A Rustam Khabilov story. Tim Kennedy's telling it:
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Think Khabilov won that. Was a fun fight too, this card has been great.
Lightweight is probably the best division in the UFC.
Lightweight is probably the best division in the UFC.
Henderson vs Belfort tonight in Brazil. Rest of the card is mainly filled with Brazilians and TUF Brazil contestants. Brandon Thatch is worth a watch though.
Couldn't care less about the outcome for Hendo v Belfort.
Couldn't care less about the outcome for Hendo v Belfort.
Jeremy Stephens just absolutely mashed someone. Reminds me of Hendo on Bisping.
That was brutal.
I love you, Earthquake. Always here to keep my company in these lonely MMA nights.
It's a horrible thing to spend a night talking to yourself in a thread, that's for sure!
I need more friends that appreciate hand to hand combat.
Don't we all? 
I'm with you lads!
I've got full-blown, almost-gay emotional turmoil about Belfort-Hendo. Can actually see Belfort cracking Henderson's titanium jaw by virtue of battering it relentlessly. That would be better in terms of future match-ups, and I do like Vitor, but it would be brutal seeing Hendo get effectively retired as a top-ranked fighter.
I've got full-blown, almost-gay emotional turmoil about Belfort-Hendo. Can actually see Belfort cracking Henderson's titanium jaw by virtue of battering it relentlessly. That would be better in terms of future match-ups, and I do like Vitor, but it would be brutal seeing Hendo get effectively retired as a top-ranked fighter.
The way Henderson's last couple of fights have been has left me a little jaded for seeing him fight. Hopefully they've both took massive doses of TRT and will just swing like motherfeckers.
Nothing like a good 'ol slugfest.
Aye, haven't enjoyed his last few fights either. Will be good to see him against someone that'll come forward though instead of defensively-minded speed demons. Doesn't seem like long ago that he was (flash)KOing Fedor.
Do you ever watch Bellator? Alvarez vs Chandler 2 was amazing the other week. Watched Bellator last night again to see how Cheik Kongo was getting on and saw Joe Warren fighting. Joe Warren, 135lbs and 5'5, declaring himself "The baddest man on the planet" hmm....
Think I'm 3-2, with 3 first round ko's.
Lovely knee.
LaFlare looked awesome
Really split on the main event, probably want Henderson to win it but I think Vitor will
Really split on the main event, probably want Henderson to win it but I think Vitor will
Aye, don't watch Bellator as much as I should do but caught Alvarez-Chandler 2 which was incredible. Didn't catch the Warren rant but I ardently hope he gets shit-stomped from here on in! I'm ashamed to admit that the promotion I really look out for other than UFC is KSW, as I'm a huge strongman fan and I feel compelled to support Mariusz Pudzianowski to the last whilst he gets out-cardioed by James Thompson. World Series of Fighting is generally worth a watch too, as they have decent ex-UFC names like Arlovski and genuine propsects like Tyrone Spong.
He just beat him as if he owed him money.
That was an absolute smashing. 3-3, sigh.
Watched some of Mariusz's fights on youtube...no comment really!
Always forget about WSOF. One FC is pretty good because they have Pride Rules and a lot of the cards are favourable for the time they're shown at here, they don't have a lot of well known talent though, can only think of Melvin Manhoef. Arlovski fought against Tim Sylvia on a One FC card though and got booted in the face on the ground which was cool.
I don't understand why he hasn't done better, it doesn't make sense to me. You would think as soon as he gets someone in a clinch its game over. How could you wrestle with him?
Only seen a few of his fights on youtube so I don't know how they've been playing out though.
Functional strength is different than the strength you get from lifting weights, maybe? I have no idea.
Wow, that was enjoyable
That fight was nuts
Yup it must be I guess!
I have no idea either but it makes no sense to me why he isn't just chucking them around.
That fight was on earlier but yeah, was good!
Also just thinking about the strongman stuff a lot of it probably is quite functional, compared to like a power lifter who is just hitting that same lift over and over again, the strongman competitions really hit so many different muscles in different ways - some explosive stuff, some much more drawn out.
I never wanted it to happen! So badly hoped it was untrue when the rumours started that he was taking up MMA. Considering where he started from he's actually done quite well but its a horrible sight for someone that loved him as a strongman.
I watched One FC briefly as they had this guy fighting for them:
but lost interest when it'd become clear that he was probably shite at MMA.
Sarafian is a scary looking bloke
http://thegarv.com/Bas-Rutten-on-Pudzianowski-It-s-All-About-Control.html
Rutten probably sums it up!
Yup, it is. There was a great interview and docc. with John Cena, preparing for a Wrestlemania. Where he goes over with his trainer the difference between body-building for appearances, and for function. The work outs are nothing alike.
Cheers man!
So it seems cardio is an issue for him when you're carrying all that muscle
Ayee it definitely is, but he wasnt lifting for appearance - it was for function.
The huge bodybuilders that you see dont have the same level of real strength, but Pudz wasn't doing that
There's a big in-between bodybuilding and MMA, lets not forget that. Mariusz was incredibly functional and he was a great athlete.
That's why it was so interesting, he's an ex-bodybuilder. He mentions the change from building for appearances, making the muscles puffy, and what he had changed to, building proper muscle for function.
I'd guess building for MMA would be quite different too, he was working for stamina, and to pick up and move people easily.
Are you sure? I never knew that.
He was doing his strongman stuff from his early 20's and for that it would need to be all functional. As Pat says he was a great an athlete as you will find, just unreal. The bodybuilders aren't like that and as you say its all for show and making them puffy, but the stuff he was doing for worlds strongest man isn't like that and should set him up well for MMA.
Partly muscle and partly that inability to relax. Basically any single event in strongman only lasts 75-90 seconds, so Mariusz was a god at maintaining muscular tension and expending his entire cardio output in that sub-2 minute timeframe. You'll see in his fights he Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime his way to being okay up until the two minute mark then everything goes to shite!
Sorry mate, we might have crossed wires here, I was still on about Cena.
The strongman/MMA cross must have been ok, you're certainly building for function there. I couldn't say if there's difference in building for weight carrying and fighting, I can't imagine it being too far apart though, strong is strong.
AyeeI think strongman is better suited to it than virtually any other strength sport though. Events like the tireflip and maybe Atlas Stones bring a bit of duration that you don't get in normal power lifting for example.
Ahh yeah that makes sense now, I thought there was no way he would have done bodybuilding!
Yeah that's what I thought, I mean it wouldnt necessarily help with striking as I imagine all that mass would slow you down, but in the clinch I thought it would make him unbeatable and he would just drag people to the ground all the time