UFC 127

[SPX]

Agree. I was skeptical of him, but his build helps him on takedown defense, and he is a purple belt in bjj. He looks like he plugged the holes in his game and he looks good. My only question is how will he adapt when he is losing the striking battle. Pearson beat him to the punch and he didn't switch it up, I wonder if he has any takedown skill.

I agree. The few times his previous fights had hit the ground he actually looked okay in the scramble, so I think that if he wants to work that part of his game, he could become a good top position/GnP guy. That would at least give him some options, like you said.

Either way, it is nice to see a striker at 155, because 155 doesn't have many of them.

Word. Where the hell have all the strikers been anyway?

There are at least a fair amount of guys who are multi-talented and spend a lot of time striking. Guillard is basically a boxer who only uses his wrestling if he has to, Dunham is (usually) pretty good both on the feet and on the ground, Sam Stout and Spencer Fisher both are predominantly strikers, Kenflo focuses a lot on his muay Thai now, Cerrone probably does equal amounts striking and BJJ but does have a solid MT background that's evident in his fights, and Anthony Pettis--while great everywhere--I think is still more known as a striker than a BJJ guy.

[MMA_scientist]

Yeah, I would consider Guillard a striker for sure. Florian mixes it up, but yeah, he can strike. I forgot about the WEC guys, but it remains to be seen if they will be contenders.

[SPX]

I forgot about the WEC guys, but it remains to be seen if they will be contenders.

I figure that the top guys from the WEC will at least settle into the middle of the pack. I could see Bendo or Pettis possibly getting title shots, though.

Pettis is SUPPOSED to get one anyway, but we'll see how that goes.

[SPX]

Because he's a pro's pro, Chris Lytle wouldn't admit it, but he was far from fighting at full strength in his UFC 127 loss to Brian Ebersole. In fact, just four weeks before his fight, he had the injured meniscus in his right knee removed, MMA Fighting has learned.

Lytle chose to keep the procedure quiet to deflect attention and avoid devaluing Ebersole's win. But after MMA Fighting learned of the injury from two separate sources, Lytle's manager Ken Pavia finally confirmed the surgery, which he said began as an exploratory procedure before the doctor removed the meniscus due to the damage.

Lytle chose to fight, and the ensuing unanimous decision loss to Ebersole marked the end of a four-fight win streak. It could also possibly bring a close to his career.

"He's considering his options, and retirement is one of them," said Pavia, who added that Lytle is likely to take some time before making any decision.

Should he call it quits, the 36-year-old Lytle (30-18-5) retires with a reputation as a crowd-pleaser who tied for the UFC record for most nightly bonuses, eight, a record he shares with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

With 19 fights on his UFC record, he is sixth all time for most bouts in the promotion. Though he started his UFC career with losses in six of his first eight fights, he went 7-4 over his final 11 bouts, including a win over former UFC champion Matt Serra.

True to his reputation, Lytle captured another $75,000 Fight of the Night Award for his scrap with Ebersole. Pavia said that while Lytle was unable to run in the weeks leading up to the fight, he never thought about withdrawing.

"He'll never use that stuff as an excuse, and the reason he tried to keep this quiet is because he wants to make sure that Ebersole gets all the credit in the world for his win, and for livening up the fight," he said.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/02/28/chris-lytle-to-consider-retirement-after-secret-surgery-ufc-127/

[poopoo333]

In an email to UFC matchmaker Joe Silva (via MMA Weekly):

To: Joe Silva, Matchmaker Extraordinaire, Ultimate Fighting Championship
Re: Spitsbing & his tainted victory

Joe:

If you get a chance to talk with him, please mention to your idiot-in-residence Michael Spitsbing it’ll be a little tougher to knee ME in the head when I’m charging at him like a runaway train and mincing him through the fence like a boiled potato, should we ever have the pleasure of each other’s company for a few (VERY few) moments in the Octagon.

Oh; and I’d suggest to him being a little careful about spitting on any of MY cornermen, since any one of them can beat him up as badly as I can. Thanks ever so much. Hope all is well.

