UFC 116 Review

Oh, and I've never said the UFC isn't the number 1 org in MMA. I have said that it was number 2 to Pride, which it clearly was. And I have said the Strikeforce have put on more exciting and stacked cards, which they have. This last UFC card was very weak for something the UFC expect people to pay 55 dollars to see. That being said, the next 2 UFC PPVs are properly stacked.

But you insist on trying to compare Strikeforce to the UFC when they are completely different things. Strikeforce is run like a boxing promotion(and any claims that it's badly run are just laughable), they hold 4 or 5 events a year where they put on the best cards available to them. The UFC is a cross between the WWE and big brother. Events are put on far too often and because of that we get a number of weak cards per year and fights are made on the basis of ratings and fighters are pushed based on financial draw. UFC is the biggest and has the best roster of fighters, but there's an equal split in a number of divisions between top 15 inside and outside the UFC and as the other organizations come together and co-promote, there is just as much competition outside the UFC, AND the likes of Strikeforce, Sengoku, Dream and Bellator are putting on great events consistently and regardless of the UFC's attempt to have a monopoly of the sport, those other organizations are the ones growing the sport in terms of fighter development and giving back to the fans.

I watched last nights fight not knowing who to cheer for so found myself able to just enjoy the fight.

Lesnar showed pretty much what we already new with regards to his stand up....... its not very good, but then showed improvement in his ground game by getting the sub win.

Find it really hard not to be impressed with Lesnar, obv he got taken apart in the 1st but he took each shot and was able to hang in there. If you watch the fight again everytime it looked like rosenthall was about to stop the fight he'd show he was still hanging on and was able to push carwin off. Its easy to be impressed by some1 for Knocking people out and winning in comfortable fashion but hanging on when your getting smashed around the octagon by a human wrecking machine surely deserves some credit?

Shane must be gutted, he had the fight won. If he'd picked his shots more maybe rosenthall would have been forced to stop the fight. Dont agree with certain posts on here with regards to Carwin, i think he'll be back and had he been fighting anyone else last night he'd have got yet another 1st rd win.

Cant see Lesnar having as many problems with CV either. I honestly think he'll win that quite confortably.

Anfields5thKing wrote:You're anti-EVERYTHING that's not UFC. I just dislike Dana and this retarded opinion that if it's not the UFC, it's not good enough. And i dislike the over-hyping of UFC fighters, such as Lesnar, who haven't proven themselves to be at the level of true greats, such as Fedor.

And who the fuck are you calling aggressive??

Gotta feel bad for Pete!

Cheers man, ended up with £250 on Carwin, I really thought I had it in the bag halfway through the 1st.

Getting a bit bitchy on here today aint it? I have to agree that the main event was pretty poor (in terms of technique anyway), Lesnar quite clearly has zero defensive skills and Carwin was unable to control himself and pick the right shots (otherwise I would be £550 richer), surely Carwin has to come away with more credit though, 1st he's been beyond the 1st, but, with better cardio, there was only going to be one winner. Lesnar looked completely out of his depth when he is unable to dominate.

Always said that Velasquez is the future of HW in UFC, didn't see anything last night that changed my mind.

With regards to Akiyama, he really needs to fight more, his cardio has been shown up badly in his last two fights.




Hope someone calls me a hurtful name now.

Once Mohawked Pete wrote:

Anfields5thKing wrote:You're anti-EVERYTHING that's not UFC. I just dislike Dana and this retarded opinion that if it's not the UFC, it's not good enough. And i dislike the over-hyping of UFC fighters, such as Lesnar, who haven't proven themselves to be at the level of true greats, such as Fedor.

And who the fuck are you calling aggressive??

Gotta feel bad for Pete!

Cheers man, ended up with £250 on Carwin, I really thought I had it in the bag halfway through the 1st.

Getting a bit bitchy on here today aint it? I have to agree that the main event was pretty poor (in terms of technique anyway), Lesnar quite clearly has zero defensive skills and Carwin was unable to control himself and pick the right shots (otherwise I would be £550 richer), surely Carwin has to come away with more credit though, 1st he's been beyond the 1st, but, with better cardio, there was only going to be one winner. Lesnar looked completely out of his depth when he is unable to dominate.

Always said that Velasquez is the future of HW in UFC, didn't see anything last night that changed my mind.

