My thoughts- UFC Fight Night 26: Shogun vs. Sonnen

A part of my MMA love died with Rua losing.

Wrestling is completely dominating MMA now.

Overeem is done without the roids.

Faber vs McDonald should happen to see where McDonald is really at.

Matt Brown should fight a top 10 guy next, maybe Rory McDonald?

Chael losing to 2 of the greatest fighters ever turned everyone back to the "Oh he hypes fights but he sucks" narrative which was so silly. Dominant performance and I think they'll capitalize on the Wandy rivalry which will lead to more butthurt when Sonnen is bodying him all over the cage

Reem I wouldn't mind seeing lose another 5-10 pounds to add a little more agility, he would still have the strength. Not sure why he never adjusted to the front kicks, they were clearly stunning him to the body and then he took one right on the grill. I'm leaning towards them giving him one more shot in there. Much respect to Browne for surviving the barrage, he was hurt and then took another couple brutal knees even upon getting back to his feet.

Wasn't impressed with Urijah's striking at all. Seems that whole camp has made a big improvement in standup since Bang came in, but he was kind of doing that awkward run in with his chin up to throw one strike that got MTB knocked out earlier in the evening. Went to the roots and utilized the wrestling to get the W. Alcantara has promise but the last two losses have come from being controlled on the canvas. Shore that up and he'll be alright

Matt Brown has made for some fun Fox action but he still hasn't beaten a top 10 guy. When he steps up he'll take the loss, a lot of of favorable matchups he's found himself in. Wrestling, sub defense, cardio and weakness to body shots all still exist. Never would have seen him going on a run like this a couple years ago though. Puts and end to the run of Pyle who's about to turn 38, wonder if he keeps fighting

John Howard is average and Uriah Hall doesn't get MMA. No killer instinct and no concept of staying busy and winning. Back to back fights he's been on cruise control from the first minute. Doubt he sticks around considering the things DW was saying post fight

Good performance from Michael Johnson. Putting Lauzon in the category of lock was a pretty bizarre storyline going in, he's never been a consistent top 10 type guy. Johnson did look real bad in his last two fights though. I do have to wonder if Lauzon was injured and didn't want to back out in his hometown. Very strange outing

Michael McDonald is a player. Great power for the division and only 22 years old rounding out his game. Surprised Pickett survived but then great sub from the bottom. No need for a fight with Faber at this point to me. Still so young and coming off a title loss, let him fight decent competition and continue to shore up his game

McGregor bitched Holloway. That was pretty impressive. Still questions about his ground game defensively but the promise is there

I never thought Sonnen was a bad fighter. If he was still fighting at 185 I'd have him ranked at 4. I was talking more about Rua's performance. He'll never be a top 5 LHW again which is sad.

Wasn't a response to you just my own thoughts

Cool. I pretty much agree with you on all. I think Sonnen beats Wanderlei also. Wouldn't mind Vitor vs Sonnen.

Man I rewatched that Overeem fight...Travis Browne has heart for days. The first two knees he got AFTER standing back up from being big time hurt were fucking brutal. Just thudding

Other referees would've stopped that fight.

freakzilla wrote:

A part of my MMA love died with Rua losing.

Wrestling is completely dominating MMA now.

Overeem is done without the roids.

Faber vs McDonald should happen to see where McDonald is really at.

Matt Brown should fight a top 10 guy next, maybe Rory McDonald?

Im no fan of the reem but he is still a threat if he can finish it off. He was as close as it gets to having that fight stopped not to mention he needs to learn to keeps his hands up and respect his oppenent ala the spider.

Michael McDonald.  Star of the show I watched Saturday.  Must see MMA.  I think he lumps up Faber and is dangerous enough to attack his top game or rise from it.  I take him over Cruz when he returns because I'm  convinced Cruz has seen his best days and will not be as explosive or dominant when he comes back.  He will earn another Super Fight with Barao and it will be glorious.  I'd like to see him fight anyone next really, Faber, Loser of Barao vs Wineland, Dillashaw, Caraway, winner of Perez vs Mizugaki, it doesn't matter.  I'm glad to see McDonald got the FotN and SotN bonuses.  I thought he was the most impressive fighter on the card.

Matt Brown was impressive.  Didn't seem that long ago that he was on a 3-fight skid, now he's riding one of the hottest streaks in the sport.  He advances to 10 on my list and barring a crazy smashing of Nick Diaz is looking at 2 more wins to get the title shot.  Not bad against a guy he admits used to whip his ass in training.  Winner of Kim vs Silva would be a good opponent next, a chance to avenge a old loss or to once again silence the hype of young Silva.

Travis Browne deserves a lot of credit for keeping his cool and maintaining composure.  I thought Overeem was gonna finish him but he couldn't find the kill shot.  You can't teach tough.  Overeem looked like the killer I always wish would show up every fight but it was not sustained, I think he was as surprised as I was that Browne was still up and throwing nastiness.  Pretty kick to the face but the hammer fists were nuclear!  Good stoppage, I think you really have to hate Overeem to think that was stopped too soon.  Browne is not fighting the Winner of Dos Santos vs Cain I think.  Werdum will probably get that call.  I like Browne against the winner of Barnett vs Mir.

