[Centraal] MMA topic #17 With a new lightweight champion?

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Op vrijdag 13 juni 2008 02:31 schreef roepdeman het volgende:
Ik hoop met je mee dat er een iets ander format komt. Denk alleen niet dat dat gaat gebeuren, TUF schijnt veel geld op te leveren. Sneaky reclames en ook gewone reclames vinden hun weg erg makkelijk naar TUF.

Ik denk trouwens dat Credeur in de finale komt... Meest hilarische quote dit keer: "I wanna put the icing on the ice I don't know if I said that right"

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Thompson talks Kimbo-referee controversy

Like many mixed martial artists James Thompson is open and honest when discussing his career. The unassuming nature of fighters is one of MMA’s greatest qualities, and is a refreshing change from the clichés and platitudes churned out by an infinite number of pretentious athletes participating in more established sports.

In the wake of several dubious refereeing decisions over the past few weeks, ‘The Colossus’ was as candid as ever as he highlighted what he believes is a lack of consistency with officiating of the sport.

The British heavyweight was defeated by Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson at last month’s EliteXC show amid all manner of controversy, and is still bitterly disappointed with the outcome.

“A win would have been a big boost,” says the 29-year-old. “It would have put my career back on track and given me the ‘W’ – I really want to get back in the win column. All the hard work I put into the fight would have paid off. I feel gutted that I lost the fight in the manner I did, but it’s nice that 99 per cent of people are on the same page as me with how they feel about it. I’m gutted but it’s bitter sweet because it was a good all-round performance by myself, and I haven’t come out of it too bad.”

Having taken the fight to the ground in round two, Thompson moved to a dominant side-control position where he was promptly stood up by referee Dan Miragliotta to the bewilderment of many. Taking Kimbo down again later in the round, Thompson pinned the former street-fighter against the cage and began delivering strikes to his head. This time Miragliotta warned ‘The Colossus’ that he had to keep working or the fight would again be stood up, apparently neglecting the precarious position Kimbo found himself in.

Then there was, of course, the now infamous conclusion to the contest that left Thompson believing he had been robbed and many viewers querying not only the timing of the stoppage, but the legitimacy of the fight.

“I think Kimbo was given every chance to survive and carry on the fight, but I wasn’t given that chance,” he explains. “As soon as he landed a couple of shots – and even though the referee said my ear popping had nothing to do with the stoppage – I think he saw the blood and thought ‘that will do’.

While the fallout from the fight has generally focused on Miragliotta’s decision-making and EliteXC’s handling of the situation, the effect a win would have had on Thompson’s career has been largely overlooked.

The PRIDE veteran has had his fair share of ups and downs, and he concedes that he was essentially hand-picked by EliteXC promoter Gary Shaw to act as a sacrificial lamb for the ultra-popular Kimbo. Desperate to kick-start his career, Thompson refused to read the script, however, and used the underdog tag as a motivational tool, producing a strategic performance that surprised and impressed those who had become familiar with his habitually reckless style.

“I think they (EliteXC) thought my biggest weakness would play into Kimbo’s biggest strength, and they thought it would be a pretty easy victory for him,” says Thompson. “I’ve watched the fight on tape and there are some things I’m pleased with and some I’m not, but on the whole it wasn’t too much of a bad performance under very pressurized circumstances.”

On a night that was clearly designed to supply new fans with exciting stand-up fights and knock-out finishes, Thompson declined playing into Kimbo’s strengths and repeatedly put the brawler on his back. Although this proved a successful approach, it evidently did not endear the Brit to EliteXC vice president Jared Shaw, who was said to have been screaming at Miragliotta to stand the fight up during the second round. Thompson – who has two fights remaining on his EliteXC contract – believes such behavior is a ‘conflict of interests’, but says he is unconcerned by Shaw’s apparent displeasure.

“I’m not bothered what they (EliteXC) think – it’s MMA not a boxing match. If I choose to go for a flying armbar or whatever, it’s up to me. If it works I get the credit, if it doesn’t I look like an arse. So whether they’re happy or not because I decided to take it down doesn’t bother me really,” Thompson says.

Defeat is always a bitter pill to swallow, especially for a fighter who has suffered his disappointments, yet continues to work hard in the gym. With a record 6.51 million viewers watching on CBS, Thompson could have been just minutes away from recording arguably the most important victory of his career when it was cruelly snatched away from his grasp by a referee’s call.

‘The Colossus’ appreciates that officiating is a thankless task. It is no exaggeration to say that when the cage door closes a referee has the fighters’ lives in his hands. Stopping a fight is a subjective decision and no referee wants to see a fighter injured because they allowed the action to go too long.

While choosing to err on the side of caution when stopping fights is entirely understandable, it is in the best interests of the sport, the fighters and indeed the officials to allow a fight to come to a definitive conclusion, with the fighters themselves determining the outcome rather than the referee. Of course, this is not always possible as referees are often required to use their judgment to stop fights and sometimes they get it wrong. Thompson believes the problem lies with the consistency – or should that be the inconsistency – of stoppages.

