UFC

(29-01-2012 17:50 )gazfc Wrote:  Glad I'm not the only one who thinks bisping was robbed, thought my bias might have been clouding my judgement. Some sort of conspiracy I reckon

The first 2 rounds were so close that they could have gone either way (Personally I didn't think Bisping did enough when he had the advantage to take the decision) but Sonnen was totally in control for the third so when you heard one judge had it 30 - 27 you knew the result. If you were looking at it as 15 mins of combat rather than 3 X 5 mins then Sonnen probably did enough over all but with the current scoring system (10 point must) if it had gone 29 - 28 to Bisping then the result could have been justified although the plain stats might be ammo for Sonnen (if he needed any considering he thinks he won the title match against Silva )

http://hosteddb.fightmetric.com/fights/3764

http://blog.fightmetric.com/2012/01/sonn...l-ufc.html

UFC Openweight Predictions Grand Prix

UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit Saturday/Sunday 3am ESPN

Nick Diaz v Carlos Condit
Roy Nelson v Fabricio Werdum
Josh Koscheck v Mike Pierce
Renan Barão v Scott Jorgensen
Ed Herman v Clifford Starks

For any newcomers i.e. terence, Carl13, babefinder
& the long lost Paul Ducky, where've you been lad???
Check post #1543 http://www.babeshows.co.uk/showthread.ph...1&page=155

Nick Diaz v Carlos Condit - Diaz ko (late)
Roy Nelson v Fabricio Werdum - Nelson ko
Josh Koscheck v Mike Pierce - Kos dec
Renan Barão v Scott Jorgensen - Barao dec
Ed Herman v Clifford Starks - starks ko

UFC Openweight Predictions Grand Prix

Nick Diaz v Carlos Condit - Diaz Sub
Roy Nelson v Fabricio Werdum - Werdum TKO
Josh Koscheck v Mike Pierce - Koscheck TKO
Renan Barão v Scott Jorgensen - Barao Sub
Ed Herman v Clifford Starks - Herman Sub

Nick Diaz v Carlos Condit -- Diaz dec --
Roy Nelson v Fabricio Werdum -- Nelson tko --
Josh Koscheck v Mike Pierce -- Koscheck dec --
Renan Barao v Scott Jorgensen -- Barao sub --
Ed Herman v Clifford Starks -- Herman dec --

Nick Diaz v Carlos Condit - Diaz TKO
Roy Nelson v Fabricio Werdum - Nelson KO
Josh Koscheck v Mike Pierce - Koscheck Decision
Renan Barao v Scott Jorgensen - Barao Submission
Ed Herman v Clifford Starks - Herman Decision

UFC Openweight Predictions Grand Prix

Nick Diaz v Carlos Condit - Condit Dec
Roy Nelson v Fabricio Werdum - Werdum Dec
Josh Koscheck v Mike Pierce - Koscheck Dec
Renan Barão v Scott Jorgensen - Barao Dec
Ed Herman v Clifford Starks - Herman Sub

Top two fights are difficult to call, same can be said for Barao/Jorgensen. I'm in the minority who thinks Condit will win.

Condit could ko Diaz on Saturday TDK.

I want Diaz to win though. Only because i want to see GSP give him a good old fashioned beat down in his next fight!


GSP on Diaz vs Condit:

"I respect Carlos Condit, but I want Diaz to win,"

"It will be a weird feeling, sitting at the Mandalay Bay wanting Nick Diaz to win. I want this fight with Diaz so badly, as badly as I wanted the title shot when I got down on my knees.

"I have never asked Dana White for anything, but I did ask to fight Nick Diaz. I was [crushed] when I had to pull out of this weekend's fight hurt, but I am determined to get back to the Octagon as soon as possible to fight this guy. He needs to hold up his part and beat Carlos Condit to make this fight happen."

"During UFC 137 I felt like I had to walk around Las Vegas with my fists ready because every time I came across him [Diaz] he wanted to fight there and then,"

"Every time the elevator opened [in the hotel] I needed to be ready to fight in case he stepped in. I was on edge all week. This guy is crazy.

"I don't truly hate him as a person. I don't know that he is a bad guy, but I hate what he brings to the sport with the disrespect and the unprofessional things he says and does. It is sort of a professional hatred. He has been nothing but disrespectful and arrogant towards me.

"I am used to hearing [trash] talk from opponents - Matt Serra did it, Dan Hardy did it, and Josh Koscheck did it - but with Diaz he has taken it to another level. He and his coach [Cesar Gracie] have called me a coward and tried to disrespect my accomplishments.

"All that has done though is make me determined to beat him up. He will bring out the best in me, I will be 100% focused, like a bomb-expert defusing a time bomb. When my back is against the wall and I have no choice but to win, when I cannot lose to this person under any cost, that is when I am most dangerous."

"I am very nervous that Carlos Condit will win, and that I won't be able to fight Nick Diaz this summer. Carlos Condit is a very good fighter, he can strike, he is aggressive and he has submissions. He has been very impressive and is the type of fighter who gets better and better the more confident he gets.

"I am not personal friends with him but I know him a little and he's a great person. I know a lot of people who know him well because we train with the same people, but I have only spoken with him a few times. He is a true mixed martial artist. I feel bad, it is weird that I want him to lose, but I have never wanted to fight anyone as much as I want to fight Diaz."

"Also, as champion, I believe Diaz deserves the fight for the title. Style-wise, he is a very tough match for me and the fans deserve to see the fight they really want to see.

"He was very impressive [against BJ Penn]. Nick Diaz's boxing is very strong; he could be the best boxer in the UFC. I don't want to be seen to be advising any other fighter how to win a fight, but if Diaz does what he does best then he should win this fight on Saturday. It is a very close fight though."

