Other Sports thread! ***MMA/Boxing/Lynx/WNBA Etc..***

[Calinks]

The Gophers basketball team is freaking done man. Minnesota basketball is cursed. We keep losing all our damn players. just sick of it. Something always has to go wrong. Our team would be so stellar right now if we had the people we were supposed to have. Nolen, Joesph, Royce White, etc. Ugh..........

[Chance1117]

Anyone see Anderson Silva's kick to the face? That guy is scary good. I can only hope for Silva vs. GSP. But after that fight who does the winner fight?

[Calinks]

Yea, I love Silva man. Man is ridiculous.

I'm so happy Fedor lost. His hardcore fans who continually say he's the best/unstoppable/etc etc. Their bias is unbelievable. I have already heard a ton of excuses but this right here takes the cake....

http://www.fightline.com/fl/news/2011/0 ... elianenko/

"We believe that forbidden psychological technology was used…," Fedor's coach Vladimir Voronov told LifeSports.ru (props to Fighters Only for the translation). "It seems to us that not everything was right, and that certain technologies were used. Not ones that could be seen by the naked eye but psychological technologies that worked on both fighters at a distance."

What a freaking joke.... Seriously... Do you know what would happen if an NBA team lost a final and their coach started pulling this crap?

[Esohny]

I don't like Silva, but I admit that he's one of the top 2 fighters in the world, probably the top fighter. I just can't stand that he insists on **** around in the ring and showing up his opponents, when he could make a bigger statement by just taking care of business.

[Calinks]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssI3Gd24U6U&feature=uploademail[/youtube]

[Devilzsidewalk]

I'm weary about looking ahead to GSP/Silva. Seems ripe for a letdown in some way.

[Chance1117]

I'm weary about looking ahead to GSP/Silva. Seems ripe for a letdown in some way.

Ya, after that fight who does the winner fight? Jones if he wins?

I'm not a huge Silva fan but the guy can fight. His head movement and speed is second to none (Ali like). I wish the guy would have learned English by now. It would have been a great investment for him. He would open himself up to more sponsors and help him better connect with the fans.

[funkatron101]

I've been a big Jon Jones fan since his debut. I said a year ago that I think he is one of the few who could beat Anderson Silva, if Silva moves up to 205. He has the length, speed, and agility to match Silva, and his wrestling is superior. I had no doubts about Jones beating Bader. We'll see which Shogun shows up for this fight, but I think Jones has a great chance to win.

And that front kick that Silva landed wasn't a fluke, he had been practicing it for a while. I didn't expect it to work so perfectly though.

Fedor...I don't know what to say. Either the talent has surpassed him, he has surrounded himself with subpar support, or a combination of both. Dana was right "Those Russians are crazy."

[big3_8_19_21]

I'm weary about looking ahead to GSP/Silva. Seems ripe for a letdown in some way.

Ya, after that fight who does the winner fight? Jones if he wins?

I'm not a huge Silva fan but the guy can fight. His head movement and speed is second to none (Ali like). I wish the guy would have learned English by now. It would have been a great investment for him. He would open himself up to more sponsors and help him better connect with the fans.

The fight with Jones wouldn't happen. Jones fights at 205 while Silva fights at 185 and GSP would be moving up to 185 from 170 to fight Silva. Silva has fought at 205 a couple times (he's certainly big enough to do it), but in interviews for his last couple fights he is maintaining that he has no plans of moving up.

Yushin Okami was promised the next title shot (though that will be delayed in favor of GSP/Silva provided GSP beats Shields). I'm not excited about that. Okami is a good fighter and outclassed Nate Marquardt in his last fight, but he'll get toyed with by Silva. I think it could be a decent fight between Okami and GSP, I think that's just a friendlier stylistic and size match-up for Okami, plus GSP doesn't toy with his opponents, but I have no interest in Okami/Silva. There is one more possible interesting fight, though. Rashad Evans said he will either move up to heavyweight or down to middleweight if Jones beats Rua, since Evans and Jones are training partners and refuse to fight each other. If Jones and GSP win setting up GSP/Silva and a Rashad Evans weight change, I'd really like to see Evans vs. Okami for the next shot at the title at 185.

Also, the only guy I've seen with the quickness and head movement of Silva is Dominick Cruz and he's a 135 lb bantamweight. That's crazy for someone as big as Silva.

[funkatron101]

Rashad needs to man up. The dude is training with everyone these days. He's going to train himself out of a job.

