i agree with dana, i thought it was an awesome fight and couldn’t believe there were boos, i thought it was the best fight of the night for sure, those sacramento fans should be ashamed of themselves for booing for no reason all night long…

I agree, that fight was great. I was watching with friends and we were on our feet the entire time! I couldn’t believe my ears when the crowd was booing. If they don’t like the grappling side of the sport then they should just watch boxing. Grappling is a big part of this sport, I enjoy those matches the most because of how technical they are. Though it is still entertaining to see somebody get KTFO’d occasionally.

[quote comment=”100515″]i agree with dana, i thought it was an awesome fight and couldn’t believe there were boos, i thought it was the best fight of the night for sure, those sacramento fans should be ashamed of themselves for booing for no reason all night long…[/quote]

Agreed. I have no complaints about last night. Thought it was solid. Disappointed with the Ortiz-Evans result, of course, but what can you do.

I agree totally! I was there with a bubby and we kept saying what are the sac-town fans thinking? The sport is called MMA not boxing come on. The event was great and loved attending it live for the first time. I was surprised by the fans lack of knowledge of the fight card too as they all started to leave after the Silva fight and missed the Ken-fo fight.

i can’t stand it when the fans start booing for no reason at all. they need to give there head a shake and realize that the ppl in that octagon/ring are warriors and r puttin so much on the line. thats one of the reasons i liked PRIDE better than UFC because the fans understood the sport and respected the fighters no matter what. i honestly think its just some of the american fans who don’t understand the sport, get drunk at the event and just want to be heard…. smarten up ppl!!

It was crazy last night with all the drunk rednecks. Those fans booed non stop the WHOLE event. I was shocked to hear them booing Big Nog vs. Herring. That fight was awesome.

oh yeh and awsome fights last night! who else jumped outta their seat when BIG NOG took that kick right to the face?? i had flash backs of Mirko/Gonzaga!

I think they were booing Sherk for being in control. It seemed like everytime Franca got him in the guillotine, they went wild again. a lot of fans don’t understand good grappling. they come hoping to see someone get pounded into a pulp. i always like Sherk. People say he uses the blacket atack, but if you really watch him, he’s trying to finish the fight. Franca did way better than I expected him to do and my hats off to him. Great Fight!!!

my cable went out and I missed half of the ppv. definately missed the nog fight. I want to see that head kick.

AMEN TO THAT DANA! That crowd blew hard!! Stick to LA, Las Vegas, Houston. Give the east coast some love!!

Sherk/Franca was an awesome fight. I give Franca lots, lots of credit for his incredable efforts. I never thought he could hang with Sherk but he did. You could tell he trained his tail of for this fight and was in very good shape.

Sherk was just relentless. I mean, he took about 3 knees in the face. One of them rocked him but he kept on coming. The dude looked like he could go another 5 rounds no problem.

Incredable fight.

I watched it with my buddies and we all thought it was an amazing fight. Sherk’s strength,tenacity, wrestling, bjj, and constant countering of submission holds, to us was superhuman.I was shocked that so many people found it to be a dull fight. however, most people only see one guy draped over another guy for 20 minutes and every time the guy on the bottom looked like he would escape he was immediately thrown down. they don’t want a sport, they want to see two guys in a blind rage throw fists and feet.

The ufc is gonna have to deal with that type of fan, because that is type of fan they are marketing too. They know they have the hardcore fan under lock.

just wasnt an extremely exciting fight for the average mildy educated mma fan thats all

I would much rather see Sherk at 170 fighting guys his size. The 155 division is for small guys, not freaks that can somehow drop 30 pounds of water mass. Its just not as exciting to watch. He is really good at taking guys down .. and thats about it. With Sherk holding the lightweight title I think its going to be a long time before we see a lightweight title bout finish.

Sherk is awesome… but a boring fighter. He’s a one-dimensional wet blanket. Nothing wrong with that, but he will never be a popular champion.

This crowd even boo’ed at the beginning of the Silva/Marquardt fight. Ridiculous.

Admittedly, I’ve only been following the sport of MMA for a year or so, but there seems to be so much negativity surrounding it, whether it’s org vs. org, fighter bashing, org bashing, Dana bashing, complaining about PPV production, rules, styles, and on and on.

Granted, I follow MMA via the Internet which is basically filled with negativity anyhow and there are good reasons to be critical of some of the aspects of MMA and the UFC, but sometimes the negativity and whining is overwhelming.

I thoroughly enjoy UFC 73. I don’t think I’m easily amused; I think it was solid MMA action. If one didn’t enjoy the UFC 73 fights, I don’t think there is much hope for them as long term MMA fans.

Maybe I’m being naive, but I hope this is simply a symptom of the stage MMA is at right now, and in another year or so a true, educated fan base emerges.

There’s a reason Chuck Liddell is the most popular fighter. He goes in the cage and throws haymakers. That’s what most fans want to see. Sadly, many fans don’t appreciate a protracted battle on the ground.

