Bloody Elbow

I’d go with.

1) Hendo
2a) Shad
2b) If PD wins, winner of PD vs Mauler.

In that order.

While I'd be interested in a Gustafsson vs Davis rematch down the line

I don’t really see the point in making that fight now.

Pretty solid card, for a free show.

they're training partners now though

don’t know if they would fight each other

They said they will if they have to, but that it shouldn’t be a problem very soon since they fought not too long ago.

Sweet Scientist - January 10, 2012 reply

Yeah, nice and all, but what's more important...

…ze fuck is wrong with them? Why u no 5 rounds, UFC? Was Hendo vs. Shogun such an atrocious fight that they decided: “No more of that shit! Make it 3 rds again!”?

KGNLuc - January 10, 2012 reply

Last two rounds of that fight were the two worst rounds of that fight. We’re not losing much by removing them from that fight. Besides, having 5 rounders for title fights and maybe #1 contender matches makes sense.

Shnak - January 10, 2012 reply

The last round of that fight is one of the reasons I don’t even consider it for best fight ever.

Kefka - January 10, 2012 reply

You're losing a lot by removing those rounds

if you remove them from that fight what you have is Hendo widely beating shogun. Those rounds while technically kind of sloppy were an amazing display of heart by both fighters. To me 3 rounds is too short, I know it would probably never happen but I’d like all fights to be 5 rnds and title fights seven.

Hendo WAS widely beating Shogun until both started badly gasping for air. Shogun then turned it around in the last two rounds mostly because he’s younger than Hendo and in slightly better shape.

The truth is that nobody trains to go 25 minutes in MMA, save for the champions and those that are next challenging for belts, and this is especially true for the MW guys and above, where cardio is obviously tougher to develop because of all the muscle mass.

If every single fight was 5 rounders, I’d be okay with that as everyone would have to get used to it and training would always be geared towards that… but you can’t be asking guys to train for 3 rounders then suddenly go to 5 rounds, then back to 3 rounds. They can’t yo-yo like that. This fight showed exactly why 5 rounders between two guys not used to go 5 rounds is bad. Last two rounds were horrible compared to the first 3 of that fight. By that measure alone, I would’ve rather not seen the last two rounds at all.

Shnak - January 11, 2012 reply

The reason for UFC going back to 3 rounds in the main event has nothing to do with a personal decision

The issue lays in the Swedish laws. The UFC would have been in swedish soil earlier if it wasn’t for the strict rules. Sweden doesn’t even allow pro boxing, so that tells u about the current situation. So in order to expand (which the UFC is doing this year) they are forced to compromise a bit. The UFC visited Sweden last year in order to talk with he swedish equivalent to the US athletic commission, and they helped with allowing elbows on the ground, a rule that wasn’t allowed last year. So yes it has to do with rules i guess, they couldn’t get 5 rounds, so they compromised.

Rebel Ape - January 10, 2012 reply

Might also have to do with the fact that the event is on fuel.

I don’t know how they’ll make it work with the events that are on TV vs those on PPV. Anybody knows if Evans-Davis on fox is 3 or 5 rounds? (I’m guessing three but one can hope)

Sweet Scientist - January 10, 2012 reply

Woops, forgot they're teammates.

They already fought too.

Def right, I kind of like the Alliance camp.

Same with Blackzilians, Black House and Jackson’s/Tristar completely dominated the past couple of years.

Haven't really seen much of the Blackzillians though

their top fighter has only fought like once in two years. Jackson/Tristar seems like its been on the decline in 2011 same with Black House.

True.

AJ with them now. Tyrone Spong training with them. Bigfoot. Michael Johnson + Claude Patrick also.

Is Bigfoot the only non black guy there?

lol

Is Tyrone Spong getting into MMA? Because his striking his awesome.

Michael Johnson was doing well in his last fight, until he almost got his ankle broken.

Haha, well I guess that's why they chose Black + Brazilian.

Not sure, but Spong definitely gets to train with some top-level athletes.

Bigfoot is at Blackhouse

memitim - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

I know he was at some point.

Rashad said Bigfoot is training with Blackzilians.

Forgot to add Jorge Santiago and Melvin Guillard as well.

http://www.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/119453.html

I've seen videos of Bigfoot training there

and according to Rashad, Bigfoot thought of the name.

