UFC 70 - nations collide

[presto]

a quality looking card

Hvywt. : Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. g gonzaga

cro cop is my tip for the next HW champ, and the winner of this fight will get a title shot.
although not a big HW comming in at around 226lbs (i think), cro cop is a devistating striker with both his hands and feet, also has a good sprawl.
cro cop to win.

LHW. Michael Bisping Vs. Elvis Sinosic
british bisping, will have the biggest cheer of the night when he faces elvis, bisping (winner of TUF 3) is great in the standup, wheras elvis is more a ground fighter. elvis will be no pushover - but i expect bisping to take the win.

LHW. David Heath Vs. Lyoto Machida
both fighters with a 9-0 record - this will be a great fight, machida may be unknown to many UFC fans but MMA fans will recognise him as a great fighter, machida gets the nod for me.

HW. Andrei Arlovski Vs. Fabricio Werdum
another great looking fight here. arlovski well known by UFC fans, wheras werdum isn't - but don't underestimate werdum, he is a quality fighter comming into this with a win against Aleksander Emelianenko (fedor's brother), - his only 2 losses came against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and a split decision against Sergei Kharitonov. this match will be a lot closer than many people think.

[yerotsluap]

Just got back from Manchester was a great evenings entertainment although two of the featured bouts (Heath/Machida and Arlovski Werdum) were poor. Atmosphere was electric even for the matches before the ppv started. Terry Etim, a 21 year old from Liverpool, was very impressive defeating Matt Grice and looks real talent who could have a great future ahead of him. Bisping was awesome in the first round, he just pounded Elvis into the mat. Beginning of the second round he got a bit sloppy got caught by Sinosic who twice came close to trapping Bispings arm but Bisping was just too good. What can you say about the Cro Cop-Gonzaga fight apart from what a huge shock. Beginning of first round both started warily but Gonzaga was just waiting for Mirko to launch a kick as soon as that happened Gonzaga caught him and took him down and pounded him on the ground. Ref Herb Dean stood them up a bit prematurely for me as Gonzaga was still throwing blows down on cro cop but then from nowhere Gonzaga hammered cro cop with a high right kick his head snapped back and it was just like seeing a tree fall he was out well before he hit the ground and didn't move for a good 5 minutes afterwards which was a bit worrying at first but he appeared to be ok if a bit wobbly as he left the octagon.

[presto]

(ignoring you on purpos yerots :D ) - just downloading it now,

[yerotsluap]

no probs was in two minds as to whether to post about it or give it a few days for people to have seen it

[presto]

just seen it now.
a bit dissapointed with a few of the fights. didn't see the Terry Etim matchup.

check congo vs assuro silva - congo looked good on his feet, but deffinately lacking in ji-jitsu / wrestling. if he want's to be a contender he needs to address both issues. silva just didn't do enough - he could take congo down easy enough, but followed up with nothing.

heath vs machida - i was looking forward to watching machida, but this was a poor fight, machida was quick and evasive and for the first 2 rounds just landed a few pot-shots to win the rounds. the knees from the thai clinch looked nasty though. heath just had nothing to touch machida with, he couldn't even land a punch machida was that evasive - which result's in a poor fight.

bisping vs elvis - bisping looked fired up for this one, complete dominance of the first round with brutal GnP, i thaught he may have worn himself out. the 2nd round elvis caught bisping with a knee to put him to the ground where he got bisping in a kimura, though bisping escaped and won by GnP. worrying though that bispings defence let the knee through and got caught with a kimura and lost his back, if it had been against a better opponent or elvis wasn't shot from his 1st round pummeling then he could have easily lost the fight.

arlovski vs werdum - another promising fight, yet sadly a poor one, not a bad first round - but arlovski looked to tentative and unwilling to commit. werdum did near nothing all fight, the last 2 rounds were pathetic. even so that herb dean had to warn both fighters to fight (or get a points deduction).

cro-cop vs gonzaga - what a shock, gonzaga dominated - took the fight to the ground - and as yerots said, got stood up a little prematurely. (which should benefit cro-cop), who got a taste of his own medicine - a massive kick to the head by gonzaga sparked cro-cop out. he also fell horribly twisting his knee and ankle (i had to look away ) it looked like a serious injury, so was amazed he was standing a few minuites later.

..............................

glad you enjoyed it yerots, have to say though it wasn't the best UFC i have seen which was a bit dissapointing considering the line up.

[yerotsluap]

No the two fights I outlined before were very poor the boos were raining down which from the little bit of it i've seen on tv you cant really hear. The Arlovski fight was almost as if Dana White told him go across jab at him dont go to ground so you dont get caught snd we'll fix you up in the states when we get back. There was a point where Arlovski knocked Werdum down in the first round and the Arlovski of old (pre the losses to Sylvia) would have followed in and finished him there and then. Heath and Machida for the first two and a half rounds looked like they didn't want to touch each other.

The Etim fight was the last one before the pay per view bit started. He was very impressive a bit like Bisping he hurt Grice but got sloppy going for the knee then got caught on his back and fought out well for the stoppage with a choke.

Got to say that from what i've seen on the tv the atmosphere just didn't transmit to the tv sets, the crowd was electric from the first prelim fight and in particular foe the bisping and cro cop fights. There was an audible gasp from the crowd when cro cop hot knocked out and it certainly shut up the voicerfous croats who were sat next to me. The more I see the way Cro cop hit the floor the worse the position of his leg looks amazed he did break his ankle or blow his knee out. All in all copuld have been a better card (dont think that the Americans would put up with those matchups and the same for UFC 72 in Belfast in June cant see that being a great card) but for some reason a very good evening and quite exciting, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up when Bisping entered the arena the atmosphere was that good

[glynners]

There was a point where Arlovski knocked Werdum down in the first round and the Arlovski of old (pre the losses to Sylvia) would have followed in and finished him there and then.

I was saying that to my mates while watching on saturday, his first fight against Silvia he caught him and finished him, the 2nd he caught him and didnt go in for the kill, like he was scared to get on the floor.

The cro cop knockout was an amazing kick, I had half a dozen people at mine watching the event and we were all silent for 20-30 seconds, the replays made me feel physically sick, i thought he'd landed and snapped his neck at first. Then the replays showing his leg stuck under him , he's lucky he's able to walk again let alone not brake anything

Bisping fight was best one I think (interview after fight was funny also) atmosphere sounded good but I wish i wouldve got tickets and been there

[yerotsluap]

atmosphere sounded good but I wish i wouldve got tickets and been there

I've not watched it all yet but from what I've seen the atmosphere transmitted on tv was nowhere near as good as it was in the arena

[glynners]

No doubt there, the actual sound coming through was rubbish but u can tell by looking at the crowd that it was electric.

Hopefully I'll get on in time to get tickets for the next one