Srikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs Silva (2/12/11 on Showtime)

[shag773]

What a shitty way to end the card. Fedor fought like fucking soldier for five minutes. You have to give him a chance to win in the third.

Really? I give the guy a ton of credit, but he could get killed fighting with only one eye. They did the right thing.

 

[Epidemik]

:crying:

 

[Dan The Man]

Life no longer has meaning.

 

[SHOGUN]

Another good event for Strikeforce. All the fights were exciting and the prelims were pretty good as well. Production still needs work - a few gaffes here and there, but just a sad ending to the card. Real sad.

On the plus side BigFoot looked really good and Sergei won very convincing. I'm excited for the rest of the tournament.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Life no longer has meaning.

No...no it doesn't.

I don't want to live in this world where Fedor loses...I just don't. Nothing is right in it.

 

[Liquidrob]

No way you send him out there with that eye, fight over

 

[EmpireWF]

Just wow...I mean, it was no secret if Big Foot were to win, that was how he would....but I never expected he would actually do it.


More thoughts to come...

 

[SHOGUN]

Dana being his typical classy self.

 

[Steel Mamba]

Definitely not the way you want to end a big and exciting fight, but it was the right call and could even be argued that the fight should have been stopped in the 2nd anyway. Silva fought a great fight, deserved the win, and deserves full credit for it.

I hope Fedor comes back for one more fight, he showed true heart and grit, again. But, in the end too much was working against him. Too much time off, major size disadvantage, Silva was the better boxer, and maybe most important judging by some of his interviews it seemed as if Fedor already had one foot out the door. You just can't win under all of those circumstances. Whatever happens he'll still be respected as the first true P4P best fighter in MMA.

 

[SHOGUN]

 

[SHOGUN]

Whatever happens he'll still be respected as the first true P4P best fighter in MMA.

You forgot about this guy....

 

[Steel Mamba]

Dana White is the biggest tool in MMA

 

[Bigpapa42]

Dana is a promoter. That's all that really needs to be said. Everything he says and does is to promote his product. He's Rob times ten.

Disappointed but not really gutted. I kinda had a bad feeling about Silva's size. Just expected Fedor to overcome that like he has so many times. That eye was fucked and it was the right call, disappointing or not. MMA is a great sport because fighter safety is so paramount, and that was the situation there.

I'll actually be a bit surprised if Fedor does fight again. He's never struck me as a "stick with it until he's dead" kinda guy like Sakuraba. It just doesn't seem to be his nature - he's too measured and reasoned. Fighting is a job.

 

[EmpireWF]

As a whole, I felt this show was the best Strikeforce show overall ever on Showtime. There may have been better fights on other cards, louder crowds, but this show was smooth (for the most part), they hyped up their future cards, it was historic, entertaining fights, and it left people thinking about wanting to see more SF.

The opening ceremony was a fun way to kick off the show and make it appear more important than the average show. Of course it would have been extra special with the screaming lady but Lennon Jr. is good too :smug:

I liked that they kept the show moving along (with the exception of one time where there was dead air for about 10 seconds as the guys moved about, leaving Frank to handle the voice over duties) with ringside interviews and backstage interviews. It's something I wish UFC would do more of (backstage interviews specifically). Fedor saying he doesn't care for today's rock/pop crap was funny.

The Overeem/Werdum pal around was funny, too. Between all the guys being pals for the most part, the only ones I felt were out there to kill were Kharitonov and Barnett. Speaking of which, Barnett's promo was cool while Brett Rogers was a jackass, still scared of the spotlight. Fucker got the date of his fight wrong (August), too. smh

Give credit to Frank who will not quit trying to hype Shamrock/Shamrock

Griggs vs. (undersized heavy) Villante was a fun fight. Violent brawl that saw a gusher come out of Griggs ear from the head kick. Griggs keeps proving doubters wrong with these wins. I hope they don't cut Villante as he should get a run at 205.

Lavar Johnson just could not contend with the more well rounded SDR, who looks like a stud. SDR said he's the #1 alternate so he'll be waiting.

Sucks for Arlovski that his chin is totally done, as Liddell's is. Not much he can do to protect it despite having pretty sweet footwork. Kharitonov is a beast, he looked in great shape, kept his chin down and threw bombs. His post fight promo was fun as well, because with a significant portion of the crowd being Russians, they popped for him. When the translator said for him that Russia was the best, the Americans in the crowd boo'd....I laughed.

