Fifty Greatest Fights in UFC History Part 2/5

40- Thiago Alves stoppage (2nd) Chris Lytle (UFC 78)
This fight had the potential to be higher had the doctor not come up with a bullshit stoppage. Alves and Lytle engaged in a stand-up war that saw a trade of knockdowns in the opening round with Lytle going down first before he knocked Alves down later in the round and began dominating with his hands. In the 2nd round Alves landed numerous heavy low kicks that were starting to slow Lytle, but “Lights Out” was still landing his punches and after a close 2nd round that could have gone either way may have just needed to survive. However, the doctor stopped the fight between rounds due to a cut over Lytle’s eye that put a damper on what was the only good fight of the ’Validation’ card.

39- Randy Couture knockout (8:17) Vitor Belfort (UFC 15)
The fight that made Randy Couture famous in the UFC. Taking on the seeminly invincible Vitor Belfort, Couture showed the tactical ability, heart and determination that would take him to three Heavyweight championships and two Light Heavyweight championships in years to come. After taking Belfort down early, Couture began to rough Vitor up with his now famous dirty boxing and land heavy shots from the single collar tie. After several minutes of fast paced action, Belfort slowed allowing Couture to pin him against the fence and finish him with strikes on the ground.

38- Matt Hughes knockout (2nd) Carlos Newton (UFC 34)
One of the most controversial endings in UFC history. Did Hughes slam Newton intentionally or did he fall because Newton choked him unconscious? For those of you who haven’t seen it, in the 2nd round Newton secured a triangle choke and Hughes’ defence was to stand. At some point Hughes, whether intentionally or not, slammed Newton on his head and knocked him out. The controversy came when Hughes was unaware of how the fight ended, making people wonder whether or not he consciously slammed Newton. Up until the ending the fight was great, with Hughes power against Newtons ground skills in what was a back and forth fight.

37- Kendall Grove unanimous decision Ed Herman (TUF 3 Finale)
One of the many great finishes to a season of TUF. The season three Middleweight final between Team Ortiz fighter Kendall Grove and Team Shamrock fighter Ed Herman was a war. Herman dominated the first from on top, landing hard shots to Grove who was game in looking for submissions. Herman again got on top in the 2nd, but spent much of the round fighting a deep, deep triangle attempt from the lanky 6’6 Hawaiian. He finally escaped, but was now on the bottom and at the end of the 2nd round it was all up for grabs. Herman scored a takedown to start the 3rd and despite being exhausted, took Groves back and began pounding away. Grove scrambled on top after an armbar attempt and took Hermans back sinking in a deep rear naked choke in the final seconds. The bell sounded with Herman nearly out and the choke was enough to swing the fight in Groves favour. Dana White awarded both men a six figure contract and I’ve been waiting to see a rematch of this fight ever since.

36- Josh Barnett knockout (2nd) Randy Couture (UFC 36)
Barnett ended Couture’s 7-0 run in the UFC with a shocking comeback win in the 2nd round of their Heavyweight title clash. After dishing out punishment upon punishment in the opening round that was surely a 10-8 for Couture, he again took ‘The Baby faced Assassin’ down and began to punish him in the 2nd round. Barnett though showed his toughness and managed to get on top and at this stage Couture was exhausted. Barnett proceeded to finish the job and become UFC heavyweight champion. The fight was controversial in that Barnett then tested positive for steroids and was stripped of the title.

35- Tim Sylvia knockout (1st) Andrei Arlovski (UFC 59)
As with the previous fight, this was another dramatic and sudden turnaround, but even more so. Arlovski appeared to be having his way with Sylvia after dropping him with a right hand, much like he did in their first fight at UFC 51 where he dropped him and then submitted him with an ankle lock. Sylvia this time rose quickly and although he was on shaky legs the fight was far from out of him. Arlovski rushed in to finish him only to eat a well timed uppercut that dropped him and Sylvia finished him off with solid ground and pound. The ending was truly breathtaking and probably as close a finish to the Corrales-Castillo fight you’re likely to see in MMA.

34- Roger Huerta unanimous decision Leonard Garcia (UFC 69)
Yeah it was a little one sided but Garcia was game as hell and made it exciting all the way. Huerta manhandled the smaller man for much of the fight, but Garcia repeatedly fought back and made for a very entertaining fight. it’s one of those fights that truly shows off the Lightweight divisions exciting battles as they kept up a pace that would drown a welterweight for the entire three rounds. The fight would have been higher had Huerta not dominated so much.

33- Randy Couture knockout (3rd) Pedro Rizzo (UFC 34)
After the razor thin decision went Coutures way in their first fight, both guys were out to make it clear cut in the rematch. Couture’s improved stand-up in the rematch was the difference and he stood up with Rizzo, landing leg kicks to the leg kick master. The two mostly kick boxed for the first two rounds and Couture appeared to get the better of it. In the third round sensing that Rizzo was tired, Couture took it to the mat and finished it quickly with a barrage of strikes.

