2 fights according to DW's Twitter

I think they should make Lombard go through TUF like they did Nelson.

Farmer1906 wrote:

I think they should make Lombard go through TUF like they did Nelson.

Yea because a popular fighter with a lot marketability and hype coming in as a rival champion is totally the same as an overweight blob who got picked last

Ninja wrote:

Thiago/Shogun is strange fight. Did Thiago steal Joe Silva's wife or something? First Gus now this?..Shogun has better technical striking, more power in his hands, and had a granite chin. The only thing that worries me is all the wars Shogun has been in over the years.

Like to see:

Bader vs Gus

Machida vs Rampage 2

Rashad vs Lil Nog

Davis vs Janitor

Why would Silva be given main event fights against top contenders and legends/former champions if the UFC match makers hated him lol.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Farmer1906 wrote:

I think they should make Lombard go through TUF like they did Nelson.

Yea because a popular fighter with a lot marketability and hype coming in as a rival champion is totally the same as an overweight blob who got picked last

I just wanted to gets King's panties in a wad. Looks like I accidentally hooked you.

Nigga I roll commando so that is all balls you grabbing homie.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Ninja wrote:

Thiago/Shogun is strange fight. Did Thiago steal Joe Silva's wife or something? First Gus now this?..Shogun has better technical striking, more power in his hands, and had a granite chin. The only thing that worries me is all the wars Shogun has been in over the years.

Like to see:

Bader vs Gus

Machida vs Rampage 2

Rashad vs Lil Nog

Davis vs Janitor

Why would Silva be given main event fights against top contenders and legends/former champions if the UFC match makers hated him lol.

Do I even need to respond to this stupidity?

Silva was put into these matchups to lose you dunce! He was picked to make Shogun and Gus look good!

Ninja you're assbabbling. He wasn't put in those fights "to lose" any more than any other fighter is put in a fight "to lose" against someone they'd be an underdog against. He was put in because he is a name fighter, a striker and one of the best available opponents. He was a replacement for Nog on relatively short notice and regardless of whether or not he is an underdog, matches up well with Shogun because Shogun will fight his kind of wild brawl. No matter how you slice it bro, giving fighters multiple significant opportunity to leap into contention isn't penalizing them. Sometimes fighters just aren't as good as others and will be underdogs on paper.

If Silva had stopped Gus, or if he stops Shogun, he'd immediately find himself "in the mix" and another win or two away from contention. If they wanted to bring in someone to simply act as a shocase for Rua, it would be a less dangerous stand up fighter.

Thiago Silva matches up terribly against both Gus and Shogun, there is no way around this. Thiago was not just an "underdog", he was a stylistically easy opponent on paper for these guy. They didn't just choose Thiago to fill in for Nog because it was name fighter, it was a foreign card on Fuel...they were more worried about the gate and with Gus headlining the Swedes would come out in droves anyway. Silva was picked as cannon flodder for Gus to impress in front of his home crowd. You even said yourself Gus would kill Thiago Silva or are you going to deny this to fit in with your waste of time argument?

You ever hear of a squash match Wolf? That is what is happening here. Thiago is being used a tool to advance Shogun and Gus's careers

Thiago is too well regarded and dangerous to count as a squash match fighter. Thiago just made the most sense at the time. While I don't doubt that the UFC wants Gus to keep winning, I don't thing fighting a guy who was ranked in the top ten most of last year until he dropped to 11 in August, only slipping out due to inactivity can realistically be considered a squash match. Purely based on the rankings of these fighters no way could either the short notice bout or a fight against Shogun who has lost 2 of his last 3 be characterized as any type of squash. There is nothing abnormal about this. You're telling me this is bad fight booking? You're telling me this isn't typical fight booking? You're saying that because of the style match ups being favorable to the higher ranked fighter, that automatically means the UFC is trying to feed guys softballs?

I've never thought much of Silva in relation to the best fighters in the weight class, but I don't think so little of him I'd criticize a booking like this.

Thiago deserves another ass whoopin. He pulled the most bitch move possible, he not only took illegal substances, he turned in fake urine so we will never really know what substances he was on. That is the exact opposite of manning up. He deserves the matchups he is being given. Well done Mr. Joe Silva, well done.

Also just great match making with Hector vs Stann.

Ninja wrote:

Thiago/Shogun is strange fight. Did Thiago steal Joe Silva's wife or something? First Gus now this?..Shogun has better technical striking, more power in his hands, and had a granite chin. The only thing that worries me is all the wars Shogun has been in over the years.

Like to see:

Bader vs Gus

Machida vs Rampage 2

Rashad vs Lil Nog

Davis vs Janitor

Switch Lil Nog and Machida around and you've got better fights.

I kinda agree on Silva. This might be them looking to get rid of him. 2 losses off a commission suspension. I think Shogun breaks him down.

Stann vs Lombard is gonna be cool. Two middleweights with heavyweight knockout power. I think Lombard crumples him.

I don't really see it as Zuffa wanting to get rid of Murdaface at all, his style matches up well with Shogun, this will be a war while it lasts.

His style is good warrior, but he is out classed and out warrior'ed by Shogun.

They should just move Thiago over to SF when he loses to Shogun. Some fun fights for him there anyways.