Team Nogueira.. but did you see the newest Rumble training video though? Bigfoot was seen training with them at Imperial in that one. Not sure exactly when the footage was from, but it was made to seem as very recently.

When he has a fight he trains with Team Nog now. I’m pretty sure that he lives in Florida so when he is in between bouts he stays in shape with them.

memitim - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

Must be weird training with Rashad and Lyoto...

He had said in the past that tho he works out at Imperial he never felt part of the team. I don’t think he heavily interacts with them the way the rest do or an AKA or Black House member would with their team.

memitim - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

Ah, okay. Yeah, that makes sense.

As far as I know

Nobody trains at Blackhouse during their actual fight camps.

discoandherpes - January 10, 2012 reply

Awesome fight

I like how they brought up Gustaffson, they didn’t rush him but they didn’t feed him cans either.

Scared for Nog

Hope he can pull it off though

minotauro11 - January 10, 2012 reply

Fuck yes

Mauler’s gonna maul.

Charles Awad - January 10, 2012 reply

Nice....

rscott94 - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

IAMEXCITE

But really, solid card so far, for Europe.

T.C. Engel - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

Yeah

Pickett vs Page, Gustafsson vs Lil Nog and to some extent Stann vs Sakara are great fights featuring guys that are borderline contenders. Some solid Swedish prospects as well.

Definitely. I’d expect another main card calibre fight too, or at least hope for one.

T.C. Engel - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

don't sleep on

thiago BOPE vs Siyar Bahadurzada, going to be complete and utter awesomeness

Oh most definitely

I was referring more to name value/divisional relevance. Thiago vs Bahahrudhaudhruhauhzzaaada is a decent pick for FotN, I reckon.

Sakara is all borderline

and no contender

Stiff Jab - January 10, 2012 reply

Not that it matters as we all know Sakara won’t make it injury-free to April 14th…

Shnak - January 11, 2012 reply

WHOA!

Kid shows potential but you think he’s ready?

Krimson - January 10, 2012 reply

Yes

TheCode - January 10, 2012 reply

Absolutely

Nogueria hasn’t looked that good in the UFC.

He destroyed Tito, but that doesn’t really mean much in 2011. He should’ve been on a three fight losing streak before the Tito fight too (He lost too Brilz imo).

He destroyed Tito

But he kind of was supposed to. Nog is the perfect gatekeeper. He is tough, has some good defense, and can hurt guys on the feet and is dangerous on the ground.

discoandherpes - January 10, 2012 reply

The UFC

Has used Lil’ Nog almost exclusively as a gatekeeper since his fight with Forrest Griffin fell apart a couple of years ago. Bader, Davis, and now Gustafsson… that’s a murderer’s row of prospects.

Patrick Wyman - January 10, 2012 reply

he beat Brilz

imo!

Tats16 - January 10, 2012 reply

It was close

it’s been a while since i’ve seen the fight though.

it was extremely close

but it was Brilz ability to almost sub and rock Nog coupled with his top control that had people giving him the nod

TheCode - January 10, 2012 reply

It’s a good matchup that makes sense and fits stylistically. Both tend to strike even though Nogueira has great BJJ. The height of Gustaffson, and him arguably just being the better striker has me picking him for the win.

chrisbboy82 - January 10, 2012 reply

Why are they renegging on making main events 5 rounds?

Didn’t we see with Shogun/Hendo how much the championship rounds benefit a main event fight?

MS_Dos_Santos - January 10, 2012 reply

I'm guessing

It has to do with the fact that it’s airing on FUEL.

Don't they have some strange rule/law

that limits the fights to 15 minutes??

BrandtShaft! - January 10, 2012 reply

5 rounds isn't legal in Sweden

See below.

KJ Gould - January 10, 2012 reply

What's the reasoning then for Miller/Guillard being 3 rounds?

Time limits on FX?

MS_Dos_Santos - January 10, 2012 reply

Probably

Maybe the intent is to have 5 round PPV main events.

KJ Gould - January 10, 2012 reply

Certainly seems that way

And it would make sense, too, although I’d prefer it if all MEs were five-rounders. Should appease some of the folks that feel non-title events should never go 5 rounds.

Just realized this was on Fuel

This card is turning out to be much more interesting than this weekend’s card.

memitim - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

Oh geez..