With regards to Akiyama, he really needs to fight more, his cardio has been shown up badly in his last two fights.




Hope someone calls me a hurtful name now.

I got some abuse for my name, not sure why? Huge wedge to lose on a pretty 50-50 fight though, gutted for you.
Is Cain big enough though?

116 was a great event. I can't think of any fight that didn't entertain for one reason or another.

Anfields5thKing wrote:You're anti-EVERYTHING that's not UFC.

Thats not true at all,i've said many times how I never miss a Bellator,WEC or Strikeforce event,I love them all,i love all MMA fullstop.
I do rank them in order of which are the better promotions though,no doubt and for me the UFC is the overall best.

But to be fair I've also got shit loads of enjoyment out of watching the little guys in the WEC and Bellator.


I just respond when you make claims that some how Strikeforce or Dream put on better cards or are ran better and I make more comparisons between the UFC and Strikeforce because they are the ones that concentrate on the higher weights as well as the little guys and are easier to compare vtalent to talent,which IMO is not even a debate.


Pete you goerdie bastard

Hope you you had a good night sleep to get over your money troubles,treat yourself to a few brews down your local and drown your sorrows.

Oh shit I forgot your skint

I often watch this guys predictions and reviews. He's a bit nuts but pretty funny...

Strikeforce and Dream do put on better cards in terms of using the fighters they have available to themselves and the overall quality from top to bottom.

This will be one that we will never agree on,personally I think that couldn't be any further from the truth.
But it's all about opinions(yours just happens to be wrong )

You would think listening to this stuff that anyone who gets dropped is an awful fighter.

In that case, Nog is a truley abysmal fighter, he was dropped by guys like Herring and Sylvia, how disgraceful!

See the flaw in the logic.

Overoid beat Lesnar

Cheers Payne, thought I'd be left out for a moment there. No sleep for me, was at work today from 11. Have enough pennies saved up, that I'm not just yet.

With regards to Cain, I think that his stand-up is where the fight will be won, but, I'd still like him to have another couple of fights under his belt first though.

Strikeforce's last card:

Fedor-Werdum
Cung Le-Smith
Cybord-Finney
Thomson-Healy

1 world title fights, 3 former world champions fighting, Including the greatest fighter of all .

UFCs last card

Lesnar-Carwin
Leben-Akiyama
Lytle-Brown
Soszynski-Bonnar
Sotoropoulos-Pellegrino

1 world title fight, not a single other fighter that's ever been top 10 ranked.

Strikeforce card cost 13 dollars for people who also happened to get a month worth of other TV, UFC card cost 55 dollars.

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Chelski, it's not that he got dropped, he fell on the ground. He ran away, got caught in a corner and fell on the ground. Then he curled into a ball. He has NO striking ability, can't fight off his back.

Over-Roid would KO him. Over-Roid is from another planet in terms of his striking, he has good takedown defence, is roidishly strong and has excellent submissions.

Anfields5thKing wrote:Strikeforce's last card:

Fedor-Werdum
Cung Le-Smith
Cybord-Finney
Thomson-Healy

1 world title fights, 3 former world champions fighting, Including the greatest fighter of all .

UFCs last card

Lesnar-Carwin
Leben-Akiyama
Lytle-Brown
Soszynski-Bonnar
Sotoropoulos-Pellegrino

1 world title fight, not a single other fighter that's ever been top 10 ranked.

Strikeforce card cost 13 dollars for people who also happened to get a month worth of other TV, UFC card cost 55 dollars.

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Chelski, it's not that he got dropped, he fell on the ground. He ran away, got caught in a corner and fell on the ground. Then he curled into a ball. He has NO striking ability, can't fight off his back.

Over-Roid would KO him. Over-Roid is from another planet in terms of his striking, he has good takedown defence, is roidishly strong and has excellent submissions.

Yet, more people will have paid $55 for the UFC card than will have paid $13 for Showtime. Brand is a huge factor. In saying that, 116 was more entertaining than SF: Fedor vs Werdum. Looking forward to DREAM 15 though, got high hopes for this one.

Lesnar fighting meant that the half million WWE fans who buy every WWE and Lesnar PPV came out in force. Compare SF FvW to UFC 115 and it gives a more balanced view.

Thomson vs Healy, Cyborg vs Finney and Le vs Smith were all excellent fights IMO and just as good as those on UFC 116.

