Anyone else think that the Strikforce and Affliction affiliation card yesterday was awesome? I think it was very good from start to finish. The nice cold beer, with some hookah (tobacco flavoured) and watching with some friends made it all the better to watch. What else do you guys think of the card?

I was a bit disappointed with Randleman as he couldn't put away Whitehead. That was an upset in my opinion.

Riggs decisioning Baroni was another good match but one which Baroni couldn't find his game and couldn't capitalize on the little opportunities he had in the match. Riggs dominated Baroni in all aspects to win a unanimous decision win against a worthy fighter.

Rogers KO'ing Arlovski in just 22 seconds was very disappointing and another upset also. I didn't expect Arlovski going out like that considering he lost by KO against Fedor in his fight before that.

Nate Diaz submitting Scott Smith was my favourite match in that entire event. Diaz was able to find his punches and landed more than half of the punches he threw. Scott Smith's terrible defense and his ineffective blocking was what ultimately dropped him and forced Diaz to take his back. Eventually, Diaz ended up submitting him via rear naked choke to win a much needed win against a very good competitor.

Finally, Shields submitting Lawler was also a very interesting match-up. Lawler implimented his great striking skills and excellent takedown defense to keep the fight swaying in his favour. In a stunning choke from the clinch, Shields grabbed a hold of Lawler's head and took him down to guard. Lawler got up while still in the guillotine and tried to slam Shields to force a release but with no success. Shields then submitted him via guillotine choke.

The only matches that surprised me were the two top ones. I said to lakers 19 that I didn't think Rogers would beat AA but we put a bet on anyway because I thought at the very least Rogers would have a punchers chance and with AA's chin it only takes one.

With Shields/Lawler, I thought it was gonna be a naturally bigger MW against a natural WW with strength being the difference maker. But once Shields sunk that in and wrap his legs round him I turned to my girl and said it's over. Shields must have that Dan Henderson/Big Nog gorilla grip in his arms lol.

the card was great for a non-UFC event but it wasn't a great card in general. as good as the card was, you have to put it into perspective. Jake Shields was the big main event fight and as great as Shields is, nobody really knows how he would fair in the UFC. he might not be able to beat the top 5 fighters in the WW division for all we know.

It was a good card, but I wouldn't call it great or awesome.

Shields would fair well in the UFC's 170lb division. He'd make a good fight of it with any of the top 10 IMO. Plus with submission skills like his he'd turn some heads.

Shields would fair well in the UFC's 170lb division. He'd make a good fight of it with any of the top 10 IMO. Plus with submission skills like his he'd turn some heads.

yeah but Shields is more of an old fashioned fighter. the champs right now have to be great ground AND standup fighters. Shields is mostly a ground fighter with amateurish standup skills. He wouldn't last in the UFC.

1 demensional fighters like Shamrock, Hughes, Ortiz, Liddell... won't be able to become champions in the UFC anymore.

yeah but Shields is more of an old fashioned fighter. the champs right now have to be great ground AND standup fighters. Shields is mostly a ground fighter with amateurish standup skills. He wouldn't last in the UFC.

1 demensional fighters like Shamrock, Hughes, Ortiz, Liddell... won't be able to become champions in the UFC anymore.

I wouldn't say he is one dimensional. If he was then the same could be said for Maia at 185 yet he does fine. Fact is that when you have one area that is that good and leaps and bounds above a lot of other people you can always have a shot at winning. The guy has beaten some top guys, Sakurai, Okami, Menne, Condit and now Lawler. Plus having the Diaz bros, Melendez and Terrell as training partners is great to have behind you.

His stand up isn't great, but he trains with some good kickboxers and essentially he's never been tested on the feet because any striker who commits has to deal with the fact that he has fantastic wrestling and BJJ. Plus he's proven over the past few years that he just needs one opportunity to lock in a submission.

I wouldn't say he is one dimensional. If he was then the same could be said for Maia at 185 yet he does fine. Fact is that when you have one area that is that good and leaps and bounds above a lot of other people you can always have a shot at winning. The guy has beaten some top guys, Sakurai, Okami, Menne, Condit and now Lawler. Plus having the Diaz bros, Melendez and Terrell as training partners is great to have behind you.

His stand up isn't great, but he trains with some good kickboxers and essentially he's never been tested on the feet because any striker who commits has to deal with the fact that he has fantastic wrestling and BJJ. Plus he's proven over the past few years that he just needs one opportunity to lock in a submission.

Maia isn't a UFC champ and I don't think he ever will be. Henderson and/or Wanderlei will beat him before he gets to Anderson and even if he ever gets a title shot, Silva would have a field day with him. Maia is basically another Leitis.

And shields might train with Kick boxers but that doesn't make him a good kick boxer. Every mma fighter in the world trains in both standup and ground fighting but not every fighter is great at both. Shields isn't a good standup fighter.

Maia isn't a UFC champ and I don't think he ever will be. Henderson and/or Wanderlei will beat him before he gets to Anderson and even if he ever gets a title shot, Silva would have a field day with him. Maia is basically another Leitis.

And shields might train with Kick boxers but that doesn't make him a good kick boxer. Every mma fighter in the world trains in both standup and ground fighting but not every fighter is great at both. Shields isn't a good standup fighter.