On the other hand, Dana’s overstating the case. I’ve seen Sherk sharper than he was last night. But he’s such a powerhouse that 90% of the division doesn’t have a prayer against him. I’d love to see him fight BJ Penn.

I just wished that there was a fighter that had the balls to rag on these sorts of idiots. I thought Tito was gonna demolish them.

Granted Liddell is very popular but he also shows whats wrong with MMA. When people see Liddell, people see Lidell as a guy with a beer gut that throws haymakers. I know he is more than that, but I dont see him as the true essence of MMA….

[quote comment=”100573″]I just wished that there was a fighter that had the balls to rag on these sorts of idiots. I thought Tito was gonna demolish them.[/quote]

Ragging on the idiot fans would not show “Balls”, it would show an idiot fighter. Booing is something that happens. The fans in the stands are not experts…they’re just fans. The fighters shouldn’t give two shits…their job is to fight and win.

sherk has had Kenflo and Hermes under him for 50 minutes and neither of them had a scratch after the fight, he really has to learn how to finish someone.

[quote comment=”100567″]Sherk is awesome… but a boring fighter. He’s a one-dimensional wet blanket. Nothing wrong with that, but he will never be a popular champion.[/quote]

Watch some of his fights before you spew such nonsense…one dimensional my a..! The guy is unbeatable.

did any of you see the interview with quinton jackson after his first fight? he was jumping all over the fans for booing him.

The guy is unbeatable? He was beaten out of the 170 lbs division. He uses his massive frame to wrestle a guy down and GnP on them until he wins. Most of his submission wins are at the little leagues where guys are just cans. He hasn’t submitted a guy in the UFC yet. The guy weighs over 170lbs by game time. No way is he 155 lbs. Does he like to stand and strike? No he doesn’t. Does he even know how to kick? I give him all the credit in the world… he will rule the division until BJPenn beat hm. But Sherk is one dimensional champ.

the muscle sharks holdin that belt for a llllooooonnnnggggg time!

You guys who are ragging on Sean Sherk are probably from the same pool of people who cry if someone doesn’t get KTFO. I have the utmost respect for any champion who gets a nasty head wound from “Blue Steel” and still goes 5 full rounds and wins a unanimous decision. His next fight he takes several nasty flying knees against Hermes “has anyone seen my neck” Franca also goes 5 full rounds and when the dust clears it’s Sherk with the unanimous decision again. “Blue Steel” and “No Neck” are both BJJ experts and cream of the crop opponents. I can only guess that the people dissing “The Thing” had money on Franca and are bitter. Sean represents my idea of what a champion should be. Keep it up the good work champ!

Sean is a great fighter, he is not one-dimensional. He does tend to fight less-than spectacular fights, but he still wins and there’s nothing wrong with that. In my opinion, the first two rounds of that fight were tremendous, but then there was a lull where the fight just fizzled out and i think that was bc hermes was exhausted and when you are exhausted with a phenomenal wrestler like Sean Sherk, you have no chance. Sean is a great champion and a great fighter. Hermes needed a better game plan.

I disagree with everyone here. I think the Sherk/Franca fight was boring- except for the knees to the head Sherk absorbed. Sherk does not know any submission moves- he just lays on his opponent. Sherk is a typical wrestling fighter he doesn’t know how to submit and he is always open to the guillotine choke. Franca atleast knee him in the head a few times and was going for the win with an armbar and tried for a kamora late in the fifth round twice. Sherk is not fighter he is a wrestle. Reminds me of when Koscheck first started to fight, but atleast Koscheck has developed his game to become more of a fighter- can’t say the same for Sherk.

Shamo84, go over to seansherk.com and goto the forums… in there you will see somewhere a post-fight picture of Ken Florian (at the post-fight conference) after his fight with Sherk. His face was a MESS. Sherk didn’t have anything.

If Sherk vs Franca went one more round, Franca would’ve passed out.

While I agree that it could have been a more entertaining fight, I disagree with the boos. I remember yelling something about the fans wanting the fighters to come into the cage with fuc*ing weapons.

I think it comes down to this. Most of the fans need to learn more about MMA. Everytime I watch a fight taking place in Japan, the crowd watches intently and cheers every time a fighter lands a good strike, gets a dominant position, or pulls off a technically difficult move. I get the feeling that all the American fans want is blood and unconcious bodies with their toes curled two feet above the air.

Of course, nobody has respect in this country, it’s all about let’s see death I paid 200 for these seats. But at the same time is the boo’s that Give Zuffa lots of bills.

As for Sean he may be boring but he’s still wearing the belt. Chuck is a stand up fighter so is he one dimension fighter that is boring? please.

I can see people thinking the fight was boring, WW muscle head that couldnt hang with the top dogs drops to LW so he can take guys down within the first 30 seconds of each round and “just lay on them” for 25 minutes.

Personally I thought the fight was good, but someone has to teach Sherk to avoid that knee before he gets his head taken off, how many does he have to eat to try to set up his shot better.

