UFC 66 and Pride Shockwave

Off Topic
1

Well, NYE is coming up. For some of us that means massive drinking, for others it means massive drinking while watching half-naked men punch each other. Hey, to each his own. I can’t really say I’m blown away by what’s coming up. The UFC is giving us really the only competitive fight at 205 that can still be made until they build up Rampage, too bad it’s a somewhat undeserving rematch.

Pride gives us a singular title defense against a plan C backup, but both are entertaining fighters and upsets can happen. So here’s what we have:

Saturday Dec 30 10pm (EST) PPV
Main Card
Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz
Heavyweight bout: Andrei Arlovski vs. Marcio Cruz
Light Heavyweight bout: Forrest Griffin vs. Keith Jardine
Light Heavyweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Eric Schafer
Middleweight bout: Chris Leben vs. Jason MacDonald

Preliminary card bouts
Middleweight bout: Yushin Okami vs. Rory Singer
Welterweight bout: Tony DeSouza vs. Thiago Alves
Heavyweight bout: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Carmelo Marrero
Heavyweight bout: Anthony Perosh vs. Christian Wellisch

Well, nothing earth shattering. It will be nice to see Bisping back in the ring. AA too, hopefully he gets his head screwed on straight and once again becomes a force in the division. I fully expect Tito-Chuck to go the same way it did last time.

The last competitive fight we saw with Tito was against Forrest, and he spent most of the fight standing in front of him and missing takedowns. Granted, he supposedly had a knee injury which might account for his lack of explosiveness and hesitation, but any performance that is similar will get him KTFO by Chuck. I’ll pick history repeating itself with an Iceman KO round 2.

Some good hype may come in the form in the announcement of the aquisition of Mirko Cro Cop and Sylvia shitting his pants, and/or Rampage coming into the ring and getting the mic if Chuck wins and calls him out.

Dec 31 Pride Shockwave 2006 9pm (EST) PPV

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mark Hunt (HW title)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Josh Barnett(HW)
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Gilbert Melendez(LW)
Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen(LW)
Takanori Gomi vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida(LW non-title gayness)
Mauricio Rua vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura(LHW)
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Ikuhisa Minowa(MW)
Akihiro Gono vs. Yuki Kondo(MW)
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Eldar Kurtanidze(HW)
Hidehiko Yoshida vs James Thompson (HW)

A fairly good card. Fedor vs Hunt is not nearly as compelling as Fedor vs Cro Cop II or Fedor vs Barnett, but given that both fighters were ruled out of the fight Hunt is the best remaining option and Pride did good to not pick a freak show like Zulu. Fedor SHOULD take this fight down rather quickly and get the sub, mid-round 1. But, for some reason I have a really, really funny feeling about this fight. He might not lose, but I see Fedor having some trouble with Mark.

Hunt is very, very dangerous to close the distance on, and supposedly has been training hard since his embarassing loss to Barnett. So it might be more interesting than some people give credit for. In other picks, I see a Nog UD. Barnett was too burnt out to face Fedor, but he’s facing Nog? Nog is a dangerous and highly motivated fighter right now, despite his age I see him getting the better of JB this go around.

I also see a Shogun first round victory via strikes. Nak is good and getting better but Shogun is just too much to handle for almost anyone at 205 in the world. And I hope Ishida wins just to make Pride look even more like retards for protecting their paper champion.

2

Nice synopsis. Dont think I can afford both, so Ill probly default to UFC. I had a chance to meet AA a few weeks ago at an in store, and am looking fwd to seeing him fight again. Im done watching chuck mash people in the first round, definitley gunning for tito on this one. Although on the Pride tip I took some advice of yours on an old thread and copped a bunch of dvd’s with a best buy gift certificate. I got shockwave 04, critical countown 05, and some 5 disc compilation of pride 12-16. I completely blacked out on pride over the holiday weekend, so now I have a grip on who the players are. Some good fights on there, although I havent seen them all. shockwave 04 had some classics on it. looking fwd to watching the early years. hijack over.

