..Ur looking 4 SHOGUN..his coming soon to an Octagon near you..F’ that..I would of loved to see Iceman vs SHOGUN as the main event..Griffin could of rematch against Jardine or fought Machida..SHOGUN doesn’t need a warm up match to be in a UFC main event..SHOGUN is the Main event in my eyes…and to any and all non-believers after this UFC event ya’ll find out why.

Dana sometimes is a smart business man. I would love to see Chuck fight Rua, but Dana’s is right in taking a match or two to build up Rua even more. Only the hardcore fans know Rua, all the noobies, hell they all think Forrest and Rashad are the best UFC fighters of all time. Given Rua some time to build up an even bigger fan base would pay off down the road in increased PPV’s revenues. And give me a break on Liddell vs. Alexander, shit that would last 10 seconds, Liddell would pick Houston apart easily. Alexander’s had one fight, let’s wait on see how he does in other fights before everyone thinks he shoot get a shot at a top five LHW. Hell the sun shines on a dog’s ass every now and then.

I can see Dana’s point at least. I mean obviously to all the die hard MMA fans we obviously wanted a better match up. To the UFC fans that are really just starting to get into the sport have no idea who Shogun really is so you cant put him on a main event bout. That would mean less pay per views.

All in all it was a good UFC business decision, but to MMA fans it was a bad decision. Get it?

I’m really excited about seeing Forrest fight Shogun. It should be an all-out war. Liddell vs. Jardine might not be a perfect main event fight, but its gonna be a slugfest and someone is getting knocked out, no doubt it will be an exciting fight too.

What’s gonna happen if Griffin knocks him out? MMA fans around the world will simultaneously shed a single tear. Pfft, Shogun is gonna beat his ass. hahaha..

Shogun is here to takeover the LHW division. He is so young, yet so experienced. I think Dana didnt want shogun-liddell to hapeent b4 wandy vs. chuck. If chuck looses to shogun then no one would even care about a chuck vs. wandy fight. I do not have a problem with the two main events…. Makle no mistake about it, PhilQNY is right, RUA is the MAIN EVENT! Dana doesnt want chuck to loose 2 fights in a row, thats also factors in on his decision to throw jardine in the ring wit chuck, and not shogun. Hope shogun starts the fight wit that crazy whirlwind kick he started the arona fight with, if that kick lands….. instant Highlight. Rampage better watch out(better learn to get out of the tai clinch.

When will new pride dvds be released? bushido survival, shockwave 2006, GP absolute 2006? anyone have any clue on these release dates?

I am really excited to see the Shogun/Griffin fight. I think Couture will train Forrest really hard. Forrest is also fortunate that his fight is in September and Randy’s fight is in August; they can both train hard together. Shogun should expect to fight the best Forrest we have ever seen or at least I hope the best Forrest that we have ever seen shows up. I don’t mind that Shogun’s first fight isn’t against Liddell. If Shogun beats Forrest, then the new UFC fans will know who Shogun is and would be willing to buy the PPV that would have Liddell fighting Shogun. Also, it would be tough to market Rua if he came to the UFC and lost to Liddell. Didn’t Dana White say that if Rua wins his first fight that he would get the winner of Rampage/Hendo? Can anyone confirm that? It seems kind of quick to see him get a title shot his second fight, but he deserves it, especially since he is so highly regarded as the number one or number two Light Heavyweight in the world. I would love to see Forrest beat Rua; it should be a great fight.

Dana is trying to protect Chuck, because he does not want Shogun to come in and just make Chuck look extremely bad, then it would hurt possibly the face to new mma fans and then it could possibly turn people away and it would ruin the chance of Chuck fighting Rampage for the third time.

i think liddell got to work his way out as every body else, and I think jardine is the best figther he could start with. What Mr. NC-17 says is true, liddell is UFC’s not only best paid fighter but the image of it too.

i think liddell got to work his way out as every body else, and I think jardine is the best figther he could start with. What Mr. NC-17 says is true, liddell is UFC’s not only best paid fighter but the image of it too

Dana favors Chuck because they are friends.

They should have let shogun fight him. Chucky is getting old and the UFC is going to need a new face. Shogun is young and very talented fighter.

Dana is trying to protect Chuck, because he does not want Shogun to come in and just make Chuck look extremely bad, then it would hurt possibly the face to new mma fans and then it could possibly turn people away and it would ruin the chance of Chuck fighting Rampage for the third time.

This protection stuff is just plain stupid at this stage of the game. Last year, I would have agreed with it because the UFC didn’t have the biggest names in the fight game and they only had a select handful of stars (Liddell of course included, and still is). They have enough names now that they can afford to put some of them on the line.

“Possibly turn people away”? If Shogun fought Liddell, a UFC and pop culture icon, in 76 and beat him, it wouldn’t turn people away at all, it would attract more viewers saying “holy, we thought Liddell was awesome but look what this Shogun did to him…let’s watch some more.”

It’s time to drag some names in the mud at the cost of real fights. Why? because they can. The UFC messed up on this card, plain and simple. That picture of Liddell and Jardine looks stupid and it makes me laugh. True fans know who Shogun is. Even if a person is a casual fan, they have had enough time to research Pride after Mirko got here and brought the Pride name. Dana said he wanted the best fighters to come to the UFC. Now that they are coming, put them in real fights. It should have been Chuck vs. Shogun and Jardine vs. Griffin 2, now those are two solid matches. No more warm up fights, tune-ups, etc. No excuse for Liddell and Shogun to be on the same card and not be fighting each other. The UFC has enough A-listers for serious battles each and every time.

Also, imo, enough with this Liddell and Rampage series. Let’s save a rubber match for those with 1 win a piece. We saw Shamrock/Ortiz 3, Nog/Herring 3, enough with it. I’d rather see Hughes/St. Pierre 3 (the true definition of a rubber match), than another Liddell and Rampage.

Dana is trying to protect Chuck, because he does not want Shogun to come in and just make Chuck look extremely bad, then it would hurt possibly the face to new mma fans and then it could possibly turn people away and it would ruin the chance of Chuck fighting Rampage for the third time.

THERE WILL NOT BE A CHUCK,RAMPAGE 3. I DONT EVEN THINK CHUCK WANTS IT.

Dana favors Chuck because they are friends.

Plus the fact that Dana babied Chuck forever in the UFC. Putting him up against some garbage fighters. Jardine is gonna get ko’d. If Jardine won this fight, it would be the biggest upset ever. He wont last a round with the iceman tho.

True. I liked Chuck’s title reign but its time for young blood to take over. I really hope Jardine knocks him the fuck out. Doubt it will happen but it would be good.

“Had a Liddell-Shogun fight been booked it would have pitted the two best fighters in the UFC division against one another.”

I’m not going to get tinto my opinion on who the best is (Machida), but you have to admit that Rampage has proven himself better than Liddell.

I honestly think and I am sure that Randy Couture would agree,that Chuck so long as he was on form would be very difficult for Shogun or Wanderlei to beat,there styles are taylor made for Chuck coz they are definitly not gonna take him down and the way they both strike is exactly what Chuck wants,they come after their opponents agresivly and Chuck loves that,he can take a tremendous shot and he can throw an even harder one,he loves to counter punch,Rampage beat him at his own game last time,when Chuck was waiting for Rampage to come after him Rampage taunted him Chuck took the bait threw a body shot which was a terible mistake and Rampage countered and caught him flush on the button,he hit the perfect spot to KO Chuck and then hit him a couple of shots on the ground and all though Chuck lost I was amazed how quick he recovered from that and I have more confidence in his chin now then I did before the 2nd Rampage fight.
I was hoping to see Shogun face Machida but now I think about it I wouldnt because I could just see Machida win by a boring desicion as Shogun was in unfamiliar teritory.
Forrest has got balls and hes gonna get in there with Shogun,he has no choice but to if he hopes to have any chance of winning.
Liddell vs Jardine should be a wild fight to watch,I imagine it going a bit like Chuck vs Vernon White,a slug fest with Chuck winning by the end of round 1.

Chuck said if he beats Jardine, that he is next in line for the title shot in 2008. But knowing how Chuck likes to fight and knowing how Jardine should not make it past first round, Chuck shoud fight either Silva or Rua again in November and the winner definetly deserves a title shot perhaps in Feb of 08.

Chuck will destroy Jardine but I really like Jardine and still will order this Pay Per View in the hopes that Jardine will pull off an upset. ::fingers crossed::

And give me a break on Liddell vs. Alexander, shit that would last 10 seconds, Liddell would pick Houston apart easily. Alexander’s had one fight, let’s wait on see how he does in other fights before everyone thinks he shoot get a shot at a top five LHW.

He’s not in Liddell’s class, but he’s not new to the game. He’s had one UFC fight, but he’s been fighting since 2001. And since when is UFC experience a prerequisite to fighting a top 5 fighter? How did Patrick Cote get a shot at Tito?