Anyway, all you Sherk haters dont worry, the reign ends with the prodigy. so its all good.

Went last night at Arco arena…a few thoughts…the fans didn’t know who Antonio R N was or whatever the UFC is calling him these days. They were cheering for Herring after he kicked him. I thought it was over too but herring didn’t have the killer instinct to jump on and finish him.

the sherk fight was something else. I thought Sherk showed a lot in terms of getting to where he wanted to when they were on the ground. I was really impressed watching him manuever. But he couldn’t finish him with any submissions. The worst part was Franca a few times pulled a tito vs. chuck and just curled up on the ground to protect himself

What do you guys think? at this point I think the fight should be stopped or they should allow soccer kicks like in old pride to dissuade fighters from cowardly covering up.

What do you think?

sherk is one dimensional and boring…
human blanket…
can finish guys 20-25 lbs lighter than him…

the only exiciting thing about that fight was him taking 4 knees to the dome

covering up is part of the game.

One dimensional? Obviously you guys have never trained mma. Obviously you guys have never taken a real shot to the head, whether it’s a kick, knee or punch. Obviously you have never tried to defend an armbar, kneebar, kimura attempt. These are all things that that Sherk had to deal with last night against a quality opponent. If he truly were one dimensional, he would have been beaten last night, as Franca is an excellent fighter. Give credit where credit is due, Sherk is a great mma fighter, whose speciality happens to be his wrestling background and his overall strenght/cardio. However, that doesn’t mean the other areas are lacking, just not at Herculean levels like his wrestling. This was a kickass, exciting fight, if you know anything about the grappling part of mma.

Wow, the lack of education of ‘true’ fans is ridiculous. One last thought…if he’s so one-dimensional and boring, GET IN THE CAGE AND SEE HOW BORING THAT IS.

great fight and a great night

i dont know why you’d pay for an event and then boo.

show some respect.

I’ve never agreed with booing at fights, but I have to admit while watching that fight, after the third round, I was walking around the house waiting for the next fight because I was bored. Sherk is a one dimensional fighter but he’s so dominant at his take downs and ground and pound, its insane. I think BJ Penn will have better luck at stopping his takedowns and if he does end up on the bottom, he’ll be able to get up. The only kind of fight I can see where booing may slightly be appropriate is a fight where two guys stand up the whole time and don’t throw a single punch or attempt any takedowns (Koscheck and Sanchez). No one wants to see someone lay on top of someone else and throw little short puches that don’t do any damage and then lay on them for a while and do the same thing over and over. I’d like to see Manni Gambyrian (I think that’s how you spell it) and Sherk go at it. Two little muscle sharks going at it. Maybe we’ll see it next year if he can keep his shoulder in check.

Anyone watch the post event conference. Wow, Rashad has the nerve to talk crap to Tito.

what? Booing is lame no matter when. These guys are professional fighters not high school kids. If they aren’t doing anything is because they are measuring each other or waiting for the other guy to do something. Is so easy to judge when you are on the other side of the cage. As someone quoted before on pride fights, why don’t the Japanese boo their fighters? why do we do it in America? Sometimes is the way fights go, or maybe UFC should implement the yellow card that they use in pride to make fighters do something than rather stand. And for Shark he is a bad ass, point blank. Maybe he fought a safe fight, just like the one Arlovski had with Werdum.

[quote comment=”100684″]One dimensional? Obviously you guys have never trained mma. Obviously you guys have never taken a real shot to the head, whether it’s a kick, knee or punch. Obviously you have never tried to defend an armbar, kneebar, kimura attempt. These are all things that that Sherk had to deal with last night against a quality opponent. If he truly were one dimensional, he would have been beaten last night, as Franca is an excellent fighter. Give credit where credit is due, Sherk is a great mma fighter, whose speciality happens to be his wrestling background and his overall strenght/cardio. However, that doesn’t mean the other areas are lacking, just not at Herculean levels like his wrestling. This was a kickass, exciting fight, if you know anything about the grappling part of mma.

Wow, the lack of education of ‘true’ fans is ridiculous. One last thought…if he’s so one-dimensional and boring, GET IN THE CAGE AND SEE HOW BORING THAT IS.[/quote]

blah blah…
boring is my opinion… has nothing to do with my “education” of mma. most of his JJ defense is because he is so much stronger and is such a good wrestler…

ONE dimensional… cant strike, cant submit, cant finish

i guess if strength and wrestling are 2 different things then he is a 2 dimesional fighter

[quote comment=”100602″]The guy is unbeatable? He was beaten out of the 170 lbs division. He uses his massive frame to wrestle a guy down and GnP on them until he wins. Most of his submission wins are at the little leagues where guys are just cans. He hasn’t submitted a guy in the UFC yet. The guy weighs over 170lbs by game time. No way is he 155 lbs. Does he like to stand and strike? No he doesn’t. Does he even know how to kick? I give him all the credit in the world… he will rule the division until BJPenn beat hm. But Sherk is one dimensional champ.[/quote]

in 30 fights he has 2 loses, to George saint pierre and matt hughes…. being “beaten” out of 170 is hardly what i would call it.

