MMA Hot Stuff

UFC 107 Predictions from a Girl

I haven't been this excited for an entire UFC card since UFC 100. I think it's great that the UFC is trying to give fans a lot/frequent events, but in doing so it seems the cards are losing some steam. They're not stacked with as many 'must see' fights. However, UFC 107 is pretty attractive. Not only do we have a title on the line with the BJ Penn vs Diego Sanchez fight but we have lots of other great match ups as well.

Here are my predictions. For those that ROCK and are loyal readers, you know the drill... winners in GREEN. 

Oh, and feel free to argue with me. Agree with me, or just stop by to say hi (leave a comment). 

You can also find me on twitter at twitter.com/mmahotstuff

If you're a fountain of knowledge or just a lucky person you can take a stab at trying to beat me on the UFC Fantasy circuit. Obviously my username is MMAHotStuff.

BJ Penn vs  Diego Sanchez- Both are big 155lb'ers and both are aggressive fighters. While I think Diego is a SOLID fighter and will give a good show I just don't think he's going to beat BJ. I mean,it's BJ. Diego has never gone 5 rounds and he won't go 5 rounds this fight either. I'll be completely SHOCKED if BJ doesn't choke him out in the 2nd round. I'm going with BJ Penn in the 2nd by RNC. And still the UFC lightweight champion of the world... BJ Penn! You can quote me.

Frank Mir vs Cheik Kongo- Frank is well known for his BJJ... but he's also starting to get a reputation for being caught up in that last loss of his against Brock Lesnar. During the countdown show and interviews its clear that Brock is still in his head. Can he bounce back and beat Cheick Kongo?  Cheick is known for his striking and trains with the Wolfslair camp. He's coming off a loss against Cain Velasquez.. Frankly I'm expecting Frank to shoot in early and try to take Cheick down. Assuming he's successful, and I believe he will be, he'll beat Cheick by submission in the 3rd.

Kenny Florian vs Clay Guida-  I'm SO excited for this fight. In the words of Kenflo "I finish fights," I expect Kenny to finish this one as well. Clay is a very aggressive fighter but many of his fights tend to go the distance. I think many of the people that have picked Kenny will go the submission route, but I'm going by strikes. I give this fight to Kenny in the 2nd by TKO. 

Jon Fitch vs Mike Pierce- Jon "OOUAH" Fitch (look up the meaning behind OOUAH) is on a pretty impressive roll. Aside from a loss to Georges St Pierre (that went the distance), he hasn't lost a fight since 2002. What is note worthy is the guy has had a run of bad luck when it comes to his opponents. Or maybe it's his opponents that have had the bad luck. The last few scheduled fights have been scratched due to his opponents getting hurt during training, leaving Jon sidelined since UFC 100. Given experience and depth of skills, I'm picking Fitch to win by Unanimous decision.

Paul Buentello vs Stefan Struve- Stefan is filling in for Todd Duffee who pulled out of the fight against Paul Buentello for an undisclosed injury. Stefan most recently defeated UFC newcomer and previously undefeated Chase Gormley at UFC 104 where Stefan also won Submission of the Night honors. Paul is known for his knock outs as well as one pretty infamous knock out (on the receiving end) where he was knocked out by Andrei Arlovski at UFC 55. I'm expecting to see a big knockout here. Paul Buentello by TKO in the 2nd round.

UFC 107 Pay Per View Locations

Are you as excited for UFC 107 as I am? I mean are you kidding me, BJ Penn vs Diego Sanchez? YES PLEASE! On the same card as Kenny Florian vs Clay Guida?! While it's officially ski season out here in Tahoe, it makes traveling to events more difficult. If only we could get these events to happen at a casino in South Tahoe. That would be a dream.

If you're also unable to get to the event for whatever reason, fear not because you can still watch it and enjoy a few brew-skies with your friends at your local bar/restaurant. And because I love you all so much, I've compiled a list of the bars/restaurants showing the event. Listed by State, after the jump below. Enjoy!

