Miguel Cotto vs Antonio Margarito

This could very well have been fight of the year had one of the greatest fights of all-time (in this writers opinion anyway) already happened earlier in the year. I don’t think anything will top the third fight between Rafael Marquez and Israel Vazquez. The best any fight will do is come a close second to that amazing fight. Honestly, that fight is up there among my all-time greatest fights list and if you haven’t seen it you need to do so.

Before I get into this fight, I’m going to have an obligatory bitch about the sanctioning bodies, this is just a warning in case you want to skip to the next paragraph. Why the fuck did the IBF strip Antonio Margarito of his title for fighting the best welterweight in the World? When a fighter of Mayweathers stature retires, you need the top guys fighting and unifying the titles. It takes a lot of credibility away in the eyes of the uneducated fans when the winner of this fight walks away with just one of the major titles and some other lesser fighter pops up and takes the title that rightfully belongs to the winner of the unification bout, and then starts claiming they’re a world champion. It’s just so retarded and petty that these idiots who run the sanctioning bodies can’t get along for the greater good (that being making boxing a more credible sport). As long as boxing keeps this way, it won’t ever come close to reaching the heights it once reached.

Enough politics, onto the fight. This should be a war, both guys like to throw punches and both guys like to do it for 12 rounds. I give both the edge in power and durability to Antonio Margarito, but I give a big edge in boxing ability to Miguel Cotto. In the past Cotto has looked shaky when he takes a good shot on the chin, well in this fight he’ll be up against the hardest puncher he’s ever faced. Margarito has murderous power and if he lands solidly on Cotto, especially early in the fight before Cotto adjusts to his power, he could win this fight by knockout. In saying that though, Cotto’s shaky chin could very well be down to the enormous amount of weight he used to have to sweat out in order to make 140lbs, because since he moved to 147lbs he hasn’t had that problem. He also hasn’t faced someone of Margaritos power.

Margarito has a granite chin, and I think Cotto will have to break him down if he’s to win this fight inside the 12 rounds. The only other fighter out there who can break a man down like Cotto in my opinion is Kelly Pavlik. Cotto is the quintessential pressure fighter, as he seems to get stronger as the fight goes on. His body shots just kill people and he doesn’t let up his pace throughout the 12 rounds. I give the edge in stamina to Cotto and I think the longer this fight goes on, the less chance Margarito has of finding the punches to put Cotto away. Margarito has good stamina as well, but he seems to struggle with the pace more against Cotto-esque opponents then he does with movers like Paul Williams. The way Cotto works the body and the pace he fights at, Margarito will have trouble keeping up as the fight gets into the later rounds.

There’s really two extremes in this fight in terms of which way it will go. Either Margarito will catch Cotto cold in the first 4-6 (at most eight) rounds before he’s adjusted to Margaritos power, or Cotto will break him down and punish him in the later rounds to either take a hard fought points decision or score a late stoppage (sometime after the 6th round). I can’t see Margarito being able to handle Cotto in the later rounds unless he lays down an almighty beating early on (which I can’t see Cotto being able to stand up to) that renders him useless in the later rounds. I also can’t see Cotto being able to take a fresh Margarito out early in the fight, Margarito is as tough as they come and he’ll take a beating before he goes down. My prediction- Cotto to win by 11th round stoppage, although I have a funny feeling that Margarito will chin him in the 5th.

UFC Fight Night and Affliction: Banned Results

Affliction: Banned Results

Fedor Emelianenko submits Tim Sylvia in 36 seconds
And what a 36 seconds it was. Fedor is the baddest man on the planet. I thought maybe he’d slipped a bit with the years of fighting relative no ones (to be fair he fought Mark Hunt at Shockwave 2006 and Hunt’s no mug) but he looked as good as ever against Sylvia. The punches that put Tim down were murderous, his ground and pound when Sylvia was hurt is just typical Fedor, and the fact that he could get that rear naked choke when Sylvia has defended well against that submission in the past in the time he got it in shows how good this guy is at grappling.
Fedor and Couture have to fight each other next. I don’t care where they fight or what it’s for but these guys have to fight. All this talk for years of who would win when the UFC and PRIDE Heavyweight champions fight each other, it just has to happen now. Randy is the UFC champion, and as far as I’m concerned he’ll stay that way until someone beats him. If I was Dane White, I’d swallow my pride, offer Fedor a $5 million one fight contract and have him fight Randy in the UFC. He’s better off to risk Fedor leaving the UFC after winning the title and having the biggest fight of all-time happen on his show (theres still a chance that Randy beats Fedor especially in the cage) then he is letting another organisation take all the glory.

