UFC 75 is in the books and overall the fight card was a decent one. Some good fights, a LOT of commercials, and some questionable decisions all equal another UFC event.
- Quinton Jackson vs Dan Henderson – This fight was everything it should have been as a fight between two champions. If you are a fan of high-level MMA fighters matching skill against skill then you enjoyed watching the chess match between Jackson and Henderson. I probably would have scored the fight 48-47 for Jackson instead of 49-46, but either way I think its clear that Rampage won. Jackson looks very dialed in and tough to beat right now.
- Michael Bisping vs Matt Hamill – In my opinion, the decision in this fight was highway robbery. From where I was watching, Hamill easily won the first two rounds and then gassed in the third round giving Bisping the slight advantage. Hamill was more aggressive, controlled the fight, had better ground game and better striking early on than Bisping did. I’m very disappointed with the outcome in this fight and wonder if there wasn’t a slight “hometown advantage” given to Bisping.
- Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic vs Cheick Kongo – Kongo controlled the smaller Cro Cop throughout much of this fight and was able to neutralize Cro Cop’s strikes and kicks. By utilizing a sort of stall tactic in the clinch game against the fence, Kongo was able to score some points with his knees and then was able to use his reach and height advantage to score with strikes and body kicks from the outside. Very disappointing performance from Cro Cop. I still don’t think Kongo is anywhere near a top level heavyweight. Put Kongo up against Gabriel Gonzaga or Nogueria and the fight will end in the first round by submission.
- Houston Alexander vs Alessio Sakara – Alexander has a ferocity and intensity to his fighting style that will make him a tough opponent for most fighters. Until he gets caught and knocked out, Alexander will continue to bring his frenetic pace and striking style to his opponents and will be tough to defend against.
- The UFC really needs to figure out their scoring of fights before this gets any more out of hand. I guess I am now even more confused how the judges scorecard decisions actually work now. If the Bisping-Hamill fight was scored 29-28, 27-30, and 29-28 then according to my calculator that would give Bisping 85 and Hamill 86. Last time I checked 86 was higher than 85 and Hamill should have won. Hamill should have won anyways, but if we are going by points, then what gives? Why even use points at all? Why not just have the judges pick their winner for the whole fight and just have 2 judges pick Bisping and 1 judge pick Hamill. That is really what happened anyways – why use points at all when they really don’t mean anything?
- I ended last night with mixed feelings regarding Mirko Cro Cop. In my opinion, Cro Cop really should retire now and still keep some of his legacy in tact. The more Cro Cop fights and gets handled the way he has been, the more his sparkle and shine wears off in the minds of MMA fans. Mirko really looks like he is completely out of the fight mentally and just doesn’t seem like he has that determination or fire that he once had. If he really does have the desire to continue fighting, perhaps he should consider dropping to Light Heavyweight. I only think Cro Cop should retire if he can’t seem to get his head into the game. I am not getting off the “Mirko bandwagon”; I still know that Mirko is one of the top heavyweights int he world – he just isn’t fighting like it right now. He can’t handle the clinch against the cage; he still isn’t comfortable with elbows. If he is weighing in at 220 lbs, a cut to 205lbs doesn’t seem all that unreasonable. If he doesn’t call it quits, I hope he figures out whatever his problem is real soon. If Cro Cop were to lose to someone like Fabiano Scherner or Christian Wellisch in his next fight I would have to move Cro Cop into “Frank Mir Status”.
MMAKansas
bvrasp
JStein
richard
MAD
hey doc I agree…******** for hammil….matt totally won that fight he was robbed..it was all cuz they were in england….cro cop now blows lol…I wanted hollywood to win that but dunno I wanna see dangerous dan take on the spider..
Marcus Davis anted up. Bisping… bah! Henderson and Rampage both proved they were champions. Videos are here UFC 75 Videos
i suck
i might be reading into this too deep but im just wondering about something. did anyone else notice that CroCop came to the octagon with out a sponsored t-shirt and a black arm band on? was CroCop grieving a death? did this affect his fighting? am i making sh*t up because im a disappointed CroCop fan? let me know what you think.