Is this a meme now?

Charles Awad - January 10, 2012 reply

I think the word meme has become a meme. It is waayyyy overused here.

memitim - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

Agreed.

Our Bovine Public - January 10, 2012 reply

I just realised your name isn’t meme tim

Nicely done.

memitim - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

He's right.

It’s like “Howdy Honda Housey”. I can’t help but read it as memeTim unless I concentrate.

BKdroid - January 10, 2012 reply

Wiki says

It is generally accepted that meme tim is a killer of some sort, so you might want to be a little careful around him …

I didn’t know meme tim had such a cool origin story. He should be a mod just because of his name.

crazybones - January 10, 2012 reply

I agree and I can see why it would sound like that. But I used the name long before meme became a common term. It is a long story why I use it, it’s a goof.

memitim - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

Definitely agreed.

T.C. Engel - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

Why Y'all fadin' one of the coolest guys around?

Find one other time I've used it

….still waiting.

Charles Awad - January 11, 2012 reply

Fuck, now I really want to go.. quick, someone give me money!

Ok, what’s your name and address? Is cash okay, or would you prefer money order, or Paypal?

Five round fights are illegal in Sweden

Which is the reason for this one being a three rounder.

thievesdont - January 10, 2012 reply

That's friggin retarded.

T.C. Engel - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

pro boxing got legal like three years ago

and marijuana is worse than rape

this country is retarded in many ways..

I was just going to bring up the boxing thing, haha.. funnily enough, pro kickboxing and Muay Thai was legal before boxing, guess it flew under the radar or something. All in all we’re pretty lucky to have MMA fully legalized now, maybe they can get 5 rounds in a couple of years as well.

And for those wondering, pro boxing was illegal from 1969 – 2007. MMA with basically the unified rules got approved a year or two ago.

yeah

that’s weird as hell. there’s still no 12 rounders in boxing though right?

Yeah, I think there’s only 4 rounds allowed, 12 minutes total. Haha.

haha

stupidest thing I’ve heard

Boy am I glad I don't live in Communist Sweden.

Sugel Mendoza - January 10, 2012 reply

Yo goatboy

Check your e-mail!

I once took the Swebus from Copenhagen to Malmö

And got strip-searched on the way over because the customs officer didn’t trust me. As it were, he was right not to but I thankfully got rid of the tiny bit of weed I’d honestly forgotten I had in my back pocket before anyone found out. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t had the presence of mind to dump my stash …

I like your country and your people, but you guys have some fucked up laws.

all true

can’t stand the zero tolerance on drugs and the brain-washing by the politicans/media. my girlfriend got worried when I told her I like to smoke weed because she though I was gonna overdose and die..

*politicians

That’s what I liked about living in Norway.. way more relaxed about that stuff there.

Denmark, bitches

Ok, so our government is fucked too, and our immigration policies are xenophobic and/or in violation of basic human rights, but cops don’t arrest you for smoking weed (and in Copenhagen you can buy it almost literally on the street) and a beer costs like 3 SEK if you buy the cheap stuff. Hell, our girls are even decent-looking.

yeah

I love denmark, my only complaint is your mushy butchering of the scandinavian language ;)

In full agreement there

I’d have to say Dutch is the only language I can think of that is worse. Still, I’ll take the Danish butchering of Scandinavian over having to listen to people from Skåne any day of the week.

haha

there was a website (maybe it’s still around) where some guys were trying to rally people up and start to “dig skåne away” so it would float away to it’s rightful owner, with whom they share their native tongue: the danes!

STOP IT WITH THIS NONSENSE

Every Swedish person I’ve talked to has this ridiculous idea that people from Skåne sound like Danes. THEY SOUND NOTHING LIKE US!

Do you think this guy sounds Swedish, then?

I will give you that we do share the butchering of the letter R but that’s about it.

well,

skånska is still derived from danish, so there are similarities, and it seems like people from skåne understand danish better, but mainly I’m just making fun of skåningar and you danes ;)

Yes, yes. Unfortunately your language is completely incomprehensible gibberish though, thus making it impossible for outsiders to ever establish themselves there. Especially such refined gentlemen as us, considering that we actually pronounce the words and not just drag them out and butcher them mercilessly.

At least I’m not a fan of the Ultimate Fighting Shampionship. What do you think of Yon Yones?

