Mixed Martial Arts

[rockybrawler]

Well my friend that is how a fighter rises and falls, sa lahat naman nangyayari yan. Look at holyfield, he should have retired a decade ago but still he has to fight out of his massive financial problems. You either quit while you are ahead, or you watch as your physique slowly erodes with your age. Sure you would still have skills, but what can you do when your body was not as fast, or as tough as it used to be?

 

Nobody stays at the top forever, lets not feel sorry for chuck lidell, he was a warrior, and he was rarely in a dull fight every time he stepped on the canvass. He was a predator. Many champions will follow after him, but I really doubt if most of them can even measure up to his legacy when he was at the top of the sport. Id be more sorry for him if he continued fighting past his prime, and continue to see a great fighter like him be defeated in the most humiliating fashion.

 

As for him making a comeback? Well I do not know, if ever he did, I do not think it would be the same chuck that we all loved. He would have to reinvent his game, I do not know, maybe chuck the wrestler and not the striker? But for now retire na lang muna sya.

Have you guys noticed that Chuck got knocked out by Rampage, Rashad and lastly, by Rua simply because he can't keep his hands up to protect his face?

[IchigoHollow]

I can't wait for Evana vs Machida!!! WAR MACHIDA!!!! by the way, lupit ng UFC 100, 3 ung main event. WTF?! :evil:

[dragonei]

Have you guys noticed that Chuck got knocked out by Rampage, Rashad and lastly, by Rua simply because he can't keep his hands up to protect his face?

 

Well that was his style, even boxers keep a low guard minsan para mas bwelo yung suntok at mas me impact. At his prime, chuck relied on his solid jaw (as you can see he has a big one), take down defense, power and accuracy of his punches. Of course all of this things will erode as you age, and as you take brutal hits to jaw fight after fight

[twentysix]

got this from other site, sad but its kinda true.

 

______________________________

 

"Who is next to say goodbye?"

 

 

This past Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal marked an emotional evening for not just the Iceman, but for the Mixed Martial Arts community as a whole. Chuck Liddell has been a front-runner in one of the most stacked divisions in the sport for as long as most of us can remember, but in the last two years of his prolific, exciting, and accomplished career, his aura has melted, exposing his age and the fact that the level of competition has simply passed him by.

 

The changing of the guard happens in every sport, but not as frequently and quickly as in MMA. In the span of sixteen years we’ve seen multiple generations emerge and fall victim to the next, and at this juncture in 2009 it is happening again. The major difference between this passing of the torch from Chuck Liddell’s generation to Mauricio Rua’s at UFC 97, is the fact that the Iceman’s generation was the first to really cast the UFC into the mainstream spotlight, making him one of the sport’s first truly iconic superstars.

 

 

As unpleasant as it is to think about, Chuck Liddell is just the beginning of the heartbreak mixed martial arts fans are going to experience in the coming two years, as many of the sport’s most notable fighters that emerged in the late 1990s are facing permanent excision from the octagon. So, who are these beloved fighters that are teetering on the brink of retirement?

 

 

 

Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva

 

 

Whenever the “Axe-Murder” is discussed on the Fightlockdown forum, you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone saying anything negative about him. Every time Silva steps into the octagon, you can expect him to come forward aggressively with the hope of not just beating his opponent, but absolutely massacring them. His style, while extremely pleasing to the fans—who he dedicates every one of his performances to—is not in the best interest of his personal well-being, and that’s evident in the fact that in 3 of his last 5 outings, he has been brutally knocked out.

 

So how many more times does Wanderlei have to see stars before Dana White intervenes and calls his career? Chuck Liddell has had more success in his last few fights than Silva, and Dana still managed to convince him that his days in the cage are over. As much as it pains me to say this, if Wanderlei Silva cannot beat Rich Franklin and his next opponent, it may be the last time we see him fighting in the UFC …that is, if Dana truly cares about his fighters’ well-beings.

 

 

 

Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira

 

 

Another fighter among the pantheon of MMA legends facing potential retirement is Minotauro. At 32 years of age, Nogueira in his last fight looked like a geriatric wandering the octagon without his walker. Words cannot express how painful it was for me to watch him get pummeled by Frank Mir, leading to the first stoppage loss of his career. While Nogueira has managed to squeeze out victories from the jaws of defeat in a number of his recent fights—particularly against Herring and Sylvia—it has become clear that his wars under the PRIDE FC banner have caught up with him.