Iole is WAAAAAY too opinionated. Alexander had one fight in the UFC, KOd the guy you are bitching about fighting Chuck. This is a bounce back fight you IDIOT.. Chuck isnt gonna be gambled on for a lil while now… but Iole’s opinion is strong, just not well based.

And even though Cote was an injury replacement, the point is he still got to fight Tito. There’s other examples of fighters getting shots at someone above their level. Is Chris Lytle really worthy of fighting Matt? These matches are not far-fetched. Sometimes fights are made for different reasons than just to find out who’s better (ie to make an exciting match, to introduce a new fighter, etc.)

the times when chuck had easy fights with Tito who is he worst boxer ever are over..
this pride guys will own the LHW division for a long time.

Plus the fact that Dana babied Chuck forever in the UFC. Putting him up against some garbage fighters. Jardine is gonna get ko’d. If Jardine won this fight, it would be the biggest upset ever. He wont last a round with the iceman tho.

I don’t think they babied him, just that they didn’t have enough names in the lhw division. I mean, who besides Randy, Tito, and Babalu was there for him? All 3 were top 10 when he fought them, so you can’t fault the ufc for that. By the same logic, Anderson Silva is being protected due to the low talent pool of the middleweight division. Further proof they aren’t protecting Chuck comes from signing Rampage, Henderson, Shogun, and W Silva. Not saying Chuck beat the best, just that protecting him is a stretch

And Dana wants Shogun to be the next light heavyweight star. The same was clear when Anderson Silva fought Leben the first time. If Leben wins that fight, he gets instant respect from the hardcore. If Silva wins (which he did brutally), a TON of fans that don’t know him see that he is a badass. The same goes for Forrest vs Shogun. If Shogun kills Forrest like expected, he gets instant name recognition for several hundred thousand new fans. His American fan base will grow exponentially. On the other hand, Forrest can instantly make himself legit in the eyed of hardcore fans with a win. If he somehow beat Shogun, he is not only a top 10 lhw, but probably has a shot at winning the strap

the times when chuck had easy fights with Tito who is he worst boxer ever are over..
this pride guys will own the LHW division for a long time.

I don’t see why people are still all over the pride guys nuts. Only 2 of the 5 i’ve seen fight since they came to the UFC have done anything impressive, and 1 time it was a lucky punch. When they start to step up and dominate people, I will give em the credit they deserve.

Cro-Cop – Unimpressive win, followed by getting KTFO.
The Texas Crazy Horse – All fights were unimpressive.
Big Nog – Nothing impressive.
Rampage – Unimpressive wins followed by a lucky punch.
Gomi – Unimpressive wins followed by an unimpressive loss.
Silva – Impresses the hell out of me.

Hopefully we will see more impressive stuff come out of Pride. I look forward to it.

Lucky punch…right. He capitalized on a mistake Chuck made and Chuck was champion no more.

Matt, I’m with you. Everyone thought CroCop was going to come in and destroy the HW division and he got worked by a “no-name fighter”. And when I say worked, I mean f’n destroyed. Rua is great, but I want to see him in the cage before hailing him as unstoppable. I think Forest will be a good match up for him. Forest never seems to be overwhelmed or intimidated with any opponent so I think he’s going to put up a hell of a fight.

Lucky punch…right. He capitalized on a mistake Chuck made and Chuck was champion no more.

What mistake was that, throwing punches and taking angles?

Rampage couldn’t even see Chuck when he threw the punch, if it wasn’t a wild looping punch, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near Chuck. Thank god for innacurate punches right? Those take skill.

Who knows, maybe I was watching the wrong fight.

I don’t see why people are still all over the pride guys nuts. Only 2 of the 5 i’ve seen fight since they came to the UFC have done anything impressive, and 1 time it was a lucky punch. When they start to step up and dominate people, I will give em the credit they deserve.

Cro-Cop – Unimpressive win, followed by getting KTFO.
The Texas Crazy Horse – All fights were unimpressive.
Big Nog – Nothing impressive.
Rampage – Unimpressive wins followed by a lucky punch.
Gomi – Unimpressive wins followed by an unimpressive loss.
Silva – Impresses the hell out of me.

Hopefully we will see more impressive stuff come out of Pride. I look forward to it.

How is Rampage’s punch lucky? He countered Chuck’s sloppy body shot with a great counter, and finished him on the ground. Watch their first fight, where Rampage kicks his ass up and down the ring the entire fight. He is just better

And Gomi hasn’t even fought in the ufc, so how does he have any unimpressive wins followed by unimpressive losses? He was protected big time by Pride, but he is still a badass. I think Penn would beat him again, and MAYBE Sherk, but no one else currently in the ufc’s lightweight division.

As far as the other 5 (Rampage, Herring, Nog, Silva, Cro Cop) only 1 of them (Nog) ever held a title in Pride, so in reality that isn’t the top of the pool. And none of them were the highest rated in Pride when joining the ufc. Once we see Fedor, Shogun, Henderson, Silva, and Gomi fight in the ufc we can get a better idea of how comparable the 2 were.

I don’t see why people are still all over the pride guys nuts. Only 2 of the 5 i’ve seen fight since they came to the UFC have done anything impressive, and 1 time it was a lucky punch. When they start to step up and dominate people, I will give em the credit they deserve.

Cro-Cop – Unimpressive win, followed by getting KTFO.
The Texas Crazy Horse – All fights were unimpressive.
Big Nog – Nothing impressive.
Rampage – Unimpressive wins followed by a lucky punch.
Gomi – Unimpressive wins followed by an unimpressive loss.
Silva – Impresses the hell out of me.

Hopefully we will see more impressive stuff come out of Pride. I look forward to it.

Matt, I’m with you. Everyone thought CroCop was going to come in and destroy the HW division and he got worked by a “no-name fighter”. And when I say worked, I mean f’n destroyed. Rua is great, but I want to see him in the cage before hailing him as unstoppable. I think Forest will be a good match up for him. Forest never seems to be overwhelmed or intimidated with any opponent so I think he’s going to put up a hell of a fight.

..well I thought Crocop was going to be a great addition for the UFC HW division..which in my eyes he still is..but going into the Gonzaga fight..I knew Gonzaga had a great odds in beating Crocop..which he did..just I did’nt think it was going to be with Crocop’s signature move..Now with respects to SHOGUN..he is in my eyes..a combonation of Crocop..Gonzaga..Anderson..put 2gether in the LHW divison..1 key note, he is from the same Camp " Chute Boxe " as Anderson Silva..Forrest without a doubt has heart and is agame fighter..but this match up is like is in NBA terms.. John Starks vs Kobe Bryant.

Chuck threw a shot to the body and left himself open, Rampage who was slightly crouched threw a punch that hit Chuck on his jaw, Chuck saw stars then more fists and then he was an ex-champion. If it was reversed Chuck would be praised for his counter punching most likely. How many times will Rampage have to beat him before he gets his due?
The first fight was a great fight, #2 was just a quick ass whipping.

“I’m gonna whip Chuck’s Ass” – Rampage before UFC 71. How right you were Rampage, how right you were.

:p

P.S. Here is a great Photo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jackson_KOs_Liddell_UFC71.jpg

What mistake was that, throwing punches and taking angles?

Rampage couldn’t even see Chuck when he threw the punch, if it wasn’t a wild looping punch, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near Chuck. Thank god for innacurate punches right? Those take skill.

Who knows, maybe I was watching the wrong fight.

When Preparation meets opportunity = Lucky Punch

What mistake was that, throwing punches and taking angles?

Rampage couldn’t even see Chuck when he threw the punch, if it wasn’t a wild looping punch, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near Chuck. Thank god for innacurate punches right? Those take skill.

Who knows, maybe I was watching the wrong fight.

You were.

Chuck fans are just living in denial I think. ;)

Rampage – Unimpressive wins followed by a lucky punch.
Gomi – Unimpressive wins followed by an unimpressive loss.

That wasn’t a lucky punch by Rampage. The right hook is a great counter to the body shot, and he placed it perfectly without over-committing himself to it. And his beatdown of Eastman in his first UFC fight was a solid showing.

And Gomi has never fought in the UFC.

Chuck fans are just living in denial I think. ;)

haha, i’m not a chuck “fanboi”, I was just trying to emphasize that only 1 of the Pride fighters that has come to the UFC has done anything of merit. I think Rampage would have went on to win that fight anyway, the punch that ended the fight just happened to be a lucky punch.

haha, i’m not a chuck “fanboi”, I was just trying to emphasize that only 1 of the Pride fighters that has come to the UFC has done anything of merit. I think Rampage would have went on to win that fight anyway, the punch that ended the fight just happened to be a lucky punch.

A lucky punch he landed at will the first time they fought. I guess he is lucky Chuck didn’t improve his defense since the first fight?

Dana doesnt want chuck to loose 2 fights in a row, thats also factors in on his decision to throw jardine in the ring wit chuck, and not shogun.

