UFC 96: Rampage beats Jardine, Carwin KO’s Gonzaga

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson scored a three round unanimous decision over Keith Jardine in the main event at UFC 96. After Frank Mir pulled out of his main event with Brock Lesnar at UFC 98, Rashad Evans said pre fight that should Rampage defeat Jardine, the two would meet at UFC 98. Rampage started slowly, allowing Jardine to control the tempo of the fight with his awkward style. After a first close round, Rampage attacked Jardine continously in the early goings of the 2nd round, dropping him with a left hook. Jardine scrambled well but ate a few punches and still looked hurt as the fight resumed on their feet after a brief clinch. Rampage then shot in for a successful takedown but again Jardine worked his way back to his feet where he continued to come off 2nd best in the exchanges.

Jardine started well in the 3rd round before again being taken down by Jackson. Jardine showed an underrated (well unseen) ground game as he worked his way back to his feet yet again. With the fight possibly in the balance, Jardine began to use his awkward style to get off first and back Rampage up. Rampage’s strikes became wild towards the end of the round, but with Jardine tiring and his hands below his waist, Rampage dropped Jardine again in the closing seconds of the bout to take any doubt about the decision away. The judges scored the fight 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 for Rampage, who engaged in some post fight trash talk with UFC light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans. In his own words, the fight is going to be ‘some black on black crime.’

I really thought Rampage fought like shit in this fight and I’d be all for Machida getting the first shot while Rampage gets a bit of rest in. Maybe it wasn’t the two fights in three months (that’s what Rampage said he thought it was after the fight) and maybe it was just Jardine making someone else look bad. If Rampage stayed in the pocket more in this fight he would have won it inside the distance no doubt in my opinion. Jardine’s inside game is horrible and that’s where a guy like Wanderlei Silva can take advantage because of his reckless style. Jardine is a nightmare for counter fighters like Liddell and Rampage.

In the main support bout, Shane Carwin knocked Gabriel Gonzaga out in just over a minute with one solid right hand. He didn’t have it all his own way however, as Gonzaga landed a handful of heavy right hands that looked to have Carwin momentarily hurt before he secured a trip takedown. Carwin scrambled well, and got back to his feet and then caught the former challenger for the UFC crown with one right hand that ended Gonzaga’s two fight winning streak. With the win, Carwin moves to 11-0 with all 11 fights ending in the first round. His UFC career moves to 3-0. Gonzaga drops to 10-4 with a 6-3 mark in the UFC. Carwin definately looked beatable but that power is always going to be an equaliser. Even though I think he looked beatable, Gonzaga is arguably the most dangerous fighter in the UFC with his ground skills and punching power and Carwin survived his onslaught. Carwin really is one of the top dogs in the division now and I’d love to see him in there with another top heavyweight ASAP.

Other Results
Matt Brown KO1 Pete Sell
Matt Hammill KO1 Mark Munoz
Gray Maynard Pts Jim Miller
Kendall Grove KO1 Jason Day
Tamdan McCrory TKO1 Ryan Madigan
Jason Brilz Pts Tim Boetsch
Brandon Vera KO2 Mike Patt
Shane Nelson KO1 Aaron Riley

UFC 96 Predictions

Another UFC card takes place this weekend (making it the fourth this year so far in just over two months, don’t think I’m complaining though) and while some of you bitches out there think this card is shit, I completely disagree. While the main event is no St-Pierre vs Penn, the main card consists of four well matched fights and a typical Matt Hammill fight (why is this guy on the main card again?).
In the main event, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson takes on the always unpredictable Keith Jardine over three rounds. For Rampage, a win should secure him a title shot against Rashad Evans probably in August or September of this year (a loss would mean we have an extra six months of Lyoto Machida as champion). For Jardine, if he wins he’ll probably get a big rematch with Liddell should he beat Shogun or he’ll be fed to whichever Light Heavyweight Joe Silva thinks needs a big win again. So even though the main event isn’t a big fight in the big picture of both fighters careers, it’s still a very good matchup and one that will be very interesting to see how it unfolds.
The undercard sees Heavyweight prospect Shane Carwin’s first real test as he takes on Gabriel Gonzaga in what will be a match between two of the games most powerful fighters. Both of these guys are massive and have huge power in their strikes as well as excellent ground games (although we’re yet to see Carwin fight off his back). Also an interesting Lightweight clash with two of the UFC’s middle tier 155lbers looking to move into the big time with Gray Maynard taking on Jim Miller. The other fight sees two fighters who fight with their hearts on their sleeves in Pete Sell and Matt Brown clashing in what is the favourite to take out fight of the night honours and while I’d rather see Jason Day vs Kendall Grove, I’ll make do with watching another shitty Matt Hammill vs ‘some guy with wrestling background and no striking so Hammill is at no risk of losing’ fight.

