GrappleRetarded

I apologise for derailing the thread but racist trolls need to be put in their damn place.

Nick_V03

Poor Brenneman. Not a bad fighter, but he seemed under sized and had a suspect chin. Or at least poor recovery rate.

I understand where you are coming from, GR. My whole problem is just grapple boxers in general. They screw themselves over. They get to the big show with those BJJ/wrestling abilities, and then when they learn a little bit of striking technique, they forget about what got them here. Koscheck is such a great MMA wrestler in my opinion, but he loves to fall back on his boxing and throw those big overhand rights and whatnot looking for a knock out of the night bonus. It drives me crazy because his double leg is sick. It's not bad to use that boxing of his from time to time, but he needs to remember that wrestling is his absolute strongest tool sometimes. He could potentially have less losses on his record if he did.

Maia is another example. He shouldn't have lost to Marquardt in my opinion, he's not a kick boxer. Throwing low kicks against a guy like Marquardt who hits hard and clearly had the better stand up was a bad idea. Maia also easily controlled Grove when they fought for the first two rounds, then he openly admitted after the fight that he wanted to test his stand up in the third. Grove wasn't exactly the best fighter in the world (considering he's not even in the UFC anymore), but he occasionally showed signs of brilliance. Maia still won, but that's not the point. If he's easily controlling Grove on the ground, why rock the boat? I believe Maia lost the third round on 2 of 3 judge's score cards. Needless to say, that was a gamble on his part. I'm just glad it didn't cost him an easy win.

Now that he's at 170, he may have the best BJJ in the division. I'm hoping he remembers that because now, he's not even at a size disadvantage like he was against some guys in the middleweight division.

End rant, I just wanted to say that ISS (improved striking syndrome) exists in MMA, haha.

Brenneman needs to work on his striking defense, and only strike to set up his take downs.

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Top 10 Favorite Fighters

1. Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell
2. Diego Sanchez
3. Jon "Bones" Jones
4. Glover Teixeira
5. Nate Diaz
6. Nick Diaz
7. Michael Bisping
8. John Dodson
9. Demian Maia
10. Wanderlei Silva

Ari

I'm a fan of Erick Silva, but what's with his hype? He knocks out two scrubs and submits Brenneman, who was winning the fight up until being submitted? Brenneman took Silva down on multiple occasions. Fitch is a different animal than Brenneman, who has only lost to GSP and by flash KO to Johny Hendricks. There is no empirical evidence to suggest that Erick Silva is going to beat Fitch.

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jonnyg4508

Silva is a big athletic WW with solid TDD.

Fitch is good at dragging guys to the ground and keeping them there. But his TDs aren't explosive. He is actually a lot like Brenneman but is capable of throwing a couple kicks.

Silva will stuff TDs and rough Fitch up on the feet.

Plus it is in Brazil.

Silva wins that fight. All fighters start somewhere, just because he hasn't fought the elite yet doesn't mean he can't beat them. All the greats were there at one point too. Silva is going to wreck Fitch. UFC knows this. They don't want Fitch around the top 5 anymore. They are setting him up to get destroyed. They know what they are doing.

jonnyg4508

Silva is the slight favorite in that fight on the books.

Life B Ez

There is a nice place to make some money. Not saying Fitch will win for sure, but hard to pass up Jon Fitch as an underdog. Wouldn't be the first explosive hype train derailed by fitching on the tracks.

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"Discipline Hurts Less Than Regret"

pipe

GOOD. 1 more Fitcher out of the UFC and off my TV.

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Soojooko

The thing is, the first group of fighters are significantly more exciting then the second group. I totally agree with what you have written above and it has nothing to do with race.

They are simply better fighters.

jonnyg4508

It is basically as close to 50/50 you can get with Silva the slight slight favorite.

I actually think the opposite. I don't see where Fitch derailed any hype trains. He had a very tough time with a gassing 155er in BJ Penn and was just KO'd bad. Fitch is no spring chicken he is 34 going on 35. People need to realize that fighters don't last forever. Just because Fitch was the #2 guy for a long time doesn't mean he is still elite now. Time and evolution catches up to all fighters.

Lets look at Fitch's last few fights:

Hendrcks: KO'd early. Say it was a fluke, it still happened. Fitch has always had holes in his stand up game.

Penn: Got taken down and beat the 1st round and probably the 2nd as well. Took over when Penn gassed out like he usually does. Nothing impressive out of Fitch here. Penn isn't a top 10 WW.

Alves: Alves didn't make weight. Good win regardless for Fitch, but Alves isn't an elite fighter anymore. Alves has been on a skd since GSP beat him.

Ben Saunders: Couldn't even finish him. Saunders isn't even in the UFC now.

Mike Pierce: surprised many and gave Fitch a tough fight.

He hasn't really faced any upcoming talent. His last 2 fights weren't anything great. Stylistically this is a bad matchup for Fitch. Silva isn't a 155er like Penn. He has a very legit BJJ game. He looks to have solid TDD. His striking is very dangerous. Plus this is in Brazil where they won't let Fitch lay all night even if he does get it to the ground.

This is purely a set up fight for Fitch to lose. And for Silva to cash in on an old name to get some hype around him. The UFC is in the business of creating contenders. And that is exactly what they are expecting here.

We will see

jonnyg4508

Wouldn't you think that after Penn fought to a draw with him and really showed him up early in that fight. And after being badly KO'd in his last fight....that they would throw him a bone? You know give him a non-ecplosive upcoming fighter. Maybe give him someone coming off a loss. Maybe not give him a Brazilian in BRAZIL. No because they don't want him around and don't like him.

Wouldn't you think they would bring Silva along slowly? Their are no top Brazilians at 170 really. He is an exciting fighter. He comes from ANderson's camp. He just beat Brenneman. Why would they move him up to a guy like Fitch and not build him up first?

My conclusion is that they know Silva has teh advantages. They know Silva will probably beat Fitch. They like Erick Silva, they are moving him up so quickly because they figure he wins that fight and gets hype for beating the almighty "Jon Fitch".