Non-threadworthy MMA Rumors/Quotes/Tweets/Etc., Vol. 3

REDDzone · Post #1401 » by **REDDzone** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:46 am

People all have their theories why DJ doesn't draw, and opinions about what he needs to do. No, he doesn't need to go WWE on us. With like one exception, he's on the worst cards ever. But the 2nd reason, and the main one...the ufc has done an embarrassing job of building that division. Juts embarrassing. Please, tell me why I should give a sh*t about it?

Horiguchi has never fought on a main card and you wouldn't know who he is unless you have fightpass. Oh, he's also 24 and said he isn't ready to fight the champ and they put him in there anyway. Real reason for me to tune in. Same situation with his previous opponent Cariaso, nobody had ever heard of him. I think Bagautinov fought Lineker on fs1 or as a ppv opener on a terrible ppv once before he fought Mouse, otherwise all undercards.

Contender fights including guys like Ortiz/Makovsky/Moraga/Formiga are all on fightpass. If the ufc doesn't give a sh*t about the flyweights, why should I?

NZB2323 · Post #1402 » by **NZB2323** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:51 pm

The first night they had the flyweights fight was by far the most entertaining and well marketed flyweight event in UFC history. It would have been even better if they had actually done the overtime round for mighty mouse vs. uncle creepy. After that night I was all-in on the flyweights, even stating that flyweight was one of my favorite divisions. Now I don't really care about the division.

REDDzone · Post #1403 » by **REDDzone** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 5:11 pm

NZB2323 wrote:The first night they had the flyweights fight was by far the most entertaining and well marketed flyweight event in UFC history. It would have been even better if they had actually done the overtime round for mighty mouse vs. uncle creepy. After that night I was all-in on the flyweights, even stating that flyweight was one of my favorite divisions. Now I don't really care about the division.

Which sucks because the division has only gotten better since that time. Dodson is legit, Benavidez is world class but doomed to play bridesmaid to top 3 p4p fighter in Mouse. Ortiz and Makovsky have some of the best/most fun to watch scrambles in the entire sport, if not the best.

NZB2323 · Post #1404 » by **NZB2323** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:07 pm

REDDzone wrote:
NZB2323 wrote:The first night they had the flyweights fight was by far the most entertaining and well marketed flyweight event in UFC history. It would have been even better if they had actually done the overtime round for mighty mouse vs. uncle creepy. After that night I was all-in on the flyweights, even stating that flyweight was one of my favorite divisions. Now I don't really care about the division.

Which sucks because the division has only gotten better since that time. Dodson is legit, Benavidez is world class but doomed to play bridesmaid to top 3 p4p fighter in Mouse. Ortiz and Makovsky have some of the best/most fun to watch scrambles in the entire sport, if not the best.

I think maybe putting more flyweights on certain cards would work. That way instead of having a flyweight card on the undercard with a guy I've never heard of, they could build it up and market the event. People who don't like flyweights wouldn't have to watch and the media, the ufc, and the fans would talk about all the flyweight matchups. I know I went to UFC 146 where the main card was all heavyweights, so I don't see why they couldn't do the same thing for a smaller weight class.

Cammo101 · Post #1405 » by **Cammo101** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:33 pm

REDDzone wrote:People all have their theories why DJ doesn't draw, and opinions about what he needs to do. No, he doesn't need to go WWE on us. With like one exception, he's on the worst cards ever. But the 2nd reason, and the main one...the ufc has done an embarrassing job of building that division. Juts embarrassing. Please, tell me why I should give a sh*t about it?

Horiguchi has never fought on a main card and you wouldn't know who he is unless you have fightpass. Oh, he's also 24 and said he isn't ready to fight the champ and they put him in there anyway. Real reason for me to tune in. Same situation with his previous opponent Cariaso, nobody had ever heard of him. I think Bagautinov fought Lineker on fs1 or as a ppv opener on a terrible ppv once before he fought Mouse, otherwise all undercards.

Contender fights including guys like Ortiz/Makovsky/Moraga/Formiga are all on fightpass. If the ufc doesn't give a sh*t about the flyweights, why should I?

I'd make the same argument for Women's BW as well. Not enough fights in general to keep the division active, and far too many of the top fighters in the division are buried on prelims. The #3 and #5 WBW in the world fight each other this weekend and it can't even crack the main card of the worst PPV in history. The UFC wants it's cake and eat it too. It wants to put the couple of draws in the division out front on big PPVs, but they quickly run out of challengers because they didn't bother building anyone else.

This is another reason why the UFC needs a weekly, mid-week live fights card to take over for TUF. That would be a great way of building exposure for some of these lighter weight classes. A fight like Alexis Davis vs. Sarah Kaufman could headline a show like that.