[quote comment=”100648″]Of course, nobody has respect in this country, it’s all about let’s see death I paid 200 for these seats. But at the same time is the boo’s that Give Zuffa lots of bills.

As for Sean he may be boring but he’s still wearing the belt. Chuck is a stand up fighter so is he one dimension fighter that is boring? please.[/quote]
chuck isnt one dimensional

Those fans were morons. that was an awsome fight

[quote comment=”100701″]I’ve never agreed with booing at fights, but I have to admit while watching that fight, after the third round, I was walking around the house waiting for the next fight because I was bored. Sherk is a one dimensional fighter but he’s so dominant at his take downs and ground and pound, its insane. I think BJ Penn will have better luck at stopping his takedowns and if he does end up on the bottom, he’ll be able to get up. The only kind of fight I can see where booing may slightly be appropriate is a fight where two guys stand up the whole time and don’t throw a single punch or attempt any takedowns (Koscheck and Sanchez). No one wants to see someone lay on top of someone else and throw little short puches that don’t do any damage and then lay on them for a while and do the same thing over and over. I’d like to see Manni Gambyrian (I think that’s how you spell it) and Sherk go at it. Two little muscle sharks going at it. Maybe we’ll see it next year if he can keep his shoulder in check.[/quote]
sherk vs manny already happened. sherk won by. . .you guessed it, decision

[quote comment=”100715″]Anyone watch the post event conference. Wow, Rashad has the nerve to talk crap to Tito.[/quote]

i agree, rashad is a unprofessional idiot, he lost me as a fan…

great fights all night long.The fans have a right too boo,they have the kings from the nba to thank them for it.They showed no class.

[quote comment=”100515″]i agree with dana, i thought it was an awesome fight and couldn’t believe there were boos, i thought it was the best fight of the night for sure, those sacramento fans should be ashamed of themselves for booing for no reason all night long…[/quote]

I was having this same conversation with a partner of mine as it was happeneing. The sport is saturated with blood thirsty poser fans. Good for the income, bad for the sport. They are all missing the technical more beautiful side of the sport

It has happened in the large venues in California before. UFC has attracted the WWF and NASCAR crowd now, at least in California. I hope now after that Dana White will venture in to other regions of the US for future events. The West has had enough events. Bring it on to the South East!

All those 30-40 year old wanna be losers coming to the ufc events wearing tight affliction t-shirts over their beer guts and thir arms wrapped around thier dirty ass blonde porn star girlfriends who are there just to get on camera.

I hate those fans. They’re the one’s getting drunk and booing.

[quote post=”2677″]Anyone watch the post event conference. Wow, Rashad has the nerve to talk crap to Tito.

i agree, rashad is a unprofessional idiot, he lost me as a fan… [/quote]Are you being serious? I really hope your being sarcastic. There is no one more unprofessional or disrespectful in all of MMA than Tito Oritz and it is about time some talked crap to him.

[quote post=”2677″]great fights all night long.The fans have a right too boo,they have the kings from the nba to thank them for it.They showed no class. [/quote]Not sure what that is supposed to mean. The Kings fans were ranked as best fans in all of profesional sports by Sports Illustrated so not quite sure where your going with that statement.

The matchups were never really close…They hyped them as being close. Big Nog though surprised me walking into that. For a moment I thought Sherk was in trouble with that knee.

I don’t give a damn how he wins. If it works, why change it? If people are so upset, they should shrink to midget levels, bulk up to bodybuilding size, and do what he does….idiots complaining.

[quote comment=”100787″][quote post=”2677″]Anyone watch the post event conference. Wow, Rashad has the nerve to talk crap to Tito.

i agree, rashad is a unprofessional idiot, he lost me as a fan… [/quote]Are you being serious? I really hope your being sarcastic. There is no one more unprofessional or disrespectful in all of MMA than Tito Oritz and it is about time some talked crap to him.[/quote]

watch the press conference dude, its on ufc.com…watch the pre fight and the post fight press conference and you tell me rashad isn’t a moron, how the hell could he think he won that fight? there is no sarcasm in that statement above…tito is usually all class after his fights, with a few exceptions, sure he talks a lot of shit before his fights, he’s an entertainer and thats what he does, but he usually always shows respect to his opponent afterwards and thats what he was doing here before rashad started in with his bullshit, rashad is just an idiot, he should be elated he got a draw and his undefeated record is still intact, he did nothing that whole fight and the whole way he acted from the final bell to the press conference just bothered the shit out of me, he’s a MORON!