Anfields5thKing wrote:Lesnar fighting meant that the half million WWE fans who buy every WWE and Lesnar PPV came out in force. Compare SF FvW to UFC 115 and it gives a more balanced view.

Thomson vs Healy, Cyborg vs Finney and Le vs Smith were all excellent fights IMO and just as good as those on UFC 116.

Really? Lesnar brings 500k WWE fans to the PPV. So without him UFC 87 would only have done just over 100k in buys? With GSP headlining too

Nothing like having a balanced point of view.

Strikeforce's last card:

Fedor-Werdum
Cung Le-Smith
Cybord-Finney
Thomson-Healy

1 world title fights, 3 former world champions fighting, Including the greatest fighter of all .

UFCs last card

Lesnar-Carwin
Leben-Akiyama
Lytle-Brown
Soszynski-Bonnar
Sotoropoulos-Pellegrino

1 world title fight, not a single other fighter that's ever been top 10 ranked.

Strikeforce card cost 13 dollars for people who also happened to get a month worth of other TV, UFC card cost 55 dollars.

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Fair poit but look.

Thompson vs Healy was a great fight, really enjoyed it.

Cyborg vs Finney was just a massacare, thats not something you particularly like to see, especially with that bitch of a ref. This was never going to a contest, just having Cyborg there doesn't mean anything. I really enjoy watching here fight, I think she is a terrfic fighter but Finney was a sacrifice to show Cyborg off, nothing more. Its litterly like putting Andy Wang in with BJ Penn.

Le vs Smith was a good fight, if unnessecary as was Werdum vs Fedor.

But sometimes name fighters don't always mean great fights. I really enjoyed UFC 116 as well, I thought all the main card fights were terrfic and there were several MOTN canditates. Sozi vs Bonnar was a war, Brown vs Lytle was fun, Pellengrino vs Soti was a good technichal battle and Leben vs Akiyama was also a very fun fight. No real stars apart from the Main event but still a great card. Nashville had fantastic fighters from top to bottom but it isn't one of the more particularly entertaining events in history is it? Im not just picking on SF because UFC 112 is exactly the same. Lots of big names, hardly the best event in the world.


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Ye but he didn't quit, otherwise he would have tapped. Look clearly there are still holes in his game, his striking mainly but he still beat a very respectable opponent. He showed subs for the first time in his career and pulled it off impresively.

Overoid does not have the takedown defence to stop Lesnar's takedowns. He won't be able to do anything off his back, he isn't better than Mir on the ground. And you don't think he will gas? Roided muscle gasses very quickly.

Overoid is one of the biggest quitters in the game as well, three punches from Lesnar on the ground and he would be tapping.


Werdum and Fedor would be better fights. Fedor has much better striking than Lesnar and he probably could do damage on the ground. Ido think Lesnar can take him down but Fedor is more dangerous than Mir on the ground and Mir did sub Lesnar. Werdum has the best BJJ at HW in MMA IMO and if anyone can attack Lesnar from his back its him. He is also probably a better striker but Lesnar has more power.

Barnett would give him a good fight.

Look at Lesnar's PPV buys vs any others headlined by anybody else. UFC often gets between 350,000 to 600,000. Lesnar HEADLINING, they get 800,000 to 1,100,000.

Chelski, Overeem would go straight at Lesnar and smash him in the face. Lesnar would turn and run. Lesnar has never faced a great striker before, the first time he faced someone with power he crumbled and crumpled and gave up. For Lesnar to take him down he risks getting one of the biggest knees in MMA. If Lesnar gets him down then it's over, but if Overeem can do what Carwin did and stand and strike, it's over. Overeem will finish him.

Nashville in terms of line-up was more impressive than any UFC card in a long time(Since 100 maybe) and that's what i mean about quality over quantity. They put on the best cards they possibily can every single time out. They don't just go with one big fight and then a bunch of b-level fighters and expect people to pay 55 quid to watch.

Finney actually gave Cyborg a decent fight, she hit her with some big shots but there's nobody that can match Cyborg in fairness.

"Lesnar has never faced a great striker before, the first time he faced someone with power he crumbled and crumpled and gave up" And there was me thinking Lesner won?!?!

Agree with you on the UFC cards vs SF/Dream Anfield but i think your view on Lesner is been a bit clouded by the hype surrounding him, he's still pretty raw and has a LOT to learn but can't see Cain causing him too much trouble, Cain couldn't even finish Kongo!

