UFC 91 News and Tidbits

[SinCitysmallGUY]

[Logan32]

Great post.... I really hope Couture beats Lesner....

[Captain Equipoise]

Class act all the way..

hope he wins.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

paradigms of success are pitted against one another and both are wrapped in complete unknowns. Dave Metlzer nails the dilemma:

From a pure physical standpoint, it looks like no contest. Lesnar is bigger, stronger, faster and a whole lot younger, at 31, going against the 45-year-old champion, Couture.

Worse, Couture, a former alternate on the U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team, has always relied on his wrestling as his great equalizer. Due to an expected 50-pound weight difference when they hit the cage, Couture is in danger of having his wrestling neutralized against Lesnar, a former NCAA wrestling champion.

Couture (16-8) was out-muscled by larger wrestlers Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez earlier in his career. But Couture has altered his game over the years, and Lesnar is still relatively untested as a fighter, as he is going into just his fourth pro mixed martial arts fight.

At first glance, Lesnar (2-1) seems the obvious pick in the main event of UFC 91 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Couture has beaten big guys, but none with Lesnar’s raw physical gifts.

On the other hand, MMA is a sport that takes years to learn, since it involves learning so many different disciplines. Take a living legend who is still a world champion in any sport, and match him up with a better younger athlete who has only trained two years in the sport, and what is going to happen? The all-time great is most likely going to win, because he knows the game.

Lesnar, for all his physical advantages, has only had three professional fights, two of which were practically over in the blink of an eye. He has only trained in stand-up and jiu-jitsu for two years.

He’s going against someone who is regarded as arguably the sport’s best tactician, who always overcame the odds against people who were supposed to be too young, too big and too strong for him.

Couture is almost mythical in the sport when it comes to matches he’s expected to lose. He’s 9-1 over a nearly 12-year career when he went in as the underdog. When this fight was announced, Couture opened as a 7-to-5 favorite on the Las Vegas boards, but the vast majority of the betting money has come in on Lesnar, who is now a slight 5-to-4 favorite.

From that standpoint, this match could turn into a meeting of the matador and the bull, which is obviously Couture’s game plan.

Age and experience beats youth and exuberance every time...or does it?

[SinCitysmallGUY]

[SinCitysmallGUY]

[Bluto]

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 7 middleweight winner, Amir Sadollah, has been forced to withdraw from his upcoming bout against Nick Catone at UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 15 because of a leg infection.

Unfortunately, the promotion was unable to secure a replacement on such short notice, meaning that Catone will have to wait to make his Octagon debut and the show will go on with nine fights instead on the original 10.

In addition, according to an official announcement on UFC.com, the welterweight match up between Dustin Hazelett and Tamdan McCrory has been promoted to the televised portion of the pay-per-view (PPV) telecast.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/video?id=3696129


couldn't get the fucking thing to embed? Oh well good watch.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

by Brent Brookhouse on Nov 12, 2008 12:26 PM EST in News


On the recent edition of E:60 Brock Lesnar had the highest rated segment in the history of the show.  UFC 87 drew big numbers and trends (internet searches..etc) would seem to indicate that Lesnar was as big, if not bigger, of a draw as the headliners for that card.  It isn't exactly scientific but two of the biggest days in terms of traffic in the history of this site were for UFC 81 and 87.

Now comes news that Countdown to UFC 91 drew poor ratings..as in 10% lower than the average for 2008 Countdown shows.  This is just awful news considering that the UFC has been trying to sell this as one of the biggest fights in the history of the promotion.

In searching for answers to why the ratings for the countdown were SO bad the same question just kept popping up in my head.  Is this Randy's fault?

American sports fans are notorious for turning on athletes that get involved in disputes over money or contracts that they willingly signed.  I'm not saying that I thought his actions were right or wrong, but I wonder how much it hurt Randy in the eyes of the super casual fans to see a fighter turn into "just another spoiled athlete looking for more money." Most people who don't follow the sport closely don't care about Fedor or understand that Randy really wanted to make that fight happen.  They just know that the fights they want to see aren't happening because of "contract problems."

