Babalu out of Strikeforce contract, UFC or Belator next?

Belator dont have a good Lhw on the roster, he would take that title easily enough I reckon. He was in talks to fight Lombard but it didnt happen. It seems to me anyone in talks with UFC about a contract are told to stay quiet about it.

I reckon he is in talks with UFC but he got kicked out for holding on a choke too long, I wonder if that has been forgot about.

He looked high and a bit heavy, I would have liked to see him move to 185 if it was possible, The guy beat Sonnen in the UFC. But his chin is gone a bit, I think seeing another guy he beat Wiuff beat Belators champ might make him see an easy few paydays to wind down his career.

Video wont post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ivNs_oOuq0s

He is blatantly stoned in that video! LOL

I think his chin has gone to be honest. I don't think he will go to the UFC, so I see Bellator as the likely destination.

Not good enough for the UFC anymore I'm afraid,plus by the sounds of it,I don't think his valuation of himself and the UFC's will ever match up.

Babalu was getting about 100K per fight in his last few fights for Strikeforce,(I know he got 100K for the Lawler fight and 75K for the Mousasi fight before that)I don't think the UFC would offer him,anything close to half that amount.
I'd think if he was offered a deal by the UFC it would be closer to the 25-30K mark,Sonnen only got 35K and 35K win bonus for his last fight against Stann,Stann got 24K.

I think he'd be better off trying to be a big dog over in Bellator and trying to earn 100k by winning one of their Tourneys.

Bellator seems his only logical destination they have a dire talent pool at LHW and literally no recognisable names at LHW's to the casual fan.

He'd get destroyed in the UFC at this point. Especially at LHW. He's always belonged at 185 but never wanted to cut weight. Big waste of talent because pre-Anderson he would have owned the MW division in the UFC.

He said he is open to fighting at 185. He was planning a permanent drop before SF was bought over. Look at other ranked 185ers, Stann, Bisping, Leben, I reckon he makes a good fight with them, for me at 185 he could be a better version of Santiago, he would give Maia a better fight I reckon.

Reckon he would have a much better chance at 185 in the UFC.

Hope he goes to Bellator to finish his career there and makes some money mopping up whatever 205ers Bellator throw at him.

I'd back him to beat a lot of guys at 185 in the UFC. Maia, Santiago, Wandi, Bitchping, Stann, Leben, possibly Mayhem. But Sonnen, Anderson, Palhares, Okami and Belfort would kill him. Well, Okami would grind him to death slowly, the other 4 would just brutally murder him.

With that said, maybe he should go to the UFC, just for the competition factor.

Anfields5thKing wrote:I'd back him to beat a lot of guys at 185 in the UFC. Maia, Santiago, Wandi, Bitchping, Stann, Leben, possibly Mayhem. But Sonnen, Anderson, Palhares, Okami and Belfort would kill him. Well, Okami would grind him to death slowly, the other 4 would just brutally murder him.

With that said, maybe he should go to the UFC, just for the competition factor.

Yeah agree with all that, Mayhem would beat him too though. He is much better than his rankings suggest given how close his fights with Jacare where when he was top 5.

Interesting you think Babalu beats Wanderlei, sure both of their chins are shot to shit but Wand has been on another level his whole career. You think Babalu would have stomped Jardine or Bisping the way Wanderlei did? He is on a bad run, especially the Leben loss but Id back him 9/10 times to beat Babalu. Babalu looked good against Lawler in his defence.. Id like to see it, wonder if 2 brazilians at Kings MMA would have a no fighting team mates attitude.

Id prefer him to at least see if he can go out on a high, 3 of his last 4 wins are Mike Kyle and Soko who are Lhw/Hw's and Lawler who was top 15 when they fought. Maby it would be good to see him have a go at UFC but I could see a sad ending with him taking a few bad KO's

I'm not sure which Wandi vs Bisping fight you watched, but the one I watched saw Wandi barely scrape a contentious decision that could have gone either way.

Babalu would beat Jardine and the Bitch. And Wandi. His grappling ability is top notch and he'd take them down and sub them. Babalu's chin is also nowhere near as bad as Wandi's at this point. He could take a shot to get inside and get his takedown. He could also outbox Wandi from the outside. Wandi's not the same guy he was in Pride. He's probably had the biggest drop off since leaving Pride, other than Mirko. As much as I loved watching Wandi fight, I do have to question exactly how much stock can be put into some of his Pride wins because I think it's pretty obvious he was a juice freak over there.