[quote comment=”100731″][quote comment=”100684″]One dimensional? Obviously you guys have never trained mma. Obviously you guys have never taken a real shot to the head, whether it’s a kick, knee or punch. Obviously you have never tried to defend an armbar, kneebar, kimura attempt. These are all things that that Sherk had to deal with last night against a quality opponent. If he truly were one dimensional, he would have been beaten last night, as Franca is an excellent fighter. Give credit where credit is due, Sherk is a great mma fighter, whose speciality happens to be his wrestling background and his overall strenght/cardio. However, that doesn’t mean the other areas are lacking, just not at Herculean levels like his wrestling. This was a kickass, exciting fight, if you know anything about the grappling part of mma.

Wow, the lack of education of ‘true’ fans is ridiculous. One last thought…if he’s so one-dimensional and boring, GET IN THE CAGE AND SEE HOW BORING THAT IS.[/quote]

blah blah…
boring is my opinion… has nothing to do with my “education” of mma. most of his JJ defense is because he is so much stronger and is such a good wrestler…

ONE dimensional… cant strike, cant submit, cant finish

i guess if strength and wrestling are 2 different things then he is a 2 dimesional fighter[/quote]

Gas man…i usually agree with you, but not on this.

There is no way sherk was 20-25 pounds lighter than Hermes (Hermes looked like a beast)…and there is no way anyone should accuse sherk of being one-dimensional.

Hermes is an awesome striker and there’s not another lightweight who would stand with him - therefore, sherk had the right game plan and displayed sound self control…

Sherk was active all night, and was clearly trying for submissions…again, that is a strength of Hermes. Sherk was dominant…there’s no other way to see it.

Bj would get destroyed by Sherk…but I can’t see bj wanting to go to war with sherk, he just doesn’t bring the total package…his conditioning will always be his downfall, as opposed to sherk who is truly outta-this-world in shape

as for the boos.. I think it’s why I enjoyed watching Pride fights in Japan. The crowds were more respectful of the fighters and MMA in general. The US fans seem to just want a real life pro wrestling event. Them’s the breaks….

[quote post=”2677″]Anyone watch the post event conference. Wow, Rashad has the nerve to talk crap to Tito.

i agree, rashad is a unprofessional idiot, he lost me as a fan…

Are you being serious? I really hope your being sarcastic. There is no one more unprofessional or disrespectful in all of MMA than Tito Oritz and it is about time some talked crap to him.

watch the press conference dude, its on ufc.com…watch the pre fight and the post fight press conference and you tell me rashad isn’t a moron, how the hell could he think he won that fight? there is no sarcasm in that statement above…tito is usually all class after his fights, with a few exceptions, sure he talks a lot of shit before his fights, he’s an entertainer and thats what he does, but he usually always shows respect to his opponent afterwards and thats what he was doing here before rashad started in with his bullshit, rashad is just an idiot, he should be elated he got a draw and his undefeated record is still intact, he did nothing that whole fight and the whole way he acted from the final bell to the press conference just bothered the shit out of me, he’s a MORON! [/quote]Yeah I guess Tito is always respectful after his fights if you call flipping someone off as they try to shake your hands and complaining about injury and not giving one ounce of respect to a guy like Forest Griffin who showed as much heart as I’ve ever seen in the octagon. Tito was a complete ass as normal in the post conference complaining about an injury and said the decision was bs. I don’t understand how you can disagree with anything Rashad said in that post conference he said Tito didnt do much with any of his takedowns and he was winning the standup which was clearly true. I agree with Rashad in my opinion Tito should have have had another point taken for grabbing the fence because he did it again in the 3rd round. He probably grabbed the fence 7 or 8 times in that fight and it stopped Rashad from getting take downs which would have changed the outcome of the fight. There was more than one time where Rashad actually had Tito off of his feet and would have slammed him had he not grabbed the fence. Tito is one of the few guys in mma who has a complete lack of respect for the sport and his opponets and I have no problem with anyone trying to talk smack back to him and in this case I agree with everything Rashad said.

[quote post=”2677″]Bj would get destroyed by Sherk…but I can’t see bj wanting to go to war with sherk, he just doesn’t bring the total package…his conditioning will always be his downfall, as opposed to sherk who is truly outta-this-world in shape [/quote]No way would Sherk beat Penn. Penn has some of the best balance and takedown defense in the game. GSP and Matt Hughes had trouble taking down BJ and GSP was able to take down Sherk at will. BJ will absolutely dominate Sherk standing up and with his insane BJJ and flexibility he would be able to sumbit Sherk even if Sherk does get on top of him.

Premature Elimination:
Final 10 second dilema. I have seen this in several of the last UFC’s where a fighter on the bottom is willing to cover up and take shots because he knows there is a ten count until his opponent is pulled off and he can regroup with his corner. As a spectator, this sucks. By shutting down his offense on the bottom, he adds double the strength to the top man’s offensive putting the ref in a predicament. The ref knows stoppage in the last 4 or 5 seconds of a round for anything less than a KO is a crowd downer, but his responsibility is still to protect the fighters. Part of the porblem is that different refs have differenet stoppage points (Big John v Yves or Yamasaki)and UFC has been evolving to allow less punishment in the ground and pound. I put it on the fighters. Fight through it. Don’t risk ending it by covering up waiting for the clock to tick down.