-Chael Sonnen

[Luke]

I for one dont care if Fitch ever finishes a fight .I like Fitch as a fighter and I dont think he's boring ,just like I dont think Hopkins or Mayweather are boring just because they dont score big knockouts.
I'm not a ADD fan that needs to see brutal knockouts and submissions to be excited, I like watching a fighter put on a clinic in their own way and thats what Fitch does. I said he looked a little off his game in round 1 and part of rd 2 but once he kicked it in gear he put a clinic on Penn and there was nothing Penn could do but lay there. His job isnt to finish fights its to win fights . If you want finishing moves go watch WWE , all fighters can be KO artists

If this were boxing Fitch would be making 10 million a fight to put on clinics in fights but since this is MMA and Dana is in the entertainment business instead of trying to be legit Fitch has to worry if his next loss will get him cut which is a complete load imo

[zY|]

I for one dont care if Fitch ever finishes a fight .I like Fitch as a fighter and I dont think he's boring ,just like I dont think Hopkins or Mayweather are boring just because they dont score big knockouts.
I'm not a ADD fan that needs to see brutal knockouts and submissions to be excited, I like watching a fighter put on a clinic in their own way and thats what Fitch does. I said he looked a little off his game in round 1 and part of rd 2 but once he kicked it in gear he put a clinic on Penn and there was nothing Penn could do but lay there. His job isnt to finish fights its to win fights . If you want finishing moves go watch WWE , all fighters can be KO artists

If this were boxing Fitch would be making 10 million a fight to put on clinics in fights but since this is MMA and Dana is in the entertainment business instead of trying to be legit Fitch has to worry if his next loss will get him cut which is a complete load imo

Yeah, if Fitch fought 5 round fights his fights would have better conclusions. Sometimes he starts slow and takes a bit to adjust, but he always has guys broken near the end and is pouring it on.

[Luke]

I think it depends on what you mean by "real sport."

The fact that the outcomes aren't predetermined and two competitors actually fight each other, in my view, makes it a sport. And a real one.

The criteria for who gets to challenge who to wear a gold belt is only one aspect of the whole thing.

I know a guy who says that any activity that has judging is not a sport, because the winners and losers are based on an inherently flawed, subjective human point of view.

What would be considered a real sport then? Baseball, football, basketball and hockey can all be influenced by refs bad calls,judement calls and have even been rigged by refs in the past ,thats not a whole lot different than a judge influencing the winner of a fight. A ref or umpire is just as bad as judges sometimes

I think when people say MMA isnt trying to be a legit sport they mean Dana or whoever worries more about entertaining the crowd more than say boxing ,football, or basketball game would. In the UFC ,SF etc if two fighters arent doing much they consistently call for action .I've even heard them say if you dont fight you wont get paid in a match before.You'd never hear a ref in a basketball game or football game tell the players to score more points because the game is getting boring or a ref in a boxing match tell the fighters to throw more punches. In other sports its just excepted that some games ,fights will be boring and you just have to deal with that

I could be wrong but thats just my opinion

[zY|]

Yeah, MMA fans have this knee jerk 'sky is falling' mentality if there is a bad fight or a bad card. Like people are going to run from the sport in droves because a fight sucked whereas in any other sport it would just be a boring game.

[Luke]

Yeah, if Fitch fought 5 round fights his fights would have better conclusions. Sometimes he starts slow and takes a bit to adjust, but he always has guys broken near the end and is pouring it on.

I for one dont find Fitch or Shields boring . Dont get me wrong I like to watch a good submission or KO but when Fitch or Shields are fighting you know before hand that isnt going to be one of those fights so you just watch and enjoy them in the tech they master

[poopoo333]

Yeah, I really like watching Fitch fight for some reason. I actually like watching all "boring wrestlers" fight, I just think it is amazing how they can win that exact same way over and over again and nobody can stop it.

[zY|]

Yeah Fitch is like the Rodney Dangerfield of MMA.

He gets no credit for shit, but when is the last time someone spun out of a RNC attempt/back control on BJ Penn and defended perfectly, twice?

[SPX]

What would be considered a real sport then? Baseball, football, basketball and hockey can all be influenced by refs bad calls,judement calls and have even been rigged by refs in the past ,thats not a whole lot different than a judge influencing the winner of a fight. A ref or umpire is just as bad as judges sometimes

Maybe bowling. . .

[SPX]

For the record, I don't have a big problem with Fitch. There are far more boring fighters out there. I do think it's interesting how he can always "Fitch" people.

Everyone said/says Machida's boring. I think he's awesome and love to watch him do his thing. I'm sure ya'll will accuse me of a pro-TMA bias, and that probably has something to do with it. But I really don't find him boring.

[zY|]

He's not boring at all. Aside from Shogun, he kicks the shit out of everyone.