The Official UFC/Strikeforce/Boxing/MMA Thread

[JustinCredible1]

GL: Tell us about November 25, you originally planned to feature Jesus Chavez, but Don King won the purse-bid. Now that date will feature Juan Manuel Marquez and Demetrius Hopkins. Tell us about that card.

ODLH: "It's going to be a fun card. We have Juan Manuel Marquez fighting Jimrex Jaca from the Philippines and we have Demetrius fighting for the mandatory at 140 pounds and Ishe Smith is also going to be fighting on the card and it's going to be an exciting card. We had a lot of trouble putting the card together and I believe people were trying to sabotage the plans we had. But myself, Richard Schaefer, Don Chargin, Eric Gomez and various other people who work with us were able to put our heads together and we made it happen."

GL: On December 2, you promote Wright-Quartey tell us about that.

ODLH: "Working with Winky Wright has been an incredible pleasure and I'm looking forward to working with him on his future fights. We look forward to giving the public what they want to see on HBO. The week after Winky fights we have Kassim Ouma challenging Jermain Taylor and those are our last two big fights of the year and we're going to start off with a big bang in 2007."

GL: Is May 2007 going to be the biggest bang of 2007?

ODLH: "Let's put it this way, it's going to be a pretty big fight."

GL: Have you given up on the Trinidad rematch yet?

ODLH: "No. After yesterday I think my mind changed a few times so we'll see."

GL: It's good to be Oscar, although it can change, your opinions during these kind of interviews creates a lot of moving and shaking within the industry.

ODLH: "I'm going to fight, let's put it that way, because I love fighting, but ultimately I have to feel it. If I don't, that's when it gets dangerous for me. When I fought Mayorga, I felt it. He started talking so much smack and I felt it and I was motivated. Now I have to feel it when I go up in that ring. That's why you'll get a good performance from me, because I'm motivated to get in there. I'm not going to make the same mistake I did when I fought Felix Sturm. I'm not going to make that same mistake when I took other guys lightly and I took the fight just to take it because I thought I was going to win easily. All the stars have to be aligned for me to get into that ring. Can they be aligned? Yes, and many times over."

"Before last night all of the stars were getting aligned, but after the fight all those stars just went their own way. The only thing that is for sure is that I'm fighting again. The thing that the fans have to know is that after reading this article or listening to me is that I'll be at 100% when I step inside that ring. Because if I'm not and I don't feel it I won't be in that ring because it's too dangerous."

GL: Let's go back to Trinidad for a second, you mentioned that you're willing to re-evaluate that situation, but to what extent? I'm sure you're aware that after seven years of demanding 60-40, Papa Trinidad came on Boxingtalk and said that they would accept 50-50 for the rematch just to prove that you don't want the fight. Are you willing to make any concessions now that you were unwilling to make before?

ODLH: "All I can say about that is that I'm going to talk to Don King about that and try to open it up for discussion. I can't discuss with Trinidad or with his father or anyone else other than the person who will ultimately make it happen on the Trinidad side and that's Don King. He has control of Trinidad so Don King is the one we'll talk to."

GL: And that discussion could take place in the near future, like when you and King discuss Chavez and Diaz?

ODLH: (laughs) "When we discuss Briggs and Sultan Ibragimov we'll discuss that as well as a possible showdown."

GL: Is there anything you'd like to say in closing?

ODLH: "I'm sure a lot of people are going to be scratching thier heads and thinking, 'oh, he's probably scared because after his performance', I have to study the tape and analyze his fight with Baldomir. But it's not like that, fighters are never scared of fighters. I know what it's like to be in the ring and I'm never scared. I just don't feel it and that's that. I'm not going to be like other fighters who just step up in there like Zab Judah did and like I did when I fought Sturm, like other fighters who make mistakes because they take guys lightly or they're not ready 100% or they're not focused. I can't have that happen again, I need my stars to be aligned for me to get in that ring. Right now they aren't but I'm sure they will be by the next time I step inside the ring on May 5.