32- Georges St Pierre split decision BJ Penn (UFC 58)
The first fight between these two pound for pound combatants wasn’t as controversial as the 2nd (well if you ask me it was because the rematch wasn’t controversial at all) but it was a better fight. Penn, the undefeated UFC Welterweight champion who left the organisation was making his comeback to the UFC and was pitted against the fast rising St Pierre who’s only loss was against Matt Hughes for the title. Penn lit GSP up in the opening round with his hands, landing repeatedly with sharp punches that cut GSP up and made his face look like a crimson mask. GSP showed his championship heart and came back, using his superior strength and conditioning to outwork Penn in a hard fought round two before dominating him on top in the 3rd round to take a split decision.

31- Evan Tanner knockout (1st) Phil Baroni (UFC 45)
This fight is again among the more controversial endings in UFC history. Well actually, Larry Landless just royally fucked up as a referee in this fight, but credit must go to Tanner for coming back from such adversity. Baroni rocked Tanner big time in the opening seconds, dropping him and landing a barrage of hard right hands that bloodied and dazed Tanner. Landless called time off and checked the cut on Tanner, and he had roughly a minute’s respite from the onslaught. When they resumed, Tanner got the clinch and landed repeated knees to Baroni’s body and Baroni was now the one who seemed to be fading. Tanner got a takedown, moved to mount and began to unleash repeated elbows to Baroni’s face. Baroni was sort of defending himself and with a minute remaining in the round it was hard to see how he would have survived, but Landless thought Baroni verbally submitted and stopped the fight. Baroni threw several strikes at Landless as a result and had to be restrained. The two had a rematch at UFC 48 with Tanner winning clearly on points.

See also:

Part 1 (41-50)

Shields and Diaz triumph in Strikeforce catchweight bouts

Welterweight champion of the now defunct EliteXC organisation Jake Shields today scored a first round submission victory over the Middleweight champion of the same organisation in the main event of todays Strikeforce card. Shields appeared to be struggling in the early goings as his inferior stand-up and wrestling skills left him on the end of some hard strikes and unable to get the fight to the mat where his world class submission skills could come into play. Midway through the round however he shot in for a takedown, then countered Lawler’s defence with a guillotine choke before pulling guard. Lawler stood up with Shields still wrapped around him before being brought back to the mat where he was forced to tap. The win solidifies what was already pretty solid in that Shields is one of the best 170lbers in the world even though this fight was fought at a catchweight of 182lbs. Shields however seems intent on fighting at least once more at 185 as he called out Strikeforce Middleweight champion Cung Le who hasn’t defended his title since winning it from Frank Shamrock last March.

On the undercard fellow Cesar Gracie fighter Nick Diaz scored a third round submission over Scott Smith in another catchweight bout. Diaz dominated the heavy handed Smith in the stand-up as he peppered him with repeated shots (when I say repeated, I’m talking 150-200 a round) scoring with heavy body punches and right hooks to the head. Smith had his moments in the first round but the 2nd round on was all Diaz and a flurry at the end of the round left Smith looking like a beaten fighter between rounds. Diaz didn’t let up in the third, battering Smith until he could take no more which resulted in a takedown attempt that fell short by a long way. Diaz routinely took Smiths back and showed his submission skills, tapping Smith out with a rear naked choke. Diaz looked like a seriously dangerous fighter again and it’s unfortunate that him and Shields are team mates as that would make for a terrific fight.

In a fight that shakes up the Heavyweight division big time, undefeated Brett Rogers added former UFC Heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski to his resume’ with a stunning 22 second knockout in the first round of their clash. After a brief trade of feints, Rogers backed Arlovski into the fence where he unleased four heavy bombs on the Belarussian’s chin that left Arlovski out on all fours. With the win, Rogers moves to 10-0 with 9 knockouts and one submission (from strikes) with only one fight going to the 2nd round. The win sets Rogers up for a shot at Strikeforce Heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem and likely derails Arlovski’s boxing debut which was scheduled for the end of the month and also a possible rematch with WAMMA Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko would be unlikely without a decent return from Arlovski. Arlovski’s chin looks very suspect and I doubt he’d get anywhere in pro boxing where the guys he’s fighting are better trained to land punches to the face then most MMA fighters. With his athleticism I’m sure he’d score some wins and may do alright, but I’d be picking even a tough journeyman with a decent punch over him.

The other fights saw Joe Riggs score a unanimous decision over Phil Baroni and Mike Whitehead survive a third round knockdown to win a unanimous decision over former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman. In some other news, the highly anticipated women’s mega bout between Gina Carano and ‘Cyborg’ Santos is on for August 15th. I’m hoping they can at least fight five minute rounds even if it’s only three of them and surely this would have to be for some sort of championship bout. The undercard (or main event, not sure which is which yet) sees Josh Thomson defend his Strikeforce Lightweight title against Gilbert Melendez.

Strikeforce: Lawler vs Shields Predictions

 

Strikeforce has really emerged as one of the better promotions out there now. This card has some good talent and big names on it (well on the main card) and with no other MMA or any other combat sports on this weekend, it’ll make for good viewing. Headling the bout is a fight between EliteXC Welterweight and Middleweight champions Jake Shields and Robbie lawler at a catchweight of 183lbs. Why they didn’t just fight at 185 is beyond me, but the weight should make no difference as Lawler isn’t a huge 185lber having fought in the UFC at Welterweight early in his career. Also appearing on the card is former UFC Heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski against undefeated prospect Brett Rogers and another catchweight bout between Scott Smith and Nick Diaz, this one at 179lbs.