“If referees are making consistently bad decisions they shouldn’t be doing their job,” he says. “Stopping a fight is always a judgment call, that’s why being a referee is hard – you’ve always got to make these judgments. I just thought I wasn’t given the chance really. The fight followed a certain pattern. I took some shots from Kimbo in the first and second rounds, but eventually I reversed things and took the fight to the ground, winning both rounds. I believe round three would have gone the same way; eventually I would have taken him down, but we’ll never know.”

Adding to the heavyweight’s frustrations was Miragliotta’s decision to halt the Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum fight just a week later at UFC 85.

“Whether a referee makes a bad decision or not is not really the point,” Thompson reasons. “The point is he stopped a fight where the guy (Vera) took a few shots from mount but with my fight he didn’t stop it when I had side control and was dropping elbows. There’s no consistency there and that’s what I’ve got a real problem with.”

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Op vrijdag 13 juni 2008 08:04 schreef n00cL30n het volgende:
Ja, ik moest ff wennen aan Jesse, maar hij is zeker wel okee!

SPOILER

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SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

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Jason Guida vs. Mike Russow
Terry Martin vs. Daiju Takase
Clay French vs. Jameel Massouh
Forrest Petz vs. Brian Gassaway
David Kleczkowski vs. Hector Urbina
Jeff Cox vs. Bart Palaszewski
Herc Hayes vs. Kerry Schall
Ron Fields vs. Aaron Rosa
Dom O'Grady vs. Mike Stumpf
Joe Jordan vs. Ryan Williams
Jay Ellis vs. Rory Markham
Joe Pearson vs. John Hosman
Marcus Levesseur vs. Mark Miller
Louis Taylor vs. Adam Maciejewski

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Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey
K.J. Noons vs. Yves Edwards
Murilo Rua vs. Tony Bonello
Wayne Cole vs. Rafael Feijao
Dave Herman vs. Ron Waterman
Mark Oshiro vs. Chris Willems
Kaleo Kwan vs. Mike Aina
Kala "Kolohe" Hose vs. Bubba McDaniel
Chris Bernard vs. Lolohea Mahe
PJ Dean vs. Dean Lista

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Hideo Tokoro vs. Darren Uyenoyama
Katsuhiko Nagata vs. Shinya Aoki
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Melvin Manhoef
Jason Miller vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza
Dong Sik Yoon vs. Gegard Mousasi
Zelg Galesic vs. Taiei Kin
Tae Hyun Lee vs. Alistair Overeem
Alavutdin Gadzhiyev vs. Ralek Gracie

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Op zaterdag 14 juni 2008 14:22 schreef Fyodor het volgende:
Na het succes van Oranje hebben wij MMA fans een mooi weekend (althans, zondag) voor de boeg met:

Adrenaline MMA
[..]

EliteXC
[..]

Dream.4
[..]

Ik hoop natuurlijk dat Manhoefen Mousasi winnen, maar ik durf er geen geld op in te zetten

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Op zaterdag 14 juni 2008 14:37 schreef Tazmaniac het volgende:


dus mocht iemand het gezien hebben post ff een cijfer van waardering buiten de spoilertag

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Op zaterdag 14 juni 2008 14:57 schreef Fyodor het volgende:

[..]

Dat vind ik nou een goed idee, kan je teleurstellingen zoals dat Yamma pit gebeuren voorkomen. Even een algemene beoordeling zonder spoilers.

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Correspondent: Right after your fight on New Year's, you went to France. You met Jean-Claude Van Damme?

Fedor: The basic purpose of the trip was a seminar with French fans. Van Damme entered into negotiations with my manager.

Correspondent: They offered you a movie role? Will you agree to it? Is it already known what movie, and who you will play?

Fedor: Jean Claude has suggested that I be in "Bloodsport 2" and that I play myself; the world champion fighter, I guess. I don't know the s cript yet, it was a preliminary meeting. In April, Jean Claude is going to come to Russia- to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Press conferences are planned, also he wants to train with me. As for my agreement to participate in the project, I'd like to do it and it would be interesting too.

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Op zaterdag 14 juni 2008 14:57 schreef Fyodor het volgende:

[..]

Dat vind ik nou een goed idee, kan je teleurstellingen zoals dat Yamma pit gebeuren voorkomen. Even een algemene beoordeling zonder spoilers.

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Op zaterdag 14 juni 2008 16:09 schreef roepdeman het volgende:
Is YAMMA Cult?

Ik zal Adrenaline trouwens wel bekijken, maar pas laat op zondag of maandagmorgen.

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Op zondag 15 juni 2008 01:22 schreef BB_Koning het volgende:
EliteXc is deze nacht, maar wanneer is Dream?

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Op zondag 15 juni 2008 03:41 schreef Unstoppable het volgende:
Hoe kijken jullie die streams eigenlijk (sopcast, tv-ants etc)?