quote enzuguri

Thales Leites

didnt he just recently have a title shot?

quote enzuguri

A win for Fitch will probably get another title shot.

awesome i love fitch man.
i still dont see him beating GSP thoe.
GSP should move up to middleweight and silva should move up to lightheavy weight.
thatd free up middel weight and welter weight making it alot more interesting!

quote adair

didnt he just recently have a title shot?

Yeah, but how f'n boring was that fight? He didn't even deserve it in the first place and I think the UFC probably wanted to release him on that performance alone, but just used the second consecutive loss as justification. I haven't seen it, but apparently the Sakara fight was really close and Dana even had Thales winning it. I'm sure in most other places, he would have gotten one more chance, but oh well...That's what happens when you put on boring arse fights and lose at the same time.

quote adair

awesome i love fitch man.
i still dont see him beating GSP thoe.
GSP should move up to middleweight and silva should move up to lightheavy weight.
thatd free up middel weight and welter weight making it alot more interesting!

Yeah, but don't take my word for it though. Just a calculated prediction I've made, I mean, who else is there? I don't think he'd beat GSP either, he's just never going to be good enough. GSP's gonna have to move up to MW sooner or later.

quote Serum

Hey Dan Henderson is a good fighter. Maybe this time he will fare better than his previous encounter with Silva.

I know he's good. I like Dan, but you gotta understand that Anderson isn't gonna be around forever. He's openly stated that when his current contract is up, he wants to retire. Now, maybe he's just be using that as leverage to get more superfights and more money on a possible extension, but if he's telling the truth, why waste a fight one someone he's already beaten recently? I'd rather he face Maia or Vitor.

This message was edited by enzuguri on Aug 13 2009.

id like him to hurry up and fight GSP or Maia.
i no jon fitch wouldnt beat GSP but i like him as the fighter and i think he would be a good champ if GSP left WW for MW.
isnt henderson like the only person in the ufc to win a round againest anderson silva?

Lutter won the first round as well - took him down (twice I believe), got the mount, went for a sloppy armbar attempt and got tired. Dan took him down and went for a bit of GNP, not a whole lot of damage was done though. Out of all of his (UFC) opponents, Dan has the best style to beat Anderson, but just didn't take advantage of it. No one's gonna match him striking, his JJ game is good, but he's relatively easy to take down - It's his only weakness. That's why I think a bulked up GSP has as good a chance as anyone of beating him.

quote enzuguri

GSP has as good a chance as anyone of beating him

i think itd be an awesome fight but i do think GSP could finish the fight coz i can't see him outstriking Anderson Silva or Submitting him .
but GSP wrestling is the best in all of MMA thats where he could control Silva.
But i do think the way of beating silva is submitting him because he's been submitted twice in his carrea more then anything else.

quote adair

but GSP wrestling is the best in all of MMA thats where he could control Silva.

Absolutely and I think this is how you beat him. Those two submission losses you brought up were downright embarrassing to be honest, but Anderson's ground game has improved A LOT since then. I think the submission win over Lutter shows how good he is down there.

I think GSP's stand up is underrated. He doesn't have one punch KO power, but his strikes are versatile, he uses his hands and feet to hit his opponent and he's good at avoiding damage. Since the Serra loss, I don't think he's even been hit once with a clean shot. If the match were to happen, I see GSP avoiding the strikes and using his wrestling to control Anderson for a decision. But hopefully we'll actually get to see this fight someday.

I don't mean to discredit him, but if you look at both of his fights @ 205, both were against guys that like to go out there and swing, which is exactly the style of match up Anderson wants. I think someone like Rampage, Rashad or a more experienced Ryan Bader would have the tools necessary to beat him. I still want to see him fight Vitor and Demian Maia though. Two awesome fights right there.

Don't forget UFC wired is on tonight @ 10 on 1HD

quote enzuguri

Don't forget UFC wired is on tonight @ 10 on 1HD

haha thanks

quote enzuguri

Those two submission losses you brought up were downright embarrassing to be honest, but Anderson's ground game has improved A LOT since then.

the flying scissor heal hook loss was lucky for the other guy lol.

quote enzuguri

I still want to see him fight Vitor and Demian Maia though

i think Maia has some of the best BJJ in The UFC his ground transitions are soo fluent. he has great submissions aswell. but his standup isnt as good as it could be but if he did fight silva you'd have to think he'd try and take it to the ground thats where he'll other get submitted(rarely) or get the decision.

Yeah man, I love watching Maia fight. His ground work and transitions from position to position are beautiful and I think the best in all of MMA right now. He just seems to be on another level (as Joe Rogan would say) compared to his opponents. I really hope he beats Nate @ 102 and gets a title shot. You're right, his stand up is nowhere near the level of Anderson's, but if it goes to the ground, Anderson's in trouble. The problem is finding a way to get it down there...We all saw how helpless Thales Leites was and he Demian Maia have a very similar skill set. I think Demian will be more willing to engage and step inside punching range though.