Add that in to the fact that Randy was made into a non-entity for the better part of a year (scaling back on mentioning his name, not showing him in fighter corners..etc) and I wonder if the kind of sub-par interest in this show to this point can be pinned on Randy Couture's break from the UFC.

Obviously a fair portion of the blame would have to be placed on the UFC for an odd lack of a big promotional machine behind the card but could it be that the fans have turned on Randy?

[SinCitysmallGUY]

[chixlegs]

Interesting point.  I know I was fairly turned off by his belly-aching, but at the same time you think that it would just make people want to tune in to see him get his ass kicked if they didn't like him, because I most definitely do think he is going to get his ass handed to him.

Couture fans say Randy will win b/c he has "great game-planning" which is pretty vague.  I don't know how you game plan against someone so much more powerful.  Bottom line is, it's a fight and the bigger dude has a huge advantage.  Randy is toast.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

Whatever Brock Lesnar is doing, he has a knack for doing it on the biggest stage possible, with an emphasis on the dramatic.

Whether it’s cracking the big time as a pro wrestler, his tryout with the Minnesota Vikings or three fights as a mixed martial artist, the former NCAA champ seems to have a knack for finding himself in front of as many eyeballs as possible no matter what he does.

Fittingly, with his challenge of UFC legend Randy Couture for the organization’s heavyweight championship Saturday night, the 2-1 Lesnar faces a living legend who seems perfectly cast as a spoiler to his rise, someone perfectly geared toward upsetting the momentum of a decidedly fast-moving freight train.

Coming off as a pick-em with bookmakers, Lesnar and Couture pose some interesting questions for each other, and the biggest fight of the year.

Lesnar says he’s still taking notes coming off his dominant decision over Heath Herring in August and his preparations leave no stone unturned coming into his championship challenge.

“I learned a lot to relax and control a fight,” said Lesnar on a Nov. 6 media conference call. “Coming off the Herring fight -- we must have watched that fight over 100 times -- we looked for other things I can do to stay busy and dominant. Whether or not (Couture) has weaknesses, he doesn’t have a lot of them, but we’ve got to put him in positions to make him weak. We really had a good camp, and I had a lot of good guys that simulated Randy. Whatever comes out of this fight, I’ll know I did the right thing.”

After losing to Mir on a kneebar in his UFC debut, Lesnar’s brief-yet-explosive showing suggested a fighter with a boatload of potential. Taking Mir to the mat at will, he opened with a furious onslaught, hammering the former UFC heavyweight titleholder with blows before falling victim to the fight-ending submission.

Against Herring, there were no problems whatsoever. Lesnar consistently took the veteran down and controlled him, clearly cognizant of his positioning at all times and stuffing every possible attempt by Herring to escape or submit him. And with the amount of punishment he doled out in the 15-minute thumping, Lesnar showed decent conditioning.


The sky’s the limit for Lesnar.Against Couture, however, that kind of benchmark can prove fruitless. The three-time UFC heavyweight champ has made a career out of grinding people down through superior wrestling and a taxing brand of clinches, takedowns and control. But with Lesnar -- who cuts weight to make 265 -- coming in some 50 pounds heavier, Couture, an outstanding college wrestler who served as an Olympic alternate three times, may have found the one guy who can toss him on his back in the opening moments of the bout. That’s if Lesnar’s lack of experience in MMA doesn’t become a factor before his freakish size and strength does.

While Lesnar has just three fights under his belt, his eye-popping athleticism -- witness the shocking speed with which he pounced on Herring after dropping him in the opening moments of their bout -- suggests a new kind of fighter that might be best served with developmental fights. But when you’re fighting Couture this early in your career, cracks in the still-developing armor could be exploited. Nonetheless, Lesnar insists he is at “100 percent” of his potential coming into the bout.

“I have to push around 230 pounds, and Randy has to push around 275 pounds,” he said. “There’s one thing for me that I understand very well. Randy’s fought big guys, but they don’t know how to wrestle and there’s a difference. Randy knows that too. The bigger guys that Randy has fought, Tim (Sylvia) and Gonzaga, they aren’t half the athlete I am as a wrestler or as a fighter, I don’t think.”