Robbie Lawler vs Jake Shields
Prediction- Lawler by 2nd round knockout
Not sure what to make of this fight, so I’m going with the bigger fighter with the better wrestling. Shields has among the best ground skills in MMA, but his stand-up sucks and that will be bad if he can’t get Lawler down. Lawler has serious power which makes up for a lot of his technical retardedness, but he also has solid wrestling abilities. If Shields gets Lawler on his back, I think he’ll submit him without too much of a struggle because he’s that good on top.

 Andrei Arlovski vs Brett Rogers
Predictions- Arlovski by 1st round knockout
I doubt this will be the war everyone expects it to be because they both hit too damn hard so I expect someone’s going to sleep in the first or second round. Arlovski’s boxing is the sharper of the two and while Rogers has serious power, I think Arlovski will chop him down with leg kicks and land that big right hand over and over again until Rogers goes down. The thing I’m worried about being an Arlovski fan is that historically his losses have come in twos. He lost back-to-back to Rodriguez and Rizzo, and then again to Sylvia twice. It could be nothing, or it could be a big confidence thing that a hungry undefeated guy waiting for his chance could take advantage of.

Nick Diaz vs Scott Smith
Prediction- Diaz by 1st round submission
While Smith is an incredibly tough dude as well as the bigger guy in this fight, his ground game has always sucked. Diaz has excellent hands and I think he’ll be able to hang with Smith standing up long enough to take it to the ground where I think he’ll make quick work of Smith.

Phil Baroni vs Joe Riggs
Prediction- Riggs on points
This could be a war until Baroni gasses. Baroni hates everyone he fights and Riggs isn’t the most respectful character out there so I think these two will stand in the middle of the cage and bang with each other. Riggs though has the much better cardio as well as ground skills and maybe even stand-up, although I’d favour Baroni there because of his power. Baroni’s tough and doesn’t give up though, so I think this one will go three rounds.

Kevin Randleman vs Mike Whitehead
Prediction- Whitehead by 1st round submission
I’m looking forward to Randlemans return because I don’t like him and I think Whitehead will destroy him. Randleman has to be the most boring MMA champ ever and the shit that he talks just irritates me. Whitehead will have better wrestling, stand-up and submissions and I think he’ll get the takedown after a bit of effort, pass the non existant Randleman guard and submit him with either a kimura or a rear naked choke.

Arlovski vs Rogers completes Strikeforce: Lawler vs Shields

A Heavyweight clash between top five contender Andrei Arlovski and undefeated prospect Brett Rogers will be the final fight on the main card of the June 6 Strikeforce: Lawler vs Shields event. With the catchweight bout between EliteXC welterweight and middleweight champions headlining the event and the inclusion of this fight to an already decent undercard, this looks to be one of the top non UFC cards in recent memory. Also appearing on the card is Nick Diaz, fresh off his TKO victory over Frank Shamrock, facing up against the always entertaining Scott Smith. Bouts between former UFC Heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman and Mike Whitehead and former UFC contenders Joe Riggs and Phil Baroni rounds out the main card of this event.

Arlovski was set to make his professional boxing debut on the undercard of the Victor Ortiz-Marcos Maidana pay per view, but that fight looks to be on hold pending the outcome of his fight with Rogers. As much as I would like to see how Arlovski did inside the ring with 10oz gloves on, I think his home is MMA and there’s far more entertaining matchups for him in this sport. Plus the fact that two of his biggest weapons (leg kicks and takedown defence) won’t be a factor in a boxing match and it makes me think that Arlovski’s boxing career would have been short lived anyway.

Brett Rogers is highly untested, but he’s done what any top fighter would do to his competition in blowing them out. Out of his 9 professional wins, all of them have ended via strikes and only one of them has gone into the 2nd round. The biggest name on his record is a win over James Thompson, who is most famous for his fight with Kimbo Slice in the first nationally televised main event in MMA history. Arlovski stands as a huge step up in competition for the 28 year old in a fight that should prove to be an exciting stand-up battle while it lasts.

Fedor KOs Arlovski at Day of Reckoning

Fedor Emelianenko KO1 (punch) Andre Arlovski
Fedor Emelianenko won again over another top ranked opponent, knocking Andrei Arlovski out in the first round of their fight for Fedor’s WAMMA Heavyweight title. Arlovski was getting the better of the fight, using a solid one-two combination as well as hard leg kicks and front kicks which kept the former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion off balance throughout the contest. Fedor looked to be strung on a couple of occasions by Arlovski’s power but recovered quickly and fought back. Arlovski was also showing good takedown defence, avoiding going to the mat when the Sambo expert got a hold of him.
However as many other fighters have found, Fedor’s well rounded skills and patience proved Arlovski’s undoing and the one time Arlovski made a mistake Fedor ended the fight suddenly. Arlovski backed Fedor into a corner with a front kick and a right hand and then jumped in with a flying knee only to be caught in mid-air by a short overhand right and knocked unconscious. In a fight that lasted 3 minutes 14 seconds, Arlovski controlled probably 3:10 of that time and yet those few seconds is all that Fedor needed to end matters.
While Fedor did look human in this fight, Arlovski is one of the top fighters in the World and would likely destroy every Heavyweight in the UFC. The way to beating Fedor seems to be standing up but the thing is, no one has the sharp skills Arlovski has on his feet plus the wrestling skills and ground skills to keep Fedor from taking him down. It’s pick your poison with Fedor as he has more then enough stand-up skills to hang with 99% of the World’s Heavyweights and the ground skills to handle probably any of them, plus the takedowns and takedown defence to control where the fight goes. Lesnar is way too green and makes too many mistakes that a true Heavyweight with Fedor’s skills will capitilise on. Mir could catch Fedor on the ground but would likely be knocked out before he got the fight there. Fedor’s next opponent looks to be Josh Barnett and I don’t give Barnett much of a chance at all. His ground game is good, but it’s not at the level where he can catch someone like Fedor. Anyone not giving this guy his props right now is a fucking moron!