Andrei Arlovski KO3 Ben Rothwell
This fight reminded me of Arlovski vs Cabbage except that Rothwell punched back a bit more then Cabbage did. Excellent fight, probably the best of the weekend. Arlovski looked the best he’s looked since he lost his title back at UFC 59. Rothwell was a lot better then I thought he was, but he was just too slow to handle Arlovski. The leg kicks in the first round really slowed Rothwell down as I expected them to but he still fought on. That guy takes an incredible amount of punishment. In my opinion, Arlovski stands the best chance at beating Fedor out of anyone. He can match Fedor’s speed (well sort of) and because he is a former Sambo world champion, he’ll be a bit more prepared for Fedor’s ground game. In saying that, I’d still pick Fedor to beat Arlovski.

Josh Barnett KO2 Pedro Rizzo
I have to say, I’m a much bigger Barnett fan today then I was yesterday. I’ve always had it in for this guy, probably because I’m a huge Couture fan and Barnett has run his mouth in the past about their fight. He impressed the hell out of me yesterday. His stand-up was very good and he kept Rizzo off balance throughout the fight and the finish was top notch. I’d like to see Barnett in against either Sylvia or Arlovski next.

Vitor Belfort KO2 Terry Martin
Belfort looked pretty good. He was moving well and boxing well. He never allowed Martin to get in the fight. I don’t know how people thought Martin won the first round, he was getting jabbed and turned around repeatedly and only landed that one shot on Belfort’s shoulder while he was off balance. I’d like to see Belfort fight Matt Lindland, that would be an excellent fight. As for Lindland, he looked good considering he’d been out for a while. He needs to fight again soon though so he can keep himself in good fighting shape.

Other Comments
The main thing that dissappointed me about this card was the quick stand-ups by the referee. For fuck sake, let these guys fight. Fighting on the ground is still fighting. These guys are the top of the food chain, they don’t need to be stood up. Stand-ups should only be used in lesser promotions to keep the fights interesting, when the guys are world class it should be entertaining enough that you’ve got two world class fighters fighting each other without the referee using his stupid arse opinion that stand-up fighting is more exciting then ground fighting. You just have to watch Wladimir Klitschko’s last two fights to know that isn’t always the case!
I like the ring in general (not as much as the cage though), but the Affliction ring definately needs some work. The ropes were way too slack, the table on the outside was dangerous and the referee’s don’t know what they’re doing with it. Why didn’t the referee’s restart them in the middle instead of turning them into the centre? Have these guys ever watched PRIDE before? If someone like me knows that the PRIDE officials used to turn them to the centre before they realised it was retarded and re-started them in the middle instead, then surely these guys in positions of power should know this as well right? As comical as the Japanese MMA is at times, they know how to work the ring. You need the officials on the outside supporting the ropes so the fighters don’t keep going through them, you need tight ropes and you need a referee who knows what the fuck is going on!
Overall, I enjoyed Affliction a lot. It beat the hell out of the UFC card (well on paper it should have). I’ve read people making fun of the back production but this is their second show. Go watch UFC 2 and see how bad that is. Megadeath worked better then I thought, I especially liked the intro with the fighters on the ramp. As you may have guessed I like my Japansese MMA, and this was similar to the PRIDE intros without the crazy Jap dude playing his drums and screaming. The production is only going to get better.

UFC: Silva vs Irvin Results

Anderson Silva KO1 James irvin
When I said that Fedor is the baddest man on the planet before, thats only because he’s bigger then Silva. Pound for Pound, I think Silva is number one (although its very close) mainly because of the manner he’s destroyed the number 2 and 3 guys. Fedor is yet to beat Randy Couture who in my opinion is the number two guy in the World. If he goes through him like Silva went through Franklin and Henderson then I think he’ll take Silvas pound for pound title away. Oh yeah, Silva destroyed Irvin with the first heavy shot he landed, did anyone think he’d do differently?

Other Fights
Vera looked sluggish, but that should be expected the first time he cut weight. Not to mention he was coming off back to back losses. He’ll be stronger next time he fights at 205lbs. Edgar fought a great fight, but I think he should go down to featherweight. Guys like Sean Sherk and Gray Maynard (who already beat him) are just going to outmuscle this kid if he stays at this weight. Jake O’Brien got bashed and I couldn’t be more happy. This guy doesn’t belong in the UFC, so they should get rid of him. He’s not a fighter, he’s a sexual deviant who likes to molest people. CB Dollaways submission was top notch and Burns should have been disqualified. Overall, it was a decent fight night, but not close to what Affliction was.

