I’d love to hear some predictions on the upcoming UFC.
Will this be BJ Penn’s final performance? Going out on his shield to a younger, bigger stronger fighter?
Will Henderson retain his title?
Let’s discuss…
[quote]ZEB wrote:
I’d love to hear some predictions on the upcoming UFC.
Will this be BJ Penn’s final performance? Going out on his shield to a younger, bigger stronger fighter?
[/quote]
I don’t know if BJ will ever have a final performance. He seems like he loves to fight, can be goaded into fighting, and has shown a willingness to fight under short/poor training camps in the past. Even if he retires, he might fight again in a few years just because someone called him out.
I think MacDonald is in a great position to be a surrogate GSP. He has size, talent, and the same damn gym. This is a bad fight for BJ, for every reason GSP is a bad match for him.
Penn has a punchers chance, and plenty of heart, but I think MacDonald’s reach and training can pose all the problems BJ has trouble solving. Diaz busted him up with conditioning and reach (BJ’s boxing when he can land his jab is great. When he can’t land his jab…well GSP, Diaz, and Edger have shown us that). Macdonald has the range, and probably the gas tank. Penn was smashed in the last round against Fitch, and MacDonald brings the size and conditioning to do the same. Though I don’t think MacDonald has the grappling that Fitch or GSP have.
Penn should have lobbied for a shorter opponent who lacks head movement. I think Guida would have been perfect. Of course if he started picking his fights he wouldn’t be BJ Penn.
[quote]
Will Henderson retain his title?
Let’s discuss…[/quote]
Yes. Absolutely.
Benson Henderson is everything Clay Guida should be, but better and smarter. I don’t think Nate Diaz is that different a fighter than he was in 2009 when Guida smothered him.
Henderson can bring takedowns, scrambles, head movement, submission defense, and the CONDITIONING needed to beat Diaz. Diaz’s biggest advantage is reach. I don’t think it will be enough. I don’t think Bendo finishes Diaz, but I think he wins the fight.
BTW ZEB, you didn’t respond to my Dan Severn walkout comment in the other thread.
Regards,
Robert A
I think Diaz will give Henderson trouble on the feet, and I only say that because I notice Henderson’s defense while standing isn’t spectacular by any means and he doesn’t have the footwork to deal with the constant pressure.
Penn vs MacDonald: I think Rory is going to take this by a landslide, if it gets uncomfortable on the feet (but I dont think he will have too much of a problem there) he’s just going to wrestle fuck the points away on BJ. As for BJ penn’s last performance, I doubt it very much. The dude loves this shit too much.
I couldn’t give a shit about Swick and Brown, yawn.
Shogun Vs Gustaffson should be interesting. As always, it really comes down to which “version” of shogun we see show up. He’s one of the most inconsistent superstar fighters out there.
[quote]Aussie Davo wrote:
I think Diaz will give Henderson trouble on the feet, and I only say that because I notice Henderson’s defense while standing isn’t spectacular by any means and he doesn’t have the footwork to deal with the constant pressure.
Penn vs MacDonald: I think Rory is going to take this by a landslide, if it gets uncomfortable on the feet (but I dont think he will have too much of a problem there) he’s just going to wrestle fuck the points away on BJ. As for BJ penn’s last performance, I doubt it very much. The dude loves this shit too much.
I couldn’t give a shit about Swick and Brown, yawn.
Shogun Vs Gustaffson should be interesting. As always, it really comes down to which “version” of shogun we see show up. He’s one of the most inconsistent superstar fighters out there.[/quote]
Was going to type a somewhat lengthy prediction but this describes my opinion very well.
The UFC on FOX cards have been really good this year.
I wonder if we will see the changing of the guard on Saturday? The older guys who have been around all lose and Henderson the champion loses.
[quote]ZEB wrote:
I wonder if we will see the changing of the guard on Saturday? The older guys who have been around all lose and Henderson the champion loses.
[/quote]
With the exception of Penn getting smashed, I don’t think so. Maybe I’m being biased because Shogun is my favorite fighter, but I just don’t think that Gus is at that level just yet. Although like another poster commented on, it really depends on what Shogun shows up. If the Shogun who fought Vera shows up its gonna be a bad night haha.
Benson should have no issues retaining his title, and I look forward to an exciting fight and a great card. Really pumped that this is free!
There’s something wrong when almost all of the free cards have been better than PPV events…
[quote]j70 wrote:
[quote]ZEB wrote:
I wonder if we will see the changing of the guard on Saturday? The older guys who have been around all lose and Henderson the champion loses.
[/quote]
With the exception of Penn getting smashed, I don’t think so. Maybe I’m being biased because Shogun is my favorite fighter, but I just don’t think that Gus is at that level just yet. Although like another poster commented on, it really depends on what Shogun shows up. If the Shogun who fought Vera shows up its gonna be a bad night haha.
Benson should have no issues retaining his title, and I look forward to an exciting fight and a great card. Really pumped that this is free![/quote]
I think Penn is going to lose, not that I want him to. Henderson and Diaz is going to be one exciting match up.
