UFC 75 - London: Rampage Jackson Vs. Dan Henderson / Mirko Cro Cop Vs. Cheick Kongo

thanks for the reminder about unleahed, "releashed"

if i had the cash i would be going to ohio for sure...but montreal is way more do-able for me. that would be awesome if we could all hook up for the show there. georges was right when he said "my people will go crazy". the bell centre will go nuts!!!

i fear for hughes' safety, however, if he beats matt serra and has to go to montreal. he is...how you say...not well liked in quebec. the fight with georges could be the least of his worries!

the speech was awesome. you could tell there was a large contingent of canadian fans there. UFC à Montréal?...mais oui, bien sur!

civ_eng_girl wrote:

i think Dana is doing a good job of maintaining the integrity and sportsmanship of the UFC... it's along the same lines as when he kicked Noah and Marlon out of TUF5... saying that the sport has more to do than just drunken brawling... good on him...

speaking of GSP, i caught a bit of Unleashed last night and saw his fight with BJ Penn... (ok - i only saw the last round, becuase i 'closed my eyes', just for a sec ) i was pleased to find out that he actually won that fight! just the other day i watched his post-fight interview from his hospital bed (:eek: ) on youtube, and he said he 'wasn't 'appy with the way the fight went, and that there were a lot of lessons learned'... it sounded as though he lost!

GSP en Montréal! je suis tellment excitée!

thanks to releash's reminder, i caught that fight last night. hadn't seen it in a while. i know what you're saying about the way georges looked after that fight. that was the complaint from some of BJ's cornermen...that georges looked the way he did, yet won the split decision.

it was a tough break for georges because he caught a thumb in the eye, followed by an uppercut that just clipped his nose causing it to bleed and as a result georges had breathing problems and was seeing bj in double vision for the remainder of the fight. so bj definitely won the first round, which was mostly striking, but it wasn't as one-sided as some made it out to be in terms of effective strikes landed. georges was forced to turn it into a clinch and control game then and was able to put bj on his back (which is quite a feat in and of itself) twice? in each of the final rounds as well as landing some half decent elbows. they both got very tired and bj tried for a gogoplata submission with a few seconds left, but never really got his position right to lock it in.

anyway, georges won the final two rounds on two judges' scorecards. one of the judges scored the fight for penn a lot of bj penn fans were angry after that one because of the way georges looked...they thought bj should have won the fight. it was pretty clear who won each round, though.

it wasn't a bad fight, but it would have been much more exciting if bj had been in shape and georges hadn't taken the thumb in the eye in the first.

long winded explanation...sorry, ceg.

civ_eng_girl wrote:

best. name. ever.

and a pretty cool move too!
BJ is very bendy....



that's ok... i'm used to it... :rolleyes: hehehe...

you funny. i take you to sable island instead of cape breton island...."where is the hip...i don't see the signs for sydney?!?!...."

also, i make you watch match ended with gogplata. now you have to watch two matches! so there!

a word from babalu...


BABALU ISSUES STATEMENT FOLLOWING NSAC HEARING
Saturday, September 01, 2007
MMAWeekly.com


Renato "Babalu" Sobral issued the following statement after his initial hearing before the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Friday regarding his actions in a bout with David Heath at UFC 74. In the days after the fight, Sobral was released from his UFC contract.



To My Family, Friends, Fans and Sponsors:

Since UFC 74, I have wanted to speak publicly about my fight with David Heath. I waited to do so, however, out of respect for the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Zuffa, Inc. and Dana White. After all, it is their efforts that have legitimized Mixed Martial Arts in the sports world and I realize that my conduct has unintentionally hindered those efforts. For that, among other things, I am deeply sorry.

I have been fighting professionally since 1998. Prior to my fight with David Heath, my professional record was twenty-seven wins with seven losses. Fourteen of my victories came by way of submission. Not once was I ever accused of holding a choke or submission too long. If anything, there has always been and continues to be a great camaraderie between my opponents and I after the fight.

Being a professional mixed martial artist is more than a career to me. It is my livelihood and my way of life. Consequently, I am deeply sorry for any embarrassment that has been brought upon the sport, other mixed martial artists (especially David Heath), my Academy and most importantly, my family.

As if the embarrassment were not enough, my actions during the fight with David and my comments afterwards, have already resulted in severe financial loss to my family because as you know, in addition to my win bonus still being withheld, yesterday I was released from my contract with the UFC.

There has been much talk about things that may have been said to me by David Heath at the weigh-in. What David said to me at the weigh-in didn’t matter then and doesn’t matter now. What matters are my comments after the fight. And, regardless of what you may read by so called MMA experts on the internet, I never said that I purposefully choked-out David Heath. In short, my post-fight comments, while inappropriate, were not intended to be comments about the choke. Rather, they were intended to be comments about the aggressive performance that I put in.

I did not intentionally choke out David Heath. The first that I realized that David had tapped was when people told me that he did after the fight. When I finally had the chance to view the tape, I see that he did. When David tapped, I did not feel it. I wish I did for I would have let it go. Instead, I continued to hold it. Not because I was upset or wanted him to lose consciousness. I held it because I didn’t know he tapped and I was intent on winning the fight. Holding on to a choke a little long is not an uncommon mistake made in training, and never in my career have I witnessed or heard of an injury resulting from it.

When I had the choke, I was not looking the referee in the eyes as one commentator erroneously observed. Nor did I hear the referee issue any verbal command to release the hold. Instead, my head was down to strengthen the move and my eyes closed with focus. As a result, I did not feel the referee tap me the first time either. It was not until he put his hands on my right shoulder that I felt him trying to separate us. When I felt this, I immediately released the choke.

After [Friday's] hearing [with the Nevada State Athletic Commission] I traveled to the UFC’s office to meet with Dana White. Contrary to recent reports in the media, this meeting was not to discuss my being released from the UFC. In fact, this meeting was arranged prior to my even being released from the contract. The purpose of the meeting was for me to personally apologize to Dana while at the same time thank him for all the opportunities that the UFC has given to my family and I. Unfortunately, I was unable to meet with Dana due to a calendaring error Nevertheless, thanks Dana and my apologies.

I am a professional fighter. This is what I do for a living. I do not hold a day job and then train at night to fight. I know nothing else but how to fight. This is how I support my family.

On behalf of my family and friends, I appreciate the support that you have given me over the years, not to mention in the recent week, and I am hopeful that I will have the opportunity to fight again in the State of Nevada.

Thank you.

RENATO 'BABALU' SOBRAL


http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=4617&zoneid=13

thought i would share this little video piece from sportsnet. it's about canada's new LWH #1 mixed martial artist, roger hollett. his uncle is an acquaintance of mine and his father used to be a canadian boxing champion, and it looks like if he wins his next bout here in halifax he could be getting a call from the UFC. it will be a rematch with victor valimaki, and is mainly being held due to a thumb that valimaki took during the first round of the first fight.

anyway, "The Life of a Pro Fighter" - Roger Hollett, Victor Valimaki

http://www2.sportsnet.ca/video/mma/20070829_The_life_of_a_pro_fighter

edit: there are also plenty of good interviews, previews and fight highlights if you scroll through the videos. pretty decent UFC and CDN MMA coverage from sportsnet. good to see.