The MMA thread

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I'm normally not a betting man but I was thinking about MMA and with it being a fairly niche sport there's potentially money to be made if you know how to spot it. Anyone else tend to bet on the fights here?

Some of the obvious ones that stood out that I've just lumped a small amount on:

Rose Namajunas at 2.5 against Paige! This line is ludicrous. In the long run lines like this are free money, Rose should be the favourite for sure.
I'm also backing Aldo at 2.5. Even if you're a Conor fan how could you turn down 2.5 odds on the p4p number 1 fighter in the world?!

I put them on as singles and as a double. Betting against the UFC's pets seems like a winning strategy in the long run to me due to hype distorting the odds. Anyone else found odds that stand out? I just wish I'd bet the other day, that's what's made me decide to start!
 
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Keeps It tidy said:
I agree with a lot of what is written here in regards to Rousey.

https://the-cauldron.com/the-end-of-an-error-cbac04dc4a98
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a lamentable tale of mass complicity by virtue of our own delusions, desires, and disaffection . . . It’s worth considering exactly how we arrived at this spiritually barren place of baseless fight odds, rushed hyperbole, and Orwellian commentary . . . But what about the rest of us, who eagerly climbed aboard the train of Rondamania, and embraced every nonsensical stop along the ride with mindless glee . . .Her MMA resume was thin, the merits of any such comprehensive examination unclear, and just beneath that amorphous veneer lurked hints of an obnoxious, self-involved huckster . . . Still she moved forward at breakneck speed, spurred by the momentum of our cultural incoherence, our prizing of oddities and flavors of the month over texture and meaningfulness . . . We projected our dishonesty and confusion onto her and the images returned to us distorted, oversized, in a form that made us feel more comfortable about who we were . . . She served the function of the clichéd “black friend,” . . .



I don´t know what´s worse, the pathetic bandwagon hype of this young woman in this day and age, or this precious author with his goopy melodramatic babble. I mean, what the feck? It was a fecking MMA fight. Jesus goop!
 
Nobby style said:
I don´t know what´s worse, the pathetic bandwagon hype of this young woman in this day and age, or this precious author with his goopy melodramatic babble. I mean, what the feck? It was a fecking MMA fight. Jesus goop!
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That was the impression I got from it too. I felt like the author was making a decent point but it was lost in a an article trying to sound clever for the sake of sounding clever.
 
Rousey was a victim of her own success in some ways. Since the UFC started with women's fights they have been desperate to big it up (just like the BBC with women's football, tbf), and Rousey was the perfect 'superstar' to bring credibility to the division. Like her or not, Rousey was pretty much the only female UFC fighter whose fights I looked forward to and enjoyed watching, and virtually all the other fights were of a noticeable drop in quality. Combined with Dana's increasingly desperate attempts to big up anyone fighting Rousey (I know it is his job to sell a fight, but there is only so far that reality can be stretched), the entire division became cringeworthy.

Going back to Rhonda herself, she certainly appeared to enjoy her time in the limelight (not saying it will stop now). She attained celebrity status by virtue of simply being so much better than the rest of the division, and seemed to want to focus on the celebrity, the interviews etc, rather than keeping down to earth. In some ways it reminded me of Rocky vs Apollo in the original Rocky movie.

Either way, the true test comes now - either she shows herself to be a 'true' champion by learning her lessons, training hard and coming back to reclaim her belt (which I have no doubt she can do if she is a bit more intelligent about it), or she disappears into celebrity Z-lists and is content at that level.

Regardless, she helped shape the women's division and did a huge amount for it, and that is no mean feat.
 
Walrus said:
Rousey was a victim of her own success in some ways. Since the UFC started with women's fights they have been desperate to big it up (just like the BBC with women's football, tbf), and Rousey was the perfect 'superstar' to bring credibility to the division. Like her or not, Rousey was pretty much the only female UFC fighter whose fights I looked forward to and enjoyed watching, and virtually all the other fights were of a noticeable drop in quality. Combined with Dana's increasingly desperate attempts to big up anyone fighting Rousey (I know it is his job to sell a fight, but there is only so far that reality can be stretched), the entire division became cringeworthy.