I’d like to see Marquardt fight Silva again. Tito v. Rashad…I’ll catch it on regular TV or the internet. I couldn’t believe Florian, with the body of a 14 year old after having mono for 6 months, could do such damage. Can’t judge that book by it’s cover.

Who says they don’t boo in Pride? I have been watching Pride for a long time and any time the fighters are less than very active, they boo until the ref gives out the yellow cards. I will accept that they boo less or that they refrain from booing at the end of a fight, like last night, but they do in fact boo.

Can I just stick up for the new fans for a minute?

I am so tired of reading that new fans “don’t understand the ground game” or we just want to see someone get brutalized. It’s just not true. I’ll admit, I’m still working up on picking up the technical things, but I am learning more with every fight I watch. When it comes to MMA, I may have just arrived, but I’m in it for the long haul.

Just for the record, I love watching ground fighting. My whole life, I’ve never watched boxing. It’s the ground fighting that helped draw me into this sport in the first place. Edgar-Griffin, at UFC 67, remains one of my favorite fights to date.

That said, I did not enjoy many of the fights last night. Sherk-Franca was, perhaps, my least favorite. Yes, Sherk maintained a dominant position on the ground and was able to pass guard and gain side control rather deftly. But what did he do with it? How many submissions did he attempt? I’m not discounting Franca’s defensive efforts. But in the later rounds when Franca gassed, should I not expect a champion level fighter to be able to take advantage of his dominance?

Let’s not assume that anyone who disagrees with your view of a fight just ‘doesn’t get it.’

By the by, I hate when the audience boos.

[quote comment=”100842″][quote post=”2677″] [/quote]Yeah I guess Tito is always respectful after his fights if you call flipping someone off [/quote]

i said with a few exceptions dude, and i don’t see how him saying his back was hurt was disrespectful to rashad, especially since he would have still won the fight if the point wasn’t taken, plus he said rashad is a tough opponent like 56 times, i was just really annoyed at how rashad was acting, you take it your way and i’ll take it mine, but tito was definitely the more professional person in that press conference, he wasn’t the one interupting the other when his time to talk was over and it was the other one’s turn…i won’t ever cheer for rah again, he could lose 35 lbs and fight koscheck and i’d cheer for koscheck, and i hate koscheck, as a matter of fact one of my favorite moments of the ppv last night was when they showed koscheck and the crowd booed, now that was one time the booing was justified…

I agree with Hudson. I love watching good ground fights and actually take BJJ myself so I know pretty well whats going on when the fights go to the ground, but its boring to see a very skilled BJJ guy like Franca not be able to use any of his skills because the other guy is so much stronger. I mean I still have respect for Sherk for how good of shape he’s in and how dominate his wrestling is but that doesn’t change the fact that it is boring to see a one sided fight go 25 minutes every time and the losing guy was really in no danger of being stopped at everytime just being controlled on his back the whole fight.

Domination = win

Was Tito’s fight that exciting? For me yes because I like respect the sport. I mean Tito’s fight was very similar to Sherks, THEY WERE NOT BORING. whatever

please dont hold events in that city again. Thanx

Unfortunatly I think a lot of the “MMA” fans, especially Americans, still really do not understand the dicsipline. It was everything you would expect from a wrestler. I think Sherk has to learn to finish his fights though. Sherk did a whole bunch of laying and praying, rather than attempting to finish the fight, but he still domimnated the fight. Passing Hermes guard at will, taking him down at will. A guy that is so much bigger then everyone else in a weight class has got to learn how to finish though. He is so much stronger that the rest of his weight class. I would love to see him fight a BJ Penn. Someone who can deal with all the extra weight(giving Sherk the 175 to 180 he walks in with) that Sherk carries.

Im all for a good wrestling MMA match. But Sherk really does not have the skill it takes to ‘finish’ a fight off. Full mount what? 3 times? Anyone that wants to attribute Sherk not finishing the fight to Franca, go ahead… but you’re fooling yourself.

I enjoyed it as much ifnot more then any other fight outside of the 185 fight. Im still FUMING over the HH-Nog and Tito-Rashad fights.

I should go pro… dance around and win some draws.. I can do that.

Rashad is a joke. He looked like a retard dancing around. Shows how scared and nervous he was. Tito won 14.5 minutes of that fight. Even level on points they should be able to give the decision one way or the other. Basically the UFC just shafted Tito.

How many times did Rashad have Tito up in the air for a slam only to have Tito weasel out of it by grabbing the fence? At least three — once was a warning, second was the point deduction, third was another warning because McCarthy didn’t want to take away another point and determine the outcome of the fight. If Tito doesn’t cheat (and I don’t buy that whole ‘if you’re not cheating you’re not trying’ bit) then Rashad probably would have controlled the last two rounds. At the very least Rashad would have gotten a decision and possibly a GnP stoppage. Tito knows Rashad was the better fighter, which is the only time he shows any respect to anyone after a fight.