You’re exactly right. Putting Chuck in the cage with Shogun diminishes his value as a drawing card. They’re gonna give him an easy knockout with Jardine and hype up his next fight. From a business standpoint you don’t destroy your best money maker by setting him up for consecutive losses. Hopefully they get their act together and sign the Silva fight.

You were.

I saw Chuck throw a punch and step to Rampages side (just as he did against randy couture that consequently ended the fight with a knockout punch) and Rampage throw a wild punch that wasnt even aimed in the direction of chuck, and Rampages outreached armed hit Chuck right on the button about halfway threw where the punch was suppposed to land. I call that “lucky”.

Throwing a punch that lands where it wasnt intended to because the other person had good footwork is luck in my book. Not saying Rampage is a bad striker, or chuck has godly footwork. Just saying that the punch he threw was a lucky punch.

That wasn’t a lucky punch by Rampage. The right hook is a great counter to the body shot, and he placed it perfectly without over-committing himself to it. And his beatdown of Eastman in his first UFC fight was a solid showing.

And Gomi has never fought in the UFC.

my bad, i meant yushin okami.. not gomi..

the times when chuck had easy fights with Tito who is he worst boxer ever are over..
this pride guys will own the LHW division for a long time.

I’m sick of people talking of how Pride fighters are better than UFC fighters. UFC fighters are often more well-rounded, while many pride fighters will be a master of one martial art. I think that is the reason why guys like Fedor, Henderson, Rampage, Wanderlei, and Rua had so much success in Pride. They are all great fighters, but meanwhile, they would often destroy fighters who were very one-dimensional.

I do not believe that Rampage had a lucky punch on Liddell, but people saying that Pride fighters are going to “own” the LHW division is ridiculous. Wasn’t it Tito Ortiz, who you called “the worst boxer ever” that beat Wanderlei Silva? And wasn’t it Babalu Sobral who choked out Shogun? In the heavyweight division, Cro Cop just got knocked out by a guy who was on the preliminary card before that fight. And Heath Herring was defeated by Jake O’Brien. The point is, there are fighters from both sides who are great, and people don’t give UFC fighters the respect that they deserve.

UFC fighters are often more well-rounded, while many pride fighters will be a master of one martial art. I think that is the reason why guys like Fedor, Henderson, Rampage, Wanderlei, and Rua had so much success in Pride.

I meant that their opponents were not always well-rounded enough- I know that Fedor the other guys are very well rounded.

We all wanted Wandy..didnt happen. We all wanted Shogun to fight Liddell..didnt happen. Liddell/Shogun would of been one hell of a main event for 76 but we all know the Dana way which is give the new star a warm up fight first. Fair enough except for th fact that Jardine got the shot at Liddell. You can argue that he got caught as most have argued but in ring talk and match up making you have to do what make sense. Both White and Joe Silva blew it on this one. They should of just fed Alexander to Liddell.

Possible great alternatives for 76
Liddell/Shogun
Griffen/Jardine(rematch) or Griffen/Machida(orig. 72 match up)
Sanchez/Fitch
and so on……..

Houston Alexander was a one hit wonder, he’ll never win another fight in the octagon, but Jardine is not a legitimate contender either.

Every fighter needs a tuneup after a KO loss and Jardine is the next soupcan.

Now that Alexander KO’d him Jardine is expendable.

I’ve heard TUF 7 will be titled Return of the Soup Cans.

Dana favors Chuck because they’re friends? How about Dana favors Chuck because Chuck is the most popular fighter and biggest $ maker. Chuck is in his late 30s and doesn’t exactly take the best care of himself. Dana is going to get everything he can out of him. Can’t really blame him.

Shogun is one of the greatest LHW’s in the world. IMO, probably the best. If Griffin upsets Rua, that still won’t change the fact that Rua is one of the best.

We pretty much know these are the mach-ups.So there is no point in sitting here bitching about it for two months until the event. Yes we all know alot of people wanted to see Liddell vs Rua. Well not this time around. I mean i agree with alot of the statements on protecting Chuck and making the match-ups this way because in the end its just a better business decision. But these match-ups arent as bad as some of you think. I could be wrong and Sept 22nd will come and the fights might totally suck but i doubt it. and theres always that chance no matter who’s fighting. Liddell vs Jardine is a decent fight both coming back from KO losses. It will probably be a pretty tentative fight at first. But both really, really, really want and need a win. Shogun vs Griffin well styles make fights and this could be the bloodiest battle we have ever seen in the UFC. Logically you kinda think Shogun will just pure straight dominate Griffin in the stand-up, the clinch etc. And Forrest is a brawler but i think he might try to take this to the ground if he can. Hell i dunno how its gonna go but i think Forrest will do alot better against Rua than alot of people are thinking he will.

my bad, i meant yushin okami.. not gomi..

So Okami has 1 Pride fight in a card that is below any Bushido card, and he is a Pride fighter? How does that hold any water? And Okami did pretty well against Franklin in the 3rd when he actually started fighting, nearly finishing him

Face it, the top Pride fighters still haven’t fought the top ufc fighters. The very top rated Pride fighters in each division are Fedor(HW), Shogun(LHW), Henderson(MW), and Gomi(LW). The only time one of them fought top ufc fighters any time recently is Gomi. He lost to Diaz earlier this year, and Penn 4 years ago.

I’m not sure why the new fans are so intent on discrediting the Pride guys. We get it, you loved Franklin and Chuck when tuf introduced you to the sport. That doesn’t mean you have to grasp for straws like Heath Herring, who hadn’t beat anyone of note in years. I think it is people who come online, and constantly hear about fighters they didn’t know about. They come on to discuss fights, but can’t due to lack of knowledge about anything non-ufc. So they get annoyed and want the non-ufc guys to go down, which would be easier on them than researching at all

Bah, I left part of my other reply on that one. I’m retarded

I think if Couture loses his upcoming fight against Gonzaga, he should drop weight and fight Rampage for the belt, lol.

“Had a Liddell-Shogun fight been booked it would have pitted the two best fighters in the UFC division against one another.”

Let’s not forget about Rampage.

I think Griffin will eat a lot of knees then a lot of canvas.

I don’t see why people are still all over the pride guys nuts. Only 2 of the 5 i’ve seen fight since they came to the UFC have done anything impressive, and 1 time it was a lucky punch. When they start to step up and dominate people, I will give em the credit they deserve.

Cro-Cop – Unimpressive win, followed by getting KTFO.
The Texas Crazy Horse – All fights were unimpressive.
Big Nog – Nothing impressive.
Rampage – Unimpressive wins followed by a lucky punch.
Gomi – Unimpressive wins followed by an unimpressive loss.
Silva – Impresses the hell out of me.

Hopefully we will see more impressive stuff come out of Pride. I look forward to it.

two out of four are champions, within one year, if thats not impressive i don’t know what is. would it impress you if they held all the titles? some of them are great fighters nothing wrong with admitting that. oh yea and about rampage, the first fight was a total ass whipping that he put on chuck and the second fight was a one punch knock out,nothing to impressive about that. i guess during the first fight he had about two hundred lucky punches that landed, just remember its aways better to be lucky than good.

I’m not sure why the new fans are so intent on discrediting the Pride guys. We get it, you loved Franklin and Chuck when tuf introduced you to the sport. That doesn’t mean you have to grasp for straws like Heath Herring, who hadn’t beat anyone of note in years. I think it is people who come online, and constantly hear about fighters they didn’t know about. They come on to discuss fights, but can’t due to lack of knowledge about anything non-ufc. So they get annoyed and want the non-ufc guys to go down, which would be easier on them than researching at all

If you were referring to my post earlier I wasn’t trying to discredit the pride guys, I was only trying to point out that the UFC is just as good as pride and deserves as much respect.

Liddell is currently the UFC’s bread and butter. There’s no way they expose him to the risk of a second straight loss.

#

How is Rampage’s punch lucky? He countered Chuck’s sloppy body shot with a great counter, and finished him on the ground. Watch their first fight, where Rampage kicks his ass up and down the ring the entire fight. He is just better

And Gomi hasn’t even fought in the ufc, so how does he have any unimpressive wins followed by unimpressive losses? He was protected big time by Pride, but he is still a badass. I think Penn would beat him again, and MAYBE Sherk, but no one else currently in the ufc’s lightweight division.

As far as the other 5 (Rampage, Herring, Nog, Silva, Cro Cop) only 1 of them (Nog) ever held a title in Pride, so in reality that isn’t the top of the pool. And none of them were the highest rated in Pride when joining the ufc. Once we see Fedor, Shogun, Henderson, Silva, and Gomi fight in the ufc we can get a better idea of how comparable the 2 were.

          I agree rampage beats chuck twice already, when will we be ready to give the man a lil respect. Didnt chucks corner throw in the towl during the beating rampage gave him the 1st time? or did he tap out? Either way how much worse do u gotta whip a mans ass, for us fans to give rampage a lil respect?