REDDzone · Post #1406 » by **REDDzone** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:47 pm

Cammo101 wrote:I'd make the same argument for Women's BW as well. Not enough fights in general to keep the division active, and far too many of the top fighters in the division are buried on prelims. The #3 and #5 WBW in the world fight each other this weekend and it can't even crack the main card of the worst PPV in history. The UFC wants it's cake and eat it too. It wants to put the couple of draws in the division out front on big PPVs, but they quickly run out of challengers because they didn't bother building anyone else.

The ufc has a problem with a self-fulfilling prophecy here. They put over the hill or less talented "draws" on main cards over legitimate fighters in the less prestigious divisions.

I don't want to fudge the details but there was an interview with Mouse/Ariel not too long ago. There was some number one contender flyweight match that was on the prelims while some higher weight guy who had lost a few fights in a row was on the main card. Mouse said he asked Shelby/Silva about it and they basically just said the higher weight guy was more of a draw so he got a better card position. Now there are obviously some cases where this will be the case regardless, but it definitely becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in a sense. The reason some of these guys are "bigger draws" is because they don't spend their entire careers on facebook or fightpass!

Cammo101 · Post #1407 » by **Cammo101** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:26 pm

REDDzone wrote:
Cammo101 wrote:I'd make the same argument for Women's BW as well. Not enough fights in general to keep the division active, and far too many of the top fighters in the division are buried on prelims. The #3 and #5 WBW in the world fight each other this weekend and it can't even crack the main card of the worst PPV in history. The UFC wants it's cake and eat it too. It wants to put the couple of draws in the division out front on big PPVs, but they quickly run out of challengers because they didn't bother building anyone else.

The ufc has a problem with a self-fulfilling prophecy here. They put over the hill or less talented "draws" on main cards over legitimate fighters in the less prestigious divisions.

I don't want to fudge the details but there was an interview with Mouse/Ariel not too long ago. There was some number one contender flyweight match that was on the prelims while some higher weight guy who had lost a few fights in a row was on the main card. Mouse said he asked Shelby/Silva about it and they basically just said the higher weight guy was more of a draw so he got a better card position. Now there are obviously some cases where this will be the case regardless, but it definitely becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in a sense. The reason some of these guys are "bigger draws" is because they don't spend their entire careers on facebook or fightpass!

The UFC is at a point in my opinion where the name "UFC" is a pretty decent chunk of their draw. There are then a handful of guys in each division who legitimately draw viewers in in any significant number to a PPV or Fox card. I think the UFC is out thinking themselves by assuming that these scond tier quasi-name fighters bring in viewers.

As a random example, the UFC will put a fight like Koscheck vs. Ellenberger on a main card and have a fight like Jussier da Silva vs. Moraga on the prelims. Yes, the Kos fight has more name value, but it also has far less division relevance. Having that Kos fight as the 4th fight of 5 on a PPV instead of the da Silva/Moraga is not going to bring in very many more viewers who weren't going to watch otherwise. The UFC seems to think it will. The much smarter thing to do is to have the Flyweights on the main card to gain much needed eyes on those guys and that division, while keeping the Welterweights on the prelims, where the little bit of name value they bring can be used there to hopefully sell the PPV.

The UFC needs to move to the more division relevant fights on the PPV cards and the older, name fighters that have no divisional relevance should be used to bring eyes to the prelim fights. The UFC has struggled greatly IMO with the quality of their cards and the placement of the fighters on them since going to this schedule with way more cards a year.

Cammo101 · Post #1408 » by **Cammo101** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 5:54 pm

Ben Askren apparently looked awful against Luis Santos before poking Santos in the eye which lead to a no contest. This will be a big hit to Askren's hypew train, but at least it gives him a rematch, because there is no one out there to fight him really.

REDDzone · Post #1409 » by **REDDzone** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:13 pm

Cammo101 wrote:Ben Askren apparently looked awful against Luis Santos before poking Santos in the eye which lead to a no contest. This will be a big hit to Askren's hypew train, but at least it gives him a rematch, because there is no one out there to fight him really.

Maybe Dana will sack up and sign Askren if its true that he showed some vulnerability.

Cammo101 · Post #1410 » by **Cammo101** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:34 pm

REDDzone wrote:
Cammo101 wrote:Ben Askren apparently looked awful against Luis Santos before poking Santos in the eye which lead to a no contest. This will be a big hit to Askren's hypew train, but at least it gives him a rematch, because there is no one out there to fight him really.

Maybe Dana will sack up and sign Askren if its true that he showed some vulnerability.

He was taken down by Santos. Who saw that coming?

REDDzone · Post #1411 » by **REDDzone** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:36 pm

Cammo101 wrote:
REDDzone wrote:
Cammo101 wrote:Ben Askren apparently looked awful against Luis Santos before poking Santos in the eye which lead to a no contest. This will be a big hit to Askren's hypew train, but at least it gives him a rematch, because there is no one out there to fight him really.

