UFC - Any thoughts?

[Donny B.]

In answer to the original title of this thread:

NO, no one in UFC has any thoughts! You need a brain to have thoughts!!

Ho Ho Ho!

[RoboProp]

Any word when they will be back to these shores? I hear it is some time this year

[Project Scorpio]

Any word when they will be back to these shores? I hear it is some time this year

Nothing yet, will update this thread if i hear anything

[RoboProp]

The science behind the choke out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTPOrRwP0Ow

scary stuff

[Jackal]

Thought I'd try and get the discussion going again on this thread. The UFC and MMA are growing massively. Since this thread was last discussed they have put 50,000 in a stadium in Canada, they have went into the Asian and Australian markets and have gone back to Brazil and the sport isn't far off soccer over there in terms of its popularity which is saying a lot.

Three new weight classes have been added. Featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight have all been added and have delivered some very good fights and new stars already.

Old stars and new stars have emerged. Anderson Silva and GSP remain two main stars but add Jon Jones and Junior dos Santos and Jose Aldo have become huge stars. Then there is Frankie Edgar, Diaz brothers, Velasquez, Overeem, Condit, Faber, Cruz and Sonnen all huge stars as well and thats only some of them.

Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen are fighting in two weeks in what is probably the most anticipated fight so far in the history of the UFC and will break all sorts of ppv records for the sport. The sport is gone huge and is only getting bigger and better.

Just wondering have more people started watching it since the thread was last discussed or do people in general have opinions on it?

[icebaby]

Maybe someone else has asked this but I'm not trawling through 7 pages - what is UFC?

[Jackal]

Maybe someone else has asked this but I'm not trawling through 7 pages - what is UFC?

Its mixed martial arts and UFC is the ultimate fighting championship which is the main promotion in it by a long way

[tate]

Maybe someone else has asked this but I'm not trawling through 7 pages - what is UFC?

Ultimate Fighting Championship - professional mixed martial arts fighting in an octagon shaped cage. Beyond that I got nothing.

[icebaby]

Thanks folks, think I'll stick with the rugby , cycling and golf with a little soccer and GAA now and then

[hugonaut]

Just wondering have more people started watching it since the thread was last discussed or do people in general have opinions on it?

Used to be a big UFC fan, actually trained a good bit of BJJ/no-gi in both Dublin and Rio de Janeiro [with John Kavanagh and Marcello Yogui respectively]. Huge amount of time for the attitude and dedication of the people I trained with and people who compete, any sort of BJJ/submission grappling/wrestling is an incredibly demanding sport.

With that said, I have less and less interest in the UFC these days – always liked the Japanese fighters in Shooto and Pride [Kazushi Sazuraba, 'Mach' Sakurai, Rumina Sato and Genki Sudo] and the excitement they brought: Sudo's ring entrances, Sato's flying arm bars and triangles, Sakuraba's single legs, Mach's leg locks etc. The Brazilian Top Team [Nogueira brothers, Ricardo Arona, Paulo Filho, Murillo Bustamante] and Chute Boxe [Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva, Ninja and Shogun Rua, Jose 'Pele' Landi-Johns] rivalry in the early-mid 00s was great as well.

I dunno, after the UFC bought PRIDE I sort of lost interest. I thought it became too American-oriented, for one thing. Dana White is incredibly hard work, for another! All these identikit American fighters with TapOut gear and loads of tattoos seem to bleed into one for me, I find it difficult to get too excited about any of them. Lads like GSP and Anderson Silva are outstanding and have been long-term champions – and Dan Henderson is obviously a hero – but I haven't really kept up. I still check ESPN every now and again out of interest, but I used to order PPVs and really look forward to them!

One of my favourite fighters from the early Fertita-era UFCs was Evan Tanner [RIP]. I remember reading some interviews with him in the build-up to his bout with Tito in UFC30, he was a cool dude. He learnt a lot of his grappling from Gracies In Action videos [!] and was just sort of a self-taught fighter. Really exciting though – he'd throw knees, elbows, try leg-locks, slams ... he made loads of mistakes but he was just an exciting fighter to watch and seemed like a great guy. There's a documentary about him called 'Once I Was A Champion' – haven't seen it yet, but would like to.

