UFC 103 (SPOILERS)

I've just watched all the fights from last night and it was somewhat of a disappointment in that they were all very 1 sided fights. Nice finishes to the fights but not very many back and forth battles.

Drwal v McFederies

Drew McFrederies really didn't look himself in this fight. The ending came when Drwal got the mount and IMO McFederies gave up his back too easily. Drwal sinks in the RNC with no defence offered by McFederies and its all over

Escudero v Miller

Not really much to say apart from nice stand up from Efrain. Good to see him back after his injury. A sweet straight right ends Cole Miller's night in the 1st.

Griffin v Franca

Nice stand up from Griffin. He looks compact, light, quick, explosive - all the good adjectives you can use to descride good stand-up. Way to much for Franca who never really gets into the fight. Griffin lands some excellent inside leg kicks during the fight. Griffin puts Franca on his ass in the 2nd

Koscheck v Trigg

Koscheck drills Trigg with a big overhand right. Trigg is out, the ref stops it, Trigg regains his thoughts and complains its an early stoppage. Sit down, shut up, good night. Kos via TKO round 1

Kampmann v Daley

I did have high hopes for Kampmann. Wild punches from Semtex ends Kampmann's run towards the title. You always felt one was going to connect and end this early. Not sure how Daley will fair against a fighter likw Swick. Massive win for the Brit though.

Cro-Cop v Dos Santos

Sorry guys but Cro-Cop is finished. He didn't look good at all in that fight. I hope Junior goes on to fight for the title now. It ends in the 3rd when after some punishing knees by Dos Santos. Cro-Cop complains he can't see. Its all over. Wierd end to a fight but there you go.

Belfort v Franklin

Belfort hits Franklin a bunch of times. Franklin gets stopped. Disappointing.

Guys thats not me being flippant - there just isn't really an awful lot to say about any of last nights fights.

FOTN and SOTN were both given to Rick Story for stopping Brian Foster with an arm triangle but it wasn't televised.

KOOTN was given to Belfort - please, pull the other one!! There were seveal better Ko's than Belforts last night. Kos, Escudero, Griffin or Daley deserved it more. But I guess Dana has to keep the new boy happy.

All fights are available here....

http://mixedmartialartvideos.com/

Crocop has been awful in the UFC, its noot like he fought any of top guys in that division.
He really just has 1 win against Sanchez, his other win against Al-Turk was after an eye poke that stupid ref didnt see.

And ofcourse his bad loss to Gonzaga and Kongo, now he lost to another HW outside top 10. I dont think he will stay in UFC for much longer, certainly cant see him given another contract. Its a shame we wont be able to see Nog-Crocop 2.

I can see Mirko fighting Gonzaga next in that rematch, i hope for his sake he doesnt accept it though. He was awful yesterday, he kept retreating and trying to catch Dos Santos with a left jab and from time to time go for his LHK. He showed no aggresion or anything. i think Dos Santos showed him alot of respect and could have finished the fight alot sooner, if he went full out.


Oh well all good things must come to an end i suppose, atleast Belfort is back

I don't know how you can say Dos Santos isn't a top 10 Heavyweight???

Well he wasnt top 10 before the Crocop fight but he certainly is now, according to 2 or 3 rankings ive seen online somewhere...


Even a desperation groin kick couldn't even change the fight, I bet Crop wishes he'd have saved the eye poke for Santos.

So gutted about the main event, bloody hell

Good news other wise, Dos Satos beats Cro Cop in a fight he was quite easily winning. The first round was close but Dos Santos outstruck him in every round. You could see Cro Cop sensed trouble so he kept going to the clinch. Awful conditioning by Cro Cop he got tired quickly and I think Dos Santos should have finished earlier, he just showed Cro Cop too much respect. Its another good win for him, this fight showed he can gut it out in fights where he doesn't get the KO quick. Id like to see his conditioning improve a bit more and I think in that fight he should have thrown a lot of leg kicks, but I think the respect factor came in there. Either way another big win, his UFC resume is now a lot more impressive than Velasquez and Carwin. Werdum is already better than any fighter Velasquez/Carwin has faced and Cro Cop is better than majority. Plus the lower level fighter he faced, Stefan Struve is actually quite decent and a lot better than the can's Veasquez and Carwin beat.

