ArteSuave

That's fair enough, Vitor is a killer and he's looked better than ever this year. Vitor has never faced an elite submission grappler (Jones is obv. an elite all rounder but it's not the same thing). He's got some great training partners at the Blackzilians but I'd be much more confident of his sub defence if he'd survived on the ground with someone like Jacare, Maia or Roger. I don't think he has. Who are you referring to? IMV he's been motivated throughout his career but that's by the by. Let's suppose though that his showmanship was down to lack of motivation rather than an attempt to cement himself as a legend and wow the crowds. It was a different story for the last fight. He came into it in the best physical shape I can remember seeing him in. Fig 1 His hands stayed up too. Still got outfought and comprehensively beaten. Sorry this bit is out of order but it was too ludicrous not to finish on. What on earth makes you say someone who came 3rd in their county championships in high school (didn't place in State) and didn't wrestle in college has greater wrestling experience than someone who won their county AND state championships (plus was an All American) in high school and a two time All American in community college AND THEN two time Div-1 All American. It's like saying Mourinho had a more decorated playing career than Guardiola.

I've had to go and look up the statistics (thankfully fightmetric has improved recently) and Machida doesn't make the top 10 for TDD% in the UFC. They don't have it divisionally so I'll do some amateurish tableising of their stats: If I was clever like levi I'd do some coefficient of takedown to work out the average takedownness of each fighter and opponent based on their takedown differential but I'm not so this will have to do. Machida has been taken down in 4 of his last 7 fights (Davis, Jones, Hendo, Rampage). This is how the other top 10 MWs (UFC's own rankings) compare: Weidman - taken down in 0 of last 7. Silva - taken down in 4 of last 7 (Weidman x 2, Sonnen x 2) Belfort - TD in 2 of last 7 (AJ, Jones) Jacare - TD in 0 of last 7 Bisping - 2 of 7 (Sonnen, Mayhem) Rockhold - 3 of 7 (Kennedy, Jacare, Jesse Taylor) Munoz - 5 of 7 (Boetsch, Weidman, Leben, Dolloway, Simpson) Carmont - 2 (Lawlor, Vemola) Kennedy - 3 (Roger, Trevor Smith, Rockhold) Phillipou - 4 (Carmont, Boetsch, Rivera, Catone) So only Munoz has been taken down more often in their last 7 fights. I hate to rag on Machida's TDD but it's not among the best, unless the best includes the top 10% of the roster. Davis is the most decorated freestyle wrestler out of those listed. If we're discussing whether Machida belongs among the best TDDers in the UFC he can't earn extra credit because he's not a wrestler. Objectively, it only matters whether he gets taken down or not.

I don't think it's fickleness. I'll whisper this but I wouldn't mind Lambert continuing until the Summer at least. Having said that if we do part ways I'd rather we brought in a good English speaking coach like McClaren to help our young squad fulfill their potential rather than a shouty, let players just play, one of the lads, wheeler dealer to bump us to 40 points over the short term. Having already specified I'd prefer English speaking, I wouldn't mind Marcelo Bielsa either. In fact, I'd prefer him to McClaren. Did a reasonable job at Bilbao I thought and is currently out of work.

Jesus wept. So would I. Sickening. Thankfully I don't think Randy's keen on mid-season merry go rounds.

His TDD% is impressive and that certainly seems to be the line that Joe and Goldie push (The Elusive Sir Machida of Elusiveshire) and he does fend off a lot but I can't really agree that it's among the best. Davis took him down (twice?) before gassing, Jones took him down, Rampage took him down and (43ish year old) Hendo took him down. Even Sokoudjou took him down after a few months at Team Quest. IMO the less publicised reason that stat is so good is the sheer number that are attempted on him. That is because (a) he often moves backwards and ( he's so hard to hit that people (who hadn't planned to take him down at all) can't hit him, get frustrated / panicked, deviate from their game plan and start attempting fairly rudimentary TDs. That's not to say his TDD isn't good, because it is. Its just not 'that' good. For comparison nobody has ever taken Weidman down and he has never failed to take anyone down* (I don't think anyone has even gone an entire round with him without being taken down FWIW). Edit - * to clarify, I mean he's never fought someone without taking them down rather than his TD success rate is 100%. That would be incredible.

