UFC 94: St-Pierre vs. Penn 2 Fight Thread!!

[dbreiden83080]

And Here we GOOOOO!!!!

As the resident GSP Nut-hugger around here, man this is a big one for me. Love GSP to win this fight for sure, rest of the card is really just okay. Hopefully Machida doesn't stink out the joint in the co-main event.. Fitch on the undercard is just plain wrong...

Main Card

Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre vs. B.J. Penn (Late stoppage or decision win for GSP!!)
Light Heavyweight bout: Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva (Boring 3 rd decision for Lyoto, he's great at risking little and still winning)
Light Heavyweight bout: Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
Welterweight bout: Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Lightweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida

Preliminary Card

Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono (BOOO UFC)

Lightweight bout: Thiago Tavares vs. Manvel Gamburyan
Welterweight bout: John Howard vs. Chris Wilson
Heavyweight bout: Jake O'Brien vs. Christian Wellisch
Welterweight bout: Matt Arroyo vs. Scott Batt

[djohn14]

Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre vs. B.J. Penn-I just feel GSP is the more complete fighter..I cant wait though.

Light Heavyweight bout: Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva-This fight wont go to a decision, as Silva will be too aggrsive. Machida will have to earn this one..AND EVAN..im not counting him out by any means.

Light Heavyweight bout: Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones-I know this will not be the popular voter...but Jon Jones is going to be great one day...how far off this day is remains to be seen.

Welterweight bout: Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim-I feel Karo is better...DHK can scrap though.

Lightweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida-This will be good though!!!

Preliminary Card

Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono-Put this over Karo-DHK...
Lightweight bout: Thiago Tavares vs. Manvel Gamburyan
Welterweight bout: John Howard vs. Chris Wilson
Heavyweight bout: Jake O'Brien vs. Christian Wellisch
Welterweight bout: Matt Arroyo vs. Scott Batt

[dbreiden83080]

Hey Djohn next card Cain is on, you are required to start the fight thread, DEAL??

[djohn14]

For sure haha!

[oligarchy]

Georges St-Pierre vs. B.J. Penn
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida

Prelim

Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono
Thiago Tavares vs. Manvel Gamburyan
John Howard vs. Chris Wilson
Jake O'Brien vs. Christian Wellisch
Matt Arroyo vs. Scott Batt

[dbreiden83080]

http://94.ufc.com/

Official site is up, pretty good..

[dbreiden83080]

Light Heavyweight bout: Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva-This fight wont go to a decision, as Silva will be too aggrsive. Machida will have to earn this one..AND EVAN..im not counting him out by any means.

The thing about Machida is he makes guys look bad that want to get in his face and make him fight. He throws so many faints, in and out, tons and tons of foot-work, lots of leg kicks to keep the distance.. He's got good takedown defense, is slippery as all . He is basically just tough to chase down and with only 3 rds to do it, it is really really hard..

[djohn14]

The thing about Machida is he makes guys look bad that want to get in his face and make him fight. He throws so many faints, in and out, tons and tons of foot-work, lots of leg kicks to keep the distance.. He's got good takedown defense, is slippery as all . He is basically just tough to chase down and with only 3 rds to do it, it is really really hard..

Yep...I just feel Thiago will chase Machida and will attempt to KO him. So either that will happen or Machida will KO Thiago. IMO!

[desflood]

Good interview with Karo - sounds like he's wised up a little:


Karo Parisyan: ‘The Heat’ Letting a Cooler Head Prevai
lBy Mike Russell

Although the voice on the other end of the phone is unmistakably that of Karo “The Heat” Parisyan, the calmness in his demeanor makes me doubt for a moment whether I have dialed the correct number.

“You caught me at a terrible time, bro. I’m in line at the DMV. I’ll call you back in 15 minutes.”

True to his word, my phone rings 13 minutes later. My greeting is met with an apology and an explanation for the delay in our conversation.

“Sorry about that. My strength and conditioning coach sent me out on two runs yesterday and I lost my wallet somewhere,” explains Parisyan. “I just spent the morning replacing all of my ID and stuff. It sucks, but what can you do?”