Mayhem I would back to beat Babalu on their feet. On the ground I think Babalu has a slight advantage.

Wanderlei has taken 2 KO losses in the UFC since 2007 to Rampage and to Leben, Babalu has been KO'd in his last 2 losses back to back against Mousasi and Hendo.

If Wanderlei is about Bisping/Franklin level seeing as how close his fights with them were he can still hang with guys in the top 15. Could Babalu say that?

Shit happens and he got caught by Leben because he tried to go toe to toe like he did with Rampage. Wand he could go toe to toe with Babalu all day, he is a little younger and if it happened at Mw he has made 185 before.

I dont care if he juiced in Pride, it wasnt illegal and no one takes away from say Colemans wins over there for it. You really take away from his acomblishments because he looked juiced back then? Theres too fine a line in MMA to ever judge someone for Juicing, hence im a Barnett fan!

Wanderlei of today VS. Babalu of today, there's only one winner IMO. Silva by Axe Murder.

Wand isn't getting submitted, and his chins not as bad as it's being made out, just look who he's been KO'd by, Prime Belfort, Prime Cro Cop, Hendo, Rampage, Leben... Not exactly pillow punchers are they? Babalu has no power, so he isn't KO'ing him either.

As for Babalu's chin, it's always been terrible, and Wand has always had massive power. If he came out like he did against Leben I honestly think the fight would go exactly the same as Wand- Jardine, but quicker. If he comes out conservative like he did against Rampage and Bisping there's always a chance Babalu's could squeak a decision, but IMO that's his only way to victory.

The_Axe_Emperor wrote:Wanderlei of today VS. Babalu of today, there's only one winner IMO. Silva by Axe Murder.

Wand isn't getting submitted, and his chins not as bad as it's being made out, just look who he's been KO'd by, Prime Belfort, Prime Cro Cop, Hendo, Rampage, Leben... Not exactly pillow punchers are they? Babalu has no power, so he isn't KO'ing him either.

As for Babalu's chin, it's always been terrible, and Wand has always had massive power. If he came out like he did against Leben I honestly think the fight would go exactly the same as Wand- Jardine, but quicker. If he comes out conservative like he did against Rampage and Bisping there's always a chance Babalu's could squeak a decision, but IMO that's his only way to victory.

Agree with that Sobral's chin has never been that great.

rudeboyben84 wrote:Wanderlei has taken 2 KO losses in the UFC since 2007 to Rampage and to Leben, Babalu has been KO'd in his last 2 losses back to back against Mousasi and Hendo.

If Wanderlei is about Bisping/Franklin level seeing as how close his fights with them were he can still hang with guys in the top 15. Could Babalu say that?

Shit happens and he got caught by Leben because he tried to go toe to toe like he did with Rampage. Wand he could go toe to toe with Babalu all day, he is a little younger and if it happened at Mw he has made 185 before.

I dont care if he juiced in Pride, it wasnt illegal and no one takes away from say Colemans wins over there for it. You really take away from his acomblishments because he looked juiced back then? Theres too fine a line in MMA to ever judge someone for Juicing, hence im a Barnett fan!

Mousasi and Hendo are much better than Page and Leben.

Babalu could easily hang with top 15 guys. Anyone outside the top 5 at MW would have a lot of trouble with him.

Not saying it wasn't illegal but he hasn't looked anything close to being what he was in Pride and doesn't look any better than Babalu now.

rudeboyben84 wrote:Wanderlei has taken 2 KO losses in the UFC since 2007 to Rampage and to Leben, Babalu has been KO'd in his last 2 losses back to back against Mousasi and Hendo.

I don't really understand what point you were trying to make here, because those 2 KO losses that Babalu suffered were his first KO losses since 2007, the same year as Wanderlei.

The_Axe_Emperor wrote:Wanderlei of today VS. Babalu of today, there's only one winner IMO. Silva by Axe Murder.

Wand isn't getting submitted, and his chins not as bad as it's being made out, just look who he's been KO'd by, Prime Belfort, Prime Cro Cop, Hendo, Rampage, Leben... Not exactly pillow punchers are they? Babalu has no power, so he isn't KO'ing him either.

As for Babalu's chin, it's always been terrible, and Wand has always had massive power. If he came out like he did against Leben I honestly think the fight would go exactly the same as Wand- Jardine, but quicker. If he comes out conservative like he did against Rampage and Bisping there's always a chance Babalu's could squeak a decision, but IMO that's his only way to victory.