Nothing of any significant quality, the main event was entertaining in a popcorn action movie kind of way. The first fight on the main card was a mismatch and one of the others end in a quick DQ. Strange night. I'm aware there are lots of permutations for the fight. The reason I posed the question was because IMV, if someone states that "X will tear Y apart" they are convinced beyond reasonable doubt that this will happen (this is only my inference). In this particular case that's quite strange because X has a history of stuggling to defend takedowns from decent wrestlers and being fairly inactive on his back and Y has a history of taking everyone down. I asked because I wanted to know what reason you felt this was not going to affect the whole tearing apart stuff. Do you think Vitor has overcome his career long issue with TDD? Do you think he's improved significantly enough off his back to just get straight back up? Or is it that he'll just blast him out if he even attempts a takedown? There's a chance all 3 are true (though not a very big one IMV, hence the 20% chance of winning I gave him). Overcomitting to a takedown wouldn't be the problem I don't think though, if he got far enough through to have a TD worth pursuing it he would finish it. It's more likely insufficient set up of the takedown that would give Vitor a chance. The destroyed bit is more the winning every minute of both fights and them both being stopped in round two rather than particularly destructive finishes. Silva didn't take himself down or drop himself with a punch in the clinch in the second fight. He was dominated. I certainly wouldn't discount it but he too seems to get taken down every time he faces a decent wrestler.

What if he shoots in the first 30 seconds? IMO Belfort is, on current form, more of a finisher than Silva so this fight is actually more dangerous for Weidman. However in Vegas you aren't allowed hormonal enhancement so this will be Vitor with the edge taken off. 80% chance Weidman wins IMO. Out of interest, in the absolutely unthinkably unlikely event that the guy who just destroyed the GOAT (twice) manages to blindly fluke his way past the standup techniques and jam another win, will that be a credit to him or will Machida just Karate him into a living death with ease?

7-0 to villa. Cloggermole sent off in the first 3 seconds. Hat trick each for our impregnable CB pairing of Albrighton and Jed Steer.

You're only as good as your last fight. Seriously though, six weeks ago GSP got out wrestled and gifted a decision (IMO). Twelve weeks ago Jon Jones got outboxed (and taken down by a non wrestler, as well as hitting only one takedown of his own out of about 15 attempts) on the way to a razor thin victory (I scored it as a draw) against the (previous to that, not exactly awe inspiring) Gustaffson. He also got taken pretty deep and almost submitted by a MW. FWIW, as objectively as possible , based on arbitrary criteria that I am deciding on as I type this, the current top 3 pound for pound (IMO), are the little guys. 1. Aldo 2. Barao 3. DJ

Lindsay Lohan Bruce Forsyth John Madden Charlie Sheen Jimmy Carter

I'd rather Benteke fully healed up before returning to action. Vlaar, on the other hand, should play if he can stand without the help of a nurse.

Yeah, QF in both 88 and Openweight. Both Galvao and Vinny were very complimentary after their matches as well IIRC. His fight against Maia was the best showcase though. 11 days notice to take on a fully prepared BJJ and ADCC champion and he out grappled him. I remember thinking nobody is good enough to beat someone like Maia without a full camp. Nope.

Oh dear, Vegas means no TRT for Vitor. I think people are missing the point though, Weidman is a grappler first and foremost. The fact he KOed Silva is just a testament to his willingness / ability to learn. He's a better wrestler than GSP with a more dynamic submission attack.

I didn't buy the UFC 1 PPV, put it that way. The first fight I saw Royce have was with Sakuraba (the first one) in the pride GP on VHS. I had no idea who either of them were but I was a 10 year old Ken Shamrock fan who wanted to see what the most dangerous man in the world had left WWF for. I've seen every one of his fights though (as well as a lot of footage of his BJJ matches) and had this discussion with people who have trained with him and his brothers. I am at a loss for words as to how Weidman is still being underrated here. Any timidity / hesitation in the first fight was down to the year off with injury he'd just had. I don't know why AS's mind games are only now being pilloried, they were key in several of his wins, including the one against the guy next in line. I love Vitor btw, he is a monster and has (like Weidman) been running through fighters at the top of arguably the toughest division in the sport. With Dolce managing his weight and TRT he has only lost to Jones at 205, but IMHO Weidman is better than Jones. I don't really understand the qualifier of "if Belfort gets in the UFC" though, his last 8 fights have been in the UFC. My next prediction is that if Weidman stops Belfort he won't get credit for his 3rd stoppage of an ATG, people will just say that the division is weak. Poor really bad person cain't get no respect.