Main Card
Rampge Jackson vs Keith Jardine
Prediction- Rampage by 1st round KO
Rampage is by far the more dangerous fighter. Jardine is awkward with his movement and has some heavy leg kicks but Jackson’s counter punching style I think will suit a fighter like Jardine who strikes from awkward angles and has a lot of unorthodox ways of moving after he throws his shots. I think Rampage will catch him with a big strike during an exchange and hurt ‘the Dean of Mean’ and then finish him with strikes on the ground.

Shane Carwin vs Gabriel Gonzaga
Prediction- Gonzaga by 2nd round KO
Carwin is still very green and unless he puts a hurting on Gonzaga early I think he’ll be forced to fight at a competitive pace and his body won’t be used to it. This isn’t to say I don’t think Carwin has what it takes because he’s an excellent prospect but I think Gonzaga is a step too far at this stage. The only thing that concerns me with ‘Napao’ is his tendancy to fold when he is put under good pressure but I think he’ll make Carwin fight harder in areas he isn’t used to fighting in (like the clinch) for extended periods of time and wear the bigger man out before knocking him out in the 2nd round.

Matt Brown vs Pete Sell
Prediction- Brown by 2nd round KO
The first round of this fight should be a slugfest. Sell could make things easy and try to take the fight to the ground where his BJJ black belt gives him a big advantage but he won’t. He’ll get drawn into Brown’s fight and end up trading with Brown who fights like a savage dog and Brown will prove to have too much firepower over the course of the fight.

Gray Maynard vs Jim Miller
Prediction- Maynard on points 
On paper, this is probably the most interesting matchup in terms of styles on the card. Both guys have average hands but Maynard is one of the top Lightweights when it comes to wrestling and Miller is one of the best when it comes to Jiu Jitsu. However, these type of fights often end up being really average kickboxing battles and in that department I give an edge to Maynard. Miller is a southpaw so if he’s forced to stand up he might give Maynard, who is still a very inexperienced striker, a lot of problems. Maynard though will have the choice where this fight goes and I think he might avoid Millers ground arsenal and try his luck on his feet. Could be painful but if it hits the mat it might be more entertaining then Brown vs Sell. Still, Maynard has the wrestling to control Miller on the ground and probably the better stand-up skills if he wants to stay up. It’ll be close but I think Maynard will edge him by split decision.

Matt Hammill vs Mike Munoz
Prediction- Hammill by 2nd round KO
As I said, typical matchup for Hammill who needs more babying. Munoz is a collegiate wrestler up against one of the top wrestlers in the game. Hammill gets repeated takedowns that he doesn’t set up with his below average boxing skills and clubs his way to an ugly stoppage win yet again and fails to impress me yet again.

As for the rest, I couldn’t be fucked going into them, but here’s my picks.

Preliminaries
Jason Day vs Kendall Grove
Prediction- Day by 2nd round KO

Ryan Madigan vs Tamdan McCrory 
Prediction- McCrory by 2nd round submission

Tim Boetsch vs Jason Brilz
Prediction- Brilz on points

Mike Patt vs Brandon Vera
Prediction- Vera by 1st round KO

Shane Nelson vs Aaron Riley
Prediction- Riley on points

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

UFC 91 Undercard Predictions

This weekend sees probably the biggest UFC card of the year (so far anyway, UFC 92 has it well covered as long as the fights stay the same). Despite Foxtel showing a few live boxing matches on this Sunday and the UFC on the next morning (no, it wasn’t because of the boxing, it was because they had to replay Andre fucking Rieu’s fucking pansy arse concert, honestly the only PPV that would be worth buying with him in it is if they chose him to be Fedor’s freak matchup on New Years Eve!), this card is that big that I will be isolating myself from everything including the Jeff Lacy-Jermain Taylor clash on Sunday in order to be able to watch this fight without having anything spoilt. With the main event being of the magnitude that it is, I’ll do a seperate post later in the week for that fight. As for now, here’s the undercard. I’m hoping my recent form with boxing predictions is going to translate into this UFC card.

