Mixed Martial Arts Thread (UFC and others)

[Neuqua]

Yeah, it was bad.

[SirFozzie]

Medical Suspensions are out:

Hill suspended 12-18 months for his horror show leg break
Al-Hassan indefinitely (dislocated elbow, ligament damage)

amongst others

[TLK]

From Saturday night.... Dave Kaplan with a great entrance.

[Flasch186]

went on to get his ass kicked.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Damn

Eilers Shot Dead

Friday, December 26, 2008
by Loretta Hunt ([email protected])

15598
Justin Eilers was shot and died shortly after on Friday morning in an apparent domestic disturbance at an acquaintance’s home in Canyon County, Idaho. Eilers was 30 years old.

Canyon County sheriffs arrived at the residence at 10:44 p.m. MST, where Eilers was found shot and wounded.

"Emergency medical staff took live-saving measures, but they were unsuccessful," said Capt. Dana Maxfield.

Eilers was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy conducted Friday released the cause of death as a single gunshot wound to the chest. The bullet reportedly punctured Eilers’ lung before exiting his body, said Monte Cox, Eiler's longtime manager.

Cox said Eilers had gathered with relatives for the holidays, but tensions escalated with an ex-girlfriend, also in attendance. Eilers was asked to leave the residence, but was said to have refused and began throwing dishes and other objects in protest. The home’s owner was then said to have pulled a gun on Eilers and shot him in the chest after a brief verbal confrontation.

Eilers’ ex-girlfriend, mother, and young son were said to have been in the room at the time of the shooting.

James Robert Malec, 48, was arrested and charged with second degree murder in relation with the shooting, said Capt. Maxfield. It is believed that Malec is Eilers’ mother’s boyfriend. Capt. Maxfield could not confirm this relationship or Eilers' alleged interaction with the ex-girlfriend. Maxfield did confirm that numerous relatives were at the scene at the time of the shooting.

Eilers was introduced to the fight game by close friend and former UFC champion Jens Pulver, who saw potential in the former Iowa State middle linebacker. After a brief tryout, Eilers became a member of the formidable Miletich Martial Arts team.

A well-liked figure in the fight community, the athletic heavyweight quickly rose through the ranks and fought for the UFC heavyweight championship against Andrei Arlovski at UFC 51 in June 2005. The fight was stopped 4:10 into the first round when Eilers incurred a knee injury and collapsed to the canvas.

Eilers (19-7-1) appeared in the Octagon four times, and went 1-3 in the UFC.

The Boise native reeled off 10 victories in his next 11 fights and got his second title bid for the EliteXC promotion in 2008.

After a second-round loss to the much heftier Antonio Silva last July, Eilers announced he’d be moving down to the 205-pound division.

“He was really getting his fight career together,” said Cox, who called Eilers a good friend.

[EagleFan]

Anyone going to be watching tonight? Looks like one hell of a card.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Anyone going to be watching tonight? Looks like one hell of a card.

Not watching, but it did look like a pretty loaded card (to my casually trained eye).

[Flasch186]

im watching at home, by myself

[DaddyTorgo]

oh man - i thought about watching - although i've been out till now...drats

[Travis]

I never want to experience being hit that hard by anything, ever.

Wow.

[EagleFan]

Yeah, that was a hell of a shot.


Mir has also been landing some nice shots in his fight. Nothing as bone crushing yet as the Jackson one though.

[DeToxRox]

I am so glad Rampage shut up a lot of people today.

[DeToxRox]

Wow. Mir just murked Nog. He just destroyed him.

Mir vs Lesnar II, I can't wait.

[EagleFan]

Looks like a good rematch in the future.

[EagleFan]

On a note not related to the actual fights:

Granted I don't know the whole backstory but didn't Mir's wife come off as a complete bitch in the previews? Don't know her side of the story but in the way he said it I couldn't help but think "what a bitch".

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

On a note not related to the actual fights:

Granted I don't know the whole backstory but didn't Mir's wife come off as a complete bitch in the previews? Don't know her side of the story but in the way he said it I couldn't help but think "what a bitch".

lol I thought the same thing. I don't know what the deal was either though.

[EagleFan]

A lot of feeling each other out in that round. Evans needs to take some chances or he loses if it stays like this.

[EagleFan]

lol, about the time I hit submit it really picked up.

[EagleFan]

Evans needs a knockout or to win each of the last three rounds now if he wants to win.

