UFC 101 Predictions/Site Update

Apologies for the lack of, well, anything this month so far. I’ve been extremely busy and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. I’ll still be covering the big events as much as possible and I’ll do a recap of anything recent in those.

Now, Fedor…. I think it could have been a lot worse (Fedor signed with Strikeforce, not the UFC) but I’d definately have preferred him in the UFC. Overeem has the potential to be a challenge although I think he gets submitted once it goes to the ground. Rogers probably has the best chance but I think he’ll also be taken out once it hits the ground and Werdum will probably go the distance while in survival mode with Fedor not risking going to the ground with him. Some Indian fighter won the K-1 qualifier and will be making up the numbers at the Final 16. Manhoef and Lazceno will take part in this weekends qualifier. That’s about it off the top of my head.

UFC 101 now and it’s a ripper of a card with two quality lead fights and three good fights supporting it. I think Florian has a real chance in this fight. His thai boxing skills are something Penn hasn’t come across and his BJJ is also good although I think Florian will want to avoid fighting from his back. If this fight goes past the 2nd round I think Florian can pull it out, but I think Penn will win the fight mainly through heavy right hands on the feet and ground and pound once he gets on top. Florian will be game but I think Penn stops him in the 2nd or 3rd from either ground and pound or a rear naked choke.

Silva-Griffin is also an interesting fight. Griffin is a big guy with an excellent workrate and heavy kicks. His boxing sucks as he arm punches and slaps a lot and doesn’t do much damage and contrary to popular belief his chin isn’t good although he’s extremely durable to constant punishment as long as the guy isn’t a world class striker. Silva unfortunately is and he’s also extremely fast. I think this will be a blowout with Silva doing a number on Griffin in the first two minutes. It’ll be really interesting if the fight goes past the first round how Silva handles someone like Griffin pushing the pace on him.

Full picks: Penn by 3rd round sub
Silva by 1st round KO
Grove on points
Sadollah by 2nd round KO
Pellegrino on points
Leites by 1st round sub
Riley on points
McCrory on points
Sotiropolous by 2nd round sub
Riddle on points
Lennox by 1st round KO

UFC 101: Penn vs Florian, Griffin vs Silva

Most MMA fans knew anyway, but the two main fights for UFC 101 in Philadelphia on August 8th were going to be the Lightweight Championship match between BJ Penn and Kenny Florian as well as an intriguing Light Heavyweight clash between former champion Forrest Griffin and Thiago Silva. The UFC officially announced the signing of both fights, and it was only then did it come as a surprise that it wouldn’t be Thiago Silva that Griffin would face, but instead Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva would again venture up to the 205lb ranks to this time take on one of the top fighters.

Forrest Griffin vs Anderson Silva is one hell of a matchup. The two things that Griffin bring are his size and his workrate and I’m curious to see how Anderson deals with it. The way I think he’ll deal with it is by knocking Griffin out in the first round of the fight, but what if he doesn’t? I’m expecting Silva to rise to the occasion as he has done in the past when presented with a serious challenge (and no, Patrick Cote and Thales Leites weren’t serious challenges for Silva) like when he fought Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson. The fact remains that Griffin is a big dude with good skills and his cardio is probably second to none, and should be not be slaughtered in the opening moments of this fight he could smother Silva with his workrate as he’s done to opponents before.

As for the title clash, I just hope Penn is in shape because if he isn’t he’s going to be in for a rude awakening. I think one of two things are going to happen in this fight. Either Penn has not mentally recovered from the loss to St Pierre and will train poorly as he’s done in the past and take a beating from Florian or he’ll be extra motivated for this fight in which case I see him winning but by late stoppage or submission after a tough fight with Florian. I really hope he trains hard for this one because him and Florian will be a dynamic matchup between two well rounded fighters which could end up being the war that Penn had with Pulver in their first fight.

One other note, it appears that Keith Jardine will instead face Thiago Silva, but at UFC 102 later in August which is likely to be headlined by Nogueira vs Couture.