Like everyone, I was just as dissapointed about Mirko. No R.J. I did not notice that. “Crap Cop” is proving more and more how one-dimensional he is. Every opponent knows his strengths and neutralizes them, just another example of how fast the fighters are adapting. Could Mirko already be a dinosaur past his prime-time? just like every wrestler goes to the takedown as “plan B” in case all else fails, Mirko does the same with the kicks…making it easy for his opponents to anticipate them. Whereas a year or 2 ago, I would never even give Couture a chance against Mirko, I now strongly believe that Randy would beat “Crap Cop” rather easily. As far as dropping down, he said he never would.
Re: Bisping vs. Hamill
As much as I hate wrestlers who bore the hell out of me with non-stop takedowns, it was clear that Hamill won that fight. He landed much heavier strikes and hurt Bisping many times. Bisping was one of my favorite fighters but everytime I watch him…he reminds me of Gumby. He wobbles all over the place and you never know if he’s really hurt or not. I did not like that he was disrespectful to Hamill in the interview after the fight.
You know RJ.. you have an excellent point and that was an excellent observation… Yeah that is weird, we all noticed it last night but brushed it off with the distraction of wanting to see a good fight…. Makes me wonder though now that you mentioned it…
I noticed the arm band too…I was curious what that was about. I am so dissapointed with mirko. The Mirko we’re watching now is not the same as before, not sure what’s wrong…just not the same guy. As for he Bisping/Hammil fight, I truly felt it could have gone either way. I had actually called it as a split for Bisping. I thought Hammil’s reaction post fight was tremendous where as Bisping’s was shameful. Matt moved way up in my book, as Bisping just moved way down.
@MAXX
I agree with your final comments on how the fighters conducted themselves post fight… however I don’t understand how anyone could have called that fight a split…. if you go to UFC .com and check out their poll on who should have won the fight… well clearly you are in a minority of thinkers regarding this fights outcome…. I was so happy that Matt won even though I don’t like him, it was such a kick in the groin to see a guy fight as hard and good as he did and lose to a poor judges decision…
Who Do YOU Think Should Have Been Awarded The Decision At UFC 75??
Answer: Results:
Michael Bisping 10.50%
Matt Hamill 89.50%
Kansas, have you watched the Hamil Bisping fight again since last night? i been kinda busy today so ill probably watch it tomorrow.. It occured to me that Hamil could have won, but it sure didnt seem like a dominant performance. From what i saw im pretty sure it was a split decision scenario no matter who won. Im gonna watch it very closely though and count punchs and everything just to be sure.. ofcourse everyone has an opinion and only the judges opinions matter anyways hehe..
oh, and to you guys calling him crap cop, come on man, have some more respect for the guy. It may be true that he could be on the tail end of his carreer, but thats no reason to beat the guy while hes down. Guys like Royce Gracie, Sakuraba, Ken Shamrock, etc.. granted they ARE dinosaurs, but the layed the foundation for what mma is today. Crocop will always be a hall of fame fighter in my book even if he does lose to Fabiano Scherner, that wont erase what he accomplished in the past.
Should he retire? i dunno man, its up to him.. look at michael jordan, he tried retiring and everything, keep his record and stats intact but thats not what it was all about. The guy likes to play, likes to compete, win or lose.
Crocop stepped in there like a man took his beating with no excuses and walked out of the cage to thunderous applause. Hes a standup guy and classy as they come, enough of this name calling bullsht..
maybe he just doesnt have the fire in his heart anymor,cro crop,.Hamil for sure won that fight
[quote comment="9565"]oh, and to you guys calling him crap cop, come on man, have some more respect for the guy.
Crocop stepped in there like a man took his beating with no excuses and walked out of the cage to thunderous applause. Hes a standup guy and classy as they come, enough of this name calling bullsht..[/quote]
i was very disappointed by Cro Cops performance but im not about to start calling him a sh*tty fighter or saying he should retire. i was just wondering if anyone else noticed the black arm band and shirt thing. if someone close to me died a day or two befor i fought my mental state may not be at par with the task at hand. again i might be seeing something thats not there but its a thought.
ok i watched it again.. First round, definately Hamil all the way, he got the better of the standup excahnges and scored 2 takedowns. 2nd round Hamil got 2 takedowns again while Bisping got none.. and the standup was pretty much even, if i had to give the edge to one fighter it would be Hamil. 3rd round Hamil got 2 takedowns and Bisping got none again, but Bisping got the better of the exchanges.