Apart from Fedor and Werdum(oh and Cyborg )

None of those fighters are top 15 never mind top 10.

Fedor-Werdum - excellent fight due to the shock value,but didn't go on for any length of time to call it a good fight,more one good move.I love to see both in the UFC(Werdum lost to JDS though )

Cung Le-Smith - Enjoyed watching Cung but it wasn't as if Smith put up a fight to call it a good fight.
Cung would get a fight but also get found out quickly against the top UFC MW's he's to small,to inactive and to old,and Smith is shit,thats why he got cut from the UFC.

Cybord-Finney - an excellent one sided mismatched beatdown more like against a women fighter a weight class below,who was less than successful at that weight,absolutely terrible fight with even worse reffing,all that fight did was show MMA up for all the wrong reasons.
Using a womens fight as a case for having a champ is reaching abit far,especially when this was one of the biggest mismatches in MMA history,this beat out aload of Pride mismatches.

Thomson-Healy - good fight I agree.
Thomson would be a welcome addition,but still he has done nothing to prove he is better than Guida,plus Guida beat him,he's had to many long lay offs to claim he is better now but he is still a very good LW and has the skills and talent,but he has yet to beat anyone apart from Melendez 2 years ago to say he is top 10(don't forget when he rematched Melendez,it was nearly a 5 rd shut out) I love watching him fight though.

Healy again would have zero chance at making it into the UFC again,he had a chance and got beat by Anthony Torres at a UFC fight night.

Chelski, Overeem would go straight at Lesnar and smash him in the face. Lesnar would turn and run. Lesnar has never faced a great striker before, the first time he faced someone with power he crumbled and crumpled and gave up. For Lesnar to take him down he risks getting one of the biggest knees in MMA. If Lesnar gets him down then it's over, but if Overeem can do what Carwin did and stand and strike, it's over. Overeem will finish him.

Nashville in terms of line-up was more impressive than any UFC card in a long time(Since 100 maybe) and that's what i mean about quality over quantity. They put on the best cards they possibily can every single time out. They don't just go with one big fight and then a bunch of b-level fighters and expect people to pay 55 quid to watch.

Finney actually gave Cyborg a decent fight, she hit her with some big shots but there's nobody that can match Cyborg in fairness
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No one at HW has more power than Carwin. Overoid obviously has better striking but not the same power. Overoid's striking is very overated though, he is miles behind the real K1 fighters.

But the part Ive highlighted I agree with. If Lesnar stays standing he is fucked. If Lesnar takes Overoid down then Overoid is fucked. The way you describe that makes it sound like a fairly even fight,while before it sounded like you gave Lesnar no chance. Thats what I didn't agree with.

Ye but when they did that it backfired horribly because the quality of the fights were quite boring. UFC 112 had two top 5 P4P fighters, two top 10 contenders, one of the greatest WWs of all time and a legend. Didn't turn out great did it?

Nashville was great on paper, but a major let down entertainment wise.
Anyway, nice to see Anfield is still as biased as ever

(edit:just realised how long this post is....damn.)

what the hell is going on in here??



Raiden is leaving?? shame to lose a member, but if you can't handle someone disagreeing with you, then you shouldn't be posting on internet forums!

anyway, there are some good points to make about Lesnar's performance. I think he has a fantastic top game, albeit against a gassed wrestler/brawler, but he also showed it against Mir.
he seems to be able to take a punch without getting knocked out, although that certainly does not mean he is comfortable taking punches. hell no.

he turned and ran for his life! what should he have done? clinched up? dropped for a leg when his opponent was coming forward? thrown back?
anyway, ive said the negative things about that main event already on the first page, so i'm not going to repeat himself.

(just a couple of thoughts:
has brock got the worst striking in the division?...and is Carwin the evolution of the heavyweight division....or a buff Tank Abbott?)




On to the UFC vs the rest debate, i'm going to post some of the reasons why i will support the rivals of the UFC.

Here are some facts first:
1. The UFC is the biggest MMA promotion in the world, by a distance.
2. They have the highest level of fighters, in general.



Some of the way that they run the promotion is disgusting to me, these are some problems that other promotions don't have.