One last thing for those UFC nuthuggers who aren’t real MMA fans, Fedor beat Sylvia a lot better then Mir did and he beat a better version of Sylvia. He dropped him and made Sylvia tap out, he didn’t get taken down and have the ref stop it from an armbar (I very much believe that you have to tap for the fight to be stopped, if you’re crazy enough to fight with a broken arm then thats up to you). Not to mention Sylvia wasn’t straight off the roids yesterday like he was when he fought Mir. If you want to compare Fedor’s performance to anyone’s over Sylvia, then Arlovski is your man. But then again, Arlovski isn’t in the UFC anymore so that means he’s shit. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of competition, infact it will only make the sport better. Build a bridge and get over it!

DREAM.5 Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Finals

What a weekend of fighting we have! Despite the Affliction show being my pick of the events this weekend, I’m looking forward to this a lot more then the UFC card. I love watching tournaments, and this lightweight one should be a ripper. Apart from the Grand Prix final, we also have ‘Kid’ Yamamoto fighting for the first time (I think?) as a featherweight. Considering how dominant he’s been at higher weight classes, he should be manhandling these smaller fighters. I’d love to see a fight between him and Urijah Faber.

The Lightweight Grand Prix is very interesting. All things being fair (by that I mean no one gets injured or anything too damaging in the first round of matches) then I think Shinya Aoki would beat the other three guys pretty comfortably. However, Caol Uno is no push over and will make a real fight of this. If anyone is going to beat Aoki I think it’ll be Uno. Uno has the wrestling to keep the fight standing and the stand-up to punish Aoki if he’s too aggressive with his takedowns. Add to that his excellent knowledge of submissions and in particular his great submission defence and Aoki is in for a tough night. However, Aoki is an absolute freak and should be able to get this fight to the ground in some way. If he can get on top and pass Uno’s guard, he should be able to end this fight. I wouldn’t be surprised if Uno kept Aoki off the ground and punished him with kicks en route to a decision victory.

The Alvarez-Kawajiri fight is also interesting. Both guys have good wrestling and will be dangerous if they get on top, especially Alvarez who has huge power in his hands. My pick in this fight is Alvarez because he has the better stand-up. His boxing is excellent for a mixed martial artist, and his wrestling ability should keep the fight standing. If Kawajiri gets on top, I think Alvarez will have a hard time shifting him. The smart fight for Alvarez would be to keep this fight standing and to punish Kawajiri for his takedown attempts which I think he will do. I think Alvarez will knock Kawajiri out sometime in the first round (remember DREAM uses the old PRIDE system of one 10 minute round followed by one five minute round) after wearing him down with effective sprawls and heavy punches.

As for the final, I’m picking Alvarez to win this tournament for two reasons. First of all, I think if Uno upsets Aoki, then Alvarez will have an easy nights work with him. Uno will struggle to get the fight to the ground and won’t be able to handle Alvarez’s boxing ability. Secondly, should Aoki get through Uno (which he should) I feel Alvarez will be the fresher of the two fighters and be able to avoid Aoki’s attempts to get this fight to the ground and beat Aoki over the distance. Not only is Kawajiri a better opponent for Alvarez (compared to Uno for Aoki), but Aoki’s two fights in the earlier DREAM events against Gesias Calvacanti I believe will take their toll on Aoki’s body enough that two fights in one night will be too much to ask for him. That being said, Aoki is one of my favourites so I’ll be cheering for him come Monday night.

UFC: Silva vs Irvin Predictions

I love it that the UFC responded in this fashion. Even though I won’t be watching this show live or anything, the UFC putting this show on is great for the fans and also great for Anderson Silva. I’m a big fan of champions having keep busy fights at higher weight classes. Considering how quickly this card was put together, this is a pretty good card, although it’s no where near as good as the Affliction: Banned event. If I had the choice between paying to watch Affliction and watching this for free, I’d pay for Affliction. This isn’t just some no name brand putting on a decent show with unknown fighters. Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia, Andre Arlovski and Josh Barnett (just to name a few) ate great fighters and the card rivals any UFC Pay Per View. Anyway, onto the fights.