Seriously, Swedish is hands down by far the nicest Scandinavian language. Your complete refusal to pronounce foreign words in a way that even remotely resembles the way they were supposed to sound is terrible, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx3GlYAIK6c&feature=related

like this guy?

Yes and no

That guy is a blinkered wanker whose biggest problem clearly isn’t his pronunciation.

What I’m referring to is Swedes that speak perfectly fine English, like at a near-native level, but still say that they yust don’t like that Yon Yones guy.

Iya tinka ifa youa haf no yob, youa go hoem

Haha! Fair point. I guess I could explain it as that we tend to find it pretentious, snobbery, or just silly to pronounce things in their proper foreign tongue, so instead we prefer to just say it like it was a swedish word. The day I say “parmechano!” instead of “parrmesaan”, shoot me.

Yeah, when you’re speaking English it’s really pretentious to actually, y’know, speak English.

Of course you Swedify words when you speak Swedish, that’s not the issue. I don’t call the capital of France Pa-ree unless I am actually speaking French and anyone who would do that should be fucking murdered, but refusing to pronounce the word “just” with a j? I’ll chalk that one up to the “we’re Swedish and we know better” mindset.

Aha, that’s what you were getting at. I don’t know, do we really do that on purpose though? Maybe it’s just ignorance or lack of skill in said language. Not sure.

If we’re talking lack of skill then the flat, Danish way of speaking English is almost as bad as “let’s just pretend we’re still speaking Swedish but with foreign words”.

I once met a girl at a music festival in Sweden who spoke way better English than I did, mainly owing to her having a grandmother or aunt or something in England who she’d visited a lot as a kid. Really, her level of fluency, the idiomatic expressions she used … in writing, nobody would’ve guessed she wasn’t English/American. She still pronounced j’s as y’s and ch’s as sh’s.

Haha, okay. I don’t really know what to say about that, maybe it’s just something about our own language that makes it hard for us or something. Like the chinese and L / R.

I figure I can read and write better english than the vast majority in Sweden, but my pronunciation is HORRIBLE, like really awful. But that’s the way she goes I guess.

I dunno what it is. It just never fails to surprise me when I encounter a Swede who’s fluent in English and has a decent grasp of idioms and slang and generally pronounces everything correctly but still talks about going to the supermarket to get some sheddar sheese.

I went to school with three Chinese guys, a Brazilian and a couple of Russians among other nationalities and the Brazilian guy was the one who had by far the hardest time speaking Danish because of the fact that the letter R as we all know is pronounced like an H in Brazilian. He was quite literally incapable of producing the Danish R sound. It’s not like you Swedes cannot pronounce an English J, right?

Okay, I see. No, I think we damn well can, in fact I just tried it to make sure. And I see where you mean the difference, and you’re right: I know how it’s supposed to be pronounced, but still I say “Yon” instead of the correct “Jon”. I guess maybe it’s just laziness or something. Hmm.. a mystery indeed.

Taaaaaaaake oooooonnnn meeeee

there's a commercial over here spoken in english

for a mobile phone company where the running gag is centered around a sheep, which is supposed to be funny because he can say things like “there’s more to life than being cheap” and the joke is supposed to be that sheep and cheap sounds the same but it bugs the hell out of me since their pronounced differently but I guess it works here since we pronounce both of them “sheep”. Like how we pronounce cheese “sheees”

haha well spoken!

retarded in many ways..

but happy with their universal tax-funded childcare, parental leave, health care, education (including university), retirement pensions and sick leave.

dude-1981 - January 10, 2012 reply

I was just going to write this

Thanks.

KJ Gould - January 10, 2012 reply

that sucks... this seems like a matchup where they would both slug it out for all 5 a la shogun/hendo

Rob Young - January 10, 2012 reply

I am so going

anyone have any clue how the subscribe-to-newsletter-get-tickets-early-thing works?

