Shamrock is out due to a cut above the eye in practice. Seth Petruzelli takes Shamrocks place. This ought to be interesting, as Petruzelli has a little more size than Shamrock does.

I was disappointed to here about Shamrock. Though, I was more amazed by Frank Shamrock's comments after the fact. :lol:

Now I'm mostly looking forward to seeing Arlovski fight.


I was surprised by the women's fight it was better than I thought it would have been. Kobold put up a good effort she just couldn't execute her game plan.

The women's fight was nowhere near as close as it seemed. I guess Kobold thought you can win a decision by clinching for nine straight minutes.

End of the Arlovski fight gave me a chuckle. He was in another dimensions by the time he hit the ground.
-----Added 4/10/2008 at 11 : 10 : 02-----
Oh my... nobody expected that to happen...

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

WOW
that was about like rashad decimating liddell like he did

Good god. That was a short main event. :lol:

Kimbo caught a short right and that was it. I'm betting Ken Shamrock & Petruzelli were the only happy men in that arena.

i imagine ken is pissed bc he could have been the guy to topple the slice machine...

Other than the main event, those were all really solid fights!

looks like he wasnt really caught with a short right. kinda slipped or fell because he was off balance, and the rest is history. could have been worse. kimbo could have been caught with the 15 off punches that were thrown. by the looks of it he was caught with maybe 2 or 3.

a loss is a loss at the end of the day. but good luck to petruzelli

from the angle they showed in the replays, it looks like the right caught him on the jawline, sent him to the ground, then there were the punches thrown on the ground. They didn't look like they were doing much damage, but kimbo was doing NOTHING to defend himself, so the ref had to step in.

don't forget, petruzelli lost to matt hamill and wilson gouvea *sp?*

Petruzelli's loss to Hamill & others proves Petruzelli isn't top tier yet. With that in mind, losing to a middle of the road fighter instead of a UFC Hall of Famer is a better reality check for Kimbo. Now after looking at that replay again it still looks like Kimbo dropped his hands to setup an uppercut/possible shoot and got caught with short right over the top. Also, as much as the color men were talking it up, I don't think the short kick did anything at all.

Quick jump from Petruzelli to Hamill to Franklin here. Does Rich Franklin's win setup possible third fight against Anderson Silva? The last time around the UFC gave Franklin a rematch after just two wins, Hamill is Franklin's second win since his loss to Silva at UFC 77.

I knew Kimbo needed a lot more work and I'm glad it was Petruzelli that beat him. 10-4 with 9 knockouts isn't a bad record. Maybe he can try working his way back up to the UFC.

About Gina Carano. Even though I like her, I feel she has been handed opponents who they know can't take her, just like they have been doing with Kimbo. They are EliteXC's biggest stars. I think EliteXC is going straight downhill after this. I really want them to put Gina Carano against Cris Cyborg but that won't happen for a long time (if EliteXC even lasts that long) because Cyborg has a very strong chance to beat Carano and if both of their superstars go down it won't be pretty for EliteXC's future.

yep...i've been saying that for a while. they tend to put on lopsided fights to 'build stars' Personally, i say roll with what you get. Petruzelli is now on the rise, kimbo on the comeback trail. You think UFC cared when liddell lost to rampage..when franklin lost to silva, ..twice...couture loses to liddell. even when liddell loses to rashad...

you just don't worry about it and move on, build what you have. That'st he main thing i have against elitexc. They think having 1-2 'names' and faces will make them. screw that. Build the people who win, match evenly, let the cream rise, let the others develop. i don't know why they are so intent on building a couple names. I'd rather see gina get in there and brawl with a good chance of losing than just to see her get in and have an easy time. Kobold looked really good in there and could have pulled off the upset. I say give cyborg a shot with gina, winner is new trophy girl, loser gets to comeback. nothing wrong with losing, mucho wrong with losing and fading away

I was so elated when Kimbo lost, good god I was going total ape shit. The thing is, I really do respect Kimbo as a fighter, and he isn't the problem. People even me to an extent knock the fights he's had... that Gabroni Cantrell who he "submitted" with punches in his first fight in 17 seconds, then there was Tank Abbott... James Thompson was supposed to be an easy victory having lost something like 7 of his previous eight fights before Kimbo, instead he arguably won the fight in two different instances, and had the fight called while he was still standing (I realize he was rocked, but he was still standing). The whole ear thing? Ridiculous. Some people think that was a fail-safe for Shaw and Elite-XC, if Kimbo was in trouble and could get at it if in trouble, which he did.