Main Card
Kenny Florian vs Joe Stevenson
Prediction- Florian on points
This is a good fight. Both guys have excellent ground games but the big difference between the two of them is that Florian is also a very dangerous striker. Stevenson has decent technique with his hands as far as Jiu Jitsu guys go, but he doesn’t have the sharp punching or the well rounded striking game that Florian has and I think this will be the deciding factor in what should be a close fight. However, I do give Stevenson the edge on the ground and I think he could submit Florian if the fight hits the ground. The fight is bound to be close and while it won’t have the anticipation of the main event, it could very well be fight of the night. Florian to take a close, but unanimous decision after he wins the stand-up battle after a stalemate on the ground.

Nick Cantone vs Amir Sadollah
Prediction- Sadollah by 2nd round knockout
I can’t see the UFC putting their TUF 7 champion who has only had a couple of professional fights (is it 1 or 2?) in against anyone too dangerous first up. This will probably be a fight to showcase Sadollah to the Pay Per View audience and I expect Sadollah to use his body kicks and knees to the head to systematically break Cantone down before knocking him out. However, I know fuck all about Cantone and I’m basing this off absolutely nothing other then me thinking the UFC won’t risk Sadollah against anyone too good.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Josh Hendricks
Prediction- Gonzaga by 1st round knockout
The second mismatch on the main card. Gonzaga is on his way back after those back to back losses and looked the business against an overmatched opponent last time out. Expect the same here. Gonzaga will take him down, pass his guard and elbow his face into mince meat before the referee stops the fight.

Demian Maia vs Nate Quarry
Prediction- Quarry on points
There is a very good chance that I score one out of five on the main card and this is very much a gamble. The safe money is with Maia who is on a tear right now while Quarry is never overly impressive. However, I think with Quarry’s previous experience training at team Quest with the likes of Randy Couture, Dan Henderson and Matt Lindland, his takedown defence is likely to be very good. I think he’ll force Maia to fight him standing up and pepper him with shots en route to a unanimous decision. It’d be much better for the division though if Maia submits him quickly as we’ll then have someone for Anderson Silva to fight.

Preliminaries
Dustin Hazelett vs Tamdan McCrory
Prediction- Hazelett on points
This is an interesting fight, but one I think Hazelett should win easily if he fights the right fight. I think McCrory will be tentative about taking Hazelett down early, but when he starts havig trouble with Hazeletts lanky frame and decent boxing skills he’ll try his luck in “McLovin’s” guard. Hazelett has excellent sweeps and submissions from his back and I think he’ll end up on top in each round and bust up McCrory en route to a shutout decision.

Jorge Gurgel vs Aaron Riley
Prediction- Gurgel on points
This could be a war as well. Both of these guys are as tough as they come (Gurgel especially who is rarely in a dull fight) and I think they’ll put on a show. Hopefully Gurgel fights like he should and take Riley down and actually uses strikes when he gets a dominant position. However, I think he’ll duke it out and it’ll be a harder fight then it needs to be, but Gurgel will prove that bit better in all aspects. Gurgel should definately avoid going to his back against Riley, anywhere else and he should be in control of whats going on.

Rafael dos Anjos vs Jeremy Stephens
Prediction- Stephens on points
Anjos is a Gracie Jiu Jitsu student who boasts a 11-2 record making his UFC debut. I think Stephens is probably a bit too much for him first up and he’ll expose Anjos’ lack of stand-up and win a boring unanimous decision.

Mark Bocek vs Alvin Robinson
Prediction- Robinson by 1st round submission
This will be my pick for submission of the night. Both guys are good Jiu Jitsu practioners, but Robinson being a Royce Gracie black belt has the edge. Boceks best chance is to keep this up, but I think even doing that he won’t be able to avoid going to the ground. Robinson to finish Bocek quickly with a rear naked choke.

Matt Brown vs Ryan Thomas
Prediction- Brown by 2nd round knockout
Brown steps in to replace fellow TUF7 veteran Matthew Riddle on short notice. That shouldn’t make a difference however as I think Brown will just overwhelm Thomas and pound him out in the 2nd round after a near 10-8 first round. Brown is simply just too powerful.