They announced the return of Carano, which was sort of expected as she returned to Xtreme Couture over the past week or so. They only said she'll be back in 2011 as she really had nothing to say other than she's returning to challenge herself. Unfortunately, she made no mention of wanting a rematch with Cyborg (which could have laid the seeds to a HUGE rematch).

The main event had a weird feeling early on. Fedor was swinging wildly, although I guess that's what we've become accustomed to. He wanted to end this early with a knockout, even following Silva to the ground and falling/jumping into his guard a few times. I had images of the Werdum fight there. After one, I had it even (if I had to choose, probably would have went with Fedor). Silva shooting and scoring the takedown right out of the gate in the second surprised me. That's what he needed to do to win and he immediately passed his guard, got to side and then the mount. Damn.

Fedor fought like hell to get out but silva was just too damn big. Ground and pound for 4 plus minutes wrecked his face as his nose and eye were already messed up from the previous round. This second round is as exciting a round in recent memory (perhaps moreso than the first round of Couture/Sylvia, the last round of Silva/Sonnen, the first round of Lesnar/Carwin, etc.). I was hoping so badly that Fedor could catch that leglock at the end of the round but Silva looked as comfortable as if he were sitting on his couch. Fedor avoided several submissions in the round but took so much punishment...once they said his eye was shut....FUCK, HE LOST THE FIGHT. CONSECUTIVE LOSSES.

The ending with Fedor talking of likely retiring and the crowd all but doing the "1 MORE MATCH" shtick was great television and the way they ended the broadcast with all three guys talking as if we possibly saw the end of one of the GOAT, good stuff.

Props to Silva who fought a smart fight and beat the fuck out of Fedor.

Props to SF/Showtime for actually promoting their March 5th card with videos and matches announced.....they hyped the April 9th date with Overeem/Werdum, Barnett/Rogers and they even mentioned Friday's Challengers card.

Good stuff.

 

[calgaryballer]

Silva fought a great fight, using his natural advantages to batter Fedor. Eventually, fighting guys who weigh 50 lbs more than you will catch up with you. Not all the giants are Hong Mans. The sport has evolved to where the HW weight class is going to be filled with guys like Silva who cut to 265 and don't lose any of their speed or agility.

Fedor had a hell of a run, and he will always be the guy who got me in to MMA. Time to watch Fedor v CroCop and Fedor v Nog x2

 

[EmpireWF]

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

If you love MMA, for the good of the sport everyone should be pulling for Overeem and Barnett in the next set of matchups.

Nobody gives a flying fuck about Werdum, and they never will. Great guy, underated fighter, but will never be a star. Same for Khariborenov. Talk about pure sport all you want, but Strikeforce needs this tournament to succeed on a mainstream level, and for that to happen, they need Overeem and Barnett to go as far as possible.

The only final left that can generate any sort of buzz or even be considered for a PPV would be Overeem/Barnett. A Werdum win kills this thing dead from a mainstream perspective. It will never gain any momentum with nothing but dry fighters involved along with their geeky translators.

From a hardcore fan perspective, none of that matters, and we will watch and love the tournament no matter what. But I like Strikeforce, and I want as many orgs to thrive as possible because I love the sport and want it to grow. That means pulling for Overeem/Barnett, two guys who can become new stars by winning this thing.

 

[EmpireWF]

Mainstream perspective means little because what kind of mainstream attention do you see anyone getting?

If they do decide to do a PPV at the end of the year (lets say Overeem/Barnett is the main), I would do my damndest to get Carano/Cyborg on that same show and then we can talk about it doing good business (100k+).

 

[mgoblue2290]

I know virtually nothing about MMA but I do not understand how Fedor withstood a beating like that for that long and didn't lose consciousness. It was unreal to me. Is it somewhat typical for a guy to get beaten like that yet stay somewhat in the fight?

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Mainstream perspective means little because what kind of mainstream attention do you see anyone getting?

If they do decide to do a PPV at the end of the year (lets say Overeem/Barnett is the main), I would do my damndest to get Carano/Cyborg on that same show and then we can talk about it doing good business (100k+).

Mainstream means everything, which is why they are doing this GP deal to begin with. To bring SF up a level. Do you think they paraded these guys around New York all week long for the benefit of MMA elitist dorks?

Overeem and Barnett has a shot at creating some real buzz. Overeem could be a breakout star, and Barnett "gets it", is charasmatic, articulate, and a great talker.

Any other final, and Strikeforce is exactly where they were at before this thing started. It may end up that way anyway, but Overeem/Barnett gives hope.