It quickly becomes clear that this Parisyan is different than his previous version, as well known for his compe ive tenacity in the Octagon as he was for his proclivity for wearing his heart on his sleeve outside of it. Diagnosed with a panic disorder 14 months ago, the 26-year-old surprisingly appears to be more relaxed and composed than ever.
Shrugging off the observation that he seems mellower now, Karo admits that although he didn’t think so when he was first handed the diagnosis for his affliction, he says his change in bearing was a necessary one. He credits self-realization and increased maturity for ins uting the remarkable transformation.

“I try to put things into perspective and I don’t let every little thing get to me any more. I was prescribed medication for the panic attacks but I haven’t taken it,” he says. “I battled through it, kept my mind strong and prayed a lot. [The panic attacks] are never going to leave me, I just had to figure out what brings them on try to avoid the things that trigger them.”

Besides altering his cognitive outlook on life, Parisyan has set the wheels in motion towards reaching his goal of one day becoming a world champion. In addition to hiring a full-time strength and conditioning coach near his home in Hollywood, California he has also joined Greg Jackson’s Albuquerque, New Mexico-based fight team. Optimistic that these steps will contribute to garnering him the le shot that has eluded him thus far in his career, Karo is confident he will no longer be accused of resting on his laurels in terms of training.

“Between training for my last fight and training for this fight, my energy level and my strength are like night and day different. I’ve gotten stronger and my conditioning is so much better. I’m doing everything possible now to ensure that I give the best performance I can. I’m still young and I haven’t shown one tenth of what I’m capable of,” Parisyan says. “It seems like I’ve been chasing a le fight forever and I want to get there. I might have to wait a while since Georges has the belt now. I talked to him a few months on the phone and we’re both in agreement that we don’t want to fight each other since we’re friends and on the same team so we’ll see where I go from here.”

First things first, the Armenian-born judoka will have to get past undefeated 170-pound Korean standout Dong Hyun Kim when the pair square off at UFC 94: St-Pierre vs. Penn 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 31. The bout will mark Karo’s first fight back since losing to Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 13 last April. He was slated to face Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 88: Breakthrough in September but was forced to withdraw from the bout after developing sciatica prior to the weigh-ins the night before the event.

The backlash following the announcement that he had pulled out of the Yoshida bout left Karo taken aback. Some fans and media outlets hypothesized that he wasn’t injured at all and that he simply did not make weight, prompting him to make up the injury to save face. Parisyan calls the claim preposterous and said it was the first time in his career he had pulled out of a fight, having fought injured on several occasions in the past.

“People can be cruel. You can put your entire life into one fight and you can go train and sacrifice so many things in your life to prepare for it and then you get a freak injury and can’t fight and the people who claim to be fans or journalists turn on you,” explains Karo. "I have fought so many times with injuries. If it had happened like ten days out from the fight, I would have been able to do it. Coming off a loss and going up against a fellow judoka like Yoshida, I wanted to be healthy so I could perform at my best. I was laid up for days recuperating and was on crutches – I couldn’t even move I was in such pain. I was literally in tears over having to cancel that fight.”

Fully recovered from the injury, Karo now faces the difficult task of erasing the disappointing loss to Alves from the minds of UFC fans. He hopes the fresh start of the New Year, combined with his new at ude and newly signed 8-fight contract, will prove to be a winning formula to help quickly get him back in the le picture.

“I love my fans and I have a lot of them. I have a lot of people who don’t like me as well. I can’t please everyone. The only thing I can do is try to change their minds about me and make them into fans with my next performance,” Parysian says. “People only remember you for your last fight. I lost my last fight and haven’t fought in almost nine months so I’m going to have to do something to make their jaws drop.”

In spite of all of the trials and tribulations the past year has presented and the changes he has made, the one thing that has remained steadfast is Parisyan’s high level of self-confidence.

Heading into the fight against Kim, an opponent who he says has yet to prove himself against a legitimate contender, “The Heat” predicts that he will produce a highlight reel ending to his fellow judoka’s 12-fight unbeaten streak.