Firstly we have the figure head (biggest knobhead) of the promotion, Dana fuckin White.
This guy is a two faces, dishonest, greedy, lying piece of shit.
NOTHING he said can be taken in earnest, if it isn't lining his pockets, he shits all over it.
When the UFC were trying to sign Fedor he said (paraphrasing)
"I am doing everything i can to get the best heavyweight in the world, Fedor to fight in the octagon"

this week he said:
"Fedor Emelianenko is a fake, a phony and a farce, even when you put him against cans he can't win."

he also told the lie "we don't sign fighters coming of a loss"

the reason he said this things is not because he beleives them, but because Fedor is a man who will not suck up to Dana White, he will not be controlled by him, he is a man who doesn't buy into the UFC hype machine that you must be in the UFC if you want to succeed as a fighter, and therefore will not "sell his soul" to ZUFFA. Dana hates this.

I think Dana could be the reign holding MMA back. This guy is a foul mouthed fake hard man, as what is effectively the figurehead of MMA. Is that really the image we want for MMA?

You can say certain things about how he made the sport bigger, but what i said is totally true.





Other things i don't like about the UFC is the way they promote MMA. To me when i watch the UFC, with all the nu-metal music, everyone has a skull somewhere on their clothing, the fighters, their coaching teams, at the weigh ins even Bruce buffer has it....that fucking Gladiator!!!! he pisses me off....this isn't a blood sport, no-one is fighting to the death here...they don't use swords!

It perpetuates the wrong image, i despise it.....and then there is the cage, the perfect fighting arena to go along with this created image that the sport has in the west. Its a cage!!! Chickens fight in cages.
the KSW and M1 promoters have said they will never go near a cage because it is not acceptable in Europe, this speaks volumes.
The cage is a gimmick for UFC 1, they used it because the crocodile filled moat idea was too far fetched.


then there is the match making.

Karlos Vermola vs Jon Madsen.
why??
Vermola is one of the most aggressive fighters ever, and he is matched up to one of the most notorious blankets in the UFC.

most of the matchups make no sense to me.


anyway all this ranting i have gassed out.


I will just say that Strikeforce promoting in a similar fashion to the boxing...which is almost completely accepted in the mainstream, is good for MMA.
And DREAM promoting a more family friendly entertainment package (minimal blood) compared with the UFC is also good for MMA.

Evenly matched,competative fights,good style match ups plus top fighters make good cards,not trying to cram the only named fighters you have onto a few cards.


It's not Strikeforce's fault that they have to do this though, they are forced to put all there names on these cards because the other 75% of there Rosta are B level fighters and they have to use their named fighters to sell there product.

And DREAM promoting a more family friendly entertainment package (minimal blood) compared with the UFC is also good for MMA.
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And showing clips of Pearl Harbour to promote there fight

Thats a long post to respond to!

If someone can't stand a different opinion then I see no point of a forum.

I've actually never understood why you dislike Lesnar so much Chesty. Aside from the fact he is big for the division, which you can hardly blame him for because there is no competitive division above. He always looks to finish the fight, no LnP from him and I always thought he was an entertaining fighter. If he wasn't part of the UFC hype machine, would you like Lesnar?

The critisims of Lesnar are fair enough in the fight, he panicked. He ran when he should have shot for a takedown or into the clinch. Fair enough but fighters make mistakes like that all the time, even the very best. Its his 6th fight, still a huge lack of experience and if he learns from it, its no problem.

Carwin as a poor mans Sapp was kind of funny

Some of the things Dana does IS disgusting like putting UFC replays when SF ever have an event going round. That I really dislike. But all the other things just sound cheesy. That gladiotor guy is just really cringe-worthy but hardly disgusting. You argue there not fighting to the death, ok fair enough. Diaz and Mach weren't litterly going to war either when Dream put the PH stuff on.


The cage I know gets a lot of critism because of the image it represents. Like caged animals or something. Its not something I personally pay much attention to but to be fair a ring does look more proffesional. Then again UFC aren't the only ones who use the cage. Rivals like SF and Bellator also use the cage.

I didn't quite understand the nu-metal thing.

Vermola and Madsen were both in a similar position rankings wise. One of them has to move up, so they put them together. In MMA you have to be able to deal with everyone, from dryhumpers to KO artists, its Vermola's fault he couldn't handle Madsen's wrestling. If he really had that much of a problem with the fight, he should have declined and asked for another fight.

Hey peeps just popped on to make sure you were all behaving and getting on with each other...

Oh shit!!!