Send questions and comments to: gleon@boxingtalk.com

[MidWest]

my interview with flex was better and located in the off topic section

[MidWest]

http://forums.hiphopgame.com/showthread.php?t=31755

[JustinCredible1]

lol....mid I've already read that interview....hell I know about your interviews....I remember you pm'ing me stating that you wanna interview me too......but for some reasons our schedules conflicted......lol

[Kawz]

Or....



Who Ya Got?

[bigdog]

i don't kno who either are, or wat they do....but....

st.pierre cuz nigga look like he related to jean claude van dammmmme! BOOYAKA!!

[Kawz]

LoL....damn, you gotta step your UFC game up.....but if you think St. Pierre reminded you of Van Damme before, what do you think of him now?

[bigdog]

jean claude would kill that fraud!

[Kawz]

Well that's a given....specially when he was in his coked out phase (i.e. Double Team w/ Dennis Rodman)

[Flexamill]

I hope pierre fucks him up but i think Hughes is gonna win with his boring take down fighting, coming out to that fuckin country music shit a country boy caaaaaaan surviiiiiiiiiive

[Kawz]

LoL....when you hear that country shit come on you know somebody's about to get beat on. I'd honestly love to see St. Pierre win that fight too, i've been a fan of his camp for years (Loiseau, Cote, etc) but the smart money is almost always on the champ. Remember though that St. Pierre was handily winning that first fight before he got put in the arm bar. He's just gotta stay focused and keep himself away from the danger areas. He can beat Hughes standing and he was able to shoot him in the first fight too. It'll be interesting to see what approach he takes for this fight, after all we all know what Hughes is gonna do. Just hate that he does it so damn well.

[Rob]

st. piere in a gullatien or a arm bar.. or some crazy submission

[Flexamill]

LoL....when you hear that country shit come on you know somebody's about to get beat on. I'd honestly love to see St. Pierre win that fight too, i've been a fan of his camp for years (Loiseau, Cote, etc) but the smart money is almost always on the champ. Remember though that St. Pierre was handily winning that first fight before he got put in the arm bar. He's just gotta stay focused and keep himself away from the danger areas. He can beat Hughes standing and he was able to shoot him in the first fight too. It'll be interesting to see what approach he takes for this fight, after all we all know what Hughes is gonna do. Just hate that he does it so damn well.

You gotta look at the likely angles of pierre winning:

I dont think theres much chance of pierre submitting hughes
He could beat him on points but i think in the later rounds matts takedown will be hard to stop because hes the stonger man.. depends if pierre stays light on hsi feet moving arpund all the time.
Pierre could knock hughes out! He could also tko him but only if he knocks him semi unconcious standing i cant see it from a mount

Hughes can win on points (lay n pray mixed wid some gnp)
Hughes is the better submission fighter
no chance of a knockout BUT he can tko from gnp and has done many times

i understand anything can happen in a fight so anything could happen but ill pick hughes by tko or submission.

edit: Why dont people thrown knees for take down defence? hughes is a 1 dimensional fighter he always goes for a takedown all u gotta do is train them bastards and knock his head off!

[Rob]

flex he may be one dimensional but that shit works... and all they gotta do is counter that takedown huh...sounds easy but i dont think it is...

[Flexamill]

thats why you train to make shit easy... nobody in the ufc utilizes the knee cept maybe anderson silva whos new to this shit. UFC doesnt have hardly any top muai thai fighters a top muai thai fighter would take his fucking head off!! It works for now but ppl will figure it out soon

[Kawz]

You gotta look at the likely angles of pierre winning:

I dont think theres much chance of pierre submitting hughes
He could beat him on points but i think in the later rounds matts takedown will be hard to stop because hes the stonger man.. depends if pierre stays light on hsi feet moving arpund all the time.
Pierre could knock hughes out! He could also tko him but only if he knocks him semi unconcious standing i cant see it from a mount

Hughes can win on points (lay n pray mixed wid some gnp)
Hughes is the better submission fighter
no chance of a knockout BUT he can tko from gnp and has done many times

i understand anything can happen in a fight so anything could happen but ill pick hughes by tko or submission.

edit: Why dont people thrown knees for take down defence? hughes is a 1 dimensional fighter he always goes for a takedown all u gotta do is train them bastards and knock his head off!

