Gracie VS Shamrock

[SevenStar]

once again a shamrock proves the gracies arent all they are cracked up to be.

nah - that was just a mismatch from the start. a guy with 28 fights and a championship under his belt would be a laughing stock if he lost to a guy who was having his first fight and is 7 years older than him...

[SevenStar]

When fighters win by such a large margin I don't think it's necessarily because they are so good. I think (suspect) that they are actually picking much lesser opponents.

I don't know anything about the fight business but does anyone here know anything about this. People never seem to question how good of an opponent someone has when they win.

Mike Tyson knocked out loser after loser (for a long time) and everyone thought he was great. The few times he fought someone decent he either went the distance and got a decision (in an uninteresting fight) or lost badly.

umm..... 44 of tyson's 50 wins were by KO... so he only beat 6 decent fighters? michael spinks was undefeated until tyson KOed him in round one. his record was 31-1...

however, you are right in your assumtion about why some fighters easily beat others. They fight "tomato cans" for experience in preparation for bigger fights.

[Becca]

When fighters win by such a large margin I don't think it's necessarily because they are so good. I think (suspect) that they are actually picking much lesser opponents.

I don't know anything about the fight business but does anyone here know anything about this. People never seem to question how good of an opponent someone has when they win.

Mike Tyson knocked out loser after loser (for a long time) and everyone thought he was great. The few times he fought someone decent he either went the distance and got a decision (in an uninteresting fight) or lost badly.

... Or he would just bite them.

[GeneChing]

Personally, I felt the last two bouts were a bit manipulative. Cung and Frank, the two local champs from San Jose, were favored to win and they did. The audience got their bread and circuses. I'd say that the bulk of the audience were not martial artists. They booed whenever there wasn't obvious action and showed a general naivete about what was happening in the cage. But hey, what do you expect?

For me personally, well, I love to watch Cung fight always, of course, but the two fights I enjoyed more were Crafton Wallace vs. Raymond Routh and the lightweight Championship bout between Josh Thompson and Clay Guida.

Wallace was more of a kicker/puncher, while Routh was always going for the takedowns and ground moves. Wallace won, mostly by picking Routh off as he tried to enter. Strategically, that bout was fascinating to watch.

Thompson was another San Jose local, so the crowd was fired up, plus being a championship bout, it was a 5 x 5. Guida managed to cut up Thompson in the first round, and maintained dominence on the mount, trapping Thompson in the corners. However, Thompson was tough and kept finagling these remarkable reversals. I kept hoping he could recover, but he'd only get a few shots off until Guida would get on top of him again. Guida was pounding him with punches and elbows to the head, working those cuts and nearly closing up Thompson's eye. But Thompson went 5, to his credit. Even though he lost, I admire his tenacity.

Jose Palacios was supposed to fight too, but for some reason didn't show. His opponent, Sean Bassett, walked into the cage with fanfare, then left, leaving the crowd befuddled.

[SimonM]

Even if it was a bit manipulative I am quite glad that Cung won.

Now Sanshou/San Da has representation in MMA that hasn't just gotten arm-barred out. I would have loved to see Cung kick the crap out of his opponent and from what I hear he wasn't exactly a tomato can anyway.

[SifuAbel]

Wallace was more of a kicker/puncher, while Routh was always going for the takedowns and ground moves. Wallace won, mostly by picking Routh off as he tried to enter. Strategically, that bout was fascinating to watch.
.

But thats impossible !!!

[SevenStar]

But thats impossible !!!

not if wallace was versed in grappling or routh was not a GOOD GRAPPLER(tm)

[GeneChing]

As for Routh, we never got to see if he could really grapple or not. He kept trying to shoot in and Wallace would clock him with a punch, kick or knee and shut him down. Wallace had Routh's timing, and his last shot was dead on target, knocking him out of the game.

[5thBrother]

who is Caesar Gracie?

[yenhoi]

what kind of a matchup was that? frank had had 28 fights prior - At age 40, that was cesar's first fight...

'twas the most watched, most attended, biggest mma event ever, and the first sanctioned in "california."

Google video is putting the fights up for internet ppv now or sometime soon:

http://www.lockflow.com/article_view.php?id=1059

[quickjab]

http://youtube.com/results?search=cu...&search=Search
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.



Good debut for Cung Le, though alot of questions went unanswered.

[hskwarrior]

are the flips he does like the suplex and what ever else he's known for not allowed in the UFC?

I would like to see how shooting in and picking up the guy the way Cung does works in the ufc

peace.

hsk

[quickjab]

yes they are allowed.

[SAAMAG]

It's too bad it didn't go to the ground. To be honest I wasn't impressed with the fight at all. Contrary to the idiot commentators...Cung did get off balance after many of those kicks, and was postured like he was point fighting afterwards...spinning around and ****. Good knockout though.

[rogue]

Altman could have done mor but it was refreshing to see.