UFC 98 press conference (Pics)

I think he’s picking Machida, but if not then Evans. I’m picking Hughes to beat Serra, unless Serra beats him.

LOL.

his heart says Machida and his brain Evans..

My kidneys and bladder say Machida.

Nice, P-dub.

I got Hughes to win but if Machida comes out strong I think Rashad will KO Serra in round 3 with an armbar!!

Machida and Serra will both win their fights. Sherk is the lock of the night. Miller will beat Sonnen. Drew McFedries will lose via submission. I am so not excited for this card, that I dont even know who else is fighting! lol

Screw that, I’m pumped for this card, betting $$ on the fights makes it all more entertaining imo.

You guys made me spit my oatmeal out! Ca$z your brain must be twisted to come up with that.

BTW – WAR MACHIDA!!! WAR SERRA!!!

UFC Champ you made a typo bud, you meant:

“BTW – WAR RASHAD!!! WAR SERRA!!!”

MACHIDA BY CRANE KICK!!!

I’m with you on all fronts john! Nice picks.

Nah!Dana’s looking at Lyoto mono brow!

What we are seeing in the sport especially as it grows, is speed and athleticism taking over. Evans and Machida both posess high level skill sets, but quickness and sheer athleticism is what has elevated both to the top of the division. This will be a great fight, and it’s extremely difficult to say who has the edge. Machida deserves to be slightly favored, but Evans has proven many times it is a huge mistake to underestimate him.

I’m picking Machida for this reason. Although it’s never cost Evans a loss, we have seen him fatigue in the second and third rounds in some of his fights. This could very well go 5. Machida is too intelligent and skilled to not capitalize if Evans gasses. I don’t expect endurance to be an issue for Machida.

Yeah CL, in the early days it was mostly guys who simply had the balls to get in there. Chris Leben type brawlers. Now we’re seeing elite athletes like GSP who could have gone into other sports but choose MMA instead. I love it.

Is yr name really JeremyJackson? everytime I see I think of the MMA fighter convicted Rapist.

“see it” just in case the spell nazi’s are out tonight.

Or he looks at both of them and the camera only catches a split second of the stare-down. He has to look at somebody FFS.

hahaha

Hughes has nothin’ more to prove. He has proven that he’s a certified douche. A d!ck, a c0ck, whatever else there is that MAtt Serra says he is, he has already proven. WARR TERROR!!

oh definitely and that is why he’s lookin’ at him cause he’s not sure if Hughes has that fire left in him!..
I’ll celebrate with some pasta after the “Terra” knocks him out!

Then Matt Serra is gonna get beat down by a big country cock. I wonder why hes so adamant at calling Hughes variations of a penis. Maybe he feels more comfortable rolling with and choking out a giant dick, so he tries to visualize Hughes as one.

He looks like the predator

except for the Evans part…WAR MACHIDA!!!

serra looks like he’s ready to unleash that little man syndrome all over matt

It seems like people wanna forget about sh!t, Rampage imo is still the best LHW in the division, I really don’t count that fight against Forrest Griffin as a loss, not only did I feel he won it, but I also feel he wasn’t in his right mind/the right shape to even be fighting that night and still did that well??

 I don’t see why everyone thinks these new guys are going to own Page; it’s not going to happen, I saw an interview with Rashad saying all Page does is punch, he’s a power puncher, thats all he does, he’s 1 dimensional. BS; he out wrestled HENDO, an olympic level wrestler, people tend to forget about sh!t, he’s a wrestler 1st, his striking came along 2nd. Telling you, Machida’s going to fall just as fast as he rose.

His only saving grace is he’s got a confusing new fighting style; it’s just like when wrestlers and BJJ guys were dominating people that didn’t know the ground game; once ONE guy figures his style out its over; I honestly don’t think he’s that good.

I don’t think Machida’s style is something you can just figure out, like learning submission defence or how to stuff takedowns.