[Apocrypha]

Once Fedor lost, I lost interest. Dana White is a disgusting, yanky bitch. Par for the course.

[Jackal]

Just wondering have more people started watching it since the thread was last discussed or do people in general have opinions on it?

Used to be a big UFC fan, actually trained a good bit of BJJ/no-gi in both Dublin and Rio de Janeiro [with John Kavanagh and Marcello Yogui respectively]. Huge amount of time for the attitude and dedication of the people I trained with and people who compete, any sort of BJJ/submission grappling/wrestling is an incredibly demanding sport.

With that said, I have less and less interest in the UFC these days – always liked the Japanese fighters in Shooto and Pride [Kazushi Sazuraba, 'Mach' Sakurai, Rumina Sato and Genki Sudo] and the excitement they brought: Sudo's ring entrances, Sato's flying arm bars and triangles, Sakuraba's single legs, Mach's leg locks etc. The Brazilian Top Team [Nogueira brothers, Ricardo Arona, Paulo Filho, Murillo Bustamante] and Chute Boxe [Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva, Ninja and Shogun Rua, Jose 'Pele' Landi-Johns] rivalry in the early-mid 00s was great as well.

I dunno, after the UFC bought PRIDE I sort of lost interest. I thought it became too American-oriented, for one thing. Dana White is incredibly hard work, for another! All these identikit American fighters with TapOut gear and loads of tattoos seem to bleed into one for me, I find it difficult to get too excited about any of them. Lads like GSP and Anderson Silva are outstanding and have been long-term champions – and Dan Henderson is obviously a hero – but I haven't really kept up. I still check ESPN every now and again out of interest, but I used to order PPVs and really look forward to them!

One of my favourite fighters from the early Fertita-era UFCs was Evan Tanner [RIP]. I remember reading some interviews with him in the build-up to his bout with Tito in UFC30, he was a cool dude. He learnt a lot of his grappling from Gracies In Action videos [!] and was just sort of a self-taught fighter. Really exciting though – he'd throw knees, elbows, try leg-locks, slams ... he made loads of mistakes but he was just an exciting fighter to watch and seemed like a great guy. There's a documentary about him called 'Once I Was A Champion' – haven't seen it yet, but would like to.

I've probably been a little bit of the opposite to that. I only really started watching it in last three years and have since watched all the pride fights and older fights on youtube and the like. The sport in general is quite exciting and I can see why it is growing so quick but I'd agree with you that a lot of the American fighters kinda seem to roll into one and its hard to remember a lot of them. Lads like Anderson Silva and GSP have broken into the mainstream sports arena in their countries with GSP being named Canadian athlete of the year ahead of hockey players and the like which is a big deal. Dana White is very hard work alright but he has done a very good job of building this in fairness just wish he'd shut up a bit more! Its handy that the fights are on ESPN and it makes it easier to see the fights but don't think too many would order PPVs over here yet. I've always been fascinated with the sport and would love to have tried it out but rugby has occupied to much time and wouldn't sacrifice it but I can only imagine how hard and technical the training is in MMA and in BJJ! It will be very interesting to see how much it grows and with more people becoming disillusioned with boxing it is likely to pick up more fans aswell

[tate]

Anyone see the Conor McGregor fight? Getting some serious hype after it.

[Peg Leg]

Anyone see the Conor McGregor fight? Getting some serious hype after it.

Should be able to see it on utube by now!
Serious record behind him before he was taken in to the ufc.

[RoboProp]

Funny that the UFC has never been more popular, but this thread has been dormant for quite some time.

[Logorrhea]

I'd say there are whole UFC forums going wild at the prospect of McGregor and Aldo. Not sure I care too much to be honest.

I do like the way McGregor is hyping himself and the sport up. Its fun to watch from the outside. I'd like for him to beat Aldo and keep it going but only because I like the panto.

[tate]

McGregor is fierce good at boxing the head off fellas in fairness