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MMA weekly had these on its rumors page, which usually means its a done deal
UFC 76 Sept 22
Chuck vs Jardine
Diego Sanchez vs Fitch
Lambert vs Gouviea
Shogun vs TBA ( allegedly Forrest Griffin)
I've also hear that Sylvia vs Mir II is supposed to happen
I kinda thought after Jardine losing and Lambert's big win over Babalu that Chuck would fight Lambert but I guess not...It will be interesting to see if Jardine wants to keep it standing with Liddell especially after getting cracked by Alexander
ive seen that the shogun fight is confirmed...
i dont get that
griffin may be the WORST fighter in the history of fighting to gain any type of fanbase
I get it...For new mma fans Griffin is a well known fighter and a win over him will give Shogun good credibility...Plus Forrest is the kind of guy that Shogun will look good against. You dont have to worry about to many takedown attempts or ground fighting. You gotta think that even guys who have watched UFC for a while might very well have never seen Shogun fight...He will need a few fights with good wins for the "ultimate fighter" fans to realize what an awesome talent he is
Wow. I'm surprised they would feed Forrest to Shogun.
He's a star, they could just as easily give him someone like Babalu. That's a much more appealing fight for fight fans, and it's someone that the UFC crowd knows. Gives Shogun a chance to avenge a loss and it would be exciting no doubt. They're basically sacrificing a star in Forrest, for him to win would be bigger then Serra beating GSP imo.
Shogun is just an animal, I'm really surprised they would give him a guy like Forrest. They never really hyped Silva up as a star, even when he beat their champion so I never thought they would give a Pride guy the type of stardom they give to other guys.
I wonder what happens when the sport's champions aren't American white guys. I wonder if globalization will hurt the UFC the same way it has hurt the heavyweight division in America. When the Tito's, Rich's, Chuck's and Randy's of the world leave and are replaced by Mauricio's, Silva's and Fedor's of the world, if some of that demographic widdles away.
The only guy they have brought from Pride and really made a big deal of was Rampage, and he's American. Now they're doing the same with Dan Henderson. Meanwhile, Anderson Silva has nowhere near the popularity of Rich Franklin even though he is the champion. No secret why either imo.
Interesting time for the UFC no doubt.
:coolclick: Really thought provoking post. I think you are definitely onto something there. Hopefully these guys overseas will get the respect and exposure they deserve, I particularly like Anderson Silva, possibly the best champion in the UFC right now.Quote:
Originally Posted by amat
Guys like Rampage and Henderson definitely deserve the attention they get. Rampage especially is such a massive personality that his involvement in the UFC can only be good for the sport.
UFC 74 looks to be another great card, their stacked card last time out certainly lived up to the hype, some great action on that one.
AHQuote:
Originally Posted by VanChilds
now i see where theyre coming from there, that does make sense
im pretty sure most of the people who like griffin will just think that shogun is unstoppable and continue to like griffin, it seems no matter how obvious his shittyness becomes they still support him, it puzzles meQuote:
Originally Posted by amat
I'd like to see the UFC embrace a more global strategy, and give its international fighters a bigger push, but even though its not whats necessarily best for the sport Dana's push of "American" friendly fighters is whats best for his bottom line at the moment....I've mentioned doing a LHW and LW GP over a 12 month period with fights in Rio/Moscow/Tokyo/Vegas....Zuffa has an opportunity to cement UFC as the global power in MMA by doing fight cards in Japan/South America/Eastern Europe. Strikeforce and K1 have some decent names and have done some good cards but they are lacking in consistency and legitamacy. UFC needs to act now before these guys get their shit together and we are back to having the best fighters in the world split bewteen two orgs...Although I think Sal would love this ;)