Anyways, speaking of Maia, he has a new interview up here -

http://olutador.com/noticia/item/demian-maia-faz-seu-ultimo-treino-brasil-antes-ufc-102-vejas-entrevista-as-fotos-exclusivas-que-site-olutador-com-preparou

Not to worry, here's the English translation (full credit to zé from sherdog)

Demian, how is your training?

I spent two weeks in the US preparing, some ten days here in Brazil and I return now to the US and stay two and a half more weeks until the day of the fight.

What's your evaluation of your opponent?

Nate Marquardt is the toughest test that I've had til now. Nate is the most complete, Jiu-Jitsu black belt, very good standing up, exceptional cardio, strong, big for his size. That is the test that I need to prove myself and fight for the belt.

What do you focus on in training?

My focus as always is Jiu-Jitsu, in all its parts, its facets, the sport part, the part that allows strikes, takedowns, but always looking for a Jiu-Jitsu fight. But, it's obvious that I'm training stand-up, trading, that type of thing.

Who is part of your training team?

My team right now is really big, I have professor Rafael Alejarra, who takes care of physical conditioning, with help from Diego in Brazil. I have Anderson for Muay Thai, I have André Lopes for Boxing, and there is a friend of mine (Brian) that is helping me with wrestling, who is an excellent guy, he knows a lot about takedowns. This is a part of Jiu-Jitsu that you need to have someone from outside with a view of other martial arts, going to be interesting to see other possibilities, basically that is my team.

Rodrigo Minotauro vs Randy Couture, what do you think of that fight?

The fight of Minotauro with Randy, I think that it's an excellent fight for Rodrigo, for his game, I think it's a fight that matches quite well. Randy has a big name in the US, so I think that it's an exceptional fight for Rodrigo to raise himself from that last fight he had that wasn't his best appearance, I think that it's a good fight for him, yes, it's not an easy fight, but I think that he is the favorite.

Did you watch the fight between Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin?

Yeah I watched it and like always Anderson is a spectacular guy, standing up, you have to take your hat off for him, the ability that he has and the body control is really impressive. When it comes to striking in a fight, he is a guy that already proved a lot.

After Nate Marquardt, do you already know who is your next opponent in the UFC?

Honestly, I am focusing on this fight now with Nate, what I had talked with the guys from UFC about is that there is the possibility of the winner (between I and Nate) and Dan Henderson (who defeated Michael Bisping) to fight with Anderson at the end of the year.

What should we expect in the fight for the belt, if you happen to fight Anderson Silva?

Well, with Anderson, I'm not thinking about this right now because I have a very tough fight, but everyone knows, everyone saw that striking with him isn't the best idea, the stand-up, his striking is very impressive, it will be a fight with style versus style, but I believe that I can win using my Jiu-Jitsu.

Do you have any thoughts about participating in the Gi championships?

Actually, no. My focus is the UFC and maybe it will be no-gi that will be one month after the UFC, but I don't know yet if I will compete because there's a line of people waiting for seminars after the fight and I don't know if I will find the time (especially if I win that fight) to rest, to start a new training cycle until the end of the year, and still fight in ADCC. I will see how I'm gonna distribute my time yet, my focus now is totally on the fight, and later I will decide everything.

olutador.com appreciates your time and wishes good luck in your fight and we will be rooting for you, Demian Maia.

---------------------------

And it looks like Phil Barnoni's back.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/baroni-likely-headed-back-to-ufc-19091

This message was edited by enzuguri on Aug 13 2009.

Here a photo shoot of three legends of ze sport



You no Chuck felt good knowing that he had beat both of them, also he seemed to be getting along with Wand

The Detroit News doesn't know a Forrest from a Forrest...aka Forrest must've run through the Motor City recently:

Oops?

hahaha
idiots!
lol
i think the nog v couture match will be boring to old fellas battling it out
looking forward to the marquart maia match thoe.
loooking forward for maia to win .
the jardine silva should be a good fight go jardine i think he's very underated

Yeah I don't think the Nog/Couture match has a whole lot of steam behind it, given that both guys are coming off a loss. The thing I hate about this is that it would have happend 12 months ago had Randy just decided to fight him in the first place instead of chasing Fedor around. Both guys were pretty hot at the time too, with Randy making another comeback and Nogueira winning his first two UFC fights. There's been hardly any discussion of this match online and not really any buzz at all around the 102 card. I'm also looking forward to the Maia/Marquardt match and Jardine and Thiago Silva should be good. It seems like every fight Jardine has is a must win, but he's always fighting the best guys.

And it's official: Phil "Jabroni" Baroni is back. No return date or foe set yet.

Already posted ...They'll probably give him someone like Marcus Davis or Paul Kelly. Phil won't get anywhere near the championship, but he's always exciting to watch, provided he gets a good match up. It seems like they're re-signing everyone from the post SEG/pre TUF era; Trigg, Hallman, Baroni, vlady etc.