[EagleFan]

Nice takedown and impressive recovery too, thought it was about to be over for a minute.

[DeToxRox]

Wow. Evans was relentless.

[EagleFan]

Wow, that guy is impressive.

[PilotMan]

Well, I am sure that Dana's plans for the LH division just went up in smoke. Although, where Griffin was a big fan fav, Evans easily plays the bad boy. With is wins over the Iceman and Griffin he has taken out two of the most popular guys in the UFC.

So there was a lot of talk going in about Wanderlei and Griffin going at it after this. Now the next LH title fight looks like it could be Jackson and Evans.

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Well, I am sure that Dana's plans for the LH division just went up in smoke. Although, where Griffin was a big fan fav, Evans easily plays the bad boy. With is wins over the Iceman and Griffin he has taken out two of the most popular guys in the UFC.

So there was a lot of talk going in about Wanderlei and Griffin going at it after this. Now the next LH title fight looks like it could be Jackson and Evans.

Honestly, I am curious when Machida ever gets his shot. He is not someone who has exciting fights, but he is a machine. With the way guys are dropping, as long as he keeps rolling he should be due for a shot in 2009.

[DaddyTorgo]

really glad to see Mir demolish Nog. As much of a Nog-fanboy as I am, it's always great to see somebody overcome their personal demons and return to form.

[Calis]

I think Machida gets pushed back again. If he beats Alves in January(which he should), it'll be hard to hold it off much longer, but an Evans vs. Machida title fight is among the lowest pulling fights they could put out there. It doesn't really have the makings of a barn burner either.

Really surprised at how Mir looked. I think Nog has reached an age and amount of hits taken where his old style can't hack it anymore. Didn't look good at all.

Rampage and Silva was a tough one for me as those are easily my two favorite fighters. I was pulling for Rampage though to get some revenge so I'm glad to see he did. I think he makes for an interesting fight with Evans as well.

Forrest looked good those first two rounds, but there was no comparison in power and he got caught. He'll be back, class act.

Good times for MMA. We had this card, then Franklin vs. Hendo coming up, Penn/St. Pierre 2, and Fedor/Arlovski all next month.

[BYU 14]

Mir looked like he trained in a time machine for this fight. It is by far the best he has looked since before his accident and he deserves a ton of credit, looks like he is finally back. A rematch with Lesnar could be very intriguing in based on Mir's performance tonight. I wonder if might consider actually trying to slug it out with Brock in the rematch.

I agree regarding Machida too, he is the MMA version of Marlon Starling. A Machida/Evans bout would draw nowhere near as well as a Jackson/Evans matchup would, or better yet, maybe Anderson Silva now has a reason to stay at 205.

[Matthean]

Next for Mir is a title unification bout against UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.
"I don't want any of this s--- that I'm half the champ," Mir said. "I beat Nogueira. [Lesnar] beat a champion in Randy Couture. Let's see if he can make it out of the first round, but hey, this time I'll make him famous on the break that I do to him."

Them be fighting words.

[PilotMan]

Oh yeah, between those two. Between their mouths, and the results of the first fight, Dana has a sure fire winner in that matchup. There will certainly be plenty to talk about and a lot hype.

[lungs]

Hell yes. I put $100 on Evans last night.

[Travis]

Mir came into this fight with some fear which in the end, seemed to be a good thing for him and his training. I wonder if he might be a bit over confident and under estimate Brock for the rematch though. He should rewatch tape of their fight only up until Brock makes his rookie mistake and remember the beating he was taking prior to that moment.

Personally I'll be rooting for Brock not to make any silly mistakes. Some ragged on him a bit for his conditioning during the fight with Randy but it really seemed to me like he was being deliberate in what he was doing to avoid making any sort of match ending mistake. If Mir wins, make him earn it just as Brock will have to be at his best to take home the title.

I do hope that the match hits the ground at some point to see if Brock can nullify Mir's BJJ which I assume will happen as I can't imagine Mir wanting to keep the match standing even with the success he had last night.

[molson]

MMA is really breaking into the mainstream - I'm only a VERY casual observer and heard about this last show, before and after, from front page ESPN.com links. The only other time I remember that happening involved a Brock Lesnar fight.

[MrDNA]

Personally, I think Lesnar is going to murder Mir. Lesnar has learned a lot since their first meeting and I think a lot of how good Mir looked last night was actually how bad Nog looked. Dude is done. He and Chuck should ride off into the sunset together.

[Flasch186]

Im not sure ANYONE can beat this new Lesnar. Fedor, maybe?