I agree with the fact that St. Pierre should try and keep the fight standing, it is his best shot at winning. Remember that thru the first 2 rounds of Hughes Vs. Penn, Penn was murking him standing up. If it wasn't for Penn gassing he woulda won that fight easy kawz Hughes couldn't take him down.

To answer your questions about knees, your timing would have to be perfect because the last thing you want to give any fighter is your legs. They're all versed at Jiu-Jitsu so you'd be taken down and beat on the second they got a hold of it.

[Kawz]

thats why you train to make shit easy... nobody in the ufc utilizes the knee cept maybe anderson silva whos new to this shit. UFC doesnt have hardly any top muai thai fighters a top muai thai fighter would take his fucking head off!! It works for now but ppl will figure it out soon

Muay Thai Fighters are notoriously poor on their backs. In the early days of UFC when it was mainly strikers, Royce Gracie exposed that, so unless your game is air tight all it can take is one takedown. Remember that Lidell's a kick boxer though so they do have success.

[Flexamill]

Thats why its called mma mixed martial arts just because your a mua thai fighter doesnt automatically mean you are poor on your back. Shogun wanderlei silva shit most fighters out of chute box have excellent muai thai skills and ground skills even anderson silva is good ground game. Thats the early days too where everyone was a one dimensial fighter. I like chuck cos hes trained himself to be able to get up off the ground against literally anyone... hence i believe you can do anything with the right training. If you know what your opponents gonna do before he does it..thats a massive advantage in your favor, bj penn was exposing before he seperate his ribs he was making matt look like a fish out of water, only thing with penn is he lets himself down with the fitness training.

[Kawz]

True....they have trained on their ground game, but it's not gonna be their strength. For example, look at how Matt Hughes beat BJ Penn, he took a black belt Jiu-Jitsu fighter to the floor and made him look silly in that 3rd round. And that's against an expert in that style of fighting, if there was a top notch Muay Thai fighter in the welterweight division and Hughes got him on his back I could not see him being able to get back up. You can look at half the matches the UFC puts out and say "Well if the fight is on it's feet, then he will win, if it goes to the floor he will win". From what i've seen in my years watching UFC is that a solid gound game is more important than a solid striking game. To me it seems that striking can be taught after the ground game has been cemented, but i've never seen a great striker learn to be very good on his back. Mind you both Silva's are very good fighters all around, but them two and Liddell are the exception to the rule. I've just seen too many fights where the striker gets taken down (as they expected to and that's it). Patrick Cote and Travis Lutter last week was a perfect example.

[Flexamill]

cotes not even a great striker and lutter is never gonna be champion...lutter will fight anderson silva and then u will see what a well rounded mua thai striker will do to a 1 dimensional fighter. If anything all the best fighters are great strikers look at fedor look at cro cop look at wanderlei silva look at chuck, look at shogun, tim sylvia, arlovski, yamamoto etc etc Look at the tito ortiz chuck fight, ortiz is arguably the best at take downs in entire mma n chuck knocked him the fuck out. Look at who holds the belts in each division of ufc they are nearly all strikers.

& the ONLY reason matt took bj to the ground third round was because bj seperated his ribs!! up until then most his take downs were snuffed or bj was hanging with him on the ground no probelm then he was getting outboxed on his feet why ? because hes one dimensional. Im not knocking matt hes a true champ and hes excellent at what he does but he has no stand up what so ever.