To be kind i would give the 3rd to Bisping, and the first two to Hamil, though i could also see it being 3 rounds to none for Hamil… Yup he sure was robbed.. now if his name was Tito Ortiz, do you think they would have awarded Bisping the win? even in london? not likely
@Dr. J
Hey man I called the Jackson fight!! LOL……anyways I knew that Jackson was a re-born fighter, and I thought with his skills the main factor of the fight would be determined by Jackson being stronger than Hendo. Hendo needs to drop to 185 where he would dominate.
Even though I picked Bisping to win, I really thought Hamil won htat fight 2 rounds to1. And I think you could of argued the last round for Hamil, what ever it was the home town advantage.
[quote comment="9574"]@Dr. J
Hey man I called the Jackson fight!! LOL……anyways I knew that Jackson was a re-born fighter, and I thought with his skills the main factor of the fight would be determined by Jackson being stronger than Hendo. Hendo needs to drop to 185 where he would dominate.
Even though I picked Bisping to win, I really thought Hamil won htat fight 2 rounds to1. And I think you could of argued the last round for Hamil, what ever it was the home town advantage.[/quote]
i was saying Jackson was going win too. i had Rampage picked to win by TKO in round 4, and at the end of the 3rd it looked like that was going to happen but big props to Henderson for staying in there and putting on a good show. a lot of people were not giving Rampage his dues as a “reborn” fighter. i think he is going to show well against any lightheavy weight fighter right now. not to say he will beat a Shogun or Wandi but hes got a fire under him right now so if your going to take his title your going to have to work to take his title.
i had hendo by majority decision
Bisping sucks… these are post fight press conference quotes from Bisping directly to the media… makes the UFC look good in front of the British press.. ehhhh…
Brashly entering the post-fight press conference, a bruised and bloody Bisping bantered loudly with friend and training partner Quinton Jackson. The first question put to the fighters was directed at him and the mood in the room quickly darkened.
“Do you really think you won Michael?”
From then on, it was a one-man tirade from the defensive Brit.
“Of course. Don’t insult me like that. You wanna go three rounds? Cheeky (expletive). Of course I (expletive) won the decision. Get the (expletive) outta here.”
Staring aggressively at the hapless journalist, Bisping continued.
“Get that smile of your face, too, while you insult me.”
“I think you are the only one who seems to think so,” came another remark from the press.
FOXSports.com then asked Bisping a seemingly benign question.
“Do you think the judges scored the fight on volume of punching over hurtfulness of punching?”
“I don’t (expletive) know. I’m not a (expletive) judge. Are you?” Came the tart response. “Did you think I won the fight?”
FOXSports.com answered in the negative.
“How many fights have you (expletive) judged? Who the (expletive) are you anyway? What’s your (expletive) MMA background?”
Explaining to Bisping that this journalist actually had fought in kickboxing did not seem to quell the storm.
“Yeah, well good for you. (Expletive) you. You’re a kick boxer, so (expletive) what? (Expletive) off!”
[quote comment="9629"]Bisping sucks… these are post fight press conference quotes from Bisping directly to the media… makes the UFC look good in front of the British press.. ehhhh…[/quote]
damn…. snap much there Bisping? of course if your the winner of a questionable judgment your not going to want to admit you lost but i think Bisping went a bit over board. i guess the truth hurts, but when your an up-in-comming star its never a good idea to verbally attack the media because in a way they decide whether most fans are gonna like you.
do u guys think when he sees the fight the first time hes going to change his mind of him winning
[quote comment="9632"]do u guys think when he sees the fight the first time hes going to change his mind of him winning[/quote]
i think he knows in the back of his mind he lost that fight and thats why he got so defensive when asked about it.
Bisping did trip out, but like Richard said, that was before he got to see the fight again himself. When your actually fighting, its harder to tell if you lost or not. Especially since most of Hamils points came from takedowns. Bisping is thinking, everytime that guy hit me, i hit him back, i started slow in the first, but was dominant by the 3rd.. I could see how he would think he won a close decision.
To answer you Richard, yes i definately think hes gonna change his mind after he sees the fight and that it wasnt as close as he thought. Will he admit that to the press? no heheh, but he will probably say something like, i got the decision, if he wants to do it again, we can do it again..