That's a shame. Reading the analogy afterwards might help you understand why the argument for GOAT isn't about Silva, Fedor and Royce. Most influential maybe, but then that's a different discussion entirely. Royce is in the UFC's HOF and rightfully so, but even at his peak Rickson was far better than him. He got his ass kicked every day in training and considering he was a grappler, his skills in that area were not even at an world class level. Prime Royce loses to everyone in the top 20 at MW and WW right now and several of them could submit him if they chose to. That is obviously not true for Fedor or AS (or anyone else in the top 100 GOAT). As for "most, if not all" all time P4P rankings including him, that's probably because most all time p4p rankings are made on Bleacher report by 11 year olds who have no idea what they're even supposed to be basing it on. Nobody who has the slightest semblance of knowledge of MMA thinks Royce is anywhere near being the GOAT, at all.

Some absolutely bizarre comments here. I'm not sure I follow the thinking that now Silva, Crocop and Reem have gone (not actually accurate but beside the point) that means that the stand up of Pettis, Aldo, Barao, Belfort, Machida, Shogun, Erick Silva, Alves, HD, Barboza and Condit (etc.) is now less exciting. That's less weird though than Royce being the GOAT. He's not even top 100 (probably 200?). He only just makes the top 3 (and arguably doesn't) out of his own brothers. That's like saying Dick Fosbury is GOAT high jumper, only Royce didn't invent sub grappling and Dick didn't have 2 brothers who could jump higher than him. That in turn is less wrong IMO than the thing about Silva beating himself (twice). Remember how in the first fight Weidman supposedly didn't deserve to be there and Silva would clown him and make him look like Forrest? What happened in the first round? Ah yes, 30 seconds in successful double leg followed by damaging elbows and a dangerous leglock combo. Stand back up and Weidman catches Silva repeatedly without much reply. Second round was better publicised. All that was just luck though, right? The takedown, sub attempts, KO were all sequential unrelated pieces of luck and none of them would have happened had Silva not dropped his hands and tried to show off (ignoring the fact that those have been part of Silva's style for years). He wasn't even motivated, he didn't train, he needed a wee, the sun was in his eyes and his dog ate his homework. All of that would change though in the rematch. AS would come out with his hands up and spinning shoryuken double hand reverse pineapple upsidedown cake KO the inferior Weidman before Goldy could tell us about whatever shit film was sponsoring the fight. He certainly came out with his hands up, he just forgot to knock him out and we got a carbon copy of the previous opening round. The bare bones of the matter are that Weidman fought the GOAT for ~15 minutes, won every minute, knocked him out and broke his leg by checking a kick. Despite all that Silva gets the credit for kicking his own ass, twice?! I agree with the comment about the injury being sickening though. It seems to be everywhere as well. Most people only seem to care about motor racing and combat sports when something bad happens.

Poor Anderson. I think winning this fight was beyond him but that kind of thing take years (plural) to recover from. Horrible to see it possibly end for him like that. Well at least I had Weidman to win... by Sub. ****. He only drifted as far as 8/5 to win by any method and I got 17/4 for via Sub, darn it. AND Barnett **** my accumulator. The only consolation is that Weidman still won't get the credit he deserves and will still be priced too long to win by Sub against Vitor. Hopefully. Great card though. Thoroughly entertaining.

Benteke does care. Not particularly about Villa (I don't think he cared about Villa last season either) but about his world cup starting place. That is enough motivation for him to put everything in when he's back, as if 50k a week isn't reason enough.

Cheer up you miserable bunch of bastards. This time last year we were getting stuffed 3, 4 and 8 **** nil (with defending that makes this season's Clark and Baker look like McGrath & Teale) and we still managed to have a half decent second half of the season. If we win on Saturday I honestly think we'll make 50 points. I think that's usually 8th-12th but exactly what position is down to the points totals of other teams (obviously). Shit do we need Vlaar and Benteke fully fit though.

I've signed up too. Google do miss the mark massively with some of their stuff but this seems like something they'd do well.

The wonders of modern technology eh. I've watched while cooking, eating, lifting, shitting and lying down. The international break meant that I've had roughly 20 extra hours not watching football in the last 10 days too that were all reallocated. Swap out reading in bed and put in BrBa and it pretty much didn't affect my schedule at all, I even managed ~20hrs of sport/exercise in that time. When do the new episodes get put up on Netflix?

I started watching this last Tuesday (3rd Sep) to distract myself from GTA's arrival and I'm now fully up to date. ****.

It'll be Red Dead 2 RD3 surely?

Hunting bears with a knife like the good old days.

More proof we're the new Stoke. Both of us are at the end of the table for pitch sizes. Peas in a pod.