(Matt Hughes doesn’t need to say it. But yes, it’s whatever.)
Reaction GIFs are the world’s most perfect means of communication. Why waste time typing out actual words about how you’re feeling when you can just link to other people’s facial expressions? The next time you find yourself in a heated comments section, fire off one of these MMA-related reaction GIFs. Use the next page links to move through the list, and enjoy…
When you’ve defeated a bitter rival:
When you just laughed at something you shouldn’t have laughed at:
(Matt Hughes doesn’t need to say it. But yes, it’s whatever.)
Reaction GIFs are the world’s most perfect means of communication. Why waste time typing out actual words about how you’re feeling when you can just link to other people’s facial expressions? The next time you find yourself in a heated comments section, fire off one of these MMA-related reaction GIFs. Use the next page links to move through the list, and enjoy…
When you’ve defeated a bitter rival:
When you just laughed at something you shouldn’t have laughed at:
When you need to let the haters know that they ain’t bringing you down:
One of Dana White’s greatesttalents is burying fighters. When old, broke war dogs speak out against the UFC, White cuts them down with assertions that he “makes millionaires” and labels detractors as “goofs” and “dummies.”
But can White do that to Georges St-Pierre, who recently called out the UFC for their drug testing policies. Well, we’ve already had a small taste of White’s verbal stylings. He questioned GSP’s manhood, implying that GSP airing his grievances with the media was somehow cowardly. He also said GSP’s actions were “kooky,” and that his claims were ridiculous.
That was just the opening salvo. What’ll Dana White say about his former meal ticket six months from now, a year from now, two years from now, when GSP’s relevance fades and insulting him carries less risk?
One of Dana White’s greatesttalents is burying fighters. When old, broke war dogs speak out against the UFC, White cuts them down with assertions that he “makes millionaires” and labels detractors as “goofs” and “dummies.”
But can White do that to Georges St-Pierre, who recently called out the UFC for their drug testing policies. Well, we’ve already had a small taste of White’s verbal stylings. He questioned GSP’s manhood, implying that GSP airing his grievances with the media was somehow cowardly. He also said GSP’s actions were “kooky,” and that his claims were ridiculous.
That was just the opening salvo. What’ll Dana White say about his former meal ticket six months from now, a year from now, two years from now, when GSP’s relevance fades and insulting him carries less risk?
1. Dana will insult GSP’s character.
Bringing up a former fighter’s character flaws is a fantastic way to defuse any criticism against the UFC. The UFC is bad? Well the guy who said that is a horrible person, so their points, no matter how valid, don’t stand in light of their moral turpitude.
GSP—the greatest welterweight of all time—wasn’t that good, or at least that’s what Dana White might eventually argue. He’ll say that GSP was the champ during an era where the welterweight division was less-developed and lacked depth. [Insert champ at the time of this hypothetical conversation] is better than GSP because the division is stacked now. Back when GSP had the belt, it was older guys like Matt Hughes and BJ Penn, and non-factors like Dan Hardy and Thiago Alves. The “great” GSP was only great at stalling his way to decision victory after decision victory.
3. Dana will shut GSP out of the UFC Hall of Fame (and erase him from UFC history if things get bad enough).
Also known as the Frank Shamrock treatment. If Dana White doesn’t like you enough and you say enough bad things about the company, Zuffa will make sure you don’t exist, at least not in their “official” version of history.
Imagining a hypothetical future interview with Dana White about GSP.
Let’s imagine what White would say about GSP in the future, if the drug testing situation devolves and GSP becomes an enemy of the Zuffa state [Note: Dana white didn’t actually say any of this; it’s all hypothetical and just for fun]:
“GSP has this clean image and stuff like that, but he is not a good guy. He has never been a good guy. He is a greedy, sleazy guy. That bozo will put his name on anything for a few bucks. And he’s just a headache. All that legal bullshit he’s going through, it’s because he’s greedy and he’s not a good guy. I’m just happy that I never have to deal with GSP ever again.