It is about speed and timing and skill, and years upon years of striking practice. It’s like saying a boxer is going to “figure out” the defensive wizardry of Mayweather, or the blinding ferocity of Paquiao.

As for Rampage, he brings some problems to the table for anybody, but I think he’s going to be passed by in the next couple years. He looked slow and predictable against Jardine, his ground game isn’t that good minus the strength, and his boxing is overrated. Machida will clip his wings once he dissposes of Evans.

whoa, now that is a beautiful comment Ohotdamn..
I agree..

Dana also meant to say Thiago Silva lol..

We will just have to see what happens. I agree that Page is rad. I personally dont like Rashad that much and I have been keeping an eye on Lyoto before I ever saw his name on this board. I feel that Lyoto could be the next big fighter. I dont see why people down play Page either. I will also add that I totally feel that Forrest got the deserved win. Page should have finished him. But he didnt. Plain and simple. We can all argue about that til we die of boredom and it wont make any difference whatsoever. Page lost and that is just how it is. I really want Lyoto to mess Rashad up bad, but at the same time… I want to see Page mess up Rashad just as bad.

At the minimum we will get to see something good come from this, so Im happy. Dont count Lyoto out yet OD, lets see what happens in this fight, then if he wins, we will have to see what happens in the Page fight. After that… Ill gladly let you say whatever you want about Lyoto with no rebuttals :)

Page lost the Forrest fight no doubt, but anyone that honestly believes Forrest could beat Rampage at his best is insane, its obvious that Page wasn’t in the right mental/physical shape to take that fight; and it DOES make a difference. It’s fine if your a fan of Forrest and all, and a win is a win, but come on, anyone trying to tell me that Forrest Griffin is just a better fighter than Rampage or Shogun? Crazy talk.

I never said that. I dont think he is a better fighter at all. Every dog has his day. Forrest had his. I dont think we will see much more from him in a contender status. Ok.. he had his day like 3 times but whatever haha. I still dont think we will see too much more from him in the top of the division

forest beat rampage and shogun.im not feeling good i got problems.why dont you get it .they got beat.

I do get it, they did get beat; my point is its not something that would happen ever again, it’s not like Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz, where you can say with absolute certainty that Chuck will put him to sleep 9 times out of 10 if not 10 out of 10, Forrest is not good enough to beat either of those fighters at their best; thats my only point.

JJ; Machida has been training KARATE seriously since about 12 years of age, anything before that was watered down, glorified physical exercise; as his father did not take his training seriously until he came to that age. And as a MMA fighter he’s just as young in the game as Rashad, you guys act like he’s been doing jits/karate/wrestling his entire life; not the case; the guy isn’t some prodigy he’s just got a wierd style ala Keith Jardine thats hard to time/figure out. It’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed. Also, don’t be surprised if Rashad actually has a reach advantage in this fight; despite his height his reach is the same as Chuck Liddell’s if I remember right.

We’ll see this weekend; I’ll have a few beers; smoke a little herb get on mania and check back with u guys from time to time during the show; should be entertaining.

Rampage outwrestled Henderson, but Henderson is an undersized LHW, and let’s face it, he’s looked old as hell since he left Pride.

I am a big Rampage fan, but training at Wolf’s Lair isn’t doing shit for him, and like I said, he looked slow against Jardine and Forest.

He’s got a BJ Penn-like string of hangers-on who constantly tell him how awesome he is, and he isn’t challenged in his camp. He’s also had some mental issues.

Rampage has sick punching power, and he is strong as hell. He has mediocre boxing, which everyone suddenly thinks is so advanced since he KO’d Chuck and Wanderlei, but while I’ll admit he’s gotten better defensively and at countering, those KOs were the result of Chuck and Wanderlei being dumb.

Machida will absolutely SCHOOL the Rampage we saw against Jardine, no doubt in my mind. He needs to get in a big camp and work on evolving and learning some new tricks, because if you think Machida can be “figured out”, well, Rampage seems like an easier puzzle to solve to me.