Kos easily beat Trigg, not much to say really.

Daley looked good yesterday, he has a lot of power and technique which makes him a dangerous fighter. Obviously his problem is on the ground so its quite bizzare Kampmann didn't go after it imediatily. I think Daley should fight Swick and thats a fight I think he can win.

Grifffin looked awesome last night, that was the best ever Griffin we saw and its important his striking has turned so good because no he can give people some serious problems. Very good job by Griffin.

Escudero also looked awesome, I didn't know he had striking like that. This guy can b a real force, Miller is no joke and Escudero kicked his ass.

BTW I think Griffin should hve been given KO of the night.

you guys are wrong, i know crocop wasnt very good last night but it was a close fight until the thumb in the eye from dos santos. Junior threw much more but he missed most of them and Mirko landed all but one of his punches, but he hasnt been agressive since losing to Gonzaga, i was gutted for ages but then Michael Owen cheered me up a little bit. I would stlil like to see him fight Nogueira otherwise drop to LHW.

It wasn't a thumb to the eye it was an uppercut to the eye which damaged his vision and so he tapped. I had Dos Santos winning every round 10-9, although I could see Cro Cop winning the first. In the third Dos Santos got a sudden burst of energy and started getting some brutal knees and punches which was too much for Cro Cop. This is one of the few fights ive seen where Cro Cop's size looked to be an issue, he was bullied by Dos Santos. Thing is, Dos Santos is an average sized HW, imagine what guys like Duffe, Carwin and Lesner could do. So whats next for Cro Cop? Maybe a match with some one like Tusherer or what he should have done a long time ago, move to LHW. He can easily make 205, maybe fight Randy in his first fight or some one a little easier like Krystof. I don't think he is done, I just think he was beaten by a younger, hungrier, bigger, stronger, more powerful fighter. He doesn't need to take on these new breed of young, big, athletic HWs anymore.

Oh and with Franklin Losing and Manutd winning I was pretty gutted as well. Ashley Cole has cheered me up for the time being.

It was unfortunate the way it ended, Mirko was losing the round but he was still in it and he didnt get KOd or give up to a submission hold or to a barrage of strikes, but a shot that accidentaly cause him to lose vision in his eye, so it was unfortunate. The groin shot was also annoying, Junior came forward as he threw it that why it his the groin, but i thought at the time Junior was close to gassing and Mirko could outlast him but he got a good rest that he needed, even if he had to get kicked in the balls to earn it!

Ye it was an annoying finish as well for me because I wanted a more decisive way, it was unfortuante but at the same time those punches from Dos Santos have intent to hurt. The kick to the balls was also annoying but I doubt it would have affected the final result, but maybe thats because im a big fan of Dos Santos

Did anyone see the Steve Lopez-Jim Miller fight? Miller looked very good but that injury to Lopez was nasty, his elbow just popped out. It suprised me because he didn't look into much pain but I felt sorry for him.

Oh and if there were ever a reason to have a fatal 4 way match in MMA, now is the time. A Silva vs Nate vs Hendo vs Belfort for MW belt

In all honesty I think its proberly going to be Hendo vs Silva and Nate vs Belfort even though disapprove with that. It should be Nate vs Hendo and Belfort vs Okami with the winner of the first fight getting a title shot and the winner of the second fight facing Wandy vs Cote/Reljic to determine the new number one contender.

Mirko Crocop = shot fighter. What else can you say. The man spent most of the fight ducking his head and pushing Dos Santos' chest... When people start sparing they duck their head like that when they are scared of getting hit and Mirko is the same, he really really doesnt want to get hit in the face... Gonzaga ruined him. He may be able to compete at his natural weight class at 205lbs but I cant see him acomplishing any more with his career. He gave us some of the best MMA highlights but his head isnt in the game anymore and perhaps he cant physically cut it any more. Sad to see.