 

Although he sustained a nasty staph infection a few weeks prior to fighting Mir, it’s hard to deny that Minotauro hasn’t looked quite the same in his UFC outings, as his head movement has slowed, his footwork has become labored, and his reaction times just simply aren’t what they used to be. While the loss to Mir was his first in two years, Nogueira has a lot to prove in his return against Randy Couture, and if he looks anything like he did in his last outing, it could be one of the last times we see him inside the octagon.

 

 

 

Matt Hughes

 

Regardless of the fact he may be one of the most despised fighters in the sport because of his grating personality, Matt Hughes remains the most dominant welter-weight champion of all time. Even though he hasn’t sustained as much accumulative physical damage as Silva and Nogueira in his last few outings, Hughes has been exposed instead for the one-dimensional skill-set he possesses. Unfortunately for Matt, his style simply has not evolved and developed alongside his peers at welterweight. This is the era of hybridized fighters, where competitors are not just wrestlers or BJJ practitioners, or strikers, they are all of the above, and Hughes hasn’t shown the development required in order to remain relevant.

 

 

Thiago Alves and Georges St. Pierre are fighters of the new wave and they dismantled Matt with ease, not just because of the fact they’re great athletes, but because Matt has refused to grow along with them. Even though I am certain Hughes should beat Matt Serra—who really should be at Lightweight—unless he can develop new skills to reinvigorate his career, he’ll be waving the fans goodbye in the not too distant future.

 

 

 

Randy "The Natural" Couture

 

 

“This is the last time you'll see me in these gloves and these shorts in this Octagon, because I'm retiring. That's it for me. It's time to do something else.” When Captain America bid us farewell following his rubber match against Chuck Liddell at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in 2006, fans mourned the end of an era and the departure of a hero. One year later, fans rejoiced when they were treated to the single greatest return in MMA history, as Randy dismantled and dominated Tim Sylvia for his third UFC Heavyweight championship.

 

 

Certainly Randy has shown the ability to reinvent and improve himself to stay relevant in the sport, but it’s not his skill-set that is limiting his time in MMA, it’s the fact that he’s turning 46 this year. Randy has proven that age is simply a number, but even as physically gifted as he may be, he’s nearly two times as old as some of the fresh talent in the UFC’s HW division. How much longer can Randy keep participating at this level? It’s a battle with the clock for him, and as awesome as it is to see him compete at his age, it’s hard to deny the likelihood of his forthcoming second retirement.

 

 

 

 

All four of these fighters fit within MMA’s pantheon composed of legends like Chuck Liddell, and they’re all entering the twilight of their careers, marking both the end and beginning of eras in our beloved sport. As much as these warriors would love to continue fighting, at some point they will have to stop or be stopped, in order to avoid "Shamrocking" their legacies.

 

 

As hard as that may be for most of us to accept, it’s the nature of the game, and we need to remember that as old stars fade, new ones are born. Let’s fondly remember the past, but let us also embrace the potential legends of the future, as they will certainly carry our sport to another level of greatness showcasing the influence of their predecessors.

 

 

Is Chuck Liddell’s departure a sign of things to come? If so, who is the next to say farewell?

[twentysix]

Time for Chuck to hang up the 4 oz. gloves! Hate to see him go down the drain like Ken Shamrock! He's got nothing to prove anymore as he is already a legend in MMA!

 

Poor showing of A.Silva again! Counterstriker lang talaga! Thats why I never considered him as top P4P fighter! Fedor parin! :thumbsupsmiley:

 

pre tuloy ka ba sa ukc7? baka magbackout ako due to schedule conflict. good to go na sana ako sa april 25 kaya lang na move pa ng may 9, sayang.

[monsignor28]

Badtrip yung laban ni Silva & Leites. Walang ibang ginawa si Leites kundi mahiga.

[overman]

Poor showing of A.Silva again! Counterstriker lang talaga! Thats why I never considered him as top P4P fighter! Fedor parin! :thumbsupsmiley:

 

hahaha another one of those comments...

both fighters respected each others skills, spider won't engage leites in a bjj match and leites well, who would want to face spider standing... silva fought an intelligent match halos walang nagawa yung challenger even sa ground when he was taken down..