I think Dana White makes match ups that help the UFC (obviously). And if that’s true he wants Shogun to lose so he can promote the next big thing which is Gus vs Bones. That’s just my theory, but if true Shogun loses tonight. Not that I want him to lose I’d love to see him win if only to thwart Dana White’s plans for Gus/Bones.
BJ is getting worked…can’t say i didn’t expect it.
That was the worst BJ Penn weve ever seen. It was simply embarrassing. The reason Rory Mac won is not because he looked good, its because BJ looked bad. And it sucks because while im not a BJ fan, i fucking hate MacDonald. He is just such a terrible personality and looks like such a douche.
I hope Condit rematches him and puts him in his place again.
I have to admit - I stopped watching BJ Penn and just sat here watching baretta’s avatar.
I won lunch by betting that Shogun would be “vintage UFC” Shogun and get gassed and mauled.
He didn’t wear his white shorts that’s why he lost =)
BJ did so little, it looked like a worked fight.
An old story, aging fighers get slower and often can’t or won’t impose their game that much.
Which in MMA is even more dangerous then in other martial arts.
Shogun looked as speedy as a stranded whale in a John Woo shootout.
Shogun, please retire or change camp !
BJ’s gameplan and was about as realistic as Poland’s defense 1939.
BJ, please retire or quit fighting!
p.s. my disdain for cutting massive amounts of weight isn’t getting smaller.
Penn just looked like he didn’t belong in the cage with MacDonald from a size standpoint (looked like two separate weight classes) and as always seems to be the case, he had conditioning problems and didn’t seem to be able to deal with Rory’s reach advantage.
Shogun actually looked like he was getting the best of Gus early in the fight, but then seemed like he was determined to force a brawl as the fight went on. It may have been a conditioning issue, but if you look at his recent fight history that seems to be his MO as of late.
Loved seeing Henderson dominate Nate, but I was screaming at the tv for more leg kicks and knees to the legs from the clinch from Bendo (since he landed pretty much all of them and they seemed to be wearing on Diaz). It was especially frustrating to see him insist on putting his legs in harm’s way in Nate’s guard rather than just kneeing or kicking Nate in the legs while Diaz was on his back. Bendo is definitely good, but he’s still got a ways to go till I’d call him a smart fighter.
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
Penn just looked like he didn’t belong in the cage with MacDonald from a size standpoint (looked like two separate weight classes) and as always seems to be the case, he had conditioning problems and didn’t seem to be able to deal with Rory’s reach advantage.
Shogun actually looked like he was getting the best of Gus early in the fight, but then seemed like he was determined to force a brawl as the fight went on. It may have been a conditioning issue, but if you look at his recent fight history that seems to be his MO as of late.
Loved seeing Henderson dominate Nate, but I was screaming at the tv for more leg kicks and knees to the legs from the clinch from Bendo (since he landed pretty much all of them and they seemed to be wearing on Diaz). It was especially frustrating to see him insist on putting his legs in harm’s way in Nate’s guard rather than just kneeing or kicking Nate in the legs while Diaz was on his back. Bendo is definitely good, but he’s still got a ways to go till I’d call him a smart fighter.[/quote]
The size difference was glaring for sure in the Penn fight, but the bottom line is we saw the worst version of BJ Penn thats ever stepped in that octagon. I have never seen him so passive and slow. It was embarrassing to watch and if retirement isnt the next step, then he must be on drugs (that would hopefully explain his sorry performance)
Shogun is kind of in the same boat, but not as bad as Penn, still good, but not great, and at this point i dont think he has anything for Henderson, Jones, Machida, Rashad, and obviously Gus. I just dont think that after 3 major knee surgeries that we will ever see him get into the kind of shape he needs to to last 3 rounds without fading. I say make Shogun/Rampage 2 happen and call it a career.
To me the Bendo fight made up for those last 2 preceding fights. I cant say i was at all “frustrated” by it, it was a fantastic, completely dominating performance, even more so since i cant stand the Diaz retards. I will say i was a bit annoyed, as you were, that he put his legs in danger like that. I also would have liked to see more leg kicks only because i think Bendo could have finished Nate, he was clearly hurting from them and Benson could have landed em all night. Bendo really impressed me, as i figured if he won it would have been a boring strategic decision, but he basically nullified Nate’s aggression by taking it to him.
Again, really impressed with Bendo and looking forward to more epic performances like that. Think hes got LW locked in for a while.
not cutting + not learning anything new + getting slower + bad camp & corner < cutting science jedi + hard working talent + bigger frame on steroids + right gameplan
[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
Penn just looked like he didn’t belong in the cage with MacDonald from a size standpoint (looked like two separate weight classes) and as always seems to be the case, he had conditioning problems and didn’t seem to be able to deal with Rory’s reach advantage.
Shogun actually looked like he was getting the best of Gus early in the fight, but then seemed like he was determined to force a brawl as the fight went on. It may have been a conditioning issue, but if you look at his recent fight history that seems to be his MO as of late.