Going back to Rhonda herself, she certainly appeared to enjoy her time in the limelight (not saying it will stop now). She attained celebrity status by virtue of simply being so much better than the rest of the division, and seemed to want to focus on the celebrity, the interviews etc, rather than keeping down to earth. In some ways it reminded me of Rocky vs Apollo in the original Rocky movie.

Either way, the true test comes now - either she shows herself to be a 'true' champion by learning her lessons, training hard and coming back to reclaim her belt (which I have no doubt she can do if she is a bit more intelligent about it), or she disappears into celebrity Z-lists and is content at that level.

Regardless, she helped shape the women's division and did a huge amount for it, and that is no mean feat.
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The UFC are notorious for this sort of thing - marketing certain fighters for maximum PPV attention. They're already doing it with the likes of Van Zandt and Sage Northcutt.
 
Raoul said:
The UFC are notorious for this sort of thing - marketing certain fighters for maximum PPV attention. They're already doing it with the likes of Van Zandt and Sage Northcutt.
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Well surely it is good business sense to capitalise while they are hot

It's not a bad thing
 
Raoul said:
The UFC are notorious for this sort of thing - marketing certain fighters for maximum PPV attention. They're already doing it with the likes of Van Zandt and Sage Northcutt.
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Yeah, for the most part I consider it a necessary evil that comes with any sort of PPV-style business model. I just found the Rousey-hype to be particularly bad. I can understand why they did it, and realistically the amount of growth and attention that she/they have brought to WMMA - and it is impressive and very arguably worth the 'cost'. The problem was like others said - that Rhonda appeared to buy into her own hype and show a bit too much interest in her celebrity status and brand.
 
Yep, I actually think Rousey bought into the BS hype machine. It was great watching her reject the glove touch at the beginning and then have Holm smash her.
 
Raoul said:
I don't buy all the BS about her trainer. He creates the most dominant MMA figure in the sport and now he's suddenly rubbish because she lost a fight ? I'm not buying that at all. Simply put, Holm came in with the perfect game plan and executed it to perfection.
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She was Holm-schooled, but her strategy was the same throughout the fight. Which makes you question her coach (and lots of people were doing exactly that before this fight). Obviously some of it is down to Rousey being impatient and lacking strategy, but most of it is down to her coach who failed to give her critical feedback after the first round. I think the other major factor leading to her loss, which has been overlooked, is her lack of motivation. There's an interesting part in her book about creating hatred for an opponent. Which adds that extra drive. I think it's a bit different to that in the sense that all the pre-match nonsense (and her not touching gloves with Holm) was an attempt to get herself motivated for the fight.
 
MoneyMay said:


:lol:
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That's a good account of how unnecessarily over the top and ridiculous the hype was. It's fine to hype the shit out of your champions but this is not the way to go about it. Rogan made a right idiot of himself. While she deserved some backlash for her poor attitude in recent times, the hype and overexposure didn't help her at all.

Rogan nearly crying FFS

 
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Enrique Barzola vs Horacio Gutierrez next... final n1 (lighweight)

i missed Barzola last episode (strangely it took several hours to finish downloading the episode...) but i remember his first fight and he is really strong. I think he wins.

I watched Gutierrez last fight and he is vicious. He believes he is the best in the world and backs it up. Should be a good fight.
 
yep, Barzola with a masterclass performance. I want to see more of him soon.

making south america and peru proud. awesome.

(feck, when you remember he is lightweight... crazy division.)
 
Montaño (mexico) vs wasabi Marin (spanish) next

remember the Spanish who was afraid of his first opponent? now in the final... really improved during the show. Training with Uriah Hall and Gastellum pays off.

I like both this fighters and will be happy with any of them winning the fight, but if i have to pick one of them, i would say Montaño wins it.
 
I personally thought Gastelum deserved to get the win there. At least a draw with the 4h being a 10-8. The reluctance of judges to give anything other than a 10-9 is so annoying.
 
I hope Cejudo is like Holly Holm. Comes in with a big reputation, has some average performances and then turns up the heat when facing the champion. Can't stand Mighty Mouse's stupid arrogant face.

