't been tested) but I would expect him to outpoint Jones in the exchange. I wouldn't expect Jones to take him down very easily. As far as GSP and Chael, yea high calibur wrestlers will give Anderson trouble, but look what he did to both Chael and Dan Henderson, great olympic level wrestlers...he submitted them both. Both Chael and Dan have fought at LHW before too. I just don't think GSP is big enough. If he gets big, yea maybe. I still think he isn't the most aggressive wrestler and I would really expect a T/KO by Anderson, or some boring ass decision by GSP.
someone that's a decent pro striker in his prime is what silva needs he's just exploiting one of the weaknesses with training so many different styles. downside is that if he meets a striker that's better than him, he still has that bjj black belt game which is nothing to sneeze at
Someone needs to fuse Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson together and give them sub defense and maybe they might be able to beat Silva.
Henderson was a high level wrestler if I'm not mistaken, and always came out to 'lunatic fringe' which is like the anthem for amateur grapplers. And he had that mean right which ko'd bisping who used to circle left. He may already have the tools to compete with silva
Don't forget his legs. He's knocked people out with his kicks as well. The spider man is awesome. He has lethal hands, legs and ground skills too. I'd imagine that it's hard for him to get up for a fight because even now he's so far ahead of everyone else. As for the up and comers, the book is still out of Jones and Aldo. I agree that we need to see whether Jones has a chin, and while Rampage is a puncher I don't know if he'll really test Jones...But, as we see often in the octagon, you can never say for certain.
Olympic caliber wrestler with a granite chin. Though I think Chael's style of wrestling pushes Anderson more...it's just Chael has pillow hands. Imagine if he had Hendo's ground and pound in the first fight, oh and if he was off PEDs.
