Barry

[WildWaylon]

There used to be a body of people who wanted to see boxing banned as a dangerous sport. The UFC has killed that arguement well and truly, so it has done a bit of good. Personally I dont like UFC at all. All the fans want to see is blood, pain and people knocked senseless. Why not put a lion in the cage and really give these idiot fans a treat.

[WildWaylon]

There used to be a body of people who wanted to see boxing banned as a dangerous sport. The UFC has killed that arguement well and truly, so it has done a bit of good. Personally I dont like UFC at all. All the fans want to see is blood, pain and people knocked senseless. Why not put a lion in the cage and really give these idiot fans a treat.

There are STILL a body of people who want to ban boxing - pro and unpaid - like the BMA for example. I guess you mean UFC is more dangerous than boxing and therefore has "helped" boxing in terms of "if you want to ban boxing you have to ban UFC first"? But reality is average of 6-8 boxers have been killed in ring on annual basis when most serious injury in UFC in 16 years is a broken leg.

HOWEVER, the real point here is that boxing - much less UFC - is MUCH safer sport than any number of toffs sports like horse riding, motor sports etc and the BMA and their ilk object to boxing/MMA on purely moral grounds not medical grounds. The evidence to ban combat sports is just not there. Anyone is entitled to their view, but to lobby to have sports banned on basis on personal opinion (ie "I don't like it, it is too rough!") and pretend you are speaking of medically proven stats is lying pure and simple.

When the dicks from the BMA came out against UFC in Sept 2007 my boss, Marshall Zelaznik, who used to head inDemand (biggest PPV provider in USA) and is massive boxing fans absolutely hammered the BMA's top man on BBC1 radio, ITV news, Sky News so badly Mr BMA refused to on live on Channel4 news if Marshall was there.

Marshall had murdered him on every single point and flat out told him on BBC1 Radio "If you object on moral grounds, you are welcome to your view. But you are pretending their are medical grounds to ban boxing and MMA and there are no and therefore you occupation lends no weight to your argument. THe BMA wanting to ban boxing/MMA is no more valid than the National Union of Postal Workers wanting to ban boxing/MMA, as both would be arguing from opinion, not evidence."

Prick from BMA nearly cried on air. Host Simon Mayo, who started off against UFC, realised BMA were trying to be moral sports police, and jumped in with "I bet the BMA is up in arms about rugby world cup, then?" Needless to say, the toffs at BMA have no problem with rugby...

And Channel 4 News - to their credit - told BMA guys that he his view couldn't withstand a counter-arguement, then perhaps they should keep their press releases to themselves and told him to get lost.

Excellent post, yes you were right about the point I was making. A lot of useful information in your post.

[Spud]

As chance would have it, Barry McGuigan was staying in the same Dublin hotel where the UFC is based ahead of UFC 93 in the sold out o2 Saturday

Barry gets into debate with Dana White and Wayne McCullough

http://ie.youtube.com/user/UFC

Wow, Dana White comes across as such a jerk. Belittling the people who work for him and grandstanding for his little camera all the time.

Got to disagree - met Dana White a couple of times in Vegas - top man and good laugh - but I have a giggle at Ant sucking up to his boss - wouldn't catch me doing that!!!

[states]

Mir beat Slyvia worse than Fedor did.

Didn't Fedor beat Slyvia in about 19 seconds?

[states]

I've no idea Ant, I don't follow MMA. I just remember the Fedor win over Sylvia. I was just curious.

[TerribleTerry]

Fedor is a great talent, but he has been fighting has-beens and freaks for 4 years and counting now. Penn and GSP are two fo the 4 best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, fighting each other,

Fedor is the MMA version of racing driver Michael Andretti. Andretti won IndyCar title 8 times, was unbeatable, but when he stepped into the big league - F1 - he was completely out of his depth. He soon realised that beating a few aged F1 has-beens in Indycar was one thing, beating the current F1 racers - in their prime, race in race out - was beyond him. I would love to see what Fedor could do in UFC, but lot of people - Kevin Iole, Dave Meltzer and others - are asking why the alleged best won't go to where he can fight the best.

And if you think Arlovski (KO'd 5 times before Saturday), Slyvia (beaten by four guys currently in UFC), freak Hong Man Chi (nuff said) and faded _middleweight_ Matt Lindland (KO'd by one punch at middleweight Saturday) represent better opposition than GSP's last opponents: Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Jon Fitch and now BJ Penn or Penn's last opponents: Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson, Sean Sherk and next up GSP you must has shares in Fedor.

Firstly BJ Penn is my favourite MMA fighter - I love his style, attitude and ability levels but fortunately I am not blinkered by who employes me. 8)

Take a look at the opinions on this video - even guys like GSP and Shogun Rua agree you and your boss are wrong!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x85a1f ... ller_sport

As regards Fedor's opposition -

Arlovski - ex UFC champ and still highly rated by independent polls

Sylvia - another former UFC champ who lost his UFC champ to Couture over 5 rnds. Fedor walked through him.

Hong Man Choi - despite his freakish appearance he is a difficult opponent due to sheer mass and athletic ability (relative to his size)

Lindland - Olympic Silver medailist who was Nr 1 or 2 in the world at 185 at the time of his loss to Fedor

As regards the other fighter's

GSP

Josh Koscheck - good wrestler but badly exposed by the brutal muay thai of Thiago Alves after his loss to GSP

Matt Hughes - yesterday's man. At one time near unbeatable but on the slide and inactive by the time GSP beat him for the second time.

Matt Serra - nice guy but a weak champ. A Cinderella Man of MMA

Jon Fitch - another great wrestler without the dimensions to threaten GSP

BJ Penn

Jens Pulver - a dangerous and worthy opponent .. at UFC 35. He was out of his weight class (natural bantam) and out of his league against a more mature BJ Penn

Joe Stevenson - exposed by Kenny Florian

Sean Sherk - drugs cheat will always sully his achievements, much like Shane Mosley in boxing. Too short to box with Penn.

Anyone can critique the level of opposition (which has been good throughout all 3 men's careers in all honesty) but only a UFC employee could denigh that Fedor isn't in the running for the title of MMA's best fighter.

I look forward to UFC 94 as I do all the UFC events - they are great shows, with generally good levels of matches (although too many TUF alumini getting chance after chance recently..) but your blinkered and skewed summary of the facts needs revising IMO

And whilst on the subject of MMA -

RIP Helio Gracie

He is a bit before your time Ant but trust me, Helio and his boys built that house

[chris s]

The UFC will soon say Fedor is the best he signs for them.

[TerribleTerry]

And Lesnar's last two wins lot more impressive than Fedor's...

Take off the blinkers Ant.

A decent, controlling but unspectacular points win over Heath Herring (28-14-0) was more impressive then the Tim Sylvia blitzkrieg?!?

That is the craziest thing I have ever seen written by anyone who claims to know and understand MMA.