anyone watch mixed martial arts?

[k_jerome]

any thoughts on GSP vs Hughes this weekend?

Rooting for GSP, but Hughes is a monster.

[Mojambo]

1. I was going to start a thread on this today.

I've become a pretty big MMA fan over the last year. This weekend's card looks real good.

I'm just not ever predicting another Matt Hughes loss. The guy just has a competitive streak that is unmatched in the fight game. I think GSP is better, but I just don't see Hughes losing. Should be a good fight though. I could see it going to decision.

The guy I'm really rooting for tomorrow is Jeff Monson. I cannot stand Tim Sylvia and I hope he loses BAD. It could be a tough matchup for Monson if he doesn't get him to the ground. I have to grudgingly give Sylvia the advantage.

Isn't Frank Mir fighting Brandon Vera also? Man, Mir is going to get destroyed.

I can't wait for tomorrow!

[k_jerome]

2. wow...

GSP utterly dominated Hughes. I never thought I would see that.

Mir was destroyed. Sylvia was impressive. Vera v Sylvia next.

[Ekirh]

3. Haven't watched the fights yet. .

Maybe I'll search the net and find a d/l of the GSP/Hughes one

Read the online coverage of the event at the wrestlingobserver... show sounds mixed. Some good stuff mixed with dissappointment. Still be worth checking out a few of the bouts though.

[Mojambo]

4. St Pierre is sick. What an athlete.

He is going to CREAM Matt Serra in his first title defense.

I hate to say this, but it looked like Matt Hughes took him a little lightly. He didn't try to shoot once. He didn't actually think he was going to outstrike St Pierre, did he?

Mir looked like he was in great shape and Vera cut through him like tissue paper. I cannot WAIT to see Vera mess up that punk Tim Sylvia.

Syvia/Monson went pretty much exactly how I expected it to go. Tim Sylvia has very average skills right across the board. I even think his striking is overrated. He's just got a freak size advantage and uses it to keep from really fighting. For a guy who boasts so much about how he is great at knocking out people, he sure looked meh against Monson.

Stevenson looked pretty good. He's probably ready for a step up in competition. I'd love to see him and Spencer Fisher go at it.

[k_jerome]

5. i actually thought Hughes lookes uncomfortable...

I hesitate to say scared, but he did not look confident to me. St. Pierre is so complete. I was very impressed. He basically demolished the most accomplished welterweight ever.

[Mojambo]

6. The discomfort was mostly due to St. Pierre's quickness.

Hughes never got to set his feet, and either shoot or try to clinch.

St. Pierre circled beautifully and just peppered him with jabs and low leg kicks while setting up the high kick KO.

I wonder who Matt Hughes is going to get for his comeback fight?

And on a side note... Did Hughes look a little thinner than usual? I wonder if he had a bad weight cut for this fight. Not that he'd ever use it as an excuse.

[k_jerome]

7. he did look a little smaller...

I am sure Hughes will get an immediate rematch. St. Pierre may have another fight before a rematch, but I'll bet Hughes does not. He has earned it, and I will definitely pay to see a hungry Matt Hughes trying to avenge a loss.

[Mojambo]

8. I'm against the immediate rematch.

It just rarely works out. Particularly when one guy dominates the other.

See Sylvia/Arlovski 3 for a prime example of why guys should always go down and get one good gimmie match in before a rematch.

When you have immediate rematches fighters tend to be overtrained for each other. It almost always leads to a sub par fight.

I agree that Hughes has probably earned an immediate rematch, but I hope it doesn't happen.

[TroubleMan]

9. GSP should get the TUF winner (Serra) and Sanchez or BJ Penn before Hughes.

The immediate rematch worked out horribly in with Arlovski/Sylvia. However, the delayed rematches played out very well with Liddell/Couture. I think Hughes will get a rematch in 2-4 fights. He's gonna need that much time to rethink his game, anyway. Hughes couldn't get past GSP's great takedown defense and stand-up. IMHO Hughes will probably fight two or three of these guys: Karo Parysian, Diego Sanchez, Josh Fitch, Joe Riggs, Nick Diaz, or Josh Koshcheck. He should win any of those (although Diego and Karo might give him some trouble).

GSP vs Serra is a HUGE mismatch. Hughes is basically a bigger, better version of Serra (Serra's natural weight class is 155), and if GSP can run though Hughes like that, it's gonna be real "tuf" for Serra to win. I wish they could have Serra fight for the 155 belt versus Sherk, because that's a much more competitive match up. I think Sherk would win, but at least it's a closer match up.