Josh Barnett Sub3 (strikes) Gilbert Yvel
Sure he got the job done, but this was a seriously bad performance from Barnett. His ground game just looked sloppy, period. His punches didn’t look to be as devastating as some of the other fighters we see who get to the same positions and his submissions were slow enough for ever Gilbert Yvel to get out of. Barnett has to get back on form or improve if that’s all he’s capable of if he’s going to be fighting Fedor next.

Vitor Belfort KO1 (punches) Matt Lindland
Wow! Vitor of old comes back (for now anyway). He blitzed Lindland in the same fashion he blitzed Wanderlei Silva and Martin Eastman and Tank Abbott and the likes those years ago. Lindland was out for a while and it was good to see him leave on his feet under his own control. A knockout like that is a potential career ender especially for a fighter in his late 30′s like Lindland. Vitor though, what a way to crack into the Middleweight elite. Lindland had a lot of hype at Middleweight as one of the top dogs even though he’s been relatively inactive so this is a huge win for Vitor. Rumour has it his Affliction contract has expired and the UFC is in need of top Middleweights. I’d definately be hyped for Belfort-Anderson Silva. Vitor’s never been knocked out before, so it’ll be interesting to see how that fight would go. Unlike Patrick Cote’ who just had a punchers chance, Vitor has that plus a BJJ black belt. Even though his heart can be questioned at times, Vitor’s as dangerous a challenger as anyone out there for Anderson Silva at 185lbs.

Renato Babalu Sub2 (Anaconda Choke) Sokoudjou
Sokoudjou looked good early, but gassed out bad and Babalu is not someone you want on top of you know matter who you are. I would really like to see Babalu vs Little Nogueira now as they seem to be the top two 205lbers outside of the UFC. Babalu took some good shots but didn’t get discouraged and finished the fight with a slick choke as we’ve seen him do before. It was also good to see him let the choke go after Sokoudjou tapped.

Antonio Rogerio ‘Little’ Nogueira KO2 (knee) Vladimir Matyushenko
Matyushenko surprised everyone including Nogueira by trying to box and he didn’t look too bad. Nogueira seemed tentative when it came to answering back thinking Matyushenko was just trying to get him to open up so he could take him down. The worst thing Matyushenko did was hurt and cut Nogueira because once he did that, Nogueira opened up and things got bad for Matyushenko. He got hurt with a solid knee to the midsection and then one to the head finished him off. The fight was strange as it was a mixture of really bad and really good.

Other Results
Dan Lauzon Sub1 (Rear Naked Choke) Bobby Green
Jay Hieron TKO1 (strikes) Jason High
Paul Buentello TKO3 Kirill Sidelnikov
LC Davis UD3 Bao Quach
Alberto Rios UD3 Antonio Duarte
Brett Cooper KO2 (punch) Patrick Speight

Thoughts
I’d love for Affliction to be able to stay around because, even though its not the UFC, it’s good to get something different with quality fights on it from time to time. Even if they just put a show on 2-3 times a year when Fedor fights I don’t care. Affliction is about the only way we’ll see Fedor in legitimate fights and they’ve delivered Sylvia and Arlovski, the two best UFC Heavyweights for a period of time already. Those two fights are among the biggest Heavyweight fights in MMA history. I hope there’s a third show, but if they do close down I hope Fedor and the UFC can come to terms so he can prove to everyone (well not everyone because there’s some morons out there) that he is the best MMA Heavyweight of all-time.

Affliction: Day of Reckoning Predictions

For the second time in what will be a little over a week, MMA fans are treated to a matchup that was talked about for years. After the UFC put on the fight between their former Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin and PRIDES former Champion at the same weight limit Dan Henderson at their event on the weekend, Affliction returns with their long awaited ‘Day of Reckoning’ show and pits the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion against a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko will put his title on the line against Andre ‘The Pitbull’ Arlovski in yet another quality main event from Affliction. The undercard also stacks up nicely with Josh Barnett taking on MMA’s bad boy Gilbert Yvel, a very interesting middleweight fight between Matt Lindland and Vitor Belfort as well as a battle between former UFC Light Heavyweight title challenger Renato Babalu and Sokoudjou in a fight that’s sure to produce fireworks.

Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski
The Arlovski-Fedor fight is definately one to look out for. Back in 2005 Arlovski was the UFC’s top Heavyweight having knocked down and then submitted Tim Sylvia in under a minute (much the same way Fedor did last year) with an ankle lock at UFC 51. Fedor as well was coming off arguably the biggest win over his career, a hard fought unanimous decision win over Mirko Cro Cop back when Cro Cop was the dangerous mother fucker that he used to be. It was only natural that talk about which organisations Heavyweight champion was truly the best and even though Arlovski since suffered back-to-back losses against Sylvia at UFC 59 and 61, he’s coming into this fight with five victories over quality opposition. A decision win over Fabricio Werdum as well as knockout wins over Ben Rothwell, Jake O’Brien and Roy Nelson have Arlovski right back up the top of the Heavyweight rankings.
I really think that out of anyone, Arlovski has the best chance at beating Fedor. I personally think Arlovski would crush both Lesnar and Mir and that with his skill set he poses the biggest threat to Emelianenko. With his crisp combination punching and brutal leg kicks as well as dangerous knees from the clinch, the thing that makes me think Arlovski could hang with Fedor is the fact that he himself was a World Champion in Sambo. Now this is MMA and not Sambo, but hear me out. Fedor catches a lot of guys with submissions they haven’t seen before because where someone like Demian Maia is a world class BJJ guy which is something that just about every MMA fighter knows, Fedor’s entire ground game is based off his Sambo and his set-ups are all different. With Arlovski’s background in Sambo he might have a better chance then most at surviving on the ground as he will have seen some of these moves before.
That being said, I really think Fedor will win this fight and win it inside two rounds. Arlovski’s ground game is suspect and it showed in his recent fights with Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson. Add to the fact that Fedor’s ground and pound is on a completely different level then anyone in MMA and I think any advantage Arlovski would have that other opponents don’t have will be taken away by the fact that his ground defence is very poor and as soon as Fedor opens his guard he’s going to punch Arlovski’s head through the mat. Arlovki’s boxing could very well pose Fedor some problems, but he’ll have to capitilise early while he is fresh and be careful because Fedor has more then enough power to drop him. I think Arlovski will do well standing up early in the fight but will get hurt at some stage and end up on his back. From there Fedor will soften him up with not very soft punches and end the fight with a kimura from side mount. Arlovski definately has a chance in this fight but I feel the longer the fight goes the better Fedor’s chances get as Arlovski has always had suspect durability. Fedor on the other hand is always in great physical condition despite him ‘looking like your Uncle on the way to the beach’- Frank Trigg. Fedor Emelianenko by 2nd round submission (kimura).

Josh Barnett vs Gilbert Yvel
Prediction- Barnett by 1st round submission
Basically Yvel has zero takedown defence and Barnett’s top game is brilliant. Yvel won’t land his knockout strike and will be on his back quickly and finished off not long after that. I don’t expect this fight to go past the two minute mark.

Renato Babalu vs Sokoudjou
Prediction- Sokoudjou by 1st round knockout
Sokoudjou has made a career out of knocking out Jiu Jitsu guys. He has seriously heavy hands and lets them go with bad intentions when his opponent has limited stand-up himself. This is another fight that I think will be over quickly. I think Sokoudjou will explode and land some big right hands early and finish Babalu off.

Vitor Belfort vs Matt Lindland
Prediction- Lindland on points
I can’t pick Belfort against anyone with any sort of determination. Vitor could explode and catch ‘The Law’ early in vintage Vitor form, but I think he’ll get taken down and roughed up a bit and resort to playing guard and holding on and riding out the decision win. Lindland’s wrestling will be too big of a factor in the same way that previous Team Quest fighters Randy Couture and Dan Henderson were able to defeat Vitor. Even with Couture in his corner I don’t think he’ll have improved his mental game to the point where he won’t resort back to his survival tactics when he can’t bully his opponent the way Vitor likes to.

Vladimir Matyushenko vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Prediction- Nogueira on points
Matyushenko will have some success with takedowns but I think Little Nog will control the stand-up and keep Matyushenko busy with his dangerous guard. The stand-up will be the key and while he doesn’t have a great deal of power, Little Nog has excellent technique and will pick Matyushenko apart and do enough damage to take a close but unanimous decision.

Chris Horodecki vs Dan Lauzon
Prediction- Lauzon by 2nd round knockout

Paul Buentello vs Kiril Sidelnikov
Prediction- Sidelnikov by 2nd round knockout

Jay Hieron vs Jason High
Prediction- Hieron by 1st round submission

LC Davis vs Bao Quach
Prediction- Davis by 2nd round submission

UFC 91: Lesnar defeats Couture, Florian whips Stevenson

I’ve put this off a bit, First of all I was busy and it was hard to get on here and write this up (mainly because Main Event are cocksuckers and put the fight on a working day so I only saw it yesterday and since then I’ve worked 16 of the last 36 hours and out of the other 20 I’ve slept eight, driven to and from work for about two, trained four which leaves six hours that doesn’t include eating, showering and jacking off (about a 1-1-4 ratio there)) and secondly I wasn’t exactly eager to get on here and write about how one of my most unfavourite fighters of all-time knocked out my favourite fighter who is still alive.

