WFA card --- Bas-kimo, ricco-waterman

[RedHawk]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=2152&zoneid=4




WFA card just got that much better with the return of "El Guapo." Here's how the card shakes down.

Quinton Jackson (24-6-0) vs Matt Lindland (18-3-0)

Ricco Rodriguez (22-6-0) vs Ron Waterman (13-3-2)

Lyoto Machida (7-0-0) vs Vernon White (24-27-2)

Ivan Salaverry (11-4-0) vs Art Santore (14-4-0)

Kimo Leopoldo (9-5-1) vs Bas Rutten (27-4-1)

Rob McCullough (11-3-0) vs Opponent TBD

Jason Miller (14-4-0) vs. Opponent TBD

[RedHawk]

my picks for this card would be

Quinton Jackson (24-6-0) vs Matt Lindland Rampage TKO 1st

Ricco Rodriguez (22-6-0) vs Ron Waterman (13-3-2) Waterman dec

Lyoto Machida (7-0-0) vs Vernon White (24-27-2)Machida dec

Ivan Salaverry (11-4-0) vs Art Santore (14-4-0)Salaverry sub rd2

Kimo Leopoldo (9-5-1) vs Bas Rutten (27-4-1) Bas KO rd1


who you got?

[Herbo]

God, I really never thought Id see Bas back in the ring. This is fantastic. Id love to see him fight someone a little better than Kimo though, hopefully this is just the begining.

Kimo has got a LOT of miles just from giving Royce a hard fight 12 years ago!

[RedHawk]

God, I really never thought Id see Bas back in the ring. This is fantastic. Id love to see him fight someone a little better than Kimo though, hopefully this is just the begining.

Kimo has got a LOT of miles just from giving Royce a hard fight 12 years ago!


LOL!

good point. I hope Bas has more fights and that Kimo is a warmup-type match for him. If he does well vs kimo, I'm sure the offers will start pouring in.

I think it would be wild to see him fighting in the PRIDE ring!

[Big Sleep]

Kimo has got a LOT of miles just from giving Royce a hard fight 12 years ago!
So true.

This card is now amazing, it already was a very good card but with the comeback of Bas...now i'm pumped up. I only wonder why it took so much for Bas to make a comeback, i know he was busy with other things, injured and still today is not at his best but hell it took 7 years :)

I really think that this is just a "warm up" fight, but even if he is Bas 7 years of inactivity are 7 years...and being 42...so Kimo is a good comeback fight in my opinion. If he beats him (like i think he will) and feels good, i bet we're gonna see something crazy a la Bas-Wanderlei or maybe even Bas-Rickson.

My picks:

Rampage by TKO Rd2
Waterman by Decision
Lyoto by KO Rd2
Salaverry by Sub Rd1
Bas by KO Rd1

PS: anybody knows in what kind of shape is Ricco? I wonder if he will show up like in his last couple of fights, or if he finally decided to train again and give it a last shot.

[( o Y o )]

PS: anybody knows in what kind of shape is Ricco?

Roughly speaking, round I expect.

[Herbo]

Ive heard ricco has lost a lot of weight but still not back to his UFC weight. I dont know who he is training with these days...

Quinton Jackson (24-6-0) vs Matt Lindland (18-3-0) - Jackson via KO. R2

Ricco Rodriguez (22-6-0) vs Ron Waterman (13-3-2) - Ricco via KO. R2

Lyoto Machida (7-0-0) vs Vernon White (24-27-2) - Machida via KO r1

Ivan Salaverry (11-4-0) vs Art Santore (14-4-0) - Salaverry via R1 sub.

Kimo Leopoldo (9-5-1) vs Bas Rutten (27-4-1) - Bas via leglock submission, R1

Rob McCullough (11-3-0) vs Opponent TBD - McCullough via stoppage due to foot stamps.

Jason Miller (14-4-0) vs. Opponent TBD - Mayhem by Craziness.

[Big Sleep]

Roughly speaking, round I expect.
:) but it's a shame that such a talent let himself go like that. Is there a weight limit that the heavyweights in WFA have to make? I mean something like 265 lbs for the heavyweights in the UFC.

[Big Sleep]

Ive heard ricco has lost a lot of weight but still not back to his UFC weight. I dont know who he is training with these days...
I see, it's already great that he lost most of that eXtra weight (even if he's not in his best shape) because no talent in the world can help you enough when you can barely move around. Btw, i thought he was still training with Tito and Page wasn't he?

[migs]

Damn this event is shaping up much better than I expected...UFC better watch it's ass!! They'll be the 2nd best MMA show in North America soon with cards like this.

Jackson by TKO ref stop
Waterman by Ricco being out of shape in a shitty display
Machida by decision
Salaverry by dec
Rutten by KO

[heckyl]

none of these matches mean very much imo. event has to start somewhere, and they got the name power. but do any of these matches really mean anything in terms of ranking in mma?

[heckyl]

also, im in shock someone would sign Ricco/Waterman II.

[Faster]

Ive heard ricco has lost a lot of weight but still not back to his UFC weight. I dont know who he is training with these days...

Quinton Jackson (24-6-0) vs Matt Lindland (18-3-0) - Jackson via KO. R2

Ricco Rodriguez (22-6-0) vs Ron Waterman (13-3-2) - Ricco via KO. R2
Lyoto Machida (7-0-0) vs Vernon White (24-27-2) - Machida via KO r1

Ivan Salaverry (11-4-0) vs Art Santore (14-4-0) - Salaverry via R1 sub.

