OPEN WEIGHT GRANDPRIX TOURNAMENT!!!

[Lionheart Lacy]

any of you lot been following the open weight grandprix tournament?

the first round has happened, july 1st is the second round.

very interesting fights. wanderlei silva vs fujita.

mark hunt v josh barnett.

what are your thoughts?

[Lionheart Lacy]

THE WINNER OF THIS TOURNAMENT WILL WITHOUT A DOUBT BE CONSIDERED THE TOUGHEST FIGHTER ON THE PLANTER EXCLUDING FEDOR!

[Heavy D]

I'm thinking Mark Hunt vs CroCop in the finals, and it oughta be a great match. They've already fought once in K1 (CroCop by decision) and once in Pride (Hunt by decision).I'd love to see Mark Hunt win it all, as I'm a huge fan of his. He's got a granite chin, and throws some lead fists. Not to mention, who else uses atomic butt drops and double knee drops these days outside of the WWE?

He's a great personality and a pretty good fighter. He's definately got to work on his ground game, but I genuinely feel he could be the next big thing in Pride. Not to mention, CroCop and Noguiera have both already lost to Fedor, so why not let Hunt have his shot?

[Von Milash]

Why isn't Fedor in it?

[bigragu]

Why isn't Fedor in it?

the only reason I could think of is injury....He would friggin dominate this......baddddd man!!!!!!!!

[Emelianenko]

All the fights in the second round of the OWGP are main event like bouts.

Nog Vs Werdum

This is going to be awesome. Two BJJ masters and with Nog having worked on his boxing so much and Werdum training with Crocop for his standup, this will be amazing fight. Some even labelled Werdum has the unger version of Nog. Great Matchup.

Yoshida Vs Crocop

Not as straightforward as some may think. Yoshida is tough! and if he ties Mirko up with his Gi he cud give him some problems. Mirko will be coming into this fight still carrying tht injury to his foot.

W.Silva Vs Fujita

Both have got rock solid chins. Silva recuperates so quick. Will be interesting to see what kind of game plan Silva goes into this fight with.

Hunt Vs Barnett.

I reckon Barnett will take this to the ground and try to Submit Hunt. However Hunt has been showing a great sprawl lately and u dnt really wanna stand with a guy like Hunt.

Winner of the OWGP will fight Fedor Emelianenko at the NYE show

Also on the card, belfort and so on will be fighting also. Should be a great event all in all

[Von Milash]

I've seen Hunt once in K1 agains Big Daddy and honestly he lookes apathetic or lethargic. Is he really that good of a striker in standup?

[Lionheart Lacy]

Fedor had a hand injury.

i would like to see fedor v hunt or fedor v silva.

THE WINNER WILL FACE FEDOR!

[Heavy D]

He's fought much better fights that he wound up losing. He was wicked lazy in that fight, and didnt really look like he was trying at all. If you can find his fight vs Nishijima, that was one of the better fights I've seen in a long time. Ray Sefu was also a very interesting fight. After getting his ass beaten by Jerome Le Banner one year, he still came back to knock his ass down in the last round. The guy gets roundhouse kicked in the face and gets knocked down because he loses his balance, not because he gets KTFOd. And no matter how hurt or tired he is, he always has that insane knockdown power.

The easiest way to see him, I guess, would be to check video.google.com or youtube.com for highlight vids or something.

[Von Milash]

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...FB69C6C1434834

I'd say he's tough. And man can he get out of submissions. Brutally strong I'd say.

[Emelianenko]

I've seen Hunt once in K1 agains Big Daddy and honestly he lookes apathetic or lethargic. Is he really that good of a striker in standup?

Stand up wise Mark Hunt is deffo the real deal. U just gotta watch his fights against the likes of Ray Sefo and Jerome LeBanner and so on in K-1 and he has won a K-1 GP. Hes got very heavy hands and hes got an iron jaw, never been KO'd, i mean hell! he took Crocops left high kick to the head and just carried on fighting.

His only weakness is the ground game and maybe his cardio, so i see josh barnett capitalising on tht weakness of his.

[Heavy D]

I'd say his one real weakness is his cardio. He almost always gasses in his fights (unless he KOs them too quickly). However, he still gets second, third and fourth winds. No matter how tired he is, he always seems to summon up the strength to throw out a few powerful combos at any given time.

His ground game is surprisingly good for something with no real background in submissions to speak of. He seems to almost have the same ground game as Fedor: "squiggle around like a little kid." Both their ground games are very odd, yet relatively effective (Fedors MUCH more so than Hunt's, as Fedor has actually trained in submissions).

[Von Milash]

I'm an instant Mark Hunt fan. I loved seeing him clean Wandy's clock.