UFC 67 is gonna be the first event...
 

Where I'm not gonna be waiting for the main event. Finally UFC is showing us a good card. Congrats go Dana White for presenting an event that could compete with Pride's quality.

Yeah I am definately looking forward to the fight. Nice to see some great fighters making their UFC debut.

Yeah I just wish it would have went better for Heath... he needs to get his cardio back up big time...

You should do more research on the non main event fighters.

That being said, can't wait to see crocop and rampage in the cage.

I know most of them bud... they just aren't up to Pride's level (especially in the heavyweight division)

Doctor Dre = Anthony v2.0

Will be the first UFC in high def as well. That's always a nice bonus. Would be insane if Crocop came in and got beat. I don't think anyone was expecting Heath to lose either.

he looked really bad ...:Oh crap

I've been to a handful of UFC events and they are awesome, quite an experience

fightcard for the uninformed:

Anderson Silva vs. Travis Lutter (Pictures)
Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) vs. Eddie Sanchez
Quinton Jackson (Pictures) vs. Marvin Eastman (Pictures)
Patrick Cote (Pictures) vs. Scott Smith
Sam Hoger (Pictures) vs. Ryoto Machida (Pictures)
Tyson Griffin (Pictures) vs. Frank Edgar
Terry Martin (Pictures) vs. TBA
Melvin Guillard (Pictures) vs. TBA
John Halverson vs. TBA

Heath is definitly not at Crocop's level thought ;)

i wanna see Rampage win... I hope he does.

Let me preface this by saying, i pay very little attention to UFC, don't know all the characters, their history etc. so blast away... below is just an observation...




I remember the very first UFC events and how excited we were to see full contact fighting and it came at a time when me and a couple friends were training 4-6hrs a day with karate.

here is how i remember everything..

first fights:

- totally retarded. it was clear from the first moment that the show biz aspect was more important than the actual fights. one idiot came in dragging a cross saying he was fighting for jesus, other idiots like van clief (also studied and trained with some people that i did in Go Ju Ryu) dressed like captain america, jumping and dancing around and then getting knocked down in a few seconds.

it became instantly clear that rounds, weight classes etc were needed to make it entertaining. it also became clear that watching a boxer fight a wrestler was going to be boring as fuck 9 times out of 10.

from there...

grapplers started taking over. the boring factor shot through the roof. no rounds... just two guys hanging on to each other on the ground for 20-30 minutes (severen and oleg taktarov (spelling?)) come to mind. gracie as much as he was loved in the beginning was no better. no striking whatsoever and often the fights went on until we got bored and changed the channel because no one could end the fight. all he could do was keep walking at the person with both his hands up and straight out in front of him trying to get the guy against the cage so he could go for the take down. he would throw fake punches and kicks and it was extremely evident that he did not know how to do either.

we stopped caring or watching from that point. maybe it got better in the next fights.

then....

i remember grappling became a big part of UFC. tried watching it occasionally... boooooooooring.

i cared even less.

in recent times......

I started watching UFC again. noticed that almost all the fantasy and bullshit is gone. noticed rounds and weight classes adn that there was a rational, equal focus on a good stand up game and good ground game.
... so ok. i started watching it a little more.

THEN... i started watching pride. and thought FINALLY... exactly what full contact fighting is supposed to be. Something you will never hear in Pride which you hear non-stop in UFC -- "oh, he's in the guard position... this is where he's very comfortable" blah blah blah. in Pride, anytime i notice someone going to the ground, they are usually getting the fucking beating of their lives while on their back while the opponent stands above them and rains down total hell on them.

In my opinion, there is zero comparison between the best pride fighters and the best UFC fighters. CroCop, Fedor Emelianenko and many others are on a totally different level than any UFC fighters. Tito and Liddell aren't even well rounded fighters. Liddell is a brawler... Tito.. hmm... don't know. I never paid a lot of attention but when i watched him fight Liddell the last time, i saw a guy who had absolutely no idea what to do.. and when he did something, he was usually punished for his half assed attempts. I doubt he could last very long against the top Pride guys... but in UFC, he can be a champion.

Pride does have tough fighters but the UFC is much more popular and better filmed and marketed here in the States and will keep growing while Pride will likely never be known outside of hardcore MMA fans. With the UFC's explosive growth and success, they will keep bringing in former Pride fighters and other mma fighters from overseas and outside of the organization until UFC makes up for any perceived shortcomings in the ranks.

At that point- which will come very soon- then the people who rant about how much better Pride is than the UFC will be no better than the people who brag about how they never watch tv. In other words, blowhards who might have some minor point but they are mostly just trying to be contrarian against the popular brand and the majority opinion.

I totally loved the first ones without weight classes, rules, etc. The guy dragging the cross I think was Kimo, he went on to fight in K1 and Pride I think, as well as more fights in the UFC.

I wish they could bring back the old days. Nothing like seeing a sumo wrestler take on a judo guy.

there is no question that there was some entertaining moments. i am just going by memory. i remember we were all really excited to watch it... then i remember with each new event, it just seemed like it got more and more boring, with a few high points here and there. a die hard fight fan would understandably have a very different recollection.