Brock Lesnar 2nd round knockout Randy Couture
Basically Lesnar proved what Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga should have but couldn’t do after Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez did a few years back, and that is that Randy Couture doesn’t belong at heavyweight. Couture’s a freak and a legendary fighter and like all legendary fighters weight doesn’t play as much of an impact as it should with guys like this, but there’s only so much you can give away before it becomes a factor. When you’ve got a 60lb weight disadvantage against a guy who comes from the same background as you, all of a sudden those mistakess you make with your stand-up and submission games need to not be there and that’s where Couture lost this fight. If Couture was better at jiu jitsu he would have taken Lesnar’s back in the scramble in the first round and likely choked him out and if his stand-up was better he would have taken a few more of the many many many openings Lesnar leaves in his stand-up and likely knocked him out. I thought Couture had those parts of his game up to the level where he could take advantage of those, but with 60lbs of weight against him it made those advantages he had over Brock that bit more even.
Despite the win, I’m not sold on Lesnar that much. He has a good one two and throws good knees (it was a knee that hurt Couture about 5 seconds before the right hand that dropped him) and is a big strong guy who will take people down who don’t have good wrestling, but he reminds me of Tito Ortiz at Light Heavyweight when he was dominating. As soon as someone has a good enough skill set with the style matchup to take some of Brocks physical advantages away they’ll beat him. If Nogueira isn’t too shopworn to beat Mir then I can’t see what Brock can do with him. I’d pick Gonzaga to tear Lesnar apart within five minutes if he shows the form he did in that fight. Don’t even get me started on what the Affliction trio (Fedor, Barnett and Arlovski) would do to that guy. Lesnar has way too many weaknesses to deal with a big man with good skills. That was the first time we’d seen him try and outwrestle someone who can wrestle and even with the extra weight, his takedowns were easily stuffed (except for one) by Couture and if Couture had the extra lbs on his frame, the fight wouldn’t have been a contest. Brock to be beaten within a year; within one defence if Nogueira isn’t upset by Mir.

Now onto the rest of the card, which quite frankly was top notch.

Kenny Florian 1st round submission (Rear Naked Choke) Joe Stevenson
And what a rear naked choke it was! Florian totally dominated the fight and proved beyond all doubts that first of all he is a better fighter then he was when Sean Sherk manhandled him two years ago, and secondly that he is the top contender to BJ Penns crown should Penn stay at 155lbs. I don’t think Florian will hang with Penn, but he could make a competitive fight out of it. Who knows as well, we haven’t seen Penn in a hard fight at 155lbs since the rematch with Caol Uno at UFC 39 so we’re still not sure how good Penn’s cardio is; if Florian doesnt get blown away early he could make it interesting.

Dustin Hazelett 1st round submission (Crazy Armbar/Omoplata thing) Tamdan McCrory
That was just sick in both the figurative and literal translations. If anyone just watched the main event or for what ever reason hasn’t seen this, go and see it. The only other thing that needs to be said about this fight is that Hazelett has the best bumfluff beard I’ve ever seen.

Gabriel Gonzaga 1st round knockout Josh Hendricks
Time for Gonzaga to have his competition stepped up I think. Cheick Kongo would be the perfect opponent for Gonzaga to put himself right back into the mix against, either him or Junior dos Santos. Hendricks should be fighting the likes of Eddie Sanchez and they should be fighting in a small venue in Redneckville for a $50 winner takes all purse.

Demian Maia 1st round submission (Rear Naked Choke) Nate Quarry
Glad I was wrong here. Maia is a beast on the ground, that half guard sweep was beautiful and Quarry didn’t have an answer for him once he got on top. Actually, I don’t think there’s a middleweight out there who would have an answer for this guy on top of him. He’s one of those rare talents in MMA who can make anyone’s guard seem non existant. Put this guy in with Okami or Bisping or anyone else near the top of the middleweight picture because he’s ready.

Other Results
Jeremy Stephens 3rd round knockout Rafael dos Anjos
Aaron Riley UD3 Jorge Gurgel
Mark Bocek 3rd round submission Alvin Robinson
Matt Brown 2nd round submission Ryan Thomas

EliteXC: Heat Results

Before the fights started it was announced that Ken Shamrock got cut warming up and couldn’t take place in his fight against Kimbo Slice. Seth Petruzelli instead fought Kimbo in the main event.

Seth Petruzelli KO 1st round (0 minutes and 14 seconds) Kimbo Slice
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sorry, that wasn’t very professional. Still, it was fucking hilarious. Slice got dropped by a light punch and was completely helpless and against a TUF reject. Dana White must have pissed his pants laughing when he heard about it (I’m assuming he didn’t actually watch it). I do like Kimbo, but I don’t like his fans. Kimbo seems like a decent guy who has made a living doing something that he’s good at, but he’s by no means the best in the World. His idiot fans who would go on youtube threads and talk about how he’d beat Fedor and Liddell and Wladimir Klitschko when infact he (was) a big guy who lifted weights and knew how to box a bit fighting stiffs in his backyard. I like it that Kimbo trains properly and wants to make a career out of this, but the fact that he was the face of MMA to the general public is a concern and it was good that he got annhilated by a journeyman on the main event of a nationally televised card in USA. I really think this could be the end of EliteXC, but then again they just announced the Eddie Alvarez-Nick Diaz fight which will be awesome.

