OT: UFC Fight Card

[RaiderIVlife]

Anyone here watch UFC (or rather MMA in general) ???

This past weekend's fight card was truly a passing of the torch event.

Matt Hughes got "knocked the fuck out" (which didn't surprise me) by Koscheck and Quentin Jackson got thoroghly dispatched by Jon Jones.

Not surpised by Jackson losing, but the fact that he did absolutely NOTHING against Jones was a bit disapointing.

The Old Guard in MMA is almost done.

Liddell is out.

Wanderlei Silva should be out.

Rampage is clearly on the downside.

Rich Franklin, Vitor Belfort, etc.

The only guy that continues to impress is Spider Silva, but he's a freak of nature.

[TheNextStep]

The real "Old Guard" is long gone already. Royce Gracie, etc.

That said, I get your point. The thing with MMA is that when age catches up with you - and it will - there is no hiding it. It's not like when Tim Brown and Jerry Rice got old and they could run certain routes or get certain calls and continue their careers. No, no... when Father Time wanted Chuck Liddell's attention, he demaned it RIGHT FUCKING NOW!

What's funny about it is that most of the "new guys" aren't really that "new." Koscheck called himself "the kid" that Hughes never gave a shot... but that "kid" is in his mid-30s.

I do agree about Spider, though. That guy is (Yes, Dana White, I'll say it) the greatest of all time. Just an jaw-dropping talent.

At light heavyweight, I think that Rashad is going to get embarassed by Jones. I'd still be interested in seeing Jon Jones vs Lyoto Machida.

[YodasBeast]

The guys you mentioned as the "Old Guard" are actually about 3rd generation of MMA. I've been watching it since it's inception (God I miss that black box) and have watched it evolve from a no holds barred cage match of different disciplines and weight classes tossed together to the current refined system of the UFC. There are a lot of other smaller ones out there like Strikeforce, Bellator and a really small one out here in AZ that I do the video work for, but the majority of them fall into the footsteps of the UFC.

I have a feeling that Jon Jones is going to be like St Pierre in holding onto that title for a looooong time. He's so fluid and unpredictable that he may soon be able to out-Spider the Spider (I mean, crawling around in the center of the ring to start the fight???? WTF?). He manhandled Rampage and don't think he ever took a serious shot for the entire fight.

As far as the Hughes/Koschek battle of the douchebags, Hughes was dominating the hell out of Kos until he got the one solid shot in that rung Hughes' bell and turned it all around. Wish Diaz would get knocked the fuck out by someone....Can't stand his sorry ass at all...

[RaiderIVlife]

The real "Old Guard" is long gone already. Royce Gracie, etc.

That said, I get your point. The thing with MMA is that when age catches up with you - and it will - there is no hiding it. It's not like when Tim Brown and Jerry Rice got old and they could run certain routes or get certain calls and continue their careers. No, no... when Father Time wanted Chuck Liddell's attention, he demaned it RIGHT FUCKING NOW!

What's funny about it is that most of the "new guys" aren't really that "new." Koscheck called himself "the kid" that Hughes never gave a shot... but that "kid" is in his mid-30s.

I do agree about Spider, though. That guy is (Yes, Dana White, I'll say it) the greatest of all time. Just an jaw-dropping talent.

At light heavyweight, I think that Rashad is going to get embarassed by Jones. I'd still be interested in seeing Jon Jones vs Lyoto Machida.

I've only been watching for a few years so yeah, I'm not that familiar with the 'real old guard', but your point about Father Time is completely spot on.

When Liddell lost 5 of his final 6 fights (4 by devastating KO's), it was sad to see. He was getting knocked out by punches that he used to shake off with relative ease.

One my favorite fightesr at Light Heavy is Thiago Silva. Yeah, yeah, he's suspended for doping, but he's fun to watch. Certainly looks the part of total bad ass.

I was also a big Shane Carwin guy, but it seems clear that he peaked during round one of the eventual loss to what's his face.

I think that Jones will KO Evans. Bank on it.

The guy who MIGHT be able to take down Jones is.....Dan Henderson. Love this dude. Getting better at 40-41, go figure.

[RaiderIVlife]

I would also agree that a Machida vs. Jones matchup could be very intriguing. Styles make fights. That's true in boxing and it's true in MMA.

Yoda - I dunno', I'm a fan of the Strikeforce Diaz brother. His KO fight against Daily was very intertaining. I was looking forward to his bout with GSP, but he went cooko for whatever reason.

[TheNextStep]

If I had to pick favorite fighters...

Heavyweight - Junior Dos Santos, Chieck Kongo (I don't know why)
Light Heavyweight - Jon Jones (I was on this kid a long time ago - he's the truth), Lyoto Machida
Middlewieght - Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin
Welterweight - Jake Ellenberger, Dan Hardy
Lightweight - BJ Penn (maybe my favorite fighter of all time), Melvin Guillard

I enjoy the lighter weight classes, but can't claim to have followed any of them prior to Zuffa buying the WEC, so I don't particularly have a favorite. As you can see, I like guys who like to strike.

[RaiderIVlife]

I prefer 'strikers' too. Hopefully Dan Hardy can get back on track....whenever he fights again.

[TheNextStep]

Hardy has said that he's not fighting until he's improved... though he did say that he'd love to fight Hughes. He's training out of Roy Nelson's gym regularly, but is up training with GSP right now.

Oh, and he's a Raider fan.

He's definitely one of my favorite fighters.