And yes I do think there are guys out there that are capable of figuring out Mayweather and Pac man; they just aren’t boxing! The sport has lost a lot of its appeal; it’s not attracting the same level of talent as it used to; the young up and coming fighters want to get into MMA, name a young up and coming boxer in any weight class; even if you can name a new exciting fighter I bet 90% of the people here have never heard of him!

I got into the boxing debate on the Paquiao thread a while back. I don’t want to rehash it.

There are lots of great young fighters coming up in boxing. If their names aren’t as recognizable to you it’s because you don’t follow boxing, and boxing is in a bit of a slump with marketing itself right now.

Boxing is awesome. It is a sport with a richness and legacy that MMA would kill to have. I think young wrestlers want to get into MMA, but the more talented strikers choose boxing for the prestige and the purity and the cash. Pro boxers make MMA fighters look like absolute trash with their hands.

I really scoff at all the boxing hate on this board. Mosley/Margarito, Cotto/Margarito and Marquez/Diaz are just a few of the amazing fights I’ve watched this year. It speaks to how young the MMA crowd is, because I was watching big prize fights way before I ever watched UFC 1 in my buddies basement on PPV.

He guy’s take a look at this…
PBF lashes out at ESPN calling Manny P4P

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4180295&categoryid=2491554

JJ….I enjoy reading your posts and typically end up nodding my head in agreement. Regarding your assessment of Rampage, you are dead on accurate!!

Regarding boxing and being an old guy myself, I can vividly remember the absolute electric hype prior to all the big fights. MMA has clearly skyrocketed in growth and exposure, and I love the sport, but has not quite….as of yet…..cultivated quite the same “massive spectacle” of the big fights during boxing’s heyday. Maybe it’s on it’s way?

CL, thanks man, I appreciate it. MMA has surpassed boxing right now, but yeah, it has a ways to go to reach the pomp and circumstance of boxing in the 40s to the early 90s. It could happen.

Alpha, thanks for the clip. I hate Gayweather with all my heart, and I almost never pull out the H-word for a fighter I’ve never met. I can’t wait to see Pac-man tool him… but he better not be looking past Marquez or he could get cracked!

That’s was exactly my thought!When i saw this i was telling myself what a douche bag.Trying to point out Pac been KO and turn every question by saying that HE make money…!I sure hope that,they fight later on,so Pac,can teach him some manners!

first off no fighter is a puzzle, if your the best at something then you’re the best, there’s no way of stopping that or figuring that out.. It’s all about execution and taking control! the Rampage that you saw against Jardine and Forrest is a poor version of Rampage.. And when you’re talking about Machida schooling Rampage then i have to ask you where? He couldn’t even school Tito Ortiz, he outpointed him and didn’t let him hit him sure, but i mean if he fights like that against Rampage in a 5-rounder then Rampage is gonna block his shots sooner or later and knock him out, Machida’s hands are as predictable as Wanderlei’s, the guy comes in with a left hand every goddamn time and when Rampage blocks that and comes back the fight is over!.. Machida’s boxing and overall defensive skill is horrible!

people act like the guy’s a monster for knocking out an absolutely awful striker in Thiago Silva, the dude came in fat and flatfooted straight at him with no defense and just let him knock him out basically..

Nice point Rob about the Silva/Machida fight. It wasn’t a shocker to the see Silva go down…the guy got dazed in the Mendes fight by some mediocre striking. Wait until we see him fight again…if he gets in there with anyone with good striking he’ll go down faster than Jenna Jameson. The biggest reason MAchida got the KO was because Silva’s head had no where to go to absorb the impact since he was on his back. Machida doesn’t have the power to KO very many people on their feet.

Most of his punch’s are arm punch’s, he doesn’t turn his hip into it; he’s not really trying to put anybody away; it’s just a quick in and out strike to score on the judge’s cards. I can’t wait till Rashad puts the stamp on this guy and sends him packing.