James Irvin vs Anderson Silva
Prediction- Silva by 1st round knockout
Anderson Silva is the pound for pound best fighter in the World. There’s a couple of guys who are close to him, but as far as I’m concerned if you don’t agree with me on this then there’s something wrong with you. Anyone who can destroy the number two and three fighters in their respective weight class in the manner that Silva did (not to mention Henderson was also a top 5 205lber) has to be the top guy. Penn and GSP have both been dominant recently, but they haven’t been as dominant as this guy.
Silva should knock Irvin out, and he should do it pretty easily. Irvin is the hardest puncher that ‘The Spider’ would have faced, but Silva is going to make him look like he’s fighting underwater. Silva should dominate the stand-up with his awesome variety of knees, kicks, elbows and punches, and if Irvin gets the fight to the ground I think Silva will submit him. I’ll be surprised if this fight goes past the first five minutes.

Frankie Edgar vs Hermes Franca
Prediction- Edgar on points
I like Franca, I’ve always been a big fan of his, but traditionally he’s had trouble with really good wrestlers and that’s what Edgar is. Edgar should be able to keep this fight on the ground and avoid Franca’s crazy submission attempts. The longer this fight goes, the less chance I give to Franca. If the fight stays standing I think Franca has a chance at catching Edgar and knocking him out. In fact, despite being known for his BJJ, I think Franca’s best chance in this fight is standing up. Edgar shouldn’t have any problems taking Hermes down and if he keeps it standing he’s playing with fire as Franca has awesome power in his right hand.

Reese Andy vs Brandon Vera
Prediction- Vera by 1st round knockout
There’s no way Vera is losing three in a row, especially when the third guy is Reese Andy.

Kevin Burns vs Anthony Johnson
Prediction- Johnson by 2nd round knockout
Despite submitting Carneiro, I don’t think Burns will be around in the UFC too long. I could very well be wrong and I’m sticking my neck out here, but I think Johnson will batter him.

CB Dollaway vs Jesse Taylor
Prediction- Dollaway on points
Both guys have a lot to prove here. I think Dollaway’s wrestling will be the deciding factor. I think this fight could end early as well if Taylor is as bad off his back as I suspect he is as Dollaway’s submissions are goog as are his strikes from on top. I also give the edge to Dollaway in the stand-up. My impression of Jesse Taylor is that he wins a lot of his fights through his physical strength, and that won’t work on someone like Dollaway. Taylor should be in peak condition and I think he’ll survive the three rounds, but lose comfortably.

Jake O’Brien vs Cain Velasquez
Prediction- O’Brien on points
I hate Jake O’Brien. Fighters like him (often referred to as blankets) are exactly like John Ruiz in boxing (for those of you who don’t know, Ruiz held part of the Heavyweight Boxing title through hitting someone then wrestling them before they punch back). I prefer to watch fighters who actually try and inflict damage on their opponents (ie actually fight) rather then ride out a decision win because they’re afraid of what their opponent can do. In saying that, I can’t see Velasquez stopping O’Briens takedowns. Hopefully the ref stands the fighters up repeatedly (I usually hate stand-ups, but its fighters like these that make them necessary) so Velasquez has a chance at chinning O’Brien.

Tim Credeur vs Cale Yarborough
Prediction- Credeur by submission 1st round
My pick hasn’t changed since these two were scheduled to fight on TUF7 Finale. I don’t rate Yarborough at all, Creduer to get on top and finish him with whatever he feels like.

Besides these fights, the UFC is giving a few guys their UFC debut on the preliminary show. I can’t recall having seen any of these so I won’t predict any of those fights. Many of them are ex IFL guys which adds support to a rumour that the UFC is going to purchase the IFL.

Affliction: Banned Predictions

I’m really looking forward to this event! This has to easily be the single greatest event (on paper) that isn’t either a PRIDE or UFC event. Fedor vs Sylvia puts two of the top five heavyweight fighters in the world against each other, plus the undercard has a number of top fighters on it. Arlovski vs Rothwell is a great fight, as is the Barnett vs Rizzo rematch. Big props to Main Event for showing this fight to Australian fans, and I don’t even care that this is Pay Per View because the main event alone is worth the price! Anyway, onto the fights.

