MMA Thread

[Liquidrob]

Rampage should have the shot first, he should have had a rematch with Forrest, but glad he is resting

Rashad vs Machida is a great fight

Will be one of the first legit undefeated vs undefeated title fights we have had in MMA in some time if I remember correctly

[Kuzzy Powers]

Damn.. Machida has a legit shot at beating Evans, obviously.. meaning I wont get to see Page/Shad take random jabs at each other for months leading up to a title fight. Hopefully Shad can find a way to break that an unorthodox style.

[Steel Mamba]

I don't think he deserved it more than Rampage, but I do think he has a better shot at winning. Top to bottom the PPV still looks solid.

[Liquidrob]

New DREAM poster, this is the WW GP, looks like Jacare will also be fighting on the card

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Bonnar , Liddell , BisBing , Forrest...none of them have what I would call quick hands.
Rashad was just much quicker to the punch and of course has the explosive hands to begin with. I dont think Rampage or Machida will have trouble with Rashads hand speed. Both have showed much better defense than anyone Rashad has faced.

I hope Machida thoroughly smacks around and humiliates Rashad.

[CrimsonGhost56]

some sad news

The founder of Tapout, Charles Lewis Jr. (better known to MMA fans as "Mask") died last night in a hit and run car accident. theres no denying the significant positive impact Tapout has had on MMA with helping sponsor young fighters and exposing MMA to the mainstream. RIP

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

some sad news

The founder of Tapout, Charles Lewis Jr. (better known to MMA fans as "Mask") died last night in a hit and run car accident. theres no denying the significant positive impact Tapout has had on MMA with helping sponsor young fighters and exposing MMA to the mainstream. RIP

Was he joyriding as well or did the Porsche cause his accident ?

[CrimsonGhost56]

new nick diaz interview. talks mad shit about shamrock. lol @ diaz's "handshake" . he also makes some pretty good points about drug use in MMA.

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[Herm]

RIP Mask



With a dream and a drive, TapouT's 'Mask' became an MMA inspiration



Charles Lewis Jr. dealt in the currency of big dreams. When he died early Wednesday in Southern California following a horrific automobile accident that cleaved his red Ferrari in two, Lewis had become a wealthy man.

That the 45-year-old co-founder of TapouT -- mixed martial arts' dominant lifestyle and apparel brand that sold $100 million in merchandise in 2008 -- was in position to own a $300,000 Italian sports car is a bit of an upset. Twelve years ago he set out selling t-shirts out of the trunks of cars -- not his, he couldn't afford one -- up and down the California coast, anywhere there was mixed martial arts, really.

Lewis came to represent the hardest of MMA's hardcore fans. As the sport grew, so did the passion of its longtime followers. Few symbolized MMA's raw intensity better than Lewis, whose cultish alter ego "Mask," a fatigue-colored, face-paint-wearing madman with an infectious laugh befitting a well-fed hyena, was impossible to ignore and even harder not to like.

Through his vision and dedication, TapouT came to represent a certain segment of the population. Like Mask, they're people hard to miss. Drive around much these days and you'll invariably see the logo stuck on the back of a tinted window, or stenciled into a raised truck's side panel. Beyond selling a $100 million worth of clothes in stores, such as Champs Sports, Lewis dreamt of MMA taking over the world. It was the kind of honest ambition that made MMA devotees like him almost immediately a sort of "nothing will stop us from moving forward" idealism that helped deliver MMA from human cockfighting's shadows.

"I've always liked what they represented," Frank Shamrock said Thursday in Los Angeles, where he and other fighters -- TapouT's first demo -- sat on a stage discussing the return of MMA to Showtime television. "I've always liked Charles' dream because it's an amazing dream, an extraordinary dream."

It's a dream that included helping fighters whenever possible. Lewis was a strong advocate for the men and women who risked more than a bad day at the gate. When he began TapouT out of an apartment in San Bernardino, Calif., where the former Marine served as a sheriff deputy, there wasn't much for fighters in the way of sponsorship dollars. He did what he could. In the beginning, a set of free shirts would suffice. Then, maybe, a couple hundred bucks.

"There weren't a lot of people giving money to fighters at the time," said popular middleweight Robbie Lawler, who's worn TapouT gear in several fights. "They took it on their shoulders to help MMA grow, and I think they did a lot to help MMA."

When Lewis started TapouT in 1997, he barely had enough money to silkscreen shirts designed, primarily, by him. Profit became gas money that took them to the next event. Mask cultivated friendships with everyone in the business, handing out more than enough merchandise along the way. But that was all part of his vision -- one that was about more than simply becoming a financial success.

Cold? Here's a sweatshirt. Need something else? Take a beanie.

That's what Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson remembers most about a freezing winter night in Lemoore, Calif., just one of the many destinations Mask and his motley crew visited during their years bouncing around.

"It comes from the heart when people are offering just because you're cold," Thomson said.