Shogun has been through alot of wars and surgeries, there is a slim chance Murdaface could pull off the upset.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Thiago is too well regarded and dangerous to count as a squash match fighter. Thiago just made the most sense at the time. While I don't doubt that the UFC wants Gus to keep winning, I don't thing fighting a guy who was ranked in the top ten most of last year until he dropped to 11 in August, only slipping out due to inactivity can realistically be considered a squash match. Purely based on the rankings of these fighters no way could either the short notice bout or a fight against Shogun who has lost 2 of his last 3 be characterized as any type of squash. There is nothing abnormal about this. You're telling me this is bad fight booking? You're telling me this isn't typical fight booking? You're saying that because of the style match ups being favorable to the higher ranked fighter, that automatically means the UFC is trying to feed guys softballs?

I've never thought much of Silva in relation to the best fighters in the weight class, but I don't think so little of him I'd criticize a booking like this.

http://hosteddb.fightmetric.com/fights/index/3817

Getting outstruck literally two to one, dropped hard in the first round and almost finished, and then subsequently being pretty much unable to do jack shit until the other guy decides he's just going to stay away because he easily took the first two rounds isn't a squash match? Come on mannnnnn!

I would turn that fight down if I was rua...... he damn near took a decision against the newest contender and would of won with one more round...........thiago looked like dog shit against gus. rua beating silva does zero for his resume imo.

SOKO wrote:

I would turn that fight down if I was rua...... he damn near took a decision against the newest contender and would of won with one more round...........thiago looked like dog shit against gus. rua beating silva does zero for his resume imo.

He's riding a 2 fight win streak. Its ok to fight a top 20 guy instead of a top 10.

WAR Shogun!!!

WAR MURDAFACE !!!!!!

Ludo wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Thiago is too well regarded and dangerous to count as a squash match fighter. Thiago just made the most sense at the time. While I don't doubt that the UFC wants Gus to keep winning, I don't thing fighting a guy who was ranked in the top ten most of last year until he dropped to 11 in August, only slipping out due to inactivity can realistically be considered a squash match. Purely based on the rankings of these fighters no way could either the short notice bout or a fight against Shogun who has lost 2 of his last 3 be characterized as any type of squash. There is nothing abnormal about this. You're telling me this is bad fight booking? You're telling me this isn't typical fight booking? You're saying that because of the style match ups being favorable to the higher ranked fighter, that automatically means the UFC is trying to feed guys softballs?

I've never thought much of Silva in relation to the best fighters in the weight class, but I don't think so little of him I'd criticize a booking like this.

http://hosteddb.fightmetric.com/fights/index/3817

Getting outstruck literally two to one, dropped hard in the first round and almost finished, and then subsequently being pretty much unable to do jack shit until the other guy decides he's just going to stay away because he easily took the first two rounds isn't a squash match? Come on mannnnnn!

You must not understand how the term squash match is being used.

Squash

an extremely one-sided match that is usually over quickly.[1] Squash matches usually consist of various wrestlers fighting unknown jobbers, usually to help get a gimmick or moveset over. They are also used to portray a larger wrestler as an unstoppable monster heel. Babyfaces also win squash matches to show that they are prepared for a bigger challenge.

Pride booked squash matches often when they would give a HW or LHW star a match against a 190 pound pro wrestler or Judoka with a non existent MMA record. Squash matches are extremely common in boxing as well. Bellator super-fights for champs are occasionally squash-matchesque. The UFC has occasionally done this too, but tries to avoid it.

But I do not think that fight constituted a squash match. Because most fans felt it was a compelling fight and somehow better than Nog(LOL). If you remember, I predicted Gus would blast through dude easier than even he did where most of the forum was like WOAH AWESOME SILVA HAS A REAL CHANCE GREAT FIGHT WOOOOOOO.

When the UFC wants to get rid of someone, they don't give them fights against big names, former champs and main event fights. They give them dangerous match ups against less known/popular names on the undercard. Please see the handling of AA, Ortiz before he left and Werdum for details. AA vs Werdum was a prelim fight. Ortiz fought Machida. Werdum fought unknown but incredibly dangerous Dos Santos.

If they wanted to get rid of Thiago, he'd be fighting Phil Davis who would wrestlefuck him on a facebook fight or Fuel card or be given fights against strikers who while significantly lower ranked and regarded by the average fan, would be very dangerous and just as likely to KO him as vice versa IE Kyle Kingsbury, Glover Texieira, Fabio Maldonado, James Te Huna or Stanislav Nedkov.

Murderface is popular with fans and the UFC likes guys that war, mean mug, brawl with abandon and win via KO, piss-tests be damned.

These bookings tell me the UFC likes this guy if anything.

I'm taking Rua and Lombard can't wait great fights

FACT!

This fight will break a 9-fight streak for Rua. His past 9 fights have been against opponents who are, were or would become major MMA champions at middleweight, light heavyweight and/or heavyweight. Thiago Silva has yet to win a major championship.

YOU CAN"T EXPLAIN THAT!

GDPofDRC wrote:

FACT!

This fight will break a 9-fight streak for Rua. His past 9 fights have been against opponents who are, were or would become major MMA champions at middleweight, light heavyweight and/or heavyweight. Thiago Silva has yet to win a major championship.

YOU CAN"T EXPLAIN THAT!

That seems rather easy to explain, honestly.

Of course Thiago Silva is a step down in name value, and should be an underdog. But Silva will not be cut even if he loses this fight terribly. If he wins, he finds himself on the short list of guys fans both know and have not yet been murdered by Jon Jones. Shogun is never a sure fire bet to look good against guys he should beat and if he comes in looking sluggish... Murdahface has never really been an elite LHW, but he can still win this fight if he shows up at his best and Shogun shows up as the plodding, hittable one dimensional puncher he has been for a while now. Silva has like a 36% chance in this fight. And there is a 100% chance this is a slugfest, which is why the UFC likes this booking anyway.