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Post by K1power on Oct 25, 2014 18:33:59 GMT 1
  Completely forgot about this one happening tonight! |
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Post by K1power on Oct 26, 2014 13:08:01 GMT 1
So.. Aldo defeats Mendes by decision in a pretty crazy fight that had lots of fouls happening from both sides. Regardless it was a very entertaining fight if it weren't that the stream died on me somewhere into Round 4. lol |
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aubtin
Novice Member
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Post by aubtin on Oct 26, 2014 13:55:28 GMT 1
Main event was quality! Sad to say, but outside of the Europe and Asia cards I find myself watching fewer and fewer prelim fights. Only watched the main card for this one.
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Post by K1power on Oct 26, 2014 13:57:48 GMT 1
Same here. The quality fights are just spread out too thin.
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aubtin
Novice Member
Posts: 129
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Post by aubtin on Oct 26, 2014 14:00:32 GMT 1
Such a shame. Alas, the days of immense, stacked to tits, PRIDE and UFC cards a long gone  |
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Post by Kenshin (Banned) on Oct 26, 2014 15:15:48 GMT 1
Yeah, fight was pretty awesome. Also had it 49-46 for Aldo. Other than that the main card sucked. Prelims were actually a bit better. Such a shame. Alas, the days of immense, stacked to tits, PRIDE and UFC cards a long gone I think if Jones/Cormier would have happened and delivered a good fight, that event would have gotten pretty close to be like that. |
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aubtin
Novice Member
Posts: 129
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Post by aubtin on Oct 27, 2014 13:43:14 GMT 1
I think if Jones/Cormier would have happened and delivered a good fight, that event would have gotten pretty close to be like that. Yeah, even without Jones-Cormier the main card for UFC 178 was really good. I dunno though, outside of Mizugaki-Cruz I had no interest in the prelims. Honestly, I'm not sure how much that's a reflection of the quality of UFC cards or my attitude to MMA these days... |
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Post by Kenshin (Banned) on Oct 27, 2014 14:44:23 GMT 1
I think if Jones/Cormier would have happened and delivered a good fight, that event would have gotten pretty close to be like that. Yeah, even without Jones-Cormier the main card for UFC 178 was really good. I dunno though, outside of Mizugaki-Cruz I had no interest in the prelims. Honestly, I'm not sure how much that's a reflection of the quality of UFC cards or my attitude to MMA these days... Maybe we can solve that mystery.  Would you name your 3 most favourite Pride and UFC events (let's say before the FOX deal), also in terms of how stacked they were and how much hyped you was for them? Then we might compare it to UFC 178 and make an objective comparision. |
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aubtin
Novice Member
Posts: 129
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Post by aubtin on Oct 27, 2014 15:33:00 GMT 1
^ I approve of this investigation! It'll take some considered thought though, bear with me.
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Post by Kenshin (Banned) on Oct 27, 2014 20:31:54 GMT 1
Yeah, I think that's interesting. Just post the events, I will make the first attempt at an comparision. It was my idea after all.^^
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aubtin
Novice Member
Posts: 129
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Post by aubtin on Oct 29, 2014 11:00:05 GMT 1
Well, when I had time I wanted to go through a list of all the old PRIDE and UFC events to jog my memory but it the end decided against it. Firsty, cos I really haven't got that much free time, and secondly that would kind of defeat the point - if they were cards I was really hyped for I should remember then anyway.
So..., the first two epic events that came to mind, one's that I remember being ridiculously hyped for were...
PRIDE MW GP 2003 Opening Round (Total Elimination 2003)
The card was fucking insane! Chuck coming over from the UFC. Bustamante coming to PRIDE after winning the UFC belt. Fedor, when he was tearing through everyone, vs. Goodridge. Fucking Mirko-Vovchanchyn! And to top it all Saku-Wanderlei 3!!! I remember being so ridiculously pumped for that one fight I could hardly sleep!
A close second was Bushido 9- still get goosebumps remembering Gomi-Kawajiri!
As for the UFC, the first one that sprang to mind was..
UFC 46
I was a huge BJ Penn fan, and after Hughes beat Sakurai, I desperately wanted BJ to win so I was most looking forward to that fight. Couture-Vitor, back just before Vitor really started to go off the rails. Karo had just won his last fight back that sick rolling Kimura & I though he was gonna be the next big thing at WW. And then of course, the man, Lee fucking Murray. I remember flipping out when I found out about Murray, a crazy English bastard that as it turns out was actually crazy.