BJ Penn vs Diego Sanchez

Frank Mir vs Cheick Kongo

Kenny Florian vs Clay Guida

Jon Fitch vs Mike Pierce

Paul Buentello vs Stefan Struve

Alan Belcher vs WIlson Goveia

Matt Wiman vs Shane Nelson

Johny Hendricks vs Richard Funch

Rousimar Palhares vs Lucio Linhares

Demarques Johnson vs Edgar Garcia

Kevin Burns vs TJ Grant

Oh, P.S.S don't forget to make your FANTASY SELECTION! Go to Fantasy.UFC.com 

LIST OF BARS/RESTAURANT SHOWING UFC 107

UFC 99 RECAP

Guest Writer - Salvatore DeRosalia

When I first saw the lineup for UFC 99 in Germany I thought it was pretty underwhelming. The UFC 98 card had been so amazing, full of knock outs, submissions and well… Loyoto Machida, that I was clearly looking at the 99 card through tainted eyes.  For anyone who truly loves the sport of MMA, UFC 99 was a pretty sweet card.  Almost all of the televised matches were great fights. This card was full of grueling, technical hard fought match ups and it even had a “catch weight” fight between Rich “Ace” Franklin and Wanderlei “The Ax Murderer” Silva.  UFC 99 may not have had tons of the most popular fighters the UFC has to offer but they were quality fights, what I like to call “Fighters Fights.”  Here is the recap from UFC 99:

Main Televised Card

Dan Hardy beat Marcus Davis by split decision.  These guys talked more trash about each other before the fight then any two fighters I have ever seen and when Dan Hardy went to shake the hand of Marcus Davis at the end of the fight, “The Irish Hand Grenade” wanted nothing to do with Hardy.  The fight was close but I agree with the decision of Dan Hardy as the winner.  Hardy inflicted copious amounts of damage to Davis and by the end of the fight you could tell who the winner was by the lumps on Davis’s face.  Hopefully the UFC will give us a rematch of this war.  I think they could play it up and make these guys actually hate each other even more then they already do all the selling more tickets then the first fight.

Spencer Fisher beat Caol Uno by unanimous decision. The Fisher, Uno fight was a very even matchup.  I gave the fight to Uno but somehow all three judges gave it to Spencer Fisher.  The one thing I think everyone watching the fight can agree on is that the fight was pretty boring, often ending up a clinch against the cage or the guard on the ground.  Again, this was a technical battle.  Both guys cancelled each others moves out in most of this fight.

Mike Swick stopped Ben Saunders in the second round.  Swick vs. Saunders was one of the two fights that did not go the distance in the main televised card.  The first round was full of Saunders holding Swick in his guard and the crowd let them both know that was not they paid to see.  In the second, Swick was the aggressor and it paid off when he unleashed multiple punches sending Saunders to the mat.  Swick continued to attack the downed fighter until the referee stepped in at 3:47 of the second period to stop the fight. 

Mirko Cro Cop stopped Mostapha Al Turk in the first round.  The inadvertent eye poke of the night goes to Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. This was the second of the two fights that did not go the distance. Both fighters were able to land some good hits in before the fight was called by referee Dan Miragliotta at 3:06 of the first round after the eye poke and subsequent flurry of punches by Cro Cop.   

Cain Velasquez beat Cheick Kongo by unanimous decision.  This heavy weight battle was about as one sided a fight as you can have. I counted two good punches and a few elbows by Cheick Kongo but they were not enough as Velasquez was able to dominate Kongo on the ground for the majority of the fight.  The two Kongo punches hurt Velasquez, buckling his knees both times but Kongo could not follow them up leaving room for Velasquez to mount his attack and putting Kongo on his back over and over again.  Cain Velasquez remains undefeated moving to 6-0 and establishes himself as a real threat in the heavy weight division. 

Rich Franklin beat Wanderlei Silva by unanimous decision.  The main event of the night might have been the best fight of the night too.  That pairing does not happen at every UFC event but this fight was the cherry on top of a card that was worth its weight in PPV money.  The first 90 seconds of this fight went by without a hit but as soon as the feeling out period was over these two warriors went to battle.  Both fighters landed some leather, both were taken down to the ground but it was Franklin who got the better in the first round.   

