Do you follow NHB fighting?
 

It's really the only form of sports I follow. I like Pride the best, mostly because of the fighters, but also I think that cage fights are more likely to get boring on the ground. I just can't wait for Final Conflict this Sunday. My bets are on Nogueira but I kinda hope for a spectacular KO from Fedor :)

Yes, I do. I'm kind of surprised that the boxing demographic isn't more in to it as well. Is it considered too brutal or is grappling boring? In any case, I think it is one of the most exciting sports out there. PRIDE and UFC both have their pros and cons as organizations. PRIDE definitely has the better heavyweight stock, larger venues, and more money to pay fighters. However, they also have had a number of worked fights :rolleyes: and the ring is responsible for too many restarts. The UFC on the other hand, basically has the opposite qualities with a better welterweight division and about an equal light heavyweight division. The venues are small and the production value is limited, but you usually don't see stars fighting tomato cans like you do in PRIDE.

As for Final Conflict, the results were...interesting. You might want to think about checking out the results before forking over the money for the PPV.

*SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER*
I still thought FInal Conflict was great. Silva AGAIN proved to the haters that he's #1 with a bullet...or several knees.....Hardly any upsets in this event, but the final event was a shocker.

I love NHB. It is seriously one of the best events their are out their, as (most) of the time it is extremely exciting to watch two skilled fighters duke it out.

*Trying hard not to read the spoilers* Really? Ah well, I can't get PPV on my cable deal anyway so I don't really pay..

What do you mean by fighting tomato cans? I'm more of a grappler myself, so I enjoy the better ground fights in Pride. UFC has generally better stand up fights but on the ground it's usually ground'n pound with one of the guys pinned against the fence. There are a lot of fighters in the UFC with wrestling background who are very good at controlling the ground game, but they don't produce much other than trying to punch through the guard. Fair enough of course, but I don't find it that entertaining.

In the lighter divisions I find Bushido fights to be better than in the main Pride events.

What he means is that, generally speaking a very skilled fighter (Silva) is often pitted against some my say, less skilled fighters (tomato cans), mainly japanese wrestlers. Usually this results in an entertaining blowout (the loser is usually destroyed)

Ah, yeah that's true. Some of those guys' biggest quality is that they're hard to knock out.

I would like to see Silva fight the winner of Belfort/Couture. Although this may never happen, I'm not convinced he is the best LHW until he beats the winner. People seem to forget that Belfort gave him a taste of his own medicine and Tito Ortiz was putting him on his back at will. Belfort may not have it in him anymore, but I think Couture's style could give Silva big problems.

It's been a while since Silva fought Tito and Vitor. In the last couple of years I think Silva has improved a lot. Most importantly he's more strategic, or maybe he's got more respect for his opponents, I dunno. I'd like to see him fight Couture too. It would be a tough one, but my bets would be on Silva.

And Couture will beat Vitor unless he gases out. I don't think he can do much with Vitor if it goes to the 4th round.

As a Muay Thai Boxer I'd like to see more of those events.. NHB is great don't get me wrong in fact I hope to be learning some grappling soon. Maybe Muay Thai would be better if the US would quit with the stupid rules and make it Thai rules heh.

I couldn't wait, so I got hold of a Japanese PPV recording. Some great fights there that made up for the disappointing final. Ogawa shouldn't have been in the semi final though. He fought two guys who had no business in the tournament anyway.

Do you know why Rampage didn't go to the finals? He beat Arona in Critical Countdown (great slam btw :) ) so I though he was on further.

Rampage isn't a heavyweight. He could easily fight in that weight class but he has always chosen to dehydrate like crazy so he can use his power at MW/LHW.

Ogawa is just a joke. He even admitted that his only reason for joining the GP was to promote pro-wrestling. I liked that Fedor saved his energy and snapped a standard arm bar on him within a minute. So much for being a silver medalist in Judo.

Randy Couture vs Silva would be the biggest event in MMA matchup. Here's hoping Silva smashes Couture's face to pieces with knees

MMA history* I mean.

I just watched UFC 49. So the bout is on :) Couture vs Sila. That will be a great show. Couture showed again that he has wrestling control second to none. I think he can beat Silva in the Octagon, but in a ring he will get knocked out. Anyone know? Is the match going under Pride or UFC rules?

Couture Vs. Silva will never happen. It's just one of those publicity stunts to get your attention. The managers of Pride and UFC aren't on good terms, and Randy's and Silva's managers will never be able to agree on the rules.

Yeah, I don't think the fight will ever happen either. First of all, Takada has reneged on his promise to send Sakuraba and Fujita to the UFC. Secondly, Pride has way too much to lose if Silva loses. If Randy were to lose, it would just be a case of a forty-year-old man giving way to the younger generation (finally). If Silva loses, Pride no longer has an immortal fighter to market.

As a side note, Rampage has apparently become a born-again Christian and found the light. It sounds like he justs diverting his fear of Silva to God.