         There are very quality fighters in both Pride and the UFC. As fans, we are so lucky that now we can all get to see some of the match ups we fans have been dreamed about for years. I really believe if all the UFC champs fought against their Pride counterparts, Some wins go to the UFC and some go to Pride. we cant label a fighter because of what organization he fought in especially when the 2 organizations are both world class. Dana white is doing a great Job so far, and I believe that by december all the pay per views will be amazing. So what we didnt get chuck vs. Rua, that fight is inevitable and will prolly happen within the year. Chuck vs. Jardine, and Rua vs. Griffin are great consolation prizes. Both fights have the potential to be a war. We get to c 4 strikers, who are all more then willing to BANG! I dont know about u guys, but I am enjoying the UFC right now, and Im drooling over its potential.

Its no big deal that Shogun isn’t fighting Liddell- they are both great fighters and will probably meet somewhere down the road.

Pride and UFC both have great fighters, people tend to favor the organization that they were exposed to first. Why the hell am I arguing with people on the internet who i dont even know?

If you were referring to my post earlier I wasn’t trying to discredit the pride guys, I was only trying to point out that the UFC is just as good as pride and deserves as much respect.

That I can agree with. The ufc has the best welterweights in the world, and very underrated lightweights. The only division I think Pride was ever clearly above the ufc was heavyweight, back before Randy moved back up and Gonzaga was there. Besides that, Pride had deeper pockets, which gave them some added depth. The fighters at the top were always relatively close.

One thing I think is interesting is how the current situation parallels with when Pride was on the rise. I mean Pride nabbed Henderson, Newton, Wanderlei Silva, Sakuraba, Bustamante, Barnett, Pulver, “Mach” Sakurai, Semmy Schilt, Randleman, Coleman, and Kerr from the ufc, due to their deeper pockets. Now you have a ton of Pride guys going to the ufc after the buyout.

I guess I’m in the minority in that my gut feeling tells me that Jardine is going to put up a lot better fight than people are expecting. Chuck is amazing no doubt, but all of his recent victories were against opponents whose only chance was to take the fight to the ground. All he had to focus on was avoiding the takedown and then doing what he does best.

Rampage was willing to trade with Chuck and we all know what happened there. Am I equating Jardine’s striking with Rampage’s or even Liddell’s? No. However, he hits like a truck and if Chuck leaves himself open again it doesn’t necessarily have to be Shogun standing in front of him to capitalize. Also, if it’s going to be trading back and forth, I don’t really think we’ve had a chance to see what kind of chin Chuck has.

I wanted Wandy/Chuck as much as anyone and Shogun would’ve been nice too, but don’t count Keith out for this one. He’s got two months to get ready and I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out what Chuck’s gameplan will be at this point.

Pride and UFC both have great fighters, people tend to favor the organization that they were exposed to first. Why the hell am I arguing with people on the internet who i dont even know?

Probably the same reason I am. Work is slow, lol

I’m not trying to be mean here, but anyone who says Houston Alexander deserves to get a shot at Chuck and Jardine doesn’t is an idiot.

#

How is Rampage’s punch lucky? He countered Chuck’s sloppy body shot with a great counter, and finished him on the ground. Watch their first fight, where Rampage kicks his ass up and down the ring the entire fight. He is just better

And Gomi hasn’t even fought in the ufc, so how does he have any unimpressive wins followed by unimpressive losses? He was protected big time by Pride, but he is still a badass. I think Penn would beat him again, and MAYBE Sherk, but no one else currently in the ufc’s lightweight division.

As far as the other 5 (Rampage, Herring, Nog, Silva, Cro Cop) only 1 of them (Nog) ever held a title in Pride, so in reality that isn’t the top of the pool. And none of them were the highest rated in Pride when joining the ufc. Once we see Fedor, Shogun, Henderson, Silva, and Gomi fight in the ufc we can get a better idea of how comparable the 2 were.

I agree rampage beats chuck twice already, when will we be ready to give the man a lil respect. Didnt chucks corner throw in the towl during the beating rampage gave him the 1st time? or did he tap out? Either way how much worse do u gotta whip a mans ass, for us fans to give rampage a lil respect?

There are very quality fighters in both Pride and the UFC. As fans, we are so lucky that now we can all get to see some of the match ups we fans have been dreamed about for years. I really believe if all the UFC champs fought against their Pride counterparts, Some wins go to the UFC and some go to Pride. we cant label a fighter because of what organization he fought in especially when the 2 organizations are both world class. Dana white is doing a great Job so far, and I believe that by december all the pay per views will be amazing. So what we didnt get chuck vs. Rua, that fight is inevitable and will prolly happen within the year. Chuck vs. Jardine, and Rua vs. Griffin are great consolation prizes. Both fights have the potential to be a war. We get to c 4 strikers, who are all more then willing to BANG! I dont know about u guys, but I am enjoying the UFC right now, and Im drooling over its potential.

1) I already mentioned that saying Gomi was a slip and that I meant to say Okami.
2) It’s clear that Rampage throws his “Wild Loopy Punch” frequently, difference is, in the first fight when he was landing it, Chuck was standing right in front of him. Making it not a lucky punch. In the second fight, Chuck wasn’t even standing in front of him, he was standing more at his side. Would you say that landing a punch on a guy that wasnt in front of you when you were aiming in front of you is skill? I would say he got lucky. Hence, he landed a lucky punch. Not a hard concept.
3) I never said that Pride sucked. I said that the people from Pride that have come to the UFC so far have all had unimpressive performances with the exception of Silva. I’m gonna jump on the bandwagon here and say that Fedor would take the title in HW and never lose it until he retires. He has yet to come to the UFC though, so he isn’t even involved in this conversation.
4) Didn’t Gomi just get caught with a Gogoplata? Good thing Nick is a pothead or there would be a loss from a lower rated UFC name.

Lastly, I never said I didn’t respect Rampage, this whole discussion was about their performances as of yet being unimpressive, I have the utmost respect for anyone in the UFC. Pride, WEC, Sherdog, or any other fighting organization as well. This is all about opinions.

Matt, I’m with you. Everyone thought CroCop was going to come in and destroy the HW division and he got worked by a “no-name fighter”. And when I say worked, I mean f’n destroyed. Rua is great, but I want to see him in the cage before hailing him as unstoppable. I think Forest will be a good match up for him. Forest never seems to be overwhelmed or intimidated with any opponent so I think he’s going to put up a hell of a fight.

Gonzaga was not a no name fighter though. He was a no name fighter to the UFC. He is an an elite BJJ blackbelt, he is easily in the top 10 to 15 BJJ in the world if not higher. There is so much more to being a great fighter than just what you see on TV. They got the Abu Dhabi Championships and so forth that make names for people as well. The way gonzaga one his first fight should have made people realize he was the real deal. An a class fighter amongst the UFC.

What mistake was that, throwing punches and taking angles?

Rampage couldn’t even see Chuck when he threw the punch, if it wasn’t a wild looping punch, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near Chuck. Thank god for innacurate punches right? Those take skill.

Who knows, maybe I was watching the wrong fight.

Chuck led with a body shot which left his chin wide open,even if he had of hurt Rampage bad he wouldnt of hurt him bad enough that he couldnt counter,Rampage wouldnt of needed to look because its called muscle memory,as soon as he saw Chuck lead with a bodyshot he instantly knew to block then throw a right hook in the generel direction of Chucks chin and the punch landed flush.
It was a great counter punch and it was unfortunate for Chuck that it landed so perfectly but it did.
It was Chucks fault he lost not Rampages fault he won.

If couture losses , may wanna drop down to fight wandy. He is been talking about wanting to fight wanderlei for years. Who knows, there are so many new fighters in both the heavyweight and LHW divisions. Any of them against randy should be worth watching.

I think UFC76 is gonna be great and i cant f**kin wait,ha ha ha ha haa
I should start doing rap.

Great point yohnstoppable, there are no pride fighters anymore, they are now UFC fighters, so all u TUF fans should just get to know them, and appreciate the fact that they are making the UFC a better product. We should stop rooting for certain fighters, and start rooting for good fights. Sure I have my favorites, but I would rather see a great fight, then one of my favorite fighters pull off a boring win.

Put scott smith in the ring wit Pete “Drago” sell again, they should fight each other at every single pay per view! lol

If couture losses , may wanna drop down to fight wandy. He is been talking about wanting to fight wanderlei for years. Who knows, there are so many new fighters in both the heavyweight and LHW divisions. Any of them against randy should be worth watching.

That’s a really good matchup for an exciting fight

Great point yohnstoppable, there are no pride fighters anymore, they are now UFC fighters, so all u TUF fans should just get to know them, and appreciate the fact that they are making the UFC a better product. We should stop rooting for certain fighters, and start rooting for good fights. Sure I have my favorites, but I would rather see a great fight, then one of my favorite fighters pull off a boring win.

