UFC- Does anyone else watch it?

[Posts: 3289Joined: 18 Sep 2006, 15:47Location: County Down]

A couple of years ago when I was in the falklands, one of the guys used to be diehard into UFC. Like most people who were there at the time I had seen it advertised on Bravo but had always thought it was something like the wrestling and had never bothered watching it.

Once we started watching it we instantly got well into watching it, and can see why it is the fastest growing sport on the planet. Some of the fights on it are awesome and some of the fighters are absolutely top drawer. The likes of George St Pierre and Anderson Silva are absolutely unstoppable in their divisions.

Last week they had UFC105 in Manchester, and the british fighters absolutely destroyed the americans, and almost all fights were brilliant spectator events.

With UFC now starting to overshadow boxing as a sport, I realise that it has been bought up by setanta, and live events are no longer on bravo but was just wondering does anyone else watch this?

[Posts: 2843Joined: 20 Jan 2006, 11:28Location: The Ainsty of York]

Had to Wiki UFC as I'd never heard of it let alone seen it

So the hippocampal hard disk has had a little more new data written to it, thanks

Somewhat sanitized bare knuckle brawling for the brave new millennium?

Quite enough of that on the mean streets if you ask me

[Posts: 3289Joined: 18 Sep 2006, 15:47Location: County Down]

Its ever becoming a lot more than just bareknuckle fighting, the old brawlers like chuck liddel (a cult figure in the states who featured in nicklebacks rock star video) seen below cant really compete with the the mixed martial arts fighters of now, it is really a skillful sport whish takes serious training to be good at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXO5vTJW ... re=related

Brazilian JuJitsu turned mixmartial arts fighters like Anderson Silva have come through and the old brawler type fighters cant land a punch on them. This guy is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaNOSMWFQEQ

[Posts: 132Joined: 18 Mar 2008, 20:41Location: Weston super mare]

Hey bulwark, I have been a fan of the UFC since back in the days of the cabbage! The sport has really evolved into a relevant form of gladiatoral combat where two fighters engage, adhering to a set of rules much less arbitrary than say boxing or wrestling. The technical aspect of the sport is second to none and I for one find the sport much more safety orientated than boxing, where a fighter needs to have his brain continually pummelled against his(or her!) skull throughout a fight. The days when a fighter could rely on any one school of combat such as jujitsu or wrestling are gone and we are seeing the emergence of a new breed. GSP is simply groundbreaking in his division and here we can see the progression since the domination of wrestler matt Hughes.
I was watching the sport on setanta until it folded, where are you watching it now bulwark?

[Posts: 3289Joined: 18 Sep 2006, 15:47Location: County Down]

Hi millbear,

Yeah I saw Cabbage on a few replay fights, my mate reckons his favorite fight ever is Tim Silvia vs Cabbage.
I stopped watching it roundabout christmas in the UK when it went to setanta, I was previously watching it on Bravo and think the last UFC I saw was the one with Vanderlei Silva vs Chuck Liddel. Then I moved out to Saudi Arabia in june and we get it for free on the Americcan Forces Network out here.

The live fights are on at 6 in the morning out here but the South African Sports Channel then show it on Sunday evening at 8pm and the AFN channel re-broadcasts it at 5pm on Monday evening. Theres a load of us all go round to one of the guys house to watch it. Do setanta not show it in the UK anymore.

One of the American guys out here has a Kung Fu background but went over to thailand to study Muay Thai and had a fight out there where he demolished a seasoned professional. He is now in the states trying to get a professional MMA fight.

[Posts: 522Joined: 28 Oct 2007, 22:12]

all the men in my family were at manchester last week and thought it was excellent,my son is an avid follower, but even his cynical dad enjoyed it.

[Posts: 1281Joined: 13 Jun 2008, 03:07Location: London]

I think the UFC is great and especially enjoy watching TUF series with the two coaches; have watched from series 1-10 the current and think its a great build up to a fight.

Not found many people to talk to about UFC but hopefully that will change,looks like a few people here are interested.

[Posts: 132Joined: 18 Mar 2008, 20:41Location: Weston super mare]

Seems a lot if ignorance about it here still. Interest really took off in the uk when Michael bisping won TUF several years ago. He has gone on to coach on the show. Sadly there is nowhere here to watch it in the uk since setanta folded. I don't have sky sports though, so it may be on there. I live near bristol and there's regular MMA bouts in Weston super mare to enjoy - It's certainly a sport rising in popularity but Dana White should endeavour to keep it on uk screens at this crucial time in it's growth.

[Posts: 132Joined: 18 Mar 2008, 20:41Location: Weston super mare]

Incidentally the set of three fights matt Hughes v George st Pierre are the finest to grace the octagon and really show the sports MMA transition.

[Posts: 3289Joined: 18 Sep 2006, 15:47Location: County Down]

I reckon that Bisping vs Kang fight at Manchester is one of my favorites as Bisping was absolute dominated in the first round and came back and destroyed Kang in the second round.

Other than that my favorite was always Anderson Silva vs Rick Franklin. Think Silva has to drop back down to defend his middleweight belt for his next fight - while Shogun Rua will get a rematch against lyoto machita for the Light heavyweight belt. Shogun destroyed Machita in that last fight and somehow machita got given the fight. Silva should get a chance at the Light Heavyweight belt once he has defended his middleweight belt and the Shogun/Machita situation has been settled.

I've always like G.S.P. but tend to miss a lot of his fights just by chance. He's due to fight the british Dan Hardy next time out but think Hardy will get chinned. Koschack should be the one getting the fight, he was brilliant against anthony johnson on saturday, and although i dont think he'd beat GSP I think he deserves a shot more than hardy.

[Posts: 4851Joined: 05 Dec 2008, 01:34Location: Ashford]

Oh, I'm confused.

When I had a couple of conversations with you in the spring Milbear, I thought you were Fist.

Apologies.