Next UFC that immediately came to mind was UFC 137 - Diaz-Penn, the debut of Hioki, Cerrone-Siver...
I made a point of ignoring the PRIDE & UFC end of year shows cos they were always something special.
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Post by Kenshin (Banned) on Oct 31, 2014 9:18:50 GMT 1
Well, when I had time I wanted to go through a list of all the old PRIDE and UFC events to jog my memory but it the end decided against it. Firsty, cos I really haven't got that much free time, and secondly that would kind of defeat the point - if they were cards I was really hyped for I should remember then anyway. So..., the first two epic events that came to mind, one's that I remember being ridiculously hyped for were... PRIDE MW GP 2003 Opening Round (Total Elimination 2003)The card was fucking insane! Chuck coming over from the UFC. Bustamante coming to PRIDE after winning the UFC belt. Fedor, when he was tearing through everyone, vs. Goodridge. Fucking Mirko-Vovchanchyn! And to top it all Saku-Wanderlei 3!!! I remember being so ridiculously pumped for that one fight I could hardly sleep! A close second was Bushido 9- still get goosebumps remembering Gomi-Kawajiri! As for the UFC, the first one that sprang to mind was.. UFC 46
I was a huge BJ Penn fan, and after Hughes beat Sakurai, I desperately wanted BJ to win so I was most looking forward to that fight. Couture-Vitor, back just before Vitor really started to go off the rails. Karo had just won his last fight back that sick rolling Kimura & I though he was gonna be the next big thing at WW. And then of course, the man, Lee fucking Murray. I remember flipping out when I found out about Murray, a crazy English bastard that as it turns out was actually crazy. Next UFC that immediately came to mind was UFC 137 - Diaz-Penn, the debut of Hioki, Cerrone-Siver... I made a point of ignoring the PRIDE & UFC end of year shows cos they were always something special.
and Pride - Bushido 9
plus UFC 46
and UFC 137
ALL AGAINST UFC 178 (we just have to imagine Jones vs. Cormier being the main event)  
Quit honestly, I think it is pretty tough to directly compare these events. I'd rather give my thoughts on the overall topic of "old vs. new" or "modern vs. nostalgica". With the exception of UFC 137, it becomes pretty clear that the MMA landspace has dramatically changed over the years by just looking at these fight cards. Of course, we all know that here, and it's by far not just the fight cards that has changed. For once, looking at the Bushido 9 results, we will see something that seems to have no right of existence in modern MMA anymore; the glorious tournament format. With the demise of Rebney as the CEO of Bellator, and the policy of the new one, Scott Coker, it seems that even the last little survivor of MMA tournaments, at least on the big stage, has bitten the dust. Even though Coker said that he could imagine doing tournaments in the future, they seem to be gone for now. Of course, tournaments that actually involve more than one fight a night seem to be completely out of question. This sucks, because such a format can be so exciting. What I always liked about them is that you always knew the point of departure; 4, 8, or 16 fighters entered, and only one would go out victorious in that competition. This kind of transperency and anticipation added a lot to the excitement. The only thing that I can think of that still has that is TUF. But with TUF, you usually don't even know the majority of the fighters, while at the same time it's always pretty obvious that a lot of the competitors there won't make it far in the UFC anyway. So that pretty much eliminates the hype and excitement of the tournament format again. Speaking of "not knowing the majority of the fighters", this gets me straight to the next point: There are so many events, just in the UFC alone, these days, that it's so hard to keep track of all the things that are going on. But that's what we want, right? We, as hardcore fans, don't just want to see the big, hyped up fights. We want to see it all; the up-and-comers, the fading veterans, the unknowns, the gatekeepers. Because we know that potentially every fight could become a fight of the year, and that every fighter deserves our respect (ok, in an ideal world) and recognition. Plus that is the whole point of following an certain organisation anyway, right? Seeing the fighters rise and fall, getting to know them etc. But again, it's so hard these days, because the sheer amount of fighters in the UFC (about 500?), divided into 8 weight classes for the men and 2 for the women, with having almost one event a week, sometimes even two at the same day (like next week). I have been watching pretty much all the prelims in the UFC for a couple of years now, and I still have quit the problems to recognize many fighters on these cards. Sometimes I even know I have seen them before, but just can't remember. How are we supposed to remember so many fighters being involved in so many