And let’s talk about his fuckin’ “legacy” for a second. The guy beat an ancient Matt Hughes—who was the greatest welterweight ever but old by then—for the title. Then he fuckin’ loses it to MATT SERRA. Goofs on these fuckin’ message boards and on the Internet are always bitching about GSP and how we don’t honor him enough and how we don’t put him in our hall of fame. Guess what? GSP wasn’t that fuckin’ good. He never killed people like Jon Jones and Anderson Silva did. The only guys GSP killed were guys like Jon Fitch who couldn’t make it in the UFC. When GSP fought a real guy, he clinched them for five rounds because he was scared for his life. And that’s what GSP is, scared. He was too scared to fight real guys, he was too scared to go up in weight and fight Anderson Silva, and he was too scared to be a man and settle his problems with us like a man. He’s a coward, he’s not one of the greats. Yet all these “fans” on the fuckin’ Internet go on about it, bunch of fucking clowns. Next question…”
Media shills will agree, and if they don’t, their disagreement will only be tepid, and they’ll still praise White for “being real.” Fans who remember or who don’t listen to Zuffa will argue for GSP, but will be drowned out by “GSP sucks lol.”
Hopefully, this isn’t what’s in store for GSP and his legacy.
Although Rogan is often known for his hyperbole, he might have been dead-on that night. Was “Bones” vs. “The Mauler” really the greatest 205-pound title fight in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship? To determine the veracity of that statement, I went back and watched the best light heavyweight fights ever held inside the Octagon, and after countless hours of tape study, I feel as though I’ve come up with a very fair list.
Below I’ve listed what in my opinion are the top 10 light heavyweight fights in UFC history based on a mixed criteria of competitiveness, excitement level, hype, how the fight played out in comparison to its expectations, and how it ended. So without any further ado, let’s get started…
Machida had just knocked out Rashad Evans at UFC 98 and, in the fateful words of Joe Rogan, the “Machida Era” had commenced. However, “Shogun” had a thing or two to say about that as the former PRIDE star was coming off of two TKO wins over Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Mark Coleman, and he wanted to prove to everyone it was he, not Machida, who was the best light heavyweight in the world at the time.
For five rounds, Machida and “Shogun” went toe-to-toe in the Octagon and although Machida definitely had his moments in the match, it appeared to most observers that there would be a new light heavyweight champion crowned, as Rua landed a ton of brutal leg kicks to Machida that left the champ’s torso and thighs looking like a bruised peach.
But while “Shogun” arguably won every round of the fight, the judges somehow saw the fight in favor of Machida, with all three scoring the bout 48-47 in favor of “The Dragon” despite the volume of leg kicks thrown by Rua, leading judge Cecil People to idiotically declare that leg kicks don’t finish fights. UFC president Dana White saw things differently, however, and set up an immediate rematch at UFC 113 where Rua KO’d Machida into oblivion — a happy ending to an infamous screwjob.
Although Rogan is often known for his hyperbole, he might have been dead-on that night. Was “Bones” vs. “The Mauler” really the greatest 205-pound title fight in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship? To determine the veracity of that statement, I went back and watched the best light heavyweight fights ever held inside the Octagon, and after countless hours of tape study, I feel as though I’ve come up with a very fair list.
Below I’ve listed what in my opinion are the top 10 light heavyweight fights in UFC history based on a mixed criteria of competitiveness, excitement level, hype, how the fight played out in comparison to its expectations, and how it ended. So without any further ado, let’s get started…
Machida had just knocked out Rashad Evans at UFC 98 and, in the fateful words of Joe Rogan, the “Machida Era” had commenced. However, “Shogun” had a thing or two to say about that as the former PRIDE star was coming off of two TKO wins over Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Mark Coleman, and he wanted to prove to everyone it was he, not Machida, who was the best light heavyweight in the world at the time.
For five rounds, Machida and “Shogun” went toe-to-toe in the Octagon and although Machida definitely had his moments in the match, it appeared to most observers that there would be a new light heavyweight champion crowned, as Rua landed a ton of brutal leg kicks to Machida that left the champ’s torso and thighs looking like a bruised peach.
But while “Shogun” arguably won every round of the fight, the judges somehow saw the fight in favor of Machida, with all three scoring the bout 48-47 in favor of “The Dragon” despite the volume of leg kicks thrown by Rua, leading judge Cecil People to idiotically declare that leg kicks don’t finish fights. UFC president Dana White saw things differently, however, and set up an immediate rematch at UFC 113 where Rua KO’d Machida into oblivion — a happy ending to an infamous screwjob.
