MMA Hot Stuff

UFC 102 Results

OFFICIAL EVENT RESULTS:

Fight Honors:

"Fight of the Night" - Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Randy Couture

"Knockout of the Night" Nate Marquardt

"Submission of the Night" Jake Rosholt

This was probably one of the best and yet under rated cards this year! Here are the final results...

Winners in GREEN

Randy Couture vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by Unanimous Decision in the 3rd Round

Keith Jardine vs Thiago Silva by Knock Out in the 1st Round

Chris Leben vs Jake Rosholt by Submission (choke) in the 3rd Round

Nate Marquardt vs Demian Maia by Knock Out in the 1st Round

Brandon Vera vs Krzysztof Soszynski by Unanimous Decision in the 3rd Round

Ed Herman vs Aaron Simpson by Techncial Knock Out in the 2nd Round

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Chris Tuchscherer by Technical Knock out in the 1st Round

Junstin McCully vs Mike Russow by Unanimous Decision in the 3rd Round

Tim Hague vs Todd Duffee by Knock Out in the 1st Round (UFC RECORD of  7 seconds)

Nick Catone vs Mark Munoz by Split Decision in the 3rd Round

Marcus Aurelio vs Evan Dunham by Split Decision in the 3rd Round

UFC 102 Predictions - FROM A GIRL'S PERSPECTIVE

Okay, I know it feels like I waited until the last minute to post my predictions (and let's be real here, I did) but I have a good reason. I didn't want people to steal my predictions for our fantasy league. Hey, it could happen.

While I thought I was super excited for UFC 101, I'm even more excited for UFC 102. The card doesn't have a title fight but it's stacked with killer match ups. Good job Joe Silva!

Where to start.. It's Friday night and I've got things to do so we'll skip around and cover the fights I'm anxious to see and the main card.

Mark Munoz vs Nick Catone: First of all, this is Mark's second fight in the UFC. If you recall his debut with the UFC was against Matt Hamill (one of my favs), where he was KNOCKED the eff OUT with a head kick early in to the first round. I think a lot of Mark and his wrestling skills. And I'm anxious to see how he does against Nick. But since this is a prediction post I'll just lay it out here. I believe Mark is going to suffer another loss. I have Nick winning by TKO in the first.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Chris Tuchscherer Even though Gabriel is coming off a loss against Shane Carwin (hello one of the best fights of 2009 so far) he's still a skilled fighter. We all remember how he caught Shane and rocked him pretty good. A lot of people are saying this is a do or die fight for Gonzaga but I disagree. Either way, I have Gonzaga winning the fight by TKO in the first.

Here's an upset pick. Damnit I just gave it away. Ed Herman vs Aaron Simpson. While many people are going to pick Ed, and I understand why, I think Aaron is going to win his UFC debut fight. No real reason. The kid has experience from being in the WEC and he's shown his wins by KO or TKO (all in the first round but one). Impressive in my book. So there you have it. My upset pick. Aaron by TKO in the first

A CAN'T WAIT FOR THESE FIGHTS:

Brandon Vera vs Krzysztof Soszynski I actually had a hard time with this pick. I think both fighters are great. Krz has won submission of the night multiple times and has some big wins under his belt. Assuming Brandon can keep this fight standing, I'm giving him the fight by TKO in the second. 

Nate Marquardt vs Demian Maia This very well could be THE FIGHT OF THE NIGHT. Again, I've gone back and forth on this one. I've even argued with myself over it. Both fighters are some of the top middleweights in the UFC without a doubt. The thing about Demian is he hasn't been a MMA for all that long. However in his short stint he's proven his ability and then some. Currently with a record of 10-0 his style is unusual or as some people say unorthodox. He's won all of his fights (but two) via submission and has won submission of the night honors on many occasions. This is without a doubt going to be Demian's hardest fight yet. However, I have him winning by Choke in the first round.

Chris Leben vs Jake Rosholt Chris Chris Chris... being from Portland I expect the crowd to be rowdy for this fight. Recently in Jon Anik's ESPN chat, some people said Chris is a gatekeeper for the middle weight division. I think he's a good/emotional fighter but definitely NOT a gatekeeper. In my opinion, this is a must win fight for Chris. I don't mean must win as in he'll be cut from the UFC but pretty dang close. Coming off a loss from well over a year ago against Mike Bisping, and then later testing positive for steroids, Chris hasn't been in the public eye for a while now. His record isn't bad, and again he's an emotional fighter. He's fighting someone who has pretty limited MMA experience (5-1) vs Chris' record of 18-5. Because of the emotion, the home town advantage and something to prove attitude, I give this fight to Chris via quick TKO in the first.

