Official MMA Discussion Thread

The event's still going on here (California), but just saw the Herring fight. Herring looked sooooooo awful--is this the same Herring that was the favorite versus an early Fedor? Like you said, no takedown defense whatsoever. Even when he did sprawl, he just got pushed into half guard (or worse). Didn't use his legs to hold back O'Brien. Blech.

But even greater blech at O'Brien who didn't throw a single punch in the third round. Fucking shitty fighter, but decent wrestler. I wanted O'Brien to lose for being such a boring SOB. Some of the worst lay-n-pray I've seen. Not that Herring wasn't asking for it.

EDIT: Stole these from Sherdog.

http://guidesmedia.ign.com/mrs/evans...ubledragon.gif http://guidesmedia.ign.com/mrs/evanssalmon_ktfo.gif

KARATE KID CRANE KICK!!

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Originally Posted by Kidnemo

Did anyone notice the one stand up with Franca/Fisher where they were both being active on the ground, pushing the pace/trying to pass/defend and the ref stood them up? Was totally lame.

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yeah, there were a lot of weird moments last night.

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Originally Posted by Kidnemo

And that Herring fight was crazy. Yea it sucks that O'brien was nothing but a we blanket, but Herring had no takedown defence, wasn't doing anything to escape, submit, or reverse postion on the ground, and just kept looking at the ref for the stand up. Eff him, atleast try to work you lazy SOB. If O'brien had any idea what he was doing, he would've killed him.

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i was actually going to comment on this myself, glad to see somebody else already did. i never even heard of Herring before this but Rogan was sucking his balls something fierce. so i expected a guy who kept the pace going. what i got was an asshole that made excuses for losing much like Ortiz does. and after he sits there exclaming that "its not a wrestling match, thats the only reason i lost, im only good on my feet throwing punches so please everybody stand up", Goldie says something like "even in defeat, he's a true sportsman" and the crowd cheers. did they watch the same fucking fight i did? the guy that won gets less mic time and the crowd boos him.

in Ed's fight they talked about how "people still dont fully understand the power of the submission, and the ground game" and they had a perfect instance of it with this fight (albeit with somebody who couldnt finish) and talk down on it.

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Originally Posted by Dragonmaster Dyne

i was actually going to comment on this myself, glad to see somebody else already did. i never even heard of Herring before this but Rogan was sucking his balls something fierce.

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Herring used to fight in Pride, and was at one point considered a title contender. He was actually a favorite in a fight versus Fedor Emelianenko (who's the best heavyweight fighter in the world right now) before Fedor was big. Herring should've been a lot better than he was last night. I imagine him being away from MMA for a few years probably had something to do with his performance, but it was still pretty shitty.

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and after he sits there exclaming that "its not a wrestling match, thats the only reason i lost, im only good on my feet throwing punches so please everybody stand up",

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To be fair, they should've been stood up--at the same time, he should've been trying to get up himself. In Pride, there would've been yellow cards pulled for stalling the fight like O'Brien did. But it's not like Herring doesn't know UFC rules.

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the guy that won gets less mic time and the crowd boos him.

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Probably because he put on the most boring fight I've seen in UFC outside of the reality show. I'm not excusing Herring who didn't do jack shit to stop the bore-fest, but O'Brien made no attempts to end the fight at any point. How many punches did he throw in the last round? Somewhere close to zero?

Rashad's knockout kick was fucking great. He didn't even need that follow-up punch on the ground, that dude was OUT.

It's nice to see Rashad finally finish a fight for once instead of letting go to a decision.

Kicks are a funny thing- if they hit, nothing's more impressive. If they miss, you look like a total retard.

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Originally Posted by MarkRyan

Herring used to fight in Pride, and was at one point considered a title contender. He was actually a favorite in a fight versus Fedor Emelianenko (who's the best heavyweight fighter in the world right now) before Fedor was big. Herring should've been a lot better than he was last night. I imagine him being away from MMA for a few years probably had something to do with his performance, but it was still pretty shitty.

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The other problem is that Herring ain't exactly the sharpest guy around. You'd think if you knew you were going into a fight with a former DI collegiate wrestler and you're rusty because you've spent the last couple years kickboxing you'd drill the living shit out of your sprawl. Apparently working on his takedown defense before the fight never really occurred to Heath though.

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

Rashad's knockout kick was fucking great. He didn't even need that follow-up punch on the ground, that dude was OUT.

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There's been way too many fights where a guy has hesitated after a knockdown, thinking that the ref will stop the fight and not wanting to beat on a guy that's probably out already, and then the ref doesn't stop the fight and his opponent gets up and continues to fight. So you really can't blame Rashad.

Awesome fucking kick though. Salmon deserved the brutal KO after he tried that gay jumping kick. Rahsad has a ton of talent; it's nice seeing him finish his last couple fights.

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Originally Posted by Saint of Killers

The other problem is that Herring ain't exactly the sharpest guy around. You'd think if you knew you were going into a fight with a former DI collegiate wrestler and you're rusty because you've spent the last couple years kickboxing you'd drill the living shit out of your sprawl. Apparently working on his takedown defense before the fight never really occurred to Heath though.

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IAWTP. the way they made it sound (maybe not true, but this is what i interpreted) was that Dana spent a lot of cash to get him over to the UFC to shake up the hw division. if thats the case he's either a lazy s.o.b for not taking this match seriously, or given the benefit perhaps he didn't have a lot of time to prepare. i'm not sure so i can't comment one way or the other but i just couldn't stand how he sat there making excuses and the crowd (and goldie) absolutely loved him......for essentially not doing what he was touted to do.

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Originally Posted by Saint of Killers

There's been way too many fights where a guy has hesitated after a knockdown, thinking that the ref will stop the fight and not wanting to beat on a guy that's probably out already, and then the ref doesn't stop the fight and his opponent gets up and continues to fight. So you really can't blame Rashad.

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I wasn't faulting Rashad- I agree that you should always follow up knockdowns just in case. I was just pointing out that the sweet kick alone finished the job.

The ref looked like he was asleep when shortfuse armbarred the crap out of that guy. He even looked over at the ref like "uhm hey, he's been tapping for like two days now, do you wanna stop this or what?".

yeah i saw that. reminded me a lot of the first (i could be wrong) shamrock/gracie fight. shamrock tapped for like 8 minutes before the ref noticed, then ken got up and acted like he didn't tap and wanted to continue the match.