The UFC promoted this fight as a title unification bout between Jackson, who had just won the UFC title from Chuck Liddell via first-round TKO at UFC 71, and Henderson, who was a two-division champ coming over from PRIDE. But even though it was a title fight, since it took place in England the UFC decided to put the tape-delayed event on SPIKE TV instead of pay-per-view, which turned out to be a great idea as 4.7 million viewers tuned in to watch what became one of the biggest MMA fights in TV history.
The match delivered as much action as it promised, with Henderson and “Rampage” going back-and-forth for five rounds with both men displaying their excellence in striking and wrestling. After it was all said and done, “Rampage” won a unanimous decision, a victory that gave him the only successful defense of his UFC light heavyweight title. As for Henderson, he finally earned another crack at the UFC light heavyweight title in 2012 — a full five years after the fight with Rampage — but after the fiasco of UFC 151 he never ended up getting his shot at the belt. And at 43 years old now and coming off of two losses, it’s doubtful that he will again.
Rampage’s next outing was his five-round battle at UFC 86 against Forrest Griffin, which followed a coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter season seven — the same show that rocketed Griffin to stardom just three years earlier.
Griffin entered the fight as a big underdog, as most fans thought Jackson’s knockout power and wrestling skills would make it an easy second title defense for him. But the fight sure didn’t play out that way, as Griffin used leg kicks and submission attempts to make it competitive throughout and a true coin-flip on the judges’ cards.
At the end of five rounds, Griffin was announced the winner by unanimous decision and in the process became the second TUF winner to win a UFC title (after Matt Serra the previous year). However, the fight was not without controversy as “Rampage” and many media and fans felt he should have won the decision.
But he didn’t, and that night at UFC 86 was the last time Jackson would ever hold a UFC belt. As for Griffin, he fought another TUF winner, Rashad Evans, in his first title defense at UFC 92, and was knocked out. And, like Jackson, he never came close to sniffing the belt ever again.
The seventh fight on this list is one of three bouts to feature current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, and it only came together as a result of the debacle that was UFC 151. Jones had been set to face Dan Henderson at UFC 151, but “Hendo” pulled out of the fight just a week earlier and Jones refused to face Chael Sonnen on short notice. After Lyoto Machida refused to fight Jones for a second time on short notice, the UFC then recruited middleweight Vitor Belfort to move back up to 205 and try to win back the UFC light heavyweight championship, a belt he held briefly in 2004 when he “stopped” Randy Couture with a cut at UFC 46.
Belfort wasn’t supposed to stand a chance in the matchup, but in the first round he caught Jones in a tight armbar and nearly shocked the world. However, Jones — even though he damaged his arm in the process — fought through the early adversity and then poured it on a game Belfort until the fourth round, when the champ was able to coax a stoppage with a keylock submission.
Although he did win, the fight wasn’t as one-sided as Jones’s previous conquests and it showed that the champ was vulnerable and not as unstoppable as many had previously thought, a point which was driven home in his most recent fight against Alexander Gustafsson. As for Belfort, he used the loss to Jones as fuel for a run at middleweight and he’s since knocked out Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold in scintillating fashion to emerge as one of the top contenders at 185 pounds.
6. Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida, UFC 140
(Photo via Tracy Lee/Yahoo!)
2011 saw Jon Jones choke out Ryan Bader, become light heavyweight champion with a TKO of Shogun Rua, and stop Quinton Jackson with a fourth-round rear-naked choke. For an encore performance, he would have his fourth fight of the year against Lyoto Machida. It turned out to be by far his most difficult match to date, as the elusive Machida was able to outstrike Jones in round one and even rock the young champion at one point, something which no one else had ever done to him inside the Octagon.
But Jones battled back hard and in the second round he began taking it to Machida before snatching “The Dragon’s” neck in a standing guillotine choke. As soon as the referee told Jones to break, he let the choke go and Machida dropped to the canvas, unconscious and with his eyes pointing into nowhere. Jones, meanwhile, just walked away.