Kimo Leopoldo (9-5-1) vs Bas Rutten (27-4-1) - Bas via leglock submission, R1

Rob McCullough (11-3-0) vs Opponent TBD - McCullough via stoppage due to foot stamps.

Jason Miller (14-4-0) vs. Opponent TBD - Mayhem by Craziness.

Ricco vs. Waterman: They should use this fight as the half-time intermission.

Bas by leglock?.... Bas is good and all, but Kimo is impervious to these type of submissions.

[Grant Ellis]

Are you joking, because I could have sworn Minowa submitted Kimo with an Achiles' lock or somesuch....

[heckyl]

im pretty sure it was sarcasm. i hope. minowa pwned kimos foot region.

[Faster]

Are you joking, because I could have sworn Minowa submitted Kimo with an Achiles' lock or somesuch....

Yes....Shamrock and Minowa were what came to mind.

[Lb-kid]

none of these matches mean very much imo. event has to start somewhere, and they got the name power. but do any of these matches really mean anything in terms of ranking in mma?

I don't know what you mean by in terms of ranking but to me rankings, or rather MMA rankings, don't have much importance at all. If you have a solid and complex ranking system like Boxrec does it's way different and the rankings make actually a lot of sense but the MMA rankings I've seen so far consist merely of UFC and Pride fighters mixed up. Some self-proclaimed experts make these lists and somehow place fighter A above fighter B but they never fought each other; so it's just an opinion but I wouldn't call these "rankings".

To me this is a pretty exciting card and the WFA did a very good job in signing Rampage, Lindland and Salaverry. Rampage is one of the most charismatic and marketable MMA fighters and imo it was a bad move on Zuffas part to fire Lindland and Salaverry, both great fighters. It will be interesting to see how Rampage establishes himself back in the States and how he will do vs Lindland. Also it was high time that some org decided to bring Ryoto Machida to the american fans attention; he's a very well rounded fighter, agressive, undefeated, beat Franklin in devastating fashion and BJ to a decision.
Regarding Ricco I understand when people aren't excited about him on this card but I always liked him and see forward to his rematch with Waterman. Yes Ricco fought too much and against some laughable opponents, but people should rather blame the promoters than Ricco for matching him against guys doing their debut match! Myself I read/heard some of his interviews and understand his motivations.
Now about the Bas Rutten vs Kimo bout I'm probably one of the very few here who isn't much excited about it. I saw 3 of Kimos last 4 fights since 2003 and frankly I could have done without them. There's nothing that leads me to expect much different from Ruttens comeback. He had a great Pancrase career (I've seen all of his fights) but was lucky in his 2 UFC fights and kinda struggled with the rule changes. At 41 and after a 7 year pause I don't see him compete at Pride level like some suggested at all. And I don't like these legend vs legend fights, most are neither exciting nor competitive. Bas vs Rickson or Bas vs Sakuraba? Please not...

I wonder about the last 2 spots on the card and look forward to this show and I wonder how the WFA will do in the future. Besides the UFC there is the WEC and KOTC with real quality fights but they don't seem to gain really more importance and close the huge gap between them and the UFC a little. UFC brand name is just so established and well known that Zuffa seems to have a lead which is almost impossible to catch up to. And with the TUF series Zuffa cemented that lead even more. I still wait for Pride to start their long announced US debut show; they have the warchest, the knowledge and innovative ideas to compete on Zuffas level.

[Shiruba]

I don't know what you mean by in terms of ranking but to me rankings, or rather MMA rankings, don't have much importance at all. If you have a solid and complex ranking system like Boxrec does it's way different and the rankings make actually a lot of sense but the MMA rankings I've seen so far consist merely of UFC and Pride fighters mixed up. Some self-proclaimed experts make these lists and somehow place fighter A above fighter B but they never fought each other; so it's just an opinion but I wouldn't call these "rankings".
Yup, rankings in MMA is crap. I see it as a fight between two fighters to see who is the best between them. Fights dont have to mean anything to me, Its just entertaining and interesting to watch.

[HolyRamenEmpire]

I think it's a fine start. The two important pts will be (1) the entertainment level of the fights, and (2) the follow-up matchup after this event. These fights will give me a better idea of the current level of many of the fighters.

[AKA]

Ricco vs. Waterman: They should use this fight as the half-time intermission.
.
agreed!

WFA is doing a good job, they build an entertaining card!
Maybe they are not going to survive their first card with so much money in purses!
I hope Mayhem opponant will be a good one!

[Cracked_Knuckle]

Quinton Jackson (24-6-0) vs Matt Lindland (18-3-0) Matt by ref stop

Ricco Rodriguez (22-6-0) vs Ron Waterman (13-3-2) Piss break.....make that a shit break as it will go for awhile.

Lyoto Machida (7-0-0) vs Vernon White (24-27-2) Lyoto by JD

Ivan Salaverry (11-4-0) vs Art Santore (14-4-0) Ivan vai Sub

Kimo Leopoldo (9-5-1) vs Bas Rutten (27-4-1) WTF? I think of all the badass fights we could have seen with Bas in Pride and he comes back against Kimo? I mean, good luck and welcome back, but I feel cheated out a brilliant fight for a gimme.