I'm looking forward to Barnett fight and Fedors bro as well.

Yeah, Aleks will walk right through Buentello IMO and Barnett should be able to take care of Rizzo... it'll be an interesting event no doubt!

I just to watch UFC alot back in the mid 90s, the days of ken shamrock, hoyce gracie, dan severn, tank abot, that crazy ass russian guy, back when it was only available on PVP, then they stoped it and brought it back with rules and regulations and I never bothered to get back into it.

is it worth it to try and get back into it? or is it not the same as back in the day? I remember one match they were on the mat in a hold for a good 50 minutes just kicking each other in the kidneys lol.

These days I'd say it's way better. There's more technique and skill involved, plus I never like the streetfighting -element of it (and I'd guess anyone who's seen their share of action would agree).
However you should check it out and make up your own mind about it... problem is that the UFC has started to get a bit soft since losing their major competition (the Japanese org Pride FC who many, including myself, considered to be superior) so odds are you'll be tuning in to a horrible PPV. So my suggestion is to check out some old UFC, and why not some old Pride FC PPVs, and see if you like the sport as it is today.

If so then you should check out UFC, Dream, EliteXC/Strikeforce etc.
If not then you should check out Vale Tudo.

Yay 1month til K1 final 16
*piles up on popcorn*

I'm thinking you're thinking of Paul Varelans aka The Polar Bear. Maybe not though because Paul was from Alaska. In any case, I'm glad it made me remember Paul, because I loved seeing him get his big ass kicked by Marco Ruas who systematically chopped him down with leg kicks to his left thigh. Probably the most effictive use of the leg kick ever. Found the fight on youtube...

Marco Ruas Vs. Paul Varelans UFC VII Title Fight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgd9Jrkm7CM <---- Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmeSkmLzuOc <---Part II

Part two is where you really see what can happen when you use the leg kick to perfection. Literally chopped him down like a tree. Paul said he was so badass that nobody wanted to train him because he would be a killer.

And if you want a "highlight" reel, take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAZZiPpFOls

Pretty much sums up his career. In three years, he was 9-9-0. Biggest 6'8 330lbs wuss.



I agree. And I don't thinks it's better because it has better/worse fighters. I think it had better rules. I liked the ten minute first rounds, the judges scoring on the entirety of the bout, the tournaments, and how it didn't cater to the ground specialists. I think the UFC and the American rules cater way to much to ground and pound type fighters. Or in the case of Josh Koschek "Lay'n'Pray." Pride pretty much forced ground fighters to have good stand up since they were in the ring, and it forced stand up guys to have at least some ground defense.

In the UFC, if you are a stand up guy against any sort of ground specialist, you either score a one/two punch/kick knockout or better have a hell of a good take down defense a la Chuck Lidell.

Anybody hear Tito Ortiz on Opie and Anthony today?

He was promoting his new book. Sounds pretty good.

I think he was talking about Oleg Taktarov, the guy who choked out Tank Abbot and fought to a draw against Ken Shamrock in a long-ass grappling match.



The UFC caters to wrestlers; guys who can take you down and hold you down. This isn't that surprising considering that the national martial art of the US is wrestling. What Pride did well was their yellow cards; a yellow card meant a 10% deduction from your purse, something that definitely spurred a lot of fighters on.

Affliction is about to take over. Now they have Andrei Arlovsky and Donald Trump, and Donald is going after Tito.



Yep, you're right. I was drawing a serious blank on that one. I hadn't even read past the "O" in Oleg when it hit me.

Ken Shamrock was always one of my favorites, even when he was way past his prime. Regardless of how his skills diminished, I always though he sort of embodied what a fighter is supposed to be.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens with that... Tito will be a huge draw but to be honest he's WAY past his prime so I doubt he'll make an impact unless they hand him a bunch of cans :\



Ken Shamrock was a fav of mine in Pancrase and the early UFC when he was one of the first multi-talented fighters around, but I've always preferred Frank Shamrock (even though he acts like an ass most of the time) due to his superior technique when it comes the ground game.

I really got into MMA when they aired the first TUF over here. I learned to appreciate the ground tactics more with that show. Even though the best fight i've seen yet is the Bonnar - Griffin fight. Even with the steroid contraversy.

Yeah TUF was great back when it didn't suck (some very good logic at work there...)
Back when the fighters had personalities and you actually cared about who won; today you can pretty much pick the winner from the first episode.

Bonnar is a douchebag. That's about as straight as I can put it; if you do steroids there's no excuse. That's part of the reason why I despise Royce Gracie and Tim Sylvia.
Forrest I've grown to like; I picked him to win the LHW section of TUF1 and he's always shown a huge heart in his fights.

Forest is the kind of guy who looks like the only reason he exsists is to fight. I mean he is built and his face is chiseled like it looks like it can take a couple of hundred blows. I really enjoy his fighting style, and as far as I know, he's kept out of the other drama surrounding UFC.

I loved how he handeled the whole Lieben - Koscheck drama in TUF 1 "I woke up to this terrible rumbling, and I was like 'God is that you?' but, no, it was Lieben" That's not the exact quote.. but you get my point

There's another fighter I like, Lieben. He's a fucking crybaby, but he's fighting style is right on the money for me. Not afraid to get hit, and he's always pushing the opponent back.

I really like Forrest. I like his attitude and personality. Good fighter too. I feel Jackson will put him away though.

And I can't stand Leben. I hate that guy. He not only is he a cry baby, he talks alot of shit and doesn't back it up. Like how he talked all that shit about Anderson Silva talking about how he should go back to Japan(Pride) and fight weaker fighters. It made me so happy when Silva made him forget his name by pummeling him with two minutes into the fight.

Elite XC is a joke. Kimbo's fight was rigged!

I love the way Leben is like way over confident about every fight and he's a natural shit-talker. People just need to not take him that seriously.

BTW can you guys recommend me a good fight? I like fights that stay upright, but I like ground fights too as long as the action isn't missing.

I would say any of Anderson Silva's fights in the UFC are pretty good, if not completely one sided.

And any of Mirko Cro Cops fights in PRIDE are good for stand up. Cro Cop vs. Wandy had a pretty epic knock out.

And a pretty recent fight that really blew my mind was Roger "El Matador" Huerta vs. Clay "The Carpenter" Guida. That had just about everything you could ask for in a fight. Huge momentum swings, big hits, some ground work, some near KO's. It is probably my favorite fight in recent memory.

Yeah, my money's on Jackson... but then again my money was on Shogun as well so let's not speak too soon

I really can't stand Leben; he's full of shit and got what was coming to him in the Silva fight.



Cro Cop vs Fedor is a no-brainer as is Sakuraba vs Royce Gracie.
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs Jens Pulver
Genki Sudo vs Royler Gracie
Wanderlei Silva vs Hidehiko Yoshida

Speaking of Royce Gracie, who was that 400lbs (slight exaggeration, but only slight) dude that he fought?

That was a pretty fun fight to watch.

I suck at searching for videos on the internet.. and I refuse to go P2P. So before I finally thought up youtube (duh) I wathced a bodog fight with this Lawson guy where the other guy had him in a triangle choke, but Lawson would not tap, and he went to win the fight in the second round... i'm liking this guy.

So far I watched the Fedor vs Cro Cop fight and I enjoyed it. I've seen some K1 fights of Cro Cop and I like him.
But is there any site where I can see actual fights with no crappy metallica song on top of it.