Put scott smith in the ring wit Pete “Drago” sell again, they should fight each other at every single pay per view! lol

That was my point John, and I totally agree. Everyone is saying “former Pride guys are gonna rule the division”, when in reality I just want to see the best performances, not big names with unimpressive fights.

Also, what’s with all the hate for the TUF show, it gets you between PPV’s in my opinion, I was a UFC fan for a long time, back when Tank Abbot was a beast, but I still watched every episode of the TUF show. Same with the Pride show hosted by Frank “take my back” Trigg, and the UFC shows on Spike that show the previous events. MMA is MMA, even if it has some drunks guys fighting in a backyard.

I dont think we will see chuck vz Shogun for the simple fact chuck cant beat half the guyz comin from pride. If he cant beat Rampage. What makez anyone think he could beat Wanderli or Shogun. Both thoze guyz deztroyed my boy Rampage. Chute Boxe iz a tough crew. They have a great team. Wanderli vz Chuck iz a match everyone wantz to see, but they arent the same fighterz they once were. Bas Rutten said it Shogun iz the heir to Wanderli. Shogun iz such a brutal fighter. Theze guyz n UFC have never faced someone like him. High speed in your face style. Thatz why he beat Rampage the way he did. He doeznt give u a chance. Once that bell ringz hez in your face or on top of ya. Punchin n kickin haymakerz. Fightz will not be boring. Like the tito rashad fight. All theze pozter boyz dayz r done. Itz time 4 the real fighterz to show the world what mma iz all about.

N Juzt so we r clear, my top fighterz r Rampage, Arlovski, Shogun, Spida, Fedor, N Couture. Juzt to name a few.

I dont think we will see chuck vz Shogun for the simple fact chuck cant beat half the guyz comin from pride. If he cant beat Rampage. What makez anyone think he could beat Wanderli or Shogun. Both thoze guyz deztroyed my boy Rampage. Chute Boxe iz a tough crew. They have a great team. Wanderli vz Chuck iz a match everyone wantz to see, but they arent the same fighterz they once were. Bas Rutten said it Shogun iz the heir to Wanderli. Shogun iz such a brutal fighter. Theze guyz n UFC have never faced someone like him. High speed in your face style. Thatz why he beat Rampage the way he did. He doeznt give u a chance. Once that bell ringz hez in your face or on top of ya. Punchin n kickin haymakerz. Fightz will not be boring. Like the tito rashad fight. All theze pozter boyz dayz r done. Itz time 4 the real fighterz to show the world what mma iz all about.

N Juzt so we r clear, my top fighterz r Rampage, Arlovski, Shogun, Spida, Fedor, N Couture. Juzt to name a few.

Just because Person A, beat Person B, doesnt mean that Person C can beat person B, because Person C beat Person A. Know what I mean? hahaha..

Styles make fights. Anyone who is willing to walk forward at Chuck is gonna get caught. The reason Rampage dominates Chuck is because he doesn’t walk forward, he runs forward, doesn’t let Chuck sit there and counter punch him. If Shogun tries to stand with Chuck, he is going to get caught. I think Chuck would dominate Wanderlei just because Wanderlei would be willing to walk toward Chuck throwing punches, and would get caught.

Chuck will always beat Tito. Rampage will always beat Chuck. Tito would have a good chance at beating the hell out of Rampage though. I kind of want to see what fight happen. Tito v Rampage. Rampage would have to lose the belt, and Tito would have to string together a few wins though.

Putting shogun up against chuck in a main event would be one of the greatest ways to expose shogun to the american audience. I mean, would it really matter if shogun had one fight first? Not at all. Dana White is scared the Shogun would destroy Chuck and then people would start to wonder if Chuck still has it and it might hurt Chuck’s career, but who cares about chuck anymore… hes 37. Shogun is the new face of LHW

I hear where Kevin Iole is coming from, but he’s wrong. People are getting a little greedy and a little stupid in their analysis of the matchups. Shogun/Liddell is a BAD fight for Shogun’s 1st fight in the UFC. A loss for either fighter greatly diminshes that fighter. If Shogun were to lose to 37 year old Liddell, he could forget about a title shot anytime soon. If Liddell lost to Shogun, that’s two big losses in a row—time for Liddell to think about retirement. It’s bad all around.

On the other hand, Shogun and Liddell fighting Forrest and Jardine gives the former a chance to show their dominance once again. Highlight reel KOs are always good. If, by chance, Forrest OR Jardine were to win, it would show that maybe Forrest or Jardine should be in the title mix and makes them serious contenders. It’s win/win.

The big matchup in September is the Rampage/Hendo fight. Why have several marquee matchups like that in the SAME DIVISION during the same month. Absolutely stupid from a business perspective. Anyone who knew who Jardine and Forrest were BEFORE the TUF show doesn’t under-rate those guys. They are solid fighters. There should be no complaints about these fights. If you immediately match up all the A-level fighters in a division right away, you’ll have nothing left to put together for months afterward. Dana and Joe Silva are doing it right.

my bad, i meant yushin okami.. not gomi..

Ah, ok. Still, I wouldn’t call Okami a Pride product. He fought there like two times or something.

Dana didn’t want to see his boy Chuck get his ass handed to him again… i like chuck alot but its easy to see that the UFC is scared to give him Rua cuz another quick loss would be devistatin on The IceMan. Plain and simple…

I dont think we will see chuck vz Shogun for the simple fact chuck cant beat half the guyz comin from pride. If he cant beat Rampage. What makez anyone think he could beat Wanderli or Shogun. Both thoze guyz deztroyed my boy Rampage. Chute Boxe iz a tough crew. They have a great team. Wanderli vz Chuck iz a match everyone wantz to see, but they arent the same fighterz they once were. Bas Rutten said it Shogun iz the heir to Wanderli. Shogun iz such a brutal fighter. Theze guyz n UFC have never faced someone like him. High speed in your face style. Thatz why he beat Rampage the way he did. He doeznt give u a chance. Once that bell ringz hez in your face or on top of ya. Punchin n kickin haymakerz. Fightz will not be boring. Like the tito rashad fight. All theze pozter boyz dayz r done. Itz time 4 the real fighterz to show the world what mma iz all about.

N Juzt so we r clear, my top fighterz r Rampage, Arlovski, Shogun, Spida, Fedor, N Couture. Juzt to name a few.

What makes anyone think chuck can beat Wandy or shogun?
The one punch KO power is the only thing that would make me think chuck could beat Wandy or Rua. Chuck doesnt have to throw bombs like wandy or knees,kicks, and stomps like Rua. He just simply hits ya with the right angle and right moment and goodnite sweetheart its time to go. and before anyone says well so and so hit wandy or Rua and they hit harder than chuck i dont wanna hear it cuz i know already. Really no one has the style and deceiving KO ability Chuck has. Some guys are just pure power KO punchers like a wandy or Page. when they hit a guy you exspect him to go down. then you see Chuck in there and clip someone with a decent glancing blow and they go to sleep from a punch that didnt look like it did much damage. I mean now everyone knows and has known that chuck has this ability as a striker. That one punch any punch from chuck could possibly put you to sleep. And i dont really think chuck has a weak chin he’s taken some pretty good abuse in his older fights.And im not saying everyone chuck hits goes to sleep cuz we know thats not true ala Page. But anyone can be KO’ed its all timing and where the punch lands. But all in all i cant say who would win in those fights could go either way.

why not chuck vs alexander/ shogun vs jardine? why is alexander not in this picture? seems like he would be a good match up against either

why is alexander not in this picture? seems like he would be a good match up against either

Alexander is fighting on september 8th already.

But I think enough fans know Rua and would have gotten excited by a Liddell-Rua main event that it could have, and should have, been made."

SO TRUE.

why not chuck vs alexander/ shogun vs jardine? why is alexander not in this picture? seems like he would be a good match up against either

Lets 1st see if alexander can even beat sakara before we throw him in a main event. To even be talking about alexander after 1 win, and a bunch of wins in smaller shows is rediculous. Its not like he came from Pride. He came from lil mid western shows and u wanna feed him to chuck?

Chuck vs Jardine is fair. both comming off of losses, and yeh dana is counting on chuck to win. so what, it doesnt mean that it wont be exciting

I’m not trying to be mean here, but anyone who says Houston Alexander deserves to get a shot at Chuck and Jardine doesn’t is an idiot.

No, he doesn’t DESERVE to fight Chuck, but did Eddie Sanchez DESERVE to fight Cro Cop? The fight makes at least as much sense as Chuck vs. Jardine. The outcome is probably still the same (Chuck by TKO), but the fans probably get to see more fireworks with Houston than Keith.

Matt, Im not hating on TUF, Im not afraid to admit that I watch it faithfully. If anyone has a better suggestion for thursday night television… Im all ears.

Hey what does everyone think about BODOG…. I havent seen much, but so far I havent been impressed?