3

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Ikuhisa Minowa

This is the fight i’m looking forward to. Something about it has the possibility to be a great match. I like watching both Tamura and Minowa.

It will also be nice to see Hansen fight again.

La’
Redsol1

4

Thanks for the run down Donut. I always appreciate your imput on these bouts.

I’m thinking Chuck is going to do Tito in again even though I am pulling for Tito. I don’t see those hammers missing Tito for long before the nail goes down.

I like the Fedor and Hunt combo. I wonder if Hunt will turn into a challenge for him? Hunts no pussy but Fedor is the Lion after all. I’m really hoping CroCop comes over to the UFC. I know the cleanup wouldn’t last long but what a show it would be…my opinion.

Pride fights look real good to me but I’m going to be watching UFC at a friends. The fight card doesn’t look too inspiring there but maybe some of those under fights will turn into wars…ya never know. Do want to see Bisping fight again.

Thanks again Donut!

5

[quote]redsol1 wrote:
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Ikuhisa Minowa

This is the fight i’m looking forward to. Something about it has the possibility to be a great match. I like watching both Tamura and Minowa.

It will also be nice to see Hansen fight again.

La’
Redsol1[/quote]

Yes, that should be a good fight indeed. I have not seen their first fight but heard it was a good one. Supposedly Minowa is training by dodging baseballs thrown at him. Don’t ask, I have no idea. He’s as odd as they come.

Hansen is awesome. He’s like a super creepy Powder, and the Jesus tatoo on his chest is real freaky.

The concensus seems to be Chuck over Tito, though many are pulling for Tito out of wishful thinking. Does anyone favor Tito to win this fight?

6

I don’t even think Tito will survive the first round.

7

It would be great if Smitty88 could swing by and post his picks.

He nailed everything incorrectly last time. A feat like that shouldn’t go to waste this time around.

8

Good thread. :slight_smile:

Main Card
Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz (Wow really hard pick. I’d have to give a slight edge to Chuck.)
Heavyweight bout: Andrei Arlovski vs. Marcio Cruz (AA)
Light Heavyweight bout: Forrest Griffin vs. Keith Jardine (This might be the fight of the night. Forrest.)
Light Heavyweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Eric Schafer (Bisping)
Middleweight bout: Chris Leben vs. Jason MacDonald (Jason…I hate Leben.)

Dec 31 Pride Shockwave 2006 9pm (EST) PPV

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mark Hunt (HW title) (Fedor by sub. How else can you beat Hunt?)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Josh Barnett(HW) (Josh by sub or Dec. I’m fully aware that the exact opposite could happen. Just that Josh pretty much had that sub last fight. Or he thought so. That confidence will help him get the win.)
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Gilbert Melendez(LW) (Gilbert???)
Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen(LW)(Hellboy)
Takanori Gomi vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida(LW non-title gayness) (???)
Mauricio Rua vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura(LHW)(Rua by insane thousand strike blitzkrieg attack!)
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Ikuhisa Minowa(MW) (Probably Tamura again. Should be interesting.)
Akihiro Gono vs. Yuki Kondo(MW) (Kondo)
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Eldar Kurtanidze(HW)(Fujita)
Hidehiko Yoshida vs James Thompson (HW)(Hmmmmm…Yoshida.)

9

[quote]Donut62 wrote:
redsol1 wrote:
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Ikuhisa Minowa

This is the fight i’m looking forward to. Something about it has the possibility to be a great match. I like watching both Tamura and Minowa.

It will also be nice to see Hansen fight again.

La’
Redsol1

Yes, that should be a good fight indeed. I have not seen their first fight but heard it was a good one. Supposedly Minowa is training by dodging baseballs thrown at him. Don’t ask, I have no idea. He’s as odd as they come.

Hansen is awesome. He’s like a super creepy Powder, and the Jesus tatoo on his chest is real freaky.