Prior to Thursday's press conference for the promotion's April 11 card, a moment of silence was taken in remembrance of Lewis. Of the 11 fighters that later spoke of their opportunity to fight in premium television and make a pretty good living, seven had worn TapouT at some point in their careers -- even if that meant they had to buy it themselves.

Middleweight Scott Smith tells a story of purchasing a pair of shorts before a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament in 1999.

"I coughed up the only 40 bucks I had left just to wear TapouT," he said. "There was a kind of intimidation factor: 'Oh, this guy is a cage fighter.'"

The well-traveled Smith moved up the ranks and eventually scored his own TapouT deal. As did Lawler. And Thomson. And Shamrock, who recently agreed to represent a new upscale line from the clothing company.

As with anything that gets too popular, there was some backlash to TapouT's success in more insular MMA circles, which oddly regarded the brand in possession of an ironic slogan -- "Bad for the sport" -- as having sold out.

"To be honest with you I loved the [stuff] until everyone started wearing it," said Nick Diaz, a beneficiary of TapouT sponsorship dollars after first meeting Mask in Fresno when he was 15. "But it doesn't mean I don't love 'em."

There has been plenty of love to go around since Lewis passed, and rightfully so. He was as genuine as you can get.

Said Shamrock when asked what he thought was at the core of Mask's dream: "Make something out of nothing and do something big with it."

And that, Lewis did.

[Liquidrob]

It appeared the participants at Thursday’s Strikeforce news conference were going to say all the right things. The promotion was glad for a new platform on Showtime. The cable network was pleased it is back in the mixed martial arts game, after its last promotional partner, Elite XC, crashed and burned. The fighters were happy to simply have a chance to fight and make money again.

But then main eventer Nick Diaz showed up at Avalon Hollywood, ready to prove that while Strikeforce and Showtime are turning the page on Elite XC, the old promotion’s three-ring circus atmosphere isn’t quite dead and buried yet. Diaz refused to shake hands with his opponent on the April 11 card at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, former UFC light heavyweight champion Frank Shamrock, greeting him instead with a one-finger salute. The controversial fighter then refused to play along for the cameras, standing off to the side while Shamrock struck the classic two-fisted fight pose on his own.

The remainder of the event turned into a show worthy of admission. While Diaz has a reputation for running his mouth, the 36-year-old Shamrock has stayed relevant as a headliner through his quick wit and his ability to talk people into buying tickets as much as for his skills in the ring.

“My son’s five years younger than Nick,” said Shamrock (23-9-2). “If he acted like [Diaz] I used to send him to his room, take away his allowance.”

“Where’s he at?” Diaz (18-7, 1 no-contest) retorted. “I’ll fight him.”

“He’s in college,” Shamrock said. “You wouldn’t know.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The match will be fought at a catchweight of 179 pounds. Shamrock, the first holder of what is now known as the UFC light heavyweight title back in 1999, has fought in recent years at middleweight; Diaz fought at 160 pounds in Elite XC after competing as a welterweight in the UFC.

“He’s got little man’s disease,” Diaz curiously claimed, given Shamrock is the heavier fighter. “We were shooting the promos for the fight and he was all oiled up. They didn’t even give me any oil. He’s going to have to push his weights and do whatever else he does to keep up with me.”

Whatever Diaz was trying to imply with that statement, Shamrock had questions of his own. “Nick’s got to pass a drug test,” Shamrock said. “Ask him. Have you passed your drug test yet Nick?”

“I’ll be fighting either way,” said Diaz, whose biggest career win, over then-PRIDE lightweight champ Takanori Gomi in 2007, was changed to a no-contest after he tested positive for marijuana.

Shamrock has made the HP Pavilion his home base in recent years, beating Cesar Gracie and Phil Baroni there and losing the Strikeforce middleweight title to Cung Le last year. Shamrock was asked whether he or Diaz, from nearby Stockton, would be the favorite.

“It’s my arena,” Shamrock said. “They’re going to have to rename it Shamrock Stadium. I’ve got my own parking spot at the arena. Do you have your own parking spot, Nick?”

“No, and I don’t have no [expletive] dressy suits either,” the sweatshirt-and-jeans clad Diaz told the nattily-attired Shamrock.

..........

[Kuzzy Powers]

Woot! You knew the trash talk would be in high abundance.

[CrimsonGhost56]

New opponent found for Bobby Lashley

Jason Guida (little brother of UFC fighter Clay Guida) will step in for the recently suspended Ken Shamrock to fight Bobby Lashley in the main event of "March Badness,” in Pensacola, Fla., on March 21. Lashley is going to wreck that fool. Don Frye was also under consideration for the fight. I would of loved to see Frye fight again

[Kuzzy Powers]

Lashley vs Frye would've been fucking awesome.

[Liquidrob]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAa9w0Xmns0[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk0SB72e_gU[/media]

[Bigpapa42]

Lesnar vs Mir 2 when is it may?

Supposed to be, but Mir got hurt. Its been pushed back to UFC 100 in July.