An MMA Thread

[deepdoop]

I did a quick search and couldn't find anything MMA or UFC related, so I just thought it'd be cool to get a general MMA thread going for anybody who may be interested in talking about one of the gayest looking sports there is.

If you aren't familiar, MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts and it's that sport that's usually associated with a cage (because of the UFC), where people use a variety of different combat sports to beat each other up, such as boxing, wrestling, BJJ, kickboxing, etc.

I don't really watch many sports anymore. In my teens I used to watch, or at least pay attention to, a lot of different sports but now not so much. I mostly just pay attention to a little bit of hockey and combat sports, though even my attention to combat sports has dwindled over the past year or so.

There was a time I used to watch as much boxing, MMA, kickboxing, grappling, etc as I could but I think I burnt myself out on it a bit. I would watch smaller MMA shows, foreign MMA and of course the UFC... but now I mostly just watch the UFC. So while I don't watch as much as I used to, I still really like it.

So... anybody like MMA/UFC?

[Freya]

I have a friend who works as a Cage girl? that's about as far as my UFC/MMAness goes. Cept there was that whole war machine debacle

[deepdoop]

The War Machine debacle was a bit of an event, wasn't it? War Machine is messed up. Everything with him is an event. It's kind of sad though because he's a C-level MMArtist but he's got this alpha male attitude. The worst part of that is that he could still beat up a variety of the population.

What organization does your friend work for?

[Freya]

Ah it's just a place in Oklahoma City, Rage in the Cage I believe. Don't quote me on that though.

Dude was seriously messed up and he gave a bad name to other MMAers. Not all over them are the bravado male bull. Some are just really good at punching other people. They don't have that jerky attitude.

[deepdoop]

Yeah, a lot of mixed martial artists are pretty respectful dudes because they don't have to be alpha male pricks. They know they can beat people up so they obviously have that kind of confidence, but they handle themselves like pretty alright guys and girls.

I've seen a Rage in the Cage or two! Don't remember anything about them though.


So this weekend we got UFC 177, and this is the main card right now, for anybody who watches:
T.J. Dillashaw (c) vs. Renan Barão
Tony Ferguson vs. Danny Castillo
Bethe Correia vs. Shayna Baszler
Ramsey Nijem vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira
Yancy Medeiros vs Justin Edwards

I really couldn't care less about it. It has a championship bout but it's one of the most unnecessary rematches of all-time, so I just can't get interested. It's one of the care PPVs where I don't care about a single fight on the main card.

[Ayen]

Some times I'll watch it on the weekends when it airs on Fox, but I don't go out of my way to watch many of the matches. I know there's a big rivalry going on between MMA and Pro Wrestling fans that none of the athletes share, of course.

[deepdoop]

I like that you bring up pro wrestling actually, and I liked how you said how the athletes don't share the rivalry. I think it's funny because you're right, a lot of these athletes don't hate pro wrestling and there are a bunch who actively support it. But yet the fans of both are so insecure with their preferred form of entertainment that they bitch at one another.

I've been a big fan of pro wrestling for years, though I took a break for a while some years back. In that time I got really into MMA, and it's come full circle because while I still adore MMA, I've rediscovered my love for pro wrestling. At this point I prefer it to MMA.

I get why there's a rivalry. MMA still isn't at the point where it has escaped the pro wrestling "stigma" that it had attached. If I say I'm watching UFC this weekend some people will still act like its wrestling as opposed to fighting. It doesn't bother me at all, since I love both.

Though it's silly when fans criticize the other because MMA has roots in pro wrestling. Pride was important and Pride definitely took from pro wrestling. And now you see pro wrestlers borrowing things from MMA, such as Daniel Bryan or CM Punk when he was still around. Hell, Stephanie McMahon did the Ice Bucket Challenge and Ronda Rousey was the one to dump the water on her.

[Freya]

I've kinda been interested in watching some games but a lot of them are PPV and i'm totally not paying for that. PUNCH PUNCH KICK BAM down. How's that not cool?

[deepdoop]

UFC has been doing a good job of a lot of free cards lately though. This weekend is a PPV but then after that I believe it's 3 free ones, providing you have the right channels. Which I don't. So I stream free events. How cool am I?

I remember when UFC first got on Fox and they had an hour slot, with only one fight, and they picked two heavyweight monsters to showcase the UFC to people who may not have watched it before. They had like half an hour build up and then Junior dos Santos knocked out Cain Velasquez in a minute and a half. So then they killed another 15 minutes or so afterward. lol

[Freya]

I think the boyfriend would really enjoy these fights too so maybe i'll stream it as well. Are they on certain days or do they just happen whenever?

[deepdoop]

When there's an event they are usually one Saturday, but occasionally they are on other days. Sometimes they have two events in one day, like this past Saturday, since they had one in China and then one in Tulsa later that day. Sometimes I feel like there are too many fights, which is something I never thought I'd say.

The next free event is on a Friday; September 5. The main event is incredible. I took a little look and from that point on, for a couple months, they're all on Saturday.

[Freya]

Maybe I'll tune in next friday then! Who's fighting who? Might as well try it when it's free.

[deepdoop]

According to Wikipedia, which I used because I'd rather go there than the UFC site:

Middleweight	Ronaldo Souza	vs.	Gegard Mousasi
Heavyweight	Alistair Overeem	vs.	Ben Rothwell
Heavyweight	Matt Mitrione	vs.	Derrick Lewis
Lightweight	Joe Lauzon	vs.	Michael Chiesa
Featherweight	Nik Lentz	vs.	Charles Oliveira
Flyweight	John Moraga	vs.	Justin Scoggins

That's the main card.

Since I know you aren't a huge fan... you're pretty much guaranteed a fun fight when Joe Lauzon is fighting. He is tied with Anderson Silva for the most bonuses (for like, fight of the night, submission of the night, etc) at 12. Dude comes to scrap, win or lose. Love that guy.

Someone is going to sleep in the Overeem/Rothwell fight. Overeem hits really really hard (when he isn't tired) and Rothwell also hits hard but can also take a shot.

Charles Oliveira and Nik Lentz could be a good fight. I hope it goes to the ground though because Oliveira is a lot more fun on the ground than standing.

John Moraga is an exciting flyweight. I don't know a thing about Scoggins. Name sounds familiar.

But Souza and Mousasi is what I'm looking forward to. Mousasi is one of my favourite fighters. He's excellent all-around, with elite striking and a great ground game... only weakness really has been wrestling, but he was fighting a weight class above for years and he was smaller than most people in that division. Now he's back to Middleweight, his natural weight class.

Souza has an elite ground game, great wrestling and his striking is getting a lot better. They've actually already fought years ago and Mousasi did an upkick while he was on the ground and knocked him out, lol. I don't think that will happen again but I'm still pulling for Mous.

It's actually not a bad card at all. Much better than the PPV this coming weekend.

[Freya]

OH I know of Silva! That name I recognize!

What are the difference of weight. I mean I get Heavy, middle, and light but what is feather and flyweight?

[deepdoop]

Flyweight is 125lbs, Bantam is 135, Feather is 145, Lightweight is 155, Welterweight is 170, Middleweight is 185, Light Heavy is 205 and Heavy is up to 265.