Don't think I'm picking every fight to go by TKO! Dun Dun Dun... The Dean of Mean Keith Jardine vs Thiago Silva! I can't wait for this fight! Keith Jardine is one of those fighters I love to watch. He doesn't always win but he always gives his best. Okay that was the girl in me saying that. But it's true he's a fighter that just never (or rarely) leaves the crowd disappointed. I think Keith is going to do everything he can to ensure this doesn't go to the ground given Thiago is known for his ground and pound style. I have this one going the distance my friends. But in the end I'm giving it to Keith by Unanimous Decision. 

And the MAIN EVENT!!! Randy Couture vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - I can list all the reasons why I believe Randy will win. Never mind his age and that he's almost as old as dirt (I kid I kid), his body and mind are that of a youngin'. Did you see him at weigh-ins? The guy is ripped. If I saw him (and were single duh) at the beach I'd be like.. "damn'. He's coming focused and with a game plan. He's going to take Nogueira down but will be smart enough to stay out of his submissions. I'm giving this fight to Randy by TKO in the second.

Again, I'm really looking forward to a great night of fights. Superb card and match ups. I love MMA!

I'll be on twitter ( twitter.com/mmahotstuff ) and we'll also have an open post/chat open during the fights. Check back here later with more details.

Also, friendly reminder. If you haven't already done so MAKE YOUR UFC FANTASY PICKS! Time is running out. 19 hours left. Go to http://fantasy.ufc.com/

If you haven't decided where you're watching the fights, don't worry I'm here to help. Here's a list of bars/restaurants showing the PPV events. http://www.mmahotstuff.com/about/2009/08/ufc-102-pay-per-view-locations.html

UFC 102 Pay Per View Locations

When the history of mixed martial arts is written, two names will stand at the top of the heavyweight division Randy "The Natural" Couture and Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira. But these two legendary former champions aren't thinking about the history books, they're looking to make another run at the UFC title, and to get there, they must face each other in the Octagon in the main event of UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira.

In the co-feature, two of the light heavyweight division's heaviest hitters collide, when perennial contender Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine takes on Brazilian powerhouse Thiago Silva.

UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira - Saturday, August 29th, live on Pay-Per-View from the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon.

4:00pm PT      Arena Doors Open
4:45pm PT      First Bout
7:00pm PT      Main Card Begins; UFC 102 Goes Live on Television and the Web

After the jump, you'll find a full list of bars/restaurants sorted by city and state, showing the fights! Maybe I'll see you there.

I'll also be tweeting the fights live. www.twitter.com/mmahotstuff  

UFC 102 in Portland - Rose Garden

I think every time there's a new UFC event announced I say "wow this is going to be one of the best cards ever." Well I'm saying it again. UFC 102 will take place in Portland Oregon (my home state) August 29th at the Rose Garden! And Mr Joe Silva has done it again. He's bringing us some outstanding match ups.

As I previously announced, the main event will be Randy Couture vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Keith Jardine will face Thiago Silva as the co-headliner.

Also on the main card, Chris Leben vs Jake Rosholt, Nate Marquardt vs Demian Maia (MAKINGS OF A GREAT MATCHUP), Matt Hamill vs Brandon Vera.

Preliminary Card:
Wilson Gouveia vs James Irvin
Junior Dos Santos vs Justin McCully
Nick Catone vs Mark Munoz
Evan Dunham vs Matt Veach

It's nice to see some of my "Dream UFC MatchUps" are coming to fruition.

Ticket Sale information:
UFC Fight Club Presale  Thursday, June 18 at 10am pacific time
UFC Newsletter Presale Friday  June 19 at 10am pacific time
Public On-Sale Saturday June 20 at 10am pacific time

Styles Make Fights (boring sometimes)

We’ve all heard the old adage, “styles make fights”, but they never told us “sometimes styles make fights boring”. Styles make fights… That’s what made the UFC and MMA so damn appealing and fun when it first hit the scene. We had the striker versus the wrestler, the striker versus the Jiu Jitsu practitioner and so on. It was the ultimate test of styles to answer the age old question of “who would win between…”

Years later, with the demise of the one dimensional fighter, styles are far more complex and thus so are the fighters’ game plans. Gone are the days of just keeping the fight standing or simply taking the fight to the ground. After watching Anderson Silva destroy so many fighters with his striking, everyone’s game plan was to get the fight to the mat. However, Travis Lutter and Dan Henderson found that game plan to be detrimental to their title aspirations.

