So far the first 2 matchups haven't been too good.

1st fight had a good (and very bloody) ground and pound but neither 1 was very impressive IMO.

Last night's fight was lame. Shivers gassed early in the 1st round and McSweeney couldn't put him away.

Next week, we get Roy Nelson v. Kimbo - should be interesting. I like how they showed the fight announcement before the end of the show (instead of on next week's episode like usual), good way to try to build buzz for next week.

Rampage picked athletes. Rashad picked fighters.

I agree...this bunch is less than impressive.

Kimbo is goin' down...unless they do the fight in a boatyard

I'm sure he'll have at least a few UFC fights, win or lose. Look for Kimbo vs Seth Petruzelli II. Dana will hype the heck out of that one.

quote:

Originally posted by sensei:
Rampage picked athletes. Rashad picked fighters.

I don't agree with that. So far, the HWs have barely looked like athletes or fighters. First fight, Rampage definitely wasn't an athlete and I'll give you that one for Rashad's fighter. Last week, Shivers gassed like 1 minute into the 1st round - did not look like anything resembling an athlete and Rashad's guy didn't look like much of a fighter either.

And this week - Kimbo is most definitely a fighter way before he is an athlete. Although that is changing. He is now with American Top Team so he should be improving rapidly. I don't know if you guys watch Jimmy Fallon but Kimbo was on and it was a pretty funny interview.

I meant athletes in that he picked most of the guys who had the football background. Even Shivers played ball and he still gassed. It's much different tackling someone or being tackled than getting punched in the face.

Ah, I see what you mean now. Shivers has had experience in the cage though, he just looked like a rank amateur in there. Didn't use his reach, didn't listen to the sideline coaching and gassed. He deserves to not be in the UFC or ever get a shot to come back IMO.

Wow Kimbo had no answer from the bottom. Talk about looking green.

Well, how was he supposed to fight back with the moon sitting on him?!

Rampage had me dying with that one!

Seriously, yeah he's still got a long way to go regarding the ground game but all he really needs is takedown defense like Chuck had and he can have that same type of success that Chuck had.

Those big guys that get you down and use their weight on you make a lot of guys look bad. Look what Brock did to Mir - Mir had no answer from the bottom once Brock got on top.

Kimbo lasted a lot longer than most would've expected and he laid some big shots on Roy in the 2nd round. Roy did exactly what he needed to do. I don't really get Dana's post-fight reaction.

I think Kimbo will gain a lot of knowledge with his time in the house as Dana said and also with training with ATT. He seems very coachable, a hard worker and a fast learner - he should evolve into something very different from what he is now with that attitude.

Wes Simms was way over confident, didn't use his reach, didn't use his experience, started out off tentative and got put to sleep. Wren didn't impress me much but he got the job done.

I must say that I agree with Rashad in that Rampage should be in the ring after his fighters losses. Rashad and the losses are really under Rampage's skin and working his mind over. Funny stuff.

Seeing how they both operate as coaches, I've gained much respect for Rashad and losing the little I had for Rampage.

Remember the editing of this show is the fallout of Rampage retiring on the UFC. Of course they are going to make him look bad

Oh I'm sure. With that said, the not going into the cage after fights is just not cool. Also, lets not forget Rampage is nuts.. Remember the car incident? The only reason he didn't go to jail was because of Dana and the Fertitta Bros.

I wouldn't say that the editing is going out of its way to make Rampage look bad since all these episodes were delivered to SPIKE long before Rampage's decision to not fight Rashad.

Hard to edit things when Rampage is saying in his own words why he won't go in the ring after a loss. We are hearing and seeing why in his own words. He's not a doctor, he does things his own way, etc.

We are seeing that Rampage is more a fighter than a coach (which we've seen with other TUF coaches in the past). As for his behavior, its tame now compared to how he was in his early days with PRIDE.

Rashad nailed it with one word... Selfish

He signed on to be a coach. The show and the fighters careers that are on his team deserve his very best.

BUT we have seen this type of coaching before from guys that are more fighters than coaches. Its not necessarily the fighters fault since they are coerced into this coaching thing to get a marquee matchup. Its all win-win for UFC and its pockets (TV ratings and $, PPV ratings and $) and at times has shown to be detrimental to a fighters popularity and vice versa for the ones that come in with coaching histories and good personalities. Rampage at least has the funny persona going for him which will probably play for the casual audience more than his lack of coaching does.