[Travis]

I really think the way to beat Lesnar right now is to find a way to push the pace and make him rely more on instinct than anything else. Certainly a double edged sword as he's got a strong wrestling base to work from, but unless you have a big reach advantage over him the best bet is to hope he gives up an arm or a leg for a submission attempt and if you push the pace and don't let him plan out what he's going to do next like he was doing against Couture I think the chances of a limb becoming available for a submission manuever increase significantly.

Early on I'd still give Lesnar the edge standing but if the match hits the ground for any prolonged period of time, well, it'd certainly favor Mir if he can keep the pace brisk down there and force Lesnar into a mistake.

[Flasch186]

welp, Id say you'd think that Lesnar would size-wise want to go to the ground, added upon his wrestling past HOWEVER his punches and the size of his fists leads me to believe he's apt to let Mir up.

[Schmidty]

I wish I hadn't been so cheap and just ordered the PPV.

Oh well.

[Flasch186]

hmm, y'know had I tivoed it I coulda given you the ID# to my slingbox and you coulda streamed it to your computer. Oh well, I didnt

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

Im not sure ANYONE can beat this new Lesnar. Fedor, maybe?

Lesnar has improved a lot, but Fedor would murder him right now, which is certainly no shame. I really don't think Lesnar could compete with Fedor for another 2 years at least as he would be able to work his standup and BJJ more and Fedor would be 2 years older.

Apart from Fedor, with the size, strength, speed and wrestling background he has, I don't see Lesnar losing to anyone else unless he gets careless or overly aggressive and gets caught with a big shot or submitted.

[PilotMan]

That's what I would have said about Faber in the WEC. But Faber believed his own hype eventually, got careless and got kayoed. It can happen here too. Time will tell.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

That's what I would have said about Faber in the WEC. But Faber believed his own hype eventually, got careless and got kayoed. It can happen here too. Time will tell.

You're totally right there. He fell in love with being flashy instead of just being technically sound and he got caught. I heard him on the Scott Ferrel show before that fight and you could tell he was enjoying himself way too much. He even introduced himself to another sports figure that called in as "The California Kid" That loss will probably be a big wake up call for him. We will see how the rematch with Pulver goes next Month.

[Flasch186]

very true sans size

[PilotMan]

No discussion about the new years eve show from Japan. Honestly, a crappy show with the exception of Eddie Alvarez getting tapped out in odd fashion, and losing his title. I would still love to see him back in the US fighting.

That whole Cro-Cop - Hong-Man thing wasn't going to go well from the start.

Oh, and Mark Hunt getting TKO'ed, for the first time in his career, by a late sub who weighed less than 200lbs.

[Calis]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Oh, and Mark Hunt getting TKO'ed, for the first time in his career, by a late sub who weighed less than 200lbs.

To be fair that late sub is probably the scariest striker in MMA. Manhoef is a beast, he just has no ground game whatsoever. He can stand with anybody though. Still surprising, but not that much. I thought Hunt would take more of a beating before going down.

The show was pretty bland overall, but the K-1 New Year's Eve shows are always spectacles. Alistair Overeem sure looked good though, and how huge is that guy now? He's put on like 50 pounds of muscle in the last year or two. Nice showing for him.

Cro Cop was never going to look good against HMC. I think he did about as well as he could have there.

Wish we could've seen JZ/Hansen, sucks that one got scrapped.

[Flasch186]

anyone getting the PPV tonight?

[Rich1033]

Im headed out to a bar with some friends. I think it started around 3pm, so I will have to be careful until tonight.

[Deattribution]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

anyone getting the PPV tonight?

No more than 1 a month for me, and with Affliction on the 24th and Penn/GSP on the 31st, this card wasn't worth it (it's fairly weak anyway), if I even order either of the other two. I'm leaning towards the Affliction card cause I'm curious to see what Arlovski can do against Fedor.

[DaddyTorgo]

what deattribution said

[Flasch186]

welp, Im going to skip it than as GSP / Penn is a must buy for me.

[AlexB]

Spoiler

An unspectacular card and unsurprisingly unspectacular event

I thought the stoppage in the Rua/Coleman fight was extremely early, and how the one judge scored Franklin/Henderson how they did is frankly mind-boggling

Best fight we saw was the David/Lytle fight, and Belcher did bugger all until the last five seconds of the fight - big upset there

Such an average card made me realise how annoying Mike Goldberg really is.