Silva came out ready to fight in the second round and was the clear aggressor.  Just when you thought Franklin was about to turn the round around and steal some points, Silva would land another flurry and swing the momentum back his way.   

The third round started with both fighters touching gloves.  You could tell before, during and after the match that Silva and Franklin had a lot of respect for one another.  As quickly as they touched gloves they were back to brawling.  Silva spent most of the round in the pocket and stalking Franklin around the Octagon.  Franklin would attack and retreat not taking much damage.  The end of the fight was a microcosm of the entire match; Silva and Franklin tangled up on their feet, both throwing punches and elbows with all they had left in the tank.  Just when you thought that was enough, the greatest part of this fight came in the post fight interviews with Wanderlei Silva stating he believes he won the fight and declaring to the world, but more importantly Dana White, that he wants and deserves a rematch. To be continued…

"He's Showing Some Fundamental Holes"....

To quote Joe Rogan "He's showing some fundamental holes"... Joe wasn't referring to Cheick Kongo's shorts, but towards the end of the first round they were almost allll the way down! Not only did he expose his black underwear but that dreadfully ugly thai cup waist band thingy was exposed! Thank goodness for the bell so his cornermen could help the poor guy with his near disastrous wardrobe malfunction!

Although I will say, the Rolling Stone logo and purple walk out tee was a pretty touch. I'd like to see more of that.

PS.
There are A LOT of people out there taking a crack at MMA gear. Whether it be fancy shirts, shorts, hats, etc. How about a new cup? Can someone please address this? Isn't there a company that makes these shorts with the cup built in?

Week in Review: UFC WEC And Everything In Between

Hi ladies
wow, where have I been?! My body was kind enough to turn a common cold into bronchitis during the weekend of UFC 98 and forced me to take a week "off". But I'm feeling much better and there has been a lot going on!

While UFC 98 has come and gone I need to fess up and say my picks were ALL WRONG. And to those of you that emailed me to point that out, thanks captain obvious(es) and good job in picking the favorites. I had the pleasure of taking my dad to the fights and he had a great time. While you may have better seats while watching the fights at home there's nothing like feeling the excitement in the arena.

Frankie Edgar did an outstanding job against Sean Sherk and I owe him mad props. While I knew Frankie would do well he showed everyone he is deserving of these great match ups. I'm definitely excited to see what is in store for him!

Ohhh so sad. That Matt Serra vs Matt Hughes fight was the fight I was really looking forward to. Hughes had his hands down half way through the first round. Neither of them did a stellar job, but it was a pretty good fight. I had the first round going to Serra, second round going to Hughes and the third round going to Serra. So when it came down to judge's decision, I really thought Serra had won. And frankly, by the expression and body language of both Hughes and Serra I think they both thought Serra had won as well. Everyone in the crowd around me and my Tweeps (people on Twitter) thought the same thing. I guess as the saying goes "Never Leave It Up To The Judges" is very fitting here in this situation. The judges probably saw something that the rest of us didn't.

The Evans vs Machida fight was great. While I thought Evans would have won the fight it was exciting for sure. When Machida knocked Evans out in the second round seeing Evans buckle like that left my mouth open for two minutes. Perhaps we'll be seeing Lyoto face off with Shogun Rua at UFC 104.

All old news but for me the highlight was not only taking my dad to his first UFC event but seeing him get into it and actually say to me stuff like "What a great take down" and knowing the specific hold and submission names really impressed me. I had a great time with him. Thanks for going dad!

Other news worthy items you should know about:

• Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (24-6-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) will return to the UFC and fight Mostapha Al-Turk (6-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) at next weekend's UFC 99 event.
• EA Sports announced they will release a MMA-themed video game "EA Sports MMA" in 2010. This is another sign how mainstream MMA going. Video games will help reach the younger demographic even more than they are now.
• It was announced that Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans are the new coaches for The Ultimate Fighter.
• Tune in to WEC 41 to not only watch Mike Brown defend his title against Urijah Faber but our friend Kenny Florian will be the commentator. Super excited for this card.
• Frank Trigg signed a new deal with the UFC.