Assuming he beats Riggs in a couple of weeks, I think Diego Sanchez has earned the right for a shot at the belt. His wins over Karo and Diaz have to rank him above anybody else. BJ Penn has lost two straight in the UFC, and he's coaching the next TUF at 155 along with Jen Pulver (the next TUF is basically a 155 tournament), so I wouldn't think the rematch with GSP will be that soon.

If Sanchez somehow loses to Riggs, then Hughes might have the immediate rematch, but IMHO it would be bad for him to fight GSP so soon again.

[TroubleMan]

10. Matt Hughes tried a couple of takedowns, but GSP stuffed them.

Hughes couldn't set them up properly because he couldn't do anything in the stand up game to make St Pierre worry about it. GSP had no fear of being punched or kicked by Hughes, so he peppered him standing up, and kept an eye out for the takedown. Not only that, but GSP is so fast, it looked like Hughes was in slow motion. While I like Matt Hughes, it's gonna be tough for him to beat GSP in a rematch.

In defense of Tim Sylvia, I can't see how you can say he's a punk. First of all, he's one of the nicest guys in MMA. All that pre-fight talk is a bit forced upon them by the UFC guys. They encourage them to talk it up so to make it look like some kind of bad blood, and use them in clips for commercials. I thought Sylvia looked pretty good in his fight, but he lacked killer instinct. Monson was a beaten man in the 4th and 5th round. All Sylvia had to do was let his hands go, and it would have been a KO or TKO.....however, he did exactly what his corner told him to do. Pat Militech commands a lot of respect from his fighters, and if wasn't for him, Sylvia wouldn't be where he is. Sylvia listened to him, and it ended up being two very boring rounds. It was a smart strategy, but a very boring strategy. Also, Sylvia's ground game actually amazed me....amazed me that he even had one, and even more so that he nearly submitted Monson.

It was very smart of Sylvia to call out Vera. In a year or two, Vera will have developed his skills and experience enough so that he probably would easily handle him. Right now, Vera, although very skilled, has still had only eight fights. Beating Assuerio Silva (and more convincingly than Tim Sylvia did) is probably is best win. Mir is not the same fighter he was before the accident - he barely beat Dan Christison and got dominated by Marcio Cruz. Mir has to somehow find the competitive spirit he used to have so much of, or he won't beat any top competition. Back to the point, though, right now Sylvia stands the best chance against Vera, but IMHO in a couple of years Vera will have progressed enough to beat Sylvia. It should still be a good fight, and I think Vera has an excellent shot at winning.

[k_jerome]

11. i was impressed with Sylvia...

his takedown defense is becoming world class. he is very dangerous with the strikes, and if he can keep the grapplers from taking him down, he will be tough to beat. in addition, his ground skills looked much improved. he is winning me over.

Hughes will get the immediate rematch, because he has split with GSP. rubber match for possibly the greatest welterweight ever is going to happen.

[TroubleMan]

12. Well, the huge reach advantage helped with the takedown defense.

Sylvia had a 10 inch reach advantage - that's a huge obstacle to overcome. Everybody in the world knew Monson had to take Sylvia down, so Sylvia only had to worry about the takedown - nothing else. Add on to that, Monson had to start his takedowns almost his full body length away because he had to stay out of Sylvia's power. That gave Sylvia plenty of time to see it coming. Sylvia's take down defense was very good, but that 10" reach made it great.

What really impressed me about Sylvia was his ground game. Monson's an all-world grappler/submission artist, and he got him down and into a couple of bad positions. Still Sylvia was able to escape and more or less get the better of him on the ground. Nobody (except maybe the guys in the Militech camp) expected that. Randy Couture said before the fight that Monson could be one takedown away from a championship, and I agreed with him. Sylvia with a good ground game is a real force to be reckoned with. I still don't think he could be Fedor or Big Nog, but I'd love to see how he would do versus the heavyweights in Pride - a match up between him and Crocop would be a war.

Vera's reach disadvantage is not going to be as dramatic as Monson's was. We'll see how good Sylvia's takedown defense is in that fight, because Vera also has good stand up. I still think his takedown defense is very good, but that reach advantage was so distinctive that Monson had to telegraph his shots from a mile away.