Seriously, more and more guys are training with Jackson's camp. Eventually they are going to run out of options on who to fight.

[big3_8_19_21]

I've been a big Jon Jones fan since his debut. I said a year ago that I think he is one of the few who could beat Anderson Silva, if Silva moves up to 205. He has the length, speed, and agility to match Silva, and his wrestling is superior. I had no doubts about Jones beating Bader. We'll see which Shogun shows up for this fight, but I think Jones has a great chance to win.

And that front kick that Silva landed wasn't a fluke, he had been practicing it for a while. I didn't expect it to work so perfectly though.

Fedor...I don't know what to say. Either the talent has surpassed him, he has surrounded himself with subpar support, or a combination of both. Dana was right "Those Russians are crazy."

Fedor should have been a light heavyweight...he's a doughy 230. He would probably already be smaller than Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans, Jon Jones and plenty of other light heavyweights. Considering that he didn't lose a fight for 10 straight years, I guess I can see why he didn't bother dropping down, but he should now. The only martial art that he's really excellent at is Sambo. I know he has a black belt in Judo, but I think that's probably due to a lot of cross over with Sambo. Due to never leaving Russia and not bringing any guest trainers in he hasn't really grown as a fighter while the rest of the MMA world did. He has plenty of other attributes that he made his money with (explosive punching power, iron chin, doesn't lose his cool in a fight), but he's not as complete as he should be. His boxing is sloppy, his jiu jitsu isn't where it could be (as Fabricio Werdum pointed out after watching the Fedor/Silva fight) and I can't remember the last time I saw him throw a kick. Also, the size difference was just far too much. He never had a problem with giants like Zuluzinho or Hong Man Choi in the past because they weren't that good, but Antonio Silva is a whole different story. So with as much crapping on Fedor as I have been doing, he was undeniably the best heavyweight in the world for many years, he just blew it by not evolving with the sport.

[big3_8_19_21]

Rashad needs to man up. The dude is training with everyone these days. He's going to train himself out of a job.

Seriously, more and more guys are training with Jackson's camp. Eventually they are going to run out of options on who to fight.

Has he turned down other fights like this too? I know what you mean, though. Maybe eventually it will just be Jackson's camp vs. Team Black House. Those two camps hold so many of the top fighters is ridiculous. I mean there's a second tier that has plenty of top guys as well (American Kickboxing Academy, American Top Team, Xtreme Couture), but Jackson's stable seems to grow by the day.

I wonder what Rashad would do if Jackson fighters won titles at heavyweight (would probably be Carwin), light heavyweight (Jones) and middleweight (GSP).

[funkatron101]

Rashad needs to man up. The dude is training with everyone these days. He's going to train himself out of a job.

Seriously, more and more guys are training with Jackson's camp. Eventually they are going to run out of options on who to fight.

Has he turned down other fights like this too? I know what you mean, though. Maybe eventually it will just be Jackson's camp vs. Team Black House. Those two camps hold so many of the top fighters is ridiculous. I mean there's a second tier that has plenty of top guys as well (American Kickboxing Academy, American Top Team, Xtreme Couture), but Jackson's stable seems to grow by the day.

I wonder what Rashad would do if Jackson fighters won titles at heavyweight (would probably be Carwin), light heavyweight (Jones) and middleweight (GSP).

Back when Jardine was still relevant, there was a possible matchup between him and Rashad in the works. Rashad nixed it. Dana has been pretty vocal about Rashad's (and Jaskson's fighters in general) refusal to fight guys in his camp.

With Jackson's camp growing, the matchups are dwindling.

[big3_8_19_21]

Back when Jardine was still relevant, there was a possible matchup between him and Rashad in the works. Rashad nixed it. Dana has been pretty vocal about Rashad's (and Jaskson's fighters in general) refusal to fight guys in his camp.

With Jackson's camp growing, the matchups are dwindling.

Ah, yeah. It's like that at most camps, though, not just Jackson's. For instance Dana has been very vocal about Fitch and Koscheck refusing to fight each other since they train together at AKA. The fact that Belfort USED to train with Silva was enough for Silva to think that they still shared that agreement not to fight each other, which is why the Belfort fight was so personal for him when Belfort called him out. The only recent fight between training partners in a major promotion that I can think of in recent history is Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham.