While most casual fans know Lesnar from his pro wrestling exploits, he has become a crossover star precisely because of that misunderstanding of his credentials. What has made him effective thus far is the fact that he was an NCAA heavyweight champion in 2000. Near the end of the Herring bout, some in-cage antics of Lesnar celebrating while his opponent struggled to survive the final seconds drew a lot of attention from fans, with mixed reactions. Whether it’s showmanship or bad sportsmanship, Lesnar remains pretty hard to ignore for anyone watching him fight.

“That was just my feelings, my emotions coming out,” Lesnar said of his actions during the Herring fight. “I was very excited to win that fight, and there were some things said from the Herring camp prior to the fight and it was me getting the last word in and putting the nail in the coffin. I’m a sportsman. I’ve always been a sportsman. That comes down to fans wanting to see good fights and just entertainment. They want entertainment. I have the utmost respect for Randy and I did for the guy I previously fought, but Randy has something that I dearly want and from day one fighting with this company, I want to be the heavyweight champion.”

Lesnar isn’t concerned that he’s getting Couture too soon, that perhaps some more fights would help him round out his game.

“In my mind, before I fought with (Mir), I wanted to come in and fight two or three fights and win those fights and hopefully get a title shot,” Lesnar said. “This has been a blessing in disguise. I wouldn’t even consider Randy as an underdog. He’s a tough son of a bitch. Randy wasn’t an underdog against Gonzaga, nor was he an underdog against Tim Sylvia. I never thought that he was in any of those fights. Randy’s a world-class athlete regardless of his age.”

Couture has been here before. Well established as the UFC’s poster boy killer, he has knocked off Vitor Belfort, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell when all three were on unbeaten runs that suggested an older fighter was outmatched. In his last UFC bout, an August 2007 stoppage of Gabriel Gonzaga, Couture took out the Brazilian with a hard-nosed display of clinching and rough-and-rumble dirty boxing before finishing off the exhausted Gonzaga, who in his previous bout had scored a huge knockout of Mirko Filipovic. After giving away some 25 pounds in that bout, Couture faces a guy Saturday that will be 50 pounds larger come fight time. For the veteran, it’s the same story all over again.

“I’ve watched the footage that’s out there for Brock, and obviously his most recent endeavor in the Octagon was Heath Herring and I see the differences and see the improvement,” Couture said. “I have a pretty good idea technically of where he’s coming from because we share that similar wrestling background. I’ve wrestled plenty of guys that are Brock’s size. I don’t believe I’ve fought anybody that’s Brock’s size other than Tim (Sylvia). Most of my recent fights, the guys have been pretty large, at least outweighing me by 25 pounds. So those are things I’ve trained and am prepared to deal with.”

There are plenty of ways you could envision Lesnar losing this bout, as well as winning it. Couture has been in so many high-stakes fights that his experience makes him a tough nut to crack. Lesnar hasn’t been put on his back, for instance. And he hasn’t been in an extended, two-way dogfight that often serves as the final test of a fighter’s ability to hang at the top level.

But when a 6-foot-3, 265-pound bulwark of a man has to have special gloves made to fit his ham-like hands (Lesnar has said they’re size XXXXL, thank you), the power he generates even from a glancing blow can change everything. Lesnar’s first punch against Herring knocked the 250-pound Texan halfway across the cage, and Lesnar was seemingly on top of him before he landed. That kind of wild card is what makes Lesnar a factor in any fight, against anyone, even with just three matches under his belt.

Of course if Lesnar gets by Couture, he’ll be rewarded with yet another tough matchup. The winner of Saturday’s title fight will meet the victor of the Dec. 27 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira-Frank Mir bout that fills out the opening round of the UFC heavyweight title tournament. Either revenge or a showdown with one of the sport’s all-time great heavyweights could be next for Lesnar, but there’s no point in looking that far forward when he’ll be standing across the cage from a legend this weekend.