On his fight with Seth, did anyone notice how after he was initially dropped Seth managed to land 5 shots, and the ref touched him like he was about to stop the fight, at which point, he backed off. 10 punches later he looked really hesitant in stopping it then. It was a joke, as big of a joke as when the announcer proclaimed it "the greatest upset in MMA history". Side note, Seth weighed in as a light heavy weight, even a bigger joke that he was able to fight and beat Kimbo.

On Franklin and the UFC... that's a fair question Prophecy, but I thought that last Franklin fight was at 205, I understand the victory part of the equation, but I'm note sure the UFC wants a third lose to Silva at MW for him, a division he had otherwise cleaned out.

Looks like the Kimbo gravy train (and perhaps Elite XC as a whole) are done for. I was hoping to see Kimbo go "legit" and end up being a force to be reckoned with. Looks like all the nay-sayers that stated he'd get his ass kicked by any real fighter were correct.

I don't really follow the sport much, but if a big fight is on, I'll watch it. Glad I didn't have to pay to see that.

I`ve been waiting to see Kimbo get punked. Man is Elite XC in trouble now.

Nice KO by Arlovski though.

Elite xc has folded. Good Riddance to bad rubbish.


Let's see who ends up where when the dust settles.

WTF? gee, really? you mean when the heavyweight gets dropped in 10 seconds by the lighthw midcarder...

actually, i'm sad bc i just like fights

I like fights to, but I thoroughly disliked Elite XC, I would watch them because MMA needs fans, but the way they carried themselves was pathetic.

Giving Kimbo a main event against James Thompson (who had last 8 fights prior, including one to Brett Rogers who wanted a Kimbo fight) when your HW championship is being fought for by Antonio Silva and Justin Eilers on the undercard. Paying Seth Petruzelli not to take Kimbo down. Possible fight fixing. Letting KJ Noons duck Nick Diaz. Protecting and inflating fighter records. etc...

The company was really corrupt and now I'm glad it's over. It was bad for the sport.

It sucks for some of the low level fighters though.

With UFC, WEC, Affliction, Dream, Sengoku, AFL, and Strikeforce still willing to promote all kinds of fights, I think many of the fighters will be safe.

I'm thinking something like this:

UFC: Lawler, Shields, Faijao, Pertruzelli (clearly out of spite), Nick Diaz?*

Dream: Eddie Alvarez, Vilasenor, Ninja, Baroni

Afflction: Bigfoot, Brett Rogers, Benji Raadach

AFL: Kimbo, Carano*, Cyborg*

Strikeforce: Frank Shamrock, Scott Smith, Yves Edwards

WEC: KJ Noons, Wilson Reis

* Nick Diaz is in a weird place. His stock is still fairly high with only one loss by cut in the past 2 years (All wins in big companies) but Gomi factor still hangs over his head. He beat Gomi with only the second gogoplata in MMA history but had the decision overturned because he was basically high when he fought. His marijuana advocacy is still a problem as well as his erratic behavior. He's almost a shoe-in for the UFC aside from that, so it's going to be hard to tell. I could still see Zuffa picking him up and putting him in the WEC if anything. I doubt he'd go back to Dream. They still owe him money.

* Carano and the rest of the women are in a weird place right now as well. Carano's celebrity will definitely be of some help to her though. Not many of the big shows have Women's MMA so one would think it's either back to Japan or back to the small shows. Considering AFL has a women's league and has been making power plays and going after names (Lashley, ortiz, and Tara Larossa) I can see them picking up Carano. Cyborg will follow. So will most of the women of Elite Xc, at least the ones with any exposure by fighting Carano or Cyborg. If not the AFL... Affliction does have a girl's line to: Sinful, they can easily throw some more money around and pick up 6 or 7 women to start a base for a division.

ps, there is also the possibility of Showtime/CBS trying to pick up the pieces.