Main Card
Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia
(WAMMA Heavyweight Title)
Prediction- Emelianenko by 2nd round submission
A lot of people (especially American fans who have only seen American promotions) are yet to see the phenom that is Fedor Emelianenko. I’ve seen all but 2 or 3 of his fights, this guy is for real! His stand-up is explosive (although sometimes not overly technical), his takedowns are up there with the very best in MMA, he has the best top game out of any fighter I’ve ever seen, and he has nasty submissions and in my opinion the best sweeps from his back out of anyone in MMA.
However, I give a slight edge to Sylvia in the stand-up because of his reach. Fedor is yet to fight someone this tall with the takedown defence Sylvia has. In saying that though, Fedor will only need one takedown to win this fight. He’ll either pound Sylvia unconscious or pass his non-existant guard and end the fight with an arm lock. I’m not convinced Sylvia can keep the fight standing for 25 minutes when lesser wrestlers have gotten him down easier. If Fedor gets on top once in this fight and has a minute to work with he’ll end the fight. In saying that, I’m not 100% confident that Fedor wins this fight. His lack of quality opposition in recent years as well as Sylvia’s awkward style gives Big Tim a chance in this one, but I’m convinced Fedor will be at his best and he’ll announce his presence in the USA with a dominating display. I’ll be interested to hear Dana White’s comments on Fedor after he destroys Sylvia.

Andrei Arlovski vs Ben Rothwell
Prediction- Arlovski by 1st round knockout
Arlovski hasn’t looked himself in his last few fights, but I think that has more to do with his opponents then his skills. In his last three fights he’s fought two pure BJJ fighters who had an inability to get the fight to the ground which made Arlovski look bad, and a wrestler who does nothing but lie on people until the final bell rings. Rothwell will stand-up and fight with Arlovski and it should be an entertaining fight. Rothwell has dangerous stand-up, but I think he’ll have a lot of trouble with Arlovski’s speed. I don’t think this fight will go a round whichever way it goes, but I think Arlovski will use speed and angles and punch holes in Rothwell, knocking him out in the first.

Josh Barnett vs Pedro Rizzo
Prediction- Barnett on points
This fight is a rematch of a UFC 30 fight that was a war. In that fight both fighters exchanged heavy punches until Rizzo knocked Barnett out with a pair of right hands in the 2nd round. Since that fight both guys have gone in different directions. Rizzo suffered two losses to Randy Couture for the UFC title and has been inconsistent since, while Barnett beat Couture (he later tested positive for steroids and was stripped of the title) and then went on to have a successful PRIDE career. Barnett should win this fight, he’s the more consistent fighter and has improved a lot since their 2001 fight. I think Barnett will give as good as he gets in the stand-up and control the ground fighting, winning a clear unanimous decision.

Matt Lindland vs Fabio Negao
Prediction- Lindland on points
I’m not sure why this fight made the main card, there’s three better fights on the preliminaries involving bigger names in the sport. Matt Lindland is boring and I’m not sure he has any friends either. I hope Negao beats him but I doubt it, Lindland to win with lay and prey.

Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral vs Mike Whitehead
Prediction- Sobral on points
This should be a good fight, and will really test where Mike Whitehead is as a fighter. I was a big Babalu fan but his antics at UFC 74 turned me off him a bit. Babalu has a big edge in submissions and striking, but Whitehead is the better wrestler of the two and thats where I think he could give Babalu trouble. However, Babalu is also a good wrestler and should be able to control where the fight goes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a finish in this fight, but I think it will probably go the distance with Babalu winning clearly.

Preliminary Fights

Paul Buentello vs Aleksander Emelianenko
Prediction- Emelianenko by 1st round knockout
Aleksander should take him apart. Once he finds his range in this one Buentello will be reduced to a punching bag. Buentello has a strong punchers chance in this fight, but Aleksanders game is on a different level. Aleksander to kick Buentellos legs out from under him and end the fight towards the end of the first round with some strong punches.

Edwin Dewees vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Prediction- Nogueira by 1st round submission
I would have preferred to see Vernon White in this fight because he at least has the size to compete with Little Nog. Dewees has been submitted by smaller guys in the past, and those guys aren’t anywhere near as technical as Nogueira is. This fight will be like the Dan Henderson-Big Nogueira rematch without the submission defence.

Vitor Belfort vs Terry Martin
Prediction- Belfort by 1st round knockout
Both fighters have had some real highlight reel knockouts in the past. Belfort has spectacularily knocked out Tank Abbott, Tra Telligman, Wanderlei Silva and Marvin Eastman just to name a few. The trouble that Terry Martin has is that he’s always the one getting knocked out in the highlight reel. I expect this to be no different. Belfort to come out with hands blazing and catch Martin inside the first few minutes. However, if Martin can impose his wrestling on Belfort we could see sad Vitor come out and do all he can to survive a storm of nothing.