Shields isn't a good stand up fighter but at the same time what he lacks in standup he makes up for with a good chin and superior grappling abilities. Outside of GSP none of the other 170lb UFC guys are all-round great fighters. They're all like Shields in that they have great abilities in some respects but lack elsewhere. He'd make a good showing of himself against the majority of the division from Alves, Fitch, Kos, Hughes, Serra to name a few. Shields stand-up abilities are good enough to the point where he takes little to no damage when he fights and he can judge distances well enough to get inside for takedowns, clinchs and submissions. Plus once he gets the take down the strikes are pretty useless against a guy who can basically shut you off in that situation.

Maia on the other hand is a notch above Leites, in fact he's a notch above every guy in the division with regards to his grappling skills Hendo, and the 2 Silvas included. I do believe his next fight will tell a alot more of what he is made of.

Shields isn't a good stand up fighter but at the same time what he lacks in standup he makes up for with a good chin and superior grappling abilities. Outside of GSP none of the other 170lb UFC guys are all-round great fighters. They're all like Shields in that they have great abilities in some respects but lack elsewhere. He'd make a good showing of himself against the majority of the division from Alves, Fitch, Kos, Hughes, Serra to name a few. Shields stand-up abilities are good enough to the point where he takes little to no damage when he fights and he can judge distances well enough to get inside for takedowns, clinchs and submissions. Plus once he gets the take down the strikes are pretty useless against a guy who can basically shut you off in that situation.

Maia on the other hand is a notch above Leites, in fact he's a notch above every guy in the division with regards to his grappling skills Hendo, and the 2 Silvas included. I do believe his next fight will tell a alot more of what he is made of.

Shields' ground game is good but who has it been tested against really?

You see, the thing I have against all these fighters that are really good but not in the UFC is that, if they were actually good, why wouldn't they sign with the UFC? UFC will make them more money than anywhere else in the world of mma so why not sign with them?

Like take Nick Diaz for example. Everyone thinks he is so great. But what ppl forget about him is that he is a UFC reject. He couldn't make it in the UFC so he left. Same with Arlovski, Randleman and Lawler.

And the reason for this is cuz these guys would rather be the big fish in a small pond than just another fighter in the mix at the UFC. They wouldn't be champs in the UFC so the next best thing is for them to be champs in a smaller organization with far less talent.

Now I'm not saying that Shields isn't a good fighter cuz I know he is, but if he actually believed that himself, he would have signed with UFC long long ago.

Shields' ground game is good but who has it been tested against really?

You see, the thing I have against all these fighters that are really good but not in the UFC is that, if they were actually good, why wouldn't they sign with the UFC? UFC will make them more money than anywhere else in the world of mma so why not sign with them?

Like take Nick Diaz for example. Everyone thinks he is so great. But what ppl forget about him is that he is a UFC reject. He couldn't make it in the UFC so he left. Same with Arlovski, Randleman and Lawler.

And the reason for this is cuz these guys would rather be the big fish in a small pond than just another fighter in the mix at the UFC. They wouldn't be champs in the UFC so the next best thing is for them to be champs in a smaller organization with far less talent.

Now I'm not saying that Shields isn't a good fighter cuz I know he is, but if he actually believed that himself, he would have signed with UFC long long ago.

Thompson, Verissimo, Berger, Condit, Menne, Vieira all have very good ground games and are a test for anyone in that area.

At 170 any fighter outside of the UFC should be looking to get there. This I agree on because that divisions best are all there except for Shields. He was actually looking to get there and was in talks but since Strikeforce bought all of Proelites assets his contract went there. After this win I could see the UFC making an overture mainly due to Dana wanting to get Robbie Lawler back, now he can have the guy that beat him. Plus he has a great selling point in that 2 of their current roster were beaten by him in one night which is also another thing that shows Shields ability to fight and win against tough opposition.

I don't believe these guys wouldn't be champs in the UFC because the majority of guys in the UFC won't and aren't champs. I mean look at 170. Since 2001 there has been only 4 champions 2 of which won the belt and then lost it in their first defence or was stripped. Do I think Shields will add his name to that list? No, but can he be a contender? Absolutely.

With Arlovski with him being outside of the UFC is better in terms of competition simply because the HW division in the UFC doesn't have the talent to match that of which is outside of it.

Randleman was bad to begin with. His success in the UFC was due to the timeframe he fought in whereby wrestlers had been able to just lay and pray or ground and pound their way to victory against guys who were one dimensional fighters. Since leaving he hasn't improved one bit, he's just got older and slower. He could be in any organization and he would be the same fighter.

Which brings me onto Diaz. Diaz did leave the UFC on a win after rejecting a contract in favour of PRIDE. Since that time he has improved greatly, and while he was in the UFC he wasn't bad at all. He lost a few times but none of those losses were particularly bad and all of them were pretty close fights. He's got better on the feet, not so much from a technical standpoint but when you can throw on average 100 punches (albeit annoying but effective punches) you can sure push your opponent in to reacting and having to fight. And if they take him down he's ot the ground skills to handle himself there. Now can he be a champ? I don't think so, but he'd give any guy at 170 a good and very competitive fight.