The concensus seems to be Chuck over Tito, though many are pulling for Tito out of wishful thinking. Does anyone favor Tito to win this fight?
[/quote]

I don’t favour him but i do have a funny feeling. Tito says he’s injury free and I reckon he’s been training real hard for this one. Chuck just might be a little complacent. I’d still put my money on Chuck but i’m confident Tito will last longer than last time.

10

[quote]Frank Castle wrote:
Nice synopsis. Dont think I can afford both, so Ill probly default to UFC. I had a chance to meet AA a few weeks ago at an in store, and am looking fwd to seeing him fight again. Im done watching chuck mash people in the first round, definitley gunning for tito on this one. Although on the Pride tip I took some advice of yours on an old thread and copped a bunch of dvd’s with a best buy gift certificate. I got shockwave 04, critical countown 05, and some 5 disc compilation of pride 12-16. I completely blacked out on pride over the holiday weekend, so now I have a grip on who the players are. Some good fights on there, although I havent seen them all. shockwave 04 had some classics on it. looking fwd to watching the early years. hijack over. [/quote]

Well I thought my Best Buy cards were going towards a new phone, but this idea is much better.

I’ll probably only buy UFC on Saturday night. I hope Forrest wins because he’s my favorite fighter. I’m pulling for Chuck in the main event because I’m a bigger fan of his than Tito. Tito gets demerits for trying to poke Forrest in the eye when Forrest was starting to get the upper hand in their fight.

11

[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
I’m pulling for Chuck in the main event because I’m a bigger fan of his than Tito. Tito gets demerits for trying to poke Forrest in the eye when Forrest was starting to get the upper hand in their fight.
[/quote]

This is the first time I’ve ever seen Chuck’s opponent get demerited for eye pokes.

12

“Does anyone favor Tito to win this fight?”

It all depends. If he can somehow manage to take Chuck down, keep him down and ground and pound I wouldn’t be shocked if Tito wins with a late round TKO. Chuck has near-perfect takedown defense and much better striking but he’s far from invincible as he’s showed in many fights, like the Rampage fight.

I’m not sure what the updated odds on Tito are (+190?) but I think he has a shot at this one, although not a great shot.

Good analysis in your first post.

13

Odds from www.betonfighting.com, changing frequently so I expect some of these to tighten up.

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP -66
MGM GRAND LAS VEGAS, NV - 12-30-06

30901- TITO ORTIZ +235
30902- CHUCK LIDDELL -275

30903- KEITH JARDINE +285
30904- FORREST GRIFFIN -335

30905- MARCIO CRUZ +400
30906- ANDREI ARLOVSKI -500

30907- JASON MACDONALD +195
30908- CHRIS LEBEN -225

30909- ERIC SCHAFER +330
30910- MICHAEL BISPING -400

30911- TONY DESOUZA +100
30912- THIAGO ALVES -120

30913- CARMELO MARRERO +250
30914- GABRIEL GONZAGA -300

30915- RORY SINGER +395
30916- YUSHIN OKAMI -475

30917- ANTHONY PEROSH +135
30918- CHRISTIAN WELLISCH -165

PRIDE: SHOCKWAVE 2006 -
SAITAMA SUPER ARENA, JAPAN - 12-30/31-06

30921- MARK HUNT +600
30922- FEDOR EMELIANENKO -800

30923- GILBERT MELENDEZ +130
30924- TATSUYA KAWAJIRI -150

30925- SHINYA AOKI +160
30926- JOACHIM HANSEN -180

30927- KAZUHIRO NAKAMURA +365
30928- MAURICIO RUA -435

30929- MITSUHIRO ISHIDA +165
30930- TAKANORI GOMI -185

30931- IKUHISA MINOWA +115
30932- KIYOSHI TAMURA -135

30933- AKIHIRO GONO +115
30934- YUKI KONDO -135

30935- JOSH BARNETT +120
30936- ANTONIO RODRIGO NOGUEIRA -140

30937- JAMES THOMPSON +600
30938- HIDEHIKO YOSHIDA -800

God help me, for the first time in my life I might put something on James Thompson.