Jones has since made four more title defenses to break the former record held by Tito Ortiz, proving without a doubt he is the greatest light heavyweight fighter in the history of the sport. As for Machida, he’s since dropped down to 185 pounds as he looks to become the third fighter in UFC history to win belts in two different weight classes after Randy Couture and BJ Penn previously accomplished the feat.
On the next page: A record-breaking rematch, Tito battles the Shamrocks, and the greatest 205-pound title war is revealed…
(Tito Ortiz makes another stop on his global goodwill tour | Photo via @TitoOrtiz)
Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson and Frank Shamrock are all former UFC champions that are currently personas non grata to the organization and its President Dana White. (Not coincidentally, four of those five guys currently have some role in the Bellator organization.) For that reason, Ortiz seems to think it would be pretty funny if they all went to the UFC’s 20th anniversary show November 16th in Las Vegas.
“@ShamrockKen @frankshamrock @Randy_Couture @Rampage4real maybe we should crash the show. I will buy the tickets.” Ortiz recently tweeted.
Apparently, some of the other guys liked the idea. Tito’s former mortal enemy, Ken Shamrock, tweeted back, “I like TITO’s idea,” and then, “I will stand beside you Tito. – frank lets go!!!!!,” encouraging his brother to join them.
So we guess to Ken, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or something. Ken told Tito to send him a direct message through twitter so they could totally discuss deets, and then sent out a “hi randy” shout out to Couture.
Couture, who is probably smarting more than anyone else about not being allowed at UFC events ever since Dana banned the two-division UFC champion from cornering his son Ryan, then weighed in. “feel sorry for the security guys dana sends to have us removed 🙂 hope they have guns !,” he tweeted, apparently still in character as Toll Road from The Expendables.
(Tito Ortiz makes another stop on his global goodwill tour | Photo via @TitoOrtiz)
Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson and Frank Shamrock are all former UFC champions that are currently personas non grata to the organization and its President Dana White. (Not coincidentally, four of those five guys currently have some role in the Bellator organization.) For that reason, Ortiz seems to think it would be pretty funny if they all went to the UFC’s 20th anniversary show November 16th in Las Vegas.
“@ShamrockKen @frankshamrock @Randy_Couture @Rampage4real maybe we should crash the show. I will buy the tickets.” Ortiz recently tweeted.
Apparently, some of the other guys liked the idea. Tito’s former mortal enemy, Ken Shamrock, tweeted back, “I like TITO’s idea,” and then, “I will stand beside you Tito. – frank lets go!!!!!,” encouraging his brother to join them.
So we guess to Ken, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or something. Ken told Tito to send him a direct message through twitter so they could totally discuss deets, and then sent out a “hi randy” shout out to Couture.
Couture, who is probably smarting more than anyone else about not being allowed at UFC events ever since Dana banned the two-division UFC champion from cornering his son Ryan, then weighed in. “feel sorry for the security guys dana sends to have us removed hope they have guns !,” he tweeted, apparently still in character as Toll Road from The Expendables.
“can you imagine those guys would be sh[i]tting their knickers,” he went on gleefully. Bout time Couture took the, “what are you going to do about it, Dana?” approach to attending UFC events.
If these guys got together it might be fun for a few moments but it wouldn’t take long to become awkward, probably. They are a bunch of alpha-personalities who either have a long history of feuding with one another or are set to fight one another in the near future (Tito and Rampage), so chillaxing together seems unlikely. Still, it might be a confusing treat for the OG fans in attendance at the show if they somehow managed to get on the telecast.
What do you think, Nation? Is this is a clever prank or sad call for attention from Ortiz? And, if they are going to do this, which old fighters did Tito leave out that he should invite?
You never know with this MMA reality competition show stuff. Sometimes it hits gold (many *cough*mostly early*cough* seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, for example) and sometimes you get The Iron Ring. Major media companies getting behind these reality-show endeavors is never a guarantee of compelling and convincing fight television content and neither is past success – as evidenced by several dud seasons of TUF (Ed note: *makes “watching you” gesture toward TUF 16*.)
