Yeah, this fight definitely showed the vast gulf between Tito’s conditioning and Ken’s. Ken reealy seems to be there just for his own sake (the pool game being a great example). If anything this season will help Tito out much more than Sham-cock.
Decent fight. I think the “verbal tapout” was something unexpected.
I can’t believe Tait didn’t want to fight. I can understand Kristian backing out with the huge gashes, but Tait just wasn’t mentally prepared? He’s done with the UFC, friend of Joe Rogan or not. There’s no way Dana White invites that guy back. And you’ve got to love Ross stepping up like that to fight at 205. Ross and Bisping have already fought once right before the show and it didn’t go too well for Ross. If I remember correctly, I think it was that fight that impressed Dana enough to invite Ross for a tryout, even though he lost. Right now, though, this is Bisping’s competition to lose. I don’t think the other three LHWs are in his league.
The MW fight was a good one. Calib seems to be the better fighter, but he got hurt and couldn’t fight through it. The winner of Rory-Ed should probably take the whole thing.
I think that Bisping and Ed have the most potential to be big draws for the UFC in the future. Kendall will probably do pretty well too.
Just a reminder of the finale on Sat. I’m looking forward to it.
Well, the finals are set, and should be pretty good. Josh vs. Bisping and “Team Dagger” vs. Ed. I’m going with Bisping and the Red Headed killer. Although if Josh loses, I don’t want to see the aftermath, as I think that guy will fall to pieces.
Oh, and I thought Dana White’s comments about Shamrock were pretty funny, as he basically said Ken was there so he could fight Tito again, and didn’t care about training the kids.
Predictions?
Light Heavyweights:
The Brit Michael takes the ex-fat kid Josh out 1st round. It’s too bad, as I genuinly like both of these fighters, but Bisping is just too well rounded for Josh to overtake.
Middleweights:
Ed puts a knife in Team Dagger’s Kendall 2nd round.
Bisping is going to kill Josh. He’ll hopefully come in sharp and not overconfident like he did against Ross. When Ross landed that right on Bisping early, it woke him up. If he let’s Josh tag him like that, it could be lights out. Otherwise, I don’t really see Bisping having any trouble with Josh if he has his head on straight.
Ed is good, but Kendall poses match-up problems for him at 6’6". If Ed can get around Kendall’s reach advantage, he should be able to ground and pound pretty effectively. I think that in the end, Ed will be just a little too physical for Kendall. Remember that Ed made it to the finals despite Shamrock’s coaching (i.e., no conditioning for 6 weeks). Now he has had 3 months training with Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, and Matt Linland at Team Quest. The kid will be ready.
Uh-Oh. Three of us all agree on the outcome. That of course means the opposite will happen so we all look stupid Sunday morning.
There’s always the edit feature.
And I’m basing my Ed victory on the fact that I can’t stand that Team Dagger jackass–neither one of them, actually.
Okay, just so we don’t tempt fate, I’m taking lovehandles over the Brit and Dagger Dumbass over the redhead.
the only guy I like out of all of them is Bisping. And he will win easily over mr. lovehandles with the pathetic hair cut. I too am getting really sick of seeing his dumbass cry every show, as if anyone gives a fuck about him and his stupid family, a lot of people have a family to support, get the fuck over yourself. Fortunatley he sucks and will get knocked out in about 45 seconds. What’s funny is that he thinks he’s good because he’s beaten two absolutely horrible fighters so far. I dislike the team dagger geeks as much as anybody but Ed Herman is a big douchebag in his own right, so I’m rooting for an accidental headbutt to make both of them unconscious in that one. Shamrock is the quintessential asshole who’s anger is only matched by how dumb he is.
I thought that the first and second fights were good. I’m looking forward to the fight on Wed. Speaking of fights, did any of you see Joe Rogan get into it with the guy from Amazing Race on Fear Factor. It was pretty funny.
Well Kendall shocked the hell out of me. Shows what months of training with Ortiz will do. He smothered Ed’s offense, despite the fact that Ed could drop him to the ground seemingly at will. And Ed fought off submitting to a choke for 30 seconds? Sure, both guys were exhausted by that point, but that was still pretty damned impressive. Good call by Dana White on giving them both contracts. I want to see how they fare with other opponents.
