Metal Reviews

Certainly a time of change in the UFC. GSP retiring, Silva losing his title, Cruz being stripped of his, Chris Leben and Pat Barry retiring, vets like Hendo or Mir or Overeem or Big Nog etc.. all on losing skids. The times, they are a changin.

Gotta agree with Mir though, he may have lost 3 straight, but they are against elite heavyweights, and two of them were kinda blah/controversial. With the division so thin, he only needs a win or two and he's back in the mix. Maybe winner of Mir-Overeem should fight Stipe Miocic. Winner of that fight gets a top 5 guy and potentially a title shot.

No love for Faber? That kid is on a tear I'd like to see him take it. Probably Aldo and Overeem, that last pick is questionable. The guy has looked like a joke since coming back. He really lacks the mental awareness anymore.

Renan Barao beat up Faber for 25 minutes already and has only gotten much better since then. Faber is on a tear, but he hasn't beat anybody close to Barao's level. I like Faber and he'd be a great champion, but he's 0-5 in his last 5 title fights and again, already lost pretty badly to Barao.

Did not know that Barao had already beat up on him :(

It should still be a great fight. Faber looked good at weigh-ins today. And man, Aldo looks ready to kill.

The only fight I saw was that Dagestani guy do pretty well against that 23 year old Brasillian guy. The Brasillian guy had the second round and if he had kept his guard up, he would've been leveled multiple times in the 3rd round. He had all it took to take that Russian guy down, he had hit in squarely in the chest multiple times and even Rogan commented about how the Russian guy staggered afterward. Its his fault he couldn't capitalize on the effect his strikes had on his opponent, the Russian guy was completely vindicated in the flex/shouting he did during them last 30 seconds of the match.

I never saw the headlining match.

Someone fill me in

The flexing and giving the guy the thumbs down was probably the most amazing thing that I have ever seen. The guy who Benson fought last week did a bit of that when he had Benson's back. I wonder if the sport is going start becoming more show-y like that. I hope not.

Faber looked good, and then just got nailed by Barao. Barao just pummeled him.

Aldo was methodical and had some nasty leg kicks and combos throughout the fight. The fifth round he got caught a few times, but when it went to decision there was no question in who had it.

Oh, and Overeem dismantled Mir. Like it looked like a dude just beating his defenseless kid or wife. It was bad.

That Alistair Overeem guy looks like an absolute monster of a human being.

You should of seen Overeem when he fought Lesnar full of steroids. He looked like he was from a movie.

The Barao-Faber fight was stopped early, but Barao was going to stop him regardless. Nova Unaio camp is jus too good. Barao looks better everytime.

Abel Truijillo can bring it and take it. But against some of lightweights elite fighters, he'll get picked apart. I like Varner, so it sucks for him to lose like that when he was so close to finishing the fight.

And that's all I saw because my cable provider was having some major issues last night and from the 2nd fight, Bagautinov-Lineker to the 5th round of Aldo-Lamas I missed. Super pissed, but I've got that new fight pass so I can hopefully watch what I missed on there sometime soon.

And apparently Overeem got into some trouble from Dana for his Lesnar call out.

Machida-Mousasi was a beautiful, techinical fight. Boring card overall, but great main event. And man, Erick Silva, when on his game, is deadly. Those jumping heel kicks were ridiculous, never seen anything like them before. He is also the only fighter in UFC history to not get hit in any way in two different fights.

And it is fight week again, picks?

I got Rousey, Cormier (sucks about Rashad pulling out of this fight), MacDonald, Pyle, Thompson.

Not the greatest card in terms of name power, but they are usually the most action packed. The last 2 events (UFC 169, Fight Night 36) both had 10 fights that went to a decision, which is a UFC record. Fight Night 36 also took the record for longest fight card in UFC history.

Erick Silva seems ridic. I know nothing about his opponent, but he sure was getting hyped. Machida is great at that weight class. I like his stuff there.

Super stoked about the Rousey fight. Rousey, Cormier, Macdonald, Pyle, Whitaker.

I don't want to derail this thread, but that ESPN cover photo of Rousey. Damn.

Silvas opponent was a late injury replacement and basically a guy paid to lose. He's a decent grappler from the Japanese circuit. I think even was a champion, but not on Silvas level. I like Erick and still think he's got all the potential in the world. His only legit losses are a decision to Jon Fitch and that flash KO to Dong Hyun Kim. They both are pretty damn good fighters. He just needs more consistent match ups. He's either the major favourite or big underdog. He should be matched up with guys around him in the rankings.

Also, I prefer Tate and her yoga pants. Rousey is still quite nice.

Speaking of Rousey, not a decisive victory but one nonetheless. She dropped the girl, and easily could have continued lacing into her face or even taken her back easily. It was early, but we'll never know.

Have you ever had 3 straight knees to the liver and then eat 4 unanswered punches to the face? Sara McMann didn't think it was early, and she just suffered the first loss of her career.

And it's fight week again. I'll ask for picks, but I doubt anybody has any. All I know for now is: Dong Hyun Kim.

Didn't think so...

Dong Hyun Kim had a huge 3rd round KO this morning against John Hathaway. Kim is now 19-2-1 overall, won 4 straight and 2 straight by brutal knockouts. Today's was especially epic with a spinning elbow from nowhere.

And it's fight week again, picks..?

War Gustafsson!

I'm a big fan of Stun Gun but the show coincided with the local metal festival so it drew the short straw. I could have downloaded it afterwards but I had the results spoiled for me so I simply passed. Looked like a stunning finish, no pun intended.

I'm real excited to watch the fights this weekend though. Manuwa is a beast, it's a dangerous fight for Gustafsson to take, that's for sure, a lot to lose... But I obviously gotta go with Gus here. Guillard-Johnson should be fun, Michael Johnson has looked a lot like Melvin lately, dancing in and out and using speed and power to rattle the opponent. Close one but I think Guillard takes it if the fight is standing. I have no idea who the guy Pickett is fighting even is so I'm just gonna say Pickett. Nelson-Ahkmedov looks really fun too, both guys are studs! I think Nelson might have a bit better all round game, but I really need to see more of both these guys before I'm capable of making a prediction I'm comfortable with. Diabate over Latifi just because Latifi didn't look like an UFC quality fighter against Mousasi.. but Mousasi will do that to you, who who knows. Diabate certainly isn't impressing anyone either.

So: Gus, Guillard, Pickett, Nelson, Diabate.. but I wouldn't put money down.

I agree with the picks but change out Guillard with Johnson.

Great card this weekend. Picks?

Hendricks, Condit, Jury, Lombard, OSP

The Shields-Lombard and OSP-Krylov fights were my hardest to pick. Also, Sanchez should bring it to Jury like nobody else before him, but Jury will prove he's legit.

Yours?

I forgot to post my picks but they were the same as yours. Sucks that Condit got injured, seemed pretty serious too. Nice title bout, I thought Hendricks would run right through Lawler but he's a tough son of a bitch. Supposedly Hendricks was fighting with a torn bicep, dunno how much it impacted the fight but kudos to him for not backing out.

Melvin Guillard cut by the UFC, another veteran gone. He was on an unbelievable tear for a while then fell off a cliff. I was always hopeful that he'd find his form again but looks like those days are gone forever.

Shogun-Hendo 2 this weekend. I'm not even gonna try to predict that one, I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy them slugging it out.