“Records can be deceiving. You can have 50 wins and they can all be against tomato cans. The guys that Dong Hyun Kim has beaten aren’t even close to my level. I think he’s going to get a big wake-up call when he fights me,” asserts Parisyan. “He’s going to fight a guy who is stronger than he is, has better hands than he does, better conditioning, better grappling and better judo. I’m going to show people things they haven’t seen before. I’m back, I’m healthy and I’m motivated and I don’t think anyone is going to be able to stop me.”

Some might refer to him as being “ y” or “conceited” but Parisyan prefers the term “confident”, explaining that he just tells it like it is and that at ude is a big part of the game in the sport of MMA. At home with his family and friends, he claims that he is a much different person than people see and hear in interviews on TV and the radio. Though he says his family recognizes his accomplishments and the newfound celebrity status being a UFC fighter has provided, Karo points out that they refuse to treat him any differently in spite of it.

“I take care of my family financially and they appreciate it but they still treat me the same. Old ladies in the street recognize me and it blows me away. I go home and tell my dad and he says ‘That’s great!’, then he tells me to put on a coat before I go back out and asks me where I’m going and when I’m coming home.”

[Rip-Hamilton32]

gotta take BJ even though i think GSP is the better fighter

[SAtoDallas]

This is gonna be must see TV!

[dbreiden83080]

gotta take BJ even though i think GSP is the better fighter

Then why take BJ? Also should be noted while GSP has been dominating at 170 since the first fight, Penn hasn't fought there in like 3 years, lost to Hughes last time he did..

[desflood]

should be noted while GSP has been dominating at 170 since the first fight, Penn hasn't fought there in like 3 years, lost to Hughes last time he did..

Good point. One should also consider that since then GSP has been training with Jackson's camp, which he wasn't at that time. He's only getting better.

[desflood]

Georges St-Pierre vs. B.J. Penn
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida

[dbreiden83080]

Good point. One should also consider that since then GSP has been training with Jackson's camp, which he wasn't at that time. He's only getting better.

I mean i know Penn was winning that fight with Hughes before he gassed out or got hurt, whatever the excuse was there.. But i tell ya one thing GSP won't be doing in this fight, that's gas out. He pounded on Fitch for 25 min and wasn't tired at all..

[dbreiden83080]

Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida

Not 100% sure on this one either..

[LEONARD]

BJ Penn is pissed about the way he was portrayed on the 1st episode of UFC Primetime, so he cut-off taping…hmmmm

http://mmajunkie.com/news/13781/trou...ime-taping.mma

[dbreiden83080]

^^ the Fight is in 10 days, no need for Penn to be all pissy now about the countdown show. He talked , trained some and took a little vacation. I don't see where he was misrepresented. "He said he needed to hit the re-set button" his words 100%

[LEONARD]

I think the issue is that what they were doing was nothing new for the way they prepare him, but Dana made it out to be like he wasn't training hard...

[ATRAIN]

Georges St-Pierre vs. B.J. Penn
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
hahah that last pick is for you John
Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Damn I hate picking Karo!!!
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida

[djohn14]

Georges St-Pierre vs. B.J. Penn
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
hahah that last pick is for you John
Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Damn I hate picking Karo!!!
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida

Haha thanks!!!

[tlongII]

BJ is a more skilled fighter, but GSP will probably win due to his size advantage. Sucks cause he is too French for my taste.

[dbreiden83080]

BJ is a more skilled fighter

I don't know if you break it down

Striking is about even, Penn has better hands i'd say but GSP uses a lot of kicks, Penn doesn't..

JJ you give it to Penn but GSP is no slouch there

Wrestling is GSP all day, he is the best wrestler there is in the UFC, pd for pd

Strength, athleticism, overall conditioning go to GSP also..

[dbreiden83080]

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Sport...839/story.html


St-Pierre faces ultimate challenge





By STEPHANIE MYLES,
The Gazette
January 22, 2009



"Georges St-Pierre said his Jan. 31 welterweight le defence against B.J. Penn in Las Vegas, the headline fight of UFC 94, will be the biggest fight of his career.