14

[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Yes, that should be a good fight indeed. I have not seen their first fight but heard it was a good one. Supposedly Minowa is training by dodging baseballs thrown at him. Don’t ask, I have no idea. He’s as odd as they come.

Hansen is awesome. He’s like a super creepy Powder, and the Jesus tatoo on his chest is real freaky.
[/quote]

Minowa’s alwase had some wierd training camps. one time i saw him taining under a waterfall ala “Best of the Best”. I think it’s going to be a fight between two solid well trained fighters without all the overhead of a title or marque fight.

La’
Redsol1

15

[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Doug Adams wrote:
I’m pulling for Chuck in the main event because I’m a bigger fan of his than Tito. Tito gets demerits for trying to poke Forrest in the eye when Forrest was starting to get the upper hand in their fight.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen Chuck’s opponent get demerited for eye pokes.[/quote]

I’m still new to watching MMA so I haven’t seen Chuck thumb anybody yet. If he does it this time he’ll go way down on my list of favorite fighters.

16

On a side note, I am still alittle disappointed that UFC took alot of Prides glory fighters. Unfortunetly I can see Pride starting to go down hill…

17

[quote]Mr ian wrote:
On a side note, I am still alittle disappointed that UFC took alot of Prides glory fighters. Unfortunetly I can see Pride starting to go down hill…[/quote]

Rampage Pride ran off. They treated him like shit after his loss to Silva and he gave them the finger after his contract was up. He went to WFA, and UFC bought out his contract from there.

Anderson had some bad losses in Pride and needed a change in environment to remake himself as a fighter. It worked out for both sides, with Filho, Kang, Misaki, and Hendo I don’t think he ever had a chance to go further in Pride.

Cro Cop, we don’t know what he is doing yet. Most signs point to him coming to the UFC. I think it’s bad for Pride, but good for MMA as a whole. Introducing Americans to that calibur of fighter will only work to help broaden fans horizons and realize that Forrest “I think I’ll throw a haymaker” Griffin isn’t a world class striker, despite what Rogan tells them (no disrespect to Mr. Griffin, he is a great MMA fighter. It’s just the fact that the UFC seems to ignore MMA outside of it’s own little bubble).

18

I think the Pride light-weight fights are good. Those are actually great light-weight fights.
I guess no one cares much about lightweights?
Nothing much is happening at LHW and HW in the UFC and Pride.

Pride recently put out a Mirko Crocop DVD, as well as a 10 year anniversary dvd. The timimg of the Crocop dvd was interesting.
If you guys like rankings here are the GONGraku January issue rankings(Gong is one of the major combat sport magazines in Japan).

+93kg Heavyweight
1: Fedor
2: Crocop
3: Barnett
4: Nogeira
5: Werdum
6: Sylvia

-93kg Light Heavywight
1: Shogun
2: Silva
3: Arona
4: Liddel
5: Nogeira
6: Ortiz

-84kg Middleweight
1: Filho
2: Kang
3: Silva
4: Misaki
5: Henderson
6: Sakuraba(?)
Sakuraba I don’t quite get.

19

[quote]otoko wrote:

-84kg Middleweight
1: Filho
2: Kang
3: Silva
4: Misaki
5: Henderson
6: Sakuraba(?)
Sakuraba I don’t quite get. [/quote]

Especially since Aikiyama might kill him on NYE.

20

In reference to whether anyone thinks Tito will win…

Maybe I’m delusional, because no one seems to agree with me, but the way I recollect the Chuck/Tito first fight was, Tito pressing the action, actually getting in some decent and surprising strikes, taking Chuck down(although briefly), then being poked in the eye(although not intentionally), which opened up Chuck’s barrage of strikes which no one would probably be able to defend against.

That’s how I saw it after many viewings. Many of my friends do not agree with the eye poke or Tito pressing. Call me crazy.

With that in mind, I see Tito in superior shape, more mature now, having more video of Chuck to watch, healthy, and a few more fights to gauge his own performance by for this fight.

This would all seem to say that Tito is a sure winner…unless he walks into just about any of Chuck’s strikes!!