fights, many of whom look the same and have the same feel to us? Tough, very tough. Now with the early UFC, Pride, and just all of the bigger JMMA events such as K-1 Hero's, it feelt more like almost an exclusive club. You better had to be somewhat special, you better be recognizable to the fans if you wanted to stick as a fighter. Of course, it was a different time indeed. Fighters acutally were more special and unique. Times have changed, and rightfully so, right? I mean, it was bound to happen that this sport would blow up, gyms would open up and everybody wanted to do this amazing thing called MMA. As a fan, you can't really complain about this, can you? So here we are, with all these generic looking fighters, many of them with a similar fighting style, with a similar background, you name it. The sport was never as legitimate as it is now. Is it as much fun? Well, I definatly can see both sides. Undoubtedly a log of the magic has gone. Let's talk about the production value of modern MMA. I will make this very quickly: The UFC production sucks. Or mabye it has just run its course. Well, in my opinion, it definatly has run its course. I have been saying this for quit some time now: The UFC might be a well-oiled machine, but it is still the same damn machine they had like a decade ago, and it's simply outdated. One big downer for me is just how monotonous these events are. They're literally always the same. If it wasn't for the crowd, who is usually always different depending on where the event takes place, you probably wouldn't even notice if the UFC held an event in a different country. It's always the same; extremely boring entrances, the same pre-fight intros (black and white, with a lot of "I'm going to knock him out"), even the commentary is basically always saying the same stuff. Now I thought that was all "ok" when they were still on Spike and the sport still clinched for legitimacy. But here we are now, about 3 years into the FOX deal, and barely anything has changed for the better. I actually don't even like the term "white trash", but it's probably the best way to descripe the UFC still. It's definatly lacking class and diversity. I acutally liked what StrikeForce did in cooperation with Showtime. They brought some class into North American MMA. Needless to say, the Japanese events just had it done right. We all know that, I don't even have to comment on it (I'm just talking about the production value). Well, I acutally like were we are headed. It's just that the UFC finally need to step up theyr game. To me it feels like they are afraid of this, because, you know, "never change a winning team". I just wish we had at least one more big Japanese organisation, who would provide the typical JMMA flair that we all love. One FC might get there, but so far they are not doing it for me. I have to say though, the UFC 178 card would have been amazing if Jones/Cormier wouldn't have fallen trough. I even would go as far as to say that with Jones vs. Cormier, yes, this one could have probably rivaled some of the more stacked up cards in Pride. And this is, giving the huge amount of events a year, a pretty good accomplishment for the UFC. Personally, I take the good with the bad. I watch all the fights, and I'm usually happy to have something to watch. Sometimes I'm entertained, sometimes I'm bored. Most of the time I fast forward to the fights (which sucks, I have to admit). Well, it is what it is. The UFC leaves a lot to be desired still, but it definatly could be worse. |
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Post by K1power on Oct 31, 2014 13:09:07 GMT 1
Good summarization and I pretty much agree. I'm happy I have something to watch on a more regular basis nowadays - that goes for both MMA and kickboxing btw - but at the same time the average quality per event (regardless of which promotion it concerns) is lower than it was a few years back when we had less, but way more stacked cards. I also agree about the production values. This is something that's always a pretty big deal to me and UFC specifically looks way too bland/cheap for an organisation of their calibre.
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Post by Kenshin (Banned) on Oct 31, 2014 13:56:00 GMT 1
Thanks. One thing I've forgot in my post: While a lot of the lesser known/skilled fighters seem generic and don't do a lot for me, they're also some fighters I get interested in every here and then, who might have not gotten to the shiny big stages if it wasn't for UFC's policy of putting on so many shows. Two recent examples would be Neil Seery, a tough Irish flyweight and brawler, and soft-spoken Scottish Muay Thay fighter Joanne Calderwood. Just two recent examples, of course. |
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Post by Kenshin (Banned) on Dec 27, 2014 9:09:19 GMT 1
I still feel dumb now. Aubtin never replied. Probably thinks I'm too stupid to have that kind of conversation. |
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