Then again, he says that before every fight.

But this time, it could be true.

"The more my career goes on, the bigger my fights are getting, and the bigger the sport is getting," the 27-year-old said yesterday after a training session at the Tristar Martial Arts Centre in Snowdon. "It's probably the biggest in the history of the UFC, in terms of sales and pay-per-view buys, so a lot of pressure."

Since St-Pierre won back his le against Matt Serra before a delirious crowd at a jam-packed Bell Centre last April, he successfully defended it once, against Jon Fitch at UFC 87.

There's no doubt he's getting more attention. The media contingent yesterday was easily twice the size of the one that preceded his fight against Fitch in August.

UFC 94 will be the re-defence, against an opponent he met nearly three years ago and defeated in a somewhat controversial split decision.

The event, which will be held at the MGM Grand Arena Garden, is sold out.

Penn, a free-spirited sort from Hawaii who holds the UFC's lightweight le fighting at 155 pounds, has already begun to flap his gums.

The UFC spent $1.7 million on a three-episode arc airing on e TV that follows the fighters through their preparations - much like the very successful series featuring boxer Oscar De La Hoya that aired on HBO before his last two bouts.

Penn has predicted - he later said he was speaking figuratively, not literally - he will "kill" St-Pierre. Worse than that, in St-Pierre's eyes, he called the native of St. Isidore a "quitter."

That got a reaction.

"I don't speak poorly of my opponents. I'm always respectful. I'll let my fists do the talking," said St-Pierre, who then proceeded to, if not strictly trash-talk, slyly put down his opponent by praising himself.

"I don't come from a rich background, like he does. There was a time in university that I had three jobs at once. So my path was honourable," St-Pierre said. "I wasn't the 'big star' when I got to UFC. I'm not the new rising star. It took me five years to get there. ... I am a worthy world champion."

No doubt the two are apples and oranges outside the octagon. Penn has had serious legal issues with the UFC, even leaving its stable once before returning. He also has just finished a year's probation related to a May 2005 arrest outside a Honolulu club, where he allegedly struck a police officer.

St-Pierre, by contrast, is almost too good to be true, a model citizen who works hard to create a role-model image for himself and, in the process, tries to elevate the opinion most outsiders have of mixed martial arts.

"I came around in the UFC at the right time, so I'm going to take advantage of it. I'm privileged to be able to ride this wave," he said. "That's why it's important for me to have a good image, to not speak like a bum."

St-Pierre said he's a much better fighter than he was the first time he met Penn.

"If the Georges St-Pierre of today would fight the Georges St-Pierre who fought Penn nearly three years ago, he'd win in the first round."

But he's fully aware of Penn's strengths. "He has worked on his physical conditioning and he has worked on his boxing. He has quick hands, and very quick reaction time," St-Pierre said. "I want to take the lead in the fight, and fight against his weaknesses."

The fighter also said that his training camp was ideal. With each camp, he has learned from the ones before. He has been training at least five days a week - two and sometimes three sessions a day - and pronounced himself in the best shape of his life.

"The confidence of a fighter comes from how he prepares himself. I've done all my homework," St-Pierre said. "This time, I want to perform better than I did the last time.

"I don't want a decision. I want to take him out - otherwise I won't be happy."[/B]

[Evan]

Light Heavyweight bout: Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva-This fight wont go to a decision, as Silva will be too aggrsive. Machida will have to earn this one..AND EVAN..im not counting him out by any means.

hah...I think y'all misunderstand my thoughts on Machida...I'm not a die hard fan of his I just really appreciate his skill set. I really like what he does but if he loses I won't blink an eye. Could he be more aggressive? Of course! And that cursed word "elusive" is very misunderstood...you have two ways to defend a strike...check it or move and more people would move if they could.

I don't think most people on forums/sites/blogs appreciate what he does enough so I stick up for him, just like I do with Dana, strikeforce and MFC. I'm not saying you guys...everyone here is pretty fair and reasonable on their points even if I don't agree all the time.