Rampage who has beat Lidell in Pride is making his UFC debut.
Crocop isn't in pride anymore... He's making his UFC debut next card.

Andersen Silva who is now the middleweight champ was a Pride fighter for Chute Boxe. He's fighting in that card too.

Read the posts man ... that's why I'm excited...

P.S. Lidell is a very well rounded fighter... according to most MMA mags he's in the top 5, and the #1 more often then other times.

I'd personally rank the top 5 for the 205 pounds class as :
Shogun
Wand
Rampage
Lidell
Arona or Noguerra

Pride is actually very popular and has a much larger following than UFC outside of the US. And to those who think Crocop has a chance of losing have never seen him fight before.

HEY!! Have you all seen the fight between Rampage and Chuck Liddell???? It was a PRIDE event and Dana White (president of UFC) brought "his boy" to Pride to fight Rampage and Rampage BEAT Chuck Liddell. It was nutz cuz Liddell actually threw in the towel. Dana White was actually part of the commentators for the fight and he was so pissed that his boy was getting pwned!! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to both Crocop and Rampage coming in and hopefully making some waves.

I train in MMA, and will fight in May. Anthony v3.0 will rise from his victory.

Yes, Anthony will start talking in the 3rd parson.

While you were gone, MMA has evolved. You missed the birth of Ground and Pound in the guard, and Sprawl and Brawl for the striker.

MMA is fighting in all ranges of combat.

sure, its changed a lot. totally changed for the better. i personally think it still lacks the world class strikers that Pride seems to have from what i have seen. its definately more entertaining to watch in my opinion than it was when it started. but again... i am not obsessed with it and not a regular fan, so i know very little about all the people.

The Pride fanboy is strong in this thread. That being said, Heath was injured for his debut UFC fight.

actually. i only started watching it more in recent times because i started boxing and kick boxing. i deeply regret wasting so much time with karate... almost a complete and total waste of time training hard to master the most impractical and useless shit. i wish i had just put that time into kickboxing

Heath was injured before his fight with Jake. Also Heath isn't near as good as Mirko.

Yep but right now Pride is having financial problems... they lost their TV deal a while ago because of the ties with the mafia... that's probably why they are loosing some of their top fighters. Fedor is gonna fight in bodog soon.

UFC sold 1.2 million PPV last time... that's some good money.

You didn't read what I just said right ? Crocop is fighting in UFC... so is rampage... and Andersen Silva.

yeah. i was agreeing with everything you said. (or so i thought)
UFC is going to be taken to the next level this year for sure.

Okay I didn't think you realised what I said ;) sorry

Poor Eddie Sanchez R.I.P.

Just so you know... Mirko Filipovic is considered one of the best strikers in MMA. Top 3 MMA HW in the world.

He left PRIDE and now fights for the UFC.

A couple of things. It's not the Mafia, it's the Yakusa that caused the TV problems.

Fedor is still fighting for PRIDE, and isn't leaving. Fedor has a clause in his contract that he can fight for any MMA org that is held in Russia. Every night I went to American Top Team to train last week, I saw Jeff Monson working out. This should be a great fight.

I wouldn't count PRIDE out of the picture yet.

Never said Pride was out of the picture... but they definitly are having problems... Fedor shouldn't have to fight in any other org...

Isn't Yukusa a kind of japanese mafia ???

I have watched since UFC 1 ... It isnt the same as it used to be ... But even with all the new rules, weight classes, etc - I think it is better. What would be awesome is if they took all the new talent and put them into the old UFC rule set ... Back before the ref called matches ... People bled or were knocked the fuck outbefore a match got called....

Anyways - enough of me reminiscing to the good old days of UFC....

I think Jackson and CroCop need to fight and get it over with. Then have that winner go face Liddel.

not sure why i typed something that was so misunderstood. the discussion is about these guys coming over from Pride. i was simply saying that Pride has better fighters (in my opinion). these people coming to UFC is going to really change UFC for the better.

everyone knows... .CroCop has a contract to fight. he isn't fighting today. the day he actually fights will be known as "the day of tears" for all the top heavyweights in UFC today because the bar is going to be raised far above their current talent level.

Apparently Pride/DSE is owned by the Yakuza and Sakakibara could be just a front man. I have no proof or anything about this, but read it a few times.

Everyone in the UFC don't use any technique at all...that's why they changed it from Jujitsu mainly to mixed martial arts...

I'm not watching...that's 4 sure!

I agree, but the fact is Fedor has a clause in his contract that he can fight for any MMA show in Russia.

Bodog has alot of cash to throw around.

Yeah, ok. Where do you get your info from? A comic book or your local Mcdojo?

Anthony,

Have you met Benji Radach at ATT? Good friend of mine who's fighting for the first time in a few years after a string of bad injuries. He'll be out at my gym in CA this week to train for a couple days before his fight. If you don't know him, great guy to train with next time you're over there.

LMAO

Where are you gonna fight Anthony ?

A friend of mine was supposed to be fighting in the last King of the Cage (last week) but his opponent didn't get a brainscan...