"I am ahead of schedule. I can already train and even kick but I am remaining calm and not rushing. I won't train properly until July, it is a matter of discipline not to force my knee to go harder than it can heal," he said.

"No athlete wants to sit on the sidelines, especially when you are the champion and you must watch two others fight for the interim championship belt.

"I will watch [the fight] and go home very motivated to rehab on Monday morning but I must be disciplined and I must continue to rehab at the pace I am doing."

(02-02-2012 13:39 )groundnpound Wrote:  Condit could ko Diaz on Saturday TDK.

Condit can because he's a finisher. Out of his 27 wins, Condit has finished 26 of his opponents, 13 by KO and 13 by Submission. Diaz is tough to stop.

(02-02-2012 13:39 )groundnpound Wrote:  I want Diaz to win though. Only because i want to see GSP give him a good old fashioned beat down in his next fight!

I'm hoping Condit wins not only because I predicted him but I don't like the Diaz brothers antics. I hope we get to see Georges St. Pierre vs. Nick Diaz at some point though with what each fighter has said about the other, it's really out of character for Georges St. Pierre.

He can defo stop Diaz TDK. No doubt. Can't see it though... Don't think he'll handle Diaz's never back down type style. Diaz is gonna be in his face throwing constant punches at him. Can see Diaz wearing him down and submitting him at some stage.

GSP is pissed off mate. Pissed off GSP = 1 Dangerous fighter. You'll only see the great man vs Diaz if Diaz wins at the weekend!


If Nick Diaz Wins…

Everything rests on when Georges St-Pierre will be ready to return.

Dana White said last week that his rehab was ahead of schedule, and hinted that St-Pierre could come back in the summer, but that seems a bit too quick. GSP has said an autumn return is more likely.

If St-Pierre remains on schedule, the smart move is to keep Diaz out of the cage until he can face St-Pierre. A meeting between the two is what everyone wants — save for Carlos Condit — and it would be too much of a risk to have Diaz take a fight in the interim. A Diaz vs. St-Pierre match-up is the most compelling and marketable bout that exists in the welterweight division right now, and arguably the only fight that seems to interest the injured champion, so preserving that pairing should be the first choice.

With UFC on FOX 2 delivering the two marquee main events most people were hoping for — Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans and Chael Sonnen-Anderson Silva Part II — getting a third monster main event on the schedule for later in the year would be the best case scenario.

That being said, if St-Pierre’s recovery is compromised in any way — even by a month or two — you have to keep the division moving forward. The reason an interim title was created in the first place was because the reigning champion was going to be sidelined for an extended period of time, so sticking the interim champ on the shelf for close to a year afterward makes little sense.

Whoever wins the UFC on FUEL TV main event match-up between Jake Ellenberger and Diego Sanchez would be the best choice to challenge Diaz for the title first.

If Ellenberger wins, he pushes his winning streak to six and presents an opportunity for Diaz to avenge his teammate Jake Shields’ 53-second loss to “The Juggernaut.” Should Sanchez come away with the victory, he’ll have put together a trio of wins that consists on Ellenberger, Martin Kampmann, and Paulo Thiago. Regardless of your take on the decision in the Kampmann fight, that’s a solid trifecta. Plus, Sanchez got the better of Diaz way back in November 2005, and you can be sure that Diaz would love to try and avenge that loss.

One curveball to consider in all this is the suggestion made earlier in the week by Diaz’s coach/manager Cesar Gracie, who said he would prefer his charge face St-Pierre in his next welterweight appearance, but hinted that a one-fight move up to middleweight might be a way to keep Diaz from being on the sidelines for too long.

There is no reason for the UFC to allow such a thing to happen.

While waiting on St-Pierre makes perfect sense, having the interim champ sitting on the belt, but taking a fight up in weight to stay active. A win for Diaz against a middle of the pack middleweight doesn’t really do anything to increase the interest in a bout with St-Pierre — it’s already the fight the fans want to see the most. Should he lose, it takes some of the shine off of his star, and coming into the long-awaited meeting with GSP off a loss could be difficult to work around.

Should Diaz emerge victorious on Saturday night, his immediate future will be tied to St-Pierre’s recovery. If he stays on course, Diaz stays on the sidelines. If something goes wrong, Diaz should defend the belt.


If Carlos Condit Wins…

The smartest decision would be to capitalize on the momentum gained from beating Diaz and get Condit into the cage again, regardless of when St-Pierre is scheduled to return.

Just about everyone expects Saturday’s contest to be an exciting affair — a potential Fight of the Year contender. Condit is the odd man out right now — lots of people hope he loses to preserve Diaz vs. GSP — and scoring a win over Diaz in an entertaining scrap isn’t really going to change that. The only way to bolster interest in a potential Condit vs. St-Pierre match-up is to keep rolling “The Natural Born Killer” into the cage, hoping that he continues to win in spectacular fashion.

Condit’s camp has made no bones about their desire to keep fighting regardless of St-Pierre’s status, and since the interest level in a bout between the injured champion and the interim champion isn’t all that great right now, why not see if Condit can build some more interest in the bout by putting away another solid contender?

The winner of the Ellenberger-Sanchez fight should still be Option #1 in that scenario.

One other possibility for Condit would be a rematch with Rory MacDonald, provided the young Canadian gets through Che Mills at UFC 145 in April. The two combined to win Fight of the Night honours at UFC 115 in Vancouver, with MacDonald taking it to Condit through the first two rounds before Condit battled back to earn a late third-round stoppage. The 22-year-old British Columbia native has shown a great deal of improvement since then, and many believe he is the future of the welterweight division, which could push the UFC to move in a less conventional direction.

Condit fought just once in 2011, and has now waited eight months to get back into the cage. Should he emerge victorious on Saturday night, putting him back on the shelf for another six-to-eight months makes little sense.