i agree, completely against having 'the face of mma' being a streetfighter who was being fed scrubs...same for gina vs scrub of the week, although cyborg would have ben an interesting fight. I think ufc should pick up a women's division..or at least the WEC.

i see scott smith and robbie lawler, petruzelli going to ufc, diaz if dana allows it,...i'd love to see yves edwards as well as kj and reis....or wec as well.
i haven't really given much thought to where the fighters can go, but i'm sure they'll be fine. I just wish elitexc had a better execution...you can't 'make' someone the face of your company, they generally 'become' the face, ya know. Couture was a freaking replacement, liddel, silva, ortiz, shammy, hughes, the gracies, etc, just won fights, then became known and the 'face' soooooo, you can't just build a person up with just 2-3 fights...kinda like what ufc is trying with lesnar....although i'd put more money on lesnar than kimbo

Well the worst part of all this is that pro-elite also owned Rumble on the rock, king of the cage, Cage rage, Spirit FC, and a few other regional. While those companies have yet to fold

King of the cage in my opinion being the biggest loss if they don't pull it out. A LOT of UFC talent comes from Cage Rage; Joe Stevenson, Mac Danzig Tyson Griffin, Diego Sanchez, Forrest Griffin, Clay Guida, Rashad Evan, Urijah Faber etc...

I would love for Zuffa to purchase them to, and see what a rational set of business men could do with it.

Well, Urijah Faber just got pulverized last night. It was shaping up to be a great fight, but he got caught really early in the fight and went down HARD. He's a great fighter, but it's always interesting to see the great ones fall. Hopefully he'll be back soon.

The guy who beat him looks very strong and quick. He'll be tough to dethrone.

UFC 91 Card
Main card
Heavyweight Championship Match: Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar
Lightweight bout: Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight bout: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks
Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Nate Quarry
Welterweight bout: Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory

Preliminary card
Lightweight bout: Jorge Gurgel vs. Aaron Riley
Lightweight bout: Jeremy Stephens vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Lightweight bout: Mark Bocek vs. Alvin Robinson
Welterweight bout: Matt Brown vs. Ryan Thomas


Predictions on the main event? I keep flipping back and forth. If Brock can KO Randy early it's his. Thing is he didn't finish Herring and by round 3 he was completely gassed. If it goes long Randy will take him down pick him apart.

I'm going with Randy in the forth round by TKO (strikes).

Urijah...DAMN... what's funny about the fight..he gets basically shoved down..then comes up and looks like he's posturing up like you see in a bar or something..and i'm thinking..."Dude, you are already in a cage fight...what the hell are you gonna do"...then he gets up from a single leg and throws a haymaker elbow...blindly...like he's pissed off

this DEFINITELY was not his best showing..by far.

now..as for the main event saturday......Here are the two scenarios and they are like m0rpheus's prediction: either, 1, lesnar bumrushes couture and gets a shot in and just ends it..FAST, like 30 seconds. If couture survives that, which is likely, then the match goes 4-5 rounds and couture 'may' lose 1 round in a decision or will pound out a 4th or 5th round victory. If couture can withstand lesnar's speed/power for a couple of minutes, then it'll be almost all couture. Frankly, I think it may go like couture/silvia in that couture will shock lesnar early on and keep him off his game. I highly doubt this will be a wrestling match and i'm really thinking lesnar loses...dunno why.

now that i've said that, watch lesnar KO couture in the last seconds of the 5th round....


I just bet Big nog and Mir are pissed thy were relegated to interim championship and pushed way back on the hypometer...

Great KO for Brown, now we get to see if Urijah pulls a GSP and comes back even better.

I'm really excited for the Florian vs. Stevenson match. Stevenson will probably rely on his wrestling to gain an advantage, though Florian is a BJJ black belt ( I think Joe just received his black belt as well). I don't know if Joe will try and stand with Kenny as he's losing a few inches of reach, and has to watch out about getting cut by those razor elbows. I'm going with a Florian by split decision. (Although I would love to see a Sherk vs Stevenson fight in the future)

Lesnar vs. Couture, it seems like we're always talking about Randy as an experienced underdog, due to his age and (especially in this case) size disadvantage. Brock will probably have over 30lbs on Randy, is an NCAA wrestling champ, and has those giant Christmas hams for knuckles. But Couture almost always comes with a gameplan, utilizing clinches and dirty boxing to wear out the opponent. A year of inactivity didn't effect him much against Sylvia, but this is another couple of years down the line. Morpheus and Paq have already said it, Lesnar can possibly end the fight with a big early KO. Couture can throw him off his game like he did against Sylvia. I'm hoping this goes beyond 3 rounds, as it'll show where both fighters are in their careers. I know I'm jinxing myself, but Couture by decision.