Maybe Dana will sack up and sign Askren if its true that he showed some vulnerability.

He was taken down by Santos. Who saw that coming?

He's been taken down a few times now actually...in OneFC so recently.

He looked a little softer to me this time out too.

I read he looked bad, but I also read the other guy was gassing hard before the poke. I'll have to catch it sometime this weekend.

Cammo101 · Post #1412 » by **Cammo101** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:59 pm

REDDzone wrote:I read he looked bad, but I also read the other guy was gassing hard before the poke. I'll have to catch it sometime this weekend.

I haven't seen it yet, only going by what I heard. I'm sure he probably would have come back and won. Still bad form against a guy who went 1-2 before getting bounced out of Bellator.

cowboyronnie · Post #1413 » by **cowboyronnie** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 9:24 pm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osMPND3aWPg[/youtube]

cowboyronnie · Post #1414 » by **cowboyronnie** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 9:34 pm

REDDzone wrote:
Cammo101 wrote:
REDDzone wrote:
Maybe Dana will sack up and sign Askren if its true that he showed some vulnerability.

He was taken down by Santos. Who saw that coming?

He's been taken down a few times now actually...in OneFC so recently.

He looked a little softer to me this time out too.

I read he looked bad, but I also read the other guy was gassing hard before the poke. I'll have to catch it sometime this weekend.

The guy was definitely not gassing hard. He is a muscle-bound dude and he was back up in a MT stance sorta tightly but there's not enough time elapsed to say it was going to be a problem.

Askren missing 6, 7, 8 takedowns had to have left his own self a little tired.

Cammo101 · Post #1415 » by **Cammo101** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 9:55 pm

LOL at Askren saying Sapo was looking for a way out of the fight. He looked like garbage and was getting beat up until the eye poke.

Sadly, Askren has not evolved his game at all. I don't see him having much of anything for the elite WWs in the UFC. He may struggle against the second tier in the UFC. Too bad, because he could have become a special talent.

Jasen777 · Post #1416 » by **Jasen777** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 9:56 pm

Askren looked terrible, shooting from a long ways out, going for ankle picks? Couple nice throws from Santos, dropped Askren with a leg kick, and couple head kicks that came close when Askren was on the ground. Probably powered by some supplements he got training with American Top Team. Anyways, don't know if Askren would've rallied or not.

Cammo101 · Post #1417 » by **Cammo101** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:06 pm

Jasen777 wrote:Askren looked terrible, shooting from a long ways out, going for ankle picks? Couple nice throws from Santos, dropped Askren with a leg kick, and couple head kicks that came close when Askren was on the ground. Probably powered by some supplements he got training with American Top Team. Anyways, don't know if Askren would've rallied or not.

I tend to think he probably would have, but it still has to make you wonder what he would have for guys like Woodley or Lawler or Rory or any of about 10 or 15 top UFC Welterweights. I still really wish he'd find his way into the UFC. He is too talented to be fighting nobodies on the indie circuit.

REDDzone · Post #1418 » by **REDDzone** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:28 pm

Jasen777 wrote:Askren looked terrible, shooting from a long ways out, going for ankle picks? Couple nice throws from Santos, dropped Askren with a leg kick, and couple head kicks that came close when Askren was on the ground. Probably powered by some supplements he got training with American Top Team. Anyways, don't know if Askren would've rallied or not.

I mean he technically dropped him with a leg kick but that was much, much more a foot sweep than Askren going down from a leg kick.

The throws were awesome.

REDDzone · Post #1419 » by **REDDzone** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:29 pm

Cammo101 wrote:LOL at Askren saying Sapo was looking for a way out of the fight. He looked like garbage and was getting beat up until the eye poke.

Sadly, Askren has not evolved his game at all. I don't see him having much of anything for the elite WWs in the UFC. He may struggle against the second tier in the UFC. Too bad, because he could have become a special talent.

I think you are drawing way too many conclusions from a two minute fight. Douglas Lima would be very successful in the ufc imo and Askren set records for number of times he punched that guy in the face.

Cammo101 · Post #1420 » by **Cammo101** » Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:59 am

REDDzone wrote:
Cammo101 wrote:LOL at Askren saying Sapo was looking for a way out of the fight. He looked like garbage and was getting beat up until the eye poke.

Sadly, Askren has not evolved his game at all. I don't see him having much of anything for the elite WWs in the UFC. He may struggle against the second tier in the UFC. Too bad, because he could have become a special talent.

I think you are drawing way too many conclusions from a two minute fight. Douglas Lima would be very successful in the ufc imo and Askren set records for number of times he punched that guy in the face.

Lima is MUCH more well rounded than Askren and continuing to improve. That fight would likely look a lot different today than it did then. For whatever reason, Askren seems to have plateaued. And it isn't just this fight either, he looked spotty his last time out as well.