Belfort is back! Woohoo! I was convinced he was going to beat Rich, It was a slower start than I expected but a good finish despite the punch that dropped him not cleanly connecting. I think Hendo vs Silva (as he has UFC by the balls) and Nate vs Belfort for the next shot. I can see Nate vs Beflort being a classic!!! Hope thats how it goes down. I love my prediction of Belfort beating Silva to come true! The wole Jesus thing wears a little thin with Beflort but he is such an entertaining figher.

I knew Kos would beat Trigg, But I didnt expect so badly! I think maby Fitch should be next for Kos... only problem is the top of that devision is s dead end. I dont see him beating Alves or GSP

Heres what Dana had to say!

“The question that I had coming into this fight was, 'What Vitor are we going to see?' The explosive Vitor that goes right after [his opponents], or the Vitor that lays back and couldn't pull the trigger? He pulled the trigger tonight, and as soon as he hurt [Franklin], he went right in for the kill.”

“To be honest with you, the way the last two fights happened with Marquardt and Henderson against Anderson Silva, I think it would be better to see them fight each other, and the winner of that become the next contender. I think Vitor is ready to fight Anderson Silva (now).”

Id sat Cro Cop is going through the "Matt Hughes" stage of his career where he now just can't deal with the younger more physical athletes. I wouldn't say shot but he is done at HW, time to go to LHW. Its not like Dos Santos is a can, if he lost to Al-turk then id agree but Dos Santos is one of the fastet rising HWs in the world and he deserves credit as well.

Id rather have Belfort face Silva over Hendo because its something new. I think Hendo is scared of losing to Nate, he knows this could be his last chance at glory so he is going right after it. Either way, unfortunatley I don't see either beating the spider his striking is better than Belforts and his head movement is excellent as well. I could see Henderson beating Belfort as well because Hendo's iron chin, Vitor's questionable conditioning and the fact that Belfort struggles against larse wrestlers. Don't forget Okami, Sexyama, Reljic, Cote and Wandy will be in the mix for the title as well.

I think Hendo would beat Vitor, as happened in 2006.
I think Hendo beats Nate, Vitor but not anderson
Nate beats none.
Vitor beats Anderson and nate.
Anderson beats Hendo and Nate.


anyway this is a translation of a crocop interview and it makes me very sad.

I fucked up and that's all there is to it.

Maybe the ones who say that I'm done are right. Obviously i can't break my mental block in the octogon. Besides, I've been training like a spartan for 20 years, my body is worn out. Years cought up to me, I've been eaten out.

WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED IN THE THIRD ROUND BEFORE THE STOPPAGE?

Dos Santos punched me in the eye and tore my eye-lid. Blood and sweat completely blurred my vision. I was standing there like a blind man. At one moment i confused my oponennt and the judge.

DID YOU STOP THE FIGHT?

No, I didn't stop it and I didn't ask the judge to stop it. But it wasn't an early stoppage, he won that fight and would have won it by decision.

Simply - he is younger, more hungry, more agressive. He wanted to win a lot more.

HIS FACE SHOWS YOU DID SOME DAMAGE?

Yeah, I lended a few good shots and made a cut abouve his eye but all together I failed bigtime.

WHAT HAPPEND TO LEGENDARY LHK?

The mat was slippery like glass. I almost fell down trynig to do the LHK. But I'm not looking for an aliby. This was not the performance somebody would by a ticket for,

SO, WHAT HAPPEND IN DALLAS, WHAT HELD YOU BACK?

I don't feel the hunger for the win anymore. I started playing it safe, I'm not ready to take any risks. I would like to thank everybody that supported me and stood by me and everbody who helped me to prepare for this fight.

THIS SOUNDS LIKE A GOODBYE?

I've been living a military life for 20 years now. Getting up at 6 am and having sport related activities till 8 pm. I have a desire for normal life. I'm enteing a cage and thinking about fishing in Privlaka. You can't win that way.

