The Ultimate Fighter

[Reggie1]

I could be watching through rose-colored glasses, but I thought it was a decent fight for Kenny. Kenny is a natural 155'er and was giving up a lot of weight and power. Leben was throwing a lot but cleanly landing very little and Kenny landed some quality shots in the process. Obviously I'd have to say Leben won Round 1 and was on his way to win Round 2, but as that round wore on Kenny was looking stronger while is looked like Chris was looking weaker. It seemed Chris was running out of gas and Kenny was just picking his shots in between Leben flurries. It would have been interesting to see what would have happenned in Round 3, but it's anybody's guess now. Leben has knocked out some real good guys, so props to Kenny for weathering that storm.

I wouldn't say you were looking at it through rose-colored glasses. That's about what I thought. Kenny is all heart. That guy impressed the hell out of me last night, being able to withstand the punishment he did. He's got a stone chin and a pair of brass ones. And he's a good fighter, to boot.

I think he'll win the MW division. He matches up well with Kosh and Diego. Neither of them have anything resembling stand-up for that level and while they can take Kenny down, he's comfortable working from his back. I think Diego would give him more trouble since he's good at submissions too, so if he muscles Kenny to the ground, his size and strength may negate Kenny's skill. I'd imagine Kenny may try to keep it standing against him. I dunno though. The guy is a monster on the ground.

That I don't know about. Diego is a beast, and nuts. I think it'll be tough for Kenny to keep the fight standing from what I've seen of Diego so far. Kenny looks like an excellent fighter, and tough as nails, but I still have to give Diego the edge because he's crazy. Especially in the ring.

[Ford Prefect]

Thing is even if he can't keep it standing, the guy is a monster on the ground. The first grappling tourney I ever competed in was some NAGA one in 2000. Kenny had a superfight that tourney and was a purple at the time. He tapped a black belt from Brazil. That was in 2000... He's had 5 years to get better and trained constantly. I have nothing but the utmost respect for anybody that hangs with him on the ground. I know Diego is good and MMA is a lot different from submission wrestling, but I'd still say Ken is better on the ground. The only hope for Diego is to get the takedown and then ground and pound. I don't think he'd be able to pass guard or maintain top position long enough if he did. Guess we'll find out April 9th if Diego makes it.

[Reggie1]

Thing is even if he can't keep it standing, the guy is a monster on the ground. The first grappling tourney I ever competed in was some NAGA one in 2000. Kenny had a superfight that tourney and was a purple at the time. He tapped a black belt from Brazil. That was in 2000... He's had 5 years to get better and trained constantly. I have nothing but the utmost respect for anybody that hangs with him on the ground. I know Diego is good and MMA is a lot different from submission wrestling, but I'd still say Ken is better on the ground. The only hope for Diego is to get the takedown and then ground and pound. I don't think he'd be able to pass guard or maintain top position long enough if he did. Guess we'll find out April 9th if Diego makes it.

I've never seen Kenny fight until yesterday, so he could have a whole 'nother part to his game that I don't know about. And God knows I would be dropping a load in my pants if I had to fight him. And I'm sure you have a lot more experience w/ this sort of thing than I do. But I just think Diego has that 'killer instinct' and will use his size advantage to get Kenny where he wants him.

But then again, Kenny is tough, so he could probably take a good deal of GnP while he's still looking for the sub. I could see him using a similar strategy--Let Diego tire himself out sitting in Kenny's guard, and then capitalizing on a mistake when Diego is worn out.

That's the best part about the Ultimate Fighter--we can talk about what happens 'till we're blue in the face, but then we actually get to see it. And this is all assuming Diego beats Koscheck.

If Koscheck wins, I think Kenny will have a much better matchup. He's a better standup fighter than JK, and has a much better ground game. Even though Koscheck's a lot bigger, I just don't know what he would try to do. Slam Kenny and get back up, and repeat?

[Reggie1]

And another thing--I think that Kenny probably has the cerebral advantantage on everybody there. He kept his cool while getting bombed by Leben and never altered his game plan or panicked. You could see it on his face the whole time. He stayed calm, looked for openings, and took advantage when he saw the openings.

I think his mind game is worlds better than Diego's and Koscheck's.

[Ford Prefect]

Yup, we'll find out soon enough.

TW, thanks as always. Can't wait to watch it again.

[mortal]

My money is on Diego.