I was really against Brock Lesnar being given this title shot as frankly I don't think he deserves it. I find it disrespectful to the other heavyweights that have put their bodies on the line for Dana and have far better records and experience than Brock.

However, I think he is going to win. Couture has been out of the octagon for far too long and he is going against a far larger, faster and stronger opponent.

Randy beat Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga by smothering them with his wrestling abilities that they just couldn't overcome. Brock is a very accomplished wrestler with very legitimate pedigree and I just don't see Randy being able to utilize that against him.

I see Brock either knocking out Randy early, or pulling a repeat of the Heath Herring fight and just smothering him and winning by decision.

People keep saying that Brock won't be able to go deep into this fight, but I don't agree. He did not look tired to me against Herring at all - granted he wasn't tested, but he has a background in both amateur and professional wrestling where cardio is very important - in the WWE (and yes I know it is fake) they have matches that run very long and are extremely athletic.

Randy's only chance I think is to catch him with a solid punch and knock him out.

I'm placing bets on Brock.

i think big nog and mir and..well, about any other top heavyweight contender should be pissed with lesnar getting the shot so early. I dunno if dana is just wanting to either 1, make a fast buck off lesnar as the freak show, or 2, get randy to retire.

think about it, lesnar loses and the big money fight for him is basically over for a LONG time. couture loses to someone with only ..3 mma fights? his credibility to fight fedor is over....

Lesnar wins and he gets touted as the best fighter ever...only his 4th fight in mma and he's champ.

the only winner here is Dana...sheesh.

not happy with this fight

Thing is that Randy still has two more fights on his contract I believe after this one.

Only way I see Randy winning this fight is by knockout. I do wonder how Stamina will play, everybody thinks Brock will gas, but Brock makes a fair point in saying that Randy is going to be the one pushing around a 280 lbs gorilla.

I bet money that the fight would be over by the 2:30 mark in the 3rd round. That way I win regardless of who takes it!

What about BJ and GSP? I'm more hyped about that. I cannot wait for it. Especially being New Years Day.

As for the Lesnar/Couture fight. I hope Couture beats the piss out of him. I hate Lesnar, I think he's a douche. The guy doesn't deserve a title shot so early. Although i hate Mir also, I think there should be another title shot for him.

The December card is looking ridiculous too, Griffin/Evans, Nog/Mir, Rampage/Wandy, plus you've got Congo and Hammil fighting (not each other).

th other thing: lesnar weighs in at 285-300 depending on what cow he ate that morning...he will 'weigh' in at 265, but that's as a wrestler cutting a ton of water weight...he's a pro at it, as is couture, but couture is generally walking around at 220 or so...
couture also has had the most trouble against the larger heavyweights which is why he went to lhw the first time. He only came out of retirement bc he thought he could beat tim sylvia...then gonzaga was a great bjj black belt who was underexperienced and mauled by the wrestling abilities...now you have lesnar as a HUGE wrestler who is fast as hell, even stronger, and getting less green as the days go by. I DOUBT lesnar will gas, i just don't think he'll know how to finish if he can't get a 1 hit KO.


i'm really excited to see GSP whoop monkey ass on BJ penn. Penn is great, don't get me wrong..but GSP just wins. I don't think cardio will play into it like people are saying (penn's weakness) but i don't see the fight going past the 2nd round, honestly.

Griffin/evans has me stoked as well...Evans has a weird record, undefeated, a couple of snoozefest lay and pray matches and at least 2 ultrahigh profile KO of the night KO of the year wins....I'm still thinking griffin wins..just bc that dude gets better..and better...and better..and better...and better...

nog vs mir..if mir brings MIR and not lazy mir, then this will be amazing...2 very high level bjj people..should be fun.

rampage/wandy III...i still don't think rampage has what it takes to beat wandy..that said, I thin a lot of the pride wandy was due to some juice juice action, which seems to be why he's not nearly as wandy as normal in the UFC....

i'm hoping hammil figures out what he was trying to do against franklin bc that was a horrible showing.