I can't see how Magny could have won that fight...

Rd1: Magny 10-9
Rd2: Magny 10-9
Rd3: Could have gone either way but for arguments sake let's say Magny 10-9
Rd4: Gastelum 10-8
Rd5: Gastelum 10-9

Final Magny - 47 Gastelum - 47

I can't see how Magny could have won. It's either a draw of Gastelum should win depending how you scored round 3. The other rounds were all black and white to me...

That Diego Sanchez really is a warrior. So much heart.
 
Jon Jones interview with Ariel Helwani, discusses his legal troubles, road to redemption, relationship with the UFC, comeback. Very fascinating interview really like the way he came across. Interesting to see his views and stance with the UFC also.

 
Pendred retires.

"I am a passionate person and I always give 100% to what I do. I have been passionate about MMA for a long time and my focus on the sport has been my driving force for the last 9 years.

I now find that my passion is no longer what it was and I feel that it is time for me to move on. I have other interests that I want to pursue. The time is right to close one door and open another. My love of MMA remains with me. I intend to maintain my involvement with the sport, but I no longer wish to compete.

I have developed as a person because of Mixed Martial Arts, as I learned to cope with the disipline and demands of the sport. MMA has made me a stronger person. This strength will carry through into other areas of my life, as I move on to pursue new goals.
I would like to thank all my coaches and team mates for their friendship and support. Thank you to everyone who has followed and supported me on this journey. Indeed thanks to everyone that I met through MMA from start to finish. This chapter of my life wouldn't have been the same without you.

My participation in competing in MMA has come to an end, but my love for the sport has not. I will maintain my interest in the sport and continue to support my team mates as they follow their dreams.

Cathal Pendred
November 25th 2015
Dublin, Ireland"
 
the lesson here: with hard work, even the most untalented fecker can be a professional in any discipline.

i keep repeating this to my nephews... don't quit football just yet because of much better kids out there! Hard work and commitment is always gonna be the most important aspect in football to be successful.



anyway... good decision by Pendred. Brain damage was just around the corner for a fighter like him. Cash out and move on. I wish him good luck!
 
A 4-2 record in the UFC is still impressive his first fight with the organisation was classic his last was brutal:(
 
Dirty Schwein said:
Anyone watch the recent UFC in Korea? I swear Sexyama got completely robbed!
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It was a very fun card and yes you're right I felt he deserved the decision too. The crowd were not at all happy. Doo Ho Choi appears to be an up and coming killer, he is being talked of as the future of Asian MMA by some.

Slam KO in the prelims:



The poor guy was lay there for about 5 minutes.
 
So flying out to Vegas next Thursday and I cannot bloody wait.

Any of you ever been to UFC in Vegas? Any advice?
 
George Owen said:
the lesson here: with hard work, even the most untalented fecker can be a professional in any discipline.

i keep repeating this to my nephews... don't quit football just yet because of much better kids out there! Hard work and commitment is always gonna be the most important aspect in football to be successful.



anyway... good decision by Pendred. Brain damage was just around the corner for a fighter like him. Cash out and move on. I wish him good luck!
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A certain level of talent is required, but you're absolutely right.

Hard work beats talent when talent refuses to work hard.

Something a lot of people don't really realize about professional athletes, is that quite frequently, the absolute phenoms at age 15-16-17 don't pan out. They are simply too talented for their own good. They are so successful at every age, that they never learn work ethic, they never learn dedication, they never learn motivation. It isn't hard for them, they just win or are the best. Then suddenly they hit an age where their raw natural talent, isn't enough to carry them against people who are pretty talented, but work their socks off.
 
Just reading some of the press stuff for the McGregor/Aldo fight.

Apparently McGregor damaged his ACL in the lead up to the last fight? I remember Brendan Schaub saying at the time that there were rumours going around that McGregor's knee was in bits but I didn't really pay much attention to him. McGregor said now that he damaged it on the world tour and that Aldo knew, which Aldo confirmed when talking about his own injury. It's also been confirmed that he received stem cell injections to help get him ready on time.

How the hell does someone fight with that kind of damage? Surely the opponent can target it? Seems pretty stupid to me.
 
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