Mark Hominick vs Savant Young
Prediction- Hominick by 1st round knockout
I’ll admit, I don’t know anything about Young. My rule with predicting unknown fighters though is never expect too much out of them. Hominick to go through Young pretty quickly.

JJ Ambrose vs Mike Pyle
Prediction- Pyle by 2nd round submission
I always like a battle of submission guys (as long as it doesn’t end up being decided on the feet). Pyle should be too experienced, and I think he will catch Ambrose with a rear naked choke in the second round.

Justin Levens vs Ray Lizama
Prediction- Levens on points
Two guys on losing streaks. Levens has been in with the much better opposition despite a five fight losing streak, so I’m picking him based on that.

Boxing back on Free to Air in Australia

In three hours time, Australian free to air channel ‘Channel Ten’ will show Wladimir Klitschko defending his two heavyweight belts against Tony Thompson live. This is the first time since (well this is coming from a pretty unreliable source) Jesse Ferguson challenged Riddick Bowe for the title back in 1993 that a free to air Australian TV channel has shown a live Heavyweight title fight. Even though this fight is a total mismatch, this is a huge step in the right direction for Australian boxing. If enough people watch this fight, channel Ten will show more of these, which will lead Seven and Nine to rival Ten meaning we will get more boxing on free to air.

Anyway, I think Klitschko goes through Thompson pretyy quickly. I’m not going to totally rule anyone out against Wladimir Klitschko because he’s always been shaky around the whiskers, but I think Thompson will have to catch Klitschko on an off night to win this fight. Klitschko will start slow, but once that left hook finds it’s mark it’ll be a matter of time before Thompson goes to sleep. Klitschko to win by fourth round knockout.

Scoring the Rampage vs Griffin fight

I really don’t get other fight fans sometimes. They always find something to bitch about. On Sunday afternoon (Saturday night for anyone not in Australia) we had the greatest UFC Light Heavyweight Championship fight of all-time. It was an incredible back and forth fight that went down to the wire and could have gone either way. I wanted Rampage to win as well, I thought the fight was a draw, but it seems people can’t just appreciate the fight. Instead they’re off bitching about the fight being fixed and Dana White fixing the fight so one of his Ultimate Fighter winners gets to win a title. Griffin was the busier fighter, from the angles we had on TV you could see he was missing a lot of his punches, but if you saw him throwing all those punches with his back facing you and Rampage not responding then theres no way to really see it is there?

I scored round one to Rampage 10-9. Griffin was in control of the round up until he got dropped, but he wasn’t dominating it. Rampage kept the round close with a few solid combinations. Add a knockdown to those combinations he landed and theres no other way to score this round but 10-9 to Rampage. Some idiots (and yes you people are idiots) think he deserved a 10-8 round for the knockdown. This isn’t boxing, this is MMA. Forrest didn’t take an 8 count, he survived and probably won three minutes of the round. To score a 10-8 round you have to dominate the round, Rampage didn’t dominate. However, theres no way Forrest did enough to overcome the knockdown. Round one is easy to score, it was 10-9 to Rampage

Round two is one of the rounds that could turn the fight. There’s no question who won the round. Forrest hurt Rampage badly with the leg kick and then dominated him on the ground by mounting him and it looked like Griffin was going to stop Rampage. You could score this round 10-8 because Forrest won every second of the round and won a lot of it big. You could also argue that Rampage didn’t take serious damage and score the round 10-9. I scored it 10-8 because I seriously thought Rampage was about to be stopped in that round. In saying that though, I have no problems with anyone who scored the round 10-9.

Round three is another round that determines how you score this fight. I scored round three for Rampage because Forrest really didn’t do a lot. I think this round could have gone either way because Rampage fought in spurts, but I felt his spurts were more effective then anything Forrest did in this round. Forrest didn’t land his leg kicks in this round, and he continued to punch air as he did throughout the whole fight. This round could have gone either way. So far I think the fight could be scored anywhere from 29-28 to Rampage to 29-27 for Forrest.

Round for I thought belonged to Rampage. He controlled the stand-up aspect of the fight and he controlled the ground fighting. Forrest did lock in a tight triangle but anything he scored for that move I thought was almost entirely matched by Rampages slam to get out of it. The omaplata wasn’t deep so it didn’t score. Forrest did well defending, but he didn’t do anything offensively apart from the triangle attempt. I don’t see any other way for this round to be scored other then 10-9 for Rampage.