[UK-Wolf]

I'll mix it up a bit and add my little non-b'ball favourite, SOCCER. Though I cringe every time I say soccer because we call it football over here. I support my local team, Burnley, whom I've had a season ticket since I was about 13, nearly 18 now so. Also follow them away from home a lot too seeing as we're a tiny country and the longest possible away game is about a 7/8 hour drive at max. I love the Wolves but they're nothing compared to Burnley F.C if I'm being honest.

Any of you guys follow soccer? MLS? Europe? It seems to be get bigger over in the States anyway.

[Tha Juice]

Any of you guys follow soccer? MLS? Europe? It seems to be get bigger over in the States anyway.

I'll get into it when the World Cup rolls around but otherwise I don't really fallow it. My favorite players on the US team would have to be Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey, Oguchi Onyewu, Tim Howard, and Landon Donovan. Over the past 10 years I think the sport has definitely gotten bigger here in the States.

[UK-Wolf]

You guys have a decent little squad. Tim Howard's a great keeper, whom I witnessed twice last season in the opposition nets. Onyewu was a massive flop over here but whenever I've seen him play for the U.S/Milan he's played really well. Dempsey's a very good striker, really emerged in the Premier League these last few years. Donovan must have like, iconic status over in the States, he was barely out of nappies when he played for the national side for christ sake. Altidore didn't impress much at Hull last year but I can see potential, he's a bit of a hothead though.

Honorable mentions for Maurice Edu, Damarcus Beasley, Eddie Pope, Kasey Keller and Alexi Lalas for being, well, Alexi Lalas. I would say Brad Friedel but he played for my arch-enemies for too long and was too good for them the bastard.

[Calinks]

I've been a big Jon Jones fan since his debut. I said a year ago that I think he is one of the few who could beat Anderson Silva, if Silva moves up to 205. He has the length, speed, and agility to match Silva, and his wrestling is superior. I had no doubts about Jones beating Bader. We'll see which Shogun shows up for this fight, but I think Jones has a great chance to win.

And that front kick that Silva landed wasn't a fluke, he had been practicing it for a while. I didn't expect it to work so perfectly though.

Fedor...I don't know what to say. Either the talent has surpassed him, he has surrounded himself with subpar support, or a combination of both. Dana was right "Those Russians are crazy."

Fedor should have been a light heavyweight...he's a doughy 230. He would probably already be smaller than Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans, Jon Jones and plenty of other light heavyweights. Considering that he didn't lose a fight for 10 straight years, I guess I can see why he didn't bother dropping down, but he should now. The only martial art that he's really excellent at is Sambo. I know he has a black belt in Judo, but I think that's probably due to a lot of cross over with Sambo. Due to never leaving Russia and not bringing any guest trainers in he hasn't really grown as a fighter while the rest of the MMA world did. He has plenty of other attributes that he made his money with (explosive punching power, iron chin, doesn't lose his cool in a fight), but he's not as complete as he should be. His boxing is sloppy, his jiu jitsu isn't where it could be (as Fabricio Werdum pointed out after watching the Fedor/Silva fight) and I can't remember the last time I saw him throw a kick. Also, the size difference was just far too much. He never had a problem with giants like Zuluzinho or Hong Man Choi in the past because they weren't that good, but Antonio Silva is a whole different story. So with as much crapping on Fedor as I have been doing, he was undeniably the best heavyweight in the world for many years, he just blew it by not evolving with the sport.

Good post. That's pretty much what I have been saying about Fedor for 2 years but people looked at me like I was crazy. He was great for that time but he has not evolved.

[big3_8_19_21]

Good post. That's pretty much what I have been saying about Fedor for 2 years but people looked at me like I was crazy. He was great for that time but he has not evolved.

Yeah, it's too bad he never fought Josh Barnett in PRIDE. Not to degrade what he did in PRIDE, as he had a jaw dropping run of 10 years, but Barnett was the one name that really stood out to me that fought in PRIDE that Fedor never fought.

It's not just Fedor, though, the second generation of mixed martial artists as a whole is fading out. I would consider the first generation to be Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, and all the clowns that paraded about at UFC 1. I consider the second generation to be guys like Mark Coleman, Big Nog, Chuck, Tito, Sakuraba, Matt Hughes, Fedor, Cro Cop, and Couture. Right now they have varying degrees of relevance, but they have been mostly replaced by the third generation of well rounded true mixed martial artists.

[Calinks]

Yea. Just think of all the kids who started training like 4-5 years ago now. In the next 5-10 years we are probably going to see a huge influx of talented fighters. There might be 2 or 3 upcoming Bones Jones' in each weight class. It's going to be nuts.