Bob Sapp
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Post by Bob Sapp on Jan 1, 2010 21:42:11 GMT -5
Takanori Gomi Signs With UFC1/1/2010 8:39 PM ET By Ariel Helwani @ MMAFighting.com
Nicknamed "The Fireball Kid," Gomi (31-5-0, 1 NC) had talked about wanting to sign with Strikeforce or the UFC in 2010, and recently spent some time training at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.
No word on when and where Gomi will make his debut for the UFC. The organization has yet to officially announce the signing.
The former PRIDE lightweight champion has recently gotten his career back on track after losing two straight fights in Sengoku. Gomi followed up his victory over Takahashi Nakakura at the Shooto: Traditional Final event in May with a unanimous decision win over Tony Hervey at Vale Tudo Japan 2009 in October.
He holds notable victories over Rumina Sato, Jens Pulver, Hayato Sakurai, Duane Ludwig and Mitsuhiro Ishida.
Not sure what to think of this, but hopefully good things will come of it. Gomi was great in PRIDE but I am not sure how he will do now in the UFC.
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Post by NYdream™ on Jan 1, 2010 22:06:06 GMT -5
I hope he gets a good run in the UFC because BJ needs more competition. Id love to see a rematch!
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Bob Sapp
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Post by Bob Sapp on Jan 1, 2010 22:31:01 GMT -5
Another one-sided rematch? No thanks.
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DWright
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Post by DWright on Jan 1, 2010 22:36:40 GMT -5
Another one-sided rematch? No thanks. Those are the only kind of fights we're going to see out of Penn at LW anyways. |
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PrideFcF
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Post by PrideFcF on Jan 1, 2010 22:40:32 GMT -5
This should be good for the LW division no matter what. On one side, if he pulls off a couple wins, you have a new (albeit "been there, done that" to the more "hardcore" MMA fan) contender for the title. On the flip side, if he's taken out by any of the current top contenders at 155, it'd boost up their credibility quite a bit.
Let's face facts. Despite how one-sided the first match was, unless the UFC decides to mention it during his upcoming run, the common UFC viewer will not have any clue he was tooled by BJ already.
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Bob Sapp
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Post by Bob Sapp on Jan 1, 2010 22:52:34 GMT -5
Yeah, you're right I guess. Especially considering Gomi was the Lightweight Champion of PRIDE.
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PrideFcF
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Post by PrideFcF on Jan 1, 2010 23:05:26 GMT -5
I could see them just heavily emphasizing on the fact that Gomi is/was a dominant LW for PRIDE, and that he held their LW title. It'd boil down to another PRIDE-vs-UFC champions bout, and not much would be mentioned about their RotR fight.
Even if they did, it'd probably be in the typical fight advertising form of "BJ beat him a LONG LONG time ago, but Gomi has evolved so much since then, blah blah blah he could maybe beat BJ this time, but not really, order the goddamn PPV already."
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Post by Ian from 616Entertainment. on Jan 2, 2010 5:05:07 GMT -5
While this is cool, I predict he will go 1-3 in the UFC and be cut.
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Post by moogie101 on Jan 2, 2010 12:17:47 GMT -5
I hope he manages to regain focus & a return to the form of a couple of years ago.
However because BJ is so dominant its easy to overlook the incredible talent UFC has in its LW division. Very few easy fights there to build Gomi up.
Personally I'm more interested in seeing Gomi vs. Florian.
At the very least good to see that Zuffa see they don't have much in the way of credible contenders for BJ and are looking outside their talent group for challengers.
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uvfan1
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Post by uvfan1 on Jan 2, 2010 14:04:43 GMT -5
Hope he does good. But don't see it happening.
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Post by chrispage on Jan 3, 2010 11:06:28 GMT -5
Glad that Rogan mentioned the schooling he got from BJ Penn back in Rumble On The Rock during the announcement.
I still doubt many UFC fans have actually seen the fight (I haven't yet, but plan on doing so) but it was good to actually see it mentioned.
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Post by HHH316 on Jan 3, 2010 16:00:57 GMT -5
Sherdog is talking about a possible 1st fight being against Florian
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Post by Kliquid on Jan 4, 2010 14:29:04 GMT -5
I think it's going to be interesting to see if he's too small to compete in the UFC. I don't believe he cuts much weight to get to 155.
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Bob Sapp
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Post by Bob Sapp on Jan 4, 2010 14:36:59 GMT -5
Neither does Penn.
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