Andrei Arlovski KO 2nd round Roy Nelson
The refereeing in this fight was horrendous. What the fuck posseses a referee to stand the fighters up when someone has side control and is looking for a kimura? I don’t think Nelson would have finished the fight from there because Arlovski seemed comfortable but the fact remains; Nelson took Arlovski down, he passed his guard and he was looking to finish but because EliteXC’s target audience has an IQ of -10 and they don’t understand how MMA works they bring it back to their feet because apparently ground fighting isn’t really fighting. As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t like ground fighting you aren’t a true MMA fan. Yeah sometimes it can be boring and stand-ups are required for the lesser shows where they don’t have as much finishing ability but in a fight between two world class heavyweights let the fighters sort it out for themselves. If you get dumped on your back and have your guard passed you’re at a level where you should have to work out of it yourself. It makes me sick watching referees get involved like that.
As for the rest of the fight, Arlovski didn’t look great but then he did take the fight on short notice. I think Barnett has the tools to beat him if he can get the fight to the ground and I think Fedor would ruin him if they fought. The finish though was typical Arlovski with good clean punching and a rarely seen variety of punches in MMA. Roy Nelson fought well and I think with a bit more cardio (I’m not sure if he is just normally out of shape or if the short notice made him more out of shape then normal) then he’d make a good opponent for a lot of decent heavyweights.

Jake Shields submission (armbar) 2nd round Paul Daley
This was a good fight. Much of it was spent with Shields mounting Daley but Daley had his moments as well. Shields was way too anxious to finish the fight and rushed that armbar in the first round which would have proved to be bad if there was more time left because Daley landed some sickening elbows. Shields also seemed to gas rather quickly (that could be because he’s been finishing everyone quickly) which could bring his downfall against better welterweights then Paul Daley. After the fight Shields talked of fighting Robbie Lawler for the EliteXC Middleweight title; with Kimbo’s loss this is the sort of thing EliteXC needs to put on to get more people watching. I’d pick Lawler in that fight, but the winner would be very marketable.

Gina Carano UD3 Kelly Kobald
I only saw the end of this fight. From what I saw, Carano has excellent takedown defence now and throws some vicious strikes. Kobald made a good fight of it though and was in it in the round that I watched. From what I’ve read of the first two rounds it was a good fight and could only help improve the legitimacy of womens MMA. The commentators repeatedly asking the fighters why they fight MMA won’t though.

Benji Radach KO 2nd round Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua
Radach throws some big punches. Ninja seemed old and just couldn’t deal with his stand-up. He had his moments with the attempted leglocks and probably won three and a half minutes of the first round but got beaten up in the other 90 seconds. Radach has the skills to test Robbie Lawler, especially if he can score with his right hand.

EliteXC: Heat Predictions

Another good non-UFC MMA card takes place this weekend with EliteXC: Heat on CBS for all those American fans. In the main event UFC Hall of Famer and the one time so called World’s Most Dangerous Man Ken Shamrock faces so called Undisputed Youtube Bareknuckle Heavyweight Champion Kimbo Slice. Shamrock has lost 8 f his last 9 fights and Slice is relatively untested, however I think this fight will be interesting (more on that later). The rest of the card features EliteXC Welterweight Champion (and about the only non-UFC Welterweight who I think could give the UFC Welterweight division some trouble) Jake Shields defending his title against Paul Daley. Also in a co-promoted fight with Affliction, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski returns to face recently bankrupted IFL’s reigning Heavyweight champion Roy Nelson. Gina Carano is also on the card against Kelly Kobald and even though I’m usually not that comfortable watching women fight (that isn’t intended to be sexist, I just don’t usually like it), I do like watching Carano because her fights are usually entertaining.

Ken Shamrock vs Kimbo Slice
Prediction- Shamrock by 1st round leglock submission
I’ve mentioned this in another post, I think Slice will be put on his back and exposed. Shamrock might suck these days but he has the wrestling ability to put Kimbo with his non existant takedown defence on his back, open his legs and submit him with a heel hook. Shamrock’s submissions are old school, Kimbo’s grappling is probably mostly new school so I think he’ll be surprised by some of the ways Shamrock will attack him. If Slice has improved his takedown defence I think he’ll batter Shamrock and knock him out quickly. Either way this fight won’t go past a few minutes.

Paul Daley vs Jake Shields
(EliteXC Welterweight title)
Prediction- Shields by 2nd round submission
As I said, Shields is the best non-UFC Welterweight out there. Daley is a good fighter but I think he’s outclassed here. Shields is coming off three first round wins over three quality opponents and I think that his experience against good fighters will play a big factor in this fight. Daley probably has the better stand-up but I think Shields will be able to get the fight where he wants it and finish him, I’m going to say with a rear naked choke after busting him up with some punches in the first round.

Andrei Arlovski vs Roy Nelson
Prediction- Arlovski by 1st round knockout
Nelson is a big guy, but Arlovski’s speed should prove too much for him in this fight. Arlovski will break him down with leg kicks and right hands until he can’t take anymore. There will be a big advantage to the Pitbull in terms of reach and he has by far the better stand-up. Also I’m not sure what Nelson has been up to lately while Arlovski has been training for a fight with Josh Barnett that was meant to happen in a few weeks. Nelson has heavy hands so I’ll be nervous watching this fight.