“All us amateur wrestlers are kind of one breed. If you’re in a wrestling tournament and if you’re gonna even have a thought of winning the tournament, you have to win the first match,” said Lesnar, whose bout with Couture kicks off the four-man field. “This is one big tournament to me and one match at a time and one opponent at a time.”

[SinCitysmallGUY]

You know “Judo” Gene LeBell even if you don’t know “Judo” Gene LeBell: He’s a grappler-hyphen-stuntman with a face right out of Tolkien’s imagination, a judoka from the days when you didn’t need written waivers to step onto a mat and squeeze the carotids until an opponent’s face looked like a burnt turnip.

LeBell has the kind of stories you’d expect from an 80-something martial artist, many of which involve him doing something that no lawyer today would ever allow. Most notably, he had what’s believed to be the first cross-discipline prizefight in history, a 1963 bout with boxer Milo Savage. (Spoiler: LeBell won.)

In an earlier, pre-PETA incident, LeBell actually scrapped with a 700-pound Canadian black bear named Victor. It wasn’t a real no-holds-barred fight -- the loser wasn’t dinner -- but it goes to show you that there’s not much new under the sun; fifty years on and the man vs. beast promotional hook is alive, well and coming to a pay-per-view provider near you on Saturday.

Brock Lesnar, all 280 pounds of escaped zoo animal that he is, is ostensibly the bear, a quick, vicious and almost supernaturally strong carnivore whose athleticism makes him nearly impossible to control. Standing in opposition is Randy Couture, the comparatively weaker homo sapien who will have to try and negate that aggression with a more substantial martial arts IQ.

It may not be the most sensible matchup for the UFC’s tangled heavyweight title picture -- Lesnar is a piddling 1-1 in the organization -- but it’s exactly the kind of guilty-pleasure spectacle that gives fans, for lack of a more masculine term, butterflies. Lesnar is nothing if not imposing, and Couture is nothing if not capable. Bet large on the fight and there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll be enjoying Top Ramen for a few months.



That’s because handicapping the bout is largely pointless without having any knowledge of which Couture will show up. While he looked sharp against another Doctor Moreau creation in Gabriel Gonzaga last August, taking 14 months off in your mid-40s is for CEOs, not prizefighters; as much as the media likes to romanticize Couture’s remarkable career stamina, his body will eventually decide to follow its genetic fate and begin decomposing.

If that sounds like preamble for a declaration that Couture is once again the underdog, you’re half-right. My problem -- actually, Couture’s problem -- with Lesnar is his ridiculous speed for a man of his dimensions. While Gonzaga and Tim Sylvia placed similar strain on the scales, their offense looks like underwater aerobics compared to the big man’s pressure. Frank Mir, who submitted Lesnar with a leg lock, compared the fight to “getting hit by a car.” (A chilling proclamation coming from a man who actually was struck by a moving vehicle.)

But it goes both ways: While Couture hasn’t had to deal with this kind of young man’s agility and wrestling ability since a competitive bout with Kevin Randleman in 2000, Lesnar has yet to face anyone who can challenge him in the way Couture can. “The Natural’s” Greco-Roman tie-up is a perfectly adopted art of clinch work, dirty boxing and slams. In terms of ring generalship, he’s Patton, and no one in Lesnar’s camp will be able to diversify the way he can.

And while Lesnar is undoubtedly a behemoth, Couture is hardly a flyweight; see him in person and you’ll think a brick wall grew legs.

Unless Lesnar simply blasts right through him, it’s incredibly likely a momentary lapse in combat judgment -- a side effect of inexperience -- will allow Couture to capitalize. I sense a rear-naked choke in Lesnar’s immediate future, the kind of submission that bypasses his Redwood trunk of a torso in favor of his airway -- the perfect method for inducing a panic attack in any rookie fighter. If not, expect Couture to use Lesnar’s head for target practice in the clinch until a broken nose prompts a doctor intervention.

Does Couture gain anything with the effort? It really depends on how competitive Lesnar makes the fight. If he folds early to inexperience and ignorance, the headlines will downplay the challenge. If he pushes Couture into the championship rounds, they’ll both come out looking solid.