WAS THIS YOUR LAST FIGHT?

Maybe I shold've quit after i won OWGP...


Cro Cop: Mjesto mi je u 'starom željezu' - Jutarnji.hr

Nate beats Hendo by UD
Nate beats Belfort by UD
Silva beats Nate by TKO
Silva beats Hendo/Belfort by Sub/TKO

Reljic beats Silva by KTFO

That interview is quite sad, its sounds like good bye. I hope he takes one more fight against some one like McCully or even Houstan Alexander so he can have a happy good bye.

Man that was really sad to read... You can see in his face he hadnt wasnt in the frame of mind to win. At times he hit Dos Santos with straight and I though keep that going and start with Leg kicks and he could win but he didnt look like he wanted to be in the fight he was clintching, ducking his head to avoid damage, Pushing Dos Santos in the chest when he could have been punching... A real strange stight. One of MMA's most disapointing storys. There were times I though Crocop could have been the greatest. He beat Barnett 3 times! Ko'd Wanderlei, Nearly stopped Nog, Beat Coleman easily, beat Randleman, Aleks, Igor Vovchanchyn, and Ol Ironhead twice as well as in K-1 he beat Bonjasky, Aerts, Hunt and Le Banner!! He has taken on and beat the best on both sports but never fully lived up to his potential.

Back in the day he could have been Lhw champ, He could have outstruck Liddell and had a great sprawl and brawl like Chuck... I think this is the end of Mirko, He will be like MMA's Tyson, A wrecking machine in his Prime. Both were once the most feared strikers in the world and both didnt age gracefully loosing their fighting spirit. Im sad to say I though Mirko would loose, I optimisticially said he was a 45/55 underdog depnding on which Mirko showed up but I didnt expect to see the old Mirko.

Since the Openweight GP he didnt look the same. Even in winning against Eddie Sanchez he looked ordinary. I dont think its a mental block with the Ocotgon because he looked equally ordinary in the ring.

If he hangs up his gloves I still see him as a Hall of Famer because he was the number 2 heavy in the world for a while and in his Prime an unmatched striker. Its a shame how his career turned out. Id love to see him take a year or 2 out and make one last comeback at 205lbs. I think against men his own size we would see him more confident. I wouldnt put it passed even a 36 or 37year old Mirko to chop down Rampage etc.. But thats probabally hopefull I think he is done

good luck to him anyway if he wasnt to hang them up and relax ill wish him all the best and have fond memories of his career, He will always be the man who provided the best highlights!

Belfort beats them all!! Im calling him for Mw champ by the end of the year! Hendos cardio is bad at his age and I dont see it getting better I think a fight with Belfort would see a different result if it happened now.

If it really is all over for Mirko then he has been my favourite ever fighter, a legend of mma and pioneer for elite strikers in the sport.

the following vid is all clips from pre 2004 from his k1 and early pride days some of which i hadn't seen before, its a great video, he was a beast and in his day, the greatest striker in MMA bar none.
I am 100% that pre-UFC Mirko would destroy the dos santos that fought last night, he didnt greatly impress me, didnt score the KO and ate some good shots.

That translation makes really sad reading, not only is he basically saying that he doesn't want it any more, but also that he's been 'eaten out'. Does that mean he's had a sex change and turned gay as well? I don't think I could handle that.....

Thanks for the memories Mirko, badass through and through and a true icon of the sport.

That Interview is sad to read, however It is always better for a fighter to realise he is done and retire with his health.

Dang i called Vitor KO'ing Rich it was obvious to me Vitor is on another level he is so quick and explosive and he isn't black (Mike Goldberg wishes he was ) and i'm going to call this early too Anderson is going to get knocked the FUCK OUT ! if they fight (i bet Ed Soars is imagining excuses as i type this)

Cro Cop is done he didn't look his self the Gonzaga KO took a lot away from the mystique and imitimation Mirko once had nothing against Junior but he ain't nothing special IMO

Daley looked great that uppercut after Martin's failed takedown attempt started it all it was vicious if he continues to improve his wrestling & takedown defence.