And, credit to Sonnen on his fight, he did what suited him best and jumped on the neck when an opening appeared.  Clean.  If only everything else about the guy was able to match that performance in the cage on Saturday then he would be a benefit to MMA instead of the opposite.  I had quite the crowd over at my place, only a few of my buds had a lot or little MMA knowledge, the rest, men and women, had zero.  Everyone was pretty entertained for the whole evening surprisingly, it's funny watching complete noobs fall in love with MMA in one night because of a card like this, the shit they say.  But the consensus was that Sonnen was a hero until he opened his mouth after the fight.  Then it was more subtle ridicule and pity for the MMA fans, "look at what they like, lol".  Nobody takes that crap seriously on any level and gave an easy out to people who were having a good time but not accustomed to having anything to do with MMA to say, "thanks but no thanks".  They really liked McDonalds humbleness, youth and smile, the chicks anyways, but all agreed, nothing not to like about what they saw.  Browne was a star, everyone was talking about that all night, but that is HW's for you as well.  I talked McGregor up a little, probably shouldn't of though, I did so too much I guess, nobody was too excited about him.

I think the card lived up to the claim that this was the best Free Card EVA! on paper and in results.  Terrible betting card but that often makes for great entertain! 

9.5/10 for me.

Shogun isn't done he doesn't need to retire.  What he needs to do first of all s what ever he wants.  Book the Rogerio fight now I guess, that is still a fight I'd like to see and makes enough sense since Shogun is down and Rogerio is not someone Zuffa likes.  And for the record, Shogun got Sonnen off of him twice to the feet and took Sonnen down, take that world!  The fight was short and sweet but very anticlimactic.  Oh well.  Unshook.

Overeem is not going anywhere to suggest he will be cut or should retire is absurd.  He just went ham on a dude and was an inch away on any of those punches from getting his hand raised again.  He looked better in that fight then he really has in years, not counting the Brock fight since that was pretty easy for him.  Reem losing opens the door for a lot more potential fights for him then if he were to of won against Browne.  He'll be back.

Faber did his thing and looked pretty normal for his standards, impressive even.  Alcantara had a good fight for him, at least in the first round, but Faber never let him get back in that rhythm.

Is OSP actually gonna make noise?  I mean he has to eventually, but he actually looked for real Saturday.

Manny pulled a Kos I think, just seemed like he was trying to milk something there, but he won either way I thought.

Siler beat down Brown about how I thought he would.  Brown was not gonna be technically all that better and it was only gonna take time for Siler to begin to dominate I thought, he just decided to finish early instead though.

McGregor answers a few questions.  Put him in there with Nick Lentz please so we can maybe answer more.  I know that is just impossible though.  Lentz poses a very real threat and I seriously doubt Brock Lesnar 2 is gonna be put in front of anyone who posses those kinds of threats anytime in his next couple of fights.  He might win two more against a couple of guys like Siver and Sung Jung and be gifted the title shot the way Dana creams for him.

Brandao looks better every fight, in the 1st round....  He seems like a Bantam Weight to me, all the people calling for Brandao vs Mcgregor, I don't see it being very good.  He would gas to Conor and be a punching bag.

Well J-Lau, you f'd that right up.  They were walking out to the cage and I said to my buddy in the know, "I got a bad feeling about this one, Johnson is gonna break a lot of hearts."  He did and broke a lot of wallets.  I lost pretty big on this card.  Johnson, Brown, Browne and Howard's were key losses for my bet mixes.  This loss came a fight to soon for Joe, Usually he wins here then losses to a guy smelling the top 10.  Oh well, he's rich.

I didn't think the Hall Howard fight was great but it wasn't bad.  I saw Dana running his mouth about Hall after the fight, very crooked and shady business by White.  Dana is wrong. Just typical post fight White, being unable to speak with rationale, seeing something he wanted to pan out not happen so he has to go full bitter Larry.  Hall isn't that good. White desperately wants him to live up to the silly hype he made for him. Ko'ing guys on TUF is good but as fools gold as it gets because TUF blows. White wanted more then anything for Hall to be something he is not, "the most scary dangerous deadly yada yada yada wolf tickets etc., fighter at 185", and is dumping all over the dude because he didn't live up to the unwarranted hype White himself bestowed upon him.

was very tuf watching shogun get subbed... it tore a hole in my heart especially since i was watching it with a group of friends and i was literally parading in victory before the fight even started. i dont think overeem is done honestly, just needs to work on cardio and keep his hands up, cant believe that fight wasnt stopped but i have to give props to brown, HUGE HEART

killerofchicken wrote:

was very tuf watching shogun get subbed... it tore a hole in my heart especially since i was watching it with a group of friends and i was literally parading in victory before the fight even started. i dont think overeem is done honestly, just needs to work on cardio and keep his hands up, cant believe that fight wasnt stopped but i have to give props to brown, HUGE HEART

Yep, a piece of you dies but another grows, that's how I felt seeing McDonald win at least on the same night Shogun loses.  I've been a fan for a while, almost local bias because I got to see him go a before in Lemoore like Teixiera and others.  Big support for them and really like the attitudes they present.  Was very high seeing that win at least.  I was prepared for Shogun to lose also because, well, it does happen and was not a impossible or even unlikely scenario, no way around that.