[jun_erh]

you guys are high. Leben totally and completely dominated the fight. a stoppage is a "win" but it doesn't mean anything in the real world. leben is a fighter, the other guys are just wrestling enthusiaists who would rather rub and touch each other than throw down. Kolchak wears low riding jeans and is a girl. florian was practicly jogging in the opposite direction from lebens attack. I think Bobby Southworth will do well if he returns. his last fight, the one he lsot by decision, he was very sharp and relaxed at the same time. He's a little older and it shows.

[Din Gao]

jun erh, have you ever fought competitively? We are not talking the 'real world', the street deadly in a bar room brawl on broken glass. This is a competition and competitions have rules. You win by decision, stoppage or TKO. It is really that simple.

If you are asking me who was getting the better of the fight, I would say Chris but that doesn't matter because Kenny did what he had to do to bring the fight to a conclusion. I also didn't like Koschek's performance against Leben either but that is irrelevant. He won according to the rules and got the decision.

Like Rogue said a couple of pages back, sometimes we do stupid thing and pay for it. Chris dropped his guard in the standing clinch and got elbowed. Guess what, elbows cut and leave damage. I made mistakes in boxing and grappling tournaments and paid for it. No matter how well I was performing during the balance of the fight the decision is all that matters. Keep your guard up and defend yourself at all times.

On the flip side, I do agree with you that if Bobby fights again he will be dangerous.

[truewrestler]

episode 10 is now up on the first post

[norther practitioner]

tdubs...

thanks again....

[rogue]

Leben totally and completely dominated the fight. a stoppage is a "win" but it doesn't mean anything in the real world.

As Bill Parcells once said after losing a game the Giants dominated, "The only numbers that count are the ones on the scoreboard". And that's what matters in the real world.

[Ford Prefect]

you guys are high. Leben totally and completely dominated the fight. a stoppage is a "win" but it doesn't mean anything in the real world. leben is a fighter, the other guys are just wrestling enthusiaists

lol! You're the high one, my friend. After the cut, any time he would get hit the cut would rip further and further open. I suppose bleeding half to death and having half your face ripped off doesn't mean anything in the real world? He would have blind out of one eye... He was already gassing, so you don't think losing blood, having a gash in your face openning wider and wider, and being half blind wouldn't have effected the fight? You sound like you have a lot of ring experience... Chris was certainly winning the fight. Right up until the point he lost the fight. It's the same thing as a KO or a sub.

Din Gao,

The cool thing is that I trained at the place Kenny trained Muay Thai too although I never trained with Kenny there. We'd always heavily practice elbows from inside just like that mainly because our Kru said they were fight enders due to the major gashed they open up. Our Kru is pretty nasty too. He's held world champ titles over here and has fought extensively in Thailand. He's the only guy in the US that is a full instructor from Sityodtong, which is the winningest Muay Thai camp in Thailand history. It's a cool gym. You walk into this basement with thai music baring and a huge rottweiler walks up to greet you. Heavy bags and banana bags hang from the rafters surrounding a ring. There's even a matted area in the corner for their submission grappling classes... Real cool place.

TW, thanks again.

[Din Gao]

Ford, where is this school located? In Mass? The set up sounds alot like Renzo Gracie's with the mats, ring and bags. Sadly, we don't have a dog. A couple of human pitbulls though. LOL. For standup I mostly train with Master K on Muay Thai but have also worked out at the Wat with Kru Phil Nurse.

http://www.thewat.com/enter.html
http://www.masterkelbowko.com/

[Ford Prefect]

Yes. The BJJ school is Boston BJJ located in Watertown, MA (about 2-3 miles from Boston "proper"). It's run by Roberto Maia who got is BB from Carlos Gracie Jr at Gracie Barra in 1988. The Muay Thai school is in Somerville, MA (about 2 miles from Boston "proper") and is just the USA Branch of the Sityodtong Muay Thai camp. The Kru is Mark Delegrotte.

http://www.bbjiujitsu.com/
http://www.sityodtong.com/

You train with Renzo? Roberto and Renzo are actually old friends. I had a couple semi-privates with him when he stopped by to visit. Once was right after his Sak fight. I placed in both divisions I entered in a tourney that weekend and ended up getting my blue.

[Ford Prefect]

BTW, here are some highlights of his fights and ground skills. The guy is slick. Beware. Each is about 60MB.

http://www.sprawl.tv/KFlorian_BJJ.wmv

(at 1:23 is the fight I was talking about when he was a purple and tapped a black)

http://www.sprawl.tv/KFlorian_MMA.wmv