Other Fights
I can’t see Carano losing just yet, it’d be bad for business for them to match her with someone who will beat her. Kobald is meant to be good but I think Carano will win inside the distance.
Murilo Ninja fights Benji Radach (I’d be more then happy to watch him pound two shades of shit out of the World’s Biggest Douchebag Tony Bonello again but thats probably just me and everyone who’s heard him open his mouth before) as well and should win that fight, probably by strikes sometime in the first two rounds. The rest I don’t care that much about to be perfectly honest. It should be an entertaining(although pointless in terms of watching the best fight the best) card anyway.

DREAM.6 post fight thoughts

DREAM.6 took place on Tuesday and I think everyone agrees that it didn’t live up to expectations. The tournament went down without a hitch though, but the rest of the fights left a sour taste in the mouths of most fans. Then to add to all of this, the ratings were something like half of what the DREAM people expected them to be, meaning this could be the end of high quality Japanese MMA. In my opinion anyway, MMA won’t be the same without the crazy Japanese woman screaming the fighters names out as they enter the ring on the giant ramp. It won’t be the same without the 10 minute first round (which I think all MMA should have) or the PRIDE/DREAM scoring system which I think works better in MMA then the 10 point must system ever will. Anyway enough mourning; onto the fights:

Mousasi wins the Grand Prix
Gegard Mousasi won a tournament that lasted less then five minutes total with a triangle choke over Melvin Manhoef and an upkick knockout over Ronaldo Jacare. Earlier in the night Jacare eliminated Galesic with an armbar in a little over a minute but in the final he shows he’s still got a bit of work to do. I’m sure he’ll be back better, but he seems to have a very suspect chin and could struggle against guys he can’t take down who can strike.
I had a bitch after the last DREAM event that the best fighter doesn’t usually win the tournaments, well that can’t be said about this one. Mousasi beat Denis Kang who was probably the favourite before it started in the first round, Yoon Dong-sik in the quarter finals, then the two guys who a lot of people picked to be in the final in Melvin Manhoef and Jacare in just over one and two minutes respectively. Mousasi is definately a top ten middleweight after this. He’s had a good run since he was eliminated by Akhiro Gono in the second PRIDE Bushido Welterweight (Middleweight) Grand Prix and with these four impressive wins in under a year he has definately proved he’s one of the better guys in the World. I’m not saying he’s going to challenge Anderson Silva or anything, but I’d definately like to see him fight someone like Trigg or Misaki if he were to fight in the USA and if the UFC signs him after DREAM goes under I’d be all for that as well. Oh yeah before I forget, who did I pick to win the tournament again?

Overeem “Golota’s” Cro Cop
The reference might be lost on some of you hardcore MMA fans but in the mid 90s there were two fights between former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Riddick Bowe and up and comer Andrew Golota. In both fights Golota beat the dog shit out of Bowe, and then both times got himself disqualified for low blows when Bowe was basically ready to go. The same thing happened here.
Overeem is a fucking monster at 240lbs and he monstered Cro Cop. He beat him standing up and he battered him on the ground. The referee was disgraceful as he repeatedly stood the fighters up and gave Mirko a chance to win. The fight shouldn’t have been stood up at all. Mirko was cut over both eyes and taking a beating so Overeem starts kneeing him in the balls. He only got called for two of them, but there was at least one other clear nut shot and half a dozen border line at best shots that I saw. In my opinion Overeem should have been disqualified because he was warned and then went right back to doing it again. The fight was ruled a no contest and I (as well as probably everyone) was left thinking ‘well that sucked.’ It always sucks when the matchup of the night ends like that. I’d like to see them fight again but I’d also like to see Cro Cop retire because he hasn’t got it anymore.

Kharitonov vs some guy after Mighty Mo pulled out
The other match I was looking forward to was Sergei Kharitonov vs K-1 veteran Mighty Mo. Mighty Mo apparently got injured in training and pulled out at the last minute which was totally lame. Sergei then faced some guy I hadn’t heard of and beat him up.

Japanese fights
Probably the best non tournament fight of the night was Hayato Sakurai and Kuniyoshi Hironaka. Sakurai worked him over and won a unanimous decision. Sakurai looked good, but he really should be fighting lightweights. There was a noticeable size difference between the two of them and against someone who knows how to throw a punch he could be in trouble again. With KJ Noons out of EliteXC’s lightweight title picture, a fight between these two could be very interesting.
Funaki submitted The Punk with a heel hook a lot quicker then I expected but I got it right nonetheless. The Punk was stupid enough to wear shoes against a leg lock master and got punished for it.
Shinya Aoki won by rear naked neck crank.

All in all, the card didnt live up to expectations and I hope DREAM doesn’t go under before they put on another show. Maybe a show with Fedor on it for New Years Eve will be the thing they need to bring themselves out of trouble. Fedor was there and said he will be fighting in Japan on New Years Eve. Hopefully after this freakshow match (and I doubt it’ll be anything less and DILLIGAF) he’ll fight Arlovski (who’s been added to the EliteEX show next weekend against Roy Nelson) or Barnett.