SF cuts two good fighters....

http://www.mmabay.co.uk/2010/12/08/strikeforce-wield-the-axe-on-both-joey-villasenor-and-joe-riggs-careers/#more-34737

Joey Villasenor and Joe Riggs

Shocker, SF's roster is so weak and Riggs is a good figher and Smoking Joe is a good journeyman who produces entertaining fights! UFC even have a few knocking around!

Jay Hieron
Riggs
Smoking Joe

Crazy theve let these 3 go recently.

They werent interested in Gerald Harris and really havnt been to active signing people. The roster seems to be shallow apart from Hw and those guys are inactive to say the least. I wonder if SF are paying through the nose for Fedor and havnt the money to keep other fighter?

Hope SF isnt going down the way of affliction who paid salaries to a few fighters they couldnt afford... like Arlovski getting 1 million!

3 average fighters. SF's mandate has to be to only have fighters on the roster who can compete for titles. Because they only put on a certain amount of shows per year, they don't need a big roster full of deadwood. I'm not surprised to see these 3 go. I expect a couple more to follow. I wouldn't be surprised if they are pushing Diaz to move to MW full time and do away with their WW division. I've also heard they may even look to re-do their weight class. 155 moving to 160. 170 moving to 180, 185 moving to 195 and 205 to 215.

Moving weight classes would sort the problem all togeather. These guys wouldnt be a big loss if they had a deep roster but Diaz is too small for 185 I reckon.

Anyway since beating Diaz Riggs went 10-5 Which isnt too bad, he is on a 2 fight winning spree. Stick him in with Cyborg and you have a title contender SF's Ww devision is so shallow.

Smokin Joe beat Cyborg 3 UFC fighters... Baroni, Riki Fukuda and Ryan Jensen back to back! He had a 15 fight winning spree and beat Jorge Santiago during it!

Hieron was really highly ranked before he was injured Fight Matrix have him at 15th right now. He beat Riggs, Jesse Taylor and Jason High back to back in his current 5 figth winning spree... that and he was due a shot at Diaz based on the Riggs win.

I think they Fucked up letting Riggs and Hieron in a devision where they have 5 fighters tops.
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If they do sort the weight classes your right its not a problem and we will see a shit load of good fights... itll fuck with my rankings though!

Yeah i do agree that they should have held off but i think a 180 division is on it's way. Miller, Diaz, Kennedy, Cyborg, Cung Le, Daley, Woodley(would prob be better at 160 to be fair) and a few others will make it a decent division.

Jacare, Lawlor, Babalu, Hendo, Mousasi, Santiago, Prangley at 195.

You think Santiago is on his way to SF? I heard that a while back, Wonder if he is out of contract with Sengoku soon? There arent many Hw's who are small in SF think of the guys who wouldnt make 215... the 9/10 of the SF heavies are 240 or over.

215 lbs could be

Fedor
Cormier
Feijao
Kyle
King Mo
OSP
Monson
Roger Gracie
Ray Sefo

Chad Griggs if they give him another shot and even Hershal walker would have an Ideal weight!

Yeah mate I think that pretty much sorts out SF's weight class problems. Moving the likes of Noons and Woodley down a weight would sort out the lack of competition at the bottom too with JZ on the roster.

I think they could have done with keeping Riggs and Hieron. Villasenor is shit.

I really like the new weight classes idea but is that allowed? I thought that the weight classes were set by the commision and had to be part of the unified rules. Not sure how it works. I know ElitXC had the 160 division though.

I'm not sure Woodley could make 160, he looks like a big bloke to me.

Ben, as far as I'm aware Santiago's Sengoku contract allows him to fight in America with anyone other than the UFC(because of the UFC's insistence on exclusive contracts).

Chelsea, I don't actually know mate. They allow catchweight fights under the commission so I don't see the problem in shifting the weightclasses.

Santiago and Monson to figth in SF in 2011 I think.

monson is overdue a return to the bigger promotions. strikeforce would be ideal for him.

Its 99% that his next fight will be in Strikeforce unless UFC make an offer to resign him. He said he had 1 offer (Strikeforce) but will finish his career making a run at one of the 205lbs belts. I dont like his style at times but Ive so much respect for him, he is a top class grappler and I think a contender at 205 in SF.

I don't think it will be a problem, I'm just quite Hazy on the rules they set. The EliteXC LW division always confused me.