Babalu's a better technical striker than Wandi and could frustrate him for three rounds using his jab and kicks. Not powerful but very accurate and effective.

Not really sure where the assertion that Babalu couldn't sub Wandi comes from. He could very easily sub him. He's subbed far better grapplers in the past.

Anfields5thKing wrote:

The_Axe_Emperor wrote:Wanderlei of today VS. Babalu of today, there's only one winner IMO. Silva by Axe Murder.

Wand isn't getting submitted, and his chins not as bad as it's being made out, just look who he's been KO'd by, Prime Belfort, Prime Cro Cop, Hendo, Rampage, Leben... Not exactly pillow punchers are they? Babalu has no power, so he isn't KO'ing him either.

As for Babalu's chin, it's always been terrible, and Wand has always had massive power. If he came out like he did against Leben I honestly think the fight would go exactly the same as Wand- Jardine, but quicker. If he comes out conservative like he did against Rampage and Bisping there's always a chance Babalu's could squeak a decision, but IMO that's his only way to victory.

Babalu's a better technical striker than Wandi and could frustrate him for three rounds using his jab and kicks. Not powerful but very accurate and effective.

Not really sure where the assertion that Babalu couldn't sub Wandi comes from. He could very easily sub him. He's subbed far better grapplers in the past.

Bisping is FAR better than Babalu at stick and move frustrate your opponents and he was a second away from getting KO'd by Wandy, If Bisping cant frustrate him and steal a decision with these tactics Babalu cant.

On the ground id back Babalu all day long but wether he can survive at TD range with Wand is another thing. I dont see him winning at all.

Wand will KO Cung Le and everyone will have some renewed faith in him.

I think Cung will beat Wandi by kicking him to bits to be honest Ben. Wandi is done. He needs to call it a day.

Bisping didn't come close to beating Wandi with striking, he did it with grappling, takedowns etc. Bisping jabs and sprints, Babalu has better technical striking. His kicks are excellent. And he's a much better grappler than the Cunt.

speaking of the Cunt,has anyone been keeping up with this seasons TUF?

He's certainly living up to the name.

As much of a dick he is appearing to be on TUF, I was nearly in tears when Bisping said to Ryan Parsons "Oh look, tough guys here."

Bisping is showing himself up as an arse,but I'm loving watching it,it's entertaining stuff.

Showing himself to be the biggest cock in the sport. Parsons spoke nothing but the truth to him, "most hated guy in the UFC", "Why don't you go spit on someone". Parsons needed say no more. You can see by the training the teams are down how bad Wolfslair's training is. Technique out the window. The ONLY grappling advice is "WHIZZER, WHIZZER, WHIZZER" and the only striking advice is "HIT HIM FIRST!!". Bisping's team sucks as well. Only one of his guys looks in any way decent.

Also, Tiki Ghosn is nothing more than a fucking nuthugger. He had his mouth on Ramplod's sack when he coached with him against Rashad and he's doing the same shit with Bitchping. He's meant to be a complete cock as well.

Akira looked good aswell even though he tapped, but i assume u mean Brandao who looked really impressive in the QF fight.


Bispings comment to Parson about "i make more money than you faggot" or something like that after Parson told him ur most hated guy in MMA go spit on someone..... was really dickish.


But he's absolulely right he does make a whole lot of money and is cuddled way too much by UFC for some reason. Bisping keeps getting worse and worse, sooner or later its going to backfire on Dana's face.


Bisping got away with insulting conermen and spitting at them last fight, he might think he can do that again or do worse next time, and im sure that will lead to a brawl that would make Strikeforce Nashville card look like nothing.

In my opinion spitting at the cornermen was far worse than the Nashville slapfest. Slapfest was just an pverload of testosterone, spitting was just the act of a complete dickhead.

He might make more than Parson now, well he does obviously, but his earnings will start dropping soon and he has no future as a coach at a high level. Parsons does and will be making a lot of money coaching for years to come. Bisping's actions on TUF will kill his coaching and tv appearance money.

Akira was fighting a bum though. That guy was awful. Some of the worst striking I've seen and his takedowns were awful. Brandao looks like a little beast but if he does a flying knee with his hands down and chin out against anybody good he'll be having himself a wee nap.

It is hard to understand why so many hate the guy (Bisping) I mean he comes across as a wonderful gentleman full of integrity.

Disappointed there has been no mention of his colossus can crushing resume maybe though that is far too easy to use though.