Fast forward to Silva’s most recent fight against Thales Leites. First and foremost, everyone knew Leites’ plan would be to get the fight to the ground, both because he’s great on the ground and because Silva is so dangerous on his feet. Typically a wrestler would get a striker to the ground by taking advantage of an over-aggressive combination, but that doesn’t happen too often with Silva because he’s a counter-puncher. So should Leites press the action with his striking in order to set up the takedown, thus risking getting knocked out via counter strikes, a la Chris Leben? It’s quite the dilemma for an Anderson Silva opponent.

But why should all the responsibility to push the action fall on Leites’ shoulders? What about Silva’s responsibility to push the action? Should he be more aggressive with his striking and possibly leave himself vulnerable to the takedown? According to Franklin McNeil on ESPN’s MMA Live, he thinks the challenger has the responsibility to press the action and take the belt from the champ. I don’t disagree that the challenger has to go and take the belt, but I also don’t believe he should throw his game plan and years of work to get to that fight out the window just because the fight isn’t exactly a barn burner.

 

Although neither fighter was very aggressive or impressive, ultimately I would have to say I was more disappointed in Silva’s performance. He’s clearly a more dominant striker, yet he continuously waited for counter punching opportunities as opposed to being an offensive striker. It’s not like Silva has terrible jiu jitsu, he’s submitted some great fighters, so going to the ground with Leites shouldn’t have been that scary. In fact, Leites has only won 3 of his 7 fights in the UFC by way of submission. Whereas 5 of Siva’s 9 UFC fights have ended via strikes (I’m not including his victory of Lutter because it was finished on the ground, even though Lutter tapped due to elbow strikes). When the fight did go to the ground, Silva avoided any damage and was able to escape.

At the end of the day, styles do make fights but they don’t always make them exciting. A counter striker won’t be much fun to watch unless he’s fighting someone that pushes the action against him. In Anderson Silva’s case, I’m not sure there are too many exciting fights for him at middleweight in the UFC, I think he’s going to have to move up to light heavyweight again in order to get a real challenge and earn back the respect of the fans.

The next question we have to ask is not of the fighters, but of the fans. Are we the fans willing to put up with a fight that is not very exciting because of the game plan required by those fighters? Is it really any different than watching your favorite football team run the ball every down in order to eat up the clock and pull out a victory? After all, if the NFL teams aren’t judged on style points, it’s all about winning, regardless of how exciting the game may be.

BJPENN.com Launches Live Radio Show

BJPENN.com has just launched a Live Radio Show. The radio program is scheduled to run weekly and will feature some of the biggest names !

UFC veteran Chris "The Crippler" Leben will be a guest on the BJPENN.COM RADIO SHOW this Wednesday, February 18th at 5PM PT (3PM in Hawaii). They will be broadcasting live from Chris' new gym in Honolulu, The Ultimate Fight School. Please log on to BJPENN.COM this Wednesday and tune in!

Report: Chris Leben tests positive for Stanazolol

As a couple of outlets are starting to report, The UFC fighter Chris Leben tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol on October 18, the day he lost to Michael Bisping at UFC 89.

In the United States, the UFC's drug testing is handled by the state sanctioning bodies. But UFC 89 was in England, and this was a test administered directly by the UFC and not by any athletic commission.

Leben, who lost a unanimous decision to Bisping, will reportedly be suspended for nine months and fined one-third of his purse.

This definitely won't help his already tarnished image.

Chris Leben Predicts He Turns the Lights Out In London!

Below is a snip-it  of the interview MMATraining.com did with Chris Leben. Chris will take on Michael Bisping Oct 18th in Birmingham, England at UFC 89.

Thanks very much for your time Chris, can you tell us how your preparation is going for this fight and who are you training with to prepare?

I’m really excited; this is a big fight for me. Training’s going great - I’m at a good weight and I’m feeling really good about where my body and my head are at. As far as preparation, I’m working with a great team at Icon up in Hawaii and I’m also working with Matt Hume who has really brought me up to another level. I know how important this fight is for my career and I want to prove that my game is at an elite level at 185.

What types of problems does Michael Bisping pose and what do you think are his strengths?

Well, Michael Bisping is a tough kid. He’s looked good at 185 and he’s a striker which should make it an exciting match. He’s got good footwork, really good footwork actually, and he has good movement. From what I’ve seen of him at middleweight he’s got real fast hands, his hands are probably faster than mine – so I’m going to get hit a few times for sure. I’m ready to bang.