Any way you slice it, though, dealing with someone of Lesnar’s proportions and wrestling resume at age 45 is well worth bragging about.

If Couture does fold under the pressure, it shouldn’t necessarily signal the end of his tenure in the sport. Losing to a missing piece of Easter Island is hardly shameful, and there are plenty of compelling bouts for the fighter left on the marquee.

Lesnar has options either way: He heads into a unification match with the interim champion or finds himself fighting the loser of December’s Nogueira/Mir contest.

Alternately, he could smash a steel chair over Dana White’s head and get into a feud with Junie Allen Browning.

The only guaranteed winner is the UFC, which can profit from Couture continuing a storybook career or finding a new figurehead in the highly charismatic Lesnar. Visually, he’s an immediate hook; attitudinally, he borders on being the perfect MMA heel, with a scowl and a crop-top that makes him look like the world’s surliest G.I. Joe.

Right now, though, he’s simply part of the proper alchemy for a Couture fight: List his opponent’s advantages on paper (many), his chances of winning (iffy) and then watch Couture stuff humility down our throats via a superior game plan, conditioning and ambition.

Bears are no picnic to deal with, but a hunter with the right experience and enough firepower shouldn’t have many worries.

Couture has all the ammunition he needs; here’s hoping he’s still fast enough to pull the trigger.

[Captain Equipoise]

Interesting point.  I know I was fairly turned off by his belly-aching, but at the same time you think that it would just make people want to tune in to see him get his ass kicked if they didn't like him, because I most definitely do think he is going to get his ass handed to him.

Couture fans say Randy will win b/c he has "great game-planning" which is pretty vague.  I don't know how you game plan against someone so much more powerful.  Bottom line is, it's a fight and the bigger dude has a huge advantage.  Randy is toast.

I think Couture plans to win by attrition, outlasting Lesnar.

[danielson]

He signed the contract, he should have honored it. I lost a lot of respect for the guy personally.

[chaos]

I think Couture plans to win by attrition, outlasting Lesnar.

IF Randy wins, it won't be because he "outlasted" Lesnar.

I keep reading this and I think everyone that writes this is extremely underestimating Lesnars conditioning. I think people are used to seeing heavyweights that bog down and tire out after the second round, it won't happen with this fight.

[Geo]

a mental error is about the only way Lesnar's gonna lose this

[Petrucci]

well, people are not considering the fact that almost NOBODY knows who the f*ck Lesnar is outside USA...

Randy on the other hand....


has anyone think on that before or is everyone thinking that Lesnar is now suddenly the new Christ of MMA?

[Bluto]

“… I am so sorry I am not able to fight this weekend. I trained harder for this than any other fight in my life and I was looking forward to this more than you know. It started on friday with a small mark on my leg. I immediately went to the doctor and he gave me medication and told me if it got worse to go to the hospital. Well, it got worse and on Sunday I went in and have been here ever since. I am hoping they will discharge me by Thursday. I am very sorry if I disappointed anyone. A lot of work by a lot of people went into this. For it to end with something totally out of my control makes it difficult to swallow. I will be back in the gym as soon as possible and will be ready to fight as soon as Joe Silva can get me back in.”

[SinCitysmallGUY]

well, people are not considering the fact that almost NOBODY knows who the f*ck Lesnar is outside USA...

Randy on the other hand....


has anyone think on that before or is everyone thinking that Lesnar is now suddenly the new Christ of MMA?

I find this strange?? Tons of people know who Brock is outside of the US. The WWE has been worldwide long before the UFC. I would say that more people know who Brock is then Randy. Mexicans are huge wrestling fans and I can gurantee that they know who he is, same thing with Japs. They love huge freaks and I would be certain they know who Brock is. Randy is more of an american name then Brock.

How many people do you think know who randy is? Sure the Scorpion King 2, but other then that it's just UFC for him. Brock has a lot of hype coming behind him.

[Pecs]

well, people are not considering the fact that almost NOBODY knows who the f*ck Lesnar is outside USA...