[quote comment=”100684″]Wow, the lack of education of ‘true’ fans is ridiculous. One last thought…if he’s so one-dimensional and boring, GET IN THE CAGE AND SEE HOW BORING THAT IS.[/quote]

at the press conference Sherk mentions listening to the commentators during the fight. sounds to me like there was a guy IN THE CAGE that was more interested in what was going outside of the cage. bottom line is dominating isn’t finishing. i have no interest in the LW title until someone other than Sherk holds it

[quote comment=”100537″]thats one of the reasons i liked PRIDE better than UFC because the fans understood the sport and respected the fighters no matter what. i honestly think its just some of the american fans who don’t understand the sport, get drunk at the event and just want to be heard…. smarten up ppl!![/quote]

I agree with what CanadianFighter said about the former Pride fans and UFC fans. I can’t stand when people boo. You never heard boo’s over in Japan. They just understood the sport better but mostly they respect the fighters. They see MMA as an art form.

This is one of the reasons why i think we have seen a lot of crazy upsets. A lot of the elite fighters are starting to feel the pressure of the US fans to make every fight overly exciting. So when you engage in stand up battles there is always that punchers chance and it seems that the puncher has been overly lucky lately. Thank god Sean Sherk has a cement block on the top of a tree trunk. Otherwise we would have seen another wild win this weekend.

As for what Dana White said I wish someone would say something during the paperview. I was thinking the whole time when Rogan was talking to Sherk after the fight while people were booing. Joe you need to give it to these fans like you did to Carlos Menstellia.

[quote comment=”101009″]Im all for a good wrestling MMA match. But Sherk really does not have the skill it takes to ‘finish’ a fight off. Full mount what? 3 times? Anyone that wants to attribute Sherk not finishing the fight to Franca, go ahead… but you’re fooling yourself.

I enjoyed it as much ifnot more then any other fight outside of the 185 fight. Im still FUMING over the HH-Nog and Tito-Rashad fights.

I should go pro… dance around and win some draws.. I can do that.[/quote]

Go ahead and go pro. The reason those two guys were dancing around was because they respected each others abilities. That means you would have to prove that you have abilities before before someone will dance around like that and not engage.

[quote comment=”100860″]Can I just stick up for the new fans for a minute?

I am so tired of reading that new fans “don’t understand the ground game” or we just want to see someone get brutalized. It’s just not true. I’ll admit, I’m still working up on picking up the technical things, but I am learning more with every fight I watch. When it comes to MMA, I may have just arrived, but I’m in it for the long haul.

Just for the record, I love watching ground fighting. My whole life, I’ve never watched boxing. It’s the ground fighting that helped draw me into this sport in the first place. Edgar-Griffin, at UFC 67, remains one of my favorite fights to date.

That said, I did not enjoy many of the fights last night. Sherk-Franca was, perhaps, my least favorite. Yes, Sherk maintained a dominant position on the ground and was able to pass guard and gain side control rather deftly. But what did he do with it? How many submissions did he attempt? I’m not discounting Franca’s defensive efforts. But in the later rounds when Franca gassed, should I not expect a champion level fighter to be able to take advantage of his dominance?

Let’s not assume that anyone who disagrees with your view of a fight just ‘doesn’t get it.’

By the by, I hate when the audience boos.[/quote]

I am a newby as well and I guarantee that the large majority of the fans that boo are newbies. I enjoy all the aspects of the fights and would never boo so I think you are barking up the wrong tree with your comments. It sounds to me like you agree with what everyone is saying except for the fact that you are a newby and you take offense to it. All I have to say is get over it because by and large it is a true assessment to why people are booing.

[quote comment=”100848″]
I’d like to see Marquardt fight Silva again.[/quote]

I am not sure why you would want to watch Marquardt get dominated again like he did. That fight was over and if they wouldn’t have stopped it “The Great” would have been “The Late”. He was done after that big right hand that Silva landed to his face. When a guy rolls into the fetal position and covers his head the fight is not going anywhere but to a bad place.

[quote comment=”100567″]Sherk is awesome… but a boring fighter. He’s a one-dimensional wet blanket. Nothing wrong with that, but he will never be a popular champion.[/quote]

If he were in Japan he would be unbelievably popular but since we are in the only country where everyone thinks that they should get everything they want, he’s not.

Agree/Disagree I don’t care(!) but although I honestly 100% admire Sean Sherk’s skill and he’s SOO strong and an amazing wrestler, I do find his fights a bit stale to watch. If it was 3 rounds all sweet and rosy, but 5 rounds of G&P and obviously great wrestling is not my ideal fight especially when there never even looks like any attempt to end it early. He never looked at any time to me like he was gonna do anything to try and stop Franca or submit him. The highlight of the entire fight was Franca’s knee in round 2 (don’t deny it!) Ortiz relies mainly on wrestling and G&P too but the guy’s so random and he does go in for the kill.