Drawl is going to be a factor at MW he is a huge MW and could cause a lot of problems.

Cro-cop was a great striker in MMA but that was when MMA was still in its infancy.

Cro-cop has not been relevent in the heavyweight scene since Fedor beat him really,yes he won the OWGP but like I have said before he only beat one heavyweight to win that and that happened to be against a fighter who Cro-cop just seemed to have his number.

Since the Fedor fight 5 years ago he has not even fought a fighter who themselves had cemented themselves a top 10 heavyweight spot apart from Barnett and he struggled against them all,the four fighters who can easily be classed as top twenty fighters or above he has lost to or in Overeems case he was losing badly before the fight ended.

He was full of excuses after that fight as well like "I wanted to continue but the doctor stopped it,I wanted to take him into the later rounds where I would stop him" Bullshit you where getting murdered in that fight and you should of been gratefull you had an excuse before you got hurt.

He was beat by Hunt,Destroyed by Gonzaga and out struck by Kongo.Is Kongo now the most devastating striker in the world?shit no he is just slightly better than Cro-cop.
The fighters he has beat in the UFC only have a combined carear record of 14-12.

I think Dos Santos gave him far to much respect and should of made an easier fight for himself,I would put money on it that if they ever had the chance to fight again,then Cro-cop would not see the end of the first round.

What was with Cro-cops constant trying to duck and push him off,it looked like Dos Santos was pulling an imaginary jacket over his head,very poor indeed.

He did great things in being a name that brought some good publicity to MMA but he is no longer competetive in the heavyweight division as I doubt he would make many top 20 lists anymore.

Crocop pre 2006 would destroy Dos Santos i am 100% sure of that, if you cant see that the fighter saturday night is not in the same mental shape or physical prime as the one in the vid i posted then you are blind.

this is a prime cop, who could beat anyone except fedor.




this is what we saw in dallas;



he wouldnt even counter hit a sloppy striker like dos santos (look at his punches)

Guys you have to give Dos Santos credit, it sounds like your just putting it down to a poor performance by Cro Cop. It wasn't the best performance by Dos Santos either and he still won pretty comfortably.

I wouldn't say Cro Cop is a disapointment because I never felt he could be the best in the world at HW or period. First you have Fedor, the greatest HW of all, who was just too well rounded for Cro Cop. Cro Cop was just too one dimensional for Fedor. Cro Cop, like Liddell has not grasped the concept of the new breed of MMA fighters, its not just about well rounded, its about being an athlete as well. The Nog who suberb skills and durability also made him a better fighter than Cro Cop.

Honestly, I don't think there was any HW, pre 2006 or not that would come into a fight against some one like Lesner and be favourite, his takedown defence could not stop the size and strength of Lesner's takedowns. Size is also a bit of an issue when you only have on tool to your game, some one like Fedor could get away with it because of his many arts, Cro Cops striking isn't enough.

Cro Cop probably was the best striker in MMA but if you compare him to A silva then there is no real comparison, Silva has so many tools standing up, he has his excellent head movement, deadly accurate punches, power, a good chin, lethal kicks and brutal Muay Thai. Cro Cop has power and the HK but thats it.

He has lived up to his potentiol IMO, maybe he could have achieved more but beating Fedor, Nog and now Lesner is a very tough job for anyone so I can't blame him for that.

So what now for him? I hope he takes 6 months to a year off, no training and no fighting. He should go back to Crotia, relax with his family and freinds, do a bit of fishing and finally get the rest he deserves after 20 years of military and MMA training. After that, he needs to ask himself if he has the hunger to come back, get in shape, train like a proper athete and fight. If its no, then I will be saddened by the retirement of one of the greatest fighters in MMA history. If he does, well then he needs to finally go to 205, take a warm up fight and he can make one last attempt at glory. Only he knows if has the hunger.

Either way, he has already proved himself and given us some of the greatest MMA momments, I don't feel like he will go down as an almost but thats just me.