Pride is dead(R.I.P. I love Pride) They are all UFC fighters now so get over the stupid fuc*** Pride vs UFC debate and let’s see who the best is period.

I don’t think they babied him, just that they didn’t have enough names in the lhw division. I mean, who besides Randy, Tito, and Babalu was there for him? All 3 were top 10 when he fought them, so you can’t fault the ufc for that. By the same logic, Anderson Silva is being protected due to the low talent pool of the middleweight division. Further proof they aren’t protecting Chuck comes from signing Rampage, Henderson, Shogun, and W Silva. Not saying Chuck beat the best, just that protecting him is a stretch

And Dana wants Shogun to be the next light heavyweight star. The same was clear when Anderson Silva fought Leben the first time. If Leben wins that fight, he gets instant respect from the hardcore. If Silva wins (which he did brutally), a TON of fans that don’t know him see that he is a badass. The same goes for Forrest vs Shogun. If Shogun kills Forrest like expected, he gets instant name recognition for several hundred thousand new fans. His American fan base will grow exponentially. On the other hand, Forrest can instantly make himself legit in the eyed of hardcore fans with a win. If he somehow beat Shogun, he is not only a top 10 lhw, but probably has a shot at winning the strap

All Im saying is that Chuck hasnt been challanged in years. When they finally put a legit opponet against him (Rampage) he got destroyed. They had him fight tito twice, babalu twice, couture 3 times,(liddell winning by ko in the last 2). I think that the UFC put him in front of people they knew he could beat to feed the marketing and hype machine. I mean come on, tito vs liddell 2? BABALU vs Liddell 2? He had already beaten them in devastating fashion. Chuck Liddell has been the face of the UFC for a long time now. Most people just want to get drunk and watch someone get knocked out. Liddell is the perfect man for that. Meanwhile the best LHW’s in the world were fighting in pride and other organizations. For a long time the UFC always preached that they had the best fighters in the world which was far from the truth.

As for anderson silva, I still dont think we know how good he really is. Every fight he has had, he has completly dominated his opponet. His striking is second to none. But theres no one in the MW div to compete with him!! You have 2 names in the 185 lb class that are legit, Silva and Franklin. Franklin has the best shot at beating him but probly still wont. They need to bring some more talent to that divison for sure. Id like to see anderson silva actaully get tested sometime soon.

No, he doesn’t DESERVE to fight Chuck, but did Eddie Sanchez DESERVE to fight Cro Cop? The fight makes at least as much sense as Chuck vs. Jardine. The outcome is probably still the same (Chuck by TKO), but the fans probably get to see more fireworks with Houston than Keith.

what do yall mean “deserve” who is chuck now? he’s a beaten fighter who’s fighting a guy who just got knocked the fuck out by a guy who may or may not be worth a fuck, i don’t know but to say jardine “deserve’s” to fight is chuck stupid. thats the match up and it really does not matter to me, but if anyone deserves and i use that term lightly, to fight the great chuck the lidell it would be the man who won the fight not who lost. i mean what exactly is the criteria here for deserving a fight with chuck? i think i figured it out, its getting knocked out. says alot for chuck / thats my point

I saw Chuck throw a punch and step to Rampages side (just as he did against randy couture that consequently ended the fight with a knockout punch) and Rampage throw a wild punch that wasnt even aimed in the direction of chuck, and Rampages outreached armed hit Chuck right on the button about halfway threw where the punch was suppposed to land. I call that “lucky”.

Throwing a punch that lands where it wasnt intended to because the other person had good footwork is luck in my book. Not saying Rampage is a bad striker, or chuck has godly footwork. Just saying that the punch he threw was a lucky punch.

When you say “lucky”, do you mean as in the series of events that led to the punch that floored Chuck? Or do you mean lucky as in Rampage threw a random punch that just so happened to connect. If you meant the former, then I can understand your logic (although I disagree). If you meant the latter, then I hafta say with all the confidence in the world that you were watching a completely different fight.

Matt, Im not hating on TUF, Im not afraid to admit that I watch it faithfully. If anyone has a better suggestion for thursday night television… Im all ears.

Hey what does everyone think about BODOG…. I havent seen much, but so far I havent been impressed?

I saw the Bodog show with Fedor in it. The production wasn’t quite as good as ufc/Pride, and was somewhat unprofessional (10 minute segment about the Bodog girls, but I won’t complain). Overall there were some pretty solid fights though, and they showed a lot of fights, so I enjoyed it.

Regarding tuf, the reason I mentioned it was due to a large portion of anti-Pride people being newer fans brought in by tuf. Before that influx most of the discussions were by the hardcore fans, who although with a Pride bias knew a lot about the different promotions as well as fighters. Afterwards there were some crazy comparisons/fantasy fights, as well as people scoffing at the idea of Pride fighters beating ufc fighters. The losses of Werdum and Cro Cop recently made that WAY worse, and now you have people calling them myths, despite the fact that 2 of them have belts in the ufc.

My opinion is support the fighters, not the promotion. If Hansen goes to Elite XC I’ll pay to see him fight. If Shogun goes to Bodog I’ll buy the ppv. Cause once the fight starts, I don’t give a damn about the leadup/promotion of it, and just want to see a good scrap. I just get irritated when people insult some of my favorite fighters with blanket statements like “none of the Pride fighters have been impressive”, which is clearly not true.

Just because Person A, beat Person B, doesnt mean that Person C can beat person B, because Person C beat Person A. Know what I mean? hahaha..

Styles make fights. Anyone who is willing to walk forward at Chuck is gonna get caught. The reason Rampage dominates Chuck is because he doesn’t walk forward, he runs forward, doesn’t let Chuck sit there and counter punch him. If Shogun tries to stand with Chuck, he is going to get caught. I think Chuck would dominate Wanderlei just because Wanderlei would be willing to walk toward Chuck throwing punches, and would get caught.

Chuck will always beat Tito. Rampage will always beat Chuck. Tito would have a good chance at beating the hell out of Rampage though. I kind of want to see what fight happen. Tito v Rampage. Rampage would have to lose the belt, and Tito would have to string together a few wins though.

Dude u didnt get tha point, I wuz making. I dont think cuz perzon a beat perzon b and b beat c that c cant beat a, I agree totally itz all about style n allz I’m sayin iz team chute boxe haz an even more in your face style than Rampage doez. Thatz why they beat him. N thatz why they would beat chuck. Not everyone on team chute boxe would beat chuck, Juzt Wandy n Shogun. Cuz thoze guyz r freakin crazy in your face. thatz why Rampage had such a hard time. Rampage himzelf said Shogun iz tha bezt he haz ever gone againzt. I mean what elze do u want. Rampage couldnt stand toe to toe with Shogun why would chuck be able to? N tha whole tito thing. u gotta be kiddin me. tito runs scared from chuck. chuck runz scared from Rampage. tito couldnt even finish razhad. Rampage would slam titoz azz. thatz why they call him Slampage. Have u seen tha ricardo arona fight? thatz what would happen to tito. If he didnt get knocked out firzt.

All Im saying is that Chuck hasnt been challanged in years. When they finally put a legit opponet against him (Rampage) he got destroyed. They had him fight tito twice, babalu twice, couture 3 times,(liddell winning by ko in the last 2). I think that the UFC put him in front of people they knew he could beat to feed the marketing and hype machine. I mean come on, tito vs liddell 2? BABALU vs Liddell 2? He had already beaten them in devastating fashion. Chuck Liddell has been the face of the UFC for a long time now. Most people just want to get drunk and watch someone get knocked out. Liddell is the perfect man for that. Meanwhile the best LHW’s in the world were fighting in pride and other organizations. For a long time the UFC always preached that they had the best fighters in the world which was far from the truth.

As for anderson silva, I still dont think we know how good he really is. Every fight he has had, he has completly dominated his opponet. His striking is second to none. But theres no one in the MW div to compete with him!! You have 2 names in the 185 lb class that are legit, Silva and Franklin. Franklin has the best shot at beating him but probly still wont. They need to bring some more talent to that divison for sure. Id like to see anderson silva actaully get tested sometime soon.

I agree that his fights were against those who suited his style. Styles make fights, and grapplers without solid standup don’t have a chance in hell against him. Randy was able to take him down due to exchanging with him to set it up, but neither Tito or Babalu had much of a chance of doing that.

As far as Anderson Silva goes, there are 3 guys who I think would beat him. The only problem is none of them will be fighting him any time soon. Filho is in the WEC, and a friend of Silva. Henderson has stated he will stay light heavy even if losing to Rampage, and Lindland isn’t on good terms with the ufc. The ufc could also bring in Kang, as he is a badass and could give Silva a run. Bringing back Bustamante would also be a solid move. But the big 3 I mentioned won’t be fighting him, unless they lure Henderson down for a title shot like they did with Penn to lightweight.

We all know Chuck is a spoonfed champ, we don’t need people on yahoo making a big deal about it.

Shogun vs Chuck makes sense if this was a reputable competition about rankings and who is the best.

