CRZ
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|  #1 Posted on 25.10.09 0451.36 | Instant Rating: 8.85 | Seeing no thread about UFC 104, and noting that the Twitterverse was EXTREMELY unhappy with the main event results, I have to think I ended up on the better end of the MMA viewer spectrum, staying up from 1am until now to catch the free (well, included in the cost of the HD package) HDNet Fights live simulcast of the DREAM.12 card from Japan.
The unveiling of the six-sided 『ホワイトケージ』 "Ｗｈｉｔｅ Ｃａｇｅ" was exciting at the time, but by the end of the card, it was as familiar as any other MMA cage. I hope they keep it - it really seems better than a plain ol' boxing ring.
The modified scoring (only specifying a winner for the overall match, and foregoing the 10 point must system for every round) seemed to work out all right - but only ...two? I think...fights went the distance, and MAYBE only one would heave been in doubt. I don't think the scoring system would have changed the outcome.
Sakuraba is unbelievable.
Eddie Alvarez is also rather unbelievable.
Overeem is totally believable in his unbelievability.
I REALLY enjoyed this card. There wasn't a bad match amongst the nine - even the prelim match between the two "pro wrestlers" was evenly matched enough that it was quite entertaining.
Cocktails, Twitter (search on #dream12) and Google Translate for the Japanese tweets certainly enhanced the experience.
The reply is Friday night, and I encourage you to check it out if you get HDNet. It will be worth your time.
 
| Promote this thread! |           | CarlCX
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| #2 Posted on 25.10.09 1117.46 | Caught both shows, and the controversy definitely hurt 104 quite a bit, but DREAM was good. I'm not too hyped about Sakuraba, though--he's still unbelievable, but for the love of god, the man can't even WIN nowadays without getting his face pounded in, aside from fights with boxers who've never heard of grappling. Sakuraba's a legend in the sport but between this and his fights with Manhoef, Akiyama, Smirnovas and Arona in just the last four years I'm getting genuinely bothered by the amount of punishment he takes, especially given that the dude has a history of untreated head injuries. He's amazing and I'd miss the hell out of him, but I hate being concerned for his health when he fights.
Overeem/Thompson was pretty much a joke of a main event, but everyone knew it was a joke, and everyone was in on it--probably even Thompson, frankly. The group I watch with always runs contest surveys before each fight for the winner, but in this case we decided to survey how long we thought Thompson would last. (for the record, I won with "40 seconds.") Overeem has become something special, and I really hope it's as natural as he says it is, because dude needs to come back to the states and defend the Strikeforce belt he won two goddamn years ago.
Oh, and major props to Marius Zaromskis, that dude is the breakout star of the year--this time last year, his fanbase consisted of a couple dozen British folk whose recollection of him was "oh yeah, he's that guy Che Mills beat the crap out of twice," and now people are calling him potential top 5 at 170. Dude definitely needs some real tests in competition, but his potential is ridiculous.
All in all, pretty good show. The cage was an extremely welcome addition just for the fact that it means fights aren't broken up every thirty seconds on account of ring ropes. | dMr
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|  #3 Posted on 26.10.09 0733.39 | Instant Rating: 6.64 | Originally posted by CRZ
Seeing no thread about UFC 104, and noting that the Twitterverse was EXTREMELY unhappy with the main event results, I have to think I ended up on the better end of the MMA viewer spectrum, staying up from 1am until now to catch the free (well, included in the cost of the HD package) HDNet Fights live simulcast of the DREAM.12 card from Japan.
Also caught both, and you definitely got the better deal IMO. UFC 104 wasn't bad by any stretch but, even as a Lyoto, fan the Machida v Rua decision was BS and Velasquez v Rothwell getting stopped too early didn't help. Not that Rothwell was threatning to do anything vaguely resembling winning, but still a bizarre time to stop it.
Anyway, DREAM. That cage is BRIGHT! I like it. Looks very swank, especially when the rest of the arena's in darkness. I prefer cages anyway so hopefully they stick with it.
Sakuraba will never be able to do any wrong in my eyes, but like CarlCX I worry for his health every time he fights now. For what felt like a ridiculously long minute I was screaming for him to just forget about the damn leg and cover up already, but then he goes and pulls a kneebar out his ass like he was never in any trouble. I still love watching him fight though, so as long as he stays happy and goofy (and doesn't looks like he's only out there for the money) I hope he carries on.
Eddie Alvarez is still very good and Zaromskis should be interesting to keep an eye on over the next year or so.
Overeem v Thompson was the squash it was meant to be, but taking him out in 30-ish seconds is still pretty impressive. Not many grown men will be escaping a guillotine from Overeem any time soon. Dude is ridiculous. Just a straight up beast. He should probably drop the flying Tiger Knee from his repertoire for the fights that lie ahead though.
Originally posted by CarlCX
Overeem has become something special, and I really hope it's as natural as he says it is, because dude needs to come back to the states and defend the Strikeforce belt he won two goddamn years ago.
For what it's worth he said he wants Fedor in April 2010 in either Strikeforce or DREAM when he's done bludgeoning mortals in the K1 GP. Hopefully Golden Glory and M1 can stop sniping at each other long enough to get it done because Overeem v Fedor excites me more than just about any HW fight out there just now.
EDIT - A more helpful chap would've been good enough to find you a link (mma.fanhouse.com) to Overeem's comments on fighting Fedor....
(edited by dMr on 26.10.09 1512) | Sec19Row53
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| #4 Posted on 26.10.09 2246.13 | Instant Rating: 7.78 | Originally posted by CRZ
The unveiling of the six-sided 『ホワイトケージ』 "Ｗｈｉｔｅ Ｃａｇｅ" was exciting at the time, but by the end of the card, it was as familiar as any other MMA cage. I hope they keep it - it really seems better than a plain ol' boxing ring.
Zed - What font are you using for the description of the six-sided "whatever you call it"? I ask because I only see boxes, just like your new user name for music postings. | CRZ
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| #5 Posted on 26.10.09 2255.14 | Instant Rating: 8.85 | Originally posted by Sec19Row53
Originally posted by CRZ
The unveiling of the six-sided 『ホワイトケージ』 "Ｗｈｉｔｅ Ｃａｇｅ" was exciting at the time, but by the end of the card, it was as familiar as any other MMA cage. I hope they keep it - it really seems better than a plain ol' boxing ring.
Zed - What font are you using for the description of the six-sided "whatever you call it"? I ask because I only see boxes, just like your new user name for music postings.
It's Unicode Asian (Japanese characters/Katakana and Latin alphabet for Asia) which is totally unfriendly to mobile phones and Aaron totally hates. The other dude is "CRZ" in Unicode Latin alphabet. My Location is "Minneapolis" in Katakana.
Here's what it looks like when you're me:
| Mr. Boffo
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| #6 Posted on 27.10.09 1809.42 | Instant Rating: 5.30 | Originally posted by Sec19Row53
Originally posted by CRZ
The unveiling of the six-sided 『ホワイトケージ』 "Ｗｈｉｔｅ Ｃａｇｅ" was exciting at the time, but by the end of the card, it was as familiar as any other MMA cage. I hope they keep it - it really seems better than a plain ol' boxing ring.
Zed - What font are you using for the description of the six-sided "whatever you call it"? I ask because I only see boxes, just like your new user name for music postings.
I have that problem on another of my computers. I got it from someone and I had to rid it of some malware. Apparently in the process all its East Asian fonts got corrupted or something. This computer is using MS Gothic and displays it fine, but that other computer doesn't have it, even though it was supposed to be installed with XP. |
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Thread rated: 7.48