The newsletter tickets

Will go on sale 9am on Thursday according to mmanytt.

yeah there seems to be some sort of code that you will get in the newsletter. haven’t got one yet though, although other people on the site seems to have gotten theirs

http://www.mmamania.com/2012/1/10/2697510/ufc-on-fuel-tv-2-tickets-on-sale-soon-for-event-at-the-ericsson-globe

Here is the UFC on Fuel TV 2 tickets sales schedule (All times CET):

UFC Fight Club presale: Weds., Jan. 11, 2012, at 11 a.m.
UFC Newsletter presale: Thurs., Jan. 12, 2012, at 9 a.m.
General tickets sale: Fri., Jan. 13, 2012, at 9 a.m.

the guy with the big nose - January 11, 2012 reply

go to UFC.com

enter your email in the text box field somewhere for their newsletter… subscribe 2 or 3 of your email accounts in case the emails from UFC get picked up as spam, or jsut ask on forums for the code

Ben Bauman - January 10, 2012 reply

sign up on two different accounts

still no email or code. annoying as hell seeing that other people has gotten theirs.

Great Card

Will be interesting to see if Spike will counter program.

Coeman - January 10, 2012 reply

On Fuel = Watch clips the next day or crappy streams

terzergoss - January 10, 2012 reply

download it from piratebay

jim-ma - January 10, 2012 reply

Tough fight for Nog.

TLow - January 10, 2012 reply

If Gustafsson wins this

I would give him an elite guy. Maybe they make Machida/Shogun III and give him the winner, or maybe the winner of Bader/Rampage. Thiago Silva is somewhere in that mix if he wins his next fight though.

discoandherpes - January 10, 2012 reply

I would've liked

Gustafsson vs Silva in Sweden, mainly because how the fuck can you root against a Nogeira? Silva on the other hand coming off a suspension would get loudly booed by each and everyone in attendance. It’s a great fight for Gustafsson if he gets past Lil Nog, though.

@KatanaClothing - January 10, 2012 reply

Gustafson or however you spell it

by TKO 3rd.FOTN

NEW-HAMPSHIRE - January 10, 2012 reply

excellent matchup I like it

MaZZacare - January 10, 2012 reply

Im so excited

and i just can’t hide it. This will be epic. I really feel like Alex will win, and after that, it’s just glory ahead.

blodpalt - January 10, 2012 reply

That’s wonderful news but wat about a main event for montreal 3 weeks earlier?

GSP_RAMPAGE_COUTURE - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

I think you mean later, and I'd be shocked if it wasn't Bones/Hendo.

T.C. Engel - January 10, 2012 reply

Nope 3 weeks earlier. March 24th. Heard Bones/hendo but it is a terrible match up.

GSP_RAMPAGE_COUTURE - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

I was thinking this was on the date of UFC on FX 2 from Sydney. Anyways, if you aren’t okay with seeing possible the best fighter in MMA fighting a top three LHW, you’re.. In the minority.

T.C. Engel - January 10, 2012 reply

No I’d be all for that. But hendo vs jones is way too lop sided. Don’t u think?

GSP_RAMPAGE_COUTURE - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

Tell me, what Jones fight isn’t lop sided? If Rashad loses, gets hurt or looks plain bad, Hendo is clearly the best option for Jones in Montreal.

Shnak - January 11, 2012 reply

ahh let me just stretch over there on this side of the pond

seriously though, rogerio has been shown to have a weakness against wrestlers recently, is gustafsson’s wrestling now far enough advanced that he can rely on that? also sloppy standup recently, points to a win for the european boy, preferably in a standup war!!

UK MMA MAN - January 10, 2012 reply

That’s wonderful new but wat about a main event for montreal 3 weeks earlier?

GSP_RAMPAGE_COUTURE - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

Jones vs Hendo?

darkotto23 - January 10, 2012 reply

Heard that too but its not confirmed and I really hope that doesn’t happen. Hendo, altho I love him, has no chance. Jones will fuck up his shit bad.

GSP_RAMPAGE_COUTURE - January 10, 2012 via mobile reply

This is a good test for Gustafsson – if he gets through little Nog then he could find himself a few fights away from a title shot. I hope the UFC don’t try and fast track him before he’s ready though.

Also, I think that if little Nog loses here, he should join the light-heavyweight ranks over at Strikeforce.

Pickett vs. Page is a great match up. Makes for an interesting fight – the winner should get an title eliminator bout with either Bowles or Johnson (if he doesn’t drop down).

@KatanaClothing - January 10, 2012 reply

Johnson is dropping down

For the flyweight tournament. And Page is on a two-fight skid and if he beats Pickett, why would he face one of the two guys he just fought and lost to (in the case of Bowles, twice)?