No suprises in the Bisping fight. He dominated. Josh had a hell of a lot of heart to make that go 2 rounds. The laughable thing was Josh claiming he was going to come back in the 155 weight class. Not with that body type.
When the hell does season 4 start?
The biggest opponent that Ed had in that fight was having Shamrock as his coach. He wasn’t even in his corner during the fight. And when he was presenting the watches and acting like he had somewhere else to be–my wife even said, “He’s such a jackass. I want you to get that PPV just to see Tito Ortiz beat the crap out of him.” It was one thing to be part of the team being trained by Ortiz, but then you add to that one-on-one training with Ortiz…forget about it.
And bless Josh, he can take a beating, but Bisping outclassed him that whole fight. Michael basically showed everything he could do in that fight, then closed the door when he saw the chance. I thought that Josh might actually get choked out until he was unconcious because he wouldn’t give up.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Martianman The biggest opponent that Ed had in that fight was having Shamrock as his coach. He wasn’t even in his corner during the fight. |
Shamrock wasn’t anyone’s coach after the show. Team Quest takes responsibility for both Ed and Josh.
Forgot to note the abysmal showing of Matt Hamill. Despite wrecking 2 time loser Jesse, he’s got Joe Rogan pointing out how many times he could have passed guard and didn’t. I didn’t see any improvement to his game at all, in direct contrast to Kendall.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Martianman The biggest opponent that Ed had in that fight was having Shamrock as his coach. He wasn’t even in his corner during the fight. |
I didn’t watch the previous seasons in their entirety, so this may be a dumb question. But after the taped portion of the program is complete, are the fighters on their own as far as how to train and who to train with? So for the past couple months, Ed went back to Team Quest to train, and he should have been much better off with them, than to try to get training from Shamrock. So why would Ed even want Shamrock in his corner for the final?
When I saw that Kendall had stayed with Tito to train for the final, I told my wife that Ed better be in great shape - because I knew Tito would make sure that Kendall would be at his best stamina wise. I think that is what did in Ed - he was fatigued, and didn’t Ed even admit he wasn’t in the best of shape after the fight?
He did go back to Team Quest, but I’m saying in general, Ed was Shamrock’s only guy that made it to the finals, and he’s not there in his corner to at least cheer him on?
I guess what I’m getting at is, Tito saw something in Kendall that spurred him to help train him personally; but Shamrock pretty much washed his hands of the whole thing when the show was over.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Martianman He did go back to Team Quest, but I’m saying in general, Ed was Shamrock’s only guy that made it to the finals, and he’s not there in his corner to at least cheer him on? I guess what I’m getting at is, Tito saw something in Kendall that spurred him to help train him personally; but Shamrock pretty much washed his hands of the whole thing when the show was over. |
Got ya. I think Dana White summed it up when he said after everything is done, Shamrock just did this to get a fight with Ortiz. No personal investment. Ortiz took it the other way, which is why I think he has a great post-fight career starting his own training camp.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Martianman The biggest opponent that Ed had in that fight was having Shamrock as his coach. He wasn’t even in his corner during the fight. And when he was presenting the watches and acting like he had somewhere else to be–my wife even said, “He’s such a jackass. I want you to get that PPV just to see Tito Ortiz beat the crap out of him.” |
I feel the same way. I imagine that it is going to be about $40 or $50 for the fight and I am pondering whether or not to do it.
Just read that Ortiz is actually training with Matt Hamill and “Team Dagger”–both Kendall and Solomon–for the Shamrock fight.
Shamrock is reportedly drinking a Xyience shake and watching old tapes of himself in preparation for the fight…ok, maybe I made that part up.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Martianman Shamrock is reportedly drinking a Xyience shake and watching old tapes of himself in preparation for the fight…ok, maybe I made that part up. |
Sadly - I think it could be true.
Overall a good night of fights. I think Ed and Kendall was a great fight and Kendall got MUCH beter in his off-time.
Mike and Josh went the way I imagiend, but Josh sure as hell hung in there. I thought Mike was going to break his arm in half, and for whatever reason Josh just refused to quit. He may be a little chubby, but he can take a punch.
I actually thought Matt showed a lot of improvement from his time during the show. I know he still has a long way to go, but with Tito taking him under his wing, he shoud get there. I know his arm was hurt in the season, but his punches were so much stronger than they were when he lost.