GSP and Penn are such different fighters, it's going to be awesome...they are both at the top of their respective fields.

As for Lesner, well, after Couture beat Gonzaga, I have a hard time writing him off against ANYONE.

Really? It looked like he was exhausted and bearly able to breath to me.

Don't get me wrong. I think the GSP-Penn match will be AWESOME and that the december PPV has a better card than Couture/Lesnar does but it's this weekend and this thread was kinda quiet about it.

i'm with the rest of the world wanting to see couture/fedor...

seriously, that would be aweeeesome.

i just doubt we'll ever see it happening.

I'm actually looking forward to Fedor/Arlovski. I like Arlovski waaaaay more than Silvia, not that I think he'll win but I'm hoping he'll put up a better fight than Tim did.

oh, fedor vs aarlovski will be great to watch as well. I think AA is better than silvia by far and he has a more well rounded game. I still see fedor winning, but it won't be a 30 second showing.

I was amazed big nog took fedor to the limit, which is a testament to just how good nog is and another reason why lesnar/couture is a slap in the face..

I'm just hoping that Lesnar gets to see how good Nog is too now. I really don't want Mir/Lesnar 2.

I hope Nog tears apart Lesnar (I'm assuming Nog is going to run through Mir). I really don't want to see him fight anymore. His fighting style is really uninteresting to me. I don't want to see him get in a punch and then hammer first until the ref calls the fight.

I really want to see Machida again, UFC 94 is a long ways away. He is one of the smartest fighters I have ever seen. He has deserved a title shot for awhile and I think he'll take it from whoever is holding the title when he gets hist chance.

i don't know how many of you follow fedor..but apparently...*gasp*...he LOST the sambo tourney...bronze metal for his first loss since 2000...

to recap: couture loses to lesnar, Fedor loses to a bulgarian...

the endtimes are coming, i tell you

Fedor Emelianenko loses at 2008 World Combat Sambo Championships at UFC blog for UFC news, results, videos, rumors, fights, pics and tickets — MMAmania.com


Also, i just read that dana white was upset at mario yamasaki for letting couture get hammered for too long at hte end of the lesnar/couture fight. I find that odd since couture and lesnar were both ok with the timing of the stoppage. If mario had called it any sooner, people would have been pissed about yet another early stoppage...


ok, so...how do they come up with these pay scales:
http://mmamania.com/2008/11/17/ufc-9...ure-vs-lesnar/

jeremy stevens definitely deserved the $60K for KO of the night with that uppercut he dragged up from 'misssippi' to quote the late Richard Pryor. Seriously, that was brutal and showed 9 times in slow mo just for effect. I swear with the proper camera angle, you can see anjos's nose fly off his face for a moment...

but lesnar and couture getting the SAME base pay...that's just wrong and no wonder couture walked out on his contract before....

and for gonzaga to be paid more than kenflo as base...just wrong. Gonzaga is good..but not that good compared to ken flo....

dunno, their payouts seem kinda random to me...i wish i knew what went on to come up with the numbers.

Where did you hear that Dana was pissed at the stoppage?
-----Added 18/11/2008 at 08 : 48 : 17-----

It all comes down to how good your agent is when he negotiates your contract. There is no standard pay - everything is based on negotiated amounts. Gonzaga was seen as the next big thing before Randy took him down (and still could be) therefore he had leverage when he negotiated his contract with Dana. Some other excellent fighters not getting paid very well are working off poorly negotiated contracts with multiple fight committments - when they renegotiate they will surely get a large pay bump assuming they are still winning.

Dana White: Brock Lesnar vs Randy Couture late stoppage ‘crossed the line’ at UFC blog for UFC news, results, videos, rumors, fights, pics and tickets — MMAmania.com

as for gonzaga, i think he's pretty overrated at the minute. He's a big heavyweight with some good technique, but not on the level he's being promoted as, but that's just me. I can see how negotiations with the agent are a big help..it's just funny how gonzaga was paid 55K to show an dhis opponent was paid 8K...think they were feeding him someone to make him look good...