Round five I scored for Griffin 10-9. Rampage really didn’t do much in this round and even though Forrest didn’t land much, he was the busier fighter. So, in my opinion anyway, this fight could be scored anywhere from 48-47 to Rampage to 48-46 for Forrest. This was a close fight, it could have gone either way. I have to say Adalaide Byrd is a retard and should be banned from judging for her effort. She scored every round differently from the way I did. I’m not saying that I’m 100% right, but some of the rounds were pretty clear cut. I think the main thing this fight illustrates is that the 10 point must system doesn’t work in MMA.

The 10 point must system is a scoring system designed for boxing. The main thing it does is it rewards fighters for knockdowns by giving them an extra point advantage in that round. In boxing, you can have 10-6 and 10-5 rounds although they are pretty rare, but the fact remains that you can have those sort of rounds. in MMA, you only ever see a 10-8 round unless there is a point deduction, which makes me ask why they use the system in the first place. One of the main reasons I love MMA is because everything that is wrong in boxing isn’t repeated in MMA, but I continually ask why they still use such a retarded scoring system, one that doesn’t even work that well in boxing.

Common sense would suggest that if Boxer A clearly wins five rounds of a fight and boxer B edges five rounds of a fight, then Boxer A should win. However, in boxing this fight would be scored a draw unless there was a knockdown or a point deduction. The 10 point must system scores winning a round as equal, even if you win that round by a small margin or by a large margin. In my opinion, if you win a round clearly you should score more then a boxer who wins a close round. I just think that it’s common sense. In MMA, you have less rounds which makes this scoring system even more useless, especially considering those rounds are longer.

The way I see the 10 point must system in MMA is if you manufactured the way the game of Cricket is scored so that you scored Baseball like that. Both sports are similar, but they’re also very different just the same as MMA and boxing. Boxing needs 10-8 and 10-7 rounds otherwise because of the knockdowns. In MMA you get to hit your opponent after you knock him down and try and finish him, there are no knockdowns, so again I ask why is a scoring system that is based around knockdowns used in a sport that doesn’t have knockdowns? A lot of the MMA organisations (especially the UFC) are trying to take over boxing as the number one combat sport in North America. I think by using a more effective scoring system then the 10 point must system (a scoring system that 50% of boxing fans don’t understand anyway), they would take a big step in achieving that result.

UFC 86 Predictions

If there by some chance is someone out there who does actually read this page, sorry for not putting anything up recently. I’ve been a little busy andsick and haven’t had time to put anything up. I was going to start putting fighter rankings up here once a month (that should start next month) but it needed more work then I had time to put in that work. I’ll also try and put up a re-cap of the Pacquiao mismatch last weekend and if I’m really bored the Geriatric Middleweight title fight that happened a few Tuesdays ago.

Right, onto the UFC. I’m really looking forward to this event. First of all the main event is between two guys I love to watch fight. I like both guys personalities, and both leave it all in the cage/ring every time they fight. But not only is the Rampage-Griffin fight great, the whole main card is full of fights that could on paper go either way. I’m really interested to see if Aurelio can submit Tyson Griffin andif Patrick Cote has learnt how to defend against submissions yet.

Main Card
Forrest Griffin vs Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson
(UFC World Light Heavyweight Championship)
Prediction- Rampage by 4th round knockout
I think this fight comes down to which Rampage shows up. Rampage has been inconsistent in the past and with the 9-10 month layoff there’s a chance that he doesn’t show up in the same form that saw him beat Liddell and Henderson last year. The one thing you can bet on in this fight is that Griffin will be there to fight hard for five rounds. If Rampage shows up, I think his physical strength will be the deciding factor. Rampage has better stand-up, but Forrest probably has the edge in terms of submission wrestling, although I can’t see how he will get on top of Rampage if Rampage fights at his best. I think over the course of the fight Rampage will be come more dominant and drop a very game Griffin in the 4th round before finishing the action packed fight off withground and pound.

Ricardo Almeida vs Patrick Cote
Prediction- Almeida by submission 1st round
I’m not yet convinced that Cote’s BJJ is up there enough where he’ll be able to handle a real world class guy like Almedia. There’s a reason the UFC is moving Almeida along quickly in his comeback, and it’s because he is a very dangerous man in a division where no one seems dangerous next to middleweight champion Anderson Silva. This fight is pretty simple. If Cote keeps it standing long enough he’ll eventually knock Almeida out. If Almeida gets the fight to the ground he’ll eventually submit Cote. I think Almeida’s standup is better then Cote’s grappling, and I think he’ll end this fight with an armbar pretty quickly, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Cote wins this fight by knockout quickly either.