Randy on the other hand....


has anyone think on that before or is everyone thinking that Lesnar is now suddenly the new Christ of MMA?

there are far far far more people who know brock than randy....remember WWE?

[SinCitysmallGUY]

[SinCitysmallGUY]

since it looks like half the board doesn't want the board spammed with news I will add any and all news for UFC 91 in here. Tons of stuff from today you just have to hunt for it.. I like blasting the board because if you don't want to read it then you don't have to. Lots of views just not responding to it is fine with me. A lot of this stuff doesn't get responses, but at least you know what your reading.. Oh well here goes, enjoy fellas.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

That's who Stephen Quadros believes will defeat Randy Couture this Saturday night at UFC 91. Notable quote:

Mir is known as one of the best submission men in MMA at his weight. Yet Brock was hammering Frank to pieces until an errant blow to the back of Mir’s head caused the referee to step in and restart the fight. Mir capitalized but securing the fight winning kneebar.

While Randy hasn’t proven to be a Mir on the ground (Couture only has two submission in 24 fights, one of them 11 years ago), Lesnar is a completely different animal than Sylvia - he’s FAST, hungry and is a better wrestler than Randy is.

If Lesnar can fight with the abandon that he unleashed in his fight with Frank Mir, combined with the ‘pick your shots’ patience he learned on the job while fighting Heath Herring, he should win this by going by the numbers already established by Ricco Rodriguez and Josh Barnett, both of who won against Couture by TKO - take Randy down, get top position and drill him. But the longer the fight goes however, the harder it will be for Lesnar to do what he does best, put his opponent on his back. Couture is definitely going to want to take this fight into the deep waters of the fourth and fifth rounds. There he will be able to test the chin, cardio and heart of the former pro-wrestler.

It’s hard for me to pick against Randy because he’s bucked the odds so many times in the past. But...I pick Brock Lesnar to win by ground and pound/ref stoppage, most likely in the second round.

This fight has so many variables and such little information. I'm still officially undecided.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

Most expert opinion is moving in the way of Brock Lesnar now as the fight approaches.  He's too big, too strong, too good of a wrestler, too athletic...and Randy is just too old.

There are so many key factors in this fight that it's impossible to address them all in one post, but I believe the deciding factor in this fight will be instincts.  A great comparison is to look at how both followed up their knockdowns of Tim Sylvia and Heath Herring.  Randy looked shocked at first, but immediately rushed in, landed several lefts, and took the back to try to get a choke.  Brock Lesnar followed with...I don't know, a quarterback sack type maneuver.  He ended up against the cage holding Herring in a headlock while he looked to his corner for advice and then figured out what to do.

The problem for Lesnar is his instincts aren't there.  If Randy ends up on top in half guard, Lesnar is not going to be able to take 15 seconds, remember what to do in this situation, and then do it.  He'll have to be ready to defend immediately, or he'll get pounded.  I have no doubt Randy can recover and survive a bad shot, but for Brock, as soon as something goes wrong, I think it's over for him.

When Brock Lesnar trained for Frank Mir, he trained the escape to that leg submission thousands of times with great submission coaches.  But in the heat of the moment, when Frank got it, Brock didn't even go for the most rudimentary of escapes.  He felt the pain in his leg and just tapped.  He panicked, and that is the kind of thing Randy Couture does not do.

If Randy Couture floors Brock and grabs his back, I have no doubt he'll easily grab a choke and finish, just because I don't think Brock will show the poise Tim showed that night.  He will one day, but it's just too early.  For Brock to win, he needs to finish early, or go a full 5 rounds without making a mistake.  The latter is highly unlikely, so he needs to finish early.

I'm obviously not ruling out a Brock victory.  If it turns into a pure wrestling match, it's Brock's fight.  He could bust Randy's eye socket from the top and it will be over, he could catch Randy with a perfect punch...but the odds of Randy catching Brock with that punch are much higher.

In the end, Randy Couture is fighting a phenom, but the phenom is 2-1.  He has never been punched in the face in a fight.  He looked clueless in the clinch just 3 months ago.  I believe Randy Couture will finish Brock Lesnar, and finish him early.