I don’t really think he has the power to finish me though, I don’t think he has any huge knockout power. I’ve got the guns to put him out with one or two shots and I don’t think he’ll have the power to put me away. I get hit in all my fights and this one won’t be any different, but I can put him away at any time and he’ll have to work at the whole fight to put me down.

How has your training and preparation changed from training at Team Quest to training in Hawaii?

The main thing that has changed by living in Hawaii is diet. I eat a lot of sushi and fresh fish because that is the most available thing here. It’s an island, so everything else has to be brought in. Now that I eat properly I can really see and feel the difference. It’s harder to eat like crap out here and everything is so fresh and lean.

It’s kind of like year round summer here too. There’s always stuff to do and ways to keep in shape other than training. Which is really great and it keeps me in fighting shape pretty much constantly. Teaching every day helps a ton with keeping me in really good shape and in practice too. It’s a never-ending story. I train grappling every single day, just like I train standup everyday - I train to fight everyday. I was wrestling before I was striking, and I continue to work on that everyday.
I feel that I’m fighting at a top level now… there’s a huge difference and moving out here has helped a lot.

Being in the Main Event of such a big card against the hometown boy do you feel more pressure or just overall more excitement?

Yah, being in the main event is super cool – especially over there - but I don’t feel any more pressure than any other fight. He’s the hometown hero, so the pressure is on him to beat me. I think it’s going to be a great fight for the crowd, an exciting fight and I’m super excited. Obviously no one over there will be cheering for me, but I’m okay with that. But being the main event in a new nation and on Spike TV is great. I’m pumped for sure. I know a lot of people have been waiting for this match-up.

Can we get a prediction for this fight?

I see this fight ending with another knockout. I don’t know when I’ll get it, it would be nice to end it early - but I’m ready to go all three if I have to – he’s a tough, tough kid and it’s going to be hard work. But, at the end of the day, that’s what the fans want to see, everyone likes a finish and that’s what I’m shootin’ for – lights out in London. That’s the idea.

UFC 89: Free on Spike TV!

The UFC has announcedthat it will air UFC 89 via tape delay live on Spike TV. The event takes place on Saturday, October 18th from Birmingham, England and features a main event between two Ultimate Fighter alums in Michael Bisping and Chris Leben.

The card also includes a few light heavyweight bouts, pitting Lyoto Machida against Thiago Silva and also Keith Jardine against Brandon Vera. Vera is making his second appearance at light heavyweight after a less than stellar debut against Reese Andy, while Jardine is looking to bounce back from a brutal KO loss to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 84.

Machida and Silva both enter the octagon with an undefeated record. Machida is one of the hottest prospects in the division after running through Tito Ortiz at UFC 84.

I'm personally very excited to see the return of Chris "Lights Out" Lytle after his recent loss to Josh Koscheck. I told you he'd be back!!!

Keith Jardine to fight Brandon Vera UFC 89

As being reported by Sherdog and MMAJunkie -

Keith Jardine (13-4-1 MMA, 5-3 UFC) will look to rebound from his recent loss to Wanderlei Silva when he meets Brandon Vera (9-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) at UFC 89, an event that takes place Oct. 18 at The NIA in Birmingham, England.

Jardine today announced the fight on an Albuquerque radio show.

The light heavyweight bout will likely end up on the night's main card, which currently features a headline bout between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben.

However, the UFC has yet to announce the fight.

Jardine most recently suffered a stunning, 36-second knockout to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 84. The loss came right after the biggest win of his career -- a split-decision victory over Chuck Liddell in September 2007.

With a May 2007 loss to Houston Alexander, the Team Jackson fight has now lost two of his past three fights -- the first such stretch of his seven-year career.

Vera, meanwhile, will look to shake a recent three-fight funk. After a unanimous-decision loss to Tim Sylvia at UFC 77, Vera then suffered a first-round TKO to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 85. He then decided to drop to 205 pounds, and though he scored a unanimous-decision victory over UFC newcomer Reese Andy at this past weekend's UFC Fight Night 14, the performance was flat and heavily criticized.

The fight with Jardine is essentially a must-win for Vera, a former top heavyweight contender who had, at one time, been promised a title shot with then-champ Tim Sylvia, but a feud with his manager kept the fight from happening. Since returning from that year-long layoff, Vera -- who began his UFC career with four consecutive stoppage victories -- has posted three lackluster performances.