I think Monson's a good fighter to sign, but I can't see him winning the title at SF. If they keep it 205, I think Hendo, Cavalcante, OSP, Mo and Mousasi all beat him. If they split it up, he won't be able to make 205 and at 215 he has the same contenders as 205.

Oh and I don't think Fedor would fight at 215. I think he'd stick to HW, he could make 205 easily if he wanted, but he always stuck to HW. He still has the likes of Werdum, Barnett and Overoid to contend with. And I don't think Monson would have a chance at HW.

depends on how long until he signs he fights like every month. i hope he gets a good contract

ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:I don't think it will be a problem, I'm just quite Hazy on the rules they set. The EliteXC LW division always confused me.

I think Monson's a good fighter to sign, but I can't see him winning the title at SF. If they keep it 205, I think Hendo, Cavalcante, OSP, Mo and Mousasi all beat him. If they split it up, he won't be able to make 205 and at 215 he has the same contenders as 205.

Oh and I don't think Fedor would fight at 215. I think he'd stick to HW, he could make 205 easily if he wanted, but he always stuck to HW. He still has the likes of Werdum, Barnett and Overoid to contend with. And I don't think Monson would have a chance at HW.

Monson's last fight he was down to 220 I think from over 250 so He is most of the way there, Big Lhw's cut about 20lbs so he is making 205lbs no problem.

Thing about Monson is that he is a reducilously good grappler, up there with Werdum. And at 205 will be an absolute powerhouse and is Damn near impossible to KO. Any 205er that isnt a great grappler is getting put on their back and Subbed.

Monsons record is misleading he takes the odd bad loss because he fights injured. When he fought in Belfast he had a broken hand and he is 5"9 taking on Hw's, Guys like Sylvia could neutralise his grappling with size, Hendo and Co. wont have the same luxury. He has won ADCC a couple of times, the likes Mo and OSP, whats their Sub defence like? grappling with Monson is like grappling with Werdum. I think he will get a title shot...

Im reading othat Marcus Hicks http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Marcus-Hicks-9363 is fighting him 7th Jan in his 205 debut.

Interesting, UFC could have made him the same offer as Ricco Rodriguez, make the cut and win a fight at 205 before we sign you...

Sorry, sorry I'm an idiot. I meant to say he couldn't make 195 not 205. I think he can make 205 simply enough.

I don't think he's as good as Werdum though. I'd rank Werdum as the greatest HW submission fighter ever. I think I'd have Barnett and Nog ahead of Monson as well, I think there all better than him.

Monson would have a chance against Hendo, if he did a Jake Shields like game-plan. Hendo fancies himself as a striker these days and with good reason. He would have a massive advantage against Monson standing, where Monson is kind of laughable (everyone's seen him up against the speed bag ) But I think Monson could out grapple him. I'd still favor Hendo though, Monson's takedown's aren't as good as Shields so I think Hendo could keep it standing. If he gets taken down he could be in trouble.

I don't think Mo is a good match-up for Monson. Because Mo is such a talented wrestler, Olympic caliber, I think Monson will find it hard to take Mo down. I think Mo could take Monson down at will, control him and GnP him as well. Standing it's all Mo. OSP might not be ready for someone like Monson yet, he's still more prospect than anything. Before this year he was a can, but he has had 6 fights in 2010 and won all 6. He's only been fighting for 2 years.

But overall the division looks a lot stronger than before. A few more big name signings and they will have a very good division. Machida could still be a possibility.

Jeff Monson - only man is history to lose a unanimous decision to speed bag.

Anfields5thKing wrote:Jeff Monson - only man is history to lose a unanimous decision to speed bag.

that was a funny video clip that was.

My 6 year old lad has more controll on a speed bag than monson

Anfields5thKing wrote:Jeff Monson - only man is history to lose a unanimous decision to speed bag.

Amazingly he has a 2-0-1 boxing record.
though according to boxrec his opponents didn't have the best of records.

With the right promoter I think Stephen Hawkings could get afew wins.

UFC have let L.C. Davis go... shit to hear always though he was a good fighter but Kid Yamamotto and Omigawa more than make up for him. Still supprised to see him cut.

I think most guys in WEC 53 are fighting for a job in the UFC. I can see 3-4 losers there not getting asked to fight in the UFC.

Yeah mate theres 14 Lw's on that Card id guess other than the Main event and maby Donald Cerrone vs Chris Horodecki the looser of the other Lw fights could be out of a job!

2011 will be an awsome year for UFC im hoping at the end of the year we see Kid return to form and fight Aldo for the title

Hopefully Torres and Faber will fight too.