Upon second viewing I scored the Couture-Vera fight a draw
If I had to choose a winner it would have to be Vera, clearly the judges gave Couture the first round for what was really ineffective bully tactics. I still don’t believe this was a blatant robbery, close fight, neither fighter looked spectacular, I think Vera goes back into the mid tier mix and Couture’s dreams of a title run look shaky to say the least
Anyways, this is just to say that my previous rage at Joe Rogan was misplaced.
It’s 2005, I’m the only one in the world who watches the UFC, least that’s how it feels. The main event rolls round and in one corner stands Andrei ‘The Pitbull’ Arlovski; the man who’d taken a 5 fight win streak coming into the bout and seemed all but invincible.
In the other corner… Paul Buentello….
Who?
exactly.
The bell rings, a split second later Buentello lands on his face, the crowd has to watch several replays to figure out what happened. Easily the worst heavy weight title fight of all time.
What was the point of this nostalgia trip? To highlight the old problem the 205lbs+ division faced: lack of talent.
Buentello went on to prove himself a solid mid to top tier fighter and has ironically ended up back in the UFC fold, Arlovski is still trying to erase the ghosts of Fedor and Rogers.
But in 2005, Buentello got the gig just by having a fight license and a large set of bones; Frank Mir defended the belt against Wes Sims in what where to very competitive fights; Tim Sylvia won the title on only his second fight in the UFC.
Madness, truly the wild west of MMA, fat, ugly, misshapen giants with very little skill set being destroyed by the one or two decent athletes amongst them.
It’s 2009 now and things couldn’t be anymore different. There is no shortage of top talent and best of all: most of them haven’t fought each other yet. It’s never been more exciting in the big boy division and what could possibly go wrong?
Seemingly, most them won’t be fighting each other anytime soon. Lesnar is out for god knows how long (if he ever comes back). Big Nog is battling staph as we speak and pitting Carwin and Velsquez against each other in Jan is out because Carwin is recovering from surgery.
On top of this, throw Fedor not being in the UFC into the equation and it’s easy to get frustrated. there’s already talk of an interim title but whose fit to fight for it? The only luxury afforded by the delays is seeing the up and comers weed each other out.
Look forward to seeing the cream of:
rise to the top and for established talent:
to try their best to break through.
Meanwhile we’ll have to wait some time before we see the big four decide who’s the best, unfortunately, while good fights are great, without a leader and a goal it’s all very rudderless.
29-28 Couture, that’s how I called it, that’s how all three judges called it. It was a close fight, I’d easily have accepted a draw or a decision the other way but according to Joe Rogan; it’s up there with Beebe vs. Easton in terms of this years dodgy robberies.
It’s typical that the two times in recent memory that Rogan has publicly taken exception with the official scorecards, he’s gotten it wrong.
The last time was Akiyama Vs. Belcher at UFC 100, again, I scored it exactly as the official decision did. This isn’t to say I’m perfect in my calls but if more than just two misguided judges agree then perhaps it’s not the blatant robbery you believe it to be.
There is a serious problem with judging in this sport, I just don’t think this is an example of it.
Expect a related article next week where I point out the fights Rogan should have been twittering about in all caps.
Last nights episode of the ultimate fighter (season 10 episode 6) featured probably the worst fight of the six, and that is not to detract from Schoonover’s impressive striking and confidence to pull gurad. It comes down to this: You will often hear the phrase “even I could have done x” in relation to a sporting blunder, whether it be scoring a penalty, making a putt, etc.
last night was the first time I said it and meant it; I. Colm Ivers. could have escaped that triangle hold… and lost with impressive gusto immediately after, but I still could have escaped that triangle, classic case of a fighter losing mentally before the fights ended.
As a refresher, here’s a few ways of escaping a triangle:
Every time the UFC decides to expand into a different market; it happens. The specter of John McCain running the sport into the ground and forcing it into unsanctioned barns and Indian reservations.
Alas, the UFC’s planned domination of Australia has proven no different as this article will testify to:
yet another badly researched article claiming MMA will bring about the apocalypse
With such sterling observations as:
‘It’s madness. If this was the animal world, the RSPCA would come down on you like a ton of bricks.’
(I can do stereotypes too)
I’m pretty sure if we made the animal world drive a F1 car down he streets of Monte Carlo we’d evoke a similar sort of reaction but the fact is:
Journalists just don’t care about being right anymore.
This isn’t just about MMA but almost all editorials and press releases across the entire spectrum of news, science articles are at the very best misleading if not completely incorrect. Political commentary is half assed and watered down and everything is sensationalised and watered down for a much patronised audience whom the truth doesn’t seem to mean a whole lot to.
It’s a mouthful I know but it’s the truth, Perhaps I’ll save the wealth of examples and proof of this for another article but when you examine this particular Australian editorial… They called it ‘pound and ground’… they got even that wrong; not to mention claiming it was illegal to throw in the towel (yeah it’s a foul, like spoiling your vote, it’s half the point).
This happened when the UFC came to Germany earlier this year and I fear it’s not the last time it will come up. While their are still people in this world who resist womens boxing becoming an Olympic sport and even those who still do not accept boxing; there will be millions who get up in arms when they see a person being ‘pounded and grounded’ (sic)
Just be aware that the majority of the public still doesn’t even know what MMA is and arm yourself for the inevitable argument and defence against those who fail to comprehend the difference between violence and sport.
No I don’t intend to do a show by show commentary like the phat UFC critics on youtube, but I did want to make a couple of observations on last nights testosterone drama.
Firstly, can we please stop pandering to Kimbo?
He lost, yet we spent what felt like half the show listening to confessional interviews about how awesome he was doing it. “Champions have lost in that (crucifix) position,” so have losers.
He’s a good fighter, better than most probably give him credit for, seems like a nice guy, he’s 34 and never going on a serious title run, there’s 15 younger fighters with better games I’d like to learn more about.
Secondly, wow Rampage abandons his fighter after the loss, that was really quite upsetting. However, I get the feeling we may be witnessing some crafty editing here, Ken Shamrock came off looking like an incredibly amateur moron who didn’t care at all about his fighters when he had his stint on TUF 3.
It does make for interesting viewing though; hearing the difference between the advice the two camps gave, watching Rashads fighter warming up on the pads and primal screaming while Rampage’s team sit around and relax.
Can we expect more of this kind of editing and show to follow Rampage’s shock retirement and withdrawal from the fight with Rashad? Would they actually change the show because of that? It’s easy to speculate but watching Demico Rogers experience his first loss on a stool in the middle of a cage while his coaches berated him from a distance was pretty awful.
you can expect to hear from me again if something noteworthy happens next week 🙂
After years of blackballing the biggest MMA website and news source in the world has had its press credentials restored by the biggest MMA promotion in the world. If you’re unfamiliar with the feud i suggest a quick google followed by a lot of interesting reading.
however, neither sherdog nor any other news outlet seemed to think this was a news worthy story, i clearly on the other hand disagree.
enjoy.
Man up 