 

counterstriker lang? hahaha, napanood mo ba attacks nya kay leites.. kung hindi magtatry mag pull guard yun tulog yun.. and what about his guard game.. the bjj ace was not able to take him down at will and when he was able to take spider down, he can't pass his guard talk about defense...

 

i hope other spectators would appreciate martial arts as martial arts and not as cock fighting or some freak show... (otherwise watch wwe or youtube mo si kimbo)

 

if you didn't like the outcome of the match don't blame both silva and leites they fought according to their and their opponents skills.. blame the match maker... malamang you put a striker against a ground fighter ganyan mangyayari.. remember the almeida-cote fight ganyan din... put wandy against spider or another striker or wrestler if you want fireworks against spider...

 

no offense meant... just some thoughts on the recent ufc main event fight and related comments.. peace bro!!!!!

 

--------

 

chuck's era has ended.. well it has ended long before but the fight against shogun culminates it.. thanx chuck for the great fights.. i hope you don't follow the footsteps of the first mma stars like (my first mma hero) ken shamrock..

 

with the end of an era comes a new begging.. having said that, let us now watch the birth of the MACHIDA ERA....

 

WAR MACHIDA!!!!

[chuckliddell]

"the run n' gun" machida.. hahah..

[riceb0i]

"the run n' gun" machida.. hahah..

against a shaking ang baking Rashad, i'd go for the running and gunning Machida chief

 

no dis to Rashad, he's physically strong and fukken stout, quick and capitalizing, but whatever he has Lyoto also have it

[Brownman]

Lyoto and GSP are the new breed fighters.....both keeps improving every outing!

[overman]

naisip ko lang UFC should sign back the phenom belfort and make him face spider... there will be fireworks.. both excellent strikers and phenom is an aggressive striker.. plus both are good on the ground... although odds would be against the phenom, I'd pick him over spider...

[geneticfreak]

naisip ko lang UFC should sign back the phenom belfort and make him face spider... there will be fireworks.. both excellent strikers and phenom is an aggressive striker.. plus both are good on the ground... although odds would be against the phenom, I'd pick him over spider...

 

+ 1 on this one. The Vitor Belfort who showed up and massacred Matt Lindland at 185 lbs. during the last Afflicition M1 Global pay per view is one who could match up well against Anderson Silva

[maddromeo]

+2 na ko dyan Sir Genetic! With Belforts success in MW he would be a worthy opponent for the Spider! Rumor has it he may face Fedor at Affliction 3!? :hypocritesmiley:

 

Yes Sir TwentySix! Good to go ako sa May 9 at UKC7 sa Elorde! As of now Im cutting my weight already para ma reach yung 145lbs. limit that I signed up! 3 weeks to go pa naman so I dont see no problem to reach it! Maya makapag training ulit sa Elorde SouthMall to sharpen up my "skills" kung meron man!? Hehe... :thumbsupsmiley:

 

PEACE!!!

[Palakol]

+2 na ko dyan Sir Genetic! With Belforts success in MW he would be a worthy opponent for the Spider! Rumor has it he may face Fedor at Affliction 3!? :hypocritesmiley:

 

Yes Sir TwentySix! Good to go ako sa May 9 at UKC7 sa Elorde! As of now Im cutting my weight already para ma reach yung 145lbs. limit that I signed up! 3 weeks to go pa naman so I dont see no problem to reach it! Maya makapag training ulit sa Elorde SouthMall to sharpen up my "skills" kung meron man!? Hehe... :thumbsupsmiley:

 

PEACE!!!

muay thai o mma?

[twentysix]

+2 na ko dyan Sir Genetic! With Belforts success in MW he would be a worthy opponent for the Spider! Rumor has it he may face Fedor at Affliction 3!? :hypocritesmiley:

 

Yes Sir TwentySix! Good to go ako sa May 9 at UKC7 sa Elorde! As of now Im cutting my weight already para ma reach yung 145lbs. limit that I signed up! 3 weeks to go pa naman so I dont see no problem to reach it! Maya makapag training ulit sa Elorde SouthMall to sharpen up my "skills" kung meron man!? Hehe... :thumbsupsmiley:

 

PEACE!!!

 

goodluck! malamang manood na lang ako, hehe... same rules pa rin ba? 2 rounds, with head gear, body armor, shin guard and no elbow?