Joe Stevenson vs Gleison Tibau
Prediction- Stevenson on Points
Another fight where I won’t be surprised to see either man win. I’m picking Stevenson because he’s more experienced at the very top level, and I think he’ll be out to prove something after being humiliated by BJPenn. This fight will probably be an excellent ground fight, andI think Stevenson has the edge on the ground and will be able to reach dominant positions and land some solid shots from on top. I’d probably give the edge in stand-up to Stevenson as well, but it’s a pretty good matchup. I’m mainly just picking Stevenson because he’s the more experienced guy, but I won’t be at all surprised if Tibau shuts him down and wins on points. I expect this fight to go three rounds either way.

Josh Koscheck vs Chris Lytle
Prediction- Koscheck on points
I’m very tempted to pick Lytle by knockout in this fight. Partly it’s because I don’t like Koscheck, but it’s mainly because Koscheck thinks he’s Chuck Liddell and might be stupid enough to outstrike Chris Lytle. Koscheck’s telegraphed windmill right hand might work on lesser strikers but it won’t work on Chris Lytle. First of all, Lytle has been boxing since the mid 90’s, and secondly, Lytle has an iron chin. If Koscheck fights stupid andstands with Lytle, sooner or later Lytlewill counter a windmill with a straight right and put his ‘Lytes’ out. If Koscheck fights smart and Koscheck’s Lytle he’ll win (by that I mean take him down and lie on him). I’m assuming Koscheck isn’t as stupid as he looks and he’ll use his wrestling and win this fight.

Marcus Aurelio vs Tyson Griffin
Prediction- Griffin on points
This fight is pretty even on paper, but I think Griffin’s wrestling will be the deciding factor in this fight. I don’t see how Aurelio will take Griffin down and I don’t see Aurelio submitting Griffin from his back. This should also be an action packed fight, but I think Griffin will control where the fight ends up and win on points from there. I think he has better stand-up then Aurelio, and he is the better wrestler out of the two of them. If Aurelio gets on top and passes Griffin’s guard I think he’ll submit Tyson (there aren’t too many guys I don’t think he’d submit from that position), but I don’t think he’ll get there.

Preliminary Card
Gabriel Gonzaga vs Justin McCully
Prediction- Gonzaga by submission 1st round
This fight will be a classic example of what happens when a fighter fights a wrestler. Gonzaga is the stronger man, has better stand-up, has better jiu-jitsu and might even have better wrestling. I think he’ll put McCully on his back, mount him and then arm bar him. However, he could put him on his back, and then punch him into unconsciousness. Or, he could keep the fight standing and then knock McCully out. Or, should McCully get him down, he might submit him from off his back. Basically, Gonzaga will manhandle him. The only way McCully wins this fight is if Gonzaga gasses out like he’s known to do, but I think his fitness will hold out until any resistance that McCully puts up is taken care of.

Jorge Gurgel vs Cole Miller
Prediction- Miller on points
I wouldn’t mind seeing this fight. I’m picking Miller because he has better stand-up and the jiu-jitsu and wrestling skills to keep Gurgel from gaining dominant positions. Gurgel is a warrior and he’ll come at Miller swinging, and as always with Gurgel he isn’t done til the fight is done, but I think Miller will pepper him with shots and keep Gurgel in his guard should he be put on his back, or shut down any offence Gurgel attempts off his back should the fight go there. I like Gurgel and I hope he wins, but I think Miller is more well-rounded and will take a close, but unanimous decision.

Melvin Guillard vs Denis Siver
Prediction- Siver by submission 2nd round
I hate Melvin Guillard. He doesn’t belong in the UFC and this prediction is as much me hoping Guillard gets smashed out of hatred towards the biggest gobshite on Earth as it is me thinking that he will actually get beaten. Guillard has good power, no submission defence and not much cardio. If Siver gets past the early onslaught he’ll take Guillard to the cleaners; choking him out in the 2nd round.

Corey Hill vs Justin Buchholz
Prediction- Hill by 2nd round Knockout
Hills take down defence to be the deciding factor in this fight. He’ll ’sprawl and brawl’ using his reach to land big shots until Buchholz can’t take anymore punishment and is knocked out.