Loved seeing Henderson dominate Nate, but I was screaming at the tv for more leg kicks and knees to the legs from the clinch from Bendo (since he landed pretty much all of them and they seemed to be wearing on Diaz). It was especially frustrating to see him insist on putting his legs in harm’s way in Nate’s guard rather than just kneeing or kicking Nate in the legs while Diaz was on his back. Bendo is definitely good, but he’s still got a ways to go till I’d call him a smart fighter.[/quote]
The size difference was glaring for sure in the Penn fight, but the bottom line is we saw the worst version of BJ Penn thats ever stepped in that octagon. I have never seen him so passive and slow. It was embarrassing to watch and if retirement isnt the next step, then he must be on drugs (that would hopefully explain his sorry performance)
Shogun is kind of in the same boat, but not as bad as Penn, still good, but not great, and at this point i dont think he has anything for Henderson, Jones, Machida, Rashad, and obviously Gus. I just dont think that after 3 major knee surgeries that we will ever see him get into the kind of shape he needs to to last 3 rounds without fading. I say make Shogun/Rampage 2 happen and call it a career.
[/quote]
I’d personally rather see Shogun fight Henderson again. They are both slow, plodding, heavy handed, hard headed, tough, gritty, aging fighters. Their first fight was an epic battle of will between two sluggers (ala Ward vs Gatti) and I don’t suspect anything would change (other than maybe who won the decision) should they fight again. Rampage would be fun too of course; just my preference.
By frustrated I meant that, like you said, I thought Bendo could have leg kicked Nate into a TKO, and I would have loved to have seen Diaz have to verbally tap due to being kicked in the legs till he could no longer continue (I also dispise the Diaz brothers’ attitude and enjoy watching them lose). In a way he still humiliated Nate by basically giving Nate opportunities for submissions (what Nate wanted) and defending all of them), but it wasn’t very smart IMO.
[quote]
Again, really impressed with Bendo and looking forward to more epic performances like that. Think hes got LW locked in for a while. [/quote]
I’m a fan too.
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
Penn just looked like he didn’t belong in the cage with MacDonald from a size standpoint (looked like two separate weight classes) and as always seems to be the case, he had conditioning problems and didn’t seem to be able to deal with Rory’s reach advantage.
Shogun actually looked like he was getting the best of Gus early in the fight, but then seemed like he was determined to force a brawl as the fight went on. It may have been a conditioning issue, but if you look at his recent fight history that seems to be his MO as of late.
Loved seeing Henderson dominate Nate, but I was screaming at the tv for more leg kicks and knees to the legs from the clinch from Bendo (since he landed pretty much all of them and they seemed to be wearing on Diaz). It was especially frustrating to see him insist on putting his legs in harm’s way in Nate’s guard rather than just kneeing or kicking Nate in the legs while Diaz was on his back. Bendo is definitely good, but he’s still got a ways to go till I’d call him a smart fighter.[/quote]
The size difference was glaring for sure in the Penn fight, but the bottom line is we saw the worst version of BJ Penn thats ever stepped in that octagon. I have never seen him so passive and slow. It was embarrassing to watch and if retirement isnt the next step, then he must be on drugs (that would hopefully explain his sorry performance)
Shogun is kind of in the same boat, but not as bad as Penn, still good, but not great, and at this point i dont think he has anything for Henderson, Jones, Machida, Rashad, and obviously Gus. I just dont think that after 3 major knee surgeries that we will ever see him get into the kind of shape he needs to to last 3 rounds without fading. I say make Shogun/Rampage 2 happen and call it a career.
[/quote]
I’d personally rather see Shogun fight Henderson again. They are both slow, plodding, heavy handed, hard headed, tough, gritty, aging fighters. Their first fight was an epic battle of will between two sluggers (ala Ward vs Gatti) and I don’t suspect anything would change (other than maybe who won the decision) should they fight again. Rampage would be fun too of course; just my preference.
By frustrated I meant that, like you said, I thought Bendo could have leg kicked Nate into a TKO, and I would have loved to have seen Diaz have to verbally tap due to being kicked in the legs till he could no longer continue (I also dispise the Diaz brothers’ attitude and enjoy watching them lose). In a way he still humiliated Nate by basically giving Nate opportunities for submissions (what Nate wanted) and defending all of them), but it wasn’t very smart IMO.
[quote]
Again, really impressed with Bendo and looking forward to more epic performances like that. Think hes got LW locked in for a while. [/quote]
I’m a fan too. [/quote]
Yeah, at the end of the day, Nate got humiliated and im pretty damn happy about it. However, as you said, seeing him have to admit defeat before the time expired would have been icing on the cake. Either way he looked like he didnt belong in their with Henderson.
I wish Hendo had fought more aggressively like this against Edgar. I really cant see anyway Edgar ever beats the Henderson we saw in the cage against Nate last night. IMO Edgar would have had a MUCH more difficult time going 5 rounds with Diaz. Likely would have won a boring point decision.
Aldo vs Bendo is starting to sound awesome.
i sort of became a bendo fan