That said, we were kind of interested to see what Spike TV was doing with their second go at MMA reality television, especially after the cast was announced. Fight Master is the network’s first foray into post-UFC MMA reality programming and features Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, Joe Warren, and Greg Jackson coaching aspiring Bellator fighters. The show debuts next week on Spike, but we got a sneak peak at the first episode Wednesday afternoon. After the jump, we’ve provided a little bit more info about the show’s structure, as well as the good and not-so-good aspects of the production, thus far.
You never know with this MMA reality competition show stuff. Sometimes it hits gold (many *cough*mostly early*cough* seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, for example) and sometimes you get The Iron Ring. Major media companies getting behind these reality-show endeavors is never a guarantee of compelling and convincing fight television content and neither is past success – as evidenced by several dud seasons of TUF (Ed note: *makes “watching you” gesture toward TUF 16*.)
That said, we were kind of interested to see what Spike TV was doing with their second go at MMA reality television, especially after the cast was announced. Fight Master is the network’s first foray into post-UFC MMA reality programming and features Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, Joe Warren, and Greg Jackson coaching aspiring Bellator fighters. The show debuts next week on Spike, but we got a sneak peak at the first episode Wednesday afternoon. After the jump, we’ve provided a little bit more info about the show’s structure, as well as the good and not-so-good aspects of the production, thus far.
The show begins with thirty two welterweight hopefuls; half of them will make it to New Orleans and onto the rest of the show, half of them will also make it to New Orleans but will be immediately hogtied and tossed into a swamp full o’ gators. Supposedly, the winner will receive $100,000 and a spot in a Bellator season tournament.
Each of the four coaches will have teams of four fighters. There’s more background info on the preliminary fighters from application videos and interviews than one might expect, resulting in a more heightened interest level in the guys trying to get into the house than I have, for the most part, experienced with their TUF counterparts on the first episodes of seasons past. Because of this additional footage, however, the elimination round is going to take more than a single episode.
Fight Master offers more twists on the TUF formats we’ve seen over the years in addition to some similarities. Here are a few of our favorites and some that we didn’t dig.
The Good:
The Fighters: To put it lightly, the initial average talent level of Fight Master appeared to be levels above some seasons of TUF. Sure, some were better than others and everyone had weaknesses, but for the most part, everyone looked pretty composed, coordinated, and skilled. At the heart of a good show are good fighters, and Fight Master seems like it could be a clear success in this regard. Think TUF seasons 1 and 5.
Coach Emotion: The four coaches watched the elimination rounds like creeps, sitting in easy chairs and with spot lights on them. But, they wouldn’t stop talking – providing an interesting snap shot of how they watch and analyze fights. What’s more, they really got into the fights. Randy Couture and Joe Warren, especially, seemed to get rowdy in calling out instructions to fighters, celebrating, etc. They seemed genuinely into it, which personally helped me get into it as a viewer.
Camera Work: At times during the fights, the screen was split into threes, allowing us to see both the coaches and multiple simultaneous angles of the match itself. There’s A LOT of cameras along the cage, is what we’re saying. It’s about time a promotion started maximizing their potential in this aspect, if only so we can see the action from multiple angles at once.
Fighter Control – Outside of BJ Penn sticking it to Jens Pulver on TUF 5 and telling fighters to raise their hands if they wanted nothing to do with Jens, we haven’t seen fighters get too much choice on these types of shows. On Fight Master, the winning elimination round fighters interview the coaches and decide whose team they want to be on. In this aspect, Fight Master is kind of like The Voice, if contestants on The Voice spent less time finding their harmonies with one another and more time trying to crush each other’s windpipes. Why the latter hasn’t happened to Adam Levine yet is beyond me.
The Bad
Fights Cut Short: I don’t care if it makes things move along or if it is during elimination rounds; I simply hate trimming fights down to mere highlights. Fights that went more than a few moments in episode one were cut and pasted into highlights. They’d better not get into The Contender type slow motion crap in future episodes.
Adjusted Rules: Making the fights two rounds with a third in the event of a draw is understandable. Taking out elbows isn’t, really. Hopefully that doesn’t continue after the elimination rounds. MMA is watered down enough already. (Ed note: *lights corncob pipe and sits back in rocking chair*)
Fight Master‘s first episode accomplishes this: We now want to watch episode two. Check it out next week and decide for yourself.
hope they have guns !,” 