June is not only the month of my birthday (33, already?) but it's also a great month for MMA addicts.

EVENTS
June 5th - Bellator Fighting Championships Week 10
June 6th - Strikeforce Robbie Lawler vs Jake Shields (oh yeah AND Andrei Arlovski vs Brett Rogers as well as Nick Diaz vs Scott Smith) YAY
June 7th - WEC Mike Brown vs Urijah Faber
June 12th - Bellator Fighting Championships Week 11
June 13th - UFC 99 Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva (Marcus Davis vs Dan Hardy also on this card)
June 19th - Strikeforce Challengers: Santos vs Villasenor
June 19th - Bellator Fighting Championships Week 12
June 20th - The Ultimate Fighter Finale 9 (Yes we'll get to see TUF finals but also on the card is Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez  and Nate Diaz vs Joe Daddy Stevenson) WTF Chris Lytle is on the prelim card? Breaks my heart. Hopefully he still tries for fight of the night honors!

All in all a great month for MMA fans. More to come. More frequently I promise.

 

UFC 99: Herring out, Kongo in VS Cain Velasquez

The UFC has announcedthat Heath Herring is pulling out of his UFC 99 bout against Cain Velasquez due to injury. The undefeated Velasquez is one of the rising stars of the Heavyweight division and was finally getting the opportunity to prove himself against upper echelon talent and a veteran in Heath Herring.

While it's always a disappointment when one fighter pulls out due to injury and it usually leads to a less appealing match-up with a last minute replacement, the UFC and Velasquez won'tmiss a beat on this one. Cheick Kongo, another rising star in the Heavyweight division, will step in to take Herring's place.

Kongo, who is riding a three fight winning streak, is a legitimate contender in his own right. He did lose a very close split decision to Heath Herring, but he has since greatly improved his wrestling and we know his striking is top notch. He's a beast of a man and should present an interesting match-up for Velasquez. However, the question remains just how much he's improved his wrestling. Herring exposed his lack of wrestling ability,but Velasquez could downright humiliate him in that department.

The good news for the fans? This is a great fight, and we'll get to see if Velasquez is ready to take that next step up the ladder towards the elite in the Heavyweight division. Is Velasquez the real deal like everyone says? We'll get to find out on June 13th!  

ESPN's MMA Live: Recap of UFC 97

Here's this weeks version of MMA Live, where the team recaps the performances and fights from UFC 97. The team is joined by Frank Mir from Las Vegas!

First up, who's to blamefor the boring fight between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites? Does Silva have a responsibility to be more aggressive since he's the champ? Or does Leites have a responsibility to come and take it away from the champ? And speaking of responsibility, do the fighters have a responsibility to put on an entertaining fight for the fans, even if that means ignoring an obvious game plan and strategy? You may be surprised to hear how the MMA Live team disagree on this issue!

And what about Chuck Liddell's fight against Shogun? Is Shogun back to his PRIDE dominance? Should Chuck be forced to retire? Frank Mir weighs in here.

And what does Frank Mir think of Cheick Kongo's performance? And who will be the next heavyweight in line for a title shot after Brock and Frank unify the title?

Hear from Pat Miletich run through the latest WAMMA rankings.

Best line of the show though... Kenny says that Jon Anik "isn't really familiar with the information super-highway". Hilarious! Great job guys!

UFC 87: Card Updates

The UFC has released some more fights for UFC 87: Seek & Destroy on August 9th!

As we had reported earlier, Mark Coleman had to pull out of his match-up with Brock Lesnar due to knee injury, and his replacements had not yet been determined. It has been announced that Brock Lesnar will now be facing Heath Herring in the heavyweight fight.

This is quite an interesting match-up as Herring is coming off a big win over Cheick Kongo at UFC 82, and brings a TON of experience into the cage.

Read more....