Sadly this is the UFC and image is more important than skill.

See: Roger Huerta, Rich Franklin, Chuck Liddell.

I saw the Bodog show with Fedor in it. The production wasn’t quite as good as ufc/Pride, and was somewhat unprofessional (10 minute segment about the Bodog girls, but I won’t complain). Overall there were some pretty solid fights though, and they showed a lot of fights, so I enjoyed it.

Regarding tuf, the reason I mentioned it was due to a large portion of anti-Pride people being newer fans brought in by tuf. Before that influx most of the discussions were by the hardcore fans, who although with a Pride bias knew a lot about the different promotions as well as fighters. Afterwards there were some crazy comparisons/fantasy fights, as well as people scoffing at the idea of Pride fighters beating ufc fighters. The losses of Werdum and Cro Cop recently made that WAY worse, and now you have people calling them myths, despite the fact that 2 of them have belts in the ufc.

My opinion is support the fighters, not the promotion. If Hansen goes to Elite XC I’ll pay to see him fight. If Shogun goes to Bodog I’ll buy the ppv. Cause once the fight starts, I don’t give a damn about the leadup/promotion of it, and just want to see a good scrap. I just get irritated when people insult some of my favorite fighters with blanket statements like “none of the Pride fighters have been impressive”, which is clearly not true.

Excellent post

well pretty true if you llok at the facts.

Excellent post

Pretty true if you look at the facts, they have been sub par. Not horrible! But not as dominate as pride fans (me being one myself) would have liked to see. you are completly right saying they weren’t all not impressive but honsetly everyone expected domination and can you honestly say there has been that so far? Lets not take anything away from these top athletes fro sure but maybe somewhere along the way we forgot that the ufc fighters are not soooo bad that they should be completly dominated by pride fighters because they are so elite they should stomp everyone out in the first round. Yes Cro Cop is still elite but got a reality check thats all!! It hurts me to say it as a pride fan but the better man won. They aren’t superhuman guys they can all lose and lose they will all do at some point. The sad realization is for pride fans they will lose to ufc fighters who are not a step below them as well as lose to former pride fighters. Welcome to the real world!!! Sorry guys but news flash if Fedor comes over to ufc EVETUALLY he will lose. Just a taste of the real world!

Dana favors Chuck because they are friends.
Plus the fact that Dana babied Chuck forever in the UFC. Putting him up against some garbage fighters. Jardine is gonna get ko’d. If Jardine won this fight, it would be the biggest upset ever. He wont last a round with the iceman tho.

Since 2002 Chuck has been babied against these GARBAGE fighters, Belfort, Sobral 2, Couture 3, Ortiz 2, Horn and Jackson 2 , GET REAL.

I’m sick of people talking of how Pride fighters are better than UFC fighters. UFC fighters are often more well-rounded, while many pride fighters will be a master of one martial art. I think that is the reason why guys like Fedor, Henderson, Rampage, Wanderlei, and Rua had so much success in Pride. They are all great fighters, but meanwhile, they would often destroy fighters who were very one-dimensional.
I do not believe that Rampage had a lucky punch on Liddell, but people saying that Pride fighters are going to “own” the LHW division is ridiculous. Wasn’t it Tito Ortiz, who you called “the worst boxer ever” that beat Wanderlei Silva? And wasn’t it Babalu Sobral who choked out Shogun? In the heavyweight division, Cro Cop just got knocked out by a guy who was on the preliminary card before that fight. And Heath Herring was defeated by Jake O’Brien. The point is, there are fighters from both sides who are great, and people don’t give UFC fighters the respect that they deserve.

I agree, well said, James.

Damn how many of you have man crushes on shogun, if he gets the belt he wont have it long!

Rua is world class and needs no warm-up for introduction to the UFC. When a tree named Forrest falls, will anybody hearrr?

As far as Jardine goes, he had his ass handed to him by Alexander and does not deserve to headline a UFC PPV coming off such a loss. It is a fight designed to put the former champ back on track and he should finish Jardine with ease. The more interesting matchup would be Liddell/Alexander. But if Dana’s boy lost that one, he’d be 45 before he worked his way through the ever-growing LHW pile again.

I dont think we will see chuck vz Shogun for the simple fact chuck cant beat half the guyz comin from pride. If he cant beat Rampage. What makez anyone think he could beat Wanderli or Shogun. Both thoze guyz deztroyed my boy Rampage. Chute Boxe iz a tough crew. They have a great team. Wanderli vz Chuck iz a match everyone wantz to see, but they arent the same fighterz they once were. Bas Rutten said it Shogun iz the heir to Wanderli. Shogun iz such a brutal fighter. Theze guyz n UFC have never faced someone like him. High speed in your face style. Thatz why he beat Rampage the way he did. He doeznt give u a chance. Once that bell ringz hez in your face or on top of ya. Punchin n kickin haymakerz. Fightz will not be boring. Like the tito rashad fight. All theze pozter boyz dayz r done. Itz time 4 the real fighterz to show the world what mma iz all about.

Tito beat Wanderlei, Chuck beat tito twice = Chuck will beat Wanderlei. Sobral beat Shogun , Chuck destroyed Sobral twice = Chuck will destroy Shogun. See, using your logic Chuck will beat both. MMAth doesn’t work.

We can’t really do anything in regards of who Rua has to fight but lidell vs jardine? WTF is going on? jardine is in no level to fight against lidell after losing to a match with Alexander Houston I have suggested this fight before it ever happened and quoted " Why not Lidell vs Houston. But oh well you can’t do anything. But hey Rua is looking great for this upcoming fight of his I can’t wait he’ll always be on the Main card for me.

Although Chuck vs Shogun would make more sense from the game’s standpoint, keep in mind that the UFC or any other MMA promotions are a business. Shogun may very well be one of the top LHW fighters out there, but he has very little name recognition. Would the UFC be profitable if its champions were relative unknowns? Would fan interest run high if the main event was a championship fight where the defending champ was a relative unknown? When I say relative unknown, I’m referring to the 75%-95% of the UFC audience who don’t follow the game nearly as closely every day as we do. If Shogun were to make a quick rise to the championship, it would be because he would go through very well-known fighters like Forrest. A smart move by the UFC.

Tito beat Wanderlei, Chuck beat tito twice = Chuck will beat Wanderlei. Sobral beat Shogun , Chuck destroyed Sobral twice = Chuck will destroy Shogun. See, using your logic Chuck will beat both. MMAth doesn’t work.[/quote]

..Hummm well Serra beat GSP..GSP beat Hughes..Hughes vs Serra who wins?? With ur logic..you’d most likly say Hughes..but really who knows.. Tito beat Wand by a decision..it could of went either way..Now Rampage had battles and lost both to SHO and Wand..but destroyed Chuck twice.. and you’re saying Chuck can beat both of them..hummm…mayb..mayb not..in MMA it doesn’t matter who u fought..just how you fight.

Since 2002 Chuck has been babied against these GARBAGE fighters, Belfort, Sobral 2, Couture 3, Ortiz 2, Horn and Jackson 2 , GET REAL.

Not Garbage, but most are well suited for his style. Randy should have been the same but his heart and pure ability were enough in the first fight to whip Chuck’s ass. Rampage wasn’t a prefect style match for Chuck and he whipped him twice. Horn beat him very early in his career and later took a TKO. Belfort to be honest, I’ve been watching his fights against top competition since 2001 or so and he is not that great. If he doesn’t get a KO in the first 30 seconds you are usually going to beat him. Dynamic in the early UFC against low quality fatboys ala Scott Ferozzo, but since then he seems to have little desire.

Chuck is so much less interesting a fighter now, I have most of his UFC fights since the Paul Jones fight and he just has gotten less and less dynamic as time went on. Less and less kicks, more and more counter punching and little else. I’d love to see him mix more high kicks and leg kicks back into his game.

I’m not saying Chuck isn’t a great fighter, a UFC HOF’er to be sure, but he was given fights to maximize his draw and appeal since the casual fan wants to see striking instead of a BJJ match on the mat.

Matt, Im not hating on TUF, Im not afraid to admit that I watch it faithfully. If anyone has a better suggestion for thursday night television… Im all ears.

Hey what does everyone think about BODOG…. I havent seen much, but so far I havent been impressed?

I watch it when I see that its on, I don’t go out of my way to watch it though. I’ve seen like 3 shows and they were all pretty horrible. Typically they have 1 good person and 1 horrible person fighting is it’s just a slaughter. I have yet to see any good BJJ practitioners either.

My one Bodog experience was not positive either. The fighters spent the last round with their hands on their knees. It was ugly.

I watch it when I see that its on, I don’t go out of my way to watch it though. I’ve seen like 3 shows and they were all pretty horrible. Typically they have 1 good person and 1 horrible person fighting is it’s just a slaughter. I have yet to see any good BJJ practitioners either.