Dis me all you want, it’s only an oppinion, but Sherk has got to be alongside Tim Sylvia as a champion that doesn’t give the fans the thrill of most UFC bouts. Stoppages OR points wins.
I can see Sherk being champ for a while though. At least until BJ Penn ties his spine in a knot lol

[quote comment=”101028″]How many times did Rashad have Tito up in the air for a slam only to have Tito weasel out of it by grabbing the fence?[/quote]Actually, twice… and no, McCarthey NEVER stopped the fight to issue a point deduction. How many times did Rashad get straight up slammed? Atleast 7-8. Rashad didnt do well in that fight for the first two rounds, AT ALL. The draw was a total joke…
[quote comment=”101065″]Go ahead and go pro. The reason those two guys were dancing around was because they respected each others abilities. That means you would have to prove that you have abilities before before someone will dance around like that and not engage.[/quote]
Come off a lil more abrasive next time…
I didnt say ‘two guys were dancing’ I was refering directly to Rashad who was the only one dancing. But as a self proclaimed noob, you knew that already.

[quote comment=”101122″][quote comment=”101028″]How many times did Rashad have Tito up in the air for a slam only to have Tito weasel out of it by grabbing the fence?[/quote]Actually, twice… and no, McCarthey NEVER stopped the fight to issue a point deduction. How many times did Rashad get straight up slammed? Atleast 7-8. Rashad didnt do well in that fight for the first two rounds, AT ALL. The draw was a total joke…
[quote comment=”101065″]Go ahead and go pro. The reason those two guys were dancing around was because they respected each others abilities. That means you would have to prove that you have abilities before before someone will dance around like that and not engage.[/quote]
Come off a lil more abrasive next time…
I didnt say ‘two guys were dancing’ I was refering directly to Rashad who was the only one dancing. But as a self proclaimed noob, you knew that already.[/quote]

The only problem with your comment is that Tito wasn’t much more aggressive but I guess we weren’t watching the same fight. All and all neither guy pushed much action after the midway point of the second round until the only true slam of the fight by Rashad at the end of round 3. Tito did not have Rashad on his back once throughout that whole fight. So as for “slammed” I think you need to watch the Sherk/Franca fight again to see true slams.

[quote comment=”100538″]It was crazy last night with all the drunk rednecks. Those fans booed non stop the WHOLE event. I was shocked to hear them booing Big Nog vs. Herring. That fight was awesome.[/quote]

73 was my first live event. Arco is a great venue for the Octagon, which surprised me. I am used to much larger arenas. All in all it was a great experience. BUT, the fans there did suck hard. They truly did boo much of the night, but it was especially annoying during the Sherk fight. What also sucked is when people would boo so loud that you couldn’t hear the post fight interview with Joe.

Is this a California thing? I would still go again, but give me a break, idiots!

[quote post=”2677″]How many times did Rashad have Tito up in the air for a slam only to have Tito weasel out of it by grabbing the fence?

Actually, twice… and no, McCarthey NEVER stopped the fight to issue a point deduction. How many times did Rashad get straight up slammed? Atleast 7-8. Rashad didnt do well in that fight for the first two rounds, AT ALL. The draw was a total joke…[/quote]That’s odd we must have watched two different fights. Cause the one I saw Rashad got slammed once and Tito grabbed the fence at least 7-8 times. Rashad clearly took the third round and Tito definately got the first. The second probably went to Tito because of that guilitine at the end but I still think it shoulda been 10 9 to Rashad because had Tito not grabbed the fence he would have been taken down mulitiple times. There was a minimimum of 5-6 take downs that Tito stopped by grabbing the fence. Your right the draw was rediculous because it was rediculous taht Tito didn’t have more than one point taken away for grabbing the fence every time he got rapped up by Rashad.

What is the purpose of gaining the full mount position? Just so you can turn to the judges and say “See I am good enough to get full mount”. No, you strive to get the full mount position so that you can inflict damage and WIN the fight. Sean Sherk does not seem to understand this. How many times did he easily pass Franca’s guard to get full mount and/or his back? He gets there and then forgets why he wanted to get there in the first place. Maybe Sherk should watch Hughes vs Gracie to see how a real champion fights and EARNS respect.

Where were all these “true fight fans” when matt hughes was gettin slaughtered on this web site for his blanket match against lytle.(I sure as hell wasn’t defending hughes). Scary thing is i dont think sherk even knows how to finish. Did someone tell him you cant win by pin.

First off his last two fights were against BJJ black belts, not so easy to submit, but most of Sherks wins come from submissions, of his last 10 wins 6 are by submission. Franca is a very tough guy and is hard to finish, also check his record in 24 fights he’s only been finished once(KO’ed) and lost 5 decisions. The thing I found funny was franca’s claim to impress Sherk with his strength sounds like he got a lesson in reality LOL. Most think BJ Penn will destroy sherk, I don’t and won’t be surprised if Sherk pulls off another decision. I also won’t be surprised if Penn beats him early on, I think its more like 50/50 than a Sherk massacre, like most think.