Did anyone see the “MMA Barbie” on bododg the other night? she is hoooot, n her ass is fine! I dont know about u guys but im gonna miss PRIDE.

Whos rules does everyone find more exciting? Pride rules? UFC rules? I loved me a great pride fight wit soccor kicks to the face, flying stomps, knees to the head on the ground.

Do any of u think that the Nevada athletic commision will ever allow these rules in the UFC?

I watch it when I see that its on, I don’t go out of my way to watch it though. I’ve seen like 3 shows and they were all pretty horrible. Typically they have 1 good person and 1 horrible person fighting is it’s just a slaughter. I have yet to see any good BJJ practitioners either.

..I usually see that with Bodog its kind of a platform for fighters new to the sport..their 1st, 2nd or 3rd fight..at times.. I catch their shows at times..and its not interesting..expect for the girls..cause they go in there to wooop some ass..

The order I prefer seeing,

1.UFC
2.IFL
3.WEC
4.Local MMA shows
5.Bodog

I dont know about u guys but im gonna miss PRIDE.

Whos rules does everyone find more exciting? Pride rules? UFC rules? I loved me a great pride fight wit soccor kicks to the face, flying stomps, knees to the head on the ground.

I miss Pride rules, Pride crowds, the whole Pride experiences. You never had people booing 20 seconds into a fight in Pride. Sometimes I think that the UFC crowds at some of the events thought they were going to WWE and are pissed no chairs or midgets have been thrown into the ring. I love UFC don’t get me wrong, but the Pride fights had a better atmosphere usually.

P.S. I really miss knees to the head on the ground. I was watching an old UFC fight Liddell vs Jones last night and watching Chuck knee the other guy in the head was nice to see.

Pretty true if you look at the facts, they have been sub par. Not horrible! But not as dominate as pride fans (me being one myself) would have liked to see. you are completly right saying they weren’t all not impressive but honsetly everyone expected domination and can you honestly say there has been that so far? Lets not take anything away from these top athletes fro sure but maybe somewhere along the way we forgot that the ufc fighters are not soooo bad that they should be completly dominated by pride fighters because they are so elite they should stomp everyone out in the first round. Yes Cro Cop is still elite but got a reality check thats all!! It hurts me to say it as a pride fan but the better man won. They aren’t superhuman guys they can all lose and lose they will all do at some point. The sad realization is for pride fans they will lose to ufc fighters who are not a step below them as well as lose to former pride fighters. Welcome to the real world!!!

Sorry guys but news flash if Fedor comes over to ufc EVETUALLY he will lose. Just a taste of the real world!

I agree Fedor will eventually lose. It is just so unlikely to end an mma career at that level undefeated. All it will take is one good elbow on the brow, and the big guy will be beaten. I think most people know he isn’t indestructable, but it is fun to pretend.

As far as everyone saying the Pride fighters will dominate, I think the only time that was really true was with Cro Cop. He was expected by a large amount of people, including myself, to win the championship. However, he ran into a legit up-and-comer in Gonzaga. I don’t think Cro Cop did poorly in that fight so much as Gonzaga just brought it. The Cro Cop hype I can see dissapointment in. Diaz vs Gomi could be another one, but a lot of people picked Diaz for the upset due to his great BJJ and height advantage. However, the other major ones, Werdum and Herring, were never going to be champs. Werdum might have risen up in contender status, but he was in reality #5 or #6 in Pride. Anyone who said he was going to roll Arlovski was just an AA or ufc hater. Herring was way past his prime when the ufc signed him, so anyone who thought he’d be champ is highly delusional

True about Herring. He wasn’t a bad fighter 3-4 years ago in Pride, but he is definitely past his prime and will never contend for a title.

Tito beat Wanderlei, Chuck beat tito twice = Chuck will beat Wanderlei. Sobral beat Shogun , Chuck destroyed Sobral twice = Chuck will destroy Shogun. See, using your logic Chuck will beat both. MMAth doesn’t work.

LOL that is great MMAth great response to this post. I dont know why some people just dont get that its not an accurate way to try and predetermine outcomes of fights. Just cuz a fighter beats so and so doesnt mean he can beat evryone so and so beat. that probaby desont make any sense but im just agreeing good response.

I watch it when I see that its on, I don’t go out of my way to watch it though. I’ve seen like 3 shows and they were all pretty horrible. Typically they have 1 good person and 1 horrible person fighting is it’s just a slaughter. I have yet to see any good BJJ practitioners either.

BODOG can be good at times. It has womens MMA sometimes so thats pretty cool. Usually up and comers or older faded known fighters. Its on ION every Tues and Sat at 11:OO pm if anyone who hasnt seen it wants to check it out. I dont know who all carries ION but check your local listings as they would say lol. I think its worth checking out cuz sometimes they do have well known fighters and good fights. Other good things to watch are IFL, WEC, Pride fighting championships.
IFL is on FSN some other local channels carry it depending on where ya live. But its deff on FSN on FRI at 11:OO pm. WEC is on Versus or VS channel dont know the times i think it varies upon event maybe someone else can add to that. Pride Fighting championships show is just highlight fights some newer some older from PRIDE all in all great show though. It airs on FSN at 9:OO pm on SUN. I know most of you kno all this already but just for anyone who dont.

LOL that is great MMAth great response to this post. I dont know why some people just dont get that its not an accurate way to try and predetermine outcomes of fights. Just cuz a fighter beats so and so doesnt mean he can beat evryone so and so beat. that probaby desont make any sense but im just agreeing good response.

Obviouzly u didnt see my reply to thiz. I didnt say cuz so n so beat so n so. blah blah blah. I simply made tha point that Wandy n Shogun rushed rampage like a bull run in spain n thatz why they beat him. If they can do that to Rampage, n Rampage can do that to tha Iceman. How doez iceman stand a chance. Except a lucky punch. thatz it. N yeah wandy might go down from one. Shogun on the other hand wont give iceman a chance to throw it. I love tha fact thiz iz my firzt time on thiz thing n all of yall r gettin upzet over my commentz. my work iz obviouzly done here. Chuck Liddel suckz he iz a boxer not an mma specializt. Letz see him go to tha ground n fight. It never happenz. N when it doez he lozez. So take your one hit wonder n shove it.

Obviouzly u didnt see my reply to thiz. I didnt say cuz so n so beat so n so. blah blah blah. I simply made tha point that Wandy n Shogun rushed rampage like a bull run in spain n thatz why they beat him. If they can do that to Rampage, n Rampage can do that to tha Iceman. How doez iceman stand a chance. Except a lucky punch. thatz it. N yeah wandy might go down from one. Shogun on the other hand wont give iceman a chance to throw it. I love tha fact thiz iz my firzt time on thiz thing n all of yall r gettin upzet over my commentz. my work iz obviouzly done here. Chuck Liddel suckz he iz a boxer not an mma specializt. Letz see him go to tha ground n fight. It never happenz. N when it doez he lozez. So take your one hit wonder n shove it.

Never have I seen more gratuitous use of the letter ‘z’

chuck would destroy shogun

Obviouzly u didnt see my reply to thiz. I didnt say cuz so n so beat so n so. blah blah blah. I simply made tha point that Wandy n Shogun rushed rampage like a bull run in spain n thatz why they beat him. If they can do that to Rampage, n Rampage can do that to tha Iceman. How doez iceman stand a chance. Except a lucky punch. thatz it. N yeah wandy might go down from one. Shogun on the other hand wont give iceman a chance to throw it. I love tha fact thiz iz my firzt time on thiz thing n all of yall r gettin upzet over my commentz. my work iz obviouzly done here. Chuck Liddel suckz he iz a boxer not an mma specializt. Letz see him go to tha ground n fight. It never happenz. N when it doez he lozez. So take your one hit wonder n shove it.

Hey Tommy G i didnt mean any disrespect by it. That was your first post thats cool we are glad to have ya and hear your opinions. I just thought MMAth was funny i am sorry if it offended you. But i think Chuck stands a chance cuz he fairs better with the fighters that rush him and come to him. But i deff see what your saying. And yeah its not gonna be an easy fight for Chuck with Wandy or Rua. Sorry again and i hope ya keep posting.

i would love to see chuck fight again……he is still the best in the ufc, # 1 P4P and the most exciting fighter….like manny pacquiao in boxing…..iceman the best..

go manny pacquiao hehehe!

Those last comments were totally true, Rampage has the belt, Silva has the belt, Shogun is ranked #1 and Fedor would or will probably beat any hair left on Cotoures head completely off if hes unfortunate enough to step in the ring with the Russian experiment and guess what there all Pride fighters!I have watched UFC since Royce was winning fights but I still have a great amount of respect for the top of the Pride food chain.

its over for UFC champs make room for PRIDE. With the exception of Fedor, RANDY COUTURE would destroy Fedor. It is LUDACRIS that these MORTALS (UFCfighters) even attempt to ENTER the REALM of SHOGUN and THE AXE MURDER. my prayers r with the family members of their apponents.